Eleventh Reflection

The Eleventh Reflection: Spiritual Ethics Nader Saiedi

Baha’u’llah writes: Make not your deeds as snares wherewith to entrap the object of your aspiration, and deprive not yourselves of this Ultimate Objective for which have ever yearned all such as have drawn nigh unto God. Say: The very life of all deeds is My good pleasure, and all things depend upon Mine acceptance. (The Most Holy Book) Baha’u’llah’s statement in his The Most Holy Book offers the outline of his unique approach to the philosophy of Ethics. Writings of Baha’u’llah are filled with ethical and moral teachings. He affirms that he has come to enkindle love and unity in the hearts of the people and extinguish the fire of enmity and hatred. He calls for a radical culture of intimate association and interactive communication with the entire people of the world as the foundation of unity and order in society. He rejects idleness and exalts work, productivity and labor in the service of humankind. He defines humans as mines containing excellent gems, which must be actualized and discovered through education and perpetual progress and self-realization. He calls for commitment to various virtues like fairness, justice, courage, independent thinking, solidarity with all humans, truthfulness and the like. He forbids causing sadness to anyone and encourages bringing joy to the hearts of all. He teaches that a human being is one who dedicates himself to the service of the entire human race. He commands “ Let your vision be world-embracing, rather than confined to your own self. ” He defines ethics in terms of the inherent nobility of human beings and says “ Were man to appreciate the greatness of his station and the loftiness of his destiny he would manifest naught save goodly character, pure deeds, and a seemly and praiseworthy conduct .” Emphasizing the imperative of unceasing self-actualization and moral progress, he says “ Let each morn be better than its eve and each morrow richer than its yesterday. Man's merit lieth in service and virtue and not in the pageantry of wealth and riches. ” Writings of Baha’u’llah are filled with many such lofty moral statements, each of which requires much meditation. However, in this short reflection we will explore the message of Baha’u’llah in his statement on morality in his Most Holy Book. 1. Beyond Kant’s Categorical Imperative The statement of Baha’u’llah consists of two parts. The first part offers a general moral maxim: Make not your deeds as snares wherewith to entrap the object of your aspiration.” One’s deeds should not be a means for one’s selfish desires. The second part emphasizes the necessity of recognition of Baha’u’llah and attaining the good pleasure of God as the supreme authentic end of saintly people. Indeed, these two parts are inseparable twin elements of spiritual self-realization. But we first focus on the first part of his statement. Here, Baha’u’llah mentions that human action should not be a means for attaining his selfish desires. Instead, an ethical behavior is one which is universalistic, is based on good will, and aims to serve the human race and all beings. In this sense we can see that Baha’u’llah’s pronouncement has strong affinity with the famous ethical maxim of the 18 th century German Philosopher, Kant. Kant says that one should act towards others as ends in themselves rather than a mere means for one’s own ends.

In Kantian philosophy, humans are members of the kingdom of ends while nature is the kingdom of appearance. That is why in Kantian philosophy only humans are endowed with moral rights. Despite their partial affinity, Baha’u’llah’s view departs from some aspects of Kantian philosophy. Baha’u’llah not only affirms the spiritual nobility of all human beings, he also defines all reality as reflections and manifestations of divine names and attributes. His philosophy is a philosophy of revelation, where everything’s truth is revelation of divine attributes. On the first Day of Ridvan, he spoke of God revealing all his names and attributes, at that moment, to all beings, both humans and nature. All beings, therefore, are endowed with moral rights. Another point is that despite his lofty and beautiful moral statement, in his writings Kant has said offensive things about women and Africans. These were cultural prejudices of the time, and it is not surprising that he would fail to question them. Baha’u’llah’s Faith, however, announces equal rights of men and women, abolishing all prejudices, forbidding slavery, and affirming oneness of humanity as the central principles of his message. 2. Pleasure of God If the end of human actions should not be their selfish desires, their true goal should be attaining the pleasure of God, manifested in the recognition of the Manifestation of God in this age, namely Baha’u’llah. This second part of the statement of Baha’u’llah is another affirmation of the inseparable connection between recognition of God and ethical action. The Most Holy Book indeed begins by affirming the inseparable necessity of recognition of God and goodly deeds, and synthesizing them in his command: “ Observe My commandments, for the love of My beauty.” Here, attraction to the beauty of God, reflected in His Manifestation, becomes the foundation of goodly deeds. Recognition of God, the supreme truth of all reality, is not recognition of a specific object among other objects. Such recognition is encounter with the truth of all reality, witnessing the absolute beauty. The logical requirement of such recognition is universal love and attraction to all beings as reflections of divine beauty. Unlike Kantian philosophy in which love should not play a role in ethical behavior, love is defined as the source and meaning of all reality. Writings of the Bab, the other prophet of the Baha’i Faith who paved the way for the coming of Baha’u’llah, has extensively discussed this same issue in his own unique ways. He writes that no behavior becomes a real action unless it is performed for the sake of God (Lillah). All acts must be done for God, namely for attaining the pleasure of God. But for him, acting for the sake of God is ultimately the same as acting for the sake of the creation of God: “ Be thou for God and for His creatures… Shouldst thou unlock this gate to thy heart, thou wouldst assuredly be adorned with the virtues of the All-Merciful. Then, were all the people to wrong thee, thou wouldst forgive them and, indeed, do good unto them, even as God, glorified be He, provideth, through His grace, for those who have ungratefully repudiated Him. Thus, apply the same maxim with regard to all phenomena and matters .” But the Bab explains that acting for God, requires that one acts in accordance with the pleasure of God. But the pleasure of God is realized through the pleasure of the manifestation of God sent by him to humanity in each age. Consequently, being “for God” requires recognition of the prophet of the age. Like the beginning of the Most Holy Book of Baha’u’llah, good deeds and recognition of God become inseparable from each other. This same insight is manifest in the second part of Baha’u’llah’s ethical statement. Here he defines the supreme end of humans as the attainment of good pleasure of God which is realized in recognition of “This Ultimate Objective”, namely Baha’u’llah: “ deprive not yourselves

of this Ultimate Objective for which have ever yearned all such as have drawn nigh unto God. Say: The very life of all deeds is My good pleasure, and all things depend upon Mine acceptance.” 3. Beyond Utilitarianism The inseparable connection between spiritual journey and moral development is one of the distinguishing features of Baha’u’llah’s approach to ethics. The sanctity and beauty of all beings and all people as reflections of God becomes the basis of the Baha’i ethics. A materialistic philosophy which reduces humans to nature and identifies nature as regulated by struggle for existence, is trapped with many obstacles in defending a universal morality. Baha’u’llah’s ethics not only has affinity with Kantian theory, it has affinity with the rival of Kantian theory namely, utilitarianism. In this philosophy, happiness and pleasure are defined as the only thing which are intrinsically good. Therefore, moral action is an action that leads to maximization of utility, happiness, pleasure. This theory in its immediate form is nothing but a crude forms of hedonism. However, most utilitarian authors go beyond their immediate assumption and argue that a moral action is what leads to maximum happiness of the maximum number of the people in society. Although Baha’u’llah’s approach has affinity with the idea of maximization of happiness for maximum number of people, it departs from it in some ways. As noted by John Rawls, in a prejudiced society where the majority have hatred towards a minority, discrimination against that minority may lead to maximization of happiness in that society. But of course this is not an ethical act. While happiness and pleasure of people are important, the most important task of ethical education is to transform humans so that they actualize their spiritual potentiality, see everyone and everything as noble, identify themselves and their happiness with the interests of the entire human race, and move towards a society in which contentment and happiness of people is accompanied by both assurance, tranquility, and peace of the heart (good will), as well as exalting the station of human being, realizing their spiritual nobility, and their progressive development. In an astonishing statement Baha’u’llah discusses all these three elements (assurance of heart, contentment of people, and exaltation of human station) as the necessary conditions of an acceptable and moral act: “ Whatsoever instilleth assurance into the hearts of men, whatsoever exalteth their station or promoteth their contentment, is acceptable in the sight of God. How lofty is the station which man, if he but choose to fulfill his high destiny, can attain!” (Gleanings)