WHY DO I ESPOUSE THE BAHÁ’Í CAUSE?1
BY CHIKAO FUJISAWA
THERE is no denying that in recent decades, means of communication and transportation have unprecedently multiplied and thereby shortened the world distance, so much so that all nations have become increasingly interdependent; their ever tightening bonds of trade and industry, of finance and economics, of agriculture and education have brought us home to an insight that the oneness of the world is a hardly disputable fact, in so far as the material aspects of our civilization are concerned.
Nevertheless, on the other hand, we are witnessing humanity hopelessly in the grip of moral bewilderment, political chaos and class antagonism, which threaten to undermine the very foundations of our civilization. In the face of these actualities, an easy-going popular belief that the realization of economic, financial and technical solidarity of the nations would ipso facto give rise to a golden epoch of permanent peace and sincere cooperation among mankind has suffered a miserable shipwreck and proved a naive illusion. The World War and the post-bellum international complications specifically bear witness to this blunt realism of our day. Indeed, in attempting to combat the social maladies, a variety of ingenious remedies have been proposed such as socialism, communism, bolshevism and fascism, but they have after all fallen far short of the final solution of the problem concerned.
In a word, the unifying tendency of our modern material civilization could not automatically call into existence the spiritual and moral unity of mankind. This is a great lesson fraught with far-reaching consequences and which we should take to heart very seriously.
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1Address delivered on the Anniversary of the Announcement of the Báb, May 23, celebrated by the Bahá’ís of Tokyo.
How then is this outwardly somewhat
paradoxical phenomenon to be accounted
for? As for me, I am persuaded after a
prolonged meditation that this exceedingly
deplorable state of things is primarily due to
the ostensible neglect on the part of the
leaders of the world of a thorough-going
philosophical study of the inner structure of
human beings. Mainly, thanks to the sacred
scriptures bequeathed by ancient oriental
sages, I have come to apprehend that our
human consciousness is generally obscured
and bemired with the rust of obstinate bias,
as well as of shallow preconceptions, in such
a manner that the ultimate truth of the universe
remains unfortunately shrouded from
us. Hence it is only in erasing, so to speak,
all this mental rust by means of a deep
introspection and strenuous spiritual training that
we may attain to the primordial stage of pure
consciousness, wherein the light of the Sun
of Truth is revealed as on the spotless
surface of a mirror.
Consequently, the spiritual process in question is, as it were, a regress towards the inmost recess of our hearts, intrinsically opposite to the popular conception of progress which implies no more nor less than a mere precipitating advance, not accompanied by any retrospective act of our soul. This is the principal reason why the wonderful progress achieved in the realm of natural science and material technics has had no direct bearing upon the solution of the philosophical problem of subduing, what we may call egocentrism, whose lamentable rampancy has hindered us so far from bringing about the unity of mankind on a firm moral and religious basis.
From what precedes, it becomes now evident
that the matter of great urgency for
us all is reconstitution of the absolute
authority of one single religion to be worshipped by
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all mankind, irrespective of the diversity of
nationalities, races, languages and traditions,
because religion is the very key wherewith to
disclose the otherwise hidden sanctuary of
our genuine heart, through which only we
can have communion with God, the Originator
of the universe.
Just as the Sun, the image of God the Almighty, lavishes upon all creatures and things so benignantly its ever fostering radiance and helps them to the consummation of their respective natures, so will we human beings in whose purified hearts the omnipresent God comes to dwell, never fail to behave with deep love and overflowing sympathy towards one another since God will infallibly convince us that we are all the offspring of one common stock. From this unshakable belief there will gradually emerge the grand idea of the spiritual unity of mankind.
However, why have the existent religions ceased to play the supreme rôle of leading us back to the stern presence of God? It appears to me that there are two causes answerable for this visible decline of religions: one is sectarianism which is adverse to the inner nature of religion itself; and the other is the anachronistic narrow-mindedness of religious leaders. For many a century the great religious communities — Christian, Buddhist, Muḥammadan, Hindu and others—have not only existed indifferently side by side, but also they have been in frequent hostility and strife one against the other. Besides, what has rendered the situation worse is that each of them has become split up into a large number of sects, which are often bitterly opposed to one another. It goes without saying that this phenomenon has considerably discredited the past religions and deprived them of their original spirtual force. Secondly, religious teachers have shown an exceedingly bigoted and narrow-minded attitude towards the achievements of modern sciences and often betray a hardly justifiable disposition in blindly condemning those who wish to refute candidly such a fantastic story as the passage from the Bible according to which the world was made in six days by the hand of a personal God. It is obvious that true religion will never come into conflict with science, for the plane of the religious world is situated much higher than that of the scientific world. I believe personally that science is not merely reconcilable with religion, but also it should serve as the most powerful means of carrying into effect the religious ideal on earth.
We have waited long for the advent of a new all-embracing religion which would be able to fittingly meet the requirements of the times, and this ardent desire was at last fulfilled in the person of Bahá’u’lláh, a great modern Prophet Who appeared in Persia sounding His mighty trumpet call to afflicted humanity.
Perusal of numerous Tablets left for us by Bahá’u’lláh has impressed me so strongly with the unusual profundity of His thought and His penetrating wisdom that I could not but feel irresistibly attracted towards His noble Cause.
Bahá’u’lláh’s sublime mission was to recover the unity of all mankind through God. He said among other things that of the Tree of Knowledge the All-glorious fruit is this exalted word: “Of one Tree are ye the fruits and of one bough the leaves.” “Let not a man glory in this that he loves his country, but let him rather glory in this that he loves his kind.” He conveyed the following message with regard to the future of mankind: "All nations should become as one in faith and all men as brothers; the bonds of affection and unity between the sons of men should be strengthened, diversity of religion should cease and the differences of race be annulled . . . these strifes and this bloodshed and discord must cease and all men be as one kindred and one family.”
As a means of promoting religious unity He advocated above all the utmost charity and tolerance as being conducive to overcoming egocentrism of all shades and he earnestly called upon His followers to consort with the people of all religions with joy and gladness. His magnanimity is undoubtedly unique as shown by any great Prophet and is in sharp contrast to the stubborn narrow-mindedness with which other existent religions are generally marked.
In connection with the desirability of
stimulating a close cooperation between the
Occident and Orient, ‘Abdu’l-Bahá refers to
the value of modern scientific civilization as
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follows: “In these days the East is in need
of material progress and the West is in need
of a spiritual ideal. It would be well for the
West to turn to the East for illumination
and to give in exchange its scientific
knowledge. There must be this interchange of
gifts. The East and the West must unite
to give to each other what is lacking. This
union will bring about true civilization
where the spiritual is expressed and carried
out in the material.”
Thus, the spiritual unity of mankind must first of all be guaranteed and then contemporary material civilization, instead of continuing, as at present, to weigh heavily upon us, will turn out to be the most efficacious device to translate into reality the divine will of the Absolute.
Another distinct feature of the Bahá’í Religion is the absence of any professional priesthood: all Bahá’ís are exhorted to share, whatever their occupation, in the work of teaching the ultimate truth of the universe, according to their opportunities and abilities. We can directly turn to the Divine Manifestations of the Infinite which will unfailingly reveal Itself in the deepest region of our consciousness. When we all address ourselves unanimously to one Center, then there can be neither moral confusion nor superficial sophistication, and the nearer we all draw to the rallying force of the one Absolute God, the nearer do we draw to each other.
Thus, there is no wonder that the Bahá’í Movement is bound to sweep the most enlightened strata of society in every country.
