The Nature of Consciousness and the Oneness of Humanity
Panorthosia and the Oneness of Humanity, II
Our focus for now is on the Panorthosia and how it relates to the principle of the oneness of humanity. The initial essay in this series was: "Comenius's Panorthosia and the Oneness of Humanity, Part I;" or, "Bolivia and the Miracle of Principle." It can be found at,
http://badiblog.blogspot.com/2009/03/miracle-of-principle.html
Next time we will go on to how Comenius in the Panorthosia treats this principle in an essay that I will probably call: "From Conscience to Consciousness; On the Oneness of Humanity in Panorthosia." Before that, however, I want to get back to basics and talk today generally about what the oneness of mankind is.
The Nature of Oneness of Humanity
Baha'u'llah said that religion is the light of a sun, fasting, and a moon, obligatory prayer. All other aspects of faith and religion derive inspiration from these two simple but absolutely fundamental devotional practices. If it is the case that there is a sun and a moon for principle, the sun here would have to be the principle of independent investigation of reality and its moon the principle of the oneness of humanity.
This makes sense if we consider that the oneness of humanity will always perforce remain a distant abstraction in the eyes of the individual. Nobody, no matter how well-travelled or how broad their experience, can ever meet or even glimpse every member of the human race. There are several billion humans on this planet, and a billion is a very large number. One could spend a lifetime going over mug shots and barely scan tens of millions of faces, let alone a billion. The principle of the oneness of humanity, then, is just like the moon in that it shines through a very dark night and its cold light will always derive from the sun of the search of individuals for truth and reality. The indirect, reflected illumination of the oneness of humankind can only partly illumine the mind, and will never give it much heat. The diffuse glow of this "moon principle" is termed the consciousness of the oneness of humanity.
This is not to say that the oneness of mankind is unimportant. Indeed in a sense it has always been central to faith and religion. Believers in God accept that there is only one way to help the seven billion neighbours that God created for us on this planet, and that is to be true to our Creator. If we do right by Him, we can at the same time be just to all our brothers and sisters on this vast, teeming planet. As Comenius put it,
"If they are seized with His love, and truly unite with Him in their desires, they will also find it easier to cooperate with one another." (Panorthosia, Ch. 19, para 13, pp. 14-15)
Faith is so effective, efficient and persuasive because monotheism is by nature the ultimate simplifier. I do not have to deal with seven billion, I just have to meet One. Know Him and love Him intimately, and I will be far closer to truth than if I knew every one of those billions. If faith is then firmly based upon the Word of God's Manifestation, God will arm us with the instrument known as the law of parsimony, or Occam's Razor. This razor cuts away all illusion, imitation and distraction. As Comenius expresses it in the Panorthosia, "truth must be taught before errors are untaught." (Ch. 18, para 16, p. 246) The Razor of religion cuts in its own particular direction in every age, but today it is going directly towards the consciousness derived from our common oneness. As Abdu'l-Baha explains,
"In every Dispensation the light of Divine Guidance has been focused upon one central theme.... In this wondrous Revelation, this glorious century, the foundation of the Faith of God, and the distinguishing feature of His Law, is the consciousness of the oneness of mankind." (Abdu'l-Baha, quoted in, Shoghi Effendi, The Promised Day is Come, 119)
If I may sum up: The principle of the oneness of mankind is where the truth that we uncover for ourselves melds into the universal truth of all humanity, and vice versa. The word we use for this bi-directional reciprocity between the two pivotal principles is "consciousness." Search is individual conscience, oneness is collective consciousness. The upshot is that oneness of humankind operates through an intangible, spiritual quality, consciousness, rather than any particular skill or methodology.
==========
Understanding well the juncture between search and oneness is crucial to understanding and applying principle. It may seem obvious to a Comenius or an 'Abdu'l-Baha that search leads inevitably to oneness, and vice versa, but in the secular, unbelieving, non-theistic eyes of most of the human race this remains very much to be proved. I want to close with a passage from Panorthosia where Comenius addresses this problem. He very eloquently demonstrates that the grounds are solid and true for accepting that individual search will naturally to take us all to a single opinion.
==========
Grounds for Believing Truth
from: Comenius, Panorthosia II, Ch. 8, para 33, pp. 122-123
"If anyone is still in doubt, I shall proceed to prove that if we adopt this way there will be no reason to despair of the most perfect reconciliation, since the time is ripe for us to begin to hope for it. For at present in our schools, churches, courts and parliaments we are all indoctrinated with different forms of theory and practice in philosophy, religion, and politics, and we flatter ourselves with natural self-satisfaction that our leaders can do no wrong. The result is that the more eagerly we drink our first pledge, so to speak, the more easily we succumb to the intoxication which fetters our judgment so that it is seldom, if ever, possible for us to use our minds freely when we awake.
But if we reject the ways of man and embrace those of God (drawing from God's Holy Books as our only source of wisdom, prudence and devotion), and advance along the pathways to Order which He has indicated, I would wager my life that our common Teacher, and the common Lover of all men without respect of persons, will thereby lead us back to agreement. For,
I. since the whole world is subject to the senses, and these are all of the same structure, if we all alike examine everything in the world with our senses, it will be impossible for anything to affect different people in different ways, but a similar sensation in all people will produce agreement.
II. Since common innate ideas, instincts and faculties are imprinted upon all men's minds in the same way, if we co-ordinate them and all adopt and apply the same forms and standards for their consequences, the same common mental light cannot fail to shine on us all in the same way.
III. Lastly, since all God's revelations, commandments, and promises in Holy Scripture are revealed, commanded, and promised to all men in the same way, if we all believe all His revelations and do all that He commands and hope for all that He has promised, surely we shall all believe and do and hope for the same things.
--
John Taylor
email: badijet@gmail.com
blog: http://badiblog.blogspot.com/
No comments:
Post a Comment