God grant that all men may turn unto
the treasuries latent within their own beings.
(Baha'u'llah, Tablets of Baha'u'llah:72)
The
epistemological model of knowing spiritual reality that I have been building is
composed of several terms: recognition, direct perception, eclipse of distance,
reflexivity, similitudes or thought forms, spiritual rebirth, to name the most
important. These are the intellectual
basis for the science of the love of God, the foundational science of all
spiritual sciences. The model has
evolved in my mind to the point where the outlines of it are visible, and not
just separate pieces of it scattered through blog posts. This post will present a more rounded
presentation of the mental model, linking the various terms together into what
I hope is a more coherent discussion.
Yet it is still only a very rough outline. Much more work needs to be done.
I
have said that spiritual knowing is recognizing God. This can be accomplished because, in
Baha’u’llah’s words, God has “infused
into me Thy love and Thy knowledge.” (Prayers
and Meditations by Baha'u'llah: 177) However, since the universe is
also enfolded into the soul as similitudes (thought forms) of all things
created by God, recognition of a sort can also occur here, as one can recognize
a painter in her painting. There is, then, stages or degrees of recognition. In
its stages of awareness recognition also reaffirms the principle that all
thought has an element of reflexivity to it—that is, all thought reflects
itself, however faintly, in the act of thinking. Reflexivity increases with the stages of
recognition. There is an inward movement
to this process of reflexivity from simple consciousness to self-consciousness
to consciousness of God, i.e. from thought as mere reflection of objects, to
thought thinking about itself in conscious self-reflexivity, to thought of the
Divine infused by It, the Source of all thought. This last stage I have termed radical
reflexivity of the A is A type.
Perception
of any level of reality is through a direct connection with a set of faculties
within the human reality that perceives it.
Recognition of God at the material and mental levels is, metaphorically,
farther away—i.e. one or more steps away—from direct recognition of the
Divine. That is, in simple consciousness
there is actual space between subject and objects. There is, too, a figurative mental space between
opinions and perspectives. So, because
these are things and their similitudes, (signs within and without) and not the
actual spiritual Reality, we say they are removed from God, revealing God but
not God, for the universe is the sensible revelation, and cosmos, or mental
forms, is the intellectual revelation.
However, even in the direct perception of Spirit through Its connection
with spiritual faculties of perception (e.g. faith and vision) , even in the
radical reflexivity, there can be an intervening “space” in the sense of being
close to or far away from God in belief, faith, and understanding. Each stage or degree of recognition has its
form of direct perception. But the
material and mental stages of recognition can be barriers to the actual
recognition of God, which means God in His Manifestation. OK, let’s recap.
At
any level, recognition as a perception of spiritual reality means to perceive
God, the Spirit, in something. Direct perception is simply the connection of a
level or context of reality with the human perceptual powers or faculties that
directly perceive it through their direct connection with it. Sensory knowledge is perceiving physical and
material realities directly with the outer senses. But Nature in its appearance is twice
removed from God, because a physical object is an outer, or secondary, sign of
a corresponding inner sign within the human reality. The inner sign is the primary indicator of
the deeper and more fundamental Spiritual Reality. Thus, the eye has direct perception of
physical and material objects, but “recognition” of the true reality of any
physical thing is not to see the object, but, rather, to obtain a vision of God,
the Spirit, through the natural object or event perceived or observed. Seeing behind these infinitely diverse outer
physical coverings, these manifold material appearances in the world of being,
which are the manifestation of all
his names in created things, to the Spiritual Reality which generated
them is to experience the eclipse of perceptual distance that brings feelings
of ecstasy from the union of all things.
But
there is a level of mental reality between the universe and the divine creation
which I have called cosmos. The same
principles hold there.
The
human reality, in which the universe is enfolded, is composed of similitudes,
or inner signs, of all created things, but also possesses all the attributes of
God. The human soul is, then, for our
purposes, once removed from God, meaning His Manifestation, for we are made in
the image and after the likeness of God, which is His Manifestation. Direct perception in the human kingdom is of
the cosmos, contemplating with the mind’s eye (Gr. Theoria) the archetypal mental forms of the universe. Cosmos is the realm of all intellectual
realities, all conceptions of the mind, the domain of both the Revelation of
the Word by the “universal Mind” and of human thought that builds civilization,
and generates science, art, and religion in some of its principles and
laws. Recognition of God in humanity is
not to see the human spirit, which leads to an inflation of humanity to the
status of God, but to see past the rational faculty, by means of the
spiritually informed rational faculty, i.e. the celestial faculty within the
sacred heart, to the deeper spiritual reality within, the divine attributes
animating souls. As ‘Abdu’l-Baha put it: “…man has a soul in which dwells the
divine spirit.” (Paris Talks: 24)
Both physical and mental recognition are,
then, mediated forms of recognition. One
must look past something that is the emanation or manifestation of the Spirit.
Unmediated
recognition, so to speak, is to recognize God by recognizing His
Manifestation. It is seeing with the eye
of God, and it is the means of seeing the spiritual reality of all things as
the revelations of God. Again, Nature is
the sensible revelation, the Word is the intellectual Revelation, and the
attributes of God are the Spirit revealed.
This gives the infinite depth to all things, and why we cannot
comprehend even the “least of Thy signs.”
Unmediated
recognition is obtained in that spiritual rebirth, which is also called in the
Bahá’i Writings attaining the spirit of faith, that is the foundation for the
establishment of spiritual sciences. It
is the bestowing of a new mind, a new eye and ear, to achieve knowledge via direct
perception of spiritual realities, the logos
that is their essences. The argument, so
far, is a sort of intellectual analysis of recognition.
But recognition of God is not a case of
remembering, but, rather, of becoming aware of our innate spiritual
endowments. It is a move toward
consciousness of a new kind, not a recalling of past experience. To see this more clearly, we can approach recognition
through discussion of another spiritual faculty, that of faith. Specifically, I mean the movement from
subjective faith to objective faith. The
Master tells us: “Know that faith is of two kinds. The first is objective faith
that is expressed by the outer man, obedience of the limbs and senses. The
other faith is subjective, and unconscious obedience to the will of God. There
is no doubt that, in the day of a Manifestation such as Christ, all contingent
beings possessed subjective faith and had unconscious obedience to His Holiness
Christ.
For
all parts of the creational world are of one whole. Christ the Manifestor
reflecting the divine Sun represented the whole. All the parts are subordinate
and obedient to the whole. The contingent beings are the branches of the tree
of life while the Messenger of God is the root of that tree. The branches,
leaves and fruit are dependent for their existence upon the root of the tree of
life. This condition of unconscious obedience constitutes subjective faith. But
the discerning faith that consists of true knowledge of God and the
comprehension of divine words, of such faith there is very little in any age.
That is why His Holiness Christ said to His followers, "Many are called
but few are chosen." (Baha'i World
Faith: 364)
Then,
there is the role of the spiritual faculty of will in rebirth. ‘Abdu’l-Baha
is reported to have said: “Will is the centre or focus of human understanding.
We must will to know God, just as we must will in order to possess the life He
has given us….Will and understanding must be one in the cause of God. Intention
brings attainment.” (Ten Days in the
Light of Acca: 30)
Attaining the condition of objective
discerning faith—i.e. the recognition of God either in His creation, or within
the human reality or, best and most clearly of all, within His Manifestation—is
a result of achieving spiritual rebirth. Rebirth usually follows only upon a
supreme effort of will as described by Baha’u’llah in His Book of Certitude: “Only when the lamp of search, of earnest
striving, of longing desire, of passionate devotion, of fervid love, of
rapture, and ecstasy, is kindled within the seeker's heart, and the breeze of His
loving-kindness is wafted upon his soul, will the darkness of error be
dispelled, the mists of doubts and misgivings be dissipated, and the lights of
knowledge and certitude envelop his being. At that hour will the mystic Herald,
bearing the joyful tidings of the Spirit, shine forth from the City of God
resplendent as the morn, and, through the trumpet-blast of knowledge, will
awaken the heart, the soul, and the spirit from the slumber of negligence. Then
will the manifold favours and outpouring grace of the holy and everlasting
Spirit confer such new life upon the seeker that he will find himself endowed
with a new eye, a new ear, a new heart, and a new mind. He will contemplate the
manifest signs of the universe, and will penetrate the hidden mysteries of the
soul. Gazing with the eye of God, he will perceive within every atom a door
that leadeth him to the stations of absolute certitude. He will discover in all
things the mysteries of divine Revelation and the evidences of an everlasting
manifestation.” (The Kitab-i-Iqan: 196)
With
direct perception there is no need of rational proofs, neither experiment nor
hypotheses are required. Logic and
intellect can point to spiritual reality, but are not itself the divine
spiritual reality. For these in relation
to direct perception are themselves veils of true knowledge, and not knowledge
itself. In direct perception the
individual sees behind an expiring body of things called the material world to
perceive their revealed forms standing within them. Comprehension becomes apprehension, because
knowledge is no longer conceptual but existential, that is, a permanent part of
one’s existence. Epistemologically,
creation is no longer purely objective, i.e. an alien body of objects
confronting an interrogating intelligence.
But neither are these objects purely subjective; i.e. held in thought
and imagination. Rather, creation and
intelligence form an identity—two parts of one unmediated unity, which is the
basis of true understanding.
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