| ←Issue 11 | Star of the West Volume 24 - Issue 12 |
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D'ACRE
Emile Schrelber
* *
FRONTIERS—OLD AND NEW
Dale S. Cole
* *
TRAINING FOR THE NEW
WOMANHOOD IN PERSIA
Bertha Hyde Kirkpattick
* *
EDUCATION IN A WORLD ORDER
Kenneth Chrtatien
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RELIGION—CAUSE OR EFFECT
Sylvia Paine
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| VOL. 24 | MARCH, 1934 | No. 12 |
1. Unfettered search after truth, and the abandonment of all superstition and prejudice.
2. The Oneness of Mankind; all are "leaves of one tree, flowers in one garden.”
3. Religion must be a cause of love and harmony, else it is no religion.
4. All religions are one in their fundamental principles.
5. Religion must go hand-in-hand with science. Faith and reason must be in full accord.
6. Universal peace: The establishment of International Arbitration and an International Parliament.
7. The adoption of an International Secondary Language which shall be taught in all the schools of the world.
8. Compulsory education—especially for girls, who will be mothers and the first educators of the next generation.
9. Equal opportunities of development and equal rights and privileges for both sexes.
10. Work for all: No idle rich and no idle poor, "work in the spirit of service is worship."
11. Abolition of extremes of poverty and wealth: Care for the needy.
12. Recognition of the Unity of God and obedience to His Commands, as revealed through His Divine Manifestations.
| VOL. 24 | MARCH, 1934 | No. 12 |
Spring, Abdu’l-Bahá | 354 |
How to Attain Prosperity, ’Abdu’l-Bahá | 365 |
Editorial, Stanwood Cobb | 355 |
The Lesson of Saint-Jean D’Acre, Emile Schreiber | 358 |
Frontiers—Old and New, Dale S. Cole | 362 |
Training for the New Womanhood in Persia, Bertha Hyde Kirkpatrick | 366 |
Education in a World Order, Kenneth Christian | 369 |
Keith Ransom-Kehler in Japan, Agnes B. Alexander | 372 |
The Evolution of a Bahá’i, Dorothy Baker | 375 |
Memorials of the Faithful, ’Abdu’l-Bahá, Translated by Marzieh Nabil Carpenter | 378 |
Religion—Cause or Effect? Sylvia Paine | 380 |
Current Thought and Progress | 383 |
STANWOOD COBB, MARIAM HANEY, BERTHA HYDE KIRKPATRICK | Editors |
MARGARET B. MCDANIEL | Business Manager |
| CONTRIBUTING EDITORS | |
| For the United States and Canada | International |
| ALFRED E. LUNT LEROY IOAS SYLVIA PAINE MARION HOLLEY DOROTHY BAKER LOULIE MATHEWS MAY MAXWELL DORIS McKAY |
HUSSEIN RABBANI, M. A. Palestine and Near East Central Europe Great Britain Persia China AGNES B. ALEXANDER Japan |
Subscriptions: $3.00 per year; 25 cents a copy. Two copies to same name and address, $5.00 per year. Please send change of address by the middle of the month and be sure to send OLD as well as NEW address. Kindly send all communications and make postoffice orders and checks payable to The Bahá'i Magazine, 1000 Chandler Bldg., Washington, D. C., U. S. A. Entered as second-class matter April 9, 1911, at the postoffice at Washington, D. C., under the Act of March 3, 1897. Acceptance for mailing at special rate of postage provided for in Section 1103 Act of October 3, 1917, authorized September 1, 1922.
SPRING . . .
to the equinoctial in the annual cycle. For verily this is the spring season of God.”
CONSIDER this present century of radiance and compare it with past centuries. What a vast difference exists between them! How minds have developed! How perceptions have deepened! How discoveries have increased! What great projects have been accomplished! How many realities have become manifest! How many mysteries of creation have been probed and penetrated! What is the cause of this? It is through the efficacy of the Spiritual Springtime in which we are living. Day by day the world attains a new bounty.
WHEN the Holy Divine Manifestations or Prophets appear in the world, a cycle of radiance, an age of mercy dawns. Everything is renewed. Minds, hearts and all human forces are re-formed, perceptions are quickened, sciences, discoveries and investigations are stimulated afresh and everything appertaining to the virtues of the human world is re-vitalized.
RELIGIONS are like the progression of the seasons of the year. When the earth becomes dead and desolate and because of frost and cold no trace of vanished spring remains, the springtime dawns again and clothes everything with a new garment of life . . . each springtime that comes is the return of the springtime that has gone; this spring is the renewal of the former spring. Springtime is springtime no matter when or how often it comes.
THE Divine Prophets are as the coming of spring, each renewing and quickening the teachings of the Prophet who came before Him. Just as all seasons of spring are essentially one as to newness of life, vernal showers and beauty, so the essence of the mission and accomplishment of all the Prophets is one and the same. . . . The Spiritual Springtime has come. Infinite bounties and graces have appeared. What bestowal is greater than this?”
| VOL. 24 | MARCH, 1934 | No. 12 |
knowledge, new teachings are necessary, a new effulgence is essential and a new life is needed. The souls cannot accept the ancient ideas, a new thought and new teachings are necessary that shall be the spirit of this age and the light of this century.”
IT IS WITHIN the bounds of reason to aver that unless humanity speedily replaces egoistic, aggressive and cruel qualities with cooperative and serviceable qualities (at least in the type of men who control affairs in all departments of human activity) civilization is doomed. For the forces of obstruction and destruction grow in geometric ratio with the progress of man’s intelligence, his inventive capacity, and his science of control over the resources and powers of nature.
There must needs be a planned society, world wide in its scope, cooperative in its foundations and principles, scientific in its development and distribution of produced wealth, and nonexploitive in its administration.
Unless such a world state comes about, society will wreck itself in titanic struggles for supremacy on the part of this group or that, this nation or that. The battle of the possessed against the dispossessed, of nations rich in resources against those in need of them, of those countries who seek to maintain positions of advantage against those seeking to rise to power,—this immense world-wide contest cannot chronically persist. The means of destruction are too great, the scope of attack too vast to confine this
strife within such minor bounds as to injure only a part of humanity.
Today we all stand to sink or swim together. What happens in the Antipodes affects us no less than what happens next door. We are therefore compelled for the first time in history to think in world terms and to make plans that are universal in their scope.
Out of this very necessity—this “Ananké” which compels events—will come tremendous progress and transformation. I do not apprehend that either humanity or Destiny will fail in the crisis. That which is necessary will be brought to pass. Humanity will rise to new heights both of concept and of action. The creative forces of gifted and truly patriotic souls, forging new folk-ways within each nation, will eventually flow together and coalesce as a world power of totally new type; a directive, constructive, conserving power that will build and not destroy, that will distribute and not preempt, that will stabilize and not endanger the structure of civilization.
With the enormous creative power of modern science fully available to agricultural and industrial production the world over, with improved and cheaper modes of locomotion, with the expansion of all
means of international communications, and with the advancing coalescence of world cultures,—we may reasonably look forward to an age of universal prosperity and happiness such as philosophers have dreamed of and poets sung of.
WE ARE only at the dawn of the
power age. The application of electricity
to the arts of life is in but
its kindergarten stage, if we may
take the word of the scientists.
And who knows what new universal and titanic power awaits discovery? Whether this be the power of the atom or an electric force to be derived from the atmosphere, there is destined to be such a discovery within the present century. All over the world scientists are striving to wrest from nature this gigantic secret that would double, treble, expand to an unknown degree the wealth of the world.
Recent investigations point to the stratosphere as the source of such a new power. Scientists have discovered that the world is a huge dynamo, with the earth and its heavy atmosphere the negative field and the stratosphere the positive field. In that outer atmosphere, it is computed, there is kinetic electricity of 200 million ampere, enough to provide 160 million horsepower for every human being on earth.
“Science is on the verge”, says Dr. Luther S. H. Gable, “of unleashing forces capable of lifting mankind to heights beyond the wildest dreams of a generation ago, or of plunging humanity into an orgy of destruction which might well depopulate and leave barren the civilized world.”
The next kind of power that will
be discovered will be not only more universally available, but cheap beyond all present expectation. It will lessen the cost of transportation. Air travel will be so low in cost that trips around the world will be within the means of the average person. Structural metal will be greatly lowered in cost by the application of this new power to electrometallurgy in the production of aluminum alloys from the almost exhaustless supplies of aluminum ore in which the earth’s crust abounds. Agriculture will be stimulated and enriched by the low cost of nitrogen fertilizer obtained from the earth’s atmosphere by this new power at low cost. (Nitrogen composes 78% of our atmosphere.)
Toil, as mankind has hitherto known it, will be a thing of the past. A small amount of labor per capita will produce goods enough to satisfy all human needs and desires. A new leisure will ensue which will raise the dignity of the working man and make possible the complete democratization of culture.
BUT HUMANITY in order to utilize
and profit by such an age of plenty
must undergo a spiritual transformation.
The history of power up to date has been a history of exploitation more than of service. The few have grown enormously rich out of all proportion to justice or expediency. The power already discovered has not been divided in proportionate blessings among the human family. If a vast new power were to be discovered while humanity is organized socially, economically and politically on the old individualistic selfish basis, the process of human exploitation would be aggravated
rather than diminished. Instead of a blessing such a power would prove a curse, for it would engender class warfares and disrupt rather than insure the order and stability of civilization.
More dangerous still would such a power prove in the field of nationalistic rivalry and warfare. The power sources we already have on hand are so destructive as to menace the very existence of civilization. Added power would prove to be but added ruin if the old competitive nationalistic system were to continue with its exploitation in the name of patriotism, its selfish monopolizing of earth’s resources, and its fanatical and unreasoning belligerancy.
THIRDLY, there is a distinct danger
to civilization in the opportunities
given by added leisure for the
satisfaction of greed, vanity, luxury-desires
and sensuality. The new age of plenty and of leisure will prove a temptation far too great for humanity to endure, unless there comes simultaneously with it a process of spiritualization to refine man’s desires and customs.
What humanity desperately needs more than new sources of power, more than leisure and prosperity, is a new conscience. When that arrives, man’s intelligence and will can forge a way to a prosperity not only far greater than human hope has envisaged, but also eternally durable.
Philosophers, economists, statesmen are seeking today, with a zeal enforced by necessity, security for a failing world. The solution to their quest must be found chiefly in a new universal moral and spiritual consciousness applied in practical terms to the more perfect organization of human society.
The world of humanity is going through a process of transformation. A new race is being developed. The thoughts of human brotherhood are permeating all regions. New ideals are stirring the depths of hearts, and a new spirit of universal consciousness is being profoundly felt by all men.”
The following article is a translation, specially authorized by M. Emile Schreiber, from his recent book, “Cette annee a Jerusalem,” of the concluding chapter devoted to his experiences during a visit to ‘Akká and to the Shrine of Bahá’u’lláh at Bahje. The author is a notable figure in French intellectual circles, as man of vast experience and travel, and though himself not an adherent of the Bahá’i Faith, one who has a deep and sincere appreciation of its world program.
AT Saint-Jean D’Acre, in the North of Palestine, I visited the tomb of Bahá’u’lláh, one of the creators of Baháism, that religion, or rather that religious philosophy of an incomparable breadth, which was preached from 1844 to 1921 by three Persian Prophets, the Báb, Bahá’u’lláh and His Son ‘Abdu’l-Bahá. . . .
While Soviet Marxism proclaims historical materialism, while the younger Jewish generations are becoming more and more indifferent to the established beliefs, the Bahá’i doctrine takes on, in these present times, special interest, an interest all the greater as, departing from the purely philosophical domain, it upholds, in economics, solutions which coincide curiously with the preoccupations of our times.
This religion is, moreover, by its very essence, opposed to the dogma of racial superiority. It originated in Persia, in 1844 and the three successive prophets who preached it were Persians. The first, the Creator, was called the Báb. He preached in about 1850 and taught besides the reconciliation of all the various religions, the liberation of women, still condemned to a semi-servitde in all Islam.
A Persian of rare beauty, Quarratu’l-‘Ayn, gifted with a great
talent of oratory, became a convert and was the first woman in the Orient to unveil. Tens of thousands of Persians were converted at that time. The Shah of Persia had the Báb imprisoned, and soon after beheaded. Quarratu’l-‘Ayn was strangled to death. Almost all of the followers were imprisoned, tortured, and killed. Later some of the few remaining disciples were exiled to Sant-Jean D’Acre, which has since become a Palestinian city.
It is there that I visited the house of the Báb’s successor, Bahá’u’lláh, transformed today into the Temple of Baháism, which is more a philosophy than a religion, in the traditional sense, as it has no cult, no clergy. The Baháists think that generally the priests are tempted for selfish ends to falsify and corrupt the disinterested idealism of the founders of any religion.
BAHA’U’LLAH, the Principal of
these three prophets, spread His
doctrine not only in the Orient, but
in many European countries, and
above all in the United States and
Canada.
He was persecuted and imprisoned for over forty years, and finally died in exile. His son ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, succeeded Him and elaborated in harmony with the teachings of
His Father, the economic principles of the Bahá’i Faith. These prophecies indicate, to an astonishing degree, the profundity of His knowledge, His spiritual vision and insight. He foretold the Great War and the subsequent economic crisis. He died soon after the realization of the first part of His prophecies.
The house where Bahá’u’lláh lived and died in exile, at Saint-Jean D’Acre, has been transformed, by pious hands, into a retreat of silence and meditation. It is situated on the edge of a large forest of Eucalyptus, in the middle of a large Arabian garden, filled with quiet poetic charm. The principle room of the house, in oriental style, resembles a mosque. It contains only the most rare plants and flowers arranged in perfect harmony. On the first floor the rooms, in oriental style, are scrupulously clean. These rooms are offered to pilgrims desirous to withdraw in quiet and peace. The caretaker is a Bahá’i of great serenity, and who refused when we left to accept a pour boire (oh! marvel in this country of the Oriental). He gave us a pamphlet containing a resumé of the Bahá’i principles.
The Bahá’i Doctrine: The human race is universal. All men are like the leaves of the same tree, and the flowers of the same garden. Racial hatreds are insensate.
All religions are to be respected. Moses, Christ, Muhammad, have lifted men to higher realms of thought and civilization.
Universal peace should be assured by a League of Nations, international arbitration, and adequate sanctions.
The rights and opportunities of both sexes should be the same.
It is the preaching of this last principle so violently in opposition to the Muhammadan tradition, that makes the enslaving of its women the basis of society, which brought to the Forerunner, the Báb, the penalty of death in 1850.
IN THIS quiet solitude, I reverently
evoked the martyrdom of these
generous men, who paid, with their
lives, or with exile, for a noble
idealism.
Neither Christians nor Jews, consequently above the conflict which is breaking out anew in Christian countries under the form of religious persecution, these Persian Prophets lifted their voices against the sterile hatred of races.
In what way does one race differ from another? Climate, social usages, education, language, food, and, last but not least, intermarriage either secretly or outwardly acknowledged, can produce in any country a rapid blending of the most diverse races, if no political principle or social philosophy interfere.
Without doubt there exists a Jewish type, just as there exists a German type, or French. How many more numerous are the Jews, the Germans, or the French who possess no definite type, and in which it is impossible to recognize at first glance, and even after careful examination any signs of their racial origin.
This experience confirms the generous and humane philosophy of the Bahá’is, who have themselves been inspired by the doctrine of Christ “all men are brothers.”
The Bahá’is declare that social relations become fatally impossible in a community where individual
idealism does not supply a firm basis for the ties that bind men together.
The individual feels himself more and more isolated in the midst of a social jungle which menaces, in many respects, his well being and security. Good will and honesty failing to bring him the anticipated results, cease to have in his estimation any practical value. Hence arise in him according to the individual temperament, indifference, discouragement or unscrupulous daring, which move one to secure by fair or foul means the material necessities of life.
Society, no longer under any control, either moral or political, becomes a ship without a rudder, where no prediction is possible and becomes the victim of crises of increasing frequency and violence.
THE PRESENT age, declare the
Bahá’i Prophets, marks the end of
a civilization which no longer serves
the interest of humanity. It leads
to the complete bankruptcy of material
or moral institutions, which
are originally intended to assure the
well-being and security of men, that
is to say the State, the Church, Commerce
and Industry.
The fundamental principle which could save civilization, on its way to destruction, is the solidarity of nations and races, for the interpenetration of peoples is such that they can not by their own efforts alone find the road to a lasting prosperity.
These prophecies which undoubtedly appeared over-pessimistic when they were made toward 1890, were not, as subsequent events have clearly shown, mere jermiads! It remains to study how the Bahá’i
Faith conceived in far away Persia, then so backward, reached the identical conclusions advanced by our foremost modern economists. These economists maintain that in the different countries of the occidental civilization, international cooperation is the only way out of the present crisis, which drags all peoples into an ever increasing misery.
These humanitarian principles of the Bahá’is might seem seriously endangered at a time when Nationalistic frenzy, recently aggravated by racial hatreds, seems to render their practical application more remote and unattainable.
The whole question is to know if those who are in power today throughout the world are able to solve the simple problem of food and shelter, in the different countries which deny in theory and practice the solidarity of peoples and races.
A new world war will no doubt be necessary before humanity, which has not as yet learned the lesson of 1914, finds out that the solutions of violence and conquest can only result in the general ruin, without profit for any of the participants.
HERE ARE the economic principles
of Bahá’u’lláh, as they were formulated
half a century ago, and which
gave expression to the fears which
have since been fully justified.
There is an organic cycle in human evolution marked by the duration of the life of a religion, of approximately one thousand years. A social cycle begins with the life of a religion, with the appearance of a prophetic founder of religion, whose influence and teaching renews the inner life of man and releases a new wave of progress. Each cycle destroys
the outworn beliefs and institutions of the former cycle and creates a civilization based on beliefs in closer conformity with actual human needs.
In the past the influence of each founder of religion has been limited to one race or region by reason of the physical separation of the races and nations. The present cycle has worldwide influence and meaning. If the old tribal morality persists, science will be a destroyer. Its forces can only be controlled by a united humanity striving for the general welfare and well being.
The law of the struggle for existence does not exist for man when he becomes conscious of his mental and spiritual powers. It is replaced by the higher law of cooperation.
Under this higher law the individual will enjoy a far larger status than that of passive political citizenship. Public administration will pass from partisan politics which betray the people, to those who can regard office as a sacred trusteeship in which they can serve divine principles of justice and brotherhood.
Economic stability depends on moral solidarity and the realization that wealth is a means and not the end of life, rather than the working out of any elaborate socialistic or communistic plan. The essential point is the rise of a new mind, a new spirit of cooperation and mutual help, not universal subservience to a formal system, the effect of which would be to remove all individual moral responsibility.
Neither democracy nor aristocracy alone can supply the correct bases for society. Democracy is helpless against internal dissension; aristocracy survives by foreign aggression. A combination of both
principles is necessary—the administration of affairs by the elite of mankind, elected by universal suffrage and controlled by world constitution embodying principles having moral reality.
At this time of transition between the old age of competition and the new age of cooperation, the very life of humanity is in peril. It is a major stage in human history, a turning point in the evolution of mankind.
‘ABDUL-BAHA, Bahá’u’lláh’s son
and successor, developing the
thoughts of His Father, thus concluded
an address in New York in
1912: “Material civilization has
reached in the West the highest degree
of development, but it is the
Orient that has given birth to spiritual
civilization.
“In the western world material civilization has attained the highest point of development, but divine civilization was founded in the land of the East. The East must acquire material civilization from the West and the West must receive spiritual civilization from the East. This will establish a mutual bond. When these two come together, the world of humanity will present a glorious aspect and extraordinary progress will be achieved.”
Thus spoke ‘Abdu’l-Bahá in 1912 and everything has happened as He predicted.
But these words have not aged; they could without a single alteration be repeated in 1932. Today, as in 1912, the threat of war is again hanging over our heads, and the causes of hatred and of conflict have accumulated to such a point that if it be true that there exists an ebb and flow in human evolution, one
can conclude that we have never been so near a revival of those ideals of world cooperation which alone can save us.
In this Orient where ideas are as
clear and luminous as its skies,
voices have been lifted braving martyrdom
to proclaim the brotherhood
of man and the solidarity of
the human race. But the voice of the Bahá’i Prophets seemed to me to offer an interest of actuality and of truth, an interest which is the greater because these men from Persia belonged to a nation rather backward at a time when they sacrificed either their freedom or their lives, to preserve the flame of truth, and of human generosity.
EACH year, as spring approaches, there is a quickening in the tempo of life in the animal and vegetable kingdoms. Somehow spring induces optimism and a fresh hope—an acceleration. How intensely we yearn for the turning of the tide just now! Spring is the frontier of a new era of living, and there has always been lure and romance about a frontier.
It has been said that we must enter a new area of human behavior. This area is a frontier, lying between the mistakes of the past and the possibilities of the future.
Several writers have recently mentioned geographical frontiers and their influence on human activities in the years gone by. They have pointed out that the frontiers of civilization have served a purpose which, possibly, has not been sufficiently appreciated.
A concrete example from history will illustrate this function.
When conditions in the New England states became so distressing that certain individuals could no longer cope with them, what did many families do? They packed their belongings in a wagon and migrated, many of them, to the Western Reserve.
What were numbers of these pioneers doing? They were runing away from intolerable conditions, from forces which they could not control. They were seeking a new environment where they would not be hampered by the limitations imposed upon them in the old. They were seeking a place where there was greater freedom, at least freedom from economic pressures, which they could not withstand. They were entering a “new area of behavior”—a frontier. Well they knew that it was a difficult task, that while they might be escaping from some vexing situations and competition, they were beginning a contest with nature. But even this,
they deemed not too high a price to pay for release from burdens too heavy to carry.
MANY are the accounts of migrations
in history; migrations of
tribes, of peoples and nations.
Sometimes these moves were forced
by climatic changes or a natural
catastrophe. In some instances
peoples were exiled by stronger
groups. Often they moved in search
of food. Again they became acquisitive
and sought to conquer.
Wanderlust played its part. But
almost always the goal of such a
migration, voluntary or involuntary,
was a new land, a frontier, unsettled
and untried but promising,
which offered some measure of relief
from undesirable conditions.
To recapitulate, first a frontier was a “place.” Secondly, it was a new place. Third, it was a retreat, a refuge, a relief, or release for the overburdened, or an expansion chamber for the over-crowded. Fourth, it was a “land of promise.”
Where are the frontiers now to which distressed individuals, families and peoples may repair? There are few, if any, for they have disappeared with the advance of civilization. Japan has been trying to define one for herself.
This disappearance of frontiers is one of the “unprecedented conditions” pointed out by contemporary writers and thinkers. Always before, groups could run away, as it were, from intolerable conditions and start over again in a new place. Now there is no place to go.
BUT A FRONTIER may not always be
a place. It may be a period of
time between the known past and
the unknown future. It may be a
different environment, somewhere between the old difficulties and relief. It may be a state of mind intermediate between despair and hope. And finally, it may be a condition of spiritual consciousness which takes full cognizance of shifting values and the significance of events, but at the same time orients individuals and peoples so that they may become unobstructed channels for a spiritually dynamic power.
It is becoming more and more generally appreciated that the only force which can be effective enough to correct the ills of the world is a force originating with God, and that such a force really becomes effective when His Will is carried out in daily life.
Few, if any, place frontiers remain. Time frontiers are beside the point although time is of the essence of the problem. A new environment is desirable but impotent of itself. A temporary improvement in the general state of mind, although an intellectual possibility, is inadequate. So that there remains a single open frontier to which we may migrate with any assurance. It is the area of a new spiritual consciousness, of “wider loyalties,” of “higher aspirations” than have ever hitherto moved mankind.
Our immediate objectives are new political, economic and social achievements, but these can be most expeditiously and permanently attained by realizing that they are but limited areas of the whole, and that the highway of approach to the solution of political, economic and social vicissitudes is through the frontier of a kind of spiritual awareness not sufficiently prevalent today.
Any frontier presents its hardships.
One cannot usually slip from old, familiar habits of thought into new and broader ones without considerable effort. Like the old frontiersmen, we have many obstacles to overcome. But just as they conquered the wilderness of physical frontiers, changing their mode of life in so doing, so can we change, not only our sentiments but also our attitudes, both passive and active, towards those fundamentals of life which form the sub-structure of society.
The frontier of a new, more universal consciousness, the only available refuge, is the portal to the Most Great Peace on earth, a peace with a trinity of virtues; peace among peoples, peace between individuals, and peace and tranquility within the individual. No price is too high to pay for such a benevolent consummation for it presages the “culmination of human evolution.”
WHAT ARE some of the changes to
be encountered in this frontier of
a new and deeper spiritual consciousness?
As the pioneers of old left behind them many things, tangible and intangible, which they could not take along, so must reliance on tradition and superstition be abandoned. Prejudices of all kinds must be left with the old environment. Outgrown creeds and dogmas must not be allowed to impede progress. By independent and trustworthy investigation the trail of truth must be followed through the frontier. The guidance of science and religion—religion the revealed Word of God for this day—must be followed.
This migration into a new frontier, imperative though it be, may not be a retreat, a flight from intolerable conditions as such, rather it may be a voluntary advance, a rising above old limitations into the frontier of greater potentialities for concerted human endeavor where a true community of interests may be found.
In this frontier of a new spiritual consciousness, true significances will appear. These will be profound and fundamental. The oneness of mankind and the oneness of religion will emphasize the solidarity of foundations. The various spheres of activity of the sons of men will be seen as concentric about the center of the essential unity of mankind.
In this frontier there will be no differentiations such as racial animosities and national antagonisms. There will be an integration of human purposes and ideals. There will be withal, “unity in diversity” not uniformity. There will be virgin soil for human cooperation, the philosophy of despair and selfishness yielding to one of lovingness and faith.
Today, the Bahá'i Movement is sounding the broad principles upon which the future advancement of man must be based. This frontier of a new spiritual consciousness of tremendous possibilities awaits those in search of truth.
The first step towards it is a desire
to know the Truth as enunciated
in the Divine Plan. This
knowledge is not difficult to acquire.
The spiritual springtime is here. The roads to the frontier are open. The pioneers are moving.
IN THE world of nature the greatest dominant note is the struggle for existence—the result of which is the survival of the fittest. The law of the survival of the fittest is the origin of all difficulties. It is the cause of war and strife, hatred and animosity between human beings. In the world of nature there is tyranny, egoism, aggression, overbearance, usurpation of the rights of others and other blameworthy attributes which are the defects of the animal world. Therefore, so long as the requirements of the natural world play paramount part among the children of men, success and prosperity are impossible. For the success and prosperity of the human world depend upon the qualities and virtues with which the reality of humanity is adorned; while the exigencies of the natural world work against the realization of this object.
THE nobility and glory of man consist in the fact that, amidst the beings, he is the dawning-place of righteousness. Can any greater blessing be imagined by man than the consciousness that by Divine assistance the means of comfort, peace and prosperity of the human race are in his hands? How noble and excellent is man if he only attain to this state for which he was designed. And how mean and contemptible if he close his eyes to the public weal, and spend his precious capacities on personal and selfish ends. The greatest happiness lies in the happiness of others. He who urges the matchless steed of endeavor on the race-course of justice and civilization alone is capable of comprehending the wonderful signs of the natural and spiritual world.”
“The world of humanity is possessed of two wings—the male and the female. . . . When the two wings or factors become equivalent in strength, enjoying the same prerogatives, the flight of man will be exceedingly lofty and extraordinary. Therefore woman must receive the same education as man and all inequality be adjusted.”
THE liberation of women in the Near and Far East is going on with such rapidity that we in the western world are scarcely conscious how advanced our eastern sisters are. Recently a young woman from Turkey, a student in one of our great universities is reported as saying that Americans were wholly uninformed about conditions in Turkey; that she had more personal freedom in her native land than on the university campus here. A Chinese woman speaking in America recently made the statement that there is no profession but what is open to women in China; that women are finding opportunities in the political, business and industrial world as well. From India we hear of the eagerness with which the masses of women are seeking and grasping opportunities to learn and to improve their condition. All over Asia are organizations and leagues for the liberation and advancement of women.
But we are especially interested in the progress women are making, and the training girls are having in Persia, the homeland of the Báb and of Bahá’u’lláh, those Supermen Who first proclaimed that the recognition of the equality of man and woman was necessary to the progress of mankind. Not very much news from Persia gets into our papers and periodicals, perhaps because
there are fewer commercial connections between that country and western countries. But however that may be women are awake in Persia and when the history of the rise of feminism in the Orient is fully written the original impulse will be traced to Persia.
THE DRAMATIC story of Persia’s
heroine, the inspired Táhirih, better
known as Qurratu’l-‘Ayn, is the
story of the beginning of woman’s
liberation. Born in a family of
rank and learning she herself was
famed as a poetess and for her brilliant
scholarship. Her fearless act
of appearing unveiled before a conference
of men in a country bound
by centuries of tradition and custom
which not only gave woman no
rights and privileges but which held
her as an inferior creation, was
much more than a startling gesture.
Behind it was the firm and inspired
conviction that this was the beginning
of a new cosmic cycle for
which new laws and customs were
necessary and in which the essential
equality of men and women would
be understood and realized. The
story of this learned and noble
woman who possessed the graciousness,
charm and dignity of perfect
womanhood, strengthened by the
steadfastness of an inspired and
unyielding faith, who calmly adorned
herself for her own martyrdom
as she would for her bridal day, has already been told throughout the world and will in the future be familiar to all.1
Of her Professor Edward G. Browne says: “The appearance of such a woman as Qurratu’l-‘Ayn is in any country and in any age a rare phenomenon but in such a country as Persia it is a prodigy—nay, almost a miracle. Alike in virtue of her marvelous beauty, her rare intellectual gifts, her fervid eloquence, her fearless devotion, and her glorious martyrdom, she stands forth incomparable and immortal among her countrywomen.”2
Thus by her life and her death did Qurratu’l-‘Ayn indelibly impress upon the consciousness of those early followers of the Báb that they were called not simply to a purified and exalted spiritual life but to establish new principles as a basis for new customs, in fact, to lay the foundation of a new cycle in human history. And one of the most startling innovations in this new cycle was the principle of the absolute equality of men and women.
WITH SUCH a beginning and such
an impetus Persian women might
easily have been in the lead of their
Oriental sisters today. But when
we remember that this idea of liberating
women was a part of a great
religious revolution we can understand
why, in that backward, priest-ridden,
and fanatical country the
declaration of such advanced principles
called forth the most cruel,
bloody, and unrelenting persecutions
known in the history of mankind.
For half a century Persia
was in the throes of religious persecution
and civil disorder. To
publicly put in practice such a prin- ciple as the equality of men and women was out of the question, and yet during these years of testing and suffering this and other teach- ings of Bahá/u’llah were being quietly spread throughout Persia. Just as a seed or a bulb spreads its roots deeply and firmly in the dark ground before it can send up branches and leaves and bear fruit, so these divine teachings were tak- ing firm root in the pure soil of the hearts of thousands during these long decades of persecution.
The time came however when the Baha’is ventured to form classes for giving children lessons in Bahá’i teachings? But so deep-seated were customs and traditions that even then it was for boys only that classes were started. In a few years however the time was ripe for beginning the formal work with the girls. We know that during all these dark years the girls in Baha’i homes had not been neglected for when the classes were formed there were women well fitted to teach them. How eager the girls were and how rapidly the work pro- gressed is shown in this little ac- count sent us by Dr. Susan I. Moody :4
“One day in 1911 a young Bahá’i worker among the boys, Mirza Niematollah Alaie, came to me and said: ‘Why don’t you start the girls in this study of the Teachings?’ That inspired me to get busy and we soon began to gather the girls in a quiet way. As they were most eager we soon had classes opened in various parts of the city. It was my privilege to visit a class every Friday morning and often when a
1 See Bahá’i Magazine, Vol. 21, P. 231, for a fuller account of Qurratu’l-Ayn.
2 A Traveler's Narrative, Note Q, p. 309.
3 An account by Jalal Sahihi printed in a former issue of this magazine shows with what dangers these first schools were attended. See Bahá’i Magazine, Vol. 21, p. 364.
4 Dr. Moody is an American Bahá’i who has for years made her home in Tihrán, Persia, and found her work among Persian Bahá’is.
class finished a course the examination was held in my home.
“One year we had a large gathering of the girls and their mothers in a place on the outskirts of the city–the home of a Bahá’i–chosen because it was isolated.
“In the midst of a very interesting program of recitations by the children word was brought to me that three police officers were at the gate to find out what we were doing. This became known and there was more or less excitement. A teacher in a government school who was friendly but not a Bahá’i ran into the house and over the roof to another house greatly scared.
“I went outside and explained that this was a social gathering and invited the officers, who were surrounded by quite a crowd of boys, to come in and have some ice cream with us. They laughed, asked to be excused, and went away. The friends were so excited that we soon had refreshments and closed the meeting, dispersing by various routes to our homes. There was never any further disturbance.
“The classes have developed greatly since those days and we continually render thanks for the freedom now enjoyed by the Bahá’is. We now have sixteen centers, all managed by trained teachers, where the same curriculum mentioned by Mirza Jalal is used, and in these classes many who started years ago in the first course are teaching and training others.”
A MORE recent letter from Eshraghea
Zabih, one of the present
leaders in this work, tells us that
there are now several hundred girls
in these classes. The following
paragraph quoted from this letter
helps us to see with what careful detail these classes are organized.
“These girls are classified according to their age and studies. In the first and second classes they learn brief quotations from Bahá’u’lláh and ‘Abdu’l-Bahá; in the third a brief history of the Cause; later they study The Traveller’s Narrative, the Book of Certitude, the Book of Laws. Public speaking is included in the last grade. The children of from four to seven are formed into a kindergarten class.
“There are forty-five teachers and inspectors who meet once a week for plans and consultation and if there is anything that cannot be solved by this group it is left for the nine elected from this group to carry on the executive side of the work. These make the program for the classes, set the time for examination and give a large feast in celebration of the year’s work for the mothers, the children and those who donate their houses for the classes. At that feast we give prizes to the children.”
Miss Zabih tells us that this teaching work is by no means all that these Bahá’i sisters in Persia are doing for the advancement of themselves and children. In all there are four women’s committees; one which has charge of and arranges all general meetings, conferences and feasts, another the Women’s Progress Committee, one known as Moballeghat, which provides for teachers to spread the Cause, and the one already described for teaching children.
Could anything but a great spiritual force develop these sisters in so few years to such a degree that they are not only teaching themselves but organizing and directing these
different activities themselves?”
These accounts come from our sisters in Tihrán, the capital and most advanced city in Persia. In the few years since their schools were started they have made wonderful progress; even in Tihrán there are many obstacles, and in other cities and in the rural districts there are more difficulties, but
advancement is rapid everywhere. The sacrifice of the noble Qurratu’l-‘Ayn and of thousands of others-men, women and even children—is bearing fruit. A new spirit pervades Persia and women are sharing this spirit of progress. Like our sisters in India, China and Turkey the women of Persia are rapidly going forward.
“Education holds an important place in the new order of things. . . . All children must be educated so that there will not remain one single individual without an education. . . . In addition to this widespread education, each child must be taught a profession or trade so that each individual member of the body politic will be enabled to earn his own living and at the same time serve the community. . . . Universal education is a universal law.”
THE Bahá’í Faith is unique in that it alone presents a program for a World State complete in all its ramifications, with a world constitution outlining all the laws essential for a universal, progressive society.
It is also an interesting fact that the Bahá’i Administration (as the world government in its present form is called) is functioning already among several millions of people throughout the five continents. The details of the World Order of Bahá’u’lláh are being carefully studied and put into practice by groups of people as separated nationally as Americans and Burmese, as Germans and Persians, as English and Japanese. Thus, daily, the future administrators of a unified world are being trained.
PROMINENT AMONG the many challenging
features of this World Order are the theories of education.
To establish real peace and unity under the Bahá’i plan will, first of all, require that a universal curriculum of study be adopted. All religious, racial, nationalistic, and political prejudices must be effaced from our books of history. No more can we allow North-South sectionalism, Franco-German hatred to bring about such a patent distortion of historical fact as is now the case. Not in history alone, however, but in all subjects must the universal curriculum be supreme. This is the first fundamental of education for world citizenship.
It is the duty of the State to make education compulsory under this curriculum. If the parents of a child are unable to provide for its education, the State must assume
the responsibility. If the parents of a child are able, but unwilling, to furnish an education, the State has the right to tax such a family for the entire amount necessary for the child’s training. These matters are placed in the hands of each local Spiritual Assembly (governing body).
There must, under no circumstances, be any difference between the education given to the boy and that given to the girl. If there is any necessity of choosing which shall be educated–the boy or the girl–always, Bahá’u’lláh writes, must the girl be given the preference. This is essential, since girls are the mother-educators of the race. Universal education of women will be an effective guarantee of permanent peace. “Hence the new age will be an age less masculine and more permeated with the feminine ideals, or, to speak more exactly, will be an age in which the masculine and feminine elements of civilization will be more evenly balanced.”1
Each individual must be taught a trade or profession so that he may become economically independent. It is an obligation of the State to provide such an opportunity to everyone. And, in addition to this, all are to be given a “liberal” education.
This is, however, a decidedly new interpretation of what constitutes a liberal education. Every child from birth will be taught to do things independently. The ideal that will permeate all progressive thought under the Bahá’i Order will be “the independent investigation of truth.” There will be constant effort to motivate the child, not toward gullible acceptance of his ancestor’s
1 ‘Adu’l-Bahá in “Bahá’u’llah and the New Era,” p. 176.
2 Bahá’i Scriptures, par. 574.
theories, but toward constant, continued, universalized progress.
IT SHOULD not be inferred that
there is, in any of the Bahá’i writings,
a belief that all people are capable
of the same amount of understanding.
‘Abdu’l-Bahá states explicitly
that there is as much difference
between the innate capacities
of individuals as there is difference
in odor, color, and form between
the flowers in a garden. This
new education will give careful attention
to each individual under the
conditions above stated. The result
will be similar to a comparison
between a field of wild flowers and
a cultivated flower garden.
The child is to be continually trained in world citizenship. History will be presented to him as the record of humanity’s aspiration throughout all time. World vistas will replace sectarian interests. Coupled with this will be a new attitude toward labor.
With the people of the world working but several hours a day, drudgery will be abolished. And, since everyone will be compelled to do his share in the world’s work, work will be simple and universal in its relation to daily life. To enhance this position, Bahá’u’lláh has declared that in this age all work is worship. “Work done in the spirit of service is the highest form of worship.”2
This liberalized education will include thorough training from early childhood in the sciences and arts. Such subjects will be taught to the child through games and by the use of simple toys.
IT WAS in answer to a question of
President Bliss of the American University of Beirut that ‘Abdu’l-Bahá stated the three cardinal principles to be followed by the universities and colleges of the world.
“First: Whole-hearted service to the cause of education, the unfolding of the mysteries of nature, the extension of the boundaries of science, the elimination of the causes of ignorance and social evils, a standard universal system of instruction, and the diffusion of the lights of knowledge and reality.
“Second: Service to the cause of morality, raising the moral tone of the students, inspiring them with the sublimist ethical ideals, teaching them altruism, inculcating in their lives the beauty of holiness and the excellency of virtue, and animating them with the graces and perfections of the religion of God.
“Third: Service to the oneness of the world of humanity; so that each student may consciously realize that he is a brother to all mankind, irrespective of religion or race. The thoughts of universal peace must be instilled in the minds of all the scholars, in order that they may become the armies of peace, the real servants of the body politic—the world. God is the Father of all. Mankind are His children. This globe is one home. Nations are the members of one family. The mothers in their homes, the teachers in the schools, the professors in the colleges, the presidents in the universities, must teach these ideals to the young from the cradle to maturity.”
Here is the educational Magna Charta of future generations!
standard of the oneness of mankind, so that solidarity and unity may bind together all the nations; so that dogmatic formulas and superstitions may end; so that the essential reality underlying all the religions as founded by the Prophets may be revealed.
“That reality is one.
“It is the love of God, the progress of the world, the oneness of humanity.
“That reality is the bond which can unite all the human race. . . .
“Therefore strive, O ye people! and put forth your efforts, that this reality may overcome the lesser forces of existence, that this reality alone may control the lives of men. . . . Thus may a new springtime be ushered in and a fresh spirit may resuscitate mankind.
“This is my message.”
“It is quite plain and obvious that the life of this mortal world, like the breezes at daybreak, is not enduring but passes away. Blessed therefore is the great one who, walking in the path of God’s Will, shall leave behind him a praiseworthy fame and happy remembrance. . . . To be approved of God alone should be one’s aim.”
INTERNATIONALLY known and loved, the subject of this article Keith Ransom-Kehler needs no introduction to the readers of the Bahá’i Magazine, who have, through her writings, been given a glimpse into her pure, beautiful soul.
For me to attempt to write anything which would be adequate to Keith’s life and station is utterly impossible. I feel though, I must add my tribute to one who did so much for the Cause of Bahá’u’lláh in Japan, where, through the great bounty of God, it was my rare privilege to have had her with me for six weeks. Although we had never looked into each other’s faces, and I had only known her through her writings, yet even before the cable reached me telling of her coming, an expectant joy had filled my heart,—a joy which came from an unseen source and was not connected with the world about me.
In arranging for Keith’s visit to Tokyo, the doors had all opened and a program for two weeks had been filled, when on June 30, 1931, I met her at Yokohama. It was a happy meeting and we felt a joy and peace in being together. Her plan to spend two weeks in Japan had been submitted to and approved by Shoghi Effendi, Guardian of the
Bahá’i Cause, and she felt that without his sanction she could not stay longer. Knowing the great importance to Japan of her presence there, I cabled the Guardian asking that she might extend her stay. Just as she was packing to be ready to leave, the answer came, “Wholeheartedly approve Keith extend stay.” She then remained a month longer.
ALL THAT Keith’s visit meant to
Japan can never be told in words. I
will therefore only recount briefly a
few incidents. Her first public
speech, the day following her arrival,
was given at the Pan-Pacific
weekly luncheon in Tokyo. She
spoke with great inspiration and
power on the Bahá’i Movement. The
next morning the Japan Advertiser,
the leading English newspaper of
Japan, printed these words from
her talk:
“The world has developed into a neighborhood, but there is no spirit of friendliness and neighborliness. The Bahá’i Movement has given to millions of men and women today, representing every race, every religion, every nationality, every class, every type of human being, this great unifying impulse, which we believe will enable us to move forward like an army of faith and strength to vanquish evil things on earth, such as racial prejudices, religious animosities, social antagonisms—these things which have spread and divided men.”
In a Buddhist Temple, where the priest is a progressive, enlightened soul, Keith was invited to speak on The Way of Salvation. It was the same temple in which I had previously spoken on the Bahá'i Moveimemt, referring to the teachings of the Budhha. A Bahá’i brother, who was a Christian minister, acted as her interpreter at these meetings.
At the Chapel services of the Japan Women’s University, Keith spoke of Bahá’u’lláh and His teachings. A Japanese teacher, a graduate of Vassar College, interpreted for her and presented us with bouquets of flowers.
DURING KEITH’S stay several teas
were given in her honor and besides
these we were often guests at
dinners and teas where we met
students and open-minded men and
women of intellectual attainments.
After a dinner with some directors
at the Tokyo Chinese Y. M. C. A.
Keith had an opportunity to speak
to a group of Chinese students, The
English Speaking Club of the Japanese
Y. M. C. A. more than once
invited her to address the young
men. Several of these attended our
meetings afterward.
One morning we had the rare privilege of being invited, through the efforts of our Bahá’i minister brother, to an agricultural school
--PHOTO--
From left: Mrs. Ransom-Kehler, Mr. K. Sudo, a student of Keio University, Tokyo, and Miss Alexander.
out of the city. The principal of the school was an ardent and liberal Christian and greeted us with great cordiality. The students of the school were poor boys, self-supporting and preparing for immigration to South America. It was a heavenly meeting we had. Keith spoke and our brother translated. The fervent prayer of the principal as he knelt before his students, made a fitting close.
One of the happiest meetings for Keith was a few days after her arrival, when she spoke before a group of the English Speaking Club of the Commercial University. It was her first talk with Japanese students and she was thrilled. After her talk, tea and cakes were served, and she continued for another hour discussing with the students the proofs of the Manifestation of God.
It was the first time that a lady had been invited to speak in the University Club rooms, and the students were astonished at Keith’s brilliancy.
One afternoon we were invited to meet with a group of law students from Keio University in the law library of Dr. R. Masujima, a well-known international lawyer and friend of the Bahá’i Cause. After Keith’s talk, we all had Japanese supper together. When we were ready to return home the student who had invited us asked me if we would have our photograph taken with him. It was so spontaneous on his part that we gladly consented.
WHEN THE time came for Keith to
leave Tokyo, I accompanied her
from Yokohama on the steamer to
Kobe, and from there by rail to
Kyoto, where we met our blind
brother, Mr. Tokujiro Torii and his
family, whose guests we were that
night. Keith was very happy to be
in a Japanese Bahá’i home. It was
then August 7, and the weather had
become extremely hot. The kindness
of the Torii family to us was
without bounds. Keith said, “I
have never known such kindness.”
She was moved to see in the place
of honor in the home the Greatest
Name and a portrait of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá
made in relief, so that they
could be touched by those deprived
of sight. This was our last night
together. In the morning Mr. Torii
and his son accompanied us back to
the steamer in Kobe where our
Buddhist priest brother of the city
joined us and we had a final hour
together before Keith sailed for
China, on her way to Australia.
SHORTLY before Keith left Tokyo
the Japanese Advertiser printed a
full column, giving an account of her lectures in Tokyo, and explaining the aims of the Bahá’i Faith. Also in the English edition of the leading Japanese paper a series of articles by Keith on Religion and Social Progress was published.
Through Keith’s visit to Japan, a foundation was laid for the future formation of a Baha’i Assembly, which was accomplished the following spring. Her love for Japan and its people was very great. How she loved the babies on their mothers’ backs and all the artistic things of the country! Her wonderful love and understanding of human nature made her loved by all who met her. It was her hope to return to Japan sometime and be with me again. In all her letters she repeated the statement of her love for Japan.
One day, while in Tokyo, Keith came into my room bringing an article she had written on The Station of Martydom, which she read to me. How significant it now seems when she herself has attained this high distinction among the American believers and become their first martyr. When visiting the Shrine of Shaykh Tabarsi in Persia, Keith said, speaking of the great martyrs entombed there, “This is what that celestial army died for, the unity of East and West, of men and women, of rich and poor, of young and old, of black, white, yellow, and brown.”
Keith’s great devotion to the Bahá’i Cause and her intense desire to serve it will forever live in the hearts of those she touched in her earthly travels for His sake, and through her love, East and West will become more closely bound together in loving service.
“It is impossible to realize the grandeur and spiritual significance of these peerless days! God is establishing in the hearts of men His kingdom of peace and good will. Blessed are those who have taken part in this glorious work.”
DURING middle life, Ellen Beecher became increasingly aware that something of unusual import was happening to the world. So convinced of this was she that she left no stone unturned in her search for Truth. She studied avidly the confusion of tongues which was Church doctrine. Were the justice and love of God fabulous untruths, irreconcilable in the fact of His merciless damnation of countless millions who heard not the name of Jesus, the dear Savior? And could the Divinity be divided into three Persons? Would God create a Satan who would hate His Holy Ways?
She turned to the philosophies of the hour. New Thought, Christian Science, Theosophy and Spiritualism took, in turn, riotous possession of her thinking. From each she took many beautiful lessons, but found in none a complete solace.
Feeling rather like a homeless pigeon, she continued in a state of wandering for some time. The moment of promise in the New England garden seemed remote at times; but at least, when it had slipped almost into oblivion, two events occurred which brought it back with a wealth of new meaning.
She had gone to visit her friends, the Thompsons. The quiet evenings
spent with them were like periods of calm in a storm at sea. Now she lay on a divan, listening to the soft music that issued from the little, old-fashioned piano under the gentle touch of Mrs. Thompson. She thought of the garden. Had she stopped stepping? Was her heart given wholly to God? Slowly she let go of the tension of the world and slipped into a deep sleep. In her own words a faint ray of the perfection of those fleeting moments is conveyed to us:
“In the corner of the room appeared a Glorious Man, robed in white and wearing a white turban. I dare not attempt to describe the majesty of that Presence. The moment I saw him, he extended his hands to me. ‘I know that you long to die,’ he said with exceeding gentleness. ‘You may go with me now if you wish.’ The room seemed suddenly flooded with light. How I longed to arise and go with him! Then he spoke again, telling me that although I might make my choice as I willed, a great blessing lay in my remaining here of my own volition, and that all things would be made plain to me. My soul cried out to go, yet immediately my desire to be obedient to this shining Person obliterated all other desire. Joy filled my being as I acquiesced to the
things that he had spoken. Thereupon I began to be aware once more of physical sensation, and found myself being vigorously rubbed back to consciousness by Mr. and Mrs. Thompson who had become greatly alarmed about me. Even after I had opened my eyes, I saw the dim outline of that luminous Presence for a brief moment. Then all too soon the vision faded, leaving me transfigured by a strange joy while at the same time desolate because of its passing; so desolate indeed that I could not forbear crying out in the grievous pain of that parting.
“Several years passed before I saw again that consummate Radiance. I had been invited with three others, to visit a friend at Framingham near the famous old Methodist Camp Grounds. For ten days a conference was to be conducted by Dr. Cullis of Boston. I prayed earnestly that we might become conscious of the Holy Spirit among us. On Sunday, the last day of the conference, hundreds poured in from Boston and surrounding territory, many of them common ruffians who came with the marked intention of breaking up the meeting.
“I waited until the others had gone to the meeting, and then started out alone toward the big tent. Before I had gone very far, I felt a hand on my shoulder, directing me to walk thru the woods to a great, flat rock upon which I lay for some time, unconscious of my surroundings.
“A black cloud hung directly over me, as dense as a great wall in the heavens. Then I perceived two ladders, one on my right and the other on my left, and angels descending, carrying garlands of flowers. These they silently dropped upon me as
they passed from the ladder on the left to the one on the right. The fragrance of the flowers seemed to permeate all the atmosphere. The cloud disappeared, and in its place I saw a great light. Standing in the light at the top of the ladder on the left was the glorious vision of that Being whose beauty and majesty had so enthralled me. He was arrayed in most brilliant garments and his arms were outstretched as if pouring upon me a blessing. The spirit of that hour cannot be conveyed to you, for it bursts the narrow confines of the world of words.
“At four o’clock I awoke, feeling strangely in the world but not a part of it. Quickly regaining the path to the cottage I hurried along, praying wordlessly that none would speak to me, for I felt that the sound of a human voice could not be borne. The four ladies were seated on the porch, and as I passed them they looked long at me but spoke no word. I threw myself on my bed, lying prostrate for hours undisturbed. Later they crept in, one by one, and when at last the silent spell could be broken, they told me what had occurred in my absence.
“Several thousand had gathered at the meeting, but Dr. Cullis, rising at the appointed time had said, ‘There cannot be preaching here today. There is nothing we have the power to say or do in the presence of the Spirit which has touched someone in this camp since you have entered this tent. I do not know who it is that has received that Spirit but I would like to know how many others than myself have felt it? Hundreds arose without a word. When they had quietly resumed their seats, the doxology was sung and over a thousand came to the
altar to kneel and give praise to God.
“At some time during each of the three nights which followed, my friends were awakened by a great light which shone directly upon me. Each one, unwilling to be alone in discovery, called upon the others for verification. Through the years that followed they often called me to remembrance of it.”
IT WAS early in the nineteen hundreds that the heavens literally opened for Ellen Beecher. From the lips of a Persian rug dealer she heard the first fragment of the story of Bahá’u’lláh, the Glory of God. A beautiful New York woman then gave her a prayer revealed by His Son, ‘Abdu’l-Bahá. With this in her possession she met with an accident and was taken to a hospital, where she lay in pain for many weeks, the prayer a crumpled little sheet under her pillow. She lived on the strength of that prayer. Hungrily she ate of it and was filled. One day she became aware of the astonishing fact of faith, and on that day her fever left her and she was quite well. The world of yesterday was a dark memory, a night as compared to day. All things were made new. All nature sang. The oneness of mankind became apparent in rich and poor, black and white, European, Chinese and American. The miracle of love was born anew within her. Perplexities, tight buds of mind and heart, opened into a garden of a thousand understandings. Difficulties became light and mercy, and troublous hours had healing in their wings. The Eternal Christ, revealed again in Bahá’u’lláh became a living reality, a river of life coursing through the ages “from the beginning
* Old age caressed her.
that hath no beginning unto the end that hath no end”. Wonder welled up within her, and every fibre of her being cried, “God is glorious”.
IN 1912 ‘Abdu’l-Bahá came to
America. How she had longed to
see Him. Others had made pilgrimages
to the Holy Land, but she
could only serve and wait. Her
heart beat very fast on the day that
she mounted the stairs alone to see
Him for the first time. He opened
the door before she had quite arrived
and held out His hands, calling,
“Mother Beecher! Welcome,
Mother Beecher!” He had known
her immediately. The strangeness
of the greeting did not immediately
occur to her. One remembers the
greeting of the Báb to His unknown
disciple, Quddus: “We have
communed with this youth in
spirit.” All of life pointed to this
hour when the Master of ‘Akká had
cried, “Welcome!” How gently He
taught her. To the end of her life
she carried with her the tenderness
and grace of that meeting.
YEARS of loving service, toil and change took their toll and sped away.* The heavens had opened indeed, and confirmations had descended upon her in fragrant showers. Life had achieved full meaning. Destiny stood clothed in ermine. Possessed of nothing, such a soul is sovereign over all things. One short week on earth remained for her when, looking earnestly at me one day, she said, “My Lord has accepted me”. Who shall look with grief upon that final “Welcome”? A ship had found its harbor; a soul its God. A garden gate opening and closing; that was all. The mother of the faithful had gone home.
This series of brief biographies of the leading followers of the Báb and Bahá’u’lláh was composed by ‘Abdu’l-Bahá in 1915 and published in Haifa in 1924 in Persian. These translations into English have been made by the request of Shoghi Effendi. The aim has been to render them into colloquial English rather than to follow a literary translation. This work was done specially for The Bahá’i Magazine. The translator states that she does not consider these translations final.
THE great Jináb-i-Nabil-i-Qá’in, Mullá Muhammad-‘Ali, was one of those who recognized Bahá’u’lláh before the Báb declared His mission. . . . It happened that the son of Mir Asadu’llah Khán, Amir of Qá’in, had been ordered to reside in Tihrán as a political pledge, and because the prince was young and far from his father, Mullá Muhammad-‘Ali was serving as his instructor and guardian. Since the young man was a stranger in Tihrán Bahá’u’lláh was especially kind to him; on many a night he was a guest in Bahá‘u‘lláh’s house, and Mullá Muhammad-‘Ali, later given the title of Nabil-i-Qá’in, would come with him. This was before the declaration of the Primal Point. It was during those meetings that this trusted friend was irresistibly drawn to Bahá’u’lláh, and wherever he went he praised Him with enthusiasm and spiritual passion, saying as men did in former times that in the presence of Bahá’u’lláh he had witnessed miracles and wonders; he was wonderfully inspired, flaming with a great love, and in this condition he returned to Qá’in with the young prince.
Then the noted scholar Muhammad-i-Qá’ini, whose title was Nabil-i-Akbar,
arrived in Qá’in; he had been made a mujtahid by Shaykh Murtadá, who by this time was dead, gone to Baghdad and become a believer, after which he had returned to Persia; all the ulamas and leading mujtahids acknowledged his excellence, his wisdom and learning, his eminent rank; when he arrived in Qá’in he boldly set about spreading the Cause, and as soon as Mulla Muhammad-‘Ali heard the name of Bahá’u’lláh, he accepted the Cause of the Báb, saying, “I attained the presence of the Blessed Beauty in Tihrán, and I was fired With His love the instant I saw Him.”
Nabil-i-Qá’in had sublimity of soul and was divinely favored. In his village of Sar-Cháh, he spent his days in teaching; he made believers of his family and taught many others, until he brought a great number under the law of the love of God. Although he had been a close friend of Mir ‘Alam Khán, governor of Qá’in, had served him on many occasions and won his trust and respect, the thankless Amir turned against him in anger when he saw his faith, and, terrified of Násir-i-Din Sháh, began to persecute the believers. He banished Nabil-i-Akbar, and after confiscating the properties of Nabili-i-Qá’in, put him in prison,
tortured him, and drove him out into the desert.
To Nabil, the sudden calamity was good fortune, the loss was a rich reward; to him the disgrace was a joy and a great bounty. He passed some time in Tihrán, outwardly homeless and in distress, but tranquil and cheerful at heart—this is characteristic of all those who are firm in the Covenant. He had access to the society of nobles and other important people, and knowing them well, he would frequent a number of them and teach them as he saw fit. He was a consolation to the friends, and a drawn sword to the ill-wishers of Bahá’u’lláh; he was one of those of whom the Qur’án says: ”Reproach shall not turn him aside.” He taught the Cause to the utmost of his endeavor, day and night; he was surging and thundering and drunk with the love of God.
FINALLY permission came for him
from ‘Akká to go to the Greatest
Prison, because he was in constant
danger in Tihrán, where he was
known everywhere as a Bahá’i, as
he was absolutely fearless, never
thought of caution or patience, and
would not hear of secrecy. When he
reached the Prison enemies shut
him out, and try as he might he
could find no way to enter; he was
obliged to leave for Násirih, where
he spent some time, alone except for
his two sons Ghulam-Husayn and
‘Ali-Akbar, living in extreme poverty.
At last it was arranged for
him to enter the fortress. . . . He
was called into the presence of
Bahá’u’lláh and entered in a state
that cannot be described; when he
saw the Blessed Beauty he trembled,
fell down and lost consciousness;
Bahá’u’lláh spoke kindly to him, and he rose, and spent a few days hidden in the barracks, after which he returned to Násirih; here the inhabitants were much puzzled by him because they saw that he was a great man, doubtless of importance in his own country, and they wondered how he had come to live in their village and to content himself with so destitute a life.
Later when as Bahá’u’lláh had promised the doors of the Prison were opened, and friends and pilgrims could enter and leave the barracks as they pleased, respected and unmolested, Nabil-i-Qá’in would come every month to see Bahá’u’lláh, but in fulfillment of His instructions continued to live in Nasirih, where he taught the Cause to a number of Christians and sorrowed over the wrong done to Bahá’u’lláh. He earned his living by going into partnership with me; I furnished three krans of capital, and with this he bought needles, and used them to trade with; the women of Násirih gave him eggs in exchange—an egg for three needles; he would collect thirty or forty eggs a day, sell them, and live on the profits. He sent into ‘Aqá Ridá’s for needles every day-there was a daily caravan between ‘Akká and Násirih—and amazingly enough he lived two years on that capital. He was always thankful and one can judge how content he was from the fact that the inhabitants of Násirih would say, “We can tell by the way this old man acts that he has endless wealth, but because he is in a foreign country he is selling needles for the sake of prudence to hide his fortune.”
Whenever he entered the presence of Bahá’u’lláh he would receive new bounties, and he was my constant
companion; if sorrow came upon me I would send for him, and as soon as I saw him I was happy; how genial and eloquent he was, how radiant and pure in heart! He eventually came to live in the Greatest Prison (‘Akká) and saw Bahá’u’lláh every day. Then one day when he was walking with some friends in the bazaar he met a grave-digger known as Háji Ahmad; he was in perfect health at the time; he spoke laughingly to the grave-digger and said “Come with me”. Then he lead the way to the shrine of Sálih, and said, “Háji Ahmad, I have a favor to ask you; when I go from this world to the next, dig my grave here—close to the grave of the Purest Branch”, and he gave the man some coins. After sundown they brought word
that Nabil was ill. I went to his house at once and found him sitting down, talking and very happy; he was laughing and joking, but for no apparent reason his face was beaded with perspiration, and that was his only sign of illness; he continued to perspire, grew weak, and took to his bed; toward morning he ascended.
The Blessed Beauty (Bahá’u’lláh) showed the greatest favor to this personage and revealed important tablets in his name, and after his passing whenever he would be mentioned Bahá’u’lláh would speak of his faith and certitude and love, saying that he was one who had been drawn to the Bahá’i Dispensation before the declaration of His Holiness the Báb.
“Religion is the outer expression of the Divine Reality. Therefore it must be living, vitalized, moving and progressive. If it be without motion and nonprogressive it is without the divine life—it is dead. The divine institutes are continuously active and evolutionary; therefore the revelation of them must be progressive and continuous. All things are subject to re-formation. This is a century of life and renewal.”
THE fact of change in our present day political and economic surroundings is a commonplace. Likewise students in the field of religion are aware of similar tendencies in this branch of life today. Dr. Charles S. Braden of Northwestern University has recently published Modern Tendencies in World Religion*, in which he summarizes trends in each of the present world religions other than Christianity.
* Macmillan Co., New York.
His book is based on the premise that religion must of necessity change with our cultural and economic life. Religions that fail to satisfy human needs, he says, do not live and in the long run anything which affects our social, intellectual, or economic life must likewise produce a change in man’s religious beliefs.
At least five factors are constantly interplaying to produce change in
man’s life and hence in his religion; scientific discovery, economic change, political evolution, intellectual change, and cultural interchange. As knowledge in each of these fields of man’s activity has increased, the scope of religion has been thereby narrowed. Man has discovered facts and laws which have lead him to think for himself rather than follow blindly the superstitious beliefs and practices which were formerly the bulk of his religion. Furthermore as his control over forces around him has become more complete his concern has come to be predominantly with the present rather than future life. His concern over his life in future worlds has become less acute and thus the sphere of religious influence has been doubly narrowed.
THE MAIN chapters of Dr.
Braden’s book are devoted to showing
briefly what has happened recently
in each of the largest countries
and religions to affect the religious
beliefs of the people, and
furthermore along what general
lines change has taken place within
each of the world religions. He
treats Hinduism, Islam, and Judaism,
religion in China, in Japan, and
in Russia today. The similarity of
the trends is most striking.
Forces are at work the world over to increase international and inter-cultural human intercourse and consequently to bring the various religions into closer contact and to subject religious creeds to more critical scrutiny. This makes for reactionism on the one hand and at the same time breeds scepticism, agnosticism, and even atheism among the adherents of each religion. Syncretic tendencies also result
and religious creeds and practices are borrowed.
Lastly there is in each case a movement towards liberalism in religious and social thought the world over. Women are being given a social status in Oriental countries where formerly they had none, the caste system is gradually being done away with, and the idea of mass education is spreading.
We feel after reading this book that, although it is regrettable that religious influence is somewhat on the wane today, this loss is almost more than compensated for in the tendency toward shaking off time worn religious prejudices and the accompanying social liberation. The general social well being of human beings is certainly a most important goal to be held in view. Is a spread of scientific knowledge, of universal education, and of class liberation a more vital gospel in the Orient today than the more purely religious one? This leads us to question, what is religion and what part should it play in the civilization of the future as well as in the life of the modern individual.
People today tend to regard religion as only one among a number of factors which go to make our social and individual life what it is. Religion and religious institutions seem to many to be of human origin and to exist primarily because of a desire in man to worship a Being greater than himself. Dr. Braden similarly rather implies that the various change-producing factors in our modern life are themselves the causes of religious change. Just as social, economic, and political ideals and institutions change, so do religion and religious institutions alter
in response to the change in human life and relationships.
IN SHARP contrast to this rather
commonly accepted materialistic interpretation
of history we find the
Bahá’i teachings insistently emphasizing
its religious interpretation.
These clearly state that religion
itself is the ultimate cause
rather than an effect of human
progress. All the great prophets
and religious teachers of the past
lived solely for the purpose of educating
the world of humanity, and
were it not for these divine teachers
man would never have attained his
present state of civilization. Great
advances in human civilization as
well as a quickening of interest in
religion follow the advent of these
prophets. Although in some ways
their influence during their lives on
earth is not apparently world wide
or spectacular, yet it is actually
more lasting and widespread than
that of leaders in any other branch
of human activity. All of them
pointed out for man the essentials
of true religion and exhorted him to
remain firm in these precepts and
to worship God.
Bahá’u’lláh commands kings, rulers, princes, and mystics, all to hold fast to religion. “Religion is the greatest instrument for the order of the world and the tranquility of all existent beings.” Again He says, “The principle of
religion is to acknowledge what is revealed by God and to obey the laws established in His Book.” ‘Abdu’l-Bahá in speaking of the influence of religion on man’s life says:
“Religion is a mighty bulwark. If the edifice of religion shakes and totters, commotion will ensue and the order of things will be utterly upset, for in the world of mankind there are two safeguards that protect man from wrong doing. One is the law which punishes the criminals; but the law prevents only the manifest crime and not the concealed sin; whereas the ideal safeguard, namely the religion of God, prevents both the manifest and the concealed crime, trains men, educates morals, compels the adoption of virtues and is the all-inclusive power which guarantees the felicity of the world of mankind.
“People think religion is confined to an edifice to be worshipped at an altar. In reality it is an attitude toward divinity which is reflected through life. . . . By religion we mean those necessary bonds which unify the world of humanity. This has ever been the essence of religion, for this object have all the Manifestations come to the world. Alas! that the leaders of religion have abandoned this solid foundation and have fabricated a set of blind dogmas and rituals which are at complete variance with the foundation of divine religion.”
DR. BRADEN’S admirable survey
is certainly of significance to
thoughtful people in pointing to the
modern trend away from unreasoning
prejudices, and in showing so
concretely how religions in all parts
of the world are moving in the same
general direction. Must not the ultimate
outcome be a unifying of religious
institutions as well as
thought, accompanied by a greater
realization of the importance of true
religion in the modern life?
“The Manifestation of God is proof of Himself just as the sun is its own greatest and sufficient proof.”
labor and on intelligent agriculture to provide a more equitable balance of the abundant life between all elements of the community.”
WE have to educate a whole new generation of citizens and leaders for responsibilities that you and I were never educated for at all. We have to expand the body of human knowledge beyond everything we have previously imagined. For we are entering a great period of American life, a period in which our voice, our power, and our example will be felt in every quarter of the globe. . . . To discharge this responsibility we shall have to change the outlook of young men. We can no longer allow them to believe that the normal career of a college man is to go out and make a private fortune. . . . And the young men who go to college must be taught to look upon themselves as engaged in preparing to qualify for an elite of democratic rulers who have renounced vulgar ambition and private acquisitiveness. . . . No people has ever long fulfilled a high destiny, which lacked a governing class that was ready to live and die for the Commonwealth.—Walter Lippmann, Harvard Alumni Bulletin.
WHETHER we like it or not, we are having in increasing measure with each passing year an extension of the role of government in organizing and directing economic activities. . . . Everything depends upon whether the government is autocratic in character or democratic in its organization and in its methods
of operation, and whether the objective of enriching human life is borne consistently in mind. It may well be possible so to organize our government machinery and so to enlist the interests of citizens in the affairs of their government–national, state and local–as to stimulate the development of individual capacities in ways and to a degree hitherto undreamed.–Dr. Harold Glenn Moulton, President of the Brookings Institution.—The Scientific Monthly.
IN CELEBRATING the anniversary of the birth of Susan B. Anthony the progress of woman’s struggle for equal rights will be reviewed. For the life and character of this unique crusader are a source of perpetual inspiration to the feminist movements.
Miss Anthony’s role in the emancipation of women can not be appreciated without understanding of social and economic conditions when she began her work. In the eyes of the law, woman was merely a chattel. The colleges were closed to female students. Only the most meager opportunities of earning a living were open to women. Politics, business, the professions and industry were entirely outside of their province.
Early in life Miss Anthony evolved a modern philosophy of woman’s place in the world. Her greatness
arises out of her persistent and effective crusading for women’s rights over more than half a century.—Editorial, Washington, D. C. Post.
CHINESE HISTORY records the achievements of many women leaders.
In the affairs of state, too, women have been prominent. Formerly they were as well educated as men.
Today women assume leadership in China in every field of human endeavor. They are vital in shaping the destiny of the nation. They have made big strides in education, entered the professions, taken part in business and asserted their individuality in their family and social relations. Women doctors, teachers, lawyers, nurses, clerks, secretaries and typists are to be seen all over the larger cities of China.
The ideal, of course, is to have the Chinese woman retain the best in China and supplement it with the best in Europe and America. With a foundation of this sort, there will come a sweet harmony in meeting her threefold duty to self, home, and society.”—King-Chau Mui, Chinese Consul in Hawaii, Pan-Pacific Union Bulletin.
IN THE last four years there has been a 40 per cent increase in the number of people using public libraries, according to Carl H. Milam, secretary of the American Library Association. On the rolls are 4,000,000 new borrowers. By far the heaviest demand is for books in the technical, trade and cultural fields. Fiction gets little time from these millions possessed with new leisure. –New York Times.
IN TRAINING the mind of our youth, in teaching the student to think and to use his mind as he would a finely tempered tool, we should urge always the practice of the scientific method. That method proceeds by experimentation, by making a disinterested search for truth, by getting the facts and seeing where they lead. Imagination constructs the hypothesis. Then we verify or check the hypothesis to see if the thing works.
This means that no fixed and static dogmas can necessarily stand unchanged in a changing world. They must give way to fit the altered conditions. Our university can give the student the spirit of this scientific approach to most efforts of human endeavor; not only to the realm of abstract knowledge, but to a vast number of the practical affairs of every-day life, to sociology, religion, business, politics, government. Our university can give its students tolerance, so that they will not condemn an idea offhand, because it is new or because it is old. It can help them to develop that tempered judgment which is the beginning of wisdom.—Thomas W. Lamont–The Scientific Monthly.
RELIGION is a power house; something you can get power out of if you know how. Of that sort of religion . . . . there is a lot in circulation and more making . . . . Now it may be that there is ahead of us a good deal livelier outfit of religion than we have been able to observe for many years, and one that will capture intellect in increasing quantity and make it more serviceable to the country and better qualified to lead mankind.–Edward S. Martin—Harper’s Magazine.
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.
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