The individual
should, prior to engaging in the study of any subject, ask himself what its
uses are and what fruit and result will derive from it. If it is a useful
branch of knowledge, that is, if society will gain important benefits from it,
then he should certainly pursue it with all his heart. If not, if it consists
in empty, profitless debates and in a vain concatenation of imaginings that
lead to no result except acrimony, why devote one’s life to such useless
hairsplittings and disputes.
- ‘Abdu’l-Baha (‘The Secret of Divine
Civilization’)
