Meditations on "Who is Writing the Future": why is spiritual development a social as well as personal matter; what is epistemological methodology for this development; how is it distinct from materialism; and how does it relate to the Covenants?
published in Journal of Bahá'í Studies, 10:3-4, pages 57-73 Ottawa: Association for Bahá'í Studies, 2000
About: If the twentieth century was a “century of light” rather than of consummate horror, and if we are to contemplate the future as being written by anyone other than those with the most insatiable appetite for power, we desperately need to resolve four questions related to the essential premise of the document Who Is Writing the Future? First, if the individual is an essentially spiritual being, why did a wise Creator have us begin our eternal lives in a reality ostensibly contrary to spiritual development? Second, why must individual spiritual development necessarily be a social process and not a purely personal and private matter? Third, if our purpose in this stage of our existence is knowledge of reality, what is the epistemological methodology by which advancement can be attained? Finally, in what way is this methodology distinct from “materialistic” methodologies, and how is it related to the Greater and Lesser Covenants?