THE EARTH IS BUT ONE COUNTRY

JOHN HUDDLESTON

The National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of the United Kingdom

1976/1988

PART V

 

Chapter 3: A New Race of Men

A – Independent Investigation of the truth

Bahá’í teachings for a new civilization begin with the individual. Each individual who partakes in the building of a just society will be most effective when he comes to terms with himself, when he knows who he is and what is his purpose in life. Then a man has humility, but values himself for what he can give; he has dignity and an inner peace. By contrast the egocentric, the self-indulgent man is not dignified; he gives little, and ironically receives little and consequently his potential for growth is severely limited. The man of self-pity, riddled with guilt, full of self-doubt and sometimes hatred, is equally crippled. He can give little love to others and does not value what he is given because he has no vision of what he might be. Often in present-day society the egocentric and the guilt-ridden are the same man, at differing levels of consciousness, victim of institutions and a system of values which mix encouragement of selfishness and greed, with a sense of guilt for pleasure in material things.

• Self-realization can only come as we develop our capacity to think independently and objectively. This is the way to reality, to self-confidence, and self-reliance.
• It is not enough to be independent of others. A must free himself from the influence to which he is subject by the very nature of his environment.

Bahá’í teachings stress that in his search for knowledge man should look to both science and religion. Science deals with the discovery of facts, religion with their meaning; science helps with the material needs of man, religion with his moral and spiritual requirements.

• If a religion clashes with science and is irrational then there is something very wrong with that religion.
• The scientific methods of acquiring knowledge by empirical investigation and rational deduction and induction are well known.
• Attitude of mind is of fundamental importance in evaluating information and it is here that religious methods play a significant role.
• One religious method of search is meditation which frees a man from his environment, frees his mind from conscious direction and allows it to contemplate the essence of being.
• Another religious method of investigation is prayer, the very act of which induces a feeling of humility, detachment and thought on the things which really matter in life.
• For a Bahá’í, prayer is like going outside the house to receive the warmth of the sun. The sun is there all day, but cannot reach us unless we go out into the open.
• Bahá’ís place great importance on the prayer as a vehicle of education. They should this at a time when they are alert and are truly conscious of what they are doing.
• Prayers may be said at any place conducive to reverence and dignity:

“Blessed is the spot, and the house, and the place, and the city, and the heart, and the mountain, and the refuge, and the cave, and the valley, and the land, and the sea, and the island, and the meadow where mention of God hath been made, and His praise glorified.”

B – Perspective and Purpose

The search for knowledge will bring perspective and understanding of man’s purpose in life. Such understanding starts with God. Though the essence of God is unknowable to man there is the assurance in the words and in the personalities of His Educators of His goodness, love and justice.

• It is important to keep a sense of proportion with material things. They should be enjoyed when the opportunity is there; but it is unwise and unhealthy to become attached to them. Their possession can be at best only ephemeral.
• Most important of all is the appreciation that the most profound sources of happiness are not to be found in material things but in the growth of the higher nature of man.
• A question often asked is how to reconcile a good God with all the pain and misery in the world. The Bahá’í view is that pain is an instrument of education, the cause by which man can become detached and grow spiritually.

The pain inflicted on men by the injustice of society is perhaps the greatest challenge of all and the whole direction of the Bahá’í community is to meet this challenge – to establish a truly just society. The Bahá’í view has been described as follows:

“Happiness for a Bahá’í is having tests and knowing how to summon the courage to pass them in such a way that his knowing and loving capacities are further developed in service to humanity.”

• This approach acquires deeper perspective when physical existence is viewed as the embryonic preparation for a lasting spiritual life after death. In the same way a child in the womb develops limbs, eyes and ears for the time when he is born into the world.

Bahá’í writings say that all survive death but at different levels of spirituality. The higher the level, the greater the understanding and joy in the creation of God. All are aware of their level and those who have achieved a low level because of their lack of growth when in the physical existence can only regret what they have failed to achieve. This is the state which religions have called hell. Hell, too, is the state of mind of the man still existing in the physical world who has allowed his spiritual qualities to wither away.

• Bahá’í teachings emphasize that man should not spend his life in contemplation of what is to come. It cannot be repeated too often that the aim of the Bahá’í Faith is to improve the quality of life on earth, not to divert men with dreams of a later existence.

In present-day society so many are afflicted by anxiety that most of their energy is devoted to self-protection. The positive attitude to both the known and the unknown shown in the Bahá’í Writings releases man from anxiety so that he can devote all his power to the fulfillment of his purpose in life. That purpose is two-fold. First, it is the development of the power of the spirit, to cultivate man’s higher nature, to acquire virtues, to know and love God and to grow toward Him. Secondly, as part of that process, it is to assist one’s fellow human beings, one’s children, the family, the whole of humanity, in the development of their higher nature – in short to help build a new Jerusalem.

• With such goals and with such a perspective of life every man, no matter how insignificant he might seem in the material weighing of the conventional world, can find self-respect.

 

C – The Human Body

A man of self-respect will not neglect his body. He will appreciate it and respect it as the creation of God. It is the temple of the human spirit, the highest creation of God. This is true whether the body is whole or blemished in some way. A blemished body has its own special beauty in that it often has a compensating physical attribute and, of more importance, the trials it imposes with strengthen the associated spiritual qualities. The man of self-respect will understand that the more healthy is his body the more energy he can devote to the purpose of life.

• Clearly a good diet is essential for bodily health. We are advised to look to a balanced diet, without excess, and adapted to the climate and the type of work in which the body is engaged. For the present, meat is considered necessary for many people in many areas, but in the future it is said that man will be able to live on a vegetarian diet:

“The food of the future will be fruit and grains. The time will come when meat will no longer be eaten. Medical science is only in its infancy, yet it has shown that our natural food is that which grows out of the ground.”

• When this happens there will be no necessity for the mass killing of animals which now blunts the spiritual qualities of the whole race of man so much.
• In March of each year for a period of nineteen days Bahá’ís are enjoined to observe a fast from food and drink between sunrise and sunset. The fast permits a periodic cleansing of the body which can be a healthy practice when not enforced too harshly as has been the practice with some religions.
• More important are the spiritual aspects of the Fast. Abstinence for a short period gives a man practice in self-discipline and makes him appreciate all the more those things which he has during the rest of the year and which he might otherwise take for granted.
• In the future, Abdu’l-Bahá said that medical science would turn more and more to the great curative powers of herbs and other agents of nature. Such cures will prove more gentle and balanced in their effects than the crude attack of surgery and high-powered drugs which are now necessary.
• Sickness has emotional as well as physical causes.

Illnesses of the body can be symptoms of a sickness in the mind and then only a spiritual regeneration will provide the cure. This might come from a doctor. It might come from contact with another person who has grown to a high level of love and spirituality. It might come when the sick person begins to understand his purpose in life through, for instance, prayer and meditation. It might come from the attention of a loving family or community.

Many ask what harm is there in taking an occasional drink. One answer is that all who use alcohol even occasionally are making its consumption socially respectable, not to say necessary, and thereby increasing the probability that others will become prisoners of this most cruel compulsion. Further, all users of alcohol are, in effect, supporting a worldwide system of wastage of resources which might otherwise have been used for the better wellbeing of millions of people. It is not enough to pass the responsibility elsewhere. Surely it is ignoble to count a frivolous fashion more important than the elimination of these terrible burdens on society.

• Drugs, like alcohol, are forbidden.

 

Chapter 5: The waves of One Sea

A – Love, Not prejudice