By-words for World Order
By John Taylor; 2009 Jan 28, 10 Sultan, 165 BE
Part IV
"But be not
ye called Rabbi: for one is your Master, even Christ; and all ye are brethren.
And call no man your father upon the earth: for one is your Father, which is in
heaven. Neither be ye called masters: for one is your Master, even Christ. But
he that is greatest among you shall be your servant. And whosoever shall exalt
himself shall be abased; and he that shall humble himself shall be
exalted." (Matt 23:8-12, KJV)
I hate to think
how often I have read this without ever giving it a second thought, except
maybe wondering how it can be that certain Christian sects in spite of this
persist in calling their leaders by titles like "father" or
"patriarch." That is, I thought of it as a purely religious order
rather than a practical one. The idea that a "no master" rule could
be built into a political system just did not occur to me. Nor have I read any
political author outside the Baha'i Faith who took it as seriously as it
clearly deserves. Until, that is, I came across Jan Amos Comenius. In the
following Comenius is considering the role of the individual in the three-pronged
world government that he envisions,
"Indeed we
ought to make several appointments to the office of guardian of human
salvation, as Christ in his everlasting Wisdom has taught us in the famous
passage in Matthew XXIII, 8-10, forbidding the establishment of one sole form
of rule, worship, or wisdom amongst men." (Panorthosia, Ch. 15, para 9, p.
218)
That is, Comenius
interprets this saying of Christ as forbidding all but poliarchy, rule of more
than one in any of the political, religious and scientific institutions that
would constitute a world government. No individual can take it over or even
take on any direct power to the extent of meriting the title
"master." Does that remind you of anything? Baha'i Houses of Justice,
for instance? Comenius continues,
"For he
(Christ) forbids the use on earth of the title master, father or leader in
reference to the position of scholars, churchmen and politicians. Surely we
must learn the lesson that the only form of world organisation should be for
all men to unite in brotherhood, and all to depend on one Heavenly Father and
the one Master and Leader whom He gave unto us, namely, Christ."
Of course
avoiding the use of titles and other honorific forms of address for our leaders
does not mean that we should not have any leaders at all. This is not
doctrinaire egalitarianism, it says only that the "greatest among you
shall be your servant." There will still be great ones among us but they
are to be servants of the people, held to account for their words and actions.
The goal is thus to create an "Aristos" (meaning "the best"
in Greek) without an inherited, uppity aristocracy.
Reading over the
context of the above saying of Jesus, I just noticed that He brackets it with
very strong condemnations of hypocritical leaders who revel in titles,
trappings and pageantry, and glory in high sounding words while their deeds
belie their beautiful ideals.
The leader who
humbles himself and, for that reason, is exalted to the station of service is
put in stark contrast with the pompous hypocrites who persecute the
Manifestations. Here is the source of the dictum, attributed to Lord Acton,
that power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely. Honors and titles,
corrupt us no matter who we are, and like a poison gas the only way to avoid
getting ill from it is to stop breathing it. Furthermore, as long as we
followers give these honors and farm out our power without conditions to
individuals, so long will leaders be sickened and continue to pervert the
public thing.
Consider the very
similar condemnation that Abdu'l-Baha gave in the "Noam Chomsky"
passage that I cited more at length here lately,
"Glory be to
God! What an extraordinary situation now obtains, when no one, hearing a claim
advanced, asks himself what the speaker's real motive might be, and what
selfish purpose he might not have hidden behind the mask of words."
(Abdu'l-Baha, The Secret of Divine Civilization, 103)
Who is
Abdu'l-Baha condemning here? Certainly He goes on to talk about the hypocritical
Muslim leader who puts his narrow, petty interest before that of all, and who
bellows loudly about niggling points of ritual. Abdu'l-Baha does not praise the
hypocrite any more than Christ did. But the real object of His criticism here
is poor "followership," uncritical followers who abdicate their
sacred responsibility to treat their leaders as their servants, that is, to
make certain they do their job for the common good. Instead, most followers are
totally uncritical; they blithely abdicate that responsibility and accept
whatever their leaders tell them at face value.
I think both
Comenius and Abdu'l-Baha realized that we will never have a world government
until the people become better at "followership." Until we as a
collectivity gain the skills of holding our leaders into account like a boss
holds his employees into account, until we get into the habit of keeping pomp
and titles from public service, so long will the old fear of a world
dictatorship continue to block real power from being passed over to a world
institution, however well designed and representative it may be.
In order to
encourage such a critical attitude on the part of large numbers of people,
Comenius suggests an interesting technique. As we noticed last fall in our
series about Comenius's reform program for the family, Comenius suggests the
repetition and display of specially chosen mottos. He does this throughout
Panorthosia, suggesting a short motto for every important area of life.
He
wrote of course centuries before advertisers arrogated this technique for their
narrow, corrupt commercial purposes. Nonetheless the growth of an entire
profession and the billions companies spend on publicity campaigns prove that
dunning the mind of the masses with endless slogans, jingles and brand names is
at least an effective technique.
Comenius was an
educator, not a propagandist or advertiser. But he saw how a brief saying can
remind us at the right time of the right thing to do. He suggested that the
following mottos be posted everywhere to promote awareness of the role and
value of the three world institutions:
Educational and
Scientific Institution: "Light in Things"
Political
Parliament: "Peace on Earth"
Parliament of
Religions: "Peace of Conscience"
These three three-word
mottos for three international bodies require further illumination. Here is the
explanation that Comenius gives,
"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. 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. 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." (Comenius,
Panorthosia II, Ch. 10, para 38, pp. 167-168)
Having these
three slogans in mind, the average citizen, no matter who they are, will be
able to ask pointed questions of their leader-servants, no matter who it may
be, be they in the family, the city, the nation or the world. If the person of
prominence is a scientist or teacher, we can call to mind the slogan
"light in things" and ask: "Is this a perfect philosophy? Does
it promote enlightenment? Is it going to do the world any good?" If the
head is in an institution dealing with practical or political affairs, the
motto "Peace on Earth" reminds us always to ask, "Will this lead
to peace or just stir up more conflict?" If the mugwump is in a religious
inspired group, the slogan "Peace of Conscience" reminds us to ask:
"Is your choice moral? Is it inspiring? Is this a harmonious application
of God's teaching?"
There is no doubt
that poor followership causes wrongheaded thinking, extremism, zealotry,
fanaticism and fundamentalism in science, politics and religion. This blocks
peace everywhere. Comenius's idea of mottos designed to uphold the true
fundamentals of peace, love, and enlightenment, would be a powerful universal
weapon against corruption, prejudice and misused power.
--
John Taylor
email:
badijet@gmail.com
blog:
http://badiblog.blogspot.com/
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