The Source Of All Good (Words of Wisdom 1}

In the book “Tablets of Bahá’u’lláh” there is a Tablet entitled “Words of Wisdom”. This tablet consists mainly of [what I see as] definitions of certain words that often appear in scripture. I have been studying this tablet, and would like to share some of the ideas that have occurred to me regarding various passages therein. As always, these are only my personal opinions, and you are invited to share your own insights.

The first “definition” reads, “The source of all good is trust in God, submission unto His command, and contentment with His holy will and pleasure.” When I read this to a dear Christian friend of mine, he responded saying, “The source of all good is God!” In the way he said it, it seemed he saw his point as a refutation of the passage from the tablet. Any Bahá’í, indeed most any monotheist, would agree that God is the ultimate source of all good and of all the virtues. So what might this passage be saying?

In the context of this passage, I see that God, in His Bounty and Grace, showers His good (or goodness) upon us all, but we have to be willing to receive it. After all, the veils that shut us out from God are in front of each of our eyes, and we pray (in the Long Obligatory Prayer) “... make of my prayer a fire that will burn away the veils which have shut me out from Thy Beauty...” So, God tells us in this passage what we have to do and how we should be in order to receive His goodness:

We must trust in God. In this earthly life, there are many things that we tend to put our trust in: our parents, our school teachers, our government, our instincts, strategies and responses that have “worked” for us in the past, etc. What God asks of us can be counter to popular advice or what we would otherwise trust. “Love your enemies.” “Read the Divine Verses every morn and eve.” If we trust God, we not only follow His commandments, but we turn to Him for strength, for guidance, and to define the very purpose of our lives.
We must live and act in submission unto His command. God is the source of all good, but we are only good insofar as we follow His command. I believe that we should actively seek to better understand His command, and that we should embrace that command whatever it is, whatever apparent hardships may come from it.
We must find contentment with His holy will and pleasure. Everything that comes to us in our lives, I believe, can serve to teach us. I also am of the opinion that whatever circumstance we find ourselves in, it is God’s will and pleasure that we be in that situation. This point has seen much debate, but my feeling is that if we are sufficiently awake, present, and mindful we will be content that the circumstances we find ourselves in accord with God’s will. Then we can let go of our fear and resentment (or our pleasure and vanity) and follow the promptings of our higher, spiritual nature (see 1 and 2 above). Being content does not imply that we do not feel any impetus to change our circumstances. Rather, it means that we can see our circumstances with sufficient detachment to allow us to effect positive change while trusting in God and being submissive to His command.

Religion and Society 2

The question student-of-life asks below is related to the classic "Problem of Evil". My response is of the class of theodicy called "spiritual development." The Baha'i Faith emphasises the nobility of mankind, rather than the fall of man. That spiritual truth which is expressed through the Christian doctrine of Original sin is expressed in the Baha'i writings as man's "animal nature." This concept is similar to the Id of Freudian psychology, but is also expressible in terms of evolution theory as those characteristics that we have in common with other primates. Having been endowed with "the knowledge of good and evil", which I compare to our high creative function, those drives need to be kept in check by spiritual virtues.
Quote:
Originally Posted by student-of-life
If god knowing the end of things, at the time of the beginning, created me the way I am, then are not all of my faults his doing? I did not ask to be created. And even if I have free will to do as I please, did he not create me to will the things that I will? If you made a cake from scratch and the cake didn't taste the way you wanted, would you blame the cake. If you created by some means, a computer that achieved its own intelligence, and that computer didn't act the way you wanted, wouldn't it still be your doing?

"The reality of man is spiritual." This world, this life, is part of a journey that each of us is on. The journey itself is as important as the end, but the goal (unattainable though it is) is personal, spiritual perfection, or, in other words, the knowledge of God. Part of our movement toward that goal is achieved through our choosing to strengthen our spiritual (ie moral/ethical) nature in its control over our animal nature. When people act ethically toward one another, they get along better and civilization progresses. Again, for a Being (God) who is outside of the constraints of time, our "journey" or progress toward perfection is what is important, not putting us at the end of that journey by creating us in a way that you would consider "perfect". Your animal nature is constrained to follow the laws of stimulus and response (refer the school of psychology called Behaviorism). Your spiritual nature gives you free will and allows you to use your intellect to overcome Pavlovian response.

Besides preparing us for spiritual life after the death of our bodies, following the laws of God improves this life: It is by many people together having faith in God and His laws (in this case, just consider the Golden Rule: treat others as you would wish to be treated) that these laws can show their effect of improving society. If only half of the people try to obey the golden rule, and the rest of the people just take advantage of them, then there is little immediate social improvement. But if, despite these difficulties, the believers continue to be firm in their faith and to follow the golden rule, there are spiritual effects that will cause others to embrace the golden rule. These days, even many atheists state some version of the golden rule as an obvious necessity for the functioning of society. That is, obeying the golden rule (to the extent that one's spiritual nature has tamed his self-serving animal nature) is in one's ultimate self-interest because in a society ruled by that law people need not be afraid of one another, they help each other, and the resulting cooperation makes it possible for all members to have a better quality of life.

O SON OF SPIRIT! Noble have I created thee, yet thou hast abased thyself. Rise then unto that for which thou wast created.

- Baha'u'llah