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| VOL. 21 | SEPTEMBER, 1930 | NO. 6 |
| Page | |
The Inner Reality of Man, ’Abdu’l-Bahá | 165 |
Editorial, Stanwood Cobb | 163 |
The Basis of Bahá’i Belief, Keith Ransom-Kehler | 166 |
Some Aspects of Modern Science: 1—The Change in Viewpoint, Glenn A. Shook | 169 |
A Pilgrimage Through Persia: 3-Qazvin and Tihrán, Martha L. Root | 173 |
The Key to Unity, Louise Drake Wright | 179 |
Searching for Truth: A Spiritual Autobiography | 184 |
Midnight Oil, Marzieh K. Nabil | 188 |
Oneness In Its True Significiance, Florence King | 190 |
| 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 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.
--PHOTO--
Mr. Agha Seyid Nasroullah Bakeroff who built the Grand Hotel in Tihrán, Persia, hoping that ’Abdu’l-Bahá would visit that city and use the hotel as His home. (See page 173.)
| VOL. 21 | SEPTEMBER, 1930 | NO. 6 |
knowledge . . . by which he is able to do much for the advancement of civilization. . . . He should use his power for good, to bring the fruits of civilization into the possible possession of all men, to encourage harmony and kindness, to produce concord amongst men. For this reason God gave this divine gift.”
THE FUTURE of mankind is a problem which now interests not only sociologists but scientists. The immense age of this planet, now established at about a billion years, is only the prelude, so astro-physicists think, to at least another billion years of life upon the earth. An estimate upon such a tremendous scale leads naturally to the question of what the nature of human existence will be in this vast stretch of the future. What will the world be like in the next billion years?
A thousand million years of existence has passed and mankind, the highest expression of life upon this planet, has but just reached the point of being able to accumulate, organize, and perpetuate knowledge. There does not seem to be now any limit to man’s capacity to go on doing this. However, it is not with the accumulation of knowledge that we need be most concerned, but with the use to which we will put this knowledge. How adequately shall we be able to employ these great stores of information when secured?
John C. Merriam, President of the Carnegie Institution of Washington, asks this question. and describes serious obstacles in the way of a wise and adequate use of the power which modern knowledge gives to man. “The future of mankind, in the social sense depends not alone upon our capacity to accumulate and to organize. Ultimately, in handling our greatest and most critical affairs we must depend upon the capacity of individuals to understand and to utilize the materials thus brought together.“*
It is not only because individuals have limited capacities to operate the knowledge gained, but especially because of their emotions and their innate tendency to individualism that men find it difficult to utilize efficiently and nobly the knowledge which the scientists bring them. “Independence,” says Merriam, “is one of the most marked qualities of human beings.” And this together with man’s emotionality brings almost infinitely complex. elements of disturbance. It will be
* “The Living Past”—Charles Scribner’s Sons.
extremely difficult, thinks Merriam, to handle the affairs which we organize unless there is a different and new development of the individual. We are gathering “dangerous fruit from the tree of knowledge, and may question whether we can bear the consequence of coming to view the world as gods.” The problem of democracy and modern society is how to secure for its direction “individuals with adequate ability for performance of great tasks.” And, secondly, how to secure the proper subordination of the individual to the direction of gifted leaders. The social world should be so organized and trained that each element in the complicated machinery will keep understandingly to the fulfillment of its duties.
How remarkably the vision of
this great scientist points toward
the climax in human affairs at which
is needed just the Divine Revelation
and divinely ordered organization
of society which Bahá’u’lláh
has brought us. Here we find a
solution to the problem with which
the scientist is so deeply concerned—that
of controlling the emotions
and the individuality of humans so
as to make safe the efficient use of
the marvelous knowledge which
science is pouring into the world.
All of this is completely satisfied
in the organization of the Bahá’i
Cause. Here we have the machinery
perfect in plan and feasibility
for securing leadership of the highest
quality, establishing that leadership
in a firm position in a way that
is democratic, and pledging to that
leadership the loyalty and obedience
of all classes.
As the scientist sees, the problem fundamentally is one of the individual and his constitution; even the magnificent pattern of civilization which Bahá’u’lláh constructs for us, would be impossible of fulfillment were the individual to retain the qualities which up to the present made autocracy the seed of exploitation and war, and democracy the symbol of fickleness, weakness, and inefficiency.
But the Bahá’i Cause does change the individual. That is its first task. Gradually the sense of individualism is merged into the spiritual sense of unity within the group. Self-will gives place to evanescence. The group knowledge and the group wisdom achieved by consultation becomes a guide for action more efficient than the prowess of any individual.
WHEN mankind is thus perfectly
organized and ready to function according
to the laws of Bahá’u’lláh,
his nature having become spiritual
and pliant to the will of God and
loyal and obedient to delegated human
leadership, then there can be
safely committed to man’s care
these immense treasuries of knowledge
which are accumulating ever
faster.
The proper organization of humanity having thus been conceived, there arise sublime visions of future achievements of a society where science reverently questions the universe for truth and power, and in the spirit of true service and harmony the man of affairs applies to the world’s needs the truth and power gained by the scientist.
IT is known that in man there is a reality other than this material one which is called body, and that reality which is other than this physical one is called the heavenly body of man; and we call that body the ethereal form which corresponds to this body. It is that reality which discovers the inner meaning of things; otherwise, this body of man does not discover anything. That reality grasps the mystery of existence. It discovers scientific facts. It discovers technical points. It discovers electricity, telegraphy, the telephone, and so on, discovering all the arts—and yet the reality which makes all these discoveries is other than this body, for, were it this body, then the animal would likewise be able to make these scientific and wonderful discoveries, for the animal shares with man all physical limitations and physical powers. What then is that power which discovers the realities of things which is not to be found in the animal? There is no doubt that it is the inner reality of man; and that reality comprehends all things, throws light upon the inner mysteries of existence, discovers the Kingdom, grasps the mysteries of God, and distinguishes man from the brute. That reality penetrates the inner core of beings; and it is evident that man is endowed with that reality and there is no doubt therein.
This illuminating series of articles by Mrs. Ransom-Kehler, distinguished Bahá’i teacher and lecturer, began with the introductory chapter in the November 1929 issue of this magazine; chapter 2 dealing with “Tales of the Past,” was published in two parts in the February and March, 1930 issues; chapter 3 on “The Order of Melchizedek,” consists of three parts, the first two parts were published in the April and May numbers; part 3 which follows, concludes chapter 3.
THERE are some sixteen essential mineral elements necessary for our bodily health. It would be just as sensible to say: “Why all this bother about agriculture, with its problems of cultivation, fertilization, floods, drought, harvesting; why the drudgery of preparation, cooking, preserving? Why not just eat these essential minerals and do away with the labor and effort of consuming them through another medium, the vegetable kingdom?”
Nothing of which the human mind can conceive can be acquired except through mediation. To ask mankind to find God without a Mediator would be like trying to obtain light and heat without a sun, like having music without notes, literature without words, words without letters, letters without sounds, sounds without atmosphere, atmosphere without its constituent elements, and these without that underlying all-pervasive, indivisible energy upon which all empirical contact is based.
It is just as defensible to ask that we acquire knowledge without focusing the attention, as that we attain to the Ultimate by any other means than through that Eternal Sun of Probity that reflects His
Light and Life to men. An apple might as well say: “I do not want to be severed from my source by any intervention. I wont grow on the branch; I’ll grow on the root of the tree.”
’Abdu’l-Bahá speaks of the focal center which lies in the very structure of the universe. The two fundamental laws of creation are organization and change. Beginning with Heraclitus and Empedocles, extending to Bergson and Dewey this question has vexed and lured the minds of men: What is it that remains fixed in the flux; why does the universe continue changeless in the midst of incessant change? That which does not change is the organization of all phenomena and of all experience around a center. The atom with its proton; the systems with their central suns; the protoplasmic cell with its nucleus; the vortical movement of gravity toward its center; centripotal and centrifugal forces; legislative and executive functions in government (else anarchy and chaos); the cerebro-spinal nervous system as the center of perception with its attendant motion; apperception, the organizing power of the personality; the point, irreducible minimum of the universe (modern
physics shows the point as containing the whole non-spatial universe—the nexus between the finite and the infinite; this same condition expressed in religious terminology is the only Begotten Son of the Father, the Word made flesh); the heart which focuses the vital forces; attention, the pivotal point around which reason and learning are organized; the great personalities Who alone have influenced social and historical movements; Truth as the reference point which determines whether propositions agree among themselves and with the further interpretation of experience; and so forth indefinitely as far as the mind can reach.
For everything there is a center, and this center is the mediating point through which otherwise several and disunited strata, powers and kingdoms mingle. The vast primordial flow of energy would remain undifferentiated and therefore useless to human beings did it not reach combustion in the sun, there to be reflected out again in the form of light and heat, the essentials of life on this planet. Without the taut string, the hollow reed,—the mighty winds of heaven would withhold forever from man the sublime purgation of music; and when the tides of the heart finally ebb, the rapture and glory of creative life has lost its contact with this world.
If then the physical universe, the universe of chemistry and biology with its magical perfection of organization and structure is built around a center, a focal point, how can we rationally suggest that a kingdom as unorganized, as inchoate, as imperfect as the kingdom of
man’s mind and heart can dispense with this requirement that holds the systems, the exact processes of mathematics as well as his own thinking in their proper orbits.
But here he is likely to say: “Very well, I will grant that my relation to God must be organized around a center; but why must that center be a human being? Why can’t it be something psychological like attention or apperception, already used in your illustrations?”
Out of his own mouth we judge him; the quarrelsomeness, the hatred to which he has already objected arise from the substitution of human psychology, the following of our own differing and antagonistic interpretations of God and His Will, for the supreme guidance laid down for us by that Great Mediator Who alone can transform through the Center of His Life and Teachings the majestic attributes of God to accord with the finite requirements of man.
When we attempt to push aside the Manifestation and “go direct to God,” each one of us is motivated by an entirely different conception of what God is, how to express His Will, of what is well-pleasing to Him. A fine and courageous woman who recently offered this objection to the Bahá’i Teachings—that we had had enough Manifestations and didn’t need any more—responded when I asked her where man would turn for accurate guidance if the Great Mouthpiece of God did not reveal His Word from age to age: “Why, you are God, I am God, every one is God.” When I gently suggested that things equal to the same thing might reasonably be expected to be equal to each
other; but that my impression of God being totally different from hers it would look as if the two Gods, the one that she is and the one that I am did not represent an essential unity but a positive contradiction, she was not convinced of the incongruity of her assumption.
The crux of the matter lies in our interpretation of the nature of the soul and of life’s ultimate purposes. The embarrassing news of ourselves given us by modern psychological discoveries unfolds the age-old effort of the subconscious mind to aggrandize the ego and to bend the environment to its progress and supremacy. The age-old struggle envisaged in the great religions of the world is carried on between those elements in the personality that would escape the limitations of the self with its hunliliations, doubts, fears, defeats, seeking the assurance of sacrifice, good will and peace, and those demanding human supremacy, personal preferment and selfish satisfactions.
Aside from the considerations already adduced no one could be sure of God’s Will and purpose in human life if it were left to the mere guess-work of the individual; my idea of what God wanted humanity to do would be at variance with my neighbor’s. Only as One appears with the authority and majesty of God’s Words upon His lips
which He unfolds in such wise that no doubt or question of their authenticity eventually arises, can mankind take each succeeding step of the soul toward the supreme eventuation of his journey toward Reality: for “the divinity of God is the sum of all perfections which reveals itself in the reality of man.”*
“God the Exalted appears in the clothing of His creatures. This is through His Favor, so that His servants may not flee from Him, but that they may approach Him, rest in His Presence, and be benefitted by that which He reveals from the Heaven of His Will.”**
The Manifestation as the Focal Center around which the whole of creation is organized, is the great archetypal pattern that reflects this relationship in every phase of expression. Since nothing exists without a center, since everything is focused into the relatively small and out again into a vast influence,—the cosmos into ninety-two elements, language into fifty-six sounds, the tree into the seed and back into the tree again,—we are constrained to look for that nexus relating God to man. Direct relations throughout the universe do not occur; therefore we see that in man’s striving to know God, “this knowledge is impossible save through His Manifestation.”
* “Some Answered Questions,” p. 228.
** Tablet of the Manifestation, p. 384.
“No one hath any way to the Reality of Deity except through the instrumentality of the Manifestation. To suppose so is a theory and not a fact.”
The author of this series of three articles on modern science, written at editorial request, is unusually qualified to present to the readers of The Bahá’i Magazine some of the spiritual aspects of modern scientific thought. In the first article he shows how uncertain scientific thought has become about the constitution of matter, and how there are different concepts even regarding what the atom is; whereas a generation ago science was much more dogmatically assertive and obstinately materialistic. The fact is that the great scientists today are not at all cocksure, and the trend is to feature matter in other terms than the merely concrete, thus approaching a point where the spiritual truths regarding the unseen find a possibility of adjustment with the truths the scientists perceive about the known universe.
ONE of the important principles of the Bahá’i Teachings is the harmonizing of religion and science. “Any religion which contradicts science or is opposed to it,” says ’Abdu’l-Bahá, “is only ignorance, for ignorance is the opposite of knowledge. There is no contradiction between true religion and science.”
In an age the activities of which are so controlled and guided by scientific knowledge it is evident that religion must come into agreement with science or be totally discredited by humanity, at least by the educated portion of humanity.
No religion in the past has offered such a harmonization, for the reason that in the past there has been no body of scientific knowledge with which it was necessary to harmonize; but the Bahá’i Movement, designed and revealed for this day and age, contains within its precepts a perfect solution of this apparent gulf between science and religion.
A reconcilation between science and religion is impossible, however, so long as any theory of science
leads directly or indirectly to the conclusion that a revealed religion is an illusion. It is the object of this thesis to point out some of the present tendencies and to indicate in a general way the nature of the ground upon which certain philosophical ideas are based.
When we turn to the Renaissance and consider carefully the forces that brought about the significant changes of that period we are impressed with the fact that the emergence of the scientific spirit is the most revolutionary. Not only do we see here a revival of Greek learning but a new type of thinking. Authority gives way to observation and experiment, deduction is supplemented by induction.
The most astounding thing, however, is that with two or three exceptions there were no martyrs; the persecutions while thorough-going and up to standard were mild compared to religious persecutions, and as for scientific wars the idea is nonexistent. In no other field of ideas since the beginning of history had it been possible to bring about radical changes in thinking without bloodshed and a temporary halt
in real progress. Its inception was marked by a single purpose; the search for truth, and the desire for reward or distinction of any kind was never in evidence. A Pole, an Italian, a German, a Dane and an Englishman; catholic, protestant, good churchman and heretic,—all labored together for an understanding of the physical universe. By the end of the seventeenth century an ostensibily solid foundation for the physical sciences was laid, but by the end of the nineteenth century it was considerably shaken, nevertheless we have witnessed nothing but steady progress. It is not surprising therefore if the educated world turns to science for the solution of many of its problems. Here at least there is no prejudice, no bias, and the knowledge of the physical world is the most exact knowledge that the world in general is aware of.
To get a concrete picture of the sort of scientific background that is now necessary let us consider briefly the history of the atom.
Very simple phenomena like the evaporation of water or camphor, the transfer of odors etc., makes it clear that matter is not homogeneous but exists rather as discrete particles and they must be very small since they cannot be seen with the most powerful microscope. In the case of a compound like water, we call these particles molecules, while in the case of a simple substance like hydrogen we use the term atom. Now one of the fundamental laws of chemistry states that elements like hydrogen, oxygen, etc. always combine in the same proportion to form compounds. For example, in water we always have
two atoms of hydrogen combining with one atom of oxygen and moreover we know that the oxygen atom is thirty-two times heavier than the hydrogen atom, which is by the way the lightest of all. In the early days they did not know the actual mass of any atom in grams so they expressed their relative mass calling the mass of hydrogen 1. These relative masses were and are today called the “atomic weights” and for many years they were sufficient for the problems of chemistry.
Now in dealing with chemical reactions what kind of an atom must we imagine? Simply particles with the proper relative mass and nothing more.
In dealing with an enclosed gas we explain pressure by assuming that the gas consists of particles which strike against the walls of the vessel. Here again they must be very small but what they lack in mass they make up in numbers and velocity so the pressures we observe are satisfactorily explained. The question naturally arises, is this the atom of chemistry? Yes and no. Here we must assume that we are dealing with elastic spheres and that is obviously unnecessary in chemical reactions.
Again we speak of positive and negative charges simply because we observe attraction in some instances and repulsion in others. We must be dealing with two kinds of charges but they differ only in that two similar charges repel while two dissimilar charges attract. We call the charge produced with a glass rod rubbed with silk “positive”; but that produced by an ebonite rod rubbed with fur, “negative.” However the designation is quite arbitrary
and we might just as well call a positive charge negative. When two platinum strips are placed in acidulated water a current of electricity may be passed from one strip to the other through the water, but what is far more interesting we also observe that hydrogen gas collects at the negative strip and oxygen at the positive. It is quite natural that we should assume in this case that the water is broken up or ionized, as we say, into two particles which we call “ions” or wanders. One of the particles manifestly has a positive charge associated with it in some way and the other has a negative charge. An ion is an atom or sometimes a group of atoms with an electric charge. When a hydrogen ion loses its charge it becomes hydrogen gas. The properties of the ion are quite different from the properties of the atom. It is not necessary, of course, to assume that the ion is an elastic sphere and it would be superfluous to do so, but it is necessary to assume that it has a charge or to put it another way, if we assume it has a charge we can account for the facts of ionization. The point to keep in mind is simply this, the physicist or chemist does not make assumptions that are not both necessary and valid.
Some phenomena in light require a much more complicated atom model which we can only describe briefly. This atom, for the most part, consists simply of space; likewise does the solar system when you come to think of it, so that must not bother us, for in the center there is a positive particle,” the proton,” which contains nearly all the mass and revolving around the proton
there are negative particles of very, very much smaller mass called “electrons.” The model resembles the sun with its planets. This is the modern atom and while it is necessary to account for the more complex phenomena of the physical world, it is superfluous for some of the simple things we have explained above.
Why not have just one atom? Indeed this is precisely what we would like but at present it is not forthcoming, although there is no doubt that a universal model will be devised.
Is then the atom a discovery? Does it really exist? In one sense yes, and in another sense it is a mechanical model devised to fit the facts of observation.
Sometimes we reach a dilemma as in the case of the classical wave theory of light. Up to the last quarter of the nineteenth century practically all of the observed phenomena of light demanded a wave theory, but certain discoveries of the last fifty years, notably those involving interchanges of energy, can only be explained if we assume, not a wave but a flight of particles variously called quanta, corpuscles or photons. At first sight it does not appear that both theories can be right, and yet it is entirely probable that we simply need a larger outlook. In the words of Sir J. J. Thomson, “this duality of corpuscles and waves may be of the nature of things.” Perhaps this is just another way of saying that the physical universe is decidedly more complex than anyone in the eighteenth century ever dreamed it to be.
One result of these changes is
that there is less stress upon atomic models. In the past a phenomena was explained when a mechanical model could be built in the mind. There was always a desire to get back of the mathematical equations but today we realize that the ultimate reality is very much beyond our reach so we are for the most part content with symbols. The complexity of the physical world and the failure of a simple model to solve most of our preblems has naturally led to this conclusion.
What lies behind the symbols that we use in equations? The answer is, “we do not know.” We no longer think that a thing must be concrete to be real, and this attitude indicates that we are becoming more spiritual for as Eddington says, “. . . we are no longer tempted to condemn the spiritual aspects of our nature as illusory because of their lack of concreteness.”
In short much that was considered fundamental in the old classical physics has been shown to be quite inadequate for modern discoveries. The old ideas of length mass and time have been replaced by new concepts which seem very weird and
fantastic to the layman but this may be taken as a sign of progress.
In concluding it may be well to summarize the important facts.
1. A scientific model like the atomic model must not be considered entirely in the light of a discovery but rather as an explanation, adequate perhaps today but subject to modification tomorrow.
2. Mechanical models have succeeded, at least so far, only with the simplest type of phenomena with which we are aware, namely, the physical universe i. e. the inorganic world.
3. As the physical universe unfolds before us, as the result of scientific research, it becomes more and more complex while the models and theories become more and more abstract.
4. In the light of all the facts we have at this moment, the crude discarded model of yesterday can hardly be expected to solve the complex problems of tomorrow.
In a subsequent article we will attempt to show the instability of the atomic foundation of all mechanistic theories.
“The highest praise is due to men who devote their energies to science; and the noblest center is a center wherein the sciences and arts are taught and studied. Science ever tends to the illumination of the world of humanity. It is the cause of eternal honor to man, and its sovereignty is far greater than the sovereignty of kings. The dominion of hings has an ending; the hing himself may be dethroned; but the sovereignty of science is everlasting and without end.”
This is the third part of the serial story by Miss Root concerning her experiences in Persia. The first article which appeared in the July number described her visits from Baghdád to Kirmansháh; the second part published in the August number gave an account of her stay in the city of Hamadán.
THE morning we left Hamadán was glorious. The sun shone warmly and the snow-covered mountains scintilated as if decked with millions of diamonds. The writer, though, was seeing something more. She closed her eyes to think about Qurratu’l-’Ayn, her great ideal of spiritual womanhood who had come this same way, only on donkey-back, and at every step her life had been in great danger from the fanatical clergy. To go to Qazvin, the city of such an heroine, is indeed a holy privilege. Suddenly while I was thinking and praying, the chauffeur was halting the car. There in the road ahead of us were peasants dressed in costumes of green and apple pink and white. They lifted. their arms to motion that the car be stopped. Then, playing on Persian musical instruments called “Tars,” they danced a most graceful dance and sang a salute to the spring season. Then standing on either side of the road and bowing low, they motioned the chauffeur to pass. Were they Bahá’is who had come far out from Qazvin, dressed in the ancient costumes, to give a silent welcome to the sister from the west? If so, it was very sweet and apropos, for now is the springtime of a new universal cycle.
A few miles further on stood
fifteen motor cars filled with Bahá’i friends who were waiting to greet us. First among them were the nine members of the Qazvin Spiritual Assembly. Mr. Arbab Borzoo, owner of the Grand Hotel, the best hostelry in Qazvin, and a devoted Bahá’i, asked the guest to ride in his Grand Hotel autobus, which she did. A little outside the gate of the city, in one of the large buildings, a reception was given where tea, Persian cakes and fruit were served by the Bahá’i friends of that suburb. Their speeches of welcome were so beautiful, one can appreciate what it means to hear “the broidered tongue of the East.” The Persians are keenly intelligent, eloquent, poetical by nature, and extraordinarily courteous and hospitable.
After a happy half-hour here the friends again entered their motor cars and accompanied the visitor to the Grand Hotel. Entering the foyer massed with palms, there I found more than one hundred Bahá’i women and girls waiting to greet me. It was exquisite to see these women of Qazvin from whom the world expects so much, for since Quarraty’l-’Ayn has come from this city, women in every continent who have admired her so deeply, naturally expect all women of this historic city to be beautiful, highly
cultured, spiritual, marvelous speakers, and fearless, possessed of a courage which thrills the world. I was not surprised to find Esperantists among them, for I feel sure if Qurratu’l-’Ayn had lived in this generation she would have learned this international auxiliary language. Only some of the ladies came, for in Persia there are so many Bahá’is that only a limited number can be present at any gathering.
A luncheon was given that day in the hotel for members of the Spiritual Assembly, and at six o’clock a lecture was given in the Bahá’i School building. The women had decorated the great hall with scores of wonderful Persian rugs and embroidered pieces made by themselves and the pupils of the schools. The place was lighted with a hundred lamps. Flowers were placed in little vases on all the tables, and standing with shining eyes to receive their sister from the west were more than three hundred men and boys. Truly it was a great welcome. First a prayer was chanted, then came addresses of welcome in both Persian and English, emphasizing the union of the East and the West, after which the visitor spoke of the progress of the Bahá’i Cause in the United States and Europe, giving many incidents of the influence of Qurratu’l-’Ayn in the West. When the last prayer was chanted and the vast audience still stood in great silence, the writer felt that if Quarratu’l-’Ayn looked down upon those spiritual souls she would know what rare and eternal fruits her life and her martyrdom have brought.
The next day a luncheon was
given at the Grand Hotel for Bahá’i ladies, and immediately afterwards a women’s meeting was held in the same school hall. Here several poems of Qurratu’l-’Ayn which had been set to music were given, for her poems are sung today not only by Bahá’is but by musicians of all religions in Persia. Prayers were chanted, and then came the lecture in which the writer told them how good it would be if some Qazvin women could lecture in Europe and in the Americas; they could speak dynamically about the history and great life of their townswoman Qurratu’l-’Ayn. A feast was served for more than three hundred women and girls. The meeting was held in the school building, which was a little more comfortable in this extremely cold weather, but generally all meetings are held in the Mashriqu’l-Adhkár in Qazvin, and it is a house where Quarratu’l-’Ayn had often lectured and taught the Bahá’i Cause.
Returning to the hotel, the writer was presented to four Bahá’i friends from Tihrán who had been sent by the National Spiritual Assembly to welcome her and escort her to the capital. It was characteristic of Persia that these friends and Bahá’is of Qazvin and the writer had a little meeting of prayer before they discussed the plans for Tihrán. The Persians always chant their prayers, and one who hears this sweet chanting of the Words of Bahá’u’lláh and ’Abdu’l-Bahá will long to hear them, I am sure, long after the pilgrimage to Persia is finished.
The next morning the hotel was thronged with friends who had come to say goodbye. The ladies
--PHOTO--
Photo by Aftab, Tihran
This group picture was taken at Karadj, a town near Tihrán, when the National Spiritual Assembly of Persia, and one hundred and fifty other friends journeyed there to meet Miss Martha Root, American journalist and international Bahá’i speaker and teacher who made a trip through Persia.
were in one drawingroom and the men were in another large drawingroom which had been specially given for the American to meet her brothers and sisters during the brief stay of two days. The Spiritual Assembly and many other friends took motor ears to accompany the Bahá’i teacher on the first stretch of her journey towards Tihrán. There they descended and distributed Persian sweets,–if we did not break bread together we broke cake and bonbons and tasted salt as a Persian symbol of life-long friendship, as well as of most thoughtful hospitality. Then saying again and again “Alláh-u-Abhá” to them all, we directed our chauffeur and Hassan to drive forward and the car with the Tihrán
brothers followed close behind ours. The dear Qazvin friends waved us out of sight.
A JOURNEY from Qazvin to Tihrán
requires only about four hours
with a good car and on this day the
weather was fine. Tihrán friends
had wished to come out in very
great numbers to meet the Bahá’i
guest, but she had asked then and
in all other cities that the number
be limited. She feels, and so
does the National Spiritual Assembly,
that in Persia at the present
time moderation,—never astounding,
never attracting public excitement—is
better when the Government
is doing its best to have a safe,
tolerant and neutral Irán. The
spirit of the Tihrán Bahá’is, however,
is so hospitably big that several thousand believers had asked to come and meet the western sister at Karadj, a suburb nineteen miles before the gate of the capital.
Tihrán is a city of three hundred thousand inhabitants, situated midway between the eastern and western thriving cities of Tabriz and Mashhad. It can be reached via Russia and the northern city of Rasht, or from the north west via Tabriz, from the south via the Persian Gulf and Bushir, and from the west via the golden-route from Baghdád over which we had just traveled. It has only been the capital for the past one hundred years, before that Isfahán and Shiráz had the honor of being the ancient capitals. However, if Tihrán is a new city which is considerably Europeanised, still it is said to have all the charm and the gorgeous splendor of the greatest oriental capital in Central Asia. It stands close beside the remains of Rhey or Rhages (spoken of by Bahá’u’lláh) which was a contemporary of Babylon and Nineveh, a city of a million souls in those days. In the time of the Arab conquest it was reported to have had eight million inhabitants.
Coming in the motor car we saw Mount Demavand with its shapely white cone so high and keenly cutting and it seemed close to Tihrán as if it and the Elburz Mountains embraced the city to the north. Whether Noah’s Ark had rested on Mount Demavand nineteen thousand four hundred feet above the sea level we must leave to the historians to decide. Anyway, to come to Tihrán is a thrilling adventure for a Bahá’i, and to others,
too, it is a country with great tourist interest.
The writer closed her eyes for a moment to breathe silently a couplet from the “Masnavi” of Bahá’u’lláh. (These divinely inspired lines do not refer to Persia but to the Abhá Kingdom, the Kingdom of Heaven from whence He came to show us the way.)
- “O thou sacrifice of God
- From the altar of love do not return,
- Give your life in the path of love!
- Come to the Door of the Beloved.
- Without head and body,
- In order that you may be accepted
- As a citizen of This Land!”
How gladly the Founders of the Bahá’i religion and those first believers in Persia had done this!
KARADJ WAS very near; the National
Spiritual Assembly and more
than one hundred and fifty other
Bahá’is had left their motor cars
and stood to receive the sister
from the west. In that solemn moment,
it was not just individuals
greeting one another, it was the
spiritual union of the East and the
West. It was a tremendous ovation,
and then everyone went into
the large restaurant where tea and
cakes and flowers were served, and
speeches were made. Many policemen
stood about, several photographers
took countless photographs;
everyone was happy and
enthusiastic. After this reception
the automobiles were again entered
and the writer came in the car
with the owners of the Grand Hotel
to Tihrán.
When we reached the imposing gate of the city of Tihrán, called “Qazvin Gate” because it is the
end of the Qazvin-Tihrán road, there were many cars and vehicles. It was the busy time of the day, and every passenger must halt to show his card of permission to enter. Cars of friends quietly drew up around my car, policemen came and we cannot say it was merely a coincidence—they stood beside my car until the signal came to start forward.
Coming into the Grand Hotel, I saw that covers had been laid for nearly one hundred and fifty guests; the owners were giving this dinner in my honor. Many of the famous national dishes of Persia were served,—chicken pilaw with pistachio nuts, raisins, dates and orange peel for flavor. Also they had the many delicious fruits for which Persia is so celebrated.
This hotel has been my head-quarters. It is one of the most beautiful and comfortable hotels in all Persia. It is an interesting fact that the builder of this hostelry, Mr. Seyid Nasroullah Bakeroff, a most ardent Bahá’i, constructed this luxurious “palace” built round a central court and with a great theatre, in the hope that the Center of the Covenant ’Abdu’l-Bahá, would come again to His native land and this hotel would be His home! Some religionists opposed him and tried to have the construction stopped. They said, “he is building such an hotel for his God.” Well, indeed he did build it to the glory of God. One feels the love and the spirit in this house. Ordinary travelers are impressed with the courtesy, the completeness of everything; but coming as I did as a Bahá’i (and it will be the same when you come), it is infinitely
sweet to hear “Alláh-u-Abhá” everytime a boy comes to serve you; and he does not walk, he runs to fulfill your wish! The three brothers Mir Aminoullah Bakeroff, Mir Kamal Bakeroff and Mir Jalal Bakeroff own this hotel, and with them I feel their love, their thoughtfulness, their efficient care are showered upon this humble Bahá’i from the west as it would have been poured upon ’Abdu’l-Bahá Who could never come during His lifetime, and the builder, too, has passed on to the Other World.
One day they told me an incident of their good father this Agha Seyid Nasroullah Bakeroff. They said that at the time of Nasiro’d-Din Shah’s death by an assassin, their father was in Baku. The Muhammadans, very prejudiced, attacked him and said: “You killed the Shah!” Everything that ever happened was blamed upon the Bahá’is. Fifty policemen came and took the father to the police court. The Chief of Police shook hands with Mr. Bakeroff and said: “I know you Bahá’is are the best people in the world and would not kill anybody! For your own safety, however, I imprison you here for two days, for if I free you the Muhammadans will put you to death.” Thus his life was saved.
During the five weeks here, Bahá’i parties with the invitation card have been given six nights a week, always one hundred guests and many times two hundred, and at each reception and lecture there have been new faces, for no one has been invited twice, yet I have not seen nearly all of the Baháis in Tihrán. Two meetings were attended by men and women together.
This is a great innovation for husbands and wives to come together and to sit together. One young woman made a most eloquent speech of welcome, but it was the first time she had ever spoken before men.*
The hospitality of the Persian. people is remarkable. One afternoon it was raining when I left a reception, but the women and girls and little children all came through the garden to the outer door where the carriage stood, even though I had said good-bye to each one of them in the drawingroom
and on the veranda. They were not thinking of the rain on pretty frocks; it was sisters of the East and the West meeting together for just one afternoon. One young girl said: “Do you realise it is probably good-bye forever!” Others said: “It is the promise of Bahá’ulláh fulfilled, for He said our fair-haired sisters with blue eyes would come to us from the west.”
*(Only two years ago a law passed permitting that men and women could ride together in the same carriage. Certainly during the reign of His Imperial Majesty Shahanshah Pahlevi much progress has come in the equality of men and women, and in the education of women.)
the East was made radiant and glorious. Souls who have hearkened to His Words and accepted His Message live together today in complete fellowship and love. . . . This has been due to the declaration and foundation of the oneness of the world of humanity. Today in Persia there are meetings and assemblages wherein souls who have become illumined by the teachings of Bahá’u’lláh—representative Muhammadans, Christians, Jews, Zoroastrians, Buddhists and of the various denominations of each—mingle and conjoin in perfect fellowship and absolute agreement. A wonderful brotherhood and love is established among them and all are united in spirit and service for international peace.”
THE curiosity of the world has recently been stirred by the discovery of what appears to be a ninth neighborly planet circling outside the orbit of Neptune, a telescope powerful enough to sight the unknown member of our solar system having been constructed. Fresh probabilities open unchallenged as the thought is entertained, and if it be verified, some of the careful calculations of the past that made a comfortable, orderly sequence for our minds to rest upon may be subjected to changes as the presence, power and light of this immense magnet, henceforth, will have to be taken into consideration.
As each noticeable discovery in the world of science urges new estimates of past assumptions in its field of knowledge and opens further possibilities, likewise in the realm of divine revelation each Light-Bearer brings to judgment past concepts and offers vast and beneficent reformations based upon adherence to fundamental, unchanging laws.
Now that achievements in natural science have outstripped imagination in many ways, advanced ideas are quite generally welcomed by persons of intelligence. We no longer imprison our Gallileos of scientific adventure. But in the domain of divine investigation primitive methods, where distrust, fears and condemnation prevail, are still adhered to.
One of ineffable holiness, who in the past century offered the key to
world unity and peace, was held a Prisoner for forty years, suffering every calamity and indignity possible to endure. Nevertheless, this supreme Sun of celestial radiance arose unhindered by opposition, and is discernible to those who adjust the telescope of the spirit–the mind—to spiritual requirements and values, and turn its clear lens directly upon this all-inclusive recent revelation of God.
The Orb of Manifestation became known to the world through three individualized Aspects, or Vehicles of Its significance.
The first to be recognized was the Báb, as Herald of the Manifestation.
Then the Light-Bearer Himself, Bahá’u’lláh, the Dawning-Place of Divinity, revealed His Presence and His Mission.
His eldest son, ’Abdu’l-Bahá, next became known as the definer and explainer of the Word of the Manifestation and the Exemplar of His Teachings.
The spiritual supremacy and exquisite personality of Ali Mohammed, the Báb, immediately attracted large numbers of the Muhammadan faith after He announced Himself as Herald of “One whom God will manifest.” Thousands of His followers so caught the flame of His unearthly quality and the high ecstacy of His inner beauty that they suffered unspeakable martyrdom rather than be separated from the love of God shining through Him with such intensity. On the
other hand, it was quite inevitable that those who clung to orthodox tradition should passionately resent His resounding demands that they burn many of their books, do away with long cherished rituals and abolish their superstitions. He also went into the minutest detail as to their manner of living, making strict rules as to what they should eat and training them carefully in much needed ways of personal cleanliness. He was a hurricane shaking the trees of their existence; a plough to dig up old roots so long interlaced beneath the surface of their lives; tilling the ground of their minds and hearts to make ready for the momentous event rapidly approaching. A Manifestation of God was about to proclaim Himself. Who would welcome Him? Not those imprisoned in a dead past and surrounded by walls of prejudice nor those filled with self-righteousness.
He bade His followers to turn entirely to the Holy One when He appeared. “At the time of His Manifestation there will be for them (the people) no greater paradise than belief in Him and obedience to Him,” He wrote in the “Beyan.”
After this “Dawning Point of Revelation” had opened highways of faith for the incoming of the “Promised One,” the Báb’s immaculate young life was set at naught by His enemies and He was liberated, through martyrdom, from the cage of this world.
For hundreds of years, many religious books have reiterated certain sacred names which the Prophets, through their utterances and visions, have kept before the minds of the people. Like long vine roots
running below the ground until drawn out into the light and air to burst into bloom, these familiar ideas may be traced over long periods of development until they eventually impersonate in great beings who manifest God’s purpose and explain His meanings. How many generations of the Jews brooded over the hallowed name of the Messiah as a fulfillment of their heart’s desire, until He was born as the Christ Child, The Word, The Son of God, at the time when spiritual comprehension was in its youthful stages.
Similarly there are two familiar expressions, “The Lord of Hosts,” and, “The Covenant of God,” that have stood out prominently through the centuries. At last, humanity having acquired a more mature realization of the character of their Maker, and, being ready for closer union with Him, these conceptions have taken outer form in the holy personages of Bahá’u’lláh, the Lord of Hosts, and ’Abdu’l-Bahá, the Covenant of God.
The outstanding events in the amazing history of Bahá’u’lláh are written that all may read these tragic but victorious pages. We know how the prison of ’Akká became a mighty throne from which emanated His Light to the world. It is said that in His presence the strongest impression one received was a vivid realization of the tender solicitude and ineffable love of the Heavenly Father. He came to awaken the divine nature and reveal the treasures hidden therein.
He wrote these beautiful lines:
“To gather jewels have I come to the world. If one speck of a jewel lie hid in a stone, and that stone be beyond the seven seas,
until I have sought and found that jewel, My Hand shall not stay from its search.”
Those who were blessed by a close view of His daily life tell of His unchanging poise and majesty, serenity and kindness during the long years of poignant calamity. Disaster never caused agitation; human circumstance, whether favorable or detrimental, was welcomed indiscriminately. The will of this “prisoner” of the Sultan of Turkey and the Shah of Persia was so powerful that no messengers sent by those dominant potentates came before Him unless He read in their hearts worthy motives and granted them permission.
In a Tablet He spoke of the mission He was particularly to accomplish—“My part is but to deliver this great and clear Message.”
The delivery of so sublime and vital a message must have been written, not only by the Supreme Pen in manuscript form, but traced upon the living page everlasting where those eternal verities are indelibly inscribed, which man in his upward climbing has become capable of appropriating and which, through the power of the Holy Spirit, he may always reach and possess. Each Manifestation as the Divine Physician gauges the receptive capacity of the people of the world and creates the fructifying environments in which His prophecies of attainment and benefits may find expression in human affairs.
The Master at one time said that the Word of a Manifestation was not only a prophecy but that it was also a creation. In the Tablet of Joseph, Bahá’u’lláh wrote, “My demonstration was brought to its
fullness and completion for all that are in the heavens and on the earth before I made Myself known, because it appeared with such wonderful condition that no one could. find any way to delay or oppose.”
The unique genius of Bahá’u’lláh has brought to this chaotic world an indivisible, irresistible, indestructible, all-embracing penetrative plan. This plan is not static but dynamic and operative, and today is moving steadily, creatively through all avenues of life, remoulding thought and feeling and arousing those slumbering, long delayed, God-given high hopes and aspirations, through its inspiring promises of victory that mark the opening of the New Age.
Bahá’u’lláh makes known that in a shorter time than any past experience can warrant, there will be established a new order of nations, built securely upon the bedrock of divine justice.
Bahá’u’lláh gave to ’Abdu’l-Bahá a number of significant and mystical Names: which are familiar to every Bahá’i; and before ascending to His spiritual station on high, proclaimed that ’Abdu’l-Bahá was to be His successor, leaving in His Will no uncertainty as to the meaning of this bestowal.
Had it not been for the intimate acquaintance with the perfect life of ’Abdu’l-Bahá and also His wealth of explanations regarding Bahá’u’lláh’s Station and Principles, the teachings might have stood too far removed from the comprehension of the creatures to have been grasped and put into operation before a long period of years had elapsed. But through contact with the Master’s unprecedented selfsacrifice and devotion, the people
came close to a Life they could partly understand and wholly adore. Through His explanations, the Word of Bahá’u’lláh is tempered to the people’s capacity to receive.
The white light of the love of Bahá’u’lláh shining through the Center of the Covenant (’Abdu’l-Bahá) breaks into rainbow colors of promise across the sky of eternal hope, and thus illumines all shades of intelligence.
In one of His Tablets ’Abdu’l-Bahá speaks of that which He was particularly meant to represent.
“O ye friends of God! . . . No one must believe that ’Abdu’l-Bahá is the ‘Second Coming of Christ,’ nay rather he must believe that he is the Manifestation of Servitude, the mainspring of the unity of the human world, the Herald of the True One with spiritual power throughout all regions,—the Commentator of the Book according to the divine text, and the Ransom to each one of the believers of God in this transitory world.”*
This “Mainspring of unity of the human world” wove for the earth a fresh garment. The strong and skillful weaver moved with ceaseless, painstaking tread through the warp and woof of existence to blend and harmonize the countless dissimilar threads of life. Seekers for truth from all religions, countries and peoples, came pouring to Him in endless streams. Hindus of high and low cast found it possible to lay aside long held prejudices when they sat side by side in the presence of such holiness. The poor and neglected He singled out as doubly dear to Him, consoling them with spiritual and material
* Tablets of Abdu’l-Baha, Vol. 2, p. 429.
aid; warring Arab chiefs coming to have their grievances justly settled, walked away together in peace; great officials of the surrounding regions and those representing various foreign nations who were stationed in His vicinity came for consultation upon affairs of state; Muhammadan Mullahs sought His interpretation of obscure passages in the Qur’an. Those of all religions brought their intricate questions for Him to solve, either through means of the tremendous correspondence always piled high about Him or through interviews with Him while He lived in the prison town of ’Akká; or later when He traveled to far countries to proclaim Bahá’u’lláh’s Cause, as well as in Haifa where He entertained numerous pilgrims all the remaining years of His life. His charity, loving kindness and unerring wisdom guided and uplifted the multitudes that ever pressed about Him.
The Master’s many years of martyrdom drew to a close on November the twenty-eighth, 1921, and the sanctified Tabernacle of His Spirit was placed within the beautiful Sacred Shrine on Mount Carmel where the outermost garment of the Báb had lain for many years.
Ever unified in life purpose, these two mighty aspects of the Orb of Bahá’u’lláh,—the Morning Star of annunciation, the Báb, and the Moon of perfect reflection, ’Abdu’l-Bahá,—blending eternally with the Sun of Truth, Bahá’u’lláh, form the beacon light of the new creation.
When the Will of ’Abdu’l-Bahá was read and it became known that He had left a great inheritance to all who loved Him, a wave of relief and gratitude went around the
Bahá’i World. He appointed a “Guardian of the Cause,” to direct its multitudinous affairs. He created and defined this new station of service in the world with its nature, function, and grave responsibilities. “The Guardian of the Cause of God as well as the Universal House of Justice,” the Will read; and He named His eldest grandson, Shoghi Effendi, as the one to initiate this highly difficult undertaking and to fulfill the sacred trust.
A few lines of the Will are here quoted:
“O my loving friends! After the passing away of this wronged one, it is incumbent upon . . . the loved ones of the Abha Beauty, to turn unto Shoghi Effendi . . . as he is the sign of God . . . the Guardian of the Cause of God . . . he is the expounder of the Words of God, and after him will succeed the first born of his lineal descendents. The Guardian of the Cause of God as well as the Universal House of Justice, to be universally elected and established, are both under the care and protection of the Abha Beauty, under the shelter and unerring guidance of His Holiness the Exalted One, (May my life be offered up for them both!). Whatsoever they decide is of God. . . . Whoso deviateth, separateth himself and turneth aside from him hath in truth deviated, separated himself and turned aside from God. . . .
“So soon as they find anyone beginning to oppose and protest against the Guardian of the Cause of God, they must cast him out from the congregation of the people of Bahá and in no wise accept any excuse from him. . . .
“He that obeyeth him not, hath
not obeyed God; he that turneth away from him, hath turned away from God; and he that denieth him, hath denied the True One.”
Nothing could have assured this generation more effectually of the victory of the Cause of God in the near future than the merciful provision of a succession of devoted adherents to the Will of ’Abdu’l-Bahá, who, down the centuries, will “amplify and apply” His Word to the needs of humanity at the period of time in which each will occupy this centralizing position.
Shoghi Effendi is a “Master builder”; the only one who is capable of bringing into visibility and making concrete this mighty structure, a Universal House of Justice. He is endowed from on high with the insight, wisdom, love and power to inaugurate so stupendous an enterprise as a Universal House of Justice at this time of warring nations.
The unified action of a body of servants chosen for their adequate mental and spiritual endowments will, through organizing courts of arbitration, prepare the way for the permanent establishment of universal peace.
His Holiness, our Lord Jesus Christ said, ”My sheep know my vocie.” All who have learned to listen to the voice of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá know that the inestimable gift to the Cause of our precious Guardian’s leadership is the Master’s dearest love speaking anew through the consecrated life, perfect balance of mind, spiritually attuned, clear heart of His Highness Shoghi Effendi, through whom the “Hands of Power” will fashion the human habitation for the descent of the impregnable divine plan.
In the present installment the author takes up his spiritual experience from the end of his college days, and traces it through a period of three years rich in growth and development, leading to the decision to enter the ministry. In the next and concluding installment, life at the Harvard Divinity School will be described and the event, in the midst of his preparation for the ministry, which led the author to give up this purpose and devote the rest of his life to the Bahá’i Movement.
MY college education left me with an increased fund of knowledge and an intellectual training, but with considerable impairment of health due partly to the fact that I worked my way through college while at the same time endeavoring to stand high in my studies.
I found great help in the treatments of a Dr. William Pratt, mental healer and one of the most spiritual and noble men that it has been my privilege to know. He had, previous to his work in mental healing, been a business man who had failed in business and incurred a nervous breakdown. He started in business again and had another nervous collapse. It was then that he came in touch with that same source of healing to which, as some assume, Mary Baker G. Eddy owed her inspiration, namely, Dr. Quimby. Among other patients there at the same time were the Dressers who, with Mr. Pratt, developed an independent system of healing. They called it metaphysical healing, later to be ably expressed in more general terms by a son, Horatio W. Dresser,—while Mary Baker G. Eddy went on developing her own powerful system of healing now so widely diffused.
Dr. Pratt, as we called him,
though he had no medical degree, having been himself healed in a remarkable way by this mental healing system of Quimby’s, practiced it with great effect upon others and kept a sanitarium where resident patients were helped. He was one of the most selfless men I have ever known. His personal presence and atmosphere were most cheering and uplifting and his treatments were very helpful to me. His method was to spend ten or fifteen minutes in spiritual conversation, and then have a period of silence in which he concentrated on the patient. His power of concentration was great. I have seen him run upstairs—(a man of sixty-five) from shaking the furnace, and sitting down, immediately compose himself to his spiritual task. Once, in the midst of the silent treatment, a hirdy-girdy began its vociferous music below our open window. I wondered whether it would effect Dr. Pratt, as it was disturbing to me and made it difficult for me to maintain an atmosphere of meditation. But it had no effect upon my healer, and soon I was totally oblivious of it.
I can recall that in these silent periods my mind became more or less a rosy blank, and I was suffused with a calm and buoyant flood which seemed to heal. I
would return home walking on air, and bring enough vitality to last me until next I could drink from this fount of healing.
I thought that my problems were all solved with this wonderful guide and healer at my side, for he was indeed a spiritual guide as well as healer—a man of deep mystical wisdom. But just at this point one of those catastrophes occurred which change the pattern of our lives, namely, that Dr. Pratt himself passed away from this earth. Thus I found myself again spiritually afloat.
AT ABOUT this time, while teaching
school in Brockton, Mass, I had
two very deep spiritual experiences
which I will narrate.
As I was strolling out one evening feeling a little lonesome, being unacquainted in this city, I passed a diminutive church and hearing the sound of singing stopped to look in. This perhaps was more than an act of mere curiosity on my part. I was being lead undoubtedly by my spirit of religious investigation. When I entered the rear of the church, the little congregation was then engaged in prayer. They were quite evidently simple men and women earning their bread by manual or clerical labor. Their prayers were the most remarkable I have ever heard in any Christian church. When the prayer closed, the young clergyman came down and urged me to join with them. I became a frequent attendant at this church, which as I discovered was of the denomination of “The Church of the Disciples” or “Campbellites.” I found a wonderful spiritual brotherhood in these
simple men and women: one of them the driver of a baker’s wagon, another a watchman at a railroad crossing, women who worked in a candy factory, and such like.
In their prayers they really talked with God, and their Christian love for each other was of such a quality that when I was urged to join the church I felt strongly attracted to do so; for here I saw manifested, as I had never seen before, a wonderful spiritual power pervading the whole church body. Oddly enough this church to which I found myself drawn was of the Evangelical type with a theology far from the liberalism to which I had been accustomed. In order to join the church, it would be necessary to receive total immersion, an act which they deemed essential to salvation. Reasoning pragmatically that whether or no total immersion was necessary to salvation it was an act that certainly would do no harm, I decided to let it be no obstacle to affiliating myself with these wonderfully spiritual men and women.
At the time that I was baptized one of my pupils also happened to be baptized, and I will speak later of the effect in my school of this whole affair. Thus it happened that the only church I have ever joined was one of the most evangelical in type, strangely different from all in which I had ever worshipped; but my guidance had always been to seek for spirituality under whatever guise it was to be found. Here in this church I found a real quality of spiritual power.
SHORTLY AFTER this event a revival
service came to Brockton conducted
as a union service in the leading Congregational Church by a Mr. Campbell, a revivalist from London. I have frequently attended revival meetings out of religious curiosity, but at most found them emotional rather than spiritual in their effect. This revival was quite different, however; it seemed to be imbued with a marvelous spiritual potency. I joined with the group who rose to partake of the special revival benefits. I found a tremendous spiritual power impregnating my life for some weeks following this meeting, and my relation with my students was fraught with a spiritual sweetness and a love which I have rarely known. I suppose the fact of my baptism in one church followed by a public declaration in the revival service became spread among the pupils, and these definite spiritual steps on my part seemed to have called forth from the pupils all that was harmonious and lovely in their natures.
Unfortunately my stay at this school was brief because I was only substituting for a teacher during her illness, and I left Brockton with great regret on my part amid many farewells and bouquets of flowers from my pupils.
I speak of this relationship with the pupils merely to indicate how spiritual potency in life always flowers out into blessings of harmony and love.
I must confess here that this spiritual elevation was not permanent. I wish indeed it had remained so.
My next teaching experience was in a school characterized by great evil—one of the foulest schools in
our country. I need not go into details. I was very unhappy there and not at all well; my spiritual. powers seemed to have disappeared entirely.
When the summer vacation came, I was a wreck physically and nervously, and went to Mt. Desert, Maine, to camp out and to recuperate.
During my last few weeks at the N–– High School I had come in contact with a young Christian Science practicioner, whose name I have forgotten, and had taken some treatments from him. He was a very earnest and sincere young man and worked hard over me, and I seemed to feel some benefit. I attended a Christian Science lecture and bought the book, “Science and Health.” When I reached my camping site with the friend who was to spend the summer as a camp-mate, I found myself so depleted of psychical as well as physical vitality that I could not even engage in a limited way in the wholesome tasks and recreation of camping in the midst of those glorious mountains by the brilliant sea.
When my condition was at the lowest ebb, upon a day when I had given up a proposed trip of mountain climbing with a group of friends and was lying in the hammock gloomy and depressed—a letter came from my practicioner. It was an official healing letter of preachments to me and references in “Science and Health” and the Bible which I was to read. Feeling already helped by the letter, I immediately set to work reading the references cited. In a short time a great buoyancy seemed to fill me, and I got up and started out to
overtake my friends. They had gone too far to be overtaken; but from that moment on I began to take hearty exercise, to work efficiently at the camp tasks, and to hold consistently to the faith that all this work was making me stronger instead of straining me as it had seemed to do before.
I began to thrive marvelously, and when my father came up to join us a month later, he hardly recognized me. He was amazed at my tireless energy.
WHEN THE end of the summer
came, I arrived at an important
decision, namely, to give up teaching
and enter the ministry. Acting
with speed, I found that I could get
a scholarship at the Harvard Divinity
School to pay my tuition and
room rent there and I was able to
secure in addition a fellowship of
$250 from the Unitarian Association.
Thus within two weeks of the
time I had decided to go into the
ministry, a penniless student found
himself provided with ample funds
for the year. Such has been always
my good fortune when my choices
are right and destined.
One may be surprised that it was the Unitarian denomination that I connected myself with as a divinity student rather than “The Church of the Disciples” which I had joined. The reason was this: that an investigation of their larger churches of this denomination around Boston, and of their divinity students, disclosed the fact that there was here no such earnest simple faith and beautiful spirit as had so remarkably characterized the members of the little church in
Brockton; and I came to the sad conclusion that the spirituality of the latter had been a local rather than a denominational expression. The theology of the Campbellites being far too narrow for my then intellectual development, I saw no reason to connect myself further with this denomination. Therefore it was with the Unitarians that I now threw my faith and efforts.
My parents were deeply rejoiced at my entering the ministry, for two reasons: one that my grandfather, with seven sons, had been deeply disappointed because none of them had been willing to follow the profession which seemed to him the most worth while in the world. It now seemed fitting that a grandson should take up that work. Secondly, because it seemed a fulfillment of a pledge that my mother had made under extraordinary circumstances. In my babyhood, at the age of about a year, I had double pneumonia and was in a dying condition, the doctors having absolutely given up all hope. During the crisis, my mother, walking back and forth with me gasping in her arms, had prayed deeply for my recovery and had made a vow to consecrate my life to God’s service should it be spared. Miraculously, it seemed, my breathing became more regular and I was soon peacefully asleep, and as present events prove, managed to live. Thus it seemed a guidance that due to no suggestions from my parents I should be studying for the ministry and from my own desires was entering upon a course of action which tended to fulfill the promise my mother had made to God.
(To be continued)
A COLLEGE professor once returned a paper on philosophy with the marginal comment that after all, true happiness is to be found only in a state of complete nonexistence. The words of professors are frequently so profound that the ordinary mind had best make no attempt to fathom them. However the remark is an interesting one, because it reminds us again of the innumerable philosophies and systems of existence which are quietly flourishing about us, often in the least likely places. Philosophers write conscientiously tedious tomes on how to live life, and our libraries are crammed with Utopias and paradises, each representing someone’s solution to the problem, ranging from descriptions of a world where the houses are edible and the streets are paved with sapphires, to the heaven of the Divine Comedy, where triumph the joys of the intellect. Nor is the average human being’s mind entirely idle; for as the world goes on in its impulsive way, counting calories and puzzling comfortably over the latest murder mystery, each individual is yet evolving for himself, as a sort of by product, a philosophy of life; this he will confide on occasion to friends in need. He will tell them, for instance, to return to Nature, and there they will find peace out under the great redwood’s balm is awaiting them; or he will insist on the contrary that the spectacle is always within the
spectator, and induce them to abandon the redwoods and take up mind-reading or Swedish gymnastics. Should he quote Scripture, he will do so with the pointless charm of Rabelais’ pilgrims, whom Gargantua ate in a salad and who found in the Old Testament a literal reference to their experience; he will regard the essence of Scripture only with indulgent respect, and dismiss it as counsels of perfection. He prefers to invent some sleight-of-hand method of living, some system of philosophy, either original or derived from a fellow mortal to whom he has intrusted his judgment.
Man desires a complex and obscure solution to existence; he would rather go bare-footed, subsist entirely on carrots or listen to the voice of his departed uncle issuing at midnight from an aluminum horn, than prefer his neighbor to himself, or confine his business activities to honesty. Moreover his conduct is not unreasonable, for a peculiarity of the universe is that it may, logically, be made to fit any theory whatever; Schopenhauer, disappointed in love, had little difficulty in blaming the female sex for the French Revolution; while some of our modern scientists could with equal justice attribute the disturbance to a pandemic dysfunctioning of endocrine glands.
Such are human attempts at directing existence. They are by definition
imperfect, for obviously a finite mind cannot hope to settle the infinite business of living, any more than unconscious natural phenomena could organize themselves into a disciplined whole. A study of every philosophy, whether home-made or recognized, will prove that for one acceptable tenet there are ten to be rejected; that every human leader of a school tacitly obliges his followers to disregard many clearly established truths because these happen to conflict with his doctrine; and that even should he bring the moon out of a well, he wears a green veil which none may lift.
In the whole range of human experience there is no fellow human being, however great, who can claim us unreservedly; we invariably find, after reading his book or watching him live, that he suffers as we do from human inadequacy; and so it is that Flaubert warns us not to touch our idols, because their gilt comes off on our fingers; and Emerson grows indignant when we exalt another human being and seek our truth from him, because our ideas are easily as valuable as his, we too are subject to “gleams from within,” we find in every work of genius our own rejected thought.
We all, then, have our gleams from within, even though they are often but the vague phosphorescent lights which skim over graveyards after dark. But if we would see, we must stand in the full beating force of the Sun of Reality, which alone “gives truth to the known and the power of knowing to the knower.” We must go to the source of all knowledge, which is the knowledge of God; it is only in this light
that a science or a philosophy, an act or an event, may be estimated; and this knowledge, which is our only true standard, is embodied in the words and deeds of the Divine Manifestations, Who come to us at Their appointed times and make the world new again. They are the Truth which all men seek, and all other doctrine is true only in so far as it approaches Their divine explanations. They unravel for mankind the significance of human endeavor, and light up the waste and chaos which men have made of former religious dispensations; and learning is sterile without them. They are the soul of life, and the rest is only technique. Their words are the blossoming trees and the pools white with dawn, and men’s words are at best like those Japanese bits of paper that develop into flowers when they are dipped in water.
There are those who say that if the prophets of God bring with them a new springtime, while scholars and thinkers do not, it is because the Divine Messengers appeal to the emotions, and they speak simple truths which all can understand, while philosophers have their being on a high intellectual plane to which only the chosen few may hope to ascend. This thought is comforting to our so-called intelligentsia, but unfortunately it does not bear investigation. Those who have watched mysogynists warm to Schopenhauer and the bellicose to Nietzsche, patricians to Plato and politicians to Machiavelli, intuitionists to Kant and cynics to Voltaire, must conclude that emotions are strongly engaged. As for
the second point, that the average mind is unable to understand the great truths in our libraries, it is undeniable that some of our writers are involved and tedious; but after painfully ferreting out their meaning we usually find that it could have been expressed in a few simple words, and we decide that what is obscure in a philosopher is his vocabulary. Moreover a thoroughbred thinker is apt to be meticulously lucid; Socrates blamed himself when his pupils failed to understand him, and was at pains to clarify; and Descartes addressed his Discourse to the layman, saying that good sense is the best-shared thing in the world.
But the words of a Divine Manifestation are so perfect in regard to form that the meaning lies open before us; here we do not see through a glass darkly; the window is flung wide, and we may look
as long and as far as our capacity allows; and with each new experience, each new fact learned, the vista develops, and the horizon recedes. The intellectual stimulus is indeed such that it brings to birth new civilizations, driving thought toward reality; while the higher emotions, without which no good act is ever accomplished, are awakened—the heart speaks and is answered.
The Bahá’is are commanded to engage in the most strenuous endeavor, both mental and spiritual; our education may never be spoken of in the past tense; the lines laid down by His Holiness Bahá’u’lláh stretch to infinity, and there is no profitable learning from which we are excluded. For the difference between truth and opinion is this, that the first is a setting—free of the mind, and the second a postponement of wisdom.
The policy of the Bahá’i Magazine has been to publish from time to time articles contributed by Bahá'i youth in different parts of the world. The author of the following article is one of the younger members of the Bahá’i Community of Washington, D. C.
IT is evident to most people that there is a supreme power which controls the universe. The people of religion call this power, God. All of the great prophets; Moses, Buddha, Zoroaster, Christ (the Son of God), Muhammad (the Seal of the Prophets), and Bahá’u’lláh (the latest Prophet, Who declared Himself in 1868) have taught us that there is one true God. “God singly and
alone, abideth in His own place which is holy above space and time, mention and utterance, sign, description, and definition, height and depth.”* Bahá’u’lláh’s teachings emphasize the “Oneness of God.” He says, “Oneness, in its true significance, means that God alone should be realized as the one power which animates and dominates all things, which are but manifestations of Its energy.”
If there is only one true God, there can be only one true religion. Then if all the great Prophets taught the worship of the one true God, why is the world of humanity divided up into sects and creeds? There are the followers of the great religious systems; Buddhists, Jews, Christians, Muhammadans, etc. Each religious system is divided into countless sects. Everyone thinks that his religion is the only true religion and that everyone else is wrong. What is the cause of these differences? Man-made interpretations, forms, and ceremonies. These differ. When we read the actual words of the Divine Teachers (Prophets), we find that they all taught the same fundamental truths and that the foundations of all religions are these same truths. “All the great Prophets,” said ’Abdu-l-Bahá “have served the selfsame foundation. They have served the same Reality. Hence the purpose and result of all the Prophets have been one and the same. They were the cause of the honor of mankind. They were the Divine civilizations of man, whose foundation is one. For the fundamental basis of the religion of God there is no change nor variation.”
The great obstacle to ideal spiritual development, is that all the religions are so cluttered up with superstitions, interpretations, forms and ceremonies, that the one true religion as taught by the Prophets, is obscured. A restatement of truth by a Divine Revelator speaking with authority is needed. That is exactly what Bahá’u’lláh has done for the people of the world today. In the introduction to one of His
most important books, called “The Hidden Words,” He says, “This is that which descended from the Source of Majesty, through the tongue of Power and Strength upon the Prophets of the past. We have taken its essences and clothed them with the garment of brevity, as a favor to the beloved, that they may fulfill the covenant of God; that they may perform in themselves that which He has entrusted to them, and attain the victory by virtue of devotion in the land of the spirit.” Therefore, according to the teaching of ’Abdu’l-Bahá, “The Bahá’i religion is not an invitation to a new religion, not a new path to immortality, God forbid, but the ancient path cleared of the debris of strife and misunderstanding and the imaginations and superstitions of men, and is again made a clear path to the sincere seeker that he may enter therein and know that the Word of God is one Word though the Speakers were many.”
ALL OF THE Prophets have taught
the fatherhood of God and the
brotherhood of man. They have all
taught the Golden Rule and their
purpose has been to bring about
unity and love among mankind.
Oneness should be applied to
mankind as well as to God and to
religion. Why have men divided
the world into countries and made
boundary lines which God never intended
to exist? Those in power
have done this from personal motives
and selfish interests. These
national divisions have caused
much rivalry between rulers and
countries and terrible wars have resulted.
“Glory is not his who loves
his native land,” said Bahá’u’lláh “glory is his who loves his kind. . . This handful of dust, the world, is one home: let it be in unity.” The world has become so much smaller than it used to be as a result of the improved means of transportation and communication, that it now seems little larger than a single country in the past. Wouldn’t it be wonderful if the world could be considered as one country and governed as such? Certainly it would be the means of the solution of many perplexing problems which confront humanity today.
THERE IS ANOTHER division which
has been the cause of much discord
in the world. That is the division
of mankind into different races.
There is in reality one human race.
All were created by God and all
are descendants of Adam. Why
should the color of the skin make
so much difference and be the cause
of hatred and separation? That is
the only real point of difference between
the races. “They are constituted
alike and exist under the
same law of growth and bodily development.
All live and move in
the plane of the senses and are endowed
with human intelligence.
Bahá’u’lláh has declared that difference
of race and color is like the
variegated beauty of flowers in a
garden.” When one goes into a
rose garden, some of the roses are
white, some red, pink, and yellow.
This variation of color makes the
garden more beautiful. It should
be the same in the garden of humanity.
When we travel from country to country and mingle with the peoples of different races and nationalities,
we are surprised to find how much alike people are the world over. Of course some have greater educational opportunities than others and are therefore more advanced; but if all received the same education and training, and a universal language was part of that education, differences would disappear and the path to world unity would be cleared of many obstacles.
The Lord has manifested Himself to the world again today. This Manifestation of God is Bahá’u’lláh, Who spoke with divine authority giving the revealed laws and creative words of God which shall purify religion from its superstitions and imitations. He has not only made a restatement of the truths which the former Prophets gave to the world and “Clothed them with the garment of brevity” but He has given us the solution of the peculiar modern problems which need adjustment ere hmmanity finds peace and rest. He teaches the “Oneness of God,” the “Oneness of Religion,” and the “Oneness of Mankind.” He is the Collective Center about which all the people of the different religions, races, and nations will gather in love and unity. All those who have accepted His teachings and who see in Him the Manifestation of God, whether they be Jews, Christians, Zoroastrians or Moslems, or whether they be black or white or belong to the East or the West are already associating in perfect unity, brotherhood, love, and joy. Only One whom God has sent could accomplish this. “Every dignity shall vanish,” said ’Abdu’l-Bahá, “save the Glory under the shadow of the Word of God.”
