Two Essays on Search for Truth

Why Search? (Part II of II)
Covenant and Search in an Age of Responsibility. (Part I)



Why Search?


Part II (remix of several earlier attempts)


By John Taylor; 26 May, 2004



Socrates' famous teaching is that the examined life is not worth living. This implies that it is possible to live an unexamined life. Indeed it is much easier to substitute imitation for truth. Same thing in dieting, avoiding exercise and munching on sugary snacks instead of healthful, nutritious meals is for most of us the easy way. Socrates' point only was that such a life is of such low value that it is not worth it, it loses "life value." Similarly, the Baha'i teachings aim to improve life value by raising search for truth to the level of a universal principle, an imperative for every citizen of the world.

The past few days I have been asking, "Why Search?" Today I'll try imagining the ways that life would be more worthwhile if genuine search ever predominated over imitation. Specifically, I will ask: "What would happen if search for truth were fully understood as a principle?" and, "What would the world look like if everyone cast aside shoddy imitations and sought the truth?"

Some might say that our world would look just like it is, assuming that since Truth is infinite it makes no difference how close we may be, or how distant. This may be so but the experience of modern times with the spread of scientific investigation indicates that there are great consequences indeed. The spread of education and systematic investigation of spiritual as well as material conditions would, I think, be the revolution to end all revolutions.

All people of faith, however much they may disagree in specifics, have to assume that this is so. We all believe that the world would be a finer place if spiritual truths were valued and understood by all people. The Psalm sums it up, "... give me understanding and I shall live." (Ps 119:144) I think it is fair then to assume that the more widespread search becomes, be it material or spiritual, the more people will value one another and generally admire beauty and perfection, be it in nature or the built world.

I would therefore expect to see more beauty, and to see more people having full and free access to it. Places of beauty would take over; there would be more parks, nature trails, excursions to mountain panoramas and into the dark depths of the rain forest. Buildings would contain more meditation rooms and relaxation areas and display more art on the walls and statues in the foyer. The air would be fresher and the conversation more serious and animated. The world of work would be less driven and frenetic but more efficient, more fulfilling for both servants and those served. There would be fewer slums, less pollution, and more smiles on peoples' faces.

To me this is the simplest and most reliable indicator, the aspect of the face. When I first arrive in the city from the country the first thing I notice is how oppressed peoples' faces look. Everyone seems either to on his way away from some horrible crime or has just leaving the scene of a horrible tragedy. A columnist in that nearby city is now complaining that people are rightly complaining about a general decline in the quality of service; the person at the counter or carrying your bags is more surly, angry, intolerant and impolite than even a few years ago. This surely is a very bad sign.

I would also expect if search for truth predominated that the average person would look more beautiful. I am not speaking about just faces and bodies, though there is that too. The epitome of beauty is the young person. If you want to visit a place where everyone has Disneyland beauty and perfection you just have to visit any university campus. But that is an unfair choice since these places cut out the very young and the old. These scenes have what one member of our Baha'i community calls "McOneness." In a world where search predominated I would therefore expect beauty to last through all the ages of man. Most would have beautiful, perfect bodies appropriate to childhood, adulthood and old age. Perfection would not be confined to those in the prime of life.

Last summer I had the rare chance for the likes of me to frequent tourist areas. I was shocked to find that almost everyone there was fat, most being grossly obese. Here the human world was as ugly as the waddling pedestrians in the new animated video, "The Triplets of Belleville." This film's depiction of our epidemic of obesity unfortunately only slightly exaggerates the reality. The latest headline shares a startling new statistic: one in three premature deaths around the world can be traced to either being too fat or smoking.

Though most are not making the connection, this is surely a glaring sign that imitation is taking the place of truth seeking. The metaphor is so close that I find it one hard to distinguish from the other. How so? Recent studies show that fat cells take on a corrupt agenda of their own; greasy globules of fat actually function as an independent organ. They take over the body's pleasure centers and raise hunger to the top of its list of priorities. Heroin is now known to be less addictive than fat!

Now imitation does exactly the same thing in the world of the mind. The old fashioned word for this is idolatry, worship of false idols. People love this or that idea, cause or interest, but then it takes on its own agenda. It rises above all other points of view, even above the good of the human race itself. The means becomes the end. After that, every suggested cure becomes a self-propagating cancer.

This is why I think that the first step to a cure will be to investigate and regulate our lives according to what our bodies really need, in other words, reality. We increasingly do it for our pets, most of which look healthier and more content than their owners. We do it for new cars; warrantee plans assure that owners perform the proper maintenance of their vehicles at regular intervals. Why not for our own bodies and, most importantly, for our own souls?

What then would the world look like if we performed correct maintenance on our souls? To me the first outer sign that people value and apply search for truth as it merits would surely be that they smile and laugh. Proof of this is that children, whose physical needs are closely regulated by their parents, tend to laugh hundreds of times more often than adults. I believe that if throughout our lives we accepted the care and regular corrections that our Creator can offer, we would smile and laugh far more frequently than we do.

`Abdu'l-Baha seems to have been of this opinion. A loving smile is a major outer sign of successful search. He concluded His address to Green Acre (which was a center for free and eccentric thought at the time, not yet a Baha'i summer school) offered the following indicator that Baha'is have hit upon the truth of Baha'u'llah and are spreading it as they should.


"The Cause of Baha'u'llah has not yet appeared in this country. I desire that you be ready to sacrifice everything for each other, even life itself; then I will know that the Cause of Baha'u'llah has been established. I will pray for you that you may become the cause of upraising the lights of God. May everyone point to you and ask, Why are these people so happy? I want you to be happy in Green Acre, to laugh, smile and rejoice in order that others may be made happy by you. I will pray for you." (Abdu'l-Baha, Promulgation, 218)



Covenant and Search in an Age of Responsibility. Part I



By John Taylor; 30 May, 2004



The inauguration of search for truth as law and principle marks the most fundamental step forward in the history of humanity; it is the logical extension of the Abrahamic religions’ establishment of love as a law.

Revolutions have always eaten their own children and fallen back into barbarism and violence because they were not based upon search by one and all. It is always the same story. Opponents and contenders on all sides dress in high ideals and fill the air with slogans like "power to the people" and "no peace without justice." But all is empty posturing as long as each and all are not responsible, as long as even one of us is left out of the duty to search for truth.

Even without universality, limited search for truth has already has given birth to science and high technology, which are based upon systematic investigation of this world. As search becomes universal it will be carried to our purpose as humans, that is, conscious, regular accountability to God will be systematic, regular and universal. Hence the scriptural prophesy of a promised "Kingdom of God." The Bab inaugurated this Age of Responsibility. He declared that all difficulties are removed by the mantra: "All are His servants and all abide by His bidding." It follows that the only solution is for one and all to give a better, more regular accounting of themselves to God.

Holy Writ's special terminology pictures those who serve God consciously as sitting on God's "right hand" and those who do not on the "left." In both, the highest human station is defined by service to the King, responsibility to God. Conscious or unconscious, right or left, day or night, many symbols point to this one reality of one equal human station. The Bab explains,


"God is sanctified from His servants and no direct relationship ever existeth between Him and any created thing, while ye have all arisen at His bidding. Verily He is your Lord and your God, your Master and your King. He ordaineth your movements at His behest throughout the day-time and in the night season." (Bab, Selections, 130)


The Bab pictured His Revelation as the "essence of Islam." In spite of its horrific corruption today, the Message of the Qu'ran was designed to inculcate certain lessons that are at the heart of a truly civilized life. Among these are daily prayer, fasting, pilgrimage, alms, and other expressions built into one's lifestyle of accountability towards God. Without this training, we will always have problems breaking through from theory to action in the search for truth.

For Westerners our normality suffers from a perverse, triumphal secularism that leaves God utterly outside the structure of our lives. Regular daily expression of godliness is banished from daily life, even among our most pious and devout. One result is a twisted understanding of the nature of right and equality.

Over past centuries in the West equality and rights are misunderstood because they were hacked off the hanks of religion like a steak off a carcass. Constitutions, laws and rights were formally written out and made accessible to rational analysis. However, from an organic point of view they are dead, broken and mutilated. They came out of the Baha'i hell, that is, an atmosphere of contention, conflict, rebellion and revolution. Their influence is stunted for this reason. Only an atmosphere of love, a feeling of their being made in the court of a Merciful Creator will make right right for all of us.

This bifurcation of right from its root accelerated in the 18th Century with the Declaration of the Rights of Man. An example is Article 15, which states,


"Society has the right to require of every public agent an account of his administration." (Declaration of the Rights of Man, Article #15)


This upholds what is not unreasonable, that the people should require public servants to be responsible to them, or rather to their trustees and representatives. Answerability is what service is about, after all, and a servant by definition works for and is answerable to someone else, though not necessarily the one being served.

The problem is that a certain hypocrisy enters in. What business does the public have requiring an accounting of public servants if they themselves are not called to give account of their actions? Every perfidy starts and ends in a self-betrayal like this; if anyone is left unaccountable power, absolute power, centralizes upon that fulcrum.

If I do not start by holding myself accountable, there is no avoiding it, I am a hypocrite. If I never give account of myself by what right can I even utter the word "justice?" Every time I cry for justice, or complain of someone doing wrong I am holding some public agent to account. By questioning their actions I am leaving myself open to the same question. This article of the Declaration of the Rights of Man therefore set up another tyranny. It laid the groundwork for the totalitarianism of the public.

True religion holds the self, its truth and actions accountable to God, including the inner, hidden and untouchable thoughts. When religion is left out only some are held responsible and others are not. This is true of every human movement. The communists started by defending the working class but ended by making it into an idol and tyrant. The democrats do the same for the majority, capitalists for the profiteer, and so forth. Leaving anybody unaccountable opens the floodgate of centralized, unlimited power. It starts in hypocrisy and taints all service, public or private, with the master-slave relationship born of absolute power.

Nature abhors a vacuum. If you choose to leave God out something else will rush into the center; without Deity our hearts construct idols. The lesson of this age is summed up by this verse of the Qu'ran, which asks us to be objective and scientific about our idols. The criterion has to be whether they work.


"(Who) is better? -- God or the false gods they associate (with Him)?" (Q27:59, Yusuf Ali)


The old order is being rolled up because it is imbalanced by its involvement in idols and their tyranny, slavery and hypocrisy. In all its forms, this order is disordered, it simply does not work.


"Say: Verily my Lord doth cast the (mantle of) Truth (over His servants),- He that has full knowledge of (all) that is hidden. Say: The Truth has arrived, and Falsehood neither creates anything new, nor restores anything." (Q34:48-9, Yusuf Ali)


The new order is based upon a renewed covenant of service of each and all to God, without a single exception. Only this way will the ills of over-centralized, unaccountable power be excluded. That is why the Guardian called the new world order an "Age of Responsibility."

I am not finished with this theme, but for now let us conclude: At the crux of the principle of search for truth is the requirement that every believer, no, really everybody without exception, give a regular accounting of himself before God. At this junction search combines with social expression, which becomes the oneness of humanity. This combined principle informs all other social principles and bring order, world order, to the otherwise unimaginable complexity of five billion souls interacting every minute of every day.