The Baha’i world has been learning how to use an education program to raise capacity in individuals and populations to take charge of their own spiritual, social, and intellectual development and to build communities that understand the dynamic coherence of … Continue reading Pedagogy of the Empowered
Decades have come and gone and our busy lives, cluttered with diverse daily drives and enjoyments, have advanced in age, irreparable choices have been made, courses set, and moral decisions cast in the stone of opportunity cost. Billions have come … Continue reading Shadows of the Mind: Disorganized Activism, Conducive to Change?
Human nature has been misinterpreted. We are not selfish and competitive by nature, but rather, altruistic and cooperative. Human societies to some extent actually represent an anomaly in the competitive theory of the jungle. Humans demonstrate a detailed division of … Continue reading Economic Theory: Competition, the Key to Prosperity?
The statements of a language that seeks to be rational must also be internally consistent. Obviously, premises and claims cannot contradict each other, otherwise, truth could never be sought, and reality could never be adequately assessed. The importance of consistency … Continue reading Consistency
Earlier in this blog, there was a post on the concept of latency. This concept helps us further understand an approach to knowledge that transcends foundationalism and relativism. If one considers the biological development of any organism – embryo to … Continue reading Relative Latency
Knowledge is distinct from information. Facts are the raw materials of knowledge – just as brick and wood do not, in themselves, constitute the building itself but are shaped into a structure, so is knowledge a structured system. The system of … Continue reading Information, Understanding, Wisdom
Developing our latent capacities requires self-knowledge about our nature and purpose – both individually and collectively. Knowledge of self and of civilization cannot be separated, as each individual exits in a social context and influences their environment, while it is … Continue reading Truth and Beauty
Current society, quite understandably so, has a fear of imposed conformity in the name of unity. History has repeatedly given examples of oppressive systems under the disguise of unity – feudalism, castes, communism, fascism, theocracy, nationalism, and authoritarianism. This legitimate … Continue reading Fear of Uniformity
In the collective life of humankind, justice manifests as a compass in decision making, protecting resources from being diverted towards extraneous values, and protecting groups of people from the oppression of a vocal and seemingly-powerful minority. Justice cannot, then, be … Continue reading Approaches to Justice
Justice is the ruling principle of social organization, and the advancement of civilization depends upon its universal application. Conceptions of justice have been explored for centuries, and today, are highly numerous and variable. In our current crisis of civilization, confusion … Continue reading Justice in the Context of Oneness
That certain evolutionary processes are teleological in nature, meaning they are driven by an intrinsic purpose, brings up to the concept of latency. The characteristic of latent potential is common to all organic bodies – plants, the human body, and … Continue reading Latency
The next point regarding our perspective of history is that there is purpose in creation; in other words, evolution is understood as a teleological process. Characterizing evolutionary processes with this word – meaning that it is directed by an intrinsic … Continue reading History of the World, Part 3
Beyond emotions of levity, what does it mean in practicality to generate policy based on our conception of the entire human species as a unified organic whole? As some readers have pointed out, the analogy of the human body as … Continue reading Questions on Oneness
In the context of twofold transformation, then, human beings have a twofold purpose. We were created to develop our potentialities, and we are created to contribute to an ever-advancing civilization. In reality, these purposes are one. It is service to … Continue reading Purpose as Service
achieving coherence 