| DILETTANTE
- I use this word because I see myself as a dabbler in Bahá'í
scholarship who is pretty sure he doesn't need to be taken too
seriously.
The
opinions expressed here are mine alone. They are not an official
expression of the Baha'i Faith in any way. The views explicated below
were formed over years of study of the Writings of the Baha'i Faith
combined with extensive pondering on how to apply the principles
expressed therein to my daily life, how I hope they will continue to
shape the Baha'i community, and how they have guided my perceptions of
where we currently are as a sentient species. The reader is advised to
keep in mind that these views are influenced by all of my personal
biases and assumptions about how the world should be. Any resemblance
to the actual truth is probably coincidental.
SEEING THE BAHA'I FAITH THROUGH HISTORICAL EYES
As
I think back to my 20 plus years as a Baha'i, I have seen my position
on many issues slowly change over time. As a new Baha'i, I was
uncomfortable with the station of the Guardian (Shoghi Effendi,
great-grandson of Bahá'u'lláh and leader of the Baha'is from 1921-1957)
and believed the World Order of Bahá'u'lláh to be a mere utopian dream.
Now I see how crucial it was for the Faith to have the Guardian to keep
it from scattering into a number of smaller groups and that the World
Order is attainable, albeit only after much suffering as humanity
slowly traverses through its spiritual adolescence. If my mind can
change so much on these issues, I am sure that any positions I
currently hold can go through similar transmutation in the future.
My
adherence to the Faith of Bahá'u'lláh (Prophet-Founder of the Baha'i
Faith 1817-1892) is centered on its vision of the future. I am
enthralled by the vision of future communities infused with Baha'i
values, a vision which the Guardian encouraged the Baha'is to keep in
mind when they found their local communities lacking in some way. I
think that the Baha'is would be well served to study their own history
and see how far the idea of a world-encompassing community has come in
the short time the Faith has been in existence. Many Baha'is have
forgotten that when the Guardian began his period of service, the
Baha'i community consisted primarily of local Persian communities and a
mere handful of scattered Western communities. Most of the believers of
that time remembered the charismatic leadership of 'Abdu'l-Bahá (son of
Bahá'u'lláh and leader of the Baha'is from 1892-1921) and must have
been shocked at first by the Guardian's focus on creating the
administrative order alluded to by Bahá'u'lláh in His writings. The
result of that focus is that now we have a worldwide network of Baha'i
communities, the majority of which are not in Persia nor the West. This
network is now established in the heart of where the masses of humanity
live, the so-called Third World.
At present we find ourselves at
the stage where the quality of life in the communities we have
struggled so hard to create must be advanced significantly. We must do
this not only to keep the Faith growing, the focus of which the
majority of Baha'is seem to be concentrating on, but also to release
the tremendous spiritual potentialities latent in all of us. It is my
firm conviction that when the Baha'i communities learn to balance the
goals of growth and quality of community life, they will influence all
human communities in the world and be one of the beacons of hope to
humanity as it struggles to overcome its collective obsession with
nationalistic, religious, and ethnic differences.
It is also my
firm belief that the Baha'is have much to learn from other communities,
both secular and religious, and that the spiritual value of humility is
one of the powerful keys which we Baha'is have yet to learn to wield in
our ardent desire to influence the spiritual advancement of humankind.
As the Baha'i Faith is only a century and a half old, it cannot
possibly be further along in community development than early
childhood. When I was on Pilgrimage, one of the Baha'is suggested I see
the local community as a toddler who often makes unrealistic demands
and can't see how myopic its viewpoint sometimes is. It is a great test
for the Baha'is living today to understand the evolutionary nature of
the Baha'i community and accept that in these days, the believers as
individuals will often be more mature than the communities they
collectively create. What a hard truth that is for us today! How heavy
the burden we must accept knowing that we Baha'is alive today will not
live to see the fruits of our toil and patience. Future Baha'i
communities will be so infused with love and acceptance of the
believers, no matter what their individual levels of spiritual
maturity, that many will join the Faith for this reason alone
regardless of whatever progressive doctrines it has to share with a
sorely distressed humanity.
Perhaps the modern era's worldview
of human interaction, as primarily the arena of power politics and
economic transactions, has so inundated the human psyche that few of us
can fully extricate ourselves from its adamantine grip. I know that one
of my hardest struggles is to see through this veil of modernity to the
fundamentally spiritual character of people, and try to believe with my
heart as well as my mind that we can create communities where spiritual
values really do come first.
DEALING WITH DIVERISTY
Being
truly open to alternate views on reality is indeed a difficult
attribute to acquire for many of us, and I hope the Baha'is
increasingly exhibit this one. It can open the hearts and minds of
those who otherwise might be too afraid to speak because they feel that
what they have to say doesn't really matter.
I feel sad for
those who feel so discouraged by the tremendous demands of being really
open to diversity that they shrivel back and declare that such
diversity implies that we cannot really be in touch with the "other."
Of course, substantial courage is needed to succeed in unraveling the
marvelous mystery of the God-given diversity of the human race. Alas, I
must remind myself that this type of courage to embrace diversity
assumes that the individual is already herself or himself well grounded
and secure in her or his identity. So few of us seem to have this grace.
Perhaps
some of us are afraid that to develop and express such a strong sense
of self would imply to others that we see our particular response to
reality as superior to that of others who don't seem so sure of
themselves. After all, isn't this what repels many of us from fanatics
of all types? Isn't such apparent belief system arrogance merely a
cloak hiding the believer's own insecurities about the chaotic world we
all inhabit and are desperately trying to understand? Still, I believe
that we as Baha'is must have a sense of security in who we are; one
full of confidence in which we can face whatever the world throws our
way. Our freedom from arrogance and pride, combined with an acceptance
that there really is more than one way to make sense of the world,
would make us noticeably different from those who cling to their
beliefs in a fanatic way.
I think that one of the problems
facing us is that we fail to fully accept that there is only one
reality and instead persist in our mistaken notion that people from
different cultures exist in largely separate mental worlds. This
fallacy is related to the comment expressed above, that some think they
really can't authentically communicate with or truly understand those
different from themselves. We Baha'is should be leading the perceptual
shift from such confining and patently false assumptions, to the
realization that we are one Human species with intellectual and
emotional reactions to the stimuli of the world which transcend
particular cultures and belief systems.
Of course, we Baha'is at
times are also mired in the perception that different belief systems
represent different spiritual worlds which can at best mildly tolerate
each other's varying understandings of reality. We have far to go
before we truly understand what is meant by the unity of religions. I
strongly suspect it involves a lot more than just seeing them as
historically linked in a chain of divine influence upon humankind. Such
an acknowledgment, while tremendously useful as a first step, does not
keep us Baha'is from seeing our religion as separate and better than
others, at least in our subconscious minds and in the depths of our
weary hearts.
While I certainly think such thoughts at times
myself, especially in light of the man-made failings older religions
currently display, I try to remind myself that the Baha'i teaching of
the unity of religions implies much more. I wonder if what God is
gently trying to lead us to is the recognition that there is and has
been only one religion throughout history, and that accepting the
latest "upgrade" in the form of the Baha'i Faith does not detract in
the slightest from the spiritual beauty and even continued efficacy of
the teachings of previous stages in its development. This line of
thinking seems to suggest that Baha'is should cultivate a tremendous
respect for the previous religious dispensations and their God-sent
Founders. Acquiring such a loving attitude could go far to inoculate
our beloved Baha'i communities from the arrogance that seems to plague
many others, whether religious or secular.
MISCELLANEOUS THOUGHTS
1.
In spite of the occasional disappointments and more frequent personal
challenges I have faced as a Baha'i, I can't imagine any other
organization where I could fit in as well and be at least partially
validated in my God-given uniqueness. I feel fortunate that in spite of
the difficulties I have had with the Baha'is, there have been those, in
each community I had been a part of over the years, who were glorious
gems of spirituality. These wonderful souls accepted me as I was and
helped balm my spiritual wounds. These wonderful friendships, combined
with my own maintaining of the disciplines of prayer, meditation, and
constant deepening, have gone far to ground my sense of Baha'i
identity. I earnestly wish more of my fellow Baha'i would receive the
same blessings that have been showered upon me.
2.
I believe that one way to gauge our commitment to Bahá'u'lláh is to
look into ourselves and see how much we are willing to challenge our
own beliefs and pre-conceived notions when they don't match the high
precepts Bahá'u'lláh is calling on us to acknowledge. I am willing to
bet that most Baha'is have an issue or two with which they have
difficulty accepting Bahá'u'lláh's position on.
3.
Sensitive souls, in part because of the criticism they have received
and in part because of the seemingly non-sensical world around them,
are particularly vulnerable not only to self-criticism but excessive
criticism of others as well. I have at times definitely been in this
category and have had to make strong efforts to rise out of the mire of
world-weariness that it can produce.
4. A
thought that occurs to me is that some of our motivations for
attempting to share the message of Bahá'u'lláh with others are not
always in our best interests. As a brand new Baha'i many years ago, I
had a fellow Baha'i tell me that I had to be aware of why I wanted
others to become Baha'is. He suggested I keep the question in my mind:
Do I want others to be Baha'i because it will make me feel better /
more secure in my own choice of the Faith as my belief system? Our
personal struggles with self-esteem affect how we frame the choice of a
religion in own minds. Is there one "right" religion for everybody or
does the diversity of belief systems serve a divine purpose we mortals
have yet to understand? I have struggled with this issue ever since
declaring my belief in Bahá'u'lláh and still believe the Baha'is need
to develop a deeper understanding of the principle of the unity of
religions. How we approach people from other belief systems and how
accepting we are of their current religious or non-religious
affiliations affect how open they will be to our special message.
5.
I don't think we Baha'is ponder enough on how threatening the Baha'i
teachings can be to the identities people have constructed for
themselves in order to deal with an insensitive and immoral world, or
have had imposed on them by others trying to exert control over them.
This is a very delicate task: helping people see their true identity as
human souls that transcends their respective gender, race, class,
religion, political viewpoint, sexual orientation, nationality, etc.
6.
We all possess gems, often hidden in the dust of self, that God has
encouraged us to make manifest before humanity. I sometimes wonder what
gems Bahá'u'lláh has entrusted my soul with. I usually assume that one
of them may be my ability to be an example to other white males in that
we can be recreated to co-exist as spiritual equals with those who we
have repressed for so long. Being an example of such a recreation of
our often hard (and wounded) hearts and confined minds can start by our
allowing Divinity in. Letting It lead us via quiet inspiration and
deeply personal communication with our spirits; accepting that we can
become capable of seeing those different from ourselves as equals if we
just let go of our unnecessary attempts to maintain total control; that
being courageously open to the "other" and the lessons of the world,
will in truth set us free. Whether I really offer such a gem, or merely
wish I could, I cannot say.
ONE OF MY FAVORITE BAHA'I PRAYERS
Create
in me a pure heart, O my God, and renew a tranquil conscience within
me, O my Hope! Through the spirit of power confirm Thou me in Thy
Cause, O my Best-Beloved, and by the light of Thy glory reveal unto me
Thy path, O Thou the Goal of my desire! Through the power of Thy
transcendent might lift me up unto the heaven of Thy holiness, O Source
of my being, and by the breezes of Thine eternity gladden me, O Thou
Who art my God! Let Thine everlasting melodies breathe tranquillity on
me, O my Companion, and let the riches of Thine ancient countenance
deliver me from all except Thee, O my Master, and let the tidings of
the revelation of Thine incorruptible Essence bring me joy, O Thou Who
art the most manifest of the manifest and the most hidden of the hidden! - Baha'u'llah, Prayers and Meditations by Baha'u'llah, p. 248
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