The Oneness of Mankind

‘Ponder at all times how you were created.’ It is interesting to ponder on this advice of Bahá’u’lláh when we know that our reality is spiritual and we have these physical bodies to lug around this earth for the duration of a few years until we shed this mortal frame and return to the ‘real’ world. What is even more amazing is to think of how it all works. We can skim the surface and take on board just enough to satisfy our existence or delve a little deeper and when we do, when the beliefs we have become an integral part of our being, we go around as believers with a conviction, a clarity, and an understanding of how things work which is very enlightening. It’s a bit like driving a car – its not necessary to understand the four-stroke combustion cycle in order to drive the car, but understanding how it works gives a different dimension to the act of driving. Even more so when it comes to living! When we understand a bit of how it all works, this gives us a conviction – a confidence at a very deep level of what we are doing.

Science and religion being hand in hand springs to mind when I read about quantum physics and this is one area where it really is hard to ‘prove’ there is no Creator. We are ‘noble beings created by God’, Each one of us are beautiful noble souls that have been created for a purpose, ‘a mine rich in gems of inestimable value’; every single human being is precious in the site of God. ‘Thou art My lamp and My light is in thee’; ‘I loved thy creation, hence I created thee. Wherefore, do thou love Me, that I may name thy name and fill thy soul with the spirit of life’. ‘With the hands of power I made thee and with the fingers of strength I created thee; and within thee have I placed the essence of My light’; this shows we are EXTREMELY precious.

Now this is not just confined to believers, but to every single person walking this earth. This is an amazing fact and one which when pondered upon gives a sense of awe and gratitude. When we meet people, we can have a genuine feeling of love and appreciation of that person and excitement to have met another soul who, in reality, is a beautiful soul created by God.

When it comes to exerting efforts in the path of God with this understanding, we really have something to offer others. Bahá’u’lláh states that we should not worry if ‘things contrary to our wishes have been ordained and manifested by God, for days of blissful joy, of heavenly delight are assuredly in store for you’: not that we would make these efforts for a personal reward but do it out of love of God and as a natural activity for which we are created. But he goes on to say that we are ‘destined by Him, in this world and hereafter, to partake of their benefits, to share in their joys and to obtain a portion of their sustaining grace. To each and every one of them you will, no doubt attain.’ Now you will notice it is in this life and the next we will attain these things. When we do a positive act of service to another in this life the ‘buzz’ or spiritual high we experience is a spiritual delight, a blissful joy.

Now, what is interesting is that science is catching up, which is a truly wonderful thing, as it proves the validity and gives reasons of global benefit to adopting spiritual practices in our lives and in our exertions. In the Tablet of Ah. mad, it says that ‘truth will be distinguished from error’ through Bahá’u’lláh and His proofs and utterances; this is the standard to which we all should turn.

Everything in creation serves God: the purpose in creation to this point in time is for us to promote the word of God; to share with others our beliefs our faith; to obey the institutions to embrace and support the local activities; to wholeheartedly get involved in our Bahá’í administration; to creatively come up with new ideas to share the message of Bahá’u’lláh. This, ultimately, is all that matters in our lives on this earthly plane. ‘Soon will your swiftly-passing days be over’ ‘Abdu’l-Bahá tells us ‘and the fame and riches, the comforts, the joys provided by this rubbish-heap, the world, will be gone without a trace. Summon ye, then, the people to God, and invite humanity to follow the example of the Company on high. Be ye loving fathers to the orphan, and a refuge to the helpless, and a treasury for the poor, and a cure for the ailing. Be ye the helpers of every victim of oppression, the patrons of the disadvantaged. Think ye at all times of rendering some service to every member of the human race. Pay ye no heed to aversion and rejection, to disdain, hostility, injustice: act ye in the opposite way. Be ye sincerely kind, not in appearance only. Let each one of God’s loved ones centre his attention on this: to be the Lord’s mercy to man; to be the Lord’s grace. Let him do some good to every person whose path he crosseth, and be of some benefit to him. Let him improve the character of each and all, and reorient the minds of men. In this way, the light of divine guidance will shine forth, and the blessings of God will cradle all mankind: for love is light, no matter in what abode it dwelleth; and hate is darkness, no matter where it may make its nest. O friends of God! That the hidden Mystery may stand revealed, and the secret essence of all things may be disclosed, strive ye to banish that darkness for ever and ever’

In quantum physics when you break down what matter actually is to a subatomic level, you can take it down to the level of energy which is what makes up an atom or waves of energy. These energies exchange with everything else at all times. Now if energy is the building blocks of all matter, the energy which makes our flesh is the same as that which makes up a tree or a house: it is all the same energy. Energy is constantly at flow, changing form all the time. This is a very simple explanation of a fairly complex thing.

At this level, we can assume it is one large pool of energy, a ‘soup’ or ‘ocean’ of energy which is always flowing. Now, this ocean has different concentrations at different points, like a warm spot in the ocean or a turbulent spot. The different spots represent various physical objects like your body or the tree. The warm spots in the ocean exchanges water molecules with the rest of the ocean, but the essence of that warm spot remains warm, and in the same way the turbulent spot remains turbulent, even though the molecules that composed them a moment ago are gone and replaced by others. The character of a region can remain the same even though the particles forming that region are always different.

This is how we look on a quantum level - one huge interconnected field of energy with local characteristics. We share the same energy with everything else.

Now, to illustrate this with a human effort, imagine there are two people in a room. They are both gloomy and sad. Their energy level is low. One tells a joke, the other one laughs. The one telling the joke causes the one who starts to laugh to raise his energy level and become vibrant. This makes the one telling the joke to laugh because there is a new joy in the air and they are sharing a joke. Person A causes a change in person B and it went back to cause a change in A. Now you have noticed how you feel good after you tell jokes to many people and they laugh, and how it feels greater than telling to one person only. And these people take your joke and they tell it on to other friends and family and so it goes on and spreads. The universe is a whole lot more complicated than that but in essence a shift in one part of that massive field of energy ripples on and causes shifts in the parts next to it and they cause shifts in the part next to that and that ripple goes on for ever. Your smile changes the composition of the entire universe!

Anything you do, any thought you have, ripples on forever and changes the composition of the whole universe, however small that change is.

Now here is something even more interesting. Because you are part of that universe, that ripple comes back to you and gives you back a dose of similar essence. You cause a change in the energy field around and in you, and it ripples, touching everything. And everything of course ripples back in reaction sending it back to you, all multiplied! It is similar to the way ripples form in expanding circles when you dip your finger in a glass of calm water. But these waves go on forever, and also bump into other energy localisations and cause changes in them and these react, so to speak, and send back their own waves, and these sent back waves hit you and change you and react, and this amazing dance goes on and on. That is how, scientifically, the law of cause and effect works, and works in a mulitplicative way. This happens on an energy level and on a spiritual level. In both cases, the betterment of one individual in the system causes a betterment of the whole system, and betterment in the whole system causes betterment in the individual.

The quantum physics point of view is based on a publication on quantum physics, cause and effect, by David Gikandi although paraphrased, this is the gist of the article, which illustrates that man is indeed one and interconnected.