The first principle of the Teaching of Bahá'u'lláh
is: The Search after Truth.
If a man would
succeed in his search after truth, he must, in the first
place, shut his eyes to all the traditional superstitions of
the past.
The Jews have
traditional superstitions, the Buddhists and the Zoroastrians
are not free from them, neither are the Christians! All
religions have gradually become bound by tradition and dogma.
All consider
themselves, respectively, the only guardians of the truth, and
that every other religion is composed of errors. They
themselves are right, all others are wrong! The Jews believe
that they are the only possessors of the truth and condemn all
other religions. The Christians affirm that their religion is
the only true one, that all others are false. Likewise the
Buddhists and Muhammadans; all limit themselves. If all
condemn one another, where shall we search for truth? All
contradicting one another, all cannot be true. If each believe
his particular religion to be the only true one, he blinds his
eyes to the truth in the others. If, for instance, a Jew is
bound by the external practice of the religion of Israel, he
does not permit himself to perceive that truth can exist in
any other religion; it must be all contained in his own!
We should,
therefore, detach ourselves from the external forms and
practices of religion. We must realize that these forms and
practices, however beautiful, are but garments clothing the
warm heart and the living limbs of Divine truth. We must
abandon the prejudices of tradition if we would succeed in
finding the truth at the core of all religions. If a
Zoroastrian believes that the Sun is God, how can he be united
to other religions? While idolaters believe in their various
idols, how can they understand the oneness of God?
It is, therefore,
clear that in order to make any progress in the search after
truth we must relinquish superstition. If all seekers would
follow this principle they would obtain a clear vision of the
truth.
If five people
meet together to seek for truth, they must begin by cutting
themselves free from all their own special conditions and
renouncing all preconceived ideas. In order to find truth we
must give up our prejudices, our own small trivial notions; an
open receptive mind is essential. If our chalice is full of
self, there is no room in it for the water of life. The fact
that we imagine ourselves to be right and everybody else wrong
is the greatest of all obstacles in the path towards unity,
and unity is necessary if we would reach truth, for truth is
one.
Therefore it is
imperative that we should renounce our own particular
prejudices and superstitions if we earnestly desire to seek
the truth. Unless we make a distinction in our minds between
dogma, superstition and prejudice on the one hand, and truth
on the other, we cannot succeed. When we are in earnest in our
search for anything we look for it everywhere. This principle
we must carry out in our search for truth.
Science must be
accepted. No one truth can contradict another truth. Light is
good in whatsoever lamp it is burning! A rose is beautiful in
whatsoever garden it may bloom! A star has the same radiance
if it shines from the East or from the West. Be free from
prejudice, so will you love the Sun of Truth from whatsoever
point in the horizon it may arise! You will realize that if
the Divine light of truth shone in Jesus Christ it also shone
in Moses and in Buddha. The earnest seeker will arrive at this
truth. This is what is meant by the `Search after Truth'.
It means, also,
that we must be willing to clear away all that we have
previously learned, all that would clog our steps on the way
to truth; we must not shrink if necessary from beginning our
education all over again. We must not allow our love for any
one religion or any one personality to so blind our eyes that
we become fettered by superstition! When we are freed from all
these bonds, seeking with liberated minds, then shall we be
able to arrive at our goal.
`Seek the truth,
the truth shall make you free.' So shall we see the truth in
all religions, for truth is in all and truth is one!
-`Abdu'l-Bahá
