From: aull@ll.mit.edu (Brian Aull)
Newsgroups: soc.religion.bahai
Subject: Science and Religion article - Part 4
Date: 10 Sep 92 17:25:54 GMT
Organization: Sun Microsystems of Canada, Inc.


However, 'Abdu'l-Baha's words also imply that such a fair-minded scrutiny
must lead to this confidence.  In other words, the value system presented in the
Baha'i writings (including its claims and spiritual teachings) has objective
validity.  Then why is it possible for "seekers" to investigate the Baha'i Faith
and reject it?

To address this question, consider once again the nature of scientific 
investigation.
Surveys (McCloskey, "Intuitive Physics") revealed that  many
nonscientists, including students who have taken college physics, have 
erroneous intuitive ideas about the motion of objects.  When asked to draw the
trajectory of a ball that has rolled off the edge of a cliff, for example, they 
give
answers that are qualitatively wrong.  Thus, although most people have been
observing such physical motions all their lives, very few possess the 
intellectual
skills and disciplines to model them correctly.  The high degree of agreement
among scientists about the observed patterns and about how they should be
interpreted to judge among competing models, is a result of common skills and
training.

Baha'u'llah specifies an analogous set of spiritual skills and disciplines that
are needed to bring objectivity to the search for a value system.  He admonishes
the seeker to "cleanse his heart ...  from the obscuring dust of all acquired 
knowledge," and to let go of all "shadowy and ephemeral attachments."   He 
advises
the seeker to "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."   He further states that the true seeker "must wash away from
the tablet of his heart every trace of pride and vainglory" (qtd.  in Baha'i
World Faith 105).

Perhaps Baha'u'llah   is suggesting that even among "seekers," very few 
marshall enough openness and humility to let go of the vested interests they 
have
in their current beliefs and biases.  At some point in the search for truth, 
consciously 
or unconsciously, self-centered ulterior motives interfere with the evaluation.  
Some seekers reject the Baha'i Faith because they are unwilling to make
the apparent sacrifices that Baha'u'llah calls for, or because the ego resists 
the
idea of obedience.  When the spiritual skills referred to by Baha'u'llah are 
exercised, it can be painful because the seeker may have to sacrifice his or her 
dearest
illusions.

The Baha'i writings refer to an innate human capacity for recognizing and
appreciating the divine qualities reflected in other people, especially in the 
great
spiritual luminaries of history who are God's chosen spokesmen.  This capacity
of recognition is referred to as the "heart," a term usually used to connote
subjective emotionalism rather than a faculty that perceives objective 
realities.
In the Tablet of Ahmad, Baha'u'llah comments on the difference between the
true "heart" of man and that which obscures its vision.

For the people are wandering in the paths of delusion, bereft of discernment
to see God with their own eyes, or hear His Melody with their own ears.
Thus have We found them, as thou also dost witness.
Thus have their superstitions become veils between them and their own
hearts and kept them from the path of God, the Exalted, the Great.  (Baha'i
Prayers 211-12)

That is, the "heart," a faculty of objective spiritual discernment, is prevented
from functioning by the same barrier that interferes with science: superstition.
In the Persia of Baha'u'llah's time this superstition took the form of an 
irrational
attachment to the forms, traditions, and power structures of Islam.  The 
implication, 
however, extends to whatever "household idols" all of us carry within
ourselves.

In short, the Baha'i Faith teaches that God is revealed to humanity through
a historical process and that the spiritual truths and value systems conveyed to
humanity through this process are testable.  Their validation, however, requires
the use of spiritual capacities rather than just physical and intellectual ones.
This does not mean that the personal quest for a better value system ends
when one recognizes this historical process and becomes a Baha'i as a result.
Indeed, it has begun anew, because one's understanding continues to deepen
through reflective study of the Baha'i writings and the practical application of
Baha'i teachings in daily life.

This application of a value system is the religious analogue of technology.
This is where a particular form of resistance to the modification of value 
systems
is necessary and appropriate.  Once the Baha'i value system is validated, its
application to daily living requires commitment and sacrifice, and this can only
be motivated by a strong confidence in the value system.  Baha'u'llah admonishes 
Ahmad to "be not of those who doubt" (Prayers 211-12).  This does not
mean "never question your faith; be rigid, irrational, and fanatical."  
Questioning 
is a part of the growth of one's understanding and makes faith a dynamic
process.  However, rational skepticism should not be so dominant that it 
prevents
one from living a purposeful life based on one's current understanding.  Rather,
the individual must be able to act with courage and selflessness based on moral
convictions.  Faith, therefore, is not an absolute certainty, but it is a 
relative
certainty.

There is also an analogous value in science.  The development of technology
requires time, effort, and expenditure.  Without a strong feeling of confidence
(i.e., faith) in the current models of nature, human beings would not risk so
much time and money building machines, devices, and entire industries based
on these models.  If the inventors of the transistor had allowed themselves to 
be
paralyzed by continual skepticism about the permanence and universality of
physical laws that make the transistor work, the invention and all its benefits
would not have been realized.

What philosophers such as Bertrand Russell abhor is not faith per se, but
fanaticism.  Fanaticism frequently occurs in a religion when the spirit of its
original teachings fades into the past, but the laws and ossified cultural 
traditions 
remain.  Many modem thinkers express disillusionment with religion
because of the social atrocities performed in its name.  Often, however, they
erroneously conclude that faith itself is the culprit.  They also fail to 
distinguish
between the spark of revelation that gives birth to a religion and the 
subsequent
response of human beings.  They dismiss the phenomenon of religion as a 
ritualistic implementation of man-made social laws and customs.

The Baha'i teachings condemn fanaticism, whether religious, political, or
nationalistic.  'Abdu'l-Baha states that when religion causes discord, 
hostility,
and conflict, its absence in the world is preferable (qtd. in Baha'i World Faith
247).  Baha'u'llah exhorts Baha'is to consort with the followers of all 
religions
in a spirit of fellowship and love (Tablets 22).

However, the rigid rationalism that Russell and others have embraced has
serious weaknesses.  It does not eliminate faith, rather, it simply chooses a 
particular kind:  faith in our own ability to predict the social effectiveness 
of a given
ethic by means of a "reasoning" process.  In this case, since the ultimate 
source
of guidance is ourselves, this philosophy allows a subtle arrogance to creep
into our perspective, and this does not engender objectivity.  Many rationalists
display a dogmatic bigotry against the idea of a "faith bias," while 
unconsciously
exempting their own faith bias because it is a fashionable one.  Ironically, 
they pride themselves on having embraced a "rational" or "scientific"
ethic.  Humility is the only true basis of either openness or tolerance.  
Baha'u'llah
makes the striking assertion that a "confession of helplessness which mature
contemplation must eventually impel every mind to make is in itself the acme
of human understanding, and marketh the culmination of man's development."
(Gleanings 165-66)

The rationalistic philosophy exalts "reasoning" as the ultimate tool in the
quest for understanding.  Reasoning, however, is a process that operates on
assumptions but cannot provide them.  Therefore, reason, in and of itself, 
cannot
provide a value system, let alone one with universally recognized validity.  
This
engenders conflict between those who have"reasoned"to incompatible conclusions.  
Even Russell advocates the value of knowledge and love as the basis
of a good life; these are his ethical assumptions.  In particular, rationalism 
provides 
no motivation to make sacrifices for one's values, because there is no
focus of purpose that transcends the selfish vested interests that divide 
humanity. 
Rationalism provides no accountability for one's conduct during this life,
and therefore its proponents will find "reasoning" to justify whatever they wish
to do.

The Baha'i Faith offers an eminently sensible compromise between the
extremes of rigid fundamentalism and smug rationalism.  Humans are not
omniscient, but neither are they totally incompetent.  Instead of regarding 
reason
and faith as mutually exclusive, the Baha'i teachings suggest that humanity
progresses through a robust interplay between the two.  God reveals Himself
through the medium of human language and within a dynamic cultural and
historical context.  People respond to this revelation and grapple to achieve a
clearer understanding of it in the light of new experiences.  In this way, the
divine guidance of one age becomes the obvious social moral standard of the
next.  The Guardian states that by obeying the laws of Baha'u'llah, Baha'is
"demonstrate their usefulness and efficacy" (The World Order 199).  This is
an elegant and cohesive explanation of religious history:  God and humanity
partake in a Teacher-student relationship in which the student plays an active
and dynamic role, providing tests of God's teachings in the laboratory of 
history.