Guilt and Transformation: Part II :: Baha'i Perspectives

Guilt and Transformation: Part II

geoffrey May 19th, 2008

guilt

Egyptian Fe-mail is a blog whose post of April of last year speaks directly on this subject of a guilt-culture. The author states:

“Shame” - what a word! It has the power to clog your mouth and seal your lips just by pronouncing it. Have you ever noticed how such a tiny word can lock your mind, inhibit your feelings, and imprison you in a world of rules that are not supposed to be broken just because it is a “shame”? We were born free and uninhibited, and then we were given “the rules of shame and its derivatives”; cover your body, hide your feelings, withhold from expressing your opinion, and filter your words before you get yourself in trouble, were all tips to treasure from childhood onwards.

The critical theme of this post is the oppressiveness and judgment of a society built upon the concept of shame and guilt, which in turn actually leads to a spiral of self-delusion, self-hatred and in essence self-negation within a society. Other critical concepts to take into account from the Bahá’í perspective, with regards to individual and community life, are those that deal with and encourage a mindset of learning.

This simple statement has profound impact and meaning. It allows one to transcend and be open to a process of transformation, and recognizes the need to place the high station of man’s inner being and true essence at the forefront of ones decisions. It allows one to be in a state of growth, development and reflection. It allows us to bring ourselves to account, to investigate the nature of our actions, to use “shame” as a positive instrument in the building a of stronger sense of conviction and consecration.

The sense of shame, when considered in its rightful context, can serve as a powerful agent for proactive societal change. Yet, even as a reactive force, it plays a needed role. Without it, how could nations feel compelled to right the wrongs of past generations? How could the privileged ever consider uplifting the previously down-trodden in society, often at their own expense? Without a new found sense of understanding guilt, how could we begin to repair those insidious affects of years of racial prejudice experienced by (and still affecting) such countries as the United States and South Africa?

Abdu’l-Baha, the son of the founder of the Bahá’í Faith, Baha’u'llah, further comments on prejudice:

The causes of dispute among different nations are always due to one of the following classes of prejudice: racial, lingual, theological, personal, and prejudices of custom and tradition. It requires a universal active force to overcome these differences. A small disease needs a small remedy, but a disease which pervades the whole body needs a very strong remedy. A small lamp may light a room, a larger would light a house, a larger still might shine through the city, but the sun is needed to light the whole world.

(Abdu’l-Baha, Abdu’l-Baha in London, p. 59)

Continuing on the concept of racial prejudice, how are we to ameliorate the affects of such a detrimental and long lasting illness? It is through the acceptance of the “universal active force” of the oneness of humanity.

In the Bahá’í view, the oneness of humankind represents an organic interdependence within a corporeal social entity. This implies that the welfare of the constituent components of this body is inextricably interwoven with that of the whole. Moreover, the essential oneness of the human race is not restricted to the physical dimension; it extends to the social and spiritual aspects of human life. Through the nurturing and unfolding of man’s transcendental potential, cultural diversity can begin to be viewed as the expression of this universal and basic truth. Only then can perceived racial barriers be overcome.

(Baha’i International Community, 1990 Jan 26, Combating Racism)

Again, at the foundation of this post is the need to reorient and restructure the concept of guilt or shame — to take it away from a repressive force, to one that is both active and positive. This will, of course, require a shift in education and moral training which would need to be structured in such a way as to provide the holistic perspective — a perspective that surpasses the narrow vision of excessive individualism and fragmentation. Its objective would be to provide solutions by which we approach the realities of life and our decisions proactively and through reflection.