[California has] been a place of natural wonder -- when people talked about th redwoods back in the 19th century, they were always described as these Gothic cathedrals. There was something about the religion of nature that maneifested itself here as it did nowhere else. And then in the 20th century, it's just the culture of openness, of freedom, of invention, of the body, of youth, of great weather -- all of these things created what you might call it a pagan fantasy about the state and about the way people could transform their lives when they came here. So there is a kind of overt American religion of California, if you will, in the sense of its role as a symbolic place.
Of course, the other side of it is that the opposite is true: California becomes a dystopia. There is a Christopher Isherwood line: "California is a tragic land, like Jerusalem, like all promised lands." And the tragedy of California, or you might say the tragicomedy, is part of its teaching. It's part of the deeper core of its religion. The surface religion is endless summer. The core religion is about the insufficiency of endless summer, about engaging with restlessness, about what it means to be a modern person seeking religion, seeking spiritualism but not being able to tie into the [religious] traditions with a capital T.
In 1917 'Abdu'l-Bahá wrote of California in His Tablet to the Bahá'ís of the Western States. These were His words:
The blessed state of California bears the utmost similarity to the Holy Land, that is, the country of Palestine. The air is of the utmost temperance, the plain very spacious, and the fruits of Palestine are seen in that state in the utmost of freshness and delicacy. When 'Abdu'l-Bahá was traveling and journeying through those states, he found himself in Palestine, for from every standpoint there was aperfect likeness between this region and that state. Even the shores of the Pacific Ocean, in some instances, show perfect resemblance to the shores of the Holy Land -- even the flora of the Holy Land have grown on those shores -- the study of which had led to much speculation and wonder.
It is interesting to note that Davis, through his recent research into the spiritual experience in California seizes on two of the aspects 'Abdu'l-Bahá focused on in His Tablet to the Bahá'ís of the Western states; namely, the spiritual significance of the physical beauty of California, and the need for a deeper sense of spiritual reality among the people of the state. In addressing the latter point, it is worth pondering the steps to be taken to realize the beautiful vision expressed in the following words by 'Abdu'l-Bahá:Likewise, in the state of California and other Western states, wonderful scenes of the world of nature, which bewilder the minds of men, are manifest. Lofty mountains, deep canyons, great and majestic waterfalls, and giant trees are witnessed on all sides, while its soil is in the utmost fertility and richness. That blessed state is similar to the Holy Land and that region and that country like unto a delectable paradise, is in many ways identical with Palestine. Now just as there are natural resemblances, heavenly resemblances must also be acquired.
. . .and just as in the state of California and other Western States the marvelous scenes of the world of nature are evident and manifest, the great signs of the Kingdom of God may also be unveiled so that the body may correspond with the spirit, the outward world may become a symbol of the inward world, and the mirror of the earth may become the mirror of the Kingdom, reflecting the ideal virtues of heaven.
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