Bahá’í World/Volume 6/Spiritual Perspectives, by Prof. Raymond Frank Piper

The Bahá’í World
Volume 6

SPIRITUAL PERSPECTIVES

BY RAYMOND FRANK PIPER

ON rare and precious occasions the truth-seeker attains a summit of vision so commanding that it guides and gladdens all his lesser ways of life. He sees far; he feels deeply; he comprehends much: he stands on a peak of spacious philosophic orientation, and locates himself on the map of existence. Certain axial lines of reality seem to converge in his clear and glowing consciousness. And from this cosmic outlook emerges a philosophic poise akin to religious peace of mind. Both are ineffable and unshakable, steadying and satisfying, a peerless harmony. This elevated experience may be called a spiritual perspective.

In the latter phrase I know that I am mixing metaphors and metaphysics because I purpose to show their kinship, the yoked consanguinity of poetry and philosophy. These constitute a balanced pair of wings for ascending the ecstatic heights of cosmic vision.

There is one distinctive kind of literature where metaphors and metaphysics abound and blend in beautiful perfection. That literature consists of the noblest utterances of the world’s high prophets. Their words live on in men’s hearts because they unite truth and beauty. They exhibit an equilibrium and sense of security amid confusion and persecution the secret of which I long to know. How could Buddha, Jesus, Bahá’u’lláh, and others, remain calm and sweet while suffering dreadful insults and deprivations? For some reason they were untouched by the worldly troubles that disturb lesser minds. But how can painful troubles seem unimportant save as they are much subordinated to some large perspective?

What do spiritual perspectives mean in the concrete? As illustrations I shall select some of the priceless vistas revealed in the writings of the Bahá’í founders. These writings are a stirring fusion of poetic beauty and religious insight. I, like another, have been “struck by their comprehensiveness.” I find they have extraordinary power to pull aside the veils that darken my mind and to open new visions of verity and life.

Spatial perspectives are familiar in drawing, architecture, and other arts. Before me stands a perfect example: an etching by Blanding Sloan, inscribed Two Infinites, Open and Closed. From a star—set vortex at the left center burst forth two systems of seemingly endless lines. Running off into the right distance an eight-way path, arched by other lines, converges tubelike at a vanishing point in deep space whence fancy must carry on. Out of the vortex at the left originates a spiral of ever-widening light bands which leap outward toward an infinite expansion. One’s imagination revels in the suggestions of boundless space in every direction.

This brilliant creation is a concrete symbol of an infinite concept. The universal idea of spaciousness is metaphysical: its picturesque embodiment is poetic: the two factors fuse in inseparable unity. It matters little whether one says that the sense form blossoms into the idea of endlessness or that the idea of endlessness becomes incarnate in the sense form. In such a unity is exemplified the essential meaning of a spiritual perspective. It is the center of an interflow or discharge between the two worlds of sense and of spirit. But whereas the lines of material perspective close to a point, spiritual insight opens toward the ever expanding realms of human and divine life.

And between the two infinites in Sloan’s etching stands man, scratching his head, uncertainly balanced, puzzled, half-comic. Whenever I contemplate this comic figure, I wonder how funny I look from God’s

[Page 593]

President Eduard Beneš

[Page 594] viewpoint? By way of analogy I recall a pathetic ant lost on a sidewalk and a fly beating a window pane to escape. I am eager to seize upon some cosmic perspective to redeem me from comic narrowness and futility.

Other kinds of perspectives exist. In arithmetic I need not count far without discovering how I could go on forever. Indeed the mathematician tells me that if I can define the relation of one term to its two neighbors, I may possess the principle of an infinite series. In an analogous way, if I can determine the essence of a few drops of ocean water, I may have the key to the chemical constitution of the seven seas. Perhaps in social life certain basic relationships between neighbors can be defined which would be good for all men to practice. Such a universal ethical principle would be another variety of spiritual perspective.

Are there not then some patterns of conduct, generated perhaps by a genius, which might radiate to all men, for their weal or woe? It is evident, for example, that some individual man had to be the first to smoke a pipe of tobacco else smoking could not have become a world-wide practice. Here is a practical perspective of spreading conduct, of a custom which through imitation has rippled to the rims of the continents. Similarly I believe that the original example of a truly great prophet may advance from person to person until it reaches the ends of the earth.

Two basic characteristics of spiritual perspectives emerge from the preceding considerations. (1) A perspective of any kind can radiate only from the unique viewpoint of a specific person. His viewpoint is constituted and colored—or discolored—by the values he esteems and the character of his awareness. His personal values function as a kind of eyepiece for his soul. No one else can survey the world through his mental eyepiece, and he can never stand behind the window of another soul. No two observers could possibly see at once the same rainbow because of their different angles of vision. Spiritual perspectives do not exist outside of personal consciousness. The latter serves as a kind of focal center where values and truth become real, significant, or illuminating, just as a highly polished diamond becomes the point for the display of the inner nature and beauty of light. A spiritual perspective produces a tremendous intensification of individual awareness.

(2) While several observers cannot perceive the identical rainbow, yet comparable elements exist in all their viewpoints; for instance, an arc of prismatic colors. We can talk and think about these qualities, and consolidate them into the concept of rainbow. Then this idea with its load of meaning may gradually pass from mind to mind. Even big ideas which sweep like grand vistas to the horizons of reality are capable of endless recreation in the consciousness of man.

Thus a common realm of truth is built up in which all intelligent men may share. In the world of space only one body can occupy a given place; in the world of ideas many minds, without conflict or collision, may possess the same idea in the same instant. Because ideas, entirely unlike material things, possess this interpenetrating spiritual nature, I believe they are the greatest wonders of the world. Bahá’u’lláh has written, “Therefore it has become known that the first bestowal of the Almighty is the Word. The receiver and acceptor of it is the understanding. It is the first instructor in the university of existence, and is the primal emanation of God. All the names originate in His name, and the beginnings and endings of all affairs are in His hand.”¹

Now a perspective is ideal or spiritual in essence. It is constituted of thought or spirit. A mere animal is incapable of spiritual perspective. He cannot locate himself in any world beyond immediate sensation, nor plan his future, nor appreciate values. All these require the fourth dimension of meaningful conception which he lacks. Thus spiritual perspectives are at once unique in their personal existence and universal in their range of meaning.

The two characteristics of spiritual per spectives just indicated form an intimate

————————

¹Tablet to the Zoroastrians.

[Page 595] union. To describe this union adequately taxes to the limit alike metaphysics and metaphors. Certain spatial figures may symbolize the philosophical realities involved. Lines focused in one point may yet radiate afar. Likewise ideas or ideals, arising in the burning focus of a finite experience, may contain revelations of vast areas of life.

Such an ideal or perspective as I am trying to describe is at once personal and universal, concrete and perhaps also cosmic in bearing. Its manifestations in experience are unique, but its meaning belongs to all comers. A concrete pulse of sensation is meaningless without the setting of ideas; and an idea may be vague abstraction without the sampling of concrete reality. A spiritual perspective is an ideal incarnate in self-consciousness. In converse phraseology, it is the creative form in which flesh awakens into the boundless realm of the spirit.

The kind of consciousness, thus hinted at is what philosophers have called the concrete universal. It is the kind of experience both philosophers and poets eagerly seek after; namely, the richness of actual personal life united with the breadth of ideal insight, living content illuminated by far-reaching thought, finite experience set in a cosmic perspective. Only in this form does reality exist for the intelligent mind. Poetic harmony and philosophic insight merely emphasize different aspects of this intimate synthesis of beauty and truth.

The intelligent religionist, I believe, also seeks to realize this conscious fusion of the concrete and the universal. He is an expert in viewing a particular act in a broad setting in which God is the focus. For example, in giving a cup of refreshing water to a weary traveler he is aware of doing it in the name of the Most High. Like some poets and philosophers, the religionist is cosmic in spirit and concrete in action.

But the truly great religionist as prophet-reformer, while accepting both, goes beyond both in a new and important emphasis: the truth which the poet contemplates as an emotion-filled image, which the philosopher conceives as a universal principle, the prophet presents as a universal way of acting or living. Like the philosopher he possesses a secure poise born of a cosmic outlook; like the poet he clothes his convictions in beautiful metaphors which inspire men. But he adds his own distinctive genius: a deep and driving urge to lead men by example to realize a richer life. Having himself discovered the joys of a new and abundant way, he ardently yearns to communicate and share with others his unifying and generative vision.

In short, the characteristic quality of the religionist is a kind of missionary zeal. He is a dreamer—actor, a critic-builder, a moral leader, a creator of ethical wealth. He presents patterns of conduct which he believes, with reason and sincerity, are good for all men.

The greatest gift and opportunity of religion is to make the patterns of abundant life attractive and effective to the masses of men, so that these ideals may gradually spread throughout the world.

During the remainder of this paper I shall strive to describe some attitudes or patterns of life which seem worthy of universal practice. By suggesting forms which the Bahá’í prophets have recommended I shall enjoy their confirmation of my selectlon.

It was indicated above that through the individual viewpoints of men there may permeate some common elements of thought; for example, the color and arc of the rainbows. The common factor consists of that mysterious marvel called the concept or idea. How is it possible for men thus to know common ideas or truths? Philosophic criticism compels me to answer: it is the gift of one Supreme Intelligence. I can find no other adequate source for the common body of verity which men know than a Divine Wisdom who in diverse orderly ways manifests himself to mankind. The realization of this truth is the basic philosophic-religious insight: seeing through things to God. This awareness of the divine has been happily called cosmic consciousness.

The Bahá’í scriptures abound in stirring metaphors by which the prophet-poets endeavor to suggest the character of this Supreme Being. Here are a few of their [Page 596] choicest figures: God is the Ruler of existence, the Lord of all worlds, the one Foundation of Reality, the Shepherd of the world, the Sun of Reality, the Ocean of Divine Presence, the Sea of Divine Generosity, my Awakener, the Desire of the Universe. In the invocations of these books a hundred or more stirring attributes are applied to Him. ‘Abdu’l-Bahá has written, “Nothing is completely worthy of our heart’s devotion save reality, for all else is destined to perish. Therefore the heart is never at rest, and never finds real joy and happiness until it attaches itself to the Eternal. Man must attach himself to an infinite reality, so that his glory, his joy and his progress may be infinite. Only the spirit is real; everything else is as shadow. Therefore, let us yearn for the Kingdom of God, so that our works may bear eternal fruit.”²

The deepest and surest ground of mental poise is the conviction that the framework of our human life is a friendly cosmic intelligence. This belief, once accepted wholeheartedly, influences and glorifies our attitudes towards everything else. When we awaken to the perspective of a universe ordered by the ever—active and wise God, an ineffable peace takes possession of our souls. It is like the dawning of the sun over a dark and indistinct earth: the details of the landscape fall into an ordered whole, and with joy and confidence we set forth on the next stage of our pilgrimage. In this steadying vista of existence the end-point is God and the fore-point is, my own soul, and I am content.

A second source of hope and peace of mind is the belief in the oneness of mankind. This conception and ideal is the most distinctive and important feature of Bahá’í teaching. “The essence of the Bahá’í movement,” declares Horace Holley, “is spiritual democracy.” In exquisite poetry Bahá’u’lláh has said, “O people of the world! Ye are all the fruits of one tree, and the leaves of one branch, the flowers of one garden, and the drops of one ocean. Conduct yourselves with perfect love, union, friendship, and understanding.”

————————

²Divine Philosophy.

This belief in the oneness of mankind rests upon several solid reasons. The first is religious: the conviction that God is the one Father of all entails the recognition that all men are brothers. Bahá’u’lláh affirms, “The religion of God is for the sake of love and union.” The second reason is epistemological: universal intercourse through ideas presupposes a deep kinship among human minds. In other words, the existence of creative intelligence and common truth makes a man realize his oneness with other members of the race.

The third reason is empirical and ethical. Biologically and psychologically human beings have essentially similar characteristics. Since then I realize growth and joy through friendliness with my neighbors, it is fair to believe they would enjoy similar benefits. I take it as axiomatic that all men desire a more abundant life, and that the attitude of sympathetic good-will enlarges our natures. It follows as night the day that the practice of good-will—of valuing life and serving mankind—is the ultimate principle of morality. In everyday life intelligent kindness is basic; there is no demand beyond this for the regulation of conduct.

This ideal and spreading practice of goodwill in social relations is another example of spiritual perspective. It is of universal application. It is so simple and intelligible that even a young school boy could appreciate it. The central problem of civilization is how to extend this spirit in intelligent forms to ever-widening circles of human beings. Love is a divine quality, and the only hope of a harassed and disordered world.

Now suppose that every person in the world practised this attitude to every one he met, and that his sympathies excluded no one. A Bahá’í author declares, “As the laws of human association replace throughout society the laws of animal survival, men will learn how to realize the harmony, the beauty, the abundance, the free fellowship which the myths of every people have attributed to the golden age.”³ Immeasurable joy and contentment would fill the human world. I could feel at home

————————

³Bahá’í: Spirit of the Age, by Horace Holley, p. 127.

[Page 597] everywhere if I could expect everyone to be kind.

I can count upon people to prefer kindness to ill-will and malice. I know I dislike intensely the conflicts and regrets that result from unkind words and deeds. I can be sure that the psychic effects of benevolent action will be unifying and satisfying. Here I come upon a second fundamental source of philosophic poise. If I can gain that inner resolution, integrity, or strength of will by which I maintain a friendly attitude at all times in the face of annoyances, injustice, or misunderstanding, then I shall have a sure refuge of peace. I rely much upon the leaders and literatures of religion to help me maintain this spirit. The power of religion to increase the deficient supply of altruism in society is a sufficient justification for its support and development in contemporary life.

The reign of love in the world would destroy the dullness and monotony due to unsympathetic imagination, for love is ingenious and creative. The lover invents new devices by which to make his love more expressive and helpful. Several specific techniques for realizing good—will more effectively will now be indicated. These methods are included among the fundamental Bahá’í teachings.

(a) Let us consider first the art of conference, or the technique of consultation. This art of group discussion is of supreme importance in solving the problems of the on-coming century. It assumes that a conference may be creative in the sense of producing valuable insights and solutions which would not be found apart from the group. The procedure assumes the freedom, equality, and utter tolerance of all members. It presupposes also a willingness on the part of the individual to modify his prejudices and plans of action in the light of fresh facts and ideas which may emerge in discussion. The will to maintain a spirit of unity in the group and the preservation of the method of sympathetic discussion are of such basic importance that they must be maintained at all costs, even with the failure of agreement upon other plans of action.

In the ideal conference, obstruction, resentment, and secession on the part of a minority are carefully provided for. Sometimes a few, after free and full deliberation, may honestly regard the decision of the majority as unwise. But every member has understood in advance the expected course of action in case he finds himself one of the minority: namely, to maintain the spirit of cooperation and the method of experimentation; that is, in assisting the majority to gain the additional experience and facts necessary to test their hypothesis. If the viewpoint of the minority should become verified, then the majority in their turn would support the minority in their plans. In this way minorities are not embittered or excluded, but are encouraged to cooperate. This consideration is of the utmost importance, because it is usually from the minority that the most significant new ideas arise.

To envisage the universal practice, in the different phases of social problems, of this art of conference as described above is a thrilling perspective and possibility. If this technique became as widespread as the handshake, the ill-will, bitterness and tragedy of unsettled social conflicts would be largely alleviated. To realize this lofty ideal of social adjustment requires a philosophic approach, and a persistent and lofty order of self-sacrificing devotion to the brotherhood of man.

(b) Let us turn our most lively imagination to tracing the far-reaching consequences of another perspective concerning the brotherhood of man. Suppose that every school boy and girl in the world should learn, along with arithmetic, grammar, and other elementary studies, an international auxiliary language of excellent quality? Experts tell us that this proposal is eminently practical, and that such a language can be learned in a surprisingly short time. Then when the school boy grew up to become a traveler or salesman, a scientist or missionary, he could interchange ideas with people in any part of the world.

The result of this interchange would be the dissolution of countless misunderstandings, an increase in the sense of oneness, a mutual enrichment of cultures, and other incalculable benefits. Through such a [Page 598] secondary language some international body like the League of Nations could make readily available to anyone every important writing. It seems that only a relatively small amount of intelligent planning and cooperation is required to inaugurate this grand enterprise. Its possibilities for the growth of peace and civilization are staggering. It is another spiritual perspective worthy of realization.

(c) I can think of other patterns of conduct which are at once simple in conception and universal in application. There is space to mention only a few. Bahá’u’lláh declared that there is no more important matter than universal peace. As soon as everyone in his heart really desires peace and is unwilling to do violence to anyone else, then war would be impossible. Here is another spiritual perspective of far-reaching significance. To gain peace for the world let every individual sincerely love peace and practise it. Then all hate would be turned into fellowship and love. World-wide peace is as simple—and difficult—as that. A Greek proverb says in effect: to keep our city clean let every citizen sweep his own door front.

(d) Another pattern of thought of tremendous power is the idea that evil is transition to good. If everybody actually believed and acted upon that truth, then the difficulties and pains of life would lose their bitter sting and become stepping stones to higher spiritual levels. The Nile River appears muddy and brown when viewed nearby; at a certain distance it becomes a sparkling blue, reflecting the brilliant sky overhead. I am convinced that in general every evil to which we do not succumb can become our benefactor if we will.

(e) Here are a few other perspectives. Could not everyone in his youth learn the technique of one of the fine arts? Then through the remainder of his days he could enjoy richer self—expression and development in his leisure time. (f) Why not learn in youth the simple elements of a perfected shorthand as a convenient tool for the rest of life? (g) As a lover of gardens I could propose such an organization of community and land ownership that everyone could have a small plot of earth where he could enjoy the care of growing things.

We have seen how a perspective is an ideal of living, seen in spirit, not yet realized in space. It is a spiritual principle capable of generating value in ever-widening ranges of human experience. And those who first see and inaugurate these principles are called seers or prophets.

A prophet is a man who is wise enough for the first time to see and seize clearly a basic life value which future generations will esteem. He discerns and lives in the present some pattern which in the course of time many nations, perhaps all the world, will practise. He reads in advance the chapter headings in the history of the future. His contemporaries may call him mad, traitorous, impious, or abnormal; he becomes the norm for people at a higher level of spiritual evolution. The masses of men are really looking for the qualities of the great normality, the complete life.

The peculiar function of the high prophets in all ages is to assist men in defining the patterns of abundant life, to awaken the divine potencies which lie dormant in them. Truth—seekers eagerly study the words of these high prophets, for they are the creators of spiritual perspectives. In Bahá’í metaphor the prophet is the dawning place of goodness and spiritual truth in the world; as the sun brings light in the natural world, the prophet brings light in the spiritual world. His advent is like the coming of spring. He is the pattern-maker for on-coming generations. He plants in civilization the seeds of destiny, and once a seed is discovered all may grow the flower. Markham has said, “Thou canst see the whole world’s winter in one leaf.” In one act of unselfish love one can discern the key to universal peace and happiness. Thus the patterns of the prophets become the goals of the race, and perhaps its customs also.

Because prophetic writings portray ways of life which promise to abide, the reader enjoys there in the present some of the landscapes of eternity. This sensing of the eternal brings to the mind an exquisite poise and serenity. The vision of the [Page 599] prophets aid us greatly in finding our concrete setting in the thought lines of the ages.

Some of the profoundest joys of life emanate from growing perspectives concerning its meaning. James H. Cousins says, in his Ode to Truth, “For they who catch the vision of the whole may greatly dare the part;” and they who feel the power of love may live at home in all the world. Ethical and religious demands sometimes seem hard in the present because they presuppose a long-range view of a great good. The value of any perspective, however, is measured by the amount of reality it enables us to grasp, the range of future planning it provides for, and the altruistic power it generates.

Now it may be that the Bahá’í conception of the “new world order” is a spiritual perspective sufficiently grand to include all others. Supreme philosophic satisfaction comes from discovering such an all-comprehensive ideal. I recall how the Parthenon is unified by imaginary construction lines which converge at a point far above the temple; so perhaps the great lines of prophetic perspective may sometime issue in a spiritual commonwealth in which God is the “Primal Point” and love the universal cement among men.

The warm-hearted devotion to such an exalted cause unifies one’s whole life. It saves us from the prevalent “sin of disproportion,” which magnifies trifles and disregards fundamentals. "In this long view the annoying details of life become negligible, and we maintain our tranquillity amid worries and disappointments. Tagore has written, “Life's errors cry for the merciful beauty that can modulate their isolation into a harmony with the whole.”

But the true religionist is not, like the philosopher, merely a passive spectator of all time and existence. He is a vivacious actor in a definite sphere of life. He is a pilgrim in a country which is not his own because it is not yet made according to his ideals. He lives expectantly and adventurously. He is a spiritual pioneer who dares to adopt the prophetic pattern and act upon it, as Abraham who journeyed to a far and strange land to make a new home for his family and a new religion for the world. The man of spiritual vision sees what ought to be and stakes his life on the faith that what ought to be is more real than what is for it is bound to come to pass.

Professor William E. Hocking has written, “Destiny in practice means the way to my next step in growth.” This next step may be either one of two fundamental kinds. (a) I may become newly seized by a spiritual perspective, by an ideal which suddenly becomes transformed from a mere word or abstract idea into a soul—gripping conviction. This step is a "moment of vital decision” when I claim as my own some basic prophetic ideal, when I become for the first time the burning focus of a great cosmic perspective.

(b) The second kind of step in growth may consist in a concrete victory in which I actually put in practice a plan of action which I have adopted as my own. And the conviction and ideal become clearer as I strive to realize them. The discovery and the realization of spiritual perspectives, then, are the two growing points of life: the seeing of a new path to a fuller life, and the starting to walk along that path. Incomparable poise and peace blesses the self whose conduct is thus oriented in cosmic perspective.

[Page 600]

Scene of Bahá’í Martyrdom.

Bahá’ís gathered around the Body of a Martyr.