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Independent Investigation

Gandhi taught that truth must be sought independently. Explaining how each person must be guided by their own independent understanding of truth, Gandhi writes,

Truth resides in every human heart, and one has to search for it there, and to be guided by truth as one sees it. But no one has a right to coerce others to act according to his own view of truth.[3]
Bahá'ís hold similar views. Central to the Bahá'í Faith is the teaching that each individual must seek out truth independently. Poetically personifying truth in the first person, Bahá'u'lláh writes in the Hidden Words,
O Son of Spirit! The best beloved of all things in My sight is Justice; turn not away therefrom if thou desirest Me, and neglect it not that I may confide in thee. By its aid thou shalt see with thine own eyes and not through the eyes of others, and shalt know of thine own knowledge and not through the knowledge of thy neighbor. Ponder this in thy heart; how it behooveth thee to be. Verily justice is My gift to thee and the sign of My loving-kindness. Set it then before thine eyes.[4]


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Next: Absolute Truth Up: The Quest for Truth Previous: The Quest for Truth   Contents

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