True Religion↔True Science

Briefly, the supreme Manifestations of God are aware of the reality of the mysteries of beings. Therefore, They establish laws which are suitable and adapted to the state of the world of man, for religion is the essential connection which proceeds from the realities of things. The Manifestation—that is, the Holy Lawgiver—unless He is aware of the realities of beings, will not comprehend the essential connection which proceeds from the realities of things, and He will certainly not be able to establish a religion conformable to the facts and suited to the conditions….Religion, then, is the necessary connection which emanates from the reality of things; and as the supreme Manifestations of God are aware of the mysteries of beings, therefore, They understand this essential connection, and by this knowledge establish the Law of God.

(Abdu'l-Baha, Some Answered Questions, p. 158, 160)

Our conception of both religion and science must expand.  We saw in the last post where intellect and wisdom were the creative powers forming the universe, and I made a rough correlation between intellect as science and religion as wisdom.  But their connections run deeper.

A narrow definition of religion makes it into a collection of beliefs, often shading into rationally unsupported dogmas, about reality.  Such thinking divides humanity into the followers of different religions—Jewish, Christian, Buddhist, Muslim, Baha’i—when they are really the unfolding through history of one religion emanating from God.  The news today is filled with the horrific results of such narrow thinking that morphs into hatred and bigotry.  Such believers are like the blind men touching one part of the elephant and confusing that part with the whole. 

In the opening quote, ‘Abdu’l-Baha greatly expands the idea of true religion, making it into the essential connection which proceeds from the realities of things.  True religion, or religia, is, then, the binding together of all parts of the universe, spiritual, mental, and material, by the laws of God revealed by the Manifestation, Who alone can comprehend the essential connection which proceeds from the realities of things.  Thus true religion is not allegiance to some ideas, set of beliefs or articles of faith, but understanding and following the laws that structure the universe. These include the material laws.  Thus true religion is true science, if by science we mean rational and empirical investigation into the laws of the universe.  Similarly, science, properly conceived, is religion.  

I say science properly conceived, because science for the last few hundred years has not been properly conceived.  It says only the physical universe is the universe—one more blind man on the elephant.  Our conception of science must expand also.  ‘Abdu’l-Baha says: Scientific knowledge is the highest attainment upon the human plane, for science is the discoverer of realities. It is of two kinds: material and spiritual. Material science is the investigation of natural phenomena; divine science is the discovery and realization of spiritual verities. The world of humanity must acquire both. A bird has two wings; it cannot fly with one. Material and spiritual science are the two wings of human uplift and attainment. Both are necessary—one the natural, the other supernatural; one material, the other divine. By the divine we mean the discovery of the mysteries of God, the comprehension of spiritual realities, the wisdom of God, inner significances of the heavenly religions and foundation of the law. (The Promulgation of Universal Peace: 138)

True science is the discoverer of realities.  The fundamental realities that it discovers are the essential connection which proceeds from the realities of things.  That is, science discovers the laws of God, i.e. the reality of religion.  So far, what we call science has been limited to the natural laws, and some laws of human behavior.  But with Quantum Mechanics and other initiatives, such as Chaos Theory and Complexity Science, the intellectual foundations of the material universe are being explored scientifically.  This, too, is in line with the Baha’i teachings since “nature, also, in its essence is an intellectual reality…” (Abdu'l-Baha, Some Answered Questions: 83)

But science is still some way from the discovery of the mysteries of God, the comprehension of spiritual realities, the wisdom of God, inner significances of the heavenly religions and foundation of the law.  Sciences of the spirit are, I believe, the new open horizon for the human intelligence.

The complementarity of science and religion makes them twin, mutually reinforcing, knowledges of one larger divine Reality, which is Revelation.  Indeed, ‘Abdu’l-Baha likens them to the two wings of a bird.

So close are they that He at one time called science “the first emanation from God toward man.” (The Promulgation of Universal Peace: 50)  At another He is reported to have stated: “The first bestowal of God in the world of humanity is religion….(Ella Cooper, Ella Cooper's Notes)

But He is clear that, though science and religion are each emanations and bestowals of God to humanity: “The first emanation from God is the bounty of the Kingdom, which emanates and is reflected in the reality of the creatures, like the light which emanates from the sun and is resplendent in creatures; and this bounty, which is the light, is reflected in infinite forms in the reality of all things, and specifies and individualizes itself according to the capacity, the worthiness and the intrinsic value of things.” (Some Answered Questions: 295)

Let us say, then, that the first emanation—emanation is the origination of the world by a series of hierarchically descending radiations from God through various intermediate stages to matter—of God to humanity is the knowledge of God that pervades the whole creation.  This knowledge is transmitted to humanity in the form of a Revelation.  What true science discovers and what true religion comprehends is the Knowledge of God in its current configuration of the universe.

Linking last post with this one, we can say that the Revelation of the Manifestation of God casts “on the mirror of creation new and wonderful configurations” from the essential connection which proceeds from the realities of things.  The human mind discovers the new configurations of wisdom, while wisdom unfolds into the mental forms of intellect and the material forms of sense.  True science and true religion investigate and reveal both these realities.  To conceive science and religion in this way should end their acrimonious debate over which is true knowledge, and would put out the fires of both scientific and religious prejudice.  More about mind in the next post.

Intellect and Wisdom

Praise and thanksgiving be unto Providence that out of all the realities in existence He has chosen the reality of man and has honored it with intellect and wisdom, the two most luminous lights in either world. Through the agency of this great endowment, He has in every epoch cast on the mirror of creation new and wonderful configurations. If we look objectively upon the world of being, it will become apparent that from age to age, the temple of existence has continually been embellished with a fresh grace, and distinguished with an ever-varying splendor, deriving from wisdom and the power of thought.

This supreme emblem of God stands first in the order of creation and first in rank, taking precedence over all created things. Witness to it is the Holy Tradition, "Before all else, God created the mind." From the dawn of creation, it was made to be revealed in the temple of man.

(Abdu'l-Baha, The Secret of Divine Civilization, p. 1)

While ‘Abdu’l-Baha’s statement above is clearly a statement of cosmology, (i.e. the way that the universe has come into existence and is regenerated and reformed) it is also about the means by which that occurs.  I mean that there are two powers at work, intellect and wisdom, the two most luminous lights in either world.  For me intellect is, as He says later, “the power of thought”, while wisdom is the knowledge residing in the heart.  We can turn to one of Baha’u’llah’s Hidden Words for corroboration: “Veiled in My immemorial being and in the ancient eternity of My essence, I knew My love for thee; therefore I created thee, have engraved on thee Mine image and revealed to thee My beauty.” (Arabic Hidden Words #3)

While divine intellect and wisdom is the way that God creates the universe, the Master also states: “He has chosen the reality of man and has honored it with intellect and wisdom.”  This“endowment”—not endowments—is part of what is meant by the human reality being made in the image and after the likeness of God and His Manifestations.  Intellect and wisdom work together in full consciousness, and thus: This supreme emblem of God stands first in the order of creation and first in rank, taking precedence over all created things. Witness to it is the Holy Tradition, "Before all else, God created the mind." From the dawn of creation, it was made to be revealed in the temple of man.  That is, wisdom and intellect, the power of thought and wisdom together, are “mind” in its complete sense.  Now  this endowment is to be revealed in its full splendor.

In other places Baha’u’llah calls mind “the power of understanding” or “the rational faculty.”  All these designations point, I believe, to these twin powers operating in unity.  Mind precedes all other creation.  From it comes all else in creation.  

Today the heart emerges to its rightful place.  Hence, this Day is to be distinguished from past days.  Baha’u’llah states, for example: “The Eternal Truth has now come.” (Quoted by Shoghi Effendi in World Order of Baha’u’llah: 167)  This is different from, say, the time of Christ, Who told His disciples: “I have yet many things to say unto you, but ye cannot bear them now.  Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will shew you things to come.” (King James Bible, John 16:12-13)  Baha’is identify “the Spirit of truth” as Baha’u’llah. (See World Order of Baha’u’llah:103)

That the heart is the intelligence that receives the eternal truths does not contradict, in my opinion, the statement of ‘Abdu’l-Baha that: “The reality of man is his thought.”  For me, the heart is our divine aspect, a higher part than mere “ thinking man.”  The heart is our spiritual intelligence that enlightens the intellect. 

 In another statement of the uniqueness of this day, Baha’u’llah says: “Man, himself, hath been invested with the gifts of understanding and knowledge.” (Quoted by Shoghi Effendi in World Order of Baha’u’llah: 167)

The heart’s knowledge is wisdom and understanding, the deep running streams of eternal principle which it alone taps into, the basic building blocks or archetypal figures of knowledge which the power of thought expressed by the Manifestation reconfigures with every Revelation.  Revelation reconfigures the universal relationships that govern the creation and configuration of the forms of things—and it is instantaneous.  The heart’s wisdom, being the organ directly connected with Revelation, is the proper application of these eternal principles to temporal, contingent existence.

The intellect’s power of thought is a learning, discovering power that generates ideas and the mental forms of things, giving them shape and essence which is captured in a name.  It is what has grown into our sciences.  The heart is a recipient power and is the power of love and the foundation of religion.

Either can connect with Revelation.  “It is clear and evident, therefore, that the first bestowal of God is the Word, and its discoverer and recipient is the power of understanding.” (Baha'u'llah, The Tabernacle of Unity:3)

In this quote, for me “discoverer” is the intellect, while “recipient” is the heart.  Again both are mentioned.  Either intellect or heart is effective to know spiritual reality, but neither alone is sufficient to fully grasp and use it.  Both are needed for that.

The heart’s station as an organ of knowing is as yet mostly unknown to science. But the Baha’i Writings have this to say about it: “That the heart is the throne, in which the Revelation of God the All-Merciful is centered, is attested by the holy utterances which We have formerly revealed.

Among them is this saying: "Earth and heaven cannot contain Me; what can alone contain Me is the heart of him that believeth in Me, and is faithful to My Cause."   

But having such an innate power for good, the heart can also, if improperly used, bring great evil and sickness to human society.  Baha’u’llah continues in the same passage: “How often hath the human heart, which is the recipient of the light of God and the seat of the revelation of the All-Merciful, erred from Him Who is the Source of that light and the Well Spring of that revelation. It is the waywardness of the heart that removeth it far from God, and condemneth it to remoteness from Him. Those hearts, however, that are aware of His Presence, are close to Him, and are to be regarded as having drawn nigh unto His throne.” (Gleanings from the Writings of Baha'u'llah: 185)  In another passage Baha’u’llah declares, quoting an Islamic Hadith or tradition: Therefore, hath it been said: "Knowledge is a light which God casteth into the heart of whomsoever He willeth." (The Kitab-i-Iqan: 46)

For the heart to properly exercise its inherent power to know it must be pure and spiritual.   Baha’u’llah admonishes: “Hearken thou unto the Words of thy Lord and purify thy heart from every illusion so that the effulgent light of the remembrance of thy Lord may shed its radiance upon it, and it may attain the station of certitude.” (Tablets of Baha'u'llah: 182)

If we ask: What truly stimulates the heart to unfold the knowledge already within it, and who teaches it?, Baha’u’llah states: The spirit that animateth the human heart is the knowledge of God, and its truest adorning is the recognition of the truth that "He doeth whatsoever He willeth, and ordaineth that which He pleaseth." Its raiment is the fear of God, and its perfection steadfastness in His Faith. Thus God instructeth whosoever seeketh Him. He, verily, loveth the one that turneth towards Him.” (Gleanings from the Writings of Baha'u'llah: 290)