Transcript:Ruhiyyih Khanum/On the Role of Bahá’í Youth in Today’s World, 1970
| Transcript of: On the Role of Bahá’í Youth in Today’s World, 19 June 1970 by |
| Ruhiyyih Khanum speaking at the National Bahá’í Youth Conference in Evanston, Illinois, on the Role of Bahá’í Youth in Today’s World, 19 June 1970 (from a cassette tape published by the Bahá’í Publishing Trust).Download: mp3, Source: © Gregory C. Dahl |
[0:00] [Introducer]: With us today is Hand of the Cause of God Amatu’l-Bahá Rúḥíyyih Khánum. She is the daughter of two most distinguished parents, both of whom served the Faith for many, many years all over this world and attained the highest stations open to Baháʼís. As a youth Rúḥíyyih Khánum was probably the most active, or at least one of the most active on the North American continent, and one still hears stories about the various things she did. She's also an author and all those of you who have not read "Prescription for Living" ought to, because there is no other book that I know in the Baháʼí repertoire, in Baháʼí literature which is more to the point as far as young people are concerned. She's also a Hand of the Cause of God, who has dedicated many years of her life to teaching and traveling over all the continents of the globe. But perhaps, to some of us at least, the highest of her stations is that for many years she was secretary, companion and wife of our beloved Guardian Shoghi Effendi. Therefore, she has had experiences that cannot be repeated. That have no parallel in the Baháʼí annals. And it is out of the wealth of this experience that she addresses us as she addresses the entire Baháʼí world. Hand of the Cause of God, Amatu’l-Bahá Rúḥíyyih Khánum. [Applause]
[2:30] The Universal House of Justice asked me to convey their love to you all. And many Baháʼís in different parts of the world have sent their love to the Baháʼís wherever we went and said, "Please give our love to the Baháʼís." We've had the opportunity of meeting many Baháʼí youth on this trip, in Africa and in South America and now in the Caribbean Islands. And they are all young people, very much like you, of different races, of different backgrounds, equally devoted to the Cause, equally alive in the spirit of the Faith.
[3:16] The role of Baháʼí youth is obviously a very important role because you won't be Baháʼí youth very long, you know. But being young has great advantages because it is the period of life when you have a tremendous capacity to accomplish things. I think that this is one of the great meanings of youth. This power to dare and to do. This is the gift of God to youth. It is the characteristic of youth that you have the strength, you have the courage to try to do many things that older people before you have tried to do and gotten exhausted from doing, or tried to do and not succeeded. But when you are young, it's so marvelous because you think that there is almost no limit to what you can do. And perhaps more than anything else, it's to that aspect of youth that I want to make my appeal.
[4:35] The young people in the United States are, so I have heard from newspapers, in a state of rebellion against society. Fundamentally that is the great promise that there is in the youth, that they can see that things in the world have reached the point where they are no longer good enough and they are no longer acceptable. And therefore they have the power to rebel. Now, if you have the power to rebel against something, presumably you have the strength to be creative. I want to tell you of a conversation I had with a young American pioneer recently in South America. He's a young man of about 27. He's been a Baháʼí for a number of years. He is a deep and sincere Baháʼí. And he is a knowledgeable Baháʼí. And he's just begun his pioneer service in this new country. And we were talking about situation there. Of course it's a shock for many Americans to go out and find that what they know as a way to live and a culture and a civilization is not what they're finding in other countries, and their first reaction is that it's all wrong. Usually it's all wrong economically and then in their eyes, it's all wrong socially. And they think immediately they have to do something about it. So this young Baháʼí was quite churned up. First because he was a pioneer. And second, because he found himself in a new environment where many things were not as they should be in his eyes. It was partly true. It was partly his American eyeglasses that he was looking through. But nevertheless, he said that we have to do something about this. We have to be militant. We have to go out there and show them. We have to fight with them. We have to rebel against these things.
[6:58] And it sounded to me like the reports of so many fights going on in the world on college campuses, everywhere in the world not only in the United States. And I thought, "Well, now what is he getting at? I must understand his point of view." So I asked him. I said, I want to get this clear. You, if I understand what you are saying, are you saying that as a Baháʼí, or as a person who comes in out of that other world into the Baháʼí Faith, you want to put on the armor of Bahá’u’lláh's teachings and dressed in that armor, you want to go out and fight on the street or raise your voice on the campus with other people that are protesting against social evils and economic evils and racial evils? Is that what I'm to understand from what you are saying? Well, he wasn't quite sure. Then I said, don't you think that there is a difference between that attitude and your having come in out of that world and put on the armor of Bahá’u’lláh and joined His army?
[8:27] See, there's a tremendous distinction. One is that you've belonged to all those little armies that are out there fighting for whatever it may be: social rights, economic rights, racial rights, any old right and every old right. And they are fighting in little pockets all over the world for the right as they see it. Now, you want to take these teachings of Bahá’u’lláh, these wonderful strong concepts, this spiritual vitality that this Faith gives us when we accept it, and you want to put all of those on and go out again and fight in those little pockets? Or do you want to put on the armor of the teachings of Bahá’u’lláh, the way of life that He has outlined for young people and old people, for everybody that wears, bears the name Baháʼí and fight in the army of light, which is the army of Bahá’u’lláh. Which is the way the whole body of believers north, south, east and west by standing together inside the Cause, strictly apart from everything outside the Cause, the way they can win the great battle of this century, which is essentially the battle of the power of light that has been given by the Manifestation of God in His teachings against all the old worn-out thorns and evils and injustices of the world.
[10:20] When we come into the cause of Bahá’u’lláh we must understand that although it takes us a certain length of time to become reoriented to what He is teaching and not the sounds and fury of the world outside that we've left behind us, although it takes us some time to imbibe and assimilate the concepts that He has given us in His teachings, we know that this is the right concept, that this is from God. And by coming into this Faith, we have joined a great worldwide host of people, that if you like to use the word fight, which, after all, is not a bad word if you fight in the right spirit for the right thing, then we are the army of light fighting to conquer spiritually the whole planet. And that, my friends, is quite a different concept from the concept of fighting out in little pockets with some of the Baháʼí ideas that we rush in and grab, and we rush out again to the front that we were on before. We must accept and understand the difference because this is the great difference. And this is the great strength.
[11:40] One of the things that was most marvelous about our Guardian is that when you came in contact with his mind, all the horizons became larger. I can't really describe it. As you heard, I came of a Baháʼí family and I'd had many blessings and privileges in the sense of being allowed to grow up in the atmosphere of the Baháʼí teachings. And with all that liberal and deep education that I had received from my mother, who was a very fine Baháʼí teacher in the Cause of Bahá’u’lláh. Still, when I heard Shoghi Effendi talk, when I went there as a pilgrim, as an adult, and could listen to his words, the only way I could describe it was that he just pushed all the horizons away. The Cause got bigger and bigger, stronger and stronger, more and more marvelous, more and more impressive. And this of course is the way the Cause is. We can't understand, but he can. And he did understand, he grasped it. Sometimes I think that he was the only Baháʼí, and that when he passed away the only Baháʼí in the whole world died. Now I know that is a relative concept, but I mean none of us can grasp the grandeur of the scheme of Bahá’u’lláh, how wonderful it is, what exactly it is aiming at, what it is going to lead to in the future.
[13:25] One of the things that Shoghi Effendi used to say is that we Baháʼís don't belong to any party. We belong to God's party. You know, that is a very, very marvelous concept. Because of course we know that the whole world is divided into political factions, into different concepts of what is best in the world, how to run the world, which method, which political idea or ideals would get the most benefit for the majority of mankind and so on. And Shoghi Effendi said we don't belong to any party. We belong to God's party. And in a sense, this religion of Bahá’u’lláh, these teachings of Bahá’u’lláh are the party of God in this world. So that when you become a Baháʼí, you can see how great the thing is that you have embraced. How strong! How meaningful! What it is you are privileged to become a part of and to be in contact with.
[14:45] Sometimes I think that we couldn't find anything in the world less like the spirit of the teachings of Bahá’u’lláh than the world in which we live, particularly here in the United States, perhaps to a lesser degree in Canada and in Europe. Because there you have these great materialistic civilizations of the West. And in so many ways, this type of civilization is as far from what Bahá’u’lláh has come to create in the world as it is ever likely to get. And I think that the young people must ponder these thoughts and must understand them, because then you will know exactly what you are fighting for, and what you are fighting against. You won't be so confused by this bombardment that goes on all the time from the newspaper, from the news commentators, television, different societies on this campuses of schools and universities. All the time, you are constantly bombarded by other people's concept of what are the issues in the world today, of what is the solution, of what is right and what is wrong. And these are not the concepts necessarily of the Baháʼí Faith. So that it requires some analysis to understand the difference. You are the people of the new world that is going to develop, but it hasn't developed yet.
[16:34] As I said, the difference between what we have now and what is in the teachings of Bahá’u’lláh is so startling that the more I think about it, the more appalled I become. There's a tremendous emphasis on the family in the teachings of Bahá’u’lláh. The family is the unit of society. The parents, the children, the atmosphere in the home. But we're getting further and further from that in our civilization all the time, not only because of divorces and broken marriages and extramarital relationships and a sloppy relationship in almost every aspect of human society, but because this materialism of our society is breaking down the family as a unit. You go to Asia, South America, Africa, and you find this marvelous atmosphere of a family. When I went to India many years ago at first I was horrified in the Baháʼí meetings, I would find that the whole ground in front of me was literally paved with children. The children get the first place. And there would be children, what, 2-3 up to teenagers. And then the women would be sitting on one side, and the men would be sitting on the other. And I thought, my God, how can I give a talk or concentrate? Especially with a handicap of having every word translated with all of these little kids in front of me? They're going to raise hell. [Laughter] Well, they didn't. They sat there so quietly that sometimes they would literally fall over like a plant and go to sleep upside down, so to speak. But they still wouldn't move from their place. Why? Because the children are a part of the village. Never occurs to anybody in a village in those parts of the world that you have little children, that's their age group, then you have an age gap, I don't know how big a gap but you jumped somewhere and then you land in younger children. I mean younger in the relation to teenagers. Then you get the teenagers. Then you get this, and you get that. It doesn't exist in villages. They are the family. They are the village. They are the tribe. They are the people. And the result is that you get much nicer children, much nicer people, much nicer manners, much better customs morally, much healthier human beings.
[19:13] Now as I see it from my study of the teachings of Bahá’u’lláh, this kind of a family is the thing that Bahá’u’lláh praises, and not this extraordinary, disintegrating family unit that we see in our civilization. Old people that are not allowed ever to be in the homes of young people. I know part of it is economic, you don't have to tell me that, I'm aware of it. But I'm saying that in our civilization what is happening to the family and this strange concept of age groups and age gap, what is it they call it now? They've got a new term for it since I went away, the generation gap. But then you and I, my friends, are two huge gaps away, and I don't imagine that you feel very much further away from me at the moment than I do from you. But in modern terminology, we are two ghastly gaps separated. So that's one of the things that doesn't exist in the Baháʼí Faith, just because we want to have a youth conference so that the young people can be together and they can spark off each other's inspiration and thoughts and plans and be the Baháʼí youth doesn't mean that all of us people who are a little older have to be chucked through the roof or the younger people don't exist yet and so on, obviously it's all one thing.
[20:35] You know of course about the Baháʼí law having the consent of your parents for marriage, you're all aware of that. In the Baháʼí teachings, Bahá’u’lláh says that respect for your parents is pleasing to God, that you must respect your parents. You must pay attention to what they say. And to a large extent you must obey what they say. Now, not naturally in a form of slavery, but certainly not in the relationship of young people to older people nowadays. This is not the teachings of Bahá’u’lláh. Because Bahá’u’lláh is going to create a society, just like in nature you have these strong bonds of the family, you have in human society strong bonds of the family. So that in this respect, the teachings of Bahá’u’lláh are different from the teachings of the world and the viewpoint of present day society.
[21:31] Moral conduct in the Baháʼí Faith is so exactly the opposite of the understanding of people in the world today. I often feel very sorry for young people who are growing up in this society, because you have never lived in any other society except the one that surrounds you now. That after all is perfectly normal. I remember once my mother looked at me and she said, "You know Mary, I feel very sorry for you because you have never lived in a world that had peace." Why, I said, "What do you mean?" She said, "You don't know what it is to live in a world that had peace." She said, "I did. I was born in the Victorian era when there was a period of peace in the world." And she could remember the feeling of the world when there was peace in it, which is something that I couldn't remember, because shortly after I was born came World War I and then came World War II and then we've had all the other little wars that are going on all the time in different parts of the world ever since. So that I have never lived in a world of peace any more than you have. And one of the things that is so sad about this present world in which we live, particularly the Western civilizations, and wherever Western civilization is spreading, that is the tremendous breakdown of every form of moral restraint. And of course this is the exact opposite of the teachings of Bahá’u’lláh.
[23:11] You have read "The Advent of Divine Justice", I haven't time in the talk to quote all of these things to you. But the standards of Bahá’u’lláh are so different from the standards of the world that they are startling. Now I know that young people are under tremendous pressure nowadays. The first things that we can do to create this world order of Bahá’u’lláh that we want to create, and that we know because we are Baháʼí will change the world, is at least to thoroughly and clearly in our own minds understand His teachings. You young people I'm sure have a very hard time living up to the moral standards that Bahá’u’lláh has given us because you live in a society that is at probably the worst and lowest point morally of any society since the world was created. So how can you not feel the drag and the pull and the temptations of that society? But it doesn't mean that you shouldn't at least get it clear in your heads that this is the wrong way of life and this is not what is taught by Bahá’u’lláh. This is one of the great challenges to the youth, the moral teachings embodied in the Faith of Bahá’u’lláh. We must remember that the society that Bahá’u’lláh envisages, the society which His teachings are going to bring into being is not a prudish, stifled, thwarted, sterile society. On the contrary, it's going to be vital and wonderful and more rewarding than anything that we can possibly experience today. But it's going to be done on the basis of every value being in its proper place.
[25:11] You know there was an old definition of dirt. I don't know whether they teach it in schools or colleges anymore, but I can remember hearing it when I was a girl. And that is the dirt is misplaced matter. Things are all right. But they're only all right when they are where they should be. They're not all right when they're in the wrong place. And everything to do with our sexual life is all right if it's only in the right place and in the right outlet. And this is the teachings of Bahá’u’lláh. And the youth must understand that, they must get it clearly defined in their minds and then they must work towards it. Through effort, through prayer, through talking it over with each other...[There appears to be a jump in the audio at this point] and to set a shining example to the youth of the world, because they need example tremendously. But a great many of the people that you know will respond to you when they see that your standard is high because they are craving for the challenge of a high standard.
[26:19] I can remember so often in my own girlhood people criticizing the slightest deviation amongst the Baháʼís from say drinking when we shouldn't drink, or being immoral when we should be moral. They immediately said, "Look, look, look, look, look! The Baháʼís are doing that." They knew that this wasn't our standard and they were so terribly upset. Why? Because they were disillusioned. They had nowhere to turn for a really sterling example of conduct except to the Baháʼís. And when they saw that the Baháʼís couldn't live up, or at least try hard to live up to their own standard, then they were disillusioned and seriously hurt spiritually because we were the only things that they could cling to.
[27:06] Now, I've come to the conclusion that even one of the teachings of Bahá’u’lláh, any one, just put your finger on any one of His teachings, if we could get that one single teaching to be accepted in the world and put into practice overnight, the one would be enough to turn it into a paradise. Think of the amount of lying that goes on in the world. Nation lying to nation, politicians lying to whatever it is they want to get the vote from, human beings lying to each other, parents lying to children. They don't even realize it but they are all the time. People lying all day long and they don't even know they're lying. Not to steal, well all right, I'm sure all of us know that we shouldn't go out and put our hand in somebody else's pocket. But I bought a pair of stockings the other day when I landed on American soil and as I thought that they were the right color and then they were very good and they were very long and this and that, they were fairly expensive, and I put them on, and they proceeded to run in three places. Well you see, I was being stolen from. And this kind of stealing goes on all the time in our world. Industrial stealing, cheating the customers, trying to get the better of other people, trying to get graft out of something, trying to get a margin for yourself, your little share, your little corner, your little [?], your little whatever it is but just try and get it. And this is a form of stealing. And we don't carry these explicit teachings of Bahá’u’lláh to their logical conclusion, which is don't even steal one penny from a person.
[29:00] The other day we were having lunch somewhere with some Baháʼís and somebody... Oh, the waitress came up and, you know, tried to steal some money on the bill. And I said to this Baháʼí, "You mustn't let her do that." Oh, she said, "I don't mind." I said, you don't mind? What about the standard of Bahá’u’lláh? What about the example of the Báb? Don't steal and don't be stolen from because when you allow somebody to steal from you, well of course you're making him steal. What's the difference? Your conscience may feel better that you weren't the one that did the stealing, but if I aid and abet and make it easy for somebody else to steal from me, I'm fostering exactly the same evil in societies if I did the thing myself. So if we think about these laws of Bahá’u’lláh, these precepts and teachings, we see how frightfully important they are in the society in which we live. No murder. Well, that's a very obvious thing. None of us believe in murder and yet people are being murdered all the time. Everything, this ruthless brutality, this indifference to other people's rights, this feeling that we have today that we have a right to take the law into our own hands, that for some justification which we cook up, we can go against the laws that must protect society as a whole. These are the things that we Baháʼís must analyze in our minds, we must be on our guard against, we must have no part in whatsoever.
[30:42] Arson, for instance. There is an awful lot of arson in the world today. People go around just calmly setting fire to anything they don't like. Arson is considered by Bahá’u’lláh equivalent to murder. I don't think the Baháʼís realize this. So you see, the laws of Bahá’u’lláh have very deep implications. They are the strong iron bones of society. They are the things that are going to create the new world order. It isn't going to be a soupy world order of love and kisses and 'Yá Bahá'u'l-Abhá' and what not. It's going to be something that has bones, otherwise it won't stand up, it won't endure, it won't do us any good. And it's these bones of our teachings that the youth must understand and they must be able to teach it to other people. They must give the example. And they must help build these bones inside the new world order.
[31:38] No drugs, as you know, is one of the strong teachings of Bahá’u’lláh. It is just as strong as not to drink. And I know that the pressures on young people in our society in the world today are terrifying, but still you are Baháʼís, you have to look at the truth. What your generation seems to want is the truth, and not anymore "blah, blah" and falsehoods and hoodwinking and tinsel on the outside and nothing in the package. That's why you have approached and accepted the teachings of Bahá’u’lláh. Then you have to look at them with your eyes wide open. And the teachings of Bahá’u’lláh are against drinking, they are against taking of drugs. And I have been so happy to hear that the young people accept Bahá’u’lláh and enter His Faith and struggle with this habit and give it up. And I think that this is something that is enough to fire the imagination of thousands, and tens of thousands of other young people. All they have to do is to open their eyes and accept the teachings of Bahá’u’lláh, and that this will give them a sure haven and an object in life. They are showing that they can give up these habits, and they will in increasing numbers enter the Baháʼí Faith and give it up and be the most wonderful example.
[33:14] In the teachings of Bahá’u’lláh, He has given us the explanation of why He wants us to do something, why He wants us to obey different laws. And the reason that He says, and I think that this is something that we should tell people more often when we teach them that Baháʼís don't believe in the taking of alcohol. We don't drink in other words. We should tell them why Bahá’u’lláh says we shouldn't drink. He says, "Don't approach it. It destroys the mind." Now, if you look at the June number of Reader's Digest, for the first time there is evidence from the medical standpoint that this is exactly what happens to the brain cells when people drink. And it substantiates for the first time that I've ever heard of in my whole life through research the exact words of Bahá’u’lláh. "Don't approach it for it destroys the mind." And I recommend to the young Baháʼís to arm themselves with this, so that next time you want to go around and tell one of your pals that you shouldn't drink, you say not only it destroys the mind and the Manifestation of God says so but here's the scientific evidence on the subject, too.
[34:28] You know, amongst the teachings of Bahá’u’lláh are very strong moral teachings on every form of sex perversity, and I think that we have to understand this too. This is the permissive age, and it's not doing so well. It's so permissive that it's doing the most beautiful nose dive anybody ever saw. But whatever it is, it has become the permissive age. And just because people coming out of this society have found themselves ensnared, for one of a hundred different reasons, in the aberrations of this society is no reason why, as I said, they shouldn't look at it with their eyes wide open. At least know what Bahá’u’lláh teaches and try as hard as they can through prayer, through effort, if necessary through some kind of medical assistance, to obey His teachings. And all forms of sexual relationships that are not normal relationships between men and women are forbidden by Bahá’u’lláh, and we have to understand this. This is not permissible in Baháʼí society.
[35:40] Now Shoghi Effendi, the beloved Guardian of our Faith, was so understanding in these matters. I remember once he received a letter, you see I was his secretary for a great many years, and of course I obviously knew what was in the letters that were answered. And he received a letter from a young man saying that he was living with Mr. so-and-so as husband and wife, and that some of the Baháʼís had told him he shouldn't do this. And Shoghi Effendi wrote back and said that Baháʼís had told him the truth, he shouldn't do it, that it was forbidden in the teachings of Bahá’u’lláh, but in a very loving way. He wasn't prejudiced. The Guardian had no prejudice. He was so understanding. He was so tolerant. But that didn't mean that we should not have our framework of procedure just like anybody that is doing something, you have to have a framework. And the framework of morality in the world order of Bahá’u’lláh does not include the things that are countenance today in our present society.
[37:02] Some of them are medical problems. Some of them are psychological problems. Some of them are just silliness wandering into paths that we could get out of or stay out of if we made an effort, as you all know. And the Baháʼís must at least fix their eyes on the standard of Bahá’u’lláh and work towards that, help each other to work towards it, have the courage to work towards it and remember that it is extraordinary, what we can do in this world through two things: effort and prayer. In every field of our problems in life, through effort and prayer, through sincerity, we can overcome so many things that are difficult when we survey them and say, "well, I'll never be able to do this. This is beyond me. I can't help it, whatever the problem may be, I can't help it." But we can better it, wean ourselves away from it, grow stronger and be better and nobler Baháʼís through effort and through prayer.
[38:08] Another of the teachings of Bahá’u’lláh is to have a sense of shame. You know, it's a very nice thing: modesty. It's almost unheard of. I don't know whether nine people out of ten have ever heard of the word nowadays or if they could spell it if they had to. But there is such a thing as a modesty. And not prudery, but modesty. And a sense of the fitness of things. And that also is something that the Baháʼís should remember because it does exist in the Baháʼí teachings. I would like to say one thing that I was very, very surprised, somebody told me recently that I forget what circumstances, it wasn't anything to do with this gathering, it was something I heard while I was traveling. That somewhere people were advised to go and see some of these ultramodern movies and different things of that nature, because if they knew about it and were informed than they could fight against it. Well, I'm sorry to say that is not a good standard in life. You do not have to get drunk in order to obey Bahá’u’lláh and abstain from alcohol. [Applause] You don't have to commit adultery or some other immoral act in order to decide whether you think His teachings are correct on the subject or not. In fact that's one of the surest ways of getting yourself off the track. And the Baháʼí young people should understand that. This is not the way of the Baháʼís. We do not go and dabble in mud so that we can show how pure we are. We keep our hands out of mud and then they don't get dirty. In other words, the standards of Bahá’u’lláh are an absolute standard. They are based on a divine civilization. They are not a relative standard. And altogether too many people think that the teachings of Bahá’u’lláh are relative to something in their present society. They are not. They are only relative to the point of evolution the human race has reached. And it's reached the point where it could stand the full works, and that's why it got Bahá’u’lláh. [Applause]
[40:58] Bahá’u’lláh enjoins thrift. And believe me, in our present society it's another deviation from the teachings of God. This is the throwaway society. It's so extraordinary. I don't know whether you realize it because you live in it. But if you go the way we do to the villages of the world, if you pass through as we did recently a big city in the north of Nigeria called Kano and, of course, all villages in all cities in nearly every part of the world except here they have a local supermarket. But there they have a market, and that's where people do most of their shopping, and it's all divided up into different sections. One whole section of this market was tin cans that had been made into all kinds of utensils. They'd made spoons and dippers and plates and cooking pots and all kinds of things out of tin cans that have been thrown away, because they have absolutely nothing. I remember when we went to the Indians in Chile, my cousin and I in 1968, and these Indians were really the nearest to starvation of any people I've ever seen in my life. And we had one empty, I don't know what it was, tuna fish can, some little tin can about that big. And one of these Indians, very, very polite, very courteous people. Never begging. He said, "Excuse me, but when you are going away, if you don't need that tin can, if I could have it, I could use it as a cup." Well, then you come and you see this throwaway civilization. You buy an automobile. It's death is built into it by that manufacturer to the last mile. Just how soon can he have that thing break down so you have to buy another. It's a terrible civilization. It's a terrifying civilization. And nobody cares! My point is that in the teachings of Bahá’u’lláh, thrift is enjoined. And I don't think that the Baháʼís remember that. When I was a girl in Germany, before World War II, I met people that were emaciated and would never grow fat as long as they lived. And I met also a German who had been to the United States right after the war when people were starving to death in the Rhineland. And he said that what the Americans scraped off their plates and threw in the garbage can every day would have saved the whole German nation from starvation. Now I cannot believe that it is right. It is a throwaway civilization, but it is wrong. This degree of ruthless extravagance and waste, I think, is displeasing in the sight of God.
[44:13] Another of the teachings of Bahá’u’lláh is courtesy. And it's something that is an inexpensive commodity. It doesn't really cost you anything to be polite, is just as easy as to be nice as to be nasty. And one of the things that you find when you go on these trips is the extraordinary courtesy of primitive people. Really you have no idea, if you want to meet with courtesy, manners, politeness, go to an African village. They are so cultivated in their manners, so considerate. They have some customs that are different from ours. For instance when they leave they don't say goodbye. You turn around and they've gone and they didn't say goodbye, it's not their custom. Whereas "How do you do?" is a very formal act, but aside from some slight difference in customs, they are so courteous. The people in India are so courteous. The people in South America are so courteous. Latins and Indians, the Negro people are so courteous. This is something that we are losing, and it is very nice to know that courtesy is actually enjoined by Bahá’u’lláh. It is one of His admonitions to His followers, to be courteous. And this is another way that the Baháʼís can be distinguished because it isn't something that you can hide.
[45:46] Shoghi Effendi said that the western Baháʼís had some things to learn from the Oriental Baháʼís, and the Oriental Baháʼís from the western Baháʼís. And one of the things that the Western Baháʼís should learn is reverence. Reverence towards God. Reverence towards everything associated with God. And I think that we must be very, very clear in our minds that while we have this marvelous nearness of Bahá’u’lláh to us, we have this privilege of turning to Him and praying to Him. And we know that it is a personal relationship, that He cares, that He will respond, that in some mysterious way He's our particular Bahá’u’lláh. Not just yours and everybody's, but He's mine because I've accepted Him. There's this deep privilege of approaching Bahá’u’lláh in one's heart and turning to Him and being allowed to pray to Him, to commune with Him, to beseech Him for different things. But there must always be, there should be behind it, much more important to have this than it is to have reverence, but added to this, there should be a tremendous sense of who Bahá’u’lláh is, how infinitely glorious. Who the Báb is. Who ‘Abdu’l-Bahá is. Who Shoghi Effendi is. We must cultivate this quality of reverence.
[47:31] I would like to give you an example. One of the most beautiful Baháʼí teachers in Ecuador is a Quechua Indian called Rufino. I have known him since I was there in 1968 and I saw him again the other day at the Baháʼí convention. He is a wonderful Baháʼí teacher. He has brought in hundreds and hundreds of Indians. I believe he is a Baháʼí angel or a Baháʼí saint, I don't know which. It's not my job to classify him, but he's certainly a Baháʼí something. And Rufino, if he is going to pray, you know the Indians wear their hats all the time, It is their custom, they wear them indoors, and out of doors of course. And when Rufino is going to pray, or any of the Indians, they immediately take off their hat. They are conscious of it, they don't forget it. One of the Baháʼís, strangely enough the first Formosan Baháʼí, a Chinese whose connected with the embassy in Quito, Ecuador, gave a reception for all Baháʼís who had attended the convention. And it was the last evening, the end of the convention, and he invited everybody to go to his home. And there were perhaps eight of these Indian Baháʼís who were delegates and had been at the convention. And they were going to sing a song for us in Quechua, a very beautiful song which they had made themselves, and when the time came that they were going to sing the one that had the name of Bahá’u’lláh in it, off came the hats. When Rufino one day was looking up in a prayer book, something, he wasn't going to read a prayer, he was going to look up something in the prayer book. He took the prayer book to open it. He took it out of his pocket very carefully and he took it in his hand and he put his hat under his arm and then he began to look up the reference and then he handed the prayer book to someone else. Now this isn't a Persian Baháʼí, this is a South American Indian Baháʼí. Reverence for God, reverence for Bahá’u’lláh, reverence for the Holiness of these great figures of our Faith.
[50:00] Now everybody has a different teaching method and one goes into a hut in the mountains and he sits and he talks to the Baháʼís and so on, and then another has another way. What does Rufino do? He goes to the home of some Indians to teach the Baháʼí Faith. And with this exquisite spirit, he just sits down, he says, I have come to give you a very marvelous gift. A very precious piece of news." The promised one for this day, I don't know what words he uses in Quechua, the Manifestation of God has come into the world with the message for all men. Just two or three words. And his name is Bahá’u’lláh. And you are very blessed to have heard this word. And your house is very blessed to have had His name mentioned in it. He puts on his hat and walks out and says, "I will come back at some future time and tell you more." You can see what an effect this has. First of all, what kind of a person is doing the teaching? And second, what kind of people are doing the listening? And you will see this everywhere. This intense reverence for everything to do with the Central Figures of our Faith. And this is something that we in the West must learn. And this spirit of reverence draws you closer to God. It doesn't separate you from God. It draws you closer to God.
[51:42] I'm sure you've been given things by someone you loved. Whatever it was, a rose pedal, some little thing, a charm, a menu because you had dinner together in a restaurant, something or other. And that thing is dear to you. Why? Because it is associated with the beloved. And reverence is very close to that. It is dear to you because it is from the beloved. And this is such a perfectly beautiful thing the Africans have, the Asiatics have, American Indians have it. And alas, the people that have it the least is the people of our Western civilizations.
[52:29] I was thinking about some examples of how we Baháʼís can be distinguished in such a way that people will turn to us and want to know what it is we believe. I know a very fine young Baháʼí architect who has just opened his own office somewhere in Africa. And he was having quite a struggle because, of course, he now found that he had invested in something and he had to meet a lot of bills coming and it was a very crucial point in his career. And he was offered a million pounds, $2,400,000 contract for three beer factories, three breweries. And he was very troubled over this because, of course, he knew Baháʼís didn't drink and he knew that Shoghi Effendi had advised the Baháʼís in Persia not to sell liquor, not to make money out of liquor. And this bothered him very, very much. And he thought about it, he tried to get everybody to make the decision for him and nobody would, so finally he had to make it himself, and he decided against it. Now you see, when the young Baháʼís, he's a very young man, when the young Baháʼís will show this standard of Faith, this standard of conduct it won't be very long before we have not thousands of Baháʼís but millions of Baháʼís. Because this is what attracts people. They want to see it in action.
[54:11] Another example is a young Baháʼí boy who is studying in England, and he had his 15th birthday this year. And he was determined to keep the Baháʼí fast because he had reached the age of 15, he wanted to. So he went to his house master of his dormitory, the house he lived in, and he said "I want a fast. I'm a Baháʼí." Well of course you can imagine this Englishman just hit the ceiling and said, "You, 15 years old, studying? You can't fast. This is ridiculous." and so on. Well, he insisted. He said, "I want to. And it's my religion and I want to fast. And I have reached the age in my religion where I should fast." Well finally the man said, "All right, you can fast but not on the days that you have sports." And he had sports which were compulsory two days a week. And he said, "Those two days, you have to go to the dining room. You can't fast." So he had no choice. He had to accept. So he kept his fast and those two days he went to the dining room but he didn't eat. And he goes and he sits with the other boys at the table and he does not eat. Many a man would not have the moral courage to do a thing like that. And yet that was what this boy was doing. Now you see, this is what brings people into the Faith. When they see this standard of conduct, when they see these kind of Baháʼís in the world, with this kind of moral courage and integrity, they will say well, these Baháʼís have something that we don't have. And we want to be like them. We want to find out what it is about. And I think this was what will bring hundreds and hundreds of Baháʼís into the world all over the world.
[56:10] Today we have a great opportunity, I think, of bringing in people as never before. And I think one of the most exciting things is the way the teachings are at last beginning to spread in the south. You know, when I was a girl, if you called people colored it wasn't polite. If you call them Negro that was acceptable, that's what they wanted to be called. And if you call a man black, you were endangered of being punched on the nose because it was an insult. Now I understand that in American society today, if I say anybody's colored, it's not polite. If I say Negro, it's an insult and I have to say they are black. Well, I don't frankly care what color they are, but if I say the wrong thing, please don't be offended because it's just the vocabulary has changed since my youth. But I think that this is one of the most thrilling things that the teachings are beginning to spread in south. The House of Justice considered it sufficiently important to ask me to change a previous plan that I had and go there. Of course I was only too happy to do whatever the House of Justice felt would be for the best of the Cause, for the best service of the Cause. But I can't help but thinking, remembering I should say, that it must be at least 20 years since Shoghi Effendi encouraged the Baháʼís to go and teach in the south. It took us over 20 years to do what he told us in plain black and white writing so many years ago. And it has worked wonderfully because there is this great spiritual receptivity in the South.
[58:05] I think that this is something that must make us all rejoice and make us very, very happy that there is something happening in the Cause of God in America that has never, never happened before. For the first time people are beginning to enter in troops. The Master told us a day would come when people would enter the Cause of God in troops. They've been entering in troops in India. They've been entering in troops in Africa and in some other parts of the world, and now they are beginning to enter in troops in the South. And I hope that when you young people have your workshop and you have your discussion about how you are going to raise pioneers to fulfill the goals of your own plan, that special attention will be paid to this question of teaching in the Southern states. Because we should strike while the iron is hot. While we have this opportunity to teach, we should teach. And I would like to ask the friends wherever you go in the United States or anywhere else, to teach the Cause of God. Don't teach differences, because it isn't necessary, it isn't going to do any good. That is the old tune of the old world. Always the emphasis on difference, difference, difference, difference. And never the emphasis on likeness. And never the emphasis on unity. Just go and teach them about Bahá’u’lláh and about the greatness and glory of this revelation.
[59:50] The friends were invited to ask questions in writing, and if they have any questions, I think the ushers were asked to bring those questions up.
[1:00:03] "How specifically, for instance, is materialism breaking up the family in the West?" Well, I don't know you could say here is materialism and it's breaking up the family in the West. What I think you could say is that Western materialism is creating a mentality, and Western economic customs are creating an environment which is inimical to the family. The emphasis on possessions and on facts is so strong in the world today that it blinds people to other values. People consider that to own something is going to bring happiness. To own something is going to confer prestige, perhaps in the eyes of their next-door neighbor. People have a concept based on the self-centeredness that our materialism creates. And my observation is that in order to sell, because it's a selling economy, the Western technological civilization is a civilization which must create all the time more markets. And in order to create more markets, it has to have sales pressures, and in order to have sales pressures it has to concentrate on the individual. So all the time your whole civilization, in the radio, the television, ads, talk, everything is aimed on you, trying to create in you personally the desire for more things because then you will crave more things. You will buy more things and the company will make more money on things. It's perfectly clear the way the cycle works, but it ends up in focusing an ever increasing attention on the ego of the individual. And as I analyze it this makes people selfish and self-centered. And selfish, self-centered people are never going to be able to create any kind of a happy home, because that's not the way it works. A happy home is based on unselfishness and consideration, and not just the other way around. And one of the things that I have observed that I find so distressing, I don't think perhaps it's so true of young people of your generation, but older people, I notice in their marriages in this part of the world they have to fight. It's a sort of a prestige value. You mustn't give in to the other person. Your ego has to flourish and assert itself. And you're not going to let him get away with that. He's not going to let her get away with that, so you have to have a little squabble or a big squabble or a real stand-up fight or something or other. And there's this terrible sawing atmosphere inside of homes, this inharmony which is really based on people's egos. And in this way I think that the whole atmosphere of our civilization is inimical to the kind of marriage that Bahá’u’lláh would like us to have.
[1:03:25] "Do I consider sex relationships sacred between the individual and God?" Well I never knew God came into it. [Laughter] I'm old-fashioned.
[1:03:50] "Is there a Baháʼí law that is the spirit of true reverence?" The Baháʼís must bathe before saying their daily prayers, only certain obligatory prayers, but not before saying any prayer otherwise none of us would ever get around to praying. You suppose if I wanted to pray in an emergency in Africa, when I'm covered with dust from top to toe, if I had to wait to get some water and pray I might be eaten by a leopard or run over a cliff. I just pray. In fact I prayed in an awful lot of mud on this trip. [Laughter]. But I don't think there's any law that is the spirit of reverence. I think that the spirit of reverence is based on contemplating the greatness of God, the greatness of Bahá’u’lláh's station, the beauty of God. Bahá’u’lláh is called the Blessed Beauty, the Blessed Perfection. And I think as we contemplate this, as we look at it, we become aware of how infinitely great and marvelous and beautiful He is, and God is, and everything from God is. This arouses in us the spirit of reverence. It is a normal reaction to it.
[1:05:11] I have come to believe that one of the ways of deepening, obviously through studying the teachings and praying and meditating we deepen, that is quite clear. But my personal conviction at this time is that one of the reasons that Bahá’u’lláh has encouraged us and given us the privilege of teaching our own Faith is because as you teach, you learn. I cannot tell you how much I learned when I go on these trips. I learn infinitely more than the people I meet. There is something about the act of coming in contact with people, being asked questions, of seeing situations, of loving them, of being attracted to new groups, that stirs you up so much that you mature. And that process after all is deepening. And then there is another thing, you know ‘Abdu’l-Bahá said that if we want to give a talk about the Faith, don't work too hard preparing it ahead of time, turn to Him, turn to Bahá’u’lláh, to God in your thoughts, and ask that He should inspire you to say the right thing. And then to the best of your ability, speak on the Faith. And you have no idea. I have heard words come out of my own mouth that I could almost see the thing go out and say, "My goodness, where did that come from? I never thought of that in my entire life. I never heard it." It is part of the blessing of God that as you teach and you arise to teach the Cause, you find that the Cause itself, partially from the workings of your own subconscious mind, and partially undoubtedly from divine help and guidance, that you learn more and you know how to teach. And I think that that is one reason that teaching this Cause is a form of deepening. And believe me, if you seriously go out and try and teach this to other people, you will be astonished at how deep you become in the teachings. But then, of course, you should also study. You should go to summer schools and seminars and talk to the older Baháʼís if you have a chance. Listen to them, if not with reverence then at least with a little respect.
[1:07:42] Well, this is a very pertinent question for a Baháʼí youth, and I'm very glad that somebody asked it. He says, "What is a Baháʼí to do when he is in a situation in which his government tells him he is to kill? In other words, in a war." This is one way that we can teach the Cause. And I often use this example to heads of state and to people in public audiences. That although this religion considers that it is better to be killed than to kill, we consider any form of rioting, anarchy, revolution so detrimental to the advancement of society in any form that we must obey our government. But if we can appeal to a clause that will allow us to have exemption from bearing arms, killing anybody, we do so. But in countries where there is no such clause, we obey our government. Now whether a Baháʼí suddenly finds himself face to face with another man and each has a gun and he pulls the trigger or not, I don't know. I would think that that would be something between that Baháʼí and his God at that moment. He would have to react in the way that seemed to him the right way. And I think Bahá’u’lláh would find that acceptable. But there is no doubt about it that although we believe that it is the most terrible thing to shed human blood, we will obey our government under all circumstances. Otherwise, we will have nothing but anarchy in the world. And anarchy is the end of all peace and order.
[1:09:33] "Is there a limit on how organized our religion should get? Does religion have to be organized?" Well, I don't think that is quite a proper way to put it. You see there are two aspects to the Baháʼí teachings. One of them is a personal way of life. The redemption, salvation, if you like, of the individual, good old-fashioned salvation as taught by the church. Believe and you will be saved. Believe in the Manifestation of God for this day and you will be saved. It's the same old spiritual verity. Accept Bahá’u’lláh, let it change your life. Follow His precepts. Obey His laws and so on. This is an individual way of life. This is, you might say, half of the teachings of Bahá’u’lláh are aimed at that, our personal relationship to changing our life to God and how we should be in order to have a fulfilled and wonderful existence in the next world. The deep spiritual truth, in other words. On the other hand, the teachings of Bahá’u’lláh are the Kingdom of God come on Earth, and this is a social thing. You cannot do anything with bodies of people without organization. It is absolutely impossible to even have a hundred people and try and do anything with them. Even getting them into a cafeteria or onto a bus or beds to sleep in at night without some form of organization, because it is something that they're going to do as a group. It becomes a social activity, a joint activity. The moment you get into that realm, you have to have rules and regulations.
[1:11:24] Now the Baháʼí administration is to enable the Baháʼís to grow as a community of believers and to teach the Cause of God. When the Baháʼís had spent 16 years perfecting, more or less, mostly less, the administrative order he said, "Enough of this. Go out and teach because the reason you have been perfecting it was so you could use it as an instrument for teaching." If we didn't have the administration of the Baháʼí Faith, we wouldn't be here today. I wouldn't be talking to you. You wouldn't be going out to help win the goals of the Nine Year Plan and Youth Plan. Nothing would go forward because anything that is concerned with group activity rather than individual salvation has to be organized. But obviously you mustn't have too much organization because then you get something that is so bound up with nothing but red tape and more red tape, more red tape that it paralyzes, you can't accomplish anything creatively. And Shoghi Effendi has made this quite clear in his writings. If the friends will read the writings of the Guardian, they will see that he points out to us, to our national bodies and our local bodies a balance between these two things. The rights of the individual, the proper sphere of action of the individual, the duties of the community, and the representatives of the community who are of course the spiritual assemblies. It all has its place. And by the way, I would like to say that this book that I have written on Shoghi Effendi will be published within a month or two. And I think all of you are going to be very thrilled when you read it, not because I wrote it, but because you can't possibly read about Shoghi Effendi's life and what he did without having a much, much greater understanding of the administration and of the Cause of God.
[1:13:29] "Several of the friends in my home community feel quite guilty about the fact they smoke, although smoking is not prohibited. What should we say to the friends who smoke, especially those who want to stop smoking but has yet have been unable to?" Well, I wouldn't say anything to them. It's their business. Mind yours. [Applause]
[1:13:55] "What is the Baháʼí concept of self-defense?" Well, I don't know what you mean. I mean, if you think that I'm going to sit perfectly still and have my brains blown out, I'm not if I can help it. [Laughter] On the other hand, I don't think that I'm very belligerent. I think that those also require some degree of balance in the situation. And certainly I think that although we might rather put up with something against ourselves than to attack another person, I certainly don't see how we could standby and see an innocent person being attacked and not try and defend them. And birth control, I understand, is not forbidden in the Baháʼí teachings, and abortion is a subject that has to be referred to the House of Justice.
[1:14:41] They said, "Will you please tell us about the Guardian's statements concerning Baháʼí greetings? Is it true that men should embrace, and women and men should exchange a handshake?" Well, I think that as far as I know in the Baháʼí teachings there is nothing about people shaking hands as a way of greeting each other. You see, all too often we measure everything in the world by our yardstick, and it's not the only one. The Indian people, of which there are half a billion, are non-touchers in all forms of of social activity. They never touch each other. The Indian greeting is this... And I hope, my personal feeling is that I think it'd be lovely if it would become universal, because it's so germ-free and sanitary and dignified. [Laughter] But that's my own personal feeling. Now in Persia, the men embrace each other. This is their custom. Well go on, kiss each other all you want to in Persia, and for God's sake, don't do it in front of my non-Baháʼí Canadian cousins because they'll think you're queer. And embracing between men and women as a greeting is forbidden in the Baháʼí teachings. I said that this embracing, kissing of men and women when they meet, is forbidden in the Baháʼí teachings, there's a tablet of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá where it's forbidden.
[1:16:12] "The Guardian said in 'God Passes By' that the age of physical martyrdom is over and that this is the age of living martyrdom, living the Baháʼí life in contrast to the moral decay of society. Does this preclude physical martyrdom in the future?" No, I don't think it does it all. The early days of every faith there's often an intense period of physical martyrdom. Twenty thousand Baháʼís were martyred. It doesn't mean that there will not be a persecution in the future. That period when the persecution manifested itself in martyrdom has passed, as a period.
[1:16:51] "Why can't women serve on the Universal House of Justice?" ‘Abdu’l-Bahá said this would be known in the future, and it's probably a girl that asked that question. And it might encourage her to know that when I took in this point as a young Baháʼí that women could not be on the House of Justice I was very upset because I was practically a raging suffragette, and I thought this was outrageous, that women couldn't be on the House of Justice. But the older I get, the more grateful I am that women cannot be on the House of Justice. And I think it is a special dispensation of the mercy of God to women that they can't be on the House of Justice. But the Master did say that the wisdom of this would be known in the future.
[1:17:45] "What is the Baháʼí attitude towards astrology? Is it acceptable to the Baháʼís?" Well I think that... my recollection is that there are all kinds of things, for instance, palmistry and astrology and numerology. Many of these things have some truth in them, but the thing is that that truth is not either infallible or very large in magnitude. When we have the teachings of Bahá’u’lláh we've got so much more truth. Perhaps some of the things that will come under my, what is it, astrological chart for August will be singularly applicable to me, but it isn't important. I'm a Baháʼí and I'm moving in a much larger and surer orbit.
[1:18:34] This is a question which is certainly a very pertinent one. It says, "If alcohol destroys the mind, specifically what would be the effect of drugs?" Something concrete, you can tell. Use it. Well, I think that the sad part of the drug picture in the world today is that so many of our so-called authorities are just as confused on the subject of drug-taking and alcoholism and social evils and problems as the people that are involved themselves. I mean, they are thoroughly confused. Just because a man happens to be a doctor, or he happens to be a scientist or a research worker in some field, alas, doesn't seem to indicate that he knows very much about it. So we have to go to the Divine Physician and the Divine Educator, which is Bahá’u’lláh. And He forbids it, and He wouldn't have forbidden it if it didn't have very dangerous effects. And there are many doctors and scientists and educators who are in tune with the thought of Bahá’u’lláh and we'll explain why it is bad. And I think those are the ones that the young Baháʼís should turn to and see what advice and guidance and help they can give. Not the ones that are just as misled and deep in trouble as they themselves are.
[1:20:07] This is an interesting question, I've always thought about it myself. He says that "the voting age of Baháʼí is 21. And if the U.S. drops it to 18, will the House of Justice change?" Well, I don't know what the House of Justice is going to do, and I don't imagine that they would change anything immediately when it didn't make so much difference anyway and when it affected only a small proportion of the Baháʼí world. But I think that it is quite clear in the teachings of Bahá’u’lláh that the age of maturity is 15. This is a very, very interesting thing. According to Bahá’u’lláh, you can marry when you are 15, according to the laws of the Aqdas. And when you are 15 years of age, the spiritual obligations of your faith fall due. In other words, from 15 on, you are expected to fast. No one can make you fast, and no one has a right to pry into whether you do or not. But the obligation placed on you by Bahá’u’lláh in this ordinance which is a spiritual thing, is that you should fast. The age of marriage is a material law, a legal requirement so to speak, the other is a spiritual law. And prayer, the obligatory prayer also comes due when you are 15. So I think, personally, that in the future the whole of society will be considered adult at the age of 15. But that may take a period of adjustment, and it's not too important whether it's 18 or 21 or 15 or 16 at the present time, because most important thing is to get on with the work of the Faith.
[1:21:56] It says, "Tell us something more specific about how we should dress. I know Bahá’u’lláh enjoins cleanliness but I heard of a case when a Local Assembly demanded at a feast all men should wear suits and ties. What's the matter with bell bottoms or Nehru shirts?" Well I'm so ignorant I don't know what a Nehru shirt is. "Should we listen to such a resolution? Does an assembly have the right or authority to make it?" Well, I think that, you know this is a very important thing for all of us to remember. Shoghi Effendi said over and over again, he said "This is the religion of the golden mean." The middle of the way. That's why it's so suitable for the whole world. We are not people who go to extremes in anything, neither extremely this way nor extremely that way. We go broad and safe down the middle of the highway so to speak. Now, modesty is something that is obviously relative to standards. In Kenya, the police, if a Kenya girl, an African girl in other words is wearing a miniskirt, she will be taken in by the police because they don't like it. They consider it highly indecent. They can't very well arrest these blasted American tourists with it up to God knows where, because then they won't have any more tourists and they won't have any more tourist dollars. But the people don't like it. In many countries of Africa and of Asia, there is a very strong reaction. They consider it immodest and indecent. And I think that the young Baháʼí should... It's very hard not to go with the customs of your times. Don't think I was never young. If the wigs are all going to stand straight on end, you can't wait to get out fast enough to buy a wig that stands straight on it. And if it's this kind of a skirt, or that kind of a dress, you want to be in style. I know that. That's human. But I think that within a little bit of moderation, the Baháʼís should be careful. You speak, for instance about ties. I have to laugh. Traveling in this part of the world because when I was in Guyana, one of the Baháʼís who happens to be a Negro, the vice chairman of the new [?] Guyana National Assembly, he put on a tie when we went to call on the mayor. And he said, "You know, I shouldn't put this on because I will be criticized as being old hat. It's not the style now. It's considered colonial for one to wear a necktie." Really, the president, when we went to see him of Guyana had on an open shirt. That's the routine thing. And neckties is associated with colonialism. And you don't wear a necktie. In many places in the West Indies it's very frowned apart. You go to Africa, my friends, and you walk down the street of the capital cities of West Africa and Ethiopia, and you don't see anything but ties, jackets, British suits, polished shoes and not to look like that is not being a human being and a well-bred man. And the people that are going around with the shirts with no ties are the tourists. No self-respecting clerk who's selling shoes would be seen out in the capital cities of East Africa without a necktie on, a shirt, and a jacket. This is his dignity and he's jolly well going to show that he's as good as any white man that ever trod the continent of Africa. [Applause]
[1:25:59] Different customs, you know you have what you call here this Afro hairdo. I see some of them in the audience. I personally like them very much. I think they're very nice. You know, you won't see one in the whole of Africa? [Laughter]. Not one! It's the funniest thing. We have traveled 12,000 miles in Africa. You will never see an African male or female with this hairdo. If you know which place they wear it, tell me. And when I've gone and seen it there, I'll believe it.
[1:26:30] "Why does the Faith spread more rapidly in rural areas than in urban areas?" I think that that point is because they are still a little bit closer to a normal way of life. [The audio appears to jump abruptly, this may not be the complete answer].
[Applause]
