A. The 12 points of Spiritual Health Habits should be taped to the wall.

B. From the secretary's notes of the previous session the facilitators can type these insights and have photocopied for the members of the class.

C. Prepare attractive thank you cards for the individuals participating in the course. Each card can contain an appropriate quote on healing for the participants (or a gift of your own choosing).

D. Be sure to have extra pens and paper out on a table for participants' use.

1. To begin, ask one of the participants to read a healing prayer to open the session.

2. One of the facilitators of the course can read out loud the 12 points of Spiritual Health Habits.

3. Give the participants 5 minutes to review their personal vision. Has it changed since the first week? This does not have to be shared with the group but is for their private reflection. Perhaps play soothing music during this quiet time.

4. Review the 6 introductory points from the first class to refresh everyone's understanding of the focus of the course.

The above should take about 1/2 hour.

1. Go over the homework that was assigned during the third session.

2. Pass out photocopies of insights from previous session. (See above - B)

3. If there were any questions that individuals asked of a Bahá'í physician who uses the teachings of Bahá'u'lláh, now is the time to share the physician's answers to those questions with the participants.

The above should take about 1/2 hour.

Studying the Quotes

Now the class breaks into two groups. Bach group will have their own writings to study. (See "Quotes to Study" - Group One and Group Two in this session.) Be sure that each group has a facilitator and a secretary. The facilitator will keep the group on track. The secretary will take notes of all insights and will report back to the general group at the end of this session. This part will take approximately 45 minutes to study the quotes. Follow the three steps outlined below.

1. Someone reads the quote out loud.

2. Participants take turns asking questions to the person beside them and the answer is given using the words in the quote rather than personal opinion. This is continued until the quote has been completed.

3. Consult how we can develop skills for our health based on the quote.

Completing Session Four

After 45 minutes of study, consultation and insights, the groups reconvene into one major group. Both facilitators and secretaries share the insights gained during the study of the quotes with all the participants. Allow approximately ten to fifteen minutes.

Some suggestions that can be given to the participants for their consideration.

1. Ask if they would like to meet in 3 months. You could invite all the participants back for a potluck supper reunion in three months time. State the time, date and place of the upcoming reunion of the participants. After the potluck supper they can all be encouraged to share the changes they have been able to institute in their health habits since the completion of the course.

2. The facilitators can encourage others to give the course. One of the facilitators could offer to assist anyone who would wish to give the course to another group of people.

The evaluation sheet can be given out to each participant, and while soft music is playing they can write their answers which the facilitators can review later.

Give each participant the gift of the thank you card (or a gift of your own choosing).

Serve simple and nourishing refreshments such as fruits, nuts and water or juice to drink.

Session Four - Group One

"Therefore, it is evident that this spirit is different from the body, and that the bird is different from the cage, and that the power and penetration of the spirit is stronger without the intermediary of the body. Now, if the instrument is abandoned, the possessor of the instrument continues to act. For example, if the pen is abandoned or broken, the writer remains living and present; if a house is ruined, the owner is alive and existing. This is one of the logical evidences for the immortality of the soul.

There is another: this body becomes weak or heavy or sick, or it finds health; it becomes tired or rested; sometimes the hand or leg is amputated, or its physical power is crippled; it becomes blind or deaf or dumb; its limbs may become paralyzed; briefly, the body may have all the imperfections. Nevertheless, the spirit in its original state, in its own spiritual perception, will be eternal and perpetual; it neither finds any imperfection, nor will it become crippled. But when the body is wholly subjected to disease and misfortune, it is deprived of the bounty of the spirit, like a mirror which, when it becomes broken or dirty or dusty, cannot reflect the rays of the sun nor any longer show its bounties.

We have already explained that the spirit of man is not in the body because it is freed and sanctified from entrance and exit, which are bodily conditions. The connection of the spirit with the body is like that of the sun with the mirror. Briefly, the human spirit is in one condition. It neither becomes ill from the diseases of the body nor cured by its health; it does not become sick, nor weak, nor miserable, nor poor, nor light, nor small -- that is to say, it will not be injured because of the infirmities of the body, and no effect will be visible even if the body becomes weak, or if the hands and feet and tongue be cut off, or if it loses the power of hearing or sight.

Therefore, it is evident and certain that the spirit is different from the body, and that its duration is independent of that of the body; on the contrary, the spirit with the utmost greatness rules in the world of the body; and its power and influence, like the bounty of the sun in the mirror, are apparent and visible. But when the mirror becomes dusty or breaks, it will cease to reflect the rays of the sun."

('Abdu'l-Bahá, Some Answered Questions, pp.228-29)

Exercise:

1. Study the above quote using the sample method provided.

2. Consult how we can develop skills for health based on this quote.

Session Four - Group Two

"Know thou that the soul of man is exalted above, and is independent of all infirmities of body or mind. That a sick person showeth signs of weakness is due to the hindrances that interpose themselves between his soul and his body, for the soul itself remaineth unaffected by any bodily ailments. Consider the light of the lamp. Though an external object may interfere with its radiance, the light itself continueth to shine with undiminished power. In like manner, every malady afflicting the body of man is an impediment that preventeth the soul from manifesting its inherent might and power. When it leaveth the body, however, it will evince such ascendancy, and reveal such influence as no force on earth can equal. Every pure, every refined and sanctified soul will be endowed with tremendous power, and shall rejoice with exceeding gladness." (Bahá'u'lláh, Gleanings from the Writings of Bahá'u'lláh, LXXX, pp.153-54)

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"Regarding your questions concerning the condition of the soul during illness. The passages in the 'Gleanings' make it quite clear that physical ailments, no matter how severe, cannot bring any change in the inherent condition of the soul. As Bahá'u'lláh says: "The spirit is permanent and steadfast in its station". The veil or hindrance that interposes between soul and body during physical disease is sickness itself. Sickness reveals a lack of balance in the human organism, an absence of equilibrium in the forces essential for the normal functioning of the human body."

(Written on behalf of Shoghi Effendi to an individual believer, 8 March 1936)

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"0 ye lovers of God! The world is even as a human being who is diseased and impotent, whose eyes can see no longer, whose ears have gone deaf, all of whose powers are corroded and used up. Wherefore must the friends of God be competent physicians who, following the holy Teachings, will nurse this patient back to health. Perhaps, God willing, the world will mend, and become permanently whole, and its exhausted faculties will be restored, and its person will take on such vigour, freshness and verdancy that it will shine out with comeliness and grace."

('Abdu'l-Baha, Selections from the Writings of 'Abdu'l-Baha, p.244)

Exercise:

1. Study the above quotes using the sample method provided.

2. Consult how we can develop skills for health based on these quotes.

1. Did you enjoy the way the course was presented? - Material? - Organization?

2. What did you learn from the course?

3. Did it change your attitude about health? If yes, how?

4. How do you plan to use your new awareness?

5. Are you willing to carry on the course with another group of people?

6. Other comments.

 

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