Notes

1. . Shoghi Effendi, World Order of Bahá'u'lláh (Wilmette, Ill.: Bahá'í Publishing Trust, 1955), p. xi; italics added.
2. . Bahá'u'lláh, Gleanings from the Writings of Bahá'u'lláh (Wilmette, Ill.: Bahá'í Publishing Trust, 1971), pp. 194–95.
3. . Bahá'u'lláh and ‘Abdu'1‐Bahá, Bahá'í World Faith, 2d ed. (Wilmette, Ill.: Bahá'í Publishing Trust, 1956), pp. 382–83.
4. . 'Abdu'l‐Bahá, Some Answered Questions (Wilmette, Ill.: Bahá'í Publishing Trust, 1930), pp. 181–82.
5. . This is a conscious paraphrase of a description due to W. V. Quine, Word and Object (Cambridge, Mass.: M.I.T. Press, 1960), p. 3.
6. . For a much more detailed and exhaustive analysis of this conception of scientific method see my “Science and Religion,” World Order 3 (Spring 1969): 7–19 (reprinted in The Science of Religion: Bahá'í Studies 2 [September 1977]: 1–13).
7. . Some might feel that deductive logical proofs are absolute, but such proofs proceed from premises which are based ultimately on empirical and thus inductive or probable inference. See ibid, for a more detailed analysis and discussion of these points.
8. . The appeal to probable inference here is in the sense of “approximate” and not in the technical sense of the strict construction of a probabilistic model for the phenomenon being investigated. Probability in our sense is thus a measure of the relative ignorance of the knowing subject rather than the hypothesis that the phenomenon under investigation is indeterminate in some way. This leaves unanswered the question of whether every use of probability can be so regarded. However, if one espouses an essentially pragmatic epistemology, as I do, it may not even be necessary to determine, in any given instance, which part of our world view comes from the viewer and which part derives from the thing viewed. We have only to evaluate the explanatory and predictive value of our model according to pragmatic criteria. (See my “Foundations as a Branch of Mathematics,” Journal of Philosophical Logic 1 [1972]: 349–58, for a further discussion of these points. Cf. also the discussion in my “Platonism and Pragmatism” to appear in the proceedings of the seventh annual meeting of the Society for Exact Philosophy, 1979, ed. Mario Bunge.)
9. . This and the following passages are quoted in H. Balyuzi, ‘Abdu'1‐Bahá (London: George Ronald, 1971), p. 242.
10. . It is interesting to note the discussion given of the use of scriptural authority. In Some Answered Questions (n. 4 above), pp. 342–43, ‘Abdu'1‐Bahá points out that man's understanding of scripture is limited by his own powers of reasoning and interpretation. Since these powers are relative, so is his understanding of scripture. Thus, regard‐ less of the authority one attributes to the text itself, arguments based on such authority are in reality based on man's understanding of the text and hence are not absolute.
11. . See n. 9 above.
12. . 'Abdu'l‐Bahá, Some Answered Questions, pp. 180–81.
13. . Ibid., p. 181.
14. 14 Ibid., pp. 255–56.
15. . We have in effect a Platonic metaphysics combined with a pragmatic epistemology, the essential connection between the two being the Manifestation. See also n. 30 below.
16. . Of course it is clear that such things as remote stars and subatomic particles are not immediately accessible, but the refined techniques used to study them are often appealed to as concrete extensions of the immediately accessible, even to the extent of identifying the object of study as being the techniques themselves (operationalism). On the other hand such examples (and especially the subatomic case) can be seen already as a partial refutation of the narrow view of scientific method. Witness the difficulty encountered by positivistic philosophers of science in assimilating the study of these phenomena to the narrow view.
17. . The most well‐known attempts are those of the Vienna‐Oxford school typified in Alfred J. Ayer's Language, Truth, and Logic (New York: Dover Publications, 1952).
18. . Comparison may well be made here between such an experience and that of mystics. Perhaps the mystic is initially overwhelmed by the newness and intensity of his first experience and thus is led to feel that it is essentially and irredeemably chaotic and unsystematic. This would naturally lead to the glorification of the subjective which is characteristic of the existentialist view as well as to the conviction that mystic experience is essentially nonobjectifiable. But it is precisely my suggestion that the building of a religious community of understanding in a scientific way can lead to a relative objectification of mystic experience similar to that effected by the application of scientific method to other levels of experience. The resulting framework of interpretation would allow the individual to proceed from the initial mystic experience to a new stage of spiritual perception or knowledge, again bringing order out of chaos. This model also serves to illumine the relationship between the individual practicant and the community. The individual's mystic experience is his own and no one else's, but he has to relate properly to the community if his internal experience is to be of genuine profit to him. At the same time there is the further benefit to the community itself, which profits from harnessing the individual's spirituality in the form of service.
19. . One thousand years is mentioned in the Bahá'í writings as representing an approximate length of time between two successive occurrences of revelation within a given collective or social gestalt. However, it is stated clearly that this is an approximate or average time span which can vary and which in fact has varied in history. Also, as the collective awareness of human society has increased through progressively more sophisticated means of transportation and communication, traditional gestalts widen, overlap, and fuse, lessening thereby the necessity for parallel or complementary occurrences of revelation.
20. . In this regard Bahá'u'lláh has given the following clear statement: “Beware, O believers in the Unity of God, lest ye be tempted to make any distinction between any of the Manifestations of His Cause, or to discriminate against the signs that have accompanied and proclaimed their Revelation. This indeed is the true meaning of Divine Unity, if ye be of them that apprehend and believe this truth. Be ye assured, moreover, that the works and acts of each and every one of these Manifestations of God, nay whatever pertaineth unto them, and whatsoever they may manifest in the future, are all ordained by God, and are a reflection of His Will and Purpose. Whoso maketh the slightest possible difference between their persons, their words, their messages, their acts and manners, hath indeed disbelieved in God, hath repudiated His signs, and betrayed the Cause of His Messengers” (Bahá'u'lláh and ‘Abdu'1‐Bahá, [n. 3 above], pp. 27–28).
21. . My brief discussion of the Bahá'í concept of progressive revelation does not address itself directly to a number of questions which a thoughtful reader may be naturally led to pose. To treat these questions within the confines of a short paper like this would be impossible, and such excursions also would blur the sharp focus that is the proper goal of any essay. One important question, which is only partially treated in the foregoing, is that of establishing criteria for recognizing valid occurrences of the phenomenon of revelation. It is interesting to note that this and other related questions are treated in considerable detail in the writings of the Báb, Bahá'u'lláh, and ‘Abdu'l‐Bahá to which the reader is referred. Although these writers make some references to the internal states of the Manifestations, the criteria they give for assessing any claim to revelation mostly involve observable events. Besides the person of the Manifestation, his life, his teachings, his influence, and the social organization and civilization based upon them, one of the most important characteristics which these writers associate with authentic revelation is the Manifestation's capacity for “revealed writing.” This latter refers to the manner of writing (spontaneous and uninterrupted), the quantity and volume of writing, the capacity to reveal writing under all conditions of human life and without the benefit of formal schooling, and, most important, the spiritual and literary quality, the depth, the cogency, and the rationality of the content of the writing. Thus, e.g., Bahá'u'lláh left well over one hundred major works of writings, some of them written while in prison, in chains, or under other extreme conditions. Moreover, he had no formal schooling whatever beyond learning to read and write his native language of Persian. One of his major works, the Book of Certitude, whose English translation runs to over two hundred pages, was written in the space of two days and two nights. Since these writings are published in many languages and widely disseminated, there is a maximum opportunity for objective verification of their quality and depth. The original manuscripts are all preserved, and there is consequently no question of interpolation or of other modifications done before publication. For an excellent discussion of these and other related points, together with eyewitness accounts and photocopies of many archival materials, see A. Taherzadeh, The Revelation oj Bahá'u'lláh, 2 vols. (Oxford: George Ronald, 1974–77). Another important point stressed by Bahá'u'lláh and ‘Abdu'1‐Bahá is that a Manifestation is the first to practice his own teachings. He is the first example who lives his teachings into reality, whereas many philosophers, scientists, thinkers, and creative artists produce their works while living lives widely at variance with the precepts or ideals these works seek to express. In particular the Bahá'í concept of revelation must not be confused with a host of other phenomena which are sometimes popularly called “Revelation.” I am thinking of such things as trances, occultism, hypnotism, various psychopathological states, etc. As I have tried to make clear in my discussion, “revelation” in the Bahá'í concept refers to a naturally occurring periodic phenomenon (of rather long period) and not to abnormal or occult events. Of course the laws governing occurrences of revelation are viewed by Bahá'ís as depending on the will of God, but this is no less the case for all natural laws, and so revelation would have no special status in this regard. I feel that these supplementary comments are made necessary primarily because of the current resurgence of occultism, witchcraft, satanism, and other such activities which are specifically condemned by Bahá'u'lláh and ‘Abdu'1‐Bahá as superstitious and based on false imagination. Such popular fascination with the “supernormal” tends to create an ethos in which objective discussion of questions relating to religious experience becomes difficult and the otherwise clear lines between authentic spirituality and superstitious exoticism obscured.
22. . The revelation of Jesus was focused primarily on the individual and can be viewed at least in part as a counterbalance to the overemphasis on the totalitarian state and to the miserable social conditions and status to which the majority of the recipients of his message were subject.
23. . Bahá'u'lláh does not claim to be the last of these messengers, for according to his teachings the succession will never stop; nor will human and social evolution ever come to a dead end (though the ultimate physical death of the solar system itself seems inevitable according to the best current scientific knowledge). However, he does state clearly that the next Manifestation will not come before the lapse of a thousand years' time.
24. . This reflects a fundamental principle of evolutionary phenomena: That which is functional and productive at one stage of the process can become dysfunctional and unproductive at another stage. The same principle can be applied in attempting to understand the various changes in religious practice wrought by each successive revelation.
25. . With regard to the individual purpose of religion Bahá'u'lláh has said: “Through the Teachings of this Day Star of Truth [the Manifestation] every man will advance and develop until he attaineth the station at which he can manifest all the potential forces with which his inmost true self hath been endowed. It is for this very purpose that in every age and dispensation the Prophets of God and His chosen Ones have appeared amongst men.…” (Bahá'u'lláh, Gleanings n. 2 above], p. 68).
26. . Bahá'u'lláh and ‘Abdu'l‐Bahá, Divine Art of Living, rev. ed. (Wilmette, Ill.: Bahá'í Publishing Trust, 1970), p. 92.
27. . Nothing that I have said in the foregoing should be taken as implying that the aesthetic and emotional aspects of religion should in any way be deemphasized, neglected, or excised from religion. My contention rather has been that when religion is excluded from the application of scientific method the aesthetic and emotional tend to become drastically overemphsized as they are then seen as constituting the only datum of religion. But it is my feeling that when a more balanced picture of religion is attained and its basically cognitive nature is recognized then these other aspects naturally fall into place in a healthy way, neither being indulged or sought for their own sake on the one hand nor rejected on the other. I think it is fair to say that many of the excesses witnessed throughout religious history, such as fanaticism, acesticism, mystic thrill seeking, and withdrawal from society, can be attributed largely to the lack of the sort of balanced viewpoint I am seeking to describe. It is interesting to note that Bahá'u'lláh pointedly condemns these specific excesses as well as others.
28. . Bahá'u'lláh, Gleanings (n. 2 above), pp. 164–66.
29. . In this connection Bahá'u'lláh has said:“… all things, in their inmost reality, testify to the revelation of the names and attributes of God within them…. Man, the noblest and most perfect of all created things, excelleth them all in the intensity of this revelation, and is a fuller expression of its glory. 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” (ibid., pp. 178–79).
30. . The crucial role of the Manifestation as the link between the transcendent absolute reality and the world of man is expressed by ‘Abdu'1‐Bahá: “The knowledge of the Reality of the Divinity is impossible and unattainable, but the knowledge of the Manifestations of God is the knowledge of God, for the bounties, splendours, and divine attributes are apparent in them. Therefore, if man attains to the knowledge of the Manifestations of God, he will attain to the knowledge of God; and if he be neglectful of the knowledge of the Holy Manifestation, he will be bereft of the knowledge of God” ('Abdu'1‐Bahá, Some Answered Questions [n. 4 above], pp. 257–58).
31. . ‘Abdu'l‐Bahá, Paris Talks: Addresses Given by ‘Abdu'1‐Bahá in Paris in 1911–1912, llth ed. (London: Bahá'í Publishing Trust, 1969), pp. 143–46.