Bahá’í World/Volume 8/Crisis of the World Psyche
7.
CRISIS OF THE WORLD PSYCHE
BY WILFRID BARTON
THE realization that man, both as to his inner spiritual life and as to the external social order in which he lives, is undergoing a tremendous transformation, is fast becoming a commonplace. The rapidly accelerating tempo of this change in the present hour leads many of our best thinkers to conclude that mankind is standing upon the brink of a world cataclysm marking a supreme crisis in this change. Everyone who is, to some degree at least, aware of what is going on in the world today and of the forces activating it will admit the plausibility of this line of thinking. As for those who do not, they are unlikely to be susceptible to the point of view advanced in this article. For it is an accepted fact that those ideas which are current among the more sensitive members of society require a period of time, perhaps several generations, before being absorbed by the masses. This, in general, appears to be the way in which the ideological evolution of the race has taken place. The present essay, therefore, is addressed primarily to those individuals who have the keen awareness of the present—that type of human being which, in perhaps the most accurate use of the word, may be termed modern.
Though it is generally recognized by people who have a keen awareness of the present that our world is facing a crisis, what lies beyond this crisis is as yet an unknown void. At this point the perspicacity of these leading thinkers, be they philosophers, scientists, statesmen, or what not, comes to an end. Not one of them knows the answer.
Is it surprising under these circumstances, with humanity ready to step off into the abyss, that the minds of an ever-increasing proportion of the population should be turned into a turmoil, beset with uncertainty, fear and despair? C. G. Jung, one of the world’s leading psychologists and psychiatrists, makes the following arresting statement: “We are living undeniably in a period of the greatest restlessness, nervous tension, confusion and disorientation of outlook. Among my patients from many countries, all of them educated persons, there is a considerable number who came to see me, not because they were suffering from a neurosis, but because they could find no meaning in life or were torturing themselves with questions which neither present-day philosophy nor religion could answer. Some of them perhaps thought that I knew of a magic formula, but I was soon forced to tell them that I, too, had no answer to give.”1
It is this uncertainty and hopelessness, felt today by the more sensitive members of society and ultimately and inevitably by the whole mass of the population, which constitutes one of the surest signs of the dangerously critical state of man’s collective spiritual life. Unless a remedy be found, man’s inner life will be destroyed, reflecting itself outwardly, and to the same degree, in the destruction of the society which he has built up.
What are the causes underlying this inner turmoil to which the collective psyche, so to speak, is subject? Mr. Jung, unlike Mr. Freud and Mr. Adler with their emphasis upon the sexual factor and the urge to power respectively, claims that these troubles are intimately associated with the religious needs of man. “This ‘psychological’ interest of the present time,” he says, "shows that man expects something from psychic life which he has not received from the outer world; something which our religions, doubtless, ought to contain, but no longer do contain—at least for the modern man.”2 And again he says, “Among all my patients in the second half of life—that is to say, over thirty-five—there has not been one whose problem in the last resort was
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1C. G. Jung, Modern Man in Search of a Soul. Pp. 266, 267.
2Idem, p. 237.
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not that of finding a
religious outlook on
life. It is safe to say that every one of them
fell ill because he had lost that which the
living religions of every age have given to
their followers, and none of them has been
really healed who did not regain his religious
outlook. This of course has nothing whatever
to do with a particular creed or membership
of a church.”3 And then
again—“It seems to me, that, side by side with the
decline of religious life, the neuroses grow
noticeably more frequent.”4
It is because the present-day religions are inadequate to cope with the innate religious needs of modern man that the psychic balance has been upset. Religion, whose function it has always been to endue man’s life with direction, meaning, and purpose, has ceased, in any of its recognized contemporary forms, to exert an appreciable influence upon the progress of the world. Quite to the contrary—religion, through its corruption with superstition and human conceptions, and its entanglement in mundane and materialistic interests, has become a cause of human degradation. Intelligent and sensitive minds perceive this, and there is a consequent and ever—increasing dissociation of the lives of such individuals—the truly moderns—from organized religion. In the case of those who have not openly broken with the church, their loyalty remains either lukewarm or fanatical. In no case does the church today adequately satisfy man’s spiritual needs. The version of religion which it offers has not the power to make over the individual soul, much less the world he inhabits.
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3 Idem, p. 264.
4 Idem, p. 266.
DECLINE OF THE CHURCH
Within the bounds of the major religious systems at the present time, as has just been intimated, the decline of power has manifested itself in fanaticism, on the one hand, and in lukewarmness and indifference on the other. The former attitude applies chiefly to the orthodox branches of present-day religious bodies, whether Jewish, Muḥammadan, or Christian, Protestant or Catholic. The latter attitude applies to the so—called liberal religionists. The fanaticism of the orthodox religionist consists, of course, in his rigid adherence, in complete disregard of the dictates of reason and established scientific truth, to a literal interpretation of the scriptures of his particular religion. The lukewarmness of the liberalist’s belief arises from the inroads made upon his faith by the prodigious advance of scientific knowledge chiefly within the last century. Science has gradually knocked one prop after another from under his religious creed, reducing it to little more than a shadow of its former self. Progress in the scientific realm has also helped to open wide the door of individual interpretation, which has perhaps liberated the human mind from a blind and servile subjection to dogmatism but has also robbed religion of that authority from above which is its mainstay. The liberalist attitude, under existing conditions, tends more and more to take the God out of religion and to reduce religion to the status of a purely human philosophy. It is not surprising, therefore, that such a diluted form of faith is incapable of satisfying the spiritual needs of the individual and of building a new social order.
But since the characteristically modern
man has for the most part left the Church
because his spiritual needs have
not been satisfied there, the
religious aspect of his nature
has poured itself into other channels.
The "psychological” interest of the present
time which Jung mentions is one of the
forms which this expression has taken. Not
merely in scientific psychology, however,
but in all manner of psychic
and occult phenomena does this
spiritual element seek satisfaction.
To what, for example, may we
attribute the origin and popularity of such
movements as Astrology, Theosophy,
Christian Science, New Thought, Rosicrucianism,
Buchmanism, Spiritualism, The Great I Am
and countless others? There is no doubt but
that these movements provide outlets for
vital psychic needs which can no longer be
satisfactorily met within the Church. Thus
the vogue of such movements is at once an
indication of the effete condition
of organized religion and of an
increased capacity on
the part of man for a higher measure of
spiritual truth and understanding. A new
age has dawned for the human psyche. New
spiritual needs have become realized. And
[Page 827]
the world spirit
of man is seeking in any
number of ways to satisfy these new-found
needs.
Under the same heading as the spiritual movements just mentioned may be classed those types of mysticism, the aberrant offshoots of revealed religion, which, not recognizing the necessity of a prophetic intermediary, seek directly and by divers methods to realize in the individual soul unity with the Divine Essence. These, too, may be regarded as attempts of the human soul to fulfill its spiritual needs through other than the established channels of organized religion.
PHILOSOPHIC MATERIALISM
Then we turn to philosophy. Like mysticism, philosophy also attempts to solve man’s spiritual problem, the main distinction being that whereas in mysticism the approach is through intuition, in philosophy reason is the determining factor. Though philosophy exists as a discipline separate and distinct from religion and may therefore, like those forms of mysticism just referred to, be regarded as a substitute for or alternative to religion (in the sense of prophetic revelation), both fields are nevertheless closely related and have, down through the ages, constantly interacted upon each other. When religion is a potent force in society, philosophy tends to be infused with its influence. On the other hand, a decline of religious power is accompanied by a corresponding increase of materialism in philosophic thought. Thus the philosophy of a given period is a good index of the religious temper of the age. In our own time the dying out of faith in God is attended with a powerful trend toward a purely materialistic philosophy. Humanism has taken precedence over deism as the fashionable philosophy of modern man. Recognizing no higher authority than that of the individual conscience, the modern tendency is characteristically amoral and hedonistic. The inevitable outcome is havoc and chaos as far as man’s spiritual life is concerned.
It is in the political realm, however, in the movements associated with the intensification of the spirit of nationalism on the one hand and in the Communist movement on the other, that the materialism permeating modern thought has received its most forceful expression. By reason of the fact that these movements do not consist simply in their materialistic premises but in the projection of these ideas into the plane of action in the outer world, their influence is all the more far-reaching and pernicious. In the passionate devotion and loyalty which they command they are absorbing the psychic energies of the continually-augmenting body of their followers, thereby threatening to completely destroy and supplant the influence of religion in the world. On the one hand, the trend toward an intolerant and self-contained nationalism, though apparently reconciling itself with established religion and even, in some cases, upheld by its exponents, in reality foster the evils of violent racial and political prejudices so destructive of human solidarity and world peace and naturally quite antithetical to the aim and purpose of religion itself. On the other hand, Communism, far from making any pretense at preserving moral values, claims openly to be based upon a purely atheistic and thoroughgoing materialism.
THE SPIRITUAL CRISIS
To sum up, then, the spiritual crisis of modern man is to be understood in terms of a profound disturbance of the religious consciousness of mankind. This disturbance reflects itself on the right hand in the predicament of orthodox religion with its fanatical adherence to literal scriptural interpretation and man-made dogma in opposition to science. On the far left is the atheistic-materialistic group representing the complete revolt from religion. Midway between these two extremes lie the vast number of spiritual movements more or less religious in character, representing that liberalist frame of mind, which, while dissociating itself from orthodox religion, seeks nevertheless to preserve by human invention those idealistic elements which a downright materialism lacks.
Of all three of these types of spiritual
consciousness, however — the orthodox,
atheist, and middle-of-the-road
liberalist—it may be said that
they possess in common
the inability to cope adequately with the
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spiritual problem
of modern man. The
orthodox religionist, through his failure to
reconcile his dogmas with natural science,
has lost the support of a vast number of
intelligent and perhaps, under
normal conditions, genuinely
religious persons. The atheistic class,
since it confines its attention
to the material world, either ignores
or denies the existence of a
specifically spiritual
problem, and therefore offers nothing to a
solution. Such an attitude, moreover, if
consistently applied, can have only one
outcome—the subjection of the nature of the
man to its animal propensities. For when we
subtract God from human life, there is
nothing left to distinguish it substantially
from that of the animal. And finally the
liberalist, no matter with which one of the
above-mentioned spiritual cults or groups
he may be associated, since his faith, such
as it may be, rests upon a basis of humanism
rather than of divine authority, loses the
dynamic force which only a God-inspired
religion has shown itself capable
of imparting. In attempting to straddle the fence
between religion and materialism
the liberalist can subscribe positively
and wholeheartedly to neither. The inevitable result
is both an impotent faith and a psychic void
waiting, and indeed requiring, to be filled.
What, then, is the way out of this
dilemma?
REVIVAL OF RELIGION
Nothing short of a revival of the religious consciousness of mankind would seem capable of resolving the problem. Equally plausible is the idea that such a revival can come about only through the appearance of a Prophet or Manifestation of God with a new revelation of Divine Truth directly applicable to present conditions. Every great spiritual rebirth of human society traces its origin to the teachings of a Prophet of God. Other revivals of a more or less religious or spiritual character there have been, to be sure, apparently stemming from purely human origins. But these movements, at best, constitute a rediscovery of certain verities implicit in the words of the Prophets and can not of themselves lay claim to any novelty. At their worst they represent a gross perversion and corruption of those same teachings. The human mind, when it attempts to create in the realm of religious or spiritual values, and no matter whether the approach be through philosophy or mysticism, necessarily impresses upon the products of its labors the character of its own inherent limitations. That is to say, man can know only what he imagines, not God. The effort of man to solve such questions unaided by God creates a vicious circle from which there is no escape—unless we wish to consider the maze of imagination an escape. That is why a solution of man’s spiritual problem from any purely human source is impossible.
It should therefore be clear that man, being innately limited, can not create his own spiritual life but must depend for it upon some unlimited Source. The most he can do in this respect is to pass judgment upon moral values which are already presented to his consciousness. But the presentation itself is an act of grace from this higher Source. Being ignorant, man must have One to educate him. Being helpless, he must rely upon the assistance of an All-Powerful One. But direct access to God, as we see, is impossible. Consequently it is to the Prophets, who are the Manifestations of God, that man must go for guidance, for the knowledge of God, and for the basis of his spiritual life. The Prophet or Manifestation of God is, by definition, a unique order of human being chosen by God to be the source of enlightenment and progress for the race. Historically the appearance of a Manifestation of God has always coincided with a rebirth of the spiritual life of the society in which He appeared. Such a rebirth is necessary in the world today, and one is forced to conclude that only the appearance of a Manifestation of God can bring it. For the religions of the past, as we have seen, are decadent; their force is spent. It is due to their weakness that the psychic energies of mankind have been driven into all sorts of barren or destructive channels precipitating the present profound crisis. Only a new Revelation can restore this life that has been lost, build a new consciousness and a new world order. Only the “return” of a Christ can remedy the ills from which humanity now suffers.
BAHÁ’U’LLÁH
The answer which the Bahá’ís have to offer to this question is that this remedy is at hand. Bahá’u’lláh, founder of the Bahá’í Faith, they regard as God’s chosen Manifestation for this Day and as the sole instrument for the spiritual rehabilitation of human society. They believe that only through a complete and thoroughgoing reliance upon God is it possible to attain spiritual health, poise, and development. Reliance upon God is indeed the essence of the teachings of all the prophets of the past. But whenever, at any stage in history, this reality underlying all religion becomes obscured by false, man-made conceptions and its true meaning disregarded and forgotten, a re-statement of Divine Truth becomes necessary. God sends another Manifestation to earth. His teaching renews the spiritual life of man and provides all the requisite means and agencies for his further development. It sets the standard by which alone the proper course for the life and progress of the human psyche can be determined.
This, therefore, is the message of the Bahá’í Faith—that in these troubled times, when the light of religion has become darkened and is threatened with complete extinction, God has not left His creatures without the means of extricating themselves from this danger but, on the contrary has, through the Manifestation of Bahá’u’lláh (i.e., the Glory of God), breathed a new Spirit into the world capable of entirely dispelling this darkness and of transforming the world into a veritable paradise. The Bahá’ís recognize in the convulsions now agitating human society the beginnings of that period of intense suffering and tribulation which must necessarily precede the establishment of God’s kingdom on earth. They consider that the Prophets of the past have referred directly to this period when speaking of “the latter days” and “the time of the end.” By these and other terms numerous references have been made to it, not only in the Hebraic Scriptures but in the Christian and Muḥammadan writings as well. For example, in the book of Zephaniah the following passage is recorded concerning it: “The great day of Jehovah is near, it is near and hasteth greatly, even the voice of the day of Jehovah; the mighty man crieth there bitterly. That day is a day of wrath, a day of trouble and distress, a day of wasteness and desolation, a day of darkness and gloominess, a day of clouds and thick darkness, a day of the trumpet and alarm, against the fortified cities, and against the high battlements. And I will bring distress upon men, that they shall walk like blind men, because they have sinned against Jehovah; and their blood shall be poured out as dust, and their flesh as dung. Neither their silver nor their gold shall be able to deliver them in the day of Jehovah’s wrath; but the whole land shall be devoured by the fire of his jealousy; for he will make an end, yea, a terrible end of all them that dwell in the land.” The Prophet Joel says, “for the day of Jehovah is great and very terrible; and who can abide it?” Bahá’u’lláh, reiterating these sentiments, utters the following words: “The days are approaching their end, and yet the peoples of the earth are seen sunk in grievous heedlessness, and lost in manifest error.” “Say; O concourse of the heedless! I swear by God! The promised day is come, the day when tormenting trials will have surged above your heads, and beneath your feet, saying: ‘Taste ye what your hands have wrought!’ ” “The time for the destruction of the world and its people hath arrived. He Who is the Pre-existent is come, that He may bestow everlasting life, and grant eternal preservation, and confer that which is conducive to true living.”5
The fortunes of mankind, impelled by the inexorable forces of Destiny, are being rapidly driven to the point where nothing on earth will avail man or offer him the promise of security. If all his temporal attachments are cut from him one by one, upon what may he then rely save God? No inference could be more clear or simple than this. The final hour, as promised in all the prophetic books, has not yet struck. Its full implications we can not even at present realize. But no one with that keen awareness of the present already referred to can deny that such an "end” is the goal toward which all the forces of the contemporary world are moving. No doubt the
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5Advent of Divine Justice, Shoghi Effendi, p. 68.
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general run of
mankind, in their heedlessness
and sense of self-sufficiency,
will ignore these
prophetic warnings until the last hour is
upon them—and then it may be too late.
But for those of us who, we may thank God,
have not fallen heir to this delusion and
have realized our dependence and
helplessness, would it not be well
for us to sever
ourselves from dependence upon earthly
things and to fix our hearts upon that which
alone is imperishable—the love of God? To
do this, of course, we must turn to the
Manifestation of God. The voice of God,
represented by the pen of Bahá’u’lláh, speaks
to man in the following Words: “O
My Servant! Free thyself from the fetters of this
world, and loose thy soul from the prison
of self. Seize thy chance, for it will come
to thee no more.”6
“O ye that are bereft
of understanding! A severe trial pursueth
you, and will suddenly overtake you. Bestir
yourselves, that haply it may pass and
inflict no harm upon you.”7
“Clothe yourselves, O people, with
the garment of assurance, in order
that He may protect you from
the dart of doubts and superstitions, and
that ye may be of those who are assured in
those days wherein none shall ever be
assured and no one shall be firmly established
in the Cause, except by severing himself
from all that is possessed by the people and
turning unto the Holy and Radiant
Outlook. . . . Say, in that Day there is no
refuge for any one save the Command of
God, and no salvation for any soul but
God.”8
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6Hidden Words (Persian)—No. 40.
7Advent of Divine Justice, Shoghi Effendi, p. 68.
8Bahá’u’lláh—Tablet of the Branch (Bahá’í Scriptures, p. 257).