The Will of God and Natural Law

At the core of natural law is the impulse to live and the need for freedom in order to give that impulse expression. It requires freedom because without the freedom to move away from undesirable circumstances and move toward desirable ones the impulse to live is repressed and as this impulse is increasingly thwarted the creature loses its will to live which is inherently detrimental to its well-being.*

Life has no meaning or purpose divorced from a healthy impulse to live. For instance if a person were to feel that their particular existence wasn’t worth anything then naturally their instinct for self-preservation would be weakened. Thus, all the secular rights are oriented in service to that needful desire with the goal of fostering a worthwhile life.

This is why it is desirable that the secular law be in a condition so as to maximize individual liberty while at the same time fostering collective liberty. Secular laws which do not serve to protect life and also to foster a worthwhile life can have no real value.

In this we can see the wisdom of Blackstone’s statement that “No enactment of man can be considered law unless it conforms to the law of God.” This is confirmed by Lord Baha’u’llah in His statement that:

“The beginning of wisdom and knowledge – and the source thereof – is to confess and acknowledge that which God has made manifest, because through this, order has been firmly established and thus become a coat of armor for the preservation of the body politic. … Everything of which ye debate and discuss relative to order or rule has been derived from each word of the Word revealed by the mighty Voice of the Potent, the Impenetrable.” The Lawḥ-i-Ḥikmat (Baha’i Scriptures, #335, p. 199, modified translation)

Throughout history human law was derived from God’s Law because it was observed that the natural order of God’s Law nurtured life and protected humanity.

In that same Tablet, Lord Baha’u’llah explained several times that the natural order is the representation of the Will of God in nature:

“Nature, with the whole of its being, is nothing but the illustration of My Name, the Maker, the Creator …”

“Nature is the demonstration of the Will of God in the apparent world.”

“Should it be said that nature is the Divine Primal Will, manifested in the created world, no one has the right to object …”

He also revealed that Socrates** was aware of a “ … definite and pervasive nature which regulates the world and which in the natural order bears the same relation as does the spirit to the body of man.” (Baha’i Scriptures, #322, p. 196, modified translation)

This was a reference to statements such as:

“… observe that the primal nous within you directs your body according to its volition; likewise, certainly the Universal Intention*** regulates all things according to Its pleasure …” Socrates (as cited by Xenophon, Memorabilia, Book 1, Chapter 4, section 17)

The identity of this primal “nous” was clarified by Abdu’l-Baha, the son of Baha’u’llah:

“The first thing that emanated from God is that universal reality, which the ancient philosophers termed the ‘Primal Mind’, and which the people of Baha call the ‘Primal Will’.” Abdu’l-Baha (Baha’i World Faith, p. 316, modified translation)

The Primal Will isn’t finished with Creation as it is in any moment, rather this innovative Force of Creation is always advancing creation thru evolutionary and revolutionary**** forces toward goals of which humanity remains mostly unaware.

The Lord of Baha in His Kitab-i-Aqdas reveals:

كذلك يبيّن الله سبل الحقّ والهدى وانّها انتهت إلى سبيل واحد وهو هذا الصّراط المستقيم اشكروا الله بهذا الفضل العظيم احمدوا الله بهذه الموهبة الّتي احاطت السّموات والارضين اذكروا الله بهذه الرّحمة الّتي سبقت العالمين قل قد جعل الله مفتاح الكنز حبّي المكنون لو انتم تعرفون لولا المفتاح لكان مكنوناً في ازل الازال لو انتم توقنو ن قل هذا لمطلع الوحي ومشرق الاشراق الّذي به اشرقت الافاق لو انتم تعلمون انّ هذا لهو القضآء المثبت وبه ثبت كلّ قضآء محتوم

“Thus hath God expounded unto you the paths of truth and guidance which have eventually concluded in one path, and it is this which is the Right Path. Give thanks to God for this great bounty! Praise God for this gift which encompasses the heavens and earth! And commemorate the name of God for this mercy which preceded the worlds! Recite: ‘God hath made My hidden love as a key to the treasure.’ Would that ye might have recognition! If not for the key, the treasure would remain forever hidden. Would that ye might have certitude! Recite: ‘This is indeed the dayspring of revelation and the dawning place of effulgence by which the horizons became enlightened.’ Would that ye might have knowledge! This is verily that Proven Decree through which every obligatory decree has been confirmed.”

One of the reasons the people have not understood this is because they fail to distinguish between the pursuit of animate happiness and the pursuit of humane happiness.

Humane happiness isn’t the negation of animate happiness, it is a further evolution of that same impulse of life. It is a more inclusive happiness. While humane pursuits honor an appropriate level of restraint so that one’s freedom does not impinge upon the freedom of others, the unrestricted pursuit of animate happiness is connected with a desire for an illusory freedom. The pursuit of animate life tends toward selfishness. Humane pursuits tend toward altruism.

From this we can understand that “Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness” does not indicate merely the pursuit of animate life – survival and reproduction, nor even acquisition – but the pursuit of the humane life. Unalienable Rights includes those rights, or natural laws, which are intrinsic in humanity both in its animate and in its humane nature. Dishonoring those rights is destructive both to the animate nature of life itself and to the humane nature of a truly human life.

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* In the late 1960s electroshock experiments were conducted by a psychologist (Seligman) upon dogs, and later on, others conducted similar ones with mice. The point was to observe the creatures’ response if it was prevented from escaping a negative situation. What was found was that, as the experiment progressed the creatures became depressed and apathetic. Afterwards, having no hope for a positive outcome, the animals did not help themselves even when it was possible to do so. The psychologists labeled this condition “learned helplessness” but the holistic view is that their spirit was broken. Thus we observe that the intention of atheistic science is not necessarily to promote the well-being of living creatures as has been claimed.

** Socrates was found guilty of the thought crime of “not believing in the gods of the state” and sentenced to death.

*** φρόνησιν (phrónēsis): purpose, intention https://lsj.gr/wiki/%CF%86%CF%81%CF%8C%CE%BD%CE%B7%CF%83%CE%B9%CF%82 “… ὠγαθέ, ἔφη, κατάμαθε ὅτι καὶ ὁ σὸς νοῦς ἐνὼν τὸ σὸν σῶμα ὅπως βούλεται μεταχειρίζεται. οἴεσθαι οὖν χρὴ καὶ τὴν ἐν τῷ παντὶ φρόνησιν τὰ πάντα, ὅπως ἂν αὐτῇ ἡδὺ ᾖ …”

**** The universal constants upon which materialist science bases the security of its belief structure have been demonstrated to be lacking in constancy. Their prideful inconstancy is a house built on sand.