What is a Spiritual Science?

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.

(‘Abdu’l-Bahá, The Promulgation of Universal Peace: 138)

I want to return in this post to a further examination of the science of the love of God as the foundational spiritual science.  Specifically, I want to try and explicate something of the idea of “spiritual science.”

If we read closely the quote from ‘Abdu’l-Baha about the two kinds of science He calls one the natural, the other supernatural; one material, the other divine.  For me this indicates that spiritual science itself is supernatural and not just what it is investigating.

What is a supernatural science?  It could be merely mental, for the mind is, strictly speaking, a supernatural phenomenon.  But I believe it is more than mental, for He further defines supernatural science as divine.  What is a divine science?  He goes on: divine science is the discovery and realization of spiritual verities…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.
OK, so how does the human intelligence reach this level of perception?  Strictly speaking, the human intelligence doesn’t.  The divine intelligence within the human reality does.  The awakening of this superior intelligence is tied to the experience of what the Holy Books call “the second birth.”  But second birth has its own forms and stages.  Modes of knowing flow from and are part of modes of being.

There is the second birth that is the birthright of every soul.  That is the individual is born, dies, and upon his death he is granted a certain immortality in the heavenly realms for he is, in essence, an immortal soul.  Baha’u’llah writes, quoting the Qur’an, Sura 20: “He said, and He, verily, speaketh the truth: "From it (earth) have We created you, and unto it will We return you, and out of it will We bring you forth a second time." (Gleanings from the Writings of Baha'u'llah: 231)

But the real second birth is reserved for those who undergo a radical spiritual transformation, who are reborn in heavenly form while living upon the earth, who through faith and vision and the confirmations of God and the Holy Spirit achieve the second birth.  This is the true prize.

‘Abdu’l-Baha explains: “Man is first born from a world of darkness, the matrix of the mother, into this physical world of light. In the dark world from whence he came he had no knowledge of the virtues of this existence. He has been liberated from a condition of darkness and brought into a new and spacious realm where there is sunlight, the stars are shining, the moon sheds its radiance, there are beautiful views, gardens of roses, fruits and all the blessings of the present world. How did he attain these blessings? Through the agency of birth from the mother. Just as man has been physically born into this world, he may be reborn from the realm and matrix of nature, for the realm of nature is a condition of animalism, darkness and defect. In this second birth he attains the world of the Kingdom. There he witnesses and realizes that the world of nature is a world of gloom, whereas the Kingdom is a world of radiance; the world of nature is a world of defects, the Kingdom is a realm of perfection; the world of nature is a world without enlightenment, the Kingdom of spiritual humanity is a heaven of illumination. Great discoveries and revelations are now possible for him; he has attained the reality of perception; his circle of understanding is illimitably widened; he views the realities of creation, comprehends the divine bounties and unseals the mystery of phenomena. This is the station which Christ has interpreted as the second birth. He says that just as ye were physically born from the mother into this world, ye must be born again from the mother world of nature into the life of the divine Kingdom. May you all attain this second, spiritual birth. "That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit." (The Promulgation of Universal Peace: 332-333)

Thus the process of change in spiritual condition that is the real second birth parallels that of the first rebirth.  In the first rebirth the individual is born in the mother’s womb, lives his life on earth until he dies, (returns to earth).  The soul is then brought forth again, as it enters the immortal world.  In the spiritual rebirth, the life on earth itself is the womb in which the soul lives.  Upon his conscious entering of the spiritual worlds in a spiritual transformation, his former soul condition dies—i.e. returns to the earth of the human condition.  But from this earth is brought forth the soul again in its divine form. 

This change of spiritual condition called the second birth is a requisite for knowing and building spiritual sciences.  ‘Abdu’l-Baha, remember, says that for such reborn souls: “Great discoveries and revelations are now possible for him; he has attained the reality of perception; his circle of understanding is illimitably widened; he views the realities of creation, comprehends the divine bounties and unseals the mystery of phenomena.”    Hence spiritual sciences cannot be known except by those with awakened spiritual faculties. 

Now, the process of going from material and human science available to anyone with sufficient intelligence and opportunity to spiritual science parallels that of going from the human soul to the reborn soul.  Consider this statement from Baha’u’llah forming part of His Surih-i-Haykal: O Inmost Heart of this Temple! We have made thee the dawning-place of Our knowledge and the dayspring of Our wisdom unto all who are in heaven and on earth. From thee have We caused all sciences to appear, and unto thee shall We cause them to return. And from thee shall We bring them forth a second time. (Baha'u'llah, The Summons of the Lord of Hosts: 36

Spiritual sciences will be born from the womb of material science, but they will not be other material sciences, but something entirely new.  The power to spiritually transform is available to any soul which encounters the Word of God.  Transformed souls who will discover and build the science of the love of God and regenerate all creation.  ‘Abdu’l-Baha said: “In this century of the latter times Bahá'u'lláh has appeared and so resuscitated spirits that they have manifested powers more than human….Therefore, the question arises: How is this resuscitation to be accomplished?

“There are certain means for its accomplishment by which mankind is regenerated and quickened with a new birth. This is the second birth mentioned in the heavenly Books. Its accomplishment is through the baptism of the Holy Spirit. The resuscitation or rebirth of the spirit of man is through the science of the love of God. It is through the efficacy of the water of life. This life and quickening is the regeneration of the phenomenal world.” (Promulgation of Universal Peace: 277)

What will such people be able to perceive from which those who have not undergone transformation are barred?  I believe that they will see the creation as a reflection of the Divine.  They will see the sign of God in every created thing.  They will look past all material coverings and intellectual notions to see Reality.

Baha’u’llah wrote: “He hath entrusted every created thing with a sign of His knowledge, so that none of His creatures may be deprived of its share in expressing, each according to its capacity and rank, this knowledge. This sign is the mirror of His beauty in the world of creation.” (Gleanings: 262)   “It is clear and evident that when the veils that conceal the realities of the manifestations of the Names and Attributes of God, nay of all created things visible or invisible, have been rent asunder, nothing except the Sign of God will remain—a sign which He, Himself, hath placed within these realities. This sign will endure as long as is the wish of the Lord thy God, the Lord of the heavens and of the earth.” (Gleanings from the Writings of Baha'u'llah: 140)

 To see the supernatural sign of God in every created thing is the content of spiritual sciences, which all flow from the science of the love of God.