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| VOL. 18 | JUNE : : : | 1927 | NO. 3 |
| Page | |
Woman—In Tradition and History (Part II), Howard R. Hurlbut | 70 |
Hymn of Marching Women, Grace Van W. Hogeboom-Henderson | 69 |
Prague and the International Congress, “What the Schools Can Do for
Peace,” Martha L. Root | 75 |
The Bahá’í Convention at Montreal | 80 |
Underlying Powers at Work in the World of Business, Harlan F. Ober | 82 |
This Amazing Civilization, Dale S. Cole | 86 |
Through India and Burma, Florence Evelyn Schopflocher | 90 |
of Mi’rza Ahmad Sohrab and 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--
President Masaryk of Czecho-Slovakia, of whom Miss Martha Root says, “The foundation, of his whole life is religious.” (See page 75.)
| VOL. 18 | JUNE, 1927 | No. 3 |
a miracle; it has a wonder-working power. Faith is the magnet
which draws the confirmation of the Merciful One.”—’Abdu’l-Bahá.BELIEVERS in God are the only perfect optimists, for there is no material evidence to prove that good will come tomorrow. Those to whom the universe is only a concatenation of events must fain study anxiously every day’s horizon, to see whether fair or foul weather is dawning. As far as they know civilization may utterly lapse under conflict of evil human passions; or man’s planetary tenantry be abruptly ended by one-knows-not-what annihilating cataclysm. There is no assurance in past events, if the Divine factor be omitted.
It is not mere ratiocination that can pierce the murk which lies upon the horizon. Faith alone can give us bright assurance for the morrow. Faith gives courage. Faith gives energy. Faith gives hope. Faith makes for real efficiency; the hopeless fail to be efficient.
ALL EXISTENCE goes on under the protection and guidance of God, but what a vast difference it makes to the individual as to whether he believes in God or not! Let us consider the results of a constant and abiding faith in the Supreme Power that regulates our lives. In the first place, it keeps life strong and sweet. The spiritually-minded man is brave in adversity, because he feels himself protected by a higher power.
What courage could be greater than that shown by Isaiah when Sennacherib, king of Assyria, and the hosts of the Assyrians besieged Judah and called upon it to surrender. Refusal to surrender meant, according to the Assyrian custom, in case of final capture, death with fiendish tortures to all male inhabitants; and worse than death to the women. Three hundred thousand of the world’s greatest warriors fully trained in siege-engineering, who had never before failed in the capture of any desired city, with a reputation for butchery which has come down through three thousand years,—this mighty besieging force Isaiah, the man of God, persuaded King Hezekiah to withstand. Alone by the force of his inspired faith, Isaiah maintained the flagging courage of the king and of the populace, assuring them that God on their side; outweighed the countless thousands arrayed against them. From outside no hope of succor; from inside, the gradual failing of food-supplies and the murmurings of those who, moved by the Assyrian envoys’ threats and taunts, would fain make peace at any cost.
The most dramatic siege in history, I count it, with more at stake than human lives. For the fact that Isaiah’s statements, his brave assurances, were marvelously vindicated constitutes a historic drama which has inspired, and will inspire so long as print lasts, faith in those who read.
Suddenly a virulent plague swept
over the Assyrian host, bringing such monstrous and wholesale death that the Assyrians broke camp and fled overnight; so that, in the quaint words of the King James version, “It came to pass that night, that the angel of the Lord went out, and smote in the camp of the Assyrians an hundred fourscore and five thousand; and when they arose early in the morning, behold, they were all dead corpses.”
CAN ONE who believes in God, viewing this and countless other similar events, be long moved with trepidation in the vicissitudes of life? Courage, wholesome and cheer-bringing, comes at every emergency with the strong conviction both of God's justice and of His power. For spiritually-minded man wants only justice. He is not demanding of existence any unfair advantage or gain. Therefore he is content with whatever God sends in answer to his prayers, knowing the right will come to pass.
Another great gain from religious faith is the ability to fight without belligerency. Spiritual man knows how to maintain most vigorously his stand for the right, either in private or public affairs, while at the same time keeping a loving hand, lowly heart, a mind free from conceit and egotism, a disposition and a temperament that creates no unnecessary opposition. A great deal of the friction and battle of life is due to unnecessary opposition and dislike created in those we contact, by our conceit and belligerency. Spiritual man knows how to keep his course dauntlessly, making few enemies, and those only among really evil men whose force counts nothing against the force of God. Witness the career of a Washington, a Lincoln, as to what humility accomplishes in times of stress as well as in times of peace. How true it is that the meek shall inherit the earth!
Greatest of all the faith a man may have is the cosmic faith–the calm conviction that the whole universe is under God’s loving guidance, and that every earth-event is under His control.
THE REVELATION given to the world by Bahá’u’lláh presents matter for a faith and vision vaster even than the most inspired of men have hitherto conceived. Not only is man’s personal faith in God marvelously increased, as evidenced in a collective body of assurance in the life experience of thousands of Bahá’ís for now two generations, but also there is created a vision of and a belief in the perfect coming world-state so sublime that one who but begins to perceive its reality stands, nay kneels, ready to give life itself in its devotion.
That which inspires tenfold the hopes and efforts of Bahá’ís the world over is the deep and assured conviction that their striving, their small-though-it-be personal contribution, wins immortality by becoming a part of that vast design to which this planet was predestined, the establishment of the Kingdom of God.
Bahá’ís know that effort toward this end cannot fail; that this earth-humanity must and will eventually–nay, even as we are promised, within this very century—come under the canopy of universal peace, of world brotherhood, of the cooperative civilization in which service and love rule.
- We have seen in Prophet vision,
- Womanhood unfettered, free;
- In her beauty, drawing upward
- To new heights, Humanity.
- We have heard the Master: “Daughter,
- Unto thee I say ‘Arise!’”
- Yea, O Master, We are coming!
- Lo, our banners gild the skies!
- We are marching out of bondage,
- We are marching out of night;
- We are marching on to freedom,
- We are marching into light.
- Faith and Courage, Soul of Woman,
- Thy high destiny fulfill;
- Bear the torch of human progress
- Onward, upward, higher still.
- We have heard the call of Children
- And of Nations yet to be;
- Only Woman, born to Freedom,
- Can be Mother of the Free.
- We are striving for a future
- Better, nobler than the past;
- For a Human Race uplifted,
- Saved and purified at last.
- Hark, like sound of mighty waters,
- Comes the tread of myriad feet;
- Like the wind among the pine trees
- Echo voices strangely sweet;
- ’Tis the Host of Woman! singing
- As they onward, upward press:
- “Not for self the Woman liveth;
- Lo, she comes to heal and bless.”
- We are marching for the future;
- For a world redeemed and free;
- For the children of our children,
- Generations yet to be.
- Strong and steadfast, Soul of Woman,
- Falter not, nor fail, nor stay.
- God thru thee fulfills His purpose;
- Lo, before thee, leads the way.
The Editors are reprinting, with permission, this marvelous poem on Womanhood because we think it a most beautiful expression in poetic form of woman’s glorious mission in this great age. The author surely has been granted a vision of woman such as the Baha'i Cause teaches to conceive her mission.
| IN ALLEGORY AND FABLE | IN TRADITION AND HISTORY | IN THE PRESENT DAY AND AGE | |
In the first installment of this article published last month, the author described the marvelous spiritual services of Hagar, Sarah, Rahab, Zohra and others. In this second installment, he completes the story of Mary, and takes up the story of other women who have had a great part in religious history, including “Qurratu’l-’Ayn,” the Bahá’í heroine.
–Editor.
[Continuing the story of the spiritual vision and keen spiritual perception of Mary of Magdala who “alone possessed the clearer discernment of the meaning of the Christ,” the author adds the following in further describing her services.]
SHE sat with the disciples and prayed with them and sought to make plain to them that this body, this human personality of Jesus, was only a perishable temple in which the Voice spake—that it was possessed of no importance save as a medium or channel of transmission to human understanding of an abstract principle which could not be given expression without it.
And “after three days” her efforts were rewarded suddenly by their seeing (understanding) Christ in the real sense. This “three days” of darkness was the period of the “Entombment” and the “stone” which was rolled away was the stone of their misunderstanding which had obstructed the shining of the Light. As the true understanding gathered force within them they became conscious of the clear expression of Divine Intent and there came to them, literally, “This is My Beloved Son in Whom I am well pleased.” Thus it may be seen that the story of the “Entombment” is an allegory possessed of a transcendent beauty. It leaves one, however, without an explanation of the “disappearance” of the body of Jesus. This, too, is given to us in this day in most remarkable clarity and exposes most pitifully the awful degradation and abject meanness to which it is possible for mankind to fall, the disciples being repeatedly denied burial ground until it was finally offered in the “Place of the Refuse” of Jerusalem.
For long has Mary of Magdala been held before the people as a “fallen woman” from whom the “seven devils” were finally driven out. In the sense of having been a wanton, it is a term, as far from any connection with her as is the earth from the remotest sun. She has been limned before us in the light of modern revealment as a pure-minded, innocent girl, betrayed by an officer of the Roman legion, a favorite at the court of Tiberius, through the lure of what his position might offer her, in bald contrast to the drab monotony of her existence on her father’s farm in the plains of El Ghuweir on the shores of Galilee, and then after having been maintained in semi-regal grandeur in Jerusalem, when he had tired of her she was driven forth and sought refuge in concealment along the byways about the Holy City. It was here, when in her hiding, that she overheard Jesus teaching His disciples on the way up the mountain and was brought a penitent to His feet.
Personality has no importance with
Deity: It is something a human acquires and lays claim to through personal striving and practice, but Individuality is the unsullied and unsulliable quality implanted by Deity in every human and though it ever remains pure, its purity may be overshadowed and obscured by acquired personality, just as Truth is overshadowed and obscured by the acquired creed and ritual of man. God employs certain individuals for certain purposes—just as Judas was so employed—and no human yet has stood of capacity to determine what may be pronounced of God a sin nor what its punishment. It may be seen, therefore, that when Personality in any case shall have been shunted off, the individuality must stand forth in its pristine purity as God must ever see it. And so stood forth Mary of Magdala, giving birth in the minds of the doubting disciples to a true understanding of the Christ, so that giving up home and family and friends they went forth to evangelize the world. In the after-time Mary was sought out and was married by the Roman officer and lived and died in Rome. Without her clarity of vision and selflessness of purpose it is not unlikely that the cause of Jesus must have suffered even longer delay than that which attended it through its wide rejection by the people of the time.
Possibly in all the record of human experience there has been no other so deeply maligned, so widely misunderstood, so unjustly placed in history, as Muhammad, the founder of the Islamic faith. Certainly not in George Sale’s admittedly faulty translation of the Qur’án may one seek to find any approach to a fair presentment of His cause. In the preface to the work, Sale makes frank admission of his prejudiced attitude. While Sir William Muir has given us a most comprehensive study of the life and experiences of Muhammad he has not shown any deep appreciation of the divine character of the Prophet’s mission. No capable writer save Carlyle has ever even remotely approached the dignity and the true greatness of this one Who in an unbelievably short period raised the most ignorant, degraded and lawless people of earth to the highest station of spiritual understanding, of scientific and commercial attainment which up to that time the world had been witness to. Even to our own day must we turn to the fruitage of Muhammadan civilization for the most beautiful architectural creations—the Alhambra in Spain and the Taj Mahal at Agra, in India.
This one, struggling in the extremes of poverty, seeking often the seclusion of caves, mending His own clothing and making His own sandals, cooking His simple foods, was looked upon by the wealthy widow—Khadijeh—fifteen years his senior, with the eye of affection and rich compassion and in her marriage with Him she sought in every way to relieve Him from extraneous duties to afford Him the wider opportunity of making known His great mission.
One may picture the sorrow of this great soul as in the first years of His striving there were only three who acknowledged Him—Khadijeh, Abu Talib and Ali—and realize the consolation this woman brought in her ready and understanding sympathy, stirring an affection so profound that in the polygamous practice of His time Muhammad married no other through all the years until her passing and then long afterward His last: wife declared that her only jealousy of Him had been stirred because of His insistent praise of Khadijeh.
Woman of today should find it possible to accept what woman in that far-off time realized as the finest thing in life-Religion—and come to the realization that no false belief can endure through thirteen centuries as the inspiring motive for countless millions of souls. Thus, the service of this wonderfully selfless and devoted woman must ever be regarded as one of the rare bestowals of Divinity for the furtherance of His concealed purpose.
It was in 1848 (July 19 and 20), at Seneca Falls, New York, that there was convened the first woman’s rights congress in history. A product of the wider vision of our western civilization, it was the forerunner of that great advance for womanhood which has stamped itself upon the last fifty years of our national life and set the example for women in every land under the sun—even in the land of the Turk. In a country like our own, freed from the shackles of tradition and superstition, such a movement might not be unlocked for, but it must stand in startling contrast to the awakening of a similar aspiration in the Near East taking place in that same year. At this time four years had elapsed since the declaration of Ali Muhammad The Báb, which had stirred the Muhammadan world to its foundations, had roused the bitter and relentless enmity and the cruel persecutions of the mullahs of Islam and sent to martyr’s death between twenty and thirty thousand of those who declared their belief in the risen Christ.
At that time in Persia lived one named Narrine Taj (signifying “Crown of Gold”), child of a wealthy and influential family who had advanced to young womanhood in the development of a beauty so surpassing in its perfection that through the praises accorded her by their women the poets of her time strung the pearls of their poesy about her in strophes of enduring fame. Her education had been so far advanced over that of the women of her people that she frequently sat in the spacious halls of her uncle’s residence (a Kalantar of Kasvin) and from a dais behind closely drawn curtains discussed with the greatest of the Shi-ite philosophers the tenets of the Muhammadan faith, more often than otherwise refuting their contentions so that by the best of them her opinions were sought on abstruse theological questions. At that time Persia was in the throes of an almost impenetrable darkness of superstition, ignorance and bigoted religious beliefs, inconceivable to people with our opportunities, but even in a land of the widest freedom must such an one as Narrine Taj stand forth as an illustrious protagonist of her sex.
Then there came to her secretly communicated tales of the remarkable spiritual discourses of The Báb, whose teachings had soon been taken up and promoted by Hosein Ali, Prince of Nur, one of the most influential and wealthy of the Persian aristocracy, and with her accustomed daring she sought Him out and read deeply into the marvels of His mission until very early she became one of His most ardent disciples. Then, one day from her station of concealment, unable to endure longer the wearying platitudes of the mullahs on philosophical misconcepts, in the midst of a stirring discussion her finer self found assertion and she pulled down the concealing curtain and standing before them drew from her face the hampering veil, astounding the mullahs with her daring, and cried:
“If God hath made me beautiful, who am I that I shall dare to conceal the evidence of His bounty?” She took her flight from them and joined the followers of The Báb, who upon seeing her bestowed upon her the appellation “Qurratu’l-’Ayn,” whose meaning is “Consolation of the Eye,” her beauty, her sincerity, intelligence and unfaltering energy bringing to Him in the days of His frightful persecution that restfulness as a vision of helpfulness to prompt just such a suggestive name as hers. Today as a fruitage of the seed which she planted the veil is going into the discard in Turkey and women are standing forth valiantly for their freedom as the harem with its iniquitous associations is becoming a thing of the past.
Qurratu’l-’Ayn traversed the length and breadth of Persia, proclaiming the glory of the new day, attacked frequently, unspeakably maligned, persecuted incessantly, throngs seeking her because of the fame of her beauty, only to be thrilled by the marvel of her eloquence and the luring richness of the new Revelation, joining eagerly the unnumbered thousands whose willing blood stained with ineffaceable glory the highways and the byways of the Persian empire. This, until the incensed mullahs, trembling because of their waning authority, compelled her imprisonment in her uncle’s home whence one night she was taken secretly, strangled and thrown while yet alive into a well and her pulsing body covered under a weight of stones. All of this relating to the past, to bring your attention now to the declaration regarding womankind which is one of the mandatory principles in the Bahá’í teaching promulgated three quarters of a century ago and now being felt as a pervading influence throughout the world.
This, affecting womankind, is a single factor in the numerous mandates from the pen of Bahá’u’lláh which men have been striving to enforce in their blind political method instead of incorporating the compelling force of the Word of God in them—the League of Nations, the International Arbitral Court of Justice, the Reduction of Armanents, the Policing of Boundaries, an Universal Language, the Abolition of Slavery, a compulsory Universal Education, the Equality of Opportunity, the Regulation of Economic Adjustment of the Differences between Capital and Labor, the Equality of the Sexes, the Unity of Religions, all of these and many others incorporated in the utterances of Bahá’u’lláh more than half a century ago, when they were not thought of at all, sent forth, too, directly to each of the rulers of the great nations from behind the dread walls of the fortress city of Akká, the vilest penal colony prison on the face of the earth maintained by the Turkish government for the punishment of its most dangerous criminals.
To come to the time of this writing,—we are facing, rather are we in the midst of, the turmoil due to the projection of woman into fields hitherto reserved by man for himself. In the discussion of this principle of sex equality, ’Abdu’l-Bahá in one of His New York City talks, said:
“In this Bahá’í Dispensation His Holiness Bahá’u’lláh has set a brilliant crown upon the head of woman, whose brilliant jewels will shine and gleam throughout all ages and cycles. This must give them great happiness. In all former dispensations, men were considered superior to women. Women were lower than men; nay, rather, during some of the past ages women were made the captives of men. For example, during the Mosaic dispensation women were captives
of men, but in the dispensation of Bahá’u’lláh, His bestowals have made men and women equal. He caused the people to put into actual practice this social equality and declared that the women in this age shall make extraordinary advancement and they shall reach such a degree that no difference will be left between men and women. . . .
“Today the greatest duty of women consists in the fact that they must strive to spread the ethical laws, to prove that women are capable of studying arts and sciences and that they are equal in all the duties of life. Women must demonstrate these principles to the men, so that all of them may bear testimony to the fact that these Bahá’í women are equal in morality, are equal in the acquirement of human excellency, are equal in the virtues of the world of humanity, are equal in the crafts and professions, and are equal in sanctity and purity.”
And again, in one of His tablets to an inquirer on the subject of women He wrote:
“. . . . In no movement will they be left behind. Their rights with men are equal in degree. They will enter all administrative branches of politics. They will attain in all such a degree which will be considered the very highest station of the world of humanity and will take part in all affairs. Rest ye assured. Do ye not look upon the present conditions; in the not far distant future the world of women will become all-refulgent and all-glorious, for His Holiness Bahá’u’lláh hath willed it so! At the time of elections, the right to vote is the inalienable right of women and the entrance of women in all human departments is an irrefutable and incontrovertible question. No soul can retard or prevent it.”
The field for woman’s work is well nigh boundless and if she will devote her energies to constructive politics and constructive effort in every field, of a surety shall her entry into this modern phase of her life convey a priceless boon and bring to her a timeless glory.
Our educational system is wrong, as it does not send our youth from its institutions equipped in any considerable measure to battle with the practical affairs of life:
Our system of benevolences is wrong, because it merely relieves passing or permanent need and does little toward rehabilitation of the needy. This is evidenced in the fact that not only does the work of this nature keep even pace with the increase of population, it actually is on the increase without the advance in population:
Our social economy is wrong, else we should not have the continued unbroken procession of desertions from the home, of illicit relationships, of illegitimate offspring, of want and suicide and despair:
Our punitive system is wrong, else it would prove corrective of vice and crime. Our attitude toward the erring, however greatly we may protest the declaration of it, is one of hatred whereas were we to assume the proper attitude all our service toward their correction would be performed in love:
Our political system is wrong, else we should have statesmen instead of politicians merely in our seats of authority and power,—individuals inspired with the love of service to all humanity, which would break down racial and national barriers and bring the world at last to a realization that this earth our home is one home and humanity is one family for whose sick ones we must care, for whose falling ones we must afford uplift and for whose erring ones our own lives must be a means of guidance to a higher plane of thinking and of action. The suggestion will not be out of place, that the reader refer to “The Mysterious Forces of Civilization” and discover
the qualifications of a real legislator.
Our religious system is wrong, else there would not exist the bitter, bigoted and relentless antagonism toward faiths different to our own, with which every other is identical in the sense of having been divinely inspired. When each shall come to a realization that all are worshipping the same and only God but under banners waving from a different Manifestation the world may be at peace.
Womankind should remember that every institution in the world today is the result of man's selfish or incapable striving and therefore no attempt to walk in the old worn paths should be made. Womanhood is to carve for all the world the indelible traces of a service of love and devotion upon the tablets of the hearts. Of women such as these, ’Abdu’l-Bahá once said: “They are in the utmost firmness and power. Their will power is greater than that of man, their moral consciousness and intuition is superior to that of man and in all the virtues of humanity they shine like unto stars.”
PRAGUE in Czecho-Slovakia is within twenty miles of the stone which is said to mark the exact center of Europe. This picturesque old city with its hundreds of colorful lights so sought by tourists, is well worth seeing, but in this article the writer wishes to introduce to you two of the great outstanding characters of the new Czecho-Slovakia, the country which invited the International Congress to convene in its Capital, April 16-20, to discuss “How to Teach Peace in the Schools.”
President Thomas G. Masaryk is not only one of the greatest thinkers in Europe today but he is a man with a high spiritual vision. His life, his own writings, his country reflect his broad religious faith. When I was in Prague a few months earlier I had sent President Masaryk a Bahá’í book and a short letter about Bahá’u’lláh’s Principles for world peace. He was out of the city but he telephoned the Castle asking his Secretary to send the President’s car to bring me to the Castle and to show me his library and to give any information that would help in my magazine work. His religious library was the most complete private library of religious books I have ever seen. Everything was wonderfully catalogued and arranged. The many thousands of books showed the rise of religion from its earliest dawn to the latest modern movements and now it has “Bahá’í Scriptures,” “Divine Philosophy” and other works of Bahá’u’lláh and ’Abdu’l-Bahá.
President Masaryk has always been a student of religion. His own books clearly show his religious belief, though not in any orthodox sense. The foundation of his whole life is religious. His motto is uttered in one of his own works: “Who redeemed mankind? Neither a politician, nor an economist, nor a socialist, nor a demagogue. It is really sublime how in the political and social
unrest of his time Christ keeps aloof from all politics; how easy it would have been for Him to win over through political and socialistic agitation. He, however, demands the perfection of character, requires the deepening of feeling; He wishes people to become good because He knows that only thus will they find contentment for their souls.” But President Masaryk answers doubters, economists and politicians. He presents a definite workable program and certainly he stresses education.
The other great figure in Czecho-Slovakia today is the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mr. Eduard Beneŝ. He too invited me to the Castle and we spoke about the Bahá’í Cause. He said he first heard of the Bahá’í Movement at the Races Congress in London in 1906, when he was a member of that Congress. He thought the Principles of Bahá’u’lláh were wonderful, and during the years he has followed this movement with interest. He said he had been interested in other modern movements, the Peace Program for Pan Europa, International Parliamentary Union, Intellectual Co-operation and others. “All these different movements have something similar and identical,” said Mr. Beneŝ, “and while I do not say in absolute words that I belong to them, I am in favor of all these movements. We must collaborate.”
As President Masaryk was in Palestine the day the International Conference opened, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mr. Beneŝ, welcomed the more than four hundred guests in a short and excellent speech in which he said that education and peace will be the aim of Czecho-Slovakia in the future just as in the past.
Perhaps the reason that the International Bureau of Education in Geneva, Switzerland, chose Czecho-Slovakia for this significant Conference is because some of the world’s
--PHOTO--
Mr. Edward Benes, Minister of Foreign Affairs, Czecho-Slovakia and a great humanitarian.
greatest teachers, such as Comenius, Chelĉicky, and John Huss, lived and worked there, and out from Prague the educational light trailed across the globe. Also its central location was such that a great number of secondary school teachers could travel to Prague during this Easter holiday. Distinguished Professors and world workers came from every Capital in Europe. The interest in universal peace is shown in the fact that although the city prepared for one hundred delegates more than four hundred came. These educationists from sixteen countries could not come together and discuss their
--PHOTO--
A glimpse of the International Conference, “How to Teach Peace in the Schools,” held in Prague, Czechol-Slovakia, April 16-20, 1927.
actually tried methods for teaching peace in the schools without the flash of truth leaping forth.
Professor Pierre Bovet, of the University of Geneva and of Jean Jacques Rousseau Institute, was the able Director. He spoke on “The Problem of Peace Education in the Psychological Field,” and emphasized the need of a spiritual ideal in the teaching of peace. That same note, the spiritual, was heard again and again. In some of the experiments with children, one noticed that although the majority of boys and girls spoke of stopping war for economic reasons, yet always a few children would assert that a universal religion, one religion and a universal auxiliary language might help stop wars. The very fact that a high spiritual ideal for peace was visioned in this International Conference was its most striking feature.
Its second most remarkable feature Was that Esperanto was asked for and became the official language. It was found that more than one-half of these teachers from Central Europe were Esperantists. Dr. Edmond Privat, of Geneva, President of the Universal Esperanto Association and a brilliant orator, was the interpreter for many of the speeches. If a speech was in Esperanto, it would be interpreted into English or French or German. If it was given in any national language, it was interpreted into Esperanto. So successful was this universal auxiliary language that it will establish a precedent for other universal congresses. Only one interpretation was necessary. It was quite a contrast to another universal congress the writer had attended a few weeks earlier in Brussels where every speech was translated into four languages!
Statistics in the Prague Conference proved that boys and girls who had studied Esperanto one-half year could correspond with children in other lands, exchanging their views about peace, but children studying other foreign languages had to study three years before they could correspond. The interchange of letters has proved so helpful that an International School Service was urged as one of the methods to help bring peace.
All unconsciously a boy fifteen-years old who had been taught peace by one of the very instructors at this Conference, gives in one sentence why the world should interest itself in what the school can do for peace. He said to his comrade: “This idea of world brotherhood is like a seed. I do not know where it comes from. I had never thought of it, but one day I came into touch with this idea, and I suddenly realized it had been in my heart a long time. Now I see this seed is beginning to grow.”
If peace is not taught in the primary and secondary schools how are the masses in the five continents to learn to cultivate this wonderful seed, “World-brotherhood”? They must learn it in the primary and secondary schools, for the majority of pupils never go into the higher institutions, where world courts and other universal subjects are elective. All the experiments cited at the Conference showed how quickly the children respond to peace ideals. Dr. Paul Dengler, of Vienna, had such an excellent paper on “International Co-operation and Interchange of Learning-Material” that he has been asked to send this paper to the Editors of the “Bahá’í Magazine.” Dr. Prudhommeaux, of Paris, spoke on how the French are trying to purge all school books of war history and war glorification.
Little Wales’ plan, too, could well be adopted in other lands. The Rev. Mr. Gwilym Davis, of Cardiff, could send any one interested, booklets about their work. Five years ago this country called together their educators, and for three days in a lovely quiet spot they discussed what had been done educationally for peace and for the League of Nations Union. They found out (1) that the peace movement in Wales had failed because they had relied on sentiment, and sentiment does not produce that international mind which evolves peace; (2) that one can only fight war by scientific methods. Just as it took a long time to develop the national mind to national justice, so it. is a long road to train the mind internationally, but they had the vision. They voted (1) to collect all statistics of what has already been done for peace in Wales. (2) To get the Government interested in the peace movemnet. (3) To hold peace Conferences throughout Wales. Sympathy for the new plan was quickly won. On January 13, 1921, an official circular was sent out commanding all instructors to teach internationalism and world unity in the schools. Teachers co-operated with enthusiasm and more than forty Conferences attended by more than six thousand individuals have been held in Wales to teach world citizenship. The children of Wales sent out a message to all the children of the world, and they inaugurated “Good Will Day,” May 18. Pamphlets are published in Wales on how peace is taught in the schools.
During this International Conference the Writer had the opportunity to speak on “Bahá’u’lláh’s Principles for Universal Education and Peace.” She cited Bahá’í educational experiments and plans which have proved successful in certain schools of the United States and other countries.
Not only did educators speak of
bringing peace ideas into the schools but Mr. Tracy Strong and other International Camp Directors spoke on bringing boys to the international peace reality. They reported that boys in the International Training Camps said: “We want to face this problem of religious Principles.” One heard how boys in these camps came together from twenty-seven nations. They ate together, slept together and for two weeks discussed international problems. They came from countries in Europe, from Asia, the Yankee from Maine, the negro youth from our South. Their camp was for international sharing, not listening. The out-and-out militarist faced the out-and-out pacifist, and these boys were not afraid to discuss freely “why my country went into the war” and “what my country can do for peace.” They discussed realities. They discussed religious principles and there is where they found their unity. They found that notwithstanding all their difficulties they were the children of the same Father, God, and that God was not a national God, but a world God! These boys spoke, listened, thought and they took back the international spirit to the boys of their country.
“By their fruits” may one know. Camp boys from Czecho-Slovakia and Poland later stood on the border between the two lands and had a solemn ceremony of peace, clasping hands of friendship in a common brotherhood. Also, a man wrote to the Prague Conference that traveling in an out-of-the-way road on the border of eastern Hungary one Sunday afternoon, he came to a little village where two International Camp boys (who had come back from their great pilgrimage to the camp) were having a peace meeting for the entire population. They did not just sing the Magyar songs of their own land. No, they were being taught English, French, German songs, and the whole topic of the talks was universal peace! These are only a few of the many ideas from this Conference in Prague—they are just a little “cross-section” of a beautiful growth, yet this cross-section does reveal the splendid worth of peace education.
“Peace be upon those who follow Guidance!” said Bahá’u’lláh.
“It is well established in history that where woman has not participated in human affairs the outcomes have never attained a state of completion and perfection. On the other hand, every influential undertaking of the human world wherein woman has been a participant has attained importance. This is historically true and beyond disproof even in religion. * * *
“The momentous question of this day is international peace and arbitration; and Universal Peace is impossible without universal suffrage. * * * So it will come to pass that when women participate fully and equally in the affairs of the world, enter confidently and capably the great arena of laws and politics, war will cease; for woman will be the obstacle and hindrance to it. This is true and
without doubt.”—’Abdu’l-Bahá. .
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From the various parts of the United States and Canada these delegates have further to consider the affairs of the Bahá'í Cause in the New World, and to plan the furtherance of their mes[sage of? [text unreadable]] brotherhood and world unity.
THE Nineteenth Annual Convention of the Bahá’ís of the United States and Canada, held at the Windsor Hotel in Montreal April 28 to May 1, was the first gathering of the kind to convene in Canada, and it was therefore a particularly significant occasion. As is the usual custom the Convention was preceded by what is known as “The Feast of Ridván” (pronounced Rizwan), which commemorates the declaration of Bahá’u’lláh as the one prophesied by the Báb who would appear after Him and who would be the Promised One of all the Prophets. This combined gathering is considered among the most important events of the year in Bahá’í circles.
“In the Divine Holy Books,” said ’Abdu’l-Bahá, “there are unmistakable prophecies giving the glad tidings of a certain Day in which the Promised One of all the books would appear, a radiant dispensation be established, the banner of the Most Great Peace and reconciliation be hoisted, and the oneness of the world of humanity proclaimed. In this great century Bahá’u’lláh appeared and heralded the hour of unity which has dawned on all mankind.”
All over the world today we hear of assemblies and societies and meetings organized for the purpose of furthering science, politics, social welfare work, etc. For the most part their object is material advancement. But at these Bahá’í Conventions one witnesses the actual fulfillment of ’Abdu’l-Bahá’s words, “It is the hour of unity of the sons of men and of the drawing together of all races and all classes.” Friends are assembled here from all parts of the country–east and west, north and south—colored and white, rich and poor, meeting with one accord,—a united group
functioning in the spirit of co-operation and mutual understanding; and in the final analysis, working for but one thing—the unity of the world. Such gatherings foreshadow what will be accomplished in the world as this circle of divine unity is continually widened. Primarily the meetings have the deepest spiritual significance, and secondarily they greatly influence the activities in the Cause throughout the year, for matters of great importance come up for discussion and solution; the National Spiritual Assembly of nine members, the supreme administrative body of the Bahá’ís in the United States and Canada, is elected, and above and beyond all, Unity—which is fundamental in the Bahá’í Cause—is strengthened and made more manifest. Those who are fortunate enough to attend these annual gatherings either as delegates or visiting friends witness again and again the benefits derived from united endeavor, and return to their various homes further educated and equipped to meet the existing problems and assist in their solution. Thus “new ideals are constantly stirring the depths of hearts” and the psychology of understanding each other, and of good will, is more fully realized.
The three nights of the Convention were given over to a World Unity Conference, which was followed by an evening devoted entirely to the presentation of the Bahá’í Teachings by well-known Bahá’í speakers. The addresses were eloquent, scholarly and very inspiring.
The members of the Bahá’í Assembly of Montreal worked with untiring zeal and energy in preparing for the Convention and Conference, and they were rewarded by witnessing on all sides the evident signs of guidance.
The author of this article holds the important position of instructor of the sales force in one of the largest equipment organizations of the country which is managed along very modern and progressive lines. From his university days, Mr. Ober has been a thinker and a humanitarian. His professional work has been chiefly in the managing of men.–Editor.
THE word “business” stirs up many thoughts. Men have struggled from earliest times for the means of living, comfort, and protection. Trade and commerce, agriculture, fishing, manufacture, were carried on with the crude and direct instruments outwardly available.
The camel of the desert, the donkey of the villages, the llama of the mountains, the horse of the plains, the oxen of the fields have given added power to the physical strength of men and women. Rivers have floated cargoes downstream and favorable winds have carried ships across the seas.
Cruel chattel slavery existed in many parts of the world and men, women and children were condemned to perpetual servitude and considered as beasts of burden; bought, sold and transported from place to place and held to be part and parcel of the property on which they lived. The light of liberty and freedom was veiled.
Within the last century there has been an extraordinary increase in the knowledge, power and skill of men, and the astonishing changes that are taking place in the world of business and industry are from this phenomenon.
The discovery of the powers of steam, gas, and electricity, in their manifold expressions, has brought into activity a strength far greater than that of all the slaves of the past ten thousand years.
This transition from crude and simple methods has stirred the entire world. It is compelling adjustments far-reaching in their nature and requires a new point of view. That there is a very definite reason for this extraordinary change that has been taking place must be clear to every enlightened soul.
This period has been spoken of as the Industrial Age. The age of the machine, mass production, standardization, etc. It is credited with responsibility for most modern developments. It is both highly praised and condemned greatly.
The entire span of the earth—the five continents—is reverberating with changes and counter-changes of varying ideas; a veritable arena of conflict; a struggle for mastery-to determine what ideas shall be the foundations for the civilization of the race for the next hundred or a thousand years.
A great many of the people of the world, unaware of the divine purpose which is bringing great benefits to humanity, hold tenaciously to ancient viewpoints of social and industrial relationships and, therefore, oppose the new order. While the first reaction to this new power in Industry was perhaps characteristic, because the employer endeavored to take advantage of it for greater profits and the worker opposed it because it took away his immediate job, these viewpoints are passing, and a recognition of the real possibilities of proper use of these instruments is growing.
Undoubtedly, the greatest possession of the worker is his job and his greatest longing is for the permanence of his position. He will defend it at any cost. The fear of losing his work and being dependent in old age is, and has been, one of the controlling fears besetting the workers of the world.
Furthermore, as Professor William James, speaking as a psychologist, once stated, “One of the greatest diseases in America is the fear of the rich of becoming poor.” Undoubtedly greed, injustice and oppression by the wealthy has resulted from this viewpoint. Therefore, it seems clearly evident that both rich and poor long for stability and protection.
Already some businesses, actuated by a high sense of responsibility, are engaged in stabilizing the employment of the workers. In some instances, companies guarantee steady employment for the period of a year. In other businesses, the community of interest works not only toward continuity of employment, but a sharing in the successful development of the business.
One great outstanding contribution of this age is the growing spirit of co-operation and the recognition of the interdependence existing in industry. The conflict theory is passing gradually from the horizon because it is being shown to be incompatible, both with the new ideals of humanity and the requirements of modern industry in all its complicated phases.
In his book entitled “Employee Representation,” Mr. Ernest Richmond Burton states, under the heading “The Passing of the Inevitable Conflict Theory”: “Whether he be primarily concerned with manufacturing goods, with rendering direct services, with providing and maintaining an adequate financial basis for operation, or with marketing either goods or services, therefore, it is to the interest of the salaried executive of every rank, from straw-boss to president, to promote qualities of management which tend to remove all uncertainties from business and thus stabilize operations.
“This larger conception is one which recognizes the social function of industry as opposed to the older view which conceived of business as but an open sesame of private aggrandizement. There is evident, in the world of industry, an evolution in ethical norms, not unlike that which has characterized the efforts of statesmen to eradicate the ‘Spoils System’ from politics.”
In his book on scientific management, Mr. Edward Eyre Hunt states: “In the few years since the war, the function of the management engineer has amazingly broadened. Not mechanical, but human problems are in the foreground. . . . Today the management engineer is working with the psychologist and the economist. He has found that neither the wage motive, nor the profit motive, is enough. An appeal to the creative spirit and the spirit of service is also necessary. This means that scientific management is becoming a part of our moral inheritance.”
One of the great satisfactions that comes to one who serves in any position whatsoever is a sense that he is contributing definite values and a share in the success of an enterprise. Pride in work well done, in responsibilities shared, is an integral part of any position and carries a reward as valuable as the wages paid.
In Bulletin No. 227, the United States Bureau of Labor Statistics, Mr. Robert E. Wolf is quoted as follows:
“We make it a policy to record the operations of the individual workmen in such a way that they have some
means for recording their progress and are thereby able to realize just what their efforts produce. This brings out what we call the creative faculty of the man to the fullest extent; he is able to really enjoy his work by being given an opportunity for self-expression. In all of our operations we work to produce this result, realizing that we are primarily developing human beings and that planned efficiency is not an end in itself, but that the real aim is the development of man. . . .
“It is a fact that is beginning to be recognized today, by men who are thinking chiefly along these lines, that a man is internally purified by doing work which is fundamentally creative in nature. The desire for self-expression is one of the most fundamental instincts of human nature and, unless it is satisfied, it is bound to manifest itself in all sorts of abnormal ways, which today are working such havoc in society.”
Briefly, the Spirit of the Age in Industry is reaching down deeper and is touching the mainsprings controlling service and human action and this spirit alone is assisting greatly in bringing unity and understanding.
One of the most significant steps having tremendous possibilities for the future world relates to the selection of personnel. While the work is in its infancy, it is becoming one of the most important fields for applied psychology in its deepest phases. Since the capacities of people differ, it is vitally important that each individual may find that work for which he is best qualified. Undoubtedly, he will be happier, more proficient, and more successful in such a work, and he will render a greater service.
In our increasing interest in individuals, sympathetic and instructive tests to determine the growing capacities, beginning in the schools and progressing through industry, will do much to make everyone who is in the field of service more happy and more capable.
Through Employee Representation, an opportunity is presented for a sharing of the responsibilities and interests in management of a business. This great movement has already shown itself to be a valuable stabilizing factor.
To an increasing extent, employees are becoming owners of shares in the businesses in which they are employed, and this ownership has broadened their viewpoint, and given incentives formerly lacking. This is true, not only with a great many of the public utilities, but with a large number of organizations everywhere.
Wherever one looks—to the north, east, south, or west—he finds the evidences of progress and illumination. Mankind is being quickened, both inwardly and in the expression of its outer powers.
From 1870 to 1920 the skilled workers in the United States increased twenty per cent in proportion to the total population.
Business was formerly considered a private matter, but today the glaring light of publicity is revealing the hidden secrets and presages further revelations. The late J. P. Morgan once said, “The time is coming when business will be done in glass pockets.”
The inner creative power, which is the cause of all these outer activities, has clearly purposed a new world order of peace and joy, of activity and service. That this fact is being more and more recognized is indicated by the following quotation from an article by Wesley McCormack in one of the leading business magazines regarding a new discovery of power:
“For the difference between modern civilization and the ancient world may be resolved quite definitely into terms of power. America is what she is today because each American
worker operates, not with his own physical strength, nor with the occasional yank of an animal in harness, but with three and three-quarters horse-power constantly at his hand. This multiplication of our power, in fact, is not only the great cause of our civilization but its greatest problem; for this power may be used either to create wealth or to destroy it and, unless it is properly organized and co-ordinated, it may be let loose in war to destroy the very civilization which it has constructed.
“With each discovery of new power, then, the necessity is intensified for more and more co-ordination. If cheap power is suddenly made available to all the peoples of earth, and this process of co-ordination keeps pace with discovery, the human race is due to enter into unimaginable new realms of peace and prosperity; but if co-ordination does not keep pace with discovery, and not the world standard of living but the world standard of fighting is suddenly multiplied—well—.”
The reader can well imagine the outcome. The atoms of existence are quickened under the impulse of the shining Sun of Reality. The instruments and new forms created for the purpose of expressing the hidden spiritual and material treasures of humanity are like delicate flowers to be handled carefully and tenderly, lest they be crushed by the crude methods of the selfish and the thoughtless. The outgrown forms having served their purpose must die and decay, fertilizing the seeds that have sprung from their own hearts, that the glorious destiny of man may be achieved. We must combine the material and divine civilizations as ’Abdu’l-Bahá tells us in the following words from His writings: “And among the teachings of Bahá’u’1láh is that although material civilization is one of the means for the progress of the world of mankind, yet until it becomes combined with divine civilization the desired result, which is the felicity of mankind, will not be attained.”
become glowing and radiant. When that love is shining, it will permeate other hearts as this electric light illumines its surroundings. When the love of God is established, everything else will be realized. This is the true foundation of all economics. Reflect upon it. Endeavor to become the cause of the attraction of souls rather than to
enforce minds.”—’Abdu’l-Bahá.
“On the one hand we have progress of the material type; on the other great spiritual discoveries are being realized. Truly, this can be called the century of miracles, for it is the manifestation of the miraculous. . . . An invisible spiritual power is ever exercising an influence over the hearts and minds of men.”-’Abdu’l-Bahá.
THE conviction that we are living in an age of intensive and reckless materialism is disturbing to the peace of mind of many who revel in statistics and comparisons and who like to contrast the present with the past and speculate on the future.
That there is a basis for this fear is, possibly, not to be denied. Commercial and industrial tendencies seem to emphasize the drift towards mass production and standardization, possibly towards the enshrinement of wealth as the acme of achievement—notwithstanding the words of wisdom of many sages in the past.
To the casual reader, industrial statistics are astounding. To the purely nationally minded they are often a source of complacent pride. Our production totals are mounting, our per capita wealth is increasing. Many are the assurances that humanity has never “lived better”: never have people in general had so much comfort, luxury or so many possessions of various kinds.
We have “more warmed and lighted houses, telephones, electric devices, automobiles and radios” than any other nation. We have, in general, steadier employment and less illness. “America has in proportion eight times as many telephones, uses eleven times as much electricity, owns thirty times as many automobiles, owns twice as many homes, and has only one-twentieth as many people living on public charity.” Such are the characteristic nuances of our present-day civilization.
Most of these possessions and acquirements are beneficial and therefore justified in themselves, but are they not symbolic of tendencies which are rapidly remoulding our modes of living and our civilization?
There are other signs not without significance. Stop at any news-stand. Can one help but wonder at the profusion of printed matter offered in a very convenient form. No matter what the merit of many of these publications may be, does this condition not auger a quickening interest on the part of the general public in reading? Are not the “book-a-month-clubs” meeting with success? Are there not more worth-while collections of books sold today than ever before? Is there not a groping for information and knowledge evidenced in this development?
Then, too, all over our land we see immense stadiums being erected which rival those of ancient times, when the population gloried in games. Despite the menace of commercialism in our athletic pursuits, do not these great stadiums stand as monuments to a new interest in clean living, in health and in sportsmanship?
So it is, beneath the surface of any great material advancement, whether it be in industry, education, athletics or what not, there will be found tendencies which are significant and far-reaching.
One often wonders at the influence of the sun on plant life. It is essential to growth, maturity, and fruition. A plant removed from the effect of the sun withers and dies, or at best leads a miserable and frustrated existence. It has always been so. Science is learning more and more
about these wonderful influences. The glass that we use in our homes keeps out the most beneficial emanations from the sun as regards our own health, but today science has made available a glass which will allow these rays to pass and we may live indoors in the glow of the health-giving rays of the sun. The effects cannot be seen or felt but are nevertheless active and dynamic. Their effect is subtle yet potent. It is as if some magic force were acting, a veiled blessing, known and realized yet undiscovered in its essence. It is similar to the leaven in the loaf.
Is it not then logical to believe that back or under or above all of the so-termed materialistic achievements and accomplishments of our day of intensive industrialism there is some higher force at work, bringing nearer and nearer the culmination of a better day? That there is some powerful leaven at work guiding, assisting and stimulating us to greater and greater progress?
It is generally conceded that man alone could not have accomplished these wonders. Difficult as such a premise is to prove we are seeing scientists of note and standing daily giving voice to faith in a Higher Power, refuting more and more the old belief that to Nature alone could be attributed the driving force of all our progress. This is indeed reassuring. It greatly assists in wiping out the antagonism which has existed between science and religion; it leaves us free to investigate unshackled every remote corner of the universe.
We are living in an age of miracles which have become so commonplace that we take them as a matter of course. What would our ancient forebears have thought of the airplane, the radio and many less spectacular mechanical and electrical devices? How would they compare with some of the miracles related of olden times? Man has been acquiring knowledge of laws and facts concealed in the treasuries of the universe. He is learning how to apply them. He did not create these laws, these forces, and this energy which lies locked in the atom. He merely attained that station where he was able to know about them and to understand them in a degree. Little do we know what lies beyond—the present is dazzling enough. How then can one help but feel that there is a great underlying cause to all the beneficent effects which play such an important part in our lives today?
It has been said that if one goes abroad looking for trouble he will very likely find it. On the other hand if he goes forth in search of goodness and beauty, that will he also find. And so the constructive way today is to go abroad to our daily routine looking for the beauty of life and as surely as we do so, will we come to the comforting and stimulating conviction that there are powerful divine forces at work; that our materialistic accomplishments, however good they may be, are just the visual aura about the real significant facts of existence here and hereafter.
Take the question of mass production. It has its opponents and its proponents. There are those who feel that it is a curse and those who feel that it is the logical evolution which serves best the greatest number. At present it does seem to be working to give us more goods at lower costs but there are other effects not so generally appreciated. It is forcing into consideration the ultimate necessity of decentralizing industry.
But what of this? What will that mean to you and me and to our children? It is becoming more and more apparent that industry cannot remain highly centralized as to location.
Often plants become so large that it is impossible to secure the requisite labor and materials easily—the cost of doing business, the overhead expense is too great. What is the result? We are seeing great factories built in smaller communities, we are seeing the small plants moving away from the cities, out into the suburban or rural communities, and as this movement accelerates can we not see whole communities living under much better conditions? Will their requirements not be different, and as the public demand governs production, will this change not affect the character of industry?
As the tendency becomes more pronounced to establish industrial enterprise away from the congested cities, will not new factors become apparent? Will not life be simpler, cleaner, and closer to nature than before? There will not be the need of long hours of riding to work—more leisure will result, and with it all, more interest in agriculture. This example is simply illustrative. Mass production, whether it be a blessing or a menace, is seen to have other potential effects than those usually discussed. There are underlying forces and causes which will result in new effects, changes and advancement. So it is with every great influence in our lives. If we study it intensively, analyze it, ultimately we will come to the conclusion that there are unappreciated phases to it which can not be characterized other than as “the spiritual fringe” or rather the spiritual essence of the matter, which is but a manifestation of the power of God, working in mysterious and devious ways His wonders to perform.
However materialistic our life may seem today, there are spiritual considerations which cannot be ignored.
Look back. Have we not made more progress in many, many departments of life in the last century than was made in centuries preceding? Does it not seem as if humanity, like a plant, has developed in the more direct rays of the sun? That previously there seemed to be some curb on progress and then suddenly some force was liberated which stimulated and accelerated enlightenment? How else can the phenomena be explained? Humanity existed for thousands of years, reaching at some times and places a high degree of civilization, but never before have we seen such progress made in science and its application to life and living. Never before have we seen space almost annihilated by rapid means of transportation, on land, water, and in the air. Never before have we been able to set time at naught by projecting our voices through space. Never have we “lived better,” and this has all come quite recently, as if some beneficent force had touched humanity and quickened its potential capacities and abilities.
It may seem that our abilities are misdirected in that we seem to concentrate on industrial development, materialistic pursuits, and personal comfort, but as pointed out none of these things are without their greater and deeper effects and the seemingly superficial phases, so easily seen, are but the froth on the surface of the stream; beneath there is a deep and steady current of pure, clear water, which is carrying us on and on to the day when the real significances of our apparently materialistic development will become cognizant and appreciated.
The great force which is so effective in accelerating human progress is the Power of God in the cycle of Bahá’u’lláh. Since 1844 the advancement has been so rapid, in comparison with times past, as to be almost inconceivable. We sense, generally, but the surface effects. We must realize the deeper significances which
are the underlying and governing causes.
What is being accomplished before our eyes? The principles of the Bahá’í Movement, iterated many years ago, are surely and constantly coming into realization.
We are seeing scientists abandoning their prejudices and shouting the unity of science and religion. We are seeing on every hand evidences that the unity of mankind is to be appreciated. We are no longer fettered in a search for truth.
Religious warfare and dissension are being descried. Movements are accelerating whereby one denomination or sect joins with another. The trend is towards unified organization in existing religious denominations. We are going back into historical writings and discovering that the fundamental principles of all great religions are one. The church no longer wars with science, as it did in the past. Faith and reason are becoming more and more in accord.
Many are the agencies working for the establishment of Peace, International Arbitration and ultimately an International Parliament.
The radio besides levelling barriers is forcing the adoption of an international auxiliary language. Great strides are being made in education. In all enlightened countries it is now compulsory. Women have not only come into a new freedom but have been given the power of the ballot. Through the establishment of inheritance taxes, new methods of wage payment, we seem to be moving towards a day when there will be no excuse for extremes of poverty and wealth.
Day by day we are hearing the gospel of service preached by competent executives. We are told that the first responsibility of industry is to the public. The purpose of industry is to serve, and service is a form of worship.
And so it would appear to the inquiring mind that, perhaps, we are not so materialistic today as it would seem. That there are potent forces at work, guiding our endeavors and that we are rapidly approaching that day when we will more fully realize and appreciate these words of ’Abdu’l-Bahá, that, “the spirit of affection and loving kindness must so prevail that the stranger may find himself a friend; the enemy a true companion; and every last trace of difference be removed; for universality is of God and all limitations earthly.”
who are the wooers of absolute reality—that the purpose of the Divine Messengers and the revelation of the heavenly books and the establishment of the religion of God has been none other than to create amity
and justice between the children of the races.—’Abdu’l-Bahá.
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A typical street in Jaipur, India's model city. (See opposite page.)
One of the most important activities of the Bahá’í Movement is the interchange of visits between Bahá’ís of the Orient and Occident. The loving comradeship thus concretely demonstrated between these two so different civilizations, made possible only by the fulfillment of the teachings of Bahaá’u’lláh, has always a powerful effect upon hearts and minds. Mrs. Schopflocher has proven herself an intrepid traveler, venturing into regions difficult of access, dangerous even for travel. With brave heart and with a blazing enthusiasm for the Bahá’í Cause she has been enabled to reach many prominent men and women of the East and present her message to them. She here vividly describes her recent trip to India and Burma, commencing with her visit to the school of Tagore’s at Bolpur.—Editor.
BOLPUR, brings Green Acre* most vividly before my eyes, for here is a similar ideal setting in India’s fertile state of Bengal. At the school of Tagore one witnesses community life in all its stages of development from rug-weaving and many other industries to the finer arts such as music, singing, drawing and painting, and the most appreciated outdoor sports, such as competitions in rope-skipping, dancing, exercises and other games. Spiritual education is not neglected. Yet the poet Tagore puts forth no special creed or teaching other than weekly discourses by himself, and prayers every day at the “House of Prayer.” This philosopher and poet is looked upon here as an idealist who is giving expression to the nobler aspects of life through the drama and fine arts.
Most of his time is spent writing plays and music for the two hundred pupils from distant villages and cities who are boarding here. The Agricultural Department covers chicken raising and introducing the better breeds brought from the West into the surrounding villages; the cultivation of land and gardening. The greatest wish of Rabandrinath Tagore is to draw the graduates of
*Green Acre is the Bahá’í summer colony in Eliot, Maine.
universities who now crowd the cities back to village life. The young Indian principal of the school took his degrees at the State Agricultural College of Massachusetts and additional degrees in England. All teachers are well qualified and come from many different countries in Europe. One woman teacher of drawing and painting is from Austria; another teacher is from Holland; one English professor; and two Christian Indian professors.
The Full Moon Festival, which ushers in the first day of Spring in India, has about the same significance as our May-Day dancing round the May-pole, celebrated “slightly” differently, for here the Hindu throws colored powder and squirts bright colored water with a kind of water-gun used for the purpose. All join in the holiday spirit, including the teachers, and throw the vivid reds and yellows right square in one’s face and smear it over the body and cloths. By the time evening comes, the people resemble walking flames. Even the hair gets rainbow hued.
Before leaving “the school of the poet” I was asked to give a lecture to the older students and teachers. Everyone to whom I had already spoken seemed to appreciate the
principles and teachings of Bahá’u’lláh, but as I have already mentioned they do not specialize here in any religious teaching.
My journey through the south and heart of India was most fruitful, and the leading men and rulers of many different States are now studying the Bahá’í teachings. One of the foremost ministers of the Great Nizam of Hyderabad had heard of the Revelation of Bahá’u’lláh, and weeks before my arrival he was impatiently waiting for books.
An official attached to one of India’s greatest princes gave me every assistance in meeting those I most wished to know. When I told him the nature of my work, he exclaimed, “I too am a believer in Bahá’u’lláh, but I have never had the courage to openly admit it as it would mean absolute ruin overnight if it was discovered that I had embraced a new Revelation.
Another of India’s princes received me with a most enquiring stare. Rather abruptly and in a most unusual manner, he said, “There is something different about you than anyone I have yet known. It is magnetism, but not personal magnetism, rather more of a spiritual quality. What is it you have come to tell me?” Now when one visits these Indian rulers who are so extremely polite, it is not customary to state one’s mission at once, but I came straight to the point and said, “If there is anything spiritual about me it is because I love Bahá’u’lláh the Revealer of the New Revelation.” He replied, “I might have known it. I also believe Bahá’u’lláh has brought a message to the world, but until now I have not looked seriously into His Teachings.”
The beautiful hill stations are the ideal place to teach, for prominent men and women from all parts of India spend the hot months of the plains below up in these hill stations: Professors of the universities, Maharajas and their entourage, and others. Never has a country been nearer to accepting the divine teachings than India is today, and the opportunities for service are without limit.
Mr. Hashmat’u’llah Koreshi, secretary of the National Bahá’í Spiritual Assembly of India, is a man of marvelous character and great culture. It would be impossible to record in detail the story of the remarkable assistance I received from the hands of this very brilliant spiritual worker in the vineyard of the new creative Word. From eight o’clock in the morning until evening this distinguished and enthusiastic brother invited to visit me at my hotel the most prominent of Calcutta’s thinkers of both sexes, or arranged luncheons, teas and dinners daily. In turn I visited many homes, and carried the Message of Unity into every available place. Many of these very fine families were deeply moved by the narrative of the early life of our beloved teachers.
A Western Bahá’í believer can always have a sympathetic audience, for since he loves all religionists, his method of approach is constructive and harmonious. There are many so-called dead creeds today in the daily life of the Indian. One can scarcely credit the doings and misunderstandings between the different outstanding religious fanatics. One thing is clear, however, and that is that there are many noble souls and deep thinkers in India who are far above and beyond the illusions of the past.
The cultured Indian is one of the finest types of manhood in the world. My visit to the home of Sir C. P. Bose, the great world-renowned scientist, was a revelation in itself. I walked through the gardens of his
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Mrs. Schopflocher and group of natives in a Bahá'í village in Burma.
home and actually saw the heart-beats of trees as we passed. Marvelous instruments placed near the trees register upon delicate machines the pulse of the tree, and the effect was instantly noticed by a long dash when anything unusual happened such as a person passing suddenly or when some anesthetic was administered. A tree can become intoxicated with certain drugs, and the heart-beat took queer staggers and long swaying movements on the parchment by the needle of these delicate inventions of Sir C. P. Bose, of Calcutta. This was a very eventful afternoon.
Lady Bose is one of the outstanding women in India today. Her untiring efforts along educational and all other lines for the emancipation of her oppressed sisters, classifies her as a great leader in the Feminist Movement. Her “Industrial School for Widows and Married Women” in Bengal is the first institution of its kind to be established in India, and thus her dream of educating the neglected little widows who are bereft of human companionship, has been fulfilled. How refreshing it was to note the immediate and sustained interest of this woman of remarkable character in the great teaching of Bahá’u’lláh, that “material and spiritual education should go hand in hand.”
The Prime Minister of the Maharaja of Mysore Was more than kind to me during my visit in the South of India, where I visited the leaders and rulers of several States. The Maharaja of Mysore is one of the greatest of India’s princes. He received Bahá’í books with appreciation and extended an invitation to return. When I left the palace I called upon a professor at the college and learned to my surprise that he had once been on the verge of accepting Bahá’u’lláh as the Manifestation of God to the world today, but owing to reports from Persia that the Bahá’í Revelation had entirely died out of the world of existence he had given up the idea of further study. He then inquired as to whether a friend whom he had met twenty years ago in New York was still interested in the movement, as he had thought it was a fad with this lady.
Promptly I related to him briefly a
few stories of the progress of the Bahá’í Cause, its succession of spiritual victories, its world-wide scope. Particularly did I emphasize the superb loyalty of its devotees, their cheerful perseverance and patient struggling to see the New Day of God established on this earth as prophesied by the Divine Messengers. Was I not thinking of the words of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá regarding the “steady progress and universal dimensions of the Cause,” for He said, “On account of being a divine movement it grew and developed with irresistible spiritual power until in this day wherever you travel east or west and in whatever country you journey you will meet Bahá’í Assemblies and institutions.”
My friend’s immediate response showed a depth of feeling as he requested me to send him the same kind of book I had given the Maharaja, declaring his loyalty to Bahá’u’lláh in future and his desire to help spread the glad tidings among his countrymen. Last week I received a most joyous letter from this recently morbid man, thanking me in the name of Bahá’u’lláh for the photograph in the little ivory frame of ’Abdu’l-Bahá, saying he kept it before him always, and each day was begun through the inspiration of that wonderful face.
The seeds of the patient work of Mrs. J. Stannard, a Bahá’í teacher, who so faithfully carried on the teaching work in Calcutta, are now bearing fruit. One prominent man, who for months had been suffering from depression and apathy, came suddenly to life after I once again related the story of the progress of the cause, how it had spread without any propaganda, but entirely through the dynamic spiritual power of the Cause itself, and the efforts of its devoted followers. This man who had been ill and unable to walk even about his own home, arose at the conclusion of our conference (which lasted two hours when I had planned it for thirty minutes) and walked to the stairway with us (two distinguished Bahá’ís had accompanied me). Also before we left a series of Bahá’í meetings were arranged to be held in his spacious attractive home. Thus doth the power of the Spirit of God manifest in hearts suddenly awakened to its all-embracing potency.
And now for a few words about the Bahá’í villages of Burma. Mrs. Inez Greeven (formerly Mrs. Inez Cook of New York) visited the village of Kunjangoon, known as the “Village of ’Abdu’l-Bahá” because all the inhabitants are Bahá’ís, and wrote an interesting account of this visit, which I remember was published in this magazine. I have already told of my experiences there. But a new village is in the process of evolution and boasts about twenty young men who decided to openly declare their faith in Bahá’u’lláh regardless of consequences. Muhammad Eunoos, a blessed old believer, had been expelled by the Mullah and told not to return. But when Muhammad Eunoos learned of my arrival in Mandalay he accompanied me to this village of Kyigon, Burma. We had to ride some miles in an ox-cart, sitting cross-legged on straw matting. News had already reached the village of the visit of a western believer, so when we arrived the following day the whole place had been polished and not one stroke of work was done that day. The entire population turned out to hear about the new teachings. I sat up among trees in the most attractive bamboo house built high on stilts, while the audience jostled each other for a place to sit.
The meeting continued through the entire day. During the hot afternoon a Mullah arrived and inquired, “What
is she talking about up there?” Fortunately the chief official of the village was a Buddhist and very friendly. He had called on us early in the morning and offered a cordial greeting. He told the Mullah that the lady was talking about God and that if he remained he would have to be courteous and only ask civil questions after the meeting like the others. He was quite disturbed, but when they said, “The lady is a great friend of the Governor of Burma, Sir Harcourt Butler,” he soon took himself elsewhere and we went on in peace.
Later in the day three young men came forward in the utmost simplicity and knelt at my feet and said, “We accept Bahá’u’lláh as the Prophet of God today.” Others became believers also. It was very touching to see their dear old teacher Muhammad Eunoos take each by the hand and kiss them on each cheek, and then like an initiation ceremony, kiss each on the forehead, with the look of love in his dear old face. This great teacher once built a Mosque when he was a follower of the Islamic faith, and had it confiscated, together with every bit of property he ever had, when he became a believer in the new Manifestation, Bahá’u’lláh. Now he is happy in his poverty, and in his freedom to uphold the Divine Standards of today.
In conclusion perhaps it will be of interest to Bahá’ís to know that I am Writing this article while en route to visit the Prince who was so splendidly sympathetic to Mrs. Lua Getsinger, Bahá’í teacher and lecturer, when she visited India several years ago. It was not at all surprising to learn that they always refer to Mrs. Getsinger in these parts as “St. Lua.”
Picture me here in this queer village, a way-station, as it were, for those who go on hunting expeditions after tigers! The village is really locked up at night and all passes closed to tigers, but I am told that tigers are always lurking near these barriers and sometimes find an entry. Here I wait for the next eleven hours until the arrival of the main line train which will carry me on to Jhalrapatan, where the Maharaja of Jhalawar has his State.
A tiny lamp flickers over my shoulder from an improvised mantelpiece and two coolie boys alternate in pulling the punka over my head that I may breathe sufficiently to get through the night, for I am experiencing the “boiling heat” of April days and nights in India. The babble of native curiosity is without and many unseen eyes are gazing upon this unusual activity. An Indian night with its native perfume pervades the place and even in desert wastes of insecure footing there is a remarkable
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A group of Bahá'ís in one of the small villages in India visited by Mrs. Schopflocher.
atmosphere of genuine reality. Possibly this is the reason for my preference for the East and its associations rather than the West with its civilization. Outside of my door is the Muhammadan upon his tiny prayer-rug in respectful reverence to Muhammad; the Hindu also near by looking hopeful that his meditation is being heard by the long-departed Krishna.
Hope and happiness reign supreme in my heart during my unexpected stay in this, the most primitive and strange place I have thus far visited, hardly on the fringe, even, of human society. At five o’clock in the morning I shall entrain for Jhalrapatan, where an automobile will be waiting to take me thirty miles more on the journey to the Palace of His Highness the Prince, who will once again hear of the Revealed Word of God to man through Bahá’u’lláh and of how that creative Word has taken effect in the hearts of thousands upon thousands the world over who believe that “the Religion and the law of God has descended from the heaven of the will of the Possessor of Eternity for the purpose alone of harmonizing and bringing into unity the peoples of the world.”
His Holiness Bahá’u’lláh united in the closest ties of fellowship and love. They have abandoned religious prejudices and have become as one family. When you enter their meetings you will find Christians, Muhammadans, Buddhists, Zoroastrians, Jews and representatives of other beliefs present, all conjoined in a wonderful unity without a trace of bigotry or fanaticism, and the light of the oneness of the world of humanity reflected in their faces. Day by day they are advancing, manifesting greater and still greater love for each other. Their faith is fixed upon the unification of mankind and their highest purpose is the oneness of religious belief. They proclaim to all humanity the sheltering mercy and infinite grace of God. They teach the reconciliation of religion with science and reason. They show forth in words and deeds the reality of love for all mankind as the servants of one God and the recipients of His universal bounty. These are their thoughts, their beliefs, their guiding principles, their religion. No trace of religious, racial, patriotic or political prejudice can be found among them, for they are real servants of God and obedient to His will and command.
