Contradictions into Complements

However, until material achievements, physical accomplishments and human virtues are reinforced by spiritual perfections, luminous qualities and characteristics of mercy, no fruit or result shall issue therefrom, nor will the happiness of the world of humanity, which is the ultimate aim, be attained.

(Selections from the Writings of ‘Abdu’l-Baha: 282)

Every individual must learn to bring the antagonistic inclinations of his two natures into one harmonious flow of productive energy to exemplify the general principle: “Progress is the expression of spirit in the world of matter.” (Paris Talks:90)  The proper union of the spiritual and material, far from being a static, inert state, is one of powerful energies in dynamic yet progressive equilibrium.  When accomplished, it creates a win/win situation from seemingly win/lose principles, what Baha’u’llah described as: “converting satanic strength into heavenly power.” (Gleanings from the Writings of Baha’u’llah:200)

Collectively, too, the harmonizing of opposing notions of progress creates a dynamic of growth that can become prosperity.  ‘Abdu’l-Bahá  stated: “I want to make you understand that material progress and spiritual progress are two very different things, and that only if material progress goes hand in hand with spirituality can any real progress come about, and the Most Great Peace reign in the world.” (Paris Talks:107  )

Spiritual purpose and material purpose can be harmonized, as the natures can.  But resolving the inner contradiction of humanity cannot be achieved through the material nature whose forms are legion, whose powers are finite, but whose appetites are infinite.  For the ego always sees itself on the good side of a polarity that it set up, or as the victim of some evil toward itself.  To the ego whatever is opposite is the enemy and is to be destroyed, because the ego’s world is a morally reversed one built upon an inversion of spiritual values, so that spiritual light is called dark, the spiritually low is named high.  ‘Abdu’l-Baha said about the trumpet-blowers of modern-day material civilization, whether of east or west: “They have imagined themselves as having attained a glorious pinnacle of achievement and prosperity, when in reality they have touched the innermost depths of heedlessness and deprived themselves wholly of God's bounteous gifts." (Christ and Bahá’u’lláh: 88) 

Because of such distortions in thinking, the misguided person flees from his own best interests, which are identical to those of the common good, and clings to his material self-interest, which is not.  It is about unchaining such a self that Baha’u’llah wrote: “And amongst the realms of unity is the unity of rank and station…Ever since the seeking of preference and distinction came into play, the world hath been laid waste.  It hath become desolate.” (The Universal House of Justice, Messages 1963 to 1986:376)  

But neither can the spiritual self unaided bring material impulses into harmony with spiritual purposes, for, though the divine image is already in harmony, it exists in most people only as potential.  Spiritual potential must be actualized to be harmonized with the material. The harmony and reconciliation of spirit and matter is not the harmony of disparate rhythms, but their harmonization by a master rhythm.  While the lower nature works, at best, toward unity, because by “nature” the ego only separates, divides and isolates, the higher nature works from it.  But the lower nature works toward unity only when it is brought under the direction of higher impulses.  But these higher impulses only get actualized by the power of the Word of God.  “Abdu’l-Baha reminds us: “The spirit of man is not illumined and quickened through material sources. It is not resuscitated by investigating phenomena of the world of matter. The spirit of man is in need of the protection of the Holy Spirit. Just as he advances by progressive stages from the mere physical world of being into the intellectual realm, so must he develop upward in moral attributes and spiritual graces….Therefore, no matter how man may advance upon the physical and intellectual plane, he is ever in need of the boundless virtues of Divinity, the protection of the Holy Spirit and the face of God.” (The Promulgation of Universal Peace:288)

When the spiritual and material are in dynamic balance humanity prospers and develops in a sustainable way-this is the two-wings of the bird metaphor.  But we should be careful.  While both the spiritual and the material are necessary for growth, and while neither by itself is sufficient for prosperity, their harmony never makes spirit and matter equal aspects.  The spiritual must remain the more important.  If the material and the spiritual must walk hand-in-hand, it is the spiritual that is the guiding hand.  As ‘Abdu’l-Bahá aptly said about civilization: "True civilization is where the spiritual is expressed and carried out in the material." (Paris Talks: 22)  Again, reconciling the spiritual and the material is like the painter struggling to embody his vision on canvas.  Vision and execution must be in harmony with possibility before realization can occur.  No epic poem can be crammed into the sonnet form, and a sonnet stretched out to epic length is just wind.  But it is the artist’s inspiration that is primary. 

Achieving harmony out of conflict, making contradictions into complements, whether within the psyche of one individual or collectively among groups of people, or even between nations, is the nut for humanity to crack.  Here is where the character acquired from education exercises its influence upon the two natures.  I mean that the essential character and the acquired or material character exist, but which one dominates is usually based upon what education directs the mind to consider.  Among the most important statements from ‘Abdu’l-Bahá about human nature is this: “The reality of man is his thought.” (Paris Talks:17)  This is both a description of our reality and a statement of how that reality is expressed.  If human reality is thought, then a human being, whether only a thinking animal or a thinking immortal soul, is what he is thinking about for as long as he is thinking about it.

Thought is our reality, but education directs thought to higher or lower planes of awareness, and volition carries out decision.  Thus in support of the need for a spiritual education ‘Abdu’l-Baha declares that: “The root cause of wrongdoing is ignorance, and we must therefore hold fast to the tools of perception and knowledge. Good character must be taught.” (Selections from the Writings of Abdu'l-Baha:136)  And Baha’u’llah asserts: “All that which ye potentially possess can, however, be manifested only as a result of your own volition. Your own acts testify to this truth.” (Gleanings from the Writings of Baha'u'llah:149)

A direct link to purchase my book, Renewing the Sacred: A New Vision of Education, is: http://tinyurl.com/cndew5a

The Natures of Conflict

Man possesses two kinds of susceptibilities: the natural emotions, which are like dust upon the mirror, and spiritual susceptibilities, which are merciful and heavenly characteristics.

(‘Abdu’l-Baha: The Promulgation of Universal Peace: 244) 

The process of growth is one of conflict, of some urge to advance meeting some force of resistance.  This becomes clear when we move from discussing the polar structure of the natures of man, to a discussion that emphasizes the interaction between them, an interaction that can be either progressive or regressive, but is most often a mix of both.

At the light/dark level of the opposition of the natures, the human being often engages in a zero-sum game.  For the individual youth, the urge to be an adult clashes with the desire to remain an adolescent.  On the larger stage of society, every release of human power arouses a new threat of oppression from entrenched powers such as church and state, so that a new liberation also brings the possibility of a new servitude.  It is on this level that we get warnings like: “material progress alone does not tend to uplift man. On the contrary, the more he becomes immersed in material progress, the more does his spirituality become obscured.” (Paris Talks:107)   This statement doesn’t just mean that material progress obscures our understanding of moral principles, though it does that.  It means it cuts us off from the internal dynamo of progress itself, since “spirit in itself is progressive”.  That is, material progress alone deprives us of that which we inherently possess.  Obscured spirituality is the dark clouds of wrong assumptions about our nature that hide the sun of our true humanity from our perception.  It does not mean the spiritual nature is annihilated, anymore than the clouds kill the sun.  They just hide it from direct perception, so a competitive, immature, me-first morality prevails.

However, though every individual seems composed of two natures, at a higher level of understanding and coordination of faculties and energies, every individual is, or should be, one person.  The spiritual nature is the divine image.  It is one identity of many attributes and qualities.  But the material nature is “multiple identities that were born of passion and desire.” (Selections from the Writings of ‘Abdu’l-Baha:76)   The real answer to the question, Who are you?, is this spiritual nature, for it is single and enduring, while the material nature is a shifting inner kaleidoscope of partisan interests.  Physical and social identities, like family, race, nationality, culture or DNA, are as various partial images of the one divine image that appear in the pieces of a fractured mirror.  While the spiritual nature is itself a complex unity, embracing, purposeful, integrated and cooperative, the material nature is a complex jumble of parts not in harmony even with each other, for its fractious passions are at war jockeying to be top dog.  The material nature, called the ego, is inherently divisive, separating, competitive, and atomistic.  If the material nature is passionate, the spiritual nature is com-passionate.  It is at the material level then that we are inherently conflict-driven creatures, continually striving to overcome ourselves and the limitations imposed by outer and inner constraints.  But the material nature is not our real nature, but is like a bad passport photo of our true self.

The second meaning of conflict is related to prosperity and the creation of wealth through the principle that we must labor to bring something into the world.  This is especially true of our inherent spiritual riches.  In His treatise on the stages of spiritual growth and transformation titled The Seven Valleys Baha’u’llah says that “we must labor to destroy the animal condition, till the meaning of humanity shall come to light.” (The Seven Valleys: 34)   Here he is making the clear point that the ego, the animal or material nature, is not the reality of human nature, no matter how much education may tell us that it is.  Bringing the meaning of humanity out requires labor and conflict to overcome this conditioning, to harmonize conflicting interests both within and without.  In a companion treatise on the same mystical subject of human spiritual development, titled The Four Valleys, He states: “If the travelers seek after the goal of the Intended One (maqsud), this station appertaineth to the self -- but that self which is "The Self of God standing within Him with laws. On this plane, the self is not rejected but beloved; it is well-pleasing and not to be shunned. Although at the beginning, this plane is the realm of conflict, yet it endeth in attainment to the throne of splendor.” (The Four Valleys:50)

It is necessary to engage in spiritual conflict if we are to subdue and train the impulses of the ego, or animal self.  But spiritual conflict is not violence, wrangling and partisan contention, but rather as 'Abdu'l-Baha’ explained: “When a thought of war comes, oppose it by a stronger thought of peace. A thought of hatred must be destroyed by a more powerful thought of love.” (Paris Talks:29)

  The lower self must be destroyed, yes.  But destroying the lower nature does not mean annihilating it, but, rather, rebuilding it in a productive form.  It is like destroying nature by making it into a garden, training a weed into a flower or vegetable.  It means that any ego dominance over human thought and behavior is destroyed in favor of higher inner laws which emerge into clarity to the extent that the ego is subjugated, much as adolescence is gradually destroyed because absorbed by the larger powers of maturity.  Because of a natural resistance, conflict is unavoidable in this change, but that conflict is much like the artist’s struggle to realize a vision on canvas, in stone, or words.  The conflict in human moral perception is that of clearing away the dark clouds of the ego-nature so that the light of the higher one can shine forth on the earth of human possibility.

Hence the wisdom of being a self-contradictory creation is that the contradiction gives us the nut to crack of making warring energies into developmental powers.  The Bahá’í Writings refer to this process as spiritual transformation, by which is meant transformations in human consciousness, movements in thought and awareness toward greater integration of our faculties.  Spiritual transformations are all those realizations that change divine potential into intellectual, social and material actuality.  And the greatest power in this process is spiritual education. 

To illustrate this transformation in perception from a lower to a higher state we can look at competition.  Competition has two forms.  The one most familiar to us is selfish competition, where each one strives to maximize self-interest.  But the spiritual form of competition reverses the direction and purpose of moral effort.  ‘Abdu’l-Baha writes: “Happy the soul that shall forget his own good and, like the chosen ones of God, vie with his fellows in service to the good of all.” (The Secret of Divine Civilization:116)  The two forms of competition have their counterpart in the faculties of the two selves.  We’ll take that up next.

A direct link to purchase my book, Renewing the Sacred: A New Vision of Education, is: http://tinyurl.com/cndew5a

The Unity of Opposites

Know thou that the Kingdom is the real world, and this nether place is only its shadow stretching out. A shadow hath no life of its own; its existence is only a fantasy, and nothing more; it is but images reflected in water, and seeming as pictures to the eye.

(Selections from the Writings of ‘Abdu’l-Baha:177)

Every person has some wonderful qualities, such as kindness and generosity, and some unsightly qualities, such as greed and selfishness.  ‘Abdu’l-Baha states: “…knowledge is a quality of man, and so is ignorance; truthfulness is a quality of man; so is falsehood; trustworthiness and treachery, justice and injustice, are qualities of man, and so forth. Briefly, all the perfections and virtues, and all the vices, are qualities of man.” (Some Answered Questions: 236)

From this viewpoint, human nature is two opposing natures composed of different qualities.  “In man there are two natures; his spiritual or higher nature and his material or lower nature. In one he approaches God, in the other he lives for the world alone. Signs of both these natures are to be found in men. In his material aspect he expresses untruth, cruelty and injustice; all these are the outcome of his lower nature. The attributes of his Divine nature are shown forth in love, mercy, kindness, truth and justice, one and all being expressions of his higher nature. Every good habit, every noble quality belongs to man's spiritual nature, whereas all his imperfections and sinful actions are born of his material nature.” (Paris Talks: 60)  

In another place he further elucidates this duality of human character calling the innate character man’s “essential perfection” and his other character his “absolute imperfection”. (Some Answered Questions:235) This imagery seems a bit apocalyptic, but the nature of the soul is apocalyptic, or revelatory.  For, the contrast between essential perfection and absolute imperfection forms a totality, a unity of opposites which is the structure of the human being in this world.  Such a structure of opposites is necessary for the flow of spiritual energy to occur, so that training, progress and the manifesting of potentials—which are the darkness and imperfection of the world of being--into actualities may take place within the imperfection, making it more perfect. 

Hence when we closely study ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s discussion of human nature we notice that he is not really speaking of two unconnected, separate and distinct orders of human nature and qualities, but of their reciprocal relations.  The polarity that makes up this complementary/contradictory creature is important to know if we are to appreciate the mediating and developmental effect of a proper education.  I mean that he is not defining human nature solely in terms of some essence, nor just in terms of human history and environment.  He is not taking sides in a false nature or nurture debate.  He is saying that both are required if  the human being is to grow through the process of education.  He wrote: “For the inner reality of man is a demarcation line between the shadow and the light, a place where the two seas meet; it is the lowest point on the arc of descent, and therefore is it capable of gaining all the grades above. With education it can achieve all excellence; devoid of education it will stay on, at the lowest point of imperfection.” (Selections from the Writings of Abdu'l-Baha:130)

It is true, in one sense, that each nature is defined by the qualities that manifest it.  But that is a static picture of contrasts.  When we, instead, concentrate upon their relations and on the process of education, then, we can see that each quality has two forms or states, its virtue or higher form and its vice or lower form; e.g. the states of knowledge and ignorance.  Virtue and vice form together a unity or, better, a unified whole, like light and shadow.  Virtues are attributes of the essential spiritual nature while vices are, metaphorically, the shadowy silhouettes forming the material nature, but which are gradually enlightened through the effects of spiritual education. 

To explain both the difference in the qualities and human moral development through education,  ‘Abdu’l-Baha states: “Certain qualities and natures innate in some men and apparently blameworthy are not so in reality. For example, from the beginning of his life you can see in a nursing child the signs of greed, of anger and of temper. Then, it may be said, good and evil are innate in the reality of man, and this is contrary to the pure goodness of nature and creation. The answer to this is that greed, which is to ask for something more, is a praiseworthy quality provided that it is used suitably. So if a man is greedy to acquire science and knowledge, or to become compassionate, generous and just, it is most praiseworthy. If he exercises his anger and wrath against the bloodthirsty tyrants who are like ferocious beasts, it is very praiseworthy; but if he does not use these qualities in a right way, they are blameworthy.” (Some Answered Questions:215)  It is in this sense that he says: “Good character must be taught.” (Selections from the Writings of Abdu'l-Baha:136)

This leads to an important point of reason and rational proof of spirituality.  We say where there is smoke there is fire.  Likewise, where there is shadow or image there is object.  Hence the material aspect is the sign of a quality that proves the existence of the spiritual capacity.  ‘Abdu’l-Baha said of the Japanese: “That nation has achieved extraordinary progress in a short space of time--a progress and development which have astonished the world. Inasmuch as they have advanced in material civilization, they must assuredly possess the capacity for spiritual development.” (Promulgation of Universal Peace:343)  This reflects the two meanings of the word capacity: as ability or skill or power, and as empty space, like the capacious cavern.

In all these various metaphors, the spiritual or essential self is presented as the abundant self, the one “created rich”, the one in which a universe is enfolded to be unfolded, while the material self is the poverty self, ever needy and dependent, a mere likeness in darkness of the divine, the receptacle into which essential spiritual unfolding takes place, and out of which comes in manifest form material and intellectual unfolding of qualities.  The spiritual self is rich in itself; the material self can only acquire material wealth, for it is empty, or pure potential.  But it can also seek spiritual riches from the higher self.  That is, the material nature being, in truth, a non-entity, a shadowy absence of something real, it can either seek to become materially wealthy or spiritually enriched.  It can wish to become a colossus of wealth, a paradigm of virtue, or both. 

Now, these selves struggle for governance of the soul and trying to resolve their struggle creates contradictory impulses, ends and goals: “Not in any other of the species in the world of existence is there such a difference, contrast, contradiction and opposition as in the species of man.” (Some Answered Questions:235) This “difference, contrast, contradiction and opposition” of our natures is the source of conflict.  What we can do about this conflict will be the topic of the next post. 

A direct link to purchase my book, Renewing the Sacred: A New Vision of Education, is: http://tinyurl.com/cndew5a

Deprivations

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

(Gleanings from the Writings of Baha'u'llah:259)

Last post discussed the three types of human character along with the three kinds of education that bring them forth, ending with a contrast between what we often say about ourselves—usually from some viewpoint originating either within the physical (inherited) or social (acquired) character, and what the Bahá’í Writings say, which elucidate our essential character.  The above quote can start any discussion that attempts to uncover that strata of human nature called the essential character, the divine or holy character.  Hence when we read other statements of Bahá’u’lláh’s like: “Behold Me standing within thee, mighty, powerful and self-subsisting,” Bahá’u’lláh means by “Me” the likeness or similitude of the divinity within our being, our talismanic essence that holds all creation within it and can, therefore, attract all creation to it. 

There is clearly, in Bahá’u’lláh’s mind, a difference between an education which will “educe” our spiritual nature 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.  It does this by distorting their nature, marginalizing their importance, or obscuring their value completely.  What are the results of being deprived of that which we inherently possess?  There are many, but I will concentrate on only two at present, the first negatively affects the relationship each individual has with himself or herself, while the second distorts our social relationships.            

Foremost among those inherent powers and faculties which an improper education deprives us of is the faculty of recognizing the Word of God Itself.  For many religionists the relationship with God is an inherent one, and without it the intelligence can make no coherent sense of the universe and themselves.  Yet for those under the sway of a secular rational system, that relation with God is problematic at best, non-existent at worse.  Whatever benefits this intellectualistic education has brought, and there are many, from a spiritual point of view it has cost its proponents something necessary to be fully human.  Bahá’u’lláh wrote: “Gracious God! It was intended that at the time of the manifestation of the One true God the faculty of recognizing Him would have been developed and matured and would have reached its culmination. However, it is now clearly demonstrated that in the unbelievers this faculty hath remained undeveloped and hath, indeed, degenerated.” (Tablets of Baha’u’llah:52)   This faculty is what enables the human heart to recognize the Voice of God as uniquely different from any human voice.  This is the faculty of the soul which perceives either the divine Message or the divinity within things.  Having this faculty in action enables the soul to be “the first among all created things to declare the excellence of its Creator, the first to recognize His glory, to cleave to His truth, and to bow down in adoration before Him.” (Gleanings:158)  

Lack of a proper education deprives us of knowing ourself to be a “supreme talisman” with terrific powers, of knowing the voice of divinity when it speaks, and all this has a direct impact upon the economic crisis.  “This unprecedented economic crisis, together with the social breakdown it has helped to engender, reflects a profound error of conception about human nature itself. For the levels of response elicited from human beings by the incentives of the prevailing order are not only inadequate, but seem almost irrelevant in the face of world events. We are being shown that, unless the development of society finds a purpose beyond the mere amelioration of material conditions, it will fail of attaining even these goals. That purpose must be sought in spiritual dimensions of life and motivation that transcend a constantly changing economic landscape and an artificially imposed division of human societies into "developed" and "developing". (The Prosperity of Humankind:3)

Now, what is meant by the phrase spiritual dimension of life?  “Although there are mystical aspects that are not easily explained, the spiritual dimension of human nature can be understood, in practical terms, as the source of qualities that transcend narrow self-interest. Such qualities include love, compassion, forbearance, trustworthiness, courage, humility, co-operation and willingness to sacrifice for the common good--qualities of an enlightened citizenry, able to construct a unified world civilization.” (Baha'i International Community, Sustainable Development Human Spirit)  But let us also remember that while the source of higher qualities is the "spiritual dimension of human nature" the awakener of that source, the Source of this source itself, is the Word of God.  Abdu’l-Baha again: “Through the breaths of the Holy Spirit man is uplifted into the world of moralities and illumined by the lights of divine bestowals. The moral world is only attained through the effulgence of the Sun of Reality and the quickening life of the divine spirit. For this reason the holy Manifestations of God appear in the human world.” (The Promulgation of Universal Peace:329)

 The second and social result of being deprived of what we inherently possess is found in these statements of Bahá’u’lláh: “No two men can be found who may be said to be outwardly and inwardly united. The evidences of discord and malice are apparent everywhere, though all were made for harmony and union.” (Tablets of Baha’u’llah:138)  And: “Ye were created to show love one to another and not perversity and rancour.” (Tablets of Baha’u’llah:138)

For individuals to unite into real community means assisting each other to create peace and prosperity for all, uniting in a way that each separate quality adds to the composite beauty and power of the whole.  ‘Abdu’l-Bahá wrote: "Verily, God loveth those who are working in His path in groups, for they are a solid foundation." Consider ye that he says "in groups," united and bound together, supporting one another. "To work," mentioned in this holy verse, does not mean, in this greatest age, to perform it with swords, spears, shafts and arrows, but rather with sincere intentions, good designs, useful advices, divine moralities, beautiful actions, spiritual qualities, educating the public, guiding the souls of mankind, diffusing spiritual fragrances, explaining divine illustrations, showing convincing proofs and doing charitable deeds. When the holy souls, through the angelic power, will arise to show forth these celestial characteristics, establishing a band of harmony, each of these souls shall be regarded as one thousand persons and the waves of this greatest ocean shall be considered as the army of the hosts of the Supreme Concourse.” (Baha’i World Faith: 401)

For me, being “made for harmony and union” and “created to show forth love” puts to rest all those theories of human nature which say humans are only selfish, conflict-driven creatures.  Rather, it is an improper education that skews our vision, that deprives us of understanding this innate nature of harmony and union, which hides this treasure from view and so prevents us from acting on that understanding.  Because we are deprived of knowing our true selves, we do, indeed, become conflict-driven, both psychologically and socially.  Yet there is some truth to the belief that we are conflict-driven.  But to understand this we must see the human reality as double-natured, with conflict being an inherent part of only one nature.  We’ll look at that in the next post.

A direct link to purchase my book, Renewing the Sacred: A New Vision of Education, is: http://tinyurl.com/cndew5a