Fire

Fire

Fire or flames represent spirituality in the material world, and heat represents test in that world. As it says in the Bahá’í Writings, spirituality leads to tests for ourselves and others, just as fire and flames radiate heat in all directions. If a person is spiritual, they need to avoid being spiritual in a way which is beyond the capacity of others, in the same way as keeping a flame away from other things avoids burning them.

Just as we need to avoid excessive heat or cold in order to stay healthy, if we want to be spiritually healthy we need to avoid excessive or insufficient tests, that is, we need to stay within the bounds of moderation regarding tests. The institutions of the world and loving parents help us a lot regarding this. The increasing heat in the earth’s atmosphere represents the increasing tests of humanity. However, the loved ones of God are reassured by Bahá’u’lláh regarding excessive or insufficient tests:

I swear by My life! Nothing save that which profiteth them can befall My loved ones. To this testifieth the Pen of God, the Most Powerful, the All-Glorious, the Best Beloved.

Heat and cold are related closely to being and doing, in that in general the more active we are in our lives and the more we are like the Sun, the more we get tested, and that passivity reduces tests. If a person is too passive, becoming spiritual will enable them to become more active.

Cooking foods often makes them more pleasant to eat, in the same way that people who have been tested in a moderate way are generally more pleasant to be around than those who haven’t. In a way it matures the food, just as tests in life enable us to become more mature and spiritual. Hot drinks cause us to become more active because they heat us up quickly, and cold drinks relax us because they cool us down quickly.