The Baha'i Studies Listserv David has asked: >> What would have to happen historically for the Baha'i Faith to >> be proven wrong?
What has to happen historically for the Baha'i Faith to be proven wrong is the same as what would have to happen historically for any other faith to be proven wrong. Anything or nothing, depending on your subjective attitude toward those historical facts, your subjective attitude growing out of your own spiritual experience. Were this not true, a conference of Middle-East Scholars would resemble a conference of Mathematicians or Chemists, blithely reporting to each other irrefutable advances in the field. Over a long weekend, they could demonstrate to all and sundry which among the world religions had historically been proven true and which had been proven false. Religion in the real world seems >>to me<< to be a template laid over experience by a community of like-minded souls. Proof or refutation is a personal matter which determines whether I stay in this or that community or leave and search for a community more congenial to my personal bent. Membership in the community is both the result of my subjective experiences and a determiner of my personal process of becoming. I submit to that community as a trustworthy and benign influence on my personal spiritual evolution and on the collective evolution of the planet. Discussions such as the one on this thread often gradually slide into subtle contests for influence over the attitudes of other members of the community. That's O.K. Why would I post here if I did think that my ideas were worthy of the consideration of other community members, and that other members of the community would be open to my contributions? If in the end my ideas are rejected...oh well, unity in diversity and all that. In the end, I reiterate my belief that any of the three aforementioned suggested solutions are viable options for a Baha'i believer. To suggest that because I prove something to my own satisfaction means that I have proven it to the general satisfaction seems to me to participate in solipsism. But that is just how it seems to me. Peace, Gary __________________________________________________ You are subscribed to Baha'i Studies as: mailto:[email protected] Unsubscribe: send a blank email to mailto:[email protected] Subscribe: send subscribe bahai-st in the message body to [email protected] Or subscribe: http://list.jccc.edu:8080/read/all_forums/subscribe?name=bahai-st Baha'i Studies is available through the following: Mail - mailto:[email protected] Web - http://list.jccc.edu:8080/read/?forum=bahai-st News (on-campus only) - news://list.jccc.edu/bahai-st Old Public - http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected] New Public - http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]
