From: aull@ll.mit.edu (Brian Aull)
Newsgroups: soc.religion.bahai
Subject: The Process of Social Change - Part 1 of 5
Date: 30 Jul 92 05:59:14 GMT
Organization: <none>

The Process of Social Change  

BY BRIAN AULL

[This article is one written by Brian some time ago, and reprinted by
permission from "World Order" magazine--please contact Brian for more
info on this--mmt]

When asked to describe an ideal world, most people would list 
similar characteristics.  They would imagine a world without war, 
poverty, political repression, and racial animosity.  Many might 
imagine a world whose political and economic machinery is unified.  
When asked whether and how such a world might be possible, 
however, these same people would probably not display such a 
consensus.  People are deeply divided over the question of social 
change: not so much over what changes would ultimately be ideal but 
over what changes are realistic and over the processes that might 
produce changes.

Social change is a central theme of the Baha'i Faith.  For example, 
its teachings call for the unification of the world's political 
machinery and economic systems.  Until recently such goals were 
widely regarded as radical and impractical.  However, the changes of 
the twentieth century have produced a universal awareness of the 
interdependence of the nations of the world.  The result is that the 
idea of a global civilization now finds much more widespread 
acceptance.

The more profound and less well understood aspects of the Baha'i 
teachings, however, pertain to the process of change.  The Baha'i 
teachings present definitive concepts of human nature and human 
history and emphasize the mutually reinforcing nature of social 
change and spiritual development.  The Baha'i teachings also stress 
the indispensability of religion in promoting this dual process.  
Baha'is believe that their Faith embodies the most recent direct 
revelation of the will of God to humanity and that the pattern of 
social and democratic process to which the Baha'i community 
aspires reflects a divinely inspired model of social change that is 
suited to the needs of the modern world.

Human Nature and Human History 

Among organizations that work for social change two opposing 
views of change are often encountered.  The "macrocentric" model 
holds that not much can be done to improve human nature but that 
human beings respond to the forces of political and social 
organization and economics.  In this view change is based on 
macropolitical and macroeconomic reform and restructuring.  The 
"microcentric" model, on the contrary, holds that the transformation 
of the individual, achieved at the spiritual, psychological, and 
interpersonal levels, will automatically result in the creation of a 
just and harmonious social order.  In this view achieving a spiritual 
orientation is not only necessary but sufficient.  In the United 
States the philosophical differences between these two models have 
separated political activists from those involved in the "human 
potential" movement.

The Baha'i writings support and seek to reconcile aspects of both 
views.[1 ]  On the one hand, Baha'u'llah,  the Prophet-Founder of the 
Baha'i Faith, addressed letters to the rulers of the most powerful 
countries of the nineteenth century, urging them not only to reduce 
armaments and to defend the poor and downtrodden within their own 
dominions, but also to agree jointly on a multilateral common 
security framework in which peace would be enforced by the entire 
community of nations rather than by particular powers.  Baha'u'llah 
also made one of two major responsibilities of individuals in 
general the carrying forward of an "ever-advancing civilization."[2]
Such statements are Baha'u'llah's affirmation of the importance of 
comprehensive political restructuring.  Moreover, such restructuring 
would have a direct impact on the development of the individual.  
Shoghi Effendi, the Guardian of the Baha'i Faith, states, for example, 
that, although the emergence of a world civilization and culture 
represents the full maturation of human society, the individual, "as 
a result of such a consummation, will continue indefinitely to 
progress and develop." [3]

On the other hand, the Baha'i writings repeatedly emphasize the 
development of spiritual and moral attributes in the individual (who 
is enjoined to know and to love God) as a prerequisite to social 
change.[4]  'Abdu'l-Baha, the son of Baha'u'llah and authorized 
interpreter of His teachings, states that "the morals of humanity 
must undergo change" and that the uplifting of the human race in
the aggregate depends on love and spiritual bonds uniting the hearts 
of people.[5]

Thus the Baha'i writings indicate a mutually reinforcing relationship 
between the spiritual development of the individual and the social 
processes of the family, community, nation, and planet.  A deeper 
understanding of this relationship is gained by examining the 
concepts of human nature and human history in the Baha'i writings.
Divergent assumptions about human nature have divided thinkers 
throughout the centuries.  There has been a pervasive conflict 
between the view that human beings are basically good and the view 
that, stripped of the restraints imposed by society, humans are 
basically evil.  The Baha'i Faith affirms elements of both views.  
Human beings are both spiritual and physical beings.  Their spiritual 
endowment, however, is a set of latent divine attributes that must 
be actively developed through a lifelong effort to rise above a 
preoccupation with material existence and to develop spiritual 
qualities and a moral character.  The core of the process is the 
development of a bond of love between the individual and his or her 
Creator.  Speaking of the human soul, Baha'u'llah writes:

"Know, verily, that the soul is a sign of God, a heavenly gem whose 
reality the most learned of men hath failed to grasp, and whose 
mystery no mind, however acute, can ever hope to unravel.  It is the 
first among all created things to declare the excellence of its 
Creator, the first to recognize His glory, to cleave to His truth, and 
to bow down in adoration before Him.  If it be faithful to God, it will 
reflect His light, and will, eventually, return unto Him.  If it fail, 
however, in its allegiance to its Creator, it will become a victim to 
self and passion, and will, in the end, sink in their depths. "[6]

The purpose of education, defined in the broadest terms, is to foster 
the process of spiritual development.  Again, Baha'u'llah writes:

"Man is the supreme Talisman.  Lack of a proper education hath, 
however, deprived him of that which he doth inherently possess.  
Through a word proceeding out of the mouth of God he was called 
into being; by one word more he was guided to recognize the Source 
of his education; by yet another word his station and destiny were 
safeguarded.  The Great Being saith: Regard man as a mine rich in 
gems of inestimable value.  Education can, alone, cause it to reveal 
its treasures, and enable mankind to benefit therefrom."[7]

Though human beings are noble, it is not a nobility that manifests 
itself spontaneously.  If the process of spiritual education is 
neglected, and individuals become hedonistic, they become, 
according to the Baha'i writings, more savage than any beast in the 
animal kingdom.  Therefore, human beings, as individuals, have the 
capacity to be agents of either constructive or destructive social 
change.

Parallel to the Baha'i Faith's developmental view of the individual is 
its developmental view of human society.  The human race as a 
collective social unit also develops in response to an educative 
process.  It undergoes stages of maturity analogous to the stages of 
infancy, childhood, and adolescence in the life of an individual.  
Shoghi Effendi states that human social evolution "has had its 
earliest beginnings in the birth of family life, its subsequent 
development in the achievement of tribal solidarity, leading in turn 
to the constitution of the city-state, and expanding later into the 
institution of independent and sovereign nations."[8]  A global 
civilization is now beginning to emerge-a civilization that 
represents the coming of age of human society, analogous to 
adulthood in the development of the individual.  Like the previous 
social transitions in history, however, this transition is not smooth 
or easy.  In fact, it involves "a severe ordeal, unparalleled in its 
intensity."[9]  The social upheaval of our century is understood by 
Baha'is as the growing pains of an emerging global civilization.
--
Brian Aull						aull@ll.mit.edu