Science: An Effulgence of the Sun of Truth

Unveiled and unconcealed, this Wronged One hath, at all times, proclaimed before the face of all the peoples of the world that which will serve as the key for unlocking the doors of sciences, of arts, of knowledge, of well-being, of prosperity and wealth.

(Tablets of Bahá’u’lláh: 96)

We are exploring some implications in the House of Justice statement that: “For the majority of the earth’s people, the scriptures of each of these systems of belief have served, in Bahá’u’lláh’s words, as “the city of God”, a source of knowledge that totally embraces consciousness, one so compelling as to endow the sincere with “a new eye, a new ear, a new heart, and a new mind.”  We have discussed religion, but closed last post with the question: What about science?”

While the Bahá’í Writings consistently make religion the power behind humanity’s intellectual development, by religion, again, is meant the creative Word of God.  But also, as a consciousness, true religion is the re-ligia or Straight Path of reunion and reconnection with God, and reunion with God is the real purpose behind all learning, according to ‘Abdu’l-Bahá.  “Every branch of learning, conjoined with the love of God, is approved and worthy of praise; but bereft of His love, learning is barren—indeed, it bringeth on madness. Every kind of knowledge, every science, is as a tree: if the fruit of it be the love of God, then is it a blessed tree, but if not, that tree is but dried-up wood, and shall only feed the fire.” (Selections from the Writings of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá: 181)

Religion as the emotional encounter and rational interpretation of Revelation is merely another knowledge grown out from that Root, often leading the mind and heart away from the Straight path.  ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, for example, stated: “The holy, divine Manifestations did not reveal themselves for the purpose of founding a nation, sect or faction. They did not appear in order that a certain number might acknowledge Their Prophethood. They did not declare Their heavenly mission and message in order to lay the foundation for a religious belief. Even Christ did not become manifest that we should merely believe in Him as the Christ, follow Him and adore His mention. All these are limited in scope and requirement, whereas the reality of Christ is an unlimited essence. The infinite and unlimited Reality cannot be bounded by any limitation. Nay, rather, Christ appeared in order to illumine the world of humanity, to render the earthly world celestial, to make the human kingdom a realm of angels, to unite the hearts, to enkindle the light of love in human souls, so that such souls might become independent, attaining complete unity and fellowship, turning to God, entering into the divine Kingdom, receiving the bounties and bestowals of God and partaking of the manna from heaven.” (The Promulgation of Universal Peace: 442-443)

Epistemologically, the Messages of these Luminaries surround and operate through both religion and science, the two great systems of human knowledge, and also impel their development.  Religion and science, in turn, act, or should act, as complementary intellectual knowledge systems that mutually reinforce and mutually define each other’s role.  The House of Justice sets the stage for understanding this: “While it is true to speak of the unity of all religions, understanding the context is vital.  At the deepest level, as Bahá’u’lláh emphasizes, there is but one religion.  Religion is religion, as science is science.  The one discerns and articulates the values unfolding progressively through Divine revelation; the other is the instrument through which the human mind explores and is able to exert its influence ever more precisely over the phenomenal world.  The one defines goals that serve the evolutionary process; the other assists in their attainment.  Together, they constitute the dual knowledge system impelling the advance of civilization.  Each is hailed by the Master as an ‘effulgence of the Sun of Truth.’”(One Common Faith: 33)   Religion and science are complementary knowledge systems, because each is an effulgence of God generated by His revealed Word, as our opening quote from Bahá’u’lláh is meant to indicate.  One without the other is a crippling hindrance to a full exploration of Reality. In a common metaphor used in the Bahá’i Writings, it is like a bird attempting to fly with only one wing.

From this view, without progressive Revelation there can be neither progressive religion nor advancing science; the first brought to a halt by imitations, the second undermined by its lack of moral values, whatever its epistemological ones may be.  Without religion and science, civilization cannot progress properly, but, rather, is undermined by barbarism.  Too, when religion slides into imitation and superstition, its leaders denying the new Revelation and their flocks slavishly following them, then humanity can neither properly discern nor adequately articulate “the values unfolding progressively through Divine revelation.” Without a robust religion, humanity is left with only science, “the instrument through which the human mind explores and is able to exert its influence ever more precisely over the phenomenal world”, and this is a loss of transcendence and knowledge of human nature, though an exponential increase in our knowledge of the phenomenal world may happen.  Also, without true religion humanity cannot clearly “define goals that serve the evolutionary process” but becomes either trapped in a time warp of values, tangled in a confusing web of rational theories, or buried under an avalanche of facts and contrary opinions.  Without clarity and articulation of these goals, science’s power to “assist” in their realization is left without moral guidance.  For science to try to morally articulate and clarify these goals on its own leads to the kind of results graphically pictured in mushroom clouds towering above Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

Whatever influence this supernatural Power of Revelation may have wielded over human consciousness in past dispensations, in every case till now It gradually became encrusted and weighed down with imitations which became limitations that benefitted, first, a ruling ecclesiastical class, then a ruling secular one, and today a scientific priesthood jealously guarding the borders of “true” knowledge.  As a result, human consciousness of reality is less than it should have been and, consequently, the scope of human accomplishments is less than it could have been.  The House of Justice noted: “While nothing could prevent the creative power of Divine intervention from continuing its work of progressively raising consciousness, the scope of what could be achieved, in any age, became increasingly limited by such artificially contrived obstacles.” (One Common Faith: 28)