Planet Bahá'í

One of the most hotly debated issues throughout the history of philosophy has been the question of free will. Are human beings free agents, or do we only suffer from the illusion of such? If God has foreknowledge of all things, in what sense do we have free will?

The Bahá'í Holy Writings offer a startling perspective on this question: free will and destiny are not mutually exclusive. Rather, they are closely related realities of human existence.

In Some Answered Questions 'Abdu'l-Bahá talks about the nature of free will (p. 248-250). His discourse is too lengthy to quote here, but His main points are:

• Good and evil actions (e.g., justice or injustice) are subject to free will. We are responsible for these acts.
• Other aspects of life are forced upon us (e.g., sleep, death, sickness, and misfortunes beyond our control). We are not responsible for these things.
• At the same time, "might and power belong especially to God" and we are therefore absolutely dependent upon God's help.
• For example, states of existence (mineral, vegetable, animal, or human) are decreed by God and act as limiting factors on what creatures can become. "Their progress must be in their own state."
• As human beings, we occupy the highest state, but as individuals we vary in capacity. In 1 Romans 9:21, it is said that God is like a potter who makes "one vessel unto honour, and another unto dishonour." As this is God's doing, it is not for us to complain about our inherent limitations. Rather, we should exercise our free will to develop our God-given capacities.
• Even in this regard, however, "the inaction or the movement of man depend upon the assistance of God." He likens us to a ship powered by wind or steam. The ship's course can be controlled via its rudder, but without the power of wind or steam the ship will not move. In like manner, our "motion" comes from God, but our direction we set ourselves.

This last point is particularly telling, for through it we begin to see something of the interaction of free will and destiny. There are many ways in which God powers our "motion." At the most mundane level, our biological makeup and our mental and spiritual potentials drive what we are and determine what we can be. We are shaped and molded by those around us and by events in the wider world. Indeed, these influences make themselves felt before we develop the capacity to determine our own course. As life progresses, events beyond our control continue to push us and pull us, to test us and try us. In many situations, our actual choices may be constrained, sometimes even highly constrained. And of course, actions always bring consequences, which feed back into the loop of our existence.

Free will and destiny are thus not merely related, but all tangled up with each other. Writing on this theme, Shoghi Effendi penned words that seem eerily prescient in light of the events that have overtaken humanity in decades since, and particularly in the past year:

There is, unfortunately, no way that one can force his own good upon a man. The element of free will is there, and all we believers -- and even the Manifestation of God Himself -- can do is to offer the truth to mankind. If the people of the world persist, as they seem to be doing, in their blind materialism, they must bear the consequences in a prolongation of their present condition, and even a worsening of it. Our duty as Bahá'ís is to build up such a love and unity within our own ranks that the people will be attracted by this example to the Cause. We also must teach all we can and strengthen the Bahá'í Community in the administration. But more we cannot do to avert the great sufferings which seemingly still lie ahead of the world in its present evil state.

(From a letter written on behalf of Shoghi Effendi to an individual believer, October 13, 1947, Lights of Guidance, p. 116)

Now this brings us to a particularly curious point. We ordinarily think of destiny as that which is forced upon us and cannot be changed, while free will is quite the opposite. But consider well what Bahá'u'lláh tells us here:

How lofty is the station which man, if he but choose to fulfill his high destiny, can attain! To what depths of degradation he can sink, depths which the meanest of creatures have never reached! Seize, O friends, the chance which this Day offereth you, and deprive not yourselves of the liberal effusions of His grace. I beseech God that He may graciously enable every one of you to adorn himself, in this blessed Day, with the ornament of pure and holy deeds. He, verily, doeth whatsoever He willeth.

(Gleanings from the Writings of Bahá'u'lláh, p. 206)

What's this? We can choose to fulfill our destiny? Did we hear that wrong? Apparently not, for here it is again:

Were man to appreciate the greatness of his station and the loftiness of his destiny he would manifest naught save goodly character, pure deeds, and a seemly and praiseworthy conduct. If the learned and wise men of goodwill were to impart guidance unto the people, the whole earth would be regarded as one country. Verily this is the undoubted truth. This servant appealeth to every diligent and enterprising soul to exert his utmost endeavour and arise to rehabilitate the conditions in all regions and to quicken the dead with the living waters of wisdom and utterance, by virtue of the love he cherisheth for God, the One, the Peerless, the Almighty, the Beneficent.

(Tablets of Bahá'u'lláh, p. 172)

Let's state it again, because it is extremely important: We must choose to filfull our destiny.

If you browse the comments of 'Abdu'l-Bahá on the subjects of destiny and free will, it becomes apparent that this seeming contradiction is resolved very simply. God has created everything with an destiny in mind for it. That destiny is fundamentally for it to grow until it becomes the fullest possible expression of its latent capacities. The theme of growth and evolution is visible everywhere we look in the universe, from the smallest particles to the universe as a whole. For human beings, spiritual development is paramount. We can only attain our destiny -- what God has purposed for us -- by applying our free will to further our spiritual education and growth.

'Abdu'l-Bahá states that the entire purpose of the Manifestation of God is to enable such growth, to transform ignorance into knowledge and darkness into light. His appearance in the world is the wind that fills the sails of humanity, affording us the motive power we need if we are to progress. On the other hand, Shoghi Effendi states that "it is the relationship of the individual soul to God and the fulfillment of its spiritual destiny that is the ultimate aim of the laws of religion." So the laws and the teachings of the Manifestation of God are charts that help us navigate our course. We, of course, must choose whether to accept His guidance or to set our course without regard to His counsels. In other words, we apply our free will primarily in choosing whether to embrace our high destiny or to deny it.

One final word should be said on this subject. To this point, we have largely been speaking on an individual level, but humanity also has a life on the collective level. Where humanity as a whole is concerned, Bahá'u'lláh wrote,

The potentialities inherent in the station of man, the full measure of his destiny on earth, the innate excellence of his reality, must all be manifested in this promised Day of God.

(Gleanings from the Writings of Bahá'u'lláh, p. 340)

Through this and many other clear statements, He tells us that the world is undergoing a vast transformation, a "re-creation" that will bring it in time to the era of the "Most Great Peace." This is the destiny of the human race, the fulfillment of the potentials that God has placed within it. Like everything else in the universe, humanity as a whole is growing and evolving towards a destiny purposed for it by God. Our choices determine the pace of that evolution. As Shoghi Effendi stated in the passage quoted above, the time that it takes to achieve this destiny and the pain and suffering we must go through before we get there depend upon whether we choose to embrace it or deny it.

May God assist us to choose wisely.