This Earth One Country/The supranational community

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CHAPTER V

The Supranational Community

HE people who were born in the first century of the 58 Christian era, except a few hundred, died without ever knowing that the man who was crucified between two thieves on the mount of Calvary was the greatest figure of their time. Few realized that the life and teachings of this illiterate carpenter were to influence hundreds of millions of people for twenty centuries, and that costly buildings of learning and of worship would be maintained in his name in lands far beyond the confines of the then known world. If a book had been written in that first historic century suggesting the possibilities latent in Christ’s teachings, it would have remained unnoticed. The story presented in the next three chapters of this book makes claims that are no less pretentious.

The history of Baha’u’llah can be told now, at the end of its first century, with less hesitation and to a larger audience than it would have been possible to tell the story of Christ in the year 100 A.D. Baha’u’llah’s message, though more complex, as is the age to which it is directed, can be understood and accepted by the modern mind. In fact, this faith already has reached five continents, and its followers can be found in more than eight hundred communities spread over sixty countries. “The world is but one country and mankind its citizens” epitomizes the spirit which sustains this world-wide community founded upon the teachings of Baha’u’llah who,

102 [Page 103]The Supranational Community 103

after forty years of exile and imprisonment, died near ’Akka, Palestine, in 1892.

The Baha’i Faith is not another creed to compete with the older faiths. It does not offer a new path to immortality, nor does it attempt to abrogate the religions that have preceded it. It upholds the principle that “religious truth is not absolute but relative and that divine revelation is progressive, not final.”

The greatest Baha’i message is the consciousness of the oneness of mankind. “The Tabernacle of Unity has been raised; regard ye not one another as strangers ... Baha’u’llah proclaims, “Of one tree are all ye the fruit and of one bough the leaves... It is not for him to pride himself who loveth his own country but rather for him who loveth the whole world,’ ”

Baha’u’llah offers world justice as the highest moral principle for our present stage of evolution: “The best beloved of all things in my sight is Justice.” Justice, as Baha’is conceive it, is the collective moral expression of the community. The range of moral awareness of the individuals that compose a community determines the area in which justice can function. If the range of individual conscience does not project across national frontiers, world justice is impossible.

Divine Love is the highest ideal for the individual. Divine Justice represents the highest attainment for the community. The world, as we have seen, has shrunk into one interdependent community. Any decision in such a community cannot be considered just unless it is partial to none. How many can truthfully say that they are not partial to one particular race, or class, or creed, or color? As long as a world conscience is not produced, world justice is impossible, and without world justice, world peace is unobtainable. Baha’[Page 104]104 This Earth One Country

u llah’s world community is imbued with a world conscience | and is creating an instrument for the administration of world justice. In this lies its great significance for the modern world.

Ivs PreorLe AnD THE Aim

When ’*Abdu’l-Baha, the son and successor of Baha’u’llah, was once asked, “What is a Baha’i?” he replied: “To be a Baha’i simply means to love all the world; to love humanity and try to serve it; to work for universal peace and universal brotherhood.” On another occasion ’Abdu’l-Baha said: “The man who lives the life according to the teachings of Baha’u lléh is already a Baha’i. On the other hand, a man may call himself a Baha’i for fifty years, and if he does not live the life he is not a Baha’i.”* A woman might dress and behave like a man, yet she deceives no one, not even herself.

Baha’is are usually recognized as good people. More intimate association with them will reveal that there is something about them not easily found elsewhere. Some might call it love, but if so, it has a new expression. For these Baha’is possess a kind of love which they display indiscriminately toward every Jew or Gentile, Capitalist or Communist, be he German, English, or Japanese, red or black, a university professor or a boot-black. But this is not all. They have taken hold of this love and transmuted it to the social plane.

We know that Christian nations are not united primarily out of love for Christ or in obedience to a divine commandment. We also know that nations today are held together because of common interests rather than because of a common ideal, and that unity within a nation increases in relation to pressure from outside. The United States was perhaps

1*Abdu’'l-Bahé in London, Surrey, The Unity Press, 1912, p. 109. [Page 105]The Supranational Community , 105

never in her history as united as after the attack on Pearl Harbor. Vested interests or a common grievance will hold together a political organization, rather than love for the underdog. These forces do strive for unity, but they are inherently exclusive. They will fight their opponents because of fear.

Unity within the Baha’i world community is not conditioned by fear of aggression. It does not fight its opponents; it assimilates them. In fact, there is no room in the Baha’i conscience for a stranger, much less for an enemy, be he an individual or a nation. Through Baha’u’llah, he is united with all men, believers and non-believers alike. In a conflict, for instance, between the British and the Germans, victory, from the Baha’i point of view, will only be achieved when both nations realize they belong to the same community in which both have equal political and economic priviliges and responsibilities.

If this suggestion appears utopian, we should remember that Baha’u’lla4h belongs to a long chain of independent prophets and he did not come to convert animists. For the first time in history, a Great Educator has appeared among people who have lived for more than a thousand years in an environment permeated with the teachings of a Krishna, a Buddha, a Zoroaster, a Moses, a Christ, or a Muhammad. Baha'u'llah is speaking to a world of which only about ten per cent are animists. Christian missionary effort has been directed primarily towards the pagan, with little to offer the Jew or Muhammadan. The Crusaders were, in fact, surprised to find the Muslims at least as moral and religious as themselves. Nor has a Buddhist much more to offer a Hindu than a Greek Orthodox can offer a Roman Catholic. Not so with Baha'u'llah. Acceptance of his message presupposes belief in [Page 106]106 This Earth One Country

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all the previous prophets. It is directed to people who have knowledge of one or more of the established religions and who are civilized, at least in a way.

Baha'i confidence in the future rests on conviction rather than hope. For Baha’is, the brotherhood of man is not something to be hoped for, but, rather, something that exists. They belong neither to a segregated community nor to a community maintained by utilitarian motive. They are conscious of world citizenship not out of fear of aggression, but because of an all-inclusive faith in the common heritage and origin of mankind.

Baha’is are known to have no racial or color prejudice, the origin of which is fear, suspicion, and the desire for power. Anthropologists believe that prehistoric man was probably black or of an olive-brown color and, as men moved about, their color changed with the environment. The white man’s dominance over other races dates back only four hundred years, and there is every indication that it is temporary. To a Baha’i, any race discrimination is immoral. “Concerning the prejudice of race,” writes “Abdu’l-Baha, “it is an illusion, a superstition pure and simple, for God created us all of one race ...In the beginning also there were no limits and boundaries between the different lands; no part of the earth belonged more to one people than to another. In the sight of God there is no difference between the various races. Why should man invent such a prejudice? How can we uphold war caused by such an illusion? God has not created man that they should destroy one another. All races, tribes, sects and classes share equally in the bounty of their Heavenly Father. The only real difference lies in the degree of faithfulness, of obedience to the laws of God. There are some who are as lighted torches; others who shine as stars in the sky of human[Page 107]The Supranational Community 107

ity. The lovers of mankind, these are the superior men, of whatever nation, creed or color they may be.”?

Baha’i writings broaden the mind by encouraging and chal_lenging the individual to think in world terms. “Let your vision be world-embracing, rather than confined to your own self... All men have been created to carry forward an everadvancing civilization . . . Bend your energies to whatever may foster the education of men... That one indeed is a man who, today, dedicateth himself to the service of the entire human race...” Such inspiring themes as these have a powerful effect upon a community which includes people not only of every race but also of every religion.

Baha'u'llah recognizes the divine origin of all established religions and admits the identity and continuity of their purpose. “All the Prophets of God,” writes Baha’u’ll4h in the Kitab-i-Iqan, “utter the same speech, and proclaim the same Faith ... They differ only in the intensity of their revelation and the comparative potency of their light.” He further explains that the difference in degree is not due to the limitations of the Prophet but, rather, to the receptive capacity of the people to whom he speaks. Baha'is regard all religions as different stages in the constant evolution of one religion. They try to widen the basis of all religions, reconcile their aims, and demonstrate their oneness. The Baha’i Faith does not aim to undermine the spiritual foundation of any of the world’s recognized religious systems. On the contrary, it tries to restate their original purpose, reinvigorate their life, and co-ordinate their highest aspirations with the needs of the twentieth

• The Wisdom of ‘Abdw'l- Bahd, New York, Baha’i Publishing Committee,

1924, p. 137.

° Gleanings from the Writings of Bahd@'u'llah, N. Y., Baha’i Publishing Committee, 1935, pp. 9, 94, 215, 250. [Page 108]108 This Earth One Country

century. “The Baha’ religion,” writes Rev. J. Tyssul Davis in his book, A League of Religions, “has made its way ... because it meets the needs of its day. It fits the larger outlook of our time better than the rigid exclusive older faiths. A characteristic is its unexpected liberality and toleration. It accepts all the great religions as true, and their scriptures as inspired.”

Since there is only one God, there can be only one truth and, therefore, only one religion, which means that all religions are one. The Latin root of the word religion, religio, means to bind together, to unite. When religion ceases to unite people, it ceases to be useful. “Doctors of religion were instituted to bring spiritual healing to the people and to be the cause of unity among the nations. If they become the cause of division, they had better not exist. A remedy is given to cure a disease, but if it only succeeds in aggravating the complaint, it is better to leave it alone. If religion is only to be a cause of dissension, it had better not exist.’”*

The Baha’i community has no clergy. Priesthood was necessary in the past when the great majority of the people could not read or write or think independently. In the Baha'i world everyone is encouraged to learn for himself, and the Baha’i writings are available to everyone since Baha’u’llih was the first founder of a world religion who recorded his teachings in books and letters. No special group of people is trained or given authority to interpret the teachings. Nor do Baha’is have religious rites or ceremonies to be administered by a professional clergy.

“The central fact to be noted concerning the nature of the Baha'i Faith is that it contains a power, fulfilled in the realm

of conscience, which can reverse the principal momentum of

“Wisdom of ’Abdu’l-Bahd, p. 111. [Page 109]The Supranational Community 109

modern civilization — the drive toward division and strife — _and initiate its own momentum moving steadily in the direction of unity and accord.”

Christianity, as previously shown, could unite neighbors as individuals, but, when it tried to project love into communal affairs, it was compelled to revert to the Law of Moses. “What Christ meant by forgiveness and pardon is not that, when nations attack you, burn your homes, plunder your goods, assault your wives, children, and relatives, and violate your honour, you should be submissive in the presence of these tyrannical foes, and allow them to perform all their cruelties and oppressions. No, the words of Christ refer to the conduct of two individuals towards each other: if one person assaults another, the injured one should forgive him. But the communities must protect the rights of man . . . The continuance of mankind depends upon justice and not upon forgiveness.’”® One of the distinctions of the Baha’i Faith is that it can, unlike Christianity, project its faith into the realm of social action. In Baha’ experience, divine love of the individual is transformed to divine justice in the community. Baha’i religious practice does not consist of formal worship and adherence to certain rituals, but rather of membership in an organically united community which satisfies the individual and collective needs of men.

The cause of war and the forces that divide the world are,

to all intents and purposes, economic and political. Our leaders and statesmen have been incapable of drawing a world charter

• Horace Holley in Bahd’i World, Vol. VIII, Wilmette, Ill., Baha’i Publishing Committee, 1942, p. 1.

• ’Abdu’l-Baha in Bahd’t Procedure, Wilmette, Il., Baha'i Publishing

Committee, 1942, p. 29. [Page 110]110 This Earth One Country

which is just and satisfactory to all peoples. Baha’u’llah is the first Messenger of God to promise the “Most Great Peace” and to formulate the means to attain it. The key he uses is .Justice. That is why he has established the institution of Local, National, and Universal Houses of Justice. These Houses of Justice, which are temporarily called Spiritual Assemblies, represent a new departure in social experience, for they give moral expression to the collective conscience of the group. Only an authority which can pronounce the collective conscience of all the people of the world, regardless of religious, racial or social background, can establish a world government and world justice without which world peace is impossible.

Baha'is are building just such an organism and their method of development is worth investigating. The material is ordinary human beings, often below the average, as if so directed by providence to, demonstrate its working to an unbelieving world. This organism which Baha’is are determined to establish all over the world, cannot be demonstrated by one or two individuals. It requires in each community at least nine people who have reached the age of twenty-one. That is why the American and Canadian Baha’is have been engaged during the last seven years of the first century of the Baha’i era (1844-1944) in establishing an administrative unit of at least nine people in every state and province of North America. The next decades are to witness the founding of similar units in every country of the world.

The following is perhaps one of the best summaries of the principles of this world community: “The Baha’i Faith recognizes the unity of God and His Prophets, upholds the principle of an unfettered search after truth, condemns all forms of superstition and prejudice, teaches that the fundamental purpose of religion is to promote concord and harmony, that it [Page 111]The Supranational Community Ill

must go hand-in-hand with science, and that it constitutes the sole and ultimate basis of a peaceful, an ordered and progressive society. It inculcates the principle of equal opportunity, rights and privileges for both sexes, advocates com- . pulsory education, abolishes extremes of poverty and wealth, recommends the adoption of an auxiliary international language, and provides the necessary agencies for the establishment and safeguarding of permanent and universal peace.””

A Democracy Witnovut Parry Po.itics

The history of governments is the history of the long struggle between freedom and authority. The various forms of government which have been created to organize people fall into the following four categories, which sometimes overlap: (1) autocratic, that is, one-man-rule; (2) aristocratic, rule by a minority; (3) theocratic, rule by an organized church; and (4) democratic, rule by a majority.

The autocratic form of government, one of the most ancient, still persists in modern times. It proved efficient and could furnish a stable rule for several decades. Its dictator, however, could not be held responsible, the system did not provide for peaceful change, nor could it guarantee justice within its territory.

The aristocratic form of government could often carry out policies with a long range view, requiring the support of several generations, as did the Roman Senate or the Victorian Parliament, and could boast of statesmen of character and blood who had been specifically trained from early childhood to govern. Rule by a minority class, however, was bound to degenerate, as it was not responsible to the people, resisted

• Shoghi Effendi in Baha’t World, Vol. VIII, p. 12.

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change, and fell short of any approximation of social justice.

Even the theocratic commonwealth, like that of the ancient Hebrews or the Caliphate in Islam, could not reconcile freedom with authority, although it drew its inspiration from the Book of God whose moral sanctions must have exercised a powerful influence on the rulers and the people. Its greatest weakness, allowing no satisfactory provision for change, brought about its downfall. A religious system which draws its authority from a Book without provision for succession and an instrument to bring about change when required, is bound to become bigoted, intolerant, divided, and corrupt.

The democratic system is the best form of government so far developed. It boasts of being the government of the people, deriving its authority from the majority of the electors by consent. It guarantees freedom of speech, worship, equality before the law, and is the only known form of government which provides for change without revolution through periodic elections. Herein lies its greatest strength, but also its greatest weakness. To bring about change by means of the popular vote, democracy introduced the party system, which divides the nation into political parties. This division inherent in the system reveals the characteristics of a house divided against itself.

The justification of the party system is vigilance. One part of the population mistrusts the other part which is in power. The opposition checks and criticizes the party holding power _ for fear that it might usurp it. This attitude, therefore, is uncooperative. It watches jealously and critically the actions of its avowed political enemies. This disunity, inherent in democracies, is not conducive to respect for the law, nor propitious in introducing effective measures for social justice. [Page 113]The Supranational Community 118

So far, only the danger of war or a great crisis has been able to unite our democracies for anything resembling a concerted national effort.

In contrast, the Baha’i system of government that now operates in more than sixty countries, cannot be identified with any of these four systems. It embodies new principles and establishes a standard unknown in the history of political or ecclesiastical institutions. The world plan of Baha’u’llah calls for democratic elections at regular intervals without political parties, without any campaign promises or party platform, without candidates or nominations, and, perhaps most important of all, without party funds. The people chosen are not politicians, for they do not represent any party or group interest. They are chosen for their ability, character, and past service to the community rather than for their political views or personal interests. Great moral emphasis is laid upon the election of the right individuals, since they are called upon to function as “the trustees of the Merciful among men.”

The local, national, and universal Houses of Justice elected by the Baha'is are, contrary to present democratic practice, not responsible to the people who elect them, nor are they allowed to be swayed by public opinion, mass emotion, or the convictions of the electorate. They are bound only by the promptings of their own conscience, a conscience which in the process of Baha'i education and consultation is transmuted into the collective consciousness of the community.

Under our present system the party in power tends to extend its favor to those who contribute to the party fund and to those who might vote for it at the next election. Such favoritism, inherent in the system, is made at the expense of the rest of the community. Social justice under such patronage is unobtainable. The World Order of Baha’u'llah rests on the [Page 114]114 This Earth One Country

collective conscience of the whole community without which social justice, whether local, national, or international, is impossible.

No Baha'i will, therefore, join a political party which divides a community into parts. It is inconsistent with the Baha’i attitude of life to sacrifice the whole for a part. No Baha’i can conscientiously subscribe to a political program which discriminates against a class, a race, or a nation. Nor can a Baha’i take sides in any economic, political, or military conflict between nations. He is first of all a citizen of the world, and in any dispute between nations he sees the virtues and shortcomings of both. Is it not true that any political party or nation which claims to be the sole judge of what is just is inevitably doing an injustice to others? The Universal House of Justice, now being reared by the followers of Baha’u'llah, is not to be supported by any vested interests, or sustained by a political party, but rather it is to be the synthesis of all interests born out of and upheld by the collective conscience of mankind.

Nor can the Baha’i Administrative Order be confused with any ecclesiastical or political autocracies. The elected Universal House of Justice has the exclusive right to legislate on all matters not contained in the writings of Baha’u’llah or ’Abdu’l-Baha. Furthermore, any of their laws can be abrogated by succeeding Houses of Justice. The need for progressive change in all institutions is a basic Baha’i view. For Baha'i legislators recognize that religious truth is relative and - not absolute, that divine revelations are progressive and not final. “Know thou,” said Baha’u’llah, “that in every age and dispensation all divine ordinances are changed and transformed according to the requirements of the time except the [Page 115]

The Supranational Community 115

law of love, which, like unto a fountain, flows always and is never overtaken by change.’’®

Tue Minority Prosptrem

Will the Baha’is be more tolerant to minorities than were, for instance, the Christians to the Jews? If humanity has progressed during the last two thousand years, that advancement must show the difference between adolescence and the maturity of a race. Baha’is will inadvertently, as they do already, discriminate amongst minorities; but they will discriminate not against but in favor of the minorities, whether racial, social, or religious: an attitude which, as Baha’is have already discovered, not only works but solves the minority problem.

A Baha’i majority will never place obstacles in the way of assimilation, should the minority desire it. On the contrary, it will welcome and facilitate it. With Baha’is it is a religious and social conviction that all people are of the same origin, regardless of color or place of birth. (Christian prejudice, as history bears out, has been a stronger factor for the survival of Jewish minorities than their religious or racial pride.) The Baha'i way of life has again and again demonstrated that social intercourse and genuine companionship is attainable between people hitherto considered irreconcilable.

With the shrinking of the world into a neighborhood the minority problem can no longer be shelved. Migration of large groups of people has not been stopped. If the pressure of future conflicts is to be relieved, the movement of populations will continue. The tendency in favor of larger and larger political administrative units will increase rather than lessen

® Bah@’i Magazine, May, 1933, p. 38. [Page 116]116 This Earth One Country

the minority problem. And when this tendency culminates in the political federation of all the peoples of the world, every majority group of today will find itself a minority in such a world federation.

Baha'i conscience can neither segregate nor divide humanity. Its very essence is all-embracing, all-inclusive. Since its substance is faith in God, and its motive voluntary, coercion loses significance. Baha’is do not condemn nor stand aloof from other groups: Their genuine interest includes them all. The consciousness of a Baha’i has simply grown big enough to include all mankind.

ConsuutatTion, A New Trecuniqure

Men have always lived in small or large groups, and have submitted to authority voluntarily or by necessity. Under an autocracy, authority is vested in one man; under plutocracy or aristocracy, it rests with a minority; and under democracy, with the majority. In the popular conception, authority, in a democracy, rests with the people. In actual practice authority is held at best by a majority to which the minority must submit. These minorities, even in a democracy, are often treated with unfairness.

The minority problem has not been solved by our democracies. This problem is not only racial and religious but also political. It is known, for instance, that almost all progressive ideas are first presented by a minority which is seldom given a hearing. That is one explanation why in the interwar period a problem like unemployment has remained unsolved.

The Baha’i system of government has a solution for the problem of minorities. To understand it, however, a working knowledge of the Baha’i principle of consultation is necessary, [Page 117]The Supranational Community 117

a principle which reconciles freedom with authority, minorities with majorities, and mercy with justice.

Baha’i communities, wherever they function, elect once a year their Local and National Houses of Justice by secret ballot and plurality vote. In the local election each Baha’i man or woman over twenty-one years of age votes for nine individuals who, in his or her considered judgment, have the qualifications of character and ability to represent — not a

section or party — but the interests of the whole community.

In selecting the National House of Justice, the Baha'is of each state elect delegates to an annual national convention. One of the functions of the delegates is the election of the National House of Justice. These delegates are selected as the most active and capable members of the state community; they are not committed beforehand to the election of any particular individual to office but are under obligation to vote for nine individuals most capable of functioning in national office. Although the local election is direct and the national election indirect, the basic criterion is the same — election of the nine people who seem best qualified to function as trustees for the community.

These nine people when elected, are, as a body, entrusted with legislative, executive, and judiciary powers. They choose from their midst a chairman who, however, is not the leader in the sense of a Prime Minister in a cabinet meeting. Alone, no one can make any decisions affecting the community. Together, they hold almost absolute power. They have not been elected by a majority, nor were they opposed by a minority. No one in a Baha’i community can celebrate a partisan victory, and no one can feel defeated. The Baha’i House of Justice is chosen by a united community, by all the people, and no [Page 118]118 This Earth One Country

one has reason to feel disaffected. Those elected are not committed to any party platform, nor can the voters be disappointed by broken promises. The only bond, the only promise is that of conscience, and on that plane there is no disagreement.

When these nine people meet, they may represent different temperaments, varied economic and cultural backgrounds, and more often than not, different points of view. In these meetings Baha’is are encouraged to have differing opinions; in fact, they are anxious that every side should have a hearing. “The shining spark of truth cometh forth,” admonishes ’Abdu’l-Baha, “only after the clash of differing opinions.’”® When each view has been presented as clearly as possible, individual opinion becomes unimportant, for the decision reached is not the idea of one member or another, or of a clique, but the decision of the whole body of nine. While nominally a decision is carried by majority vote, in actual practice the support is unanimous, for once a vote is taken, all opposition ceases. Then everyone helps to put the decision into operation. No individual is praised or blamed for the original idea which in the course of consultation usually is modified. All responsibility is assumed by the assembly. For in the process of Baha’i consultation individual will and conscience are transmuted into the collective conscience of the assembly.

It is the function of the chairman to see that no dominant personality gains prevalence over the others. Group thinking can easily be disturbed by sheer force of individual will. Unless the necessary preparatory training is received, which no Baha'i can escape, the results are not satisfactory. “They

° Bahd’t World, Vol. VIII, p. 286. [Page 119]The Supranational Community 119

must,” ’Abdu’]-Baha warns, “in every matter search out the truth and not insist upon their own opinion, for stubbornness and persistence in one’s views will lead ultimately to discord and wrangling and the truth will remain hidden.”’° That is why it is not likely that two Baha'is will argue with each other. They will, after presenting their case as well as they can, try to understand the other point of view rather than defend their own. The religious mind is considered usually a closed mind. Baha’i training, however, does exactly the opposite, for Baha’i religious practice consists chiefly of communal experience. One’s ego is constantly tested and purified, as the individual will has, on matters of group action, to submit unreservedly to the will of the group. As this discipline is voluntary and self-imposed, it is the more effective.

In Baha’i consultation each mind gives as well as takes, is constantly trained to remain open, and to understand and appreciate other points of view than its own. The ideas born in such a meeting are the result of creative interaction with other minds, inspired by a common faith and a common aim: the welfare of the whole community. The union of these unselfish minds produces a breadth of vision and a power of insight which is incomprehensible to the uninitiated.

As social responsibility is shifted from the individual to the assembly, individual opinion tends to become more and more impersonal. A mind freed from personal ambition and detached from the ego can see more clearly. It is the detached attitude of a scientist absorbed in an objective search, and yet with a passion for truth. It is a new process of intercreative thinking. It cures the opinionated person whose mind is all made up.

® Ibid, p. 294. [Page 120]120 This Earth One Country

While unanimity of decision in Baha’i consultation is desirable, it is not essential. In fact, insistence on a unanimous vote would be harmful for it would compel the majority to compromise with the minority, even if that minority consisted of one person. The requirement of unanimity would undermine the whole structure, as was the case with the League of Nations. Yet, without compromise, Baha’i group decision is often carried by unanimous vote as a result of creative discussion.

In the “Tablet of the World” Baha’ullah wrote, “. . . hold fast to the rope of consultation, and decide upon and execute that which is conducive to the people’s security, affluence, welfare and tranquility. For if matters be arranged otherwise, it will lead to discord and tumult.” At a time when representative government was still very new and unheard of in most parts of the world, Baha’u lah wrote to his native city of Tihran: “Ere long will the state of affairs within thee be changed, and the reins of power fall into the hands of the people.”?” And at another time he wrote, “Soon will the present day Order be rolled up, and a new one spread out in its stead.’’8

Tur House or Justice

Many a Christian who, out of tact and good breeding, would not say directly to a Negro or a Jew: “Stay out of this country” or “I do not wish to associate with you,” would unhesitatingly support legislation ora social code enforcing such

• Bah@t World Faith, Wilmette, Ill., Baha’i Publishing Committee, 1943,

p. 178.

• Baha’u lah, Epistle to the Son of the Wolf, Wilmette, Ill., Baha’i Publishing Committee, 1941, p. 149.

• Bahdéit World Faith, p. 57.

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a measure. This shows again that Christian influence on individual action is lost as soon as it passes from the realm of individual conscience into the field of social action. Individuals with such a limited moral background cannot very well qualify to administer social justice.

Christ, as we have seen, addressed his message primarily to individuals, while the message of Baha’u'llah is directed primarily to society. “What other interpretation can be given to these words, addressed specifically by Baha’u’llah to the followers of the Gospel, in which the fundamental distinction between the Mission of Jesus Christ, concerning primarily the individual, and his own Message, directed more particularly to mankind as a whole, has been definitely established: Verily, he (Jesus) said: ‘Come ye after me, and I will make you to become fishers of men!’ In this day, however, we say: ‘Come ye after me, that we may make you to become the quickeners of mankind, ”\*

Baha’u’llah speaks to kings and rulers as the trustees of mankind. He admonishes them to dispense “justice,” not “love.” He refers to just governments and Houses of Justice as “one soul and one body,” with a collective conscience, collectively responsible to God. In the following words Baha*u'llah calls for collective action: “O ye the elected representatives of the people in every land! Take ye counsel together, and let your concern be only for that which profiteth mankind ... Regard the world as the human body, which though at its creation whole and perfect, hath been afflicted, through various causes, with grave disorders and maladies. Not for one day did it gain ease, nay its sickness waxed more severe, as it fell under the treatment of ignorant physicians, who gave full

• Shoghi Effendi, The Promised Day Is Come, p. 124.

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rein to their personal desires, and have erred grievously. And if, at one time, through the care of an able physician, a member of that body was healed, the rest remained afflicted as before...

“We behold it, in this day, at the mercy of rulers so drunk with pride that they cannot discern clearly their own best advantage, much less recognize a Revelation so bewildering and challenging as this. And whenever any one of them hath striven to improve its condition, his motive hath been his own gain, whether confessedly so or not; and the unworthiness of this motive hath limited this power to heal or cure. That which the Lord hath ordained as the sovereign remedy and mightiest instrument for the healing of all the world is the union of all its people in one universal Cause, one common Faith. This can in no wise be achieved except through the power of a skilled, an all-powerful and inspired Physician.”"®

Baha’u’llah imbues mankind not only with an individual but also with a collective conscience. Perhaps that is why he said: “He Who is your Lord, the All-Merciful, cherisheth in His heart the desire of beholding the entire human race as one soul and one body.’* Baha’i communities find the expression of their collective conscience in their Local, National, and Universal Houses of Justice.

How can a government be just without a conscience? A government that has no conscience cannot distinguish right from wrong in a moral sense. It presumes that it is always - right as an absolute sovereign power, responsible to no one, not even to God. That is why the paradox of Christian individuals supporting a heathen state is so prevalent. And that

• Baha@t World Faith, p. 57.

® Ibid, p. 114. [Page 123]The Supranational Community 123

is why modern man follows a dual standard of morals. On the one hand, out of Christian chivalry he would risk his life to rescue a drowning German woman, and on the other, he would support measures for the total annihilation of her race. In the former instance he would follow his individual conscience awakened by Christ, and in the latter case, the baser instinct for the survival of the fittest. Such a person is disjointed, unbalanced, and presents poor material for any House of Justice.

Baha’u’llah’s greatest contribution lies perhaps in the projection of individual conscience into collective action. For Baha'u'llah regenerates not only the individual as an entity, but also society as a unit. The Baha’i House of Justice represents the collective conscience of the community. Baha’i community action is, therefore, as responsive to Divine Revelation as was formerly the Christian individual. Responsible, God-fearing individuals no longer shrug their shoulders at governmental irresponsibility. The challenge to be good cannot be separated by the individual from collective action. For in a Baha’i community responsibility to God is coexistent in . the individual and society.

One who obeys his conscience has overcome his baser instincts. A community with a collective conscience overcomes the desire for naval supremacy, for monopolistic privileges or for racial priority. The Baha’i Administrative System not only incorporates individual goodwill into a social mechanism, but produces a quality of the soul which can be born only out of collective experience. It rests on the principle that nine people organically united can not only produce more work in a given time than if they worked separately, but also that the quality of their work could never be equalled by the same individuals acting alone. [Page 124]124 This Earth One Country

“Equity,” writes Baha'u'llah, “is the most fundamental among human virtues . . . The essence of all we have revealed for thee is justice, is for man to free himself from idle fancies and imitations, discern with the eye of oneness His glorious handiwork, and look into all things with a searching eye.”!"

Justice as an abstract idea is relative. It is often mistaken for legalized revenge. Justice is the balance between reward and retribution. This balance is impossible between individuals without love. Between nations the same love is necessary to obtain that balance, but then love expresses itself through justice. Though love and justice spring from the same divine source, their expression is different. Nine true Christians will, as individuals, show the same qualities of love and goodwill as nine true Baha’is, but with this difference — the nine Baha’is will form a House of Justice and will express their attitude towards others as one organic unit, with a collective conscience, trained for collective social action, collectively responsible to God. The nine Christians, on the other hand, remaining true to their faith, will disclose love and goodwill as nine independent individuals, each independently responsible to God. This does not mean that Baha’is are not responsible for individual action. On the contrary, their responsibility is greater, for they have to account not only as individuals but also as conscious and integral parts of a World Order of God.

“The affairs of the people,’ Baha’u’ll4h commands, “are placed in charge of the men of the House of Justice of God. They are the trustees of God among His servants and the daysprings of command in His countries.

“O people of God! The trainer of the world is justice, for

• Ibid, pp. 131, 142.

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it consists of two pillars: reward and retribution. These two pillars are two fountains for the life of the people of the world. Inasmuch as for each place and day a particular decree and order is expedient, affairs are therefore entrusted to the ministers of the House of Justice, so that they may execute that which they deem advisable at the time . . . Administrative affairs are all in charge of the House of Justice; but acts of

worship must be observed according as they are revealed in the Book.”!8

Justice cannot be enshrined in any constitution. No book can contain it. Justice like love cannot be preserved in a legal document or established by precedent. Baha’i justice, like Christian love, cannot be separated from conscience. When conscience goes, justice goes with it. Social justice is impossible without a collective conscience. And that is exactly what Baha’u'llah has given to the House of Justice.

Baha’u’llah has also revealed laws for the individual. He asks the individual to pray at least once a day, to live a clean life, to fast for a certain period each year, and to obey all the commandments of God for this age. These rules are selfimposed by the individual, according to his insight, and cannot be enforced by the House of Justice. Nor can the latter impose any form of worship or assume the function of an authoritative interpreter of the sacred writings. The House of Justice directs social action and enacts laws which, while in force, must be carried out by the whole community. “It is incumbent upon the Trustees of the House of Justice,” writes Baha'u'llah, “to take counsel together regarding such laws as have not been expressly revealed in the Book. Of these whatever they deem advisable and proper that must they en

¥ Ibid, p. 195. [Page 126]126 This Earth One Country

} force.’”’!® As a personal religion, the Baha’i Faith safeguards the sanctity of individual conscience; as a social religion, it

gives expression and guidance to the collective conscience of mankind.

Dvuau Autuority In One

In a democracy authority rests with the people, who are inclined to be indifferent to law and order. Among equal people, they argue, those who have been voted into power cannot be better than the people who elected them; therefore, why obey and respect authority? This lack of respect is evidenced not only in their attitude toward the legislators and executives of the country, but also toward the aged and the learned. It is even evidenced in the attitude of children toward their parents.

As if to avoid the spread of lawlessness, the British have combined democracy with monarchy. Each citizen is obedient to Parliament because he is loyal to the King. The Government is His Majesty’s, though chosen by the people. Loyalty to the King binds each subject individually to collective action directed by Parliament. In the symbolic union of the King and His Government, the individual expresses his loyalty to the King in obedience to His Majesty’s Government which has been chosen by the people. The citizens of the United States have tried, though less successfully, to uphold the American Flag as a sacred symbol of fidelity to the Constitution, as if to witness the need for a focal centre of unity which, at least figuratively, is infallible and immortal.

World federation, the next inevitable step in our political evolution, requires not only a government representing all

• Ibid, p. 182.

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the people of the world, but also a common focal centre — like the King for the British nations — who can claim the undivided loyalty of every citizen on this planet. As humanity could not agree on any existing national or spiritual sovereign, Baha’u'llah has established the institution of the Guardianship.

The Guardian, as the only authoritative interpreter of the writings of Baha’u’llah, is the focal centre of the Baha’i world. He is chosen for life on the hereditary principle and is also the permanent chairman of the Universal House of Justice. These twin institutions, the Guardianship and the Universal House of Justice, are interlocked yet separate. Each operates within a clearly defined sphere of action without the possibility of ever coming in conflict with the other. The Guardian safeguards the identity and unity of the Faith and maintains a spiritual contact with every believer. The elected Universal House of Justice provides for change, enacts and enforces laws which have not been revealed in Baha'i sacred writings. The Guardian as chairman of the Universal House of Justice has only one vote as any other member. To safeguard the flexibility of the Faith, future Guardians can abrogate the interpretations of previous Guardians, just as each Universal House of Justice can abolish any decision made by a previous Universal House of Justice.

On matters of religious belief, every Baha’i accepts the Guardian’s interpretation of the revealed writings. On matters of community action, every Baha’i casts his vote and pledges unflinching allegiance to the Local, National, and Universal Houses of Justice. Loyalty to the Guardian as the divinely appointed Successor to the Founder of the Faith is expressed by each believer through obedience to the democratically elected Houses of Justice. Man with his dual nature, [Page 128]

128 This Earth One Country

afflicted by a double standard of morals, torn asunder by conflicting loyalties, finds at last the synthesis of his self. He holds on to a plan for peace not only with God but also with his fellow men.

“Let us also bear in mind,” writes Shoghi Effendi, the first Guardian of the Baha’i Faith, “that the keynote of the Cause of God is not dictatorial authority but humble fellowship, not arbitrary power, but the spirit of frank and loving consultation. Nothing short of the spirit of a true Baha’i can hope to reconcile the principles of mercy and justice, of freedom and submission, of the sanctity of the right of the individual and of self-surrender, of vigilance, discretion and prudence on the one hand, and fellowship, candor, and courage on the other.’”°

“Let no one,” writes Shoghi Effendi in another of his communications to the West, “while this System is still in its infancy, belittle its significance or misrepresent its purpose. The bedrock on which this Administrative Order is founded is God’s immutable Purpose for mankind in this day. The Source from which it derives its inspiration is no one less than Baha’u lah Himself... The central, the underlying aim which animates it is the establishment of the New World Order as adumbrated by Baha’u’ll4h. The methods it employs, the standard it inculeates, incline it to neither East nor West, neither Jew nor Gentile, neither rich nor poor, neither white nor colored. Its watchword is the unification of the human race; its standard the ‘Most Great Peace.’ ”??

” Shoghi Effendi, Bahd’t Administration, Wilmette, Ill., Baha’i Publishing Committee, 1941, p. 54.

• Shoghi Effendi, The World Order of Baha'u'llah, p. 156.

[Page 129]The Supranational Community 129

Tue Enp or Scuism

Every religion has become divided as time went on. The Bahai world community as conceived by Baha’u’llah is indivisible. The two historic reasons for division in religious groups are: conflict in authority, or difference of opinion. Baha’u'llah and later ’Abdu’l-Baha provided in their Wills and Testaments safeguards which were unknown in any previous religious dispensation.

The Baha’i community cannot have a professional priesthood nor any group of people authorized to interpret the writings of the Founder. If in the past a clergyman disagreed with the established dogmas of his church, he left with his following, built a new church and formed a sect. In the Baha’i Faith only the Guardian can interpret the teachings with authority. No Baha'i can claim authority over another. There is nothing absolute or final in anything a Baha’i says or writes about the teachings. That is why it is easy for Baha’is to admit that they can be wrong. Even the Guardian’s interpretation can be changed by future Guardians. This principle discourages theological speculation and induces the mystically inclined to walk with practical feet.

“One of the enemies of the Cause,” writes “Abdu’l-Baha, “is he who endeavors to interpret the words of Baha’u’llah and thereby colors the meaning according to his capacity, and collects around him a following, forming a different sect, promoting his own station, and making a division in the Cause.’

When it comes to social issues, whether they are educational, political or economic, Baha’is will represent points of view as diversified as any other group. There will be some who are satisfied and others who are dissatisfied. But none

™ Star of the West, Vol. III, p. 8. [Page 130]

130 This Earth One Country

will be entirely satisfied or entirely dissatisfied. For Baha'i training discourages the extreme point of view. Criticism will be welcome but not in the form of an organized opposition. The would-be reformers will not have to organize to obtain the attention of the House of Justice. The Baha’i system is inherently flexible, open to new ideas which are tried without fear of opposition. The old is constantly and gradually replaced by the new. The Baha'i administrative order is like a self-lubricating machine which automatically removes friction. Its secret is that the whole community is like one body, united in the Guardian through faith in Baha’ullah. The rebel can receive a hearing but no following. His revolutionary idea, if it takes, will spread within the community without danger of division. As no opposition is possible, the old need not fear the new; on the contrary, new ideas will receive a sympathetic hearing much more readily than under our present party system. A decision once taken by a Baha’i House of Justice is supported by the whole community, without opposition. Thus a new idea can have a fair trial in which to prove itself. If the decision were wrong, it will soon be found out and corrected.

A Jew, to be true to his faith, must be faithful to his tribe. A Christian can honestly say that he is a faithful follower of Jesus Christ by being kind to the people he meets as an individual. The Muhammadan, as we have seen, combined obedience to God with loyalty to his country, an attitude which the Christian world adopted with certain modifications after the Renaissance. The Baha’i, to be true to his faith, cannot conscientiously support any group or nation that is opposed to another group or nation. His heart includes all mankind. To support one half of humanity against the other half is like [Page 131]The Supranational Community 18]

cutting his heart in two, or like asking a Christian to kill his next door neighbor.

The Baha’i Faith has spread in its first century over a wider geographical area than any other historic religion in a like period. Several abortive attempts have been made by ambitious individuals to divide this nascent Faith, and for reasons not unlike those which divided Christianity and Islam. The Baha’i Community, as events testify, has not only survived but grown stronger and more unified after each attack. Every Baha’i knows that he belongs to a community which is divine in origin, world-wide in scope, and indivisible in its institutions.

Tur SUPRANATIONAL STATE

Over seventy years ago, in a Tablet to Queen Victoria, Baha’u llah revealed the following: “We see you adding every year unto your expenditures and laying the burden thereof on the people whom ye rule; this verily is naught but grievous injustice. Fear the sighs and tears of this wronged one, and burden not your peoples beyond that which they can endure ... Be reconciled among yourselves, that ye may need armaments no more save in a measure to safeguard your territories and dominions. Be united, O concourse of the sovereigns of the world, for thereby will the tempest of discord be stilled amongst you and your peoples find rest. Should any one among you take up arms against another, rise ye all against him, for this is naught but manifest justice.”?*

In the seventy years that have passed since this warning was made, wars have been fought which killed more people and destroyed more human property than all previous wars

• ® Shoghi Effendi, World Order of Bahd’u’llah, p. 40.

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put together. In 1919, when the whole world celebrated the signing of the Covenant of the League of Nations as the end of all wars, ’Abdu’l-Baha with tears in his eyes said: “Another war, fiercer than the last, will assuredly break out.” Wars cannot cease until Baha’u’llah’s advice is followed, implying surrender of part of our national sovereignty to a supranational state.

“Some form of a world Super-State must needs be evolved,” writes the first Guardian of the Baha’i Faith, “in whose favor all the nations of the world will have willingly ceded every claim to make war, certain rights to impose taxation and all rights to maintain armaments, except for purposes of maintaining internal order within their respective dominions. Such a state will have to include within its orbit an International Executive adequate to enforce supreme and unchallengeable authority on every recalcitrant member of the commonwealth; a World Parliament whose members shall be elected by the people in their respective countries and whose election shall be confirmed by their respective governments; and a Supreme Tribunal whose judgment will have a binding effect even in such cases where the parties concerned did not voluntarily agree to submit their case to its consideration. A world community in which all economic barriers will have been permanently demolished and the interdependence of Capital and Labor definitely recognized; in which the clamor of religious fanaticism and strife will have been forever stilled; in which the flame of racial animosity will have been finally extinguished; in which a single code of international law — the product of the considered judgment of the world’s federated representatives — shall have as its sanction the instant and coercive intervention of the combined forces of the federated units; and finally a world community in which the fury of a

' [Page 133]The Supranational Community " 138

capricious and militant nationalism will have been transmuted into an abiding consciousness of world citizenship — such indeed, appears, in its broadest outline, the Order anticipated by Baha’u’llah, an Order that shall come to be regarded as the fairest fruit of a slowly maturing age.”**

“This commonwealth must,” adds Shoghi Effendi in another letter, “consist of a world legislature, whose members will, as the trustees of the whole of mankind, ultimately control the entire resources of all the component nations, and will enact such laws as shall be required to regulate the life, satisfy the needs and adjust the relationships of all races and peoples.’”?>

It should encourage those who labor for a better and braver world to know that an organized community exists which combines worship with social action, and identifies its faith in God with a plan for world federation. A confused and wartrodden world will eventually be compelled to take notice of the existence of this world community, which claims as an article of faith that: “It is not for him to pride himself who loveth his own country, but rather for him who loveth the whole world. The earth is but one country, and mankind its citizens.”

This does not mean that Baha’is are not loyal to their respective governments, or not anxious to support their best interests. Baha’is are law-abiding citizens. Their outlook on life is determined by a faith which they “conceive to be essentially non-political, supra-national in character, rigidly nonpartisan, and entirely dissociated from nationalistic ambitions, pursuits, and purposes. Such a faith knows no division

• Ibid, p. 40.
• Ibid, p. 203.

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of class or of party. It subordinates, without hesitation or equivocation, every particularistic interest, be it personal, regional, or national to the paramount interests of humanity, firmly convinced that in a world of inter-dependent peoples and nations the advantage of the part is best to be reached by the advantage of the whole, and that no abiding benefit can be conferred upon the component parts if the general interests of the entity itself are ignored or neglected.””°

• Ibid, p. 198.