Tenth Reflection

The Tenth Reflection: Purification of Heart and Search after Truth Nader Saiedi

Baha’u’llah writes: O Son of Spirit! My first counsel is this: Possess a pure, kindly and radiant heart, that thine may be a sovereignty ancient, imperishable and everlasting.

With this statement the Arabic Hidden Words begins. This complex statement addresses humans as “Son of Spirit,” indicating before all else the true identity of humans as spiritual beings. Search after truth, therefore, is a precondition of realization of the true identity of humans. Baha’u’llah defines the condition or method of search after truth as purification of heart. But the consequence of such purification is becoming God-like, namely, attaining the divine attribute of sovereignty. Human heart, as Baha’u’llah indicates in the Hidden Words, is the throne of God. But humans through various forms of selfishness have given God’s home to others. Through purification of heart, all else but God is removed from the throne of God, and thus God returns to human heart. Here humans are reflections of divine sovereignty. In this paper, I will not address the amazing connection between purification of heart and attaining sovereignty. These twin issues are the topics of the two parts of the Book of Certitude. But we will explore the meaning of purification of heart as method of search after truth. For a better understanding of this concept we will focus on Baha’u’llah’s discussion of the same topic in the Book of Certitude where he seems to discuss four distinct conditions for independent investigation of truth. 1. Purification of heart as methodical doubt The first and most important aspect of purification of heart is that one tries to think independently. This means that in order to know the truth one has to question one’s tradition, reject various forms of prejudice, and attain freedom of thought. Realization of this autonomy requires systematic doubt about all that one has been taught by the parents, religious leaders, and social prejudices. It is only after purging of the heart from all blind assumptions and ideas that one can start to see the truth. It is interesting that this aspect of the concept of the purification of heart agrees with the famous idea of the 17 th century French philosopher, Descartes, whose philosophy is based on the idea of methodical doubt. In fact, modern Western philosophy begins with the methodical doubt of Descartes. Here we are interested in Descartes’ philosophy, but the essence of his method is that one has to doubt everything which can be doubted, and only accept what is rationally beyond any doubt. In his philosophy he came to the conclusion that he can doubt everything except the fact that he is thinking. It is also noteworthy that this same aspect of Baha’u’llah’s theory to some extent agrees with a basic idea of another Western modern philosopher who came after Baha’u’llah. This philosopher, namely Heidegger, defined truth as a process of unveiling, the way the world is disclosed and shows itself to us. It is interesting that Baha’u’llah always says that journey towards truth requires tearing down all veils. In the Most Holy Book, paragraph 171, he invites the people to “tear the veils asunder” in a way that even the inmates of kingdom of God would hear the sound of such tearing. In other words, for Baha’u’llah human soul and human eye are capable of seeing the spiritual truth of reality. What prevent humans

from such truth is the multitudes of the veils that they have constructed between their heart and the truth. The road to truth is the path of removing the veils, doubting about all socially constructed presuppositions and superstitions. 2. Purification of heart as moral commitment If Descartes defined the method of truth as a process of methodical doubt, Baha’u’llah uses the term purification of the heart. One reason is that for Baha’u’llah such methodical doubt is impossible without moral and ethical purification of humans. Therefore, journey towards truth, especially spiritual truth, requires moral cleansing of human heart as well. This cleansing requires one to become detached from selfish desires, worldly attachments, desire for power and fame and the like. In fact, if one is obsessed with personal ambitions and power, he is never truly free to see the reality in an impartial manner. Even in the realm of science we see that scientists and intellectuals sometimes violate the ethical rules of conduct, distort the data and their interpretation so that they attain particular fame or material rewards. In fact, this is the classic reason why the clerics who weep for the coming of their promised One, always rise against him when he actually appears. The main reason is the worldly and selfish attachment of the clerics to their religious authority. 3. Purification of heart as universal Love Although Baha’u’llah defined an important aspect of the purification of heart as negation of selfish desires, he goes beyond this negation and emphasizes a third dimension of this purification. This dimension is affirmative, namely the true seeker must love all, treat all with dignity and kindness, and try to help all in need. In this connection, Baha’u’llah even defines kindness to animals as a necessary condition of recognizing truth. At first, this may seem contradictory to the principle of objectivity and fairness. We know that Baha’u’llah states that to be fair one should go beyond love or hate so that one would become prejudiced and partial. Yet, this is part of the amazing complexity of Baha’u’llah’s discussion. While one should be beyond love or hate towards particular objects or ideas, one should be characterized by a general and universal love for all beings. A pure heart, which makes attaining truth possible, is a heart that loves all beings, all people, and all groups. Ironically, this is the essence and most important precondition of destroying all kinds of prejudice. Prejudice is the product of particularistic attachment to a specific group of people. Therefore, one reduces his or her identity to one religious, ethnic, national, racial, political or gender group and therefore sees others as strangers or enemies. It is in this particularistic definition of identity that prejudice and partiality are born. In fact, prejudice is what prevents us from realization of truth. For Baha’u’llah, on the other hand, one should never reduce his or her identity to one particular group. Among Western sociologists it was Emile Durkheim who defined the precondition of the realization of science and scientific method in terms of the emergence of the concept of humans as humans, where all humans are perceived to be equal. Baha’u’llah mentions a number of characteristics of this sense of purification of heart. Discussing the conditions of search after truth, Baha’u’llah writes: He should succour the dispossessed, and never withhold his favour from the destitute. He should show kindness to animals, how much more unto his fellow-man… He should not wish for others that which he doth not wish for himself, nor promise that which he doth not fulfill… He should forgive the sinful, and never despise his low estate, for none knoweth what his own end shall be. How often hath a sinner, at the hour of death, attained to the essence of faith, and, quaffing the immortal draught, hath taken his

flight unto the celestial Concourse. And how often hath a devout believer, at the hour of his soul’s ascension, been so changed as to fall into the nethermost fire. (The Book of Certitude) 4. Purification of heart as courage The final dimension of purification of heart in Baha’u’llah’s discussion of search after truth is courage. This concept is related to the previous meanings and yet it is a distinct concept. Culture of prejudice and traditionalism requires two forms of cowardice. First, many times various religious or political ideas are imposed by violence, sword, persecution, discrimination, and intimidation. For example, throughout history, the emergence of new and creative ideas has been frequently met by censorship, discrimination, and coercive responses by the guardians of reactionary to intimidate investigation of the new idea. But this cowardice is not confined to this form of external coercion. Traditionalism and prejudice depend on a second form of subtle coercion, namely reducing religion to a question of biological inheritance and social tradition, making people conform to the religion of their fathers. In other words, the security of habit and the internal force of imitation forces people to never think about spiritual truth. In this way tradition persists not by external threat or coercion but by internal habit of imitation. That is why understanding truth requires the force of moral and intellectual courage. One can search after truth, question tradition and prejudice, and be willing to change one’s beliefs only if one has the courage to know. In a society where the clerics use coercion, truth requires the willingness to sacrifice everything including one’s own possessions and life. But even in a situation of apparent religious and political freedom, thinking for oneself and transcending the culture of habit and imitation requires the courage to go beyond one’s internal sense of security. That is one of the reasons that the Bab makes light a symbol of both truth and self-sacrifice. Light is what makes truth visible, and yet light sacrifices itself in order to illumine others. (Panj Sha’n) Among the western philosophers it is Kant who defined enlightenment by the phrase “dare to know”. Although Baha’u’llah’s discussion of the method of seeking truth is calling for transformation of individual human beings, this same teaching is simultaneously a call for fundamental social transformations as well. Since humans are defined as spirit, consciousness, and spiritual capacities, they cannot be reduced to the level of objects or beasts. The principle of independent investigation of truth defines all humans as sacred, endowed with rights and capable of thinking for themselves.