Baha’i Perspectives

nadim January 28th, 2008

SITUATION: Introduce the Baha’i Faith to someone who hasn’t heard of it before, and you have exactly 30 seconds in which to do so.

I can’t recall just how often I’ve found myself in this situation. Doing this effectively, no doubt, requires the individual to be familiar with the general customs, habits and practices of the “target audience”.

More and more, I find that I am speaking to a secular audience– an audience that visibly locks up when the word “religion” is mentioned, yet opens up and listens when using the word “cause” instead. This got me thinking: what do these words conjure in the mind of the average individual? Here are some ideas, based on personal interactions and observations, so please take them at face value:

Religion: taboo, intolerant, close-minded, divisive, personal, unnecessary.
Cause: courage, purpose, direction, praiseworthy, necessary.

Would you agree with this list? It is interesting how the positive aspects of religion have been sidelined, yet with the division caused by multiple, seemingly-conflicting belief systems, can people really be blamed for thinking in this way? On the other hand, Baha’u'llah gives us a stark warning of the consequences of ignoring the pursuit of religion:

Should the lamp of religion be obscured, chaos and confusion will ensue, and the lights of fairness and justice, of tranquillity and peace cease to shine. Unto this will bear witness every man of true understanding.

(Baha’u'llah, Tablets of Baha’u'llah, p. 125)

It is clear that, throughout history and across societies, religion has been the primary force regulating moral conduct and fostering a spirit of brotherhood between people. So, as unpopular as the concept of religion may be nowadays, it is evident that the “chaos and confusion” in the world is a direct consequence of the absence of true religion.

What about describing this Faith as a Cause? Out of curiosity, I performed an electronic search through an important Baha’i work, and found that the frequency of appearance of the word “Cause” outnumbers “Religion” by a 2:1 ratio. This is food for thought! Yet, it is understandable when one ponders the magnitude of the mission revealed by Baha’u'llah, and the amount of dedicated sacrifice required to achieve it. How can one explain, in 30 seconds, that Baha’is are busy building the pattern of a future world society; laying the foundations of a structure that will, in time, lead to the political, social and economic unification of the planet? Try as I might, my explanations tend to be wholly inadequate.

Unification of the whole of mankind is the hall-mark of the stage which human society is now approaching. Unity of family, of tribe, of city-state, and nation have been successively attempted and fully established. World unity is the goal towards which a harassed humanity is striving. Nation-building has come to an end. The anarchy inherent in state sovereignty is moving towards a climax. A world, growing to maturity, must abandon this fetish, recognize the oneness and wholeness of human relationships, and establish once for all the machinery that can best incarnate this fundamental principle of its life.

(Shoghi Effendi, The World Order of Baha’u'llah, p. 202)

Tags: baha'i, religion, unity

• Baha'i Concepts , Society
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nava July 23rd, 2008

If there are indeed “lost” boys and girls out there who refuse to grow up, who waste their days away with idle talk and deedless days, is our society just doomed to perish?  Or is there hope for a flourishing of human affairs once again, a spiritual renaissance, if you will?

I believe it is the latter.  Yes, there is work to be done, and a lot of it.  But it can be done.  It will be done, and we will be reborn.  We will flourish.  We will arise.  So when do we start, and how do we start?

We start…today.  That much should be abundantly clear.  There is no time to waste, not a moment to lose. As our environmental woes amass, moral decadence prevails, depression and suicide rates are on the rise, and materialism infects the cells of society like a terminal cancer, how can we hesitate for even a moment to stand up and make a change?  How can we doubt for even one instant that things are not okay and will never be okay until we get out there and do something? But we can’t do it alone.  It would be foolish to think ourselves capable of transforming this mess we currently live into the promised Kingdom of God on earth on our own.

Fortunately, we have Baha’u'llah.  We have the Revelation of Baha’u'llah.  The teachings that are apropriate for the ills of today.  You see, God sends us Divine Teachers (what many refer to as Prophets, what Bahá’ís term Manifestations or Messengers of God) to guide humanity and draw us nearer to Him. These Manifestations of God do this by bringing us laws and teachings according to our collective capacity as a human race. These laws are both new and the same. They are appropriate for the day in which we live — as every new age has its own ill, and every new ill requires a different medicine, the social teachings change and address the specific “disease” of the time — and the spiritual laws which are eternal and unchanging are renewed rather than rewritten.

This accounts for the varying religions.  There are so many, not because one is right and all the rest are false, but because each authentic religion was right in its own historical context, was necessary for the age in which it was revealed, and is renewed, not lost, when the next Manifestation comes. So essentially, there is only one religion — “eternal in the past, eternal in the future” — though at different times it had different names and different laws. Even different teachers. Much like the child going through the same school, but at each new grade learning newer and more complex ideas, humanity is educated by God in the same progressive and gradual way.

Therefore, we believe that Baha’u'llah, the most recent in this series, has brought the teachings which are appropriate for today. He says:

The All-Knowing Physician hath His finger on the pulse of mankind. He perceiveth the disease, and prescribeth, in His unerring wisdom, the remedy. Every age hath its own problem, and every soul its particular aspiration. The remedy the world needeth in its present-day afflictions can never be the same as that which a subsequent age may require. Be anxiously concerned with the needs of the age ye live in, and center your deliberations on its exigencies and requirements.

Equipped with the teachings of Baha’u'llah, the very elixirs for the diseases of the age, Baha’is the world over are engaged in specific core activities aimed at addressing the root causes which result in the symptoms of these diseases plaguing humanity. Too many organizations and institutions address it the other way around — they address the symptoms, not the cause. This at best postpones further symptoms, but does nothing in the way of truly curing and preventing the problems from reocurring.

We believe in grassroots change. We believe in the power of the individual to arise and make a difference. To be an active agent of social transformation, rather than a passive bystander in the perishing of society, or someone who sits on his or her couch all day feeling depressed about the world but offering nothing more than complaints.

Our core activities include, as a vital component, children’s classes and junior youth classes. These classes aim at infusing these youngsters with morality, all-too lacking and underrated these days, so that they can use their lives for the betterment of society.  They are also expected to engage in service activities as a group so that the love of service, which may not be inherently there, can grow and together, they can gradually learn to be the kind of people who care about more than just their own existences.

We support, encourage, and are participating in social and economic development projects, especially those aimed at helping the under-served in our world have a voice, provide for themselves and their families.

We are working for change.

But, we can’t do it alone. We don’t want to do it alone. We want to work shoulder-to-shoulder with our neighbors, our coworkers, our friends, our friends’ friends — in taking responsibility for our planet and together, rebuilding the world in which we live. Transforming it into that long-awaited Kingdom of God on earth.

Boys and girls, men and women, let’s rise up off our couches.  Put away the video remote control.  Stop checking your Facebook updates.  Forget about who your ex-boyfriend is talking to today.  Let’s not be those lost boys and girls.  Let’s be the agents of change.  Let’s transform ourselves and our planet, and let’s do it today.

Tags: baha'i, childhood, maturity, religion

• Baha'i Concepts , Principles in Action , Society
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Baha'i Perspectives November 15th, 2008

Part four? But where are parts one, two and three you ask? In his blog Our Evolution: Culture and Spirituality, writer Alexander Zoltai seamlessly interweaves his own search after spiritual truth with principles explored in the document One Common Faith. Following on from the first three installments, part four of this captivating series - republished below - considers the relationship between morality, spirituality and religion. Read on…

More on my spiritual war with religion.

In the last installment, I’d said, “I was known for my spirited discussions about religion, challenging anyone available to prove to me even a shred of evidence that religion was the correct way to worship God…”

Even though I’d had a huge turn-off toward religion, I continued to search for one I could call my own, devote myself to, claim as my Truth.

I should inject a bit of clarity concerning morality, spirituality, and religion.

Having a “moral code” may keep you from reprehensible actions but it won’t necessarily help you transform your consciousness or achieve the heights of spiritual awareness.

Being “spiritual” may bring some measure of heightened consciousness and may or may not have an influence on moral behavior.

Being “religious” can improve the morals, heighten spirituality, and induce an attitude that aids an individual in working cooperatively to build better forms of social existence.

Our ancestors had a chance to try all three modes of behavior and understanding, over and over again. They, with the help of the Avatars and Prophets down through the ages, built moral codes, devised activities to heighten spirituality, and formed religious societies. Something they also did, that worked against all three forms of social betterment, was to weave highly materialistic and basely human rituals and institutions around the pure forms bequeathed to them by the Prophets. This is what led to the divisiveness of religion against religion—the fighting against the outer forms of worship and dogmatic theologies while ignoring the eternal spiritual truths.

I did the very same thing in my individual development. I’d receive a small bit of the Truth, immediately appropriate it to my personal whims and fancies, project it on anyone willing to listen, and defend it till I’d lose the other person’s respect…

I came from an American-Christian background. I’ve always honored and respected Jesus. I also explored other religions and found cause to honor and respect their Prophet-Founders. The predominant American religious game is to deal out a deck stacked against any religion but the one crafted by either very mortal popes or very mortal ministers. I’d grown up with two very mortal ministers (mom and dad), had them shape my early understandings of religion. How in the world to reconcile my religious birthright of the exclusivity of Jesus with the apparently equal exclusivity of the other Prophet-Founders?

The answer was found after an excruciatingly painful descent into my Dark Night of the Soul.

Spiritual Quote :

“What ‘oppression’ is more grievous than that a soul seeking the truth, and wishing to attain unto the knowledge of God, should know not where to go for it and from whom to seek it? For opinions have sorely differed, and the ways unto the attainment of God have multiplied. This ‘oppression’ is the essential feature of every Revelation. Unless it cometh to pass, the Sun of Truth will not be made manifest. For the break of the morn of divine guidance must needs follow the darkness of the night of error.”

Bahá’u’lláh, The Kitab-i-Iqan, p. 31

For an in-depth and rigorous discussion of the principles explored in this story, reference One Common Faith and Changeless Faith.

Tags: morality, religion, spirituality, truth

• General Interest , Society
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geoffrey October 17th, 2008

When looking at the collective history of Man, when peering through the ages, we may find those pivotal moments that appear periodically which have served as catalysts for the advancement of the world.

Baha’is believe that throughout history God has sent Messengers to guide mankind to its next level of development; have come to bring about the order of the world in ever increasing and complex modes of organization.

Inevitably, though, due to the weakness of Man, we reject these Prophets and turn away.

I know, O my Lord, neither their reasoning with which they have acknowledged Thee and believed in Thy signs, nor their argument whereby they have repudiated Thy sovereignty. Every time I call them to Thee and say: ‘O people! Consider the utterances of the Lord your God which are in your possession and those that have been sent down from the heaven of His will and power,’ they cavil at Thee, and turn their backs to Thee, though — as Thou art aware — each of the words that have gone out of the mouth of Thy will sheddeth the fragrance of the breaths of Thy mercy.

(Baha’u'llah, Prayers and Meditations by Baha’u'llah, p. 179)

Hollow, empty echoes meet my ears.

The only sounds of my soft footsteps.

My breath catches,

And I feel pressed for air.

Suddenly, I am paralyzed by the pain of sorrow.

When it should drive me to love,

I am overwhelmed by fear and loss.

My Ears are stopped,

And I cannot hear the Ancient Song.

One sung by Poets and seers,

Ever heard at the breaking of Dawn.

How do I measure the seasons of life?

How may I test the strength of love’s bonds?

Only when every action of Man’s life,

Every thought, every whisper,

Has become an expression of Faith and Reason,

Will Man be able to love,

Without understanding what is loved.

Then we may see the changeless face of God.

For Day will come,

But first the sun must fall.

And with each winter in Man’s heart,

A single Seed is set.

This is the rebirth of the Heavenly Tree.

How often is it neglected and misshapen?

How often is it cast aside,

Where It’s splinters are used as fuel

To feed the fires of hate?

Or to be left withering,

As it falls in a graceful decay,

Devoid of purpose and meaning.

I have within my own Heart

The universal life of Mankind.

Its joy and hope,

Its pain and mystery.

I contain the fertile field,

Where a fruit laden Tree sinks its roots.

With leaves upturned

It catches the light and sustaining rain

That falls ceaselessly

On those that have let it grow there.

Tags: faith, poetry, religion

• Arts & Culture , Baha'i Concepts
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