One of the teachings of Bahá'u'lláh is the independent investigation of truth, meaning that we must not be imitators or blind followers. Instead of relying upon the opinion of any other person, we are enjoined to investigate independently and arrive at our own conclusion. A true Bahá'í does not accept any teaching merely because it is a tradition but rather he or she always must question dogma and doctrines until truth is ascertained.
The idea here is that truth must be based upon reality rather than opinion: "As reality is one and cannot admit of multiplicity, therefore different opinions must ultimately become fused into one" (Selections from the Writings of `Abdu'l-Bahá, p. 298). It was ignorance based upon blind imitation that has caused wars, hatred and animosity to prevail over humanity. The road to peace involves all persons approaching truth for themselves.
This means that no leaders, whether they be administrative institutions of the Faith, respected members of the learned, or the head of the Faith himself, have the power to tell us how to believe or how to behave. We are God's creation, with God-given minds and souls, and nobody has the authority over our conscience. In the Bahá'í religion, there is not to be a professional clergy. There is no need for a clergy because all of humanity is to be educated and all of humanity is responsible for ascertaining the truth independently.
In every religion corruption sets in, when the leadership seeks to control the membership with dogmas and doctrines designed to keep free thinking in check and to cause limits of discussion in certain areas. This is how clergy maintain power and control. The corrupt practices of the clergy in past religions must be resisted in the Bahá'í religion. "It seems both strange and pitiful that the Church and clergy should always, in every age, be the most bitter opponents of the very Truth they are continually admonishing their followers to be prepared to receive! They have become so violently attached to the form that the substance itself eludes them!" (Shoghi Effendi, letter of 7 February 1945 to an individual believer).
Investigation of truth and reality is fundamentally a spiritual and mystical endeavor. Although Bahá'ís far too often have immersed themselves in the details of administering their communities, the central focus of the Bahá'í religion is prayer and meditation. "For the core of religious faith is that mystical feeling which unites man with God. This state of spiritual communion can be brought about and maintained by means of meditation and prayer. And this is the reason why Bahá'u'lláh has so much stressed the importance of worship. It is not sufficient for a believer merely to accept and observe the teachings. He should, in addition, cultivate the sense of spirituality which he can acquire chiefly be means of prayer." (Letter written on behalf of Shoghi Effendi to an individual believer, 8 December 1935). In the Bahá'í religion, prayer and meditation are between the individual and God. Worship is not a public practice or the fruit of any administration.
Thus in matters of the apprehension and experience of truth, faith, and worship, the individual Bahá'í is not subject to the dictates of any other person or entity. This is a matter strictly between God and the individual believer. This is such a radical approach to religion that it appears most Bahá'ís have failed to live up to the individual responsibility imposed upon them. Instead of taking this matter of faith and investigation of truth seriously, too many Bahá'ís are content to let their leaders dictate to them every aspect of their lives, belief, and behavior.
But it is personal conscience and not the dictates of Bahá'í leadership that is most important:
The "conscience of man is sacred and to be respected; and that liberty thereof produces widening of ideas, amendment of morals, improvement of conduct, disclosure of the secrets of creation, and manifestation of the hidden verities of the contingent world" (`Abdu'l-Bahá, A Traveller's Narrative, p. 91) and "when freedom of conscience, liberty of thought and right of speech prevail -- that is to say, when every man according to his own idealization may give expression to his beliefs -- development and growth are inevitable (`Abdu'l-Bahá, The Promulgation of Universal Peace, p. 197).
Until now there has been this dichotomy between religion and spirituality. Religious people worshiped and thought as a group, while spiritual persons worshiped and thought freely and individual. In this Faith, each individual is to be free to worship and think for himself, yet the administrative order keeps them united in one common Faith. `Abdu'l-Bahá said of Bahá'ís who achieve this, that "... ye have investigated the truth and have been freed from imitations and superstitions, that ye observe with your own eyes and not with those of others, hearken with your own ears and not with the ears of others, and discover mysteries with the help of your own consciences and not with those of others. For the imitator saith that such a man hath seen, such a man hath heard, and such a conscience hath discovered; in other words he dependeth upon the sight, the hearing and the conscience of others and hath no will of his own" (Selections from the Writings of `Abdu'l-Bahá, p. 29).
How important it is for all Bahá'ís to study and understand this principle of the independent investigation of truth. It is the starting point for deepening the in the verities of the Faith. To not be an imitator is a spiritual duty and obligation of the first order.
