Terra in Cognita: Voyages and Discoveries on the Ocean of Knowledge

Humanity is experiencing a universal revolution in its life, thought and society. Poets and philosophers, artists and scientists, are all registering the stages of this vast process. William Barnes believes that this revolution is essentially a spiritual one: a result of humanity’s empowerment by the Revelation of Baha’u’llah, Founder of the Baha’i Faith Barnes sees new powers awakening within the human reality, and a new understanding of true humanity emerging. He analyzes this revolution at three levels. First, there is a revolution in religion toward a better understanding of its power to unify existing belief-systems around a common set of principles and to transform human life. Secondly, a revolution in human consciousness is occurring based upon the core principle of the oneness of humanity, enabling all people to see themselves as important members of a single human family. Finally, a transformation of society is sweeping the planet, building the structures of a global civilization. But there is also, as a consequence, a terrific amount of associated dissension, tumult and violence accompanying this universal ferment, as the fractious, established order gives way to the emerging universal Reality. Besides this vision of change, this book also answers some basic questions: What are some of the initial stages of that great transformation? What channels does that revolutionizing Spirit flow through? What are some its first social effects? Part One explores different facets of a new order of knowing based upon divine Revelation: faith becomes a true way of knowing; a disorder of knowledge and a reconfiguration of the human intelligence is occurring that will result in sciences of the spirit; that the human heart moves to the forefront as an organ of human intelligence, for the heart is the organ of intelligence directly connected with the divine. Part Two, The Revolt Against Materialism: A Sociology of the Spirit, discusses how the current materialistic human social order is being transformed into a divine one. It attempts to lay an intellectual foundation for a spiritual perspective in the science of sociology, using the emerging global Baha’i community as a model.

Humanity is experiencing a universal revolution in its life, thought and society. Poets and philosophers, artists and scientists, are all registering the stages of this vast process. William Barnes believes that this revolution is essentially a spiritual one: a result of humanity’s empowerment by the Revelation of Baha’u’llah, Founder of the Baha’i Faith Barnes sees new powers awakening within the human reality, and a new understanding of true humanity emerging. He analyzes this revolution at three levels. First, there is a revolution in religion toward a better understanding of its power to unify existing belief-systems around a common set of principles and to transform human life. Secondly, a revolution in human consciousness is occurring based upon the core principle of the oneness of humanity, enabling all people to see themselves as important members of a single human family. Finally, a transformation of society is sweeping the planet, building the structures of a global civilization. But there is also, as a consequence, a terrific amount of associated dissension, tumult and violence accompanying this universal ferment, as the fractious, established order gives way to the emerging universal Reality. Besides this vision of change, this book also answers some basic questions: What are some of the initial stages of that great transformation? What channels does that revolutionizing Spirit flow through? What are some its first social effects? Part One explores different facets of a new order of knowing based upon divine Revelation: faith becomes a true way of knowing; a disorder of knowledge and a reconfiguration of the human intelligence is occurring that will result in sciences of the spirit; that the human heart moves to the forefront as an organ of human intelligence, for the heart is the organ of intelligence directly connected with the divine. Part Two, The Revolt Against Materialism: A Sociology of the Spirit, discusses how the current materialistic human social order is being transformed into a divine one. It attempts to lay an intellectual foundation for a spiritual perspective in the science of sociology, using the emerging global Baha’i community as a model.