Todd Smith

Many thinkers lament the decline of liberal democracy. Some argue that, to rejuvenate it, we must think big. Thinking big involves generating new ideas about how to achieve an unprecedented level of social transformation aimed at cultivating solidarity, empowering citizen efficacy, and promoting the common good. We propose that fundamental to such a transformation must be a radical change in how people speak to one another. To this end, the primary objective of this paper is to offer a framework for understanding how speech currently erodes democratic engagement. The central idea is that much of speech today both reflects and perpetuates a culture of wilful incommensurability. The core features of this culture are totalizing safetyism, expressive safetyism, dismissive intransigence, and polarized alienation, all of which have been worsened by the current trajectory of social media. The result is that people are increasingly prone to engage in degraded free speech, which is characterized by a pervasive aversion to reach out, identify points of unity, benefit from diverse perspectives, and discover truth in all its potential complexity. In view of this diagnosis and the response of those who advocate for freedom of speech, a second objective of this paper is to introduce the concept of attentive free speech. Attentive free speech has similarities with civil discourse but is specifically characterized by discernment and thoughtfulness and is imbued with key dispositions such as courage, reverence, and love. We end by inviting future research into how such speech can promote the social and spiritual health of the public sphere and freedom itself at a practical level.

What is entailed in accurately reading reality? The main thesis of this paper is that the learning mode of action, reflection, consultation, and study encourages investigators to attend to at least six “interplays” which, together, work to facilitate collaborative readings that are progressively attuned to reality. Owing to these interplays, this mode of learning in action helps to weed out disabling or harmful presuppositions and corresponding ideas, making it possible to discover and retain enabling or beneficial ones. By doing so, it resolves the longstanding problem of how to conceptualize objectivity and cultivate it in the search for truth.

The culture of learning Bahá’ís are developing is not simply concerned with the acquisition of existing knowledge. It is also concerned with the generation of new knowledge for the benefit of humanity. In this regard, the Bahá’í community seeks to be 'scientific in its method' (Shoghi Effendi, 1933). To explore what this means, we begin by examining the Bahá’í conception of science and religion as complementary systems of knowledge and practice. We draw on insights from the history, philosophy, and sociology of science to sketch what it means to adopt a learning mode that is scientific in its method. We examine, in turn, the origins of the Bahá’í community's culture of learning, key elements of the evolving conceptual framework that guides this learning, the institutional arrangements that support it, and the efforts Bahá’ís are making to foster universal participation--which extends beyond the boundaries of the Bahá’í community itself to include ever-increasing numbers of like-minded collaborators from all walks of life. We conclude with a brief discussion of how the Bahá’í community understands and actualizes the relationship between knowledge and power, and the role of criticism in this context.

This chapter explores the unique ability of Bahá’í consultation to promote understanding and progress. It begins by examining prevalent and historical modes of communication, including the use of consultation in the Islamic context. It then discusses the centrality of consultation to the Bahá’í community’s approach to learning in its endeavours to help foster the spiritual and material prosperity of humankind, as well as the significance of consultation as a mode of communication distinctly conducive to decision-making and the collective investigation of reality. The chapter also considers the individual dispositions and qualities that make consultation possible, and concludes with a discussion of how it facilitates the discovery of truth.

This chapter describes the significance of the Universal House of Justice for the development of the Bahá’í community as well as for the well-being of humanity as a whole. To understand the singular role of this global institution, the chapter first provides an overview of the Covenant that Bahá’u’lláh made with His followers and the essential place of the House of Justice within this Covenant. The chapter then discusses how the House of Justice was first established in 1963 and the manner in which it is regularly elected. Finally, it considers the unique station of the House of Justice as well as the powers and duties it exercises in guiding the Bahá’ís around the world in their efforts to apply the teachings of Bahá’u’lláh and promote the unity of humankind. Particular emphasis is placed on its mandate to preserve the sacred text, facilitate growth, and enact legislation. It is recommended that this chapter be read along with the chapter ‘The Writings of the Universal House of Justice’ (Smith), which offers further insights into the vast range of its guidance as it relates to advancing social, material, and spiritual development at the individual and collective levels.

The field of epistemology has been characterized by a perennial tension between two broadly contrasting approaches to knowledge-one associated with the search for foundational truth, the other associated with assertions regarding the relativity of truth. This paper resolves this tension within the framework of a consultative epistemology. This epistemological framework demonstrates and explores the relativity of the social construction of truth, and in so doing, resolves the paradoxical truth claim, associated with relativist approaches to knowledge, that there are no universally valid truths. The ultimate purpose of the paper is to articulate an epistemology that supports the development of more integrative approaches to knowledge.

In view of the many crises now facing humanity—such as the coronavirus pandemic, overt racial strife, environmental degradation, and political turmoil and extremism—this essay has two objectives. The first objective, addressed in Part One, is diagnostic. Specifically, it is to examine two macro habits of mind that are described as delusional because, while they may seem warranted, they in fact perpetuate defects of being, doing, and associating that, in turn, exacerbate the crises before us. These two habits of mind, namely, the habit of totalizing reality and the habit of fragmenting reality, manifest in various harmful ways, including in our compulsions to ideologize, to dichotomize, to reduce, to individualize, to hyper-consume, to dogmatize, and to otherize. The second objective, addressed in Part Two, is to propose how these delusional macro habits of mind and their associated compulsions can be overcome. It is argued that overcoming them entails embracing an inclusive historical consciousness, centered on the idea of humanity’s path to maturity, and developing the related capacities to think and act in accordance with a number of dynamic interplays, including the interplays between unity and diversity, the individual and the collective, and worship and service. Finally, it is maintained that learning to think and act in accordance with these interplays promotes what is called dynamic freedom—a condition in which the wealth of individual and collective potential is progressively realized for the benefit of all. It is hoped that this article will be of some assistance to readers’ efforts to contribute to the advancement of the discourses in which they are involved, by helping them correlate the teachings of the Bahá’í Faith with the ideas of thoughtful individuals from the larger community who are alert to the consequences of totalizing and fragmenting reality.

Fundamental to the growth, development, and unity of the Bahá’í Faith is its Administrative Order. This chapter begins with an overview of the Administrative Order followed by an outline of the various institutions of which it is comprised and some of their duties. It then considers the nature of the relationships among these institutions, the individual, and the community, and the approach to power and authority that distinguishes Bahá’í administration from other forms of governance. The chapter concludes with a discussion of some of the essential features of institutional functioning that make this approach to power and authority possible. These features include a unique electoral process, consultation as a mode of decision-making, the emphasis the institutions place on collaboration, and the disposition and qualities of those elected and appointed.

This paper proposes an approach to conceptualizing and contributing to the harmony of science and religion. In an effort to find points of unity that can serve as a basis upon which to advance the discourse on the subject, it begins by considering some of the legitimate concerns many thinkers have with religion and correlating them with the teachings of the Bahá’í Faith. With these correlations in mind, it then describes how it may be fruitful to think about both science and religion as viable sources of knowledge in their own right. Based on these descriptions, the balance of the paper focuses on three ways in which science and religion can be understood to complement each other: how they supplement each other, how they correspond to each other, and how they cultivate each other. Within this framework, a series of propositions are adduced for further inquiry.

The chapter considers how the Universal House of Justice, through its constant flow of writings, guides the Bahá’í world in a global learning process aimed at progressively translating the Revelation of Bahá’u’lláh into reality. Given its responsibility for addressing issues regarding the social, material, and spiritual advancement of humanity, the range of subjects it covers is vast. The aim of this chapter is simply to provide an introduction to the ocean of its guidance. It does so, first, by contextualizing its guidance within the Bahá’í concept of history and, second, by considering some of its writings concerning the development of the Bahá’í community, the promulgation and application of Bahá’í law, and the life and development of society more generally.

This dissertation constitutes a first step in the development of what I am calling the consultative approach to understanding health, illness and disease. It primary concern is to outline a rationale for, and delineate the theoretical tools to help think about, the relativity of the social construction of disease.