| ←Issue 11 | Star of the West Volume 23 - Issue 12 |
Index→ |
 Proofread onceReturn to PDF view
|
We are working hard to have proofread and nicely formatted text for you to read. Here is our progress on this section:
|
| VOL. 23 | MARCH, 1933 | No. 12 |
'ABDU'L-BAHA
HOOPER HARRIS
DALE S. COLE
KEITH RANSOM-KEHLER
BERTHA HYDE KIRKPATRICK
HIS Holiness Baha'u'llah the Sun of Truth has dawned from the horizon of the Orient, flooding all regions with the light and life which will never pass away. His teachings which embody the divine spirit of the age and are applicable to this period of maturity in the life of the human world are—
- The oneness of the world of humanity.
- The protection and guidance of the Holy Spirit.
- The foundation of all religion is one.
- Religion must be the cause of unity.
- Religion must accord with science and reason.
- Independent investigation of truth.
- Equality between men and women.
- The abandoning of all prejudices among mankind.
- Universal peace.
- Universal education.
- A universal language.
- Solution of the economic problem.
- An international tribunal.
Every one who truly seeks and justly reflects will admit that the teachings of the present day emanating from mere human sources and authority are the cause of difficulty and disagreement amongst mankind, the very destroyers of humanity whereas the teachings of Baha'u'llah are the very healing of the sick world, the remedy for every need and condition. In them may be found the realization of every desire and aspiration, the cause of the happiness of the world of humanity, the stimulus and illumination of mentality, the impulse for advancement and uplift, the basis of unity for all nations, the fountain-source of love amongst mankind, the center of agreement, the means of peace and harmony, the one bond which will unite the east and the west.
| VOL. 23 | MARCH, 1933 | NO. 12 |
Religious Unity is Possible, ‘Abdu’l-Bahá | 387 |
Editorial, Stanwood Cobb | 359 |
How Faith Transcends Science, Hooper Harris | 362 |
Symbols and a Symbol, Dale S. Cole | 366 |
The Requirement of Meditation, Alfred E. Lunt | 370 |
Protest, a Poem, Silvia Margolis | 373 |
Glimpses of the New World Order (Notes on a Visit to Haifa and ‘Akká), Mabel and Sylvia Paine | 374 |
Love Under the Sun, a Poem, Walter H. Bowman | 377 |
Letters Home—Persia, Visit to a Bahá’i Village, Keith Ransom-Kehler | 378 |
Missions and World Progress, Bertha Hyde Kirkpatrick | 384 |
STANWOOD COBB, MARIAM HANEY, BERTHA HYDE KIRKPATRICK | Editors |
MARGARET B. MCDANIEL | Business Manager |
For the United States and Canada
International
|
For Foreign Countries
MRS. ANNIE B. Romer, Great Britain MR. A. SAMIMI, Persia MISS AGNES B. ALEXANDER, Japan and China MOHAMED MUSTAFA EFFENDI, Egypt |
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 Bahá'i
Magazine, 1000 Chandler 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.
JUST as the external world is a place where various peoples of different hues and colors, of various faiths and denominations, meet; just as they are submerged in the same Sea of Favors,—likewise all may meet under the dome of the Mashriqu’l-Adhkár and adore the One God in the same spirit of truth, for the ages of darkness have passed away and the century of light has arrived. The imaginary prejudices are in the process of dispersion and the Light of Unity is shining.
“The difference which exists among the nations and the peoples is soon to pass away, and the fundamentals of the divine religions, which are no other than the solidarity and the oneness of the human race, are to be established. . . . The Divine policies shall rule, for the Divine policy is the oneness of the human world. God is kind to all. He considers all as His servants. He does not exclude anybody, and the policy of God is the correct and just policy. No matter how complete human policy and foresight be, it is imperfect. If we do not emulate the policy of God, or if we refuse to follow His dictates, that will be a presumptive evidence of our saying, as it were, that we know better than God; that we are knowing and wise, whereas God is ignorant; that we are sagacious, and God is not. God forbid! . . . No matter how far the human intelligence shall advance, it is still as a drop, whereas the Divine Omniscence is the very Ocean.”
| VOL. 23 | MARCH, 1933 | NO. 12 |
God has made him so high a creature? . . . To man God has given such wonderful power that he can guide, control and overcome nature. . . . Seeing that man has been created master of nature, how foolish it is of him to become her slave!”
MANY ARE skeptical regarding the establishment of universal peace; of an effective League of Nations; of harmony between capital and labor. They base their skepticism on general grounds of human nature. “War and exploitation will always be,” they say, “as long as human nature remains what it is.”
Unquestionably true. But human nature can be changed. In fact human nature is being changed every day. It has been gradually but steadily changing during the long centuries of recorded history. And indeed, as we know from the scientific evidence of evolution, human nature has, during great unrecorded stages of the past, made enormous changes from the time when man like the animals crawled on all fours; knew not how to use his hands to grasp and project weapons; knew not the use of fire, nor any other of the even elemental inventions and discoveries which later were to start him on the path of civilization.
Man has risen constantly from lower to higher planes of living; from animal grossness and brutality to a more sensitive refinement of feeling and thought. There is no reason to suppose that this progress is going to stop miraculously, and
that human nature is now going to remain static for all time.
YES, HUMAN nature is changing,
and will doubtless continue to
change. But there needs to be an
immense and spiritual force exerted
if human nature is to change
with sufficient speed and directness
to overcome the imminent danger of
cataclysm which the world faces today.
Religion has always been the chief motivation of progress toward more humanitarian institutions. If one investigates the sources of the great reform movements of the nineteenth century—the movement for free public education, the movement for the abolition of slavery, the movement for more humane treatment of the criminals and insane—one will find that the source of all these movements was deep religious conviction, a desire for service strong enough to cause the sacrifice of self for the good of society.
Religion possesses the power of changing human nature. It has historically illustrated this ability in an infinite number of ways.
Human nature can be changed and we trust human nature will be changed, in directions that will ultimately assure universal peace and
a universal civilization founded upon the brotherhood of man.
BAHA’U’LLAH, over sixty years ago, enunciated certain great principles for organized living upon this planet which if carried out would revolutionize human affairs and bring about a much more perfect society.
This ideal organization of human society depends for its achievement upon the perfectioning and spiritualizing of human nature. Noble institutions cannot be firmly established in an ignoble humanity, nor can ideal patterns for human living become effective in a society that is without an idealistic urge. A righteous people and an equitable civilization—you cannot have one without the other.
The primary aim of the Bahá’i Movement, therefore, is the perfecting of human character. It seeks to elevate and ennoble man’s motives and deeds. And it has within it a mysterious power which effects marvelous transformations in human nature, enabling man to characterize himself with spiritual attributes.
THE ULTIMATE universal aim of
the Bahá’i Movement—that of establishing
a more perfect civilization
upon our planet by uniting
mankind under a unifying and progressive
force—this ideal appeals
with tremendous power to all whose
spiritual conscience has been awakened.
Those who accept the New
World Order of Bahá’u’lláh desire
to devote themselves heart and soul
to the carrying out of these noble
institutions. Thus Bahá’is the
world over—of various races,
creeds, cultural backgrounds, personal convictions and tastes—are striving to work with unity and concord to bring to pass the new world state.
The nobility of the ideals and the universal splendor of the cultural edifice which Bahá’u’lláh projects has been the cause of attracting to the Bahá’i Movement many people who had been deniers of revealed religion; finding themselves powerfully attracted to the teachings of Bahá’u’lláh they have gradually come to accept His Cause as a definite Revelation.
Did not this same thing take place in the early centuries of Christianity? How many a Roman citizen-cultured, intellectual, sophisticated and skeptical—became attracted to the faith of the Nazarene because of the power of its humane institutions and its strong evidence of a reforming, vitalizing force in the lives of its adherents. And so today the Bahá’i Movement is marvelously attracting the allegiance of men and women who have a humanitarian vision for the world.
THE PRINCIPLES of organization of
the World State of Bahá’u’lláh depend
for their achievement upon a
transformation of human character
such as ‘Abdu’l-Bahá definitely
urges:
“The cornerstone of the religion of God is the acquisition of divine perfection. . . . He is a true Bahá’i who strives by day and by night to progress and advance along the path of human endeavor; whose cherished desire is to live and act so as to enrich and illumine the world; whose source of inspiration is the Essence of Divine perfection;
whose aim in life is to conduct himself so as to be the cause of infinite progress. Only when he attains unto such perfect gifts can it be said of him that he is a Bahá’i.
“. . . Dedicate yourselves wholly to the service of humanity. Then will the world be turned into a paradise; then will the surface of the earth mirror forth the glory of the . . . Kingdom.”
How far removed is the Bahá’i
ideal of spiritual development from
narrow religious bigotry or a theological
pattern for mere personal
salvation!
It is society that the Bahá’is seek to save. To this great purpose they dedicate their lives. And they
strive to spiritualize their own natures not so much for the sake of eternal blessedness as for the sake of gaining power and ability for the creative work most vitally needed on earth today—that of transforming human institutions into more noble patterns.
This ideal presents a powerful appeal to all types and classes, of whatever race. Here is something which stirs all that is generous and noble in human nature; something that calls forth these hidden energies in the depths of man’s being which can be realized only by the power of lofty ideals, and which strengthened by divine force can become powerfully effective in the building of nobler institutions.
IT is not intended that the world of humanity should be left to its natural state. It is in need of the education divinely provided for it. The holy, heavenly Manifestations of God have been the teachers. They are the divine gardeners who transform the jungles of human nature into fruitful orchards and make the thorny places blossom as the rose.
“It is evident then that the intended and especial function of man is to rescue and redeem himself from the inherent defects of nature and become qualified with the ideal virtues of divinity. Shall he sacrifice these ideal virtues and destroy these possibilities of advancement? God has endowed him with a power whereby he can even overcome the laws and phenomena of nature, wrest the sword from nature’s hand and use it against nature itself. Shall he then remain its captive, even failing to qualify under the natural law which commands the survival of the fittest? That is to say shall he continue to live upon the level of the animal kingdom without distinction between them and himself in natural impulses and ferocious instincts? There is no lower degree or greater debasement for man than this natal condition of animalism. The battlefield is the acme of human degradation, the cause of the wrath of God, the destruction of the divine foundation of man.
The author, a pioneer in the Bahá’i Cause in America and one of its well known teachers, was among the first of the Western Bahá’i teachers to travel to India on a Bahá’i teaching tour. He here gives us an excellent presentation of the fact that science in reality does coincide with the reality of religion.
BRIEFLY defined, science is the sum of human, or material knowledge, classified,—knowledge gained and verified by exact observation and reason. Confessedly, so far as science is concerned, the age-long enigma of “Whence? Why? Whither?” is still the riddle of the universe. Life itself, the source of life, and consciousness are still unsolved problems.
A well known physicist, Oliver Lodge,1 informs us:
“When animation has ceased, the thing we properly call dead is not the complete organism, but that material portion which is left behind; we do not or should not intend to make any assertion concerning the vivifying principle which has left it,—beyond the bare fact of its departure. We know too little about that principle to be able to make safe general assertions. . . . it is not a form of energy, nor can it be expressed in terms of something else.”
“But though Life is not energy, any more than it is matter, yet it directs energy and thereby controls arrangements of matter.”
Sir Arthur Eddington is quoted as saying:2
“Theoretical physicists are dragging to light, as the basis of all the phenomena that come within their province, a scheme of symbols linked by mathematical equations. That is what the physical universe boils down to–a skeleton scheme of symbols. It is impossible to deal with the whole fact. But no one believes that what is omitted has no existence. The skeleton of symbols cries out to be filled. But it cries out in vain to physics. Physical science has no way of clothing the skeleton or filling it out. It cannot give the whole truth.”
‘ABDU’L-BAHA describes science
and religion as the two wings of one
bird. Flying requires two wings, and
the two wings of this bird symbolize
two distinct branches of knowledge.
Both branches are indispensable.
1 Raymond, p. 290. 2 New York Times, October 9, 1932. 3 Tablets, Vol. 3. p. 549. 4 “In reality Faith embodies three degrees: To confess with the tongue; to believe in the heart; to give evidence in our actions.”—’Abdu’l-Bahá, “Ten Days in the Light of ‘Akka.’,” p. 59.
The loss of either would mean the end of progress. Science itself is beginning to learn that it is in perfect agreement with religion, that is, religion of the kind that has no quarrel with science, religion that bases itself on knowledge, and not on dogma and superstition. In this period of world depression and chaos, such a religion, or faith, is the supreme need of mankind.
‘Abdu’l-Bahá thus defines faith: “By faith is meant, first, conscious knowledge; and, second, the practice of good deeds.”3
Science, in the broad sense, therefore, is the full content of the outer, material knowledge, gained and verified by exact observation, while faith is the full content of conscious knowledge, received through the Divine Manifestations, and verified by deeds and experience. Science is acquired knowledge; faith is intuitive knowledge.4 Science is the body of outer facts; faith is the spirit which animating that body, will solve all our problems, remove all our difficulties, and make this old world of ours “a fit place to live in. ” Science has nobly done its part. It remains for religion to vivify the body of the world prepared by science, and animate it with the spirit of the new and on-coming divine civilization, for we are living in the beginnings of a new and marvellous age, a new cycle of human power. It is the Age of Ages, the Day in which Daniel prophesied
knowedge should be increased.
This increase of knowledge has been so tremendous that man has become frightened.
Through His Spirit God has whispered into the inner ear of man understanding which has enabled him to bring “out of the invisible into the visible” the secrets of nature and harness them to his own use to such an extent that the Frankenstein machine he has invented seems about to devour him. This is the great fear that stalks abroad today. But the fear is unjustified. The purpose of God is in man, and the day is rapidly approaching when man will also conquer this machine and compel it to the universal service of mankind. Then will come the day of the great abundance prophesied by Muhammad for all the sons of men. The present condition of misery and want is the result of materialism rampant; the coming happiness and prosperity will be the result of religion triumphant. The spiritual forces are being mobilized for the final conflict.
THAT THE organized forces of
greed have misused the power material
science gave them is not the
fault of science. It is not science,
but religion which has failed. Just
recently, defending the power age
before the Institute of Arts and
Sciences in New York, the famous
scientist and Columbia professor,
Dr. Michael I. Pupin said:
“It is not the power age or science that have brought ills on the world. Rather it is the engineers of the spiritual world who have failed. Materialism can never be eliminated until the spiritual engineers in the service of church and state develop man’s spiritual powers and harness them to the service of mankind.”
1 February “Forum”.
And this is precisely what God has sent His Manifestation to do, and it will not be done until men listen to Him. The world needs to be inspired by a great universal ideal enlisting men in service for humanity as a whole, for the attainment of which they are willing to sacrifice their narrow personal and national interests and prejudices. Otherwise the reconstruction of the world and the building of a better and nobler civilization is impossible. The task is hopeless until men can be made to understand that any progress worthy of the name depends upon people and nations who believe in something and someone higher than themselves. It is such a belief that built up our own great nation; it is such a belief that built up every great enduring civilization of the past. The path of history is strewn with the wrecks of peoples who got tired of believing in God. John Grier Hibben, former President of Princeton University says:1
“As we look back over the history of our nation, it is evident that our progress has been due to the fact that there were men and women in every generation who believed in something and someone higher than themselves. Not only were they courageous in expressing their convictions, but their lives measured up to their faith, their spirit of endurance, and their determination.”
And again:
“I . . . believe that a divine power does manifest itself through the channels of consecrated human personality. . . . Certain lessons from the experience of this last decade we should learn. The first is that we are in danger at the present time not merely of losing our wealth and the material comforts and necessities of life but also our spirit.”
After stating that we have reached the state in our present experiences where no ordinary effort will enable a man “to rise above the
level of his depressed thoughts and feelings”, he adds:
“But the untapped sources of power, to use a phrase of William James, must be called upon. We dare not allow a deflation of spirit. There must be the will to endure, the determination not to be downed, whatever may happen.”
And that brings us back to Eddington, who, after telling us that science cannot fill out the skeleton of symbols and give us the whole truth, says:
“We must go back to consciousness—the only place to which we can turn. There we will find other stirrings, other revelations.”
BASIL KING wrote a book entitled “The Conquest of Fear.” He wrote beautifully of the protecting care of Life for children. He called it “The Life Principle”. It is referred to by Sir Oliver Lodge as “the vivifying principle”. We are told that it is not energy—not a form of force—for energy expends itself and this mysterious power and organizing principle seems to well from a limitless source, and yet, although it is not energy, it directs energy and controls the arrangements of matter. And how wonderful are those arrangements! Its mysterious shaping power is found in all things. It arranges them as It desires them to be. It can even say “Be—and it is.” Men call it the life or vivifying principle. Bahá’u’lláh calls it the Self of God. It is the command, the desire, the will of God in every atom of His creation, and through It the atoms themselves cry out, “He is God, and there is no God but Him.”
He it is who is “the untapped source of power”. He it is who through the power of attraction of like for like causes elements to cohere which men call rock, or iron, or copper, or silver, or gold in the mineral world. In the vegetable
world it is He Who supplies the plant life with an ability to perform what Schopenhauer describes as prodigies of power and intelligence. Study the roots of trees and of the alfalfa plant; note the power of the toadstool to penetrate a brick wall! If this directing life principle wants a creature that can swim, it is given gills; to fly, it is given wings. And for their protection He furnishes the living creatures from the insect up to man with powers of simulation and with instincts which nothing short of the directing power of a supernatural intelligence can explain, demonstrating the loving care of God in the world of the unconscious. Here we have proof in far greater abundance than we can understand, of the “untapped source of power”.
IN CONCLUSION, we have at last
reached “The Day of God”, when
God would no more speak to us in
parables, but when the secret and
hidden things were to be revealed.
Bahá’u’lláh tells us:
“There is today a science which can eradicate fear. It must be taught from the earliest period of childhood, and if it becomes popular, the very nature of man will be changed. . . .
“Likewise a saying has been written in the Red Book by the Supreme Pen, which makes apparent a hidden faculty in man. . .”
When we have learned, not through scientific or acquired knowledge, but through the Spirit of Faith, to cut ourselves from all things else, and be content to let the directing, nay, the compelling Command, Will or Self of God which is in every atom of His creation have Its unopposed way in us, then, and only then, shall we become conscious of the untapped sources of power and understand why the conscious knowledge of faith transcends the acquired knowledge of science.
AN ESSENTIAL principle of Bahá’u’lláh’s teaching is that religion must be the cause of unity and love amongst men; that it is the supreme effulgence of divinity, the stimulus of life, the source of honor and productive of eternal existence . . . .
“Furthermore the teachings of Bahá’u’lláh announce that religion must be in conformity with science and reason, otherwise it is superstition; for science and reason are realities, and religion itself is the Divine Reality unto which true science and reason must conform.
“God has bestowed the gift of mind upon man in order that he may weigh every fact or truth presented to him and adjudge whether it be reasonable. That which conforms to his reason he may accept as true, while that which reason and science cannot sanction may be discarded as imagination and superstition, as a phantom and not reality. Inasmuch as the blind imitations or dogmatic interpretations current among men do not coincide with the postulates of reason, and the mind and scientific investigation cannot acquiesce thereto, many souls in the human world today shun and deny religion. That is to say, imitations when weighed in the scales of reason will not conform to its standard and requirement; therefore these souls deny religion and become irreligious whereas if the reality of the divine religions becomes manifest to them and the foundation of the heavenly teachings is revealed coinciding with facts and evident truths, reconciling with scientific knowledge and reasonable proof, all may acknowledge them and irreligion will cease to exist. In this way all mankind may be brought to the foundation of religion, for reality is true reason and science while all that is not conformable thereto is mere superstition.”
“Temples are the symbols of the divine uniting force, so that when the people gather there in the house of God they may recall the fact that the law has been revealed for them and that the law is to unite them. They will realize that just as this temple was founded for the unification of mankind, the law preceding and creating it came forth in the manifest Word.”
THE inclination to worship is deeply seated in human beings. To primitive men, an avalanche, a storm with its lightning and thunder, a flood seemed supernatural. Malevolent spirits were feared and must be propitiated. Naturally, many spirits were imagined, both good and bad. Thus emerged the idea of many gods.
Later there began to emerge the conception of one tribal god, benevolent only to his chosen people. And then came a Prophet heralding another advance—the great idea that there was but one God for all peoples and nations. This was a tremendous step.
Great monotheistic religious movements followed, but soon man began to worship God in many and devious ways. The results were so diverse as to seem almost as if different gods were again being worshipped.
First, many gods and many ideas of worship. Second, one God for a nation and as many ideas of worship as nations. Third, one god for all nations. Fourth, one God for all nations but again many ideas as to worship.
What is the next stage in this drama of religious attitudes? It is contemporary with our times.
PRIMITIVE man saw in storms
and avalanches symbols of a power
he could not understand. He saw the outward manifestations of this power, its symbols, but the moving force of these was a mysterious one and unknown. Paradoxically, man is again confronted with forces which he does not understand in the whirlpool of conflicting political, economic and social vicissitudes.
However, today we deal with physical phenomena as astounding to us, if not more so, than the apparently supernatural occurrences of an earlier day. Our scientists are really performing wonders, or clearing away the obstructions so that the wonders may be seen. But experimental observation is not enough. The laws governing certain actions and reactions are expressed ultimately by mathematical equations and these equations are composed of symbols the meaning of which is undetermined.
Primitive man saw symbols in the upheavals of nature. Modern man sees symbols in his mathematical equations. Primitive man knew the symbols represented a Great Power. Modern man, unable to explain the symbols he employs, is being led to the same general conclusion. Thus symbols assume an important role in the evolution of human thoughts, sentiments and convictions.
NATURALLY there are great differences
--PHOTO--
Carving Model of a Section of the Dome Ornamentation Bahá’i Temple, Wilmette, Illinois
in the inferences drawn by primitive and modern man. Primitive man concluded that because of many strange and apparently dissimilar occurrences, there were many ultimate causes. Modern man is finding out that all of his experimental observations and mathematical speculations tend more and more towards the idea of an underlying unity. If behind or above a series of symbols there is unity—then unity itself is, perhaps, the symbol of the Great Creative Power of the Creator.
A symbol is “that which stands for or represents something else.” The Cross is the symbol of Christianity. “C” is the chemical symbol of the element carbon. “X” is the universal unknown. The symbol of authority is the government seal. The church has been the symbol of religion.
Symbols are familiar in almost every sphere of life. They stand
for something, frequently long after they have ceased to mean anything–long after they have become as “tinkling brass.” In a rapidly changing world, it is not strange that some old symbols should lose their significance. As out-grown institutions crumble, their symbols fall with them.
HUMANITY is seeking for something
to symbolize “security.” It
cannot be found in the material
world. Only in the spiritual
realm is there to be found tranquillity
and peace. In answer to this
great longing, there is arising on
the shores of Lake Michigan, at
Wilmette, Illinois, a symbol of profound
significance—a Temple for
the universal worship of the One
God.
This Temple symbolizes many things for which human hearts, the world over, yearn. Outwardly, it is a building “made with hands”
--PHOTO--
Plaster model of section of rib of the dome, Bahá’i Temple in course of construction in Wilmette (suburb of Chicago), Illinois
but even its architecture is new and fresh. However, it is much more than a building, more even than an institution—it is the symbol of the “spirit of this age”—of unity and concord. It is a spiritual edifice.
The significance of this symbol is so profound and penetrating that it is difficult to grasp. Perhaps it can be better understood and appreciated by considering it a super-symbol made up of numerous contributing ones, themselves important and far reaching.
It is the symbol of an obligation assumed by a relatively small number of people who have seen a great Light and wish to share it with others.
It is a symbol of sacrifice, for it is being constructed by the voluntary giving of that relatively small number in times of economic distress.
It is the symbol of liberty; freedom from traditional hindrances,
superstitions and out-worn creeds, for within its portals men of all religions may worship in complete harmony.
It is the symbol of a new era in human relationships, wherein all prejudices of whatever kind will be forever obliterated from the feelings of mankind.
It is the symbol of the universal brotherhood of man made a practical principle of life.
It is the symbol of a universal religion, all inclusive.
It is the symbol of a quickening of human spiritual perception.
It is the symbol of an acceleration in human evolution and its approaching culmination.
It is a symbol of Divine Benevolence.
Its completion will evidence great progress in the drama of religious attitudes, signalling the “hour of the unity of the sons of men.”
THERE IS a mighty power in concerted thought, feeling and action—in unity. When human action is synchronized with the will of God untold benefits are possible. The principle of unity has never been really tried by man. The completion of this Temple will mark a stage in progress towards this ideal.
Concurrent with the destruction of “long cherished ideals,” “time honored institutions,” “certain social assumptions” which “no longer serve the generality of mankind” and “no longer minister to the needs of a changing world,”—the construction of this symbol of the “celestial potency” of God’s Power, inspires “wider loyalties” and ”higher aspirations.”
Even in a partially completed state, it is a bright beacon in the darkness.
Only future generations will be able to appraise correctly the priviilege conferred on those who assist in the unveiling of this great symbol. As its significance becomes apparent, as its influence is felt, as its unique value is appreciated, a part, however small, in its activities will be highly prized. Possibly no more benign privilege will ever exist than that of having a part in the building of this Temple, this symbol of “the spirit of the age.”
May the beneficent influences contingent upon its progress and completion be not too long delayed by any cause whatsoever.
“It behooves each one of you to manifest the attributes of God, and to exemplify by your deeds and words the signs of His righteousness, His power and glory. The very members of your body must bear witness to the loftiness of your purpose, the integrity of your life, the reality of your faith, and the exalted character of your devotion.”
—From the Utterances of the Báb to His disciples. The Dawn-Breakers, pp 92-94.
The first part of this article was published in the February number. It ably defined the difference between sectarianism and universal religion, and stressed the importance of daily meditation and communion. In this the second and concluding part, the author gives us a very clarifying statement on the subject of those possessing a passive faith only, and those who “eagerly and sacrificially seek the pathway of Divine mysteries.”
“Forget all save Me and commune with My Spirit. This is of the essence of My command, therefore turn unto it.”
DIVINE knowledge, as entrusted to man, becomes the most powerful magnet in human society, a point of irresistible attraction. It was the possession of this knowledge by the ancient sages of Israel that brought to their gates seekers of truth from the high places of the earth. Kings and princes, philosophers and students journeyed to Jerusalem in the days of “Solomonic sovereignty,” to learn of the hidden truths of life and eternity. Those arduous journeyings, accomplished only through difficult trials and the infinite hardships of slow locomotion, were inspired by this hunger of the human soul for the light of knowledge. The “knowledge of God,” ‘Abdu’l-Bahá declares, “is an ecstasy”. All conceptions of intoxication, in this world, are but traces of that consciousness that is favored with a sip of the divine wine of impregnable Truth which is unsealed today by the hand of the immortal Cup-bearer. The nearest approach to this symbol of joy, in this world, is the cool stream of pure water into which the desert traveler, deprived for days, plunges his parched lips—and drinks. How comparatively
little we realize the corresponding state of the soul of reality resident within all humanity whose thirst is quenched only at the Fountain of Life with the Water of Truth. Yet the Heavenly Table has been spread only for this.
TO PARTAKE at this table of Divine
nutrition, as compared with
him who remains aloof, betokens the
vast gulf that yawns between him
who rests satisfied with belief and
passive faith, and him who eagerly
and sacrificially seeks the pathway
of divine mysteries. Because
of this, ‘Abdu’l-Bahá—Himself the
“Mystery of God”, that luminous
Torch-bearer along the pathway of
the Kingdom,–continually exhorted
the friends of God to “become
informed of the mysteries.” And
still we find those, a very few we
trust, who regard such a search and
such a goal as savoring of sentimentality,
or as something worthy
of superstitious fear, glorying
rather in that intense practicality
that, deprived of true guidance, has
sadly failed to preserve the nations
employing it from utter disintegration.
Not that the enlightened soul
is, in any true sense, impractical in
the things that are worth while.
But such a one can never worship
or exalt a mere quality to the exclusion
of that which is commanded by
those who know and who possess the
Authority of Command.
IN SHORT, it is both plain and certain, that for the pioneer believers of this illumined century, all those now living, a potential station of servitude to all humanity is reserved, like unto—perhaps excelling—that occupied by the ancient sages of former cycles. To solve the difficult questions of innumerable seekers, to show forth a trace of the Master’s power to quiet and enrapture the souls, to exhibit the heavenly qualities, to illumine the administrative functions with their essential, spiritual reality of love, wisdom and justice, to be utterly freed from the personal characteristics, ambitions and exclusiveness that mark the merely sectarian,—requires a deepening of consciousness obtained only through the accepted and merciful bestowals gained by meditation and communion. Were this not so, how can we account for the innermost essences revealed by Bahá’u’lláh?
In His most powerful utterances He advises, “Thou art My stronghold; enter therein that thou mayst abide in safety. My love is in thee, know it, that thou mayst find Me near unto thee.” Again He says, “Thou art My lamp and My light is in thee. Get thou from it thy radiance.” Still again, “Within thee have I placed the essence of My light. Be thou content with it.” Also, “Turn thy sight unto thyself, that thou mayst find Me standing within thee, mighty, powerful and self-subsisting.”1
And in one of His holy prayers, He communes “O Thou who art hidden in our innermost hearts.”
With equal emphasis Christ taught His followers that the Kingdom of Heaven was within them,
1 Hidden Words (Arabic) 10, 11, 12, 13. (Italics ours.) 2 The Book of Certitude, new edition, p. 101.
3 New edition, p. 102. 4 Bahá’i Scriptures, p. 151, v. 121. 5 Bahá’i Scriptures, p. 466, v. 869.
and that this Kingdom must first be sought out.
And Bahá’u’lláh, in the Kitab-i-Iqán confirms the tradition, “Man is My mystery and I am his Mystery.”2 And again He informs us that, “He hath known God who hath known himself.”3 He further says, “And be ye not like those who forget God, and whom He hath therefore caused to forget their own selves, [realities]2; and “All these names and attributes are applicable to him [man].”2 While in the Tablet of Glad Tidings, He says, “God willing, all will turn unto the treasuries that are deposited within themselves.”4
These utterances indicate the true stronghold to which men may turn during the successive calamities that are oppressing the world today. Especially to the friends of God does this great bounty open the gates of the City of Refuge, even unto the very Throne, itself.
In a Tablet with which ‘Abdu’l-Bahá at one time favored the writer,5 in recounting the wisdom of prayer, He said: “The greatest happiness for a lover is to converse with his beloved, and the greatest gift for a seeker is to become familiar with the object of his longing; that is why, with every soul who is attracted to the Kingdom of God, his greatest hope is to find an opportunity to entreat and supplicate before his Beloved, appeal to His mercy and grace and be immersed in the ocean of His utterance, goodness and generosity.”
Of the illumined souls who have trodden this path, Muhammad said: “Fear ye the sagacity of the faithful, for he seeth with the Light Divine.”
SOME followers of certain philosophies seek this pathway in the hope of self-advancement. But the lovers of God are actuated by the requirements of servitude in the Divine pathway, and the longing to achieve the divine destinies that He has ordained. They cling neither to life nor possessions. They rather know that, like the fruit concealed in the tree, latent within them reposes the potentiality of a divine fruitage which must be brought to maturity. Nevertheless, since divine health and well being ever attend the one who contacts the vast reservoirs of life surging in that inner realm of being, such a one, reinforced with that ageless power, witnesses, in himself, a capacity, a resourcefulness and a guidance denied to those who weakly cling to the husks of sectarianism. For these are confined by the limitations of attachment, and therefore invite to a greater or less degree the decompositional, destructive forces of Mother Nature.
To the extent that sectarian thought is based upon superstition and mythical dogma, the imaginations of the personal man as contrasted with the certainties of the seeker of divine mysteries, its followers are controlled more rigidly by the natural law of the duality. And, conversely, the advancing soul, gradually coming to recognize the mystic truth that, “There was God and nothing whatever was with Him,” changes the axis of his being into harmony with the law of oneness which abhors duality. Thus he makes a flight toward the Plain of Being, that blessed realm wherein the light is unchanging and not subject to darkness, or other dual opposities.
1 The Book of Certitude, p. 172; 2, p. 238.
CAN THERE exist any doubt as to which path is divinely favored? The Essence of the Sacred Books, the dynamic of the revealed Word of God—all reveal the deadly parallel. Not argument but the Word, Itself, is absolute demonstration. As for instance in The Kitab-i-Iqán,1 Bahá’u’lláh says: “They have even failed to realize, all this time, that, in every age, the reading of the scriptures and holy books is for no other purpose except to enable the reader to apprehend their meaning and unravel their innermost mysteries.” And in the same Book2 He asserts that, “One hour’s reflection is preferable to seventy years of pious worship.”
This reflection is the essence of meditation. The goal is within, not without, and the consciousness must be attuned to the lordly vibrations of that station wherein He stands “powerful, mighty and self-subsistent.” Then, “Thou mayst hearken unto the mystic voice calling from the realms of the invisible.” Then shall the Cause of God become “Light upon Light” to all mankind. This attuning of consciousness brings the worshipper for the first time to the point where the vibrations of prayer can penetrate to the Listener and the Answerer of prayer. It is idle to suppose that a prayer launched from the inferior and worldly station of personal, outer consciousness can wing its way to the Realm of Holiness. A weak broadcasting station can not imprint its message upon a receiver tuned and vibrating with infinitely high waves. But the vibrations must be of the same quality—and in the spiritual world the connecting link is the love, yearning, and union in the soul of the seeker of divine gifts.
- We thought you loved us, and your love was true,
- That all there was of worth to know—you knew,
- And so, like pilgrims, long we followed you,
- Exalted you, declared you prophets, peers,
- Incomparables and worthy pioneers,
- And never dreamed there were yet greater seers!
- While you were failing us in every need,
- While we were withering within the seed—
- You told us we were triumphing indeed;
- You told us we were waxing strong and free
- While you were bringing grinding poverty
- To generations here and yet to be.
- When cries of war and falling dynasties
- Had drenched in blood the quaking lands and seas—
- You hushed our protests with sweet words of Peace,
- And when you marched us to the battlefield—
- Compelled us with your avarice to yield—
- You did not tell us ’twas our own we killed.
- Had you no eyes, no hearts, no loftier goals
- Than making sandbanks, rearing shoals—
- Things to incarcerate your children’s souls?
- Had you no true compassion on your Young,
- That you would exile them from Truth and Song?
- O, how, how could you leave us Godless for so long?
Editorial Note—Is it not true, in spite of the fact that there still remain many sources of earnest spiritual teaching, that the general indoctrination of educated society during the last generation has been, as the poet tells us, Godless?
“The sea, has innumerable pearls in its depths. A good and trained diver will obtain therefrom abundant pearls.”—‘Abdu’l-Bahá.
A LITTLE party of four boarded the Carnaro at Trieste on November fourth, 1931. We were bound for Haifa, Palestine, where we expected, through meeting Shoghi Effendi, the Guardian of the Bahá’i Cause, and the family of ‘Abdul’-Bahá and through visiting the shrines of the Founders of the Bahá’i Faith—the Báb, Bahá’ulláh and ‘Abdu’l-Bahá—to gain light on the problems that so vex the world, to make contact with the universal love that ‘Abdu’l-Bahá had instilled into those who associated with Him and to deepen our faith in the invincible power which has characterized that Faith from its inception.
On November ninth, in the afternoon, the city of Haifa came into view. It lies at the foot of Mt. Carmel, the mountain famed in Old Testament annals as the abode of the Prophets of God. In the nineteenth and twentieth centuries it has again become the centre from which spiritual teachings have gone forth. And its spiritual revival has been accompanied by considerable material progress, for it is already the chief shipping centre for Palestine. Our first impression on entering its harbor was of a commercial activity which had been distinctly lacking at the older and more Oriental port of Jaffa, where we had anchored a few hours
earlier. Work on the deepened harbor is in constant progress and ’ere long ships will dock at Haifa.
After landing, some of us chose to walk through the narrow crooked streets with Ruhi Afnán, grandson of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá and cousin of Shoghi Effendi, who was at the dock to greet us. Haifa streets show a mingling of the Oriental and the cosmopolitan. Its inhabitants–Jews, Arabs, Germans, French, English, Persians, and Americans—all retaining to some extent their distinctive dress, language, and customs, give the city the charm of diversity. It was interesting to note the disappearance of one former Oriental feature, the traditional black dress and veil covering the whole head and face of the Arab women. Of the Arab women we saw nearly all were unveiled.
Our walk brought us at last to the Bahá’i Western Pilgrim House situated near the edge of the city a little way up Mt. Oarmel. About this house is a very delightful blending of the Orient with the Occident, the beautiful and dignified with the homey and comfortable. The circular central hall with its marble pillars, the lofty ceilings, the flat roof, sundrenched by day and moonlight bathed at night, seem apart from our workaday world of the West. But the furnishings
of bedrooms, reading, writing, sitting, and dining rooms are Occidental. In the gardens on three sides of the house are magnificent poinsettias, roses, jasmine, chrysanthemums. Soon the freesias will be blossoming. We are indebted to Fugeta from Japan for these carefully tended gardens as well as many a kind personal service. Effie from Australia, of Scotch ancestry, is responsible for the beautiful order of the interior of the house. Both help to maintain the pervasive atmosphere of kindly cheer which is neither of the Orient nor the Occident, but, of the Kingdom.
TUESDAY, NOVEMBER TENTH—Today
at luncheon Shoghi Effendi
was present and, through his conversation,
we were given a view as
from a mountain top of present
conditions in the world and the relations
of Bahá’is to these conditions.
Bahá’is, he says, are loyal
to the government, but eschew
party politics. They are eager to
serve their country through devoting
themselves to the welfare of the
people. They hold administrative
posts only when these are not dependent
on party politics. Some
Bahá’is in Persia have been appointed
to important posts of
this type. One is chief magistrate
in a city, one head of an imperial
bank. Gradually, as the Bahá’i
Faith develops and spreads, it will
number among its supporters outstanding
citizens. The early history
of the Bahá’i religion in
Persia reveals the fact that it had
many notables in its ranks.
In each country the Bahá’is have an especial problem. In Germany
it is the Semitic question; in Persia polygamy and opium; in France, alcohol; in England, class prejudice; in America, racial prejudice. The teachings ‘Abdu’l-Bahá gave on interracial relations are so sound, kind, and sincere, and the Bahá’i teaching of the oneness of mankind so thoroughgoing that Bahá’is have a stronger program and deeper sincerity than other workers for harmony between races. The Bahá’is need to be more courageous in applying these principles. Especially should they convince the Negro and the world at large that they stand for lack of prejudice in social ways.
AT THREE in the afternoon we went to the Shrine of the Báb and ‘Abdu’l-Bahá on Mount Carmel. It is only five or ten minutes walk from the Pilgrim House. The road brings one to the foot of some terraces. One enters a gate and climbs alternately by flights of stone steps and paths of red crushed stone. On either side are scarlet geraniums and palms. The approach to the shrine is steep. And this steepness I liked, thinking of it as a bit of symbolism.
Near the shrine is a circle of cedars where Bahá’u’lláh used to sit. A larger circle has been planted outside to protect the original trees. The view from here is one of extreme beauty, embracing this part of the Mediterranean, ‘Akká Bay, and, nine miles across the bay, the city of ‘Akká which is always catching the light and reflecting it in some new way—truly like a jewel on a diadem.
Coming down the mountain we went into the house of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, now Shoghi Effendi’s. Here
we had the privilege of meeting ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s sister, His widow and two of His daughters. Each time we met these women, and this was nearly every day of our stay in Haifa, we realized more what the true beauty and nobility of womanhood may be. The face of the sister of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, Bahiyyeh Khanum, although shadowed by age, was so full of love and a genuine interest in life and people that we did not think of her as old, but rather as ageless and eternal. The freshness of the beauty of love radiating from her captivated us. And from all these women one sees an intensely bright reflection of the Spirit of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá. The fact that there are several of them and that each one has a strong individuality helps to broaden one’s conception of the ideal Bahá’i character, for each is thoroughly lovely in a different way.
WHEN WE were in Geneva earlier
in the autumn we had the great
privilege of meeting Monerva
Khanum, the youngest daughter of
‘Abdu’l-Bahá. She showed us then
both in word and deed the nature
of the love which ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s
life exemplified. For nearly eighty
years, she told us, ‘Abdu’l-Bahá
lived a life of perfect love, each
thing He did being a lesson to teach
us how to love. Realizing how difficult
it is to attain such love, we
questioned her a little further. It
must be real, she answered. In this
quality of genuineness it is like the
love we have for our children. If
they do wrong we are eager to excuse
them.
Then, dwelling a little also on the intellectual side of love she pointed
out how necessary is understanding. Most hatred comes from lack of understanding. It is to aid in understanding that Bahá’u’lláh decreed the “parliament of nations, the federation of the world.” She spoke in a simple and profound way of the condition of the world. It seemed to her like a wayward child. Through Bahá’u’lláh God has shown it the way of salvation, the same way that Christ and other great religious Founders have pointed out, the eternal path which every religion in its pure and early stages shows. But the world is slow to recognize the old path made new by the clearing away of the debris of agelong superstition and imitation. And because of this slowness of apprehension God allows suffering to come in order that through suffering this child may learn. In the same way a kind parent would allow his child to suffer in order that its understanding might increase.
BUT TO COME back to this afternoon
in Haifa. The conversation
turned on relations with people,
and the importance of not interfering
with the religious beliefs of
others was brought out. “Leave
them alone as to their religious belief,
but be very kind to them.”
Words like these were spoken by
the wife of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá. She told
an incident to illustrate what she
meant. When a young girl she
wanted to keep both the Muhammadan
and the Bahá’i fast, but her
mother thought that this would be
too great a strain on her health as
one fast followed immediately after
the other. Her father said, “Leave
her alone and it will come to her.”
And so it did, when she was fifteen or sixteen. She said the Iqán (Book of Certitude) by Bahá’u’lláh helped her much. She wanted us to be sure to read it in the new translation by Shoghi Effendi.
Rouha Khanum, one of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’is daughters, spoke of joy and sorrow, wondering which brought us nearer to God. She thought, sorrow. She told of an American woman who came a long way to see ‘Abdu’l-Bahá because she had heard that He was a great spiritual teacher. She was suffering intensely because her loved ones had died. Her love for them consumed all other thought and she longed only to have them again. But in the presence of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá she obtained the real comfort none else had been able to give.
That evening at dinner Effie told
a story illustrating another side of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, His love of fun and happiness. He and His entourage were staying in Lady B’s house in London. One evening there was a sound of much laughter below-stairs. It was so gay and arresting that Lady B. went down to find the occasion of the mirth, and ‘Abdu’l-Bahá followed. They found Khosroe, ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s servant, and one of the maids laughing and joking very happily. Khosroe was telling how women in the Orient have to obey the men and how if he and the maid were there she would have to do just what he told her and the maid was answering that in England things were different and, since they were in England, he must do what she said, etc. etc. ‘Abdu’l-Bahá gave them each two shillings for being happy.
- So much is said of Love,
- What is there left that’s new?
- But O to be led of Love
- In every thing we do!
- And O to talk with Love
- When we have aught to say!
- LOVE!—Let us walk with Love
- Into the Light of Day!
In her world travels in behalf of The Bahá’i Movement the author takes time to write to friends impressions derived from her varied experiences. These “Letters Home” we have been privileged to present to the readers of the Bahá’i Magazine at different times during the past year. The first “letter” appeared in the January, 1932 number, and described the author’s visit to Nikko and other places in Japan. The April number gave some of her impressions of China; the December issue contained an interesting description of her contacts with the Maoris of New Zealand; and the January number her observations while traveling through India. Herein begins a new series on her fascinating material and spiritual experiences in Persia.
CROSSING the western boundary of Persia, from Iráq, we behold at once the gaunt and troubled grandeur of her sterile mountain chains. Her landscape presents this profile wherever we may go; a thousand valleys past which the mountains are ever marching, sometimes stepping imperiously across our path and forcing it to fling its tortuous way to their very summits; often lifting their lofty peaks and snowy diadems to peer majestically over the clouds; in Mázindarán luxuriantly wooded—elsewhere barren and wrinkled; in Khurásán, now ancient and indifferent, their transfixed writhings bear mute testimony to the agony of earth’s youth. Purple at dawn, blue at midday, rosy at dusk, feeding the countless rivulets that fling diamonds when spurned by our flying wheels, these mountains—which are Persia–have listened for ages to the inarticulate prayers sent up, from her desert valleys, in verdure and gardens and produce for the divine bounty of water. You have to get the feel of this landscape, before you can know Persia.
Her people, still pastoral and archaic, have for ages been surrounded
by these almost insurmountable physical barriers. Caught as it were in a geographical back-wash, Persia has not been on the beaten path of travel, except for slow-moving caravans, or exploitation and conquest, since those ancient days when “Ships in thousands . . . . and men in nations” attested to her unchallengable grandeur.
Even a short journey in Persia today is arduous. The mountains are jealous guards of the secrets and mysteries that lie beyond their confines. How infinitely more difficult was communication in days before improved roads and methods of transportation had arrived. Unfriendliness, timidity and provincialism have ever been the price of segregation and homogeneity.
Due to this isolation Persia up to the time of the Báb’s proclamation was in a pre-logical, pre-scientific, pre-international condition. The magical progress that has taken place since that date has been enormously heightened in the past few years under the regime of Rida Shah Pahlevi.
IN ORDER to understand what the
Bahá’i teachings have done for
Persia it is only necessary to visit a Bahá’i and a non-Bahá’i community.
Tucked away in the mountains of Adhirbáyján is the Bahá’i village of Sisan,5 a community of about fifteen hundred souls, I would say, of whom twelve hundred and fifty are Bahá’is. So great is their reputation for justice, understanding and enlightenment that the Muslims of the community frequently submit their conflicts and problems to the Bahá’i Assembly rather than to the Muslim Courts.
In arranging my program the Spiritual Assembly of Tabriz included a day in this heavenly place. A farsang1 back from the main-traveled highway, a road built for Martha2 two years ago leading to the village, had been rebuilt and newly repaired for the large convoy of motors that accompanied me on this occasion. Any path is good enough for a donkey, and a camel needs none at all; so I suppose the road will lapse again until the next western visitor is expected.
A little group of Sisáns were waiting at the fork of the road to direct us, and then began a triumphal progress so extravagant that it will remain forever, not an episode, but an acute emotional experience.
As our car turned into the crude new-made roadway, from every field and farmstead, from every lodge and pasture they came running—all those who perforce must remain at their work, unable to join the holiday-makers in the village. “Alláh-u-Abhá”3 rang from every
1 About three miles. 2 Miss Martha Root, Bahá’i teacher who visited Persia in 1930. 3 God is the Most Glorious; the Greatest Name of God. 4 Glory. 5 Same as Saysan.
side: “Alláh-u-Abhá” joyously cried the little shepherd as his frightened flock fled away. “Alláh-u-Abhá pealed the stalwart young farmer leaving his stolid bullocks in the half-finished furrow; old men ran breathlessly from their herds calling “Alláh-u-Abhá” as they came; “Alláh-u-Abhá was the shout of the donkey boy, and “Alláh-u-Abhá” the glad greeting of the camel-driver who had hurried all night to arrive at this rendezvous until at last the very birds, trees, streams, yes, rocks, had joined the mystic chorus and the earth herself was pulsating with the power of the Greatest Name. It was as if the Heavens had descended and all the company of men and angels had joined “the four living creasures” and “the four and twenty elders” bowed before that august throne and chanting with them, in incommunicable ecstasy, their eternal song “Holy, Holy, Holy Lord God of Hosts! Heaven and earth are full of the majesty of Thy Bahá.”4
And then, turning sharply to enter the main road of the village there in two mighty rows were drawn up before us these hundreds of men and women rocking the houses with their joyous welcome of “Alláh-u-Abhá.”
I still have the feeling that this day is something that I have read somewhere; it doesn’t seem as if it could actually have happened.
Unlike the hideous black chuddar worn by the women of the towns and cities, these villagers were alive with color, and vivid, almost barbaric, it gave a very dramatic background to the scene.
We stopped in front of a villa set on a hill with a very long narrow garden in front. Not only was the entire facade of the house covered with choice rugs but the whole garden wall around the entrance gate had been similarly decorated, and lovely rugs had been spread upon the dusty pathway leading to the residence.
Seating myself in an upper window I watched with dazed awe the happy, reverent throngs who crowded through the gate to do me honor. Strangely enough the women came first, every one of them carrying a baby, the mothers their infants, the grandmothers the “second youngest.”
Above the marvel of this sight my senses danced with delight at the gorgeous colorings, orange, red, grass-green, magenta, Chinese pink—it was none too brilliant for the occasion.
It took about twenty minutes for the women to file in, in orderly fashion; they stood to the right, around the pool. The men followed more rapidly to the opposite side and then I was to come down to the garden and speak.
Turkish is the vernacular of the whole province of Adhirbáyján. It was very complicated: Mr. Cayvais, the interpreter who accompanied me from Tihrán, translated to Mr. Frután (a national teacher stationed in the village at the time) who in turn rendered it into Turkish.
When I had finished I came from the terrace down several steps to the garden level in order to mingle with the friends and have a picture taken with them. Alas! the whole
1 Almighty is the Lord; the opening words of the Adhan or Muslim call to prayer.
roll of films was a complete failure so that the pictorial record cannot accompany my letter, as I had hoped.
As I was standing with the men’s group the chanting of the final monajat started; I was astonished, after a little while, to feel shy hands touching my dress, my scarf, my shoulder. One boy, with a radiant face, had placed his finger-tips on my arm. I warmly covered his hand with mine, until the prayer was finished.
Then just as picturesquely, just as dramatically as they had come they melted away, and we were called to the feast that had been prepared for us.
This village was significant to me not only because it has already established a reputation for Bahá’i justice and progress, not only because for three generations it has stood firm and staunch in the Covenant of God, not only because of the loving kindness which was so bountifully showered upon me, but because it is the native village of my dear friend Yad’u’llah, caretaker of the mansion and Shrine at Bahji. He had long since endeared himself to me as a sincere, selfless and devoted Bahá’i, and it was like meeting those already near to me to meet his brothers and sister here.
A pathetic little group stood apart on an adjoining housetop as I was speaking. Who are those? Why don’t they come into the garden?” I asked. “They are Muslims,” I was told. “‘Allah’u’Akbar,”1 I shouted to them to the delight of the Friends.
LUNCHEON over and high mountains to climb before we could find a resting place for the night, I went at once to the Hazirat-ul-Quds1 to meet the Spiritual Assembly and say farewell.
The place was packed and lined with old and young, many who had been in the fields having been replaced by those who had attended the morning session.
As I walked between these rows of shining faces the real meaning of Bahá’i solidarity suddenly penetrated me. Here were Persians speaking Turkish, fixed in a tiny town in the mountains of Adhirbáyján, and I, a sophisticated and effete Occidental, peripatetic, artificial, cosmopolitan; but we were bound together by ties “more lasting than bronze and higher than the exalted site of the Pyramids.” For knowledge of the coming of Bahá’u’lláh and knowledge of His All-enfolding Covenant is not a question of locality, education or perferment but an unshakable spiritual reality that welds those who know it into an indissoluble human brotherhood. Here is a true solidarity that can withstand all the forces of disruption in the universe.
Yad’u’llah’s sister came in for a few moments to the Assembly meeting and on her behalf and theirs I was presented with two beautiful pieces of hand-woven jajim, embroidered with my name.
As I was leaving the assembly room a little idiot child, who had been causing some confusion, ran up to me and pulled at my clothing. I remembered the words of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá that mental disorders may be healed by the power of
1 Bahá'i Meeting Hall.
prayer. And in a dim, remote way there stirred in my soul a faint shadow of the mighty compassion that must have seized our blessed Lord Jesus, that stern Master of tenderness, when He healed the demoniac boy. Dropping on my knees beside him I lovingly clasped the little fellow in my arms and repeated the healing prayer. He seemed mystified, quieted and happy; while in the breasts of all of us was cemented that essential unity that is attained when we touch “the depths and not the tumults of the soul.” In face of such great verities as prayer and love and divine compassion, we realize that “there is neither East nor West, border, nor breed, nor birth.”
THE FAREWELLS were just as moving
as the welcome had been. I was
tremendously agitated for fear
some one would be hurt; women
running, with babies in their arms,
to touch my hand as I waved from
our moving motor, men jostling,
boys under the very wheels it
seemed to me, shouting their goodbyes.
And once again the two long brilliant lines raising the glad paean “Alláh-u-Abhá.” Once more the fields streaming with those leaving their occupations to give “Alláh-u-Abhá” as their Godspeed; babies in their mother’s arms swelling the chorus “Alláh-u-Abhá”; again the skies were raining back the great refrain with which these simple, earnest, devoted souls were assaulting heaven.
All Persians are poets. Our Bahá’i chauffeur was stilled with
the significance of the wondrous. “I never realized before,” he said, “that nature could speak, but tonight the universe is crying Alláh-u-Abha.”
“The quiet-colored end of evening” approached as we said farewell to our kind convoy of friends from Tabriz.
Our faces set once more toward Tihrán, the solemn lovely tone of camel bells rang from the passing caravans; the donkey trains were afoot again after the noon-day rest; the sky was peach and amethyst with the recollection of sunset;
1 Zechariah 4:6.
the mauve mountains, remembering their age, grew chilly; kneeling by the roadside offering the evening prayer, the resigned figure of a devout Muslim symbolized the spirit of ancient Persia. But I had seen that today which assured me that Persia was arousing from her age old lethargy, from her fanaticism, from her resignation, and that through the assistance of this great Bahá’i army of faith and strength she was already moving forward to conquer the old evil things of her past—“Not by might nor by power, but by My Spirit, saith the Lord of Hosts.”1
The Divine Prophets are as the coming of spring, each renewing and quickening the teachings of the Prophet who came before him. Just as all seasons of spring are essentially one as to newness of life, vernal showers and beauty, so the essence of the mission and accomplishment of all the Prophets is one and the same. Now the people of religion have lost sight of the essential reality of the spiritual springtime.
Today His Holiness Bahá’u’lláh is the Collective Center of unity for all mankind, and the splendor of His Light has likewise dawned from the East. He founded the oneness of humanity in Persia. He established harmony and agreement among the various peoples of religious beliefs, denominations, sects and cults by freeing them from the fetters of past imitations and superstitions; leading them to the very foundation of the divine religions. From this foundation shines forth the radiance of spirituality which is unity, the love of God, praiseworthy morals and the virtues of the human world. Bahá’u’lláh renewed these principles just as the coming of spring refreshes the earth and confers new life upon all phenomenal beings. . . . The spiritual springtime has come. Infinite bounties and graces have appeared. What bestowal is greater than this?”
“Religion must conform to science and reason, otherwise it is superstition. God has created man in order that he may perceive the verity of existence and endowed him with mind or reason to discover truth. Therefore scientific knowledge and religious belief must be conformable to the analysis of this divine faculty in man.”
PROFESSOR John Scott Haldane, the veteran Oxford scientist, in one of the dinner hour addresses arranged by the Christian Evidence Society at St. Martin’s-in-the-Fields, Trafalgar Square, London, said:
“I am a member of no church because there is so much that I cannot accept in the theology associated with existing churches. It is therefore as a free thinker that I am addressing you; though one whose reasoning has led him to a clear recognition of spiritual reality as the only reality. Do not think that, since I am engaged in scientific work, this recognition alienates me in any way from my work or from my fellowship with other scientific workers. It is just the opposite. We are all engaged in the pursuit of truth, though of different partial aspects of it. The recognition that spiritual reality, as the pursuit of truth, is embodied in all scientific work brings us together, and we are still together when we are fighting against what seems to us to be theology.
“The ordinary world which we see and feel around us is a spiritual world of values, in which we find the manifestation of God. We find it in our comradeship with others, in the honest and diligent carrying on of our occupations, in our care for one another, in public
services and in our joint recognition and furtherance of truth and beauty.
“If we lose sight of this spiritual world, we have lost sight of what is alone ultimately real in ourselves, and we are not realizing ourselves. Science by itself cannot guide us, since from its very nature it does not deal with values which are supreme.
“Science is not enough. Reason in its highest form as religion, and real religion extending into every part of our lives, is what the world is most in need of, and particularly just now, with old theological beliefs, which to a large extent emb died religion, along with old scientific beliefs, as well as old political beliefs, disintegrating in every direction.”
Is it not thrilling to see how, day by day, the Bahá’i Teachings are being worked out? How wonderfully these words express the principle revealed so long ago that, “Religion must go hand in hand with science.” The day is coming—and everything indicates that it is not far distant—when the real meaning of religion will be known and appreciated, for religion is not a thing of theology but of life, or, in the Words of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá: “Religion is an attitude toward God which is expressed in life.”
“The gift of God to this enlightened age is the knowledge of the oneness of mankind and the fundamental oneness of religion. War shall cease between nations, and by the Will of God the Most Great Peace shall come; the world will be seen as a new world, and all men shall live as brothers.”
WHAT is happening in the world? The wisest are puzzled as they try to read the signs of the times. No one longer doubts that great and rapid social, industrial and economic changes are going on about him. As to how fundamental, far-reaching and permanent these changes are we do not agree. Now comes a searching study of missions which not only gives added signs of change, but may perhaps, if we are wise and thoughtful, help us to evaluate some of these great changes. Most of us are so absorbed in making our own adjustments that although we are conscious that China, Japan and India figure frequently in the headlines yet we scarcely realize that changes equally great or greater than those near us are going on in all parts of the world, that the great continent of Asia, where dwells more than half the population of the world, having awakened from its sleep of centuries, is astir.
We are indebted to the Commission appointed by the Layman’s Foreign Missions Inquiry for giving us facts and picturing conditions in the Far East which make us more consciously aware of changes there. What changes are necessary in mission method and aims to meet these changes in mission
fields is the principle question which this commission seeks to answer. It is imperative that something be done. For perhaps even more compelling than the changes is the fact that for a number of years the interest in missions among church supporters has gradually waned and contributions for the purpose have gradually diminished. This commission’s report shows not only how difficult is the situation but how earnest is the desire that the adjustment be scientific, wise and well considered. To those who have not been thinking in terms of missions and a changing world the recommendations of the commission come perhaps as a distinct shock. This may be good; the Western World, too, may need to be startled out of its sleep.
The rise of the spirit of nationalism is responsible for some of the changed conditions which missions are facing. For example, the present government regulation in China requires that the heads of registered colleges be Chinese and prohibits colleges from making the attendance of students at religious exercises compulsory. In India, the rise of government colleges with larger resources has resulted in some cases in institutions superior to the Christian colleges. In Japan the fine system of government
schools extending from the kindergarten through the university puts the Christian schools with a few exceptions in a decidedly inferior position. In other ways, too, Japan is so decidedly westernized that any mission work carried on there must be on a decidedly new basis. These are but a few examples showing how new conditions demand new methods and new aims.
THE REPORT of the inquiry, published
under the title Re-Thinking
Missions* is based upon data obtained
from scientifically directed
research. First a corps of research
workers went to India, Burma,
China and Japan (the inquiry was
limited to these countries) to obtain
data. Then a commission of fifteen
men and women, specialists in education,
medicine, religion and other
fields involved, was sent to these
same countries to appraise the
work of Christian missions in the
light of this data.
Outstanding in this report is the changed attitude toward evangelization. The first missionaries inspired by the religious awakening in Europe and America about the middle of the eighteenth century were primarily evangelists. Of necessity they soon found themselves engaged in educational and medical service and the improvement of social life. Up to the present time, however, the avowed motive of all mission work has been evangelization. Such words as these, therefore, will come to some as abrupt and even startling: “We believe, then, that the time has come to set the educational and
* Re-Thinking Missions, A Laymen's Inquiry after One Hundred Years, Harper and Brothers, New York.
other philanthropic aspects of mission work free from organized responsibility to the work of conscious and direct evangelization. We must be willing to give largely without any preaching; to cooperate with non-Christian agencies for social improvement; and to foster the initiative of the Orient in defining the ways in which we shall be invited to help.” These words we believe, embody the spirit of the commission and summarize its recommendations. “Evangelizing by living and by human service” should hereafter take primary instead of secondary place. “Ministry to the secular needs of men in the spirit of Christ is evangelism, in the right sense of the word.” The future missionary will be a “learner and a co-worker with the non-Christians occupied with the same task.”
In accord with this spirit detailed recommendations are worked out showing the scope of Christian missions as this group of investigators conceives it in relation to churches, education, Christian literature, medical work, agriculture, industry, women’s activities. Conditions in the different countries call for different procedures. It is in cooperation with native agencies along these lines that the future of missionary activity lies. The truly Christian life speaks for itself, deeds not words become the criterion.
IN THE FIRST chapters which contain
the general principles upon
which the more detailed survey and
recommendation are based is reading
matter that will enlarge one’s
concept of life in relation to others
and liberalize one’s attitude toward religion. Indeed this is true of the whole report. We find fine appreciation of what different religions may offer each other; Christians may learn the art of meditation from Buddhists in exchange for the humanitarian activities which western Christians know so well how to practice. From Orientals we may learn how to make religion a natural thing, “a theme of ordinary conversation”, not something to be hidden and partly ashamed of. One basis for the cooperation of all religions, they point out, may be found in an opportunity to unite against a common menace of all society, namely, materialism and non-religion. “At the beginning of our century of Protestant missions”, we read, “Christianity found itself addressing men attached to other religions: its argument was with these religions. At present, it confronts a growing number of persons, especially among the thoughtful, critical of or hostile to all religion. Its further argument, we judge, is to be less with Islam or Hinduism or Buddhism than with materialism, secularism, naturalism.”
On the other hand we find this statement as to the direction of the changed feeling towards religion among some of the more thoughtful and cultured Orientals: “There is generally speaking an openness of mind to the view that whatever is valid in morals needs something of the nature of religion to give it full effect in the human will. . . . That this religious ingredient will not be identical with any of the positive religions now offering themselves;
1 Quoted in the report from C. B. Olds of Okayama, “A Venture in Understanding.”
that there is a simpler religion coming into human consciousness which might be called the religion of the modern man, the religious aspect of the coming world culture.”
Many passages lead us to reflect upon the truths that are common in all religions, to see “how necessary it has become for every religion to be aware of and to stand upon the common ground of all religion”. “The great religions agree”, they assert, “That it is the office of religion in human affairs to make prevalent the spirit of love”. The appeal throughout is for an end of sectarianism both at home and abroad in spite of the fact, (or perhaps because of it) that the commission represented seven denominations.
THE BOOK is much more than a
survey of missions, as it must needs
be. The reader of this report will
have a much better understanding
of the industrial, educational, agricultural
and social conditions in
these countries than many a round-the-world
traveler. One feels in
reading it that our friends in the
Far East have common needs with
ourselves, that after all “we are
brothers in a common quest, and the
first step is to recognize it and disarm
ourselves of our prejudices”.1
The missionary of the new age must
have a vision of “world unity in
civilization” and of the “moral
unity of the world”; in cooperation
with leaders in these various countries
he must guide the world culture
which this group see to be emerging
away from secularism and
non-religion.
We find in these pages a frank admission that much of the present
mission work is ineffective, totally unadapted to the changed conditions and present needs and in some cases so narrow and dogmatic as to be positively inimical to the true spirit of Christ.1 Recognizing the immense undertaking of the uplift of the rural masses the commission finds that: “Nothing could be a more legitimate function of the Christian mission than to have a part in this labor if it were prepared to do so. At present, in our judgment, it is not prepared.” These defects and weaknesses, the commission believes, should be faced and overcome; Christian missions should continue for “if there is any truth or value in religion at all, it is for all men.” The great goal of the mission, however, must be the transfer of its responsibility to the hands of the nationals.
One is tempted to go much further into detail than the limits of a brief paper allow, for this report has value to all interested in world progress. Its universal
1 It is interesting to note that some fifteen or more years ago, ‘Abdu’l-Bahá said in answer to a question asked Him by a missionary: “It has been witnessed that when a missionary teacher tries to undermine, either with bitter antipathy or indirect references, the religions of the students in which they have been brought up, he is unconsciously undermining the religion of Christianity.”
spirit makes one conscious that mankind is one, that his spiritual aspirations and his needs and desires in material things differ not greatly in whatever country he lives. One is also conscious of the challenge the report makes to churchmen all over the western world. Already we hear the reverberations of the controversy it is bound to stir. To those who are still living in the nineteenth century the report seems radical in the extreme, even heretical. To those who are in touch with the rapidly changing conditions in Asia the recommendations seem necessary, even urgent. And still a few consider the report not radical enough, that it does not recognize how revolutionary the changes in Asia are.
Many both within and without the church are asking will the Christian Church as a whole become so imbued with the spirit of universality which permeates this report that it will rise in the spirit of unity to carry out its recommendations.
The following teaching is quoted from an address by ‘Abdu’l-Bahá given in All Souls Unitarian Church, New York City, during His memorable visit to this country in 1912.
HIS Holiness, Bahá’u’lláh has said that if one intelligent member be selected from each of the varying religious systems, and these representatives come together seeking to investigate the reality of religion, they would establish an interreligious body before which all disputes and differences of belief
could be presented for consideration and settlement. Such questions could then be weighed and viewed from the standpoint of reality and all imitations be discarded. By this method and procedure all sects, denominations and systems would become one.
Do not question the practicability
of this and be not astonished. It has been accomplished and effected in Persia. In that country the various religionists have conjoined in investigating the reality and have united in complete fellowship and love. No traces of discord or differences remain among them; now affection and unity are manifest instead. They live together in harmony and accord like a single family. Antagonism and strife have passed away; love and agreement have taken the place of hatred and animosity. Furthermore, those souls who have followed Bahá’u’lláh and attained this condition of fellowship and affiliation are Muhammadans, Jews, Christians, Zoroastrians, Buddhists, Nestorians, Sunnites, Shiites and others. No discord exists among them. This is a proof of the possibility of unification among the religionists of the world through practical means. Imitations and prejudices which have held men apart have been discarded and the reality of religion envelops them in a perfect unity. When reality envelops the soul of man love is possible.
The divine purpose in religion is pure love and agreement. The Prophets of God manifested complete love for all. Each one announced the glad-tidings of His successor and each subsequent one confirmed the teachings and prophecies of the Prophet who preceded Him. There was no disagreement or variance in the reality of their teaching and mission. Discord has arisen among their followers who have lost sight of the reality and hold fast to imitations. If imitations be done away with and the
radiant shining reality dawn in the souls of men love and unity must prevail. In this way humanity will be rescued from the strife and wars which have prevailed for thousands of years; dissensions will pass away and the illumination of unity dawn.
Consider how all the Prophets of God were persecuted and what hardships they experienced. His Holiness Jesus Christ endured affliction and accepted martyrdom upon the cross in order to summon mankind to unity and love. What sacrifice could be greater? He brought the religion of love and fellowship into the world. Shall we make use of it to create discord, violence and hatred among mankind?
Moses was persecuted and driven out into the desert. Abraham was banished; Muhammad took refuge in caves; the Báb was killed and Bahá’u’lláh was exiled and imprisoned forty years. Yet all of them desired fellowship and love among men. They endured hardships, suffered persecution and death for our sakes that we might be taught to love one another and be united and affiliated instead of discordant and at variance. Enough of these long centuries which have brought such vicissitudes and hardships into the world through strife and hatred.
Now in this radiant century let us try to do the Will of God that we may be rescued from these things of darkness and come forth into the boundless illumination of heaven, shunning division and welcoming the divine oneness of humanity.
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.
FIVE MONTHS' subscription to a new subscriber, $1.00; yearly subscription, $3.00. Two subscriptions to one address, $5.00. Three subscriptions to one address, $7.50. Ten new subscriptions to one address, $25.00 (in United States and Canada). If requested, the subscriber may receive one or more copies and have the remaining copies sent to other addresses.
Two subscriptions, one to come each month, and one to be sent in a volume bound in half-leather, at the end of the year, $5.75 of the two subscriptions; postage for bound volume additional.
Single copies, 25 cents each; ten copies to one address, $2.00. Address The Bahá'í Magazine, 1000 Chandler Bldg., Washington, D. C.
The Herald of the South, G. P. O. Box 447 D, Adelaide, Australia.
Kawkab-i-Hind (Published in Urdu), Karol Bagh, Delhi, India.
La Nova Tago (Published in Esperanto), Friedrich Voglerstrasse 4, Weinheim, Baden, Germany.
Sonne der Wahrheit (Published in German), Stuttgart, Germany.
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.
All volumes carry illustrations of great historical value.
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.
Volume 9 contains varied records from the Holy Land and 'Abdu'l-Bahá's words on the material, intellectual and spiritual education of children; and both volumes 9 and 10 filled with Tablets of 'Abdu'l-Bahá written after the Great War.
Volumes 11 and 12 contain many Tablets and pictures and inspiring accounts of visits with 'Abdu'l-Bahá at Haifa, where members of all religions and races gathered in unity at the table of the Master. Volume 12 also gives the immortal narrative of His last days on earth and His ascension into the Kingdom.
Volume 13 contains priceless letters of Shoghi Effendi, Guardian of the Bahá'i Cause, articles of universal interest and other valuable material.
Volume 14 contains letters of Shoghi Effendi, also his translations of the divine writings of Bahá'ulláh and 'Abdu'l-Bahá as well as a brilliant series of articles and historical accounts.
Bound in half leather, single volumes $3.50; if two volumes are bound together, for $6.00. Postage additional.
