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THE SOURCE of all learning is the knowledge of God, exalted be His Glory; and this cannot be attained save through the knowledge of His Divine Manifestation.
Schools must first train the children in the principles of religion, so that the promise and the warning, recorded in the Books of God, may prevent them from the things forbidden and adorn them with the mantle of the commandments: but this in such measure as may not injure the children by resulting in ignorant fanaticism and bigotry.
The Sun of Truth is the Word of God, upon which depends the training of the people of the country of thought. It is the Spirit of Reality and the Water of Life. All things owe their existence to it. Its manifestation is ever according to the capacity and coloring of the mirror through which it may reflect. For example: its light, when cast on the mirrors of the wise, gives expression to wisdom; when reflected from the minds of artists, it produces manifestations of new and beautiful arts; when it shines through the minds of students it reveals knowledge and unfolds mysteries.
--PHOTO--
Group of Esperanto students, Tokyo, Japan. Miss Agnes Alexander in the center.
| VOL. 15 | JANUARY, 1925 | No. 10 |
EDUCATION is one of the most important subjects attracting popular attention at this moment. We are beginning to realize that education is not the mere passing on of knowledge, but that it may be made the means of initiating a new and better civilization. In fact, education is a momentous factor in human progress, and to it we must look for the attainment of world unity and brotherhood, of that harmony between all races and classes which must be attained if mankind is to find ultimate happiness upon this globe. A great responsibility, therefore, rests upon both parent and teacher, with whom the training of the child must consist not so much in molding this representative of the growing generation in accordance with old patterns, as in stimulating, inspiring and freeing the child soul for the exercise of its own spiritual powers.
A NEW RACE is being formed on this globe, a race more tender, more illumined, more spiritual; and it is arriving through that mysterious portal of birth to the beyond of which we have no clue. Whence comes the newborn? Of what stamp is its passport? Whence its powers? We know not. Are there any parents so foolish, so egotistic, as to think their child’s powers are derived solely from themselves? An inventor once testified to us that he laid no claim to his inventions; they seemed to come to him by inspiration, as a gift from the blue. Thus does the artist view his new-born creation of beauty. And the father, the mother of true insight, know that the new life which has come into their midst bears to the world gifts beyond their power to create.
Thus the world improves, not only by improved training, but by a new creation, as it were, at each generation. To many it appears that a wider divergence than usual exists between the adult and the child world of today. Never before have such marvelous children appeared upon the arena of existence. Their gifts are superb, their self-sufficiency amazing. They are, by the very essence of their own being, above the petty faults which have so perturbed and vitiated human culture.
How can we treat such children? Certainly we cannot impose upon them the dogmas, the blind forms of the past. Yet what have we better to give them? Our duty toward such souls is to refrain from repression, from even too much direction, They will find their way, as bees to the home nest, to the idea and ideals of the New Kingdom which they represent. It takes a very high type of teacher to acknowledge at the very beginning that the child he is training is a greater soul than he. Yet such humility must exist, if these new and gifted souls are not to be warped and hampered in their earthly development. This means that the true educator in this day and generation must be deeply spiritual, possessed of vast insight into the human soul, and especially into the child soul, in order that he may be a true agent of the Divine in that which is so precious in God’s sight, the training of the young child.
’ABDU’L-BAHÁ has said that too much studying in early years is harmful to children, and injures the quality of their minds. Thus the very thing aimed at in education, mental development, may be imperfectly attained because of overtraining at a period when the child-brain needs delicate nurturing rather than a forcing process. It is through joy, ‘Abdu’l-Bahá afirms, that the intelligence of the child is best awakened and developed. The education of the future Bahá’í world, directed upon such lines, will be far different from the drudgery, strain, and continual drill-work which characterize present systems. Here and there a Bahá’í child, brought up under freer and happier conditions than at present prevail, shows what marvelous results can be obtained from letting the soul blossom out in its own natural way. The whole human race will be happier, more spontaneous and artistic, more intuitive and penetrating in mental qualities, when this new education is universally applied.
IN ONE SENSE of the word, we are all in need of education. In “Answered Questions” of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá it is shown clearly and conclusively that the world advances through the teachings of its divinely inspired prophets, who are, it may truly be said, the teachers of humanity. All the ideals of right behavior, of duty to man and to God; all the methods by which man may reach out for and obtain divine aid for the perfectioning of his character, are given humanity by those great souls who themselves obtain these truths from heights beyond the horizons of human consciousness. There is no more dangerous fallacy than that now current, as a result of evolutionary theories, to the effect that humanity contains within itself the power to advance and progress to higher and higher civilizations. The capacity to advance, man has; but not the power to advance unaided, any more than children have the power to train themselves into a perfect intellectual and moral development. It is the divine forces, focused upon humanity through the instrumentality of the Divine Teachers, the Manifestations of God mirroring His perfections, that are constantly moving us forward on a stream of progress the momentum of which is not from us but from God.
Thus all mortals are being trained daily in the school of life, in which our progress depends in reality upon our capacity and our willingness to absorb the Divine Teachings and to carry them out in deed and action. Our faculty is composed of the Divinely inspired Men of God of all the ages; our texts are those books containing the Holy Words; our examination hall is the arena of life itself; and our grade and final diploma are revealed to us only after passing through the portals of Death into the august Presence of Him who knows the attainments of each soul. We do not enough meditate or practice on this, how we may so live as to earn the ultimate golden words, “Well done, good and faithful servant.”
THE GREATEST STEP ever taken for the welfare of childhood was the endorsement on September 26, 1924, of the Declaration of Geneva by the Fifth Assembly of the League of Nations. This remarkable declaration of the rights of the child was first formulated by the “Save the Children Fund,” and has already been subscribed to in many countries. It states the following inalienable rights of the child:
“The Child must be given the means requisite for its normal development, both materially and spiritually;
“The Child that is hungry must be fed; the child that is sick must be helped; the child that is backward must be helped; the delinquent child must be reclaimed; and the orphan and the waif must be sheltered and succored;
“The Child must be the first to receive relief in times of distress;
“The Child must be put in a position to earn a livelihood and must be protected against every form of exploitation;
“The Child must be brought up in the consciousness that its talents must be devoted to the service of its fellow men.”
By approving the Declaration of Geneva the Assembly has made it the charter of child welfare of the League of Nations.
It is a matter of pride to us all, that it was from a Bahá’í source, though not named as such, that this Declaration of Rights emanated. Truly the power of God is back of every ideal and act which is for the benefit of man, and from the humblest beginnings arise momentous movements of human welfare.
Education has the opportunity and the deep responsibility of lifting the growing generation out of the war consciousness into a new consciousness of world union and world peace.
When ‘Abdu’l-Bahá was in this country in 1912, he addressed many Peace Societies, constantly reiterating the crying need of the time to be international peace. In his address to the New York Peace Society, he said: “Over sixty years ago His Holiness Bahá’u’lláh was in Persia. He was imprisoned and subjected to severe persecutions. Finally he was exiled from Persia to Mesopotamia; from Baghdád he was sent to Constantinople and Adrianople and from thence to the prison of Aqá in Syria. Through all these ordeals he strove day and night to proclaim the oneness of humanity and promulgate the message of Universal Peace. From the prison of Aqá he addressed the kings and rulers of the earth in lengthy letters summoning them to international agreement and explicitly stating that the standard of the “Most Great Peace” would surely be upraised in the world. This has come to pass. The powers of earth cannot withstand the privileges and bestowals which God has ordained for this great and glorious century. It is a need and exigency of the time. Man can withstand anything except that which is divinely intended and indicated for the age and its requirements. Now, praise be to God! in all countries of the world lovers of peace are to be found and these principles are being spread among mankind, especially in this country . . . and souls are continually arising as defenders of the oneness of humanity, endeavoring to assist and establish international peace. There is no doubt that this wonderful democracy will be able to realize it and the banner of international agreement will be unfurled here to spread onward and outward among all the nations of the world.”
The promise of ’Abdu’l-Bahá that America would do much to spread the ideal of world peace, is gradually being fulfilled, for many wonderful activities in this country in behalf of peace give ample evidence. One of the most striking of these activities was the appointment by the World Federation of Education Associations, of a committee on a world federation to promote world peace.
“The story of the coming into the arena,” says the Journal of Education, “of Raphael Herman of Los Angeles, with his offer of a $25,000 prize for the best plan of education for peace, reads like a story of the miracles of scripture.” Leaders of education and human progress awoke to the magnitude of the subject of peace, and the wonderful prize-winning plan of David Starr Jordan resulted therefrom. From this plan the World Federation of Education Associations can evolve specific programs for the various stages of school work in all countries.
Dr. Jordan’s statements in regard to the causes and possible cure of war are so remarkably trenchant, from a Bahá’í viewpoint, and so true as matched with the teachings of Bahá’u’lláh and of ’Abdul-Bahá, that space will be given for their publication in our February issue.
IN THIS AGE every face must turn to God, so that spiritual enlightenment will go hand in hand with material education. Material education alone cannot make the world happy. (Star of the West, Vol. 4, p. 68.)
When we cast a glance at all creational beings, we find that the three forms of life are in need of an education. For example, in studying the mineral and the vegetable kingdoms, we find that the gardener has a function there in educating the trees. A tree under the training of a gardener daily progresses and grows. It presents an extraordinary growth. If it be wild and fruitless, by the process of grafting it will become fruitful. If it be small it can be made a big tree, and it can be a beautiful and fresh and verdant tree. But a tree which is bereft of the training of the gardener daily retrogresses and becomes absolutely deprived of its fruitage. It will become a tree of the jungle. Its fruit shall be exceedingly bad. It may become entirely bereft of fruitage. Likewise, when we observe the animal kingdom,—the animals which have come under training in their world, daily progress and advance. Nay, rather, they will become beautiful as animals. They may even develop in their intelligence. For example, take the Arabian horse. How intelligent it has become! How well educated and trained it has become! How polite even this horse has become! This is no other than the result of education. But as to the human world, it is a self-evident fact that it is more in need of an education than the other existing beings. Consider the inhabitants of Africa and the inhabitants of America; what a vast difference is observable! How the people have become civilized here; and there they are still in the utmost state of savagery. What is the cause of that savagery and the reason for this civilization? It is an evident thing that education is responsible therefor. Education has given the inhabitants of America this civilization, but lack of education has rendered the Africans still savage. Consider how effective, therefore, is education in the human kingdom. It renders the ignorant wise; the man who is a tyrant a merciful one; the blind seeing; the deaf attentive. The imbecile even intelligent. How vast is this difference! How colossal is the difference between the man who has been educated and the man who has not been educated. This is the effect when the teacher is only an ordinary material one, like all other human teachers. . . .
THE PROPHETS OF GOD also state that education is most effective, that it does give man sublimity; it does confer on man civilization; it does improve the morals of society; but they further state that in creation there is some difference. For example, take ten given children of the same age, of the same progeny, in the same school, one curriculum, one teaching, the same food, the same water, the same environment or air, in all respects having interest in common and equal; but we find out ere long that two of these appear exceedingly intelligent; some are in the medium, and some at the bottom of the school. One may become a professor emeritus; one will not even prove an apt scholar, whereas the education has been the same,—one teacher,—the same school,—the same lessons. From all standpoints, there has been an equality, but some advance extraordinarily, some
occupy the middle school, some only the lowest degrees; hence, it becomes evident that in existence, in the very existence of man, mankind is not equal. In capacity they differ; in their intellectual capability they differ. They are different, but every member of the human race. is capable of becoming educated. They must be educated.
No matter how much the shell is polished, it can never become the radiant pearl. The black stone will not become the world illumining gem. The calocynth and the thorny cactus can never by training and development become the blessed tree. That is to say, training doth not train the human substance, but it produceth a marvelous effect. By this effective power all that is registered, in latency, of virtues and capacities in the human reality will be revealed. It is for this reason that, in this new cycle, education and training are recorded in the Book of God as obligatory and not voluntary. (Bahá’í Scrip. V. 935.)
EDUCATION IS essential and all standards of training and teaching throughout the world of mankind should be brought into conformity and agreement; a universal curriculum should be established and the basis of ethics be the same. (Pro. of U. P., p. 177.)
All the children must be educated, so that there will not remain one single individual without an education. In cases of inability on the part of the parents, through sickness, death, etc., the state must educate the child. In addition to this widespread education, each child must be taught a profession or trade, so that each individual member of the body politic will be enabled to earn his own living and at the same time serve the community. Work done in the spirit of service is worship. From this universal system of education misunderstandings will be expelled from amongst the children of men. (Bahá’í Scriptures, V. 574.)
No individual should be denied or deprived of intellectual training, although each should receive according to capacity. None must be left in the grades of ignorance, for ignorance is a defect in the human world. All mankind must be given a knowledge of science and philosophy; that is, as much as may be deemed necessary. All cannot be scientists and philosophers, but each should be educated according to his needs and deserts. (Pro. of U. P., pp. 104, 105.)
THE HOLY MANIFESTATIONS of God, the divine prophets are the first teachers of the human race. They are universal educators and the fundamental principles they have laid down are the causes and factors of the advancement of nations. Forms and imitations which creep in afterward are not conducive to that progress. On the contrary these are destroyers of human foundations established by the heavenly educators. (Pro. of U. P., p. 82.)
TRAIN THESE CHILDREN with divine exhortations. From their childhood instill in their hearts the love of God, so that they may manifest in their lives the fear of God and have confidence in the bestowals of God. Teach them to free themselves from human imperfections and to acquire the divine perfections latent in the heart of man. The life of man is useful if he attains the perfections of man. If he becomes the center of the imperfections of the world of humanity, death is better than life, and non-existence better than existence. Therefore, make ye an effort in order that these children may be rightly trained and educated and that each one of them may attain perfection in the world of humanity. (Pro. U. P., p. 51.)
My hope for you is that your parents may educate you spiritually, giving you the utmost ethical training. May
your education be most perfect, so that each one of you may be imbued with all the virtues of the human world. May you advance in all the degrees, be they material degrees or spiritual degrees. May you all become learned, acquire sciences and arts, acquire the arts and crafts; may you be useful members of human society, may you be conducive to the progress of human civilization; may you be a cause of the manifestation of the divine bestowals, may each one of you be a shining star, radiating the light of the oneness of humanity towards the East and West; may you be conducive to the unity of mankind; may you be conducive to the love of the whole. May the reality deposited in the human entity become apparent through your efforts. (Wisdom Talks, Chicago, p. 18.)
THE ART OF MUSIC is divine and effective. It is the food of the spirit and the soul. The spirit of man is exhilarated through the notes and charms of music. Especially, it has a wonderful sway and effect over the hearts of children. For their souls are pure—as their hearts are very pure the music will display in their hearts great effect. Music will become the cause of the expression of the latent talents endowed in their hearts. You must exert yourselves so that you may teach the children the art of music; so that they may sing with greatest effect. It is incumbent upon each child to know something of the art of music. For unless he is acquainted with the art of music, he cannot enjoy the art of singing and melody. Likewise, it is necessary that the schools teach the art of music to the pupils, so that they may enjoy life more thoroughly. So that their souls and hearts may become vivified and exhilarated. (Star of the West, Vol. 3, No. 3, p. 19.)
THE ACTIVITIES which are trying to establish solidarity between the nations and infuse the spirit of universalism in the hearts of the children of men are like unto divine rays from the Sun of Reality, and the brightest ray is the coming of the universal language. Its achievement is the greatest virtue of the age, for such an instrument will remove misunderstandings from among the peoples of the earth and will cement their hearts together. This medium will enable each individual member of the human family to be informed of the scientific accomplishments of all his fellowmen.
The basis of knowledge and the excellencies of endeavor in this world are to teach and to be taught. To acquire sciences and to teach them in turn depends upon language and when the international auxiliary language becomes universal, it is easily conceivable that the acquirement of knowledge and instruction will likewise become universal. . . .
Writing on this subject over fifty years ago, His Holiness Bahá’u’lláh, said that complete union between the various sections of the world would be an unrealized dream as long as an international language was not established. . . .
Praise be to God, that Dr. Zamenhof has constructed the Esperanto language. It has all the potential qualities of universal adoption. . . . . Therefore, every one of us must study this language and make every effort to spread it, so that each day it may receive a wider recognition, be accepted by all nations and governments of the world and become a part of the curriculum in all the public schools. . . . . In the future two languages will be taught in the schools, one the native tongue, the other the international auxiliary language. (Star of the West, Vol. 4, No. 2, p. 36.)
CHILDREN MUST receive an excellent education, because they are the young twigs of the tree of humanity and during the years of their growth they imbibe what they hear and see. They
must have a share of Gods love, then they will become spiritualized. (Sun of Truth, Oct., 1924, p. 123.)
If a child is left to its own natural proclivities, without education, it will embody all human defects. Education makes of man a man. Religion is Divine Education. There are two pathways which have been pointed out by the Heavenly Educators. The first is Divine Guidance and reliance upon the Manifestation of God. The other is the road of materialism and reliance upon the senses. These roads lead in opposite directions. . . Divine education is the sum total of all development. It is the safeguard of humanity. The world of nature is a world of defects and incompleteness. The world of the Kingdom is reached by the highway of Religion and is the Heaven of all divine virtues. (Star of the West, Vol. 4, No. 6, p. 105.)
The people of the world are like unto school children, and the Dawning Places of Light and Centers of Divine Revelation are wonderful, glorious, incomparable Teachers in the school of reality.
They instruct these children with heavenly teachings and nourish them in the bosom of divine assistance, so as to enable them to progress in all the degrees of life, to become the objects of God's grace and centers of merciful Bounty, combining all human perfections. Through their holy admonitions humanity develops in every way outwardly and inwardly, consciously and unconsciously, physically and spiritually, till this perishable world becomes like a mirror reflecting the heavenly world. . . . (Lessons in Religion. p. 62.)
IF GRADUATES of scientific institutions achieve a deed, it is prompted by interested motives, such as attainment to fame and renown or some other material and personal interest. But the beloved of God have no desire or intention save that of the good pleasure. of the Lord, the Divine Will—that only do they seek. The love of God is the agency which encourages them in achieving philanthropic deeds, directs them to acquire good morals, forces them to good acts, confirms them in withstanding insurmountable difficulties, and makes them prefer the welfare of others to their own. But in Europe just as sagacious men were graduated from the universities, likewise vicious and malicious men were forthcoming therefrom. The dynamite or bomb, torpedo and other instruments of torture are all results of such education.
But the Kingdom of God is absolutely good. It quenches all this fire; it effaces these guns and cannons; it transforms swords into olive boughs; it changes wars and battles into love and accord. . . .
The inhabitants of Europe and America have progressed in material sciences and arts, but in Spiritual Sciences and the Arts of the Kingdom, they have not, as yet, established a noteworthy edifice, consequently they are in need of instruction.
Morality is the basis of the happiness of the world of humanity. Merciful attributes are the best adornments for men. Science holds the next position to morality. Science is conducive to the happiness of the world of humanity next in degree to morality. If a nation be well qualified with education and yet dispossessed of good morals, it will not attain happiness. If that same nation be dispossessed of education, but possessed of moral training, it will be capable of accomplishing philanthropic deeds. When morality and science go hand in hand, then will it be light upon light. (Heavenly Feast, pp. 21-25.)
WHILE LOOKING from the window (toward the Mediterranean), ‘Abdu’l-Bahá said: We hear the murmur of the sea always continuing. It never ceases.
Were it to cease, the world would be dead, stagnant, lifeless. But the waves of the mind of man are far greater than those of the sea; they also are ceaseless. They never stop for one instant. This movement is good. If these waves of the mind are few, the man is dull and quiet. What pearls and jewels are contained in the depths of the sea! But the pearls and jewels hidden in the mind of man are the knowledge, virtues, capabilities, etc. These pearls can grow and increase in lustre forever, but the pearls of the sea remain always the same. These waves from our minds go forth and create movement and thought in other minds. From one strong thought of love what great results may be produced! (STAR OF THE WEST, Vol. 7, No. 11, p. 107.)
IF ONE ENTERING the Kingdom of God possesses learning and science it is well, but the essential thing, or the thing of greatest importance, is to enter into the Kingdom of God and to be characterized by the divine attributes, and to have the intention of doing good to the world, and to be perfectly kind to each member of the human family, and serve in promoting Universal Peace. Science and learning are good, but they are the branches, not the root. (Rose Garden of Acca, p. 11.)
The teaching of a merely material teacher is limited. The philosophers claimed to be the educators of mankind, but if we refer to history, we find that the greatest philosophers were at most enabled to educate themselves. If they educated others, it was within a limited circle; but they failed to give a general education. The Divine Power, however, the Power of the Holy Spirit conferred this general education.
Bahá’u’lláh has said two steps are necessary for human development: Material and Divine Education. (STAR OF THE WEST, Vol. 4, pp. 86 and 105.)
IT IS ASTONISHING! It is a most amazing thing!—that God has created all humanity for the knowledge of Himself, for the love of Himself, for the virtues of the human world, for the life eternal, for perfect spirituality, for heavenly illumination has He created man ;—nevertheless, man is utterly negligent of all this! He is seeking the knowledge of everything except the Knowledge of God. He seeks, for example, to know the lowest stratum of the earth. Day and night he strives to know what he can find ten metres below the surface; what he can discover within the stone; what he can learn archaeologically through the dust! He puts forth arduous labors to penetrate a mystery of terrestrial mysteries; but he is not at all thoughtful of knowing the mysteries of the Kingdom, traversing the fields of the Kingdom, becoming aware of the verities of the Kingdom, discovering the secrets of God, arriving at the knowledge of God, witnessing the Lights of Reality and becoming informed of the verities of the Kingdom. He is not at all thoughtful of these. How much he is attracted to the mysteries of matter, and how utterly unaware he is of the mysteries of Divinity! Nay, he is even utterly careless of the mysteries of Divinity. How stupid this is! how ignorant this is! how conducive to degradation this is! . . . (STAR OF THE WEST, Vol. 3, No. 11, p. 11.)
“THERE IS a breath of spring in the education world to-day”—a budding forth of new energy and new ideals, a quickening of all life related to the school. This new springtime is not confined to one country or one continent, but is manifest in every part of the world and clearly corresponds to that universal renewal of spiritual values which is recognized everywhere as the upspringing life of a new age.
This springtime expresses itself in many ways; for example, through an increased demand for education in general; through a growing realization of the dependence of true democracy upon right principles in education; and through a new consciousness of the need to set free in the child those inner creative forces which must sustain and enrich the life of man.
In the effort to meet these basic needs many new theories and systems of instruction have been introduced and many new schools have sprung up in various countries demonstrating the new ideas. After what might be termed a period of experimentation, progressive methods have gradually impressed the systems of public instruction all over the world, so that we may truly say the entire education field has been stirred by new influences of profound significance, which may go far in the future toward solving many of our deepest social problems.
Evidence of a greatly increased demand for education in our own country may be found in the movement, fostered in large measure by the women of America, to introduce a Department of Education as a branch of our federal government, its chief to become a member of the President's cabinet. Twenty-one national organizations are aligned in support of the so-called Education Bill now being debated in the halls of Congress. One hundred million dollars are desired to be appropriated annually for purposes of education, and it is believed the passage of such a measure will especially assist the important problem of more liberal education in the rural school districts of our country.
The American Association of University Women, representing the organized group of college graduates, have recently decided to devote from five to ten years’ intensive study to the problems of elementary education and the pre-school child—an indication of clear vision on the part of this group of trained women in applying their energies to the study of man in his earliest formative period.
Realizing the importance of education in creating a new world order. the National Education Association of America, in the summer of 1923, called a World Conference on Education at San Francisco. Delegates from over forty countries were present and after a week’s deliberation a World Federation of Education was organized. International conferences will be held every two years and a regional conference during alternate years in Europe, Asia or America. Such broadly organized work cannot fail to stabilize the progress of all education activity and promote universal standards of education.
It is a significant fact that this new springtime may be traced in part to the influence of earnest workers outside the traditional realm of education—to those pioneers in the field of “positive science” whose labors gave to anthropology, or the study of man, its distinctly modern tendency leading toward the school,
which they came to regard as “a laboratory of life.”
The work of Morel and Lombroso in criminal anthropology and of DeGiovanni in medical anthropology, brought clearly to light the prevailing defects of the human race, and the overwhelming problem of their amelioration, while the inspired labors of Guiseppi Sergi carried anthropology direct into the field of pedagogy in search of preventive measures as a real basis of reform. Many schools of scientific pedagogy were established in Italy under the influence of Sergi, and for more than thirty years he labored ardently to spread the doctrine of a new civilization based on education.
We owe to the intuitive genius of Sergi the declaration of a principle in the new science—pedagogic anthropology—more advanced than any which had been foreshadowed. He took the ground that a study of abnormal types is a task of absolutely secondary importance. “What is imperative for us to know,” he declared, “is normal humanity, if we are to guide it intelligently toward that biological and moral perfection upon which the progress of humanity depends.”
Sergi contended that the child must be studied as an individual in the process of living, in order that he might reveal himself to us in all his potential characteristics. He affirmed it as our duty to understand the individual if we would avoid fatal errors and arise to new and higher standards of judgment founded upon the real exigencies of life. He said “In the social life of to-day an urgent need has arisen—the renovation of our methods of education and instruction; and whoever enrolls himself under this standard is fighting for the regeneration of man.”
The influence of Sergi and the expansion of his ideas may be traced in many of our modern educational theories. Dr. Maria Montessori was his devoted pupil and through his influence a chair was created for her in the University of Rome, where she lectured for four years, relating anthropology to pedagogy. This important work, as well as her subsequent well-known contribution to modern education, may justly be regarded as the extension of the labors of this group of scientists in Southern Europe, of whom she was the younger contemporary.
In applying Sergi’s principle of “studying the individual,” the first requisite was found to be a new environment for child-life,—an environment of far greater freedom than the traditional school. The effort to provide opportunity for spontaneous activity and permit children to react, without domination, to educative stimuli, brought forth a phenomenal result, for it was found that children thus liberated educate themselves. We have witnessed, therefore, the development of auto-education in a revolutionized school, and in releasing the child’s soul from the bondage which has hitherto prevented it from developing freely, pedagogy has been lifted to an entirely new level.
Education to-day is pregnant with a new psychology. It touches a new chord in man—a chord always latent in the heart, but awaiting the required stimulus to be quickened into consciousness. Hithertoo education has operated from without, seeking to impose traditional conceptions upon the tender organism of the young child, but the “breezes of spring” have brought a new emphasis of truth; our labors are now directed within and the individual spirit of the child is recognized as the real mainspring of his life.
A vast amount of mistaken doctrine concerning the minds and conduct of children has prevailed among all classes. We have mistaken the characteristics of childhood and in our ignorance have misread the inherent dignity of man. Until to-day, we have sought to dominate
the child, as it were, through force, by the imposition of external laws, instead of making an interior conquest, in order to direct him as a human soul. We have lived with children without truly understanding them; but if we can succeed in banishing the artificiality with which we have surrounded them and the violence with which we have unwisely thought to discipline them, they will reveal themselves to us in all the truth and purity of child nature.
It has been well said that in the absolute gentleness and sweetness of the child we may read the infancy of that humanity which remains oppressed by every form of yoke and every injustice; while in the child’s intense love of knowledge, which surpasses every other love, we may read the truth that humanity carries deeply within itself the power and the passion which urges the minds of men to successive triumphs of thought, and to those spiritual victories which shall ultimately remove every injustice and every form of slavery.
In the new education the child not only develops himself, but he reveals to us the psychological and spiritual laws of his inner life—a kingdom of mystery and unexpected power. A science, new in itself, might be built around the revelations of the liberated child spirit,—revelations of an importance far transcending the limits of the school; and we may find new meaning for the ancient words, “A little child shall lead them.”
Education may now be recognized as a field wherein the higher faculties are developed and cultivated. As the foundation for all culture presupposes opportunity for quiet, ordered development through work, so it has been found that even the very young child follows this same path of concentration in thought and constancy in work in an environment which liberates his inner life. Free activity for self-development leads directly to concentration, that significant principle which corresponds to the central power in the universe.
Children who are allowed to exercise themselves freely in work organized for them, proceed naturally from the concrete to the abstract, and the imaginative or creative. As all living things exist through the law of attraction to a center, so the mind when permitted to organize itself without obstacles in an atmosphere of spiritual freedom concentrates, and brings forth the fruits of the spirit.
In the liberalized school we find a happy adjustment of individual and group activity replacing the old order of class routine. The school becomes a small social unit, promoting self-expression, self-discipline, and mutual helpfulness. The spirit of competition is succeeded by co-operation and real comradeship. Children are no longer actuated by the will of the teacher driving them on. And “herein lies the germ of a great social reform, for the one who is engaged in governing himself has his feet set in a way of peace, sought in vain in a world where man’s chief interest is in the domination of one another." “For too long has the order of the day been ‘dominate.’ The new world needs a new ideal and that ideal shall be ‘to serve'.”
“It is the belief of the advocates of this new philosophy that out of these communities of children, where there is a genuinely co-operative scheme of living, where the unique natural resources of personality are conserved and developed, will emerge a more lovely society, composed of highly differentiated individuals in harmonious relationships, each contributing his creative powers to the life of the whole They bestow freedom but to secure a more abiding bondage—the intelligent and generous association of men and women. And in this vision lies the glad hope of a democracy that is yet to be.”
In the new education the function of
the teacher becomes elevated to the nobility of a mission. He is the reverent observer of unfolding life, the true guide for the child’s independent reality. He brings to his task a new consecration, which is the fusion of the scientific spirit and that of the real lover of humanity. Likewise a new relationship arises between teacher and pupil in the new schools—“a connection between souls, not provoked but born”—begetting ideal obedience.
Education in the new age prepares the child for the new civilization of our day—a civilization based upon a new Search for Truth. The child has proven his eagerness to grasp Truth and as the body draws to itself those elements which satisfy its hunger and transforms them in the processes of assimilation, so the child, nourishing himself with Truth drawn from living realities, organizes within himself constructive and creative powers. “Creation has ever been the keynote of true living.”
Dare we not hope that the New Education thus regenerated from its foundation upon a basis of spiritual values may go far toward solving the great problem of human redemption?
OF the 76,000,000 people in Japan, more than one-half are followers of Buddism and 245,000 Christian. The Japanese accept Buddism, Shintoism, their national religion, and Confucianism (which they regard as only a moral teaching), all at the same time. Aside from these religions atheism is growing.
A strong characteristic of the Japanese people is their tolerance for things foreign and new. They are open-minded and ready to listen to every new message. The intellectual life is valued more highly with them than in the West, and the writer and the philosopher are regarded as leaders of the people. During recent years many of the worlds greatest artists have visited their country and received the highest appreciation. Kreisler, the violinist, wrote after a series of concerts in Japan, that there “one hears no rudeness, traces no discourtesy, finds no irritation, feels no sense of hostile coolness, and yet one does not seem oppressed by an unnatural degree of politeness.” From such a background of social culture, which has been shaped and formed for centuries, the students of Japan are coming forth. Ninety-eight per cent of both the boys and girls are enrolled in the schools. The future of a country is to be found in its students. The students of today will be the leaders of tomorrow. The students of Japan have a passion for learning. Their horizon today includes the ends of the earth. Their hearts are in tune with humanity’s yearning for a warless world and 90 per cent of them stand for peace. They are out of sympathy with the conventionalities and methods of life which have dominated the world and led it to the present disaster. Religiously they are not turning back to the past. Multitudes of them have broken with the old creeds and cults, which to them are as dry cisterns, or fountains without water. They stand ready to march out into a new religious destiny. Many are groping their way toward new spiritual ideals, new light, new life, and are seeking after truth. For these reasons to the students of Japan the Teachings of Bahá’u’lláh especially appeal.
One of the great principles proposed by Bahá’u’lláh for the promulgation of universal peace is an international auxiliary
language. With great ardor the Japanese students have promoted Esperanto, which is the beginning of such a language. Although Esperanto is not yet recognized as part of the government school curriculum in Japan, still there is hardly a higher grade school which does not have among its students those who speak and help to spread it. The spirit of these Esperantists is for better understanding among the nations, and acquaintance with other peoples and races.
Bahá’u’lláh proclaimed the equality of men and women. The Japanese young woman is breaking away from the old conservative opinion where duty, and not feeling, was the standard of her life, and loyalty and sacrifice were her ideals; the modest gentle woman who bore unjust hardship without complaint. Today the sentiment of the modern young woman, in the words of Mrs. Sugimoto is, “useless sacrifice leads to only a sigh, but self-respect leads to freedom and hope.” She feels she still can keep reverence for her fathers and for the faith which was the highest and holiest thing they knew, with her new evolving consciousness.
This new young woman is struggling in an age of chaotic thought. She has not yet fully developed her own power of independent investigation and is strongly influenced by current thought and public opinion. She wishes to engage in a broader life than the household duties afford. The modern writers of Japan, as well as foreign writers, have greatly influenced her thought. She is not inclined to marriage with the military, while a generation ago it was the reverse. Her sentiment today is for peace.
More than ten years ago the Bahá’í Message was first given in Japan. During this time the leading newspapers of Tokyo, Osaka, Kobe, Kyoto, etc., published many and favorable articles in regard to the Teachings. In the last years of his earthly life, ‘Abdu’l-Bahá sent nineteen Tablets (letters) to Japanese friends in Japan, seventeen of which were addressed to students, seven of whom were school girls. These girls are the only women of the Far East who received Tablets from ‘Abdu’l-Bahá.
To one of the students of Japan ‘Abdu’l-Bahá wrote: “The teachings of His Holiness Bahá’u’lláh, like unto the rays of the sun, illumine the East as well as the West, vivify the dead and unite the various religions. They prove the Oneness of God, for they gather all communities of the world under the pavilion of the oneness of the world of mankind. Consider how stirred the world is and in what a commotion are the people of the world. Heavenly Power is needed to do away with this stir and agitation, otherwise this great Cause will not be realized through human power. Human power, no matter how strong it may be, illumines like unto an ignited lamp a limited space and trains a small number of souls. It is the sun which illumines all regions, and it is the Heavenly Power which gathers around a single spot all the sects and communities. Strive, therefore, that thou mayest serve this remarkable Power and attain unto profitable and far-reaching results.”
The youth of Japan stand in a situation which, if rightly managed, entails bright hopes for the future.
“Effort must be exerted that the East and West may be reconciled, that the darkness of bigotry may vanish, that the unity of mankind may be made manifest and that East and West, like unto two longing souls, may embrace each other in the utmost of love, for all are the sheep of God and God is the Real Shepherd and is kind to everyone.” These words were addressed by ’Abdu’l-Bahá to the writer when he told her to return to Japan and spread the Teachings of Bahá’u’lláh.
ONE DAY A TEACHER in the Girls’ Tarbiat School in Tihran said to me, “The girls in the chemistry and physics classes read about different things in their courses, but they cannot really understand them, because they cannot imagine what they are like. We need scales, test-tubes, lenses, chemicals, and so on, in order to have the lessons really mean something to the pupils.” At about the same time another teacher asked for large charts for use in physiology, and others for the course in botany. It happened that an American friend of the school had sent us some money to use in buying useful extra material and equipment for the school. After careful consultation, the teachers decided that one of the best uses they could make of that fund was to buy equipment that would make the courses in science more vital. We could not afford to purchase a microscope, but it was posible to occasionally borrow one. A group of high school girls with their young teacher would gather about the microscope to study the structure of a drop of blood. A drop from this girl’s finger, then a drop from a second, would be placed under the lens. Thus the girl’s learned the facts about the structure of the blood; they learned how to use the materials and tools of science; they learned to test what they read in books by practical experimentation.
In Europe and America the teaching of science is a development of the last fifty years. In 1850, any school in England advertising a course in science in its curriculum was violently ridiculed and branded as the most dangerous of educational heretics. Huxley and his associate scientists fought long and courageously in order to place courses in science in British secondary schools. Gradually, the purely linguistic course of study gave way to the new movement to include simple materials of the physical and biological sciences. In this country the last few years have seen more and more of the school day given to the study of hygiene, nature study and general science in the elementary school, and to work in special courses in pure and applied sciences in the high school and college. In our most modern elementary schools the word science may not appear on the school program, but the scientific material is included under such headings as “English,” “Industrial Arts,” and “Social Science.”
If questioned as to the reasons for including so much scientific material in present curricula, the modern educator will divide his answers into two main groups. Science must be taught, first, because it is essential that children of to-day, in order to live intelligently, must know the contents, the elementary facts of the sciences; second, the methods of science are of such universal usefulness that the child who can understand and use them has one of the most valuable of tools with which to work at the problems of life.
The educational expert who gives such an answer uses the word science in a definite, limited sense, rather than in any of the loose ways that have crept into our common speech. Science implies observable facts about materials and forces. These materials and forces may be placed under special conditions, and their behavior may be recorded. The same process of observation may be repeated and the behavior verified, time after time. The method of science in- cludes isolation of the element or force
to be observed, the control of conditions, recording of behavior, and verification of results. Science, as thus defined, includes, among others, the study of physics, chemistry, biology, astronomy, experimental psychology and education, and the scarcely developed study of experimental sociology. The field of science is constantly widening, since the scientific method of study is being applied to more and more branches of knowledge. At present we may exclude from the circle of the sciences such fields as phrenology, palmistry, the pseudo-psychology of the highly-colored popular magazine, spiritualism, and some of the new methods of “spiritual healing.” These may later become bona fide members of the scientific family, but their present unwillingness to even attempt adequate verification of their conclusions places them outside our present discussion. The term “applied science” should be rigorously used to mean the practical application of a true science, and not the questionable “facts” of the pseudo-sciences.
We may now raise the question as to whether the reasons for including courses in science in the general educational curriculum of this country apply to the ideal education we might plan for Bahá’í children. Let us suppose that both home and school have given the Bahá’í child not only ideals, but habits, of high spiritual character. The boy or girl who has had this training is learning to be kind, loving, generous, truthful and reverent. What will a thorough education in science add to, or subtract from, this training in Bahá’í conduct?
There are at least three good reasons for learning the facts of scientific discovery.
(1) We are better able to use the many objects resulting from the practical application of scientific facts, if we understand their sources; i. e., we become intelligent consumers. If I know something of the chemistry of foods, I can choose, combine and cook foods more wisely. Thus, I can keep in better health, and I am that much more useful in the social group. If I know the different ways in which diseases are spread, I can help others, as well as myself, to avoid infection. If I understand the processes by which fabrics are made, I can spend my money for clothing more effectively. If I know how a gasoline engine works, I expend less in garage bills. So we might list dozens of ways in which a knowledge of science makes us more intelligent users of the whole material civilization in which we live. Bahá’u’lláh has said, “The best of men are they that earn their livelihood by a profession and expend on themselves and on their kindred for the Love of God, the Lord of all the worlds.” In our modern world of scientific civilization, those who expend the results of their labor most wisely are those who understand the applied sciences by which merchandise has been produced.
(2) Since so many of the occupations of today are based on the facts of physics, chemistry, etc., it is obvious that the worker will be most intelligent who understands the background of his trade or profession. Many industries now attempt to teach their humbler employees something of the whole process of production, in order that their individual "jobs” may acquire fuller significance in the workers’ eyes. For the man who directs the work of a whole section of a factory, it is clear that some scientific knowledge is much more necessary than for the individual workman; while the very life of an establishment employing thousands of men may be centered in the hands of the scientist in the laboratories of the great plant. From the university professor who searches out the abstruse facts of pure science in a secluded laboratory, to the workman who applies a scientific fact in his use of a single machine in a clanging shop, we
find men and women serving the world in a multitude of ways made possible by the facts and methods of science. It is evident that a large number of Bahá’í young people will enter occupations in which a knowledge of scientific facts will be of great value to them. They should begin to acquire this information as soon as they enter school. ‘Abdu’l-Bahá makes this very clear and definite when he says, “Many elementary sciences should be made clear to them in the nursery; they should learn them in play, in amusement. Most ideas must be taught them through speech, not by book learning. One child should question the other concerning these things, and the other child should give the answer. In this way they will make great progress.”
(3) The two foregoing reasons for teaching scientific facts are of a very practical nature; a third is as important, but has less narrowly utilitarian value. The study of science satisfies the child’s desire to think, to know. Modern educational psychology speaks of the child’s “instinct for mental activity.” He hates a mental vacuum. He wants new mental food constantly. How many of the children we know are like the little girl of whom Kipling writes: “She keeps ten million serving men, who get no rest at all, . . . one million Hows, two million Wheres, and seven million Whys!” This wish to find out the reason for things is easily directed toward the study of science. As a result, the boy or girl begins to realize the magnitude and complexity, the ordered wonder and beauty of the world in which he lives. He only vaguely comprehends the journey from the minute universe of a myriad atoms revolving within a diamond, up to the transcendent order of the solar systems. But that faint understanding gradually develops, and gives him his first sense of perspective. He is becoming a citizen of the great universe.
Let us turn now to the reasons for teaching the methods of scientific experiment and discovery. What are some of the attitudes and ideals of the true scientist which we would like to have active in the lives of Bahá’í children? The true scientist is free from prejudice. If he sets up a hypothesis to guide his study, he is as ready to entertain data against it, as for it. He follows the facts to their logical conclusions, regardless of his own wishes or prepossessions. Is not this the attitude Bahá’u’lláh is advocating when he writes, “Of all things Justice is the best beloved in My Sight. . . . By its aid thou shalt see with thine own eyes and not with the eyes of others.” The writings of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá are filled with admonitions against prejudice. In this particular, is not the great scientist a true Bahá’í?
The man or woman who wishes to succeed in the study of science must see how his own bit of work is related to the great field of scientific research. While he realizes the value of his own endeavor, he knows that it is but one drop in the great ocean of Truth. He comes to a vivid realization that “no man liveth to himself and no man dieth to himself.” This willingness to lose himself in service to an ideal of truth is one that we most desire for Bahá’í children.
The foregoing has a further implication that should be specifically noted. The true scientist is impersonal in his attitude. He learns to live above envy, jealousy and hatred. He finds that time spent in "hurt feelings” is not only wasteful but positively harmful. A student at Columbia University once said, “I think Professor So-and-So is the most unselfish man I have ever seen. He seems not to care whether he gets the credit for this work or not. All he insists on is that the work shall be done!" This attitude of unselfishly working toward an ideal is one that all Bahá’í
young people will need to cultivate. In the great Kingdom of the future there can be no place for self-seeking, pride and conceit.
The real scientist is always ready to learn from others. He is constantly on the alert for suggestions, and he is ever ready to acknowledge his indebtedness. He is not dogmatic in his assertion of facts, for he knows that scientific laws that have seemed proved beyond all doubt are sometimes set aside by more careful and exact work.
Most important of all, perhaps, the true scientist tests all his conclusions by the pragmatic appeal, “Does it work?" If it does not, he knows that there is an error somewhere, and he goes about trying to discover it. Is not this a most desirable Bahá’í attitude? Can we wisely say, “this must be done this way; it is the only right way.” ‘Abdu’l-Bahá has clearly stated that for different times, and conditions, different methods of teaching according to capacity are essential. Is it not, then, necessary that we acquire the scientific attitude of flexible experimentation?
It may be suggested that not all men who call themselves scientists live up to the high aim here outlined. This is, of course, true, but it is not an adequate argument against the value of teaching the methods of science. Our Bahá’í teachers must be utterly imbued with the best of the scientific spirit. And this, through the force of example, will gradually fill the minds of the children.
It is true that these attitudes and ideals may be taught by other means than lessons in science. Indeed, they need to be taught through many channels. But the method of the laboratory is one of the most concrete, and it gives us thousands of valuable facts, as well as valuable ways of working.
As Bahá’ís we recognize a threefold division of man’s life,—physical, mental and spiritual. We have an obligation to keep in good health; we have another obligation, to use our minds as intelligently as possible; we have a third, to live lovingly as children of God, and brothers of our fellowmen. The third obligation can be better fulfilled when we do not neglect the other two. The study of science, properly considered, is one of the surest ways of helping us to fulfill our “moral obligation” to be strong and will and intelligent. Thus we may become perfected instruments to be used in spiritual service.
‘Abdu’l-Bahá has summarized three cardinal principles that should guide instruction in colleges and universities, and the same general ideals may also be trustworthy guides in planning our courses for children in the elementary school and high school. The universities and colleges of the world must hold fast to the following:
“First: Whole-hearted service to the cause of education, the unfolding of the mysteries of nature, the extension of the boundaries of pure science, the elimination of the causes of ignorance and social evils, a standard universal system of instruction, and the diffusion of the lights of knowledge and reality.
“Second: Service to the cause of morality, raising the moral tone of the students, inspiring them with the sublimest ideals of ethical refinement, teaching them altruism. . . .
“Third: Service to the world of humanity; so that each student may consciously realize that he is a brother to all mankind, irrespective of race or religion. The thoughts of universal peace must be instilled into the minds of all the scholars, in order that they may become the armies of peace, the real servants of the body politic—the world. . . .”
A WRITER has stated that there forces are to-day ruling the world: GREED, IDEALS and EDUCATION.
The force of Greed involves war, dynasties, commercialism.
True Idealism is not an imagination, but a concept of something better than the world has known. For the sake of convincing humanity of an ideal, great souls—prophets and sages—have given up earthly fame and honor. Humanity, generally, in the first stage, has opposed such ideals; a little later has tolerated them, and finally accepted them, for true ideals are always born into a world in its time of need. We might go further into this vast domain, but we will speak to-day of the third force, Education.
Education is also an ideal to be attained, but something of this ideal has, even from the age of the cave man, existed in the human world. Always there must be the capacity, then the trainer and the training; but in this age the ideal of education has made a great stride forward, and nothing less than universal education will satisfy the human race.
If it be declared that this already exists in America, statistics refute it. In this country, there are millions of illiterates, a number being of old American stock. In South America, where the white race is literate, there is great lack among the other races. As for Europe, Asia, Africa, the need for education is too evident to admit of argument.
To-day the term “nation,” as one of our internationally known literary men has well said, is in need of a new interpretation. For humanity is realizing that the world must become one home.
One of the greatest foundation planks by which this can be made practicable is Universal Education.
When ignorance is destroyed and a plan of equal opportunity is made for all—which is the right of every member of the human family—then the “pillars of justice will be raised” and the real world civilization will become stably founded.
The education of the future must be more practical than at present. Culture and skill must meet in oneness. Unskilled labor must become a thing of the past. Every soul must put into practice the study of an art, trade or profession which will contribute to human welfare. Thus the methods of acquiring education must differ from the present. Cramming will ultimately become obsolete, and intelligent conceptions of training and developing the intellect will replace this. Instead of blunting the mind by draining the physical and nervous powers, the child must be entirely trained along the lines of special, individual talents. Thus, much now considered essential will be relegated to the past.
Also the education of the future will involve the moral and spiritual life of the child. New sciences and new arts likewise rapidly developing will become a great factor in the future universal education.
Also in this advancing age the daughter must be given the most complete education in existence, for she is the potential mother of the race.
When every race has equal educational opportunity, then labor will assume a newly adjusted attitude in the concepts of the human family. Character training, forming an integral part of the new education, will destroy prejudice, and the golden daybreak of true brotherhood and universal peace will be ushered in upon a storm-tossed world.
The first gray dawn is breaking. Let us arise to hasten the day.
THE CENTURY just passed has witnessed many changes in the world. Never was there more rapid, more solid, progress than during the nineteenth century; and notwithstanding the world war, the forward movement still continues. In this material and intellectual advance, it could not be expected that the spiritual life of man would take no part. It, too, has changed marvelously, more marvelously, in fact, than any other phase of life. The seventeenth and eighteenth centuries were eras of such rank heresies and apostasies that Christianity became a by-word and reproach among men, and God was laughed at as nonexistent. The sad wreck of Christian activities, the prevalence of atheism, agnosticism, cynical infidelities, man-made philosophies, and a disregard for moral laws that resulted in a rapid growth of crime,—these were inheritances for the nineteenth century. Slowly, conditions changed, and reaction set in, although so slowly that at times human minds could see only retrogression. Atheism and infidelity began to weaken before a belief in some kind of a First Cause, a Primal Being, a God, a Something that could and would elevate mankind, if mankind would permit it.
The last half century has witnessed a surprising increase in restlessness in spiritual fields; a search, here, there, and everywhere, for truth. Men and women said that there must be truth somewhere, divine truth, and they believed they could find it. So the search was made, from the nearest fields of science to the farthest realms of Hindoo philosophies. The greatest scientist was often the humblest seeker. Perhaps, in deference to long-established customs, he hesitated to say that he was in search of God, of the Divine, of the All-Powerful; he was more likely to designate the end he sought by some other name, more in accordance with scientific nomenclature; but that the search was and is most rigorous is shown conclusively in such works as Haeckel’s The Problem of the Universe (Die Welträtsel). This book is an excellent illustration of some of the recent scientific investigations, and of the pathetic groping after Truth.
This spiritual change may also be recognized in the awakening against public and private corruption that is sweeping over our own land and many others. Notwithstanding distressing appearances, the world is no worse today than it has been before; but its corruptions are more striking, because this spiritual awakening throws into strong contrast the prevailing moral delinquencies and the desirable and admirable life of which human beings are capable. This spiritual awakening has just begun; it is often still unconscious of itself; many are only stirring in their sleep or apathy; but the days are upon us when every earnest man will be awake and intent upon correcting the now existing evils. Such a correction can come only through a moral and a spiritual regeneration.
In addition to this intangible, somewhat indefinable awakening, that same nineteenth century saw also a tangible, definite congregating of spiritual interests and powers, as when in the chaotic whirling of a creation a center appears that later is to become a world. This congregating of spiritual powers, this center that appeared, took the form of a revelation, known to-day as the Baháí religion, which is in fact not a new
religion at all, but more properly, a renewal of all religion.
This new spiritual manifestation took form in the lives and works of three great Persians. The first is known as the Báb, a Persian word meaning the gate. In a modest, unassuming way, but with dignity and as with authority, the Báb told his compatriots that the era of Muhammadan misrule under which they were suffering was soon to end. The days foretold by Muhammad in the Koran when justice, equality, and love should really be lived and practiced upon the earth were about to dawn. He said that these days were to come through the spirit of God, who was to speak to the world again through a human form; as the Jews believed He had spoken through Moses, as the Christians believed He had spoken through Christ, and as the Muhammadans believed He had spoken through Muhammad. It was the same God who had always cared for man. It was a manifestation of the same divine Spirit that had already spoken to the world many times. The person of the Speaker might change, but the Source was always God. Thus the Báb taught that a new Manifestation was soon to appear from God. He had many followers, many eager believers, who watched and longed for the coming of this new teacher whom the Báb always called “He whom God will manifest.” As the believers of the Báb came to be numbered by hundreds, then by thousands, the Muhammadan clergy were alarmed. They saw danger to their own belief in the rapidly spreading idea that the time had come for the confirmation of the prophecies of Muhammad. They tried to check the growth of this idea by all manner of persecutions. Failing signally in this, they influenced the Persian government to execute the Báb. The interruption to the spread of the belief was hardly momentary; a new and greater leader came forward, the one predicted by the Báb—“He whom God had manifested.”
The Bahá’ís of today look upon the Báb as the announcer of the impending spiritual change. He is to the Bahá’í Religion what Saint John the Baptist was to the Christian dispensation—its forerunner. The teachings of the Báb, incorporated in the Beyan, or Revelation, have either been superseded by later Bahá’í teachings, or they have been included in them. The greater number of his followers accepted his successor and soon became known as Bahá’ís.
The new religious era really began with the leadership of the Báb’s successor, Bahá’u’lláh. He was a man from the first ranks of Persia, social, political, and financial. He had nothing to gain materially by identification with the persecuted Bábis. Driven with them out of Persia, he and his family went into an exile that, lasting longer than his life, fell also upon his family and followers. Exile was not the only punishment for supporting the belief that a new religious era was dawning for downtrodden Persia. Confiscation of property belonging to the Bahá’ís reduced the faithful to the bitter sufferings of extreme poverty; cruel and filthy imprisonments led to physical distress; all the miseries that could be heaped upon the adherents of the new belief by an infuriated clergy acting through a subservient government were meted out to the sect, known for a time as either Bábis or Bahá’ís.
A series of exiles and imprisonments finally brought the family of Bahá’u’lláh and a small company of devoted followers to Aqa, Syria, the old Saint Jean d’Acre of the Crusaders. Bahá’u’lláh himself lived until 1892. As Christ had said to the people of His time that He was the Son of God, so Bahá’u’lláh proclaimed himself the Manifestation of God to this day and age. There was this great difference between the two teachers. Christ shows by His teachings that He considered that He had come in
fulfillment of some of the promises given to the Jews; Bahá’u'lláh indicates in His words that He considers that He has come in fulfillment of the prophecies of the sacred books of all the divine religions. As Christ had taught His disciples, so Bahá’u’lláh taught His. The final years of His life were spent in putting into shape His teachings so that they might be acceptable to all the world, and in freeing the doctrines of the Bahá’í religion from the narrower interpretations that had characterized the works of the Báb. The Báb had spoken to Muhammadans, primarily to those in Persia; Bahá’u’lláh spoke to the world. In spite of the persecutions and imprisonments of the leader of the Bahá’ís, the spread of the religion was not short of marvelous. Even before the death of Bahá’u’lláh believers were being numbered by millions. All had become attached to the belief through its purity and its universality; through its simplicity and directness, when compared to the innumerable sects and schisms of Muhammadanism and Christianity; and through its promise that at last man had arrived at a mental and spiritual development when knowledge might be opened to him as never before. There could be no material gain in accepting the new teachings, for many of those who practiced its gentle doctrines of universal love and service to others, and recognized Bahá’u’lláh as their leader, were horribly persecuted. Some were reduced to beggary, others were driven into exile, others were tortured by the most cruel devices known to human ingenuity, still others were forced into excruciating deaths. In Persia to become known as a Bahá’í meant to be pointed out for death or persecution. It was absolute conviction of the truth of the teachings that led men and women to their acceptance. Twenty thousand had died in the cause before the persecutions were interrupted. Then help came through foreign interference. The ministries of England and Russia in Persia have the honor of having thrown their powerful influence against the barbarities practiced, and of having brought them temporarily to an end.
The numbers of adherents constantly grew apace. At first, they were naturally in the Orient, where they are still most numerous; but even before the death of Bahá’u’lláh, Europe had taken extensive and scholarly cognizance of the new religion, and a learned professor had been sent from Cambridge by Queen Victoria to investigate its claims. Today there are believers in many of the countries of Europe; in the United States, they are found in constantly increasing numbers and centers, from the Atlantic to the Pacific; there is a small but very earnest group in the Sandwich Islands; there are thousands upon thousands in India, China, and the countries around Persia; there are several groups in Northern and Southern Africa. South America, Japan, and the islands of the seas have risen at the call. The world has been encircled by the belief. Surely, the universality of the teachings of Bahá’u’lláh is being attested to by their acceptance by such diversified races, classes, and religions. One of the most remarkable phases of this new belief is the quietness with which it has been spread, and in a little more than a half century, it has passed around the world, and has won, purely and unostentatiously, its millions of believers.
Bahá’u’lláh established His religion, and His spirit passed calmly and peacefully away. To His son, ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, was bequeathed the duty of explaining that religion to the believers who were eagerly asking to know it better; a second duty left this son was to establish unity and brotherly love among the adherents of that religion in all parts of the world. That son, ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, calmly pursued his work of love, directing it for years from the grim old prison city, Aqa, where thirty-six years of his life were spent in exile and imprisonment. Later, when released by the revolution
in Turkey, ‘Abdu’l-Bahá traveled and taught in Europe and America.
Briefly, what is this religion? First, it is a reiteration of the commands of God to man. Second, it is an opening to man of a new era of understanding. power and accomplishment. If, as Bahá’u’lláh claimed for it, it is the fulfillment and the continuation of all the divine religions of the world, it can not be at variance with the truth in any of them; nor is it. But it must be remembered that these religions as they exist today have been altered and shaped by the minds and prejudices of men. The gist of the divine teaching is always at the core, but often so overlaid with man-made creeds, dogmas, and philosophies, that the center of truth is very hard to find. How easy, for instance, would be the union of all Christian churches if only the expressed words of Christ were taken as a basis of organization; how readily all men could be brought together if simple faith, love and justice were the means of union! Sects are not made on the teachings of God, but on men’s interpretations of those teachings. Fundamentally, all religions speak a part of the same great, eternal truth, but there is in all of them a heavy overgrowth of human interpretations. The Bahá’ís believe that it was to clear away these excrescences that Bahá’u’lláh came into the world. It was not to displace any divine religion nor any divine word. There can be no contradictions in the words of God, for His truths are eternal. Consequently, if all the great religions came from God, and if, at bottom, they still preserve His teachings, there can be no great differences between a new religion sent by God and the old ones that also came from Him. More truths may be given out, but the great principles must be the same.
Man, however, changes. Centuries bring their development for him. The simple primitive men of the days of Adam or Noah could not have understood the spiritual teachings of Christ; they had to be dealt with in a more material way. Even in the time of Christ that Teacher had to say to His disciples: “I have many things to tell you, but you can not bear them now.” Why not? Was He speaking simply to the fishermen who had elected to follow Him, or were His words really to all mankind of that age, meaning that the world of that day had not yet advanced far enough intellectually and spiritually to hear all He might have told them? Today, Bahá’u’lláh tells us that man is more ready, and that the wisdom of the ages can be imparted to him as never before. Hence, there is a new teacher for the world. He has come to give us more, not to take away nor to belittle what any preceding great teacher has given to man. A child passes from one grade to another in his school life, but he does not leave at the door of an advanced grade what he learned in the preceding grades. The same is true in the development of man. Teacher after teacher comes from God to raise the standard of civilization, and after each dispensation the race is left better fitted to receive the teachings of the next Great Master.
That a new manifestation should come from God is no more remarkable than that previous ones have come. That so far all years have had springtimes confirms us in expecting coming years to rejoice in periods of rejuvenation. As the material earth needs reviving and refreshing by the recurrence of springtime, so the spiritual world needs reinvigorating by a spiritual springtime. Does it not bring peace and assurance to feel that, through His manifestations of power, God renews at times the spiritual sense of man? Is there not a remarkable indication that a spiritual springtime is waiting on the sons of men in the fact of the widespread spiritual awakening throughout the world, and in the renewed interest with which men in all lands are turning to the study of the divine, the eternal, the all-powerful?
The following article from the pen of Dr. Breitwieser, Department of Education, University of California, is a brief abstract of an address given by him to a group of religious workers who were interested in evaluating religion as a whole. The author states that he then knew little of the objectives and tenets of the Bahá’í tearchings, and that many of the ideas are in such close agreement with the Bahá’í teachings that he decided to send this brief article for publication, as it shows how through independent thinking many are coming to the same conclusions, and
that there must be tenth in such universal agreement.WITH THE DAWN of the power of reflective thinking there arose the quest for an adequate concept of God. Primitive men groped about in their environment in an effort to arrange their experiences into an orderly system. They sought to establish laws for cause and effect. Many situations arose that baffled the mental powers of the first thinkers, even as they arise to-day. Usually the theories that received no answer were concerning the catastrophic phenomena of nature. A demon or powerful enemy was held responsible. Man exaggerated himself and developed an anthropomorphic God or gods.
These early gods were evil as well as good. In fact, in many places where men were keenly conscious of their maladjustments, the demons and evil spirits were more numerous and needed more attention than the spirits of benevolence. Man lived in fear and sought to appease his powerful enemies. The sacrifices, tortures, incantations were the expressions of feeling toward forces of mystery and power.
Man grew stronger in his power to abstract principles from his experience. He gained a confidence in his ability to utilize his experiences in the past to bring about a greater happiness in his present. Priests or teachers arose who put into the form of proverbs and ritual those things which tend to preserve the life and happiness of the tribe. The Near East, at that time the hub of the universe, became the cradle of religions. They spread their rays of spiritual insight in every direction. These rays of religion in the form of crystallized human experience were then reflected back or absorbed with varying results, just as the sunlight is qualified by the media through which it passes or the surfaces from which it is reflected.
Thus the small group of followers of Jesus near Jerusalem who founded Christianity, found in Paul an interpreter who appealed to the religious leaders of Europe and founded a Christianity that rapidly moved westward. Other leaders, also Christian, carried the doctrines northward and eastward.
The Roman Catholic Church as an institution became powerful in Europe, but borrowed much of its form from the religion of Egyptian origin. Then there arose Protestantism, another form of Christianity, spreading along with Catholicism, going westward by means of its missionary activities. Now, the leaders of this great religion are meeting the East in Asia.
Muhammadanism and the Koran moved southward and eastward and have been competing with still other religions.
As populations grew and people came in contact with each other they carried their religious ideals in the form of tribal approvals, still identifying their religious experiences with their old tribal gods, who were so adequate, while they lived sequestered lives without many contacts.
Common to all religions, is the idealization of goodness. Goodness now must be judged in terms of wider experiences than ever before. Jehovah, the tribal God of the Jews, has his counterpart in every religion. All of the essential qualities of the One God must be recognized in all the unified deities.
We must now look for the great Purpose and value of religion rather than the form or mere institution of religion. Humanity must seek God rather than a church.
Now that the religions have encircled the world, they are meeting again to integrate, synthesize, unify all of the worlds experiences for the sake of writing a new Bible, one that will never be considered finally finished until the human family ceases.
Tribalism has been displaced by nationalism. Nationalism is growing into internationalism. Internationalism must grow into universalism. Religion must awaken a feeling attitude of reverence, devotion and spiritualism in relation to a divinity that personifies the universal longing of the Soul of all mankind, a Brotherhood of Man, a gospel of love as large as the universe.
We are now ready for the great social creed with its Universal God.
There is so much in common in all of the religions. I am my brother’s keeper, and this brother may be in the remotest part of the earth. If I err, I cause sorrow to all, forever. Let us, then, pray with understanding, and with a sense of our great moral responsibilities that are as far reaching as all social contacts
EINSTEIN, perhaps the greatest scientist of today, has offered an interesting and rather startling theory of education for children.
He believes that all education should be practical, specific and definite and never theoretical and that the chief instrument in teaching should be the movies. These should be used to show children, mostly through slow motion pictures, the crowded streets of foreign cities, birds flying, flowers growing, and so on.
This, he says, will interest them and they will retain in their minds more things that form the fundamentals of education. At present, he says, no matter how well a child may learn a certain subject because he is compelled to do so, he will, if it is very distasteful to him, forget it soon afterward. Therefore not only has time and effort been wasted by the teacher, but the child’s energy has been misused.
Examinations, says Einstein, should be abolished and school hours reduced. The present system of education, he thinks, attaches entirely too much importance to memory of a parrot-like nature and this is fostered by examinations.—(Washington News.)
ONE OF THE most interesting universities of the United States is the University of Hawaii, situated at Honolulu, which graduated its first class in 1921. . . . The University of Hawaii is cosmopolitan, and is composed of an unusual number of racial strains. . . .
Dr. Leebrick, describing the student body, says:
“The students of the various races work and play together. They conduct their student activities by self-government. There is absolute social, political and athletic equality, as far as university activities are concerned, and there is no evidence of group action, based upon race.”—(Washington Times.)
THE LONDON TIMES gives much space to the meetings of the Church Congress, which was held at Oxford at the beginning of October, and voices the opinion that “it is necessary for a living Church to restate its conception of the truth in terms correspondent to men’s changing needs.” . . . The great verities of Christianity remained unchanged and unchangeable. But men’s apprehension of them alters, while their power to bring what they hold to be true into relation to the problems of life must be dependent on their readiness to interpret their faith in view of conditions which are always changing. . . . And since everyone agrees that the new age which has already begun must make its own demands on the Church, though it may be impossible to anticipate the particular problems it may bring, it must be realized that what has satisfied men in the past cannot be expected to be equally effective in the future.
Mr. Neill said that what youth asked of the Church could be summed up in the two words sympathy and reality. Youth asked first to be understood and to be loved. Youth had no particular complaint against the leaders of the Church, but to win their loyalty those leaders must come, not sheltered behind the glory of ancient names, but to stand or fall on their own merits and to be accepted as what they were in themselves. Youth is very critical and in its eyes no amount of churchgoing can atone for glaring inconsistencies of conduct.
The Rev. T. W. Pym, head of Cambridge House, Camberwell, S. E., in a paper on “What the Church Offers to Youth,” said . . . It was to be hoped that the Church of tomorrow would offer a religious education that would connect more closely doctrine with daily life. . . .
The Bishop of Oxford, in closing the discussion, said that in our own generation he would say that the claim for freedom for liberty on the part of the younger generation was quite obvious, and it has been asserted in a very clear and obvious form. But what filled him with such hopefulness about the younger generation in the times to come was that he thought the younger generation did appreciate the fact that liberty and freedom were not worth having unless it meant that they raised the standard that they were going to live and work by.— (World Wide.)
COMBATIVENESS, hate and suspicion are never the conditions of progress. They are conditions of regress, of slipping back and standing still. . . .
All improvement takes place by consent, by men seeing eye to eye, believing in common and getting together in good faith and loyalty for a given end. . . .
All advancement toward peace and the fruits of peace is made by an increase of good will and by a decrease of bad will and suspicion.
The war was caused, as all wars are caused, by an outbreak of hate, and it can be cured only by the antidote for hate, which is social good will, the spirit of good fellowship between nations, classes and individuals.—(Washington Herald.)
AN EMINENT CHINESE physician recently made a suggestion which was something like this: In Peking there are too many societies, all with different officers and membership lists; also membership fees. Why not form one large, all-embracing organization and have the various society activities included under department heads? . . . all, however, being necessary and desirable parts of the one parent organization, which would be international in character, broad in purpose, and useful in extent and scope. The main advantage of such an organization would be in the bringing closer together persons of various nations, in their association for mutual benefit. . . . —(John Gilbert Reid in Advocate of Peace, December, 1924.)
صفحه 1 - 5
بمنزلۀ خشت اوّل در بنیان تمدّن عالم انسانی است که بر آن خشت های دیگر گذارده میشود خصوصا در ممالک شرق که محلّ ولادت آنهمه ادیان و کتب مقدّسه و کتب ادبیّه نویسندگان و شعرای نامی که در مقام منیع خصلت صدق داد سخن را دادند و در تنبیه بر فرضیّت آن حقّ واجب را ادا نمودند ولی بواسطۀ عدم حریّت عقیده و تضییقات متمادیّه بر علیه عقاید و ادیان و طبعا نفوس را به تقیّه و کذب وامیداشت و نیز بواسطۀ سیاسات استبعادیّه متمادیّه که نیز نفوس را به چاپلوسی و دروغگوئی و مدح بیجا و قهرع مغرضانه بر می انگیخت و نیز بواسطه بیکاری و ناداری که نفوس برای تحصیل معاش ببافتن گزافه شعری و غیره متوسّل میگشتند و بجهات اخری نور صدق و راستی بآسمان پنهان غروب کرد و و ظلمت دروغ بیبی فروغ افق مملکت را احاطه وارد و بازارشچنان رواج است که شاید نفوس کثیره قبح آنرا ابدا ادراک و التفات نمینمایند این مسئله در نخستین درجۀ اهمیّت است و شاید اگر قهقر ممالک شرق بهمین سبب دروغگوئی متکیّ و منتسب داریم استبعادی نداشته باشد ولی این عادت قبیح که در سالیان دراز در عروق و اعصاب صغیر و کبیر عالم و جاهل قرار یافته تغییر آن بسرعت و سهولت میسّر نباشد و یگانه چارۀ آن مدارس است که معلمین صادقی تهیّه شده و بنای تربیت اطفال بر اساس صدق گذارده شود چنانچه رایحۀ و قواء کذب بمشام مطهّر اطفال خردسال اصلا نرسد و چنان تربیت شوند که دروغ و ناراستی در نظرشان امری مخالف طبع و خلقت و بغایت مکره و وقیح است مجسّم و محققّ گردد چنانچه تکلمّ بکلام دروغ و ناراستی را قدرت ننمایند و هرگاه تأسیس این تربیت در طبقه اوّل بواسطه عادتهای اولیاء و محیط زندگانی کاملا موفقّ نشود نیمه تأسیس یافته و در طبقه دویّم کاملا تأسیس و بنا شده رعایت اشخاص و جمعیّت را بساحل نجات حقیقی و دائمی خواهد رساند
کنفرانس ادیان در لندن
کنفرانس ادیان موجودۀ در ممالک امپراطوری انگلیس در لندن از 22 سپتامبر تا 3 اکتوبر در یک عمارت سلطانی بنهایت جلال منعقد بود برای افتتاح مجلس یکی از اکابر علمای انگلیس نطقی در خصوص مقصد این کنفرانس ادا نمود که قصد این است که در اساس عقاید ادیان معرفت واضحتری حاصل شود و نیز از طرف جلالت سلطنت پیغام قدرشناسی راجع بمقصد کنفرانس رسیده و قرائت شد ادیان موجوده در ممالک امپراطوری انگلیس و نهضت های جدیده موجود در آن از قبیل هندو اسلام بودائی و مذاهب و شعب بزرگ آنها زردشتی صوفی برهوسناح سیک ادیان چینی ادیان شرق و غرب افریقا و نیوزیلند و غیرهم نماینده ها و عقاید و تعالیم خود را از نقطه نظرهای متعدّده کاملا معرّفی و نمایش دادند و دین موسوی و آئین مسیحی که بواسطه کثرت وضوح بر اهالی مملکت محتاج به معرّفی نبود و در مابین آنهمه ادیان و نهضت های جدیده پیام امر بهائی نمایش و جلوۀ مخصوص داشت چه که این امر جوهر و حقیقت همه ادیان را تصدیق و تأیید و تکمیل نموده و و مرایاء روحانیّه دیانت را از گرد و غبارهای اوهام بشری تصفیه فرموده و وحدت اساسی آنها را تبیین و توضیح داد ه و پیروان ادیان را بهمدیگر نزدیک و مرتبط ساخته و بشارات موجودۀ در تمام کتب مقدّسه را بمنصّه شهود و عیان آورد و نفس این کنفرانس که سبب تبصّر و بینائی اهل ادیان و موجد حسن روابط و تقرّبشان بیکدیگر است در حقیقت خود سبب اجراء تعالیم مقدّسۀ این امر است کتب و آثار بهائی جالب نظر و دقتّ همه بود و مقاله ئیکه شخص محترم نماینده بهائی از طرف بهائیان کانادا قرائت نمود و نطق روحانی که آقای روحی افندی افنان ادا نمود موجب انجذاب مستمعین بود وبی شکّ نفس این کنفرانس و نطق نماینده ها و قرائت تعالیم
صفحه 2 - 5
ادیان خود یک بخشی از ابلاغ پیام این امر عظیم بود و بطور واضح مفهوم گشت که این امر یک تأسیس الهی است که برای مقصد توحید ادیان و اخوّت عالم انسان طالع و قائم و بمشیّت و قدرت غیبیّه با مغناطیس معنوی عقول و قلوب بشری مصوّر این مقصد منجذب میباشد .
کنونشن نژادی فیلادلفیا
تأثیر و جذابیّت این کنونشن ائتلاف مابین جنس ابیض و اسود که مستقیما در ظلّ اقدامات بهائیان فیلادلفیا انعقاد یافت بدرجۀ بود که بعضی از نفوس مانند مست از صهباء خالصه تعالیم بهائی بی اختیارانه میخواست که اسرار بشارت طلوع شمس حقیقت را بدیگران گفته و خودداری نمیتوانستند خطاب ناطقین در موضوع وحدت عالم انسانی و اخوّت بشری بود مدللّ و محسوس داشتند که تأسیس چنین اساسمقدّس اعظم بایستی به یک قوّه معنویّه فوق الطبیعه تحققّ یابد و نیک آن قوّه عظیمه از ابهی مشرق طلوع نموده و این متعه را در قلوب بنی آدم تأسیس فرمود دیگر چه بشارتی اعظم از این و چه سروری در عالم انسانی برتر و بالاتر از این تصوّر توان نمود .
کلّ نفس ذائقة الموت
خبر عبرت اثر شهادت حضرت آقا شیخ عبدالمجید در خراسان و اخبار فاجعۀ رحلت حضرت آقا میرزا موسی خان حکیم باشی و حضرت آقا سیّد نصرالله و حضرت آقا شیخ محمّد علی قائینی که پی در پی رسیده و مفارقت آن نفوس قیمه در انجمن جانفشانان خدمت بملکوت محبّت سبب تأثیرات شدیده گردیده اعمال و اثماری که از آن اشجار بارور بوستان روحانی ظهور نمود ابدی است و همیشه در قلوب و ارواح طیّبه طاهره احبّاء مأوی دارند از بارگاه احدیّت از شمولیّت قربیّت و رحمت سرمدی را مسئلت نموده و بستگان و بازماندگانشان را تسلیّت و تعزیت میطلبیم .
مژده
اینک بشارت طلوع جدید مجله خورشید خاور رسیده شکر خدای را که آنجمله از کسوف طولانی درآمده و اینک مجدّدا شروع باشراق نموده است امیدواریم که دوستان محترم در معاونت مادّی و معنوی راجع باین جرائد معدوده که برپا ایستاده اند مضایقه نفرمایند .
در الواح مبارکه حضرت عبدالبهاء
جمیع معاصی بیک طرف و کذب بیکطرف بلکه سیّئات کذب افزونتر است و ضرّش بیشتر . راست گو و کفر گو بهتر از آن است که کلمۀ ایمان بر زبان رانی و دروغ گوئی .
اطفال را از سنّ شیرخواری از ثدی رحمت پرورش دهید و در مهد فضائل پرورید و در آغوش موهبت نشو و نما بخشید از هر علم مفیدی بهره مند نمائید و از هر صنایع بدیع نصیب بخشید پر همّت مائید و متحمّل مشقتّ کنید اقدام در امور مهمّه بیاموزید و تشویق بر تحصیل امور مفیده نمائید امور را جزئی و کلی بمشورت قرار دهید برای خویشتن بدون مشاورت امر مهمّی مباشرت نکنید .
قضیّه مشورت در امور بسیار مهمّ و از اعظم وسائط راحت و سعادت نفوس مثلا نفسی چون در امور خویش حیران باشد یا آنکه کاری و کسبی خواهد باید احبّاء الهی محفلی بیارایند و تدبیری در امر او بنمایند او نیز باید مجری بدارد و همچنین در امور عمومیّه چون مشکلی حاصل گردد و عسرتی روی دهد باید عقلا مجتمع گشته مشورت نمایند و تدبیری کنند بعد توکلّ بحقّ کنند و تسلیم تقدیر شوند تا هر نوع جلوۀ حقّ دستگیری کند مشورت از امور قطعیّه ربّ تربیّه است و در جمیع امور جزئی و کلیّ خویش مشورت نمائید حتیّ بجهت زراعت و تجارت و کسب هریک و کردت و مشاورت و معاونت نماید چه که شورا از ادارۀ الهیّه و سبب میشود که در امورات و جاذب عون و عنایت حقّ .
صفحه 1 - 4
و بمنزله ریشه و اساس کلّ است و دیگر آنکه تأسیس وحدانیّت الهیّه کرده و این اساس و توجّه مرکزالشّریعت است بدرجه ئیکه حتیّ تمامت احکام و فروع جزئیّه طائف حول آن میباشد شریعت خداپرستی است و فقط توسّل و تشبّث باو در ادعیّه و عبادات و حتیّ حضرت مسیح و حضرت رسول عربی هر دو از این سلسله طلوع نموده و این کتاب و آئین را تأیید نمودند بلکه آئین مقدّسشان بر اساس این شریعت نباشد و با آنچه مصائب فوق صراحتا به حملات و قتل و غارت و اضطبا و تضییقات که بر این قوم شده و میشود کار بجائی انجامید که در قطعات عالم متفرّق و در ذلتّ عظمی واقع ولی الی اکنون کتاب و شریعت و معابد بحال و منوال خود باقی و ملیونها نفوس از این سلسله در عالم دارای تأسیسات محلیّه و خیریّه و مدنیّه بزرگ هستند .
زردشتی
این صحیح است که شریعت و کتاب مقدّس تورات در ازمنۀ خیلی قدیم تأسیس یافته و در عظمت و جلالت آن شکّ و ریبی نیست ولکن قبل از آن نیز شرایع دیگری وجود داشتند که حال کم یا بیش آثاری از آن موجود و در نمایشخانه های غرب سبب زینت و موجب حیرت ناظرین و نیز در متون کتب و تواریخ شرح احوال آن مسطور است مانند شرعت قدیم مصر و بابل و یمن و غیرها چنانچه مواد شریعت صمورابی در بابل چندان موفق با احکام تورات است خصوصا احکام عشره صمورابی تنها یک تفاوت جزئی با احکام عشرۀ تورات دارد بدرجه ئیکه بعضی معتقد شدند که فصول تورات مشتمل بر آن احکام شریعت اقدم بابل و حتیّ کثیری از اصطلاحات و لغات اصلی آن در مطاوی تورات اصلی عربی موجود و نیز بسیاری از مواد شریعت اقدم مصر در آن نمایان است و این مسائل در نزد ارباب تحقیق عالم اکتشافات حاضره از مسائل عامیه محسوب است و در این شک و ریبی نه که دیانت تورات بر اساس وحدت الهیّه قرار گرفته و انوار کلّ آن احکام مقدّسه است ولی همین معرفت خدای لبیب حکیم سرمدی قاهر علی کلّ شئ در ادوار اقوم و مابین ملل عالم موجود و نفوس مقدّسه حکیم و خبیری مردم را باو دعوت و موعظت مینمودند و در آئین زردشتی نیز مبنا و اساس همان یزدان پاک و نور تابناک است و و انوار کلّ احکام و تعالیم آن در اوستاها و اذکار بهر سمتی که توجّه شود روی دل بسوی او و در همه جا و نهایت تکوینی راهی بکوی او است و فروع و احکام مدنیّه و عبادات موضوعه آن نیز که موافق با حکم و مصالح وقتیّه وضع شده کلّ طائف حول آن مرکز توجّه میباشند امور ایمانیّه فرعیّه مانند سدره و کشتی و غیره در زردشتیت در نور ایمانیّه خفته و قربانی و غیره در موسویّت با تقالید موجوده در آتشکده زردشتی با اعمال مؤسّسۀ در معبد اورشلیم و امور راجعه بصندوق مقدّس و فروع قدس و قدس الاقداس مسائل تجهیزیّه و دخمه از یکطرف و فروع و حدود تجهیزیّه موسویّه از طرفی دیگر و بالاخره با نظرعمیق مسلمّ از محدودیّت کلّ آن مؤسّسات فرعیّه طائف حول مرکز پرستش یزدان و موضوعات موافق مصالح و حکم وقت بوده قصص و حکایات و تصوّرات جنّ و پرشته و غیره مشترک در هر دو دیانت است و اگر شاید یک عدّه کثیری از زردشتیان در معرفت و توجّه به یزدان براه معوج و اشتباه رفته و بآتش مقدّس و غیره که رموز و وسائل برای توجّه بعالم انوار معنویّه پیش نبود بیشتر از خود مقصد و مقصود پرداخته و اهمیّت دادند و از اینرو نفوس بی اطّلاع آنرا آتش پرستی نام برده اند نظیر آن در موسویّت و غیره نیز واقع شده چنانچه اکثری از پیروان آن رموز مکالمه حضرت موسی با حضرت احدیّت را در کوه سینا و امثال آن قصص و رموز موجوده در کتب مقدّسۀ آل اسرائیل را نفهمیده و تصوّر تجسّم در بارۀ ذات الوهیّت نموده و آن حقیقت مقدّسه را شخصی انسانی ساکن در سماء جسمانی تصوّر کرده اند و شاید این تصوّر خویش را پرستش میکردند چنانچه گفته اند که بعضی زردشتیان جاهل پرستش آتش میکردند ولی محققّین از نویسندگان اعصار متأخره در بسیاری از احکام و آداب آئین یزدانی زردشتیان لسان بمدح و ثنا گشوده اند و اظهار حریّت از اهمیّت مقام تعالیم فلسفی و احکام مدنیّه آن نموده اند مانند احکام راجع به زندگانی در نظافت و لطافت از حیث بدن و لباسو مسکن و نیز تنزیه فکر و قلب و گفتار از قوی و اخلاق دیوی و سعی در تسقط و غلبه بر اهرمن و دیو بدرجه ئیکه آن آئین را آئین نزاهت و و الهیّت و مرکز هرچه دراو هست نمودند
صفحه 2 - 4
و چنانچه امتّ حضرت موسی دچار اضطرارات و ذلتّ و تفرقه گشتند بر پیروان این آئین نجات گذشت حتیّ بالأخره متفرّق در بلاد هند و سند شدند ولی اکنون هزاران از آنان باقی و تأسیسات تجرید و علمیّه و نوع دوستی آنان ضرب المثل نوشتجات غربی ها است
بهائی : حضرت بهاء الله در بعضی از بیانات مبارکه چنین فرموده اند الیوم دین الله که مذاهب مختلفه و سبل متعدّده را سبب و علتّ بغضا نمائید این اصول و قوانین و راههای محکم متین از مطلع واحد ظاهر و از مشرق واحد مشرق و این اختلافات نظر بمصالح وقت و زمان و قرون و اعصار بوده ای اهل بها کمر همّت را محکم نمائید که شاید جدال و نزاع مذهبی از بین اهل عالم مرتفع شود و محو گردد حبّا لله بر این امر عظیم خطیر قیام نمائید ضغینه و بغضاء مذهبی ناری است عالم سوز و اطفاء آن صعب مگر ید قدرت الهی ناس را از این بلاء عتیم نجات بخشد در محارۀ واقعۀ مابین دولتین ملاحظه نمائید طرفین از جان و مال گذشته چه مقدار قریّه ها کان لم یکن مشاهده شده مشکاة بیان را این کلمه بمنزلۀ مصباح است ای اهل عالم همه بار یک دارید و برگ یک شاخسار بکمال محبّت و اتحّاد و مودّت و اتفاق سلوک نمائید قسم بآفتاب حقیقت نور اتفاق آفاق را روشن و منوّر سازد
صدق پیش آر که اخلاص به پیشانی نیست
النجاة فی الصّدق کما ان الملاک فی الکتب نه فقط نجات هر فردی در صدق است بلکه نجات هر جمعیّتی و هر قومیّتی نیز در اتصّاف بآن میباشد رستگاری و نجاح در راستی و درستکاری است انسان در هر شغل و بهر فریضه که قائم است هرگاه براستی در آن عمل و خدمت بایستد سبب نجاح و فلاح خواهد شد و اگر به نفاق و ناراستی باشد سبب زیان و خسران هر جمعیّتی که در عالم برای مقصد و مقصودی ایستاده اند اگر در آن راست دل و راستگو و راستکار باشند رستگار خواهند شد و اگر بخلاف آن باشد نتیجۀ جز دخالت نیست دروغگوئی و پرده پوشی گندم نمائی و جو فروشی عاقبت سعید ندارد چه که حقیقت مخفی نمانده و آشکار گردد و متاع نارواج کاسد و فاسد شود صدق آنست که انسان آنچه را میداند بگوید و آنچه را نمیداند راه گزافه نپوید و به کلید صدق یعنی لا ادری تمسّک جوید و بداند که دین نه عیب و عار است زیرا که مسائل مجهوله برای انسان بسیار بلکه بیشمار است ولی عیب بزرگ آنست که نداند و نتواند ولی خویش را عالم و قادر در آن موضوع نمایاند صدق آنست که انسان آنچه را که واقع مسئله است بگوید هرچند احتمال ضرر وقتی برود و آنچه تحققّ ندارد بگوید ولو آنکه نفع موقتّ بر آن مترتبّ گردد چه که نفس راستی و حقیقت نفع محض و جالب نفع دائم برای آتیه است و نفس کژی و کاستی زیان محض و جالب خسران دائم آینده میباشد بشخص صادق هر نفسی ولو دشمن اعتماد و استناد نماید ولی شخص کاذب منافق ولو برای دوستش قبول را نشاید هر فردی یا هر قومی که به کذب و دوروئی در عالم معمر شدند در حوزۀ جمعیّت بشری مقامی نداشته و از نظر و اعتماد دور افکنده میشوند هر ملتی که آحاد جمعیّتش در مدرسه ناراستی و کاستی و دوروئی و ژاژ گوئی تربیت شد راه ترقیّ برویش بسته و عاقبت جز نزال و اضمحلال برایش نیست چه که طریق ترقیّ هر شخص یا هر اجتماعی جز به یافتن نواقص و معایب امور حیات شخص یا اجتماعی و اصلاح آن نیست و این طریق را با قلم کج و قلب معوج و زبان غیرصادق و اعمال ناموافق و پرده پوشی و تزویر و آرایش مسائل و کلمات پیچاپیچ باطل اغراق گفتن و عقب هر کلمۀ سوگندی یاد کردن و در قول و وعد تخلفّ نمودن و امثال ذلک قطعیّا نتوان در پیش گرفت هر قوم و ملتیّ که آحادش باین صفات ظلمانیّه متصّف از عالی تا دانی همگان در حالت تزلزل و عدم اطمینان از یکدیگر بوده و اعتمادی بقول و عمل همدیگر نخواهند داشت بایع و متقاعد هر دو میدانند که ثناگو و اغراق جو هستند رنجبر و مالک هردو میدانند که راه دوستی نمی پیمایند و نیز حاکم و محکوم و رئیس و مرئوس وقس علی ذلک و از اینرو روابط اجتماعی در مابین چنین جمعیّتی چندان متزلزل است که زن از شوهر و بالعکس شوهر از زن و حتیّ پدر از اولاد و اولاد از پدر اطمینان ندارند چه که یکدیگر را به نادرستی و کژی و کاستی میشناسند بناء علیهذا بخوبی واضح است که صدق و راستی
صفحه 1 - 3
خیمۀ نظم عالم به دو ستون برپا است مجازات و مکافات این اصول اربعه که جوهر و خلاصۀ نتایج سعی و کوشش ادیان و مایه سعادت عالم انسان است هرگاه نفسی بآن آراسته و عامل باشد بهر دیانتی که متعلقّ باشد به راستی متدیّن و فی الحقیقه بندۀ خدا و پیرو راه هدی و مطیع همۀ انبیا است و اگر بآن متصّف و عامل نباشد بهر نسبتی که خویش را منتسب و متّکی دارد صرف نسبت لفظیّه و عرضیّه است و چون نوع بشر بدان اصول عامل گردند و بدان اخلاق اتصّاف یابند در عالم انسانی رستخیز عظیم بر خیزد و نفوس حشر و نشری جدید یابند و ربیه حقیقی روحانی در عالم انفس طلوع نماید و صلح و آشتی عمومی دائمی تأسیس یافته و مصداق تجدّد و تبدّل ارض و سما تحققّ پذیرفته و انوار تابناک معنویّه چنان در زجاجیّه مصّفای مدنیّت و انسانیّت حقیقیّه بدرخشند که عالم جسمانی مقرّ کرسی رحمت و عدالت صمدانی شده و جهان مظهر ملکوت اسرار گردد .
انقطاع
این مقام روحانی که در عالم سیر و سلوک نفوس در درجۀ منیعه مذکور و در کتب و کلمات هدات و معلمین الهی موصوف و مشهور است مقامی است برای نفس انسانی که دل از غیر حق گسسته و باو پیوسته جام سرشاری از بادۀ محبّت عوالم سرمدیّه نوشیده و چشم از جهان مادّه و شئونات فانیّه آن پوشیده و در ادوار دنیّه نفوس بسیاری در طلب نیل این مقام عزلت و انزوا اختیار کرده و در مغارات جبال و خلوتگاههای بی قیل و قال مجرّدا منفردا زیسته و در بروی غربت و بسوی عالم اسرارگشوده و بمجاهده نفس و تخلیّه رزائل حالات بهیّه و تحلیه بفضائل نفسانیّه و تحصیل تسلطّ بر نفس مشغول و به تفکرّ و تذکرّ عمیق و طیران در پهنای وسیع فضای روح میپرداختند شکّی در این نه که در مابین آنان نفوس متعالیّه روحانیّه معدودی بودند که بمقصد و مقصود تا درجۀ نائل و انوار فضائل و کلمات در مرایای قلوبشان عامل و نوشتجاتی مانند مخازن جواهر آثار و براکر افکار نظما و نثرا از آنان باقی و درخشان است ولی در مقابل عدّه کثیری با دست تهی از صورت و معنی حسر الآخرة و الدنیا نه از اینجا براستی گفته و نه بآنجا در حقیقت پیوسته و الی هول اولا الی هولاء نه بدبین بین ذالک مانده و مانند اعضاء منفصله از بدن هیاکل هائده عدیم النفخ و عاریه عن الفعل و العمل نسل بر جامۀ انسانی بودند در آن اعصار قدیمه که اداره و معاش و زندگانی بشری سهل و آسان و اثمار طبیعت و آثار خلقت در اقالیم واسعه واقعه در زیر سقف آسمان برای هر حیوان و انسانی آزاد و با صوت رخیم در گوشش میخواندند که فکر خود را باندیشه فردا زحمت مده ممکن بود که عدّۀ کثیری از چنین نفوس مقام یک قسمت مهمّی از جمعیّت بشری را اشغال نمایند ولی در این عصور اخیرۀ مدنیّت و صعوبت روزافزون زندگانی و انبوه جمعیّت ابناء آدم را نزدیک است که بغتته این کرۀ مسکونۀ گنجایش و تحملّ نیارد و نزدیک است عالم ارض در قبضۀ اقتدار علم انسانی از حالت منادی اصلی خود مبدّل و عالم زمین دیگری شود و عقل دوراندیش در فکر آتیه مخطر و برای تحصیل وسائل زندگانی سعی بلیغ مینمایند آن نوع معیشت تجرّد و انزوا از حوزۀ امکان خارج و مانند عضو ممنوع از دم در میان آدم بعضویّت حقیقیّه مقبول مطرود نمود حقیقت و انقطاع در این دور اعظم بقالب مدنیّت حاضره تلقیّ و قبول میگردد یعنی هر فرد انسان لابد و ناچار از این است که در هیکل جامعه بشری لازمۀ ترقیّ بوده و بوظیفه و عملی که نفع آن راجع به هیئت جامعه است و نیز سبب زینت و بقاء فرد است عامل و بلکه با تمام همّت و قدرت برای تسهیل سعادت حیات خویش و آنانکه مسئول راحت و سعادتشان است کوشش نماید و این عمل خیر دین مقدّس و به ملیّت است که عادت الهیّه شمرده میشود انزوای از جمعیّت بشریّه
صفحه 2 - 3
و عدم ازدواج و زیست بحال تجرّد نه تنها مقدّس و ممدوح نه بلکه ممنوع و غیر موافق با آمال عظمت الهیّه و غیر قابل الاجرا است و این اصل یعنی ارتباط و عضویّت در هیئت جامعه خود همه قطعیّت در انفاع آن فی الحقیقه اساس مدنیّت عجیبه حاضر و آتیه است ولی در عین این ارتباط و اشتغال به پیشه و وظیفه خود کمال تعلقّ معنوی بعالم معنی داشته و قلب مملوّ ازمحبّت و علقه بآن باشد و نتیجۀ عملیّه آن اینکه ذخایر و اندوخته مادیّه را امری عرض و سبب ائتلاء معاش جسمانی و سعادت و آسایش مادّی را وسیلۀ سعادت معنویّه و مقدّمه برای حصول آن نتیجه شناسد و آن تخلیه و تحلیه که بانقراء و انزوا تصوّر میرفت در عین ارتباط و اشتعال بدست آورده و از آن نتیجۀ علمیّه و خدمت بعالم انسانی که خدمت به بنی نوع است بر اساس تعاون و تعاضد عمومی بدست آرد
مناظره دینیّه بقیّه از شماره های قبل
مسلم : خطاب به زردشتی برخی از خیراندیشان که میخواستند عالم اسلام زردشتیّت را شناخته و بآن آئین و مؤسّسش بهمان نظر نگاه کنند که به شریعت موسویّه و مسیحیّه مینگرند چنین بیان کرده اند که زردشت همان شخص ابراهیم است که اصلا آشوری بوده و تأسیس آئین اوستا زند را بر لسان و خط مسیحی آشوری ی کسان متولدّ از آن و بر اتقاض همان آئین قدیم بابل و آشور آنرا بنا نمود و قوم اسرائیل و دیانت موسویّه و مسیحیّه و محمّدیّه کلا از اخلاف او میباشند .
زردشتی : فی الحقیقه نیّت خیر این نفوس را باید مقدّس شمرد ولی از نقطه نظر تاریخی این عقیدت را نتوان استوار داشت چه که شرح حیات ابراهیم گرفتند که فقط در کتب مقدّسۀ آل اسرائیل مسطور و سپس شمّۀ از آن در قرآن مقدّس نیز بیان شد با شرح حیات زردشت که فقط در کتب ایرانیان مذکور خود واضح مینماید که آن دو شخص از هر جهت متغایرند ابراهیم شاید حدود هزار سال قبل از زردشت بود ابراهیم از نژاد سامی و شوری الاصل چنانچه خود از نامش پیداست ولی زردشت در غرب ایران و از نژاد آریائی بود ابراهیم از آشور مهاجرت به عنان فلسطین نمود و در آنجا وفات یافت و اخلاف کثیره از او باقی ماند ولی زردشت در ایران میزیست و در شرق ایران درگذشت و اخلافی از او معلوم نه ابراهیم چنانچه از شرح حیاتش که اخلافش در کتاب تاریخ تورات حفظ کرده اند معلوم است مؤسّس شریعت و آئین مهمّۀ نبود و از اخلاف او موسی تشریع شریعت بلند نمود که در طیّ کتب مدّونه در ظلّ آن شریعت شرح حیات ابراهیم و فناء او در عبودیّت ربّ الربوب آسمان و فداکاریش در راه او نیز مذکور ولی زردشت خود مؤسّس یک شریعت منبط عادّی تعالیم و آداب عظیم القدری بود نفوسی که در دیانات سه گانه موسوی و مسیحی و اسلام نشو و نما نمودند برای حبّ و خلوصی که به شریعت اجدادی خود دارند چنان معتقدند که هر شارع دینی بزرگ حتما باید از این دودمان مقدّس یعنی سلسله آباو عظامی که در تاریخ مقدّس مذکور است باشد و چنین اساس الهی عظیمی را که بواسطۀ سنتّ زردشت در صدها سال قبل از مسیح طلوع کرد نمیتوانستند تصوّر کنند که از یک دودمان دیگری و در یک مملکت دیگری که خارج از اراضی مقدّسه فلسطین و ماحولها است ظهور نموده باشد لذا میخواستند آنرا بآباء عظام کتاب مقدّس تورات متکیّ دارند ولی این عقیدت ناشی از محدودیّت فکر و اطّلاع بوده چه که در میان همه قومی از اقوام بشری شارعین و مؤسّسین روحانی یزدانی بزرگ طلوع نموده اند که بر مطلعین حقایق تاریخیّه مخفی و پوشیده نیست .
یهود مزیّت کتاب مقدّس تورات و این شریعت این است که مقدّم بر کلّ شرایع
صفحه 1 - 2
نماید و موجب تعارف مابین بشر و سهولت افاده و استفاده گردد دویّم وحدت نژاد مانند نژاد ابیض و احمر و اسود و اسمر سیّم قومیّت و ملیّت است و ارتباط و اتحّاد حاصل از ایندو مانند ارتباط حاصل از لغت امری است عرضی نه ذاتی زیرا تشابه در قیافه و تماثل در رنگ و سکونت در یک محوّطه محدودۀ جغرافیائی سبب تماثل و تساوی افکار و اخلاق و عواطف نیست و هرچند در عادات و عوائد متشابه باشند در صفات و امور جوهری نفسانی متخالفند گذشته از آنکه در نژاد ها و قومیّت ها بمرور ازمنه شعب و فروعی متجدّد میشود که مانند شاخه های یکدرخت باطراف متقابله از همدیگر جدا و متقابل میگشتند و قومیّت ها و ملیّت ها همیشه دستخوش تغییرات عجیبه بوده اند چه بسا که اقوام و ممالکی با هم مختلط و متحدّ گشته چنانکه تا مدّتی تأسیس قومیّت و مملکت واحده کرده ولی پس از چندی از یکدیگر جدا کنند و تأسیس قومیّت ها و ممالک متنازعه نموده و چون در سائر عوامل مؤثّره در روابطبین بشر ملاحظه کنیم مانند اتحّاد تجاری یا سیاسی مابین دول و ملل و امثال ذالک بخوبی واضح است که هیچ یک اعتماد را نشاید و مانند بقیة الشعاع آفتاب در قرب افول در شرف زوال میباشد چندانکه حتیّ روابط خویشاوندی و انتساب امر جوهری نیست و محلّ اعتماد و بقا نه تنها رابطه ئی که محلّ اعتماد و شایسته کون و استناد است همانا اتحّاد تربیت جوهری یعنی تربیت اخلاق و عواطف و افکار و عقاید میباشد و این رابطه جوهریّه پیوسته بوسیلۀ ادیان حاصل میشد و این رابطۀ است که نفوس را با هم جنسیّت حقیقیّه معنویّه داده و تأسیس الفت قلبیّه مینماید چنانچه تاریخ ظهورات ادیان واضح و روشن میسازد که چگونه متکلمین بلغات مختلفه و نژاد های متعدّده و قومیّت و ملیّت های متفاوته و نفوس مختلفه المنافع در ظلّ یک چنان تربیت معنویّه مانند اتحّاد اعضای بدن واحد با هم ارتباط و اتحاد می یافتند ولی در اعصار و ادوار ماضیّه تأسیس اتحاد من علی الارض ممکن نبود چه که وسائل مادیّه برای روابط مابین قطعات عالم و اقوام بنی آدم مکشوف و موجود نبود حال در این دور ترقیّ افکار و تعالی که هم نوایا و مآرب وحدت عالم انسانی مانند روح در هیکل عالم ساری و مانند انوار شمس از افق این روز عظیم مشرق و درخشان و چون شریان در کالبد جامعه انسانی در حرکت میباشد اراده الهیّه بر آن تعلقّ یافته که مابین رابطۀ حقیقیّه یعنی تربیت جوهریّه در ظلّ محبّت الهیّه تأسیس اتحّاد اعظم و وحدت اصلیّه انسانیّه فرماید آن ارتباط و اتحّاد دائم و قائمی که اقوام و ملل قومیّت واحده انسانیّه را شناخته و در سراپردۀ محبّت الهیّه در ظلّ انوار رحمت یزدانی مأوی گیرند .
تدیّن حقیقی
متحمّل متعمقّ در قلب دیانات بر این مسئله بخوبی آگاه است که آفتاب دیانت هرچند در هر دوری از شرقی و برجی طالع و مقتضیّات و آثار مخصوصه داشته و ظهورات ادیان هر چند بر حسب تابش در زجاجات مختلفه الالوان بشکلی و تطوّری جلوه نموده و مشتمل بر تعابیر متفاوته و احکام ثانویّه متغایره بر حسب تفاوت عصر و فهم نفوس بوده اند ولی میوه و مقصد آنهمه تأسیسات روحانیّه متتابعه متحدّ و موافق بود و نتیجه آنکه نفوس از تعلقّ بهواهای نفسانی و رزائل صفات حیوانی نجات یافته و بفضائل و کمالات معنویّه آراسته شوند و در ظلّ توجّه بعوالم معنویّه باقیّه و ارتباط بحقایق سرمدیّه و ادای عقلی روشن و قلبی مصّفا و همّتی علیا گردند بآتش عشق الهی خارو خاشاک اوهام را بسوزانند و بماء معین احساسات روحانیّه گرد و غبار قلب را شستشو نمایند
صفحه 2 - 2
و بالجمله انسانی آسمانی و ملائکه رحمانی باشند تا آنکه روزی بیاید که این جهان خاک مرآت افلاک شود و حکومت رحمانیّه در این عالم جسمانی تأسیس یابد وسراپردۀ سعادت حقیقیّه برپا گردد و تمامت نوع بشر برادروار در آن خیمه یکرنگی لانه و آشیانه یابند حال این مقاصد و این بشارات که همه کتب مقدّسه بیک صدا برآن مترنمّ اند و کلّ معلمین آسمانی حیات جسمانیّه خود را فدای آن نموده اند محققّ و واضح است که ااسنی مقام عالم و اقصی سعادت بنی آدم و اساس معنویّت و انسانیّت حقیقه است لیست ماوراء تجاوان قریه و در این نیز شکّ و شبهۀ نه که تأسیس چنان اساس عظیم معنوی بقدرت و ثروت و سائر وسائل مادّی و یا عقلی و علمی نتوان نمود بلکه یگانه وسیله آن انقلاب و تغییری در عالم نفس انسانی است که عواطف را رقیق و لطیف نموده و حالت گذشت از شئونات جسدانیّه در انسان خلق کرده و نوایا و آمال انسانی را روحانی و آسمانی نماید و خلق این حالت پیوسته در ظلّ تربیت معلمین عظیم الهی و ادیان مقدّسه میشد و این مقصد متحّد همه ادیان و خیمۀ سعادتی است که بر چهار ستون محکم قرار گرفته است یعنی هرچند مقاصد و نتائج ادیان عظیمه بسیار و هر یک در مقام خویش عظیم الفائده و عالیمقدار است ولی در آن میان چهار خصلت است که بمنزله چهار پایه این تخت محکم سعادت و چهار ستون این خیمه بزرگ انسانیّت و انتظام عالم بشریّت میباشد اوّل ایمان بعالم الوهیّت و انوار ساطعۀ از آن مقام منیع است که نفس انسانی بواسطۀ آن بمقام ولکن یمطئن قلبی رسیده و برتبۀ حتمی آیتک الیقین فائز گشته و مصدوقه وفی انفسکم افلا تبصرون را بدیدۀ حق بین دیده و در زمرۀ من کان لوقلب اوالقی یسمع و هو شهید داخل گشته و شمس معنویّه را در هر شأنی از شئونات وجودیّه قائم قبل کلّ شیئ و مع کلّ شیئ مشاهده نموده و وجودات عرضیّه را در هر آنی در معرض زوال و فناء و اظلانی بود و بقا نگریسته و حقیقت معنویّه را قائم و دائم و ساطع و لامع دیده « ماهمه شیران ولی شیر علم جمله مان از باد باشد حمله مان دم بدم حمله مان از باد و باد ناپیداست باد جان فدای آنکه ناپیدا است باد » دویّم معرفت است که انسان واجد یک بینائی درونی گردد که جان واقعیّت هر امری و جوهر هویّت هر شیئ را درک نماید و دارای چشمی بینا و گوشی شنوا و دلی دانا و حواس و احساساتی زنده و توانا گردد بر اسرار عالم وجود و رموز کتب الهیّه خبیر و بصیر شده وقوعات ماضیّه و اوضاع حاضره و امور آتیه را بفکر دوراندیش عمیق پی برد سیّم محبّت است که دارای قلبی رئوف و محلوف باشد و در دوستی و مهربانی و پدری بهر فرد انسانی مطبوع و مجبول و بلا اختیار باشد و هر فردی ولو آنکه از جنس ابکهت یا دین ابعد باشد در نظر محبّت و معامله او یکی از اقرب نفوس شمرده گردد و اختلاف نسبتها و شمولیّت در احزاب متغایره عالم در محبّت متساویّه او تأثیری ننماید چهارم عدالت است چنانچه اوّلا بحیات مادیّه و معنویّه شخص خود بعدالت و اعتدال حرکت نماید و ثانیا بعائله و اقربا و ثالثا به مملکت و همکیشان و همنژادان خود رابعا با کلّ سکنۀ روی زمین بعدالت رفتار نماید نکند با هیچکس آنچه را که نمیخواهد با او کنند و نگوید در بارۀ احدی آنچه را که نمیخواهد در بارۀ او گویند و حتیّ نظر نکند در بارۀ نفسی آنچه را که نمیخواهد در بارۀ او تفکرّ و تصوّر کنند « من یعمل مثقال ذرّة خیرا یره و من یعمل مثقال ذرّةشرّا یره » هر بد که میکنی تو مپندار کآن بدی ایزد فرو گذارد و در آن رها کند فرض است بعلمای مدّت نزد روزگار در هرکدام دور که خواهد ادا کند
نجم باختر . جنوری 1925
جلد 15 . شماره 10
صفحه 1 - 1
از بیانات مبارکۀ حضرت عبدالبهاء در 10 سپتمبر 1915
امسال سال امتحان و افتتان است در قرآن میفرماید : افحسبتم ان تدخلوه الجنّةولایاتکم مثل الذیّن کانوا من قبلکم اصابتهم الباسا والضراء و ندنو لواهی قال الرسول یومن معه متی نصرالله . میفرماید که شما میخواهید باین مقامات عالیه برسید و مثل نفوسی که از پیش از اهل ایمان بوده اند و صدمات و رزایا دیده اند شما نبینید بهمان وسائلی که آنها تقرّب بدرگاه احدیّت نموده اند شما هم باید بآن تشبث نمائید و آن چه چیز است آن بلایای در سبیل الهی است و صدمات و بلایا بکشید این است منتّ الهی اگر بلایا در سبیل الهی نباشد نفوس ترقیّ نمیکند ترقیّ نفوس بصدمات و بلایا در سبیل الهی است ( پس مفاد بیان مبارک این است ) در ایران متعرّض احبّا شده اند اموال را غارت کردند و مبالغی هنگفت جرم نمودند تا بدرجه ئیکه مجبور بر این شدند که متفرّق شوند بلایا و مصائب است که از هر طرف احاطه نموده است و مفسّرین عمومی از انصاف و دین در لباس تعصّب دینی خود را جلوه داده و به دشمنی این حزب مظلوم مردم را تحریک و اغوا مینمایند که ما تعصّب اسلام داریم اظهار مسلمانی میکنند و حال آنکه از اسلام خبری ندارند خود را مسلمان قح میسازند و تحریک فساد میکنند پیش علما میروند جزع و فزع میکنند که حضرات بهائی از طریقه محمّدی منحرف اند چرا ما اینها را نباید از ریشه بکنیم چرا باید اسباب قتل اینها را فراهم نیاوریم در صورتیکه در صورتیکه این نفوس محرّک خود دشمن اسلام هستند خون اسلام را میخورند و اگر میسّرشان شود ریشۀ اسلام را میکنند بلکه جمیع ادیان و کتب مقدّسه آسمانی و تباع مقدّسه را برای نیل بمقاصد خود منهدم و منعدم میخواهند ولی بظاهر خود را بلباس زهد و اهل علم درآورده که مردم آنان را از اهل اسلام بشمارند « یقولون البعنتهم مالیس فی قلوبهم و ازا بهاء و الذیّن آمنوا قالوا انها و اذاغلوا الی شیاطینهم قالو انما نحن مستهزؤن » یعنی هر وقت اهل ایمان را می بینند میگویند ما مسلمانیم وقت خلوت که میشود با یکدیگر میگویند ما استهزاء اسلام را میکنیم این است صفت مفسدین چندی که به دشمنی خلق را بر ضدّ این حزب تحریک مینمایند ( پس بیان مبارک است ) ولی بعکس بهائیان شما میدانید که اساس دین الله عاشروا مع الادیان بالرّوح و الرّیحان است حضرت بهاء الله اعلان وحدت عالم انسانی کردند و حکم سیف را برداشتند و خطاب بجمیع خلق فرمودند که ای اهل عالم شما بار یک دارید و برگ یک شاخسار و فرموده اند جمیع خلق اغنام الهی هستند و حضرت پروردگارشان مهربان بجمیع اغنام لطف و عنایت دارد و جمیع را میپروراند جمیع را رزق میدهد جمیع را حفظ میفرماید جمیع را در ظلّ رحمتش راحت و آسایش میدهد حضرت بهاء الله اساس ادیان را تجدید فرموده و اساس قرآن را تجدید فرمود طریقت محمّدیّه را ترویج کرد (پس مفاد بیان مبارک است ) لکن اهل ایران ببینید که چقدر غافل اند مفسدین آنان را فریب داده و با وجودی که خود بی عقیده بلکه دشمن اسلامند مردم بی خبر را بر قتل بهائیان که دوست اسلام و فی الحقیقه مسلم حقیقی هستند وا میدارند ببینید چقدر نادانی است این است که ایران ویران گشته دیگر معلوم است که قوّۀ این اجرا چه خواهد بود ( پس بیان مبارک است ) باری این ایّام فائز و محبوب
صفحه 2 - 1
در شرق و غرب شعله بآسمانها میزند کرور ها از نفوس در میدان حرب با خاک و خون آغشته میشوند چقدر اموال بتالان و تاراج میرود کروره از نفوس عزیز بذلتّ کبری مبتلا میشوند چقدر شهرها که از بنیان برافتاد چقدر خانمانها که بکلی محو و نابود شده و میشود عالم انسانی بخونخواری برخواسته جمیع نظیر گرگ و پلنگ یکدیگر را میدرند و ابدا ملاحظه نمیکنند که نتیجۀ این خونخواری چه خواهد شد حزب مظلومی که خیرخواه جمیع ملل اند بهائیان اند و با وجود آنکه بجهت حیات و ترقیّ وتمدّن ایران میکوشند باغواء محرّکین مورد انواع مصائب ایرانی ها میشوند و آنهائیکه خود مخرّب ایران و محرّک فتنه و فساد هستند چنین مردم را فریب میدهند که با آنان معاونت مینمایند بقول خواجه لاله « ساخته گیرد نرگس است و برمن نام فتق .داوری دارم خدایا من که را داور کنم » باری جمیع خلق در بلایا و مصائب و تشتتّ اند لابد بهائیان را نیز باید قسمتی از این بلایا باشد تفاوت این است که بلایای طوائف سائره از اغیار است و بلایای بهائیان از یار یعنی از خود ایرانیان البّته عدل الهی این را قبول نخواهد کرد .
روابط بشری
عوامل مؤثرّه در روابط مابین عائله انسانی همیشه امور معدودۀ بوده که باختلاف اوقات بر یکدیگر در قوّت و شدّت تأثیر تسابق و تقدّم میجستند یکی از آنجمله لغت بود که نفوسمتکلمّ بیک لغت را باهم مرتبط و متحدّ ساخته و یک جمعیّتی تشکیل میداد ولی این اتحّاد جوهری نیست زیرا که نفوس متکلمّ بلغت واحده ممکن است که در جوهر ذات یعنی عقاید و افکار و اخلاق و عواطف بکلیّ از یکدیگر مختلف و متفاوت باشند و لغت امری است ارضی و اتحّاد در آن مانند تشابه در ملبس و مطعم و امثال ذالک میباشد فقط این نتیجه حاصل میشود که نفوس متکلمّ به لغت واحده از یکدیگر افاده و استفاده کرده و همدیگر را بخوبی میشناسند و گذشته از آنکه اتحّاد و ارتباط حاصل بواسطۀ زبان اتحّاد ارضی است اتحّاد دائمی نیز نبوده زیرا که لغت پیوسته معرض تغییرات بود چنانچه بسیاری از السنه قدیمه بوده و چنان از میان رفته که اخلاف موجوده آن خط را مانده ابدا نمی شناسند مانند هیروغلیف مصر و خط میخی آشور که در ایران در عصر آشوریان معمول به شده بود و امثال ذالک و نیز لسان بواسطۀ تداخل لغات در یکدیگر و تغییرات متواتره در لحن اداء حروف و ترکیب حروف و کلمات ادواری را طیّ میکند که بکلیّ از یکدیگر مجزّا و متفاوتند و جلوگیری از آن تغییرات امری است محال و بهمین جهت شعب و فروعی تأسیس مینماید که اتحّاد و روابط در ظلّ آن منجر بشعب و تفرّق و اختلاف میگردد و گذشته از آنچه به نظر عمومی این تأسیس اتحّاد و ارتباط حاصل از لغت عین تأسیس اختلاف میباشد زیرا که چون السن مختلف اند لذا جمعیّات مختلفه در ظلّ آن تأسیس میشود ولی هرگاه لسانی بین المللی عمومی در نظر گرفته شود و اصطلاحات طاریه آن نیز عمومی شمود که منجر به تشتتّ نگردد البّته چنین لسانی تأسیس روابط و اتحّاد عرضی ولی عمومی
