Three Mottos for a Comedy of the Commons
By John Taylor; 2009 April 24, Jalal 15, 166 BE
Precis
Baha'is are familiar with the comparison that Abdu'l-Baha made of science and religion with the two wings of a bird. If science and religion are the wings to the body politic, then politics is the body of the bird. The body controls each wing and it also has the eyes and brain that lead its flight. Comenius suggested brief mottos for the individual and the family, as well as each founding institution of world order, symbolized by the body and its two wings. Each motto defines in a few words its role and mission in the world.
Science and Education: "Light in Things"
Politics: "Peace on Earth"
Interfaith Religion: "Peace of Conscience"
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Our educational system permanently skews our thinking about the world and how to change it. The ideas of John Amos Comenius are a healthy corrective to that bias.
Right now in Ontario there is a public and a Catholic school board, both of which receive public funding, along with a private school system that takes in all the rest, including at least one Baha'i school, the Nancy Campbell Institute. The Catholic system gets public monies because, the argument goes, almost half of Ontarians are in or related to someone in the Catholic Church. Other parochial schools are funded exclusively by parents, and they can teach whatever faith is acceptable to them, within certain limits. In schools run by the Catholic school board, religion, including world religion courses, is actively taught. Unfortunately, public schools, funded by everybody, can barely mention God, religion or even philosophy because of the protests of parents. As a teacher recently explained it to me,
"We would like to teach philosophy and religion earlier, but how would you like it if your son in Grade Four was exposed to various beliefs and decided to become a Scientologist or a Moonie?"
I am perhaps a bad person to ask because of the liberal, universalist leanings of the Baha'i Faith. But even I had to pause and think about that for an uncomfortably long time. Certainly I would like to have a shot at influencing my children undistracted for at least a few of their early years. On the other hand, I would like to see them exposed to as broad a spectrum of thought and opinion as possible, as early as possible.
Comenius envisioned the public sphere in a much healthier, more integrated way than our fractured congeries of contradictions. As we saw in yesterday's essay, public affairs in a Comenian system would be in the hands of three permanent institutions concerned with the three main spheres of human endeavour, philosophy (including science and education), politics and religion.
These, he held, should be consecrated as firm common ground on which everybody stands. In other words, there is a part of philosophy, politics and religion that is sacrosanct, that every citizen has a stake in, and which we all have a duty to support without qualification or reservation. Although there may and indeed should be a variety of schools of thought in philosophy, a broad choice of political leanings and many kinds of religious bias, these should be kept outside a strong fence protecting a calm, sacred commons. Outside the pale, particularities may compete and disagree but dispute and contradiction cannot be allowed inside.
Comenius did not think that this would come about spontaneously or by magic but rather through the power of education. Our entire schooling, the press and everything in the public sphere must be designed to give as firm a grounding in the essentials of science, politics and faith as possible. Today we might call the tranquility inside the fence the science, politics and faith of supermen. However, for Comenius it was simply the way that saints consult with the world, with one another and with their God.
"The Philosophy of Saints is simply a conversation between Man and his soul or God's Creatures or His Oracles. The Politics of Saints is simply an amalgam of all human societies, a mutual conversation among men and a policy of service. The Religion of Saints is simply continuous walking with God, conversation with God, and working with God." (Panorthosia, Ch. 13, para 12, p. 205)
These ongoing conversations would be mediated and regularized by three institutions whose center is integrated in the world government and with branches in every nation, region, province and neighbourhood. As we saw in an essay series on the family last fall, Comenius even envisioned a miniature school, a governing council and a church to be held regularly in a common room located in the typical family household. These functions would be essential utilities to the minds and spirits within, just as electricity and heat to the bodies being housed.
Needless to say, in order for philosophy, politics and religion to be this universally applied, major adaptations would have to be made in the content each. The status quo or business-as-usual are out of the question. Universality in essentials is the order of the day.
"This will come to pass if philosophy submits all things to the human intellect, and politics commits human power itself to human prudence, and religion truly refers all men and all things to God. To achieve this, Philosophy must be a true mirror of God's wisdom, which contemplates all things; Politics must be a living example of the power of God, which manages all things rightly; and Religion must sweetly dispense the goodness of God, which spreads through all things." (Panorthosia II, Ch. 10, para 38, pp. 167-168)
Having said that, Comenius goes on to propose three mottos for the three fenced off areas, the sacred commons devoted to the good of all. For the institution dedicated to science and education, the motto is "Light in things," emphasizing its primal duty to enlighten, inspire and edify everyone.
"Perfect Philosophy will take the form of universal agreement and harmony between Art and Nature, and its end will be LIGHT IN THINGS, and an abundance of them." (Ch. 10, para 38, pp. 167-168)
On the door of larger, dedicated institutions of learning the motto "Light in Things" would perhaps be placed above the front portal. In a multitasking family common room of the future I imagine when the family school or laboratory goes into session a flashing sign saying "Light in Things" turning on while on the walls are projected a picture of a mixed native plant and classical garden, perhaps interspersed with buildings to reflect the theme of "art in nature." In a Baha'i home the obvious choice of decor would be a panorama of the Arc on Mount Carmel.
When discussion turns to a formal consultation, the sign would change to "Peace on Earth."
"The test of perfect Politics will be the restoration of human prudence to the certainty of the mechanical arts, and its end will be PEACE ON EARTH, and a quiet life."
If these three words were emblazoned over the door of every political institution and flashed on the table of every meeting, it is unlikely that old, disputatious ways would ever encroach the sanctity of the public sphere. As Comenius says, the laws of peace, well understood, would be as dependable as the mechanical laws that assure that when you press the "on" button a machine will start working. The final motto is for the one area that has been so disputatious that it is all but expelled from the public realm in advanced countries, that is, religion.
"The seal of perfect Religion will be full agreement between the human will and the Will of God, and its end will be PEACE OF CONSCIENCE, that passeth all understanding, which would be heaven on earth."
Currently believers have little training in avoiding fanaticism and in keeping parochial elements and particularistic beliefs out of public fora. At the same time agitation by their secular counterparts, atheists and anti-theists, keeps God out of the common conversation completely. It takes a genius like Comenius to think of a motto acceptable to every stripe of reasoned opinion, Peace of Conscience. Even humanists and other non-believers cannot object to peace or conscience, which would allow them to participate fully and without compromise in the interfaith activities of the third universal institution.
The fact that a relatively small body of specific knowledge is allowed into this commons is not necessarily a disadvantage for Comenius, since he considered simplicity to be at the heart of religion.
"The heart of Philosophy will be wisdom, of Religion, simplicity, and of Politics, vigilance." (Comenius, Panorthosia, Ch. 13, para 12, p. 205)
Whereas simplicity is the essence of religion, clarity is a general criterion for keeping all three specialties pure and healthy.
As already mentioned, Comenius in his plan for a world government invoked Descartes' method of approaching a difficult problem systematically; that is, in sorting out what countries a world government should deal with first, "the rules of method dictate that we must proceed from the easier to the more difficult." (Panorthosia, Ch. 25, para 10, p. 149) That is, the then undeveloped continents of Africa and America had best be left for later.
Similarly, Comenius proposed that those who guard the gates of the fence around the public commons imitate the law of ancient Rome. Roman judges would refuse a case if a judgement was not clear enough, declaring it "Non Liquit." In a footnote Dobbie cites Bacon in Advancement of Learning II, 8, 5, who wrote: `These doubts, or non liquets, are of two sorts, particular and total.' When a gatekeeper (and everybody who walks in is a gatekeeper) keeps out an unclear idea or doctrine from public discussion he or she is applying the virtue of modesty or prudence.
"... since it goes without saying that anyone with a modest opinion of himself has a fair opinion of all his neighbours and does not wish to appear to understand everything, the Romans at least had a solemn formula in their law-courts, when the issue tended to be obscure, i.e. 'It is not clear, I defer sentence,' and I see no reason why we should all be ashamed to copy this modesty. Each of us is equally a human being, and a man cannot perceive everything; he was made in the image of God, yet he is not God. Therefore whenever obscurities arise which we cannot quite grasp or see through (the sort of things on which disagreement usually occurs) it is useful and quite honourable to have recourse to the verdict 'IT IS NOT CLEAR' as a shield of modesty and a confession of ignorance. For it is fair to grasp the truth where it is revealed, but to worship and admire it where it is unrevealed." (Comenius, Panorthosia II, Ch. 8, para 19, p. 116)
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