Sixth Reflection

Sixth Reflection: Reinterpretation of the Concept of Detachment Nader Saiedi

Baha’u’llah writes: No man shall attain the shores of the ocean of true understanding except he be detached from all that is in heaven and on earth. Sanctify your souls, O ye peoples of the world, that haply ye may attain that station which God hath destined for you. (The Book of Certitude) Writings of Baha’u’llah have brought new understandings of the traditional cultural concepts. A striking example of this creative reconstruction is the way Baha’u’llah’s writings have reinterpreted the traditional religious concept of detachment. In almost all mystical and religious traditions people are called to become detached from the material world and to be focused on God and spiritual realm. This same concept is also frequently affirmed in the writings of the founder of the Baha’i Faith, Baha’u’llah. However, he completely has reinterpreted the concept of detachment and invested it with complex and progressive meanings. Traditionally, concept of detachment has meant a particular attitude towards this world and towards work and labor. Many traditions have turned the idea of detachment into a rejection of this world, reducing this world to evil, and calling for withdrawal from the world. The underlying assumption of these ideas is the fundamental opposition between the material world and the spiritual world. Nietzsche’s devastating critique of religion was mostly grounded in defining religion as the assertion of the opposition between this world and other world, denying any value for the former, and sacrificing it for the latter. Likewise, extreme forms of traditional understanding of detachment has called for withdrawal from work and employment. Economic activities, therefore, has been defined as immoral preoccupations, whereas idleness and withdrawal to the caves have been extolled as noble and spiritual. Baha’u’llah has radically transformed the notion of detachment and through such reinterpretation he has revolutionized our approach to reality. The writings of Baha’u’llah provide three distinct meanings for the concept of detachment from all else but God. The first two meanings are related to the traditional discourse on detachment. The third meaning, however, is a radically new idea. Here we examine these three meanings of detachment. 1. Detachment and Work Many mystical authors have found economic work as an evil and corrupt preoccupation. For example, many, but not all, Muslim mystics have defined work as opposed to faith and trust in God. This version of Sufism usually affirms a doctrine of absolute divine fatalism. They believe that only God can be the cause of any event, and nothing other than God can cause anything. Therefore, this attitude believes that relying on one’s economic activity as the source of income and sustenance is an illusion which represents lack of trust in God. Those who trust in God and his absolute power and agency refrain from work because God will provide for them. That is why wondering and begging is perceived as a spiritual virtue. Of course many other Sufis have rejected this extremist idea. The writings of Baha’u’llah have completely reversed the extremist call for withdrawal from labor and industry. In an untranslated tablet, written in response to the questions of Zayn-al-‘abidin (later, Zayn al-

Muqarrabin), Baha’u’llah addresses the question of detachment from work and economic activity. He explains that detachment is one’s work for earning a living and the very process of employment and labor. He argues that work and occupation are the realization of detachment because it is through work that you would be saved from begging, dependence on others, abasement before the unjust, and degradation before the rich and powerful. This detachment, he continues, is binding on all. This inversion of the traditional concept of detachment is really liberation of the idea of detachment from an amazing hypocrisy. A person who does not work is using the product of the work of other human beings. If no one works, all would die from starvation. Not working and becoming dependent on others is not detachment from people. It is the essence of dependence on others. In addition, it is completely immoral. If one can work and refuses to work, expecting others to finance him or her, one is exploiting others. Exploitation, as Marx correctly understood, is appropriation by the idle of the surplus that is produced by others. It is for this reason that work, when performed in a spirit of service and in utmost excellence possible for that individual is nothing but true worship of God. Labor and industry, performed in a spirit of serving and helping humanity, is an exemplary spiritual activity. 2. Detachment as Spiritual Orientation The writings of Baha’u’llah frequently call for detachment from all but God. But as we noted in the previous discussion, this is not a negation or demonization of this world. On the contrary, for Baha’u’llah the truth of everything is spiritual. All things are mirrors that reflect divine names and attributes. Baha’u’llah does not call for withdrawal from the world. Instead, he finds religion and spirituality inseparable from engaging in this world, transforming the world, and realizing the spiritual potential of nature and society. The opposition, therefore, is not between the celestial world and this world. Rather it is the opposition between looking at the world as a holistic interconnected reality which is reflection of God and sacred, on the one hand, and perceiving the world as a set of solid, isolated, and independent thing and selfish persons, on the other. Detachment from the world is detachment from a selfish and isolated conception of the world. But such conception is not the real world, it is just an illusion. Detachment is detachment from this illusion, and turning towards the truth of the world, a spiritual reflection of God, where everything is interdependent, sacred and endowed with rights. Detachment, therefore, means that in our approach to the world we should be liberated from selfish and ego-centered narcissistic social construction of reality. Not only we should not withdraw from the world. We should actively engage in the world to transform the world, to realize the paradise in this world, which is harmony between nature and culture, universal peace, oneness of humankind, and justice and prosperity for all nations and all peoples. 3. Detachment as Independent Thinking But the most important meaning of detachment offered by Baha’u’llah, is an entirely unique and novel idea. Baha’u’llah’s statement quoted at the beginning of this paper is the very beginning of one of his most important books, the Book of Certitude. He writes: “ No man shall attain the shores of the ocean of true understanding except he be detached from all that is in heaven and on earth.” Here, detachment becomes the method of independent investigation of truth. According to Baha’u’llah, the precondition of attaining truth is one’s liberation from the ideas and prejudices prevalent in the world. To know any kind of truth, and especially the spiritual truth, one must not become dependent on thinking and judgment of others. Instead, one has to develop the habit to think independently, to look at reality with one’s own eyes, and not through the eyes of others. The reason that all prophets of God were

persecuted, harmed even killed by the very people who were weeping for the advent of their promised one, is that people did not think for themselves. They followed the clerics, the traditions and prejudices of society, the judgment of others. The dominant school of Shi’ism in Iran during 19 th century, called Usuli school, was precisely based upon the idea that ordinary people cannot think for themselves. They are like children who should blindly follow the dictates of the clerics. While that clerical outlook ultimately led to the rise of a clerical theocracy in Iran, the message of Baha’u’llah was the very exact opposite. His writings argued that all humans are endowed by God with the gift of consciousness and the duty to think for themselves. Obeying and blindly following others is renunciation of the gift of God to human beings. Such spiritual bondage is the essence of rejection of God and spiritual truth. For Baha’u’llah, the worldview of the clerics is usually those of traditionalism, which is opposed to reason, democracy, social progress, human rights, social justice, and individual empowerment. Therefore, it is precisely becoming detached from the judgments and authority of the clerics, the celebrities, and the prevalent tribal, cultural, and political prejudices, which is the real detachment from all else but God. Such detachment, therefore, is the necessary condition for investigation of truth. Humans have constructed for themselves all kinds of illusory walls of separation through various ideologies that justify separation, hatred and discrimination. It is ultimately the universal habit of independent thinking that can shatter these illusions and unite the hearts of humanity.