Consultation: A Compilation/Messages from The Universal House of Justice
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Messages from The Universal House of Justice
45. ‘Although Local Spiritual Assemblies are primarily respon- sible for counseling believers regarding personal problems, there may be times, when in the judgment of the National or Local Assembly, it would be preferable to assign counseling or advisory duties to individuals or committees. This is within the discretion of the Assembly.”
(From a letter dated 27 March 1966 to
the National Spiritual Assembly of Bolivia)
46. “‘It is important to realize that the spirit of Baha’i consultation is very different from that current in the decision-making processes of non-Baha‘i bodies.
“The ideal of Baha*i consultation is to arrive at a unanimous decision. When this is not possible a vote must be taken. In the words of the beloved Guardian: *. . . when they are called upon to arrive at a certain decision, they should, after dispassionate, anx- ious and cordial consultation, turn to God in prayer, and with earnestness and conviction and courage record their vote and abide by the voice of the majority, which we are told by the Master to be the voice of truth, never to be challenged, and always to be whole-heartedly enforced.”
“As soon as a decision is reached it becomes the decision of the whole Assembly, not merely of those members who happened to be among the majority.
- When it is proposed to puta matter to the vote, a member of the
Assembly may feel that there are additional facts or views which must be sought before he can make up his mind and intelligently vote on the proposition. He should express this feeling to the Assembly, and it is for the Assembly to decide whether or not further consultation is needed before voting.
““Whenever it is decided to vote on a proposition all that is required is to ascertain how many of the members are in favor of it; if this is a majority of those present, the motion is carried; if it Is a
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minority, the motion is defeated. Thus the whole question of ‘abstaining’ does not arise in Baha’t voting. A member who does not vote in favor of a proposition is, in effect, voting against it, even if at that moment he himself feels that he has been unable to make up his mind on the matter.”’ (From a letter dated 6 March 1970 to the National Spiritual Assembly of Canada)
47. ‘Your letter of 14 February 1973 enquiring about the uses of Baha‘i consultation has been received.
‘This is, of course, a matter in which rigidity should be avoided.
““When a believer has a problem concerning which he must make a decision, he has several courses open to him. If it is a matter that affects the interests of the Faith he should consult with the appropriate Assembly or committee, but individuals have many problems which are purely personal and there is no obliga- tion upon them to take such problems to the institutions of the Faith; indeed, when the needs of the teaching work are of such urgency it is better if the friends will not burden their Assemblies with personal problems that they can solve by themselves.
- ‘A Baha’i who has a problem may wish to make his own
decision upon it after prayer and after weighing all the aspects of it in his own mind; he may prefer to seek the counsel of individual friends or of professional counselors such as his doctor or lawyer so that he can consider such advice when making his decision; or in a case where several people are involved, such as a family situa- tion, he may want to gather together those who are affected so that they may arrive at a collective decision. There is also no objection whatever to a Baha’i’s asking a group of people to consult together on a problem facing him.
“It should be borne in mind that all consultation is aimed at arriving at a solution to a problem and is quite different from the sort of group baring of the soul that is popular in some circles these days and which borders on the kind of confession that is forbidden in the Faith. On the subject of confession the Guardian’s secretary wrote on his behalf to an individual believer: ‘We are forbidden to confess to any person, as do the Catholics to their priests, our sins and shortcomings, or to do so in public, as some religious sects do. However, if we spontaneously desire to acknowledge we have
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been wrong in something, or that we have some fault of character, and ask another person’s forgiveness or pardon, we are quite free todo so. The Guardian wants to point out, however, that we are not obliged to do so. It rests entirely with the individual.’ ”’ (From a letter dated 19 March 1973 to the National Spiritual Assembly of Canada)
48. ‘‘The statement which you quote® in the second paragraph of your letter is taken from a Tablet of ‘Abdu’l-Baha which was addressed by Him to the friends in Tihran at a time when, without the knowledge and permission of the Spiritual Assembly and contrary to government regulations, one of the friends undertook to print the Kitab-i-Aqdas. The instructions of ‘Abdu’1-Baha which you quote were issued on that occasion and in that context.
‘*The Universal House of Justice has pointed out that when Shoghi Effendi enumerates the functions of a Local Spiritual Assembly in Baha’i Administration, page 37, he indicates that the local matters to be referred to the Local Spiritual Assembly are those ‘pertaining to the Cause.’ This does not mean, of course, that personal problems may not be referred to Baha’i Assemblies. The Local Spiritual Assembly, however, is not the only institution or agency to which the friends may turn for consultation on personal matters. Such consultation could be held with members of one’s family, with friends, or with experts. For example in one of His Tablets ‘Abdu’|-Baha envisages the possibility of experts in one profession conferring together.”’
(From a letter dated 8 April 1975 to an individual believer)
5. See extract Number 8 on page 5 of this compilation.
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