The Bab and the Perspective of the Heart

5. Bab’s perspective of the heart offers an entire reconstruction of the concept of religion as well. In the past we have had two conceptions of religion. The traditional conception of religion which is offered by the clerics of various religions, sees religion as the embodiment of the absolute will of God. Religion becomes a set of eternal laws that God arbitrarily imposes on human beings. These laws have no relation to the dynamics of history or the characteristics and the stage of the progress of humanity. For that reason, the will of God is absolute and unchangeable. In this conception of religion, religion is the imposition of the unchangeable will of God on humans and therefore, all religions perceive themselves to be the last and final religion. The opposite perspective belongs to the materialistic sociology. This perspective rejects God and revelation and therefore, sees each religion as the reflection of particular culture and characteristics of a society. Religion is simply a social phenomenon that is determined by social structure and culture of a people at a specific time. Therefore, there always will exist a plurality of religions because there always exists a plurality of cultures. The perspective of the heart offers a new understanding of religion. Religion is the reflection of divine will in the mirror of human capacities and potentialities. This means that religion has two dimensions. On the one hand, it source is God and divine revelation. On the other hand, the will of God is reflected in accordance with the needs of the time, the levels of spiritual development of humanity, the social conditions of a culture. Therefore, the will of God manifests itself in different forms at different times in accordance with the level of advancement of human societies and their specific needs. Religion in other words, is a product of a dialogue between humanity and God. It is neither simply a divine phenomenon, nor merely a human and social phenomenon. Instead, it is both divine and social, a product of the interaction of the divine will and the human level of spiritual development. This is the reason why the religion of the Bab begins not at the time that the Bab becomes conscious of his prophetic station, but rather, it begins when a human being has become ready to receive the revelation of God. It is through the dialogue between the Bab and Mulla Husayn, his first believer, that the Babi religion is born. But if religion is an interactive process, a dialogue between God and humanity, it means that religion is both one and many. The truth of all religions is one and the same reality. But that truth has to manifest itself at different stages of human development in new forms. Since there is no end to development of human and social reality there can be no final religion. Divine revelation will always renew itself corresponding to the new needs of historical developments of humanity. The laws of no religion can be applicable to the entire human history. Instead, each new religion abrogates the previous laws and bring new laws that correspond with the needs of humanity in its new stage of development. For example, none of the previous religions had outlaws slavery but in this day, Baha’u’llah has categorically rejected slavery. Of course the truth of all religions is emphasis on the nobility of all human beings, but in the past people were not yet ready to understand this truth. Therefore, past religions brought laws that were understandable in the past. Humanity has developed to a higher stage now and therefore the Will of God now manifests itself in the form of outlawing slavery. 6. I finish this discussion of the perspective of the heart by noting a central new idea in the writings of the Bab. Since the Bab sees all religions as historically-specific, his worldview is one of unity in diversity. The unity of the prophets of God reflects itself in the diversity of religions as diverse expressions of the same truth. This is a dialectical perspective. The perspective of the heart is the perspective of the unity of opposites, where the unity of the revelation of God is realized