Towards a Spirituality of Rational Endeavour

I plan on using this space as a sort of scratchboard for my ideas. Outlined here are two arguments. The first of which is an interpretation of one of my favorite passages from Baha'u'llah's writings. This leads into a related, but nonetheless distinct discussion of the role teaching plays in the Baha'i faith, not just as model of community life, but as the hierarchical structure of the cosmos. So, in fact teaching isn't just about Ruhi courses. If I really wanted to I would make these two arguments work together as one larger work, but alas, it's 1:22 AM, and young cats need there rest.
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Baha'u'llah writes in his tablet to Manikchi Sahib,

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.

Certainly, there is one thing that can be taken for granted with this passage: Universal prescriptions cannot universally speak to particular situations. For this reason, expert physicians are needed at different times and places to adequately address the particulars of any situation. Baha'u'llah is one of these.

Beyond this there is in these words a degree of ambiguity, tension, and some might even say contradiction. One is led to wonder: If Baha'u'llah has already prescribed the remedy "in his unerring wisdom" then why do we need to be concerned with the needs of our age? On the one hand it seems we should defer to the prescriptions of the Good Doctor. On the other hand it seems we should be anxiously concerned with producing our own prescriptions. Two opposing but related doubts thus arise: A) If He is All-Knowing wouldn't the wisdom of His prescriptions invalidate the need for future deliberation? and B) If we need to be anxiously concerned with the needs of our age then wouldn't that call into question the universality of the Divine Physician's message? One privileges deferral to Baha'u'llah's teachings. The other privileges the rationality of everyone else.

In interpreting this passage, I don't want to fall into the trap of regarding Baha'u'llah's claims as mutually exclusive. If that were the case then the truth value of each would be at the expense of the other. Instead, I believe it is preferrable to see in the last sentence the fulfillment of the first: that the All-Knowing Physician's prescription is for us to be anxiously concerned with the needs of our age. This would restore the universality of Baha'u'llah's prescription across situations while at the same time empowering future generations to respond to problems that may not have come up in Baha'u'llah's time. A fuller understanding of this comes through the recognition of the central role that teaching plays in the Baha'i faith. Viewed in this light human resource development isn't just a practical measure to expand and consolidate a spiritual community. It is the mission par excellence of the Baha'i faith, and this has a lot to do with Baha'u'llah's vision of the cosmos.
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Perhaps out of a sense of brevity, I don't really feel like explaining all of the ways in which teaching is central to the Baha'i faith. Anybody with much acquaintence to the Ruhi curriculum, or the career paths of so many Baha'is can figure that out. What is interesting though, is the way in which images of teaching and instruction so thoroughly pervade all aspects of Baha'i life. Baha'u'llah often configures the hierarchical relationships between God, Manifestation, Disciples, and World in terms of teacher and pupil.

Take this passage from the Kitab-i-Aqdas (K175) in which Baha'u'llah illustrates his relationship with God.

O Pen of the Most High! Move Thou upon the Tablet at the bidding of Thy Lord,
the Creator of the Heavens, and tell of the time when He Who is the Dayspring of Divine Unity purposed to direct His steps towards the School of Transcendent Oneness; haply the pure in heart may gain thereby a glimpse, be it as small as a needle’s eye, of the mysteries of Thy Lord, the Almighty, the Omniscient, that lie concealed behind the veils. Say: We, indeed, set foot within the School of inner meaning and explanation when all created things were unaware.

In the Tablet of Maqsud (ToB 159-178) we see the same theme in the relationship between the Manifestation and humanity.

Men at all times and under all conditions stand in need of one to exhort them,
guide them and to instruct and teach them. Therefore He hath sent forth His
Messengers, His Prophets and chosen ones that they might acquaint the people
with the divine purpose underlying the revelation of Books and the raising
up of Messengers, and that everyone may become aware of the trust of God
which is latent in the reality of every soul.

Regarding the relationship between Baha'is and humanity we see this from Gleanings CXXVIII

Say: Teach ye the Cause of God, O people of Bahá, for God hath prescribed unto
every one the duty of proclaiming His Message, and regardeth it as the most
meritorious of all deeds.

In Gleanings CLVI the teaching relationship between Baha'is and humanity takes on a dimension of social justice and world order.

Address yourselves to the promotion of the well-being and tranquillity of the
children of men. Bend your minds and wills to the education of the peoples and
kindreds of the earth, that haply the dissensions that divide it may, through
the power of the Most Great Name, be blotted out from its face, and all mankind
become the upholders of one Order, and the inhabitants of
one City.

And back at Gleanings CXXVIII we see the teaching relationship to one's own self.

Whoso ariseth among you to teach the Cause of his Lord, let him, before all
else, teach his own self, that his speech may attract the hearts of them that
hear him. Unless he teacheth his own self, the words of his mouth will not
influence the heart of the seeker.

Considering the consistency of this theme it makes sense that this is more than just an elaborate system for relaying information. Rather, teaching is the name for the overflowing grace of a beneficent creator. One example of this idea in Baha'u'llah's writings should be familiar to anyone who has participated in a Ruhi book 2 study circle. The first section isn't even finished before memorization is prescribed for this passage on teaching....

O wayfarer in the path of God! Take thou thy portion of the ocean of His
grace, and deprive not thyself of the things that lie hidden in its depths. Be
thou of them that have partaken of its treasures. A dewdrop out of this ocean
would, if shed upon all that are in the heavens and on the earth, suffice to
enrich them with the bounty of God, the Almighty, the All-Knowing, the All-Wise.
With the hands of renunciation draw forth from its life-giving waters, and
sprinkle therewith all created things, that they may be cleansed from all
man-made limitations and may approach the mighty seat of
God, this hallowed and resplendent Spot.

Finally, this is in keeping with the teaching carried over from the Bible and from the Qur'an that creation was brought into being by the Word of God. From the Word do we proceed, and from the Word do we receive our spiritual existence. A case could be made that the material and the spiritual are two separate spheres and should be treated separately. But Baha'u'llah never really appears interested in establishing that distinction. Instead the creation of flesh and spirit from the Word are mentioned coincidentally without mention of an essential separation between the two. The implication of this is that spiritual rejuvenation by the Holy Spirit is the fulfillment and logical conclusion of one's existence as a creation of God.