Who are you, really?

Man is the supreme Talisman. Lack of a proper education hath, however, deprived him of that which he doth inherently possess.

(Tablets of Baha’u’llah:161)

            What does a teacher see when he or she looks at the students?  What does a parent notice about their children?  Who do you see when you gaze in the mirror?

            Many theorists of human nature, seeing a newborn, would argue that human beings are inherently poor, weak and helpless and some forms of education, often tied to religious indoctrination, subtlety prey on that debilitating idea, keeping people in a state of psychological dependence on outer things, other people, authority, and circumstances of crisis. 

            Bahá’u’lláh counters this bit of crushing psychological nonsense with: “I created thee rich, why dost thou bring thyself down to poverty?  Noble I made thee, wherewith dost thou abase thyself?” The divine Educator is bewildered that people think of themselves as poor and needy.  Bahá’u’lláh Himself never became enmeshed in the abusive, choking tangles of learned impotence that many people experience.  He never lost sight of the truth that He was and we are created rich.  How rich are we?   Baha'u'llah asserted: “Dost thou reckon thyself only a puny form when within thee the universe is folded?”   How can the universe be enfolded within each of us?  Let’s go back to the word, “talisman" in the opening quote.

            We often think of a talisman as a kind of lucky charm.  But this is a trivial understanding.  “Miraculous work” is an approximate translation of the Greek “telesma” from which we derive talisman.  The talisman is an emblem or symbol into which can enter cosmic power to perform miracles.  The talisman is traditionally crafted to attract the Elixir of life which can transform both the material and the spiritual worlds.

            Every thing is a talisman, but the human reality is the supreme talisman because it is composed of all the qualities of God.  “The world, indeed each existing being, proclaims to us one of the names of God, but the reality of man is the collective reality, the general reality, and is the center where the glory of all the perfections of God shine forth -- that is to say, for each name, each attribute, each perfection which we affirm of God there exists a sign in man.”  But in relation to the creation the same relation holds.  The Bab wrote: “Verily hath God created within thyself the similitude of all that He hath fashioned in creation, that thou mayest not be veiled from any effulgence.”  The universe in all its fullness is enfolded within the human spirit as the vibrational equivalencies of all created things which are attributes and names of God.  Thus the human reality is a powerful magnet that can potentially attract the whole creation, but only if it is properly and fully magnetized.    

            The talisman which is the human reality can be magnetized either by material or spiritual vibrations.  In today’s materialistic civilization it is magnetized almost entirely by crude material energies and coarse physical vibrations.  So we have little awareness of the higher harmonies of spirit.  To be spiritually magnetized the soul must enter the charged field of the Word of God “inasmuch as these holy verses are the most potent elixir, the greatest and mightiest talisman,” and enter into relation with one of God’s Messengers, for the Prophet of God “is in truth the Supreme Talisman and is endowed with supernatural powers.” 

            There are practical implications for education in all this abstract philosophy.  The most important question anyone can ask is: Who am I?  Second to this is: What is my purpose?  These are questions that, as I have stated, education must help students address.  Baha’u’llah admonishes that “man should know his own self and recognize that which leadeth unto loftiness or lowliness, glory or abasement, wealth or poverty.”   

            We must not be confused here, or settle for less than the best answer when seeking to truly know ourselves.  Each of us is full of unlimited creative intellectual potential and imaginative capacity.  It is some of those same creative mental potentials that Bahá’u’lláh means by our riches.  But I also think that Bahá’u’lláh means something far beyond these potentials of mind, so that even the best of current intellectual education is a poverty of self-understanding of ourselves as spiritual realities.  

           There is clearly, in Bahá’u’lláh’s mind, a difference between true education and much of what passes for education today which is, from a spiritual perspective, really a “lack of a proper education” for it deprives us of what we inherently possess, namely, our spiritual endowments.  Any education is an improper education if it deprives people of knowing about the spiritual dimension of the world and themselves.  Much of secular, public education everywhere does precisely this.  It does this by distorting the nature of spirituality, marginalizing its importance, or obscuring its value completely.  If current education deprives us of what we inherently possess then we exit such education less than we were before we entered.  For, Bahá’u’lláh is not just saying that improper education deprives us of part of ourselves.  He is saying it deprives us of the most important part; not any one of our faculties and abilities but knowledge of our essence.  It does not mistakenly prune some of our buds and branches, but severs our root.   

            The next time teachers look over your classrooms, or parents see your children, or you look in the mirror, try to see the supreme talisman: that reality holding a universe of riches within it; that soul into which can enter cosmic power to perform miracles; that being crafted to attract the Elixir of life which can transform both the material and the spiritual worlds.  It changes your thinking about them and yourself abruptly.  Ask yourself:  How can such miracles as these be taught?  What content should they study?  What methods used?  I know.  I've done it, as teacher, parent, and self.  It is difficult to maintain the thought, I admit, and I have often failed.  But like anything else, practice makes it not only better, but also easier.  There is another metaphor for the human reality that Baha'u'llah uses, a mine rich in gems.  I'll share some thoughts about that next.