A Spiritual Origin

I said that the revolt against materialism was happening simultaneously at three levels, though there is a priority to them, and a sequence of emphasis.  The first and generative level is from within religion. But it should be clear by now that I mean by religion the appearance of a new Manifestation of God and the uttering of His Message.  It is the Word of God as both new spiritual energy and unfolding social pattern entering into the human world from the divine world.  For me the essence of religion is as ‘Abdu’l-Bahá  stated it: “Religion, moreover, is not a series of beliefs, a set of customs; religion is the teachings of the Lord God, teachings which constitute the very life of humankind, which urge high thoughts upon the mind, refine the character, and lay the groundwork for man's everlasting honour.” (Selections from the Writings of ‘Abdu’l-Baha: 52) 

The flow of divine, spiritual energy into the human world is an irruption, a breaking into our world from a Source outside it, yet first manifest and working out from its in-most heart.  This irruption is the first cause of all ensuing changes.  The eruption of effects, called spiritual, intellectual, and social transformation, is played out through the interaction of two processes, one fundamentally destructive and the other primarily constructive.

The primary unification made at the level of religion is twofold, the unification of the religions themselves and the integration of human nature as fundamentally a spiritual creation, one without the other is incomplete or impossible, for disunity in religion and human nature, which are two sides of the same coin, is the origin of all other ills and evils.

To trace the flow of spiritually transformative energy is to see it, first, as instantaneously dispersing throughout the world via hidden spiritual conduits.  Though this statement can not be empirically proven, I offer this support.  Bahá’u’lláh states: “Whoso ariseth, in this Day, to aid Our Cause, and summoneth to his assistance the hosts of a praiseworthy character and upright conduct, the influence flowing from such an action will, most certainly, be diffused throughout the whole world.” (Gleanings from the Writings of Bahá’u’lláh:287)  The idea that the influence of individual human acts can be diffused throughout the whole world should be an acceptable notion to anyone who accepts the instantaneous communication between quantum-entangled photons even at opposite ends of the physical universe, and if we can accept these ideas it is no great leap to Revelation Itself diffusing throughout the world

The second way to trace the impact of Revelation upon the world is organically, to know that this same energy is building the organic Bahá’í Administrative Order, which channels It, because this Order conforms to and unfolds from a pre-existing pattern which grows in power and influence in the world. 

To see these effects clearly on the macro-level, we should distinguish between three things occurring together in the process of human spiritual evolution: the recurring spirit (i.e. energy and pattern) of divine Revelation; the organic form that spirit is taking; the form that spirit is breaking. 

The form being taken is the new social form Spirit gradually creates to manifest itself.  Bahá’ís identify this form with their Administrative Order—though Shoghi Effendi also speaks of that Spirit working through “certain humanitarian organizations”. (The World Order of Bahá’u’lláh:19)  The second form, the form being broken, is the old vessel that a greater “volume” of spirit breaks apart when It is poured into it. Today, this vessel is the materialist order.  Shoghi Effendi called these breaking and building movements the parallel processes of integration and disintegration.  Spirit is unchanging, eternal and progressive, but its form changes and its manifestation progresses into greater complexity.

For me, Revelation is not just energy but also pattern for human development at every level and context, and the idea that Revelation is progressive includes the notion of greater spiritual energy pouring through a slowly evolving organic pattern or social structure, called civilization in its largest form, of increasing geographical range and social complexity.  Thus in relation to energy there is more of it with every Revelation, but in relation to pattern, it is more like a repatterning or reconfiguration, a building of greater organic complexity on a solid skeleton of eternal principles, like the organic human body progressing from embryo to mature stature. 

The unfolding social pattern laid out by “the changeless faith of God, eternal in the past, eternal in the present” (Gleanings: 136) is done through two sets of laws that every Manifestation brings.  ‘Abdu’l-Bahá explains: “(T)he Law of God is divided into two parts. One is the fundamental basis which comprises all spiritual things—that is to say, it refers to the spiritual virtues and divine qualities; this does not change nor alter: it is the Holy of Holies, which is the essence of the Law of Adam, Noah, Abraham, Moses, Christ, Muhammad, the Báb, and Bahá'u'lláh, and which lasts and is established in all the prophetic cycles. It will never be abrogated, for it is spiritual and not material truth; it is faith, knowledge, certitude, justice, piety, righteousness, trustworthiness, love of God, benevolence, purity, detachment, humility, meekness, patience and constancy. It shows mercy to the poor, defends the oppressed, gives to the wretched and uplifts the fallen.

These divine qualities, these eternal commandments, will never be abolished; nay, they will last and remain established for ever and ever. These virtues of humanity will be renewed in each of the different cycles; for at the end of every cycle the spiritual Law of God—that is to say, the human virtues—disappears, and only the form subsists.

These foundations of the Religion of God, which are spiritual and which are the virtues of humanity, cannot be abrogated; they are irremovable and eternal, and are renewed in the cycle of every Prophet.

The second part of the Religion of God, which refers to the material world, and which comprises fasting, prayer, forms of worship, marriage and divorce, the abolition of slavery, legal processes, transactions, indemnities for murder, violence, theft and injuries—this part of the Law of God, which refers to material things, is modified and altered in each prophetic cycle in accordance with the necessities of the times.” (Some Answered Questions:47)

This last paragraph is most important for understanding how human spiritual and social evolution gets halted or skewed because imitations burrow into the heart of religion.  I mean that those who hold the material laws of their religion, which are “modified and altered in each prophetic cycle” by the Manifestations, to be final and unchangeable block the renewing of the spiritual law in their own lives and this, in turn, breeds separateness, fanaticism, prejudice, insularity, and misunderstanding.  Remember the two forms of change in regard to the laws of God: the spiritual law is renewed, but the material law, because social circumstances change, is abrogated, modified and altered, and a new set of laws is put in its place.  The human spiritual essence is unchanging, but its innate potentials progressively unfold into manifest actuality.  The spiritual law is progressive in the same way.  It is always the same, but it is also renewed because it disappears under that heap of religious rubble called imitation, not because it no longer fits circumstances. 

The other part of the breeding of imitations is a failure to grasp the reality of religious knowledge.  All revealed religious teachings and “events” are figurative metaphors, similes, and symbols of the divine mystery.  ’Abdu’l-Bahá points out that to understand the Manifestations of God we should know that: “All Their states, Their conditions, Their acts, the things They have established, Their teachings, Their expressions, Their parables and Their instructions have a spiritual and divine signification, and have no connection with material things.” (Some Answered Questions: 103)  That is, look for the spiritual meaning not the material event.  Actual stars falling from heaven to earth is literal nonsense, but as a description of the fall of religious leaders from their high social position it makes perfect sense.

So, taking the denotation of the metaphor for its connotation is to turn metaphor into a fact (e.g. Christ literally and physically rose from the dead). This collapses the multi-level symbolic meaning contained in the metaphor into a literal meaning.  It is these literal meanings that science and reason demolish as the intellectual nonsense that they often are.  But to a “true believer” the more absurd a belief the truer it must be.