From Opperssion of Empowerment

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The Journal of Bahá’í Studies 26.1-2 2016

divinity and servitude, or existence and essence. They are as mirrors which consist of two parts: a glass that has the property of reflection and an image that shows in the glass. Our particularistic essences are what differentiate us from each other. But in those diverse mirrors, one and the same image of God is reflected. This second part is our aspect of “divinity.” The difference in our es- sences creates the illusion of separate- ness and ego identity. Our existence, or our divine aspect, however, affirms our unity in that we are all reflections of the attributes of God, Who is one. Although the Bible affirms this con- cept in the imago dei , “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness” (Gen. 1:26), nevertheless throughout histo- ry, human cultures have defined iden- tity by material characteristics that differentiate people from one another. The Báb reaffirms that our true re- ality as human beings is our common spiritual unity, as mirrors and signs of God. If we define ourselves in this way, we see the oneness of God reflected in the oneness of humanity—a unity that is diverse in its reflections of the di- vine attributes. But if we define iden- tity in terms of difference—focusing on distinctions of race, gender, social class, nationality, language, religion, and other particularistic aspects—we can easily perceive others as strangers, enemies, or even as sub-humans. Vio- lence, conflict, and oppression then be- come easy to justify. As Durkheim not- ed, the limits of morality are defined by group boundaries. The interests

and needs of one set of people become moral imperatives, whereas those of others are ignored or suppressed. The determining logic of social relations becomes the struggle for existence, coercion, and the politics of deception and conquest. In His Tablet to The Hague, ‘Abdu’l-Bahá draws a direct connection between the natural law of struggle for existence and various forms of prejudice: In every period war has been waged in one country or anoth- er and that war was due to reli- gious prejudice, racial prejudice, political prejudice or patriotic prejudice. It has therefore been ascertained and proved that all prejudices are destructive of the human edifice. As long as these prejudices persist, the struggle for existence must remain dom- inant, and bloodthirstiness and rapacity continue. Therefore, even as was the case in the past, the world of humanity cannot be saved from the darkness of nature and cannot attain illumi- nation except through the aban- donment of prejudices and the acquisition of the morals of the Kingdom. ( Selections 313) In other words, for ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, prej- udice is the same as the dehumaniza- tion of the self and others—or per- ceiving and treating humans as if they were animals.