… among the teachings of Bahá’u’lláh is man’s freedom, that
through the ideal Power he should be free and emancipated from the captivity of
the world of nature; for as long as man is captive to nature he is a ferocious
animal, as the struggle for existence is one of the exigencies of the world of
nature. This matter of the struggle for existence is the fountain-head of all
calamities and is the supreme affliction.
- ‘Abdu’l-Baha (From the First Tablet to the Hague, 17 December 1919;
revised translation under the direction of the Universal House of Justice,
available at the online ‘Baha’i Reference Library’ site of the Baha’i World Center)
