Overcoming the Lower Self
The greatest struggle is the overcoming of the lower self — the ego, desires, and impulses that distract from spiritual growth.
Bahá'u'lláh identified the greatest jihad (struggle) as the struggle against one's own ego (nafs amarra — the commanding self). Overcoming selfishness, pride, and attachment to base desires is the fundamental spiritual work of human life. This inner victory makes possible all outer contributions to human progress.
The most great struggle is the struggle against oneself.
The Bahá'í teaching on the greater struggle parallels the Sufi concept of the greater jihad — the most difficult and most important human endeavor.
Tablets of Bahá'u'lláh
Written about in
- What the Bahá'í Faith says about suffering
The greatest struggle is named as the struggle against oneself. That moves some suffering out of the category of things that happen to you and into work you are doing.
- What the Bahá'í Faith says about what to say and what to leave unsaid
Bahá'u'lláh named the struggle against one's own ego the greatest struggle. Used before speaking it is a usable test: much of what we want to report about an absent person exists to place us favourably, and admitting that privately settles most cases without a rule being needed.