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“EVERY AGE requires a central impetus or movement. In this age, the boundaries of terrestrial things have extended; minds have taken on a broader range of vision; realities have been unfolded and the secrets of being have been brought into the realm of visibility.”
“AS THIS IS the cycle of sciences, there must needs be new teachings, a new revelation is required and a new life wanted. The minds and hearts refute the veracity of ancient opinions. New ideas are called for and new principles are urgently demanded which may fill the requirements of this age, be as the spirit of this century and as the life of this period.”
“IT IS IMPOSSIBLE to realize the grandeur and spiritual significance of these peerless days! God is establishing in the hearts of men His Kingdom of peace and good-will. Blessed are those who have taken part in this glorious work.”
’ABDU’L-BAHA
--PHOTO--
The terraced descent from the Tombs of the Báb and ‘Abdu’l-Bahá down Mt. Carmel to the sea
| VOL. 16 | APRIL, 1925 | NO. 1 |
WHAT AILS the world today? On every side we hear complaints of declining morals, of unrighteous pleasure seeking, of the failure of marriage and of the home. And the gift of happiness, so madly sought at any price, is rarely found and held as a permanent illumination of life, if one can judge by the faces one sees on crowded streets, in hotels, in public meetings. In the midst of a greater material comfort than humanity has ever known, what do we lack? The answer is plain. What is missing is the knowledge and the love of God. Morals not founded upon religion have no power to resist the storms of life. Such ethical systems are but houses built upon the sands. And of what avail is knowledge, if it does not lead to God? Bahá’u’lláh has said, “The root of all knowledge is the knowledge of God.” His mission was to restore to humanity this knowledge of God, till “it shall cover the earth as the waters cover the sea.” Bahá’u’lláh’s teachings are revealed Truth for the perfection of humanity. Because through him they emanate from the Source of all Truth, they cannot fail.
A REACTION to the increasing Godlessness of this age and generation is inevitable. Man is essentially spiritual, that is, tending Godward. This tendency may be inhibited for a time, and often has been inhibited in the history of humanity, by the force of man’s egoism, which is centrifugal; substitutes for the worship of God the Worship of Self, and plays the prodigal in a riot of libido.
But as is eternally the case of the Prodigal, there is always a repentance and a return. For there is no reality to existence apart from God. There are only husks. And the centripetal forces in man’s destiny are more powerful than the centrifugal. “Wert thou to seek another than me, surely thou shalt fail shouldst thou search the universe forever more.”
IN THE DARKEST and most sinful periods in history—when religion seemed to have lost all control over man's actions—have occurred the birth of new religions destined powerfully to purge humanity of sin, and to raise it Godward to a height before unknown. It has always been so. It will always be.
There is only one alternative. Mankind having the gift of free-will, may obdurately persist in separateness from God to the extent of utterly destroying itself. Since there can be no existence apart from God, that finite existence which would violate too dangerously its divine nature is doomed to destruction. Hence the solemn warning, on the part of all the Prophets of God, of a judgment day which, if necessary, by fire and hail, destruction and death, will purge the earth of the unrighteous and restore the destined balance. Cataclysms of one kind or another have always put an end to degenerate ages. Repentance and return to God is the cry of all the prophets, who give their lives in the effort to save humanity from the sad results of its own sins and to lead it by means of love, not suffering, back to God.
It is for such a purpose that Bahá’u’lláh exchanged wealth for poverty, the station of a nobleman for that
of an exile and prisoner. If divine love can save a world, that love, poured forth for forty years from the prison of Aqá, constitutes a sufficient remedy. It is the effort, and the faith, of Bahá’ís, that spiritual perfection should be manifested by mankind, and divine civilization take the place of satanic conduct. Thus in the midst of an unspiritual age, the Bahá’í Cause is working definitely for the redemption of the world.
THE HOLY LAND is holy not only because of the memories and reverence given to it, but it is in actuality possessed of a more spiritual atmosphere than other places. So many spiritual lives have centered there! Have they left behind them as a permanent blessing to the "genus loci" their vibrations of peace and love and lofty inspiration—that breath of other-worldliness which like a mystic ozone brings to visitors a spiritual stimulus and health?
It must be so. For we are beginning to realize that habitations acquire the atmosphere of their possessors—that rooms are full of the vibrations of those who live and think in them. This atmosphere, in the case of the ordinary personality, does not for long outlast the living presence. But the powerful impregnations of the Manifestations of God are not under the law of transition and death. They are immortal, as the Words of these Manifestations are immortal.
ON THE SLOPE of Mount Carmel, already holy from the days of the Mosaic and Christian dispensations, repose today the remains of the Báb and of ’Abdu’l-Bahá. Below, at a stone’s throw, is the house in which ’Abdu’l-Bahá spent the last years of his life. Five miles up the coast, is the tomb of Bahá’u’lláh and the prison-city, Aqá, from which for a period of forty years the Bahá’í Cause was given to the world notwithstanding the greatest obstacles.
This region is assuredly a holy spot. It will receive the eternal reverence of men, as a shrine at which they will rejoice to kneel and renew their spiritual inspiration. The frontispiece in this number shows the completion of the terraced descent from the tombs of ’Abdu’l-Bahá and the Báb, leading down Mount Carmel through the German colony (founded at Haifa to await the coming of the Lord) straight to the beautiful sea.
Glowing prophecies have been made for Haifa and Mount Carmel by ’Abdu’l-Bahá. These prophecies are already beginning to be fulfilled. The day will come when Haifa will be one of the great cities of the world. At present travel to it is difficult and expensive. But travel in the future will be inexpensive and swift, when the conquest of the air is fully achieved. Then there will be a pilgrimage to that holy spot such as the world has never known before. The prophetic eye, looking at this road down Mount Carmel, modest now in its proportions, can see it magnificently decorated architecturally, and with landscape gardening, and thronged night and day with seekers of the spirit.
A GREAT ACHIEVEMENT is the recently issued compilation by the National Bahá’í Spiritual Assembly of the “Letters of Shoghi Effendi." The purpose of this compilation (published in beautiful pamphlet form at the price of twenty-five cents) as expressed by the National Assembly is “that every Bahá’í worker may have constant access to those general communications from the Guardian of the Cause which convey the everliving spirit of ’Abdu’l-Bahá, direct the worldwide progress of the Bahá’í Movement, protect it from dangers both without and within, encourage and instruct its members, and unify all sincere efforts to broadcast the sacred teachings of Bahá’u’lláh.”
Undoubtedly, the success of the Cause today, as well as the spiritual welfare of individual Bahá’ís, will be in proportion
[Page 381]
to the closeness of contact between
the Bahá’í world and its beloved Guardian.
The publication of his letters,
thereby affording a means for all Bahá’ís
to form, and to daily renew, a spiritual
connection with Shoghi Effendi and a
correct understanding of his guidance,
we consider to be one of the most important
acts which our ever-devoted
National Spiritual Assembly has up to
this time accomplished. This pamphlet
will be pregnant of results for the benefit
of the Cause. The National Assembly
having done their duty in issuing it,
Bahá’ís the country over will find the
constant perusal of these letters the very
best means at present available for inspiration
and aid in doing their duty toward
the Cause of God.
We need constantly the kind of encouragement and spiritual refreshment which these and similar words of Shoghi Effendi offer us:
“Let us pray to God that, in these days of world-encircling gloom, when the dark forces of nature, of hate, rebellion, anarchy and reaction are threatening the very stability of human society, when the most precious fruits of civilization are undergoing’ severe and unparalleled tests, we may all realize, more profoundly than ever . . . that our mission is most urgent and vital to the fate of humanity, and, fortified by these sentiments, arise to achieve God’s holy purpose for mankind.”
“Are we to be carried away by the flood of hollow and conflicting ideas, or are we to stand, unsubdued and unblemished, upon the everlasting rock of God's divine instructions? Shall we not equip ourselves with a clear and full understanding of their purpose and implications for the age we live in, and with an unconquerable resolve arise to utilize them intelligently and with scrupulous fidelity, for the enlightenment and the promotion of the good of all mankind?
“Humanity, torn with dissension and burning with hate, is crying at this hour for a fuller measure of that love which is born of God, that love which in the last resort will prove the one solvent of its incalculable difficulties and problems. Is it not incumbent upon us, whose hearts are aglow with love for Him, to make still greater effort to manifest that love in all its purity and power in our dealings with our fellow-men?”
“IN THE FUTURE the distance between Aqá and Haifa will be built up, and the two cities will join and clasp hands, becoming the two terminal sections of one mighty metropolis. As I look now over this scene, I see so clearly that it will become one of the first emporiums of the world. This great semi-circular bay will be transformed into the finest harbor, wherein the ships of all nations will seek shelter and refuge. The great vessels of all peoples will come to this port, bringing on their decks thousands and thousands of men and women from every part of the globe. The mountain and the plain will be dotted with the most modern buildings and palaces. Industries will be established and various institutions of philanthropic nature will be founded. The flowers of civilization and culture from all nations will be brought here to blend their fragrances together and blaze the way for the brotherhood of man. Wonderful gardens, orchards, groves and parks will be laid out on all sides. At night the great city will be lighted by electricity. The entire harbor from Aqá to Haifa will be one path of illumination. Powerful searchlights will be placed on both sides of Mount Carmel to guide the steamers. Mount Carmel itself, from top to bottom, will be submerged in a sea of lights. A person standing on the summit of Mount Carmel, and the passengers of the steamers coming to it, will look upon the most sublime and majestic spectacle of the whole world.” ’Abdu’l-Bahá.
CIVILIZATION
BY RUHI AFNANAT A TIME when the spirit of materialism was spreading all over Europe, when internal revolutions, diplomatic intrigues, political strife and economic rivalries were darkening the horizon of an agitated and suffering world, Bahá’u’lláh, from the prison city of Aqá, addressed a number of Epistles to the monarchs and rulers of the world to whom He declared His teachings and principles.
To the Bahá’ís these teachings stand out as the only remedy for the divers ills of the present age and the only solution of its manifold problems.
Bahá’u’lláh saw the world like the surface of a glacier hopelessly divided by innumerable fissures and dark and deep crevasses. The development of modern science had opened the eyes of men to the bigotry and prejudice that existed in religion and had so alienated them from it, that even its pure and fundamental truths seemed, to their minds, to be darkened. The gulf existing between man and God was widening and agnosticism was the fashion of the day.
The spirit of nationalism, embittered by fierce economic and political rivalries, had so widened the chasm separating the nations that nothing less than a great world war could be foreseen.
Within the individual nations also, new lines of cleavage, accentuated the divisions and differences of men, and class hatred and economic unrest were spreading fast over the European continent.
Bahá’u’lláh conceived the glorious vision of the Oneness of Mankind and set before him the task of healing, by aid of His fundamental principles, every sore that afflicted the body of humanity. He knew well that unless all the crevasses were bridged over and all the differences removed, unity and universal peace would not prove enduring, nor even attainable.
To bring back man to God and at the same time to enable him to appreciate the advantages which science provides, He declared that true religion and science cannot possibly be antagonistic. For both, in their essence, are truths, and between truths there can be no conflict. Moreover, to reconcile the religions, he laid it down, as a guiding principle, that the purpose of Religion is to provide a social bond, to create a new force in man’s life, to infuse in him the love of his neighbor. If, therefore, a religion, which He likened to a medicine, should aggravate the disease, it is far better to be without it,
In adjusting international difficulties he did not advocate political methods. He knew that war is only the result of a state of mind, a spirit of blind and narrow nationalism inherent in man’s heart. He, therefore, dealt his first blow by declaring that “Glory is not his who loves his country, but glory is his who loves his kind.” All men are the sheep of one told and God the Divine and loving shepherd. Why, therefore, slay each other?
As one of the sources of misunderstanding is multiplicity of languages, He called upon the members of the International House of Justice either to create a new auxiliary language or to choose one of those already existing and to have it taught in all the schools of the world, so that ideas might be more easily diffused and the risk of grave misunderstanding lessened. He then laid down the broad lines that should direct the formation of the International House of
Justice, a supreme and all inclusive body whose members shall be fully accredited representatives of all the peoples of the world. They shall assemble, and after mature deliberation, arbitrate on all questions, social, political and economic, that may lead to war.
In order to eliminate the root cause of all forms of class hatred he proclaimed “Do ye know why we have created you from one clay? That no one should exalt himself over the other. Ponder in your heart, how ye were created. It behooveth you, since we have created you all from the same substance to be even as one soul, in such wise that ye may walk with the same feet, eat with the same mouth and dwell in the same land; that from your inmost being, by your deeds and actions, the signs of oneness and the essence of detachment may be made manifest. This is my counsel unto you, O ye concourse of Light! Heed ye this counsel, that ye may obtain the Fruit of Holiness from the Tree of Wondrous Glory."
Thus by taking away all the causes of differences Bahá’u’lláh sought to establish the Oneness of Mankind and to abolish definitely international and class war.
Up to the present religion has been static in nature. At the time of its appearance it satisfies the needs of humanity, solves its problems and improves its condition, but being rigid in its laws, fails to keep pace with civilization and slowly falls behind, loses its influence and becomes a drag on development. Bahá’u’lláh, however, has laid down some basic principles that can be applied to all stages of human progress and then empowered the International House of Justice which is a purely democratic institution to amend these laws and mould them to the needs of the time. He says, “Inasmuch as for each time and day a particular law and order is expedient, power is given to the ministers of the House of Justice, so that they may execute that which they deem advisable at the time.” So according to the Bahá’í ideal, religion will become a progressive and dynamic institution and remain a source of inspiration and progress.
During the last two or three decades various progressive movements have appeared with rather similar aims, proclaiming very much the same principles. Yet hardly has anyone of them, to my knowledge given such a comprehensive and perfect programme of reform. They have each, as a rule, confined themselves to only a number of the vast and varied problems of the age, oblivious of the fact that, so long as one single sore remains neglected, germs may find their way in and endanger the life of humanity. For, how could universal peace be ensured when religious and racial differences breed hatred or even when the multiplicity of languages hamper mutual understanding.
The service rendered by these various progressive movements is undeniably great and their efforts are highly valued by all Bahá’ís who on this occasion would like to place on record their sincere and profound appreciation.
In addition to the constant and appalling persecution the Bahá’ís have suffered at the hands of the fanatical elements in Persia,"they have been the target of some misleading criticism from various writers of the West. Unable to deny the beauty and potency of the teachings of Bahá’u’lláh, these critics have not ceased to declare that such lofty principles were only inspiring ideals and not practical reforms attainable by mankind. These progressive movements have fortunately opened the eyes of the world not only to the practicability but also to the absolute and urgent need of our present civilization for the League of Nations. They have taught the world that a narrow nationalism was the curse of the present age and the recent past and that the sooner we accustom ourselves to think super-nationally, the more easy it will become to manage our intricate international affairs.
Those critics imagined that the religions of the world could never be reconciled, but the modern developments of the science of comparative religion, which has come into prominence only in the last three decades, together with conferences similar and leading up to this present one, will, before long, prove to the world that the fundamental principles underlying all the religions are one, that their only points of difference are the minor questions that relate to rites, ceremonies and external practices which must be necessarily modified with the changes in human wants and environments. The world has already begun to realize that controversies over such secondary points only serve to alienate those sincere souls to whom the heart of religion is all important and who by nature would be willing rather to hold out the hand of fellowship to all religions who worship at the Altar of the One Living God, than to wrangle over forms that seem to their minds of only secondary value.
I have tried to give a picture of the high aim that Bahá’u’lláh has set before Him, and now I pray your attention, for a few moments more, to a brief description of the far-reaching changes it has brought about in the life of its followers.
In the East, especially in the land of its birth, Persia, where it admittedly stands, amid the chaos and corruption of its heedless inhabitants, as the beacon-light of progress and reform, its achievements have been great. There, under an unceasing storm of persecution, abuse and calumny, the Movement has not only wrought a fundamental revolution in the life of the individuals but has also inaugurated various reforms of which I shall mention only two.
Wherever the number of the Bahá’ís is sufficiently great, and they can afford the means, a school has been established to provide the necessary primary education for girls as well as for boys. As even these schools are under the constant threat of being closed, the Bahá’ís have not been able to pursue this course to its desired extent. Only three years ago one of the schools which had been established after immeasurable sacrifices and difficulties, was burned down by the mob and its poor students severely beaten and dispersed.
I need not dwell upon the degrading position of women in such a state as Persia. Not only are they debarred from the smallest measure of freedom and education, but are in many cases considered nothing more than a mere appendage, an indispensable, but utterly servile member of the household. Wherever a Bahá’í community can provide schools for its boys it also institutes one for its girls. In fact Bahá’u’lláh clearly states that as the girls will be the mothers of the future generations, they must receive preferential treatment in education. In electing the members of the Spiritual Assemblies which are the center of Bahá’í activities, the women are given a position absolutely equal to that of the men. There remains only one more step to take and that is to discard the veil. This has not yet been done, because we believe that in a backward and immature country such as Persia, the education of both boys and girls should make much greater progress before the adoption of so drastic and daring a reform. The Bahá’í women have, however, organized societies of their own to educate themselves and further their cause. Before long, we all hope, even the veil will be set aside and the women accorded a position in Persia equal to their sisters even in some of the most progressive states of Europe.
In the West, where enlightened and capable governments are continuously enacting laws that provide for the material well-being of its citizens, this field of Bahá’í activity has not been so great. Its influence has been mainly to create the spirit of international brotherhood and wipe out religious, social and economic prejudices. Those who have had
the chance of attending a Bahá’í meeting, either in the East or in the West, can appreciate the important and far reaching influence of the Movement along that line. People of different, and at times conflicting views assemble and enjoy mutual love and harmony. Even the most illiterate of the Bahá’ís are free from prejudice. To them Christian or Jew, Muhammadan or Zoroastrian, Eastern or Western, all stand on equal footing and are considered as brothers in the love of the One God.
Moreover, when I see that it is only since the appearance of Bahá’u’lláh and the declaration of His principles that many movements have been established with the hope of spreading principles similar to His, when I see that it is since then that the conception of a League of Nations and International brotherhood has come down from the field of mere idealism into common politics; that a movement for a Universal language has been created; that women have been obtaining a better social and political position; and the cause of universal and free education advanced—I cannot but endorse ’Abdu’l-Bahá’s saying that “the spirit of the Cause is pulsating in the arteries of mankind,” that we are undergoing that social and intellectual revival that appeared at the advent of every Prophet and prepared the world for accepting His Teachings.
In conclusion, it will be generally agreed that it would be far from God’s infinite mercy to give His helpless creatures the freedom to tread on dangerous ground and whilst knowing the solution of their problems to stand aside heedless of their suffering and deaf to their constant prayers. It is in accordance with His divine attributes to give them guidance when need arises, to send them a Messenger with the necessary laws and commandments to put them on the right path of safety. And now that the social unrest is becoming a real menace to civilization itself, when world problems in their acuteness and multiplicity are baffling the minds of men, we, a small, yet determined, band, fired by the unquenchable enthusiasm of the promise of a new day, firmly believe, that the sea of divine compassion has surged, that the Lord has sent His Messenger with the necessary solution of those intricate problems. The Bahá’ís on their part have tried their utmost, have sacrificed their well-being, their property, their all to diffuse this spirit far and wide. Is the world willing to answer their call, or at least deem it worthy of attention?
(Address at the Conference of Living Religions Within the British Empire.)
THE BAHA’IS must be the servants of universal peace, the workers for the cause of the oneness of the world of humanity, the spreaders of heavenly love amongst the children of men, the promulgators of the principles of the progress of mankind, the dispellers of the clouds of religious, national, patriotic and political prejudices, and the upholders of the inviolable rights of equality between men and women. They must correspond religious ideals with the deductions of science and reason, and discard all such theories which cannot stand the test of intellect and empirical knowledge. . . .
Strive that religion may be cleansed from ignorant prejudices. Strive that bias may be removed. Strive that warfare and strife may become non-existent. Strive that love and good fellowship may replace intolerance and the narrowness of dogmatism. Strive to scatter the seeds of kindness in the hearts. . . .”
’Abdu’I-Bahá.
THE REALITY of the Divinity is hidden from all comprehension, and concealed from the minds of all men. . . . How can man, the created, understand the reality of the pure Essence of the Creator? This plane is unapproachable by the understanding, no explanation is sufficient of its comprehension, and there is no power to indicate it. . . . Minds are powerless to comprehend God . . . every statement and elucidation is defective, all praise and all description are unworthy, every conception is vain, and every meditation is futile. But for this Essence of the essences, this Truth of truths, this Mystery of mysteries, there are reflections. . . . The dawning-place of these splendors, the place of these reflections, and the appearance of these manifestations, are the Holy Dawning-Places, the Universal Realities, and the Divine Beings, who are the true mirrors of the sanctified Essence of God. All the perfections, the bounties, the splendors which come from God, are visible and evident in the Reality of the Holy Manifestations, like the sun which is resplendent in a clear polished mirror with all its perfections and bounties. Therefore all that the human reality knows, discovers and understands of the names, the attributes, and the perfections of God, refer to these Holy Manifestations. (Answered Questions, p. 168, 169.)
THE INDIVIDUAL Realities of the Divine Manifestations have no separation from the Bounty of God and the Lordly Splendor. In the same way the orb of the sun has no separation from the light. The Divine Manifestations are so many different mirrors, because they have a special individuality, but that which is reflected in the mirrors is One Sun.
The Prophets of God, the universal Manifestations, are like skilled physicians, and the contingent world is like the body of man: the divine laws are the remedy and treatment. Consequently the doctor must be aware of and know all the members and parts, as well as the constitution and state of the patient, so that he can prescribe a medicine which will be beneficial. . . .
Religion, then, is the necessary connection which emanates from the reality of things; and as the universal Manifestations of God are aware of the mysteries of beings, therefore they understand this essential connection, and by this knowledge establish the Law of God. (Answered Questions, 178-181.)
THE HOLY MANIFESTATIONS of God are the Centers of the light of Reality, of the source of mysteries, and of the bounties of love. They are resplendent in the world of hearts and thoughts, and shower eternal graces upon the world of spirits; they give spiritual life, and are shining with the light of realities and meanings. The enlightenment of the world of thought comes from these Centers of Light and sources of mysteries. Without the bounty of the splendor and the instructions of these Holy Beings, the world of souls and thoughts would be opaque darkness. Without the irrefutable teachings of those Sources of mysteries, the human world would become the pasture of animal appetites and qualities, the existence of everything would be unreal, and there would be no true life. That is why it is said in the Gospel: "In the beginning was the Word,” meaning that it became the cause of life. (Answered Questions, p. 185.)
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. Look at the Christ. He was a youth of Israel, not a great and honored man, but born from a poor family. He was so poor that he was born in a manger; yet he changed the conditions of the whole world. What proof could be greater than this that He was from God?. . . Baha’u’llah came from Persia, which is not a prominent nation. 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. (Ten Days in the Light of Aqá, p. 32.)
ANOTHER GREAT proof of a Manifestation is His Power to develop souls. Miracles are but secondary proofs. Our first and important duty is to ascertain if the real physician has come to heal the spiritual sickness of the world; to learn if the commander of the hosts of righteousness has appeared; to prove the appearance of a true Manifestation of God. If in crossing the ocean everyone on board the ship should assume the authority of captain, where would be the safety of the ship and its passengers? It would be impossible to reach the destination if everybody was captain. Then after we have found the captain of the ship of Truth, it is our duty to obey Him, submit to His wisdom and be guided by Him into Eternal life. (Ten Days in the Light of Aqá, p. 35.)
ALL DIVINE Manifestations give up all personal conditions, considerations and grades in the Cause of God to such an extent that there is nothing judged of their personality; that is, they sacrifice their personality entirely in the world; their life is only the life of God, their thought is the thought of God and their grades are those chosen by God. They have nothing. They sacrifice everything in the way of God. They suffer every sort of affliction and calamity in the world—that is, the afflictions and calamities in addition to those suffered spiritually—in order to show that the spiritual equals the material in consecration and sacrifice. They sacrifice spiritually in the way of God, and so they sacrifice all apparent and outward conditions in order to show the perfection and completeness of the truth of their manifestation.
This is the station of simple radiance which shines forth and makes them separate from all worldly things, and this leads them to such a condition that while they are walking on the earth, they are moving in the supreme horizon. They have cut themselves off entirely from worldly conditions. . . . they close their eyes to their material ease and to all else, and hasten with all joy and fragrance to martyrdom in the Cause of God. (Bahá’í Scriptures, page 497.)
EACH MANIFESTATION is the heart of the world and the proficient Physician of every patient. The world of humanity is sick, but that skillful Physician hath the healing remedy and He bestoweth Divine teachings, exhortations and advices which are the remedy of every ailment and the dressing for every wound. . . . Therefore, in this age of lights, specific teachings have become universal, in order that the outpouring of the Merciful One environ both the East and the West, the oneness of the kingdom of humanity become manifest and the luminosity of truth enlighten the world of consciousness. The descent
of the New Jerusalem is the heavenly religion which secures the prosperity of the human world and is the effulgence of the illumination of the realm of God. (Baha’i Scriptures, page 436.)
CONSIDER TO what an extent the love of God makes itself manifest. Among the signs of His love which appear in the world are the Dawning-points of His Manifestations. What an infinite degree of love is reflected by the divine Manifestations toward mankind! . . . His Divine Manifestations have offered their lives through love for us. Consider then what the love of God means. . . .
He sent forth the Holy Manifestations, inspired their hearts with the context of the heavenly books and instituted divine religions, in order that these sanctified personages, these revealed books, these religions of God might become the means of unity and accord, love and good fellowship in the human world. (Baha’i Scriptures, 616, 685.)
THE GREATEST BOUNTIES of God in this phenomenal world are His Manifestations. This is the greatest postulate. These Manifestations are the Sons of Reality. For it is through the Manifestation that the reality becomes known and established for man. History proves to us that apart from the influence of the Manifestations, man sinks back into his animal condition, using even his intellectual power to subserve an animal purpose. Therefore there is no cessation whatsoever in the future for the appearance of the Manifestations of God, because, God is infinite and His purpose cannot be limited in any way. If we ever dare to limit and circumscribe God’s purpose within any bounds, then of necessity we have dared to set limitations to the omnipotence of God. The created has dared to define his Creator! . . . God’s graces and bounties are without limit, and the coming of the Manifestations of God are not circumscribed by time. (Baha’i Scriptures, page 402.)
IT IS NOT possible for us to train any one individual, and after training him to believe that he is the holy, divine Manifestation. The holy divine Manifestation must be endowed with divine knowledge and not be one instructed in school learning. He must be the Educator and not the educated. The holy Manifestations of God must be perfect and not imperfect. They must be great and not weak and impotent . . . In a word, the holy Manifestation of God must be in every great aspect distinguished above all else in order that he may be able to train the human body politic, in order that he may have power to eliminate the darkness, cause the advancing of the world of humanity from one plane to a higher one, be able through the penetrative power of his word to promote and spread broadcast the Universal Peace among men, bring about the unification of men and religions through a divine power, harmonize all sects and branches and convert all nativities and regions into one nativity and fatherland. (Baha’i Scriptures, p. 607.)
ARE THE Manifestations sinless? Yes, there must be a standard of perfection for human example.
The fields and flowers of the Spiritual Realm are pointed out to us by the Manifestations who walk amid their glories. It remains for the soul of man to follow them in these paths of eternal life, through the exercise of its own human will. The Manifestations of God are sent when most needed. . . . The true believer is the one who follows the Manifestation of God in all things. (Ten Days in the Light of Aqá.)
ALL THINGS manifest the bounty of God with greater or less clearness, as all material objects exposed to the sun reflect its light in greater or less degree. A heap of soot reflects a little, a stone reflects more, a piece of chalk more still, but in none of these reflections can we trace the form and color of the glorious orb. A perfect mirror, however, reflects the sun's very form and color, so that looking into it is like looking at the sun itself. So it is with the way in which things speak to us of God. The stone can tell us something of the Divine attributes, the flower can tell us more, the animal with its marvelous senses, instincts and power of movement, more still. In the lowest of our fellowmen we can trace wonderful faculties which tell of a wonderful Creator. In the poet, the saint, the genius, we find a higher revelation still, but the great prophets and founders of religions are the perfect mirrors by which the love and wisdom of God are reflected to the rest of mankind. Other men’s mirrors are dulled by the stains and the dust of selfishness and prejudice, but these are pure and without blemish—wholly devoted to the Will of God. Thus they become the greatest educators of mankind. The Divine teachings and the power of the Holy Spirit proceeding through them have been and are the cause of the progress of humanity, for God helps men through other men. Each man who is higher in the ascent of life is the means of helping those who are lower, and those who are the highest of all are the helpers of all mankind. It is as if all men were connected together by elastic cords. If a man rises a little above the general level of his fellows, the cords tighten. His former companions tend to draw him back, but with an equal force he draws them upwards. The higher he gets, the more he feels the weight of the whole world pulling him back, and the more dependent he is on the divine support, which reaches him through the few who are still above him. Highest of all are the great Prophets and Saviors, the Divine “Manifestations”—those perfect men who were each, in their day, without peer or companion, and bore the burden of the whole world, supported by God alone. “The burden of our sins was upon Him” was true of each of them. Each was the “Way, the Truth and the Life” to His followers. Each was the channel of Gods bounty to every heart that would receive it. Each had his part to play in the great divine plan for the upliftment of humanity. (“Baha’u’llah and the New Era.”)
<center<EDUCATION AND INTERNATIONAL UNDERSTANDING
DR. MARY E. WOOLLEY
College, one of the most beloved Women’s Colleges in America. The following is her noteworthy address given at the "Conference on the Cause and Cure of War” called by eight National Women's Organizations,
and held in Washington, D. C., January, 1925.)INTERNATIONAL understanding is dependent upon education. And education has endless possibilities, not only through school and college, but in church and home, in organizations, educational, social and religious, on the platform and perhaps most widely of all, through magazine and newspaper. . . .
The power of education to change the thought and ideal of a people needs no argument. . . . My first thought with regard to education and international understanding is concerned with what may be called the mechanism of education, certain definite things to be done, programs to be adopted, machinery to be set into motion. Already more has been accomplished in this direction than is generally recognized by the “layman.” For children to young people of pre-college age, the outstanding organization is the American School Citizenship League under the leadership of Mrs. Fannie Fern Andrews, organized “To develop an American citizenship which will promote a responsible World Democracy and a real Co-operation among the Nations.”
This organization and other educational agencies with a similar aim are following practical programs which may be applied to any school. For example, graded courses on citizenship and patriotism, based on the law of kindness and helpfulness toward all, showing that “with its historical background and unique mixture of peoples, the United States is peculiarly fitted to take a leading part in the struggle for liberty and justice—that the most human needs and hopes and problems are common to us all, and that humanity is above all nations.”
The teaching of history and geography, “the great citizenhip subjects,” as they have been called, is one of the most important factors in education for international understanding. The emphasis upon great personalities, heroes and patriots; upon the significance of national and racial movements and the “influence of geographic forces upon economic growth and prosperity”; the study of other civilizations and cultures and their contribution to the life of today—this teaching of history in place of the bare recital of conquests and reigns, makes the dry bones live. Better still, it leads not to racial and national antagonisms, but to international understanding and sympathy.
Prize Essay contests in the schools may not contribute greatly to the solving of problems in world relationships, but the value to the students in original constructive thinking on international questions can hardly be overestimated. And who can predict what may be the result of the starting of these currents of thought in the lifetime of the next generation when the children of today are the men and women of tomorrow? A similar comment might be made with regard to the debates and orations in which subjects pertaining to international relations are increasingly popular.
The agencies for education in international understanding have been increased in other ways. In our colleges, International Relations Clubs, have been
established, sponsored by the Institute of International Education, which has furnished some of the best speakers from other countries as well as from our own. No one factor, possibly, in the whole scheme of education for international understanding, has been more effective than these men and women, who out of their wide experience in national and international affairs, have brought illumination and inspiration to the thinking students of America.
There are many educational agencies besides the school and the college. Some of them are represented on your program and will speak for themselves, but I think I shall be pardoned if I touch upon the educational work for internationalism done by the Young Women’s Christian Association and the American Association of University Women. The Christian association today is preaching international understanding in the most effective way by practicing it in the Far East as well as in the Western World. Along educational lines at home, no courses of study are more effective than those which are giving to girls of all sorts and conditions a new view of what it means to belong to the world family.
Caroline’ Spurgeon, the retiring president of the International Federation of University Women, of which the American Association is a member, in her address at Christiania last summer, spoke of Dr. Nansen as exemplifying “that international understanding and friendly helpfulness which is our primary aim.” Already the Federation has in effective working such educational agencies as international fellowships and has organized a committee to work with the committee on Intellectual Co-operation of the League of Nations.
Undergraduate scholarships and graduate fellowships for foreign students offered by our colleges and universities have multiplied a hundred fold and more during and since the War and are giving to education the best of opportunities for a better international understanding.
We have been emphasizing the machinery of education—courses and subjects and methods—but after all, they are but a means to an end. The end for which we are striving is a new spirit, the friendly spirit, the spirit of insight and sympathy and co-operation and good will, the spirit of understanding. The state of mind with regard to international relationships has been fundamentally wrong. Take, for example, the growth of nationality, especially characteristic of the nineteenth century. As Benjamin Kidd says in “The Science of Power,” "We see nearly every function of nationality amongst Western people diverted just as in the pagan world, to some expression of exclusiveness, with the ultimate fact of war in the background. . . . Every living nation idealizes itself. Throughout the West idealization almost invariably has taken the form of idealization in contrast to, or in opposition to, some other people or nation.”
The principle underlying this conception of nationality has been variously expressive, as, for instance, the theory of “the individual efficient in the fight for his own interests.” This conception is borrowed from Darwinism, but forgetting that “the human evolution which is proceeding in civilization is a social not an individual integration,” that is, an evolution in which “the individual is subordinated to the universal.” The goal is the substitution in international relations of the Christian ethic for the pagan ethic. By the reasoning of the scientist, we come to the teaching of Jesus. “Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.”
International relations have been like the house built upon the sand, the sand of misunderstanding, shifting, treacherous, and when the rain descended and the floods came and the winds blew and smote upon that house, it fell and great was the fall thereof. The international relations of the future must be built upon the rock, the rock of friendly understanding and good will and fall not, because founded upon the rock.
“PEACE begins in the individual heart, it reaches to the individual home, thence to the community, to the state, the country, and to the world.”
“When you hear a thought of war supplant it with a stronger thought of peace.”
“Let the Advocates of Peace, work with greater zeal and courage for the Lord of Hosts is their Supporter.” (’Abdu’l-Bahá.)
- Today the outer world is resounding almost from pole to pole with the clarion call of Peace. The public is being educated with the statements of Peace. Many are the organizations, groups, and assemblages bending their sincerest efforts toward the goal of Peace, and much is being written and said regarding their accomplishments.
- The purpose of this article is to mention another avenue in the service of Peace of which little has been said. It is to this encouraging field of endeavor that we ask our readers to turn for a few thoughtful moments. We will consider the facts under the following sub-title—
Mothers, Fathers and Teachers in every land who have come in vital touch with the Remedy for the present world-sickness, as revealed through His Holiness Bahá’u’lláh, and “The Servant of God,” ’Abdu’l-Bahá, are day by day faithfully planting in the fresh soil of the hearts of their children the “seeds” of Oneness and Peace, based upon the pure Teachings of these Universal Educators.
’Abdu’l-Bahá has said—“A new race is being developed," and Bahá’u’lláh has proclaimed “Let the people of certainty know that a new garden has appeared in the open court of holiness.” This is evident in viewing the Bahá’í children throughout the world, It is also apparent that God has endowed, and is endowing the child mind of today with a new capacity, an added penetration and desire to reach the reality of every matter.
These children and young people are truly as “Flowers” in the garden of love and oneness. They are a new race, for they are not surrounded by the handicaps of the traditional limitations of the past, and their growing knowledge is being firmly rooted in the fundamental laws of God. They know not barriers of race, color or nationality and are being reared in the atmosphere of friendliness toward all.
Year by year they are advancing like a great army of Light, preparing to overcome the forces of ignorance.
The conversation they hear in their homes resounds with notes of construction, of love for all humanity, and their contacts are vital contacts with those of other races and other climes.
The following incident, which took place in one of our New England suburbs, is a living evidence of the fruit that has already appeared in this new garden of certainty.
A Bahá’í family lives in a section in which there are no other colored residents. They own their home, and the Father, Mother, and little daughter (at the time, eight years of age) have become the joy of the neighborhood through their selfless lives of service to all.
One summer day the little daughter, playing on the front veranda with her little neighbor of the white race, was rudely addressed by some passing school boys. In a tone of derision and scorn one boy called out, “Oh! you little ‘nigger’!” Instantly with a beautiful expression upon her upturned face she replied,
“No, I am not a ‘nigger,’ I am a Bahá’í. You don’t know what that means now, but you will, and when you do you won’t call anybody names.”
The two mothers were inside the front room, the white mother being taught by the colored mother the glorious Bahá’í Message, and as this incident closed she turned to her teacher and said, “I need no further proof, this Message is from God for nothing but the power of the Love of God could have enabled that child to give such an answer.”
From the seeds and roots of such "Planting” it is apparent that in a few years’ time an abundant “harvest” shall appear!
If one walks through the fields of nature in the late winter season the eye beholds the old brown stubble of the previous cycle covering the land; the stalks and dried leaves tell of a period that is past. But if a few weeks later the traveler passes that way again the new spring has appeared and with it has brought the new life—the fresh green plants. It might be difficult to find a trace of that unyielding stubble which before was almost the only thing visible.
The scene has changed as if by some magic touch; so silently has it come about and so gradually that it would be difficult to say just when it began and how much was accomplished day unto day. The relationship of the phenomenal sun to the earth at that season we all know was the wonder-working “Cause.”
It takes but little imagination to carry the parallel into the changing scene of human progress that is now being caused by the Spring Rays of The Light of Truth from the Divine Luminary as It reaches the pure hearts.
When the children of today have become the men and women of tomorrow how different will be their plannings for the world's progress in comparison with today. To them war will be an outgrown garment, an evidence of the dark night of civilization, and “Peace” will be the basis of economic freedom. Justice will be extended to all. There will be the upbuilding of a greater (spiritual) civilization in which the vast resources of the world—which heretofore have been spent in destruction—will be turned into channels for the advancement of the human race. Not a particular racial group, the white or yellow race, the brown or Nordic race, but the entire human family.
Toward such a day—a not far distant day—are thousands, yea possibly millions of lives bending their consecrated efforts in the cultivation of this New Tree of Life under whose shade the nations will gather in perfect joy, friendliness and Peace.
It is of such children who are being nurtured in this Garden that ’Abdu’l-Bahá has said, “These children are neither Oriental nor Occidental, neither European nor African, but they are of the Kingdom; their native home is Heaven and their resort is the Kingdom of Abha (Glory).”
"Can you paint upon the page of the world the ideal pictures of the Supreme Concourse? The pictures which are in the ideal world are eternal. I desire you to become such an artist. Man can paint those ideal pictures upon the tablet of existence with the brush of deeds.
“The holy divine Manifestations are all heavenly artists. Upon the canvas of creation, with the brush of their deeds and lives and actions, they paint immortal pictures which cannot be found in any art museum of Europe or America. But you find the masterpieces of these spiritual artists in the hearts.”
’Abdu’I-Bahá to an Artist.
"FOR Christ had an elemental body and a celestial form. The elemental body was crucified, but the heavenly form is living and eternal, and the cause of everlasting life; the first was the human nature and the second is the divine nature . . . why was the last supper distinguished from the others? It is evident that the heavenly bread did not signify this material bread, but rather the divine nourishment of the spiritual body of Christ . . . which signified:—I have given you my bounties and perfections and when you have received this bounty you have gained eternal life.”—’Abdu’l-Bahá in “Some Answered Questions,” pp. 113-114.
“The Cause of Christ was like a lifeless body, and when after three days the disciples became assured and steadfast and began to serve the Cause of Christ and resolved to spread the divine teachings putting his counsels into practice and arising to serve him, the Reality of Christ became resplendent and his bounty appeared; his, religion found life, his teachings and his admonitions became evident and visible.”—Ibid, pp. 120-121.
The human heart cannot thrive without friendliness. A man's value depends upon his capacity for relationship; upon his power to contribute something to his fellowman, that will enhance the joys and curtail the sordidness of the world. This otherliness is a fundamental of human society, and is based on one of the primary biologic laws, whose pattern is woven into the very fabric of life. There are two inseparable and contending forces bound together in the minutest follicle of being; the one a predatory ruthless force whose object is to seize from the environment those things that can benefit only itself; this is the law of self-preservation and the mighty urge that forces its ceaseless activity is hunger; the other is a binding cohesive power, whose object is the nurture, the protection, the welfare of something other than itself, the preservation of the species; and the irresistible libido that insures the continuation of this divine impulse is love. All civilization is based upon this impulse, if by civilization we mean the growth and development of those politics and institutions that are founded on the incorruptible principles of Justice, Reason and Good-will. History has been an unprotesting witness to the rise and fall of countless societies; rising because in the mutual meeting of many minds there is a consensus that something finer and more permanent can be gained by the laying aside of the mere individual will, and the coming together under a common will or law, from which all may benefit; falling because sooner or later the thing that originated in mutuality and interdependence, is administered for individual benefit. Greed, ambition, tyranny, those things that represent drawing from the environment are substituted for fraternity, succor and altruism.
The appearance of the first relation in life is so remote that it makes history seem like the half hour before this morning’s dawn; but in it was the preparation for all religion, all art, all education; it was the relation between mother and offspring. Before a relation could be established at all self-forgetfulness was involved; for wherever self is the motivating factor the soul stands quite gaunt and bleak, lacking the pull that draws it to a common center. In this first relation we see the self utterly unmindful of its own welfare, of its own life, willing to sacrifice itself completely for the sake of something other than itself. And this capacity to forget the self and to think of another was the factor upon which the Spirit of God evidently seized when it breathed itself into the human heart and bade mankind lift his face forever from
the exploitation of life to the veneration of it.
Scattered through the writings of ’Abdu’l-Bahá are many references to the correspondence between the inner and the outer life; the heavenly and the earthly condition. It is evident from his teaching that this earth is indeed the “Outward and visible sign of an inward and spiritual grace,” the manifest symbol of a peregrine reality. The mind seems to be like that quaint Chinese Sage “Suspended between earth and heaven because he was subject to neither”; for evidently it is not constituted to bring us news of any other order than the ephemeral and composed world of three dimensions. It spends most of its time running errands for and pandering to the needs of the body and still it cannot penetrate the universe whence the body takes its commands and fulfills its functions.
These are carried on by the cells, each an independent entity, endowed with its own special intelligence; to the cell the atomic and molecular world appears with the same clarity that the minds finds in the physical universe; for the cell disintegrates the molecule and wisely administers its parts to those organs where they are needed. Exoterically we see only the complete personality; the cells remain invisible and indirectly apprehensible. They have taken on the character of a perfect relation, having given up their wills utterly to the service of the higher mind.
But this is merely the reflection of a spiritual condition except that by a curious paradox, having been unable to see the cells in the physical body, we see only the cells in the spiritual body. That great Christ body to which Saint Paul referred is evidently the sublime personality of this world, and we fragmentary, detached little beings are cells in its magnificent structure. But as the mind cannot possibly invade those regions peculiar to the cellular intelligence, so it cannot penetrate the confines of the spirit. This reveals itself only to those qualities of heart that represent the functioning of the divine body. The sensitive endowment of faith views the invisible world of love triumphant over hatred and malice, of joy transcending sorrow and depression, of courage out-flanking hardships and terrors, of unity drawing into the elusive shein of an intangible cohesion all the blind groping detached particles of life. Faith sees the hosts of God on the march to the rescue of the soul’s eternal battlements from the cruel hordes of ignorance, superstition, folly and oppression. Faith sees the banners of light streaming in the sunrise of a New Day, and knows that only as mankind enlists under those banners to fight the malignant, insidious forces of evil in the world can human life ever attain to the station of redemption. Faith reconnoitres the ultimate orbit of the soul with the same assurance with which the cells of the lungs load their unceasing cargoes of oxygen into the blood stream. Both of these powers are closed to the rational mind.
In the Bahá’í teaching the true resurrection after the ascension of the Manifestation of God is functioning in accordance with his will and with his dictates by those who recognize his Reality. The whole corps of humanity is in truth the vehicle of his personality and only as we become naturalized into his attributes and follow his hallowed guidance can his Divine Being express itself in the world. Unless to-day we become corpuscles in the flow of ’Abdu’l-Bahá’s will, his life is not a thrilling, dynamic, contagious, revolutionary, beautiful power on earth, but a poignant, cherished, wistful, unforgetable illusion.
Such can never be the case for, to paraphrase the words of El Báb, before the Ancient and everlasting Beauty of God is manifested from age to age the power to consummate His decrees is liberated, and the executive urge of his word so searches and penetrates mankind that God raises up from the very stones of our hard human hearts a bright multitude to do His bidding.
Just as the cells of the body connect us with the atomic world, and the rational faculty through the brain with the physical
world, so the heart connects us with the realms of faith, where alone the everlasting battle for the soul of man can be won. And it is only the great invisible personality of the Divine Beloved, functioning through the heart of each of us individual cells, that can give humanity the confidence, the courage, the vision, the self-abandonment to march shoulder to shoulder beside those unseen battalions who are storming the outposts of corruption and evil and liberating in the freer, nobler achievements of the soul the actual life of the Savior. This life is none other than the life of love, of friendliness, of good-will, of the placing of others before the self, of unity; which originated in the primitive animal condition:—that strange shadowy surge of veiled yearning, to find something upon which it could expend its tenderness and care.
In our stupendous adventure here, since the first little atom of being flung out its challenge to materialism and marshalled its puny defiant strength against the relentless organization of the whole physical universe, the law of attraction, the law of cohesion, the law of love is the only thing that has ever made any permanent contribution to existence; for these characterize the life, of that Mighty Being whose followers we are; and failing of them we atrophy in his Divine Body and thwart our earthly purpose.
There is a tendency in modern philosophy that reflects the religious teachings of all time; Vitalism posits a half-wild, half-saved universe that can only attain, an ultimate redemption through the ceaseless effort and the intensified spiritual habit of human beings. Turn for a brief survey to the sacred writings of the world and hear the great Manifestations of God pleading with man to “Turn from his manifold wickedness and live"; “Now is the time, now is the acceptable time”; “He who seeketh his life shall lose it”; “Hatred ceases not by hating; hatred ceases by loving”; “a hater may do great harm to a hater but not so much harm as he does to his own self.” “The principle of faith is to lessen words and to increase deeds.” It seems apparent that if the human experiment is to succeed it must succeed solely through the efforts of human beings; the heavenly hosts are not going to descend and work out our problems for us; we are promised their assistance only as we strive for ourselves; human conditions cannot be changed except through human agencies; the old evil things of this world can only be obliterated by men and women; the new shining order of peace and good-will can only be established as we incorporate it into our souls and reflect it in our deeds. The present crucial call for stout courage, for unfaltering obedience to the command of a sublime leader, for a perfervid dedication to our effulgent ideal must arouse those who have these startling bugles in their breast. The whole future of a far-flung incalculably splendid emprise hangs upon our frail endeavors. We cannot escape life; we have to master it, and it is only as we hold ourselves sternly to the mandates of Bahá’u’lláh that we can draw from His Mighty Spirit the grace and strength to batter down the grim distracting barriers between men, and to flood the great plains of life,with the glory of unselfishness, love and beauty.
In this New Era Bahá’u’lláh makes us directly responsible for the establishment of his commands and teachings in the world. . . .
Courage—love and courage—these are the great spiritual requirements of the present time; . . . and only those who stand firm, who do not shrink from life and her harsh impacts are worthy to function in the body of the Master.
Our solemn, terrifying and magnificent responsibility should weigh upon us and inspire us in every thought and contact. We human beings are to-day the sole agents of God’s will in the world. The love of ’Abdu’l-Bahá can only be expressed when we function adequately as component parts of his life; that oneness of sentiment to which Bahá’u’lláh summons us can only be achieved as we realize that we are all cells of one Divine Body.
"THE WESTERN world is prone to be objective, and humanity has become thoroughly intellectualized in recent years. It believes easily that one can make laws, formulate principles, and construct a religion containing so few offensive features that every one will finally accept it. Such thinkers forget that the essence of religion is to be in love with God. There is no religion possible without the element of ecstasy, and no ecstasy possible without love.
“Under this ecstasy the persecuted Quakers died, the early Christians gave their lives, the Bahá’ís have been suffering martyrdom for the last seventy-five years in Persia, the Muhammadans and Jews have sacrificed for their faith, the Protestants have joyfully burned under Catholic persecution, and the Catholics under that of Protestants. All were in love with God and therefore they spent their last breath joyfully and possibly experienced no pain in their physical torments. Joan of Arc did not know when the flames greedily licked up her body, because she was consumed by the throes of a great love, which rendered her unconscious of material sensation.
“This increase of capacity for love appears in the world always with the advent of the Messenger of God, who is not only a divine teacher but a channel through whom pours an added flood of the Holy Spirit to all mankind. When he arises all religions are refreshed but at the same time begin to lose their sectarianism. As they are more positive in love they become less positive in dogmatic theology. Thus in the time of Buddha and later, the Hindu people were so inflamed with love that the barriers of caste disappeared.
“The early Christians became so aware of God that they could no longer worship the statue of the Emperor. The Bahá’ís of modern Persia, from the declaration of the Báb in 1844, believed in the oneness of mankind, the oneness of all religion, and were naturally slain and tortured by a priesthood which declared there is only one real prophet of God, Muhammad, and only one true religion, that which is founded on his teaching.
“The Bahá’í cause has spread from Persia into all the countries of the world, in spite of the dire persecutions to which it was subjected, until at present its centers are found in all cities and larger communities, with its teaching of international peace and brotherhood.
“All religions are in fact one, because all spring from the divine teachers, who have appeared at different periods through various races of the Orient, giving mankind the same basic truth. Sift Zoroastrianism, Hinduism, Judaism, Christianity and the great Bahá’í cause and you find in all a reiteration of identical and impregnable statements in regard to God, immortality and the conduct of But you discover in the Bahá’í teaching an amplification and clearness which was not possible in the earlier day and which renders all mystical and practical allusion more definite.
"We learn to look upon the Prophet not as a man apart, clothed in sackcloth and born only for martyrdom, but as the early Christians looked upon Christ, as the radiant one whose presence in the world brings such light that a new civilization must follow his advent.“ This was demonstrated in the case of Christ, in that of Muhammad, notably in Lao Tse, who gave his law to Confucius, in that of Moses, who led his people out of darkness.
“So the Bahá’ís believe that again such a Messenger has appeared, and the world is being irradiated by his light. . . .”—(N. Y. Sun, Feb. 14, 1925.)
MY SOUL, longing for God’s Truth, was day by day becoming more faint and lifeless in the quest, almost overwhelmed by the tidal wave of self and misunderstanding, plunged into the deep sea of melancholy, and trying in vain to fathom out of this condition the Reality of God, that would not suffer a sparrow to fall without His knowledge. Yet “darkness was upon the face of the deep,” and I was as a ship without a rudder upon the high sea. All hopes were fast fading. Great fear seized me and almost bereft me of reason. Like Jonah of old from the belly of hell I cried unto God for guidance and protection through this most terrible of storms. For weeks and months I felt I must surely perish, when the spark of faith again asserted itself and I began to realize I was truly God’s child, that He was my only protection and would save me. From that moment the Light of God began to dawn upon me, and the storm clouds began to disappear through increased faith.
It was after these hours and weeks of preparation on the part of God (“My calamity is my providence, in appearance it is fire and vengeance, in reality it is light and mercy.”), that He sent His angel to my door with His glorious message of salvation to all mankind, and gave me the true and deep meaning of the miracles of the Christ when He calmed the troubled sea. This angel said to me, “Have you not heard of the Great Messenger, of God, upon whose Name we must call today for our redemption? Do you not know you are living in a day in which all the prophets and learned of the past ages have longed to see?”
This visit I shall never forget, for she was trying to arouse me from the deep sleep of the soul; and like a growing physical child, as soon as she left me, I would as it were, turn over and lapse into a deep sleep again, almost entirely forgetting all she had said. Then another day, perhaps, walking down the highway in a pouring rain, I would spy the approach of my angel, very wet and tired, yet moved by the spirit in the interest of my soul and the dormant soul of mankind. Again she would say, “Awaken child, the sun has arisen! It is a new day.” And finally, after great sacrifice, prayer and anxiety on her part, I began to realize that this angel was bringing glad tidings to a weary, waiting soul; I was hearing that which caused the stimulation of soul, mind, and spirit as did the wine at the wedding feast of Canaan of Galilee.
I hope only in this life to be able to pass this glorious Bahá’í message on and on until the whole world can rejoice in the Lord of Hosts and His message as the healing of the nations.
A HINT OF ITS GLORY
MABEL H. PAINEONLY after many days of seeing ’Abdu’l-Bahá was the real Light of His countenance lifted upon one pilgrim. That vision of Reality! How the mind searches the whole domain of human experience to find words or symbols which will convey even a hint of its Glory! An answer, it might then in part be described, to the poet’s lines,
“Strong Son of God, immortal Love, Whom we that have not seen Thy face By faith and faith alone embrace. . . .”
But to have seen that face! A face on an old fresco in Florence painted by Giotto caught and reflected a little of that same look of immortal, childlike love. Now it was plain what the true spirit-painter of divine subjects sought to portray, and how they must have despaired, yet been eternally grateful for just the
glimpse they could get and give. Now, too, the words of ’Abdu’l-Bahá to an early pilgrim were plain: “My love is intuitive.” Immortal love, and therefore immortal youth! Now it was plain what Christ meant when He said, that we must receive the kingdom of God as little children, if we would enter therein. For in that unforgetable, revealing look, was the look of the child, a dewy freshness, yet all Divine, transfigured, lifted to another realm.
The truth of this passage from one of ’Abdu’l-Bahá’s Tablets shone out: “O my friend! The affection of my heart unto thee can not be expressed through any interpretation, and I can hardly write it or acknowledge it. Turn with thy breast unto the heart of ’Abdu’l-Bahá, and then this concealed fact will be disclosed, and the hidden mystery be unveiled unto thee” (Tablets, Vol. 1, p. 163).
And this quailty he wished for us. It was plain now the meaning of the passage in another Tablet in which he prayed that the recipient might be dowered with a “great illimitable freshness."
And then, crowning joy, after struggling to find an, expression approaching adequacy and wondering whether the vision might, perhaps, be too personal to be true, to come across the prophetic words in the one hundred and tenth Psalm, “Thou hast the dew of thy youth.”
Now there is stronger faith in the vision and a growing perception that this Divine quality, like the Divine verses, contains all other Divine qualities, as well as itself, Just as ’Abdu’l-Bahá has said that, if one obeys one of the verses of Bahá'u’lláh, one obeys them all.
THE KINGDOM OF HEARTS
MABEL R. VICARYTHE Kingdom of God is a kingdom of the hearts. It is the kingdom of love and happiness, the kingdom of divine attraction. Whoever says he loves God and loves not his fellow beings is not speaking the truth. All love is divine and comes from God. There can never be too much love, lack of it causes all the misery and suffering in the world of existence. ’Abdu'l-Bahá has said that the hearts are appointed for God. Only pure hearts can reflect the Divine Love. The purer the hearts, the greater the power to reflect the universal love.
God loves all His creatures. Human love varies in degrees. Only the Perfect One can shower the Light on all in like degree. The creatures being imperfect themselves, see the imperfections in others, and measure out their love accordingly. They love most those in whom they see the least imperfection! In this way they express their ideals, they show their longing for God, the Perfect. ’Abdu’l-Bahá says that we cannot love all people alike. There are spontaneous loves and friendships which come through no will of our own, they require no effort on our part. These are the strongest links in the chain of unity. They are, indeed, from God, and are the most perfect expressions of God’s love possible in the human world. They are real, they are eternal, for they are part of the Divine Unity. Without these sparks of the divine fire, no fire of the Love of God can be kindled, no divine conflagration is possible, because God lives and moves only in the hearts of men.
When one is suffering or in distress, what is more beautiful than to have one you love speak the word of comfort and healing. It is a confirmation of the presence of God. This is the kingdom of heaven which is to be established in the hearts of men. It is eternal, it is indestructible. One attains to this vision through love of the Manifestation of God. The human soul is ever reaching out for a solution of the Divine Mysteries. These mysteries, the Holy Manifestations unfold to humanity.
THE SHINING LADDER OF THE WORDS OF GOD
HOWARD C. IVESHOW MANY are the problems constantly demanding solution! How often the complexities of life crowd upon us with an insistence which will not be denied! To those who attempt to solve these problems, or to unravel these complexities, relying only upon their own experience and their own wisdom there come periods of despair which often overwhelm.
But the denizens of the world of Reality, who, in moments of bright vision have glimpsed the picture of the glorious Whole, can never again be completely deceived by the illusion of circumstance, and when the world presses too closely upon them they withdraw to the “Mountain of the Lovers,” they drink of the “Cup of Abstraction” and know “all voices to be from the King.”
This age has brought us many precious gifts in the outer and inner world, but none more poignantly sweet; none more thrillingly uplifting; none more richly bestowing than this shining ladder of the Word of God upon which the perplexed and bewildered traveler may ascend, round by round, out of the depths of discouragement and sorrow unto the sublime heights of certainty and assurance—the “Apex of the Merciful”—where he is able to “rest with a spirit of severance.”
“When man is spiritually free his mind becomes the altar and his heart the sanctuary of prayer. Then the meaning of the verse, ‘He will lift up from before his eyes the veil’, become fulfilled in man." The function of the divine revelations, the Word of God in every age, is to free man from the bondage of the self; to lift up from before the eyes of man the veil of earthly illusion which continually blinds him to Reality and to provide a perspective into which fit with beautiful symmetry the otherwise seeming complexities of life.
It is the great bounty and divine gift of this age that a heavenly Light has been diffused to illumine the hearts of men and to bring understanding, and with understanding peace. To bring perspective to the battlefield, and with perspective, assurance of ultimate victory; to bring a knowledge of the ocean’s depths while being tossed upon its surface, and with that knowledge a divine tranquility even while the tempest is raging.
The Words of God which follow have been found especially helpful in lifting the troubled soul to the heights of understanding love, and usher the wandering traveler into the “Valley of Peace."
“Is there any Remover of difficulties save God? Say, Praise be to God, He is God! All are His servants, and all are standing by His Command.”
“O my God! Thy Name is my healing: Thy Remembrance is my remedy: Thy Love is my companion: Thy Mercy is my need and my aid in the world, and in the Day of Judgment! Verily, Thou art the Knower, the Wise.”
“The candle of thy mind is lighted by the Hand of My Power; extinguish it not with the contrary winds of desires and passions. The Healer of all thy troubles is remembrance of Me; forget it not. Make My Love thy capital, and cherish it as the spirit of thine eye.
Break the cage, and, like unto the bird of love, soar in the atmosphere of holiness. Leave the self, and rest with heavenly souls upon the sacred plain of God.
Content not thyself with the repose of a single day and lose not the everlasting rest. Exchange not the immortal Garden of eternal joy for the earthly furnace of mortality. Ascend from the dungeon to the beautiful plains of Life, and arise from the cage of the world to the alluring Garden of the Placeless.”
“O servants! if in these visible days and present world, matters appear from the Realm of Decree contrary to your wish, be not depressed; for happy and divine days shall come, and spiritual worlds of Holiness shall become manifest. In all these Days and Worlds for you a portion is ordained, a sustenance is determined and a food is established! Ye shall certainly attain to all these were ye to exchange the garment of mortality for the Garment of Immortality, and enter the station of the Paradise of Abha, which is the everlasting Abode of glorious, sacred souls! Be not grieved at the hardships of these numbered days, and be not dejected if your outward bodies are destroyed in the Path of the Beloved One: For every destruction is followed by a construction, and a Paradise of Rest is concealed in every, hardship."
Bahá’u’lláh.
"In the Name of God, the Victor of the Most Victorious, proclaim: . . God will assist all those who arise to serve Him. No one is able to deprive Him of His Majesty, His Dominion, His Sovereignty. For in the Heavens and in the earth, and in all the Realms of God, He is the Victorious, and the Conqueror."
“The greatest bestowal in the world of existence is a tranquil heart, and it is impossible for man to obtain a tranquil heart save thru the good pleasure of the Lord. That is, man may so adorn the temple of his being with lofty attributes and philanthropic deeds as to be pleasing at the Threshold of the Almighty. This is the only Path and there is no other Path. My point is this: Let all your thoughts, your ideals, your aims and purposes revolve day and night around one common object—that is to live in accord with the good pleasure of the Lord. Then all the doors of felicity will be opened before your faces,—you will become successful in all your undertakings, and you will be confirmed in all your accomplishments. The basic principle is the good pleasure of the Lord: and the good pleasure of God is obtained thru a tranquil heart, and the tranquillity of the heart is only gained by living in accord with the Divine Teachings and Exhortations. When a person attains to this station he is contented and peaceful. Then he will become prosperous in all affairs and enter into paradise. This station is joy succeeded by joy, confidence after confidence and Paradise after Paradise. Having reached to this exalted station man lives in Paradise while upon this earth, is in Paradise when he leaves this world. His heart is in Paradise, his spirit is in Paradise and he is encircled by Paradise."
“If thou goest away with this unchanging condition of INVARIABILITY OF INNER STATE, thou shalt see the doors of confirmation open before thy face, thy life will be a crown of heavenly roses and thou shalt find thyself in the highest state of triumph. Strive day and night to attain to this exalted station.”
“The afflictions which come to humanity sometimes tend to center the consciousness upon the limitations. This is a veritable prison. Release comes by making of the will a door thru which the confirmations of the spirit come. The confirmations of the spirit are all those powers and gifts with which some are born and which men sometimes call genius, but for which others have to strive with infinite pains. They come to that man or woman who accepts his life with radiant acquiesence.”
“Turn your faces away from the contemplation of your own finite selves and fix your eyes upon the everlasting radiance, then will your souls receive in full measure the divine powers of the Holy Spirit and the blessing of the infinite bounty.
“A pure heart create within me, O my Lord! A tranquil soul renew within me, O my Hope! Through the spirit of command make me firm in Thy Cause, O my Beloved! By the light of guidance show unto me Thy Path, O my Desire! By the might of loftiness cause me to ascend to the heaven of Thy Sanctity, O my Beginning!
Through the worlds of immortality cause me to rejoice, O my Lord! By the melodies of eternity tranquilize me, O my Companion! By the riches of Thy Pre-existent Countenance deliver me from all else save Thee, O my Lord! And by the interpretation of Thy Everlasting Identity rejoice me, O Thou Who art more apparent than my own appearance, O Thou Who art hidden in my inmost heart!”
“This turning the face towards God is the healing of the body, the mind and the soul. When this advancement towards God has become complete one is able to overcome passion and desire; become protected from sin and transgression, and be delivered from heedlessness. It will bestow Eternal Life and grant the imperishable Gift.”
“THE HOLY Divine Manifestations are unique and peerless. They are the archetypes of celestial and spiritual virtues in their own age and cycle. They stand on the summit of the Mount of Vision and they foreshadow the perfections of evolving humanity.”
“THE CENTERS of Divine perfections are the Manifestations of God as seen in His prophets. In whichever country, or at whatever time they come, they are the center of the divine perfections; and as the sun in the material heavens develops the material beings, so do these spiritual suns develop the world of souls.”
AS is well known, September 30th is the date that the first American Bahá’í, the illumined Thornton Chase, was set free from the troubles and vicissitudes of the life of the material world. That is the day set aside by His Holiness ’Abdu’l-Bahá as visiting day to the tomb.
A number of the friends also regularly gather at the grave on October 19th, as on this date the Beloved ’Abdu’l-Bahá, with about twenty-five of the friends, made His memorable visit there in the year 1912.
At a recent service, first one friend, then a second, then a group appeared. They carried and read excerpts from the wonderful “text book” written by Mr. Chase, “The Bahá’í Revelation.” A letter was also read from his widow, Eleanor Chase, which contained data of interest regarding dates in the life of Mr. Chase, and last and most important the mighty words of ’Abdu’l-Bahá and the last letter of the Guardian of the Bahá’í Cause, Shoghi Effendi.
It was brought out that, whereas the Blessed Bahá’í Cause was first mentioned in this country at the World's Fair in Chicago in 1893, no one became a believer at that time. Mr. Chase stated plainly that the first day he ever heard of the Cause was June 5, 1894. He has also so written it in a history of the Cause in America which he began before he passed away, a copy of which can be found as printed, in the files of the STAR OF THE WEST. This date is important, inasmuch as His Holiness 'Abdu’l-Bahá has confirmed Mr. Chase in the assurance that he was the first American Bahá’í, and He alone knew who was a Bahá’í better than the individuals themselves.
The meeting at the grave was filled with the spirit. It was a joyous meeting, made so by the perfect assurance of all in the immortality of the soul, and in the happiness of Mr. Chase in being in the glorious kingdom of God, after having accomplished so much for the Cause of God on earth.
--PHOTO--
Willard P. Hatch at the grave of Thornton Chase
The prayer of 'Abdu'l-Bahá for Mr. Chase as read carried no note of other than glad tidings that this holy soul had achieved a life of usefulness; a life that had like a matured orchard tree, borne fruit of much spiritual import to succeeding generations. Like unto Peter in the Holy Land in the time of His
Holiness Christ, so was the life of Thornton Chase to America, and in addition, Mr. Chase left written records, in the form of letters, which if collected will form many volumes more than those already printed.
It was brought out that Mr. Chase had foretold the year of his passing, making the clear statement that it was his last year on earth. Speaking of the troubles of this life he is reported to have said that they were like mosquitoes—annoying at the time but swept away by the Power of the Spirit.
Previous to the friends coming together, visitors to the cemetery at Inglewood, Los Angeles, paused before the beautiful tombstone, so luminous from the attention given it by His Holiness 'Abdu’l-Bahá, and read the inscription, “This is the illumined resting place of the holy soul Thornton Chase, who is shining in the horizon of eternal life ever like a star. ’Abdu’l-Bahá.” When they came to the name of ’Abdu’l-Bahá below the inscription, they manifested unusual interest, and their questions led to their receiving the truth of the Oneness of Mankind and the fatherhood of God, for which Mr. Chase had given his heart and life.
The meeting was closed by the friends reciting the prayer selected by Shoghi Effendi, and humbly supplicating that all, everywhere, might attain that purification of inner character so necessary for the Cause today.
Mr. Chase's widow states that Mr. Chase was born in Springfield, Mass., February 22, 1847. He passed away September 30, 1912. A beautiful sentence in her letter points out that the ushering in of Peace must come with the Love of God in each individual heart. It reminds one of the WORDS of His Holiness ’Abdu’l-Bahá to the effect that different affairs and matters of the intellect could be endlessly discussed, but that which is important is the Love of God and the Knowledge of God. This knowledge and this love are impossible save through His Manifestation.
- When we become immortal, thou and I,
- Beyond the blighting tomb of place and time,
- When we are born into a calmer clime
- Beneath a radiant, acquiescing sky,
- When all the gropings of a how and why
- Resolve into a certainty sublime,
- When fruits of faith which never reached their prime
- Mature into the apple of His Eye,
- Then God will walk with us and we with Him,
- And God will talk with us and we shall hear
- His Voice, no longer whispering and dim,
- But resonant, majestic, full and clear,
- And we shall see, no longer far and grim,
- His lovely Face, benevolent and near.
Bahia, Brazil.
On October 16th, 1924, the prison doors of Walla Walla, State of Washington, opened to release a young man who, while a prisoner there, heard the Bahá’í Message and became a believer. A short biographical sketch may be of interest. On the prison records he was known as Joseph———, but this is not his real name.
He was born in Tunis, in Northern Africa, of Italian parentage from the island of Sicily. When a mere infant his parents emigrated to the United States, settling in New York City. There his mother died and the father re-married. The step-mother not wanting the children, they were placed in an orphans’ home, where they were mistreated, uncared for and misunderstood. When a little older, Joseph ran off and went to sea and the greater part of his life has been spent on the ocean. He has traveled to all parts of the world on ships and been the companion of rough seamen. What his offense was, we do not know, and it does not matter. The important thing is that he has found the way out of the "prison of self" and is on the highway to right living and service to his brothers in darkness.
Miss Martha Root (Bahá’í teacher), on her way to China a year and a half ago, went out of her way to go to Walla Walla to see Joseph. He was so overcome with emotion at her kindness that he could scarcely talk to her. She wrote that he had a look in his eyes which told of great suffering, and the awakening which comes of it; she recognized his sincerity and his capacity.
In this connection, there comes to our mind a story told of Jinab’i-Fadil by one of the New York friends. A large meeting had been arranged for him in that great city, and the friends were overjoyed at the opportunity to present the Truth to such a large number of people. But Jinab’i seemed not to be so elated after the meeting was over. He said there was one person who understood and was spiritually awake. With spiritual insight, his eye had caught that one soul. On another occasion Jinab’i was asked to go to a prison to talk to some of the inmates, gunmen and desperados. Our great teacher was deeply impressed at the result of that meeting. He said every one of those men would “see God.”
We sometimes wonder why it is that a soul must sink to the depths of misery and suffering, even wrong doing, before it can rise to the heights and become conscious of its own helplessness and unworthiness, As ’Abdu’l-Bahá said, God knows our weakness before we fall into the tests, but man with an ego would think he was a god unless it were otherwise proved to him through the tests.
A letter from Joseph, written from Portland after his release, told of walking the streets in search of work, the poor shoes given him at the prison blistering his feet. He was reminded that Miss Root told him to look up Mr. and Mrs. Latimer on his release, and they would assist him. He decided to write to them, but he said, “I hope those people will not offer me money, for I will not accept it. All I want is work and a chance to make good.”
The next letter told the joyful news that he had found Mr. and Mrs. Latimer and thru their kindness and that of Mr. Nash, he had secured a good position and was already at work. He says, “Last Friday I went to my first Bahá’í meeting. It was wonderful. All the friends were very kind to me and they all were so happy, all of them smiling
and talking like a big family. It did not take me long to feel at home.”
’Abdu’l-Bahá, in a Tablet to Mr. Agnew, said that in the future crime would almost entirely cease to exist in the world. Children will be given an education which will be spiritual in character as well as intellectual, in other words, the heart will be educated as well as the head, and children will be made to know and feel that crime itself is the worst punishment one could inflict upon himself.
As a compensation for his misfortune, Joseph was once reminded that thru his suffering and the depths to which he had sunk, he would know the sorrow and suffering of others and be able to help them.
One cannot but feel that, in this day, thru the suffering of those holy souls in that “Greatest Prison,” the Eye of God is turned upon prisons, and they will give up their prisoners as the sea gives up its dead.
When such a glorious day comes, as Dr. Orrol L. Harper says in her recent illuminating article in the Star of the West for October on “A Bird’s Eye View of the World in the Year 2000,” “Criminals will be discovered to be either ignorant, sick or mentally deficient,” and the penitentiaries, instead of being places for “severe correction and harsh retaliation,” will be “more like schools and hospitals.”
“In that day there shall be upon the bells of the horses, HOLINESS UNTO THE LORD, and the pots in the Lord's house shall be like bowls before the altar. . . . And there shall be no more the Canaanite in the house of the Lord of hosts.”
IT IS impossible, I repeat, to end war except by the strictest application of the Golden Rule. A document decreeing peace is not worth the paper it is written on if it is not backed by the conscience and will of the people. . . . We must be trained to be peaceful and peace-loving. It does no good to talk peace, to write peace, to preach peace. We must be peace personified. . . . The people must be taught to wish peace. It must become their desire to practice the Golden Rule. Business men must not do business at arm’s length with one another. Husbands and wives must live amiably in their homes if their children are to grow to manhood and womanhood in a spirit of peace.
We must carry peace and good will into the world if the end of war is to be in the parliament of mankind. We must abandon our petty prejudices—social, racial, religious and class, if we are to have a world of peace. Will it come? I hope so. I am willing to try out any experiment, designed to speed its coming.”—(Thos. R. Marshall, former vice-president of the United States, “Evening Star,” Washington, D. C.)
A DECIDED antimilitaristic sentiment is sweeping my country. It is fostered by the rapidly growing labor movement, the tenant farmers’ union and the college students.
“A short time ago the commissioner of education tried to introduce military cadets in the colleges. The students did not want them. They organized such an imposing resistance that when they went to call on the commissioner of education, he jumped through a window to avoid meeting them.
“If you have not been in Japan recently you would hardly recognize it, sentiment has changed so.”—(Toyohiko
Kagawa, Foreign Missions Convention, Washington, D. C. Post.)
THE NEW YORK Board of Education has arranged with the League of Nations Non-Partisan Association for ten lectures in the city schools on the League of Nations and the World Court.
The speakers have been furnished by the League of Nations Non-Partisan Association, through Ambrose Cort, Principal of Public School 73, who is a Chairman of the School Committee of the Greater New York Branch of the League of Nations Non-Partisan Association.—(N. Y. Times.)
WHAT IS religion? We art apt to regard it as a label, which describes whole continents. Europe is Christian; China is Confucian; and so on. But China is no more Confucian than is Europe Christian. All you can say of the Chinese is that some of them, here and there, live up to the precepts of their great teacher. And exactly the same may be said of the European. Not one in ten persons in Europe goes to Church. Not one in a hundred is a student of the Bible. Religion must be judged not by those who wear the label but by those who have consecrated the life.”—(P. Whitwell Wilson in Y. M. C. A. “Association Men" for March.)
IN HIS LAST BOOK Bryce has said that, fine and strong as it is, there are other civilizations worthy to survive as well as that to which we English speaking people are so much indebted and in order to do our best to help keep the world from another debacle it would seem wise for us to avoid the struggle that would ensue if any serious attempt were made to impose English on any other people or peoples who have the same local and national self-respect that we have. As a result of a recent questionnaire in France and England put before scientists and engineers about 85 per cent of those reporting were in favor of Esperanto. . . . Although not myself a finished Esperantist I have been able to make a more exact and careful business report in Esperanto than in my native English. Every word in Esperanto has an exact meaning and it is not subject to idiomatic variations so common and so annoying in all national mediums of expression.—(Rufus W. Powell.)
THERE IS today a persistent demand for competent religious training. . . . This demand is coming both from the old and the young. If the body and soul are not nurtured and developed apace with the mind, there can be no balance. Without balance, ideals are formed on an uncertain basis. The leaders of tomorrow must have trained minds, but these minds should not be developed at the expense of a moral sense.
Within the next six months there will be opened at Ann Arbor, Mich., the seat of the University of Michigan, “a scientific school of religion,” of a character completely nonsectarian. . . . The school will welcome to its courses members of all faiths. . . .”
“Another evidence of a religious renaissance is the insistent and increasing demand for religious tolerance and co-operation.”—(The Outlook.)
THE PRACTICE of inter-racial justice has not only a spiritual significance, but is followed by an extraordinary train of virtues. Honesty, frankness, understanding, cooperation, friendship, brotherhood, world organization, free-trade, a warless world, some such Utopia as we were wont to call the Kingdom of Heaven on Earth, wait upon the application of inter-racial justice. . . . To me the great spiritual factor about inter-racial justice is this, that you cannot even begin to have justice without love. The great enemy of justice is hate or its close relation, scorn. “To thine own self be true,” unless in some way self is conceived as
connected up with the great divine spirit with its infinite love and understanding of others, which really makes us all one, will not bring the answer, “Thou canst not then be false to any man."—(E. Hollingsworth Wood in “Opportunity.”)
"MAY WE not hope and believe that our revolutions, our discords, our armed revolutions, are behind us and that we have now come to the point where great questions of policy, important problems of procedure, can be settled in the form of argument and debate and submitted to the judgment of an intelligent and patriotic electorate for decision?
“Have we not come to the point where we can enthrone reason and put force in the background as a police to see to it that orderly processes are not interfered with and are, when made known, carried out?" —(President Nicholas Murray Butler of Columbia University in an address at the Bankers Club.—N. Y. Times.)
“WHAT RELIGION needs is a freshening up.
“It needs reviving.
“It needs reinvigoration from the fountain head.
“Two thousand years ago there was a great impulse from Galilee. Now men need a new impulse. You start a locomotive off with its furnace full of coal and it will go a considerable distance with a full head of steam. But if you don’t replenish the fuel, the engine will slow down and finally stop.
“It’s the same way with religions. We are today seeing the slowing down process. The thing that divides men is creeds.”—(Sir Arthur Conan Doyle in Washington News.)
“IF IT DEPENDED on the Japanese, I would have no criminal calendar. As a whole, they are the most law-abiding people I have ever come in contact with.”—(Judge J. W. Thompson, Kona, Hawaiian Islands.)
IT HAD BEEN my privilege on the previous day to meet a large group of French Educational authorities at a luncheon at the Club de la Renaissance Francaise. They were all deeply impressed by the offer of the Associated Colleges of the United States to promote closer international cooperation. . . . Dr. Henri Louis Bergson, the French philosopher, was unable to attend this luncheon, hence my visit to his home.
The plan discussed in detail with Dr. Bergson was based on the assumption that the function of our colleges is not only to turn out learned scholars, but broad-minded citizens. World-viewing education would naturally help to produce a true perspective, and active touch with foreigners should remove many prejudices. In brief, international study and travel were proposed to become a formal college extension with scholastic credits arranged for work done abroad. . . .
“This is one of the most important educational movements of recent years,” said Dr. Bergson; “it is full of hope of great developments. By bringing students and professors in large numbers to other countries, good-will through personal acquaintance will result and the basis of a lasting world-peace will be established by face-to-face and heart-to-heart contact. It is a wonderful movement for the American people to father. By the way,” he continued, “after my last visit to the United States, I made a statement that caused considerable comment—namely, that the people of the United States are idealistic and that they care less for money than other people. True, they like to make money, but they are not interested in keeping it. They care for it only as a means, not as an end; they proceed at once to spend it, to distribute it, to apply it to some practical use.”—(Marcus M. Marks in The American Review of Reviews.)
