Unconditional Prayer

We often hear of people talk about a love that is not made conditional upon repayment or exchange. Such a love gives without receiving or hope of receiving. It is capable of forming a bond between people where otherwise there would be none. In Christianity this is the source and summit of all spirituality. And if this is how we are to relate to each other, then certainly there is something to be said for relating to God in this way. Such a move would reconfigure the way that we pray. It would require a commitment to God without condition, calculation, or self-interest. If I had to name this commitment I would call it unconditional prayer.

An excellent starting place for thinking about this is the Baha'i Long Obligatory Prayer. In it are contained numerous petitions along these lines. One of my projects for the summer is to set down in writing an extended meditation on this rich and deeply complex prayer. In the future, I intend to use this space for articulating what I believe this prayer asks of God, and of us.

If I had to sum up the prayer's spirit in one of its lines I would choose this one.

Look not upon my hopes and my doings.
Nay, rather look upon Thy will that has encompassed the heavens and the earth.

the Will to Salvation

Here's a couple of passages from the Gospel of Matthew, once again taking on the three way relationship between the Manifestation of God, His servants, and the world. Right off the bat we see the authority that belongs to God being delegated to His servants.

Then Peter answered and said, "Look, we have left everything and followed you.
What are we to have, then?" Jesus said to to them, "In truth I tell you, when
everything is made new again and the Son of man is seated on his throne of
glory, you yourselves will sit on twelve thrones to judge the twelve tribes of
Israel."

Mt 19.27-28

When the Son of man comes in his glory, escorted by all the angels, then he will take his seat on his throne of glory. All nations will be assembled before him and he will separate people one from another as the shepherd separates sheep from goats.

Mt 25.31-32

So who is it that's doing the judging? Is it Jesus or is it the Apostles? Didn't Jesus say "Do not judge?" One way of looking at it is that the Apostles are to judge the twelve tribes of Israel, while Jesus judges all the other nations. But certainly there is room for another interpretation, one less overly cautious: that the Apostles, or more broadly the followers of Jesus, are the means by which the Son of man separates the sheep from the goats. We already see this theme within the Gospels. In chapter 10, verses 14-16 Jesus is commissioning the Apostles to go out and spread the Good News.

And if anyone does not welcome you or listen to what you have to say, as you walk out of the house or town shake the dust from your feet. In truth I tell you, on the Day of Judgment it will be more bearable for Sodom and Gomorrah than for that town. Look I send you out like sheep among wolves; so be cunning as snakes and yet innocent as doves.

Besides for the implication that the servants are instruments of the master's authority, there is a certain moral aspect that this entails for the servant. Jesus instructs the Apostles to walk a hard and narrow road being cunning as snakes and yet as innocent as doves. Handled poorly, cunning and innocence could undermine the Apostolic mission. So, innocence cannot mean weakness or indifference. Nor can cunning mean rapaciousness, or liquidating one's enemies. Thus, the Apostles must embody a certain expertise if they are to carry out their mission. Innocence must mean rigorous spiritual discipline, such that no-one can call into question their character. And cunning must mean practical wisdom, thinking on one's feet, and making good judgments. These two things cannot undermine each other. Because at stake here is the destiny of humanity, and the urgency that comes with any matters pertaining to the Day of Judgment.

Before I go too much further I want to clarify what I mean by judgment. By no means should it mean looking down on people, or being bigoted in any way. Rather, it means the basic faculty of making sense of the world, of deciding between the true and the false. Often times (and I mean very often), the way a person makes sense of the world is to look down on others. This is why Jesus argues that this is like placing oneself on the throne of glory on the Day of Judgment. This is because there is certainly an analogy between separating the true from the false, and the sheep from the goats. Nonetheless, making sense of the world and deciding between the true and the false is a necessary part of human existence. For this reason, when Jesus says do not judge he cannot mean that we should stop making judgments. Rather he must mean that we should be mindful that we are not God, and our word is not the final word. He may have other judgments in mind than the ones that we pronounce.

Yesterday, I pointed out a tension between the expertise of the Divine Physician and the exhortation to be anxiously concerned with the needs of the age ye live in. In brief, the tension is in determining who has the authority to decide what to do in particular situations. Is it Baha'u'llah, by way of his writings, or does he delegate it to humanity? My conclusion was that the decision rests with humanity. But it is Baha'u'llah who empowers us through the cultivation of our minds, bodies, and souls to make that decision. The Word of God is in one sense a law to which we are bound. In another sense, it is the key that activates the light contained in each and every one of us. The implication is that God's salvation doesn't just come through the implementation of divine teachings, (though this is just as important as is already commonly understood). It comes also through our own activities, decisions, and judgments. In short, it can come about through our own will. God commissions us to will, but the willing itself is up to us. Our free decisions can thus be the manifestation of God's salvation. No doubt, this is a mighty responsibility. God willing, there are people who will respond adequately.

At this point I want to make an equation between Baha'u'llah's instructions to be anxiously concerned with the needs of the age ye live in and to center your deliberations on its exigencies and requirements and Jesus' instruction to be cunning as snakes yet innocent as doves. For both of these demand a recognition on a moral level from the servants that their actions and choices are deeply involved in the processes of salvation, judgment, resurrection, and justice that God has set in motion.

In this way, we are not spectators. We are the spectacle itself. God willing, our judgments will be the unfolding of His saving justice.

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.

Welcome!

At the prompting of a friend, I have begun this blog. Most of it will probably consist of Baha'i theology. The hope is that it will be a source of enjoyment for all who read it.