One of the great tools for unity brought by Bahá'u'lláh is the principle of consultation:
"The Great Being saith: The heaven of divine wisdom is illumined with the two luminaries of consultation and compassion. Take ye counsel together in all matters, inasmuch as consultation is the lamp of guidance which leadeth the way, and is the bestower of understanding." Tablets of Bahá'u'lláh, p. 168
Consultation is indeed one of the most powerful, yet misunderstood and misused bounties of God to humans. In the Writings, we are assured that when the process is followed completely with love and compassion among all the individuals involved, within an atmosphere of complete freedom for the participants to say whatever thought enters their mind, the Concourse on High will assist that particular episode to be guided from on High. The results, whether by majority or total agreement, will reflect the wishes of the Concourse. Yet, the agreement itself is not the end of the process. The participants must upon reaching agreement, support wholeheartedly the results, forgetting who said what in the discussion, and never bringing up to anyone any hint of animosity toward any of the statements made in the process. Nor should any ill feelings be uttered about the speaker of any statement made.
Just as in “what happens in Vegas;” what happens in consultation, remains in consultation.
A small word that may come to mind in the heat of conflict is ego. Realistically, it appears that the unchecked ego can be the destroyer of consultation. To counter that, the views of all should be freely given, and must be considered, without any attachment to the person who uttered those thoughts. In true consultation there is no individual ownership of ideas, nor pre-conceived conclusions. I daresay that should each of us realize that we are all captive to one degree or another of ego, that many of our shortcomings as a society could mitigate through the change in our individual thought patterns, and a peaceful and harmonious atmosphere would permeate our daily activities to the degree that `Abdu'l-Bahá would be proud.
In his book "A New Earth, Awakening to Your Life's Purpose" Ekhardt Tolle discusses the theory that the ego quality in all of us has the capacity to perpetuate long-held hostilities toward others, going so far as to show that the conflicts of nations are perpetuated by the ego-inspired beliefs of parents toward their offspring. It begins as a subtle thing. A child hears her parent expressing to the other parent a past (perhaps imagined) wrong committed by a neighbor against one of her kinsmen. This recollection takes on a life of its own, since "we was robbed" of something in the past. The child then takes that thought with her throughout her life and passes it on to her child, and so on and so on. What other basis is there, really, for the conflicts among us? We use the remembrances of the past to somehow exalt our own self-imposed position of being number one in almost everything we do.
All the Prophets of the past have talked of this matter of the ego in one fashion or another, yet humans continue to ignore its destructive power. When Christ talked of turning the other cheek He was not saying to be weak in the face of opposition, He was saying to not further the egoistic pattern of allowing our feelings to be hurt when someone appears to diminish our position of being number one in every situation. Rather, Christ wanted us to handle all situations within the bounds of the present qualities of that situation only, leaving out the personal contest of each of us wanting to be a "winner." In arguments, if there is a "winner" everyone loses, and the loss perpetuates itself since there will be another conflict later on, and the past hurt feelings will provide the undercurrent of the new discussion. And it goes on and on again. Such activity is the antitheses of consultation.
The most egregious example of the power of consultation being ignored, with catastrophic results to the world at large, relates to the Hands of the Cause in the Holy Land (save one) who decided, not within the bounds of consultation, but among themselves, the outcome of the Guardianship issue. The power of consultation was ignored, and the results led to an unimagined catastrophe that we continue to be impacted by. Through the bounty of God, it is never too late for justice to prevail, and right will eventually prevail. The Covenant will indeed survive this awful distance from God that is bringing mankind to its knees. Humans will eventually learn through the cruelest school of hard knocks that in the final analysis we must all sit down and evaluate matters using only the facts at hand for a basis, and consult ourselves into a position of love and harmony.
The Bahá'í Faith has the capacity to stretch love and harmony throughout the entire Continent at such time as the Bahá'ís study and believe, really believe every Sacred Clause of the Will and Testament and the Holy Writings, and return to the principles espoused by Bahá'u'lláh, `Abdu'l-Bahá and the Institution of the Guardianship.
It is a glorious thing that God gave us the tool of consultation to solve the ills of the world. Additionally, the Orthodox Baha‘is are now in a position of leadership with this concept. We have the Covenant, and the Writings we espouse contain the guidelines of true consultation. It is through the dedicated practice of those guidelines in our activities that a new Heaven and a new Earth will evolve.
Hand of the Cause of God David Maxwell
"The Great Being saith: The heaven of divine wisdom is illumined with the two luminaries of consultation and compassion. Take ye counsel together in all matters, inasmuch as consultation is the lamp of guidance which leadeth the way, and is the bestower of understanding." Tablets of Bahá'u'lláh, p. 168
Consultation is indeed one of the most powerful, yet misunderstood and misused bounties of God to humans. In the Writings, we are assured that when the process is followed completely with love and compassion among all the individuals involved, within an atmosphere of complete freedom for the participants to say whatever thought enters their mind, the Concourse on High will assist that particular episode to be guided from on High. The results, whether by majority or total agreement, will reflect the wishes of the Concourse. Yet, the agreement itself is not the end of the process. The participants must upon reaching agreement, support wholeheartedly the results, forgetting who said what in the discussion, and never bringing up to anyone any hint of animosity toward any of the statements made in the process. Nor should any ill feelings be uttered about the speaker of any statement made.
Just as in “what happens in Vegas;” what happens in consultation, remains in consultation.
A small word that may come to mind in the heat of conflict is ego. Realistically, it appears that the unchecked ego can be the destroyer of consultation. To counter that, the views of all should be freely given, and must be considered, without any attachment to the person who uttered those thoughts. In true consultation there is no individual ownership of ideas, nor pre-conceived conclusions. I daresay that should each of us realize that we are all captive to one degree or another of ego, that many of our shortcomings as a society could mitigate through the change in our individual thought patterns, and a peaceful and harmonious atmosphere would permeate our daily activities to the degree that `Abdu'l-Bahá would be proud.
In his book "A New Earth, Awakening to Your Life's Purpose" Ekhardt Tolle discusses the theory that the ego quality in all of us has the capacity to perpetuate long-held hostilities toward others, going so far as to show that the conflicts of nations are perpetuated by the ego-inspired beliefs of parents toward their offspring. It begins as a subtle thing. A child hears her parent expressing to the other parent a past (perhaps imagined) wrong committed by a neighbor against one of her kinsmen. This recollection takes on a life of its own, since "we was robbed" of something in the past. The child then takes that thought with her throughout her life and passes it on to her child, and so on and so on. What other basis is there, really, for the conflicts among us? We use the remembrances of the past to somehow exalt our own self-imposed position of being number one in almost everything we do.
All the Prophets of the past have talked of this matter of the ego in one fashion or another, yet humans continue to ignore its destructive power. When Christ talked of turning the other cheek He was not saying to be weak in the face of opposition, He was saying to not further the egoistic pattern of allowing our feelings to be hurt when someone appears to diminish our position of being number one in every situation. Rather, Christ wanted us to handle all situations within the bounds of the present qualities of that situation only, leaving out the personal contest of each of us wanting to be a "winner." In arguments, if there is a "winner" everyone loses, and the loss perpetuates itself since there will be another conflict later on, and the past hurt feelings will provide the undercurrent of the new discussion. And it goes on and on again. Such activity is the antitheses of consultation.
The most egregious example of the power of consultation being ignored, with catastrophic results to the world at large, relates to the Hands of the Cause in the Holy Land (save one) who decided, not within the bounds of consultation, but among themselves, the outcome of the Guardianship issue. The power of consultation was ignored, and the results led to an unimagined catastrophe that we continue to be impacted by. Through the bounty of God, it is never too late for justice to prevail, and right will eventually prevail. The Covenant will indeed survive this awful distance from God that is bringing mankind to its knees. Humans will eventually learn through the cruelest school of hard knocks that in the final analysis we must all sit down and evaluate matters using only the facts at hand for a basis, and consult ourselves into a position of love and harmony.
The Bahá'í Faith has the capacity to stretch love and harmony throughout the entire Continent at such time as the Bahá'ís study and believe, really believe every Sacred Clause of the Will and Testament and the Holy Writings, and return to the principles espoused by Bahá'u'lláh, `Abdu'l-Bahá and the Institution of the Guardianship.
It is a glorious thing that God gave us the tool of consultation to solve the ills of the world. Additionally, the Orthodox Baha‘is are now in a position of leadership with this concept. We have the Covenant, and the Writings we espouse contain the guidelines of true consultation. It is through the dedicated practice of those guidelines in our activities that a new Heaven and a new Earth will evolve.
Hand of the Cause of God David Maxwell
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