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[Page 297]
HISTORY informs us that every age has
its special ties which bind the people together;
but the strongest tie of all ages,
the unbreakable tie which binds the
hearts together, is the tie of true religion. . . .
There is no agency on this planet more potent
then the power of religion. . . . By religion I
mean the world of celestial attributes. After
the moral aspect of humanity becomes re-adjusted,
then the greatest unity will be realized;
but without this moral readjustment it is impossible
to establish harmony and concord, for it is
a fact that war, conflict, friction and strife are
but the visible results of deterioration of morality
and corruption of character. But when the
morality of humanity is beautified with praiseworthy
virtues there will be an end to war. . . .
At a time when the Orient was in the dark night of cataclysmic ignorance, His Holiness, Baha’u’llah, like unto a glorious sun, shone forth from the eastern horizon. In the midst of contention and the clashing rivalries of the Oriental peoples, He boldly proclaimed the doctrine of the oneness of the world of humanity. Numerous souls who had the courage of their convictions gathered under His banner. In order to promote universal peace and the confederation of the nations, they were ever ready to give up their possessions and their lives.
--PHOTO--
Howard MacNutt, prominent Bahá’í teacher, who died in Miami, Florida, December 26, 1926. This, his favorite picture, was taken during his recent season in California. He stands at the grave (in a Los Angeles cemetery) of Thornton Chase, also a distinguished early American Bahá’í teacher. (See page 301).
| VOL. 17 | JANUARY, 1927 | No. 10 |
things, but a spiritual man is always calm and serene under all circumstances.
THE GREATEST problem which arises in the daily life of individual man, is the question of why suffering and misfortune come to us in a universe ruled by a Deity who is both All-Good and All-Powerful. In times of joy and prosperity it is very easy to see the world and all its affairs as rightly ordered. But it is only spiritually awakened man who can see the justice and necessity of tribulations. It requires more of insight than the average person possesses to realize that our trials and tests are a perfect expression of our personality.
We are all imperfect. While our affairs go smoothly and happiness surrounds us, we as a rule are unaware of our imperfections and make no effort to overcome them. It is the tests God sends us which cause us to become conscious of our weaknesses, and to strive to overcome them. Thus tests are a means of spiritual training. And since life here is not for the purpose of quiescence but of growth, it follows that tribulations are inseparable from earthly life. “Man is born unto troubles as the sparks fly upward. (Job 5:7).
THE UNDERSTANDING of this law would clear away the mystery that surrounds suffering and give us patience and even joy in the midst of affliction. More important still, it would eliminate the petulance with which we react to the small and petty troubles that are our daily portion. It is these lesser tests which most ruffle the surface of our lives, for the great tests usually bring with them a certain exaltation of the spirit, a nearness to God which has its own great gift of calm and of spiritual peace.
‘ABDU’L-BAHÁ has made it clear to us, that this earthly life is not, was not intended to be, and never can be paradisiacal. Were it to become so, man would forget God. How prone we are, when all goes well, to feel assurance and support in our own powers. Continued success tends to turn men’s heads, to give them a false conception of their own power, to establish in them a form of self-confidence which is unspiritual, egotistic, and in reality a denial of God, because it is subtly a denial of the great truth that all power is in God, and no power is in us.
The sooner we come to realize our absolute dependence upon God, the sooner we shall be freed from those tests which are necessary to such spiritual development. Yet even the saint is not without tests, which are to him a cause of spiritual health. Radiant acquiescence is the quality with which we should receive our tests, accepting them as daily lessons in the school of life.
MOST of our troubles in this life come from our failure, through certain faults of character, to harmonize with our fellow-beings. Since “Heaven” is a place of peace and love and harmony, it follows that none can be admitted to the Kingdom who have not acquired the qualities of humility, forbearance, justice, quick intuitional understanding of another’s desires and needs, and a loving spirit which strives to meet these needs of others. To those who possess these spiritual qualities to a marked degree, this earth-life becomes heavenly, all disharmonies melting away in the light and heat of love. On the other hand, he who possesses the opposite qualities, such as pride, impatience, inconsiderateness of others, injustice, egoistic obliviousness of the other’s viewpoint, and a selfish spirit which seeks to satisfy self—needs first,—need it be said that this unfortunate individual finds life a very hell?
The bitterness, the tragedy, often, of such a life, may become a potent lesson to us if we but heed; and save us from the need of similar suffering on our own part. For we all partake, to more or less extent, of the characteristics of unspiritual man.
Instead, then, of yielding to irritation when troubles come upon us, let us study ourselves deeply, until we see what fault gave rise to the unhappy situation, or what weakness in us made necessary this strengthening trial. Then, with prayer and gratitude, seeking strength to overcome our fault or weakness, we shall find the trouble quickly vanishing, and we shall attain to serenity again.
TROUBLES come quickly, and as quickly vanish, when their lesson is learned. ‘Abdu’l-Bahá says that when they are gone, it is as if they had never been. They leave no trace of sorrow behind, provided they have had their effect. As the sun dispels clouds, so the grace and mercy of God—which brought on the trial for the soul’s sake—removes the trial when the soul has gained the needed growth.
Life, from this view-point, appears as a phantasmagoria suddenly assuming shapes and as suddenly changing. Life is indeed more ductile, events more fluid than we think. Existence is but clay in the hands of the Potter. There is nothing that is fixed. There is no material possession that can give us security. Things can change over night. The greatest career can fall like a spent rocket when Destiny so wills. Master of a Continent, Napoleon marched on Moscow and returned a broken force.
For us lesser beings, events can change as quickly and as unexpectedly. But be it our great consolation and comfort in time of distress that just as misfortune can come suddenly, so it can go suddenly. We can be assured that every trial has its end, every storm its rainbow. The life of faith experiences again and again the fact that there is no difficulty which cannot be overcome when the right approach is made to God. For spiritual man there are no cul-de-sacs, no unescapable situations. The magic ring which in fairy tales saves the periled hero is no more marvelous in its results than the power of God’s love encircling His seeker. Life rises from a three dimensional to a four dimensional plane, when faith is the guide and sustainer. Dangers and difficulties are indeed but dreams, the power of which ceases when we awake to Reality. ’Abdu’l-Bahá shows us the way to joy:
“THE TRUE pleasure and happiness depend upon the spiritual perception and enjoyment. The powers of mind are the bounties of God given to man to lead him toward spiritual happiness. The highest grace in man is to love God. Love of God,
knowledge of God is the greatest, the only real happiness, because it is nearness to God. This is the Kingdom of God. To love God is to know Him. To know Him is to enter His kingdom and to be near Him.”—(Ten days in the Light of ‘Akká, p. 38).
“THEREFORE, it is evident that life (in its true sense) is the life of the spirit and that life is the love of God, divine inspiration, spiritual joys and glad tidings of God. Seek, O servant of God, this life, until day and night you remain in limitless joy.” (Star of the West, Vol. 7, p. 150).
WIDELY KNOWN throughout the Bahá’í world for his thirty years of devoted service to the Cause of Bahá’u’lláh, Howard MacNutt of Brooklyn, N. Y., passed from this world December twenty-sixth last as a result of injuries received from an accident. Strange and yet full of meaning is the coincidence that his wife, Mary J. MacNutt, had died only one month before from injuries received as a result, also, of an accident. Thus husband and wife having rounded out their long life of service, entered the realm of the Kingdom almost together, and have attained unto the promised everlasting union.
Among the first groups of Americans to visit ’Abdu’l-Bahá, they made a pilgrimage to ’Akká, Palestine, in 1905. Notes of their experiences and conversations with ’Abdu’l-Bahá at that time were included in the book published under the title, “Ten Days in the Light of ’Akká.” A booklet entitled, “Unity Through Love” was issued from Mr. MacNutt’s pen a little later.
Another most important accomplishment of Mr. MacNutt was the compiling and preparing for publication, at the request of ’Abdu’l-Bahá, of His addresses delivered in America. These addresses of ’Abdu’l-Bahá have been published in two volumes under the title, “Promulgation of Universal Peace.”
Mr. MacNutt early in his connection with the Bahá’í Cause undertook the study of Persian and Arabic, and assisted in the translation of the Book of Assurance (Tablet of Ighan) revealed by Bahá’u’lláh. His knowledge of these two languages, in which the Word of God has been set forth in this day, was of great advantage to him in his work.
The teaching activities of both Mr. and Mrs. MacNutt have been most significant. Holding Bahá’í meetings first in their home in New York City for several years and later moving to Brooklyn, their spacious home there was devoted to the services of the Bahá’í Cause for eighteen years. There ’Abdu’l-Bahá made a brief sojourn during His visit to America in 1912; there the moving picture film of ’Abdu’l-Bahá was taken; and there the record of His voice was made.
Early in its history, Mr. MacNutt made connection with that important center, Green Acre (Eliot) Maine,—a connection and love which he maintained to his last days. Many of his best lectures have been given at the Summer Conferences there.
About six years ago Mr. and Mrs. MacNutt severed themselves from their home in Brooklyn, and spent their time in traveling about the country with the one object in view of spreading the Bahá’í Teachings. Yearly they have spent the winter in Miami and other Florida cities, with the exception of one year which was
devoted to a tour throughout the United States, visiting enroute many important centers, and staying the entire winter of that year in the State of California.
Many invitations were extended to Mr. MacNutt to lecture on subjects not especially related to the Bahá’í Cause, but he declined all platforms excepting those where he could speak openly and freely of the Bahá’í Teachings.
What a magnificently rounded life to have lived in the service of the Bahá'í Cause, passing on at the age of sixty-seven to the heavenly Kingdom! The Bahá’ís know full well that this passing is not tragic to the individual whose activities are thus transferred from this world to the world above. In this world, however, he will be greatly missed as a teacher and servant in the Bahá’í Cause.
The following poem written the day after the death of Mrs. MacNutt, but without any knowledge of the passing on the part of the author, seems so perfectly a tribute to Mr. and Mrs. MacNutt that it would seem the soul of the poet was insprired by events unknown to her outer consciousness.
- They have only gone to “Near-By-Land,”
- Though their faces we do not see;
- Yet we think of them in a land afar,
- As we think of some radiant, distant star,
- And we long like them to be free.
- But close to our side is that country fair,
- While there’s only a veil between;
- And our dear ones know and understand
- As they walk by our side in “Near-By-Land”
- And their lights through the darkness gleam.
- They see the trials we needs must bear,
- But they also see the goal,
- And they rejoice at God’s great Plan,
- Which makes all sorrow endured by man,
- An enrichment to his soul.
- They pray for us there, as they prayed for us here,
- And their love thoughts ever send;
- O! think not they are far away,
- They journey beside us day by day,
- And will greet us at the end.
- Will welcome us when we too are called,
- And enter behind the veil;
- Then we shall know and understand,
- How close to our heart was “Near-By-Land”
- And that Love which never fails.
AS TO TRIALS (tests in the path of God) verily, they are necessary. . There is a great wisdom therein of which no one is aware save the wise and knowing.
Were it not for tests, genuine gold could not be distinguished from the counterfeit. Were it not for tests, the courageous could not be known from the coward. Were it not for tests, the people of faithfulness could not be known from those of selfishness. Were it not for tests, the intellects and faculties of the scholars in the great colleges would not be developed. Were it not for tests, the sparkling gems could not be known from worthless pebbles. (Star of the West, Vol. 8, p. 239).
IF THE rain does not pour down, if the wind does not blow, if the storm and tempest do not rage, the soul-refreshing springtime will not appear. If the clouds do not weep the meadows will not laugh. The hurricane and tornado, the cyclone and the blast are the harbingers of the spring.
Likewise, were there no tests and trials, hardships and afflictions, the attraction of the hearts could not be realized, the spiritual fragrances could not be obtained, nor could merciful happiness be acquired and the beauties of the celestial springtime would not have been disclosed. (Star of the West, Vol. 8, p. 239).
THOU HAST questioned concerning ordeals and difficulties and catastrophies—“Are these from God or the result of man’s (own) evil deeds?”
Know thou that ordeals are of two kinds: One kind is for trial (to test the soul), and the other is punishment for actions. (“As a man soweth so shall he also reap.”) That which is for testing is educational and developmental, and that which is the punishment for deeds is severe retribution.
The father and the teacher sometimes humor the children and then again discipline them. This discipline is for educational purposes and is indeed to give them true happiness; it is absolute kindness and true providence. Although in appearance it is wrath yet in reality it is kindness. Although outwardly it is an ordeal yet inwardly it is purifying water.
Verily, in both cases we must supplicate and implore and commune to the Divine Threshold in order to be patient in ordeals. (Star of the West, Vol. 8, p. 235).
IT IS MY hope that during the time of tests thou mayest remain in the utmost firmness and steadfastness, so that like unto a lamp thou mayest be protected within the glass, and be not extinguished by the blowing of winds. . . . Be thou resolute and steadfast. When the tree is firmly rooted it will bear, fruit, therefore it is not permitted to be agitated by any test. Be thou not disheartened! Be thou not discouraged! The trials of God are many, but if man remains firm and steadfast the test itself is a stepping-stone for the progress of humanity. (From Tablets to American Believers).
WE ARE living in a day when so many people rely wholly or solely upon matter. They imagine that the size of a great ship, that the perfection of the machinery or the skill of a captain will ensure the safety of a vessel. These things (referring to
the recent sinking of the magnificent steamship, the Titanic, through the collision with an iceberg) take place sometimes that men may know that there is a Protector and that is God. If God protects man, if it be His will, a little ship sometimes escapes death, but if he shall rely solely on a ship, though it be the greatest, biggest ship, though it may be well built, though the captain be the best captain, yet in a danger such as was present on the ocean it may not survive or escape, so that the people of the world may know that they must turn to the One who is the Protector. So that souls may rely upon the preservation of God and that they may know that he is the real Keeper. These events do sometimes occur for such reasons as those stated. They take place in order that man’s faith may increase. . . .
But let no one imagine that these words should lead men to think that they must not be thorough in their undertakings. God has endowed man with intelligence, so that he may use his intelligence. Therefore, he must supply himself with all that science can offer. He must be most deliberate and most careful. He must be ever thorough in his undertakings. He must build a thing well, build the best ship that his ingenuity can lead him to, and employ the most skilled captain, but with all that let him rely upon God. Let him consider God as the One Keeper. (‘Abdu’l-Bahá, Star of the West, Vol. 3, No. 3, p. 15).
SPIRITUAL enjoyments bring always joy. The love of God brings endless happiness. These are joys in themselves and not alleviations. The life of animals is more simple than that of man. Animals have all their needs supplied for them. All the grasses of the meadows are free to them. The birds build their nests in the branching trees and the palaces of kings are not so beautiful. If earthly needs are all then the animals are better supplied than man. But man has another food, the heavenly manna of the knowledge of God. All the divine Prophets and Manifestations appeared in the world that this heavenly manna might be given to man. This is the food which fosters spiritual growth and strength and causes pure illumination in the souls of men. (Star of the West, Vol. 7, p. 155).
”THE SOUL of man must be happy, no matter where he is. One must attain to that condition of inward beatitude and peace, then outward circumstances will not alter his spiritual calmness and joyousness. . . . When the spirit is confirmed and assisted by the confirmation of the Holy Spirit then it will show its effect in every condition of the world of existence. (Star of the West, Vol. 7, pp. 161, 177).
THE DIVINE ideals are humility, submissiveness, annihilation of self, perfect evanescence, charity and loving kindness. You must die to self and live in God. You must be exceedingly compassionate to each other and to all the people of the world. Love and serve mankind just for the sake of God and not for anything else. The foundation of your love toward humanity must be spiritual faith and divine assurance. . . . Man must become evanescent and self-denying. Then all the difficulties and hardships of the world will not touch him. He will become like unto a sea, although on its surface the tempest is raging and the mountainous waves rising, in its depths there is complete calmness. (Star of the West, Vol. 7, pp. 184, 185).
“God is the God of the living, not of the dead.”—Jesus.
“The Godhead is effective in the living and not in the dead, in the becoming and the changing, not in the become and set-fast; and therefore, similarly, the reason is concerned only to strive towards the divine through the becoming and the living.”—Goethe.
“In an age of spiritual isolation, an age without leaders in statesmanship, or philosophy, or art, or religion, no man among us can trust any other man to do his thinking for him.”—James Priceman in “Chaos and a Creed.”
THE CREEDS and dogmas of the world are in chaos. “The become and the set-fast” is no longer able to resist the on-rush of the becoming and the living. Men can live for only a limited time on the grains and fruits stored through the bounty of last year’s sun. The creeds and dogmas of the past, long since “the become and the set-fast,” are now entirely inadequate food for the becoming and the living in this new, restless and searching age. Yet out of the wreckage men are endeavoring to erect a House of Faith. The task is impossible. There is no man-made cement which by any possibility can bind together the wreckage.
The comparative study of religions is a praiseworthy attempt to discover the oneness of their ethical teachings but affords no basis for organic unity. To know, as Max Muller puts it, that all the religious systems teach their followers “to love the good God and be good” is illuminating, but something more vital is needed to remove prejudice and create oneness. Men do not follow and die for a Prophet because of His ethical teachings. The first recognize in Him a spiritual kingship and dominion, “The Power of the Great Ether,” a something dynamic, and then accept His moral teachings as divine guidance. The vital power in any of the great faiths is the life of its Manifestation Himself and the perpetuation of that life in His followers. Jesus said, “The words that I speak, they are spirit and they are life;” and it is the spiritual power in the teachings of the Divine Manifestations as demonstrated in human life which constitutes the constantly becoming and changing, the living and dynamic in religion.
Consciousness of the Inner Reality is ever the becoming, ever the changing, inasmuch as capacity to contact that Reality is progressively developed and an added consciousness of the real meaning and power of the divine teachings is constantly being attained. “I have many things to tell you,” said Jesus, “but ye cannot bear them now;” the plain implication being that through this constantly becoming and changing His followers would in time become capable of understanding the revelations of the Spirit of Truth when He should manifest Himself.
Through the “Religion of Majestic Oneness,” “an increasing purpose runs”—a living promise and a living hope of the fulfillment of that promise. Jesus Himself was in His own person the very embodiment of prophecy and the spirit of hope. He constantly referred to the prophecies and promises of the Holy Books, and proclaimed Himself to be their fulfillment. So vivid and powerful were His prophetic utterances that the early Christians expected the almost immediate descent of the kingdom of God. Jesus knowing the stimulating power of hope permitted them to so believe.
This promise and hope is the living principle in the teachings of all the Divine Manifestations.
What we need is a comparative study of religions to discover the living tie of prophecy which binds them all together as one great household of faith. And it is astonishing not to say miraculous, when we consider that the various scriptures of the world were written in different languages, in different cycles of history, to different races of people and under entirely different conditions, that they should all proclaim this great hope and expectation with such beauty and clearness.
This hope and promise runs through the ancient religion of India as a golden thread. Krishna in his great Incarnation was to come from the Paradisian country to the northwest, over the Himalaya mountains, riding upon a white horse. And this hope is expressed in the fourth chapter of the Bhavagad-Gita as follows:
“Both I and thou have passed through many births, O harasser of thy foes! Mine are known unto me, but thou knowest not of thine.
“O son of Barata, whenever there is a decline of virtue and an insurrection of vice and injustice in the World, then I incarnate from age to age for the preservation of the just, the destruction of the wicked, and the establishment of righteousness.”
In the Ambattha Sutta, an ancient Brahman book, we find a similar expectation of a coming Messiah. The Brahman Pokkharasadi sends his disciple to inquire whether Buddha is the Great Man with the “thirty-two signs” who “after conquering the ocean girt earth without a rod and without a sword” is to sit enthroned.
As for the Buddhist religion, it is well known that Buddha claimed to remember a great number of past incarnations and gave the Buddhist world the distinct hope and promise of the coming of the “Greater Buddha.”
Zoroaster taught “a reign of happy time” to come, when a beautiful temple with a thousand pillars would be built upon the top of Mount Alburz which would have no need of the sun to give it light by day or of the moon to light it by night because it would be lighted from within. At that time three great Spiritual Teachers would appear.
The Hebrew Prophets taught that when the day of God came the mountain of the Lord’s house would be established upon the tops of the mountains and the nations would flow to it. They also taught that this great Day of God would be ushered in by three great spiritual teachers or trumpets: first, the Messenger of the Covenant; second, the Great Manifestation who would rebuke strong nations afar off; third, the “Surrendered One,” described so beautifully and so wonderfully in the 42d Chapter of Isaiah.
At the transfiguration of Jesus, "His face did shine as the sun.” Moses and Elias were seen with Him and at His ascension two others were present and addressed the disciples saying, “This same Jesus which is taken up from you into heaven shall so come in like manner as ye have seen Him go into heaven,” i. e., from the heaven of the Will of God with two others, one like Moses, the great law-giver, and one like Elijah.
The Islamic world was taught that at the Day of Resurrection when the Spirit (Christ) was to stand in rank with the angels, three spiritual trumpets would be sounded.
The spiritual unity of the world’s religions is this hope and expectation, this promise of fulfillment, this stimulating becoming and living, this progressive ideal which is exactly the
same in each one of them. Each of the Founders was the living embodiment of this spirit. The oneness of the religions is the oneness of this spirit; and the oneness of God is the Oneness of His Divine Manifestations. God is one, His Spirit is one, His Manifestations are one. Their outer laws and customs vary from age to age in accordance with the requirements of the people and the conditions of the time. But the Spirit is One. The real (not their nominal) followers of the Divine Manifestations have always witnessed a succession of soul experiences, a progressive development in capacity to understand.
One and the same great Teacher, under varying aspects, has been the Founder of every one of these great religions and from the beginning has been the Universal Teacher of mankind.
In this, our own Age and Cycle, this Universal Teacher has revealed the spiritual teachings for the Era. of Universals, and the three trumpets for the day of Resurrection are plainly heard in The Báb, Bahá’u’lláh and ‘Abdu’l-Bahá.
of God is the penetration and potency of His Word, the cultivation of heavenly attributes in the hearts and lives of His followers and the bestowal of divine education upon the world of humanity. This is absolute proof.”
—’Abdu’l-Bahá
The following brief notes of the Conference held in Cleveland, Ohio., November 26, 27, 28, 1926—the sixth in the series of World Unity Conferences—contain extracts from the brilliant addresses of some of the leading thinkers of our country along lines of world unity and inter-national good will. From a complete report of the Conference, we have chosen a few of the most vital statements which we feel will be inspiring and illuminating to the general reader.–Editor.
NOW AND then events happen in every community which have deep significance however much unheralded they may be generally. The World Unity Conference held in Cleveland on November 26th, 27th, and 28th, 1926, marked a distinct step in the progress of thought with reference to World Unity. Although such occurrences seem to create but a ripple on the surface of the complacency of a large city, results may be far reaching. If but a few can be made to feel the spiritual leaven which is working in the world today, the effort is amply rewarded.
The speakers at the first of the three meetings of the Conference were Dr. Dilworth Lupton of the First Unitarian Church, and Dr. Joel Hayden of Fairmount Prebyterian Church. This meeting was held in the Woman’s City Club. The Chairman, Mr. Horace Holley of New York, very ably presented the purpose of the Conference, in his introductory talk, from which the following is quoted:
“The purpose of these meetings is rather to make a direct appeal to that spiritual element innate in every human heart, so that as we go forth from this Conference we shall have abandoned at least a few of those prejudices that bar us out and veil us from the reality of our fellowman, so that we may be to some degree at least conscious of that great spiritual power which many people feel has been released in the world today to unify the East and the West, to produce a harmony and a relationship between the various factors of human life so that civilization may be a reflection of that harmony that always exists for the spiritual man in the unseen world.”
Dr. Dilworth Lupton was introduced as the first speaker, his subject being “Truce and Peace.” He sounded a note of warning pointing out that what the world has termed “Peace” since the war, is nothing more than a “Truce.” He said that America must be awakened to her responsibilities. As individuals we must try “to create a sentiment and an opinion that is favorable to peace.” Also he said that group action is of the utmost importance. “This very meeting tonight,” he continued, “seems to me a real endeavor to bring together a group of people thinking about this thing, planning about this thing and praying about this thing. . I don’t see in all the world a greater challenge today to the young people than to get behind this great movement for world peace.” In closing he quoted from an address he had heard by Stoddard Kennedy an English Clergyman who had served in the world war and who had “seen humanity crucified. God cries out to you. You must learn to live together. You must learn to live together, and you will suffer till you do.”
Chairman Holley’s remarks following this address are so important on the subject of America’s part, that excerpts are here given:
“I know no better way to illustrate the essential difference between America and the older nations of Europe and the East than to remind you that seated on this platform as honored guests of this Conference, are men representing many races and nations of Europe and the Near East and the Far East; men who, through their American citizenship, have learned to live together in cooperation and in peace; men whose lives are no longer affected by those particular problems that might bring their respective countries together in some political conflict at any time.
“Therefore it is particularly necessary that the new spirit of peace and unity should emanate from this country and from America and go outward throughout the world. Many people have condemned our government and people for the reason that not yet has America made that supreme moral contribution to the life of this age which has been so expectantly awaited both by her own citizens and by the peoples of other countries. But it is necessary to realize that had America, for example, fifty years ago, led a movement for world unity, such a movement could only have unified the world as it was fifty years ago, when many of the peoples of the world were submerged beneath their governments and their rulers. There could have been no human unity under those conditions, but only a sterile unity in the political realm. It may well be that the mighty arm of this country is held for us until there is born in our hearts a realization that peace is not cessation from armed warfare, but peace is a universal relationship between the children of men. What we need is an economic peace, as well as political peace, and a religious peace as well as the peace of capital and labor. By this thought it seems to me we see the connection between the two subjects on our program tonight. Because certainly the lesson that we all drew from Dr. Lupton’s address was the need of a religious basis for all efforts toward world unity today.”
Dr. Joel Hayden, the second speaker of the evening, had for his subject, “The Religious Basis of World Unity.” Dr. Hayden first stressed the “difficulties which confront any one who tries to make clear that there is some basis for world unity in this experience of mankind which we call religion.” Continuing, he said, “I know of nothing more significant for us as men and women who are striving for world unity than to begin in our own communities in bringing together people of profoundly different religions and attempting in a scientific spirit to appraise objectively the facts upon which this religious experience is based, where those facts apparently agree, how they can be measured and related.” And again he said, “Religion brings us face to face with the fact that mind is operating; that you never get beyond anything in this world except through it. The mind of man is always personal and the personal brings you up to the essential mystery of the universe.
“Every great world religion today is moving along that same line in its explanation of the shortness of life, the bitterness of life, the apparent tragedy and injustice of life. Here I am a man, and man in his reality is superior to the material universe. That which we are is greater than material forces which might threaten us with destruction. . . . The genius of religious cooperation, in the long run, depends on the meeting, not of master and servant but the meeting of minds in friendship with a practical task of doing the impossible.
And who is sufficient for these things? Religion says ‘God.’ And where is the realm of God? Lo, it is not here nor there! It is within.”
AT THE second meeting of the Conference, held also at the Woman’s City Club, Judge George S. Adams presided. In his introductory remarks, Judge Adams stated that in view of the fact that the elements of war seemed again to be gathering, Cleveland welcomed meetings of the nature of the Unity Conference. His remarks were most significant and illuminating. Some excerpts follow:
“We haven’t learned to think in world terms, and so we know very little about our neighbors in other parts of the world. . . . . . A great many people are like the man who said to me, ‘My wife and my son John and his wife, we four and no more.’ I think a very large percentage of the people would stop with that stage of development. Then there are other people who have broken their shell and can take an interest in the affairs of other people. They are the ones who are really worth while. . . . . .
“When we speak of patriotism as the love of country, we don’t mean the land, although we sing, ‘I love thy rocks and rills,’ etc. After all it isn’t the rocks and rills we love. It is the human association that goes with the rocks and rills. After all, it is our neighbors that we love. And if we love our neighbors, we should devote ourselves to the ideals and institutions of our country which guarantee equal rights to all our neighbors, shouldn’t we?
“And then of necessity, if we want our neighbors to have equal rights, there is a larger patriotism which embraces the world and is the patriotic expression of the golden rule. This would make it treason to make war, save for the preservation of natural rights.
“When we speak of ‘our country, right or wrong,’ we realize that is a spurious patriotism. . . . It is selfishness diluted.
“So if civilzation is to last, we nust learn to take a larger view of the world’s affairs and a more unselfish point of view in those matters. We mustn’t be so intensely practical, so utilitarian. We must not be governed by statistics, these graphs that people make, and measure everything by dollars and cents.
“I hope the time will come when we will be talking more about the ideal, and if we do, I have an idea, too, that we will be talking practical sense.”
Prof. Adolphus Miller of Ohio State University spoke on the subject, “Scientific and Religious Tendencies Toward World Unity.” Prof. Miller said in part:
“Now the difference between science and religion is the difference between description and exaltation. Science tells the things that are, and religion emphasizes things that ought to be. Science is inexorable; it is inevitable. It simply formulates the laws of things that are taking place, and they take place whether you have formulated the laws or not. But an understanding of science helps very greatly in the exaltation at least of the things towards which science aims. . . . Modern science has done a great deal to do one thing which leads toward unity. I perhaps had better say that all the way through the lesson I am trying to draw is the fact that there is a universality about natural science which makes for the unity of course in the use of the principles which science has developed. Science also has a great deal to do with the acceleration of communication,
bringing the world together.
“Now this interest, in science and the impersonal character of science make for unity, and many of the problems which this new development of communication bring about, by their very discovery are immediately international. For instance in Europe, where, as H. G. Wells says, the size of the country was determined by the distance a king could travel on horseback, the invention of radio has immediately made radio-broadcasting an international problem that couldn’t possibly be avoided, and they already have made a great deal of progress in this development of international relation in regard to broadcasting. . . .
“I was at the University of Stamboul of Constantinople, where all the students were Muhammadans, and the Professor of Sociology being away, the students gathered around me and asked questions about sociology. There happened to be one member who spoke good English. The class was half girls. Five years ago there wasn’t a single girl in the University. Now in the College of Arts half of them are girls. They had bobbed hair, short skirts, and were indistinguishable from my girls at Columbus.
“We happened to talk about, as an illustration of social progress, the ‘Woman’s Movement’ and one of the girls said, ‘Of course we don’t think there is any difference in the capacity of men and women.’ These Muhammadan girls who had not been allowed to show their faces five years ago, had attained that advancement in five years. They did it because modern science had told them what experience could not possibly tell. We sometimes say experience is the value of common sense. Science and philosophy deal with uncommon sense and are far more real than common sense. This I think has been proven.
“Now race prejudice was a normal thing when people first came into contact. Most of the people in the history of the world have lived as Judge Adams did and never heard a foreign language. Most of the people in our generation have lived all their lives without having seen or known people who looked different from themselves, and when the contacts began it was perfectly normal that they should be prejudiced, and there was built up a lot of tradition that supported these prejudices and which it was difficult to disprove.
“Here was one group with one color that had one culture, and another group of another color had another culture. Of course it was obvious that the ones with the one color and one culture thought they had the superior culture and it wasn’t until anthropology and psychology had been called in, in the last five years, that it was demonstrated that there is no question about it, that there is no basis whatever for that old theory. .
“What happened in science has been happening in a different way in religion. . . .
“Each religion has to look to its virtues and not to its associations in its competition with other religions. One of the most valuable things that could possibly happen to Christianity is the fact that it now must compete with Muhammadanism. I think in all probability in the long run the Turkish revolution will prove as important as the Russian revolution, because it has opened up the Muhammadan world with some two hundred and fifty million people to modernism.
“I confess that I knew very little about Muhammadanism, and I asked everywhere, ‘Is it possible for Muhammadans to accept science and progress and stay devout?’ Everywhere I received the answer, ‘Perfectly.’
“Now Muhammadanism has some things in it which the Christian world
can well admire. In the first place, the Muhammadan world is the world in which all the races meet—the white, the black, the brown, and the yellow. Its position is most accurately a strategic one, and strangely enough in the Muhammadan world this race problem never arose. I was in a street car in Constantinople and the conductor was as black as coal, and it seemed so strange to see a conductor in a street car not only black, but not talking English. He was talking Turkish, and he was an Arabian. He was jollying the people and making them move up front, and nobody took any offense.
“Among Muhammadans other Muhammadans are brothers, without respect to culture or to color. . . . . Science has already shown that this is true, and it must be followed by practice.
“I was at dinner with two prominent sheiks, one who had written a book on Muhammadanism, for which he was called a heretic; and also another who was being tried for the book he wrote. There was quite a bit in the papers. They were devout but modern. I asked them all sorts of questions, and then they wanted to ask me a question, ‘How does modern sociology deal with behaviorism and psycho-analysis? And I thought when Muhammadans asked that question, I didn’t need to worry about modernism.
“We are actually reaching a point where all intelligent people in the world are about at the same place. They talk the same language with regard to spiritual values and they accept the same science. They are kept apart in very many cases by ecclesiastical affiliations, and they felt in many cases it was impossible to go from one religion to another.
“Now it is an interesting fact that American missionaries in Turkey are not allowed to teach religion. I was invited to talk to the Anglo meeting of the missionaries in Turkey. I told them I thought they were the luckiest missionaries there were anywhere. What they had to do was to try to find a technique to get over to their pupils in their schools the things that are just as true to Muhammadanism as to Christianity, and that their business was not to try by any method to make Christians out of these Turks, but to make good Muhammadans. The interesting thing was that, with the exception of one or two old men, they were all heartily in sympathy and practicing that idea. In other words, you have Christian missionaries who have discovered that the thing that is common to all religions is far more important than the things that are different. . . .
“Now our civilization may slip, but it seems to me that the scientific developments and religious developments at the present moment give us plenty of basis for hope that at least the next civilization will succeed and if we can beat catastrophe to it, even our civilization may be saved.”
Dr. John Herman Randall’s subject was, “The New Spirit Making for World Unity.” Excerpts from this remarkable address follow:
“Fourteen years ago, in 1912, there came to this country for the first time, a man by the name of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá. He came from the country that had been the home of Judaism and the birthplace of Christianity. He spent forty years of His life in prison, in prison by the political authorities, aided and abetted by the religious authorities of His country.
“The doors of many of the leading churches and synagogues in this country were thrown open to this man, and He addressed large audiences in Boston, New York, Philadelphia, Washington, and Chicago. He spoke here in Cleveland, I think,
and in other centers of this land. When He talked of religion, He talked about love and good will and peace upon earth. These things, of course, were not new, and He disclaimed that the religion that He was proclaiming was a new religion. What He tried to make clear was the fact that He was trying to bring to the mind consciousness of people the real essence of their religion, whether they called it Christianity, Buddhism, or by any other name whotsoever.
“The thing that did sound new and strange was the fact that He translated these old familiar words of love and good will and peace upon earth, and brotherhood, into terms of unity; the oneness of all mankind; the unity of all races regardless of religion; the underlying harmony between science and religion; the unity that lies at the basis of all the great religious systems of the world. And He pointed out most clearly that a religion that was to be translated into terms of this unity, this fellowship of all races and all classes and all individuals, was a unity that could only come about through the abandonment of our present prejudices, through the laying aside of our ignorance and antagonism against people, against classes and against races; that it could only come about as we entered into the consciousness of the spirit of oneness of all men and came to realize that all mankind belongs to the same great family.
“On this visit to our country, ‘Abdu’l-Bahá also pointed out that these intense and selfish nationalisms, these national antagonisms we were holding and fostering within our minds, would inevitably tend toward catastrophe, and lead to some great outbreak, some world war.
“This man had the appearance of one of the early Hebrew Prophets. His spirit was the spirit of the gentle Nazarene. All who came into contact with Him during the spring and summer of 1912, felt the greatness of His personality, the sincerity of His character, the humility of His life, the selflessness of His spirit. . . .
“When this man came from across the seas with His gentle spirit, His far-seeing vision, and when He told us that after all, religion—the religion of Christianity, the religion of Judaism, the religion of Muhamadanism, the religion of Buddhism, the religion of Zoroastrianism, the religion of Confucianism—all the great religions of the world in essence meant the same thing,—love and good will, fellowship and brotherhood, translated into terms of unity, of sympathy, of oneness with all who live and strive everywhere,—it was only the very few who heard Him who understood and saw the significance of the message. . . .
“Now, whether many of us see it as yet or not, every historian throughout the world knows today that after the events of the last ten or fifteen years the world can never again be the same as it was in the past. Whatever else the war did, this much is clear to the thoughtful minds in all lands today—the world now must either go forward to higher ground, or it must inevitably go backward. There is no standing still; there is no getting back to normal; there is no resuming once again the kind of life that was lived here prior to 1914 as between nations and races and classes. The world must go forward, or else it must steadily degenerate into lower things. . . .
“Now there is the second great idea emerging today that in human evolution we have at last reached the point where man can direct the forces of evolution, if he will, to whatsoever ideal he may choose.
“Now the third thing, that is day-light plain I think to all thoughtful minds today, is that the old system in which this world of ours has been conducted up to today or up to the
time of the war, is hopelessly bankrupt, it has served its term, whatsoever that has been, and that to try to continue the old system in world affairs is nothing less than suicidal, for it means the inevitable coming of other wars, and as Premier Baldwin says, it means therefore the destruction of civilization.
“Read the books by Bertrand Russell, read the books that are coming from the pens of practically all our leading philosophers and psychologists, and you will find that all of them say the same thing: Our world as constituted today cannot go on, on the old basis, on the old principle, on the old methods.
“The next great idea that is emerging in human consciousness today is this: Because the old system is bankrupt and hopeless, there must come a new and higher synthesis in the life of man.
“Trade and commerce move between all lands freely today, between all countries. We are bound together in an economic unit, so what hurts one hurts all and what helps one helps all. No nation can go up without all nations going up. Likewise no nation can go down without all nations going down.
“Last month there came together in the city of Vienna the delegates from all the cities of Europe and organized the Pan-European League, an economic league, and the thing stated over and over again in expressions from the platform and from the floor was, ‘We never will be content until we have a United States of Europe,’ thus recognizing the fact that the people of Europe, regardless of country or race, depend now on getting together in some kind of unity, cooperation, and pulling together. You remember Victor Hugo said before he died, ‘We have today the United States of America, tomorrow we will have the United States of Europe, then one day we shall have the United States of the World.’ That prophecy is coming before our eyes. . . .
“It is the struggling between the old spirit and the new that is going on today, and it is your duty and mine, if you have a glimpse of the future, of the unified world, the world of commonwealth in which humanity has learned to live its life in harmony and peace, it is our duty to see to it that unceasingly, morning, noon and night, from the housetop and the street corner, everywhere and every place, you and I are standing for the new spirit and the things involved in the new spirit.
“The great watchword of today and tomorrow will be that one word-unity. Oh, how pitiful seem all our little differences, our little jealousies, our petty animosities! How pitiful and childish in an age like this, so critical for the future of humanity, seem all those prejudices that now separate us from one another and keep us apart, and deepen gulfs between us, and build bars and barriers around us!
“Isn’t it time? Isn’t it time that we should begin to live not as children, but as full-grown men and women? Isn’t it time that we should begin to live our life on this little planet, together, in the spirit of unity, of fellowship, and of love? Of one thing I am sure. When the historian of tomorrow writes down the history of today, he will say beyond peradventure, that the men and women in this critical first half of the twentieth century that helped in anyway the progress of mankind, were the men and women who had set their faces steadily in the direction of world unity and fellowship and cooperation.”
THE THIRD session of the Conference was held in the Western Reserve
Chapel, Dr. Ali Kuli Khan presiding. In his introductory remarks Dr. Khan brought out most emphatically the need of attaining to a divine civilization, showing how the material civilization devoid of the spirit cannot last. He said among other things: “But the world war, friends, brought about a change in the consciousness of humanity, for they realized that unless certain spiritual principles which had been considered only an ideal never to be arrived at this side of the kingdom of heaven, were made to become manifest in a visible and tangible form, and unless the different individuals constituting the different nations of the world would individually and then collectively go forth and work for the establishment of human peace and human unity, the wisdom of our political and intellectual age would be of no avail to creat that state of beatitude.”
Rabbi Hillel Silver, the first speaker of the evening, chose for his subject “The One and the Many.” Excerpts from his address follow:
“It now becomes necessary in society, in some society, to emphasize anew the cooperative quality of human existence. Individualism has gone so far that education is beginning to realize the imperative need of stressing again the fact that the highest life is made possible only in community life; that a man can fulfill his destiny only as he lends himself to the highest ideals of a group; that it takes the best in our neighbor to bring out the best in us; that no man can grow through his own resources solely, it takes the outer sympathy, the contact with other minds and with the social heritage, the legacy of the past, to fulfill ourselves most completely.
“The problem of civilization is to discover what common human denominator, what common human need is common to all religions and to all peoples, and then to organize peoples and religions into voluntary cooperative efforts to meet these covenants; it is the problem of preserving uniqueness in the world, the oneness, and at the same time the voluntary organization of these separate units into voluntary cooperative groups to serve basic, common purposes. This is the job of modern civilization, and in that sense only, friends, religions can meet and nations can meet.
“And when Jew and Christian, or Muhammadan and Buddhist, or the representatives of all the religions on God’s earth, will realize that their source is one God, that their destiny is one—the service of man—they will get together to fulfill their destiny, deriving their inspiration from a common source. They will meet rarely; the walls of their churches will separate them. But the spirit, the underlying spirit of their faiths grounded in God, aspiring to service, will unite them. Their prayer books will remain different; their prayers will be one. That is the task, friends, of the twentieth century, perhaps the task of the next thousand years. What keeps religions from meeting? What keeps peoples from meeting? I would designate all that keeps peoples and religions from meeting by one term—imperialism—this old primitive notion of the domination of the many over the one.
“The subject of world unity is as old as Amos and Isaiah and Jesus, and all the great religious leaders of the Asiatic world which has given us all our great religious teachers. Surely our churches, our temples, and our synagogues, and our mosques, have much more to do in the world today than fight about definitions and man-fashioned theologies and creeds which are manipulated by time and circumstances. Surely in the minds of a
world which has just witnessed the ghastliest war of all times, the churches and the synagogues and all other religious institutions have a great deal to do.
“World unity, my friends, is the ultimate goal. It is not an idea which can be achieved merely by wishing. It is an ideal which can be achieved only through tireless labor and endless persistence of all lovers of the Fatherhood of God and the brotherhood of man. Peace does not come as a radiant maiden bearing gifts; peace will come, if it ever comes, friends, peace among the races, of peoples and peace among religions, as a man of sorrows, spat upon, and mocked and denied. You are being summoned not to an easy task nor a pleasant task. Men will misunderstand you. Men will accuse you of lack of patriotism. Men will accuse you of rebellions and revolutions,—as all who prayed for the new day were damned as traitors. But if this is dear to your heart, if you are true disciples of Jeremiah or Jesus or Buddha or Confucius or Zoroaster or ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, you must be prepared to take on the cross and the crown, yes, and the immortality of leadership in the world.”
Chairman Khan, in his remarks which followed the much appreciated address of Rabbi Silver, said:
“The oneness of mankind is a theme which has been dwelt upon by the various sages and Prophets of the human race from time immemorial. Pindar, the poet of ancient Greece, said that God created man into men in order that they might help one another. This wonderful expression was, however, a poetical symbolism, for the deeds of civilization of the ancient enlightened Greeks never approached the preliminary steps toward the realization of such an ideal, for at the same time that Pindar spoke as he did, the Greeks looked upon themselves as the only civilized people, the blessed of the gods, and upon the entire human race outside the small country of Greece as barbarians.
“With every step in the progress of the human race from its infancy through the various ages tending to its maturity, we have here and there men of foresight and insight who have stressed that fact, but it remained for the day of the maturity of the human race, which according to all the prophecies of the past is no other than this, and in the present day, the world is to witness the realization of that great, fact. I, therefore, think that the coming world religion will be no other than the one which visualizes and epitomizes in the life of every human individual the eternal fact that in the mind of God the oneness of mankind has ever been an accomplished fact.”
Dr. John Herman Randall, the last speaker of the evening, had for his subject, “The Coming World Religion.” Dr. Randall said in part:
“Now, my friends, it seems to me with these facts which the science of comparative religions is making so clear to us today, that all religions are fundamentally as one, that in their great, prophetic sources they are the expression of the same fundamental impulse of man’s soul toward God and man’s outreaching toward his fellows, man’s hunger and thirst after righteousness. And as time goes on, the things that are added, all of these dogmas and creeds and ceremonies, they are the things man fashions, human men, that tend to divide and separate and breed the spirit of intolerance and rivalry.
“Religion in its fundamental and
essential impulses and aspirations is just as truly in the world today as it has ever been. Our churches were weakened in influence and power in every community because the vast majority are still trying to translate religion into terms of an age that is forever gone, in the language that is to the newer generation an obsolete and meaningless talk.
“If we are convinced today that the world cannot stand still, that it must either go forward to higher grounds or else go backward, it seems to me that we must take the same position about religion today, for our religion simply reflects the weakness of our age. If religion cannot stand still, it must either go forward or else backward. Now if it is to move forward, what lines may that movement take? In the first place, I feel very sure in my own mind that if world religion is worthy of that name, it will be a religion whose outlook is universal and not particular. I mean by that, a religion whose God is the God of all humanity, not the God of a single race or a single nation,—therefore, a religion that recognizes in every man of every race and every clime, a brother, a member together in this living body of humanity.
“The second characteristic of the religion that is the coming world religion, in my judgment, will be this: It will consist of the best and truest in all religions.
“The third characteristic of the coming world religion in which the common denominator, the essential spiritual unity underlying all differences, shall be discovered, will be this: It will consist primarily in a kind of life, not in a kind of creed, not in a kind of ecclesiastical organization, not in any particular rites. or form. It will consist of living in a certain way under the inspiration of certain values and ideals under the guidance of certain principles through the dominance of the spirit of good will and of love.
“The fourth characteristic of the coming world religion will be this: It will be a religion whose intellectual expression is in harmony with the best thought of the age. . . . An age like this, if it demands anything at all of religion, is demanding a religion that shall satisfy the soul of the saint, without at the same time insulting the intelligence of the scholar.
“Then in the fifth place, another characteristic of the coming world religion will be this: It must be of necessity a social religion and not an individual religion. In other words, its great business and purpose will be not to save a few individual souls and see them safely through this wicked world to some distant heaven of bliss, but its purpose will be to save the world, the world of politics, the world of business, the world of art, the world of leisure, all these manifold worlds in which man lives his life. . .
“I am very sure that the coming world religion will thus be a social religion, not an individualistic thing. Its great aim and end will be nothing less than the transforming of the life of all mankind into a social relationship, and by that means the transforming of the life of the individual. If I were trying to sum up in a single sentence, I would say this: Since religion cannot remain as it is, since religion must not be allowed to go backward, it must go forward to higher and nobler things. It must, as it seems to me, move along the lines that I have here indicated, and to sum it all up, it will be a religion in which knowledge and love will go hand in hand. . . And it seems to me in the coming world religion, there will be that full recognition that not love or good will alone, that not knowledge or intelligence alone, but knowledge and intelligence plus the spirit of love and good will, that shall
lead and guide us into that closer fellowship, that truer cooperation, that nobler union in the cause of humanity.
“It may be that there are some of you here tonight, my friends, are saying, ‘Yes, that is a beautiful dream, and it has been dreamed by all the great prophetic souls in the past, but it can never be realized. It is too good to become true in a world like this.’ I am here to remind you that in these World Unity Meetings that have been held in your city, under the auspices of the Bahá’í Movement, we have an illustration, not of a dream, not of an ideal, but of a living reality that is here in this world today, that has extended its influence tightly around this globe, that knows its followers by the tens and hundreds of thousands.
“‘Abdu’l-Baha, when He was in this country speaking as He did in many of our leading churches and synagogues, made it very clear that the Bahá’í Movement did not represent a new religion, but rather a renewal of the fundamental essence of all religions. . . . ‘Abdu’l-Bahá gave to the world also the great Principles,—The Investigation of Truth, the Abandonment of all Prejudices, the Essential Onenes of all Humanity, The Unity Uunderlying All Religions, the Harmony at the basis of Science and Religion, the Equality of Men and Women, Universal Peace, an International Tribunal, a Universal Auxiliary Language and Universal Education.
“These were some of the great Principles declared by ‘Abdu’l-Bahá fifteen years ago (interpreting thus some of the fundamental laws given to the world by Bahá’u’lláh over sixty years ago) that will make for the dawning of the New Age, the coming of world unity through cooperation, through fellowship, through the spirit of good will and love.
“My friends, it is in that spirit that we meet here tonight. . . . Do not give up your old beliefs, if they are precious and meaningful to you, only whether you be a Christian or Jew, or Muhammadan, or Buddhist, or what not, do not rest content until you have found your way down beneath all your particular beliefs and ideas and notions about religion that underlie common denominations, to that essential spirit of unity that lies back of all faiths and underlies the life of humanity.”
Friends in Cleveland interested in and working for world unity feel that it has been a great privilege to have had a World Unity Conference in this city, and are planning to continue the work. It is difficult of course to gauge the far-reaching effect of such Conferences, but this one certainly demonstrated that there can be gathered together those who meet on a common ground, to speak and to think in terms of universal ideals and to endeavor to learn how to apply great religious Principles in the everyday life; and most important of all this Conference furthered the promulgation of universal peace and all that it means.
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“It is then clear and evident that in the passage of time religions become entirely changed and altered. Therefore they are renewed.”–’Abdu’l-Baha.
WHEN A young man of twenty-five says to a friend of his own age in New York City, “Here is a free evening before us. How shall we spend our time?” his companion may choose one from among dozens of recreational activities. Theatre, opera or concert; billiards or bowling; gymnasium or swimming-pool; library or public lecture; dance hall or skating-rink–these are a few of the more obvious centers at which the friends may find entertainment, or pleasure. Young men in a country village of the Middle West may have different, but almost equally varied, amusements. Probably few people in this country would maintain that the young people of America have too few ways of spending their leisure time. If they need guidance it has to do with the use of better standards of choice among the many recreational opportunities offered.
For the young men and women of Persia the problem of the wise use of leisure time is a very different one. When the young man of twenty-five in Tihrán has several free hours there are probably only half a dozen things that occur to him as possible recreations. Some of these will include activities that are productive of real happiness, of mental and physical recreation. Others will tend toward a selfish destructiveness. Since so few leisure occupations are available, the tendency is probably often toward extreme indulgence in those of the more violent, emotion-arousing sort, in the hope that thus a much desired variety and zest may be added to existence. To provide the young men and women of Persia with a variety of leisure occupations of a sort that require a whole-hearted, intelligent,
--PHOTO-- Street in Tihrán, Persia
constructive activity would be to render them an extraordinary service.
In a previous article I tried to show some of the ways in which the Girls’ Tarbiyat School of Tihrán contributes to the lives of the women and girls of the city. I should now like to discuss some of the ways in which certain Bahá’í ideals contribute to the lives of the young men who come in contact with them. In order to show more clearly just what an interest in Bahá’í activities adds to the fullness of living of Persian young people, I shall describe briefly certain aspects of the lives of non-Bahá’í youth.
Persia is a land of deserts and gardens. The desert is not the sandy waste of northern Africa; it is the “saharah,”–the uncultivated, the waterless. When the infrequent rain falls, or when irrigation streams are brought down from the mountains, the waste land springs into bloom, and one sees the miracle,—“the desert shall rejoice and blossom as the rose.” Thus in the midst of miles of waste one comes upon a walled garden and within its gates a glory of greenery
A Persian Garden
and flowers. Inevitably, in the very heart of the garden, one finds a pool of clear mountain water, the source of all the verdure and life. To build a wall about a section of the desert, to provide channels for bringing water from a distant source, to plant trees and shrubs and flowers, is a task of love and joy. To sit within such a garden, to hear the sound of many waters mingling with the whisper of the wind through green leaves, may seem a very simple pleasure, but it is one that is very dear to every Persian.
Thus it happens that whenever a group of young men wish to spend a merry evening together, they seek out the greenest and best-watered garden they can find. Such a gathering-place may be a large garden within the city walls, or, preferably, one outside the city in a hill village or on the open desert. Beautiful beyond one’s imaginings are some of the large gardens in the hills. Pools, streams and fountains are surrounded by tall trees. Beautiful paths wind through luxuriant shrubbery and flowers. Vistas of snow-capped mountains are framed by beautiful gateways or by arbors of roses. In the clear atmosphere, the colors are all pure radiance.
Beside the large pool the young men gather. Many will be smoking cigarettes; others prefer the water-pipe, in which the smoke is sifted through perfumed water. Always there will be musicians. Occasionally a paid troupe of players awaits the desire of the guests, but more often one or two of the group of merrymakers will provide the music. The favorite Persian instruments are the tar and the dumback. The former
is something like a guitar, but the box is curiously shaped, suggesting a figure eight. The opening in the box is covered with parchment, and the shape of the instrument divides this into two parts, one a little larger than the other. The tar is strung as the guitar is, and is played in much the same way. The dumbach, or Persian drum, is made of a parchment stretched across a dish that suggests a large bowl or urn. The sound of the drum is pleasing. Two different kinds of notes seem to be drawn from it, one the ordinary drum tones made from beating on the parchment, and another which is made near the edge of the urn, and which seems to partake of the sound of both the urn and the parchment.
To these instruments of the country may be added a violin, which many of the better-educated Persians enjoy greatly. Often some one sings a low, minor melody, to the accompaniment of the tar. The other guests are sure to be delighted with the music, and on its slow tide they drift down a waking dream of enchantment, in which all their hopes come true.
After the music is ended, some one may be moved to recite a poem from the treasury of great Persian verse he has learned as a child. Since many of the young people write poetry, one of the group may have an original poem to present for criticism and admiration. In quality such verse may vary from the merest jingle up to the majestic passages of such a poem as Esghi’s hymn to Zoroaster. With poetry and music a group of young Persians may be utterly contented from sunset to midnight. They become intoxicated with beauty and moonlight.
If the temper of the gathering is less literary, hours may be spent in gambling. If the party has been planned several days previously, a group of dancing-girls may have been provided for the entertainment of the guests. Aside from such professional entertainers, girls and women will of course never appear at the young men’s festivities.
If the friends are not too close observers of religious custom, (the Muhammadan religion forbids the use of alcoholic drinks), there may be very convivial drinking of wine, or of arak, the Persian whiskey. Many festive groups will contain at least one person who is an opium-smoker. He may retire to a distant part of the garden to indulge in his smoking by himself, and later return to add his fantastic outlook on life to the discussions which are often in progress.
The youth of Persia, like those of every country the world around, do love to talk. They discuss all aspects of their own lives, and of their friends’ and acquaintances’, and then proceed to affairs of the city and the nation. Less often than in this country, perhaps, is there a real interest in matters of international significance. Local politics are often a source of keen interest, and, as sometimes happens in other countries, more attention is paid to personalities than to policies. An intelligent and well-educated young Persian once said to me, “When there is an election here, there are ordinarily no issues of real importance. We do not ask what principles a man will act on if he is elected. We consider only whether he is a friend of ours or of our family.”
On the other hand, small groups of young men will be found who have an ardent interest in various “reform” or radical movements. There are in Persia men of Muhammadan families who feel keenly the importance of giving more freedom to women. Others are more or less openly engaged in spreading the principles of Soviet Russia. Still others are very eager to aid Persian progress through economic development. A
fourth type of group may be enthusiastic about gaining a greater knowledge of science. But such a devotion to impersonal or idealistic interests is, it seems to me, comparatively rare.
Persian boys and young men give very little attention to athletics. The small percentage who have attended the American Mission School may have played football, but I doubt whether many continue to play after they leave school. Those who can afford it own horses, and many of them ride exceptionally well. A few who have a stableful of good horses may play polo. Young men who enter the army will lead a life of strenuous physical exercise, but the average boy has almost nothing of the interest in team athletics which we find everywhere in America. There is almost nothing in his environment to stimulate such an enthusiasm.
Thus far, I have been speaking of youth of at least a fair education. There are of course hundreds of young men in such a city as Tihrán who have had no real education. They, too, will love a garden and music. They may gamble and go to opium houses. They will delight in the exhibitions of fireworks which are given by the government on various state occasions. They will enjoy the gossip of the bazaars, the sermons of the mullahs in the mosques, and the tales of the lives of the martyrs which the priests chant dramatically on days of special religious observance.
YOUNG PERSIANS who are Bahá’ís enjoy their leisure hours quite as much as do the Muhammadan youth. The two groups perhaps differ less in general types of activity than in the motives which guide the leisure occupations. Young Bahá’ís are quite as devoted to a beautiful garden as are any other young Persians. But the way that the outdoor holiday is spent will be constantly colored by Bahá’í interests. If songs are sung they will usually be those written by Bahá’í poets, and will be such as to incite the listeners to high endeavor. The poetry that is read will not only seek for beauty of expression, but it will also strive to inspire the reader to practice heroic ideals. I remember an occasion on which a young Persian who was not a Bahá’í read aloud for an hour from
--PHOTO-- Type of Bahá’í Youth of Persia.
the poems of Naimi, one of the best of the Bahá’í poets. At the end of the reading he put the book down reluctantly and said, “How glorious, how wonderful is that poetry! When I read it, I almost think myself a Bahá’í.”
When a group of young Bahá’ís gather in a garden there will be no gambling, drinking or opium-smoking, for such indulgences are definitely contrary to the Bahá’í teachings. Some of the group will smoke cigarettes,
but the majority will probably refrain because they are familiar with the teachings of ’Abdu’l-Bahá expressed in the following sentence, “Experience has shown how much the renouncing of tobacco, wine and opium gives health, strength and intellectual enjoyment, penetration of judgment and physical vigor.”
The conversation of a group of Bahá’í friends is usually centered on the planning and executing of some definite project. There are at least six or seven well-organized types of Bahá’í activity in which the young men play a very energetic part. Each of these is a mahfil, or assembly; it has definite objects and holds regular meetings.
All Persians love to give dinners and parties; and since the exercise of hospitality is a definite part of the Bahá’í program, there is a special mahfil in Tihrán for the entertainment of visiting Bahá’ís. As soon as a member of this group learns that a friend has arrived from Shiráz, or Hamadan, or, perhaps, from India or Europe, plans are at once set on foot for a dinner or luncheon in his honor. The guests invited are those to whom it is thought the newcomer will especially enjoy talking. The friend so honored receives a formal invitation on the special stationery of this mahfil. This he of course accepts, and in a few days he becomes the guest of honor at a party which his hosts have taken great joy in preparing.
Another group has as its special aim the furthering of closer friendships between themselves and Bahá’ís in other countries. Correspondence is carried on, with the desire to learn more about other lands, as well as to tell friends in other countries about Persia. This mahfil is also interested in translating a variety of Bahá’í books and papers. At the time I was in Tihrán, the young man who did English translating for the central Bahá’í governing board (The Spiritual Assembly) was especially active in the mahfil for “East and West cooperation.”
Twenty or more young men teach the “classes in character-forming” for boys, which meet every Friday in different parts of the city. They have their own meetings for planning their work, and occasionaly they give a party to which their special friends are invited. On such a day the program will give a review of what they have been doing with the boys, and some of their pupils may give demonstrations of what they have learned.
A committee of five or six Bahá’ís, several of whom are young men, have charge of the Bahá’í children’s savings account. Their weekly meetings on Sunday evenings are probably not considered social affairs, and yet I believe that most of those who attend them find them thoroughly enjoyable.
I used to attend the meetings of another group that met on the ninth of each month. The members all had the distinction of speaking English. Their purpose was to discuss, in English, the plans for the American Bahá’í Temple. At the end of the evening each made a contribution to the Temple fund, which Dr. Moody later sent to America. These young men were also active in increasing interest in the Temple among all the Persian Bahá’ís. They were a very happy and enthusiastic group and there is no doubt but that they found their regular monthly meetings a very joyful occasion.
Other mahfils are more obviously recreational in their purpose. At the time I was in Tihrán, one group had organized a football team, and they were planning to start a Boy Scout troup among some of the younger boys. . . . One of the most active groups planned and gave plays and concerts. One of the young men who came most often to Dr. Moody’s house in Tihrán was keenly interested in
the plays, and he kept us informed as to the progress of all their plans. He was full of fun, an excellent actor, and he delighted to play what we would call “character parts.” His club gave two or three plays each winter, which were attended by audiences of four and five hundred men. The plays were written by some of the boys and were planned to express some spiritual truth. When a play was ready for the actors, great care was exercised in choosing the caste. The rehearsing of the various scenes, the planning of costumes and stage-setting were a source of many merry evenings. The parts for girls and women were taken by young men, and they provided opportunities for careful acting, as well as much amusement for the other members of the caste. The play was usually given in a large tent in some Bahá’í garden, on two successive evenings. The proceeds from the sale of tickets were divided among various Bahá’í activities, such as the fund for the care of needy and aged Bahá’ís, and that for the support of the boys’ Bahá’í school.
The plays that I saw were very enjoyable and exceedingly well acted. One that I remember especially was based on the verse of Bahá’u’lláh, “Esteem the friendship of the just, but withdraw both mind and hand from the company of the wicked.” The scenes of the play presented the experiences of two brothers, one of whom associated with useful, studious young men, and the other with “fast” and villainous ones! There were several very amusing scenes, as well as some that contained miniature sermons. The Bahá’í boys are very fond of a good joke, and any play that they give is sure to afford many opportunities for laughter.
Closely associated with the actors was a group of musicians, who made up an orchestra of ten or twelve members, as well as a chorus of singers. They always gave musical numbers between the acts of the play. The intermission was sometimes long enough so that we heard a whole concert between the second and third acts. The audience enjoyed the music and never seemed to tire of it,—as my Western ears occasionally did!
The life of these young Persian Bahá’ís is of course not all fun. They are constantly in danger from the unfriendliness of fanatical Muhammadans and some of them have suffered active persecution. Notwithstanding such difficulties, they seem to me a singularly happy group. They have high purposes before them, and while they realize that many things they wish to do may not wisely be attempted at present, they are able to make enough progress to encourage them to further efforts. A great many of them have been Bahá’ís from babyhood, and they know no other life except that of a follower of the teachings of Bahá’u’lláh.
My knowledge of the leisure occupations of the Bahá’ís is of course much more detailed than of those of the non-Bahá’í youth. For the latter I was dependent on what was told me by various people I met in, Persia, including a few young Muhammadans. I have tried not to draw an exaggerated contrast between the two groups. So far as I can judge of both, the Bahá’ís have an idealistic purposefulness in life which the non-Bahá’ís lack. The Persian Bahá’ís know themselves to be one of the great streams that are helping to fill the ocean of world-wide Bahá’í life. As they become more and more conscious of their part in that movement, their lives become more significant. As the principles by which they live become active in the lives of some of their friends and acquaintances, Persian youth will become more useful, purposeful and happy.
The following letter, written by a Bahá’í of Santa Barbara, California, to a clergyman who, in giving a very liberal course of lectures on the religions of the world, showed, however, some misapprehension as to Muhammadanism and its historic growth, will be, we are sure, of extreme interest to the readers of this magazine. In it the writer brings out many points which are not known or understood by Occidentals. It might be added that all the points mentioned are substantiated in the writings of ’Abdu’l-Bahá.—Editor.
I HAVE heard your two lectures on Muhammadanism and rejoice to see the effort that is being made towards appreciation and mutual understanding, in lieu of the old idea that the Muhammadans were heathen, their religion false, and ours the only true one.
I have been something of a student of Muhammadanism for many years, and, through contact with people reared in the Muhammadan faith, I have gained a new angle or point of view. In the first place, as we would not wish Moslems to judge of Christianity by the late spectacle of the Christian nations slaughtering each other, so we should not judge Moslems by the acts of some of their leaders.
To go back to the time of Muhammad: I think history will hear me out in the statement that Muhammad did not take up the sword to defend Himself and His followers until it was plain that His enemies meant to exterminate His religion. If their plan had been to kill Him alone, He would doubtless have given up His life joyfully, as Jesus did. But He was dealing with a different class of people, the lawless, bloodthirsty Arab tribes, who made war upon each other and stole their women and children. And, by the way, the custom of veiling the women antedated the time of Muhammad, when the Arabs veiled their wives and daughters as a protection against their enemies. These people to whom Muhammad was sent were so vicious that it has been said our American Indians were civilized compared with them. They buried their daughters alive, considering the birth of one a disgrace; a man could have a woman by throwing his cloak over her; he could throw her aside on any provocation, and he could have a thousand women if he wished.
Muhammad finally organized these people into families, limiting them to four wives, and only this number if they were able to support them. It would have been impossible at that time to have made monogamists of these people, and thus the divine wisdom was manifested in leading them gradually into a better life. Today, through the example of a Great Soul in the Orient, who was a monogamist and set the example of a beautiful home life, many thousands of Muhammadans are becoming monogamists.
Speaking of the sword, we must remember that that day was the day of the sword. Did not Jesus Himself say, “I came not to bring peace, but a sword?” By this He did not mean that He came to make trouble, but that His day, or dispensation, was not the day of peace–that was to come later. His day or dispensation was to be one of warfare, of bloodshed. He gave His peace to His disciples, but not to the world, for the world was against Him, and He knew the awful suffering and turmoil and unrest that must transpire before the people of the earth would turn their
faces to God. Muhammad knew the same thing.
I am not one of those who believe that Muhammad obtained His knowledge of Jesus Christ from any printed literature, or even by contacting Christians, howsomever wise or ignorant they may have been. He has been called the “ignorant camel driver.” It is certain that He was not taught in schools, but received His knowledge from divine inspiration, even as Jesus did, and the very fact that there is the same thread of heavenly wisdom running through the Qur’án as through the Bible and other sacred books of the world, proves that they were all of divine origin, inspired by one and the same God. Muhammad is spoken of as the “Seal of the Prophets”–that is, the last of the line of Prophets “before the great and awful day of the Lord,” and He speakes of Jesus continually as the “Spirit” or the “Son of God,” and makes, as you know, frequent reference to all the Prophets of God who came before Him.
No, I believe that, even as the Angel Gabriel appeared to Joseph and Mary, he also appeared to Muhammad, as He said, at various times, and dictated the Qur’án in sections, the original being written upon palm leaves and the dried bones of sheep and camels> As you say, parts of the Qur’án are illuminating, “other parts not so much.” Is this not true of our Bible also? I have heard agnostics say the Bible was not fit to be read, and they would point to certain things that Abraham and Solomon did. We might well say to those people, “Why don’t you read the Sermon on the Mount, instead of the passages you refer to?”
We must also remember that, as our Bible is subject to interpretation, so also the Qur’án is subject to interpretation, and it is difficult for a western mind to grasp, but that may be partly due to faulty translation. Speaking for myself, I have a copy of the Qur’án that I have had for fifteen years. At one time I set myself religiously the task of reading it, chapter by chapter. In this way I have read it over half through, but it was the hardest reading I ever did.*
It may be, as you say, that the Qur’án seems to be fatalistic, but that would seem to be due, also, to the character of the people to whom Muhammad came and to the methods which it was necessary to take with them. It was necessary to take those vicious people by the heels and hold them over the burning lake of hell fire. He was constantly speaking of the wrath of God and hell fire, the Day of Judgment and the torment that awaited those who disobeyed the commands of God. Of course we know that these terms are only symbols.
In regard to Muhammad’s attitude towards women, I refer to the oath of Muhammad, which He required His followers to take. I have not a copy of this oath at hand, but it was to the effect that if a Muhammadan married a Christian woman, He should treat her with kindness, He was not to interfere with her belief, but allow her to worship as she wished, and when she died her body was to be buried with her people. Also, it has been verified that Muhammad took into His home many women and girls as a protection, who served in various capacities, and with some it is said that He even went through a form of marriage, but to those who truly knew the man it was evident that He had one love and that was His beloved wife Kadeesha, the mother of Fatima, who married Ali, His cousin and right-hand man. Through these two holy
*EDITOR’S NOTE.–No good translation of the Qur'an exists in English. In certain French translations one finds the Qur'an much more readable.
souls the spiritual descendants of Muhammad, the twelve Imams, proceeded. These Imams were mostly, if not all, put to death, and the religion fell into the hands of the corrupt caliphs, who saw an opportunity to propagate the religion for wordly gain, carried it into other countries at the point of the sword, and continued to hold Jerusalem, the Holy City, until the expiration of the time prophesied in our Bible, twelve hundred and sixty years.
So it is evident that the western idea of Muhammadanism is gained from the operations of these corrupt caliphs, not from the remnant of truly holy souls in every dispensation who have not “bowed the knee to Baal.”
I was hoping to hear you speak of the contribution which the Muhammadans have made to science and art, and of its value, particularly during the “Dark Ages.” In a little book of excerpts which I have gathered for many years, I find the following. I do not know its origin, but I think it is from an encyclopedia:
“It is well known that many of the sciences and arts enjoyed today were introduced into Europe during the “middle ages’ through a Muhammadan seat of learning, Cordova, Spain.
“The Arabs and Moors were an industrious people and the agriculture of Spain was in a most flourishing condition during their occupation of the country. They introduced plantations of sugar, rice, and cotton.
“The Moors of Spain made the finest paper manufactured in Europe, and their carpets and silks, gold and silver embroidery, manufactures in steel and leather, were long unrivaled.
“We are indebted to the Saracens of Spain for the elements of many of the useful sciences, especially chemistry. They introduced the simple Arabic figures which we use in arithmetic. They taught mathematics, astronomy, philosophy and medicine, and were so superior in knowledge to the Christian nations of Europe that many Christians of all nations went to be educated in the Arabian schools of Cordova.”*
Muhammad taught that the earth revolved around the sun hundreds of years before that fact was discovered by Copernicus.
Referring again to Muhammad’s attitude towards women, it is claimed by the Moslem women themselves that the degradation of the past centuries cannot be attributed to Him or His teachings, but rather to the aforesaid corrupt leaders who thus kept the people in subjection. Thank God a New Day has dawned and our Moslem sisters throughout the Orient are becoming enlightened and educated, are laying aside their veils and breaking away the shackles that have bound them for centuries.
I wish you much sucess in your work of breaking down the prejudices which have kept God’s people apart. I feel that the dawn is truly breaking and that a New Day of unity, co-operation, mutual understanding and love is being ushered in.
HENRIETTA C. WAGNER.
* EDITOR’S NOTE.—Seignobos, in his “Histoire de la Civilization” devotes many pages to the contributions of Muhammadan culture to medieval Europe. In the tenth, eleventh, and twelfth centuries, the Muhammadan civilization was, in fact, as far superior to European Christian civilization as is today the Christian civilization to the Muhammadan.
ALL ISLAM considers the Qur’án the Word of God. In this sacred book there are explicit texts which are not traditional, stating this His Holiness Christ was the Word of God, that He was the Spirit of God, that Jesus Christ came into this world through the quickening breaths of the Holy Spirit. In the Qur’án a whole chapter is devoted to the story of Jesus. It records that in the time of His youth He worshipped God in the temple at Jerusalem; that manna descended from heaven for His sustenance and that He uttered words immediately after His birth. In brief, in the Qur’án there is eulogy and commendation of Christ such as you do not find in the Gospel. . . . Furthermore, it is significant and convincing that when His Holiness Muhammad proclaimed His work and mission, His first objection to His own followers was “Why have you not believed on Jesus Christ? Why have you not accepted the Gospel? Why have you not believed in Moses? Why have you not followed the precepts of the Old Testament? Why have you not understood the Prophets of Irael? Why have you not believed in the disciples of Christ? The first duty incumbent upon ye, O Arabians! is to accept and believe in these. You must consider Moses as a Prophet. You must accept Jesus Christ as the Word of God. You must know the old and the new testament as the Word of God. You must believe in Jesus Christ as the product of the Holy Spirit.”
Consider that His Holiness Muhammad was born among the savage and barbarous tribes of Arabia, lived among them and was outwardly illiterate and uninformed of the holy books of God. The Arabian people were in the utmost ignorance and barbarism. . . . When the Light of Muhammad dawned, the darkness of ignorance was dispelled from the deserts of Arabia. In a short period of time those barbarous peoples attained a superlative degree of civilization which with Baghdad as its center extended as far westward as Spain and afterward influenced the greater part of Europe. What proof of Prophethood could be greater than this, unless we close our eyes to justice and remain obstinately opposed to reason.
Inasmuch as our God is one God and the Creator of all mankind, He provides for and protects all. We acknowledge Him as a God of kindness, justice and mercy. . . . God is loving and merciful. His intention in religion has ever been the bond of unity and affinity between humankind.
