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| VOL. 21 | JANUARY, 1931 | NO. 10 |
| Page | |
Science and Religion, ’Abdu’l-Bahá | 305 |
| * * * * * * | |
Editorial, Stanwood Cobb | 291 |
Medical History and the Art of Healing, Zia M. Bagdadi, M. D. | 294 |
Above the Color Line, Coralie Franklin Cook | 300 |
Beware of Differences, Harry P. Frantz | 306 |
From Molecule to Man, Loulie A. Mathews | 309 |
Through A Wide Angle Lens, Dale S. Cole | 312 |
The Expectation of the Ages, Keith Ransom-Kehler | 316 |
| Cover Design by VICTORIA BIDIKIAN | |
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 The Baha'i Magazine, 1112 Shoreham Bldg., 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.
- Life put within my hand a slender thread
- Of tenuous beauty and of fragile strength,
- Like unto the strand a spider weaves
- That breaks not easily tho’ holding in its length
- The sparkling crystal beauty of a thousand drops of dew.
- Ever it led me on seeking through all my days
- The Unseen World. Past rigid beauty set
- In liturgy; simplicity that sought for truth;
- Goodness formed in deeds of kindliness
- Until that glorious day
- The Message of the blessed Ridvan
- Pierced all my being with immutable Reality.
- As a rose garden hid behind a wall
- Proclaims its presence by perfume rare,
- Yet is not seen; the sweeping winds bring
- Witness from the Unseen World.
- Fragrance of Love and Unity, source
- Of all I passed before. The winds of El Abha.
| VOL. 21 | JANUARY, 1931 | NO. 10 |
and acquiring the bestowals of God. I desire this distinction for you. This must be the point of distinction among
you.”—’Abdu’l-Bahá.“HOW CAN I perfect myself as a Bahá’i when my daily work absorbs all of my energy and I have little time for reading and studying the Bahá’i teachings? I wish The Bahá’i Magazine could give me aid in this direction,” so states a letter recently received.
This is indeed a theme worthy of many articles which we hope will flow to us in answer to such a need. Meanwhile there can be no better subject for an editorial than this very problem of how to grow spiritually when there is little time left from a busy working day for spiritual study and for meditation.
It would seem that such a humdrum life was deprived of opportunity for spiritual growth. Just the contrary is true however, for work is perhaps the greatest opportunity life offers for development and expression of the spiritual; because of its very handicaps work offers the best field for distinctive effort toward spiritual growth. The working day is full of those little tests which are so necessary to show to us our true spiritual station: tests to one’s patience, to one’s kindness, to one’s spirit of service, to one’s love and faith toward mankind and God. The more easy and secluded life of
the home, or life free from affairs, does not afford such opportunities for tests and such means of growth. An individual under these circumstances may feel complacently amiable and conceive of himself or herself as rather adequately fulfilling the spiritual injunctions, when in truth the reality of that person is not in such a condition of perfection; for there has not been acquired through daily practice the strength of will, the effort, the patience, the active kindliness and spirit of service which daily work, no matter how humdrum, calls forth. We grow by striving, not by dreaming of how to be perfect; and in the very strife of the business world souls grow strong, just as generals prove their valor only on the field of battle.
THERE IS STILL another direction
in which work is a splendid spiritual
opportunity, for here is the
greatest field of service. Indeed
work, as modern thinkers and industrialists
perceive, must, to be
perfect, be an expression of the
will-to-serve. All work, no matter
if it is in exchange for money, is a
form of service. However, just as
the form is lifeless without the
spirit, so work loses its advantages
for spiritual welfare if not done in a spirit of service; the more conscious and sustained that spirit is, the more powerful is the spiritual growth. One can in fact so perfect one’s spiritual attitude toward work as to make it pure service, all commercialism being withdrawn from the inner consciousness. It is not necessary—so state even practical men of affairs—to connect one’s work consciously with motives of gain. If the idea of service is predominant, the gain, says Mr. Ford, will take care of itself. Thus one can in reality free one’s work-life and one’s daily tasks entirely from self-seeking motives, functioning only in the spirit of service; and yet find the universe supporting one in all the necessities of life.
It is only work done in such a spirit that is equivalent, ’Abdu’l-Bahá tells us, to prayer. This is a very important point to realize and one hard to appreciate; for it is difficult to conceive that sweeping a floor, or waiting on the table, or selling goods at a counter, or typing, or teaching, is actually equivalent to prayer. Yet we are told so in the divine teachings, and such is the case when the spirit is that of pure service.
The most striking example I have seen of this truth was at Haifa, Palestine, in 1910, when upon being greatly impressed at the sight of a venerable patriarch in the group meeting around ’Abdu’l-Bahá, I inquired who that most saintly looking man was and found that he had been the cook and devoted servant of Bahá’u’lláh. Truly I say his face stood out in all that group of followers as the most distinguished in spirituality.
THIRDLY, there is marvelous opportunity through work to try out and prove the power of the Holy Spirit to flood our lives. Work can be done as the expression of individual ability, which is limited in us all; or it can be done through the aid of the Holy Spirit, which is limitless. Let us make our work, no matter what it be, a true expression of the divine creative force—that Force which both created and sustains the universe. At this point work ceases to be a task and becomes a creation. Every individual through such a surrender of self to the universal as to become a channel for divine inspiration, could work as the artist works and find that joy in work which every artist knows. It is just this point of creativeness which lifts work up from drudgery to an art.
Now there are many tasks which it might seem ridiculous to connect with creative power, but be sure that there is in reality no task in the universe in which the doer cannot function through aid of the creative force. So nature works, from her humblest to her greatest tasks; from building the atom to building the universe itself. Those who work aided by this creative force are true Builders, servants of God in the development of Being. “The body of man,” ’Abdu’l-Bahá states, “is created for this world but his heart is made for the habitation of the Holy Spirit. . . . When you are plowing the ground, or sowing the seeds or reaping the harvest let all your thoughts and subconscious thinking be of God. Your hands and feet will be working but your heart must be attached to the Almighty.”
SO MUCH for perfecting one’s spiritual life. But that is only half the end and aim. Every individual must, at the same time that he is speeding his own development, be demonstrating to the world the spirituality that is within him. Especially is this so in the Day of a Manifestation of God. when the world watches and judges every adherent of the new faith by his deeds rather than by his words. Every Bahá’i has not only a great opportunity but a great responsibility to demonstrate to the surrounding world the inspiration and sustaining power of the Cause even in the midst of the daily life. “Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven,” said Christ. And it was these very good works which Christ enjoined upon His followers that were the chief means of confirming others in the faith.
Bahá’is should stand out and shine like the sun, says ’Abdu’l-Bahá. Distinction does not mean, as in the fairy tale, that a Cinderella become a princess; or that a newsboy rise to the Presidency. By standing out with distinction
’Abdu’l-Bahá does not mean to rise to a greater station in life, but to ennoble the life we live from day to day. This is the distinction which He enjoins upon us, and here is perhaps the greatest opportunity which any individual has to spread the Cause which he holds dear.
Any one who can live kindlilv, generously, magnanimouslv, radiantly, demonstrating sustained joy and faith in the midst of the drudgery of life, will do far more to convince onlookers and companions in work of the efficacy of his religion than if he shone in golden robes and spoke with organ voice majestic principles of truth.
Therefore we see that the day’s work instead of being an obstacle to spiritual growth, is the greatest opportunity that life affords. But in it one should never lose consciousness of the divine. A few words and phrases of prayer silently uttered from time to time help to lift the thought, even in the midst of action. Every moment must be transfused with the divine love and aid.
It is thus that people become saints through work. And when we come to think of it, do we know of individuals who have ever become saints in any other way?
“The Bahá’is must be distinguished from others of humanity. But this distinction must not depend upon wealth—that they should become more affluent than other people. I do not desire for you financial distinction. It is not an ordinary distinction I desire: not scientific, commercial, industrial distinction. For you I desire spiritual distinction; that is, you must become eminent and distinguished in morals. In the Love of God you must become distinguished from all else. You must become distinguished for loving humanity; for unity and accord; for love and justice. In brief, you must become distinguished in all the virtues of the human world: for faithfulness and sincerity; for justice and fidelity; for firmness and steadfastness; for philanthropic deeds and service to the human world; for love toward every human being; for unity and accord with all people; for removing prejudices and promoting international peace. Finally, you must become distinguished for heavenly illumination and acquiring the bestowals of God. I desire this distinction for you. This must be the point of distinction among you.”
The first part of this series was published in the December Bahá'i Magazine and covered briefly the subject of medical history up to modern times. In this, the second chapter, the author describes material and spiritual healing.
THOUGH the science of medicine, with all its branches, and the art of healing have progressed a great deal from the time of the Babylonians until now, in the days to come the methods of healing will be a hundred per cent better than now. In the future diet will replace most of the bitter medicines and nasty drugs. Some of our physical ailments are caused by a disturbance in the proper balance of the elements that constitute the body. For example, in a diabetic person, the carbohydrates—sugar and starchy elements are increased; and in the anemic, the iron elements of the blood are diminished. In both cases, the correct balance of the elements of the body is disturbed. Since the body derives all of its elements from food, the most scientific and logical method of restoring the normal balance must be through food and correct diet. Thus any one can understand why a diabetic must not take sugar and starchy food, and the anemic must take food rich with iron.
All the animals get sick. All the birds get sick. They do not go to doctors nor do they consult specialists. Then how do they cure themselves? Simply by eating the proper food, avoiding any thing the body does not need and selecting what is needed. Their only doctor is their natural instinct which
works through the senses. A donkey once was very ill and nobody seemed to know what troubled him. He refused to eat until some one brought him thorny cactus which he ate immediately and got well. The animal was suffering from a deep abscess in his throat which needed lancing, and the cactus thorn performed that simple operation.
Unfortunately man, the highest type of all other creatures, is the most stupid and helpless fellow when it comes to curing himself. He likes what harms him and dislikes what is good for him. But man can and will learn how and what to eat correctly if doctors and healers teach the truth about diet; and without self-interest, prejudice, or exaggeration redouble their efforts in educating the public.
Should man become a vegetarian? Were we extremists our answer would be, yes, certainly. But because we prefer moderation in all things, our answer is, yes, but gradually. Because heredity is a great factor in human life and the fact that the man of today has inherited from time immemorial the habit of eating meat, and has not yet educated himself in knowing just what he should and ought to know about food, therefore, man must for a while continue to be a meat eater, gradually lessening however the amount of meat in his diet.
Food is important, but sleep is more important than food, and happiness is most important of all. To make a patient happy is to hasten his recovery.
IN THE FUTURE, materia medica
will form only a small part of the
healing art for there are other more
efficacious methods of healing.
The important subject of spiritual healing is fully explained by the great Teacher and Master, ’Abdu’l-Bahá, in the book called, “Some Answered Questions.” I have learned from Him in a short time more than I could learn in my lifetime from the Medical Schools of the East and West. He divides spiritual healing into four kinds, namely, two kinds of spiritual healing by material means, and two kinds by spiritual means.
The first spiritual healing by material means can be obtained by contact—that is, instead of taking medicine, the sick can be healed by coming in contact with a strong spiritual healer. For just as certain physical diseases are contagious, likewise health is contagious. Suppose a person suffering from pain due to congestion of the blood, or nervousness due to poor circulation, should go to a cheerful, strong healer, or suddenly come in contact with happy and charming company. What happens? No doubt such a contact will act on his nerves as a nerve stimulant or tonic. The nerves which control the blood vessels when thus stimulated, will in turn transmit that stimulation to the arteries and veins, dilating their lumens, improving their circulation, and relieving the congestion. And that
causes the pain and nervousness to stop. On the other hand, should a sick or even a healthy person come in contact with a frightful object, as in the case of great fear, his face becomes pale, his lips white, his extremities tremble and he may collapse and faint. This is because fear shocks the nerves which in turn causes the blood vessels to contract, impairing circulation. It is evident, therefore, that for certain nervous diseases, spiritual healing can be obtained by contact with a strong, optimistic, spiritual healer.
THE SECOND SPIRITUAL healing by
material means is by the power of
touch—that is, the strong healer,
by touching or placing the hand on
the affected part will impart relief.
This is because in every human
being there is a magnetic power or
electricity. Thus, from the hand of
the healer, a current of human
magnetism or electricity flows and
stimulates the nerves, relieves congestion
and improves circulation.
When a baby falls and injures its
little hand, it usually cries until the
mother picks it up, and probably
kisses the sore part. Then the
baby’s cry ceases, often as suddenly
as it started. Was the baby
crying for that kiss? No, it is the
magnetic force and the electric current
flowing from her gentle lips
and arms that help the baby when
it is distressed by pain and weakness.
THE THIRD SPIRITUAL healing by
spiritual means is obtained by concentration
faith and prayers:—
The power of concentration has a great effect. That is, the mind can produce great power through concentration.
For example, from the modern hose of a fire-extinguishing engine, a stream of water can shoot up in the air more than 120 feet high. But Lake Michigan, more than 300 miles long, or even the greatest ocean in the world can never rise so high. This is because there is a power of pressure behind the water in the hose. And that is the power of concentration. Thus, when the human mind concentrates on health or sickness, it attracts either one, as a powerful magnet does to a piece of steel. Moreover, this world is full of good and bad things. When you think of good things, through the power of imagination and concentration, you feel happy; and when you think of unpleasant things, certainly you can feel very unpleasant. Therefore, is it not better for man to heed the unanimous advice of all the divine and spiritual physicians, the true and great prophets, who taught “See no evil. Hear no evil. Speak of no evil and think of no evil”?
Moreover, how often it has happened that you felt sore all over, depressed and melancholic, you did not care to go anywhere or see any body, you felt sick mentally and physically! Then suddenly and unexpectedly you received the greatest news of your heart’s desire: perhaps your loved one just arrived in town and called you up from the station, or you unexpectedly received money due you, and could now pay bills and debts. What did you do about it at that moment? Did you remain in bed, pull the covers over your eyes and try to sleep? Or did you jump out of the bed, and rush to answer the
happy call? Yes, that was what you did, and you forgot all about pain and troubles. This is the power of concentration. This is the miracle of determination. This is the effect of will-power. Therefore, when the mind of the healer and the mind of the one seeking health are concentrated on health the desired results can be obtained.
FAITH is important. Millions of
people in India touch the tail of
the white elephant or the sacred
bull to heal their ailments. Millions
of Arabs, Persians, Turks, Russians,
Egyptians, and others from
the near and far East, travel thousands
of miles and make pilgrimages
to the holy city of Mecca, and
its sacred well, the Bir Zam-zam,
and to Jerusalem and the Jordan
to fill their bottles from the holy
waters for blessing and healing
purposes. A great many also go to
the holy shrines of the saints in
the Holly Land and in Iraq (Baghdad)
to get some of the sacred soil
to make out of it mud pills and give
to the sick as you would take and
swallow a medicinal pill. And they
get good results. Yet every one
knows that in the tails of the white
Indian elephant and bull there is
no such thing as power of healing.
Nor can there be any healing power
in the waters and soil of the shrines
in the holy cities. Then where does
healing come from? It comes from
faith. Therefore, he who wishes to
obtain spiritual healing must have
faith in the healer.
PRAYERS should be considered in this life in the same way as the life preserver to a passenger on a boat. For the effect of a sincere
prayer is not less than concentration and faith. Prayer is a strong magnet that attracts the mercy and bounty of God. Consider how the thirsty plants attract the bounty of the gardener. The heart of the gardener is moved only when his plants and flowers pray to him for water; they appeal to him by the humble attitude of drooping their heads and the wilting of their leaves. The gardener is fond of all his plants, but he pays attention only to those that show their need of help and he gives them plenty of water. His mercy and bounty goes to the humble among the flowers, not to the one whose head stands high as an arrogant person. In like manner, man who is the highest and noblest tree of the garden of existence can attract the mercy and bounty of the Heavenly Gardener His Creator—through prayers.
Another benefit of prayer is that it imparts true happiness to the human heart and soul. For true happiness exists only when the mind and the heart are free from worry. Therefore, when you have faith in prayer you free yourself from worry, and are filled with hope and cheer. Thus, he who believes in the efficacy of prayer is much happier, lives better, sleeps sounder than one who does not believe.
Furthermore, prayer should be considered as the best means of communication with God, the Source of all good. As a loyal lover yearns to commune with his beloved and benefactor, how much more the loyal creature must long to commune with his Creator? Also, just as it is the duty of the patient to
ask his physician for all that he wants, in like manner man ought to ask his needs from the All-Provider. When our prayers are not answered it is only for our good, if we are of those who know. A good mother does not always give her little child the thing it cries for, because that thing may bring disaster to its life. Therefore, the merciful mother and father heed the cry and grant the child everything that is conducive to the happiness and growth of its body and soul. They are neither deaf nor cruel when they do not heed the hundreds of silly requests made constantly by their little child. Likewise, man has many wishes that sometimes are more dangerous to him and to society, and even more destructive than children’s notions. Therefore, while praying, our real prayer from the depth of the heart should be: Lord! Thy Will be done, not mine.” Last but not least, man should be reminded that divine and natural laws are not to be violated. He must not break these laws, and then wail because his prayers are not answered.
THE FOURTH SPIRITUAL healing by
spiritual means is through the
power of the Holy Spirit. That
mysterious power works through
the Divine Manifestations Moses,
Christ, Muhammad, the Báb, Bahá’u’lláh
and ’Abdu’l-Bahá, and before
them all the ancient prophets
had that power. How well I remember
the time when I was burning
with malarial fever in the
city of ’Akká in the Holy Land.
I was attended by a prominent
physician, who notwithstanding all
his medical skill and all his
quinine pills, was unable to lower my high temperature. Finally, in a delirious condition I was carried from the pilgrimhouse to ’Abdu’l-Bahá’s home. He came down to see me, and after feeling my pulse, He ordered a glassful of iced lemonade and told me to sip it slowly. I took it and fell asleep, for two hours. Then my good old doctor called and found me sitting up in bed, smiling, refreshed and with normal temperature. I did not hesitate to tell him how I enjoyed that glass of lemonade. And by the way during all the time of two weeks that I had such a high fever, that doctor would not even let me have a cold drink of water, not a drop. Whereupon he nodded his head and said. “The Master has cured you!” Yes, with lemonade, or sour milk or rock candy, ’Abdu’l-Bahá used to heal the sick.
But you will be surprised to know the number of people who died in ’Akká with their stomachs filled with lemonade or sour milk. This is because on seeing or hearing how that wonderful Master was healing so many of the sick with such simple things as lemonade, or sour milk, others thought they could do the same. They did not realize at the time that it was the Holy Spirit behind the sour milk or lemonade that had the power of healing!
That mysterious power of healing through the Holy Spirit may also find a channel through the pure and sanctified souls such as true disciples, and sincere spiritual physicians. But those who attain to such a station are very rare indeed.
JUST BEFORE leaving the medical school of the American University of Beirut, Syria, about twenty-two years ago to come to America, a number of medical men and students, myself included, heard from the lips of ’Abdu’l-Bahá His views on medical ethics. He said in effect:
The duty of a doctor is to be divine in character and merciful in heart. He must meet the patient with a cheerful smile, not with a stern and frightful look. He must give ample time to find the cause of illness, then prescribe according to the correct diagnosis. If he has no time to spend on a thorough examination, he should not take so many cases that he cannot handle, but rather refer them to another doctor. And last, but not least, he must not give less attention to those who cannot pay their bills. Any doctor who characterizes himself with these qualities, is verily an angel of life. Otherwise, he is an angel of death!
In the writings of Bahá’u’lláh you can find everything your heart desires, even on the subject of healing for He has given great treasures of wisdom. His first advice is, “when you are sick, go to the skillful amongst the doctors.” And the following words are from the writings of Bahá’u’lláh in Arabic which may be quoted here, not as the text, but from my own memory:
Do not eat save when you are hungry and do not drink after retiring to sleep. (Perhaps this is to avoid the habit of getting up during the night to drink cold water.) Exercise is best before meals, thereby the organs become strong; but it is dangerous when the stomach is full. Take medicine when needed, and leave it alone when the body is normal. Do not take any food save when digestion is completed and do not swallow until after thorough mastication. Heal the sick first with diet, then with medicine. If you can find what you need
for healing in a simple remedy, do not use a compound medicine. When incompatible foods are served, do not mix them, be contented with one variety. Begin first with the simple or light food, then the heavy or coarse, and take the liquid before the solid. To eat one meal on top, or shortly after another, is harmful, beware of it. When you start to eat, begin in My name, the Most Glorious, and finish with the name of God, the possessor of the throne and the earth. Whatever is difficult to be masticated—too hard on teeth—is forbidden by the wise. A little food in the morning—a light breakfast—is like a light to the body. Stop all bad habits, they are the cause of unhappiness in the world. Find the causes of disease. Be moderate in all conditions, by this, the body is kept from fatigue and that tired feeling. Shun worry and anxiety, therein is a black calamity. Say! Jealousy eats up the body and revenge burns up the
liver, as fire consumes the wood. Avoid both as you would avoid the lion. To purge the body is essential during the mild seasons. He who overeats, his illness will become more severe. . . .
And here is Bahá’u’lláh’s message to the doctor and the sick:— O Doctor! Heal the sick by mentioning the name of your God, the possessor of the day of judgement, and after that, use what God has destined for the health of the bodies of His creatures. By my life! The doctor who has quaffed from the wine of my love, his visit is healing and his breath is mercy. Say! Cling unto him for the protection of health. He is confirmed by God in his treatment. Say! this profession is the most honored of all other professions, because it is the greatest means from God, the Life-Giver of the dust—to safeguard the bodies of all people, and He has placed it at the head of all other sciences and wisdom.
Under the title, “Things To Think About,” Milton M. Schayer, columnist in the Intermountain Jewish News of Denver, Colorado, devotes one of his columns to the following statement of some of the principles of the Bahá’i Movement as sent to him by Willard P. Hatch of Los Angeles, Calif.
“Willard Hatch probably will never make the front page in any sort of scandal, so his name will not be generally known, The world, however, is a better place in which to live on account of his work. He is devoting his life to spreading the gospel of the brotherhood of man as enunciated by the Bahá’i Movement, and he asks that a friendly word be said for this unselfish and humanitarian cause. They advocate searching for truth and want mankind to abandon all superstition and prejudice. They believe in the “oneness of mankind,” and that religion must be a cause of love and harmony else it is no religion; and they also believe that religion must go hand in hand with science. Faith and reason must be in full accord. These are just a few of the principles they preach, and fortunately as the years go by more people learn to practice them.”
“Verily the century of radiance has dawned, minds are advancing, perceptions are broadening, realizations of human possibilities are becoming universal, susceptibilities are developing, the discovery of realities is progressing. * * * Do not only say that unity, love and brotherhood are good; you must work for their realization. * * * In the sight of God color makes no difference at all. He looks at the hearts of men.” ’Abdu’l-Bahá.
THIS sketch, concerning a man, begins with a woman. She was a little woman, brown of face, bright of eye, with a low voice and gentle manner, and she was the mother of three small children. The father, a high-grade mechanic, died when his son Ernest was only four years old, and for him and a younger brother and sister the young widow set herself to be not only guide and director but bread-winner. She had some education and so could teach an elementary school. Donating a part of some property accumulated by the thrifty husband to the establishing of a school in her home city (Charleston, S. C.) she was for a number of years its principal. Mrs. Just’s accepted labor brought her in touch with the lowly and needy colored people of that city and she enlarged the scope of her endeavors to include much unpaid service to these her neighbors.
In that school-house to which she had dedicated a part of her own small holdings she opened a night school and conducted a Sunday school, and when no preacher was at hand, held religious services and pointed the way to right-living and to progress.
It was in his mother’s school and in her Sunday school that Ernest Just’s education began.
It was a day of small beginnings, offering perhaps no suggestion of the great future which lay ahead, unless indeed that mother’s faith and courage fed a something in the spirit of that son of which both may have been, even then, dimly conscious and which these later years have seen quickened to a veritable flame.
All during childhood and on into youth Ernest Just must have been receiving impressions that did not add to his happiness. In a lad of different training and temperament they might have subtracted from his self-respect. Not so with him. He became aware of a world from which he was shut out—a world of wealth, of opportunity, of achievement, of power safe-guarded and made exclusive by a color-line. But he had found another world—a world of thought! And in it he dreamed and worked and revelled.
BY THE TIME he was fifteen that
messenger of light, the Northern
school-maam, had invaded his
school. One such was quick to discover
this wide-eyed, serious lad
who always knew all of the lesson
assigned, and often showed hunger
for more than the text-books contained.
On one memorable day she
drew from him the confession that
he was torn between the desire to
go North and be educated, and a sense of duty that prompted him to go to work and make life easier for the mother who had done so much for him. This teacher wisely pointed out the possibilities which a liberal education would open up that could never be realized if school were abandoned at his then stage of advancement. She did more, she paid a visit to the mother and was surprised and delighted to find her sharing her son’s ambition.
There seemed only one obstacle. There was not sufficient money to finance the adventure. But here the lad himself came forth with a solution of the problem. He would work his way. Others had done it. Why could not he? One of the things which Dr. Just recalls, with a twinkle of the eye, is the grave concern of some of their friends! “Don’t let that boy go way up north,” they protested to his mother; “he aint so strong and he’s bound to catch cold, then what’ll he do ’mong strange white folks? He’ll just lay down an’ die.” “Well,” responded the far-seeing mother, “I’d rather he’d die trying to make something of himself than to live and be no good to himself or the world.” And so, inspired by that Spartan-like mother, Ernest with little of this world’s goods but mightily endowed with courage and capacity, set forth for the “cold” North.
Kimball Academy in New Hampshire has the honor of opening its doors to the young student. Although barely prepared to enter the lowest class, young Just completed the four years course in three years with honors. Meanwhile he had so distinguished himself for scholarship
that he had been made president of the school’s debating club, and editor-in-chief of the Academy Magazine.
Graduating from Kimball was only a beginning. Ernest Just was headed for the heights of life. In the fall of 1903 he matriculated at Dartmouth College. Here the savings from vacation earnings were soon augmented by prizes and scholarships. Hamperings and disadvantages began to recede while progress and achievement took definite shape in the mind and life of this lone youth, battling his way forward, upward!
Then came the day of graduation with magna cum laude. What had happened? He had not only kept pace with his classmates, he had gone beyond them. Previous to this time no Dartmouth student had ever taken honors in two different fields, but he did. Mark his versatility. He made the highest mark in Greek ever awarded a freshman in Dartmouth College. In his sophomore year he bore off prizes, in his junior and senior years he won scholarships. It was I believe during his senior year that there appeared in the college magazine one of the tenderest, most beautiful tributes ever paid a beloved mother by a gifted son. Ernest Just was the author. Small wonder that it was predicted of him that he would succeed, no matter to what he might decide to devote his attention.
With this brilliant scholastic record fresh upon him, Mr. Just joined the Faculty of Howard University, Washington, D. C. Although he had come as a scientist, it is only fair to say of him that he brought to the institution its awakening as
to the dramatic gifts of its students. It was with a class in English literature that he demonstrated to the school and to the community the possibilities of developing dramatic art even among under-graduates. To some this may be forgotten or unknown history, but distinguished alumni working in these lines at home and abroad recall with enthusiasm the presentation en costume of two legitimate dramas under the direction of Prof. Just, and the overwhelming surprise and delight of the crowds who came to look and listen.
BUT THE WINDS of Destiny were
blowing the bark of this young
scholar into far different channels.
Prof. Just began to spend his
summers in research work in the
Biological Laboratory at Wood’s
Hole, Mass. In 1916 he was given
the degree of Ph.D. at the University
of Chicago. And from now on
he travels so fast that one grows
almost dizzy in watching his flight;
nor can one lacking scientific knowledge
essay to give adequate description
of that flight.
His interest now lay chiefly in the subject of fertilization concerning which he made valuable discoveries and wrote extensively. He was one of the authors of “General Cytology,” collaborating with such distinguished scholars as Dr. Lillie of the University of Chicago; Dr. Morgan, President of the National Academy of Sciences; Dr. Jacobs, Director of the Marine Biological Laboratory, and others. By degrees his name and his fame were being cited in foreign magazines and in 1924 he was the choice of a group of German scientists to
prepare a monograph on “The Functions of the Cell.” He contributed to a set of books on chemistry; was placed on the editorial staff of a scientific journal published in Berlin, Germany; assigned to similar position on equally important periodicals at home, in Chicago and in far away Japan, while significantly enough, he became a member of the staff of the official periodical of the Marine Biological Laboratory in America where he began his scientific investigations. Honors were heaped thick and fast upon the now distinguished scientist. He was made a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, also member of the American Socity of Zoologists. He was awarded the first Spingarn Medal.
“No miser in the good he holds” is Dr. Just. To the aspiring student he is ever ready with timely advice or the helping hand. Ambitious study clubs turn to him for advice upon abstruse questions and he often puts aside scientific work to meet with a group of students when in simple compelling manner he holds forth upon some topic in which they are interested. On such occasions he is at his best. So he will be remembered by some readers of this magazine privileged to hear him at an interracial meeting under Bahá’i auspices.
IT WAS perhaps inevitable that
the distinguished accomplishments
of this man should attract the attention
of that group of philanthropists
who are consecrating vast
sums of money to the encouragement
of study and research that
lead to the benefit of all mankind.
The Rosenwald Foundation has given the Zoological Department of Howard University of which Dr. Just is head, fifteen thousand dollars a year for five years with an additional five thousand dollars for equipment.
Dr. Just was able to spend last year in Italy where he engaged in the work that has become so dear to him and to which he has made definite and valuable contribution.
His attainments and popularity brought to Dr. Just a return engagement, and he had the overwhelming distinction of returning to Europe in the summer of 1930 to the city of Padua where as one of eleven of the world’s greatest scientists he lectured to a Special Assembly of scientific folk.
One has to be little short of a magician to wrest from this great but modest man any account of his varied experiences, his marvelous triumphs. We all have heard how those European students are given to register approval or disapproval of the men who lecture to them. It has been learned that in Italy there came from the students in response to the last of his talks such spontaneous outbursts of cheering and applause as is rare even there. I tried to get from its recipient some account of it all, but he was so reluctant to talk of himself that I had to abandon the effort.
One particular experience among the many experiences that have befallen him is deeply cherished by the scientist, that is his stay at the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute in Berlin. He went there to lecture in response to an invitation from its founder, Adolf von Harnack,
author of The History of Theology, Higher Criticism and other works of value.
It is like a bit of beautiful drama, is it not, that this young man from the new world met and communed with this ripe old scholar of the old world only a few short months before the latter journeyed to the Great Beyond? May it not be a harbinger of what the future holds in store to be able to record that this eminent theologian was in harmony with modern scientific thought even to the extent of founding a school for its promotion? Add to this the fact that his work with a man of different race and younger generation is cherished by the latter as one of the most satisfying of all his many contacts and it becomes possible to go even farther. Why may we not forecast a day when East and West, youth and age, black and white, shall meet on one harmonious plane where religion and science shall have brought them?
It is the men who are doing the same kind of work that he is doing, dealing with the same problems, who say of Dr. Just that he is “one of the greatest scientists in the world today,” but he wears his honors as all the truly great do—with unvarnished simplicity.
To those who do not know him well he may seem indifferent, at times perhaps almost rude. Not so to those who know him best. He is almost shy, yet out of those wide dreamy eyes he has a way of looking at one that might prove embarrassing if one lacks the sincerity, the probity, the honesty that are so dominant in his own character. He is tall, something over six feet I
should say, or at least he appears so when he stands beside his petite wife or is rollicking with the two girls and small boy who constitute the family group. This man of science has a mouth sensitive enough to belong to a poet. His voice is low and mellow, but capable of being very stern or very sympathetic as his students will tell you.
IN THIS STORY I have not told of
that dark, dark day before the end
of his academy life when young
Just made a hasty trip southward
to say good-bye,—the last good-bye
to that mother whose gentle yet
forceful character has without
doubt been a great influence in all
his career. Only rarely does he
permit himself to speak of it. I
have not dwelt upon the long struggle
with the prejudices, the insults,
the hypocrisies, the flagrant injustices
that have been flung in the way
of this man’s progress. Steadily,
bravely, he has refused to be conquered
by them, aye, even to be
hindered by them. Do not think he
has escaped them. To one of his
slightly brown complexion such experiences
are inescapable.
“Why, then,” do you ask, “does he not go to Europe where character not color is the measure of a man?” I will tell you why! To be the father or mother of a colored child in this the twentieth century of civilization is to live always on the borderland of tragedy, when not in the very centre of its sickening
whirl. When Dr. Just looks into the faces of his own beautiful children there surges up into his heart and mind millions of other faces-down in the swamps of Georgia, in the cottonfields of Mississippi, in cities and towns, in high school and college, in hovel and cottage and beautiful homes,–faces, faces, faces, all shut in,—below the color line! If you have managed to get a little closer to him than most folks he will confess to you in words like these: “I cannot leave them! I have tasted the joy of freedom, but I could not be happy if I failed to do my duty. I believe that Science is yet to play a large part in the development of human beings, and if I can help these boys and girls to look at life as a splendid adventure, and upon themselves as a necessary part of the great whole, I think it will mean more to me than work in the laboratories of princes or kings.”
A scientist and a humanitarian! A master of the test-tube and a magician with the microscope, but above these a man who understands spiritual values and who has the inherited gift of relating these values to all work in his class-room. He lives above the color line! And in all of this is Dr. Just not among the few who exemplify in every day life this injunction of ’Abdu’l-Bahá: “By his arts, sciences, inventions and all of his work, man must reveal his highest capacity. * * * Work done in the spirit of service is worship.”
SCIENCE may be likened to a mirror wherein the images of the mysteries of outer phenomena are reflected. It brings forth and exhibits to us in the arena of knowledge all the product of the past. It links together past and present. The philosophical conclusions of bygone centuries, the teachings of the prophets and wisdom of former sages are crystalized and reproduced in the scientific advancement of today. Science is the discoverer of the past. From its premises of past and present we deduce conclusions as to the future. Science is the governor of nature and its mysteries, the one agency by which man explores the institutions of material creation. All created things are captives of nature and subject to its laws. They cannot transgress the control of these laws in one detail or particular. The infinite starry worlds and heavenly bodies are nature’s obedient subjects. The earth and its myriad organisms, all minerals, plants and animals are thralls of its dominion. But man through the exercise of his scientific, intellectual power can rise out of this condition, can modify, change and control nature according to his own wishes and uses. Science, so to speak, is the “breaker” of the laws of nature.
This endowment is the most praiseworthy power of man, for through its employment and exercise, the betterment of the human race is accomplished, the development of the virtues of mankind is made possible and the spirit and mysteries of God become manifest. Therefore I am greatly pleased with my visit to this university. Praise be to God! that this country abounds in such institutions of learning where the knowledge of sciences and arts may readily be acquired.
As material and physical sciences are taught here and are constantly unfolding in wider vistas of attainment, I am hopeful that spiritual development may also follow and keep pace with these outer advantages. As material knowledge is illuminating those within the walls of this great temple of learning, so also may the light of the spirit, the inner and divine light of the real philosophy glorify this institution. The most important principle of divine philosophy is the oneness of the world of humanity, the unity of mankind, the bond conjoining East and West, the tie of love which binds human hearts.
(April 19, 1912, at Columbia University, New York)
The author of the following article is a student at the University of Pennsylvania, Department of Journalism. We are pleased to publish his brief review of the Bahá’i Movement in accordance with our policy of publishing frequently articles contributed by the youth of the world.
IN collegiate circles young men and women pride themselves upon their tolerance and flaunt their open-mindedness as though it were some phenomenon peculiar to a particular class of society. The Bahá’i religion is a direct challenge to this self-appointed intelligentsia to extend their tolerance from such obvious and personal considerations as color and race to a greater tolerance, that of the religious and spiritual life of other people. It offers opportunity for world tolerance that the real liberal will be only too glad to embrace.
Bahá’is ask no Christian to give up Christ; no Muhammadan to turn his back upon Muhammad; no Buddhist to disown Buddha. The Bahá’i religion does ask the world to look further afield than a faith or a sect; to substitute tolerance for bigotry; to accept every one of “God’s Messengers.” Muhammadans say, “There is but one God and Muhammad is His Prophet.” Bahá’is would have us say, “There is but One God and in Him we are all one.”
WILLIAM MILLER of Low Hampton,
New York, was a scholar
and a devout man. He believed the
“two thousand and three hundred
days” mentioned in the Bible,* referred
to years not days and that
* Daniel 8:14
the time of the Second Advent of Christ was close at hand. Resourceful as well as mathematical, on May 23, 1844, he stood on the highest hill in Low Hampton with a little band of followers firmly determined to be a favorably-placed welcoming committee when the cloud bearing the returning Savior should appear. The heavenly visitation failed to function and the Millerites walked down the hill to repurchase their homes and substitute blue serge for their conspicuous white muslin robes.
William Miller was right. But contemporaneous events in Persia proved that his mistake lay in awaiting divine pyrotechnics while the Báb, the Herald of Bahá’u’lláh, the One awaited, was then “just another fanatic,” and ’Abdu’l-Bahá, born on that same day in 1844, must have looked much like many another brown Persian baby. Today over half a million Bahá’is in Persia celebrate the date of Miller’s unhappy climbs not because of William Miller, but because on that day the Báb, the forerunner of Bahá’u’lláh, declared this cause and began His ministry, and on that day the Son of Bahá’u’llah, the Center of His Covenant, ’Abdu’l-Baha (The Servant of God) was born. Now Bahá’is are to be found in nearly every country of the world with a
considerable group of believers in this Truth working with fervor to spread their religion in the United States.
MUCH as John the Baptist
preached the coming of Jesus
Christ, so The Báb (The Gate)
preceded Bahá’u’lláh and proclaimed
the approaching advent of One
greater than Himself whom He
called “Him Whom God shall manifest.”
Midst the overwhelming
power of the Muhammadan religion
some advanced thinkers dared to
hope for something better and to
these The Báb poured forth His
sermons and His prophecies. So
well did His eloquence and sincerity
convert His few listeners
that they in turn departed to spread
His story of “a greater One to
come” throughout all Persia. While
His early mission, being localized,
had allowed Him to remain unmolested,
the later wide-spread success
of The Báb led to His violent
death; for the Muhammadan priesthood
realized too late that they had
underrated this latest Prophet.
They revenged themselves upon
The Báb with six years of persecution
culminating in His death at
the hands of a firing squad; but the
message of the devout Messenger
had taken root and His adherents
grew in spite of fierce persecutions.
Among the foremost of The Báb’s supporters was Mirza Husayn Ali, better known by the title of Bahá’u’lláh (Glory of God). Born of wealthy parents and with a youth spent in the highest of social circles, He threw Himself into the ranks of the followers of the Báb, sharing their persecutions. In 1852
He was thrown into a prison from which many of His fellow-believers went to a violent death. Bahá’u’lláh was assisted by the Russian consul who interceded in His behalf and testified to the purity of His character.
His freedom restored, Bahá’u’lláh lived in the wilderness for two years. His innate spiritual leadership was recognized by the Babis. Bahá’u’lláh converted thousands with His sermons and the Bábi movement in Persia continued to grow until again the Moslem authorities decided to take a hand. This time exile was imposed upon Bahá’u’lláh and His family. In preparation for their journey to exile in Adrianople the famous twelve-day encampment in the Garden of Ridvan was made. It was on the first of those twelve days in April, 1863, that Bahá’u’lláh declared Himself to be the One whose coming The Báb had foretold.
At Adrianople Bahá’u’lláh publicly announced His mission and was enthusiastically accepted by the majority of the Bábis who were known thereafter as Bahá’is. A small minority, inspired by the jealousy of Mirza Yahya, Bahá’u’lláh’s half-brother, attempted to make trouble for the Bahá’is and the religious authorities, ever-seeking a way in which to attack the new and growing Faith represented the conflict in such terms to the civil authorities that in 1868 the Turkish government banished both Bábis and Bahá’is; Baha’u’llah and His followers going to ’Akká in Palestine, a city with a climate so deadly the Sultan had reserved it for political enemies.
It was during this time of suffering
that Bahá’u’lláh spread the message of the Bahá’i Faith throughout the western world by a series of letters written to the rulers of the principal countries. Queen Victoria of England replied: “If your religion be The Truth it will live.” The Bahá’i religion has not merely lived; it has taken on new life and strength.
After many years the conditions of His imprisonment were improved and Bahá’u’lláh spent the last years of His life in comparative peace and comfort, passing away in 1892 at the age of seventy-five.
TODAY we marvel that a message
could bring such persecution and
suffering upon those who were
faithful, and naturally we are curious
to discover the foundation of
such unbending faith and devotion.
This message, for which men and
women were content to suffer in
prison and exile, had as one of its
fundamental principles, the Oneness
of Mankind.
J. E. Esslemont, one of the most prolific of Bahá’i writers, has declared: “One ploughs, another sows, another waters, another reaps, but there is One Lord who giveth the increase.”
The beloved son and successor of Baha’u’llah, ’Abdu’l-Bahá, proclaimed the tolerance of the Bahá’is by this declaration: “It is not necessary to lower Abraham to raise Jesus; it is not necessary to lower Jesus to proclaim Bahá’u’lláh.”
Bahá’is believe that some of the present day professing Christians have so weakened the teaching of Jesus that One is needed Who
will bring with Him a strong, vigorous belief, alike to all the world, and that Bahá’u’lláh is the vehicle chosen by God to transport a rejuvenated faith to a world that has strayed far from the teachings of earlier Prophets.
There is nothing revolutionary or iconoclastic about this Faith which had its beginning in the Birthplace of Religions, the Orient. In 1912 ’Abdu’l-Bahá told the American people that “the solution of economic questions will not be brought about by array of capital against labor and labor against capital in strife and conflict, but by the voluntary attitude of good-will on both sides. Then a real and lasting justness of conditions will be secured.” The most conservative of our business colleges now teach that doctrine to their students.
America prides itself on large college enrollments. The Bahá’i religion is not an ignorant faith. Bahá’u’lláh attached great importance to the equality of the sexes and one of the means He relied upon was universal education. “He who educates his son, or any other children, it is as though He hath educated one of my children.”
The Bahá’i Cause would undertake the education of public opinion by the teaching of a tolerance that would bring the Christian into the synagogue and the Jew into the church. The Bahá’i religion would not have young people in the United States—the “melting-pot of nations”—asking, “I wonder if that girl is a Catholic?” or, “Do you think that fellow is a Jew?” ’Abdu’l-Bahá said, “Since all gather to worship God what difference is there?”
The author has given us here in a simple and vivid form the story of life development from the first atom to the perfection of man himself, lord of the world of nature. In this treatment of evolution, some of the teachings of ’Abdu’l-Bahá bearing on the subject are interwoven, teachings which wonderfully illumine the puzzle of how life is evolved. This and the following chapter, which will appear in the February Bahá'i Magazine, were originally written as a “Child's History.”
OUR world is swung in starry space like an emerald ball tossed high against the sky.
There was a time when the earth was covered with water that hid the valleys and hills, and even the mountain tops.
A fierce sun beat down and dried little patches of earth, here and there, where the water was shallow. And plants sprang up. Neither animals nor human beings could have lived at this period of the world’s history, as there was no air fit to breathe. After a while, the plants waxed stronger and more sturdy and exhaled gasses that helped to create for us the necessary atmosphere. But these plants upon land were not the first. It was under the sea that the earliest traces of life appeared. Water plants grew and after countless ages, animal life followed. Thus, a crude procession of living creatures spread from the water and began to cover the earth.
In those far-off days, inventions and discoveries lay in the invisible realm, waiting for man to develop and call them into everyday life.
It was to Evolution that God gave the gigantic task of developing man. The meaning of the word “evolution” is “to bring forth, change and perfect;” so you may well understand that time, as we know it, could play no part in such a labor. A million years was as
sunrise to sundown with us. There was no one to say “Finish this piece of work right away, for we are in a great hurry.” No, everything moved slowly forward. To perfect a single form took so much time that no one could reckon it.
“These cellular elements have at some time been in the mineral kingdom. While in the mineral kingdom, they have had their coursings and transformations through myriads of images and forms.”
We learn that our senses are not reliable sources of information. If we believe them we should think the world standing still instead of spinning round and round. We should look at a rock and believe it solid—immovable, instead of being made up of millions of separate cells. For the expression of all physical life is change and movement because everything on this planet is composed of tiny invisible cells: the air you breathe, the water you drink, the house in which you live, the mountain tops and the forests, even you yourself are composed of the cellular elements of which Ábdu’l-Bahá speaks.
Ages ago these tiny invisible cells were dancing freely about the universe when Evolution called to them and said, “It is time for you to go to school,” and started the various elements that now make up your body on a long, long journey. At the outset they came to a mysterious land, spoken of in the Bahá’i
Revelation as the Mineral Kingdom. This kingdom was a hidden treasure chest, containing wonders greater than any fairy story ever told.
Let us imagine ourselves far down under the earth, carrying a magic lantern, so that we can unlock the treasure chest and examine its contents. There were great caves in which heaps of leaves from prehistoric forests had lain. The form of the leaves had disappeared, and was replaced by a substance, solid and black, that today we see burning brightly in our fireplaces.
As we watch the flames making shadows on the wall, we must not forget the stately forests of long ago. The origin of coal.
Wandering about, we should come upon rocks of many hues, and blocks of marble, pink and white. Mounds of gold and silver, and veins of copper, that would make mirrors and ornaments for Egypt and Syria. Here were diamonds embedded in the rocks that were to sparkle on the fingers of queens. Rubies and emeralds to be woven into royal crowns, and jewel jade destined to adorn temple altars in far-off lands.
Into each one of these substances, the little invisible cellular elements plunged, working their way through the cruder materials and precious stones. Millions of years passed. Then the head master, Evolution, chose from among the elements, those ready to be forwarded into the vegetable kingdom—that kingdom lying in the sunshine under the blue sky.
“In the vegetable kingdom the elements again had their journeys and transformations through myriads of conditions. Having
accomplished their functions in the vegetable kingdom, the cellular elements ascend to the animal kingdom.”
The new world in which the elements found themselves was full of gayety and freshness. Now they put on Nature’s brightest colors, dressing in tints of the garden with broad green sashes. The trees, the flowers, the vegetables received them, as did the waving fields of grain. A happy rhythm was everywhere. Even during the winter sleep, dreams of spring stirred by sunshine and showers were ever present. It was like a long, long summer vacation. But at length the tireless master Evolution pressed them forward. It was time for a sterner school. Oh, with what regret they bade goodbye to the forest, stream and field, and sadly wended their way to the kingdom of the animals.
“In the animal kingdom again the elements go through the composition of myriads of images.”
Loudly they knocked on the gate of the new kingdom, crying, “Let us in! We come from the headmaster, we have gone to the school of the Mineral as well as the Vegetable, and have thus arrived at your threshold.” The scholars soon made a tremendous discovery: In this Kingdom they could move about! What a delicious experience to run and jump after centuries of keeping still! Wandering about wherever curiosity prompted, brought greater knowledge of the earth than had been acquired through all the previous ages.
Everything in the Animal Kingdom was not easy, however: here food must be hunted; the young protected from fierce claws. And a
watch set for enemies. They endured cold and thirst and for the first time encountered conscious death. Yet these misfortunes served them well, for it brought them nearer and nearer to the end of their journey, until, without realizing any change, the elements crossed the borderland and entered the Human Kingdom.
“For every single phenomenon has enjoyed the postulates of God, and every form of these infinite electrons has had its characteristics and perfections.
“In the human kingdom the elements have their transformations and coursings through multitudes of forms. In short every single primordial atom has had its journeys through every state of life, and in every stage has been endowed with a special virtue and characteristic.”
There was no use knocking here, for the gates were thrown open and it was plain to see no one was within. The Kingdom stood empty. Not knowing what else to do they sat down and waited for Evolution, who could be seen running towards them at great speed. “Your journey is ended,” he cried joyously. “It was by means accidental that your experiences led you hither, for all the time while passing through the different degrees of matter, in all the varied kingdoms, you were potentially man.” You can understand the word “potential” if you
think of an acorn in which is imprisoned an oak tree; with its trunk and spreading branches, all its potential life hidden in a tiny seed that can be held in the palm of your hand.
Evolution assured them that all the necessary tools for man’s development were in the Human Kingdom. “There was only one key that would unlock the secrets of Nature: this key was to be found in man’s brain.” “You must adventure along new paths, relying upon your own initiative; yet, go not alone, but in the company of Courage and Patience. And have no fear.”
And so the elements advanced and the tasks became more and more difficult.
Countless trials, countless failures there were before primitive man learned to make a fire, build a shelter, and to prepare his food. Painfully he mastered the rudiments of physical life, one by one. How many hundred years passed by while he gazed at the rushing waters, unable to invent even a rude raft with which to reach the opposite bank, while you and I thunder over that same water carried by a locomotive on a suspension bridge.
“In the world of existence man has traversed successive degrees until he has attained the human kingdom. In each degree of his progression he has developed capacity for advancement to the neat station and condition. While in the kingdom of the mineral he was attaining the capacity for promotion into the degree of the vegetable. In the kingdom of the vegetable he underwent preparation for the world of the animal and from thence he has come onward to the human degree or kingdom. Throughout this journey of progression he has ever and always been potentially man.”
HAVE you ever wondered which experiences the most joy, an astronomer looking far away through his great telescope into dim distances, or the worker in the laboratory peering into the minuteness of things through a powerful microscope? Undoubtedly there is a thrill in each experience to the true seeker, for in each case new knowledge is being sought. Another building stone is in the process of being added to the foundation of the temple of knowledge. In each case truth is being sought through the sense of sight aided by wonderful lenses.
Science is teaching us to think abstractly. The final solution of a complex scientific problem regarding the universe may be an equation of symbols. Such an equation may express a law without explaining the meaning of the symbols. It is the meaning of the symbols which we must try to understand. The full import may lie beyond the bounds of human perception, but by trying sincerely to interpret these meanings into life, we will undoubtedly be led along the path of spiritual appreciations and away from the older, and no longer tenable, ideas of materialism. Spiritual progress has profound effects on mundane affairs.
“When you breathe forth the breath of the Holy Spirit from your hearts into the world, commerce and politics will take care of themselves in perfect harmony. All arts and sciences will become revealed
and the knowledge of God will be manifested. It is not your work but that of the Holy Spirit which you breathe forth through the Word. This is a fundamental truth,“ said ’Abdu’l-Bahá.
In prosperous times humanity is prone to be complacent. But in times of stress and bewilderment, when humanity realizes that it cannot completely control its environment, it instinctively looks upward to some source of help outside or above the material universe and its workings.
Human interest in spiritual or religious thought and possibilities is accelerating. There is increasing evidence that we are beginning to realize that “we cannot pull ourselves up by our own bootstraps.” Science is frankly endeavoring to peer into the meaning of the symbols which so stealthily slip into the equations expressing natural laws.
Prof. Thomson, closes his most excellent little book “The Atom” with this very interesting suggestion:
“It is a remarkable instance of the unity of thought that a study apparently so remote from human emotion as atomic physics, should have so much to say on one of the great problems of the soul.”
He refers here to the difference between living and dead matter, between the conscious and the unconscious.
In another place he suggests that what we may need is “a less materialistic
view of the universe.”
Prof. Albert Einstein has quite recently voiced ideas regarding science and religion which have caused considerable comment. (New York Times.)
He believes that neither a religion based on fear nor one embracing solely a social or moral idea of God are effective, but that gifted individuals and noble communities have had a cosmic religious sense, free from dogma and the idea of God made in man’s image. This cosmic religious sense leads to a “definite conception of God.” He believes that “the most important function of art and science is to arouse and keep alive this feeling in those who are receptive.”
Whether we agree with him or not “that the only deeply religious people of our largely materialistic age are the earnest men of research,” we can see much in his statement “that the cosmic religious experience is the strongest and noblest driving force behind scientific research.” We can realize the worker’s deep “faith in the rationality of the structure of the world.” We can see that the men of science are devoutly seeking by following at least one path, that of scientific method.
It is decidedly inspiring and stimulating when scientists of the rank of Thomson and Einstein direct thought into spiritual channels. It indicates that spiritual forces are working, however as yet generally unrecognized and possibly unanticipated. It tends to guide the thought of a world interested in science to the real foundations of the universe. Science interests
many because of its applications. These myriad applications result in material wealth, but the time is not far distant when the spiritual significances of science will far outweigh the others. To many, these brief and guarded suggestions of the men of science have greater inspirational value than many sermons. They indicate that spiritual values are being gauged as more and more important and fundamental.
One of the most intriguing and stimulating books of the hour is Sir James Jeans “The Mysterious Universe.” Although not as comprehensive as Eddington’s earlier “The Nature of the Physical Universe” it is a provocative challenge to think about the universe and the particle of it which we call home.
Jeans suggests that “the nature of ultimate reality can only be expressed in terms of mathematical formula.” The mechanical and biological concepts of the universe have failed to offer complete and satisfactory explanations, and human intellectual activity has advanced so far that anything short of a complete explanation is not deemed adequate.
Certainty has given way to probability. Scientists no longer endeavor to state, in every case, that given a certain set of conditions, a second specific set of conditions or states will follow. They say it is probable that such will be the case. Determinism seems to have been given a death blow.
Because of advanced technique we are now able to deal with conceptions of particles much smaller than ever before. For this reason and others, mathematical averages
now have great significance.
He believes that the laws which nature obeys are not so much like those which a machine follows as those which govern a musician composing. The universe can probably best be pictured “as consisting of pure thought, the thought of what, for want of a wider word, we must describe as a mathematical thinker.”
Present day pictures, which science draws, are mathematical ones, and “the universe appears to have been designed by a pure mathematician.“
By pure mathematics is meant those departments of the science which are creations of pure thought as contrasted with applied mathematics which reasons about the external world.
Jeans believes that the final truth of a phenomenon resides in the mathematical description of it. Mechanical models no longer suffice, but mathematical formula do not tell what a thing is, only how it behaves.
“Today there is a wide measure of agreement, which on the physical side of science, approaches almost unanimity, that the stream of knowledge is heading toward a non-mechanical reality; the universe begins to look more like a great thought than a great machine . . . Mind no longer appears as an accidental intruder into the realm of matter; we are beginning to suspect that we ought rather to hail it as the creator and govenor of the realm of matter. Not, of course our individual minds, but the mind in which the atoms, out of which our individual minds have grown, exist as thoughts.”
’Abdu’l-Bahá said, “When we speak of the soul we mean the motive power of this physical body which lives under its entire control in accordance with its dictates. If the soul identifies itself with the material world it remains dark . . . but if it becomes the recipient of the graces of the world of mind, its darkness will be transformed into light, its tyranny into justice, its ignorance into wisdom, its aggression into loving kindness; until it reach the apex. Then there will not remain any struggle for existence. Man will become free from egotism; he will be released from the material world; he will become the personification of justice and virtue, for a sanctified soul illumines humanity and is an honor to mankind, conferring life upon the children of men and suffering all nations to attain to the station of perfect unity.“
“There is, however, a faculty in man which unfolds to his vision the secrets of existence. It gives him power whereby he may investigate the reality of every object. It leads man on and on to the luminous station of divine sublimity, and frees him from all the fetters of self, causing him to ascend to the pure heaven of sanctity. This is the power of the mind, . . .”
It is intensely interesting to read Jean’s last chapter in the light of the Bahá’i Revelation.
’Abdu’l-Bahá explains the third power of man “which is an emanation from the divine bestower; it is the effulgence of the sun of reality; the radiation of the celestial world, the spirit of faith, the spirit His Holiness the Christ refers to when he says, ‘Those that are born of
the flesh are flesh and those that are born of the spirit are spirit.’ The spirit is the axis round which the eternal life revolves. . . . This spirit of faith is the flame of reality, the life of humanity and the cause of eternal illumination. It inspires man to attain the virtues and perfections of the divine world.”
Modern science has taken a huge step away from its older materialism when it quite frankly begins to talk of the mind, and of the universe being, perhaps, a great thought. A thought certainly is not a material thing. Perhaps it will not be so hard to take the next step and recognize generally the third power of man—the spirit of faith. It has already been suggested that our scientists may need a “less material view of the universe” to enable them to understand at least some of the meanings of the symbols which occur in the most accurate pictures of the universe—mathematical descriptions.
Perhaps the probabilities which theories and hypotheses seem to lead to will be found to be but another expression for the Will of God.
Mathematical pictures are the most complete but these equations are in symbols. What do the symbols mean? The whole course of science seems to be away from the tangible and towards the intangible. We can scarcely now expect a reversion to a physical or entirely materialistic interpretation of these mysterious symbols.
It was suggested that the thought comprising the universe is that of a pure mathematician and a pure mathematician does not reason about the external world.
Is it not clear that all of these extremely interesting speculations, and many more which might be cited, point to spiritual forces, spiritual influences, spiritual effects?
Our modern scientists are doing much to emphasize an increasing appreciation of the fundamental importance of things and forces which cannot be defined as purely physical or material. Current literature is rich in such highly interesting material. It is hard to understand why we go on placing such undue importance on the trivialities of life when there are such great things to consider. It is comforting to know that there is a great fund of knowledge which great minds are tapping and that when released, such knowledge always benefits mankind.
“Scientific knowledge is the highest attainment upon the human plane” said ’Abdu’l-Bahá “for science is the discoverer of realities. It is of two kinds, material and spiritual. Material science is the investigation of natural phenomena; divine science is the discovery and realization of spiritual verities. The world of humanity must acquire both. A bird has two wings; it cannot fly with one. Material and spiritual science are the two wings of human uplift and attainment. Both are necessary, one the natural, the other supernatural; one material, the other divine. By the divine we mean the discovery of the mysteries of God, the comprehension of spiritual realities, the wisdom of God, inner significances of the heavenly religions and foundation of the law.”
This, the fifth installment of the series under the title “The Basis of Bahá’i Belief,” deals with the subject of biblical prophecy as reaching its fulfillment in the Manifestation of Bahá’u’lláh. In the present age the validity of prophecy is not a very current belief, nevertheless the mere fact that there have been hundreds of fantastical interpretations of bible prophecy is in itself no proof of the invalidity of prophecy. One cannot even from a scientific point of view dismiss with mere negation the whole matter of prophecy which forms such an integral basic part of the Judaic and Christian religions. A careful perusal of this article will be of interest to any one who desires to see to what extent the Bahá’i Movement is the fulfillment of the direct prophecies recurrent all through the bible. The Moffatt translation is used throughout.
THE most important question to every sincere and spiritually-minded person today is how he may know his Lord when He appears: for the signs of His coming are so evident that all save the dead are aware of them.
The Hebrew prophets gave clear evidence to the Jews of the conditions that would accompany the advent of the Lord of Hosts when He should tread upon the high places of the earth; Jesus Himself expounded the ways in which His followers might know His Spirit when it descended again into flesh.
Since the only evidences which the Christian accepts as sacred and authentic are these two let us examine in some detail this proof from prophecy concerning th e Baha’i claim that Bahá’u’lláh fulfills the great expectation of the ages and has come in the fullness of time to usher in the Kingdom of God on earth, making of human hope, divine assurance.
Jesus instructing His followers as to “the time of the end” refers them back to Hebrew prophecy—let the reader note what Daniel said about it is His word on this subject.1 Turning then to Daniel we
(1) Matt. 24:15. (2) Chapter 9.
find an exact chronology of the events that are to transpire.2 He assigns from the time of the rebuilding of Jerusalem in 457 B. C. (Ezra:7) seventy weeks of the sacrifice of Jesus. In Numbers 14:34 and Ezekiel 4:6 the symbolism of a day is interpreted as a year: therefore seventy weeks is four hundred and ninety days or, scripturally, years. When the thirty-three years of the life of Jesus is added to 457 B. C. we obtain the number 490. But in chapter eight we find the prophecy to which Jesus refers: “How long . . . to give both the sanctuary and the host to be trodden underfoot?” “Unto two thousand three hundred days.” From the edict to rebuild Jerusalem until the year of the birth of Jesus there were four hundred and fifty-six days; this date subtracted from twenty-three hundred gives the date 1844. Daniel also gives the same date in another way. In 12:6 he gives it as a time, times and a half, or a year, two years and half a year. The sideral year is three hundred and sixty days, twice that number is seven hundred and twenty and half of it are one hundred and eighty, which added give
twelve hundred and sixty, after the daily sacrifice is abolished. This occurred in 622 A. D. Adding the numbers we arrive at 1882 subtracting the thirty-eight years difference between solar and lunar time we obtain 1844 which exactly corresponds to 1260 A. H., or Muhammadan reckoning.
To the wary this might seem like special pleading or adroit manipulation to establish a point, but the fact that in widely scattered lands (America, Germany, Bohemia, Sweden and elsewhere) without intercommunication or the knowledge that other groups were trying to interpret these passages, they all quite independently arrived at the date 1844. It might have been a coincidence had two groups agreed, but where six or seven without comparison reach the same conclusion, we are constrained to believe that the cryptogram is evident to those who seek its meaning.
In the Christian Bible John also refers to a time, times and a half, giving in the eleventh chapter a reference to three days and an half, and explicitly to “a thousand, two hundred and three score days.”
Thus the date 1260 A. H. and 1844 A. D. are given in many references in both the Hebrew and Christian scriptures.
Daniel, to whom Jesus told His followers to refer, gives a second date: a thousand two hundred and ninety. Dating this from the declaration of Muhammad (for it concerns a similar declaration) we have the year 1864.
Americans are familiar with the story of the group in this country who found thus, in the prophecies,
(1) 12:6.
“the time of the end.” They now call themselves “Seventh Day Adventists,” though at that time they were known as “Millerites.” Interpreting the scriptures literally they gave away their property, severed all earthly ties, and clothing themselves in white went up onto the hilltops in New York state “to meet their Lord in the air.” Similarly a group of Germans having independently found the same date repaired to Mount Carmel for the same rapturous experience. Such was the origin of the prosperous German colony today living at the foot of Mount Carmel. The date on which these expectations were thus dramatized was May 23rd, 1844.
The date 1260, given as such in Revelation,1 was also the date of Muhammadan expectation. “The year sixty” for a thousand years in Muhammadan history was spoken of as the time of the return of the Imam Mahdi.
On this very day the Glorious Báb in His tender youth arose as the consummation of the past cycle and as the Forerunner of the great Day of God for which the righteous were yearning. A young man of irresistible beauty and power, He established, in the six short years before His martyrdom, a following for “Him Whom God shall manifest” Who in nine and again in nineteen years would reveal Himself.
THE RELIGIONS of the world teach the appearance of two great contemporaneous Manifestations in this day: the Jews are promised the Lord of Hosts and the Messiah; the Christians the return of Christ
and Elijah.1 The Muhammadans, the Mahdi and the Messiah. But also forth from the Lord would come His Branch2 His Servant3 reflecting His Light as the moon reflects the light of the sun. “Moreover in that day the light of the moon shall be as the light of the sun, and the light of the sun shall be seven-fold as the light of seven days”4: the religion revealed in this day shall be as great as all seven of the previous dispensations.
When Jesus was transfigured, previsioning the state in which He would next appear, the disciples saw two others with Him, whom they called Moses and Elijah.5 Daniel in his apocalyptic vision sees three: the man clothed in linen and one on this side one on that side of the river.6 In the Zoroastrian teachings three would arise in Persia.
The third figure in these predictions is ’Abdu’l-Bahá, the Arm that would rule for the Lord of Hosts.7 He was the oldest son of Bahá’u’lláh appointed by His Father as Center of the Eternal Covenant of God with man; to Bahá’is He is identical with Bahá’u’lláh8 differing from Him only in function: as for example the light and heat of the sun are two different functions. By this means, long prophesied, Bahá’u’lláh extended the rays of His bounty and blessings upon mankind by nearly thirty years.
’Abdu’l-Bahá, which means the Servant of God; the actual incarnation of that ancient agreement between God and His creation, taught in the sacred religions of the
world as the Covenant9; the Holy of Holies where man ever makes contact with His merciful Creator; ’Abdu’l-Bahá, the focal or pivotal point of Love and Unity in the world, was also born on May 23, 1844.
Thus we see that the chronology of prophecy was fulfilled by the declaration of the Báb and the birth of ’Abdu’l-Bahá.
When Daniel had his vision he was standing in the palace of Shushan in Elam. Glancing at the Biblical Gazeteer we find that Elam is Persia and that Shushan the capital is near the site of the present capital, Tihrán, where Bahá’u’lláh declared His mission. This was in 1853 (the first date given by the Báb) to a chosen few of His friends: in nineteen years or 1863 He made known His Station to a larger group and in 1864 (the second date in Daniel, 1290 days) He publicly announced in Baghdad His Purpose and Authority.
But according to Biblical prophecy the return of the human presence of God amongst men, was to occur on Mount Carmel:10 that is why the German group made their pilgrimage there to await His coming. Mount Hermon is also called Mount Zion11 and between Mount Carmel and Mount Hermon is situated the city of ’Akká, well-remembered in prophecy.12
So clearly has this locality been established as the place of reunion when the Promised One should come—that during the second crusade in 1136 a band of monks settled on Mount Carmel for that sublime rendezvous. There to this
(1) Mal. 4:5. (2) Isa. 4:2; Zec. 3:8; 6:12-15: Jer. 33:15; 23:5. (3) Isa. 52:13. (4) Isa. 30:26. (5) Matt. 17. (6) Daniel 12:5-6. (7) Isa. 40:9; 22-23. (8) Baha’i Scriptures 527. (9) Isa. 59:21. (10) Amos 1:2; Micah 7:14; Isa. 9:35:2; Zech. 2:12. (11) Deut. 4:48; Ps. 133:3. (12) Isa. 65:10; Hosea 2:15; Joshua 7:24.
day their monastery stands on that brow where Carmel gently slopes into the sea. Bahá’u’lláh pitched His tent near there: once more He came unto His own, but His own folk did not welcome him.*
Turning to Micah 7:12–15, he says that in the day of restoration the One promised of God shall come from Assyria.1 Examining a map of that period we find that the present site of Baghdád is included in that ancient empire. Bahá’u’lláh was first thrown into prison in Tihrán for allying Himself with the followers of the Báb in 1852. Banished to Baghdád the following year, He proclaimed His Station in 1864 on the eve of His banishment to Constantinople; from there He sojourned for a brief time in Adrianople whence He was sentenced to the penal colony of ’Akká—between Mount Carmel and Mount Zion in 1868. At ’Akká He passed from this earth, a titular prisoner, in 1892. In the twelfth verse it gives four different movements, in addition to coming from the fortified cities. The fourteenth verse2 refers to the group of voluntary exiles who accompanied Bahá’u’lláh throughout His bitter trials and hardships, sharing the unspeakable abasement to which He was subjected. In the fifteenth verse Micah gives the days of Israel’s coming out of the land of Egypt as the time during which the marvels of God will appear unto the Promised One: Bahá’u’lláh, as already stated, went into prison in Tihrán in 1852 and ascended from the world in 1892; ’Abdu’l-Bahá entered the prison of ’Akká with His Father in 1868, and was
* John 1:11. (1) Isa. 11:16. (2) Cf. Isa. 37:24. (3) Also spelled Akka. (4) Abdu’l-Baha.
freed by the Young Turk revolution in 1908: thus both terms covered exactly forty years.
Therefore we see that the Báb, Baha’u’llah and ’Abdu’l-Bahá, fulfill the Christian and Jewish prophecies with regard to Their number, the time of Their Appearance and the place in which They should appear; the exile and wanderings of Bahá’u’lláh and His final coming to Achor3 and Mount Carmel was fulfilled; He Who would establish the Covenant and build the Temple of God was appointed,4 and so the expectation of those who can look with clear sight and pure heart has been satisfied.
The great burden of prophecy throughout the Old Testament concerns the dispersion and the return of the Jews; when the Lord of Hosts appears Israel will flowback to Palestine, and “sing there as in the days of her youth.”
Of startling significance then was the issuing of the great Firman of Toleration by the Sultan of Turkey in 1844 permitting Jews to take up residence in Judea and Turkish subjects to become Christians. The world today is apprised of the Zionist movement which amply fulfills the ancient predictions; but not until the Báb declared the presence of Bahá’u’lláh in the world was this gesture of restitution made.
There is still another point before we finish with these proofs from prophecy and take up the next signs given by Jesus in the twenty-fourth chapter of Mark.
Bahá’u’lláh, Who was born Husayn Ali Mirza Prince of Nur, was a descendant of the ancient royal
dynasty of Persia. His grand-father was Prime Minister of the empire, His father a Vizier. Before His princely estates were confiscated and His rank reduced He often met with the followers of the blessed Báb, Whose Station as the Imam Mahdi, or Ga’im (as He is called in Persian) Husayn Ali Mirza immediately recognized before the world. In these meetings He was addressed by the supporters of El Báb as Jenabe Bahá. The name was given Him before His declaration. Choosing, as each succeeding Manifestation has ever done, the Name by which His followers shall call Him, this word, already given Him in recognition of His sublime character and attainments, was combined with the
(1) Abdu’l-Baha. (2) Rev. 21:23. (3) Hab. 2:14; Isa. 11:9. (4) Isa. 60:1 and 3.
Name of God (Allah, in the religion where He appeared)—as Jesus, for example, called Himself the Son of God, and Bahá’u’lláh became the title under which He went forth to conquer the world with His Love and Wisdom and to establish the reign of the Almighty on earth. Bahá’u’lláh means the “Glory of God” and prophecy rings with His coming. “The city needs no sun, for Bahá’u’lláh illumines it, and the Lamb1 lights it up.”2 “The earth shall be filled with the knowledge of Bahá’u’lláh as the waters cover the sea.”3 “Arise, shine for the light is come and Bahá’u’lláh is risen upon thee . . . and the Gentiles shall come to Thy light and kings to the glory (Baha) of Thy rising.”
(To be Continued)
- A waxen Virgin hovers in the gloom
- Lit with red gems and candles, and the fume
- Of agate clouds of incense; heavy sighs
- Hang listless in the air, and upturned eyes
- Are straining for the brazen trump of doom.
- The monks are waiting yet for Christ to come.
- On Carmel mountain they have made their home,
- Over the shore where the wan ocean dies.
- To beautify His coming roses bloom,
- And tuberoses, and yellow Spanish broom,
- And in the chapel singing voices rise;
- But Christ has come, and gone again, and wise
- Were they who kissed His feet and saw Him home.
