“I think we have a situation where both the ‘forces of growth’ and the ‘forces of death’ are strengthening, and have been for some time,” said Oliver L. Phillips, a prominent tropical forest researcher with the University of Leeds in England. “The latter are more eye-catching, but the former have in fact been more important so far.”
Justin Gillis The Threats to a Crucial Canopy New York Times
In the lead quote from a New York Times article, what Mr. Phillips is referring to is the large-scale destruction of the world’s forests due to global warming, which does not enable cold winters to kill off pests, to drought in many places, to acid rain, and to other environmental problems. The drama of the world’s forests is another of the looming economic/social/ecological/human disasters with which we are threatened. Then there is the exploitation of huge populations and natural resources by gigantic companies, such as Monsanto, that exist only for their own profit, and seem to lack any sort of ethical principle other than making money. The latest oppression of the Iranian Baha’i community by the government there is the denial of the right to exist of the Baha’i Institute for Higher Education, which was set up because Baha’i children and youth were denied public education in the first place. The list of the actions of those representing the forces of death can go on and on.
But Mr. Phillips makes the interesting point that even within forests both forces of growth and death are strengthening, and have been for some time, but that the forces of life, while not so dramatic, have always been more important. Correct. The same is true all over the world, as the existing order--including Nature it seems--increasingly heats-up with contention. Baha’is call these reciprocal powers the “forces of integration” and “forces of disintegration.” Terminology does not matter. What matters is the truth that this world is a composite of opposites at every level, and they are being pulled apart. How do we make unity out of this? One word: Justice. But there is a twist here. Spiritually, unity precedes justice, but socially justice precedes unity. Whaaa?
Baha’u’llah wrote: “So powerful is the light of unity that it can illuminate the whole earth….This goal excelleth every other goal, and this aspiration is the monarch of all aspirations. So long, however, as the thick clouds of oppression, which obscure the day star of justice, remain undispelled, it would be difficult for the glory of this station to be unveiled to men's eyes.” (Gleanings:288) Unity, then, is our goal.
But, if the glory of unity cannot be perceived so long as the sun of justice is hidden by thick clouds of oppression, then dispelling these clouds is the precondition for what to shine forth? Not the light of unity, but the sun of justice. Only when the sun of justice shines forth can the glory of unity be unveiled. Unity is there waiting. Again, Baha’u’llah wrote: “The light of men is Justice. Quench it not with the contrary winds of oppression and tyranny. The purpose of justice is the appearance of unity among men.” (Tablets of Baha’u’llah:66) The purpose of clearing away oppression and tyranny is to enable the sun of justice to shine. But the purpose of justice is the appearance of unity. Now we often say that the purpose of justice is the lifting of oppression or the redress of injustice. But that is the work of justice. The purpose of this work is the appearance of unity. One light turns on the other. Let’s look a little closer.
For the oppressed and disadvantaged, the struggle is to achieve any justice at all. This effort to achieve justice often revolves around conflict of some sort. In any human concern conflict is inevitable so long as competitive self-interest drives human desire. To resolve or prevent such conflict requires spiritually-motivated individual action, but it also requires a framework of formalized cooperative relationships in which competing desires can be integrated and harmonized. Without such a framework unity can only mean the strongest imposing their will upon others in the name of “for their own good.” This has always degenerated into a squalid tyranny that benefits only a few.
In this light, too, we can clearly see that when rampant injustice is itself a chief cause of civil unrest, paternalistic calls for unity are themselves part of the oppression experienced by the oppressed, for it not only leaves them no avenue to redress their plight, but also blindly defines the struggle for justice as the cause of the unrest. This is not just blaming the victim but emasculating him. The dream of justice turns into a nightmare of injustices whenever it is driven by self-interest, even if that interest is morally legitimate.
All competitive relationships are alluring in their promises to combat evil or redress wrongs. Contentious strivings to undo inequity seem noble, right, and good, but they are also expressions of the competitive lower nature which sees conflict as the only means of achieving any goal. Conflict seems to be necessary to clear away “the thick clouds of oppression”, but, wittingly or no, conflict only unleashes more of those “contrary winds of oppression and tyranny”--because action provokes reaction--that drive humanity through cycles of rebellion, retribution, and revolution, making general chaos and decline inevitable. The House of Justice addressed this point: “Humanity’s crying need will not be met by a struggle among competing ambitions or by protest against one or another of the countless wrongs afflicting a desperate age. It calls, rather, for a fundamental change of consciousness.” (To Champion the Cause of Justice:29)
If the purpose of justice is the appearance of unity, then the purpose of justice is not to set things right. Nor is it to fight injustice. That would mean that the purpose of justice is justice. No, if the purpose of justice is the appearance of unity then a consciousness of unity, a leap into our nobler nature which operates on spiritual principle, sets things right. That consciousness exists within us already. “Unity,” wrote the Universal House of Justice, “is a condition of the human spirit.” (One Common Faith: 42) That is why I say that spiritually unity precedes justice, but socially justice precedes unity. Further, justice demands universal participation in solving problems and meeting common challenges. Spiritually: “The proper response to oppression,” wrote the House of Justice, ‘is neither to succumb in resignation nor to take on the characteristics of the oppressor. The victim of oppression can transcend it through an inner strength that shields the soul from bitterness and hatred and which sustains consistent, principled action.” (Message to Baha’is of Iran June 23, 2009)
This is not to say that injustices should not be addressed, wrongs righted, that oppression can be passively accepted, that evil and cruelty can continue, because a unity consciousness will take care of everything. We can never be neutral in the face of injustice, tyranny and oppression. Unity can find no secure footing so long as injustice continues. The struggle for justice must be carried out through every available legitimate means, but the motivating purpose of this struggle must be not just to lift the burden of oppression, but, rather, for unity to appear. Perhaps a great example is Nelson Mandela after he became leader of South Africa. He did not try to exact retribution upon his oppressors, but rather to build up structures of equality, justice, and equal opportunity, and, as a result of this effort, discriminatory structures and attitudes are disappearing.
But conflict has purposes that are under a Higher Power. As the forces of life and the forces of death engage in an ever more violent clash, let us strive to bring forth, to educe, our consciousness of unity. Then perhaps we may see, as Baha’u’llah did, that “had not every tribulation been made the bearer of Thy wisdom, and every ordeal the vehicle of Thy providence, no one would have dared oppose us, though the powers of earth and heaven were to be leagued against us.” (Prayers and Meditations p. 14)
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