What is New?

What is New About the Baha'i Faith?

Essay One

By John Taylor; 2009 Jan 29, 11 Sultan, 165 BE

In our daily study session with the kids we just finished the Book of Proverbs and have gone on to the Book of Ecclesiastes. These two, along with the Book of Job, are my favorites in the Old Testament and I could not imagine leaving them out of our children's education.

However, I am finding that Ecclesiastes grates rather painfully on young ears. `Tis a bitter pill to swallow, all that talk of working all your life, greedily scrubbing for more and lusting after yet more, and then in the end you gotta pass it all over to other hands. You do your all to be remembered and after a few years all there is left is dust. They object especially fervently to the endless repetitions of "All is vanity and chasing the wind," and "There is nothing new under the sun." It goes against the bred-in-the-bone optimism of youth, I suppose. I have to fight to get every sentence out, so frequent are their objections. But bitter medicine is still medicine, so I persist regardless. We all know that if there were no death, if we lived forever, there would be no need for religion. So these thoughts are necessary for all, be they young or old.

All that talk of there being nothing new under the sun is probably what moved me to return this morning to a project that preoccupied me especially during the 1990's, the question: "What is new about the Baha'i Faith?" I collected so much material on newness that I became overwhelmed. Sometimes it seemed that everything Baha'i was new, then I would go back and read ancient sources and dig up so many precedents that then it would seem that nothing is new. Finally the question "what is new?" started bothering me the same way "all is vanity, there is nothing new under the sun" do the kids. Only now that a decade is passed can I summon up the detachment to return to this question.

Although Ecclesiastes probably came long before, most classical writers were aware of the impossibility of saying anything totally new. For example,

"Nihil dictum quod non dictum prius," ("There is nothing said which has not been said before," Terence: Eunuchus, Prol. 10)

Of course being aware of that does not mean there is no point opening your mouth. We can hope that what we say, though already said, might be an improvement on what was done in the past. A sprinter may not be the first to run a hundred yards but he or she may do it faster than

anybody has ever done. World records continue to be broken, in spite of the fact that races have been run as long as recorded history. That seems to be the substance of this,

"We can say nothing but what hath been said. Our poets steal from Homer ... Our story-dressers do as much; he that comes last is commonly best." (Robert Burton, 1576-1640)

He that comes last is commonly best in speech too, if only because his words are current and can inspire the will and be changed into deeds right now. Old sayings, however wise and eloquent, do not have that immediacy. In that sense, the unique thing about the Baha'i Faith is that it can, will, must be carried out with great effect in the world. 

That, essentially, was the answer Abdu'l-Baha gave someone who evidently asked what the difference is between a Baha'i and other workers for peace and love. I will finish today's post with His letter answering that question,

"O thou lover of humanity!

"Thy letter was received and its contents imparted spiritual significances. Thank thou God that from thy early childhood thou hast been always a seeker after salvation and hast been spending thy energy and effort in charitable affairs and the excellences of the world of humanity.

"However, every great Cause in this world of existence findeth a visible expression through three means; first, intention; second, confirmation; third, action.

"Today on this earth there are many souls who are the spreaders of peace and reconciliation and are longing for the realization of the oneness and unity of the world of man; but this intention needs a dynamic power, so that it may become manifest in the world of being.

"Today the divine instructions and lordly exhortations of Baha'o'lah promulgate this most great aim and the confirmations of the Kingdom are the supports and defenders of this eminent intention.

"For the power of the Word of God is penetrative and the existence of the divine Kingdom is uninterrupted. Therefore, ere long it will become evident and clear that the ensign of the Most Great Peace is the teachings of Baha'o'llah.

"For the intention, the power and the action, all the three essential elements are brought together and the realization of everything in the contingent world dependeth upon these three principles. Therefore, O thou lover of the oneness of the world of humanity! spread thou as much as thou canst the instructions and teachings of His Highness Baha'o'llah, so that the desired Beloved become unveiled in the assembly of humankind and cast her light upon all the people.

"Likewise, some of the ancient philosophers have spoken regarding the oneness of the world of humanity, but confirmation and assistance became not their supports and helpers. Consequently their endeavors ended in being without result and the tree of their hope without fruit." (Abdu'l-Baha, Tablets, 690-692)

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John Taylor

email: badijet@gmail.com

blog: http://badiblog.blogspot.com/

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