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| VOL. 18 | JULY, 1927 | NO. 4 |
| Page | |||
Editorial, Stanwood Cobb | 99 | ||
The Potency of the Ideal, Dale S. Cole | 102 | ||
| 108 | ||
The Return of Light, Julie Chanler | 111 | ||
Why Elijah? Christine French | 112 | ||
The Abolition of Prejudices, Florence A. Clapp | 114 | ||
Trees, Dr. Walter B. Guy | 117 | ||
A Trip to Tahiti, Louise Bosch | 119 | ||
Excerpts from My Diary, Keith Ransom-Kehler | 124 |
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--
Mme. Josephine Cowles de Lagnel, one of the early American Bahá'ís, at whose home in Washington. Bahá’í meetings have been held for many years. She is now eighty-one years of age and still very active in the work of the Cause.
| VOL. 18 | JULY, 1927 | No. 4 |
oneness of the world of humanity; * * * that which will leaven the human world is a love that will insure the abandonment of pride, oppression
and hatred.”—’Abdu’l-Bahá.THIS IS the day of the dawning of world unity. Thinkers along all lines of human welfare are coming to the realization that mankind is one; that the progress of the world depends upon the recognition of unity, and friendly co-operation based upon the brotherhood of man.
A striking corroboration of this fact occurs in the significant words with which Professor George Sarton ends his newly issued book, “Introduction to the History of Science.” He states that “the main postulate of science is the unity of nature—a unity indirectly affirmed by the whole development of knowledge. The history of science establishes the unity of science. The fact that all these discoveries were made by different Nations shows that, in spite of many disparities and animosities, mankind is one. Unity of nature, unity of science and unity of mankind are but three different visages of the same unity. This sublime conception is mankind’s purpose, a conception that is probably dormant in the heart of every man of science is not simply exhilarating in itself, but it gives also a new meaning to our lives. We feel more conscious of an immense collaboration which extends through space and time.”
THESE WORDS of Sarton are of special interest to us, as we had the pleasure of meeting and knowing him some years ago when he was endeavoring to find opportunity for the development of his idea of making the history of science the cultural backbone of all education. To him science appeared as the splendid vision of a great international effort coming down through the ages, indifferent to nationality, moving forward now in one country, now in another among men of different races, different languages, different religions who borrowing freely from one another’s discoveries blended them together into the thing which we call civilization.
Professor Sarton’s own life is a striking testimony to the unity of mankind. For though his life work was conceived and initiated in Belgium—being interrupted by the war it had to be abandoned there with his notes buried in his garden, the fruition of his life ideals was to come about in another country which became his foster mother. It was in America to which he came that he found the friends who opened opportunities to him for publication. “Thanks to my American friends,” he tells us, “I received my first opportunity in Washington, D. C., and a second opportunity was extended to me in Harvard University. Finally, in 1918, a new appointment was created for me by the Carnegie Institution and then, for the first time, I had a feeling of relative security and could devote all my energy without undue anxiety to my self-imposed task.” Thus Mr. Sarton offers the expression of his gratitude to both
University and Institution and to the country which has adopted him and his work. How frequent is the occurrence today in every line of work, of human thought, of progress, that great creative minds are above nationality, their conceptions worldwide. Often they find first appreciation and understanding in a country other than their own! There are no national boundaries in the world of thought.
THAT UNITY which science sees and is helping to demonstrate for the world, it is of even more importance that religion should achieve. If the scientist sees truth as one and undivided, how much more must the religionist do so! It is not possible that there should be some several truths regarding the universe going under the name of as many various religions; There is only one universe; there is only one truth about that universe. There is only one God by whatever names we call Him. The religions of the world, being revelations of God to the world through His Prophets, must agree in their underlying truths. The differences are but differences in the outer symbols and expressions, necessary adaptations of truth to the racial mind amidst which they were manifested. The inner truth which is one and the same in all religions is the teaching of the Oneness of God, and the need of man’s knowledge of God, love of God, love and service toward his fellowmen.
But now the time has come for a universal Manifestation, for a single statement of religious truth applicable to the whole world. In this day of intercommunication, of rapid and universal exchange of ideas, there is no need of racial religions—in fact, there is no room for racial religions. The barriers which separate the religious thought of the world must fall and spiritual truth be seen as one.
Such a Manifestation is that of Bahá’u’1láh, whose message of universal religion, of world peace and brotherhood, is spreading over the world uniting all races and all religions. It is an expression of spiritual truth adequate to this day of world interchange of ideas, of high civilization, of tremendous scientific advance, of the fomenting of new ideas for economic, social, and political progress.
“Bahá’u’lláh’s mission in the World,” says J. E. Esslemont in his “Bahá’u’lláh and the New Era,” “is bringing about unity—unity of all mankind in and through God. ‘Let not man glory in this, that he loves his country, says Bahá’u’lláh, but let him rather glory in this, that he loves his kind.’”
“Previous prophets,” says Dr. Esslemont, “have heralded an age of peace on earth, good will among men and have given their lives to hasten its advent. Bahá’u’lláh announces that he is the Promised One of all these Prophets, the definite Manifestation in Whose era the reign of peace will actually be accomplished. This statement is unprecedented and unique, yet it fits in wonderfully with the signs of the times and with the prophecies of all the great Prophets. Bahá’u’lláh revealed with incomparable clearness and comprehensiveness the means for bringing about peace and unity amongst mankind.”
We are on the threshold of a new era—the era of the oneness of mankind. This is that Kingdom of God which Christ foretold, which all the Prophets envisaged and strove for.
“Bahá’u’lláh declares,” says Dr. Esslemont, “that just as lesser living things have times of sudden emergence into new and fuller life, so for mankind also a ‘critical stage,’ a time of ‘re-birth,’ is at hand.”
HUMAN tastes differ; thoughts, nationalities, races and tongues are many. The need of a Collective Center by which these differences may be counterbalanced and the people of the world unified is obvious.
Consider how nothing but a spiritual power can bring about this unification; for material conditions and mental aspects are so widely different that agreement and unity are not possible through outer means. It is possible, however, for all to become unified through one spirit, just as all may receive light from one sun. Therefore, assisted by the Collective and Divine Center which is the Law of God and the Reality of His Manifestation, we can overcome these conditions until they pass away entirely and the races advance.
The Collective Center has always appeared in the East. His Holiness Abraham, His Holiness Moses, His Holiness Jesus Christ, His Holiness Muhammad,—were Collective Centers of their day and time, and all arose in the East.
Today His Holiness Bahá’u’lláh is the Collective Center of unity for all mankind and the splendor of His Light has likewise dawned from the East. He founded the oneness of mankind in Persia. He established harmony and agreement among the various people of religious beliefs, denominations, sects and cults by freeing them from the fetters of past imitations and superstition, leading them to the very foundation of the divine religions. From this foundation shines forth the radiance of spirituality which is unity, the love of God, the knowledge of God, praiseworthy morals, and the virtues of the human world. Bahá’u’lláh renewed these principles, just as the coming of spring refreshes the earth and confers new life upon all phenomenal beings.”
“Through the faculty of meditation man attains to eternal life; through it he receives the breath of the Holy Spirit—the bestowals of the Spirit are given during reflection and meditation.
“The spirit of man is itself informed and strengthened during meditation; through it affairs of which man knew nothing are unfolded before his view. Through it he receives divine inspiration, and through it he partakes of heavenly food.”—’Abdu'l-Bahá.
"EVERY organism is impelled to move towards its own completeness. Fullness of life is the goal of life; the urge to completeness is the most compelling motive of life. There is no motive in life so persistent as this hunger for fulfillment, whether for the needs of our body or for the deepest spiritual satisfaction of our souls, which compels us to be ever moving onward till we find it. Hunger, material or spiritual, is the feeling of incompleteness.
We see the law of completeness operating in physiology, in psychology, or morality in religion. In physiology we call this completeness “health,” in morality “perfection,” in religion “holiness,” in psychology we shall call it “self-realization.”
“So persistent and strong is this law that no organism can rest until it has satisfied its hunger by achieving its complete self.”
Thus has J. A. Hadfield, in “Psychology and Morals,” voiced the yearning of almost every human heart. Whether we know it or not we do want our lives to be complete and this is usually defined as a life of happiness. We are a little vague as to just what happiness is and we do not differentiate it from joy. Joy might be termed intense happiness, that blissful feeling which would result were our lives complete, and in completeness there is suggested harmony, effectiveness and peace.
We all know that we want something, need something, but as one man in writing of his spiritual experience says:
“Some persons have very hazy and indefinite ideas concerning just what they want. Their wants are too indefinite, general, and hazy to create that strong, positive idealization which is the first requisite. If you ask them just what they want most in the world, you will find that they do not know, or at least cannot tell you with certainty.”
But we all want fullness of life, here and hereafter, and that desire involves our spiritual well-being. Fullness of life cannot be attained by receiving what we may want “in this world” as our finite minds conceive it. That motive of life which is so forceful is a desire for completeness and this presupposes spiritual knowledge and spiritual peace.
So often we hear it said that—“Your theories or philosophy are very beautiful. I can and do accept them all. I believe that it is the truth but I do not seem able to feel it all.”
Is it strange with our heritage that we cannot feel the great life-giving power instantly the moment we wish to? It has been sought diligently for years. It is the pearl of great price. Is it logical to assume that everyone may expect it without any effort whatsoever on their part? Do we receive things of priceless value without some compensatory factor? Some seem to, it is true. There are fortunate souls who receive confirmation in an instant but most of us have to strive for what we want, and one of the first steps toward attainment is to be very sure and certain in our own beings as to just what it is that we
want, for “The Flame of Desire supplies the heat for the Steam of Will, and for much besides.” “Many persons lacking faith in the successful outcome of their desires and ideals really are manifesting faith in the opposite outcome.”
“Very few persons are content to ‘pay the price’ of attaining that which they think they want. If they ‘want it hard enough’ they are willing to pay the full price; otherwise they will ‘fall down’ on this point. To ‘pay the price’ of the attainment of that which you want, you must not only be willing to exercise your full mental and physical (and spiritual) powers towards accomplishing the tasks and work lying along the path of attainment,—you must do far more than this. You must pay the price of relinquishing the minor wants, wishes and desires; you must sacrifice these on the altar of the great desire!”
The great desire of the majority of the human race is for an elusive something which will round out there lives, which will bring joy and peace, which will make their lives complete, to attain that station where their supplications before the Threshold are effective.
It has been said that any individual may attain what he wants if—
1. He knows exactly what he wants.
2. He wants it hard enough.
3. He confidently expects to obtain it.
4. Persistently determines to obtain it.
5. He is willing to pay the price.
All of which is subject to some qualification, but certainly if we hold the great desire for completeness of life these five points may be very serviceable in fanning the flame to stimulate the will to strive.
And now as to the “will.” Dr. Hadfield says: “When the organized self moves towards its own completeness we call it the will. When the instincts and complexes function we call them impulses. The will is the organized self in function, the self in movement. This conception of the will as a function or activity of the organized self throws light on many problems of the will.”
“In the ordinary affairs of life the will is supreme, for under ordinary conditions the will, being an organization of many instincts, and being impelled by the strongest motive of any organism, namely, the urge to completeness, has the power to dominate the instincts and impulses hostile to its ends.
“The absence of an adequate ideal or stimulus to the will is characteristic of times when we have undergone some great strain. In such times, whether of fear, of grief, of failure or of the fatigue of war, our self is weary and powerless to make an effort, and tends to become disintegrated, and our actions are left to the mercy of our impulses.”
It is, then, according to this authority, necessary from a purely psychological standpoint that we have some ideal to make our wills effective. What greater ideal could we have than to learn to live the life, to find the way, that our lives may be complete? The purpose of life is to advance towards God and thereby will we pass through varying and progressing degrees of completeness in accordance with our capacities to receive the Bounties of God. Whether we follow this path or not is largely a matter of our own volition. There is grace for all, for the asking, but we must ask properly and sincerely; our desire to attain must be dynamic.
One of the first steps towards making our beings dynamic in their yearnings for completeness and knowledge of God is to have the Ideal clearly in mind.
“The adequate stimulus of the will, the stimulus which is peculiarly adapted to arouse the self into activity, is the Ideal, that is, the idea or object which leads to the complete realization of the whole individual.
“If any idea of object is presented to the self which appears to contribute to its fulfillment and happiness, then is the self stimulated by it and the will moves towards it, even as a sensation or instinct is awakened by its own stimulus. In the absence of such an ideal, our actions are left to the mercy of our impulses.
“If such an ideal is present, the will is aroused and dominates conduct; if it is absent, the will is in abeyance, and the impulses are aroused to activity.”
How these experiences and this knowledge of the scientific man is illumined and broadened in the light of the Bahá’í Revelation! There can be but one ultimate ideal for human conduct and that is to “stand faithful unto the Covenant of God,” to “fulfill in our lives His trust,” and “in the realm of the spirit obtain the gem of divine virtue,” thus striving for the bringing to pass on earth of that perfect civilization which Christ called the Kingdom of God.
Certainly this ideal is potent enough to stir even the most sluggish and latent desires to live a life of completeness. Who can help but know that this is exactly what he wants? Who can help wanting it hard enough if he reflects a little upon the infinite grace of God? Who can doubt of its attainment, at least in the degree deserved, if he knows the promises and follows the commands? Who can resist the urge to resolve to attain it in so far as he can? Who is not willing to “pay the price” in the light of the knowledge of what is in store for those who are successful? Even a fleeting realization of confirmation, now and then, is priceless.
When we are certain that completeness of life hinges upon the Ideal and when our desires have become dynamic we may turn to “Hidden Words”* and find therein as “a token of grace unto the righteous,” that which “has descended from the realm of glory, uttered by the tongue of power and might, and revealed unto the Messengers of old.” In its “garment of brevity” we have a complete code for the conduct of life, an inspiration to our lagging desires, an Ideal which will make life complete.
Great stress is placed today on affirmations. We hear many teachers of various schools of religious and philosophical thought iterating and reiterating affirmations. That there is value in them is not to be denied for they serve, possibly to crystalize our ideas as to the Ideal, to bolster our faith, and to increase confidence in the successful outcome of our quest and supplications.
The most powerful affirmations are given in these so-called “Hidden Words” of Bahá’u’lláh, and with a distinct new beauty of phrasing and portent. We can make these personal if we will. For instance Bahá’u’lláh declares:
“Of all things Justice is the best beloved in My sight; turn not away therefrom if thou desirest Me, and neglect it not that I may confide My trust to thee. By its aid thou shalt see with thine own eyes and not with the eyes of others, and shalt know by thy own understanding, and not by the understanding of thy neighbor. Ponder this in thy, heart; how it behooveth
*“Hidden Words," by Bahá’u’lláh, revealed by Him during His exile at Baghdad. These “lyric gems of wise counsel which have brought help and healing to thousands of aching and troubled hearts," were for many years “carefully concealed lest they should fall into the hands of enemies that abounded, but now this little volume is probably the best-known of all Baha’u’llah’s works, and is read in every quarter of the globe.” Published by Baha’i Publishing Committee.
thee to be. In truth Justice is My gift to thee and the sign of My loving kindness unto thee. Set it then before thine eyes.”
As it is important and good training to memorize the dynamic creative Words, we might memorize this instruction, and then at the time of meditation, we might “ponder this in our heart” and, thinking on these things make the instruction personal as follows:
Of all things best beloved in the sight of God is Justice. I must not turn away from it if I desire God. I must not neglect it if He is to confide in me. By the aid of Justice I will be able to see things with my own eyes and not with the eyes of others, and I will be able to know by my own understanding and not by the understanding of my neighbor. I must ponder this in my heart, how it behooveth me to be. Verily, Justice is God’s gift to me and a sign of His loving-kindness. I will set it before my eyes.
And the devotee, the aspirant for attainment unto the Ideal, might continue his meditations giving the Hidden Words personal application something like the following:
God loved my creation, therefore He created me. I must love God that He may name my name and fill my soul with the spirit of life.
I must love God, that He may love me. If I do not love Him, His love can in no wise reach me. Or, I will love God that He may love me. Then His love will reach me.
There is no rest for me save by renouncing myself and turning to God. I glory in His name, not my own. I trust in Him not in myself for God desires to be loved alone above all else.
I am God’s lamp and His light is in me. I must get light therefrom and seek none other than He, for He has created me rich and bountifully favored me.
With the hands of power God has made me and with the fingers of strength He has created me, and in me has He placed the essence of His light. I am content with it and seek naught else, for His work is perfect and His command is binding. Of this there is no doubt. Or, of this I am certain.
God has created me rich, why do I impoverish myself? Noble, has He made me wherewith do I abase myself? Out of the essence of knowledge He manifested me, why seek I enlightenment from any besides Him? Of the clay of love, he moulded me, why do I busy myself with another? I turn my sight unto myself and find God abiding in me, mighty, powerful and self-subsisting.
I am His dominion and His dominion perisheth not, wherefore do I fear? I am His light and His light shall never be extinguished, then why do I dread extinction? I am His glory and His glory fadeth not, I am His robe and His robe shall never be outworn. I will abide in God’s love and find Him in the realm of glory.
The Bahá’í Revelation is the most personal message that has ever come to human hearts. It can become part and parcel of our lives every minute of the day and night. We can live consciously and unconsciously in the love of God and His love for us—in completeness, joy and peace. Our affirmations can be just as inclusive as is our capacity and power to feel and manifest them. For instance, let us go over a few of the examples given, making them direct affirmations.
God loved my creation; therefore He created me. I love God and He names my name and fills my soul with the spirit of life.
I find rest by renouncing myself
and turning to God. I glory in His name. I trust in Him for He desires to be loved alone above all else.
With the hands of power God has made me and with the fingers of strength he has created me, and in me has He placed the essence of His light. I am content. I seek naught else, for His work is perfect and His command is binding. This I know.
I am God’s imperishable dominion. I am His unextinguishable light. I am His unfading glory. I am His ever-wearing robe. I abide in God’s love finding Him in the realm of glory.
Always we must bear in mind, however, our relation to the Infinite, that our beings are as mirrors turned towards the Sun of Truth and that we receive the emanations from Him in accordance with the clearness of our individual mirrors and whether they are turned towards Him or not. The image of the sun in the mirror is not the sun.
Affirmations we have in plenty, if we need them, and some there are who find them helpful. We have but to apply them to the conduct of our lives, to assimilate into our beings the grace that is manifested in His Bounty.
The Bahá’í message is a personal one even though it embraces all the great affairs of men and the universe. We must apply the great principles to our own individual lives that we may become contributing factors to the great work of bettering civilization. The one fact alone, that the Bahá’í Revelation makes of our daily tasks a form of service, and teaches that such service when performed in the fullness of heart is a form of worship and prayer, adapts it to this new age and to the needs of every human being. It sanctifies labor and gives us something that we can carry with us every minute of our lives. In this it is unique.
And so the realization of completeness of life must be found by living in the love of God. Life cannot be complete without it. It is the spiritual dynamic which governs all our conduct. It is to be attained through the Bounty of God and in the degree in which we follow His instructions will we receive.
If difficulty is experienced in feeling the power, this should not cause discouragement for we are asking for a great blessing, one which, perhaps, we are not yet qualified to receive. Perhaps our receptive channels are blocked and until they are clear no life-giving current can flow. We must clear these channels. Perhaps our mirrors are clouded or turned away from God. We must orient them and polish the reflecting surface. If we do not feel the power, it is not because it is not there. There are innumerable evidences of it. It is because of some obstructing cause in ourselves, which can only be removed by effort, and by prayer.
And the “Hidden Words” are laden with implicit directions as to how to attain the completeness of Life. Every reading brings out fresh meanings and more intimate counsel. It is the companion for our journey,—in it will we find inspiration which will make our desires dynamic. To a pilgrim visiting Him in ’Akká many years ago and who asked how he could attain, ’Abdu’l-Bahá replied, “Go thou and live in accordance with the ‘Hidden Words’ and thou shalt attain.”
And the method of approach which seems to confuse many seeking souls is through prayer. Hold the Ideal clearly in mind, reflect upon the attributes of God and turn to the Center of His Covenant in sincere and humble supplication. What method could be more simple?
THE HONOR of man is through the attainment of the knowledge of God; his happiness is from the love of God; his joy is in the glad-tidings of God; his greatness is dependent upon his servitude to God. The highest development of man is his entrance into the divine kingdom; and the outcome of this human existence is the nucleus and essence of eternal life. If man is bereft of the divine bestowals and if his enjoyment and happiness are restricted to his material inclinations, what distinction or difference is there between the animal and himself?
“IF the hope of man be limited to the material world, what ultimate result is he working for? A man with even a little understanding must realize that he should not emulate the worm that holds to the earth in which it is finally buried. How can man be satisfied with this low degree? How can he find happiness there?
“My hope is that you may become free from the material world and strive to understand the meaning of the heavenly world, the world of lasting qualities, the world of truth, the world of eternal kingliness, so that your life may not be barren of results, for the life of the material man has no fruit of reality. Lasting results are produced by reflecting the heavenly existence.
MORALE depends upon deep religious convictions on the part of people. Lack of morale is the result of lack of homogeneous consciousness. History has demonstrated again and again that to destroy the religious ideals, the faith of a people, means the decay of its civilization. The chaotic struggle between the many groups, racial, political, economic, and class, with the rampant individualism of these times which tend today to tear asunder the solidity of our civilization and human consciousness, is proof that the greatest need of the world now is a more united moral consciousness. Religion is the source of that consciousness of soul which directs from within the destiny of humanity.
Throughout history we see that when a people has been moved by the uniting spirit of a living faith in God, its civilization has been ascendant. When it has lost its religion, the vital spirit of the homogeneity necessary to civilization becomes depleted and the morale of the people suffers. This is a basic principle of civilization and it works today as it has in times past, showing that the perpetuity, growth, and development of present and future civilizations depend upon the religious consciousness of humanity.
With the present enormous increase of crime it is demonstrated daily that any country with its many laws and regulations requires more than the enforcement of law and order to make people good. It requires inner conviction or religious consciousness to make people want from within to do the right thing—without this guiding consciousness the law becomes powerless to compel people to do right.
Education without moral training is dangerous. Consider our own problems here in America. The absence of religious and moral teaching from the curricula of our vast public school system in America as well as from most of our higher institutions of learning is a serious question and an outstanding one in the minds of some of our foremost educators. From the very nature of the national ideals upon which our government is founded, sectarian religion can never be taught in our public schools; yet our need for religion, that is, for moral training and education in the fundamental or basic spiritual principles which all true religions hold in common, is yearly becoming more imperative. And these high moral standards so necessary in the educational ideals of a nation can come only through a stronger religious conviction or consciousness than we as yet have attained in our national life of recent decades.
World history shows that political union can be but very incomplete apart from the morale which religious conviction gives. The world is now beginning to realize the danger caused by warring factions, economic, social, and racial. The solution of the great problem of harmonious relations between the many elements which constitute the world life of today depends upon moral conviction. The present strife is not only most wasteful of spiritual and psychological forces but is a detriment to human morale. No great
business corporation can exist in these days of big world affairs without a united group of men holding together the morale of the organization. A nation, like an army in action, requires first of all morale for its very life, and in like manner the great international problems of mankind cannot be solved upon any basis other than that of the divine consciousness of the Religion of God.
At the present time we have ample patriotic enthusiasm throughout the many countries of the world, but it is scattered and its forces are dissipated. There are great differences of opinion regarding politics, government, creeds, and rituals, but there can be no sane argument propounded against the united cooperation of the peoples of all nations, creeds and rituals in working together for the universal cause of the great principles of religion which they hold in common, for the upbuilding of the morale of the nations and of the world.
In these latter days so much ethical teaching has become denatured and lukewarm that many discerning people now generally admit that only a moral renaissance will save humanity from irreligion and the destruction of morale and standards of civilization that this confused condition of mind and soul is bringing about.
Humanity needs the one great significant symbol—the Mashriqu’l-Adhkár, the Universal Temple of God, in the heart of each nation, testifying to the united faith in God and the co-operation and good fellowship of the many sects within their boundaries. To the ardent religionist of wide vision, what could be more inspiring than the thought of these great universal edifices erected at the heart of every country? Those who have observed the increasing growth of the number of united interdenominational religious works and functions throughout the world can foresee the further import of this phase of Bahá’í religious activity in its relation to our national life.
Who can predict to what the building of the Bahá’í Temples may ultimately lead? Beyond a general place of meeting for the groups which comprise the religious life of the people of the Bahá’í Cause, testifying to the basic unity of the universal truths of all religions, these will in time lead to the establishment of vast co-operative religious institutional departments of service to the world, co-ordinating the religious activities of the nations for social betterment of all peoples along many avenues of moral and communal service.
With the growth of international institutions and the increasing effort among all peoples for greater world efficiency, one can easily foresee the time when, in the development of international life, the nations will seek to conserve the moral forces of the world by co-ordinating the religious interests of peoples for a greater efficiency in the upbuilding of world morale.
Some of our greatest international or world thinkers are now seriously considering how to rally our moral forces in order to preserve the high ideals of Christian brotherhood. The Temple of the Bahá’ís will be the outer symbol of the great influences for co-ordinating the moral forces of the nations–broader and more far-reaching than can yet be foreseen.
In the world of today there is a rapidly increasing interest in the broad aspect of religion and an equally decreasing interest in sectarian
differences. This is so generally felt and acknowledged that there can be but little doubt that the ideal of these Great Universal Temples for worship will find heartfelt response and substantial support by many sincere religionists in whose souls dwell the Love of God.
One can readily foresee the mission of religious co-operation for a greater spiritual international consciousness throughout the world that the Bahá’í Temple will have in its forceful message to the people of all lands. It will therefore elevate a great spiritual and moral standard for all mankind. It will be a witness to the whole world of the high ideals and religious aspirations of the people of Bahá.
Religion is so associated with man’s noblest sentiments and loftiest ideals that one cannot imagine a time when it will not be the chief inspiration of the nation in elevated thought, constructive imagination, and altruistic action.
The outer forms and symbols of religion are constantly changing. The religious philosophy and thought of today are quite different from those of a century ago, but of one thing we may be sure, that humanity will always need the guidance of the religion of God.
Therefore, in this new movement to organize the foundation of Bahá’í Temples both the present as well as the future moral needs of the world are being ministered to, because these great monuments will symbolize and hold aloft to the people of the entire world the standard of religion and its creative function for altruism among peoples.
Active efforts are now made by adherents of all religions to instruct the people in the principles of humanitarian ideals. What greater influence could be brought to bear upon the peoples of the world than the elevation of the noble ideals for which Bahá’í Temples stand?
renown and happiness of people consist in keeping the commandments of God’s Holy Books. To one who considers life as a whole, it is manifest that in this world, regarded both materially and spiritually, Religion embodies the chief, infrangible foundation of things, and the highest, most righteous and impregnable principles attainable in creation; it embodies the whole of the ideal and formal perfections, and it is the controller of the civilization
and the prosperity of all mankind.”–’Abdu’l-Bahá.
“It was necessary that the fundamental basis of all religious teaching should be restored, that the Sun of Reality which had set should rise again, that the springtime which had refreshed the arena of life in ages gone by should appear anew, that the rain which had ceased should descend, that the breezes which had become stilled should blow once more.”—’Abdu’l-Bahá.
ONCE there was a Man who lived in the city of Christendom. Its walls extended as far as the eye could see, and its battlements were impregnable. A world in itself it stood, with domes, columns, spires, and the pure aspiration of Gothic arches. All that which hand could weave, or carve, or paint, all that which brain could conceive, elaborate, and disclose, and all which power and wealth could create, embellish and defend, were his heritage; and here he lived complacently, and looked about him with pride and assurance.
Sometimes he would wander to the farthest limits of the city walls, and visit the site of the first settlement. Here his forefathers had gathered together, and with a treasury filled with love, courage, and devotion, had broken the ground in their high enterprise. The subterranean chambers still existed, dark catacombs, which had afforded protection; and above, the heavens, vast and lucid, held a whisper which still vibrated. Great had been their progress, inconceivable their fortune; churches and monasteries had appeared, palaces and halls of justice. The spaces of sky had grown narrower and the dwellings close; many races had gathered in the streets, many banners had flown. One banner bearing a red cross was laid away with reverence; an open Book upon a lectern still betokened a victory. And everywhere were scars of conflict and records of dispute. God had said of them: “They ‘have not hated blood,’” and red became their color and their power increased. Now ever-stalking Prejudice had become deified, and many an altar had been raised to him, whose adepts held all others in abhorrence. The air had grown very heavy, and the sky had narrowed to a thread, but the city hummed with life, assimilation, and progress, and the Man’s senses reeled with confidence in his destiny.
Sometimes he would stroll upon the mighty ramparts, and from this point of vantage view, the outer world. Smiling nature would be revealed to him, man’s endeavor, glory also, and he would look upon them indulgently and extract from them whatsoever he desired. In the near distance, an exquisite minaret tapered to the sky, but it bore no cross, and he did not see it; in the valley beyond, the pure notes of the temple bells rose upon the wind, but the organ throbbed, and he did not hear them; close to the horizon, echoes rolled about a lofty mountain: “Thou shalt have no god but Me,” but he deemed the words his own law, and he did not understand.
One day he sought out those in authority with an untruth which he had discovered, and it was ignored; and later with a truth which he had recognized, and it was denied. Then he opened the gates of the city and passed through them into the world.
Out in the meadows fresh breezes assailed him; among the violets the earth took possession of him; and once he looked back upon the city and laughed, and then he lost himself in the moonlight, and wept when it paled.
One night of nights, he saw a new star upon the charted breast of heaven, and the star beckoned to him, and he arose and followed it. Past the rigid walls of Christendom, through the rolling country of his proud independence, it led him, drew him, to a glowing East, where its own light did not waver. Then he remembered, and cried out, “You are the Herald, and once you shone over a manger!” and the star grew very large, and disappeared.
Then the Sun revealed itself upon the horizon, and Its rays spread over the world: church, minaret, temple, all were bathed in Its glory, Glory again returned to man who had always dimmed it; and Sinai smiled, rekindled, while the Orient stood open, and the Voice again repeated, “Thou shalt have no God but Me.”
There is no greater Prophetic figure in the history of Judaism from the time of Moses to the time of Christ than that of Elijah the lion-hearted. He stood almost alone with God and for God against the evils of humanity. The following article shows in a remarkable way the inner significance of his spiritual career. Again in this age Mt. Carmel, the scene of the spiritual drama which Elijah unfolded, is the center and scene of a great religious movement, the Bahá’í Movement, and upon its slope rests the tombs of The Báb herein spoken of, and of ’Abdu‘l-Bahá. In ’Akká five miles across the bay is the tomb of Bahá’u’lláh, the Founder of this great world movement and world religion.–Editor.
THE advent of the return of the Christ which finds place on the lips of nearly all students of the Scriptures in these days, leads one to enquire into the prophecies relating to that great event and the preparation for its happening. There are certain constantly reiterated conditions which must be witnessed, certain promises which are as essential to the “Coming” as the “Coming” itself. For example, in the fourth chapter of Malachi, fifth verse, we find, “Behold I will send unto you Elijah the prophet before the great and terrible day of Jehovah come.” This is only one of numerous references in which a Precursor, or Herald of the great day is foretold, and since Elijah has been specifically mentioned, one is lead to ask, “Why Elijah?”
Biblical historians are agreed that no more powerfully tragic events are recorded in the Old Testament than those which are related with the mission and teaching of the prophet Elijah. Chronologically he is recognized as having lived about nine hundred years before the Christian era. The first and second books of Kings are replete with the dramatic incidents of his history, but that which sheds the greatest light upon his mission is the narrative of the challenge to the priests of Baal, to prove their gods
as he would prove his, in the memorable meeting on the holy mountain, Mt. Carmel. Though elsewhere the mysteries related are more or less symbolic, the overthrowing of the influence of the priests stands out as the most striking evidence of a faith, a power, a majesty which was unique and unknown in that age, and the like of which has never been witnessed except in the virile power of John the Baptist in the days preceding the ministry of Jesus, and of the glorious and sanctified Precursor of Bahá’u’lláh, The Báb, in the middle of the last century.
Elijah, patient, firm, faithful, majestic, of unassailable courage and conviction stood his ground against the power of the blind fanaticism and hollow mockeries of that age. As a door through which the light of heaven poured out upon a dead and stricken multitude he stood—alone—and by his spiritual power he turned the destiny of mankind into the path which led back to Jehovah, God.
Trace down the centuries and behold again the strong rugged, fearless John summoning the people to prepare for the coming of the Messiah. Truly a “Voice crying in the wilderness,” for the light had failed, the people were lost in spiritual darkness, evil had gained the ascendency and dire distress overwhelmed the world. Into this picture stepped John the Baptist, teaching, baptizing as a symbol of a regeneration of character, a parting from the old ways. He condemned without fear and suffered martyrdom for His invincible faith. Though when questioned He said that He was not Elijah, because He knew that those who asked looked, in their ignorance, for the physical return of the Prophet; yet pronounced by Jesus to be: “that same.” Here Jesus refers to the reality, the qualities, the power of the spirit manifest equally in Elijah and John, which enabled them to withstand the heresy of the age in which each lived. Each a door to the same heaven, each pushing back the dense clouds of ignorance which obscured the Sun of Truth.
Now again in this age has the Door opened, pushed by the firm but gentle hand of The Báb, manifest at first to humanity only as a point of light gleaming down the dark path of the world’s orbit. How mighty, how majestic, how wise, how glorious was the mission of this new “Door”! The qualities which characterized the Elijah of old, could they have been intensified, were intensified in The Báb. To meet the requirements of a world grown mature in its ignorance, settled and peopled as was not the case in former ages, stronger than ever in its evil intent, deeper than ever in its slough of despond, suffering, bitter, bent on its own destruction, there was raised the pure white hand of the glorious Báb! A voice crying in the wilderness of doubt rang out clear and firm and sweet. It reached the ears of multitudes, it touched the hearts of few, but it performed its mission, it stemmed the tide, its cadences rose above the vicious howls of the mob and when its work was done it was stilled by the hand of the oppressor. Not, however, until the way was prepared for “Him whom God would manifest.” Not until that Point of Light had spread out upon the horizon of the New Day brightening the whole earth with its glorious radiance, warming, purifying, comforting the hearts with this new knowledge of the love of God!
As Elijah, so John the Baptist, so The Báb,— all one in power, in faith, in love, in majesty, in vision, in accomplishment. This Door will never again be closed, for this is the coming of the promised age, the dawn of the great and terrible Day of Jehovah God!
“When the man who is spiritually sagacious and possessed of insight, views the world of humanity, he will observe that the lights of the divine bounty are flooding all mankind just as the lights of the sun shed their splendor upon all existing things. * * * God is loving to all. Shall we be unjust or unkind to anyone?”—’Abdu'l-Bahá
ONE of the most important teachings of the Bahá’í Revelation is the elimination of all prejudices. Unless all prejudices are removed from the people of the world, “the realm of humanity will not find rest.” It will never find peace until the right conditions are brought about. Surely we can realize this fact when we perceive the antagonisms between nations and peoples. Progress toward an enduring peace is impossible without the removal of these deep-rooted prejudices. Race prejudice, for example, is one of the “hindrances to realization.” Should we not love our fellowman irespective of race or color?
The abandonment of race prejudice is one of the twelve basic principles of the Bahá'í Revelation. We might call it one of the twelve gates to the city of Jerusalem, and the New Jerusalem spoken of in Revelations is the Law of God as given to us in this day.
When in 1911, ’Abdu’l-Bahá visited Paris, He told the people that “all prejudices, whether of religion, race, politics or nation, must be renounced, for these prejudices have caused the world’s sickness. “It is a grave malady,” He said, “which unless arrested, is capable of causing the destruction of the whole human race.” Let us stop and consider what this means,—“causing the destruction of the whole human race!” This being true, is it not time that the removal of prejudice as a divine principle be continually brought to the attention of the people of the world? When good will and love for our fellowman is actually practiced, irrespective of race or color, then will we become followers of the Light. When human beings are filled with the Love of God, they will have no prejudices whatsoever, all prejudices will be abolished, all men will become as brothers, all nations one,—one in so far as love for each other is concerned. They will no longer, as the poet has expressed it, “snarl at each other’s heels.”
Bahá’u’lláh and ’Abdu’l-Bahá tell us that in this glorious century universal love—love for all mankind—will prevail.
“Every ruinous war with its bloodshed and misery has been caused by either the prejudice of religion, or prejudice of race, or political or national prejudice.”
Some time ago the writer heard a very wonderful sermon in one of the large churches in Los Angeles. The minister seemed to have caught this divine principle. He elucidated his statements less clearly than we are accustomed to hear the Oneness of Mankind explained, nevertheless importance lies in the fact that he recognized the truth of this divine principle. He said that the time was coming, and not far distant, when people would no longer speak of “dagoes,” “paddies” or “micks,” “chinks,” “Japs,” “coons,” etc., but that they would have a more respectful attitude, more brotherly love; that they would not look on others as foreigners. While he spoke he seemed to have a wonderful vision of the future state of humanity. And as he brought these thoughts before his
congregation, they, too, seemed to catch this universal spirit and rejoice that such a happy condition was pictured for the future. One could feel the very atmosphere vibrating with love and good will for all peoples of all nations. This principle is permeating the ether and many are reflecting its spirit sincerely.
On another occasion in this same church when attending a missionary meeting, the writer listened to a beautiful and inspiring message by a Japanese young lady. She spoke of the progress the Japanese people were making along all lines, and then told this story about herself: She said that she had come to this country when very young and had been trained and educated here; therefore she had acquired the manners and customs of our western civilization. However, being of another nationality, she felt there was some discrimination which would not have existed had she been a native American, and therefore she did not always feel at home here. When her mother died, she felt very much alone, and longed to return to Japan. So the time came when she left America for a visit to her native land. When she arrived in Japan, everything seemed so different; the customs and manners of her people were about as foreign to her as to any American, and she said, “I did not really feel at home among my own people, they would say to me, ‘O you are too much American, you cannot even sit down properly, you cannot do this right and you cannot do that in the right way.’” Naturally their etiquette and customs are very different from that of the western nations. She realized that she had become very much Americanized. The poor girl felt very disconsolate and discouraged. She said, “I was like the man without a country.” When she finally started on her return voyage to America, she said to herself, “O! what way would I turn this ship,—toward what country would I turn its sails if I could?” For she seemed to have no native land, as it were, and she thought, “my own people do not want to accept me, and I am not really at home in America.” Then she said this thought came to her and was impressed upon her consciousness so strongly that it seemed as if truly God was speaking to her out of the heavens: “The whole world is your home; all peoples are one; this is the day of the oneness of humanity.” From then on, she said, she felt an abiding peace, and added: “I returned to America with a new-found joy. The message I want to leave with you, dear people, this afternoon is this: that all mankind is one, treat all nations and all peoples as your brothers and sisters, for we are all one great family. This is the day of the oneness of humanity.”
Had she not found through her experience the reality that all peoples are one, that in reality there is no foreignness, for we are all members of one great family.
“War and contention shall be forgotten,” said ’Abdu’l-Bahá, “for this is the day in which nations and governments will enter into an eternal bond of amity and conciliation. This century is the fulfillment of the promised century. This day is the dawn of the appearance of glorious visions of past Prophets and sages.”
Looking about us do we not recognize the efforts that are being made toward peace and unity everywhere? “If we study the great religions we will see that all teach we should love one another; that we should seek out our own shortcomings before we presume to condemn the faults of others; that we must not consider ourselves superior to our neighbors. We must be careful not to exalt ourselves lest we be humiliated. Let us therefore
be humble, without prejudices, preferring others’ good to our own.”
’Abdu’l-Bahá also tells us not to let “conventionality cause us to seem cold and unsympathetic when we meet strange people from other countries. Not to look at them as though We suspected them of being evil-doers, thieves and boors. We think it necessary,” He said, “not to expose ourselves to the risk of making acquaintances with such possibly undesirable people.” Then He pleads with us to be “kind to the strangers, whether they come from Turkey, Persia, China or any other country in the world. Make them feel at home; find out where they are staying; ask if you may render them any service; try to make their lives a little happier. In this way even if sometimes what you at first suspected should be true, still go out of your way to be kind to them; this kindness will help them to become better. After all, why should any foreign people be treated as strangers? Let those who meet you know without your proclaiming the fact, that you are indeed a Bahá’í. Put into practice the teachings of Bahá’u’lláh, that of kindness to all nations. Do not be content with showing friendship in words alone, let your heart burn with loving kindness for all who may cross your path.”
Again He says, “Forget your conventionality when you speak with them; they are not accustomed to it. To Eastern peoples this demeanor seems cold, unfriendly. Rather let your manner be sympathetic. Let it be seen that you are filled with universal love. When you meet a Persian or any other stranger, speak to him as to a friend; if he seems to be lonely try to help him, give him of your willing service; if he be sad console him; if poor succor him; if oppressed rescue him; if in misery comfort him. In so doing you will manifest not in words only, but in deeds and in truth, you think of all men as your brothers. What profit is there in agreeing that universal friendship is good, and talking of the solidarity of the human race as a grand ideal? Unless these thoughts are translated into the world of action, they are useless.”
This teaching was given to the people in Paris in 1911 but it is a universal instruction applicable to the people of the whole world. Let the people of the West as well as those of the East try and practice these principles so that all men may become as brothers and all nations as one for the creed of God is love and unity.
under the shadow of God in the utmost security, in happiness of
the highest type.”—’Abdu’l-Bahá.
ALWAYS from the beginning of time as we know it, to this day, the tree has been the symbol of human life.
The tree of knowledge of good and evil is the symbol of our humanity, striving for goodness but alas ever prone to evil.
The tree of life is the symbol of God’s Prophets and Messengers, the Sons of God, in whose protection of love and guidance man alone can find shelter, happiness and eternal life.
The leaves of the tree of knowledge of good and evil, are our individual lives. It is said, that though there may be myriads of leaves on a single tree, yet if closely examined every leaf has a distinctive difference none is exactly like another.
So too of humanity, although it is one family, one species, one creation, yet every individual has his distinctive personality.
The purpose of a tree, ’Abdu’l-Bahá said, is to bear fruit. Jesus Christ said, “a tree is known by its fruit.”
To live a life where nothing but leaves is produced is to so live as to nullify the plan of the Creator, as far as we ourselves are concerned. Such lives are barren of results, without blossoms and without fruit—heedless, shallow, indifferent—fruitless—neither hot nor cold. Verily at the last day, the angel of Life “shall spew them out of His mouth.”
A tree to produce fruit must first blossom. Blossoms are qualities and characteristics. It is well for every one to examine themselves each day and by thought to take note of one’s qualities and deeds: are they good or are they bad? “Examine thy deeds each day, before thou art judged, for death will suddenly overtake thee, and then thy deeds shall judge thee,” so said Bahá’u’lláh.
A fruitful tree manifests beauty in the springtime, its blossoms are vivid and harmonious, they delight the eyes, their perfume is pleasant to the nostrils; but the evil tree, its blossoms are repellant, its odor offensive. Do we not all wish to be a delight to others, to charm them by our presence, to attract their love and friendship? If so, then “we must adorn our lives with the crown of severance, our temples with the robe or virtue.” Importance lies in striving to be tolerant, broad, generous, kind, chaste, courteous, just, sympathetic and wise. Persons with such qualities are ever desirable and welcome in all classes of society.
Narrowness, greed, impurity, slander and covetousness are blossoms malodorous and repellant to all.
After the blossoms in the springtime, comes the time of harvest. What has been produced, shall it be everlasting qualities and attributes of divine deeds, of kindness and love; or on the other hand, deeds of lust, avarice and greed, cruelty and injustice? Truly by their fruits do we know them.
The following story by Jenab-i-Fadil* of an actual occurrence in the Near East points the moral. “A robber, bandit and murderer once lived with his band in the passes of a mountainous region. He like the others of his band was a Muhammadan; therefore they believed in paradise and hell. As years went by thoughts of his future state beyond the grave became more and more insistent and upset the tenor of his
* A distinguished Persian Bahá’í teacher who spent some time in America.
happy and prosperous life. At last, much distraught he went to a Mullah and asked his advice and told him of his mode of life and of his fears. The Mullah was aghast. He told the man that he could see no way whereby his soul might be saved. After further conversation he said to the robber, ‘come and see me again, I will consider your case, perhaps guidance will come to me.’ After a while the bandit returned to the Mullah who said, ‘Ah! I have discovered a way whereby you may gain entrance, at death, into paradise! ‘Tell it to me,’ said the bandit.
“‘Down in the village!’ the Mullah said, ‘there is a baker and he is a Bahá’í; such a one is most repugnant to God. Go and kill him and paradise is yours.’
“‘Ah!’ the bandit said, ‘that is easy, I have killed men before and I can easily kill a baker!’ So down the village street the bandit goes and into the baker’s shop. But the bandit could not kill in cold blood, that was too crude. No, he must first of all make his intended victim angry. So at once he hurled vile epithets at the astonished Bahá’í. But instead of becoming angry the baker was very sweet and said:
“‘My brother, do not talk so, Allah is a God of Love and we should love each other and be kind one to the other. Sit down my brother, let me get you some food.’ Alas! it was no use, the bandit could not enrage him, and went away disappointed. Again the bandit came, but the Bahá’í baker was still more kind. And again the third time the Bahá’í after being struck in the face by the bandit insisted that his would-be murderer be seated and partake of refreshments. Then the Bahá’í told him of the Love of Allah; how much he too loved him until tears came and the robber’s heart was melted with the fire of the Love of God. Standing up he said:
“‘You are my brother; I too, will be a Bahá’í. Now I shall go and kill that Mullah.’
“‘Yes,’ the baker said, ‘kill him if you wish but only with love. Show him his evil ways.’”
Today that one-time bandit is a kind and gentle man, filled with love and meekness, ever seeking to serve and aid others. The fruit of Love from the lowly baker’s heart had seeded, and who can tell how many trees of humanity will through him become laden with spiritual and luscious fruits!
which comprehends the Reality of things, can gather together under the shade of the same Tree the minds and hearts of the
world of humanity.”—’Abdu’l-Bahá.
’Abdu’l-Bahá, in 1916, mentioned the Island groups of the Pacific Ocean as fields for foreign Bahá’í service. The author of this article, Mrs. Louise Bosch, desirous of helping the fulfillment of these instructions, especially becoming interested in Polynesia through the works of Pierre Loti, finally came to the decision to undertake this difficult journey.—Editor.
HAVING happily formed the decision of visiting Polynesia in order to carry out the desire of ’Abdu’l-Bahá for Bahá’í service in that island group, I accidentally came across, in a way which seemed to me remarkable, the book by Pierre Loti, entitled “The Marriage of Loti.” With this book in my possession, a new chapter opened in my life. I read slowly, solemnly, every word and sentence. It was a story of love’s sad ending. The scene was in Tahiti, the largest of the Society Islands. During an interval of two weeks I read and reread this endearing novel. It was indeed an idyll. Throughout the reading of it I felt as though this book had been written for me.
The quintessence of Loti’s novel was his ability to inculcate love for the brown race, a subject which he treats so sympathetically and understandingly.
With the finishing of this book, I began to make inward and outward preparations for a visit to the scene of that story. In Boston I visited the Public Library to see what literature I could obtain on Tahiti. I was agreeably surprised to find that the very book I had been reading was used there as a reference and textbook on Tahiti. Some of the works of Robert Louis Stevenson, also used as reference, I obtained and read while on my way to San Francisco.
At last the Spring of 1920 witnessed the departure of myself and my husband from the port of San Francisco—a great day for both of us. We trusted entirely in the promises of ’Abdu’l-Bahá, not knowing a single soul in our appointed destination.
After a voyage of two weeks we arrived in the harbor of Papeete. From afar we could see the lofty mountains of Tahiti.
While waiting out in the harbor for the pilot, a tropical rainfall, the first one we had encountered on our voyage, descended heavily onto the waters. When we had been safely piloted through the dangerous reefs surrounding the island into the placid inner waters of the lagoon, a magnificent double rainbow made its appearance. We disembarked in the bright afternoon sun and entered the Custom House, but on our exit therefrom shortly after, the night had descended. I remembered then how both Loti and Stevenson wrote of the rapid transit from night to day, and vice versa, in those regions.
A guide, pushing our baggage on a wheelbarrow; took us to one of the two hotels there. We found that it was filled, but the host, a native, attired in European trousers With shirt hanging loose over them, kindly vacated his own room for our use. The following morning my husband was
--PHOTO--
The beautiful foliage of Tahiti
endeavoring to find a suitable abiding place, but learned that the housing situation in Papeete was the same as elsewhere in the world at that time. He could not find a house for rent; in fact, in the entire town there was only a single room available. He made haste to secure that one room and, throughout our stay there, we retained it. We learned afterward that Loti himself had lived in that very house.
At first we felt the effect of the tropical heat and the relaxing effect of the climate, as well as the annoyance of the mosquito stings, but the thought of having come there for the sole purpose of delivering the Bahá’í Message to these remote people comforted and supported us. No sooner had we met the first souls to whom we could impart the Glad-tidings of the New Day than our discomforts changed into comforts and our troubles into joy.
When we had been about two months in Tahiti my husband fell ill. An ice plant had been installed in the town—a new thing for that country—and the people had begun to enjoy the luxury of iced beverages, a dangerous thing for such a hot climate. Many became ill, my husband among them. His illness was not in vain, however, as his sick room became a real rendezvous for our newly made friends who were desirous of hearing more about the Bahá’í teachings.
Later we heard of an elderly gentleman, a Tahitian minister, desirous of meeting us. When my husband had recovered sufficiently we took a drive one day to see this minister, who lived in a suburb of Papeete. We found him at home and soon we were engaged in explaining the Bahá’í teachings. We had great language difficulties, as he did not speak French, nor had he spoken English for over forty years, although he could speak and
read English well before that time. Fortunately he could understand us much better than he could reply, so the situation was saved and we managed to have a delightful visit. With his wife we spoke through him, as she could understand only the native tongue. Between the intervals of our subsequent visits the minister read with avidity the books on the Bahá’í Cause which we had loaned him. After our visits he would look up in the Bible everything we had said, and would find it corroborated.
This minister lived in a lovely spot at Arue, not far from his church. His house was a nine-sided structure, situated on a narrowing stretch of land leading out into the ocean. He told us that this was the very place where the first missionaries to the island had landed some one hundred or more years before. At that time the inhabitants were idol worshippers. The church bore the inscription, “Fetia
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Mrs. Bosch and a native girl in Tahiti
Paipolamaama,” meaning “The Bright and Shining Morning Star.”
At his bungalow the minister offered us what he had, and said: “This is your home—come and live here.” He had about ten acres of land, and his house was built in half Tahitian and half French style, surrounded by an attractive garden. He had no children of his own, but had taken some into his home. Indeed, with Tahitians the love of children is so great that there is not a single household with- out them. One couple with whom we became acquainted had eight children of their own and had adopted twelve others.
One of the children of the household of the minister, a wee baby girl of lovely brown skin, was soon to be baptized. On one of our later visits he told us that he had baptized her and named her Bahá’u’lláh! We were very happy to hear this. Afterward we learned that it is a Tahitian custom to give children mixed names—for instance, Rebecca to boys, and Paul, David or such like to girls, and that the Tahitians preferred Biblical names. This is not surprising when one knows that the Bible is the only existing piece of literature in their own language. These people possess no literature, no history of their origin. It is a mysterious race, the encyclopedias tell us. They speak a restricted though melodious language, in which there are no harsh sounds.
Less than one year after we left Tahiti our minister friend passed from this life. He was a great soul for the little education that his time and country had been able to bestow upon him. Through us he wrote to ’Abdu’l-Bahá and thanked Him for having sent emissaries to his land, and asked blessings for Tahiti.
There is a legend that Tahiti is the Garden of Eden. Certainly it used to be a country of perpetual harvest without cultivation. It is different now, since the many foreigners have
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At the lagoon, Tahiti. Mrs. Bosch is the fourth from left, standing, and Mr. Bosch sixth from left
commercialized the place. Thus the life of the natives has become less easy. Extra food has to be imported from New Zealand and Australia, as well as from France and America, and one has to strain an eye to perceive the country as it was in former days.
Loti wrote that the life in Tahiti was localized by the seashore, and we found it so. The Tahitians love the water and are almost always in it. and no wonder for it is so soft and lovely and warm. Children learn to swim and dive at the age of five.
There are wonderful trees in Tahiti, of which the cocoanut palm is the most wonderful. Neither pen nor tongue can describe all the uses to which this tree is put. From babyhood to old age human beings could subsist on its fruit alone. Every part of the tree, from root to leaf, is used for a thousand different things. There is absolutely nothing that can not be made from the cocoanut tree, from milk to cement. It is called the tree of life, the tree of paradise. Then they have a great variety of other fruit trees, such as the breadfruit and the alligator pear tree. Coffee, too, grows there, its blossom having a most delightful perfume. In short, God has given everything to Tahiti. That wonderful land has been showered with God’s bounty. I will not dwell upon everything that Tahiti once had, or still has. Suffice it to say that there is a legend to the effect that God, when He created the world, created Tahiti first. “His hands were so full when He went about to distribute that He dropped a great deal over Tahiti.” This is a good description of that land.
Our last days on the island were spent in receiving parting presents and calls from our new friends. We soon found that our little trunks, with which we had come to Tahiti, would no longer hold our possessions. We received souvenirs of all kinds—shells of various sizes and colors, beads, baskets, fans, hats, slippers, mats, pearls, vanilla beans, etc. Perhaps the most touching of all our gifts was the bestowal of a new name. It is
a Tahitian custom to bestow names or titles upon departing friends. In this case we received the name: “Teriitahi Papeete.” We were deeply touched when its meaning was translated to us as, “First king of the great family of Bahá’ís arrived among us.” When we expressed our thanks for this title we were told that it did not weigh the price of the one we had brought them.
We stayed in all five months in Tahiti, scarcely long enough for the fundamental work that it is a Bahá’ís to do. It seemed best, however, to return to our country at that time.
Fain would we have given the Bahá’í Message to the ex-Queen, but an extraordinary circumstance prevented it. The fact was that our name was “Bosch.” We were in a French colony. It was soon after the war, and when the war feeling against the Germans was apparently at its height. Although we are Swiss, not German, yet because of our name we were believed to be German, and it was rumored that we had come to Tahiti to instigate the natives against the French. As there was already existing a good deal of estrangement between the Tahitians and the French, it was easily possible to credit the rumor. At all events, a false motive was assigned to our coming there, and the Queen sent her regrets at her inability to meet us. This she did very kindly, through one of her sisters. This sister was, however, sufficiently interested in us to suggest that my husband change his name. My husband replied that this was a good suggestion, but that he feared he might not always be able to remember his new name. But we had met a sufficient number of people whose interest we had gained and whose eyes we had directed toward the Bahá’í Cause. It seemed, therefore, best to leave that field then with the hope that we would return at some later time.
When the hour of our departure finally arrived, a timid young girl, who had scarcely spoken to us during our stay, came on deck to bid us farewell. She brought us a small red rose of exquisite fragrance. She did not speak a word as she tendered her gift. Thus she bade us farewell. We afterwards learned that this same girl was the one of all our hearers who had most fully grasped the significance of our visit to Tahiti.
We did not stay long at home after our return to America, but set out again as soon as we had sufficiently recovered from, the effect of our sojourn in a tropical climate. It was just about a year after the above occurrences that we found ourselves in Haifa, Palestine, in the presence of ’Abdu’l-Bahá.
We were, of course, most anxious to tell Him of our stay in Tahiti. During our first day in Haifa we made several attempts to draw His attention to our experiences there. On the following day some Persian pilgrims, who had arrived in Haifa a few days before us, came to the Pilgrim House in the early morning from the Tomb of Bahá’u’lláh, bringing with them from the Tomb a handkerchief full of blossoms. These they emptied into a dish which they set upon the dining table. How great was my surprise when I noticed among these blossoms the national flower of Tahiti, there called the “Diadem.” I had not known that this most fragrant flower grew elsewhere, as here in ’Akká. In Tahiti wreaths are made of these flowers. Loti says that both men and women wear them, and we have witnessed this.
I could not refrain from telling ’Abdu’l-Bahá, when He came to lunch with us at the Pilgrim House, of this coincidence. He looked weary and spoke but little. Could I have foreseen that within a very few days ’Abdu’l-Bahá would be taken from us I
should hardly have ventured to trouble Him. In my ignorance, however, I asked for permission to speak, which was granted. I then told of some Tahitians who had made wreaths of these flowers for our heads. I had not mentioned any of the humble circumstances leading to the making of these wreaths when ’Abdu’l-Bahá said:
“You must try to attain to the diadem of the flowers of Christ. * * * These flowers here wither quickly, whereas those others remain forever fresh.” I looked at Him. I had not understood. He then said, “The flowers of Christ are the disciples of Christ.”
Another day I laid the photograph of an old full-blooded Tahitian lady of several generations back at ’Abdu’l-Bahá's place at the table. He took it up and looked at it, asking whose it was. I told Him it was the picture of the wife of a native chief whose present day descendants had listened to the Message we had taken to them. His reply was:
“She was a good tree, she has born good fruit!”
This is the third in the interesting series of Diary Sketches from the pen of Mrs. Ransom-Kehler; the first was published in November, 1926, and the second in March, 1927. These contributions from this talented writer who had the privilege of a visit in Haifa, Palestine, for several weeks last year, have been very favorably commented upon and much appreciated. There will be further contributions from her pen from time to time.—Editor.
TIBERIAS and the Sea of Galilee. “Hearts cannot contain Me, and minds are troubled because of Me.” In these sacred spots of Palestine there is always a figurative straining of weak lungs in rare air; the sense that this exalted atmosphere is too high and fine for the clumsy mechanism of ordinary life. Something Unseen forever moves beside one; a cloud of joyous witnesses and that little band who followed the Protagonist in the great drama of Christendom, walking after Him down this dusty road that led to the Sea of Galilee—and to everlasting Life. “For this is Life eternal! To know Thee, the only True God,” and the Manifestation “Whom Thou hast sent.”
Here from the hilltop is the first sight of the lapis waters of this gem-like lake. The whir and drift of pinions press nearer; the haunting sense of having passed this way before—not in any gross human fashion but in the lift of the soul to a new level of reverence—and of pain; that never-ending pain due to the realization that even those who know their Lord in His Day so frequently increase His burdens and multiply His cares. Not so much pain because of Judas, as pain because of Peter, because of those who brought their frailties, their wrangles, their littlenesses into His very presence. Three short years in which to renew again God’s Covenant with man, in which to proclaim His imperishable evangel of eternal salvation to a brutal world; three short years in which to outflank the hosts of tyranny, greed and materialism—and not one precious moment to waste in anything personal or less than total dedication to His ends and purposes.
A world to be saved and nobody
to save it but frail, selfish, wilful, cowardly human beings!
The life of Shoghi Effendi* gives me the real example of what it actually means to devote one’s life to the service of others. “Lift up your heads, O ye gates; and be ye lift up, ye everlasting doors; and the King of Glory shall come in.” (Psalms 24:7.) It is solely through such “gates” and “doors” as the Guardian that the spiritual life of humanity can truly emerge. “The King of Glory” can only come into the world through the release of those qualities, the performance of those personal obligations, the assumption of those attributes that lead us from the beast to the angel.
One of the supreme proofs of the Prophet of God, when He appears in the world, is His unique ability to transform hearts and revolutionize lives. To hear, as we far too frequently hear, that we should not look at the followers of a Great Prophet but look at His teachings, is very much like saying that we should not test the flying power of an airplane but look at its outline. Of what possible advantage is the coming of the Manifestation of God from age to age if His presence is only to amass a certain bulk of literature to be read in leisure moments; to outline a remote Utopian scheme inaccessible to human performance?
The thing to which our gaze is directed in scrutinizing the claim of the Prophet is no more what He teaches than the effect that His teachings produce in human lives.
I often wonder if my estimate of history has been clouded by too intense an expectation; too impracticable a perfectionism as regards myself and my fellows; for as I look back over the contours of history and attempt to heft those strange objects
* Guardian of the Bahá’í Cause, who resides in Haifa.
we call institutions, comities, epochs and cycles, they strain my mental muscles as a falling weight rather than dazzle my eyes as an effulgent light. Always the same story: God calling to His impregnable standard the souls of men; always promising that the import of His command shall come to pass, and we, meagre mites, in the mighty sweep of His Exhortation proving again and again unequal to the spiritual task that He spreads before us. The spirits of men proving unequal to their high calling, the very stones, the stones of hard hearts and narrow human interests take up the stupendous labor, of lifting the inert substance of selfishness into the divine dimension of love and unity.
As we differentiate the historical purpose of the mission of our Lord Jesus, it seems to have been the releasing of the individual from slavery: physical, political, religious, mental and moral: to establish the rights of the individual, to emphasize the value of the human soul. We may safely say that in the fruition of democracy and of scientific achievement this freedom has been acquired; the irresistible power of God’s Word has executed its divine purpose—but with what a sacrifice of intent, when we view modern man, responsive to the affairs of this world, but skeptical and lethargic with regard to that “Kingdom” that “is not of this world.”
Standing here on the lovely shore of Galilee, the shadow of the cross seeming to stretch before rather than behind me, I can see the multitude straining in His Footsteps, not interested in learning of Him how to put more into life, but interested, then as we are today, in how to get more out of life; begging, not for the opening of that inward eye that is a window set toward heaven; but for the opening of the merely physical eye which in beholding, no matter how
fair, the objects of this world can never see beyond its limitations. To lift a man from somatic death—of what value is this? He must but die again. But here in the very presence of Him who in that day alone could confer the ineffable bounty of unending life, here they were taking account of a mere span of human days.
Truly it is the nature of Form to receive; but it is also the nature of Spirit to give, and in all those countless multitudes who were partakers in His mercy how few there were who gave back to Him that indispensable allegiance that was necessary to establish His Kingdom on earth.
Human conditions can only be changed by human beings. That curious conception, recrudescent from time to time in theology, that there is a force moving in the world independent of human choice and human effort, which brings to pass a certain predestined pattern that human beings are powerless to assist or to thwart, certainly has no place in the direct teachings of the Founders of any of the Sacred Religions.
This world and its destiny depend too appallingly upon human beings. The call to follow Them is a call to the most intense, vigorous, and unremitting effort. We may see but we cannot enter that Kingdom whose paths are peace, without putting aside our riches of whatever kind, material, mental, personal; without going back to that degree of naivete, faith, and enthusiasm that characterizes our childhood days. The effort of spanning a chasm or leveling a mountain is slight in comparison to allaying our prejudices, and finding our raptures in complete detachment from the experiences of this world. The “superhuman effort” to which ’Abdu’l-Bahá summons us is this dramatic engaging of all the forces of the soul to combat our petty personalisms and subtle egotistical pretentions.
The beauty and terror of this spot! Where the corpse is, there are the eagles gathered together: then the eagles of the Roman legions; today the eagles on our dollars, a world still steeped in greed and commercialism. Not until the earthquake, the wind, and the fire of our struggles, our brutalities, and our oppressions have passed, shall we be able to hear the still, small voice of God’s changeless command, “Love one another.”
A deep ineffaceable impression comes to me here by the shores of this tiny sea. Again and again ’Abdu’l-Bahá said, “Look ye at the time of Christ,” warning us that one by one the events of that era would be repeated in this age, in which the great prophecies of Jesus are fulfilled in the coming of Bahá’u’lláh. His warning is to enable us to thwart those tendencies that swept Christianity away from its Founder and established it upon a basis alien to His teachings. The Pauline theology bears no relation, however remote, to the pure teachings of Jesus. His teachings are based upon a dynamic and fundamental change in the life of the individual. In the poignant parable of the Last Judgment those who win a place on the right hand of the King are those whose lives have been dedicated to the service of others; in Paul’s theology those who are saved are those who believe that Jesus Christ died for them. There is not so much as a germ of likeness in the two ideas, and still it is the teaching of Paul that triumphed in the church: but it was the teaching of Jesus that refusing to die lifted up here, and there through the pages of history those mountain-peaks of light that reflected His true meaning to a wistful world. “Why seek ye the living among the dead?” It is the living Christ that lures the soul.
This moribund figure of theology no longer intrigues even the mind.
Peter, with his tenacious grip on orthodoxy, attempting to substitute new dogmas for old; Paul’s intolerance of old practices for a new age; the historic conflict that made a continent too small to contain them both; Paul’s retirement with his strange assortment of influences from the Greek mysteries, Alexandrian philosophy, Indian belief, Mediterranean cult practice, welding them all with one superb effort of the imagination into an instrument that would conform to Hebraic interpretation; and then with the irresistible power of a gigantic personality making his followers believe that even if an angel from heaven should say that “my” gospel is not correct they were to place no credence in it. * * * Neither Peter nor Paul near enough to the spirit of their Lord to make it important which won carrying on a conflict itself utterly contrary to the direct command of Jesus.
The spirit of those disciples, marvelous as it was, was not flame-like enough to melt the solid rocks of men’s hearts and minds into the fire of the love of God. And so God had to lift up stones to serve Him.
To be sure the great purpose for which Jesus came is accomplished. God’s Word does not return void unto Him. But though the Spirit of Freedom has been liberated in the Christian era, with it walks hand in hand rapacity, the barbarous ethics of poverty, crime, corruption, war. If God had had spirits instead of stones to perform His orders what might the world have been today!
There is an irony about such contemplation that strengthens the will and prospers our purposes. Almighty God! grant that in this day no thought, however vague, may obtrude itself beyond the shining dedication of thy servants, who have beheld Thy Glory and partaken of Thy Power, to cleave the mountains of selfishness, roll back the seas of confusion and doubt, pluck up the isles of division and separateness, and according to Thy mighty prophecy, destroy as with fire all the barriers of the earth; that mankind may be fused through the consuming flame of Thy love, into one kindred and one soul.
There stand, beside this quiet shore the Christian church and the Muhammadan mosque: the gates of hell have prevailed against both in the centuries that separate them from their Founders. ’Abdu’l-Bahá walked here to efface the footsteps of those forces and tendencies in life that lead men astray. Only in a church built upon the solidarity and sympathy of the human heart can we adequately worship Him. Let us build forthwith in our harmony, unity and understanding the Temple of the Living God.
Now they are calling me to start upon the homeward journey. But I have written nothing about Tiberias! The Son of Man passed down that road. ’Abdu’l-Bahá the Beloved of the world, walked this way! What else matters?
created man in Our own image and likeness.’ This statement indicates the fact that man in some particular is of the image and likeness of God; that is to say, the perfections of God, the divine virtues, have become reflected or revealed in the human reality. Just as the effulgence and the light of the sun, when cast upon a mirror, is reflected fully, gloriously if the mirror be polished, so likewise the virtues of Divinity are possible of reflection in the human reality. And this makes it evident that man is the most noble of God’s creatures.
Let us find out just where and how he is the image and likeness of the Lord, and what is the standard or criterion whereby he can be measured.
The criterion or standard can be no other than the divine virtues within men, which are of God and after His image. Therefore every man who is imbued with the divine qualities, who reveals the heavenly perfections and heavenly morals, who is an expression of the praiseworthy attributes, ideal in nature, is verily an image and likeness of God. If a man should possess wealth, can we call him (thereby) an image and likeness of God? Or is human honor the criterion whereby he can be called the image of God? Or can we apply a color test as a criterion, and say such and such a one is colered a certain hue and he is, therefore, in the image of God? * * * Hence we come to the conclusion that colors are of no importance. Colors are accidental in nature.
That which is essential is the humanitarian aspect. And this is the manifestation of divine virtues and the merciful bestowals. That is the eternal life. That is the baptism through the Holy Spirit. Therefore let it be known that color is of no importance. Man, who is the image and likeness of God, who is the manifestation of the bounties of God, is acceptable to the threshold of God whatever his color may be.”
—’Abdu’l-Bahá.