Search for Truth, Research Progress Report; 20 June, 2004
I continue my investigation of the independent investigation of truth, piling digression upon digression, my every effort pushing me further from where I want to go. This time around it is a real mystery tour; I have no idea where this is leading. This morning I stumbled on a new thing that changes a lot of old things. I learned that if you want to get the pure message on the principles you only have to go to bahaiprinciples dot com.
This site is chary about revealing who is running it but it appears to be legit. We know that when a Russian porn monger appropriated "Bahaiwomen dot com" Baha'i institutions sued and shut them down, so we have to assume that this bahaiprinciples site is run by believers. For example, the site has under search for truth the full text of the Master's presentation in Paris Talks on independent search for truth, along with some pictures from, not surprisingly, bahaipictures dot com. Unfortunately the photos are not thematic or related to the text in any way. Nonetheless, they are nice shots of the holy places, many of which I've never seen. It is at this URL:
Now I know many of my readers must be getting sick of my harping on about the Kitab-i-Iqan and its importance to this principle. But lest there be any doubt about the fact that it is the base text for the principles, you can read a compact, readable and very convincing study of the Kitab-i-Iqan at:
Here I learned that Baha'u'llah Himself called the Kitab-i-Iqan the lord of books, that it inspired George Townshend to write his series of studies of the Christian message, including "Heart of the Gospel," and that that this great book inspired the Guardian to make the following statements about it, all of which are footnoted in this lovely little study,
"The significance of the Iqan, he states, lies in the fact that it "is the most important book wherein Baha'u'llah explains the basic beliefs of the Faith", and "contains the basic tenets of Faith" and "the very essence of the Teachings, and because of its clarity and relative simplicity can greatly appeal to every thoughtful reader". In it "the entire religious philosophy of the Cause is clearly sketched and every thoughtful student of religion cannot but be interested in it", and it "explains the attitude of the Cause to the Prophets of God and their mission in the history of society," describes "the mystic unity of God and His Manifestations" and "deepens the knowledge of the reader by acquainting him with some of the basic theological problems of the Faith. It is therefore indispensable for every student of the Movement". It is "Baha'u'llah's masterful exposition of the one unifying truth underlying all the Revelations of the past," and can lead the reader to "obtain a clear insight into the old scriptures and appreciate the true mission of the Bab and Baha'u'llah."
In other words, the KI is not only a summary of the essence of what was obscure before in religion, it is also an apology for it; that is, it does for mysticism what in science is called a popularization or popular science, a work that makes obscure mathematical truths palatable and understandable to the general reader. Even the most involved, specialized scientist recognizes that such works, while derivative, are crucial to public support and the furtherance of the funding of scientific investigation.
Similarly, the mystic is no longer someone who goes off and meditates alone, the principles set out in the KI act as a net to catch the mystic personality and lump them together with practical people, including scientists. The KI is the glue for all the principles because it persuades the scientist to welcome the mystic and persuades the public to join in with both in the same systematic application of the principles. It also sets out to accomplish the toughest challenge of all in the current world, uniting quarrelling religious groups. As the Guardian says,
"Well may it be claimed that of all the books revealed by the Author of the Baha'i Revelation, this Book alone, by sweeping away the age-long barriers that have so insurmountably separated the great religions of the world, has laid down a broad and unassailable foundation for the complete and permanent reconciliation of their followers." (God Passes By, 139, cited in the above paper)
Once the institutions of religion come together, they can support mystics, scientists, artists and others in a united, popular, public application of the social principles.
As my steadfast readers well know, my deep conviction is that principle is all about walking in the footsteps of a Master who, "walked the mystic path with practical feet." While casting about for an understanding of the philosophic and mystic aspects of search for truth, I have at the same time been centrally concerned with practical measures to express each and all of the principles. These public lifestyle controls I used to call "nursery gardens" but lately have been calling "open systems." These would be software portals run by scholars operating behind the scenes, as Linus Torvalds does the Linux operating system; that is, they would incorporate changes into a public, open set of standards sometimes called "copyleft." Under copyleft, changes and improvements are not secret or proprietary, users are legally bound to share them openly with the world community.
In the search for truth the mystic path trodden by practical feet aspect of the principle is summed up in a saying quoted to me by my psychologist in college, Bruno, who told me:
"If you are having mental problems, concentrate on the physical; if you are having physical problems, concentrate on the mental."
That is, if you had a Baha'i principles website that did more than just present a talk from Paris Talks, what would it set out to do? Clearly, it would be a reflective place designed to assist people to make that kind of turnaround. If they are bogged down in material problems, to seek out the spiritual solution at the root; if they are getting too isolated in their prayer and meditation, to seek out practical measures.
Which brings me to a progress report on my own search for practical aids in the search for truth. Several weeks ago there was a spate of articles around the world reporting the positive results of a long term gerontological study of humans confirming one of the major findings of 20th century science, that rats kept in a state of semi-starvation live longer, healthier, more energetic lives. I have steadfastly ignored health fads but this, it seemed to me, seemed to be a genuine advance in our knowledge of the requirements of the human diet. I Googled the articles and eventually found the source, an article in the Washington Times reporting on a specially designed low calorie diet devised by the doctor of the biosphere project, Roy L. Walford. I was anxious to try this diet right away but the low calorie diet website, dedicated to Walford, warned against doing it without consulting the several books he has written, and your doctor.
So I ordered the fellow's work by inter-library loan and on Friday I received "The Anti-Aging Plan," by him and his daughter, Lisa Walford. I have been devouring this book the first half of which is an explanation of the diet, the second half consisting of recipes made up with a computer diet planner based on the specially designed high nutrition, low calorie diet based on the findings of this gerontologist.
The way he markets his findings, as a way of living longer, does not seem appealing to the likes of me. I am not anxious to spend any more time than I must in this veil of tears. I am mostly intrigued by the prospect of more energy. When you see on television those famous energetic, calorie starved mice running around their cages and compare them with their sated controls, the difference is glaring. It seems unavoidable that the only way I'm ever going to accomplish what I have before me is to become the reverse of what I have always been, soporific, sluggish, and sleepy most of the time.
Every biography I read seems not only to confirm this but to mock me in my lassitude. They endlessly repeat this quality in describing the great person in question. Without exception, including the Master, they always have this one common factor, they lived their prodigious life full of energy, drive, vitality, perseverance, moxie. Whatever synonym you want to choose, it adds up to the same thing, the only way to have more life in your life, to get anything accomplished is to be energetic, to have a superabundance the demeanor that the first Hidden Word calls a "pure, kindly and radiant heart."
Now I am going to have a lot to say about this diet if I have the guts to go onto it -- though according to Walford if you eat the food he recommends their high bulk, low calorie quality actually lowers one's appetite; one does not long have that hungry look in one's eyes. But before I do, I want to report in detail on what I have found out about the Lawh-i-Tibb, the Tablet in which Baha'u'llah actually starts off by advocating "in the absence of physicians" just such a diet. He says,
"Say: O People! Eat not except after having hungered, and drink not after retiring to sleep (al-huju`)."
This is from a provisional translation that first came out in 1991 and was until quite recently unavailable. After quite a lot of surfing, however, I eventually came across a recently revised version put on the web by some academic publisher. Refreshingly, they include the Arabic in both the original chicken scratches and in transliteration throughout the text. You can read it for yourself at:
The first half of this truly astonishing Tablet is concerned with diet, and some statements would serve as nice summations of what Walford says at length in his part of the "anti-aging plan," citing study after study confirming that, in Baha'u'llah's words, "He whose eating hath been excessive, his malady will be heightened." The second half of the Tablet morphs into a love letter, an analysis of why and how to teach the Cause, and -- in my admittedly biased eyes -- an advocacy of "open systems:" "Thus it is binding and necessary that all may protect themselves and their brethren for the sake of the Cause of God."
I have exceeded my paragraph limit for today's essay, so tomorrow hopefully assisted by confirmations of the Spirit we will continue this investigation.
Some comments on parts of the Lawh-i-Tibb
21 June, 2004
I have no medical qualifications (except as a victim or bare survivor of the medical system, or lack thereof) but I cannot let the release of a revised Tablet of Medicine go by without comment. Having just read Dr. Roy L. Walford's "Anti-Aging Plan," I will intersperse references to his findings about the long term benefits of reduced calorie diets as well. As you know, the Guardian warned that one would not only need a medical background but also training in the particular, ancient school of medicine that the recipient of the Tablet had in order to understand this tablet. Nonetheless, parts seem clear enough even to the general reader.
"Do not avoid medical treatment (al-`ilaj) when thou hast need of it but abandon it when thy constitution hath been restored (istiqamat)."
Istiqlal, of course, is Friday in the Badi' Calendar, the day of the divine virtue of Independence. So Baha'u'llah starts by suggesting a physical sort of independence of the body from constant medical attention.
Case in point: Viagra. I read that the makers were surprised at its instant acceptance, for lack of sexual drive is not a "sickness" and the ethics of prescribing it were by no means clear. The trend has continued, and "male enhancement" drugs are widely advertised, making what five years ago would have seemed an absurdly frivolous reason for taking a drug seem a normal choice. "Makeover" reality shows are rapidly making plastic surgery for mere unprettiness seem the norm; as always, a few profit and the public suffers.
Another recent study found that streams and lakes are now showing high levels of tylenol, caffeine and other "normal" drugs that people take as a matter of course; levels are already high enough in many places to threaten wildlife. We have got to get the monkey off our back if only for the sake of the environment! Another study found that youths are popping non-prescription drugs like candies for minor stress, the sort of problem that lifestyle can and should absorb. Medical researchers were astonished to find how much they were taking and the youths were surprised to learn that non-prescription drugs can harm or even kill you. Obviously, this is another price we pay for dropping religion; prayer, reflection and fasting are drug free ways of alleviating stress. This, along with education, especially "training in hardship," proper exercise, holidays, strong family ties, all that can and should solve problems before drugs, prescription or not, even come into the picture.
"Do not commence a meal except after full digestion [of the previous meal] and swallow not save after the completion of chewing."
A bad habit I have fallen into over the years and cannot get out of now without conscious effort, constant attention. You turn your mouth into an assembly line by filling it before you've swallowed the previous bite. It is efficient, expedient and you don't even realize it is bad for the alembic or chemical retort we call a stomach.
Worse, you eat at all hours, whenever food is available. Youths sometimes go out and gorge themselves on pizza at 1 AM and end up in the Emerg, not realizing that it can kill you. Businesspersons in a hurry eat too fast, do not sit down to eat and then are surprised when they get irritable bowel syndrome, which afflicts a surprisingly large percentage of the population. As Walford points out, our collective diet is getting worse with every decade. Only lately is the fast food industry realizing that this slide is not in their interest either. The changes they are suggesting are so inadequate it is laughable.
The needed lifestyle adjustments have to be taught early and carefully regulated throughout life. This is a direct concern of the open system reforms I have in mind. For example, it would be easy to make a diet card like an ATM machine card that you would swipe whenever you eat at a restaurant. Doing that would be step towards keeping the full record of food intake that we need. It would allow a breakdown of the amount of bulk and calories we are taking in and the balance of our diets. As Walford points out, when we eat "empty calories" like candies and sugar the appetite is increased, the stomach is empty and we want to snack more. This initiates a vicious circle. On the other hand, good nutrition reduces appetite by filling the stomach with high bulk, low calorie food. Monitoring this aspect of diet would be a good first step towards ending a slippage that is all the more dangerous when we do not realize it is starting.
"Treat an illness firstly with nutrients [or foods, aliments, aghdhiya) and proceed not [immediately] unto medications (adwiyat)."
Baha'u'llah is giving advice to a physician here but we are all doctors to our own body and medical advice is increasing important to our whole culture. Now we have the image that medicine is all about doctoring, needles, drugs and high-tech procedures. No, those are last resorts, extreme measures for exceptional cases. Normal bodies respond to diet adjustment first. By ignoring diet medicine has been overwhelmed by extreme illnesses that become common. Doctors are so busy cleaning up they have no time to educate or monitor health when the problems are minor. Like me chewing improperly and too fast, they rush to clean up after the results of their leaving us in collective ignorance and total lack of body management. Only recently are medical educators reluctantly even recognizing the primary importance of diet in health.
"If that which thou desire results from elemental nutrients (al-mufradat) refrain from the compound treatments (al-murakkabat)."
I don't claim understand this specifically but it hints at something important. Like maybe, don't spend billions researching new drugs and virtually no funds on fundamental, commonsense lifestyle corrections. This is Occam's Razor: a simple solution trumps a complex, involved one. It is not only a philosophical principle it applies to medicine through the divine virtue of wisdom.
"Abandon medication (al-dawa') when thou art healthy but take hold of it when thou hast need thereof."
This statement by the Manifestation of God is so important because it is addressed to a member of the medical profession, but in this sentence at least it addresses the possessor of a body as DIY'er. It prescribes to both individual and prescriber a limit to prescriptions. Medication is a temporary measure, not part of normal lifestyle. This ends a sad, self-destructive misunderstanding of the nature of cure, one that has led to an epidemic of obesity, among other things.
Right now we do not even have a name for a doctor who treats people's bodies before they get sick; preventative medicine is generally regarded as an oxymoron, not really medicine at all. This new definition of cure places it in the center of a normal lifestyle with intervention by means of medication a rare exception. A good model for a medicine built along these lines would be how we already deal with mental health, with psychologists treating healthy minds and psychiatrists for the severe, delusional, worst cases. The ratio between doctors of preventive medicine and the number of interventional doctors should be a rough indicator of the overall health of a region.
"Commence first with the light food (al-raqiq) before moving on to the heavier one (al-ghaliz) and with the liquid before the solid."
In Walford's terms, the advice would be to start with a small salad, low calorie high bulk, which takes away the appetite for the main meal. You eat less while feeling just as sated.
"When you would commence eating, begin by mentioning My Most Glorious Name (al-abha) and finish it with the Name of Thy Lord, the Possessor of the Throne above and of the earth below."
The Guardian said that saying grace is not a Baha'i tradition, but this sounds awfully close to it. Food may not be a sacrament but if you do this it will be a sort of physical act of worship. Perhaps we are not to take saying the Greatest Name here literally or we can say it silently to ourselves without making a social thing of it. Note the mention of God as "Possessor of the Throne," an echo of the last statement in the Long Obligatory Prayer. We possess the food, or the long prayer, but the real owner is the One above.
"Eat a little in the morning for this is as a lamp to the body."
Also confirmed by recent studies. Exercise in the morning takes off more weight than at any other time. Food first thing adjusts blood sugar and other rates to optimum levels, as well as reducing appetite for the rest of the day. From a spiritual point of view, this may also be an allusion to the Book of Matthew, which uses the same comparison of the body to a lamp.
"For where your treasure is, your heart will be there also. The lamp of the body is the eye: if therefore your eye is sound, your whole body will be full of light. But if your eye is evil, your whole body will be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in you is darkness, how great is the darkness! No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to one, and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and Mammon. Therefore, I tell you, do not be anxious for your life, what you will eat, or what you will drink; nor yet for your body, what you will put on. Is life not more than food, and the body more than clothing? See the birds of the sky, that they do not sow, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns. Your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of much more value than they?" (Matt 6:21-6, WEB)
This is not only a prescription against a society of unhealthy livers who are at the same time hypochondriacs, it also prescribes a policy of placing the spiritual cure first, the love of God. If we feel content in that we have attained the purpose of health, even if the body is falling apart.
"Counter disease by utilizing established means (bi'l-asbab). This utterance is the decisive command in this discourse."
Established means being, I think, the general consensus of opinion in the scientific as well as religious community of experts. With the World Wide Web this community will in the long run become more vital and effective in influencing health. Established means also applies to the system of gaining credentials and extending rewards and punishments, which open systems is centrally concerned with broadening.
Baha'u'llah begins the next section of the Tablet by alluding to the contentment that a single "light of the body" would promote.
"Most necessary to thy well-being is contentment (al-qana`at) under all circumstances for through it will the soul be saved from sloth and ill-being."
We think of modern life as hurried and frenetic, but most of us are getting fat, the outward sign of sloth. Something is definitely missing here! Through all circumstances may mean that we should not just pay attention to our physical diet but our media diet as well. In conversation with other netizens I have noticed that people who watch the news in the morning very often complain of being distressed and depressed throughout the day. We know not what we do. I will never forget watching the film Goodfellas, a fairly innocuous black comedy but because I watched it first thing in the morning I was shocked and trembling for days afterwards, as if I had seen a shock-horror film. The morning is the light of the day, as Bahaullah says, and we have to be especially careful of what we expose ourselves to at that time. Ideally, wed all stroll down a lovely tree lined lane to the Mashriqul-Adhkar where we would chant the praises of God. Failing that, we especially have to watch ourselves.
I've run out of time and space, so let us both think about this, you and me, in the time we have until tomorrow. So in the meantime, take it easy, be content, let your spirit shake hands with your body.
More Comments on Parts of the Lawh-i-Tibb, Part II of II; 22 June, 2004
A reading of the entire Tablet to a Doctor gives this impression. Baha'u'llah is the doctor of humanity, so when He talks to a doctor the first part of the Tablet naturally deals with the nature of the doctor's prescriptions for bodies. Then He turns to the believers and talks about His prescription for us, the Manifestation as doctor of the world. This prescription, we know, is to prescribe ourselves, to teach the Cause, administer a spiritual cure to the planet. He plays on the two punning meanings of Hikmat, wisdom, one being systematic application of knowledge, and the other wisdom with the connotation of silence, refraining from rocking the boat. There has to be a balance between both types of wisdom, we need to be outspoken but not to such an extent that we will be wiped out by the evil-eyed -- chillingly, a possibility that He seriously entertains.
He comments on the terrible oppression and persecution of the believers -- the recipient of this tablet lived in Yazd, a center of fanaticism, which has had more than its share of martyrdoms in the history of the Faith. He particularly dwells upon our natural tendency, as lovers of Baha'u'llah, to dwell upon his own sufferings. Do not sink in morbid penitence, Baha'u'llah says but love in a healthy way. He then ends the Tablet with,
"Great is the blessedness of him who leads another soul to the Immortal Faith of God and guides him to life everlasting. This is an act of supreme importance in the presence of thy Lord, the Mighty, the Most Exalted. May the Spirit be upon thee! And may the Glory be upon thee also!"
We, unfortunately, do not value this as much as God does. His ways are not our ways. This all-important prescription of teaching we, lousy patients that we are, have failed to follow through on. (Just as studies have found that a large percentage of patients, even when drugs are free, do not even bother to fill their prescriptions, and when they do, they forget to administer them, and when they administer them, they do not do it correctly) How do we know that we are not doing it right? Simple, by the smallness of our numbers; if we were applying the supreme remedy the world would be crowding to be cured as well. Thus the penultimate pronouncement of the Lawh-i-Tibb,
"If the beloved of God had performed that which they were commanded, the majority of the people of the world at this time would have been adorned with the garment of faith."
Look at silly old me, I cannot even go through this tablet in the right order, I am going backwards. So let us jump back to where I left off. Baha'u'llah continues the doctor's Tablet here by laying the ground of what is now called holistic medicine, treating the whole patient, not just the malfunctioning part or parts of the body.
"Eschew anxiety (al-hamma) and depression (al-ghamm) for through both of these will transpire a darksome affliction (bala' adham)."
How to avoid stress? By wisdom -- the Arabic word for doctor is Hakim, literally meaning "wise." Medicine is rule of wisdom, knowledge systematically applied. The best things in life reduce stress by focusing, narrowing choices and, paradoxically, broadening opportunity. You go for one God and love Him forever. You choose one lover, marry, and abide in the fruits of that union. You pick one career, one mission, one thing, and if it is fruitful a variety of good, fulfilling rewards will come out of that self restriction.
What cause calm and anxiety? What give rise to depression or contentment? That is what the doctor has to ask herself on behalf of the patient in each examination. Generally speaking, the causes rest in having a multitude of choices and conflicting values. In diet, the enemy is eating whatever is cheapest or most convenient instead of what is best. In teaching the faith, it is concentrating on how the writings will help this person with her particular concerns -- which may be why we are told to memorize a wide variety of pertinent quotes from Baha'u'llah's words.
Baha'u'llah then goes on to the emotional grounds of illness, the morbid degradation of love into something perverse, harmful and abusive.
Say: `Envy (al-hasad) consumeth the body and rage (or anger, wrath, al-ghayz) burneth the liver: avoid these two as ye would a fierce lion (al-asad).'
Advertisements do the reverse of this they try to stir up envy in order to persuade us to buy the solution offered by that product. Writers, especially journalists, try their best to stir up anger in order to attract interest in whatever solution they have in mind. Since the fall of Communism many in East and West have bought into a Muslim fundamentalist versus the rest of the world mentality, again, stirring up both envy and anger on all sides. Baha'u'llah is telling us to avoid this agitation because that way of thinking acts like a wild beast, it takes on a life of its own and destroys all who come across its path.
The importance of Baha'u'llah's statement here seems to be that avoiding the sources of anxiety and depression are not idle philosophical desiderata but the central concern of medicine. And later on in the Tibb -- lest anybody downgrade medical concerns -- He places this discipline at the forefront of all others, it is the definitive, formative discipline of civilized life.
"Say: `The science of healing is the most noble of all the sciences'. Verily, it is the greatest instrument given by God, the Quickener of mouldering bones, for the preservation of the bodies of peoples. God hath given it precedence over all sciences and branches of wisdom."
So, along with teachers, medicine comes first. Like the faculty of reason itself, this is the first gift of God to us all. May we all hold on to this cure and improve it together. There are several more major issues in this tablet but let this suffice for now. Tomorrow we'll get back to search for truth.
Quiz, Diet, etc.; 23 June, 2004
"The sole cause and root of almost every defect in the sciences is this; that whilst we falsely admire and extol the powers of the human mind, we do not search for its real helps." (Frances Bacon, Instauration, Aphorisms #9)
If that is so of the mind, how much more so must it be for the body! I continue studying Roy Walford's special diet, a low calorie system that makes your main concern limiting rather than inducing weight loss. He has an interesting plan for easing onto the diet. You save time by cooking up eight meals, eating one and freezing the others. If you do that once a week, and eat sensibly for much of the rest of the week without eating all the frozen TV dinners, after a while you build up a freezer full of meals ready to eat. That way you avoid the bouncing back and forth common to less sensible diets.
Since many of my readers are within driving distance, I invite you to come on over sometime this summer and we can spend an afternoon cooking up a storm; then you can go home with seven meals to put in your freezer to get you started. Some sample recipes are at Walford's www.walford.com, and at: http://recipes.calorierestriction.org/default.view This section of the CRSociety website (http://www.calorierestriction.org/) features member contributed recipes. They say, "We welcome your contributions. Don't be overwhelmed by all the information requested. Fill in what you have and we'll fill in the rest (e.g. nutrition information)."
I came across this quiz today, which was published in the Kansas City Star. Don't be too confident, or you might even end up messing up the question about the Baha'i faith.
What is your religion quotient?
You think you know about the development of various faiths? Well then, of these 13 statements which are true? The answers are appear below (nine correct is a good score).
1. Some scholars suggest that after the Buddha's death, his followers added to his teachings the Hindu idea of reincarnation, that after death one is reborn in a new body, animal or human, to begin another life.
2. The American Indian Ghost Dance was developed in prehistoric times.
3. Although the Zoroastrian faith developed in ancient Iran, more Zoroastrians now live in India, where they called Parsis.
4. Early Christian church leaders forbade Christians from being judges who might impose capital punishment because they believed the shedding of blood was always wrong.
5. The church father Tertullian (160-225) asked women not to wear anklets and necklaces because such worldly adornments might suggest their unreadiness for martyrdom.
6. Before Constantine (A.D. 288-337) all Christian writers unanimously condemned war, so as existing texts indicate.
7. The doctrine that Jesus and the Holy Spirit were not equal to God the Father was hotly debated in the Christian churches until 381, with disagreements persisting for centuries after.
8. Augustine (AD 354-430) developed the just war theory as Christians considered the use of force to settle a theological controversy.
9 In AD -1054, an argument over the Trinity led to the split between the Roman Catholic and the Orthodox churches.
10. The two main forms of Islam, the Sunni and the Shia, have radically different views of God.
11. The 10th Sikh guru, Gobi Singh (1675-1708), announced that the next and final guru would not be a human, but rather the Guru Granth Sahib, a collection of writings including Hindu and Muslim texts.
12. All Bahai scriptures were originally in Persian.
13. The first Jewish denomination to appear in America was the Orthodox.
Before I give the answers, check out this free virus checker at: http://www.grisoft.com/us/us_dwnl_free.php Now, are you sure you have the right answer? Check again. The author of this quiz, by the way, is Vern Barnet, who does interfaith work in the Kansas City area. Email him at vern@cres.org Don't email me if you have quibbles, email him.
Answers: 1, 3-9 and 11 are true. 2. Is false: the dance was a reaction to the encroachments and oppression by white folk in the late 19th century. No. 10 is false; the Sunni and the Shia theologies are largely indistinguishable; they differ only on who should have succeeded the prophet Muhammad. No. 12 is False; some are in Arabic and Shoghi Effendi (1897-1951) the great-grandson of founder, Bahaullah wrote in English. No. 13 is false; the Reform movement was the first to appear, with a platform declared in 1885 in Pittsburg.
Search as First Principle, First of a series on how `Abdu'l-Baha presented Search for Truth
24 June 2004
I have treated search first among the Baha'i principles because I believe it is first in importance and universality as well as priority. In this I am following in the footsteps of the Master Who tended to do that too, though He was not absolutely rigid. In His lists and brief summaries of the Baha'i principles, `Abdu'l-Baha put search first on at least fourteen of eighteen occasions. He mentioned it second in the Tablet to the Hague. Other than that, the only place where He deviated from the rule of search for truth first was in New York, the city where according to His own testimony He spent more time and gave more talks than in all other North American cities combined. In the Big Apple He listed the principles five times, two with search placed first, two with it listed second and in the fifth He mentions it as sixth of thirteen principles.
As students of the principles we become accustomed to hearing the Master lay it out in an orderly manner, as He does in this letter addressed to "lovers of truth" and "servants of humankind," where He lists search as the first of five "various teachings for the prevention of war,"
"The first is the independent investigation of truth; for blind imitation of the past will stunt the mind. But once every soul inquireth into truth, society will be freed from the darkness of continually repeating the past." (Selections, 248)
You read statements like that often enough in isolation and the principle starts to seem pretty innocuous. You forget how provocative it really is. That is why I enjoy Khorsheed's "Seven Candles of Unity" so much, because it details the response to His words during His visit to Edinburgh, Scotland, along with the words He said themselves. This city was admittedly a center of Christian orthodoxy, the old stomping ground of John Knox, but still it comes as a revelation to see people write letters in response to the Master saying, in effect, "Hey, you talking to me? You TALKIN' TO ME!" -- which, by the way, may explain why He did not always mention search for truth first when He was in New York City, whose mean streets gave the world Robert De Nero, the actor who popularized "You talkin' to me?".
Sure, nobody likes to think of their mind as stunted, and you can understand some taking umbrage. As a student of history I can attest that you do run into the same thing over and over. History does repeat itself, especially when you trace the causes of wars. It is the same story each time, [warning, Shoghi Effendi sentence to follow] a general lack of education and attachment to tradition, the stranglehold on the many of a few leaders who see their profit in proliferation of hate and prejudicial thinking, obscurantism consequently stunting the mind further, of both individual and society, narrowing of political options to the same absurdity, war, conflict, violence. In this metropolis of Satan anger, sloth and the other seven deadlies become virtues. As the Bible says,
"Surely the churning of milk bringeth forth butter, and the wringing of the nose bringeth forth blood: so the forcing of wrath bringeth forth strife." (Prov 30:33, KJV)
Ignorance and dislike push unity and positive change out of the question. As in a poor diet where body fat takes on a life of its own and instills its own peculiar appetites, in the same way if enough people renounce free and open search for truth and too many refuse to give up its super-sweet, low nutritional substitute -- imitation -- only wasteful, selfish appetites remain, a sort of mental fat that churns up anger, exploits ignorance and thinks only of initiatives based negative aspects of our nature.
The Master's following statement in Paris in 1913 also gives a nod to the overweening role that imitation has had throughout history.
"In this cause we have many principles to which we adhere, the most important is to avoid that which creates discord. We must have the same aspirations and become as one nation. Humanity must feel entirely united. Until this glorious century the power of unity has been ineffectual and the forces of discord have augmented. Men never reflect that they are brothers." (Abdu'l-Baha on Divine Philosophy, 100)
He said this in reference to something else; that is, the above was not part of a principle summary. I mention it here because it demonstrates how close He perceived search to be to the oneness of humanity, usually listed second in principle order. Although the listings tease search for truth apart from oneness of humanity, I think it is important to bear in mind that they are so intimately connected that at times they seem indistinguishable.
In an address of September 30th, 1911 to the Theosophist Society of London, the Master presents search as the first of eleven distinguishable principles, though he emphasizes that there are many more. Here too He lays stress on its purgative or renunciation aspect. More than elsewhere, though, He portrays the principle as the image of Baha'u'llah's discovery of where we are at in history. The human race, Baha'u'llah evidently concluded, is more attached to where it has been than to where it is headed. Again, this is part of the same historical thesis.
"Firstly: He lays stress on the search for Truth. This is most important, because the people are too easily led by tradition. It is because of this that they are often antagonistic to each other, and dispute with one another. But the manifesting of Truth discovers the darkness and becomes the cause of Oneness of faith and belief: because Truth cannot be two! That is not possible." (Abdu'l-Baha in London, 27-28)
The Manifestation "discovers" a heart of darkness that we barely perceive. This obscurity is an aspect of our imperfection, but more to the point, it is inherent to the order of the heavens in which we are living. It is an old world order. The Holy Manifestation exposes the hidden root or means of unity, a new ordering of the spheres that is already there, though well hidden. The most important aspect of this uncovering is the idea the Master emphasizes here that truth or reality is one. If this is so, then unity exists before and after search.
One enters into a journey expecting to turn up some aspect of the same universe. The center will not fall apart. This inherently unitary nature of truth, Baha'u'llah teaches, informs our search and assures that no matter who we are, we will not turn up something incompatible. From the point of view of the history of ideas, this is the very definition of anti-postmodernism. You could call it hyper-modernism. Tomorrow we will dip into other principle summaries in order to see if this early thesis developed or changed at all throughout the more than two years of arduous journeying that the Master undertook for us.
The Open Secret Project, I
25 June 2004
Yesterday I was watching Daniel Yergin's PBS documentary, "Commanding Heights" (highly recommended) and one of the talking heads, a prominent player on the world stage (I think it may even have been my nemesis, Donald Rumsfeld), was saying something like, "No single group has all the answers to the muddle we are in and if they think they do they are wrong," and I laughed to myself thinking that most Baha'is I know would at this point be jumping up and down saying, "But we do!" No, we don't, or this fellow would know about it. That's his job. I firmly believe that we could, though, if only we went about it right. And then I had an idea. I even came up with a catchy name for it, "The Open Secret." But I'm jumping ahead of myself.
This train of thought started back in May, about 34,000 words ago according to the Badi' Blog's convenient word count, when I was writing a series of essays on responsibility. I had ordered the latest Baha'i World Volume, 2002-2003, justifying the expenditure of 40 bucks to my wife as a "professional development training expense." Just after it arrived, it was night, and I needed to do my evening scriptural reading. Seeing that an early section of this Baha'i World contains selections from the Writings of Baha'u'llah, I picked the first one. It went like this,
"All men have been created to carry forward an ever-advancing civilization. The Almighty beareth Me witness: To act like the beasts of the field is unworthy of man. Those virtues that befit his dignity are forbearance, mercy, compassion and loving-kindness towards all the peoples and kindreds of the earth." (Baha'u'llah, Gleanings, 214)
Later, since I was vitally concerned with what the Faith has to say about responsibility I jumped forward to a rather uninspired essay with its main points of interest sunk in the footnotes written -- not surprisingly -- by a sociologist. It had a promising title, at least, "Obligation and Responsibility in Constructing a World Civilisation." At one point it said,
"The more fundamental moral or spiritual attributes that are at the heart of influencing society and advancing it from one that is purely materialistic to one that strikes a balance between the material and spiritual are outlined by the Universal House of Justice as follows, `The virtues that befit human dignity are trustworthiness, forbearance, mercy, compassion and loving-kindness towards all the peoples and kindreds of the earth.'" (Baha'i World, 167)
The author cites as the source the UHJ's peace letter, "The Promise of World Peace," but, clearly, the House in turn was quoting Baha'u'llah almost word for word. The editors themselves had placed the same passage at the start of that volume! Does that mean that even they did not have the time to read it cover-to-cover? A slip like that seems less excusable now that a thirty second search using the Ocean search engine can resolve it. This is a minor quibble, I know, but it indicates a bigger, more serious underlying problem with how we approach the entire enterprise of writing, publishing and indeed studying the Writings.
Consider, if you will, the rest of that same passage in Gleanings, which continues,
"Say: O friends! Drink your fill from this crystal stream that floweth through the heavenly grace of Him Who is the Lord of Names. Let others partake of its waters in My name, that the leaders of men in every land may fully recognize the purpose for which the Eternal Truth hath been revealed, and the reason for which they themselves have been created." (Baha'u'llah, Gleanings, 214)
We are to drink from that single stream of Revelation ourselves and invite others to drink too -- the natural consequence being that the "leaders of men in every land" would drink too. Whether it is a democracy or not, leaders have to be followers of the consensus of the masses, even when it is dead wrong. A good leader plunges into the best of what the people are inclined to do, pulls out his thumb and calls it wisdom. It may not sound like it but it is a love story, as Plato pointed out in a letter,
"It is a natural law that wisdom and great power attract each other. They are always pursuing and seeking after each other and coming together." (Collected Dialogues, p. 1564)
Why do all this drinking from the same stream of revelation? Baha'u'llah says above that we do it so that we can help our wise leaders discover the reason for the revelation and their own reason for being. What does all this imply? I've been thinking long and hard about that and the best answer I have yet is the "Open Secret Project." Details at 11, tomorrow morning that is.
Abiding Between the Brackets
26 June, 2004
Life is a long series of nested parentheses whose closing brackets only come in the next world. Okay, your life may not be like that but mine is and certainly that is how my essays must seem to you, a thousand beginnings, a couple of middles and no conclusions, no climax, no resolution.
Last night I viewed two films, one "A Matter of Taste," a sub-captioned French production about a strange affinity that grows between two men, one a tycoon and the other a very intelligent, refined drifter. He hires the fellow as his "taster" -- there is talk, but they never become lovers. The remarkable similarity of the two men makes their closeness a non-creative and ultimately a very destructive force; cruelty takes over, their financial inequality makes it an unfair contest and the drifter kills the tycoon in the end.
After seeing the film I thought of the closeness that existed between the two most developed Beings in our time, the Bab and Baha'u'llah, who never met face-to-face in this world. I think Baha'u'llah said that if they had, they could never have borne a separation. If two people are sufficiently spiritual I guess their love has to remain positive and creative no matter what; they can transcend similarities, differences and they are impervious to any inequality between them.
The other film was "The Guru," a Hollywood production nicely incorporating the new "Indo-chic" phenom. It playfully adopts some Bollywood conventions, including the newlywed's car that flies off into the sunset at the end of the film. It does not adopt the Bollywood convention of three-hour long musicals, which is all for the best. (I once watched parts of a Bollywood film while flipping the dial late at night over two decades ago. I remember one amazingly catchy song in the film. If I were a musician I'd find that song and do what Paul Anka did with a French song he liked -- he bought the rights, changed the words and it became Frank Sinatras signature tune, "I did it my way." Now that Sinatra is dead, Anka is hiring himself out to retirement parties with that horrible song, which always seemed false and egotistical in its sentiments.) The Guru is about a dancer and aspiring actor who emigrates from India to America and makes it as a sex guru. He tries out as a porn star but is a dud. He meets a female "actress" on the set and she offers some offhand advice for "getting it up" in front of a crowd.
The aspiring actor then meets some success at a party by using her ideas to help him pretend to be a sex guru. The female love interest, it turns out, is that reluctant porn star who is trying to keep her fame secret because she is engaged to a prim, religious firefighter. The "Sex Guru" hires her to give him more ideas about sex and she becomes the sex guru's guru thinking that she is just giving advice to a new porn actor. For her the ideas she shares are coping mechanisms for the shame of her job but he plies it as advice for everybody in their sex lives. According to comic conventions his ploy works nicely for all concerned until he finds he has to renounce deception to find true love. The lies seem pretty innocuous and the characters seem angrier than they should be about them, but that shows love and integrity I guess. In the end everybody renounces their lies, finds true love, harmony abides between East and West and it is a true Bollywood ending.
I dreamed about this film, I dreamed that I was in a similar quest for recognition and fame as an intellectual. I recall no details other than the fact that I was conversing with famous intellectuals from various cultures. Unlike in real life perhaps, their ideas fascinated me. I woke with the impression that I would get a lot out of such intellectual intercourse. I know, sort of obvious but that was the dream and that is that. In the dream the feeling was special, a combination of both films, the unity between two souls of A Matter of Taste, the unity of East, West, love, sex and the intellectual quest in the other, all were melded into something new and intriguing in my silly little mind.
Yesterday I broached the idea of an Open Secret project. This is my answer to what I regard as the greatest intellectual challenge of our time, the information explosion. Sooner or later the expansion of information will destroy all social cohesion. Our minds will have nothing in common, we will not be able to agree on anything, things will fly apart and the center will not hold.
The biggest challenge facing every bearer of wisdom today is how to find common ground. It is no longer just east and west, it is me and anybody else, just any other mind. The scope of the information explosion is truly astonishing. Walk through the shelves of your library and you will see what I mean. Even here in our little Dunnville library I make this calculation as I walk through: You could send everyone inclined to reading in this town through these bookshelves and they could start reading every book that they had time for. There are so many volumes here that even if they read all their lives, no two need ever read the same book.
If each person is reading different books, taking in variant data, working on different assumptions, how will they ever love or understand? And with the internet it is now much, much worse. The data flow is expanding a thousand-fold faster, the flood is compounding beyond comprehension. For beyond the visible internet is the so-called "dark internet." Like the proverbial iceberg, most is below the surface. Entire university libraries are being digitized. These various resources comprise a much bigger ocean of data than what turns up in your average Google search. How are we ever to make sense of it all?
I know, the short answer is for all to do what we Baha'is do, read at least one small selection from the Writings every morning and evening. We read and worship using a single corpus, a consistent, monocular body of literature and that gives us common ground. I may read AHW#1 this morning and you may read AHW#2, but ultimately our paths will cross, for we read from the same relatively small number of books. We enter into the same Truth from the same point of view. That is God and God is that. This role Bloom's Great Western Canon is supposed to play, a set of classics that acts as common ground between all of us. The Open Secret I conceive of as more systematic management and nurturing of that Great Canon, a Canon that would be consciously Eastern as well as Western.
I am pleased to say that my thoughts about dieting have elicited reader response. The author of the following letter is the other writer in our community, Betty Frost, author of "A Key to Loving," put out by George Ronald Publishers. I include this here with her permission.
Needless to say, I agree with her ideas entirely. I would only add that the ideal solution would be for society to build Bettys diet consciousness into the structures of daily life so that everybody will think that way automatically. For example, hospitals already have shirts available for patients that monitor blood pressure and dozens of other bodily markers. The day is soon coming when an alarm will go off when we dip above the optimum weight. Smart cards will monitor food intake and weight scales and other sensors built into toilets will monitor the bodys excreta. I am anticipating these developments in my Open System proposals, hoping that these technologies will thereby be adopted more quickly and that they will serve the interest of the people rather than usual few corporate interests. The essence of open systems is pushing more closing brackets from the next world to this in order to give us feedback to guide us in leading a good life not unlike that of exemplars like Betty.
Dear John,
I was impressed, initially, that you acknowledged that one of the root causes of your health (problems) was being overweight, and then, when I read the article you wrote about diets, equally impressed that you were pressing forward in a practical way on a path to better control of your weight. The idea of making a great many meals and then freezing them so that you wouldn't be inclined to "stray" from the path of good eating isn't a bad one. Still, I feel that to cook an entire meal and freeze it would be to limit your intake of certain things which are more nutritious when cooked for a short period just before eating. I'm speaking mainly of veggies. I think it is a good idea to freeze the main meat/fish course and then at supper time, simply add the veggies.
What I've been doing for years is to make extra, usually when we have company, and then freeze the leftovers in margarine containers (enough for two). Then I simply cook some potatoes; mash them with a small amount of butter and milk; cook some carrots and another green vegetable such as broccoli, beans, Brussels sprouts, zucchini, etc. You can "pig out" on the veggies (other than potatoes) as they are almost without calories.
As for the main course, one can cook a pot roast or a ham and then slice it up into meal-sized portions. I often make a chicken dish of some sort (with pineapple, apple, broccoli [divan] or whatever and do the same thing with whatever is left over. One can think of various types of main courses - meat balls, beef stew with onions, meat loaf, etc Another possibility is using the main course along with a salad made fresh that day. Many people think when they see someone who is relatively slim that it has something to do with genes. I do not happen to believe that. In my family the person who had the most NON role model on me was my Grandma. She was overweight. She always seemed to just sit in her chair without moving, without doing anything. I determined even as a youngster that I would not be like that.
Actually, as a child, I was very thin. As one of five children in my family, I was given extra milk and encouraged to eat two helpings at a meal. Since I was extremely active, thinking nothing of walking down to the beach (about two miles) often twice a day, this extra food did nothing for me but to give me energy! Entering High School, I was the second smallest (in height in my class and my weight was a mere 85 pounds. However, by the time I left High School I had achieved what I think of as an optimum weight - 125 pounds.
Some time later when I began working, there were no more long walks to school; only a streetcar ride. It was not long before I began putting on pounds, going up to about 133 pounds. Although I was not what could be termed fat, I soon began to realize that unless I did something drastic, the pattern of gaining weight would soon put me in that category. So, no more extra helpings, efforts to watch my calorie intake were undertaken, and I tried to do exercises every day. At one point in my career (while serving at the World Centre) one of the House members wives told someone that I knew the exact number of calories of everything I ate! This was a slight exaggeration. But I certainly watched my food intake and began a lifelong practice of getting on the scales each morning. If there was an upswing, Id quickly cut down on any sweets. The consequence of this was that my weight remained virtually the same for years - between 132 and 133 pounds.
It was not until I had a bone scan about three years ago that my weight finally returned to what it was when I left High School. It was determined that I suffered from osteoporosis, a bone density problem. In addition to increasing my calcium intake (with 1% milk and a calcium tablet), I followed the advice taken from the internet to do weight-bearing exercises. The simplest form of this is, of course, walking. My plan was to walk two miles a day - and this is what I have done every day since then, regardless of weather - wind, rain, snow, freezing cold, very hot, whatever. I walk quite quickly, doing one mile in 18 minutes. I would say that I walk or do some other form of weight-bearing exercise such as gardening, at least six days a week. The result is that my weight is now 123 pounds. While I do not actually count calories anymore, the routine of sensible eating has taken firm hold and my diet runs something like this;
BREAKFAST: One egg, 1 slice of homemade 7 grain whole-wheat bread, small glass of milk, coffee. Two or three times a week, I have cereal with banana instead.
LUNCH: one sandwich made of the same bread as noted above, carrot sticks, milk - tea
COFFEE BREAK mid-afternoon - coffee, homemade muffin usually
SUPPER: portion of some type of protein - meat, fish, chicken - potatoes, lots of vegetables, milk - tea
SNACK: in the evening - possibly some fruit and one cookie with hot chocolate made with a minimum of the chocolate mix.
I also take vitamin C, brewers yeast, kelp, folic acid, Vitamin E and Vitamin D.
If something yummy is served at anothers house, I do not keep strictly to the above regime! Anyway, this is what I have found to be successful. Hope it will be helpful to you.
Kindest regards - Betty
Back from Our Summer Vacation
1 July, 2004
It is Canada Day today, so have a good one. We just arrived home from our three-day camping trip to Rondeau Provincial Park, towards the opposite end of Lake Erie from Dunnville. I am still involved in heavy research into the Master's principles and will have to put off further essays until I have my principle analysis system set up to my satisfaction.
In the meantime, to keep you thinking about this principle of investigation of truth, I include an essay by one of my favorite writers, and I don't just mean favorite Baha'i writers but favorite writers period, Marzieh Gail. It seems to me I heard she died lately. She was the product of a marriage uniting east and west, sponsored by the Master Himself. When she entered university the other students called her their "Persian princess." That is how I think of her too, as my Persian princess. Enjoy her wonderful words; I hope she becomes your Persian princess too.
The Goal of a Liberated Mind, By Marzieh Gail
What is truth, said jesting Pilate, and would not stay for an answer. Pilate, it would seem, was much given to washing his hands of things. Truth, if it existed at all, was something which other people could take care of -- just so long, of course, as it did not interrupt his meals or his business. And so, he would not stay for an answer.
The world has always been full of Pilates -- of people who wash their hands of truth. Our present day problems are their legacy. They are those who live along comfortably, safe in their ruts, careful to use as few of their faculties as possible. And when they die, they sleep beneath complacent epitaphs -- unless of course they are fashionable, in which case they are reduced to ashes and repose sedately in marble bureau drawers. And alas, they are not remembered.
To be remembered, a man must have had a tussle with truth. He must have sat under the Bo tree with Gautama, or gone up to Mount Sinai, or dreamed over the crucibles in Leonardo's laboratory. He must have investigated truth for himself, refused to conform to his surroundings, dared to do his own thinking. I think, therefore I am. It is equally true that if I do not think, I am not. And to think means independently to investigate truth.
Baha'u'llah has commanded His followers to do their own thinking, and to look into all things with a searching eye. (BWF, 142) He says in the Words of Wisdom,
"The essence of all that We have revealed for thee is justice, is for man to free himself from idle fancies and imitation..." (BWF 142)
It is, then, through justice -- best beloved of virtues -- that we are to know things by our own understanding and see them with our own eyes.
But the question arises, how are we to achieve this justice, how are we to recognize the truth once we have started on our search? To this, Abdul-Baha answers that there are four standards of judgment, four ways of proving a thing true. The first is sense perception, the second is the intellect, the third is traditional authority, and the fourth is inspiration. When applied individually, these tests are obviously inadequate, for the senses are frequently unreliable, even the greatest intellectuals are often at variance, traditional authority is easily misunderstood, and the still small voice may at times be quite other than divine. But when all four tests are brought to bear and result in a convergence of evidence, we have satisfactorily proved a truth.
Baha'is, then, are commanded to seek independently for Reality, and are told how to recognize it. They are forbidden to take anything for granted. Even a child born into a Baha'i family must begin, so to speak, from the bottom and work up. He cannot be fed truth with his cereal, and must prove to his own satisfaction the reality of what he is taught. But it is obvious that a search started in an atmosphere of faith is more readily successful, because faith seeking understanding will achieve, where unbelief seeking understanding must fall by the wayside.
And now, what is Reality? Why, Reality is water, says Thales. Reality is a sphere packed solid, insists Parmenides. Reality is convergence of evidence, drones the psychology professor. Some of our moderns deliver beautifully patronizing definitions of Reality, as if they had it at home in a test tube. Others stutter when confronted with the unwelcome question.
The Baha'i view of Reality presents the only one that is impregnable and withstands the test by the four standards of judgment.
Baha'u'llah proclaims that Reality is the Word of God. The significance of this statement is recalled by the opening lines of the Gospel of John: "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God." This Word is revealed to humanity by a Divine Manifestation -- by one of those all-illuminating Beings whom Abdul-Baha refers to as Suns of Reality -- a Buddha, a Christ, Moses, Muhammad. Reality, then, constitutes the teachings of the Divine Manifestations, and Reality in this day consists of the teachings of Baha'u'llah.
Having found Reality, realities are not far away. The true in art, in science, in every phase of human activity, is that which is in accordance with the Word of God, and that which is like God. Therefore, a study of the Word of God, and a knowledge of God Himself as revealed through His Manifestations, are infallible determinants of Truth. And as learning is nothing more or less than discovering and applying the truth of phenomena, it is absolutely essential -- if we wish to be learned -- that we should attain to the knowledge of God; that we should investigate Reality. Baha'u'llah says, "the source of all learning is the knowledge of God," (BWF 141) and Abdul-Baha tells us that the origin of all learning can be traced to religion.
The failure to seek for Truth results in lasting and increasing peril to the human race. The greatest cause of bereavement and disheartening in the world of humanity is ignorance based upon blind imitation... From this cause hatred and animosity arise continually among mankind. Through failure to investigate Reality, the Jews rejected His Holiness Jesus Christ. (Promulgation, 285)
That no one is exempt from the search for Reality is proved by the further words of Abdu'l-Baha; after saying that each human being is equipped for the investigation of Reality, He continues,
"each has individual endowment, power and responsibility... Therefore depend upon your own reason and judgment and adhere to the outcome of your own investigation.... Turn to God, supplicate humbly at His Threshold ... that God may rend asunder the veils that obscure your vision." (Promulgation, 287)
Henceforward no one should expose himself and humanity to the dangers of ignorance.
Originality is one of the thousand refreshing outcomes of the independent investigation of Truth, for the simple reason that if we look at anything, we look at it in a way peculiar to ourself. We have to. We will all see the same Reality, but at different angles. A change from the past, when originality has been so rare as to be a matter of comment, and we have praised people as original thinkers. And with so many such thinkers in circulation, the impetus to all the graces of civilization is self-evident. Besides which, when each of us has to discover life for himself, each will be as exultant as Columbus when his first redskin glittered through the shrubbery.
-from Marzieh Gail, Dawn Over Mount Hira, 115
Search for Truth, Leading Once More into the Cat Saying
2 July, 2004
The more I study the Baha'i principles the more intimately I find myself nuzzling up against Jesus. As a former atheist who fervently hated of all things Christian, I do not always feel entirely comfortable with this. I certainly should not be surprised, though. Shoghi Effendi called it a "central principle of Baha'i belief" that there is a close identity of its spirit with that of Christ. No faithful appraisal of Baha'i could ever in "any aspect of its teachings, be at variance, much less conflict, with the purpose animating, or the authority invested in, the Faith of Jesus Christ." (World Order of Baha'u'llah, 185) As I examine this principle of searching out truth, here too I continually uncover the spoor of the Christian teaching that love is not in word, nor is it merit in itself; love is good in action.
"For it is not the hearers of the law who are righteous before God, but the doers of the law will be justified." (Rom 2:13, WEB)
Like love, search for truth is both a law and a principle. The Guardian gave a wonderful metaphor for how laws and principle interact in the Faith as the warp and woof, the opposing threads that laid one over and around others opposing them at 90 degrees, make up the fabric of both faith and science.
"Nor are they unmindful of the imperative necessity of upholding and of executing the laws, as distinguished from the principles, ordained by Baha'u'llah, both of which constitute the warp and woof of the institutions upon which the structure of His World Order must ultimately rest." (Shoghi Effendi, World Order of Baha'u'llah, 199)
Search is a law in that it is a fundamental element of justice. God gave us these wonderful brains and minds, our most amazing characteristic as a species and cannot abide our leaving it fallow. So as a law, investigation of reality cannot be left aside and stored like an arrow in its quiver until the need arises, in the way that principles sometimes can. It must inform every act, every thought, each day and moment of our lives.
But in its very essence, search is a principle as well. It is the very element of submission that places our every idea, every leaning of the mind at the service of the Will of God. It is the "deep" in deepening. The Bab said,
"Ye spend all your days contriving forms and rules for the principles of your Faith, while that which profiteth you in all this is to comprehend the good-pleasure of your Lord and unitedly to become well-acquainted with His supreme Purpose." (The Bab, Selections, 140)
Thus to investigate reality, to uphold truth, is to get up on the cross, to hang like the Companion, Anis, from a nail in that barracks square with our head at the breast of our lord, and sacrifice all in communion with Him.
Which brings me once more to what Silvie calls the "cat saying." She calls it that because this passage in her children's prayer book sports a sticker of a cat next to it, a prize she won as a prize for some good act long ago and she chose to place it there, by a passage full of difficult words that for a long time she could hardly pronounce. Now she says it so often that she has it memorized. Here it is,
"The mind and spirit of man advance when he is tried by suffering. The more the ground is ploughed the better the seed will grow, the better the harvest will be. Just as the plough furrows the earth deeply, purifying it of weeds and thistles, so suffering and tribulation free man from the petty affairs of this worldly life until he arrives at a state of complete detachment. His attitude in this world will be that of divine happiness. Man is, so to speak, unripe: the heat of the fire of suffering will mature him. Look back to the times past and you will find that the greatest men have suffered most." (Abdu'l-Baha, Paris Talks, 178)
When we were camping those two nights and I woke in the night, my knees swollen like balloons from the damp tent, I could not fall back to sleep. For hour after hour I said lonely prayers from memory under the full half-light of the Milky Way. Often I felt like calling her and waking her up just to hear that cat saying from her lips. Later in the morning I told her of my late night desire and my little walking Ruhi exemplar did me the favor of citing it for me then and there. It felt good to hear that in her still, small voice, for more reasons than one. Another reason to memorize, for charity, consolation of hearts in need when they need it.
Re-examining the Naming of the Investigative Imperative
3 July, 2004
From the start of my Baha'i life I was conscious of the principles and what they should be called. I became a believer after researching an essay featuring the Baha'i principles for a Grade 13 English Literature Course. I am still writing that essay today, over and over; it is a treadmill that will never stop turning up new things for me. I hope never to get off through all the worlds of God. In that High School essay I listed the principles with a comment next to it.
The principle I liked most was independent investigation of truth and the one I out-and-out hated, I recall, was "compulsory education." At the time I had problems with being forced to go to school, as do many youth, and I rejected that as a principle. The Master did use this phrasing, it is true, but on most public occasions He called it, "promotion of education." The words "compulsory" and "education" to some extent form an oxymoron, and quite a lot of explanation is required to get at the actual Baha'i principle.
Generally speaking the name, phrasing or even the order of expression of the ideas that make up a principle can inadvertently unearth any number of landmines for those without proper grounding in Baha'i ideas and philosophy, and more particularly those unfamiliar with the Personalities Who gave them their impetus. The American National Spiritual Assembly gives this much needed warning about thoughtlessly using Baha'i jargon in contacts with the media.
"In public information, a wise and careful approach to publicity and contact with the media is required. The Baha'is must often put aside their uniquely Baha'i perspective in order to imagine that the meaning of certain concepts and terms will not make sense to people who are not Baha'is. "National Assembly," "Auxiliary Board Member," or "Manifestation of God," and "progressive revelation" have little meaning to someone who has limited or no knowledge of the Faith. Concepts like world government and compulsory education are, when given superficial treatment, often threatening and confusing." (Developing Distinctive Baha'i Communities)
Just as "compulsory" is easily misunderstood, the "independent" aspect of independent investigation of reality can lead the new learner down the wrong path. "Independent" does not mean that we do not depend upon God, the Holy Spirit or the Manifestation of God in our search for truth, quite the reverse. Without knowing and ultimately coming to grips with these three dependencies it is impossible to rightly grasp this principle. All but a tiny minority will trip up on any or all three of these fundamental dependencies. Without understanding dependence, submission, Islam, you cannot go on to independence.
For that reason I believe that the Baha'i teacher should regard God, Spirit, Manifestation, as signposts for teaching. The three are a bridge over a wide gulf, a bridge that must, sooner or later, be crossed. It may be interesting for you and me to discuss the number of Auxiliary Board Members in the world and their role as distinct from National Assembly Members, but specifics like that are trivial distractions compared to the Bridge.
The most prominent teacher of the Faith in our locality, Nancy Campbell, understood this danger in using the word "independent," I believe. Once, however, in a talk she went too far and claimed that "the principle of independent investigation of truth that you read in all the pamphlets is a misnomer. `Abdu'l-Baha called it `search for truth' and other names but did not use the word, "independent." I was dismayed. How could my favorite principle be a misnomer? Thus started the first of many disputations I have been involved in as a Baha'i.
In those long ago days before you could resolve such questions with a couple of punches on a keyboard, I had to go over the entire corpus of the works of `Abdu'l-Baha to prove her wrong. It was very instructive for a new believer and I soon fell in love with the mind of the Master. He was truly a very rare genius. To this day I think of myself as an "`Abdu'l-Baha-ian." Eventually I did turn up a few examples, albeit only a few. According to my latest research, `Abdu'l-Baha gave it the exact title "independent investigation of truth" at least three times; once in a letter to a believer in Japan (Japan Will Turn Ablaze, 35), once in a listing given in New York (Promulgation, 440) and once in Paris, as recorded in the listing in the long out of print, "`Abdu'l-Baha and Divine Philosophy". At other times, as we shall see, He used other close variations and combinations of as many words. The Guardian favored this particular phrasing, which I think may be why it was so common in pamphlets.
Nancy Campbell, spinster ballet teacher sporting signature horn-rimmed glasses, having taught the Faith to virtually everybody in the whole Hamilton area had long, first-hand experience with its drawbacks, hence, as I say, her dislike of the word, "independence." Nonetheless, `Abdu'l-Baha undeniably called it "independent" search, and, in spite of her intimidating mein, her almost notoriously vast knowledge about the Faith I rushed to confront her. I do not remember what happened, which means she probably freely admitted her error. With her name she was probably used to suffering from the `curse of the Campbells.' Here was proof that a good teacher can instruct as much by errors as by factuality, for in this and several other points at issue between us she piqued a life-long interest in the Baha'i principles and in the nature of principle itself.
In the years since then Gordon Naylor, another of Nancy's former students in the Faith and one of my spiritual parents, named a Baha'i high school in her memory, the Nancy Campbell Collegiate Institute. If I ever come into money I would like to send our children to attend it for from what I hear it is an excellent institution for instilling creativity, diligence and moral values into children, all elements of principle.
Now comes the inevitable owning up to an error for me as well. All these years I have been calling this principle "search for truth" but lately for the first time I went over what the Master Himself actually named it in the principle listings that I have collected together (unfortunately my listing of His listings is not complete, though it includes all of the usual, attainable published sources; it does not include at least one uncollected listing made in Edinburgh, and there may be others extant as well, notably from talks given during His visits to Germany and Hungary). To my surprise I find that I would have been closer to complete accuracy if I had called it, "investigation of reality."
Only twice in my list of eighteen mentions does He use the exact phrase "search for truth," once in London (ABL 27-8) and once in Paris (PT 129). He calls it some form of "investigation of reality" seven times, sometimes including "independent" as well. Here is a list in order of intensity, from "to investigate" to "duty incumbent upon all," along with the city where the talk was given or the Tablet addressed,
Seven "Investigation of Reality" Phrasings
"First, to investigate reality," New York, Promulgation 169
"Investigation of reality," New York, Promulgation 433
"Investigation of reality," Philadelphia, Promulgation 180
"Independent investigation of reality," Tablet to the Hague, Selections 298
"Man should investigate reality," Sacramento, Promulgation 372-3
"Man must independently investigate reality," Montreal, Promulgation 314
"Duty incumbent upon all to investigate reality," Washington, Promulgation, 62-3
In seven other talks and tablets He used some combination of "investigation of reality" and "search for truth." On one occasion in New York He called it the "injunction to investigate truth," (Promulgation, 454) and in Pittsburg He said, "it is incumbent upon all mankind to investigate truth," (Promulgation, 105-6) So, though He did not use the word "compulsory," that was the implication, as much for search as for education.
In Montreal (Promulgation 297) He once refrained from giving the principle a discernable title at all, other than "one foundation, the science of reality." Sometimes I think this "non-title" is the best of all, for it is in essence the treatment of all truth, including spiritual truth, in a scientific manner. If it were not likely to cause even more mis-understandings, you could even call it the "Investigative Imperative," as He very nearly did once in New York, saying, "truth or reality must be investigated." (Promulgation, 127-8)
So, since the Master did say that we must be willing to begin our education again from the very start, I will now admit my error and make a point of calling this principle "investigation of reality," the Master's most common appellation, more often than "search for truth," which is definitely a variant.
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