The Nature of Human Nature
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From the Editor's                           (formerly McGraw), author of It's Not
Your Fault: How Healing Relationships
Desk                                        Change Your Brain and Can Help You
Overcome a Painful Past. Analyzing the
virtual pandemic nature of affective
JOHN S. HATCHER
illnesses—particularly depression and
anxiety disorders—McIlvride discuss-
es in "Stigma, Depression, and the
THE NATURE OF HUMAN NATURE                Soul" how these emotional and mental
problems inhibit our ability to feel that
We are pleased to present in this issue     we can be a useful part of the com-
two particularly in-depth articles, one     munity, often largely because of the
on human nature and a second on the         stigma attached to such debilitating
affective disorder of depression, both      afflictions, whether overtly or subtly,
of which are artistically suggested by      by family, friends, and other members
Keith Mellard's cover art sculpture I       of the community. This widespread
Think I Am, a clever play on the Car-       attitude of discomfiture, avoidance, or
tesian proposition "Cogito ergo sum" ("I    even condescension by others is often
think, therefore I am").                    accompanied by a judgmental stance
The first article, by highly regard-     that implies the sufferer is spiritually
ed Bahá'í scholar and philosopher Ian       deficient or simply unwilling to exert
Kluge, is an overview of the Bahá'í         sufficient willpower to overcome the
teachings' engagement with one of           challenges of life.
the most critical and challenging is-           The obvious relationship between
sues we confront in this life—the           the two articles, then, is that the first
foundational reality of human exis-         piece gives the reader the opportuni-
tence. Having worked on this study for      ty to analyze how the essential reality
over a year, Kluge has devised in "The      of the individual—the human soul
Bahá'í Philosophy of Human Nature"          and its powers of rational thought,
a rather comprehensive analysis of the      willpower, memory, and reflection—
fundamental Bahá'í concept of human         translates these capacities into physi-
nature, its source, and its operation as    cal action through the intermediary of
a metaphysical essence. In particular,      the brain, and the second article shows
he focuses on how the human soul            how this process can be impeded by
produces physical effects through its       various mental disorders.1 More to
associative relationship with the phys-
1 Regarding this point, the reader
ical apparatus that is the human brain
would benefit from viewing the article
and body.
"The Beauty of the Human Psyche: The
The second article in this issue also
Patterns of Virtues" by Rhett Diessner
involves a great deal of research and la-
in our previous issue (vol. 26, no. 4). The
bor by psychologist Patricia McIlvride
Journal has also already published some
4                   The Journal of Bahá'í Studies 27.1-2 2017

the point, McIlvride's piece explains         Bahá'í texts providing specific insights
the need for friends, caregivers, and         into the particulars of this relation-
the entire community to become bet-           ship and, more precisely, how studying
ter able to discern when someone is           the relationship itself can help pre-
suffering from affective disorders so         pare us for the transition to the life to
that intelligent assistance and comfort       come. Therefore, if some impediment—
can be offered to support the healing         whether a physical or mental illness—
process.                                      deters the normal process whereby we
Without the information that both         chart the course of our lives through
articles provide, our limited under-          daily reflection, determination, and ac-
standing of the nature of mental ill-         tion, then we would obviously benefit
ness and of the appropriate methods           greatly from learning how to remove
for interacting with those affected by        or otherwise deal with this hindrance.
it all too often distance individuals            Furthermore, both articles deal
thus afflicted, causing them to remove        with areas of study that are on the
themselves from community activities          cutting edge of religious philosophy
for fear of being stigmatized as being        and science. Where does conscious-
unspiritual, weak, or simply "differ-         ness reside? Is there such a thing as
ent." Furthermore, both discussions           free will? Do millions of neurons con-
are critical to the community at large        struct some illusion whereby we feel
because each of us is striving to com-        we are in control when, in fact, all our
prehend exactly how to navigate this          actions may be the result of arbitrary
physical stage of our existence in or-        neural activity? Is memory resident in
der best to prepare ourselves for the         the brain? If so, then even if our soul
life that lies beyond this realm.             continues after the demise of the body,
For while we may have some fun-           does that mean we lose our recollec-
damental grasp of the concept of              tion of our earthly existence?
the soul and how the conscious mind              Similarly complex and challenging
communicates with the world through           are the study and treatment of emo-
the intermediary of brain-body asso-          tional and mental disorders. To what
ciation, we find that there is a virtually    extent are these maladies the result of
endless supply of information in the          genetics, environment, nutrition, and
relationships gone awry? The fields
very insightful articles on the subject of    focused on the study of the brain-
mental health. See, for example, Michael L.   body relationship, such as psychology
Penn's "Human Nature and Mental Health:       and psychiatry, are in their infancy as
A Bahá'í-inspired Perspective" (vol. 25,      regards diagnosing, classifying, and
nos. 1–2) and Abdu'l-Missagh Ghadirian's      treating depression, anxiety disorders,
"Depression: Biological, Psychosocial, and    and other impediments to the pur-
Spiritual Dimensions and Treatment" (vol.     suit of those goals prescribed in the
25, no. 4).                                   Bahá'í teachings for our advancement.
From the Editor's Desk                             5

Moreover, the widespread nature of         physical realm, this law is symbolized
these disorders is demonstrated by the     by the mutual attraction of all matter.
fact that few among us do not have a       In the metaphysical realm and in our
friend or family member beset by these     spiritual relationships, it can be dis-
afflictions and have not observed the      cerned in the affection we have and are
toll they take on both the sufferer and    exhorted to develop for one another
the caregivers.                            so that, in time, there will emerge a
These two articles by Kluge and         global community that will function
McIlvride thus function as collabora-      like one soul in many bodies and foster
tive attempts to help us understand        a nurturing environment sufficiently
several extremely important axioms         infused into the global commonwealth
about the physical or embryonic stage      that none need feel alone, unloved, or
of our existence. Both articles indicate   helpless.
that the intimacy of the associative          Finally, we include two poems,
connection between the soul and the        both dealing with the examination
body/brain is not trivial, nor does our    of spiritual beliefs and the effort to
knowledge of this relationship, how-       understand and apply those beliefs in
ever sophisticated, guard us against       two distinct contexts. "Shahada," by
the suffering that is an inherent part     Caitlin Johnson Castelaz, depicts the
of our mental and physical well-being.     thoughts of a student in a classroom
In the midst of depression, we can         learning about Islam. "The Fragrance
pray for the cessation of the darkness     of a Poem" is a very powerful glimpse
that seems to have enveloped our in-       by Mahvash Sabet of the daily life
most life, and yet the assurance that      she experiences as a prisoner in Go-
this malady will have no long-term         hardasht Prison in Iran. We have also
effect on our essential self does not      included a photograph of a second
alone ease our pain or bring about in-     sculpture by Keith Mallard, Warrior,
stantaneous relief.                        which seems extremely apropos of the
Implicit in both articles is an at-     article by McIlvride that follows it.
tempt to understand human nature
not only at the level of the individual,
but also, importantly, at the level of
community, because as human beings,
we are inherently and inextricably
social beings. In this sense, our indi-
vidual and collective objectives are in
concert because the entirety of our
existence, whether in this realm or the
next, is governed by what 'Abdu'l-Bahá
describes as the law of love, the orga-
nizing force of the universe. In the
-- The Nature of Human Nature (Used by permission of the curator)