1. Find a map.
2. Pick a path.
3. Stay on the path.

Hm . . . how do you know if it's the right path? And how do you know if you're on it? If only you had a spiritual MapQuest...

© Bahá’í International Community

The Baha'i Faith serves that function for Craig Loehle, a scientist and author from Naperville, Ill., who offered suggestions on treading a spiritual path.

"The path should bring you closer to God and to loving Him," Loehle said at a recent speaking engagement at a Chicago bookstore. "But love is not a destination -- it's an ongoing process -- so love means never arriving and always being on a journey."

Oneness and unity, he said, provide the context for all paths of spirituality. But even if you're on the right path, "it's easy to get lost in the daily struggle of trying to stay on it. So it's important for us to get out the map," he said, "and make sure we're not caught up in the trickery of substituting personal motives, such as being good to others to make us feel good, for the real thing."

For Baha'is, the "real thing" is the Revelation of Baha'u'llah, Who fed the poor, nurtured the sick and tended to the needy in myriad ways. Baha'is follow His lead by performing acts of service, which is one of the core principles of the Faith.

Whoso hath quaffed the living waters of Thy favors can fear no trouble in Thy path, neither can he be deterred by any tribulation from remembering Thee or from celebrating Thy praise. -Baha'u'llah

Loehle says Baha'is know they're straying from the path if they're not able to detach from a problem and instead let it consume them.

Detaching he says, is when "you're stuck in traffic and you use the time to your best advantage instead of swearing and complaining. Detaching is separating yourself from your troubles and knowing that nothing can touch your faith in God. It's feeling love for God in spite of challenges and knowing you're not alone."

Happy is the pure soul who does not attach himself to transient conditions and comforts, but rather seeks to attach himself to the purity, nobility and splendor of the world which endures -Baha'i Scriptures.