Individual and social transformation

Living a Baha'i life involves the twofold purpose of individual and social transformation. However most institutions in society today focus on one or the other more. Religions of the past have largely tended to focus on individual change - purifying the self, becoming a better person, establishing a personal connection with God etc - believing that this will lead to widespread change in society. Most non-religious social institutions on the other hand focus on social transformation - governments enact laws governing all of society, policies are made that change the nature of the economy etc - there isn't much effort made to transform the individual (save in the field of education). It is assumed that people are who they are, and then institutions are devised so as to cater to people as they are.

However there is a very dynamic interplay between the individual and society, and it is essential to work at transforming both simultaneously. This was brought home to be especially strongly as I read the following excerpt from a letter written on behalf of Shoghi Effendi:

"We cannot segregate the human heart from the environment outside us, and say that once one of these is reformed everything will be improved. Man is organic with the world. His inner life molds the environment and is itself also deeply affected by it. The one acts upon the other and every abiding change in the life of man is the result of these mutual reactions."

So what, dear reader, are ways in which this simultaneous transformation can happen?

Hermeneutical principles

Paul Lample's "Revelation and Social Reality" provides, amongst other things, an excellent summary of some of the hermeneutical principles (principles that deal with the interpretation of scriptural writings) presented in the Baha'i writings. I offer a short listing of these principles, along with some extracts from the book that explain these for the reader to ponder and apply as he/she engages in his/her own personal study of the many religious writings we have available to us.

1. The Book has intended meaning - "We cannot simply read into the Text any meaning we wish or use quotations out of context to justify personal opinions. Our views may be right and they may be wrong, or they may reflect a partial understanding, depending on the measure of their correspondence to Baha'u'llah's (or any of the other Manifestations') intention." Some philosophers have argued that a book has no intended meaning, and even the author often cannot know what the meaning of a book is - it is left to the reader to interpret. The Baha'i stance on this states that at least the writings of the Prophets and their authorized interpreters do not fit into this category.
2. Judgments about meaning should be made from the perspective of the Revelation - "We should not weight the Book of God with human standards and sciences, since 'the Book itself is the unerring balance established amongst men'".
   
3. There is no contradiction between authoritative passages - "It may appear that certain statements in the Book contradict one another. But a difference in context or emphasis or the exploration of a single reality from different perspectives should not be misconstrued as contradiction... If a personal interpretation of a passage contradicts the Text or its authoritative interpretation, that individual interpretation is erroneous." This provides us with one way of testing our individual interpretations of these writings.
4. Meaning is sometimes explicit and sometimes veiled - "At times we are dealing with explicit meanings and an esoteric interpretation would be inappropriate and incorrect... At other times a verse has deeper meanings, and trying to hold to the outward understanding can lead to rigidity or confusion." Some things are to be taken literally, some metaphorically. And figuring out which to use in any situation that is unclear is done on the basis of some of the other hermeneutical principles listed here.
5. The meaning of the Book cannot be exhausted - "This opens the Text to a range of individual interpretations, including instances in which an authoritative interpretation has been made. For example, after presenting an interpretation of the meaning of the story of Adam and Eve, Abdu'l Baha explains - 'This is one of the meanings of the biblical story of Adam. Reflect unti you discover the others.' However this concept does not imply relativism - personal interpretations are not all equally valid, and some are erroneous. Rather, meaning continually emerges through study and application throughout one's lifetime and over the entire course of the dispensation in a changing historical context."
6. Truth unfolds progressively within the dispensation - "The meaning of the Revelation is intentionally disclosed in a gradual manner over time. 'Consider the sun,' Baha'u'llah explains, 'How gradually its warmth and potency increase as it approaches its zenith...' He also states - 'Not everything that a man knoweth can be disclosed, nor can everything that he can disclose be regarded as timely, nor can every timely utterance be considered suited to the capacity of those who hear it.'" This dynamic revelation of truth is essential, as it enables people to make the transition from their established ways of thinking to a new way of viewing the world and their lives/actions.
   
7. Understanding is influenced by the stages of the Faith's organic development - This is more specifically written wrt the Baha'i Faith's development in the last 150 or so years, but can also be applied to other religions by looking at their history. "The Baha'i community evolves organically over time and certain passages may pertain to specific stages in this developmental process." The Universal House of Justice explains this through a simile - "If a farmer plants a tree, he cannot state at that moment what its exact height will be, the number of its branches or the exact time of its blossoming. He can, however, give a general impression of its size and pattern of growth and can state with confidence which fruit it will bear. The same is true of the evolution of the World Order of Baha'u'llah." In past dispensations errors arose because the believers "were overanxious to encompass the Divine Message within the framework of their limited understanding, to define doctrines where definition was beyond their power, to explain mysteries which only the wisdom and experience of a later age would make comprehensible, to argue that something was true because it appeared desirable and necessary."
8. Personal interpretations of the meaning of the Text should be weighed in the light of science and reason - This seems pretty clear to me :) Abdu'l Baha states, "If religious beliefs and opinions are found contrary to the standards of science, they are mere superstitions and imaginations...". However, there is one thing to be aware of - "it is vital to appreciate that in certain cases, rather than intending to convey a scientific truth, a passage in the Text uses scientific concepts according to the understanding of the people as a way of illustrating a spiritual theme." This is really important to understand, I think, as otherwise one might view some statement as being contradictory to the standards of science - while all it was was an analogy to explain some other more important spiritual principle. A clear example of this is Abdu'l Baha's use of the analogy of the concept of ether to illustrate the unknowability of God. In one passage he says, "The Divine Essence as it is in itself is however beyond all description. For instance, the nature of ether is unknown, but that it existeth is certain by the effects it produceth, heat, light and electricity being the waves thereof. By these waves the existence of ether is thus proven. And as we consider the outpourings of Divine Grace we are assured of the existence of God." The purpose here is to discuss human understanding of God, not prove the existence of ether. This is made clear in another passage of Abdu'l Baha's where he says that "Even ethereal matter, the forces of which are said in physics to be heat, light, electricity and magnetism, is an intellectual reality, and is not sensible." In other words, the ether is an intellectual concept used to explain certain phenomena. Over time as scientists couldn't verify its existence, they constructed other intellectual concepts to explain phenomena.
9. History and context have implications for understanding the meaning of the Text - Understanding context can be very important for grasping the meaning of a Text. However, "this does not imply that meaning of scripture is circumscribed by its particular context and that no general insights or principles can be drawn from it and applied universally... Hermeneutical practice must be concerned with both the particular and universal implications of the Writings..." We must also strive to avoid two extremes - one which is to insist that everything in the Writings can only be understood in the context of historical evidence, and the second which is to ignore the historical context or assume that all which is presented in the Text is historical fact - some statements, as was explained in the earlier point about science, are presented to people as analogies based on the particular understanding of the audience being addressed.
   

More on consultation

In a brief conversation with A, I realized that the context for the second quote in the post below is important - it should not be taken in isolation from other spiritual qualities. Clearly one should not be a mute bystander to injustice, for example. Understanding the principle of unity in decision-making (even if it is not the ideal decision) is something that can be better understood in the context of the main principles of consultation. Here's an extract from the worldwide Baha'i website that summarizes these principles well:

The principles of consultation were laid down in Bahá'u'lláh's writings, and, as a procedure for building consensus and investigating truth, they have the potential for wide application. Indeed, Bahá'ís have found them to be useful in virtually any arena where group decision-making and cooperation is required. These principles are used not only by the Faith's own institutions, but in Bahá'í-owned businesses, in Bahá'í-operated schools, and in day-to-day decision-making of Bahá'í families.

In essence, consultation seeks to build consensus in a manner that unites various constituencies instead of dividing them. It encourages diversity of opinion and acts to control the struggle for power that is otherwise so common in traditional decision-making systems.

Bahá'í consultation is based on the following principles:

* Information should be gathered from the widest possible range of sources, seeking a diversity of points of view. This may mean making special efforts to seek the views of specialists--such as lawyers, doctors, or scientists. It may also mean looking for information outside traditional specialties or making a special effort to consider the views of community members from diverse backgrounds.
* During discussion, participants must make every effort to be as frank and candid as possible, while maintaining a courteous interest in the views of others. Personal attacks, blanket ultimatums and prejudicial statements are to be avoided.
* When an idea is put forth it becomes at once the property of the group. Although this notion sounds simple, it is perhaps the most profound principle of consultation. For in this rule, all ideas cease to be the property of any individual, sub-group, or constituency. When followed, this principle encourages those ideas that spring forth from a sincere desire to serve, as opposed to ideas that emanate from a desire for personal aggrandizement or constituency-building.
* The group strives for unanimity, but a majority vote can be taken to bring about a conclusion and make the decision. An important aspect to this principle is the understanding that once a decision is made, it is incumbent on the entire group to act on it with unity - regardless of how many supported the measure.

In this sense, there can be no "minority" report or "position of the opposition" in consultation. Rather, Bahá'ís believe that if a decision is a wrong one, it wlll become evident in its implementation--but only if the decision-making group and, indeed, the community at large, support it wholeheartedly.

This commitment to unity ensures that if a decision or a project fails, the problem lies in the idea itself, and not in lack of support from the community or the obstinate actions of opponents.

The final section of the above extract gives some clear reasoning as to why this principle of unity is important. And it does make one wonder - how many policies, projects, actions and ideas fail because they are truly wrong/bad? And how many fail because of opposition from people, disunity and contention?

Consultation

Two quotes about consultation that we all (definitely me) need to imbibe, I think...

"He who expresses an opinion should not voice it as correct and right but set it forth as a contribution to the consensus of opinion, for the light of reality becomes apparent when two opinions coincide."

"If they agree upon a subject, even though it be wrong, it is better than to disagree and be in the right, for this difference will produce the demolition of the divine foundation. Though one of the parties may be in the right and they disagree that will be the cause of a thousand wrongs, but if they agree and both parties are in the wrong, as it is in unity the truth will be revealed and the wrong made right."

-- Abdu'l Baha

The second, in particular, is worth discussing... What is it that makes it better to be united and wrong rather than divided and right? What do you all think?

Faith and action

A few weeks ago I had a most wonderful experience with a co-passenger on my flight back home from Michigan. We had some great conversations around religion, even though we came at it from very different angles. She was what you might call a literalist Christian - she believed the world was created in 7 days, that Jesus was the only way to salvation and so on... Coming at it from the Baha'i perspective, I of course disagreed - and yet our conversation was very open, and pleasant.

One of the things we talked about was faith - she believed that as she believed in Christ, she was saved and going to heaven, and it didn't matter what she did, how she acted, for all her sins were forgiven when Christ got crucified. I tried to make her see the other perspective, of how faith was intricately tied in to action - if one "believed" in Christ, but then committed actions that were against the teachings of Christ, one cannot possibly be "saved" - and yet this was something she could not accept as part of her Christian faith.

It was therefore a pleasant surprise as I just read the Epistle of James, and came across a passage that talks exactly about this issue:

¹⁷Even so faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone.

¹⁸Yea, a man may say, Thou hast faith, and I have works: shew me thy faith without thy works, and I will shew thee my faith by my works.

¹⁹Thou believest that there is one God; thou doest well: the devils also believe, and tremble.

²⁰But wilt thou know, O vain man, that faith without works is dead?

²¹Was not Abraham our father justified by works, when he had offered Isaac his son upon the altar?

²²Seest thou how faith wrought with his works, and by works was faith made perfect?

²³And the scripture was fulfilled which saith, Abraham believed God, and it was imputed unto him for righteousness: and he was called the Friend of God.

²⁴Ye see then how that by works a man is justified, and not by faith only.

-- James 2:17-24

I find this to be in perfect alignment with the Bahai teaching that "the essence of faith is fewness of words and abundance of deeds." And to me, this is now yet another classic example of how all religions intrinsically really teach the same things, while we people interpret them in our own ways, creating differences and distinctions.