Comenius and the Principle of Universal Peace
By John Taylor; 2009 Jan 13, 14 Sharaf, 165 BE
Part I; The Three Guardians of the Age of Happiness
Preface
Comenius was among the first to perceive that humanity is at a turning point where the promise of bliss is no longer a long shot hope of future bliss in heaven. The Kingdom, that is, a firm peace upheld by a world government, is practicable, but only if we make an effort.
Comenius has been called a utopian thinker, but his utopianism comes from straight from the Bible. It and indeed all holy books are inherently utopian, promising heaven and a future peace. This makes all believers and theists implicit utopians. For example, the Sermon on the Mount declares:
"Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called the children of God." (Matt 5:9, KJV)
Similarly, the Qur'an says,
"And the servants of (God) Most Gracious are those who walk on the earth in humility, and when the ignorant address them, they say, `Peace!'" (Q25:63, Yusuf)
The fact that peacemakers are the children and servants of God, and that their only enemy is ignorance, means that God clearly wants to confirm any effort we can muster to build permanent peace.
This is perhaps why, as we have seen, Comenius defines the entire profession of the politician as a specialist in peacemaking. As a result of this, his treatment of the two, politics and peace, cannot be artificially separated.
Universal Peace in the Panorthosia
The Panorthosia, Comenius's master work on universal reform, devotes four chapters especially to politics and peace. Chapter Fifteen outlines the three branches of his proposed future government of planet Earth. It is subtitled:
"Concerning the necessity of correctly establishing all our constitutions once they are correctly set up, by means of three supreme courts or tribunals as guardians of the Age of Happiness; and the form which these ought to take." (p. 216)
What a wonderful portrayal of the three branches of an institution that is destined to save the human race! Today so many are indoctrinated by nationalist propaganda to feel a chill of fear to hear the words "world government." How much more inviting "guardians of the Age of Happiness" sounds. Heaven on earth indeed.
The three "guardians of peace" are science, religion and politics. Each is tasked to focus on one aspect of the common good. And because they use education rather than propaganda, the programs they each set up will be like Comenius's proposed universal language in that they will be, as it were, "self-installing." Here is how he explains this in the Tenth Chapter,
"The last condition is that the Universal Good, based upon Universal Philosophy, Universal Religion and Universal Politics, should bring the end of all our desires under Heaven." (Panorthosia II, para 37, p. 167)
First of the three is the program run by the science ministry, which is concerned with establishing a philosophy or relation to knowledge that is universally compatible. The following explains why it is "self-installing,"
"This (universal good) will come to pass if true Philosophy kindles true light in the minds of men so that everyone has an inviolable share in it even in the absence of human books and suggestions, and lives in the light at every turn (in the three Books of God, Nature, Scripture, and the recesses of his Mind)..."
That is, when we are trained and competent in the basics of nature, the Word of God and our own psychology, we will flare out in our own brilliance. This is, in Baha'i terminology, what we call the principle of search for truth. Universal investigation by each and all of us will enable the individual to foster his own enlightenment while at the same time increasing the strength of the light that all see by. Next comes the court or tribunal of religion, and the educational program that it disseminates,
"... and if true Religion brings the Mind into true union with God, through which each and every one of us, regardless of external help and human learning, may walk uprightly before God and be filled with God, even now rejoicing in the joys of Heaven."
This Baha'u'llah in a famous quote calls One Common Faith. There is no sensible reason that religion cannot be like science in that it is part of the common heritage of humanity, and that its techniques cannot be part of the toolbox of every one of us. Everybody, even the atheist, has some kind of faith or view of our destiny in the universe, and insofar as it has truth there is no reason that we should not love and respect one another's search and be mutually supporting of one another's faith.
Finally comes the third branch, the tribunal of politics and peace. This is not restricted to the cessation of war. Interestingly, Comenius sees its establishment as coincident with the upholding of a universal standard of human rights, and perhaps even a ban, once and for all, on capital punishment.
"Lastly a perfect Political System should bring perfect Peace, so that summary powers to use the executioner's sword and the hangman's noose are abolished and no-one is at liberty to inflict savage and unjust treatment on his fellow-men."
The next chapter dealing with the proposed political institution is Chapter 17, subtitled, "The Universal Bond of Politics, The Dicastery of Peace." (p. 231) Chapter 24, "Political Reform," (p. 102) is concerned with details of how the institution will operate in a "panorthosic" way, and the 25th chapter, called, "The World Assembly Or Ecumenical Council," deals with the "Authority For Universal Reform." In upcoming essays in this part of the essay series I will be looking closer at Chapter 17.
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