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When it comes down to it, there are no greater personal questions than those asking about the purpose of life, how to find happiness, and what happens to us when we die.

Fortunately for the readers of Geoffrey Gore’s book, In Search of Immortality, they have an impeccable guide to how these big three questions are addressed in the Baha’i teachings.

The book is a forthright presentation by the author of his well-formed views of the Bahai position on these matters, supported by selected quotations from authoritative writings.

Four factors contribute to the appeal of the book, including:

•  excellent introductions and summaries

•  apt quotations from the Writings

•  division into manageable sections

•  clarity of expression

The book begins with a statement of the author’s view that it is part of the human condition to search for meaning and to ask why we are here on earth.

“To seek the meaning of life is also to seek the meaning of death,” writes Mr Gore, who then proceeds to recount the views of Socrates as an introduction to the Baha’i position that is developed throughout the book.

Purpose

The author writes that the first step in search for meaning in life is a step towards knowledge, specifically the knowledge of God, which carries with it an imperative to act.

Later, he summarises the purpose of life: namely to understand of our true reality, our divine nature and the development of spiritual attributes, summarised as the preparation of ourselves for the next world.

Happiness

In a chapter titled “The Source of Happiness, the author notes that if people’s choices in this life are made from their higher natures and arise from, for example, love, generosity, forgiveness and patience, they will increase their happiness in this world. If, on the hand, those choices are made on the basis of their material nature and come out of fear, anxiety, anger impatience, their unhappiness will increase.

Mr Gore also addresses something that can sabotage our happiness. Fear of death, he says, is debilitating and gives rise to all manner of neuroses. He backs this up with a quotation from Abdul-Baha, which begins: “The conception of annihilation is a factor in human degradation, a cause of human debasement and lowliness, a source of human fear and abjection...”`

The author moves on to say that without the knowledge of God, humans are susceptible to every form of fear—the loss of material wealth, the fear of death, the fear of losing loved ones.

Death

The climax of the book is chapter 12, entitled Departing this life.

Geoffrey Gore employs the wisdom of the Baha’i writings to answer the deep questions surely all of us have about dying and the after-life. This chapter is divided into subsections such as The world of existence is a single world; The moment of physical death; Praying for the Departed; Recognising people in the next world.

By the end of this chapter , those three big questions – Life’s purpose; How to be happy; What happens after death—have been addressed.

In the next chapter, the author provides a handy how-to-guide named “Life Notes of the Pilgrim”. This focusses on the art of goal-setting and being happy.

The final chapter includes information on Baha’u’llah and His teachings that is suitable not only for those encountering this material for the first time but also for those confirmed their Baha’i beliefs.

In Search of Immortality, by Geoffrey Gore. Published by George Ronald.

BDS Review: Michael Day