Likewise didst thou ask whether, in this Bahá'í
Dispensation, the spiritual will ultimately prevail. It is certain that
spirituality will defeat materialism, that the heavenly will subdue the human,
and that through divine education the masses of mankind generally will take
great steps forward in all degrees of life—except for those who are blind and
deaf and mute and dead.
(Selections from the Writings of Abdu'l-Baha:191)
The House of Justice continued to hammer at the
theme, adding further definition to the human construct that is
materialism. They wrote in their first
year of “civilization torn by strifes and enfeebled by materialism.” (From a
letter of the Universal House of Justice to the Bahá'ís of the East and West,
December 18, 1963)
The Bahá’í International Community at the
United Nations stated in their October 1995 message, Turning Point For All Nations: “With respect to social issues,
likewise, grave problems persist. While new levels of consensus have been
reached on global programs to promote health, sustainable development and human
rights, the situation on the ground in many areas has deteriorated. The
alarming spread of militant racialism and religious fanaticism, the cancerous
growth of materialism, the epidemic rise of crime and organized criminality,
the widespread increase in mindless violence, the ever-deepening disparity
between rich and poor, the continuing inequities faced by women, the
intergenerational damage caused by the pervasive break-down of family life, the
immoral excesses of unbridled capitalism and the growth of political corruption—all
speak to this point.”
So pervasive and encompassing did materialism
become that the House of Justice stated in the document, One Common Faith: “Early in the twentieth century, a materialistic
interpretation of reality had consolidated itself so completely as to become
the dominant world faith insofar as the direction of society was
concerned.”(p.3) Its domination over the
minds of people was backed by a powerful coercive silencing of competing voices:
“Having penetrated and captured all significant centers of power and
information at the global level, dogmatic materialism ensured that no competing
voices would retain the ability to challenge projects of world wide economic
exploitation.” (p.5)
In several messages since then to the Bahá’í
world the House of Justice briefly calls attention to the deterioration of political life that continues unabated from
the deficient moral code that “governs” materialism: “That political life everywhere has continued
to deteriorate at an alarming rate in the intervening years, as the very
conception of statesmanship has been drained of meaning, as policies have come
to serve the economic interests of the few in the name of progress, as
hypocrisy has been allowed to undermine the operation of social and economic
structures, is evident.” (Letter to Conference of Continental Boards of
Counsellors, 28 December 2010.)
On
the destructive effect that materialism exerts upon the young, the House wrote:
“What needs to be appreciated in this respect is the extent to which young
minds are affected by the choices parents make for their own lives, when, no
matter how unintentionally, no matter how innocently—its admiration for power, its
adoration of status, its love of luxuries, its attachment to frivolous
pursuits, its glorification of violence, and its obsession with
self-gratification. It must be realized
that the isolation and despair from which so many suffer are products of an environment
ruled by an all-pervasive materialism.” (Letter to Conference of Counsellors 28
December 2010)
Yet,
when there is a real struggle for change: “No matter how captivating the
spectacle of the people’s fervor for change, it must be remembered that there
are interests which manipulate the course of events. And, so long as the remedy prescribed by the
Divine Physician is not administered, the tribulations of this age will persist
and deepen. An attentive observer of the
times will readily recognize the accelerated disintegration, fitful but
relentless, of a world order lamentably defective.” (Ridvan 2011)
Though
materialism is a world-devouring flame, the ash from its burning creates
another response: “Passivity is bred by the forces of society today. A desire to be entertained is nurtured from
childhood, with increasing efficiency, cultivating generations willing to be
led by whoever proves skilful at appealing to superficial emotions.” (Ridvan
2010)
And in a recent message addressed to Bahá’í
youth in Iran: “We live in an age when the role of religion in shaping human
thought and in guiding individual and collective conduct is increasingly
discounted. In societies that have bowed to the dictates of materialism,
organized religion is seeing the sphere of its influence contract, becoming
confined mostly to the realm of personal experience. Not infrequently the laws
of religion are regarded as arbitrary rules blindly obeyed by those incapable
of independent thought or as a prudish and outdated code of conduct
hypocritically imposed upon others by advocates who, themselves, fail to live
up to its demands. Morality is being redefined in such societies, and
materialistic assumptions, values, and practices pertaining to the nature of
humankind and its economic and social life are taking on the status of
unassailable truth.
Indeed, the expenditure of enormous energy
and vast amounts of resources in an attempt to bend truth to conform to
personal desire is now a feature of many contemporary societies. The result is
a culture that distorts human nature and purpose, trapping human beings in
pursuit of idle fancies and vain imaginings and turning them into pliable
objects in the hands of the powerful. Yet, the happiness and well-being of
humanity depend upon the opposite: cultivating human character and social order
in conformity with reality. Divine teachings shed light on reality, enabling
every soul to investigate it properly and to acquire, through the exercise of
personal discipline, those attributes that are to distinguish the human being.
"Man should know his own self", Bahá'u'lláh states, "and
recognize that which leadeth unto loftiness or lowliness, glory or abasement,
wealth or poverty." (Challenges for Bahá'í Youth in a Western Way of Life by Universal House
of Justice 2013-04-19)
I have dwelt at some length upon the imagery
of materialism in the Bahá’í Writings to emphasize the point that materialism,
because it is an entire order of life, thought and belief, is an interpretation of reality in all its manifold facets: a hydra-headed
beast with many aspects. In its late
stages, i.e. since the mid nineteenth century, it is a “devouring flame”
associated both with “hell made to blaze”, the release of “the forces of
dissension”, with “tumult” and “commotion”.
It is a “sea” in which humanity is submerged and drowning, a veil that
obscures spiritual reality and clouds perception. It is “crass” “relentless”, “all-pervasive”
and “rampant”, growing like a cancer, “a cesspool” “pervading all departments
of life” and it enervates and enfeebles the higher powers of the soul which then
allows the “baser forces of human nature” to be unbridled. This ugly growth had, according to the House
of Justice, consolidated itself so completely by the early twentieth century as
to become “the dominant world faith insofar as the direction of society was
concerned.” Materialism is also
associated with modernity, both as a social structure and a faith. It originated in the “west” but spread to all
parts of the globe.
Humanity is in the grip of this dangerous
illusion, and many blame “the West” for their troubles. Though originators, chief proponents and main
exporters of materialism, the West is not to blame for others binding
themselves with the chains of the same illusion. People choose their reality, if they have the
power to do so, or it is chosen for them, as is the case with most people. No culture was able to prevent the Trojan
horse of materialism from entering its gates and insidiously subverting its
traditional values and goals. But that
says more about the feeble defenses of traditional culture than it does about
the great strength of the truth of materialism.
Yet, from a spiritual perspective, materialism is an illusion, a smoke
and mirrors fog of flaming desires and enchanting allurements, a blinding dust
storm of contending intellectual passions and fruitless wars. Humanity is now in open revolt against it.
Next post will begin an examination of some of the facets of that revolt.
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