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Neo-PlatonismFramework for aBaha'i Ontology
by Mark Foster
In reality, the Prophets of God address us in the language of the Kingdom.Yet, outwardly, in order to instruct us in the essential reality underlyingexoteric appearances, They speak to us in a terminology distinctive to aparticular time and place. Thus, to human vision, Their utterancessimultaneously appear both as universal and as socio-historically relative.But they cannot be limited by human standards. A spiritualcomprehension of Prophetic knowledge demands that we see reality withfrom a God's-eye perspective (with the eye of God), i.e., the point of viewof the divine teachings.So, the Shakyamuni Buddha taught His disciples in a recognizableframework to chelas of the Indic traditions; Jesus spoke to His apostles inthe semantic gestalt of the Jews; and Muhammad revealed the HolyQur'an as a Judaeo-Christian narrative. But, beyond all these linguisticrelativities, a study of the inner meanings of Their verses brings the divinelover into an encounter with the discourse of reality. In that respect,whatever the Messengers of God tell us is eternal and, as such,transcends all situational exigencies.Moreover, the words used by these exalted Beings should, I believe, beregarded as rational-level symbol vehicles or thought bridges. Theirintent, as I see it, is to transform objects in the kingdom of names andattributes (materiality) into their true purpose as metaphors for the innerKingdom.The primary meaning of Their words is always symbolic. Evenwhere there is a literal referent, such as the laws of the Aqdas or theordinances of the T'nakh, the point of obedience is reunion with theBeloved. Therefore, praxis and ritual are best seen as spiritualtechnologies. By extending normal human abilities, they lift our hearts tothe heavenly realms.The following is from a letter, dated April 1, 1984, written to this writer onbehalf of the Universal House of Justice:In response to your letter of 26 February 1984, we are asked by theUniversal House of Justice to share with you the attached extract from apreviously untranslated Tablet revealed by `Abdu'l-Bahá on the subject of "speaking in tongues." ...
 
The disciples of Christ taught His Faith with the language of the Kingdom.That language conformeth to all languages, for it consisteth of celestialmeanings and divine mysteries. For the one who becometh conversantwith that language the realities and secrets of creation stand unveiledbefore him. Divine truths are common to all languages. The Holy Spirit,therefore, taught the disciples the language of the Kingdom, and theythus were able to converse with the people of all nations. Whenever theyspoke to those of other nations of the world, it was as if they conversed intheir tongues. The well-known and outstanding languages of the worldnumber abou a thousand. It was necessary for the disciples ot havewritten in at least one of the languages of other nations. Thus, as it isknown, the Gospels were written only in Hebrew and Greek, and not eventhe language of the Romans, although it was at the time the officiallanguage. As the disciples were not well-versed in it, the Gospels were notwritten in that language.As the disciples of Christ learned from Jesus the language of the Kingdomspeaking in tongues or glossolalia - in this age, Bahá'u'lláh has alsospoken tongues. He has revealed to us the mysteries of existence, of theworlds of God, of the nature of the soul, of the degrees of spirit and theirmanifestations, and of the dynamics of individual and collectivetransformation. To speak in tongues is to incorporate the divine teachingsinto our language patterns and to relate to each others as souls.The language of the kingdom, like all discourse, exists on the rationallevel. Whatever narrative framework, or linguistic meaning system, isused by an organized group or society is identical with their socialstructure. Adopting the Prophetic language, the essence of which is unityin diversity, will, then, produce an integrated group which is grateful forthe individualities of its members.Likewise, all language is meaningless without material referents. As`Abdu'l-Bahá said to Dr. Auguste Forel (1956, p.337), "The mindcomprehendeth the abstract by the aid of the concrete ...." So, in otherwords, the Prophets take words which, outwardly, pertain to materialphenomena and, through them, demonstrate the analogical nature of theworld of matter - the kingdom of names and attributes. All materialsubstance is generated by spirit (purposeful power), and the words of theProphets show us the purpose and power of material objects bysymbolizing them in particular ways in Their teachings.The progressive teachings of the Prophets are, according to `Abdu'l-Bahá,"the science of reality" or "divine science." In order for any society tomove from material to divine civilization, it must ascribe as muchimportance to the science of reality (religion, the divine teachings, orreligion) as it does to the material sciences (physical, biological, social,and behavioral). In The Promulgation of Universal Peace, `Abdu'l-Baháwas quoted as saying:The Prophets of God have been the Servants of Reality. Their teachingsconstitute the science of reality. Reality is one; it does not admit plurality.
 
We conclude, therefore, that the foundation of the religions of God is onefoundation. (1982, p.297)And again:Scientific knowledge is the highest attainment upon the human plane, forscience is the discoverer of realities. It is of two kinds: material andspiritual. Material science is the investigation of natural phenomena;divine science is the discovery and realization of spiritual verities. Theworld of humanity must acquire both.... By the divine we mean thediscovery of the mysteries of God, the comprehension of spiritual realities,the wisdom of God, inner significances of the heavenly religions andfoundation of the law. (p.138)The independent investigation of reality, which approximates Bahá'u'lláh'sdefinition of "justice" (Bahá'u'lláh, 1986, p.53) and `Abdu'l-Bahá'sdefinition of "science" (see above), is required of all the servants of God inthis age. We can no longer depend on the guidance of clerics and thecollective voices of human authority. We must determine what truth forourselves. It is the challenge of living in the Great Day of God.If we agree to respond positively to this challenge, then we need todevelop a sense of the language of divine discourse used by the GreatOnes of this age. As mentioned earlier, the Prophets of God speak in theterminology of Their peoples. Outwardly, They may repeat what, inretrospect, may, exoterically, seem to be untrue. However, the meaningsintended by the Great Prophets are often not primarily literal. Even whereBahá'u'lláh or `Abdu'l-Bahá quote from a particular person or tradition,They frequently investing the words with a meaning which may, at leastconsciously, have been unintended in the original narrative.Much of the time, Bahá'u'lláh adopted the language of esoteric Shi'ih andSufi Islam - two of the primary spiritual contexts of nineteenth-centuryPersia. Moreover, in large part due to the synthesizing efforts of Muhyiddin Ibn `Arabi and other Sufi visionaries, the terminology of Neo-Platonism [my own preferred spelling of the more common"Neoplatonism"] had already become incorporated into Islamic spirituality.Therefore, it is understandable that a substantial amount of Bahá'u'lláh'sand `Abdu'l-Bahá's terminology is Neo-Platonic. This paper will advancethe thesis that, on a mystical level, the Bahá'í Faith is the fulfillment of Neo-Platonism, and that Bahá'u'lláh, in fact, culminates a line of spirituality which can be traced back to ancient Greek metaphysics.The Writings of `Abdu'l-Bahá contain many references to Socrates havingvisited the Holy Land and being taught by the Prophets of Israel, disciplesof Solomon, and other Hebrews. According to `Abdu'l-Bahá, Socrates,after his visit, returned to Athens and advanced the doctrines to the Unityof God and the immortality of the human soul. However, based onmaterial included in an unpublished memorandum, dated October 22,1995, prepared by the Research Department at the Bahá'í World Centre,at the request of the Universal House of Justice, it is not certain that these
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