First, I as a humble individual get to elect the body that will govern the spiritual affairs of a whole community. Moreover, through the whole Baha’i Administrative System, by electing the representatives who will in turn elect the National Spiritual Assembly, who in their turn will elect the members of the Universal House of Justice, I get to participate in a process that influences the whole world.

Secondly, I think of the contrast of Baha’i elections with any other political process I have witnessed — whether during my Communist Youth League days in Bulgaria in the 1980s or in the most current presidential elections in the USA. There is no campaigning in the Baha’i elections and the criteria is the selection of the most able, most humble, most spiritual person who would selflessly carry on the work of God in the community. This is so dramatically different from anything else I have witnessed, that it is simply refreshing, and hope-giving.

Thirdly, I think of the idea of personal faith not in contrast but in agreement with the idea of organized religion. I’ve always wanted my religion to foster a personal connection with God. On the other hand I also wanted my religion to have an impact on the society we live in. The Baha’i Faith is exactly such a religion where the confluence of personal and societal create a sum that is more than its individual parts, and the Baha’i election process is what links the prayerful mood through the idea and to the action.

A religious life of just prayer, while fundamentally important, is not enough to influence the affairs of a world sinking in materialistic contradictions. Action that is informed by the inspiration borne out of a prayerful mood is a key. The Baha’i election is exactly such a magical combination where our prayers impact the decisions we make so that the people we select can make a true, spiritual, difference.