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“WHAT PROFIT is there in agreeing that universal friendship is good, and talking of the solidarity of the human race as a grand ideal? Unless these thoughts are translated into the world of action, they are useless.
“The wrong in the world continues to exist just because people talk only of their ideals, and do not strive to put them into practice. If actions took the place of words, the world’s misery would very soon be changed into comfort.
“A man who does great good, and talks not of it, is on the way to perfection.
“The man who has accomplished a small good and magnifies it in his speech is worth very little . . . . . .
“The children of God do the works without boasting, obeying His laws.”
--PHOTO--
’ABDU'L-BAHÁ
From Photograph taken in Portsmouth, N. H.
| VOL. 15 | AUGUST, 1924 | No. 5 |
GRAVE DANGER confronts the whole human race, says the veteran scholar of Oriental affairs, Sir Valentine Chirol, at the Williamstown Institute of Politics, unless some way can be found to a peaceful readjustment of relations between the Occident and Orient. Never before, he says, has the white man stressed the color bar as he does today as the rampart of his racial superiority. Never before has the Orient denied his claim to racial superiority so emphatically as it does today. Thus it would seem that the struggle between races reaches its bitterest point where the races are most dissimilar.
These writers and lecturers who, like Sir Valentine, sound this note of warning in regard to the situation in Asia have no remedy to present. There is only one possible remedy that occurs to the discriminating mind. It is the remedy suggested centuries ago by an Asiatic and reaffirmed a generation ago by another Asiatic. It is the remedy of love. Bahá’u’lláh in promulgating His great principle of abolition of racial prejudice and the unity of all mankind is but amplifying and fulfilling the message of love which Christ put forth.
Thus while some students of Eastern affairs are sounding a sharp note of warning, Bahá’í teachers are spreading throughout the world the only teachings which can ultimately bridge the gulf between the East and West—teachings which are even now actually bridging the gulf so far as individuals are concerned, for thousands of Orientals and Occidentals, of every clime, race, and creed, are finding a bond of love in the Cause of Bahá’u’lláh and daily proving that sympathy can take the place of prejudice, and that unity can supplant discord.
THE SOMBRE and tragic death of Major Imbrie has resulted in a widespread unclerstanding of the Bahá’í Movement, to which the mob that killed him suspected him of belonging. Associated Press items and special articles in many metropolitan newspapers have heralded far and wide the part that the Bahá’í Movement is taking in the progress of modern Persia and have given fair and adequate descriptions of the principles for which it stands. Elsewhere in this number is printed a description of this Movement by Peffer, one of the most authentic and illumined writers on Eastern affairs, in a special article published by the New York Times.
Good can come out of evil, and God finds ways of converting even death into a benefit to the world at large. Thus the most unusual event of an American killed abroad as the result of religious prejudice has been the means of broadcasting the principles and teachings of that Cause in whose name he gave his life. And everywhere the reports about the Bahá’í Movement are most sympathetic.
AS TO THE unfortunate relations that have arisen between Persia and America over the Imbrie affair, there is no question of an amicable settlement of the affair. Persia itself repudiates the act. And those in this country who know Persia and understand what is going on there, have all the deeper sympathy for the progressive Persians who
are themselves often the unfortunate victims of fanaticism and tradionalism. The better class of Persians, who are striving for progress, are deeply humiliated at this unfortunate event at a time when the most cordial relations existed between Persia and America. It is to this country that Persia has twice turned for help to administer its finances and put them on a sound basis. This friendship and rapprochement between these two countries at the antipodes one to the other is destined to not only continue unbroken but even to grow stronger from year to year, ’Abdu’l-Bahá predicted.
THE SIDEREAL SKY of August is most brilliant. As one looks up at the midnight heaven strewn as it were with golden dust, one is reminded that the Greeks were the first to take a scientific rather than a fortune-telling attitude toward the stars. With this gifted race began the scientific observation and classification of those intricate patterns that cover the heavens; indeed, the Hellenes were the first to resolve this complex maze into forms and patterns, and to give a name to every constellation. And these names survive today, immortally outliving the quaint and picturesque mythology from which they were drawn.
With the Greek race, among other glories, abides the great glory of having given science to the world—not one science, but all science. Theirs were the first minds to face undaunted the mysteries of the outer existence and attempt to resolve them into terms of intellectual comprehension. Their courage, their intelligence and insight, their irresistible logic raised man from a slave-consciousness of being prey to incomprehensible magic forces, up to the proud position of earth’s master. Modern science, founded by them, blossomed out into the later civilization of Arabic Islam with its great universities and cultures; and reaching Europe at the fall of Constantinople created the Renaissance, that birthplace of all modern thought. So as we gaze up at the indescribable beauty of the star-lit heavens, let us pay our respects to those ancient Greek thinkers, the greatest among whom drank the hemlock cup that we might be free from superstition.
THE ASTRONOMICAL SCIENCE of today has penetrated to the very essence of the stars and can report their chemical and physical constitutions, measure their distance and even their heat. Yet it cannot answer the one question which is most important,—are the stars or their connected planets inhabited and if so by what kind of beings? Science can but hazard the conclusion that since star-stuff is essentially the same as sun-stuff and earth-stuff, the star-suns that stud our sky may reasonably be considered as passing through an evolution similar to that of our own solar system and to be the seat of life in various stages of existence. ’Abdu’l-Bahá, indeed, has made the definite statement that there are, throughout the universe, vastly other centers of habitation than our own. But what is the nature of these inhabitants of other solar bodies? And unto what patterns are their civilizations wrought? Here is room for fancy, for imagination, for scientific reasoning based on analogy. In our present state of mental powers no further means to answer these questions can be found. But there is a wholesome lesson in humility, at the thought that better ways of living may have been arrived at over there; finer and more intelligent civilizations, such as this earthly race has dreamed of as the Golden Age in retrospect, and in prospect as the millennium.
ALL DISEASE is one and is due to the loss of protective particles in the blood, is the latest theory of the medical profession as propounded in a new work, “The Nature of Disease,” by J. E. R. McDonagh, F. R. S. C. Consequently the one treatment recommended for all disease is to restore those chemical substances necessary to the blood in order to enable it to do its normally efficient work. Is not this discovery by
science remarkably similar to the statement of ’Abdu’l-Bahá about disease, that it is due to the disturbance of the chemical equilibrium of the body, and that in the future the cure for all disease would be found in a diet calculated to restore the lacking chemicals?
It is comforting to be assured by science that there is but one cure necessary. This seems to presage the final extermination of disease itself. For if science can but discover what upsets the chemical equilibrium of the blood, one can stop disease at its very sources. It would seem that the unfavoring emotions, working upon the body through the ductless and other glands, are the cause of much of this chemical disturbance of the blood. ’Abdu’l-Bahá has said that tuberculosis was due to sadness. As the human race learns to control its emotions, or rather, to surcharge the bodily and spiritual self with the one central emotion of love for God and man, disease will vanish as fevers vanish where swamps are drained.
'ABDU’L-BAHÁ in his various tablets and instructions has given us a clear understanding of the subject of healing. There are two causes for sickness, He tells us, “one is material, the other spiritual; if the sickness is of the body, a material remedy is needed, if of the soul, a spiritual remedy.” But all healing is from God no matter what the outer and visible means used. Physicians have been proving in actual practice the efficacy of the following principle of healing given by ’Abdu’l-Bahá:
“All creatures are dependent upon God, however great may seem their knowledge, power and independence.
“Behold the mighty kings upon earth, for they have all the power in the world that man can give them, and yet when Death calls they must obey, even as the peasants at their gates. . . . .
“The science of medicine is still in a condition of infancy; it has not reached maturity; but when it has reached this point, cures will be performed by things which are not repulsive to the smell and taste of man; that is to say by aliments, fruits and vegetables which are agreeable to the taste and have an agreeable smell. For the provoking cause of disease—that is to say, the cause of the entrance of disease into the human body—is either a physical one or is the effect of excitement of the nerves.
“But the principal causes of disease are physical; for the human body is composed of numerous elements, but in the measure of an especial equilibrium. As long as this equilibrium is maintained, man is preserved from disease; but if this essential balance, which is the pivot of the constitution, is disturbed, the constitution is disordered, and disease will supervene.
“For instance, there is a decrease in one of the constituent ingredients of the body of man, and in another there is an increase; so the proportion of the equilibrium is disturbed, and disease occurs. For example, one ingredient must be one thousand grammes in weight, and another five grammes, in order that the equilibrium be maintained. The part which is one thousand grammes diminishes to seven hundred grammes, and that which is five grammes augments until the measure of the equilibrium is disturbed; then disease occurs. Wlien by remedies and treatments the equilibrium is re-established, the disease is banished. So, if the saccharine constituent increases, the health is impaired; and when the doctor forbids sweet and starchy foods, the saccharine constituent diminishes, the equilibrium is re-established, and the disease is driven off. Now the readjustment of these constituents of the human body is obtained by two means: either by medicines or by aliments; and when the constitution has recovered its equilibrium, disease is banished. All the elements that are combined in man, exist also in vegetables; therefore if one of the constituents which compose the body of man diminishes, and he partakes of foods in which there is much of that diminished constituent, then the equilibrium will be established, and a cure will be obtained. So long as the aim is the readjustment of the constituents of the body, it can be effected either by medicine or by food.
The majority of the diseases which overtake man also overtake the animal; but the animal is not cured by drugs. In the mountains, as in the wilderness, the animal’s physician is the power of taste and smell. The sick animal smells the plants that grow in the wilderness, he eats those that are sweet and fragrant to his smell and taste, and is cured. The cause of his healing is this. When the saccharine ingredient has become diminished in his constitution, he begins to long for sweet things; therefore he eats an herb with a sweet taste, for nature urges and guides him; its smell and taste please him, and he eats it. The saccharine ingredient in his nature will be increased, and health will be restored.
“It is therefore evident that it is possible to cure by foods, aliments and fruits; but as today the science of medicine is imperfect, this fact is not yet fully grasped. When the science of medicine reaches perfection, treatment will be given by foods, aliments, fragrant fruits and vegetables, and by various waters, hot and cold in temperature.”
The author of this article is one of the best known exponents of the Bahá’í Movement. His recent book “Bahá'u’lláh and the New Era” is considered the most comprehensive outline of the Bahá’í Teachings.
IN SPEAKING of His favorite subject—the coming of the Kingdom—Jesus once compared that Kingdom to a handful of leaven which a woman took and hid in three measures of meal until the whole was leavened. We now know that the essential constituent of leaven is the yeast-cell—a tiny living organism which has three powers common to every species of animal and plant, the powers of growth, of reproduction. and of transforming the medium in which it lives. The tiny yeast-cell grows until it reaches maturity, then it proceeds to form on its surface buds which are by-and-by thrown off. These buds mature in their turn and soon produce another crop of buds and so the process goes on. In this way, when the yeast is of a vigorous strain and conditions of temperature, etc., are favorable, multiplication of the cells is exceedingly rapid. In a very short time the single cell becomes two, in an equally short time the two become four. In the same time again the four become eight, then the eight become sixteen, so with each generation the increase in the number of cells becomes more and more rapid. While this growth and multiplication are going on, the dough in which the leaven has been placed is being transformed. At first it was heavy and stodgy. Under the influence of the leaven it becomes light, spongy and fit for the purpose which the woman has in view.
When Christ started His Mission He was alone. He had a new Life such as no one in the world but Himself possessed. He was like a single cell of yeast, and humanity was like the lifeless lump of dough. But He did not remain alone. Although He had no children according to the flesh He had spiritual children. By the time of His crucifixion at least eleven men and a few women had come to share this new life. They were the first buds from the yeast cell. Soon they grew and became strong in the faith and in their turn became the parents of new believers. Just as the yeast takes the substance of the lifeless dough and transforms it into living cells, so did they take ignorant, prejudiced, worldly-minded men and women and transform them into saints, through this wonderful God-given Life that was in them. And just as the yeast changes the properties, not only of that portion of the meal which it assimilates and endows with its own life, but also of the whole lump of dough in which it is working, so these early Christians had a transforming effect, not only on those who became “born again” through their influence, but on the whole of the society in which they lived.
There are many ways of transforming or reforming human society—by political agitation, by legislation, by military or ecclesiastical domination—but the method on which Christ chiefly relied was this quiet, unostentatious, vital method of the leaven.
A few months ago I had some correspondence, in Esperanto, with a German physician. I told him about the Bahá’í Principles, including that of the abolition of all prejudices—religious, racial, national, etc. He replied that he had one prejudice that he could not abandon—the prejudice that France was inhabited by a nation of madmen or fools. He proceeded to write at length about the enormities committed by the French in the Ruhr and elsewhere, waxing particularly bitter about the conduct of black soldiers employed by the French, and ended by declaring his firm conviction
that there would be no peace for Europe until the French nation was “crushed like a poisonous insect.” He assured me that this conviction was shared by a large number of his fellow countrymen.
I have no reason to doubt the truth of this last statement and there seems equally little reason to doubt that a large number of French people hold just the corresponding but opposite view, namely, that there will be no peace for Europe until Germany is crushed into impotence. For centuries France and Germany have been bad neighbors, indulging in mutual recrimination, threatening and attacking each other, snatching territory from one another, each trying to attain security by achieving a position of dominance over the other. What has been the result? Since the great war the feelings of fear, hatred, and jealousy between these two powers have become probably more intense and disturbing than ever.
Surely there is a better way of settling international difficulties than this of trying to crush each other. Why not try the method of the leaven? In Germany there are individuals, not a few, who have risen above these national prejudices, who do not hate any man because he happens to be born on the other side of a national frontier, who believe that all mankind are the children of One Heavenly Father, that consequently all men are brothers, the whole human race one family and the whole earth one home; who sincerely desire that all nations of the world should treat each other with justice and good will, in the spirit of mutual aid instead of mutual enmity, settling their differences either by friendly discussion and agreement or failing that, by reference to an impartial international tribunal. In France also there are individuals who hold such views. In many countries of the world there are such. Suppose that in the whole world there are a million such people. That does not seem an extravagant assumption—only one in every 1,600 of the world’s population. Suppose further that each of these gets one other in the course of a year to share his views and adopt his attitude and that this process continues. What will be the result? At the end of one year there will be two millions, at the end of two years four millions, at the end of successive years, 8, 16 and 32 millions. Suppose we deduct 7 millions to allow for deaths or lapses and put the number at the end of five years as 25 millions. Then continue the calculation. For the next five years the numbers converted to the new way of thinking will amount to 50, 100, 200, 400 and 800 millions. One year more, eleven in all, and the figure reaches 1,600 millions—the total population of the world! The old way of attempting to dominate by brute force has been tried for many centuries. Is it not time to try this method of the leaven with fresh hope and determination? It has been tried in a partial way already, with strikingly successful results, but the times were not ripe for its application on the grand scale to the whole of human society. Now for the first time in history all the nations and races are being linked up into one community. The old barriers which kept different sections of the human race apart are disappearing and a great teacher can have practically the whole world for an audience. Formerly the dough of humanity was in separate lumps, now these lumps have been thrown into one and the yeast introduced at one spot can rapidly spread throughout the whole. Here is the opportunity for a new experiment in leavening such as the world has never seen, but for this experiment the old leavens will not suffice.
When leaven is kept working in the same sort of meal, week after week, week after week, its vigor gets spent and it no longer works as satisfactorily as at first. Then the wise housewife gets some good new leaven of a fresh strain, which works with new vigor. So it is in the history of religions. When a great prophet of God appears and founds a new religious movement, for a time His teachings act with great power, and effect radical transformations in the character and life of both individuals and
nations. Ignorant men become great apostles, proud persecutors become humble truth-seekers, enemies become friends, miracles are accomplished. But as the centuries go on the age of miracles seems to pass. Religion becomes for the most part formal, conventional, a matter of blind imitation, powerless to change men’s hearts and give them newness of life. Sectarianism creeps in and the life of the spirit becomes feeble and paralyzed.
Then is the time when a new leaven is needed and a new prophet is sent whose teachings work with fresh and mighty potency. When Bahá’u’lláh appeared “in the fullness of time” He was like Christ, alone in the world, endowed with a wonderful new life, unique among men. But soon this life spread to others and already it is shared by vast numbers of individuals and is leavening the whole lump of humanity.
There are said to be two or three millions of Bahá’ís in the world today. Suppose there were a million and each of these got one other in the course of a year to become a Bahá’í also, then, according to the calculation we worked out before, in about eleven years the whole population of the world would be Bahá’í. Were only one-hundredth part of that million to be real devoted Bahá’ís, if the same rate of increase obtained, the process would only take six or seven years longer and in less than twenty years the world would be converted!
Here then is what our beloved master ’Abdu’l-Bahá hopes of us—that we adopt this method of the leaven. First of all we must get this new life ourselves and let it thoroughly transform and renew our own natures, then let us do what we can to pass it on to others, striving to get at least one other each year to become a true Bahá’í.
There is an important difference between the dough of humanity and the dough which the housewife uses to make her bread. The latter has no intelligence or choice in the matter of its leavening. The housewife keeps it unleavened as long as she sees fit, then she uses whatever kind of yeast she chooses to leaven it and the dough has to submit with entire passivity to the process. But the individuals who constitute the dough of humanity have intelligence and the power of choice. There are many kinds of leaven in the world. Some, like the leaven of the Pharisees against which Christ warned His disciples, are poisonous in their effects. Others that once were good and potent have become inert and are unsuited to the changed conditions under which we now live. We can study the character and efficacy of these various leavens and yield ourselves to their action or protect ourselves from their influence at will. Let us choose the good fresh potent leaven that God has sent into the world through Bahá’u’lláh and give ourselves wholly to its life-giving influence. Thus and only thus can we play our part aright in this glorious task of transforming and revivifying humanity. Daily reading of the scriptures, meditation and prayer, and hourly living in obedience to the Teaching and to the Inner Light which enables us to appreciate their truth, to understand and apply them, that is the way in which to apply the method of the Leaven.
While ’Abdu’l-Bahá was in London in 1911, he spoke from the City Temple pulpit to the evening congregation at the special desire of the Pastor, the Rev. R. J. Campbell.
Before ’Abdu’l-Bahá left the church, he wrote in the old Bible used by generations of preachers, the following words in his own handwriting:
“This book is the Holy Book of God, of celestial inspiration. It is the Bible of Salvation, the noble Gospel. It is the mystery of the Kingdom and its light. It is the Divine Bounty, the sign of the guidance of God.”
‘WE HAVE made MUSIC as a ladder whereby the spirit of man may ascend to the Supreme Horizon.” —Bahá’u’lláh.
Truly it is said, “Music washes away from the soul the dust of every-day life.” Let me hear the music and songs of a nation and I will tell you the nature and characteristics of its people. Andrew Fletcher once said, “Give me the making of the songs of a nation and I care not who makes its laws.” Another has written, “Music is allied to the highest sentiments of man’s moral nature—love of God, love of country, love of home and love of friends. Woe to that nation in which these sentiments are allowed to decay.”
Ever ’Abdu’l-Bahá is calling us to love and unity, to divine harmony, which is the true Song of Life. Let me quote from Mr. McNutt’s talk on this subject: “Throughout all of ’Abdu’l-Bahá’s words there was shining one fixed eternal principle. As a great composer constructs a composition in a certain key—the key of F for instance—commencing his symphony in this key, then enlarging and opening his phrases and developing his subject into other keys, but always coming back to the primal key and finishing his melody in it, showing the consistency, the roundness and wholeness of his conception, so ’Abdu’l-Bahá revealed to us the Spiritual Symphony of true Religion, setting forth all his teachings in the eternal living key of Love; enlarging and developing His theme into different subjects, disclosing exquisite blendings, but always coming back to the primal theme, back to the great Spiritual Motive of the Symphony, the Love of God, the motive which controls the universe, the motive around which the universe is constructed, the great Principle of Love.”
In the final analysis of all things, physically, mentally and spiritually, we are brought face to face with the great truth that Life is Love, and Love is Life, and its audible Voice is MUSIC.
MUSIC is one of the important arts. It has a great effect upon the human spirit. Musical melodies are a certain something which prove to be accidental upon etheric vibrations, for voice is nothing but the expression of vibrations which, reaching the tympanum, affect the nerves of hearing. Musical melodies are therefore those peculiar effects produced by, or from, vibration. However, they have the keenest effect upon the spirit. In sooth, although music is a material affair, yet its tremendous effect is spiritual and its greatest attachment is to the realm of spirit. If a person desires to deliver a discourse, it will prove more effectual after musical melodies. The ancient Greeks, as well as Persian philosophers, were in the habit of delivering their discourses in the following manner: first playing a few musical melodies and when their audience attained a certain receptivity thereby they would leave their instruments at once and begin their discourse. Among the most renowned musicians of Persia was one named Barbod who, whenever a great question had been pleaded for at the court of the King and the ministry had failed to persuade the King, they would at once refer the matter to Barbed, whereupon he would go with
his instrument to the court and play the most appropriate and touching music, the end being at once attained, because the King was immediately affected by the touching musical melodies, certain feelings of generosity would swell up in his heart and he would give way. You may try this: If you have a great desire and wish to attain your end, try to do so on a large audience after a great solo has been rendered, but it must be on an audience on which music is effective, for there are some people who are like stones, and music cannot affect stones.
Music is an important means to the education and development of humanity, but the only true way is through the Teachings of God. Music is like this glass which is perfectly pure and polished. It is precisely like this pure chalice before us, and the Teachings of God, the utterances of God are like the water. When the glass or chalice is absolutely pure and clear and the water is perfectly fresh and limpid, then it will confer Life; wherefore the Teachings of God, whether they be in the form of anthems or communes or prayers, when they are melodiously sung, are most impressive.
It was for this reason that His Holiness David sang the psalms in the Holy of Holies at Jerusalem with sweet melodies. In this Cause the art of music is of paramount importance. Bahá'u’lláh, when He first came to the barracks (Acca), repeated this statement “If among the immediate followers there had been those who could have played some musical instrument, i. e., flute or harp, or could have sung, it would have charmed every one.” In short, musical melody forms an important rôle in the associations, or outward and inward characteristics, or qualities of man, for it is the inspirer or motive power of both the material and spiritual susceptibilities. What a motive power it is in all feelings of love! When man is attached to the Love of God, music has a great effect upon him.—’Abdu’l-Bahá in Tablet to Edward B. Kinney.)
IN THE NOTES of Mrs. Mary L. Lucas, a soprano soloist, taken while on her visit to the Holy Land, she records her instructions from ’Abdu’l-Bahá in her book, “A Brief Account of My Visit to Acca,” from which the following is quoted:
“There was an utter absence of any desire or effort to impress one with ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s greatness, which is majestic in its simplicity. When we consider that he has never been enrolled in any school, has always been an exile and a prisoner, has had no access to books, that in spite of all this, his knowledge is unbounded, truly we must marvel! An illustration of this is found in His answer to the musical question I put to Him. I have all my life been interested in music, have studied in America and Europe, and when I asked the Master some special questions in regard to this subject, I was amazed in one sense at His familiarity with it.
“He has never heard any music such as we are accustomed to, having been a prisoner all his life, and yet his knowledge far exceeds that of people who have had great advantages. This fact not only applies to music, but to all things.
“This was my question: ‘I used to be very critical of people; would judge them; if they did not meet with my approval I would dislike them, but when I heard beautiful music all these feelings were forgotten, and the most intense love for these people, for animals, for the whole world, filled my heart and being.’
“I asked for an explanation of this, and I give you the answer. The Master spoke one whole luncheon and dinner consecutively on this point, and has given us but a crumb of His great wisdom:
“Voice is the vibration of air and is like the waves of the sea. The voice is produced through the instrumentality of the lips with the tongue, etc. These cause a wave in the air, and this wave reaches the nerve of the ear, which is
thereby affected. All pure things are pleasing and acceptable, therefore a pure voice is most acceptable and causes great enjoyment. It is natural for the heart and spirit to take pleasure in all things that show forth symmetry, harmony and perfection. For instance, a beautiful house, a well designed garden, a symmetrical line, a graceful motion, a well written book, a pleasing garment—in fact, all things that have in themselves grace and beauty are pleasing to heart and spirit. Therefore it is certain that a true voice causes deepest pleasure. What is music? It is a combination of harmonious sounds. What is poetry? It is a symmetrical collection of words, therefore they are pleasing through harmony and rhythm. Poetry is far more effective and complete than prose. It stirs more deeply. A fine voice, when joined to beautiful music, causes great effect. All these have in themselves an organization and are constructed on natural laws, therefore they correspond to the order of existence like something which fits into a mold. A sweet voice fits into the mold of nature. When it is so, this affects the nerves and they affect the heart and spirit. In the world of existence all material things have a connection with Spiritual Realities. Thus the voice connects itself with the spirit and it can be uplifted by this means. All forms and symbols, when understood, gladden the heart.
“Melodies, though material, are connected with the Spiritual, therefore they produce a great effect. A certain kind of melody makes the spirit happy; another makes it sad; another excites it to action. All these emotions can be caused by the voice and music, for through the nerves it moves and stirs the spirit. Whatever is in the heart of man, music moves and awakens. If the heart full of good feelings and a pure voice are joined together, a great effect is produced. For instance, if there be love in the heart, through melody it will increase until its intensity can scarcely be borne, but if evil thoughts are in the heart, such as hatred, it will increase and multiply. Some feelings occur accidentally and some have a foundation. Some people are naturally kind, but they may be accidentally upset by a wave of anger, but when they hear music the true nature will reassert itself. Music therefore really awakens the real nature, the individual essence, but the principal effect is caused by the Word, and when words are united to beautiful melodies the most exquisite harmony is produced.”
THIS WONDERFUL AGE has rent asunder the veils of superstition and has condemned the prejudices of the people of the East. Among some of the nations of the Orient music and harmony was not approved, but the Manifested Light (Bahá’u’lláh) in this glorious age has revealed in Holy Tablets that singing and music are the spiritual food of the hearts and souls. In this great dispensation music is one of the arts that is highly approved and is considered to be the cause of the exaltation of sad and despondent hearts.
“Music is most important. Music is the heart's own language. Its vibrations uplift the spirit; it is very beautiful and a great art.”
’Abdu’l-Bahá then looked away off out of the window, His face became illumined, and He said softly in English, “Music! Music! As if the words brought forth divine melodies to His ears, as if He were listening to the ‘Choir Invisible.’’’—(Compiled by Shah- naz Waite.)
“Let us listen to a symphony which will confer life on man; then we can obtain universal results; then we shall receive a new spirit; then we shall become illumined. Let us investigate a song which is above all songs, one which will develop the spirit and produce harmony and exhilaration, unfolding the inner potentialities of life.” ’Abdu’l-Bahá.
YOU write me that many of the friends are anxious to know my impressions of Acca and of ’Abdu’l-Bahá. How shall I write so as not to feed the fires of superstition on the one hand, or fail to do justice to the greatness of the subject on the other? There are times when we find the symbols we call words entirely inadequate and when we know that, in spite of all effort to avoid it, we shall be misinterpreted and misunderstood. There are some who, if we allow the heart to express itself freely, will accuse us of emotionalism and over-credulity; and there are others who, if we restrain the heart and write of facts as facts, setting them forth in their physical aspect only, will accuse us of lack of spiritual comprehension. However, acknowledging responsibility to God alone, I shall endeavor to convey to all interested something of the impressions I received on my visit to ’Abdu’l-Bahá at Acca.
I would to God that all the people of the world could have seen and known ’Abdu’l-Bahá as I saw and knew him! Then, indeed, would war, strife and conflict cease, the fires of hell and hatred cease to burn, and peace and good-will reign on earth.
But if we write of ’Abdu’l-Bahá as a personality, as a man, we must describe him as the simplest and most humble and most natural man in all the world. He indulged in no poses, made no pretensions, asserted no superiority, claimed no special privileges, and in no way whatever sought to impress one with his dignity and importance. He ate with you, walked with you, talked with you, asked about your health, discussed the simplest matters with you and answered your most trivial questions. In every sense of the word, he was natural; and in every sense of the word, simple. The physical eye observed no halo, saw no sign of supernatural power, detected nothing in fact that might not be noticed in any really good, and naturally dignified man. In a word ’Abdu’l-Bahá appeared to us so simple and so natural that we wondered what it was that some were able to see in him, who have set in circulation stories which have appealed powerfully to the imaginations of many and which may easily in time pass into records of signs, wonders and miracles. We found it difficult at first to realize that this simple, dignified, kindly and lovable man was the center of a spiritual power, of a knowledge and inspiration which was re-creating the world, and was the object of a love and devotion which no man in the history of the world except Bahá’u’lláh, his father, ever received in his life time.
And this love and devotion was not confined to his followers, but was seen in those who knew nothing of the religion of which he was the center. We saw high Turkish officials, Turkish women of high rank, and people of all classes and conditions come to consult him on their most important matters, to seek consolation and advice from him in their domestic troubles, and to ask for his prayers. Twice a week we saw the poor gathered around him to receive gifts at his hands, their only benefactor, their only real protector, in this prison city of squalor and wretchedness; we plainly saw, even with the physical eye, that there was something in this simple, unpretentious man which caused all around him to lean upon him in all things, and to regard him with an unusual love and devotion. What was it in this man that conquered all who came in contact with him? This man to whom all about him
went in their troubles, but who, himself, if he had any troubles, never mentioned them, except to rejoice over them as victories? This man who was so universal that from him we never heard the word "I?"
As I write these words tears fill my eyes and run down my cheeks. I whose heart has often seemed to me like a stone; a man hard-headed and combative by nature; accustomed to indulging in plain speech, and, in argument, to giving and receiving blows; one who has never been regarded as sentimental or emotional; I, as I recall my impressions of this man, am obliged to confess that my heart melts like wax, that the tears blind my eyes, and that all desire for controversy and argument, except as God may will, has been taken out of me. What, I repeat, was the strange power of this man, so simple, so natural, so unassuming; who asked for himself no special consideration or reverence whatever, but who continually pointed us to the things of the Spirit and to God?
To tell this so as to make myself understood is beyond any power which God has given to me, or to any man. There are some things which the heart can comprehend, but the tongue cannot utter.
In a tablet to me, ’Abdu’l-Bahá once wrote, “Turn with thy heart to the heart of ’Abdu’l-Bahá and the hidden mystery will be revealed to thee.” I have obeyed this command, and the mystery has been revealed to me—but I cannot express it in words—not even he can do that. The mystery, however, is no mystery at all to those who met ’Abdu’l-Bahá heart to heart. Only through the Spirit can the reality and power of this Man be apprehended. One is reminded of the Words of Jesus: “No man cometh unto me except the Father draw him.”
In spite of all I have said, however, I will try and give you an outer description of ’Abdu’l-Bahá. He lived a life of imprisonment, of constant anxieties and of hardship, and when I saw him he looked his age, but no sign of physical weakness was apparent. On the contrary, he impressed you as being full of strength and energy, an example of splendid manhood. His hair and beard were grey, and the thoughtful lines on his face and forehead were in keeping with his years. His beard was not very long nor full, but of silky, fine quality. His hair, which was the same color as the beard, he wore about level with the shoulders. His nose was large, slightly aquiline and finely moulded. His mouth was large and firm, but without in the slightest degree being hard, indicating a combination of firmness and kindness. His forehead was high, broad, and full, giving the impression of great intellectual power.
The wonderful thing about the Master’s physical personality was his eyes. At this writing I must confess my inability to tell what it was about them that made them so remarkable. Whether they were black or blue or grey, or a combination of colors, I cannot say. In fact they seemed to change even as I looked at them and into them, as I did more than once. Of this, however, I am quite certain,—that I cannot think of ’Abdu’l-Bahá nor pray without seeing those indescribable eyes.
But one tires of physicalities. The important matter is to try to realize the fragrances of the Spirit that were wafted from that White Spot (Acca) and from that pure heart. Truly, there was that at Acca which was not to be seen with the physical eye, heard with the physical ear, or understood with the intellect,—a something which the heart felt and the soul alone apprehended and which cannot be reduced to the physical symbols we call words.
When ’Abdu’l-Bahá spoke a something was set in vibration over and above the physical words, a something which was spirit and life and which bestowed spirit and life; and it would seem that the outer words were merely a means of contact or a physical medium of connection between the soul and this Spirit and Life which was imparted to the soul. That which the soul received from the words was far more than the mere outer form of the words would seem to warrant.
For instance, I asked ’Abdu’l-Bahá for
the answer to a question which had troubled me for a year or more. He answered me in a few words without apparently any particular effort at explanation,—yet his simple statement conveyed to me immediately an understanding of the whole matter that perfectly satisfied. Perhaps the same words spoken by another would have made no impression, for they were in the form of a simple statement without proof. Uttered by him, however, they seemed to change the whole current of my thought, create a new consciousness in me, and supply me with the power of comprehension; so that a matter which had puzzled me for more than a year was cleared up in an instant. I trust this will convey to you my meaning,—that the real power at Acca was the power of love and knowledge, purely spiritual in its manifestation, a matter of the heart and of the soul, and had no connection whatever with physical miracles and phenomena.
To realize who ’Abdu’l-Bahá was, to understand his relations to Bahá’u’lláh and to Christ, to comprehend that he needed no other glorification, commendation or exaltation than that he was ’Abdu’l-Bahá, to know why it was that he commanded that no other name or title should be given to him, and that by no explanation or interpretation could the station of ’Abdu’l-Bahá be made any more glorious than it was,—one must be able with the spiritual eye to see the things of the Spirit.
If we are to be content, as he was content, with his simple designation as the Servant of Bahá, and have no desire to refer to him by any other title,—like him we must realize that we are nothing and that God is all, must eliminate the ego, surrender the self and allow God to do His work in us, instead of imagining that we have any power to accomplish it within ourselves.
To be able to apprehend the station of ’Abdu’l-Bahá is to apprehend, at least in part, the great truth of renunciation, of absolute surrender to God. Surrender to God! How easy to say, but how difficult to really understand and do! It means to be conscious of our nothingness, and to open our souls and let the fragrances of the Spirit blow through them, to feel that God in us is doing our seeing, our willing, our thinking, and relieving us of the responsibility. It is to understand that He is the great burden-bearer, on Whose shoulders is the government of all things. Here is a vicarious atonement worth having,—a vicarious atonement which brings rest and peace and real salvation.
Who are we and what can we accomplish? It is true that the station of man is very high, but it is high because of his capacity to receive from God. The breeze of the Spirit blows by the rocks and by the trees and by the animals, but they are unconscious of it. Man, however, has the power not only to become conscious of it but to be the instrument of it in the enlightenment of mankind and the vivification of the world. And this is a matter of simple faith. When we realize that we are nothing and know nothing, and stand humbly before God, we shall be clothed upon by the Spirit.
Jesus said: “Consider the lilies, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin and yet I say unto you that Solomon in all His Glory was not arrayed like one of these.” With all our toiling and spinning and fretting, the best that we can do is to clothe ourselves with mere garments of fig leaves, with mere symbols to hide our ignorance. But those who have found the secret of turning to God in perfect self-surrender and sure faith receive a spiritual garment inexpressibly beautiful. The secret of real spiritual power is the renunciation of the self and dependence upon God.
This spirit of renunciation and of absolute submission and surrender to God is the Spirit in which one was bathed at Acca. The lesson of complete reliance upon God for all guidance and for all knowledge is the great lesson we received there, for when we submit to God we realize His Love in us and it radiates from us. The Master has said that when
we “receive the confirmation of the Holy Spirit we need no other teacher.” But we cannot get that confirmation until we learn to rely on the Spirit wholly.
I trust that we all may learn this great lesson, and cutting ourselves from all outer personalities, lean entirely upon the Inner Reality of which the Prophets are the authoritative and confirmed outer Manifestation. To be free from personality, we must be free from our own personality. Once we have attained this freedom, other personalities will cease to trouble us. Escaping our own personality, we must find refuge in the Love of God.
“The mission of the Prophets is no other than the advancement of the education of the world of humanity. The Prophets are the real teachers or educators. The Prophets are the Universal Instructors. . . .
“The Greatest proof of a Manifestation is the Manifestation Himself. We do not have to prove the existence of the sun. The sun is independent of proof. He who has sight can see the sun and prove it for himself. It is not necessary to seek for other proof. For instance it is a fixed fact that nothing could grow upon the earth without the light of the sun. It is easily proved that without the sun’s heat and light no animal life could exist. The sun’s light is indispensable; its heat essential. This is the sun’s greatest proof. . . .The great Prophets did not enter school to be taught of men, yet so many things did they manifest that at last we must admit that the world is not able to destroy the wisdom of the Prophets or grow without them. . . .There must be a Standard. . . . .The Light of God will shine, must shine. . . . Although the Christ was not a great and honored man; although He was of such poor and humble condition that He was born in a manger, yet He changed the whole world by His Power and Divinity. What proof could be greater than this? How can any one deny His proof! In the same way Bahá’u’lláh came from Persia which is not an important nation of the world. He did not go to school and yet so much knowledge was manifest in Him that we must confess that it is impossible to deny His wisdom and His divinity. . . . The Manifestations of God are sent when most needed.”
IT WAS TWICE my grateful privilege, during the lifetime of Booker T. Washington, to visit Tuskegee Institute, Alabama, in connection with the teaching work of the Bahá’í Movement. In response to a cordial invitation from the great educator I found myself landing one day from the train on the institute’s grounds, where we were met by a lieutenant from the school regiment and a detail of student cadets. The welcome in the shadows of the evening was hearty and impressive. We were escorted to comfortable rooms in Huntington Hall, refreshments were set before us, and our guide advised us that a meeting was planned for that evening in which it would be possible to see the entire student body and to hear addresses from two of the graduates. There we went. The boys and girls, all uniformed, filled the chapel. Plantation melodies were sweetly sung and the two speakers, with a simplicity that held attention, told of the success of their work in spreading the spirit and ideals of Tuskegee in their respective communities.
The next morning at five we were awakened by the noise of drums summoning the students to arise, eat their breakfast, and start the day’s work. Our own breakfast was scheduled for two hours later, after which a lieutenant guide took our party sight-seeing. And there was something to see! As schools go Tuskegee Institute is very large; it is also a city beautiful. At the time mentioned there were a hundred and twelve buildings, many of them large and imposing, all erected by student labor. Among the more interesting of these are the Boys’ Trades and the Girls’ Trades buildings, wherein a great variety of industries are taught, the Carnegie Library and Museum, the great dining hall, the hospital, dormitories and chapel, the administration building, and the small building which forms an observation station and houses the scientific collection of Prof. George W. Carver.
This learned professor manufactures many varieties of foods and other useful things from the peanut and potato. The ingenious Gulliver tells of a professor who spent his life trying to extract sunbeams from cucumbers. This is in striking contrast to the work at Tuskegee, where only practical ideals are considered. Thoughts are wed to things.
The aim of education, as pointedly stated by the principal, is the training of head, hand, and heart. To this end, things feasible are attempted. All work is correlated. All thoughts have an object. The student in arithmetic must know how to measure the walls of the room in which he studies for paper and plastering and the floor for matting, etc. The class in grammar analyze the sentences and parse the words in the annual report of the school’s secretary, incidentally discovering their own relationship to the whole. The geography student discovers oceans, rivers, bays, straits, continents, islands, etc., after a rain, in the pools and waters without.
After a morning of sight-seeing we found ourselves in front of the main buildings. Masses of students were all drawn up in regimental order. Accompanied by the institute band they marched to the dining hall for luncheon, passing in review before the principal whose vigilant eye was ever focussed upon the details of the work. Now he rides on horse-back over the great farm and now he inspects the departments of industry or of the academy, checking up on anything remiss. How like a general of peace, directing his army!
The afternoon was filled with more sight-seeing and after an excellent supper
we went to the chapel to hear the rhetoricals. A student was delivering a peculiar kind of oration, for in his hands he held a pair of trousers which he had made in the tailor-shop. His speech in simple English described the process in detail from the crude material to the finished product. A girl arose and told of raising beets. She held samples in her hand and gave an interesting report of the latest ideas in gardening to this end. A boy spoke of the duties of the officer of the day in the regiment, which place he held; the guarding of the buildings and the care of the walks and grounds were among these duties. A girl stenographer to the secretary discoursed about her work, illustrating its gravity by reading, amidst the laughter of her fellow students, a list of delinquents to whom she had addressed notices that day. Thus stock and poultry raising, and every other form of labor to be found in that vast plant, would have its turn for verbal expression and demonstration. And in this way training in elocution was cleverly united to industry. Talks about things done are generally more interesting than theories.
The next morning the director of the Bible Training School invited me to address the students on the Bahá’í Movement. Their reaction to Bahá’í ideals and principles was most enthusiastic. Indeed, the Bahá’í ideals appeared to harmonize wonderfully well with life at Tuskegee. That school community is indeed a bright spot in the world’s civilization. All elements, from the least to the greatest, impress the visitor as being extremely polite, gracious and obliging. Each one seems concerned about the happiness and welfare of the community. Each is willing to serve anyone who comes down the pike, whether white or black, known or unknown, native or foreign, friend or stranger. One of the stories told is that of a man who plotted with certain envious and evil people to journey there to murder the principal. Having come for this purpose, while awaiting an opportunity, he fell sick and helpless. He was treated so kindly by the institute people that he confessed and abandoned his wicked plot.
The people of Tuskegee Institute are all busy. No room for drones is found in that community. To them the world is a work-shop and in effect they seem to know that work is worship. This great service plant with its two hundred teachers, fifteen hundred students, its millions of endowment, its transformation of a county, its original system of pedagogy, its liberal and progressive ideals, its foundation being laid and its superstructure being erected by one who began life as a slave on a Southern plantation, furnishes one of the most romantic chapters in the world’s history.
Booker Washington walked across two states, sleeping enroute under the wooden pavement of a side-walk in Richmond, for the chance to enter Hampton Institute and work for an education. He overcame a thousand difficulties. He rose and fell and rose again! “He made by force his merits known” and passed from this world in the prime and vigor of manhood, but not until he had completed an enduring monument. After his passing, his friends throughout the nation rallied to the support of his work and under the leadership of his successor increased the endowment so as to place it upon a secure foundation. His tomb and monument are both on the institute’s grounds.
A second visit to Tuskegee was made about two years later. It lasted only a day but in it were given two Bahá’í talks, one at the model school, and the other to the boys of the three highest classes, whose schedules had to be rearranged for this meeting. I never have found anywhere a heartier and more enthusiastic response to the Bahá’í message and teachings.
A chrysanthemum show was the sightseeing feature of this visit. It was all very beautiful. These specimens of the science of horticulture were many in number and surprising as to development and growth.
The teacher in charge of the boys told me one of his interesting experiences
with the principal. During the early days there in the work, Mr. Washington one night sent for him, told him of the misdeeds of certain of the boys and asked what he thought should be done about them. He was greatly surprised to know that such things should have occurred and not less so that the principal should know about them and he, directly in charge of the work, should be uninformed. His reply was very emphatic, that boys who acted in such a way were unworthy and should be sent home to their parents. They were unworthy of the school. But the principal, darting a quick glance at him, said in reply:
“Stevenson, the easiest thing in the world is to get rid of somebody: but what I wanted you to think of is how to help somebody.”
And thus this teacher, powerfully impressed by his great principal with the true aim of education, evolved a plan of discipline by which he has been for years able both to serve and save the boys.
The secret of the greatness of Booker Washiiigton was easily discovered in meeting him first hand, in proximity to his life’s work, or even now may be seen in reading his books. The influence of such men as Roosevelt, Taft, Huntington, Rockefeller, Carnegie, Ogden, Peabody, Low, Rosenwald, Frederick Douglass, Paul Lawrence Dunbar, connected with his school one way or another, shows how he was regarded by men of thought and action. Everywhere he travelled, North and South, people filled his audience rooms and supported his ideas. Among his elements of greatness was the fact that he always had a program of construction. He never failed to express gratitude for any aid extended his cause, even the slightest from the most obscure individual being no exception. He believed in concord among all races and faiths although himself nominally a member of the Baptist church. His speeches contained no sadness, but abounded in entertaining humor, stories with a point, stalwart optimism. To express it in a word, through his genius he had discovered the spirit of the age and upon this foundation were built his wonderful successes.
It is obvious that Tuskegee Institute is built upon the Bahá’í ideals of cooperation, service, mutuality, unselfishness, and consideration for others. Its president welcomed light from every horizon. That is why his work stands. The only stable achievements of this day are those made in the light of Divine Knowledge.
- Rarer than gold of sun,
- Lustre of moonlight blue,
- Perfume of daintiest rose,
- Ray of diamond dew,
- Spirit of God stream down
- And let me shine in You
- Take from my face its frown;
- My failing lamp renew.
H. N. Wilson
THE EXPERIENCES of the past few years have wrought havoc amongst our conventionalities, and of these, perchance, our phraseology affords many marked examples. Few today ask the question, “Is man his brother’s keeper?” This has become tenderly modified to the surmise—“Can man become his brother’s keeper?” The answer to this admits of affirmation.
The present condition of the world at large is admittedly one not of “Keeperhood” but of detachment, prejudice and unrest. In this estimate, we do not accept the condition as one of helpless, debased and hopeless discontent. Nay, rather let us interpret its significance as an awakening, militant, potent and creative; one of the delayed “mysterious ways” that are leading up to the fulfillment of those promises, specifically associated with our ultimate destiny. This world is on the arc of ascent, and will attain to its loftiest predicted and predestined heights, and the ethics, the mechanism, and the conduct of this great awakening is the dominant issue of the day.
Have we in mind the kind of man we require for this ideal and practice of “Keeperhood ?” If so, is it within human capacity to reach to that station, or attain to that reality? Successful “Keeperhood” must needs be based upon a universal attribute. The efforts to secure such a qualification have produced many varied movements, some national, some regional; some communal or fraternal, each of which has lived and maneuvered within its respective arena. But a “Keeperhood” that finds oneness as a reality, or “unity” as its fruitage, is still non-existent.
It has been claimed that Napoleon’s downfall was caused by his inability to realize that there was such a thing as a national conscience. If in Napoleon’s day a national conscience was deemed of such potency, what kind of conscience would be needed today in a world of close contact and unavoidable inter-relationship?
An early statesman of this country urged the people to think “continentally;” later a statesman of another country urged his people to learn to mind “imperially.” Many varied forms of statesmanship have come into being in the intervening years. The need of the present is a statesmanship that would urge upon the people of the world to think inter-racially, with the entity man admitted as the basic standard of service. Such statesmanship would become successful, being universal in its measure, and divine, as distinct from simply human which is the inevitable valuation of all measures that are narrowed by limitation.
With those who might desire community practice rather than world-wide effort, we are readily sympathetic. However, the experience of community life actually demonstrates the ready adaptability of the ideal to the wider field—the universal. In the community each must contribute to the common welfare a measure of personal surrender. He cannot do as he likes. His fellows limit his actions. He is penalized if he “walks upon the grass ;” if the consensus of community opinion has decreed the grass shall be protected. The community interdependence necessitates a mutual relation, in short a “Keeperhood” which compels the individual to recognize its presence, necessity and equity. This is an affair of daily experience, and as such demands no further emphasis or elucidation.
It is claimed by some that the world
is still marching to the dying music of great traditions, and there is no captain of civilization at the head of our ranks. But a new cycle is at hand. The century is the twentieth. There is a rising sun. Bear patiently! Amidst the dark shadows, we perceive a brighter dawning, and venture to answer our opening question, “Can man be his brother’s Keeper?” in the affirmative.
The solution of all human problems, be they social, political, racial, ethical or economic, are based upon this affirmation. This acclaim finds its spirit in the words of ’Abdu’l-Bahá—“the nobility and glory of man consists in the fact that amidst the beings, he is the dawning-place of righteousness. Can any greater blessing be imagined by man than the consciousness that by Divine assistance the means of comfort, peace and prosperity of the human race are in his hands? How noble and excellent is man if he attains to that state for which he was created.”
Further we are admonished that the Reality of man is the throne of the Divine manifestation. This is the assessment, the Bahá’í valuation of the world of humanity, of every human being, independent of race, caste, nationality, creed or color. This is at the same time a declaration of the faith that is ours. and a message of assurance.
To admit man as the “dawning-place of righteousness” the doer of rightness, is to truly exalt him to an ownership from which he has long been ejected, to his manifest loss and deprivation. Man today is a product of this dispossession. To reverse all this, concede original rightness as distinct from original wrongness, becomes a process of restoration that obtains for the world of humanity a rational relation to its Creator, and a mutual beneficence with his fellow-man. Such a concession carries with it a station of “Keeperhood,” of oneness, of unity as the fruitage of a common bestowal. A kinship that is mighty, powerful and supreme.
The “Reality” of man is the “possession” inevitable between God and man; the Creator and the created; the Maker and the thing made. Its “possession” is the brand-mark common to all mankind. It is the birthright of humanity. That it should become the Throne of Divinity, is the eternal sequence to an “Action” which is perfect and a “command” that has effect. In this there is no uncertainity. Hence the affairs of man should be founded upon his Reality; not upon his Equality. “Reality” is the bounty of God. Equality is the counterfeit of man. Today in the twentieth century our activities are basically counterfeit. Our ways, our morals, are accommodated thereto. There is no world acceptance of the “Reality” of man as a dynamic element of oneness. It is left out of all our problems. “Keeperhood” thus deprived of the spirit becomes a mere surmise of the imagination, a veritable delusion.
What is the way out of this disastrous confusion? To recognize a cause is the first essential step towards a remedy. There has been great material and scientific advancement, due to a divinely creative influence of unique potency. In the field of spiritual existence, wherein the “Soul” and “Spirit” of man are the entities, we maintain a complimentary progress would have been made had not time-long traditions and prejudices—racial, religious, and patriotic—obscured from vision and from understanding the policies of God, manifested to the world of humanity for its guidance, and for the establishment of a divine civilization.
All must agree upon the fundamental principle of “Keeperhood” as the basic principle of the oneness of the Kingdom of humanity. W e must learn to recognize on behalf of our fellow man an unbroken line of continuity, an unbroken inter-relation between God and the world of humanity. This continuity is announced as the “Voice and Will of God.” Its proclamation and evidence is sent forth in the “Temple of Man.” This “Temple” is the Manifestation,
the demonstrator of the pre-affirmed, unbroken continuity, and is essential as a basis upon which “Keeperhood” may find its foundation. The present confusion of the world’s affairs, be those affairs social, political, racial or economic; be they in sphere of influence, individual, national or universal; is due to the non-recognition of this message from God. In the Bahá’í Revelation, in the teachings of Bahá’u’lláh, we find the guidance for the cycle of today; the pronouncement of the principles by which a social, economic, racial and spiritual unity can be attained.
In those areas where the application of these teachings has been established, a full and complete “Keeperhood” has been confirmed. The elements of that up-building have been the most varied in race, creed, sect or color. Age-long traditions and prejudices have been set aside, obliterated, and forgotten. A spiritual unity has grown up based upon the common birthright.
The station of the Manifestation, be the manifestor a Moses, a Jesus, a Mohammed, finds its unity and oneness in constant and innate relation to the All-Source, the one God, whose commission of endowment placed therein “the Essence of Light.”
We commend with full sincerity of conviction and humility of suggestion to all humanitarian activities, that they can find a marvelously potent orientation for their missions, and challenging possibilities for fruitage, by conceding to “Keeperhood” a foundation based upon a spiritual station, a reality that finds a deeper oneness than all differences and a unity underlying all diversities.
Why continue to impose fatal limitations to God’s purposes, in futile experimentation? If viewed aright in the permitted illumination, “Keeperhood” is not such a mysterious problem. There is no power outside and beyond the heart of man that can prevent its attainment.
Thus recognized the process is simple though the method be revolutionary. Man must have restored to him without let or hindrance, his spiritual birthright. This is his, separate him no longer from it. All existence must be in conformity with Divine Law. The bounties of God are not monopolized. The favors of God are not localized. They are as universal as they are individual.
This is the message of the Bahá’í Revelation. This is the knowledge that changeth the earth of men’s hearts, and maketh them even as the Keeper's of Men. This is the knowledge which is praiseworthy, not the limited learnings produced by veiled and obscure imaginations, which men often borrow from each other. Be of those who know, and “Keeperhood” will become the confirmation of the birthright of the Spirit in the oneness of the world of Humanity.
THREE LETTERS from the Spiritual Assembly at Haifa, through Mirza Badi Bushrui, Secretary, have been somewhat delayed in reaching the friends, and now necessarily must be briefed.
Most important is the information concerning the spread of the Cause in Persia, new Assemblies having been started in several important cities. Intercommunication between the Assemblies is a vital constructive service very much appreciated and always helps the friends to live in a world of joy and happiness.
The first circular letter from Yezd is full of enthusiasm about the deep interest in the Cause by the people generally, and reminds us that many sincere souls joyfully drank the cup of martyrdom in that city, notably in 1903, accounts of which have been variously written. “As it has always been the case,” Mirza Bushrui writes, “sword and persecution had the opposite effect and the Tree of the Cause sent down its roots deeper and yet deeper into the hearts of the people as indicated now by the activities of the friends.”
In Kashan the Girl’s School had its commencement, and many graduates successfully completed the prescribed courses showing excellent progress. Mirza Ali Akbar, who was for a time with ’Abdu’l-Bahá in this country and who will be lovingly remembered by many, is constantly teaching the Message of the Cause, sometimes suffering persecution and banishment to other cities.
The news from Anzali, a Persian port on the Caspian Sea, contains an item of great interest which we quote: “One of the friends, perceiving that the Beloved Guardian of the Cause expressed the wish that the foundation of the Mashriqu’l-Adhkár be laid at Anzali, joyfully stepped forward and offered his house together with all the furniture therein to be used as the Mashriqu’l-Adhkár, and the property has been legally registered as such through the Bahá’í spiritual Assembly. A Bahá’í library has been established and meetings are held weekly.”
Bujnurd, Persia, has established a Spiritual Assembly after years of striving. All obstacles were overcome through the power of the Holy Spirit.
From Bandar Abbas, on the Persian Gulf, comes the good news of increased activities and the joy of new souls finding their way to the Path of Truth.
The friends in Isfahan have purchased a site for a Mashriqu’l-Adhkár. One of the friends offered an additional acre of gound, and now in the near future it is hoped a Temple will be built on this site.
“Another proof of the fact that sword and persecution cannot by any means uproot religious convictions,” Mirza Bushrui writes, “is the wonderful activity of the friends at Sangsar, Persia. The opposition and persecution of last year has doubly strengthened the foundation of the Cause in that town.”
The friends at Abadih have expressed great appreciation of all circular letters from Bahá’í Centers. Two travelling teachers who visited this Center attracted the people greatly and interested many in the Bahá’í Message.
From Karachi, India, this encouraging note: “Our number is daily increasing and we have no opponents either within or without the tent of our unity. Every man in this town has heard the glad-tidings and loves them that work to bring near the ideal of human unity.”
In Rasht, Persia, the Cause is progressing in a most remarkable way. New activities are continually started, and while there has been considerable opposition, through it the friends have become more quickened, and they have been protected through invisible forces. The Woman’s
Public Speaking Committee gave a public entertainment where the wonderful progress the women are making was most manifest.
Some persecutions have occurred in and near Abadih, but through the efforts of the nearby Spiritual Assemblies all is now quiet.
The friends in Mashhad, Persia, as well as elsewhere, have been persecuted, but through it all they have had miraculous protection and no lives were sacrificed.
From Poona, India, comes the thrilling news that a woman has been elected to serve on the first Spiritual Assembly,—and the words of the Master are being fulfilled day by day.
The 4th All-India and Burma Bahá’í Convention was confirmed by the Divine Power. The unity of thought and concentration of mind was directed toward the one idea of proclaiming the Bahá’í Teachings.
The newly elected Assembly at Bombay, India, is making great progress with their work of advancing the Cause. One of the Indian friends who spent some time in Syria and the Holy Land has been touring India and has had wonderful success. With his learning, sincerity and loving spirit, he has appealed to every one, and a particularly interesting contact was with the Qadian Community in Punjab, the members of which are noted for their modern ideas and very liberal education. Some have already become Bahá’ís.
From Ishqábád, Russia, we have the story of the acceptance of the Bahá’í Teachings by a Russian of the Mujik (rich merchant) class, who in turn brought five of his relatives into the Cause, and now all of them are touring the nearby villages proclaiming the Truth. Thus the leaven works.
Kerman, Persia, with a mixed population of Moslems, Zoroastrians, Jews and Indians, is becoming a real center of activity. The eloquence and learning of the Bahá’í teacher sent there has drawn many souls to the Cause. One of the Bahá’ís was imprisoned for his faith, but after his release, the friends became more enthusiastic.
Reports from Qazvin and Kermánsháh contain very encouraging information about the spread of the Cause, the latter city is on the high road between Baghdád and Teheran and is daily growing in importance.
The news of the good health of our Beloved Guardian as given by Mirza Bushrui in the following excerpt from his letter, will bring the greatest joy to every heart:
“With a heart humbly beseeching and a feeling of intense yearning to find him soon in our midst, we have the joy to announce that the health of Shoghi Effendi is good. The unanimous response of the different centers to his holy appeal to become true exponents of the high principles of the Cause will, indeed, attract him back to the Holy Land. This is our daily prayer at the Holy Shrines every time we bow down humbly in hope that every one of us might become as the Lord hath wished us to be. . . .
“In the spirit of the injunctions of the Master may we not, therefore, unite to act in such wise as to fill the very atmosphere in which we are with so much love and spirituality, the radiation of which will surely attract Shoghi Effendi to Mount Carmel, and then may we come face to face with the Beloved Master, ’Abdu’l-Bahá, humbly cognizant of the fact that we are doing our best to abide by His Will.”
At the annual meeting of the Green Acre Fellowship the suggestion was made by Dr. Colin that a convention be held at Green Acre next season. This idea so appealed to the members of the Green Acre Fellowship and to the Trustees, that plans have already been formed for this convention, which will be held next season during the second week of July. On the following page are given the splendid suggestions of Dr. Cohn for a greater Green Acre.
“I was delighted to hear of the progressive activities of that dearly beloved spot, Green Acre, upon which the Master has bestowed His tender care and loving kindness, and of which we are all hopeful that it may become, whilst the work of the Mashriqu'l-Adhkár is in progress, the focal center of the devotional, humanitarian, social and spiritual activities of the Cause.”
THIS is my second summer at Green Acre. Last year my wife and I traveled in Germany, Switzerland and Italy, visiting some of the most gorgeous spots of the European continent.
It may seem surprising but is nevertheless a fact, that all through our fascinating journey we caught ourselves saying to each other: “Don’t you wish you were back in Green Acre?” You see we had spent the previous summer at Green Acre, and it certainly was the most beautiful summer we ever had.
Now we are happy to be here again. We feel perfectly at home in this quiet and serenely peaceful atmosphere full of inspiration and human fellowship.
We can see vast improvements both in the physical, as well as the spiritual Green Acre, as compared with two years ago. Certainly the entrance to the Green Acre grounds has been made a thing of beauty; also the Inn, and especially the cottages adjoining the Inn, have been greatly improved.
The trustees of the Green Acre Fellowship certainly deserve credit for their splendid efficiency and devotion to our Great Cause.
But all this is not enough. Green Acre is so marvelously situated, and has such an amazingly interesting history behind it, that plans on a higher scale and far wider in scope should be considered at this annual gathering. Therefore the following suggestions are submitted for consideration:
First—Along the line of physical improvement. I am glad that you decided upon certain improvements, but instead of making temporary alterations, why not build the entire extension next spring, adding the necessary rooms and bath rooms which are in great demand? I am in full agreement with those who are planning next year to put up substantial tents on the grounds facing beautiful Piscataqua river, to accommodate a great number of our friends who enjoy tent life.
The entrance to the Fellowship House very much needs our horticulturist’s attention to harmonize with the perfectly beautiful Fellowship House and most artistically tasteful furnishings.
As to the Arts and Crafts: I am sure you believe with me in the necessity of the expansion of activities in Green Acre. We all believe in service. Why not give us all—young and old—a chance to express ourselves in diverse ways, manually, intellectually, artistically and spiritually? What is life but expression?
I understand there are plans to start classes in chemistry and physics. Very good. This work might later on develop into extensive laboratories for research and experimentation. Shops for making beautiful, simple and durable furniture and wrought-iron work, would, I am sure, prove a success. Many of our friends all over the country will be happy to get some souvenir made in Green Acre. We will thus create beautiful things, learn a craft, and perhaps make it pay sufficiently to be able to extend and expand still further from year to year. I also like the idea of a small theatre very much. We should also do illuminating, printing, engraving, illustrating
and book-binding in Green Acre. There is a crying need for real artistic production in this country. It is surprising how much one can do under the guidance of a master hand.
Let us train the eye and the ear, the hand and the heart, the mind and the soul, and make life grander, larger, fuller; let us unite the crafts and the arts and the sciences with the great Light of the Spirit.
Only thus can we grow and create.
Perhaps later on we may have a great studio where painting and sculpture may be taught. We also need a library and a small art gallery; a social room for adults and a playroom for children.
Make Green Acre a center of attraction for lecturers, authors, actors, teachers, musicians and artists where they may spend their summer vacations with benefit to themselves and all of us. That will make it attractive for a great number of people who are interested in intellectual and spiritual advancement.
Of course, the pivotal question is, where to get the funds necessary to realize all these grandiose plans.
Let me assure you, friends, that all you need to start with are zeal and courage. “Where there is a will there is a way.” Give the world your message and you will be surprised to see how wonderful a response will come, once you make the serious effort to do things. We are all idealists here, are we not? Let us hitch our wagon to a star and do things in a big way.
A Green Acre Congress. I suggest that we call a great congress in Green Acre for the summer of 1925, inviting all the Bahá’ís of this country and Canada to meet with us on this beautiful and consecrated ground. Let us hold an international and interracial parliament of man for the promulgation of universal fellowship and the inculcation of divine love in the human heart.
I believe that at no time in history was there greater opportunity to effectively present to the world our ideas and ideals than there is now. The world is undergoing a stupendous reaction as a result of the war and the so-called Peace Treaty. Humaniry seems satiated with hate and strife, and is reacting with a feeling of spiritual revulsion to war and revenge. The nations are beginning to see the wretched failure of competition and struggle among individuals, nations, classes and races.
Now, therefore, is the time to give our message of love and brotherhood to the world.
In this country and at the present moment it devolves upon the Green Acre Fellowship to vitally contribute to the accomplishment of this ideal condition. I feel sure it will be a labor of love for all of us.
This congress of 1925 if carried forward in unity, harmony and love will stand out as a Beacon Light in the annals of American Bahá’ísm in general and of Green Acre in particular. In the years to come an expanded Green Acre should become the Acca of America, that is, a great spiritual center where Bahá’ís and their friends will gather as devout pilgrims from all over the continent to commune and hope and rejoice in this gloriously beautiful haven of rest, recreation and spiritualization.
The modern world is permeated with sordid materialism as never before. Let us serve as the Prometheus bringing the fire of the soul to our people. From Green Acre should come the manifestation of the new life, the life of the ideal man and woman, the life of the true spirit of love and truth and freedom and justice.
NO GREAT civilization has ever outlasted the demise of its religious faith. If the moral bases of our culture are in imminent danger, the danger can be averted only by a new crusade on behalf of social righteousness and personal integrity, animated by a religious view of life, for which the human spirit transcends nature through kinship with absolute Spirit. (Professor Leighton in his book, “Religion and the Mind of Today.”)
THE GOD of the Bible is pre-eminently a God for man’s use here on earth. If there is one thing vividly discerned, even in the dimness of the prehistoric, it is this. According to the Scriptures, He is our paramount daily asset. He is the one factor on which we can count that never fails, once we have learnt how to count on Him. He assumes our cares; He stills our anxieties; He furthers our plans; He prospers our work; He heals our sickness; He gives us in abundance everything we need.
This is not figurative; it is literal. If it seems contradicted by common experience, it is because in common experience people have not learned how to utilize His generosity. . .
“The secret of the Lord is among them that fear Him, and He will show them His Covenant.”
They who discover that secret, and learn to understand that Covenant will find it as I have said. The Universal Father is not only a help to those who trust in Him; He is behind their efforts, and takes on Himself their responsibilities. He is an Almighty Resource, an Infinite Peace of Mind. . . .
If the Bible is true, the mighty works which were done of old must be possible today. If they are possible they must be possible according to law, and if there is such a law it must be our part to discover it. It is this discovery, this rediscovery which, it seems to me, the modern Christian world is making through the knowledge of God as Dynamic Energy and Practical Working Force. . . .
To me it seems to stand to reason, that the Ideal of God must change with change in time, progress, and mental condition. This does not mean that God changes, but only that our conception of Him must. It is not possible for us today to have of Him the same Ideal as that of the first Christian century, or of the last Christian century, or of the Middle Ages, or of the prehistoric ages. We can only have our own.
God as the Universal Father is a God with whom every human being can be satisfied. He meets all needs; He appeases all longings. In proportion as this God is our God, discords will melt into harmony, wars will cease, nations will be seen as co-operative rather than as competitive, differences between churches will grow futile, while the individual will come to demonstrate that Love so much talked of and so little shown by evidence.
That Christians have much to do before they can reach this Ideal must be obvious to anyone. That is to say, we are still in a state of only partial development. In comparison with those who were seeking God two and three thousand years ago, we have made not a little progress. In comparison with those who will still be seeking Him two and three thousand years hence, we are far behind. (Basil King in Harper’s Magazine.)
IS WAR PERPETUAL, inevitable and instinctive? Is it a school of moral elevation and nobility, as Treitschke and other militarist writers of Germany used to describe it? Or is it simply one of the phases through which humanity must pass in its rise from lower to higher things?
On this fundamental issue, which
divides the world today as yesterday, I take a definite stand. I believe all war is, and must remain, savagery. It is not a school of morals, but one of demoralization which must end with the growing intelligence and humanity of mankind; and I believe that in some generations from now it will be as dead as the stake and the duel. . . .
Unless all the false glory of war be wrenched away from the minds of people, the lure of war will still remain in their imaginations and in their hearts.
What we want above all other things in this tortured world of today is that all the intelligent human minds should set themselves to work to tear off the hideous and lying mask from the face of war and expose the dirty, bestial and futile thing war is. And it is the men of letters of the world who can best do that. . . . (T. P. O’Connor, in T. P.’s & Cassell’s Weekly.)
WHATEVER may be the origin of material improvements brought about by science it is more and more looked upon as an amazing power that never retreats, and whose conquests are final. . . . .
But we must not forget that science and morality are far from progressing on an equal footing. . . .
Science can contribute to the welfare of humanity as well as to the relief of its miseries, but it is also capable of working for criminal ends. . . .
The deep idea of natural law slowly implants itself in minds which only saw at first in science the possibility of increasing our power over things. . . .
The progress of science, teaching us to make better use of natural energies and discovering new ones, will widely contribute to the solution of social problems, the greatest problem of our time. (Emile Picard, in the Revue des Deux Mondes.)
THE Bahá’í, a religious sect which was founded in Persia eighty years ago, has subsequently spread all over the world. Bahá’ísm is an ethical and spiritual code rather than a new religion. Its adherents are not compelled to leave their own faiths. It recognizes the Jewish prophets, Jesus and Mohammed, and preaches a return to their doctrines without the later addition and modifications of theologians. The followers of Bahá’ísm therefore include Mohammedans, Christians and Jews; but, as it started in Persia, it probably has drawn most heavily from Mohammedanism. . . . The Bahá’í sect preaches equality of women, education for all, a universal language for the whole world and peace through international tribunals. (Nathaniel Peffer, in the New York Times.)
IN the Persian section are published three pictures connected with the Shrine of the Báb and of ’Abdu’l-Bahá on Mt. Carmel. These pictures show respectively the newly built approach to the Shrine; the garden of the shrine with a View of Haifa and of the harbor below; and the view from directly in front of the shrine looking down through the Germany colony to the harbor.
In the near future a series of terraces with fountains will lead from the German colony directly to the shrine.
Mt. Carmel, ’Abdu’l-Bahá has said, will some day be covered with hospices and institutions of learning. A great future was also promised for Haifa. Already authorities in Palestine are planning extensive docking and harbor facilities with a view to making Haifa the leading port of the Eastern Mediterranean, as, indeed, its strategic situation warrants. Haifa is undoubtedly destined to become a great world center.
صفحه 1 - 5
عقائد جدیده را ایقاف نکرده بلکه موجب کثرت تفحصّ نفوس و سبب نشر آن بوده است و چگونه این امر در هشتاد سال نهایت سختی و فشار قد خم نیاورده بلکه روز بروز قوی تر شده و پیروان جفاکشش را کسالت و سستی درنگرفت و اهالی تعجبّ میکنند که هنوز درین عصر تمدّن و علم و آزادی چگونه یک عقیده اخلاقی روحانی عمومی که بنیادش بر عفو و صلح و مسالمت است چنین مورد حملات میشود و از طرف دیگر میپرسند که آیا نه اساس حکومت ملیّ ایران بر حریّت و عدالت و مساوات آیا این کلماتی که روی کاغذ قرار گرفته و در انقلاب ایران برای تحصیل آن خون ریخته شد که باید از عالم لفظ بحیّز وجود و شهود بیاید پس این ندای حریّت طلبی و مساوات خواهی که گوش ممالک عالم را پر کرده چه مقصدی از آن منظور میباشد آیا نماینده مملکت قدیم الشأن ایران در مقابل نماینده های دول عالم در پارلمان و حکمه بین الملل چگونه خودنمائی نماید و آیا نماینده های ایران در ممالکم عالم در اروپ و امریک امثال این حوادث را چه تعبیری نمایند تا کی میشود باعتذار جهالت ملتّ متمسّک شد آیا ایرانیانی که در ممالک عالم در کمال ترفه و امنیّت مانند سائر آحاد ملتّ زندگانی میکنند تا کی باید در مقابل اعتراضات نفوس سر خجلت و شرم بزیر افکند در این موقع که مملکت بعلوم اداری ملل و دول بیغرض استقامت جسته و در صدد انتفاع از ثروت اهالی آن برای امور مادیّه میباشد ملل و دولی که توقعّ مساعدت بزرگ از آنان میرود آیا خسارت و زیان حاصل از امثال این واقعه را اندازه توان گرفت فی الحقیقه این واقعات بقدری فظیع است که بهر زبان و بیانی باشد قبائح و مفاسد آنرا بیش از آنکه لسان نفس واقعه تأثیر میکند توضیح نتوان داد راست است که در نمایشگاه عمومی برای شهادت بر عظمت ایران زور و کوس داریوس و سیروس و قوانین عدل و بنیان انوشیروان و اخلاقیّات و ادبیّات و اشعار حماسی حافظ و سعدی و فردوسی که آثار اعصار قدیمۀ ایران است موجود امّا این واقعات ایران عصر حاضر را چنان در منظر بشر مجسمّ میسازد که آن آثار قدیم جز حکایاتی بر متون تواریخ بنظر نمی آید این امر که هشتاد سال در خود ایران دچار چنین تحقیر و تضییق میباشد ایران عصر حاضر را از عصر سعدی و فردوسی صد ها بار بر تر و بالاتر معروف نموده بلکه آنرا در مابین ممالک عالم مانند یک ستارۀ درخشانی آشکار ساخت این را ایرانیانی که از چهر دیوار محدود قدم بفضای وسیع دنیا گذاشته و بافکار عمومی آشنا شدنی میباشد حال از همۀ این مراتب گذشته این اعمال و واقعات دشنه ئی بر سینۀ خود مملکت است که ابناء آن میزنند و گمان میکنند که بر امر بهائی فرود می آورند و تیشه بر بنیان خود و مملکت میزنند و گمان میکنند که تعالیم و مقاصد بهائی را ویران میسازند بهائیّت سالها است که از ایران قدم بیرون گذاشته و در ممالک عالم خصوصا در غرب و شرق اقصی علم افراخته و شاید روزی بیاید که از آن ممالک بموطن اصلی خود و ابناء آن دست مساعدت و محبّت بگشاید نفوسی که این نام جدید را خوش ندیده اند خوبست مقاصد و تعالیم آنرا بنظر بیغرضی و خیر خواهی عالم و با عینک دقایق بینی قرن بیستم نگاه کنند تا ببینند که چگونه روح آن مطابق احتیاجات عصر حاضر است چنانکه مقاومت با آن مانند مقاومت بادراک فصل ربیع در نهایت هشتاد و یا طلوع لمیع در پایان لیلۀ ظلمانی است و از آنجائیکه الی اکنون اطّلاع کافی از این اضطباء و هنگامه در دست نه مگر آنچه اخبار از اطلاعات سابقۀ معلوم بود که تهیّۀ مفسدۀ برای بهائیان در حرکت است و آثار آن در کثیری از نقاط هویدا خصوصا اضطباء و تعذیب و نفی و قتلی که چندی قبل
صفحه 2 - 5
در قسمت شرقی ایران برای این طائفه رخ داده لذا این وافعه مهمّه طهران جالب دقتّ گردید همانا موضع این فجائع که افق مشرق زمین را عموما و ایران را خصوصا تیره و تار کرده به دو قوّه ممکن که اجراء هر دو لازم یکی حکم محکم اسلام بدون هیچ ملاحظه و خوف که نفوسی که تشهیر سلائح و افساد و آشوب اندازند و سبب تخویف و سلب تأمین شوند باید در تحت کیفر مقرّره تنبیه و تأدیب گردند دویّم قوّه تربیت و تعلیم عمومی است چنانچه امر بهائی بآن نداء قیام مینماید چنانچه وقائع تلفناک عصور وسطی اروپ بواسطۀ تعلیم تربیت و معارف متدرجا مبدّل بچنین حالات امنیّت و آرامش مملکت و اهالی گردید اگر در ایران بسعی و همّت و قوای مادّی و معنوی در توسعۀ مدارس قرائت خانه های عمومی جرائد و مجّلات متنوّعه وسیعه که موجب توسعه افکار گروه و ترتیب نطق های عمومی که عامّه ناس را بیدار و متنبّه سازد و تأتر و سینماهای تربیتی اخلاقی کوشند که در سرتاسر مملکت انتشار تامّ یابد و بالاخره بقدر پنج یک تربیت سیاههای امریکا در مملکت قدیم الشأن ایران جاری شود مملکت سعدی و حافظاز این مظالم و ظلمات وحشت خیز خلاصی خواهد یافت سعدی : « بنی آدم اعضای یکدیگرند . که در آفرینش ز یک گوهرند . چو عضوی بدرد آورد روزگار . دگر عضوها را نماند قرار » حافظ : « مباش در پی آزار و هرچه خواهی کن . که در شریعت من غیر ازین گناهی نیست » . بهائیان ایران در اینهمه سنین متمادیّه ماضیه در مقابل همه تعدیّات پناه به داور کردگار برده و با کمال متانت و بردباری جور و جفا را تحمل ّ کرده و به تربیت و تعدیل اخلاق پرداخته و در حقّ معتقدان دعای خیر مینمایند تا روزی آید که همۀ ابناء مملکت از هر قطری و بهر عقیدۀ که هستند تنبّه حاصل کرده و دست دوستی و اخوّت بسوی یکدیگر دراز نمایند .
کلمات مبارکۀ حضرت بهاء الله :
یا اهل الارض لا تجعلوه دین الله سبیئامثلافکم انّه منزل الحقّ لاستنی فی العالم امتوالله و لا تکونوا من الجاهلین طوبی لمن یحبّ العالم طالعا لوجه ربّه الکریم .
انّا منعنا الکلّ عن الفساد و انراع و قدرنا النصر فی الذکر و البیان کذالک قضی الامر من لدی الرحمن فی کتابه المبین قل لا تضدوا فی الارض و لاتنبعوا اهوانکم اتبعوا ما امرتم به من ادن عالم خبیر .
لاتعرضوا علی العباد ان وجدّتم من احد راسخه انبضاء ذرّه فی خرمنه منتسبین ادیان رواء عنایة ربّکم فالق الاصباح شأن الانسان هو المحبّة والامانة والوفاء و ما یظهر به تقدیس ذاته بین الاحزاب .
قل یا ملاء الارض ضعوا الاقوال و تمسّکوا بالاعمال کذلک بامرک الغنیّ المتعال لو انتم تشعرون انّا نزلنا الکتاب و امرنا بکلّ فیه بالحکمة الکبری لئلا یظهر ماتضطرب به افئدة العباد انّه لهو الغفور الکریم .
کونوا آیة الاطمینان لاهل الامکان و نفحات الرحمن بین العالمین .
کلّ را وصیّت مینمایم بحکمت منزله در کتاب آنچه سبب ضوضا و غوغای عباد است ممنوع بوده و خواهد بود اصفیا و اولیاء حقّ ناس پژمرده را باسم حقّ تازه نمایند و بافق اعلی هدایت کنند و اگر حکمت اقتضا ننماید تکلمّ جائز نه کذالک نزل من قبل و فی هذه الحین فیماء اعاملین .
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صفحه 1 - 4
ارتقاء بخشد بعبارة اخری تربیت گوهر انسانی را تبدیل نکند امّا تأثیر کلیّ نماید و بقوّۀ نافذۀ حقایقی که در حقیقت از کمال و استعداد مندرج و مندمج است بعرصۀ ظهور آرد و آن طائفه از مورالیستها که بعدم تأثیر و تأثرّ قائلند و ترقیّات عقلیّه را در جلوگیری از سیّئات غیر مفید دانسته علاوه از آنکه منکر مشهودات و محسوسات گشته اند صغر آیت و امثله غیر مرتبطه بجهت اخذ نتیجه اقامه نموده و بدان مسرور گشته اند مثلا گویند اگر علم یک روزی توانست شخص کوتاه قدّی را بلند قامت کند به تغییر اخلاق فطری نیز قادر باشد چون آنرا نتواند این راهم نتواند و همچنین میگویند بسا اشخاصی که در صدد تهذیب اخلاق خود برآمده اند و بالأخره زحماتشان در مقاومت با خصائل ناپسند طبیعت عقیم و بلانتیجه مانده و عزم و اراده نمیتواند اخلاقی را که دست قادر طبیعت در وجود انسان راسخ نموده ریشه کن نماید بلکه پیوسته مطیع و در حقیقت قوّۀ مجریّه آن ملکات و صفاتی واقع میشود که در فطرت انسان متمکنّ و نیرومندتر است پس اگر خود در آن صفریّات و امثله غور و تأملّ فرمایند تصدیق خواهند نمود که قائلین بفوائد علم و اراده و معتقدین بتأثیر و تأثر تربیت در عدم تغییر ماهیّت و عدم تبدیل گوهر طبیعت با آنها تا درجۀ توافق نظر دارند و « بنابر المیسور لایسقظ بالمیسور » نباید از خدمت و کوشش تسامح نمود و از جدّو جهد تقاعد ورزید که چون درخت بید میوه امید نمیدهد
تربیتش نباید و نخل باسق که شهد فائق نمیرویاند خدمتش نشاید و از اینرو است که انبیاء الهی برای تصفیه اخلاق و تهذیب نفوس بشری قیام فرمودند و راحت و حیات خودشان را فدای این مقصود مقدّس کردند تا عالم توحشّ را بفیض تمدّن آشنا کردند و عرصۀ حیوانی را باقلیم انسانی تبدیل فرمودند بزلال صاحب نصائح و مواعظ توحشّ و بربریّت را از لوحۀ انسانیّت خارج کردند و بانوار لامعه علم و اراده ظلمات حالکه جهل و نادانی را از افق عالم انسانی زائل فرمودند اینست که بر ما واجب است تشکر از مؤسّسات مربیّان حقیقی بنمائیم و از انوار لامعۀ نصائح و مواعظشان مستفید گردیم . ح . نیکو
حادثۀ فاجعۀ قونسول امریکا در طهران منتشر در جرائد
مطابق اخبار منتشرۀ در جرائد امریکا چند روزی در شهر طهران هیجان دینی و تهدید بر علیه بهائی و احساسات مذهبی شدید بود در روز نوزدهم قاضی ویس قونسول امریکا در طهران بمعیّت یک امریکائی دیگر در آن هنگامه حاضر و شاید میخواست فتوگراف بردارد جمعیّت فریاد کنان که او بهائی است بر او حمله آوردند و هرچند مستخدم مبلغّ امریکائی بانگ زد که او قونسول امریکا است
صفحه 2 - 4
هنگامه اعتنائی بآن تقریر نکردند و آنان را از کالسکه فرو کشیدند و وحشیانه بر آنان حمله نمودند و ضرب شدید مارد آوردند آنان خواستند که بکالسکه خود رسیده و خود را خلاص نمایند جمعیّت مجدّد بر ایشان تاختند و پس قونسول مقتول گشت و رفیقش الم شدید یافت و سپس در روز سه شنبه زن قونسول مقتول در حالی که با یک زن امریکائیّه دیگر سواره عبور میکردند جوانی ایرانی با آنان مواجه شد و دستمال درآورده سر خانم قونسول را از رویش کشیده و میخواست پاره نماید و ضمیر بر او انداخت در این فظائع بعضی از پلیس ها مشاهده میکردند و اقدامی نکردند دوائر مملکتی امریکا از این حرکات و توهینات و تاکتیک حکومت طهران به هیجان آمدند و و نماینده های قوای اروپ که تعلقّ بشرق نزدیک دارند در این احساسات شریک بودند یک ملاحظه در معاهده موجوده میان ایران و ایالات متحّده امریکا واضح مینماید که چگونه برای امریکائی ها در ایران احترامات فائقه داشته اند از آنجمله تقریر شده که اهالی هریک از این دو مملکت منعاهد از مسافرین و تجّار و کارخانه گر و دیگران که در آن مملکت دیگر میباشند باید بواسطۀ قوای آن مملکت و اگنت عالیشان محترم و محافظه شود و چنان معامله شوند که اهالی معتمرترین ممالک عالم و نیز سفرا و اکنت های دیپلمات متعلقّ بهر یک از این دو مملکت که در مملکت دیگرمتوقفّ و اعضایشان چنان مسرور و محترم باشند که آن کنت ها و دیپلمات به معتبرترین ممالک عالم و امتیاز و اختصاص داشته باشند با وجود چنین موادی که در معاهده موجود بعلاوۀ اصول مقبولۀ معمولۀ دیپلماتی و مساوات و محافظۀ نماینده ها و اهالی ممالک واشنگتون اخطاری تازه آماده و درخواست مجازات مرتکبین را نمود و خود حکومت ایران ابدا اعتنا ننمود و قبل از آن اظهار داشت که مرتکبین و مستحقیّن را مجازات خواهند نمود و نیز درخواست تفویض مالی برای قتل قونسول فرمودند و احترامات رسمیّه قوای دولتی برای جزئیّات و آنکه حکومت تهیّه یک کشتی جنگی را نماید که جسد قونسول را بخانه اش امریکا برساند و تا مدّتی که جسد باقی است تهیّه گارد احترامی نماید و قوای ایران باید کاملا احترامات خود را نشان دهند و در نقل جشد حضور بهم رسانند و آنکه رؤسای حکومت لازم میدانند حکومت ایران تهیّه گاردی نماید که تا مدّتی که لازم است قونسولی از امریکائیان محافظت کنند و تمام اقدامات کافی میشود که امکان تکرار امثال این حوادث مسدود شود و در جرائد در علتّ اساسی این واقعه که آیا تحریک غرض آمیز خارج در میان بود یا آنکه تعصّبات و جهالت به تناهئی باعث شد بحث نمودند که بحث آن از دائره روش ما خارج است ولی این نشریّات جرائد از یک طرفی سبب شد که اهالی بیش از پیش در صدد بدست آوردن اطلاع از امر بهائی برآمدند چه که تجربیّات تاریخیّه ثابت شد که تهدید و تضییق دینیّه و یغما و افنا در هیچ عصری
صفحه 1 - 3
ولی حقیقت دعوت اسلام و معاشرت با اهل آن موجب که نفوس از پستش اوثان و اختلاف و محاربات متمادیّه موروثه نجات یافته و در ظلّ توحید و عبادات ذات الهی قرار میگرفتند و معرفت بانبیاء مقدّسه حاصل مینمودند و از آن عادات و اخلاق ناپسندیده مانند زنده زیر خاک کردن دختران و بسیاری دیگر امثال آن نجات می یافتند زهی ربح و زهی سعادت و امّا مسئله تعدّد زوجات و طلاق در دیانت سامیه از ایّام آباء اوّلین ابراهیم و اسحق و یعقوب تا دورۀ شریعت موسویّه مجری و معمول بوده و در شریعت مقدّسه اسلام حال بهمان اختیار و حریّت باقی گذارده شده ولی « ان خفتم الاتعدلوا فواحدة » گواه است که اکتفاء بزوجه واحده مرضی و نیز بیان « ابغض الاشیاء عندی الطلاق» حاکی از آنکه فراق و طلاق محبوب و پسندیده نه ولی معذالک گاهی نفرت و عدم توافق بین زوجین چنان اساسی و لایرفع است که که چارۀ جز طلاق نه و از اینروست که در ممالک مسیحیّه نیز طلاق معمول و جاری چه که منع کلی از آن عملی نیست و از این جهت میتوان گفت که در ممالک مسیحیه با کثیری از قوانین اسلام زندگی مینمایند نه تنها در این مسائل سابق اذکر بلکه در امریکا در مسئله نهی از منکرات نیز چه که مسلمّ است که استعمال مسکرات فقط در دیانت اسلام ممنوع و برای مرتکب آن مجازات مقرّر ولی در شرایع اخری ممنوع نبوده سهل است که اصحاب و حتیّ مؤسّسین استعمال کرده و در بعضی مواقع و اعمال دینی اختصاص داشت فقط در متجاوز از سیزده قرن قبل در مملکت نامتمدّن عرب صاحب اسلام از آن نهی کرده و برای ارتکاب آن مجازات قرار داد و اینک در قرن بیستم و در مهد تمدّن عالم امریکا این قاون منع مشروبات مجری گردید و هرچند این احکام فرعیّه اسلام است ولی مقصد آنکه ملاحظه شود که چگونه موافق صحّت و انتظام جمعیّت بوده که تمدّن امروزع پی باهمیّت آن برده و از آن تأسّی مینماید .
اخلاق انسان
اخلاق فطریّه انسان بتعالیم اخلاقیّه تأثرّ یابد و ظلمات حالکه عادات بهیمیّه بانوار فضائل و کمالات انسانیّه تحوّل جوید ریاض عالم شهود بتربیت باغبان کامل زینت یابد و شبستان هستی بنور معارف و آداب روشن گردد شاخ کج به تربیت راست شود و میوۀ برّی جنگلی ثمر بستانی گردد علیل بطبابت شفا یابد و فقیر بتعلمّ فنّ تجارت غنی شود شخص نادان به تعلیم دانا گردد و جهان توحشّ بفیض مربّی دانا عالم متمدّن شود .
صفحه 2 - 3
تابع باکتساب کلمات متبوع عظیم شود و حیوان از فیض تربیت باخلاق انسانی متمایل شود در جائیکه تصوّر کنیم تعلیم و تربیت جراثیم طبیعیّه را بکلیّ تغییر ندهد تصدیق داریم بآنچه تغییر عظیم بخشد آنجا که مذعن شویم خوف هرچه تربیت شود لؤلؤ لالانگردد و سنگ سیاه گوهر جهانتاب نشود اعتراف مینمائیم که تربیت دهقان حبّه را خرمن کند و همّت باغبان دانه را درخت کهن نماید لطف ادیب طفل رضیع را باوج رفیع رساند و عنایت مذبّی کودک حقیر را بر سریر اثیر نشاند آنجا که مفاد قول « کانت » و « شوپنهور» را باینکه بتربیت مربّی ملکات فطریّه تغییر نپذیرد و غرائز طبیعیّه که تابع ساختمان و نامی انسان است به نیروی علم و اراده تبدیل نگردد درخت بید بسلطان علم و حکم اراده میوه امید ندهد بپذیریم اثبات میکنیم بآنکه نهال تلخ میوه را با شاخ شیرین میوه پیوند نموده و به برکت این علم شیرینش میکنیم و گل کم پر بی بو را به نیروی اراده و تربیت گل پرپر معطرّ مینمائیم شاخ کج را به تعلیمی که منبعث از علم است راست میکنیم و عادات مذمومه را به تمرین اخلاق مستحنّه ثانویّه میدهیم هرچند این قضیّه علمیّه دیرگاهی است فیمابین فلاسفه شرق و غرب مطرح بوده و مورالیستها در این باب زاده افکارخویش بطور اسهاب ایراد نموده اند با مطالعۀ علم و راهنمائی در بقیّه غرائز نظریّه ناتوان و زبون دیده و از اینرو بکلیّ منکر تأثیر و تأثرّ تربیت شده اند و طائفه دیگر علم و اراده را در جراثیم فطریّه و آثار اخلاقیّه سودمند و مفید دانسته از این جهت تربیت وتعلیم را مؤثرّ فهمیده اند و انبیا نیز که خود در طبق اوّل مورالیستها هستند قسمت دویّم را تأیید فرموده اند معهذا بعقیدۀ نگارنده خوب که دقتّ شود نزاع لفظی است و قوانین بین الطائفین محققّ و مسلمّ چه آنانکه فرموده اند علم و اراده شخص مرید را بمطلوب به میرساند و یا مراد به او را ایجاد میکند نفرموده اند آن مراد به را بتمام کیفیّت و ماهیّت ایقان میکند بلکه گفته اند انسان را اگر بدامن دلبر مقصود ننشاند بحریم وصل و لقایش میرساند آنانکه معتقدند تربیت مربّی تأثیر آثار عظیم دارد نفرموده اند تربیت جرثومۀ ذات آن مربّی را بکلیّ تغییر میدهد بلکه نگفته اند به تربیت سنگ خارا یمین لؤلؤ لالا میشود نخواسته اند میوۀ حنظل شهد فائق شود نفرموده اند بفیض مربّی خراطین ارض سلاطین وجود گردند بلکه فرموده اند تربیت مربّی هرکدام را در حدود خود صعود دهد و در ردیف خود
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صفحه 1 - 2
و با کمال مهربانی و آواز نرم گفت کارهائی که دال بر عظمت او است کدام است از این سئوال پادشاه گوئی ابواب جواب بر روی دخترک بسته شد ندانست که چه جواب گوید گونه ها از شرم و خجلت سرخ شده و با سرشک سرازیر از دیده گان گفت نمیدانم پادشاه دست مهربانی بر شانه اش گذاشته گفت برای آنکه اعمال عظیمۀ از او نشان نداری گریه مکن و محزون مباش که من هم نمیدانم شبهۀ نه که تواضع خود دلیل بر عظمت مقام شخص است چه که ظاهر است که اقیانوس عظیم بورود انهار و نزول امطار و هبوب ریاح آسمانی به برج نیاید بلکه بسکون باقی ولی آب برکه حقیره باندک عارضۀ بجنبش آید و پرخاش نماید و درخت عظیم را بازدیاد اثمار و فواکه شکستی دارد نه ولی درخت ضعیف و نهال نحیف هرگاه چند پاره قوّتی بر آن بیاویزی قد خم آورده و از حالت طبیعی و استقامت و صحّت خارج و شکست یابد .
بقیّه از شماره قبل در معبد موحدّین راجع بامر اسلام :
و امّا آنچه در خصوص غزوات و محاربات اسلامیّه در عالم مسیحیّت انتشار یافت و سوء تفاهم نموده اند که اسلام بر جنگ و قتل و غارت و تصرّف سبایا و حربیّه و امثال آن تأسیس و ترویج شد و در تعلیم مسیح چنین نبود اوّلا باید این را متذکرّ شد که همین این واقعات جنگ و قتال بنام دین در امر موسی و بفرمان او و یوشع بلکه در تمامت تاریخ دین اسرائیل و خصوصا واقعه ایلیا و انبیاو ثنتین واقع و بر مطلعین کتاب مقدّس روشن است و چون آن واقعات را با جنگ و قتال دوره اسلام مقایسه کنی می بینی که اگر از اینجهت قتال دینی در اسلام بررسی شود در امر موسی چندین بار مضاعف خواهد بود چه که در غزوات اسلامی محافظت از شیوخ و ضعفا و نسوان و صغار و آنانکه در تحت عهد اسلام بوده اند لازم و واجب و حیوانات و اشجار و نباتات و ابنیه و زراعت هدم در دم کردن امری بود مخالف فرمان الهی فقط نفوس متحارب در تحت عذاب حرب بودند ولی در دوره موسی در کثیری از مواضع فرمان چنان بود که از نفوس انسانی حتیّ نسوان و اطفال احدی را ابقا نکنند و تمامت حیوانات را بقتل برسانند و اشجار را مستأصل و زراعت را منعدم و همه ابنیه و عمارات را منهدم و تلی از خاکستر سازند و اگر نه چنان نمایند مخالف فرمان الهی و معاقب خواهند بود چنانچه بر متبصرین کتاب عهد عتیق واضح و معلوم است و فی الحقیقه اگر بدقتّ ملاحظه شود جنگهای دورۀ اسلام حتیّ باین جنگهای عصر تمدّن حاضره که عالم مسیحیّت در آن مستغرق است
صفحه 2 - 2
و رحم و عطوفت طرف قیاس و نسبت نه زیرا در آن عصر آئروپلن اختراع نشده بود که زنان و اطفال مستریح در بستر را قطعه قطعه و محترق نماید توپهای مهیب این اعصار را نداشتند که ابنیه و عمارات را در مدّتی قلیل منهدم و نابود سازد و هیچ یک از این آلات مهدومه و اسباب عجیبه بنیان ویران کن که بدست مسیحیان واقع در ظلّ تعالیم صلح مسیح اختراع شد که بهر طرف حمله نماید تمام ابواب آسایش و حمایت را بر وجوه صغار و کبار ذکور و انات انسان و حیوان و نبات مسدود مینماید وجود نداشت و از این نکته باید غفلت نکرد که در عالم مسیحیّت تا سیصد سال تقیّه بود و چندان عداوت نبود که بقوّت برخیزد ولی بعد از سه قرن در ایّام فلسطین همینکه عدّت یافت و قوّت گرفت وقایعی واقع شد که نظیر آنرا در عالم اسلام کمتر توان پیدا کرد چنانچه بامر همین قسطنطنین نخستین پادشاه مروّج آئین مسیحائی یهود را گوشها میبریدند و شکنجه و تبعید مینمودند و فجایعی واقع در اعصار وسطی استماع آن رفت ضربت قوّت و عدّت اسلام پس از سیزده سال از دعوت اسلام شروع شد و در مسحیّت پس از سیصد سال و هر دو در مقاتله و اقع و در بعضی از جهات متقارب و در بعضی از جهات متباعد چنانچه احتیاجات و عوارض اقتضا نمود بعلاوه آنکه منظور از غزوات اسلامی تصرّف ممالک و حکمرانی نبود بلکه دفاع از حملات اعراب و نشر اسلام در مابینشان بود و در همین یک نکته باید نیک دقیق شد که طلوع اسلام تا چه اندازه مطابق احتیاجات و نشر آن بسرعت واجب و لازم چه که در مابین اعراب جاهلیّت عادت چنان بود که دختر ها را پست و سبب ننگ خانواده میدانستند و از غیرت شمرده میشد که آنانرا زنده در گور و در تحت تراب مستور سازند چنانچه در مابین هندوان از غیرت و وفا شمرده میشد که زن خویشتن را با جسد مرده شوهر بسوزاند ولی در اسلام از آن خدمت و نهی نمود چنانچهدر مقام فرم از آن در قرآن مقدّس است « و اذا بشر احدهم یالاتثی ظلّ وجهه مسودا و هو کلیم » یعنی چون یکی از آن جهّال را بولادت دختری برایش مژده دهند در خشم شده و رویش از از شدّت شرم و خشم سیاه میشد و نیز در خصوص مسئولیّت و مجازات از آن در درگاه الهی است و «اذا الموده مسئلت بایّ ذنب قتلت» باید تصورّ کرد که از همین یک مسئله تا چه اندازه طلوع اسلام ضروری بود هرگاه اسلام بقدرت داخل در آن اراضی شده بدون آنکه موجب صدمه احدی گردد و نفوس را در قبول و عدم قبول مختار گذاشتند .
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نجم باختر جلد 15 . شماره 5. اگست 1925
مجله اخلاقی روحانی عمومی است . ماهی یک بار توزیع میشود
صفحه 1 - 1
تواضع
در کتب علوم ادبیّه عربیّه است که بناء فاعل برای صنعتی را نمایاندن و یا خصلتی را برای خویش بستن است مانند تجاهل یعنی خویش را جاهل نشان دادن و تمارض یعنی خود را بیمار اظهار کردن و در همین جمله است تواضع یعنی خویشتن را وضیع و حقیر شمردن و بعبارت فارسی فروتنی کردن و کهتری نمودن یعنی انسان در هر رتبه که است آن مقام را مایۀ بلند پروازی و سرافرازی خویش نگرفته و دیگرانرا که در آن رتبه نیستند دون نشمارد و حقیر نینگارد و بلکه بالعکس در معاشرت با آنان چنان باشد که گویا خود در دون آن مقام است و آنان در آن رتبه مکین میباشند و این صفت که ممدوح شعرا و محمود انبیا است چون در نفسی تحققّ یابد هرگاه بالفرض سیم و زر و مکنتی بی پایان داشته و در غنا و ثروت مشار بالبنان باشد خویشتن را از فقرا برتر نگیرد و چنان بمصداق « یا ایّها الناس انتم الفقراء والله هو الغنی الحمید » تحققّ یابد که مسکین و جالس المساکین با بینوایان و ناداران بیامیزد و در معاشرت با آنان کاحد منهم بوده بلکه آنان را بر خویش مقدّم دارد زیرا که اثاث مادیّه فانیه را امری عرضی دانست و موجب برتری و رجحان و غنا در ذات نشناسد بلکه آنرا وزری داند که در دخل و صرف آن مسئولیّت عظیمه مجود است و از عمق قلب به نمینمون ذاکر و متذکرّ که مراو را رسد کبریا و منی که ملکش قدیم است ذاتش غنی و نیز باتّکاء بر جاه و مقام مملکتی و با روحانی مغرور نگشته و فریب شیطان نفسانیّت را نخورده و خویش را بر زیردستان مهتر و مستحن تعظیم و تکریم نداند که جاه و منصب هرچه باشد و برای هرکه باشد مانند لباسی است بر اندام بالاخره رثبث و ژنده شود و فنا پذیرد امری است غرضی و عاریت و رنگی است غیر ثابت که بالأخره مبدّل و زائل گردد و از آن شاید فقط اسمی در تاریخ بماند اگر مطابق عدل و مساوات است با نام نیک و گرنه با نام زشت و ننگین در قرون بعد مذکور باشد و نیز بعلم و دانش بنالد و خود را از اینرو مفترض التعظیم نشناسد چه که دانش و هوش و احساسات و ادراکات عجیبۀ در عالم حیوانات و حتیّ از نباتات وجود دارد که انسان هرقدر رفیع و منیع باشد دسترسی بآن نداشته و وصول قرب حریم آنرا نتواند و خلاصه آنکه دارندۀ این صفت اعمّ از آنکه خود فطرتا داشته و یا بتجربت و معاشرت و ترویض نفس آنرا یافته و یا در ظلّ تربیت مربّی کاملی حاصل نموده خویشتن را برتر و بالاتر از احدی نگرفته سهل است بلکه در عالم آفرینش نامتناهی ذرّه خیر مشهود وبلکه نابود شمرد و مصداق پند لقمان حکیم « یابنی لاتمش فی الارض مرها» از حرکات و سکناتش پیدا و کلام شیخ بزرگمهر در خاک راهی که بر آن میگذری ساکن باش که حیون است و جنون است و خدود است و قدود از رفتار و اطوارش هویدا و در مقابل این صفت نورانیّه خصلت ظلمانیّه استکبار و طغیان
صفحه 2 - 1
قرار گرفته یعنی گردن کشی و خود ستائی و خود بینی و سرافرازی کردن و یقین بی نیازی در حقّ خود داشتن و خویشتن را برتر و بالاتر حتیّ شاید مستحقّ اطاعیّت والاتباع شمردن چنین صفتی که ریشۀ استبداد و مخرّب بنیاد است شعبه ایست از فرعونیّت که دعوی « انا ربّکم الاعلی » دارد و حتمی است مجسمّ که خود را معبود و مسجود میشمارد و چنانچه آدم بتواضع محض بخلعت تکریم شد شیطان باستکبار و طغیان مردود و مطرود گردید و این قصّه عمومیّه و آتیه و احوال نفوس است که تواضع سبب تقرّب درگاه حضرت غیب پروردگار و استکبار و نعیّت موجب بعد و مادر رگ رگ است این آب شیرین و آب شور در خلایق میرود تا نفخ صور و در مابین این دو صفت مهمّ آدمیان خاکی طبع بهشتی خو متواضعان حقیقت پرست حقیقت جو وصف خودپرستان ناری طبع هوی بوصف سیمی موجود که در حقیقت از سنخ دویّم بودند ولی لباسی از صف اوّل عاریت و در بر کردند نفوسی بودند که در ظاهر تواضع اظهار نموده ولی در باطن سرکش بودند و خود را بروی و ریا متواضع جلوه میدادند و باشارات اعضا و الفاظ خوش ظاهر و در نهایت فروتنی نمایش میکردند ولی در انظار حقیقت شناسان استهزاء و تمسخر مینمود چه که آنان در حقیقت خود را عموما معبود و مسجود میشمردند فروتنی میکردند تا گردن فرازی نمایند در حقیقت دامی نهاده و دانه ئی می افشاندند تا نفوسی جمع نموده در زیر اطاعت و فرمان آرند و ایّامی خوش با شهرت نام و عظمت مقام میگذراندند و این نفوس از همان نفوس صف دویّم بودند بعلاوۀ صفت رذیلۀ نفاق گل بود به سبزه نیز آراسته شد و خصلت مرضیۀ تواضع هرچند از از هر انسانی و در هر درجۀ ممدوح و محمود است ولی در هیکل بزرگان عالم مانند زیور درخشان و یا نشان عالی شأنی است که در قرون و اعصار نمایان بوده و خواهد بود و آنان راتزیین و مشار بالبنان میساخت « تواضع ز گردن فرازان نکو است . گدا گر تواضع کند خوی او است » بزرگان عالم که در حقیقت بزرگ بودند نه بصورت و بمزایا و فضائل معنویّه امتیاز داشتند نه بطنطنه و جلال ظاهری انوار فیوضاتشان بقوّۀ روحیه شان بنفوس میرسید نه بوسائل حکمرانی صوری مانند اشجار پربار خاضع بودند و حتیّ نزد اطفال خرد سال خاشع رجوع بتاریخ حیات انبیاء مقدّسه و مظاهر الهیّه و اولیاء گرام و و حکما و عظام و پیشوایان همام یک درس عبرت بخشی است که شخص را به تواضع رهبری مینماید در این مقام روایت این حکایت خالی از مناسبت نیست اوسکار دویّم پادشاه حکیم و دانای سوئد روزی بدیدارو وارسی یکی از مدارس دختران رفت رئیسه مدرسه صفوف دختران را در مقابل وی عرضه میداد در آن میان صفی از دختران کوچک بودند معلمّه در حضور پادشاه برخی مسائل تاریخیّه از آنان پرسید از آنجمله این سئوال که اعظم ملوک مؤبد که بود یکی از آنان پاسخ داد گوستاو اولف دیگری گفت کارلوس دوازدهم سیّمی جلو آمد و محض تملقّ پادشاه بندای رسا گفت اوسکار دویّم پادشاه نزدیک رفت
