Practical Justice

Justice is not limited, it is a universal quality. Its operation must be carried out in all classes, from the highest to the lowest. Justice must be sacred, and the rights of all the people must be considered.

(‘Abdu’l-Bahá, Paris Talks: 159)

     As power is redefined in the Bahá’í Writings as empowerment, so, too, is justice redefined as that which ensures the empowerment of all.  In regards to the concept of the oneness and wholeness of human relationships some aspects have been described, such as the relations between the individual and institutions that share spiritual principles and collective goals, and the balance between individual creativity and cohesive community.  In the heat and ferment of unrest, The Prosperity of Humankind reminds us that an “age that sees the people of the world increasingly gaining access to information of every kind and to a diversity of ideas will find justice asserting itself as the ruling principle of successful social organization."  (The Prosperity of Humankind: Section II para: 1)  

In my opinion, at its fundamental core, justice asserts itself as ruling principle in social organization through the interaction of two closely related operating principles: the principle of the fundamental right of every individual to an unfettered search for truth and the principle of consultation on any and all problems. Acting in concert these are expressions of justice, because justice requires the individual participation of each to arrive at and execute just decisions for all.

The independent search for truth implies the right of each person to her or his own opinion based on that search.  But consultation is more than simply a blending of opinions.  Consultation is a cooperative approach to problem solving that activates the creative powers of individuals to find good solutions to their problems.   In full, frank, and open consultation, several lines of thought and opinion merge and combine to give a complete picture of any problem, because a comprehensive unit of thought, built up by the contributions of all participants, then surrounds the subject.  Where unity of thought is not present, the process of consultation, when undertaken within the framework of spiritual principle, can build or create it by seeing how the varied faces of individually expressed thought can be the different facets of a collective diamond of thought.  In this way, a common framework of thinking and a unity of purpose is created.  In consultation where dignity, tact, and knowledge are preserved, diverse views come into agreement on the nature of a problem, on a desired solution, and on the desired approach to its solution, for we think together when we speak together.   

True consultation generates perspectives unavailable to individual minds alone, and matures human thinking.  The Bahá’í writings aver: “Consultation bestoweth greater awareness and transmuteth conjecture into certitude. It is a shining light which, in a dark world, leadeth the way and guideth. For everything there is and will continue to be a station of perfection and maturity. The maturity of the gift of understanding is made manifest through consultation.” (The Compilation of Compilations vol. I, p. 93)  And: “Take ye counsel together in all matters, inasmuch as consultation is the lamp of guidance which leadeth the way, and is the bestower of understanding.” (Tablets of Bahá’u’lláh: 168)

Justice in good consultation means that there are never those who know and those who don’t know.  There is no class structure of decision-makers and those that are charged to carry out those decisions.  The principle of humanity’s oneness points to one inescapable truth: every individual is invited to participate in deliberations upon subjects that affect his or her welfare. 

In short, consultation brings out the cooperative side of human nature, yet does not sacrifice individual expression in the process.  Indeed it depends upon that expression if oneness and wholeness are to be manifest.  In true consultation disagreement is never frowned upon.  Discussion must be frank.  Yet each must respect the opinions of others, must never belittle another’s thought, and must maintain focus upon the ideas expressed and not fall into petty personality wrangles.  Indeed, the Bahá’í Writings see the value of divergent thinking coming to unity in such statements as "the shining spark of truth cometh forth only after the clash of differing opinions." (Selections from the Writings of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá: 87)

Applying spiritual principles within a consultative atmosphere guides people through a kind of indirect social conflict carried out in a free and unfettered search for truth while striving for the moral betterment of self and community.  The goal is never dissension and opposition, but, rather, personal and community spiritual transformation.  Though conflict is intrinsic to any transformational process, that conflict can be constructive if carried out under the guidance of spiritual principle.  Its first effects may be disequilibrating, but this is part of a larger process of renewal and reconstruction. 

At every level of human interaction and governance, consultation will grow in importance as its power to solve seemingly intractable problems, defuse explosive issues and harmonize contentious disputes is understood.  It will become the chief director of the actions of nations and the means to resolve their conflicts.  On every level, from nuclear family to the family of nations, justice demands universal participation within the environment of consultative search for the truth to meet common challenges through united action. 

For all these reasons, The Prosperity of Humankind states that: “…consultation is the operating expression of justice in human affairs. So vital is it to the success of collective endeavor that it must constitute a basic feature of a viable strategy of social and economic development. Indeed, the participation of those on whose commitment the success of such a strategy depends becomes effective only as consultation is made the organizing principle of every project. ‘No man can attain his true station,’ is Bahá’u’lláh's counsel, ‘except through his justice. No power can exist except through unity. No welfare and no well-being can be attained except through consultation.’" (The Prosperity of Humankind: Section III para: 6)

Besides the formal institutions composing the Bahá’í Administrative Order, a number of experiments in  social and economic development in literacy, health care, and education, are evolving on the local, national and international levels within the global Bahá’í community. Such projects represent the growing influence of Bahá’i community within the larger community. Yet these different initiatives also occur within what the House of Justice called "a single social organism, representative of the diversity of the human family, conducting its affairs through a system of commonly accepted consultative principles." (The Promise World Peace: 5)

The principles and structures regulating the interplay of authority, power and initiative, and enabling the principle of justice to operate, demonstrate a powerful way to dissipate the heat of potentially destructive conflict into safe and productive channels of warm collective growth.

I said that one way to perceive the development of the Bahá’i Administrative Order was to conceive it as passing through three stages, the first focusing primarily upon individual transformation, the second upon establishing the basic institutional infrastructure of that order, and the third on the diffusing of the spiritual influence of Revelation upon an ever-widening receptive population. Till now we have discussed, briefly, the “how” of individual spiritual transformation, and, in a bit more detail, the “what” of fundamental institutions of that order.

From now I will discuss the creation and dispersal of the means by which the spiritualization of large numbers of people may occur, always keeping in mind that while at certain levels of analysis individual, institutional, and community are recognizable stages of spiritual and social advance, the development of the Bahá’i Order is not a rocket that jettisons any stage when it is “done” with it, as if its fuel was spent.  Rather, the Order grows organically, so that previous stages are incorporated into newer ones in a process of unfoldment.  Each stage of growth is, in a sense, never finished.  It becomes a permanent aspect of the entire transformational process by being incorporated. Incorporating previous stages gives them new direction, puts them to new purposes, and provides them a renewed power to accelerate collective growth by bringing forth new capacities in their interaction, because a wider arena opens for participants in which to act “to translate that which hath been written into reality and action.” (Tablets of Bahá’u’lláh: 166)