Eternal Quest for God:

An Introduction to the Divine Philosophy of Abdu'l-Baha

Julio Savi

Oxford: George Ronald, 1989

single page

chapter 1

British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data

Savi, Julio
The eternal quest for God: an introduction to the divine philosophy of `Abdu'l-Bahá.
I. Bahá'ísm. Abd al Bahá ibn Bahá All ah, 1844-1921.
I. Title II. Nell'universo sulle tracce di Dio. English 297'.8963

ISBN 0-85398-295-3

Printed in Great Britain by
Billing and Sons Ltd, Worcester

By the same author
Nell'universo sulle tracce di Dio
(EDITRICE NÚR, ROME, 1988)
Bahíyyih Khánum, Ancella di Bahá
(CASA EDITRICE BAHÁ'Í, ROME, 1983)

To my father
Umberto Savi
with love and gratitude

I am especially grateful to Continental Counselor
Dr. Leo Niederreiter
without whose loving encouragement
this book would have not been written

Notes and Acknowledgements
Introduction

1. THE WAYS OF THE SEARCH: TOWARDS A PHILOSOPHY OF REALITY
The criteria of knowledge
Sense perception
Intellect
Insight
The Holy Writings
The research method
Which truth?
Thought and action
Natural philosophy and divine philosophy
The unity of religion and science
Towards a philosophy of reality
A conclusion and a preamble

2. THE BEGINNING OF ALL THINGS
God is unknowable
Differentiation of stages
God's all-inclusiveness
Human limitations
Human incapacity to know the essence of things
Limitations of human understanding
Rational proofs of Divinity
Cosmological proofs
On the grounds of movement and principle of efficient cause
On the grounds of the different degrees of perfection
Teleological proofs
The perception of the indwelling Spirit

3. THROUGHOUT THE UNIVERSE IN SEARCH OF GOD
Creation
The world of God
The world of the Kingdom
God's transcendence and pre-existence
God and His creatures
Different degrees in the world of existence
The world of the Kingdom
Pre-existence of the world of the Kingdom
The world of the Kingdom and spirit
Degrees of the spirit
The world of creation
Relation between the world of the Kingdom and the world of creation
Nature and the Will of God
Distinctive features of the world of creation
The atom
Evolution
The creative plan of God
General features of the creative plan of God
Evolution in the world of creation
Evolution in the four kingdoms of the world of creation
Evolution according to Plotinus, in the Bahá'í texts
Evolution as an educative process
Evolution in the different planes of the world of existence
Limitations of some modern concepts of evolution

4. THE WONDERS OF EVOLUTION
The origin of the universe
Evolution in the mineral kingdom
Living systems
Animals
Qualities of the animals
Sense perception
Memory
Learning
Voluntary movements
Natural emotions
Animal's limitations

5. MAN: THE FRUIT OF PHYSICAL EVOLUTION
His animal nature
His human nature
His divine nature
Human greatness and limitations
His evolution and his divine nature

6. THE PERFECT MAN: THE MANIFESTATION OF GOD
The Manifestations of God in the history of mankind
Their threefold reality
Material
Human
Divine
The Essence of God and the Manifestations of God
Their names
Relations between the Manifestations of God
The station of unity
The station of distinction
Their purposes
Their proofs
Denial

7. STRIVING TOWARDS PERFECTION: DYNAMICS OF HUMAN TRANSFORMATION
The method
Prerequisites of human transformation
Voluntary submission to the will of God
Purity
Endeavour
Directions of human endeavour
The special meaning of the Revealed Word
Serving mankind
Means of entrance into the Kingdom
Qualifications of the enlightened souls
Obstacles to human transformation
Self or self-centredness
Estrangement
Malice
Envy
Backbiting
Exceeding in words
Meanings of sorrow and sacrifice
Meanings of sorrow
An instrument of human perfection
An instrument of self-knowledge
An instrument of detachment from the world of creation
Meanings of sacrifice
Conquering the natal self
Self-sacrifice for a universal cause
Attaining the qualities of the world of the Kingdom
Human transformation as spiritual progress
Spirituality as love in action
The second birth

8. THE SOUL: THE REALITY OF MAN
Rational proofs of its existence and immortality
Proofs of its existence
Human rational faculty
Inner perception
Human inner reality
Metaphysical proofs of its immortality
On the grounds of movement
On the grounds of the soul defined as substance
On the grounds of the soul being simple as substance
On the grounds of the presence of truth within the soul
On the grounds of its natural aspiration for immortality
On the grounds of the idea of mortality
Moral proofs of its immortality
As a requirement of human moral life
On the grounds of consensus gentium
What is the soul?
Its individuality
Its dual nature
The oneness of the spirit
Soul and body
Its bounties or powers
The soul as coordinator and motor of the body
Knowledge
Sense perception
`Reasonable perception' or `intellection '
`Inner perception or insight' or `intuitive knowledge
Self-consciousness
Love
The capacity of feeling joy and pain
The power of love
Love and knowledge
Love and courage
The growth of love
Will
Action
The dynamics of the choice
The soul as the mirror of human choices
Spiritual knowledge
Spiritual feelings
Spiritual deeds
Spiritual words
The journey of the soul

9. HUMAN EVOLUTION
Individual evolution
Material evolution
Intellectual evolution
Spiritual evolution
Human education
Material education
Intellectual education
Spiritual education
Evolution of mankind
Material evolution
Intellectual evolution
Spiritual evolution
Contemporaneousness of material, intellectual and spiritual evolutionary processes
Discontinuity of evolutionary processes
Social evolution

10. THE WORLD OF THE KINGDOM
The world of the Kingdom within the creatures
The world of the Kingdom within man
The world of the Kingdom within society
The world of the Kingdom as the world beyond
It transcends time and space
Metaphors of the world of the Kingdom in the Bahá'í texts
Qualities of the world of the Kingdom
Human souls in the world of the Kingdom
Relations between this world and the other
Relations between human souls in the world of the Kingdom
Relationship between human souls in this world and in the other

11. GOD: THE BEGINNING AND THE END OF ALL THINGS
The knowledge of God
God within human hearts
God within the universe
God in His Manifestations

A CONCLUSION

BIBLIOGRAPHY

INDEX

Notes and Acknowledgements

Italics are used for all quotations from the Bahá'í Sacred Scriptures, namely `any part of the writings of the Báb, Bahá'u'lláh and the Master'. (Letter on behalf of Shoghi Effendi, in Seeking the Light of the Kingdom (comp.), p.17.) Italics are not used for recorded utterances by `Abdu'l-Bahá. Although very important for the concepts and the explanations they convey, when they have `in one form or the other obtained His sanction' (Shoghi Effendi, quoted in Principles of Bahá'í Administration, p.34) - as is the case, for example, with Some Answered Questions or The Promulgation of Universal Peace - they cannot `be considered Scripture'. (Shoghi Effendi, Unfolding Destiny, p.208.)

Quotations from Italian publications are translated by the author, unless otherwise indicated.

This book was, in a way, written twice: first in Italian, and then again in English. For the English version I am particularly grateful to Ghitty Payman Galeotti, who encouraged me to accomplish this task, which I thought out of my reach. I wish to express my gratitude also to May Hofman Ballerio for her precious help in revising and editing the manuscript. Last but not least, I gratefully remember the patience of my wife Paola, who accepted my absence during the long hours I dedicated to this work.

Introduction

The Bahá'í Faith presents itself to modern man as a solution to the manifold problems which afflict him on the social and individual level. It does not claim to be a sort of magic wand, which could suddenly transform our imperfect world into an improbable utopia, but it presents itself as a cause entitled to indicate goals and methods and to furnish ideas and energies necessary for a transformation to take place. This transformation will certainly be difficult and slow and will proceed according to the unchangeable laws of social development, until it brings man to a higher stage of civilization.¹

The Bahá'í Faith offers a particular vision of man and the universe; on the one hand, it suggests a specific code of ethics whose application raises man to a higher level of maturity than hitherto; on the other, it suggests principles, structures and methods in the social and political sphere which would enable man -- as, by increasingly applying this ethic, he grows in his feelings and behaviours -- to build a world of peace and cooperation between the peoples of the earth. This kind of world is the only cradle in which an infant human intellect (infant in relation to the millions of years of man's existence on the planet) can develop and prosper, and gradually manifest the infinite potentialities with which man has been endowed.

Modern readers have been undoubtedly disappointed and wearied by the different ideas for the improvement of man and society, expounded down the centuries by philosophers, politicians, sociologists, and others. Their trust in religion has been seriously shaken by many unfortunate events. It is hoped, however, that despite these obstacles they may be induced to a preliminary investigation of the Bahá'í teachings and their proposed reforms.

To appreciate, let alone accept, an idea at its inception, is undoubtedly more difficult than appreciating an idea that is already producing concrete and visible results.² It could be, in fact, considered the undertaking of a pioneer. But it is the pioneers who move the world and mark the paths of history: Columbus with his trust in the world being round; Galileo with his determination to follow the as yet unexplored paths of the scientific method in the study of nature and its phenomena; Pasteur and Koch with their diligent studies of the world of microorganisms, then unknown and almost inaccessible; the Bahá'ís of today, with their faith in a human nature moving towards perfection, in the attainability of peace and justice -- not utopia, but concrete goals to live and struggle for.

***

In 1912 during His historic travels in North America, `Abdu'l-Bahá said: `We must also render service to the world of intellectuality in order that the minds of men may increase in power and become keener in perception, assisting the intellect of man to attain its supremacy so that the ideal virtues may appear. Before a step is taken in this direction [1] we must be able to prove Divinity from the standpoint of reason so that no doubt or objection may remain for the rationalist. Afterward, [2] we must be able to prove the existence of the bounty of God -- that the divine bounty encompasses humanity and that it is transcendental. Furthermore, [3] we must demonstrate that the spirit of man is immortal, that it is not subject to disintegration and that it comprises the virtues of humanity.'³

This book is an attempt to respond to `Abdu'l-Bahá's exhortations. To this end, Bahá'í texts available in English have been perused in order to find passages which provide:

rational proofs of the existence of God;
explanations of the concept of `the bounty of God';
guidance for tracing the spirit in the phenomenal world;
rational proofs of the existence and immortality of human soul;
explanations of the nature of man and the meaning of his individual and collective existence.

In collecting these passages it became evident that the Bahá'í texts describe criteria and methods we should conform to, if we want to obtain useful results in our intellectual endeavours. An introductory chapter was therefore written, dealing with research criteria and methods.

Though the concepts presented in these introductory pages may seem abstract and even difficult to understand, it is hoped that they will be useful for a fuller comprehension of subjects which are dealt with further on, subjects which -- since they concern man, his nature, his soul and his faculties -- are, perhaps, not only easier to understand but also of more immediate interest to the reader. Through the entire research and writing runs a common thread -- the consciousness that, in the words of the Universal House of Justice, `no Bahá'í at this early stage in Bahá'í history can rightly claim to have more than a partial and imperfect understanding', of 'a Revelation of such staggering magnitude'.⁴

It is hoped that these concepts, which have been expounded by 'Abdu'l-Bahá, will assist the reader to understand, appreciate, and put into practice the practical and concrete suggestions which the Bahá'í Faith offers to individuals and societies for achieving a world of justice and peace.

Julio Savi
Bologna, 23 May 1987
to 12 August 1988