Schools must first train the children in the principles of religion, so that the Promise and the Threat recorded in the Books of God may prevent them from the things forbidden and adorn them with the mantle of the commandments; but this in such a measure that it may not injure the children by resulting in ignorant fanaticism and bigotry.
(Tablets of Baha'u'llah: 67)
I have suggested in recent posts that the values that we want children to acquire cannot be taught; only the knowledge of values can be taught, either intellectually as principles of conduct or as noble behaviors which I have called virtues. In the above quote, Baha’u’llah does not say for schools to teach religion, but to train children in its principles. When ‘Abdu’l-Baha states that “Good character must be taught” I think that He means something like good character must be exampled. Good character can only be shown in actions which we hope children will, in turn, imitate in the best sense of that word. But example appears as a kind of inner moving picture in which we are the actors. Recently, brain researchers have discovered a class of neurons in the brain called mirror neurons. These enable one person to tune into someone else. That is, when we observe someone act the same neurons fire in sequence in our brains. The observer’s brain function mirrors the one that the observed person went through to carry out the action. Voila, the neuroscience of the dynamic force of example.
Let’s look at this polarity of Promise and Threat to see how it might work. As with much of spiritual education, first things are not simplest or most elementary in content. Rather they are elementary and, therefore, deepest in structure. They are the foundational archetypal powers and paradigms of existence and knowledge. Our paradigmatic teacher is the Manifestation of God. His Message is the archetype of wisdom. Baha’u’llah calls Wisdom “the foremost Teacher in the school of existence” which “at the beginning of the foundation of the world ascended the stair of inner meaning and when enthroned upon the pulpit of utterance, through the operation of the divine Will, proclaimed two words. The first heralded the promise of reward, while the second voiced the ominous warning of punishment. The promise gave rise to hope and the warning begat fear. Thus the basis of world order hath been firmly established upon these twin principles.” (Tablets of Baha'u'llah:66)
What does all this metaphysics have to do with the practical moral training of my six or sixteen-year old? One obvious aspect of moral training is based on fear of punishment. Virtuous conduct can only be consistent when the fear of God is in the heart and the real threat of punishment of some sort is in place in the home or school. Baha’u’llah states: “The fear of God hath ever been the prime factor in the education of His creatures. Well is it with them that have attained thereunto!” The fear of God is "the fountainhead of all goodly deeds and virtues" and "the commander of the hosts of justice." Fear of God is the inner ground of moral self-discipline. Fear of punishment is its outer aspect.
But we must be careful not to overemphasize the fear of God, or equate it with fear of punishment, because by itself it encourages us to think of God as a repressive, puritanical, exacting old bully. Such thinking leads “to ignorant fanaticism and bigotry.” Fearing God is not like cringing before a capricious tyrant who overrules our every happy emotion, and is ready to strike mortally and at random for his own perverse entertainment. We have many examples of these in our world—some of them rule countries. Neither should we be bred like sheep to instantly panic upon hearing a parental bark to “get back in line.” Examples of these, too, abound. The fear of God should be pre-emptive not retributive of wrong-doing. It is like what children feel when they imagine disappointing a loving parent. Children want to please their parents, to have mom and dad be proud of them, to encourage them. They fear loss of love. Seeing fear as the outer support of love should be part of every child’s moral education.
But no relation that lasts is ever built upon fear, even the fear of God. All relationships of growth are built upon a foundation of love, and love of God is the bedrock of our spiritual striving. I called fear the outer support of love because 'Abdu'l-Baha said that parents should instill in their children "the love of God so that they may manifest the fear of God and have confidence in the bestowals of God." Instilling the love of God in children can be especially the responsibility of mothers, since the Master advises that the love of God should "pervade their inmost being, commingled with their mother's milk."
Once these primal sources of life are flowing, then, following Baha’u’llah’s statement, a complete moral education must have a cognitive, an affective and a volitional aspect. It is thought, feeling and will leading to action. The cognitive aspect consists in stating clearly and in age-appropriate language the promise of reward and, when necessary, the threat of punishment in any situation of moral choice. But, in reality, both reward and punishment are promises, though punishment should mostly be implied. Promises of reward arouse within children feelings of hope and fear, the emotional energies driving behavior, for real punishment is gradually seen to be depriving oneself of the reward. Actions are then trained (i.e. reinforced or corrected) by the promised rewards or the promised punishment. The world makes moral sense.
All three pairs—promise/threat, hope/fear, reward/punishment—must work in tandem or moral training is skewed. If, for example, the promise and the threat are never clearly stated, then, over time, there results an underdevelopment of the intellectual faculties of understanding and imagination, for the child lives in a world of phantoms where he can never find firm ground to stand on: his understanding is blocked or thwarted for nothing is solid enough to grasp and be believed; his imagination is overrun by monsters and serpents. Perception is clouded by anxiety, causing lack of insight—at least confidence in it—and lack of insight, in turn, leaves individuals unable to consider deeper questions such as: What is the purpose of life other than survival?
Emotional underdevelopment, characterized by selfishness, a lack of faith and trust, a luxuriance of lies, the inability to commit to anything, occurs from too many morbid fears, resulting in insensitivity or indifference to the sufferings of others, and a general lack of sympathy, affection, or deep feelings of love. Inappropriate or inconsistent rewards and punishments bring about a weak will with little intention to either personally advance or to help others do so, for no matter what the child does he risks being wrong for no apparent reason. Thus the threat of inevitable criticism looms large in his mind.
But if all is rationally stated and rewards and punishments follow logically and consistently from promises, then proper expectations develop because hope is rewarded and strengthened while anxiety is dissipated in loving relations and fear is dissolved in just punishment.
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