Tenth Reflection

flight unto the celestial Concourse. And how often hath a devout believer, at the hour of his soul’s ascension, been so changed as to fall into the nethermost fire. (The Book of Certitude) 4. Purification of heart as courage The final dimension of purification of heart in Baha’u’llah’s discussion of search after truth is courage. This concept is related to the previous meanings and yet it is a distinct concept. Culture of prejudice and traditionalism requires two forms of cowardice. First, many times various religious or political ideas are imposed by violence, sword, persecution, discrimination, and intimidation. For example, throughout history, the emergence of new and creative ideas has been frequently met by censorship, discrimination, and coercive responses by the guardians of reactionary to intimidate investigation of the new idea. But this cowardice is not confined to this form of external coercion. Traditionalism and prejudice depend on a second form of subtle coercion, namely reducing religion to a question of biological inheritance and social tradition, making people conform to the religion of their fathers. In other words, the security of habit and the internal force of imitation forces people to never think about spiritual truth. In this way tradition persists not by external threat or coercion but by internal habit of imitation. That is why understanding truth requires the force of moral and intellectual courage. One can search after truth, question tradition and prejudice, and be willing to change one’s beliefs only if one has the courage to know. In a society where the clerics use coercion, truth requires the willingness to sacrifice everything including one’s own possessions and life. But even in a situation of apparent religious and political freedom, thinking for oneself and transcending the culture of habit and imitation requires the courage to go beyond one’s internal sense of security. That is one of the reasons that the Bab makes light a symbol of both truth and self-sacrifice. Light is what makes truth visible, and yet light sacrifices itself in order to illumine others. (Panj Sha’n) Among the western philosophers it is Kant who defined enlightenment by the phrase “dare to know”. Although Baha’u’llah’s discussion of the method of seeking truth is calling for transformation of individual human beings, this same teaching is simultaneously a call for fundamental social transformations as well. Since humans are defined as spirit, consciousness, and spiritual capacities, they cannot be reduced to the level of objects or beasts. The principle of independent investigation of truth defines all humans as sacred, endowed with rights and capable of thinking for themselves.