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STAR OF THE WEST
PUBLISHED NINETEEN TIMES A YEAR
In the Interest of the BAHAI MOVEMENT
By the BAHAI NEWS SERVICE, 515 South Dearborn Street, Chicago, Ill., U. S. A.
Publishers: ALBERT R. WINDUST—GERTRUDE BUIKEMA—DR. ZIA M. BAGDADI
Entered as second-class matter April 9, 1911, at the post office at Chicago, Ill., under the Act of March 3, 1879.
Terms: $2.50 per year; 15 cents per copy.
Make Money Orders Payable to BAHAI NEWS SERVICE, P. O. Box 283, Chicago, Ill., U. S. A.
To personal checks please add sufficient to cover the bank exchange.
Address all communications to BAHAI NEWS SERVICE, P. O. Box 283, Chicago, Ill., U.S.A.
WORDS OF ABDUL-BAHA.
"Great importance must be given to the development of the STAR OF THE WEST. The circle of its discussion must be widened; in its columns must be published the essential problems pertaining to the Bahai life in all its phases. Its contents must be so universal that even the strangers may subscribe to it. Articles must be published, dealing with the universal principles of the Cause, the writers proving that this Cause takes a vital interest in all the social and religious movements of the age and is conducive to the progress of the world and its inhabitants. In short, the STAR OF THE WEST must promote the aspirations and the ideals that will gather little by little around these general Tablets, bringing into the light of day all the historical, religious and racial knowledge which will be of the utmost value to the Bahai teachers all over the world."
From Unveiling of the Divine Plan.
| Vol. 10 | CONTENTS | No. 15 |
| PAGE | |
Portrait of Abdul-Baha Abbas | |
| Taken by an English Officer. | |
The Collective Center | |
| Address by HOOPER HARRIS. | |
The Manifestation of Divinity through Inspiration | |
| Address by SAFFA KINNEY. | |
Unveiling of the Divine Plan for the Western World | |
| Two Tablets of ABDUL-BAHA read at the Sixth Session of the Eleventh Annual Mashrekol-Azkar Convention and Bahai Congress. | |
--PHOTO--
ABDUL-BAHA ABBAS
Photograph taken summer of 1919, by an English Officer.
"We desire but the good of the world and the happiness of the nations; that all nations shall become one in faith and all men as brothers; that the bonds of affection and unity between the sons of men shall be strengthened, that diversity of religion shall cease and differences of race be annulled. So it shall be; these fruitless strifes; these ruinous wars shall pass away, and the 'Most Great Peace' shall come."—BAHA'O'LLAH.
| Vol. 10 | Massa'ul 1, 75 (December 12, 1919) | No. 15 |
Address by HOOPER HARRIS of New York City, delivered at the Sixth Session of the Bahai Congress at Hotel McAlpin, New York City, Tuesday
afternoon, April 29th, 1919. Stenographically reported.THE subject assigned to me this afternoon is "The Collective Center." I did not choose the subject myself, I was asked to speak upon it.
In the great Tablet of Ishrakat, in the Persian meaning, shining forth; in the great Tablet of the shining forth, BAHA'O'LLAH says, beginning the Tablet with this expression—I am not quoting the words exactly but the substance—"When God purposes a new creation He first sends forth the luminous point, the point traverses the circle and passes through every sign, and there appears two great orbs."
"In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God."
The Word of God is that luminous point, the desire or the will or the Word of God. He, therefore, first sends forth His Word, His will, and that will traverses the circle and these two great orbs are produced. We read in the old Testament that the earth was without form and void, and darkness was upon the face of the deep, and the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the water and then the creation took place. In other words, creation is not out of nothing, as the theologians say. God has not spoken in our own scriptures or in any scriptures of creation ex nihilo that is to say, creation out of nothing.
Creation is a process, is a forming, and the process of the forming is plainly told us if we have the eye to see it in these words of BAHA'O'LLAH in the great shining forth. There we have the point and the circle, the center and the circumference, and in the point and the circle the center and the circumference, we have the whole of all there is in the science of mathematics. In the point we have the symbol of the singleness of God; in the circle we have the symbol of the allness of God. Both the point and the circle are the symbols of eternity because you can extend the point forever and ever in either direction and never reach the end of it; you can subdivide it forever and ever and never reach the end of it. It is infinite in its minuteness; it is infinite in its greatness. The circle is the enclosure; it is the horizon, it is the circumference. You can go around it forever and ever and never get to the end of it.
The point is the symbol of the Occident, the singleness of God; the circle is the symbol of the Orient, the allness of God, and not until the point and the circle meet do you have the absolute oneness. So BAHA'O'LLAH has taught us the singleness and the oneness of God, and in the singleness and oneness of God
we again have the point and the circle, the circle and the circumference.
In the West, every church spire pointing with its sharp point up into the heavens, represents a mathematical idea of God, the one God in heaven in singleness. In the East every religious temple has a dome, it has the half circle; it represents the eye of God, looking out in every direction and seeing His allness. The symbols, the point and the circle, the symbols of geometry and the symbols of arithmetic are concrete mathematics, yet nothing in themselves. The one can do nothing alone; the cipher can do nothing alone. But when you bring the two together, the one and the cipher you have the ten, and in the ten you have the decimal system and in the decimal system you have the principle of mathematics which builds everything; the principle of mathematics which builds your cities, which builds your great bridges, your great works of engineering, your great construction work because the Occident and the Orient have come together. They have clasped hands.
The point is the symbol of the objective being, the circle is the symbol of the subjective being. Now we see that even in the description given us in the creation, the earth was without form and void and the Spirit of God moved upon the surface of the waters and there commenced to be a forming, a creating, a drawing in toward a collective center. And then in the spiritual sense when God sent forth His prophet, His manifestation, His Word, for the purpose of a new spiritual creation in this universe, the same principle exactly was followed. He sent forth the luminous point—as in this great, new wonderful creation of our own day, the Bab—and eighteen others, making nineteen "letters of the living."
I cannot talk long, but if you will study carefully you will find that Jesus the Christ had twelve disciples, men—and there were six women dear to his heart, his faithful servants who, because of the character of the times and the conditions were not outwardly known as disciples, but who were in a spiritual and inner sense just as truly disciples of the blessed Christ as were his twelve men disciples,—and so then there were eighteen "letters of the living," and together with Christ, himself the point, made the nineteen; and the one and the nine, ten. The Báb, the luminous point, passes through these signs or letters. He has his eighteen "letters of the living," the greatest of all of whom, thank God, was a woman, Kurat'-l Ayn, who gave her life for this great Cause in such a manner that Dr. Pollock, a western physician present at the time and witnessing her execution, makes the statement, publishes it in writing, that that magnificent, that wonderful woman bore with infinite patience, without a murmur of complaint, with great gladness, a long and torturing death for the sake of the great freedom of woman and of the race. Eighteen "letters of the living," himself the point, the luminous point, nineteen; one and nine, ten.
And then there were created these great two orbs, the great Manifestation of God, the orb of command, the orb of revelation, the orb of manifestation; and the other orb, the Center of the Covenant. Two great orbs. So we have in the outer, physical creation, according to the description, the great collective center as well as in the spiritual creation the great collective center. We have outwardly in this physical universe of ours, the great collective center the sun. Around it revolve the planets and everything in the circumference of that enclosure is pulling upon the sun, and the sun in its turn is pulling to it every particle, every smallest atom throughout the solar system. And so, through this great collective center, the sun, and through the great law of gravitation—which on the material and the outer plane is the expression of love, because that is the attraction of gravitation,
the affinity of atom for atom, the love of atom for atom—through this great central orb, the sun and the physical expression of love, gravitation, the order of the universe is maintained.
And then, I think you will find in the great book, Seven Valleys, BAHA'O'LLAH—long before the scientists knew anything about it—said "Split the atom, and at its center you will find a radiance." The scientists came along and have discovered that the atom could be split and they did split it, and at its center they found a form of electromagnetic energy which they named the electron. So even the little atom is a world complete in itself, the point and the circle and its point or center is the electron. Its circumference is all the rest of it and through the radiant energy at its center, its world is held together and the order of the integrity of even the little atom is maintained and preserved through this principle of the collective center.
The great organism we call the macrocosm; man as an individual has been called a microcosm. What is true of the macrocosm is also of the microcosm because man, as an individual, has also his own universe and at the center of that universe is a great collective center. And in the individual man what is that collective center? BAHA'O'LLAH says in his Hidden Words, "We have deposited in you the essence of our light, therefore depend upon it and upon nothing else." So that the center of each individual human being, the center of the universe of the individual, he calls the essence of the light of God, radiance from God at the center of the individual human being. And where does that center exist? God has told us that there is a connection between the individual and the soul.
The soul is not in the body like something within a shell but each individual is connected with his soul and his soul is the carrier of the commands of God. Through the soul the individual receives the light of the inspiration and the knowledge God. Not merely by their circumferences meeting; they are connected by the meeting of their centers.
When center is connected with center then you have a real unity, a real joining. When only circumference is joined with circumference you merely have an outer contact, which is a very different thing. So the man or the woman who is truly joined to the great collective center, God, is joined at that point of connection where the two worlds meet, joined at the place the soul connects the individual with the great, the eternal, and the universal.
We pass on to the collective center of the Kingdom of God upon the earth. You will remember how one day Jesus was walking with his disciples, and he passed the temple, the outer temple of stone, and he said, "You see this temple? Destroy it and in three days I will build it again," and the writer, the reporter of the words of Jesus, notes that he did not refer to this temple of stone; he referred to the temple of his own body. Again Jesus said, "Know ye not that the Kingdom of Heaven is amongst you?" The words do admit of the meaning that the Kingdom of Heaven is "within" you, that is quite true, but that is not the primary meaning of the words. The primary meaning of the words was that the Kingdom of Heaven is amongst you, and he meant by that that the Word of God in the flesh, walking among men, was the organic law of men, in the midst of them; that He was their king, He was their charter; He was their law, He was the Kingdom of God amongst them. The commentators point out that he must have meant this because the words are addressed to the Pharisees and the commentators say that it is not likely that in addressing the Pharisees he would have said the Kingdom of Heaven is "within you."
The body of the Manifestation of God upon the earth is the Kingdom of God amongst men, and He is the great collective
center of the whole human race. In the Tablet which will be read to you after the speaking, Abdul-Baha, gives illustrations of various collective centers. You will hear these things from his own pen and he says that the collective center, the real collective center among men, is the body of the teachings of the Kingdom of God. What does he mean? That the teachings of God are not something which are just scattered here and there and everywhere without any system and without any order, but that they have a body and a body means an organism. You can't have a body without an organism; a body must have its head, it must have its heart, it must have its lungs, it must have the things that constitute a body. Now, there are different ideas of what might be considered the body of the teachings of God, the body of the teachings of God on the earth today.
First and foremost, Abdul-Baha, the Center of the Covenant, is in himself, in his own personality, the body of the teachings of the Kingdom of God. Mrs. Dreyfus-Barney said to me when I was in Acca, "The Master does not pose, there is no posing about the Master." He is as simple as a little child, so simple that he fools people who do not know who and what he is. That dear, sweet, wonderful old man, in his own personality, in his own body walking this earth today is the body of the teachings of the Kingdom of God, is the law of the Kingdom of God, is everything that there is in the Kingdom of God embodied and shown forth in a human life, in a human personality.
Now, the Center of the Covenant of God upon this earth today, the body of the teachings of God upon the earth today, has himself told us that the Mashrekol-Azkar, the outward physical temple, will one day show forth the most marvelous spiritual results and that all of the activities of the Kingdom are to go forth from the Mashrekol-Azkar, the outer physical temple. He himself has named that outer physical temple as a collective center for the teachings of God. He has sent us a great and wonderful Tablet, a Tablet calling for action, a Tablet calling for us to do something, not merely to take his words and to say of them, Beautiful! Wonderful! Not merely to enjoy ourselves in a great spiritual feast in the delight of listening to that word and utterance, not merely in the sacred reverence we have for those writings and their embellishment as we have them here in these unveilings, Beautiful, beautiful! Wonderful, wonderful! But that is not what the Great Master is calling on us for. He is calling on us for action. He is calling on us to do the things that he is asking us to do, telling us how to do, in these great Tablets.
We should respond to the call, we should see the necessity of the collective center after he himself has told us about it, we should realize that here is the collective center whose radii extends from that center to the circumference and that from everywhere throughout that whole circumference every least and little ray, even at the outer edge of the circumference if it is turned toward the center, will come together in a great meeting and join and know each other in the center. It is inevitable, it cannot be avoided. But the minute you turn your back upon that center, the minute you say, "I am an individual, I am going to have my own individual way, I don't believe in any collective center, I think I can do this thing for myself," and you begin to look out toward the horizon, toward the outer rim of the circle and you have your own little way, talking—Oh, how beautifully people can talk, when they should do—talking in the most beautiful and wonderful way, all the time you are getting further and further apart from everyone of these little rays that start from that collective center. And we might go on for ever and ever and never come together, because the mathematical principle is contrary
to our coming together if we follow that course. But the very minute that we turn in our tracks, each one of us gets rid of his desire to have his own little particular or individual way, or to exalt himself in any little way, or to think that he amounts to anything—Ah, how could he amount to anything if he only knew in comparison to the great heart of God how little he really is and how big he can become if he finds his reality there in Him, the bigger One!—if he only comes to know that, and to realize that and turns his back to the circumference and his face toward the great Center of the Covenant, then he is marching from the great outer rim—column after column, you can see them as they come, marching and marching from every point of that circle and from the circumference, each one intent upon his own business, each one doing his own duty, and yet every one of them from every point, gradually, persistently, inevitably, tending to the great union—where he and they are joined in the Center, and are not merely brought together by contact on the outer circumference.
If this great Congress and Convention does not succeed in bringing us to this realization, that we must obey the call of the Center of the Covenant, that we must listen with all our hearts and souls to what he has to say about the commands and about the collective center, then our session will have failed, and who are to do the work?
Thank God for ever and for ever, eternally thank Him, that you shall hear His words in these great Tablets, quoting first the words of Jesus the Christ, "Blessed are the poor for theirs is the Kingdom of God," and then He Himself saying, "Blessed are the nameless and the traceless poor, for they are the leaders of mankind!"
Address by SAFFA KINNEY of Boston, delivered at the Sixth Session of the Bahai Congress at Hotel McAlpin, New York City, Tuesday afternoon,
April 29th, 1919. Stenographically reported.MY beloved brother, Hooper Harris, has given you really the first phase, or the first conditions of my topic and in all that I have to say, I want you to consider that as the first part of my few words. The topic as given to me this afternoon is "The Manifestation of Divinity and Inspiration." I have taken the liberty of changing one word. Somehow or other I could not seem to quite understand the way it read, so I changed the word "and" to the word "through"—"The Manifestation of Divinity through Inspiration," and then I seemed to get some thoughts. However, be it as it may, I have taken for my text this afternoon the Lord's Prayer: "Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be Thy name, Thy Kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven," and I wish to present the same thought that Brother Harris has presented from the standpoint of one who is trying.
Everything, everywhere, has a manifestation of some wonderful thought or idea behind it, or lying concealed, shall we say. If you wander through the fields, if you wander through the rose-gardens, if you pass into the midst of the great forest there you see nature in activity; there you see the wonderful flowers of the field, the daisies, growing, passing through their phases of development and then passing away, and you see the wonderful gardens coming to fruition and fullness, passing into the blossoms and then into the seed, and passing away, leaving the seed behind;
(Continued on page 286)
O thou STAR OF THE WEST!
Be thou happy! Be thou happy! Shouldst thou continue to remain firm and eternal, ere long, thou shalt become the Star of the East and shalt spread in every country and clime. Thou art the first paper of the Bahais which is organized in the country of America. Although for the present thy subscribers are limited, thy form is small and thy voice weak, yet shouldst thou stand unshakable, become the object of the attention of the friends and the center of the generosity of the leaders of the faith who are firm in the Covenant, in the future thy subscribers will become hosts after hosts like unto the waves of the sea; thy volume will increase, thy arena will become vast and spacious and thy voice and fame will be raised and become world-wide—and at last thou shalt become the first paper of the world of humanity. Yet all these depend upon firmness firmness, firmness!
O ye apostles of BAHA'O'LLAH—May my life be a ransom to you!
. . . . Similarly, the Magazine, the STAR OF THE WEST, must be edited in the utmost regularity, but its contents must be the promulgator of the Cause of God—so that both in the East and the West, they may become informed of the most important events.
STAR OF THE WEST FOUNDATION
| Northeastern States: HOOPER HARRIS. | Western States: HELEN S. GOODALL. |
| Southern States: JOSEPH H. HANNEN. | Dominion of Canada: MAY MAXWELL. |
| Central States: ALBERT VAIL, CARL SCHEFFLER. | |
| Editorial Staff: ALBERT R. WINDUST—GERTRUDE BUIKEMA—DR. ZIA M. BAGDADI | |
| Honorary Member: MIRZA AHMAD SOHRAB | |
| Vol. 10 | Massa'ul 1, 75 (December 12, 1919) | No. 15 |
Tablet* of ABDUL-BAHA read at the Sixth Session of the Eleventh Annual Mashrekol-Azkar Convention and Bahai Congress, held in Hotel McAlpin, New York City, April 26-30, 1919.
FIRST TABLETTo the Assemblies and Meetings of the believers of God and the maid-servants of the Merciful in the United States and Canada—Upon them be BAHA'O'LLAH El-Abha!
O ye blessed souls!
I desire for you eternal success and prosperity and beg perfect confirmation for each one in the divine world. My hope for you is that each one may shine forth like unto the morning star from the horizon of the world and in this garden of God become a blessed tree, producing everlasting fruits and results.
Therefore I direct you that which is conducive to your heavenly confirmation and illumination in the Kingdom of God.
*The two Tablets presented herewith are addressed to the Bahai Assemblies of the United States and Canada, instructing them to spread the principles of BAHA'O'LLAH in Alaska, Mexico, Central America, South America and the West Indies. The first Tablet was revealed in the Garden of Bahjee, Saturday morning, April 8th, 1916; the second Tablet was revealed on Thursday afternoon, March 8th, 1917, at Haifa, Palestine.—The Editors.
It is this: Alaska is a vast country. Although one of the maid-servants of the Merciful has hastened to those parts, serving as a librarian in the public library, and according to her ability is not failing in teaching the Cause, yet the call of the Kingdom of God is not yet raised through that spacious territory.
His Holiness Christ says: Travel ye to the East and to the West of the world and summon the people to the Kingdom of God. Hence the mercy of God must encompass all humanity. Therefore, do ye not think it permissible to leave that region deprived of the breezes of the Morn of Guidance. Consequently, strive as far as ye are able to send to those parts fluent speakers, who are detached from aught else save God, attracted with the fragrances of God, and sanctified and purified from all desires and temptations. Their sustenance and food must consist of the teachings of God. First they must themselves live in accordance with those principles, then guide the people. Perchance, God willing, the lights of the Most Great Guidance may illumine that country and the breezes of the rose-garden of the love of God may perfume the nostrils of the inhabitants of Alaska. Should ye become confirmed in thus rendering such a service, rest ye assured that ye shall crown your heads with the diadem of everlasting sovereignty, and at the Threshold of Oneness you will become the favored and accepted servants.
Likewise the Republic of Mexico is very important. The majority of the inhabitants of that country are devoted Catholics. They are totally unaware of the reality of the Bible, the Gospel and the new divine Teachings. They do not know that the basis of the religions of God is one and that the Holy Manifestations are like unto the Sun of Truth, rising from the different dawning-places. Those souls are submerged in the sea of dogmas. If one breath of life be blown over them, great results will issue therefrom. But it is better for those who intend to go to Mexico to teach, to be familiar with the Spanish language.
Similarly, the six Central American Republics, situated south of Mexico—Guatemala, Honduras, Salvador, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Panama and the seventh country Belize or British Honduras. The teachers going to those parts must also be familiar with the Spanish language.
You must give great importance in teaching the Indians, i.e., the aborigines of America. For these souls are like the ancient inhabitants of Peninsular Arabia, who previous to the manifestation of His Holiness Mohammed were treated as savages. But when the Mohammedic light shone forth in their midst, they became so illumined that they brightened the world. Likewise, should these Indians and aborigines be educated and obtain guidance, there is no doubt that through the divine Teachings, they will become so enlightened as in turn to shed light to all regions.
All the above countries have importance, but especially the Republic of Panama, wherein the Atlantic and the Pacific Oceans come together through the Panama Canal. It is a center for travel and passage from America to other continents of the world, and in the future it will gain most great importance.
Likewise, the islands of the West Indies, such as Cuba, Haiti, Porto Rico, Jamaica, the islands of the Lesser Antilles, Bahama Islands, even the small Watling island, have great importance; especially the two black Republics, Haita and Santo Domingo, situated in the cluster of the Greater Antilles. Likewise, the cluster of the islands of Bermuda in the Atlantic Ocean have importance.
In a similar way, the Republics on the continent of South America,—Columbia, Ecuador, Peru, Brazil, British Guiana, Dutch Guiana, French Guiana, Bolivia, Chile, Argentine, Uruguay, Paraguay, Venezuela; also the islands in the north east and west of South America, such as Falkland Island, Galapagos, Juan Fernandez, Tobago and Trinidad. Likewise, the city of Bahia, situated on the eastern shore of Brazil. Because it is some time that it has become known by this name, its efficacy will be most potent.
In short, O ye believers of God! Exalt your effort and magnify your aims. His Holiness Christ says: "Blessed are the poor, for theirs shall be the Kingdom of Heaven." In other words: Blessed are the nameless and traceless poor, for they are the leaders of mankind. Likewise it is said in the Koran: "We desire to bestow our gifts upon those who have become weak on the face of the earth, and make them a nation and the heirs (of spiritual truth.)" Or, we wish to grant a favor to the impotent souls and suffer them to become the inheritors of the Messengers and Prophets.
Therefore, now is the time that you may divest yourselves of the garment of attachment to this phenomenal realm, be wholly severed from the physical world, become angels of heaven and travel and teach through all these regions.
I declare by Him, beside whom there is no one, that each one of you shall become the Israfel of Life, blowing the breath of Life in the souls of others.
Upon ye be greeting and praise!
O Thou incomparable God! O Thou Lord of the Kingdom! These souls are Thy heavenly army. Assist them and with the cohorts of the Supreme Concourse, make them victorious; so that each one of them may become like unto a regiment and conquer these countries through the love of God and the illumination of divine Teachings.
O God! Be Thou their supporter and their helper, and in the wilderness, the mountain, the valley, the forests, the prairies and the seas, be Thou their confidant—so that they may cry out through the power of the Kingdom and the breath of the Holy Spirit!
Verily, Thou art the Powerful, the Mighty and the Omnipotent, and Thou art the Wise, the Hearer and the Seer.
(Translated by Mirza Ahmad Sohrab, Washington, D. C., April 4, 1919.)
To the Assemblies and Meetings of the believers of God and the maid-servants of the Merciful in the United States and Canada—Upon them be BAHA'O'LLAH El-Abha!
O ye heavenly souls, sons and daughters of the Kingdom!
God says in the Koran: "Take ye hold of the Cord of God, all of you, and become ye not disunited."
In, the contingent world there are many collective centers which are conducive to the association and unity between the children of men. For example, patriotism is a collective center, nationalism is a collective center, identity of interests is a collective center, political alliance is a collective center, the union of ideals is a collective center, and the prosperity of the world of humanity is dependent upon the organization and promotion of the collective centers. Nevertheless, all the above institutions are in reality the matter and not the substance, accidental and not eternal, temporary and not everlasting. With the appearance of great revolutions and upheavals, all these collective centers are swept away. But the Collective Center of the Kingdom, embodying the institutes and divine Teachings, is the eternal Collective Center. It establishes relationship between the East and the West, organizes the oneness of the world of humanity, and destroys the foundation of differences. It overcomes and includes all the other collective centers. Like unto the ray of the sun, it dispels entirely the darkness, encompassing all the regions, bestows ideal life, and causes the effulgence of divine illumination. Through the breaths of the Holy Spirit it performs miracles, the Orient and the Occident embrace each other, the North and South become intimates and associates, conflicting and contending opinions disappear, antagonistic aims are brushed aside, the law of the struggle for existence is abrogated, and the canopy of the oneness of the world of humanity is raised on the apex of the globe, casting its shade over all the races of men. Consequently, the real collective center is the body of the divine Teachings, which include all the degrees and embrace all the universal relations and necessary laws of humanity.
Consider: The people of the East and the West were in the utmost strangeness. Now to what a high degree they are acquainted with each other and united together! How far are the inhabitants of Persia from the remotest countries of America! And now observe how great has been the influence of the heavenly power, for the distance of thousands of miles has become identical with one step! How various nations that have had no relations or similarity with each other are now united and agreed through this divine potency! Indeed to God belongs power in the past and in the future! And, verily, God is powerful over all things!
Consider: When the rain, the heat, the sun and the gentle zephyrs co-operate with each other, what beautiful gardens are produced! How the various kinds of hyacinths, flowers, trees and plants associate with each other and are conducive to the adornment and charm of one another! Hence the oneness of the bounty of the sun, the oneness of rain and the oneness of the breeze, have, so
overcome all other considerations that the variety of hues, fragrances and tastes have increased the adornment, the attraction and sweetness of the whole. In a similar manner, when the divine Collective Center and the outpouring of the Sun of Reality and the breaths of the Holy Spirit are brought together, the variety of races and the differences existing between countries will become the cause of the embellishment, decoration and elegance of the world of humanity.
Therefore, the believers of God throughout all the Republics of America, through the divine power, must become the cause of the promotion of heavenly Teachings and the establishment of the oneness of humanity. Every one of the important souls must arise, blowing over all parts of America the breath of life, conferring upon the people a new spirit, baptizing them with the fire of the love of God, the water of life, and the breaths of the Holy Spirit—so that the second birth may become realized. For it is written in the Gospel: "That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the spirit is spirit."
Therefore, O ye believers of God in the United States and Canada! Select ye important personages, or that they go themselves, becoming severed from rest and composure of the world, may arise and travel throughout Alaska, the Republic of Mexico, and South of Mexico, in the Central American Republics, such as Guatemala, Honduras, Salvador, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Panama and Belize; and through the great South American Republics, such as Argentine, Uruguay, Paraguay, Brazil, French Guiana, Dutch Guiana, British Guiana, Venezuela, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia and Chile; also in the group of the West Indies islands, such as Cuba, Haiti, Porto Rico, Jamaica and Santo Domingo, and the group of the islands of the Lesser Antilles, the islands of Bahama and the islands of Bermuda; likewise to the islands of the east, west and south of South America, such as Trinidad, Falkland Islands, Galapagos Islands, Juan Fernandez and Tobago. Visit ye especially the city of Bahia, on the eastern shore of Brazil. Because in the past years this city was christened with the name, "Bahia," there is no doubt that it has been through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit.
Consequently, the believers of God must display the utmost effort, upraise the divine melody throughout those regions, promulgate the heavenly Teachings and waft over all, the spirit of eternal life; so that those Republics may become so illumined with the splendors and the effulgences of the Sun of Reality that they may become the objects of the praise and commendation of all other countries. Likewise, ye must give great attention to the Republic of Panama, for in that point the Occident and the Orient find each other united through the Panama Canal, and it is also situated between the two great oceans. That place will become very important in the future. The Teachings once established there, they will unite the East and the West, the North and the South.
Hence the intention must be purified, the effort ennobled and exalted; so that ye may establish affinity between the hearts of the world of humanity. This glorious aim will not become realized save through the promotion of divine Teachings which are the foundations of the holy religions.
Consider how the religions of God served the world of humanity! How the religion of Torah became conducive to the glory and honor and progress of the Israelitish nation! How the breaths of the Holy Spirit of His Holiness Christ created affinity and unity between divergent communities and quarreling
families! How the sacred power of His Holiness Mohammed became the means of uniting and harmonizing the contentious tribes and the different clans of Peninsular Arabia—to such an extent that one thousand tribes were welded into one tribe, strife and discord were done away with, all of them unitedly and with one accord strove in advancing the cause of culture and civilization, and thus were freed from the lowest degree of degradation, soaring toward the height of everlasting glory! Is it possible to find a greater Collective Center in the phenomenal world than this? In comparison to this divine Collective Center, the national collective center, the patriotic collective center, the political collective center and the cultural and intellectual collective center are like child's plays!
Now strive ye that the Collective Center of the sacred religions, for the inculcation of which all the prophets were manifested and which is no other than the Spirit of the divine Teachings,—be spread in all parts of America;—so that each one of you may shine forth from the horizon of Reality like unto the morning star, divine illumination may overcome the darkness of nature, and the world of humanity may become enlightened. This is the most great work! Should ye become confirmed therein, this world will become another world, the surface of the earth will become the delectable paradise, and eternal institutions be founded.
Let whosoever travels to different parts to teach, peruse over mountain, desert, land and sea, this supplication:
O God! O God! Thou seest my weakness, lowliness and humility amongst Thy creatures; nevertheless I have trusted in Thee and have arisen in the promotion of Thy Teachings amongst Thy strong servants, relying on Thy power and might!
O Lord! I am a broken-winged bird and desire to soar in this, Thy space, to which there is no limit. How is it possible for me to do this save through Thy providence and grace, Thy confirmation and assistance!
O Lord! Have pity on my weakness and strengthen me with Thy power!
O Lord! Have pity on my impotency and assist me with Thy might and majesty!
O Lord! Should the breaths of the Holy Spirit confirm the weakest of creatures, he shall attain to the highest station of greatness and shall possess anything he desireth. Indeed, Thou hast assisted Thy servants in the past, and they were the weakest of Thy creatures, the lowliest of Thy servants and the most insignificant of those who lived upon the earth; but through Thy sanction and potency they took precedence over the most glorious of Thy people and the most noble of Thy mankind. Whereas formerly they were as moths, they became royal falcons and whereas before they were as bubbles they became seas. Through Thy bestowal, Thy mercy and Thy most great favor they became stars shining in the horizon of guidance, birds singing in the rose-gardens of immortality, lions roaring in the forest of knowledge and wisdom and whales swimming in the oceans of life.
Verily, Thou art the Clement, the Powerful, the Mighty, and the Most Merciful of the Merciful!
(Translated by Mirza Ahmad Sohrab, April 5, 1919, Washington, D. C.)
and if you go into the forest there you hear the rustling of the giant trees, and the wind blowing through their branches to a sighing tune, and you say to yourself, if you are a thoughtful man, "Why, I see all these things, I feel all these things, I smell the beautiful flowers and hear the whispering trees, and I may even break the branches, but whence came they?" Have you never thought of that? You must realize that they come from an invisible idea. In other words, that they are indeed manifestations of some perfection, laying hidden somewhere, and then if you pass away from the forest and away from the flowers and away from the fields, and into the cities, and come into the great cathedral and hear the organ playing and on all sides of you you see the mighty, massive columns and the vaulted roof, the beautiful statuary, you see another phase of the same thing. There you see things born of the idea and the brain of men, something more tangible, perhaps, than nature. You say to yourself, "Oh, how beautiful that statuary is! Why it looks so much like someone I knew," as we might say in Boston, like Phillips Brooks, or like Lincoln or a great picture of Washington, or a great statue that resembles some great saint of the past ages in the church; and the mighty organ, which is the idea that embodies forth the mysteries of music, and you say to yourself, "There is the mind of man at work. What a wonderful idea that artist had, that genius had, that great creator, that great architect had, when he put them forth, and we have these wonderful results to turn to, all manifesting the idea lying hidden and concealed."
And after awhile perhaps we ask ourselves, "Now, which is most real of all these things: The manifestation of them in the concrete forms that we see before us, or the idea lying behind?" And in this wonderful age when so many things are transpiring every moment of the time, when you see giant planes flying through the air in such a marvelous way that seems to take you out of yourself, when you put your ear to a little instrument and you hear the voice of a friend you know is thousands of miles away, you are not satisfied with ordinary explanations. The logic of a simple explanation will not appeal to your soul. You say, "The mystery of nature is too great; the mystery of the mind is too great. Where may I go to look for the explanation for all these things?" And the only answer, is the divine prophet of God, a wonderful picture of whom has been portrayed by my beautiful brother, such a valiant warrior of God. In that collective center and from that divine point of energy, each of us realize that something may flow, that something may happen, that something may come to the earth, and the next question you will ask of yourself, "Well, when does he come? I myself, feel that I am a manifestation of myself. Am I a manifestation of this center?" And so we question ourselves. We go all about, and some people feeling their own importance do say they are this center and do feel that they are God, but I tell you after they come in contact with the real thing, they begin to forget all about it, because we have every evidence as Bahais that everyone of us, with no exception, fails at some point, except the One who is that collective center. In that collective center we do find perfection, we do find the infallible, but nowhere else. Praise God that it is so. How fortunate that we have some standard of knowledge that will give us a realization of the truth and the answer to our question.
But let us go on. Take that for
granted then, that there is set up this eternal connection between the individual and the divine center. There must be then some further thought on the subject, and in studying over the history of the world which is the only answer to all these great questions, we find that just so often there comes into the world these divine ones, claiming to be that collective center, not so much by the very proposition, not so much by their saying, "I am this divine center," but from the result of their work, which is ever the proof. And so we find that just so often there has come into this world a manifestation from this hidden place, this concealed origin, this divine wisdom, this holocaust which in turn fires you and me, and this is ever the process. It has ever been so.
The other evening at the wonderful dinner we all attended our beautiful speaker, Dr. Guthrie said that there was nothing new in this Bahai Revelation, and he said "Praise be to God that this is so." Well, I praise God that there is something new in this divine Revelation, and I want to simply correct Dr. Guthrie and say that he hadn't found the point of contact. He was looking on the surface for the new things. Oh, no, the sunlight is always new. But we don't look for the sunlight to the sunlight, or in the sunlight for new things, but when the sun strikes the earth in spring we have the new flowers and so the Bahai Revelation is to give to the world the new things and the wonderful things that the people who have not become real intrinsic Bahais cannot find. They cannot find it yet because the sunlight is just glancing on the spiritual world. Sometimes there will come the divine blossoming of this flower which is coming now. Then we will have the new things. Then we will manifest forth the divinity of our inspiration, and that is the point I want to make.
Now, you and I are the strugglers toward the new and wonderful things that will manifest through inspiration. God gives us the grace and grants us the power to do it. How can we ever get there? Just through one magic word, "sacrifice," that is the absolute requirement. The first great sacrifice, we have been told, is to cut oneself loose from the tales of the past. Is the past all wrong? Are the tales of the past all wrong? No, thank God, they were not all wrong. They are not today all wrong, but those of us who are to manifest to the world through inspiration can never do it if we are tied to the old, and no matter how true the old may be, no matter how fitting it may be we have got to bare our souls until there is nothing left of self, until all the tales, all the knowledge and all that we have is gone, and then will God send to you and to me a new inspiration. Then will we manifest and then only, the new, through inspiration. Indeed, the mind must be fortified, the way must be made clear through the divine Word; there must be no mistake about it, because the mind is not in a condition to be truly inspired yet, but the time will come no doubt when we will not have to be so guarded about the words, in fact our beloved Master said to me one day when I was wandering in his garden and taking pictures, he said to me, in the most comical way—he caught me unawares; I had my coat off, and I was dreadfully ashamed, I didn't know why—"Ah," he said, "you take pictures and you steal my house and you steal my grounds and you steal my people, and you take them away with you to America in your camera. I will send my lawyer after you and I will put you in prison," and then he waited a moment, tapped me on the shoulder, and laughing, said, "All things will pass away, some day my words that I have written down will pass away; but the words that I have written on the tablet of the heart will never pass away." So you see that is the real meaning of the manifestation of divinity through inspiration, the blessed
words written on the heart of a true believer by the finger of God.
Oh, the sacrifice that is needed! Oh, the cutting loose from all things! Oh, the self-abnegation that you and I must practice! Oh, the torture of the wounds that we must endure, laughing and joyfully! Oh, the prayers that we must pray that at the very moment of triumph we may not yield to the Satan and glory in self, to the awful serpent that is always in our garden presenting to us the wonderful feast of the flower of self-indulgence in some way or other! God grant that we may endure, and God grant that we may ask for calamities and sacrifice so that we may get away from that thing, because in that way alone can you and I manifest divinity through inspiration.
What is inspiration? What is the manifestation of divinity through inspiration? I tell you, the finger of God will not write a great story in the mirror that is dulled with the ashes of self. The light will not shine powerfully through that mirror. Inspired words are not born forth from such a mouth, and when in the mercy of God everything has been taken away, and we are only left the power to testify to His glory—and perhaps nothing else—then will our souls glory in that we have been given the power for His sake to endure, that this thing might happen.
Oh, brothers and sisters of the Cause, seek, seek, seek, for eternal happiness in that way! Don't rest a moment and don't forever be asking that your self-satisfaction may be gratified, that you may be put up or put down in some place you may like, but that you may endure, that you may receive. Because all sacrifices, the sacrifices that these blessed Ones, these glorious Ones, come and make are the greatest of all. What they have endured! Why? Let me mention one thing which is in keeping with our subject. You and I collectively have the power to make of Abdul-Baha the false Christ, we have that power when you and I do not let him write on our hearts and speak through our lips of his power and testify from whence he comes. But as you and I prove faithful to the truth, as we receive in our hearts the glory of this power, and as we, through faithfulness, on the mount of faithfulness dwell, so will we testify that he is no false Christ, but in our lives prove him to be the return of the Son of God upon earth, who is for you and for me that divine manifestation through inspiration. "How great, the greatest sacrifice that ere was made for man, when from the heavenly radiant throne the light descends to our dark world—God's perfect plan!"
- Again and yet again hath shone
- That ray divine, supreme,
- God's lowly Messengers have come,
- Have sacrificed and have proclaimed
- The mighty theme.
- It mirrored forth through our Lord Christ
- Who left for us this prayer
- To pray, that God's blest day would come
- When all would be fulfilled, and Love
- Reign everywhere.
- Now, is the sacrifice complete!
- God doth His day enthrone!
- The Lamb of God, Abdul-Baha,
- Hath come! He is our King of Love
- And We, his own.
- Come forth! from every land appear!
- In him are all things well.
- Awake! and leave behind aught else
- Ye sons of God; He's calling you
- With him to dwell!
- New glories on new glories dawn—
- O do not hesitate!
- The mystery of love is ours
- And for our sake hath come this high,
- This vast estate.
