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| VOL. 24 | AUGUST, 1933 | No. 5 |
THE BAHA'I TEMPLE
"This vast endeavor is unparalleled in modern times in its world-wide range, its spontaneity, its heroic and holy character."
LEADERS of religion, exponents of political theories, governors of human institutions, who at present are witnessing with perplexity and dismay the bankruptcy of their ideas, and the disintegration of their handiwork, would do well to turn their gaze to the Revelation of Bahá'u'lláh, and to meditate upon the World Order which, lying enshrined in His teachings, is slowly and imperceptibly rising amid the welter and chaos of present-day civilization. They need have no doubt or anxiety regarding the nature, the origin or validity of the institutions which the adherents of the Faith are building up throughout the world. For these lie embedded in the teachings themselves, unadulterated and unobscured by unwarrantable inferences, or unauthorized interpretations of His Word."
| VOL. 24 | AUGUST, 1933 | No. 5 |
‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s Hope for America | 140 |
Editorial, Stanwood Cobb, | 131 |
Forty Years of Progress | 134 |
A World At Peace, Bahá’i Administration as Presented to a Group of Free-Thinkers, Part 1, Religion as the Foundation of Civilization, Keith Ransom-Kehler | 136 |
Church and State in the Bahá’i Social Order, Part 2, Hussein Rabbani | 141 |
Glimpses of The New World Order, Notes on a Visit to Haifa and and ‘Akká, Mabel and Sylvia Paine | 144 |
The Responsibility of Knowledge, Dale S. Cole | 147 |
A Good Gathering, The Souvenir of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, Compiled from Reports | 150 |
The True Sovereign, Alfred E. Lunt | 153 |
The Bahá’i Summer School at Louhelen Ranch, Orcella Rexford, D. Sc. | 158 |
To One Who Has Attained, a Poem, Elizabeth Hackley | 152 |
STANWOOD COBB, MARIAM HANEY, BERTHA HYDE KIRKPATRICK | Editors |
MARGARET B. MCDANIEL | Business Manager |
| CONTRIBUTING EDITORS | |
| For the United States and Canada | For Foreign Countries |
| ALFRED E. LUNT LEROY IOAS LOULIE MATHEWS MAY MAXWELL DORIS McKAY SYLVIA PAYNE International MARTHA L. ROOT |
ANNIE B. ROMER Great Britain Persia Japan and China Egypt |
Subscriptions: $3.00 per year; 25 cents a copy. Two copies to same name and address, $5.00 per year. Please send change of address by the middle of the month and be sure to send OLD as well as NEW address. Kindly send all communications and make postoffice orders and checks payable to The Bahá'i Magazine, 1000 Chandler Bldg., Washington, D. C., U. S. A. Entered as second-class matter April 9, 1911, at the postoffice at Washington, D. C., under the Act of March 3, 1897. Acceptance for mailing at special rate of postage provided for in Section 1103 Act of October 3, 1917, authorized September 1, 1922.
President Bliss of the American University of
Beirut, Syria, at Haifa, Palestine.)THE universities and colleges of the world must hold fast to three cardinal principles:
“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 sublimest 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.”
| VOL. 24 | AUGUST, 1933 | No. 5 |
capably trained in order to educate both sons and daughters . . . the mothers must not think of themselves but of the progress of their children because upon the children of today—whether boys or girls—depends the moulding of the civilization of tomorrow.”
THE VENERABLE philanthropist August Heckscher on his 84th birthday says; “Nothing counts except what you do for others. . . . Marconi’s discovery of how to send short wave lengths may be the outstanding recent scientific achievement, but the best investment on the face of the earth is the Child! It is to make the earth a more habitable place for others to stay, rather than to provide a palace in some state of life beyond in a celestial residence, that age best employs itself. The Kingdom Come is, after all, the child.”
The future belongs to the child, that is evident. But the world will not be a better place to live in if the child merely grows up absorbing the current psychology of the age—irreligious, egoistic, aggressive, full of antagonisms and prejudices. No, if we are to have a more perfect world we must plant the idea of perfection in the minds of the young. Here is a fertile field for idealism. At this tender age when the individual is most susceptible to stimuli of all kinds, it is of the utmost importance that he receives inspiration of a moral and spiritual nature. The soul in the child responds with all seriousness and earnestness to humanitarian suggestions
of kindness, of charity, of justice, of brotherhood.
And what is as potent a force for the moulding of character as that exercised by religion? Morality divorced from religion is lacking in motivation. Maxims may be inculcated and repeated by the children, but the zeal necessary for carrying them out can be derived only from the ideals and inspirations of religion.
UP TO THIS present generation
all children had in the course of
their training, a thorough grounding
in the spiritual truths composing
the religious idealism of their
day. They were made thoroughly
acquainted with the great books of
the Bible: with the practical
maxims of Solomon, the glorious
uplifting psalms of David, the cryptic
stirring paradoxes of Christ,
the illuminating practical religious
and ethical psychology of Paul, the
mystic splendor of Revelations.
All this study and memorization of
Bible verses left a deep effect on
the subconscious mind; left a
beauty and a moral force which subsequently
motivated life and guided
it, on the plane of the subconscious
even if not on the plane of the conscious.
Today what takes the influential
place of such religious training? What in the present psychological environment of youth most conditions it?
The ribald ballads of radio crooners; the savage sensualism of singers of the “blues”; the suggestive salaciousness of movies; the sexually disturbing stories in magazines and books,—these are what is forming the subconscious background of the average child of today. Have we here any possible foundations for a better world?
When we say the hope of the world lies in the child, can it be that it lies in a child formed according to this pattern? No! The hope of the world lies in the child, only when the new child is an improvement on the child of the generation which has gone before.
WHAT CAN modern parents do
in the way of religious education
for their children? Having outgrown
the traditional limitations
of dogmatic theology, they hesitate
to inflict this upon their children.
They do not like to send them to
Sunday School to have them filled
with dogmas which they later must
reject. They are in fact deeply
puzzled and anxious concerning
their impotency to adequately care
for the religious needs of their
children.
What the world needs today is a reasonable religion thoroughly in accord with modern science, containing the minimum of creed and dogma and the maximum of practical idealism. Such a religion we providentially have in the Bahá’i Movement—the logical fulfillment and completion of all the religions of the past, the harmonizer of
science and religion, the solver of the world’s economic and political problems.
To the youth of all races and religions the New World Order of Bahá’u’lláh offers a modern up-to-date religion, free of traditions and senseless dogmas, attuned to the present tempo and needs, satisfying the intellect as well as the spirit. And everywhere youth is turning to it as a solution to their own religious needs.
One young man, an actor, recently said to me, “We modern youth need some religion, some philosophy of life. We cannot be satisfied with a life of denial and scepticism. The Bahá’i Movement seems to satisfy our need better than anything else today.” And this is what the youth of today are discovering not only in America but in Europe, in Asia, in Africa, in South America, all over the world whereever earnest thought and searching is going on.
WHAT IS the effect upon youth of
this divinely illuminating teaching
of the Bahá’i Cause? To study the
effect in its most outstanding form
one must see it in action where it
has covered a period of two or
three generations. The children
brought up with these ideals from
birth represent indeed a new race,
and give vivid promise of a new
civilization.
Recently I met a Persian youth representing the third generation of Bahá’i belief and practice. His grandfather had been one of the pioneer Bahá’is of Hamadan, Persia. This youth, Halil, has been studying engineering in this country for the purpose of helping reconstruct
his own backward country. Here we find not only a vivid personality, such as might exist also in other religions and cultures, but an outstanding quality of world sympathy and world understanding. Here is a citizen of the world devoted to international idealism in its highest form, sympathetic toward all, strongly grounded in his moral nature, living daily according to high spiritual principles, dedicated to lofty aims both as to career and as to altruistic service. When such a quality of youth becomes predominant the world’s problems will solve themselves, because the motivation of action will be entirely different from that which prevails today.
Such spiritual training must be begun very young. Each year the child forms habits of action and thought; each year it acquires ideas, judgments, motives of one kind or another from the world around it. At adolescence there begins to appear a more or less definite personality.
The ideal time, therefore, to begin to elevate the child to an ideal height of motivation and character is at the very first age possible for the child to understand speech and to formulate thought. Then is when the child should be saved from the evils inherent in its own nature and from the evils openly expressed in the world around it. If this training is properly carried out, the personality which begins to form at adolescence and becomes fairly fixed by the age of majority will be a glorious personality scintilating with spiritual light, well grounded
and established in moral principles.
Indeed, we must give the youth of today every possible aid in order to equip it to meet successfully the materialistic and sensual environment which prevails throughout the world. It is foolish to talk optimistically about mere youth saving the world. There is no quality of salvation inherent in youth “per se”. The only salvation which youth can offer is that of progress and improvement and that must be inspired in youth by implanting ideals.
The passage of time, the biological development of the child into maturity does not guarantee greater achievement in the world or a higher civilization. It is perfectly possible for civilization to go backward as well as to go forward. The youth of imperialistic Rome did not help Roman civilization to advance. On the contrary, caused retrogression.
O GENERATION of adults, let us
face facts! The youth of today
are what we cause them to be by
our training and inculcation. With
them the ideals of tomorrow with
which they are to serve the world
will be what they have learned
through the illumination of childhood
and youth. They will express
in speech and action the truths
which we teach them.
We cannot dodge this responsibility, or shift it onto the shoulders of the children merely because they are children. We ourselves must begin to re-make the world, and we must begin with the child in the cradle.
IN a long letter* addressed to the followers of Bahá’u’lláh in the United States and Canada, by Shoghi Effendi, Guardian of the Bahá’i Cause, we read in the first paragraph these words:
“Forty years will have elapsed ere the close of this coming summer since the name of Bahá’u’lláh was first mentioned on the American continent. Strange indeed must appear to every observer, pondering in his heart the significance of so great a landmark in the spiritual history of the great American Republic, the circumstances which have attended this first public reference to the Author of our beloved Faith. Stranger still must seem the associations which the brief words uttered on that historic occasion must have evoked in the minds of those who heard them.”
IT WILL BE OF interest to both
Bahá’is and non-Bahá’is to learn
that “this first public reference”
to the Bahá’i Cause in America was
made by Dr. Henry H. Jessup,
President of the American University
at Beirut, in his address at the
Parliament of Religions convened
at the Columbian Exposition in
Chicago in 1893. Dr. Jessup quoted
* Dated at Haifa, Palestine, April 21, 1933.
--PHOTO--
The Baha’i Temple as it will look when completed
the following words taken from the statement of Bahá’u’lláh to the distinguished Orientalist, the late Professor Edward G. Browne of the University of Cambridge, who visited Bahá’u’lláh in 1890:
“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
--PHOTO--
An Interior Panel
A Window Panel to Right of Doorway
be annulled–what harm is there in this? . . . Yet so it shall be; these fruitless strifes, these ruinous wars shall pass away and the Most Great Peace shall come. . . . Do not you in Europe need this also? Is not this that which Christ foretold? . . . Yet do we see your kings and rulers lavishing their treasures more freely on means for the destruction of the human race than on that which would conduce to the happiness of mankind. . . These strifes arid 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
* A more detailed account of the Temple in its spiritual and material appeal, will appear in the September number.
his country; let him rather glory in this that he loves his kind. . . .”
These significant words have been widely quoted all over the world and will continue to be quoted down through the succeeding ages.
IN 1933, FORTY YEARS from that historic year of 1893, the Century of Progress Exposition is being held in Chicago; and in Wilmette, a suburb of Chicago not very far distant, the followers of Bahá’u’lláh are finishing the dome of the great Bahá’i Temple (known as the Mashriqu’l-Adhkár)—which has attracted widespread interest, not only because it is considered the first thing new in architecture since the thirteenth century, but primarily because it is the outer expression of the Divine Reality in this New Age, and, as stated many times, from its very foundation consecrated to the Ideal of Unity, “It is the first nucleus of the divine civilization.”
“It’s doors will be open to all the nations and all religions. There will be drawn absolutely no line of demarcation. Its charities will be dispensed irrespective of color and race. Its gates will be flung wide to mankind; prejudice toward none, love for all.”*
“The greatest bestowal of God in the world of humanity is religion; for assuredly the divine teachings of religion are above all other sources of instruction and development to man. Religion confers upon man eternal life and guides his footsteps in the world of morality. It opens the doors of unending happiness and bestows everlasting honor upon the human kingdom. It has been the basis of all civilization and progress in the history of mankind.”—‘Abdu’l-Bahá.
IN this day when
- “A creeping murmur and a
- pouring dark,
- Doth fill the wide vessel of
- the universe;”
when “men cry ‘peace, peace’ and there is no peace,” when the world is desperately grasping at wisps and invoking old sanctions and securities in vain, the Message of Bahá’u’lláh sane, cogent, reconciling, practical and uncomplicated is challenging and arresting the attention and the interest of those Who seek a solution of our overwhelming problems.
An attitude unprecedented in history has appeared only recently as a result of the present crisis; a deliberate attempt to shape life to our needs and desires, not by self-effacement and conformity before its demands; not by reverting to the practices of the past; but by scrutinizing our tendencies, and foreseeing their outcome.
Bahá’u’lláh in 1863-8, while the world was separated and alien, formulated a complete and invulnerable plan based upon the present-day status: a plan for a world mechanically, materially and informationally
united as today but still sundered in its psychology, its objectives, its purposes and its spiritual outlook. Before the modern world existed He advanced the methods for healing its ills and contriving its liberation.
Previous efforts to efface life’s menace and solve its problems have been based, like some of the economic panaceas, upon erroneous estimates of human nature, wherein the efficacy of the plan depends upon fundamental traits of character that are conspicuously absent in man: or upon the alternative, that has never been lacking in history of attempting to surmount the problems of the present by returning to the past.
To solve the problems of sectarianism, antagonism and misunderstanding within the religions of the world we are urged to return to the pure teachings of our Founder; thereby forming still another sect whose aim is to return to the pure teachings of the Founder. To reduce political entanglements a large group of Dictators in Europe suggest returning to the days of Metternich. To relieve the economic strain we were urged, until very recently, to return to Victorian
practices; while no less an Olympian than Oswald Spengler has written one of the most provocative, penetrating and erudite treatises on the thesis: let us return to Junkerism.
Today, with our tardy Economic, Disarmament and Religious Reconciliation Conferences, we seem finally to be awakening to the fact that the logic of history is not only inexorable—it is irreversible, and that the practices of the past, no matter how heroic and efficacious in their day, cannot be shaped to evolving purposes and to changing ideals.
BAHA’U’LLAH SAYS, “All things
are made new by the desire of God,
but only a new eye can perceive and
a new mind can comprehend this
station.”
His program is based upon principles never before revealed and involving an ardent departure from outworn practices. He has put into our hands the weapons whereby we can master life, needing neither to conform to its ruthless biologic, historical and ethnic tendencies on the one hand, nor to engross ourselves with futile efforts to escape its demands on the other.
The basic social relation is man’s relation to his government, for it involves the relation of man to man. Race, class, economic, religious and personal attitudes obviously spring from the regulations, requirements, standards, laws and ordinances of the state wherein he dwells whether it be the savage tribe, or the enlightened republic.
For that reason Bahá’u’lláh has laid down, as primary to the unification of the world and to the abolition
of its prevailing evils of sectarianism, partisanship, conflicting interests and warfare, a plan for political confederation, that leaving each country free in the management of its internal affairs, superimposes a powerful centralized state to regulate the relation of land to land.
LET US CONSIDER only this one
phase of the all-encompassing program
of Bahá’u’lláh—His relief for
the world’s political unheaval and
His Plan for universal peace. In
order to envisage His proposals it
is necessary to review briefly the
existing condition of world government.
Up to and including this present, all government has been based upon conflict and contest. In an absolute monarchy or despotism where the ruler can impose his will on his subjects, to whatever degree it may differ from theirs, intrigue, the cabal, favoritism takes the place of party strife and opposing allegiances. The civilized world is built on a partisan consciousness and automatically erects catagories, thinking in terms of exclusive loyalties and of biparty antagonisms.
Governing is often conducted in spite of its agitating minorities; the accredited attitude being that if majorities are not watched, cramped and hounded they will inevitably wreck the ship of state: while questions of a nonpolitical nature are submitted to untrained and irrational hordes for decision.
Many of the advanced nations of the world are governing on the basis of the old, simple, easy, uncomplicated methods of a century or two ago. Most of the matters to
day that are still retained in the sphere of politics are economic, legal and psychological. At a recent election, a western city was plastered with signs, “Vote yes on the $1,000,000 bond issue.” Certainly no intelligent and informed person would consider himself capable of determining the status of such a question without an exhaustive and painstaking survey of the facts. And still on election day I saw crowds of the most ordinary and uninformed people casting their vote on a subject that only well-trained minds and impartial observers were capable of discussing.
In spite of all the pros and cons of the Intelligence Test discussions, pros and cons are agreed that the average level of intelligence even in enlightened countries is not beyond the adolescent period. Professor Huff puts the interesting query, if school boys and girls were asked to vote on whether there should be no school and free candy, what would the ballot indicate?
And so in the question of the bond issue: Some voted for it with the hope of getting a job, others because it was proposed by their party, still others because they were not tax-payers and wanted to see property-owners properly chastised for getting on in the world; while numbers voted against it for equally childish and invalid reasons.
In our present government by factions and contest, things that require clear thinking are precipitated into the realm of the emotions; issues demanding detachment are submitted to the passions of the crowd; and such basic moral questions as peace, the protection of childhood and physical welfare are
part of a general system of controversy, exploitation and party machinations.
BEFORE DISCUSSING Bahá’i Administration
or the Political Program
of Bahá’u’lláh certain historical
data must also be brought to mind
as the foundation of His Teachings.
One outstanding fact of history cannot be explained away: the fact that from epoch to epoch in human affairs there appears a Being peerless and unique who changes the course of destiny and through endless centuries commands the loyalty and adoration of those who follow Him. It may be argued that statesmen, generals, orators, saints have changed the course of history; but no one surely would argue that the laws and ordinances laid down by any of them had been followed from age to age and that men would readily die rather than apostatize their commands.
Every existing civilization in the world today traces back to a religious foundation—to the teaching of some one of the Founders of the great living Faiths of the world. Whenever and wherever He has appeared He has weaned His followers from outworn traditions and customs, has produced a sharp break with the past, has instituted drastic reforms and unused practices, has “troubled the souls and changed the hearts of men.” Not for a life-time; not for a century; but from the moment of His Utterance to this present the Names of all of these Messengers of God are revered and worshipped. Bahá’u’lláh in teaching the unity and validity of each of these Manifestations of God has laid the firm foundation
of religious reconciliation.
It would be entirely outside the scope of the present argument to adduce those proofs and evidences of Bahá’u’lláh* as next in succession to these Divine Predecessors, but this underlying fact must be taken into consideration in a conspectus of His Teaching: that His followers assign to Him a station similar to that occupied by the Founders of the world’s great religions; that His commands exercise over them the same profound and transforming influence; that the contagion of His Message conforms in every way to the spread of the great religious revivals of the past; and that His Program, formulated seventy years ago, is today exerting upon the world, even though it has never heard His Name, an authority so vital that every important objective toward which humanity is converging can be readily shown as a mere reflex of His Plan, proposed when nations were a law unto themselves and human exploitation, whether for military, economic, er social reasons, went unrebuked among men.
Therefore the basis of Bahá’u’lláh’s Political Program is religious, and whatever our attitude may
* Given by the writer from the Christian viewpoint, in a series of articles entitled, “The Basis of Bahá’i Belief,” published in The Bahá’i Magazine, beginning in November, 1929.
be toward religion, be we rational, skeptical, atheistic or what not, we are constrained to admit that religious authority is the most readily exercised, the most widespread and the most binding authority recognized by human beings.
Since the unique promise of Bahá’u’lláh is the unity of mankind in His Dispensation we ask ourselves how this great strife and welter of nationalistic aspirations, pretensions and contests can possibly be unified; how these conflicting interests can be reconciled; how these hereditary enemies can be marshalled for the great adventure of peace?
As the student of elementary political science knows there have never been but three forms of government: monarchy, aristocracy (meaning government by the select few), and democracy. Nothing new has been added since Aristotle gave these divisions and called attention to their forms of corruption: tyranny, oligarchy and demagoguery or mob-rule.
Bahá’u’lláh has united in His Plan all three of these forms of government–an entirely new departure.
“Religion is the outer expression of the Divine Reality. Therefore it must be living, vitalized, moving and progressive. If it be without motion and non-progressive 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 reformation. This is a century of life and renewal. . . .”
THE BODY of the human world is sick. Its remedy and healing will be the oneness of the kingdom of humanity. Its life is the Most Great Peace. Its illumination and quickening is love. Its happiness is the attainment of spiritual perfections. It is my wish and hope that in the bounties and favors of the Blessed Perfection (Bahá’u’lláh) we may find a new life, acquire a new power and attain to a wonderful and supreme source of energy so that the Most Great Peace of divine intention shall be established upon the foundations of the unity of the world of men with God.”
“The United States has in reality made extraordinary progress; day by day they are advancing toward the ultimate goal. The material virtues of the people are many; now they must think of the ideal virtues, so that the highest of the perfections of humanity may illumine the regions of America.
Among he highest virtues are universal peace and the oneness of humanity. The chief ailment of humanity today is international strife; this militates against the advancement of the material and ideal virtues. . . .
But, praise be to God! the American government is no warlike government; the American democracy is not founded upon warlike doctrines. Hence it becomes this democracy to uphold international peace and spread it throughout the world. Through the promulgation of this doctrine will be distributed the greatest blessing. . . . My fervent hope and fond desire concerning the American people is that through their instrumentality the scope of this project will be enlarged and that earnest concerted action between the nations of the world will result therefrom.”
“Like unto a spirit, this ideal (Universal Peace) must run and circulate through the veins and arteries of the body of the world. . . . There is no doubt that this wonderful democracy will be able to realize it and the banner of international agreement will be unfurled here to spread onward and outward among all the nations of the world.”
The first part of this treatise on the Bahá’i State of the future and how its religious character becomes clear and practical, was published in the July number. Herein the author concludes his treatment of the subject and clearly explains the Bahá'i attitude of cooperation, toleration and absolute concord, and the peaceful methods used in the organization of society.
UNDER a Bahá’i regime the rights of the minorities will be wholly safeguarded and they will be given the widest possible freedom compatible with the safety of the state. In such a wise the defects of over-centralization will be avoided and the state will cease to be looked upon as the sole association having a role to play in the organization of society. The state instead of imposing a crushing weight over individuals and groups will rather seek their cooperation and aid for the fulfillment of its aims. The idea of force will thus gradually give place to a nobler ideal, namely that of social solidarity and social interdependence. Men will learn that despite all their differences they are in the last analysis not rivals but fellow-workers, not competitors but laborers in a vast cooperative enterprise. Racial, linguistic and national differences will cease to bring war and conflict but will be used to further the common weal.
Bahá’u’lláh and ‘Abdu’l-Bahá have both emphasized the necessity of toleration, of concord and amity. They have recommended their followers to consort with all the peoples, kindreds and religions of the world, to refrain from every action which may in the slightest degree violate the rights of any group or
1 “Epistle to the Son of the Wolf”, p. 19. 2 Ibid., p. 20. 3 Ibid., p. 58. 4 Bahá’i Scrip., p. 141. 5 Bahá’u’lláh “Epistle to the Son of the Wolf”, p. 19.
individual and not to use force and compulsion for the spread of their teachings. “Injure no one,” says Bahá’u’lláh, “verily we have come to reconcile and to unite men, for most of them misunderstand each other.”1 And again: “Beware lest you shed blood. Unsheathe the sword of your tongue from the scabbard of utterance, for therewith shall you conquer the citadels of men’s hearts. Thus we have taken from you the command of murder (religious war).“2 “This order needs no arms, for all its efforts incline towards peace. Its armies are noble actions, its weapons good habits, its generals the love of God.”3 “O people of the earth. The first glad tidings which is conferred in this Most Great Manifestation on all the people of the world . . . is the abolishing of the decree of religious warfare from the Book.”4 “We have decided that the holy war in the path of God shall be waged by the armies of wisdom and of explanation, and by good habits and kind actions. So has it been decreed by the Powerful, the Almighty. There is no glory for him who spreads disorder over the earth after it has been organized; fear God, oh ye peoples, and be not among the oppressors.”5
And ‘Abdu’l-Bahá confirming
Bahá’u’lláh’s sayings makes the following appeal in His last Will and Testament: “O ye beloved of the Lord. In this sacred Dispensation, conflict and contention are in no wise permitted. Every aggressor deprives himself of God’s grace. It is incumbent upon everyone to show the utmost love, rectitude of conduct, straightforwardness and sincere kindliness unto all the peoples and kindreds of the world, be they friends or strangers. So intense must be the spirit of love and loving-kindness, that the stranger may find himself a friend, the enemy a true brother, no difference whatsoever existing between them. For universality is of God and all limitations earthly. Thus man must strive that his reality may manifest virtues and perfections, the light whereof may shine upon everyone. The light of the sun shineth upon all the world and the merciful showers of Divine Providence fall upon all peoples. The vivifying breeze reviveth every living creature and all beings endued with life obtain their share and portion at His heavenly board. . . .
“Wherefore, O my loving friends! Consort with all the peoples, kindreds and religions of the world with the utmost truthfulness, uprightness, faithfulness, kindliness, good-will and friendliness; that all the world of being may be filled with the holy ecstasy of the grace of Bahá, that ignorance, enmity, hate and rancor may vanish from the world and the darkness of estrangement amidst the peoples and kindreds of the world may give way to the Light of Unity. Should other peoples and nations be unfaithful
1 Shoghi Effendi, “Bahá’i Administration”, pp. 9-10.
to you show your fidelity unto them, should they be unjust toward you show justice towards them, should they keep aloof from you attract them to yourself, should they show their enmity be friendly towards them, should they poison your lives sweeten their souls, should they inflict a wound upon you be a salve to their souls. Such are the attributes of the sincere. Such are the attributes of the truthful.”1
All these words eloquently confirm the view that the Bahá’i Faith believes in toleration and condemns fanaticism and religious warfare. It believes in toleration as a principle rather than as a mere expediency. It cherishes no hatred towards peoples who profess a different religion or preach a different gospel. It will not force them to abandon their social and religious traditions, although it will attempt, through peaceful methods, to convince them of the sublimity and the uniqueness of the Bahá’i teachings. “The Revelation, of which Bahá’u’lláh is the source and centre, abrogates none of the religions that have preceded it, nor does it attempt. in the slightest degree, to distort their features or to belittle their value. It disclaims any intention of dwarfing any of the Prophets of the past or of whittling down the eternal verity of their teachings. It can, in no wise, conflict with the spirit that animates their claims, nor does it seek to undermine the basis of any man’s allegiance to their cause. . . . Its teachings revolve around the fundamental principle that religious truth is not absolute but relative,
that Divine Revelation is progressive, not final.”1
ALTHOUGH under a Bahá’i system
politics and religion will combine,
yet, such a fusion is not easy to
carry out in these days for many
reasons, the most important of
which being the relative numerical
weakness of the Bahá’is themselves.
The Bahá’i Faith is still in its infancy
and its adherents are yet of
slight social significance. For, however
zealous and enthusiastic they
may appear, yet, they are powerless
to undertake any system of reform
on a really large scale. They are
hampered by the lack of an organization
vast enough to cope with the
highly complex problems of the day.
Their chance has not yet come.
Meanwhile, they are instructed to keep apart from the political movements and agitations which are springing so profusely in most parts of the world. They are taught to refrain from participating either directly or indirectly in matters which affect the policy of the government under which they live and to show forth under all circumstances their whole-hearted loyalty to the governmental authorities of their country.
Such a separation between the religious and the political domain cannot but be of a temporary measure devised to meet a particular situation. As soon as the circumstances will prove to be suitable for a new change such a separation will come to an end and the new world order as anticipated and formulated by Bahá’u’lláh will be carried out in the most effective way.
1 Shoghi Effendi, “The Golden Age of the Cause of Bahá’u’lláh”, pp. 9-10.
IN HIS well-known treatise written some thirty years ago entitled, “Politics“, ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, explaining the history of Turkey and Persia, demonstrates how the calamities and misfortunes which have weighed upon these two countries during the last century are most of them attributable to the interference of the divines in the political affairs of the country. He goes on to show that unless religion and politics are separated under present-day conditions no peaceful and progressive life is possible. For the ecclesiastical authorities are ready to take hold of the reins of government and to perpetrate in its name such acts of fanaticism and intolerance as are wholly subversive of the very foundations of society.
In one of his recent communications to the Bahá’is of the West, Shoghi Effendi has again emphasized the point that the Bahá’is should in no wise associate themselves with the political activities of their country, and that, however temporary such a principle may be, yet it is of incalculable advantage to the nascent institutions of the Faith. “Let them refrain,” he proclaims, “from associating themselves, whether by word or by deed, with the political pursuits of their respective nations, with the policies of their governments and the schemes and programs of parties and factions. In such controversies they should assign no blame, take no side, further no design, and identify themselves with no system prejudicial to the best interests of that world-wide Fellowship which it is their aim to guard and foster.
Let them beware lest they allow themselves to become the tools of unscrupulous politicians, or to be entrapped by the treacherous devices of the plotters and the perfidious among their countrymen. . . . Let them affirm their unyielding determination to stand, firmly and unreservedly, for the way of Bahá’u’lláh, to avoid the entanglements and bickerings inseparable from the pursuits of the politician, and to become worthy agencies of that Divine Polity which incarnates God’s immutable Purpose for all men. . . .
“Such an attitude, however, is not dictated by considerations of selfish expediency, but is actuated, first and foremost, by the broad principle that the followers of Bahá’u’lláh will, under no circumstances,
1 Shoghi Effendi, “The Golden Age of the Cause of Bahá’u’llah”, p. 18.
suffer themselves to be involved, whether as individuals or in their collective capacities, in matters that would entail the slightest departure from the fundamental verities and ideals of their Faith. Neither the charges which the uninformed and the malicious may be led to bring against them, nor the allurements of honors and rewards, will ever induce them to surrender their trust or to deviate from their path. Let their words proclaim, and their conduct testify, that they who follow Bahá’u’lláh, in what ever land they reside, are actuated by no selfish ambition, that they neither thirst for power, nor mind any wave of unpopularity, of distrust or criticism, which a strict adherence to their standards might provoke.“1
This installment will conclude these “Diary Notes” which have appeared from month to month consecutively beginning in the March number. We regret that we were not able, for lack of space, to publish these informing “Notes” in full.
TUESDAY, NQVEMBER 24TH. A young pilgrim asked advice about studying the Bahá’i literature. Shoghi Effendi recommended an intensive study of the Iqan by Bahá’u’lláh and Some Answered Questions by ‘Abdu’l-Bahá. These books will repay thorough study, mastery, even to the point of memorizing certain passages. It is well, too, to read contemporary books, selecting the best, dealing with the
same subjects, in order to become thoroughly acquainted with the subject and be able to clarify the Bahá’i teachings. The Dawn-Breakers, a narrative of early events in the Bahá’i movement recently translated by Shoghi Effendi will also repay careful study. This book was written between 1890 and 1892 with the encouragement of Bahá’u’lláh, Who made some suggestions to the author, Nabil.
‘Abdu’l-Bahá revised certain passages in the book. It shows that the Bahá’i faith has already its noble army of martyrs and the parts which introduce Bahá’u’lláh and the Báb are priceless material translated with extreme beauty and power.
Someone asked whether Bahá’is should support the League of Nations and Shoghi Effendi replied that the League is not on the foundation that it should be to be the ultimate league, but that it will develop into that. As far as possible, without becoming involved in politics Bahá’is should support it.
WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 25TH.—Today
we talked a little about
food and health. In Some
Answered Questions ‘Abdu’l-Bahá
shows that health is a matter
of proper balance of the numerous
elements in the human body. When
this balance is disturbed disease enters.
The readjustment can be effected
by foods or by medicines.
When the science of medicine becomes
perfected, doctors can supply
the missing element through
foods. But in the meantime, Shoghi
Effendi pointed out, we are in a
confused and transitional state.
Consequently it is better not to be
dogmatic on the subject. The
Bahá’i teachings, in this as in other
matters, stress loyalty to science.
Thus ‘Abdu’l-Bahá always advised
people in ill health to consult an expert
doctor.
FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 27TH.—This
is the tenth anniversary of the passing
of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá. About six
p. m. we went across the street to
‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s house. We were to
enter His room, the room whence
His spirit passed to the heavenly realm. A group of women were gathered outside the door, waiting to go in. They went in one by one and knelt with beautiful reverence at the bedside where the tired body of the great Servant of God and of mankind last lay. Little incidents of His last days came to my mind. How full of generous kindness and servitude, though the body was well nigh exhausted! His insisting on gathering the garden fruit with His own hand, though He ate it, seemingly, largely to please the gardener. How having eaten of the fruit He turned to the gardener and asked, “Do you desire anything more?” Then with a pathetic gesture of His hands touchingly, emphatically and deliberately said:—“Now, it is finished, it is finished!” His receiving visitors and showing them extraordinary courtesy on the last evening of His life, giving them presents, going with them to the door.
As ‘Abdu’l-Bahá passed away at one-fifteen in the morning, the memorial service held each year occupies the evening and night up to about two. About eight-thirty we walked up the side of Mt. Carmel to the shrine. It was a night of full moonlight with many soft white clouds. Across the bay ‘Akká looked like a diadem in the heavens. We found gathered around the shrine and on the broad south terrace a considerable group of Bahá’is. This terrace, we were told, was a favorite walk of the Master’s. Soon all went within the shrine and listened while different Bahá’is, one at a time chanted prayers. One of the most beautiful prayers chanted was the one revealed
by ‘Abdu’l-Bahá to be chanted at His shrine beginning: “He is the All-Glorious! O God, my God! Lowly and tearful, I raise my suppliant hands to Thee and cover my face in the dust of that Threshold of Thine, exalted above the knowledge of the learned, and the praise of all that Glorify Thee. . . .”
After coming out from the shrine all sat on benches and chairs on the terrace and listened to the chanted recital of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s last days and His funeral, as related in the touching account written by Shoghi Effendi and Lady Blomfield. The funeral, we recalled, had drawn together an immense concourse of mourners from all over Palestine from the High Commissioner and other officials and heads of various religious communities to the vast multitude of all sorts and conditions who reverenced and loved Him. For ‘Abdu’l-Bahá had been a kind father to all in that region.
After this long and beautiful chant on the terrace, beautifully lighted both with electric lights and with the soft moonlight, all went again into the shrines and, during exquisite chanting of prayers, felt again the mighty power of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, the Servant of God, Who through His supreme and lifelong exemplification of the spirit of servitude
made plain to the world the very heart of the Bahá’i teachings.
TUESDAY, DECEMBER 1ST.—At
luncheon today Shoghi Effendi
spoke of the great future which lies
ahead of Germany and Russia. . . .
A reaction will come eventually in
favor of religion and against democracy.
Touching upon the main idea of his letter to the Bahá’is of the West, called the “Goal of the New World Order” that “the principle of the oneness of mankind, the pivot around which all the teachings of Bahá’u’lláh revolve,” is more than “the enunciation of an ideal” and “stands inseparably associated with an institution adequate to embody its truth, demonstrate its validity, and perpetuate its influence”, he spoke of the necessity for a new world order. This new world order cannot rise while national sovereignty is still so strong.
The immediate future for humanity, he said, is indeed dark, but in the not very distant future shines an infinitely better social and political order. Thus our last days at Haifa gave us bright glimpses of “the New World Order visualized by Bahá’u’lláh, a World Order that shall reflect, however dimly, upon this earthly plane, the ineffable splendors of the Abha Kingdom.”
“Honesty is the foundation of all human affairs.”
EVEN though our interest be focused hopefully on the future, let us “turn the clock backward” for a short while and enter the audience, listening to Sir Josiah Stamp, the eminent English economist, as he addresses the graduating class at Northwestern University. The time is June, 1933.
Speaking on the subject “University Education in the Present Crises” he confronts us with the challenging statement that “the compelling problem of the moment is the immediate emergency and the future of civilization.”
As trained minds of rising generations leave their years of academic preparation and class room problems, they step into a world, as he points out, “committed for the most part to government by democracy.”
This, on first thought, does not seem to be a disturbing situation, for democracies have existed for many, many years, without serious threat to civilization. But, he explains, there are contributing influences, at this time, which command attention. Although a democracy may be fitted “for dealing with problems of religion, political liberty, public expenditure and important problems of the past” there are new considerations in that the “great issues of the day are in the main economic and international.”
This statement is of peculiar interest to those familiar with the Bahá’i Revelation, for, as ‘Abdu’l-Bahá
said, the economic problem is basically a spiritual one, and international peace, good-will and understanding essential to the continued progress of civilization.
The speaker further suggests that in the economic and international aspects of the situation, democracy is meeting a “crucial test”, and that the problems confronting us today “are dependent upon mass psychology.” There is no satisfactory international economic control, nor even “easy means of international inquiry” or decision. This, in the face of the facts that “national boundaries are obsolete; that “the distribution of economic goods has no relation to existing political areas; that “the world has become internationalized by a network of established export industries . . . by overseas investments, . . . by financial obligations.”
He believes that the academic responsibility in relation to these problems “is enormous”; that “the problem of recovery and regained balance is mainly an intellectual one” as is also “the proper ordering of economic forces and tendencies.”
“The place of education in this scheme leaps to the eye.”
CERTAINLY the situation he
portrays calls for a new technique,
a technique that is at once
practical and potent, a technique
with a spiritually dynamic power,
for by what other means can mankind
hope to cope with forces, which
someone has said, are not understood and hence seem to evade control?
Under democratic forms of government, future generations will be at once the governors and the governed and they “must therefore know how to judge facts and the technique of many kinds of proof.”
“Let every student make some trial excavation to the footings of some structure of human knowledge, and he will have a glimpse into the responsibility of knowledge and the formation of well attested opinions which are the best bulwark against the superficialities of democratic conviction.” What an inspirational appeal there is in these words of Sir Josiah Stamp! Investigate! Appreciate the “responsibility of knowledge”—that is one of the obligations imposed upon the rising generation of trained minds, and it is a great privilege as well as a responsibility, for upon them will fall most of the burdens and rewards attendant to the establishment of the Most Great Peace.
Where can any technique unearth such “well attested opinions” as in the messages of those great Manifestations of God, which He, in His pure bounty has sent to illumine the intellects and purify the souls of mankind?
SIR JOSIAH STAMP’S appeal to
these graduates, to investigate “the
responsibility of knowledge” synchronizes
with that tremendous
clarion which the Bahá’i revelation
has sounded and is sounding for
every individual to investigate
truth, to assume social responsibility,
to apply the divine remedies
given by Bahá’u’lláh to those difficult and profound problems now threatening the foundations of human institutions.
“For judgment is more and more dependent upon common sense synthesis, and the convergence of different attitudes toward life and its qualities.” In “the convergence of different attitudes toward life” is he not suggesting the need for a greater unity of thought and action than mankind has ever yet experienced? Is this not another way of emphasizing the “fundamental oneness of humanity”?
He continues, “We have to break down the triple reliance upon, first, the aimless or formless knowledge of democracy, the experts’ ‘unearthly ballet of bloodless categories’ as Kant calls it, and the journalist’s feeble flutterings between the two. We can do this if every graduate has a trained and original mind. . . . Originality consists, as Fitzjames Stephens reminded us, rather in thinking for ourselves than in thinking differently from others, and a trained mind is one which does not get either paralyzed with inferiority or hot and bothered when it strolls into the next room of knowledge and experience.“
“Every university student should, therefore,” Sir Josiah Stamp admonishes, “be an expert in the subject he has chosen. But there are three qualities that are beyond and around this attainment,—a knowledge of the real nature of fact, familiarity with the processes of proof, and lastly and most important, some glimpse of the overriding nature of wisdom. That grasp of life’s problems by the whole mind as distinct from the apparatus
of any particular field of knowledge, where any addition to the apparatus of facts and logic, and all the sensitiveness of every instinct for beauty and goodness go to make the mind much greater than the sum of its parts.”
AS WE PASS slowly out of the
building, does it not seem as
if we are all, at this moment, in a
graduating class? Are we not
being forced, by new and hitherto
unexperienced forces to abandon
many old and familiar attitudes towards
life? Trained in the schools
of our past lives, of tradition, prejudicies
and superstitions, are we
not now being ejected from these
class rooms, from these campuses
of complacency into unfamiliar circumstances
and situations?
Many of the admonitions of Sir Josiah Stamp, so ably voiced at Northwestern, apply to us individually and collectively and many of them are capable of expansion into an amazing comprehensiveness.
Consider the three qualities which he mentioned: first, ”a knowledge of the real nature of fact.” Is it not increasingly important that everyone know and feel the tremendous rightness of the oneness of mankind, of the fundamental oneness of religion, of the necessity of unity among the sons of men?
Secondly, “familiarity with the processes of proof” for if we do not know how to sift the false from the true how can we acquire any real knowledge whatsoever? Is this not echoing the great instruction of Bahá’u’lláh that everyone investigate truth for himself? For, in the last analysis, proof of spiritual facts and events is felt in the heart,
it is a conviction not so often acquired by intellectual assaying as by spiritual susceptibility to that which is true and lasting, right and eternal—by the bounty of God.
Third, “Some glimpse of the over-riding nature of wisdom.” What greater wisdom could one hope to find than the universal words of Bahá’u’lláh, the profound and loving instruction of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá and the Guardianship of Shoghi Effendi?
Life is a school. Often it seems to be a very hard one. We pass from one phase of life, from one set of conditions to another, graduating as it were, into higher and higher courses of training and experience,—always yearning to attain “tranquility and peace”, that haven which is reached only through spiritual education.
IN CONCLUDING his address Sir
Josiah Stamp said:
“No man seems to me to be educated who has not a definite attitude ranging from wistfulness to spiritual certitude towards the universe of the unseen and the infinite, in which all our greatest mental achievement is insignificant.”
What a great bounty it is that God has ordained that long and toilsome schooling is not always necessary for the attainment of “spiritual certitude.” It is within the reach of all who seek sincerely.
As we pass through the stages of spiritual education, the only kind of education which is adequate, can we not try to hasten that “spiritual renaissance” cheered by the prophetic words of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá regarding the West—“Then
will the hearts of its people be vivified through the potency of the teachings of God and their souls be set aglow by the undying fire of His love.”
Forty years have passed since the Bahá’i Revelation was first mentioned in America, forty years of education. We graduate from this period into the next, confident in
Faith, piloted surely and wisely by the Administration of the Guardian.
Knowledge of Bahá’u’lláh’s Divine Plan confers a great responsibility–which is at once an obligation and a privilege. In acknowledging the responsibility of this knowledge we have the assurance that “God will assist all those who arise to serve Him.”
“You must manifest complete love and affection toward all mankind. Do not exalt yourselves above others but consider all as your equals, recognizing them as the servants of one God. Know that God is compassionate toward all; therefore love all from the depths of your hearts, prefer all religionists before yourselves, be filled with love for every race and be kind toward the people of all nationalities. Never speak disparagingly of others but praise without distinction. . . . Turn all your thoughts toward bringing joy to hearts.”—‘Abdu’l-Bahá.
EACH year, on the last Saturday in June, a group of a few hundred gathers in the beautiful pine grove surrounding Evergreen Cabin, at West Englewood, New Jersey. The occasion is the annual commemoration of the Souvenir of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá. The habitual readers of this magazine know that twenty-one years ago ‘Abdu’l-Bahá Himself gave a feast in this same place to some three hundred of His friends and followers; and that every year since it has been celebrated at the same place and date. More and more it grows to be a happy and festive occasion not only for Bahá’i friends from the cities round about but for the dwellers in and about West Englewood.
This year a new bond has been created between the Bahá’i Assembly and the citizens of West Englewood, for during the Winter
* This article has been compiled from reports by Hooper Harris and Marie Moore.
the Bahá’i friends had given public entertainments and concerts and made over the entire proceeds to the welfare committee of West Englewood for unemployment relief. This is one of the reasons why an unusually large number of people from the immediate vicinity were present.
A special feature of the day this year was the placing of a marker at the spot in the grove where ‘Abdu’l-Bahá stood on that memorable day in June, 1912, when He addressed the friends assembled at the feast which His bounty had prepared. Beneath the marker,—a small granite stone,—was placed a sealed copper box containing a paper signed by all those present on this occasion who were also present in 1912. The West Englewood Assembly offered this marker as a means to indicate and preserve
--PHOTO--
Group assembled for one of the lectures at the Annual Souvenir Feast of 'Abdu’l-Baha, West Englewood, New Jersey
this hallowed spot pending the erection in the future of a more permanent and adequate expression of loving memory to the one who in 1912 instituted this “good gathering”, this most happy annual occasion. Brief talks recalling the original event were a part of the simple but beautiful ceremony of placing the stone.
This annual gathering not only commemorates the feast given by ‘Abdu’l-Bahá but it exemplifies the principles which He taught and the spirit which radiated from Him. For ‘Abdu’l-Bahá taught the Oneness of Humanity and the Oneness of all Religions, and on this occasion come together peoples of different races, religions and nations in unity, love and harmony.
The program, too, bore witness of unity and the release from racial, national and religious prejudice—such
release as gladdens every heart illumined by Bahá’u’lláh’s teachings for those taking part in it were from different races and nations. Gifted members of the Negro race rendered music and gave talks conducive to understanding and amity between the races. A native of far off Persia, distinguished in diplomatic service, gave the principle address of the evening. Thus the unity of the East and the West was evidenced. The addresses, also, helped people to understand how important and far-reaching is this principle of the Oneness of Mankind. In the afternoon the speaker called attention to the Scriptural background of the Bahá’i Message, showing that the coming of Bahá’u’lláh fulfills prophecy; that the Bahá’i administration which is being established in Bahá’i communities
fulfills prophecy; that this administration is the basis for a new world order under which there will be peace and justice for all mankind. He also explained how the Bahá’i administration is symbolized by the heavenly bodies, thus showing in detail how the “heavens declare the Glory of God”.
The address of the evening when the topic discussed was the “Solution of World Problems” sounded the note of the need for spiritual unity. The speaker stated that the Word of God as revealed anew in this day through Bahá’u’lláh, ushering in an era of spiritual unity, love, fellowship, knowledge and justice, is the only solution for the personal, national and international problems which have been caused by mankind in its spiritual infancy. Man is now ready to come into his maturity when he can for the first time in history accomplish this spiritual unity.
At one time ’Abdu’l-Bahá said,
“The basis of the teaching of Bahá’u’lláh is the Unity of Mankind and His greatest desire was that love and goodwill should live in the hearts of men”. It was to illustrate and exemplify this unity that ‘Abdu’l-Bahá gave the first feast and declared concerning it, “This is a good gathering. . . . The purpose of all is unity and agreement. The desire of all is attraction to the Kingdom of God. Since the intention of all is toward unity and agreement, it is certain that this gathering will be productive of great results.”
Each year this “good gathering” has demonstrated by word and by deed to increasing numbers that men of different races and nations can come together happily and harmoniously. More and more clearly from this and similar gatherings goes forth the call that this is the dawn of the New Day wherein the Oneness of Humanity will “establish its temple in the world of mankind”.
- In my great love, I long to serve thee
- But what have I to give to thee?
- Thou who art rich in spiritual gifts, thou
- Who art strong, radiant, and free!
- No, instead I will take my love for thee,
- And with it, serve some other soul,
- Some soul that is not strong and free,
- like thee,
- One who has need—even of me!
“The Prophets of God have come to show man the way of righteousness in order that he may not follow his own natural impulse, but govern his actions by the light of Their precept and example. . . . The imperfect members of society, the weak souls in humanity follow their natural trend. Their lives and actions are in accord with their natural propensities; they are captives of physical susceptibilities; they are not in touch or in tune with the spiritual bounties.”
This series of articles began in the May number and has been continued monthly. In the three installments already published the author explained the dual nature of man; that nature in itself is incapable of establishing values or achieving perfections; and emphasized the importance of the recognition and acceptance of the True Sovereign to save man from the world of nature. In this number the author describes the misconceptions of true religion, the real reason for the appearance of the Prophets, and the happiness and peace in store for a mature humanity when they make a practical application of the realities to the daily living.
IN this clear exposition of the dual or rather triune characteristics of our race, and the basic purpose of the appearance among us of the Divine Messengers, the reader will not fail to note a new, and, to some, possibly startling departure from the accepted understanding. For many centuries, the followers of His Holiness, Christ, have rested their faith mainly upon acceptance of His appearance as Savior and Lord. This, in its pristine simplicity and beauty, was a recognition of the sovereignty of God altogether praiseworthy. The divine purpose, however, in His Manifestation gradually came to be obscured or, perhaps, never widely understood. The greatest proofs of His Divinity were declared to be His miraculous deeds. And from these as well as from the other astonishing and tragic incidents of His wonderful life, dogmas and interpretations
emerged which, in turn, tended to become the principal emphasis of His glorious existence, as taught to the people.
It may well be that the true emphasis could not be expressed or understood, pending the arrival of the first traces of humanity’s maturity, just now dawning. Perhaps this understanding was one of the hidden matters of which He spoke when He told His disciples that they could not then bear the things He could have revealed. But, whatever the reason for the war-strewn pages of human history of these past centuries, for the deeds of cruelty and tyranny that have up to now marked the pathway of mankind with hideous monuments of needless suffering,—the divine purpose stands out in clear illumination, today, revealed in a clear and irrefutable text: that the aim of the Holy Ones, the purpose of the loving Father of all mankind, has ever been the emancipation of humankind from the qualities, the ignorance and the slavery of the world of nature.
Not merely to be worshipped and adored, not merely to be believed in, but, primarily, that the people shall know that Their (the Prophets) words are the Words of God, and that Their mandates are alive with power and with healing for the deliverance of men from the ancient
yoke, have They come. And, through this outpouring of a new knowledge the Word of God calls mankind to bestir itself, to utilize for itself this power and this knowledge that has flowed from the Center of Reality, and, thus, become its own liberator.
It is no longer enough to rest content with belief, leaving all else, including personal redemption, to God. No longer does it suffice for us to evade our individual responsibility to that light that dwells within our inmost hearts. For “he whose words exceed his deeds” is unacceptable. We are now informed that “deeds show the station of the man.” It is through deeds, deeds of service, deeds of overcoming, deeds illumined and fortified by the new knowledge, that the enemy is to be routed. But the basis of this is the new consciousness awakened by this revelation of the Divine Purpose that has overspread the world in this new cycle of human redemption.
IN THE confusion occasioned by
past misconceptions of what the
purpose really is, what constitutes
man’s real salvation, the identity
of the enemy has become obscured
in the thick mists of sectarian
dogma. These dogmas have, in the
main, tended to concentrate the attention
of the believers of all the religious
systems upon the outer
rather than the inner phase of religious
faith. But the religion of
God, the original divine foundations
revealed by His Manifestations in
the great spiritual springtimes of
humanity, has always brought with
it two outpourings, a greater and
a lesser.
The first is the surging ocean of the divine love, alive with the Holy Spirit, the greatest need of humanity in its periods of gloomy skepticism, coldness and materialism. The second, equally authentic but relatively less essential, embodies the ordinances adapted to the existing requirements (in any age) of mankind’s social order.
One is the Holy of Holies; the other the outer court of the temple. One is the spirit and the life; the other the body for that spirit. And since the body without the spirit is purposeless and dead, so, long continued over-emphasis upon the outer ordinances, to the exclusion of the moving power of love, gradually dims the vision of the soul to the precious jewels of Divine Revelation.
When the people of faith enter the sectarian realm, they are dwelling in the winter-time of their spiritual cycle. Fixing their eyes mostly upon the outer symbols, the warmth of the Holy of Holies flees from them, for love cannot abide in the chill coldness of a spiritless body. With this withering of the spiritual tissue of civilization come, hand in hand, the inevitable effects. Lacking the guidance of the spiritual realm, dispossessed of the enkindling heat of divine love humanity exhibits the hardness and coldness of the world of nature like the iron withdrawn from the fire.
Then follow the days of suffering, wherein the weak and unfortunate are oppressed by the strong, the flames of war madness devastate the earth, and the idols are set up. Religion is arrayed against religion, denomination against denomination, race against race, rich against
poor, while separation and prejudice clog the arteries of the body of humanity. Is not this what we have witnessed?
Then the spiritual springtime gently unlocks the frozen channels. The Holy of Holies is renewed. The warmth of the Love of God becomes focused upon humanity’s heart. The outer courts are reconciled; plurality and division yield to the majestic toll of the Divine Bell that peals forth the eternal truth of the Oneness of God, the Oneness of His Prophets, and of all men.
Without the true King and the enthronement of His Sovereignty, the Kingdom is unthinkable. Can there be a Kingdom without an acknowledged King? For this, Christ taught men to pray. Consequently, we may expect that coincident with the breaking of the veils and the restoration of vision, the gulf that divides the divine from the nether world will be seen outlined in clear perspective. Dissipating the fogs and mists that had seemed to confer upon the false countenance the beauty of the true, it is certain that the radiant face of the True One will shine forth in unmistakeable splendor.
The laws and ordinances having to do with the outer courts of the temple will gradually tend to assume their proper relationship to the new inrush of spiritual life. Content and honored to become once again the vehicle or body through which the Holy Spirit expresses, the false glory they have assumed in the past is stripped from them.
IT IS, NO DOUBT, not generally realized
that the multiplicity of sects
and denominations in the world
owes its origin almost solely to the conflict and differentiation between the ordinances of the different religious systems. The outer courts have been in dissension with each other. Each succeeding Prophet has established those best suited to the needs of His people. But since the followers of a particular Messenger have failed to accept His Successor and the new ordinances decreed by Him, they have carried on their original religious laws into the succeeding dispensation, and, finding the new laws in conflict with that which they adore, denounced the new as heresy.
Thus, the field of divine ordinances, designed to provide guidance for a people throughout but not beyond a prophetic cycle, became a battle-ground of diversity, and, hence, plurality. In the sea of plurality swim the fishes of discord. This condition ultimately resulted in religious warfare, when fanatical armies, led astray by hatred, sought to wreak vengeance upon each other in the belief that, since the ordinances differed, so likewise must the inner foundations of the Prophets in whom they respectively believed. This is only another way of saying that since the ordinances differed, the Prophet who had introduced the change must necessarily be an impostor and false. To such an extreme degree as this were the people wedded to the laws of the outer court. Such an attitude barred the congregations from any impartial examination of the foundation upon which the new Prophet, Himself, stood. Even as the people in the days of Christ cried out: “our sacred books inform us that when the Messiah
comes it will be from an unknown place, whereas this claimant to the Messianic station has come from Nazareth; he was to be seated upon the throne of David, but this one is in the utmost state of poverty and deprivation; He was to promulgate the law of the Bible but this man has changed that holy law” (ordinances).
The sectarian vision is, unfailingly, a literal one. This literal interpretation of the divine symbols resident in the law and in the prophetic assurances in which a people believe, is an infirmity arising from attachment to the outer ceremonies and the ancestral traditions. From this point of view, the Holy of Holies, the universal law of love and brotherhood is wholly excluded. The thick veils thus interposed over the luminous pearls of Divine Revelation have two results. First, they dim the vision of the people to the Reality of their own Prophet; and, secondly, this blindness automatically deprives them of the ability to weigh the truth of the new foundation revealed by His Successor.
The final result, then, is division and discord. The oneness of Truth is shattered by the plurality of the changing ordinances. Only in this way does plurality enter the religious field. And since plurality in a series of divine outpourings is impossible and unthinkable, because God, the Truth, is One and not multiple, every religious war, every division in human society arising from the seeming conflict of ordinances or the faulty interpretation of the symbols of truth, must be relegated to the field of irreligion. In that field, the passions and hatreds of opposing groups have been expressed
in full measure. And since these destructive qualities are plainly derived from the world of nature, it is at once perfectly clear that neither they, nor the motives underlying them, have any essential connection with the Law of God whose Alpha and Omega is Unity through Love.
Rather are they evidences of the common bond that connects the degrees of fanaticism with the very elements in man that correspond to the natural destructive urge. Such a dire penalty as this comes upon the nations who, by forgetting the law of love have consequently forgotten God; who by ignoring the primal Word of His Revelation deposited in the inner court of the temple of His command, have exalted the mere body or vehicle of the Holy Spirit, i. e., the ordinances and dogmas to a forbidden height. It is the worship of an unlighted lamp; the pursuit of an enchanting figure bereft of soul.
OUT OF THESE mirages, these
fateful human errors, our race is,
nevertheless, even now, emerging
into the clear light of the dawn of
reality. The discouragements of the
present, bitter as they are, are mitigated
by the new vision they have
awakened. The mad thrill of the
recent period of inflation, with its
exaltation of gold and the money
power as an idol, was at least one
of the symptoms of the unreality
that has so long dominated the race.
Bahá’u’lláh has assessed for us the
true value of suffering in this penetrating
saying, based upon the all-embracing
laws of the unseen kingdom:
“O Son of Man! My calamity is
My providence; outwardly it is but fire and vengeance, yet inwardly it is naught but light and mercy. Hasten thereunto, that thou mayst become an eternal light and an immortal spirit. This is My command unto thee, do thou observe it.”
Through the fire of suffering, the pure gold of men’s hearts is refined, and the dross removed. Primarily, it is the development of a capacity to distinguish the true from the false. The proud ego, wallowing in its superstitions and fancies, loses its firm hold upon the individual destiny. In vain, it applies the old formulas and the shibboleths it has learned at the feet of mother nature, only to find them strangely impotent. As in the case of the unfortunate Dr. Jekyll, the once powerful chemical reagent cannot be reassembled, since it was, even in the beginning, impure, a hideous anomaly.
AND IF, because of the stored up seed of disobedience mankind has sown so plentifully, yet other and greater calamities are to befall; if, in other words, the present shaking of the pillars of existence in the economic and social fields proves to be insufficient to inhibit us from succumbing yet again to world-wide conflict, the unspeakable crime of human fratricide, let us hope that such a renewed violation of Divine Law will not cause the very earth, itself, to turn and rend us with its cosmic shudderings.
Little do we, as a whole, realize the vast forces that are unloosed when man, the pivot of the creation, disclaims his responsibility to the Establisher of the law of love and brotherhood, and plunges into the
weltering abyss of war. Through this, he unlocks the sealed gate behind which lurks the hidden force of decomposition. Through this, he causes an acceleration in its destructive mission, uncovering his nakedness to its weapons of death. This is peculiarly true today when a new order has been instituted; when the law of human unity has been promulgated, and the command to peace registered and confirmed.
THAT MANKIND is standing at the
cross-roads is the firm opinion of
many profound students of the historical
trends of the race. Out of
the mists of past prophetic admonishments,
ominous events are foretold
that were to occur at the dawn
of the New Age, contemporaneous
with the “end of the world” (expired
cycle). Are we, as a race, to
be overtaken by these universal
woes? If so, it could only be because
of the inexorable working of
the law of cause and effect, and perhaps
also to our failure here and
now to rightly assess the significance
of the storms that are impending.
And, yet, should these events descend upon us, we may still be assured that even in so great a calamity, the Light and Mercy that dwells at the heart of every suffering will become revealed. That from the red fires of woe will shine forth a new and permanent happiness for the race; that the Divine Unity will become established on the earth, the new order attain a universal acceptance, the oneness of race and of religion become a living reality in human consciousness, and the True Sovereign enthroned.
“Religion is the greatest instrument for the order of the world and the tranquility of all existent beings.”—Bahá’u’lláh.
ABDU’L-BAHA, known as Master by those of the Bahá’i faith, continually urged His followers to be happy and ever sounded the admonition: Be ye happy! If you be not happy in this day, for what day are you waiting to be happy? I declare a moment in this glorious century is greater than all past centuries.
An onlooker standing on the shady lawn of Louhelen Ranch in Eastern Michigan and watching the arrival of the “Friends of God” could not help but be impressed with the fact that the followers of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá are the embodiment of these words. Many of them had given up an opportunity to visit the Century of Progress Exposition in order to attend summer school here. Those who had arrived ahead of the others greeted the newcomers with beaming faces and expressions of joy and affection. Sometimes there would be a moment of deep realization as two friends who were very close met after a year’s separation. From far distances they gathered—from Maine and Seattle, from Montreal and Florida. Verily, they “came from the east and from the west, from the north, and from the south to sit down in the kingdom of the Lord.”
The greetings of the Bahá’is and their love for one another is very impressive even to those accustomed to that love. A new comer when asked for her impression of the summer school remarked with enthusiasm, “I never have received such a welcome from my own family. I don’t believe any of my relatives would express as much delight at seeing me as these friends of God do when they get together. It is wonderful to belong to such a spiritual family. I feel for the first time that I have really come home.” This celestial vibration set up was one of the outstanding impressions that we took away from the third Bahá’i summer school at Louhelen Ranch, where we spent nine glorious days. Many voiced the sentiment, “It is like living in Heaven for a little while. How we dislike to go back to the world, but since we must, how splendid that we can carry this inspiration to others and share this heavenly bounty with them.” It gives one just a glimpse of what life will come to mean when all the peoples of the world adopt the Bahá’i program of the Oneness of Humanity and live according to the Bahá’i ideals of the Most Great Peace.
Many improvements for our comfort had been made since last year,
--PHOTO--
Some of the friends attending the Baha’i Summer School, Louhelen Ranch in Michigan
that were a delight to us. A large barn had been converted into a roomy and airy assembly hall, and the space above into two stories of bedrooms for the comfort of the increased number of guests.
THE GUARDIAN of the Bahá’i
Cause, Shoghi Effendi, has laid a
great deal of stress on the importance
of these summer schools for
they embody that new and vital
feature of Bahá’i administration,
consultation,—the gathering of the
friends to talk together of ways and
means for promoting the Bahá’i
Cause. They offer, too, a means of
making new friends and cementing
the bonds of unity and love for
each other. Ideas are exchanged
that furnish new inspiration and
experience in the teaching field.
These shared are of great assistance
to those who teach. It was a
delight to observe that many of the
same people who were present last
1 The Book of Certitude by Bahá’u‘lláh.
year had returned this summer. A practical business man observed, “I would not miss this summer school. I arrange my vacation so as to bring my family here each year, for the inspiration I receive stays with me throughout the year.”
How shall we convey the spirit and the power of this brief session to one not present? It is difficult—impossible. The mornings were taken up with classes, each giving information and inspiration in its own way. The period combining meditation and Iqán1 studies opened the daily program, turned the thoughts upward, and showed what new fields may be explored and higher thoughts released by meditative study.
The daily lessons in Bahá’i Administration reached a new depth of meaning in what had seemed to some mere routine and showed that the Revelation of Bahá’u’lláh makes clear God’s plan from the beginning—a
plan culminating in the New World Order which is evolving from Bahá’i Administration. The talks on the Influence of Religion on Society linked into those on Bahá’i Administration and developed convincingly the idea that there is no adequate explanation of Society apart from Religion. The stories and incidents from the “Dawn-Breakers”1 interwoven with and illustrating the great and eternal truths which give life to the soul lifted us into the world of the spirit as they flowed from the lips of the speaker in a truly inspired manner. The afternoons were thrown open to the public and an hour was devoted to a lecture on some aspect of the Bahá'i Cause.
OF GREAT import is the fact that
almost a third of the summer school
were the youth of the Bahá’is,
radiant young people, many from
schools, colleges and universities,
and some who had gone out from
schools into the working world,
eager to study the precepts of the
new age of which they will be a vital
part. Most of them had attended
the summer school last year and
had so thoroughly enjoyed themselves
that they eagerly looked forward
to assembling together again
this year. The intense earnestness
in spiritual matters shown in their
morning study and discussion group
did not prevent, indeed enhanced,
their enjoyment of the swimming,
hiking and other amusements in the
afternoons. A balanced life is the
ideal Bahá’i life.
The evenings were turned over to the young people, and they planned
1 Nabil’s Narrative of the early history of the Bahá’i Cause.
interesting programs for the rest of the group. One evening was devoted to music, for ‘Abdu’l-Bahá often remarked, “Music is the language of the heart.” Another evening was devoted to the personal experiences of those who had made pilgrimages to Haifa. One evening was just for fun when each was asked to write a poem about the person whose name was drawn by lot. These poems were read aloud, while the audience tried to guess who was being described. Another evening was given over to the methods by which the young people may teach the Bahá’i Cause and they told of their experiences in that field of activity. One could not help feeling that with such unprejudiced and scientific minds attacking the problems of a sick and ailing world that the remedies will be applied in a wise, efficient, and intelligent manner.
Such glorious days spent in the pursuit of spiritual wisdom! How we wish that all the world might have shared them with us for every one was striving to translate these words of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá into deeds:
“Religion is an attitude toward God reflected in life.”
“The: greatest gift of man is universal love, for this love is the magnet which renders existence eternal, attracts reality, and diffuses life with infinite joy. If this love penetrates the heart of man, all the forces of the universe will be realized in him, for it is a divine power which transports him to a divine station and man will make no real progress until illumined by this power of love. Strive to increase the love-force of reality, to make your hearts greater centers of attraction, to create new ideals and relationships.
“Alas! Alas! The world has not discovered the reality of religion hidden beneath the symbolic forms.”
THE PROMULGATION OF UNIVERSAL PEACE, being The Addresses of 'Abdu'l-Bahá in America, in two volumes. Price, each, $2.50.
BAHÁ'U'LLÁH AND THE NEW ERA, by Dr. J. E. Esslemont, a gifted scientific scholar of England. This is the most comprehensive summary and explanation of the Bahá'í Teachings as yet given in a single volume. Price, $1.00; paper cover, 50 cents.
THE WISDOM TALKS OF 'ABDU'L-BAHÁ in Paris. This series of talks covers a wide range of subjects, and is perhaps the best single volume at a low price in which 'Abdu'l-Bahá explains in His own words the Bahá'í Teaching. Price, paper, 50 cents; cloth, $1.00.
BAHÁ'Í SCRIPTURES. This book, compiled by Horace Holley, is a remarkable compendium of the Teachings of Bahá'u'lláh and 'Abdu'l-Bahá. It contains a vast amount of material and is indexed. This Paper Edition (only ¾-inch thick) Price, $2.50.
THE BAHÁ'Í WORLD, a Biennial International Record (formerly Bahá'í Year Book). Prepared under the auspices of the Bahá'í National Assembly of America with the approval of Shoghi Effendi. Price, cloth, $2.50.
All books may be secured from The Bahá'í Publishing Committee, Post office Box 348, Grand Central Station, New York City.
FIVE MONTHS' subscription to a new subscriber, $1.00; yearly subscription, $3.00. Two subscriptions to one address, $5.00. Three subscriptions to one address, $7.50. Ten new subscriptions to one address, $25.00 (in United States and Canada). If requested, the subscriber may receive one or more copies and have the remaining copies sent to other addresses.
Two subscriptions, one to come each month, and one to be sent in a volume bound in half-leather, at the end of the year, $5.75 of the two subscriptions; postage for bound volume additional.
Single copies, 25 cents each; ten copies to one address, $2.00. Address The Bahá'í Magazine, 1000 Chandler Bldg., Washington, D. C.
The Herald of the South, G. P. O. Box 447 D, Adelaide, Australia.
Kawkab-i-Hind (Published in Urdu), Karol Bagh, Delhi, India.
La Nova Tago (Published in Esperanto), Friedrich Voglerstrasse 4, Weinheim, Baden, Germany.
Sonne der Wahrheit (Published in German), Stuttgart, Germany.
Bound volumes Nos. 15 and 16, covering the years 1924 to 1925 and 1925 to 1926, contain many of the most valuable and instructive Bahá'í teachings compiled from the writings of 'Abdu'l-Bahá, on such subjects as Education, Peace, The Solution of the Economic Problem, Cooperation and Unity, Proof of the Existence of God, and others equally as important. They also contain articles on various phases of the Bahá'i Cause and its teachings contributed by Bahá'í writers and presented with clearness and accuracy, reports of conferences and conventions, Bahá'í News and Travel Notes and other interesting information. Volumes 17, 18 and 19 contain valuable material and information for students of religion, sociology, science, etc., both Bahá'ís and non-Bahá'ís.
All volumes carry illustrations of great historical value.
Bound in half leather, each volume $3.50; if two volumes are bound together, for $6.00; postage additional.
All of the bound volumes of earlier years are filled with such remarkable spiritual teachings of the New Age that they constitute a priceless library. Volumes 2, 3, 4 and 5 contain many sublime records of 'Abdu'l-Bahá's teachings, addresses and interviews in Europe and America. (Volumes 2 and 3 are now exhausted and Volume 4 cannot be supplied in a complete form as several numbers of this volume are exhausted.)
Volumes 7 and 8, which are, also, often bound together, contain the wonderful compilations on the Divine Art of Living and the New Covenant.
Volume 9 contains varied records from the Holy Land and 'Abdu'l-Bahá's words on the material, intellectual and spiritual education of children; and both volumes 9 and 10 filled with Tablets of 'Abdu'l-Bahá written after the Great War.
Volumes 11 and 12 contain many Tablets and pictures and inspiring accounts of visits with 'Abdu'l-Bahá at Haifa, where members of all religions and races gathered in unity at the table of the Master. Volume 12 also gives the immortal narrative of His last days on earth and His ascension into the Kingdom.
Volume 13 contains priceless letters of Shoghi Effendi, Guardian of the Bahá'i Cause, articles of universal interest and other valuable material.
Volume 14 contains letters of Shoghi Effendi, also his translations of the divine writings of Bahá'ulláh and 'Abdu'l-Bahá as well as a brilliant series of articles and historical accounts.
Bound in half leather, single volumes $3.50; if two volumes are bound together, for $6.00. Postage additional.
