How easy it is to forget the requirement that all our thoughts or intentions, individual and collective, should lead to action and results. In the words of 'Abdu'l-Bahá:
Every effort must have its result, else it is not a true effort. ... Every progress depends on two things, knowledge and practice. First acquire knowledge, and, when conviction is reached, put it into practice.
The attainment of any object is conditioned upon knowledge, volition and action. Unless these three conditions are forthcoming, there is no execution or accomplishment. In the erection of a house it is first necessary to know the ground, and design the house suitable for it; second, to obtain the means or funds necessary for the construction; third, actually to build it.
Thoughts may be divided into two classes:
- Thought that belongs to the world of thought alone.
- Thought that expresses itself in action.
Some men and women glory in their exalted thoughts, but if these thoughts never reach the plane of action they remain useless: the power of thought is dependent on its manifestation in deeds.
- 'Abdu'l-Bahá, London 108, Promulgation 157, Paris 18
The question we might ask ourselves at any given time might be, "Do we/I have everything ready and in place, this very moment, to take the first step in the direction of achieving our/my intended goal—action and results?" Bahá'u'lláh has said:
At the outset of every endeavour, it is incumbent to look to the end of it.
Know thou that the end is like unto the beginning. Even as thou dost consider the beginning, similarly shouldst thou consider the end, and be of them that truly perceive. Nay, rather consider the beginning as the end itself, and so conversely, that thou mayest acquire a clear perception.
- Bahá'u'lláh, Tablets 168, 183 .
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