p13 Proofs of the Existence of God, part one
By John Taylor; 2007 Dec 24, 13 Masa'il, 164 BE
I was an evangelizing atheist before God singled me out to partake of the healing medicine of His Cause. Like a reformed alcoholic, part of my "twelve step" cure is to help other victims of my former addiction tear the monkey off their back. So much do I value the proofs of the existence of God that I named my son "Hujjat," or proof; plus, when I began systematically to study the Baha'i principles, the first category I reserved after the obligatory twelve "pamphlet" principles was principle number thirteen, proofs of deity. Indeed, as I delved into them I discovered that each of the first twelve principles, from search for truth to universal peace, in their own way constitutes an independent proof of God. The biggest reason, I realized, that the "vitality of men's faith in God is dying out in every land" was because these principles are in desuetude, utterly absent from the public agenda.
Let us open this essay series on proofs of God's existence with the full text of a talk that Abdu'l-Baha gave on the 15th of April 1912. This was only His seventh address since His arrival in New York four days before. He had just spent the previous Autumn in Europe, including 19 days in England and two months in Paris; He had returned to Egypt to recuperate, and then in spring took the steamer Celtic to New York. In Paris especially He had entered into dialog with leaders of thought in what were and still remain the two main centers of Western materialism, England and France. The trend to secularism in Europe has, if anything, swung even further from God than in the time of the Master. For example, atheists in England are now openly asking why it is that religion so dominates the public agenda when less than seven percent of the population regularly attend church, mosque or synagogue. They are the majority, and they know it well. In what follows we see the Master lay out exactly why the fundamental presuppositions of these materialist thinkers are less than rock solid.
Master Talk on the Proofs of Deity given at the home of Mountfort Mills, in New York City
A few days ago I arrived in New York, coming direct from Alexandria. On a former trip I traveled to Europe, visiting Paris and London. Paris is most beautiful in outward appearance. The evidences of material civilization there are very great, but the spiritual civilization is far behind. I found the people of that city submerged and drowning in a sea of materialism. Their conversations and discussions were limited to natural and physical phenomena, without mention of God. I was greatly astonished. Most of the scholars, professors and learned men proved to be materialists. I said to them, "I am surprised and astonished that men of such perceptive caliber and evident knowledge should still be captives of nature, not recognizing the self-evident Reality."
The phenomenal world is entirely subject to the rule and control of natural law. These myriad suns, satellites and heavenly bodies throughout endless space are all captives of nature. They cannot transgress in a single point or particular the fixed laws which govern the physical universe. The sun in its immensity, the ocean in its vastness are incapable of violating these universal laws. All phenomenal beings -- the plants in their kingdom, even the animals with their intelligence -- are nature's subjects and captives. All live within the bounds of natural law, and nature is the ruler of all except man.
Man is not the captive of nature, for although according to natural law he is a being of the earth, yet he guides ships over the ocean, flies through the air in airplanes, descends in submarines; therefore, he has overcome natural law and made it subservient to his wishes. For instance, he imprisons in an incandescent lamp the illimitable natural energy called electricity -- a material force which can cleave mountains -- and bids it give him light. He takes the human voice and confines it in the phonograph for his benefit and amusement.
According to his natural power man should be able to communicate a limited distance, but by overcoming the restrictions of nature he can annihilate space and send telephone messages thousands of miles. All the sciences, arts and discoveries were mysteries of nature, and according to natural law these mysteries should remain latent, hidden; but man has proceeded to break this law, free himself from this rule and bring them forth into the realm of the visible.
Therefore, he is the ruler and commander of nature. Man has intelligence; nature has not. Man has volition; nature has none. Man has memory; nature is without it. Man has the reasoning faculty; nature is deprived. Man has the perceptive faculty; nature cannot perceive. It is therefore proved and evident that man is nobler than nature.
If we accept the supposition that man is but a part of nature, we are confronted by an illogical statement, for this is equivalent to claiming that a part may be endowed with qualities which are absent in the whole. For man who is a part of nature has perception, intelligence, memory, conscious reflection and susceptibility, while nature itself is quite bereft of them.
How is it possible for the part to be possessed of qualities or faculties which are absent in the whole? The truth is that God has given to man certain powers which are supernatural.
How then can man be considered a captive of nature?
Is he not dominating and controlling nature to his own uses more and more?
Is he not the very divinity of nature?
Shall we say nature is blind, nature is not perceptive, nature is without volition and not alive, and then relegate man to nature and its limitations?
How can we answer this question?
How will the materialists and scholastic atheists prove and support such a supposition?
As a matter of fact, they themselves make natural laws subservient to their own wish and purpose. The proof is complete that in man there is a power beyond the limitations of nature, and that power is the bestowal of God.
In New York I find the people more endowed with spiritual susceptibilities. They are not mere captives of nature's control; they are rising out of the bonds and burden of captivity. For this reason I am very happy and hopeful that, God willing, in this populous country, in this vast continent of the West, the virtues of the world of humanity shall become resplendent; that the oneness of human world-power, the love of God, may enkindle the hearts, and that international peace may hoist its standards, influencing all other regions and countries from here.
This is my hope.
-Abdu'l-Baha, Promulgation of Universal Peace, pp. 16-18
John Taylor
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