Second Reflection

emergence of the philosophical forms of rationalism (17 th and 18 th century) paved the way for the emergence of political democracy between 18 th and 20 th centuries. Furthermore, it was the extension of the culture of individual rights to various underrepresented segments of society that led to increasing maturation of democracy. At the same time, Baha’u’llah’s statement warns against development of a political culture in which party politics leads to individual’s enslavement to party discourse, party conformity, hatred of the supporters of the other party, and the degradation of political discourse to demonization of the other party. If party politics turn into group conformity, we will witness the emergence of a secular clerical authority, when the politicians, celebrities, and party intellectuals become the new clerics. When individual’s judgment on an issue is dependent on the judgment of the party, and not one’s own independent thinking, we have reduced ourselves to bondage to a secular culture of clerical despotism. In such situation no real political democracy, namely no real collective consultation, is ever possible. On the contrary, such political culture implies a pathological turn towards the logic of mass conformity. Tyranny of intellectual discourse, when certain ideas are systematically excluded from public and intellectual discourse, represents the tyranny of the left or the tyranny of the right. In both cases when suppression of freedom of thought is institutionalized in our universities and media, we are replacing the culture of ideological tyranny in place of dignity of consultative democracy. Writings of Baha’u’llah on Democracy: 1850s and 1860s The statement of Baha’u’llah can partly be seen as the affirmation of his message to the political and religious leaders of the world in 1868. The first of these messages, written in the last days of Baha’u’llah in Adrianople and before his exile to Akka, is addressed to the king of Iran, Nasir al-Din Shah. It is interesting that the main discourse of Baha’u’llah in this work is a critique of clerical despotism, when he identifies the root cause of the problems of Iran in the clerical autocracy and intolerance. Similar sentiments are expressed in addressing the Pope and the emperors of France and Russia. The emphasis on political democracy is found in the letter to the Queen Victoria, where she is praised for both outlawing slave traffic and extending political democracy. But in another sense, the statement of Baha’u’llah is a summary of his revelation up to that point. At the time of the statement of Baha’u’llah in late 1860s, the writings of Baha’u’llah range from 1853 to 1869. It is important to recognize that Baha’u’llah’s writings during 1850s do not directly address the question of political democracy. Instead, these writings are all directed against clerical despotism. It is then in the context of his previous emphasis on cultural and spiritual democracy that Baha’u’llah begins to emphasize political democracy during 1860s in the context of his call for a holistic transformation of all institutions of the world in the direction of global unity and universal peace. This order is not accidental. Baha’u’llah first emphasizes the need for cultural and spiritual democracy as the precondition of the emergence of political democracy and then focuses on social reform including political democracy. The main works of Baha’u’llah during 1850s and early 1860s all emphasize the imperative of independent investigation of truth. These writings begin with a number of mystical writings of Baha’u’llah –like The Seven Valleys, The Four Valleys, and the Hidden Words- and end with a number of theological works which emphasize historical consciousness, works which include The Gems of Divine Mysteries and the Book of Certitude. The common point in these two types of the writings of Baha’u’llah is rejection of all prejudices, critique of clerical authority, and affirmation of the imperative of independent thinking for understanding the truth. These works emphasize the method of investigation of truth, and attribute the source of the persecution of all prophets of God to people’s blind reliance on