p03 The Relativity of Absolutism

2008 May 18, 02 `Azamat, 165 BE
Next in a Series on False-Fundamentalism and Fanaticism


Einstein proved that physical space is curved, but the funny thing is that the spiritual, the non-physical is curved even more sharply than the space-time continuum of physics. In the invisible realm of the mind thought and opinion bend, twist and turn back upon themselves. This becomes more marked when civilization sets into decline. Our bond of social similarity becomes perverted, shaped like a horseshoe magnet bent around so that its tips are closer to each other than they are to the center. A crisis mentality takes over and the moderating influence of a common consensus is lost. The life of the individual goes unexamined and criticizing others seems easier and less painful than self criticism. As a result, the public forum splits into leftist and rightist, liberal and conservative, this and that.

As a civilization sets into decline the body politic is overrun by extremists, fanatics and false-fundamentalists. Like rats infesting a derelict building, narrow souls seek out the rotting garbage of dissent to feed an insatiate appetite for opposition. Each shade of opinion seeks out its opposite and makes brothers and sisters into opponents to strive against with all their might.

We see this happening all around us. Like a kaleidoscope, every issue, every question facing society is shifting and changing its color. Even the name of God, the ultimate uniting and moderating force, is soiled, and becomes more a cause of dichotomy than of consent. Speaking of the new opposition between thumpers and atheists, Chris Hedges in a new book writes,

"These atheists and Christian radicals have built squalid little belief systems that are in the service of themselves and their own power... They argue that some human beings... have to be eradicated to achieve this better world. They see only one truth, their truth... All other values, which they never investigate or examine, are dismissed... They seek to make us afraid of what we do not know or understand... They use this fear to justify cruelty and war. They ask us to kneel before little idols that look and act just like them." (Hedges, Chris, "I Do not Believe in Atheists," Free Press, New York, 2008, p. 7)

There are always two sides to every question, but when we cannot agree on an answer, even provisionally, the bend of space and time becomes more pronounced. Absolutism tries to nullify relativity, but only bends more. As long as we hold onto reflection and moderation, however, diversity of opinion is natural and beautiful. Enlightenment breaks our lights into a broad spectrum of diverse tastes, temperaments and personalities. This was created by God and He saw that it was good. The prism of the soul naturally breaks light into a rainbow of various hues.

However, service in the social and political realms is designed to act as a second prism, reuniting diverse colors back into a common consensus. If the attraction of love, mercy and our common humanity attenuates, unity is lost in disparate colors. The end result is not benign. Fanaticism is the hidden cause of all wars. The Master, in a letter to Martha Root written in the aftermath of the Great War, describes in graphic terms the effects of half truths gone wild, of fundamentalism fixated on false certainty.

"You will see how the world is upset with internal conflict, and many lands are dyed in human blood, - nay the earth is kneaded with gore. The flame of war is so ablaze that such terrible struggle finds no parallel in the war records of any of the middle or recent ages. Heads have become like grains and the war like mill stones, - nay even worse. Flourishing lands are ruined, cities completely wrecked and thriving towns annihilated. Fathers have lost their sons, sons are made fatherless, and mothers have shed tears of blood over the death of their youthful sons. Children are made orphan, women are helpless, and the world of humanity is forced backward in all respects. The wailing cry of fatherless children is raised abroad, and mothers' pathetic lamentation reaches the high heaven."

There are of course, degrees of war. We may not hear explosions when we step outside our door but bullying and words of war, the seeds of division, are to be heard wherever we go. And it is all but impossible not to get caught up in the struggles ourselves, no matter how hard we try.

As mentioned, space and time are curved. As fanatics strive to distance themselves from their opposite, the space between them narrows back on itself. In striving to nullify the other side, they secretly become similar, similarly inhumane. As individuals shuffle off their prime, sacred duty to investigate the whole truth, to see every side of the issue, and constantly to exercise self-criticism and restraint in their lives and words, they start to feel that they must deny similarity. That is when violence, strife and differences become inevitable. The Master, in the same Tablet, makes it unmistakable what the root of all war and dissention really is:

"The source of all these catastrophes is racial fanaticism, patriotic fanaticism, religious fanaticism and political fanaticism. The source of these fanaticisms is ancient imitations, religious imitations, racial imitations, patriotic imitations, and political imitations. As long as following such imitations persists, the very foundation of humanity is wrecked and the world of man is in great jeopardy." (Abdu'l-Baha, Letter to Martha Root)

Abdu'l-Baha taught that we must not despair, that we should bear in mind that this division is not of our nature but of the nature of ignorance. Not seeing or knowing the Reality behind all things creates a lack of dimensionality in our thinking and fear in the heart. Thought becomes a disease if both sides on any issue isolate themselves and come to believe ever more firmly that they only are right, and that all others are not just wrong but dangerous. Then the invisible germs of prejudice break out into a visible infection. The sore shows itself not always as brute violence, just a tendency to indulge in the verbal kind, gossip, badmouthing and backbiting.

As words spread hatred, the more ardently each polarity strives to differentiate itself by opposing and crushing a perceived enemy, the more they need their opposition to define their own position. Each resembles one another until ultimately, since opposites attract more than they repel, they unite in hating the center most of all. It is as if the tips of a horseshoe magnet touch and meld into one another. As the extremists unite into one they gain a new opposite, not one another but the center of the magnet. The extremist take the moderate as a common enemy. The enemy of the enemies is the latitudinarian and the peacemaker.

The cure to fanaticism is the same as any disease: recognize the symptoms in oneself early on. In the following, Baha'u'llah points to the first twinge of what later grows into a ravaging cancer: simply the habit of seeing others as strangers. If we avoid ever seeing other that way a fountain of wisdom -- the virtue of self-rule -- wells up, and peace becomes far easier.

"The path to freedom hath been outstretched; hasten ye there-unto. The wellspring of wisdom is overflowing; quaff ye therefrom. Say: O well-beloved ones! The tabernacle of unity hath been raised; regard ye not one another as strangers. Ye are the fruits of one tree, and the leaves of one branch." (Tabernacle, 2.37)