Continue reading »]]> Am I more than an animal?

Let me preface this musing by first clarifying the phrase, “more than an animal”. This phrase does not imply that humans have more value in the world of creation than do the animals. Nor does it imply a lack of respect or compassion for animal species. Rather, what is meant by “more than an animal’ is that there is something more, something additional, in the human condition – a phenomenon that does not exist within the animal world.

Although we share many similarities with the animals and even, in history, may have looked and ambulated as they do, we are not the same – we have never been exactly the same.

The essence of the difference between animals and humans is spirit, and this spiritual difference manifests itself in many ways in the physical world.

Animals and humans share attributes of what may be coined as the “animal spirit”. This spirit is the driving force behind, and the coordinator of, all of the body’s sense perceptions and physical functions. We call this the “animal spirit”, as this is the extent of the power of the spirit in the animal. But humans have the capacity for this as well as manifesting the attributes of the “human spirit”.

Some of the distinct features of the “human spirit” – as manifested through the agency of the mind – are imagination, abstract thought and comprehension, reflection and meta-cognition, and meditation. Some of the fruits of such capacity may be found throughout human civilization in many forms, such as the arts and sciences, architecture, and the development of complex social societies.

Although the human kingdom does have greater spiritual capacity than the animal kingdom, this comes with a greater responsibility. If we do not use our powers in virtuous ways, if we do not aspire to divinity in our daily pursuits, we run the risk of lowering ourselves below the station of the animal.

The animal always fulfills its spiritual capacity – there is very little choice for the animal – just by following instinct, the animal is fulfilling its spiritual purpose – it is maximizing its capacity by just existing and following instinct. It is not the same for humans. We must make the choice to rise above our animal spirit and exercise the powers of our human spirit. When we do not reach our potential, or fail to even try and do so, we become reprehensible – lower than the animal. Unfortunately we have too many examples of this already, such as a history of mutiple genocides, world wars, environmental destruction, and the list goes on.

Are we more than animals?

We do have greater spiritual potential than the animal, but if we neglect to even attempt to fufill this potential, we become less than the animal.

Today’s musings brought to you by the book The Eternal Quest for God by Julio Savi.

Continue reading »]]> Why is God invisible?

Practically speaking, “God” is a concept. Conceptually, “God”, in its Essence, is beyond physical incarnation, beyond mental conception.

But is there a philosophical wisdom in the “invisibility” of God?

Free will and faith are central to the answer to this question.

Free will denotes a choice – an effort, or volition, to move in a chosen direction.

Faith is a choice, although some feel so compelled to believe that they feel as if there is no choice. But faith comes from within.

To choose to cultivate divine virtue and to suppress selfish ego – this is an act of faith, and the cultivation of faith and the development of divine attributes are essential for our spiritual development.

Some argue that if the existence and presence of God was more obvious for all, few would need to decide to cultivate virtues such as faith, few would have the opportunity to exercise free will in choosing to develop divine attributes. And the exercise of willfully choosing to cultivate faith and virtue is the purpose of our existence.

Today’s musings brought to you by the book The Eternal Quest for God.

Continue reading »]]> I have heard it said numerous times, by friends and authors, that Buddhism should be considered as separate from the major world religions, as it is more of a way of life or philosophy than it is a religion.

Having perused some of the secondary Buddhist literature and attended some of the Buddhist groups here in Vancouver, B.C., I can testify to the fact that there is a contingent of modern day theorists and practitioners that seem to approach Buddhism as if it were only a set of meditation practices or a simple set of moral principles. Indeed, Buddhism has an extensive range of teachings on the philosophy and practice of meditation and does inculcate many practical philosophical and moral teachings, many of which can be found in the Dhammapada.

But there is also a mystical aspect of the Buddhist canon—timeless teachings that, when compared to the equally timeless claims and teachings of the other major world religions, compel the reader of just mind to include Buddhism within that lineage of major world religions.

I’d like to briefly touch upon three of these seemingly eternal, mystic principles, and these are as follows: Infallible knowledge of the universe; the existence of God, and the existence of an afterlife.

Infallible Knowledge of the Universe

The Buddha has been credited with the following claim:

From time to time a Tathagata is born into the world, a fully Enlightened One, blessed and worthy, abounding in wisdom and goodness, happy, with knowledge of the world, unsurpassed as a guide to erring mortals, a teacher of gods and men, a Blessed Buddha. He, by himself, thoroughly understands, and sees, as it were, face to face this universe. (Momen, 1995)

To summarize the words above, the Buddha has claimed to be “a fully Enlightened One” who possesses knowledge of the world and the universe that is “unsurpassed” by “gods and men”.  It is claimed that it is “[the Buddha], by himself, [who] thoroughly understands, and sees” this world and this universe.

The Gospel of Buddha, the renowned and highly acclaimed translation of Buddhist texts by Paul Carus (1915), inculcates the Buddha’s claim of being the Enlightened One, and of being the revealer of the Dharma, the truth, the sacred law, and the religion (XII, V6-7).

This claim of the Buddha—that of being a source of a perfect and transcendent knowledge for humanity—is one that is shared by Jesus, Muhammad, Bahá’u’lláh, and all the other Founders of the world’s major religions.

The Existence of God

The Buddha has said, “I am the Lord’s own son, born of his mouth…[exalted by] an Absolute” (Rosen, 2010, p. 228).

The Buddha repeatedly claimed to be a “teacher of gods and men” (Momen, 1995). We know that the Buddha’s life and times were steeped in the Hindu religion, which clearly teaches that there is one God above all men, above all other gods—one God above all beings—one God of the universe (Parrinder, 1996, p. 57). Logically, if there is one God above all other gods, and the Buddha is the teacher of gods and men, it follows that the Buddha must have been an Emissary of the one true God.

Perhaps Harold Rosen (2010, p. 222) explains it best when he writes the following:

It is true that Buddha considered theological speculation to be unedifying, and taught that the character of unconditioned nirvana could not be delineated without misrepresenting it. However, there are many indications that Buddha affirmed an impersonal, transcendent reality beyond the gods—an Unconditioned Absolute out of which the conditioned universe continually arises.

The Existence of an Afterlife

The Buddhist canon makes reference to realms beyond this physical existence, realms beyond physical death. For example, Momen (1995) credits the Buddha with saying, “The messengers of death are waiting. You are going to travel far away. Have you any provision for the journey?” and, “the wise man rejoices in giving, and thereby becomes happy in the realms above.”

Like Christ, Buddha has taught that “by faith you shall be free and go beyond the realm of death.” Although the Buddha did not encourage the individual to formulate images of him or herself in heaven, He did speak of the importance of virtue and faith in attaining to the “bliss of a life immortal” (Carus, 1915), a life beyond earthly rebirth.  Rosen (2010, p. 222) explains, “…much of [the Buddha’s] description of nirvana can be viewed as affirming the divine realm…” and “much of what [the Buddha] affirmed about Himself implies a realm from which He drew His powers and wisdom, and toward which He directed humanity.”

Conclusion

The Buddha claimed to have knowledge of the universe that transcended the knowledge of gods and men—religious and/or scientific knowledge, for example—Buddha was an Emissary beyond the “lesser gods” and men. He spoke of the existence of an Unconditioned Absolute—the Source of His knowledge, which shares similar characteristics to the concept of an impersonal (that is, non-corporeal) God. Finally, the Buddha alluded to the existence of a life to follow earthly, physical existence.

In my opinion, these are three concepts that highlight the mystical nature of Buddhism, and firmly establish its place among the world’s major religions.

============================ References ============================
Carus, P. (1915). The Gospel of Buddha. Chicago and La Salle: Open Court.
Momen, M. (1995). Buddhism and the Baha’i’ Faith. Oxford: George Ronald.
Parrinder, G. (1996). The Bhagavad Gita: A verse translation. Oxford: Oneworld.
Rosen, H. (2010). Founders of faith: The parallel lives of God’s Messengers. Wilmette, Illinois:  Baha’i’ Publishing.

Continue reading »]]>

“…the faith of no man can be conditioned by anyone except himself.”  –Baha’u’llah

I am not being facetious when I say I would like to shake Richard Dawkins’ hand. His 2006 book, The God Delusion, compelled me to re-examine the foundations of my faith, and I found this to be a re-confirming experience—probably not the result Dawkins had hoped for.

In this blog I share a few of the thoughts that came to me as I carried out my investigation, and these are on the following: the harmony of science and religion; Scripture as truth, lies, delusion, or mistake, and we are more than the sum of our physical parts and processes.

The harmony of science and religion

Science and religion are not mutually exclusive—we ought not to choose one over the other. Science and religion should exist in harmony. Harmony does not imply sameness, but there is an intimate connection between the two and some overlap in what we learn from each. As S. Phelps in his 2007 article The New Atheism, Reconsidered explains,

“A number of passages in the Bahá’í writings suggest that God’s action and the laws of nature are folded together—and that the natural laws that, say, guide evolution, are merely an extension of God’s will.”

He also writes,

“…there is no necessary tension with Dr. Dawkins’ argument that our deepest religious and moral sensibilities might have an evolutionary explanation. Even if religion in principle arises from the natural order of things, there is no reason to assume that every part of that order can be encompassed by the ordinary human mind, or that religious morality is arbitrary.”

Dawkins

Scripture as truth, lie, delusion, or mistake

Richard Dawkins professes that whatever may lie beyond scientific inquiry also lies beyond the minds of theologians and philosophers. I can concede to this in as much as human minds are incapable of fully understanding the infinite. That being said, there is a branch of knowledge which claims transcendence over all human philosophical, theological, and scientific knowledge—that is divine Revelation. Our interface with such Revelation comes in the form of the world’s religious Scriptures.

The Founders of the world’s major religions have claimed to have a divine, infallible message for humanity. If we strip away the temporal, outdated, social teachings and linguistic features of each Revelation—which were tailored to meet each age in which they were revealed—we find many similarities, or a progressive nature, between the mystic teachings of each major religion.

In examining the Scriptures of the Founders of the world’s major religions, you may conclude that the content within is either truth, delusion, lies, or—as Dawkins offers—mistaken.

Are the Scriptures of Hinduism, Judaism, Buddhism, and Christianity delusional, made up of lies or fairy tales, based on mistake, or is there some truth to their mystic claims? Was Muhammad—the Prophet Founder of Islam—delusional, a liar, mistaken, or is there some truth to His mystic claims? Is Bahá’u’lláh—who claimed to be a Messenger of God in 1863 and founded what is now known as the Bahá’í Faith—and His son, ‘Abdu’l-Bahá—who was designated the unerring interpreter of His Writings—also among this distinguished group of delusional, lying, or mistaken sequence of men, or is there some truth to the revealed mystical teachings? The example of Their lives has touched billions of hearts, Their Teachings have positively impacted the building of many civilizations, and Their Words still inspire billions of people today.

Is this the work of delusions, lies, mistakes … or truth?

From the earliest to the latest of the world’s major religions, principles such as the ultimate source of the universe [God] and the existence and infinite life of the non-material human spirit have been inculcated. Is it reasonable to conclude that these timeless principles, inculcated as far back as we can trace and all the way up into the mid 1800s (Bahá’í Faith), are a perpetual legacy of mistakes, lies, or delusion? Considering the importance of the harmony of science and religion, discussed above, one should feel compelled to give these timeless spiritual principles some credence.

We are more than the sum of our physical parts and processes

In The God Delusion, Julian Baggini writes,

“What most atheists do believe is that although there is only one kind of stuff in the universe and it is physical, out of this stuff comes minds, beauty, emotions, moral values—in short the full gamut of phenomena that gives richness to human life.’”

And Dawkins himself asserts,

“Human thoughts and emotions emerge from exceedingly complex interconnections of physical entities within the brain.”

But are our thoughts, imagination, and dreams simply a product of neurons firing in the brain?

Varghese (2010) quotes Sir John Eccles, a Nobel Prize winner in physiology and medicine, as he responds to the materialist who denies the existence of a spiritual soul:

“…if people believe that the brain is the creator of all their linguistic expressions and that they are merely passive recipients of the creations of their brain in language…I do not argue with them…I do not argue with robots…”

‘Abdu’l-Baha’ (1981, p. 227) refers to the unifying force behind the organic phenomena of the body when he explains,

“The power and the comprehension of the human spirit are of two kinds—it perceives and acts in two different modes. One way is through organs and instruments: thus with this eye it sees; with this ear it hears; with this tongue it talks. Such is the action of the spirit, and the perception of the reality of man, by means of organs—that is to say, that the spirit is the seer, through the eyes; the spirit is the hearer, through the ear…The other manifestation of the powers and actions of the spirit is without instruments and organs. For example, in the state of sleep [in dream] without eyes it sees; without an ear it hears…these actions are beyond the means of instruments and organs.”

Conclusion

Dawkins’ book, The God Delusion, implicitly, and certainly unintentionally, highlights the need for the harmony of science and religion, as fanaticism is destructive in any form, be it materialistic or religious. A humble perusal of the central, essential mystic teachings of the world’s major religions reveals timeless truths that give purpose and scope to our existence, an existence that includes and transcends our physical world.

=====================================
References

‘Abdu’l-Baha’. (1981). Some Answered Questions. Trans. Laura Clifford-Barney. 3rd ed. Wilmette, Illinois: Baha’i’ Publishing Trust.

Dawkins, R. (2006). The God Delusion. Great Britain: Bantam Press.

Phelps, S. (2007). The New Atheism, Reconsidered. In One country: The online newsletter of the Baha’i’ international community.   Retrieved from http://www.onecountry.org/e184/e14816as_God_Delusion_Review.htm

Varghese, R.A. (2010). There is life after death: Compelling reports from those who have glimpsed the after-life. New Jersey: New Page Books.

====================================================
Jason Cohen is a musician who lives in Vancouver, BC. He is a member of the Bahá’í Faith.