Bahá’í World/Volume 14/Aims and Purposes of the Bahá’í Faith
 | The text below this notice was generated by a computer, it still needs to be checked for errors and corrected. If you would like to help, view the original document by clicking the PDF scans along the right side of the page. Click the edit button at the top of this page (notepad and pencil icon) or press Alt+Shift+E to begin making changes. When you are done press "Save changes" at the bottom of the page. |
INTRODUCTION
AIMS AND PURPOSES OF THE Bahá’í FAITH
By DAVID HOFMAN
RELIGION has two objectives, the regeneration of men and the advancement of mankind. “All men have been created to carry forward an ever advancing civilization” proclaims Bahá’u’lláh, and “The purpose of the one true God, exalted be His glory, in revealing Himself unto men is to lay bare those gems that lie hidden within the mine of their true and inmost selves.”
These aims of religion, universal and eternal, nevertheless have been conditioned to the capacities of each age or dispensation and the great religions of the past have developed their social orders within generally definable times and areas. Judaism, for instance, attained its peak under Solomon and was confined, before the dispersion, to the Near East; Zoroastrianism remained Persian until the Arab conquest and the settlement of a remnant in Western India; Christianity became the religion of European civilization; the building of the nation state undertaken by Islam remained a Muslim experiment until feudal Europe learned the lesson and its city states gave way to and adopted the more advanced order. It has remained for the Bahá’í religion to declare and promote the cause of world order—the sine qua non of its existence—and to disclose the concomitant unities of religion, of mankind and of historical purpose. “Unity of family, of tribe, of citystate, and nation have been successively attempted and fully established. World unity is the goal towards which a harassed humanity is striving. Nation-building has come to an end. The anarchy inherent in state sovereignty is moving towards a climax. A world, growing to maturity, must abandon this fetish, recognize the oneness and wholeness of human relationships, and establish once for all the machinery
that can best incarnate this fundamental principle ofits life.”1
Religion sees the course of history as an organic process, moving towards the full realization of all the potentialities implanted in man. The vicissitudes, the great advances, the hiatuses it regards as the natural unfoldment of that process just as the succession of bud, leaf, flower and fruit is the natural unfoldment in the life of a tree; or infancy, childhood, youth and maturity in that of a man. Indeed, Bahá’í scripture explains, the process is the same. The sun is the effective agent in the organiclife of the earth; religion in that of humanity. “The sun of truth is the Word of God, upon which depends the training of the people of the country of thought.”2 The Creative Word, revealed in each stage of human progress by a Manifestation of God, and conditioned to the requirements of the time, is the effective agent in the long, single process of humanity’s development from infancy to World Order. This truth is enshrined in all revealed religion although it needs the illumination of Bahá’u’lláh’s revelation to enable men to perceive it. “The first picture presented in the Bible is that of human unity in its simplest form: that of a single family. The last picture is that of a unity manifold and universal in which all kindreds and tongues and peoples and nations are gathered into one and unified in the enjoyment of a common worship, a common happiness, a common glory.
“The great problem which, according to the Bible, confronts the human race in its progress is that of advancing from the barest, baldest unity through a long experience of multiplying 1 Shoghi Effendi, Guardian of the Bahá’í Faith, The Unfold men{ of World Civilization, 1936. ‘ Bahá’u’lláh, Words of Wisdom.
xxi
[Page -2]
xxii
diversities till ultimately a balance between the
two principles is struck, poise is gained and the
two forces of variety and unity are blended in a
multiple, highly developed world fellowship,
the perfection of whose union was hardly suggested in the primitive simplicity of early
man.”1
This spiritual view of evolution is the constant theme of religion. Each revelation refers to the past, looks forward to the future and concentrates upon the immediate need for spiritual regeneration and enlightenment. The Prophet evokes in human hearts a sacrificial love which transcends self-interest and causes the early believers to dedicate themselves entirely to the practice and diffusion of the new message. As it spreads it works like leaven in society, ref orming its morals, uplifting its vision and promoting a greater difl‘usion of love in social action.
“World history at its core and in its essence is the story of the spiritual evolution of mankind. From this all other activities of man proceed and round it all other activities revolve.”2
Unlike the revelations of the past, the Bahá’í revelation releases not only the Creative Word necessary to the renewal of spiritual vitality in the human spirit, but embodies that divine energy in an administrative order capable of bringing within its shade all the diversified ethnic groups and myriad types of the human race, who may find within its wide embrace a full, happy and purposeful life. Bahá’í activity therefore is directed not only, as in the past, to the spreading of the Word, but to the establishment of the fabric of that Order Which, enshrined within the Creative Word itself, becomes the chief instrument for the further diffusion and social application of the Divine Message. This World Order, which the Bahá’í Faith exists to establish, is none other than that long—promised Kingdom in which peace, justice and brotherhood shall prevail universally and “the earth shall be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea.”3 The establishment of this World Order is dependent upon the regeneration of mankind which must turn again to God and recognize His purpose. The two aims of religion are, therefore, interacting and interdependent.
Such a world-shaking transformation cannot
1 George Townshend, The Heart of the Gospel, 1939. ‘ ibid. ' Habakkuk 2:14
THE Bahá’í WORLD
be brought about by any movement of reform, however disinterested, nor by any unaided human effort. Modern man has turned away from God and, bereft of his traditional sanctions, has inevitably wrecked his old order which, in truth, is lamentably inadequate to modern conditions and is not susceptible of repair. “Soon”, is Bahá’u’lláh’s prophetic view of our day, “will the present day order be rolled up, and a new one spread out in its stead.” Likewise, “T he signs of impending convulsions and chaos can now be discerned, inasmuch as the prevailing order appears to be lamentably defective. ’ ’
The current aim of religion, embodied in the aims and purposes of the Bahá’í Faith, is the bringing to birth of the next stage in the organic process of human evolution, and may be regarded as the coming of age of the human race. The outward sign of this maturity is the unification of mankind and a federation of the world in a single all-embracing world society of human brotherhood. It is envisaged in the following words from the Guardian of the Bahá’í Faith in his essay The Unfoldment of World Civilization:
“The unity of the human race, as envisaged
by Bahá’u’lláh, implies the establishment of a
world commonwealth in which all nations,
races, creeds and classes are closely and permanently united, and in which the autonomy of
its state members and the personal freedom and
initiative of the individuals that compose them
are definitely and completely safeguarded.
This commonwealth must, as far as we can
Visualize it, consist of a world legislature, whose
members will, as the trustees of the whole of
mankind, ultimately control the entire resources of all the component nations, and will
enact such laws as shall be required to regulate
the life, satisfy the needs and adjust the relationships of all races and peoples. A world
executive, backed by an international Force,
will carry out the decisions arrived at, and
apply the laws enacted by, this world legislature, and will safeguard the organic unity of the
whole commonwealth. A world tribunal will
adjudicate and deliver its compulsory and final
verdict in all and any disputes that may arise
between the various elements constituting this
universal system. A mechanism of world intercommunication will be devised, embracing the
whole planet, freed from national hindrances
and restrictions, and functioning with marvel
[Page -1]
INTRODUCTION
lous swiftness and perfect regularity. A world metropolis will act as the nerve centre of a world civilization, the focus towards which the unifying forces of life will converge and from which its energizing influences will radiate. A world language will either be invented or chosen from among the existing languages and will be taught in the schools of all the federated nations as an auxiliary to their mother tongue. A world script, 21 world literature, a uniform and universal system of currency, of weights and measures, will simplify and facilitate intercourse and understanding among the nations and races of mankind. In such a world society, science and religion, the two most potent forces in human life, will be reconciled, will co-operate, and will harmoniously develop. The press will, under such a system, while giving full scope to the expression of the diversified views and convictions of mankind, cease to be mischievously manipulated by vested interests, whether private or public, and will be liberated from the influence of contending governments and peoples. The economic resources of the world will be organized, its sources of raw materials will be tapped and fully utilized, its markets will be co-ordinated and developed, and the distribution of its products will be equitably regulated.
“National rivalries, hatreds, and intrigues will cease, and racial animosity and prejudice will be replaced by racial amity, understanding and co-operation. The causes of religious strife
xxiii will be permanently removed, economic barriers and restrictions will be completely abolished, and the inordinate distinction between classes will be obliterated. Destitution on the one hand, and gross accumulation of ownership on the other, will disappear. The enormous energy dissipated and wasted on war, whether economic or political, will be consecrated to such ends as will extend the range of human inventions and technical development, to the increase of the productivity of mankind, to the extermination of disease, to the extension of scientific research, to the raising of the standard of physical health, to the sharpening and refinement of the human brain, to the exploitation of the unused and unsuspected resources of the planet, to the prolongation of human life, and to the furtherance of any other agency that can stimulate the intellectual, the moral, and spiritual life of the entire human race.
“A world federal system, ruling the whole earth and exercising unchallengeable authority over its unimaginably vast resources, blending and embodying the ideals of both the East and West, liberated from the curse of war and its miseries, and bent on the exploitation of all the available sources of energy on the surface of the planet, a system in which Force is made the servant of Justice, whose life is sustained by its universal recognition of one God and by its allegiance to one common Revelation—such is the goal towards which humanity, impelled by the unifying forces of life, is moving.”
