Baha’u’llah’s teachings link nature to divine creation and human responsibility

Baha’u’llah’s teachings link nature to divine creation and human responsibility

Commentary By Pete Haug | FāVS News

I write this as the 29th United Nations Climate Change Conference begins.

As a city boy at summer camp, I often sat alone in woodlands of the eastern deciduous forest. Sitting quietly, watching and listening, spoke to me. I felt, I intuited, something indescribable, yet palpable. I’d never heard of ecology, yet somehow I felt it. German scientist Ernst Haekel first used “ecology,” in 1866. It’s the study of interrelationships among organisms and their environments. Homo sapiens is only one of those organisms. 

Before and during the turn of the 20th century, naturalists like John Muir advocated preserving American wilderness, believing nature has intrinsic value. Henry David Thoreau put it succinctly: “In wildness is the preservation of the world.” Muir and others were part of the conservation movement that established our national forests and parks.

The embodiment of God’s name

The Baha’i Faith was also born during the last half of the 19th century. Its founder, Baha’u’llah, revered the sacredness of the natural world. His writings illuminate, complement and amplify observations of early scientists and naturalists. 

For example, Baha’u’llah wrote: 

“Nature in its essence is the embodiment of My Name, the Maker, the Creator. Its manifestations are diversified by varying causes, and in this diversity there are signs for men of discernment. Nature is God’s Will and is its expression in and through the contingent world. It is a dispensation of Providence ordained by the Ordainer, the All-Wise. Were anyone to affirm that it is the Will of God as manifested in the world of being, no one should question this assertion. It is endowed with a power whose reality men of learning fail to grasp. Indeed a man of insight can perceive naught therein save the effulgent splendor of Our Name, the Creator. Say: This is an existence which knoweth no decay, and Nature itself is lost in bewilderment before its revelations, its compelling evidences and its effulgent glory which have encompassed the universe.”

My own ecological journey

As an English major, I was attracted to 19th century naturalist thinking. In 1965 I began a graduate program toward a master’s degree in conservation education. That program turned first into a master’s in wildlife biology. It eventually led to a doctorate in systems ecology, a then-new field using computer models to simulate inner workings of ecosystems. This included studying how environmental disturbances impact ecosystems. 

So, I’ve been studying ecology professionally and informally for six decades. I’ve helped design, create, implement and teach methods for analyzing and monitoring environmental impacts. 

Changing climates have taken us well beyond ecosystems into and through biomes (regional climatic zones containing multiple ecosystems), and on to the entire planet, land and sea. Planet Earth is warming.

Or is it? Depends on who you ask.

Long before the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) was formed in 1988, scientists around the world had begun sharing their independent efforts to document global warming. With IPCC coordination, that number has burgeoned across many related scientific fields far beyond, but still relevant to, climate science. 

The single purpose is to document Earth’s alarming warming trends, ramifications of those trends, and their implications for humankind’s future. Estimates of speed, locations and similar details vary, but scientific consensus is clear: Earth is warming due to humans generating greenhouse gasses, and the pace of warming is accelerating.

Yet, last month The Cooldown reported on a study that identified 137 organizations that received nearly $6 billion in tax-deductible contributions between 2020 and 2022 to spread lies to the public: “Their goal is to run out the clock and keep extracting their profits.” 

The 32-page report, “Fossil Fuel Philanthropy,” is subtitled “How Taxpayer-Subsidized Charities Promote Climate Change Disinformation and Stall Urgent Action.” Exxon-Mobile knew about climate change a decade before the IPCC was formed, but denied it when questioned. A lot depends on who you ask.

‘Earth is but one country’

As Earth warms, our interdependence increases. How much more warfare — military, political, economic, any kind — will it take to bring us to our collective senses? All humanity, Homo sapiens, is a single species comprising infinite capacities, cultures and beauty. How can we marshal such potential to coexist in peaceful prosperity? 

While 19th century American naturalists and authors extolled wilderness, Baha’u’llah encapsulated humankind’s responsibilities toward that wilderness, toward Earth itself, and toward each other, responsibilities transcending race, religion, culture, nationality, politics — whatever drives us apart. 

Baha’u’llah offers direction, but humankind must implement it: “That one indeed is a man who, today, dedicateth himself to the service of the entire human race… Blessed and happy is he that ariseth to promote the best interests of the peoples and kindreds of the earth…It is not for him to pride himself who loveth his own country, but rather for him who loveth the whole world. The earth is but one country, and mankind its citizens.”

The views expressed in this opinion column are those of the author. They do not necessarily reflect the views of FāVS News. FāVS News values diverse perspectives and thoughtful analysis on matters of faith and spirituality.