They are the Future of Humanity

Monday, October 16, 2017

A Different Discourse # Eight: Speech and Service

It behoveth the people of Baha to render the Lord victorious through the power of their utterance and to admonish the people by their goodly deeds and character, inasmuch as deeds exert greater influence than words.
(Tablets of Baha'u'llah: 57) 

We have seen that kerygmatic speech is a proclamation of God because it is imbued with divine qualities. It is truthful, kindly and compassionate, moderate, founded upon and expressing spiritual principle. It is a just balance of restraint and release.  Finally, it is also religious, but only in the real sense of that word, as the binding together in consciousness of phenomena, of beings and their experiences with each other and with their Source, a joining and knitting together of beginnings and endings.
We need to state this about religion, because the modern temper has forgotten it and dismissed what is really only a straw man of religion. “People,” ‘Abdu’l-Baha is reported to have said, “think religion is confined in an edifice, to be worshipped at an altar. In reality it is an attitude toward divinity which is reflected through life.” (Abdu'l-Baha, Divine Philosophy: 14)  Baha’u’llah claims that: “The religion of God and His divine law are the most potent instruments and the surest of all means for the dawning of the light of unity amongst men.” (Tablets of Baha'u'llah: 129)  Judging by news reports, religion is failing miserably in this its most important work. But that may be because our conception of God is outdated—the real meaning of the cry, God is dead!—and hence all established religions, brought into the world to guide humanity only through infancy and childhood into adolescence, are inadequate to meet the needs of a mature humanity.  A new spiritual impulse and form is required.  The Universal House of Justice put the change this way: “Indeed, the coming of Bahá'u'lláh ushered the world into a new age, making possible the beginning of a wholly new relationship between humanity and its Supreme Creator.” (The Universal House of Justice, 1992 Nov 26, Second Message to World Congress)  We have spiraled back to the statement that set this series of posts going: A different Cause, however, hath appeared in this day and a different discourse is required. (Baha'u'llah, Tabernacle of Unity: 113-114)  The different discourse indicated by Baha’u’llah I am naming the kerygmatic.
Language is one of the chief controlling forces holding society together.  So if speech is imbued with spiritual virtues, if it is a proclamation of God, Who is the Source of those virtues, then society is held together by those virtues to the extent that language and conversation, indeed all verbal culture, does this.
The chief purpose of the kerygmatic mode of language is to articulate the proper attitudes that evoke our higher inner state, to generate impulses for selfless behavior to grow and be seen.  The proper attitude is summed up in these words of the Master: “O ye lovers of this wronged one! Cleanse ye your eyes, so that ye behold no man as different from yourselves. See ye no strangers; rather see all men as friends, for love and unity come hard when ye fix your gaze on otherness. And in this new and wondrous age, the Holy Writings say that we must be at one with every people; that we must see neither harshness nor injustice, neither malevolence, nor hostility, nor hate, but rather turn our eyes toward the heaven of ancient glory. For each of the creatures is a sign of God, and it was by the grace of the Lord and His power that each did step into the world; therefore they are not strangers, but in the family; not aliens, but friends, and to be treated as such.” (Selections from the Writings of Abdu'l-Baha:24)
To proclaim God, then, is more than good speech, however important that is.  It is also and more importantly to manifest deeds worthy of the divine aspect of the human reality.  Baha’u’llah exhorts His followers: “It behoveth the people of Baha to render the Lord victorious through the power of their utterance and to admonish the people by their goodly deeds and character, inasmuch as deeds exert greater influence than words.” (Tablets of Baha'u'llah: 57)  This attitude is manifest in the act of service.  The behavioral equivalent to kindly speech uttered for the sake of God is the performing of service for others.  The embodiment of ideals and words in acts is a healing, not only of the individual, but between them.  Baha’u’llah lamented: “No two men can be found who may be said to be outwardly and inwardly united. The evidences of discord and malice are apparent everywhere, though all were made for harmony and union.” (Tablets of Baha'u'llah: 163-164)  He warns His followers: “Beware, O people of Baha, lest ye walk in the ways of them whose words differ from their deeds. Strive that ye may be enabled to manifest to the peoples of the earth the signs of God, and to mirror forth His commandments. Let your acts be a guide unto all mankind, for the professions of most men, be they high or low, differ from their conduct. It is through your deeds that ye can distinguish yourselves from others.” (Gleanings from the Writings of Baha'u'llah: 305)  Such a harmonic unity of inner state and outer condition is manifest in spiritual knowing.
I said there were two qualities necessary for good consultation: truthfulness and compassion, one verbal the other non-verbal, but demonstrable.  The power of a kindly tongue to “cloth the words with meaning” is reinforced by the attribute of compassion, because compassion (i.e. suffering with another) brings one knowledge of another by getting “inside” their situation to understand it from within, as they experience it, so to speak.  Compassion is not objective knowledge, but subjective understanding.  A kindly tongue encourages listening, makes the heart and mind more open and receptive.  Harsh and unkindly talk, a mocking or derisive tone, makes another want to “manifest opposition from the very outset” no matter what the truth you may be imparting to him, even in the name of truth and honesty.
Compassion equalizes all situations, and prevents all the injustice and the taking advantage of others that seems to characterize so much of modern interchange between people and peoples.  Baha’u’llah’s admonishment is: “Take heed that your words be purged from idle fancies and worldly desires and your deeds be cleansed from craftiness and suspicion.” (Tablets of Baha'u'llah: 138) “Be fair to yourselves and to others, that the evidences of justice may be revealed, through your deeds, among Our faithful servants.” (Gleanings from the Writings of Baha'u'llah: 277)
He exhorts us: “Do not busy yourselves in your own concerns; let your thoughts be fixed upon that which will rehabilitate the fortunes of mankind and sanctify the hearts and souls of men. This can best be achieved through pure and holy deeds, through a virtuous life and a goodly behavior.” (Gleanings from the Writings of Baha'u'llah: 93-94)  And: “Know ye that such holy deeds exert, in themselves, a great influence upon the world of being—an influence which is, however, inscrutable to all save those whose eyes have been opened by God, whose hearts He hath freed from obscuring veils, and whose souls He hath guided aright.(The Summons of the Lord of Hosts: 206)
We have before touched on the love of God as, perhaps, the foundational quality of the kerygmatic mode of language.  We learned in that discussion that barriers to understanding the kerygmatic need to be removed, burnt up by and in the fire of the love of God. But this fire is not just a warm and passionate feeling for the Deity, or His Manifestation, which is likely, without being fanned, to slowly cool into dull embers and gray ash.  There are also duties to be performed to help keep this fire going.  The foundational twin duties toward Him are recognition and obedience.  Now by recognition is meant to spiritually perceive the reality of the Manifestation of God for this day and to see Him also in the fundamental principles of unity, oneness of humankind and justice.  To obey Him is to carry out in acts His revealed laws and ordinances, or the teachings and explications of His designated successors as leaders of the Faith.  Obedience, then, is more than giving verbal and intellectual assent to their validity, practicality, and equity.  “Let deeds, not words, be your adorning”, cautions Baha'u'llah. (The Hidden Words Persian #5)
To truly obey them in the human realm is to put them into practice and one of the most powerful admonitions to obey is that of service.  “Thy day of service is now come”, is His call. (Tablets of Baha'u'llah: 84)  “Think ye at all times of rendering some service to every member of the human race” is the Master’s exhortation. (Selections from the Writings of Abdu'l-Baha: 3)
But like so much else, the notion of service and worship has been redefined in a greatly expanded fashion by the pen of Baha’u’llah.  The Master says: “What bounty greater than this that science should be considered as an act of worship and art as service to the Kingdom of God.” (Selections from the Writings of Abdu'l-Baha: 144)
“In the Bahá'í Cause arts, sciences and all crafts are (counted as) worship. The man who makes a piece of notepaper to the best of his ability, conscientiously, concentrating all his forces on perfecting it, is giving praise to God. Briefly, all effort and exertion put forth by man from the fullness of his heart is worship, if it is prompted by the highest motives and the will to do service to humanity. This is worship: to serve mankind and to minister to the needs of the people. Service is prayer. A physician ministering to the sick, gently, tenderly, free from prejudice and believing in the solidarity of the human race, he is giving praise." (Abdu'l-Baha, Paris Talks: 176-177)
Love for God and serving Him must be demonstrated in those services rendered to those around us, else it is, in reality, nothing but a febrile imaginary image of God we are serving.  The fire of the love of God is not only a subjective feeling, a radiant warmth in the heart, but also an objective state of being and social responsibility that embodies and expresses that condition in services, in putting others before oneself.  Recall that peace is an inner state supported by a spiritual or moral attitude and it is brought forth into awareness by spiritual principle.  Similarly with love.  Fire of love of God is a universal fire, meaning a love for all things created by God.
‘Abdu’l-Baha when discussing the various degrees of love stated: “It is clear that limited material ties are insufficient to adequately express the universal love.
“The great unselfish love for humanity is bounded by none of these imperfect, semi-selfish bonds; this is the one perfect love, possible to all mankind, and can only be achieved by the power of the Divine Spirit. No worldly power can accomplish the universal love.
“Let all be united in this Divine power of love! Let all strive to grow in the light of the Sun of Truth, and reflecting this luminous love on all men, may their hearts become so united that they may dwell evermore in the radiance of the limitless love.” (Abdu'l-Baha, Paris Talks: 36)
We can end with this exhortation of the Master: “Ye must conduct yourselves in such a manner that ye may stand out distinguished and brilliant as the sun among other souls. Should any one of you enter a city, he should become a centre of attraction by reason of his sincerity, his faithfulness and love, his honesty and fidelity, his truthfulness and loving-kindness towards all the peoples of the world, so that the people of that city may cry out and say: 'This man is unquestionably a Bahá'í, for his manners, his behaviour, his conduct, his morals, his nature, and disposition reflect the attributes of the Bahá'ís.” (Selections from the Writings of Abdu'l-Baha: 70)