– accompanied by a letter written on behalf of the Universal House of Justice dated 3 January 1979
The Bahá'í Studies Seminar on Ethics and Methodology Held in Cambridge on 30 September and 1 October 1978
The Bahá'í Studies Seminar on Ethics and Methodology Held in Cambridge on 30 September and 1 October 1978
This seminar seems to have provided a very valuable forum
for the discussion of a number of aspects of Bahá'í scholarship, and the airing
of certain problems which have been worrying some of the friends in
relationship to their work and to their fellow believers. We believe that many
of the problems arise from an attempt by some Bahá'í scholars to make use of
methodologies devised by non-Bahá'ís without thinking through the implications
of such a course and without working out a methodology which would be in
consonance with the spirit of the Faith. The seminar itself may well prove to
be an initial step in such a working out. The following remarks are intended
merely to draw attention to certain aspects which we believe can help to
advance this process.
It has become customary in the West to think of science and
religion as occupying two distinct -- and even opposed -- areas of human
thought and activity. This dichotomy can be characterized in the pairs of antitheses:
faith and reason; value and fact. It is a dichotomy which is foreign to Bahá'í
thought and should, we feel, be regarded with suspicion by Bahá'í scholars in
every field. The principle of the harmony of science and religion means not
only that religious teachings should be studied with the light of reason and
evidence as well as of faith and inspiration, but also that everything in this
creation, all aspects of human life and knowledge, should be studied in the
light of revelation as well as in that of purely rational investigation. In
other words, a Bahá'í scholar, when studying a subject, should not lock out of
his mind any aspect of truth that is known to him.
It has, for example, become commonplace to regard religion
as the product of human striving after truth, as the outcome of certain
climates of thought and conditions of society. This has been taken, by many
non-Bahá'í thinkers, to the extreme of denying altogether the reality or even
the possibility of a specific revelation of the Will of God to mankind through
a human mouthpiece. A Bahá'í who has studied the Teachings of Bahá'u'lláh, who
has accepted His claim to be the Manifestation of God for this Age, and who has
seen His Teachings at work in his daily life, knows as the result of rational
investigation, confirmed by actual experience, that true religion, far from
being the product solely of human striving after truth, is the fruit of the
creative Word of God which, with divine power, transforms human thought and
action.
A Bahá'í, through this faith in, this "conscious
knowledge" of, the reality of divine Revelation, can distinguish, for
instance, between Christianity, which is the divine message given by Jesus of
Nazareth, and the development of Christendom, which is the history of what men
did with that message in subsequent centuries, a distinction which has become
blurred if not entirely obscured in current Christian theology. A Bahá'í
scholar conscious of this distinction will not make the mistake of regarding
the sayings and beliefs of certain Bahá'ís at any one time as being the Bahá'í
Faith. The Bahá'í Faith is the Revelation of Bahá'u'lláh: His Own Words as
interpreted by 'Abdu'l-Bahá and the Guardian. It is a revelation of such
staggering magnitude that no Bahá'í at this early stage in Bahá'í history can
rightly claim to have more than a partial and imperfect understanding of it.
Thus, Bahá'í historians would see the overcoming of early misconceptions held
by the Bahá'í community, or by parts of the Bahá'í community, not as "developments
of the Bahá'í Faith" -- as a non-Bahá'í historian might well regard them
-- but as growth of that community's understanding of the Bahá'í Revelation.
It has been suggested that the words of Bahá'u'lláh that a
true seeker should "so cleanse his heart that no remnant of either love or
hate may linger therein, lest that love blindly incline him to error, or that
hate repel him away from the truth," support the viewpoint of
methodological agnosticism. But we believe that on deeper reflection it will be
recognized that love and hate are emotional attachments or repulsions that can
irrationally influence the seeker; they are not aspects of the truth itself.
Moreover, the whole passage concerns taking "the step of search in the
path leading to the knowledge of the Ancient of Days" and is summarized by
Bahá'u'lláh in the words: "Our purpose in revealing these convincing and
weighty utterances is to impress upon the seeker that he should regard all else
beside God as transient, and count all things save Him, Who is the Object of
all adoration, as utter nothingness." It is in this context that He says,
near the beginning of the passage, that the seeker must, "before all else,
cleanse and purify his heart ... from the obscuring dust of all acquired knowledge,
and the allusions of the embodiments of satanic fancy." It is similar, we
think, to Bahá'u'lláh's injunction to look upon the Manifestation with His Own
eyes. In scientific investigation when searching after the facts of any matter
a Bahá'í must, of course, be entirely open-minded, but in his interpretation of
the facts and his evaluation of evidence we do not see by what logic he can
ignore the truth of the Bahá'í Revelation which he has already accepted; to do
so would, we feel, be both hypocritical and unscholarly.
Undoubtedly the fact that Bahá'í scholars of the history and
teachings of the Faith believe in the Faith that they are studying will be a
grave flaw in the eyes of many non-Bahá'í academics, whose own dogmatic
materialism passes without comment because it is fashionable; but this
difficulty is one that Bahá'í scholars share with their fellow believers in
many fields of human endeavour.
If Bahá'í scholars will try to avoid this snare of allowing
a divorce between their faith and their reason, we are sure that they will also
avoid many of the occasions for tension arising between themselves and their
fellow believers.
The sundering of science and religion is but one example of
the tendency of the human mind (which is necessarily limited in its capacity)
to concentrate on one virtue, one aspect of truth, one goal, to the exclusion
of others. This leads, in extreme cases, to fanaticism and the utter distortion
of truth, and in all cases to some degree of imbalance and inaccuracy. A
scholar who is imbued with an understanding of the broad teachings of the Faith
will always remember that being a scholar does not exempt him from the primal
duties and purposes for which all human beings are created. All men, not
scholars alone, are exhorted to seek out and uphold the truth, no matter how
uncomfortable it may be. But they are also exhorted to be wise in their
utterance, to be tolerant of the views of others, to be courteous in their
behaviour and speech, not to sow the seeds of doubt in faithful hearts, to look
at the good rather than at the bad, to avoid conflict and contention, to be
reverent, to be faithful to the Covenant of God, to promote His Faith and
safeguard its honour, and to educate their fellowmen, giving milk to babes and
meat to those who are stronger.
Scholarship has a high station in the Bahá'í teachings, and
Bahá'í scholars have a great responsibility. We believe that they would do well
to concentrate upon the ascertainment of truth -- of a fuller understanding of
the subject of their scholarship, whatever its field -- not upon exposing and
attacking the errors of others, whether they be of non-Bahá'í or of their
fellow believers. Inevitably the demonstration of truth exposes the falsity of
error, but the emphasis and motive are important. We refer to these words of
Bahá'u'lláh:
Consort with all men, O people of Baha, in a spirit of
friendliness and fellowship. If ye be aware of a certain truth, if ye possess a
jewel, of which others are deprived, share it with them in a language of utmost
kindliness and goodwill. If it be accepted, if it fulfil its purpose, your
object is attained. If any one should refuse it, leave him unto himself, and
beseech God to guide him. Beware lest ye deal unkindly with him. A kindly
tongue is the lodestone of the hearts of men. It is the bread of the spirit, it
clotheth the words with meaning, it is the fountain of the light of wisdom and
understanding. ... (Gleanings from the Writings of Bahá'u'lláh CXXXII) and
again.
Should any one among you be incapable of grasping a certain
truth, or be striving to comprehend it, show forth, when conversing with him, a
spirit of extreme kindliness and goodwill. Help him to see and recognize the
truth, without esteeming yourself to be, in the least, superior to him, or to
be possessed of greater endowments. (Gleanings from the Writings of Bahá'u'lláh
V)
(Messages from the Universal House of Justice, 1963-1986)
