Posted by Stuart Gilman (67.68.80.250) on December 19, 2002 at 17:39:14:

In Reply to: Re: Self-Defense and Baha'i Morality posted by simon on December 19, 2002 at 11:43:03:

Truly appreciate your comments and distinctions.
When you have lived with a woman/wife for nearly
thirty years there is a commonality or sharing
of consciousness, or identity. In some case,
two people mesh to an extent that is exceptional;
sometimes it is less so, but it is always there.

To make a Bahai decision that excludes self when
one has been married for a long while is difficult.
If my wife is the person most offended by someone,
it is difficult if not impossible for me to know
if my own negative feelings and thoughts are truly
autonomous.

Making Bahai decisions, or making choices that I
think are within a true and fair Bahai framework
as opposed to a personal and ethical framework, raises
the question. It does not answer it. It is like
asking what would God do? What would Baha'u'llah do?
And we cannot know, except when we read a specific
text of interdiction. Even here, though, we have a
problem, because all great religious leaders utter
edicts and morals contextually. So we can find in
one place, "If your enemy gives you poison, give him
honey" .. and in another, "if your neighbour burns down
your house, burn him to death" (paraphrases, Kitab-i-Aqdas".

Thanks again.

seg

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