Transcript:Paul Lample/On becoming champions of justice
| Transcript of: Speaking on Becoming Champions of Justice in service to the Divine Plans (2007) by |
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[00:00] Good evening, friends. It's nice to have the opportunity to be with you this evening. As we continue on with this next segment of exploration about serving the divine plan. Tonight the theme that I'm going to talk about, becoming champions of justice, really draws on a number of topics and themes that have been presented in other talks over the past couple of years. For example, Mr. Barnes spoke before about the concept of justice. Recently, Dr. Khan spoke about scholarship and building a new civilization. I gave that talk before about knowledge. I think you start to see as we continue and talk about different things, a lot of these themes starting to come together, the different threads being brought together to start to give a real a picture of the dimension of what it takes really to advance the divine plan and build a new civilization.
[1:08] The topic that I'm going to talk about tonight, I think really gets to the heart of what it means to be a Bahá’í, really understanding Bahá’í identity. What are we supposed to be? How do we prepare ourselves? What's the purpose of a Bahá’í life? Are we just a small group of nice people who reflect these nice qualities and people like us because of those things? Maybe we win an award sometime because we're nice? We're maybe another religious congregation that adds to the diversity on World Religion Day, you know? Or are we supposed to be something else? That's the question I want to explore tonight. I can't find the source, but I recall early on when I became a Bahá’í a story about ‘Abdu’l-Bahá. There was a woman from the West who often spoke of her desire to be with ‘Abdu’l-Bahá. She wanted to be in his presence, she always wanted to be with him and so on. And the friends would communicate that to ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, this woman wants to be with you. And ‘Abdu’l-Bahá was reported to have said, she doesn't really want to be with me, she just wants to have a good time. So what does it mean to be with ‘Abdu’l-Bahá? What does it mean to really be with him, as opposed to just having a good time? The purpose of this revelation of Bahá’u’lláh tells us is to affect the transformation in the world. It's to change individuals. It's to change society. And he said that if this change doesn't take place, then in a certain sense, this shows the futility of God's universal Manifestation. If the change doesn't come, what's the point in God's sending His Manifestations to the world?
[3:09] In one of his tablets, Bahá’u’lláh writes that: "The Great Being, wishing to reveal the prerequisites of the peace and tranquility of the world and the advancement of its peoples, hath written..." And then he goes on to outline some of his teachings. And he says:
[3:26] "These things are obligatory and absolutely essential. It is incumbent upon every man of insight and understanding to strive to translate that which hath been written into reality and action... That one indeed is a man who dedicateth himself to the service of the entire human race."
[3:47] So Bahá’u’lláh tells us that his purpose in coming is change. He has come to change us. He comes to change us so that we can help change the world around us. Now what is the condition of this world around us then? A little time spent on the Internet of just a few minutes actually gives you a pretty good picture of the condition that the world's in. There's some 6 billion people, more than 6 billion people now in the world, and some of these facts again, easily gathered. There's over 1 billion people, one in six people around the world who live in extreme poverty, less than $1 a day. There's another billion, more than a billion who live on $1 to $2 a day. That's almost half of humanity, actually, that lives on $2 a day or less, which is barely enough to cover basic needs. But still they have to forgo healthcare, decent education and so on, just to get by. More than 800 million people go hungry every day; 1.3 billion have no access to clean water. Three billion have inadequate sanitation. Two billion have no regular access to electricity. Twelve percent of the world's population uses 85% of its water, and nearly a billion people entered this century unable to read or to sign their name. Each year, more than 8 million people around the world die because they're too poor to stay alive. The richest 1% have the same income as 57% of the world's population. And in 2001, the world's richest 500 people, 500 people had a combined wealth of 1.5 trillion dollars, which was well over the combined gross national product of all the nations of Sub-Saharan Africa, which was less than a trillion, even more than the oil-rich regions of the Middle East and North Africa. Twenty percent of the population in the developed nations consume 86% of the world's goods. Now, what about children? This is the weakest segment of the population. There's about 2.2 billion children in the world, and the number that live in poverty is 1 billion - about half. A hundred and twenty million primary school children can't go to school. Even when they can go to school, most students face large teacher-student ratios of as much to maybe 60 to 1. The teachers lack adequate training and skills. The classrooms are in poor shape. Sometimes, the teachers don't even show up because they're not paid. For the 1.9 billion children from the developing world, 640 million don't have adequate shelter, 400 million don't have access to safe water, 250 million have no access to health services. That's one in seven. According to UNICEF, 30,000 children die each day due to poverty, and UNICEF says they die quietly in some of the poorest villages on earth, far removed from the scrutiny and conscience of the world. That's about 210,000 children each week, or just under 11 million children under the age of five years of age who died each year because they're poor.
[7:48] Now, in comparison to these facts, listen to some of these facts about how the world spends its money. If, in addition to the aid that already goes to certain countries, we spent an additional $40 billion, we could provide the basic needs for all the people on the planet. You need $6 billion more and everybody would receive a basic education; $9 billion more, everybody would have access to water and sanitation; $12 billion more, all women would have reproductive health; and $13 billion more would provide for the basic health and nutrition of everyone - a total of $40 billion more than we currently spend. On the other hand, we spend $11 billion a year for ice cream in Europe. Pet food in Europe in the United States is $17 billion. Cigarette smoking in Europe, $50 billion. Military spending in the world, $780 billion. And that was during a nice time of peace, 1998. We can only imagine what it is now. Now the point of these figures is not to say that everybody in Europe should stop smoking now and then take care of all these needs in the world. But it's obvious the world is structured in the wrong way. We have a structure; this is the reality of it. If we want it to be different, then we have to change that structure. We have to change that reality and make it a different one. The world needs to be re-ordered.
[9:40] But in the process of trying to tackle this challenge, we have to realize that the world is also trying to change us. It's not that we just look at some of these facts and we think this is terrible, we should do something about it. Actually, the world shapes our consciousness to make us content with having a world like this. And the world, it talks about the idea that we should compete in order to advance. But at the same time, the Bahá’í writings tell us, no we should collaborate in order to advance, we should work together. The world tells us that our personal aim should be to gratify ourselves, to avoid hardship, to have good experiences, to have fun. But the Bahá’í writings are telling us that we should serve, that our personal aim should be service, that we might have to sacrifice, that we should acquire capacities to take action in the world to fulfill our mission. The world tells us that well-being is found in material good, in self-satisfaction, that we get happiness from acquiring recognition and growing in status. The Bahá’í writings tell us we should create unity, that we should champion justice, that happiness comes from solving difficult problems for the well-being of others. The world tells us our attitude is we should have pride. We should have self esteem. The Bahá’í writings tell us we should have humility, true humility and a learning attitude in order to improve ourselves and the world around us.
[11:15] So we have to make sure that that the habits of mind, our consciousness is shaped by the Bahá’í writings, not the world's because if the world is shaping us, we become those agents who contribute to the way the world is ordered now. And if the Bahá’í writings shape us, then we can become a different kind of agent. But we have to make sure that these same kind of attitudes and ideas don't also slip into our practice in the Bahá’í community. Because otherwise what it means to become a Bahá’í means to go to conferences, to take advantage of the opportunity to travel around the world and meet different Bahá’í in the world. To do the things we like, maybe to acquire status in the Bahá’í community because we've read so many books or we can give a talk or something like that, and other Bahá’í haven't been a able to study as much as we have. We want to have our ideas adopted in consultation. We want a position in the faith or position in the world, in a job, or whatever that gives a status, prestige, other Bahá’ís will look up to us.
[12:20] The challenge becomes not to allow ourselves to be caught up in this old world, to resist it. And I think it has two dimensions to it. One is, for some segment of us because we are Bahá’ís we come from all different parts of the world, we are representatives across this 6 billion. We're not just from one category here, but this 1 billion that has most of the wealth in the world, that uses most of the resources, some of us come from those countries. We have to make sure that we don't get trapped in the bubble of reality that's created by those societies that keep us from being aware of the situation of the world, aware of what we have to do in order to change it. At the same time, if we're from parts of the world that are represented by this 5 billion we also have to realize that this consumer society, this extremes of wealth and poverty also have an influence on us. Maybe the opportunity to escape. If we have an opportunity to get education, to go to another country, we want to take it. A lot of people do. That's why we have the movement of refugees and so on. But as Bahá’ís, it's critically important to see that the opportunity that you have to go back to your home country, to make a change, to contribute to the development of the faith, to contribute to the society is something that is much more extensive in the home country than any place you would end up going. So it's important to go back from the time that you're serving here, or maybe you have an opportunity to go get some education. But then to go back, to build your Bahá’í community and help contribute to changing the structure of the society of your home community.
[14:12] Now, of course this idea that social reality has to change is an idea that we're very familiar with as Bahá’ís. Shoghi Effendi talks about this universal fermentation that the world is going through, that's affecting every continent of the globe and every department of human life. He talks about the fact that change is being affected in the religious, social, economic and political sectors of society. He talks about this process of integration and disintegration that's going on in the world, the breakdown of the old world order and the building up of the new one. So we're very familiar with this idea that social reality needs to change. It's breaking down by itself, but there also needs to be a process of building again. And Bahá’u’lláh's revelation comes as a force that impacts this change, that creates an equilibrium in the world. Shoghi Effendi talks about this idea, he says:
[15:16] "If long-cherished ideals and time-honored institutions, if certain social assumptions and religious formulae have ceased to promote the welfare of the generality of mankind, if they no longer minister to the needs of a continually evolving humanity, let them be swept away and relegated to the limbo of obsolescent and forgotten doctrines. Why should these, in a world subject to the immutable law of change and decay, be exempt from the deterioration that must needs overtake every human institution? For legal standards, political and economic theories are solely designed to safeguard the interests of humanity as a whole, and not humanity to be crucified for the preservation of the integrity of any particular law or doctrine."
[16:09] So if we have a society, if we have institutional structures, if we have sets of belief, if we have knowledge systems and they create a world of injustice, like I just portrayed, why should they stay? Why should humanity be sacrificed for these beliefs, for these institutional structures, for these patterns of life? They have to be swept away. Shoghi Effendi also said that when Bahá’u’lláh's revelation came, the force of this revelation knocked away many of these structures, institution, sets of beliefs. Others, he said, were weakened and now are gradually disintegrating. Others, have marshaled their forces in order to resist the force of the revelation. So this whole process of social change is playing itself out across the world. And again, every day we see in the news aspects of this process of disintegration and integration. Now, what's our part in all of this process? In my view, this disequilibrium has been set into the world. Order needs to be created. Bahá’u’lláh has come to create a community that will help to restore this equilibrium. He's creating a group of people who live in a certain way, who have a certain consciousness, who have to play a part in contributing to this change. Now, he sums it up in the idea that we should prefer our brother to ourselves. You know, not the golden rule of treat your brother like yourself, prefer your brother above yourself. And we know again and again in the writings, we see all of this guidance that tells us how we should live our life, instruction of how we should be:
[18:00] "Be generous in prosperity, and thankful in adversity. Be worthy of the trust of thy neighbor, and look upon him with a bright and friendly face."
[18:13] "Strive to be shining examples unto all mankind, and true reminders of the virtues of God amidst men."
[18:22] This is what we're supposed to be.
[18:25] "Be ye loving fathers to the orphan, and a refuge to the helpless, and a treasury for the poor, and a cure for the ailing. Be ye the helpers of every victim of oppression, the patrons of the disadvantaged. Think ye at all times of rendering some service to every member of the human race. Pay ye no heed to aversion and rejection, to disdain, hostility, injustice: act ye in the opposite way. Be ye sincerely kind, not in appearance only. Let each one of God’s loved ones centre his attention on this: to be the Lord’s mercy to man; to be the Lord’s grace. Let him do some good to every person whose path he crosseth, and be of some benefit to him. Let him improve the character of each and all, and reorient the minds of men."
[19:41] Again, the writings go on and on with these kinds of instruction. ‘Abdu’l-Bahá sums it up. He says:
[19:46] "I desire distinction for you. The Bahá’ís must be distinguished from others of humanity. But this distinction must not depend upon wealth—that they should become more affluent than other people. I do not desire for you financial distinction. It is not an ordinary distinction I desire; not scientific, commercial, industrial distinction. For you I desire spiritual distinction—that is, you must become eminent and distinguished in morals. In the love of God you must become distinguished from all else. You must become distinguished for loving humanity, for unity and accord, for love and justice. In brief, you must become distinguished in all the virtues of the human world—for faithfulness and sincerity, for justice and fidelity, for firmness and steadfastness, for philanthropic deeds and service to the human world, for love toward every human being, for unity and accord with all people, for removing prejudices and promoting international peace. Finally, you must become distinguished for heavenly illumination and for acquiring the bestowals of God. I desire this distinction for you."
[21:13] Now friends, I don't know about you, but this is a serious measure of guidance that we have to live up to. Do some good to everyone whose path you cross. That's a lot of good. Now, it's interesting, you know, this preparation that we're making in the serving the Divine Plan program. Part of this process is participation in the institute courses that the friends are taking in different parts of the world. And, as you know, they have these skills, knowledge, spiritual insights that we're trying to cultivate, but often being here, we don't have the opportunity to practice these things. We can't have a children's class, except for maybe a few. No junior youth activities, no teaching projects, and so on. So we don't get a chance to practice a lot of these skills. We won't until we go. But fortunately, here you can practice all of these pieces of guidance that ‘Abdu’l-Bahá and Bahá’u’lláh gave, to do some good to others, to eliminate prejudice, to work for others, to show them love. And I don't know if the Universal House of Justice would approve of this idea, but I'm going to take it upon myself to give you special permission also to practice these things during your working hours.
[22:58] I think friends, we have to take seriously. If we can't do as the writings clearly tell us, if we can't do these things among ourselves, then what do we think, we're going to go out into the world, we're gonna attract others, we're going to do the services when we encounter others, but we don't even do it within our own family? Obviously, it's ridiculous. And what does it mean to say we're Bahá’ís if we don't do these things? Now, one of the aspects of this kind of service that Bahá’u’lláh and ‘Abdu’l-Bahá are calling us to, one dimension of it, is that it's a disinterested form of service. Shoghi Effendi uses that word, disinterested service. Now, what does that mean? It doesn't mean we don't care who we're showing love to, who is this victim of oppression. No, we care. But like ‘Abdu’l-Bahá says in one pilgrim note about teaching, you don't just teach the one you love. Otherwise, you won't teach the one you don't love. It's the same thing. We shower these virtues and blessings not on the people we like, not just in our own community, but everybody. And in fact, most importantly to the people maybe we don't like, or who do show us hostility, or do show us opposition, or do show us the opposite of all these qualities. We don't care. We act in the opposite way. We demonstrate these qualities. Teaching is the same act of disinterested service. We're not teaching because we want to have another Bahá’í. We're teaching because God commands us to teach and we accept the response of that individual. And if they accept, wonderful, and if they don't accept we beseech God to guide them, and then we work with them still. They don't want to become a Bahá’í, fine but look at the world, let's work together. The foundation of every religion is the same moral virtues repeated again and again in every dispensation. So, however people respond, in whatever way they respond to our approach, still we reach out and still we work with them and collaborate with them in service.
[25:04] Now, this obligation to work in the world, to help make it a different place, pertains particularly to young Bahá’ís. This again is a theme that goes again and again through the writings. Shoghi Effendi said that "The present condition of the world - its economic instability, social dissensions, political dissatisfaction and international distrust - should awaken the youth from their slumber and make them inquire what the future is going to bring. It's surely they who will suffer most if some calamity sweep over the world. They should therefore open their eyes to the existing conditions, study the evil forces that are at play and then with a concerted effort arise and bring about the necessary reforms." In the letter that the House of Justice wrote to the Bahá’í world at the time of the dedication of the terraces, they also raise this theme. They talk about the idea that Bahá’u’lláh's purpose in coming is to prepare the world for the Most Great Justice. And ‘Abdu’l-Bahá says the Son of Justice has risen above the horizon of Bahá’u’lláh; and in his teachings are the foundations of a justice such as the world has never seen before. The House of Justice said that in the final analysis, it is this divine purpose that all our activities are intended to serve. And we will advance this purpose to the degree that we understand what is at stake in the efforts we are making to teach the faith, to establish and consolidate its institutions, and to intensify the influence it is exerting in the life of society. So teaching is not just building up the congregation, teaching has this overarching aim of transforming the world, bringing others to have the opportunity of also joining this community, living up to this standard, becoming that people that'll be known for sacrificing itself for the benefit of the world. And then hopefully, this equilibrium changes and the world begins to move toward the intended purpose that Bahá’u’lláh has established.
[27:12] The House of Justice went further, they said:
[27:15] "Humanity’s crying need will not be met by a struggle among competing ambitions or by protest against one or another of the countless wrongs afflicting a desperate age. It calls, rather, for a fundamental change of consciousness, for a wholehearted embrace of Bahá’u’lláh’s teaching that the time has come when each human being on earth must learn to accept responsibility for the welfare of the entire human family.
[27:44] And then, they write to the Bahá’í youth:
[27:47] "The world that Bahá’í youth are inheriting is one in which the distribution of educational, economic and other basic opportunities is grossly unjust. Bahá’í youth must not be daunted by such barriers. Their challenge is to understand the real condition of humanity and to forge among themselves enduring spiritual bonds that free them not only from racial and national divisions but also from those created by social and material conditions, and that will fit them to carry forward the great trust reposed in them."
[28:22] "Bahá’í youth can accept—and should be encouraged to accept—a responsibility of their own for moral leadership in the transformation of society."
[28:34] And in the letter written to some young Bahá’ís in Latin America, the House of Justice said:
[28:41] "Be not dismayed if your endeavors are dismissed as utopian by the voices that would oppose any suggestion of fundamental change. Trust in the capacity of this generation to disentangle itself from the embroilments of a divided society. To discharge your responsibilities, you will have to show forth courage, the courage of those who cling to standards of rectitude, whose lives are characterized by purity of thought and action, and whose purpose is directed by love and indomitable faith. As you dedicate yourselves to healing the wounds with which your peoples have been afflicted, you will become invincible champions of justice."
[29:26] Now friends, this requires hard work. This requires sacrifice. It's not something easily accomplished. But we should keep in mind also what Bahá’u’lláh said about himself: "Because He bore injustice, justice hath appeared on earth, and because He accepted abasement, the majesty of God hath shone forth amidst mankind." So it's not just having a good time, it's truly being with ‘Abdu’l-Bahá.
[29:59] Now friends, I just want to give a couple ideas about how we go about this process. How do we prepare ourselves and go about making this change in the world? One of the things is really, we know that the writings while they give us the teachings, the general guidance, the spiritual principles, the spirituals food and also the vision and principles about how we need to change the world, they don't really dictate for us a simple formula. They don't dictate how we can go step by step to build a new economic system, or to build a new educational system, and so on. So what they tell us to do is that generation after generation, Bahá’ís will have to work, study the teachings, strive to translate them into action. Also, Bahá’ís will become educated in the various fields of knowledge, all the diverse fields of human knowledge, and gradually draw from that and from the book of revelation, also from the book of reality, through the knowledge system of science. We will get insights into the nature of the world and learn bit by bit gradually through hard work, overtime, day by day as ‘Abdu’l-Bahá said, until we start to change the patterns of civilization.
[31:19] We do this, we don't impose our teachings on others. We don't lobby the government to put the Bahá’í teachings into law. Our effect is not to compel people to become Bahá’ís or to live the way we hold ourselves to the same standard that we hold ourselves. Our process is one of influence, of building frameworks of unity. We ourselves have to learn to put our own teaching into action. But then, as we engage others as we talk with them again, we teach the faith. Some accept, some join the community. Some reform their own practice. Others don't want to become Bahá’ís. But still they're open and touched by the teachings. They come to a devotional meeting. Their children come to moral classes. They might not become Bahá’ís, but they begin to be attracted to the Bahá’í teachings, and they work with Bahá’ís in partnership. Gradually, their own communities are changed through this collaborative influence, and so the Bahá’ís have to learn to work together to build these kinds of bonds, of relationships, work in the world in this collaborative way.
[32:27] We see this pattern, for example, in the work of the Bahá’í international community at the U.N. It's a situation where we don't have our own agenda, that we sit and we're trying to lobby the world government to get through. There are certain issues obviously, the protection of the friends in Iran, in some other countries. But mostly we're looking at Bahá’u’lláh's teachings and we're looking at the world struggling to realize some of these ideals. And then we collaborate with others, work with others. Again, put others before ourselves and work to build bonds to work for the education of the girl child, or the advancement of women, or the elimination of prejudice or for universal education; gradually influencing, shaping, thinking and helping to build partnership, for people to collaborate and think and begin to act then, in a different way. You see the same things in letters of the Universal House of Justice, the peace statement, the document that was written to religious leaders. The Bahá’í community itself has a discourse. It doesn't know everything even about its own revelation, it's learning. We're learning ourselves how to understand it and put it into action, and use our understanding of the revelation to look at the world and think maybe how the world can be different. But then we also engage in a wider dialogue with the world as a whole that also has its experiences and insights and efforts to work in the world. And so there's a kind of a reciprocal relationship there of influence. Not that we learn something from the world, and then we decide that something Bahá’u’lláh said is not true. That's not the way it works. What happens is through the insights we gain in an involvement with other's, it gives us deeper insights into the true meaning of what Bahá’u’lláh said. So over time, our own consciousness changes and as we're interacting with the world, were also helping to shaping world's thinking and the world's behavior. So this is a collaborative process of building unity and having influence, rather than one of force or domination or compelling people to act in a certain way.
[34:36] So in this process, there's a role for learned Bahá’ís in all fields, in trades, in all professions, in different fields of knowledge, to work to master those fields, not just to become, say, an economist that then is indoctrinated into the framework of economics that created a world in which, you know, we just talked about. What's the point of being economists to perpetuate that same kind of injustice? But, if you can become an economist who masters the field of economics, who really understands the art and science of economics, who can look at the different thinkers in the field and weigh their thoughts in the light of Bahá’u’lláh's revelation and gradually point the field of economics in a direction that corresponds more with the Bahá’í teachings so that generation after generation, step by step, there can be an improvement. Gradually, we learned to sort out this economic system and create a different structure. The same thing for health. The same thing for political systems, the same thing for family life, the same thing for education. Gradually, we need Bahá’ís who are experts in all these fields. But such experts that they're not indoctrinated by those fields, that they can contribute to mastering those fields and then they can be a catalyst for change, a leaven that starts to move humanity from where it is to where it needs to go.
[36:07] I just want to give one example in relationship to our action in the field of social and economic development, because this is an area now where gradually Bahá’ís are learning how to put the teachings as well as their own studies in these various fields, into action in a way that begins to improve the lot of their community.
[36:34] You know, this process of social and economic development is embedded in the teachings of Bahá’u’lláh. But for a long time, we were too small. We weren't able to put these teachings into practice. We had to grow, develop, build communities, and so on. So it wasn't until 1983 that the House of Justice could write and now say that, all right we've grown to the point where every community has to become involved in this work of Bahá’í social and economic development. And the nature of the work was to begin right at the grassroots, right in communities, right in villages where the friends would try to put Bahá’í principles into action, would consult together, would practice this rectitude of conduct and begin by looking at problems within the Bahá’í community, how will we begin to apply the teachings to gradually resolve some of these problems? Slowly open this, broaden it, and have a service to the entire community. ‘Abdu’l-Bahá made it clear that for the Bahá’ís, social and economic development means service to everybody, not just service to the Bahá’í community. He said in all the cycles of the Prophets, philanthropic affairs were confined to the respective peoples only, with the exception of small matters like giving charity, which was permissible to extend to others. However, he said that Bahá’í efforts in this regard are for all humanity, without any exception, because it is the manifestation of the mercifulness of God. Shoghi Effendi again mentioned that Bahá’í service in this was disinterested service to the cause of humanity. It's an aspect of what it means to be a Bahá’í to serve everyone. As Bahá’u’lláh says:
[38:22] "Do not busy yourselves with your own concerns; let your thoughts be fixed upon that which will rehabilitate the fortunes of mankind".
[38:31] So we've begun. We've begun making these tentative efforts. Right now, we have in the world say, 2 to 3,000 just small grassroots initiatives for development. We have maybe another 500 or so projects, radio stations, health center, or small schools, or things like that that are sustained over time, and then about 40 to 50 agencies which are fairly substantial, having an impact on a much wider community. And these projects again begin small. They're the first efforts of Bahá’ís to try to reach out and try to solve some of these problems where they live. But then they grow over time through a process of learning. Gradually, they have a wider impact, and the friends can build more complex levels of action. One notable example of Bahá’í social and economic development activity was the advancement of the Iranian Bahá’í community under the guidance of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá and Shoghi Effendi. Here you had a population, really a large population of people, mostly villagers, illiterate, not having access to education, not having access to material well being. And in two to three generations they moved to the forefront of society in different fields, sciences, business and so on. They advanced. Why? Through the application of the teachings, by putting these teachings into effect.
[40:06] They also organized collective activities for economic activity for eliminating illiteracy within the Bahá’í community, especially for educating girls and making sure that girls were literate because they would be the educators of the next generation. In the process, they also built a number of schools and Shoghi Effendi particularly commented on the development of these schools, which not only had an impact on the Bahá’í community, but they were open to all of the population. So Muslims, Christians, Zoroastrians, Jews also came through these schools. And they were affected by the schools, and they were exposed to the Bahá’í principles. And even though they didn't necessarily become Bahá’ís or their families didn't become Bahá’ís, they went on and contributed these Bahá’í concepts and ideas to the wider society. Shoghi Effendi envisioned, if it was possible, to extend these schools throughout the entire country and to open them to everyone. And to have the power of this education be so great that everybody, no matter what their background, would want to send their children to these Bahá’í schools.
[41:18] Now, other examples. We have now the same kind of process. We're gradually learning how to expand an educational process across the world through the establishment of our own schools, but also through teacher training programs, developing Bahá’í-inspired curriculum, developing even some university level education in different parts of the world. Currently, right now this secondary program that FUNDAEC had developed and reached something like 20,000 students in Colombia and also spread to different parts of Latin America is gradually being shaped into a program that can go into Africa and Asia, opening the door to training thousands and thousands of more young people. Another example we have is the Tahirih Justice Center in the United States, started by a young Bahá’í who was a law student. And then part of her work was to work with a woman who was immigrant to the United States but had been trapped before she could get into the country. She was stopped at the border, which is kind of a legal no man's land. The laws of the country don't apply to you there. So she was going to be forced to go back and face this practice of female genital cutting. And through the intervention of this young Bahá’í, they were able to assist her and make it so that she could come into the country. And then the agency of Tahirih Justice Center was created. It was 10 years ago that that agency was created. Now, it has a network of lawyers who they've drawn from the Washington area. They work on cases related to the well-being of women and children fleeing from human rights abuses in different parts of the world. They have assisted over 5,000 women and children so far in cases related to female genital cutting, torture, rape, honor crimes, trafficking, forced marriage, domestic violence, and so on. Not only did they provide legal services, they also provide health services. And they've had an impact even in changing the laws of the country in order to make it protect, greater protections for women in these circumstances.
[43:48] We also recently, a few months back, received a report of a young man in Malaysia who received an award as the Young Malaysian of the Year in 2006. He received it in the category of moral and religious leadership, and it had been a number of years that they weren't able to give anybody the award in this category, then along comes a Bahá’í. Now this individual had many talents. He excelled in his studies. He also had various involvement in social action. But there was a case where in his home village, the level of gang activity and crime was increasing to a very severe level. And there was a situation where a young man raped a teenager and buried her alive. And this was a schoolmate of this Bahá’í. And so it made him start thinking about the problems in his village about what was happening, and he decided to take some action. He started children's classes. He started junior youth activity. Gradually, he started to try to work with larger and larger number of young people to really reshape their thinking, reshaped their direction, get them to focus on these moral qualities. And as he worked to do this, he encountered a lot of opposition. Part of the opposition came from his extended family and his neighbors. They were wondering, why are you doing this? You should be spending your time on something where you could make some money. You know, you shouldn't be just doing this for free. And then when they saw that he was not going to drop this, they said, well, at least charge for it. You know, maybe you could make some money if you carry forward this program. And again, he disregarded them. He continued his efforts. Then he had problems with the families of the children he was trying to reach, because they were suspicious, how come you're not charging us if this thing is something good?
[45:55] So what was happening was a very materialistic climate where either you go to school, study in order to make a lot of money or if you can't excel in your studies, well, then you join a gang then you run drugs, you go a different way in order to accumulate this material wealth. So people lost their kind of moral framework and he helped to restore and this project became a center of attraction. People would come from different parts of the country to see it, and the people, the families became strong supporters of it because they could see the impact and change on their children. It also impacted some of these young people because he would invite them and train them in order to become the teachers of the children's class and the tutors of the junior youth activities. There was one young guy in a gang. He was always in trouble, swearing, violence, and so on. And the people knew him and he became attracted to this program. This Bahá’í brought him in, got him involved, and he transformed. And people when they saw that transformation, that's when they began to recognize the power of this program. When this young man went off to go to his PhD studies, the children, a number of the children that he's working with came to wish him farewell. And one young girl, 11-year old girl, came up to him and handed him a goodbye card. She said: "I'm sad you're leaving. Please don't worry over here. I will continue to serve mankind, and you must serve over there as well. By the time you get back, I will have become a children's class teacher. I will pray for you."
[47:44] At that moment, he said: "My soul soared with joy. And I felt I was rewarded with the greatest gift ever, the heart of a young child who understands the meaning of service to mankind."
[47:58] Now friends, think about these different avenues, our discourse, our collaboration with others, our efforts to influence them, our own studies, our efforts to change our fields, our work in social action directly with others. What we're talking about is the ability first, of course, changing ourselves. But in that process of putting those qualities into action to change the lives of others. So when we're talking about a resume we're not talking about, I went here, I did this, I studied that, I did this other thing. What we're talking about is lives changed. People changed. How many human resources are raised up? How much capacity do you instill in other human beings? So when you go from a pioneering post from one community to another, or from this world into the next world, how many people do you leave behind? How many people and what kind of capacity and have they become workers also for the oneness of humanity? How many people? And it's the human beings that we changed. The human resources that we raised. These other individuals who also become workers for the well-being of humanity that become our resume when we leave from wherever we are now.
[49:20] Now, one last point I want to make is really this idea of, we know as Bahá’ís for example that we're not supposed to be involved in politics. This is one of the principles, especially for this particular time in the development of the world, because we see how politics has become such a divisive force on the world stage and Shoghi Effendi says that we shouldn't take sides. We shouldn't get involved in these things. But what's the difference? Sometimes it's hard to tell the difference between social action. I'm standing here telling you, take social action, change the world, but then don't get involved in politics. It seems maybe even to be a bit contradictory. Recently, the House of Justice as you know wrote a letter to the Bahá’ís in Egypt. And here the Bahá’ís in Egypt are embroiled in a situation where, not to their own choosing, but they're thrust into the forefront of issues of social change in Egypt. They don't have the rights of citizenship. They're deprived of that because of these ID cards. And here we have a large number of people who recognize the justice of the Bahá’í case, who are also standing up, risking themselves basically to stand up for the rights of the Bahá’ís, risking their own well-being because they're touched by this spirit of the age, because they need to see, they need to work, become workers for human rights, for justice in the world, for their own society. They want to see positive change in Egypt, and they want to see Egypt become part of a just world society.
[50:58] Now when the House of Justice wrote, they called on the Bahá’ís of Egypt to persevere in their action, not to be intimidated by this recent decision. And the House of Justice said to do less would deprived the authorities in Egypt of the opportunity to correct a wrong which has implications for many others no less than yourselves. So the House of Justice called upon the Bahá’ís of Egypt to stand with these other individuals to sacrifice themselves in order to work for this change in the world. Now this advice, we see in a certain sense two sets of advice that Shoghi Effendi said. On the one hand, yes, he's warning us, particularly at this stage in our development not to become involved in a political affair. There's a recognition that in the future, these political arrangements will change, and again the order of the world will be reorganized. But at the same time, he's telling us not to be involved in politics. He's also talking about the idea that we should be involved in social action, that whatever structures need to be put in place in Bahá’í administration, to keep it at the forefront of social change can safely be embedded there. Bahá’ís should be workers for civil rights. They should be workers for the elimination of prejudice. They can be at the forefront of these activities. At one point, he did point out the fact that we were too small, that we had to make sure that all of our energy didn't go off into fighting these different battles that the world was caught up in. Otherwise, the whole force of the faith would dissipate. Our own work wouldn't advance and we wouldn't be able to make that much of an impact anyway in these wider arenas of social action.
[52:50] But just as at one point in our development we were too small to get involved in these things, now at a much later stage in development, we're too large not to get involved in these things. What would it mean if a Bahá’í community is just isolated and sitting off on its side, willing to let others go and sacrifice themselves and do battle for us? But then we're not ready to take a stand where we have the numbers, where we can play this role. Again, not one of confrontation, but one of building unity, one of building patterns of collaboration, one of standing on moral principle, willingness to sacrifice ourselves to be the agent of change, to be that leaven. How can we not do that? And that's the challenge we have to think about now. How do we do that? How do we step forward and play that role? There's a number of individuals, Bahá’ís who have written about this idea of Bahá’í political thought. How do we approach this whole question of the existing political system. Bahá’í thinking in relationship to this. In the current issue of the Bahá’í World volume, there's a very interesting article by a Bahá’í from the United States, looking at the whole question of liberal democracy. World Order Magazine had a number of articles and so on. Basically, it's really looking at an idea in one of the tablets of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá. He expressed the wish that the ancient politics, whose foundation is war, be discarded and that the modern politics founded on peace raise the standard of victory. So again, what we're looking at is one way, in a certain sense, human politics is just another extension of war, you know. On the one level we pick up guns and arrows and swords and whatever and kill each other. And then we say, all right, well, we'll evolve in the social dimension, now we'll just go into politics and will undercut, backstab, hit each other with chairs and things like that. But at least it's not war anymore, just politics. So it's a confrontational, adversarial style, and it carries over into the thinking of people again. Just turn on the television. Just look at the news and you can see from one news channel to the next this adversarial politics playing itself out on the global stage. But the Bahá’í view of the social action of this political engagement, in the broader sense of humanity, has to be based on a pattern of piece, of unity, of collaboration. Bit by bit, we create this pattern of change.
[55:39] There's an idea in ecology. It's called succession of communities. If you have like a forest fire and burn down the forest, or you have a volcano and it spews out all this lava and so on, well, what you have is a bare patch. There's no life there. Maybe there was a mature forest. Now you're back down to the dirt. So what happens? A forest doesn't spring back within the next week. What happens is gradual, incremental change. Some mold, some lichen, some little plant, some insect comes on. Gradually, this first wave, this community of life creates the conditions so a second community of life can come on. Not the mature trees, but little plants, you know, little insects come in, some grass or something like that. Gradually then, some flowers, some bushes. Eventually, some little trees. Stage after stage, finally, you come back to the mature community. The progress that the world will make in moving toward a divine civilization is the same thing. It can't make that step all at once. We're not good enough as Bahá’ís even to play our part in that. The Bahá’ís of the future have to become better than we are. So we work and we try to create the conditions, create a condition of change to hand off the process to the next generation, and the next generation of Bahá’ís, and of humanity. So bit by bit, stage by stage, this change takes place under the guidance and direction of the Universal House of Justice. Gradually, we learned how to translate the teachings in the action and create stage after stage of different change in social order, different change in Bahá’í practice until we achieve the Kingdom of God on earth.
[57:30] Now friends, I'd like to close with a quotation from ‘Abdu’l-Bahá. It's a little bit of a long quotation, so I beg your indulgence, but it summarizes so well the themes that I talked about today, that I really wanted to read a good segment of this passage to you. This quote from ‘Abdu’l-Bahá is not a reflection of what we are now as Bahá’ís. I don't think our community measures up to this standard that ‘Abdu’l-Bahá is calling us to, but I think that we have to strive to do it. We have to strive to become this. We have to be this community that Bahá’u’lláh wants, that will sacrifice itself, that would prefer others before itself. Because if there's not such a community, if such a people doesn't arise, then the world is not going to change, or at least its progress will be very slow. This is from ‘Abdu’l-Bahá:
[58:30] "O army of God! Today, in this world, every people is wandering astray in its own desert, moving here and there according to the dictates of its fancies and whims, pursuing its own particular caprice. Amongst all the teeming masses of the earth, only this community of the Most Great Name is free and clear of human schemes and hath no selfish purpose to promote. Alone amongst them all, this people hath arisen with aims purified of self, following the Teachings of God, most eagerly toiling and striving toward a single goal: to turn this nether dust into high heaven, to make of this world a mirror for the Kingdom, to change this world into a different world, and cause all humankind to adopt the ways of righteousness and a new manner of life.
[59:35] O army of God! Through the protection and help vouchsafed by the Blessed Beauty—may my life be a sacrifice to His loved ones—ye must conduct yourselves in such a manner that ye may stand out distinguished and brilliant as the sun among other souls. Should any one of you enter a city, he should become a centre of attraction by reason of his sincerity, his faithfulness and love, his honesty and fidelity, his truthfulness and loving-kindness towards all the peoples of the world, so that the people of that city may cry out and say: ‘This man is unquestionably a Bahá’í, for his manners, his behaviour, his conduct, his morals, his nature, and disposition reflect the attributes of the Bahá’ís.’ Not until ye attain this station can ye be said to have been faithful to the Covenant and Testament of God. For He hath, through irrefutable Texts, entered into a binding Covenant with us all, requiring us to act in accordance with His sacred instructions and counsels.
[1:00:47] O army of God! The time hath come for the effects and perfections of the Most Great Name to be made manifest in this excellent age, so as to establish, beyond any doubt, that this era is the era of Bahá’u’lláh, and this age is distinguished above all other ages.
[1:01:10] O army of God! Make ye a mighty effort: perchance ye can flood this earth with light, that this mud hut, the world, may become the Abhá Paradise. The dark hath taken over, and the brute traits prevail. This world of man is now an arena for wild beasts, a field where the ignorant, the heedless, seize their chance. The souls of men are ravening wolves and animals with blinded eyes, they are either deadly poison or useless weeds—all except for a very few who indeed do nurture altruistic aims and plans for the well-being of their fellow men: but ye must in this matter—that is, the serving of humankind—lay down your very lives, and as ye yield yourselves, rejoice.
[1:02:08] O army of God! The Exalted One, the Báb, gave up His life. The Blessed Perfection gave up a hundred lives at every breath. He bore calamities. He suffered anguish. He was imprisoned. He was chained. He was made homeless and was banished to distant lands. Finally, then, He lived out His days in the Most Great Prison. Likewise, a great multitude of the lovers of God who followed this path have tasted the honey of martyrdom and they gave up everything—life, possessions, kindred—all they had. How many homes were reduced to rubble; how many dwellings were broken into and pillaged; how many a noble building went to the ground; how many a palace was battered into a tomb. And all this came about that humankind might be illumined, that ignorance might yield to knowledge, that men of earth might become men of heaven, that discord and dissension might be torn out by the roots, and the Kingdom of Peace become established over all the world. Strive ye now that this bounty become manifest, and this best-beloved of all hopes be realized in splendour throughout the community of man."
[1:03:39] Thank you, friends.
