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Bahá’í News

March 1980

Bahá’í Year 136

A luncheon in New York honors Year of the Child

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Contents

UN luncheon
Bahá’í International Community hosts IYC-related event	2
The violence-free society
Text of remarks by Dr. Hossain Danesh at the UN luncheon	4
Traveling and teaching
Photographic record of teaching trip that spanned the world	8
Meditation
Counsellor Peter Khan discusses a Bahá’í approach to it	10
Around the world
News from Bahá’í communities in every corner of the globe	12

Correction

In the January 1980 issue of Bahá’í News, the contents page includes the statement that Enoch Olinga was appointed a Hand of the Cause of God by the Guardian in October 1957, “the first and only member of his race ever to achieve that distinction.” The statement is incorrect, as Louis G. Gregory of the United States also was a Hand of the Cause of God. It should have read, “the first and only indigenous African ever to achieve that distinction.”

Change of address should be reported directly to Office of Membership and Records, Bahá’í National Center, 112 Linden Avenue, Wilmette, IL 60091, U.S.A. Please attach mailing label. Subscription rates: one year, U.S. $8; two years, U.S. $15. Second class postage paid at Wilmette, IL 60091. Copyright © 1980, National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of the United States. World Rights Reserved. Printed in the U.S.A.

Bahá’í News is published monthly for circulation among Bahá’ís only by the National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of the United States, as a news organ reporting current activities of the Bahá’í world community. Manuscripts submitted should be typewritten and double spaced throughout; any footnotes should appear at the end. The contributor should keep a carbon copy. Send materials to: Bahá’í News Editorial Office, 112 Linden Avenue, Wilmette, IL 60091, U.S.A.

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A luncheon at the UN

Dr. Victor de Araujo (right), representative of the Bahá’í International Community to the United Nations, welcomes guests to a luncheon in New York City last November 27. The meeting was sponsored by the Bahá’í International Community as a part of its commemoration of the International Year of the Child. Seated (left to right) are keynote speaker Dr. Hossain B. Danesh, chairman of the National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of Canada; Dr. William Burnham, United Nations Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice Branch; Edward Marks, associate director, IYC Secretariat; and Dr. Wilma Brady, representative to the United Nations of the National Spiritual Assembly of the United States. Dr. Brady and her alternate representative, Mrs. Nancy Mondschein, cooperated in the organization of this Bahá’í International Community program.

One hundred guests including representatives of 17 government missions to the United Nations attended a luncheon last November 27 hosted by the Bahá’í International Community at 77 United Nations Plaza, New York, as a part of the worldwide Bahá’í cooperation during the International Year of the Child.

Also present at the gathering, whose theme was “The Violence-Free Society: A Gift for Our Children,” were members of the UN Secretariat and representatives of non-governmental organizations (NGO’s) at the UN.

They heard talks by three speakers: Edward Marks, associate director of the IYC Secretariat; Dr. William Burnham of the UN’s Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice Branch; and Dr. Hossain B. Danesh, an assistant professor of psychiatry at the University of Ottawa and chairman of the National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of Canada.

The luncheon theme is also the title of a monograph written by Dr. Danesh and published in observance of IYC by the Canadian Association for Studies on the Bahá’í Faith. Copies of the monograph were distributed to the guests.

To eliminate violence in the future, said Dr. Danesh, the present generation of children must be taught to understand the organic unity of the human race.

“They have to be educated that they are a part and parcel of this universe, of this humanity,” he said, “... that if one of them is going to be ill, diseased, suffering, the whole of the organism of mankind is going to suffer.”

In addition, he said, the child must be educated and encouraged to grow and develop from a state of self-centeredness to a state of love and awareness for others, until finally he becomes “... a human being who is concerned about others, directed by the needs of others, less and less preoccupied with his own wants and needs, and more and more willing to sacrifice his comfort and needs ... for the sake of others.”

Dr. Danesh emphasized the need to educate our children to

[Page 3] ‘The distinct contribution made by Bahá’í communities ... is in the area of moral and spiritual education, based on the Teachings of Bahá’u’lláh ...’

be “cooperative, not competitive,” saying, “We live in a very unusual time. It is an unusual time because it considers things that are abnormal to be normal. Human beings are not by nature competitive, nor is competitiveness necessarily a virtue. It is imperative,” he continued, “for the world community and for the educators of mankind to bring to the attention of mankind that the law of growth in the normal development of human beings eventually requires cooperation, and that cooperation, not competition, is the most desirable outcome of human growth.”

About power as the basis for society, he said, “It is very important to realize that power that has traditionally been used in human relationships as the source of security is proving to be totally ineffective.” The elimination of this need for power, he asserted, can only come about through the development of trust between people. “Of course,” he pointed out, “the foundation of trust is love between human beings.” The change from a power orientation to a love orientation, he feels, is one of the greatest challenges facing humanity.

In conclusion, said Dr. Danesh, “To create a violence-free society, we must educate our children according to those principles that are in harmony with the laws of life.”

Mr. Marks briefly reviewed developments during the International Year of the Child, and expressed the hope that the impetus generated by 166 National Commissions would be maintained in the years ahead.

He emphasized the key role played in IYC by non-governmental organizations at the UN, and paid special tribute to the Bahá’í International Community and its member affiliates—those National Spiritual Assemblies that organized special programs and produced special materials for IYC.

Mr. Marks closed with these words: “The present generation of adults may well prove incapable of coping with the changes and problems that beset our troubled times. It will take a new generation, a healthy and open one, to evolve the patterns of life, the values, the relationships and the institutions suitable for managing the world’s problems and mastering the tides of change. It is our responsibility to bring forth a healthy and creative new generation, by lengthening our time frames and adjusting our priorities and putting children directly in the center of our plans and policies of development. This is the true significance of the International Year of the Child, in the context of past history and the future evolution of humanity.”

Dr. Burnham offered some interesting and stimulating insights into the subject of violent behavior, the progress that is being made in crime prevention, and the problems confronting the criminal justice system.

He previewed the forthcoming Sixth United Nations Congress on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice, to be held next August in Caracas, Venezuela, on the theme, “Crime Prevention and the Quality of Life.”

Regarding the Bahá’í role in the future with respect to children, Dr. Victor de Araujo, chairman of the meeting and the Bahá’í International Community’s representative to the United Nations, said: “Since the well-being of children—their education and whole development—is a fundamental concern of the Bahá’í world community, Bahá’ís everywhere have had no hesitation in supporting wholeheartedly the aims of the International Year of the Child, which emphasize the physical, emotional and mental needs of children. The distinct contribution made by Bahá’í communities, however, is in the area of moral and spiritual education, based on the Teachings of Bahá’u’lláh, and it is for this reason that Bahá’í communities will continue to make an important contribution to the future well-being of all the children of this planet.”

Comments after the meeting and during succeeding days suggested that the occasion had provided new knowledge and encouragement to those who are working to remedy the conditions that prevent the well-being of millions of children around the world.

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Toward a violence-free society

‘Children ... must be educated to understand that they are a part and parcel of this universe,
of this humanity, of all people everywhere’

The text of remarks by Dr. Hossain B. Danesh, assistant professor of psychiatry at the University of Ottawa and chairman of the National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of Canada, at a luncheon in New York City last November 27 hosted by the Bahá’í International Community as a part of the Bahá’í observance of the International Year of the Child.

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I am delighted to be here. Some promises have been made to you as to what I am going to talk about, and I must tell you I am not going to talk about a number of issues that were brought up, mainly because I have discussed them at some length in a publication (“The Violence-Free Society”) which I understand you are going to receive as you leave, so I will spare you that.

The Year of the Child has been an interesting year for me because I began to realize that in dealing with children, we are constantly preoccupied with two issues. One is the immediate now, and the other one is the future. Any time that we deal with our children, we have to respond to their needs on the spot, whether it be that they are hungry or they are pained or they want to be cuddled or they have been upset or they are happy and they want to share something with you. It doesn’t matter what, if a child needs something, you have to give it to him right on the spot, and you can’t say, “Wait a minute,” and go away and come back 10 years later.

Children, by their very nature, cannot be asked to wait and wait and wait. And as parents, or brothers and sisters, we know this very well. That is probably one of the reasons that the agencies in the world that have been dealing with the children, and continue to deal with them, have been and continue to be preoccupied with the immediate needs of the children: What can we do with the millions of hungry children, with the sick children, with the children who don’t have the opportunity for a better life and a better situation right now—and that’s a legitimate and marvelous concern.

But as you know, there are other aspects of our preoccupation with children; namely, their future is always with us too. At no time can we forget about the future of our children. Now, the greatest tool we have with respect to shaping the future of our children is education, and we talk about education a lot. But if we think about education for a moment, we can see that it has several dimensions, and that one of the most important characteristics of education is that always you see the results of it sometime in the future.

[Page 5] ‘Because we live in societies that consider competition to be a virtue and absolutely necessary for human growth, children are competitive.’

For example, many people have said that the ’70’s is the decade of need, of narcissism, of “me-ism,” of I-being-the-center-of-the-world and its most important person, or I-being-preoccupied-with-myself or whatever it is, and we realize now that suddenly we are dealing with a generation of people who are highly self-centered. But these people have become self-centered because of the kind of education they received some 10 years ago, 15 years ago, two years ago, and so on. So we see that education has that quality that unless you are willing to look at it across the dimension of time, you are going to lose the insight and the over-all awareness of the picture of what it is you want to do.

Basically, there are three kinds of education; that is, we educate our children in three basic ways. One is education for their physical well-being. We try to educate our children to remain healthy in all ways and means, etc. Their physical education is safe, and I don’t think there is any argument about that, although in the world we are living in now, the physical well-being of children is by no means safeguarded, and millions of children are dying, hungry, diseased, and so forth, but we don’t have an argument that it really is a good thing to have healthy children.

The second kind of education is that education we give our children so that they will acquire those qualities that can be defined as “human” qualities. We want to educate our children so that they can think; so that they can work productively; so that they can have the capacity to govern, to organize, to create what we know as civilization and everything we have around us. This is the education to which we give the most attention. We become extremely upset and unhappy if our children don’t do well in this area.

There is a third kind of education. And it is this education that is usually missing. It is the education by which we create in children, or develop in children, an awareness of their reality as human beings—different from animals, noble in their characters; not only people who are ethical, but people who are noble. There is a difference between a noble being and merely an ethical being. An ethical being—the ethical person—need not necessarily be aware of his nobility and that of other people.

Now, this component of education has two facets that I would like to share with you very briefly. The first of these is related to a law of life; namely, that any human being who is alive is governed always by the law of unity. Think of yourself sitting here. The reason you are alive and sitting here is because there is total and complete harmony among all the organs of your body. Your heart, your mind, your kidneys and every other organ are in a total state of unity. If for one moment any of these organs should decide, “I am not any longer going to pump the blood,” or “I am not going to send the nerve impulses that the brain sends through the system,” or whatever, then as soon as that happens, that organism is diseased, and most probably will die.

What people need to live, and what children need to be free of violence, is to be educated about the organic unity of the human race. They must be educated to understand that they are a part and parcel of this universe, of this humanity, of all people everywhere; that if one of them is

[Page 6] going to be ill, is going to be diseased, is going to be suffering, the whole of the organism of mankind is going to suffer. That kind of awareness is necessary for the children of mankind.

We need to educate our children along those lines. As you see, this is something to which almost everyone will say, “Yes, I agree.” This is not an issue that necessarily belongs to any race or any group of people. If children learn from earliest childhood this kind of perspective, if they have this kind of upbringing, then the possibility of violence through another part of the organism would decrease to a significant extent.

Remember, I am talking about the laws of life. One of these laws of life is this organic unity. Without it, the organism doesn’t continue to live.

A second law of life has to do with growth. No organism that is alive will stop growing. What does that mean in the sense of a human being to mature and grow? How do human beings mature? What is it we must do to help our children grow? Do we need to educate our children to grow physically? Yes, we do, but their bodies grow anyway. Do we need to educate our children about their accumulation of facts and knowledge and their ability to do things? Yes, we do. Likewise, this is something that comes easily and without much difficulty.

The area in which I feel there are shortcomings, the world over, as far as growth is concerned, and which has become the cause of much violence, and which I have described to you in that pamphlet that I promised you, is that the basic principles of growth are not taken in mind. I would like to share with you briefly what I mean.

A human child, when it enters this world, is self-centered. The child does not differentiate between himself and his universe. As far as he is concerned, he is the universe. Gradually, however, the child becomes less and less self-centered, less preoccupied with himself, more aware that there are other people not unlike himself. This process of growth is to be encouraged, because what needs to occur under normal circumstances is that the self-centered child must eventually become aware of other people, must fall in love with other people, must bring that love to fruition in friendship and marriage, and has to extend that love into the form of bringing other children into the world. Eventually, he must become the sort of human being who is concerned about others, who is universal in his thinking. What has happened is that he has moved from the point of being a totally self-centered being to becoming a human being who is concerned about others, directed by the needs of others, who is less and less preoccupied with his own wants and needs, and more and more willing to sacrifice his comfort and his needs for the sake of others.

Not only is this praiseworthy, it also is a lot of fun. What happens to you in this process is that you have moved from a place of self-centeredness to the point of being a universal human being. If you have done it, there is no reason why the mass of humanity could not do it. If it has been possible within this group, there is no excuse to have a generation of mankind in some part of the world that is totally narcissistic and self-centered.

The problem, of course, is the type of education that these children have received, the type of education that did not prepare them to move from self-centeredness toward others who need assistance. But this is one law of growth that is absolutely necessary, and it is not difficult to use our media, our publications, or whatever it is we have in our educational system to educate our children toward that kind of movement.

The second issue related to this is the growth or development from competition to cooperation. We live in a most unusual time. It is an unusual time because it considers things that are abnormal to be normal. And one of the things that is abnormal is that human beings are not by nature competitive, nor is competitiveness necessarily a virtue. Because we live in societies that consider competition to be a virtue and absolutely necessary for human growth, children are competitive. They are competitive because they compare themselves to others who are older than they, who are stronger, more powerful, and in the process, these children learn to be competitive early in life.

It is imperative for the world community and for the educators of mankind to bring to the attention of society that the law of growth in the normal development of human beings eventually requires cooperation, and that cooperation, not competition, is the most desirable outcome of human growth.

I would like for you to think for a moment about these few things I have said; mainly, that we need to educate our children not only about their physical selves, and about their humanity in the sense I have defined and described it, but also, we need to educate our children in those principles that, basically and fundamentally, are the universal spiritual principles.

Mankind as a whole is one unit, one organic unit in which the pleasure of one is the pleasure of all, the health of one is the health of all, and the illness of one is the illness of all. This needs to be a part and parcel of the world’s educational system.

The second thing is that man by nature is growing and maturing, and this growth takes place in individual human beings; it also takes place in the nations of the world. This growth is from the level of self-centeredness to the level of being concerned about others, and from the level of competition to cooperation.

Third, there is growth from the level of using power as the main force in human relationships, replacing that with its opposite. What does it mean to say we live in a power-oriented world? Simply that we live in a world that considers power to be the source of security. The peoples of the world, the nations and families, all think that the more powerful they are, the more secure they are, while in reality, we know that is not true.

[Page 7] It is important ... to realize that power, which has traditionally been used in human relationships at every level as the source of security, is proving to be totally ineffective.’

Look at the events in the world. Are the powerful more secure? That is not the case at all, because both at the human level, the individual level, and among mankind collectively, power leads only to insecurity. That’s the reason we need so many armaments and we add to them and add to them, because we think that through power we are going to achieve more security. But when we become more powerful, we realize that we are more insecure than ever—this process I could define and talk about for three days, but I won’t. It is important, however, to realize that power, which has traditionally been used in human relationships at every level as the source of security, is proving to be totally ineffective. In the days when people could see one another face to face, and one could punch a presumed enemy in the nose, then power could have been considered a source of security. But today, people who kill others often cannot even see their victims; sometimes, they are not even aware of what they are doing to whom or where or what, and when the shells come in the darkness and destroy anyone and everyone, in that kind of a situation power is no longer going to be a source of individual or collective security.

In this room, if we felt that power was to be our source of security, we wouldn’t have dared to sit the way we are seated now. We would all have been standing here as I am now, with our backs against the wall. We would have clung to the wall, making sure that no one would make the wrong move. But the reason we can come here together and be seated comfortably is because between us, in this gathering, what rules is that we trust one another as human beings. Each of you is capable and willing to trust one another.

Of course, the foundation of trust between human beings is love—the awareness that human beings are noble beings. If I believe you are a noble human being and that I can trust your nobility, then there is no reason why I should be in a struggle with you, in a power situation, that is. The change from power orientation to its opposite, which we can call the love orientation, is, in my humble opinion, one of the most important, one of the greatest challenges facing humanity. You know, a study was done following World War II to see why Nazi Germany behaved as she did. One of the conclusions reached in that study was very interesting. The conclusion was that the power orientation was at the very root of the kind of situation that allowed those atrocities to occur, because power breeds fear, and fear breeds insecurity. You must find enemies to destroy under such circumstances, and with all this fear and insecurity, it is easy to find enemies to destroy.

To put it briefly, to create a violence-free society, we need a number of things, one of which is the education of our children according to those principles that are in harmony with the laws of life, which include the organic unity of mankind, the movement from self-centeredness toward respect and love for others, from competition to cooperation, and from being power-oriented toward being oriented toward trust and love. This would bring about the sort of educational system and orientation in which many of the arguments we now have about what is violence, and are we by nature violent, and so forth, would become irrelevant.

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Traveling and teaching

Some photographic memories of a year-long trip around the world by Bahá’ís Robert and Han Ju Kim-Farley

Photography by Robert Kim-Farley

In April 1979, the first ‘Spiritualization Course’ (a systematic deepening in the Bahá’í Writings) was held at May Myo, Burma. Among those attending were Mrs. Daw Thoung Khin (second from left), a member of the National Spiritual Assembly of Burma; five Auxiliary Board members and one assistant to the Auxiliary Board; a member of the Spiritual Assembly of Mandalay, and a Bahá’í youth from May Myo. To attend this historic event, Han Ju (shown at right) and Robert Kim-Farley had to travel 12 hours by train from Rangoon and three hours by jeep from Mandalay in the middle of the Burmese rainy season, arriving with themselves and their luggage completely soaked.

In the closing days of the Five Year Plan, with 19 additional Spiritual Assemblies needed to fulfill the goals of the plan in Thailand, a team composed of Thai believers and teachers and pioneers from other countries arrived in Yasothon. Using the new Bahá’í Center (shown here) as a base, the team went out night and day to surrounding villages, spreading the Message of Bahá’u’lláh to the many receptive souls who were eager to learn more. Yasothon is in northeastern Thailand and is a new area of intensified teaching that has been bringing in new believers by the hundreds each week. Kana Biran (second from left), a pioneer from Malaysia, and his wife have volunteered to stay at the Bah5’í Center and coordinate deepening plans for the many new Bahá’ís in that area.

[Page 9] In May 1979, during the National Bahá’í Convention in India, attendees were taken by buses to the site of the future House of Worship on the outskirts of New Delhi. Led by the Hand of the Cause of God Raḥmatu’lláh Muhájir, prayers were said at the site, and the friends were able to see the progress being made in construction. During the Convention, when a message from the Universal House of Justice was read, calling for increased self-sufficiency on the part of national communities, the delegates arose spontaneously and contributed to the Fund enough money to underwrite the costs of the Convention.

On July 8, 1979, the Bahá’í community in Edirne (Adrianople), Turkey, gathered for an evening of prayers at the home of Mr. and Mrs. Yousuf Hoca (shown at left), on the site at which Bahá’u’lláh revealed the Tablet of Aḥmad. The caretakers of the House of Bahá’u’lláh, located one block away, are Mr. and Mrs. Azizullah Mahdevi (the elderly couple in the center of the photo). The Bahá’í community in Edirne is a strong, united and warm community, always eager and happy to see visiting Bahá’í teachers and pilgrims. Those who wish to visit the Holy Places in Adrianople should first contact the National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of Turkey.

On August 21, 1979, the Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of Nottingham, England, held a proclamation meeting with the Sheriff of Nottingham and his wife. Attending with representatives of the Assembly were traveling Bahá’í teachers from other countries who were participating in the Bahá’í Summer School being held at the University of Nottingham. Following a wide-ranging discussion that included an exchange of information about the Bahá’í Faith and the legendary Robin Hood, the Bahá’ís were given a guided tour through the Council chambers.

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Meditation: A Bahá’í view

(The following article on a Bahá’í approach to meditation was written by Continental Counsellor Peter Khan. It is printed from the Australian Bahá’í Bulletin of November 1979.—Ed.)

•

In many places in the Holy Writings of the Bahá’í Faith, emphasis is placed on the importance of meditation. For example, in Paris Talks (pp. 173-176), ‘Abdu’l-Bahá is quoted as saying:

“Through the faculty of meditation man attains to eternal life; through it he receives the breath of the Holy Spirit—the bestowal of the Spirit is given in reflection and meditation.”

Dictionary definitions of the term “meditation” associate it with contemplation, reflection, deep thought, turning something over in one’s mind in a systematic and purposeful manner, pondering at some length, etc.

Such definitions are consistent with the innumerable passages in the Writings where Bahá’u’lláh admonishes us to ponder deeply on a subject or to reflect upon what He has written.

These definitions are consonant with the statement of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, in the talk from which the extract above is taken, that “through the meditative faculty inventions are made possible” and that “this faculty brings forth from the invisible plane the sciences and arts.”

The Master goes on to explain that meditation involves silence, since man “cannot both speak and meditate.” He describes it as a process whereby man “receives Divine inspiration”; in other words, “receives the breath of the Holy Spirit.” ‘Abdu’l-Bahá also describes meditation as “the key for opening the doors of mysteries” and states that “through it affairs of which man knew nothing are unfolded before his view.”

It is not at all unusual for a Bahá’í to discover, to his surprise and relief, that he has been meditating for many years, without realizing it. For example, people sometimes meditate when engaged in routine tasks—cleaning the house, washing dishes, driving an automobile, weeding a garden. Others find themselves in a meditative frame of mind just before going to sleep, or when they first awaken in the morning.

Forms of Meditation

With the progressive breakdown of orthodox religion in the past few years, there has been an increasing tendency for people to turn to a variety of forms of meditation, some of which offer a very precise pattern by which meditation is to be accomplished, e.g., by recital of a certain phrase, or by adoption of a specified position.

In a letter to an individual believer, dated February 10, 1972, the Universal House of Justice commented that “although Bahá’u’lláh has given certain laws for prayer, including the obligatory prayers, He has specified no distinct type of meditation, and each individual is free to follow his own inclination in this regard.”

The Supreme Body, in this same letter, went on to call attention to the fact that “the beloved Guardian’s secretary wrote on his behalf to an individual believer on January 27, 1952: ‘He thinks it would be wise for the Bahá’ís to use Meditations given by Bahá’u’lláh, and not any set form of meditation recommended by someone else; but the believers must be left free in these details and allowed to have personal latitude in finding their own level of communion with God.’ ”

This guidance should be of great value to a Bahá’í who comes across a set form of meditation advocated by a movement or organization outside the Faith. Note the advice of the Guardian that it would be wise not to use such a meditative form, but rather to turn to the Meditations set out in the Holy Writings.

During a 40-year period unparalleled in human history, Bahá’u’lláh provided, in lavish abundance, the creative words of Divine Revelation. The Writings indicate that these words are infused with a spiritual power which is not present in the words of men. There is no limit to the understanding one can obtain from the words of Divine Revelation. Bahá’u’lláh states, in the Hidden Words, that “myriads of mystic tongues find utterance in one speech, and myriads of hidden mysteries are revealed in a single melody.”

In The Seven Valleys, He uses poetic language in referring to the profound spiritual mysteries which lie within our grasp if we will immerse ourselves in the Revelation, when He states:

“The nightingale of the heart hath other songs and secrets, which make the heart to stir and the soul to clamour, but the mystery of inner meaning may be whispered only from heart to heart, confided only from breast to breast.”

He also advises us in these loving words: “O My friend, listen with heart and soul to the songs of the spirit, and treasure them as thine own eyes.”

Bahá’ís are blessed beyond measure with the bounty of the Divine Revelation brought by Bahá’u’lláh, a lavish banquet upon which we can feast endlessly and eternally through the faculty of meditation.

Meditation and World Peace

Another notion prevalent in our society is that meditation alone is a sufficient means by which world peace may be achieved. There are many people, doubtless of great sincerity and deeply concerned about the ruinous disorder invading human society, who believe that the process of meditation is

[Page 11] ‘It is not at all unusual for a Bahá’í to discover, to his surprise and relief, that he has been meditating for many years, without realizing it.’

sufficient to resolve the disunity and conflict in the world. Their view is that through meditation are generated love, unity and harmony; when a sufficient proportion of mankind meditates, these sentiments will prevail and the world will be at peace.

The Universal House of Justice addressed this issue, in the letter of February 1972 to an individual, stating: “We can be sure, moreover, that meditation by itself, however extensively applied, is not the cure for the present ills of the world.”

The Supreme Body then pointed out: “The great need in this day is for mankind to learn how to live and work ‘harmoniously in peace, and it is to this need—to the establishment of the oneness of mankind—that the Bahá’í Teachings are primarily directed. And it is here that the Covenant is so vital. Indeed ‘Abdu’l-Bahá stated that ‘the pivot of the oneness of mankind is nothing else but the power of the Covenant.’ ”

Other passages of the Writings emphasize that the Covenant is the Divinely-ordained means by which the spiritual forces of this Dispensation are channeled. Without the Covenant, unity cannot be established on a sure foundation and cannot endure. Without the Covenant, the noble aims of the Faith would stand condemned as being Utopian, and the Bahá’í community would be doomed to suffer the fate of internal division and antagonism which has afflicted all previous attempts to devise a Utopian society. The Covenant is our Divinely-provided guarantee that history will not repeat itself exactly, and that, in this Age, good intentions will ultimately be translated into an enduring transformation of human society. Through the Covenant the abstract becomes concrete, and vision gives rise to reality.

Meditation and Intuition

Some of the forms of meditation prevalent in our society place great importance on individual intuition. They may even go to the length of encouraging a person to regard the ideas which come to him through his meditations as being an infallible truth to be followed unquestioningly.

In contrast, there stands a passage written by the Guardian, and quoted by the Universal House of Justice, which states: “With regard to your question as to the value of intuition as a source of guidance for the individual, implicit faith in our intuitive powers is unwise, but through daily prayer and sustained effort one can discover, though not always and fully, God’s Will intuitively. Under no circumstances, however, can a person be absolutely certain that he is recognizing God’s Will, through the exercise of his intuition. It often happens that the latter results in completely misrepresenting the truth, and thus becomes a source of error rather than of guidance.”

It is evident that there are manifest dangers in regarding the prompting of one’s intuition as being the voice of certain truth. As Bahá’ís we have access to the Holy Writings, the authoritative interpretations of the Guardian, and the infallible guidance of the Universal House of Justice; also, we have the privilege of turning to the Institutions of the Administrative Order for advice and counsel in matters pertaining to the Bahá’í teachings and Bahá’í community life.

Summary

Bahá’ís share with others in our society a high regard for meditation and the benefits it can offer. However, Bahá’ís differ significantly from others in that we are advised to center our meditative practices on the Holy Words of this Revelation, and we are warned against unquestioning reliance on our intuition.

To us, meditation is an important ingredient of Bahá’í life. All of these ingredients, including prayer, development of character, obedience to the laws of the Faith, teaching, participation in the Administration, go together to mould us into becoming the new creation promised by Bahá’u’lláh.

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Around the World

Bermuda

Bahá’ís in Bermuda recently came up with a creative way in which to help pay their land endowment loan.

Two believers, Morris Taylor and Bruce D. Stevens, volunteered to walk the entire length of the island, and the friends pledged amounts ranging from one penny per mile to much larger amounts for each mile the two were able to walk.

The walk covered a series of hills and winding roads for more than 21 miles from St. Georges to Sandy’s Parish.

Adults, children and youth all made pledges, and when the walk was completed, in eight and one-half hours, $600 had been raised for the endowment fund.

About 20 people were present last October 24 at the Bahá’í Center in Hamilton, Bermuda, for a panel discussion on drug abuse sponsored by the Bermuda Teaching Committee.

The discussion was led by a Bahá’í, Frederick Ming, and Stuart Hayward, a guest from the Transcendental Meditation community. A question-and-answer session followed.

United States

Eighty new believers were enrolled in southern New Mexico and West Texas as a result of a team teaching project last December and January that involved door-to-door visits in small Mexican-American communities in the two states.

The 11-day effort, which began December 26, was directed by the District Teaching Committee of Southern New Mexico and West Texas. It was a follow-up to the first team teaching campaign there one year ago.

Most of the eight two-member teaching teams that participated in the project included at least one Spanish-speaking member, and much of the teaching was done in Spanish.

Two new Assemblies were formed as a result of the project, and the number of believers in one small New Mexico community was increased dramatically from 18 to 41.

Enayatu’llah Vahdat (center, wearing suit and tie), a pioneer to Brazil for 25 years, spoke last July to Persian Bahá’ís in Los Angeles about pioneering to South America. As a result of Mr. Vahdat’s visits to Los Angeles, New York City, Toronto and Montreal, 31 Persian families volunteered to pioneer to South America. By the end of October, seven families already had left to fill their pioneer posts.

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Norway

Norwegian believers learned about dealing with the mass media at a special seminar on communications held last September. The National Public Relations Committee produced a press kit that has been distributed to newspaper editors, school directors and other officials throughout the country.

As it was during the Five Year Plan, increased contact with the media is one of Norway’s goals for the Seven Year Plan.

Successes include three radio programs about the Faith that were broadcast over the national radio network during the last two years, and the fact that production has begun on a program for television featuring quotations from the Writings of Bahá’u’lláh and music composed by a Norwegian Bahá’í.

Courses on the Bahá’í Faith have been conducted in evening schools and at adult education centers in more than seven communities in Norway.

The Faith is now being taught on the Spitzbergen Islands in the northern Arctic Sea by a young member of the Norwegian Bahá’í community, Bjørg Issaksen. Spitzbergen is a goal first assigned to Norway by Shoghi Effendi.

Since it was assigned, the goal has been filled on a periodic basis. Spitzbergen is presently inhabited by NATO personnel, Russian military personnel, and coal miners.

New Zealand

Listeners to Radio New Zealand last December 25 were treated to a program whose script, music and lyrics were written by an American Bahá’í pioneer, Russell Garcia.

The theme of the program, which included a prayer of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, was the International Year of the Child. The Queen’s annual message followed the broadcast. The same program had been aired by Radio New Zealand six days earlier.

Hawaii

The Bahá’í community of the Hawaiian Islands was visibly involved in a number of activities last year in support of the International Year of the Child.

Hawaii’s Aloha Week parade included a Bahá’í float with the theme “Love That Child” that was awarded first place in the non-commercial category and received honorable mention from the State IYC Committee.

Copies of the 1979 Hawaii Bahá’í calendar dedicated to IYC and featuring photographs of children and quotations about children from the Bahá’í Writings were sent to key community leaders in Hawaii. Many recipients wrote “thank you” letters praising the calendar.

The Spiritual Assembly of Honolulu sponsored a Children’s Day picnic at Waikiki Playground last October 7 that included children from Southeast Asia as special guests.

On October 21, Bahá’í children participated in Hawaii’s UN Week Sunrise Ceremony; and four days later, the Bahá’í University Club held an exhibit and discussion on the United Nations and IYC at the University of Hawaii.

Hawaii’s National Spiritual Assembly’s public information officer served on the state’s IYC steering committee and as chairman of the newly-established Children’s Day program, and Hawaii’s Bahá’í Office of Human Rights sponsored an International Year of the Child banquet last December 26.

The Bahá’ís of Koolaupoko, Hawaii, sponsored an IYC exhibit in the Hailua Public Library and a public meeting at the National Center in Honolulu that focused on IYC and education.

The 40th anniversary of the passing of the Hand of the Cause of God Martha Root was marked by a teaching conference held in her memory last September 28 at Hawaii’s National Bahá’í Center in Honolulu.

The Hand of the Cause William Sears, in a tape recorded message that opened the conference, extolled her teaching exploits and her dedication to the Cause that continued to the end of her life.

These attributes of Miss Root then became the theme of a presentation of slides, songs and poetry.

Auxiliary Board member Healani Hamilton, using Miss Root’s life as an example, inspired the friends with a presentation on teaching the Cause, which was followed by a call for pioneers and traveling teachers.

Many of the friends gathered later for prayers at Miss Root’s gravesite in Oahu Cemetery.

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Pakistan

Ali Sohailyan, an Auxiliary Board member from India, visited Pakistan last August 8-September 15. He met with the National Spiritual Assembly of Pakistan to discuss ways of furthering the Cause in that country during the first two-year phase of the Seven Year Plan.

Mr. Sohailyan journeyed to many important cities of the Punjab, Azad Kashmir, the North West Frontier region, and Sind Province, delivering public lectures, conducting deepening classes, discussing important Bahá’í concerns with the believers, and attending the Summer School at Rawalpindi. He also taught Bahá’í classes in the Ḥaẓíratu’l-Quds at Karachi.

In Hyderabad, Mr. Sohailyan attended teaching and deepening classes with several Bahá’í youth from mass-taught areas.

A public meeting for women was held recently in Karachi, Pakistan, to commemorate the martyrdom of Tahírih, the poetess-heroine of the Babí Dispensation and one of the “Letters of the Living” appointed by the Báb.

The speaker, Mrs. Zahida Hina, editor of a local weekly newspaper who is not a Bahá’í, gave a stirring speech on the life and works of Tahírih.

A second women’s conference, held last September 5 in Quetta, was attended by 60 prominent non-Bahá’í women.

Belgium

Continental Counsellor Dorothy Ferraby from the United Kingdom (right) spoke to members of the Bahá’í community of Belgium last August 13-14 at the Bahá’í National Center in Brussels. Mrs. Ferraby’s talks covered a wide range of subjects including living a Bahá’í life, the World Order of Bahá’u’lláh, and relating as Bahá’ís to the outside world. With Mrs. Ferraby is Mrs. Anke Samii, who served as interpreter during the presentations.

Continental Counsellors Betty Reed and Louis Henuzet were honored guests last September 9 at a “Unity and Teaching Conference,” held in the new national Ḥaẓíratu’l-Quds in Brussels, Belgium.

The conference was held for the Belgian Bahá’í community, and was well-attended with every local Assembly district represented.

Open and frank consultation dealt with many issues including increased inter-community cooperation, unity among the friends on a personal level, correspondence courses (already under way in Gent), social events as teaching opportunities, teaching in universities, opening goal towns, and the unique problems that can arise in a bi-lingual community.

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Honduras

The Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of La Ceiba, Honduras, observed the International Year of the Child last September 8 with a public meeting whose principal speaker was Mrs. Lidia Williams Arias, a former Minister of Education in Honduras.

A few days before the meeting, which was attended by more than 300 people, Mrs. Arias was presented with Bahá’í literature and given a brief explanation of the principles of the Faith.

During her address, to the surprise of the Bahá’ís present, Mrs. Arias spoke not only about children and their education, but delivered a moving exposition of the Bahá’í Teachings and expressed her admiration for the Bahá’í community of La Ceiba.

In presenting the program, the Spiritual Assembly received help from the entire La Ceiba community. The local army base offered to furnish transportation and extra chairs for the capacity crowd, while a local radio station gave 15 days of free radio spots announcing the event.

Alaska

The Faith was represented at the Alaska State Fair near Palmer last August 24-September 9 with an outdoor booth sponsored by the Spiritual Assembly of the Matanuska Valley.

Twenty-seven believers from five Bahá’í communities staffed the booth, which was designed around the theme “The Fruits of One Tree.”

More than 400 pieces of Bahá’í literature were taken by the record crowd of 206,000 attending the fair. Names and addresses of interested seekers were taken, and lists of area firesides were given out.

The weather at the fair was remarkably good; only one of the 28 booth-staffing shifts was rained out.

Continental Counsellor Aziz Yazdi, a member of the International Teaching Centre, and his wife, Soraya, were special guests last September 1-2 in Fairbanks, Alaska, at the first Teaching Conference held by a Regional Goals Committee.

Counsellor Yazdi reminded those present that “consolidation” is simply the love of Bahá’u’lláh taking deep root in our hearts, and that the most effective way to teach the Faith is through the example manifested by the quality of one’s life.

The conference fulfilled one of the committee’s goals for 1979-80 set by the National Teaching Committee of Alaska.

Bangladesh

One hundred fifty-one Bahá’ís from Bangladesh and other countries attended the Bangladesh Bahá’í Summer School held October 19-21, 1979. Among the highlights of the conference was a series of workshops on the Administrative Order of Bahá’u’lláh.

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India

Twenty-six Assemblies have been established in Jaipur State since Riḍván 136. This was accomplished largely by the Bahá’ís of the City of Jaipur who concentrated their teaching efforts on nearby villages, rather than on more distant localities.

Under a new consolidation plan, believers who can help new Bahá’ís and communities are being identified and deepened. Following a visit last November 16 by the secretaries of the National Spiritual Assembly and the Jaipur State Teaching Committee, three goal areas around Jaipur were identified.

The goal is to establish 10 Assemblies in each of these districts and deepen their members during the remaining period of the opening two-year phase of the Seven Year Plan. A teaching committee will be established in each of the three new areas.

With the establishment of 68 Local Spiritual Assemblies, the Bahá’í Faith is now organized in every “Panchayat” of Palghat district, Kerala state, India. The Panchayat is the smallest civic unit in the district, so an Assembly has been formed in every possible locality there.

An audience of more than 800 filled Mavlankar Hall in Delhi, India, last November 12 for a program in observance of the anniversary of the Birth of Bahá’u’lláh. Guest speakers included Justice V. R. Krishna Lyer of the Supreme Court of India; Solicitor General Soli Sorabjee, and Dr. Amin Banani from the U.S., a professor of history at the University of California in Berkeley.

One month prior to the public program, more than 20,000 copies of the publication Bahá’í Women announcing the program were distributed throughout the country. Thousands of special invitation cards were mailed to a large number of Delhi area residents and prominent citizens throughout the country. The success of the program was enhanced by the efforts of 15 Bahá’í youth who arrived in Delhi one week before the event to help with necessary arrangements.

Widespread publicity followed the arrival from the United States of Dr. Amin Banani in Bombay and Lucknow during his visit to India last November and December. While in Bombay, Dr. Banani, who is a professor of history at the University of California, was interviewed by reporters for All India Radio and two daily newspapers. He spoke at a large public meeting at the Bombay Bahá’í Center on November 10, met with the city’s mayor, and addressed audiences at the University of Bombay and at an engineering college.

While Dr. Banani was in Lucknow, All India Radio broadcast excerpts from his public address that was attended by reporters for five major English and Hindi newspapers. Twenty reporters attended a news conference with Dr. Banani that had been arranged by members of the National Spiritual Assembly. Prof. Banani spoke to college audiences in Lucknow and met with government officials there.

Bahá’ís from Orissa, West Bengal, Assam, Maghalaya and Sikkim attended the second East India Teaching Conference at Calcutta’s Bahá’í Center on November 3-4, 1979.

The conference was guided by Continental Counsellor Shirin Boman. Also present were Auxiliary Board members Kishan Khemani and Dr. Mohan Munje.

The purpose of the conference was to inform and inspire the friends to greater proclamation, wider expansion and systematic consolidation. A large increase in the number of District Teaching Committees is expected during the remaining months of the Plan.

Goals for each District Teaching Committee were reviewed, and consultation was held on ways to strengthen the State Teaching Committee in this region.

Close to 100 participants attended the South India Winter School in Bangalore last November 16-18. The winter school session closed with a program by the local teaching committee and the youth of Bangalore.

Following a talk on the Fund by Dr. Sree Ganesh, a number of contributions were made to the National Spiritual Assembly as a token of love from the winter school participants.

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South Africa

Lowell Johnson, secretary of the National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of South Africa, visited the United States last December and while there stopped at the National Committee offices in Wilmette, Illinois. Mr. Johnson spoke with special interest to the International Goals Committee in the hope of encouraging believers from the U.S., blacks in particular, to consider pioneering to South Africa. He also demonstrated a felt board that is the focus of a day-long deepening program that has been presented in various communities throughout the Republic of South Africa.

Mexico

More than 70 localities were opened to the Faith and more than 200 persons enrolled during a recent teaching campaign in the Mexican state of Oaxaca that was guided and encouraged by Continental Counsellor Hedi Aḥmadíyyih of Belize.

Some 46 per cent of the people in Oaxaca are of Indian heritage, the highest percentage of any state in Mexico. No fewer than 14 Indian groups live there.

During the project, Bahá’í teachers enrolled the first believers in 10 of these indigenous groups: Mazatec, Chinantec, Mixe, Cuicatec, Trique, Chocholtec, Chatino, Amuzgo, Ixcatec, and Huave.

There were additional enrollments among the Zapotec and Mixtec peoples, some of whose members already were Bahá’ís.

El Salvador

An intensive 1½-day teaching campaign led by five Continental Counsellors for Central America and the Antilles resulted recently in 10 declarations in El Salvador.

The Counsellors—Hedi Aḥmadíyyih, Pablo Lucas, Artemus Lamb, Carmen de Burafato, and Alfred Osborn—conducted deepening sessions in Santa Tecla following their arrival from Nicaragua. More than 80 youth attended the first of these sessions, at which six seekers declared their belief in Bahá’u’lláh.

More than 70 believers attended a recent meeting called by the National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of El Salvador to discuss that country’s Seven Year Plan goals.

The National Spiritual Assembly also met with its national committees to hear reports of their plans and progress in winning the goals of the Plan.

The National Children’s Committee of the Bahá’ís of El Salvador recently hosted a six-hour-long children’s party to commemorate the International Year of the Child. Fifty children and 30 youth and adults attended.

The party featured a song fest, entertainment by a Bahá’í musical group, a ventriloquist act, refreshments, and several piñatas for the children to break open. Later, there were prizes for the best art work brought by the children.

[Page 18] Memories of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, a warm, personal account of the early days of the Bahá’í Faith in California—days highlighted by the 1912 visit of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá.

By Ramona Allen Brown. Catalog no. 7-32-10. Cloth. $9.95

Bahá’í Publishing Trust
415 Linden Avenue/Wilmette, IL 60091 U.S.A.