Question:
Why should we take the advice of so-called ‘religious
experts’?
Answer: The answer is subtle and
multi-dimensional. This question raises another: why should we take the
advice of any “expert” on any matter at all? Nothing obliges us,
especially in spiritual or religious matters. Ultimately, the only
arbitrator of advice in religion is one’s own conscience.
But if we happen to be seriously investigating spiritual truth, then we
should seek the advice of all those whom we deem able to enlighten any
answer, or to offer practical spiritual guidance, whether they be
called experts, gurus, spiritual masters, scholars, professors, saints
or what-not.
This statement must include those who are not schooled in religious
academies. The greatest insights have often come from those with little
or no formal education. When we consult only experts, we are
missing out on other important sources of knowledge. We have been
recently witnessing the rise of the “crowd-sourcing” phenomenon:
consulting the wisdom latent in larger numbers of
people.
I am somewhat sceptical myself about the label “religious
expert.” An expert is only as good as her advice.
Experts have often been proven wrong. They have never been promised
infallibility. I am personally uncomfortable with being called a
religious “expert.” I have shared my reluctance to use this
label with the other respondents of the Faith and Ethics page.
The reason is simple but sound. An expert is someone who has special
knowledge in a particular area. The word “expert” tends to privilege
the intellectual function of the human mind. But religious knowledge is
only one aspect of the religious phenomenon—arguably, not the most
important. The heart of religion lies with its moral or ethical core,
or “living the life.’ Who can claim to be an expert in living the life
of one’s chosen faith?
The Bahá’í Faith, although it does have its own administrative
structure, is the only world religion that functions without a clerical
caste. In an age that has witnessed the explosion of knowledge, and
virtually instant mass communication, the search for truth is the
prerogative and responsibility of every earnest spiritual seeker. The
search for truth can no longer be confined to
experts. -
Jack
McLean
