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| VOL. 22 | SEPTEMBER, 1931 | No. 6 |
THE BAHA'I TEMPLE
of the oneness of the world of humanity: This is the great principle of Bahá'u'lláh. That which will leaven the human world is a love that will insure the abandonment of pride, oppression,
and hatred."-'Abdu'l-Bahá.
LEADERS of religion, exponents of political theories, governors of human institutions, who at present are witnessing with perplexity and dismay the bankruptcy of their ideas, and the disintegration of their handiwork, would do well to turn their gaze to the Revelation of Bahá’u’lláh, and to meditate upon the World Order which, lying enshrined in His teachings, is slowly and imperceptibly rising amid the welter and chaos of present-day civilization. They need have no doubt or anxiety regarding the nature, the origin or validity of the institutions which the adherents of the Faith are building up throughout the world. For these lie embedded in the teachings themselves, unadulterated and unobscured by unwarrantable inferences, or unauthorized interpretations of His Word."
| VOL. 22 | SEPTEMBER, 1931 | NO. 6 |
| Page | |
Why We Should Investigate, ‘Abdu’l-Bahá | 177 |
Editorial, Stanwood Cobb | 163 |
Education Beyond the Curriculum, Dale S. Cole | 166 |
This Handful of Dust, Marzieh K. Nabil | 172 |
The Future Religion, Howard R. Hurlbut | 178 |
Songs of the Spirit, Ruth J. Moffett | 183 |
Finding the Divine Friend, E. T. Hall | 184 |
God—Men, Hari Prasad Shastri, D. Litt | 188 |
Bahá’ism—The Religion of Persia, A. J. Wienberg | 190 |
A Letter from Persia, Ahmed Samimi | 192 |
STANWOOD COBB | Editor |
MARIAM HANEY | Associate Editor |
MARGARET B. MCDANIEL | Business Manager |
Great Britain, Mrs. Annie B. Romer; Persia, Mr. A. Samimi; Japan and China, Miss Agnes B. Alexander; Egypt, Mohamed Moustafa Effendi; International, Miss Martha L. Root.
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.
JUSTICE is not limited; it is a universal quality. Its operation must be carried out in all classes, from the highest to the lowest. Justice must be sacred and the rights of all the people be considered. Desire for others only that which you desire for yourselves; then shall we rejoice in the Sun of Justice which shines from the horizon of God.
“Each man has been placed in a post of honor which he must not desert. An humble workman who commits an injustice is as much to blame as a renowned tyrant. Thus we all have our choice between justice and injustice. I hope that each one of you will become just and direct your thoughts toward the unity of mankind; that you will never harm your neighbors nor speak ill of any one; that you will respect the rights of all men and be more concerned for the interests of others than for your own.”
| VOL. 22 | SEPTEMBER, 1931 | NO. 6 |
breaths and promptings of the Holy Spirit which is light and knowledge itself. Through It the human mind is quickened and fortified into true conclusions and perfect knowledge.”
GENIUSES are people of strong intuitions and pronounced affinities. In this respect, as in many others, they are androgynous. We find in the poets such as Goethe, Shelley, Tennyson, a power almost subconscious of encompassing truth. These men, from sheer poetic insight into life, previsioned the theory of evolution which scientists later built up as a result of enormous amounts of research.
Intuition has long been realized as an important factor in life. It is a recognized trait of the feminine temperament, by means of which women seem able to arrive at just conclusions by some immediate process of a mysterious kind. It is not the laborious process of ratiocination which the male usually follows. Yet so clear-cut and directive is this experience, that many men find it but wisdom on their part to follow these guidances of their women-folk.
WHAT is this power which wells up from subconscious depths? Is it the deep-self within us, possessed of larger powers than our conscious self! Or is it a contact made with some outside Force?
Plato’s theory of inspiration is worth our attention here. No greater
mentality has existed upon this earth. Philosopher, poet, and seer, we cannot afford to treat slightingly his belief, expressed in Phaedrus, as to how inspirational ideas come—as an intermittent illumination of man’s inner being from the world of Reality. In this archetypal World of the Ideal—Truth, Beauty, and Goodness exist in their sublime perfection. To men who are sensitive and susceptible, visions come from time to time from this creative World. The poet and seer are seized by a Force outside themselves, greater than themselves, and thus are able to give to humanity nobler visions of truth than are those who endeavor by mere ratiocination to puzzle out the nature of life and the universe.
MODERNISTIC philosophy has tended
to discard the idealism of Plato
and to substitute a realistic attitude
toward the universe. Pragmatism,
as enunciated by James and Dewey,
asserts that there is no Ideal World,
that there is no perfection anywhere
as yet in the universe. What we
have as the present stage of our
existence is a universe in the making.
This universe is what we make
it, no more and no less.
So practical a philosophy has
found ardent acceptance in a country like America, dedicated to progress through activity. The idea of a universe already perfect appears to the pragmatists an idea stagnant and displeasing. But a universe which calls for heroic effort on the part of man, if perfection is to be achieved, is something both stimulating and inspiring to courage and daring.
HOWEVER, IS IT not possible that
both concepts may be true? That
there may exist somewhere perfection,
although the material universe
as a phenomenal cancatination of
events is still in the making?
Recent investigations and discoveries of scientists, both in biology and in astro-physics, more and more bring to the front the concept of a universe progressing definitely according to some plan. The Universe is in the making, that is true. But its progress is so orderly, so marvelous both in microcosm and macrocosm, as to induce a belief on the part of many of the world’s leading scientists that there is behind this cosmic development a Planner and a Plan.
Among others, Michael Pupin presents vividly this idea in his “New Reformation,”-that there is an everpresent, evercreating Force iii the universe, harnessing multiplicity into a working unity.
Is it not possible, therefore, that in the main the concepts both of idealism and of pragmatism may be true and capable of harmonious adjustment each to the other? The Universe is in the making, yes. And we have both opportunity and obligation toward its perfecting. But the Plan is there, already existing,
and when we strive wisely we work in accordance with the blue-prints of Destiny.
FROM THIS POINT of view a genius
might be considered as an individual
nearer than others to the Creative
Force. He is a sensitive mirror, reflecting
Light—a radio vibrating
more clearly than others to messages
from the Cosmos. Buck expresses
this idea in his “Cosmic
Consciouness,” in which he described
the lives of poets and thinkers
whom he believes to have been
inspired by contact with the Cosmic
Force. Such men as Francis Bacon,
Isaac Newton, William Blake, Walt
Whitman, were according to his belief
sensitive instruments vibrating
to cosmic rays.
’Abdu’l-Bahá, interpreter and Exemplar of the world-wide Bahá’i Movement, uses a remarkable symbol to illustrate how these cosmic rays reach man in the form of spiritual and creative guidance. The divine force back of the universe which men call God is to man incomprehensible and impenetrable. By its very nature this Infinity which comprises all existence can never be directly perceived by the finite. But Its force reaches man, as the force of the sun reaches the earth, by emanation and radiation. The Spirit which contacts with the spirit of man is this radiant message from the Divine Reality.
If the mirror of man’s heart be pure, the light reflects strongly from it. But if the mirror of the heart be dusty, little reflection is possible. That is why some individuals reflect greatly the creative force of the universe, and others but slightly.
This spiritual force, says ’Abdul-Bahá,
“is the energizing factor in the life of man.” By means of it are manifested the various expressions of man’s genius in the realms of art, of knowledge, of science, of universal achievment.
The most perfect mirrors known to man are those great Teachers who are pure channels for the Divine Force–a Moses, a Buddha, a Christ, a Bahá’u’lláh.
WHAT IS the practical application
of such a doctrine for us as individuals?
It is this: that we should
consciously strive to increase our
capacity for becoming channels of
this Creative Force. We should
definitely seek inspiration and guidance
in all our undertakings, in
order that we may reflect Beauty,
Goodness, and Truth from a Source
higher than that of our own individuality.
Thus, as it were, we become
workers for the Divine
Planner in building a better universe.
We have found the Source
of inspiration. We have become
agents of that Power back of evolution
which is the energizing factor
making continuously for progress
throughout the Cosmos.
IT IS NOTICEABLE that the genius
achieves those things which lie
within his powers with apparent
ease. He may work with industry.
But it is not industry, as Anatole
France has pointed out, which
creates great literature. It is not
the study of rhetoric. It is not
scholarliness nor continuous application
which have created those
great works of literature which still
delight the human heart. No, in
addition to all these, there was some added factor, some elusive force, which being absent in other men makes impossible such achievment on the part of ordinary mortals, no matter what the effort put out.
What is the lesson for us to derive from this? It is not necessarily discouragment, nor resignation to a life of mediocrity. It is rather a hint to follow what guidance is granted us, and strive with all the power that is within us to find that line of work which expresses our own innate powers. For when we are doing just the thing we are most fitted for, we too shall find inspiration in our work; and shall achieve with relative ease and joy, as does the genius, each according to our talent.
The genius has strong affinities for people, for things, and for ideas. He seems to possess intuitive power of reaching out and absorbing from the universe that which he needs for his self-development and for his work. Just as each flower knows how to absorb from the soil its own hues and fragrance, so man should be able to put his roots down into the depths and bring up easily and joyously the nourishment needed for his particular fruition.
This is what I call living creatively. Such a creative life is not dependent upon the magnitude of our talents, but only upon the perfect expression of that which we have within us. It is a matter of quality, not of quantity. We can all live creatively. And we shall be doing so when we turn our mirrors to the Sun and reflect to the utmost of our capacity.
“O people of God! Be not occupied with yourselves. Be intent on the betterment of the world and training of the nations.”—Bahá’u’lláh.
IN these trying days, when the solutions to the many complex problems confronting humanity seem to be so elusive and difficult of attainment, our attention is drawn again and again to the need for education in many phases of life. A number of “ways out” have been suggested, most of them involve profound changes in our ideas. Many traditional viewpoints seem to be no longer tenable. Precedent, as bearing upon knotty questions, is either lacking entirely or is completely inadequate. These changes of attitude and thought concerning the relationships of life involve the necessity for education, and there are great objectives, international, national and individual involved in the remolding of human thought.
Of course the basic and fundamental requirement is for spiritual education for “religion is the greatest instrument for the order of the world and the tranquility of all existent beings.“* When the population of the world is truly spiritually alive, many of the dilemmas which beset our statesmen and business men now, will disappear or be automatically solved. But we cannot hope to stir the world instantaneously into a realization of the significance of spiritual laws. Shoghi Effendi has warned us that the complete working out of the Divine Plan can come only in the “fullness of time,” but this does not mean that some improvement cannot be made in the meantime.
* Words of Paradise, Baha’u’llah.
Conditions can be made much better than they are and still be far short of ultimate fulfillment. And so it behooves us all to do what we can for immediate relief without losing sight of the fact that “the Most Great Peace” will come.
With such assurances of final success as we have, the hard work of the present should not be too discouraging. Knowing, as we do, that there are potent and irresistible spiritual forces at work, we can be more patient with the trial and error methods so commonly used, and with actions handicapped by traditional animosities. Even though we flounder about apparently, there are strong undercurrents in the right direction. Our opportunity is to recognize these undercurrents and to direct our efforts, however feeble, in the same direction.
With new and unprecedented difficulties before us, affecting every walk of life, there is an increasing need for education; education first and primarily in the great spiritual truths, but education secondarily in those less important but related affairs of life with which we have to deal in every-day intercourse.
“It is impossible to reform these violent overwhelming evils, except the peoples of the world become united upon a certain issue or under the shadow of one religion*
EDUCATION may be divided into
two broad classifications; that
which is given to us from outside
agencies such as schools and experience; and that which we strive for ourselves from within. Both are necessary and both involve different degrees of individual effort. It is one thing to attend a lecture or to have some hard fact of life forced upon us through some bitter experience, and quite another to strive continuously for the illumination of the soul.
Education involves certain obligations. Those who have knowledge of ways and means of betterment are most certainly obligated, by the very possession of such knowledge, to use it and disseminate it, for the good of humanity.
We are instructed to “hold fast to the rope of consultation, and decide upon and execute that which is conducive to the people’s security, affluence, welfare and tranquillity; for if matters be arranged otherwise it will lead to discord and tumult.”*
It is interesting to note that there are certain analogies between the struggle business is going through for economic stability and the struggle which is going on, generally unappreciated, for spiritual advancement. Perhaps ”analogy” is not the right word to use in this sense, for without doubt the superficial ills of industry, commerce, and politics arise from deep seated spiritual maladjustments. However, business men are voicing opinions and suggestions for remedial measures which are not without significance.
For instance, Norval A. Hawkins, in an article entitled “The Way Back” in Nation’s Business for July, suggests that “Business as a whole can be restored only by
* Tablet of the World, Baha’u’llah.
way of recovery of individual institutions.” And again—“So the whole gigantic problem becomes a question of individual initiative and energy, resting upon the resourcefulness and courage of some one man or group of men at the head of each enterprise.” Another statement has a very familiar ring, “. . . . the progress of the individual business institutions will act as a leaven, raising the whole mass.”
What is he advising but a stringent re-education of the modern business institution within itself? He anticipates that “multiplication of effects will bring about the cure.”
This is sound advice and just as applicable to the social and spiritual problems of the world as it is to business, in fact, one finds these very thoughts in the writings of ’Abdul-Bahá with reference to the necessity of every informed individual arising to spread the Glad Tidings.
Mr. Hawkins also says, “Given ten such businesses today and a hundred next month and a thousand the following month, each within itself solving its own problems, and general prosperity will be the inevitable result of such unit success.”
This reminds us of the suggestion often heard in Bahá’i circles, that if each believer confirmed but one soul a year, spiritual welfare would soon be assured for the whole world.
The “unit success” of the individual in educating himself spiritually would soon be reflected in numbers being attracted to the real solution.
BUT HARD as it may be to achieve
sufficient education of the right kind to be really effective as a small but potent individual force, it is first to know and then to do. In other words, we are taught that we must solve our own problems first, we must be illumined and understand before we can expect to pass our knowledge and inspiration to others. Our training must be so thorough as to be apparent in our lives. Small forces, acting in concert, may move mountains. The great force of expanding steam is due to the harmonious action of numberless particles. We are promised too, help from God, so that what may seem to us a very small force, may be very effective.
And so, while we cannot all sit on committees handling national and international affairs, we can educate ourselves to see the problems in their true perspective, in the light of the wisdom of the Manifestation of God, and to teach this viewpoint to others. Opinions change rapidly these days and we do not know what effect a little impetus in the right direction may have or how soon it may burst forth collectively in support of some new and progressive action toward the betterment of the world.
Mr. W. R. Ingalls, writing in the July Journal of the Franklin Institute, on “The Wealth of Nations” and speaking of the paradox of poverty amid plenty says that “ . . . . the correctives, which appear to be of psychological and political nature, may be extremely difficult to bring about. What we need more than anything else is a restoration of the principle of authority, by which I mean the leadership of intelligence.”
Now a leadership of intelligence probably will not emanate from some uninformed source. Setting aside the possibility of genius, the very meaning of the word “intelligence” suggests a well balanced view of the problems and clear sighted vision. Setting aside also the possibility that some one great leader may arise to lead business and politics out of the morass, the responsibility falls on lesser shoulders, in short on those spiritually educated individuals whose collective efforts integrated can bring results, with the help of God.
AGAIN and again we return to the
importance of the individual and
his education, education in the
broad sense, for a village, a county,
a state or a nation is naught but a
collection of individuals. Collective
opinion is a powerful force. If it
be the correct opinion it is almost
irresistible. Correct opinions are
the result of education. How great
is the responsibility of those who
have knowledge for imparting it to
those who have it not! Never was
greater accent placed on the need
for proper instruction, of teaching,
of education.
Education, in this sense, is not restricted to the usual curricula—it means a knowledge of life and how best to live it that the world may progress in accordance with the Divine Plan. Education in this sense is independent of time. We may strive for months or even years to attain to a well balanced, intelligent, spiritual station from which we may see things as they are, while another may attain this bounty in the twinkling of an eye.
Mr. Will Durant, in Adventures
in Genius, quotes an interesting and relevant passage from Confucius:
“The illustrious ancients, when they wished to make clear and propagate the highest virtues in the world, put their states in proper order. Before putting their states in proper order, they regulated their families. Before regulating their families, they cultivated their own selves. Before cultivating their own selves they perfected their souls. Before perfecting their souls, they tried to be sincere in their thoughts, they extended to the utmost their knowledge. Such investigation of knowledge lay in the investigation of things, and in seeing them as they really were. When things were thus investigated, knowledge became complete. When knowledge was complete, their thoughts became sincere. When their thoughts were sincere, their souls became perfect. When their souls were perfect, their own selves became cultivated. When their selves were cultivated, their families became regulated. When their families were regulated, their states came to be put into proper order. When their states were in proper order, then the whole world became peaceful and happy.”
However circular this may be, it is certainly comprehensive.
As Mr. J . M. Keynes, in a British magazine recently pointed out—“The prevailing world depression, the enormous anomaly of unemployment in a world full of wants, the disastrous mistakes we have made, blind us to what is going on under the surface, to the true interpretation of the trend of things.”
The trends of social and political progress are intimately associated
* Tablet to Zoroastrians, Baha’u’llah.
with the economic pressures and ’Abdul-Bahá has informed us that the whole question, in the final analysis, is a spiritual one. This is the true interpretation, and while it may be a little difficult to see the strong tide of advancement, below the surface ripples, nevertheless it is there and at work.
“O ye sons of intelligence! The thin eyelid prevents the eye from seeing the world and what is contained therein. Then think of the result when the curtain of greed covers the sight of the heart.”
“O people! The darkness of greed and envy obscures the light of the soul as the cloud prevents the penetration of the sun’s rays.”*
IT MAKES little difference whether
we consider that business is finally
educating itself or whether enlightenment
is being forced upon it by
the exigencies of the times, it is believed
in many circles that its salvation
must come from within itself,
probably through stringently corrective
practices.
Such sentiments being expressed in regard to mundane economic affairs, where the applications may be tangible and practical, ought to open the minds of the traditionally-bound to the fact that if business salvation must come from within itself, so must individual enlightenment shine from the inner being, and that if world economic recovery depends first upon individual institutions, likewise the more important spiritual progress must begin with the individual.
Two opportunities seem to be presented; one of using such business arguments as illustrative of spiritual methods and necessities,
thus providing a unique and relevant approach; and secondly, of educating the individual to his importance and responsibility in any scheme of general improvement.
It is quite evident that the longer business drags along, the more dangerous become the possible social and political implications. This does not mean that spiritual progress depends upon prosperity. There seems to be nothing like adversity to bind people together and if out of the very necessity of the situation, nations are drawn into a closer harmony of action, their reeducation in co-operation will recompense the world, in part at least, for its present agony.
Necessity is not only the mother of invention but it is also a great educating force. When old ways seem entirely inadequate in dealing with a desperate situation, we become less hesitant about changing our ideas. Necessity may be a stern task-master and the experience encountered a cruel discipline, but it seems that humanity must be faced with some grave crisis, before it is willing to avail itself of solutions based on progressive and intelligent analysis.
As evidence of this, we are hearing a great deal just now about reducing the amount of money spent on armament. This now seems to be the logical and intelligent step following the debt adjustments. Incomes of creditor nations are reduced by the suspension of payments. As the administrative costs of government are increasing, the loss of income from abroad must be made up internally by taxation. Already peoples are groaning under tax burdens in many places. If the
governments stop expending such huge sums on armament, the absence of the debt payments will not necessarily result in increased taxation. This is pure business reasoning but it is a strong force towards the limitation of armaments, an end greatly to be desired. Is this not a step in the re-education of the world?
Limitation of armaments has been sponsored by thinking people for some time, as one means of eliminating the possibility of wars, but as such it has met obstacles in the old animosities and jealousies between nations. Now when economic affairs are in dire straits, the world accepts with some complacency, the suggestion that a holiday in armament construction is the intelligent epilogue to debt adjustment.
Such great changes of thought, when accepted by the leaders of a nation, are usually appropriated by the masses without any great resistance. This emphasizes the responsibility of the leaders. One or two or three leaders by accepting and sponsoring these epochal revisions, are the cause of untold numbers revising their own ideas, of opening their minds and hearts to progressive infiuences. On the other hand, these few leaders are, in many instances, swayed by what they believe public opinion to be. Public opinion is the synthesis of the opinions of numbers of individuals. Only in grave crises dares the small group of leaders to act without consideration of it.
IN THE present situation of the
world, the problems are so complex
and far reaching, that there is no
concerted body of public belief discernible. This is partly because individuals have not, for various rearons, informed themselves of the facts involved. Then, we have habitually leaned on tradition and precedent and today these are falling props. Many people do not know which way to turn in their personal perplexities and consequently are more willing than usual to follow intelligent leadership in national and international affairs.
Education is being forced upon us. We have learned and are learning many things in this country at least. For instance, we know now that we are not economically independent of the rest of the world. We know now that high wages will not insure uninterrupted prosperity. We are about convinced that no country can be made to pay that which it has not and that which it has no opportunity of earning. We are not so proud of our business machine with its glaring faults. We have entirely overlooked the fact that “the ultimate and final cure is in the things men plant in or dig out of the ground and the thoughts which they think in their heads.” We have misconstrued the meaning of wages, not realizing that “wages are fundamentally a measure of exchange of services.” We have not appreciated that “while an employer may dispense wages in currency in an envelope it is in the final analysis the consumer who pays and that the payment is in exchange of one kind of service for another.” We are not very proud of the condition of poverty amid
* Answered Questions, p. 73, ’Abdu’l-Baha.
plenty. The evils of widespread unemployment appal us.
Despite our business acumen, things are badly out of adjustment economically, socially, politically and religiously. There is serious criticism of the situation where few have and many have not. The old skeleton in the closet, the distribution of wealth, is coming in for another examination. We are less fearful of rattling his bones than formerly, for we have learned that widespread purchasing power is a boon to the standard of living.
But perhaps the thing that astonishes many of us the most is that trade no longer seems to be the end, but merely a means to the end, and many are wondering what the real end may be. Certainly it is not the attainment of material wealth for only in rare instances does that bring happiness. Perhaps it is leisure, but if so, leisure to do what? Perhaps it is power, but if so, how shall it be directed and to what ends?
Very little thought is sufficient to impress upon us that something very fundamental is wrong throughout the world, and that the solution lies in the spiritual education of the individuals, the nations, the world, in the knowledge and application of the Divine laws.
But lest we lose heart in individual, national and international educational endeavors, let us remember that we have been assured that the time is coming when “the world will be filled with science, with the knowledge of the reality of the mysteries of beings, and with the knowledge of God.”*
ACCORDING to an aged religious official in Constantinople, who wore a lavender velvet skull-cap and had never spared himself wrinkles in toiling after knowledge, Eve was made out of Adam’s rib for this reason: that all humankind might be known to have sprung from one father. He felt that had Eve been specially created as was Adam, some amongst men might have gone back to their mother, taken her side, established and maintained a duality. As it was, Eve herself was only a component of Adam, the world had only one parent, and from the beginning the principle of unity was asserted.
College-bred Westerners who profess modernity may be only amused at such a statement. Since Darwin, the Book of Genesis is not often read in non-sectarian colleges, except in Bible courses, where it is treated at arm’s length, or on Sunday evenings, if chapel attendance is compulsory. Conditions indicate that the professorial world is in doubt regarding how to proceed in the matter. The situation is almost embarrassing, because 19th century science has proved that the events related in Genesis cannot be read literally, and the professorial world is still so taken up with this discovery that it will not countenance the possibility of spiritual significances in the age-old record. On the other hand, mothers who grew up in a Mathew Arnold tradition desire the Bible for their offspring because of
its literary beauty and its cultural value; hence the Bible courses, where the sacred lines are read as gingerly as possible, and their meaning contradicted by the biology across the hall.
Our professors’ attempts at releasing their charges from orthodox faiths are of course sincere; except for the old-school pedagogues, dreaming their lives away in a mid-Victorian afterglow, every instructor feels that he must share with his classes, however implicitly, what he considers to be true; and so he gives to them the doctrines of our present age, an age bitterly disillusioned since the 19th century struck down, in a generation or so, the truths by which humanity had lived two thousand years. So much was then found untrue that human beings, with their characteristic exaggeration, are now inclined to deny everything. One remembers the modern child who not only did not believe in Santa Claus–he did not even believe there was a Lindbergh. At best, the most educated and tolerant of our contemporaries outside of Bahá’i communities consider everything to be relative, shifting; at worst, we see humanity embracing the most fantastic faiths conceivable, and reestablishing the medieval criterion of “I believe it because it is impossible”—until, with all our modern illumination, we find such things as star-gazing and celery water elevated almost to a principle of life. Society,
then, offers countless examples of the educated, who believe nothing, and of the quasi-educated, who believe anything, providing it is not true.
To Bahá’is, the Book of Genesis embodies profound spiritual realities, and is sacred. We may, then, accept the words of the old wise man of Constantinople, who sat under a shaft of sunlight in his darkened room, and said that all mankind were born from a single father. It is interesting in this connection to remember Darwin’s concluding remarks in the Origin of Species, to the effect that animals and plants are respectively descended from at most four or five progenitors, and that both are possibly issued from one prototype. Here were two men, examples intellectually of countless others; one deep in the lore of the Torah, a follower of the Book; the other at variance with orthodoxy, interested only in natural phenomena, opposed to a teleological view of the universe (writing, for example, “I am in an utterly hopeless muddle. I cannot think that the world . . . is the result of chance; and yet I cannot look at each separate thing as the result of Design”); and yet each coming after years of search to a doctrine of original unity, however differently regarded: the priest rejoicing in the knowledge that human kind are one family; the scientist interested in what he considered a true explanation of origins, and saying, although he was probably not much concerned with any spiritual implications which others might draw from his work, that his theory and its connotations apparently “accords
better with what we know of the laws impressed on matter by the Creator.”
Whatever our attitude toward the human race may be, it is evident that thought must bring us to a belief in the basic oneness of humanity. Such a belief is an indispensable corner stone in any ideal life-structure that we may build; we cannot symmetrically lodge in the divine pattern of the world unless our thought is founded on the knowledge that the human family is one; that at most existing differences are superficial, indicate varying opportunity, varying degrees of adjustment; and that, stirred by a new heavenly force, every race will arise at last to fulfill its promised destiny. For within every race is latent the power to develop toward perfection, and wherever there is man, there is potential reflection of divinity. ‘Abdu’l-Bahá says that “The greatest bestowal of God to man is the capacity to attain human virtues.” He does not restrict this capacity to white men or yellow men, or to any so-called superior race; he tells us this bestowal is granted to “man.” We must, then, honor the gift of God to man, and live in the certainty that all human beings are divinely endowed, however various may be the expressions of this endowment.
The understanding of human oneness is thus an all-important article of successful belief, but should it remain merely a philosophical conception, it is of little practical value. The violence of modern race-hatred is not to be quieted by the mere reiteration of an axiom. Our library shelves have been lined for
centuries with splendid thoughts, and the dust is thick upon them. It is for this reason that Bahá’u’lláh has made it incumbent on His followers to live the principle of world unity, saying, “It behooveth you to be even as one soul, in such wise that ye may walk with the same feet, eat with the same mouth and dwell in the same land; that from your inmost being, by your deeds and actions, the signs of oneness and the essence of detachment may be made manifest.” Bahá’i communities include members of every race and color, and Bahá’is are forbidden to turn away from any human being; they are bidden, rather, to “see the face of God in every face.“
This practicing of oneness comes often as a shock to those who are unacquainted with the Bahá’i Cause; such people express a physical aversion even to sitting in the same room with members of some race or races which they are accustomed to disdain; they feel this physical distaste to be in a measure even divinely ordained by the Creator; something on the order of that other physical manifestation, the antipathy to snakes, which many cherish in a spirit of righteousness because of what happened in Eden. As a matter of fact, the dislike of one race for another, far from being an ordained protection to the chosen and justly imposed punishment on the rejected, is the accumulated result of an age-long practice of tyranny; we are averse to those whom we have mistreated, just as we love those to whom we have been kind; the first recall to us our ugly and inharmonious action, while the
second reminds us of happiness which came from fulfillment of function; it would seem that service is prerequisite to love. Again, dislike of the unknown is a cause of racial antipathy, and explains why people select some races to accept and others to repel. Moreover, a scandalous tradition grown up around a race and fostered by enemies often prevents the welcome of the victimized. Most important of all, perhaps, as a source of race hatred, is a feeling that members of some other race are unclean; uncleanliness is often the greatest barrier between human beings; the idea of uncleanliness is so closely associated with hate that every language includes in its vocabulary of profanities terms imputing uncleanliness to those detested; and every people feels that other peoples are relatively dirty. The stressing of immaculate cleanliness in the Bahá’i teaching is thus of great importance: an unclean humanity can never be united. It is interesting that when a Westerner learns of the Bahá’i injunctions regarding cleanliness he usually comments on the great benefit to Easterners of this teaching; and in the same way, the Easterner, often a Muhammadan who washes five times a day, (whatever the water) feels that at last the West is to be clean. In any event, an attempt to adopt the Bahá’i standards of cleanliness is highly spiritualizing, one knows that future peoples will be dazzingly clean.
‘Abdu’l-Bahá tells us that “Man can withstand anything except that which is divinely intended and indicated for the age and its requirements.”
Conditions imply that the asserting of human oneness is become indispensable to livable existence, and we may therefore confidently believe that a time of perfect human solidarity is upon us. Our love for others may no longer be selective—selective love is indirect hatred. ‘Abdu’l-Bahá explains tllat “When reality envelops the soul of man love is possible,” and by reality is intended the Word of God as revealed through the great teachers who appear among men when hearts have faded and minds have crystalized in cruelty. He says, regarding human relations, “Never become angry with one another . . . Love the creatures for the sake of God and not for themselves. You will never become angry or impatient if you love them for the sake of God . . . the imperfect eye beholds imperfections,” and again “. . . if you have an enemy, consider him not as an enemy. Do not simply be long-suffering, nay, rather, love him . . . Do not even say that he is your enemy. Do not see any enemies.” This love, this centrifugal power by which hostility will be destroyed is impelling to its service people of every religion and belief. This love is neither a pasty sentimentality nor an hysteria, but an unfaltering practice of waiting on humanity; and humanity is not a vague abstract with a capital “H,” it is the family, and the man going by in the street, and the chance acquaintance. Such a service is not exercised with any hypocritical hope of reward either in this world or the next—one does not accept pay in exchange for love. The offering it, is considered a privilege,
like a tree’s privilege of blossoming when the spring comes.
A leading anthropologist recently advocated intermarriage between the white and yellow races, saying that the union would result in a superior type of human being. This statement is encouragingly in advance of popular belief, demonstrates that informed men are approaching a conception of human oneness; and since ideas born in the laboratory are found to influence people at large, and to show them where they have erred before, it is interesting that scientists are unsaying past criteria and substituting principles that are more in harmony with the spirit of a modern age. Again, psychologists find in their study of gifted children that many such cases are products of mixed races. Obviously, were humanity not essentially one, and were certain races inferior per se, a cross could not be beneficial, and results would belie the above conclusions. Furthermore, we have recently heard of some distinguished people among the professional class here in the United States who are beginning to advocate inter-marriage of colored and white races, asserting that in view of the outstanding progress among colored peoples, the old exclusion policy is no longer workable. Everywhere, apparently, the cause of human oneness is winning adherents, and the “forts of folly” are battered down.
ONENESS, of course should not be
confused with sameness, which is a
tedious, artificial thing, entirely
alien to a world where no two grains
of wheat have ever been alike. The
peculiar curse of the times is an effort at standardization; savages wear top hats and gum is chewed on the Himalayas, and everyone is trying desperately to be like everyone else, or more so. This situation results from the advent of machines, and will doubtless be corrected little by little, as humanity grows accustomed to machines and has them subservient to beauty. A Persian cobbler never dares to make two shoes identical in every respect, because he thinks such an act will kill his wife, he may be harboring a superstition, but artistically he is quite sound. Individuality is precious and refreshing; the world presents subtle blends of endless variations; there must be orchids and hills, roads and tuberoses, intimacy of sunlight and the mystery of fog. Spiritually, too, every human being has his candle to burn, his spire of blue incense smoke to offer as a gift and a worship in the temple of humanity. Does it matter what color are the fingers curved in prayer? Or whether the music be a honey-slow spiritual from Louisiana, or the flute-song of a Persian shepherd, watching in a turquoise dawn? The sacred gift of an obedient life is treasured-up for all eternity, and every giver is beloved. In this dawn of a new humanity, no one is rejected. There are no untouchables, no social lepers, no spurned and remnant peoples any more; ‘Abdu’l-Bahá tells us that “The love of God haloes all created things.”
The oneness of the world of humanity is to be established because it is God’s will that “this handful of dust, the world,” should be one home. No materialistic endeavors, however sincere, can be of any permanent assistance here, because they cannot stir the hearts of men; no ethical practical “system,” no legions of deft clerks and catalogues of statistics, no cheques and after-dinner speeches, can right the hatred of one man for another. No smiles can cup the blood that centuries have shed. Only a God-inspired effort, functioning through the knowledge that all humanity is equally beloved, that all are precious in the sight of God and wear the emblems of His beauty, will build the alabaster cities where the races of the future are to live united.
‘Abdu’l-Bahá tells us that “the fundamental teachings of Baha’u’llah are the oneness of God and unity of mankind,” and He says: “Just as the human spirit of life is the cause of co-ordination among the various parts of the human organism, the Holy Spirit is the controlling cause of the unity and co-ordination of mankind. That is to say, the bond or oneness of humanity cannot be effectively established save through the power of the Holy Spirt, for the world of humanity is a composite body and the Holy Spirit is the animating principle of its life.” Let us, then, be servants of the Holy Spirit, and live hour by hour the knowledge that humanity is one.
REALITY or truth is one, yet there are many religious beliefs, denominations, creeds and differing opinions in the world today. Why should these differences exist? Because they do not investigate and examine the fundamental unity which is one and unchangeable. If they seek the reality itself they will agree and be united; for reality is indivisible and not multiple. It is evident therefore that there is nothing of greater importance to mankind than the investigation of truth.” * * *
“It is incumbent upon all mankind to investigate truth. If such investigation he made, all should agree and be united, for truth or reality is not multiple; it is not divisible. The different religions have one truth underlying them; therefore their reality is one.
“Each of the divine religions embodies two kinds of ordinances. The first are those which concern spiritual susceptibilities, the development of moral principles and the quickening of the conscience of man. These are essential or fundamental, one and the same in all religions, changeless and eternal, reality not subject to transformation. His Holiness Abraham heralded this reality, His Holiness Moses promulgated it and His Holiness Jesus Christ established it in the world of mankind. All the divine prophets and messengers were the instruments and channels of this same eternal, essential truth.
“The second kind of ordinances in the divine religions are those which relate to the material affairs of humankind. These are the material or accidental laws which are subject to change in each day of manifestation, according to exigencies of the time, conditions and differing capacities of humanity. . . . .
“In brief; every one of the divine religions contains essential ordinances which are not subject to change, and material ordinances which are abrogated according to the exigencies of time. But the people of the world have forsaken the divine teachings and followed forms and imitations of the truth. Inasmuch as these human interpretations and superstitions differ, dissensions and bigotry have arisen and strife and warfare have prevailed. By investigating the truth or foundation of reality underlying their own and other beliefs, all would be united and agreed, for this reality is one; it is not multiple and not divisible.”
This is the concluding article of a series showing the progressive continuity of Divine Revelation. Here the author describes the universal dispensation for the present and future ages known as the Bahá'i Movement.
WE cannot fail to sense how the great hearts of the Prophets pulsed with divine inspiration about the far-off events which were to be centered about the Holy Land:
Witness Isaiah (Chapter 53, verse 8): “He was taken from prison and from judgment—He was cut off and out of the land of the living—for the transgression of my people was he stricken.”
Chapter 40, verse 5: “And the Glory of the Lord shall be revealed and all flesh shall see it together.”
Daniel 12:1: “And at that time shall Michael stand up: and there shall be a time of trouble, such as never was since there was a nation even to that same time.”
Jeremiah 11:15: “And the Lord shall utterly destroy the tongue of the Egyptian Sea, and with his mighty wind shall he shake his hand over the river, and shall smite it in the seven streams, and make men go over dry-shod.” (In May, of 1901, a road of solid masonry bridged the Nile.)
Isaiah: 19:23: “In that day there shall be a highway out of Egypt to Assyria and the Assyrian shall come into Egypt and the Egyptians into Assyria.”
(This rail highway was constructed by the engineering force of the British army during the great war to facilitate transportation to the seat of activities in the Mesopotamian area.)
Did Job write idly when through him God asks: “Canst thou send
lightnings, that they may go and say unto thee ‘Here we are?’” In these “last days” on the rise of the Báb, the first electric telegraph in the known history of the race declared the voice of the lightnings “Here we are!” The birth-date of ‘Abdul-Bahá and the Declaration of the Báb bore the same date—May 23, 1844. Oddly enough, in that twenty-four hours, the first telegraph message—sent from Philadelphia to New York—carried the words from the 23rd verse of the 23rd chapter of Numbers, these being “What hath God wrought.” More curious still is it that the Báb selected for His immediate messengers eighteen who first recognized the divinity of His mission, and these He called the “eighteen letters of the living.” The message sent as a material response to the great spiritual Appearance contained exactly eighteen letters—carrying to the world the tidings of the new means for the transmission of news,—a medium which was to make possible the instant communication of Bahá’u’lláh’s great Universal Message to the most remote areas of earth.
Don’t permit yourself to be misled into the belief that the world-unrest is because of the degraded condition of society, its disregard for law, its immorality, its social and economic greed, its irreligion. If these alone were existent in the world, all this upset would not appear, because mankind would be
gliding along smoothly in the rut of its own making. The disturbance is the result of the injection into the realm of consciousness of the Spirit of Truth, which is diametrically opposed to all these things which are unable to endure or to successfully combat it for any considerable period. It holds up to the soul the faultless mirror by which the soul witnesses the degree of its departure from the purity of the Divine Design.
When we transgress the Divine Law in our social relationships, that transgression becomes subject to the inviolable law of evolution which will carry it along to the apex of accomplishment, from which it must totter to its fall. Man cannot for long play fast and loose with the eternal verities, nor can he hope to build up for himself a spiritual station by an outward observance of religion and an inward violation of its principles.
The argument regarding the year 1844 as the time for the appearance of a prophesied Great One is not at all unique with the Bahá’is. That year, which is the year 1260 of the Muhammadans, had been looked forward to for a thousand years as the time when the missing Twelfth Imam Mahdi would reappear on the earth and establish the religion of Muhammad as the religion for all the world. That year, too, had been fixed upon by the sect called the “Millerites,” as the time for the reappearance of Jesus the Christ “riding on a cloud,” and in their misconcept of meanings of the Gospel they gave away their earthly possessions and robed in white on the New England hills they waited
and prayed for this impossible demonstration of Divine purpose. Their error lay, not in computation of the time, but in their misinterpretation of the Word. The “cloud” carrying the Christ is the human body—the temple raised up from the body of the people, like themselves,—this element of sameness with humanity blinding the eye of the soul, so that it becomes attached to the physical temple and is oblivious to the Light within. As we have seen, however, the Christ did appear, and exactly on time, in accordance with the schedule of the Prophets, and was recognized and acclaimed by pure-hearted ones who were able to read the signs aright. When the Báb was inquisitioned by the mullahs of Islam as to His claims, He answered: “I am that One for whom you have waited and prayed for a thousand years.”
In His coming He fulfilled to a nicety all the wide ramifications of Muhammadan prophecy, exactly as to time and place, and also as to lineage, because He was of the family—Beni-Hashem–directly linked with the Arabian Prophet Muhammad, the founder of the Faith. The Muhammadans had and have the same misconcept of Muhammad that Christians have of Jesus–that He was the final avenue designed by Deity for the salvation of all the races of men. That is the fault today with the Christian program: It aims to christianityize humankind instead of to Christianize it–that is, to establish the tenets of a sect or school instead of to make plain the universal character of the teachings of Jesus and the unbroken continuity of the Divine plan of salvation.
In conclusion, it may be instructive to engage briefly in elucidation of the relation of the three who appeared in fulfillment of prophecy as we have sought to show you. While to our purely human understanding there were three separate and distinct human entities, this was only superficially true. Of the Báb, Bahá’u’lláh wrote: “Had the First Point (the Báb) been someone else beside Me, as ye claim, and reached the event of My appearance, He would never have left Me, but rather we would have had mutual delights with each other in My days: Verily, He lamented over our separation and came before Me to preach to the people of My Kingdom. * * * Would there were someone from those who are ignorant who have ears to hear His clamor in the Bayán (the Book of Explanation) of that which came upon Myself: and to know His yearning at My separation and His passionate love to meet Me, the Precious, the Incomparable.”
As to the Báb Himself, all of His song was of that “One whom God would make manifest.” He declared that upon that transcendent appearance, all that He had ever said or written would not be so much as a single word of the words of the Mighty Manifestation. Yet, Bahá’u’lláh declared the Báb to be the Supreme Lord.
Of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá Bahá’u’lláh wrote: “He is Myself, the Shining-Place of My Identity, the East of My Cause, the Heaven of My Bounty, the Sea of My will, the Lamp of My Guidance, the Path of My Justice, the Standard of My Laws * * *.
“Whosoever turneth unto Him
hath surely turned unto God, and whosoever turneth away from Him hath turned away from My Beauty, denied My Proofs and is of those who transgress. * * * Verily, He is the Remembrance of God amongst you, and His Spirit within you, and His Manifestation unto you, and His Appearance amongst the servants who are nigh.”
And, of Bahá’u’lláh, ‘Abdul-Bahá wrote: “I am the servant of the Blessed Perfection: My greatest glory is to roll my head in the dust at the threshold of His Greatness; My greatest station is this.”
Thus, are we faced with the condition of looking upon three facets of a single incomparable jewel of transcendent beauty, each radiating the Light from a single Source—each bestowing the Divine Bounty in giving reflection to the Glory of the effulgent Sun of the Truth of God.
The Bahá’is do not merely believe in this Dispensation: They know it, through the consciousness of its verity ingrained by the inspiration of the revealment of the Word.
Never, at any time, has any Divine Messenger laid claim to the greatness and the Divinity of His station in such authoritative utterance as this Manifestation . . . the Beloved of the World, [has appeared] the Intended of the Knowers, the Worshipped of whomsoever is in the heaven and the earth, and the Adored of the ancients and the moderns.
“Beware of hesitating to accept this Beauty, after the Ruler of Might, Power and Glory hath appeared. Verily, He is the Truth and everything besides Him on the part of His servants is annihilated
and lost at the appearance of His Light!” * * * “Shouldst thou turn thy face toward all the things of the world and listen with a spiritual ear, thou wilt hear them exclaim ‘The Ancient hath come! The Lord of the Most Great Glory hath appeared!’”
As Bahá’u’lláh was the great Revelator of the Truth, ‘Abdul-Bahá held the mission to spread it, to apply it, to exemplify it in His daily and hourly living. Did He fulfill His mission? Ask of the crowding thousands who on the day of His final passing stirred the heart of Mount Carmel with the throbbing footsteps answering the heart-beats of unutterable sorrow: Read the incomparable eulogies of those influential ones of the Near East who up to only the yesterday of His life had opposed Him, but in His passing realized that the greatest figure in their experience had passed beyond the reach of human vision: Ask of the Jews and Parsees, Muhammadans and Buddhists, Hindus and Christians throughout the East today who, having discarded the prejudices of caste, of race and religion, meet in brotherly amity and pay honor, each to the other’s Prophet, while still acknowledging fealty to their own. Look about you in the world of business and politics and see great principles of broad consideration of human rights, which are today being regarded as they have never been before this Dispensation as moving factors in human relationships and considerations, and that through the forty long years of His imprisonment ‘Abdu’l-Bahá had been penning and sending forth to all parts of the world messages of encouragement,
instruction and hope, guiding the thought of humanity to a higher Light.
What, after all, is the compelling attraction in this latest Revelation? Its universality. It touches upon every human relationship: It shapes itself to every condition: It inspires in the deepest depths of deprivation and sorrow the consciousness that these are as nothing in comparison with the eternity of Light: It appeals by its completely understandable simplicity, and through it the unlettered becomes lifted to a plane of the richest understanding.
It does not offer any form of material reward: It does not, except under certain and difficult conditions, extend the hope of physical health: It taboos individual striving even for spiritual reward which is in itself a form of selfishness. What then has it to present which might be expected to attract the serious seeker? It offers the principle of Divine living, not for the reward one might hope to gain in some far world of the spirit, but to live it for the love of it—to be a factor in the world of humanity whereby the paths of other men may be illumined by your example, taking no credit to yourself by reason of the quality of your excellence. If your physical health is faulty it does not oppose any sane effort toward its correction; instead, it defines clearly how every form of healing is accomplished and it prescribes one means by which if you will adopt it you shall be guaranteed absolutely perfect physical, mental and spiritual health. Would you like to engage in the attitude whereby this will come to you?
‘Abdu’l-Bahá told two such who
came to Him with the plea for health:—“If you will live as Mary of Magdala lived the Word when she knew it, then shall you have perfect health. I promise it.”
Mary of Magdala is placed in a station of spiritual excellence beyond that ever attained by woman. Hers was the spirit of faith which remained undaunted in the face of the failure of Jesus to outwit His enemies, as His disciples had been certain He would, and in those trying days which have been defined as the “Entombment,” she alone of all the followers remained serene, filled with the fullness of the meaning of the resurrection of the Christ. It was she who at last by the wonder of her living the Word caused the others to see the Christ before them and in their newfound concept of His return they gave up their all and started out to give His Message to mankind.
And this Message which the disciples of Jesus ventured forth to spread–what was it? Was it the Pauline Christianity from which have developed all of the dogmas and creeds and rituals which have stirred the sects of the professing followers of Jesus through these thousands of years? Is it this faulty superstructure, reared entirely through the imaginings and sometimes selfish designing of man, which is to be the religion of the future? Were it to be that, how can we come to believe that the world of the future will be any different or any better than that of our own time? It is not the Love which Jesus taught which is at fault, but the manner of the presentment of it which has lain up to this time at the
base of all human misunderstandings, the basic cause of all the wars that ever have been.
No,—it can be nothing of this. The religion of the future must be one so simple that all can understand it—even those who are highly educated. These latter have been the guides of those whom they have regarded as the deprived ones, but, in reality, it has been in every age the knowing who have been unable to understand. They have trained their egotistic assumption to replace the simplicity of the heart, and it is this which affords explication of the remarkable condition that an incomparable teaching of a faultless Love should be the generator of the most devastating of hatreds and greed, and ambition and desire.
Before such a condition, the Bahá’i presents the broad principle of human brotherhood, the casting off of misleading concepts of Divine design and the acceptance of the truth, that the “Chosen People of God” are not those of any particular race or age or clime, but that they are the pure in heart.
When man shall have risen to see every man really his brother, regardless of race, or color, or the channel for the profession of his faith, then will he be standing at the portal of the Temple of the Most High, through which he will witness the unending procession of the believers of every faith, consorting with one another without friction, freed from prejudice in the knowledge that every one of the great Founders of the schools of religion has been of equal importance in the sight Divine.
- The dew is on the petals of the rose;
- The lark sings out his greetings to the sun;
- A dewdrop glistens with resplendent light;
- The dawning of the day has just begun.
- Upon this misty morn the Master walks,
- With majesty and power that thrills the earth,
- With piercing eyes of far celestial light,
- He sees each earth-born spirit at its worth.
- The floating, graceful robes, illumined face,
- The glistening turban white, the aba bright;
- With peace ineffable, no word can name,
- The Master walks in palpitating light.
- O hallowed strip of leafy bower green,
- O rapturous love and glory so divine;
- O attar of the rose, bowed heads anointing!
- Delectable fragrance—O to be Thine!
- The dewdrop glistens in the morning sun,
- A dazzling prism, radiant and bright.
- O may we now be like the clear dewdrop,
- Reflecting Thy sweet fragrance and Thy Light.
- From out the great Infinite Boundlessness
- From cosmic planes far beyond finite ken,
- The voice of God hath spoken to the world.
- The Essence of God hath manifested again.
- The spirit of Thy love surrounds the earth
- As radiant halo crests the harvest moon.
- From distant climes, Thy spirit hath such power,
- Attracting hungry pilgrims to commune.
- I did not think my heart could weep so much,
- While bowing humbly at Thy Holy Shrine.
- The nearness of Thy Presence melted all
- Except my wish to be completely Thine.
- I did not think my heart could hurt me so,
- While ecstacy Divine filled all my soul.
- I dedicate my life to Thee, O God.
- To reflect Thy Light, my only wish and goal.
(At Bahji, ‘Akká, Palestine)
- If I could dip my pen in living fire
- And write a message that would never die,
- So full of truth and love and heartfelt urge,
- That every soul would answer to its cry.
- This is the message writ in living fire:
- “Bahá’u’lláh, the God of Love is here;”
- “It is the Judgment Day, Awake, Arise”
- “Take Refuge in His Name, while He is near.”
- I’d pour my message out in flames of light,
- ’Till all would see and hear my earnest plea,
- And all would shout in answer to that call
- “Oh God, we turn our hearts, our lives to Thee.”
- As quiet as the sun-gleams on the blossoms,
- As silent as the sunrise o’er the hill,
- Is the gleaming of the spirit in our souls,
- Is the falling of its peace upon our will.
- And subtler than the sunlift in the leafbud,
- That thrills through all the branches making May,
- Is that shining of God’s Spirit in the world,
- Bringing light to human hearts in this New Day.
- Thou who art the fragrance of the flower;
- The blush upon the petals of the rose,
- The glory in the sunset path of gold,
- The soft caress of zephyr as it blows.
- Thou the force that moves the distant star dust,
- The power behind the yearning heart of prayer,
- The deep love-urge that moves the vast creation,
- By all these signs, God makes my heart aware.
NOT in the noise of crafty politics; not in the conflict of jealous religions; not in the conflict of the sexes; not in the inferno of war; not in the glamorous imaginations of the egotists; not in the superstitions of the weak; not in loveless minds may Truth be found. Only when the Glory of God lights up loving thoughts may one find in the peaceful, placid soul, as in a clear pool, the reflection of Eternal Truth.
How simple this sounds as one jots it down in a notebook whilst half dreaming of the pleasant woods and the sun-lit waters and meads of the Lune and the Ribble, where the footsteps have wandered this year ere the finish of Summer, in this homely atmosphere of Manchester. How simple, indeed, it sounds; yet looking back, there was a long period in life when I knew many things which were but fragments, broken bits, of Truth.
The heart of Truth I did not know. A mass of Scripture, a mass of other (secular) knowledge, a mass of thoughts gained from experience in everyday life, and a faith in some kind of a Supreme Being (of which all manner of things were being taught in most perplexing and contradictory ways) were stored in the mind. I could find my way about amongst some of this knowledge without getting lost, but in the main there was a feeling of insecurity, considerable dissatisfaction, and doubts regarding the views and theories of those whose lot it was to teach us.
Regarding the teachings of Jesus, of their goodness I had no doubts at any time, but felt very unsafe amidst the contradictory interpretations of the Gospel—indeed I often felt that it was being used merely to support the various views of self-interested teachers rather than as the basis of their lives; and especially vexed was the heart with a dreadful feeling that there was no intention on the part of the teachers and leaders to make any self-sacrifice so that the dead letter might be overcome and the real Glory shine out. In fact, there seemed to be nothing but controversy and prejudice in the world instead of the Spirit of Love manifested by the Glorious One in Galilee. In a sort of despair I was driven to penetrate for myself the veils which hid me from the something which was the Spirit of my life and urgent within me, and so reach the Truth for myself. But even at the age of twenty-eight I could but just reach the sense that the Brotherhood of Man should be the goal of all. Even at that, there was more despair in the conclusion than any of the Glory which is the perfection of life.
At the age of thirty, still learning, still seeking Truth, watching attentively the various happenings and events in the outer world, dissatisfied with the seeming futility of things in general, as it were by chance I heard of a remarkable figure dwelling in Palestine by the Bay of Haifa, in the vicinity of Scriptural Carmel—a figure of strength, beauty, and wisdom; a Servant of
God in the Holy Land, standing for world peace, world unity, and the Glory of God! A figure with a tremendous and remarkable history behind it, and with a mighty purpose before it. A figure of which a traveler said: “A few days later we said good-bye to Him, saw Him standing radiant and beautiful at the top of the long staircase which leads down to the inner court where the fountain plays and the roses bloom all the year. The Light of Love was still upon His face—it is always there–it is a face of Love–and so I shall always see Him.”
Imagine the eagerness with which I sought for more information concerning the revered Servant of God, ‘Abdu’l-Bahá! Imagine the haste with which I read everything possible concerning Him and His mission! Friends were mildly surprised at such a suddenly awakened interest, and they intimated that such a sudden flare would quickly die down. But I had found the Key to all that mattered in life. I had found the beautiful Face of that Spirit of Life which dies not. I had found that which made Christ and the Sermon on the Mount real things, in a world of spiritual decay and doubt. I had found the upwelling spring of that Divine Power which is beginning to carry mankind to the next phase in the world’s evolution—a settled world under an International Court of Arbitration (or World Parliament in the interests of Peace).
I learned that Revelation did not cease with the passing away of St. John, the beloved disciple of Jesus, but that Revelation is progressive, for the Holy Spirit is guiding the
world to its appointed end. I learned that ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, in the strength of God, was disseminating the world teachings of His still greater Father—Bahá’u’lláh—Who was the Mouthpiece of the Holy Spirit, fulfilling Christ! I loved the sense of it all—its truth; its beauty; its fitness to the needs of the world; its fulfillment of prophecy; and, indeed, as the poet has said: “We needs must love the highest when we see it! Who could fail to see the Glory so finely manifested? Who could fail to see the Hand of God in such a matter? I knew in all my being that this was what Christ had foretold when He said: “When He, the Spirit of Truth, is come, He will guide you into all Truth,” that is to say, into the very concept of God, which is the Heavenly Kingdom.
In time I saw it all and thanked God for the Glory that illumined my existence from such a Divine Revellation. I was satisfied with the grand social teachings of Bahá’u’lláh as well as His Spiritual teachings, realizing that both social and spiritual are one necessity in the world now commencing. Through Bahá’u’lláh the Holy Spirit tenderly addresses each individual heart with these sweet words: “I loved thy creation, hence I created thee. Wherefore, do thou love Me, that I may name thy name and fill thy soul with the Spirit of Life.“ And also through Bahá’u’lláh the Holy Spirit calls all the warring peoples to peace and harmony (“Rebuking strong nations afar off”), saying: “This handful of dust, the world, is one home; let it be in unity!”
I pondered long over all these
things, sometimes in the green glades of Blavincourt, sometimes by the pleasant shores of wooded Arnside and Windermere, and in the lovely gardens of Heaton Park, or on country rambles, and even amidst squalid surroundings in the City—but mostly in the quiet of my own home. More and more I realized that the origin of all things in the universe (visible and invisible) is in God’s Loving Thought, and that the magnetic power which brings God’s concept into manifestation binds the creature to God in the bonds of both conscious and unconscious love, until, in man, it brings the creature to know and to adore God. This magnetic power is God’s Holy Spirit, and it was by that Spirit that the beloved ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, exclaimed: “I testify, O my God, that Thou has created me to know Thee and to adore Thee!”
I STUDIED the Bahá’i Revelation,
and in its light re-studied the Bible
and other Scriptures; but above all
I looked steadfastly upon the needs
of the world and upon the need for
each soul to realize the truth of its
existence. At last I summarized
the Truth with a heart thankful to
‘Abdu’l-Bahá, realizing that I had,
by His light, reached the truth
known to all the dear ones and enlightened
ones of the past. How
slowly does Truth find realization
in the mind! Long had it been in
the heart, but the mind had to be
properly focussed to the Glory of
it, that it might be a burning power
in life itself—a clear, concentrated,
burning power! When once the
mind was clear, and satisfied, the
pen swiftly noted down the summary;
yet I refrained from putting it as a writing before people, merely confining myself to voicing the sense of it from time to time in various addresses.
At first it seemed a purely personal concern—a thing others would find out for themselves. However, at fifty years of age, it has come to me that it might help a mind here and there to realize something in their lives, and recently, whilst tramping along the country road from the precincts of the fine old church of Skipton to the beautiful church of Gargrave, I felt it strongly. Thoughts might be stirred in the minds of people by the breaths of such a summary, as the breaths of the pure breeze stir the leaves upon the splendid trees that whisper round those sacred fanes. The Scriptures of the world are a mighty maze of things, and it is well to throw a light upon the heart of them. One receives of the Glory freely, therefore one should freely shed the light for the sake of those who seek.
I would that the mighty theme were expanded to embrace the fulness of the sense of things—the universal, ethereal, magnetic power “rolling through all things”; the grandeur of the earth and the heavens in all their harmony; the beauty of the skies and sunshine with all the dazzling coloring involved; the health from seas and mountains and the winds; the nourishment from lovely fruits; the enchantments of fragrant gardens and forests; the heart attachments of the young people; and the friendships of all; and the love of parents for their offspring. O God! If Thy Glorious Love for all Thy
creation were withdrawn, the universe would collapse—for it is built of Thy Love!
AS I MEDITATED on the Power of
Love to recreate the world, this was
the vision that I had of the coming
humanity when all obey the Will of
God, the All-Glorious, the Perfect.
In His Divine Wisdom God conceived a Heavenly Kingdom; a humanity, a Mankind, responsive to His Spirit, loving Him consciously and voluntarily, glorying in His Glory. A mankind living healthily, through knowledge and science, and in peace, through love and just laws, in a beautiful and interesting world; every one fed, clothed, housed, and educated, ideally and happily, to the end that each and all should show forth the virtues of the Heavenly Kingdom.
This was God’s Concept, His Loving Thought, which originated our existence; the Spirit of which guides, comforts, and sustains us. Because God is all-glorious His Concept is filled with His Glory (in the Persian tongue “Glory” is known as “Bahá”). Because God is perfect His Loving Thought is perfect.
Our origin, therefore, is not in ourselves, nor in our parents, nor in the earth (no, not in this World at all), but in God’s Loving Thought; and it is His desire that we should realize this sublime truth, and so continue to develop, fully conscious, in the Glory (in the Bahá) of His Loving Thought, through oneness With His Holy Spirit.
The Holy Spirit is the magnetic Power proceeding from God’s Concept, which carries His Loving
Thought into effect in creation—causing it to come into manifestation; giving power to this, taking the power from that; and attracting things through affinities to whatsoever is Willed; and, loving, guiding, comforting, urging, inspiring, confirming, developing, idealizing, and universalizing the mind of Man through its manifestations, principally the Holy Prophets.
The Holy Spirit, like the sunshine, is a personal friend as well as the Universal Friend; for, as the sunshine liberates the plant from the sealed-up yet predetermined seed, and brings it to leafage, blossom, fruition, and even to the ripening and sweetening of the fruit, so the Holy Spirit liberates the Concept of God from our sealed-up, yet predetermined nature, bringing it to full manifestation of the virtues of the Heavenly Kingdom.
Amongst all other blessings, even to the Scriptures of all peoples, the Holy Spirit gave to us the Gospel of Jesus Christ and the Teachings of Bahá’u’lláh. Through knowledge, through meditation upon these Teachings, and through prayer and supplication, we come to realize the sublime Truth (that our origin is in God's Loving Thought), and so we reach the first conscious stage of oneness with the Holy Spirit. The sense of self is lost in the sense of the Holy Spirit, which is universal. That is to say, “self” disappears in universality. A radiant, blissful condition of heart and mind and soul arises from the consciousness that we are in the presence of God—because we are consciously within the sunshine, the warmth, the magnetic field, of His Holy Spirit. This condition is that of Eden, and the Kingdom of Heaven.
THE most indisputable Truth in the spiritual world, about which there is not the least doubt, and which has been demonstrated by each and every sage, is that beyond the veil of diversity there is Unity. This Unity is Existence absolute; in other words Consciousness absolute. Every atom, every living being is a conditioned form of it, and man is a self-conscious mode of the same.
Above man there are countless forms of life, invisible, and with a greater control over time and space. They are called by various names—devas, angels, spirits, etc. Matter, time, space, mind, intelligence, are all lower manifestations of this one great Unity—God.
“Man is the mystery of creation, and I am the mystery of man.” Man has not fallen, but the spirit in man is evolving. It is in his power either to hasten his evolution by conscious efforts to evolve through service to his fellow-men, and cultivation of his spiritual elements, or to retard his progress by living the life of sense worship, selfishness, and duality.
In the Gita, the Lord says that sacrifice is the spiritual law, and creation is based on this law. Cultivation of the law of sacrifice promotes our spiritual interests.
In the non-Aryan religions, the sacrifice of animals at the altar of gods was a symbol meaning that the lower passions and desires of
man must be sacrificed. In the Aryan religions, first one must sacrifice anger, avarice, egotism, attachment to worldly things; and then offer at the altar of God, love, indifference to material advantages and works, knowledge, devotion, etc.
God who manifests Itself as nature and man, also manifests Itself as God-Man, or Manifestation of God. This is called Avtar, or descent. Such men were Buddha, Christ, Muhammad, Bahá’u’lláh and others. They brought the same fundamental Truth, and preached the same fundamental Law—supremacy of ethics and unselfish service with devotion to God-Men. These great Beings live today in the spiritual world, and are conscious of our efforts toward spiritual progress.
As Arjuna cried:-
- “How shall I learn, Supremest Mystery!
- To know Thee, though I muse continually?
- Under what form of Thine unnumbered forms
- Mayst Thou be grasped? Ah! yet again recount
- Clear and complete, Thy great Appearances,
- The secrets of Thy Majesty and Might,
- Thou High Delight of men.
And now, once again in the long ages of religious history has that Appearance become “clear and complete” in the Manifestation of Bahá’u‘lláh.
A religious man must have a living ideal embodying in himself the highest and holiest spiritual ideals.
This is the highest understanding of the Existence absolute by the human mind. A religion which is based on dry laws, and ethical conceptions, however great, is bound to remain only a lip-assertion. It will not influence human life, and eventually produces moral anarchy. The fall of the beautiful Stoic doctrine, or the defeat of Neo-Platonism before the simple truths of the spiritual ethics of Jesus illustrates the fact. Stoicism has all that Jesus taught, but lacked a living personality—a God-Man through whom God spoke His authoritative Divine Word, whom one could love, revere, and worship. In the third century of the Christian era every laborer in Alexandria was a philosopher,
but at the same time a moral wreck. What Paul (as a disciple of Christ) could demonstrate in his life Aristotle could not.
To realize Truth one does not need a keen intellect, but surely one must have a feeling heart. It is easier to feel unity with all through the emotions than through logic. Truth is to be realized in the heart; the head will take care of itself if the intuition is awake.
Let us fill our hearts with the love of the God-Man morning and evening, read the sacred scriptures, meditate, pray, and then manifest love by loving mankind in general. So shall we live glad in All-Good, nigh to the peace of God.
“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. Forms and imitations which creep in afterward are not conducive to that progress. On the contrary these are destroyers of human foundations established by the heavenly Educators. These are clouds which obscure the Sun of Reality. . . . Therefore there is need of turning back to the original foundation. The fundamental principles of the Prophets are correct and true. The imitations and superstitions which have crept in are at wide variance with the original precepts and commands. His Holiness Bahá’u’lláh has revoiced and reestablished the quintessence of the teachings of all the Prophets, setting aside the accessories and purifying religion from human interpretation. He has written a book entitled “Hidden Words.” The preface announces that it contains the essence of the words of the prophets of the past clothed in the garment of brevity for the teaching and spiritual guidance of the people of the world. Read it that you may understand the true foundations of religion and reflect upon the inspiration of the Messengers of God. It is light upon light.”
The following article was published in the Jewish paper, Canadian Adler, of Montreal, Canada. Translated from the Jewish by Ethel Moss Murray.
DR. A. FISHEL, Jewish Professor of the Oriental Institute, Hebrew University,* on his return from Persia, Iraq and Kurdistán, stated to the Ita (Jewish News Agency) that a mass conversion is predominating among the Persian Jews. Whole communities turn to Bahá’ism, the religion of Persia. What is the Bahá’i belief?
The Bahá’i Movement originated in Persia in 1844 and then spread in the Near East and also in European and American countries. The main centers of the Bahá’i religion today are Akká and Haifa, Palestine, where its Founders are buried in specially erected Shrines. Few in our generation know of this modern religion. It really sounds like a paradox, that religion and reformation, spirituality and social progress, Prophet and revolutionary, could get together and actually unite without conflict.
Many European historians have delved into this religion, and with great enthusiasm express their opinion about the Asiatic thinker** who was far from the influence of European philosophy. His religion is a calm and tranquil philosophy of life, but, a very active religion which requires the translation of the teachings into deeds.
Historians have written about Bahá’u’lláh, the Founder of Baha'ism. His religion carries the promise of a great progress, and is international in scope. This revelation
* In Palestine. ** Refers to the Founder of the Baha’i Movement.
from the East which offers a solution to the problems of the West, is in the form of an international or universal religion.
IN 1844 appeared in Persia before
a multitude an enthusiastic
young man, twenty-five years of
age, who called Himself the Báb
[which means Gate or Door]. He
began to preach a doctrine designed
to create new conditions for humanity.
The masses immediately
accepted the teachings, which had a
great effect on account of His divine
name. In 1850 the Báb was
killed at the instigation of Muslim
clergy who saw in this Movement a
great danger for Islam.
After the martydom of the Báb, His followers turned to the One whom He prophesied would come after Him and who would be the Law-giver for this dispensation, namely, Bahá’u’lláh [which means the Glory of God].
In 1852 the Muslims started an inquisition against the followers of this religion. Every day many thousands were put to death and thrown into dungeons.
In 1863 Bahá’u’lláh, with his family and some seventy-two of His followers, were exiled to Constantinople and then later to Adrianople where they remained about five years. Then they were exiled to Haifa in Palestine, and were put in heavy chains and committed to the prison of ’Akká.
Bahá’u’lláh, while in prison, was occupied in giving out His teachings. He proclaimed twelve great basic principles of the Bahá’i Movement, namely:
(1) The oneness of mankind. (2) Independent investigation of truth. (3) The foundation of all religions is one. (4) Religion must be the cause of unity. (5) Religion must be in accord with science and reason. (6) Equality between men and women. (7) Prejudice of all kinds must be forgotten. (8) Universal peace. (9) Universal education. (10) Spiritual solution of the. economic problem. (11) A universal language. (12) An international tribunal.
In 1892 Bahá’u’lláh died in the prison city of ’Akká. In His will and testament He had appointed His son, Abbas Effendi, as His successor.
After the revolution in Turkey, perfect freedom was given to the Bahá’is, and ’Akká became for the believers a second Mecca.
Abbas Effendi called Himself ’Abdu’l-Bahá, the Servant of God. In 1912 He visited Europe and America, and the Bahá’i teachings were widely proclaimed. The Bahá’i Cause has spread around the world.
On November 28, 1921, ’Abdu’l-Bahá died in Haifa, Palestine. His body rests in a tomb on Mt. Carmel, where also rests the body of the Báb.
THE BAHA’IS are spiritual but
not emotional. They are good and
refined people. They love each
other and are ready to sacrifice for
each other. All are equal in spirit—rich
or poor.
The Bahá’i Temples are open to every one. There are no clergy or officials in them. In the Temple there is worship, and in the future as the Bahá’i Cause grows, the
* Baha’is believe that divine and material civilization must go together.
plan is to have all kinds of accessory buildings surrounding the Temple which will be used for definite services to humanity.*
Bahá’is can have but one wife. Divorce is granted under certain conditions. Bahá’is must not gamble, or drink intoxicating beverages, and must not use drugs. The true believer loves every one irrespective of belief, race or nationality. Bahá’iasm also advocates love for animals.
The Bahá’i Teachings resemble in many instances a Kabala (mysticism) Movement. The creation of the world in accordance with the Bahá’i teachings is God’s creation where God alone manifests His supremacy. All mountains, hills, flowers and grass, oceans and lakes, fields and other creations of nature, are all created so that God’s attributes may be manifested. The sun and the moon are God’s servants. Humanity is the highest type of creation, and man must strive, with all his marvleous endowments, to attain his birthright.
A person must be free from oppression. A slave cannot serve his Creator because the Lord loves freedom and justice. Slavery is against truth and freedom.
This Bahá’i religion is now predominating in Persia, and the Jews of Persia follow it because the Movement teaches love and respect for other beliefs. ’Abdu-l-Bahá explained that people have to love and respect other religions and beliefs. All are worshipping God in their own way no matter by what Name—Jew, Buddhist, Muhammadan, Christian, and others. The main thing is to live a life of righteousness, love and good deeds.
RECENTLY I made a trip from Tihrán, the capital of Persia, to the town of Rasht, situated near the Caspian sea in the northern part of the country. Its port is Enzeli through which it has important commerce for it is probably the greatest center for the silk trade. I assure you one could write at great length about the scenic wonders of this country for travelers are charmed every instant with the beauty of nature.
But this is not the purpose of my letter. What I do most assuredly consider worth recording is something about the progress of the Bahá’i Cause in Rasht.
I had not visited this place for fourteen years or since 1917. And during that time we might say a miracle has taken place.
Formerly, or during the Qajar dynasty, there were but few believers in Rasht, and even they lived under the most difficult conditions. Hardships and troubles were inflicted on them by the Muhammadans at the instigation of the Mullahs and clerical class. At that time the Bahá’is in this town as well as in other places in Persia were denied social rights.
Under the most trying and difficult conditions the Bahá’is arranged their meetings, and sometimes these meetings were stopped and the audience dispersed when the Muhammadans knew about them.
But now, thanks to the wise management of affairs by the present Ruler of the country, peace and order has been established, and the
Bahá’is are more or less enjoying peace and tranquility.
Recently the Bahá’is have purchased a house with a small garden which is used as a center for the Bahá’i administration, for meetings and activities, all under the name ”Hazirat-ul-Quds.” The Spiritual Assembly which administers the affairs of the Cause, holds its meetings here, and there are meetings every week for Bahá’is and non-Bahá’is for the study of the Teachings. People of all classes are coming to investigate the Cause.
The inhabitants of Rasht who may be averse to the comparative freedom enjoyed by the Bahá’is, at the same time connot express anything against them.
And so a Bahá’i traveler is filled with joy as he sees the laws of God in this New Age taking effect in the heart of humanity, thus foreshadowing the day of The New World Order of Bahá’u’lláh.
In the words of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá “His Holiness Bahá’u’lláh came to renew the life of the world with this new and divine springtime which has pitched its tent in the countries of the Orient in the utmost power and glory. It has refreshed the world of the East.”
As this is “the radiant century,” the attainment of spiritual happiness in the human world is possible, and one must rejoice exceedingly to see the practical application of the Bahá’i Teachings in the lives of the Bahá’is of Rasht, and the great progress which naturally follows from the creative effect of the Revealed Word.
THE PROMULGATION OF UNIVERSAL PEACE, being The Addresses of 'Abdu'l-Bahá in America, in two volumes. Price, each, $2.50.
BAHÁ’U’LLÁH AND THE NEW ERA, by Dr. J. E. Esslemont, a gifted scientific scholar of England. This is the most comprehensive summary and explanation of the Bahá’í Teachings as yet given in a single volume. Price, $1.00; paper cover, 50 cents.
THE WISDOM TALKS OF 'ABDU'L-BAHÁ in Paris. This series of talks covers a wide range of subjects, and is perhaps the best single volume at a low price in which 'Abdu'l-Bahá explains in His own words the Bahá’í Teaching. Price, paper, 50 cents; cloth, $1.00.
BAHÁ'Í SCRIPTURES. This book, compiled by Horace Holley, is a remarkable compendium of the Teachings of Bahá’u’lláh and 'Abdu'l-Bahá. It contains a vast amount of material and is indexed. This Paper Edition (only ¾-inch thick) Price, $2.50.
THE BAHÁ'Í WORLD, a Biennial International Record (formerly Bahá’í Year Book). Prepared under the auspices of the Bahá’í National Assembly of America with the approval of Shoghi Effendi. Price, cloth, $2.50.
All books may be secured from The Bahá’í Publishing Committee, Post office Box 348, Grand Central Station, New York City.
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Bound volumes Nos. 15 and 16, covering the years 1924 to 1925 and 1925 to 1926, contain many of the most valuable and instructive Bahá'í teachings compiled from the writings of 'Abdu'l-Bahá, on such subjects as Education, Peace, The Solution of the Economic Problem, Cooperation and Unity, Proof of the Existence of God, and others equally as important. They also contain articles on various phases of the Bahá'i Cause and its teachings contributed by Bahá'í writers and presented with clearness and accuracy, reports of conferences and conventions, Bahá'í News and Travel Notes and other interesting information. Volumes 17, 18 and 19 contain valuable material and information for students of religion, sociology, science, etc., both Bahá'ís and non-Bahá'ís.
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Bound in half leather, each volume $3.50; if two volumes are bound together, for $6.00; postage additional.
All of the bound volumes of earlier years are filled with such remarkable spiritual teachings of the New Age that they constitute a priceless library. Volumes 2, 3, 4 and 5 contain many sublime records of 'Abdu'l-Bahá's teachings, addresses and interviews in Europe and America. (Volumes 2 and 3 are now exhausted and Volume 4 cannot be supplied in a complete form as several numbers of this volume are exhausted.)
Volumes 7 and 8, which are, also, often bound together, contain the wonderful compilations on the Divine Art of Living and the New Covenant.
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