The Rehabilitation

The Rehabilitation; Oneness of God and Religion

By John Taylor; 2006 April 18

We continue stepping through the "Great Being" statements in the
Lawh-i-Maqsud, presupposing that each illumines the junction between
the particular Baha'i principle and the Uber-principle, the Oneness of
God. Today we will look at the principle of oneness of religion, the
idea that there is unity behind religious tradition.

"The Great Being saith: O ye children of men! The fundamental purpose
animating the Faith of God and His Religion is to safeguard the
interests and promote the unity of the human race, and to foster the
spirit of love and fellowship amongst men..." (Tablets, 168)

This concept is teleological and utilitarian, exclusively focused upon
the overweening purpose of religion in the eyes of the one true God,
that is, love and unity. Our conception of religion is infinitely
baser than God's; we see organizations, traditions, sets of
contradictory beliefs. The Great Being turns aside from all that and
subjects everything to God's purpose, His desire that we address the
crying needs humanity. This demands that believers of all stripes
avoid being bound up in snares of the past and become goal and
future-oriented. For in the mind of God religion is above all a
service, a calling, a challenge, a mission -- and not only for
individuals but for groups and organizations. In the same passage
Baha'u'llah continues,

"Our hope is that the world's religious leaders and the rulers thereof
will unitedly arise for the reformation of this age and the
rehabilitation of its fortunes. Let them, after meditating on its
needs, take counsel together and, through anxious and full
deliberation, administer to a diseased and sorely-afflicted world the
remedy it requireth." (Id.)

In other places Baha'u'llah envisages this summit as a great ongoing
gathering of humanity planning and implementing human welfare on a
global level. The leaders who meet and consult together would not only
be religious and political leaders but would represent every other
scientific, linguistic and academic specialty, they would stand for
every people, ethnicity and special interest imaginable. Together,
they would surely initiate a new age of unification of the human race.
It is impossible to imagine specific results, but I think that just as
earlier ages of change came to be called the Renaissance and the
Reformation, this may come to known, using the above term, as the
"Rehabilitation."

What would be the role of religious leaders in rehabilitating the
world? Clearly, they would be more than busy enough at first just
reconciling their own followers to other faiths and learning to
cooperate in interfaith initiatives. However, we have seen that
Baha'u'llah envisages a three step process taking place at this Summit
of All Summits. The first step is meditating on the needs of the
world, second, consulting and third, action, administering the remedy
to a sick world.

Clearly, religious teachings are especially designed to address the
first stage, while science, politics and other bodies of learning
would perhaps come more into play in steps two and three. We would
naturally expect, therefore, that other world leaders would call upon
faith leaders to help design and plan this period of reflection and
meditation. If there were a whole year of search beforehand devoted to
reflection, the entire human race could participate in this stage, not
just a tiny cadre of leaders. Meditation is not restricted to time and
space, to the confines of one head or one idea, it is the procession
of oneness into the general conscience of the human race, as the Tao
Te Ching teaches,

"Earth follows Heaven.
Heaven follows the Tao.
The Tao follows only itself."
-Tao Te Ching, Lao-Tzu, J. H. McDonald, tr., ch. 14

--
John Taylor

badijet@gmail.com