MLK

MLK and Education Compilation

By John Taylor; 2007 Apr

Over the past several days I have been listening to an audio book version of a reconstructed "autobiography" of Martin Luther King, as narrated by LeVar Burton. Trekkies know Burton well from his role as Geordie Laforge in TNG, and he has since become a regular on PBS children's television. He has the sweetest, most kindly personality imaginable. I swear, he is the only Hollywood star that if I ever met him in the flesh I would want to hug him and tweak his cheek, and coming from a non-hugger like me, that is saying something. At first it was jarring to hear him read MLK's words in the first person. If there is one thing that Martin Luther King was not, it was affable.

If King had been as lovable and unassuming as Burton, well I quail to speculate what would have happened. Burton's pristine reading voice is astonishing, a force of nature. I imagine it reading King's most angry and stirring speech to an assembly of the KKK and their going home afterwards saying, "What a great guy. What were we thinking? Why did we hate these people anyway?" That was my thought at first, anyway, but fortunately the editors interspersed Burton's narration with well chosen recordings of MLK's speeches. This lets the listener hear for herself the contrast between the loving side of MLK and the gritty, angry, defiant reformer who led an oppressed people to defy centuries of hatred, racism and oppression. And no doubt Burton captures the most important side of King's persona, his love. Yes, King was angry, but his anger was born of love for justice, and anybody who loves God's creatures will be just as angry to see them held down by the mental as well as physical chains of a sick tradition of slavery.

My knowledge of MLK's life had been superficial. I was surprised to see how closely King followed Muhatma Gandhi. He studied Gandhi's books, visited India and followed his techniques of non-violence carefully. When his followers were tempted to go over to violence or exclusivism -- as symbolized by their newfound desire to throw out King's "Freedom Now" slogan in favor of the new favorite, "Black Power" -- it is interesting to witness King telling them:

"No. I am not advocating non-violence only because it is nice and pretty, I use it because it works. If you do not believe me, look at what Gandhi accomplished. You could fight, you could talk, theorize, expostulate and recapitulate for a thousand years and you could not persuade the Hindu majority to take the Untouchables into their temples. But Gandhi did it simply by fasting. He swore that he would not eat again until they took them in. And they did, because of their love for that man."

Gandhi had worked out an entire set of non-violent techniques for tweaking the conscience of oppressor and oppressed alike, and the hunger strike was just one of them. The salt march was another, and in working that technique out in America, MLK at one point stumbled.

In this text, King is frank about his own errors in leading the non-violence movement, and he candidly explains why some things did not work and how he overcame them. Non-violence is a technique that has to be learned. Like Kennedy after his Bay of Pigs fiasco, King learned from his slips and did not repeat them (as Kennedy said at the time, errors only become mistakes if you do not learn from them). What helped him get this all-too-rare ability to learn from experience was, again, Gandhi. Gandhi was very strict in reserving one day of the week for fasting and meditation, and it is strange to see a MLK, a Christian minister, struggling to do the same, in effect to hold the Sabbath sacred, in his week. This made me realize that this must be especially hard for the clergy, since they have to work on Sundays. Without Sunday to rest, some other day must be taken off for meditation; imagine how hard it must have been for one as famous and in demand as MLK to drop everything to meditate for a few hours a week, much less take off an entire day.

Will it be the same for Baha'is? Will we take our Fridays off to listen to talks from the Learned -- and will that force the learned to take another day off in the week for reflection? Certainly, the Friday convocation and prayer "Jum'ih" is not obligatory as for Muslims. Still, I imagine we would hold something on our "Independence," or Istiqlal, day. The point is that we all, not just our leaders, take the time off for silent reflection on a regular basis. Unlike every other leader, except maybe MLK, Mahatma Gandhi did not worry even if there was a national crisis; on his day of silence nothing was going to make him break his vow. The point is that we should all be just as strict about our battery recharge time. Baha'u'llah repeated often the Hadith that an hour's reflection is worth seventy years (in other words, an entire useful lifetime) of pious worship (and since work is worship, that means your whole working life).

You may say, that is impossible, we need our individual leaders to be there at times of crisis, even if it cuts into their time of reflection. I say, quite the reverse. This is why Baha'u'llah has removed power from the backs of the learned, in order to free the individual from the burden of responding to crises as they turn up. In my experience on an Assembly I am often jarred when the institution make decisions that I would never make if I were leading. It took a while to see the wisdom, but now I see clearly a wisdom in the holy institution far beyond any individual, no matter how brilliant or enlightened. Every decision should be filtered by these "many minds." I see clearly why God has relieved us of the burdens of individual leadership and direct decision making, so that we will each be free to reflect and make a creative contribution, when the seed is ready.

In proof of this, witness MLK's own life. You can see how far his own original thought and self-directed education takes King, but you also see the limits built right into his education. When he talks of Malcolm X, he tries his hardest at toleration, but still calls the man's Muslim faith a "quasi-religion." He persuades some militants that non-violence is practical, but many more are unimpressed. It is hard. Hatred spreads like wildfire, good sense like fog. The inveterate hatred and jealousy between Christians and Muslims is bred in the bones of their education, and has been for millennia. Since 9-11 this antipathy got even worse.

At the same time as his training as a Christian denies Malcolm X's Islam, MLK is shocked at the tacit injustices that racist-inspired education gives rise to. For example, he attends a musical retrospective of American music and hears only songs like "Dixie," and no mention of great African American contributions like Jazz or the Spirituals. He deplores this, and rightly so. But an educator might well ask, where does it end? What about the notorious parochialism of nationalist educational systems? There are thousands of ethnicities and cultures and if you give attention to them all, you emphasize none. No educational system will ever have time to put every culture first while still having time to build a common ground on which all can stand. What does a good teacher do?

The troubles of our world can only be overcome by individual search for truth, it is true. King's victories exemplify what can be done with determined self-education. But even if we all had his courage, objective self-criticism and initiative, it will still always be an uphill battle. The number of original thinkers will always be tiny compared to the number of imitators. Racism and errors will continue to spread unless and until we adopt a universal curriculum that starts with our history as human beings first. I am not talking about Dead White Men, or a European education, or a Western education, but a human education, based on our accomplishments as a species, with lesser loyalties placed only after. The term for that is "cosmopolitan."

That is why, again and again, I have been returning to Immanuel Kant's Cosmopolitan History. I thought that nobody was reading my essays on that history until I came across some encouraging comments that I had missed on the Badi blog site. One was:

"I am now quite interested in what Kant had to say. Keep up the good work. ... Thank you for further clarifying what was hidden as in a seed and needed the right time to unfold and become manifest."

The notable thing about both MLK and Gandhi is that they were both martyrs. Both stood up for challenges that were really impossible for any but God, such as unifying the religions of India or the races of America. God decreed that they give their lives for daring the impossible dream, and that intensified their influence. It is not a coincidence that King's most famous phrase is, "I have a dream." Both used a strange technique that had no name, we only call it "non-violence" for the lack of a better word. Whatever it is, they proved that it is a practical way to force reform upon a reluctant system.

My question afterwards was, do Baha'is use non-violence? Certainly the martyrs in Iran are non-violent. They are obedient to government and do not retaliate in the face of furious hatred. But at the same time, they are not marching in the streets provoking reaction, the way Gandhi and King were doing. I guess the answer is that we are not only non-violent, we are also loyal and non-political. And mostly, our appeal is not to a single people or nation but the world. Once, when the Young Turks were challenging King's non-violent leadership, they said that his theme song, "We shall overcome," should be changed to "We shall over-run." If it were to be changed to a Baha'i way, the words would be, "God will overcome." It is all in His hands, so let us do the right thing in our activism, and God will overcome. But certainly we are united with our more political friends in protesting that,

"None calleth for justice, nor any pleadeth for truth: they trust in vanity, and speak lies; they conceive mischief, and bring forth iniquity." (Isaiah 59:4)

Let me finish with a series of sayings from the Master on education that, if followed carefully, would surely fill in the missing pieces from our collective education and tear out racial and nationalist prejudices by their very roots.

Education Must Include the Spiritual Ideals of World Peace and Brotherhood; A compilation from the words of Abdu'l-Baha

(from Star of the West, Vol. 15, pp. 37-38)

The duty of educated men, especially university presidents of the nation, is this: To teach in the universities and schools ideas concerning universal peace, so that the student may be so molded that in after years he may help carry fruition the most useful and human issue of mankind. The schools should be free from all religious and racial prejudices, for these often prevent good results from being obtained. All schools and colleges should have these three foundations.

First

They should be sincere in the service of training the souls. They should discover the mysteries of nature and extend the circle of art, commerce, etc. so that ignorance and the lack of knowledge will pass away and the lights of science and knowledge shine forth from the horizon of the soul and heart. In all schools and universities, a general rule for training should be made.

Second

Training in morality is necessary, so that the pupils' good conduct may remain unchanged and so that they may progress in a most befitting man nor, become possessed of lofty ideas, lovers of the world of humanity, and SO that they will hold fast to the spiritual perfections and to that which does not displease God.

Third

Service to the world of humanity should be obligatory. Every student should know, with perfect certainty that he is the brother of the people of all religions and nations and that he should be without religious, racial, national, patriotic or political bias, so that he may find the thoughts of universal peace and the love of humankind firmly established in his heart. He should know himself as a servant of human society of all the countries in the world. He should see God as the heavenly father and all the servants as his children, counting all of the nations, parties and sects as one family. The mothers in the homes, the teachers in the schools, the professors in the universities, and the leaders in the lofty gatherings, must cause these thoughts to be penetrative and effective, as the spirit, circulating in the veins and nerves of the children and pupils, so that the world of humanity may be delivered from the calamities of fanaticism, war, battle, hate and obstinacy, and so that the nether world may become the paradise of heaven'

In this age every face must turn to God! so that spiritual enlightenment will go hand in hand with material education.

Material education alone cannot make the world happy. Spiritual civilization must assist the material. The material civilization is like the lamp, but the spiritual civilization is like the light in the lamp. The lamp without the light is a useless thing."

Ideals of Peace must be nurtured and spread among the inhabitants of the world They must be instructed in the school of Peace and the evils of war, The advocates of Peace must strive clay and night, so that the individuals of every country may become peace loving, public opinion may gain a strong and permanent footing, and day by day the army of International Peace be increased."

Baha'u'llah teaches that the world of humanity is in need the breath of the Holy Spirit, for in spiritual quickening and enlightenment true oneness is attained with God and man.

The "Most Great Peace" cannot be assured through racial force and effort; it cannot be established by patriotic devotion and sacrifice; for nations differ widely and local patriotism has limitations.

Furthermore, it is evident that political power and diplomatic ability are not conducive to universal agreement, for the interests of governments are varied and selfish; nor will international harmony and reconciliation be an outcome of human opinions concentrated upon it, for opinions are faulty and intrinsically diverse. Universal Peace is an impossibility through human and material agencies; it must be through spiritual power. There is need of a universal impelling force which will establish the oneness of humanity and destroy the foundations of war and strife. No other than the divine power can do this; there fore it will be accomplished through the breath of the Holy Spirit.

No matter how far the material world advances it cannot establish the happiness of mankind. Only when material and spiritual civilization are linked and coordinated will happiness be assured.

Then material civilization will not contribute its energies to the forces of evil in destroying the oneness of humanity, for in material civilization good and evil advance together and maintain the same pace. For example, consider the material progress of man in the last decade.

Schools and colleges, hospitals, philanthropic institutions, scientific academies and temples of philosophy have been founded, but hand in hand with these evidences of development, the invention and production of means and weapons for human destruction have correspondingly increased. In early days the weapon of war was the sword; flow it is the magazine rifle. Among the ancients men fought with javelins and daggers; now they employ shells and bombs. Dreadnoughts are built, torpedoes invented and every few days a new ammunition is forthcoming.

All this is the outcome of material civilization; therefore although material advancement furthers good purposes in life, at the same time it serves evil ends.

The divine civilization is good because it cultivates morals. Consider what the prophets of God have contributed to human morality. His Holiness, Jesus Christ, summoned all to the "Most Great Peace" through the acquisitions of pure morals. If the moral precepts and foundations of divine civilization become united with the material advancement of man, there is no doubt that the happiness of the human world will be attained and from every direction the glad tidings of peace upon earth will be announced.

Then humankind will achieve extraordinary progress, the sphere of human intelligence will be immeasurably enlarged, wonderful inventions will appear and the spirit of God will reveal itself; all men will consort in joy and fragrance, and life eternal will be conferred upon the children of the kingdom. Then will the power of the divine make itself effective and the breath of the Holy Spirit penetrate the essence of all things.

Therefore the material and the divine or merciful civilizations must progress together until the highest aspirations and desires of humanity shall become realized."