Re: What is Blind Faith?

Kent,

So much to say. I suppose I should take it in order.

You said:
"I believe, and can support with
the Writings of the Baha'i Faith, that we must base our actions on reason
and not emotion or superstition."

The Writings tell me that we should base our actions upon Justice,
Love, and other virtues... not reason. I might see a person who is
morbidly obese - it would be "reasonable" to tell him that he is
physically repulsive, endangering his health, and consuming more than
the necessary amount of food...that others could benefit from what he
selfishly consumes. But that would be neither Justice nor Love nor
Kindness nor Gentleness.

You said:
"> To me that means that we cannot just swallow everything written in
the
Writings, but rather we must examine those Writings with reason and logic.~ôV

If our understanding of what is written is unreasonable, another
interpretation that is reasonable must be found, or we must leave our Fait
h."

If you are hiking in the mountains and suddenly realize that none of
the landmarks shown on the map correspond with what YOU see, do you
throw away the map, assuming it to be wrong, or do you consider the
possibility that you are either: 1/ holding it upside down, 2/ don't
know true North, or 3/ need corrective lenses. The honest and brave
man first examines himself before judging the map as faulty.

If you place Reason above spiritual discernment, you will only ever
see the exoteric. To find the true wealth you must see the Writings
through the lenses of prayer, meditation, and an honest love of man.
This is not my opinion, but is found throughout the Writings by all
the Manifestations.

"The universal crisis affecting mankind is, therefore, essentially
spiritual in its causes. The spirit of the age, taken on the whole, is
irreligious. Man's outlook on life is too crude and materialistic to
enable him to elevate himself into the higher realms of the spirit.

"It is this condition, so sadly morbid, into which society has fallen,
that religion seeks to improve and transform. For the core of
religious faith is that mystic feeling which unites Man with God. This
state of spiritual communion can be brought about and maintained by
means of meditation and prayer. And this is the reason why Bahá'u'lláh
has so much stressed the importance of worship. It is not sufficient
for a believer merely to accept and observe the teachings. He should,
in addition, cultivate the sense of spirituality which he can acquire
chiefly by means of prayer. The Bahá'í Faith, like all other Divine
Religions, is thus fundamentally mystic in character. Its chief goal
is the development of the individual and society, through the
acquisition of spiritual virtues and powers. 87 It is the soul of
man which has first to be fed. And this spiritual nourishment prayer
can best provide.

"Laws and institutions, as viewed by Bahá'u'lláh, can become really
effective only when our inner spiritual life has been perfected and
transformed. Otherwise religion will degenerate into a mere
organization, and becomes a dead thing. The believers, particularly
the young ones, should therefore fully realize the necessity of
praying. For prayer is absolutely indispensable to their inner
spiritual development, and this, as already stated, is the very
foundation and purpose of the religion of God."
(Shoghi Effendi, Directives from the Guardian, p. 86)

Reason, like Will and Emotions, is an excellent servant, but a poor
master.

With warmest Baha'i regards,
Reed





On Dec 20, 6:21 am, "Kent Johnson" <k...@xxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
I have always believed in reason and logic. I believe, and can support wi
th
the Writings of the Baha'i Faith, that we must base our actions on reason
and not emotion or superstition.

To me that means that we cannot just swallow everything written in the
Writings, but rather we must examine those Writings with reason and logic.

If our understanding of what is written is unreasonable, another
interpretation that is reasonable must be found, or we must leave our Fait
h.
Living with what we believe is a falsehood is not an option, according to
my
interpretation of the Baha'i Faith.

We are bound to independently investigate truth. I believe that means tha
t
we must understand the Writings in such a way that those Writings do not
contradict our understanding of the world around us. That, in my opinion,

is very different from gainsaying whatever is in the Writings is true.

It is a difficult point to convey, but worth the effort if understood. It

means that we must understand the Writings, in plain English. If we do no
t
make the effort to understand the Writings, if we just say, well, it is
written therefore it is true, I believe that is blind faith and prohibited

in the Baha'i Faith.

On these pages, what brought this up for me, is someone wrote:

"...if the Master said it then it is true for he is our Infallible
Interpreter."

I say, absolutely false in the strongest possible terms.

That is blind faith, plain and simple.

What was written is reasonable is the test, not who wrote it.

If you or I have interpretations that are different from one another that
is
fine, that is the diversity of the Baha'i Faith, that is the big umbrella
we
all live under. Maybe you will accept whatever you believe Abdu'l-Baha sa
id
without thinking you are in violation of a principle of the Bahai Faith,
namely independent investigation of truth. I can live with that, but I thi
nk
I ought to tell you my thoughts on the subject, and I will certainly liste
n
to yours.

It is my Bahai Faith that we must all, individually, strive to understand
and implement the teachings in our lives, not swallow whatever Anyone said
...
If it doesn't make sense, investigate, if it does make sense, use it. If i
t
begins in words and ends in words forget about it.

If we find something that we cannot swallow then we should not be Baha'i.
But if we take the path that everything Anyone said is true, well, we are
blind. We need to see for ourselves if something is true. That is a comman
d
of my Bahai Faith.

--Kent


.

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