Educing the Religious Faculty: Bringing Forth the Spirit Within

They do not use that great gift of God, the power of the understanding, by which they might see with the eyes of the spirit, hear with spiritual ears and also comprehend with a Divinely enlightened heart.

(Abdu'l-Baha, Paris Talks: 89)

Having presented some thoughts on the spiritual dimension, let us now, in order to gain a better understanding of what I am calling the religious faculty, present some considerations on the state of mind or consciousness that connects with that dimension.  Rudolph Otto in his classic, The Idea of the Holy, calls the mental state of this faculty the “numinous state of mind’ and describes it thus: “This mental state is perfectly sui generis and irreducible to any other; and therefore, like every absolutely primary and elementary datum, while it admits of being discussed, it cannot be strictly defined.” (Rudolph Otto, The Idea of the Holy: 144)

  How is the potential of this faculty brought forth?  It is through the teaching of spiritual principle.  How does one get into this mental state?  In a sense, every soul is already within it, or, better, it is already within every soul, but it must be aroused and brought forth. 

First, we must make a distinction between the spirit and the form of religion.  Rudolph Otto wrote: “What is incapable of being handed down is this numinous basis and background to religion, which can only be induced, excited, and aroused.” (Rudolph Otto, The Idea of the Holy: 60)  The numinous background to religion, as Otto calls it, which is the same as what we can call the spirit as opposed to the form of religion, cannot be taught because: “The numinous is thus felt as objective and outside the self.” (Otto, The Idea of the Holy: 11)  Only what is felt to be inside or immanent to the self, i.e. a faculty that can be aroused and give response, can be taught and its potentials brought forth.  This objectivity of the numinous, i.e. the sacred, the divine, is why we must make a distinction between the numinous spirit of religion and the rational form of religion.  The first cannot be taught, the second can, because of the rational faculty.  But teaching the second can arouse the first, because proper form attracts spirit. 

Otto writes: “There is one way to help another to an understanding of it.  He must be guided and led on by consideration and discussion of that matter through the ways of his own mind, until he reach the point at which ‘the numinous’ in him perforce begins to stir, to start into life and into consciousness.  We can co-operate in this process by bringing before his notice all that can be found in other regions of the mind, already known and familiar, to resemble, or again to afford some special contrast to, the particular experience we wish to elucidate.  Then we must add: ‘This X of ours is not precisely this experience, but akin to this one and the opposite of that other.  Cannot you realize for yourself what it is?’  In other words our X cannot, strictly speaking, be taught, it can only be evoked, awakened in the mind; as everything that comes ‘of the spirit’ must be awakened.” (The Idea of the Holy: 7)   But lest we think this requires some mighty effort to arouse, Otto tells us: “But the mere word, even when it comes as a living voice, is powerless without the ‘spirit in the heart’ of the hearer to move him to apprehension.  And this spirit, this inborn capacity to receive and understand, is the essential thing.  If that is there, very often only a very small incitement, a very remote stimulus, is needed to arouse the numinous consciousness.” (Otto, The Idea of the Holy: 61

As Otto’s discussion points out, the numinous is “there” to be experienced in some sense, but there is also “the numinous in him.”  We don’t get into a numinous state in any absolute sense.  It is not something manufactured from nothing.  Rather, the aspects and attributes of an objective Divinity awaken the divine that is already within us, giving us the feeling of a numinous presence.  It is the awakening that occurs when the heart and mind achieve coherence.  The intellect’s relationship here is not with anything physically or intellectually external “out there” as in space or in some other part of the mind.  Rather, “out there” is really “up there” both as a dimension beyond the human and as a state of being latent within the human reality.  But “up there” is actually “in there” as the deepest part of humanity, i.e. the sacred heart.  In a telling insight, Otto observes that “the numinous informs the rational from above”: (The Idea of the Holy: 46) where “above” refers to that dimension of the divine that the Bahá’í statement called the spiritual dimension “the source of qualities that transcend narrow self-interest.”  In essence, then, the rational faculty perceives the sacred Spirit and humbly opens itself to be informed.  Perhaps it is from the same perspective that the philosopher, Heidegger, wrote:  “A person is neither a thing nor a process, but an opening or clearing through which the Absolute can manifest.” 

Religion cannot be taught, but the principles of religion can, and this awakens that faculty if done properly.  Baha’u’llah admonishes: “Schools must first train the children in the principles of religion, so that the Promise and the Threat recorded in the Books of God may prevent them from the things forbidden and adorn them with the mantle of the commandments; but this in such a measure that it may not injure the children by resulting in ignorant fanaticism and bigotry.” (Baha'u'llah, Tablets of Baha'u'llah: 68)

Religion as a system of knowledge that can be taught is the result of an enduring objective relationship with what is sacred, supernatural, divine, and mystical.  It is not an invention of the imagination or some wish-fulfillment for weak minds or socially marginalized groups.  Neither is it an opiate of the lazy and spiritually indolent.  While it is true that religion as a form of belief and an objective way of knowing is something that can be outgrown or discarded, that is true of any body of knowledge.  To discard the spirit of religion and with it the transcendent and sacred, however, is not something that can be done without losing something inherent within us, without denying some inner power and faculty necessary to fully engage the universe, without shattering the wholeness of the cosmos and of the human personality.  We are humans, finally, because we can recognize supernatural realities, not because we can invent them.  We have religion not because we are imaginative beings, but because we are spiritual ones.

This spiritual potential is present not only at the dawn of each consciousness, but also at the dawn of human consciousness. The religious faculty may be the first of the faculties of true consciousness within the rational faculty to awaken.  Ernst Cassirer wrote: “The earliest human consciousness to which we can go back must be conceived as a divine consciousness, a consciousness of God: in its true and specific meaning the human consciousness is a consciousness that does not have God outside it but which—though not with knowledge but with will, not by a free act of the fancy but rather by its very nature—contains within it a relation to God.” (Ernst Cassirer, The Philosophy of Symbolic Forms, v. 2: 7 Rudolph Otto concurs, writing: “religion, nothing else, is at work in those early stages of mythic and daemonic experience.” (Otto, The Idea of the Holy: 132) In this regard, Baha’u’llah states: “From the beginning of time the light of unity hath shed its divine radiance upon the world...” (Tablets of Baha'u'llah: 127)

But this faculty, so present in children (See Tobin Hart, The Secret Spiritual World of Children), gets drained of its power by an overly materialistic, rationalistic slant to education, leading to ‘Abdu’l-Baha’s lament that opened this discussion.  Lacking belief in the real existence of the faculty morphs into the belief that there is no such faculty.  The degeneration of the faculty of recognizing God can lead to the notion that there is no God, or to the failure to recognize God in His new Message and new Manifestation.

As the first consciousness, composing a knowledge that embraces all human consciousness, the message of religion has, perhaps, a special connection with the faculty of justice, which enables its possessor to discern truth from error—the basis of any moral code—and to recognize God.  We’ll turn to that faculty next.

The Spiritual Dimension

Although there are mystical aspects that are not easily explained, the spiritual dimension of human nature can be understood, in practical terms, as the source of qualities that transcend narrow self-interest.  Such qualities include love, compassion, forbearance, trustworthiness, courage, humility, co-operation and willingness to sacrifice for the common good—qualities of an enlightened citizenry, able to construct a unified world civilization.

(Baha'i International Community, 1993 Apr 01, Sustainable Development and the Human Spirit)

Every human faculty must have a domain, a dimension, with which it connects.  For example, the faculty of language connects with the verbal universe of its social environment, is awakened by it and adds to its development.  The religious faculty connects with the spiritual dimension.

While no doubt there are mystical aspects to the spiritual dimension of human nature and experience—Shoghi Effendi unequivocally stating that “the core of religious faith is that mystic feeling which unites Man with God,” (Directives from the Guardian: 86)—we should not forget that all Revelation proceeds from “that invisible yet rational God.” (Shoghi Effendi, The World Order of Baha'u'llah: 112) and that there is a social dimension to religion that cannot be divorced from the specifically spiritually.  To clearly perceive the relation between religion, the spiritual dimension, and social unity and thus to peace we need to understand the true unfolding purpose of religion.

Regarding religion’s social purpose Baha’u’llah states: “The purpose of religion as revealed from the heaven of God's holy Will is to establish unity and concord amongst the peoples of the world; make it not the cause of dissension and strife. 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. The progress of the world, the development of nations, the tranquillity of peoples, and the peace of all who dwell on earth are among the principles and ordinances of God.” (Tablets of Baha'u'llah: 129-130)

“The fundamental purpose animating the Faith of God and His Religion”, He also wrote, “is to safeguard the interests and promote the unity of the human race, and to foster the spirit of love and fellowship amongst men. Suffer it not to become a source of dissension and discord, of hate and enmity. This is the straight Path, the fixed and immovable foundation. Whatsoever is raised on this foundation, the changes and chances of the world can never impair its strength, nor will the revolution of countless centuries undermine its structure.” (Gleanings from the Writings of Baha'u'llah: 215)

‘Abdu’l-Baha naturally concurs: “The central purpose of the divine religions is the establishment of peace and unity among mankind. Their reality is one; therefore, their accomplishment is one and universal—whether it be through the essential or material ordinances of God. There is but one light of the material sun, one ocean, one rain, one atmosphere. Similarly, in the spiritual world there is one divine reality forming the center and altruistic basis for peace and reconciliation among various and conflicting nations and peoples.” (The Promulgation of Universal Peace: 98)

A society without any real religion, a situation characteristic of today’s world, is in jeopardy.  Baha’u’llah warned the world’s leaders: “They that are possessed of wealth and invested with authority and power must show the profoundest regard for religion. In truth, religion is a radiant light and an impregnable stronghold for the protection and welfare of the peoples of the world, for the fear of God impelleth man to hold fast to that which is good, and shun all evil. Should the lamp of religion be obscured, chaos and confusion will ensue, and the lights of fairness and justice, of tranquillity and peace cease to shine.”(Tablets of Baha'u'llah:  125)

Yet the wrong idea of religion is worse than no religion.  ‘Abdu’l-Baha makes clear that: “If religion becomes the source of antagonism and strife, the absence of religion is to be preferred. Religion is meant to be the quickening life of the body politic; if it be the cause of death to humanity, its nonexistence would be a blessing and benefit to man.” (Abdu'l-Baha, Foundations of World Unity: 22)

To see how religion's “fixed and unmovable foundation” will never be subject to “the changes and chances of the world”, and why these changes and chances can never “impair its strength, nor will the revolution of countless centuries undermine its structure” we must return to the spiritual dimension.

First, what Baha’u’llah is naming the “the Faith of God and His Religion” is not some structure of human belief.  The Master provided a clue when He stated: “in the spiritual world there is one divine reality forming the center and altruistic basis for peace and reconciliation among various and conflicting nations and peoples.”

The “immovable foundation” and incorruptible “center” is the truth that: “This is the changeless Faith of God, eternal in the past, eternal in the future.” (Baha'u'llah, Gleanings from the Writings of Baha'u'llah: 136)  The eternal form, the "one divine reality", of religion is what is meant by the phrase “the Faith of God”.  This eternal foundation is beyond time and space, far removed from the rise and fall, the building and decaying, of things in this world, though any organic form of It is, naturally, not immune from disintegration.

Now Baha’u’llah stated that one of the gifts of religion is eternal life. He gives a new slant on this when He states: “Just as the conception of faith hath existed from the beginning that hath no beginning, and will endure till the end that hath no end, in like manner will the true believer eternally live and endure.” (Gleanings from the Writings of Baha'u'llah: 140)

Religion as an unchanging eternal structure is the foundation, and this same structure progressively unfolds in the human world.  Hence, there is a continuing relation between this eternal form of religion and its many appearances in history.  For, in its succession of appearances, a second principle, characteristic of all organic life, emerges: that of progress in form toward maturity.  ‘Abdu’l-Baha explains: “Wherefore the dispensations of past ages are intimately connected with those that follow them: indeed, they are one and the same, but as the world groweth, so doth the light, so doth the downpour of heavenly grace, and then the Day-Star shineth out in noonday splendour.” (Selections from the Writings of Abdu'l-Baha: 58)  In another place He wrote: “Our meaning is this: the religion of God is one, and it is the educator of humankind, but still, it needs must be made new.” (Selections from the Writings of Abdu'l-Baha:51)  “The religion of God is one religion,” He asserted, “but it must ever be renewed. Moses, for example, was sent forth to man and He established a Law, and the Children of Israel, through that Mosaic Law, were delivered out of their ignorance and came into the light; they were lifted up from their abjectness and attained to a glory that fadeth not. Still, as the long years wore on, that radiance passed by, that splendour set, that bright day turned to night; and once that night grew triply dark, the star of the Messiah dawned, so that again a glory lit the world.” (Selections from the Writings of Abdu'l-Baha: 51)

It is in this changing and evolving historical context that has now reached maturity that we may fully grasp the House of Justice statement that: “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)  In a world that has forgotten true religion, whose peoples’ faculty of recognizing Him has withered and degenerated, religion is easily dismissed as an opiate or relegated to a purely subjective personal experience.  ‘Abdu’l-Baha will have none of it.  Instead He calls us back to the true perception: “Religion, moreover, is not a series of beliefs, a set of customs; religion is the teachings of the Lord God, teachings which constitute the very life of humankind, which urge high thoughts upon the mind, refine the character, and lay the groundwork for man's everlasting honour.” (Selections from the Writings of Abdu'l-Baha: 51-52)

With the coming of Baha’u’llah, unity, the essential, pivotal, condition of the soul, now emerges as a compelling social force animating the entire globe and all its peoples, so that "the cycle of Thy divine unity" (Compilations, Baha'i Prayers: 29) may be established and manifested in the human world.  It is not absolutely new, of course, but its relations with humanity have changed, growing in complexity and authority.

Baha’u’llah exclaims: “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)  “So powerful is the light of unity that it can illuminate the whole earth.” (Baha'u'llah, Epistle to the Son of the Wolf: 14)  In His Tablet, known sometimes as The Seven Candles of Unity, ‘Abdu’l-Baha remarks: “The fourth candle is unity in religion which is the corner-stone of the foundation itself, and which, by the power of God, will be revealed in all its splendour.” (Selections from the Writings of Abdu'l-Baha: 32)

 “All the divine Manifestations,” explains ‘Abdu’l-Baha, “have proclaimed the oneness of God and the unity of mankind. They have taught that men should love and mutually help each other in order that they might progress. Now if this conception of religion be true, its essential principle is the oneness of humanity. The fundamental truth of the Manifestations is peace. This underlies all religion, all justice. The divine purpose is that men should live in unity, concord and agreement and should love one another. Consider the virtues of the human world and realize that the oneness of humanity is the primary foundation of them all. Read the Gospel and the other Holy Books. You will find their fundamentals are one and the same. Therefore, unity is the essential truth of religion and, when so understood, embraces all the virtues of the human world. Praise be to God! This knowledge has been spread, eyes have been opened, and ears have become attentive. Therefore, we must endeavor to promulgate and practice the religion of God which has been founded by all the Prophets. And the religion of God is absolute love and unity.” (The Promulgation of Universal Peace: 32)

The Religious Faculty: To Know and Recognize God

People 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)

The Religion of God as the Word of God is first, in time, in creation, in divine knowledge, and in human understanding.  It is the essential reality.  In regards to time and creation, that is, the cosmological re-ligia of binding the primordial chaos into ordinal cosmos, the Book of Genesis informs us: “In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.’ (King James Bible, Genesis 1:1)  The New Testament Book of John tells us how the cosmological creation of Genesis was effected: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.  The same was in the beginning with God.”  (King James Bible, John 1: 1-2)  The Word is the creative power of God.  The unity which is the oneness of humankind in this context is the understanding that all people are children of the same God.

In regards to the interplay of divine knowledge and human understanding, recall that Baha’u’llah tells us that the “first bestowal of God is the Word, and its discoverer and recipient is the power of understanding.”  The first bestowal of God is the Religion of God, when this is discovered by the power of understanding religion among human beings begins.  Speaking of the Religion of God, Baha’u’llah says in another place: “Religion bestoweth upon man the most precious of all gifts, offereth the cup of prosperity, imparteth eternal life, and showereth imperishable benefits upon mankind.” (Tablets of Baha'u'llah: 129)  That “most precious of all gifts” is the gift of understanding.  The bestowal is received when It is discovered, and upon its reception the gifts pour forth from the human reality.  That drive in the soul of human beings that inclines them toward transcendence is what receives and discovers the Word, the Religion of God. 

The human soul is the heart of creation, because the human spirit is the collective reality out from which flow all other realities in creation.  It is their pivot, their center, motive force and essential reality: “The world, indeed each existing being, proclaims to us one of the names of God, but the reality of man is the collective reality, the general reality, and is the center where the glory of all the perfections of God shine forth—that is to say, for each name, each attribute, each perfection which we affirm of God there exists a sign in man.” (Abdu'l-Baha, Some Answered Questions: 195)

But, the soul is also, through the power of the rational faculty, which is the collective reality of all other human faculties, the first in creation to recognize God: “Know, verily, that the soul is a sign of God, a heavenly gem whose reality the most learned of men hath failed to grasp, and whose mystery no mind, however acute, can ever hope to unravel. It is the first among all created things to declare the excellence of its Creator, the first to recognize His glory, to cleave to His truth, and to bow down in adoration before Him.” (Gleanings from the Writings of Baha'u'llah: 158)

The human spirit knows and recognizes God through a religious faculty located in the heart.  “Therefore, hath it been said: ‘Knowledge is a light which God casteth into the heart of whomsoever He willeth." (Baha'u'llah, The Kitab-i-Iqan: 46) —an experience that often stirs up among the unwary an inchoate confusion of awe, dread, rapturous love, ecstatic emotion, mystical intuition and sometimes pathology.  But as we said, in spiritual terms the pivot is, at one and the same time, the focal center, the heart, the source and motive power, the essence, of something. The heart is both a focal center of spiritual energies and a radiant center of human energies.

In regards to religion and the foundations of social knowledge, ‘Abdu’l-Baha explains that the role of the great Spiritual Luminaries is this: “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.” (Some Answered Questions: 157)  “Religion,” He goes on, “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.” (Some Answered Questions:158)  Thus the power of understanding discovers the expanding principles of God’s unfolding Knowledge, the great re-ligia binding all things together in ever greater complexity, and an expanding human knowledge is built upon these discoveries.  Hence, when a new unfoldment of divine knowledge occurs, a new religion (i.e. re-ligia) appears, the gift of understanding is bestowed, so human knowledge also becomes new.

It is, perhaps, for this reason that the House of Justice writes in the following terms of the cardinal importance in human life of this essential reality called religion and its relation to peace: “No serious attempt to set human affairs aright, to achieve world peace, can ignore religion. Man's perception and practice of it are largely the stuff of history. An eminent historian described religion as a "faculty of human nature". That the perversion of this faculty has contributed to much of the confusion in society and the conflicts in and between individuals can hardly be denied. But neither can any fair-minded observer discount the preponderating influence exerted by religion on the vital expressions of civilization. Furthermore, its indispensability to social order has repeatedly been demonstrated by its direct effect on laws and morality.” (The Universal House of Justice, The Promise of World Peace: 1)

That eminent historian is, I believe, Arnold Toynbee, who wrote: “The quest for ultimate spiritual reality is inborn in human nature.”  (Arnold Toynbee, Habit and Change: 8)

This idea of an innate religious faculty, or what some call an instinct, is, in one or more of its aspects, acknowledged by numerous thinkers from many fields.  Carl Jung said about religion: “Religion, as the careful observation and taking account of certain invisible and uncontrollable factors, is an instinctive attitude peculiar to man, and its manifestations can be followed all through human history.” (Carl Jung, The Undiscovered Self: 26) Biologist Dean Hamer echoes Jung: “Spirituality is one of our basic human inheritances.  It is, in fact, an instinct.” (Dean Hamer, The God Gene: How Faith is Hardwired into our Genes: 6)

Regarding religion’s connection with human intelligence, sociologist Daniel Bell wrote: “Religion…is a constitutive part of man’s consciousness: the cognitive search for the pattern of the ‘general order’ of existence; the affective need to establish rituals and to make such conceptions sacred; the primordial need for relatedness to some others, or to a set of meanings which will establish a transcendent response to the self; and the existential need to confront the finalities of suffering and death.” (Bell, The Cultural Contradictions of Capitalism: 169)   Anthropologist Gregory Bateson says “religion is a rich, internally structured model that stands in metaphorical relationship to the whole of life, and therefore can be used to think with.” (Gregory Bateson and Catherine Bateson, Angels Fear: 195)   Psychologist Dr. Alfred Meier writes: “...the religious belongs to the wholeness of the human personality….The subjective experience connected with a religious phenomenon and with healing is actually one of transcendence and this transcendence is a new element which was not in the system from the beginning.” (Alfred Maier, Jung’s Analytic Psychology and Religion: 73)  The Bahá’í Writings also speak of “…religion as the principal force impelling the development of human consciousness.” (The Universal House of Justice, One Common Faith: 23)  Religion, these writings assert, is “a source of knowledge that totally embraces consciousness.” (One Common Faith: 13-14)  These last thoughts echo this statement from the Master: “(T)he religion of God is the promoter of truth, the founder of science and knowledge, it is full of goodwill for learned men; it is the civilizer of mankind, the discoverer of the secrets of nature, and the enlightener of the horizons of the world.” (Some Answered Questions: 136)

More to come on the religious faculty.

The Rational Faculty

The human spirit consists of the rational, or logical, reasoning faculty, which apprehends general ideas and things intelligible and perceptible.

(Abdu'l-Baha, Baha'i World Faith: 370)

The rational faculty is one of the manifestations of the soul.  We know this from a letter written on behalf of Shoghi Effendi which states: “Regarding your questions: the rational faculty is a manifestation of the power of the soul.” (Compilations, Lights of Guidance: 509)  The soul is the essence of the human reality and Baha’u’llah says the rational faculty is a gift “with which God hath endowed the essence of man,” (Gleanings from the Writings of Baha'u'llah: 163), a power “which should be regarded as a sign of the revelation of Him Who is the sovereign Lord of all.” (Gleanings from the Writings of Baha'u'llah: 163)  So overarching is this faculty that Baha’u’llah states: “Examine thine own self, and behold how thy motion and stillness, thy will and purpose, thy sight and hearing, thy sense of smell and power of speech, and whatever else is related to, or transcendeth, thy physical senses or spiritual perceptions, all proceed from, and owe their existence to, this same faculty.” (Gleanings from the Writings of Baha'u'llah:163)  Here we want to especially focus upon it’s the phrase “spiritual perceptions.” Even these “proceed from and owe their existence to this same faculty.

In another place, Baha’u’llah describes the relation of the rational faculty to other powers and faculties as follows : “Say: Spirit, mind, soul, and the powers of sight and hearing are but one single reality which hath manifold expressions owing to the diversity of its instruments. As thou dost observe, man's power to comprehend, move, speak, hear, and see all derive from this sign of his Lord within him. It is single in its essence, yet manifold through the diversity of its instruments. This, verily, is a certain truth. For example, if it directeth its attention to the means of hearing, then hearing and its attributes become manifest. Likewise, if it directeth itself to the means of vision, a different effect and attribute appear. Reflect upon this subject that thou mayest comprehend the true meaning of what hath been intended, find thyself independent of the sayings of the people, and be of them that are well assured. In like manner, when this sign of God turneth towards the brain, the head, and such means, the powers of the mind and the soul are manifested. Thy Lord, verily, is potent to do whatsoever He pleaseth.” (Baha'u'llah, The Summons of the Lord of Hosts: 153)

‘Abdu’l-Baha echoes His Father: “Know that the human spirit is one, but it manifests itself in various members of the body in a certain (measure or) form. The human spirit is existent in the sight; it is also existent in the brain, which is the location of great functions and powers; it is also existent in the heart, which organ is largely connected with the brain or the center of the mind; and the heart, or that center which is connected with the brain, has a distinct and separate function, effect and appearance.” (Compilations, Baha'i Scriptures: 476)

 The rational faculty, also known as the power of understanding, is, among all created things, specifically created to discover and recognize the Word of God. “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, Tabernacle of Unity: 3)

 Now we know something of the manifold powers, whether physical, mental, or spiritual, that proceed from the rational faculty.  But there are a few we want to focus upon to answer the question: what is the purpose and the powers of the gift of understanding and their relation to the building of peace?

Baha’u’llah explicitly states the main purposes of the rational faculty, and the spiritual and intellectual powers this faculty gives the intelligence: “Know thou that, according to what thy Lord, the Lord of all men, hath decreed in His Book, the favors vouchsafed by Him unto mankind have been, and will ever remain, limitless in their range. First and foremost among these favors, which the Almighty hath conferred upon man, is the gift of understanding. His purpose in conferring such a gift is none other except to enable His creature to know and recognize the one true God—exalted be His glory. This gift giveth man the power to discern the truth in all things, leadeth him to that which is right, and helpeth him to discover the secrets of creation.’ (Gleanings from the Writings of Baha'u'llah: 193)

God’s main purpose in endowing the soul with the power of understanding is to know and recognize Him in both His Manifestation, the “word made flesh”, and to recognize His Words as distinct from all other messages and words, as the Voice of God.  Yet Baha’u’llah laments: “Gracious God! It was intended that at the time of the manifestation of the One true God the faculty of recognizing Him would have been developed and matured and would have reached its culmination. However, it is now clearly demonstrated that in the disbelievers this faculty hath remained undeveloped and hath, indeed, degenerated.” (Tablets of Baha'u'llah: 52-53)

Now recognition of God is not the same thing as belief in God. One can believe in God, but fail to recognize Him.  Indeed, this theme characterizes much of the strife of religious history.  To recognize God is to know that God has manifested Himself in a particular human Being and to recognize God in that Being, and not hold to belief, however sincere, in a prior Manifestation.  Belief is often either a product of an inherited form of religion, or a creation of our own imagination, but recognition is to see God in His current Manifestation, something  far removed from His old form as found in a traditional religion, and quite different from the human-made creations of the imagination.

‘Abdu’l-Baha explained to an inquiring Japanese: “All the people have formed a god in the world of thought, and that form of their own imagination they worship; when the fact is that the imagined form is finite and the human mind is infinite. Surely the infinite is greater than the finite, for imagination is accidental (or non-essential) while the mind is essential; surely the essential is greater than the accidental.” (Japan Will Turn Ablaze: 22)

Regarding the degeneration of this faculty, ‘Abdu’l-Baha, speaking in one of the centers of materialism  admonished: “Consider what it is that singles man out from among created beings, and makes of him a creature apart. Is it not his reasoning power, his intelligence? Shall he not make use of these in his study of religion? I say unto you: weigh carefully in the balance of reason and science everything that is presented to you as religion. If it passes this test, then accept it, for it is truth! If, however, it does not so conform, then reject it, for it is ignorance!” (Paris Talks: 145) In another place He asked somewhat rhetorically “When religion is upheld by science and reason we can believe with assurance and act with conviction, for this rational faculty is the greatest power in the world. Through it industries are established, the past and present are laid bare and the underlying realities are brought to light. Let us make nature our captive, break through all laws of limitation and with deep penetration bring to light that which is hidden. The power to do this is the greatest of divine benefits. Why treat with indifference such a divine spark? Why ignore a faculty so beneficial, a sun so powerful?” (Abdu'l-Baha, Divine Philosophy: 102)

The degeneration of the faculty of recognizing Him, which is the central purpose of God in bestowing the gift of understanding upon humanity, would then cause a similar degeneration in the other discriminating powers of the individual: dampening the power to discern the truth in all things ends with people not knowing how to find the truth; failing to accurately discriminate between right and wrong leads to a general lack of will and aspiration to do the right thing; and being unwilling to have religion help discover the higher secrets of creation results in narrowing of the field of intelligent inquiry to material phenomena.  What specific faculties, then, compose the general rational faculty or power of understanding, which, as the senses translate one sense into another to form perception, so the mental powers work together to create consciousness?  Consciousness in any real inclusive sense is not one power or a separate thing, but the result of the interaction of mental powers through the rational faculty.

I am going to concentrate on five specific powers of the rational faculty: the spiritual instinct, or religious faculty, which we use to recognize and know God; the faculty of justice that enables us to discern the truth in all things: the moral sense, which leads us to that which is right; the faculty or power of intellect, used for scientific investigation into the mysteries of creation and for grasping and articulating spiritual principles; and will, or volition, which enables us to act. Though these are separate faculties, dimensions of experience and states of mind, we know from the above statements that they are inseparable from each other, functioning together in their highest aspect in mutual support and harmony as an inner equilibrium of forces.  But also as a progression the last four all come forth from the first, the spiritual instinct or religious faculty. 

Too often we fail to trace humanity’s lack of social peace back to its real cause, the lack of this inner condition of unity stemming from the degeneration of an inner faculty that enables the soul to recognize the Word of God.  The awakening, training and developing of this spiritual faculty would then cure this spiritual disease. What is that faculty, that inherent mental power?

Let us turn to a rational inquiry into religion, starting with a good definition of it.