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| VOL. 21 | JULY, 1930 | NO. 4 |
| Page | |
True Wealth, ’Abdu’l-Bahá | 102 |
Editorial, Stanwood Cobb | 99 |
Let Me Know Life, a Poem, Genevieve L. Coy | 101 |
A Pilgrimage Through Persia—Baghdád and Kirmansháh, Martha, L. Root | 104 |
Millenium, Marzieh K. Nabil | 109 |
Obstacles to Human Understanding, Abdul Hussein Ispahani | 114 |
Character Training, Dr. J. E. Esslemont | 117 |
A Message to Youth, Excerpts from Baccalaureate Sermons | 118 |
The Inspiration of God’s Word, Byne Goodman Cavenee | 121 |
International Peace Garden, Martin L. Davey | 124 |
Songs of Life, Lorna B. Tasker | 128 |
| Cover Design by VICTORIA BIDIKIAN | |
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 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.
--PHOTO--
A nobl type of Bahá'i scholar and mystic—Sheikh Muhammad El Damirtchi of Baghdád, ’Iráq, a follower of the Bahá‘i Movement since the days of Bahá’u’lláh. (See page 104)
| VOL. 21 | JULY, 1930 | NO. 4 |
consist in personal wealth, but on the contrary, in sublimity of soul, nobility of resolution, extension of education, and in the solution of the problem of life.”
“I HAVE NEVER seen a very rich man die happy,” once remarked Dr. Billings of Chicago to a friend of his. He then proceeded to name five very wealthy men whom he had attended at their death beds, and they had all been unhappy, notwithstanding their millions. There was always family trouble, or some other trouble.
One need not conclude from such evidence that it is not possible to be both wealthy and happy. Rather the lesson to be drawn from such facts as these is that wealth is not a guarantee of happiness. If the amount of happiness an individual could attain were in direct proportion to his wealth, it would be a strange universe to live in. For then there would be every incentive for acquisitiveness and self-seeking, with assurance of joy in proportion to the degree of self-seeking plus ability to heap up riches.
But unhappiness, as subtle as air itself, manages to creep even into bank vaults. Against sorrow and disaster there is no sure protection, certainly no insurance to be paid in premiums of cash.
Destiny has a strange way of reaching the selfish and acquisitive—usually
by other than financial loss. Strange law, but true, that to them that hath shall be given. Destiny opposes no insuperable obstacles to continuous financial success on the part of able and acquisitive men. For it is inherent in the very nature of evolution and progress that ability shall have field for expression, and definite rewards in kind.
To a Midas, gold seems to gravitate in unbroken obedience to some inner law of attraction. Here the individual finds no opposition from Destiny. But there is in this wealth selfishly acquired no impregnable fortress to bulwark body and soul against disaster. From a thousand directions disaster can come upon a life lived outwardly so proudly as an expression of indomitable power.
In the physique of the individual, in wife, in children, in friends, lie infinitely complex possibilities of attack and destruction. The outer world may obey every behest of Midas, but within the inner world how feeble is the control which he can exert over the sources of joy!
More significant even than cataclysmic misfortunes in family and social life, is the steady process of
spiritual atrophy and the growth of egoism to a fixation. Thus the selfish rich man faces at death dire poverty as regards that wealth which is to be needed in the Kingdom, and feels more sore oppressed than have been any of his clients who have been brought to material poverty and ruin by the dying man’s greedy financial operations. In fact, as these wealthy ones approach the abode of immortality, they discover too late how short-sighted they were in not accumulating during their lifetime goods of lasting value.
They had made a god of material wealth, but now that they approach the frontiers of the other world, they find they cannot take with them either their wealth or the power of their wealth.
What they should have acquired during their life upon this planet is described by ’Abdu’l-Bahá in these words:
“What is he in need of in the Kingdom after he is transferred from this world to the other world? That world is a world of sanctity; therefore it is necessary that he acquire sanctity in this world. In that world there is need of radiance; therefore radiance must be acquired in this world. In that world there is need of spirituality. In this world he must acquire spirituality. In that world faith and assurance, the knowledge of God, the love of God, are needed. These he must acquire in this world so that after he ascends from this mortal to that immortal world he shall find that all that is needful in that life eternal is ready for him.”
Carelessness and shortsightedness
regarding eternal wealth is not by any means a monopoly of the very rich. Many who have no wealth of worldly goods have no wealth either of spiritual goods, and at the point of death find themselves in unhappiness and dismay. Thus neither does wealth nor poverty guarantee tranquility, which is in essence a spiritual, not a phenomenal possession.
There is no condemnation in material success and wealth, provided the dazzling power and enticements which these bring do not blind the possessor to the spiritual verities. “Wealth,” says ’Abdu’l-Bahá, “has a tempting and drawing quality. It bewilders the sight of its charmed victims with showy appearances and draws them on and on to the edge of yawning chasms. It makes a person self-centered, self-occupied, forgetful of God and of holy things.”
Great then, is the station of those men and women who, possessing wealth, do not neglect the requirements of the Kingdom. “Such rich men,” said ’Abdu’l-Bahá, “are in reality the light-bearing stars of the heaven of mankind, because they have been tried and tested and have come out of the crucible as pure gold . . . unalloyed and unadulterated. With all the wealth of the world at their feet they are yet mindful of God and humanity, they spend their acquired riches for the dispelling of the darkness of ignorance and employ their treasures for the alleviation of the misery of the children of God. The light of such rich men will never grow dim and the tree of their generosity will grow in size and stature, producing
fruits in all seasons. Their every deed will be as an example for succeeding generations.”
Thus it is seen that God is entirely impartial to wealth. The way to the Kingdom is open to all, rich or poor. But it is the wealth of the Kingdom which the wise acquire while on earth. This kind of wealth alone brings assurance, fortitude,
and joy throughout life. As the physical powers wane, the spiritual powers grow. And when Israfel brings his kindly message and passport for a journey into further and more ethereal bournes, there is neither regret nor dread. The darkness of Death becomes transformed even this side of the grave into the light of Immortality.
The following poem written before the author came in contact with the Bahá’i Movement, is not only of poetic value in itself, hat is extremely interesting as showing a situation which has occurred many times in the case of those who have become Bahá’is—that they had previously reached out subconsciously for truth and had arrived at an attitude of mind and spirit which made the Truth of the Bahá’i Cause a complete fulfillment of their spiritual aspirations.
* * * *
- Let me know Life:—
- Where sunlight sweeps the earth and seas tumultuous
- Fling banners of white, shattered foam
- In challenge to the high, veiled gods
- Who nod above that glorious strife,—
- Let me know Life!
- For never by the dreaming rivers have I prayed
- With clasping hands, to those old sleeping gods,
- For peace and soft content.-
- The future I have loved, and not the past.
- Then rise! thou Guardian of the Future, rise!
- From far free ends of earth, where dawn
- Has found Thee ready at Thy Work.
- Through the glad tumult of uprising millions, come!
- I hail a God with laughter on his lips
- And morning in his eyes!
What wealth really is, as seen from the universal viewpoint of a Great Teacher, is here described by ’Abdu’l-Bahá in a way which convinces both the intelligence and the heart. This remarkable passage is from the book, "Some Answered Questions,” and is worthy of the most careful study by all who ponder upon wealth and its problems.
THE honor and exaltation of every existing being depends upon causes and circumstances.
The excellency, the adornment, and the perfection of the earth is to be verdant and fertile through the bounty of the clouds of springtime. Plants grow, flowers and fragrant herbs spring up, fruit-bearing trees become full of blossoms, and bring forth fresh and new fruit. Gardens become beautiful, and meadows adorned; mountains and plains are clad in a green robe, and gardens, fields, villages, and cities are decorated. This is the prosperity of the mineral world.
The height of exaltation and the perfection of the vegetable world is that a tree should grow on the bank of a stream of fresh water, that a gentle breeze should blow on it, that the warmth of the sun should shine on it, that a gardener should attend to its cultivation, and that day by day it should develop and yield fruit. But its real prosperity is to progress into the animal and human world, and replace that which has been exhausted in the bodies of animals and men.
The exaltation of the animal world is to possess perfect members, organs, and powers, and to have all its needs supplied. This is its chief glory, its honor and exaltation. So the supreme happiness of an animal is to have possession of
a green and fertile meadow, perfectly pure flowing water, and a lovely, verdant forest. If these things are provided for it, no greater prosperity can be imagined. For example, if a bird builds its nest in a green and fruitful forest, in a beautiful high place, upon a strong tree, and at the top of a lofty branch, and if it finds all it needs of seeds and water, this is its perfect prosperity.
But real prosperity for the animal consists in passing from the animal world to the human world, like the microscopic beings that, through the water and air, enter into man and are assimilated, and replace that which has been consumed in his body. This is the great honor and prosperity for the animal world; no greater honor can be conceived for it.
Therefore it is evident and clear that this wealth, this comfort, and this material abundance, form the complete prosperity of minerals, vegetables, and animals. No riches, wealth, comfort, or ease of the material world is equal to the wealth of a bird; all the areas of these plains and mountains are its dwelling, and all the seeds and harvests are its food and wealth, and all the lands, villages, meadows, pastures, forests, and wildernesses are its possessions. Now, which is the richer, this bird, or the most
wealthy man? For no matter how many seeds it may take or bestow, its wealth does not decrease.
Then it is clear that the honor and exaltation of man must be something more than material riches; material comforts are only a branch, but the root of the exaltation of man is the good attributes and virtues which are the adornments of his reality. These are the divine appearances, the heavenly bounties, the sublime emotions, the love and knowledge of God; universal wisdom, intellectual perception, scientific discoveries, justice, equity, truthfulness, benevolence, natural courage, and innate fortitude; the respect for rights and the keeping of agreements and covenants; rectitude in all circumstances; serving the truth under all conditions; the sacrifice of one’s life for the good of all people; kindness and esteem for all nations; obedience to the
teachings of God; service in the Divine Kingdom; the guidance of the people, and the education of the nations and races. This is the prosperity of the human world! This is the exaltation of man in the world! This is eternal life and heavenly honor!
These virtues do not appear from the reality of man except through the power of God and the divine teachings, for they need supernatural power for their manifestation. It may be that in the world of nature a trace of these perfections may appear; but they are not established and lasting; they are like the rays of the sun upon the wall.
As the compassionate God has placed such a wonderful crown upon the head of man, man should strive that its brilliant jewels may become visible in the world.
* * * *
- Of Life, Fruit of the Tree,
- Love’s Testament,—
- All lavishly spent
- For a sinner like me!
Miss Root, who has recently completed a tour of Persia, visiting the principle cities on behalf of the Bahá’i Movement, relates in this most interesting series of articles, her experiences as an American Bahá’i traveler in Persia.
PERSIA, the land of Bahá’u’lláh, the scene of the life and martyrdom of the Báb, the childhood home of ’Abdu’l-Bahá, the long caravan routes over which passed Qurratu’l-’Ayn and the other eighteen “Letters of the Living,” the soil made fragrant by the pure blood of countless thousands of devoted followrs—O reader! let us approach with reverence our pilgrimage to this sacred birthplace of the Bahá’i Faith!
Of ancient 'Irán once so renowned in the classic days of the great Cyrus, and again in her Renaissance period of Háfiz and Sa-di, the new glory is this: that out from Shiráz has arisen the Báb far mightier than the poets of this Land of the Lion and the Sun; and born in Tihrán was Bahá’u’lláh the Great World Teacher of this budding universal cycle.
Persia has kept its nationality for twenty-five hundred years and now it goes forward to its greatest triumph. This Persia you are to visit is larger than France, Germany, Spain, Holland, Belgium and Switzerland combined. It is nearly one-fifth as large as the whole United States, even though it has only fifteen million inhabitants for this vast area. Geographically, Persia is a great tableland, the plateau of ’Irán.
Just as in the histories of past
religions, devotees by the millions have sought the shrines of Confucius in China; have searched the places where Buddha trod in India; have wailed at the Wall in Jerusalem; journeyed through Palestine where Jesus Christ walked and talked; have thronged to Mecca, Medina, Karbilá and Mashhad,—so in this twentieth century hundreds of thousands of Bahá’is and others interested will pilgrimage to Persia, and in the centuries ahead they will come in even far greater numbers. Enroute from Haifa and ’Akká, they will travel on to Baghdád to see the House of Bahá’u’lláh and the Ridván Garden where He first declared His Manifestation, and then they will come on through the western frontier of Persia to Tihrán, the city of Bahá’u’lláh. Later they will go reverently to all the other places, Shiráz and Bushir and to Tabriz where the Báb in the public square was shot down with hundreds of bullets. They will bend tenderly over the grave of many a martyr.
THE WESTERN people will do their best to help Persia. ’Abdu’l-Bahá, in one of His Tablets, gives this promise to the Persians: “In the near future, your brothers from Europe and America will come into Persia and establish new arts, signs of civilization, and
--PHOTO--
From left to right–Dr. Habibulláh who is writing a book about the Bahá’i history of Kirmansháh which will be published in both the Persian and English languages; Mme. Habibulláh; Miss Martha Root, international Bahá'i speaker and journalist; Mrs. Behtari Dehgan of Shiráz, who traveled with Miss Root from Haifa to Tihrán.
many factories. They will promote commerce, agriculture, and education. When the country will be perfectly safe, then they will come. They will make the country of Persia a paradise superior to other lands. Then the government will be entirely happy, for it will know that the Bahá’i ideal is to do everything best for the government, and that the Bahá’is are most sincere.”
Bahá’u’lláh has prophesied a wonderful future for Tihrán. Here are His Words from the “Kitáb-i-Aqdas:”
“O Land of Ta (Tihrán)! let nothing grieve thee, for verily hath God made thee the Dawning-place of the joy of the world. Should He so will, He will bless thy throne with one who shall rule in justice and shall bring together the herd of God which hath been dispersed by wolves. He shall meet the people of Bahá with joy and happiness. Lo, he shall be of the essence of creation before God: upon him forever be the glory of God and of those in the Kingdom of Command!
“Rejoice thou in that God hath made thee the horizon of Light, for in thee was born the Dawn of Revelation, and upon thee was endowed the name by which shone forth the Sun of Bounty and illumined the heaven and earth.
“Soon shall agitation overtake thy affairs and the populace shall reign over thee; verily, thy Lord is the Omniscient, the Omnipotent!
“Rest thou assured of the Bounty of thy Lord; verily, He shall not withdraw from thee the glances of His Favor. Soon shall tranquility
settle down upon thee after commotion. Thus hath it been ordained in the New Tablet.”
’Abdu’l-Bahá said of Iran: “The future of Persia will be great and splendid, because it is the birth-place of Bahá’u’lláh. All the other countries of the world will look with respect and honor to Persia; be assured that this country will progress to such a degree that it will dazzle the eyes of all learned men of the world. Verily, this is the great glad-tidngs, this is a promise which shall be fulfilled in the near future. Spread this good news throughout the world.”
WITH THIS introduction, O readers, let us enter Persia along the western frontier. The Baghdád friends, who have served you and me as if we were royal guests, have accompanied us from Baghdád to Khaniqayn, a twelve hour journey by train, just to be sure we come safely. And when they tuck us into the big motor car, which they themselves had chosen for us, they give us a truly Baghdád abá which is a sunshine-brown cloak embroidered with gold and silver, and they give us three wool rugs. Then after ordering little glasses of tea brought out to us in the car, gallantly with a smile and back of it a tear they wish us “Alláh-u-Abhá”;
Coming to the Custom House at the Persian border five miles beyond Khaniqayn, the writer presented a letter of introduction from the Persian Minister in Baghdád. Travelling with her were a Bahá’i lady from Shiráz and a Bahá’i young man from Tihrán journeying the same way. The Customs Official
after reading the letter invited the party in to have tea, while the baggage which had been roped high to the sides of the car as heavily as a peddlar might pile his wares, was patiently undone and examined. The official said that if there were any Bahá’i books they must be destroyed. There were none, for the writer knows the rules of the country.
If Persia did but know it, the very books they burn and boycott have been instrumental in creating among Occidentals an understanding and appreciation of Islam, eliciting such statements from Her Majesty Queen Marie of Rumania and other great Westerners that the Station of Muhammad as the Messenger of God is like the Station of Christ. Thus these very Bahá’i books which Persian Moslems burn as heretical have served the Cause of Islám in the West. The Bahá’i Movement is not against Islám.
After a delightful little talk about the unity of all religions the car was again ready, and the bags and we ourselves were stowed in like peas in a pod. The snow-bed road was excellent, the sunshine warm and exhilarating. We were starting into Persia in January, the coldest and most difficult season to travel, but busy people cannot always wait for the spring and the Persian gardens where the nightingales sing on the rose branches. Our chauffeur and his helper, Hassan, a svelte boy of seventeen, guided the car so deftly it moved like a swift-flying bird. The total distance from Baghdád to Tihrán is about five hundred miles.
At one place deep snow drifts had blocked the road. Twenty cars,
trucks and passenger machines and many more horse teams and donkey caravans stood in the line.
Hassan and the chauffeur shoveled and carried gravel to put under the wheels, the red quilt round the baggage was unroped and also put under. However the sun sank lower and lower and it seemed as if we must spend the night in the drifts. But in the early starlight the cars triumphed and we moved forward to good roads. We followed behind the motor car carrying government mail and reached Kirmansháh at one-thirty o’clock in the morning. Because there were many cars they could travel in the night, usually this is not allowed.
Kirmansháh Bahá’i friends had sent three believers to the border to meet me, but they had waited two days and then returned as there had been a mistake in the telegram. A large group of Kirmansháh friends had motored out many miles to meet us and escort our car into the city, but they too had been forced to turn back at night when we had not come.
Delighted now at our arrival, the friends came to the hotel early in the morning and took us to a palatial Bahá’i home. A meeting for nearly two hundred women was held that day. The mother of a martyr sat in the audience. When her son, Jacob Mottahedeh, had been shot for the faith, she had given a wedding feast to celebrate his passing, bcause he had wished this and not a funeral service.
This youth’s pure life and martyrdom have given a profound depth to the Cause in that city. Really, one needs to see it to realize its powerful significance. Men,
women and children are inspired and urged forward because one of their dearest members gave his life that the Bahá’i Cause might be continued in his city.
A large meeting for nearly three hundred men was held in the evening. Ten years ago such a Bahá’i meeting would have been impossible without many being killed. Now whenever any kind of a gathering is held, the policemen come to the street and stay until every one passes out on his way home. Certainly law and order are very good in Persia.
Some people in very high positions in Kirmansháh and in all other cities of Persia quietly come to call and to ask about the Bahá’i Teachings and their progress in the west. One of the very high government officials in Persia traveling that route said he would meet the writer in the home of a friend. He was extraordinarily intelligent and asked questions which showed he had studied the Bahá’i Teachings deeply.
When the discussion was over, she said: “I have told you everything very frankly, but I do not know how your country will receive me when they know I am a Bahá’i as well as a journalist.” “Our country is tolerant,” he replied. “Ten years ago I should not have dared take the risk of speaking with you.”
Many people in Persia are Bahá’is who do not openly declare their faith. All along the motor route of Irán in the villages and cities the Bahá’is knew that a western Bahá’i sister was passing their way. They came to the road, and if they made no greeting, their
smile, their shining eyes that were quickly lowered or turned in another direction, showed her that they recognized and loved the believer from the Occident. There is no city nor any important village in all Persia that does not have Bahá’is.
A VERY EFFICIENT and delightful Bahá’i of Hamadán came to accompany us on to his city. The road lay over a high mountain but everything went beautifully. Friends had given us a bountiful lunch-(as they had done everywhere from Haifa to Iráq, Iráq to Persia!)—roasted chickens, hard-boiled eggs, delicious Persian bread which is of whole wheat and baked very thin like great pancakes, dozens of oranges and very inviting Persian cakes and bonbons. We stopped and ate our lunch beside a crackling wood fire, in a very clean little room in the wayside inn. Our Hamadán friend who often travels this route had reserved the room for us and he ordered tea to be brought. The place gave one an idea of what the best wayside inns are. The chauffeur
ate with us and plenty of food was sent out to Hassan who guarded the car and the baggage. The boy who served us tea was given a generous share, and in one-half hour from the time we left the car we were back and whirling up the mountain. Western Persia is beautiful in this winter season, her topography is nearly all mountains and the immense plateau.
Four miles out from Kirmansháh we had passed by Bisitun and Tak-i-Bustan, where there are some of the most celebrated remains of Persian antiquity. From the rock carvings, sculptures and inscriptions which look down upon one from the chiseled surface of the mountain-side one can read a wonderful tale of bygone splendor; but our journey is to seek and to know the new glory of this ancient Irán. The winding mountain road runs along sheer precipices which sink down to snow-banked Valleys far below. This is a most difficult mountain climb, but for us everything went happily, and in a few hours we were approaching Hamadán.
(To be continued)
“Is not the object of every Revelation to effect a transformation in the whole character of mankind, a transformation that shall manifest itself, both outwardly and inwardly, that shall affect both its inner life and external conditions? For if the character of mankind be not changed, the futility of God’s universal Manifestation would be apparent.
“The marvelous bestowals of God are continuous. Should the outpouring of Light be suspended, we would be in darkness. But how could it be withheld? If the divine graces owe suspended, then divinity itself would be interrupted. Even men ask for continuity.”
A recent article by a man well versed in current trends proclaims the coming of a new era. According to this authority, people are no longer interested in what have been, for the past decade, burning questions; a cynical attitude toward religion, a patronizing slant on spirituality and idealism, an avidity for the brutal in thought and conduct, may no longer be classed as modern; rather, we are recovering from “post war materialism,” and are on the eve of a period when the chief issues will be idealism, the seeking of “a religion which will satisfy the unchurched,“ and a more scientific attitude toward science, whose hypotheses we will accept with discretion, rather than immediately revolutionize our mode of life on the basis of some new theory which may later be disproved.
The Bahá’is have known of this imminent new era for almost ninety years. It was in 1844 that the Báb appeared in Persia and awakened the East to the coming of “Him Whom God should manifest,” and this Coming occurred when the world was in the deepest misery and was sunk in a sea of materialism. What the cited article referred to as post-war materialism was in a larger sense not post-war at all, because the war itself was the result of hideous materialism accumulated
through centuries of growing away from divine truths. A study of the climactic nineteenth century would substantiate this. The times were ugly with the suffering occasioned by a mismanaged Industrial Revolution, a heartless, destructive society, a Napoleon; human beings were crowded into poor-houses and left to die; children were working seventeen hours a day in the mines; families were living on “potatoes-and-point”—hanging a bit of meat over their table and watching it while they ate. The pages historians have left behind bring us not only details of intense physical suffering, but also describe the spiritual torture which fell upon men; death was all around them, and they cried aloud for help, and ran from one ark of deliverance to another.
This was a new thing in history, this awaiting a millennium. The Western Middle Ages had looked back over their shoulder at the Ancients and the Bible; if they expected a new era, it was only one in which all things would be destroyed and the world would cease to exist; and even in life, they looked for death, mortified their flesh, and retired into solitude. With the Renaissance and the coming of humanism, an intellectual, materialistic development began, which culminated in the brilliant eighteenth century, a period in which men
could see through existing conditions but not above and beyond them, and in which patronizing intellects disported themselves in their own technique. As every text book shows, the second half of the Eighteenth century saw a wave of sensitive idealism which swept upward to the chaotic nineteenth. From the last of the eighteenth century, men began to prophesy a new era, a millennium, and it would seem that there was not a thinker who did not anticipate the coming of a new day. Carlyle thundered of the abomination of desolation and saw a phoenix rising from a world in flame; to Ruskin, a beneficently ethical Beauty would moralize society; Arnold thought that culture, that sweetness and light, would insure a new order; Emerson awaited the Master Poet who would open up new horizons; the followers of Saint-Simon were their vests buttoned backward as a sign of new brotherhood and inter-dependence; Musset, the burning young Romanticist, shouted, “Which of us will be a god?”
We all know what happened. The Millerites went up to their hill and Christ did not come floating down; the ardent New-Era-ists were quenced in 1848 with the political reactions which took place; haloes were broken, one by one; and after that men were ashamed to hope any longer, and gradually turned to the coldest realities available; we had a man like Zola, a theory like Darwin’s an unhoping, subdued, invertedly defiant attitude which is now called modern.
All this time, while the world was in torment and waiting for deliverance,
the New Era was dawning in a lost, forgotten country. In 1844, in that decade which historians call the dividing line between our times and the dead past, the Báb announced the coming of a great World Teacher. In Persia, though of old the king of kings had bequeathed the whole known world as legacy to his three sons, there were now only shattered columns, only dust heaps left of his palaces. Persia in 1844 was a synopsis of all the diseases which can afflict humanity: there was despotism, poverty, ignorance, mutual hatred; the masses entirely relying for guidance on a grasping, tyrannical priesthood; the women, the educators of humanity in its most impressionable years, degraded to a menial position; a despotic government; a country where idealism and spirituality had guttered out; a people hermetically sealed against salvation. Yet even there, a group of men awaited a millennium, felt the imminence of a spiritual rebirth. These recognized the Báb, not only from the prophecies which they had studied and which His coming fulfilled, not only from their years of prayers and meditation, but also from His radiant, majestic bearing, His inspired knowledge, His triumphant message. And so it was that the East was awakened and prepared for Him Who was heralded.
Regarding the lengthy prophecies and the specific descriptions and dates which the Holy Books have handed down to us, scholars all over the world are in agreement; an instance among hundreds shows us that even in the thirteenth century
men were familiar with the importance of the date 1260; for around 1255, Paris was in ferment over the “Eternal Gospel,” a treatise which foretold a new era of the Spirit to begin in the year 1260, in which the existing theology would be superseded.
No such new era occurred in the year 1260 of the Christian dispensation; but in the year 1260 of the Muhammadan dispensation, the declaration of the Báb occurred. “The date of Bahá’u’lláh is calculated according to lunar years from the mission and the Hejira of Muhammad; for in the religion of Muhammad the lunar year is in use, as also it is the lunar year which is employed concerning all commands of worship
“In Daniel, chapter 12, verse 6, it is said: ‘And one said to the man clothed in linen, which was upon the waters of the river, How long shall it be to the end of these wonders? And I heard the man clothed in linen, which was upon the waters of the river, when he held up his right hand and his left hand unto heaven, and sware by him that liveth forever that it shall be for a time, times and a half; and that when he shall have accomplished to scatter the power of the holy people, all these things shall be finished.’
“. . . . we will say briefy that each day of the Father counts as a year, and in each year there are twelve months. Thus three years and a half make forty-two months, and forty-two months are twelve hundred and sixty days. The Báb, the Precursor of Bahá’u’lláh, appeared in the year 1260 from the Hejira of Muhammad by the reckoning of
Islam.“* "When Bahá’u’lláh later appeared according to the prophecy of the Báb, He proclaimed the teachings which have so enamoured humanity that there is no Bahá'i who would not give his life for them.
Prophecies, however, are proofs of a new era only to students of the various sacred texts; but to the unchurched, to agnostics, or atheists, or the indifferent, equally impregnable proofs reiterate the advent of a spiritual millennium.
The modern world is divided against itself, and a world divided against itself cannot stand. The only possible way out of present day conditions is by arbitration, and yet this is null and void when the arbitrators have the old divisions in their hearts. A religion is the only power intrinsic and compelling enough to amalgamate humanity; unity means religious unity; where faiths are at variance, there is always a point beyond, a secret room in each man’s heart where his brothers may not enter, a shekina where he bows his head in hostile superiority. Humanity needs one religion, one standard of right and wrong; at present there are no standards at all; what is moral in one house is a life and death offense in the next; when a society no longer believes in an indivisible, ultimate Good, which is one just as the color white is one, that society is in its death throes.
The Will of God, revealed throughout the ages by His Manifestations, is the ultimate Good. God is fullest revealed in the noblest of men, the highest creation, His Manifestation. He can be
* ’Abdu’l-Baha in “Some Answered Questions,” p. 51.
clearly known only through the Great Teachers who are His living exponents. It is idle to say that we can construe God for ourselves; our imaginations belong to us, and we cannot even avoid being patronizing toward our belongings because they are ours, much less worship them; even an Emerson or a Dante cannot see farther than an “over-soul” or a “great white rose.” But among the Manifestations of God, since only through these shall we find the standard, there is none whose teachings in their present form will bring peace.
Missionaries will tell us that they have been obliged to divide up their sphere of activity into zones, each zone receiving the faith according to the interpretations of a different schism; this can hardly be termed a dissemination of unity.
Centuries have passed away, and no one has been able to make a conclusive choice from among the “two and seventy jarring sects.” It is donbtful whether we should guard a flame of sacred fire, or bathe in the Ganges, or lead a holy bull to pasture. Our thousand schools of thought, offshoots of religious belief, are equally unable to bring men together. Philosophy cannot be lived without religion. Agnosticism will not satisfy an active mind. Atheism expounded is nothing less than theism with some changes of vocabulary, and the atheist is also groping for a standard.
It is only in obeying the command of Bahá’u’lláh that we worship one God and serve one humanity, following the essential oneness at the heart of each religion,
that the world can be at peace. There is no Bahá’i precept which mankind will not acknowledge, immediately or after meditation, as pure truth.
Everyone agrees that peace among nations is imperative, that castes and races must be reconciled, must heal the wrongs they have done each other, that universal education of a spiritual as well as material quality is essential, that true science and true religion are in harmony, that men and women are equal. . . . It is easy to agree with the Bahá’i principles, but not to obey them.
The Bahá’is are those who, not content with mere agreement, spend their lives in striving to obey the teachings of Bahá’u’lláh; they have chosen a path which leads to martyrdom, to loss of fortune, to the constant setting aside of personal desires. The acceptance of the Cause of Bahá’u’lláh is a serious thing; there is no turning back from such acceptance, for there is no individual who can be at rest with himself once he has renounced his soul’s highest truth. This is a Cause for the courageous; for those who can give even their tired hours, their broken, reluctant bodies, in service; for those who can win victories and never see their laurels; for those whose hearts shall not waver, though all the heavens and the earth arise against them.
But isolated courage, sporadic sacrifice, is not enough; it is only through coordinated effort, through symmetrical, rhythmic activity, that the kingdom of God shall come upon earth. World regeneration is insured by the establishment of the
Bahá’i Administration, through which channel alone can a Bahá’i life be led. Were it not for the order and discipline maintained among us by the impregnable institutions which Bahá’u’lláh and ’Abdu’l-Bahá have founded, our efforts would cancel each other, and, as is adequately illustrated by the history of former religious dispensations, our very power and spirit would assure disintegration.
Wlien Bahá’u’lláh passed away in 1892, the enemies assailing the Cause expected immediate victory, but to their astonishment the Bahá’is rallied in solid phalanxes around the Center of the Covenant, and the teachings of Bahá’u’lláh were spread to every country; again in 1921 with the ascension of ’Abdu’l-Bahá, the world awaited an end to the progress of the Cause, but instead the Bahá’is, now infinitely
more numerous and widely distributed than in 1892, turned with one accord to the Guardian of the Cause Shoghi Effendi, and under his guidance set themselves to carrying out the injunctions in the Will and Testament of ’Abdu’l-Bahá. The result is that today the Bahá’is are a disciplined, united group working together in powerful harmony, demonstrating the truth that human beings may retain their widely differing personalities and yet function collectively as “one soul in different bodies.”
And just as each Bahá'i has seen the dawn of a millenium in his own soul, has felt himself changing, developing, casually accomplishing what men hold impossible, so will the whole world find itself transformed, the old materialism pass away, the new spirituality be established.
* * * *
THE Holy Spirit is the mediator between God and His creatures. It is like a mirror facing the sun. As the pure mirror receives light from the sun and transmits this bounty to others, so the Holy Spirit is the mediator of the Holy Light from the Sun of Reality, which it gives to the sanctified realities. It is adorned with all the divine perfections. Every time it appears the world is renewed, and a new cycle is founded. The body of the world of humanity puts on a new garment. It can be compared to the spring; whenever it comes, the world passes from one condition to another. Through the advent of the season of spring the black earth and the fields and wildernesses will become verdant and blooming, and all sorts of flowers and sweet-scented herbs will grow; the trees will have new life, and new fruit will appear, and a new cycle is founded . . . In the same way, the appearance of Bahá’u’lláh was like a new springtime which appeared with holy breezes, with the hosts of everlasting life, and with heavenly power. It established the Throne of the Divine Kingdom in the center of the world, and by the power of the Holy Spirit revived souls and established a new cycle.
The following article by one of the Persian Bahá'i scholars who has spent some years of study in Switzerland, was presented as a paper at an international congress for moral education held under the auspices of the League of Nations. It is an excellent treatment of the causes of provincialism in the mental attitude of youth, and of the way to overcome this obstacle to ideal growth and development.
FROM the start a child must be familiarized with his true position and value, not to a narrow circle of a local, national or dogmatic color, but to all humanity. He must be deeply imbued with the great ideal that he belongs to a circle wider than his own immediate environment and to which he owes more than to his native land. In other words he should be given as a guide in his life, that moral means human and human again is equivalent to moral.
The negligence of the enforcement and development of this noble ideal in the schools both in the past and at the present time may be traced to three obstacles of the first magnitude.
It is a psychological as well as a sociological fact that man belongs to different environments. The teacher and the pupils are susceptible to innumerable contradictory influences that imperceptibly creep into their character and deeply affect their conduct in life.
With the teacher who is more mature than his pupil, these contradictions which can be well observed from his responsiveness to his different callings in life are more pronounced in three fields:
a. In his religious leanings. Taking the religious attitude towards life as a fact of normal human nature, teachers even if they are atheists,
monists, or sceptics, are more or less religious. A fervent narrow believer belonging to a certain sect or system of beliefs and dogmas is continually in conflict and opposition with the other beliefs and dogmas of his fellow teachers, Breadth of view on these matters is very rare. Unhappily narrowness of mind in religious matters is a huge obstacle in the way of the development of international feelings. A teacher partial in religious matters, however good he may be, can do no more than turn his pupils into bigoted fanatics who may be more dangerous to humanity than pests and plagues.
Therefore, according to the temperament of the teachers pupils in general are either sworn atheists or hot-headed believers, with always the same result: the total suppression of ideal human sentiments.
b. In his attitude towards social institutions. A teacher’s conception of the social regime is continually clashing with the views of others on the same subject. The great contention between capitalists and laborers in the field of economics on the one hand, and anarchists and believers in government in the sphere of politics on the other, reflect themselves with a more or less intensity of view and moral influence on his pupils. He may make them good lovers of order or
sworn enemies to society as a whole or to a special fraction of it. Unfortunately this spirit which is more marked in advanced classes proves a menace and a hindrance to the establishment of a healthy atmosphere of human brotherhood in the school room.
c. In his conception of humanity. One is apt to overlook the fact that in general man’s conception of humanity is vague and undefined. In the mind of the child especially it is his village, city or at most, his country, on the one hand; and the rest of the world, as entirely foreign to his interests and welfare, on the other. Although education sometimes smoothes the rough edges of this narrow and partisan conception, yet the resistance of the local, national and social prejudices point to the undeniable fact that we are all too deeply imbued with this anti-human notion—that humanity is composed of heterogeneous elements of the most divergent nature, the best amongst which is that to which we belong.
There is no doubt that the teacher, more especially in his history class, feeds the brains of the young on this anti-human poison. Consequently national as well as social prejudices are shutting the doors of the class-room to international feelings.
Now, as to the contradictions in the influences effecting the pupil’s character, it is enough to point out three of them: 1. The school. 2. The home. 3. Public or private entertainments. The opposition and struggles between the moral conception acquired in these different environments
are to a great extent obstacles in developing in his soul a highly human sentiment. Narrow religious or national education at home may destroy the good that the school has engrafted on his mind. Entertainments, private or public, and more especially the cinema—destroy to a great extent even the harmonious and benevolent work of both the home and the school.
It is a sad and atrocious thing to observe that poor innocent children are learning through cinemas to hate other nations whom they never know.
THERE ARE two more attitudes
of mind that are menacing human
international sentiment, namely,
intellectual dishonesty and lack of
tolerance.
When a religious man, in spite of the great similarity between the moral principles of his creed and those of another, still holds his own as superior to those of the other, he is certainly intellectually dishonest. When a teacher drives into the mind of his pupils that the imperialistic exploits of a Frederick the Great or a Napoleon are admirable, he is molding a society of dishonest intellectual machines. When a German, French, British or Italian teacher leads his class to believe that his nation monopolizes all the human virtues of which the others are bereft, he is shaping dishonest machines and thus ruining the work of true civilization.
It is this mental dishonesty that is poisoning life, that is eradicating all the sublime, the beautiful and good in human nature.
Intellectual honesty does not always involve tolerance. The attitude of a free-thinker as well as a devout dogmatic thinker, towards a religious belief—however intellectually honest both may be, emphasizes the point in consideration as a hindrance to international human sentiments. A teacher who is exclusive, and intolerant in his views does not contribute to the welfare of humanity. Tolerance in the school is what we need.
ALTHOUGH BAHA’I schools are still
in their formative period, yet their
methods of teachings, especially in
the subject of history, always have
in view the ideal of inculcating in
the children the spirit of love for
mankind. Universal history with a
view to acquainting the child with
the general line of man’s dvelopment
and human solidarity, especially
in the fields that have always
either divided or united mankind,
forms the essential program of the
Bahá’i teacher. This does not
mean in the least the exclusion of
national history, which is treated in
so far as it forms a part of the
general movement of the history of
the world.
Bahá’i teachers take the utmost
pains to mould the minds of the children into the most human cast. Brotherhood of man and real love for all mankind are always their guiding stars. It is incumbent on every Bahá’i child first to learn and practice the words of Bahá’u’lláh, “You are the leaves of one tree and the drops of one ocean . . . Associate with all religions and creeds in the utmost harmony and concord . . . . Glory is not for him who loves his country but for him who loves his kind.” And second, the teaching of ’Abdul-Bahá: “Beware of prejudice! Light is good in whatever lamp it is burning. A rose is beautiful in whatever garden it may bloom. A star has the same radiance whether it shines from the east or the west.”
It is with such teachings in the schools that Bahá’is counteract the bad effects on the child either at home, or in society. Happily for us the Bahá’i home cooperates with the school and even chisels off the bad effects of a narrow education in case the child is in a non-Bahá’i school. With such sublime teachings and ideals the child grows to be a lover of mankind and a servant of humanity. How could it be otherwise?
Bahá’u’lláh has announced that inasmuch as ignorance and lack of education are barriers of separation among mankind, all must receive training and instruction. Through this provision the lack of mutual understanding will be remedied and the unity of mankind furthered and advanced. Universal education is a universal law. . . . The holy Manifestations of God, the Divine Prophets are the first teachers of the human race. They are Universal Educators and the fundamental principles they have laid down are the causes and factors of the advancement of nations.
EDUCATION—the instruction and guidance of men and the development and training of their innate faculties—has been the supreme aim of all the Holy Prophets since the world began, and in the Bahá’i teachings the fundamental importance and limitless possibilities of education are proclaimed in the clearest terms. The teacher is the most potent factor in civilization and his work is the highest to which men can aspire. Education begins in the mother’s womb and is as unending as the life of the individual. It is a perennial necessity of right living and the foundation of both individual and social welfare. When education on right lines becomes general, humanity will be transformed and the world will become a paradise.
At present a really well educated man is the rarest of phenomena, for nearly everyone has false prejudices, wrong ideals, erroneous conceptions and bad habits drilled into him from babyhood. How few are taught from their earliest childhood to love God with all their hearts and dedicate their lives to him; to regard service to humanity as the highest aim of life; to develop their powers to the best advantage for the general good of all! Yet surely these are the essential elements of a good education. Mere cramming of the memory with facts about arithmetic, grammar, geography, languages, etc., has comparatively little effect in producing noble and useful lives.
The thing of paramount importance in education is character training. With regard to this, example is more effective than precept, and the lives and characters of the child’s parents, teachers and habitual associates are factors of the utmost importance.
The Prophets of God are the great Eductors of mankind, and their counsels and the story of their lives should be instilled into the child’s mind as soon as it is able to grasp them.
The following excerpts are here published from the baccalaureate sermons of the Presidents of some of the leading Eastern colleges, because they present an inspiring vision to the youth of the land, painting at picture by no means pessimistic of present day conditions and ideals in an apparently unspiritual age. The quotations were printed in The Boston Globe of June 16, 1930.
“AS LONG AS A nation’s policy is frankly determined by the expectation of war with one or more of its neighbors,” said President Angell of Yale, “and as long as its naval and military policy is guided accordingly, all talk of abiding peace must be ironic and will everywhere be so understood. Slowly if necessary, but steadily, we must move toward a psychology of peace and away from the prevalent psychology of war, and the men of your generation can render no greater service to humanity than in the advancement of this cause by the constant pressure of your influence.
“The period in which we are living may well come to be known in religious history as the ‘age of unbelief,’ the latest of many, for the lineage runs direct and substantially uninterrupted from the Greek philosophers of the fourth century B. C., with occasional later high points such as the British skepticism of the 18th century and the radical movement of the French Revolution. Hardly a week goes by that some new book does not appear attacking one or another of the strongholds of religious faith, while the popular magazines are flooded with articles of like character. Even college professors vie with itinerant lecturers and casual essayists in the chorus of atheistic propaganda. I
doubt whether any vital element in Christianity, to say nothing of other religions, has wholly escaped this assault.
“Inevitably contemporary youth is affected by those critical onslaughts upon Christianity, upon religion and morals in general. After all, our practical attitudes are the immediately important things. It is what we do that counts most certainly. Faith without works, as St. James remarks, is dead.
“The world needs real men, men of courage, both moral and physical. Evil and injustice are not inert, much less dead. They stalk abroad in social life, in politics, in business. If men like you will not do battle with them, who should? Moreover, crushing human need is all about you in the world crying for relief. Even in these times of great wealth, poverty and disease and crime and under-privilege constitute a challenge to that idealism which, thank God, never dies in youth, however thin and feeble it may become in later years. One need not be a professed pacifist to realize the grotesque futility of war as a means for the just settlement of international issues and its utterly irrational wastage of life and treasure. With the increasingly lethal character of the modern means of warfare, the time is rapidly approaching when even the fire-eating politician must hesitate to advocate armed struggle. With the Peace
Pact, the League of Nations and the International Court, from two of which our timid nationalists shy as too dangerous for us to contemplate, war should be made humanly impossible. But this will not occur unless the men of your generation so decree, and, if you do not so decree, you and your children with you may well be blotted out in the utter ruthlessness of the next war. This is not idle speculation, it is grim fact. Moreover, it is fact which cuts to the very root of the deepest instincts of pure religion.
“Let us agree without cavil that we are living in an age of moral and religious hesitation and uncertainty. Does this mean that, in consequence, our spiritual life must be paralyzed? Certainly not. The gods of the Greek Pantheon may indeed be dead, and Isis and Osiris but faint voices from the tomb; yet the God that dwells in the heart of man is not dead and will not die. There is that in the human spirit which cannot be wholly smothered by the fumes of a purely self-centered philosophy, nor choked by the tentacles of a smug materialism. You may teach that there is no God until many have come so to believe; you can ridicule as guileless, or as fools, all who put anything before the gratification of personal pleasure and worldly passion; but you can never wholly slay the ineradicable instinct for noble living, for daring spiritual adventure, for genuine devotion of self to the needs of society and to interests conceived as higher than this self and essentially sacred; and that is true religion.”—President James Rowland Angell of Yale University.
“A BACCALAUREATE address is supposed to deal with the relation of men leaving college to the responsibilities about to be thrust upon them as citizens; and so when invited to give this sermon to the graduating class I asked myself what quality in educated men the world stands most in need of today.
“Knowledge has increased vastly in these later generations, and is growing at a rapid rate. Many laws of nature, previously unsuspected, have been revealed by scientific labors; the history and condition of men, his thoughts and impulses, have been explored; until much that lay concealed has become the common property of all civilized peoples. More knowledge, no doubt, is needed, and all glory to those who seek and find it; but it is not the gravest need of mankind now.
“Education, or rather the possession of the tools for getting it, is more widely diffused than ever before. For the mass of our people we need, not so much more, but better instruction. A lack of education is not the salient mark of our time.
“Intelligence is not in general deficient; and of energy and enterprise, the motive powers that make intelligence effective, there is, in our country at least, an abundance.
“In spite of the cynic and the pessimist; in spite of much misconduct public and private; in spite of the prevalence of crime in our land, there is much virtue and public spirit. The observation of a lifetime has led me to believe that these qualities have not diminished, but on the whole, have gained in
strength; certainly that has been my impression of college students.
“To many people it may seem overstrained, but to me one of the greatest, it not the most salient, defects of our day is the lack of wisdom. Cruel and disastrous wars have occurred throughout recorded history, but none that has involved so largely the whole population, or has been so widely harmful as the World War.
“Mankind is now seeing how to preclude war. Almost everyone is anxious for this; but no sensible man is perfectly sure that what all men object to doing they will not do. If we felt sure that wars would not come we should not talk about them so much. They need not occur if there were wisdom enough to direct the course of human conduct.
“A university like this is not endowed solely, or even primarily, for the personal benefit of its students. That is a great end, but not the greatest. If it existed for that alone there might be just cause for jealousy on the part of those who do not share its benefits. It is endowed in order that those fortunate enough to enjoy the privilege may contribute to the welfare, and especially to the wisdom of the whole people; and the public has a right to expect such an attitude from its educated men.”—President Abbot Lawrence Lowell of Harvard University.
“THIS TRADITIONAL SERVICE in which we are participating in the commencement exercises symbolizes the spirit which actuated the founders of our historic colleges in New England. They believed that human
life uninfluenced by religious conviction was incomplete. They believed that unintelligence in religion was dangerous as elsewhere.
“In these few hours which precede change in our mutual relationships certain conditions can well be recognized which perhaps could less clearly be distinguished while attitudes of all-embracing wisdom on the part of college authorities, or of intellectual posing on the part of undergraduates, seemed inseparable from our common life. The conditions of American life have so changed that undergraduates in the main come to the college without any acquaintanceship with what religion really is, except in some of its superficial forms. Judged on the basis of these forms, religion appears unattractive and the undergraduate body becomes indifferent—if not actually resistant—to any formal attempt to approach it helpfully in clarification at this point.
“The religious impulse is to be found most purely in the spirit which animated Jesus, the great Teacher, and not in the corrupted ideals of His self-appointed or unintelligent interpreters, far remote from Him in thinking and in time. The resounding din of organization, the hysterical activities of political propaganda, the quarrelsome conduct of advocates of exact theological definitions, the confused counsels of social reform, are not the sources from which to seek either the comfort or the inspiration of a devotional relationship between man and God. As Elijah in days of old, seeking to know God, found him not in the great and strong wind which rent the mountains and broke in pieces the rocks, nor in the earthquake, nor in the fire, but in the
still, small voice, so today God most surely may be found in the reverence of the reflective mind and in the sensitiveness of the willing spirit.
“God grant these college years may have given hearing to our minds!”—President Ernest Martin Hopkins of Dartmouth College.
“THE BUILDING OF life goes silently on,” said President Barbour of Brown, “with materials which have been shaped in our daily tasks and our common place surroundings. For every man is a builder, not only in that structure which is rising in every land and in every city, but in the inner temple of the soul.
“It is well that we reverently acknowledge and seek the divine guidance as we do our forest and quarry work of preparation, and as we build ourselves with the product of our toil into the life of the world.”—President Clarence A. Barbour of Brown University.
A sincere and intelligent consideration of traditional religion was urged on the members of Princeton University’s graduating class by Pres John Grier Hibben in his annual baccalaureate sermon. Pres. Hibben asked the men to see their studies of the past four years in science, literature and history in their bearing on the problems of religion.
The speaker urged them to think their way clearly through the problems of traditional religion and the skepticism of the age.
Pres Hibben declared in conclusion:
“There is something within man’s nature, the power of his thought and will, which thus suggests a unique origin and contains deep hidden intimations that man belongs to the order of the spirit, and gives us an assurance of the reality of those ideas which have ever kindled the aspirations of our race, the ideas of ‘God, freedom and immortality.’”
THERE is an elevation accompanying an act of praise which comes in no other way. To find the good and to acclaim it brings out all that is best in ourselves. It puts us in tune with the good everywhere, makes us receptive to it and makes us desire it. Not only should we seek the good that is in all things and all beings but we should express our appreciation of it to the best of our ability. In doing so we expand our inner
self a certain amount and open it to a world of goodness. Nothing good dies; consequently the effect of such acts is lasting and remains with us. Furthermore it reacts upon others who hear us and tends to produce a similar expansion in them. Sincere praise is very powerful in its influence. So is criticism, but in a manner directly opposite to praise. Whereas praise expands, criticism contracts. Praise
warms the heart while criticism chills it.
Of all acts of praise, however, there is one superior to all others in its reaction upon us. In performing it not only are we in harmony with good everywhere but we are lifted into an exalted Presence which dominates us and leaves us desirous of nothing but His love and to know His will. When the heart voices songs of praise to its Creator it feels something of the vibrations of eternal love, the force of which carries it to or near to the peak of exaltation, according to the depth of feeling developed. The deeper the feeling the higher the exaltation and the greater the ecstacy of emotion produced. Such vibrations are full of a divine potency that regenerates the soul and fills it with the joy of living. The mind consequently becomes alert to new knowledge, and the vibrations of the flesh reach a higher plane through their contact with those above. Remaining in such exaltation the soul becomes immortal.
BEAUTY IS A divine attribute and
its cultivation belongs to the soul.
Appreciation of true beauty is a
stage of growth and anything
beautiful, either material or spiritual,
is worthy of protection for its
own sake because of the effect upon
the soul. Appreciation of beauty in
face or figure is easy and to a limited
extent that of surroundings.
Beauty in nature is a step more difficult
and beauty of the soul still
more, although it is the most important
of all. Seeing beauties in
nature helps to make one detached
from material things and so is an
approach to spiritual appreciation.
It is natural to think of God when
one thinks of nature, and some understanding of His laws is necessary to any appreciation. Studying nature is one of the best ways to come into a proper relationship with Him. When one is lost in admiration of a sunset, or the magnificent spectacle presented to one’s view from the top of a mountain, or when the senses are lulled and soothed by gazing upon a wave-tossed sea the soul is close to God. The natural forces are calming unless one is overwhelmed by their power or in danger from them. Merely breathing deeply of pure air lifts one temporarily to a higher plane, so if one did not do it for the body’s sake it would be found profitable for the soul. Deep appreciation of nature whether in its natural state, or as reproduced in art or described in literature, especially poetry, is an indication that the soul has caught a glimpse of heaven and sensed the beauty there. Music at this stage will bring it even closer.
But beauty in all its glory is seen only by the soul that has known its Lord and witnessed it in Him. The beauty is everlasting and its memory never fades, the light that surrounds it dims all lesser things. There is no beauty that approaches the shining splendor of His radiance, his majesty, His glory. Seeing this the soul is satisfied forevermore.
A LARGE PART of our energy is wasted in useless effort, energy which would be far better expended in building stronger bodies and souls. Especially is it wasted in diseases of the mind, in worry, fear, petty vexations, pride and doubts. This is due to depending upon human intelligence to solve all difficulties
and it is not equal to the task. In fact no one of them is actually solved through human endeavor alone. The sooner one realizes this truth in its completeness the sooner he will find the remedy. Few situations involve only ourselves, except some diseases of the flesh and occasionally our own talents, for practically all of them are in some degree dependent upon circumstances in general or upon other persons for their solution. Because of this fact the individual cannot control them and the above-mentioned diseases are the result.
The true remedy can be found only by discovering the laws governing our own existence as well as our relationships with each other and beginning to live by them. The knowledge of them must come first to be sure, but that amounts to little if we do not follow them faithfully. However, we are only too glad to do that, once we understand something of their significance. This is where the secret of right effort applies.
Consider the lilies, how they
grow. Where is any effort expended?
Not only is everything
needed for their growth provided
without thought on their part of
how the provision would be made,
but all that they actually do is to
keep their faces turned directly to
God singing His praise and glory
in their beautiful pure white blossoms.
Only when man’s heart is
purified and his prayer becomes a
song of praise does he resemble the
lily. Only when he prays to be
free from all petty worries and burdens
and to have his mind and heart
and being filled with love in their
stead, leaving all else in the hands of God, can he learn to sing.
WHAT A beautiful word is hope and how beautiful is all the world where hope is. It is the foundation of faith, also tolerance and charity. Even in the depths of despair the voice of hope is not stilled for long, and when faith in God exists we rise, at least temporarily, to the heights of glory.
Hope is the beginning of all success and happiness whether material or spiritual. Without hope progress would not be possible. It is a torch that burns within the heart through all eternity and although it may be dimmed it is never extinguished. But to burn brightly and to cause a glow of radiance about it the heart must be pure. Then the radiance is reflected as in a mirror and in its presence others must feel the light of the torch within themselves brightened. The hope that comes from a heart purified by divine love is contagious.
Hope then is also a force of attraction, bringing to the heart wherein it abides all that is good and beautiful in others. It is a magnet that draws all unto itself. In fact it has magnetic power which, next to love, is the greatest power in the world. It is the secret of magnetism and eventually overthrows or conquers all lesser powers. There is a sovereignty, a dominion, that belongs by divine right to the heart aglow with hope and this sovereignty is enduring, this dominion imperishable. Hope is a coworker with love, and through these two all blessings are ours, lifting us at last into that eternal reunion for which the heart has ever yearned.
We take pleasure in publishing the following address delivered over the radio by Mr. Davey, the Tree Expert, on Easter Sunday. This man of vision gives an interesting description of the wonderful project of an International Peace Garden to be created somewhere on the boundary line between the United States and Canada. The hundred years of peace between these two enterprising countries is one of the most significant evidences that nations can live together peaceably with no deprivation to themselves but only gain and progress, hence the value of such a Memorial Garden.
FRIENDS everywhere, today I would like to tell you about the proposed International Peace Garden, which is to be created somewhere on the boundary line between Canada and the United States.
This inspiring project is sponsored by the National Association of Gardeners, an organization of nature lovers, whose lives are devoted to the work of maintaining beauty on private and semi-private places and in public parks. It is one of the most unselfish, and beautiful, and far-reaching undertakings that one could imagine, and should have a powerful appeal to the finest instincts of the people in these two great neighborly nations.
The idea was conceived in the noble spirit of Henry J. Moore, Lecturing Horticulturist for the Province of Ontario. It was proposed at the annual convention of the National Association of Gardeners in the City of Toronto last August, and was received with moving enthusiasm and with the fervor of a great crusade. Without a dissenting voice and in the spirit of earnest purpose, it was decided to accept the heavy responsibility of sponsoring this monumental project.
For more than a hundred years, peace has reigned inviolate between the peoples of Canada and the
United States. No finer example of neighborliness or enduring friendship could be found in the world than that which exists between these two adjoining countries of the North American Continent.
How appropriate it is, then, that an International Peace Garden should be created on the imaginary boundary, half on one side and half on the other. It is proposed that this Garden shall be a thousand or more acres in area, and that it be located some place on the line where it will be accessible to the greatest number of people.
In it will be planted all the varieties of trees, and flowers, and shrubs that can be grown in this latitude—beautiful living things that will speak more eloquently of the fact of peace and the will to peace than any towering monument built of cold and inanimate stone. Many of these growing things will be contributed out of the abundance on the private places in both countries, but the work of creating it will require a considerable investment. Then there will follow, in a natural course, the problem of raising a sufficient endowment to maintain it into the long distant future.
It is the plan of the National Association of Gardeners not only to welcome the larger contributions
from those who would enjoy helping in a substantial way, but also to make a special appeal to all the school children of Canada and the United States, asking that each one, so far as possible, give just a little so that a multitude may have a part in this great living monument of peace.
It seems to me that no more useful thing could be done than to enlist the school children in this spiritual and intellectual stimulation. To think peace is to live peace. To think it actively and consciously is to build up in the on-coming generation the spirit and the will to peace. If we receive nothing more than the development of this fine philosophy of neighborly living, we will have been compensated a thousand times for all the effort and all the cost.
In Holy Writ, we find a powerful bit of logic: “As a man thinketh in his heart, so is he.” If in the development of this worthy project, the sponsors of the movement can cause the children of Canada and the United States to think the language of peace and to be inspired by its idealism, the results will be more substantial and lasting than have been achieved by the brilliant statesmen since the beginning of civilization. Nor will it be easy for cunning politicians to undo the effectiveness of this inbred philosophy.
We can visualize this International Peace Garden as a thing of impressive beauty, where in a short space of time foliage and flowers will vie with each other to produce a quiet elegance and a glorious charm that will lure the nature lovers of this continent and the world.
Yes, it will be the Mecca of unnumbered thousands of those who love the beauties of nature and those who are moved by the spirit and purpose of peace.
In this Garden the living, growing things will symbolize the development of an enduring friendship and will typify the substantial character and spiritual force of two great peoples. This outdoor beauty will be the handmaiden of fine human qualities and will express in eloquent fashion the deep-seated purpose of lasting peace that has operated so powerfully for more than a century, and that is more firmly imbedded within us now than ever before.
About it all will be an atmosphere of admiration and respect that will be akin to reverence. Deep in the hearts of all normal human beings there is a longing for the blessings and the fruits of peace. These beautiful growing things will express in a sublime way the hopes and aspirations of the people of two nations that have lived side by side without conflict as an example to the world.
Man could build countless monuments of steel and marble, and place them at frequent intervals along the extensive boundary line, but each one would be cold and forbidding and could not kindle the fires of enthusiasm in a single human breast, nor inspire one mortal being to loftier sentiment.
There is something about this idea of an International Garden, with living trees and flowers and shrubs, that stirs the imagination. It seems to be so fitting for this purpose. It is such an appropriate manifestation of human ideals. It
is so expressive of the finer qualities of human nature. It is at once satisfying and uplifting.
Year after year innumerable people will travel to see it and will think the thoughts of peace. They will be moved to a keener realization of the fortunate circumstances under which we are permitted to live as friends and mutual well-wishers. They will carry back home with them a new sense of their own responsibilities as neighbors.
Pictures of this International Garden should hang in every school-room in Canada and the United States to proclaim its meaning and its purpose. Stories of it should be told in lofty sentiment to every new class of children that will be the citizens of tomorrow. It should be proclaimed from every pulpit and told with enthusiasm in the quiet of every fireside.
This undertaking appeals to me as a thing of highest value and far-reaching possibilities in the thinking and the living of both peoples. It will not and should not detract in the slightest degree from the patriotism of Canadians for Canada, or Americans for America. We expect Canadians to be loyal to their own country, and they expect the same thing of us. No person would be worthy of citizenship in either country if he were not patriotic toward the land of which he is a part. But we have been neighbors for a long time, and we shall continue to live side by side in peace and friendship and in mutual respect, so long as we have the character to understand the rights of each other and the capacity to live and act on the plane of higher civilization.
The National Association of
Gardeners deserve the fullest commendation of all peace-loving citizens for their willingness to assume the responsibilities of so large an undertaking in the interest of us all. They should have the lasting gratitude and the cordial support of every manly man and every noble woman, in whose veins runs the blood of honor, and whose mind is ruled by the processes of reason and human idealism. I bespeak for them the most generous and enthusiastic support. Our loyalty to the cause which they represent will be rewarded by an International Garden of Peace that will speak powerfully to the people of our own time, and carry the message of friendship and good will to many unborn generations.
It is said by some that there will always be war, and it is possible that mankind as a whole has not reached that stage of development where the scourge of war can be permanently removed from the world. It is also possible that crafty and selfish tyrants may disturb the peace of mankind here and there. It is conceivable also that in some places self-seeking and designing politicians may lead their people astray. But it will not be in response to the popular will, except where people are deceived and misled.
The desire for peace and its benign benefits is instinctive with every normal father, and is a basic impulse that surges through the heart of every mother who has gone down into the dark valley to bring a new babe into the world.
The people, the great masses who make up each country, want peace. The higher the civilization which
they have been permitted to attain, the more definite and fixed is the conviction that they have a right to live in peace, and to work out their individual destiny unhampered and unscarred by the ravages of war.
How appropriate it is, in this significant period when sincere efforts are being made by the leaders of the great nations of the world to arrive at mutual understanding and to provide a more permanent basis for world peace, that this International Garden should be projected! What a happy thought it is that inanimate steel and marble should be eliminated from its being, and that no cannon or other sign of strife should have any place in its creation or existence! It is to be just an immense garden of growing things where beauty reigns and where friendship is the theme.
Canada and the United States have offered to the world an example that is worthy of admiration and emulation. We have lived as neighbors without the necessity of armed strife for more than a century. There lies between us an imaginary dividing line of some three thousand miles in length. Not a fort or a battleship has been found necessary along that far-flung border. Not a soldier needs to be stationed there. We have business and social and political intercourse without the remotest necessity of military maneuvers. We understand each other. Each people forges ahead to its own logical destiny in its own way, and each respects the rights of the other.
These impressive facts constitute
a magnificent tribute to the character of the people of both nations, and are evidence of a form and degree of civilization that should be a source of enduring satisfaction to all who are permitted to be citizens of either country. What a lesson it is to the world, and what a challenge to the cynics who have no faith in the capacity of human beings to live rightly in relation to their neighbors.
There could be no more fitting evidence of the friendly spirit and the understanding of the people than the creation of this significant International Peace Garden on the boundary line, where men and women and children may go to admire the living, growing things and to be inspired by the beauties that they see everywhere about them, to live and act the ideals of peace, both as individual citizens and as essential parts of either great nation. All the eloquence of Demosthenes, all the logic of Cicero, and all the mastery of Shakespeare cannot compare with the powerful appeal of the International Peace Garden to the hearts and minds of those who live upon this continent, and those from other lands who come to see, with minds that understand and hearts that comprehend. The language of trees and flowers and shrubs, though mute and inaudible, will be more eloquent and more convincing than the language of statesmen, philosophers and poets. This International Peace Garden will proclaim the lofty spirit of two great countries. Yes, it will be a glorious and beautiful picture of the soul of the people.
- He walked the earth once, patient and tender
- And the Light
- Of Heaven shone around Him.
- All who saw Him
- Felt the joy and peace and love.
- Shall we forget?
- Nay, still He walks among us.
- We are blind,
- Wrapped in a storm of self.
- His sun still shines
- Into the hearts of men.
- Reach forth your hand, my brother.
- Here is mine.
- Clasp we in deathless love
- This shining hour.
- Then when the storm shall fold us
- Once again
- In its gray fury, though we see not clear,
- Still hands shall clasp, and hearts
- Shall still remember.
- And the temptation shall lead unto light,
- And the light shall shine.
- It shall flame till it burn away
- Desire and doubt.
- And then shall come a river
- Deep and clear
- To sweep away the ashes
- And leave naught
- But white sand shining sweet and clean
- Unsoiled by struggle.
- And then shall come a voice,
- Saying—
- I was the doubt and the desire
- The light, the flame, the river
- And the sands,
- I was the struggle and the triumph.
- I am God.
- In a sweet hour when my heart
- Was filled with joy,
- I said to God, “I love you more
- Than all the world.”
- And God said, “It is good.”
- Next day He took my joy,
- And when I cried
- Aloud in anguish, “Child,” He said,
- “Take back thy joy—play yet another year.
- Try not thy wings again till thou art grown.”
- My soul went on a pilgrimage
- Through unreality
- This morning when the wind
- Blew all the grass in silver, and the tide
- Ran swift beneath the sun.
- I saw the yellow flowers nodding softly
- By the wall,
- And trees agleam with cobwebs thickly strung
- With sunfilled dew.
- I saw the myriad seagulls drifting white
- Down tides that ran from blue to wine-red purple
- Hastening out to sea.
- I saw the wide clear sky
- Grow hot with light.
- My soul went on a pilgrimage through these
- In search for God.
- And when I found Him, far beyond them all,
- I heard Him say—
- “Dear child, you brought Me with you.
- Now return,
- And find Me—everywhere.”
- Dawn, pour thou into my soul,
- For I am a pool,
- Waiting thy sea of light.
- All night the marsh grass waved
- Between me and the sky
- Fine lines of thought and dream,
- Keeping the sky from me.
- But now the wind of love
- Has swept me clean.
- Dawn, pour thou into my soul.
- I am a pool,
- Waiting—waiting for thee.
- I am too small
- To love God truly.
- Yet,
- Because I love You,
- I sing songs
- To God.
- This be Your part—
- To kindle song,
- A flame,
- Upon the altar of my heart.
