| ←Issue 7 | Star of the West Volume 17 - Issue 8 |
Issue 9→ |
 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:
|
ORIGINALLY mankind was one family, united and compact; later the members of this happy family were divided and subdivided through ignorance and prejudice. Now the time has come again for their final unification. Universal peace will bring about this long-wished-for consummation.
Once the Parliament of Man is established and its constituent parts organized, the governments of the world having entered into a covenant of eternal friendship will have no need of keeping large standing armies and navies. A few battalions to preserve internal order, and an international police to keep the highways of the seas clear, are all that will be necessary. Then these huge sums will be diverted to other more useful channels, pauperism will disappear, knowledge will increase, the victories of peace will be sung by poets and bards, knowledge will improve the conditions, and mankind will be rocked in the cradle of felicity and bliss. Then, whether a government is constitutional or republican, hereditary monarchy or democratic, the rulers will devote their time to the prosperity of their nations, the legislation of just and sane law and the fostering of closer and more amicable relations with their neighbors – thus will the world of humanity become a miro reflecting the virtues and attributes of the Kingdom of God.
--PHOTO--
Left, Dr. Susan I. Moody; right, Miss Elizabeth Stewart, the faithful Bahá'í nurse who served with Dr. Moody in Tihrán, Persia, and who died recently in Philadelphia. (See page 263).
| VOL. 17 | NOVEMBER, 1926 | No. 8 |
blindness and misapprehension man has enveloped himself in veils of discord, strife and hatred.”
“I HAVE NOT yet seen any one who does not want the peace of the world. Where is the man who wants another war? If we find such a man We should mark him as the enemy of mankind. . . . This has become the burning, crucial question of the moment,—can swords be beaten into ploughshares.” Thus speaks Dr. Moses R. Lovell of Washington, D. C., in an Armistice sermon, his ringing words spread near and far by those invisible messengers of the air, radiowaves.
Yes, all want peace. The problem is, how can it be attained? By new combinations and alliances of races? By treaties between nations? By agreements between masses of humanity to limit armaments and end war? It were well if by such means universal peace could be established, and right quickly. But a change must come first in the units that make up humanity. Peace must come to the heart of each individual before peace can come to the world. For while the psychology of masses or groups has often been below the level of the individuals composing them, seldom and only at rare intervals has the group risen above the level of idealism which controlled the individual.
“PEACE on earth to men of good-will,” is the more accurate translation of the angel-song which ushered in Christ’s birth. Peace cannot come to men of ill-will, or men or to nations in which aggression and exploitation are the predominant traits.
Rabindranath Tagore, in a recent ringing message broadcasted to the world through the Associated Press, says that Europe can never succeed in bringing war to an end when its motive for such attempts is simply dread of the effects of war. The positive quality of the love of mankind must prevail before universal peace will be established. And Buddha, Tagore’s greatest compatriot, over two thousand years ago said, “Verily, not by hatred does hatred cease. Only by love does hatred [and its outer manifestation, strife] cease.”
AS INDIVIDUALS we are prone to contentiousness, to aggressiveness, to that spirit of egotism which produces strife. How difficult to steer peacefully through the manifold complexities of human contacts and association, whether in the business, the social, or the family life! It is here, in the daily life, that we must make the conquest over war. As individuals we must spiritualize our natures until the habit of aggression falls away from us as a garment which is discarded. For just so long as we, acting as individuals, express anger, selfishness, and strife in our relation with other individuals, so long shall
we as the human race express that now dreaded and cataclysmic strife between nations which we call war. Somehow, in some way, the spirit of strife and contention must be replaced by the spirit of harmony, of love, of cooperation.
A STRONG AID to such a progress toward peace is the realization that victory won by force is seldom effective. In fact, so ineffective is it that one could hazard the generalization that victory won by force, whether as between individuals or between races, is in reality a defeat. For the vibrations of strife, having once been established, continue until the victor is himself, if not reconquered, at least worn down, exhausted, and finally ruined. In other words, a forcible victory in which one party triumphs selfishly and aggressively over another party produces never any good to any one.
“He that taketh the sword shall perish by the sword,” is a statement of the deepest psychological as well as spiritual truth. How often have we seen families or individuals consuming their very health and happiness in contention one with another. Has anything but sorrow resulted from such strife, no matter which side was the victor?
Edgar Lee Masters, in his Spoon River Anthology, hints at those strange inner forces which even up the score of grudges and bring sorrow and retribution upon the apparently successful exploiter, aggressor, and tyrant. Yes, it is a law more inevitable than that of the Medes and Persians, that “as you mete out, so shall it be measured unto you.” Real success, real victory, real happiness and prosperity are based upon a harmonious adjustment of difficulties, upon a generous sense of justice, upon magnanimity, and cooperation. And though the life of nations unrolls its scroll more slowly than that of individuals, the same lessons may be read therein. Is it a mere coincidence that the only race which has survived and maintained its civilization intact since the beginning of history, the Chinese, have been the most peace-loving people of the world, a people whose national as well as individual philosophy has been based upon an intelligent appreciation of the wonderful law of harmony?
Is it a mere coincidence that Egypt, while it remained peaceful, lived through two milleniums of what was perhaps the most evenly prosperous and happy, as well as scientifically the greatest, civilization the world has known until the present day? And that then, within a few centuries after that epoch in which the thirst for conquest led the former peace-loving Egyptians into adventures after empire, Egypt fell into foreign military hands, never again to raise its head in liberty?
Is it a mere accident that Assyria, fiercest and bloodiest of conquerors, devoting the art of metallurgy to introducing the new and more deadly metal iron into warfare, flourished for a brief period of a hundred and fifty years and then fell to the dust, overcome and even obliterated by her foes, so that of her proud cities not one stone remained upon another, and her people became a byword and a mock?
SUCH IS THE lesson history reads us. And now, in the twentieth century he who runs may also read, so collosal are the words of warning, “mene, mene,” traced by the finger of Destiny upon the wall. Conquest does not pay, though it should bring back to us all the wealth of the Indies. The Great Illusion, that war is the maker of national success, is being psychologized out of the mass-mind
by the terrific, even if utterly materialistic, fact,—that the present weapons of wholesale destruction, not to mention the unavowed secrets of military chemistry and science, are such that between victor and vanquished, by the end of another world war, there would be little left to choose!
MAY THE WORLD wake up from its militaristic nightmare! May it recover from its war-madness before the frenzy of another universal combat make holocaust of humanity!
Over sixty years ago Bahá’u’lláh sent his message of Peace to the crowned heads of the world, “Let not a man glory in this, that he loves his country; let him rather glory in this, that he loves his kind.” The brotherhood of man, based on the knowledge of the One God, and on the love for Him and the love for one another, above race and above creed,—this was his message, and this is the message that Bahá’ís the world over are seeking to spread.
JUST AS Buddhism brought universal peace to India; just as the teachings of Christ made one the myriad races and sects of the Roman Empire as well as of barbaric Europe; just as Islam united into a powerful brotherhood the most diverse races and nationalities and warring tribes, until a peace was established from India to Spain such as enabled members of the Faith to journey in perfect safety throughout all this vast region; so now a world religion such as the Bahá'í, uniting all nations and peoples into one universal brotherhood, would prove the most effective, may prove the only effective, way of substituting for aggression the spirit of cooperation; for inter-racial distrust and hatreds, inter-racial harmony and love; and for the red glare of war, the golden glow of that Most Great Peace, the Kingdom of God.
INASMUCH as the foundation of the religions of God is one reality which is love and amity, these warfares and dissensions are caused by imitations which creep in afterwards. Religion is a reality and reality is one. The fundamentals of the religions of God are one in reality. There is no difference in the fundamentals. The difference is caused by the imitations which arise later, and inasmuch as imitations differ, strife, discord and quarreling take place. If the religions of this time should forsake imitations and seek the fundamentals, all of them would agree and strife and discord would pass away. For reality is one and not multiple.—’Abdu’l-Bahá.
TODAY in the world of humanity the most important matter is the question of universal peace. The realization of this principle is the crying need of the time.
Self-interest is at the bottom of every war. . . . The moral effect of the expenditures of these colossal sums of money for military purposes is just as deteriorating as the actual war and its train of dreadful carnage and horrors. The ideal and artistic forces of the contending parties become barbaric and bestial, the spiritual powers are stunted and the laws of divine civilization are disregarded. Such a financial drain ossifies the veins and muscles of the body-politic, and congeals the delicate sensibilities of the spirit.
There is not the least doubt that the nation or the government which puts forward an extraordinary effort in the promotion of universal peace, will be encircled with divine confirmations, and will be the object of honor and respect among all the inhabitants of the earth. Such an action will become conducive to the prosperity and well-being of mankind. (Star of the West, Vol. 5, p. 115.)
EVERY CENTURY holds the solution of one predominating problem. Although there may be many problems, yet one of the innumerable problems will loom large and become the most important of all.
In the past century the most important question that occupied the mind of man was the establishment of political freedom, and this aim was more or less spread broadcast. But in this luminous century the greatest bestowal of the world of humanity is universal peace, which must be founded so that the realm of creation may obtain composure; . . . . As long as this sentiment has not become the light of the assemblages of the world of humanity, eternal prosperity will not be obtained and estrangement will not be changed into good fellowship. Like unto a spirit, this ideal must run and circulate through the veins and arteries of the body of the world. . . .
According to the incontrovertible teachings of Bahá’u’lláh and his irrefutable commands, the Bahá’ís must interest themselves and be ever ready to give up even their lives in the furtherance of all the international problems which are the fruits of good intention and based on the principle of the oneness of the world of humanity, especially the question of universal peace. They are ever ready and prepared to serve. Unquestionably up to this time more than twenty thousand people have hastened towards the arena of martyrdom for the promotion of these teachings of Bahá’u’lláh. They have sacrificed their possessions, wealth and lives. (Star of the West, Vol. 7, p. 136.)
TODAY there is no greater glory for man than that of service in the cause of the Most Great Peace, for peace is light, whereas war is darkness. Peace is life, whereas war is death. Peace is guidance, whereas war is misguidance. Peace is the foundation of God, war is the satanic institution. Peace is conducive to the illumination of the world of humanity, whereas war is the destroyer of the human foundation. . . .
Consider how the human world is ever restless because of war. Peace is health, whereas war is illness.
When the banner of truth is raised, peace becomes the cause of the welfare and well-being of the human world. In all cycles and all ages war has been a factor of discomfort, whereas peace and amity have been conducive to comfort and welfare; especially in this century, because in former centuries warfare did not attain to the savagery which now characterizes it. If two powers or nations waged war against each other, at most ten thousand or twenty thousand would be sacrificed, but in this century if war be declared in one day it is possible to do away with one hundred thousand human souls, for decisive instruments of destruction have been invented with which it is possible to destroy a country in an hour. It is possible to render non-existent a whole nation in a day. So perfected has become the science of war, results today cannot be compared with results in the past ages. It is a certain law of being that for every phenomenal thing there is a consummation, and because the instruments of war have attained this thoroughness and perfection, it is hoped that now they will be transformed for peaceful purposes. (Star of the West, Vol. 3, No. 8, p. 14.)
SIXTY YEARS ago His Holiness Bahá’u’lláh was in Persia. Seventy years ago His Holiness the Báb appeared. The institutions of these blessed souls were for international peace and love among mankind. They put forth efforts with their lives and souls in order to bring together divergent people, until no strife should remain, no rancor or hatred prevail. . . . You must consort with each other and associate with one another in perfect amity and accord, for He pronounced religious prejudice, racial prejudice, patriotic prejudice and political prejudice to be the destroyers of the body-politic. You must look at the oneness which exists in humanity. Originally you belong to the same household. You are the servants of the same God. You are all of human kind and it is becoming that you should be in the state of utmost love. You must emulate the institutions of God and shun satanic promptings, for the divine bestowals are ever conducive to unity and accord, whereas satanic promptings call man to strife and war. . . .
His Holiness Bahá’u’lláh was imprisoned and endured the utmost persecution. Finally he was exiled from Persia to Mesopotamia; from Baghdád he was sent to Roumelia and from Roumelia he was banished to the prison of ’Akká. Through all these ordeals day and night did He strive, proclaiming the oneness of humanity and promulgating the Most Great Peace. From the prison of ’Akká he addressed all the kings and crowned heads of the earth. He wrote lengthy letters to them, summoning all of them to international peace, expressly and explicitly stating that the Most Great Peace shall hoist its banner. The powers of the earth cannot withstand it, for it is one of the privileges and bestowals of this great and glorious century. It is an exigency of the time. Man can withstand anything except that which is divinely indicated for the time and its exigencies. (Star of the West, Vol. 3, No. 8, p. 14.)
HOW IS universal peace to be established? By the education of the public with the sentiments of peace. Today the full realization of universal peace is the panacea of every disease. . . . This military and naval expenditure is a great disease. . . . The remedy of this disease is through universal peace. This will insure public safety. Today that which is the cause of dispersion is war. If the nations enter into a faithful agreement to
leave off all warlike preparation at once, they shall secure for themselves and their posterity eternal welfare. They shall become freed from every difficulty and international confusion. This end must be obtained through the development of the intellects and the inculcation of peaceful ideals in all the institutions of modern civilization. (Compilation, Peace and War, p. 130.)
THE FIRST principle Bahá’u’lláh urged was the independent investigation of truth. . . . The second principle of Bahá’u’lláh proclaims the oneness of the human race. . . The third principle of the religion of Bahá’u’lláh is in regard to international peace. There must be peace between the fatherlands; peace between the religions. In this period of evolution the world of humanity is in danger. Every war is against the good pleasure of the Lord of mankind. Man is the edifice of God. War destroys the divine edifice. Peace is the stay of life, war the cause of death. If an active, actual peace is brought about, the human world will attain to the utmost serenity and composure. Wolves will be transformed into lambs, devils into angels and terrors into divine splendors in less than the twinkling of an eye. (Star of the West, Vol. 4, p. 5.)
MAN IN this world is the edifice of God. He is not a human edifice. If you destroy an edifice built by man, the owner of the house will feel grief indeed and will feel wrathy against you. How much more when man is destroying an edifice founded by God. Undoubtedly he deserves the wrath of God.
God has created man noble. God has created man a dominant factor in creation. He has specialized man with particular bestowals. He has conferred upon him mind; He has given him perception; He has given him the faculty of memory, the faculty of discrimination; He has endowed him with keen perceptions, the five senses. With all His good gifts to man which were to make him the manifestations of virtues, which were to make him as a radiant candle, which were to make him a source of life, which were to make him an agent of constructiveness, shall we now destroy this great edifice of God? Shall we destroy to its very foundation this great body-social or politic? . . . . There is no baser state than that of the ferocious type. There is no greater degradation for man than this. There is no worse debasement than the battlefield. It is the cause of the wrath of God. It is the cause of the destruction of the foundations of man. (Compilation, Peace and War, p. 30.)
THE CONFERENCE on International Arbitration and Peace is one of the greatest results of this great age. This brilliant century has no likeness and similitude in the history of man. From every standpoint it is distinguished above all other centuries. It is specialized with such excellencies that the shining star of the heavenly confirmations shall gleam from the horizon of this century upon all the future cycles and periods. One of the most extraordinary events of this time, which indeed is a miracle, is the founding of the oneness of this realm of humanity and its essential branches, such as universal peace and the unity of the different nations in this arena of existence. (Star of the West., Vol. 2, No. 15, p. 4.)
FURTHERMORE, the most important issue of the day is that which concerns international peace and arbitration; and universal peace is impossible without universal suffrage.
Children are educated by the women. The mother bears the troubles of rearing the child. She undergoes the ordeals of birth and training. Therefore, it is most difficult for mothers to send to the battlefield their dear ones, their offspring upon whom they have lavished such love and care. Consider, a child reared and trained twenty years by a mother. How many nights she has passed sleepless; how many days restless and anxious! With the utmost difficulty she has brought him to the age of maturity. How difficult then it is to sacrifice him upon the battlefield. These mothers, therefore, will not sanction war, nor be satisfied with it. So it will come to pass that when womankind partakes fully and equally in the affairs of the world, in the great arena of laws and politics, war will cease; for woman will prove the obstacle or hindrance to it. This is certain and without doubt. (Star of the West, Vol. 3, No. 8, p. 19.)
BY A GENERAL agreement all the governments of the World must disarm simultaneously. It will not do if one lays down its arms and the others refuse to do so. The nations of the world must concur with each other concerning this sumpremely important subject, thus they may abandon together the deadly weapons of human slaughter. As long as one nation increases her military and naval budget, another nation will be forced into this crazed competition through her natural and supposed interests. . . . Hence it seems the only solution lies in universal disarmament on the part of the nations.
When we speak of universal peace. we mean that all the governments must change their fleets of battleships and dreadnaughts to a mighty fleet of merchant-marine, plying the oceans of the world, uniting the distant shores and interweaving the commercial, intellectual and moral forces of mankind. . . . Now the question of disarmament must be put into practice by all the nations and not only by one or two. Consequently the advocates of peace must strive day and night, so that the individuals of every country may become peace-loving, public opinion may gain a strong and permanent footing, and day by day the army of international peace be increased, complete disarmament be realized and the flag of universal conciliation be waving on the summit of the mountains of the earth. (Star of the West, Vol. 5, p. 115.)
THIS IS the day in which war and contention shall be forgotten. This is the day in which nations and governments will enter into an eternal bond of amity and conciliation. This century is the fulfillment of the promised century. This day is the dawn of the appearances of the glorious visions of past prophets and sages. (Star of the West, Vol. 4, p. 98.)
There is no greater or more woeful ordeal in the world of humanity today than impending war. Therefore international peace is a crucial necessity.
“Any movement which brings about peace and agreement is truly a divine movement. . . .” The fundamentals of religion are intended to unify and bind together; their purpose is universal, everlasting peace.”
UNIVERSAL, everlasting peace! How difficult it is for our human minds to grasp even a small portion of what these words mean. The world has never known peace except in a small degree and in isolated instances. There has always been a struggle. Roosevelt said that it was only through struggles that we passed on to better things. In nature, the inexorable law of the survival of the fittest seems to work ruthlessly. We have little experience on which to base an appreciation of universal, everlasting peace.
Peace does not presuppose the stunting of character by eliminating all those things which try our mettle, which stimulate us to strive, which inspire achievement. Peace to the individual is a state of consciousness wherein he acts in accordance with God’s will for him, complete compliance, radiant acquiescence; a state wherein he works joyously to overcome obstacles; a state where he derives satisfaction from doing, for deeds express the man. Gold is refined by fire, metal is tempered and shaped by heat and working; treatment which revolutionizes the structure of the metal within.
Is it not quite natural, then, to feel that universal peace would be an unbelievedly precious blessing but one hard to attain and remote? It is one of those things pleasant to vision but extremely difficult to achieve. The obstacles are, apparently so great, that many despair, but we have the assurance that “the Most Great Peace” shall come. Any object which seems difficult and remote, however desirable, does not become an intimate thing. It is held at arm’s length. We may devote our lives to its promulgation, but if we do not experience some influence from it in our own lives, the fire of devotion smoulders.
May there not be in the idea of universal peace, some morsel which each of us can appropriate into our lives whereby we may live “more abundantly,” more effectively, and more in accordance with the teachings of the Manifestations of God? The idea of universal peace is so tremendous and far reaching that phases of it become lost in the resplendence of the whole. Peace among nations, industrial peace, racial peace, religious peace—these are the aspects that occur to us quite logically. They mean so much to all. These are stupendous conceptions, but is there not hidden away in their immensity a suggestion of personal, individual peace? If every individual were completely at peace within himself how difficult it would be to stir up strife of any sort! And so, may not the great idea of universal peace be contingent on an inner individual peace “which passeth understanding” but which by the grace of God, is attainable? Contingent in so far as anything is contingent upon the thoughts or acts of human beings.
Plutarch said that many things which could not be overcome as a whole yield themselves up when taken little by little. If peace steals into a being, here and there, its leaven will
be potent to influence humanity in time, then universal peace will be a reality. Such things may happen quickly or take ages. Is it not possible that this is the way—to achieve individual peace and well being first? Will we not then be better able to promulgate universal peace? We certainly will be more effective. Conquer the seemingly impossible and tremendous task, little by little, in an intimate way which will fire the soul by first hand knowledge and experience and the joy of achievement.
“All created beings,” 'Abdu’l-Bahá tells us, “are dependent upon peace and coordination for every contingent and phenomenal being is a composition of distinct elements. As long as there is affinity and cohesion among these constituent elements strength and life are manifest. . . .” Peace, coordination, affinity and cohesion result in strength and life. When there is coordination, cooperation and harmony then, he further states, “We have as a result the expression of life in the fullest degree,” and is not such an expression but another definition of peace, peace within and without, which “passeth understanding”?
We are told, “The enveloping clouds shall pass away and the heat of the divine rays will dispel the mist. The Reality of man shall develop and come forth as the image of God, his creator. The thoughts of man shall take such upward flight that former accomplishments shall appear as the play of children.” (Bahá’i Scriptures.) A glorious future predicted for those who find it difficult, as yet, to captain their own souls.
We are not only dependent upon peace and coordination for existence in this world but “the expression of life in the fullest degree” is dependent upon them. Universal peace, then, has its personal aspects. We must be at peace with ourselves and before God before we can be truly at peace with our neighbor and nowhere can be found more words of guidance than in the Bahá’i Revelation.
Someone once asked ’Abdu’l-Bahá: “Is peace a greater word than love?”
His answer was: “No! Love is greater than peace, for peace is founded upon love. Love is the objective point of peace and peace is an outcome of love. Until love is attained, peace cannot be; but there is a so-called peace without love. The love which is from God is the fundamental. This love is the object of all human attainment, the radiance of heaven, the light of man.”
When we associate peace with love it intertwines with every fibre of our beings, every action, every thought. It becomes vital to life in the fullest.
We are not only dependent in many ways on peace but it is incumbent upon us to adhere to and practice the ordinances whereby we may attain, and in so doing the reward is inestimable—joy. Not that work should be done for reward. Reward should be an incidental blessing. When inner peace is attained will not the satisfaction of its realization be sufficient? An end worth every effort?
The way to inner peace is not easy, as we can well testify, it means renunciation of many of our cherished whims and fancies.
WHAT a glorious picture is presented as possible if we but follow instructions and achieve, for ’Abdu’l-Bahá tells us that, “In this marvelous cycle, the earth will be transformed and humanity arrayed in peace and beauty. . . . Cooperation and union will be established. . . . The world will be filled with science, with the knowledge of the reality of the mysteries of beings, and with the knowledge of God.”
Is it not stimulating to think that, perhaps, the happiest moments in the life of a flower are when, with its face
turned toward the sun, it sways in the breezes, gently swinging to the will of the winds, drinking in the blessings of the sunlight? But to attain to this station it must have struck its roots firmly into the. soil, developed a supporting stem, and coordinated all its activities. All its activities must function as Divinely planned, or the result cannot be accomplished; the result of flowering in beauty and later of dropping seeds into the ground that other plants may grow and blossoms grace the earth; life in its fullest—perpetuating the stream that the earth may bloom and be fragrant with the praise of the Creator.
It may be that the totally receptive and submissive personality is similar to a bit of iron in a magnetic field. Always tending to adapt itself, its position, so that the maximum number of magnetic lines will pass through it–lines of magnetic force. We, too, live in fields of forces, some obvious and some hidden and subtle. Do we orient ourselves humbly to the benign lines of force or resist stubbornly the passage and effects of the life-renovating and impelling lines of forces through our beings? Some of us are more responsive than others. Some are more receptive to one kind of influence than another. Some are attracted by one phase of the bounty of God and some another. The beauty and effectiveness of variation is one of the mysteries which inspire wonder. But for each there is a way to inner peace through love–that force which moves the world and guides the planets in their endless paths.
PEACE comes, or at least some suggestion of it, when one works and lives in conformity to the will of God as expressed through His manifestations.
In the sacred scriptures of, and thoughts on, the world’s religions we find the following beautiful precepts:
“Who digs a well or plants a seed a sacred pact he keeps with sun and sod; with these he helps refresh and feed, the world, and enters partnership with God.”
“Whatsoever teaching leads to passion and not to peace, to pride and not to humility, to desire of much in place of little, to love of society and not of solitude, to idleness and not to striving, to a mind of unrest and not to a mind of peace, O Gotami–note well–that is not the way—that is not the teaching of the Master.”
The Apostle Paul in Corinthians, 1st Ch., v. 16, 17, tells us, “Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the spirit of God dwelleth in you? If any man defile the temple of God, him shall God destroy; for the temple of God is holy, which temple ye are.”
The Chinese scriptures tell us, “To develop the principle of our higher nature is to know heaven.”
The prophet Jeremiah teaches, “I will put my law in their inward parts and write it in their hearts.”
And Muhammad speaks in these beautiful words, “He is dear to me who strives to be free from enmity, exempt from selfishness, of subdued passions and pious resolves.”
And from our Christian Bible (2nd Peter, 1-5), the following injunction: “Giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue and to virtue knowledge and to knowledge temperance; and to temperance patience, and to patience Godliness; and to Godliness brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness charity.”
WHERE so many instructions are available, confusion is likely to result and undue emphasis placed on phases which are but parts of the whole. Various teachings have been given
for the guidance of certain peoples, under specific conditions. These are in accordance with the exigencies of the times and the capacity of the people.
But “in this marvelous cycle,” when “the earth (all of it) will be transformed and humanity (not just a race or sect) arrayed in peace and beauty”—there must be and is some universal teaching which summarizes and includes the fundamentals of all that have gone before and adapts them to the needs of an advanced and progressing civilization.
“The Bahá’í Movement,” says ’Abdu’l-Bahá, “bestows upon man a new light, and a new motion. It illumines the horizons of the intellect. It expands the arena of comprehension. This is the ultimate goal of human life. This is the fruit of existence. This is the brilliant pearl of cosmic consciousness. This is the shining star of spiritual destiny.”
And so, peace can be a precious, intimate realization which will sweeten and enrich life and each individual victory will be integrated into “The Most Great Peace”—universal, everlasting, and a universal song will rise to heaven—“Glory to God in the Highest. Peace on earth. Good will to men.”
CONSIDER how discord and dissension have prevailed in this great human family for thousands of years. Its members have ever been engaged in war and bloodshed. Up to the present time in history the world of humanity has neither attained nor enjoyed any measure of peace, owing to incessant conditions of hostility and strife. History is a continuous and consecutive record of warfare brought about by religious, sectarian, racial, patriotic and political causes. The world of humanity has found no rest. Mankind has always been in conflict, engaged in destroying the foundations, pillaging the properties and possessing the land and territory of each other, especially in the earlier periods of savagery and barbarism where whole races and peoples were carried away captive by their conquerors. Who shall measure or estimate the tremendous destruction of human life resulting from this hostility and strife? What human powers and forces have been employed in the prosecution of war and applied to inhuman purposes of battle and bloodshed! In this most radiant century it has become necessary to divert these energies and utilize them in other directions; to seek the new path of fellowship and unity; to unlearn the science of war and devote supreme human forces to the blessed arts of peace. After long trial and experience we are convinced of the harmful and satanic outcomes of dissension; now we must seek after means by which the benefits of agreement and concord may be enjoyed. When such means are found we must give them a trial.—’Abdu’l-Bahá.
"Human nature in this phenomenal world is fashioned with the poison of war and strife. We need a powerful force beyond and above this world of nature, so that this condition may be effaced from the surface of the world.”
THE Effulgence of Divine Light in “Its” creative and attractive potency is continuous. The Manifestations of God, who are the Universal Educators are “Its” manifest sign to the creatures.
From age to age, they come into the world as heavenly architects, to build in the heart of man, and in the heart of the world the Divine Edifice. This edifice is ever constructed by them upon the eternal foundation. During the period of the infancy of humanity, it was reared in accordance with the needs of a limited understanding, while now that the early dawn of maturity has been reached the creational power and potency are bestowed for the capacity and needs of this hour.
The divine energy that is increasingly released at these dawning-times of “The Sun of Truth” is recognized by few in “Its” initial stages. It is only when “fruits” become manifest through human conduct that the “Speaker” or “Cause” is more generally sought out and recognized.
This creative power, this mighty force of attraction and illumination reaching down from the higher kingdom is none other than the power of the “Logos,” or Word of God, which “becomes flesh and dwells among men.” Through the redemptive law of love that is always in motion, “It” transforms the limitations of the human kingdom through successive stages until it becomes expressive of the kingdom above it. Thus, ultimately, the lower world shall mirror forth with perfection and glory the attributes of the heavenly world.
Today, the warm breeze of this divine process is causing humanity to discard limited, unyielding thoughts and actions, and the human race is slowly emerging from the cold night of ignorance and heedlessness. With a new eye man sees, with a new ear he hears, and with a heart filled with nobler attractions, he endeavors to become a brother to all the world.
It is of interest to note some of the following collective efforts toward peace during the past hundred years:
In 1816—Great Britain, first locally, then nationally established its first Peace Society.
In 1828—America’s first Peace Society was organized.
In 1828—Geneva and in 1841 in Paris—The first Peace Societies upon the Continent were established.
The influence of these societies was weak for a long time, but within the last few years greater progress has been effected.
In 1899—First Hague Conference.
In 1907—Second Hague Conference.
In 1914—A third was about to convene when the World War broke out.
In 1907—Central American Peace Conference.
In 1910—Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.
In 1910—Pan American Union.
In 1915—League to Enforce Peace.
In 1925—Institute of Pacific Relations. The World Peace Foundation. And many others too numerous to mention.
To many leaders during recent years, while trying one of these human remedies after another, has come a fuller realization that a great cohesive force is needed to unite the world. To others it has become evident that war as a means for deciding disputes is no longer efficacious. Herein is witnessed one of the outstanding signs of progress beyond the childhood of the human race.
In some countries there are those who, in their own words see conditions as a “hopeless tangle,” and in a state of “world madness.” There are, however, others who possess a growing optimism coupled with constructive efforts toward World Peace. While minds, in general, have been confused as to the ultimate remedy, hearts everywhere are groping for the ideal solution.
The following quotations from modern writers tell their own story of confusion, uncertainty and idealism:
In summing up his book, which deals with both past and present, one author says, “It is only a plain statement of the lessons of history as they appear to one of the many thousands of puzzled persons now habitants of this globe who are trying to grope their ways out of this fog and folly.” Another writer wisely states that “If the nations adopt a peace that has the seed of destruction in its very nature, we cannot hope for relief from the evils of war.”
Philip Henry Kerr, after enumerating many earnest attempts toward international understanding, adds, “I have endeavored to show that each and all of these agencies can help, are indeed necessary, if we are to move forward to lasting peace, but that none of them offers a solution of the fundamental problems of world freedom and world peace.”
John Spencer Basset, in his book, The Lost Fruits of Waterloo, makes the following statements, “Behind the lines, and in our homes, one never sees man nor woman who does not admit that it would be a blessing to make war impossible, but few of us have any idea how to go about getting it made impossible.” Again he says, ”All the plans I have mentioned contemplated the creation of a central authority strong enough to make itself obeyed.”
Professor Gilbert Murray writes, “The principle that will solve the problem of war is not democracy, but International. Or if that word seems to imply a lack of proper devotion to one’s own country, let us say it is not Democracy, nor yet International, but Brotherhood. We need the growth of Brotherhood within each nation, and Brotherhood between the nations also. It may seem folly, at the present time (1918) when half the world is wild with hatred of the other half to speak of Brotherhood at all. But great extremes lead to great reactions.”
John Spencer Bassett has well stated, “A central authority strong enough to make itself obeyed is necessary.” That central authority the Bahá’is the world over recognize as none other than the Word of God as revealed in this new day through the unfolding of God’s creational plan by Bahá’u’lláh.
In the personage of Bahá’u’lláh, who was born in the City of Nur (near Tihrán), Persia, in 1817, we see the remarkable fulfillment of the prophecies in all the sacred scriptures of the different world religions, and he was the Founder of the universal religion called after his name. His son, ’Abdu’l-Bahá, who at his death became the interpreter of the Bahá’i
Teachings to the World, visited this country in 1912 and travelled extensively both here and in Europe planting everywhere in human hearts the seeds of universal peace and brotherhood. The message that he brought was the announcement of the oneness of the Divine Messengers. He proclaimed Bahá’u’lláh as the herald of the “Most Great Peace”–that peace which flows from the Creator to the heart of creation through the intermediary of these Heavenly Messengers. That peace first finds lodgement in the individual heart, then registers its influence upon family life, thence to the life of the community, and on to the state, the country, and finally throughout the entire world. Peace must have attained victory first in the life of the individual before it can hope to transform nations and peoples.
In the light of this larger consciousness which is gradually dawning upon mind and heart, the causes of war will be outgrown, such as suspicion, poliitcal, racial and religious prejudice, hatred, envy, jealousy, undue economic competition of individuals and nations, individual and national preferences, a false sense of patriotism, limited personal and national ambitions, passion, ignorance, and a general lack of education. These will ere long be seen as visible expressions of an outgrown self-hood, a less noble creature, whose cycle of childish immaturities has been superseded—the higher self merging with the Self of God. This is none other than the Creator’s plan.
With the “New Eye” one sees through all these cataclysmic world conditions the slowly “evolving spirit of man” passing from the stages of adolescence to maturity, which in the future cycles shall be borne forward to higher and higher fruition through the transforming of the Divine Educators at their reappearing.
After every human plan has been tried and found ineffectual, man will be forced to turn to the Divine Remedy. It will be discovered that the Creational Plan is the universal Remedy that provides the complete and perfect healing of the Nations, then—“The Most Great Peace shall come, the world will be seen as a new world, and all men will live as brothers.”
To all sincere seekers of God’s plan, the brilliant light of certainty and peace is offered through the following luminous utterances of ’Abdu’l-Bahá made during his sojourn in America in 1912:
“In this marvelous cycle the earth will be transformed, and the world of humanity arrayed in peace and beauty. Disputes, quarrels, and murders will be replaced by harmony, peace and concord; among the nations, peoples, races and countries, love and amity will appear. Cooperation and union will be established, and finally war will be entirely suppressed.”
“The power of the Word of God is penetrative, and the existence of the divine kingdom is uninterrupted. Therefore, ere long, it will become evident and clear that the ensign of The Most Great Peace is the teachings of Bahá’u’lláh. For the intention, the power, and the action, all three essential elements, are brought together and the realization of everything in the contingent world dependeth upon these three principles. Therefore, O thou lover of the oneness of the world of humanity, spread as much as thou canst the instructions and teachings of His Highness Bahá’u’lláh, so that the desired beloved become unveiled in the assembly of humankind, and cast her light upon all the people.”
All prejudices, whether of religion, race politics or nation, must be renounced, for these prejudices have caused the world’s sickness. It is a grave malady which, unless arrested, is capable of causing the destruction of the whole human race.—’Abdu’l-Bahá.
SEVERAL months before the outbreak of the Great War in 1914, someone asked Abdu’l-Bahá what was the greatest need of the world of humanity. He immediately replied that it was the realization of universal peace. He pointed out that war, in reality, was continuous, that “the moral effect of the expenditures of these colossal sums of money for military purposes was just as deteriorating as the actual war and its train of dreadful carnage and horrors. . . . “Such a financial drain ossifies the veins and muscles of the body-politic, and congeals the delicate sensibilities of the spirit.” Economists state that martial expenditures, reduced to the common denominator of the purchasing power of the present day dollar have nearly doubled from $4.00 per capita in 1903. Between 1913 and 1920 the combined national debts of the United States, France and Great Britain have increased from ten billion to approximately one hundred and ten billion dollars. What a heritage for the next generation!
However, economic bondage is only one of the many stultifying effects of war. “A period of war,“ according to Dr. Albert Shaw in a recent article in the Review of Reviews, “not only arouses the latent energies of a nation, but of necessity stimulates and enlarges governmental machinery. War, in its very nature, is state socialism completely organized and despotically directed; It is difficult after a war to throw off the shackles of this expanded officialdom. The country is trying to find its way back to the normal basis and to rediscover the America of personal liberty and private initiative that disappeared in 1917.”
The war period likewise develops unusual jealousies, suspicions and prejudices that take possession of the body politic, just as the germs of some dread disease attack the physical system of man. In his address before the American Legion Convention last year, President Coolidge told his soldier audience that these symptoms, so carefully cultivated during the recent war, still existed and he added: “It seems clear that the results of the war will be lost and we shall only be entering a period of preparation for another conflict unless we can demobilize the racial antagonisms, fears, hatreds and suspicions and create an attitude of toleration in the public mind of the peoples of the earth. If our country is to have any position of leadership I trust it may be in that direction, and I believe that the place it should begin is at home.”
It is evident that the ideal of peace has not yet permeated the nations of the world. Political self-interest still dominates, yet it is difficult to believe that self-interest is ever to be the decisive and determinant factor in human life. It is true, as Sydney Brooks pointed out, that “politics and government remain today, as they always have been, the most lagging and impervious of the “sciences,” the most empirical and at the same time the most reactionary, the least illumined by the glow of big aims and comprehensive ideas.” A great reform in government is seldom accomplished in the minds of statesmen, but
rather through the heart and conscience of the people.
The leaders of the nations still maintain that preparedness for war is the way to insure peace, yet General Pershing has clearly pointed out the dangers, learned from the last six years, of “nations striding up and down the earth armed to the teeth.” The eminent British military expert, General F. B. Maurice, further testifies: “I went into the British army believing that if you want peace you must prepare for war. I believe now that if you prepare for war you will get war.” Even Napoleon admitted that war never really settled anything and added his conviction of the “inability of brute force to create any thing durable.” It is needless to add the famous description of war by General Sherman.
The cost of the last war, direct and indirect, to property was $337,000,000,000, or approximately the destruction of $200,000,000 a day; while the loss of human life, according to Professor Bogart, was 26,000,000 combatants and non-combatants dead and 20,000,000 more wounded. Added to this colossal list are 5,000,000 war widows, 9,000,000 war orphans and 10,000,000 refugees. The demoralizing effects on the world’s culture and morals are beyond estimation, and the decline of the best in Christian civilization still continues. What about the price for peace?
The first cost for a permanent peace basis is a change of human nature. Moral cowardness must give way to mental honesty in facing the issue. It was possible after eighteen centuries to change the moral blindness to slavery. It is not impossible to change the attitude toward organized butchery. Mr. Sherwood Eddy, who during the early part of the recent war advocated “the right to fight” has recently published his conversion to peace, concluding that war is always wrong for, “I believe it is wrong in its methods, as giving free rein to an irresponsible national sovereignty under a military necessity that knows no law, where might makes right and the moral law is abrogated; in employing untruth and deceptive half-truth as the essential methods of a distorted propaganda; and in the creation of hatred, leading inevitably to retaliation, reprisals, and atrocities. It seems to me wrong in its results as intrinsically and inevitably destructive–of material wealth, of human life, and of moral standards. It is, moreover, futile and suicidal.”
Universal peace must come through a transformation of the moral values and instincts of man. The many and swift changes of the governments of Europe since the war, even with their outward show of nationalistic spirit, presage the ushering in of a new ideal of government in which the sentiment of nationality will be transformed into a patriotism co-extensive with humanity. If this ideal does not flame up in the heart of mankind within the next decade, and the nations learn a better relationship, there will be either a universal despotism or as Winston Churchill sees it, world wide suicide.
Good-will, peace songs, altruistic ideals alone will not usher in peace. The change of heart must be accomplished with a change in the other organs of the body. An international machinery must be built for the functioning of social and international justice—a machinery enlarging the scope of the World Court and the League of Nations, free from alliances with big or little groups, cooperating for the good of all and pledged to abide by the judgments arrived at.
Demobilization and gradual disarmament would then follow. The sword of steel would become the
sword of the tongue with an international and inter-racial accent. Plowshares would again become popular. The carpets of hatred and prejudice would be rolled up and the tribal God of nationalism would give way to the universal God of human brotherhood. The ultimate cost of peace would then be, not self-interest, but self-sacrifice. Jesus and all the prophets of the world paid this price; surely mankind can afford to follow their example.
Then would follow that day proclaimed by Victor Hugo in his presidential address at the peace congress in 1849: “A day will come when war shall seem as absurd and impossible between Paris and London, between St. Petersburg and Berlin, as between Rouen and Amiens, between Boston and Philadelphia. A day will come when bullets and bombs shall be replaced by ballots, by the universal suffrage of the people, by the sacred arbitrament of a great sovereign senate, which shall be to Europe what the parliament is to England, what the diet is to Germany, what the legislative assembly is to France. A day will come when a cannon ball shall be exhibited in our museums as an instrument of torture is now, and men shall marvel that such things could be. A day will come when shall be seen those two immense groups, the United States of America and the United States of Europe, in face of each other, extending hand to hand over the ocean, exchanging their products, their commerce, their industry, their arts, their genius, clearing the earth, colonizing deserts, and ameliorating creation under the eye of the Creator, and uniting for the good of all these two irresistible and infinite powers—the fraternity of men and the power of God.”
GOD HAS given to man the wonderful gift of scientific knowledge by which he has discovered that none can escape this law except man himself; he alone can control, can, by his knowledge and power, rise above this law. . . . It is clear that man alone is able to control the laws of nature.
Look at God’s great gift of power to man, by which he is able to do so much for the advancement of civilization! Then reflect on the terrible misuse of this divine gift. Instead of using it to promote love, concord and friendship between nations, behold how destruction receives its weapons, hatred and wholesale slaughter of mankind employs the inventions of science; instruments for committing injustice are manufactured, swords instead of ploughshares are forged. O, the pity of it all!
He should use his power for good, to bring the fruits of civilization into the possible possession of all men, to encourage harmony and kindness, to produce concord amongst men; for this reason God gave this divine gift.—’Abdu’l-Bahá.
CONFERENCES BRINGS SPIRITUAL
INSPIRATION TO BUFFALOBY RADIO and daily press the citizens of Buffalo were informed of the World Unity Conference held in that city October 22, 23 and 24 last. The response to the cordial invitation broadcast by an energeticl local committee representing the World Unity Conference committee of the National Spiritual Assembly of American Bahá’ís was most encouraging, indicating an ever-increasing realization on the part of progressive individuals and groups that world unity, as Chancellor Capen so impressively remarked at the opening session of the Conference, is the vital need of the day.
The speakers at the first of the three public meetings were Chancellor S. P. Capen of the University of Buffalo, and Mr. Alfred W. Martin of the Society for Ethical Culture, New York City. This meeting was held in the Forum of the Lafayette Avenue Presbyterian Church, and one of its significant features was the presence on the platform of representatives of nine different races and nations, whose cordial participation was in itself a proof of the new spirit of amity inspiring mankind.
In his introductory remarks, Mr. Horace Holley Chairman of the session, pointed out the fact that the hearts of humanity are yearning for unity and are an age ahead of the institutions rooted in the competitive past.
Chancellor Capen delivered a most interesting and scholarly address on the subject, “Science and World Unity.” Calling attention to the increased interest in science since the war, Chancellor Capen said, “that although it appears mysterious in parts, science is in reality very simple. It is the result of the application of human reason to the observation of natural phenomena.” Briefly he further stated that first these observations were sporadic but now there is a careful system and method. Man has created through science a new environment which he carries with him wherever he goes.
The most important contribution science has made to the world is the scientific method. The original crude methods of observing and recording have been superseded by very precise, exact methods, and in many fields this is done by the use of instruments. First has come the analysis of facts which are compared with one another and related to this and that. Then follows the generalization, as the law of gravitation.
Science has substituted impartial, verified knowledge for opinion, prejudices, hit or miss methods, jumping at truths.
Science is international in character. Great scientists have arisen from all parts of the world, and there are no barriers of race or creed. It increases the points of contact and reduces the ignorance of people. Rapid progress has been made in the field of chemistry and biology, in the control of disease, the amelioration of human life, and the rendering secure of food supplies. What we need next and most of all is greater development of scientific study of human nature and human relations, i. e., social science. We may soon expect a scientific attack on the great problems that divide nations.
WORLD UNITY is the most important issue today. Generally speaking everybody is for peace, but this is negative, i. e., an abstention from aggression. But that is not enough; the nations must develop a positive method. The will to war is passing, and one of the principal agencies in bringing this about is science.
Mr. Alfred W. Martin, the next speaker, was introduced as one who has applied the scientific method to the field of religion, bringing forth the flower of each. His subject was “World Unity in Religion.” Mr. Martin stressed the oneness of all the great divine religions, that they are all one in teaching the same fundamental moral precepts such as truthfulness, faithfulness, loyalty, love, catholicity, i. e., breadth of vision. They are one in spiritual aspirations, one in teaching the brotherhood of man. All teach the Golden Rule. All religions face the same way. Is it any wonder in view of these onenesses that the idea of World Unity should grow?
Mr. Martin described with great clarity the World Conference of Religions at Chicago in 1893, which was prophetic of the death knell of sectarianism and stated that at the close of this conference it was apparent that the representative of each religious group saw unity by the triumph of his religion over all the rest. While diversity is evident everywhere in nature, the whole truth shows the unity in diversity, using the illustration of the tree in which all the branches and leaves are subornated to the whole. Mr. Martin urged a Second Parliament of Religions to bring this realization of the fundamental oneness of all divine religions to the attention of the people of the whole world.
AT THE SECOND session which was held in the Calvary Church, Mr. Louis Gregory spoke on the subject, “Inter-racial Accord!”
Mr. Gregory mentioned the great number of inter-racial committees that have been established in the southern states of this country and the growth of understanding as a result.
Each color he said, in brief, is a gift from God, and whatever a man’s color, he should be pleased with it. There are outward differences, but the hearts are one. For three hundred years the white and colored races have lived in the United States, and their interests have become so interrelated that harming one, means harming the other. Each has helped the other. Mankind is glorified by service. The white race came to America for freedom and greater opportunity. The colored people were brought from the heart of Africa because the white race desired them to come. Is it not possible that this was a part of the plan of God? How great will be the power, influence and authority of this country if it solves the problem of unity. Anything subversive, introducing prejudice, setting race against race, is limited and harmful. The attitude of appreciation and gratitude, of understanding and mutual helpfulness is universal, and good, and constructive.
Mr. Allen McDaniel, in introducing Dr. John Herman Randall who spoke on the subject, “The New Humanity,” said, “Human nature is changing. What is the influence that is bringing this about?”
Dr. Randall called attention to the three phases of evolution in progress now in the life of humanity. First, the material evolution with its economic aspects revolving around aerial navigation and the practical annihilation of distance. The great effects of this will be observed in the near future. The second is social-economic evolution, leading to the establishment of internationalism. The
third is spiritual evolution through which the hearts of men are changed.
He said most people try to change things from the outside, but a new consciousness is necessary in order to change things from the inside. The same old kind of human nature means a continuance of old evils.
He further stated that man is growing, he is not perfect; but he cannot remain as now like a child,—prejudiced, ignorant, bitter. As he becomes inevitably master over the forces of nature, it is necessary for him to enter a higher consciousness. As he progresses man becomes conscious of the oneness of humanity and of essentialt unity. The great Prophets are the greatest examples of this universal consciousness. Mystics agree that there is a common experience for all men, irrespective of age or clime. Dr. Randall then outlined this in detail, telling of the men in different parts of the world who have arisen to proclaim these essential facts.
People should not be converted he said, from one religion to another but from all religions to the religion of the eternal. Humanity as a whole has reached adolescence. Intense nationalism, race consciousness, are expressive of self-consciousness. Men and women everywhere are interested in higher consciousness. We are at the dawning of a New Age, and we must find the way out.
AT THE THIRD session of the Conference Mr. Roy Wilhelm presided. Dr. John Herman Randall speaking on the subject, “The Coming World Religion,” said: “The living dogmas of the past have become the dead dogmas. This dead language means nothing to the young people. The past religions have succeeded in saving individual souls, but have not succeeded in saving the life of humanity. The World Religion will have the following characteristics:
1. The outlook will be universal rather than particular and will cease to be sectarian. Contrast the outlook through a window and from the mountain top.
2. The best and truest of all religions will be synthesized. The truth is many-sided, and there are many different avenues of approach. Generally speaking the East is contemplative, the West is active. The new religion must combine both with added new Teachings in accordance with the requirements of this illumined age.
3. Fundamentally it will be characterized by a certain kind of life, not by dogmas. This was a quality of the early Christians who are called the people of the Way.
4. Its intellectual expression will be in harmony with our best thought of today. Science discloses facts, religion interprets them.
5. It will be a social and not an individualistic religion. Past religions considered the world belonged to the devil. The new religion will consider the world is the subject of redemption and the place for spiritual action.
6. Knowledge and love will go hand in hand.
There is a Movement in this world that stands for just these things—the Bahá’í Movement. It is not another sect, and I dare to predict its growing power and influence in the world.”
THE FINAL speaker of the Conference was Dr. Teh-yi-Hsieh of Peking, China, on the subject, “What an Awakened China Would mean to the World.” Dr. Hsieh proclaimed his belief that the Rule of Law must replace force.
The relation between America and China he said, will have a great influence on the peace of the world. Prejudice springs from dislike of the unlike. Confucius, patriarch philosopher of China, said, “To know mankind
is wisdom.” In the work for peace, America will lead, and will have China hand in hand. China is fifteen years old as a republic after thousands of years as a monarchy, and needs to exchange counsel and advice with its friends. Peace comes to him who brings it. Happiness comes to him who gives it. In China great changes are taking place. China is resolved to develop its resources for peace. Child labor laws are being enacted. The station of woman has undergone tremendous changes. Study of the English language is now compulsory in China. Definite plans for the control of the opium situation are being developed, and the spirit of the New Age is showing itself actively throughout China. China is ever grateful to America for its assistance and cooperation.
The audiences steadily increased in numbers and in interest, and the cause of World Unity was definitely assisted by the meetings. This World Unity, this union of the East and the West, has been clearly indicated in the writings of ’Abdu’l-Bahá, from among which the following is quoted:
“In these days the East is in need of material progress and the West is in need of a spiritual ideal. It would be well for the West to turn to the East for illumination, and to give in exchange its scientific knowledge. There must be this interchange of gifts. The East and the West must unite to give to each other what is lacking. This union will bring about true civilization where the spiritual is expressed and carried out in the material. Receiving thus, the one from the other, the greatest harmony will prevail, all people will be united, a state of great perfection will be attained, there will be a firm cementing, and this world will become a shining mirror for the reflection of the attributes of God.
“We all, the Eastern and Western nations, must strive day and night, with heart and soul, to achieve this high ideal, to cement the unity between all the nations of the earth. Every heart will then be refreshed, all eyes will be opened, the most wonderful power will be given, the happiness of humanity will be assured. . . This will be the paradise which is to come on earth, when all mankind will be gathered together under the Tent of Unity in the Kingdom of Glory.”
The following series of World Unity Conferences have been arranged under the auspices of the National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of the United States and Canada: Cleveland, Ohio, November 26-28; Boston, Mass., December 10-12; Dayton, Ohio, January 16-17; Washington, D. C., February 20-22; New York City, February 26-28; Springfield, Mass., March 27-28; Montreal, Canada, April 24-28; Toronto, Canada, and Detroit, Mich., following the Montreal program. Dates to be announced.
The object of these Conferences is to create harmony and understanding, among members of all religions, races, nations and classes. It is the spirit of unity, not formal organization, which is sought as the essential factor in human welfare at this critical time.
The Conferences make their appeal under the foundation of the spiritual teaching of love and brotherhood given to every race by the great teachers of all times. We believe that this is the dawn of that Day when peace shall be established and justice fulfilled.
For further information address World Unity Conferences, Office of the
Secretary, 5 Wheeler Ave., Worcester, Mass.
SHIMMERING in the moonlight on a far horizon lie the lights of Haifa. It appears from here like some mysterious floating island that the transported mariner might pursue forever. It is impossible to see at night its attachment to the permanence of Mount Carmel, that rises there out of the sea like the earth’s back-bone, insulating the spinal chord of history. The mighty Prophets passed over it like the nerve currents of humanity, quickening those portions whereunto they were directed. Tomorrow I shall climb that mountain to the Shrine of ’Abdu'l-Bahá, another symbol of man’s pilgrimage upward—“not to a tomb ever, but to a meeting-place with the spirit of Divine Beauty for transfiguration.”
Haifa! Five hundred passengers
leave the “Adriatic” here. As I step
from the tender with the rest of the
throng a cordial voice cries, “Welcome,
Mrs. Ransom-Kehler. I am so
glad to see you.” In all that mass of
humanity Fugeta, who had never seen
me before, nor my photograph, distinguished
the Bahá’i pilgrims.
When ’Abdu’l-Bahá came to America H. S. Fugeta was a medical student at the University of Michigan. Like his famous forerunner who was short of stature, he climbed a sycamore tree to see the Master pass by. “Come down, Zachias, for this day I would sup with thee,” called the flute-like voice of ’Abdu’l-Bahá, and Fugeta relinquishing every human tie followed him back to Mount Carmel to become a helper in the household.
I am greeted first by Fugeta, a child of Nippon, then by Isfendiar from the cradle of the race, and next by Effie Baker, fair, cameo-like, the first person in Australia to embrace this all-inclusive message. On, on, the irrestible tide of fellowship and good-will is carrying the soul of humanity to a new altitude of love, abnegation and service. Effie, with a self-effacement that only the love of God could give, reflects the spirit of the Holy Family in her work at the Pilgrim House. She comes out to embrace me with unaffected cordiality and to knit still closer those intangible bonds that will hold me to this sacred spot for- ever.
Lady Julian, the Anchoress of Norwich, has given such a stirring account of the curious vision under which she seemed to encounter reality! As I remember it, indistinctly, the universe lay in her hand like a small hazelnut and the overwhelming sense of the presence of God assured her: God loves it; God keeps it. . . . Of course it’s ridiculous to say that God inheres in localities; let me put it conversely and say that it is unthinkable to me that any spiritually awakened soul could step on to the plain of Akká without being acutely aware of that intensified exaltation and reverence that I always think of as constituting the “fear of God.” Ever since I had learned that ’Akká fulfilled the Bible prophecy and become a door of hope for the nations, I had lived for the moment that would initiate me into its mystery.
It is like throwing flowers in the fire to attempt to describe the pilgrimage to Bahjí (the home of Bahá’u’lláh) or to the Garden of the Ridván connected with it. The pilgrim house at Bahjí is primitive and unforgettable. Opening on a small
--PHOTO-- Garden of the Ridvan
court-yard with a vivid patch of grass, one graceful lemon tree full of pale fruit, the stable to one side, the kitchen to the other, the doors wide and deep, is the room where we sit at breakfast; and the birds seem to prefer this big room to high heaven, for they are incessantly darting in and out. Horses are evidently too valuable to be put in stables with outside openings. So Soheil Effendi must ride his Arabian stallion through the dining-rom each morning to the grassy plain! ’Abdu’l-Bahá's white donkey and her foal continue the procession. Then breakfast: Yad’u’llah, the caretaker of the house presiding at his shining samovar, every one having hot tea, olives cured in oil, goat’s milk cheese, the flat cakes of bread split and toasted, Syrian honey, and for the Occidentals, oranges picked as needed in this vicinity.
Venus is the evening star. I sit
solitary on the steps of the quaint old
pilgrim house, entranced with her
magical beauty: in this latitude and
through this atmosphere she is bright
enough to cast a shadow and light
seems incessantly to brim up and
overflow the beaker of her brilliance.
The minarets of ’Akká pierce a rose
and saffron sky; the Mediterranean
is still a precious blue. Twilight encroaches;
the silence is vaster than
any sound; something at the base of
one’s soul stirs like an unsuspected Titan,
buried for centuries beneath
mountains of artificiality and compromise—the
eternal quest, the divine
adventure, the incessant surge of
the soul toward something too magnificent
for comprehension, too ecstatic
for words. Suddenly, with a
crash, the dome of silence is shattered
by the uncanny laugh of the
jackals. Elisha must have heard
them here, and the priests of Baal
whose prayers were no more effective
than this call of wild beasts. Their
sudden silence seems to leave a
vacuum. A few vagrant stars appear,
and silouhetted against the sky the
camel caravans move slowly up the
coast to Tyre. Now the shepherds on
--PHOTO-- Pilgrim house at Bahji
two distant hills start piping to their flocks, a plaintive, poignant testimony, like all Oriental music, to the ineffable home-sickness of the soul. The moon swims up, pale to virginity; no such robust moon as we know in the early evening. Then, and as from the portal of paradise a mystical beautiful chant arises. It is the voice of a woman, broken with sobs, tragic with longing, rich in praise; and as I listen to her heart-breaking, exalting song, it seems to me that it is rising from the lips of every woman in the world: the essence and epitome of all that ever loved and suffered. It is Laila, the cook, who in her humility has not even entered the Shrine, but is kneeling on the garden path outside. Surely in her reverence, her obedience, her lowliness, her longing, she carries up to God, in that beatific wail, something of the desire of our
tortured hearts to reach Him. The wide beds of stock begin to loose their fragrance with the coming up of night, mingling with rose and jasmine. Laila passes me alert and smiling, restored completely by her abandonment to the Spirit. This is a sleight-of-hand which men seldom experience.
What soul is ample enough to house both Love and Wisdom? Love a prodigal expenditure of Life’s mysterious energy: wisdom a discriminating choice of Life’s subtlest values. Just as some creatures are born to burrow underground and others to sing a kindred soul out to the face of the sun, so some beings are predestined by an alchemical pinch of heavenly leven to this unconquerable yearning that knows no rest so long as one unloving thing is left on earth. It was for this indeed that Bahá’u’lláh released into this world such a rapture that those who have caught but one drop of his Elixir find the universe shrunk to a point too narrow for their wide yearning.
--PHOTO-- 'Abdu'l-Bahá walking in his garden
These are the thoughts that shake one as he wanders over the flower-decked plains of ’Akká—to woo the world into the knowledge and love of God—not a gloomy, half-hearted, wistful relationship, but a joy and a glory beyond our brief capacity, which constitutes that endless pursuit by the soul of a Love that never faints, a Beauty that never fades, a Truth that never fails.
The great problem is how to teach the wayward, burning, insatiable heart its discipline and abnegation without changing its quality. To borrow a crude figure from science the question is how to change it from one of those highly unstable elements that is ever seeking combination, into a catalyzer, when it has reached this high calling of divine love, that changes those things that come into its presence without itself suffering change.
- “It may be when my heart is dull
- Having attained its girth
- I shall not find so beautiful
- The meagre shapes of earth.”
But that abundant life to which the great Prophets call us inheres in the idea that the heart can mature and at the same time never lose its response to life’s infinite variety.
The sister and wife and daughters of ’Abdu’l-Bahá are like this—divine catalyzers, as it were. They do not preach to you nor attempt to reform you. but by coming into their presence you—became something; something a little nobler, a little worthier than you had been before. Bahiyyih Khanum, the sister of ’Abdu’l-Bahá, has, from the age of five, lived through experiences and calamities the like of which no Occidental woman could faintly imagine. Exquisite, fragrant, imperturbable, assured, she walks among the fluctuating conditions of the world like a star through its appointed course in the heavens. After one has been stirred by the presence of women like the sister and the wife of ’Abdu’l-Bahá, our curious little evidences of “firmness” are practically meaningless. That self-congratulatory state of the Occidental when he has performed some little service for his cause is unknown in Haifa. “Leave faith to the faithful and faithlessness to the infidel; one drop of pain in Thy Love is enough for the heart.” Until the
heart be eternally bruised by this sweet wound of love we may never hope to shed fragrance, such as these great women shed, about us. Day and night the daughters of ’Abdu’l-Bahá, without stint and without rest, are building up through their deeds of continual kindness those solid barricades against the forces of ignorance, prejudice and malevolence; those outposts of service, love and peace that mark the boundaries of another world. We see in these six women a faith that never wavers, a gift that never varies, a love that never tires—celestial caryatides, it might be, bearing on their heads the structure of the new civilization.
The unique and outstanding figure in the world today is Shoghi Effendi. Unique, because the guardianship of this great Cause is in his hands and his humility, modesty, economy and self-effacement are monumental. Outstanding because he is the only person, we may safely say, who entrusted with the affairs of millions of souls, has but one thought and one mind—the speedy promulgation of peace and good-will throughout the world. His personal life is absolutely and definitely sacrificed. The poorest boy in America struggling for an education would consider himself hardly used to have no more than those bare necessities which this young man voluntarily choses for himself. The ladies of the household typify the Cause as Love and Faith. Shoghi Effendi adds to this the elan of the New Day—Action and Progress.
So to comprehend and administer all the relationships in a huge organization that only satisfaction and illumination result; never to see anything smaller than the world-wide import of all our movements, no matter how parochial; to clarify with a word the most obscure situations; to release in countless souls the tides of
--PHOTO-- Residence of ’Abdu’l-Bahá; the present home of Shoghi Effendi
energy that will sweep the cargoes of these glad-tidings round the world; to remain without one moment’s cessation so poised in God as to be completely naturalized into His attributes—these are some of the characteristics that make of Shogi Effendi the unique and outstanding figure of our time. And this without reference to his surpassing mental capacities that mark this spiritually superb person as a penetrating thinker and brilliant executive. The world, its politics, social relationships, economic situations, schemes, plans, aspirations, programs, defeats, successes, lie under his scrutiny like infusoria beneath a microscope.
Infusoria share with men the dramatic fact that sensory devices and motor devices occur side by side in living things; which means if we don’t like the kind of world we’re living in we can, through the divine reinforcements that Bahá’u’lláh has dispatched to us in this gifted century, make an entirely different world of it, sane, joyous and noble. Shoghi Effendi is the Commander-in-chief of this great new army of faith and strength that is moving forth to vanquish the malevolent forces of life.
Tomorrow is the day of parting. For weeks I have looked forward with a kind of hollow sickness to this moment, wondering what device God might use in order to give me the strength to say good-bye. The moment
is here and with it, ecstatic happiness! Through a quiet miracle the situation was saved by that radiant being, lent us from heaven, the Master’s wife (Moneereh Khanum). “You should be very happy,” she said, her lovely face aglow with sincerity, “for you have the opportunity to go out into the world and give to others these glad tidings of the Kingdom of God.” Then a great peace poured into my soul.
It had seemed to me on leaving America that I came to Haifa as a blank page ready to be written upon with the language of the spirit. But one conversation with Shoghi Effendi, casual, impersonal, over the luncheon table, showed me that I was a mountain of dogmas, preconceptions, inflexibilities, and nonsense. In the nine weeks at Haifa, however, the predispositions of a lifetime vanished! I had always had vaulting spiritual ambitions! I had wanted to see and to know what Francis, Catherine, Theresa saw and knew. But when I knelt in prayer before the Shrine of Bahá'u’lláh, I hadn’t the smallest concern in this earth whether I ever knew anything or saw anything beyond the burning fact that God has kept His Covenant with us, and that only as human beings grasp this conception and seize this unparalleled opportunity can we enter into the fulness of His Promises. For the first time in my life I was empty—and at peace.
- Grant us to drink from out the Chalice of Thy Love,
- Thy Wine of Unity!
- And thru this inspiration, holy, pure,
- Thy life—in all to see.
- And in the seeing, bind our hearts as one,
- Whatever nation, cast or creed, or race,
- May we in each, with prejudice for none,
- Behold Thy face.
- Feed Thou our souls upon Thy heavenly bread,
- Of knowledge and of wisdom, light divine!
- In this communion may we closer draw,
- This be our bread and wine.
—Shahnaz Waite.
FLOWERS that are merely buds in September, and then in one day miraculously globe themselves into being, have not the vivid story of growth portrayed by Effie Baker, “the Toymaker.”
Barely two years ago she was one of a Melbourne New Thought group, gaining much that was useful from that very worthy gathering; yet there seemed something missing. Enlightenment partially came to her one night when she, with others of the group, attended a lecture on the Bahá’í Cause given by a stranger. The lecturer was a white-haired, bespectacled gentleman whose immobile face appeared only indicative of benevolence. Yet, when he rose to his feet, and started on the subject dearest to his heart, his face became illumined with the fire of truth and inspiration. Almost ecstatic in his utterance he carried the Bahá’í message of Truth to “the little toymaker.” And that was how she first met Mr. Hyde Dunn, or “Father” Dunn, as he is euphoniously and popularly known.
Now “Effie” in the search for Truth had delved among many things, and although she was uplifted by the Bahá’i message, she wanted to make sure of its enduring qualities. So she heard “Father” a second time. Then there was no mistake. “Effie” at once caught the spirit of the Cause; and later, when she foregathered with that sweet, tender woman, “Mother” Dunn, she entered upon her spiritual kingdom with all the intensity of her ardent young soul.
Be it known that long before “Effie” possessed the spirit of Bahá’i she had displayed the deeds. She was called “Effie, the toymaker,” because of her almost uncanny gift of making cute little toys that carried joy and wonderment to many a childish
--PHOTO-- Effie—The Toymaker
heart. Her happiest moments had been spent among the woods, the flowers, and the birds of her native country. There was not the name of a tree or a flower unknown to her. For that reason many of her friends called her “Flora.” She could imitate the notes of many wild birds and make them come to her. What an extraordinarily natural, lovable being was this person, ready with the lamp of love for the Bahá’i Teachings to supply the illumination.
Soon after her reception of the message “Effie” conceived the ambition to visit Haifa and the Shrines of the Holy Messengers. Once again the Hand of God worked miraculously for her, as in January last she set sail for the Holy Land. The consummation of her desires entailed much personal material sacrifice; in fact, it meant the parting with her last bit of property, but she did this gladly, buoyantly.
Many beautiful messages have been received by the Bahá’is of Australia since “Effie” arrived at Haifa, each one more and more indicative of her spiritual advancement. Now comes the wonderful news that she is to remain there indefinitely. She writes of this great privilege enthusiastically, yet with humility. Her one desire is for “service.”
--PHOTO--
Left to right standing: Elizabeth Stewart, N. Labib, founder of Children’s Savings Bank Co., Dr. Sarah A. Clock (died January 20, 1922), Mirza F. Azem, one of the directors of the Children’s Savings Bank Co. Sitting: Lillian Kappes, preceptress Tarbiyát Girl’s School (died December 1, 1920), Dr. Susan I. Moody, Goodsieh Ashraf, and two school children. (See opposite page).
A brief biographical sketch, compiled from information supplied by Dr. Susan I. Moody and Miss Jessie Retell, both closely associated with Miss Stewart.
MISS ELIZABETH HAMILL STEWART, Bahá’i American nurse resident in Tihrán, Persia, for many years, died in Philadelphia, Pa., Oct. 10, 1926, at the home of Mrs. M. J. Revell.
Miss Stewart first heard of the Bahá’i Movement in 1899 from her aunt, Mrs. Isabella D. Brittingham, a distinguished Bahá’i teacher. It is deeply significant that the only question she asked was, “Are there any martyrs in this Cause?” She possessed the spirit of the martyr, and lived the life of a humble maidservant, never aggressive, but always serving and sacrificing as a true Bahá’i.
She was graduated from the Medico-Chirurgical hospital in Philadelphia in 1899, and in 1911 went to Tihrán, Persia, to become the assistant to Dr. Susan I. Moody, who had preceded her by two years. Undoubtedly these two women saved hundreds of lives. Nursing patients with typhoid fever and other contagious diseases, Miss Stewart succumbed to typhoid and later to amoebic dysentery, recovering her strength each time sufficiently to resume her professional services.
Dr. Moody has written intimately of their life in Tihrán, from which we quote the following:
“We had visions of a hospital and a training school for nurses, but social conditions proved unfavorable; thus our practice was largely confined to the homes. . . . Miss Stewart was a skillful assistant, a fine anaesthetist . . . . Naturally her work was heavy and often exhausting. Sometimes while I was on a case, another urgent call would come and it was necessary for her to take it and work it out alone, and she never failed. One year she gave instructions in “First Aid” to teachers and the graduating class at the Tarbiyát School for Girls. How many days, months, years, were filled with varied services: out on cases, assisting in office work, directing household afiairs, trips to the bazaars, supplementing the efforts of our one boy servant.
“In all her association with the Bahá’i friends her joy was evident; sacred meetings which brought rest for tired body and nerves; social affairs; school meetings; mother’s meetings: wherever Elizabeth Khanum (as she was called by the Persians) appeared, her smile met the answering smile of all. She truly fulfilled as nearly as humanly possible the example of one who ‘came not to be ministered unto, but to minister’ . . . . But again the falling of a shadow when for the third time Miss Stewart fell ill, stricken with the dread disease, oriental sprue.”
Later in 1920 Miss Stewart made a visit to Haifa to see ’Abdu’l-Bahá, and from thence journeyed to India. Probably one of the happiest and greatest moments of her life came to her there, when she called attention to the fact that women could be admitted to Conventions in India, that it was in accordance with governmental laws, and one of the outstanding Bahá’i principles. She was the only woman speaker at the first Bahá’i Convention in India, and the only person at that time who spoke on the equality of men and women.
Miss Stewart returned to Persia
the latter part of 1920 passing again through the Holy Land. She carried on her person over one hundred Tablets from ’Abdu’l-Bahá written to Persian Bahá’is. It was a most difficult and almost impossible journey at that time, but she very successfully fulfilled the sacred and important mission entrusted to her.
While Miss Stewart gradually became stronger, Dr. Moody writes that “she was always subject to recurring symptoms of the malign Oriental disease. Of undaunted courage she continued to assist in all the manifold work which continued without a break until those sad days after the cruel assassination of our Vice-Consul, Major Imbrie. . . . Within three months we left Tihrán for a long promised visit to America, stopping en route in Haifa, Palestine, for thirty-four days.”
Arriving in America in January, 1925, in a condition of weakened health, she had very few well days in the year and nine months she lived at the home of her devoted friends, the Revells, in Philadelphia, where she had every comfort and tender care. . . . Funeral services were conducted jointly by a Christian minister and by Mr. Horace Holley, Secretary of the National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá'is of the United States and Canada. Interment was in St. Georges, Delaware, her birthplace. Thousands of Bahá’i friends the world over are mourning the passing of this Bahá’i sister and nurse whose life of deeds will ever be remembered, and valued more and more as time passes. She takes her place in the history of the Bahá’i Cause in America with those early pioneers who understood deeply its spiritual significance and who lived to serve sacrifically.
The Bahá’i Year Book, Volume 1, April, 1925, to April, 1926, prepared under the supervision of the National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of the United States and Canada, with the approval of Shoghi Effendi, Guardian of the Bahá’í Cause, is a significant contribution to the literature increasingly valuable for the study of the World-wide Movement known as the Bahá'í Cause. By every adherent of the Faith it will be found exceedingly helpful as a survey of current Bahá'í activities, an accurate statement of the Principles as well as a presentation of new material of great interest. By sympathizers, and likewise those who follow modern movements of spiritual value and humanitarian influence, the Bahá'í Year Book will be found to reveal a perhaps unexpectedly wide and deep penetration of the ideals established by Bahá’u’lláh eighty years ago. Price $1.00.
Address: The Bahá’í Publishing Committee, P. O. Box 348, Grand Central
Station, New York City.