PROCESSING INFORMATION

There are well established criteria for processing information.

Sense perceptions

Intellect and reason

Human spirit, emotion and feeling

Inspiration

The senses are the most immediate instrument through which mankind keeps in touch physical reality. This attribute of physical sensing is shared by man and animals, and some animals it seems are more generously endowed than man.

The sense perceptions are the lowest human degree of understanding and sense perception taken alone is not reliable. It is well known how we can be deceived by optical illusion.

Intellect and Reason

Intellect is the instrument through which mankind can know abstract reality through words and symbols. Intellect is an important agent of knowledge because it allows us to transcend some of the limitations of sense perception. However, like sense perceptions, the intellect also has its limitations and can be misleading. For example scientific theories often prove to be false by subsequent studies and many great scientific scholars fail to agree on important issues.

Human Spirit

Emotion is how we feel and react to situations. Emotions are not independent of body and mind and they seem to have positive or negative values The natural emotions are blameworthy and are like rust which deprives the heart of the bounties of God. But sincerity, justice, humility, severance, and love ...... will purify the mirror and make it radiant with reflected rays from the Sun of Truth. Abdu'l-Baha: Promulgation of Universal Peace*, page 244)

'Abdu'l-Baha suggests that each one of these criteria is limited, and any one of them taken alone or out of balance can be misleading or misunderstood. For true understanding we are encouraged to test one against the other the senses verses the rational verses the emotional.

Inspiration

Inspiration is another, higher level of understanding and knowledge. Inspiration is a power unique in mankind, it directly discerns the reality of things, independent of perception and reason and emotion. Inspiration is described as the meditative faculties. However, inspiration used alone, like the others can also be misleading. The Baha'i writings express the need to remove the dust from the mirror of the soul in order that we may reflect

What happens when all avenues processing knowledge are harmoniously combined? To me, this is like unlocking the door. The whole world seems to change for the better. I find an interesting parallel between this process and when an artist completes a painting that really "works". Bingo! The bells ring and the cymbals clang, and we become "inspired"

Baha'u'llah describes the condition that is reached after earnest search for truth in a grand and poetic manner. the seeker will find himself endowed with a new eye, a new ear, a new heart, and a new mind. He will contemplate the manifest signs of the universe, and will penetrate the hidden mysteries of the soul. Gazing with the eye of God, he will perceive within every atom a door that leadeth him to the stations of absolute certitude. .... (Gleanings, page 267)

The key to this transformation? It is more than the harmonious processing of information and knowledge. It is more than intellectualising concepts and processes. It starts with detachment and finishes with prayer, meditation and service.

Robert Abrahams