The
principle cause of spiritual astigmatism is a perilous misunderstanding of the
nature and purpose of religion, and the consequent underdevelopment of
spiritual faculties. Recall the Masters
statement of why this is so: “When materialists subject imitations to the
intellectual analysis of reason, they find them to be mere superstitions;
therefore, they deny religion.” (The
Promulgation of Universal Peace:161)
That is, having demolished the straw man of religion, materialists
believe they have proven religion’s uselessness.
When we
attempt to discuss something as complex and elusive as the influence of
Revelation upon human consciousness, we must first put some definition on
it. We do this not by fixing it in the
amber of some concept, like a dead insect.
Neither do we do it by arguing over causes. Rather, it is done by noticing effects. As Christ said, “Ye shall know them by their
fruits.”
Yet,
the effects of Revelation on human consciousness and morality are difficult to
measure and track, since there is no agreed upon definition of human
consciousness. A materialist theory of
consciousness says consciousness is an epiphenomenon, a product of chemical and
neuronal processes of the brain, something that ends when these processes
do. But for others, like myself,
consciousness is not just eternal but also causal. By causal I do not mean efficient causality,
which is science, but formal cause, that mental cause that causes the unfolding
of potentiality into actuality. Thinking
only in terms of efficient cause will preclude the possibility of knowing
formal cause. To grasp something of
formal cause, we notice not specific effects, but rather an environment of them
by, so to speak, trying to connect the dots of specific events. We are not just probing to find a general
disequilibrium of consciousness itself, but also its re-equilibrium on a new
basis and foundation. We are on the
lookout for a “sea-change”.
Revelation
as spiritual cause—which precedes even organic formal cause which is the first material
form of spirit: i.e. the pattern and nucleus—is the template and sacred code of
development of the Word, the Source and progenitor of all forces for newness
and renewal in the world, the power that generates an urge for progress and
provokes positive changes in the heart.
That is a statement of faith, but faith is central to human
consciousness, though not in the usual way.
While science and efficient cause thinking says “seeing is believing”, faith
and formal cause thought says something like “believing is seeing”. These formal cause relationships between the
spiritual and the material—efficient cause is relations within the material
world—are the origin and, I believe, the essential meaning behind the Biblical
phrases of “on earth as it is in heaven” and “man is made in the image and
after the likeness” of the Manifestation, and of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s statement: “The
spiritual world is like unto the phenomenal world. They are the exact
counterpart of each other. Whatever objects appear in this world of existence
are the outer pictures of the world of heaven.” (The Promulgation of Universal Peace:9)
Religion
as the Word of God shapes itself, as it develops, from within Itself which is
also the midmost heart of creation. Revealed
religion comes from a Reality beyond the reach of human understanding. Religion as the authentic human encounter
with that Word is the most primitive experience of the race, the ineradicable
wildness of the human soul in what is both most dangerous and most valuable
within us. It grows out from the center
of being in deep resonant pulsations that percolate up within the religious
enthusiast and pour forth in the expressions of his or her enthusiasm. It is the root human experience, out from
which spring collectively new thoughts and feelings, new knowledge and morality
that gradually birth new social laws, structures and processes in that social
evolutionary process we call building civilization. The great civilizations, absent the modern
western one, have been the organic historical fruits of the great
Revelations.
I have
said that the spiritual impetus driving the revolt against materialism in each
of the spheres that we are examining is the propagation of a new and larger
unity. One of the effects of the
emergence of this larger spiritual unity is the release of powerful forces of
dissension, tumult and commotion in the organic unity being replaced. The unifying Word of God, however,
generates disunity not only among the religions, but throughout the human and
creational orders. Bahá’u’lláh says, for
example: “Verily, We have caused every soul to expire by virtue of Our
irresistible and all-subduing sovereignty. We have, then, called into being a
new creation, as a token of Our grace unto men.” (Gleanings from the Writings of Bahá’u’lláh:29-30)
In
human consciousness the new unity generated by the Revelation of Baha’u’llah is
the consciousness of the oneness of humanity.
Two statements from ‘Abdu’l-Baha will suffice: “In every century a
particular and central theme is, in accordance with the requirements of that
century, confirmed by God. In this illumined age that which is confirmed is the
oneness of the world of humanity.” (Selections
from the Writings of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá: 113)
And: "In every Dispensation the light of Divine Guidance has been
focussed upon one central theme.... In this wondrous Revelation, this glorious
century, the foundation of the Faith of God and the distinguishing feature of
His Law is the consciousness of the Oneness of Mankind." (The World Order of Bahá’u’lláh: 36)
In
terms of Revelation’s effect on human knowledge, the House of Justice wrote:
“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.” (Universal
House of Justice, One Common Faith:
13-14)
Let us hold our attention for a moment on
the phrase “a source of knowledge that totally embraces consciousness.” There are two points to consider in this
phrase in light of the admonition expressed by the House of Justice that for
Bahá’ís to answer the needs of today they must draw upon a deep understanding
of humanity’s spiritual evolution.
First, the phrase does not say that scripture, the revealed Word of God,
the Revelation of Divinity, is any body of knowledge, but is, rather, “a source
of knowledge” and it is this source of knowledge “that totally embraces
consciousness”, and not any particular knowledge or system of belief which
grows from that source. In regards to Revelation as the source of human
knowledge Bahá’u’lláh Himself states: “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)
An authentic encounter with this source
of knowledge is so compelling “as to endow the sincere with “a new eye, a new
ear, and a new mind.” Those without this transforming experience
can, at best, but dimly perceive the power, glory and beauty of
Revelation. This, again, is the legacy
of materialism.
The second consideration leads directly
to the other and equally central aspect of the development of human
consciousness, especially as it regards the faith of Bahá’u’lláh, but, also, by
analogy, to the Revelations of all previous Manifestations. That is: “Bahá’u’lláh has not brought into
existence a new religion to stand beside the present multiplicity of sectarian
organizations. Rather has he recast the
whole conception of religion as the principal force impelling the development
of human consciousness.” (One Common
Faith: 23) Impel means to drive or
urge forward, cause to move forward, propel, incite or constrain to action,
impart motion to. The power of the Word
of God to both totally embrace human consciousness and to be the principal
force impelling its development are twin foundational aspects, the spiritual
causality driving humanity’s spiritual evolution in consciousness. That’s quite
a claim to make, and few today would take such a claim seriously, for it begs
the obvious question: What about science?
We’ll discuss that in the next post.
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