Eleventh Reflection

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