# The Development of Humankind

*Exported from [Holy-Writings.com](https://www.holy-writings.com/) on 2026-06-21 — 1 clipping.*

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> Source: Bahá'í Library Online (bahai-library.com), curated by Jonah Winters. Used by permission of the curator. Original citation: Julio Savi, The Development of Humankind, bahai-library.com.
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> 
> Lights of ‘Irfán
> 
> The Development of Humankind
> 
> Julio Savi
> 
> uman beings may be considered as the most perfect creatures originating from the evolutionary
> 
> H         process. They have in themselves all the perfections of all other creatures. They share with the
> mineral world the power of attraction, with the vegetable world the power of growth, with the
> an im al world the power of sense perception, voluntary motion, memory, and natural emotions or
> instincts. The similarities between human beings and an im als, especially apes, are such that many con-
> sider human beings to be an im als themselves. However, unique among all the creatures, human beings
> also have the power of rational perception. This power enables them to investigate reality and to per-
> ceive what is true, both in the inner and in the outer worlds. This power is innate in them as a poten-
> tiality, but for its fuller ac t u al iz ation the guidance and cooperation of other human beings are required,
> through a process of education.
> The cognitive asset acquired through the process of education includes the knowledge of both the outer and the
> inner worlds. Knowledge of the outer world concerns, in a broad sense, science and technology. As to knowledge
> of the inner world, first of all, human beings know their own bodies and all those behaviors that are required for
> certain physical goals to be achieved—preservation, reproduction and regulation. These behaviors, common to
> human beings and animals, are usually termed instincts or natural emotions. In the course of the process of their
> education human beings learn a certain control over both their bodies and instincts, a control which is particular-
> ly precious for social life. In this respect, human beings are different from the animals. Whereas the animals are
> completely subjected to their instincts, human beings have the capacity of shaping their behaviors on the ground
> of the results of their rational investigation of reality. In other words, they also have the capacity of throwing off
> the yoke of nature, whereas all animals are always and wholly subjected to it. We can therefore distinguish in
> human beings a lower, material nature, which they have in common with animals, i.e. their bodies and instincts,
> and a higher, specifically human nature, which distinguishes them from the animals, i.e. their power of rational
> perception.
> Through their power of rational perception, human beings become conscious of a third aspect of their
> nature. Initially, this consciousness may be perceived as a love of exaltation, a desire to reach a greater
> world than the world in which one is, and to mount to a higher sphere than that in which one is. This
> love of exaltation, which seems not to exist in the an im als, is the simplest expression of that which may
> be def in ed as the divine or spiritual nature of human beings. Yet while human beings begin to perceive
> this love of exaltation, they continue to be pressed by their instincts and thus to perceive natural emo-
> tions typical of their material nature. Their natural emotions drive them toward the satisfaction of their
> instincts and, therefore, toward self-centered behaviors, basically connected with the plane of physical
> existence and conducive to inevitable conflicts with other human beings. The love for exaltation, on the
> contrary, leads them to long, albeit obscurely, for an inner harmony with themselves and the outer world,
> a harmony which requires reverse qualities like detachment from the self and the material world.
> Therefore a tension arises in them between their emotions, born from their material nature, and the
> love of exaltation, born from their divine or spiritual nature. This tension is often perceived as a feel-
> ing of inner disharmony, discontent, loneliness, and vanity. At the same time their material nature dic-
> tates self-centered behaviors conducive to conflicts with other human beings, which aggravate that feel-
> ing. This condition of inner and outer conflict is so unpleasant, in itself and in its consequences, that
> human beings want to escape from it.
> 
> Lights of ‘Irfán
> 
> Human beings pursue this goal in different ways, according to their ind iv idualities and the ideas they
> have acquired through their educational process and from their experiences. In the personal sphere, often
> the path of amusement, in its archaic meaning of ‘diversion of the attention (as from the truth or one’s
> real intent)’ (Webster, 74), is instinctively chosen. Human beings try to divert their attention from that
> inner feeling of discomfort and to occupy themselves with other activities: not only play activities in
> the exact meaning of the word, but also certain kinds of active works and even certain philosophical
> thoughts, in which a refuge is, more or less unconsciously, sought. However, amusements, whatever they
> are, do not solve con fl i c ts; they only conceal and postpone them. In the social sphere, sometimes human
> beings look for meeting points, sharing of ideas, centers of aggregation—such as fam il y, nation, politi-
> cal ideals—that may help in overcoming conflicts. However, such efforts invariably prove themselves to
> be conducive to limited results and not to satisfactory solutions of those problems.
> The humanistic philosophies prevailing in the contemporary world maintain that the development of
> the power of rational perception, i.e. intellectual development, is the highest stage of maturity which
> human beings can attain and that this growth is all they have and need so that they may gradually solve
> any problem. However, history demonstrates that the power of rational perception is not able to formu-
> late comprehensive views of reality, to elaborate standards of values, to discover and understand meta-
> physical or spiritual reality, to find effective motivations for human struggle against natural emotions,
> to bestow upon human beings the required forces and energies so that they may conquer in themselves
> the binding power of nature and manifest their potential divine or spiritual nature, or to conceive and
> create a society functioning according to the reality of that divine nature. So much so, that contempo-
> rary societies are characterized on the one hand by a great development of the power of rational per-
> ception and on the other by widespread feelings of anxiety and restlessness, by strong tensions between
> individuals and peoples who seem to be confronted with enormous difficulties in their relations and
> communications. Savater, the Spanish philosopher, writes in this regard: “...the only thing we agree about
> is that we do not all agree” (Etica per un figlio, 6). In view of these facts, how can we believe intellec-
> tual maturity to be the last stage in human development and thus in the whole evolution? Will such a
> fascinating and rich adventure end in this disturbing condition of disharmony and conflict or, at best,
> in the apathy of skepticism, in the carpe diem of epicurism, in the ataraxy of cynicism? Will all these
> disquieting inner and outer tensions remain unsolved or ignored?
> Religions are unanimous in their answer to these questions. Beyond their development on the mater-
> ial and intellectual level, human beings can go through a further transformation: the attainment of spir-
> ituality, something that draws them closer and closer to a longed-for inner and outer harmony.
> Spirituality may be defined as the consciousness of the Divine, which human beings can attain with
> the assistance of the Divine itself. It may be also def in ed as a deliberate and conscious process whereby
> a human being becomes conscious, through the instrumentality of his rational perception, of the div in e
> qualities with which he is endowed by birth (for example: equity and honesty; charity and selflessness;
> courtesy and patience; chastity and holiness; faithfulness and loyalty; joy and radiance, etc.), qualities
> which constitute his divine or spiritual nature.
> The acquisition of this consciousness, i.e. spiritual growth, implies a passage from an inferior to a
> superior plane of existence. Human beings are born from the world of creation: it is their first or mate-
> rial birth. Through their spiritual growth, they learn how to actualize on the physical plane of their exis-
> tence the potential qualities of their divine or spiritual nature, which do not belong to this world but to
> the worlds of Spirit. Therefore, in the Gospels, man’s spiritual transformation is often def in ed as second
> birth (cf. John 3:1–8). Such a transformation cannot occur through mere human powers; an external con-
> tribution is required from the superior worlds of Spirit, just as the transformation of a seed into a tree
> requires the energies emanating from the sun, the mineral substances absorbed from the air and soil, and
> the care of a farmer.
> All religions explain that man receives this assistance from God Himself through the guidance of His
> Revelation. God proposes a very important and meaningful Covenant to humankind: If you want to be
> assisted in your efforts toward the solution of your inner and outer, personal and collective conflicts,
> learn how to know and love the guidance of Revelation which God Himself sends to you from the worlds
> 
> Lights of ‘Irfán
> 
> of Spirit. At the same time, put in practice its counsels, following the guidance of this knowledge and
> using the power of your own love. In this way you will become aware of your potential spiritual qu al i-
> ties by practical experience. You will learn how to live in the world of matter, according to the laws of
> the worlds of Spirit and thus you will learn how to solve your own conflicts.
> Divine revelation is sent through spiritual Leaders who manifest to humankind as much of their
> Creator as people can understand. History has handed down a record of some of them. They are the
> founders of the world revealed religions: Abraham, Moses, Jesus, Mu˙ammad, Krishna, Buddha,
> Zoroaster, the Báb and Bahá’u’lláh. These spiritual Masters guide human beings in their spiritual
> progress in two ways. On the one hand, they reveal the laws of the worlds of Spirit, whose knowledge is
> required so that a person may live according to the laws of those worlds. On the other, they bestow upon
> us the required spiritual forces so that the instruments of our material nature may be bent to the pur-
> poses of our divine or spiritual nature.
> This concept will be more easily understood through a metaphor. The worlds of Spirit can be com-
> pared to the world of matter and spiritual laws to the physical ones. We must know the reality and the
> laws of the material universe so that we may properly employ our bodies. Matter is weighty—left by
> itself, it falls down. Water does not permit breathing. Fire burns. Walking blindly is dangerous; and so
> on. If a person were deprived of these simple notions, he could not survive. In the worlds of Spirit it is
> just the same. Spirit is love. Any soul who is not able to love experiences pain. Envy and jealousy deprive
> the soul of the forces of Spirit. Lying burns as a fire. A spiritually blind man, i.e. a man who ignores
> spiritual reality and laws, cannot advance in the worlds of Spirit. The Founders of religions reveal to
> humankind this reality and these laws in a comprehensible way. The language used by the Founders of
> the past religions, while accomplishing their task of assisting a still infant humankind in its difficult
> spiritual journey, has been interpreted throughout the centuries in such a way that today it is sometimes
> an obstacle in some people’s understanding of the spiritual verities. Those spiritual laws were presented
> as codes, whose disobedience—“sin”— in volved the torments of hell. Today we can understand that such
> words have a metaphorical meaning and, therefore, the idea that the Founders of the world religions
> revealed oppressive codes is a misinterpretation of their intentions. They have been careful parents will-
> ing to guide us along our difficult journey toward the attainment of that conscious maturity that they
> wish for us and for which we have been created. In fact, our final and most important transformation,
> the spiritual one, is much easier if we let ourselves be guided by the light of our awareness of the reali-
> ty and the laws of Spirit as revealed by them.
> As to the forces required to bend the capacities and qualities of our material nature toward the supe-
> rior purposes of our spiritual nature, an analogy will be useful. Life is possible upon the earth because
> of the energies released by the sun and used by the creatures of the earth for their survival. In the spir-
> itual worlds the Founders of religions are like a sun. Spiritual forces emanate from them, of which any-
> one can partake by exposing himself to their influence. The awareness of the great gift vouchsafed upon
> humankind by those Masters binds human hearts to them in a feeling of gratitude and love, often called
> faith. This feeling is in itself a force of priceless value in the struggle to overcome material nature and
> attain spiritual growth.
> Thus human life is a school. The teacher is the spiritual Master, the text is the revealed book, the pupil
> is each human being, the lessons are the facts themselves from which each human being can learn how
> to discover in himself the qualities required to meet those lessons according to spiritual laws. Very often
> pain is the feeling of inadequacy a human being experiences when confronted by a situation that he has
> not yet learned how to meet spiritually. Further consequences of spiritual immaturity are interpersonal
> con fl i c ts, since human beings that have not yet learned how to overcome selfishness through selfless-
> ness are likely to come into conflict with one another.
> Religions may thus be considered as the instruments through which God bestows upon humankind this
> precious guidance: concepts through whose knowledge and enforcement human beings are enabled to
> overcome many of their limitations. Therefore, ethical teachings are a fundamental part of all religions.
> And in this respect religiousness can be defined as obedience to God’s commandments.
> 
> Lights of ‘Irfán
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> If we study the spiritual and ethical teachings of all religions, we may discover a gradual improvement
> of ethical standards in the succeeding religions and a simultaneous widening of the spheres within which
> men are required to abide by those standards.
> Let us consider, for instance, that group of religions that flourished in the so-called Near and Middle
> East. The story of Adam and Eve can be seen as referring to the first time when human beings began to
> understand the difference between good and evil, right and wrong. Moreover, the figure of Adam-Eve
> could be seen as a pr im al human psycho-physical unity, whereby Adam symbolizes the spirit and Eve the
> soul. The soul is bound to the material world, whereof it is conscious, and ignores the spirit, wherefrom
> it comes, although at the beginning it is unaware of it. The world, in the form of a devil-snake, tempts
> her through the fruits of its tree and incites her to infringe the (psychological-spiritual) space her Creator
> has forbidden, exploiting her curiosity and ignorance. Thus soul-Eve enslaves spirit-Adam to the materi-
> al world. The unhappy condition of exile and remoteness from a heavenly (spiritual) world, wherefrom
> Eve comes, in which she finds herself after her transgression, teaches her the difficult consequences of
> breaking the law and indirectly encourages her not to break the law in the future. The story of Noah
> teaches that when a society fails to act on the distinction between good and evil, right and wrong, it
> must face great difficulties. It also may suggest the idea that the remedy to such a plight and the method
> whereby a balance may be restored and preserved within society is to obey to a covenant whose contents
> is typically ethical. The Noachid Covenant has been def in ed by Küng as “an ethic for humankind” and
> described “as a minimum basic order of reverence for life: not to murder” (‘since God has made human
> beings in his image’ [Genesis 9:6]) and not to eat the flesh of an im als who are still liv in g...prohibitions
> against theft, fornication, idolatry and blasphemy and the commandment to observe the law (to set up
> courts). (Judaism, p. 33) According to Küng, Abraham is understood by the three monotheistic religions
> (Judaism, Christianity and Islam) as a model respectively of “loyal obedience to the law...unshakable
> faithfulness...unconditional submission (= Islam)” (Judaism, p. 14), which he showed through his will-
> ingness to sacrifice his son, on the altar of God. These virtues may be considered as the kernel of the
> ethics of Abraham’s religion and the foundation of the ethics taught by all the religions of this group.
> The same Küng describes the Decalogue as the divine “guidance for a truly human life which was made
> possible and demanded by God.” (Judaism, p. 42) In the meantime, independently from Judaism,
> Zoroastrism flourished in a not very distant land. Campbell describes it as a “potent mythical formula
> for the reorientation of the human spirit...summoning man to an assumption of autonomous responsi-
> bility for the renovation of the universe in God’s name....” (Occidental Mythology, p. 190) This renewal
> implies the establishment of peace, order and justice in the world through human action. Jesus may be
> considered as the founder of the highest ethics of personal sanctification of the whole world history.
> Jesus Himself synthesizes His own ethical teachings thus: “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all
> thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And
> the second is like unto it. Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. On these two commandments hang all
> the law and the prophets.” (Matthew 22:37–40) Mu˙ammad stressed the concepts of each human being’s
> responsibility for his own actions, and the equality of all before God. A list of prescriptions and prohi-
> bitions very similar to the Decalogue may be easily identified in the Qur’án, in Surih 17 (Children of
> Israel):
> Set not up another god with God, lest thou sit thee down disgraced, helpless.
> Thy Lord hath ordained that ye worship none but him; and, kindness to your parents, whether
> one or both of them attain to old age with thee: ...
> And to him who is of kin render his due, and also to the poor and to the wayfarer; yet waste
> not wastefully,
> And let not thy hand be tied up to thy neck; nor yet open it with all openness, lest thou sit
> thee down in rebuke, in beggary. ...
> Kill not your children for fear of want: for them and for you will we provide. Verily, the kill in g
> them is a great wickedness.
> Have nought to do with adultery; for it is a foul thing and an evil way:
> Neither slay any one whom God hath forbidden you to slay, unless for a just cause: ...
> And touch not the substance of the orphan, unless in an upright way, till he attain his age of
> 
> Lights of ‘Irfán
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> strength: And perform your covenant; verily the covenant shall be enquired of:
> And give full measure when you measure, and weigh with just balance. ...
> And follow not that of which thou hast no knowledge; because the hearing and the sight and
> the heart, —each of these shall be enquired of:
> And walk not proudly on the earth, for thou canst not cleave the earth, neither shalt thou reach
> to the mountains in height:
> All this is evil; odious to thy Lord. (17:23–39)
> Thus Küng’s ideas may be agreed upon, when he concludes that “we can speak of a common basic ethic
> of the three prophetic religions.” (Judaism, pp. 43–44)
> In this succession of religions a number of levels of widening circles wherein spiritual laws, which may
> be summ ar iz ed in the law of love, are expected to be enforced may be identified. Adam gave the laws of
> the ind iv idual; Noah the laws of the tribe; Abraham the laws of the group; Moses the laws of a people.
> Mu˙ammad gave a law whereby the mere racial bonds of the Chosen people are substituted by the mem-
> bership in a common supra-racial nation, the ummah or community of brothers, whereas any other local
> or tribal bond is broken off.
> A study of all the world religions will demonstrate that the same “common basic ethic” and the same
> progress toward a universal enforcement of the spiritual law is also evident in their teachings and his-
> tory. This advancement toward a deeper understanding of the reality, and of the universal enforcement,
> of the spiritual law of love is the essence of spiritual evolution. Our age, the age of the global village,
> seems ripe for a great step forward in human spiritual evolution, i.e., the adherence to a religious teach-
> ing which may unite all the peoples of the world in the same understanding and practice of the law of
> love: to love means to serve all humankind.
> 
> Bibliography
> Campbell, Joseph. The Masks of God: Occidental Mythology, Arkana, 1991.
> Küng, Hans. Judaism Between Yesterday and Tomorrow, New York: Crossroad, 1992
> Savater, Fernando. Ética para amador, Barcelona: Editorial Ariel, 1991.
> 
> Lights of ‘Irfán
>
> — *The Development of Humankind (Used by permission of the curator)*