Origins and Foundations of Morality

One thing and only one thing will unfailingly and alone secure the undoubted triumph of this sacred Cause, namely, the extent to which our own inner life and private character mirror forth in their manifold aspects the splendor of those eternal principles proclaimed by Bahá'u'lláh.

(Shoghi Effendi, Baha'i Administration: 66)

To better understand the phrase used by the House of Justice that spiritual principle “harmonizes with that which is immanent in human nature” we should go back to the difference between origins and foundations.  The first is an event that starts a process in time, an evolutionary or historical origin, while the other is an eternal structure that progressively unfolds in time.  The first, the manifest foundation and origin, is connected to and manifests the second, or essential foundation and purpose; that is, the origin and life of the temporal structure is an eternal, spiritual one.

Thus, by the foundations of morality I mean that eternal, metaphysical foundation laid at the creation of the universe and in the very creation of the spirit of humanity, and which is, too, the foundation and origin of community, what Jesus called “the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.” (The Book of Matthew 25:34) Living these eternal principles is the goal of human action, the behavioral aspect of the soul’s “mysterious nature” that “inclines it towards transcendence”.

The essential foundation of the human reality is, as Baha’u’llah stated that “all were made for harmony and union.”  The essential purpose of human social activity—i.e. how that essential foundation develops from origins in time and history—is that: “All men have been created to carry forward an ever-advancing civilization.” (Gleanings from the Writings of Baha'u'llah: 214)

For me the origins of morality are in the interaction between an innate moral faculty and the Word of God.  Or, in the absence of the Word directly, in any moral code that the faculty encounters and stimulates into action.

But first: Is there a moral faculty? 

 Linguist and social theorist, Noam Chomsky, stated the argument for the existence of an innate moral faculty, writing that “it certainly seems reasonable to speculate that the moral and ethical system acquired by the child owes much to some innate human faculty and is rooted in our nature.” (Noam Chomsky, Language and Problems of Knowledge: The Managua Lectures, Cambridge MA: MIT Press p.153)

In the following passage, Baha’u’llah identifies the moral faculty in every human being: "Indeed, there existeth in man a faculty which deterreth him from, and guardeth him against, whatever is unworthy and unseemly, and which is known as his sense of shame. This, however, is confined to but a few; all have not possessed and do not possess it.” (Tablets of Baha'u'llah: 63) (An important passage for Him as He repeated it in Epistle to the Son of the Wolf: 27-28)

This moral faculty, like every other faculty, must connect with some dimension of life.  Wayne Meeks states: “Morality names a dimension of life, a pervasive and, often, only partly conscious set of value-laden dispositions, inclinations, attitudes, and habits.” (Meeks: 4)  Psychologist and self-styled atheist, Jonathan Haidt, writes in his book The Happiness Hypothesis: “My claim is that the human mind perceives a third dimension, a specifically moral dimension that I will call ‘divinity’….  In choosing the label ‘divinity’, I am not assuming that God exists and is there to be perceived.  Rather my research on the moral emotions has led me to conclude that the human mind simply does perceive divinity and sacredness, whether or not God exists.” (The Happiness Hypothesis: 183-184) To perceive “a specifically moral dimension” via scientific research means there is an objective dimension there to perceive. 

This beautiful description of the spiritual dimension of human nature comes from a Bahá’i document: “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)

However, like all those other dimensions and higher worlds that are the source of qualities that characterize our better natures, moral virtues are, because of the powerful undertow of egoistic self-interest, for the most part, and for most people, not within human power to consistently manifest without the assistance provided by the divine Manifestation of God and His Revelation. 

‘Abdu’l-Baha issued this trenchant comment on how the higher virtues come forth: “These virtues do not appear from the reality of man except through the power of God and the divine teachings, for they need supernatural power for their manifestation. It may be that in the world of nature a trace of these perfections may appear, but they are unstable and ephemeral; they are like the rays of the sun upon the wall.” (Abdu'l-Baha, Some Answered Questions: 79-80)

He reinforced this idea to an American audience: “Through the breaths of the Holy Spirit man is uplifted into the world of moralities and illumined by the lights of divine bestowals. The moral world is only attained through the effulgence of the Sun of Reality and the quickening life of the divine spirit. For this reason the holy Manifestations of God appear in the human world. They come to educate and illuminate mankind, to bestow spiritual susceptibilities, to quicken inner perceptions and thereby adorn the reality of man—the human temple—with divine graces.” (The Promulgation of Universal Peace:  330)

Higher virtues will not come forth and appear naturally and unannounced.  Rather, to receive heavenly assistance the individual must make a conscious decision to act in a certain way. Choice is of the essence of the free will.  The most important decisions are moral.  “Some things are subject to the free will of man, such as justice, equity, tyranny and injustice, in other words, good and evil actions; it is evident and clear that these actions are, for the most part, left to the will of man.” (Some Answered Questions: 248)

Nonetheless, divine assistance, like the light of the sun, is there regardless of human choice, for it is the propulsive power for motion and action in either moral direction.  That is, though an individual may be propelled by the divine, the direction he takes is up to him.

The Master again: “… man’s stillness or motion itself is conditioned upon the aid of God. Should this assistance fail to reach him, he can do neither good nor evil. But when the assistance of the all-bounteous Lord confers existence upon man, he is capable of both good and evil. … This condition can be likened to that of a ship that moves by the power of wind or steam. Should this power be cut off, the ship would be entirely unable to move. Nevertheless, in whatever direction the rudder is turned, the power of the steam propels the ship in that direction. If the rudder is turned to the east, the ship moves eastward, and if it is directed to the west, the ship moves west. …

“In like manner, all the doings of man are sustained by the power of divine assistance, but the choice of good or evil belongs to him alone.” (Abdu’l-Baha, Some Answered Questions, newly revised edition, pp. 288-289.