| ←Issue 11 | Star of the West Volume 17 - Issue 12 |
Index→ |
 Proofread onceReturn to PDF view
|
We are working hard to have proofread and nicely formatted text for you to read. Here is our progress on this section:
|
CONSIDER, if a new springtime failed to appear, what would be the effect upon this globe, the earth? Undoubtedly it would become desolate and life extinct. The earth has need of an annual coming of spring. It is necessary that a new bounty should be forth-coming. If it comes not, life would be effaced. In the same way the world of spirit needs new life, the world of mind necessitates new animus and development, the world of souls a new bounty, the world of morality a reformation, the world of divine effulgence ever new bestowals. Were it not for this replenishment the life of the world would become effaced and extinguished.
The important factor in human improvement is the mind. In the world of the mind there must needs be development and improvement. There must be re-formation in the kingdom of the human spirit, otherwise no result will be attained from betterment of the mere physical structure . . . For the essential reality is the spirit, the foundation basis is the spirit, the life of man is due to the spirit, the happiness, the animus, the radiance, the glory of man–all are due to the spirit; and if in the spirit no re-formation takes place, there will be no result to human existence.
--PHOTO--
Women, one of whom is veiled, before a Turkish fountain. It is at such fountains as these that Muhammadans gather for the obligatory ablutions at their periods of prayer. Thus the fountain plays an important part in Oriental life, and has given rise to many exquisite bits of architecture. (See page 370).
| VOL. 17 | MARCH, 1927 | No. 12 |
Sun of Truth shall shine forth radiantly. This time of the world may be likened to the equinoctial in the annual cycle. For verily this is the spring season of God. Infinite bounties and graces have appeared. What bestowal is greater than this?”
THE RECURRENCE of spring seems always a miracle, even the more vividly so as the individual observer moves on from the heedlessness of youth to the reflectiveness of maturity. Youth takes for granted this wonderful phenomenon of the renewal of earth’s life and enjoys it as a thing of beauty only; but age, more inquiring as to causes, realizes itself face to face here with a mystery which is very close to Life itself, and to God.
It is quite evident that springs come not of themselves—nor by accident. They are the expression of a rythm which is an integral part of the functioning of the universe. To the man of religious faith they are, moreover, a constant and confirming evidence of God’s love and beneficence. This mystic and hidden force which moves within all growing things, stirring them to the fullness of life—expression,—what is this but the Supreme Cause itself upon which all life depends? At this bright vernal season, withered and empty indeed is the heart that does not feel nearer to God, the Source of all life.
JUST AS THE physical aspect of earth-life is thus renewed at spring, so is there a continually recurrent renewal of its spiritual life. If the physical sun did not operate to stir and impel life at the turn of the equinox, the earth would remain lifeless, the fields covered with dry and withered grass, the trees gaunt and bare, the land everywhere desolate. So it is with the spiritual life of the planet. Its springtimes come not by accident, nor by any power of spiritual enthusiasm inherent in mankind; but only through the power of the Spiritual Sun which at certain epochs radiates more nearly and with greater force upon the hearts of men.
If the Divine Being did not thus recurrently renew His mercy and love to us, the spiritual life of the planet would die out, the hearts of men would become as empty and fruitless as the trees of winter, and the earth would lose all its bloom of the spirit.
THIS PREGNANT teaching of Bahá’u’lláh concerining the need of repeated renewals of the religious life of man, explains our past and points the way to our future. Whenever the Divine Will and Love has through the medium of Its Messengers permeated the life of this planet, men’s characters have changed and new and nobler civilizations have arisen.
And now we are again at the
threshold of a new spiritual epoch and a new civilization. Once more spring has come to earth to break up all those crystallizations which are characteristic of spiritual death. A renewal of the faith-life of man is portended. Great spiritual forces, released through Bahá’u’lláh, are already encircling the globe and changing everywhere the character of men from thoughts of war to thoughts of peace, from prejudice to sympathy and understanding, from rivalry and hatred as between races and classes into love and unity.
From these spiritual changes, so radically transforming character, a wonderful new civilization will spring. Those who realize this have cause for optimism, and inspiration for effort toward a better world. Institutions built upon forms of the past, the expression of human nature as we have known it, will give place to nobler institutions founded upon new ideals and expressing the qualities of unselfishness, compassion, and wisdom. Selfish competition will yield to cooperation; the dreams of the Utopians will approximately be realized; and earth will enter a new phase of its existence, the spiritual phase.
ONLY AT RARE intervals is it given to man to live in such a spiritual springtime—a privilege so tremendous as to be hardly realizable. In such a period of new beginnings the earnest and sincere efforts of each individual have incalculable results, because they become part of a pattern which is to govern the destiny of the planet for milleniums. As a grain of corn sown at the time of spring will produce a hundredfold; as a ripple created in the center of a pond will spread to every margin; as a word spoken in season may recreate a human life; so every wise and heaven-directed deed done in this day will produce reverberations down through all the ages.
And it is taught us that none other of the spiritual springtimes on this planet, before or after, are so great or so significant as this. For at this time the destiny of our planet is to change from a government according to the animal qualities of man to a government which shall be the expression of man’s spiritual qualities. Human nature is to become spiritualized to such an extent that spiritual man will be directive and preponderant. Thus the destinies of the planet will enter for the first time upon its spiritual stage; and all effort, all struggle, all accomplishment will be of that spiritual and harmonious nature which the heart has dreamed of but which the brain and hand of man have never yet been able to achieve.
PROGRESS EVEN ON the material plane will be even more rapidly cumulative than it has been in the past century. And on the ethical and spiritual plane such changes will take place that human beings will exclaim, “Verily, this earth has become a reflection of Heaven and the Kingdom of God has arrived!”
Poverty will be abolished. Class hatreds and racial prejudices will entirely disappear. All of mankind will live in the utmost comfort. New planetary resources, new power, will be discovered, until every man, woman, and child will have at disposal a multitude of energy-units to free life of that drudgery which too early bows the head, crooks the shoulders, and weighs down the heart. Between man and man love will reign—cooperation and mutual service.
Does all this seem too good to come true? Impossible of achievement? Yet it is involved in every one of the messages which God has
sent to earth through His Prophets. And now Bahá’u’lláh comes not only to assure us of the fulfillment of these prophecies, but what is of even greater import, to cause this fulfillment to come to pass. For nothing but the power of God, flowing into humanity through a Manifestation, can make such a civilization effective.
This bit of earth, this vineyard managed by dishonest and offending servants, is to be taken over by the Divine Will and put under the management of that force of Love which we have named the Christ.
Rejoice! For it is spring and the bare branches of unbelief will soon be clothed with the living foliage of faith! Rejoice! For the drear earth will soon be carpeted with a myriad of flowers such as the Gardener shall choose; and every man shall under his own fig-tree partake freely of the needs and sustenances of life in security, in joy, and in the love of God and of his fellowmen!
which penetrates in the darkest and shadiest corners of the world, giving warmth and life even to creatures that have never seen the sun itself, so also, the outpouring of the Holy Spirit through the Manifestation of God influences the lives of all, and inspires receptive minds even in places and among peoples where the name of the Prophet is quite unknown. The advent of the Manifestation is like the coming of spring. It is a day of resurrection in which the spiritually dead are raised to new life, in which the reality of the Divine religions is renewed and reestablished, in which appear “new heavens and a new earth.”
But in the world of nature, the spring brings about not only the growth and awakening of new life, but also the destruction and removal of the old and effete; for the same sun that makes the flowers to spring and the trees to bud, causes also the decay and disintegration of what is dead and useless; it loosens the ice and melts the snow of winter, and sets free the flood and the storm that cleanse and purify the earth. So is it also in the spiritual world. The spiritual sunshine causes similar commotion and change. Thus the Day of Resurrection is also the Day of Judgment, in which corruptions and imitations of the truth and outworn ideas and customs are discarded and destroyed, in which the ice and snow of prejudice and superstition which accumulated during the season of winter, are melted and transformed, and energies long frozen and pent up are released to flood and renovate the world.—Dr. J. E. Esslemont
in “Bahá’u’lláh and the New Era.”
“Inasmuch as our God is one, and He has created us all, He provides for us all, He protects us all, and we acknowledge such a kind and clement Lord,—why should we His children, His followers, fight one another? Why should we so readily break one another’s hearts? God is so merciful and kind, and His aim in religion has ever been to establish the bond of unity and affinity!—The spiritual springtime has come. Infinite bounties and graces have appeared.”—’Abdu’l-Bahá.
HISTORY teaches us that from time to time Beings have appeared in this world who, to the undeveloped, appeared no different from other men, yet who in truth came with unlimited wisdom, unlimited intelligence, unlimited courage and energy, and whose mission it was to deliver to humanity a divine message and divine instructions from God. Compared with the millions and millions of mere human beings, there have appeared but few of these Divine Messengers, called Manifestations of God, whose Word, creative in effect because it was the Word of God, powerfully influenced the lives of those about them as well as the generations following their advent. To this class belonged such Prophets and Divine Teachers as Abraham, Moses, Muhammad, Buddha, Confucius, Zoroaster, Jesus, and the Báb who came as the Forerunner and Announcer of the latest Manifestation of God, Bahá’u’lláh.
The mission of Bahá’u’lláh was to continue the teachings of Christ, to guide humanity into “all truth,” to unlock the seals of the Scriptures of the world and give a perfect understanding of the symbolic expressions therein, and to leave certain new teachings as required by the conditions of the New Day. Just as Jesus Christ knew that the people of His time were not ready for the acceptance of the Truth and the sweet story which He told, and finally gave up His life and died on the cross to save humanity, so also in later years Bahá’u’lláh and His son ’Abdu’l-Bahá,
--PHOTO-- Dr. Alfredo Warsaw
the divine Exemplar and Interpreter of His teachings, went to exile and prison for the greater part of their lives.
With the ending of a cycle and the beginning of a new one under a New Manifestation, all existing conditions gradually change (“old things shall pass away and all things be made new”) and civilization is marvellously advanced. But before the adjustments and re-formation are complete, wars and struggles and strife occur, and sometimes chaos reigns for a time. Let us review history a bit, both past and present, culminating
in the fulfilled prophecies and the new spiritual teachings of Bahá’u’lláh.
Prophecy cannot be proved until it is fulfilled. If one predicts a certain event or events, there is no other way to feel convinced that the predictions are true until the time of fulfillment has arrived. We are privileged to live at the time when many of the great promises of God in the Holy Books have been fulfilled, or are being fulfilled before our eyes. We can now fearlessly tell our fellow-men, for example, that the prophecy in the ninth chapter of Isaiah is fulfilled: “The people that walk in darkness have seen a great light, they that dwell in the land of the shadow of death, upon them hath the light shined.” And through the Revelation of Bahá’u’lláh the world is receiving the Truth which Christ promised, for humanity has developed the necessary capacity to receive these divine teachings which He had the knowledge and power to give, but which humanity was not ready to receive at that time. Christ’s ministry lasted only about three years, and during that short period He was surrounded by hate, prejudice and the ignorance and scorn of the multitude, while only a few accepted Him and remained loyal.
That Jesus the Christ was an enemy of war and bloodshed, evil and sin of every kind, cannot be doubted, and that He loved mankind more than life itself is certain. All Manifestations of God are of the same nature and all posses that truth which brings peace and happiness to mankind. After the lapse of centuries, however, this Truth becomes clouded with man’s ideas and conceptions. A materialistic civilization is the result, which indicates how far man has wandered from the Right Path, for no matter how much a material civilization advances, it cannot bring happiness and contentment to the world of humanity.
How happy we should be, how thankful, to be privileged to live at this time of real enlightenment and spiritual illumination, to live in a new cycle when the Spiritual Sun of Truth is shining upon the world in full perfection! We have accepted this blessed Message in all earnestness and sincerity, hoping and praying to intelligently put it into practice ourselves first and then pass it on to our fellowmen that they may have the opportunity of being as happy as we are. We have accepted the Revelation of Bahá’u’lláh as the Divine Remedy for the world’s ills. It is the religion of God, the universal religion promised for this great day; and since its divine precepts, when lived, will transform this world and make of it a “garden and a paradise,” one longs to live and serve such a great Cause, or sacrifice life itself for it, if need be, that humanity may swiftly realize the all-importance of the establishment of a spiritual and divine civilization and hasten its consummation.
The change from material to a divine or spiritual civilization where prejudices of all kinds, hatreds and deceptions shall be replaced by brotherly love, becomes more apparent and ever nearer realization. There is the growing tendency day by day toward accepting humanity—all humanity—as members of the same family, the children of the one God. The principles of Bahá’u’lláh now so widely circulated and so often enumerated, of the “drawing together of all races and all classes,” of the unity of all religions, nations, races and peoples under the banner of the Word of God, are rapidly becoming a reality in the lives of many, for it is “the hour of unity of the sons of men.”
Are we so “muffled in veils” that we cannot see the fulfillment! Think
of all the principles for a universal civilization as laid down by Bahá’u’lláh and ’Abdu’l-Bahá, letting your inner eyes travel all over the world. You will soon observe how these principles are being accepted and adopted everywhere. Do you realize that all the great inventions and new discoveries of modern days, and all this vast impulse toward universal peace, have appeared with the coming of Bahá’u’lláh?
“The world of humanity,” said ’Abdu’l-Bahá, “shall become the manifestation of the lights of divinity, and the bestowals of God shall surround all. From the standpoints of both material and spiritual civilization extraordinary progress and development will be witnessed. In this present cycle there will be an evolution in civilization unparalleled in the history of the world. The world of humanity has heretofore been in the stage of infancy; now it is approaching maturity. . . . Therefore thank ye God that ye have come into the plane of existence in this radiant century wherein the bestowals of God are appearing from all directions, when the doors of the kingdom have been opened unto you, the call of God is being raised and the virtues of the human world are in the process of unfoldment.”
It is the day of fulfillment, and blessed indeed are those who are earnestly seeking the Solution of our complex problems, for they shall surely find. One of the very first and the most important thing of all that a seeker after Truth will find is that no power save the Power of God can develop in us the group or universal consciousness necessary today, for we must think in ”world terms.” We are beginning to realize that no nation can exist any longer for its own sake alone; that nations must work together and progress together to maintain civilization on the highest plane where man’s highest aspirations may be realized.
We must all admit that mankind in general is in a state of unrest today. The problems of life are baffling, they are perplexing and confusing. Mankind is confused. Some of the happenings of our time appear as miracles, miracles on the land, in the air, and under the seas. Mankind is confused because prophecies to which little or no credence had been given are being fulfilled. We are witnessing a visible change everywhere; but mankind is confused, fearful of stepping out of the old into the new world of a divine civilization, not realizing how simple is the process when God is recognized as the Ruler over all and when the human will becomes submissive to His will.
But those who have accepted and understand the message of Bahá’u’lláh are no longer confused. They are not alarmed. They know the final outcome and that it will be good. They fear not no matter how much others fear. These Bahá’í teachings are being given all over the world by experienced teachers with unexampled enthusiasm and unspeakable courage. The flag of unity and brotherly love is being raised and is flying in all directions. Travel north, south, east or west, all over the world, and you will find Bahá’ís. It is the day of fulfillment.
REFLECT upon the material springtime. When winter comes the trees are leafless, the fields and meadows withered, the flowers die away into dust-heaps; in prairie, mountain and garden no freshness lingers, no beauty is visible, no verdure can be seen. Everything is clad in the robe of death. Wherever you look around you will find the expression of death and decay. But when the spring comes, the showers descend, the sun floods the meadows and plains with light; you will observe creation clad in a new robe of expression. The showers have made the meadows green and verdant. The warm breezes have caused the trees to put on their garments of leaves. They have blossomed and soon will produce new, fresh and delightful fruits. Everything appears endowed with a newness of life; a new animus and spirit is everywhere visible. The spring has resuscitated all phenomena and has adorned the earth with beauty as it willeth.
Even so is the springtime spiritual when it comes. When the holy, divine Manifestations or Prophets appear in the world, a cycle of radiance, an age of mercy dawns. Everything is renewed. Minds, hearts and all human forces are reformed, perfections are quickened, sciences, discoveries and investigations are stimulated afresh and everything appertaining to the virtues of the human world is revitalized. Consider this present century of radiance and compare it with the past centuries. What a vast difference exists between them! How minds have developed! How perceptions have deepened! How discoveries have increased! What great projects have been accomplished! How many realities have become manifest! How many mysteries of creation have been probed and penetrated! What is the cause of this? It is through the efficacy of the spiritual springtime in which we are living. Day by day the world attains a new bounty. In this radiant century neither the old customs nor the old sciences, crafts, laws and regulations have remained. The old political principles are undergoing change and a new body-politic is in process of formation.
This is the second in the interesting series of Diary Sketches from the pen of Mrs. Ransom-Kehler, the first having been published in November, 1926. This gifted writer had the privilege of being in Haifa, Palestine, for several weeks last year. An acute analyzer of people and of places, these sketches by her reveal the intimate soul of the Orient.–Editor.
IT IS Ramadan, the month of fasting. From the moment when it is light enough to distinguish a black thread from a white one, the Moslem must abstain from food until the sun has set. A gun booms from the Mosque announcing the official departure of the orb of day.
How gratifying it is to the human heart to be able to find those substitutes for self-effacement and sacrifice, which are the primal command of every great religious Teacher. To repeat set prayers, to fast, to give alms, to wear sack cloth and tonsure,—how man delights to offer these external evidences of devotion While retaining all the scheming privacies of the heart.
Muhammadan nations follow the lunar calendar, so that there is a continual rotation of anniversaries. (For instance, the martyrdom of the Báb which we always commemorate on the ninth of July, is commemorated in Haifa this year on March thirteenth). Thus the fast month is continually changing for the Moslem. If it fall in winter, it is not so difficult, but coming in summer when the sun sets late and rises early it works a real hardship on the devout.
All the year through the Muhammadans must pray five times a day, and wash before each of these required periods for the commemoration of God. The Prophet advises those sojourning in the desert where water is inaccessible, to wash with sand. The skin can be quite thoroughly cleansed in this way.
Nothing could be more embarrassing to the average Occidental than to be seen praying; except in the cold and meaningless conformity of the average public meeting. To fling himself on his knees, lift his hands to heaven, bend prostrate on his face before any and every passer—by, is incompatible with our egotism and our self-consciousness. Our approach to the Almighty must, whatever its ardor or intensity, be well within the confines of good-form. But the Arab, unconstrained and naif in his appeal to God, kneels by the road-side.
It is interesting to note the reason that we so often see the Arabs at prayer at this particular spot. One of the awful horrors that greeted the family of Bahá’u’lláh when they arrived in ’Akká was the evidences of strange and disfiguring diseases on all sides. It was said that “a bird could not fly over ’Akká and live”; so foul was the water, so stagnant the marshes, so prevalent malaria, so damp and hot the atmosphere, so primitive the sanitation.
We see enacted again and again in the drama of life the same recurring episode; a Being arises who utters the Call of the Kingdom of God, and releases in the potency of His Word that irresistible might that draws man back to his spiritual origin. Not only with no prestige (often forcibly shorn of it) no human assistance, but against the malicious opposition of organized society, He establishes His authority and revivifies the dead hearts of men.
So when Bahá’u’lláh came to ’Akká as a prisoner, it was a shift on the
--PHOTO-- Bird’s-eye view of the town of ’Akká, the pestilential climate of which was miraculously changed during the imprisonment there of Bahá’u’lláh.
part of His persecutors to do away with Him and His followers without actual physical execution. Those in authority had been warned against Him as a most dangerous heretic and traitor; for church and state being one, any act of infidelity to Islam is not only heretical but a political crime as well. Now behold one of those mysterious miracles that follows in the path of these mighty Beings! In a short time the Governor of ’Akká is seeking to know what favor he can do for Bahá’u’lláh! “Repair the old Roman aqueduct, and bring an abundant supply of clear fresh water to ’Akká,” is the reply. Then the moats were drained, and so one by one the malignant things disappear and good things succeed them. And now the opening here in front of Bahjí, in the aqueduct restored to usefulness by the kind jailer, is a favorite place for the Arabs to pray because here they can perform their required ablutions.
We are sitting under the great oaks between the old Palace of Bahjí and the sea. The Arabs carry on their devotions as if they were absolutely alone in the middle of a desert impervious to our glances and conversation. A darling old woman from a garden near-by has appeared with a huge clean kerchief full of salted sunflower seeds. The Oriental ladies lay bare the small white flake of a kernel with perfect ease. For an Occidental to succeed in opening one is not an achievement; it is a career. Farood brings out bowls of orange juice in which crisp tender leaves of romaine lettuce are rolled and dipped; while the conversation turns on the relative place of Byron and Wordsworth in English literature.
This is the kaleidoscopic East that exercises an ineffaceable spell over the soul of the Westerner. “When you hear the East a-callin’ you won’t never ’eed naught else.”
Here comes a troupe of young boys, handsome, care-free fellows, out for a holiday. Nothing could be more depressing than the part played by women in the public life of the Orient. The costume of the Turkish woman, which prevails here also, is gloomy and sinister to the last degree. Entirely of black with a tight-fitting black cap completely covering the head and ears and a thick black veil making any sight of the face impossible, it gives the impression of a victim just ready for the hangman; this is the costume still tenaciously adhered to by millions of women.
The white costume of the north African provinces with the white veil, revealing the eyes, is charming. The dainty bit of white chiffon worn just under the nose and secured with gold rings about the ears is characteristic of the fashionable Egyptian woman; but this awful shroud of the Turkish and Syrian women is really hideous.
In America where women are so ubiquitous, men have to plan a good deal how to keep away from us; but here comes a troop of gay young boys for an afternoon of frolic—not a woman permitted to be in sight—and their idea of a holiday is to bring a guitar-like instrument and sing poignant love-songs.
Toward sunset when the day is cooler, we walk into ’Akká to do some errands in the bazaars. It is very late and only one or two are open. As the merchant is showing us his wares the gun that marks the end of his fast is suddenly fired. Quick as a flash his little boy runs to a nearby stall to fetch some dates. There is a tradition that the Prophet broke his fast with dates. Hungrily, greedily, the man stretches out his hand and then with quick courtesy presents them to us saying, “Fadile” (kindly help yourselves). How many Occidentals, who have had no food from daybreak to sunset, would offer it first to total strangers?
It is astonishing to see how the repatriation of the Jews is rapidly changing the whole social structure of Palestine. Men and women (unveiled, naturally) are seen together everywhere. The very fabric of society is giving way before these strange new impacts; and changes that it might otherwise take centuries to accomplish, are rapidly succeeding the old order.
God promised His chosen people millenia ago that they would one day work out their aspirations in this milieu friendly to their objectives. It was to be accomplished in that latter day when good tidings would be published and peace proclaimed. It is indeed significant that the first firman permitting the return of the Jews to Palestine was issued when Bahá’u’lláh was exiled.
The Semite has offered two great gifts to civilization; first a passionate monotheism reiterated after the great teaching of Moses with increased intensity by the Semite Muhammad. Second, trade and commerce, which together with the stupendous Occidental contribution of news and communication, are doing more to unify the world than law or education or religion have so far accomplished. We remain perfectly willing to kill those whose opinion on religion or form of government may differ from our own, but the world over, people are becoming more and more hesitant about killing their customers.
A sharp and bitter economic readjustment
--PHOTO-- A typical street scene in the Near East.
is going on in Palestine, due to the introduction of Occidental trade usage. The old hit-or-miss barter of the East is going down before the accurately determined price and quality standards of the West. An unsung hero in our historic annals is one, A. T. Stewart, the predecessor of John Wanamaker in New York. One bright Monday morning his astonished customers discovered that everything in his shop was marked with a fixed price, and the old romantic habit of letting the soft-voiced woman with charm have her spool of thread a cent or two cheaper than the hard-faced termagant, passed from Western practice.
The Jew, in his repatriation experiment, has brought with him the viewpoint of the Orient and the practice of the Occident. The Germans alone (there is a large colony in Haifa) can offer him competition. The Arab watches in baffled amazement his own countrymen turning as customers to those who are taking his economic life.
That practice honored throughout civilization of keeping things dear and men cheap, is tragically evident here on all sides. Such tattered people! Such degrading labor! My gorge rises as I see men burdened like camels, almost breaking under loads that only a horse would carry in America.
There is the sense that the scene is occurring in its pitiless sordidness and constant reiteration as of two thousand years ago, while that stern voice of accusation and summons rings athwart the centuries: “For they bind heavy burdens and grievous
--PHOTO-- View over Haifa, Palestine from the Shrines of the Báb and ’Abdu’l-Bahá on Mt. Carmel.
to be borne, and lay them on men’s shoulders; but they themselves will not move them with one of their fingers. Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye pay tithe of mint and anise and cummin, and have omitted the weightier matters of the law, judgment, mercy, and faith: these ought ye to have done, and not to leave the other undone.”—(Matthew 23:4-23). Oh, God, how long—how much longer will it be before we lift ourselves above that moral plane that permits us to live delicately in the midst of the want and of the suffering of our brother man?
I wander into a shop attracted by a Turkish necklace. A very beautiful young man, about the age of one of my own boys, waits on me. I take him to be a Hindu. “What is your nationality?” I ask. “I am a Jew,” he answers. “Oh,” I exclaim with unaffected pleasure, “it always makes me so happy to meet a Jew! We must never forget that it was you who gave us the noblest conception of the human mind—that of one God the loving Father of all mankind!”
The boy quickly reached into his show-case and drew out a pin that I had admired. “Take this,” he said earnestly. “Keep it always as a souvenir of me.” At that moment his brother, across the shop, having heard nothing of the previous conversation, caught his words. “What, what is this?” he shouts in great excitement. “Are you giving away our goods?” With an imperious gesture the boy replies, “Say not a word! This woman is our friend. I will make it all right with you,” and with ill-expressed thanks I hurry away to conceal my emotion. It recalls to me, as such things always do, what a man
in prison once said to me: “What all this world is dying for is a friend!”
In the Shrines this great sense penetrates me—the realization that Bahá’u’lláh and ’Abdu’l-Bahá are our changeless Friends, common to all and special to each. In moments of strength and hope and enthusiasm, it is our great flair to work under their direction, to spend ourselves, to use our insight and vigor for the accomplishment of their ends. But in those moments when fatigue and disappointment harass us, in those moments that psychology refers to as “collapse,” where can we turn in our doubt and desperation but to those Mighty Beings who shine like majestic Suns along man’s path!
Nothing can ever happen to me now that can thwart me, in imagination, from burying my face in the jasmin-strewn threshold at Bahjí and knowing as a definite part of my spiritual equipment, forever, that “God will assist all those who arise to serve Him.”
- Ye nations of the earth! Awake! Arise!
- Throw off the mildewed garments of the past,
- And don the seamless robe of Unity;
- For ye are all the leaves of one Great Tree,
- And drops of the One Ocean of God’s Love;
- Flowers ye are of many varied hues,
- All springing from the one kind mother earth,
- Why then this hatred, prejudice and strife?
- These walls of high division and distrust,
- This lack of understanding, which doth chill
- And kill, as doth the frost, the buds of faith?
- Return ye to your Source where all are One,
- And there behold each other face to face.
- No longer seeing through a darkened glass
- Which in the past hath held ye far apart.
- The hour hath struck! Awake and see God’s Light!
- His glory soon shall fill the Universe,
- And His great Tent of Unity be pitched,
- Where all nations, races, sects and creeds,
- Shall meet and form a Fellowship Divine,
- Freed from all discord and oppression dark,
- REALITY–the Tree of Ancient Root,
- Is now in bloom, and soon shall bear Its fruit;
- The Doors of Knowledge are flung open wide,
- The Light of Wisdom shineth on the path,
- And unto such as do obey God’s Will,
- The Mysteries Divine shall be revealed;
- Humanity’s true heritage of Love
- Awaits ye at the Court of God’s Command.
- Put on your garments New of Brotherhood,
- And come ye forth with Joy to greet the Dawn.
The following article and interview with Mrs. Paul Blaise (before her marriage, Miss Margaret L. Jones), author of the Esperanto Manual, “A Complete Guide to the International Language, and perhaps the best known Esperantist in England, sets forth most vividly the advantages and achievements of Esperanto, and the high ideals which its followers hold for it.—Editor.
“FOR THE linguist and for the student, Esperanto gives an infinitely rich field for exploration, full of treasures.” With a voice full of enthusiasm, and with a kindly earnest expression, Mrs. Paul Blaise went on to present the many advantages of Esperanto. She said, “Of course the first advantage of Esperanto is not its own specialty. It belongs to all affairs of the mind; because it is the effort itself to acquire the language; and it is an advantage for the reason that any mental endeavor must be a good. Its second advantage is the light which Esperanto throws upon the National languages from the etymological construction of the roots, and the construction of the language itself. English instructors find it is amazing to note the many National words which are never understood by pupils in classes until the moment when they meet the Esperanto equivalent.”
“There are many advantages,” said Mrs. Blaise, “which the study of Esperanto supplies by the new ideas of logic, simple clearness of speech, and others which one easily and naturally absorbs while learning, until finally the student finds that he no longer wishes to spoil his own beautiful language by the too frequent use of national idioms, incomplete expressions, ambiguities, peculiar forms, or discourtesies. And here I wish to say that Esperanto possibly is the only living language which does not contain slang and impolite phrases. I assure you that Esperanto is one of the most polite languages in the world on account of the flexibility of
--PHOTO-- Mrs. Paul Blaise, prominent Esperantist of England.
its order of words. For example, if one wishes to call attention to the age of a lady of experience one names her ‘less young’ instead of “the elder.’ Even the most ordinary commercial letters always end with the phrase, ‘With cordial salutation’; and what true disciple would wish to use the ‘kara’ language for uttering discourteous words?”
“Probably the chief advantage which our language will supply in the future will be its utility in international commerce. This field is already absolutely unequaled. The merchant who does not learn Esperanto now, will find himself at a great disadvantage in the future, especially when he discovers that those already using Esperanto have greatly expanded their international business interests.”
International Congresses were cited by Mrs. Blaise. She said, “Suppose a merchant has a new patent, a new food, a drug, a machine or anything else. Wishing to sell it in all countries and not knowing Esperanto, he has to advertise in all languages, and at the same time pay bills of the different printers. He has to trust his affairs to foreign agents and rely on their good will, because, ordinarily, even their letters are, at first sight, incomprehensible to him. How altogether different it is with the Esperantist. He may not have any financial standing, but having something to sell which he hopes to make world-famous, he makes his announcements in Esperanto and sends them to the heads of Esperanto groups and to Esperanto delegates in all countries. This is quite an inexpensive matter. But let us suppose also that the merchant is wealthy. Then he goes to the yearly International Congresses and takes with him some thousands of announcements, and possibly also specimens or models of his wares. At the Congress he arranges that his goods be displayed in the Exhibition; that in the Congress Daily Gazette there shall be an announcement; that in every book, circular or magazine, to be sold during the Congress there are some advertisements of his goods; and finally, he returns home knowing well that not only one, two or three thousand persons already know about his business, but that they, in turn will carry the news into all corners of the world.
“Again, if he be a rich man, he can send his announcements to the delegates of the Universal Esperanto Association with the payment and the request that they have these translated nationally and look after the advertising in the different cities. ‘That,’ you will say ‘of course even ordinary foreigners would do willingly enough for sufficient payment.’ Yes, true, but here is the special advantage of Esperanto: the delegates are known as trustworthy and enlightened men; further, they are always controlled by the Association itself, for first of course they are fellow-Esperantists, and consequently are trustworthy and honest, and secondly, they will work with pleasure to satisfy their comrades.”
“I do not need to speak to you about the advantages and the delights of travel when one is an Esperantist. You well know how one may be met everywhere, by the Esperanto delegates, and that after that there are no difficulties. If one writes immediately to the Esperanto delegate or others in the places to be visited in a few days one will receive complete details as to routes, hotels, etc., in different towns, and on arrival in every place one finds a friend instead of a foreigner.”
The literary field was also discussed by Mrs. Blaise. She said: “I would like to contradict the assertion of some that Esperanto will not have and cannot have a literature. That is an erroneous statement. Esperanto not only will have, it already has an excellent, wonderful, powerful, diversified, clever and beautiful literature. Esperanto is useful for the best translations and is also suitable for original works. I know that one might say that Esperanto at present has for the most part only translations, and that translations are not true literature. To that I reply, first, that this is no longer true; and secondly, that it is impossible to create a great, original literature in a very short time, and especially so because our best Esperantists are needed always for propagander of the language and they therefore get no time
for writing. Thirdly, in my opinion, a good translation is just as good a proof of the suitability of Esperanto for literature as is an original work, because the same words, the same phrases, the same literary powers, are needed equally for both kinds of work. When we read ‘Ifigenio’ ‘Marto,’ ‘Paulo kaj Virginion’ ‘La Faraono’ and others we really live with the heroes, we truly feel ourselves contemporaneous with them, we really see the surroundings, suffer the misfortunes, enjoy the delights, which are described in translations and what more can a simple language do? You see, it is clear that even for the non-traveler and the non-commercial Esperanto also has great advantages, because everybody, even the less educated, may by its means explore the literature of other lands. Esperanto will be for him the open sesame to that which, for his unconverted brother, will always be the treasure behind a doubly locked door and here again is a special advantage: that these great works are usually translated by enlightened Esperantists who are fellow countrymen of the authors, consequently comprehending and translating the special style of the author.”
When the writer asked Mrs. Blaise, “Can Esperanto express your true thoughts? Can Esperanto convey your most intimate feelings? Is an artificial language fit for the thousand and one affairs of daily life, for poetry, for prayer, for the highest feelings of the soul? In speaking or writing, do your thoughts flow as rapidly as in your national language?” To all these questions she replied: “Yes, yes, yes, because I have personally proved all and even if I should find tomorrow that I had quite forgotten my national language and knew only the international I should not complain as long as there existed other Esperantists.”
“One often complains,” Mrs. Blaise finished saying, “that all roles in life are already filled, and that there remains no new path for the ambitious. Others say that life no longer holds any interest and that there is a lack of ideally intelligent persons for friends. To these Esperanto now proposes great advantages. To these our dear language says: ‘Learn me, and I will shew a glorious brilliant way. If you are a singer, an actor, through me you will more melodiously and sweetly charm other hearts; and speaking an understood, easy language you will yet receive applause and laurels, till now only carried to the feet of those who sing a difficult, foreign language. Only be a good laborer, only be willing to have your own high place in the world and already you will find that you will be sought by many. Are you a collector, a scientist, a physician? through me my agents will serve you in all parts of the world. If you are an author, only think! by writing in Esperanto, you will be like a preacher in the pulpit of the world. You will be able to influence and to exalt, you will be able to console and help, you will be able to touch the hearts of thousands of readers of different nations. Not a century will be necessary, but hardly one year, for your voice to attain all corners of the earth. If you are a missionary, you will be able to go everywhere and instruct your humble brothers by means of me (the most simple known language) in the Father-love of God and the brother-love of man. If you are a teacher, through me you can get information in every country, and your lessons in history, in geography, in the peoples, in the morals, customs of inhabitants of other lands will be a thousand-fold enriched,—if you will only
use me as a collector of information. If you are a nurse, especially of the Red Cross Society, it is absolutely your duty to learn me in order that you may understand, before you help, the invalids and the wounded of all lands. If you are an intelligent person who longs for sympathetic souls with whom you can exchange thoughts, only learn me and very quickly you will find all whom you desire.‘
“In this and other ways and even more alluringly, Esperanto speaks to those who desire to labor for mankind, or who desire to find the high- est pleasures. As a last word, I should like briefly to call your attention to the great moral influence of Esperanto. For a long time, even before one commences to have the feeling of Esperantism, one feels that advantage, through the lessons of logic, construction, patience and toleration which the language teaches. For young people in schools this cannot be too highly stressed. They always do learn these useful lessons because in our language there exists the duty of considering one’s neighbor. For example, before searching the needed word in a dictionary one must patiently try to construct a fit instrument for conveying one’s thoughts; one learns to love language for the sake of language itself, and no longer wishes to make it ugly in sound or construction; and, before using a phrase one must try to judge whether a foreigner will be able to understand it, and so on.
But much greater than these moral advantages of the student days are the results which the language brings because of a mutual understanding. This comprehension opens the heart, and then we know at last that foreigners absolutely do not exist, because understanding carries with it sympathy and love. We know then the great plan of the universe. We know that we are just units of one great whole, and therefore world-brothers. In our great congresses, one sees this brotherly love demonstrated, for there are neither different ranks, nor different tribes; nor different ages; nor rich, nor poor; nor professional nor sex distinctions. There one truly forgets the thousand and one artificial barriers of the worlds regulations. There one easily converses with all; there one feels pleasurably the equalizing influence of the ‘internal idea’; there one well knows that we are all brothers and members of one same family. Oh! in very truth, the songs of all real poets, the thoughts of all great philosophers, the hopes of all glorious Prophets, the doctrines of all religions are united and realized in Esperanto and Esperantism. Therefore I strongly urge the study of Esperanto that it may quickly spread throughout the world.”
called ‘The Most Holy Book,’ and in that book one of the fundamental principles of the Bahá’í Movement is that there must be the invention of an auxiliary language, and then He goes on to explain the benefits and profits that will accrue through such a medium. Now praise be to God, this language of Esperanto is invented, and this is one of the special endowments of this brilliant century; this is one of the greatest undertakings of this great age.”
“Light is good in whatsoever lamp it is burning. A rose is beautiful in whatsoever garden it may bloom. A star has the same radiance whether it shines from the East or from the West.”—’Abdu’l-Bahá.
DAYTON, OHIO, the gem city, sparkling in the valley and on both banks of the Miami, was the scene of the eighth in the series of World Unity Conferences which began in San Francisco in the spring of last year. This Conference held four sessions—January 13, 14, 15, and 16. The initial meeting was devoted to the promotion of amity between the white and colored races, and in every way showed signs of blessing, confirmation and happiness.
The officials of the Central Young Men’s Christian Association gave the use of their auditorium for the meeting. Wide publicity resulted in a fine responsive audience. A poll would have been required to tell which of these two races was numerically in excess.
The Glee Club of Wilberforce University presented a program in which Negro songs of jubilee were varied with classic selections. The director, Mr. William Sykes, made a brief address, interpreting the genius and motif of the old spiritual songs.
Mr. Horace Holley presided and gave an historical review of the hatreds and prejudices which have influenced men’s thoughts, the outgrowth of conditions which no longer exist. His plea was that men should now let both heart and mind expand so as to be free from bias and to serve the world of humanity in the spirit that perceives its essential unity.
The principal speaker at this session, delivering what was referred to by the press as the key-note address of the Conference, was Mr. Albert R. Vail of Chicago. His subject was, “Scientific Proofs of the Oneness of Humanity.”
“After nineteen hundred years,” he declared, as quoted by the press, “we are beginning to realize the meaning of Christ’s vision of brotherhood and to deal with the race problem as something that lies at the heart of religion and not as something to be handed over to the police. Every modern science confirms the principle of unity. The astronomer reports that one law underlies the entire universe. The biologist finds the same fundamental pattern in every form of life. The physiologist finds no basis for the claim of race superiority in the creation of man. There is no difference in the average sizes of the brains of men white and black. Again, psychologists have made careful intelligence tests of a large number of white and colored children with results that are practically equal for both groups. Step by step, therefore, we climb upward to the spiritual view, that the only superior man is he who loves most and serves best.”
The other speaker was Mr. Gregory, who presented a picture of the problems of various races and nations, including those in America, and told of the Bahá’í teachings in racial adjustment. His address was concluded with the following quotation from the Words of ’Abdu’l-Bahá:
“O ye teachers of the Cause of the Supreme Lord! Travel ye, teach ye! Destroy ye the foundation of hatred, malice and contention from amongst the children of men and lay ye the basis of the palace of love and universal peace!” “The lights of the oneness of the world of humanity are scintillating like unto precious jewels; scatter their rays to all parts! Upraise ye the banner of unity, fraternity, cooperation and reciprocity amongst all the people; so that there may not be left from prejudice aught save a name and of ignorance not even a shadow; the religion of God may pitch its tent over the East and West, the Light of the Kingdom may illumine all hearts, perfect agreement and association may be realized be- tween races, religions and nativities, and the world of creation may find composure and tranquillity.”
session was held at the auditorium of the Young Women’s Christian Association. A fine musical program was presented at this and the following sessions by the Holstein Trio.
Mr. Horace Holley, presiding, gave a philosophical review of the increasing power of the human will, which today becomes uppermost among mental forces, having as never before its unfoldment in the daily life of man. It is now reinforced by scientific development and this is very important; for although the thought of war may not yet be different from that of former ages, yet the fact of war is far different. Therefore in order to escape disaster the will must be directed by new spiritual powers. The purpose of these Conferences is to educate and spiritualize both the personal and group will, so as to bring cooperation with all other peoples and thus reflect the fundamental law of the universe. The society of the past contained little or no connection between the inner and outer life of man. Today, we can eliminate poverty, ignorance and superstition and with the latent powers of the spirit produce a new world. In a word, these Conferences give a medium of expression to those who can explain the problems of modern life and so help us to reconstruct our wills as to apply the laws of divine creation in man. All the world is one and the universal ideal is the law of love.
Mr. Vail prefaced his address on “The Spiritual Foundation of Peace,” by reading selections from the Message of the New Day by ’Abdu’l-Bahá. He reported the address of a professor of international law who had recently returned from Europe with a gloomy picture of dissentions and threatened warfare, but who in the few moments of closing his address, beamed with happiness as he referred to ancient prophecies with a promise of universal peace. This is the day when the spiritual foundation of peace fills the world, all must help to bring it to pass. We must seek not our own way, but justice to all men. All difficulties must be arbitrated, women’s rights must be respected, new text-books and new education must come into vogue and the mightiest peace-maker, the law of God, must be obeyed. He gave an eloquent portrayal of the great triumphs of the Holy Ones of the past who through the Power of the Holy Spirit had brought order out of chaos, and urged the acceptance of the Unity of Truth, the Light of the New Day, and the spiritual outpouring which is the Kingdom of God.
Dr. John Herman Randall selected as his subject, “The World We Live In: What of the Future?” He described a wonderful man who came
from the Orient to America in 1912 with a great message. Churches and synagogues, peace societies and universities opened their doors to Him. He said nothing about ecclesiasticism, dogmas, or church organization. Nor did He claim a new religion, but He translated religion in terms of the spirit,—unity, cooperation and love.
In those days men were lulled into a fancied security by the philosophy of Herbert Spencer. The mighty cosmic force of evolution was to carry man upward into a perfect man and a perfect society. It was a blind optimism and a smug self-complacency. It reached the stage of a mad rush for armaments and ended in the colossal losses of the great war. This was the end of one epoch and the ushering in of a new and a different kind of life.
He then pictured the world struggle between two forces, the one of separation, aversion, destruction, the other working for understanding fellowship and love.
Nationalism has been called the religion of the western world. It creates rivalries, jealousies and competition. Its economic imperialism continually reaches out to control weaker peoples. Among many it has caused great bitterness and anti-foreign feeling. On the other hand, such developments as cruises around the world, radio development and aeroplane activities indicate the other force. The world is being knit together by an economic mechanism. It was wrecked by the great war but is again forming. We are now becoming aware that what helps one helps all, and what hurts one hurts all. A supposed rival is often a best customer. There is also a cultural unity caused by travel. People go abroad and return with what they learn. Beneath all outward differences there is the same motion and aspiration after beauty. The nearer we come to people the more clearly we can see that they are our brothers. All are members of the great family of God. Great human qualities make us one with all the world. We must have faith in human nature as well as in the Prophets of God. We must resist those forces which work to destory humanity, for another war, as Premier Baldwin says, “will sound the death knell of civilization.”
There must be a consciousness which expands into the community of the world, each for all and all for each. Two things vitally needed are the technique of organization and the spirit of unity in our own hearts growing brighter and brighter to fill the whole world.
THE FIRST UNITARIAN CHURCH, whose pastor, Rev. James W. MacDonald, presided, housed the third session. The chairman voiced happiness in being part of a meeting for world unity and high hopes that the world might be permeated with the spirit of justice and love which some call God. May all share the blessings of human well-being. There is no better education than the succession of such Conferences to promote it. What greater satisfaction can there be than the building of the divinely human commonwealth which may be known as the family of God?
Prof. Frank D. Slutz, famous educator, was the first speaker, his subject being, “Education and America.” His address in substance was a plea for liberalism in education, for they use of laboratory methods in solving the problems of life, and for a tireless search for God in all human endeavors. In the evolution of a new civilization he said there were four principles about which men might be positive.
1. Earn, then enjoy. All moneys,
incomes, honors, etc., must be earned. This is the best challenge to radicalism. This is the conversation of desire.
2. True citizenship is a practice, not an attitude. Government is cooperative. Keep the law if you want protection. Keep the law of friendship if you want friendship. Keep the law of love if you want love.
3. Home is the acme of achievement. Teachers should not be celibates. How can one who has no home teach home life? Teach a passion for home and the way to make home.
4. Every one must go on a search magnificent for God. When a nation loses spirituality its life is gone.
Prof. Slutz also suggested three areas in which there should be no dogmatism.
1. The present division of labor and organization of industry should not be regarded as an ark which no one dares touch. Give our boys a chance to question and inquire. Investigation may find a better way.
2. Racial contacts. All races can contribute to the world’s progress. All have both big and little men. Each can take pride in its achievements. In the orchestra both the base violin and the flute are needed.
3. International relationships. Here indeed we have been too dogmatic. Let all such dogmatism as well as the spirit of aggression, “pass in music out of sight.” Remember also opinions are not facts.
Dr. John Herman Randall spoke on, “The Next Steps Forward in Religion.” The only influence, he declared, that can save the world from itself is education and religion. He then pictured some obstacles to progress in the religious world today. One is that the living dogmas of the dead have become the dead dogmas of the living. There was a time when such dogmas had life and men were willing to live and die for them. But the world of these dogmas has gone never to return. Our world is entirely different. The youth of today are only mystified when they hear such dogmas. Their language they do not understand. The great and real laws of life must now be put into modern parlance.
While all the religions of the past have saved some, no religion of the past has saved all. All have had some lives beautiful and noble, but none has completely transformed society. Religion for tomorrow must become less and less sectarian and more and more universal. It is great gain if we can forget our own labels and names and see the landscape as God created it, from the mountain-top. Our antagonisms must give way to appreciation and understanding. The religion of the New Day must be social rather than individualistic. It must inspire with hope. Its work is to save the world and to transform society. The true philosophy is that of social control. Not by love alone, not by knowledge alone, but by love and knowledge do we attain. The family of God on earth is of every race, color and creed. Through education and religion, knowledge and love faith is lifted out of archaic theology and creedal narrowness, and is free to work out the great destiny of humanity.
THE CLOSING SESSION of the World Unity Conference filled the auditorium of the Young Men’s Christian Association with men and women, the Conference being the guest of the Forum of the said organization. Mr. G. A. Doeller, presiding, gave cordial welcome to all.
Judge Florence Allen, of the Supreme Court of the State of Ohio, was the first speaker. The first
woman jurist of the world is truly a great character. Her personal charm, profound learning, trenchant logic, eloquent periods and moral enthusiasm, all in a righteous cause, made a deep and lasting impression. Upon the basis of the Declaration of Independence, the preamble of the Constitution of the United States and the precedents set by great American executives and jurists in the interpretation of human rights, she made a clean-cut legal argument, yet phrased in popular terms so that all might follow. And this was done with intense interest by all. The gravamen of her discourse was the outlawry of war and the protection of the inalienable rights of every American by adequate legislation. She contended against the iniquitous doctrine that States could never do wrong, and pointed out that under the present archaic customs, not those who wickedly wage offensive wars could be punished, but rather the righteous ones who protested against war could be forced to languish in prison. A righteous stand taken by this nation would powerfully influence the peace and stability of the world. Interpreting the Monroe doctrine, she declared that its true spirit was to denounce our right to do wrong. No act of aggression should ever be committed unless our soil is actually invaded by foreign foes, and then only in self-defense. Ethical and moral principles should govern all. We should never think anyone, not even ourselves, to be above the law.
Dr. Herbert A. Miller, head of the sociological department of Ohio State University, concluded the program with an address on, “Scientific and Religious Tendencies Toward World Unity.” There are two fields of interest, he said, that are universal,—science and religion. Scientific laws
--PHOTO-- Dr. Herbert A. Miller, of Ohio State University.
do not tell us what ought to be, but what is. Science is ever increasing in authority and scope. There are two principal kinds of science, natural and social. Biology applies regardless of frontiers. Its principles are valued regardless of the country of origin. Scientific progress continues to break down many barriers of separation. Radio, aeroplane activity, the Einstein theory of relativity, may be cited as illustrations. In the way of the social sciences also there is the strenthening of the bonds of unity. From the standpoint of sociology, psychology and anthropology, no grounds for racial superiority can be discovered. Psychologists also say that one race differs not from another in capacity; nor has the male sex greater capacity than the female. Many errors float about, however, because of the tendency of men to rationalize their beliefs, regardless of their truthfulness. When men
thought the earth flat they constructed a system of astronomy to support that view. In the same way men build up a culture and then identify it with their color and fancy those of a different color incapable. “Manifest destiny” and the Nordic myth are among the bogies now exploded by science.
Viewed sociologically, religion is a body of ideas to fill in the gap between time and space and what is beyond. The way of filling in is theology. From this viewpoint all religion is tribal. All religions contain some kinds of symbol usually developed according to local color. But all religions are now coming together. Underlying all religions are the same truths. Since the progress of religions involves its separation from the state, religion can no longer be patriotic. States very often object to this separation which prevents them from using religion for their own ends. The effort to change men from one religion to another rarely succeeds. But an enlargement of the horizon to make each see the good in all, is under way. The things that keep religions apart are artificial while those that tend to unite them are real. There are indications that not far off through the unity of all religions universal civilization will be secured.
hearts are inclined toward agreement and fellowship and minds are thoughtful upon the question of the unification of mankind. There is an emanation of the universal consciousness today which clearly indicates the dawn of a great unity.
“The Bahá’í Message is a call to religious unity and not an invitation to a new religion, not a new path to immortality, God forbid! It is the ancient path cleared of the debris of imaginations and superstitions of men, of the debris of strife and misunderstanding and is again made a clear path to the sincere seeker, that he may enter therein in assurance and find that the Word of God is One Word, though the speakers were many.”—’Abdu’l-Bahá.
WHAT the world needs is not a new religion, but religion renewed; not a new road to God, but a clearing of all roads; not a new pathway to perfection, but a searching, clarifying, illumining light that will reveal the hidden and obscured treasures on every pathway. “There are as many ways to God as there are human beings.”
The concept of life, of religion, of anything, is limited by the capacity of the individual consciousness. Each human being is a mine of undiscovered gold. Every religion in the world carries a key that will unlock the door of some human soul to the precious gems of God deposited therein.
Our vision is as broad as our conciousness will permit. Even in this day of universal concepts, when the whole world is becoming conscious of all its parts and its many possibilities, there are souls who possess only a limited outlook on life.
Due to the influence of heredity and environment many of us are encased in clouds of ignorance, prejudice and one-track ideas. Outwardly the world is moving on apace. An ever-increasing world-concept opens a broad highway for travel,—so broad in fact, that the one-track brain is likely to lose its sense of direction, become bewildered, and stumble over its subconscious limitations.
One of these subconscious limitations that binds the soul of man and hinders his free progress is that of automatic, orthodox absolutism.
If a child is born of Muhammadan parents it naturally grows up in the Muhammadan faith. If a child is born a Catholic he will, by a rule of averages, remain a Catholic all his life. If a man has Jewish ancestors, one will usually find him enjoying the Jewish church. If a child has implanted in his mind the Christian Science or New Thought version, its later life carries a coloring of that early training.
There is one outstanding type of man in the world today who needs to think, to search, to analyze, to remake and re-organize himself more than any other—that is the man who was born into orthodoxy and has later taken on or developed the universal vision.
Dogmatic childhood training can leave subconscious impressions that act automatically throughout a lifetime of earth experience, if that subconscious mind is not scrutinized, cleaned out, re-educated, and made wholly constructive and free from the weeds of one-track concepts.
An adult, subconsciously bound by such limitations, will express even universal concepts that he may have acquired, in a limited, distorted manner, depending on the type and kind of automatic complex that fashions his particular outlook on life.
Most of us were raised under the religious teachings of some particular faith that encouraged the child-mind to believe its religion to be the best and perhaps the only true and correct one to be found.
Unless a definite effort is made to remove such subconscious memory impressions, the man has consciously outgrown his childhood limits in belief may surprise himself by unconsciously giving forth, with all sincerity, a universal principle intended to include the whole world, which in reality appears tainted and distorted by the self-centered influence of that tyrant, the orthodox subconscious.
It is not so much a new religion we need, as more light on all religion that will enable man to promote the universal advancement of humankind—that will develop cooperation and mutual understanding.
Pure religion is selfless, just as the man who is pure is selfless. The greatest man of this age is the “Servant of the servants of God.” “He who who is greatest among you shall be the servant of all.”
Beyond all doubt the truest movement of spiritual selflessness that is to be found in the world today is that of the Bahá’í Movement. The word “Bahá’í” in itself means “light,”—a Movement of Light that shines continuously, like the sunlight, and gradually warms the immature buds of limited human concepts into widespread blooming life, that takes in the whole world.
You ask, “Is this a Religious Movement?” Most assuredly for every movement that leads man from the limited and personal into a universal concept of endless good is religious in that it tightens the thread that connects the Creator of all Good with his creatures, whom He has placed in forms to express Himself.
The Bahá’í Movement is indeed a Religious Movement, but it is not a new religious cult. It seeks to remove the barriers of prejudice, ignorance and limited self-interest that divide all nations, all races, all classes, all religions, all peoples each from the other. Its purpose is to establish universal peace, to promote universal understanding, and to awaken the love of God and good in the hearts of all men.
The Bahá’í Movement is a concrete example of true religion universally applied to all the unhealed wounds of the world.
In it the laboring man finds a happy solution for economic unbalance; while at the same time the capitalist finds his necessary funds protected, and his outlook on life undergoing a change.
By understanding the tenets of the Bahá’í Movement the conflict between science and religion is subdued. The intelligent man is trained to see his religion as harmonious with the facts of science, and the man of science discovers that without the illumination that can come to him from an awakening of his higher self he is able to only touch the surface of scientific discoveries. Alone each is limited; together they rise.
The timid, unthinking man, unconscious of his God-given possibilities, learns to think from the stimulus given him by this Movement—for one of its outstanding principles is the “independent investigation of truth.”
Since its origin over fifty years ago the women of the world have made long strides in development. It is interesting to note that one of the principles of the Bahá’í Movement is the “equality of men and women!”
Universal education and training in some trade, art or profession is prescribed by it, for boys and girls the world over.
Observation of Bahá’í study shows a “drawing together of the sons of men,” the gradual elimination of political, racial, patriotic and religious prejudices.
An international court, made up of representatives from all the nations of the earth, is recommended as a solution
for national differences and future wars.
Sincere, heartfelt prayer and service to others are indicated as two principle keys that will unlock the soul of man to the subtle, life-giving breezes of the spirit.
The idea of the brotherhood of man through the Fatherhood of God runs like a constant stream through the body of this universal movement for peace.
You ask again if it is a religious movement. Yes, but not a sectarian religion. It has no priests or clergy. Each student of the Bahá’í Movement is trained to believe the teachings of Christ that “every man is his brother’s keeper.” The universal concepts of life that he acquires he feels impelled to pass on to others. By his daily life each student is expected to spread the teaching of brotherly love and service, and as already stated, the Bahá’í Movement is like the ever-shining sunlight that gently and continuously warms the world into love and harmony.
If a student of the Bahá’í Movement ever looks upon it as a sectarian religion, it is because he has not sufficiently absorbed the universal vision of its Founders, who sacrificed all earthly possessions and even life itself, to implant in the human consciousness the concept of the Oneness of God, the fundamental oneness of all peoples, all races, all nations, all religions, all prophetic revelations, yes, and the very oneness and unity of nature herself.
The Bahá’í Movement is pure because it is selfless. In essence it seeks nothing, but willingly gives all,—and by giving all, it automatically draws all within the radius of its Light, and reveals the beauty, the truth, the value of every effort in the world to awaken man to the consciousness of a divine selfhood.
It is not a new religion the world needs, but a clarifying of all religions,—a great Universal Solvent that will remove the debris of ignorance, prejudice, misunderstanding, injustice and intolerance.
The world is in the throes of rebirth. Material civilization has run its gamut and will soon lose itself through its own extreme. From the dead ashes of that material world is being born a child—the child of the spirit.
“The Sun of Reality is shining gloriously,” said ’Abdu’l-Bahá in His illumined utterances, and “Heavenly teachings applicable to the advancement in human conditions have been revealed in this merciful age. This re-formation and renewal of the fundamental reality of religion constitutes the true and outworking spirit of modernism, the unmistakable Light of the world, the manifest effulgence of the Word of God, the divine remedy for all human ailment and the bounty of eternal life to all mankind.”
“There is nothing sweeter in the world of existence than prayer.”-’Abdu’l-Bahá.
“PRAYER,” said ’Abdu’l-Bahá, “is communion with God.” There are many states and degrees of prayer. In the parched land the plants long for moisture, they need the rain-giving cloud, the shadow cool and refreshing. This is one kind of prayer. The weary wanderer in the burning desert craves “the shadow of a rock in a weary land.” The tired and weary soul in pain and despair, looks to the eternal quiet and rest of the grave. Another aspect of prayer, ’Abdu’l-Bahá said, is faithful work day by day, forgetting one’s self and putting one’s whole energy and attention into faithful service. This, He said, “is acceptable worship of our Creator.” With it comes the joy of true service, of pure creative construction or conservation.
All are acquainted with the prayer for help or food. The child asking to be fed, the farmer planting and tilling the soil, the birds and beasts seeking their food,—all look to and ask (unconsciously perhaps) the Creator of us all for His bestowals.
The early history of the Latter Day Saints at Salt Lake City, Utah, is a striking example of this over-ruling and over-shadowing Providence. These early settlers, thousands of miles from other settlements, planted in the early Spring their last seed knowing if they failed in getting a harvest, disaster and starvation were inevitable. No sooner were the plants above ground, than a cloud of locusts appeared and began to eat all of the growth. The bas-relief on the monument at Salt Lake City shows the farmers in despair; but also discloses the wives and mothers with eyes of faith and answered prayer pointing to a flock of sea-gulls that, settling among the fast-disappearing crops, speedily ate the destroying scourge.
Another prayer is, “Show unto us the right way.”—(Muhammad). The answer to this universal cry is the coming again, again, and still again, of God’s Sons—His Manifestations, His Prophets and Messengers. This important truth is most worthy of study and deepest meditation. In this infallible truth is concealed the mysteries of God and His Kingdom. These Messengers are ever “the way, the truth and the life,” the way to God, the Truth of God, and life eternal.
In the wonderful message of His Holiness Bahá’u’lláh—the quintessence of all previous religious teaching, the renewal of the old and the effulgent splendor of this great day of God,—we find many metaphors and symbols, which properly understood give great light on the important subject of prayer. For example in one of the prayers most frequently used by Bahá’ís reference is made to the “Supreme Horizon” shining forth upon this world. Here we have a picture most illuminating. When one visits the seashore and looks out over the moving water, it is ofttimes difficult to distinguish the sky from the ocean, both seem blended into one. The distant haze obscures the vision and at times a cloud comes between. So it is in the lives and vehicles of the Messengers from on High. Their material bodies and divine realities are so blended that no distinct line of demarcation is possible; their ineffable love and wisdom seemingly make them wholly divine, while their bodily limitations obscure to the people
of that day their divine station and attributes. Not until years have passed and the memory of their physical vehicles is faded and forgotten by mortal man, does the world appreciate the privilege of those days “when God walked on the earth with men.”
In this same prayer we find another symbol given in an Oriental wording referring to the tree at the end of the journey. Life is to many at times a dreary land, a desert of trial and sorrow, too oft we fall and are bruised, and hearts become sad and spirits faint; we long for a guide, a sign of assurance, a pointer to the road that would lead to rest, joy and content to our weary souls. In ancient times where the caravan roads lost themselves in the desert of stones, rocks and burning sands, a palm tree was planted. Its stately trunk grew high into the air, its drooping fronds gave comfort to the eye; its fruit, nourishment to hungry bodies. To travelers journeying over the parched land, guided by stars, or misleading and changing ridges and dunes, tormented by mirages of stately cities and refreshing lakes and oasis of water, this “sadrat” or tree, was ever a welcome sight assuring the wanderer his journey was over, a “highway was there” leading to the goal of his heart. (Isaiah 35:8). So to the pilgrims of life truly seeking the land of joyous content, the home of eternal life, the Manifestation of God is ever a tree in a weary land, its shade gives rest and comfort, its fruit heavenly sustenance and strength. “O God; Lead us in the right way.” Truly this prayer is ever answered. God’s Messengers ever wait to point out the right way, to comfort, to sustain, to feed with the food of eternal life.
A poor colored woman of the Southland was sick unto death. Light bothered her, and day after day she kept herself hid away in the dark praying for health and life. She is a widow with several children to educate and support, and life was painful, dark and sorrowful. I asked her, “Are you a Christian?” “Yes, doctor.” “Do you pray?” “Yes.” “Do you wait for an answer?” She replied, “I do not know what you mean.” “Suppose,” I said, “I were to knock at your door and when you opened it, I said, ‘Give me food, I am very hungry.’ And you said, ‘Wait and I will get you food.’ And when you came back with the food you found me gone. What would you think?” She answered, “I should say you were not hungry.” I replied, “That is the way you treat God. When I leave here, pray again, and wait and wait until the answer comes.” This she promised to do. When next I saw this poor soul, her eyes were agleam with divine light. “The answer came,” she exclaimed. “I waited on my knees for ten minutes and it came. I shall be cured. God said so.” Needless to say that today she is well, her life is full and her faith, is supreme.
How many of us forget to wait, we knock and too often go away unfed, thirsty and disconsolate, when if we had but waited “our joy would be full.”
We find in that wonderful book entitled “The Seven Valleys,” by Bahá’u’lláh, this quotation, “A servant always draws near unto Me with prayers until I respond unto him.” Let us then ever remember the prayer is never complete until some response is received; the prayer—by patiently waiting—is transferred from the intellect to the heart, the seat of God’s throne. The answer comes, the heart is illumined with light divine and the spirit is awakened, the soul and body refreshed, the step into the Kingdom is taken, and we have begun the journey to eternal life.
True prayer is turning to “Him Whom God manifests” asking for His help, giving Him our love in return for all He has endured for us, relying on Him, trusting Him to point the way that out of the desert leads to our heavenly home. “This is that Fountain wherefrom drink those near unto God.”
There are stations upon stations, heights upon heights in communion with God. The Prophets of God are always men of prayer. Their prayers are such wherein all personal desires are entirely obliterated and they merge their all into the very essence of divinity. They are the true Exemplars of human life; we can but feebly follow in their footsteps.
A prayer of His Holiness Bahá’u’lláh contains the following: “By Thy glory, O Beloved One! to lay down my life for the Manifestation of Thyself and to offer up my spirit for the Dayspring of Thy wondrous beauty, is indeed to sacrifice my spirit to Thy spirit, myself to Thyself, my beauty to Thy beauty, and to offer up my all in the path of Thy saints and Thy holy ones.”
In ancient feudal days, the villain or freeman, when he entered the service of the lord of the manor, would kneel and place his hand within the hands of his master, saying, “I am your man.” Today we but take the oath of allegiance to our country. But we may still, if we would, on bended knee place our hands in the Hands of God’s Messenger and say, “I am your servant; may my spirit be united with Thy spirit, my soul with Thy soul, my heart with Thy heart. May my body be spent in service to Thy servants, my all be dedicated to Thee.” Surely if we are truly earnest, His hands will enclose our hands; the gift of our lives—imperfect though they may be—will be acceptable to Him, His consciousness will merge and illumine our consciousness. True liberty is giving up our liberty to God. True joy and happiness is found alone in His presence. True peace and comfort are contained in His overshadowing love. May we all find that “Divine Lote Tree,” taste of its fruits and follow the road to the home of Reality.
True prayer is ever answered. True prayer is unity. They who came from God gave all and are ever awaiting with open arms for those who follow the path their steps have trod. There is no greater honor than to serve proudly yet humbly in Their Cause, no greater joy than to share Their esteem and love, no greater liberty than to be a slave to the Divine Will, no greater life than to be a participant in Life Eternal. This is true prayer, true service and the fullness of life.
whole day with high ideals and supreme sanctity and calmness. One’s heart must be sensitive to the music of prayer. He must feel the effect of prayer. He must not be like an organ from which softest notes stream forth without having consciousness of sensation in itself.”
HUMAN tastes differ; thoughts, nationalities, races and tongues are many. The need of a Collective Center by which these differences may be counter-balanced and the people of the world unified is obvious.
“Consider how nothing but a spiritual power can bring about this unification, for material conditions and mental aspects are so widely different that agreement and unity are not possible through outer means. It is possible, however, for all to become unified through one spirit, just as all may receive light from one sun. Therefore, assisted by the Collective and Divine Center which is the law of God and the reality of His Manifestation, we can overcome these conditions until they pass away entirely and the races advance.
“The Collective Center has always appeared in the East. His Holiness Abraham, His Holiness Moses, His Holiness Jesus Christ, His Holiness Muhammad, were Collective Centers of their day and time and all arose in the East.
“Today His Holiness Bahá’u’lláh is the Collective Center of unity for all mankind and the splendor of His light has likewise dawned from the East. He founded the oneness of mankind in Persia. He established harmony and agreement among the various peoples of religious beliefs, denominations, sects and cults by freeing them from the fetters of past. imitations and superstitions; leading them to the very foundation of the divine religions. From this foundation shines forth the radiance of spirituality which is unity, the love of God, the knowledge of God, praiseworthy morals, and the virtues of the human world. Bahá’u’lláh renewed these principles, just as the coming of spring refreshes the earth and confers new life upon all phenomenal beings. . . . His Holiness Bahá’u’lláh came to renew the life of the world with this new and divine springtime. . . . ”—’Abdu’l-Bahá.
