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In Commemoration of
The Declaration of the Bab
EIGHTIETH ANNIVERSARY 1844 - 1924
IT was in the year 1844, towards the middle of the 19th century, "a century of revolution in Government, revolution in the material conditions and circumstances of life, and revolution in knowledge and in mental outlook” that still another revolution in religious ideas and conceptions was introduced in the city of Shiraz by a young scion of the house of the Prophet Islam, 'Ali Muhammad by name, who appeared heralding the advent of "Him who shall usher in a new and golden age" and, with religion as his lever, effect peacefully and steadily the regeneration of mankind.
He had spent the main part of his life prior to the declaration of his mission, in religious pursuits, in prayer, and in contemplation. His extreme piety and virtue, his liberal ideas, the charm of his manner, the beauty of his person, the sweetness of his disposition, and the eloquence of his words kindled a spirit of devotion in the hearts of his entourage; and when on May 23, 1844, he laid claim to be the Bab meaning 'gate,' the 'forerunner' of Him who should purify the perverted religions and sects of his time from fanaticism, and establish the promised era of peace, and of freedom, it was felt by those whose conduct was the very negation of such ideals that the death-knell of their supremacy was being sounded.
Extracts from "The Bahá'í Movement" by Shoghi Effendi.
[For a detailed account of the life of the Báb, the reader is referred to the several treatises upon the Bahá'í Movement.]
The Bahá'í Magazine
STAR OF THE WEST
| VOL. 15 | May, 1924 | No. 2 |
AN INVESTIGATION by the Presbyterian Advance reveals the encouraging fact that our college youth is more concerned with vital religion than have been the students of past generations. College Presidents believe their young people to be more earnestly religious even than their parents. “For instance,” says Dr. Wishart of Wooster College, “college men and women are more ready today to apply the principles of Christianity internationally than any other class of people.” Hugh Moran, Pastor at Cornell University, writes that the great majority of the students are church members. “And in moral character and readiness to give their lives in service,” he adds, “I find the students of this generation decidedly superior to those of twenty years ago when I was in college.”
Many other colleges testify to the large extent of church membership among their students, and to the general desire for getting at the realities or religion in this day of shifting dogmas. According to the President of Lafayette College, moreover, “All earnest Christian students feel the need of some great spiritual genius to restate our faith in language of today and to give us that unity of organized knowledge and belief which the human spirit so insistently craves.”
These are significant words. The greatest need of today is for a spiritual leadership so potent as to restate the great spiritual truths in modern terms, not only for Christianity, but for all the world. The youth of Islam, of Hinduism,
of Confucianism, as well as of Christendom, are seeking to understand their respective religions in the light of modern science. The great power of the Bahá'í teaching is, that while it calls to the hearts of men to unite in a world brotherhood based upon religion, it interprets religion in such a way as to appeal to the most critical intelligence. Religion and science must be in accord, said 'Abdu'l Baha’, because they both express the truth about the universe, and there is only one truth.
THIS IS WOMAN'S DAY. She is entering every profession with success, and is proving herself most capable in public affairs. There is indeed no distinction in the native ability of the two sexes. If any, woman today has a greater capacity for painstaking and faithful work than man, because man, through and by means of his ages of over-lordship, so to speak, has become a bit too easy going, while woman has been forced by her past destiny to a finer and more patient expression of will, endurance and activity.
In Washington during the last year of the War two women, wives of army officers, took over an Officers' Club that was no longer being used and conducted it as a public cafeteria. They were interested to see if they could furnish well-cooked food served in an artistic and quiet environment. Their success was so great that they have thrown their whole energy into the enterprise, gathering around them other women, some of
them young college graduates, as partners in a business which is after all a specialty of woman's, that of providing food.
Today this cafeteria is the most popular eating place in Washington. It provides the best of food deliciously cooked, in quarters of the utmost charm and beauty. Flowers decorate the place in profusion. The furnishings are exquisite—and of a cheerful tone. The servants remove the dishes so quietly that one is hardly aware of their continuous service in keeping the tables clear. Throughout, an atmosphere of high courtesy prevails.
One of the ladies in charge answered proudly in response to the question of a visiting friend from Europe as to whether any men were connected with the organization, "No, and we wouldn’t have any. They are too commercial." Her criticism is probably justified. Women do perhaps give more sympathetic service in business than do men.
But it is interesting in this case to realize that the result of holding to the highest ideals has been a great commercial success. It would seem to be true, as Henry Ford says, that the way to success lies in doing a needed work well and honestly for the love of the work, not of the dollar, and the dollar will take care of itself. And it may be that women will bring to the business world, and indeed to every form of organization, ideals of service and of helpfulness greater than the world has experienced under the dispensation of man. What is most of all needed is that men and women shall work together, inspiring each other to high and serviceable achievement. "When humanity flies with both wings, it will soar high."
MR. FRANCIS G. PEABODY, of the Harvard Divinity School, gives a striking message of spiritual religious unity in an article published in the Yale Review. Whereas doctrinal Christianity and the authority of the Church tend to separate religionists, he says the inner consciousness of the living God brings
all into the unity of the one fellowship of religious experience. In theological and ecclesiastical history one finds differences and separations, but the testimony of the saint and seers, the experience of the holy souls, the convincing evidence of the life of God in the soul of man, these all work for unity. "Such a fellowship discovers strange and surprising affinities. Lives which seem hopelessly separated by the divisions of the organized Church find themselves speaking the same language and walking the same path. No ecclesiastical barrier interrupts this spiritiuial intimacy.”
He might have gone a step further, and shown the similarity of all the great world religions, as regards their real essence. If one reads the mystics of the different races and religions of the world, one finds them all celebrating the single glorious theme of the love of God. If true religion is to love God and man, and if there is only one God, the love for Him must be the same, in whatever heart or under whatever colored skin it burns. The proof of this is, that those who have experienced this love, no matter of what outward faith, all sing in the same language of spiritual ecstacy. One may read the Christian Tauler or "Theologica Germanica," the Persian Jelal-u-Din or Jami, or the Hindu Kabir or Rama Krishua, and receive the same and identical inspiration.
As 'Abdu'l-Bahá has said, in their essences all religions agree; it is in their outer manifestations of form, the work of man's intellect and ego, that they disagree. "The Bahá'í Message is a call to religious unity and not an invitation to a new religion, not a new path to immortality, God forbid! It is the ancient path cleared of the debris of imaginations and superstitions of men, of the debris of strife and misunderstanding and is again made a clear path to the sincere seeker, that he may enter therein in assurance, and find that the Word of God is one Word, though the Speakers were many."
How simple and inevitable is this call to drop the form, and agree on the essentials. This is a call, not to Christendom only, but to the whole world. And those who have accepted it know with what joyous surprise they find themselves brothers to men of other races and religions. A young Mohammedan studying for the priesthood met us in Constantinople a few months after becoming a Bahá'í. "Just think, my friend," he cried, grasping our hand with more than the love of a brother, "If I had had to shake hands with you six months ago, I should have spat upon the ground, for I should have thought myself contaminated. And now you are my brother!" Such joy in his heart to be free from the man-made barriers of ecclesiasticism! May the whole world receive the joy of that freedom!
THE MESSAGE OF THE PRINCE OF PEACE, after nearly twenty centuries of fighting on the part of the world nations claiming to adhere to His teachings, is at last reaching the hearts and consciences of Christian peoples. One of the most powerful sects of Christianity in America in its recent general conference passed resolutions most vigorously opposing war, which run in part as follows:
“War is not inevitable. It is the supreme enemy of mankind. Its futility is beyond question. Its continuance is the suicide of civilization. We are determined to outlaw the whole war system. Governments which ignore the Christian conscience of men in time of peace, cannot justly claim the lives of men in time of war. The glorification of war must end. Through its educational program, our church must mold the present youth of all nations into a peace loving generation."
At the same time another powerful denomination assembled at Grand Rapids, Mich., adopted an equally strong declaration against war: "We see in war's cruelties, made more terrible by modern invention, not only a menace to civilization, but also a definite challenge to the followers of the Prince of Peace.—We claim that those who are asked to fight and bear the burdens imposed by war should be consulted when possible before this sacrifice is required of them. Therefore we ask for a referendum on war, except in case of invasion."
Still another religious conference in Philadelphia sends out these vigorous words: "We believe that the whole system of determining right by violence and destruction, rather than by friendly conference and negotiation, is fundamentally wrong, inefficient, and unchristian. We call upon Christian people of whatever sect or creed to join in renouncing for the future all participation in war."
So while the world's science is creating deathrays and other new machines of wholesale destruction, the conscience of man is declaring for universal peace. It has taken two thousand years of brutality and anguish, since the Messiah gave forth his message of love, for humanity to come to the point where it really wishes peace. Now that the right desire is awakening in the world, even though the giant War give one more death struggle, his end is at hand.
"THE Spirit of the age demands the establishment of universal peace. No power on earth can stand before it. God has purposed that peace must reign in this age, and it will come to pass. Let the advocates of peace work with greater zeal and courage for the Lord of Hosts is their supporter.
In this radiant century and merciful age the ears are open, hearts awakened, eyes seeing, consciences stirred.
The age of estrangement has passed. The century of friendship has arrived. The dark hours have disappeared and the Orb of Unity has dawned. Now is the time to be illumined with the rays of the sun of the solidarity of the human race." ’Abdu'l-Bahá.
EDUCATING FOR PEACE
BY STANWOOD COBB
"WARS and destruction spread rapidly. Peace and constructive enterprises require time for consummation. Years of education, gradual development of better understanding, the slow substitution of sympathy for suspicion, the eradication of selfishness and lust for power,—all these and more must be brought into the hearts and minds of the peoples of the world before we can have enduring peace. The schools are the great mills through which we must grind the grist of peace and where those qualities of human character which will bring about the way of righteousness, justice and reason can best be developed."
These strong words of our Commissioner of Education point to the way the world must travel if it is to attain to the blessing of peace. War is primarily an idea, a motive. Its eradication must be begun in the world of ideas. To expunge the idea of war from the mind is difficult. But the Child-mind is open, impressionable, ready for any doctrine of good or evil. If now the conscience of the human race is turned against the resort of force in international disputes, it must include, among those race ideas which by means of education it hands over to the growing generation, the new and glorious doctrine of peace.
Travelers in Europe are impressed with the international hatred still rampant there. There never was a greater illusion than the idea that "a war can end war." No war ever ended war, and no war ever will, except by annihilating the human race. Fresh in the cruel tracks of war spring up the red flowers of hatred, envy, revenge. And so one day, when respite has brought strength, the war begins again. Thus the cycle of war and hatred, hatred and war, goes on.
Ages ago Buddha enunciated this great truth: "Not by hatred does hatred cease. Only by love does hatred cease." The history of the human race since then has not disproved this statement!
How can the obstacles to peace be overcome? The desire for revenge is innate,—one of those animal qualities which must be refined out of the race if it is to survive.
It is of little value to preach peace if we cannot begin to practice peace in our daily lives. Somehow it must overcome the spirit of hatred and revenge, substituting other qualities and other methods of securing justice. And we must begin with our children, training them to practice love in their relations with each other; or at least to have recourse to justice rather than to fisticuffs.
A system of self-government in our schools, properly instituted and carried out, is the first step, it seems to me, in the direction of inculcating the doctrine and practice of peace. Let each school be a miniature league of nations in which arbitration, or the judicial decisions of a school court, takes the place of force. Children, like adults, resort to force in order to secure justice. But if justice can be secured without force, so much the better. Battles may thus be avoided. But in schools which are autocracies, children hesitate to appeal for justice to the power above. The feeling of student-solidarity makes the reporting of offenses to the authorities seem a breach of loyalty. Thus in a school of the old type, the children prefer to settle their own difficulties by a system of private vendetta. In self-governed schools the situation is, however, radically different. Where the students maintain their own order and discipline there is no breach
of loyalty in reporting offenses to the governing council. Mutual responsibility is a civic duty. In our democracy we become our brother's keeper.
We have in our school a "law and order committee" whose duty it is to report all offenses against the laws of the school seen by them, or reported to them by others. At the weekly meeting this report is gone over by the whole body of students as a court of jurisdiction.
One of the most noteworthy and beneficent results of our self-governing system is that it minimizes the tendency to resort to force. In other words, fighting among the children is very rare for the simple reason that the spirit of fighting is, in the main, supplanted by the spirit of justice.
It is not enough, however, for a school to adopt a system which substitutes cooperative justice for private revenge. That is about one-half of the great task of overcoming war. The other half of the task is much more difficult,—that of raising the consciousness of the group to the plane of love and brotherhood and forgiveness. Here, as in the great world, we are going against the native animal instincts. This is a spiritual rather than an intellectual problem.
Many organizations are working for the spread of international ideals in our schools and colleges. The Institute of International Relations is assisting in the system of exchange students from foreign countries and in the exchange of professors between this and other countries. It has raised funds for fellowships to enable destitute Russian students to continue their studies here. It has arranged student tours to foreign countries, notably Italy, France and England. It has consistently urged the introduction into the college curriculum of courses in international relations. Its most important work for the cause of interenationalism is the organizing of International Relations Clubs in colleges all over the country.
The American School Citizenship League conducts the world contest for the Seabury prizes for essays on themes of world peace open to students of secondary and of normal schools. Such subjects have been—"A World International Association to promote International Goodwill" and "The Achievements of Civilization and How to Organize Them for World Comity." Many teachers in the United States have introduced the contest as a part of the regular school work. It is recommended that all schools adopt this plan.
The National Council for the Reduction of Armaments, Washington, D. C., has lately sent out a questionnaire to the colleges of this country, to find out how far they are offering courses designed to develop in their students an intelligent interest in international relations and a spirit sympathetic to world organization and world peace. Replies received from about one-third of the colleges indicate their recognition of the necessity of doing something to develop better international understanding. Many colleges have introduced courses or special lectures designed to accomplish this result. Four methods have been adopted.
1. New courses, in many instances under the name of International Relations, are given.
2. Courses in history, geography and political science are being modified to include material on international relations.
3. Special lectures by resident professors or by visiting foreigners or other speakers are provided.
4. International Relations Clubs are being organized.
The University of Wisconsin has announced a new correspondence-study—course in American diplomacy, to meet the awakened interest in our foreign relations since the late war.
At the University of Nevada, a course is given on the Institutions of International Life, covering such topics as "The
Historic Development of the World Neighborhood of States"; "International Justice"; "The International Mind"; "Systems of Education for World Federal Citizenship"; "The Need of a Universal Language"; "Empire, Nationality, Federal Internationality." This course is an excellent approach to the subject of universal peace.
A unique course is that given in Ohio State University on "Prejudice," in which, after discussing different types of prejudice and their causes, the students are directed to:
1. Write a paragraph explaining your antipathy for that group against which you have the most violent prejudice, giving full rein to your bias.
2. Rewrite your paragraph, eliminating all charges which you could not prove.
3. Now write as strong a defense of the group as you can.
4. State to what extent your antipathy is based on reason, and to what extent on prejudice and explain the origin of the prejudice as far as possible.
5. State definitely what you intend to do to free yourself from your prejudice.
Efforts toward internationalisrn on the part of institutions training teachers is especially praiseworthy. The George Peabody College for Teachers writes, in answer to the questionnaire: "We have probably had courses in international relations longer than any institution in America. Our feeling is that the teachers of America need to be gotten out of their provinciality and become acquainted with the affairs of other nations."
Illinois State Normal University writes: "You will find here a strong trend for the reduction of all activities that made for war sentiment."
Out of 200 answers received to this questionnaire, only 27 were definitely negative; 120 replies showed either definite courses, student organizations, round table discussion, or special lectures. Nor is this movement toward education for world peace confined to the colleges. A proposal has already been made in secondary school circles for an international conference of heads of such schools and for the interchange of professors amongst them.
In England, under the leadership of the Secretary of Education, who recently made the statement that "the peace of the world is in the hands of the teachers of the world"—the schools of every grade are introducing into their courses of geography and history special material on international relations. The University of London has developed a course of extension lectures along this line. Special international courses have been established at Woodbrooke, the summer term of which is known is the Unity History School.
On the continent a People's College has been opened in Denmark of a definitely international character. The Woman's International League for Peace and Freedom is holding summer schools in Italy, Germany and America.
Japanese educators have urged the formation of associations for international education in every country. Themselves taking the lead, they have formed such an association in Japan which is ready to cooperate with any kindred association in other countries. Furthermore, a Chapter on the League of Nations and World Peace is being introduced into one of the obligatory history text-books of that country. It is very encouraging to know that the Government Committee for Investigating Text-books has had such members as Mr. Sawayanagi, President of the International Education Society, and Baron Sakatami, President of the Japan Peace Society and vice-president of the League of Nations Association.
As the world, however, looks more to America than to any other country to lead the way to universal peace, so we have in our schools a greater opportunity to educate for peace than has any
other country. We have no hereditary enemies; live at peace with all the world; covet no other nation's land, and we have within our nationality members of all races and nations, a rich unity in diversity, which gives us sympathy for and understanding of the other great world races.
Thus it is evident that we have an unsurpassed opportunity to uphold the banners of brotherhood, and to win that proud position among nations spoken of by Abdu'l Bahá of being both the messenger and persuader to the world of universal peace. May our only rivalry with other nations be in good deeds, in progress, in leadership toward that glorious civilization which awaits the spirituralized race. All this Abdu'l Baha promised America if we would but hear the call, and obey.
[Editor’s Note:—When 'Abdu'l-Bahá came to this country in 1912, he found many organiaztions actively working for peace. Several of his lectures were given under such auspices. Among his utterances on the opportunity open to America, because of the progressive character, to take the lead in establishing universal peace, the following words are significant]:
"When I came to America, I found this to be an exceedingly progressive country, the people in a state of readiness, the government a just one, and equality established to an extraordinary degree. Now inasmuch as the standard of International Peace must be hoisted, I hope that it may be hoisted upon this continent. Raise it aloft, for you are deserving above all other nations. In other countries there are many who are waiting for this summons, anxiously anticipating this call from some nation bidding all to the 'Most Great Peace,' for the people are distressed because of the excessive and irreparable damage of War.
"Praise be to God! all the people who have accepted the teachings of Bahá'u'lláh are peace lovers and are ready to sacrifice their lives and forfeit their fortunes for it. Now let this standard be hoisted in the West and many shall respond to the call. Just as America has become renowned because of her discoveries, inventions and skill; famous for the equity of her government and and colossal undertakings,—may she also become noted for the 'Most Great Peace.' Let this be her undertaking, and let it spread from her to other countries. And I pray for all of you that you may render this service to the world of humanity."
A RELIGION OF EDUCATION
BY LOUISE WAITE
THE Bahai religion is one of education in its broadest sense. There are two things which cannot exist side by side—true religion and ignorance, or irreligion and education. You may have the forms of education, such as schools, text books and courses of instruction among a people who have no sense of the divine significances of life, but these do not constitute education; they are but some of the means by which it is accomplished.
'Abdu'l-Bahá has said, "Although a man may progress in science and philosophy, if he does not partake of the Spirit he is incomplete." True it is that education does not always make for culture, nor creeds for spirituality.
The word education means "to educe," to bring forth, to grow, to evolve; and the true teacher, whether of spiritual or scientific truths, is the one who can awaken the potentialities of the heart and mind, and stimulate growth from within out, not from without in.
The Baha'i conception of education is essentially religious in its objects and methods; religious because its basic principle is that every life bears infinite possibilities, and upon every soul rests the solemn obligation to make the most of his own life, in order to have the better life to give the world.
A true Bahá'í does not measure education by information imparted, nor an educated man by the variety of his memory stores, nor by the order with which he has catalogued them. He counts him educated who has developed his own resources, trained his powers, harmonized his life into oneness with all, and who sees life as personal, continuous growth, and an ever increasing opportunity for SERVICE.
Will Levington Comfort has touched upon the relation of education to religion from a high viewpoint in the following words taken from his book, "Child and Country": "Education is thus religion, but not the man-made idea of religion; it has nothing to do with dogmas and creeds, cults and isms, with affirmations or observances; it has to do with establishing conscious connection with the Source of Power and bringing the energy down to performance of constructive work in matter. Religion isn’t a feeling of piety or devoutness; it is action. Spirituality is intellect inspired. I would teach the young mind to find its own voice, his own part and message; it is there above him. True training is the refinement, the preparing of a surface fine enough to receive his part. That is the inspiration and the outbreath, making a model in matter of the thing received. All training that does not educate the child to look within the unseen for his power not only holds, but draws him to the common herd."
The test of education is not the ability to answer strange and often useless questions, to perform brain exercises, to have spent years in this or that bed of "culture," of special forcing; these are but means to an end, and that end is to be able, because of knowledge and training, to make life in its grander, larger terms, to climb its ascending pathway, and to make one's strength the strength of all.
Education is not a substitute for religion; it is simply the spirit of true religion expressing itself in one way which is the answer to the spirit of this great day of "Knowledge and Light." The Supreme Voice is calling out to man that he was made to grow, to have more
life, to come to the fullness of that life, and to give the world an efficient and worthy citizenship.
In true education metaphysics plays a great part. Metaphysical understanding helps one to see more clearly, to understand the eternal laws of God and emphasize the economy and necessity of spiritual things. It gives the framework of the spiritual life, the understanding, but this in itself is not enough; we must look to religion for the soul of this form.
We read that St. Paul sat at the feet of Gamaliel and recited from memory the choicest texts of the Mishna and Gemara, until he was so well informed in Rabbinical law and tradition that he was "graduated a Pharisee." But this did not complete his education. By force of circumstances he took a "post-graduate course" in the University of Spirit and in the fine arts of Service to his brother man. This he learned by being tossed from pillar to post, and by imprisonment. Who shall say that this was not worth far more to him, and consequently to the world, than all the knowledge he had gained from being a pupil of the renowned Gamaliel's school?
It was the same Paul, the scholar, who wrote to Timothy a year or so later than the date of his Philippian letter, that "goodness with contentment is great gain." And, after all, of what real practical value to one's self is education if in the very best sense it does not make one more contented and helpful?
Contrast the unhappy Saul of Tarsus, the intellectual persecutor, with the godly and contented Paul, the revealer of that gem in literature whose rays will penetrate the ages to come, as it has the ages past, with spiritual beauty and upliftment—the thirteenth chapter of First Corinthians—wherein he has proclaimed the eternal truth of the correlation of education and religion. "Though I speak with the tongue of men and of angels, and though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and have not LOVE, I am nothing."
When in prison, he reconciled himself to what he would not have chosen, and making the most of his imprisonment, wrote optimistic letters to others. It is impossible to close the doors of usefulness against such a man. Paul stated that he had "learned to be content," and we are told that "Paul had a finished education." Not until spiritual unfoldment, as well as intellectual, go hand in hand, will man be truly educated. Intellect is the fountain; the water of life springs from the heart; it is not dependent upon the intellect for expression, but the intellect is a useless form without the water of the Spirit.
Bahá'u'lláh has set forth the idealism of life, and it is beginning to flow like pure strong blood through the arteries of the world today, teaching man that the finest thought of all is the enriching, the training, the perfecting and developing of his own soul, to know what life really means, and to find the way to make it richer and fairer, more purposeful and worth while to the world.
It has been said, "Education is the answer of the soul that has heard the demands of God." It is the fruit of that faith which believes in something grander and more satisfying than daily bread, something higher than the imperative demands of the physical body, the faith that looks out and holds to the vision of hope for the ultimate realization, that believes that it is better to lose the whole world than to fail in finding and saving the true self.
No matter what a man may profess in religion, unless he is making life one long educational course, with the motive of lofty idealism, with the hope of finding the fullness of life, for the sake of giving forth that measure to others, his religion has nothing of the infinite or divine about it, be it church, school or press.
In defining the word Religion, 'Abdu'l Bahá has said, "By the word Religion I do not mean the present dogmatic and theological imitations which are in the hands of the people. By Religion I mean
the world of morality. After the moral aspect of humanity becomes readjusted, then the greatest unity will be realized; but without this moral adjustment it is impossible to establish harmony and concord. When the morality of the world of humanity is beautified and adorned with praiseworthy virtues, there will be an end to war." Again he said, "True Religion is to characterize one's self with the characteristics of God, which are Love, Virtue, Knowledge, Justice, Mercy, Truth."
When in our school curriculum is included character building and knowledge of metaphysical and spiritual laws, the true education of the child will begin, and not until then. The cold letter killeth; it is the spirt which giveth life.
Let us also look forward to that day when the opportunity for education along all lines will be like the air we breathe, free for all according to one's capacity to absorb; when there will be no "educated classes," no "superior classes," for every man will feel that he is superior to taking and enjoying a thing from which others are barred by fortune and ill birth. As long as others are kept in prison, we too are in bonds.
A set form of education, like a set form of religious service, irons out all the individuality of a soul. From a Baha'i viewpoint, a school should not be a preparation; a school should be life unfoldment.
Greater than all the marvelous inventions of the age is this new religious educational message. None of these can compare in value to that which gives love for brutality, trust for fear, hope for despair, the natural for the artificial, true character for animalism. We cannot make the plant blossom, but we can place it in the sunshine and supply its needs for growth, and nature does the rest. So it is with the teaching; one can but comply with the requirements of growth in the individual, and God does the rest.
We need spirituality and a training of the mind that will cause it to react always in a definite way, for Love is not an emotion but an eternal Divine Principle. Truly it has been said, "Teach me kindly interest in my fellows, imbue my character with this, and you have given me a foundation that will stand."
That which stirs and awakens the spiritual within man, lifts him out of ignorance and ignoble sloth, holds before him the view of the ascending spirit, clarions to lofty deeds, calls to life in him a faith in his own divine possibilities, speaks to the deep places of his heart, makes him believe in that which is better than he knows—this is the mouthpiece of religion and the tie that binds education and religion into one.
'ABDU'L-BAHA
(Love Is the Clue)
BY STANWOOD COBB
- O Heart of Love, we turn to thee
- To guide us over life's strange, trackless sea.
- The thinker thinks his intellect the goal
- But we know better, you and I, my soul;
- Love is the clue, and Love the guiding, too;
- Without it none may pass life’s mystic portals through.
- And so to that great Splendor of Desire far away,
- Love be my company, and Love my stay.
EDUCATION MUST INCLUDE THE SPIRITUAL IDEALS OF WORLD PEACE AND BROTHERHOOD
A COMPILATION FROM THE WORDS OF 'ABDU'L BAHA
"THE duty of educated men, especially university presidents of the nation, is this: To teach in the universities and schools ideas concerning universal peace, so that the student may be so molded that in after years he may help carry to fruition the most useful and human issue of mankind."
"THE schools should be free from all religious and racial prejudices, for these often prevent good results from being obtained. All schools and colleges should have these three foundations.
First—They should be sincere in the service of training the souls. They should discover the mysteries of nature and extend the circle of art, commerce, etc., so that ignorance and the lack of knowledge will pass away and the lights of science and knowledge shine forth from the horizon of the soul and heart. In all schools and universities, a general rule for training should be made.
Second—Training in morality is necessary, so that the pupils' good conduct may remain unchanged and so that they may progress in a most befitting manner, become possessed of lofty ideas, lovers of the world of humanity, and so that they will hold fast to the spiritual perfections and to that which does not displease God.
Third—Service to the world of humanity should be obligatory. Every student should know, with perfect certainty, that he is the brother of the people of all religions and nations and that he should be without religious, racial, national, patriotic or political bias, so that he may find the thoughts of universal peace and the love of humankind firmly established in his heart. He should know himself as a servant of human society of all the countries in the world. He should see God as the heavenly father and all the servants as his children, counting all of the nations, parties and sects as one family. The mothers in the homes, the teachers in the schools, the professors in the universities, and the leaders in the lofty gatherings, must cause these thoughts to be penetrative and effective, as the spirit, circulating in the veins and nerves of the children and pupils, so that the world of humanity may be delivered from the calamities of fanaticism, war, battle, hate and obstinacy, and so that the nether world may become the paradise of heaven."
"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. Spiritual civilization must assist the material. The material civilization is like the lamp, but the spiritual civilization is like the light in the lamp. The lamp without the light is a useless thing."
"THE IDEALS of Peace must be nurtured and spread among the inhabitants of the world! They must be instructed in the school of Peace and the evils of war,—The advocates of Peace must strive day and night, so that the individuals of every country may become peace-loving, public opinion may gain a strong and permanent footing, and day by day the army of International Peace be increased."
BAHA-U'LLAH teaches that the world of humanity is in need the breath of the Holy Spirit, for in spiritual quickening and enlightenment true oneness is attained with God and man. The "Most Great Peace" cannot be assured through racial force and effort; it cannot be established by patriotic devotion and sacrifice; for nations differ widely and local patriotism has limitations. Furthermore, it is evident that political power and diplomatic ability are not conducive to universal agreement, for the interests of governments are varied and selfish; nor will international harmony and reconciliation be an outcome of human opinions concentrated upon it, for opinions are faulty and intrinsically diverse. Universal Peace is an impossibility through human and material agencies; it must be through spiritual power. There is need of a universal impelling force which will establish the oneness of humanity and destroy the foundations of war and strife. No other than the divine power can do this; therefore it will be accomplished through the breath of the Holy Spirit.
No matter how far the material world advances it cannot establish the happiness of mankind. Only when material and spiritual civilization are linked and coordinated will happiness be assured. Then material civilization will not contribute its energies to the forces of evil in destroying the oneness of humanity, for in material civilization good and evil advance together and maintain the same pace. For example, consider the material progress of man in the last decade. Schools and colleges, hospitals, philanthropic institutions, scientific academies and temples of philosophy have been founded, but hand in hand with these evidences of development, the invention and production of means and weapons for human destruction have correspondingly increased. In early days the weapon of war was the sword; now it is the magazine rifle. Among the ancients men fought with javelins and daggers; now they employ shells and bombs. Dreadnoughts are built, torpedoes invented and every few days a new ammunition is forthcoming.
All this is the outcome of material civilization; therefore although material advancement furthers good purposes in life, at the same time it serves evil ends. The divine civilization is good because it cultivates morals. Consider what the prophets of God have contributed to human morality. His Holiness, Jesus Christ, summoned all to the "Most Great Peace" through the acquisitions of pure morals. If the moral precepts and foundations of divine civilization become united with the material advancement of man, there is no doubt that the happiness of the human world will be attained and from every direction the glad tidings of peace upon earth will be announced. Then humankind will achieve extraordinary progress, the sphere of human intelligence will be immeasurably enlarged, wonderful inventions will appear and the spirit of God will reveal itself; all men will consort in joy and fragrance, and life eternal will be conferred upon the children of the kingdom. Then will the power of the divine make itself effective and the breath of the Holy Spirit penetrate the essence of all things. Therefore the material and the divine or merciful civilizations must progress together until the highest aspirations and desires of humanity shall become realized."
ESPERANTO STUDY OFFICIAL FOR CHINA
AN official spoken and written language for China, the land where a national form of speech does not exist, may be an accomplished fact in the near future.
Esperanto, the international language, will be made a compulsory study by the Chinese Government as soon as enough teachers capable of teaching it are available. Eventually, government officials expect to establish Esperanto as the official language of China.
A movement is also under way in Japan with the object of adopting Esperanto as the popular written language of that country because of the cumbersome system of Japanese script.
Dr. Wellington Koo, former Chinese Ambassador to the United States, in an interview recently, said: "I am in favor of the maximum development and use of Esperanto, both in my country, where our people are so unhappy, divided by the multitude of dialects, and in other nations of the world, for two reasons:
"First, because it can be so easily learned by those of the east and west.
"Second, its logical structure makes possible such a wide variety of thought expression with a minimum taxation of the memory."
The first all-Esperanto university in the world was opened in Peking in September of last year. Students, numbering 170 from all sections of China, and several from Japan and Siberia, were enrolled to take the courses, all of which are conducted in Esperanto.
Normal schools throughout China are already teaching the international language, with the view of training their pupils to qualify as teachers.
The dialects, of which there are at least eight so different as to be mutually unintelligible, show the great need of a national language for the Chinese. People of one community are often unable to converse with those of another community, even though a few miles apart.
[Editor's Note-Bahá'-'u'lláh insisted on a universal language as one of the necessary means to universal peace and brotherhood. The reasons for this are made clear in the following utterance of 'Abdu'l-Bahá:]
TODAY the greatest need of the world of humanity is discontinuance of the existing misunderstandings among nations. This can be accomplished through the unity of language. Unless the unity of language is realized, the 'Most Great Peace' and the oneness of the human world cannot be effectively organized and established; because the function of language is to portray the mysteries and secrets of human hearts. The heart is like a box and language is the key. We can open the box only by using the key, and observe the gems it contains. Therefore the question of an auxiliary international tongue has the utmost importance.
Through this means, international education and training become possible; the evidence and history of the past can be acquired. The spread of the known facts of the human world depends upon language. The explanation of divine teachings can only be through this medium. As long as diversity of tongues and lack of comprehension of other languages continue, these glorious aims cannot be realized. Therefore the very first service to the world of man is to establish this auxiliary international means of communication. It will become the cause of the tranquillity of the human commonwealth. Through it, sciences and arts will be spread among the nations and it will prove to be the means of the progress and development of all races. We must endeavor with all our powers to establish this international auxiliary language throughout the world. It is my hope that it may be perfected through the bounties of God and that intelliigent men may be selected from the various countries of the world to organize an international congress whose chief aim will be the promotion of this universal medium of speech."
A TRIP TO INDO-CHINA ON A CARGO BOAT
BY MARTHA L. ROOT
IT IS a pleasant, three or four-day journey along the China Sea from Hongkong down to Saigno, Indo-China. Would you like to take it with me on a mental cargo boat in fifteen minutes' reading? Instead of the big French liner, we will go on the "Lorestan," a little cargo boat of some 1400 tons. You, gracious readers, and myself are the only passengers on this immaculately clean, cool-looking, spick and span, white and blue boat, touched with trimmings of vivid red like the splash of rich color in an eastern bird's wings. We are to have our meals with the officers on the western "veranda" of this "cargo-yacht." Kings, poets, or you, could not choose a more glorious view.
The lure of the East is perhaps nowhere more enchanting than at sea. The sunrises and sunsets offer new glimpses in color that may be just a hint of what the glories will be in the next Kingdom of Light,—this Kingdom where we cannot go and then return, until Sir Oliver Lodge, Mr. Edison, or other scientists chart the unkown route!
Of course the raison d'étre of the "Lorestan's" going is not just to carry us. She takes sharks' fins, birds' nests for soup, and lots of other good things that the hundreds of thousands of Chinese out in Indo-China wish brought over to them. What it carries back comes later in this sea tale.
After four days of real rest, reading, and happy conversations, a French pilot comes abroad the "Lorestan" at Cape St. James, the mouth of the Saigon River. He has charted this tortuous, exotic-banked, semi-dangerous-under-a calm-exterior river. So he takes the helm and steers her the 45 miles up to Saigon.
Do you know anything about Indo-China? It's a place the tourists are just beginning to discover has some new thrills. All its charms are enhanced by a dream and light and by an atmosphere of infinite purity and softness. If you are interested in ruins greater and more enigmatic than those of the Pyramids in Egypt, or Babylonian antiquities, or works of Ancient Greece, Indo-China is the place to find them. Up in Cambodia, you can visit the ruins of Angkor, the most artistic and majestic known in the world. The French say there are a whole set of Khmer monuments covering regions which extend to the very Siamese frontier. Founded in the tenth century of our era, Angkor was the capital of the ancient Kingdom of Cambodia or Khmer. A tradition, which still lingers in the country, relates that this kingdom had as tributaries more than 120 kings with an army of fifteen million soldiers, and that the Treasury Buildings covered an area of several leagues! Nowhere can an architectural conception be found to match the ruins at Angkor.
"Since the revelation of the buried cities of Assyria," the learned English archeologist Fergusson wrote in 1867, "the discovery of the ruined cities of Cambodia is the most important fact for the history of Eastern art." These extraordinary ruins profusely covered with prodigious ornamentation, representing scenes of Brahmanic mythology, and in the conception of which the decorator's fancy has been joined to the builder's science, present a view of incomparable grandeur. The most gorgeous vegetation, mixing with the most sumptuous architecture, gives to the temples a truly admirable finishing touch.
Henri Mouhot, a French naturalist entrusted with a mission to Indo-China, wrote: "You admire and you remain respectfully silent; where can you find
--PHOTO--
Angkor-Vat, a general view, third story in Angkor, Kingdom of Cambodia or Khmer, in Indo-China. The third tier of galleries rests on an enormous square basement, each face of it being 82 yards long. Twelve monumental staircases lead to these galleries. At each corner rises a tower. From the ground up to the top of these towers all has been drawn, engraved and pounced by masters
words, indeed, to praise a work of architecture perhaps unequalled all over the globe?" In a fifteen mile radius the country is covered with almost equally fine remains. There are in the West, the gigantic basin of Barai, the temple of Barai-Meboum; in the North the Prak-Khan whose wall is almost one kilometer on each side; in the East, Ek-Dey with its twelve courts and its nine towers; Ta-Prohm with its battlemented wall and twenty-eight towers; the pyramid-like building of Me-Boum, formed of four courses above one another and supporting towers, and many others. You can certainly marvel at the genius of men long since disappeared—you can marvel at this labor of centuries and the Work of time.
Cochin-China, with its capital at Saigon, is owned by the French. Indo-China, which includes Cochin-China, Annam, Laos, Cambodia and the territory of Kwang Chan wan (leased by France from China), are under French protectorate. Perhaps no colonists in the world have built so many splendid roads as have the French in Indo-China. Motoring is a joy. The roads, the railroads, and the boats make it possible to take all kinds of unusual excursions through unhackneyed, so far little "touristed" sections. Camping trips are becoming very popular. Little trips can also be taken on elephant back, horseback, or in a sampan, which is a miniature houseboat provided with mats, a roof, and a galley. Or one may go in a rickshaw—a two-wheeled cart drawn by a native, or go in a sedan chair.
A visit to Saigon in May is as hot as India at its hottest. One's first impression through the intense fanfare of heat is that Saigon is a wonderfully brilliant park filled with houses. The trees are immense and beautiful; the canopied avenues are nature's Gothic at its best. Here and there are the gorgeous red-flowered century-old trees that may have been brought as seedlings from Burma.
The people in Saigon are: French, five thousand; Anamites, eighty thousand; Chinese, twelve thousand; a very few British and Americans; some Malays, Siamese, Cambodians, Philipinos, Indians, Arabs, Africans and other Asiatics. Touching Saigon is Cholon, a Chinese city, with a population of two hundred thousand. Giandinh, an Annamite city close by, has a population of fifty thousand. So the three cities, which are practically one city, have a population of nearly four hundred thousand.
Surely if any place needs a universal, auxiliary language, Indo-China does. The grown-ups among the French, for the most part, do not seem to learn Chinese or Annamite. The Chinese often cannot speak Annamite and the Annamite man is not enough of a linguist to bother to learn their tongues. English is very little spoken. French is being taught in all the schools of the provinces.
The trip to Saigon was made to tell the people about the universal Principles of Bahá'u'lláh, World Educator of Acca, Palestine, whose mission was to bring world peace.—He was the son of the Prime Minister of Persia. One of His principles is the promotion of a universal, auxiliary language. The Frenchman hopes it will be French. French has fifty-five thousand root words and is difficult to learn. The Englishman may say it will be English, but English has sixty-five thousand root words and is also difficult. Besides, so much business may come to the country whose language is chosen that it might defeat the very end of world peace. Esperanto, which is very little known in Indo-China, has two thousand root words and is very easy to acquire. The point is not WHAT language, but for the rulers of the world to appoint a committee to consider a language that shall be made the universal, auxiliary tongue.
Arriving in Saigon, the first visits were to the newspaper offices. The Bahái Cause for world peace was explained and booklets left. One of the happiest friendships was in one of the newspaper offices. Madame Boeuf, a charming young woman, is the only woman editor in Indo-China. She edits an English section in "L'Information de l'Extreme Orient." She is a graduate of the Universite de Montpelier. She was friendly to the Bahá'í Principles and said: "I am very, very pleased to know you. I will study the Bahá'í doctrine and spread it among my friends. I will do my best to get the Baháí article you bring me from the French viewpoint into the Annamite newspapers." She used three excellent, long articles about the Bahá'í Movement, with cut of 'Abdu'l-Bahá; an article about the Bahá'í Temple in Chicago with cut, and under the big caption "A Very Interesting Lecture About Universal Peace." She gave the lecture that the magazine writer had delivered in a college with some six hundred and fifty students, French, Annamite and Chinese.
Some excerpts from her newspaper articles are: "The Bahá'í movement is the biggest movement in the world today for universal peace; it is the Sermon on the Mount universalized. It is the spirit of this age and contains the highest ideals of this century. The founders of the Bahá'í Movement were the Bab, Bahá'u'lláh and 'Abdu'l-Bahá. Since the passing of 'Abdu'l-Bahá Shoghi Effendi is the guardian of the Cause.
"Some of the new teachings of Bahá'u'lláh for the needs of this radiant century are the independent investigation of truth; the oneness of mankind, universal peace, universal education, a universal auxiliary language, the harmony
of science and religion, the underlying oneness of all religious faiths, that work done in the spirit of service is worship, and many others. These teachings of Bahá'u'lláh are training the world spiritually to a new era of divine consciousness. The world of humanity is going through a process of transformation. A new race is being developed. The thoughts of human brotherhood are permeating the depths of hearts and a new spirit of universal consciousness is being developed. The Bahá'í Movement, although only about eighty years old, is becoming well known in every country."
The day the lecture was given one excerpt quoted by this newspaper was: "We all, the Eastern and Western nations, must work with all our brains and all our hearts to cement unity among nations. Then most wonderful power will come and the happiness of humanity be assured.
"To be really educated is something more than cramming the memory with facts about arithmetic, grammar, geography, important as these are. The well educated boys and girls are the ones taught from earliest childhood to love God and dedicate their lives to Him, to regard service to humanity as the highest aim in life, to develop their powers to the best advantage for the general good of all.
"When the girl is educated equally with the boy, the coming generations will see great public advancement in matters of health, peace, and regard for human life.
Another French paper under the heading, "Film du jour. Le Bahaisme," printed an account which also carried the message well.
The Chinese and Annamite newspapers followed with some comprehensive articles about the Bahá'í Principles.
No foreigner in Saigon gives a public lecture without permission from the Governor. After a call upon the Governor and presentation of credentials—also a copy of the lecture written out specially to show him—the Governor himself telephoned the President of the largest school, giving his approval of a lecture. The students represented all the different religions, and there was a true spiritual bond between students and speaker, for all were the friends of God!
One book was placed in the city library. Calls were later made on nineteen schools, societies, or individuals in the short stay of five days. Man does nothing, but God in His Bounty, can bring from a few pure seeds taken in love to Saigon, a spiritual harvest like unto the famous rice of Indo-China, which is exported by the millions of tons. Spiritual argosies often come from faithful, small beginnings. Mr. and Mrs. Hippolyte Dreyfus-Barney, distinguished Bahais of Paris, who have been in Indo-China and to Hongkong, will send books in French on these Bahá'í Principles. Because it is the Truth, it will make an instant appeal.
Returning to the "Lorestan," the lure of love will make you sad to leave these many friends of Indo-China. You have struck such a chord of harmony between yourself, and these friends, French, Annamite and Chinese, that spiritually you are all vibrating in unison.
The vibrations echo over the ship. What is this, the Captain is saying? As the cargo boat is loaded so full, he thinks we may all go down into watery graves and the Chinese still wish to stow on more! he exclaims: "You see this Bahái business has got into our veins. We can't force them off, we are brotherly!" and the calm Chinese succeed in getting on each last bag, which fortunately is charcoal and not very heavy.
"Did you make any converts in Saigon?" the Captain asked.
"I didn't go to make converts. I went to tell them," I replied. "But really you are a convert, Captain, for you are living every one of these Principles and telling them to your men. No matter by what name you officers call yourselves, you are all Baháis; you live the Principles."
You readers can stroll over the ship
with me and see what has come out of Indo-China. You find huge logs of teak-wood that in Hongkong will be made into beautiful, carved furniture. There are thousands of tons of rice, also some paddy, pepper, maize, hides, fish, copra, beans. The Amahs in China will use the charcoal in their flatirons.
Under the awning on the lower deck, with straw mats strewn over the teak-wood logs, sit a hundred or more deck passengers. They bring their food and their wash-basins and "camp out." Happy? Yes, they are contented and jolly. Some of them are already reading the Bahá'í booklets and later the Captain says that the Compradore may interpret and a Bahá'í lecture can be given. Who says this is not a peace ship! Everybody is happy, even the winds of Heaven blow down as a gift a refreshing breeze as the "Lorestan" moves out into the sea.
The officers are so genial and they are looking into the Bahá'í Principles. And you too, O readers, in your trip on this "Lorestan," are you not interested? If you do not take these workable, peace principles to humanity, who then will take them? The promoters of Christianity, Confucianism, Buddhism, Mohammedanism, Zoroastrianism and the other great spiritual movements were faithful human beings who, when they saw the Truth, took it to others. World peace is coming spiritually just like that.
If Christ could have lived and traveled, if Bahá'u'lláh could have been free to visit all countries, if 'Abdu'l-Bahá could have come to China and to Indo-China, how great would have been the results! Man, in his ignorance and blind prejudices, prevented them. Now the only way the Most Great Peace can come is for Their faithful disciples—and disciples of all the other world teachers—to take these universal Bahá'í Principles for world peace and carry them to every land.
"O Lord of all beings! Illumine the hearts with Thy joyful glad tidings diffused from Thy all-glorious Station! Make firm their steps in Thy Most Great Covenant!"
A UNIVERSAL MESSAGE
FROM SHOGHI EFFENDI, GUARDIAN OF THE BAHA'I CAUSE
WHO can fail to realize the sore need of bleeding humanity, in its present state of uncertainty and peril for the regenerating Spirit of GOD manifested this Day so powerfully in this Divine Dispensation? Four years of unprecedented warfare and world cataclysms, followed by another four years of bitter disappointment and suffering, have stirred deeply the conscience of mankind, and opened the eyes of an unbelieving world to the Power of the spirit that alone can cure its sicknesses, heal its wounds and establish the long-promised reign of undisturbed prosperity and peace.
Humanity, torn with dissension and burning with hate, is crying at this hour for a fuller measure of that love which is born of GOD, that love which in the last resort will prove the one solvent of its incalculable difficulties and problems. Is it not incumbent upon us, whose hearts are aglow with love for Him, to make still greater effort to manifest that love in all its purity and power in our dealings with our fellowmen? May our love for our beloved Master, so ardent, so disinterested in all its aspects, find its true expression in love for our fellow-brethren and sisters in the Faith as well as for all mankind.
PROGRESSIVE CHINA
WHILE the students of far Eastern affairs look with some apprehension on the day when the full power of modern scientific civilization leaps into being in China, with its immense population evolved, through stern centuries of struggle for existence, to an unparalleled degree of vigor and hardiness, Bahá'ís are working there to bring about a splendid brotherhood between China and America, the two great outposts, respectively, of the Oriental and Occidental civilizations.
It is significant that if, as in the past, civilization moves over westward, it must on advancing beyond the western coasts of this country cross the Pacific and reach to China as it already has reached to Japan. Thus it would seem that China has a great and glorious future.
This is the thought of observant travelers who have come to love and admire that many-virtued race. And such is the prophecy of 'Abdu'l-Bahá, who bespeaks for China a destiny most great. "China," he says, "is the country of the future. China-ward the Cause of Bahá'u'lláh must march. China has most great capability. The Chinese people are most simple-hearted and truth-seeking. In China one can teach many souls and train and educate such divine personages, each one of whom may become the bright candle of the world of humanity. Truly, I say they are free from any deceit and hypocrisies and are prompted with ideal motives. I hope the right kind of a teacher will be inspired to go to that vast Empire to lay the foundation of the Kingdom of God, to promote the principles of Divine Civilization, to unfurl the banner of the Cause of Bahá'u'lláh, and to invite the people to the Banquet of the Lord."
Such a teacher has fortunately been found in Miss Martha Root, whose journalistic experience, spiritual charm, and ability as a speaker, have opened to her many doors in the Celestial Empire. It is surprising how this little American woman, singly and alone, fearlessly travels into the heart of China geographically, and likewise touches the hearts of the beloved Chinese friends. Her articles on the Bahá'í Cause have been published in nearly every important newspaper in that country, and for the most part, editors are ever ready to fully and correctly report her Addresses. She has lectured in many of the prominent Colleges of the Country. For some time she was in the more important Cities like Peking, Shanghai, Hong Kong and Canton, but for the past several months she has been visiting in Hangchow, Nanking, Hankow, Wuchang, Changsha and other places. It has been her privilege to meet many of the prominent educators and officials of China, the real thinkers of that wonderful country; and not just in a hurried formal way, but she has visited them in their homes and had long conferences and discussions on those vital questions centering around the hoped-for solution of problems which are more or less affecting all peoples.
The Hongkong Telegraph, which is a newspaper printed in the English language for the benefit of the large American quarter in the city, speaks very earnestly and favorably of Miss Root's work in an editorial, as follows:
"At a time when there is so much antagonism among the nations of the world, the principles of the Bahá'í movement, as expounded by Miss Root the other day, make interesting reading, and apart from mere interest is the beauty of thought which dominates the entire theme of this new attempt to realize the brotherhood of man. We are presented with a Movement which does not seek to win converts to a new religion, but to form a link that shall bind the followers of all creeds in one universal belief, the
peaceful destiny of mankind. Perhaps Bahá'ísm is a substitute for that combination of all the best in each religion which philosophers have dreamed of; for goodwill toward others is the fundamental principle of all the greatest creeds.
"In its advocacy of world peace the Bahá'í movement strives to bring about through the hearts of the people what Governments are daily being proved incapable of accomplishing. When we observe the world as it is today and as it promises to be tomorrow, we cannot feel hopeful of the great success of the apostles of this creed of fraternity, but we can all the more readily admire the effort to sow the good seed; and however much might fall on stony ground, some is sure to find fertile soil in which to take root."
The South China Morning Post, also printed in English for the American quarter, gives the following interesting account of a lecture by Miss Root at the Hong Kong University:
"Miss Martha L. Root, a newspaper and magazine writer of the United States, who is spending two weeks in Hong Kong, after speaking and writing in nineteen of the leading cities of China, gave an address on Wednesday before the students of Hong Kong University. Her subject was, 'Universal Peace and How the Students Can Help Bring It.' During the lecture she spoke of the Bahá'í Cause and what it is doing to further world peace. She graphically outlined the history and teachings of this Bahá'í movement, founded in the latter part of the nineteenth century by the three great Persian teachers, the Bab, Bahá'u'lláh and 'Abdu'l-Bahá. 'Abdu'l-Bahá was knighted by the British Government for this work toward universal peace.
"She said that this is undoubtedly one of the most remarkable religious and social movements of which history bears any record. It seems destined to play a great part in bringing about unity of religions and the establishment of peace throughout the world. The cause of Bahá'u'lláh, Miss Root said, was the same as the cause of Christ. It was the same temple and the same foundation. In the coming of Christ the divine teachings were given in accordance with the infancy of the human race. The teachings of Bahá'u'lláh had the same basic principles, but were according to the degree of maturity of the world today and the requirements of this illumined age.
"The speaker gave as some of the basic principles the unification of the world of humanity, the welding together of the world's different religions, the reconciliation of religion and science, the establishment of universal peace, of international arbitration, of an International House of Justice, of an international auxiliary language, the emancipation of women, universal education, the abolition not only of chattel slavery but of industrial slavery, the organization of humanity as a single whole, with due regard to the rights and liberties of each individual. These were problems of gigantic magnitude and stupendous difficulty in relation to which Christians, Mohammedans and adherents of other faiths had held and still hold the most diverse and often violently-opposed views, but Bahá'u'lláh had revealed clearly defined principles, the general adoption of which would obviously make the world a paradise.
"The state of the world today, Miss Root said, surely afforded ample evidence that, with rare exceptions, people of all religions need to be re-awakened to the real meaning of their religion; and that re-awakening was an important part of the work of Bahá'u'lláh. He came to make Confucianists better Confucianists, Christians better Christians, to make Moslems, real Moslems, to make all men true to the spirit that inspired their prophets. He also fulfilled the promise made by these prophets of a more glorious Manifestation which was to appear in the fullness of time to crown and consummate their labors. He
gives a universal teaching which afforded a firm foundation on which a new and better civilization could be built, a teaching adapted to the needs of the world in the new era which was now commencing.
"One of the questions asked by Rabindranath Tagore, the first day of his arrival in Hong Kong, the speaker said, was 'How is the Bahá'í Cause progressing?' Bahá'u'lláh's son, 'Abdu'l-Bahá, always wished to come to China. He said if these principles for world peace could be explained to a few of the thinkers of China, they themselves would take them to their people. He stated that the Chinese had a great capacity and China would be the country of the future. 'When Religion,' 'Abdu'l Bahá said, 'shorn of its superstitions and unintelligent dogmas, shows its conformity with science, then there will be a great unifying, cleansing force in the world, which will sweep before it all wars, disagreements, discords and struggles, and then will mankind be united in the power of the love of God.'
"Some of the earnest young Chinese, Miss Root said, were writing to Shoghi Effendi, grandson of 'Abdu'l-Bahá and guardian of the Bahá'í work, asking him to come to China and lecture in universities and normal schools on the universal principles of Bahá'u'lláh."
In writing of her work she says, "I know of no country in the world where the people are so ready and where the opportunities are so vast. It is a favor and bounty from God to have the privilege to do anything for China. I do not think one of you will ever come here who will not love the Chinese."
THE WORLD OF THE SOUL
BY JINAB-I-FADIL
IF WE search and investigate and travel through the world of the human soul we find it a boundless, measureless and fathomless reality, a reality which is unique, an ocean which is unfathomable and a world which is infinite. Ancient thinkers said there are two worlds: one is the world of human soul and the other the world of nature; both are two unlimited books of God full of knowledge and wisdom and signs of the power of God. They described the philosopher as one whose inner world was a mirror on which was reflected all the images of the outer world; the philosopher became the prototype of all the discovered truth of life.
When we ponder carefully over the soul of man we realize that the effects of the soul conditions are manifest in all the motions and activities of the external man. For example, if the soul is functioning in a vibrant, spiritual, optimistic and happy environment its effect will be instantaneous and most powerful on the physical body. On the other hand, if the soul is in the grip of fear; if it is weak or in a state of melancholy, the body will immediately respond to those vibrations. Fear and imagination have a great effect upon the body of man. For example, if a person is swimming and permits fear to take possession of his soul, he will immediately lose confidence and also control of his movements. If he is walking upon the ridge of a mountain or the top of a high building and fear enters in, he will tremble and fall. A ropewalker illustrates this principle very aptly. Through the reasoning faculty such perfect control is maintained that he walks upon the rope with perfect poise.
Also, the effect of the inner man upon the outer is not limited to the man himself, but has a general effect upon others. If, for instance, some one begins to yawn from fatigue in a group, others will soon follow his example, or if he is full of vivacity and happiness he will electrify
others around him. These few illustrations point the clear fact that the world of the soul has independent existence; its effect is creative; it reverberates with the vibrations of joy and sorrow, pain and pleasure, friendship and estrangement.
Inasmuch as the soul has this inventive and creative power in the kingdom of imagination, how much more universal will be its scope if it is strengthened and buttressed by the spiritual forces of God. Thus if the soul of man is reinforced by the divine powers and energies, not only his own body will become a perfect example of health and radiation and joy, but he will radiate like the sun those rays of happiness to all who come in touch with him.
The Manifestations of God, the prophets of divinity, are those spiritual educators who have initiated a system of spiritual training based upon this law. The benefit humanity will draw from this system will be commensurate with its application in the daily life.
One branch of this system of spiritual education deals with the inculcation of ethics in the lives of men. For example, in the soul of man there are certain tendencies or qualities: one is fear, another courage, another rashness. Now extremes in any direction mean disease and the Manifestations of God come to teach us that fear is evil, recklessness is unwise and that courage is the golden mean. Also we have a trinity of other tendencies; squandering as one pole and avarice the other. One may be so avaricious that, as the Persian poets express it—the palm of his hand is as dry as the surface of Sahara. The spendthrift wastes money, while generosity again is the golden mean. Also justice is the golden mean between tyranny and a lackadaisical acceptance of humiliation or adversity. Contentment and chastity are two other characteristics which have their extremes.
These five qualities are the five golden rules of ethics. These five pathways lead to a happy, contented life as revealed in the sacred books and taught by the Manifestations of God. If we simply read them, kiss the sacred books as a sign of respect, place them on the shelf and forget them, this will do us no good at all. Theories and words may have an effect upon the lives of men, but Bahá'u'lláh tells us that in the last analysis deeds are the criterion of right and wrong. One may write a most inspiring book or give many lectures on these five qualities without any effect whatever, but if he arises and by his deeds manifests the quality of generosity, for example, by dispensing a portion of his fortune for the alleviation of suffering humanity, his action will have a great effect. The Manifestation of God points to us the road and tells us this is the pathway. If we walk in it we shall reach a certain destination, but the walking must be done by ourselves; no- body will help us.
This fact is illustrated by the example of a man giving a banquet and preparing all kinds of dishes and when invited to eat, the guest replies: "It is too much trouble—eat it for me." We know the condition of such a man. Those who have not heard about this system of spiritual education are not so much responsible for carrying it out in their lives, but those who affiliate with it and go under its banner are those among the rest of the world who should characterize themselves with its qualities and embody its principles in their lives.
During the last seventy years Bahá'u'lláh and 'Abdu'l-Bahá, through their lives and teachings, have trained and educated their followers to be ever watchful—not of others but themselves.
Now this moral training of the soul is one of the branches of spiritual education and we can never characterize ourselves with these golden qualities unless we begin at home with the self within us and try to control that self in order that we may be able to convey the same knowledge of triumph and victory to others.
ANNUAL BAHA'I CONVENTION
(Brief Report)
BY LOUIS G. GREGORY
THE sixteenth annual Bahá'í convention has passed into history. Like those preceding, it had its unique features and adds its part to the development of the Cause of Bahá'u'lláh in the western world. One feature was a change of setting, giving a new point of contact with western life. The place of the convention was Worcester, Mass., one of the largest and most important of New England cities.
The convention was called to order by William H. Randall, president of the National Spiritual Assembly, who made what may be called a keynote address. He expressed high admiration of the Worcester friends, whose cordial welcome had cheered every heart. He deplored the darkness of the world, which left to itself, could only perish. The Bahá'ís have found the remedy; but if they do not use it, God will raise up other servants to do His Will. The love that is effective must be translated into deeds. The negative condition of the world can only be transformed by the spiritual lightening of the Cause. The souls will find freedom and growth only by the baptism of knowledge divine and of the Holy Spirit.
The principal business of the convention was the election of the new National Spiritual Assembly. The balloting resulted in the election of the following friends, in order: S. Schophlocker, Mountfort Mills, Mrs. Fred Morton, Horace Holley, Mrs. A. S. Parsons, Roy C. Wilhelm, Mrs. Elizabeth Greenleaf, Mrs. May Maxwell and Alfred E. Lunt. Upon consideration and further consultation, it was deemed wise to elect nine others, as a so-called reservoir from which helpers might be drawn to fill vacancies at meetings of the National Spiritual Assembly, which must now, in view of the expansion of business, be frequent. The nine thus chosen by vote of the convention follow: Mrs. A. E. Collins, W. H. Randall, Mrs. Edith Ingliss, C. M. Remey, Mrs. Mariam Haney, Mrs. Louise Boyle, A. R. Vail, Howard Struven and L. G. Gregory.
THE public meetings for teaching opened on Sunday evening. Mountfort Mills of New York presided and made an address on the "Dynamics of the Cause." He dealt in part with the history of the Cause, describing the wonderful lives of the Bab, Bahá'u'lláh and 'Abdu'l-Bahá, their heroic sacrifices and the principles of light for which they stood.
Dr. John Herman Randall, of New York, in whole pulpit 'Abdu'l-Bahá spoke during His western tour, delivered a most eloquent address on "The Spirit of the New Era." It was immensely pleasing to the large audience, which included many inquirers. Dr. Randall reviewed his early association with Bahá'í friends, who attending his church and listening to his sermons, told him that he was a Bahá'í. He did not know that he was, but this spirit he had imbibed while a student at the University of Chicago. During these days he attended the World's Parliament of Religions where he heard many broad and inspiring utterances. He heard the report sent by Dr. Jessup from Palestine, which gave a description of Bahá'u'lláh and quoted his wonderful words on "The Most Great Peace." Later he met 'Abdu'l-Bahá, who graciously accepted his invitation to speak from his pulpit. He was greatly
drawn to Him and admired the simplicity, purity, breadth, and beauty of His spirit, in which he saw nothing less than the spirit of the great Avators who sometimes come to earth. Under this wonderful inspiration he had continued to preach love, universal brotherhood, the abandonment of prejudices and freedom from narrowness and dogmas.
He welcomed the new spirit in the culture of today through which a new chapter is being written in the unfolding story of human life. The old chapter is ended, but the new has immediately begun. The idea of nationalism was supreme during the dark ages and individuals were regarded as only the means of increasing production and amassing wealth. That old spirit survives among some elements today, but it must inevitably give way in the advancing tide of unity, democracy and freedom. The world is in reality one great neighborhood with people in divers parts to a large extent sharing each others ideas and sentiments. Universalism in ideas and sentiments is destined to grow. He referred to radio as one of the means by which various peoples, races and nations are being united in the neighborhood of the world.
THE subject of the Monday evening session was "Independent Investigation of Reality." Louis Gregory said: Appearing upon the walls of the Congressional Library at Washington are many inspiring mottoes, the flashes of genius of men of many lands. One of the most inspiring is that which reads: "Ignorance is the curse of God; knowledge the wings by which we fly to Heaven." The purpose of man's life is to acquire knowledge. He should acquire that which ennobles and elevates his existence, and equally avoid that which ensnares and degrades. The diffusion of knowledge is great through many agencies today. But that which is vital to man is what unfolds his relationship to God and to his fellow beings. Great Teachers of the past, the Prophets of God, have elevated man from idol worship to a true knowledge of the Divine. The Mighty Teacher of today, the Divine Manifestation, has appeared to teach the human race its essential unity, thereby freeing it from the idols of caste, creed and nativity, and exalting it to the understanding of one God and one Truth. This is the enlightenment, happiness and glory of man."
ALBERT VAIL of Chicago delivered the principal address to the large audience. The founders of the great world religions, he said, had little to tell us of dogma and ritual. Their teachings were sublimely ethical and spiritual and are fundamentally the same. But their great teachings of brotherhood, love and justice, need renewal, and restatement from age to age. They need to be applied to the new world conditions of the new time and stated in accord with the science of today. For true religion and true science agree. If religious teachings are contrary to science 'Abdu'l-Bahá says that we should reject them. Mr. Vail then quoted from many of the holy books of the Great Prophets of the world, showing their essential unity of spirit, their accord with true science when stripped of dogma and superstitions. He then showed how Bahá-ul'lláh, the great light of this wonderful age, has removed the veils of superstitions and revealed the oneness and purity of the Truth which shall set all men free.
MRS. AMELIA A. COLLINS of Pasadena, Calif., presided at the closing session of the congress.
Jinab-i-Fadil, the first speaker, referred to the seven great religions of the world and declared that for them all there were two great foundations. These are the invisible power of God and the immortality of the soul. Adherents of the different religions opposed each other because of their lack of understanding of the basic foundation of all of them. He deplored the
superstitions and imaginations which had entered religion, creating discord and hatred among its adherents. Among these superstitutions was the belief in a literal hell, where people are burned with fire. The real burning is the fire of remorse. The belief that some are to be committed eternally to hell, damned forever, with no hope of salvation, is the creation of leaders who have used religion for selfaggrandizement and personal ends. In this way speculative creeds and narrow dogmas have been substituted for truth. By such means the Sun of Truth has been hid under many veils and clouds. Hearts have been made cold and minds limited and calculating. Hands have become grasping and feet paralyzed. All the prophets of God have taught peace and love; but the people do not understand them. The address of Jinab-i-Fadil abounded in illustrations, many of them humorous, showing the embarrassments and difficulties that have arisen among people through their misunderstandings of religion and their failure to investigate the reality. In one case, in an Oriental city, he found that three days in every week were kept "holy" and spent in idleness by adherents of three different religions, out of allegiance to their own and respect for other faiths. He told them that in as much as there are seven religions in the world, if all their adherents were found in their city, they would doubtless have found it incumbent upon them to keep the entire week "holy" and be lazy all the time, so as not to offend. How much better would it have been for all the religions to units upon one day to be observed by all!
The light of this day is universal religion. The religion of the future will consist of fundamental ideals, the constructive principles, the moral truths of all the sacred Books. This is the aim of the Bahá'í Movement. It sets aside creeds, unfurls the banner of essential ideals, and establishes unity in religion for all mankind.
WILLIAM H. RANDALL, in opening his address, referred to the report of an interview with Robert D. Towne, who said: "Religion is handicapped by lack of good news. There are no more firm assurances such as the one given to Peter and Andrew—'Follow Me and I will make you fishers of men.'" It must be evident to those who have followed these meetings that the good news for which the world has been waiting has appeared in the coming of Bahá'u'lláh and 'Abdu'l-Bahá. That again the Holy Spirit has appeared upon the earth and has touched with its fargrance the heart of the world. This Spirit, named in the Bahá'í Movement the Glory of God, brings again the power, as in the case of the disciples of old, so to transform the lives of people that they may become in truth "fishers of men." The Bahá'í Spirit is like the leaven of which Christ spoke. It silently works in the souls of men and brings to them the transforming influence of spiritual growth and the inception of a world of unity. It is not theory or philosophy. It is love-making, universal, world love-making, the power to reveal harmony to a distracted mankind and to penetrate the veils of prejudice and to establish the foundation of national, social, religious and economic concord.
The Bahá'í message heralds this new spiritual consciousness, the spirit of the new age that floods the world with ideals of unity. Its motion attracts people of every race and nation, every religion and creed, as the one solution of social reconstruction and world unity. Within this movement science finds its freedom to advance, religion finds the love-power to unite, and society finds a world program of family life in the oneness of God and the oneness of humanity.
These are but impressions, imperfect in their expression, feeble and shadowy as reflections of truth. Yet may they not convey the hope that this convention was the beginning of a great awakening throughout the western world?
صفحه 1 - 5
حضرت عبدالبهاء که در یکی از کنائس معظمه مسیحیان انگلستان ادا فرموده بودند بتمام و کمال قرائت نمود و سپس نطقی مفصّل ادا کرد و از آن پس عدّه ئی از ناطقین و خطبای بهائی در شرح و بسط تعالیم مبارک خطابه دادند یکی از جوهر روحانی امر مبارک و دیگری از اینکه چگونه این امر ایمان به مظاهر الهیّه را تأسیس و تحکیم و تعالیم مقدّسه انبیا را تجدید نمود و دیگری از آثار محبّت و الفت و یگانگی که به تابش این انوار پرآثار در عالم انسانی سایه انداخته شرح و بسط دادند قلوب مسرور و نفوس مجذوب و وجوه مستبشر و همگی شکرانه الهیّه را بجای آوردند .
بقیّه از رباعیّات نه نه نبیل زرندی
مسپار زمام دلبدست هوست . محسوب بود هر قدم و هر نفست . دم را اثری است و قدم را اثری . پیش آمدت آنزمان که نی داد رست . این آتش روشن که زبان است تو را . در خانه دل شیر ژیان است تو را . پیوسته بزنجیر تقایش بر بند . گرباز شود دشمن جان است تو را . از بهر دل تو ترجمان است زبان . بر کشف ضمیر دل ضمان است زبان . دل پاک نما که تا زبان رام شود . ورنه بکمین چو ترکمان است زبان . هر صبحدمی که سربرآری از خواب . مینال بدرگه عزیز وهّاب . کی دادگر زمان تو از شرّ زبان . محفوظ مدار بنده را در هر باب .
با خلق ستمکار جفا پیشه مباش . از بهر نهال عمر خود تیشه مباش . این خلق جهان جمله رگ و ریشه تو است . مشغول به کندن رگ و ریشه مباش . در روی زمین هرچه بود جنبنده . همچون تو بود یار خدا را بنده . چون بنده ئی از جور تو پامال شود . کی صاحب او تو را گذارد زنده هر جانوری که زیردست است تورا . میدار گرامیش که پست است تو را . امروز اگر آزار و شکستش جوئی . فردا تو صد آزار و شکست است تو را . خواهی کنی ار تدارکی از ماضی . چون چشمه شیرین بگزین فیّاضی . خلاق جهان راضی و خوشنود بود . از هرکه بود دل خلائق راضی درخواه ز حق که با توکلّ کندت . گر خار سیاهی اینصفت گل کندت . ای دانه دهان گشای برسوی سیما . تا ابر بهار هزار سنبل کندت . این ارض و سما عجب کتابی است ترا . هر حرفی ازو فصل خطابی است ترا . درهر ورق و صفحه و سطر و رقمش . بر شهر بقا گشوده بابی است ترا . خورشید بمهر حقّ صلا میزندت . مه بانگ بعالم علا میزندت . این انجم و رعد و برق و برف و باران . بر نفی جهان الا الا میزندت . در فصل بهار ناله رعد نگر . بر گریۀ ابر مشفق سعد نگر . محزون شو از گریه و از نالۀ قبل . چون برق بخذو لالۀ بعد مگر .
صفحه 2 - 5
این دار فانی گر ظلماتی است ترا . در هر طرفش آب حیاتی است ترا . دریای جهان گرچه بود در غرقاب . در هر قدمش فلک نجاتی است ترا .
شاهی که چنین گنبد بی پایه نمود . بر طفل گیاه ابر را دایه نمود . بی تاجر کشور وفای خود را . از کنز غنای خویش بی پایه نمود . بر ثروت این و آن میالای نظر . مانند نسیم از سر امکان بگذر . از درگه دلدار غنای دلجوی . دیدی که غنا نبود در فقره و زر . میخواه ز حق که سازدت همچه زمین . افتاده و قانع و وفادار و امین . بیزار شو از خوی خیانت که خدای . پداش بخائنان دهد قطع یمین . پرهیز کن از صحبت قاسین قلوب . کز صحبت آنان رسدت الف عیوب . همصحبت صادقان بشو تابرسی . بر ممکن صدق حضرت ربّ ربوب . زخمی که زند صحبت ناپاکانت . باله نزند هزار پر پیکانت . با صد دل و جان صحّت پاکان بطلب . تا یار غنی کند چوبحر و کانت . آن یار که رحمن و رحیمش خوانی . فرد و صمد و حیّ و علیمش خوانی . گر عاشق صادقی بباید جهدی . گر غیر صفاتش دل خود برهانی . هر دم که تو یار حسیم و رحمن گوئی . باید بتمام عضو و ارکان گوئی . گر پاک نشد دل تو چون سبّوحین . دور است از انصاف که سبحان گوئی . ما جمله مریضیم و طبیبی داریم . وز دار شفای او نصیبی داریم . گر عامل طبّ اعظم دوست شویم . در عالم جان ملک عجیبی داریم . ای جمله اشیا ز بهار تو جدید . بر بی بصران لطف کن ابصار جدید . تا جمله ببینیم که چون عهد خوشت . نه دیده جهان نه بعد از ین خواهد دید .
تشکرّ :
مقالۀ « دین یا اساس فوز و فلاح » مندرجه درین شماره بقلم فصیحای روحانی آقای میرزا عزیزالله خان مصباح باداره رسیده و موجب تشکرّات گردید و چون متممّ آن متدرّجا برسد بلادرنگ مانند این شماره در شماره های متعاقبه درج و نشر شده و سبب مسرّت خاطر قارئین محترم خواهد گشت و همچنین مقالات عمومیّه در مواضیعی که در خور این جریده است از هرجا لطفا هرگاه برسد با کمال تشکرّ درج و نشر خواهد شد .
محض اطّلاع :
بواسطۀ احتمال مسافرتی که نگارندۀ قسمت فارسی جریده را در پیش بود از اداء وظیفه تحریر فارسی شمارۀ قبل معذور بود ولی اینک امید چنان است که شماره های آتیه در هر دو قسمت فارسی و انگلیسی وظیفۀ خدمات خود را مداومت و مکملّتر نموده و دوستان محترم نیز در معاونت مادّی و معنوی مضایقه ننمایند .
صفحه 1 - 4
راحت فراهم نباشد و اسباب خوشی و کامرانی مفقود و قلب پر از ایمان و امید پریشان نشده و دل بعالم ابدی خوش نماید قوّۀ ایمان خلاقیّت دارد چنانچه خلق رشادت و شجاعت نموده و حالت بیم و جبن را مرتفع سازد اعضا را محکم و ارکان را قوی و متحمّل و صبور سازد خلق فداکاری نماید و کرم و سخاوت در انسان بپروراند سخنی که از قوّۀ ایمان برخیزد مانند تیری است که بر هدف نشیند و تأثیر بر مستمع نماید و دعائی که بقوّۀ ایمان از قلب بجوشد مقرون باستجابت و تأثیر است بسا میشود که ایمان و قوّت روح در عالم جسم و تن نیز اثر نموده و در فلان و عوامل بدن چنان تأثیر نماید که دفع و رفع مرض کرده و بر صحّت بیفزاید و از آثار قوّۀ ایمان حالت وارستگی انقطاع است که نفس انسانی از تعلقّ و انهماک در جهان آب و گل واکنش های لذاتّ فانیه مادیّه وارسته و بجهان جاوید جمال و کمال دل بندد و بالجمله این فعالیّت های عظیمۀ دیانت و این آثار عجیبه خارق الطبیعه آن بقوّۀ ایمان مستند و متّکی بوده و هر قدر آن قوّه قویتر و شدیدتر آن آثار کامل تر و ظاهرتر دیده میشد و چون این قوّه ایمان باعلی درجه در نفوس مقدّسه ادیان طالع و آشکار بود لذا موفقّ باعمال و قدرت نمائی های عجیبه شده اند و تا این قوّه در پیروان ادیان موجود دیانت مؤثرّ و مقتدر بود و چون متدرّجا این قوّه را گم میکردند لذا اقوال و اعمال و نمایشهای بارزه دینی خالی از قوّه و اثر بود چه واضح است که چراغ بی نور فروغ ندهد و تن مرده جان نبخشد اصل معرفت تنوّر فکر و طلوع انوار عرفان منزّه از کدورت و ظلمت نیز یکی از نتائج متعلقه و بلاواسطۀ دیانت است چون چراغ قلبی با مرکز انوار غیبیّه ارتباط و اتصّال یابد و مرآت صافی روحی بملکوت اسرار متوجّه گردد انوار جهان ناپیدا در آن درخشیده و اسرار معرفت مکشوف گردد صبح حقیقت در آن نمایان و ظلمات هالکه مجاز متواری و پنهان شود دیده گان به نورانیّت معنویّه روشن و دل بمعرفت حقیقیّه دانا گردد از ظلمات شبهات و اوهام درآمده بچشمۀ حیات یقین راه یابد و قلب مانند چشمه ئی باشد که ماء صافی عرفان از آن جوشیده چندانکه تشنگان را سیراب نماید و چیزی از آن کم نیاید بلکه بیفزاید باین قوّۀ معرفت کلید نجاح و فلاح خود را بدست آورد و پرتو هدایت معنویّه را از چاه بشناسد و سفینه حیات خویش را از گرداب مهالک بساحل نجات کشاند معلمّ و مربّی و هادی گردد که از تابش معرفت خویش سائرین را منوّر و بهره مند گرداند از عقل منوّرش هر عقلی نورانیّت یابد و از مشورتش هر نفسی نقطه مقصد و مقصود را بیابد حکمتش مانند شیر و شهد مذاق جانها را غذای روحانی باشد و باران دانشش در اراضی قلوب و افئده اوراد و ازهار دانائی و بینائی برویاند کلماتش مانند نقش ثابت بر قلوب نشیند و هر نفسی را بطریق قویم و صراط مستقیم سوق دهد حکیمی الهی و فیلسوفی ربّانی باشد که عمق حقایق را با چشم دوربینش مشاهده نماید و در اسرار و حکم کونیه خبیر و بصیر باشد و از فروع این اصل پی بردن باسرار کتب سماویّه و دقایق و حکم اعمال مقدّسین الهی و اعلی مقصد ظهور شرایع و قوانین روحانیّه و روابط آنها
صفحه 2 - 4
با یکدیگر است و نیز از آثار آن سخن باندازه و بجا و رسا گفتن است و چون این سه اصل عظیم یعنی محبّت ایمان معرفت در نفسی تحققّ یابد و تقرّر پذیرد آن شخص مانند ستاره ئیدرخشان در آسمان عالم انسانی بدرخشد و منشاء اعمال و آثار باهره باقیّه گرددو شجرۀ مثمره ئی باشد که اثمار و فواکه آن الی الابد موجب تغذّیّ و تلذّذّ نفوس گردد و حقیقت تدیّن در او جلوه گر باشد و در هر دوری که دیانتی طلوع مینمود این اصول ثلثه نتیجه ظاهره و ثمره حقیقیّه آن بود که هریک با فروع و شعب متکثره اش در قلوب و افئده پیروان آن دیانت میدرخشید و تا هنگامیکه این قوی در آن باقی بود دیانت تحققّ و وجود داشت و تا دیانت از قلوب آنان سپری نشده بود این قوی و صفات طالع و ظاهر بودند و چون این از مابین منتسبین بادیان غروب و افول نمود دیانت اسمی بلا رسم و شجره ئی بدون بار و بر گردید اینک در این دور عظیم که شمس معنوی باشد اشراق جلوه گر این اصول و قوی باشد ظهور و عمومیّت در انجمن عالم انسانی طالع چندانکه حتیّ نفوس بیخبر از اشراق جدید باصالت این اصول پی بره و باهمیّت عظیمه آن واقف میشد و در تقریر و تحریر و اقدامات خود برای بدست آوردن آن نفوس را تشویق و تحریص مینمایند و نجات عالم انسانی را از مخاطر و مهالک حاضره و آتیه بوسیلۀ آن میدانند مبارک اند آن نفوسی که کوشیدند و بآن رسیدند مسعودند آن ارواح زکیّه ئیکه بآن متحققّ شده ااند .
مبعث حضرت باب و تولدّ حضرت عبدالبهاء
در شب عید در نیویورک در یکی از کنائس بزرگ بزمی سترگ و جشن سرور برپا بود و ضیافتی چنانچه درخور و سزاوار چنین روز فیروز است برقرار و به یاد ایران پلوی ایرانی تهیّه شد که مجرّبانی چند با کمال افتخار بطبخ آن اقدام جست و جمعی از محترمین و محترمات بخدمات مجلس اشتغال داشتند و قریب دویست تن مدعوّین دورتادور میزها و خوان نعمت الهیّه جالس و نور سرور و انبساطاز وجوه حاضرین میدرخشید و سپس خطبا و ناطقین متعدّده در بیانات و تعالیم امر و آنچه مناسب با عید است داد سخن را داده چنانکه هر واردی از محیط آن احتفال آثار فیوضات غیبیّه و اشراقات ملکوت پنهان را میشد ادراک و احساس نماید و تهیّه این مجلس عظیم از طرف بهائیان نیویورک شد ولی بعد از آن در روز یکشنبه قسیس محترم کنیسه خود شخصا تهیّه مجلس بزرگی بیادگاری میلاد حضرت عبدالبهاء داد این شخص شهیر محترم از آن جمله رؤسای کنائس مسیحیّه است که بشرف زیارت حضرت عبدالبهاء در ایّام مسافرتشان بامریک نائل گشته و انوار و آثار عظمتش فدا و مرتسم و مؤثر گردید قبلا از طرف کنیسه اعلاناتی نشر داد و نفوس را دعوت بحضور نمود و تمام آداب و رسوم کنیسه ئی خود را که علی الرسم از بیانات حضرت روح و کتاب مقدّس قرائت و ترتیب میشد در این روز از بیانات حضرت عبدالبهاء تهیّه نمود اقتباساتی از الواح و مناجاتها نموده و در ورقۀ مخصوص طبع و نشر داد در آنروز خود آن بیانات را تلاوت میکرد و صد ها جمعیّت حضّار بیک لحن و نوا مطابق موسیقی و نغمات روحانیّه کنیسه ئی تلاوت و تغنّی مینمودند و نیز یکی از خطابه های
صفحه 1 - 3
چه دین یا شریعت عبارت از حدود و وظائفی است که منبعث از روابط ضروریّه سلسله موجودات و وضع و تشریع آن مستلزم احاطه تامّه به روابط و سرائر وجود است حال ببینیم با ادراکات بشریّه و عقول اعتیادیّه برای تعیین حدود و وظائف مزبوره کفایت مینماید یا اینکه این احاطه در مظاهر علم و قدرت خداوند یکتا است و روح فوز و فلاح جز از ادیان مؤسّسه ایشان منتظر بودن جهلی نمایان است جای انکار نیست که مقیاس این کارخانه عظیم ورای فهم محدود بشری و حساب روابط آن خارج از میزان ادراک او است نه نوامیس اوّلیه آنرا میداند و نه علل نمائیّه آنرا میشناسد و با همه سعی و مجاهدت برای وصول بساحل علم و نجات پیوستهدر بحر پرموج جهل و هلاک غوطه ور و مستغرق است آیا علمی که همه روزه طرح لاحقش مخرّب بنیان سابق و بعبارة اخری جهلی مصوّر بصورت علم و عدمی بلباس وجود است چگونه میتواند عالم انسانیّت را منتظم دارد آیا معرفتی که بعد از تعبیه و تمهید هزاران میزان و معیار برای سنجیدن حقیقت و بطلان آن دائما در معرض تنازع و اختلاف است چگونه ممکن است اعضاء و اجزاء کارخانه عظیم البنای وجود را با یکدیگر ربط و ائتلاف دهد . هرگاه مصنفات نوع بشر را با نظری نقّاد مطالعه و با کتب و صحف سماویّه مطابقه نمائیم تباین و تخالف آراء و عقاید انسانی و توافق و تآلف مطالب و مقاصد مؤسّسین شرایع ربّانی را برای درک این حقیقت اقوی دلیل یافته مذعن و معترف شویم که روح امنیّت و اطمینان جز در ادیان الهی بدست نتوان آورد و در میان آنهمه امواج هولناک که از تلاطم و انقلاب دریاهای اختلاف و افکار حدوث یافته جز التجاء لبناین شرایع ربّ قدیر چاره و مفرّی نیست چه بعد از استقراء کتب علمیّه و استنباء نظریّات و استدلالات ارباب علم و فلسفه عقول و مدارک نوع بشر را در هر یک از مباحث مطرحه آنقدر معرض منازعه و مجادله یابیم که اگر بخواهیم در سفر زندگانی تنها بدلالت و ارشاد آن اکتفا نمائیم اختیارا خود را دچار هزاران خطر و ضلالت ساخته ایم و بالعکس چون از قرائت کتب علمیّه به تلاوت صحف انبیاء و مرسلین پردازیم مفاد آیه مبارکه « شرع لکم من الدّین ما وقتی به نوعا و الذیّ اوحیناء الیک » را آشکار و هویدا یافته فهم این نکته نمائیم که آن ارواح مجرّده با وجود تباعد امکنه و ازمنه و تغایر لغات و السنه و عدم حصول روابط برای استطلاع از آراء و عقاید یکدیگر در تحقیق حقائق الهیّه و اصول و مبادی روحانیّه کلا بر رأی و مقصد واحد متفقّ و متحد بوده اند و روح این اتفاق و اتحاد چندان در عروق و شرایین بیانات ایشان ساری و جاری است که حتیّ در اغلب مسائلی که راجع به قسمت آیات مرموزه و کلمات متشابهه است جز وحدت لهجه و بیان مشاهده نمیشود و همین اتّفاق و اتحّاد امتن برهان بر کمال علم و احاطه آن نفوس مقدّسه
صفحه 2 - 3
بر حقائق و سرائر وجود است و الا این موافت تامّه در بیانات ایشان با وصف فقدان وسائل ارتباط و عدم استحضار از کتب و عقاید یکدیگر ممتنع و محال بود ولی چون مبداء و منشاء ادیان آسمانی وحی ربّانی است که صدور و ظهور آن از مصدر حقیقت و منبع علم و حکمت است تعدّد مظاهر سبب تعدّد حقیقت نشود وعلم محض منسوب بجهل نگردد واین نکته نیز بر اولی الابصار پوشیده نیست که علم حقیقی عبارت است از حضور حقائق در مرآت ذات و علیهذا علم بسیط حضوری و احاطه بروابط وجود از لوازم حقیقت مجرّد است که جمیع حقایق و معانی در ساحت عظمت او بسبب بساطت محضه بدون غشاء و احجاب موجود و حاضر است و بالبداهه برای برای افراد بشر و امیّات ممکنه که با لذاتّ محتجب بنواهی و حجبات نقائص و اعدام نه چنین علمی ممتنع و مستحیل است و برای آنکه صدق و حقیقت مطالب معروضه بشهادت آثار تاریخیّه که محسوسترین نمایندۀ دواعی و موجبات ترقیّ و انحطاط هر قوم و ملتّ است تأیید و تأکید شود بنحو اختصار شمّه ئی از اوضاع و احوال عالم و اثری که بعثت مطالع وحی الهی در اجساد مردۀ ملل و امم ظاهر ساخته بمعرض شهود میآوریم تا توقفّ بتشریع شرائع براحاطه به روابط وجود و انحصار این احاطه بخداوند یکتا حسّا و عیانا مکشوف و محققّ شود و عظمت تأثیر شرائع و ادیان در آینده آثار مشهود و آشکار گردد . بقیّه دارد . عزیزالله مصباح
اصول عملی دیانت . بقیّه از شماره قبل
اصل ایمان . یکی از اصول دیانت که مستقلا و بلا واسطه از آن متنوّع و مقوله میگردد ایمان و انتباه و اعتقاد به ملکوت اسرار پنهان است همانا اختصاص ظهور این قوّه بدیانت و نیز فعّالیّت آن در عالم انسانی واضح و عیان میباشد باین قوّه است که طیر روح انسانی ترابی بر شاخسار معنوی مقرّ گیرد و بال و پری در جهان دیگر بگشاید باین قوّه است که حجاب و غشاوه مادیّت از اعین و ابصار زائل گشته و ابواب عوالم غیبیّه لانهایه را مفتوح مشاهده نماید باین قوّه است که ادراکات و احساسات انسانی روحانی شده و حیات جدیده روحانیّه حاصل گردد باین قوّه است که انسان مهیّای انتقال از عالم مادّه و محسوسات و متعلقاتّ آن بعالم روح و معنی گردد باین قوّه انسان تجدید میشود فکری تازه بیانی نو و صفاتی بدیع حاصل مینماید باین قوّه است که انسان از تزلزل درآمده و بمقام اطمینان وارد میگردد و از یأس و نومیدی گذشته قلبش مملوّ از رجا و امید خواهد بود باین قوّه است که پژمردگی و افسردگی از وجود زائل گشته و همیشه دل زنده و شاداب خواهد بود باین قوّه است که قلب پر از شوق و شور و حرارت و حرکتی در وجود حاصل که برودت و جمودت را زائل نماید قوّۀ ایمان سبب تعلقّ روح به شاخسار عالم بقا و نشاط و انبساط و موجد تسلیۀ قلب و رضای خاطر است چنانچه هرگاه در عالم وسائل مادیّه موجبات
صفحه 1 - 2
واقع شده و از 25 اپریل نمایندگان از بلاد متفرّقه و اقوام متنوّعه متدرّجا وارد و در یکی از بزرگترین هتل های شهر اجتماع نمودند و عدّه کثیری نیز از اطراف حاضر گشته و بواسطه مقالات و اعلانات متواتره در جرائد از چند روز قبل استماع این امر عظیم و ملاقات با نمایندگان آن تشنه و مشتاق بودند و در آن چهار روز و شب ایّام اجتماع نه تنها در آن هتل بلکه در تمامت بلد حیات فعالیّت بهائی نمایان و مشهود بود در شب اوّل که حسب الرسم مجلس مفصّل ضیافت عید رضوان برقرار و وجوه مستبشره در اطراف میزها حالت سرور وجدانی حضّار را از مبعوثان بلاد نائیّه و بهائیان اطراف و نمایندگان جرائد در آن بزم روحانی از تنعمّ بنعم گوناگون مادّی و معنوی مجسمّ میساخت خطبا و ناطقین از مواضع عدیده سخن رانده و شکر و ثنای حضرت احدیّت گفته و حالت احساسات و مسرّات خود را اظهار داشتند در آن میان حالت خلوص محترمه ئی که از مدّتی فبل بتعالیم و انوار این امر مهتدی و منجذب و در خدمات بملکوت الهی از ایثار مال و صرف اوقات خودداری ندارد و فی الحقیقه میزبان این کانونشن بود با یک لحن ایمان صادقانه جمعیّت مبعوثان را خوش آمد گفته و گفت و شکر گذاری این امر عظیم را با بیانی فصیح و بلیغ و روحانی ادا نمود چندانکه موجب انجذاب قلوب و شرح صدور حضّار گردید و در سه شب متوالی بعد که خطبای متعدّده در تعالیم و مقاصد عظیمه این امر عمومی صحبت میداشتند جمعیّت در آن تالار وسیع موج میزد و مخبرین جرائد خطابات را استنساخ مینمودند خصوصا یکی از رؤسای نامی کنائس مسیح که در ایّام مسافرت حضرت عبدالبهاء در امریک بزیارت نائل و منجذب گشت خطابه ئی بس رسا و زیبا در تعالیم امر و خصائل مبارکه ادا کرده که سامعین واله و شیدا گشتند و نیز بعضی از مسافرین زائرین که از ارض مقدّس بتازگی مراجعت نموده نفحات محبّت و انجذابی با خود آوردند که مشام ها را معطرّ ساخت و بالاخص مرقومۀ شدید التأثیر مبارک حضرت ورقۀ مبارکه که حاکی از مهاجرت حضرت ولیّ امرالله از ارض مقدّس و تأثرات شدیده خاطر عاطرشان بود مورث تنبّه و انقطاع و قیام جدیدی گردید و بالاخره پس از تجدید انتخابات و تهیّه نقشه های تازه برای خدمات یک ساله امر هریک از مبعوثان با خاطری سرشار از اطمینان و شادمانی و قلبی مملو از امید و اشتیاقی بدیع برای خدمات و جانفشانی در نشر نفحات الهیّهبه بلاد خود مراجعت نمودند و یقین است که با چنین فیض و برکت تأییدات غیبیّه رفیق و همعنان خواهد بود .
دین یا اساس فوز و فلاح
بر خوانندگان محترم مستور نیست که فحص اساس فوز و فلاح در عالم انسان مستلزم دانستن سعادت او است و حقیقت سعادت از مباحثی است که از زمان قدیم پیوسته در میان فلاسفه شرق و غرب معرض تنازع
صفحه 2 - 2
آراء و افکار بوده و با مختصر تأملی توان یافت که منشاء آنهمه حروب فکریّه همانا عدم دقتّ در احساسات ذاتیۀ انسان و مقتضیّات خلقت او است چه مسلمّ است که سعادت هر موجودی متناسب با قوای مودوعه در آن و ظهور کمال در هر سلسله از سلاسل وجود مطابق نعوت و حقایقی است که در ذات او مکنون و نهان است و نباء علیه برای تحرّی سعادت این نوع جلیل تنها وسیله معرفت حقیقت و قائمیّت او است یعنی باید بانیم انسان چیست و عواطف ضمیریّه او مقتنع چه نحو تکاملی است تا از نفس همان الهامات وجدانیّه که در او مودوع و مستور است باحتیاجات او راه یافته وسائل ترقیّ و تکمیل و وسائط فوز و فلاح او را محض نمائیم .
انسان مجموعه ئی از دو جوهر متباین یعنی از حیث حیوانیّت و دارای وجود بدنی و از حیث ناطقیّت دارای وجود عقلی معنوی است و بعبارة اخری دو عاطفۀ مختلف القصد بر حسب نظم و قانون در کشور وجود آدمی آمر و حاکم است که یکی او را باکتساب سعادتهای وجدانیّه سوق دهد و دیگری او را باجتلاب نعم و آلاء روحانیّه تحریض نماید و ماهیت این دو عاطفه چندان متباین و متضّاد است که اگر در میان آندو صلح و التیام تأسیس نشود ظلم و طغیان هر یک بر دیگری بنیان عالم انسانیّت را خراب و ویران ساخته سعادت هر دو را باختلال و اعتلال منجر خواهد نمود و تاریخ اقوی شاهد است که در میان هر قوم و ملتّ تکاملات خارق العاده همیشه مرهون و مدیون اعصار و قرونی بوده که نوع بشر بایجاد موافقت در بین سعادتهای روحانیّه و جسمانیّه موفقیّت حاصل نموده ادای واجبات هر یک را از وظائف حتمیّه خود دانسته است و بالعکس هر صدمه و لطمه ئیکه بر ترقیّات عالم بشری وارد آمده سبب اصلی آن افراط و تفریط در تعیین حدود و حقوق این دو رشته عوامل بوده چه قوای معنوی آدمی را مطالب و مآربی جلیل و سامی است که در مقابل آن جمیع سعادتهای جدیّه کان لم یکن بذکورات و وعوالم جسدیّه را نیز حوائج و ضروریاتی است که عدم رعایت آن هادم نظام وجود و مخالف حکم الهی است و بناء علیه سعادت عالم انسانی مبتنی برتأسیس توافق در بین فضائل و کمالات جسم و روح است و آن توافق وقتی صورت بندد که آدمی روح را که متعلقّ بعالم علوی است رئیس و جسم را که متعلقّ بجهان سفلی است رئوس قرار داده موجبات سعادت هر یک را به تناسب شأن و مقدار آن مرعی دارد و علیهذا با لذات بشرائع و دیاناتی محتاج است که سبب تعدیل فضائل و کمالات او شده و در بین عوامل متضادّی که بر او مستولی و محیط و افراط و تفریط هر یک از آن مباین حکمت خالق و منافی نقشه خلقت است ایجاد الفت و اتحّاد نماید و علم و عقل هر دو مثبت آنند که مؤسّسین شرایع و دیانات سابق الوصف مالاجد رتبه و مقامی فائق و مهیمن بر طبیعت نباشند قوانینی که در جمیع فضائل و کمالات مورث ترقیّۀ امم در مراتب حضارت و مدنیّت باشد تعیین نتوانند نمود
نجم باختر اپریل و مای 1924
جلد 15 . شماره 2
مجله اخلاقی تربیتی عمومی است . ماهی یک بار منتشر میشود
صفحه 1 - 1
از بیانات مبارک حضرت عبدالبهاء پس از شرحی در خصوص تخت جمشید
فی الحقیقه چه آثاری ایران داشته عجب تمدّنی داشته دول فرس بر آن سنگها نوشته است که منم داریوش پادشاه پادشاهان بمعاونت هرمزد این عمارت را ساخته ام و ممالک ایران و مصر و هندوستان و سائر ممالک که اسم آنرا میبرد تسخیر کردم حالا ایرانیهای این زمان ممالک خود را از آن عظمت باین فتر و مذلتّ رسانیده اند و باز در ویرانی مملکت خود میکوشند امیدوارم که دوباره بهتر از اوّل شود مشرق الاذکار عظیمی بسازند تخت جمشید معمور تر از اوّل شود بر همان اصول قدیم بسازند و یک مشرق الاذکار بنا کنند ولی آن بنیان که هست باید بر اصل قدیم ساخت همانطور ساخت آنرا مکملّ نمود و بعلاوه یک مشرق الذکار تأسیس کرد عجیب است هر موهبتی که خدا به نفوس هدایت میکند تا هست قدر آن را نمیدانند ولی چون از دست رفت آنوقت افسوس میخورند حالا الطاف الهی چنین موهبتی در حقّ ایران کرده از پیش بیشتر ترقیّ میکند ولی سبحان الله ایرانیها ابدا قدر نمیدانند عزّت و سرور و روح و ریحان عالم انسانی درین است که متصّلا متتابعا رو به ترقیّات معنویّه باشد و بعد از آن ترقیّات مادّی نماید اگر فکر رو به ترقیّ دائمی نباشد خمدت است هرچه باشد این است که روح انسانی همیشه باید رو به ترقیّ باشد روز بروز عقل انسانی ادراک انسان روح و ریحان انسان تنزیه و تقدّس انسان ترقیّ نماید ولی بمحض اینکه توقفّ کرد رو به تدنّی است دیگر روح و ریحانی نمیماند هر قدر در معنویّات ترقیّ کند بمحض اینکه توقفّ کرد فرو افتاده است دیگر روح و ریحانی نمیماند همچنین در جسمانیّات و علوم و فنون انسان باید متصّل در ترقیّ و ازدیاد اطّلاعات باشد بمحض توقفّ تدنّی حاصل میشود همیشه باید انسان رو به علوّ باشد مطاهر مقدّسه الهیّه بجهت این ظاهر شده اند و این همه مصائب و بلایا برای این قبول نموده اند تا اینکه عالم انسانی ترقیّات مادیّه و معنویّه حاصل نماید و بیشتر از پیشتر جلو رود ولی خلق میگویند ما نمیخواهیم بر آنچه که هستیم راضی هستیم ما این ترقیّات را نمیخواهیم تدنّی برای ما خوش است هرچه تشنه باشیم بهتر است مثل معلمّی که اطفال را تربیت میکند لکن بعضی اطفال از معلمّ دلگیرند میگویند بگذار برویم بازی کنیم مارا به تعلیم و تربیت چه این علوم و فنون و کسب و کمالات چه لازم بگذار برویم بازی کنیم این کسب کمالات برای ما زحمت است ما میخواهیم بخندیم ببالیم بنازیم ما این کمالات را نمیخواهیم بگذار برویم بصید شکار بگردش بخوریم بخوابیم آن چیزهائی که تو ما را بآنها دلالت میکنی اسباب زحمت و مشقتّ است باری در حقّ ایران دعا کنید امید واریم که احبّای الهی سبب شوند که تلافی مافات شود و ایران ویران آباد شود
صفحه 2 - 1
شانزدهمین اجتماع نمایندگان بهائی در امریک
در شماره قبل مژده انعقاد کنونشون این سال در واشنگتون اعلان شد ولی بجهاتی چند این مامول بحصول نه پیوست که عمدۀ آن مانعیّت وضعیّت نژاد سفید و سیاه در امریکا و خصوصا در حدود و قسمت جنوبی آن است و این البّته موجب بسی تعجبّ و حیرت آشنایان شرق است که ملاحظه کنند در مهد تمدّن امروزه عالم یعنی امریکا و در پایتخت این مملکت عظیم التمدّن یعنی واشنگتون محلیّ که نمایندگان اجناس نوع بشر را در بر گیرد که بتوانند دست اخوّت بیکدیگر داده و تبادل افکار نمایند بآسانی بدست نمی آید و اصحاب و ارباب و ارباب کمال از پذیرفتن مبعوثان اجناس مختلفه تأنیّ و استنکاف تامّ دارند و حتیّ در جنوب ایالات متحّده چنین جلسات از محالات است متجاوز از ده ملیون نژاد اسود مقیم در امریکا که نیاکانشان را برای استمتاع از خدمت و برسم برده گی متدرّجا به امریک آوردند و اخلافشان در آن مدّت طویل بالطبع بزیّ نمدّن غربی درآمده و افکار و آداب و لسان و خوی و کیش غرب گرفتند و پس از آنکه از بندگی آزاد شدند و در مدارس و دارالفنون به تحصیل علوم و فنون پرداختند بدرجه ئی رسیدند که اکنون در مابینشان هزاران نفوس مهذبّ و مترقیّ و عالی الفکر در نخستین صف تربیت امریکائی موجود ولی بجرم یا بعذر آنکه هنوز تربیت کامله چنانچه باید و شاید در آنان قوام و نشر نیافته و یا به نظر به بندگی و کنیزی اسلافشان هنوز در این مرکز تمدّن عصر حاضر بچشم احتقار نگریسته و از مساوات با سفید ها محروم اند ولی در مابین بهائیان امریک جمعی از سیاهان موجود که در خدمت باین امر عظیم و تعالیم وحدت عالم انسانی ساعی و مجدّ و در جانفشانی در نشر نفحات محبّت الهیّه گوی سبقت میربایند لذا برای اجتماع نمایندگان بهائی از اجناس مختلفه تهیّه محلیّ که آن جمعیّت عظیم را مانند گلستان محبّت از گلهای رنگارنگ در بر گیرد در واشنگتن میسرّ نگردید هر چند این از نظری موجب حیرت و عبرت ولی از نظری دیگر مورث تنبّه است که تا چه اندازه عالم محتاج بتعالیم عمومیّۀ این امر عظیم میباشد و از شرق تا غرب و جنوب و شمال هیکل عالم انسانی گرفتار انواع امراض است که یگانه داروی شفابخش آن که موجب انتعاش این هیکل مریض و رفع بیماری گردد همانا این تعالیم مقدّسه است و بس و باین ملاحظه بود که کنونشن امساله در شهر « دورکستر»
