Philosophy and Spirituality Today, part two in series

[Reprinted from BahaiTeachings.org, written by Rod, May 26, 2015]

The supreme cause for creating the world and all that is therein is for man to know God. – Baha’u’llah, Tablets of Baha’u’llah, p. 268.

From a Biblical perspective, it all began in the Garden of Eden with Adam and Eve eating the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge–not an apple, but the knowledge of good and evil. In another word: Nature; the physicality of existence as opposed to abstract reality.

For the most part, those who believe only in the physical creation, nature, call themselves materialists:

By materialists, whose belief with regard to Divinity hath been explained, is not meant philosophers in general, but rather that group of materialists of narrow vision who worship that which is sensed, who depend upon the five senses only, and whose criterion of knowledge is limited to that which can be perceived by the senses. – Abdu’l-Baha, Tablet to Auguste Forel, p. 7.

We began this series on philosophy mainly focusing from the 16th century onward with the Deistic philosophers, followed by the atheistic ones. Their words and writings, voiced by the beliefs of their hearts and minds, reveal deep insight and intelligence. That very intelligence, the Baha’i teachings say, proves that an unseen reality exists:

In like manner the mind proveth the existence of an unseen Reality that embraceth all beings, and that existeth and revealeth itself in all stages, the essence whereof is beyond the grasp of the mind. Thus the mineral world understandeth neither the nature nor the perfections of the vegetable world; the vegetable world understandeth not the nature of the animal world, neither the animal world the nature of the reality of man that discovereth and embraceth all things. – ibid, p. 9.

The reality which created all philosophy is, according to the Baha’i Writings, the rational soul. Here again, Abdu’l-Baha explains:

The foremost degree of comprehension in the world of nature is that of the rational soul. This power and comprehension is shared in common by all men, whether they be heedless or aware, wayward or faithful. In the creation of God, the rational soul of man encompasses and is distinguished above all other created things: It is by virtue of its nobility and distinction that it encompasses them all. Through the power of the rational soul, man can discover the realities of things, comprehend their properties, and penetrate the mysteries of existence. All the sciences, branches of learning, arts, inventions, institutions, undertakings, and discoveries have resulted from the comprehension of the rational soul. – Some Answered Questions, newly revised edition, p. 217.

That brings us to the point and purpose of philosophy itself. After all, what is philosophy? Opinions? Rules to live by? Morals and human values meant to be expressed in acceptance and action?

At its core all philosophy rests on some moral value. Hence, true philosophy should be no different than true religion, no different than the core and essence of all religions–the human spirit and its good actions. Good thoughts result in right actions, as the Buddha’s philosophy asserts—but humanity, the Baha’i teachings say, has lost touch with that spirit:

Alas! that humanity is completely submerged in imitations and unrealities notwithstanding the truth of divine religion has ever remained the same. Superstitions have obscured the fundamental reality, the world is darkened and the light of religion is not apparent. This darkness is conducive to differences and dissensions; rites and dogmas are many and various; therefore discord has arisen among the religious systems whereas religion is for the unification of mankind. True religion is the source of love and agreement amongst men, the cause of the development of praiseworthy qualities; but the people are holding to the counterfeit and imitation, negligent of the reality which unifies; so they are bereft and deprived of the radiance of religion. They follow superstitions inherited from their fathers and ancestors. – Abdu’l-Baha, Foundations of World Unity, p. 71.

This statement could easily apply today in the 21st century.

Manmade systems of philosophy and governance–socialism, capitalism and communism–have tried to supplant and even replace religion. Those philosophies, the Baha’i teachings tell us, will all eventually fail based on their inadequate and unequal moral grounds, and their lack of attention to the human spirit.

Lucretia Mott

Finally, lest we think that religion and philosophy belong only to the realm of the thoughts and morals of men, it is clear that the foundations of men owe their origin to women, their mothers and lifegivers. Even Christ, who had no physical father, was “born of woman.” Women are the upholders of love and caring to the world and the first educators of every child. We may owe a greater debt in this age to women like Tahirih in mid-19th century Persia, and Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Lucretia Mott at the Seneca Falls NY Convention of 1848, for bringing to the world’s attention the critical role of women to humane values and all progress in the world.

Philosophy depends on clear thinking and right action, and religion depends on the Word of God revealed in every age by prophets and sages.

The opinions and views expressed in this article are those of the author only and do not necessarily reflect the opinion of BahaiTeachings.org or any institution of the Baha’i Faith.

Philosophy and Religion -- Comprehending the Realities

[Reprint from recent BahaiTeachings.org post]

Philosophy consists in comprehending, so far as human power permits, the realities of things as they are in themselves… The power of human understanding does not encompass the reality of the divine Essence: All that man can hope to achieve is to comprehend the attributes of the Divinity, the light of which is manifest and resplendent in the world and within the souls of men. – Abdu’l-Baha, Some Answered Questions, newly revised edition, p. 255.

Albert Camus

If you had to pick one philosophy that best fits your outlook on life, what would it be?

I would say I’m a Humanist, like Camus–but not an Absurd Humanist. Or maybe I’m an Existentialist. I’m definitely an Analytic Philosopher, the most modern flavor. I love the philosophy of the Rational Soul and Rational Mind, which combines the thinking of the Rationalists, the Empiricists and the Romanticists. I guess, if you combined them all, I’d call myself a Spiritual Philosopher. In a way, all of these schools of thought have led me to the real purpose of all philosophy–to determine, describe and detail the meaning of life.

The Baha’i teachings would call that the love of God:

O Son of Man! I loved they creation, hence I created thee. Wherefore, do thou love Me, that I may name thy name and fill thy soul with the spirit of life. – Baha’u'llah,The Hidden Words, p. 4.

Modern philosophy began with the Frenchman Rene Descartes (1596-1650), who wrote and expressed the idea that since he could think, he could question his own thinking—and that he therefore must be human, with a mind, existing in the phenomenal world of nature. As human beings in this material world, Locke said, we’re born “a blank slate.” Rather, from a Baha’i perspective, we’re each born with a purpose: “to know and to love God,” according to the Baha’i writings. Therefore I agree with Leibnitz (1646-1716), that “God created the best possible world” for us to learn about Him.

I understand David Hume’s and the other empiricist’s point (1711-1776), about material existence–that all we can know is what we experience. But that does not take into account the mind of man and his inner powers, like imagination and thought. Rousseau was right on target when he made the leap to believe in the “innate goodness of man.” Perhaps, though, we could understand the dichotomy between innate human goodness and the evil men do by realizing that all people have dual natures:

Man is intelligent, instinctively and consciously intelligent; nature is not. Man is fortified with memory; nature does not possess it. Man is the discoverer of the mysteries of nature; nature is not conscious of those mysteries herself. It is evident, therefore, that man is dual in aspect: as an animal he is subject to nature, but in his spiritual or conscious being he transcends the world of material existence. – Abdu’l-Baha, The Promulgation of Universal Peace, p. 81.

Voltaire’s ideas (1694-1778), on civil liberties and social reform helped inspire the French and American revolutions. His writings on reason superseding nature influenced the church and church doctrine, yet he remained a firm believer in the Deity. In fact, religious belief informed the thinking of all the early philosophers, because of its power to change people’s hearts.

Immanuel Kant (1724-1804), the great German philosopher who built a bridge, or tried to, between the two modern camps of rationalism and empiricism, with his idea “that all knowledge comes from the senses but is filtered through our rational minds,” altered current thinking and revolutionized the debate. Kant realized the difference between how things really are and how things are experienced by human beings. This has become self-evident, with the advent of the scientific method and the remarkable discoveries science continues to make. Religion has also provided the guidance to use reason and science for moral purposes, just as all of the great philosophers have included God-being in their treatises and philosophies.

The bottom line in my own thinking on philosophy to this point—it evolves progressively, logically and rationally, just like science, religion and existence itself.

The opinions and views expressed in this article are those of the author only and do not necessarily reflect the opinion of BahaiTeachings.org or any institution of the Baha’i Faith.

One, Thankful, Grateful Apostrophe to God (Reprint)

(By Rod, originally appeared in BahaiTeachings.org 4-10-15)

Drivin’ home from a three hour session with my banker, after tryin’ to eliminate fees from my simple business accounts, my mind was very much still in a questioning mood, looking for solutions. As usual, in my inner mental sanctum closed off from the world, except for my driving persona, I began reciting my noonday prayer.

That Baha’i prayer goes like this:

I bear witness, O my God, that Thou hast created me to know Thee and to worship Thee. I testify, at this moment, to my powerlessness and to Thy might, to my poverty and to Thy wealth. There is none other God but Thee, the Help in Peril, the Self-Subsisting. – Baha’u’llah, Baha’i Prayers, p. 3.

Here’s my inner conversation:

“I bear witness,” I mean, I would tell anyone I believe, “O my God,” my God, Rodney Richards’ God if you will, “that Thou,” meanin’ you, my God, “hast created me,” well, You’re the Creator, and I am those strands of DNA and genes and body and everything else that You started, “to know Thee,” and how do I know Thee? through Thy prophets and their words and actions, at least what I’ve seen, heard and read, “and to worship Thee.”

Ah, how do I worship Thee?

I’ve read, God, that you are in no need of your servants, but as I just said, You desire that I “worship Thee.” How can I do that?

The simplest way to worship, from my perspective, involves being a good Baha’i, or as my wife reminds me, “Be nice.”

Abdu’l-Baha, in one of His London talks, said that a man may be a Baha’i even if he has never heard the name of Baha’u'llah. – quoted by J.E. Esselmont, Baha’u'llah and the New Order, p. 71.

“I testify,” or swear again, “at this moment,” on Wednesday February 11th at (quick glance), 1:06 pm, “to my powerlessness,” meanin’, I guess that means that although I’ve got free will, I am only ever in total control of a little, and even then it’s mostly circumstances I find myself in, “and to Thy might,” and yes, just from my Bible studies I know you are the Almighty and All-Powerful, “to my poverty,” and here I think that means impoverished of Thy grace unless you give me some, for I count us very lucky as far as prosperity goes. Wish it were the same for everyone. “…and to thy wealth.” And what wealth is greater than all conceivable wealth and then some? I mean You do as You Will, and what greater wealth is there? And I know You share it, God, like in June of 2009 when I asked for a nice day so my son and his fiancée could get married outside in our back yard, and sunny it was, and even the squall passed with its dark clouds off to the west.

“There is,” again, meanin’ now and every moment right? “none other God but Thee,” which is to say, from Day One you and the Prophets and seers have always been telling us this, “the Help in Peril,” like the time You saved my good-paying job when I should’ve been fired, or saved me from bein’ run over by a movin’ bus when my motorcycle crashed in that oil slick. I didn’t even have time to ask for Your help, and you know me, I ask all the time, “the Self-Subsisting.” Yeah, I wonder why You put up with us most times, when You don’t need us, no matter how many, nor this planet, nor even this solar system!

Except that I know you love us. You love your creation, like I love Janet and the kids and especially grandbaby Sienna Rose now, and all thanks to You.

Thank you so much…

And then I drove through Dunkin Donuts with my gift card and got my medium coffee with cream and two Sweet-n-Low’s.

O Son of Spirit! My claim on thee is great, it cannot be forgotten. My grace to thee is plenteous, it cannot be veiled. My love has made in thee its home, it cannot be concealed. My light is manifest to thee, it cannot be obscured. – Baha’u’llah, The Hidden Words, pp. 8-9.

Giving Back Our Fair Share (Reprint)

(By Rod, Reprinted from BahaiTeachings.org which appeared 4-22-15)

We receive, for free, much more than we can ever give back.

In our apartment with mom and brother Stephen, the massive tin pot of tapioca pudding on the stove, once chilled, was my favorite dessert–free. The school lunches of egg salad on Wonder bread she used to make–free. The blue pants, white shirt and logoed blue tie I had to wear to wear to church each morn, the elementary school, all free. Growing up, I got everything for free, until age 15, when I sold magazines door-to-door all over Central Jersey. Then I had things I bought with “my money,” only for myself, which somehow meant much more.

An hour ago, 5:48 am at the squawk box at the new Dunkin Donuts just a mile from my house, I said, “Good morning my friend,” replying to her sweet voice asking for my order. “Oh, good morning to you… please pull up.” She knew my order by heart, and gave me such a good feeling to be known by just the sound of my voice. I pull up holding out my credit card, and Moha holds out my medium regular coffee… but doesn’t take my card. “That’s free, for you, my customer.” And of course I say “Oh no, Oh thanks so much!” and pull away saying aloud, “You’ve got to be kidding. How nice!”

This is not the first free thing she’s given me, completely unasked. Yesterday, for Sunday School when I ordered 50 munchkins for the kids, my girlfriend-clerk asked, “You? Why munchkins?” And I told her and she said, “How nice, that’ll be half price.” So I left the 5 dollars as part tip too. Once again, I couldn’t believe how nice that was.

And now I had yet another reason for liking my Egyptian-American friends at this Dunkin, and people in general.

I think of other things we get “for free,” like my Catholic grammar school, Ewing High, and even my California junior college education, all for free. In those years I never realized my parents’ property taxes, and the property taxes of thousands of other homeowners, paid for my education. I shudder now as an adult to wonder how my parents paid for that, and food, and clothing, and Christmas and birthday presents, and everything else we all needed.

Now, as I pay my own property taxes for schools, and sales taxes for social programs, state and Federal income taxes, and gasoline taxes for highways and others, I see that everything which exists for me, for my family’s ease and comfort, was mostly paid for by others, by society. I can’t help but think, at least I can do my part, too.

We hope our leaders do their part, to make our lives better and not miserable as too many are, not just in other countries, but here in America as well. Free? Earning goodwill, and peace and security where I live, and in America, and in the world, is not free. It requires some measure of wealth, enough to support a family and a home and to meaningfully contribute to the society we all live in and depend on.

The Baha’i teachings have a unique and fascinating viewpoint on acquiring and using material wealth. This passage from Baha’u’llah, for example, praises those who earn their living and then devote themselves to giving back:

…man should know his own self and recognize that which leadeth unto loftiness or lowliness, glory or abasement, wealth or poverty. Having attained the stage of fulfilment and reached his maturity, man standeth in need of wealth, and such wealth as he acquireth through crafts or professions is commendable and praiseworthy in the estimation of men of wisdom, and especially in the eyes of servants who dedicate themselves to the education of the world and to the edification of its peoples. – Tablets of Baha’u'llah, p. 34.

This wonderful practice of giving back doesn’t have to be monetary–it also takes doing our part, being kind to all others, caring a little bit or a lot, and helping where we can. When we focus on the oneness of humanity, it’s not that difficult, because we’re actually related to every other person we meet.

How Can We Escape Our Existential Hell? (Reprint)

(Here's a reprint of a post I wrote that appeared on BahaiTeachings.org c. 4-23-15)

Existential paradise and hell are to be found in all the worlds of God, whether in this world or in the heavenly realms of the spirit… Similarly, ultimate retributions and punishments consist in being deprived of the special bounties and unfailing bestowals of God and sinking to the lowest degrees of existence. – Abdu’l-Baha,Some Answered Questions, pp. 257-259.

Each of us has our own kind of hell.

I’m not talking about an actual place of fire and brimstone—Baha’is believe that old conception of hell simply provides us with a metaphor for the inner, existential torment we all suffer as a result of our actions and the actions of others.

For some people hell happens every day of every year. Luckier ones suffer through it for only periods of time–whether going through severe sickness, or seeing a loved one taken by cancer or car accident. Some hells come suddenly, and many last so long they strain all human endurance.

“Bloody Sunday” Selma, Alabama (1965)

I thought about hell a lot while watching the film Selma this morning. The sole occupant of the movie theatre, I was free to cry and moan openly and loudly at the injustice and hurts, and the sheer hatred from the perpetrators. I prayed “Amen” to God, just as that black congregation did–only my prayer was that God’s tears would fall on those perpetrators and burn them to dust. That somehow, magically, as throughout the Bible, the Hand of God would strike the oppressors down.

That’s one vision of hell, ground to dust without hope of heaven, and sometimes it seems well-deserved by some mortal’s inhumane sins committed against our fellow human beings. When human beings act worse than animals, what chance of heaven do they deserve?

Hell can also take the form of a life of discrimination, poverty, segregation and prejudice, as is too often the case here in America for all its law and order. We’ve seen that kind of hell demonstrated clearly by the murders of unarmed, some even mentally impaired, young men in the news recently, by the murderous warfare in the Middle East, and by the countless rapes of young women taking place across the world, too.

These hates and criminality arise out of dreams–dreams of sexual conquest for the pervert, dreams of wealth for the criminal, dreams of a closed society for the fanatic or terrorist, dreams of conquest and power for the tyrant. These terrible dreams, reminiscent of the Dark and Middle Ages, make it hard to tell the difference in the barbarity between then and now.

All of these living hells require every fair-minded, good-hearted person to work for positive change. No matter which town, village, city, county, state and nation you live in, you can do your part, joining the thousands and millions, even billions that dream of a world without hell.

If we don’t all take part, it will never end.

The Baha’i teachings tell us that hell on earth was never meant to last. We might think centuries of discontent, and greed, and demagoguery will always continue. But they won’t—the world will gradually improve as we adopt a more spiritual civilization, the Baha’i teachings say:

If love and agreement are manifest in a single family, that family will advance, become illumined and spiritual; but if enmity and hatred exist within it destruction and dispersion are inevitable. This is likewise true of a city. If those who dwell within it manifest a spirit of accord and fellowship it will progress steadily and human conditions become brighter whereas through enmity and strife it will be degraded and its inhabitants scattered. In the same way the people of a nation develop and advance toward civilization and enlightenment through love and accord, and are disintegrated by war and strife. Finally, this is true of humanity itself in the aggregate. When love is realized and the ideal spiritual bonds unite the hearts of men, the whole human race will be uplifted, the world will continually grow more spiritual and radiant and the happiness and tranquillity of mankind be immeasurably increased. Warfare and strife will be uprooted, disagreement and dissension pass away and universal peace unite the nations and peoples of the world. All mankind will dwell together as one family, blend as the waves of one sea, shine as stars of one firmament and appear as fruits of the same tree. This is the happiness and felicity of humankind. This is the illumination of man, the glory eternal and life everlasting; this is the divine bestowal. – Abdu’l-Baha, Foundations of World Unity, p. 18.

The Baha’i Faith assures us that the turmoil and travails we now experience are preparing us for a world of peace, safety and felicity, when the hatreds of people have been exposed, excoriated and finally eliminated.

We absolutely do not need to live in an existential hell here on this earth. We have the power in our own selves and with certitude and faith to create a world of justice and enjoyment for all.

The final hell? It happens when we don’t even try, and turn a blind eye to the pain of others. It happens when we have the power to change, and don’t use it. It happens when we miss the opportunity to do something now, at this moment in history.