Saturday, 13 September 2008

*Progressive Revelation of God, a Baha'i Concept - Parvaneh Farid, September 2008






“Religion is the outer expression of the divine reality. Therefore it must be living, vitalized, moving and progressive. If it be without motion and non-progressive it is without the divine life; it is dead. The divine institutes are continuously active and evolutionary; therefore the revelation of them must be progressive and continuous…”

(Abdu'l-Baha, Baha'i World Faith - Abdu'l-Baha Section, p. 224)

As a small Jewish child growing up in an English Protestant environment I was left in no doubt by my parents that we were different from our neighbours… difference of which I was aware at that time was that “they” believed in Jesus and we did not …

For a few years, therefore, I was aware that there were Jews and there were non-Jews and that although we all believed in God there was this most important division created by the difference of opinion as to the station of Jesus….

Gradually I became aware, however, that the world consisted not only of Jews and non-Jews but also of others such as Muslims, Hindus etc all believing in God but all believing, that they, and only they had the truth as to God and His prophets…(from an essay by Alan Freeman)

What’s the role of religions in the development of civilizations?

It seems that religions have played a role in the development of civilizations throughout history. We also know that the nature human and social-economic development is progressive in nature. We have come a long way from the days of living in the cave.

Here, I would like to explore with you the concept of “progressive revelation” from two perspectives – a believer and a non-believer.

“Non Believer’s Perspective”: Every religion has a cycle which consists of a chain of religious traditions within itself. To discuss the “Progressive Revelation”, or in other words the evolution which takes place within a religious cycle, from the viewpoint of those who do not believe in “Divinity”, we look at its historical progression and the pattern of evolution which is formed within its social structure, the spiritual concepts, the moral codes and the value system.

A historian/sociologist can demonstrate the trace of development of a religious cycle and the way one tradition has given birth to another. For example, the Abrahamian cycle of religious traditions which have emerged and developed around Mediterranean and the Middle Eastern countries, begins with Abraham and carries out by Muses, Jesus and Mohammad have demonstrated a significant historical relationship between these traditions as well as a great amount of mutual influences in terms of developing teachings and laws.

Although the eternity of a cycle manages to evolve according to the needs and the level of understanding of its people, and where and when necessary, it regulates itself by renewing the laws, codes of morality, values and civil bonds, but the individual traditions appear as if they are resistant to changes, becoming more and more dogmatic and less and less responsive to the needs of their societies, to the extend that they even form obstacles in the way of progression of the main stream culture. As time passes the gap between the present religious tradition and the advances of mainstream culture widens until the ground for a new and independent tradition with a revolutionary set of laws and values is prepared.

In a way, it appears as if this mechanism acts according to the “Hegelian Dialectic Theory”. If we regard the present religious tradition as “Theses”, the social changes and the new set of ethics, demanded by the social and scientific progression as “Antitheses”, we could then recognise the emergence of a new tradition as “Syntheses”, which although maintains some connections with the mother tradition, it creates radical changes in terms of laws and values.

An example of that could be the development of Protestantism at the time of the scientific revolution in Europe out of Catholic tradition.

“The seventeenth century saw Kepler's studies of the motion of planets; Galilei's proof that the sun, not the earth, is the centre of the universe; and Newton's explanation that a single mathematical law could account for the phenomena of the heavens, the tides, and the motions of objects on the earth. These discoveries combined to give Western man an entirely different view of the world and it's workings…” http://www.greatdreams.com/religin3.htm 9pm 15th Aug 2008

Looking at “Progressive Revelation of God”

from a Divinity Viewpoint, a Bahá’í Concept:

"The Manifestations of His Divine Glory . . . have been sent down from time immemorial, and been commissioned to summon mankind to the one true God. That the names of some of them are forgotten and the records of their lives lost …" (Gleanings from the Writings of Bahá'u'lláh, 174),

meaning that the divine revelation has not been confined to a particular period of human history.

The central principle behind the oneness of religion; “Progressive Revelation” asserts two important positions: 1) that all the major religions of the world are based on a divine revelation, conveyed to them by a Manifestation of God; and 2) that the revelations brought by the Manifestations are not contradictory, but constitute a single, ongoing divine educational process for humanity.

http://bahai-library.com/encyclopedia/revelation.html (Robert Stockman 4th Sep 2008)

…… religious truth is not absolute but relative, that Divine Revelation is a continuous and progressive process, that all the great religions of the world are divine in origin, that their basic principles are in complete harmony, that their aims and purposes are one and the same, that their teachings are but facets of one truth, that their functions are complementary, that they differ only in the nonessential aspects of their doctrines, and that their missions represent successive stages in the spiritual evolution of human society...(Shoghi Effendi, The Promised Day is Come, p. v)

Looking at the concept of “Progressive Revelation” from the divinity viewpoint invites us to look at the prophecies and confirmations that various religious traditions have revealed in that respect.

All religious traditions are awaiting a “Promised Figure” to appear in the future in order to redeem the humanity from its ultimate calamity and to bring everlasting peace on earth.

The Hindus are awaiting the reincarnation of Krishna, the Zoroastrians; appearance of King Bahram the fifth, Varjavand, the Buddhists; Buddha the fifth, the Jewish; Elijah followed by coming of the Messiah, the Christians; the return of John and Christ, the Shia Muslims; the appearance of Qaem and return of Imam Hosain and the Soni Muslims awaiting the appearance of Mahdi and Messiah.

· Hinduism: “Whenever there is a decline of (dharma) -righteousness or religion- and a rise of the establishment of righteousness, I come into being from age to age(Bhagavad Gita 4.7-8)

· Zoroastrians awaiting three promised ones “Suchians” or "Soushyant" is a figure of Zoroastrian eschatology who brings about the final renovation of the world - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saoshyant 11.30am 27th Aug 2008) to appear

A prophecy declares: “one thousand two hundred and a few years after the Arabian religion, Houshidar Mah shall be raised as a prophet” (Dinkerd p185, Translated from Persian to English by the author http://aeenebahai20.info/images/stories/Files/besharat.pdf 1pm, 27th Aug 2008)

· Buddhism

"I am not the first Buddha who came upon earth, nor shall I be the last. In due time another Buddha will arise in the world, a Holy One …… He shall reveal to you the same eternal truths which I have taught you.

He will preach to you His religion, glorious in its origin, glorious at the climax and glorious at the goal, in the spirit and in the letter... He will proclaim a religious life, wholly perfect and pure, such as I now proclaim. His disciples will number many thousands, while mine number many hundreds." (Digha- mikaya, IV. 26) & [1 Sermon of the Great Passing.] 5 (Abu'l-Qasim Faizi, An Explanation of the Greatest Name, p. 4)

· The Jewish Faith

43,2 and, behold, the glory of the God of Israel came from the way of the east; and His voice was like the sound of many waters; and the earth did shine with His glory.” (Nev'im (Prophets), Yechezkel (Ezekiel))

In that day also he shall come even to thee from Assyria (now part of Iraq), and from the fortified cities, and from the fortress even to the river, and from sea to sea, and from mountain to mountain………

7:14 Feed thy people with thy rod, the flock of thine heritage, which dwell solitarily in the wood, in the midst of Carmel (mountain of God)” (-- Micah 7: 10-12)

· Christian Faith

For the Son of man shall come in the glory of his Father with His angels.” (Matt 16 v27)

And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever…” (John 14 v16)

I have yet many things to say unto you, but ye cannot bear them now. Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth…” (John 16 v13)

· Islam

“34. To every people is a term appointed: when their term is reached, not an hour can they cause delay, nor (an hour) can they advance (it in anticipation).

35. O ye children of Adam! whenever there come to you Messengers from amongst you, rehearsing my signs unto you…….” (The Qur'an (Yusuf Ali tr), Surah 7)

Generally speaking, religion has three main common areas of concern;

1. Spirituality & Mystics / Prayers & Meditation

2. Law / Order / Punishment

3. Moral Codes of Conducts / Values

Spirituality: It appears as although there are common spiritual concepts between different religious traditions; such as “God” and “life after death”, the understanding of these concepts varies. For example, the Christianity, Islam and Zoroastrian traditions all believe in the concept of “Heaven & Hell”, nevertheless, they portray and refer to these concepts differently.

The religious traditions respond and influence each others’ spiritual concepts. For example after the concepts of heaven and hell were introduced in to Islam, in response to that, the Christianity also developed similar concepts. Later on, the Bahá’í faith found itself in a position having to respond to these concepts as well. Nevertheless, its responses distanced itself from the physical form of reward and punishment which was suggested by the earlier traditions to a more metaphysical one; defining hell as a state of awareness of the lost opportunities for spiritual growth.

God: In most religious traditions God is the centre of the spirituality, which according to their teachings is an un-known concept.

However, it seems that the gravity of disagreement between their believers circulate not around the concept of God but around the variation of names which is referred to this concept, ignoring the fact that these names are associating with the language and the culture of the traditions and not to the nature of their understanding of the concept.

The Spirit Supreme is immeasurable, inapprehensible, beyond conception, never-born, beyond reasoning, beyond thought. His vastness is the vastness of space” (Hinduism, Maitri Upanishad 6.17)

The birds of men's hearts, however high they soar, can never hope to attain the heights of His unknowable Essence……Far be it from His glory that human pen or tongue should hint at His mystery, or that human heart conceive His Essence.(Baha'u'llah, Gleanings from the Writings of Baha'u'llah, p. 193)

O disciples, there is a non-born, a non-produced, non-created and a non-formed. If there were not, O disciples, a non-born, a non produced, a non-created and a non-formed, there would be no issue for the born, the produced, the created, the formed.” (Buddhism Udana v81)

(1) Proclaim: He is God, the Single One. (2) The First Cause. (3) He, who has not given birth, neither was born. (4) He, with whom no one could be compared.” (Translated from Arabic to English by the author, Qurán, Sura 112 Ekhlas / Towhid / Unity of God)

God being an incomprehensible essence, leaves us with no option but learning about Him through His manifestations.

whatever is in the heavens and whatever is on the earth is a direct evidence of the revelation within it of the attributes and names of God, inasmuch as within every atom are enshrined the signs that bear eloquent testimony to the revelation of that most great Light.

Methinks, but for the potency of that revelation, no being could ever exist. How resplendent the luminaries of knowledge that shine in an atom, and how vast the oceans of wisdom that surge within a drop! To a supreme degree is this true of man, who, among all created things, hath been invested with the robe of such gifts, and hath been singled out for the glory of such distinction. For in him are potentially revealed all the attributes and names of God to a degree that no other created being hath excelled or surpassed. All these names and attributes are applicable to him.” (H.M. Balyuzi, Baha'u'llah - The King of Glory, p. 166)

Morality: Morality and values form a very important part of religion. All religious traditions agree to the universal moral codes, mostly shared across cultures and traditions, such as justice, truthfulness, liberty, love and honour.

“The UN Millennium Declaration, signed in Sep 2000, for example, met with well-deserved scepticism as is listed an expansive set of common values, including freedom, equality, solidarity, tolerance, respect for nature, and shared responsibility…” (Bok, Sissela “Common Values” 2002, University of Missouri Press, p, ix)

However, the traditional values which are resulted from these shared moral codes may, again, vary in application and implication. For example truthfulness is a recognised moral code by all, but some traditions may have some reservations on its application. The example for that is the law of “Taghieh” in Islam.

Laws: The sets of laws and the punishments which are put forward by various religious traditions, clearly demonstrate either similarities or a reactive development, which could be yet again the result of the Hegelian Dialect process, since no cultural phenomenon emerges out of absolute nothingness.

This aspect of religion is the most dynamic, due to its connection with the earthy life of human which is evolving with an increasing rate. Nearly all civil laws and punishments in all societies, including the secular ones, have direct, indirect or perhaps reactionary relation to the religious laws of that society.

It is apparent that through the progression of religion the severity of these prescribed punishments are reduced. Example for that is the Christianity which appeared within the Jewish community and the Bahá’í faith which was founded within an Islamic culture. The reason for that could be the social preparation and the discipline that the previous tradition has established amongst its people. To the extent that the Bahá’í faith, as the historically latest revelation of God, relying on the spiritual advancement of humanity which is achieved by the previous revelations, has begun to replace the fear of punishment with the concept of obedience for the sake of love of God.

Conclusion:

It appears that the laws and social teachings of various religious traditions emerge and develop in sympathy with cultural requirement of the time and place. For example, Judaism emerged at a time that there was a need for establishing tribal solidarity. The Islamic faith developed in response to the need for nation building in Arabia and the Bahá’í teachings are delivered as needs for a set of global ethics and universal principle are felt. In that sense, it appears as if religion establishes a progressive format which appears to respond to the social needs and technological developments of human community.

Unlike the non-believer viewpoint which regards the progression of religion the result of a dialectic interaction between various religious traditions and in other words the result of a Hegelian Dialect between the old and new traditions, the believers’ viewpoint looks at it as God’s divine plan for mankind.

“CVI. 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.” (Gleanings from the Writings of Bahá'u'lláh)

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