Tenth Reflection

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