Dr. Raymond Frank Piper
* *
TRADITION
Dale S. Cole
* *
INSPIRATION OF SCIENCE AND
RELIGION DURING THE AGES
N. F. Ward, M. M. E.
* *
MARIE CURIE——A EULOGY
Coralie Franklin Cook
* *
LESSONS FROM THE BAHA'I
TEMPLE
Ruth J. Moffett
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| VOL. 25 | AUGUST, 1934 | No. 5 |
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.
| CONTENTS | |
The Two Realities, ‘Abdu’l-Bahá | 148 |
Science, ‘Abdu’l-Bahá | 149 |
Editorial, Stanwood Cobb | 131 |
The Summit of Truth—Seeing God, a Poem, Walter H. Bowman | 130 |
A Prerequisite of Insight, Dr. Raymond Frank Piper | 134 |
Tradition, Dale S. Cole | 138 |
Inspiration of Science and Religion During the Ages, N. F. Ward, M. M. E. | 142 |
Marie Curie—A Eulogy, Coralie Franklin Cook | 146 |
Lessons from the Bahá’i Temple, Ruth J . Moffett | 150 |
The Celestial Prisoner, Doris McKay | 154 |
Songs of the Spirit, Silvia Margolis | 158 |
Current Thought and Progress | 159 |
The official Bahá’í Magazine, published monthly in Washington, D.C. By the National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of the United States and Canada STANWOOD COBB, MARIAM HANEY, BERTHA HYDE KIRKPATRICK. . . . Editors
|
- Wrapt in the veil of self, man does not see
- The Beauty of God. Only the selfless heart
- Is pure: the Word-enthralled, by Truth made free—
- Those who, by love for God, from self depart—
- They see His Face. The pure in heart behold
- In everything His Beauty and His Might;
- Their bodies do the macrocosm enfold,
- And, lit by single eye, are filled with light.
- Wherefore the light-filled lovers of His Face
- Love all mankind—because of seeing Him!
- To them the Lord of Hosts, by His full grace,
- Is Glory’s crown and Beauty’s diadem!
- And in their hearts His Love is shed abroad—
- And Paradise is just this Love of God!
| VOL. 25 | AUGUST, 1934 | No. 5 |
animal, he is distinguished from the animal by intellectual attainment, spiritual perception, the acquisition of virtues, capacity to receive the bestowals of divinity, lordly bounty and emanations of heavenly mercy. This is the adornment of man, his honor and sublimity. Humanity must strive toward this supreme
station.”—‘Abdu’l-Bahá.WHAT DO WE mean by education? There is a great deal of confusion regarding the meaning of this term. Do we mean by it cultural development? The training of the mind and the acquisition of knowledge? The preparation for a livelihood? All of these objectives enter in varying degrees into present day education, but the emphasis varies much according to the ideals and theories of individual educators. It would. be very difficult, in fact, to arrive at any unanimity or agreement as to what education essentially is.
As a practical means of unifying various concepts and arriving at a definiteness of objective, it might be well to eliminate the word education from the discussion. This term, loaded up with connotations and values from centuries of past educational theory and practice, is extremely difficult to clear from the encumbrance of varied and often contradictory traditional concepts. Let us choose a new phraseology which will permit us to wipe the slate clean of all past thought connected with the subject. Let us use the term homoculture and see where it will lead us to.
If we conceive of the human being as something which like the plant or the animal is to be brought by planned effort to the highest potential degree of development, we have here, I think, the most fundamental
concept of what we have been striving to accomplish by means of education. Let us then call this conscious training and development of the human species homoculture, or the cultivation of man.
THE SCHOLASTIC education of the
past—originating as a system for
teaching the arts of reading, writing
and arithmetic and for developing
that capacity for thought and
knowledge which distinguishes man
from the animal—is overloaded with
concepts of a purely intellectual
type. But as man is more than his
mind, so the perfect training of man
is more than the training of his
mind.
Homoculture, on the other hand, implies the complete training of man in every aspect of his nature, the normal development of every quality and gift up to the point of individual perfectibility. With this idea of homoculture in mind, we can take a look ahead and envision new and more lofty goals for the development of the human race.
In the past, educators have held as their chief goal the perfecting of man intellectually. Up to the present this has been an objective far enough beyond the ordinary development of the human race to absorb all the ideology and art of the educator. To raise illiterate brute man, sunk in the abysmal ignorance of
the ages, living a life almost as unthinking as that of the domestic animals that grazed his meadows—to raise this “man with the hoe” to the stage of a thinking being capable not only of reading and writing but also of understanding the great cosmic laws of cause and effect; to do this not only for a favored few but for the vast democratic mass: this has been up to date the stupendous, almost superhuman task of the educator.
BUT THESE goals are being arrived
at, even though slowly. They
are too limited, too definitely near
achievement to serve as a complete
objective for the future. For the
coming ages we need an educational
goal more nearly proportionate to
the limitless cosmic forces which reside
in man, embryonic though these
may yet be. Approaching human
training from this point of view of
homoculture, we see that the first
step in the new education must be
to obtain a new and more complete
evaluation of man and his potentialities.
By means of an intimate
and deeply scientific study of man
we shall find several serious omissions
in the previous concept of education.
The first such omission is this: man is not only a being with capacity for thought and knowledge; he is also a creative being possessing a Protean cosmic quality. What this power is in all of its ramifications we can at present only begin to divine. Basically, it is the power through the use of creative intelligence of meeting environment and circumstance successfully, either by a process of accommodation or of re-creation. Man has the supreme gift of the universe—the power of
ruling and modifying nature. He is the earth-subduer, the destined ruler of his environment. Not only does man dominate the physical planet to purposes of comfort and of pleasure, but he possesses also a capacity for lending beauty and grandeur to his environment. The extent of his powers in this direction is far beyond the possibility of our conceiving.
HERE, THEN, is a new goal for
education, the homocultural goal of
forming a superior race of creative
humanity, a race which would be as
far above man intellectual as man
intellectual is above brute man. The
primary method of this system of
education would be the intuitional
intimate study of the child to
discover what gifts and powers
were pressing there for development.
It would be the function of
homoculture to assist the individual
toward the largest fruition possible.
As the agriculturist develops his
product to the highest degree of
potentiality, as the horticulturist
trains his trees to the point of maximum
quality or fruitage, so the
homoculturist will learn how to
train the individual child to the completest
possible expression of talents
and powers.
Such a development will be an advantage not only to the individual but to the race. The effects of such a system of education will be swiftly cumulative, for the new generation trained to this higher development of its powers will be able better to train the succeeding generation, and so on ad infinitum. Just as today in the most privileged sections of the more advanced countries of the world the goal of man intellectual is being universally attained,
so in the coming centuries the cosmic goal of man creative will begin to be universally obtained amongst the more advanced groups. This goal is lofty enough, however, to remain far in advance of average educational achievement for many centuries to come.
THERE IS another even more important
aspect to education which
the system of homoculture must
take cognizance of. Loftier even
than the intellectual and creative
aspects of his being is man’s spiritual
essence. Man is not only a
thinker and creator. He is a spirit
possessed of infinite capacity for
growth and progress. (It is by virtue
of this power of the spirit in him
chiefly that he is able both to think
and to create.) Man sunk in materialism,
unaware of the spiritual
side of his nature, ignorant of the
great Cosmic forces which rule and
guide his existence,—such a one is
but half-man. He has not attained
to his destined maturity as a son of
God. “The majority of people”,
says ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, “are submerged
in the sea of materiality. We must
pray that they may be reborn, that
they may attain insight and spiritual
hearing, that they may receive
the gift of another heart, a new
transcendent power.” When spiritual
enlightenment takes place “a
new spirit is realized within, a new
power descends and a new life is
given. It is like the birth from the
animal kingdom into the kingdom
of man.” That this advance from
unspiritual to spiritual man is as
significantly transforming as the
advance from brute to homosapiens is a truth pregnant with meaning for the educationist.
This regeneration, or rebirth in the spirit, has been the goal of religion from time immemorial, but it has been a goal attained by the few, and training toward this goal has been limited to the church. This spiritual goal is destined to become the universal aspiration of humanity. In the new world order of Bahá’u’lláh, in which there will be no clergy and no church separate from the state, this regenerative training of character will become the foundation of all education.
Here we find the loftiest goal for education of which man can conceive. The complete spiritual development of man will be the cause of the awakening and development of new and undreamt of powers in the individual. It will also be the cause of the total realinement of humanity into new and glorious institutions which will make this world the abode of universal peace, prosperity and happiness.
THESE ARE objectives transcendent
enough to absorb the abilities
and powers of educators for undawned
milleniums. It is a field of
operation magnificent in scope.
Human imagination cannot surpass
these infinite horizons; it can but
endeavor to create the most efficacious
means of traveling toward them.
So here is homocultnre, the new art of man—training; to which in the near future the greatest and most gifted people of the world will gladly dedicate their lives. For it is a cause greater than all else.
THE DAWN-BREAKERS*—what a staggering demonstration of religious realities! This book is no parade of theological abstractions. It is a thrilling story of adventure, a history of heroes, who dare to follow God anywhere, who gladly suffer revolting tortures that the glory of their Beloved may shine more brilliantly before men. For the philosopher of religion this beautiful and stirring volume is a rich diamond mine of universal truths. In this essay I shall strive to polish one gem. I am looking for the passports to religious insight,
I begin by asking why a multitude of Persians, and others, failed to sense and appropriate the satisfying way of life offered by the Bab? He himself often ascribed this failure to human heedlessnes. From heedlessness many sank into bitter vilification, and sometimes to barbarous torturing. But why such an astonishing dullness and cruelty in the visible presence of deeds that are clearly kind and of teachings that are transparently altruistic? Why do the saviors of the world get a crumb, a kick, and a cross? I shall answer only far enough to emphasize one condition of access to saving truth.
MORE dangerous than the veil of
heedlessness is the thick wall of prejudice.
The unreasoning bigot
bangs shut the gate in the face of
truth—fearing error, or other
perils—and then madly sets loose
* “NabiI’s Narrative” of the early history of the Bahá’i Cause.
the dogs of hate to pester the visitor at the door. Truths cannot grow abundantly in the soil of the mind until it is cleared of the rocks of indifference and the choking weeds of prepossession. Why did Jesus declare that truth may be revealed to babes? Because they have no prejudices!
The truth seeker must have a mind that is open in at least two senses. It needs to be open in feeling, free from evil-making prejudices, ready for and sensitive to new and nobler emotions. It must also possess open reason, willingness to consider judiciously all relevant evidence.
But is open-mindedness thus characterized sufficient for winning real knowledge? By no means. It is a necessary but not an adequate condition of attaining truth, It provides the right of way upon which may be built the road to truth, but it provides neither track nor vehicle for communicating insight. Two additional conditions are requisite. I shall only mention the second, the roadway of reason, the method of science, and turn new to describing the third basic condition.
I MAY have a clear right of way
and I may have perfected my logical
method, and yet no commerce in
truth may be in process at all. I
must have, as the last and indispensable
condition of religious knowledge,
the vehicle of insight. What
is this basic, penetrating, elusive
fog-destroyer and revelator?
My answer is derived from a striking fact observed in The Dawn-Breakers. It was to those who called the Báb the Beloved that He revealed Himself most fully. Love is the answer, love in the sense represented by the agape of the New Testament.
Love transports the sympathetic mind of the seeker into the heart of the beloved, and the mind returns possessed of vital knowledge, personal discovery, revelation. Two minds harmonized in noble love interflow and interglow, like two lights dancing upon the same scene. By a kind of spiritual osmosis the riches of one are communicated to the other. Love alone can transmit from self to self the precious jewels of religious insight. One can best learn the meaning of artistic beauty by close personal and sympathetic association with another who possesses a refined and expressive appreciation of beauty. Love somehow creates a medium in which the values esteemed by either lover become dissolved and appropriated as common property.
THE CONDITION of insight which I
am emphasizing is dramatically illustrated
by some words of the second
martyr of Tihrán addressed to his
judge. The latter said, “Take him
away from this place. Another moment
and this dervish will have cast
his spell over me.” Then Mirza
Qurban-‘Ali replied, “You are proof
against that magic; that can captivate
only the pure in heart. You
and your like can never be made to
realize the entrancing power of that
divine elixir which, swift as the
twinkling of an eye, transmutes the
souls of men.” (Page 452).
Only those who love with utter unselfishness are prepared in mind to attain the deepest truths of religion. The great prophets have often suggested, “If you love me and follow me with pure and sincere heart, then, step by step, you shall know the truth which is life abundant.”
JUST today I concluded listening
to the translation by a Japanese
friend of one of the most important
recent books in Japanese philosophy,
called A Study of the Good, by
Ikutaro Nishida. He thinks, as I
do, that religion is the consummation
of life. I shall quote the essentials
of the last chapter of the
book, which is called “Knowledge
and Love.”
“Knowledge and love are one spiritual process. Therefore, in order to know a thing one must love it. In order to love a thing one must know it. . . . For example, when we are intent on things we like, we are almost unconscious, we forget ourselves, and only some mysterious power above us works magnificently. We have passed beyond distinction between self and object, and in this union knowledge is love, and love is knowledge. . . . If these statements are true of things, they are all the more true of persons. Love means the intuition of the feeling of others. . . . Finally, since the foundation of reality is a personal God, then love is the sole way to the deepest comprehension of things as well as of persons. We know God only by love, or the intuition of faith. Love is the summit or acme of knowledge, the way to the core of reality.”
These are remarkable words, and
remarkably true. What follows from the insight that love is the indispensable condition for knowing reality?
First, the surest way to delusion is selfishness, unlove; from blind pride issues tragic downfall; and the culmination of this self-willed separation from reality and God is—hell.
In some way, therefore, a hard and self-seeking mind, before it can find saving truth, must receive an infusion of love. How may this gift be acquired? The most potent means is close personal association with an unselfish personality who himself radiates love abundantly. Incarnate grace begets its like in all directions. By gazing upon personified and enlightened goodwill the most unloving and darkened mind may gradually acquire that bit of love which is the outer gate to the temple of spiritual treasures.
THE SECRET of the influence of the
Báb was the love that emanated
from His presence. So powerful
was this radiation that it penetrated
and softened the hardest of hearts,
further refined and ennobled those
already pure, and called for the incredible
gifts and sacrifices described
in The Dawn-Breakers. At
the same time this lavish dispensation
of grace upon others produced
in Himself new revelations of truth
and goodness. Thus in the realm of
spiritual values dividing with
another does not diminish but sharing
brings growth.
My main proposition, then, is that love is both the gateway and the pathway to reality of every kind. Love entails and includes knowledge. I wish there were a single term in English to name this concrete
insight which springs from this indivisible union of love and science. It is somewhat different from wisdom, which is science plus discretion. It might be called mystical comprehension, or spiritual intuition.
I turn to a second principle which follows from my main proposition. Love is a great sentiment, a complex spiritual experience. As such it admits of many degrees of refinement. A noble sentiment, like a splendid temple or epic poem, cannot be brought to perfection in a day. Unlike a temple, its structure need not follow a framework fixed from the foundation, but is ever being remade on a grander scale, as the whole personality unfolds and grows.
In short, there are levels of spiritual insight, of personal appreciation. This is the first great gift of the Bahá’i Cause to me, a profound truth which I learned from an ardent disciple at Honolulu. The Báb, like Jesus, suggested to His disciples more than once that there were many things He could not reveal to them at the time because they were unprepared. (Jesus said, it is wasteful to cast pearls before swine.) They had not yet sufficiently enlarged their spiritual horizon; had not sufficiently sharpened their sensitivity to religious values.
I believe this principle of levels of insight is of profound and far-reaching significance. It is a warning truth of great importance in our time when many people want quick returns in ideas, as in things. These people mistakenly assume that they can accumulate ideas, ideals, insights, by such external processes as are used in amassing economic goods. But these values will grow
only in minds that provide, for a long time, certain essential conditions of discipline. The chief of these conditions is unselfish, expansive, creative love.
A THIRD and last implication I
shall now indicate. Love is a condition
of knowledge because knowledge
is a social process, an interchange
between minds. The more
active and sensitive the response between
two minds the more truth is
generated in each.
NOW the best and wisest conduct grows out of the truest personal knowledge. When this condition of sympathetic understanding exists among several minds, this communion, this “spiritual assembly,” constitutes the perfect pattern for a civilized group, whether of the family, of more extensive groups, or of mankind. Its basic prototype is the brotherhood relationship. At the same time, because of the mutual respect and sacrifice which love entails, this pattern includes also the best of the fatherhood relation.
I believe that human associations bound together, not primarily by race, color, language, or creed, but by a love which is at once fraternal and religious, is the safest, most satisfying, and most enduring basis
for civilization. A proposition akin to this is elaborated with powerful logic and sweeping historical perspective in the remarkable book published in 1928 (Scribner) by J. H. Denison, entitled Emotion as the Basis of Civilization.
It is illuminating to notice how often in The Dawn-Breakers the disciples of the Báb are referred to as “companions.” Similarly it is significant that Jesus promised His followers that they would be, henceforth, not servants, but friends. At the same time it was entirely consistent that they should be called also “sons of God.” They are brothers in God, sharers in the “Beloved Community” (Royce), participants in the “spiritual assembly” of the transformed.
The future safety and progress of civilization depends, I believe, upon the dissemination and generation of this spirit of creative, unselfish benevolence among the peoples of the world.
I conclude that my fundamental duty to myself, my neighbor, and my God is to do everything in my power to increase in myself and others the supply of divine love. Is this not also your duty, and your opportunity?
“Consider to what am extent the love of God makes itself manifest. Among the signs of His love which appear in the world are the Dawning-Points of His Manifestations. What an infinite degree of love is reflected by the divine Manifestations toward mankind! . . . His divine Manifestations have offered their lives through love for us. Consider then what the love of God means. . . . The fields and flowers of the spiritual realm are pointed out to us by the Manifestations who walk amid their glories. It remains for the soul of man to follow them in these paths of eternal life through the exercise of its own human will.”
“Human reason . . . is by its very nature finite and faulty in conclusions. It cannot surround the Reality Itself—the Infinite Word. Inasmuch as the source of traditions and interpretations is human season, and human reason is faulty, how can we depend upon its findings for real knowledge?”—‘Abdu’l-Bahá.
WHY has tradition and traditional influence had such a profound affect on the trend of human thought and action? Is it because of sheer mental inertia, fear of the new, of change, or simply a failure to appreciate the significance of progress and the necessity for advancement?
In the light of recent scientific discovery a static condition of anything is rather more the exception than the rule. Very few things can remain static and not deteriorate. Change seems to be a necessity. Positive change as contrasted with the negative is desirable. And yet the attitude that what was good enough for our forefathers is good enough for us is encountered in every activity of life—in business, in politics, in social problems and in religious thought. For instance there is great resistance to changing our educational system and methods.
Quite recently the writer was discussing education with a well informed, thoughtful man, who remarked that there was an atmosphere about the eastern universities of the United States which was not found in the great state universities of the middle west. When questioned as to just what he meant his answer was:
“There is something, background perhaps, customs, traditions.”
“What do you mean by traditions?”
“Oh—old ways of doing things, customary procedures, habits, traditionary influences.”
“You think then, that traditionary influences are good for youth?”
“Why—I guess so, do you think they are not?”
“I’m wondering about them these days. Certainly progress has much to contend with in traditionary attitudes. Just when, if at all, does tradition cease to be negative and become a positive help in human experience?“
“That is an interesting question. I don’t believe I have ever thought about it.”
Have you?
IN THE BAHA’I Revelation we are
instructed not to rely on traditions,
especially traditions as to truth.
Perhaps this is a subject for real
meditation. It is quite natural to
revere some customs and traditions.
When does tradition begin to retard development? Can we say that it is when it closes our minds and susceptibilities to a recognition of that which is true7 to those things which tend towards advancement, to those values which are real and lasting whether it be in regard to our own personal experiences or to the wider spheres of human endeavor?
Some changes recorded in the pages of history were certainly good. For instance the sail boat was a great improvement over the
ancient car-propelled galleys. The modern steam or oil driven liner is surely better than the sail boat. And yet when we view land transportation we find heavy, inefficient trains being used and great resistance being offered to the new, speedy “zephyr” type trains.
It is a traditional fact that in medicine any innovation is viewed askance. This is well in so far as it forces careful experimentation before wide application is attempted. But it is also a detriment in that it stifles rather than stimulates independent lines of advancement.
Many a worthy undertaking has failed because the resistance was too great. The pages of science are strewn with example after example of the opposition to progress. Galileo’s experience is the classic instance, and there are many others.
BUT IS IT not a rather encouraging
fact that although traditional
attitudes have customarily opposed
the facts and accomplishments of
science, yet in this day such reactionary
or static attitudes sooner or
later break clown? They cannot
stand the pressure of revealed
truth. Witness the many revolutionary
inventions in the last hundred
years. Once the allegiance to
tradition in regard to material
things has been weakened there is
usually an acceleration in the enthusiasm
with which the new is
taken into life’s experiences. Take
the automobile for example. From
an object of derision it has become
a necessity, a thing which is given
up last in adversity, a thing for the
possession of which financial futures
are mortgaged.
Why then are we so loathe to recognize
revealed truth in other spheres of life,—in economies, in politics, in social reform and in religious thought? Is it because the immediate benefits are not so clearly revealed? Is it because these advantages may seem remote or intangible? What is more intangible than the great imponderables—time, the ether and the law of gravity? And yet our experiences with these are continuous. We cannot escape them. They are operative necessities in the universe as it is organized. Little as we know about them, we use them all. The mere fact that a thing is intangible does not exclude its utility, its benefits or its influences. Certainly the bonnties of God as revealed for this age are no more intangible than these.
Humanity, and youth especially, lightly sweeps aside many traditions, some minor and some major. A change in the amount of clothing worn may have very beneficial results but disregard for law and order gives grave concern. Blind acceptance of past practices, customs and institutions and a dogmatic attempt to carry the old over into the new is not conducive to intellectual or spiritual advancement. On the other hand a mad rush into unproven principles of action is no less unwise. A recognition and appreciation of that which is true in every realm of activity is requisite to balance.
IS IT NOT inconsistent to rely on
traditional attitudes with reference
to the deeper realities of life, while
at the same time embracing with
enthusiasm all that is new in material
experiences? How then can
this inconsistency arising out of traditional inertia be removed in so far as it retards development of the individual and civilization?
The first step would seem to be to test any given tradition, to weigh it, to analyze it thoroughly. If it is not in accord with the latest revelation of truth—cast it aside. But before large numbers of people can be induced to unburden themselves of handicapping traditions they must be brought to a realization of true significances and values. This means that they must strive to understand the fundamental principles of real life as successfully as they have striven to understand the automobile. People soon learned that an automobile was useless unless one knew how to operate it. And to operate it intelligently a certain amount of knowledge regarding it was essential. This knowledge was not attained without the desire to attain it and the expending of some effort in learning. The art of steering soon becomes almost a “reflex action”—certainly it becomes more or lese involuntary; but this is through practice and experience. Traditional experience was not relied upon,—there was none.
But before we undertake to educate ourselves in regard to any new thing, we must be convinced of its benefits. No one in America today would tolerate for a moment being forced to use a horse-drawn conveyance. It would be considered a grave limitation of liberty to be so restricted. Certainly human mobility would suffer by reversion to such methods.
THE CONCLUSION seems evident
that humanity will free itself from
the detriments of tradition, through
self education,—the will to change,—only after achieving a realization of the advantages to accrue.
This realization comes with knowledge of the realities, one of which is that we are living in eternity, and that this life is merely preparation for the future. When one is convinced that life here is but an instant of eternity he is likely to weigh values in a more nearly true perspective.
The revealed Word of God is the greatest bounty ever vouchsafed mankind. This is the dawn of a New Day,—a day of new and ever changing conditions. The time to acquire knowledge of how to make the most of it is in the early morning so that later in the day one may be proficient in the requirements thereof, and really be useful and happy before the sun sets. We are not concerned with yesterday but with tomorrow and the day after. We are not servants of tradition and do not want to be beholden to it. This is a day of advancement, not of static equilibrium or retardation.
And so, perhaps, we can attend some festivity on the village green re-enacting some event which has been thus re-enacted every year for the past one hundred, and enjoy it—but enjoy it for what it is. We can pay respect to great men of the past, to their wisdom, to their judgment, to their sincerity,—acting under conditions then existing,—but we need not be bound by the same conclusions now under utterly different conditions.
Underlying all considerations are certain unchangeable verities. But a verity is not a tradition. It is a fact. It is truth—independent and unassailable. Tradition springs from human attitudes, and human
attitudes are influenced by many factors. Tradition has much to do with what certain people thought about a certain thing at some particular time and under specific conditions. It may have had benevolent influence and may still have, but as a pattern for intellectual and spiritual guidance it may be utterly at fault.
AND SO TO return to the question
propounded “When does tradition
have a deleterious effect?” a series
of answers presents itself. When
we find it restricting our line of action
to some impractical procedure.
When reliance upon it blinds our
eyes to the revealed truth. When we
find it forcing acceptance of some
out-worn dogma, creed or admonition.
When it beckons us to look
backward rather than forward.
When it blinds our eyes to the progressive revelation of God.
The very fact that great Revelators have been sent from time to time to educate humanity, as humanity grew from infancy towards maturity, is proof (should it be required) that tradition is not to be relied upon, even in so fundamental a conception as religion. If tradition was to be unchanged there would have been no succession of Educators. God’s bounty is continuously emanating in progressive guidance as humanity advances from age to age.
But to those who have seen the Light of the Revelation of Bahá’u’lláh no proof is required. The aim is not to acquire a knowledge of traditions and be governed by them, but to acquire a knowledge of God and His Divine Plan for the day in which we live.
“Know then: that which is in the hands of people—that which they believe—is liable to error. For in proving or disproving a thing, if a proof is brought forward which is taken from the evidence of our senses, this method . . . is not perfect; if the proofs are intellectual the same is true; of if they are traditional such proofs also are not perfect. Therefore there is no standard in the hands of people upon which we can rely.
“But the bounty of the Holy Spirit gives the true method of comprehension which is infallible and indubitable. This is through the help of the Holy Spirit which comes to man, and this is the condition in which certainty can alone be attained.”
“Religion must stand the analysis of mason. It must agree with scientific fact and proof so that science will sanction religion and religion fortify science. Both are indissolubly welded and joined in the reality.”—‘Abdu’l-Bahá.
THE science of old concerned itself with the heavens and its constellations. Today science penetrates the minute vitals of matter and life itself. Its boundaries have extended into the expanse of space as well as in all places between the great and the small. The conquest of matter and life continues with undiminished zeal as the days pass. Time, space, and energy are the vaults in which science now works. The key to the innermost recesses of this world is the mind of man.
Science’s Method. Science deals with that which we know, or the “how” of this physical universe. It is human experience tested and set in order. Science represents an attitude of mind towards facts of matter and of life. “In fact science may be likened to a mirror wherein the infinite forms and images of existing things are revealed and reflected. It is the very foundation of all individual and national development. Without this basis of investigation, development is impossible. Therefore seek with diligent endeavor the knowledge and attainment of all that lies within the power of this wonderful bestowal.“ These are the words of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, the Exemplar of the Bahá’i life.
THE BAHA’IS are urged in the
* Professor in Tuskegee Institute, Tuskegee, Alabama.
teachings of their Divine Educator, Bahá'u'lláh, to seek Truth independently, unfettered by prejudice, and apply reason as a test to religion.
The tool for finding truth is the scientific method of attack, which may be divided into the following logical steps:
(1) Recognition of the problem, as illustrated by the quest of Dr. Geo. Carver* for a suitable product for the Negroes to raise. He developed from the oils, fats, starches of peanuts and sweet potatoes, seventy and eighty forms of saleable ingredients for the peanut and sweet potato respectively, thus providing means of independent income inthe southland.
(2) Control of situation,—which requires women and men of capacity, intelligence and training or experience.
(3) Observation of all possible combinations and variables involved.
(4) Comparison of records thus secured, as Dr. Drummond and Harry Kirkpatrick compared the results of Chicago scientists in the speed of electrons in the atom. These men found results which check.
(5) Rejection of irrelevant—Truth here usually suffers a setback as illustrated by non-acceptance of
inventions at the first, because the layman’s vision or comprehension is limited. Science is becoming less dogmatic, as it finds in its quest for inner realities of matter that no finality of its parts or components is revealed.
(6) Synthesis of relevant facts and materials.
(7) Testing of postulates or theory thus formed with fresh cases.
Ptolemy (140–160 A. D.) founded astronomy on this basis.
Application of this procedure has resulted in drawing forth from the unknown realms known facts with increasing rapidity. As will be seen, the scientific mind is an investigating mind, alert to new facts or verification of old facts. Of the man of science ‘Abdu’l-Bahá says:
“He is perceiving and endowed with vision, whereas he who is ignorant and neglectful of this development is blind. The investigating mind is attentive, alive; the mind callous and indifferent is deaf and dead. A scientific man is a true index and representative of humanity, for through processes of inductive reasoning and research he is informed of all that appertains to humanity, its status, conditions, and happenings. He studies the human body-politic, understands social problems and weaves the web and texture of civilization.”
WHAT IS SCIENCE LOOKING FOR? Science today is searching for the fundamental unity amidst apparent diversity. Science is looking for the constant property of matter which is common to all forms living and organic, dead and inorganic. Experiments of Dr. J. C. Bose of India are most enlightening in this respect. He has found that metals, plants and animals all sink under fatigue and become vibrant with stimulants or impulses. Photographic films which are sensitized to light when exposed are actually under molecular strain and upon
aging become renewed or rested. Is not Einstein combining gravitation, heat, electricity, magnetism, in one equation of energy? The least common multiple of all matter appears to be that energy is tension in the ether.
The great truth which has been proved as workable was inspired by ancient Brahmanic teaching and may be here quoted: “They who see but one in all the changing manifoldness of this universe, unto them belongs Eternal Truth—unto none else, unto none else.”
It is this conscious urging to know that truth which has led men in their quest for the great Causer of causes.
THE SPHERE OF RELIGION. It is
the purpose of religion to furnish
the basis for action in life. That
the action be correct involves both
knowledge of action and spiritual
urge to serve. Science serves the
material, religion the spiritual. Eddington
says:
“In comparing things spiritual and temporal, let us not forget this: mind is the first and most direct thing in our experience; all is remote reference. Surely then that mental and spiritual nature of ourselves, known in our minds by an intimate contact transcending the method of physics, supplies just that interpretation of the symbols which science is admittedly unable to give.”
Truth or reality is a matter of mind as well as of heart. Science brings to bear all facts without that spiritual substance so enduring in the race. Thus the results of science are lost in the main with the fall of temporal dynasties. We may question whether science in some respects has attained to the whole truth because Truth is one, does not admit of division, and endures.
Where must we seek truth? Some
say in everything. Yet can we know four hundred and sixty-nine sciences, evolution, all the literature, culture, and languages of the nations? Our purpose is more than to spend our days in acquiring knowledge for its own sake. It is by application of this knowledge in daily life that we are perfected and progress. It is service-motive which characterizes religion. Truth must be one or it is limited, since it could have exceptions and limitations. Bahá’u’lláh has said, “Knowledge is one point. The ignorant have multiplied it.” What we need today is more simplicity, less complexity of reasoning.
What race has survived in modern times without science? Yet what race has in our times permanently gained by permitting science, as applied to life’s usefulness, unbridled rein? The profit-motive, which implies selfish interest, has given the greatest setback because of the enlightened selfishness which resulted in enrichment of a few at the expense of the mass. Correction of this unbalance or this source of social instability lies in religion with its teaching of moral consciousness of the individual. It is the individual’s responsibility to regiment his moral and mental endowments for the welfare of the race, if the race is to survive. The joint interplay of science and religion, science’s stabilizing force, produces true progress through material and social evolution for the benefit of civilization. When religion loses cadence with science through institutionalization or crystallization, then science gets beyond its normal sphere and becomes dangerous to society.
* As quoted in “Creation by Evolution.” Compilation by Frances Mason, 1928.
‘Abdu’l-Bahá in His writings concerning science and religion likened life to a bird in flight supported by the two wings: one wing science, the other religion. To fly with the wing of science alone causes the bird to sink into the hog of materialism with consequent loss of all ideals of peace, justice, and unity in diversity. This state is likened to War with all of its destructive proclivities. Then if the bird tries ascent with the wing of religion alone superstition and fanaticism is its course of flight. The combined effect of both wing‘s furnishes the balanced flight, enabling the race to soar to realms beyond the limited vision of the mind alone.
Dr. Millikan says in “Science”*:
“The purpose of science is to develop without prejudice or preconception of any kind, a knowledge of the facts, the laws and the processes of nature. The even more important task of religion, on the other hand, is to develop the consciences, the ideals and aspirations of mankind. Each of these two activities represents a deep and vital function of the soul of man, and both are necessary to life, the progress and the happiness of the human race.
“It is a sublime conception of God which is furnished by science and one wholly consonant with the highest ideals of religion, when it represents Him as revealing Himself through countless ages in the development of the earth as an abode of man and in the age-long inbreathing of life into its constituents, matter culminating in man with his spiritual nature and all his God-like powers.”
THE PROPHETS and founders of religion have built enduring civilizations and they have a basic truth of value to man’s ultimate welfare, each one revealing what is within capacity of time. Hence from each the truth should be obtainable and final. Witness the civilizations of Moses, Christ, Buddha, Zoroaster, Muhammad, and now that of Bahá’u’lláh, with their power to establish new horizons and modes of living.
The power released by these men of God exhibits its tangible effect upon the works of men, who have been inspired by the Prophet’s teachings. Expression of the effect of this power may be seen in new and unique developments. Witness the creation of houses of worship in all lands as an example. The latest contribution to the consolation of harassed humanity may be found in Wilmette, Illinois, where the Bahá’i Temple of Light stands a beacon on the horizon of a New Day to enlighten the spiritual life of humanity. This power of which we speak has been the support of a handful of believers in Bahá’u’lláh who have erected, during most trying times, an architectural symbol of a new faith in the prophets. Burton Holmes, the world traveler, has called it the eighth wonder of the world.
All prophets therefore must have that one truth and the latest Prophet should be able to cope with all problems of His dispensation. Obviously, truth is obtained more directly and effectively by acquaintance with the last Prophet.
PARALLELISMS OF SCIENCE AND RELIGION.
Phenomena which repeat
themselves in known manner and
frequency usually indicate the operation
of some law to the scientific
mind. To this the religiously minded
would subscribe so that an analogous
condition can be sought in
religion. By reason of science’s
contact with the material universe
research is more greatly facilitated.
1 From ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s Teachings. 2 In “Evolution and Its Effect on Religion.” 3 Severa1 analogies were given by the author but they had to be omitted in the interest of brevity.
The religious experience is just as real if the heart is atuned. But the search finds one in labyrinths of imponderables, which should be reducible to qualitative and quantitative values for life, one considers that “religion is an attitude towards divinity expressed in life.”1
An interesting analogy between scientific and religious truth is here cited:3
PHASE CHANGE.—Illustrated by change of
state, such as liquid to vapor upon application
of heat; composition and decomposition;
seasons of the year.
PROPHETIC DISPENSATIONS. Prof. Joseph Le Conte advanced the theory2 that at the beginning of accelerated development a great personage emerges just as in water when boiling, a new state appears, or in metals there are states of decalescence and recalescence. The Renaissance was contemporary with Muhammad. The Fall of the Roman Empire was contemporary with Christ.
The Prophet brings new consciousness with which to build for progress in cyclic development. Yet He abrogates useless spiritual regulations and renews essential tenets of religious experience. May be likened to the power of the sun in supplying life. Yet when most important life elements have served their purpose, the sun decomposes that material form.
CONCLUSIONS. In Science’s method,
Religion assists, so that the
man of science combines the elements
of both branches of human
activity.
Religion is the basis of truly enlightened action. Truth is one and admits of no division. Truth is obtainable as it is applied to harmonize and contribute to progress through service as exemplified by the prophets, and as demonstrated in their civilizations.
“The spiritual life is symbolized by simplicity and contemplation combined with usefulness and well guided activity.”—‘Abdu’l-Bahá.
“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?”—Bahá’u’lláh.
A SILENCE is over all of Woman’s World today for news has been flashed wherever news travels to say that a great woman has crossed God’s “threshold” and passed “from labor to reward.” Wherever women toil or live in ease; wherever they study and plan or exist aimlessly and unthinkingly; in palace or cot; in crowded and congested cities or far from haunts of men in desert or mountain fastnesses—the name of Mme. Curie is known, and to many thousands of women and men her singleness of purpose, her unselfish, tireless scientific pursuits have brought alleviation of misery and suffering.
It would seem that the life of this devoted woman has been a special gift of God to womankind. The things she embodied, taught, exemplified, are priceless treasures to women, to all women, struggling up through the centuries to rightful place in the world of humanity.
Marie Skolodowska was born in Warsaw, Poland about sixty-seven years ago. Not without background was she ushered on to the stage of life for her father was a professor and she probably grew up in an intellectual atmosphere. When
she was about twenty-five years of age, her ambition took her to Paris where she met and later married Dr. Curie.
HERE was indeed a union of kindred spirits. Together these two gifted people simply and unreservedly gave themselves to scientific study and research. Their experiences and achievements cause one to wonder how the idea ever found place in the minds of men that between religion and science there is fixed opposition. Rather it would seem that science is God’s own handmaiden, and that in the laboratory where the Curies worked God’s own vision presided over the crucible. That “His hand led them and His right hand guided them.” However that may be, who does not recall the excitement, the wonder, the applause that followed the announcement made by the Curies in the last days of the Nineteenth Century that they had succeeded in extracting and confining radium? Radium, that priceless substance taken from the mineral pitchblende was to be given to the world and was to meet and stay the advance of the dreaded and hitherto unconquerable disease, cancer!
It is worthy of note that first, last and always Mme. Curie shared equally with M. Curie the honor of this priceless discovery. Never once was her full share in this notable service to mankind questioned. Indeed, one may recall that in numerous
printed reports concerning the two, the man seemed to give to the woman more credit than he took to himself for their invaluable service.
Without the least bit of ostentation the Curies carried on, and men of science everywhere turned eagerly to radium in behalf of the countless sufferers from cancer who appealed to them. The gratifying results are now a part of medical history.
SHALL WE put it down as one of the
mysteries that M. Curie did not live
long to enjoy his triumph, and that
his tragic death due to an automobile
accident separated him from his
work and from the noble woman to
whom he had been coworker and
comrade? How would she bear the
test? Could she even live without
him? At best a frail little body,
modest and retiring, surely no word
of blame would have been uttered
had she abandoned her tasks. And
now indeed the strong spiritual
forces by which she had been guided
manifested themselves in amazing
fortitude and courage. In a little
while Mme. Curie resumed her research
into the mysteries of her own
precious discovery.
At the Curie Radium Institute in Paris she devoted her entire time to the work which she and her husband had so long followed.
It has been written:
- “Forever from the Hand that takes
- Our blessings from us, others fall.”
This law of compensation apparently has operated in Mme. Curie’s affairs, for as assistant to, and co-worker with her, came her daughter, Mme. Irene Curie Jolliot. Endowed
with the same enthusiasm and scholarship that had characterized her distinguished parents, the daughter continued with her mother the labors of the husband and father, perhaps often doing the things he had planned to do. Once more it seems significant that it is a daughter who has taken up this beneficent service to humanity.
The lives of the Curies have been truly altruistic, evidenced not only by personal service but in the humble and unegoistic way they accepted every honor or turned into the work of the laboratory every gift awarded them.
Generations to come of American women will cherish in their hearts the glad memory of the visit made by Mme. Curie to this country and her acceptance of the gram of radium which at a cost of one hundred thousand dollars they presented the distinguished guest as a token of gratitude for her service to the world. It has been interesting to learn that that particular bit of the precious substance has been kept intact although constantly used in the Paris Laboratory or at times rented out to others and the income used to further the interests of the Curie Institute.
That Mme. Curie had no desire for publicity, that the social life which would have opened its doors to her in all the great cities of the world made no appeal to her, is self-evident. No mere ambition for knowledge stimulated her efforts. A passion for service, a zeal to help suffering humanity, were seemingly the spiritual gifts that held her to her task. Here was a life “Hidden with God in sympathy with man.” And, oh, what a radiant life it was,—a
sacrifice to the experiments of which she knew the danger but which she persisted in making almost to the time of her death!
All the world is better not only physically but spiritually because of the life of Mme. Curie. “The one nearest the threshold of God,” writes ‘Abdu’l-Baha, “is he who serves all . . . who forgets himself
utterly, turning to God alone, and for the sake of God serves all mankind.” So near God’s threshold did Mme. Curie’s service to all mankind bring her that only a step must have carried her over. What joy to the two daughters who survive her and to her world-wide sisterhood to think of her as finding greater service still in the “many mansions!”
THE TWO REALITIES
THE body does not conduct the processses of intellection or thought radiation. It is only the medium of the grossest sensations. This human body is purely animal in type, and like the animal is subject only to the grosser sensibilities. It is utterly bereft of ideation or intellection, utterly incapable of the processes of reason. The animal perceives according to its animal senses. It comprehends not beyond its sense perceptions. . . . But we know that in the human organism there is a center of intellection, a power of intellectual operation which is the discoverer of the realities of things. This power can unravel the mysteries of phenomena. It can comprehend that which is knowable, not alone the sensible. All the inventions are its products, for all these have been the mysteries of nature. . . . All the sciences which we now utilize are the products of that wondrous reality. But the animal is deprived of its operations. The arts we now enjoy are the expressions of this marvelous reality. The animal is bereft of them because these conscious realities are peculiar to the human spirit.
“These evidences prove that man is possessed of two realities: a reality connected with the senses and which is shared in common with the animal, and another reality which is conscious and ideal in character. This latter is the collective reality and the discoverer of mysteries. That which discovers the realities of things undoubtedly is not of the elemental substances. It is distinct from them, for mortality and disintegration are the properties inherent in compositions and are referable to things which are subject to sense perceptions, but the collective reality in man, not being so subject, is the discoverer of things. Therefore it is real, eternal, and does not have to undergo change and transformation.”
SCIENCE......
men who devote their energies to
science.”—‘Abdu’l-Bahá.THE virtues of humanity are many but science is the most noble of them all. The distinction which man enjoys above and beyond the station of the animal is due to this paramount virtue. It is a bestowal of God; it is not material, it is divine. Science is an effulgence of the Sun of Reality, the power of investigating and discovering the verities of the universe, the means by which man finds a pathway to God. All the powers and attributes of man are human and hereditary in origin, outcomes of nature’s processes, except the intellect, which is supernatural. Through intellectual and intelligent inquiry science is the discoverer of all things.”
ALL blessings are divine in origin but none can be compared with this power of intellectual investigation and research which is an eternal gift producing fruits of unending delight. . . . Science is the governor of nature and its mysteries, the one agency by which man explores the institutions of material creation. . . . Briefly: it is an eternal blessing and divine bestowal, the supreme gift of God to man.”
SCIENCE ever tends to the illumination of the world of humanity. It is the cause of eternal honor to man and its sovereignty is far greater than the sovereignty of kings. The dominion of kings has an ending—the king himself may be dethroned; but the sovereignty of science is everlasting and without end. . . . Kings have invaded countries and achieved conquest through the shedding of blood, but the scientist through his beneficent achievements invades the regions of ignorance conquering the realm of minds and hearts. Therefore his conquests are everlasting.”
FURTHERMORE, religion must conform to reason and be in accord with the conclusions of science. For religion, reason and science are realities; therefore these three being realities must conform and be reconciled. A question or principle which is religious in its nature must be sanctioned by science. Science must declare it to be valid and reason must confirm it in order that it may inspire confidence. If religious teaching however be at variance with science and reason it is unquestionably superstition. The Lord of mankind has bestowed upon us the faculty of reason whereby we may discern the realities of things. How then can man rightfully accept any proposition which is not in conformity with the processes of reason and the principles of science? Assuredly such a course cannot inspire man with confidence and real belief.”
“This is a Bahá’i Temple, a Temple of Light, a supreme House of Worship, a place of spiritual gathering and the manifestation of Divine mysteries. . . . The Bahá’i Temple of Chicago is of greatest importance. Its importance cannot be confined within any measure or limit, because it is the first Divine Institution in this vast continent. From this Temple hundreds and thousands of others will be born in the future. Its construction is the most important of all things. This is the spiritual foundation. For that reason it is the most important of all foundations. From that spiritual foundation will come forth a new manner of advancement and progress in the world of humanity.”
IT is interesting to note the effect of the twentieth century design of the Bahá’i Temple upon these who have devoted a careful study to its harmonious outlines. Since the foundation was started, multitudes have come to gaze first with curiosity and then with admiration. Many of these were the World’s Fair guests of last year who had seen the small model in the Hall of Religions. Artists, musicians, architects, engineers, teachers, students, poets have all been enthralled by that something which seems to attract them again and again. “That Something” elicits understanding comments. For example an editor said, “I begin to understand now how the continuity of mankind entirely depends upon that which this building symbolizes—Unity.”
An economist after studying the structure from nearly every angle without comment finally said—“The beauty and grandeur of this Temple inspires all who see it to contemplate the more vital aspects of the simple, eternal truths that in the past have been forgotten.”
A clergyman teaching in a southern college remarked that, “The Bahá’i Temple is undoubtedly a new channel releasing spiritual powers for social regeneration. It fills a
different function from that assumed by the sectarian church and has already become a vital center of united worship for all classes and races. One of the greatest needs of today.”
We recall again these impelling words of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá in which He calls the world from separateness and exclusion to unity, amity and inclusiveness.
“In every dispensation the command of friendship and the law of love have been revealed, but it has been circumscribed within the circle of the believing friends and not with contrary enemies. Praise he to God that in this wonderful cycle the laws of God are not confined within any limitations, neither must they be exercised toward a special community to the exclusion of another. He hath commanded all the friends to show forth friendship, unity and kindness to all the people of the world.”
THE HEAD of an Art School in Chicago, one day took her class to the Temple and on the way said to them, “Inspiring, stupendous, sublime is the picture of the Bahá’i House of Worship as it towers into view, framed by the long avenue of branching trees. This great masterpiece of architecture is unique in that it represents in its plastic form the teachings of the New Revelation for the New Day. It is the concrete expression of a spiritual conception. Never before in the history of architecture has spiritual
--PHOTO--
idealism been woven with such exquisite art and skill into a concrete symmetry of beauty, aspiration and reverence.”
Before the illumined model of the Temple, an architect from England stood speechless one Sunday morning. The waves of thought, emotion and inspiration surged over his sensitive and responsive soul. After a time he exclaimed, “What a conception! It does not seem to come from this earth!”
A student from the University of Chicago asked a teacher standing near the model, “What is the interpretation of the words that are so familiar in the language of the religions of the past, such as religion, godliness, theology, morality, faith?” “In the words of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá,” said the teacher, ‘Religion means those necessary bonds which unify the world of humanity.’” And she continued, “Godliness
means godlikeness, of the possession of those qualities that are developed by following as closely as possible the steps of the Manifestation of God. Theology is the science of the study of man’s formulated doctrines about Religion. Morality is a code of conduct changing from age to age as man’s understanding of God unfolds. Faith, about which you asked, is the trust that the soul exercises toward God and which expresses itself in tranquility of mind and heart, even in the midst of difficulties.”
“My main question is this,” said the student, “How does the Bahá’i Revelation interpret these ideas diffrently from the religions of the past?” The teacher replied, “In the Bahá’i Revelation it is emphasized that the greatest essential is not what one believes, not where nor when he worships but how that worship and those ideals are expressed
in the social life of the community for the good of all. The greatest essential is a perfecting and harmonizing growth in our collective activities; otherwise our Faith will descend gradually to a philosophy of life, like the religions of the past instead of maintaining its unique position, as a compelling way of living.”
A BAHA’I FRIEND after taking a
group of clubwomen through the uncompleted
structure reported that
one of the officers of the club asked
if the Bahá’is believed in life after
death. To this the Bahá’i friend
replied, “Bahá’ulláh teaches us that
life in the flesh is but the embryonic
stage of our existence and that escape
from the body is like a new
birth in a new world, through which
the human spirit enters into a
fuller, freer, richer life.” “But
where are heaven and hell”, asked
another club woman. “Nowhere!”
replied the Bahá’i. “They are
timeless and placeless conditions of
spiritual life. Hell is spiritual
death. You may be in heaven or
hell just now in this body. The joys
of heaven are spiritual joys and the
pains of hell consist in the deprivation
of those joys.” One club-woman
then remarked, “It seems
like heaven in this Temple now. ”
Another woman then asked, “Why do you consider Bahá’u’lláh to be unprecedented among the prophets?” “Because” the Bahá’i replied, “the conditions of the world at the time of His coming were unprecedented. Because He appeared in the darkest hour of a dark age when it seemed as though no light had ever come to show man the way. Because art, science, religion,
civilization had become ripe for the greater teaching of unity to the world. Because mankind had for countless ages evolved from the stage of infancy to relative maturity when he could erase the barriers separating peoples and be ready to establish the bonds of World Unity. Since the power of Bahá’u’lláh was released all barriers are being broken away with astonishing rapidity and we see the foundation of a great new civilization, a New World Order already established!”
ONE DAY a sight seeing bus stopped
at the Temple. The guests
wished to view the massive and inspiring
dome from the interior. A
gentleman turned to a Bahá’i friend
and said, “What a scientific achievement!
You say that science and religion
must agree. What in science
could possibly agree with religion?”
The Bahá’i replied. “They agree
on fundamental truth. The great
Prophets of religion and science
have always been in agreement on
truth and both have been persecuted
and crucified for their advanced
ideas, as were Galileo, Bruno, Galvani
and a host of other great scientists.
You remember that Boole,
the great mathematician, said, ”Geometric
induction is essentially a
process of prayer—an appeal from
the finite mind to the Infinite for
light on finite concerns”. The scientist
owes a debt of gratitude to the
Prophets and saints who have helped
them breakdown superstition and
outworn dogmas. In the teachings
of Bahá’u’lláh there is a strong
emphasis on science and reason that
satisfies both the heart and the mind
and in which religion and science
are one.”
A teacher then asked, “Can you give one proof by which we can recognize that Bahá’u’lláh is the Manifestation you claim? “The Bahá’i friend replied, “Yes, many proofs, and one most convincing proof is that since the advent of Bahá’u’lláh, the Glory of God, the world has been changing faster than it ever did before, and this marvelous progress has taken place Since His Proclamation of underlying principles. The most inspiring changes are taking place along the lines laid down by Bahá’u’lláh. Reason tells us that One who so clearly anticipated and so powerfully advocated these world changes
must have been a factor of importance in bringing them about, whether those directly responsible for the changes ever heard of His existence or not. We can today in the rapidly moving world events see the regeneration of mankind and the creation of a ‘New Heaven and a New Earth’, and perhaps we can understand something of the meaning of the words of Abdu’l-Bahá when in speaking of this symbol of spiritual unity—the Bahá’i House of Worship, He said that “from this spiritual foundation will come forth a new manner of advancement and progress in the world of humanity.’”
“I deeply appreciate the continued and self-sacrificing endeavor of the American believers in the face of the grave financial and economic depression into which their country and the whole world is now plunged. That the Temple edifice should arise under such circumstances, that its elaborate and exquisite ornamentation should be carried out, through the efforts of a mere handful of Bahá’i followers despite the gloom, the uncertainty and the dangers which surround them, is but another evidence of the mysterious all-compelling power of Bahá’u’lláh whose blessings will be bountifully vouchsafed to all who arise to carry out His purpose. . . . The American believers home made a splendid, beginning. Let them hiring to a speedy and successful termination a task which they have so nobly initiated and which they alone are destined to accomplish.”
The following story of supreme spiritual importance is based on “Nabil’s Narrative,” a history of the early days of the Bahá’i Cause, translated by Shoghi Effendi, and published under the title, “The Dawn-Breakers.”
THE star-pricked curtain of night still hung over the wilderness of northern Persia as Ali Khán, chief officer of the frontier fortress of Máh-Ku, rode his horse in the direction of home. There was no sound save the thud of hoofs upon the sand and Ali Khán was wrapt in abstraction as in a long, dark, cape. Among the sensibilities of this stern, strong man, part Kurd, part Persian, a conflict was raging; all the forces of the man—his Kurdish harshness, his almost fanatical sense of duty and responsibility, his uncompromising nature were arrayed against a disintegrating power—an attitude toward a captive received into his keeping at the hands of the Persian state.
AMAZED AT himself, he seemed to
be fighting the very breezes of
spring as they blew across his wintry
heart at the thought of that prisoner.
A siyyid of the Shi’ah sect of
Islám, known as the Báb or Gate of
a new Revelation, had been sent
there by the minister Háji Mirzá
Áqási who feared His influence on
the Sháh. Here, in a fortress topping
the last northern wedge of Persian
soil, stubbornly braced against
the pressure of two hostile countries,
Turkey and Russia, it was
thought that He would be inaccessible
to His followers. It was a
feat challenging human endurance
to reach this highspot in the robber
Kurd country.
The journey accomplished, its end lay in two unyielding barriers, one the gate of the city of Máh-Ku, the other the locked door of the fortified castle on the mountain. Nature and man had combined in attempting to effect the complete obscurity of a prisoner whose qualities were grace of person, modesty, spirituality, rather than aggressiveness. But—Ali Khan had tried and all his efforts had been like an attempt to hide the sun itself. On the dawn of the first day a voice had lifted from the window of the prisoner’s chamber and had poured like a golden river of sound into the valley below The Kurds who lived at the base of the mountain in the town of Máh-Ku had at the first svllables of the Báb’s voice turned their faces toward the castle. In their fierce Sunni hearts there was a hatred of the Shi’ah sect; in the belts of every one of them were knives and pistols, tools of the trade of bandits. Unkempt and wild, clad in crude colors and barbaric jewelrv, weather-beaten, savage, the Kurds of that village had been inundated by the torrent of that heavenly voice. It wreathed in spirals up the snowclad sides of the mountain, it penetrated like mist into the crevices of the rude huts, it broke the wills of the listeners. Straight up the sides of the mountain they climbed for a glimpse of His face. Eagerly they shouted to Him. He answered. Since then every morning the same thing had
happened. Ali Khán, cryptic, forbidding, resolved upon the letter of his duty, was powerless now to influence them. Ali Khán must not yield to the intoxication of a personality, must stand firm.
ALI KHAN’s musings on his problem
continued until against the
lightening sky he could see the distant,
grey outline of the city walls
with the formidable mountain overtopping
them. The masjid* outside
the gates where the pilgrims lodged
was dark. The Araxes River slipped
along in the half light reflecting
the last gleam of the morning star
before it faded. Then all the dark
curtain was rolled up with the suddeness
of dawn in Persia and the
river turned silver beneath a tent of
cerulean blue with lifting purple
bars. Across the bridge and Ali
Khán would he at the gate. But he
reined his horse to a standstill for
here beside the river and quite alone
stood his prisoner. Like a vision
He seemed with His hands raised to
heaven in a transport of adoration,
the delicate oval of His countenance
upturned, the eyes seeming to pierce
the veils that intervene between
man and the mystery of the divine
Reality, His voice calling fervently
upon the Name of God. The Báb
stood and prayed and seemed to be
the dawn’s very embodiment—dawn
of a new prophetic Day, essence of
blue light and silver waves, sense of
a dark curtain lifting, of Light returning
and the whir of rising wings
from the nests of the nightingales.
ARMORING HIMSELF against the
thrilling beauty of this scene, the
warden felt his authority outraged.
* Mosque.
A prisoner out of bounds? He descended from his horse and strode toward the Báb, a stern rebuke upon his lips. But the words were never uttered for as he paused a moment for the prayer to be finished a great fear seized him and he recoiled from the thought of intruding himself upon this holy person. He dared not speak. He sprang to his horse to demand explanation from the guards, found the outer gates locked, opened them with his great iron key, clattered through the streets of the city and up the steep path to the four-towered gate of the fortress. This too was securely locked. No one had passed that way that morning!
We find our warden, shaken and trembling, expostulating with the surprised and innocent guards. Siyyid Husayn, companion of the captive prophet met him at the ante-chamber and was astonished at the courtesy with which that most arrogant and domineering of keepers returned his salute. He seemed completely unnerved and he accompanied Siyyid Husayn to the Báb’s chamber on quaking limbs. Yes, the Báb was there! In that angelic projection of His form outside the city gate He had worked no greater miracle upon His opposer than that which Paul had experienced two thousand years ago. The Báb arose from His seat and welcomed him and Ali Khán flung himself at His feet. With awed reverence he repeated the story of the appearance at the river-side, saying “I adjure You, by the Prophet of God, Your illustrious Ancestor, to dissipate my doubts, for their weight has well-nigh crushed my heart. . . . I am utterly
confounded. I know not whether my reason has deserted me.” “What you have witnessed is true and undeniable” returned the Báb. “You belittled this Revelation and have contemptuously disdained its Author. God, the all-merciful, not desiring to afflict you with His punishment, has willed to reveal to your eyes the Truth. By His Divine interposition, He has instilled into your heart the love of His chosen One, and caused you to recognize the unconquerable power of His Faith.”
IN THE MASJID Shaykh Hasan-i-Zunuzi,
a trusted intimate of the
Báb, had been waiting with the
other pilgrims for days to be admitted
to the castle but the privilege
had been denied. Now the love of
His chosen One did indeed take full
possession of the heart of Ali Khan
and he longed to make immediate
amends for his obstinate resistance.
He said, “A poor man, a shaykh is
yearning to attain Your Presence.
He lives in a masjid outside the
gate of Máh-Ku. I pray You that I
myself be allowed to bring him to
this place that he may meet You.
By this act I hope that my evil
deeds may be forgiven, that I may
be enabled to wash away the stains
of my cruel behavior toward your
friends.”
Love seeks to express itself through service and Ali Khán was privileged in the months that followed to render assistance to the struggling Cause of the Báb. The opening of the door of his heart was a signal for the opening of the gates of the castle to all those pilgrims who had come across the plains and mountains to obtain the instructions and inspiration of the Báb. The pilgrims departed to scatter themselves over Persia with the Great Message. So the leadership of the Báb was not lost in that critical phase of the development of the Faith.
Nine months the gentle spirit of the Promised One held sway in the rocky fortress; for nine months the magic of His voice swept down into the valley; for nine months Ali Khán paid his respects to the prisoner with gifts of choice fruits and entertained His guests with unstinted liberality. And during that time the Báb wrote the fiery verses of His great Book, the Bayán (Revelation). Then followed removal by the determined minister of state (who had never beheld His Beauty!) to Chihriq, the Grievous Mountain, where still another stern jailer and barbarous countryside were to succumb to the irresistible charm of the Celestial Prisoner.
“The Báb said, ‘O My Glorious Lord! I sacrifice Myself entirely to Thee. My only desire is to be martyred for Thy love. Thou dost suffice Me!’ The Báb’s desire was to be realized for the glorious crown of martyrdom was placed upon His head. The gems light the whole world.”
”My mouth shall speak the praise of the Lord.”—Psalm 145:21.
“Speech is one of the most valuable of human privileges, one of the closest bonds of union and communication between men. It is provided by God in order that man may clothe the truth in such expression as another may understand. It is both a vehicle of thought and a stimulator of thinking, intended for both use and pleasure. Man is given the power of speech, and not the animals, because its chief mission is to the welfare and development of the soul; therefore it ought to be accurate and pure, and used to convey thoughts that are worth expression. Within external speech lies the thought expressed and the purpose that prompted the thought, therefore it can convey both ideas and feeling.”
EVIL . . Speech
“The treasury of man is his speech.”
“No one of all the people of the world should suffer harm from your hands or tongues.”
“The tongue is for honorable mention; pollute it not with evil speech.”
“Defile not the tongue with execrating any one.”
“For the tongue is a smouldering fire, and excess of speech a deadly poison. Material fire consumeth the body, whereas the fire of the tongue devoureth both heart and soul.”—Baha’u’llah.
"The worst human quality and the most great sin is backbiting, more especially when it emanates from the tongues of the believers of God.”
"God who sees all hearts knows how far our lives are the fulfillment of our words.”—’Abdu’l-Baha.
- Too long have we borne with rancor
- And woes of an ancient weaving!
- Too long have we borne with conflict—
- And what have they brought us but grieving!
- Behold! We have cleared our hearts
- Of each bitter and withering thing:
- We have seen a Light in the Darkness:
- We have New Songs to sing!
- Our eyes, that were blinded with groping
- Are healed! We can see at last!
- We can see all around every limit,
- And Beyond our portionless past!
- Never more shall we hate at a bidding,
- Or slay at a warrior’s command!
- At last we can see that the earth
- Is really one native land!
- We have Wings! We may fly, at last!
- At last we may search and explore!
- We may soar, at will, like the angels,
- We shall chafe in confinement no more!
- Past the fogs and the mists of tradition
- Our flight will be steady and smooth:
- We have Wings of Faith and of Reason,
- At last we shall search out the Truth!
- We are free! We shall sing to the world,
- We shall sing to the sad and the drear!
- We have Truth and Beauty to give—
- All the nations shall waken and hear!
- We shall quicken the dead with our singing,
- We shall free all the bound! We are strong:
- We shall sing of the Oneness of Mankind
- And renew all the earth with our Song!
- Away with all blind imitation!
- Away with ancestral beliefs!
- We have done with the strife they engendered,
- We have done with humanity’s griefs!
- We sing of a new Revelation,
- Of a Cycle untrammeled by rage!
- We sing of Divine Civilization,
- And Humanity’s Coming of Age!
- We shall fly, neath the sky, like the falcons
- And lift up our Voices with strength!
- Far and near over Valleys and Mountains
- We shall cry the Good Tidings at length!
- We shall fly, neath the sky, like the falcons
- And cry to the dwellers on earth:
- “Lo! the ways of all freedom are opened,
- And the gates to the ways of rebirth!”
War will never disappear from the face of the earth until religion swoops men up in a spiritual fervor of abhorrence of war.”
MEANWHILE, be they great or small, or last a long or a short time, a majority of so-called “great men” justify and illustrate Shakespeare’s admirable description of man’s passing self importance:
- “But man, proud man,
- Drest in a little brief authority,
- Most ignorant of what he’s most assured,
- His glassy essence, like an angry ape,
- Plays such fantastic tricks before high heaven
- As make the angels weep.”—Washington
Herald.
APPARENTLY German youth is being conditioned for war from the kindergarten up. The latest German schoolbooks, according to a correspondent of the London Observer, speak of battle as “the divine business of every German”; a prayer contained in a representative volume for children of eight and nine, ends by asking all to raise their hands in honor of “the day of just vengeance”; and a song, highly popular in the school, has the refrain, “Nation to Arms! Nation to Arms!” A sorry outlook, indeed, for those who believe that the only hope of eliminating future wars is by educating the rising generation to abhor the thought of battle.—The Saturday Review of Literature.
THE DEVELOPMENT of technics and machinery has, until today, helped the process of business competition rather than performed its natural
function: to make the lives of men possible with less labor.
What should have happened and What, I am sure, will happen is that the great gift of technic will be diverted from its service to competitive economics and will be turned to its rightful function. That function is: to free the energies of men from bread-and-butter activities so they may he released for richer spiritual activities.
Listen to me: The historians of the future will describe our era as a time of measles-and-mumps sickness in the record of humanity.
The child Man has grown too fast for his own welfare and has suffered a temporary obstructive sickness—Albert Einstein, World Digest.
“WORLD understanding and international co-operation are an empty dream unless built upon high ethical and religious principles.”—Dr. Fred B. Smith in Baccalaureate sermon Stanstead College Canada, Montreal Gazette.
ALWAYS interested in youth movements and founder of many such, I was shocked to find no active interest in religion among the youth of Germany.
“Any youth movements are largely political. . . . The churches have generally dropped their youth organizations.
“Exclusive of the Jews, and in some parts of Germany the Roman Catholics, there is a falling away from evangelical fervor; so what we in America would best do is to pray hard for a rebirth of a pure religion there, unhampered by governmental creeds and dogmas.”—Dr. W. H. Houghton, New York World-Telegram.
“THE PASSAGE of the equal nationality law giving women complete equality with men in nationality in the United States and the ratification of the equal nationality treaty are indeed notable victories.
“They are significant as an extension of the principles of democracy at a time when democratic government is under severe scrutiny and criticism. Furthermore, they are particularly significant in connection with the effort of women to achieve equality on a world wide scale.”—Miss Alice Paul, Chairman International Relations Committee, National Woman’s Party, Washington Star.
“EUROPE TODAY is on the point of fading out just as other great civilizations of the past faded out. Athens, Rome and Carthage depended upon their shipping for their wealth and power. When, this failed they died.
“Since history repeats itself, the big interrogation point today is, what area of the world will wear the mantle which Europe drops? After Athens came the great rivals, Rome and Carthage. The only question in my mind is, which will be Rome and which Carthage?—Gen. Rafael de Nogales of Venezuela, Washington News.
THOSE kind-hearted, honest and sincere adherents to the preaching
of the Gospel must try to realize the fact that in the gigantic upheaval of the world’s political, economic and social life, the church cannot escape “the mills of the gods” for already we note a decided change in the thinking mind of those who would seek a truer philosophy in the realm of religion. . . . But with the coming of this new age—which is one of knowledge—the expanding Christian consciousness finds the limitations of the theologian inadequate and restricted. It has passed the stage of “blind faith” (“seeing through a glass darkly”) and wants “to know.” It wants a new religious philosophy that will bring man to a truer knowledge of and closer relationship with God by a study of His laws and workings, in a Religio-Scientific Theology—C. M. W., Montreal Daily Star.
THE TRUTH revealed in all the existing religions are one and the same, but in every cycle they have been explained in proportion to the understanding and the perspicacity of the people of the day. The more we grow, the more we require new garments to fit us.
Bahá’u’lláh the Manisfestation of Heavenly Love, says to us: (mankind)—“All of you are the fruit of one tree and the leaves of one branch.”—“You are created by one Creator,—living on one planet. One sun shines upon you.” Why should we dispute? Let us try our best to bury the hatchet by avoiding our selfish feelings unnecessary doubts and fruitless suspicions of each other by following the advice of Bahá’u’lláh—acting in co-operation, love and unity, then the Heavenly Hosts will help us in our undertakings—M. H. Touty, North China Daily News.
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.
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La Nova Tago (Published in Esperanto), Friedrich Voglerstrasse 4, Weinheim, Baden, Germany.
Sonne der Wahrheit (Published in German), Stuttgart, Germany.
[Page iv]
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."
