Non violence

At the recently held interfaith panel discussion on Religion and Non-violence, hosted by the Hindu Students Council, the Baha'i speaker made what I thought was a pretty remarkable point about the source of the concept of non-violence in the Baha'i faith.

Most religious philosophies typically make a distinction between good and evil. This is particularly true of Judeo-Christian traditions, but to some extent also exists in other schools of thought. Essentially there exists a dualistic concept of good and evil - an independent existence is accorded to each (often personified by God and Satan, or angels and demons, or devtas and asuras), and there is the idea of an eternal battle between good and evil. It is really the existence of an independent concept of evil that causes many people to ultimately resort to violence in certain situations - for if you truly believed that certain things in this world are evil, then it would make sense to adopt violence to combat them, once other options are exhausted. And of course, once one in principle says that certain things in this world could be evil, where the line is drawn becomes a subjective judgment. For I could justify my actions on the basis that I believed some thing or some person to be evil. And the combination of my judgment, and the idea that it is acceptable to use violence to combat what is evil would sanction an attitude of violence.

However, the Baha'i faith clearly talks about the non-existence of evil. There is no dual nature to Good and Bad - all of creation is essentially Good. More details on this can be found in a previous post here, but to summarize, Abdu'l Baha talks about how the perception of evil/bad comes about either from the absence of goodness, or from the incompatibility between two good things.

Once one adopts this perspective, believing that there is really no evil in this world, that all that is created is truly good, one loses a firm basis for violence. If one believed there were nothing in the world truly evil, that everyone had some good in them, one would not have to be violent.

Note that by violence I mean an attitude of violence - not necessarily a violent action. At no point should one ignore the value of justice - and therefore it might be necessary to have a police force, take action against criminals, etc. But these are to be purely social actions - and from the point of the view of the individual, the right thing to do is to always be forgiving and merciful - in one's heart. Holding on to the belief that everyone's soul has its own spiritual equation with God, and that we are all somewhere along the path of progress towards God, will enable one to achieve that state.

Religion and unity

"...if religious belief proves to be the cause of discord and dissension, its absence would be preferable; for religion was intended to be the divine remedy and panacea for the ailments of humanity, the healing balm for the wounds of mankind. If its misapprehension and defilement have brought about warfare and bloodshed instead of remedy and cure, the world would be better under irreligious conditions."

-- Abdu'l Baha at Stanford University, October 8th, 1912

The purpose of creation

"The purpose of God in creating man hath been, and will ever be, to enable him to know his Creator and to attain His Presence. To this most excellent aim, this supreme objective, all the heavenly Books and the divinely-revealed and weighty Scriptures unequivocally bear witness."

-- Baha'u'llah

Leisure

What is this life if, full of care,
We have no time to stand and stare.

No time to stand beneath the boughs
And stare as long as sheep or cows.

No time to see, when woods we pass,
Where squirrels hide their nuts in grass.

No time to see, in broad daylight,
Streams full of stars, like skies at night.

No time to turn at Beauty's glance,
And watch her feet, how they can dance.

No time to wait till her mouth can
Enrich that smile her eyes began.

A poor life this if, full of care,
We have no time to stand and stare.

-- William Henry Davies

The trials of man

The trials of man are of two kinds.

(a) The consequences of his own actions. If a man eats too much, he ruins his digestion; if he takes poison he becomes ill or dies. If a person gambles he will lose his money; if he drinks too much he will lose his equilibrium. All these sufferings are caused by the man himself, it is quite clear therefore that certain sorrows are the result of our own deeds.

(b) Other sufferings there are, which come upon the Faithful of God. Consider the great sorrows endured by Christ and by His apostles!

Men who suffer not, attain no perfection. The plant most pruned by the gardeners is that one which, when the summer comes, will have the most beautiful blossoms and the most abundant fruit. The labourer cuts up the earth with his plough, and from that earth comes the rich and plentiful harvest. The more a man is chastened, the greater is the harvest of spiritual virtues shown forth by him. A soldier is no good General until he has been on the front of the fiercest battle and has received the deepest wounds.

-- Abdu'l Baha

Seize thy chance

O MY SERVANT!

Free thyself from the fetters of this world, and loose thy soul from the prison of self. Seize thy chance, for it will come to thee no more.

-- Baha'u'llah