musings of an itinerant lover

This blog post is a response to a friend of mine who, upon hearing criticisms of the Baha’i Faith from his friends, decided to investigate matters for himself and join a Ruhi Study Circle. I have copied my response below:

Great to hear from you too. I think you are quite wise in discovering the truth of any matter with your own eyes and ears. That is actually the nature of a study circle. Far from being a forum whereby someone with an agenda attempts to impose a belief upon another, it is a loving and trusting environment wherein we all embark on a collaborative quest for truth and understanding. Questioning is an integral part of the independent investigation of truth, yet we must always be so careful to avoid imposing our opinion upon another, either in the form of a criticism or that of praise. Though often well-meaning, this is essentially an arrogant act since it fails to acknowledge the sovereignty of the individual’s will through the operation of his own mind and soul. You have a soul that is of God, you are a child of God, and one of the tools the All-Mighty has blessed you with is a sound mind. This allows you to form your own opinions and as such I look forward to learning from you as much as I do to sharing with you my humble understanding of the Baha’i Writings.

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It is incredible how within the micro we can discern truths and patterns that help us make sense of the macro. Within the atom we can behold the universe and within the maturation of an individual we can clearly witness unfolding patterns of the evolution of human society. Do we not see in the individual how we begin as a single celled organism and begin to grow into a morass of undifferentiated cells subsequently evolving into organs that themselves create a higher level of organization in the form of organ systems? These organ systems, of course, then interact at a higher level of complexity and integration in the form of our bodies. What is remarkable is that at one level of organization it is virtually impossible to see the higher level if viewed from the perspective of that level alone.

From the perspective of the lungs, the existence of a cardio-pulmonary system would not be easily apparent unless view that from a higher level of order. Is it really, then, that much of a stretch to imagine that there may be even higher orders of complexity? Is it possible to think that, just as the various organs form a larger collective with abilities that could far surpass any given organ in isolation, that as a human society we could actually form this sort of a higher level of functioning far surpassing the capacity of one individual? And that perhaps the magnitude of order that separates the functioning of one individual organ from the functioning of a human body could be mirrored with the functioning of the collective human organism?

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