Bahá’í World/Volume 8/The New Citizenship
8.
THE NEW CITIZENSHIP
BY BEATRICE IRWIN
CITIZENSHIP, like all other institutions, is in process of revaluation. History shows that humanity has a tendency to group itself around both ideas and ideals. The former relate to material development, the latter to moral and spiritual progress. Citizenship partakes of the nature of both, and one may say it came into existence when masses of mankind graduated from nomadic and tribal into community methods of living.
Out of these conditions, grew the idea of the relationship of the unit to the whole; of the man who would subordinate his personal interests and welfare to that of the community. The citizen, then, was one who through ability and unselfishness built up those cities of antiquity which have bequeathed their rich legacies of education, culture and morality to our day.
The molds of citizenship have varied, like the molds of religion, to meet the needs of the times and lands that have given them birth, and the authority to impose themselves on world consciousness by reason of their excellence.
For purposes of the present discussion, we will glance back no further than to those periods in Egyptian civilization when under leadership of the high priests and the Pharaohs a pattern of citizenship was evolved which was dominated by spiritual ideals. (1500-1300 B.C.). Their aim was to cultivate man, even beyond morality, into a mysterious realm of kinship with the Power “that rules the planets and stars in their courses”! Egypt was inspired for many centuries by her priests and king astronomers, who between them influenced the mind of the people, and left the seals of their faith to posterity, in the shape of those temple ruins that are still reckoned among the wonders of the world.
At a later date, Greece and Rome contributed their share. The former stressed philosophic and aesthetic, the latter civic values. In Greece, the most honored citizen was the philosopher, artist, or orator. Such men and women (for women had a high station in the Greek democracy) educated the masses through their orations in public places, and through festivals in which philosophy and beauty were honored. The building of such cities as Athens, Ephesus, etc., also accorded to their artists an exalted station of enduring reverence, and such cities were magnets of enlightenment to a semi-barbaric world.
Rome swung the glory of citizenship to another angle, for though the orator was still valued, it was the successful soldier, senator, and Roman matron who held first place, impressing their martial, judicial and domestic prestiges upon the public. The specialized idealism of these patterns were well adapted to times, in which travel and communication were so restricted, but they were only stepping-stones in the march of progress.
Then came the tidal waves of three great movements of world significance—the Crusades, Chivalry, and the Renaissance! From the tenth to the sixteenth centuries their influence inspired citizenship on broader lines, which was the logical result of the intermingling of races, creeds and classes that their accomplishment had involved. This fourth pattern again exalting the individual, rather than the State, demanded fresh feats of personal courage and skill, combined with a broader mental scope that included the beginnings of a racial and cultural tolerance hitherto unknown.
The citizen of value, was one who was aware of the fine possibilities of human relationship as expressed through art, religion and travel. For at this point, travel and inter-communication became a vital factor in citizenship. Up to this date, the institution was still limited to aristocratic conceptions. But the conflagration of the French Revolution, and the declaration of American Independence again expanded the mold,
The feast of the New Year being celebrated by the Bahá’ís of Miami, Florida, on “Naw-Rúz,“ March 21st, 1939.
A Group of South American Bahá’í Pioneers
Seated (left to right) Mrs. Caswell and Mrs. Oliver, Panama. Standing (left to right) Mr. Wantok, first Panamaian to accept the Faith. Mr. Eichenauer, San Salvador. Mr. Kaszab, Nicaragua.
discarding many constitutional traditions and class restrictions. This departure created an interim ideal of human rights, which was voiced in “Liberty, Equality, Fraternity”! Out of this historic slogan, has grown our sixth and modern pattern of citizenship. Humanitarian freedom and equality are its keynotes, coupled with the abolition of prejudice of all kinds. But as these keynotes are being challenged, the structure of citizenship in all lands is tottering, and calling for new standards of security.
If humanitarian freedom is insufficient, then what can meet the needs of this grim hour in which the destiny of a planet rocks in the balance?
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It seems that through
the ages citizenship
has been only a progressive course
of education for the race, directed,
enjoyed, betrayed, and superseded
by evolution’s decree!
For some, this decree constitutes both the
horror and the wonder of civilization, but
for others it represents the rhythmic law
of God, as expressed through prophets who
come at stated intervals to bring us new
designs for living. These are controversial
points outside the scope of the present
article, but it is obvious that humanity is
struggling through blood and tears
to define a seventh pattern of citizenship which
shall ameliorate its present ills. There is
every indication that the new pattern is not
to be after the manner of any one land, but
fashioned to meet the need of all lands. It
is to be a world-citizenship which has
stepped up from humanitarian into spiritual
ideals. This new freedom will be forged by
the vastly expanded good will of the human
unit. Such an achievement demands more
spiritual investigation and tolerance than
has yet been practiced. With pain man has
renounced many physical, mental and moral
limitations, and now we stand at a
transcendant moment in history,
when the patriotism of lands is
being expanded into a patriotism
of humanity, when man is progressing
from self-consciousness into that
scientific recognition of a unity
of life that
means soul-consciousness. This
state demands the re-birth
of both faith and free
will, and it is the urgent
problem that the present chaos is solving.
The goal of this seventh pattern of citizenship has been summed up as follows by the Persian prophet, Bahá’u’lláh (1863-1892),
- “Let not a man glory in this, that
he loves his country but let him rather glory in this, that he loves his kind.”
- “Ye are all the leaves of one tree, the
drops of one sea.”
The coming of this great soul was heralded in 1844 in Persia, by one who became known to his followers as the “Báb.” And for announcing himself as the fore-runner of “one whom God would make manifest,” the “Báb,” after being branded as a heretic by the priests, received a mock trial and was shot to death in the public square of Tabríz.
At a later date, Bahá’u’lláh addressed letters to the Sháh and the crowned heads of Europe, warning them that if they did not curb the growing corruptions of their countries and adopt His teachings of reform, that they would reap the whirlwind of disillusion in which the world finds itself today. The nine principles underlying the new pattern of citizenship proclaimed by Bahá’u’lláh contain the seeds of a spiritual democracy, and though the instruction of them permeates the best thought of our day we must not forget that they originated as long ago as 1866 and that for these principles Bahá’u’lláh forfeited His large fortune and estates, and endured forty years of imprisonment, in Oriental prisons.
These facts give authority to His claim that He is the next in the succession of the prophets, and the promised Manifestation of God for this day. The basic principles:
1. Recognition of the oneness of mankind.
2. Independent investigation of reality.
3. Universal religious tolerance.
4. Union of science with religion.
5. Equality of the sexes in education and opportunity.
6. Abolition of prejudices of creed, caste and color.
7. Use of a universal auxiliary language.
8. Foundation of international Parliaments.
9. Abolition of war and foundation of universal peace.
From an analysis of these objectives, it is obvious that the world citizen of the near future must demand more of himself as well as others. A greater mental independence, freedom from traditional outlook, the establishment of universal institutions representative of all lands, and a broader and more loving communication with his fellow creatures, form the requisites of his capacity to fulfill the call of Bahá’u’lláh, Who has said—
“I come to found a race of men, not slaves.”