Judging the spiritual condition of others
Posted: Fri Aug 18, 2006 12:29 am
I posted that before taking to heart the views of someone about the Cause, I look at the relationship of that person to the Cause:
"If someone says something about the institutions of the Faith, or the progress or conduct of the Cause, I first look at where that person is, in relation to the Cause. Is the person an ardent supporter of the House of Justice? Is that person close to the spirit of the Cause? Is he on good terms with the Universal House of Justice? I will weigh his or her views carefully. Or is that person expelled from the Cause, distant from its spirit, and at odds with its administration? Then I don't care how many degrees he has in how many fields, I don't care how many languages he can speak, I don't care how clever his arguments. I hold his opinion as naught, because where he leads, I don't want to go."
In response one of the friends posting wrote:
"Based upon the above, I must concede to your obviously greater spiritual perceptiveness. I myself do not possess the ability to judge the spiritual orientation of others. Whenever I can, I try to see myself as less than everyone else, which means that I must try to consider their opinions at least as valid as my own. "I seek her everywhere, haply I shall find her."
I would like to address this interesting subject -- the relationship between humility, or seeing oneself as less than others, and perception, judgment about the validity of the opinions of others, based on their spiritual state.
Let me begin by saying that I disagree that humility means that I believe that everyone else's opinion is superior to mine. If that's the case, then I haven't learned anything from my experience. True, at the beginning the seeker doesn't know deadly poison from healing medicine; but I think we are expected to learn this, to learn to reject the poison, and to seek out wholesome medicine.
Baha'u'llah says this several times in the Persian Hidden Words:
56. O MY SON!
The company of the ungodly increaseth sorrow, whilst fellowship with the righteous cleanseth the rust from off the heart. He that seeketh to commune with God, let him betake himself to the companionship of His loved ones; and he that desireth to hearken unto the word of God, let him give ear to the words of His chosen ones.
57. O SON OF DUST!
Beware! Walk not with the ungodly and seek not fellowship with him, for such companionship turneth the radiance of the heart into infernal fire.
58. O SON OF MY HANDMAID!
Wouldst thou seek the grace of the Holy Spirit, enter into fellowship with the righteous, for he hath drunk the cup of eternal life at the hands of the immortal Cup-bearer and even as the true morn doth quicken and illumine the hearts of the dead.
"With all his heart he should avoid fellowship with evil-doers....He should treasure the companionship of them that have renounced the world, and regard avoidance of boastful and worldly people a precious benefit." (The Book of Certitude, p. 194).
Following each of these divine admonitions implies that Baha'u'llah is telling us that we have to determine who the "ungodly" and "evil-doers" and "boastful" and "worldly people are, and who the "righteous" and "those who have renounced the world" are. Not that I seek to divide all humanity all day. But rather, that when deciding who to "seek fellowship" with, I make this determination. When I want to know where to drink the draft of the Holy Spirit -- I must make this determination. If I want to become a true seeker, I must make this determination. I don't know how else I could carry out this spiritual guidance, without making such judgments about who I will spend time with, whose counsel I will seek.
Yet, elsewhere Baha'u'llah says to be meek and lowly, to not despise the sinful, for no man knows his own end. So my purpose is not to walk around with a measuring stick and see who I'm better than. Rather, it is to exercise care, for my own spiritual safety and security. I am not invulnerable.
I think that as a people, we Baha'is do a lousy job of protecting ourselves. We spend far too little time educating our Baha'i children and youth, how to protect themselves, how to choose our friends (as Baha'u'llah here tells us), and how to determine whose spirit is an aid to our quest for communion with the Holy Spirit. Rather, I feel that we misapply the principle of association with all people, and we do not equip our young people to exercise spiritual discretion in selecting their friends. They become polluted, and many, many of our most precious youth become worldly and fall away from the Cause.
Because we have not taught them how to spiritually protect themselves; and a big part of that is care in choosing one's companions. They go willy-nilly through life, making no judgments about the spiritual state of their companions, and before they know it, they've (or we've) been corrupted.
There are several places where the Master says that we need to make spiritual determinations about the inner state of people -- good or bad:
"Those who speak falsehoods, who covet worldly things and seek to accumulate the riches of this earth are not of me. But when you find a person living up to the teachings of Bahá'u'lláh, following the precepts of the Hidden Words, know that he belongs to Bahá'u'lláh; and, verily, I proclaim that he is of me. If, on the other hand, you see anyone whose deeds and conduct are contrary to and not in conformity with the good pleasure of the Blessed Perfection and against the spirit of the Hidden Words, let that be your standard and criterion of judgment against him, for know that I am altogether severed from him no matter who he may be. This is the truth."
(Abdu'l-Baha, The Promulgation of Universal Peace, p. 457)
"O ye beloved ones, guard the Cause of God! Let no sweetness of tongue beguile you -- nay, rather consider the motive of every soul, and ponder the thought he cherisheth. Be ye straightway mindful and on your guard. Avoid him, yet be not aggressive!"
(Abdu'l-Baha, Selections from the Writings of Abdu'l-Baha, p. 315)
"O army of God! Whensoever ye behold a person whose entire attention is directed toward the Cause of God; whose only aim is this, to make the Word of God to take effect; who, day and night, with pure intent, is rendering service to the Cause; from whose behaviour not the slightest trace of egotism or private motives is discerned -- who, rather, wandereth distracted in the wilderness of the love of God, and drinketh only from the cup of the knowledge of God, and is utterly engrossed in spreading the sweet savours of God, and is enamoured of the holy verses of the Kingdom of God -- know ye for a certainty that this individual will be supported and reinforced by heaven; that like unto the morning star, he will forever gleam brightly out of the skies of eternal grace. But if he show the slightest taint of selfish desires and self love, his efforts will lead to nothing and he will be destroyed and left hopeless at the last."
(Abdu'l-Baha, Selections from the Writings of Abdu'l-Baha, p. 71)
"Strive ye then with all your heart to treat compassionately all humankind -- except for those who have some selfish, private motive, or some disease of the soul."
(Selections from the Writings of Abdu'l-Baha, p. 158)
I feel that the Writings present a balance we need to meet. While we seek to be humble before all, I don't think that means that we can afford to be careless with our spirituality; Baha'u'llah repeatedly says to protect ourselves.
AHW 69. O YE SONS OF SPIRIT!
Ye are My treasury, for in you I have treasured the pearls of My mysteries and the gems of My knowledge. Guard them from the strangers amidst My servants and from the ungodly amongst My people.
"Unloose the tongue with excellent utterance, then admonish the people if ye find them advancing unto the sanctuary of God; otherwise abandon them unto themselves and forsake them in the abyss of hell. Beware lest ye scatter the pearls of inner significance before every barren, dumb one." (Baha'u'llah, The Tablet of the Branch, Baha'i World Faith, p. 207)
"Expect not that they who violate the ordinances of God will be trustworthy or sincere in the faith they profess. Avoid them, and preserve strict guard over thyself, lest their devices and mischief hurt thee." (Gleanings p. 233)
"Therefore, O brother! kindle with the oil of wisdom the lamp of the spirit within the innermost chamber of thy heart, and guard it with the globe of understanding, that the breath of the infidel may extinguish not its flame nor dim its brightness." (Baha'u'llah, The Kitab-i-Iqan, p. 61)
The evidence of those who have not heeded this is, alas, abundant in our community.
In particular, I feel that humility has absolutely nothing to do with the merits of the viewpoint of another person. I can love, respect, and be humble before others, but to give away my integrity, to give away the precious fruit of my own life's experience, and to substitute the views, great or worthless, of other people, and deem them as superior to the inner guidance God gave me, is to me to cast away the divine gift of understanding that God has given me.
Surely, each soul has something I can learn from; but that does not mean that they know more than I do about life, and I think I need to exercise some spiritual common sense.
Just my view.
Brent
"If someone says something about the institutions of the Faith, or the progress or conduct of the Cause, I first look at where that person is, in relation to the Cause. Is the person an ardent supporter of the House of Justice? Is that person close to the spirit of the Cause? Is he on good terms with the Universal House of Justice? I will weigh his or her views carefully. Or is that person expelled from the Cause, distant from its spirit, and at odds with its administration? Then I don't care how many degrees he has in how many fields, I don't care how many languages he can speak, I don't care how clever his arguments. I hold his opinion as naught, because where he leads, I don't want to go."
In response one of the friends posting wrote:
"Based upon the above, I must concede to your obviously greater spiritual perceptiveness. I myself do not possess the ability to judge the spiritual orientation of others. Whenever I can, I try to see myself as less than everyone else, which means that I must try to consider their opinions at least as valid as my own. "I seek her everywhere, haply I shall find her."
I would like to address this interesting subject -- the relationship between humility, or seeing oneself as less than others, and perception, judgment about the validity of the opinions of others, based on their spiritual state.
Let me begin by saying that I disagree that humility means that I believe that everyone else's opinion is superior to mine. If that's the case, then I haven't learned anything from my experience. True, at the beginning the seeker doesn't know deadly poison from healing medicine; but I think we are expected to learn this, to learn to reject the poison, and to seek out wholesome medicine.
Baha'u'llah says this several times in the Persian Hidden Words:
56. O MY SON!
The company of the ungodly increaseth sorrow, whilst fellowship with the righteous cleanseth the rust from off the heart. He that seeketh to commune with God, let him betake himself to the companionship of His loved ones; and he that desireth to hearken unto the word of God, let him give ear to the words of His chosen ones.
57. O SON OF DUST!
Beware! Walk not with the ungodly and seek not fellowship with him, for such companionship turneth the radiance of the heart into infernal fire.
58. O SON OF MY HANDMAID!
Wouldst thou seek the grace of the Holy Spirit, enter into fellowship with the righteous, for he hath drunk the cup of eternal life at the hands of the immortal Cup-bearer and even as the true morn doth quicken and illumine the hearts of the dead.
"With all his heart he should avoid fellowship with evil-doers....He should treasure the companionship of them that have renounced the world, and regard avoidance of boastful and worldly people a precious benefit." (The Book of Certitude, p. 194).
Following each of these divine admonitions implies that Baha'u'llah is telling us that we have to determine who the "ungodly" and "evil-doers" and "boastful" and "worldly people are, and who the "righteous" and "those who have renounced the world" are. Not that I seek to divide all humanity all day. But rather, that when deciding who to "seek fellowship" with, I make this determination. When I want to know where to drink the draft of the Holy Spirit -- I must make this determination. If I want to become a true seeker, I must make this determination. I don't know how else I could carry out this spiritual guidance, without making such judgments about who I will spend time with, whose counsel I will seek.
Yet, elsewhere Baha'u'llah says to be meek and lowly, to not despise the sinful, for no man knows his own end. So my purpose is not to walk around with a measuring stick and see who I'm better than. Rather, it is to exercise care, for my own spiritual safety and security. I am not invulnerable.
I think that as a people, we Baha'is do a lousy job of protecting ourselves. We spend far too little time educating our Baha'i children and youth, how to protect themselves, how to choose our friends (as Baha'u'llah here tells us), and how to determine whose spirit is an aid to our quest for communion with the Holy Spirit. Rather, I feel that we misapply the principle of association with all people, and we do not equip our young people to exercise spiritual discretion in selecting their friends. They become polluted, and many, many of our most precious youth become worldly and fall away from the Cause.
Because we have not taught them how to spiritually protect themselves; and a big part of that is care in choosing one's companions. They go willy-nilly through life, making no judgments about the spiritual state of their companions, and before they know it, they've (or we've) been corrupted.
There are several places where the Master says that we need to make spiritual determinations about the inner state of people -- good or bad:
"Those who speak falsehoods, who covet worldly things and seek to accumulate the riches of this earth are not of me. But when you find a person living up to the teachings of Bahá'u'lláh, following the precepts of the Hidden Words, know that he belongs to Bahá'u'lláh; and, verily, I proclaim that he is of me. If, on the other hand, you see anyone whose deeds and conduct are contrary to and not in conformity with the good pleasure of the Blessed Perfection and against the spirit of the Hidden Words, let that be your standard and criterion of judgment against him, for know that I am altogether severed from him no matter who he may be. This is the truth."
(Abdu'l-Baha, The Promulgation of Universal Peace, p. 457)
"O ye beloved ones, guard the Cause of God! Let no sweetness of tongue beguile you -- nay, rather consider the motive of every soul, and ponder the thought he cherisheth. Be ye straightway mindful and on your guard. Avoid him, yet be not aggressive!"
(Abdu'l-Baha, Selections from the Writings of Abdu'l-Baha, p. 315)
"O army of God! Whensoever ye behold a person whose entire attention is directed toward the Cause of God; whose only aim is this, to make the Word of God to take effect; who, day and night, with pure intent, is rendering service to the Cause; from whose behaviour not the slightest trace of egotism or private motives is discerned -- who, rather, wandereth distracted in the wilderness of the love of God, and drinketh only from the cup of the knowledge of God, and is utterly engrossed in spreading the sweet savours of God, and is enamoured of the holy verses of the Kingdom of God -- know ye for a certainty that this individual will be supported and reinforced by heaven; that like unto the morning star, he will forever gleam brightly out of the skies of eternal grace. But if he show the slightest taint of selfish desires and self love, his efforts will lead to nothing and he will be destroyed and left hopeless at the last."
(Abdu'l-Baha, Selections from the Writings of Abdu'l-Baha, p. 71)
"Strive ye then with all your heart to treat compassionately all humankind -- except for those who have some selfish, private motive, or some disease of the soul."
(Selections from the Writings of Abdu'l-Baha, p. 158)
I feel that the Writings present a balance we need to meet. While we seek to be humble before all, I don't think that means that we can afford to be careless with our spirituality; Baha'u'llah repeatedly says to protect ourselves.
AHW 69. O YE SONS OF SPIRIT!
Ye are My treasury, for in you I have treasured the pearls of My mysteries and the gems of My knowledge. Guard them from the strangers amidst My servants and from the ungodly amongst My people.
"Unloose the tongue with excellent utterance, then admonish the people if ye find them advancing unto the sanctuary of God; otherwise abandon them unto themselves and forsake them in the abyss of hell. Beware lest ye scatter the pearls of inner significance before every barren, dumb one." (Baha'u'llah, The Tablet of the Branch, Baha'i World Faith, p. 207)
"Expect not that they who violate the ordinances of God will be trustworthy or sincere in the faith they profess. Avoid them, and preserve strict guard over thyself, lest their devices and mischief hurt thee." (Gleanings p. 233)
"Therefore, O brother! kindle with the oil of wisdom the lamp of the spirit within the innermost chamber of thy heart, and guard it with the globe of understanding, that the breath of the infidel may extinguish not its flame nor dim its brightness." (Baha'u'llah, The Kitab-i-Iqan, p. 61)
The evidence of those who have not heeded this is, alas, abundant in our community.
In particular, I feel that humility has absolutely nothing to do with the merits of the viewpoint of another person. I can love, respect, and be humble before others, but to give away my integrity, to give away the precious fruit of my own life's experience, and to substitute the views, great or worthless, of other people, and deem them as superior to the inner guidance God gave me, is to me to cast away the divine gift of understanding that God has given me.
Surely, each soul has something I can learn from; but that does not mean that they know more than I do about life, and I think I need to exercise some spiritual common sense.
Just my view.
Brent