Sacrifice

This was a month of sacrifice.

Of letting go and moving on
Of fighting the lower nature
Of effort
Of giving up the lower for the higher
Of investing time in friends
Of supporting other when they needed it most
Of giving up inhibitions
Of striving for unity
Of letting go of my ego
Of trying to see things from others' perspectives
Of lowering expectations
Of being mindful
Of bringing joy to others
Of doing that which makes them happy
Of teaching and sharing
Of consciously being more open in communication
Of giving and not expecting in return
Of sharing and not wanting
Of loving but not attaching
Of patience and not greed
Of surrendering to God and asking for guidance
Of striving to put spiritual growth above all else

This was a month of sacrifice.

Picking and choosing

In recent discussions with W, he brought out the no-doubt common paradigm of picking and choosing that which he thought was right from different religious schools of thought. I myself have been a proponent of this way of forming a consistent philosophy to live life by in the past. The basic idea is this - with so much junk in the teachings of each religion today, and with much that seems not to make sense, a lot of us resort to picking and choosing what we find most appealing in each set of teachings, that which makes sense to us - and putting together this jumble of pieces, come up with our own private worldview.

I've probably already given away my opinion on this method of living life in the preceding paragraph, but lets go deeper into it - why would something like this not really work? As I said, at some point I used to believe in exactly the same thing. Lets look at some of the reasons why I've changed my mind about this one.

1. The process makes the implicit assumption that it is possible to come to an understanding about truth entirely through one's own faculties, which I don't think is true as we're all imperfect. I believe that some level of revelation is fundamentally necessary to advance our understanding of the world. We can all of course form our own philosophies - but seems highly unlikely that as we keep subjectively picking and choosing, we'll all come to an understanding of truth. Abdu'l Baha says:

"God has sent forth the Prophets for the purpose of quickening the soul of man into higher and divine recognitions. He has revealed the heavenly Books for this great purpose. For this the breaths of the Holy Spirit have been wafted through the gardens of human hearts, the doors of the divine Kingdom opened to mankind and the invisible inspirations sent forth from on high. This divine and ideal power has been bestowed upon man in order that he may purify himself from the imperfections of nature and uplift his soul to the realm of might and power. God has purposed that the darkness of the world of nature shall be dispelled and the imperfect attributes of the natal self be effaced in the effulgent reflection of the Sun of Truth. "

and

"If the world of nature were perfect and complete in itself, there would be no need of such training and cultivation in the human world—no need of teachers, schools and universities, arts and crafts. The revelations of the Prophets of God would not have been necessary, and the heavenly Books would have been superfluous. If the world of nature were perfect and sufficient for mankind, we would have no need of God and our belief in Him. Therefore, the bestowal of all these great helps and accessories to the attainment of divine life is because the world of nature is incomplete and imperfect. "

I think it is fairly obvious when we look around us, and see our lives, that we are riddled with imperfections - and so to assume that relying purely on our own strengths will help us get to the truth seems a little unreasonable to me.

2. Ok, maybe picking and choosing won't get us to absolute truth, as we are imperfect. But many might argue that it is still the best we can do in today's circumstances, for there is no one set of teachings that gives us all the right answers anyway. This argument therefore assumes that nobody so far, in all of history, has known truth or understood reality - and everyone so far has only had an imperfect understanding of it. And so the best we can do is pick and choose amongst all those imperfect understandings.

Now this is an argument that people often make without any substantiation. I think its entirely possible to think of a world in which this argument would be true. But we clearly have a situation where several people, through history, have claimed to have some kind of divine connection with truth, with the natural order of things. So as someone seeking to find the truth, our responsibility is to determine whether these claims could possibly have been true. And this I need to do by studying the lives of these people, their teachings, their actions, the effects of their teachings on the people around them, on people through history, the effects of their principles on me and my life when I apply them to my actions - and after doing all this, if I come to the conclusion that no, these people were not who they claimed to be, that they were very wise and intelligent, but nevertheless didn't totally understand things - then, and then alone, can one claim that the best one can do in this world is pick and choose. My own belief, based on the little I've read and understood, is that these people were who they claimed to be - and so I think we can do better than just picking and choosing.

3. Related to the above two - to understand anything, one needs to be able to be greater than it. Comprehension involves encompassing. And so animals can understand plants in a way in which plants cannot ever hope to understand animals. Humans can understand animals and nature in a way in which they cannot comprehend him. It is like humans stand above nature, on a mountain, and look down at it, thereby understanding it in its entirety. This is borne out by how in the physical sciences, we can usually make very categorical statements about the nature of the physical world - for we subsume it.

On the contrary, when it comes to the human sciences, sociology, and understanding human society, one seldom sees things that can be understood entirely, that are cut-and-dried. And this is basically because we are all immersed in that which we seek to understand. Its like this sea of humanity, and each person in that sea is trying to understand the complete picture. And some people are taller, and can see a little further than others - but no one is high enough to see the entire picture. The manifestation, on the other hand, is claimed to exist on a higher plane - and so can comprehend the nature of the spiritual world much in the same way that we stand above material reality and can comprehend it.

Abdu'l Baha says:

"The power of the understanding differs in degree in the various kingdoms of creation. The mineral, vegetable, and animal realms are each incapable of understanding any creation beyond their own. The mineral cannot imagine the growing power of the plant. The tree cannot understand the power of movement in the animal, neither can it comprehend what it would mean to possess sight, hearing or the sense of smell. These all belong to the physical creation.
Man also shares in this creation; but it is not possible for either of the lower kingdoms to understand that which takes place in the mind of man... All superior kingdoms are incomprehensible to the inferior; how therefore could it be possible that the creature, man, should understand the almighty Creator of all?"

4. The fourth thing to consider is a hypothetical question - assuming there is an underlying spiritual reality to this world, that there is some eternal spiritual existence, and that there are some truths about the world we don't naturally understand - assuming that is the case, is it likely that "God" would have left us to just fend for ourselves, without guidance, without support? Maybe - but that would just be too unfair a world. And somehow I think we'd be given a better chance. Of course, this might just be my own sentimental judgment - but its definitely a question to ask oneself.

5. This reason relates to our personal growth. When picking and choosing, it is more than likely that we'll end up picking things that appeal to us, and discarding those that don't. The truth, and reality, however, are greater than anything you or I like or believe - if something is true, however hard it is for me to accept, it still remains true. The process of picking and choosing does not in any way challenge us to realize our own limitations, veils, and barriers. And so if there were some aspects of truth that went contrary to our own instinctual leanings, we would never grasp it, for we would always discard it in our vetting process, as not appealing to our reason or understanding.

6. Last, if we all pick and choose, how would we ever come to a common understanding of truth? Each of us has different predilections - and so we'd all pick that which made sense to us. How then do we ever dialogue, interact with each other, find a common platform to live on the basis of?

Of course, it is important to note that all the above specifically refers to the act of picking and choosing principles one likes - not the broader notion of subjecting any school of thought to rigorous scientific examination. But one always needs to accept that one's own faculties of reason are imperfect and limited - and so relying just on them would be unwise.

Prayer through action

"...speech is not needed. Our actions will help on the world, will spread civilization, will help the progress of science, and cause the arts to develop. Without action nothing in the material world can be accomplished, neither can words unaided advance a man in the spiritual Kingdom. It is not through lip-service only that the elect of God have attained to holiness, but by patient lives of active service they have brought light into the world. Therefore strive that your actions day by day may be beautiful prayers."

-- Abdu'l Baha

Some gems...

...to ponder about.

"...man can never hope to attain unto the knowledge of the All-Glorious, can never quaff from the stream of divine knowledge and wisdom, can never enter the abode of immortality, nor partake of the cup of divine nearness and favour, unless and until he ceases to regard the words and deeds of mortal men as a standard for the true understanding and recognition of God and His Prophets."

-- Baha'u'llah, Kitab-i-Iqan


"The All-Knowing Physician hath His finger on the pulse of mankind. He perceiveth the disease, and prescribeth, in His unerring wisdom, the remedy. Every age hath its own problem, and every soul its particular aspiration. The remedy the world needeth in its present-day afflictions can never be the same as that which a subsequent age may require. Be anxiously concerned with the needs of the age ye live in, and centre your deliberations on its exigencies and requirements."

-- Baha'u'llah, Gleanings

"But, O my brother, when a true seeker determineth to take the step of search in the path leading to the knowledge of the Ancient of Days, he must, before all else, cleanse and purify his heart, which is the seat of the revelation of the inner mysteries of God, from the obscuring dust of all acquired knowledge, and the allusions of the embodiments of satanic fancy. He must purge his breast, which is the sanctuary of the abiding love of the Beloved, of every defilement, and sanctify his soul from all that pertaineth to water and clay, from all shadowy and ephemeral attachments.

He must 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. Even as thou dost witness in this day how most of the people, because of such love and hate, are bereft of the immortal Face, have strayed far from the Embodiments of the divine mysteries, and, shepherdless, are roaming through the wilderness of oblivion and error.

That seeker must at all times put his trust in God, must renounce the peoples of the earth, detach himself from the world of dust, and cleave unto Him Who is the Lord of Lords. He must never seek to exalt himself above any one, must wash away from the tablet of his heart every trace of pride and vainglory, must cling unto patience and resignation, observe silence, and refrain from idle talk."

-- Baha'u'llah, Kitab-i-Iqan

"...be thou so steadfast in My love that thy heart shall not waver, even if the swords of the enemies rain blows upon thee and all the heavens and the earth arise against thee."

-- Baha'u'llah, The Tablet of Ahmad