What is common to all who are devoted to one or another of the world's
religious systems is the conviction that it is through the Divine
Revelation that the soul comes in touch with the world of God, and that it
is this relationship which gives real meaning to life. Some of the most
important passages in Baha'u'llah's writings are those which discuss at
length the nature and role of those who are the channels of this
Revelation, the Messengers or "Manifestations of God." A recurrent analogy
found in these passages is that of the physical sun. While the latter
shares certain characteristics of the other bodies in the solar system, it
differs from them in that it is, in itself, the source of the system's
light. The planets and moons reflect light whereas the sun emits it as an
attribute inseparable from its nature. The system revolves around this
focal point, each of its members influenced not only by its particular
composition, but by its relationship to the source of the system's
light.(42)
In the same way, Baha'u'llah asserts, the human personality which the
Manifestation of God shares with the rest of the race is differentiated
from others in a way that fits it to serve as the channel or vehicle for
the Revelation of God. Apparently contradictory references to this dual
station, attributed, for example, to Christ,(43) have been among the many
sources of religious confusion and dissension throughout history.
Baha'u'llah says on the subject:
Whatever is in the heavens and whatever is on the earth is a direct
evidence of the revelation within it of the attributes and names of God
... To a supreme degree is this true of man, who, among all created
things, ... hath been singled out for the glory of such distinction. For
in him are potentially revealed all the attributes and names of God to a
degree that no other created being hath excelled or surpassed.... And of
all men, the most accomplished, the most distinguished, and the most
excellent are the Manifestations of the Sun of Truth. Nay, all else
besides these Manifestations, live by the operation of their Will, and
move and have their being through the outpourings of their grace.(44)
Throughout history, the conviction of believers that the Founder of their
own religion occupied a unique station has had the effect of stimulating
intense speculation on the nature of the Manifestation of God. Such
speculation has, however, been severely hampered by the difficulties of
interpreting and resolving the allegorical allusions in past scriptures.
The attempt to crystallize opinion in the form of religious dogma has been
a divisive rather than unifying force in history. Indeed, despite the
enormous energy devoted to theological pursuits--or perhaps because of
it--there are today profound differences among Muslims as to the precise
station of Muhammad, among Christians as to that of Jesus, and among
Buddhists with respect to the Founder of their own religion. As is all too
apparent, the controversies created by these and other differences within
any one given tradition have proven at least as acute as those separating
that tradition from its sister faiths.
Particularly important to an understanding of Baha'u'llah's teachings on
the unity of religions, therefore, are His statements about the station of
the successive Messengers of God and the functions performed by them in
the spiritual history of humankind:
[The] Manifestations of God have each a twofold station. One is the
station of pure abstraction and essential unity. In this respect, if thou
callest them all by one name, and dost ascribe to them the same
attributes, thou hast not erred from the truth....
The other station is the station of distinction, and pertaineth to the
world of creation, and to the limitations thereof. In this respect, each
Manifestation of God hath a distinct individuality, a definitely
prescribed mission, a predestined revelation, and specially designated
limitations. Each one of them is known by a different name, is
characterized by a special attribute, fulfills a definite mission...
Viewed in the light of their second station ... they manifest absolute
servitude, utter destitution, and complete self-effacement. Even as He
saith: "I am the servant of God. I am but a man like you."...
Were any of the all-embracing Manifestations of God to declare: "I am
God," He, verily, speaketh the truth, and no doubt attacheth thereto. For
... through their Revelation, their attributes and names, the Revelation
of God, His names and His attributes, are made manifest in the world....
And were any of them to voice the utterance, "I am the Messenger of God,"
He, also, speaketh the truth, the indubitable truth.... Viewed in this
light, they are all but Messengers of that ideal King, that unchangeable
Essence.... And were they to say, "We are the Servants of God," this also
is a manifest and indisputable fact. For they have been made manifest in
the uttermost state of servitude, a servitude the like of which no man can
possibly attain....(45)
Thus it is that whatsoever be their utterance, whether it pertain to the
realm of Divinity, Lordship, Prophethood, Messengership, Guardianship,
Apostleship, or Servitude, all is true, beyond the shadow of a doubt.
Therefore these sayings ... must be attentively considered, that the
divergent utterances of the Manifestations of the Unseen and Day Springs
of Holiness may cease to agitate the soul and perplex the mind.(46)
"AN EVER-ADVANCING CIVILIZATION..."
Implicit in these paragraphs is a perspective which represents the most
challenging feature of Baha'u'llah's exposition of the function of the
Manifestation of God. Divine Revelation is, He says, the motive power of
civilization. When it occurs, its transforming effect on the minds and
souls of those who respond to it is replicated in the new society that
slowly takes shape around their experience. A new center of loyalty
emerges that can win the commitment of peoples from the widest range of
cultures; music and the arts seize on symbols that mediate far richer and
more mature inspirations; a radical redefinition of concepts of right and
wrong makes possible the formulation of new codes of civil law and
conduct; new institutions are conceived in order to give expression to
impulses of moral responsibility previously ignored or unknown: "He was in
the world, and the world was made by him..."(47) As the new culture
evolves into a civilization, it assimilates achievements and insights of
past eras in a multitude of fresh permutations. Features of past cultures
that cannot be incorporated atrophy or are taken up by marginal elements
among the population. The Word of God creates new possibilities within
both the individual consciousness and human relationships.
Every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God is endowed with such
potency as can instill new life into every human frame... All the wondrous
works ye behold in this world have been manifested through the operation
of His supreme and most exalted Will, His wondrous and inflexible
Purpose.... No sooner is this resplendent word uttered, than its animating
energies, stirring within all created things, give birth to the means and
instruments whereby such arts can be produced and perfected.... In the
days to come, ye will, verily, behold things of which ye have never heard
before.... Every single letter proceeding out of the mouth of God is
indeed a mother letter, and every word uttered by Him Who is the Well
Spring of Divine Revelation is a mother word....(48)
The sequence of the Divine Revelations, the Bab asserts, is "a process
that hath had no beginning and will have no end."(49) Although the mission
of each of the Manifestations is limited in time and in the functions it
performs, it is an integral part of an ongoing and progressive unfoldment
of God's power and will:
Contemplate with thine inward eye the chain of successive Revelations that
hath linked the Manifestation of Adam with that of the Bab. I testify
before God that each one of these Manifestations hath been sent down
through the operation of the Divine Will and Purpose, that each hath been
the bearer of a specific Message, that each hath been entrusted with a
divinely revealed Book... The measure of the Revelation with which every
one of them hath been identified had been definitely foreordained....(50)
Eventually, as an ever-evolving civilization exhausts its spiritual
sources, a process of disintegration sets in, as it does throughout the
phenomenal world. Turning again to analogies offered by nature,
Baha'u'llah compares this hiatus in the development of civilization to the
onset of winter. Moral vitality diminishes, as does social cohesion.
Challenges which would have been overcome at an earlier age, or been
turned into opportunities for exploration and achievement, become
insuperable barriers. Religion loses its relevance, and experimentation
becomes increasingly fragmented, further deepening social divisions.
Increasingly, uncertainty about the meaning and value of life generates
anxiety and confusion. Speaking about this condition in our own age
Baha'u'llah says:
We can well perceive how the whole human race is encompassed with great,
with incalculable afflictions. We see it languishing on its bed of
sickness, sore-tried and disillusioned. They that are intoxicated by
self-conceit have interposed themselves between it and the Divine and
infallible Physician. Witness how they have entangled all men, themselves
included, in the mesh of their devices. They can neither discover the
cause of the disease, nor have they any knowledge of the remedy. They have
conceived the straight to be crooked, and have imagined their friend an
enemy.(51)
When each of the Divine impulses has fulfilled itself, the process recurs.
A new Manifestation of God appears with the fuller measure of Divine
inspiration for the next stage in the awakening and civilizing of
humankind:
Consider the hour at which the supreme Manifestation of God revealeth
Himself unto men. Ere that hour cometh, the Ancient Being, Who is still
unknown of men and hath not as yet given utterance to the Word of God, is
Himself the All-Knower in a world devoid of any man that hath known Him.
He is indeed the Creator without a creation.... This is indeed the Day of
which it hath been written: "Whose shall be the Kingdom this Day?" And
none can be found ready to answer!(52)
Until a section of humanity begins to respond to the new Revelation, and a
new spiritual and social paradigm begins to take shape, people subsist
spiritually and morally on the last traces of earlier Divine endowments.
The routine tasks of society may or may not be done; laws may be obeyed or
flouted; social and political experimentation may flame up or fail; but
the roots of faith--without which no society can indefinitely endure--have
been exhausted. At the "end of the age," at the "end of the world," the
spiritually minded begin to turn again to the Creative source. However
clumsy or disturbing the process may be, however inelegant or unfortunate
some of the options considered, such searching is an instinctive response
to the awareness that an immense chasm has opened in the ordered life of
humankind.(53) The effects of the new Revelation, Baha'u'llah says, are
universal, and not limited to the life and teachings of the Manifestation
of God Who is the Revelation's focal point. Though not understood, these
effects increasingly permeate human affairs, revealing the contradictions
in popular assumptions and in society, and intensifying the search for
understanding.
The succession of the Manifestations is an inseparable dimension of
existence, Baha'u'llah declares, and will continue throughout the life of
the world: "God hath sent down His Messengers to succeed to Moses and
Jesus, and He will continue to do so till 'the end that hath no
end'..."(54)