Our Purpose in Life: Knowing God, Part II
john w March 21st, 2010
Bahá’ís believe that the purpose of life is to embark on a pleasurable journey of knowing God’s qualities through His Manifestations. As this continues they perceive God’s beauty and their love for God grows. ‘Abdu’l-Bahá affirms that:
Bahá’u'lláh revealed His directions, teachings and laws, so that souls might know God…
Such knowledge of His teachings, however, is not an ends in itself, but a means to its translation into action; for therein lies its fruition, or else it is as a man who claims he is handsome, but is really otherwise. As Bahá’u’lláh says:
It is incumbent upon every man of insight and understanding to strive to translate that which hath been written into reality and action.
Through this knowledge and action, the true meaning of the saying that man was created in God’s image becomes apparent. Bahá’u’lláh’s Writings exhort man to mirror forth the qualities and attributes of God such as justice, love, mercy, forgiveness and the like through their actions. In doing so, one becomes the spiritual reflection of the attributes of this spiritual image of God.
Therefore, because human beings inherently mirror the attributes of God, although to varying degrees, another way one can understand the attributes of God is through the mirror-like soul of a human being. ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, for example, reflected with utmost clarity the qualities of wisdom and knowledge through his writings and utterances, whilst also demonstrating love, kindness and tolerance through his behavior towards all he met. However, like the mirror, one soul can acquire defects which obscure the image within, such as racism, prejudice, selfishness and the like, and one must be careful not to attribute these defects to God Himself. Bahá’u’lláh explains, whilst quoting the Qur’an:
A pure heart is as a mirror; cleanse it with the burnish of love and severance from all save God, that the true sun may shine within it and the eternal morning dawn.
The most pure and clear reflection of the attributes of God is in the being of the Manifestation of God. Their lives, therefore, provide a most perfect knowledge into the attributes of God. Bahá’u’lláh says:
If it be your wish, O people, to know God and to discover the greatness of His might, look, then, upon Me with Mine own eyes, and not with the eyes of anyone besides Me.
So, let us consider the attributes of God that were manifested in the life of Bahá’u’lláh. His well-documented life demonstrates the virtues, qualities and attributes of God, even in the midst of the extreme persecution He suffered.
Like the birth of previous religions, Bahá’u’lláh’s teachings of love and unity were met with fierce opposition, this time from both a fanatical clergy in Iran and a corrupt Ottoman Empire; as a result He was exiled four times with His family and imprisoned for 40 years in dreadful conditions on account of the quick spread of His influence and the jealousy it provoked amongst a malicious clergy. For four months in 1852, Bahá’u’lláh and His companions were imprisoned in a dark, cold, underground dungeon known as the Síyáh-Chál, or ‘Black Pit’, in appalling circumstances. Many of Bahá’u’lláh’s companions were executed and the scars on His neck from the cumbersome 50kg chains stayed with Him until the end of His life some 40 years later. His son, ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, has recounted how, at the age of 9, he saw the heart-rending sight of his malnourished Father in tattered clothes with chains during His imprisonment.
Notwithstanding the persecution and slaughter of the thousands of early Bahá’ís and Bábís, Bahá’u’lláh showed the utmost love to all those He met, diffused teachings of love and harmony, promulgated the equality of men and woman at a time when this was unheard of, enunciated the principle of the harmony of science and religion, emphasized the necessity of independent investigation of truth and ceaselessly taught the oneness of humanity all throughout His harsh life.
Regarding His experiences He writes:
The Ancient Beauty [Bahá’u’lláh] hath consented to be bound with chains that mankind may be released from its bondage, and hath accepted to be made a prisoner within this most mighty Stronghold that the whole world may attain unto true liberty. He hath drained to its dregs the cup of sorrow, that all the peoples of the earth may attain unto abiding joy, and be filled with gladness. This is of the mercy of your Lord, the Compassionate, the Most Merciful. We have accepted to be abased, O believers in the Unity of God, that ye may be exalted, and have suffered manifold afflictions, that ye might prosper and flourish. He Who hath come to build anew the whole world, behold, how they that have joined partners with God have forced Him to dwell within the most desolate of cities!
The process of knowing God is one of loving God and taking pleasure in His beauty by gaining a deeper knowledge of His attributes through the person of the Manifestation and, to a much lesser extent, through its reflection in other human beings. This process ultimately leads to the greater reflection of His qualities – love, justice, truth, compassion and so on — in the human heart, which is the crying need of an agitated and afflicted humanity.
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A quick perusal of the headlines of any of the world’s major news sources would offer you ample opportunity to characterize God as “wrathful”. Assuming, of course, that your perception of God is as one who interacts with and is responsible for many of the things that occur in our world. Or even a vision of a God who intervenes, or is at least able to intervene, would also allow for this characterization.
