Bahá’í-The Coming of World Religion/Text

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BAH/X

The Coming of World Religion

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[Page 1]The Bahá’í Faith

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FROM CHAOS TO ORDER

in the ruin of its moral traditions and

standards as well as its physical cities and towns. The vital needs and rights of humanity are sacrificed to falsely defined claims of nation, race, class and sect. The spiritual energy required to assert the true claims of mankind cannot be generated by nor applied through institutions developed in previous eras for competitive aims. Political charters of peace, launched in the stormy deep of economic, cultural, racial and sectarian disagreement, document the dawn of hopes which they possess no sovereignty to realize. Society operates on the basis of a promissory note certified by nations pledged to create a world unity while fearful of disunity within their own realms. The confession of unreadiness and incapacity to achieve so overwhelming a task will mark the end of our long years of retreat from reality, our first steps forward on the world mission Which destiny has laid upon humanity in this age.

THE world today lies prostrate, engulfed

THE SOURCE OF ORDER

HE source of order in human affairs is

religion. Civil authorities, laws and statutes, economic arrangements, educational standards and philosophies of civilization alike derive their ultimate sanction from the truths revealed by the prophet of God from age to age. Pure religion as revealed inspires in men an active and responsible effort to attain a new and higher standard of Virtue. It endows the community with a societybuilding power, charging it with that sacred unity of spirit which genuine religion has always set forth as the goal of human evolu tion. The creation of a civilization blending and harmonizing the material and spiritual possibilities of the era supplies the individual With a life-purpose fulfilling his highest capacity. It likewise evokes from the community collective powers which the individual by himself can never attain: the development of justice and the enlargement of knowledge and understanding.

Whenever and wherever a social community strives to maintain peace within itself, apply to human relations a general standard of justice, and assist the individual members to realize their own inherent talents and gifts, we can recognize the outworking of the spirit of faith. When, on the contrary, a society divides into an increasing number of irreconcilable interests, restlessly casting up mutually hostile political parties, economic classes and denominational sects, we have evidence that the society has abandoned its connection with God. Falling back into the conditions of the animal world, human beings transform their creative powers into forces of destruction.

ONE HISTORIC PROCESS

HAOS overtakes society as one term in an Cinevitable process which raises the history of mankind above incident and chance and makes it the accurate mirror of a providential, a superhuman purpose gradually revealed. The rise of more extended and more humane civilizations in the successive epochs of known history has not resulted from racial causes but reflected the profounder impetus supplied by. the divine will conveyed through the prophet as rebirth, unity and guidance. Their faith, not their race, exalted

[Page 2]the Jewish people. Faith, not race nor empire, gathered together the Christian community from believers of diverse tribes, nations and classes. Faith, not intellect nor theology, acting through the peoples of Arabia gave them the mission of developing the prototype of the modern nation.

From age to age we discern the working of the same holy spirit in different materials and under different conditions, its symbol and manifestation the prophet, its historic evidence the quickening of the soul, the enlargement of Vision and the renewal of the society-building power which accompanies living, conscious faith. But religion is identified with a dispensation that has its beginning and its end. Faith fulfills a cycle and is not perpetuated through man—devised creed, ceremony and institution. The religious dispensation is indissolubly linked with the particular civilization to which it gave birth. When the civilization is made an end in itself, and not a means to achieve unity and justice, it is the physical and material form which men worship in their hearts, no longer the spirit of truth and the will of God. The society which develops inability to know and obey divine law is made subject to the pressures and necessities arising from its own confusion. N o dying civilization has ever restored its own heroic age; no dead religion has ever revived its own pure, God-given faith.

PEACE Is ORGANIC

HE prevailing chaos means that there is Tno peace less than the unity of all peoples in one world order and one world faith. Peace is the ancient assurance of God, the covenant He has renewed through every prophet. That assurance alone can strengthen us and guide us through a time of ruin and agony to the consummation of human destiny in this world.

THE Bahá’í FAITH

How clear and powerful is the message which Bahá’u’lláh has offered the soul of modern man: “The Vitality of men’s belief in God is dying out in every land; nothing short of His Wholesome medicine can ever restore it. The corrosion of ungodliness is eating into the Vitals of human society; what else but the Elixir of His potent Revelation can cleanse and revive it?” Again, asserting the moral responsibility of society He declares: “We have a fixed time for you, 0 peoples. If ye fail, at the appointed hour, to turn towards God, He, verily, will lay Violent hold on you, and will cause grievous afflictions to assail you from every direction.” That civilization is to be transformed He has made perfectly evident: “Soon will the present day Order be rolled up, and a new one spread out in its stead.” Bahá’u’lláh furthermore revealed the fact that the future society cannot separate religion and government: “That Which the .Lord hath ordained as the sovereign remedy and mightiest instrument for the healing of all the world is the union of all its peoples in one universal Cause, one common Faith. This can in no wise be achieved except through the power of a skilled, an all-powerful and inspired Physician.”

Through the darkness of materialism which enveloped the world, Bahá’u’lláh’s message, revealed from 1853 to 1892, penetrated with the light of a risen sun. Its power has revived faith, regenerated moral character, produced the world outlook and inscribed in the blood of martyrs the charter of the new age. His life, His mission and His teachings constitute the center of that slowly-evolving unity which rests upon the ultimate authority sustaining the world and man. Through Him the motivation, the idea and the social form of the new era have already been revealed.

Is not the object of every Revelation to eficct a transformation in the whole character of mankind, a transformation that shall manifest itself, both inwardly and outwardly, that shall affect both its inner life and external conditions? —Bahá’u’lláh

[Page 3]THE Bahá’í FAITH

RELIGION IS FULFILLED

is the unity of God. We live in a

creation which revolves around an omnipotent will and reflects one harmonious purpose. The variety of its kingdoms represents no duality nor conflict. The creative spirit manifests itself more fully in the ascent of physical kingdoms from mineral to animal; in man the faculty of intelligence becomes a supernatural endowment, marking the beginnings of that higher stage of evolution by which the soul can be guided in eternal realms. The function of religion is to disclose to man the successive stages of his evolution on earth, when, as new qualities and virtues are unfolded, higher types of society evolve to supply the environment for human feeling, thought and will which nature cannot produce. Every civilization represents one stage in an endless progression of consciousness; no stage is final, nor can religion be terminated in any one unique and supreme revelation.

The Bahá’í Faith has this distinctive mission: that its teachings and spirit make humanity conscious of its role in the divine plan, asserting the one harmonious purpose even in our historical experience of incessant conflict, and creating the mental and spiritual capacity for a world Civilization.

T HE underlying principle of existence

THE STRUGGLE FOR EXISTENCE DUE to the physical isolation of peoples

in former times, their psychic as well as social world became self—centered and selfcontained. Whatever divine and universal truth had originally been revealed, the urgency of the struggle for existence gradually'transformed it into a force for sustaining the communal union. Racial faiths all underwent a devaluation of aims until they could be made to stand as the central citadels

of competitive social traditions, to be defended along with physical lives and properties from destruction by any alien and unhallowed foe.

Even after the condition of territorial isolation had disappeared, the spiritual or psychic exclusiveness persisted as a fixed attitude. We find the attitude fostered down to the present day in the mutual rejection of Jews, Christians, Muslims and followers of other ancient religions. At this stage, religion contributes to the social community when the whole community is threatened but at other times employs its energies in developing its own professional institutions. The militarism of modern Europe had its first sanction in the wars of the crusades.

When the consciousness of a people has become firmly tribalized or nationalized, its own internal unity can only be sustained by pressure from outside. The moral basis of unity between citizens is destroyed when there is no basis of unity with other human beings. The whole area of individual and collective experience becomes dominated by the struggle for existence. The spiritual soul narrows down to psychic self—awareness. The community develops, in addition to its civil code and theological formula, quasi: laws, principles and truths claiming the sanction of science, economics or philosophy. Fatally divided individuals endeavor, With greater and greater difficulty, to survive in a divided society. Our modern pantheon contains many gods, to‘each of which a distinct segment of human life has been assigned. The unity of God the creator and its assurance of an omnipotence directing human affairs has been rejected for a diversity of half—truths and secondary powers regulating the different provinces of human existence.

[Page 4]GOD MANIFEST

HE prophet manifests God. The prophet Tasserts the unity of God against the diversity of error and superstition into which men fall When they worship and propitiate symbols of the struggle for existence. The coming of the prophet is divine intervention in human affairs. Through him is released the sole power Which can reverse the whole trend of social evolution and free the race from its servitude to the agencies of destruction. He stands between man and God. Man cannot attain to God except through His manifestation.

Bahá’u’lláh explains this mystery: “The

door of the knowledge of the Ancient Being hath ever been, and will continue for ever to be, closed in the face of men. No man’s understanding shall ever gain access unto His holy court. As a token of His mercy, He hath manifested unto men the Day—Stars of His divine guidance, the symbols of His divine unity, and hath ordained the knowledge of these sanctified Beings to be identical with knowledge of His own Self. Whoso hath recognized them hath recognized God.” “Whoso turneth away from them, hath turned away from God.” “Every one of them is the Way of God that connecteth this world With the realms above, and the Standard of His Truth unto every one in the kingdom of earth and heaven.”

In his unique station the prophet serves as the shepherd, the healer and the educator of mankind. His revelation constitutes the means by which the individual can discover his true self and his fu'll possibility, and provides the basis for the only sound program of social progress. From unity in God, all human blessings proceed.

THE UNITY OF GOD B UT there have been many prophets, differentiated as to name, person, era and

teaching. This differentiation has been taken to justify divisions of race, nation and creed.

THE Bahá’í FAITH

In the Bahá’í conception of the oneness of the prophets, and the progressive nature of divine revelation, the fuller implications of the unity of God have for the first time in history been disclosed. “Beware . . . lest ye be tempted to make any distinction between

. any of the Manifestations of His Cause,”

Bahá’n’lláh has written. “This indeed is the true meaning of Divine Unity.” The inner reality of the prophets is one. Each later prophet has revealed a fuller measure of truth, since the law of the universe is evolution and development, but all revelations are identical in source, in purpose and in spirit. Man’s own refusal to recognize the prophet in a different manifestation has been responsible for the religious strife Which creates perturbation in social affairs. This refusal is denial of God and cuts off men’s connection with the source of their own spiritual being.

“The ordinances of God have been sent down from the heaven of His most august Revelation. All must diligently observe them. Man’s supreme distinction, his real advancement, his final victory, have always depended, and will always continue to depend, upon them,” Bahá’u’lláh afiirms.

A WORLD RELIGION

HE outcome of progressive revelation is T world religion. Each prophet carries forward whatever elements of prior revelation are needed in the new era, but every dispensation is a unique creation. The coming of the prophet unites the people of faith but divides them from the unbelievers. He exercises his spiritual power directly upon the souls and consciences of men, unconditioned by the institutions, authorities and customs of the past. Bestowing upon his age a larger measure of truth, his revelation is new and to fulfill its purposes effects a complete reorganization of human relationships and institutions. The prophet abrogates the prior dispensation.

[Page 5]A world religion is that Which makes the world one spiritual entity, one realm of law and truth. It is religion offered to all peoples on terms of perfect equality before God. It is spiritual truth bringing into harmony every type of human relationship, so that the affairs of the nations can be determined by one universal standard, and the principle of cooperation substituted for the struggle for

THE Bahá’í FAITH

existence. Every past revelation has promised this outcome and consummation. Bahá’u’lláh has in our age manifested its actual appearance. Through Him the divine power has laid the unassailable foundation for the spiritual and social unity of mankind. Faith in Him opens the door to the forces of. justice and peace. “He hath endowed every soul with the capacity to recognize the signs of God.”

111 A NEW DISPENSATION

AY 23, 1844 marked the inauguraMtion of the Bahá’í era. It had been

set forth in sacred prophecy of ancient religions as the time destined to end the long night of expectation and open the dawn of fulfilment When new conditions would be created for the life of mankind: the purification of worship, the appearance of conscious knowledge, the separation of truth from superstition, the downfall of evil government, the unification of peoples, the establishment of the holy Law, the dominance of justice throughout the world.

But ancient symbols of faith and truth had lost their power to guide or warn the leaders of nations and the masses of people. Visions of divine judgment and salvation seemed no longer related to the actual life and movement of events in a rational world. Such traditions, far from recording assurance that God had revealed His method and purpose in dealing with human affairs, far from serving and safeguarding the policy of either church or state, were left to the disputations of minor theologians or viewed as interesting evidences of the culture of a bygone day.

Modern man in his substitution of science or statccraft for religion had turned away from the meditation upon the Word of God where truth is its own evidence of a divine power that prevails over the illusions of time. He had forgotten that cause and effect is the

connection between divine will and human action, and plunged into that abyss of unfaith where the only causes of human action and social event appear to be the policies and influences of men themselves. In that abyss by 1844- humanity had made those fatal decisions which later were to eventuate in the wars and class revolutions which today reveal at last the inevitable outcome of power without truth and policy without justice and compassion.

While the rational mind excluded providential influence, the mystical groups awaiting 1844 with reverent expectancy had for the most part defined the destined Event in terms limited by their own sectarian outlook. The fatal result was that the inspired Voice calling to all mankind was rejected save by comparatively few, and a century of worldwide affliction and desolation was required to make humanity realize how far it had strayed from the right path.

THE BAR

OD manifests Himself through a perfect G Being who appears on earth in the form of physical man. His laws are revealed in words uttered by human tongue or written by human hand. In the Manifestation the divine will has established its particular signs and evidences, and attributed superhuman powers not apparent to the physical

[Page 6]eye. The Manifestation is outwardly born as other men and like them dies and is buried beneath the earth. But His Mission is to produce the sacred scripture of a new era, relight the darkened candle of the human soul, reflect into the recesses of life the power of the Holy Spirit, call the world to a judgment, and evoke the virtues and capacities men need to do His will. The world’s wrath makes Him its physical Victim, as the noblest of men make themselves a sacrifice for the triumph of His Cause.

The mission laid upon Mirza ‘Ali-Muhammad, known as the Báb (meaning the “Gate”), was unique in the history of religion. He appeared in Persia, a backward people, a despotic state and a degraded and corrupt ecclesiasticism, a land scarcely known to the civilized world. His message was twofold: to call the world to God; and to herald the coming of Bahá’u’lláh. '

Outstanding teachings of the Báb were: the annulment of the dispensation of Islam; the’oneness of God and of religion; the accountability of kings, clergy and people to God; the spiritual nature of man; righteousness and worship of the one true God, not creed, the test of faith in this age; the greatness of the blessings offered to a sincere, a repentent mankind.

The Báb was scourged by the officials, immured in medieval fortresses, condemned

by the heads of Islam, and on July 9, 1850

executed by a military firing squad in Tabríz.

His words and His person evoked a devotion‘ only beheld when the prophet walks among men. During His brief ministry of siX years, thousands of followers were drawn to His Cause and the country thrown into turmoil. The Báb enjoined His believers to turn to the greater One who would be manifest; and the attitude of the Báb to that destined law—giver and world prophet was one of complete selflessness and humility. Most of the Báb’s followers were martyred,

THE Bahá’í FAITH

and His written message was in great measure destroyed by the powers of Islam.

Bahá’u’lláh THE martyrdom of the beloved Bab symbolized the first stage in the creation of world religion: the glory of the divine spirit

rejected by the civil and sectarian leaders of men.

Though Bahá’u’lláh did not proclaim His mission until 1863, the overwhelming consciousness of it descended upon Him in 1853 while confined in a Vile dungeon in the city of Tihran during an outbreak Of savage efforts to exterminate those identified With the Báb’s religion. From Tihran He was exiled with a band of fellow-believers to Baghdad; from thence sent under guard to Constantinople, having been turned over by the Persian authorities to the Sultan, Caliph of Islam; from Constantinople the small company were dispatched to Adrianople; and finally, as the supreme aflclictioni in 1868 committed to the political prison maintained by the Turkish regime in the ancient fortress of ‘Akká, Palestine. Bahá’u’lláh left this life at ‘Akká in 1892.

In Bahá’u’lláh the force of spiritual beauty and radiance denoting the prophets attained a degree of maj esty commensurate with the significance of the message He was sent to unfold. Like the Lord of the Vineyard, Bahá’u’lláh came to a world which had slain the messengers and stewards of the divine will. His revelation is that of the law-giver, the educator and father of an erring race. He signalizes the maturity of man, when responsibility for thought and action can no

longer be deferred. His name signifies the Glory of God.

The revelation of Bahá’u’lláh poured forth as a mighty stream of truth, in works Which preserve His authentic writings. He from His physical confinement addressed letters to the kings and religious leaders of

[Page 7]East and West, establishing the doctrines of faith and universal peace; He interpreted the essential meaning of the holy books of the past, demonstrating their unity of aim; He created the very holiness of prayer in passages which give the soul wings to raise itself to God; He illumined the path of true psychology; He established the nature of the Virtues and qualities men are to acquire in the new day; He conceived the world order which sets the goal of our social evolution.

“All men,” Bahá’u’lláh affirms, “have been created to carry forward an everadvancing civilization. The Almighty beareth Me witness: To act like the beasts of the field is unworthy of man. Those virtues that befit his dignity are forbearance, mercy, compassion and loving-kindness towards all the peoples and kindreds of the earth. Say: 0 friends! Drink your fill from this crystal stream that floweth through the heavenly grace of Him who is the Lord of Names. Let others partake of its waters in My name, that the leaders of men in every land may fully recognize the purpose for which the Eternal Truth hath been revealed, and the reason for which they themselves have been created.”

‘ABDU’L-BAHA

0 PRESERVE His Faith unimpaired by Tadmixture of false doctrine, and to create a new world-wide religious body demonstrating the power of His teachings, Bahá’u’lláh left to His followers a testament naming His oldest son ‘Abdu’l-Bahá the sole Interpreter of the Bahá’í doctrine, the EXemplar of the Bahá’í life, and the Center of His Covenant with mankind. This appointment delegated a degree of spiritual authority never before established by the founders of religion. It carried forward after the Manifestation an evolutionary force capable of preventing schism, while charged with energy for steady enlargement of the body of believers.

THE Bahá’í FAITH

Bahá’u’lláh likewise provided for the eventual establishment of elective institutions by the Bahá’í community, especially His House of Justice Which, when brought into being by an international Bahá’í election, will have power to enact such laws and regulations as are not revealed in His teachings in order to meet the changing conditions of a future time.

From 1892 to 1921, ‘Abdu’l-Bahá constituted the central figure and the source of inspiration for a community of believers spread throughout twelve countries by 1892 and thirty-two countries When His work had been completed. He served as their teacher and guide as well as their unifying influence. He trained them through the first and most difficult stages of their development as a world community. He assumed the weight of the agony and affliction through which the Bahá’í Faith had to pass in those crucial years.

His travel throughout America in 1912 gave ‘Abdu’l-Bahá association with 'leaders of education, religion, science and statesmanship, and enabled Him to familiarize many , audiences with the Bahá’í teachings and principles. He stood forth as the great world figure, conscious of humanity’s plight, offering the healing remedy, and expounding the true doctrines of faith and peace.

In His own testament, ‘Abdu’l-Bahá appointed Shoghi Effendi, Bahá’u’lláh’s greatgrandson, as first Guardian of the Faith, interpreter of the teachings and chairman of the House of Justice when formed. This testament defines the local, national and international Bahá’í institutions which have been termed “nucleus and pattern of the future world order.” The Bahá’í community has no professional clergy; it offers the seeker personal equality in a fellowship permitting no barriers of race, class or nation, and a source of spiritual regeneration related to the ethics of citizenship in a united world.

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IV ‘ABDU’L-BAHA

‘ BDU’L-BAHA, oldest son of Bahá’u’lláh, from 1892 to 1921 served as appointed Interpreter of His teachings and Exemplar of the perfect life expressive of the new age of spiritual

maturity, exalted above prejudice of race, class and creed. During

1912 ‘Abdu’l-Bahá promulgated the principles of world religion

throughout America, preparing this land for its future mission to lead

the nations on the path to universal peace.

[Page 9]THE Bahá’í FAITH

THE SPIRIT OF THE AGE

‘ BDU’L-BAHA spoke of the Bahá’í A Revelation as the “spirit of the age”,

an out—flowing universal power cast upon the minds and hearts like the rays of a supernal sun. In that light He knew the oneness of truth, and in His exposition of the message of Bahá’u’lláh ‘Abdu’l-Bahá did not separate the rays from their source in the sun, nor resolve what is universal into the small segments which fit the patterns of the prej udiced human intelligence.

Bahá’í PRINCIPLES

E DID, however, to His audiences in the HWest lay emphasis upon certain distinguishing principles of the Faith which identify it to the seeking soul. “The independent search after truth, unfettered by superstition or tradition; the oneness of the entire human race, the pivotal principle and fundamental doctrine of the Faith; the basic unity of all religions; the condemnation of all forms of prejudice, whether religious, racial, class or national; the harmony Which must exist between religion and science; the equality of men and women, the two wings on which the bird of humanity is able to soar; the introduction of compulsory education; the adoption of a universal auxiliary language; the abolition of the extremes of wealth and poverty; the institution of a world tribunal for the adjudication of disputes between nations; the exaltation of work, performed in the spirit of service, to the rank of worship; the glorification of justice as the ruling principle in human society, and of religion as a bulwark for the protection of all peoples and nations; and the establishment of a permanent and universal peace as the supreme goal of mankind—these stand out,” Shoghi Effendi has said, “as the essential elements of that divine policy which

He proclaimed to leaders of public thought as well as to the masses at large in the course of these missionary journeys.”

THE DOOR OF GRACE

0 WIDE has the door been opened for

those who have themselves been touched by the spirit of the age and wish to enter the very temple of love and truth. The operation of the principle of independent investigation is the stirring of life itself in the barren soul. Investigation Without independence attempts to make new truth serve an old, discredited purpose or to add more power to the scientific and material realm. The sign of spiritual independence is persistence in seeking until the Manifestation of God is found. The end of knowledge is the beginning of truth.

‘Abdu’l-Bahá repudiated the contention that the Bahá’í message merely repeats the teachings of ancient prophets, and that a new religion is not needed, just as He repudiated the conception of truth as philosophy emanating from the rational mind. The world today, He explained, suffers tribulation because it has incurred the penalty inseparable from disobedience to the divine. His conception of progress thus recognizes individual and social eXpiation until mankind is open to the descent of grace.

Finally, ‘Abdu’l-Bahá concerned Himself continuously with the development of the Bahá’í community and the maintenance of its unity and accord. The spirit of religion, He declared, needs a social body to transform sentiment into useful attitudes, and aspiration into mature justice. Apart from this unity He admitted no outcome for individual faith nor the collective policies of mankind.

“The powers of earth,” He said, “cannot Withstand the privileges and powers which God has ordained for this glorious century.”

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BAHA’I' HOUSE

HE BAHA’E TEMPLE constructed on

Lake Michigan at Wilmette, Illinois, stands as visible embodiment of the

unity inspired by the Faith of Bahá’u’lláh. Joined together in the achievement of their devoted task have been Bahá’ís from Christian, Jewish and Muhammadan origin, from white and colored races, from diverse nations, the rich and the poor, the scholar and the unlearned, striving to make possible a house of worship for all who revere the unity of God. The edifice is a nine-sided structure rising from a circular base surrounded by steps and

THE Bahá’í FAITH

OF WORSHIP

surmounted by a great dome. The entrances are buttressed by pylons, with smaller towers marking theintersections of the sides of the gallery level. From clercstory to top of dome spring ribs which meet at a height of 191 feet from the basement floor.

The building is of concrete and steel on which has been superimposed an ornamental shell of architectural concrete cast into intricate and delicate designs. The steps and ornamentation were completed in 194-2. Later the temple will be associated with accessory buildings serving humanitarian aims.

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THE Bahá’í FAITH

VI 1 THE BAHA’I’ COMMUNITY

HE dispensation of Bahá’u’lláh has I established a power which overcomes all differences submitted to the operation of its spirit and truth. The inveterate, age—old types of antagonism which in the past have inwardly corrupted and outwardly battered to ruin every hard-won civilization, today encounter the one force they cannot transform and exploit for their evil purpose. The prophets of old were slain, their word defiled. Bahá’u’lláh fulfilled His destiny; the opposition of Islam and its two absolutist kings, enthroning His spiritual authority at ‘Akká, actually carried out the prophecies of former scripture Which named ‘Akká as the seat of justice and power. Beyond Bahá’u’lláh the divisive forces of the world cannot go. Hurled against the power manifested in Him, they can but bring each other to a final and mutual collapse.

THE POWER OF UNITY

THE Bahá’í community stands as the Visible sign of the destined triumph of unity over conflict in this age. Into it have come as believers and coworkers persons drawn from every part of earth and from every group generated by unreconcilable differences. The Bahá’í community contains those who had been Christian, Muhammadan, Jew, Hindu and Confucian; who had been high church, low church and free thinker; who had been conditioned by the distinctive attitudes of more than seventyfive nations; who had been white and negro; who had been of the capitalistic and communistic classes. The reconciliation of these diverse individuals has been more than an impressive evidence of a new personal psychology; it has been a solution of the typical problems of policy and relationship all these

different groups have evolved in a world of continuous struggle.

The conditioned individual, immersed in the conditioned group, remains incapable of rational analysis of its particular philosophy, and devoid of human sympathy for any group claiming a different policy and idea. But the individual drawn from any conditioned group by the spiritual power of Bahá’u’lláh finds that he is no longer confined within the field of the inter—group conflict; he stands in a new and larger relationship to a central truth which is neutral to them all. He finds that the Faith of Bahá’u’lláh raises him to a higher level of understanding and a farther reach of sympathy. His definition of philosophy, creed or policy reveals itself in this new perspective as an arbitrary wall raised up like a fortification for oflence or defense. Such confinement, he realizes, concentrates power for struggle but excludes more truth than it encloses. In the Bahá’í community he leaves the grim fortress behind and takes up the creative task of freeing others from their servitude to prejudice. Every Bahá’í is assured that world unity can be attained.

By 1921, when ‘Abdu’l-Bahá had completed His mission, the Bahá’í community had been raised up in thirty—two countries. By 1944, the end of the first Bahá’í century, there were believers in seventy—eight countries and all the continents. This far-flung spiritual order has drawn its membership from thirty-one different races; it has translated and printed Bahá’í works in forty—one different languages. The Bahá’í community has become a world fellowship. Its unique mission will not be achieved until, perhaps in a later century, the oneness established by Bahá’u’lláh has gathered together the scattered peoples of the whole earth. “Ye

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dwell in one world,” wrote Bahá’u’lláh many years ago, “and have been created through the operation of one Will. Blessed is he who mingleth With all men in a spirit of utmost kindliness and love.”

ADMINISTRATIVE ORDER

NDER the direction of its first hereditary

Guardian, the Bahá’í community has not only increased its numbers and sent out pioneer teachers to many lands, it has likewise developed the institutions which transform a multitude of persons into an organic society. The basic social unit is the town or city, where the Bahá’ís annually elect a local Spiritual Assembly to direct their activities. The Bahá’ís of the nation elect a National Spiritual Assembly annually through delegates selected on the principle of proportionate representation. When a sufficient number of these national bodies exist, their members will elect the Bahá’í Universal House of Justice, “which must,” Shoghi Effendi has said, “in conjunction with me coordinate and direct the aflairs of the various Bahá’í communities in East and West in accordance with the principles enunciated by Bahá’u’lláh.”

At present there are seven N ational Spiritual Assemblies: the United States and Canada, Persia, ‘Iráq, India and Burma, Egypt and the Sudan, Australia and New Zealand, the British Isles. The national bodies constituted some years ago in Germany and in Southern Russia were disbanded by the civil authorities.

One hundred twenty-six local Spiritual Assemblies had been formed in the United States by 1944, and ten in Canada. Of these, thirty-eight had been legally incorporated under the statutes of their respective states and provinces. The incorporated Assemblies are applying for and receiving the power to conduct legal marriage of believers in accordance with the Bahá’í teachings.

The American Bahá’í community, while constructing its house of worship, has active THE Bahá’í FAITH

1y extended its teaching work to Central and South America, after laying the foundation of the Bahá’í communities of France, Germany, Australia, South Africa and other countries. ‘Abdu’l-Bahá made the American Bahá’ís His trustees in the consummation of His plan to promulgate the Cause.

A PATTERN FOR FUTURE SOCIETY

N HIS summation of the significance of the

Bahá’í administrative order the Guardian has declared: “He (Bahá’u’lláh) . . . has, unlike the Dispensations of the past, clearly and specifically laid down a set of Laws, established definite institutions, and provided for the essentials of a Divine Economy. These are destined to be a pattern for future society, a supreme instrument for the establishment of the Most Great Peace, and the one agency for the proclamation of the reign of righteousness and justice upon the earth.”

“Leaders of religion,” he wrote in 1930, “exponents of political theories, governors of human institutions, who at present are Witnessing with perplexity and dismay the bankruptcy of their ideas and the disintegration of their handiwork, would do well to turn their gaze to the Revelation of Bahá’u’lláh, and to meditate upon the World Order which, lying enshrined in His teachings, is slowly and imperceptibly risin g amid the welter and chaos of present-day civilization.”

BAHA’E WORKS

Suggested titles: Hidden Wordx—brief, gemlike passages of spiritual understanding; Gleam'ngx F ram the Writing; 0 f Bahá’u’lláh —the Guardian’s selection and translation of excerpts; Some Amwared Quextiom—‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s exposition of religious and philosophical subj ects; Promulgation of Universal Peace—‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s public addresses in America; World Order of Bahá’u’lláhShoghi Effendi’s work on the Faith in the current world scene; God Panes By—the Guardian’s survey of the Faith to 1944-.

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