Many lives are expended almost entirely devoted to the pursuit of increasing material wealth, or the pursuit of enjoying as many material experiences as possible, either simply because the individual has no greater life purpose, or because it is hoped that through these temporary means he may attain lasting contentment, freedom from difficulty, and ultimately – happiness. But however much man may strive to attain peace of heart and happiness through the accumulation of material possessions, or material experiences, he will find that this lasting contentment he seeks will continually elude him, and that at best, even with extraordinary wealth and material opportunity he will not be able to attain the ease and peace of mind of a house cat, or a cow that grazes on the hillside, carefree, and contented.
In the words of Abdu’l-Baha:
"Were ease and pleasure and freedom from hardships to be considered the highest result of human life, no man could equal in this the cattle. For even when a man becomes the master of great wealth and attains the loftiest honor in the world, a mere cow grazing on the hill-side will by far surpass him in ease and contentment.”
Yet this is what many of us set for ourselves as the ultimate goal of our existence, expending our precious hours and moments as “seekers after this life”, when all the while we are getting closer to leaving this life.
In the words of Baha’u’llah – Prophet Founder of the Baha'i Faith
"Say: If ye be seekers after this life and the vanities thereof, ye should have sought them while ye were still enclosed in your mothers’ wombs, for at that time ye were continually approaching them, could ye but perceive it. Ye have, on the other hand, ever since ye were born and attained maturity, been all the while receding from the world and drawing closer to dust. Why, then, exhibit such greed in amassing the treasures of the earth, when your days are numbered and your chance is well-nigh lost?”
Although material progress is an aspect of human life, it is not the purpose of human existence, and alone has never satisfied the human spirit, “…whose mysterious nature inclines it towards transcendence, a reaching towards an invisible realm, towards the ultimate reality, that unknowable essence of essences called God.” *
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