Tomorrow and Tomorrow/Chapter IV

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CHAPTER IV’

A New World Order

The abolition of war is to be only the first step in a colossal plan for a world organized in effective unity, fully functioning as a federated unit, and dedicated to the establishment of a universal civilization founded on justice and good will and expressing itself in forms of prosperity, beauty, and joy-of-living more glorious that even the world’s great poets and seers have hitherto conceived.

“All men were created to carry forward an ever—advancing civilization. . . . Soon will the present Order be rolled up and a new one spread out in its stead. . . .

“The world’s equilibrium hath been upset through the vibrating influences of this most great, this New World Order. . . . "

Nothing in the universe stands still; and history is the study of this motion in human affairs. But the pace of the motion in the eighty years since Bahá’u’lláh wrote the above words has been as a whirlwind in comparison to the development of former epochs.

Ten to fifteen centuries passed as society proceeded from the family to clan status, the clan to the tribe, tribes to feudal states, feudal states to nations. Each transition was marked by upheaval; but relative order followed relative chaos in the various parts of the globe as civilization progressed.

Then in fifty years the miracle of the annihilation of space and time on the planet occurred.

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From Roman times until about 1840 A.D. travel had remained at the same pace. In Queen Victoria’s reign it still took thirteen days to go from Rome to London, just as it had when Rome ruled England. By 1924 land travel was six times as fast, water travel four times as fast. Today flight around the world can be accomplished in just over three days.

In the same period, communications have leaped from days and weeks for letters to reach their destination to a few minutes for a radiogram to go anywhere in the world.

Our planet home has shrunk proportionately; and within the last few years we have been forced to realize that under these conditions human affairs must be administered as a one-world society. A New World Order is inevitable.

We cannot live under twentieth century conditions guided by eighteenth century concepts. Most of our present—day problems can be laid to the door of our unwillingness to make a correspondingly swift change in our thinking and consciousness as citizens of this oneworld order. The pace has “upset our equilibrium.”

Planetary civilization will emerge from the wreckage of nationalism, just as nationalism emerged from the wreckage of feudalism. Old forms have to break up before new ones can evolve. Nationalism has run its course but is loath to relinquish its prerogatives. Nothing short of experiences such as world wars, world depressions, world revolutions can convert a nationalistic psychology into an international psychology. Under the duress of such events, however, we are witnessing this very change take place before our eyes.

The present picture brings little comfort to most people struggling under this duress. Living through world events today is similar to undergoing major surgery for a critical disease. How the patient goes through it and how he recovers depends in great measure upon

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the faith he has in his skilled surgeon. If he doubts that the operation will cure him or that his surgeon has the ability to successfully operate, his fears will put him through a hell of suffering in addition to his physical pains; and the fright is as likely to kill him as the disease itself. Assurance that the operation will cure and that the surgeon is entirely worthy of his confidence will pull him through the crisis on a tide of hope and confidence that actually controls his physical recovery. Psychosomatic science confirms this.

It is apparent that if we are to survive today and carry forward civilization to the only development possible in its evolution—-—a one—world society—we must undergo some surgical operations in our thinking and behavior as citizens.

Bahá’u’lláh did not offer this World Order plan as a philosophic treatise. His viewpoint is not that merely of :1 sociologist. He spoke with spiritual authority and founded a religion dedicated to the service of a oneworld civilization. He had a definite and concrete faith that the necessary spiritual dynamics had been divinely released into the consciousness of humanity to bring about this New World Order.

Some of the features of Bahá’u’lláh’s structure for world civi|ization—as restated in 1936 by Shoghi Effendi, the present world leader of the Faith Bahá’u’lláh established—can already be discerned emerging from the conflicts and upheavals of today!

"The unity of the human race, as envisaged by Ba/ui'u'llzilz, implies the establishment of a world commonwealth in which all nations, races, creeds and classes are closely and permanently united, and in which the

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autonomy of its state members and the personal freedom and initiative of the individuals that compose them are definitely and completely safeguarded.”

Within the last thirty years, the commonwealth has superseded the empire. Britain established the British Commonwealth of Nations, granting autonomy to its members; Holland followed suit recently; and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics displaced the empire of the tsars. A United States of Europe has been proposed. Capping the arch of such world-spanning organizations is the United Nations—containing actual provisions toward a world commonwealth.

II

“This commonwealth must, as far as we can visualize it, 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 may be a far cry to visualize world legislative control of the worlds resources. Yet, if the possession and control of economic resources is to recurrently plunge the world into war, as modern history evidences, humanity may be forced to adopt such measures. The safeguarding of the interests and personal freedom of every individual in the component nations sharply distinguishes this world-commonwealth ideal from any characteristics of a world police state.

III

“A world executive, backed by an international Force, will carry out the decisions arrived at, and apply the laws enacted by, this world legislature, and will safeguard the organic unity of the whole commonwealth. A

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world tribunal will adjudicate and deliver its compulsory and final verdict in all and any disputes that may arise between the various elements constituting this universal system.”

We have had two attempts within our lifetime to establish such a tribunal; but both the League of Nations and the United Nations Council suffer the same frustration of purpose by reason of the lack of force to implement their decisions. This is an example of our reluctance to change our standards to conform to the inevitable march forward of progress of civilization.

IV

"A mechanism of world inter-communication will be devised, embracing the whole planet, freed from national hindrances and restrictions, and functioning with marvellous swiftness and perfect regularity.”

The mechanism of this world inter-communication we already have, but its freedom from national hindrances and restrictions is far from realization, and again evidences our reluctance to relinquish old habits.

V

“A world metropolis will act as the nerve center of a world civilization, the focus towards which the unifying forces of life will converge and from which its energizing influences will radiate."

This follows as a corollary of a one-world government, but the phraseology implies something far more than a magnificent architectural collection of buildings will all the appurtenances. Buildings do not radiate “energizing influences.” We can only infer that this means a spiritually orientated legislative, executive, humanitarian and educational organism inhabiting such a metropolis. No lesser power could possibly exert the

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potency which would be demanded as the energizing influences for the population of the whole planet.

VI

“A world language will either be invented or chosen from among the existing languages and will be taught in the schools of all the federated nations as an auxiliary to their mother. A world script, a world literature, a uniform and universal system of currency, of weights and measures, will simplify and facilitate intercourse and understanding among the nations and races of mankind.”

The tragic debacle over currency today cries aloud for this solution of a “uniform and universal system of currency.” World trade demands a unified system of weights and measures. A universal language is a sine-qua-non for the achievement of a universal civilization.

VII

“In such a world society, science and religion, the two most potent forces in human life, will be reconciled, will co-operate, and will harmoniously develop. The press will, under such a system, while giving full scope to the expression of the diversified views and convictions of mankind, cease to be mischievously manipulated by vested interests, whether private or public, and will be liberated from the influence of contending governments and peoples.”

We are all aware today of the colossally evil power of propaganda. the deadliest weapon of them all. But the above goes further than political manipulation of the press and upholds true freedom from mischievous manipulation “by vested interests, whether private or public.” This goes to the very depths and lengths of the matter, for it would be a vastly diflerent press indeed if granted this comprehensive freedom.

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VIII

“The economic resources of the world will be organized, its sources of raw materials will be tapped and fully utilized, its markets will be coordinated and developed, and the distribution of its products will be equitably regulated."

Sub-committees of United Nations have already begun analytical work along these lines, and the agitation to remove trade barriers, and the abolition of such among European countries are steps toward this ideal.

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The remainder of Shoghi Effendi’s statement carries us forward with a sweeping vision of what we may hope to expect as this one-world emerges from the wreckage of nationalism. It may not happen in our era, but rather evolve through its upheavals into the kind of world we would wish our children to inherit.

“National rivalries, hatreds and intrigues will cease, and racial animosity and prejudice will be replaced by racial amity, understanding and cooperation. The causes of religious strife will be permanently removed, economic barriers and restrictions will be completely abolished, and the inordinate distinction between classes will be obliterated. Destitution on the one hand, and gross accumulation of ownership on the other, will disappear.

“The enormous energy dissipated and wasted on war, whether economic or political, will be consecrated to such ends as will extend the range of human inventions and technical development, to the increase of the productivity of mankind, to the extermination of disease, to the extension of scientific research, to the raising of the standard of physical health, to the sharpen [Page 31]28 Tomorrow and Tomorrow

ing and refinement of the human brain, to the exploitation of the unused and unsuspected resources of the planet, to the prolongation of human life, and to the furtherance of any other agency that can stimulate the intellectual, the moral, and spiritual life of the entire human race.

“A world federal system, ruling the whole earth and exercising unchallengeable authority over its unimaginably vast resources, blending and embodying the ideals of both the East and the West, liberated from the curse of war and its miseries, and bent on the exploitation of all the available sources of energy on the surface of the planet, a system in which Force is made the servant of Justice, whose life is sustained by its universal recognition of one God and by its allegiance to one common Revelation—such is the goal toward which humanity, impelled by the unifying forces of life, is moving.”*

Our own will to achieve this millennium is the only retarding factor in its realization. Progress is inherent in the universe and in human affairs. Nothing can withstand it. As Bahá’u’lláh said to Professor Browne, “By the Will of God the Most Great Peace shall come.”

The world, dark though today’s picture may be, is nearing constantly the fulfillment of that benediction.

""‘A Pattern for Future Society"~—Shoghi Effendi, 1936 Bahá’í Publishing Soc.