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                  |  | Unfolding Destiny | Pages 449-450 |  |  | Letter of 8 April 1948
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	| 1 | We Bahá'ís firmly believe that it is possible, if we have the 
right spirit, to make our stumbling blocks stepping-stones to 
progress.  You have already, through at last facing yourself and 
acknowledging that you have both failed and erred in managing 
your life so far, set your feet on the right path.  But now this new 
and spiritual condition in you is going to be proved--and the 
 
proving, the testing, will surely consist of the way you determine 
to take your punishment. |  |  
	| 2 | Life is based on laws:  physical, man-made, and spiritual.  As 
you have broken the laws of the society in which you live, you 
will have to stand up like a man and take your punishment.  The 
spirit in which you do this is the most important thing, and 
constitutes a great opportunity for you.  He (the Guardian) 
advises you to turn your face towards the future, to realise that 
when you are set free you have loving and helpful friends to go 
to, an upright job awaiting you, and you can also become active 
in serving our glorious Faith.  So really everything lies before 
you.  But at present, until your sentence is up, you must live 
within yourself in a way not to spoil the new future awaiting 
you.  You must not become bitter--for after all you are only 
reaping what you planted.  Bahá'u'lláh and `Abdu'l-Bahá, through 
no crime of their own, spent the better part of their lives in exile 
and imprisoned, but they never became embittered although 
they were the victims of injustice.  You, on the other hand, are 
the victim of injustice which you have inflicted on yourself--
therefore you certainly have no right to be bitter towards the 
world. |  |  
	| 3 | He urges you to grasp firmly the teachings of our Faith, the 
love of your family and many Bahá'í friends, to put the past 
behind entirely, realising that it can do you no more harm; on 
the contrary, through changing you and making you spiritually 
aware, this very past can be a means of enriching your life in the 
future!  He will certainly ardently pray for your happiness, your 
victory over yourself, and that you may become an exemplary 
and active Bahá'í. |  |  | 
 
 
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