To the Peoples of the World/Appreciations
| To the Peoples of the World Appreciations |
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APPRECIATIONS
[edit]“Deeply impressed by the message contained in The Promise of World Peace, I would like—as a student of peace for many years—to explore three points that seem to me to be of particular significance. In a sense they all relate to our capacity for visioning, for creating images of a peaceful world. This is also a key characteristic of the Bahá’í Faith: you have to have an image of the desirable state of affairs, so clear, so commanding that the image itself becomes a live force. A part of our predicament is that only in short periods during and right after wars are the images of peace sufficiently commanding. In more peaceful periods it is as if we are yearning for war, producing images filled with strife and competition and selfishness, even elevating such characteristics to the status of ‘law of human nature.’
“More precisely, I am thinking of three characteristic themes from what often refers to itself as the ‘realism’ school in social science in general, and policy sciences in particular: peace through capacity to retaliate; development through trade according to comparative advantages; and evolution through self-interest and struggle for survival. Needless to say, such themes will tend to be the credo of men more than women, of the middle-aged more than the old, of the powerful and privileged more than the powerless and discriminated, of the occident more than the orient. But the themes are very pervasive in this age which has taken on materialist individualism as its major faith . . . .
“The crowning achievement of this kind of thinking is the doctrine of national self-interest. That there is a selfish, competitive strain in individuals and nations alike, and that this may express itself in the direct violence released through offensive weaponry and the structural violence built into lopsided trade relations within and between countries—all this we know. Under certain conditions that is what comes out. But under other conditions the opposite comes out, altruism rather than egotism, cooperation rather than conflict and competition. Our task is to understand those conditions, not to proclaim that human behavior under adverse conditions is normal, and elevate that finding to a law of nature. In a jungle, it is probable that humans behave as one is supposed to
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behave in a jungle—although even the most elementary knowledge of biology in general and zoology in particular will inform us that in the struggle for survival there is cooperation as well as conflict, and that the Darwinist formula should make us look for the cooperative elements at least as much as the competitive and conflict-loaded themes.
“Let me finish on that note, simply by saying that some of the struggle for peace as envisaged in the Letter will have to take place in the corridors of social science. Inspired by a quest for a shared spirituality we have to struggle for better social sciences in general, and policy and peace sciences in particular.”
“Both the thought that ‘all nations and tribes shall become one nation’ and the heartfelt sensation arising from the belief that ‘religious and sectarian antagonism, hostility among races and peoples, and the differences among nations shall be banished’ gladden the spirit and strengthen the belief in the achievement of peace.
“Ever since science and technology laid at our disposal the possibility to see our planet ‘from afar’ on a television screen, the feeling that the Earth is our common home began to emerge. Such a perception, which was then only visual, has since, through age and meditation, been transformed into a profound conviction and seen as a forthcoming reality. The truth of this reflection can be seen through concepts such as those expressed by Shoghi Effendi—most particularly when he asserts that the human species is faring through a transitional age, characteristic of the impetuosity and irrational instincts of youth: their folly, their extravagance, their pride, their self-confidence, their rebelliousness, and their aversion to discipline. He further states that the ages of childhood and infancy have passed not to return, ‘whereas the Great Age is coming, as the consummation of all ages, the announcement of the entire human race’s arrival at the stage of maturity.’
“The Bahá’í view provides a healthy perspective on all the senseless and unreasonable acts carried out by humanity throughout history, and upholds the promise of ‘the Age of Ages’ when humanity’s painful experience will ‘evolve into the wisdom and calmness of an imperturbable, universal and lasting peace; during which disagreement and segregation among the offspring of human beings will have given way to global reconciliation and total unification of the different elements which constitute human society.’
“To unite the world does not mean to undermine the loyalty due one’s home country, but rather, I believe, to understand that interdependence among nations and the fact that the world has become a smaller place open up new possibilities for loyalty—to humanity as a whole. A world commonwealth is undoubtedly a response against
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egotism, against the desire for domination, against segregation among men, all of which subject people to bloodshed and sink the immense majority deep into hunger, dejection, and ignorance. The acceptance of humanity as an integrated unit ‘. . . shall introduce the spiritualization of the masses. . .’ together with ‘. . . the final fusion of all races, creeds, classes, and nations, which shall proclaim the advent of its New World Order.’ ”
Rodrigo Carazo