First Futurist

Pythagoras, the First Futurist

By John Taylor; 2013 Jan 07, 169 BE

 

Last month I finished reading a rather disappointing book about the influence of the sun on history. It is called the "petulant sun hypothesis," or something, the idea that sunspots and solar flares have influenced climate and just about every other aspect of our world more than we tend to think.

Its author describes himself as a futurist. Instead of paying his dues by researching this promising thesis thoroughly, though, he relies on his sense of humour to get him through some three hundred pages of fluff. The jokes I found distracting and less than amusing. This is not the only futurist who disappointed me. If, as Bacon put it, some books are to be tasted and some digested, futurists, at least those I have read, are windblown foam that I would not put in my mouth.

Yet the subject itself is so important and fascinating!

The talent pool for futurists seems to be the dubious demimonde of fads and punditry. Instead, I think the ideal place for a futurist to start when exploring the future is in philosophy and the history of ideas. Here, are those ideas most likely to last into the future. Here, you become familiar with those that have been discredited so you can recognize them when they crop up again in disguise. And, not least important, you can give credit where credit is due when an old, profound truth raises its head. It is in this spirit that I wrote the following about the real Pythagorean theorem.

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The Real Pythagorean Proof; Pythagoras and our Object as Humans

 

 

It is now established that the proof of Pythagoras was known by the Babylonians many centuries before his birth; indeed, they understood the theorem much better. We should therefore call that right angled triangle relation, which some say is the most important theorem in mathematics, the "Babylonian Proof" instead of the Pythagorean. Nonetheless, there remains a Pythagorean proof that should be far better known as such than it is. Arguably, it is even more important that the mathematical contribution of Pythagoras and his followers.

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What is our goal as human beings? Pythagoras of Samos (about 570-495 BCE), travelled the known world, from Europe to Asia, from Egypt to India and back, in search of an answer, and his discovery still stands today. He found that our object, our raison d'etre as human beings, is knowledge. Not only that, he found that knowledge has three aspects, just as triangles have three sides, or our world has three dimensions. These are knowledge of self, of the universe and of God. Once we grasp these, truth will empower and set us free, in and of itself. Pythagoras has been credited with this statement:

"Man, know thyself; then thou shalt know the Universe and God... No one is free who has not obtained the empire of himself. No man is free who cannot command himself." (Pythagoras <http://www.experiencefestival.com/pythagoras_quotes>)

This unites theory and action, East and West, and all that we now call science, religion and politics. It is still repeated by pundits of all stripes, hundreds of centuries afterwards. The same advice, "Know Thyself," was posted above the Oracle of Delphi. In Shakespeare's Hamlet, a father repeats it to his departing son,

"This above all: to thine ownself be true,

And it must follow, as the night the day,

Thou canst not then be false to any man."(Shakespeare, Hamlet, Act I, Sc. 3)

Ideally, everyone would succeed in this sublime quest to know oneself comprehensively, to rule over oneself with perfect love, justice and wisdom. If we could, we would know and grow smoothly, all the time. Like his right angled triangle, we would grasp the hidden unknowns and progress steadily through each stage of our development, from early youth to old age. We would not need laws, rules or outside compulsion. It would be a libertarian paradise.

Unfortunately, life is imperfect. Self-knowledge tends to fail. Much as we would like it to be, the right angle is not always exactly 90 degrees. We misunderstand. We forget. We change, the environment changes and society grows. The universe is expanding. Knowledge itself is incomplete, by its very nature. We lose hold of our freedom. Rule over self lapses. To adapt, we must be tentative, and continually upgrade what we know, even of one's self.

Pythagoras recognized this when he coined the word "philosopher" to take the place of the much older "elder" or "wise man."

"Pythagoras is said to have been the first to assume the title of Philosopher (lover of wisdom) in place of the name Sophos (wise), by which the sages had before been known." <http://www.nndb.com/people/773/000087512/>

Wise men think they own wisdom, an impossible expectation in this growing, expanding universe. All that imperfect beings dare aspire to is to be seekers after wisdom, to adore wisdom but never possess her. At our best, we are lovers who revere knowledge, and humbly court wisdom. A philosopher does not presume to be wise already. He is tolerant, tentative and evolutionary. Such is the station of a philosopher.

Pythagoras was among the first to notice that this station points in three direction, like a right angled triangle. There is not, and cannot be, only one path to truth. There are three ways of knowing and growing because knowledge starts with knowing the self, then it proceeds to the universe and to God. We have three main motives or reasons for being, which he illustrated by the three types of people who turn up at a sporting event.

 

 

"Pythagoras argued that there are three kinds of men, just as there are three classes of strangers who come to the Olympic Games. The lowest consists of those who come to buy and sell, and next above them are those who come to compete. Best of all are those who simply come to look on. Men may be classified accordingly as lovers of wisdom, lovers of honor, and lovers of gain." ("Pythagoras," Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy, http://www.iep.utm.edu/pythagor/)

Chapter from Persons Beyond Borders, My Book in Progress

 

Reflecting the Nature of Things

A Grand Simplification

 

 

 

Throughout his life, John Amos Comenius kept to his vision of a grand unification of knowledge through wisdom. In his early career, Comenius worked out revolutionary educational reforms eliciting learning not from rote or force but direct observations by students. Knowledge, he believed, is not a commodity that can be passed on from teacher to student -- in fact borrowing causes corruption, passivity and, in the end, contempt for knowledge. Instead, he sought to instill curiosity, inquiry and love for learning. Efficient learning comes from deep within our nature; it is the outcome of seeking the whole truth in one world, while serving others and worshipping one God. A teacher's role is to speed and enliven this process, never to violate the mind's right to freedom by dictating to it.

 

Comenius advocated the object lesson as a way of promoting independent search. He may not have been the first to use this teaching technique, but he certainly developed and popularized it. In an object lesson a teacher holds up an ordinary object, such as a pen or a candlestick, and solicits observations from members of the class. From there lessons are drawn about morality, politics and science. Similarly, a century before Rousseau’s Emile, Comenius proposed that teachers leave their classrooms once in a while and take pupils out to learn in forests, streets and industrial sites. On these field trips, he encouraged students to cast aside trite, second-hand learning and observe, drawing conclusions based not only on what they had been reading but on what their eyes and ears told them.

 

Panorthosia takes these educational innovations to their ultimate conclusion. It would erect an entire world order where everybody learns and teaches through direct experience. In order to make each step as universal as possible, and, as we might now say, to rid the mind of cultural baggage, he advocated starting with a grand project of simplification. This radical simplifying activity would not be restricted to one worldview -- this was undoubtedly one point on which Comenius and Rene Descartes, another advocate of simplification, disagreed about in the face-to-face debate they had with one another. For Comenius, systematic simplifying is the best approach not only to science and mathematics but also of faith and policy. In fact, it should aim at setting all three on an even footing.

 

"Let our Philosophy be simplified, provided that it satisfies moderate minds and circumstances. Let our Religion be simplified, provided that it satisfies God, the source of simplicity, and men of upright conscience. Let our Political System be simplified, provided that it serves its purpose of peacefulness in human affairs." (Panorthosia II, Ch. 10, para 3, p. 152)

 

As simplification advances, knowledge would then surely become public property, not the exclusive domain of elites. For the first time knowledge would be free, and would serve liberal ends. The expert's high calling is to serve humanity by aiding this project, not by obstructing it, as was all too common among Comenius's scholastic peers.

 

 

 

Comenius did not deny that this demands unprecedented responsibility from experts, especially, though not exclusively, from experts in the three pivotal specialties, natural philosophy (science and education), politics and religion. These professionals must eschew all obfuscation and do everything possible to welcome all into their inner sanctum. Their aim must be to make everyone the best that they can be by qualifying as an amateur philosopher, politician and theologian.

 

The simplification project needs to set its sights even higher, though. Even more fundamental than science, religion and politics is language itself. If we cannot communicate with one another, none of these can exist, important as they may well be. As long as humans speak multiple languages, the benefits of education, of political progress and religious reconciliation can never have their full benefit. The language barrier, more than anything else -- even borders, geography and primitive transportation technology -- blocks freedom of movement and freedom of intercourse among peoples. A common language is absolutely necessary for the cosmopolitan outlook.

 

In the following paragraph from the final chapter of Panorthosia, Comenius demonstrates that agreement upon a common world language is not only a scientific and political necessity, it is a religious duty as well.

 

"If we are given a universal language, and it is adopted by all nations, the world will become accessible to all its inhabitants, as there will be nothing to stand in the way of anyone who wishes to travel abroad and teach or be taught in any of its climates. For if all men understand one another, they will all be as one nation, one household, and one school of God. So at last the meaning of the following prophecies will be revealed: 'All the land shall be turned as a plain,' (Zechariah 14:10); and 'Thou shalt not see a people of a deeper speech than thou canst perceive, and of a foreign tongue that thou canst not understand' (or as others translate it, 'in which there is no wisdom') (Isaiah 33:19 and 'I will gather all nations and tongues' (Isaiah 64:18), and 'All the nations were of one language, and so they were gathered together again after the Lord scattered them abroad with confusion of language' (Genesis 11:1, 7, 8), when the Lord shall begin to build up Zion and to appear in His glory (Psalm 102:16, 17, 19, 22, 23)." (Panorthosia, Ch. 26, Para 7, p. 157)

 

From Wisdom to Pansophy

 

 

 

Beyond agreeing upon a universal language, the project of simplified knowledge can be summed up in one word, wisdom. Wisdom, Comenius believed, is the main practical lesson to be learned from the Bible, as well as classical philosophy, the natural world and that of politics. Wisdom instills willing acceptance that good changes come from the nature of things; they are not an arbitrary imposition of human will or the whim of an elite.

World order will arise from an underlying "parallelism of Philosophy, Politics, and Religion..." (Panorthosia, Ch. 13, para 12, p. 204) Our vision of this parallelism, like the observations of a student, conditions us within before we can inform the world. Be it scientific, political or religious, wisdom has a common,.

 

"purpose of kindling in men's minds one full light whose rays are undivided, and therefore it is Universal Light in which everyone may see all things just as they are, and in so doing produce antidotes for error and hallucination, and cures for all the ills of Church and State, so that darkness no longer has any place in our affairs, since we are all guided towards the fountains of light, wherein there is no darkness." (Panorthosia, Ch. 11, para 2, pp. 175-176)

 

The nature of wisdom is such that a wise person is, by definition, Homo Universalis, a polymath or generalist who aspires to grasp all things, not just a segmented part of reality. Once enough leading members of society become wise, teachers will learn to teach wisdom in schools. Once they succeed in that, each new generation will come ever closer to wisdom. Eventually, society will cross a tipping point where wisdom becomes a universal aspiration, the ruling principle of every matter, big or small. This condition Comenius called pansophy, or universal wisdom.

 

 

 

Under pansophism, the full potential of each human will finally be realized. This leap forward will make all knowledge available to all seekers and tear down every ivory tower of knowledge and privilege. The people will no longer be distracted by translators and middlemen; they will be mature enough to wield their own power responsibly. Comenius compared this epistemic transition to the difference between an ordinary key and a master or skeleton key, which is designed to open any door in the building.

 

"What is the difference between Philosophy and Pansophy? Surely it is that between the part and the whole; just as if one man who lived in a castle had separate keys for each of the rooms, and another had only a single key which opened them all." (Panorthosia, Ch. 11, para 22, pp. 184-185)

 

As a by-product of having Homo Universalis in the majority, pansophism would encourage universal engagement in the tremendous task of minding the entire planet. Earth would be a true global democracy. Unlike the ideological approaches that have been tried and failed, pansophy, by walking the tightrope of parallel worldviews, would accomplish the otherwise impossible feat of maximizing both freedom and equality.

Three Duties for Personal Change

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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A Spiritual Constitution

Salat: Writing an Individual's Spiritual Constitution

By John Taylor; 2009 Feb 20, 14 Mulk, 165 BE

Seventh essay on Panorthosia, Chapter Twenty, Reform of the Individual

Last fall we studied Comenius's ideas for a family constitution to be posted in every household. He envisioned also a motto or escutcheon to post over the door of a meritorious, united family's home. Now we are at an even more microscopic level, Comenius's plan for individual reform in Chapter Twenty of Panorthosia. The motto that Comenius suggests here for a reformed individual is the virtue for the first month of the Badi' year, Baha, or Splendour: "Here is a splendid image of God." He does not suggest that this phrase be literally tattooed onto people's forehead, but a spiritually perceptive viewer should perceive it nonetheless,

"Therefore no matter who you are, you must reform yourself according to God's good pleasure and with His help, so that angels and pious men are able, as it were, to read on your forehead the inscription: `HERE IS A SPLENDID IMAGE OF GOD.' (Panorthosia, Ch. 20, para 24, p. 28)

Some sort of mention of a mark of a person's spiritual state displayed above the face is found in all scriptures. The Qur'an, for example, talks about dust on Muslims' foreheads -- a dust mark showing a stain (again, not literally) from bowing the head to the ground during the five daily Salat prayers. And Baha'u'llah spoke also of an invisible sign distinguishing those conscious of God's Glory from those who do not,

"O thou that hast remembered Me! The most grievous veil hath shut out the peoples of the earth from His glory, and hindered them from hearkening to His call. God grant that the light of unity may envelop the whole earth, and that the seal, `the Kingdom is God's', may be stamped upon the brow of all its peoples." (Gleanings, 11)

This too implies that the Salat or obligatory prayer leaves a remnant on the forehead.

The beginning of this prayer talks about the light of unity. This is, first, the unity of God. The Baha'i Salat ends with a prostration followed by the believer sitting cross-legged, asserting along with all levels of existence that all is God's possession (Dominion, Mulk, being the penultimate month in the Badi' calendar). As an end-note in the Aqdas explains, "The Arabic expression `haykalu't-tawhid', translated here as "cross-legged", means the `posture of unity'. It has traditionally signified a cross-legged position." (Aqdas, 174) Haykal also means both `body' and `temple,' and `tawhid' or `unity' refers specifically to the oneness of God. Salat ends with the body forming a symbolic temple where the Oneness of God and His Dominion are proclaimed. We do not write this constitution, it is written upon us by the higher Power. This fulfils both verbally and visually the purpose of Salat, which is to serve as a daily reminder.

"All praise be unto God, Who hath revealed the law of obligatory prayer as a reminder to His servants..." (Baha'u'llah, IOPF, Section 1, no. 2)

While family and other institutions are based upon law and written constitutions, the individual's "constitution" must remain unwritten, stamped invisibly on the brow, for it is the mirror of a God Who is utterly beyond human comprehension. Like writing upon a glass mirror, anything humans try to write there would only obscure the moving image within. The letters of the personal constitution are ineffable, amorphous and spiritual, but the message is clear, strong and creative nonetheless. From this come the leadership and followership that allow constitutions for broader unities, from the family level to that of the world government.

"Thus you will be truly reformed as an individual, and truly capable of governing yourself (in all your desires, emotions, and actions) and anyone else as the image of God no less than you are, and then a wider range of people in the family, the school, the state, and everywhere." (para 21, pp. 27-28)

Comenius goes on to say that to reform the self is, as Jesus taught, to be born again, to allow a likeness of God to reflect in the self. As we exercise control over the motions of the body, so when we are reborn His truth controls the heart. However, unlike many Christians today, Comenius did not understand rebirth to mean that we are passive as in the first, physical birth, that is, a helpless baby pushed through the birth canal. Spiritual rebirth demands all the adult virtues, talents and moral fibre that we can muster. We have many stumbling blocks to move out of the way, and to replace with their opposites.

Next time, let us delve into what Comenius saw as our obstacles, and how we should plan to reform our imperfections so that we can be, in the words of Christ, "perfect, as our Father in heaven is perfect." In the meantime, here are two further points that Comenius makes about the goal of individual search. One, the faith we must have that the result of investigation of truth will be general agreement on what is most important, and second, that this will train those who lead to lead in such a way that search by all will be maximized.

"The main effect of Universal Philosophy will be to bring common ideas back into harmony and into the service of all men so that we no longer disagree in our opinions about the meaning of things but reach agreement upon all the essentials. Universal Religion will control common instincts so that they look around again and seek the highest good among all the particular goods -- so that we do not disagree about the goal of eternity and the means to attain it." (Comenius, Panorthosia, Ch. 13, para 12, pp. 202)

"Moreover, all men will know how to reform (every man alive reforming himself, every father of a family, every school master, every minister of the church, every political leader reforming their respective flocks) if their ideas of things are based on sound teaching and they understand correctly what is required to guide themselves and others, and to prevent further transgressions or to reform those that have occurred." (Comenius, Panorthosia II, Ch. 5, para 19, pp. 94-95)

-- 

John Taylor

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

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Truth's Unified Law

Connecting to Truth's Eternal Law

By John Taylor; 2009 Feb 19, 13 Mulk, 165 BE

Yesterday we discussed the specific knowledge and abilities that Comenius laid out for a well trained person, as envisioned in his chapter on universal school reform in Panorthosia. He also had broader objects in mind for education. In the Pampaedia, or Universal Education, he said,

"The final purpose of education is to demonstrate to all men how all things are co-ordinated and connected by the eternal laws of truth." (Comenius, Pampaedia, quoted in Daniel Murphy, Comenius, A Critical Reassessment of His Life and Work, p. 124)

You can speculate all you want on the meaning of this, but to me it points right at the first two Baha'i principles, search for truth and oneness of humanity. In combining and coordinating these two "pivotal" principles we build up common ground on which love and knowledge can embrace. Truth we gain from individual investigation of reality, and we apply truth in the "kindness imperative" of the oneness of humanity. That is, if some are ignorant we teach them, if some are weak, we strengthen them, if some are poor, we enrich them; that is, we do not discriminate or put down the disadvantaged, we love and serve them, starting first with those who are most in need. These twin principles are hinted at in the proverb,

"Do not let kindness and truth forsake you. Bind them around your neck. Write them on the tablet of your heart." (Prov 3:3, WEB)

There is no doubt that those running the world are not comprehensive thinkers, nor are the educated of today grasping the "eternal laws of truth" that Comenius said they must aim at. Our best and brightest, the most sophisticated thinkers on offer are hardly grasping the basics. If they were, would the world be on the brink of total collapse? Would the environment be a shambles and climate mechanisms be so badly out of whack? Unlikely.

Nor can we Baha'is claim to understand the eternal laws of truth in our custody. The Guardian was quite emphatic that our education has not prepared us any better than the world about us.

"Baha'u'llah has given us a Revelation designed to raise mankind to heights never before attained. It is little wonder that the minds of individual believers, no matter how perceptive, have difficulty in comprehending its range. It is the words of 'Abdu'l-Baha and the Guardian which elucidate this vast Revelation and make clear the manner in which different statements relate to one another and what is implied by the Revealed Word. Without the bright light of the Covenant, this Faith, like all those before it, would be torn to pieces by the conflicting opinions of scholars applying limited human reasoning to divinely revealed truths." (Shoghi Effendi, quoted in UHJ letter, "Separation of Church and State, 27 April, 1995)

As the Guardian says, the one thing that holds search and oneness together in a single, coordinated whole is the covenant, the eternal bond between us and our Creator. Otherwise, as he warns, the limited understanding of the most learned -- and believe me, without a comprehensive Comenian education, the more learning we gain, the more contentious and opinionated we are likely to become -- will certainly tear us apart, as it is already doing to the world around us. Abdu'l-Baha said that,

"...civilization is conjoined with barbarism. Progress and barbarism go hand in hand, unless material civilization be confirmed by Divine Guidance, by the revelations of the All-Merciful and by godly virtues, and be reinforced by spiritual conduct, by the ideals of the Kingdom and by the outpourings of the Realm of Might." (Selections, 284)

It is not hard to see that barbarism is kneaded into the fabric of civilization. In recent years, this has become so obvious that it is impossible to mention the advantages of civilization without sounding ironic or sarcastic.

I have noticed, in reading some of the greatest minds of history, that history's most brilliant unifying thinkers tend to come around to world federalism towards the end of their lives. Comenius spent his working life as an educator and only in the end did he jump into the negotiations to stop the war between Holland and England, and then to write his last work, the Panorthosia. This came so late in his life that he was unable to see it published personally, and most of it remained unknown for some three hundred years afterwards. Another example was Immanuel Kant, who wrote his sketch for a world government's constitution in the mid-1790's, not long before his dotage and death. And the biography of Einstein that I just audited says at one point,

"As in science, so it was in world politics for Einstein: he sought a unified set of principles that could create order out of anarchy, a system based on sovereign nations with their own military forces, competing ideologies and conflicting national interests would inevitably produce more wars. So he regarded a world authority as realistic rather than idealistic, as practical rather than naive. For the remaining ten years of his life, his passion for advocating a unified governing structure for the globe would rival that for finding a unified field theory that could govern all the forces of nature." (Walter Isaacson, Einstein, His Life and Universe, p. 488)

Not being mathematically inclined, I will probably never understand relativity theory, and not being a philosopher the Critique of Pure Reason will always remain a mystery to me, but I can understand the latter ideas on peace of Einstein and Kant. Peace and God are all but synonyms, and Baha'u'llah taught me that the end of all things is knowledge of God. What I do not understand is why so few have followed the best and brightest. Why is it that only a handful of geniuses care to follow the final purpose of education where it leads, to a unified field theory of political life, which,

"...demonstrate(s) to all men how all things are co-ordinated and connected by the eternal laws of truth."

-- 

John Taylor

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

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Everything, Something and Nothing

Image and Imagination for the Self Reformer

By John Taylor; 2009 Feb 14, 08 Mulk, 165 BE

Fifth essay on Panorthosia, Chapter Twenty, Reform of the Individual, Covering Paragraphs 13, 14, 16 and 20.

"Here is a Splendid Image of God!" -Comenius's suggested motto for self-reformers

Look into a mirror and you can see the whole world, although materially it is nothing more than a flat, reflective surface. Personal reform makes the heart into just that, a mirror of God. As a "splendid image of God" I can connect with the universe, both seen and unseen. Imagination, reflection and projection give the supreme creative power to reform the world. Albert Einstein, who did that himself, showed he understood this when he said, "imagination is more important than knowledge." The ability to imagine, to deal with images of what may or may not be real, is essential to rising above and changing the way things are.

For Comenius, then, a reformer is anybody who responds directly and sincerely to our God-given station of "image-ship." Imagination transforms our being into a reflection of the divine. If we aim at imaginative reflection, it happens, like light striking the mirror. We come to represent the likeness of God in the thought, decisions and actions of daily life. To do this we should, "`be holy, even as our God is holy," (Leviticus 24:2) and merciful and generous, and kind yet just to all men without respect of persons, (Romans 2:11) ... as true religion teaches you." (Panorthosia, Ch. 20, para 15, p. 25) This means that we cannot be satisfied with specialization, with a part of perfection, but should strive to show forth the whole, all at once.

"I say that you must be Everything in yourself, as a genuine portion of mankind and a true image of God and Christ." (Para 13, p. 25)

Being an image of God means that we enter into what Comenius calls "fullness," which means that we have "a full share in the privileges of human nature." (para 14, p. 25) This station offers not only privileges but also gives rise to severe duties.

"For if every individual Being is an image of the Universe every member of human society ought also to represent human society as a whole, so that as a part of human society one may be or know or wish or do what all men are or know or wish or can do (assuming that their circumstances are put right)."

A mirror reflects anything put before it, just like a variable stands for any number in algebra. Comenius here portrays the moral consequences of our status as mirrors of God in a way that is surprisingly similar to Kant's Categorical Imperative, and even Rawls's "Veil of Ignorance." Both posit that we should think and act in such a way as to respond to whatever the "fullness" of universality demands. But unlike these ungrounded, purely theoretical formulations of full duty, Comenius paints seven very practical callings to respond to if we are to be "totally good" images of the Deity,

"This means that you should be

1. A good Man, exalted above all the animal kingdom.

2. A good Scholar, understanding the reasons for as many things as possible.

3. A good Physician and Doctor, well-informed about the ways of preserving your life and health according to the will of God.

4. A good Philosopher, capable of proper self-control in all respects.

5. A good Economist, skilled in the ways and means of obtaining the necessities of life and using and enjoying them correctly.

6. A good Politician, expert in wise human intercourse.

7. Finally, a good Christian, wholly dedicated to God and walking uprightly in His sight. (Cf. Proverbs 28:18, 'Whoso walketh uprightly shall be saved.')" (Para 14, p. 25)

As an image of God, our clear duty is to be sincere, not to pretend or affect to be either a reformer or an image of God. A hypocrite is an actor who takes on a false role, who pretends to be for reform but really stands for the status quo, which is always to his limited advantage. "It is a mistake for men to wish to give the appearance of reform according to God's will without working towards the reality of it." (Para 20, p. 27) Such a false show betrays truth, our real inner image. Rather, Comenius says, we must be like the tablets of the Ten Commandments that Moses carried down from Zion, which were written on both sides. That is, the Law written on us must be just the same in our inner as in our outer life.

But the image of God is not just two-sided. Like a Mobius strip, it has only one side but manages this by extending through three dimensions. In the following, Comenius shows his genius for the short formula summing up the essentials behind a complex, tangled mess of potential confusions, in this case the dimensionality of the role of God's image in reform.

"Would you like me to put it more like a formula? You must be fully transformed so that you are Everything, Something, and Nothing. Everything in yourself, Something in human society of which you are a part, and Nothing in the presence of God." (Comenius, Panorthosia, Ch. 20, para 12, pp. 24-25)

This way each of us can be all, some and none, all at once. A reformer is everything (in his inner life an image of God), something (his role in changing society) and nothing (while standing in the presence of God). To imitate the image of Christ, we mirror forth the "professional" qualities of God, God as teacher, doctor and priest.

"And even as he (Christ) was appointed by God as our doctor, prophet, priest, and king unto eternity, so you must be a king unto yourself subject to his rule, serving no man except Christ, like a teacher taught of God, teaching yourself something better every day, and like a holy priest coming to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God by Jesus Christ (I Peter 2:5)." (Para 16, p. 26)

--
John Taylor

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

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Almost Green and Self Reform

Almost Green, plus the Goal and Form of Self-Reform

By John Taylor; 2009 Feb 13, 07 Mulk, 165 BE

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Almost Green

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I have been reading over James Glave's "Almost Green, How I Built an Eco-shed ... and Changed My Life Forever," an annoying and disappointing book that nonetheless demonstrates how difficult it is for a relatively wealthy and highly-educated journalist with a fervent ecological conscience to go against the current of wastefulness and environmental destruction. He decides to build a small writer's studio (he calls it an "eco-shed") in his front yard but stumbles over obstacles at every turn.

One apparent environment-saving solution is devoured by a pack of peripheral affronts to the environment. Little wonder that in my writing I despaired and turned away several years ago from individual building projects entirely. I have concentrated on designing entire neighbourhoods based on ecological principles in the faith that if we reform communities a rich social environment would result. This would more than compensate individuals for giving up the false and selfish freedoms that make it all but impossible to compromise our environment.

One of the founding fathers of modern science was Frances Bacon. He appreciated that system and organization can aid us to accomplish what personal cleverness can never do. That, after all, is just what science is, many minds working together on a common purpose.

"Our method of discovering the sciences is such as to leave little to the acuteness and strength of wit, and indeed rather to level wit and intellect. For, as in the drawing of a line or accurate circle by the hand, much depends upon its steadiness and practice, but if a ruler or compass be employed there is little occasion for either; so it is with our method." (Bacon, Instauration, Aphorisms)

But today, with the overspecialization of science, we see it working against this original goal of acting as a compass steadying the hand of individual "wit." Now science is taking the needle of the compass and plunging it into the heart of nature. Baha'u'llah used a similar image when he said that the comb designed to beautify the tresses of God is now being used to cut His throat.

Last night at our Philosopher's Cafe we set out to discuss the nature of goodness but ended up banging our heads against the same problem described in "Almost Green." The entire system, we agreed, is designed to wreck the environment. Even if a conscientious individual were to invest all the time and money they have only baby steps in the right direction are possible. I tried to comfort my despairing friends with Sir James Lovelock's comparison of our situation to England in his youth when everybody was debating what to do about Hitler. When the Second World War finally broke out, suddenly everybody knew what to. They suddenly united, cooperated beautifully and brought the evil plans of Adolph Hitler down. Once this climate crisis finally hits home, he assures us, everything will be different and everybody will cooperate.

But the question is, can we declare war on Adolph Nobody with the same clarity of vision and sense of moral rightness that the world had in WWII? That is the question Comenius addresses in the next part of Panorthosia.

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Fourth Essay on Panorthosia, Chapter Twenty

Reform of the Individual

Covering Paragraphs 4, 5 and 6

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Paragraph Four

The Goal of Self-Reform

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No matter who we are, our exterior acts mirror what our inner, spiritual faculties perceive. If we see God within and submit to His Will, God will be evident from outside as He connects the heart with the spiritual force running the universe, love. The condition of those who love we call happiness.

Comenius, then, sees the purpose self-reform as happiness, that is, not just temporary well-being but the most permanent possible in a world of change,

"The goal of your Reform will be to put yourself, with God's help, in the happy state in which all is well for you in body and soul in this world and unto eternity." (Ch. 20, para 4, p. 21)

We do this by learning, willing and acting in such a manner as to make peace with our God, our fellows and nature.

"This will come to pass if your relationship with nature, mankind, and God entitles you to expect peace and quietness, help and consolation everywhere..."

This elevation of our relations with nature to such a fundamental level certainly qualifies Comenius as one of the first "deep environmentalists." However, unlike many of today's environmental extremists, he does not hold nature above all else. Ideally we should serve all three at once, God, man and nature, without making false divisions or excluding any of the essentials.

A divine virtue like moderation can help reconcile each of the demands of God, man and nature at once.

"... or through having your proper share of life's necessities, no more and no less, or by cultivating peaceful coexistence with your neighbours' and befriending them one and all, or by serving God with such devotion that you can be fully confident of earning His favour."

This phrase, "no more and no less than life's necessities," would be an excellent slogan to sum up optimum policy in the coming climate crisis, when, for example, the president of the Maldives Islands is already shopping for real estate that would house an entire nation about to sink below the waves. Only complete moderation by all, in every means towards every end, would allow fairness to the billions of refugees displaced by climate instability.

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Paragraph Five

The First Stage to Personal Reform

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Avoiding Apathy, Bad Examples and Divine Disappointments

The first step to reform is to love, specifically to express the three types of love, love of God, love of self, and love for our fellowman. To fail in any of them has its own particular danger. Perverted love of self causes neglect of our own best interests. Corrupt neighbourly love causes neglect of our duty to offer a good example for others, especially youth. Failure to love God deprives us of His virtues, such as (to cite the two that Comenius mentions) glory and honour.

"The first stage of Reform will stem from the threefold love which you owe to yourself, your neighbour, and God; to yourself, to avoid coming to grief through your indifference, to your neighbour, to prevent your bad example from destroying one whom you ought to be edifying, and to God, lest you should deprive Him of the glory and honour which He seeks from the many who find salvation, including yourself and all who can be saved with your help." (para 5, p. 21)

The Baha'i understanding does not differ from this, but it adds, as it were, another stepping stone on top, the threefold principles of the Oneness of God, oneness of humanity and search for truth. These in turn lead to the several other social principles, each of which is unique to the Baha'i Faith, inasmuch as each is "hardwired" into the fundamental circuitry of a world-embracing religion. Although others, including Comenius, have anticipated and written about them, they are still unprecedented in this "hardwired" quality.

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Paragraph Six

The Form of Individual Reform

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Reform by Peeking into the Mirror

The virtue of moderation mediates between true self love and its imitation, over-indulgence of the self and its consequent, self destruction.

"The form of this individual reform is first and foremost the moderation that makes all the difference between self-love and self-indulgence, so that you love yourself with manly decency, to save and not to destroy body and soul, especially the latter."

Moderation denies the sub-text of just about any commercial on television you can point to. It means consuming enough, no more and no less. It means avoiding undue concern for the body or status or wealth. It means concern for virtues, intimate awareness of God and an acute ability to see our neighbour as God in another form.

How do we attain that? By means of conscience. "... remember that His angels are always standing over you, witnessing all your actions." Conscience starts in this awareness that we are being judged and ends in making self-assessment our spy, our reporter and our future accuser.

"You must attend to these virtuous practices and see that you take them seriously, and examine yourself every day as ruthlessly as if you were at the bar of justice." (Para 6, p. 22)

This distinguishes humans from animals. We too live in nature according to natural rules, but we obey a higher law too. We voluntarily take ourselves into account as if we were already standing before God's judgment seat. The result is that we mirror God's light, just as if the sun had come down and started its fusion reactions going right here in the natural world. This light allows us to see others as images of God too.

"Whenever you encounter one of your neighbours, regard him as yourself in another form (which he is), or indeed as God in another form, for he is the image of God, and God will be watching to see how reverently you treat him...  So you will obtain the final enjoyment of inward peace and an assured place for yourself and all men in God's keeping."

--
John Taylor

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

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Mirror on the Moon

Synchronizing and Coordinating Universal Reform

Third Essay on Panorthosia, Chapter Twenty, Reform of the Individual, Covering Paragraphs 3 and 7

By John Taylor; 2009 Feb 11, 05 Mulk, 165 BE

Let us continue with the twentieth chapter of Comenius's masterwork, "Universal Reform." The goal of all self-reform, Comenius says, is to liberate the self from slavery to externals; this, of course, is the unbelieving philosophy that Baha'is call materialism.

"For the goal of this first individual reform is that everyone should release himself from the powerful grip of external things and be restored to himself and God, for the purpose of asserting his freedom of thought, will and action upon things which make for his welfare here and to all eternity." (para 7, p. 22)

The individual's freedom, then, is not a lazy man's freedom from doing anything at all, but quite the reverse, it is freedom to make strenuous, un-distracted efforts at enlightenment. This resolves into improvements in three basic areas, thought, will and action. The three become one. Recalling that knowledge is power, Abdu'l-Baha says something startlingly similar in the following:

"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." (Abdu'l-Baha, Tablets, 690-692)

To liberate the inner self is to tear the mind away from superficial externals and direct it to improved thought, a more resolved will and higher deeds. This non-operant conditioning is the purpose of all religious law and devotionals. For example, the five-times-a-day Salat (obligatory prayer) of a Muslim, burdensome as it may seem from the point of view of a Taylorian efficiency expert, is designed to turn the heart to God and make matters of eternal concern the starting point. From a political point of view, the result should be a more aware, serious populace ready to sacrifice for one another and the good of all. Insofar as the Salat accomplishes this, the heavy daily investment of time and effort on the part of Muslims is no doubt well worth it.

The way personal reform works is, yes, to make for better individuals. However, after knowledge, will and action unite, there must be justice, which means division of labour. In anything but an anthill or beehive, social action resolves into some of us leading and others following. The leader is not there for selfish reasons but has a calling devoted to charity,

"It is of prime importance that those who are in positions of leadership and have to govern their fellow-men should seek to reform themselves in the first instance (fathers and mothers of families, schoolmasters, political leaders, and so on), since well-ordered charity begins with the individual, and the ability to govern demands self-control, and every power must gather strength first of all from within if it is to operate effectively." (para 3, pp. 20-21)

Notice Comenius's recognition that the natural and just division of labor allows all to lead sometimes, if only as parents, teachers or skilled tradespersons. A moderate amount of specialization permits everybody to participate at times in the more active divine virtues of leadership, such as power, sovereignty and might.

At the same time, Comenius recognizes that only a few can lead in society, and that most people, most of the time, contribute by compliance. The divine virtue of obedience gives each of us a finer sense of "followership."

"Nevertheless every individual, regardless of his station in life, ought to play his part in the building of this new Jerusalem like a well-measured beam or a well-squared stone, ready at all events to uphold truth with agreement, piety with worship, and order with obedience, and actually doing so already." (para 3, pp. 20-21)

Again, Comenius's threefold division saves him from a half-truth, or should I say a third-truth? Common knowledge demands that we submit to what is true, while common piety and faith demand that we bow in worship before our God, and, finally, order requires compliance. This followership arises from many individuals seeking and applying truth, individually and independently. This vision is what distinguishes Comenius from lesser reformers; indeed he might accurately be called the philosopher of universal participation.

Totalitarian regimes use tricks and ploys to accomplish a semblance of this, like mass rallies, propaganda, lies, group singing and marching to hypnotize large numbers of otherwise incompatible people to obey their will. Their resort to arbitrary violence in the end proves that they have only a superficial, materialist grasp on truth.

This very distinction Baha'u'llah makes between true unity and what deniers might aspire for; they can only, in the words of the Tablet of Ahmad, "combine to assist one another." True unity resonates from deep within and needs no tricks. Indeed, the fact that the Baha'i Salat is not said together, synchronized at set times and led by a prayer leader, unlike the Muslim Salat, is surely a sign that humanity now has the maturity not to need such coordination for its unity -- at least not as part of the obligatory prayer (other prayers are said by Baha'is in groups). But Baha'is still believe in universal participation, which unleashes great spiritual power. Comenius, in the previous chapter, had argued that reform can be massively sped up if we do some things all at the same time.

"I say all people at the same time, because the first way towards speedy success is to tackle the task on a universal scale. For example we frequently see our largest cities being cleaned up all at once in a single day on the approach of an anniversary or the arrival of a king, when everyone attends to the sweeping of every space that belongs to him in front of his own house. Therefore let us all begin in God's name to play our part together, scholars, churchmen, and politicians alike, no matter how small our individual share of the world may be." (Panorthosia, Ch. 19, para 9, pp. 13-14)

Certainly at least one thing will have to be synchronized if we are ever to have world peace, the universal gathering of humanity where our leaders and representatives agree once and for all to uphold permanent peace with a world government. Later its plans will allow all to participate, but this one act must be done at one time, all at once.

That unification will be like the mirror that the lunar astronauts set up on the moon, which allows earthlings to shine lasers at it and measure its distance very precisely. That measure showed that the moon is moving away at a rate of a few centimetres per year, proving the theory that it was once part of earth but was knocked off by a gigantic meteor collision. The formation of a world government will be a mirror placed on high where all individuals will be able to measure precisely their service and progress in relation to the whole of humanity. Who knows what a "giant leap for mankind" that reference point will prove to be?

--
John Taylor

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

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