The Parable of the Ship

Sailing in a Tempest

By John Taylor; 2009 Jan 02, 03 Sharaf, 165 BE

The saying goes that "Anyone can sail a ship when the sea is calm." This seems to derive from Plato's parable of the ship in the Republic, which he uses as an argument against pure democracy. In the story the passengers in a ship take a vote as to who should lead. They fire the captain and take over the helm. The problem is that the crowd does not technically know how to sail a ship. Worrisome. However, against all expectations the arrangement worked well for the time being. The captain stayed on the sidelines and as long as fair weather held, there was no problem taking plebiscites as to what to do next. Only when a storm whipped up did the need for an expert captain become obvious to all on board. But by then it was too late and the ship foundered.

A variation to the story was just posted on the Monty Python channel on YouTube. A pilot, played by John Cleese, and his co-pilot in an airliner get bored with clear sailing in fair skies. They decide to jerk their passengers around by making announcements like, "Kindly stay in your seats and remain calm." This is followed by increasingly disturbing announcements until eventually the passengers all panic and jump out. The pilot's closing comment is, "I would be surprised if there were not some trouble about that."

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hh_shsRfXqk

This describes our present crisis, especially in high finance. As long as they had prosperity and fair weather the rich successfully argued that markets are self-sufficient and do not need rules and regulations. Now that a storm really is brewing, the usual panic starts to spread. A Laissez faire attitude suddenly seems less than wise. Where is the wise captain now that the waves are breaking over our bow? Would we not be better prepared if we had been under a competent leadership all along?

Our family was in town last week shopping and my 14 year old daughter insisted on accompanying me on my usual trip through a bulk grocery. Here she picked out a variety of powdered soups. I was pleased that she was showing an interest in cooking for herself. But no, that was not why she wanted them. It turns out that she wanted to have a stash of long-lasting food on hand for the coming Second Great Depression. She is certain that this is about to happen and thinks we should prepare for it. What do you say to that?

Of course, the true captain of the age is God's holy Manifestation. His instructions we have to obey without question, even as scripture says, "He doeth what He willeth." This because an experienced captain's orders arise from long experience, from his suffering, testing and survival in real crises. Often an expert of any kind, be it a carpenter, a doctor or the captain of a ship, will be quite inarticulate about why he holds a given opinion. He may not be able to explain in words why he thinks you should do this and not that. This explanation the Master gave,

"If some people do not understand the hidden secret of one of His commands and actions, they ought not to oppose it, for the supreme Manifestation does what He wishes... So also, when the head of the army is unrivaled in the art of war, in what he says and commands he does what he wishes. When the captain of a ship is proficient in the art of navigation, in whatever he says and commands he does what he wishes. And as the real educator is the Perfect Man, in whatever He says and commands He does what He wishes." (Abdu'l-Baha, Some Answered Questions, p. 173)

We who were raised in nominal democracies have a hard time with this "sovereignty of the expert." We are used to riding in ships that have been taken over by non-experts. We are used to frequent shipwrecks, depressions and downturns too. We are almost instinctually suspicious of putting the helm into the hands of any one person, whatever his claim to expertise. Yet nobody has refuted Plato's ship's captain argument against democracy. Present day democracies try to get around the problem by electing representatives who have supposedly been pre-selected for their expertise. Yet often the reverse is the case, since it is in the narrow interest of the political parties to nominate compliant, ignorant stooges. For example, a recent study found that over a third of Members of Parliament in Canada had not even completed High School.

I remember once long ago an evangelical Christian dragged me to one of his Holy Roller meetings. The pastor went on and on and on about Jesus dying for our sins. My friend turned to me and asked if I found it a strange idea that He had to suffer like that? "Yes. I mean no," I answered, "Baha'is believe that too." But later I had nagging doubts. Suffering is a strange idea, like that comment about quantum mechanics: If you think you understand it you only show that you have not understood it. Do I really understand why we have to suffer? Pretty unlikely. Yet there is a definite emphasis in the Writings that the more the Manifestation suffers, the more powerful is His Medicine. In the following letter (written originally to Lua, who was later named by Him the Herald of the Covenant) the Master uses the same ship's captain analogy to explain why Baha'u'llah had to suffer as He did, and why we have to follow in those footsteps,

"The more difficulties one sees in the world the more perfect one becomes. The more you plough and dig the ground the more fertile it becomes. The more you cut the branches of a tree the higher and stronger it grows. The more you put the gold in the fire, the purer it becomes. The more you sharpen the steel by grinding the better it cuts. Therefore, the more sorrows one sees the more perfect one becomes. That is why, in all times, the Prophets of God have had tribulations and difficulties to withstand. The more often the captain of a ship is in the tempest and difficult sailing the ... greater his knowledge becomes. Therefore I am happy that you have had great tribulations and difficulties . . . Strange it is that I love you and still I am happy that you have sorrows. ('Abdu'l-Baha, Star of the West, vol. XIV, no. 2, p. 41)

There is another anecdote from the Master about the ship's captain. It seems that just after Abdu'l-Baha's voyages to the West, somebody pointed out some French warships in the harbor of Alexandria. Here is what Ahmad Sohrab's diary entry for 26 October, 1913 records Him as saying,

"I desire that you may see the divine ships. These ships are the blessed sails who are traversing the sea of Divine mercy; their propellers are the powers of spiritual love and their captains are the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. No ship is ever wrecked in this sea; its waves are life-giving. Each one of the friends of God is like unto an ark of Salvation. Each ark saves many souls from the storms of troubles. The signs and traces of these sails are never-ending and eternal. The future centuries and cycles are like the seas on the surface of which these arks glide blissfully toward their spiritual destination." (Star of the West, Vol. 8, No. 8, p. 104)

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John Taylor

email: badijet@gmail.com
blog: http://badiblog.blogspot.com/

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