| ←Index | Star of the West Volume 21 - Issue 1 |
Issue 2→ |
 Proofread onceReturn to PDF view
|
We are working hard to have proofread and nicely formatted text for you to read. Here is our progress on this section:
|
| VOL. 21 | APRIL, 1930 | NO. 1 |
| Page | |
When the Divine Sun Shines, ’Abdu’l-Bahá | 5 |
The Mashriqu’l-Adhkár, Shoghi Effendi | 2 |
Editorial, Stanwood Cobb | 3 |
The Modern Sanctuary, Poems by Janet Bolton, Philip Amalfi Marangella, Lorna B. Tasker, Shahnaz Waite | 26 |
The Mashriqu’l-Adhkár in America, Shahnaz Waite | 7 |
Physical Features of the Mashriqu’l-Adhkár, Allen B. McDaniel | 18 |
The Bahá’i Community of the Future, Harlan F. Ober | 21 |
The Basis of Bahá’i Belief, Keith Ransom-Kehler | 27 |
Martha L. Root in Persia, A. H. Naimi | 31 |
later co-operation of Dr. Zia M. Bagdadi; preserved, fostered and by them turned over to the National Spiritual Assembly, with all valuable
assets, as a gift of love to the Cause of God.STANWOOD COBB | Editor |
MARIAM HANEY | Associate Editor |
MARGARET 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, 1112 Shoreham 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.
HOWEVER inspiring the conception of Bahá’i worship, as witnessed in the central Edifice of this exalted Temple, it cannot be regarded as the sole, nor even the essential, factor in the part which the Mashriqu’l-Adhkár, as designed by Bahá’u’lláh, is destined to play in the organic life of the Bahá’i community. Divorced from the social, humanitarian, educational and scientific pursuits centering around the Dependencies of the Mashriqu’l-Adhkár, Bahá’i worship, however exalted in its conception, however passionate in fervor, can never hope to achieve beyond the meagre and often transitory results produced by the contemplations of the ascetic or the communion of the passive worshipper. It cannot afford lasting satisfaction and benefit to the worshipper himself, much less to humanity in general, unless and until translated and transfused into that dynamic and disinterested service to the cause of humanity which it is the supreme privilege of the Dependencies of the Mashriqu’l-Adhkár to facilitate and promote. Nor will the exertions, no matter how disinterested and strenuous, of those who within the precincts of the Mashriqu’l-Adhkár will be engaged in administering the affairs of the future Bahá’i Commonwealth, fructify and prosper unless they are brought into close and daily communion with those spiritual agencies centering in and radiating from the central Shrine of the Mashriqu’l-Adhkár.
Nothing short of direct and constant interaction between the spiritual forces emanating from this House of Worship centering in the heart of the Mashriqu’l-Adhkár, and the energies consciously displayed by those who administer its affairs in their service to humanity can possibly provide the necessary agency capable of removing the ills that have so long and so grievously afflicted humanity. For it is assuredly upon the consciousness of the efficacy of the Revelation of Bahá’u’lláh, reinforced on one hand by spiritual communion with His Spirit, and on the other by the intelligent application and the faithful execution of the principles and laws He revealed, that the salvation of a world in travail must ultimately depend. And of all the institutions that stand associated with His Holy Name, surely none save the institution of the Mashriqu’l-Adhkár can most adequately provide the essentials of Bahá’i worship and service, both so vital to the regeneration of the world. Therein lies the secret of the loftiness, of the potency, of the unique position of the Mashriqu’l-Adhkár as one of the outstanding institutions conceived by Bahá’u’lláh.
| VOL. 21 | APRIL, 1930 | NO. 1 |
of God for all religionists, will be built in the Orient and Occident, but this being the first one erected in the Occident has great importance. In the future there will be many here and elsewhere: in Asia, Europe, even Africa, New Zealand and Australia, but this edifice in Chicago is of especial significance.”
FEW are aware that there is being erected in the suburbs of Chicago a Shrine which is expressive of a great and grandiloquent emotion of the human heart, namely, that of the brotherhood of man—an International Shrine dedicated to the oneness of mankind and the oneness of religion. This is the Bahá’i Temple or Mashriqu’l-Adhkár which is being erected on the shores of Lake Michigan in the beautiful suburb of Chicago—Wilmette, Ill.
There are two unique features of this monument to the Bahá’i Movement. The first is the marvelously beautiful and creative architecture in which it is phrased—an architecture described elsewhere in this issue, and universally recognized as “the first thing new in architecture since the thirteenth century.” The second, of still greater import, is the fact that this Bahá’i Temple expresses the longing dreams and spiritual aspirations of countless Bahá’ís among the different races and religions of this planet who look with eagerness to the completion of such a visible expression of their faith in this land of freedom, prosperity, advanced civilization, high humanitarian ideals and tolerance.
Nor is the interest taken by the adherents of this Faith limited only to good wishes. In deeds of sacrifice, rather, is their cooperation manifested. Since the inception of this Temple, many countries and many religionists have contributed generously of their funds, even to the point of extreme sacrifice. The following are a few expressions of consecration out of the many on record:
’ABDU’L-BAHA has told the story of the widow of a martyr who was left with two young children to support. She provided for them by knitting socks; the proceeds from one sock she used for their support, and what she received for the other sock was her glad offering toward the Mashriqu’l-Adhkár. ’Abdu’l-Bahá then said, “It is this spirit which will build the Temple.”
“Truly, I say, the friends of God displayed wonderful generosity in regard to the contributions for the Mashriqu’l-Adhkár. They displayed magnanimity at any cost to such an extent that some of them sold portions of their clothing on the street.
“Praise be to God! that at this moment, from every country in the
world, according to their various means, contributions are continually being sent toward the fund of the Mashriqu’l-Adhkár in America. . . . From the day of Adam until now, such an event has never been witnessed by man, that from the farthermost country of Asia, contributions were forwarded to the farthermost country of America.
“Contributions for the Mashriqu’l-Adhkár are most important. Notwithstanding the miserable condition of Persia, money has poured in and is still coming for this purpose. Although many families are extremely poor, so that they have scarcely enough to keep them, nevertheless they give towards it. For many years the West has contributed towards the East, and now, through the Mercies and Bounties of God, a miracle has been performed, and for the first time in the history of the world the East is contributing to the West.”
THESE are only a few instances, but the stories of similar sacrifices could easily make many chapters if recorded. Suffice it to say that from Australia comes a regular flow of gifts for the Divine Edifice. From Persia, India, England, France, from Honolulu and Maui, Hawaii, and from groups and individual Bahá’is everywhere comes the evidence that unity in God is a living thing through the creative power of the Word of Bahá’u’lláh.
No less a personage than the Guardian of the Bahá’i Cause, Shoghi Effendi–who has said that ”the specific Bahá’i institutions should be viewed in the light of Bahá’u’lláh’s gifts bestowed upon
the world”—has set an example in the divine art of real sacrifice when he forwarded the most precious possession from the Shrine of Bahá’u’lláh to be sold for the Bahá’i Temple Fund in this country, and he has regularly contributed every month to the National Bahá’i Fund of America.
It is indeed the beginning of a new world cycle when the Orient actually contributes money to the Occident. Is this not the symbol of true love and brotherhood—knowing as all do the relatively impoverished condition of those people compared with that of America?
IN THIS TURNING of the thoughts
and dreams of the Orient toward the
New World and the awareness of
the spiritual evolution going on in
America, one finds the miraculous
enlargement of the Asiatic consciousness
which only true religion
could have brought about. For to
the illiterate peasant of Asia in
general, the New World hardly has
existence; or if any, but nebulous
and unformed. Yet to the Bahá’is
of Persia, Rangoon, and even of the
jungles of India, America exists as
an entity sufficiently to call forth
their loving sacrifices. This is
more than human education could
have accomplished.
As witnessed in the article in this issue by A. H. Naimi on “Martha L. Root in Persia,” the Persian Bahá’is look with real vision toward America. The vision of what this dynamic rapidly evolving people of the New World will ultimately achieve for the Universal Bahá’i Faith, becomes the daily inspiration and stimulus to our brothers and sisters around the world.
IN the divine Holy Books 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. Among the various nations and peoples of the world no enmity or hatred would remain. All hearts were to be connected one with another. These things are recorded in the Taurat or Old Testament, in the Gospel, in the Qur’án, in the Zend Avesta, in the Books of Buddha, and in the Book of Confucius. In brief, all the Holy Books contain these glad-tidings. In all of them it is announced that after the world has been surrounded by darkness, then radiance shall appear. For just as the night, when it becomes excessively dark, precedes the dawn of a new day, so likewise when the darkness of religious apathy and heedlessness overtakes the world, when human souls become negligent of God, when materialistic ideas overshadow idealism and spirituality, when nations become submerged in the world of matter and forget God—at such a time as this shall the Divine Sun shine forth and the Radiant Morn appear.
“During the years when the darkness of heedlessness was most intense in the Orient and the people were so submerged in imitations that nations were thirsting for each other’s blood, considering one another as contaminated and refusing mutual association—at such a time as this His Holiness Bahá’u’lláh appeared. He arose in the Orient, uprooting the very foundations of superstition and brought the dawn of the Light of Reality. Various nations became united, because all desired the Reality. Inasmuch as they investigated the Reality of religion they found that all men are the servants of God, all are the posterity of Adam, all are children of one household, and that the foundations of all the Prophets are one. For inasmuch as the Teachings of the Prophets are Reality, their foundations are one. . . . Through Bahá’u’lláh the nations and peoples grew to understand and comprehend this. . . . After centuries of hatred and bitterness the Christian, Jew, Zoroastrian, Muhammadan and Buddhist arose for amity—all of them in the utmost love and unity. They became welded and cemented because they had all arrived at Reality.”
--PHOTO--
Now in course of erection at Wilmette, near Chicago, Ill., U. S. A.
(See opposite page.)
There is now building near Chicago the first expression on the material plane in America of the Bahá’i Movement for universal peace and the brotherhood of man. The Bahá’i Movement, dedicated to the great task never yet achieved by humanity of bringing to pass the Kingdom of God on earth, is fittingly expressed in the uniquely new type of architecture considered by leading authorities to be the first absolutely new creation in architecture since the Gothic.
IN approaching the great subject of the Mashriqu’l-Adhkár* one feels the inadequacy of human words or terms—so great is it, so mystical and holy, and yet so practical that it “rises above words and letters, and transcends the murmur of syllables and sounds.” In its isolated beauty, its deep spiritual significance, its mystical symbolism and its perfect reflection of a Divine Reality–it stands unique and alone in the world today. It is something which must be felt and realized in the heart. It cannot be comprehended by the mind alone.
LET US DESCRIBE the Temple not by our own definition but rather in the words of prominent journalists and notables who have expressed themselves eloquently concerning it in our leading newspapers and magazines, therefore we will briefly review some of the Press notices which appeared at the time the model of this sacred edifice was exhibited in the Kevorkian Gallery, New York City, in the year 1921. The New York “Tribune” and “Sun” reproduced it in their rotogravure sections. The New York
* “Mashriqu’l-Adhkar means literally “Dawning-place of the mentioning or worship of God.” It is an inclusive term, referring not only to the Temple proper but the accessory buildings surrounding it.
“American” gave it the major portion of its art page, with a long comment beginning with the words, “Many persons who have seen the model for this building say that it will be the most beautiful structure in the world. Some go so far as to say it will be the most beautiful structure ever erected.”
Sherwin Cody, writing a charming article in the magazine section of the New York “Times” said, “Americans will have to pause and study it long enough to find that an artist has wrought into this building the conception of a Religious League of Nations.”
The New York “World” gave the Temple a full page article. The “Evening Post” twice granted it most generous notice and appreciation. The magazines were equally impressed. The “Prompter” published a full page article with illustration. “Architecture,” one of the most sumptuous magazines of art and architecture in the country, devoted a page to comment and illustration of the model, reproducing among other appreciations the criticism of H. Van Buren Magonigle, President of the Architectural League, who said of the model, “It is the first new idea in architecture since the thirteenth Century. I want to see it erected.”
The “Architectural Record,” one of the most esteemed of the architectural journals, gave great space to the Temple saying, “It is singularly beautiful; it is bristling with a charming symbolism in which is found the suggestion of all the religions of mankind, and to the psychologist it is startling because the creator frankly declares “It is Bahá’u’lláh’s Temple, I am only the channel through which it came.”
The “Underwood Press’ sent out designs of the model and comments which appeared in practically every paper in the country, even the weekly papers of tiny villages printed reviews. The “Literary Digest” reproduced it with most favorable comment. “Art and Architecture” gave it an extended mention with beautiful reproduction, saying, among other things, “So beautiful is this model and so different from anything man has ever before designed, either as an abode, or as a place of worship, that it has caused much discussion among architects and sculptors and in the newspapers.”
The “Outlook” gave a reproduction of the completed Temple and sections of the beautiful dome with description.
The San Francisco “Chronicle,” the newspapers of St. Louis, Kansas City, Chicago, Boston, Philadelphia,—all have published long articles commenting on the beauty of the architecture of the Bahá’i Temple in glowing terms.
In the “Christian Register” appeared an article under the caption, “A Wonderful House of Worship. Description of the New Bahá’i Temple said to be the Greatest Architectural Achievement
of Modern Times.” The writer comments first upon the religious purpose of the Temple, enumerating the Universal Principles which are the firm foundation of the Bahá’i Movement. Most appreciatively he dwells upon the exquisite, original architectural details of the Temple, and the historical attention given the Bahá’i Movement in all encyclopedias, together with the great central figures, the Báb, Bahá’u’lláh and ’Abdu’l-Bahá.
“Wonderful as the architectural design of the Temple is,” says this same writer, “those most concerned in its erection, see in the universal service it will render to mankind its supreme importance. The Bahá’i Message is primarily a Message of Unity. It recognizes the divine elements which underlie all great world religions.”
In the Japan “Times and Mail,” Tokyo, February 16th, 1921, appeared the following: “Bahá’i Temple is Art Revelation. Modeled by Louis Bourgeois. Combines the Essence of all Schools. Marvel of Century Verdict of Experts. It is a Temple of Peace whose Portals will Welcome Members of all Creeds.
“A new creation of transcendant beauty has dawned upon the horizon of the architectural world. The model of the great Bahá’i Temple, now on exhibition at the Kevorkian Gallery, 57th St., New York, is being visited by increasing throngs and it has been an object of professional, artistic and general interest since its installment there in April of this year. Like many—indeed most—of the great art productions, this has
come from one who has endured struggle against discouraging deprivation and deferred hopes, but the universality of the praise bestowed upon the model finally evolved must bring the fullest degree of recompense for years of battling against depressing odds.
“Louis Jean Bourgeois, the architect and sculptor, is the designer of this marvelously beautiful model of a Temple, to be erected as a demonstration of the teachings and precepts of the Bahá’i Movement at Wilmette, Ill., on the shores of Lake Michigan, to occupy a central location in a beautiful tract of nine acres, already purchased, skirted by the Lincoln Highway.
“It is a Temple of Peace, whose broad portals of welcome and encouragement to devotees of any religion, and all religions, shall be always open. From a total of many different designs on exhibit at a recent Convention of Bahá’is in New York, the Bourgeois model was the one accorded unanimous acceptance. Beside its Spiritual appeal the famed beauties of the Taj Mahal grow strangely pale.
“It has been interesting to note the effect of this Twentieth Century creation upon those who have devoted a careful study to its indescribable loveliness. Professor Luigi Quaglino, ex-professor of Architecture of Turin, Italy, has been a recent visitor in New York. He visited the exhibit for a brief survey, but he remained fully three hours, and for two hours without speaking. His study resulted in the declaration, ‘This is a new creation which will revolutionize architecture in the world and it is
the most beautiful I have ever seen. Without doubt it will have a lasting page in history. It is a revelation from another world.’”
George Grey Barnard, the most widely known sculptor in America, declared by London critics the “greatest sculptor America has ever produced, and a famous Archeologist,” pronounced it “the greatest creation since the Gothic period and the most beautiful he had ever seen.”
Mozo Samuel, one of the foremost writers on religious drama, the author of the play, “Esther,” said: “Prior to this time no architecture has made any deep impression upon me, but this Temple model has thrilled me and I desire to visit it again and again, and to be alone with this marvelous creation.”
Musicians, artists, poets and editors have fallen victim to the lure of its spiritual beauty, and masses of the lay public have been enthralled by its magnetism.
Mrs. Mary Hanford Ford, a Bahá’i teacher, who spent much time at the Kevorkian Gallery in New York and the Art Institute in Chicago at the time the Temple model was exhibited in these respective places, writes of her experiences with the Temple as follows:
“New York: Since the Temple model has been on exhibition at the Kevorkian Gallery, its history has been very interesting. The model has a distinctive personality; to see it is like having an interview with a Holy and Magnificent Personage. For instance, one
day the editor of a theatrical magazine came in. He was something of a scoffer, and had evidently heard unpleasant things about the Bahá’i Movement. So he began to criticise the Temple. “It is a very pretty thing,” he remarked in a superior tone, “but it is over-decorated; it will be an absurdity in its full size.” So the caretaker of the Temple model very gently began to show him the significance of the decoration, how each line and curve was an expression of a great thought or a noble principle, so that all the spiritual traditions and future aspirations of the human race seemed embedded in this Temple. His face changed and grew soft. His eyes began to shine; then and there the Spirit penetrated him and, though he came to stay five minutes, he was in the heavenly presence two hours and left it regretfully. Now he has opened his magazine to articles on the Bahá’i Movement.
“A boy of eleven came rushing up the stairs one day and stopped suddenly on the threshold with a ‘Gee!’ He had been studying architecture in school and wanted to see this ‘new thing.’ He could not repress his enthusiasm. I heard him talking about it next day to some children on the street, and he brought in a little girl friend to share the treasure he had discovered.
“The colored people came in and sat quietly drinking in the lovely Presence, which makes realities of love, brotherhood, the immortal life and sympathy. No one leaves this Presence cold and critical, and no one can utter gossip or criticism or scandal within its lovely radiation.
So one can imagine what the great Temple will be when it rears its stately head in the blue heaven and all men feel it.
“From Chicago: The first week the Temple was on exhibition there at the Art Institute, thirty-four thousand people visited this magnificent gallery. They crowded around the glorious model spell-bound. One woman said, ‘It is like our dreams of fairyland, its tracery is so ethereal.’ Architects exclaimed, ‘It is a marvel of engineering.’ An artist fresh from Paris stood before it perhaps an hour in growing wonder as though a light were kindling within him. As he walked away, awed as by a heavenly vision, he said, ‘It is the most beautiful building I have seen in all the world.’
“None of these people knew about the Bahá’i Cause. But, as one woman said, ‘Just to enter the Temple will bring the peace which passeth understanding.’ She went out of the room with a new light in her eyes as though she had looked into the unseen kingdom.
“Some stand before it for hours studying every detail. Then they ask: ‘What does it stand for? Tell us about it.’
“A Bahá’i saw it for the first time in the quiet peace of the evening. She said, ‘That Temple came from heaven. What marvelous lines! What celestial beauty! Just to stand before it is a spiritual experience. It is so pure! So holy! Like the worlds of God.’ If the model so gloriously proclaims the Cause of Unity, what will the Temple itself accomplish? It will attract the people by tens of thousands to the New Kingdom of God
which has descended among the nations.”
So much for the comments of press and individuals regarding the marvelous beauty of the model of the Temple, exhibited nine years ago. Since that time articles upon the Bahá’i Temple and pictures have appeared from time to time in nearly every newspaper of America, and various magazines, both national and international.
Of his model, the architect has written: “The Teachings of Bahá’u’lláh unify the religions of the world into one universal religion, and as we know that all great historic religions developed a new architecture, so the Bahá’i Temple is the plastic symbol of the teachings of Bahá’u’lláh.
“As the essence of the pure original teachings of the historic religions was the same (though they have grown apart because of additions which have resulted in dogmas and rituals—the real cause of separation) in the Bahá’i Temple is used a composite architecture, expressing the essence in the line of each of the great architectural styles, harmonizing them into one whole.” Their decorative motifs the architect omits, for to him they represent theological differences and dogmas. Instead, he has used for his decorative motif a mathematical combination of lines which permit him to harmonize all the great architectural styles into a harmonious whole. In the Bahá’i Temple is the essence of the Egyptian architecture, the Greek, the Roman, the Arabic, the Gothic, the Renaissance. Mathematical figures crown the Temple dome, representing
the orbital curve of the planets around the sun.
Mr. Bourgeois then refers the reader to the article on the “Symbolism of the Bahá’i Temple,” by Mary Hanford Ford, which appeared in print some years ago when the model was on exhibit at the Art Institute in Chicago, from which we quote in part: “The great Bahá’i Temple, the construction of which has really begun in Chicago, will interest every one in the beauty of its symbolic story as soon as its walls rise into the air. The symbolism may be read, of course, with perfect clearness in the perfection of the Temple’s model, which is the completed Temple in miniature. We have been accustomed to declare in New York, ‘The Temple model is a personality, it talks,’ or, as some prefer to say, ‘it sings,’ but no one would apply to it the term ‘frozen music’ because its musical impression is so warm and vibrant that it is impossible to think of anything frozen. in its presence.
“All who are familiar with the building of the Temple model through Louis Bourgeois, its architect, are aware that it is purely a work of inspiration. Louis Bourgeois is an architect of wide experience, culture and learning. He has been for years first an eager student of spiritual truths and then a follower of ’Abdu’l-Bahá. So he is naturally familiar with the religious symbology of mankind. But he did not create the remarkable symbolism of the Temple model. He recognized it with joy, after it appeared through his gifted fingers in the intricate and beautiful tracery of the Temple model’s ornamentation,
or structural combinations. But he did not say, ‘Here I will put a triangle, there a circle, yonder a nine-pointed star.’ In each case there would have been merely an awkward juxtaposition of significant forms without beauty, for beauty—which the Temple model expresses in such entrancing degree—is the gift of God and comes only from God.
“The structure of the Temple is such that at night all of its surface will be a blaze of light. Its decorations are cut completely through the structural material, which is to be lined with transparent glass, so that at night each column and buttress ornament, as well as the stars and crosses and the ‘milky way’ of the dome, will shine forth like an embroidery upon the darkness.
“The nine ribs joined above the surface of the dome are ‘like hands clasped in prayer,’ Bourgeois says, and in the space between their union and the rounded top of the dome proper will shine a great electric light, sending forth nine rays into the darkness of the night, and forming a glorious illumined climax to the beautiful nonegon structure. So the Temple will be veritably a temple of light in this day of resurrection, of brotherhood, and new civilization.“
EVEN A PHOTOGRAPH of the Temple is far reaching in its effects. The writer recalls a meeting held in her home some time ago for the promulgation of the Bahá’i Message. The president of the Theosophical Society of that city was present. The subject of the Temple was not mentioned during the presentation of
the Bahá'i Principles. All during the talk this lady sat spellbound, her eyes fixed upon the picture of the Temple which hung upon the wall. At the close of the meeting she turned to the writer and exclaimed, “O, do tell me what building is that a picture of; is it not a Temple?” “Yes,” was the reply. “Where? Where is it?” she eagerly asked. When told it was a picture of the model of the Bahá’i Temple which was in process of building in Wilmette, near Chicago, she arose and went up to the picture and stood in silence with clasped hands and bowed head before it. Soon the tears ran down her cheeks. For a moment or two there was absolute silence in the room, then she turned and with a radiant smile exclaimed, “I never was so deeply moved in all my life. As I sat looking at the picture a great something seemed to flow forth from it, like powerful emanations from a Divine Presence within. Emanations that were the essence of divine love, the essence of unity and peace, such peace as I have never felt before but dreamed of, that peace upon which all unity depends and upon which the brotherhood of man alone can be established, that peace which is oneness with God.”
It has been said: “The Bahá’i Temple is more than an abstract symbol, even though a true and faithful reflection of the Spirit of the Age. It is a concretion of that spirit, an organ by which that spirit is enabled to contact, and hence influence social life at all points. It is the Body of the Cause of God, the material Bahá’u’lláh and ’Abdu’l-Bahá, visibly and invisibly
causing the social organization to progress. It is the first nucleus of the divine civilization, the focal point around which that civilization will grow to full world stature. The spiritually-minded person who desires a true index to the progress of reality in this age may well adopt the Bahá’i Temple as that index, for this Temple will not and cannot be constructed merely by financial contributions. It will come into being materially step by step, according as the new cosmic reality is felt in the minds and hearts of men. Already the Bahá’i Temple has this distinction; contributions have been made to it by representatives of a greater number of races, classes, and nationalities than have ever united to further any other plan. Its appeal triumphs over every false distinction and division imposed upon mankind by the limitations of the past.
“The Bahá’i Temple comes into being unprejudiced for or against any existing group, free from historical limitations, and from its very foundation consecrated to the Ideal of Unity. And what is Unity but the very triumph and vindication of spiritual love? When the Bahá’i Temple is completed we will have a holy place where members of every race, creed and class can gather in oneness to worship the one true God.”
No other Temple in the world had a Manifestation of God stand upon its grounds and dedicate them; hold up His Blessed Hands in supplication to God, standing upon that Holy Spot, made so by His Presence, and pray for those who arose to help build this
Temple and for all who should in the future enter it. To have seen ’Abdu’l-Bahá so standing; to have seen Him loosen the first shovelfu] of earth; to have seen Him symbolically lay the cornerstone by placing a stone in the ground (which stone is now in the Foundation Hall, awaiting the actual laying of the outer cornerstone, in which this spiritual one will be placed)–to have heard His address in the tent set up on the grounds for this occasion, and to have heard the benediction sung at the close of this never-to-be-forgotten service—was to realize that not until the coming of another Manifestation of God to this earth could such a divine event occur again. That is why this Temple is called the “Mother Temple” of all the others that will, in all the years to come, be built, and that is why to have sacrificed in any way, or to have served in any manner in the building of this Temple of Temples will become a crown of everlasting glory, and future generations will look back to this Great Day of God, when the Manifestation of His Glory stood upon this earth, and the Branch of His Planting built the “Temple of the Lord” and will envy all those who were privileged to be a part of it. ’Abdu’l-Bahá has said they will say, “Gladly would I give all I have in this world could I but be of those who were so blessed.”
LET US CONSIDER the following words written or spoken by ’Abdu’l-Bahá to different Bahá’is at different times regarding the Temple's deep inner significances, and what it represents to the
world of humanity. At the time of its inception He wrote, “Now the day has arrived in which the edifice of God, the divine sanctuary, the spiritual temple, shall be erected in America.”
“Its building is the most important of all things. This is the spiritual foundation; for that reason it is the most important of all foundations; from this spiritual foundation will come forth all manner of advancement and progress in the world of humanity, therefore how great is its import.”
To another Bahá’i ’Abdu’l-Bahá wrote, “The Temple is the most great foundation of the world of humanity, and it has many branches. Although the Temple is the place of worship, with it is connected a hospital, pharmacy, pilgrim’s house, school for orphans and university for the study of higher sciences. Every Temple is connected with these five things. The Temple is not only a place of worship; nay, it is perfect in every way.”
In view of these facts, the following words of ’Abdu’l-Bahá have a profound meaning. He said, “In the Bahá’i Cause, arts, sciences and all crafts are considered as worship”; and “service is prayer.” We see from these glorious ideals for which the Temple stands that to enter it and worship and pray is not enough. Faith without deeds is dead. What one receives in moments of exaltation and heavenly inspiration within its sacred walls must be translated into actual service to the world of humanity, hence the material means of this service must surround this House of Worship, this “Holy of
Holies” wherein the soul of man may be “recharged” with divine power from on high and go forth and prove his contact with the “Heavenly Beloved One” in deeds of love and helpfulness to His humanity, for our love of God is only in proportion as we love His creatures.
Further, ’Abdu’l-Bahá wrote,
“Today the establishment of the Mashriqu’l-Adhkár is of paramount importance. . . It is an expression of the elevation of the Word of God. Particularly the arrangement of the Mashriqu’l-Adhkár is such that it will exert the greatest effect upon the civilized world for it has many accessories. Among them are the following: a school for orphans, a college for higher scientific education—(or higher knowledge)—a hospital, a home for cripples, a hospice.
“When the Mashriqu’l-Adhkár with its accessories, is established in the world, aside from its religious or spiritual influence, it will have a tremendous effect upon civilization. Aside from the religionists who will feel its influence, materialists will not be exempt therefrom. Moreover it contains divine wisdoms, spiritual effects upon the intellects and thoughts. Subsequent to its erection these will become evident.”
REGARDING THE contributions which have come in from all over the world, which have paid in full for the land and for the erection of the Foundation so far, ’Abdu’l-Bahá said: “These contributions are most important. Notwithstanding the miserable condition of Persia, money has poured in and is still coming for this purpose, although
many families are extremely poor, so that they have scarcely enough to keep themselves, nevertheless, they give towards it. For many years the West has contributed to the East, and now through the mercies and bounties of God a miracle has been performed and, for the first time in the history of the world, the East is contributing to the West.”
It was the writer’s privilege to have been a guest in ’Abdu’l-Bahá’s prison home in ’Akká, Palestine, and to have heard Him say these words; and shortly after, on her return voyage, she met on shipboard while sailing from Port Said, Egypt, to Naples, Italy, a most charming young Hindu, an architect, then living in London. He had been a Muhammadan, but had accepted the Christian Faith. In describing the sad conditions in the Holy Land brought about by religious and racial prejudice, the writer said, “But such conditions Will soon be over; it is the Dawn of the New Day of Universal Brotherhood.”
He answered, “That is but a poet’s dream. I was raised in a Muhammadan home, and a Muhammadan by faith, and my childhood memories are painfully tainted with religious prejudice. It was emphasized continually, and now that I am a Christian I am cut off from my family. I have become, in their sight, an ‘infidel.’ Religious unity will never come on this earth I feel sure.”
“What would you think of a Universal Temple built to the one God, through contributions from every religion, class and race?”
“Such an edifice will never be
built. The ideal is glorious, but the fulfillment of it impossible,” he answered.
“Well,” replied the writer, “it surely will for the ground is nearly paid for, and when fully paid for the contributions will then be given over to the building fund of this divine sanctuary and, in time, this glorious Temple will arise like the fulfillment of Tennyson’s beautiful vision, ‘I dreamed that stone on stone I reared a sacred fane; a Temple-neither Pagod, Mosque, nor Church; but loftier, simpler, always opened doored, to every breath from heaven; and Truth and Peace, and Love and Justice came and dwelt therein.’ Such,” said she, “will be the Bahá’i Temple.”
The young Hindu’s eyes grew wide with wonderment and he said, with evident amazement, “Can this be possible?”
“Yes; it is gloriously true.”
With marked reverence and realization he answered, “Then God has indeed performed a miracle.”
“Ah, my friend,” the writer replied, “it is a miracle, the miracle of the ages, brought about by the power of God, manifested through Bahá’u’lláh and His Word, to unite the hearts of His children and establish the Reality of Unity in the world.”
TO AN AMERICAN Bahá’i, ’Abdu’l-Bahá said: “Draw your inspiration from the Taj Mahal.’’
All that have seen the Taj Mahal who are spiritually-minded testify to a marvelous spirit, a “mystical something” which emanates from it and which touches the heart and
soul and transcends words to describe. Its beauty seems of another world. And yet by critics it is said: “Beside the appeal of the Bahá’i Temple the Taj Mahal grows strangely pale.” Up to the present day the “Taj” has reigned supreme in the realm of architecture, and is generally conceded to be the most beautiful Temple now existent. What is the secret of its divine beauty, and the mystic spell it exerts over those who behold it?
“Where lies the secret of its spell, which thousands of men and women from every land and clime, through successive generations have attested? To say that it lies in its literally unique architectural perfection would be true, but one must carry the quest further. That miracle itself must be accounted for.
“Perhaps the ultimate explanation is to be found in the domain of mystic truth, rather than in that of material design. Is it not true that of all the great and historic monuments of the world the “Taj” alone was inspired by, and raised to love?
“The world’s palaces are the witness to human vanity; its commemorative pillars and arches to human glory; its cathedrals and mosques and temples to human piety. But the Taj Mahal was designed as a memorial to an eternal love—at once human and divine. It is an epic of undying faith in immortality and unending devotion. Its motive was not egotism but adoration. It was dedicated—not to self, but to spirit. Hence its unending splendor and grace.”
“DRAW YOUR INSPIRATION from
the Taj Mahal”—for the Bahá’i Temple. How may we apply this instruction? Might it not mean that as the “Taj” is a monument to the eternal love of two wedded hearts, joined in that “eternal union which endures throughout all the worlds of God” (as ’Abdu’l-Bahá has said) that the Bahá’i Temple is a monument to the eternal love and union of the East and West? The “Taj,” an individual expression, the Bahá’i Temple a universal one?
The East symbolizes the receptive, negative, spiritual and feminine aspect of Spirit, while the West symbolizes the positive, creative, mental and masculine aspect of Spirit. The East—the Spiritual bride. The West—the bridegroom of creative mental power. The East the heart—the West the mind, and only as heart and mind are united, each equally developed and in perfect harmony and balance, can the child of the new civilization come forth.
’Abdu’l-Bahá has said: “Praise be to God; the Infinite Bounty of God hath resuscitated the whole world and the East and the West have become united with the bond of the summons of God. This is the teaching for the East and the West, therefore the East and the West will understand each other, and will reverence each other, and embrace like long parted lovers who have found each other.”
“From the inception of the world until now there have been no uniting bonds between Persia and America, and communication and correspondence never transpired between these two countries. Now consider what a joy and bliss have
united these two regions in the shortest space of time. What a real and ideal tie hath bound them together. What spiritual communications have been revealed; and now is only the beginning of this early dawn. Soon will the star of unity shine forth and flood all the horizons with the Light, and perfect connection and real oneness be obtained in all regions of the earth.”
May not this great union, be consumated in the building of the Divine Temple?
May this not be the mystery of the Temple? “Its mystery is great and cannot be unveiled yet,” said ’Abdu’l-Bahá. “In the future it will be made plain.” And may not those who kneel to pray in this divine sanctuary say with understanding hearts, “O God! Turn our faces toward the beauty of Thy oneness and gladden our bosoms with the signs of Thy divine unity. Adorn our bodies with the robe of Thy bounty and remove from our eyes the veil of sinfulness and give us the chalice of Thy grace; that the essence of all beings may sing Thy praise before the vision of Thy grandeur. Reveal then Thyself, O Lord! by Thy merciful utterance and the mystery of Thy divine being, that the holy ecstacy of prayer may fill our souls—a prayer that shall rise above words and letters, and transcend the murmur of syllables and sounds, that all things may be merged into nothingness before the revelation of Thy splendor.”
A MONUMENT TO LOVE and to the “mystery of sacrifice.” Bahá’u’lláh sacrificed all that this ideal might
become manifest to mankind. Consider these words of ’Abdu’l-Bahá: “Bahá’u’lláh was a prisoner for twenty-five years. During all this time He was subjected to the indignities and revilement of the people. He was persecuted, mocked and put in chains. His properties were pillaged and His possessions confiscated. First banishment from Persia to Bagdad; then to Constantinople, then to Adrianople; finally from Roumelia to the prison of ’Akká. He bore these ordeals, suffered these calamities and difficulties, in order that a manifestation of selflessness and service might become apparent in the world of humanity, that the “Most Great Peace” should become a reality . . . that heavenly miracles would be wrought among men; that human faith should be strengthened and purified, that the precious, priceless bestowal of God, the human mind, might be developed to its fullest capacity in the temple of the body; and man become the reflection and likeness of God, even as it hath been revealed in the Bible—‘We will create man in Our Own Image.”
Bahá’u’lláh bore all these calamities and endured all ordeals and suffering through selfless love and service–the very essence of all love—that His Revelation might be given to the world. Thus the Bahá’i Temple is a symbol of the Invisible Temple not made by hands, eternal in the heavens—a symbol of the Body of the Manifestation and His Message to humanity, and of the body, or human temple of man, and its relationship to God. Great is its glory! Great is its mystery! It can arise alone through love and through sacrifice.
The author of this article is a member of The Research Service, an engineering firm in Washington, D. C. Mr. McDaniel has given much attention to the construction problems of the Bahá’i Temple, the design of which calls for wholly new methods of technique in construction. The difficulties to be overcome are herein explained.
THE design of the Bahá’i Temple, which has been so well described by the architect, Mr. Louis Bourgeois, is extraordinary. The more one studies it, the more one realizes its uniqueness. It is a new style, symbolic of the universality and spiritual significance of the Revelation of this Age.
Even a casual inspection of the Temple design impresses one with the elaborateness and ornateness of the exterior surface. Of so apparently a complex and exotic character, one wonders how and of what material or materials such a structure can be built. A further study reveals the unappropriateness and impracticability of using natural stone for the surface material. The expenditure of time, effort, and labor would be prohibitive, physically and financially, and the natural stone tracery would not have the necessary strength to resist ice and wind storms prevalent in that locality (on the shores of Lake Michigan, near Chicago).
The very nature of this remarkable design calls for the use of a plastic, universal character of material. What is more universal and adaptable than concrete, a form of stone which is plastic when placed iii the building and can be molded to any desired form, and any specified
color effect can be produced. Upon setting, concrete becomes as hard and durable as the best quality of natural stone.
The durability and permanence of concrete is demonstrated by history and scientific research. The ancient peoples of Egypt, Assyria, and Babylonia used massive masonry with mortars containing cementicious material. Rome still contains the remains of concrete structures which were built about 2000 years ago and are still in an excellent state of preservation. Among these are the stadium of the Palatine, the Temple of Castor and Pollux, the Baths of Caracalla and the Pantheon. Research has developed, especially since the World War, better materials for and methods of making concrete. Concrete members are reinforced to carry the loads as effectively as a steel bridge or timber framework. The recent development of the methods of selection, mixing and placing of the component materials makes it possible to produce today an artificial stone of any desired strength and quality. Thus it is possible to use concrete in the production of the curved lines and intricate tracery of the Temple.
The use of concrete for the surface material of the Temple will be economical, as the component materials
are available universally, and low in cost. As there is a great deal of duplication of tracery and ornamentation, the same forms can be used repeatedly to cast the surface structure in place.
Recent examples of the use of concrete in buildings with curved lines, perforated tracery, and varied color, are the Church of Notre Dame, Le Raincy, Paris; the Church of St. Therese, Montmagny, Paris, France; the Catholic Church, Bishofsheim, Germany; the Church of the Sacred Heart, Washington, D. C., and the Primavera Building, Paris Exposition, 1925.
Another plastic material which will undoubtedly be used in the exterior wall construction of the Temple is a metal alloy. In recent years several non-ferrous metal alloys have been developed, and a few, including alloys of aluminum, have come into use in building construction. These alloys are strong, light, and highly resistant to corrosion. In the new Koppers Building in Pittsburgh, over one hundred thousand pounds of cast spandrels were used. In the sixty-eight story Chrysler Building, nearing completion in New York City (March, 1930), the wall spandrels, copings and window sills are of an aluminum alloy. This type of material may be used in such sections of the building as door and window frames, sills, and some details of the ornamentation.
The existing foundation of the Temple was built of reinforced concrete and was completed seven years ago. The top of this structure is the first floor level. Around this circular foundation a flight of
nineteen steps will rise from the gardens to the main floor of the Temple.
The superstructure has three principal divisions or parts; the first story (the construction of which will begin as soon as contracts are let as the Fund for the work has been completed)—the second or gallery story, and the dome.
The exterior walls are largely tracery, which will give ample light to the interior of the building in the daytime, and afford a brilliant luminous effect when lighted at night.
The height of the Temple structure from main floor to top of the dome is one hundred and sixty-one feet. The extreme diameter of the foundation structure is two hundred and two feet. The diameter at the top of the steps is one hundred and fifty-two feet. The height of the first story will be thirty-six feet, while the pylons or minarets at the intersections of the nine faces will rise to a height of forty-five feet above the first floor.
The central portion of the Temple will be a single space extending from the main floor to the inner shell of the dome. Around this space are nine rooms between the nine entrance-ways and the exterior walls.
The crowning feature of the structure will be the dome, which will be built in three sections; the outer shell, which will be perforated, an intermediate shell of wire glass, and the inner shell of perforated material. This beautifully proportioned dome will be pure white in color, and at night radiate light like a great illumined globe.
The Temple structure will be
erected in two parts; the skeleton of steel and reinforced concrete, and subsequently the exterior wall covering. The latter is largely tracery combining with plant-like forms, the symbolism of the religions of the world.
The construction of the Mashriqu’l-Adhkár involves many new and unique problems. Unlike an office building, apartment house, or residence, there are no precedents and it is not possible to schedule
the building and predict just when certain parts of the structure will be completed after construction of the superstructure begins. Probably no one alive today could state the proper way to construct the outer shell of the dome, which is designed as a perforated structure.
Thus the Temple, the ornamentation of which constantly suggests life and action, must develop as a constructive organism, and evolve through experience, step by step.
In this article is depicted the Bahá’i Community of the future as it will exist functioning through its central organization, the Mashriqu’l-Adhkár. The Temple and its accessories will be to the Bahá’i Communities of the future what the heart is to the body,—a source of vital, life-giving forces. The way in which the power of the spirit functions through its Temple, transmuted into life service as befits the common needs of humanity, are well conceived by the author in this forecast. To our knowledge there has never before in the world’s literature been presented such a concept of this marvelous thermo-dynamic cycle in which the Sun of Reality translates Itself into energy and life of the world. It must be understood that the Bahá’i Community as depicted here is in no sense exclusive, it is rather a cross-section of humanity, for the Bahá’i Movement is very definitely an inclusive Movement.
“The Mashriqu’l-Adhkár has important accessories, which are accounted of the basic foundations. These are: school for orphan children, hospital and dispensary for the poor, home for the incapable, college for the higher scientific education, and hospice. In every city a great Mashriqu’l-Adhkár must be founded after this order. . . . Open ye the gates of the to all mankind.”
THE Mashriqu’l-Adhkár is the perfect body for the spirit of this age. It is a unit—a symbol and evidence of the unity of the body politic. It is a means for the protection of humanity by the Holy Spirit.
It is a means of stabilizing the forces of the world, and of bringing into existence that spiritual and material equilibrium which is the foundation of peace and the spiritual evolution of mankind.
A symbol of the interdependence existing between men, it opens the doors to the ideal community life.
In the center of this ideal community is the Temple, a dream of beauty, which, like a rare and delicate bird, has found a resting place
amidst the flowers and the fountains. It calls the soul to prayer and meditation, and to those voyages in the world of the spirit which bring comfort, solace, understanding and victory.
Around it are the accessory buildings, which cover the entire field of human needs. They provide the means for satisfying the search for knowledge, and for social recreation, as well as the means for maintaining or regaining health. They also meet the needs of the aged and the poor, as well as the helpless children. In this ideal community, a wonderful spirit is manifest. The basis of every community or individual action is love. As the Holy Spirit is recognized as the vital center and creative power working in and through the Temple, it is also known that the divine reality, the brilliant light, is the center of each individual in the community. The educational plans, the economic program, the social service agencies, revolve around this principle.
Behold a community vigorous with spiritual health, at every instant active and alert, poised like a delicate instrument conscious of itself as an entity, realizing its
divine obligations, radiating eternal joy and happiness, its members embodiments of that exhortation of ’Abdu’l-Bahá that a Bahá’i is one who possesses all the human and divine attributes in activity.
At all times during the day people are entering the Temple. The names stranger and foreigner have ceased to exist, because that which they formerly described has ceased to exist. The world knows itself as one home and one family. Members of this family from Persia, Japan, China, Australia, Germany, Italy, Russia, join with those who live in the city in praise to God; and drink from that Eternal Spring that alone satisfies the thirst of the soul of man. It is an Edifice for divine and holy thoughts. From time to time those who possess the spirit of detachment and beautiful melodious voices chant or recite the words of God. From the nine doors issue souls with faces illumined, with voices vibrant, with spirits soaring, with hearts overflowing with love because of the gifts of conscious knowledge and the indescribable bounty of the outpouring of God.
This city is a happy city because the Sun of Truth is shining brilliantly in the hearts, and its warmth is radiating to the uttermost parts of the community.
The terrible disease of poverty which afflicted humanity like a scourge for ages has been eliminated through the application of the economic program of Bahá’u’lláh. The foundation of this program is “that man shall love his neighbor.”
That there are differences in
capacities and abilities among men is recognized; but it is also realized that these are not sufficient to justify great extremes of wealth or poverty.
Each person brought into the community by the permission and bounty of God possesses certain inalienable rights. One of the most fundamental of these is that during his life he shall always be entitled, as a right, not as a charity, to his share of the means of subsistence and protection.
While some may consider that such a plan would encourage indolence, it should be realized that this new order is constructive; and that both by precept and by example man is taught the joy and happiness of the life of service.
Since the world is at peace for the first time in this cycle, each city is free to devote all its energies to the constructive developments of civilization. As a result, extraordinary progress has been made in the fields of education, of economics, and of science.
EACH child born into the
world is considered as a
divine trust, first of the parents
but also of the community. All
the protective, helpful, creative
forces in the city are made available
for him, because it is not
known what unique services God
may have destined for him. He
becomes the object of the prayers
of all, and every protection is accorded
to him that he may develop
perfectly in body and in mind.
Since it is realized that happiness is like the shining of the sun, everything is done to bring happiness to the father, the mother and
the child, so that no coldness shall wither its tender being, nor sorrows bring blight and burden to its spirit. In this way it grows to normal, vigorous childhood, and toward maturity.
The mother, as his first teacher, is trained to turn his soul toward God and to disclose to him the beauties of the new world to which he has come.
As soon as he is old enough to associate with other children, his training is shared by a teacher who now plays a most important part in his life. Like a beautiful flower in a garden, he comes under the care of one who by capacity and training is qualified to train the faculties, to unfold the hidden treasures, to teach the spirit of cooperation with his comrades. In the atmosphere of love and affection, and with growing confidence, the child of the new race becomes increasingly aware of his spiritual heritage and feels the throbbing urge of destiny.
He is taught a trade or art so that he may attain the most perfect coordination of mind and body, also so that he shall throughout his life be capable of earning his livelihood, no matter what vicissitudes may come. His horizon is the universe, his aspiration—to attain the good pleasure of the Blessed Perfection (Bahá’u’lláh).
How happy is he after his period of travel by airplane to all parts of the world, where he associates intimately with all the important peoples on the globe, to enter into that field of service that he has chosen after considering the guidance of his spirit and the consultation
of his teachers and his near ones.
One of the most interesting parts of the work of the community relates to the maintenance of a proper standard of living, and to continuity of employment.
Since it is known that each soul deserves the privilege of creating new things in the field of art and science, since the spiritual, mental, moral and physical health of the city depends upon the health of each individual in it, every means is seized to protect the health of all.
The mainspring of this plan is mutual love. It is also recognized that if some are spiritually illumined and others are dark; if some are well trained in mind and others are ignorant; if some are following high moral standards and others are negligent; if some are strong of body while others are weak and subject to disease–there is then a serious condition, resulting from these extremes, which will ultimately bring difficulty to that community. Therefore none are permitted, by the love of the community, to fall below this accepted standard of means and of health.
THE inventions of this new age have brought wealth to the entire world, so that no longer is it necessary to struggle for a mere existence. It is no longer necessary to work so many hours that the body is exhausted, and neither time or strength is left for spiritual and mental unfoldment.
Peace has not only made possible the release of untold billions of wealth for the benefit of all, but best of all it has turned the minds
of men away from destructive thoughts and conditions.
In the same way that medical science has made possible longer and healthier lives and eliminated the destructive plagues and scourges of former times, so has the divine science of God prevented periodic outbreaks and collapses that have in past times disturbed the world of government and finance.
One of the great gifts of Bahá’u’lláh has been the elimination of those fears that formerly afflicted humanity. The fear of poverty, of dependence upon others, the fear of loneliness, the fear of unemployment, the fear of inability to pay for the best medical service when ill—all of these fears have disappeared, first because of the spirit of love and mutual cooperation, and secondly by the carrying out in law and custom of the provisions of Bahá’u’lláh’s economic plan.
Upon completion of his or her training the individual joins the particular field of employment and service which his abilities and the needs of the community require.
From the beginning he is a partner in the business, receiving a stated wage and his proper percentage of the business. His ideal is to embody that guidance of ’Abdu’l-Bahá: “Work with such happiness and joy that people seeing you will exclaim: ‘This is the work of all the work in the world that you would desire to do.’”
In this community, work in the spirit of service is accepted as the highest form of worship.
Religion, not of exalted words
only, but of deeds, pure, simple, direct, permeates all.
Now that the world has discovered itself and its treasures, every community is world-conscious. Man has so transcended the laws of nature that he has been able to establish a stability of order, of government and of economic conditions that prevents the extremes that in former times brought distress and destruction.
As great reservoirs collect water and protect cities during the periods of drought, so do the economic and financial storehouses in each community protect against the extremes of poverty and unemployment.
The spirit of man is more vigorous, more alert, more penetrative, more courageous, more fearless, than in the past times. The field of his endeavor is now a higher one.
As wonderful machinery and homes of beauty have superseded the crude instruments and caves or tents of primitive man, so greater spiritual susceptibilities, wonderful consciousness of the spirit of service, and deep penetration of the mysteries of love between men have superseded the crude emotions and the primitive understanding of former times.
WHEN men’s minds and hearts became universalized and were freed from destructive tendencies, then for the first time God opened up the flood gates of knowledge and stirred the entire world with the creative power. The result has been a deepening of life that only the dreams and visions
of pure hearts could possibly have conceived.
Men, women and children walk about under the blue skies, but they are a new race, the essence and fruit of mankind. They are the epitome of the noblest thoughts that have stirred the race. They are the fulfillment of the dreams of the poets and seers of past ages. They are the radiant lamps of the Kingdom of God. In their lives, their thoughts, their deeds, their actions they embody the instructions of all the prophets and the divine educators of humanity. They are the redeemers of the past time, the perfected fruit on the tree of humanity.
Some men have dreamed of them, but most have denied that they would ever be. Yet here they are, revealing those latent powers that from the beginning have existed in all men.
The gloomy night has passed, the conflicts between the higher and lower natures of men have ended in the victory of the spirit. Though living on the earth, man flies in the world of the spirit, he transcends limited boundaries, and claims the world to be his home and all men to be his brothers. His spiritual susceptibilities are extraordinary, his sympathies include the universe, his only fear is that he will
not attain his divine destiny in a world of love and unity.
Man is the microcosm of the macrocosm. He is a brilliant flame in the midst of the universe when he has attained unity with God, through recognition of the divine station in every man, and has bowed down at the threshold of that station.
It is this spirit, this love, that has built the Mashriqu’l-Adhkár, has made it the “dawning point of praises,” and the throbbing, pulsating heart of this community.
Its accessory institutions are the first recipients of its love, its necessary means of spiritual and material expression.
The intensity of the ray is so great, that it is as strong in these abodes of service as in the heart of the worshipper in the Mashriqu’l-Adhkár.
Happy is he who lives upon the earth in the Day of God.
Happy is he who becomes conscious of His Glory, recognizes His station, and inhales the fragrance of that spiritual garden, drinks of that heavenly water, partakes of the divine bread, and offers up his life in the Divine Pathway.
For he has entered the real Temple which is the very Law of God, the collective center, the Point of Unity for all mankind.
“The greatest gift of man in universal love–that magnet which renders existence eternal. It attracts realities diffuses life with infinite joy. If this love penetrates the heart of man, all the forces of the universe will be realized in him, for it is a divine power which transports him to a divine station and he will make no progress until he is illumined thereby. Strive to increase the love-power of reality, to make your hearts greater centers of attraction and to create new renders and relationships. . . . It is the fire of the love of God which renders man superior to the animal. Strengthen this superior force through which is attained all the progress in the world.”
- What Hand arrayed the Hopes of all the Ages
- In this bright Shape—this many-pointed Star?
- What Architect designed this firm foundation
- On which to build Love’s templed Avatar?
- What Wisdom set the waning Lights of Jesus
- Above the centuries for evermore;
- Emblazoning across a mystic portal
- Those everlasting words, “I am the Door!”
- What Master-mind conceived these Gates of Splendor,
- Nine golden Doors encircling roundabout;
- That it should be “A Dawning-Place of Praises,”
- Claiming the true, the faithful and devout?
- Here God is One! O Master of the Temple!
- In Thee we trust and all the World is kin,
- Thus, by Muhammad, “Seal of all the Prophets,”
- By Moses and by Buddha—let them in!
- By every Cup that frees from sin and sorrow,
- Enter, ye tribes and nations, and be blest
- Here each hath life beneath its healing shadow,
- And thus God made the Temple of His Rest!
- Our Temple—dawn of our dreaming,
- Dawn of our golden dreaming,
- Brighter become each day
- At the core of our life’s endeavor,
- Born like a glory of sunlight,
- Or a music of wondrous singing,
- Built of our hearts’ deep passion,
- Woven of song and fire.
- Our Temple—secret of gladness,
- Secret of all earth’s gladness,
- Lovlier grown each day
- With the beauty of song and laughter,
- Builded of many a handclasp,
- Arms of lovers entwining,
- Holding the whole world’s tenderness,
- Folded in God’s Desire.
- Our Temple—symbol of yearning,
- Symbol of all our yearning,
- Loftier grown each day
- At the heart of mankind’s endeavor.
- So shall it grow to-morrow,
- And beyond the drift of the ages,
- Stream with the joy of the Vision,
- Higher—forever higher!
- O flowing fountains, sing Love’s praise to me.
- O beckoning paths, urge faltering feet to thee.
- O portals wide, embrace entirely
- The Self that nears this blessed sanctuary.
- O glowing torches, flame from wisdom’s seat.
- O luminous dome, thy hands in prayer complete
- This shrine where Faith shall never know defeat;
- This mystic heart where soul with God may meet
- O! Temple of the Beautiful!
- O! Temple of the Lord!
- That for God’s Oneness e’er will‘stand,
- And for His Holy Word;
- Thy radiance shall shine afar,
- As shines the sun above;
- A Refuge thou to weary hearts,
- A Fortress of God’s Love.
- O! Temple that doth symbolize,
- God’s Word made flesh to man;
- Thou art the Body of His Law,
- Revealing His great Plan;
- All nations shall in thee rejoice,
- And gather from afar,
- Shall hold aloft the Glorious Name,
- That Name-Baha’u’llah.
- O! Temple of true Unity,
- Of Knowledge and of Light,
- O! Temple of the Living God,
- Of Day—that knows not night;
- Thou art a Mystery Divine,
- But one that all may read,
- Who enter in with “hearts made pure;”
- With faith—and loving deed.
- O! Temple of the Beautiful!
- O Miracle Divine!
- In thee the nations join as one,
- From every land and clime;
- Thou art the symbol of God’s Peace;
- Which cometh from above;
- The symbol of God's Word Divine;
- His Manifested Love.
THE Bahá’i Messege, which seriously demands the conscientious investigation of every fair-minded person who believes in the spiritual order of the universe, was enunciated by Bahá’u’lláh, the Founder of the Movement. Briefly stated, His characteristic teaching, which gives us a new philosophy of history, is based upon the periodic appearance here on earth of a sublime Being, a great Super-Personality. Through Him men arise to the recognition and expression of new and unprecedented activities and relations; through Him savage and anti-social practices are reformed; through Him life takes on a larger scope and higher significance; through Him “every mouldering bone is quickened.“
It is historically true that every thousand years, more or less, there appears in the world a Being of unique capacity. Without any exception the Founders of the great sacred religions of the world have announced themselves as possessed of a Divine Power delegated to Them from the Supreme Source. They have never left men to guess or infer whence they derive their authority, but all, in one form or another, paraphrase the statement, “Thus saith the Lord.”
Within the century since the birth of Bahá’u’lláh, history has been welded into a single instrument, that fulcrum upon which the mind of man has removed the mystery
that shrouded the world. To the scientific temper which has ushered in “the new earth,” this magnificent procession of the Mighty Prophets walking with periodic regularity through the great drama of life, is entirely in accord with the regularity and precision of the cosmic order.
To ask the modern mind to accept the idea that there has been a single unprecedented and incomparable event in the world—a unique occurrence—is to place before it a conception entirely alien to the course of nature or to the course of history. To ask informed men and women, enlightened by a thousand years of inquiry and discovery, to believe a story quite plausible and acceptable to the ancient mind, is to turn them toward materialism and skepticism.
But when we clearly descry in the movement of history a mighty event not unique but recurrent, a glorious Personage, not solitary but repetitive, a reviving influence leading always to better social practices, to greater emancipation and aspiration, here we have a condition that immediately relates itself to our experience in every other field of observation.
Accepting this fact as inquirers into the Bahá’i Teachings are constrained to do, even with no other evidence than that of history, the objection is often made that, while these men are exceptional, outstanding, great geniuses even, to
claim for them any powers beyond the purely human is at once to fall back into the dogmatic and irrational attitude from which we have just extricated the uncritical thinking of the past.
When the Bahá’i teacher counters with the question, “How do you account for the profound changes that take place as a result of His appearance if He does not produce them?” the answer, in one form or another, reduces back to the zeitgeist, or time spirit. The answer is that, in the course of evolution, certain things are constrained to appear at certain times. This presupposes a perfectly mechanical universe, already complete and determined; a motion picture that is merely being run through a projector. Herbert Spencer was the last fashionable sponsor for this conception, his theory of organic evolution being that all we had to do was to breed enough generations of men, finally to produce the perfect human being, the goal of evolution, who would stand upon the earth without either the assistance or the opposition of outer circumstances.
Neither psychology, biology, ethnology nor sociology know anything about such an assumption.
In the first place, where does the Zeitgeist come from? Either it is itself an efficient cause and therefore of spiritual origin, or a mere ethnic phenomenon, which has never shown itself capable of producing new polities and changed ideals.
But if it be an Efficient Cause, how does it make itself known to man? Through what channel does it issue those directions that enable
men to change existing conditions? There is no accredited means of communication between God and man direct, for, left without interpretation, each individual offers a different answer as to what the Voice of God is saying to the soul. To say that the Zeitgeist appears from humanity and then becomes its guide is like saying that the automobile produces its driver, or that species produce evolution, or that springtime causes the return of the sun. In that case the Zeitgeist is not a cause but an effect and effects without causes, either in science or philosophy, are so generally lacking, that it would be difficult to convince even a high-school boy that the Zeitgeist was the effect of a cause and at the same moment the cause of that effect.
Predestination and foreordination were all very well in Augustinian Rome and Calvinian Geneva, but they won’t stand the scalpel of Pavlov, the scrutiny of Adler, the prestidigitation of Einstein or the inquiry of Bergson and Spengler.
This universe is not a rigid little buttoned-up mechanism, according to the findings of biology and physics; there isn’t a small pre-arranged cog in it called a Time Spirit (Zeitgeist) that makes men tick out certain prearranged reactions to prearranged events. The changes in men’s hearts do not come through some tool situated there that from time to time produces the expected change. The unpredictable adjustments that take place in animal life through change in environment, nutrition, mixed heredity and the like; the
half dozen geometries, mutually contradictory and all equally possible, in the new physics, show conclusively the fallacy of the Zeitgeist. It is neither logical nor scientific to say that periodic fermentation and flowering that occur in history from age to age can be produced of itself without some apparent cause.
But granted that the objector accept this conclusion, he still does not see that it establishes the super-human status of the cause of human progress, the Manifestations* of God. This in itself does not so establish Him; but it does establish the necessity for some reason beside an outworn evolutionary theory to account for human progress.
On what basis do we rest our claim that the Founders of the great religions of the world are a special order of Being, differing from the world of humanity as the human differs from the animal, the animal from the vegetable, or the vegetable from the mineral?
Our first argument is drawn from history, and based upon the obvious and inescapable fact that no one except these Beings ever accomplish the regeneration of peoples and nations. No monarch, no general, no philosopher, no scientist, no plutocrat, no priest, is ever able to extend his influence beyond a few generations—if as far as that.
But let us, for illustration, take one single example of the great Prophet, Moses. In a conflict with the Egyptians He murdered a
* The Founders of the Great Religions of the World.
task-master* and was forced to fly for his life. When the hour came that His Mission was to be assumed, He was clothed in the mantle of Divine Authority. Stepping from that cleft in the rock where He had stood face to face with the Almighty, He descended from the mountain (of spiritual communication) to the plane of humanity and delivered the Will of God to man. It is not astonishing that a man should say He had spoken with God—the asylums are full of them-but that for three thousand years we should continue to believe that through Moses we have heard the Voice of God, and for three thousand years continue to be guided by it, is a phenomenon unparalleled in history.
Why is it that throughout Christian and Jewish communities we are unable to barter and exchange, to buy and sell on the Sabbath? It is because three thousand years ago a Man descended from a mountain top bringing with Him as an ordinance from God, the fiat that every seventh day men must rest. It was a perfectly arbitrary order so far as His followers were concerned: why not every fourth day or every fifteenth day? But so great was His Power and so unchallengeable His Authority that millions upon millions of people living and dead submit and have submitted to His decrees as a sacred trust.
Certainly there is no race at all comparable with the Jews historically; in truth, they alone have been the witnesses of history. China, India, Persia–nations synchronous
* Exodus 2:12.
with them—are parts of history, the Jews alone, in spite of exile, dispersion, persecution, expatriation, retain their racial characteristics, their national ideals, their distinguishing ethnic traits, defying absorption, extinction or modification. Scattered amongst the nations of the world, despised and outcast, they have watched their captors disintegrate, their spoilers perish and the mighty of the earth become the “companions of pebbles.” Egypt, Phoenicia, Babylon, Assyria, Persia, Greece, Carthage, Rome, the Caliphates of Baghdad and Cordova, Spain, the Holy Roman Empire, the Holy Inquisition—these they have seen decay, while they have passed over dry shod from the pursuing army of human corruption and historical oblivion. With no land in which to perpetuate their aspirations, with no hereditary leader to keep alive the traditions of their racial ideals—to what can we rationally attribute this unheard of protection and survival except to the influence of Moses, Who taught them that they had entered into a special covenant with God and were under His immediate and merciful super-vision?
In our introduction we noted the similar miracles of socializing influence exerted by Jesus and by Muhammad; the latter taking a thousand warring tribes of barbarous idolators and elevating them to a pinnacle of high culture, education and urbane practice in two or three hundred years: the former, planting the germ-seeds that resulted in democracy: both from their graves and from remote
historical epochs exercising over their followers a greater influence than all living men combined.
The next proof lies in the manner in which the Manifestations of God establish their mission. Immediately They announce Their Station and purpose, immediately men not only shrink away from Them but by every conceivable means connive to thwart and to circumvent Them. The return of Napoleon from Elba may be cited as an example of secular success in rising above human opposition, but pushing the analogy only a step further, we find him in a few years on Saint Helena, while the influence of Jesus grew greater and greater as the centuries passed.
The Manifestations of God establish themselves not only without human assistance, with no prestige, position or public recognition, but against stubborn sinister and tragic opposition. To have revolutionized His world and the subsequent era of history in three brief years, as Jesus did, cannot be assigned as the work of an ordinary man, no matter how largely gifted.
If sometimes this astonishing accomplishment were effected by a ruler, sometimes by a philosopher, sometimes by an artist, it would be entirely unjustifiable to say that the Saviors of the world are a special order, specially endowed. But the results noted have never anywhere or at any time been produced by any other than those announcing themselves as Messengers of God, and as revealing His Will to man.
The following letter of appreciation of Miss Root’s services by a Persian Bahá’i brother is here published as it so definitely expresses that bond of oneness and sympathetic and loving relationship born of the spirit through the creative Word of Bahá’u’lláh. Articles by Miss Root recording her experiences in Persia will appear in forthcoming issues of The Bahá’i Magazine.
IT WILL be readily realized that for a young Persian Bahá’i with scanty experience in writing in general and writing in English in particular, it is a somewhat difficult task to write upon any subject for Western readers. But, prompted by the powerful feelings and the enthusiasm aroused by the visit to Persia of our dear and beloved sister, Miss Martha L. Root, I feel that I cannot leave the event unmentioned.
I really think that a proof which makes a Persian Bahá’i even more steadfast in his catholic doctrine of real attachment to the Cause is for him to witness with his own eyes the impression left by the Cause on the Western mind-at mind so romantically held in deep reverence by all Easterners. My Persian readers will perhaps better discern my meaning.
Our Persian Bahá’i brothers can hardly associate in their minds a Westerner with belief of the Cause of such a warm and fervent character as the Easterners are so apt to manifest in general.
But to see our dear and splendid spiritual sister, Miss Martha L. Root, so vehemently and wholeheartedly devoted to the word and spirit of the Cause much in the fervent Eastern manner at once fills a Persian Bahá’is heart with those feelings of exalted pride in his religion
--PHOTO--
Martha L. Root
and rapturous devotion to his creed. This is exactly what has happened everywhere since this illustrious servant of the Cause has set foot in this country.
The innumerable meetings, the throng of eager visitors, the zeal. with which all sought to attend conferences held by her, the whole-hearted welcome that everybody, rich or poor, each community, big or small, gave to her can only be described as a remarkable tribute to her zeal and whole-hearted enthusiasm in this Great Cause. The records of the Bahá’i Cause do not indeed furnish many examples of such public and universal welcome and exalted sentiments of brotherly love as extended to, and reciprocated by, this dear visitor.
The writer has had the honor to listen on more than one occasion in the various conferences to the smooth flow of sustained spiritual language of Miss Martha recording in simple but impressive words her insignificance in the immense realm of the Spiritual Kingdom but expressing full confidence in the protection and confirmation of Bahá’u’lláh, Who promised to help With the Heavenly Hosts those Who served in His field. I have been deeply touched, and have seen the whole audience touched—literally moved—to tears of joy and exaltation when she gave in a few but expressive words a narrative of her various trips in the service and especially spoke of her successful meetings with Her Majesty Queen Marie of Rumania, how her simple and spiritual devotedness to the Cause won that royal heart and how Her Majesty was interested in the service.
In truth, when one comes to think how in this dark and material world men strive for worldly gains and how they incessantly struggle even with their own countrymen for material ends, denying each other the least mercy, indulging whole-heartedly in feelings of hatred and resentment towards their brethren, entangling themselves in innumerable hardships, terrible
difficulties, financial, political and religious troubles over which philosophers and philanthropists vainly brood but cannot alter, We feel the more the immense comfort, mental, material and spiritual, which Bahá’u’lláh has so graciously offered us in His Cause, the eternal bounty of the Almighty who chose us–without manifest superiority over others, we must confess–from among various sects in the struggle and turmoil of this materialistic age and invited us to this well-served divine table of brotherly love to all. We cannot help feeling vividly and clearly the burden of the heavy task and sacred duty incumbent upon us all to serve Him in recognition of His undeserved bounty and to call our brethren to the divine and royal banquet to the advent of which generation after generation of mankind has so fervently prayed.
Blessed be His maidservant, Miss Martha, who has so gloriously and valiantly served in His various fields of service, and blessed be America, that land so dear to all Persian Bahá'is, which sends out such fervent believers and true servants of the Cause. Heartfelt greetings to our brethren throughout the world.
Tihrán, Persia
February 11, 1930.
