Second Reflection

anxiously concerned with the needs of the age ye live in, and center your deliberations on its exigencies and requirements. (Gleanings 213) His worldview emphasized a historical consciousness, the awareness that humans and societies are dynamic, alive, and ever-advancing. No aspect of culture and society can remain static. That is why even the word of God, the realm of religion, is also dynamic and progressive. This historical consciousness rejects the worship of traditions and cult of traditionalism, and emphasizes that each age has its own requirement. For Baha’u’llah, the new stage of human development requires the end of human bondage and oppression. Consequently, he sees the trend of history towards a culture of the maturation of humanity and the emergence of social and political institutions which embody, reflect and realize that culture. Tyranny is contrary to the requirement of the age. This same principle is clearly emphasized by the next leader of the Baha’i religion, ‘Abdu’l-Baha, who during the constitutional Revolution of Iran (1906-1911) defined constitutionalism and democracy as the irresistible requirement of the age. In April 1909, when through restoration of despotism, parliament had been dissolved, ‘Abdu’l-Baha wrote these words: According to the divine wisdom, each age has its own requirement and its binding necessity. Everything can be resisted except the requirement of the age, resistance to which is impossible, for denying the necessity of time and defeating its requirement is outside of the realm of possibility. “That is the Decree of the Almighty, the Omniscient.” At this time and age, autocratic government is impossible, for it causes a myriad of problems for the people and it utterly precludes the tranquility of the soul and the health of consciousness. Likewise, it is contrary to the peace of the government as well as the wellbeing and welfare of the people. (Provisional translation by the author, Abdu’l-Baha, INBA 17: 233-5) Spiritual Democracy as the Precondition of the Political Democracy Although the statement of Baha’u’llah negates political despotism, it is not a simple affirmation of political democracy. Baha’u’llah’s word defines two forms of tyranny as contradictory to the requirement of the age. Political tyranny is one and clerical despotism is the other. In fact, the statement of Baha’u’llah goes beyond affirming the necessity of both political democracy and spiritual democracy. The heart of the word uttered by Baha’u’llah is the organic relation between these two phenomena. In other words, spiritual and cultural democracy is the necessary condition for the realization and sucess of political democracy. Authority of the clerics has usually been the institutionalization of cultural or spiritual tyranny. Clerical authority means that individuals renounce their own reason and blindly follow the dictates and judgments of the clerics. The clerical cast legitimizes traditionalism and renounces reason. Individuals must obey the judgements of the clerics and let the clerics think for them. In a society that people refuse to think for themselves because they voluntarily depend on the judgment of the clerics, there is no possibility of emergence of a culture of rationalism, equality, and dignity of all human beings. Furthermore, the clerics and their traditionalism oppose the requirement of the age and the empowerment of the people. Their medieval outlook divides people in terms of various categories and institutionalize various forms of inequality and oppression in society. Writing in the mid-19 th century, therefore, Baha’u’llah is affirming the sociological fact that without a culture of empowerment of individuals and their independent thinking no real political democracy is possible in society. In a sense the history of the West European societies is an affirmation of the principle enshrined in the word of Baha’u’llah. Both the religious reformation through Protestantism (16 th century), and the