How the Baha'i Faith Unites all Religions

1. In the Divine Structure, the top tier is the raw power of God.

There is only one God. All religions worship the same God, Who, like a prism, projects light into our human world. We humans long to know God, but that is impossible, comprehension of the magnitude of God is impossible for our limited human capacity.

God sends down Manifestations as interlopers, guides, and role models to educate humankind and help us sort out our disordered and confused existence.

2. God sends Manifestations like Buddha, Jesus, and Muhammad to help humanity recognize God in a humanly relatable form, so humanity can progress.

The Manifestation, or perfect Soul, is like the sun, the source of shining rays that fall on humanity to absorb. Human souls are like the moon, reflecting those rays. The nature of Manifestations is mystical: they radiate power that can awaken nobility, creativity, unity, and love in humans. Their message has always been the importance of rising above earthly limitations, to attain a spiritual goal. The Manifestations urge humankind to find joy in acceptance of hardships, and promised life or death of the spirit will be the result.

The Manifestations of God possess a `divine universal mind', they know not only the essence of things, but also their attributes, and the will of God. When their teachings vary, it is about the time they exist in, not the message they seek to reveal to humanity.

`The Divine Manifestations are so many different mirrors, because they have a special individuality... It is clear that the reality of Christ is different from that of Moses.' Nevertheless `that which is reflected in the mirrors is the one sun',[14] therefore it is easy to understand how, though the Manifestations of God differ from each other in many respects, yet they are essentially one and the same.

`Abdu'l-Bahá states: `Every divine Manifestation is the very life of the world, and the skilled physician of each ailing soul. The world of man is sick, and that competent Physician knoweth the cure, arising as He doth with teachings, counsels and admonishments that are the remedy for every pain, the healing balm to every wound'.

Each of the Manifestations of God is a part of the process Bahá'u'lláh calls `the chain of successive Revelations' and the teachings they bring are progressive. Bahá'u'lláh writes: `Their Revelation may be likened unto the light of the moon that sheddeth its radiance upon the earth. Though every time it appeareth, it revealeth a fresh measure of its brightness, yet its inherent splendour can never diminish, nor can its light suffer extinction.'

3. The Holy Spirit is the power radiated by the Manifestations. If God is the sun, the Holy Spirit is the sun's rays, which we humans can feel directly.

The Holy Spirit can guide our speech, thoughts and actions, inspire our souls, and impart spiritual knowledge to us through divine love. The source of the Holy Spirit is the Manifestations, and the laws it abides by are the Divine teachings. The Holy Spirit is the key to accessing spiritual power in your life. All manifestations emit this power.

According to Abdu’l-Baha, the best source of knowledge is the Holy Spirit, which can only be accessed in times of quiet “nothingness.” Out of this nothingness can spring our inner motivation and creativity.

`The greatest power of the Holy Spirit exists in the Divine Manifestations of the Truth. Through the power of the Spirit the Heavenly Teaching has been brought into the world of humanity... everlasting life has come to the children of men... the Divine Glory has shone from East to West and... will the divine virtues of humanity become manifest.

4. How humans can become more spiritual and access the power availed to us by the Manifestations

When we can pray and study the holy texts in order to interact with the Manifestations, they will lift up our spiritual understanding and allow us to gain higher levels of unity. We can understand that faith and deeds are intertwined; our heart must be motivated by mystical yearning for a higher power. The essences of detachment (Manifestations) are channels of God’s grace. We can use their words as inspiration of for cleansing our spirit from the dross of ego.

Baha’i writings focus our attention on our own hearts as the source of deep knowledge. True knowing does not come from our minds, our obligations, our routines, or our fantasies – instead, it comes from our hearts. We can orient our life to the Manifestation to electrify our spiritual side and amplify the volume of the cries of our souls.

As each succeeding religion was revealed, it refreshed and renewed the happiness of humankind. However, as the centuries passed by, each religion waned and lost power.

These periods of the renewal of religion are like springtime, when the new spiritual era begins; to summertime, when the civilization ushered in by the Manifestation of God has attained its greatest flourishing; to autumn, when its fruits are gathered, but at the same time its decline begins; and to winter, when there is `the death and disappearance of the divine growth and extinction of the light and love of God', whereas only `dogmas and blind imitations' remain. At that time `... again the cycle begins and a new springtime appears'

Summary

All religions come from one God, which makes it easy for spiritual people of different faiths to worship in unity and find common ground. The Baha'i faith is the first to spell out the interconnectivity between religions and the unification opportunities they offer.