Planet Bahá'í

If asked to distill their religion down to one word, Bahá'ís around the world would immediately respond: "Unity!" The principle of unity lies at the core of Bahá'u'lláh's message. It underlies His teachings concerning how we should treat each other as individuals, how society should function and even how government should be structured. It is the cornerstone of a peaceful global society. Indeed, Bahá'u'lláh's purpose was nothing less than the spiritual transformation of the entire human race and the establishment of world peace. This, He said, was the day in which the promise of an age of peace, foretold in the Scriptures of the past, would be fulfilled. Such a bold vision cannot be fulfilled unless and until the principle of unity is universally embraced and applied.

It is therefore worth taking a closer look at what unity means for Bahá'ís. In the Writings of Bahá'u'lláh, the concept is primarily expressed in relation to three different topics. Bahá'ís often refer to these as "the three onenesses." They are unity of God, unity of religion, and unity of humanity. Almost every one of Bahá'u'lláh's teachings can be related to one of these three core principles. That's how important they are.

Below you'll read about each one of these aspects of unity. I encourage you to read through all of them. You can't really understand the Bahá'í Faith and come to an informed opinion about it without grasping the nature of these crucial teachings. It's not an exaggeration to say that everything else flows from them. Just as you can't comprehend Christianity without understanding the central principle of forgiveness, nor can you comprehend Islám without understanding the key teaching of submission to the will of God, so you cannot comprehend the Bahá'í Faith without a solid knoweldge of what unity means and implies.

Let's get started.

1. The Unity of God

Perhaps the definitive statement on God in the Bahá'í Holy Writings is this:

To every discerning and illumined heart it is evident that God, the unknowable Essence, the divine Being, is immensely exalted beyond every human attribute, such as corporeal existence, ascent and descent, egress and regress. Far be it from His glory that human tongue should adequately recount His praise, or that human heart comprehend His fathomless mystery. He is and hath ever been veiled in the ancient eternity of His Essence, and will remain in His Reality everlastingly hidden from the sight of men. "No vision taketh in Him, but He taketh in all vision; He is the Subtile, the All-Perceiving." (Qur'án 6:103) No tie of direct intercourse can possibly bind Him to His creatures. He standeth exalted beyond and above all separation and union, all proximity and remoteness. No sign can indicate His presence or His absence; inasmuch as by a word of His command all that are in heaven and on earth have come to exist, and by His wish, which is the Primal Will itself, all have stepped out of utter nothingness into the realm of being, the world of the visible.

(Kitáb-i-Iqán, p. 98)

This teaching draws a sharp distinction between the Creator and His creation and affirms our inability to conceive of, comprehend, or even adequately praise God. Yet for all that this might make God sound impossibly remote and impersonal, there is more to the story:

The door of the knowledge of the Ancient of Days being thus closed in the face of all beings, the Source of infinite grace ... hath caused those luminous Gems of Holiness to appear out of the realm of the spirit, in the noble form of the human temple, and be made manifest unto all men, that they may impart unto the world the mysteries of the unchangeable Being, and tell of the subtleties of His imperishable Essence. These sanctified Mirrors, these Day-springs of ancient glory are one and all the Exponents on earth of Him Who is the central Orb of the universe, its Essence and ultimate Purpose. From Him proceed their knowledge and power; from Him is derived their sovereignty. The beauty of their countenance is but a reflection of His image, and their revelation a sign of His deathless glory. They are the Treasuries of divine knowledge, and the Repositories of celestial wisdom. Through them is transmitted a grace that is infinite, and by them is revealed the light that can never fade.

(ibid, p. 99-100)

These "Gems of Holiness" and "sanctified Mirrors" are those Prophets and divine Messengers recognized as the Founders of the world's great religions. They are the essential link between humanity and its Creator, sent to us by God out of His love for us that we might become aware of Him and receive His grace, His wisdom and His guidance. Without them, there is no path to God, but through them God's grace is transmitted to us. So while remote in the sense that limited creatures like ourselves can never directly know the unlimited Creator, God is hardly impersonal.

When we speak of the unity of God, we are acknowledging several things, as set forth in the above passages. First, there is one God and all else is His creation. No part of His creation is equal to Him. Second, although the Prophets are His creation just as the rest of us are, they are specially designated by Him to be the channels through which we are connected to Him. Third, because these Prophets are God's emmissaries, the channel through which His Word is revealed and His qualities and attributes are made known in this world, in an abstract sense they are one with God. Bahá'u'lláh elucidated this principle in greater detail when He wrote:

The essence of belief in Divine unity consisteth in regarding Him Who is the Manifestation of God and Him Who is the invisible, the inaccessible, the unknowable Essence as one and the same. By this is meant that whatever pertaineth to the former, all His acts and doings, whatever He ordaineth or forbiddeth, should be considered, in all their aspects, and under all circumstances, and without any reservation, as identical with the Will of God Himself. This is the loftiest station to which a true believer in the unity of God can ever hope to attain. Blessed is the man that reacheth this station, and is of them that are steadfast in their belief.

(Gleanings from the Writings of Bahá'u'lláh, p. 167)

Biblical allusions to Christ's oneness with God, which historically have been taken by His followers as meaning that Jesus was God incarnate, are actually completely compatible with Bahá'u'lláh's very detailed teachings on the nature of the God and His Messengers. The Prophets and Messengers are not God incarnate, but rather "Manifestations of God" in that through them God's attributes, God's will and God's Word are manifested in this world. They might even state, "I am God!" because their voice is the Voice of God speaking through them. Yet they are God's creation just as we are, not God incarnate.

One final aspect of the unity of God is that since all of these Prophets and Messengers were sent by God to act as the channel through which His grace is transmitted to humanity, they are all to be regarded as one. This leads us to the second principle of unity: the unity of religion.

2. The Unity of Religion

In the previous section, we saw that Bahá'u'lláh regarded all of the Prophets in the same light. In a detailed explanation of this theme, He writes:

Inasmuch as these Birds of the Celestial Throne are all sent down from the heaven of the Will of God, and as they all arise to proclaim His irresistible Faith, they therefore are regarded as one soul and the same person. For they all drink from the one Cup of the love of God, and all partake of the fruit of the same Tree of Oneness.

(Kitáb-i-Iqán, p. 152)

In this regard, He states that each Prophet is the "return" of the last, in the same sense that each Springtime is the "return" of the last. We recognize the same qualities and attributes in this year's Spring as we did in last year's, even though many of the details of this Spring differ from last year's. So the succession of Prophets and the religions established by them are seen by Bahá'ís as merely stages in the development of one universal Faith. Unity of religion stems from the fact that all of them have been established by God through His Messengers, or "Manifestations of God." We recognize Abraham, Moses, Zoroaster, Krishna, the Buddha, Jesus, Muhammad, the Báb, and Bahá'u'lláh as Manifestations of God. Additionally, there were others in the past whose names are no longer known and a few such as Adam and Noah who are today known only through ancient tales that may bear little relationship to actual history. Nor has revelation ended with Bahá'u'lláh. Every Messenger has foretold the coming of another after Him. Bahá'u'lláh foretold that the next Messenger would arrive after a thousand years.

Some may object that the religions established by these Messengers are too different to all represent the true teachings of one God. However, Bahá'u'lláh demonstrated that there are two fundamental reasons for these differences. The first has to do with the progressive nature of revelation:

No man, however acute his perception, can ever hope to reach the heights which the wisdom and understanding of the Divine Physician have attained. Little wonder, then, if the treatment prescribed by the physician in this day should not be found to be identical with that which he prescribed before. How could it be otherwise when the ills affecting the sufferer necessitate at every stage of his sickness a special remedy? In like manner, every time the Prophets of God have illumined the world with the resplendent radiance of the Day Star of Divine knowledge, they have invariably summoned its peoples to embrace the light of God through such means as best befitted the exigencies of the age in which they appeared.

(Gleanings from the Writings of Bahá'u'lláh, p. 80)

Humanity's needs and capacities change as it progresses from age to age. Just as an individual grows from infancy through childhood, adolescence, and adulthood, we have collectively grown and changed. We have faced different needs and different challenges, and our knowledge and understanding have changed. Just as a doctor treats children differently from adults, God has treated humanity according to its needs and capacities. While the core truths of all religions are basically the same, the ways in which those truths are expressed and the outward forms of religion have changed from revelation to revelation in order to accomodate our needs.

My wife Kathy has explained it this way. She asks us to consider a mother, her child and a butcher knife. When the child is very young, the mother won't let her near that butcher knife. While the child is a baby learning to crawl and walk, that knife is kept up out of reach. Later, when the child is able to get into drawers, Mother teaches her that she must not under any circumstances play with knives. When the child reaches the age of five or six, Mother teaches her to use a table knife, but the sharp knives are still forbidden. A couple of years later, Mother begins to teach her child how to use a paring knife to cut up a few foods, but the butcher knife is still off-limits. Eventually as a teen-ager, the child will learn to use the butcher knife for herself. What has changed through all of this? Not the knife or its ability to cause serious damage. Not Mother or her concern for her child's safety and well-being. Not the child's ability to be cut by a knife. No, rather what has changed is the child's understanding of the danger and her ability to use knives safely.

The changing needs of an evolving humanity are one reason religions appear to differ. The second reason is often much harder to deal with. Bahá'u'lláh pointed out that each time a Messenger from God appears, the people rise up in opposition to Him because they have failed to comprehend the true meaning of their own religion. Christ was rejected, He pointed out, in large measure because the Jewish divines had misunderstood the prophecies concerning the Messiah. Muhammad had been rejected by the Christians and Jews alike because they failed to understand their Scriptures and insisted that there were no indications of such a Prophet recorded. The Moslems had repeated the error, insisting that there would be no Messenger after Muhammad, and therefore rejected the Báb.

Some have argued that the Holy Books of the past were altered or even made up out of whole cloth, but Bahá'u'lláh argued forcefully against such notions. Addressing the common Moslem belief that the Bible has been "perverted" by alteration of its text, He stated:

Verily by 'perverting' the text is not meant that which these foolish and abject souls have fancied, even as some maintain that Jewish and Christian divines have effaced from the Book such verses as extol and magnify the countenance of Muhammad, and instead thereof have inserted the contrary. How utterly vain and false are these words! Can a man who believeth in a book, and deemeth it to be inspired by God, mutilate it? Moreover, the Pentateuch had been spread over the surface of the earth, and was not confined to Mecca and Medina, so that they could privily corrupt and pervert its text. Nay, rather, by corruption of the text is meant that in which all Muslim divines are engaged today, that is the interpretation of God's holy Book in accordance with their idle imaginings and vain desires. And as the Jews, in the time of Muhammad, interpreted those verses of the Pentateuch, that referred to His Manifestation, after their own fancy, and refused to be satisfied with His holy utterance, the charge of "perverting" the text was therefore pronounced against them. Likewise, it is clear, how in this day, the people of the Qur'án have perverted the text of God's holy Book, concerning the signs of the expected Manifestation, and interpreted it according to their inclination and desires.

(Kitáb-i-Iqán, p. 86-87)

Misinterpretation, whether intentional or accidental, is a significant cause of divergence between religions. This is apparent even within religions, as numerous sects appear following disagreements between followers of a religion as to the proper meaning and interpretation of the Word. This disunity is man-made, not from God, and is the major source of disagreement between religions today. Bahá'ís affirm the divine origin and essential unity of all of these religions, but do not necessarily agree with all the doctrines and practices current among their followers. Thus, unity of religion is not an artificial attempt to graft disparate religions onto each other, but a fundamental effort to rediscover the truth of those religions in light of the new understanding offered by the extensive Writings of Bahá'u'lláh, the Manifestation of God for the modern age.

3. The Unity of Humanity

The Great Being saith: O well-beloved ones! The tabernacle of unity hath been raised; regard ye not one another as strangers. Ye are the fruits of one tree, and the leaves of one branch. We cherish the hope that the light of justice may shine upon the world and sanctify it from tyranny. If the rulers and kings of the earth, the symbols of the power of God, exalted be His glory, arise and resolve to dedicate themselves to whatever will promote the highest interests of the whole of humanity, the reign of justice will assuredly be established amongst the children of men, and the effulgence of its light will envelop the whole earth.

(Gleanings from the Writings of Bahá'u'lláh, p. 218-219)

In many ways, the principle of the unity of humanity is both the easiest and the hardest one to explain. It's very easy because in this day of mass communication, global travel and scientific scrutiny, most of us already accept that humanity is in its essence one family. We are all the same species, in spite of differences in appearance and customs. We generally agree that in principle everyone should have the same rights and be treated justly. Yet it's very hard, too, because we don't live in a just world. Prejudices and hatreds have been handed down from generation to generation and are tough to break even when we want to break them. Greed and selfishness often seem to rule the world, while most of us feel powerless to do anything about it. We see the world rushing headlong toward economic unity and in some limited sense political unity, yet we have serious questions about the paths our leaders are pursuing.

Bahá'ís see humanity groping toward unity, but groping blindly. Bahá'u'lláh's presence in the world unleashed potent spiritual forces that cannot be resisted, forces that are impelling this drive toward world unity, but unless those forces are harnessed and utilized with full knowledge of their source and purpose, they could prove as dangerous as a gun in the hands of a child. Humanity is on the brink of maturity, but it hasn't yet crossed the threshold. The most fundamental truth in this regard is this:

The well-being of mankind, its peace and security, are unattainable unless and until its unity is firmly established. This unity can never be achieved so long as the counsels which the Pen of the Most High hath revealed are suffered to pass unheeded.

(ibid, p. 286)

There are two aspects to the unity of humanity. One is the fact of our unity. We are one, whether anyone believes it or not. Racial, national, cultural and religious differences are all artificial. We like to pigeonhole ourselves according to such devices, but in fact we are one species. Though we each have different abilities and capacities, we are all equal in the sight of God. The other aspect is our recognition of our unity and our efforts to live in unity. The principles elucidated by Bahá'u'lláh represent the path to such recognition and practice. If these are ignored, the achievment of unity will prove impossible.

What are these principles? Here are a few of them:

• Elimination of all forms of prejudice
• Equality of women
• Elimination of extremes of wealth and poverty
• Universal compulsory education
• Harmony of science and religion
• Adoption of a universal auxiliary language
• Consultation as a process for decision-making
• World peace upheld by a world government

These are not theoretical musings but calls to action. Each one is a rich subject in its own right, so for now their mere mention will have to suffice. However, Bahá'u'lláh assures us that His advent at this juncture in history is not an accident, but God's providence, ensuring that we will successfully navigate the last difficult mile on our journey to our collective maturity and a golden age of world peace the hallmark of which is unity in diversity:

Beseech ye the one true God to grant that all men may be graciously assisted to fulfil that which is acceptable in Our sight. Soon will the present-day order be rolled up, and a new one spread out in its stead. Verily, thy Lord speaketh the truth, and is the Knower of things unseen.

(ibid, p. 7)