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| VOL. 18 | MARCH, 1928 | NO. 12 |
| Page | |
The Great Spiritual Lights, ’Abdu’l-Bahá | 365 |
Editorial, Stanwood Cobb | 355 |
To ’Abdu’l-Bahá, A Poem, O. Laurence Woodfin | 357 |
The Coming of the Glory, Chapter V, “The Moon of Wisdom and Guidance,” Florence E. Pinchon | 358 |
Her Majesty Queen Marie, Her Royal Highness Princess Ileana Martha L. Root | 366 |
Count Keyserling and the School of Wisdom, Bertha Hyde Kirkpatrick | 372 |
Cultivating the Social Virtues, Stanwood Cobb | 374 |
The Institute of International Relations On the Pacific Coast Christine French | 379 |
Reflections of a Bahá'í Traveler, Siegfried Schopflocher | 381 |
Universal Friendliness, Report of Inter-racial Amity Conference in Chicago | 387 |
of Dr. Zia M. Bagdadi; preserved, fostered and by them turned over to the National Spiritual Assembly, with all valuable assets,
as a gift of love to the Cause of God.STANWOOD COBB | Editor |
MARIAM HANEY | Associate Editor |
ALLEN B. MCDANIEL | Business Manager |
Subscriptions: $3.00 per year; 25 cents a copy. Two copies to same name and address, $5.00 per year. Please send change of address by the middle of the month and be sure to send OLD as well as NEW address. Kindly send all communications and make postoffice orders and checks payable to Baha'i News Service, 706 Otis Building, Washington, D. C., U. S. A. Entered as second-class matter April 9, 1911, at the postoffice at Washington, D. C., under the Act of March 3, 1897. Acceptance for mailing at special rate of postage provided for in Section 1103 Act of October 3, 1917, authorized September 1, 1922.
--PHOTO--
HER MAJESTY QUEEN MARIE OF RUMANIA
This photograph autographed by the Queen, was given to Miss Martha, L. Root in connection with the interview published on page 366. A very remarkable quality of simplicity and sweet dignity are manifested in this rare type of picture of a Ruler. A scene absolutely devoid of the paraphernalia of Royalty
| VOL. 18 | MARCH, 1928 | No. 12 |
and happiness of people consist in keeping the commandments of God’s Holy Books. * * * Only by the agency of true religion is it possible for men to close their eyes to their own personal advantages
and to sacrifice their own personal benefit for the general well-being.”—’Abdu’l-Bahá.WHAT COURSE of action, if the individual is free to choose, will bring the most advantageous results? It is this consideration of values and goals which must determine choice, if choice is to result in progress. The freedom of the individual, therefore, even in matters which concern him alone, is restricted to advantage and disadvantage, success or failure, progress or extinction. In other words, the individual must, for the most successful eventualities, choose always along the lines of his own particular pattern of perfection.
Those who believe in a Divine Providence see their own particular pattern of perfection as the bestowal of Destiny. God has for them a station of perfection to be ultimately achieved, by means of individual effort and accomplishment it is true, but not without the Divine guidance and the aid of Divine wisdom. Therefore the individual possessed of spiritual wisdom chooses for himself only what God chooses for him. This is his most perfect choice. To choose elsewise would be to squander, like the prodigal son, the destined patrimony and position.
LET US CONSIDER this same matter in its larger aspect of society as a whole. Society has, it is true,
a certain freedom of choice. It can follow any one of various lines of development. But the wisdom of the choice is demonstrated by the degree of progress that results. And any social group may so choose its course of action as to bring destruction, and possibly extinction, as the result. It would seem from this point of view that society, like the individual, is distinctly limited in its choice of action, and that it can choose only in one of two directions. Either it can accept and follow the course of progress and evolution marked out for it in the Divine Wisdom, or it can neglect such choice and, as a consequence, fail of success. Even more imperative is it for society, than for the individual, to seek the guidance of Destiny in order to attain to that pattern of perfection destined for it; not only because the social patterns are so much more intricate than the individual patterns, but because they are immensely more important, seeing that all individual patterns must inhere in the general pattern of society.
WHAT IS THE FIRST duty of society? Plainly, to ascertain the laws of its own progress. “Sociology,” says Charles A. Ellwood, in his “Sociology and Modern Social
Problems,” “is a study not of what human groups would like to do, but what they must do in order to survive; that is, how they can control their environment by utilizing the laws which govern universal evolution. Human groups are free only in the sense that they may go either backward or forward on the path which the conditions of survival mark out for them. They are free to progress or perish. But in the long run they must conform to the ultimate conditions of survival. This probably means that the goal of their evolution is largely fixed for them.”
What is this goal that is fixed for society, and by what is it fixed? To the believer in God, the goal of society is the Divine Plan for the perfection of humanity. This is fixed in the Divine Mind as an idea of perfection, a will to perfection, which furnishes the destined pattern for humanity. Humanity is free to choose or reject this Divine Plan. But it is not possible for society to effectively progress except in obedience to the Divine Plan.
But how is society to know of the plan which Destiny holds for it; to know of both the distant glittering goal, and the path of Divine progress leading to it? It is just this knowledge which is of the utmost value to the human race. If necessary, it would be of distinct advantage to society to direct its major energies into search for such knowledge, endowing vast institutions of scientific research in order to ascertain what line or lines of development would lead to the destined goal of racial achievement.
IT IS NOT necessary, however, for humanity to make arduous research into this all-important matter of goals and methods of civilization. God has not left humanity in the darkness of ignorance as regards
these things. On the contrary, He sends His Messengers, His Teachers, from time to time, in order to proclaim, in such simple terms as to be comprehensible to even the untutored mind, the Divine principles and laws which govern the forward evolution of humanity.
That these principles are called spiritual merely means that they come from the Source of Spirit. It does not mean that they have no functioning on the plane of matter. On the contrary, every action and reaction throughout the universe, whether astronomical, biological, chemical, or social, are governed by these laws and principles. The Divine Teacher comes in our midst, and seeks to explain to us in simple, loving terms the a-b-c’s of these august, imperial laws, so intricate in final analysis as to battle the loftiest human intellects, yet so simple in their larger outlines as to be comprehensible to children.
Thus to an errant humanity does Divine Love reveal the laws which govern universal evolution; and gives aim to the aimless wandering feet led by eyes that have not seen. If the blind lead the blind, said Christ, how can progress result? Only those who see can lead those who do not see. And only those who see from greater heights above the possibility of ordinary human research can declare the ultimate goals for society, and point the veritable way of progress.
AGAIN, IN THIS DAY and generation, has Destiny declared itself in concrete, living terms, in order that a confused humanity might find its Way and Goal.
Bahá’u’lláh, laying the foundations for one world-wide brotherhood of man based on the abolition of racial prejudice, the abolition of war, and the establishment of a universal
religion, brings to humanity divinely simple remedies for all the ills that afflict it. For, however complicated be the problems which threaten the disintegration of society today, their solution rests upon the simple, though not easy, reform of establishing in the human heart motives of love and service instead of motives of egotism and exploitation.
Upon such a spiritual foundation humanity, following the Divine guidance, has an opportunity to build for the future a social structure perfectly
designed for universal happiness and prosperity; in which war, racial and social hatreds, and dread poverty will have been eliminated.
This is the choice now open to the world-society which inhabits this planet—to go forward along the path leading to its divinely appointed goal; or to wander in bogs and morasses of limited human concept where feet become mired and no destination awaits the traveler but misery and disaster.
- His words are like a crystal stream
- That flows by sapphired hill,
- They make earth’s life a golden gleam
- For those who do His will.
- Where’er He walks His footprints show
- That earth is changed to heaven,
- Whene’er He speaks men heed, for lo!
- To them new life is given.
- His touch is like a white-plumed dove
- That hovers o’er its nest,
- It heals the wounds of mortal love
- And gives the weary rest.
- Whene’er He weeps, the tears that fall
- Are changed to jewels bright
- That light the way o’er sorrow’s wall
- And lead us thru the night.
“Verily, He is Myself, the shining place of My Identity, the East of My Cause, the Heaven of My Bounty, the Sea of My Will, the Lamp of My Guidance.”-Bahá'u’lláh.
[Synopsis of previous installments: Chapter I, “The Argument,” and Chapter II, “Night,” explained most convincingly the conditions preceding the dawn of a New Day and reviewed briefly various aspects of history, showing the great need for the coming of the new Spiritual Springtime; how, during the last eighty years, a mysterious Spiritual Power has been gradually revitalizing and renewing the whole world, and how some who had kept their vision clear and who longed for the coming of God’s Kingdom on earth, had set out to find the Master of a New Day. Chapter III, “The Morning Star,” told dramatically and brilliantly the story of the life and martyrdom of the Báb, Who was the Herald of the new dispensation. Chapter IV, on “The Sun of Truth,” sketched the life of the Promised One, Bahá’u’lláh, and how and why He Was the Founder of the Universal Religion prophesied for this day.]
ABBAS EFFENDI, afterwards known as ’Abdu’l-Bahá, i e., Servant of the Glory, was appointed by Bahá’u’lláh’s Will to interpret, expound and promulgate, both in the East and the West, His Father’s message and teachings.
One Manifestation is as the Sun, the other as the Moon, reflecting the Sun’s light.
Bahá’u’lláh wrote: “When the Ocean of my Presence hath ebbed and the Book of Revelation hath been completed, turn your faces towards Him whom God hath purposed, who hath branched from this ancient Root.”
In Persia the eldest son of a family is often called “the greatest branch,” and Bible prophecies contain many passages in which this term is significantly used. One of the most striking is to be found in the 11th chapter of Isaiah, beginning: “And
there shall come forth a rod out of the stem of Jesse and a branch shall grow out of his roots.” Among the Bahá’ís, ’Abdu’l-Bahá is frequently referred to by this title.
The life story of ’Abdu’l-Bahá is the life story of Bahá’u’lláh, in all of Whose sufferings, imprisonments, and labors He fully shared from a very early age. He constituted Himself, as we have seen, His Father’s helper and protector, assuming the duties and responsibilities of the household; and later of the necessary financial and business arrangements of the life at Bahji, and during the long years following Bahá’u’lláh’s ascension, thus proving that efficiency in material matters is an essential part of the spiritual life; that work performed in a spirit of love and service is an act of worship and a form of prayer.
It was, for instance, owing to His wise foresight and energy in personally organizing extensive agricultural operations near Tiberias, that, during the years of the Great War, famine was averted, not only for Haifa and ’Akká, but for all the neighboring districts. The fruitful, practical work He performed during these trying years, as also His efforts for conciliation, His generosity, hospitality and unique wisdom, so impressed the British Government that, after their occupation of the country, a knighthood was conferred upon Him.
’Abdu’l-Bahá was a perfect Exemplar of absolute devotion to the Cause of His Father, of complete service and self-sacrifice.
The story of His marriage, while still a prisoner in ’Akká, with a girl of the utmost purity and spirituality, who was born in a remarkable way through the blessing of the Báb, is told by Moneereh Khanum herself.
After a long journey from Persia, which had involved much risk and secrecy, she stood in the blessed Presence of Bahá’u’lláh, whose first words were: “We have brought you into the prison at such a time, when the door of meeting is closed to all the believers. This is for no other reason than to prove to everyone the power and might of God.” But the marriage was delayed because of the lack of the needed quarters till a kindly friend removed the partition between his own house and Bahá’u’lláh’s and so added to the latter another room. “Then the night of union, preferable to a hundred thousand years, drew nigh. * * * About nine o’clock in the evening * * * I was permitted to stand in the presence of Bahá’u’lláh. He said: “Thou must be very thankful, for thou hast attained to this most great favor and bestowal.’
“After that blessed hour and fortunate time, I dwelt in the paradise of eternity with a world of longing, attraction, humility and submission. I entered the room prepared for the Greatest Branch, and experienced His favor, His affection, His glory and His grandeur.
“If I were to write the details of the fifty years of my association with the Beloved of the world, of His love, mercy and bounty, I would need fifty years more of time and opportunity to write it.” Of this marriage four daughters have survived
the hardships and imprisonment and are, today, still offering loving and selfless service in the Cause.
For thirty years after the passing of Bahá’u’lláh, ’Abdu’l-Bahá continued the work, applying in His own life the precepts given and establishing them as facts before giving them to the world. Before teaching that “the Foundation of all Religions is one” He gathered together in His home at Haifa men of every race and creed and created between them the utmost harmony and sympathy.
As Mr. Horace Holley, in his “Modern Social Religion,” writes: “The world surely never possessed such a guest-house as this. Within its doors the rigid castes of India melted away, the racial prejudices of Jew, Christian and Muhammadan became less than a memory; and every convention save the essential law of warm hearts and aspiring minds broke down, banned and forbidden by the unifying sympathy of the Master of the house. It was like a King Arthur and the Round Table * * * but an Arthur who knighted women as well as men and sent them away not with the sword but with the Word.”
When the revolution in Turkey released, in 1908, all political and religious prisoners in the Ottoman Empire, ’Abdu’l-Bahá was, at last, set free.
Then, in response to urgent appeals, He started out, at sixty-seven years of age, and after lifelong suffering and imprisonment, to tour through Europe, including the British Isles, and America, delivering Bahá’u’lláh’s message to audiences representing Western civilization in every aspect and phase. During these remarkable journeys He met and conversed
with men and women of every type, nationality and creed. He addressed university students, Women’s Suffrage societies, Peace organizations, Esperantists, Socialists, Agnostics, Mormons, Christians, Jews, and churches of almost all denominations, giving the Universal Teachings from the particular point of view most suited to the understanding of each.
A special correspondent of the New York World, in December, 1921, thus describes Him: “Having once looked upon ’Abdu’l-Bahá, His personality is indelibly impressed upon the mind: the majestic, venerable figure, clad in the flowing aba, His head crowned with a turban, white as his head and hair; the piercing, deep-set eyes, Whose glances shake the heart; the smile that pours its sweetness over all * * * .”
And the character and work of this gentle, illuminating Teacher is now known to millions scattered throughout the world. Countless are the stories related by eyewitnesses; stories told with deep emotion by those who knew and loved Him, of His amazing kindness, sympathy, unerring intuitions, sparkling humor, humility and all-comprehending knowledge.
“Yes, I have met ’Abdu’l-Bahá,” remarks one here and there with brightening face, as at the remembrance of a most precious experience. But how great was the privilege, how golden the opportunity presented to them, few could realize at the time. No one who attained to that meeting could ever be quite the same after. For the meeting with a Holy One of God is in the nature of a test, a test of a soul’s spiritual perceptions. The capacity to perceive the significance and station of the Messenger was not given to all. But none could fail to feel the radiation of
His personality, His all-embracing love.
Now, shall we touch very briefly on one or two of the outstanding Principles given by ’Abdu’l-Bahá, which, when practically applied, would form a solution to all the present-day problems.
We have already spoken of the Principle that “the Foundation of all Religions is one” and how this was exemplified. Also the emphasis laid by Bahá’u’lláh on the essential Oneness of Mankind. When men realize that they are all parts of one organism, of one spiritual “Grand Man of the Heavens,” as Swedenborg has expressed it, whose cells or atoms, so to speak, we are, then they will substitute cooperation for conflict, mutual service for one of selfish competition; then will the powers and possibilities of human nature become increasingly manifest. “Be,” says ’Abdu’l-Bahá, “as One Soul in many bodies.” An idea startling in its inference as to our intimate, essential relationship to one another.
The Search for Truth must be fearless and unbiased. We must not be content to accept any teaching or tradition contrary to reason, nor believe doctrines that we cannot understand. True independent search for Reality leads to the investigation of one’s own inner processes of thought, and to the ultimate realization that true independence and freedom is severance from passion and personal desire.
Religion must be in accord with reason and science. And the man of science must appreciate religion that is purified from dogma and superstition. An unprejudiced scientist enquiring into the Bahá’í teachings on the nature of God, creation, evolution, body and soul, etc., will not only find himself in perfect agreement
with the explanations given, but on many a perplexing and abstruse problem receive glorious enlightenment.
“Faith and reason are like the two wings of the Bird of Humanity. It cannot fly with one wing alone. If it tries to fly with the wing of religion alone it will land in the slough of superstition; if it tries to fly with the wing of science alone it will end in the dreary bog of materialism.”—Paris Talks by ’Abdu’l-Bahá.
An organic, universal Principle is also the Equality of Men and Women. The solution of our spiritual and social problems can only be reached when this is realized and attained. It is interesting indeed to watch with what rapidity this idea is growing today. Even in the East great changes are evident in the status and education of women.
Again, ’Abdu’l-Bahá declares that religion in its universal aspect must produce a solution of the Economic Problem. He teaches that useful work should be performed by all. That wealth, whether it is material, mental or spiritual, should be voluntarily shared; that the extremes of wealth and poverty must be abolished and destitution made impossible, as also all forms of industrial slavery. He provides the key to the solution of our labor troubles and lays the foundation-stones whereon may be erected, by an enlightened humanity, a new and divine social order and world civilization.
But the Principle by which ’Abdu’l-Bahá is most widely known at present is that of Universal Peace. Over sixty years ago, Bahá’u’lláh advocated the establishment of a League of Nations and Supreme International Tribunal. He also advised that, by general agreement, all the governments of the world should disarm simultaneously. Today we see this idea creating great agencies and institutions which are tending to bind the hearts and minds of humanity in ever closer relationships.
But this world federation can only be realized through properly constituted democratic selection, and by fulfilling among individuals and among nations the spiritual conditions for the establishment of real justice and peace. The legislative function is not an affair of politics, influence, money, but a spiritual function of enlightened and perfectly qualified men.
Another aid to Peace will be the promulgation of a universal auxiliary language. About the time that Bahá'u’lláh announced this principle, Dr. Zamenhof, the founder and inventor of Esperanto, was born in Poland. And this wonderfully simple and adaptable language has, during the last thirty-five years, proved a very useful medium for international intercourse. At the annual conferences held, representatives of some fifty nations meet and hold free and happy intercourse. The introduction of some auxiliary language into all the schools of the world would remove one of the greatest obstacles to international and interracial understanding and peace.
’Abdu’l-Bahá returned to Haifa from His strenuous tours in 1913. In His home here during the Great War, and after its close, up to the last day or two of His life, He continued to work with unabated energy.
Countless were the letters and tablets of inspiration and counsel He wrote to Bahá’ís, both collectively and individually, all over the world. Letters that are the recipients’ most priceless possessions; tablets that are now being carefully collected and published.
Day after day, in His guest-house and at His hospitable table, visitors from every quarter of the globe were entertained. Questions relating to
every conceivable subject were presented for His solution or exposition; social and individual, scientific and metaphysical problems; questions upon creation, life, future states of existence; parables, obscure passages, prophecies in various Sacred Scriptures, and in the Bible. Thus was fulfilled Christ’s promise that “When He, the Spirit of Truth, is come, He will guide you into all Truth, for He will take the things that are Mine and reveal them unto you.” Notes of the replies given were frequently taken down and now form a veritable fount of information as they have been published in “Some Answered Questions,” and in other books and literature.
Then would the visitors return to their own countries, or go forth on the traveling missions assigned to them, filled with a deep spiritual joy and understanding and with a new humility; fired with renewed determination to live more nobly, work more earnestly to spread the Teachings, realizing ever more clearly that, in these alone now lie the world’s hope of salvation and path of progress.
Not only did ’Abdu’l-Bahá manifest an amazing capacity for work, but He lived always in an attitude of praise and gratitude to God, which is, essentially, an attitude of prayer. At midnight and in the early morning He would often awake and pray; sometimes passing a whole night in meditation and “in conversation with God.”
Prayers have been written by both ’Abdu’l-Bahá and by Bahá’u’lláh of unique power and beauty-prayers which meet every occasion and need. Prayers for healing, for those who have Passed On, for knowledge, guidance, prosperity and illumination. Prayers the effectiveness of which may only be realized in their constant,
earnest, daily use. Prayer is the language of the spirit; it enlarges the capacity to receive; brings into action higher forces, of which, as yet, little is known. Even a feeble pressure is often able to release a great power, as the lifting of a sluice gate may regulate mighty waters, or as the opening of a little window may let in a flood of sunshine.
’Abdu’l-Bahá, like Jesus Christ, taught His followers the divine way of forgiveness of all personal enemies and injuries, His own life being a perpetual example.
As an instance, may be mentioned the story of a certain Moslem at ’Akká who, for over twenty years, persisted in showing towards the Master the bitterest antagonism. He reviled Him when they passed in the street, sullenly resenting the unfailing gentleness and courtesy with which he was treated. But at last the man fell sick. Then ’Abdu’l-Bahá sent him medicine, a doctor, and even went to visit him. Overwhelmed by such an enduring, forgiving love, the enemy was turned finally into a devoted friend.
Would that we, too, in our relationships with our fellows knew how to forgive unto “seventy times seven,” placing our reliance upon this most effective force in the universe—upon Love, which God manifested.
In ’Abdu’l-Bahá was revealed, as in His great Father, the personification of positive, constructive, universal Love, which, radiating out to all created beings, quickened in their consciousness a responsive longing for a universal oneness and peace.
Constantly the Master visited among the poor and the sick. The stories of His power to heal, to comfort, to transform hearts, would require many books to relate them. He loved to laugh and make those around
Him happy. One of the signs by which we were to recognize the Great One, said ’Abdu’l-Bahá, was that “He must be a joy-bringer and the Herald of the kingdom of happiness.”
He loved flowers and sweet perfumes, animals, and especially horses; and He instructed His followers to treat the animal creation with the utmost kindness. From Nature in all its aspects He would draw analogies rich in beauty and significance.
With regard to what is commonly called “miracle-working,” ’Abdu’l-Bahá taught that this may be incidental to, but is not alone a proof of prophethood, being but the outworking of laws as yet little known or understood by men. But, naturally, around His household wonderful and inexplicable things constantly occurred. And in lives that are purified and dedicated to His service, a divine power manifests itself in many mysterious ways. For the promise has been given that those who rise up in the Cause of God, at this time, shall be filled with the Spirit. And “He will send His Hosts from heaven to help you, and nothing shall be impossible to you, if you have faith.” For “the moth shall become as the eagle, and the drop as the rivers and seas.” In the world of dreams, in visions, in flashing intuitions, illumination, warning, guidance is afforded, as well as in the more normal or more generally recognized channels of everyday living. But ’Abdu’l-Bahá advised His followers not to seek to develop the psychic faculties, but to let them unfold gradually as their souls become attuned to higher vibrations, and to breathing the purer, more rarified air of the realms of spirit.
Thus were spent the tireless days of the nearly eighty years of this
Prophet of God, until Monday, November 28, 1921, when He passed away so swiftly and quietly that His daughters, watching by His bed, thought He had but fallen asleep.
The funeral which, according to Eastern custom, took place on the following day, is unique in the records of all such events. Ten thousand mourners, even in that brief time, gathered together, representing many religions, races, tongues, and all ranks of society. From The High Commissioner of Palestine and the Governor of Jerusalem, to the poorest beggars in Haifa, the heads and prominent men of religious communities—Jews, Christians, Moslems, Druses, Egyptians, Greeks, Turks, Kurds—were there, and American, European and native friends. Amid the wailing of “O God! our Father has left us, our Father has left us!” the vast concourse slowly wended its way up Mt. Carmel to the tomb of the Báb, wherein the body of ’Abdu’l-Bahá was also to be enshrined. In the garden here, nine representative speakers paid such eloquent and moving testimony, such sincere and fervent tribute to the purity and nobility of the life that had just closed and to the ideals for which He had so suffered and labored, that no more fitting proof could have been offered that these labors had not been in vain. Here on the Mount of God it was made manifest that the Bahá’í Revelation had already begun to permeate and transform the world.
The following are just a few sentences culled from the speeches delivered on this occasion and at a memorial feast that was held forty days later, and from papers which recorded the event. They will convey more clearly than any words I can
write, the impression made by Sir ’Abdu’l-Bahá Abbas on all who had ever come within the sphere of His influence.
A Moslem Priest, on behalf of his co-religionists: “* * * What am I, to set forth the achievements of this Leader of Mankind? They are too glorious to be praised, too many to recount. Suffice it to say, that He has left in every heart the most profound impression, on every tongue the most wondrous praise. And He that leaveth a memory so lovely, so imperishable, He indeed, is not dead.”
Spoken by a Christian: “* * * O bitter is the anguish caused by this heart-rending calamity! It is not only our country’s loss but a world’s affliction! He hath lived for well-nigh eighty years the life of the Messengers and Apostles of God. Fellow Christians * * * we say farewell to the material body of our Abbas * * * but His reality, our spiritual Abbas, will never leave our minds, our thoughts, our hearts, our tongues.
“* * * A Voice summoning mankind to love, to unity and peace; a Voice, the Source whereof, had it been anything but pure in motive, could in no wise have succeeded in sending its waves with the swiftness of lightning throughout the world.”
The Morning Post, of England, concludes its report: “His persistent messages as to the divine origin and unity of mankind were as impressive as the Messenger Himself.”
The Times, of India, in its editorial article, gave an account of the Bahá’í Movement and wrote: “* * * It is not for us now to judge whether the purity, the mysticism and the exalted ideas of Bahá’ísm will continue unchanged after the loss of the great Leader, or to speculate on whether Bahá’ísm will some day become
a force in the world as great, or greater than Christianity or Islam * * * but we would pay tribute to the memory of a man Who wielded a vast influence for good * * * Who * * * showed the West that religion is a vital force that can never be disregarded.”
From among ’Abdu’l-Bahá’s words of counsel and farewell, I can only quote a few phrases. Like Christ, He comforted His disciples with the fragrant promise: “Remember, whether or not I be on earth, My Presence will be with you always.”
In a letter of infinite pathos He wrote: “Friends! * * * the time is coming when I shall be no longer with you. * * * I have served the Cause of Bahá’u’lláh to the utmost of My ability. I have labored night and day all the years of my life. * * *
“O how I long to see the loved ones taking upon themselves the responsibilities of the Cause! Now is the time to proclaim the Kingdom of Bahá. Now is the hour of love and union. The spirit of My life is the welcome tidings of the unity of the people of Bahá. The mystic Nightingale is warbling for them all; will they not listen? The Bird of Paradise is singing; will they not heed? The Angel of Abha is calling to them; will they not hearken? The Herald of the Covenant is pleading; will they not obey?”
One of the sections of His Testament closes with this prayer:
“O God, my God! I call Thee, Thy Prophets and Thy Messengers, Thy Saints and Thy Holy Ones, to witness that I have declared conclusively Thy proofs unto Thy loved ones, and set forth clearly all things unto them, that they may watch over Thy Faith, guard Thy straight Path, and protect Thy resplendent Law.
“Thou art verily the All-Knowing, the All-Wise!”
THE GREAT spiritual lights have always appeared in the east. The Blessed Perfection Bahá’u’lláh appeared in the east. His Holiness Jesus Christ dawned upon the horizon of the east. Moses, Aaron, Joseph and all the Israelitish prophets such as Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Isaiah and others appeared from the Orient. The lights of Muhammad and the Báb shone from the east. The eastern horizon has been flooded with the effulgence of these great lights and only from the east have they risen to shine upon the west. Now, Praise be to God! you are living in the dawn of a cycle when the Sun of Truth is again shining forth from the east, illumining all regions.
The world has become a new world. The darkness of night which has enveloped humanity is passing. A new day has dawned. Divine susceptibilities and heavenly capacities are developing in human souls under the training of the Sun of Truth. The capacities of souls are different. Their conditions are various. For example, certain minerals come from the stony regions of the earth. All are minerals; all are produced by the same sun, but one remains a stone while another develops the capacity of a glittering gem or jewel. From one plot of land tulips and hyacinths grow; from another, thorns and thistles. Each plot receives the bounty of the sunshine, but the capacity to receive it is not the same. Therefore it is requisite that we must develop capacity and divine susceptibility in order that the merciful bounty of the Sun of Truth intended for this age and time in which we are living may reflect from us as light from pure crystals.
The bounties of the Blessed Perfection [Bahá’u’lláh] are infinite. We must endeavor to increase our capacity daily, to strengthen and enlarge our capabilities for receiving them; become as perfect mirrors. The more polished and clean the mirror, the more effulgent is its reflection of the lights of the Sun of Truth. Be like a well-cultivated garden wherein the roses and variegated flowers of heaven are growing in fragrance and beauty.”
Miss Root’s first audience with Her Majesty Queen Marie of Rumania was on January 30, 1926, in Cotroceni Palace, in Bucharest. This magazine had an article in June, 1926, describing that remarkable and significant visit.—Editor.
COMING from Geneva and the League of Nations, with stops at Trieste and Belgrade, the writer arrived in Bucharest on October 5, 1927. It was not this
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eager, colorful “Paris of the Balkans”—so fascinating to tourists, so different from any other city—that had drawn her. Calea Victoria, Bucharest’s fashionable thoroughfare, that is always so thronged one wonders how the many motor cars and bevies of horse-drawn carriages ever “arrive” through such a narrow, picturesque moving picture of aristocratic Rumanian life, was just as interesting as before. She liked riding through it all again, coming up from the train to her small hotel.
However, her real visit to Bucharest, aside from her lectures on Bahá’u’lláh’s Principles and her newspaper articles, was to bring the love and the sympathy of Bahá’ís all over the world to Her Majesty Queen Marie
of Rumania. The Queen at that time was in the period of great mourning for her husband, His Majesty King Ferdinand, who had passed on July 20.
All the royal family was spending the month of October in Sinaia at the Queen’s palace, Peleshor, which is just beside the greater palace, Pelesh. The two are one estate, but Peleshor is especially the home of the Queen, where she has her books and does much of her writing in summer.
Word came through Madame Simone Lahovary, Lady in Waiting, that Her Majesty would receive the visitor on October 9. This was purely a favor, because at this time the Queen was not seeing anyone. The writer went to Sinaia, four hours distant, by one of the fast express trains, the afternoon of October 8. There was a pouring cold rain, but through the storm one could catch glimpses of what magnificent forests, what glorious scenery, have these
“Transylvanian Alps,” these Carpathian Mountains, whose heart is Sinaia.
Next morning the air was fresh and bracing and the sun was shining lovingly over this Sinaia, one of the most beautiful little summer resorts of fashion. The villas grace the mountain slopes as jewels in a tiara of autumnal glory. The Bahá’í decided to walk to the palace Peleshor to enjoy the thrill of passing through those enchanting roadways leading gracefully up and up, and to see at close range the splendid little seventeenth-century church and monastery, shining like a pearl of purest white in this diadem of mountain splendor. Deep in her heart, too, was the longing to go on foot and humbly to the first Queen of the whole world who had publicly written of Bahá’u’lláh’s great Principles for this universal cycle. Her Majesty Queen Marie’s grandmother, Queen Victoria, of Great Britain, had said openly of Bahá’u’lláh’s Teachings: “If these are from God, they will stand!” and she had preserved His Tablet (letter) to her for later generations to see and read. In the centuries ahead when Bahá’u’lláh’s Teachings are lived and fully understood, the name of Her Majesty Queen Marie of Rumania will stand as the first Queen who wrote and explained the power of these universal principles to bring the permanent peace.
Walking in that paradise of natural beauty, the writer ascended the road-way slopes and passed through that white court, where the Rumanian church stood in its ivory loveliness and the famous old monastery stood loyally beside it. It is the church of the Royal Family, where unnumbered prayers have been offered for Rumania, this country with its dramatic history, more tragic, more swift than the masterpieces of the
poets. It is the church where His Majesty the little King Mihai goes to service and where his seventh birthday, October 25, would soon be celebrated in a very great way. Perhaps to this very spot Jesus Christ’s trustworthy Disciple, Andrew, had come, for Rumanian tradition says that Andrew, from that faithful Band of Eleven, came to Rumania to bring the Glad-tidings of the Christ. How well he had done it! For this Sunday morning, after TWO THOUSAND YEARS, all Sinaia, all Rumania, had already gathered very early to sing praises to Christ!
The roadway from the church led up directly into the great park, picturesque with broad, sweeping landscapes and century-old trees which showed their generations of care. The writer walked on past the magnificent immense Palace Pelesh, where King Ferdinand, with his Queen-wife’s arms about him lifting him higher, had courageously passed from this home into the House of Many Mansions promised by His Lord, for King Ferdinand was a devout and true Catholic. How well the writer remembered seeing him two years before, that morning in Cotroceni Palace in Bucharest, where she was waiting a moment in a small drawing-room just before she was taken into the great music-room to be presented to Her Majesty the Queen! The King was about to pass through this small drawing-room with some friends, but seeing the American he took them through another salon. He had appeared so tall, so noble, so serious!
Coming to the architecturally charming and color-satisfying smaller Palace Peleshor, built by the late King Carol for King Ferdinand and Queen Marie and their children, the pedestrian found it situated in a perfect setting of terraced gardens.
If the royalty of the world have more beautiful environment for country palaces than this in Rumania, the writer has never seen them.*
Palace Peleshor is large—it isn’t small, only it seems so, because it stands near the great Palace Pelesh. (The Palace Pelesh takes its name from the little mountain stream called Pelesh which passes through the place.)
What a feeling of silent, unutterable sympathy one has coming to this palace where Her Majesty Queen Marie and Her Royal Highness Ileana, where His Majesty the little King Mihai and Her Royal Highness Princess Helen, His Royal Highness Prince Nicolas, Their Majesties King George and Queen Elizabeth, of Greece, were staying for a few weeks, and each was deeply missing the loved one who had gone from among them!
Ladies in Waiting stood in the great hall to receive the visitor. They were the same fine women who had greeted her two years before in Cotroceni Palace, but now they were dressed all in black. One explained that Her Royal Highness Princess Ileana was still at the church, but had left word she would receive the guest when she returned a little later. The other Lady in Waiting took the writer up the broad, circular open stairway to the Queen’s drawing-room on the next floor.
Her Majesty Queen Marie stood in the center of this luxurious salon where the sunshine-yellow, soft colors blended into a harmony of pastels. How beautiful she was. All in black draperies, with bands of white about her head and binding the wrists! Only a great artist could have designed such a mourning
* Miss Root has traveled in nearly all the countries of the world, with the possible exception of two.—Editor.
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Her Royal Highness Princess Ileana of Rumania
costume as she wore that day, but the Queen is an artist in everything she wears, and does, and says. But it is the radiance in her eyes and the tender smile one loved most and will remember longest. Her welcome was solemn, sacred, cordial. When she heard the deep greetings from the friends she replied with a wonderful message to the Guardian of the Bahá’í Cause, Shoghi Effendi, and to ’Abdu’l-Bahá’s sister, who is called The Greatest Holy Leaf, and to ’Abdu’l-Bahá’s wife, The Holy Mother. She added: “Tell them, also, I hope some time to go to Jerusalem and ’Akká and Haifa. I should like to pray at both graves and to meet the Family of ’Abdu’l-Bahá.”
She sends this message to the Bahá’ís of the United States: “I am so happy to be able to thank, through THE BAHÁ’Í MAGAZINE, the STAR OF THE WEST, all those Bahá’í friends in America who sent me the lovely bouquets in all the cities through which I passed. How it touched my heart! Wherever I came, those nosegays always on my table, nothing personal, never saying who had brought them, never able to thank anyone, just sent with the love of the Bahá’ís of those cities, went straight to my heart! No one ever understood how much those bouquets meant to me!
“I am so happy to think I have been able in any way to further a Cause which, I am sure, is destined to bring happiness, if not to the world, to all those who really have understanding of what is the real meaning of God.”
Her Majesty Queen Marie, in her daily article during a year for an American syndicate, touched on all subjects, and the four articles which she wrote about Bahá’u’lláh’s Teachings show the love the Queen feels for this Message that will bring so much happiness to the world. She could do in one hour what some people might work for ten years to accomplish. Yet she said: “I carry it on humbly. I have been a groper and life has taught me many things. It is logical that this Message of Bahá’u’lláh should come to me. Ever since I received these books they have been my dearest spiritual reading next to the Bible. I am sure they will bring the same blessing to all those to whom they come.”
She spoke about teaching the Cause and said that if one wishes to give another truth, he should do it humbly. People who teach should not make one feel he is lower down than they are. She admired so
much the spirit of selflessness found in the Teachings. She, herself, certainly is evanescent in her service, this Queen who possesses one of the keenest intellects, who is deeply intuitive, who is outspoken in her manner, penetrating in her testimony, and always courageous in her stand. She said: “With bowed head I recognize that I, too, am but a channel and I rejoice in the knowledge.”
The Writer told Her Majesty how these open letters had been translated into scores of languages and ten million people in one continent alone had read them. She explained, too, what a balm they had been to those suffering persecutions for the Cause. This gracious Queen replied: “I am very thankful; I take it as a sign that God accepted my humble tribute.”
Her Majesty Queen Marie, continuing, said that one must begin this Movement with the younger generation. She thought that the best book to give out to people explanatory of the Teachings is Dr. J. E. Esslemont’s ‘book, “Bahá’u’lláh and the New Era.” When the writer asked her about the Balkans and how to promote all these principles of universal education, universal auxiliary language, the new solution of the economic problem by which every child in every country may have education and the welfare of the peasants be improved, she replied: “The Balkan lands, being nearer the East, are always on the defensive; it is because they have been ill-treated, coerced and more betrayed by other countries. They become suspicious of anything that brings a new message, fearing it may be underhand, that there may be some ill motive back of it all. One can make a good beginning by showing them and all the rest of
the world how comprehensive these Teachings are, how they hurt no one’s feelings. The booklets and books should be well translated and well printed in these different languages.”
The Queen has read nearly every book that has been published on these Teachings. She studies them and knows their truth. Several of these books were beside her.
Her Majesty Queen Marie received with very great pleasure, that morning, the sacred
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The picture of ’Abdu’l-Bahá most loved by Queen Marie and which she has framed with the gift to her of the Bahá'ís of Mashhad
gift which the writer had brought and presented from the dear Bahá’ís of far-away Mashhad, chief town of that Province in Persia. It was an illumined sheet, on which was inscribed a Prayer of Bahá’u’lláh. It was adorned and blessed in the center with a lock of Bahá’u’lláh’s own shining hair. She loved it and will have a frame specially designed for it, and in the oval she will place a small photograph of ’Abdu’l-Bahá, she so deeply appreciated this treasure. It is indeed a glorious gift, for no one else in Europe has a similar remembrance from Bahá’u’lláh. Speaking, too, of the illumined work, the polished gold of the letters, the Queen said: “It is in the most perfect taste of all the Orient! I know how rare and beautiful it is!”
Then Her Royal Highness Princess Ileana came into the drawing-room, accompanied by her brother, His Royal Highness Prince Nicolas. They had just come up from the Rumanian Church a little after ten o’clock. (Services are early in Rumania.) The Princess is very young, very beautiful; she is serious, she is sweet. One saw at a glance that she is much interested in spiritual realities. She invited the writer to come up to her room on the third floor for a little talk. The room of this Rumanian Princess was charming. and full of sunshine. There were, perhaps, more than one hundred pink roses in the different gold bowls and in crystal vases; they gave an exquisite charm and fragrance to the apartment, On the walls were pictures from the life of Christ, a portrait of Jeanne d’Arc and two artistic companion pieces of maidens dancing on the greensward. Beside the long couch close to the three great and very high windows stood a little, low table for books, with shelves underneath for more books. Princess Ileana, like her mother, is a great reader. On this little table was a tiny photograph of ’Abdu’l-Bahá which she had received the day before. Here, also, was a brass bowl of the delicate-pink fragrant roses. With her religious
and other books she had nearly all the works of Bahá’u’lláh and ’Abdu’l-Bahá which are published in English. A very beautiful picture of Christ hung above her couch. In an open bay-window alcove, also flooded with sunshine, was her writing desk. It was well-arranged and one could see that it is a place where much work is done. She said to her visitor: “I do not see how you ever get so much writing and other work done! I am obliged to get up very early, mornings, to get my correspondence finished.”
Then a little heart-to-heart talk followed. This young Princess is enthusiastic and keenly eager to help the thousands of girls in her country. She does wonderful work in the Young Women’s Christian Association, the Girl Guides and in the Rumanian Church, and she will translate two little booklets about Bahá’u’lláh’s peace principles into the Rumanian language. She is devoted to the work of the Rumanian Church and to the Rumanian people; she tries to work with them and for them. She spoke of having given “Bahá’u’lláh and the New Era” to one friend at Court and she added: “He said he read it and loved it!”
Her brother, His Royal Highness Prince Nicolas, came in two or three times during the conversation. He is
pleasant and delightful, and so devoted to his mother and sister; he helps them in everything which interests them. So the morning was spent, and when the writer was leaving, this dear Princess said: “I will come down with you, perhaps you may not know your way.” Just then His Royal Highness Prince Nicolas came from his study, which was near. He swung into step with a grace and ease that showed he must have been doing it like that all his life, and, smiling and courteous, he came with his sister.
This little outer visit to Palace Peleshor in Sinaia had an inner significance. The real audience with Her Majesty Queen Marie and her young daughter, Her Royal Highness Princess Ileana, was that souls met that day and spoke together of the realities of this life and of eternity. The Queen said to her children that morning, as the conversation turned to life after death: “Papa knows; he sees that all we are trying to do is constructive.” Just how constructive for Rumania, for all the Balkans and all the rest of the world the study of these Teachings of Bahá’u’lláh for world understanding really is, the future will soon show. These Royal radiant souls are planting seeds of spiritual world cooperation which, throughout eternity, will bear harvests.
mankind. All are the children of one Father; all the inheritors of that future peace on earth.
“He admonishes men to banish prejudice. Religious, patriotic, racial preconceptions must disappear, for they are the destroyers of human society.”
THOSE who are looking for evidence of the light of universality which is shedding its rays on the world today are attracted by the personality and work of Count Hermann Keyserling. In many ways he is a man who belongs to the new age, of which we are just at the dawn. Through the School of Wisdom he is seeking to disseminate his universal ideas and to show those who are ready how to develop themselves into the spiritual, complete and universal man.
In the history of his own inner development, which forms the introductory chapter to his book, “The World in the Making,” Count Keyserling tells how at different times in his life he deliberately set himself to become a new type of man. In his early years he developed the physical man, strength of body and physical courage seeming to him at that time all important. A severe wound received in a duel put an end to this absorption in the physical, and he now entered on his period of intellectual development, devoting himself almost exclusively to study in different European universities.
The necessity of making a living on his ancestral estate led him to develop what we commonly call the practical nature in himself. This period he considers an important one in his growth. Later he undertook extensive travels for the sake of thoroughly acquainting himself with the thought, customs and wisdom of the Orient. This was a part of the period of his spiritual development. At first this seemed to him his final stage of development and
he had almost determined to retire to a certain Buddhist monastery in Japan. Events prevented this, however, and he found himself challenged to still further self-development, this time into the complete, the universal man.
In “The World in the Making” Count Keyserling develops his profound belief in the “ecumenic state.” This universal or world state he has no doubt is to come about in the distant future, and with it, or rather, as a cause of it, will come the spiritually developed man. Indeed, he sees this spirit of universality already developing in our present material and technical civilization, not only in its means of communication but in the universal and seemingly intuitive understanding of the machine. This does not mean necessarily the understanding of its mechanism but the unquestioning acceptance of it by youth and the understanding of its use. The “chauffeur mind,” as he aptly calls it, already dominates the world, at least in the rising generation. The same type shows itself in quite opposite ways in Russia as Bolshevism and in Italy as Fascism. This will pass, he prophesies, and a more intellectual type will develop and finally a spiritual type. The hopeful thing about the present seeming chaos of our civilization is not the materialism of it but the universality of it. It is this which he sees abiding. It is most important, he thinks, that we shall see a meaning in present events and conditions and interpret them in terms of the future.
In an article in the February Forum, Count Keyserling tells us
about his “School of Wisdom.” Here at this school, at Darmstadt, Germany, the Count aims to bring together such influences as will cause “the inward change which is necessary in order to evolve a higher state of being, the one thing that really matters.” “This,” he says, “can never be achieved by an institution as such, but only by qualified personal influences; nor can it be achieved in all men, but only in those who seem ready for it.”
Our present educational methods fall far short of developing the whole man in Keyserling’s estimation. He says: “Everything one is wont to call education today misses the capital point: it imparts knowledge, but it does not inspire personal understanding; it evolves efficiency, but it does not create a higher plane of living.” He continues further: “That this is really so seems finally proved to me by the not only low but ever-lowering level of the so-called educated masses all over the world: the more they know, the less they understand; the more efficient they become as specialists, the less superior and complete they appear as personalities.” So the School of Wisdom, though it has headquarters, lecture room, a library and necessary equipment, is not a school in the ordinary understanding of the term. The Count’s own personality is quite evidently the central source of inspiration, augmented by other personalities attracted there. The school “deals exclusively,” says its head, “with the inspirational spring of life.” Those who attend are usually above thirty, for “very few below the age of thirty really care for the reality of life.” “Independent-minded
people” are attracted by this school from all over the world, but seldom, stay more than a few days, for if the individual is ready this is all the time that is necessary for his spirit to catch the inspiration that the place affords. The development must be continued by the individual himself.
Some of the methods used in the school are the personal interview, the reading of certain annual and biennial reports which are of the nature of letters binding together those who have the common interests afforded by the school, exercises for spiritual training, and meetings of the Society for Free Philosophy which are held in connection with the school at Darmstadt. At these conferences the aim is to solve problems of a universal and spiritual nature “in a manner that radiates far.” These problems have included such subjects as race hatreds, “the ecumenic man to whom alone the future belongs,” “a new meaning to the idea of freedom.”
For a complete understanding of Count Keyserling one must read further in his books, many of which have not been translated into English. But even without this more extended study, and whether or not we accept his philosophy and methods in toto we cannot fail to be heartened by his optimistic outlook on the future, his belief in the coming universal state, his faith in the higher levels potential in man if he will but develop his spiritual nature. For, as ’Abdu’l-Bahá tells us, “A cause in this age must be universal, and man must embody the universality of the cause; otherwise it will yield no profit.”
“In the scheme of human life the teacher and his system of teaching plays the most important role, carrying with it the heaviest responsibilities and most subtle influence.”—’Abdu’l-Bahá.
IT TAKES a very skillful and devoted teacher to turn the energies of children—naturally egoistic, selfish, and at times cruel—into channels of sympathy, helpfulness, and social-mindedness.
The individual development of the child, and the freedom of the child, principles so vigorously advocated and practiced by progressive educators, do not imply a necessary abandonment of the child to individualism, egoism, selfishness. On the contrary, among the ten points which by their own vote progressive educators deem most important to the new education stands the principle of developing in the child the social virtues–to be kindly, cooperative, and serviceable.
The world has suffered much from individualism gone rampant. Such is not at all the aim of the progressive educator, who has a vision of a more sympathetic society, less egocentric, in which motives of service and kindliness will be prevalent. On every hand we see signs of the dawn of a civilization the keynote of which shall be cooperation. Already it is affecting the world of industry and commerce, and even that of agriculture, which is most prone to individualism and most injured by it.
It has been pointed out by those who consider this subject of cooperation that in a group thoroughly cooperating it is not a question of the individual sacrificing something of its own good for the sake of the others. It is a question of each individual laying on the table his own plans and ideas in order that from consultation a larger and better idea and plan
shall result. Thus cooperation, when truly practiced, enhances the powers and achievements of each individual by enabling him to function in plans of greater vision and perfection than could have been worked out by any one member of the group, the aid and support of the group being always at hand. The group mind—planning, creating, and achieving—can accomplish marvels of which the individual is incapable. For instance, an example of this in the life of commerce and industry is the laboratory work being done in electrical research by groups of men working in cooperation, by means of which most important results have been and are being achieved, results which could hardly have been achieved by any individual, no matter how brilliant, working alone. The long-distance telephone, and the radio, for example, are largely the fruit of group inventiveness.
Therefore, it is clear that one of the most important qualifications for successful achievement in the coming civilization will be the power to harmonize with one’s fellow men and to work cooperatively, submerging—or, better speaking, sublimating—the ego for the sake of group effort and achievement.
If this vision of the future be true, then one of the most important functions of the schools of today is to prepare for such a society. The child is prone to egotism. How can we help it to sublimate that self-seeking ambition into attitudes which are social and into habits that are cooperative? On the other hand, are there any
practices in current education which should be eliminated in order to accomplish this end—practices which exaggerate the ego, the self-conceit, the vanity and striving, the desire for personal renown and exaltation regardless of others and even at their expense?
Can we not all testify, in looking back upon our educational career, to the evil effects of the competitive marking system? Especially is this so in the case of brilliant students pushed forward to attain high competitive ranks in the class or school and to become the recipients of prizes and public honors. Yes, this system tends to invoke personal ambition, personal vanity and pride, exaggerates the egocentric qualities, and makes cooperation difficult.
The true artist knows that the best work is never done under motives of competition with others, but only under individual inspiration and the desire of self-expression. There is the story told in the Chinese classics of a wood carver whose work was beyond that of all others. When the Emperor Yao asked him how he did such beautiful work he replied, “When I have a task to perform, I go into meditation for three days in order to forget myself. Then, with no thought of personal ambition, I go to the forest, select the finest piece of wood, and do my carving.”
It is that kind of effort which we wish to encourage in the children of our school today. Let them desire to excel, yes; but not others, only themselves. Let them surpass all their previous records. Let them attain the greatest triumphs imaginable, but triumphs within their own spiritual world; not triumphs over others, not competitive ranking which places them on eminence, and by natural consequence condemns
others to a lesser position in the public eye.*
In the progressive schools there is an effort made to prevent this development of personal vanity and ambition in the pupils and to lead their energies into channels of group activity and group achievement. The project is, indeed, a marvelous means of developing the social sense in children. Even in young children who are working out a project, egotism, self-consciousness, recalcitrance can be realized as social faults disturbing the group and are condemned by the group as a whole. It is not the school authority which punishes the child in such a case, but the public sanction on the part of the child’s social group. Thus, from the very first, the most powerful sanctions and motives are brought to bear upon the child—those of its social group—to produce in it the social graces and amenities.
In the subject matter of each grade, opportunity can be made for group expression. In geography, for instance, a class scrapbook may be made, the expression of the ability of the class as a whole instead of each pupil making one of his own in competition one with the other. In Decroly’s schools the children maintain collections of material available for the whole class, bringing contributions to it from time to time; and that collection can be drawn from by any child who is working on a subject which the collection can aid. How different is this practice from a method by which the child who could succeed in getting the best material would be ranked highest and be victorious over his classmates who had not been so successful!
In the giving of plays in progressive schools group action is sought rather than individual excellence.
* In the North Shore Country Day School the creative work of the children in art, literature, etc., when on display, remains anonymous. In this way personal pride and comparisons are avoided.
For instance, instead of a few children being picked to perform who already have histrionic ability and expressiveness, the whole class or the whole group take part, each according to his or her ability, the more gifted children helping the less gifted ones in their memorizing and rehearsing. When the final performance comes off—a play, a pageant, a demonstration of rythmics—it is a social event in which a whole room or a whole school take part. It is not a performance so arranged that a few brilliant individuals shine for the passive enjoyment of the rest. Just as the whole town of Oberammergau throbs and vibrates with its Passion Play, so the whole school feels itself expressed in dramatic or other performances in a progressive school. This feeling is carefully cultivated by the teachers. Individual achievement, while it is encouraged, is not held up before the school for appraisal and distinction. Great care is taken to keep away those fatal enemies of man’s best self—egotism and conceit.
Where the academic work is being accomplished by a group project or individual project, competition is practically eliminated with all its vicious results. The children are not thinking how each one can surpass the other, nor what personal success they can achieve. Their minds and efforts are put upon the task as the end in itself. Even though there may naturally be some egocentric motives in their work, it is the business of the progressive educator to watch for such symptoms and try to overcome them, praising the social qualities and fostering their development.
A very excellent practice in progressive schools is that of letting the more brilliant pupils help the slower ones in different subjects of the academic program. A child who knows
its tables perfectly may do the very kindly act of drilling a poorer student in the tables instead of going on with some work which is of only selfish advantage to it.
In progressive schools, numerous enterprises are undertaken of a social value to the outside community. (Of course, such civic enterprises are not peculiar to progressive schools. Many splendid things of this kind are being done in the public schools to develop the civic qualities in the children.) Two such activities might be described. In the Downers Grove School, children of the first and second grades undertook the project of clearing a public brook of debris and waste dumped along its banks. The point in which such a project in a progressive school differs from that in the ordinary school is that in the former type of school it is deemed important enough to form part of the academic program and is not looked upon as an extra-curriculum activity which must find time apart from the regular program. In the Francis W. Parker School, of Chicago, the children each winter have a toy hospital to which broken toys or cast-off paraphernalia are brought from the homes by the children, repaired or made over in the craft shop, and presented to children’s hospitals at Christmas time. Even the parents join in this lovely project, coming in the evenings to help in the carpentry and woodwork; and the whole school vibrates to this motif for some weeks previous to Christmas. Many such civic projects could be enumerated and described, but since they are not peculiar to progressive schools, it is not worth while to go further into this matter.
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Since progressive education aims at the all-around development of the child, it holds itself responsible as
much for character training as for mental training. Our ideal average child will be honorable, sincere, self-reliant, responsible, of harmonious personality, sympathetic, serviceable; and in addition to these needed and admirable qualities we may expect a certain proportion of children to develop qualities of initiative and leadership.
Very good. The model child stands before us. But how attain it in actuality? It is easy to say how not to attain it. Children educated in an atmosphere of absolute and arbitrary authority, along institutionalized methods which give no freedom and opportunity for the expression of personality, will not tend to manifest the above-mentioned virtues. Of that we can be assured.
For, as Kilpatrick points out, character being the sum total of all our habits, we acquire in the way of character only what we have opportunity to practice. How can a child acquire the power of self-direction unless he has an opportunity to practice self-direction? The child, in order to develop a self-reliant and responsible character, must be allowed to make decisions. He must have opportunity to practice these good qualities. He must act in a social group, and in a social situation. How else can we expect him to develop the social, cooperative virtues?
It is clear that character-building, in a progressive school, is not an isolated function of the educator, provided for under certain phases of the curriculum; but rather is an effort to make the whole daily, weekly, and monthly program of the school a training in moral living, full of opportunities for experiences in moral conduct.
Says Dr. Bamberger, in “Progressive Education and Character-Building”: “The primary function of a
progressive school, then, is not to teach arithmetic, nor languages, nor reading and the like, but to have children learn to make, to do, to create, to produce, to study, and to live together cooperatively and sympathetically.”
In schools too crowded, too formal, too institutionalized, the employment of moral lectures, exercises, reading material and other devices, no matter how excellent or how thoroughly utilized, can never afford the opportunity and medium for character development such as the progressive schools afford through their smaller groups, their freedom of movement, their flexibility of program, their group projects, their self-government, their close cooperation with the home, and their study of and adaptation to the individual child which enables them to focus effort on any personality defect which appears in their pupils. In progressive schools the development of personality has precedence over curriculum; and character is put before knowledge.
Whatever else be their limitations, it must be acknowledged that they are turning out splendid characters, solid, reliable, cooperative, possessed of the social virtues.
Victor E. Marriott, prominent in the field of Religious Education, gives in the magazine of that name a generous testimony to the work of progressive educators along the line of character training: “‘Progressive’ schools are frankly experimental. They do not start with a preconceived type of character to which all pupils are expected to conform. They confront pupils with situations in their daily round in school; they try to make the issues clear, and then trust to the judgment of the group. They are not convinced that our present standards of conduct represent the
acme of development. They look for something better. They hope to release forces that shall produce a kindlier, more harmonious, and more creative indidivual than our present system of education is producing. The method in which they trust is a way of freedom and bold adventure. The right, they believe, is not something to be treasured in a golden bowl, but something to be achieved.”*
* * * * *
The modern world of business and affairs puts character before cleverness as a qualification for employment and success. Inharmonious geniuses, in most lines of business, simply are not wanted. The world is strewn today with pitiful wrecks of humanity whose abilities should have assured them a high success, but whose lack of the social virtues were such that their post-educational career has proved a continuous retrogression so far as outer success is concerned.
Modern industry is geared so highly, so delicately, as to require teamwork of the most exacting kind. Co-operativeness is the sine qua non. Arthur Pound, writing in the Atlantic Monthly on the human factor in modern industry, says regarding the qualifications of the desirable employee: “The indiscriminating hiring of mere hands and muscles is no more; selection of employees proceeds upon the basis of character, upon the adaptability of the applicant to fit into a system which demands steadfastness and dependability. The work depends upon men, less as doers of this or that particular thing, than as men of good intent who do what they have to do with a will.”
Education is enlarging its scope to consciously include, as part of its
* Religious Education, November, 1927. “The Progressive Education Movement and Character Training.”
obligation to society, the development of a properly social being. The report of a committee working under the direction of The Commonwealth Fund expressly says that “education, broadly conceived, is especially concerned with developing the habits of thought, emotional response, and behavior that are basic to the successful operating of a cooperative living.”
For the individual, then, it is of the utmost importance to learn to control the tendency toward pride, self-seeking, and exploitation. In a monistic universe, the creation and the creature of one ruling Destiny and Power, it is evident that there is no room for private ambition and prowess. Sooner or later the egotist, the man of immense conceit and selfish ambition, must crash down in utter ruin and humiliation, else the universe would become an anarchy of warring wills and ambitions. Destiny knows how to use the personal efforts of selfish individuals to its own purposes. It extracts what good which can be had from them, but throws aside the empty vessel. Only the humble, only the harmonious, the cooperative individual, can permanently survive and flourish in a universe based upon law and order with harmonious interworkings of every part.
As for Society, can anyone fail to realize the vast importance to it of developing these social, these serviceable, these non-egoistic qualities in the child? In the past the world has gotten on, it is true, through the progress made by the ambitions of its citizens pitted against each other, but it has limped and gone poorly. It has been subject to the chronic disaster of war, the direct result of egotism, of selfish competition, of the private ambition of individuals or of nationalities. The world must find
a better foundation for its culture and civilization, or it will hardly survive the tremendous dangers of self-seeking competition which finds available for use the wholesale and subtle means of destruction being invented today.
Therefore, this effort of progressive education to cultivate the social virtues is in reality a spiritual effort. It is getting at the very essence of the spiritual nature and end of man, and training toward a better society. It is aiding the child’s moral development more than sermons and preachments coud do. It is producing a very beautiful atmosphere and spirit permeating the whole educational process, and is pointing out the one way, I believe, which leads to
character-the habits of daily living in an environment conducive to nobility of soul.
Gertrude Hartman sums it up admirably when she says: “The future of democratic society depends upon the socialization of the schools. When they become practice communities in which young people through their growing years are trained to respond in desirable ways to social situations, when students are versed in solving social problems, when the curriculum is enriched by a broad social interpretation, we shall have the hope of creating a society capable of directing social changes instead of being overwhelmed by them.”*
* The Social Studies-Progressive Education Re-print.
THE second annual Institute of International Relations, held at Riverside, Calif., has just come to a close after a most successful and encouraging series of meetings at which some one hundred and fifty of the foremost educators and thinkers of the Western States were in attendance. This year’s Institute showed a distinct advance over the first one which was held at the same time last year, not only in the number of attendance but in the broader treatment of the vital questions which were under consideration, the great amount of valuable information which was presented and the absence of political interests which are prone to warp the higher and finer work of such a gathering.
Such subjects as “International Debts,” “Pan-American Relations,”
“Limitation of Armaments,” “The Basis of Race Relations,” “The Situation in World Missions,” “The Chinese Situation,” the “League of Nations,” the “Balkan Nations,” “World Markets and World Understanding,” “Labor and Post-War Tendencies,” and the “Lausanne Conference” were thoroughly weighed and discussed, bringing to light such unfamiliar facts as the following: “In three decades the United States annexed 57 per cent of Mexico’s entire territory, thus increasing our area by 50 per cent. Most Americans know little of this, while most Mexicans know all about it * * *.” “The debts of all countries increased from $14,000,000,000 in 1914 to $89,000,000,000 in 1924.”
“In the United States there are one hundred and twenty organizations
working for international understanding.”
“We have learned cooperative thinking but not cooperative acting.”
The last-mentioned quotation shows the real spirit of the Institute, and there was a distinct tendency to analyze every suggested means for better understanding between the races, and a growing consciousness of the fact that, after all, the various races are only the component and interdependent parts of the great human race which in origin and interests is one, and to which conclusion science, history, philanthropy and the common weal are forcing the world.
An interesting outgrowth of the earlier sessions was the privilege sought by a certain group to organize a Round Table on “Internationalism on the Basis of Spiritual Understanding.” This Table closed its deliberations, having elicited the interest and sympathy of many of the early participants of other Tables, showing the real appeal which such a subject has for all forward-looking and sympathetic people.
Another significant feature of the Institute was the presence of a group of university students representing the “Youth Movement,” which is finding adherents in many educational institutions both in this country and abroad. These young people were very earnest and intelligent and their spokesman presented their plan for international understanding in a clear and convincing manner which procured for the students the promise of a special Round Table just their own at future meetings of the Institute.
Their Plan, as presented in part, follows:
“The method of procedure here suggested is one of competitive cooperation between groups of different
Universities, both in America and abroad. The winner in any given year will be the group who present the most original and reasonable suggestion for further work. This may be the organizing within the University of a method for studying international problems, or the development of a series of contacts with other countries, or the interpretation of some one national background, or the contribution of a new idea of international study, or the stimulation of a general interest, within the University, upon the quality and originality of the work being done by the students and upon the plan presented by them for further work * * *.”
A marked divergence in thought became manifest early in the progress of the Institute between those styling themselves “hard-boiled” and the idealists. To the writer, the conception of universal peace from a material standpoint is inconceivable, but there was a contingent, and not negligible at that, whose idea of the golden rule seems to have been “Do the other fellow before he does you.” The followers of this creed strove mightily to carry every argument and to subvert the higher ideals of the Institute, but the idealists won the day by popular acclaim and everyone was much the wiser for the spirited debates which arose.
A wonderful opportunity occurred to make clear the reason for the unfathomable gulf which separates man from the animal, and the Bahá’í conception of the potential qualities possessed by man which are denied to the animal kingdom found great acclaim and proved a happy medium for uniting the “Intellectuals” with the “Idealists.” This is as it should be, for one is constantly reminded of the Words of Bahá’u’lláh where He says:
“The progress of man depends on faithfulness, wisdom, chastity, intelligence and deeds. He is ever degraded by ignorance, lack of faith, untruth, and selfishness. Verily, man is not called man until he be imbued with the attributes of the Merciful. He is not man because of wealth and adornment, learning and refinement. Blessed is he who is free from the names, seeking the shore of the sea of Purity and loving the melody of the dove of Virtue.”
“In this day all must serve God with purity and virtue. The effect of the word spoken by the teacher depends upon his purity of purpose and his severance. Some are content with words, but the truth of words is tested by deeds and dependent upon life. Deeds reveal the station of the man. The words must be according to what has proceeded from the Mouth of the Will of God and is recorded in Tablets.”
This is the fifth in the series of stories by a world traveler. In the following article the author describes his brief visit to Hong Kong, Shanghai and Canton, and brings out sympathetically the innate good qualities of the Chinese, such as honesty, their great hospitality, etc.—Editor.
HONG KONG is a British Crown Colony, an important island possession of an area of twenty-nine square miles, ten and one-half miles at its greatest length and of a breadth varying from two to five miles. The city grew much faster than was anticipated and more land was purchased opposite the river, the Kow Loon Peninsula. There are excellent harbor facilities, and the port is one of the most frequented in the world.
The view of the island offers real delight to the unexpecting eye of the visitor, particularly at night, when one sees the mountain (about fifteen hundred feet high) clustered with houses and dwellings, the whole illuminated in a typical Chinese fashion, and looking like an engraved jewel. The panorama is best presented when one takes a boat up the Pearl River to Canton, passing by the end of the island known as West Point which, being the Chinese section given over to restaurants and entertainment, is a blaze of glorious light.
The city has three “levels”—the lower, or Queen’s Road level, a middle level, and an upper level known as the Peak, which is reached by cable cars and is given over to houses and bungalows for those who can afford them. This district is strictly reserved for Europeans, no Chinese being permitted to own property in any but the lower sections. The Chinese have always resented this line of demarcation, which has remained a bone of contention to this day.
When I arrived the city had just emerged from the boycott of English trade and from the strike which proved so disastrous; and I was sorry to see still lingering a feeling of bitterness which, I am afraid, it will take a long time to remove. The love of some of the old residents for the Chinese is, however, in no wise diminished. On the boat to Hong Kong, for instance, I met a lady who had
been forced, by considerations of health, to leave Hong Kong to live in Australia; she had improved so much that she had found it possible to return and she evinced great happiness and satisfaction at getting back to her dear Chinese helpers whom she had grown to appreciate even more highly since her residence in Australia, where she could not get domestic help and had to do all her own work.
My contact with the Chinese did not bring me much closer to understanding the life of the lower strata of the people—the “coolies,” as they are carelessly called. After dark, these poor bundles of humanity may be seen sleeping on the sidewalks, their only comfort being a jute bag containing all their worldly possessions, which can be rolled up and carried under the arm. Without exaggeration, there are thousands of these poor creatures to be seen sleeping in one street alone.
As in most Chinese cities where there is much European commercial activity, Hong Kong is policed by Sikhs, big raw-boned Muhammadans who have no particular love for the Chinese followers of Buddha or Confucius, and who do not always use the most gentle means to keep the Chinese crowds in check, as might well be imagined.
Although Hong Kong is a British colony, its aspect is purely Chinese. There are miles of shops and narrow streets which climb up the mountainside, offering a variety of scene and experience which makes a walk through the city an entertainment not to be equaled by any theater in the world. There is not a dull moment as we pass by the flower shops, the gold-fish market, the displays of beautiful furniture, bric-a-brac and ivory-ware and all sorts of exotic Oriental merchandise. Wherever I
--PHOTO--
A flower pagoda at Canton
went on my tour of the city I encountered an unfailingly kind response to my questions and requirements and in cases where the medium of speech was of no avail, a gesture and a friendly smile was always the key to the situation.
The Chinese are profoundly honest, no doubt partly due to the influence of religious belief which makes it imperative for the son to pay the debts of his deceased father in order that the celestial felicity of the father may not be marred or endangered. They are also intensely hospitable, although they will not, as a rule, do any entertaining of guests at home, preferring to go to a restaurant in the section of the city given over entirely to that sort of thing. The restaurants used by the Chinese for these functions
of hospitality are extremely beautiful and magnificent places, five, six or eight stories high, with elevators and luxurious private rooms where are served elaborate meals which are sometimes ordered days ahead. It was my privilege to be entertained by my Chinese friends on various occasions, and I must say that the password or “open sesame” was always the Bahá’í message. In matters of hospitality and culture, the Chinese have a background of thousands of years. Their ancestors have been cultivating silkworms for silken garments when our ancestors were hunting wild beasts for the sake of their pelts.
The conversation with my Chinese friends was delightful. The various rooms in the restaurants are fittted up in different styles; there may be, for instance, the ivory room, the room of paintings, and others, all distinctive on account of some feature or scheme of decoration. For my entertainment, the room chosen was the “Bronze Room,” everything in it being gilded, in honor of the industry in which I am engaged; a typical Chinese compliment, thoughtful and tactful as they are to the last degree. To add to the entertainment and to make doubly sure that there should not be a dull moment, my host had furnished a gramophone for music and dancing.
As is the case all over the Orient, the women of China have not yet quite found their proper place in the modern scheme of things, although I must say that I have never dined with Chinese without their wives being present. The food is placed in the center of the table, the order of the day being “help yourself”; but there is no finer cooking in the world than in Southern China. Dessert is served by a waiter. My host mentioned that one of the Chinese ladies present had
been educated in domestic science on European lines, but went on to say that there was not much use in that part of the world for this sort of education. The reasons being: (1) that Chinese cooking is better than European cooking (to which I agreed), and (2) that, after all, a woman should be educated chiefly for the purpose of taking care of her husband (to which I could not quite agree).
--PHOTO--
Miss Sinn Yuk Ching, a well-known scholarly English interpreter
I was very happy to be able, as a Bahá’í, to show the importance of the education of women, a factor in the human family to be placed on an equal footing in a spirit of cooperation and amity, and to point out that a husband should make it his duty to ensure that his wife should be looked up to by her children in the same spirit of love and affection as he is proud to display towards his own mother. And when, in the course of the meal, I insisted that dessert be served first to my fair Chinese table
companion, she beamed and said, “You know, I think I shall like this Bahá’í Cause.”
We can learn much from the Chinese about the relations between employer and employee. For instance, when I visited a large printing plant I found meals being prepared in which everyone partook—owner, workers and apprentices alike, all sitting comfortably and at their ease round the same table.
The artistic sense of the Chinese is very highly developed. Everywhere scrolls of beautiful penmanship caught my eye which my friends were, at my request, very happy to translate for me. Their language is, of course, a picture-language and it is said that a Chinese leaves this earthly existence without really learning his own language. I give a few translations of some of these scrolls of the words of old sages which decorated the walls of the office of the printing plant:
- Wisdom is hard to acquire.
- Man’s brain is limited.
- Man must be as White marble;
- spotless clean and pure.
- The sea is the abode of the
- dragon, the sky is the home
- of the crane.
- Don't make too much money,
- but love everyone as a
- brother. Man lives only
- sixty or seventy years at the
- most.
- Don’t drink, don’t take too
- much food, get up early, and
- we will have good health.
- Whatever you do you must
- show up evil.
One feels safe in transacting business in such an office.
I spent a week in Hong Kong, the greater part of the time with Chinese people, and I can truly say that I did not miss contact with the people of my own race. Many people do not understand how the East and West
will ever meet, but I came to the conclusion that there not only is an understanding and fraternizing possible, but that it is an accomplished fact. We in the Western world should not judge this great race of people by a few whom we may happen to meet in our own city, any more than we should like the Chinese to judge Americans by the tourists and missionaries from our city whom he may by chance have observed. There are in all races different strata of life—professional, intellectual, merchant, artisan, industrial. If we choose to judge the Chinese by the laundrymen here, we might just as well compare the lady of the mansion with the occasional scullery-maid and expect them to exhibit no differences.
There was an enormous concentration of warships in the harbor, trouble having arisen which concentrated round Shanghai and fleets were ready to steam north at a moment’s notice. I hestitated to go to Canton. I had been there before and still remembered the boats going up the river armed with machine guns, manned by the inevitable Muhammadan troops. It must be said, however, that this gave protection against piracy. The mail-boat goes up first and furnishes convoy for boats of other companies. Canton is the commercial center, and the prosperity of Hong Kong depends very largely on this city. The population is between two and three millions. Hong Kong at that time had lost a great many of its people who had gone back to Canton, whence they came. It would not be within the scope of this article to describe Canton, which has been so often described before.
I received a cable from my friends in Shanghai warning me not to go thence since conditions were unsafe, but I booked a passage nevertheless, and waited to see what course events
--PHOTO--
Settlement and on it are many of the big buildings housing foreign banks and
corporationswould take—whether I should leave the boat or go on to Japan. However, I followed the example of others and went to Shanghai. I well remember the reply of my Chinese friends when I asked whether it would be safe to go to Canton. They asked me in turn (and, be it understood, without any suggestion of reproach or sarcasm) whether I had ever been to Chicago. I said that I went there quite frequently. They were surprised that I should ever go to such a place, notorious for its holdups and murders, and actually believed that America was a very unsafe place to live in! I pointed out to them that if only three or four hundred met a violent end in Chicago every year out of a population of three and a half millions, it would take about ten
thousand years to be included in the statistics, which makes Chicago look like a good place in which to achieve longevity.
Shanghai offers a strange mixture of Eastern and Western civilization. There is the fashionable Nanking Road with its modern Chinese shops and up-to-date purely Chinese department stores, which would do credit to any American city, while close by is the more intimate native city, where one suddenly steps out of modern life into China as it has existed for centuries. Of particular interest is the “Temple City” where, naturally enough, one encounters exhibitions of religious feeling and fervor very difficult
for the Western mind to understand.
One outstanding feature of Chinese religious life is the fact that Taoism, Confucianism and Buddhism are so closely interrelated and function side by side in perfect harmony and peace, yet are forms of religion which are so vastly different from each other in their teachings and concepts. Taoism, which developed from the teachings of Lao-Tze, has degenerated into a system of superstition and magic. Confucianism, the state religion, gives no teaching concerning a Supreme Being, or a future existence. And if we turn to Buddhism as presented by Gotama it was without God and without hope in the world. Its conception of life was so pessimistic that annihilation of the soul became the only solution. But in the Mahayana school of Buddhism we encounter a strange similarity between its practices and those of certain great Christian sects and, in this connection, the following extract from “China: An Interpretation,” by James W. Bashford, is interesting:
“The view of Dr. Richard and of Dr. Lloyd, of Japan, of the relation between Buddhism and Christianity, is based upon the remarkable resemblances between, not the original Hinayana Buddhism and Roman Catholic Christianity, but between the Mahayana Buddhism and Roman Catholic rites.
“The cross, the miter, the dalmatica, the cope which the lamas wear on their journeys or when performing some ceremony out of the temple, the service with double choirs, the psalmody, the exorcisms, the censer suspended from five chains, * * * the benediction given by extending the right hand over the heads of the faithful; the rosary, ecclesiastical celibacy, spiritual retirement, worship of the saints; the fasts, processions, litanies, the holy water—all these are analogies between ourselves and the Buddhists. The institution of nuns, as well as religious orders for men, and masses for the dead, are common to both faiths. Both faiths teach the doctrine of purgatory from which souls can be released by the prayers of the priests. Both conduct their services in a dead language, and both claim the power to work miracles. The doctrine of perpetual virginity of Maya, the mother
of Sakyamuni, is taught by the Mongol Buddhists, very similar to the teaching concerning Mary by the Roman Catholics; and the lamas practice a form of infant baptism in which the child is dipped three times under the water.”
From a religious point of view, things are in an awful tangle. At a missionary conference held in Shanghai in 1890 it was stated that the expenditure of the Chinese for superstitious practices reached the enormous amount of $300,000,000 gold a year; and this in a country where for five or ten cents a man may be driven for miles in a rickshaw. It is through this misconception in religious understanding and misdirected spiritual life that it was found more profitable to sacrifice to evil rather than to good, this being typical of the close reasoning powers of the Chinese—good spirits could not hurt and evil ones must be placated. If one ever chances to see a Chinese funeral, one can soon realize that all the money is spent on the dead rather than on the living. A funeral cortege may unwind itself for miles before one sees the chief mourners garbed in sackcloth—a spectacle that might look to us like a carnival, but is nothing more than the placating of demons and evil spirits. In spite of all this, there is no race or nation that has preserved itself and traditions so long as the Chinese; the only comparison is with the Jews, and they, although preserving their religious and racial characteristics, have lost their nationhood.
Whatever were the superstitions of Taoism it never took its eye off the future life. Buddhism has splendid rituals and display and having adopted the broad path of the Mahayana school was able to exist peacefully. Such a fertile soil has been created that everywhere the Bahá’í will find a willing ear for the great Message of Bahá’u’lláh. I shall not
describe the temple scenes and temples in all their comedy and grotesqueness, as I feel it would not do justice to that class of the Chinese who do not indulge in such practices—the class I had to do with. God knows we have superstition and ignorance enough in the Western world without describing those of the east. Did not ’Abdu’l-Bahá teach that we must look at the good in man and
that if we should find a man with nine good qualities and one bad one we must overlook the bad, and that if we found a man with nine bad qualities and one good, we must look only at the good? A man with nine good qualities out of ten leaves only one to defeat, and whatever that one may be, are we sure that a search of our own inner selves would not reveal a duplicate of it close at hand?
The following brief account of an Inter-racial Amity Conference held in Chicago, Ill., January 22, 1928, is compiled from a report by the Bahá'í Inter-racial Committee of that city.—Editor.
“ALL races, tribes, sects and classes share equally in the Bounty of their Heavenly Father,” said ’Abdu’l-Bahá, and “the only difference lies in the degree of faithfulness, of obedience to the laws of God.”
This essential unity was the basis of the brilliant addresses given at the Inter-racial Conference, held under the auspices of the Bahá’í Inter-racial Committee in Chicago, Sunday afternoon, January 22, at the New Masonic Temple. The meeting, the first of its kind in Chicago, was one of a series which have been arranged in various cities of the United States and Canada. The promotion of peace and genuine friendliness—the purpose of the Conference—is always attained at these meetings, and the spiritual foundation necessary for actually living the ideal of brotherhood is the essence of every address, whether the scientific or religious solution is stressed, for those who comprehend the realities know that science and religion go hand in hand. Both mind and heart must function in order that mankind shall be fully
emancipated from the warping and bitter prejudices which have caused divisions and which have veiled the various types of humanity from recognizing that character classifies a man, not the color of his skin. Extracts from the addresses given at the Conference follow:
“WE MUST BE friends. There must be a reorganization of the social structure that will be workable. In the realm of science all work with the same tools and bring the riches gained by research to humanity. Love and fellowship must not bring the leveling of the races, but a unity based upon loyalty—a loyalty that will create a common ideal. Loyalty on this high spiritual plane will lift us to that which is beautiful and enriches; otherwise it will leave us narrower because of lack of understanding.”—Prof. A. Eustace Haydon, teacher of Comparative Religions, University of Chicago.
“IGNORANCE IS THE great cause of prejudice, and the conquest of this prejudice can be attained through the application of the remedy
given to the world in the teachings of Bahá’u’lláh.”—Mr. Louis G. Gregory, of Washington, D. C
“IN THE BOOK of Genesis God speaks of man, not of races, color or nationalities; not of Jews or Christians, but of mankind. It has been pointed out by sociologists that each individual, if he had ancestors entirely separate from those of other individuals, would, going forty generations back, have had in the fortieth generation more ancestors than there were numbers of people living in the entire world at that time. This demonstrates very clearly and vividly that the people have many common ancestors and all are inter-related.”—Rabbi Louis L. Mann of Sinai Congregation.
Rabbi Mann quoted many interesting incidents to prove the oneness of humanity, among them the friendship of a Jew and a Gentile, when the Gentile, overcome by the love and virtues of the Jew, exclaimed, “You are a Christian,” and the Jew’s reply, “That which makes me a Christian to you, makes you a Jew to me.”
Admitting with regret that the religions had all failed to bring unity, Rabbi Mann expressed great appreciation of the ideals of the Bahá’í Movement.
Mr. Albert R. Vail, presiding, closed the meeting with an eloquent appeal for the recognition of the power of the Word of God to remove all of our prejudices and difficulties.
The music supplied by artists and professionals from the colored race fittingly demonstrated that God is no respecter of persons and that His gifts and talents are abundantly bestowed on all mankind, evidenced over and over again when the vocal and instrumental numbers were rendered with such rare charm and artistry. Art knows no race.
The Conference was pronounced one of the most successful among the many inter-racial activities of the past year, resulting in a fuller realization of that luminous teaching of ’Abdu’l-Bahá, “The gift of God to this enlightened age is the knowledge of the oneness of mankind.”
PHILADELPHIA holds an Amity Conference. Another public inter-racial meeting was held under the auspices of the Bahá’ís in the Unitarian Church, Philadelphia, on February 14th. It was called “Amity Night,” and was made a special feature of “Friendship Week,” a time set apart annually by the Citizens School Attendance Committee for arranging special programs and services looking toward creating a better understanding between the races. Philadelphia Bahá’ís had organized at different times in the past regular Amity Conventions, so this amity meeting was a follow-up program which was timely and most successful.
