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The Baha’i Faith is unique in many ways, one of them being the vast wisdom contained in its holy scriptures — all of the writings of The Bab, Baha’u’llah, and Abdu’l-Baha.
Those original writings, which come from an unprecedented 77-year outpouring of revelation, illuminate an entire universe of spiritual knowledge, insight, and guidance.
RELATED: What Is Spiritual Oppression?
Originally written in Persian and Arabic, many of the books, tablets, and letters that make up the Baha’i teachings have now been translated into more than 800 languages. Baha’u’llah himself wrote more than a hundred volumes of those teachings. But periodically, and without fanfare, the Universal House of Justice — the democratically-elected leadership body of the world’s Baha’is — places new authorized translations on its official website.
Imagine, if you will, a newly-discovered book of the Bible or the Bhagavad-Gita or the Qur’an being translated and published, and you’ll have some sense of the excitement these new translations generate within the minds and souls of the world’s Baha’is.
Often, those new translations of the Baha’i writings open up entire vistas of meaning. This newly-translated verse, for example, provides us with a quote from Baha’u’llah on the potent effect of inner justice:
That justice which causeth the pillars of tyranny to quake and the foundations of misbelief to crumble is the recognition of this Revelation … And whoso believeth not therein hath abandoned the stronghold of justice and his name is recorded among the oppressors in God’s mighty and guarded Tablets.
Here, Baha’u’llah assures us that the spreading recognition of God’s new revelation must expunge all tyranny — but does that mean earthly or spiritual tyranny?
Every new revelation redefines humanity’s understanding, and the Baha’i teachings do so over and over again. In Baha’u’llah’s Book of Certitude, for instance, he defined the greatest oppression as that which happens when the soul cannot “attain unto the knowledge of God:”
What “oppression” is more grievous than that a soul seeking the truth, and wishing to attain unto the knowledge of God, should know not where to go for it and from whom to seek it? For opinions have sorely differed, and the ways unto the attainment of God have multiplied. This “oppression” is the essential feature of every Revelation.
So, oppression is a combination of ignorance, both personal and collective — of disagreement, disunity, and a general inability to find reliable authorities, both in this world and on the personal path to God. If oppression and tyranny in governance mean deprivation of freedom in our physical and intellectual lives, then spiritual oppression might mean deprivation of the freedom to be safe, secure, and confident in our eternal existence.
RELATED: Is Ignorance a Form of Oppression?
Baha’u’llah’s revelation offers us these three aspects of freedom from spiritual oppression, of eternal justice: one, freedom from delusion; two, a vision of unity; and three, curiosity to seek truth. Two additional passages from Baha’u’llah’s “Words of Wisdom” come to mind here, first this one:
The essence of all that We have revealed for thee is Justice, is for man to free himself from idle fancy and imitation, discern with the eye of oneness His glorious handiwork, and look into all things with a searching eye.
And second, this passage: “The essence of religion is to testify unto that which the Lord hath revealed, and follow that which He hath ordained in His mighty Book.”
In these ways, the Baha’i revelation intends to free humanity from the ignorance, injustice, and tyranny of our spiritual oppression.
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