| ←Issue 4 | Star of the West Volume 23 - Issue 5 |
Issue 6→ |
 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 | AUGUST, 1932 | No. 5 |
THE BAHA'I TEMPLE
I HAVE seen nothing except I have discerned its transiency, and God testifies to this. It is incumbent upon every soul in these few days of life to spend them in truthfulness and justice; and if he be not confirmed with the knowledge of the True One, he can at least walk in the path of equity and intelligence.
"Ere long all these apparent things, manifest treasures, worldly wealth, valiant soldiers, beautiful dresses and haughty souls, will be enclosed in the boxlike tomb, similar to the box which contained all the players—and all this quarrel, strife and so-called honors are like the play of the children before the people of insight. Be ye admonished, and be not of those who see the Truth and yet deny . . . .
"Glory and abasement, poverty and wealth, trouble and tranquility,—all shall pass away, and ere long all the inhabitants of the earth shall return to the tomb. Therefore every possessor of insight must behold the immortal outlook, that peradventure, through the bounties of the Eternal Sovereign he may enter into the everlasting kingdom and rest under the shade of the Tree of Command. Although the world is the place of treachery and duplicity, yet under all circumstances it reminds all the people with the idea of change. The passing of the father is an admonition for the son, and it reminds him that he, too, must pass away. It would have been well if the people of the world who are amassing great fortunes and are deprived of the True One, knew what would become of their great wealth. By the Life of Bahá, no one is cognizant of this fact except God. Glorified is His Station!"*
* The Baha'i Magazine, Vol. 2, No. 2, pp. 3-7.
| VOL. 23 | AUGUST, 1932 | NO. 5 |
Bahiyyih Khanum, a Poem, Philip Amalfl Marangella | 134 |
Editorial, Stanwood Cobb | 135 |
Nabil’s Unique Narrative, Bertha Hyde Kirkpatrick | 139 |
Religion and Social Progress, Keith-Ransom-Kehler | 142 |
A Prayer—Poem, John Marlowe | 146 |
Mental Health and the New World Order, Dr. Genevieve Coy | 147 |
The Souvenir of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, Allah K. Khan | 151 |
Why Do I Espouse the Bahá’i Cause, Chikao Fujisawa | 154 |
The Crime Problem, Willard P. Hatch | 157 |
What Next? A Seminar on Human Relations, Gladys Aoki | 161 |
STANWOOD COBB, MARIAM HANEY, BERTHA HYDE KIRKPATRICK | Editors |
MARGARET B. MCDANIEL | Business Manager |
For the United States and Canada
|
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 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.
BAHIYYIH KHANUM*
- Thou wert a gleaming chalice
- In our darkened night.
- Thou wert a flowing river
- For our soul’s delight.
- Thou wert a haven for our Guardian’s heart
- When it lay bleeding neath a weight of woe.
- The worlds of love are but a counterpart
- Of all the love which from Thy heart must flow.
- The past, the present and the future days
- Reverberate with thy immeasureable praise.
- This humble homage which we offer thee
- Can add no lustre to thy shining tree,
- Thou symbol of eternal sanctity.
Baha'i Summer Colony
Green Acre, Eliot, Maine
July 23, 1932
* Daughter of Baha’u’llah and sister of ‘Abdu’l-Baha who passed away suddenly in Haifa, Palestine. Memorial services were held for her in all Baha'i Assemblies throughout the world. The story of her beautiful life of service and sacrifice will appear in the September number of this magazine.
| VOL. 23 | AUGUST, 1932 | NO. 5 |
gone. They have been of all minds and purposes. Some were mere captives of self and desire, engulfed in the passions of the lower nature. They attained to wealth, to the comforts of life, to fame. And what was the final outcome? Utter evanescence and oblivion. Reflect upon this. Look upon it with the eye of admonition. No trace of them remains, no fruit, no result, no benefit; they have gone utterly, complete effacement.”
“BE NOT troubled in poverty,” said Bahá’u’lláh, “nor confident in riches, for poverty is followed by riches and riches are followed by proverty, but to be poor in all save God is a wondrous gift.”
How much needed is such a vision in these days of economic loss and despair!
The life of an individual and the life of a nation are both subject to the law of rhythm. Nothing is enduring. Continuous prosperity is no more guaranteed to the individual than continuous sunshine is to the fields and flowers. Above all, we need to realize that nothing can bulwark us against misfortune, not even a large bank account.
There is nothing more fallacious in giving one a sense of protection against the universe than the accumulation of property. So much security, so much ease of living does this bring the individual that there seems no need of considering any other power in the universe. The limitless wealth that flows from capital, more than can be consumed in personal needs, seems a fortress as stalwart as the Rock of Gibraltar.
Yet in recent times we have seen such financial fortresses crumble into ruins before the attack of new
economic forces as unexpected as they were irresistible in their destructive violence. Where now is the proud power of these fortunes?
It is at such time that one feels the need of turning to a higher Power. It is then that one realizes that ‘God is All-possessing;” that all existence flows through His hands; that nothing is owned by us, nothing is guaranteed to us, nothing can be grasped and seized and permanently held by us. That is the first great lesson to be learned from the colossal economic distress which is today pervading the world.
ANOTHER MORE brightening
thought to which we may turn from
the melting away of wealth into airy
nothingness is the realization that
true wealth lies not in income or accumulated
property, but in the
ability of the individual to express
himself creatively. Those who have
courage, willpower, initiative, trained
ability, and power of accommodating
themselves to circumstance,
carry with them their fortune. All
that has availed them to succeed iii
the past still resides with them.
Their capacity to wrest a living
from the universe is undiminished.
With the application of ingenuity to
circumstance, some way can be found of getting out of every difficulty.
BUT PERHAPS the most important
lesson of all to be learned in this
economic depression is the lesson
of frugality.
We Americans have been living in such a consciousness of prosperity for years that we have formed very extravagant habits. To be seen to practice economy and frugality has seemed a demeaning evidence of lack of success. Fine clothes, new accountrements of the home, lavish expenditure for showy standards of living,—these were what everyone was seeking to demonstrate. Extravagance was the rule of the day. Many were living beyond their income and straining every nerve to earn sufficient to meet their obligations. And it even was made to appear that lavish expenditure was the road to universal prosperity.
What a remarkable transformation has now taken place in our consciousness! Just the opposite state of mind now exists. People refrain from buying anything unless they are in absolute need of it. They wear their old clothes, use their old automobile, they content themselves with existing equipment, they practice economy in every way possible. And because everybody is doing it, no one feels ashamed. Thus frugality, which was a disgrace at the heyday of our prosperity, now appears a virtue and is being practiced through necessity by every class in every section of the country.
What is the essential virtue of frugality? It is this, that it tends to counteract the incessant and unsatiable
striving for the accumulation of material things and enjoyments. Once the individual starts on the road of accumulation of wealth and property, there is no end to the strain and effort. This striving to enrich oneself and to better ones standard of living has a certain definite advantage in the way of progress, both of the individual and of society. On the other hand, when carried to excess as of late in America, it has one deep-seated fault which is the greatest weakness in the structure of our civilization. That fault is the continuous fever of unnatural and excessive effort. There is a limit to the strength of every individual; but greed for prosperity knows no limits and puts a pressure upon the individual which tends to force him beyond his powers.
THERE IS only one thing that can
put a stop to this eternal and agonizing
striving-that is the contentment
and economy of the simple
life.
The psychology of contentment, of simplicity, of the moderation of desire, lies at the heart of every great religion. “Content thyself with but little of this world's goods. Verily economy is a great treasure,” says ‘Abdu’l-Bahá. And again, “Economy is the foundation of human prosperity. The spendthrift is always in trouble. Prodigality on the part of any person is an unpardonable sin. The fewer the habits, the better for the man. It is a divine virtue to be satisfied with very few things. . . . How complex is the life of the present age and how much more complex we are making it daily! The needs of humanity seem never to come to an
end. The more men accumulate the more they want.” “Contentment is real wealth. Contentment is the creator of happiness. When one is contented he does not care either for riches or poverty. He lives above the influence of them and is indifferent to them.”
INDUSTRIALISM, as it developed in
America was certainly moving far
away from this idea of simplicity
and economy. Not only were
Americans urged and induced by
clever advertising to buy new inventions
for their comfort or pleasure,
but manufacturers conceived the
idea of frequent changes of style
and color in order to induce the consuming
public to replace articles
long before they were worn out. In
that way new clothes, cameras,
fountain pens, automobiles, and
what not, could be made to appeal
to those who already possessed articles
in these lines in perfect condition
with years of use still in
them. If this sort of thing was to
go on, what would be its limits?
Plainly there are no definite limits
to this mad race for extravagant
novelty.
The fault in this economic system is two-fold: first, of destroying the simplicity and contentment of daily life; and secondly, of forcing the wage earner, the income producer, to work beyond his powers for the satisfaction of his own wants and those of his family. Hence the break-neck speed of modern economic life; the strain, the nervous breakdowns, the premature deaths; the hectic quality of life; the unnatural and unwholesome amusements sought by diseased souls strained beyond endurance and incapable of refreshing themselves by
means of normal relaxation and recreation.
The life of the Orient, meanwhile, has been the very antithesis of western industrialism. Oriental civilization has had the deep-seated fault of stagnation, as bad in one extreme as America is in the other; but her virtues are simplicity, contentment, frugality, and an easy-going tempo in the daily life which enables the individual to enjoy living even in the midst of his work. I have personally witnessed this and admired it in the Oriental life—the way in which the Oriental. lives above his work, is master of it rather than being mastered by it.
THERE ARE two different uses that
can be made of machinery, with its
vast saving of production-time and
its manifold extension of man-power.
Either this new economy in
time and energy can be applied to
the benefit of the worker in the way
of reducing the hours and strain of
his daily labor, or it can be applied
to the benefit of the manufacturer in
the way of producing more goods.
The latter is what has taken place.
True, the hours of labor have been
curtailed somewhat, but the tempo
has been increased to such an extent
that in many industries today,
especially along lines of mass-production,
the workman is absolutely
exhausted at the end of the day’s
work. Even seven or eight hours
of work at such a pace has been
enough to strain the nervous system
and to sap the vitality.
Under such a system an immense amount of goods is created which the workman as consumer is persuaded to buy. His desires are whetted; and as his wages are high he buys many things, some of which
he needs, and some of which he does not need. Thus we have become economic slaves with no time to lift the head, to gaze at beauty of landscape, to enjoy the things God gives us freely; no wholesomeness left in us for the realization of life as a daily blessing.
NOW DESTINY is leading us to
another type of living which enforces
leisure—time to think and
reflect, time to see the meaning of
life. We are learning new habits.
We find how easily we can do without
things we have always wanted,
how contented we can be with simplicity
of living provided all about
us are obliged to live under that
same law of frugality.
This economic adversity has struck the West just in time, it would seem, to save the East from the infection of modern industrial fever. What a pity it would have been had Asia too succumbed to the mad chase for material goods, abandoning its age-old wisdom and serenity of living! But now the East has the laugh on us. “Where is your vaunted prosperity?” it can
say. “To what has your industrialism led? Your super-human efforts, your exhausting toil, your stress of life, your mad rush in subway and elevated trains,—where have they got you to? With all your wonderful machinery and speedy methods of production and transportation, you have now neither happiness nor wealth.”
The secret of the ideal civilization is the coalescing of these two diverse points of view, Occidental progressiveness and Oriental tranquility. America today is much more ready to accept the simple and serene life of the East than ever before in its history We are having a practical course in the philosophy of living, a course which Destiny has introduced by means of the present chaos and distress.
There is one department of life where we can always enrich ourselves, and where outward misfortune is a cause of greater inward activity,–that is on the plane of thought and spirit. Herein the East can be our guide, with its eternal truths that lead to wisdom and serenity.
“The honor and exaltation of man must be something more than material riches; material comforts are only a branch, but the root of the exaltation of man is the good attributes and virtues which are the adornments of his reality . . . . Heavenly teachings applicable to the advancement in human conditions have been revealed in this merciful age–the divine remedy for all human ailment . . . . Shall we pursue the phantom of a mortal happiness which does not exist or turn toward the Tree of Life and the joys of its eternal fruits? . . . . Let us pray to God that the breath of the Holy Spirit may again give hope and refreshment to the people, awakening in them a desire to do the Will of God.”
In the article which follows the author has set forth some of her impressions of Nabil’s most sacred and thrilling history of the Dawn of the Bahá’i Faith now in book form under the title “The Dawn-Breakers.” This unique story of martyrdom, persecution, extreme devotion and sublime faith surpasses anything in all the history of divine religions. The story is of such supreme importance that many have been invited by the Editors to record their impressions in articles which will appear from month to month.
I AM preparing you for the advent of a mighty Day.” These words are among those addressed by the Báb to the Letters of the Living* when He sent them out as “witnesses of the Dawn of the Promised Day of God.” In The Dawn-Breakers we have the history of the first nine years of that “advent of a mighty Day”—the record of the deeds of the “witnesses of the Dawn of the promised Day of God.” A wonderful record it is of those chosen heralds of a New Day Who, faithful to the commands of the Báb, “With steadfast feet and sanctified hearts“, scattered throughout the length and breadth of Persia to “raise the call that the Gate to the Promised One has been opened, that His proof is irrefutable, and that His testimony is complete.” No obstacles were great enough to lessen the determination or dull the ardor of those souls enthralled and enkindled by the love of God.
Nabil’s Narrative has long been an authority for the early history of the Bahá’i Movement but until recently has been accessible only to those who read Persian. Now Shoghi Effendi has rendered the first part into English under the title, The Dawn-Breakers. The importance of this work can hardly be overestimated and will be better
* First disciples of the Bab.
understood by the world at large as time goes on.
The introduction takes us so directly into the spirit of the book and the purpose of the author that it seems fitting to quote the first page:
“The Bahá’i Movement is now well known throughout the world, and the time has come when Nabil’s unique narrative of its beginnings in darkest Persia will interest many readers. The record which he sets down with such devoted care is in many respects extraordinary. It has its thrilling passages, and the splendour of the central theme gives to the chronicle not only great historical value but high moral power. Its lights are strong: and this effect is more intense because they seem like a sunburst at midnight. The tale is one of struggle and martydom; its poignant scenes, its tragic incidents are many. Corruption, fanaticism, and cruelty gather against the cause of reformation to destroy it, and the present volume closes at the point where the riot of hate seems to have accomplished its purpose and to have driven into exile or put to death every man, woman and child in Persia who dared to profess a leaning towards the teachings of the Báb.
“Nabil, himself a participant in some of the scenes which he recites,
took up his lonely pen to recite the truth about men and women so mercilessly persecuted and a movement so grievously traduced. He writes with ease, and when his emotions are strongly stirred his style becomes vigorous and trenchant. He does not present with any system the claims and teachings of Bahá’u’lláh and His Forerunner. His purpose is the simple one of rehearsing the beginnings of the Bahá’i Revelation and of preserving the remembrance of the deeds of its early champions. He relates a series of incidents, punctiliously quoting his authority for almost every item of information. His work in consequence, if less artistic and philosophic, gains in value as a literal account of what he knew or could from credible witnesses discover about the early history of the Cause.”
In order to furnish a proper background for the reading of this history much of the introduction is taken up with giving a “lifelike and vivid if unlovely picture of the Augean conditions which the Báb had to confront when He inaugurated the Movement in the middle of the nineteenth century. “For”, as Shoghi Effendi further says, “it is not easy to follow the narrative in its details, or to appreciate how stupendous was the task undertaken by Bahá’u’lláh and His Forerunner, without some knowledge of the condition of church and state in Persia and of the customs and mental outlook of the people and their masters.” The chief authority of the translator for a picture of these conditions is Lord Curzon, from whose scholarly work, “Persia and the Persian Question,” extensive excerpts are
made. Ample footnotes throughout the text from other western authorities serve to corroborate Nabil’s statements or render sidelights on them.
The Báb,—“The saintly, heroic figure of the Báb, a leader so mild and serene, yet eager, resolute, and dominant”—is, of course the central personality in the narrative. One must read the pages in order to have anything like an adequate idea of His character, His determination so indomitable that no persecution could swerve Him from His chosen course; His loving kindness, so gentle and winsome that again and again His guards and keepers, chosen for their hard and unyielding characters, became His humble worshippers, His willing servants. The little glimpses of His family life, the loving relations with His friends touch us and we feel grateful for the few weeks of quietness and peace which He spent in the home of His maternal uncle prior to His going forth to face the years of persecution and His manifest destiny. Can anyone doubt, as he follows the events of those fateful six years and comprehends the undying steadfastness with which He inspired His followers, that this kingly yet submissive young man Whose foes became His friends and to Whose commands even His enemies conformed was indeed the “true One from God?”
One by one the Letters of the Living attained their hearts’ desire in the meeting of the Báb. The meeting of Quddus, the Last Letter, is thus told by Nabil:
“One night, in the course of His conversation with Mulla Husayn, the Bàb spoke these words: ‘Seventeen Letters have thus far enlisted under the standard of the Faith of God. There remains one more to complete the number. These Letters of
the Living shall arise to proclaim My Cause and to establish My Faith. Tomorrow night the remaining Letter will arrive and will complete the number of My chosen disciples’.
“The next day, in the evening hour, as the Báb, followed by Mulla Husayn, was returning to His home, there appeared a youth dishevelled and travel-stained. He approached Mulla Husayn, embraced him, and asked him whether he had attained his goal. Mulla Husayn tried at first to calm his agitation and advised him to rest for the moment, promising that he would sebsequently enlighten him. That youth, however, refused to heed his advice. Fixing his gaze upon the Báb, he said to Mulla Husayn: ‘Why seek you to hide Him from me? I can recognize Him by His gait. I confidently testify that none besides Him, whether in the East or in the West, can claim to be the Truth. None other can manifest the power and majesty that radiate from His holy person’. Mulla Husayn marvelled at his words. He pleaded to be excused, however, and induced him to restrain his feelings until such time as he would be able to acquaint him with the truth. Leaving him, he hastened to join the Báb, and informed Him of his conversation with that youth. ‘Marvel not,’ observed the Báb, ‘at his strange behaviour. We have in the world of the spirit been communing with that youth. We know him already. We indeed awaited his coming. Go to him and summon him forthwith to Our presence.’”
At the time of his meeting with the Báb, Quddus was twenty-two
years old. So severed he became and so inspired that one of his followers believed him to be the Promised One. Five years later, after the capture of the fort at Shaykh Tabarsi he joyously surrendered his life.
Quddus is but one of the hundreds of the Dawn-Breakers, many, many of them youths, who gladly, yes, eagerly, offered their lives as witnesses of the New Day which the Báb ushered in. Their untold sufferings and their terrible persecutions can but strike horror and sadness to our hearts. Yet, even while we read of their afflictions, their joy becomes contagious, their triumphs more real than their sufferings, and their absolute assurance of the reality of the Dawn of this long foretold Day becomes a tremendous incentive to be partners in their work.
“Who knows”, writes Shoghi Effendi as he closes the epilogue of this book, “but that triumphs unsurpassed in splendour, are not in store for the mass of Bahá’u’lláh’s toiling followers? Surely, we stand too near the colossal edifice His hand has reared to be able, at the present stage of the evolution of His Revelation, to claim to be able even to conceive the full measure of its promised glory. Its past history, stained by the blood of countless martyrs, may well inspire us with the thought that, whatever may yet befall the Cause, however numerous the reverses it will inevitably suffer, its onward march can never be stayed, and that it will continue to advance until the very last promise, enshrined within the words of Bahá’u’lláh, shall have been completely redeemed.”
This is the third and concluding number in the series of articles written for publication in both The Bahá’i Magazine and the Tokyo Nichi Nichi. The first and second installments were published in the May and June numbers respectively.
Racial Prejudice
HAVING suggested a basis for religious and nationalistic harmony there still remains a very lively source of misunderstanding and conflict in the racial prejudices that separate mankind. Fortunately the youth of the world is not yet inured to the blindness and folly of racial antagonism. Exchange professors and students, enormously increased travel, the radical conclusions of anthropologists and biologists concerning the basic likeness of the races, increasing recognition of the danger to world peace in racial conflicts, as well as the ordinary common sense view that any race that has survived the incalculable viscissitudes of history has valuable power and assets that make it worthy of respect: these and other considerations have formed a strong bond of racial amity around the world.
To trace the infiltrations and
modifications of the races through
migration and admixture is merely
another means of telling the story
of human progress. The Ainus and
Pigmy are illustrations of pure
races. Ethnology gives no example
of any race that has attained to
high superiority without a fecundating
contact with those different
from itself.
As we know human beings inc
ease in geometrical ratio: we
have two parents, four grandparents,
eight great-grandparents, sixteen
great-great-grandparents, etc. At this rate, a rudimentary knowledge of arithmetic acquaints us with the fact that by the end of twenty generations, or about seven hundred years, every man has 1,937,152 ancestors; adding another three hundred years, or ten more generations, the total comes to 1,743,643,248 ancestors in one thousand years. Just one generation more, the thirty-first, brings our ancestry to 3,487,286,496 and as there have never been as many people as that on the globe at any time all our hysteria about pure and superior races is not only, in the words of Professor Best, “pure myth, but pure bunk.”
That mankind is one great family is common to all religious beliefs. “God made of one blood all men to dwell upon the face of the earth.” “Have we not all one Father? Hath not one God created us?” If this view be pressed and humanity be so regarded, we must admit that the more evolved and advanced the organism the more differentiated the organs. Each organ is specialized for its own peculiar function, which cannot be performed by any other organ. The most important contribution to the body is the high degree of distinction in its parts; and so with the great organism of humanity: each race, each nationality has its own peculiar part and function in the development of mankind; due to its differences, no other
can fill that place, no other can perform that service.
The growing interdependence of mankind, his increasing enlightenment, his ever-widening acquaintance with other peoples and races, as well as the social security of a better understanding, are once more reviving the old religious sanctions of universal brotherhood and increasing human sentiments of good-will and sympathy.
The special gift deposited in each of the so-called races (for ethnology has not accepted the idea of a basic difference) is of enormous value and advantage to the welfare and advancement of the organism of humanity; therefore racial differences should never be discredited, but enthusiastically fostered and developed. The recognition of those superiorities possessed by each of the races constitutes a basis whereon racial enmity may be annulled; for the conquest of prejudice is fundamental to any lasting solution of human problems.
Economics
and the
Baha'i
Solution
The day has passed when one must speak with bated breath of the existing economic structure as a sacrosanct institution derived from God.
The educated youth of every land are studying economics and freely discussing the fallacies, inadequacies and failures of the present system. In this world-wide depression capital and labor alike are suffering from the deficiencies of our economic practice.
The spectacle of 355,000,000,000 bushels of excess wheat in the world with millions of people undernourished and starving; virgin products and raw materials going to waste
while the nations suffer from unemploment; low wages prohibiting distribution and consumption, upon which economic welfare depends; these and many other pressing problems are challenging the attention of statesmen, economists, manufacturers, laborers, farmers, everywhere.
Whatever the world’s political status we are obliged to recognize that it is an economic unit; no nation today can solve its economic problem independently.
With the establishment of an International House of Justice along the lines previously suggested, these pressing economic problems could be solved for the whole world. There could be, for example, an international control of the food supply, a stabilized international currency, equitable distribution and administration in matters too far-reaching for local control.
Since the earth is the basis of wealth, and food the necessity for human welfare any solution of the economic problem would start with the farmer. If he were permitted to pay his taxes either in money or in kind the produce could be distributed by the community authorities to those points where it was most needed thereby bringing the best price. For this purpose a common storehouse would be required, such for example, as the Canadian farmers used in their Wheat Pool. A competent secretary to control this storehouse would levy a graduated tax, those producing the most paying perhaps, a fifth, while those producing little would be tax-exempt. Those producing less than their requirements would be assisted from the common store to the extent of their legitimate needs.
There should be several sources of income locally: taxes on animals, wealth without inheritors, a portion of the mines, and so forth; while the common treasury would have to pay from its revenue running expenses, such as public safety, hygiene and the like; its national tax, support of an orphanage, a hospital, the poor relief already mentioned and education. Thus this most fundamental of all public services would be removed from politics and expediency.
Economists say that the world is suffering from under-consumption of both men and materials. If every man labored there would be no drudgery. If all men worked consumption would be universal and leisure a common benefaction. In a well ordered world there would be no idle rich and no idle poor.
The yawning gulf between capital and labor cannot be spanned through wages: the time will never come when the laborer will be satisfied with his hire. The abolition of wages and the substitution of profit-sharing would obviate this fundamental source of disagreement. Then if each workman became a stockholder in the business for which he worked he would give to it his utmost loyalty and effort. Such a plan would not work satisfactorily unless it were universally adopted.
With every man working and every man owner in a business everyone would then become both a capitalist and a laborer: the wide divergence existing between them would by this method be bridged.
Under international direction, strong laws could be made to protect the capitalist from heavy losses and the laborer from want. A
form of will redistributing wealth with every generation would safeguard society from the concentration of capital in the hands of the few.
With such a plan as given in this and the preceding article the sabotage that the nations of the world are now practicing on the economic machine would cease.
Baha’i History
and Teachings
The program for social advancement and world betterment outlined in previous articles constitute part of the plan of Bahá’u’lláh, Founder of the Bahá’i Cause, for the solution of human problems.
Born near Tihrán, Persia in 1817, a descendant of the ancient royal dynasty, He passed from this world a titular prisoner in the penal colony of ‘Akká, Palestine, in 1892. He spent forty years in exile and in prison for promulgating universal peace and human brotherhood.
In addition to the religious, racial, political and economical reconciliation already briefly described in this series, He has laid down as principles essential to human advancement: the independent search for truth, whereby we will free ourselves from ancient dogmas, inhibitions and superstitions in our investigation of reality; accord between religion, science, reason, and the abandonment of belief contrary to established proof; universal education; a universal auxiliary language; the equality between men and women; and, fundamental to all advancement, the conquest of prejudice.
It is important to note that all of the great principles laid down by Bahá’u’lláh were enunciated between 1844 and 1866, long in advance
of their general acceptance. Today many of them seem commonplace, but when we recall that they were set forth in central Asia, from sixty to eighty years ago, we realize how challenging they were.
How are we to account for the fact that Bahá’u’lláh formulated His program long in advance of its acceptance if not on the basis of an innate knowledge, power and influence on His part? Everything that He suggested is today, two generations later, being agitated as necessary to advancement and security. But when He called for peace in 1869 a disarmament conference would have been an impossibility. Peace was certainly not a new idea; it had been in the world for centuries; however its general pursuit did not start until long after Bahá’u’lláh had incorporated it into His plan, together with the Court of International Arbitration, which was first founded thirty years later at the Hague.
When Bahá’u’lláh called for universal education the rulers of the world prided themselves in keeping their subjects in ignorance; but today education is the ideal of every civilized government.
In Persia in 1844 the Báb, Who foretold the coming of Bahá’u’lláh, announced the era of the equality between men and women: its fulfillment since that time has been phenomenal.
When Bahá’u’lláh spoke of reason and science as supporting true religion Darwin and Huxley were being denounced as destroyers of faith. Today Eddington, Pupin, Milliken and other great scientists declare materialism much too fantastic for science.
It is unnecessary to continue this form of argument for it is self-evident that the whole Bahá’i program was formulated by Bahá’u’lláh long in advance of its agitation or adoption in the world.
Obedience to
Government
‘Abdu’l-Bahá, son of Bahá’u’lláh, and Co-founder of the Bahá’i Movement, says to His followers: ”It is incumbent upon you to be submissive to all monarchs who are just and to show your fidelity to every righteous king. Serve ye the sovereigns of the world with utmost truth and loyalty. Show your obedience unto them and be their well-wishers, without their leave and permission do not meddle with political affairs; well is it with them that act accordingly.”
The sane and noble plan given by Bahá’u’lláh to emancipate us from our present difficulties is a plan that would have to be voluntarily and peacefully embraced, in order to establish its glorious results.
The Bahá’i Movement, numbering many millions of followers throughout the world, has for its immediate objective the fostering of love and good-will among mankind. Representatives of every religion, every race, every nationality, every social class, every degree of humanity from the lowest unto the highest are daily swelling our numbers and enhancing the prestige of peace and of brotherhood in the world.
Hereditary animosities, age-old enmities, apparently insurmountable barriers are being abrogated and forgotten under the compelling influence of these mighty teachings of Bahá’u’lláh. To Bahá’is, this
practice of world friendship, is not a mere wistful idea; it is the common basis of everyday life.
The world is full of societies and movements, some working for peace, some for the advancement of women, some for the solution of the economic problems, some for education, some for a universal language, some for racial amity, some for brotherhood and understanding: but the Bahá’i Cause is the only one that combines all of these objectives under the guidance of Bahá’u’lláh Who first compiled the all-inclusive program from which each in turn, has sprung.
The following words of Bahá’u’lláh are recorded by Prof. E. G. Browne of Cambridge University who visited Him in ‘Akká in 1889:
“We desire but the good of the world and the happiness of the nations; yet they deem us a stirrer up of strife and sedition worthy of bondage and banishment . . . that all nations should become one in faith and all men as brothers; that the bonds of affection and unity between the sons of men should be strengthened; that diversity of religion should cease, and differences of race be annulled. . . .So it shall be; these fruitless strifes, these ruinous wars shall pass away, and the ‘Most Great Peace’ shall come. . . . These strifes and this bloodshed and discord must cease and all men be as one kindred and one family. . . . Let not a man glory in this that he loves his country; let him rather glory in this, that he loves his kind.”
- O God of glorious eternity,
- Grant me the strength to bear
- Thy message of love
- To all who pass my door.
- Let me chant Thy sacred song.
- Let me voice the dawn of a new day,
- The dawn of brotherhood and love that is to be.
- O endow me with the power to banish the woes
- Of darkness and the spiritual blindness
- From the sad eyes of my fellow mortals.
In the first installment of this very helpful series, published in the June number, the author defined briefly and clearly a, mentally well person and what constitutes mental health, also detailing certain attitudes which must be avoided by one seeking a fully integrated personality. In this second installment she continues her suggestions and statements along lines of positive effort in this direction. The concluding number will appear in the September issue.
THE first disintegrating factor previously defined is fear, and the second is the attitude of seeing oneself as the most important person in one’s environment. Both of these disintegrating attitudes can be avoided by a wise training in the first four or five years of life.
3. One of the most insidious causes of mental illness is the one which psychologists describe as the “feeling of inferiority”. This is due primarily to a consciousness of a gap between one’s judgment of one’s own abilities, on the one hand, and one’s ideals, on the other. The individual sees so much that needs to be done, so much that he would do, and yet feels himself utterly inadequate for the task. This experience comes most often to the fine and intelligent person. Instead of whole-heartedly doing the best he can, he spends part of his time and energy in worrying because he cannot do more. Because this person is usually sincere and intelligent, he can often be helped to overcome this feeling. Let us say to him, “learn to judge your abilities objectively. What things can you really do well, as judged by what you have actually accomplished? Are you perhaps trying to do something for which you are not naturally fitted? Realize your own limitations
frankly and willingly. Vile cannot all be musicians, or artists, or financiers. Only one man in a thousand is a genius in any one field of endeavor. But you do have some ability with which you can serve the world, and in which you can develop happy efficiency. Find the thing you can do best and then use that ability to the full. All that you have a right to expect of yourself is that you shall do your best. It is also important to realize that many other people feel as distrustful of themselves as you do. Find such people, try to help them, appreciate their work,—and so in helping them, forget your own feelings of inferiority. If you spend much of your effort in worrying about how far you fall short of your ideals, you will waste your energy, and one bit in the great pattern of the worlds life will be missing or will be incomplete. Use all your sincerity and intelligence to discover what that bit is to be, and then whole-heartedly set yourself to do it.”
4. There is a fourth factor in
mental health which overlaps somewhat
on the two preceding. This is
the presence of a sense of humor.
The lack of this often comes from
failing to see life in a true perspective.
The man who feels that all
his world revolves about himself seldom has a true sense of humor. He may laugh at a joke, as long as he is not the cause of it, but he is too self-centered to laugh at himself. Without the ability to laugh at oneself there can be no complete mental health. Perhaps some people are born with a predisposition toward that happy balance of knowing when to take life very seriously and when to take it lightly. Perhaps training and experience in early childhood are the most important factors in developing this kind of perspective on life and on oneself. It is certain that even in the over-serious adult a sense of humor can be developed. It is not an easy thing to do, and it implies a change of attitude toward oneself. Humor is contagious, and the man who desires to cultivate a true sense of it should associate himself with those who already possess it. If he is not an utterly self-centered person, he will soon find the wise laughter of his friends suddenly bursting forth upon his own lips. A “good laugh” is one of the best ways of releasing physical and emotional tension, and to know how and when to indulge in it is a sign of true wisdom.
When the Bahá’is were first imprisoned in ‘Akká, under conditions where even decent food and water were lacking, Bahiyyih Khanum, the daughter of Bahá’u’lláh, laughed so much that her father sent word to her, “You must not laugh so much. If the guards hear you they will think you are mad, to laugh under such conditions.” Yet who can doubt the fundamental sanity of one who saw the need of humor in such difficult circumstances?
5. Failure to face reality is a fifth cause of division in the personality. One of the clearest examples of this is to be found in the “dreamer”, the person who plans wonderful things, but never seriously tries to accomplish them. We all have acquaintances whose conversation is full of grandiloquent promises of the things they are “going to do”, but how seldom do they take the necessary first steps in the attaining of their desires! Others sit in seclusion, dreaming of a new world in which ideal conditions shall prevail for all mankind, but say, “It is hopeless to do anything now. See all the corruption in the world! Why was I born in such a wretched age?” They fail to realize that the man who really desires a new world will set himself to understand the causes of present evils, and will then go to work at some point where it seems possible to begin to remake life in the pattern of his ideal.
In this matter, as in others we have mentioned, much can be done for the building of mental health by the proper training of young children. Even very little boys and girls can be allowed to plan how part of their day is to be spent. When the plan has been made by the child and has been accepted by him, then the adult who is guiding him should kindly and firmly insist that the plan be carried to completion. As he grows older, he can plan more and more of his own activities, and become increasingly responsible for completion of the “work” he has set himself. In the best of modern education for young children the importance of the development of such habits is understood and utilized. In a group of
five-year-olds, the teacher may say to a child, at the end of the morning, “What was it you planned to do today? You were going to paint a picture of a boat? May I see your picture? You didn’t do it? But that was what you planned to do. And here we always finish our plans. I think you must stay here and finish your work, while the other children go to the assembly.” A child who has thus been taught that activity must follow planning runs much less danger of becoming an adult “dreamer” than does the boy who is allowed to go aimlessly from one amusement to another.
Another type of failure to face reality is found in the man who has developed a fairly comfortable routine of working and of recreation, and who is perfectly contented if no one disturbs his pattern of living. The world about him may go through cataclysmic changes, but he sees only the familiar limits of his daily runway. He is the one
who says with deep feeling, “The old ways are good enough for me.” He is sodden in routine, and the changing realities of great world movements are, at most, merely an annoying murmur at his horizon’s rim. Arthur Christopher Benson has said, “The base, the impure desire is only the imperfect desire; if it is satisfied, it reveals its imperfections, and the soul knows that not there can it rest.” The person who is sunk in routine, desires only to rest in it, and he has lost the urge to growth, which is the necessary condition of life.
The man who desires mental health must face the realities of life,—those within his own nature, and those in the outside world. Having thus frankly taken stock of conditions as they are, he must find his own part in the world’s work, and give all his energy and ability to building his bit in the ideal structure of the world tomorrow.
“The Revelation of Bahá’u’lláh contains all the great laws and principles of social government. The basis of God’s perfect laws is love for humanity and help for human needs. If all people followed this Revelation the masses would be immeasureably uplifted and the Cause of God glorified. This development of humanity will be gradual, not sudden. It will surely come to pass: it is impossible to swim against the current of Niagara. Teaching the Truth is like building bridges by which humanity may cross over the current which threatens.”
--PHOTO--
Some of the several hundred Bahá'is in attendance at the Annual Feast in commemoration of the visit of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá to West Englewood, N. J. in 1912. (See opposite page).
“Consort with all the people of the world with love and fragrance. Fellowship is the cause of unity, and unity is the source of order in the world.”
ON Saturday, June 29th, 1912, Abdu’l-Bahá, while touring the United States on behalf of world peace, expressed a desire to be host to the believers of the New York metropolitan area. The friends suggested West Englewood, N. J., where there was already a small group of Bahái’s who could accommodate the large number which were expected. All day people kept arriving from the neighboring towns to share in the great feast at which ‘Abdu’l-Bahá would be host. After the material feast, He gave a wonderful talk in which He said, “The efficacy of such meetings as these is permanent throughout the ages. This assembly has a name and significance which will last forever. Hundreds of thousands of meetings shall be held to commemorate this occasion, and the very words I speak to you today shall be repeated in them for ages to come.”*
Every year since then, on the last Saturday in June, and in fulfillment of the implied command of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, the friends have gathered in increasing numbers on the beautiful grounds surrounding Evergreen Cabin to commemorate that wonderful visit. This day has become the great day for West Englewood, not only for the Bahá’is, but for the whole town. Everyone, it seems, has caught the spirit that is manifested there. Everyone who comes is impressed with the variety of
* Promulgation of Universal Peace, p. 209.
people present. One local paper reporting the event said, “Bergen County has never had such a cosmopolitan crowd gathered together for the spread of peace and brotherhood.”
This year the occasion was truly magnificent–unique, both numerically and from the point of view of the variety of people that were present. Over four hundred people and a dozen nationalities were represented-American, Canadians, Africans, Chinese, Koreans, Syrians, Armenians and Persians, Germans, French, Italians, Russians and other European nationalties, as well as all the different faiths—Buddhist, Jewish, Muhammadan, every denomination of Christianity, and the Bahá’i faith which accepts the truth in all religions. All were interested in one ideal,—peace and brotherhood; all imbued with the Spirit of the New Age, listening intently to the speakers on the afternoon and evening programs.
THE PROGRAM itself was of a high
order. Mr. Horace Holley, Secretary
of the Bahá’i National Spiritual
Assembly was the first to speak.
He showed the fallacy of the antagonistic
economic theories now
prevalent, and pointed out the need
of love for one another as the sole
solvent for this terrible disease of
the body politic caused by human
greed and selfishness.
Mrs. Marie B. Moore, a teacher in the Ethical Culture Society School in New York, read the talk of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá given in West Englewood in 1912, in which He called us to unity and helpfulness toward one another:
“You must become of one heart, one spirit and one susceptibility. May you become as the waves of one sea, stars of the same heaven, fruits adorning the same tree, roses of one garden; in order that through you the oneness of humanity may establish its temple in the world of mankind, for you are the ones who are called to uplift the cause of unity among the nations of the earth . . . . You must be exceedingly kind and loving toward each other, willing to forfeit life in the pathway of another’s happiness. You must be ready to sacrifice your possessions in another’s behalf. The rich among you must show compassion toward the poor, and the well-to-do must look after those in distress.”*
Although not on the program, Mr. H. K. Tong, the manager of a syndicate of Chinese newspapers, some of which are in English, was asked to say a few words. He told of his contacts with the Bahá’is in China, Europe and America, and said that the teachings of Bahá’ulláh would help to bring order in China and establish her again as the peace-loving nation that she has always been.
Mr. Mountfort Mills, who happened to be present and who had just returned from Europe where he had been busy meeting world delegates at the Disarmament Conference, and presenting to them the Bahá’i ideals of peace, upon hearing Mr. Tong, recalled the statement of ‘Abdul-Bahá about China which was made to him in Central Park, New York City in 1912. He had been walking with one of the Persian friends, a few feet behind ‘Abdul-Bahá Who wanted to be
* Promulgation of Universal Peace, pp. 209 and 210
alone. Suddenly ‘Abdul-Bahá stopped, turned around and told Mr. Mills that if the Chinese did not receive the Message of Bahá’u’lláh, they would beome the greatest military power on earth. Then He left them without another word and continued His solitary walk. Mr. Mills said that he did not realize the significance of that statement until now, when the words spoken by Mr. Tong, in combination with the recent developments in China, revealed in full the prophetic force behind that utterance; and he expressed the hope that China would be awakened to the reality of her mission in the world.
Dr. Genevieve Coy of Columbia University, who for a short time was in charge of the Tarbiat School in Tihrán, Persia, was the last speaker of the afternoon. She spoke on the ever present desire of man to search for reality, through nature, science, philosophy—and above all, through the Prophets of God.
After the afternoon meeting the people gathered informally for two hours to get really acquainted, some to greet old friends, some to welcome new ones, some to answer the questions of new seekers as to the basis of Bahá’i Teaching that is capable of creating true love and harmony among such varied groups.
THIS SOUVENIR was a day of surprises.
An unexpected pleasure
was the arrival of Mrs. Fred Schopflocher
of Montreal, Canada, who
had a short time ago returned from
a world tour in the interest of the
Bahá’i Cause. She showed some
pictures which she had taken of
the holy places of the world to the interest and delight of the great number who remained for the evening meeting. There were pictures of people, both young and old, in India and Burma, Malay and China, who are followers of the universal teachings of Bahá’u’lláh. The pitures of the holy shrines of Christianity and Islam and of the Bahá’i Faith, especially the Shrines of the Báb, Bahá’u’lláh and ‘Abdul-Bahá were of interest. She showed the prison where the Founders of the Bahá’i Faith spent most of their lives, from which Bahá’u’lláh wrote those famous Epistles to the kings and rulers of the earth in 1868, when He summoned all mankind to follow Him as the Guide to the Most Great Peace.
THE CULMINATION of this great
day was reached when Mr. Hooper
Harris of New York City gave the
Message of Bahá’u’lláh. He compared
briefly but with great vigor
the origin of Christianity with that
of the Bahá’i Faith, and showed
how this Cause is putting into operation the laws which Christ brought into the world nineteen hundred years ago.
In every respect the Souvenir this year was a great success. The weather was almost perfect. The audibility of the speakers had never been better, because, as a result of the foresight of the West Englewood Bahá’i Assembly, a series of amplifiers had been placed in convenient places so that all could hear every word distinctly. The surrounding grounds were as always beautiful, and the music rendered by true artists inspiring. The people went away full of joy and thankfulness that Bahá’u’lláh had left a group here in West Englewood as well as in hundreds of other cities throughout the world, who are earnestly working for peace—peace between races, peace between nations, peace between classes, and peace between religions—in other words, peace in the hearts of the people of the world.
“That the Cause associated with the name of Bahá’u’lláh feeds itself upon those hidden springs of celestial strength which no force of human personality, whatever its glamour, can replace; that its reliance is solely upon that mystic Source with which no worldly advantage, be it wealth, fame, or learning can compare; that it propagates itself by ways mysterious and utterly at variance with the standards accepted by the generality of mankind, will, if not already apparent, become increasingly manifest as it forges ahead towards fresh conquests in its struggle for the spiritual regeneration of mankind.”
Address given at the Bahá’i celebration of May 23rd, in Tokyo. Mr. Fujisawa was for three years a member of the Secretariat of the League of Nations in Geneva. Returning to Japan he held the Chair of International Politics in the Kyushu Imperial University for six years.
THERE is no denying that in recent decades, means of communication and transportation have unprecedently multiplied and thereby shortened the world distance, so much so that all nations have become increasingly interdependent; their ever tightening bonds of trade and industry, of finance and economics, of agriculture and education have brought us home to an insight that the oneness of the world is a hardly disputable fact, in so far as the material aspects of our civilization is concerned.
Nevertheless, on the other hand, we are witnessing humanity hopelessly in the grip of moral bewilderment, political chaos and class antagonism, which threaten to undermine the very foundations of our civilization. In the face of these actualities, an easy-going popular belief that the realization of economic, financial and technical solidarity of the nations would ipso facto give rise to a golden epoch of permanent peace and sincere cooperation among mankind has suffered a miserable shipwreck and proved a naive illusion. The world war and the post-bellum international complications specifically bear witness to this blunt realism of our day. Indeed, in attempting to combat the social maladies, a variety of ingenious remedies have been proposed such as socialism, communism, bolshevism and fascism, but
they have after all fallen far short of the final solution of the problem concerned. It is a sad story that Soviet Russia, ever boasting of eradicating the evils attendant upon capitalism, has achieved hitherto nothing else than the restoration of a slavery regime, and will, in case of her glaring triumph, plunge humanity for ever into the abyss of despair and horror.
IN A WORD, the unifying tendency
of our modern material civilization
could not automatically call into existence
the spiritual and moral unity
of mankind. This is a great lesson
fought with far-reaching consequences
and which we should take
to heart very seriously.
How then is this outwardly somewhat paradoxical phenomenon to be accounted for? As for me, I am persuaded after a prolonged meditation that this exceedingly deplorable state of things is primarily due to the ostensible neglect on the part of the leaders of the world of a thorough-going philosophical study of the inner structure of human beings. Mainly, thanks to the sacred scriptures bequeathed by ancient oriental sages, I have come to apprehend that our human consciousness is generally obscured and bemired with the rust of obstinate bias, as well as of shallow preconceptions, in such a manner that the ultimate truth of the universe remains
unfortunately shrouded from us. Hence it is only in erasing, so to speak, all this mental rust by means of a deep introspection and strenuous spiritual training that we may attain to the primordial stage of pure consciousness, wherein the light of the Sun of Truth is revealed as on the spotless surface of a mirror.
Consequently, the spiritual process in question is, as it were, a regress towards the inmost recess of our hearts, intrinsically opposite to the popular conception of progress which implies no more nor less than a mere precipitating advance, not accompanied by any retrospective act of our soul. This is the principal reason why the wonderful progress achieved in the realm of natural science and material technics has had no direct bearing upon the solution of the philosophical problem of subduing, what we may call ego centrism whose lamentable rampancy has hindered us so far from bringing about the unity of mankind on a firm moral and religious basis.
FROM WHAT precedes, it becomes
now evident that the matter of great
urgency for us all is reconstitution
of the absolute authority of one
single religion to be worshiped by
all mankind, irrespective of the
diversity of nationalities, races, languages
and traditions, because religion
is the very key wherewith to
disclose the otherwise hidden sanctuary
of our genuine heart, through
which only we can have communion
with God, the Originator of the universe.
Just as the Sun, the image of God the Almighty lavishes upon all creatures and things so benignantly its
ever fostering radiance and helps them to the consummation of their respective natures, so will we human beings in whose purified hearts the omnipresent God comes to dwell, never fail to behave with deep love and overflowing sympathy towards one another since God will infallibly convince us that we are all the offspring of one common stock. From this unshakable belief there will gradually emerge the grand idea of the spiritual unity of mankind.
However, why have the existent religions ceased to play the supreme role of leading us back to the stern presence of God? It appears to me that there are two causes answerable for this visible decline of religions: one is sectarianism which is adverse to the inner nature of religion itself: and the other is the anachronistic narrow-mindedness of religious leaders. For many a century the great religious communities,—Christian, Buddhist, Muhammadan, Hindu and others have not only existed indifferently side by side, but also they have been in constant hostility and strife one against the other. Besides, what has rendered the situation worse is that each of them have become split up into a large number of sects, which are often bitterly opposed to one another. It goes without saying that this phenomenon has considerably discredited the past religions and deprived them of their original spiritual force. Secondly, religious teachers have shown an exceedingly bigoted and narrow-minded attitude towards the achievements of modern sciences and often betray a hardly justifiable disposition in blindly condemning those who wish to refute candidly such a
fantastic story as the passage from the Bible according to which the world was made in six days by the hand of a personal God. It is obvious that true religion will never come into conflict with science, for the plane of the religious world is situated much higher than that of the scientific world. I believe personally that science is not merely reconcilable with religion, but also it should serve as the most powerful means of carrying into effect the religious ideal on earth.
WE HAVE waited long for the advent
of a new all-embracing religion
which would be able to fittingly
meet the requirements of the times,
and this ardent desire was at last
fulfilled in the person of Bahá’u’lláh,
a great modern Prophet Who
appeared in Persia sounding His
mighty trumpet call to afflicted humanity.
Perusal of numerous Tablets left for us by Bahá’u’lláh has impressed me so strongly with the unusual profundity of His thought and His penetrating wisdom that I could not but feel irresistibly attracted towards His noble Cause.
Bahá’u’lláh’s sublime mission was to recover the unity of all mankind through God. He said among other things that of the Tree of Knowledge the All-glorious fruit is this exalted word: “Of one Tree are ye the fruits and of one bough the leaves.” “Let not a man glory in this that he loves his country, but let him rather glory in this that he loves his kind.” He conveyed the following message with regard to the future of mankind: “All nations should become as one in faith and all men as brothers; the bonds
of affection and unity between the sons of men should be strengthened, diversity of religion should cease and the differences of race be annulled . . . these strifes and this bloodshed and discord must cease and all men be as one kindred and one family.”
As a means of promoting religious unity He advocated above all the utmost charity and tolerance as being conducive to overcoming egocentrism of all shades and he earnestly called upon His followers to consort with the people of all religions with joy and gladness. His magnanimity is undoubtedly unique as shown by any great Prophet and is in sharp contrast to the stubborn narrow-mindedness with which other existent religions are generally marked.
In connection with the desirability of stimulating a close cooperation between the Occident and Orient, ‘Abdu’l-Bahá refers to the value of modern scientific civilization as follows: “In these days the East is in need of material progress and the West is in need of a spiritual ideal. It would be well for the West to turn to the East for illumination and to give in exchange its scientific knowledge. There must be this interchange of gifts. The East and the West must unite to give to each other what is lacking. This union will bring about true civilization where the spiritual is expressed and carried out in the material.”
Thus, the spiritual unity of mankind must first of all be guaranteed and then contemporary material civilization, instead of continuing, as at present, to weigh heavily upon us, will turn out to be the most efficacious device to translate into reality
the divine will of the Absolute.
Another distinct feature of the Bahá’i Religion is the absence of any professional priesthood: all Bahá’is are exhorted to share, whatever their occupation, in the work of teaching the ultimate truth of the universe, according to their opportunities and abilities. We can directly turn to the Divine Manifestations of the Infinite which will unfailingly reveal Itself in the
deepest region of our consciousness. When we all address ourselves unanimously to one Center, then there can be neither moral confusion nor superficial sophistication, and the nearer we all draw to the rallying force of the one Absolute God, the nearer do we draw to each other.
Thus, there is no wonder that the Bahá’i Movement is bound to sweep the most enlightened strata of society in every country.
“If the community would endeavor to educate the masses, day by day knowledge and sciences would increase, the understanding would be broadened, the sensibilities developed, customs would become good amid morals normal; in one word, in all these classes of perfections there would be progress, and there would be fewer crimes. . . . Therefore the communities must think of preventing crimes. . . .”*
IN the Bahá’i Revelation three things are proved that are fundamental needs in the solution of any problem involving human conduct: these three things are— (a) the existence of a conscious and immanent God; (b) the immortality of the human spirit; (c) the fact that guidance from God, modern and complete, awaits the awakening consciousness of the people.
This article does not seek to prove any of these statements,—that proof is available for anyone who wishes to find it.
Assuming, therefore, as a basic fact that there is one God for all humanity—an all-conscious, omnipotent power, immanent and actively interested in His creation; the Provider for all, the Lover of all; and, assuming the additional basic fact that the human spirit is immortal, the opening question of this paper is as follows:
* ‘Abdu’l-Baha in “Some Answered Questions, p. 311.
If the individual members of the human family had the certain knowledge implanted in them from early childhood that eventually they must appear before an all-knowing and just God for judgment, would, or would not, such a fact make a change for the better in human conduct?
The answer is self-evident–it would.
No sane human being would care to do evil if at all times conscious that his or her every act and thought is known and recorded before God and that, sooner or later, he or she would have to reap the consequences of each act.
Also it is clear that a sane and normal understanding can only be based upon a Faith that is founded on reason and conscious knowledge capable of logical proof. Perfect wisdom is perfect sanity and perfect wisdom must be that which
comes from an errorless and all-wise God—as it is written:
“The source of all learning is the knowledge of God, exalted be His Glory, and this cannot be attained save through the knowledge of His Divine Manifestation.“*
Young character is plastic character. Every baby is born innocent, this has been clearly proved. Evil comes after birth, from neglected or wrong training, bad companions, wrong environment. Let the training be good, the companionship proper, the environment right and good results will follow. Habits good or bad, once established are difficult to change.
The present attitude towards crime is to wait until the criminal has committed the crime—then to make use of an expensive equipment to detect, to try, to judge, and to incarcerate the convicted criminal. This incarceration plunges the individual amongst a group of other individuals of like character but of various criminal predilections, where each shares with each his especial branch of criminal knowledge.
In a well-written article in the Los Angeles Examiner for June 12th, 1932, Prof. Francis Sayre, director of the Harvard Institute of Criminal Law, says:
“1 . . . ‘criminal prevention work’ should start from childhood . . .”
“2 . . . we should make the foundation of our penal system rehabilitation. . . .”
Prof. Sayre advocates further a more scientific system of detection and a modernizing, tightening, and speeding up of criminal law procedure but ends his article with this statement: “But the greatest advance of all can be made by attacking
* Baha’u’llah in Words of Wisdom.
crime at its source, through moral instruction of all school children. . . .”
Undoubtedly penal laws of some effective type will be necessary for many years to come, but surely it is possible to conceive of a civilization such as is pointed out in the Bahá’i teachings in which, because of early training in the fear and love of God, a consciousness could be created in which the commission of an evil act would cause remorse to such a degree in the individual as to root out any possibility of its repetition.
Such a consciousness as that mentioned in the preceding paragraph has already been established almost universally in regard to cannibalism.
When asked to explain the difference between material civilization and divine civilization ‘Abdu’l-Bahá replied:
“As to the difference between the natural civilization which is in the present day in force, and the Divine civilization which shall be of the results of the House of Justice. The material civilization prevents and safeguards people from committing evil deeds, through the force of the laws of retaliation and correction. Thus you see how prohibitory laws and rules of correction are constantly in circulation and yet by no means any (adequate) law of retribution is to be found; and in all the cities of Europe and America spacious prison buildings have been founded and established for correcting the criminals.
“But the Divine civilization will so train mankind that no soul will commit crimes except rare individuals, which exception is of no importance whatsoever. Consequently,
there is much difference between preventing people from evil actions and crimes through correction and retaliation or through violent punishment, and so training them, enlightening them and spiritualizing them that they will shun crimes and evil deeds without any fear (however) of punishment, prevention or retaliation. Nay they will consider crimes themselves as the greatest punishment and mightiest retaliation, will be attracted to the virtues of the human world and devotedly spend their lives in that which is conducive to the enlightenment of mankind and in spreading qualities acceptable to the Threshold of the Almighty.
“Consequently, consider what a difference and distinction there is between the material civilization and the Divine civilization! The natural civilization prevents men from doing harm and wrong through force and punishment and thus withholds them from committing crimes. But the Divine civilization so trains men that the human individuals avoid sins without having any fear from punishment (material), and the very sin itself becomes unto them as the severest punishment. And they will engage in acquiring human virtues, gaining that by which mankind will be uplifted and that which will enlighten the human world with the utmost zeal and fervor.”*
In a God-fearing and God-loving humanity all crime could be made as obsolete as cannibalism, beginning with the great crime of wholesale murder, arson and robbery called war, down to the slightest infringement of the moral code. But in order to be completely effective
* Baha’i Magazine, Vol. 2, No. 3, p. 3.
the beginning must be made with the plastic years of childhood and kept up until, just as the physical child gradually learns to walk, so the moral and spiritual child may also learn to maintain a character equilibrium amidst the temptations of daily life.
His Holiness Bahá’u’lláh says in His great “Tablet of the World”:
“In our laws and principles a chapter has been devoted to the Law of Retaliation (for homicide, etc.) which is the cause of the protection and preservation of people; but the peoples dread of that law withholds them only outwardly from committing base and unseemly deeds. But that which prevents and guards men both outwardly and inwardly (from base deeds) is the Fear of God.”
“The Fear of God is the real Guardian and the ideal protector. Men must adhere and hold fast unto that which is conducive to this great gift.”
The above is particularly true in the work of the Juvenile Courts of the land—such teaching is the only really effective agent, and those who do not employ such a method are losing their most certain means of obtaining results.
In the Juvenile Court work, as practiced in the United States, the thought is to remove the erring youth coming under its jurisdiction from contact with older criminals, which was formerly their lot when incarcerated with them. Also to establish a friendly but firm probationary period in which every effort is to be made to re-shape lives just beginning to divert from rightful standards of conduct.
The youth of the twentieth century are independent by inclination and, to an extent, this is a sign of progress–but the youth who come before the courts of the land are expressing that independence, in ways that are harmful to themselves, their families and their associates.
In their revolt from a family control that is ignorant and unjust in many cases, this type of youth has leaped the traces into conduct completely unsocial, only too often citing cases in which family life has set them a bad example. They evidence by deeds little respect for law and order, often have a contempt for those who uphold it. However, it is true that the plastic youth who come to court will nearly always listen to a mention of an allknowing God, if it is done in the right way. It is as a rule, not hard to train them into the knowledge that nothing can be concealed from God and that, sooner or later ‘What a man sows he must reap’. They can be made to realize that God is not a tyrant, laying down arbitrary laws merely because He is all-powerful, but that He is their loving Creator and that His laws are meant for their own good, their health and their happiness. They can, in this way be protected from vice and crime and social diseases. They can be taught the Fear and the Love of God—the one God of all mankind, and the results will often astonish the beholder in the transformations for good that seem almost miraculous.
However, even here the time to begin is before the children do things that would bring them into any court. The time to begin is in the schools of the world. Throughout all schools an undenominational spiritual training can readily be taught side by side with material education. If the reason that this is not done in the United States in a definite and direct manner should
be a creedal fear that some denomination other that one’s own will inject denominational propaganda objectionable in nature, or should the opposition of scientists to having superstitions taught in the name of religion be the trouble—then, in either case, all can alike rejoice. Such rejoicing can be because the fundamental moral laws, the proof of the existence of God, and proof of the immortality of the soul, are found in the Bahá’i Teachings in a manner in perfect agreement with science and without the slightest sectarian or denominational limitation. These truths can be taught without the slightest fear of anyone’s religion being hurt, for the Bahá’i Cause loves the people of all religions and is not seeking to belittle or subvert anyone’s religion, but explains, clarifies and fulfills all true religion, with prejudice towards none.
As ‘Abdu’l-Bahá points out, Truth is one and is not subject to multiplicity, and all mankind is from the same God, the devil not having made anybody.
What parents, worthy of the name, but would want to see their children come to honour in the world and achieve a worthy station in the sight of God, and this is true no matter what religion they profess. Then surely, in an intelligent nation, some basis of unity can be reached, some foundation laid down upon which all could work together in love for the laudable aim of giving all children a material and spiritual education, the latter to protect them from temptation to do evil and to adorn them with the Divine virtues which are the real cause of human ennoblement.
Many Bahá’is attended a recent Conference of Catholics, Jews and Protestants gathered for the purpose of discussing religious liberty and mutual understanding. The Conference was held in International House near the University of California in Berkeley. The author of this article, a well known Bahá'i, was appointed because a Bahá’i, to prepare a report of Round Table No. 1, the subject for discussion being “The Cause and Cure of Religious Prejudice.” The report she prepared was so excellent from the standpoint of the three groups represented, that each and every one felt that she must be a member of their particular faith, indicating the universal attitude in which the report was made.
INTERNATIONAL House, on the edge of the University of California campus, offered a perfect setting for the Seminar of Human Relations held in Berkeley a few months ago. Within its paneled walls, a continuous seminar of human relations is being held, and Asiatic, Negro and Caucasian meet together in easy friendliness.
Into this free atmosphere entered Catholics, Protestants and Jews, and talked together. As they talked, each became aware, to a higher degree than before, of the existence of other groups than his own and of the beauty and reverence and dignity inherent in other creeds.
A group of believers from the Bahá’i Assemblies which encircle San Francisco Bay were interested observers of this sincere attempt to mitigate ancient prejudices. They were thrilled as, one after another, Protestant, Catholic and Jew brought out the thought that those things which we hold in common are the fundamental things. We all believe in the capacity of the human soul to develop religiously. This is our common end. The things which divide us are trivial in comparison with those which unite.
As the Bahá’is joined in the discussion the protagonists of the various groups turned to them as though assured of their sympathetic understanding and finally it was a Bahá’i who was chosen by Mr. Clinchy, the national secretary of the organization, to present the report of Round Table No. 1, before the Seminar as a whole.
GROUP No. 1 was organized for
the purpose of discussing the Cause
and Cure of Religious Prejudice.
When does a difference of opinion
become a prejudice? It is a prejudice
when it becomes intolerant of
the opinions of others; when it is
emotional and not founded on reason.
Prejudice is characterized by
a lack of openmindedness, willingness
to gain new truths. We were
reminded that Lippman urges us to
hold our opinions tentatively, lest
they become prejudices.
We decided the chief causes of religious prejudice to be symptoms of the closed mind having their origin in differences of behavior and belief and their manifestation in lack of trust. They are fed by ignorance, by misinformation, which is worse than ignorance, and by
partial or incomplete information. These seminars originate in a conviction, more and more widely held, that the fundamental truth of all religion is one and that true information about the beliefs of others will break down prejudice.
When we had finished the preliminary work, which included a tabulation of those prejudices most commonly held against Jew, Catholic and Protestant, Mr. Clinchy asked Rabbi Weinstein to act as discussion leader for the Jews and explain some of the points urged against them.
Dr. Weinstein dwelt particularly on the “In-Group,” “Out-Group” psychology. For many generations, the Jews have been an “Out-Group.” Prejudice against them is largely traditional and the explanations which are advanced are, for the most part, rationalizations. The prejudice originated in a period when the religion of the Jew differed from that held by the “In-Group” and in those days a difference in religious views was excellent ground for prejudice. When the religious bonds relaxed, their economic methods were advanced in way of rationalizations; now racial explanations are being offered.
They are an alien people, there is something which marks them off as different. What of it? Why should such a difference be resented? In the days of the Ghetto, the Jew was the inhabitant of a city within a city. At night the gates were barred and none might issue forth. The only escape was the escape of the mind. In those dark days, they learned every subtlety of mental exercise. No wonder the Jew is a disturbing element: quick-witted, penetrating, keen in argument, he is quick to
puncture with his wit the happy platitudes of slower people. Their mental substlety and alertness, their rich vitality and zest for living, these very things which set them apart are their rich contribution to human society.
FATHER O’CONNELL was the eloquent
spokesman of the Roman
Catholics. He interpreted the attitude
of the Church on Prohibition,
the observation of the Sabbath, the
worship of images, birth control
and purgatory. His explanations
were clear, brief and to the point,
but to review them all would take
too long. One example should be
sufficient. Some of the Protestant
ministers present asked Father
O’Connell why the Catholic Church
prohibited her priests from joining
with them in conducting services,
consecrating buildings, etc.
The answer was succinct. The
Church regards herself as the one
vehicle ordained by Christ for the
preservation and transmission of
His teaching. All of those who
have departed from her fold she regards
as heretics and she is a stern
and unrelenting mistress. Her
ministers may not associate themselves
with heretics. She knows no
compromise on this point but she
does recognize a difference between
the Body and the Soul of the
Church. The Body consists of all
those who openly acknowledge her
doctrine but those who, all over the
world everywhere, are leading
Godly lives according to their lights,
these constitute her soul.
DR. GEO. T. TOLSON of the Pacific
School of Religion in Berkeley
spoke for the Protestants. He
mentioned the Dayton Case as an
instance of behavior in the Protestant Group that was rather bewildering. When asked to explain the contradictory interpretations of the Scriptures, he replied; “I can’t explain it except by saying that the Protestants have perfect religious freedom.”
Protestantism stands for freedom; for the right of the individual to approach his God directly without the intervention of priest or ceremony. It believes that revelation is never ending and that even today God speaks to the individual soul and that this inner voice is man’s truest and highest guide. That salvation comes to a soul when it is released from all dependence on formulas and dogmas. “We are not saved until we are released from literalism of all kinds which binds us to past ages. Religion is a living and developing thing.”
DURING THE discussion it had been
suggested that instead of the three
columns, Jew, Catholic and Protestant,
there should be two, Jew
and Christian. An analysis of the
attitudes of the three groups seems
to show a different alignment. The
position of Jew and Catholic is the
position of the supporter of the law.
For the Jew it is typified by the
Torah, for the Catholic by the
Church. They represent that great
division of humanity which believes
that the individual accepting a divine
teaching offers up as his first
sacrifice the right to individual
question and protest. The Prophet
reveals the law of God and this
law which comes down to us imbedded
in the traditions of the past
must be implicitly obeyed.
The entire Protestant position on the other hand is based on the inherent
right of the individual to question and protest. The Protesant however will make the point that what is questioned or protested against is not the law of God but the tradition in which it has been imbedded. Have those human agencies reponsible for its transmission been correct in their understanding and interpretation of the divine revelation.
In the face of such an apparently irreconcilable difference we can only remember that unity does not imply identity and that it is only “after the clash of conflicting opinions that the shining spark of Truth flashes forth.” The contribution which is of our own particular group is not the only contribution which is valuable. We should learn to appreciate, to savor and to enjoy those things which distinguish us from one another.
We may through intercourse such as this Seminar offered come to the time when the word Jew will evoke a picture of the ideal Jew; who, inspired by a divine madness became a witness for God in an indifferent world. When the word Catholic will bring to our minds the image of a Newman or a St. Francis or a St. Theresa. When the thought of Protestant will be the thought of one who stands for the integrity of the human soul: one, who freeing himself from all human attachments, turns his face toward the Source of Light and solves divine problems by the light of divine illumination.
We may even reach the point where in the most ignoble Jew, the most immoral Catholic, or the most moral Protestant we shall be conscious only of the spark of divinity, and honor and love him for that
spark and for the reason that he too is the child of our Father and our brother in humanity.
BEFORE THE Round Table disbanded
someone objected that we
had not done anything about the
removal of prejudice. Thereupon
Dr. Tully C. Knoles rose to the occasion
and made a motion that we
abolish prejudice.
Feeling that the conference should have some positive result to report to the main body, Mr. Clinchy appointed a committee to consider the next step. This committee was composed of the three spokesman for the three groups: Rabbi Weinstein, Father O’Connell, and Dr. Tolson, and they reported their recommendations to the Seminar on Tuesday. They were formulated under ten headings entitled, “What Next?” The establishment of these ten points will destroy prejudice.
1. Exact information secured from various sources including depositions written and oral from people devoted to the religion under suspicion.
2. The cultivation so far as is possible of an historical perspective which will relieve uninformed people of fear dating back to enormities practiced in ages past.
3. Intimate friendships and social minglings with members of religious groups toward which one is in danger of forming prejudices.
4. As far as is permissible, attendance with open and enquiring mind on the public services of other faiths.
5. A study of a great number of things in common in the ethical and religious values of Judaism, Catholicism and Protestantism.
6. The cessation of practices that irritate. (Proselytizing and defamation.)
7. The recognition of the shame and scandal of religious dividedness in a world already too much divided.
8. Recognition of the necessity that these three religions stand together and work together to stem the rising tide of secularism which is menacing all idealism.
9. The spread of inter-religious Fellowship.
10. Inter-Religious seminars where all dislikes, differences, prejudices, are being freely acknowledged and discussed in loving consultation.
THE REVELATION of our times is
the inter-relatedness of all mankind.
Leaders are seeing this in economic
and political relations, religious
leaders must recognize this
idea.
Those things which we hold in common are fundamental things. We all believe in God. We formulate our attitude toward man in the Golden Rule and attempt to express it in some form of social service. We all agree that ethical training is important to that development. These are our common ends. The individual should be left free to choose his avenue of approach.
If prejudice is to be destroyed, the appeal must be to the heart as well as to the head. The power of such meetings as these to destroy prejudice lies not only in the arguments advanced, the resolutions passed, or the programs mapped out, but also in the spiritual emotions which are engendered.
This Seminar of Human Relations held in Berkeley was a rich experience. Jew and Catholic and Protestant spoke eloquently for their faiths and those who listened were lifted to a higher spiritual level than they had known before. They were welded into a unity which transcended all outer differences. At heart they were one.
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, 1112 Shoreham Bldg., Washington, D. C.
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.
