Thoughts about God's Commandments
I have Nikhil Ravi from the blog The Quest for Certitude to thank for the inspiration for this post. I had read this passage before, but as always, I was "shut out as by a veil" in my spiritual understanding. I'm not claiming that I completely understand Baha'u'llah's Words now. But as I slowly let go of my distractions i.e. addictions (also known as idle fancies and vain imaginings), I can see meaning where there was previously confusion. Or even worse, I had pride-fogged disregard of the words because I felt that they pertained to others, not me. The ego plays such subtle games with the mind.
As someone who grew up in the Baptist church and taught that God's Laws were to be obeyed or one will burn in the eternal fires of hell, I've come to realize that God does love us in ways that are rather difficult for human beings to fully comprehend and appreciate. What I experienced in my early religious training was that if I obeyed God's Laws, I will be rewarded with a good life. In my "idle fancies and vain imaginings" state, I thought this meant God was like Santa Claus--I would get toys and treats for being good.
This belief extended into adulthood, which compounded my disappointment when things went bad, or more precisely, I perceived them that way. In my opinion, I was "good". Where was my reward? Why did "bad things happen to me" when I was being "so good"?
I put these questions to the various preachers of the churches I attended over the years, and their answers seemed vague, abstract. "We must all suffer through life; our reward is in heaven"; "We don't know God's Will"; "It says in the Book of (insert Old or New Testament book, chapter, verse)...." I never understood what they were talking about. I clung to my ego-driven vision of a Christmas god who handed out presents to good kids like a kindly, yet physically and emotionally remote vending machine. And of course, my view was "correct". After all, "good" begets "good" and "bad" begets "bad". And I ignored the rhetorical arguments about the relative meanings of those words.
What caught my attention in the selection from the Baha'u'llah's Writings was this:
My commandments are the lamps of My loving providence among My servants, and the keys of My mercy for My creatures.
What is a lamp? It is an instrument to provide light so one can see when surrounded by darkness, thereby enabling better vision. To me, these commandments are so much more than "If you follow these rules, you will be rewarded for being good. If you don't follow the rules, you are bad and you will be punished."* Being in this physical world of distracting influences is such an overload of stimulation for me that I get overwhelmed a lot. All of these thoughts, actions and experiences can take me away from the primary focus of my life, which is to know and love God. Everything else is secondary to that purpose. These commandments illumine the Way to that Holy Purpose, through all of the darkening confusion and distractions. The Writings do not say that nothing "bad" will happen to me. Instead, God is promising that the way through the "bad" will be illumined for me. And of course, it is my choice to follow the Light.
And what does a key do? It opens doors. By abiding by the commandments, doors leading to the Ancient Beauty are opened. I had erroneously believed that God shut the doors leading to Him because everything in my life seemed to be so bad. It wasn't, of course, but that was my perception. And that very perception is what closed the doors. By obeying the commandments, I can open the doors to what is possible in both this world and the world to come.
I can't figure any of this out on my own. by the way. What little awareness of meaning that I have is due to studying the Writings, participation in Ruhi study circles, prayer and consistent participation in 12 step groups so that my "idle fancies and vain imaginings" have less effect on me, "one day at a time". What I have learned is there are steps that I need to take as revealed by Baha'u'llah, and those steps are The Commandments of God. When I do this, I can walk through life with faith and assurance that I can survive life's tests. God never burdens anyone beyond capacity. I need to remember that, and have faith that all of life's events are temporary passages which will lead me either closer to God, or away from Him. However, even the difficulties lead me closer to Him, if I would open my eyes fully to the Light and see this.
*Addendum: The idea of "good/bad" and "punishment/reward" is often paralleled with the concept of "perfection", which is, if I, as fallible human being, make the slightest mistake in anything I do in life, I am not "perfect". And I'm supposed to be "perfect" because that word is synonymous "good". I am unworthy of God's love, grace and mercy, therefore any "rewards" if I am not "good", i.e., "perfect". If I am "bad", then I am already shut out of the race for "rewards". So I might as well "enjoy" being "bad" because I've messed up beyond redemption. Such thoughts are the basis of countless addictions/obsessions/vain imaginings and idle fancies.
"O YE peoples of the world! Know assuredly that My commandments are the lamps of My loving providence among My servants, and the keys of My mercy for My creatures. Thus hath it been sent down from the heaven of the Will of your Lord, the Lord of Revelation. Were any man to taste the sweetness of the words which the lips of the All-Merciful have willed to utter, he would, though the treasures of the earth be in his possession, renounce them one and all, that he might vindicate the truth of even one of His commandments, shining above the Dayspring of His bountiful care and loving-kindness.
From My laws the sweet smelling savour of My garment can be smelled, and by their aid the standards of victory will be planted upon the highest peaks. The Tongue of My power hath, from the heaven of My omnipotent glory, addressed to My creation these words: ‘Observe My commandments, for the love of My beauty.’ Happy is the lover that hath inhaled the divine fragrance of his Best-Beloved from these words, laden with the perfume of a grace which no tongue can describe. By My life! He who hath drunk the choice wine of fairness from the hands of My bountiful favour, will circle around My commandments that shine above the Dayspring of My creation.
Think not that We have revealed unto you a mere code of laws. Nay, rather, We have unsealed the choice Wine with the fingers of might and power. To this beareth witness that which the Pen of Revelation hath revealed. Meditate upon this, O men of insight!…"
-- Baha'u'llah
As someone who grew up in the Baptist church and taught that God's Laws were to be obeyed or one will burn in the eternal fires of hell, I've come to realize that God does love us in ways that are rather difficult for human beings to fully comprehend and appreciate. What I experienced in my early religious training was that if I obeyed God's Laws, I will be rewarded with a good life. In my "idle fancies and vain imaginings" state, I thought this meant God was like Santa Claus--I would get toys and treats for being good.
This belief extended into adulthood, which compounded my disappointment when things went bad, or more precisely, I perceived them that way. In my opinion, I was "good". Where was my reward? Why did "bad things happen to me" when I was being "so good"?
I put these questions to the various preachers of the churches I attended over the years, and their answers seemed vague, abstract. "We must all suffer through life; our reward is in heaven"; "We don't know God's Will"; "It says in the Book of (insert Old or New Testament book, chapter, verse)...." I never understood what they were talking about. I clung to my ego-driven vision of a Christmas god who handed out presents to good kids like a kindly, yet physically and emotionally remote vending machine. And of course, my view was "correct". After all, "good" begets "good" and "bad" begets "bad". And I ignored the rhetorical arguments about the relative meanings of those words.
What caught my attention in the selection from the Baha'u'llah's Writings was this:
My commandments are the lamps of My loving providence among My servants, and the keys of My mercy for My creatures.
What is a lamp? It is an instrument to provide light so one can see when surrounded by darkness, thereby enabling better vision. To me, these commandments are so much more than "If you follow these rules, you will be rewarded for being good. If you don't follow the rules, you are bad and you will be punished."* Being in this physical world of distracting influences is such an overload of stimulation for me that I get overwhelmed a lot. All of these thoughts, actions and experiences can take me away from the primary focus of my life, which is to know and love God. Everything else is secondary to that purpose. These commandments illumine the Way to that Holy Purpose, through all of the darkening confusion and distractions. The Writings do not say that nothing "bad" will happen to me. Instead, God is promising that the way through the "bad" will be illumined for me. And of course, it is my choice to follow the Light.
And what does a key do? It opens doors. By abiding by the commandments, doors leading to the Ancient Beauty are opened. I had erroneously believed that God shut the doors leading to Him because everything in my life seemed to be so bad. It wasn't, of course, but that was my perception. And that very perception is what closed the doors. By obeying the commandments, I can open the doors to what is possible in both this world and the world to come.
I can't figure any of this out on my own. by the way. What little awareness of meaning that I have is due to studying the Writings, participation in Ruhi study circles, prayer and consistent participation in 12 step groups so that my "idle fancies and vain imaginings" have less effect on me, "one day at a time". What I have learned is there are steps that I need to take as revealed by Baha'u'llah, and those steps are The Commandments of God. When I do this, I can walk through life with faith and assurance that I can survive life's tests. God never burdens anyone beyond capacity. I need to remember that, and have faith that all of life's events are temporary passages which will lead me either closer to God, or away from Him. However, even the difficulties lead me closer to Him, if I would open my eyes fully to the Light and see this.
*Addendum: The idea of "good/bad" and "punishment/reward" is often paralleled with the concept of "perfection", which is, if I, as fallible human being, make the slightest mistake in anything I do in life, I am not "perfect". And I'm supposed to be "perfect" because that word is synonymous "good". I am unworthy of God's love, grace and mercy, therefore any "rewards" if I am not "good", i.e., "perfect". If I am "bad", then I am already shut out of the race for "rewards". So I might as well "enjoy" being "bad" because I've messed up beyond redemption. Such thoughts are the basis of countless addictions/obsessions/vain imaginings and idle fancies.
Comments
A couple more thoughts on spiritual laws. One, I find it helpful to think of spiritual laws not as arbitrarily imposed rules by some anthropomorphic being, but rather laws that interwoven into the fabric of creation, much as physical laws are. So, for example, if I climb to the top of a skyscraper and jump down, I will fall due to gravity. Gravity is one of the laws of the universe. It is not that someone willfully pushes me down to crash onto the ground - but the consequence of choosing to jump down from a building is that I will fall down.
Likewise, many spiritual laws exist as a part of this world - such as the effect of prayer, fasting, loving thoughts, the effect of indulging in immoral activities etc. Just as physical laws are statements of consequences when it comes to physical actions, spiritual laws are statements of consequences of spiritual acts. All the Manifestation of God really does is acquaint us with these laws, just as a scientist acquaints us with physical laws. Of course the expression of these laws might change based on the state of evolution of human society - but the laws themselves are intrinsic to this world, not arbitrarily imposed by some external being.
Another way of thinking about laws that someone once explained to me which I like - lets think of traffic laws. One might believe that traffic laws actually restrict our freedom to drive as we want. But if we think a little deeper, we realize that if these laws didn't exist, one would be afraid just to step out onto the road, as one has no guarantee about how others are driving. So, even though it might seem counter-intuitive, the existence of traffic laws actually makes us more free - free to drive how we want within the scope of these laws. This example helped me understand how spiritual laws can actually be freeing rather than restricting.
As someone born under some pretty rebellious astrological planets AND at the tail end of the baby boom / "make love not war" protest era, I have lived my life in resistance to rules. I obeyed most laws only because the consequence was jail. Any rule that I faced, whether it was in school, on the job or just being out and about, was undermined at every opportunity. I thought I was being "clever". I was so wrong.
I'm now understanding more about how much freedom there is in abiding by the rules. For instance, I hated dieting because the diets didn't allow me to eat what I liked to eat, and the food tasted nasty to me. But when I eat what I like to eat, I get fat and very, very sick. Now, I follow rules for my meals. I can't say that I "like" it...the thrill that I relished so much from the taste of food is definitely missing...but life is so much more than getting turned on by food.
I was imprisoned by my desire for food. It was hard to think or do anything else. Now, there are rules for me to follow. And I get to live my life more fully. I'm getting free of my food prison.
That's my take on the concept of finding freedom through rules and laws on a personal level. More importantly, I wasn't very happy in my rule-breaking days. The reverse is true now.
Thanks again, Nikhil!