| One of the principles or tenets of Bahá'í social teaching. ‘Abdu'l-Bahá explained,'. . . know ye that God has created in man the power of reason, whereby man is enabled to investigate reality. God has not intended man to imitate blindly his fathers and ancestors. He has endowed him with mind, or the faculty of reasoning, by the exercise of which he is to investigate and discover the truth, and that which he finds real and true he must accept. He must not be an imitator or blind follower of any soul. He must not rely implicitly upon the opinion of any man without investigation; nay, each soul must seek intelligently and independently, arriving at a real conclusion and bound only by that reality. The greatest cause of bereavement and disheartening in the world of humanity is ignorance based upon blind imitation.'1 |
| Further, 'man must endeavour in all things to investigate the fundamental reality. If he does not independently investigate, he has failed to utilize the talent God has bestowed upon him.'2 |
| 'Abdu'I-Bahá explained that the concept of the independent investigation of truth refers to the investigation of the underlying unity of the fundamental, original teachings of all the religions of the past: 'Man must cut himself free from all prejudice and from the result of his own imagination, so that he may be able to search for truth unhindered. Truth is one in all religions . . . All the peoples have a fundamental belief in common. Being one, truth cannot be divided, and the differences that appear to exist among nations only result from their attachment to prejudice. If only men would search out truth, they would find themselves united.'3 |
| [BD 116] |
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