The Three and the One Thing Needful
By John Taylor; 2009 Feb 21, 15 Mulk, 165 BE
Ninth essay on Panorthosia, Chapter Twenty, Reform of the Individual
Reforming imperfections and clearing away obstacles
According to the editor, Comenius cites the following passage a couple of times in Panorthosia, including this chapter on the first stage of reform, getting your act together as an individual.
"Only when you are able to be a king in your own domain will you have the right to be monarch of the world." (Claudian IV Cons. Hon. 261-2)
The mention of "king of your domain" reminds me of the movie we just watched. Silvie lured Thomas and me to watch James Cameron's film "Titanic," which is parodied a thousand times by their favorite cartoon series, Futurama and the Simpsons. As we watched, every few minutes the kids would burst out laughing, seeing the original and remembering some send-up in animated form. For example, as the engine workers leaped to safety through the sinking ship's closing bulkhead doors, they recalled how Zoidberg saved himself by jamming his claw into the closing bulkhead door of a starship named "Titanic" being sucked into a black hole.
Anyway, the youths in the movie twice play a game of standing high at the bow of the speeding Titanic, shutting their eyes, raising their arms fully extended, as if they were saying the Salat prayer, then suddenly open their eyes. This gives the illusion that they are flying over the ocean. They then shout at the top of their voice, "I am the king of the world!" Clearly, the writers carefully chose this ironic mix of free, youthful exuberance with the arrogance of a vessel so formidable that its designer declares, "Not even God can sink this ship." What sounds like enthusiasm in a young person becomes insufferable in an adult and, in a doomed ship, a night to remember.
Yet this is just what we have to do to run a planet successfully, without running it into the ground. We need the qualities of a good king or queen. Whether we want it or not we are called to be a king or queen of all under our purview. A good ruler must carefully avoid being over-ruled by passion, greed or happenstance and learn what this planet needs to be run benevolently and sustainably.
The job of a ruler of self is to clear away stumbling-blocks from the path, such as "undue self-satisfaction," which makes one complacent and unwilling to change, and "undue inquisitiveness," which threatens to distract from one's purposes (in a biography I just read, an acquaintance pointed to Albert Einstein's persistence, steadfastness and refusal to give up as the secret of his revolutionary genius) and eschewing the block of hypocrisy, or "undue pretence of care," which undermines integrity and sincerity.
But this personal responsibility does not end there. If it did, one would hardly be worthy to be called a king or queen of one's realm. One would be a provincial, not a cosmopolitan.
For Comenius, wholly personal reform covers only the first of three universal duties. A truly good ruler is responsible not only to self but to God and other human beings. Three duties, not one. As individuals we must, yes, rule over our passion, greed, and other vices, but as brothers and sons (or daughters and mothers) we should also be a "dutiful servant to your neighbour, wholly co-operative and charitable towards him." Plus we have a third task, to be "totally committed to God, to do His will and endure it in full, here and to all eternity." (para 8, p. 22-23) Nothing less than a threefold duty qualifies us to be a worthy, benevolent "king of the world."
Once negative blocks are cleared away the next step is to replace them with their opposites. For example, we can avoid smugness but still have to show through attachment to our own welfare. This good love includes a healthy fear of perishing, which means concern for spiritual survival. We show we are attached to our neighbour "by treating him with the sincerest love and respect as the image of God." We show attachment to our God by clinging to Him and desiring to please Him alone. We do this as a tree clings to its root, since a tree "must begin to wither and dry up and perish if by any chance the two are separated." (para 8, pp. 22-23)
Although the duty to God is only the third of three duties, ultimately the first two are outcomes and expressions of the third duty. In words that echo Baha'u'llah's 15th Hidden Word, Comenius discusses the ineluctability of the duty to God,
"Apart from this way of returning unto and into one's individual self and unto and into God, there is no possible hope of salvation, no peace, and no happiness. If anyone who has failed to reform himself; should seek salvation from any external source, he will not find it, but will be exhausted by his search, and being exhausted he will groan, and groaning he will lament, and lamenting he will despair, and despairing he will perish, since light is only to be found in light, peace in peace, and all things in one." (Ch. 20, para 23, p. 28)
Compare this with the quasi-religion of market fundamentalism, which dominated the centers of power over the last three decades. Their big lie was that social good is attained through its opposite, crass greed and selfishness on the part of many individuals. Although these ideologues were careful never to bring this absurdity out into the light where it could be argued logically, their credo is repeated endlessly in the flood of advertising that constitutes the lifeblood of our commercial media.
The words of Comenius bear repeating: "light is only to be found in light, peace in peace, and all things in one." The opposite message we hear constantly. It is "your life is dark, you will be happy and enlightened if only you purchase this product or buy into this ideology." In reality our only hope of salvation is to turn the self into and unto God. In Him is our only hope of peace and happiness.
All my Baha'i I life I have in the evening before sleep taken myself into account by counting up at least five bounties of god and five ways I could improve on what I did that day. Lately I have felt dissatisfied with this technique. Maybe I could divide them into the three duties, to self, to others and to God. Counting three or four bounties and flaws based on that might cover the whole ground of duty more thoroughly. I will let you know how it works. Probably it is better to give attention to a few duties that cover everything than to many. Comenius uses the contrasting examples of Martha, who complained that Mary was not helping out with serving the meal, with that of Mary, who washed the feet of Jesus with a mix of fine ointment and her own tears,
"You must cease to be cumbered about like Martha and troubled about many things. Like Mary, you must choose that good part which shall not be taken away from you. You must say, 'One thing is needful, namely, that I should model myself on Christ according to God's good pleasure.'" (Ch. 20, para 11, p. 24)
As a Baha'i, I have the example of Abdu'l-Baha to follow. Maybe I should also try to think of stories from His life as I take myself into account. For just as Mary saved the apostles from despair and dispersal by pointing out that Christ had risen, Abdu'l-Baha saved the Baha'is from the same fate by His travels and His subsequent Tablets of the Divine Plan. That example is the "one thing needful" for a Baha'i.
"Turn thy face unto Mine and renounce all save Me; for My sovereignty endureth and My dominion perisheth not. If thou seekest another than Me, yea, if thou searchest the universe for evermore, thy quest will be in vain." (AHW 15)
John Taylor
email: badijet@gmail.com
blog: http://badiblog.blogspot.com/
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