# Baha'u'llah and Human Nobility

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> Source: Bahá'í Library Online (bahai-library.com), curated by Jonah Winters. Used by permission of the curator. Original citation: Nader Saiedi, Baha'u'llah and Human Nobility, bahai-library.com.
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> Baha’u’llah and Human Nobility
> 
> In a world in which many religious and secular cultures and philosophies are
> often encouraging the reduction of humans to their particularistic cultures and
> rationalizing dehumanization of other groups, it is refreshing to address the
> question of human nobility. The concept of human nobility is based on two
> important philosophical assumptions. First, it assumes that there is such a thing
> as human being and secondly that some values are objective and universal. If
> we reject one or both of these assumptions the entire idea of human nobility will
> collapse. We live in a world that is characterized by a grand contradiction. On
> the one hand it usually rejects both assumptions behind the idea of human
> nobility while, on the other hand, it frequently extols human rights and human
> dignity. In this analysis we investigate Baha’u’llah’s perspective on human
> dignity. First, as an introduction, we look at three traditional and modern ways
> through which the question of human dignity has been approached. In the main
> section of the paper we investigate Baha’u’llah’s approach to human nobility by
> comparing one of his Hidden Words with Rousseau’s most famous statement,
> analyze the social and religious implications of Baha’u’llah’s approach to
> human dignity, explore the complex journey from prejudice to fairness and
> conclude with a discussion of his definition of human beings.
> 
> Three Perspectives on Human Nobility
> 
> Both pre-modernity of Eastern philosophy and modernity’s Western
> philosophy have emphasized the nobility of humans. However, these two
> perspectives have offered radically opposed perspectives on the basis of this
> human dignity. In general, Eastern philosophy has defined human nobility in
> terms of a religious and God-centered definition of man, whereas the western
> modernity finds nobility of man as rooted in a materialistic philosophy that
> reduces humans to the system of nature. However, both these perspectives were
> filled with internal contradictions and their failures have led to the increasing
> dominance of a postmodern perspective that completely denies the very idea of
> human nobility.
> Sorokin, a famous sociologist, contrasted two systems of culture which he
> called ideational and sensate systems. The ideational culture believes that reality
> is ultimately spiritual and finds humans as noble beings. The sensate culture
> sees reality and truth as purely materialistic and sensory and thus degrades
> humans to a mere selfish calculus of pleasure and pain. Sorokin is partly right
> but he underestimates the way sensate modernity has also extold human
> nobility. The Eastern perspective is a religious perspective. It defines humans as
> the image of God, a spiritual being who is oriented towards eternal truth and
> eternal values, and therefore finds humans noble and sacred. This perspective is
> found in all spiritual traditions. Zoroaster finds humans as apex of creation, one
> who is the reflection of the Supreme God Ahura Mazda, Lord of Wisdom. The
> other six beings whose creation precedes the creation of humans are reflections
> of six lower divinities. These holy spirits are expressions of various names and
> attributes of Ahura Mazda. These six levels of creation are sky, earth, water,
> plants, cow and fire. Each is protected by and reflects one of six sacred spirits.
> Cows for example represent good purpose while fire and sun reflect the cosmic
> order and truth, “asha”, or truthfulness. Humans are defined as reflection of the
> wisdom of Ahura Mazda and a representative of God. In Judaism humans are
> made in the image of God, endowed with a soul, and therefore praised as a
> sacred reality. Christianity and Islam have confirmed that same truth. Hinduism
> has consistently affirmed the identity of God and soul, or Brahma and “atman,”
> as the supreme truth of reality. Both Upanishads and Bhagavad Gita emphasize
> the fact that the truth of human being is God. Finally in Buddhism, the supreme
> spiritual consciousness is the realization that all humans and all reality have
> within them the Buddha nature. Our spiritual truth is Buddha.
> While there is a beautiful truth in all these assertions, unfortunately clerical
> understanding of their religions usually have turned their religions into a
> justification of various forms of oppression, cruelty, intolerance and degradation
> of human beings. Beyond beautiful slogans of man as image of God, history of
> religions is filled with traditionalism, justification of religious and political
> despotism, acceptance or active encouragement of slavery, patriarchy,
> intolerance against unbelievers, ideas of ritual impurity of other human beings,
> avoidance of other human beings, discrimination against other religions,
> superstitious beliefs and active opposition against science and reason, killing of
> people who change their religion (apostasy), and dividing in the name of God
> human societies as the realms of peace or war. Looking at Hindu caste system
> or burning of living widows with their dead husbands, or the ignorance and
> violence of the Medieval Christianity, or the superstitious, intolerant and violent
> interpretations of Islam currently so influential in Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan,
> Iraq and Syria, Saudi Arabia, Africa and other places it is easy to see the
> inadequacy and contradictions of the traditional Eastern praise of human
> nobility.
> The Western modernity offered a radically opposite conception of human
> nobility. Centered on 18 th century philosophy of the enlightenment, modernity
> supported a rational form of authority in place of the pre-modern traditional
> authority. According to Max Weber, in traditional authority the determinant of
> norms and values is the past tradition. Whatever has existed in the past becomes
> sacred and binding. In this way of thinking humans renounce their reason and
> freedom and are blindly determined by purely external factors. Such
> dehumanization of humans became the main target of the modernity and its
> rationalistic project. In order to save human rationality, dignity and freedom,
> they revolted against traditionalism and rejected a religious understanding of
> human beings. Western modernity argued that the basis of moral and ethical
> values is reason. Humans can discover what is good or bad on the basis of their
> internal rational capacity, and they do not need God or revelation to discover
> what they should do. Law becomes legislated by humans through their rational
> deliberations. The source of human degradation is human error, and this error is
> chiefly caused by religious belief and superstitions. Suddenly, there emerges a
> new basis for nobility of humans. Humans become noble because humans are
> merely a part of nature and because there is no God.
> The philosophy of the Enlightenment not only revolted against various forms of
> religious superstition, intolerance and violence, they also rejected the Christian
> negative definition of human beings. While Christianity perceives humans as
> spiritual and sacred, yet Christian clerics misinterpreted the Bible in terms of
> the doctrine of original sin. Humans were noble in Eden, but after the sin of
> Adam and Eve they became sinful and wicked by blood. 17 th century
> philosopher Pascal is famous for his statement ‘We are born unjust since
> everyone cares about himself.” Beyond noble slogans about human soul, the
> dominant vision among Christians degraded humans as deprived of freedom
> and inherently evil and selfish. The purpose of education and social institutions
> were, therefore, violent and authoritarian transformation of human nature. Many
> 17 th century European philosophers redefined this idea. It is true, they said, that
> humans are selfish and evil, yet through the intervention of God the unintended
> consequence of their selfish acts become social harmony and morality.
> However, the 18 th century philosophy of the Enlightenment took this concept
> to a new exaggerated height. Most of them argued that following one’s self
> interest is the essence of morality and ethical action. As Voltaire reacted to
> Pascal’s word, it is good to be selfish and act accordingly. It is this pursuit of
> self-interest which becomes the main cause of human prosperity, harmony and
> progress. Adam Smith’s idea of invisible hand was an economic expression of
> the same virtue. Humans are noble because they act in accordance with the law
> of nature, follow their self-interests and use their reason to secure their
> happiness and utility. Unlike Christian doctrine of original sin, humans are born
> noble because they are part of a God-less nature. This radical materialistic view
> defined human liberation as a revolt against religion and monarchy. In his
> System of Nature, the famous philosopher Baron d’Holbach argued that
> despotic God of religions is the mirror image of the despotic monarchs. Humans
> will live in bondage and debasement as long as they live in accordance with the
> arbitrary and irrational dictates of gods and monarchs. This theme was
> developed by later philosophers including Feuerbach and Nietzsche. Feuerbach,
> whose ideas greatly influenced Marx, argued that God is a mere projection of
> exaggerated human nature to the clouds. There exist only humans and there is
> no God. But humans alienate their own perfections from themselves, exaggerate
> their own estranged nature, project it to the clouds and call it God. Feuerbach
> noted that all attributes of God are in fact human attributes. Therefore, he said,
> we create God in our own image. This meant that religion is the essence of self-
> alienation of humans from their own nature and truth. Thus according to this
> theory, humans become degraded and worthless by such alienation. After we
> gave all our perfections to God we are left with nothing. Now we have to beg
> God in prayers and rituals to give us back some of our estranged nobility.
> Religion, in other words, is the main source of human degradation, whereas
> atheism is affirmation of human nobility. Similarly, Nietzsche argued that
> humans can only become free to choose their destiny and values and develop
> their natural excellence and will to power when God is dead. Sartre was saying
> the same thing when he conditioned human freedom on non-existence of God.
> The logical conclusion of this materialistic trend was realized in various
> philosophical interpretations of Darwinism, which reduced humans to the level
> of animals, justified war and violence, accepted extremes of inequality among
> humans as natural and moral, supported racism by defining different groups of
> humans as occupying different levels in the ladder of biological evolution and
> justified colonialism and all kinds of cruelty through its doctrine of the survival
> of the fittest. Modern culture which celebrated human selfishness and defined
> the purpose of life as material and sexual gratification, has led to unbelievable
> environmental disasters, increasing poverty and class inequality in various
> countries, a sickening international inequality among nations, a militarized
> world in which science has become an instrument of violence and destruction,
> and producing desire-seeking humans whose taste, ends and aspirations are
> increasingly manufactured by a narcissistic and materialistic world obsessed
> with money and material values. It is no wonder that such praise of human
> nobility became the crudest form of human debasement.
> It was the internal contradictions of both pre-modern and modern philosophies
> which led to the increasing triumph of a postmodern viewpoint. The
> postmodern view is rooted in Nietzsche’s revolt against reason, truth and
> morality. For Nietzsche, the reason of the Enlightenment is another form of God
> which has to be killed. There is no truth and no value. There is only will to
> power. Death of God and reason meant for Nietzsche that everything is
> permitted. In fact he found ideas of equality, political democracy, human rights,
> equality of men and women and rejection of slavery as illusions that are rooted
> in a dead God. Postmodern philosophy rejected all systems of truth with radical
> doubt and uncertainty. Reason is equal to any system of superstition, and they
> are all equal in terms of their truth value. Consequently there is no objective or
> universal ethical value either. All values are arbitrary and they are equally valid.
> With denial of universal values came cultural relativism. The only criterion of
> good or bad is the internal culture and tradition of a society.But postmodern
> worldview equally rejected the very concept of human being. There is no such
> thing as human being. We are, they argued, shadows of specific social and
> cultural groups and our identity is nothing but those specific identities. There
> are only particular people with specific language, religion, ethnicity, nationality
> and culture. But there is no human being as human being. Marxist theory also
> defined humans as social products and reduced humans to their society. Yet
> Marxist theory was deterministic and believed in some universal systems and
> values. Postmodernism, on the other hand, rejected all deterministic truth
> systems and all values.There is no universal economic law which determines all
> history. It is only fragmented histories of particular cultures without any holistic
> reality. Humans are products of different systems of signs. Language, for
> example is defined in terms of specific ways that various signs relate to each
> other. Meaning of words has no connection with any objective reality. On the
> contrary, meanings are created by the internal system of the relation of words or
> signs to each other.Suddenly, the real world become an illusion and what is left
> as true is a virtual reality of signs and images. In this postmodern world there is
> no truth, no objective value and no human being.Naturally in this system there
> can be no room for the concept of human dignity, human nobility or human
> rights.
> Unlike Nietzsche, postmodern philosophers were not truly honest. Postmodern
> view in fact has divided the world in two parts. It applies its cultural relativism
> to the non-Western parts of the world, and therefore it has become the darling
> theory of all tyrants and fanatics of the world who try to justify their archaic and
> anti-human practices in terms of the sanctity of their own cultures.It is no
> wonder that despots, violent theocratic movements all reject the universal
> concept of human rights because they are defining values in terms of their own
> native traditions. This is not surprising. Cultural relativism of postmodernism
> leaves no standard for determining good or bad except one’s past culture and
> tradition. Consequently, postmodern worldview unintentionally returns to the
> pre-modern traditionalistic worldview by celebrating and glorifying past
> traditions as the sole criterion of values. On the other hand, postmodern thought
> rejects its cultural relativism in regard to the West and becomes a champion of
> equality, democracy, and socialism in Western societies. Western traditions are
> defined as evil embodiment of colonialism, racism, patriarchy, and capitalism.
> It is clear that human nobility requires a worldview that transcends not only the
> postmodern inconsistency and relativism, but also the contradictions of Eastern
> and Western systems. Such concept of human nobility is at the heart of the
> worldview of the Baha’u’llah.
> Baha’u’llah’s Approach to Human Nobility
> The Eastern and religious approach to human nobility is inadequate because
> although it gives beautiful metaphysical slogans about human nobility, it does
> not translate those slogans into concrete social teachings and laws which
> safeguard human dignity and human rights. There is abstract discussion of
> dignity of human beings or glorification of justice, yet these slogans are not
> accompanied with a discussion of institutional conditions for realization of
> human dignity.Speaking of human dignity when one defends slavery, political
> despotism, clerical despotism, patriarchy, religious discrimination, unity of
> church and state, the law of apostasy, ritual impurity of others and holy war is
> of no value. Similarly, the Western materialistic modernity’s support for many
> institutional conditions of human rights, like political democracy, separation of
> church and state and individual rights becomes seriously undermined when it is
> not accompanied with a spiritual definition of culture and values which define
> the world as a kingdom of spirit rather than a jungle. By reducing humans to the
> level of jungle, the very basis of modern values and ideals becomes arbitrary
> and senseless. Both these perspectives suffer a lack of historical consciousness.
> Baha’u’llah, unites the Eastern spiritual exaltation of humans with the Western
> attention to the social and institutional requirements of human nobility. This
> unity is mediated by his emphasis on historical consciousness.
> 
> A. From Rousseau to Baha’u’llah
> In order to understand Baha’u’llah’s approach to human dignity, it is useful to
> compare one of his statements with the most famous statement of Rousseau.
> Among philosophers of the Enlightenment both Rousseau and Kant showed
> significant sympathy both for spiritual ideas and altruistic values, a sympathy
> which set them apart from the mainstream of the Enlightenment. Rousseau’s
> philosophy can be seen in his widely quoted opening statement of his book
> Social Contract: “Man is born free and everywhere he is in chains.” This
> statement contrasts the original natural state of human being with his current
> situation in society and culture. Humans in their natural state living in jungle
> were free but they became debased and unfree under social institutions.
> Yet there are different interpretations of Rousseau’s statement. In his earlier
> work, On the Origin of Inequality, he argued that man in jungle was noble and
> honest, but society through its institution of private property made him a
> hypocrite, dependent on recognition of others, and a slave to artificial needs.
> But in his Social Contract, Rousseau argues that humans can become free under
> a direct democratic form of state, when each individual freely gives up his
> freedom and identifies with the general will of society. It is curious that he
> defines the source of unfreedom as private property and culture, yet he offers
> the path to freedom as a democratic form of state, culture and society. On the
> one hand humans are free when they are part of nature, on the other hand they
> become free when humans live under a particular form of society and culture.
> Furthermore, Social Contract does not touch the institution of private property
> and yet speaks of democratic state as a return to freedom. In addition to this
> contradiction, it is the case that the ideas of the state of nature and its imagined
> human freedom are nothing but myth. Human consciousness, language and
> thinking become possible under interaction with other human beings. In other
> words, society and culture is the very condition of the emergence of man, his
> consciousness, and his freedom. 17th century philosopher Hobbes had also
> talked of natural man but this man was brutish, violent, cheating and selfish. In
> his theory, it was culture and state that could bring freedom to human beings.
> There is another way that Rousseau’s word can be interpreted. State of nature
> means the past form of society and culture and not a natural situation. This is
> when humans were immersed in their group, were similar to other members of
> the group and were defined by a collective tribal identity. In this situation there
> was no division of labor, no inequality among individuals and no individual
> decision making. Opposed to this becomes the present situation when
> individuals have become different from each other, pursue their self-interest,
> and are alienated from their group. For Rousseau, the first situation was good
> whereas the current one is evil. His democratic “general will” was supposed to
> be a civilized return to the identity of individual with the group. Even if we
> interpret rousseau in this way, his word remains problematic. We know now
> that neither political democracy is sufficient for preventing the emergence of
> extremes of inequality and narcissistic individuals, nor absolute submission to
> the general will is a path to freedom. In fact totalitarian state is an example of
> this absolute reduction of individual freedom to submission to an unconstrained
> general will.
> Even though Rousseau’s statement is contradictory and confused, it points to a
> serious concept. Humans are born noble and free and yet they are violent,
> selfish, and unfree. Baha’u’llah also talks of the same contradiction. But his
> words point to the contradiction between two forms of culture, a culture that is
> based on the laws of spirit, and a culture that is based on the laws of jungle.
> According to Baha’u’llah humans are created rich, noble, wise and loving, yet
> they have made themselves poor, debased, ignorant, and violent. But this
> original situation is not the life in jungle. Instead, it is the life of spirit and its
> potentialities. It is the reduction of spirit to the level of nature and following the
> laws of jungle in society that causes human degradation and misery. Humans
> are born noble because they are a spiritual being, and they become degraded
> when they forget their spiritual identity and see themselves as beasts and brutes.
> In the Arabic part of the Hidden Words, Baha’u’llah writes:
> « O SON OF SPIRIT! I created thee rich, why dost thou bring thyself down to
> poverty? Noble I made thee, wherewith dost thou abase thyself? Out of the
> essence of knowledge I gave thee being, why seekest thou enlightenment from
> anyone beside Me? Out of the clay of love I molded thee, how dost thou busy
> thyself with another? Turn thy sight unto thyself, that thou mayest find Me
> standing within thee, mighty, powerful and self- subsisting. »
> It is important to note that in this statement God is addressing man as “son of
> spirit”. In other words humans are born noble because their true identity is
> spirit. They are the image of God. But humanity’s true identity is here defined
> as being rich, noble, rational, and loving. The structure of Baha’u’llah’s
> statement is dialectical. It begins by affirming the noble and rich character of
> human being as spirit. Then it affirms the negation of that spiritual perfection in
> the current culture which has reduced human beings to the level of jungle.
> Finally, it resolves this contradiction by reminding people that they should
> remember their truth, to reexamine themselves, discover their spiritual identity,
> and actualize their spiritual potentials as the throne of God. Spiritualization of
> culture, a culture in which human dignity is lived and institutionalized, is the
> purpose of human history.
> Baha’u’llah’s statement defines the nobility of man in terms of his rich spiritual
> potential. In the early parts of Some Answered Questions, ‘Abdu’l-Baha
> explains this richness of humans as their spiritual potentialities and perfections.
> True happiness, freedom and bliss are possible through such spiritual
> orientation. This is a key concept in Baha’i understanding of human dignity.
> Human social institutions should be judged in terms of this key value. Forms of
> culture which encourage and support the actualization of these rich potentials
> are compatible with human nobility. That is why education is of such vital
> importance in affirmation of human nobility. Since humans are created rich in
> their spiritual potentials, human nobility requires treating humans as noble and
> endowed with inalienable rights. This nobility necessitates participation of
> humans in determination of their lives. But this self-determination in turn is
> dependent on a culture which rejects prejudice and imitation of others and
> instead encourages individuals to think for themselves and seek knowledge
> independently. This independent thinking destroys various ideologies of hate
> and estrangement, undermines all kinds of prejudice and encourages a culture of
> peace, non-violence, unity and universal love.
> The emphasis on realization of potentialities is inseparable from Baha’u’llah’s
> conception of human dignity. In a passage he writes: "Regard man as a mine
> rich in gems of inestimable value. Education can, alone, cause it to reveal its
> treasures, and enable mankind to benefit therefrom.” In another passage he says
> “The gem of humanness is hidden in human beings. It must be made manifest
> through the cleansing burnish of education.” (author’s translation) Culture,
> therefore, is the necessary condition for both dignity and freedom of human
> beings, but this culture is a culture which cleanses humans from brutish life of
> selfishness, ignorance, enslavement, prejudice, violence and intolerance.
> Before discussing the details of Baha’u’llah’s views on human nobility it is
> useful to refer to some of his words and teachings that emphasize human
> dignity. In one place he says “Bloodshed and discord is worthy of the beasts in
> the field, and what befiteth human dignity is virtuous deeds.”(author’s
> translation)
> Here the dignity of humans is based on their transcendence from the laws of
> brutish nature and acting in accordance with unity and love. In another passage
> has says “What befiteth man is humanness. A human being should not
> concentrate all his endeavors on his own ego.
> « Be ye concerned, in utmost striving, with improving each other’s
> circumstances.”(author’s translation)
> Here humanness or insaniyyat is defined in terms of mutual solidarity, altruism,
> and service. In a famous passage, Baha’u’llah gives a new definition of human
> being: “That one indeed is a man who, today, dedicateth himself to the service
> of the entire human race.” This statement defines a new concept of identity for
> human beings, a concept which completely transcends any natural, kinship, or
> traditional forms of tribal identity, a concept that makes humans citizens of the
> republic of spirit. In another passage, he says “Reason is a messenger of God
> and a manifestation of the divine name Omniscient. It is through reason that
> human nobility is revealed and made visible.” (author’s translation). Here
> human reason is defined as the realization of human nobility. But this reason is
> a spiritual reality and a reflection of God. It is a reason which discovers the
> interdependence of all reality, and the unity and oneness of all human beings.
> This reason is not the Enlightenment’s reason, namely a calculus of self-
> interest, a slave of brutish desires. Likewise, it is not a reason that in thousands
> of years have fabricated various vain imaginings as justification of mutual
> alienation, hatred, discrimination, and murder of other human beings in the
> name of race, religion, gender, nationality, honor, and other social constructs.
> Reason is, on the contrary, the consciousness of the spiritual reality of all
> beings, a discovery of the dignity, equality, solidarity and unity of all reality
> including all human beings.
> Baha’u’llah’s ordinaces are direct affirmation of human dignity. For example,
> when advising the believers when they attain the presence of himself,
> Baha’u’llah forbids them to engage in bowing down or prostration before him
> or any other human being. He says that only God is worthy of such acts, and
> that no human being should degrade himself before another. It is for the same
> reason that Baha’u’llah has forbidden kissing hands of anyone, because all
> humans as spirit and image of God are equal and sacred. The same philosophy
> forbids begging, since one who begs isdebasing and humiliating himself before
> others. Similarly, Baha’u’llah forbids confession of sins before any human
> being.
> 
> B.Institutionalization of Human dignity
> For Baha’u’llah the issue is not the contradiction of nature versus culture, rather
> it is the opposition of one form of culture against another. The truth of human
> being is his spiritual reality. When humans live in accordance with their true
> identity they are realizing their inherent nobility. However, if the form of
> culture applies the laws of jungle to the realm of human reality the result is
> oppression and degradation of human beings. The ultimate source of all human
> debasement is the reduction of humans to the level of beasts. In other words, it
> is the application of the law of nature, the struggle for existence, to the realm of
> society and social institutions thatis the root cause of injustice and enslavement
> of humans. In Some Answered Questions, discussing the cause of economic
> problems of the contemporary capitalist society of his time, ‘Abdu’l-Baha
> argues that the root cause of strike and other socio-economic difficulties lies in
> the application of the law of nature to human society:
> Now the root cause of these difficulties lies in the law of nature that govern
> present-day civilization, for it results in a handful of people accumulating vast
> fortunes that far exceed their needs, while the greater number remain naked,
> destitute, and helpless. (SAQ,315)
> In this quotation, ‘Abdu’l-Baha condemns extremes of inequality of a pure
> capitalist system. But unlike Marx who thought all problems are caused by
> economic and material factors, ‘Abdu’l-Baha finds pure capitalism as one of the
> embodiments of a naturalistic philosophy that reduces humans to the level of
> nature. Marxist philosophy itself is another expression of the same root cause.
> That is why in that same discussion ‘Abdu’l-Baha emphasizes that both
> communism and unchecked capitalism are various forms of dehumanization of
> humans. Both are opposed to a spiritual understanding of humans and their
> inherent dignity and nobility. Pure capitalism reduces society to the struggle for
> existence as the economics of free market where selfishness is glorified,
> whereas communism denies individual uniqueness, autonomy and freedom by
> forcing equality of outcomes on all human activities. Such equality is only
> possible if state regulates the details of individual behaviors and reduces human
> beings to obedient and docile machines in society.
> The emphasis on mystical and inherent nobility of humans does not remain an
> empty slogan inBaha’i writings. On the contrary writings of Baha’u’llah are
> geared towards realization of this inherent spiritual nobility at the level of social
> institutions. One major expression of this viewpoint is Baha’u’llah’s
> condemnation of both religious despotism and political despotism.Fifty years
> before the constitutional revolution, Baha’u’llah called for political
> democracy.Democracy is the only form of state that is compatible with a
> spiritual definition of humans. If humans are seen and treated as spirit,
> consciousness and noble, then all humans are capable of independent judgment,
> equal and endowed with rights. In this situation only a true consultation can be
> the legitimate basis of political decision making. Political despotism, on the
> other hand, isa form of society in which all humans are reduced to the level of
> objects and animals, while one person is defined as superior and capable of
> thinking and making decisions. All despotic forms of politics, therefore, are
> contradictory to the nobility of human beings. Furthermore, it is a democratic
> and participatory form of society that encourages and facilitates the
> development of human potentialities. On the contrary, despotism stifles the
> emergence of humans as human.But Baha’u’llah’s call for political democracy
> was far more complex than such discussions by later Iranian intellectuals. In
> January 1861 Baha’u’llah wrote his Kitab-i-Iqan. The entire message of this
> book is a rejection of spiritual despotism, affirmation of the independence and
> rationality of all human beings, abolishing priesthood and calling for a culture
> of independent investigation of truth. The first sentence of Iqan is a
> reinterpretation of the traditional concept of detachment as the precondition of
> attaining spiritual truth: “No man shall attain the shores of the ocean of true
> understanding except he be detached from all that is in heaven and on earth.”
> The main point of this sentence is that all human beings can and should engage
> in independent investigation of truth. But such knowledge is contingent on
> detachment from all other human beings. Detachment here is interpreted as
> independence of mind, when individual is not a blind follower of the social,
> cultural, and religious prejudices around him. One has to be detached from all
> others to be able to understand the truth. Blind imitation of religious leaders is
> utter self-degradation and a voluntarily self-dehumanization. For Baha’u’llah
> such detachment and independence is the realization of spiritual democracy.
> Even the administrative apparatus of the Baha’i community is governed by
> democratic institutions because there is no priest or akhund in his religion. For
> Baha’u’llah, realization of spiritual democracy is the essential condition for
> realization of true political democracy. That is why for the Baha’u’llah both
> forms of democracy require separation of church and state. All these three main
> institutional teachings of Baha’u’llah are rooted in his belief in the primordial
> nobility of all human beings. Unfortunately the history of 19 th and 20 th
> century Iran was the neglect of the insights of Baha’u’llah. The worst mistake
> made by many Iranian intellectuals was that instead of condemning both forms
> of despotism, their critique of political despotism took the form of glorification
> of spiritual despotism and celebration of the rule of religious leaders, which in
> turn eliminated the possibility of any real political democracy as well. It is in
> this context that we can understand the historical significance of the word of
> Baha’u’llah who in late 1860s announced ‘From two ranks amongst men power
> hath been seized, kings and ecclesiastics.” Here Baha’u’llah sees the future of
> humanity a future of both political and spiritual democracy, a future in which
> enslavement of mind by clerics as well as enslavement of life by despots are
> discarded. It is evident that renouncing one’s independent judgment and
> submitting blindly to the authority of the clerics reduce people to the level of
> objects. Such culture of imitation and bondage is the main obstacle against the
> actualization of human spiritual potentials.
> A related expression of the principle of human dignity in the writings of
> Baha’u’llah is the categorical prohibition of slavery. In 1868, in his tablets
> addressed to the rulers of the world, Baha’u’llah condemned the institution of
> slavery. In 1873 in his Most Holy Book he prohibited slavery arguing that all
> human beings are servants of God, all are symbols of divine glory and thus no
> human can be a slave to another. But decades before these well-known
> passages, Baha’u’llah wrote that all human beings are servants of God and utter
> nothingness before God.Therefore how can any human claim to own another,
> while he himself is a servant of God. In this moving tablet which is one of the
> earliest writings of Baha’u’llah, he is simultaneously affirming human servitude
> before God, and human nobility, sacredness and dignity precisely because they
> are all images of God. We remember that even until 1962 when slavery is made
> illegal in SaudiArabia, the religious leaders of Mecca and Medina were
> defending slavery because they argued what God has made lawful no human
> can make it unlawful.
> Another foundational implication of the doctrine of the nobility of human spirit
> is Baha’u’llah’s rejection of international anarchy which is the application of
> the law of nature to the realm of international relations. Although many people
> have recognized the necessity of democratic rule at the level of nation states,
> most people still believe that non-democratic and anarchic form of decision
> making at the level of global affairs is natural and moral. But this anarchy of
> international relations have brought increasing international inequality, global
> poverty, international violence, global crime, terrorism, destruction of the
> environment, militarization of the world and genocidal wars to our planet.
> Baha’u’llah found this situation contrary to human dignity. Therefore he called
> for extending the rule of democratic decision-making to the international
> relations, calling for collective disarmament and security and fostering global
> prosperity rather than poverty and war.
> The current state of international anarchy is the greatest obstacle for free
> realization of human potentialities. Among the outcomes of this international
> anarchy are both increasing significance of citizenship as the main basis of
> social inequality and oppression, and colonialism and colonial aggression.
> Baha’u’llah found both these forms of oppression as debasing humanity and
> inimical to spiritual development of individuals. In the past all societies were
> enjoying relatively similar levels of economic and technological efficiency. The
> result was that citizenship was not a serious basis of inequality and injustice.
> But from 19th century a widening international inequality has made citizenship
> the best predictor of the life chances of human beings. A child accidentally born
> in a poor part of the world is condemned to a life of poverty and disease,
> whereas another child born in a rich part of the world is born with various
> opportunities that are guaranteed by citizenship rights. Our world considers
> such gross, senseless, and unjust inequality and oppression as just and natural.
> But Baha’u’llah announced in the middle of 19 th century that “the world is but
> one country and mankind its citizens.” He called the leaders of the world to
> recognize that not only nation states, but also the entire world has assumed an
> organic, interrelated and interdependent character. Unless humanity becomes
> conscious of itself as leaves and branches of one and the same tree and regards
> the world as one human body no major social problem can be truly resolved.
> Colonialism is another outcome of a world which divides the people into
> insiders and outsiders.The logic of behavior which is applied to the outsiders is
> one of dehumanization and violence and qualitatively different from the logic
> applied to the insiders. Baha’u’llah rejected colonialism and militarism by
> arguing that true honor and glory is not for one who loves his self, his family,
> his religion, or his country. Rather true honor is for one who loves the entire
> human race. Loving one’s country is a spiritual duty of all human beings, but
> such love should be accompanied with loving the entire human race. Otherwise,
> namely when one defines patriotic love in terms of hatred and dehumanization
> of others, colonialism against others become moral and legitimate.Writings of
> Baha’u’llah are filled with condemnation of colonialism. In 1882, in what is
> called Urabi Revolt, the British navy bombarded Alexandria and invaded Egypt.
> This colonial occupation of Egypt was the inception of formal British
> colonialism of the Middle East.Baha’u’llah’s reaction to this historic colonial
> invasion was swift and uncompromising. In a number of tablets he wrote shortly
> after the event, Baha’u’llah condemns British colonialism ofEgypt, asks the
> Baha’is to pray for the victory of the Egyptians, and condemns all
> rationalizations of such violence on the basis of religion or patriotic honor,
> arguing that:Vast majority of wars in the world are waged out of mere corrupt
> desires, yet they arefalsely attributed to religion, honor, and country. Religion
> and country bear witness to the falsehood of these people. Say! The world is but
> one country, and all are created by the same Word. Wherefore ye wage wars,
> and whom ye consider as enemy? (author’stranslation, unpublished)
> For Baha’u’llah the world stands at a crossroad. For most human history,
> humans frequently have perceived themselves and others as brutes and beasts
> and therefore have acted according to the law of struggle for existence.
> However, the low technological development of humanity in the past prevented
> them from causing major damage to the planet. But this began to change in19th
> century. Rapid technological developments created a situation in which humans
> became capable of unimaginable destruction and murder. Unconstrained by
> animal instincts and equipped with enormous power for destruction, now
> humanity’s pursuit of the natural law of struggle for existence leads to
> destruction of life on planet earth. While the law of nature, including the
> principle of struggle for existence, is sacred and good at the level of nature, and
> leads to ecological balance and sustaining of life on our planet, human imitation
> of the same law leads to destruction of nature as well as human species. The
> time has come to realize our spiritual reality and live in accordance with a
> culture of love and unity. This is worthy of human dignity.
> C. Reinterpretation of Religion
> In discussing the statement of Baha’u’llah in Arabic Hidden Words, we noted
> that God addresses humans as sons of spirit and affirms that in their original
> creation as spirit they are born rich, noble, wise and loving. He also emphasizes
> that the present condition of humanity is the exact opposite. Therefore, God
> asks humans to gaze at themselves in order to discover that God is present
> within each and every human being. This dialectical statement points to the
> divine nature of humanity and asks for actualization of human spiritual
> potentials. We noted that Baha’u’llah calls for a radical transformation of the
> social institutions of the world in order to bring about conditions which make
> such realization of human potentialities possible.
> But in order to make this translation of mystical nobility of humans to the
> nobility of actual living human beings we need yet another change. This time
> the change is within religious and mystical worldview itself. Aside from social
> teachings of religions which need to be redefined in terms of the requirement of
> human equality and dignity, we need to change our conceptions ofGod and his
> justice in ways that become compatible with human nobility. In this discussion I
> will address three principal religious ideas and explain the way Baha’u’llah
> reinterprets them.These are millenarian expectations of a savior, the belief in the
> day of resurrection, and definition of religion and revelation.
> The first issue is the millenarian expectations of various religions. Most of the
> times, these millenarian expectations await the realization of divine justice on
> earth through the appearance of a savior. This savior, however, is usually
> defined in most violent forms, as a mass murderer who kills all people who are
> outside of the specific version of that religion. In this way genocide becomes the
> definition of justice. This view is of course not compatible with any conception
> of human nobility or a just God. Instead, it is the internalization of an extreme
> brutish logic of struggle for existence. That is why the Baha’u’llah defined
> himself as the realization of that savior who saves by eliminating the law of the
> sword, abolishing the culture of violence and proclaiming oneness of humanity.
> This reinterpretation of the millenarian message is the essence of the first
> revelation received by Baha’u’llah through which Baha’i Faith was born. While
> he was in Tehran Dungeon, in the year 1852, he received the divine word that
> “verily we render thee victorious by thyself and by thy pen.” Thus loving
> character and pen, rather than the sword, became the means of victory of the
> Cause of God.
> In Iran, this millenarian expectation took the form of waiting for the return of
> the twelfth Imam or the Qa’im. The clerical definition of this event is
> predictably understood in terms of the sword, blood, hatred of non-Shi’ih and
> mass violence. It is no wonder that when the clerics who see themselves as
> representatives of the Hidden Imam are in charge of politics, the regulating
> principle of society becomes institutionalization of violence and discrimination.
> However, the statements of Baha’u’llah in the Hidden Words was directly a
> reinterpretation of the concept of the twelfth Imam as well. This reinterpretation
> is first elaborated in one of the early writings of the Bab who claimed to be the
> awaited Qa’im himself. Yet, his explanation of the Qa’im is radically opposed
> to traditional and clerical understanding of this issue.
> In his work Commentary on Occultation Prayer (Sharhi Du’ayi Ghaybat) the
> Bab interprets aprayer that was written by Imam Sadiq known as the
> Occultation Prayer. This is a prayer that the Shi’is are asked to read so that the
> return of the Twelfth Imam is hastened. It is a short prayer consisting of three
> lines. The Bab interprets this prayer in an entirely new way. The essence of his
> discussion is this: God in his primordial creation has created humans as perfect.
> That is why in this primordial state of perfection prayer in the sense of asking
> God to fulfill a need makes no sense. This perfect original creation of humans is
> the true meaning of the birth of the Twelfth Imam. The Twelfth Imam refers to
> all human beings who are all created at birth noble and perfect. Yet humans by
> preoccupation with the material world forget their true spiritual identity and
> debase themselves as beasts and brutes. This new situation of degradation and
> reduction of humans to the level of jungle is metaphorically portrayed as the
> occultation of the Imam. It is at this stage that prayer becomes necessary.
> Humans have to engage in prayer so that they remember their true spiritual
> identity and realize their own nobility. This is nothing but the return of the
> Imam and the reign of justice on earth. Prayer is defined by the Bab as a
> spiritual orientation that connects the finite to the infinite and a form of
> consciousness which discovers in the midst of the material world the shining
> sun of spirit. Suddenly, the entire concept of the Qa’im, his occultation and his
> return becomes metaphorical statements about the existential human condition
> and an affirmation of the inherent human nobility. Baha’u’llah’s word inHidden
> Words was exactly the same thing. God has created humans noble. Humans
> have abased themselves. Humans must look at their own truth to rediscover God
> standing within them.The second issue that needs reinterpretation is the
> concepts of heaven, hell and the day of resurrection. The clerical understanding
> of heaven and hell is based upon a literal reading of the Qur’an which finds the
> day of resurrection to be the end of history. In this literal understanding, hell
> becomes the eternal house of torture where God loves to inflict eternal pain on
> humans who in their limited life have made some mistakes. This literal
> understanding unintentionally conveys the message that God is a sadist whose
> justice is nothing but sadistic torture for the sake of torture. It is not surprising
> that when clerics, who understand God and his justice in these ways, are in
> control of state the result is institutionalization of torture against almost
> everyone. No dignity, right or nobility of human being can be realized under
> such conceptions of God. Similarly, the literal reading of heaven by clerics
> indicates that the ultimate perfection and reward of human beings is to be
> completely immersed in physical and sexual pleasure. In other words, the idea
> of heaven becomes another reduction of humans to the level of beasts. It is no
> wonder that the desire for attaining physical pleasures of heaven is so frequently
> accompanied with a motivation to commit collective and indiscriminate
> violence in the name of God on other human beings.
> The writings of the Bab and Baha’u’llah give a radically different interpretation
> of these concepts. The Bab argued that heaven and hell apply not only to
> humans but to all beings. Everything has the right to realize its potentialities.
> This realization of potentialities is the paradise of that thing. Hell, on the other
> hand, is the state of deprivation of its perfections. So for example when humans
> are polluting the seas, the earth and the air and they are building hell on earth.
> Similarly, for human beings as image of God, heaven is realization of the
> spiritual potentialities of humans. Thus reduction of humans to the level of
> jungle, immersed in a culture of violence and intolerance, is the essence of hell.
> Paradise becomes the realization of the culture of human rights, culture of peace
> and culture of the oneness of humanity. Again, we can see that the statement of
> Baha’u’llah in the Hidden Words precisely unveils the meaning of hell and
> heaven. Heaven is the realization of true self-consciousness when humans
> discover God within themselves and thus find all human beings, regardless of
> their gender, race, religion, nationality, language or creed as sacred and
> beautiful.
> The third issue is the nature and dynamics of religion or revelation. The concept
> of religion, revelation or divine word is usually understood in two opposite
> ways. The traditional clerical understanding of religion finds religion as a set of
> laws that is decided arbitrarily by a despotic will of God and without any
> connection to the dynamics of human development, needs or history. Religion is
> here absolutistic, irrational and ahistorical. That is why usually the clerics of
> each religion find their religion to be the last religion meaning that the laws of
> their religion must be binding eternally. In this understanding, religion becomes
> traditionalism, a debasement of humanity and a great obstacle against human
> development and progress. A clerical form of statet herefore try to impose
> coercively and violently the laws that were relevant to thousands of years ago
> on modern conditions of humanity. Opposed to this perspective is the viewpoint
> of the materialist sociologists who consider revelation as a pure product of the
> culture of specific people in a specific stage of their development. Here religion
> is a purely human and social creation.
> Baha’u’llah therefore redefines the concept of revelation. Religion is a product
> of the dialogue ofGod with humanity. It is defined by the will and word of God
> but this will or word is not arbitrary. Instead it takes a form that is compatible
> with the specific stage of human development, and therefore it is historically
> specific, changes over time, and is always oriented toward realization of human
> potentialities in an ever advancing civilization. In fact the traditional notion of
> covenant which is emphasized in Judaism, Christianity and Islam is in reality
> affirmation of this dialogue of God with humanity. The primordial covenant is
> not a social contract among humans. Rather it is a covenant between God and
> humanity. The very concept of covenant is already based on defining humans as
> the image of God, as noble spiritual beings and partners in the spiritual
> agreement between God and humans. Here humans are not passive objects, but
> active subjects endowed with consciousness and agency before God. In other
> words, religion, as a divine covenant, aims at realization of spiritual human
> perfections. Just as humans are historical beings and there is no end for such
> spiritual progress, religions are also dynamic, progressive and correspond to the
> needs of the time. This is again precisely the message of theHidden Words that
> we have discussed before. Humans must find God within themselves, and this
> dialogue with God is the eternal path of the ceaseless process of human spiritual
> development. Thus religion instead of being an obstacle against human progress
> becomes the active force for such development.
> In conclusion, the mystical nobility of humans must not only be translated in the
> form of specific social laws and institutions that guarantee such nobility, it must
> also become cleansed from varieties of priestly misunderstandings of definition
> of God, religion and humanity as well.
> 
> D. From Prejudice to Fairness
> As we noted, for Baha’u’llah the root cause of human debasement is a culture
> which forgets the spiritual dignity of humans and reduces humans to the level of
> jungle. In other words, the application of the law of struggle for existence to the
> realm of culture and social institutions ist he ultimate source of human
> degradation and enslavement. Conversely, in Baha’i worldview, human
> freedom, an indispensable component of human dignity, is realized through the
> birth of humans as humans and transcending the culture of struggle for
> existence. ‘Abdu’l-Baha has argued that true liberty and freedom is realized
> when humans develop their spiritual potentialities, transcend their captivity to
> nature and emerge as human beings. This freedom requires two conditions.
> First, through human reason we develop science and technology and become
> freed from the immediate control of our natural surroundings. This means that
> as ‘Abdu’l-Baha says, we discover the laws of nature and through such
> knowledge overcome them. For example, humans are biologically incapable of
> flying. But through our science we build airplane and defy this natural
> limitation. However, this rationality is not sufficient for emancipation from the
> bondage of nature. In addition to this liberation from external nature we need to
> become free from our internal, moral and spiritual captivity to nature. This
> second condition is the same as liberation from captivity to the law of struggle
> for existence. By turning to a spiritual identity we discover our mutual
> interdependence with other human beings, discover the unity of humanity and
> see all humans as sacred, beautiful and endowed with rights. A culture of
> universal love, commitment to a code of universal human rights and dedication
> to the realization of the interests of the entire human race, peace and
> communication with all people are the result of such freedom. This is what
> ‘Abdu’l-Baha says:
> And among the teachings of Bahá’u’lláh is man's freedom, that through the
> ideal Power he should be free and emancipated from the captivity of the world
> of nature; for as long as man is captive to nature he is a ferocious animal, as the
> struggle for existence is one of the exigencies of the world of nature. This
> matter of the struggle for existence is the fountain-head of all calamities and is
> the supreme affliction. (Selections 316)
> Similarly, in one of his tablets Baha’u’llah argues that true liberty is attained
> when humanity realizes that true honor and glory lies in loving the entire human
> race.
> But Baha’i writings take this novel analysis of human freedom and dignity to
> yet a higher level.‘Abdu’l-Baha who defined human freedom as human
> transcendence from captivity to theDarwinian law of struggle for existence,
> argues that the equivalent of the principle of struggle for existence at the level
> of human life is none other than various forms of prejudice. It is through
> prejudice that humans act like beasts and brutes. The ultimate source of all
> violence and oppression is now seen in prejudice, a form of culture which is
> regulated by the principle of struggle for existence. Thus realization of true
> freedom and attainment of a culture based upon human dignity is contingent on
> removal of all kinds of prejudice. ‘Abdu’l-baha says:All prejudices are
> destructive of the human edifice. As long as these prejudices persist, the
> struggle for existence must remain dominant, and bloodthirstiness and rapacity
> continue. Therefore, even as was the case in the past, the world of humanity
> cannot be saved from the darkness of nature and cannot attain illumination
> except through the abandonment of prejudices and the acquisition of the morals
> of the Kingdom. (Selections313) That is why elimination of all kinds of
> prejudice is so central to Baha’i teachings. The word translated as prejudice is
> Ta’assub. It is important to realize that the concept discussed by Baha’u’llah
> and ‘Abdu’l-Baha is far more complex than the English word prejudice.
> Prejudice is a form of judgment which is incapable of seeing the truth in
> objective ways, and therefore sees the outsiders in negative ways. But the word
> ta’sassub not only conveys this notion of prejudice, it also explains the
> sociological source of this distorted judgment. Ta’assub is derived from the
> word usbah which means group. In other words, ta’assub is the process of
> individual’s extreme identification with a particular group and therefore a
> failure to see other groups as equal. In this process of reduction of identity to
> one group other human beings are either strangers or enemies.In this way the
> interests and needs of one’s own group become sacred and moral whereas the
> interests and needs of other groups are completely ignored or rejected.
> Therefore, ta’assub is the real source of dehumanization of other human beings,
> a form of consciousness and value system in which struggle for existence
> becomes the operating principle of human relations.
> It was in this context that Baha’u’llah defined human being as one whose
> identity is defined as a human being. A human being sees honor in terms of
> loving human race and is dedicated to the service of humankind. For
> Baha’u’llah, this is a free human being:
> That one indeed is a man who, today, dedicateth himself to the service of the
> entire human race… It is not for him to pride himself who loveth his own
> country, but rather forhim who loveth the whole world. The earth is but one
> country, and mankind its citizens.(Tablets 167)
> It is in this context that Baha’i writings strongly and categorically reject racism,
> patriarchy, militaristic nationalism, and religious fanaticism as destructive of
> human nobility. For example, one cannot claim commitment to human dignity
> when he regards women as inferior and perceives other religious groups as dirty
> and subhuman. The case of religious prejudice and fanaticism is particularly
> intriguing. It is difficult for people to recognize that religious prejudice and
> fanaticism is in fact a reduction of humans to the level of beastly nature. But
> this is precisely the insight offered by Baha’u’llah. All forms of prejudice are
> affirmations of the struggle for existence and therefore they are all forms of a
> materialistic and anti-spiritual worldview. That is why Baha’u’llah as the
> founder of a new religion consistently emphasized that religion must be a cause
> of unity and love, and that if it is a cause of discord and hatred it is better not to
> have any religion. In Baha’u’llah’s words, religious fanaticism is “a world-
> devouring fire.” (Epistle 13)To this complex sociological and philosophical
> analysis of human freedom and dignity, Baha’u’llah adds a final concept that is
> essential to human liberation and dignity. This is the concept of fairness or
> Insaf, which is the application of justice at the level of individual thought and
> judgment. Human freedom requires transcending from the culture of struggle
> for existence, which in turn is dependent on rejection of prejudice. But this
> prejudice is ultimately rooted in lack of fairness. Fairness, therefore, liberates
> humans from the bondage of particularistic group prejudices and offers him the
> possibility to see the world of humanity as one. Fairness or justiceis defined in
> the Hidden Words as the most beloved of all things before God. This fairness is
> the precondition for independent investigation of truth. It requires casting away
> all traditions and imitations, and vain imaginings. One has to doubt the truth of
> the habitual ways of his tradition, prejudices of his culture and reliance on
> tyranny of religious leaders. In other words, fairness is an attitude of purification
> of heart, of detachment from all but God, an orientation in which one looks at
> the world with his own eyes and not through the eyes of his particular tribe.
> Baha’u’llah’s writings usually begin with a discourse on the necessity of such
> fairness. Both theHidden Words and the Book of certitude begin with such
> discussion. In other words, the first teaching of Baha’u’llah is independent
> investigation of truth or fairness. It is the opposite of the culture of prejudice.
> By looking at things through one’s own eyes, one looks at reality in
> universalistic ways, that is, in the same way that God looks at things. Returning
> to the statement of Baha’u’llah in the Hidden Words, looking at oneself and
> finding God standing within is in fact a description of purification of heart or
> fairness. Human nobility is dependent on turning away from prejudice and
> turning towards fairness. That is the meaning of Baha’u’llah’s statement:
> The beginning of Humanness (insaniyyat) is fairness (insaf), and all things are
> contingent upon it. (author’s translation)
> In a striking passage in one of the last works of the Bab called Panj Sha’n, he
> points to the relation between religious fairness and human freedom. Everyone
> knows that using violence and coercion to force people convert to a religion is
> opposed to human dignity and human freedom.That is why jihad and the law of
> the sword are removed from Baha’i Faith. Yet the Bab argues that in fact vast
> majority of people believe in a particular religion not because they have freely
> selected that belief, rather because they were born within a family and society
> which advocates that religion. In other words, lack of independent investigation
> of truth, or lack of fairness, namely a culture of imitation (taqlid) is the root
> cause of people’s religious identities. This means that religious identities are
> still a matter of coercion and unfreedom.
> It is in this context that we can understand the significance of Baha’u’llah’s
> prayer in which he asks God “Confer fairness upon ecclesiastics and justice
> upon rulers.” (author’s translation) He is asking God to give fairness to the
> leaders of culture and religion so that the hearts and minds of the people are
> liberated from prejudice and hatred. At the same time he wishes justice for the
> rulers so that social and political institutions would embody human dignity.
> Therefore dignity of humans requires a culture of fairness which in turn leads to
> a true human identity. It is curious that for we humans, our humanness or being
> a human is the most evident and immediate of all truths and yet, it is also the
> most concealed, distorted, and forgotten reality. Emerging from a culture of
> jungle to the kingdom of spirit is in fact a process of discovery of the fact that
> we are first and foremost all human beings.
> 
> E. The Sacred Trinity of Human Dignity
> No discussion of human dignity is possible without a general definition of
> human being. In this paper we discussed the viewpoint of Baha’u’llah in regard
> to human dignity. It is therefore necessary to conclude this analysis with a short
> discussion of Baha’u’llah’s unique way of defining human beings. In a sense,
> the entire writings of Baha’u’llah can be viewed as a dialectical elaboration of
> his philosophy of human reality. In one of his writings he explicitly indicates
> that his writings have first addressed the mystics, then the divines, and then the
> kings and rulers of the world. This is indeed the ultimate description of the
> order and divisions of his writings. His earliest works in Baghdad are
> affirmations of the spiritual nature of reality. Here human beings are defined as
> a spiritual being. This discourse has much in common with the most noble
> mystic ideas in other religions including Islam, Christianity, Judaism,
> Zoroastrianism, Hinduism and Buddhism. Humans are the throne of God, the
> image of God, the mirror of divine attributes and the dawning moment endowed
> with both angelic and brutish tendencies.The second stage of his writings
> affirms a new dimension of human reality. This often-neglected aspect is
> historical and dynamic character of human being. In the language of modern
> philosophy this is called historical consciousness. In Baha’i terminology this is
> designated as the principle of progressive revelation, a thesis which sees human
> reality as dynamic, progressive and historical, a fact which in turn necessitates
> the dynamic and progressive character of even divine word and revelation.
> Baha’u’llah emphasizes this second aspect of human reality in his writings
> which addressed the clerics. The reason is that the clerical worldview has
> always emphasized traditionalism and a static view of human reality. The
> difference between Baha’u’llah’s logic and traditional viewpoint of the clerics is
> as wide as the distance of heaven and earth. For the clerics and even mystics,
> the word of God is absolute, eternal and unchanging. For them spirit is defined
> in terms of its opposition to change. For Baha’u’llah, on the contrary, the
> definition of humans as spirit means that humans are dynamic, progressive,
> historical, and ever-advancing. Spirit is opposed to nature. Nature is relatively
> stagnant. That is why the dogs and cats behave in different places and at
> different times in similar ways. But spirit has no nature. It creates itself and
> constructs its universe. In its freedom and self-determination, spirit is defined by
> its creativity, dynamism, change and history. Baha’u’llah’s first definition of
> humans as spiritual requires his second principle, the principle of historical
> consciousness.
> The third and final stage of the writings of Baha’u’llah offers a third feature of
> human reality.This is the principle of global consciousness, the oneness of
> humanity and the universal solidarity of all human beings. Baha’u’llah
> emphasized this third principle in his writings that addressed humanity in
> general and the rulers of the earth in particular. In the past, social and political
> institutions of the world have been primarily based on the natural law of
> struggle for existence, the law of prejudice, and dehumanization of others. The
> time has come, however, to realize that all humans are brothers and sisters. All
> humans must be perceived and treated as citizens of the republic of spirit where
> there is no discrimination, prejudice or hatred against other people on the basis
> of their natural, biological or imagined differences. In other words, a true
> understanding of human reality requires a realization of the unity of humankind
> and global cooperation and universal dignity of all human beings.
> This third characteristic of humans is the logical conclusion of both previous
> principles. The first principle namely the spiritual definition of humans teaches
> us to realize that as image of God we are all one and the same. We cannot define
> human being as the image of God and then hate and kill each other on the basis
> of our biological differences, our place of birth on planet earth or religious
> superstitions and vain imaginings. But the principle of global consciousness is
> also the logical result of the second principle namely the idea of historical
> consciousness. If humans are historical and dynamic beings, then we need to
> understand that at this time the process of historical development have brought
> humanity to a new and global stage of development. In this global condition our
> mystical unity has become an objective material reality. In this stage no
> problem can be adequately solved except through a consciousness of universal
> brotherhood and sisterhood of all humanity and the imperative of global
> cooperation. Humans, in Baha’u’llah’s words, need to regard the world as one
> interdependent and organic body. The age of particularistic prejudices, hatred,
> estrangement, discrimination and dehumanization is over. We need to be
> awakened by this spiritual enlightenment and reconstruct our world in ways that
> correspond to the requirement of time. In Baha’u’llah’s view, human dignity is
> embodied in this definition of human being, a human being who is spiritual,
> historical and global.
>
> — *Baha'u'llah and Human Nobility (Used by permission of the curator)*