Thinking about Steve's "Freedom of expression," I thought of what Abdu'l-Baha wrote about teaching with wisdom. He talks about what to do and what not to do in adverse circumstances, and he concludes:
"But when there is no peace and safety, extreme wisdom should be exercised, though no complete cessation of effort is permissible, for in that case the divine assistance shall be entirely cut off."
I've been thinking about how I might apply Abdu'l-Baha's advice if I thought it was wrong for Baha'is to follow the House of Justice wherever it goes, or if following Baha'u'llah meant for me to promote some interests contrary to those of the House of Justice.
I've always promoted some ideas that were unpopular in the Baha'i community, and stood my ground against some practices that were popular. My application of Abdu'l-Baha's advice is to establish relations of friendship and right dealings with people, continually improve my practice of whatever I'm trying to promote, seeking always to remove estrangement before I try to teach anyone anything. When my message becomes a cause of disturbance I stop whatever I'm doing that's disturbing people for a while, and look for a better approach.
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2 comments:
Hi Jim,
You wrote:
"...or if following Baha'u'llah meant for me to promote some interests contrary to those of the House of Justice."
My problem, as expressed in the "Freedom of expression" blog entry, is that I often don't know what the interests of the House of Justice are because its advice seems contradictory.
I've decided not to worry about that any more. The House is a legislative body and head of the faith, and its "interests" (if I understand your use of the word correctly), as expressed in its many letters, are not authoritative. The House's "elucidations" are not scripture, nor are they authoritative scriptural interpretation. So, when the elucidations aren't on legislative or head-of-the-faith matters, I ignore them unless they seem to have intrinsic value.
After all, no man can serve two masters. Baha'u'llah provides sufficient advice on how to live. And he can write.
Steve, I should have said:
"...or if following Baha'u'llah meant for me to promote some interests that I see as contrary to those of the House of Justice."
You wrote:
"I've decided not to worry about that any more."
Sounds like a good idea to me.
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