# Absolute Poverty and Utter Nothingness

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> Source: Bahá'í Library Online (bahai-library.com), curated by Jonah Winters. Used by permission of the curator. Original citation: Rodney H. Clarken, Absolute Poverty and Utter Nothingness, bahai-library.com.
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> 
> Published in the Journal of Bahá’í Studies Vol. 8, number 1 (1998)
> © Association for Bahá’í Studies 1998
> 
> ESSAY / ESSAI / ENSAYO
> 
> Absolute Poverty and Utter Nothingness*
> Rodney H. Clarken**
> 
> * An earlier version of this essay, entitled, “Absolute Poverty and Utter Nothingness: The Goal of Education,” was originally
> presented at the 11th Annual Conference of the Association for Bahá’í Studies, London, Ontario, Canada, August 20–24, 1986.
> Another version, entitled “The Highest State of Being and Knowing,” included some educational implications and was presented
> at the 1988 American Educational Research Association Annual Meeting in New Orleans and was subsequently published in the
> Spring/Summer 1992 edition of Journal of Thought (vol. 27, nos. 1 & 2). A paper exploring the educational implications of
> poverty and nothingness is currently in progress.
> 
> ** Some years ago in a graduate research course I was taking, I had an experience that greatly affected me. The professor
> emeritus teaching the course did something that both shocked and embarrassed me: he started class with a prayer. I was shocked
> that a professor would do such a thing and embarrassed for him because he was obviously out of touch with modern-day
> university life. In 1986, while attending the American Educational Research Association (AERA) Annual Meeting in San
> Francisco, I had a similar experience. During a session in which the paper “Emptiness: A Transcultural Goal of Wholistic
> Education” was presented, I was surprised to hear such a paper exploring what I considered spiritual issues at AERA, and I was
> embarrassed for the presenter. He obviously seemed out of touch with what was going on in the rest of the sessions, but like my
> research professor, did not seem to know it or be concerned about it. After each of these experiences, I pondered over why I felt
> the way I did, because I actually believed in what they were doing and saying. Each of these experiences led me to further
> explore myself, my convictions and my way of doing things. This essay is one of the results of that exploration.
> 
> Abstract
> This essay briefly explores Bahá’u’lláh’s conceptualization of “poverty” (detachment from the world) and
> “nothingness” (selflessness); identifies five representatives of the greatest philosophers and prophets of all time—
> Muhammad, Socrates, Confucius, Buddha, and Jesus; describes each of their conceptualizations of selflessness and
> detachment; examines some commonalities among them and commonalities with Bahá’u’lláh’s conceptualization;
> and then closes with some qualifying remarks.
> 
> Resumé
> Le présent article explore la conceptualisation que Bahá’u’lláh fait de la «pauvreté» (détachement du monde) et du
> «néant» (abnégation); il identifie cinq des plus grands philosophes et prophètes de bus let temps—Muhammad,
> Socrate, Confucius, Bouddha et Jésus; il décrit la conceptualisation que chacun d’eux fait de l’abnégation et du
> detachemnent; il examine certains points communs entre leurs conceptualisations puis examine les points communs
> aver la conceptualisalion de Bahá’u’lláh; enfin, l’article présente quelques remarques nuancées en guise de
> conclusion.
> 
> Resumen
> Este ensayo brevemcnte explora el concepto de Bahá’u’lláh acerca de la “pobreza” (desprendimiento del mundo) y
> “la nada” (abnegación); identifica cinco representantes entre los más grandes filósofos y profetas de todos los
> tiempos—Mahoma, Sócrates, Confucio, Buda, y Jesús; relata los conceptos de abnegación y desprendimiento de
> cada uno; examina lo que tienen en coimún entre ellos y con el concepto de Bahá’u’lláh; después de lo cual cierra con
> algunos comentarios calificadores.
> The Stage of Poverty and Nothingness
> In The Seven Valleys, Bahá’u’lláh’s mystical description of “the stages that mark the wayfarer’s journey from the
> abode of dust to the heavenly homeland” (4), the seventh and final stage is translated as “the Valley of True Poverty
> and Absolute Nothingness” (36). Bahá’u’lláh describes this stage in these words:
> 
> This station is the dying from self and the living in God, the being poor in self and rich in the
> Desired One. Poverty as here referred to signifieth being poor in the things of the created world, rich in the
> things of God’s world He who hath attained this station is sanctified from all that pertaineth to the world....
> For whatever the creatures have is limited by their own limits, and whatever the True One hath is sanctified
> therefrom.... (36–37)
> 
> In The Hidden Words, Bahá’u’lláh explains how this condition of poverty and nothingness requires one to
> be free of self and worldly passions. He says:
> 
> Free thyself from the fetters of this world, and loose thy soul from the prison of self. (The Hidden Words of
> Bahá’u’lláh 36)
> 
> The candle of thine heart is lighted by the hand of My power, quench it not with the contrary winds of self
> and passion. (Hidden Words 33)
> 
> Wouldst thou have Me, seek none other than Me; and wouldst thou gaze upon My beauty, close thine eyes
> to the world and all that is therein; for My will and the will of another than Me, even as fire and water,
> cannot dwell together in one heart. (Hidden Words 33)
> 
> The self here refers to the lower self and to those things in the world that keep one from God. As long as
> one is filled with self and worldly attachments, there will be no place for the enlightenment and energy that comes
> from God. ‘Abdu’l-Bahá speaks of this condition:
> 
> Then know, O thou virtuous soul, that as soon as thou becomest separated from aught else save
> God and dost cut thyself from the worldly things, thy heart will shine with the lights of divinity and with
> the effulgence of the Sun of Truth from the horizon of the Realm of Might, and then thou wilt be filled by
> the spirit of power from God and become capable of doing that which thou desirest. (Tablets of ‘Abdu’l-
> Bahá 3:709. Qtd. in The Divine Art of Living 16)
> 
> The short obligatory prayer revealed by Bahá’u’lláh gives the purpose of life and the necessary station—
> powerlessness and poverty—for achieving that purpose:
> 
> I bear witness, O my God, that Thou hast created me to know Thee and to worship Thee. I testify,
> at this moment, to my powerlessness anti to Thy might, to my poverty and to Thy wealth.
> There is none other God but Thee, the Help in Peril, the Self-Subsisting. (Bahá’í Prayers 4)
> 
> Powerlessness, poverty, and nothingness are intimately linked with our purpose and goal of life: to know and love
> God. These ideas, often expressed as detachment, selflessness, or other related virtues, are presented in numerous
> pronouncements by Bahá’u’lláh and can be found throughout his writings:
> 
> O peoples of the earth! God, the Eternal Truth, is My witness that streams of fresh and soft-
> flowing waters have gushed from the rocks through the sweetness of the words uttered by your Lord, the
> Unconstrained; and still ye slumber. Cast away that which ye possess, and, on the wings of detachment,
> soar beyond all created things. Thus biddeth you the Lord of creation, the movement of Whose Pen bath
> revolutionized the soul of mankind. (Kitáb-i-Aqdas 39)
> 
> This is not a Cause which may be made a plaything for your idle fancies, nor is it a field for the
> foolish and faint of heart. By God, this is the arena of insight and detachment, of vision and upliftment,
> where none may spur on their chargers save the valiant horsemen of the Merciful, who have severed all
> attachment to the world of being. (Kitáb-i-Aqdas 84)
> By self-surrender and perpetual union with God is meant that men should merge their will wholly in the
> Will of God, and regard their desires as utter nothingness beside His Purpose. Whatsoever the Creator
> commandeth His creatures to observe, the same must they diligently, and with the utmost joy and
> eagerness, arise and fulfil. They should in no wise allow their fancy to obscure their judgment, neither
> should they regard their own imaginings as the voice of the Eternal. (Gleanings 337)
> 
> The station of absolute self-surrender transcendeth, and will ever remain exalted above, every other station.
> (Gleanings 338)
> 
> Prophets and Philosophers
> In many writings, Bahá’u’lláh, and later ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, reinforce the teachings of the prophets, their ancient
> wisdom, and their writings concerning detachment and self-surrender. Bahá’u’lláh considered the founders of the
> world’s religions to have been the most influential individuals in history; he places the lesser prophets and spiritual
> philosophers next in rank. The philosophers’ knowledge and insight derives from the influence of the major prophets
> or manifestations of God:
> 
> To such a development did they attain that the philosophers of Greece would come and acquire knowledge
> from the learned men of Israel. Such an one was Socrates, who visited Syria, and took from the children of
> Israel the teachings of the Unity of God and of the immortality of the soul. After his return to Greece, he
> promulgated these teachings. (‘Abdu’l-Bahá, Some Answered Questions 14)
> 
> Of the spiritual philosophers of both the East and West discussed in the Bahá’í writings, Socrates and
> Confucius stand out as preeminent. The Bahá’í writings do not place Socrates and Confucius at the same level as the
> prophets of God, but they do recognize their greatness and their contribution to the world. Bahá’u’lláh refers to
> Socrates as
> 
> wise, accomplished and righteous.... What a penetrating vision into philosophy this eminent man had! He is
> the most distinguished of all philosophers and was highly versed in wisdom. We testify that he is one of the
> heroes in this field and an outstanding champion dedicated unto it. He had a profound knowledge of such
> sciences as were current amongst men as well as of those which were veiled from their minds. Methinks he
> drank one draught when the Most Great Ocean overflowed with gleaming and life-giving waters. (Tablets
> of Bahá’u’lláh Revealed after the Kitáb-i-Aqdas 146)
> 
> ‘Abdu’l-Bahá says that Confucius “became the cause of civilization, advancement and prosperity for the
> people of China” (Tablets 469) and recognized his great contributions in developing a moral system and reform
> (Compilation of Compilations 15–16). The Bahá’í writings do not consider Confucius as a prophet, but his name is
> listed among those of recognized manifestations of God in a talk by ‘Abdu’l-Bahá:
> 
> Blessed souls—whether Moses, Jesus, Zoroaster, Krishna, Buddha, Confucius or Muhammad—
> were the cause of the illumination of the world of humanity. (The Promulgation of Universal Peace 346)
> 
> Leading historians, such as Arnold Toynbee, and philosophers, such as Karl Jaspers, also recognize the
> founders of the world’s religions and these two philosophers (Socrates and Confucius) as influential individuals in
> human history. Jaspers, a leading existentialist philosopher and “indubitably one of the most seminal minds in the
> philosophy of the twentieth century” (Schilipp, The Philosophy of Karl Jaspers xi), has written extensively and
> systematically on philosophy. Among his important works is The Great Philosophers, a three-volume survey of
> philosophy based on those individuals whose ideas have most shaped humankind’s concepts and beliefs.
> Jaspers surveyed the thinking and accomplishments of all germinal thinkers of history, including the
> founders of the world’s religions and lesser prophets, and identified those who had the most profound influence on
> civilization. He divided these into three main groups: paradigmatic individuals, great thinkers, and philosophical
> thinkers in other realms. He further subdivided the great thinkers into (1) “seminal thinkers” (Plato, St. Augustine,
> and Kant), (2) “intellectual visionaries” (metaphysicians—Parmenides, Heraclitus, Plotinus, Anselm, Nicholas of
> Cusa, Spinoza, Lao-tzu, and Narajuna; those “fired with the religion of the cosmos”—Xenophanes, Empedocles,
> Anaxagoras, Democritus, Poseidonius, and Bruno; “visionaries”—Origen, Bohme, and Schelling; and
> constructors—Hobbes, Leibniz, and Fichte), (3) “negators” (Abelard, Descartes, and Hume) and “awakeners”
> (Pascal, Lessing, Kierkegaard, and Nietzsche), and (4) “creative orderers” (Aristotle, Thomas Aquinas, Hegel,
> Shankara, and Chu Hsi). He identifies Socrates, Buddha, Confucius, and Jesus as the paradigmatic individuals of
> human history:
> 
> The four paradigmatic individuals have exerted a historical influence of incomparable scope and
> depth. Other men of great stature may have been equally important for smaller groups. But when it comes
> to broad, enduring influence over many hundreds of years, they are so far above all others that they must he
> singled out if we are to form a clear view of the world’s history. (Jaspers, The Great Philosophers 13)
> 
> These men set norms by their attitudes, actions, experience of being, and their imperatives. In
> delving to the heart of their own problems, subsequent philosophers have looked to these thinkers. Each in
> his sphere, they have all exerted an enormous influence on later philosophy. (Jaspers, The Great
> Philosophers 99–100)
> 
> Of those distinguished individuals of the past whom Jaspers considered, he felt only Muhammad might be
> comparable, but he did not feel Muhammad had an equal depth to these four. Because of the impact and quality of
> Muhammad’s life, evidenced by the effects he has had on present-day thought anti civilization, and because of the
> importance placed on him in the Bahá’í writings, his conceptualizations will also be presented in this essay along
> with the four paradigmatic individuals identified by Jaspers. Not only are these five individuals supported in the
> Bahá’í, historical, and philosophical literature as among the most influential thinkers in human history, they also
> represent different ages and cultures. Their teachings have been instrumental in the great civilizations of both the
> East and West and have greatly influenced current thinking.
> We can take these five individuals as representative of the greatest philosophical and religious ideologies of
> both the East and the West. By exploring Muhammad’s, Jesus’, and Buddha’s teachings, we can look at the religions
> of the West and the East that seem to have had the greatest influence on their respective histories. By considering
> Socrates’ and Confucius’ teachings, we can explore the most influential philosophers of both the West and the East.
> Confucius and Socrates are regarded as preeminent philosophers, and Muhammad, Jesus, and Buddha as significant
> religious leaders throughout the world today. A brief description of what these great teachers said that might be
> related to Bahá’u’lláh’s conceptualizations of nothingness and poverty is presented below.
> 
> Jesus Christ (d. circa A.D. 29)
> Jesus taught that this physical world is nothing in comparison with the spiritual world. He exemplified his teachings
> by sacrificing worldly desires for his spiritual mission. The path to salvation involved resisting the temptations of
> this limited world and advancing toward the kingdom of heaven. He spoke much of love. Love free of self and the
> world is the ultimate condition:
> 
> When the sanctified breezes of Christ and the holy light of the Greatest Luminary [Bahá’u’lláh]
> were spread abroad, the human realities—that is to say, those who turned toward the Word of God and
> received the profusion of His bounties—were saved from this attachment and sin, obtained everlasting life,
> were delivered from the chains of bondage, and attained to the world of liberty. They were freed from the
> vices of the human world, and were blessed by the virtues of the Kingdom. This is the meaning of the
> words of Christ, “I gave My blood for the life of the world” [cf. John 6:5l]—that is to say, I have chosen all
> these troubles, these sufferings, calamities, and even the greatest martyrdom, to attain this object, the
> remission of sins (that is, the detachment of spirits from the human world, and their attraction to the divine
> world) in order that souls may arise who will be the very essence of the guidance of mankind, and the
> manifestations of the perfections of the Supreme Kingdom. (‘Abdu’l-Bahá, Some Answered Questions 125)
> 
> Jesus stressed belief and faith over reason and tradition. One’s abilities are only limited by one’s belief and
> faith. This faith leads to heaven and a freeing of worldly cares. It implies a trust and contentment with the Will of
> God:
> 
> The end of the message is: Believe in the good tidings. Have faith (pistis). Faith is indispensable
> for admission to the kingdom of heaven. It is the prerequisite of salvation and is itself salvation. (Jaspers,
> Socrates, Buddha, Confucius, Jesus 69)
> Faith is a word for the Biblical relation to God. It means absolute trust in the will of God. “Thy
> will be done” is an expression of this trust. Faith is certainty, concerning God, concerning man’s bond to
> Him, concerning God’s love which is the foundation of prayer. Faith is the salt that seasons man’s whole
> being. But it cannot be taken for granted, induced by design. It does not understand itself. (Jaspers,
> Socrates. Buddha. Confucius, Jesus 70–71)
> 
> In several places in the Bible, Christ taught that knowledge was achieved through faith and that this faith
> could not be completely understood. He spoke of people hearing and seeing, yet not understanding. He praised the
> poor and lowly because they were receptive to the truth. The learned and wealthy rejected his teachings because they
> were blinded by their own knowledge and attachments. ‘Abdu’l-Bahá explains the meaning of one of Christ’s
> teachings as follows:
> 
> For this physical life is not immortal, and its existence is equivalent to nonexistence. So it is that Christ said
> to one of His disciples: “Let the dead bury their dead;” [Matt. 8:221 for “That which is born of the flesh is
> flesh: and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.” [John 3:6]
> Observe: those who in appearance were physically alive, Christ considered dead; for life is the
> eternal life, and existence is the real existence. Wherever in the Holy Books they speak of raising the dead,
> the meaning is that the dead were blessed by eternal life; where it is said that the blind received sight, the
> signification is that he obtained the true perception; where it is said a deaf man received hearing, the
> meaning is that he acquired spiritual and heavenly hearing. This is ascertained from the text of the Gospel
> where Christ said: “These are like those of whom Isaiah said, They have eyes and see not, they have ears
> and hear not; and I healed them.” [Cf. Matt. 13:14 and John 12:40–41]
> The meaning is not that the Manifestations are unable to perform miracles, for They have all
> power. But for Them inner sight, spiritual healing and eternal life are the valuable and important things.
> Consequently, whenever it is recorded in the Holy Books that such a one was blind and recovered his sight,
> the meaning is that he was inwardly blind, and that he obtained spiritual vision, or that he was ignorant and
> became wise, or that he was negligent and became heedful, or that he was worldly and became heavenly.
> (‘Abdu’l-Bahá, Some Answered Questions 101–2)
> 
> Jesus taught the importance of poverty. This poverty included material poverty but was concerned more
> with a spiritual reality. He spoke of how hard it was for a wealthy person to enter heaven and in the beatitudes
> extolled the station of the poor and meek. The poor and meek have nothing and therefore can be filled with the new
> truth and reality. In the same sense, Jesus said we must become like children to enter the kingdom: “The one who
> makes himself as little as this little child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven” (Matt. 18:4).
> Christ was himself an example of all he taught. Even though he lived in the world, he was detached from
> and was above the world:
> 
> In the Gospel it is said that a man came to Christ and called Him “Good Master.” Christ answered, “Why
> callest thou Me good? there is none good but One, that is, God” [Matt. 19:16, 17] This did lint mean—God
> forbid!—that Christ was a sinner; but the intention was to teach submission, humility, meekness and
> modesty to the man to whom He spoke. (‘Abdu’l-Bahá, Some Answered Questions 170)
> 
> Ego and worldly desires were eliminated from Jesus’ heart and mind, and the limited knowledge and
> condition of his environment could not restrict him. He was the essence of faith and poverty.
> 
> Buddha (circa 563–483 B.C.)
> Buddha was raised in wealth and luxury but left this behind in his search for truth. He practiced ascetic self-denial
> but later adopted the middle way between self-mortification and wordly ambition as the path of salvation. Buddhism
> has probably had more adherents than any other religion or philosophy in history and has gone through many
> changes:
> 
> The founder of Buddhism was a wonderful soul. He established the Oneness of God, but later the original
> principles of His doctrines gradually disappeared and ignorant customs and ceremonials arose and
> increased until they finally ended in the worship of statues and images. (‘Abdu’l-Bahá, Some Answered
> Questions 165)
> 
> The Four Noble Truths are said to summarize the Buddha’s teachings: life involves suffering, the cause of
> suffering is desire, elimination of desire leads to a cessation of suffering, and the elimination of desire is the result of
> following the Noble Eightfold Path. This Path consists of right mode of seeing things, right thought, right speech,
> right action, right way of living, right effort, right mindedness, and right meditation (Gard, Buddhism). Suffering is
> caused by not understanding reality and by a preoccupation with worldly and selfish desires. If we can rise above
> our ignorant cravings and our selfish desires, we can find oneness, happiness and peace. The Buddhist scriptures
> state: “Let a man leave anger, let him forsake pride, let him overcome all bondage! No sufferings befall the man
> who is not attached to name and form, and who calls nothing his own” (Dhammapada 17:221, qtd. In Müller,
> Sacred Books of the East 59).
> The final stage in the Noble Eightfold Path—right meditation—has been characterized as emptying oneself
> so as to face squarely and dea with sensual cravings and vain imaginings. Only when we have reached this state of
> right meditation or emptiness of self and limited worldly learnings can we achieve nirvana. Nirvana is also called
> sunyata or emptiness:
> 
> According to Buddhist scholars, this phenomenal world is an “aggregate” existence made up of conditions,
> and not a self-existing reality (Atman). When the mind is said to have attained “dissolution,” it means that
> the mind has entered into a state of “absolute emptiness” (sunyata), that is completely free from all
> conditionalities, that is, “Transcendence.” In other words, the mind gains its ultimate reality, being now
> above birth and death, self and non-self, good and evil. (Suzuki, “Enlightenment” 42)
> 
> This condition is far beyond the relaxation or meditative states achieved through simple physical and mental
> techniques. It leads to a state of awakening or enlightenment.
> Koller describes the central ideas of Buddhism as follows:
> 
> The main philosophical implications of the ethical-religious teachings of Buddhism are contained in the
> doctrines of no-self (anatta) and impermanence (anicca). Both of these doctrines in turn are underwritten
> by the principle of dependent origination (paticca samuppada), according to which everything that exists is
> constantly changing and depends on everything else. The chief difference between the doctrines of anatta
> and anicca is that the former refers to the non-substantiality of the self, whereas the latter refers to the
> non—substantiality of things in the world. (Oriental Philosophies 155)
> 
> Not only did Buddha teach these concepts, his very life was a realization of them. His system of knowledge
> did not rely on sense perception, logical operations, or empirical proofs, but on the transformations of consciousness
> and the stages of meditation. Buddha’s concepts of emptiness—freedom from self and the world—result in a
> tolerance for others that allows the veils of ignorance and illusion to be removed. A comparison between Buddhism
> and Christianity makes this point:
> 
> In both religions, taken at their highest, the goal of aspiration was not extinction of sorrow, hut extinction
> of self—love: in Buddhism the quenching of trishna, or upadana, “thirst”, in Christianity the quenching
> of... “lust”, “inordinate desire.” In both religions the goal meant a finality, a state in which there was an end
> of death; and in both, moreover, it meant a change which no language could define, and to which no
> standard could apply. (Scott, Buddhism and Christianity: A Parallel and a Contrast 215)
> 
> Socrates (circa 470–399 B.C.)
> Socrates’ influence has endured throughout the centuries and can be found in many great works of Western thought.
> Socrates is not considered a prophet, nor did he make such a claim, but he felt lie had a divine mission to question
> unrelentingly in search of knowledge of the true and good. Bahá’u’lláh says the following about Socrates:
> 
> He practised self-denial, repressed his appetites for selfish desires and turned away from material pleasures.
> He withdrew to the mountains where he dwelt in a cave. He dissuaded men from worshipping idols and
> taught them the way of God, the Lord of Mercy, until the ignorant rose up against him. They arrested him
> and put him to death in prison.... He it is who perceived a unique, a tempered, and a pervasive nature in
> things, bearing the closest likeness to the human spirit, and he discovered this nature to be distinct from the
> substance of things in their refined form. He hath a special pronouncement on this weighty theme. Wert
> thou to ask from the worldly wise of his generation about this exposition, thou wouldst witness their
> incapacity to grasp it. (Tablets 146–47)
> Socrates forced those around him to reexamine knowledge that they took for granted. He believed people
> must be aware of their own ignorance before they can learn something new. Socrates wrote nothing of his own.
> Plato, his most brilliant pupil, wrote his memories of what he had heard as a series of dialogues under the name of
> Socrates. Three of those Dialogues are Meno, The Apology, and The Republic. In the Meno, Plato describes how
> Socrates’ insight grows from perplexity and the state of recognizing one’s own ignorance, as Socrates questions a
> slave on a mathematical question.
> In The Apology, Plato describes how Socrates sets out to find someone wiser than he, because Socrates is
> perplexed by the Oracle of Delphi’s statement that he is the wisest person. In his dialectical encounters with the
> supposedly wise people of his day—the politicians, the poets, and the artisans—Socrates found them not wise at all,
> but blinded by their own false knowledge. Because of their pride, fear, and attachment to their own knowledge, they
> put barriers between themselves and truth. Because Socrates was aware of and acknowledged his ignorance, he was
> wiser than the others.
> Socrates felt that one must use more than reason in coming to knowledge. He tells of a voice that spoke to
> him and gave him guidance that he would obey without understanding. Throughont his life this voice had spoken to
> him to guide him where his reason could not (Guthrie, A History of Greek Philosophy). For Socrates, self-
> knowledge is the knowledge of God, and humankind can only approach the divine through leaving behind earthly
> passions.
> 
> Confucius (circa 551–479 B.C.)
> Confucius has been a dominant force in China for over two thousand years and can be said to have truly molded
> Chinese civilization and philosophy, but still he is little understood (Chew, The Chinese Religion and the Bahá’í
> Faith). He believed that righteousness, propriety, and filial piety were fundamental virtues of humanity. Of the four
> paradigmatic individuals, he seems to speak the least about Bahá’u’lláh’s concepts of poverty and nothingness, as he
> focused more on worldly matters. Confucius’ contemporary Lao Tzu, however, spoke much about these concepts.
> Confucius did not consider himself a prophet, a religious leader, or even a sage, the highest of the four
> types of people in his philosophy. He is considered by many to be the first person to devote his life to teaching. He
> was interested in improving the human condition in this world and formulated many principles upon which science
> is based. The following statement attributed to him might be considered one of the first formulations of scientific
> thinking: “When you do not know a thing, to allow that you do not know it. This is knowledge” (Confucius, The
> Wisdom of Confucius 43).
> For Confucius, the most perfect person or the superior person was the person of jen. Jen makes human
> beings uniquely human and is the ultimate principle of human action. The Confucian Way (Tao) is essentially the
> way of jen, which has been translated many ways, e.g., perfect virtue, humanity, benevolence, and human-
> heartedness (Chew, The Chinese Religion and the Bahá’í Faith).
> 
> Jen may also be translated as love, magnanimity, etc., and is regarded as the key concept in Confucian
> moral philosophy, with shu [reciprocity] being a derivative of jen. (Yi-Pao Mei, Moral Philosophies of
> China 75–76, cited in Rost, The Golden Rule 53n)
> 
> It can be expressed in terms of conscientiousness and altruism, as in Confucius’ statement, “Do not do to others
> what you do not want them to do to you” (Koller, Oriental Philosophies 266). This is the golden rule or golden
> mean of Confucian teachings (Chan, A Source Book in Chinese Philosophy).
> Confucius taught that we should be aware of our own limits. From The Analects, the most reliable source of
> Confucius’ teachings, the point is made that Confucius “had no arbitrariness of opinion, no dogmatism, no
> obstinacy, and no egotism” (Chan, A Source Book in Chinese Philosophy 35). He did not think he had complete
> knowledge, nor did he think that such knowledge was possible. He felt one of people’s errors was their failure to see
> their own faults and ignorance. On questions about metaphysics, Confucius was unwilling to give answers that
> limited ultimate reality. He thought it was impossible to speak objectively about things that were not objects
> (Jaspers, The Great Philosophers).
> 
> Muhammad (circa A.D. 570–632)
> Muhammad revolutionized life in Arabia and the East and has had tremendous influence on current thought and
> civilization. He brought new ways of thinking and behaving, and helped eliminate many harmful ideas and practices
> current during that time. The word Islam means submission to the Will of God. Submission is the central tenet of his
> teachings. Submission to the Will of God requires selflessness and detachment from the world. God transcends all
> things, and only by submitting our knowledge and will to God’s can we discover truth and freedom. Muslims are
> ones who surrender to God, as translated in this verse of the Qur’án, “Our God and your God is one, and to him are
> we self-surrendered” [Muslims] (Súrih 29:45). Followers of Muhammad’s teachings are to be God-centered and to
> believe everything comes from God and returns to God (Brandon, Dictionary of Comparative Religion 362).
> 
> The life of a devout Muslim is theocentric. As Muhammad taught him, he must be conscious
> every moment of his life that he has his being in God, that he is moved by the Will of God, from Him he
> comes and to Him he will return. (Balyúzí, Muhammad and the Course of Islam 156)
> 
> The Qur’án, the collected recitations of Muhammad, is replete with counsels on how to live a life freed of
> attachment to self and the world. The 1ie obligations of Muhammad’s teachings further one on the path of
> selflessness and detachment: faith in God and God’s Apostle, prayer, fasting, pilgrimage, and payment of alms.
> Bahá’u’lláh calls “Muhammad, the Seal of the Prophets, and the most distinguished of God’s chosen Ones”
> (Kitáb-i-Íqán 40) and refers to his effect on his followers in the following passage:
> 
> Reflect for a while upon the behaviour of the companions of the Muhammadan Dispensation. Consider
> how, through the reviving breath of Muhammad, they were cleansed from the defilements of earthly
> vanities, were delivered from selfish desires, and were detached from all else but Him. Behold how they
> preceded all the peoples of the earth in attaining unto His holy Presence—the Presence of God Himself—
> how they renounced the world and all that is therein, and sacrificed freely and joyously their lives at the
> feet of that Manifestation of the All-Glorious. (Kitáb-i-Íqán 159 60)
> 
> The best known of the Muslim mystics are the Sufis. Farídu’d-Dín ‘Attár, one of the greatest of the Sufi
> poets, wrote about the stages of the journey of the soul in the Mantiqu’t-Tayr (c. 1177 C.E.), which has been
> translated into English under titles such as Conference of the Birds or Parliament of the Birds. Bahá’u’lláh’s The
> Seven Valleys and the Four Valleys parallels very closely ‘Attár’s ideas and stages. ‘Attár describes the valleys that
> the birds must traverse in quest of their king. The first is the valley of search or quest, where tests are encountered
> and desires renounced. The valley of love follows, in which the seeker is consumed by longing for the beloved. In
> the valley of knowledge, one receives direct intuitive truth, and in the valley of detachment, the traveler is freed
> from passions and dependence. The fifth valley, called the valley of unification, is characterized by seeing things as
> one that previously seemed different. In the valley of bewilderment or astonishment, one sees knowledge in the new
> light of love. The final valley is called annihilation or death and represents the highest state of understanding, truth,
> and reality. This conforms with the Islamic belief in submission to the Will of God.
> 
> Commonalities
> Conceptions similar to Bahá’u’lláh’s “poverty and nothingness”—a condition of being free of self and worldly
> attachments—have been proposed as the ultimate goal of life and the highest state of consciousness by the greatest
> seers, prophets, and philosophers of the world. The concept of poverty and nothingness—detachment from self and
> the world—as the ultimate state in the approach to God or higher reality, can be found in different ways and to
> different degrees in each of these great religions and philosophies.
> Though each expressed the ultimate state of being differently, the theme was the same. We must rid
> ourselves of self and worldly attachments. As such, it could be a unifying concept and goal for all peoples. Islamic
> submission, Socratic ignorance, Buddhist right meditation and emptiness, Confucian jen and awareness of limits,
> and Christian faith and poverty, are all expressions of the same truth expressed by Bahá’u’lláh. This truth has been
> echoed in different forms by the many scholars and philosophers who have illumined our thoughts throughout
> history.
> Each of these outstanding individuals required and caused a transformation in the awareness of humankind,
> though on different levels and to different degrees depending on their station and role. Muhammad called for self-
> surrender; Socrates for a transformation in thinking; Buddha for meditative living; Confucius for education beyond
> mere learning; and Jesus for devotion to God that rules out worldly attachments. They all went beyond mere
> knowledge to transform human souls. All acknowledged their own limitations, though in different ways, and all
> lived a life that exemplified their teachings. In their own ways they served as lights to guide humanity for their
> times. Bahá’u’lláh serves in that same capacity today.
> 
> Closing Thoughts
> First, lest anyone reading this essay be tempted to renounce the world and lead an ascetic life, some perspective
> might be in order. Shoghi Effendi cautions followers of Bahá’u’lláh not to interpret poverty and nothingness in a
> literal way. After citing numerous passages encouraging a chaste and holy life, which includes the virtues of
> detachment and self-surrender, he states:
> 
> It must he remembered, however, that the maintenance of such a high standard of moral conduct is
> not to be associated or confused with any form of asceticism, or of excessive and bigoted puritanism. The
> standard inculcated by Bahá’u’lláh, seeks, under no circumstances, to deny anyone the legitimate right and
> privilege to derive the fullest advantage and benefit from the manifold joys, beauties, and pleasures with
> which the world has been so plentifully enriched by an All-Loving Creator. “Should a man,” Bahá’u’lláh
> Himself reassures us, “wish to adorn himself with the ornaments of the earth, to wear its apparels, or
> partake of the benefits it can bestow, no harm can befall him, if he alloweth nothing whatever to intervene
> between him and God, for God hath ordained every good thing, whether created in the heavens or in the
> earth, for such of His servants as truly believe in Him. Eat ye, O people, of the good things which God hath
> allowed you, and deprive not yourselves from His wondrous bounties. Render thanks and praise unto Him,
> and be of them that are truly thankful.” (Shoghi Effendi, Advent of Divine Justice 33)
> 
> Second, the idea of poverty and nothingness, like many spiritual truths, contains many paradoxes that are
> beyond the scope of this essay. A letter written on behalf of Shoghi Effendi explains:
> 
> The more we search for ourselves, the less likely we are to find ourselves; and the more we search for God,
> and to serve our fellow-men. The more profoundly will we become acquainted with ourselves, and the
> more inwardly assured. This is one of the great spiritual laws of life. (Qtd. in Lights of Guidance 115)
> 
> Third, the station of complete selflessness and detachment is not possible or practical for common humans
> (Lights of Guidance 114). This is the station of the prophets of God as suggested by Bahá’u’lláh:
> 
> ...the station in which one dieth to himself and liveth in God. Divinity, whenever I mention it, indicateth
> My complete and absolute self-effacement. This is the station in which I have no control over mine own
> weal or woe nor over my life nor over my resurrection. (Kitáb-i-Aqdas 234)
> 
> In closing, there is nothing virtuous in being poor or having nothing, rather the virtue is in not allowing the
> self or material things come between one and God. The love of self and things has been the greatest impediment to
> spiritual growth for all people. The poverty and nothingness referred to by Bahá’u’lláh really means being rich in
> God and the gifts of God’s world. It is a goal that can never be completely achieved, but must always be pursued, for
> it leads to our greatest happiness and our highest good.
> 
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> — *Absolute Poverty and Utter Nothingness (Used by permission of the curator)*