Training the Moral Faculty

The root cause of wrongdoing is ignorance, and we must therefore hold fast to the tools of perception and knowledge. Good character must be taught. Light must be spread afar, so that, in the school of humanity, all may acquire the heavenly characteristics of the spirit, and see for themselves beyond any doubt that there is no fiercer hell, no more fiery abyss, than to possess a character that is evil and unsound; no more darksome pit nor loathsome torment than to show forth qualities which deserve to be condemned.

(Selections from the Writings of Abdu'l-Baha: 136)

A moral faculty exists, and a moral dimension, too, exists, but connecting with that dimension is left to the individual’s choice.  Thus training is important.  As ‘Abdu’l-Baha plainly states: “Good character must be taught.”

In the following passage, Baha’u’llah points to the axial principle of this faculty and hence how it is trained: "Verily I say: The fear of God hath ever been a sure defence and a safe stronghold for all the peoples of the world. It is the chief cause of the protection of mankind, and the supreme instrument for its preservation. 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)

Now to say that this moral faculty arising out of a sense of shame is confined to a few and that all have not possessed and do not possess it is not to say that only these few have any chance of being moral.  I believe He meant something like few people have an innate and active sense of right and wrong, or working conscience.  Most people must be trained in moral awareness. Shame is that painful feeling of humiliation or distress caused by the consciousness of wrong or foolish behavior, always accompanied by a loss of respect and dishonor.  Within the self-conscious, reflective, individual shame is felt as guilt: that one observing one’s own wrongful behavior is ashamed of the way one acted, knowing he could have done better.  One loses self-respect.

Every human being can be trained in moral behavior, whose emotional and spiritual origin is the fear of God, through proper education.  Too, we have only to remember that hope and fear are also the main emotional springs of justice.  Thus Baha’u’llah admonishes: “It is incumbent upon the kings and the spiritual leaders of the world to lay fast hold on religion, inasmuch as through it the fear of God is instilled in all else but Him." (Epistle to the Son of the Wolf: 27)

However, though moral training occurs through evoking and training the innate sense of shame that is built upon the fear of God it cannot be inculcated in children through tyranny and fear, or it will likely, as we read in the discussion on justice, “injure the children by resulting in ignorant fanaticism and bigotry.” (Tablets of Baha'u'llah: 68)

Thus, in another place He writes: "That which is of paramount importance for the children, that which must precede all else, is to teach them the oneness of God and the Laws of God. For lacking this the fear of God cannot be inculcated, and lacking the fear of God and infinity of odious and abominable actions will spring up, and sentiments will be uttered that transgress all bounds..." (Lights of Guidance: 236)

The fear of God then is actually the shame one feels when disappointing a loved one through unseemly acts.  Our sense of shame is because the nobler element within us, the divinely bestowed reality, is fully aware of the surrender of the consciousness to inferior and wholly mortal snares.  But the fear of God must be balanced by the hope of forgiveness and reward for good actions, though that reward will become intrinsic; namely, the good action itself will be the reward.

Ignorant fanaticism and bigotry has been the sad result of much of religious education in many cultures.  The House of Justice remarked: “The resurgence of fanatical religious fervour occurring in many lands cannot be regarded as more than a dying convulsion. The very nature of the violent and disruptive phenomena associated with it testifies to the spiritual bankruptcy it represents. Indeed, one of the strangest and saddest features of the current outbreak of religious fanaticism is the extent to which, in each case, it is undermining not only the spiritual values which are conducive to the unity of mankind but also those unique moral victories won by the particular religion it purports to serve.” (The Promise of World Peace para. 18)

Now merely stirring up the sentiments of hope and fear is not a sufficient basis for any education, but, rather, leads to disaster.  As indicated above, and in our discussion of properly educing the faculty of justice, training involves a triple pairing: hope and fear; Promise and Threat; Reward and Punishment.  The dangers of a moral education based solely upon hope and fear can be overcome through true religion and rational, spiritual principles backed—and in some cases lead—by science. 

‘Abdu’l-Baha says: “Now, all questions of morality contained in the spiritual, immutable law of every religion are logically right. If religion were contrary to logical reason then it would cease to be a religion and be merely a tradition. Religion and science are the two wings upon which man's intelligence can soar into the heights, with which the human soul can progress. It is not possible to fly with one wing alone! Should a man try to fly with the wing of religion alone he would quickly fall into the quagmire of superstition, whilst on the other hand, with the wing of science alone he would also make no progress, but fall into the despairing slough of materialism.” (Paris Talks: 143)

A letter written on behalf of Shoghi Effendi expressed the following: “What can control youth and save it from the pitfalls of the crass materialism of the age is the power of a genuine, constructive and living Faith such as the one revealed to the world by Bahá’u’lláh. Religion, as in the past, is still the world's sole hope, but not that form of religion which our ecclesiastical leaders strive vainly to preach. Divorced from true religion, morals lose their effectiveness and cease to guide and control man's individual and social life. But when true religion is combined with true ethics, then moral progress becomes a possibility and not a mere ideal.

"The need of our modern youth is for such a type of ethics founded on pure religious faith. Not until these two are rightly combined and brought into full action can there be any hope for the future of the race." (From a letter written on behalf of the Guardian to an individual believer, April 17, 1926. Lights of Guidance: 630.

If questions of morality are logically right, then they can be formulated into principles which can be taught.  In practical terms, the training of the moral faculty and the emergence of good character is done through reward and punishment.  But even these have a spiritual foundation, as we will see in the next post.