24.
CHILE AND THREE CRUCIAL YEARS
BY MARCIA STEWARD
CHILE! Enchanting land of paradox and contradictions—of the most compelling extremes of character, of climate, of ideas! Land which stretches anguishedly from tropics to arctic zone . . . long, narrow, insinuates itself from arid desert, between the lofty Andes and the vast Pacific, through fertile valleys lush with fruit and reveling in flowers . . . through lakes and canals and imposing, fearful glaciers; twists itself narrowly; expands a bit in Patagonia; and ends in flare and finish at Cape Horn! What love we have come to bear for this land!
From the southernmost city in the world, Punta Arenas, we now survey, both in distance and in time, the work leading up to the formation of the first Bahá’í Spiritual Assembly in the city of Santiago, capital of Chile.
Our survey in time, must take us back to the glorious Martha Root. No later pioneer in Bahá’í teaching work can ever more than dimly comprehend the function of that soul who undertakes to rip the veil of darkness of an entire nation in this Age of Light.
One is forced by its very repetition to remark a mysterious connection which seems to exist between events of importance in the progress of the Cause of Bahá’u’lláh and the events which take place simultaneously in the outer world. The visit of Martha Root to Chile synchronized with the first term of office of President Alessandri. His tenure of office is remembered for two outstanding and historic contributions to the social good. First, it saw the long-struggled for separation of church and state, and secondly, Chile made a great stride forward in the field of education. One of the first things one notices here is the number and the quality of magazines and newspapers which are offered for sale, and the fact that everywhere people are reading—in restaurants, in street cars, standing on corners, walking in the streets, in the parks—everywhere and all the time! One learns upon enquiry that this is a comparatively recent phenomenon . . . dating precisely from President Alessandti’s time! One can say that modern Chile dates in part from this first term of office of President Alessandri and the visit of Martha Root . . . dates which frame the Ascension of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, in 1921.
The last three years have been years of enormous changes, tremendous destruction and tremendous progress. An old civilization has plunged into its final convulsion, and a new one has begun to breathe.
In the western hemisphere, made worthy
by the presence of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, has been
prepared the womb which will bear the child
of tomorrow. The fundamental unity of
the spirit, once realized in the Americas,
will provide the corner-stone of world
understanding and world peace. We are
talking of divine politics; of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s
inspired plan will draw into the consciousness
of their essential oneness, these nations
of our hemisphere, not as an end in itself,
but as a prelude to world-unity. The
Americas are the melting pot of the world
. . . they have a common history and had
a common purpose. Here in the crucible of
association and work, peoples of all nations
have evolved a new consciousness: a consciousness
which contains the seed of world-citizenship.
Isolated physically from the
cataclysmic conflict which rages over the
remaining continents, the Americas have
been able through and due to the force of
circumstance and the immediate common
need, to evolve something very closely resembling
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a temporary political unity, and
this in the incredibly short space of three
years.
Meanwhile the Cause of God has been extending the foundations of a more fundamental and enduring unity; of the essential unity, that of conscience. While political and international storm winds whirled and raged and bewildered the peoples of the New World, the healing and revivifying winds of the Spirit also blew, softly and steadily in their own sphere and in their own counter-direction. In each of these South and Central American Nations, Bahá’ís labored with ever-increasing effort to establish those divine institutions of the administrative order of their faith, where they are to provide for a desperate and war-weary world “not only the nucleus but the very pattern of the new society destined to rise phoenix-like out of the ruins of the old.”
Probably the development and establishment of these divinely ordained institutions in each country must involve a pattern and a process which is conditioned by, and adapted to, the particular spiritual and psychological personality of that country. Chile’s is a dramatic personality which is at the same time subtle. Her soul is tense, intricate, paradoxical. That her mask is one of seeming serenity and detachment does not hide the psychological struggle for adjustment, for self-consciousness and self-realization, which is being waged in the depths of her being.
And so the drama of Chile is not one of surface action, but of psychological tensions, bitter extremes and a desperate need; played against the backdrop of titanic forces waging war to the death for the domination of the planet. And so, too, the correspondingly dramatic evolution of the Cause here was not an obvious, but a subtle one, which nonetheless possessed all the elements of true drama, and must so be considered. For the battle for the soul of Chile was waged on many fronts, not the least of which was that of the spirit.
The actors in this drama of the establishment of the Bahá’í Faith here are numerous, and each in his way and function has contributed an indispensable role.
We find on the program, after the prologue ends with Martha’s departure, the names of Mr. and Mrs. Stewart French, who visited Chile in 1936, stopping in the beautiful Garden City of Chile, Viña del Mar, and journeying south as far as Magallanes. Here they stayed in the very hotel where we have just finished the fourth of our series of five introductory lectures on the Faith. Here Bahá’í literature was distributed by Mrs. French for the first time, and her name continues prominently in the work in Chile through her Chairmanship and later Secretaryship, of the Inter-America Committee, which has nourished and directed the pioneering work.
We have also the name of the devoted and enchanting Loulie Mathews; first Chairman of the Inter-America Committee, and initiator of its first tentative but confirmed efforts to establish the spiritual tracery of the Cause in South and Central America. Mrs. Mathews lectured at the Women’s Christian Association in Santiago, where later was tentatively established the first independent Bahá’í centre by the Spiritual Assembly of Chile!
Prominent in the cast is Mrs. Frances B. Stewart, Chilean born of North American parents, whose intensive efforts for the spread of the Faith cover the entire South and Central American field, and whose initial work in Chile is only now indicating its full significance.
It was Mrs. Stewart who, from a lecture which she gave in Buenos Aires, drew out one attracted soul of the many, whom we found upon our arrival in Santiago in 1940 in possession of Bahá’í books, and valiantly struggling alone to maintain the flame of the Cause in Chile. Thus Chile owes to her sister Nation Argentina an unrecognized spiritual debt . . . for this Bahá’í, Señora Eliza Espinosa is an Argentine, who lived for a time in the country of her husband, Chile.
This briefly leads us to our arrival as
part of the seven year plan set in motion
by the Guardian and directed by the
Inter-America Committee of the
National Spiritual Assembly of the United States and
Canada; to that aspect of this plan which
entailed the establishment of the
administrative order of the Faith in every Central
[Page 882]
and South American Country by 1944. We
arrived in December of 1940.
Those actors who contributed later, both while we were here in Chile, and during our absence on a visit to the United States and Canada in 1942, are the following: Mrs. Amelia Collins, Mr. Philip Sprague, Mrs. Barton, Mr. and Mrs. Mottahedeh, Mr. Charles Wolcott, and Miss Virginia Arbison.
The immediate background, and the special act of the drama with which this paper must concern itself now, is that culminating period of turbulence and disaster which encompasses the years between 1940 and 1944, reaching toward the hundredth anniversary of the new dawn of Faith on this planet.
These years have written a record of gratitude upon our heart. Above all to Shoghi Effendi. Our debt to him is infinite. Without him we should quite simply have lain down and died—quite simply that. The thought of him has alone sustained us, and in dark moments his guidance and advice, unerring and compassionate; just and kind; have always signalled the one straight way.
And as for Chile herself, by continued daily effort we strive to demonstrate our love and gratitude to her . . . to her people, her government, her institutions; her liberal spirit of tolerance and universality; all of which provided us with a free and generous field for our efforts. She accepted a stranger and did not ask what gifts the stranger brought . . . indeed, did not know that we brought to her that greatest of all gifts, the message of the manifestation of God. Her role in the future we feel will be a great one, both politically and spiritually. Our love for her is intense, our admiration profound!
On December seventh of 1940 we found ourselves for the first time on Chilean soil. Our ship put in at Arica, northernmost city of Chile, and here we parted company with our companion, Miss Eleanor Adler, who was to win the bounty of establishing the Cause in La Paz, Bolivia.
Although we were not instructed as to in which city work should be initiated, we never even dimly considered any other than the Capital, Santiago. So we hesitated not a moment in picturesque Valparaiso, but at once took the waiting train for the capital.
The capitals of the South American countries are the hubs of great wheels, with an average concentration of twenty percent of the nation’s entire population centered at the hub. The remaining eighty percent of the people, distributed throughout the nation might roughly be likened to the circumference of the wheel itself. The spokes of the wheel are the channels of communication, commerce, and news through which the capital itself is linked with the rest of the nation. Thus, particularly in Chile which seems like one great family, a person once securely established in the capital will have no difficulty in finding himself in connection with the whole country. News spreads rapidly thence and covers the nation, so that wherever one travels always one knows some one’s friends or relatives; and encounters the heartening realization that these know exactly who one is and, more often than not, exactly what one is doing. Thus the choice of the capital for our home, unconscious though it was, was proven by facts later to have been a most fortunate one.
We arrived there on December 11th, and went directly to the Hotel Crillon.
Here we were! Now we might ask, what exactly had we come to do, to bring to Chile; and to what kind of a country had we come?
Now I must dip my pen in southern ink! For I write now both in and of a different land . . . and now I must use ”I”; for I am a person now, remembering—it was my heart that ached, and my soul that rejoiced. It was my own feet, such awfully human feet, that walked that path that led from "then” to “now”—that in reality led from "I” to "we.” Mine were the eyes whose tears wet the night—pillows and that grew wide with wonder at fragrant dawns. Detachment comes by hard degrees—the skins of many selves are hardly sloughed and tearfully surrendered.
Thus the process of pioneering for the
Cause of God is two-fold. It is a curious
personal paradox of loss and gain, as the
soul is forced to surrender in a sense to a
kind of identification with the soul of a
people or country, the while inherently
obliged to withhold itself within its own
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orbit. It is, in effect, a division of self,
which is only made possible by Faith and
the demands of this new kind of life. One
can not know the need of a country until
one feels this need in oneself. Thus often
the pioneer takes on even the physical cast
of a different people, and comes to feel a
deep love for them, the love born of true
understanding which Bahá’u’lláh gives us.
in the degree to which we believe in it and
need it.
For the Lord of today does not bid us go and take the “glad tidings” of his new manifestation to the people of the world, without endowing us, individually, with the qualities and capacities necessary so to do. He has written, “In that day, We shall make thy sight discerning.” But this is a process, and not an immediate bestowal. As Bahá’u’lláh says, “Discernment is needed.” If ever it is needed, it is in the pioneering work. For here we have no guide, no confidant, no friend, no valid experience-tested standard of judgment adequate to all occasions . . . here every action is unique, every person met, unique, every situation different, and every human need particular and often immediate.
For we bring to the people of the different nations a particular, a new, and unique message. We “tell the people of the world that the Promised One has come, with proofs and evidences.” ‘
Humanity today does not possess any prepared psychological field of reflexes with which to react to such a message. There is no “habit” pattern response established in the man of today with which he may meet this challenging truth. It is new, and in reacting to its “newness” he himself must grow, or outgrow, and no one can truly aid, or accept for another. Thus we not only must be the bearers of this new message, this mighty fact, but we must be as intuitively aware of each individual’s, as of each nation’s “psychic balance,” in order not to shock where we would imply "make aware.” The veil must not be torn suddenly, warns ‘Abdu’l-Bahá.
For the pioneer, either an adequate knowledge of a country’s history, background and psychology must have been acquired beforehand; or surrendering his being into the dimension of Faith, he must serve as a mere instrument for the guidance of divine inspiration to put to its purposes and to endow with the offspring of faith—intuition, discernment, and spiritual tact. ”He who makes efforts for us, in our ways will We assuredly lead him,” quotes Bahá’u’lláh from Muḥammad.
The latter way has been the only feasible one heretofore, given the need for haste at the instance of the Guardian. Naturally, if one has had a previous educational background, so much the better; but there is no time to acquire it now.
Naturally, arriving in a foreign country, a Bahá’í immediately begins to acquaint himself as rapidly and thoroughly as possible with the history, traditions of religion and literature of that country . . . he observes as accurately as he can the general reactions of the people with whom he comes in contact. He soon builds up a more or less adequate concept of the psychology, although usually not knowing the language, he depends much upon his intuition, which like everything else, improves with use.
As soon as he can, he reads their literature; their daily papers; their magazines; attends their plays and visits their cultural institutions. In a word, he orients himself, more or less successfully and as consciously as possible; although I am afraid it is more of an art than an intellectual process. That is, it is a creative and unconscious adjustment, rather than a rational and intellectual one.
But the net result of all this is that one comes to know a country as one comes to know an individual . . . its characteristics become sharply defined, its faults are seen and lamented, its virtues observed and gloried in, as one would with any friendship. And inevitably, by contrast, and through perspective, one comes to feel an ever-increasing love for one’s own country, and to see how her true good in this great day is the true good of every other country. And one looks for points of resemblance and common aims, rather than points of difference.
Another most curious development
begins . . . the meaning of the word ”familiar”
begins to deepen and reveal itself. The people
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one meets all look familiar. Why?
Familiar! . . . of the family! . . . but of
course, here is the key! Bahá’u’lláh brought
the glad tidings of the true brotherhood of
man! One family! We, here in a strange
country to deliver this message and make
it real, is it not natural that we should
know its reality?
Thus, arrived in Chile, with no previous knowledge of her and her people, I walked the streets of Santiago with no feeling of strangeness. If anything surprised me it was that the people, so familiar, spoke another language. How silly the difference in languages became in my eyes. What a formidable barrier to understanding between brothers! What a need for an auxiliary international language!
The people on the streets of Santiago are very much like any one would see in our own American cities. Nonetheless, I came to sense a difference—a subtle, elusive, tantalizing difference.
The day after my arrival, I dined with Wolff and Napsy Greeven, in their lovely home, where I was received with such gentle courtesy and friendly interest that it seemed like a fresh shower to my travel-wearied being. Another dear friend, met on the ship, Ernesto Hammerschlagg, invited me to luncheon, and presented me to his wife; so that, between these two couples, the Greevens and the Hammerschlaggs, my first weeks in Chile were filled with attentions and new friendships, and to this day I count them among my dearest and sincerest friends. Only those who have ventured on the pioneering path can know what this meant to me, and how little words are worth in the court of gratitude.
After a few days, it seemed to me that I simply must find a house with a garden, a house that would give both beauty to the first Bahá’í center of Chile, and the independence, tranquillity, and freedom from the too curious eyes of apartment and hotel dwellers necessary to commence the Bahá’í work. We wanted the Cause to be represented in dignity, beauty and serenity; and to be so situated as to be able to receive all those who were seeking the truth regardless of race, creed or social standing.
While wondering how we were going to find all this within the limits of our personal purse, we stopped one day in the beauty parlor of the hotel. Here I met a woman whose fate was to become intimately linked with mine; and whose friendship was the source of many contacts, resulting in confirmed believers; Erica Lobl, the first person in Chile to whom I talked intimately of the Cause of Bahá’u’lláh. Proprietor of this particular beauty shop, she at once became interested and is today a Bahá’í.
The same day, "beautified,” I went to a real estate office to look for assistance in finding a house. I found to my surprise a delightful English woman in charge, who, after a short conversation, plunged me into a taxi saying, “we have your house”! We drove out to the suburbs of Santiago, to a district called Los Leones; turned down a street called Carmen Silva, and here indeed was our house. It was a charming, small, two-story English cottage, with a lovely yard in front, and a walled-in garden in the back. Here was the first Bahá’í center in Chile; here were the study-classes initiated, and here were held the early Feasts—here at 2759 Carmen Silva, Los Leones. The history of the Cause in Chile in my time is the history of this house, and the seekers who were confirmed therein, and the life-long friendships that here commenced.
My good angel who led me here was right. She had said to me, as we rode out together, looking at me searchingly the while, What are you come to Chile to do?” and I had replied, “I bring to Chile a great and special gift—the news of the Advent of a Great Prophet, Whose Name is Bahá’u’lláh. He came to make all religions one, to establish the unity of the human race.” It was then that she had repeated, “Yes, I have your house.”
Once established in this house, with which
went servant, gardener, and furniture
I collapsed quietly in bed. I was frightened at
the prospect of what I had to do, of the task
that lay before me, of the overwhelming
importance of my mission, but, above all, at
my complete and over-all lack of capacity.
“Great, great is the Cause; how bewildering
the weight of its message” and that from
"the pen of Bahá’u’lláh Himself! I pulled the
pillow over my head to try and shut out
[Page 885]
consciousness itself. No, I was not brave,
and I still knew no Spanish—the world
seemed suddenly cold.
Meanwhile, I had written a little note to Mrs. Espinosa, who, as I have stated, had been holding the flame of the Cause aloft and protecting it from the winds of forgetfulness in Chile. At this point of collapse Mrs. Espinosa arrived! I found her a very attractive, very “South American,” very chic, older woman, who knew not a word of English, and whose accent in Spanish was obviously Argentinan. I roused myself from the collapse into which I had fallen and braced myself to converse in a language I didn’t know. With the aid of a dictionary, I wrenched out of the depths of memory my school-years Latin, and managed to exchange greetings and ask essential questions in relation to the status of the Bahá’í work in Chile. When she left I collapsed “de nuevo,” this time requiring a doctor!
It became evident that I had acquired some sort of tropical fever in Panama, en route, but after several days I recovered sufficiently to decide that classes must commence at once!
Looking back, this is too delicious—classes must start! I had been in Santiago less than three weeks, I knew no Spanish, and what is more important, I knew few people, but nevertheless, classes must start! That was what I was here for, and the sooner I started the better. Thus the famous North American initiative, plus the Bahá’í spirit, plus sheer desperation!
Meanwhile, Mrs. Lobl had been most kind, and so we informed her and Mrs. Espinosa that "classes must start”! Both cooperated magnificently, and they started! Mrs. Espinosa had deposited the Bahá’í books at the home of a friend, a Spaniard by the name of Roviro, who spoke English and kindly offered his services as interpreter. How often I think of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s words to the effect that one of the wonders of this dispensation is that all the people of the world will assist.
We decided to serve tea on Sunday afternoon, between six and eight, and to give short talks. So, ”classes started,” less than three weeks after our arrival in Chile, thanks mainly to Mrs. Espinosa and Mrs. Lobl.
We have the notebook in which we kept a record of these meetings during the three months’ period of our stay at this address. Soon we were also to hold night classes on Thursdays, to accommodate those who immediately declared their interest in going more quickly and more deeply into the principles of the Faith. At these classes Mr. Edward Bittencourt, professor at the University of Chile whom we had met through Dr. Robert Seibenshein, served as our Interpreter.
The first Sunday meeting commenced, as I recall, with about seven people present, which number steadily increased with each Sunday until often we were serving tea and explaining the Faith of Bahá’u’lláh to as many as twenty-five persons. Friends brought friends—the news spread rapidly, and from the first the classes were a success. The proof of this lies in my weekly notebook. The same nucleus of certain names remained and repeated, while a larger circle around this point expanded and contracted, with new names added from week to week, and others grown familiar now missing. But the nucleus remained a constant; and of this nucleus all are at present on the list of registered believers in Santiago, and several are members of the present and original Spiritual Assembly of Chile. Thus did Bahá’u’lláh confirm us from the first moment in our pitifully inadequate efforts for His Work.
At this point I must mention a family, a most wonderful and special family, and my dearest personal friend in Chile, daughter of this family, Millicent Bravo de Shulder. Mrs. Lobl had brought Millicent to our first meeting—a reluctant but acquiescent Millicent. From the first moment she was destined for the Cause. Faithful and true, quiet and deep, Millicent never wavered nor fought, but absorbed the secret gift of the Spirit as a thirsty plant silently and gratefully receives a summer shower. She bloomed like a graceful lily. Into her family she took me, a stranger, and Mr. and Mrs. Bravo, Millicent’s son, Paul, her brother, David, all became as my own family. How often those of the Jewish faith have aided us, and showed their interest toward one who brought them news of their long-awaited "Lord of Hosts.”
This family is richly blessed, and writing of them must concern one of my most glorious spiritual experiences. Shortly after knowing Millicent she told me she had discovered her young son, Paul, twelve years of age, reading one of the Bahá’í books I had loaned her, with the disturbing result that he was asking questions that she was unable to answer about Bahá’u’lláh and the Cause. Could he come one day alone to talk to me about it all?
And so it was. One quiet fragrant summer afternoon, Paul arrived, a tall, dark, intelligent youngster, whose eyes searched mine with a conscious, anxious hope. He went directly to the point, posing pertinent questions as rapidly as I could answer them. He questioned, he listened, he reflected, and he believed! But he would not accept without due and proper study of the fundamentals!
Paul Bravo, at twelve years of age, of the ancient Jewish faith, was the first to embrace the Cause of Bahá’u’lláh in Chile. Of the spiritual love and moral support which his faith and friendship brought me in those days, I will not tax words with the duty to express.
Thus three months passed, rapidly and fruitfully, until my English friends were due to return and I must move.
Through a friendly contact we were able to secure at a very moderate rental, a beautiful apartment in the new and modern Hotel Carrera, which has been our home off and on for the past three years. We were especially pleased because this apartment had never been occupied and so we could initiate our use of it in a wonderfully fresh and perhaps symbolic manner.
Here the classes begun on Carmen Silva continued and grew until our large drawing room was crowded every Sunday to capacity, and visitors of all kinds streamed through our room night and day. At this time, too, Mrs. Espinosa returned to Argentina.
By this time the strain of meeting so many people, and of speaking in a half-learned foreign language began to tell on my nerves, and I feared I could not keep going much longer without a real rest. Perhaps I had taken too literally the Guardian’s ringing beseeching words: "Strain every nerve.”
Fortunately my nerves are elastic, for at this particular moment things began to happen fast; and it was then I began to realize the import and know the truth of Bahá’u’lláh’s magnificent promise: "One righteous act is invested with such power as to elevate the dust until it reacheth unto the highest heaven, and to restore the strength that hath spent itself!”
And here I must in all justice mention the management of the Hotel Carrera. It is only too true that my record of the establishment of the Faith of Bahá’u’lláh must be a record of gratitude—gratitude first of all to Him, and then to Chile. Due to the great freedom of action which this hotel management allowed me, I was spared the added strain of the pressure of unfriendly surveillance and misinterpretation which almost logically would be aroused by the presence of a woman, a foreigner, alone, who received at all hours all kinds of people! But as it was, I owe this hotel and its management a great debt, for their unfailing courtesy, their friendliness, and, practically, their moral support. In such does the protection of Bahá’u’lláh consist, and His loving guidance manifest itself at all times and under all circumstances.
As I say, at this point, in March of 1941, things began to happen fast, while at the same time a plan of action which had been forming in the background of my mind began to emerge into the field of consciousness. This plan was three-fold. First to establish a small nucleus of sincere seekers, which might evolve into group form and later into an Assembly. Secondly, to surround this nucleus with a wide circle of persons friendly to the aims of the Cause whose influence would one day prove valuable. Thirdly, to permeate the intellectual and cultural environment of Santiago with the spirit and principles of the Faith, by means of lectures, articles, and personal contact.
The first of these aims had been accomplished
and needed only to be maintained, the
second was in the process of being realized;
it was to the third that I now turned my
attention. Here our newspaper contacts,
plus the fact that I was a published poet,
stood me in excellent stead. The book which
we had all but forgotten, and the career
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which at its inception we had cast aside
for Him, suddenly became legitimate in the
true sense of the word. We were ready to
embark upon a new course, in which our
public lecture experience, press connections,
and cultural background would be placed
en toto at the service of my Lord.
That this entailed perhaps tripling the amount of energy expended was very evident, and my nerves recoiled at the very thought. However, this was 1941; there was the need for haste, and I resolved to overlook no avenue for the approach to the soul of Chile. But I needed help—my strength was far spent, and I longed for a powerful, dedicated spirit beside me and I prayed earnestly for assistance. One evening, I was sitting with a few friends in my living room when a knock at the door had the curious effect of causing my heart to double its beat. I opened my door to Miguel Padilla, former vice-consul for Chile at Los Angeles, whom I had met at the Chilean Consulate. He had told Mrs. Adler and myself that he had known about the Bahá’í Cause for several years, and considered the Bahá’ís to be a very fine people. But that had been in California, and now he was here —in Chile—in my very apartment!
I recognized him at once, of course. Miguel is a person one does not forget. He is not only powerfully built, and volcanic in type, but the spirit behind this physique is dynamic in the strictest sense. Miguel’s entrance is always dramatic. He is authentic —his presence carries all the force of true personality.
"I saw an article in the ‘Nacion’ about you and your work,” he said. “I remembered you. I have just arrived in Chile. I am come here now to help you in any way I can.”
He looked at me intensely, and in a way his look was a challenge to action, and a warning that if I was weak I had better become strong! I had work to do!
The next day was Sunday, and I met Miguel’s beautiful wife, gracious Lucha, and drove with them to the home of one of the cleverest lawyers in Chile for luncheon. Thus a wonderful friendship began, whose threads are tightly and irrevocably interwoven with the texture of the Cause in Chile, and with my own personal life.
That afternoon as usual we had our regular Sunday tea and lecture. I was late, and the apartment was already full of people, waiting. I stepped to our dressing room for a short prayer, and returned to the waiting group. As I opened the door to the drawing room I paused a moment at the threshold. I saw the friendly, eager faces; the sincere and the insincere; the seekers and the merely curious; the hopeful and the cynical. I distinguished the usual melange of languages which had made our task so difficult—German, English, Spanish. I contemplated the miracle of God’s work—the fruit of but a few months’ labor in a foreign land.
Suddenly, as I stood almost lost in abstraction, I realized I was seeing a new face, and I heard a new tongue, French.
Tony Fillon, valiant companion, had made his entrance on the stage of Chile, at this point in the drama that God was writing. Courage and spiritual integrity met my gaze —in that short moment we knew each other. This Frenchman had read my soul, understood my mission, and comprehended my need. I was no longer alone.
That night I thanked Bahá’u’lláh for answering my plea for help.
This was in early April. The date for the formation of Bahá’í Groups and Assemblies, "the pattern for a future society,” is in April of each year, on the twenty-first of the month. We were eager to establish a group, duly organized, with elected officers, that would function as a part of the administrative order of the Bahá’í Faith, until we could form a genuine Assembly the following year. For about this time Mr. Bittencourt declared his acceptance of Bahá’u’lláh as the Prophet of the New Day and his desire to become a member of the Bahá’í Faith. Being an Englishman, though born in Chile, he had been able to read extensively many of our English books on the Cause, and so had, we felt, acquired a pretty firm foundation of knowledge on which to base this decision. We therefore accepted him as the first adult believer of Chile.
Next we welcomed into the Cause the
first real Chilenos, Zavier Yañez and
Roberto Herrera Ramirez, both of whom had
just completed a concentrated course of
study with us, preparatory to leaving for
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Mr. Herrera’s farm in the South of Chile.
Then we had the soul-satisfying joy of accepting our beloved Millicent Bravo who came to surrender her will to Bahá’u’lláh’s in such a purity of purpose as we had never before seen.
Next, lovely Olive Hammond, and then Mrs. Edward Bittencourt joined the ranks of those who labor for the regeneration of Society and the Unity of the human race.
Came the yearly election date, and the first historic occasion in the Cause in Chile: the formation of the first duly organized group of Bahá’ís in that country; a group which would constitute that nucleus of unity, and shadow forth the future formation of, a true Spiritual Assembly.
Solemnly we met in an atmosphere of prayer, and duly constituted ourselves a Bahá’í Group. Since Mr. Herrera and Mr. Yañez were in the South, the group numbered but four, not including myself: Mr. and Mrs. Bittencourt, Mrs. Olive Hammond, Millicent Bravo. We also had with us, as a guest, Mr. Fillon. The officers elected were as follows: Chairman, Mr. Bittencourt; Secretary, Millicent Bravo; Treasurer, Mrs. Bittencourt, and Librarian, Mrs. Hammond. This was April 21, 1941.
Soon our group included the names of Dr. Roberto Seibenshein, of Erica Lobl, of Tony Fillon.
Now, with an organized group behind me, was the time to launch a lecture at the University of Chile.
About this time Mr. Herrera returned with his beautiful wife, Eugenia, who also joined the Cause. We were thus, ten, not counting myself, when we worked in unison and exultation for the success of the University lecture. And the name of Mr. Illañez must be mentioned as one of those who worked closely with us for its success. Now a Bahá’í, Mr. Illañez at that time aided us greatly with his spirit of friendliness; and he seemed as much one of us as though he had gone through the formula of signing his name to our roster.
So it was really twelve Bahá’ís who set about the first joint effort for the spread of the Cause in Chile. Its success is testimonial to the power of unity to accomplish the impossible.
Through Mrs. Herrera we obtained an appointment with Dr. Alessandri, President and Dean of Law of the University of Chile, son of the President Alessandri during whose tenure of office Martha Root first raised aloft the banner of the New Day in Chile!
Dr. Alessandri received me with great courtesy, and asked me what I wanted to lecture about. I replied, “About Bahá’u’lláh, the great Persian Prophet of the past century, and His wonderful new Teachings.” He was very kind, and ordered everything placed at my disposal. His secretary, the university press attaché, and Mr. Gonzales Vera, head of the ‘Co—operativa Intelectual,’ all showed me great courtesy and consideration. At this interview, we set the date for May 12th, but later Mr. Gonzales himself suggested that it be postponed because of the heavy rains. Thus it was that he himself arranged that our first public lecture in Chile be given on the Bahá’í Feast Day of Grandeur! What a fitting choice of date for the public launching of the Cause of Baha’u’llah in Chile!
The same day Miguel rang up. ”Marcia,” he said, "you simply can’t give a lecture the simple way you are doing it. You want a lot of front page publicity, and some important Chilean figure to introduce you to the public. I am here in the offices of “La Nacion’ and I want you to have dinner with the editors and a professor of the University. If he likes you, he might consent to introduce you!”
“Oh, Miguel,” I wailed, “why isn’t the way I’m doing it all right? I don’t need a lot of publicity, and besides I am a wreck and I want to go to bed!”
"All right,” he replied, “but I know my own people, and I want your lecture to be a success.” He sounded so disconsolate that I consented—plunged the weary body into a tub, prayed frantically for the strength to stand up to another hectic few hours of struggling with Spanish, and was ready when Miguel called.
That dinner made Bahá’í history. God
bless Miguel Padilla. I dined with three men
whose extreme kindness, whose intuitive
understanding, and generous spirits have surely
earned the blessings of Bahá’u’lláh. I think
of these three men with a sort of amazement.
[Page 889]
Oh, reader, if you could but know the Chile
I know; if my pen could bring to you the
reasons why I love this country with a
poignant, and a fierce protective love!
Before I continue this narrative I must bring to you something of this Chile that I know.
Chile is best described as a nation of thinkers. The percentage of educated thinkers may be relatively small, but the Chilean is a potential thinker even when he has never seen a book. These people, regardless of their social rank, impel respect. I think it is because they have an innate sense of human dignity. The Chilean will serve, but he is never a servant in the ordinary sense of the word.
Chile is justly ranked among the most advanced nations of South America. Culturally and intellectually Chile is greatly advanced. And she is also politically conscious. Her social laws are the finest in the hemisphere, and have served as model both for the United States and for Mexico.
The spirit of this country is universal—to such a point that many Chileans will tell you the Chilean is not patriotic. He is patriotic, but he is not nationalistic. Perhaps the key to his character is “live and let live.” One feels free in Chile. The standard of judgment is personality, not wealth or influence. Many a struggling artist, poet, writer, has found here intuitive appreciation and the encouragement to continue striving. It is a creative environment. No one feels himself a stranger in Chile, and the Chilean feels himself no stranger to any country.
The dinner to which, then, Miguel Padilla had enticed me proved to be one of the most fruitful occasions of my Bahá’í life. Mrs. Padilla was present, and the other guests were Mr. Domingo Melfi, editor of “La Nacion”; Mr. Luis Duran, beloved teller of Chilean tales, distinguished author; and Mr. Mariano Latorre, who ”if he liked me” would present me to the Chilean lecture-attending public the following Friday at the University of Chile.
Mr. Latorre is a famous author, professor at the University and newsman. To him, to Mr. Duran, Miguel, and Mr. Melfi, I owe the greater part of the outer success of the Lecture; to the loving group of earnest Bahá’í assistants, I owe the inner—though to my Lord I owe the whole.
We talked that evening of many things. They were feeling me out, after having accepted me as a fellow member of the “fourth estate.” A spirit of unity prevailed from the first. They questioned me intelligently about the Cause and about myself. No prejudices came between us—we met on the intellectual plane of truth, and we met well. Mr. Latorre gladly consented to introduce me; Mr. Melfi asked me to contribute a special article to his newspaper; and assured me of that paper’s full cooperation in making my initial lecture in Chile a success; while Mr. Duran would write a special article covering the content of the lecture itself. These were famous people who were all offering to help launch the Cause of God. And through this meeting the doors of the Press opened to me in Chile, and I was to find myself admitted into that inner circle of intellectuals which would afford me such scope for the sowing of the seeds of the Faith which would ripen in due time. The articles which the press published in Chile were filled with the principles of the Faith, and the enlightenment which comes from the Teachings of Bahá’u’lláh. They were much commented upon, well received, and always beautifully presented by "La Nacion.” Truly, this quiet dinner offered us a magic key!
I can still vividly remember my amazement at the unprejudiced minds of these people. It was a revelation to me, accustomed as I have been to meeting with objections based on prejudice. But here were men who knew how to think—who were unafraid of an idea; and above all, were unafraid of the idea of spirituality! Freely, like true men, they talked of spiritual things; of the soul, of religion, not as though it might burn their fingers, but as something to be studied, scrutinized, appraised, discussed, and even valued! In short, they are mature human beings.
And so it was that a Bahá’í stood on the
platform in the Salon de Honor in the University
of Chile on the seventeenth of May
in 1941, and gave the Message of Bahá’u’lláh
to the people of Chile. The audience numbered
between three and four hundred people.
Distinguished writers, professors, government
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890
officials, friends, acquaintances, and
eleven Bahá’ís composed that quiet, attentive,
courteous audience. With grace and
interest Mr. Latorre introduced me. Mrs.
Herrera followed with a more intimate few
words. There was a bit of music. Behind us
in a semicircle on the platform sat Mrs.
Padilla, Mr. Herrera, and Mr. Duran.
I stood and looked at the people. I was not afraid, but only so grateful that I could hardly speak. For over an hour these Chileans sat and listened to a North American woman read in halting Spanish words which astonished, which dropped into the quiet and searched the hearts—words from the pen of Bahá’u’lláh, ‘Abdu’l-Bahá and the precious Guardian.
The bell announcing the new day had been rung in Chile, and the curtain rang down on the first act.
All strong efforts encounter strong resistance. The consolidating period now began among the Bahá’ís, with its attendant trials, tests, and tribulations. These souls whom He had called together, and who each separately had responded to His call, had now to learn to function in unity in a world which was dying through lack of it. It is not easy, but it is great!
Remembering this period we feel grief, and tenderness. These little new plants had now to weather cold winds as well as learn to grow toward the sunlight, together. We began to encounter resistance, at first merely sensed, though later identified. For there is in South America, and especially in Chile, a number of so-called “spiritual” movements which in reality are anything but spiritual. As the Guardian has said, and we found out from experience, these teachings constitute the spiritual disease of this hemisphere, and particularly of South America. They are so confusing, so abstract, so "occult,” that they are the very antithesis of the shining, clean, fragrant truths which come to us from the pen of Bahá’u’lláh. They do not enlighten, they confuse. But they have the dubious advantage of being "time-hallowed.” They are, in effect, instruments for the spread of disunity and confusion, intentional or not. Some of these groups are utterly unscrupulous. Many are the ways in which they at this time commenced to hinder the spread of the Faith. The Chileans have a name for their type of maneuver and purpose. They call it “sabotaging” a movement. Their methods are subtle and clever in the extreme, and they lend themselves to the purposes of the avowed enemies of the Cause. They could not long prevail against the Cause of God, any more than darkness can prevail against the light, but they did cause many trials and heartaches until we learned to cope with them.
Thus, the period immediately following the University lecture, is one of tests, consolidation, and retreat from the limelight. I purposely moved shortly afterward to a small hotel where we held strictly Bahá’í meetings at which we endeavored to strengthen the understanding of the Friends and to instruct them more specifically in the administrative order of the Faith.
Later, I moved once more into “our house on Carmen Silva, where I again opened the meetings to enquirers, and many more seekers were attracted. Our Sunday teas were again regular affairs, and well-attended.
Meanwhile, during our “testing” period, we had changes in officers within the group. Mr. Herrera was elected chairman and Mrs. Hammond became treasurer. Still later, Dr. Seibenshein was elected chairman. We went through a period of flux and reorientation—of purification; for personal issues would cloud the mirror of unity, and result in the spiritually childish reaction of pique. It was natural; it was perhaps human as we understand the word superficially; but it was tragic, too. I grieved because there was nothing we could do. Here, in the sphere of personal spiritual growth, I stood without power to aid. This is a personal and lonely act, growth!
From time to time, during this period, meetings were held at the home of Mr. and Mrs. Hammond, and later we established strictly Bahá’í classes at the Bravo home for the exclusive study of the Administration, but they were poorly attended and I began to despair.
To understand this period of change and
test in the Cause itself, it is necessary to
understand that Chile herself as a nation.
was being torn and twisted at her very
foundations by the rising passions of the
[Page 891]
foreign elements of her population; reacting
in their turn to the increasing pressure of
world conditions.
The tender plant of the Cause of Bahá’u’lláh had to weather these storms and outshine this black confusion—and in the weathering was herself tossed about and wracked by the prevailing storm of passion. That it was not uprooted by the fierce gales is convincing testimony of its divine origin, and of the depth and strength of its roots in Chile. For it must be remembered that we were established and functioning as an administrative unit, even though but a group and not an assembly. We had been exercizing the functions proper to an assembly. We had been practicing the art of consultation; we had launched as an initial joint effort the University lecture; we had our duly elected officers with their proper responsibilities; and though actually not obliged to, we had always insisted on consultation before we ourselves took upon us any project connected with the Bahá’í work. We strove thus to set an example of the Bahá’í cooperative spirit, and to give to the group opportunity and practice for this wonderful consultative art. This group administrative unit dated its existence from April of 1941. It was, thus, struggling to maintain its integrity, its unity, its identity, at this critical period, that it might become, as it actually did become, that nucleus which would later evolve into the Spiritual Assembly to be formed in 1943. Thus, this nucleus was engaged in defending its organic unity while practically new-born, against conscious enemies from without, contention from within, and the while in an atmosphere which only those who lived in Chile during this period could adequately comprehend.
Also, the peculiar combination of human elements in the group itself made for a battle royal. Each and every one of these Bahá’ís were of particularly strong personality. Here I want to emphasize that I do not believe it Was ever for a moment a question of faith. The eternal flaming miracle of the Cause in Chile from the first is that none of the true believers ever wavered for a moment in their faith; though a certain few never had any to begin with, and only time will deal with them. It was simply a contest of personality while they learned through this very process that unity of action involves a surrender of what we have considered personality, to the interest of the whole; though the divine paradox is that there is no real loss! Add to the fact of strong personalities, the lack of even a common language among these courageous early believers (we were obliged to conduct the classes in French, English and Spanish!) and the extremely varied cultural and religious and national backgrounds represented in the group; add all this, and the group’s emergence from the storm of outer and inner tests into a duly constituted spiritual assembly becomes little less than a modern miracle.
All credit belongs to these gallant few for the entry of Chile into the great world community of Bahá’u’lláh. For at this period, the United States had not yet entered into the world conflict, and we had German, as well as French, English, Austrian, Chilean, Irish and American traditions represented in the Chilean community of Bahá’ís. We had Spanish and Irish and French Catholics; Protestants and a Buddhist; Jews and agnostics; we had cultural types ranging from the most advanced, scientifically trained mind, to the practical business man, and the housewife. We had represented in our little group the worlds of science and art and letters—of the professions and the laboring classes. It would be impossible to conceive of a group of that size being more widely representative of the different human types and traditions; or of a task more challenging than that which faced it: that of creating an amalgamation of its parts into a unified whole.
As I have pointed out, the Bahá’í unity is
a new experience. There is no standard to
measure it by; it is its own standard. It has
to be experienced to be understood. This
unity has not yet been achieved by the
Bahá’ís of Chile, but it will be. And as I said
before, all credit be to these young servants
of Bahá’u’lláh who have lent themselves,
even as human chemicals, to the great
laboratory of God, that they may be made one
through his love. In achieving this miracle
of unity, they will have served Chile well,
since that which holds Chile as a nation
back from the fulfillment of her possibilities
[Page 892]
in terms of action is that the intense
individualism of her people precludes a
sense of responsibility toward others,
precludes collective action, and hence
precludes that necessary unity of
conscience which in this
day is the sine qua non of constructive
social evolution.
The Cause of God, in a certain sense, can be said to reflect, so as to resolve vicariously, the fundamental problems of a given nation. Within it can be worked out in miniature, but in essence, the major problems, social tensions, and psychological interferences. Thus it can truly be said that a Bahá’í, of whatever nation he is a subject, is a true patriot.
Such a period as I have just described was, as can well be imagined, a severe experience for this servant also. Loving each of the Bahá’ís as I do, I suffered for each and for all. My human limitations in the way of aiding them were all too obvious, and I began to wonder if I had not brought them together in this close group form too soon. I still am wondering!
We have mentioned all the above in detail for it is of the essence of the work of establishing the mighty Cause of Bahá’u’lláh in a world which is torn with conflicting passions. The joy and the grief, the successes and the failures, are inseparable, and perhaps interdependent, in the work of world regeneration assigned to those who labor for the reign of righteousness. We live and we work in two worlds, one that is passing, and one that is coming to birth; we labor amongst, and are of, those "children of the half-light.”
About this time, October of 1941 had come, and we had moved into the second of two homes which will go down in history one day as concerned with the formation of Bahá’í institutions and the development of the Bahá’í faith in Chile. For these two homes were consecrated to Bahá’u’lláh. They were the “Centers” during this time. I never considered them as my homes, but as His, though mine was the sacred privilege to dwell therein.
This new “Center” was a lovely one, in the outskirts of Santiago, where the Andes reached almost to the walls of our garden—2483 Calle Lima.
Here we invited a dear Chilean friend, Mary Castel Blanco, to share this home with us. Here, aided by Mary, we daily received visitors and enquirers and held weekly classes, and the Bahá’í Feasts. Here Lucha Padilla became a Bahá’í, to our infinite joy, and Walter Hammond, and Edelmira Godoy, all now members of the Spiritual Assembly. And here Ruth Schaste and Elcira Vergara received their first illumination and knowledge of the Revelation of Bahá’u’lláh. Here, too, we received word from the absent Herreras that one of their farm boys had accepted the Cause and another was interested.
And here, too, we began to realize that we must return home, for rest and care. But not yet.
In November we held a consultation on the advisability of extension teaching work. We considered sending a teacher to Valparaiso, and agreed unanimously that it be Tony Fillon. I knew the field in Valparaiso to be a difficult one, having myself spent several days there with no success whatever. Tony had been eager to "pioneer” from the start, and so I was particularly happy that the group had selected him.
Tony was delighted, and set off at once. He remained away about a month during which he made splendid contacts, had excellent press interviews, was honored guest at a luncheon tendered him by the Architects Association of Valparaiso, and availed himself of all opportunities to present and explain the Cause to which he has literally dedicated his life and his great talents. Because of my own previous experience there, I was able to appreciate the success which Tony had had and to realize, too, that much more had actually been accomplished than immediate results showed.
About the same time, Doctor Seibenshein came to
see me one day with a problem which precipitated
a most difficult decision, indeed, a crucial
one, as later events
proved. Indeed, it was the most difficult
decision with which we had yet been faced.
He proposed to go South to stay with the
Herrera family on their farm, until a
position which he had been offered by the
Observatory of Concepcion should materialize.
However, With great humbleness, he offered
[Page 893]
to give up this opportunity if I felt that a
Spiritual Assembly could be formed in the
following April. This man was offering
nothing short of his livelihood to his Lord.
He was very ill, how ill even I did not
realize; he needed a rest, and he needed to
improve his earning position. This looked to
me like a God—sent opportunity to do both.
Several other Bahá’ís were present and we
talked it over. We weighed the advantage of
having the Cause taught in the South of
Chile, against the jeopardizing of a possible
Spiritual Assembly in April. We were in all,
eighteen, but with three of that number in
the South, myself not eligible, and certain
others unprepared really, the absence of Dr.
Seibenshein, and of Mrs. Padilla who was
obliged to go North, could possibly mean
that an Assembly would not be formed.
Was it the Will of God that the Cause
should rather spread out and cover Chile,
North and South? We thought deeply, and
we prayed. I knew also that I must soon
leave Chile. I mentally reviewed the
prevailing circumstances in the Cause; how far
short we were of having achieved the
necessary unity which would guarantee a
smooth functioning of the Spiritual Assembly.
Would it not be better not to strive
for the Assembly the following April, but
to permit the group to function for another
year as a group, until it might more nearly,
through experience, approximate a fusion of
wills. Or, would this fusion of wills take
place only in the functioning of the
Assembly itself?
It was a very difficult decision to make—difficult to “see true.” The testing period had taken its toll and left its wounds upon the body of the group. I feel now that I should have cabled the Guardian for advice, but I was shy at that time. I did not know from personal experience the tenderness and loving understanding which he is ready to give to the least of us.
Finally we decided to leave it to God. If there was to be a Spiritual Assembly formed in April, it would be formed; and if not, nothing we could do or plan would make it a possibility.
Doctor Seibenshein went South, Lucha North. Japan attacked the United States. Christmas came and went. Classes continued and work increased. By this time my articles for the newspapers were arousing friendly interest and I received a commission from California for a special series of four articles on Chile. Also by this time I was well established in the intellectual and newspaper circles of Santiago; friends were legion; the field of possibilities was constantly widening; opportunities, both professional and for the spread of the Cause (which to me were the same thing) were limitless. Why, then, did I choose that particular moment to leave Chile!
I think I will never know, really, if I should have gone or stayed. But at that time I felt simply that I had no more strength to carry on.
Of one thing I am certain. Never, never
would I have left, or even considered it, had
I not had the confidence which association
had given me, in the capacity of Tony Fillon
to take my place and carry on. His experience
in Valparaiso—his manner of working
there—had convinced me that he was capable of
maintaining the function of pioneer
during my absence. With the loving personal
assistance of Millicent, and of the
other friends, I felt the Cause would be safe
in his capable hands until I could return,
refreshed and strengthened, to continue where
I had left off. The group had been established,
and had functioned as a group for
nearly a year. Inwardly I knew Tony was
equal to it, and so I was able to make my
decision because of him. I had a faith and a
trust and a confidence in this Frenchman
that has never been betrayed. For he had
come to the Faith consciously, knowing
what he sought, and recognizing it when he
found it. His critical, capable, scholar’s
mind was a necessary complement to my
intuition. He could give me facts, gleaned
from his archaeological research and his
knowledge of Islám, which made concrete
what I had only read or intuitioned. The
purity of his Faith and the completeness of
his surrender to Bahá’u’lláh lessened any
potential danger of errors which might arise
out of his lack of direct and prolonged
experience in the Cause itself. And finally,
his friends were my friends; he of all the
Bahá’ís knew all the contacts I had made;
was equally welcomed by the press and artistic
[Page 894]
circles in which I had done so much
preliminary work; and was respected on his
own account for his training in architecture
and the arts, and his archaeological research.
I decided, therefore, to return home, cxpecting only to be gone, at most, four months.
The day before my departure arrived. I had invited everyone I had met in Santiago during my fifteen months’ stay, to call between noon and nine in the evening. From early morning until the following morning at six, when the plane would leave for home, I greeted and bade farewell to countless friends. People of all types and kinds; of every station in life, from servants to government officials, old and young, rich and poor, with and without gifts, came and went. That great unifying power which comes from God through His Manifestation never had showed its force to me more clearly. The spirit pervading that home I can never forget. Electric, powerful, dynamic and dramatic, it caught us all in its pervading beauty and made us one.
I left Chile on the seventh of March, and the curtain dropped on a second act in the drama of God’s cause.
At home I received news from the friends in Chile that Ruth Schaste and Elcira Vergara had become Bahá’ís—that Mrs. Collins and Philip Sprague had visited them—and finally of the re-election of officers for the Bahá’í group on April 21 of that year, 1942. The aim of a Spiritual Assembly had not been reached, owing to the dispersion of the Bahá’ís north and south of the capital. But nonetheless I was not disappointed, for I felt it to be best. I was delighted to hear that Millicent Bravo had been re-elected secretary, Mrs. Godoy, chairman, and Olive Hammond, treasurer.
I arrived once more in my beloved Chile in December of 1942. Miss Virginia Orbison, who had preceded me by three months, already well adapted, was aiding Mr. Fillon in maintaining the group work where we had left it. She had taken an apartment. several days before my arrival, and had arranged to hold the meetings and the classes there. So I accepted the beautiful invitation of our friend and fellow-Bahá’í, Edelmira Godoy, to pass several months in her home. Here I met Estéban Canales, who later was elected Chilean delegate to the historic celebration of the hundredth anniversary of the Bahá’í Faith, to be held in the Temple at Wilmette, Illinois, in 1944. Estéban became interested at once, studied diligently, and declared his desire to become a Bahá’í.
The classes in Bahá’í Administration which Miss Orbison had planned to begin in her new apartment, commenced a few days after my arrival. These classes continued regularly with Miss Orbison, Mr. Fillon and myself taking turns as instructor, and continued until the date of the formation of the Assembly, and afterward.
In March we moved back to the Carrera Hotel, and here the Cause began once more to grow. Our old friend and Bahá’í of the heart, Mr. Illañez, became a Bahá’í in actual fact. Others joining our ranks at this time were Miguel Stuven, Antonio Dominguez and Mr. Arturo Godoy, husband of our chairman. Here, too, Jimmy Barrett, now in Colorado, became a Bahá’í shortly before leaving for the United States. Here I began once more our customary afternoon invitational teas and continued with personal interviews and individual teaching work. Miss Orbison was also working hard, holding classes, and making new contacts.
And then the historic moment for the formation of the first Spiritual Assembly of the Faith in Chile arrived. The moment came when Chile would establish that institution which would link her with the hemisphere in the firm and mighty covenant of God—in the administrative order of Bahá’u’lláh.
It was a truly momentous occasion, and like on all truly momentous occasions, one only half grasps their full significance. We had as a guest Mrs. Yvonne Cuellar, first fruit of Mrs. Eleanor Adler’s consecrated work for the Cause in La Paz, Bolivia—first person in that country to accept the Faith. This seemed to us a rare favor, since it was with Mrs. Adler that I had left the shores of America; she bound for Bolivia, I for Chile.
Also, it was on this occasion that Mr.
Arturo Godoy officially joined the Bahá’ís
of Chile, being accepted by the group before
the election of the Assembly; and by a
[Page 895]
strange stroke of destiny, promptly found
himself elected a member of the Assembly
itself a few minutes later!
Many strange and beautiful things happened that evening—many pieces of what to me had been a spiritual puzzle, fell into place. Perhaps, too, a few wounds were healed. Shoghi Effendi had recently cabled me. "Rest assured, persevere, praying blessings, guidance, love.”
The blessings rained upon us that night. The election confirmed the original group, for whose functional integrity and existence we had battled so long. The chairman, Mrs. Godoy, was re-elected to the Assembly. The secretary, also, Millicent Bravo, she who had been from the first moment of the group’s formation its secretary, was re-elected. Our consecrated new Bahá’í, Estéban Canales, was made recording secretary. The original group evolved into the new form, with the addition of Mr. Godoy and Mr. Canales. Mrs. Padilla was made vice—chairman, and Mrs. Vergara, treasurer; and so, with the names of Olive and Walter Hammond, the Spiritual Assembly was complete with its nine members.
Many of the Bahá’ís of Chile unfortunately were not present. In all there were present sixteen. Of the absent, two had ceased to be active; one, Dr. Seibenshein, had left this world; one was ill, and in the hospital; Mrs. Espinosa, of course, was in the Argentine, and there were three friends, already confirmed, but not yet officially registered.
There was a very powerful spirit present that evening. There was a great joy and a sense of accomplishment among us, but also the sobering effect of the realization of great responsibility about to be assumed. Personally, I felt released; as though I should not be long here now; as though there was pressing work to be done somewhere, far, far away. For this reason I had not felt it right to yield to the loving request of the friends that I be considered eligible for election to the Assembly. (Again I wonder if I was right! Perhaps, had I accepted, I might have aided them to achieve that unity which so far, alas, they have failed to do!)
The consciousness that the whole Bahá’í world was engaged in the same process of electing Assemblies or forming new groups, was very strong this night; and I thought of Shoghi Effendi, and yearned to contribute to his happiness, hoping that the Santiago Assembly would prove worthy of his love and merit his approval one radiant day.
Truly, the promised blessings fell—our cup of spiritual joy was full. A task had at long last been accomplished, a task which had been long and arduous, into which had gone the efforts of so many people, but in my very heart I knew that this particular Assembly owed its existence to the prayers of the Guardian.
Miss Orbison left shortly for Paraguay on instructions from the Inter-America committee while I, on July 25th, received a cable from the Guardian expressing his desire that an outpost of the Faith be established in Magallanes, and that the privilege be mine.
The first meeting of the new Spiritual Assembly was held in the home of Millicent Bravo. The friends had invited me to be present and I availed myself of this opportunity to present to them a list of suggestions, a little advice gleaned from experience, and instructions once again for the conduct of an Assembly. It was a curious, and a very moving experience, for I sensed in this initial meeting of the Assembly the potential power of the Cause in Chile. There is a long and difficult road ahead, but "He doeth what He willeth.”
At this writing I have completed five and one-half months of initial work in Magallanes. The Cause has been initiated here—only that much can I say. I have given a series of five lectures on the Faith, which, all considered, can be said to have been successful. I am now commencing regular study-classes, composed of students gleaned from the lecture audience. The field is difficult, and the work slow. Utterly different from Santiago is Punta Arenas, but interesting and challenging!
On the ship coming down I met a wonderful
couple, who made me completely at
home at once, who showed me every kindness
and paved my path here with their fragrant
friendship: Hector and Gladys Puchi.
And another wonderful two, Mr. and Mrs.
Joseph Hollister, North Americans, invited
me into their home to live. In their home
[Page 896]
I finish this article begun at the Hotel
Cosmos, where I gave my lectures. These
are among those special people with whom it
seems Bahá’u’lláh sees fit to bless our earthly
existence. People who give, who accept us
without hope of reward and without question;
human people from whom one learns
to know of ”Man’s humanity to man.”
And it is through them one knows that humanity itself is worth all the sacrifice and pain and tearful nights which pave the path of those who labor to establish the Kingdom of God upon the earth. These people are the song one hears along the way; the fragrance carried on the spiritual breeze; the stars of the dark nights of discouragement; and the manifestation of His mercy and ever-present protection. For I know, though they may not, that in reality, their kindness is to Him, and not to us.
As I write the wind howls in the southern night. The full moon looks down, white and cold, through my window. It is February, the second month of 1944. That critical, turbulent, culminative, hundredth year of the existence of the Cause of Bahá’u’lláh on the earth planet. My thoughts at this moment turn to the Guardian, he who is the inspiration of our earthly life, he who manifests the justice of Bahá’u’lláh, and from whom emanates the love that is ‘Abdu’l-Bahá. And we think of the youthful Báb, and that hour before the dawn—and yearning floods us—and gratitude.
