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Fall 1988/Winter 1988-89

World Order

The Practical and the Spiritual
Editorial

The Spiritual Framework of
Development
Holly E. Hanson

Bahá’ís Coming to Terms with AIDS
Edward E. Bartlett

Multiculturual Education and
The Oneness of Humanity
Barbara Johnson

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World Order

VOLUME 23, NUMBERS 1 & 2 • PUBLISHED QUARTERLY

WORLD ORDER IS INTENDED TO STIMULATE, INSPIRE, AND SERVE THINKING PEOPLE IN
THEIR SEARCH TO FIND RELATIONSHIPS BETWEEN CONTEMPORARY LIFE AND CONTEMPORARY
RELIGIOUS TEACHINGS AND PHILOSOPHY

Editorial Board:

FIRUZ KAZEMZADEH

BETTY J. FISHER

HOWARD GAREY

ROBERT H. STOCKMAN

JAMES D. STOKES

Consultant in Poetry:

HERBERT WOODWARD MARTIN

Subscriber Service:

RONALD W. BROWNE

WORLD ORDER is published quarterly by the National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of the United States, 415 Linden Avenue, Wilmette, IL 60091. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to WORLD ORDER, 536 Sheridan Road, Wilmette, IL 60091. The views expressed herein are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the publisher, the National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of the United States, or of the Editorial Board. Manuscripts can be typewritten or computer generated. They should be double spaced throughout, with the footnotes at the end. The contributor should send three copies —an original and two legible copies—and should keep a copy. Return postage should be included. Send manuscripts and other editorial correspondence to WORLD ORDER, 415 Linden Avenue, Wilmette, IL 60091.

Subscription rates: U.S.A., Canada, Mexico, 1 year, $10.00; 2 years, $18.00; single copies, $3.00. All other countries, 1 year, $15.00; 2 years, $28.00; single copies, $3.00. Airmail, 1 year, $20.00; 2 years, $38.00.

WORLD ORDER is protected through trademark registration in the U.S. Patent Office.

Copyright © 1991, National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of the United States. All Rights Reserved. Printed in the U.S.A.
ISSN 0043-8804

IN THIS ISSUE

2   The Practical and the Spiritual

Editorial

4   Interchange: Letters from and to the Editor

7   The Spiritual Framework of Development

by Holly E. Hanson

17   Certitude

poem by Cherlynn A. Rush

19   Bahá’ís Coming to Terms with AIDS

by Edward E. Bartlett

27   Vacations

poem by Anna Stevenson

29   Multicultural Education and the Oneness

of Humanity

by Barbara Johnson

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The Practical and the Spiritual

THE Bahá’í Faith was well described by Dr. David Starr Jordan, President of Stanford University, who is reported to have said, on the occasion of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s visit to Stanford in 1912, that ‘Abdu’l-Bahá treads “the Mystic Way” with “practical feet.” The great practical problems of our age seem at once to call for practical solutions; persons of good will get right down to work in their efforts to find them. But, as they get into their work, it happens that the data on which they must base their decisions are inadequate to the complexities of the task, so that either they are delayed in their quest for the most efficacious solution to their problem or they dash headlong into a course of action that may well prove counterproductive. Now, why are the data inadequate? As often as not, it is because the spiritual preparation for the task has been skimped or even skipped.

If one sees a task involving human beings and their values as a sort of mechanical process the steps of which have to be worked out, one is apt to find oneself partway through a stalled process, confronting unforeseen obstacles that seem to result from the sheer orneriness of uncooperative idiots. However, even to take cognizance of the human side of the equation and to attempt to solve it by reliance on the same techniques of critical analysis one would use in preparation for drilling a well, would probably result, once again, in an inadequate appreciation of the full complexity of the problem, with the same built-in probability of failure.

One learns, often the hard way, that prayer is an absolutely necessary prerequisite for practical action. Prayers, to be effective, must be followed by meditation on their significance, on one’s own disposition to act, one’s own humanity and purity of motive, and how the prayers contribute to them. The meditation, in turn, leads to a clear decision as to the action to be taken, and the firm resolve to do so, combined with the confidence that the power to carry out the act will flow through the believer.

Some persons—the fortunate ones—have always used prayer to get through life and its trials. Others, who may have had to discover the efficacy of prayer in adulthood, constantly forget that prayer should be the first step rather than the belatedly remembered last resort. But they eventually learn that, however good one’s intentions on embarking on a task, the chances of success are much improved by taking one’s first practical steps on a mystical path.

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Interchange LETTERS FROM AND TO THE EDITOR

THE GREAT English playwright George Bernard Shaw, who believed that humankind was slowly evolving toward a higher form of civilization and sensibility, used to describe that process as “the inevitability of gradualness.” The stunning change that has occurred in our century—from global war to innovations in art and science to the replacement of ancient social and political systems—might cause one to think that gradualness has given way to headlong change. Yet when the dust and tumult from such episodes inevitably settle, one is left with a situation looking very much the same as before—less a brave new world than a monument to continued deprivation and suffering for vast numbers of the world’s population.

What then is one to make of humanity’s present condition, and what of its long-term prospects? Like that of the playwright, the Bahá’í view is fundamentally optimistic. It perceives a society that is evolving, however haltingly, however slowly, toward a more humane, ordered, and universally equitable world. It sees in the present moment an historic opportunity to improve fundamentally the quality of life, indeed the chance for life, for those suffering millions. The principal difference between Bahá’ís and many other people of goodwill who share the same hopes for the world is that Bahá’ís see social and economic development as a process essentially spiritual in character.

The writings of Bahá’u’lláh, Prophet-Founder of the Bahá’í Faith, from which all Bahá’ís derive their guidance, establish a fundamental relationship between the spiritual regeneration of humanity and the betterment of the physical and social conditions within which people live. The transforming concept of the “oneness of mankind,” for which Bahá’u’lláh continually calls in His writings, is the only intellectual foundation, Bahá’ís believe, on which the permanent transformation of social conditions can ultimately be built.

Informed by the fundamental principle of the oneness of mankind, Bahá’ís have always sought to improve social conditions. The early Persian Bahá’í community, for example, established hospitals and a network of schools throughout the country. When the Bahá’ís of Ashkhabad, Transcaspia, built the world’s first Bahá’í House of Worship, they also established social dependencies around it, designed to bring educational and social services to the general population of Ashkhabad. To accelerate this traditional involvement, the Universal House of Justice, the elected governing and legislative body of the Bahá’í Faith, wrote a letter to the Bahá’ís in 1983, directing them to become more involved in social and economic development projects. Recognizing the “dynamic coherence between the spiritual and practical requirements of life on earth,” and the growing size and resources of the community, the Universal House of Justice advised Bahá’í communities around the world to incorporate the processes of development “into its regular pursuits,” both [Page 5] within the Bahá’í community and without. The goal of such efforts, as Bahá’u’lláh envisioned, would be to produce effects that “will conduce to the preservation of human honor.”

In response to the letter individual Bahá’ís and Bahá’í communities throughout the world thought anew about the meaning and implications of the principles identified in the letter and consulted about courses of action that could be taken. Since 1983 thousands of Bahá’í social and economic development projects, great and small, rural and urban, have emerged or been augmented around the globe as Bahá’ís increasingly engage themselves as loving partners with the rest of humankind in a search for practical efforts that nurture “human honor.”

The three essays in this issue are products of that process. The article by Holly E. Hanson, “The Spiritual Framework of Social and Economic Development,” as the title implies, outlines the structure of principle through which Bahá’ís view development as a spiritual activity. Her skillful elucidation shows why individual Bahá’ís feel such a sense of personal responsibility to improve the world and why, as Ms. Hanson says, “from a Bahá’í perspective, the Faith itself is social and economic development.” In the Bahá’í view the social and economic problems facing the world are so intractable that only religion can solve them. Her article offers a model that anyone involved with social and economic development projects might use, as she says, “to evaluate the effectiveness of a spiritually based concept of human potential.”

The article by Edward E. Bartlett addresses AIDS, that thorniest of medical and social issues. His essay, too, speaks forcefully and candidly to readers, challenging them to “grapple with both the moral and scientific ramifications of AIDS.” He sees the search for a solution to AIDS as “a spiritual quest, marked not by defensive dogmatism but by loving deeds.” His essay offers a model and a balanced approach by which individuals might “consider prayerfully and act resolutely” in developing an informed and principled, yet compassionate, response to the spreading global problem of AIDS.

Barbara Johnson’s essay “Multicultural Education: Building the Oneness of Humanity” argues that the “provincial educational models” of the present “must be replaced with a more sophisticated, multicultural approach that proceeds from the bedrock principle of the oneness of mankind and the inherent worth of individual cultures.” Like the other two authors, Johnson brings a sublime hope for humankind to bear on the most fundamental of development problems: How to prepare our children so that they might “flourish in the multicultural world of the future.”

The essays of all three authors offer a similar answer to that and other questions: The transformation of the world must begin with the testing of universally applicable principles in the arena of service.

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The Spiritual Framework of
Development

BY HOLLY E. HANSON

Copyright © 1991 by Holly E. Hanson.

The Spiritual Framework of Social and Economic Development

IN THE late twentieth century the followers of Bahá’u’lláh, the Prophet-Founder of the Bahá’í Faith, comprise a community as widely representative of humanity as any on the planet. One consequence of this unique diversity is that the Bahá’í community must struggle with every social and economic difficulty that now confronts the world’s inhabitants. All around the globe Bahá’ís are doing what they can to solve such problems. Bahá’ís establish schools, support community health educators, build bridges, and dig wells where their communities lack educational opportunities, health facilities, a source of water, or transportation. They plant trees and care for the planet. They promote racial unity, support interracial marriages, and work to reduce polarization among castes, tribes, and ethnic groups where racism, ethnocentrism, and prejudice impede the well-being of people. They educate themselves, hold conferences, and attempt to create opportunities that will uproot pervasive prejudices against women.

Bahá’í communities also attempt to respond to the problems of alcoholism, drug abuse, the disintegration of the family, and the despair induced by the materialism that characterizes both developed and developing countries. Indigenous peoples and minority groups represented in the Bahá’í community find ways to overcome the institutionalized discrimination that bars them from education and economic opportunity.

In short, Bahá’ís are doing what thousands of dedicated villagers and development workers are doing: identifying their problems, finding solutions, and working together to improve their lives. Bahá’í activities are distinguished, however, by an unusual perception of the development process. Bahá’ís believe that religion is the source of material progress and the most effective means for social progress. A global rehabilitation of society is the purpose of their Faith; as Bahá’í communities grow in capacity and understanding, they become even more involved in this endeavor. For Bahá’ís, social and economic development is a living exploration of the real implications of their religious convictions, an exhilarating confirmation of the transforming potency of their Faith. [Page 8] For people who are not members of the Bahá’í community, study of the Bahá’í approach to development provides special opportunities to evaluate the effectiveness of a spiritually based concept of social transformation.

From a Bahá’í perspective, social and economic development is the Faith itself. Each aspect of the revelation—its laws, its principles, the spiritual striving it evokes in the individual, and the unity of purpose it engenders in the community—is an essential ingredient of the material and spiritual progress of society. The Bahá’í Revelation provides the means to overcome the social and economic problems that afflict our planet. These spiritual tools have unrecognized potentialities; the complex and intractable issues of poverty and social decay all over the world will yield to nothing less. Simply put, practical and effective action to improve the quality of human life requires religion. A belief in the socially recreative power of individual action, a vision of the capacity and destiny of a unified humanity, and a means of uniting and focusing the energies of a community are the indispensable features of sustainable development; and these are all dimensions, or fruits, of faith. Accordingly, social progress is derived from the direct application of divine teachings, and the conviction that religion is the only lasting source of prosperity. All people— including Bahá’ís—must develop spiritual qualities in order to build the strongest foundation for economic well-being.

Religion: Tbe Source of Social Order

THE Bahá’í approach to development derives from the principle that each founder of a world religion, a Manifestation of God, is the source of material as well as spiritual civilization. Bahá’u’lláh stated the comprehensive purpose of every religion in The Kitáb-i-Íqán: “is not the object of every Revelation to effect a transformation in the whole character of mankind, a transformation that shall manifest itself, both outwardly and inwardly, that shall affect both its inner life and external conditions?” The role of religion in transforming humankind’s inner life is universally accepted, but Bahá’ís believe that religion also transforms its outer life; it recreates the institutions and systems of human interaction that define a society. “Religion is, verily,” Bahá’u’lláh writes, “the chief instrument for the establishment of order in the world. . . .” In another passage He specifically refers to progress, development, and the laws of God: “The progress of the world, the development of nations, the tranquillity of peoples, and the peace of all who dwell on earth are among the principles and ordinances of God.” The peaks of human culture and achievement that resulted from the civilizing influence of the laws of Moses, Jesus, and Muḥammad [Page 9] are described in The Secret of Divine Civilization, an essay written by ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, the son of Bahá’u’lláh and the appointed interpreter of His father’s writings. The same regenerative power can be seen in the truly revolutionary implications of the Bahá’í revelation.

The teachings of Bahá’u’lláh will create a civilization that differs from our own in every aspect. The oneness of mankind, for example, means more than harmony among peoples and a world government. It implies “an organic change in the structure of present-day society, a change such as the world has not yet experienced.” The implementation of Bahá’í principles will change everything about life, from the way people perceive reality to the routine tasks of an ordinary day. Bahá’u’lláh has redefined the relationship of spiritual and material reality; He has redistributed power in society, established new concepts of rank and social obligation, and created new forms of governance. He has revolutionized the concept of work, redefined the forces that can effect change in society, and created new social institutions. Even spiritual laws, which are the common thread of all religions, are transformed in the Bahá’í Faith in their assumption of the maturity of believers. Bahá’u’lláh describes the revolutionary impact of His revelation, through which “the realities of all created things were shaken, were divided, separated, scattered, combined and reunited, disclosing, in both the contingent world and the heavenly kingdom, entities of a new creation. . . .” Among the “entities of a new creation” are political, economic, and social structures, personal values, and patterns of human relationships.

The immediate responsibility of social and economic development makes it necessary for Bahá’ís to examine carefully the process of civilization-building. How does humanity move from an order that is “effete and godless,” “crashing in oppression, bloodshed and ruin,” to one that is “divine and redemptive,” one that “opens up vistas of a justice, a unity, a peace, a culture, such as no age has ever seen”? What is the process of transition? In particular, why should Bahá’ís invest their energy in improving the material life of humankind if the whole social order is collapsing? Bahá’í principles place the responsibility for social reconstruction directly on the Bahá’í community and the individual believer. Each effort to obey the laws of Bahá’u’lláh or to apply His teachings in the world contributes to the formation of a new society; it manifests Divine Will on the physical plane. These small actions have profound effects: they exalt the life of the individual, they are attractive to individuals troubled by the way the world is, and they demonstrate how people should live their lives and solve their problems. The Divine Remedy takes effect not only when more people embrace the Faith but also when the power and usefulness of Bahá’í [Page 10] techniques are recognized and adopted by society at large. The creation of a new civilization is an evolutionary process; Bahá’ís contribute to that process by setting an example that humanity can follow.

Establishing the forms of a new social order, step by step, through the power of example, has always been a responsibility of the followers of Bahá’u’lláh. “The companions of God are, in this day,” Bahá’u’lláh writes, “‘the lump that must leaven the peoples of the world. They must show forth such trustworthiness, such truthfulness and perseverance, such deeds and character, that all mankind may profit by their example.’”

Shoghi Effendi, the successor to ‘Abdu’l-Bahá as leader of the Bahá’í community and the authorized interpreter of the Bahá’í teachings, described the Bahá’ís as “Conscious of their high calling, confident in the society-building power which their Faith possesses.”

In letters to Bahá’í youth, the Universal House of Justice, the international governing and legislative body of the Bahá’í Faith, noted that the actions of youth would be “remaking the character of human society” and that it is within their “power to contribute significantly to shaping the societies of the coming century; youth can move the world.” The powerful attractive force that a Bahá’í community can exert, and the individual actions that make that condition possible, have also been described by the Universal House of Justice in a letter addressed to the Bahá’ís in the United States:

A Bahá’í community which is consistent in its fundamental life-giving, life-sustaining activities will at its heart be serene and confident; it will resonate with spiritual dynamism, will exert irresistible influence, will set a new course in social evolution, enabling it to win the respect and eventually the allegiance of admirers and critics alike.

These profound possibilities reside in the will of the individual to take initiative, to act in accordance with the guidance offered by Bahá’í institutions, and to maintain such action regardless of the myriad distractions posed by the disintegration of a society adrift in a sea of materialism.

One aspect of Bahá’í belief is that all the world societies have fundamental and irremediable deficiencies; another aspect is that the actions of Bahá’í communities can lead people in those societies toward profoundly different modes of life. They can “set a new course in social evolution.”

Bahá’í development activities extend the sphere of the dynamic force of example to the realm of social and economic affairs. While Bahá’ís endeavor to uplift the quality of human life, they are simultaneously trying to implement the Bahá’í teachings in a way that will demonstrate effective new methods of [Page 11] solving human problems. What they do to improve their lives is important; the way they do it, the model they present of lasting and meaningful social progress is even more important. The Universal House of Justice identified this as their most valuable contribution to alleviating the suffering of humankind:

The principal cause of this suffering, which one can witness wherever one turns, is the corruption of human morals and the prevalence of prejudice, suspicion, hatred, untrustworthiness, selfishness and tyranny among men. It is not merely material well-being that people need. What they desperately need is to know how to live their lives—their need to know who they are, to what purpose they exist, and how they should act towards one another; and, once they know the answers to these questions they need to be helped to gradually apply these answers to everyday behavior.

To provide people with the answers they really need Bahá’ís set very high standards for their social and economic development activities. They are not content to establish a health clinic, an adult literacy class, or an after-school enrichment program. They want to do these things in a way that demonstrates the spiritual bounties that come from service and the power of united action. It is not sufficient for a rural spiritual assembly, a local, elected governing body of Bahá’ís, to introduce sanitation in its village; it tries to carry out the project in a way that shows the power and capacity Bahá’u’lláh has bestowed on this institution. Bahá’í efforts in development must reflect the nobility and purposefulness of actions motivated by the love of God; they must preserve human honor. Gradually, as their influence permeates society, Bahá’í development activities will contribute to building the World Order of Bahá’u’lláh, as the Universal House of Justice anticipates: “In the process and as a consequence,” Bahá’ís “will undoubtedly extend the benefits of their efforts to society as a whole, until all mankind achieves the progress intended by the Lord of the Age.”

Religion: The Source of Material Progress

THE STRATEGIES and techniques of Bahá’í development are based on the principle that religion is the source of material as well as spiritual progress for humankind—a principle Bahá’u’lláh reiterated many times: “Religion bestoweth upon man the most precious of all gifts, offereth the cup of prosperity, imparteth eternal life, and showereth imperishable benefits upon mankind.” ‘Abdu’l-Bahá elaborates on the principle in many of His writings. It is one of the central themes in His Secret of Divine Civilization, where He writes that “the religions of God are the true source of the spiritual and material perfections of man. . . .” In another passage in the same work He says that “true religion promotes the civilization and honor, the prosperity and [Page 12] prestige, the learning and advancement of a people once abject, enslaved and ignorant. . . .” In a talk given in Sacramento, California, in 1912, He said that “Mankind receives the bounties of material civilization as well as divine civilization from the heavenly Prophets.”

To understand the challenging principle that religion is the source of material and spiritual progress—a concept that directly contradicts the assumptions of a materialistic age—one must avoid the habit of dividing reality into distinct and separate spheres. The spiritual world and the material world are not diametrically opposed. Humanity lives in a world in which reality is both material and spiritual and in which these two aspects of reality interact. Religion creates prosperity because spiritual forces influence the material world. Spiritual qualities and behavior enable people to take initiatives, to uplift themselves, to work together, and to create wealth. Being good makes the world a better place; it has both transcendent and concrete effects. Material society advances when the people who participate in trade, communications, industry, and government possess “the excellent qualities with which humanity has been endowed.” The many implications of Bahá’í belief in a positive interaction of spiritual and material reality are explored elsewhere.

The significant point in defining an approach to development is that Bahá’ís believe economic prosperity comes from spiritual actions. Love of God and knowledge of one’s true self inspire the basic spiritual impulses that are nec- essary for social harmony and progress. The desire to overcome the ego and acquire divine attributes enables people to join together and work as a community; a sense of self-worth and human dignity promotes creativity, invention, and the desire to achieve that fuel economic activity and well-being.

Religion’s first contribution to society is to define human nature so that each person can channel his or her energy to activities that will benefit the individual and society. To love God and to express that love through service to humanity is a spiritual law and the only source of human happiness. “The spirit of man is not illumined and quickened through material sources,” ‘Abdu’l-Bahá writes; “It is not resuscitated by investigating phenomena of the world of matter.” Humankind is wretched because of its selfish behavior, which is caused by ignorance of the divine purpose of its existence. Although the masses “seek and long for their own happiness, yet ignorance like a heavy veil shuts them away from it.” ‘Abdu’l-Bahá asks, “How is it that we are satisfied today with this miserable condition, are engrossed in our licentious passions, have blinded ourselves to supreme happiness, to that which is pleasing in God’s sight, and [Page 13] have all become absorbed in our selfish concerns and the search for ignoble, personal advantage?”

In order to be happy people must expand their ambitions beyond their own selves. Every individual is to strive to liberate oppressed people, to improve the life of humankind, to promote new instrumentalities for human happiness. “O Son of man! If thine eyes be turned towards mercy, forsake the things that profit thee and cleave unto that which will profit mankind” is Bahá’u’lláh’s first exhortation in a tablet in which He sets forth the fundamental laws of society. The religious impulse to love and serve fuels the advancement of civilization. Individuals attract spiritual strengths and confirmations; they find personal fulfillment, and their acts of service improve the life of humankind.

Sublimation of the ego is critical to the process of economic development. The human instinct of concern for one’s own interests is undeniable and vital to human well-being, for “self-love is kneaded into the very clay of man”; hence “it is impossible for a human being to turn aside from his own selfish advantages and sacrifice his own good for the good of the community except through true religious faith.” Thus faith transforms human nature. It encourages altruism by making the best interests of the individual identical with the best interests of society. Religion accomplishes the regulation of selfish instincts without diminishing human dignity or initiative. Indeed, both are enhanced by the principle that each individual is responsible for the rehabilitation of society. This is important because other methods of trying to make people behave in an unselfish way, such as coercion, humiliation, manipulation, and brute force often diminish the positive elements of human nature while trying to eliminate the negative ones. The interaction of the human drive to be selfish and the human drive to transcend self through the love of God is a key to understanding the failure of both socialist and capitalist economic systems.

The capacity to reflect, invent, and create is given to humanity by God. These qualities of the soul are the foundation of economic life. Wealth is produced when people use their divinely endowed potential to provide for themselves, their families, and society. In a civilization in which the perversion of human will and intellect have led to injustice, corruption, and human suffering, it is difficult to recognize the importance of religion in stimulating and enhancing economic activity. The present immaturity of mankind cannot avoid the spiritual reality; the inspiration and ennobling grace of faith exist even when most of humanity ignores it. “The source of crafts, sciences and arts is the power of reflection,” Bahá’u’lláh writes. “Make ye every effort that out of this ideal mine there may gleam forth such pearls of wisdom and utterance as will promote the well-being and harmony of all the kindreds of the earth.”

[Page 14] Religion also provides the prerequisites of economic activity by developing honor, courage, dignity, and self-worth. These attributes, which are essential to economic health, derive from active faith in God. They are emphatically encouraged in the Bahá’í revelation: “Man’s supreme honor and real happiness,” ‘Abdu’l-Bahá writes, “lie in self-respect, in high resolves and noble purposes, in integrity and moral quality, in immaculacy of mind.”

The positive, purifying, motivating force of religious faith has immediate practical applications in social and economic development. A spiritual assembly, a village health cooperative, a parents’ group, or any other organization, makes efforts to improve their lives only if they believe they can succeed. They function effectively only if the participants have the ability to be caring, patient, and willing to overcome personal disagreements to achieve a desired goal. “Spiritual principles” and “rectitude of conduct” are identified by the Universal House of Justice as the most effective means of social and economic development because virtue—in attitude and action—makes things happen. The Promise of World Peace, a Bahá’í statement on peace, describes the practical utility of spiritual principle:

There are spiritual principles, or what some call human values, by which solutions can be found for every social problem. Any well-intentioned group can in a general sense devise practical solutions to its problems, but good intentions and practical knowledge are usually not enough. The essential merit of spiritual principle is that it not only presents a perspective which harmonizes with that which is immanent in human nature, it also induces an attitude, a dynamic, a will, an aspiration, which facilitate the discovery and implementation of practical measures.

Bahá’ís believe that spiritual principles are necessary to solve social problems because religion reaches the heart of the matter. Religion acknowledges the positive and negative in human nature, directs human instincts for the benefit of the whole, and opens the way for individuals—the entire society—to transcend the limitations of self-absorption.

Bahá’í attention was focused on the upliftment of society by a 1983 letter from the Universal House of Justice, which correlated development with the fundamentals of Bahá’í belief. “The concept of social and economic development is enshrined in the sacred Teachings of our Faith,” the Universal House of Justice explains; it is one of the ordinances of Bahá’u’lláh; the institution of the Bahá’í House of Worship, surrounded with “dependencies dedicated to the social, humanitarian, educational and scientific advancement of mankind,” assures its central place in the life of every Bahá’í community. Development activities are a logical step in the growth of Bahá’í spiritual assemblies, “an [Page 15] enlarged dimension of the consolidation process,” and a “reinforcement of the teaching work.” Through their efforts to put Bahá’í teachings into practice in the world around them, Bahá’ís participate in the process of improving the quality of human life. The Universal House of Justice specifies the tools that Bahá’ís must use for development and the results they must bring:

The steps to be taken must necessarily begin in the Bahá’í Community itself, with the friends endeavoring, through their application of spiritual principles, their rectitude of conduct and the practice of the art of consultation, to uplift themselves and thus become self-sufficient and self-reliant. Moreover, these exertions will conduce to the preservation of human honor, so desired by Bahá’u’lláh.

The definition of social and economic development given by the Universal House of Justice implies a reorientation in Bahá’í thinking. It asks Bahá’ís to develop an awareness of the concrete utility of the Bahá’í teachings, to become not only believers, or Bahá’í theorists, but Bahá’í craftsmen and craftswomen, putting Bahá’í principles into practice around the world. New activities and new concerns are being incorporated into Bahá’í community life. Bahá’ís are learning to think about the power of their Faith in very practical ways. How can a rural spiritual assembly with no cash income provide health care and education? How can tribal peoples who are systematically denied economic opportunities create the conditions that will improve their lives? How can forty or fifty Bahá’ís counteract racism in a large city? To solve the world’s problems through systematic application of Bahá’í principles is much more difficult than to accept that those principles are true. In response to the challenge of development, it is not sufficient to acknowledge the spiritual validity of the Bahá’í Faith. An attempt must be made to understand Bahá’u’lláh’s techniques for social reconstruction, recognize their relevance to ordinary life, and begin to administer that remedy, one dose at a time, to society.

Bahá’ís begin to solve problems with their understanding that religion is the source of all civilization; it creates the forms and institutions of the social order, and it is the cause of material prosperity.

Conclusion

THE BAHÁ’Í approach to development is distinguished by an awareness of the spiritual basis of all human actions. Most development work concentrates on increasing the material prosperity of people who are poor, ensuring that they have the means to better nutrition, health, education, housing, and employment. The goal is to help people improve their own lives through assistance for programs, such as literacy training, immunization, and technology transfer. Bahá’ís also do these things; but, most significantly, Bahá’í development also seeks to effect both an inner and an outer transformation of humankind. Bahá’ís want to improve the quality of their material lives, but they want society to develop spiritually at the same time. For Bahá’ís, appropriate education and [Page 16] technology are useful tools. Rectitude of conduct and spiritual principles are equally useful tools.

Thus the process of social and economic development, as the Bahá’í teachings define it, begins earlier and goes further. Development begins within the individual, in the purification of each person’s motives and desires: The objective is not only to attain a better standard of living but, at the same time, to provide an example that contributes to establishing a new society.

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Certitude

A call resounds throughout the realms,

We wait, we long for thee!

The call is heard, the souls respond, echoing through eternity:

Bind us to the breast of service.

Purge us with the fire of affliction.

Forge us to Thy Will!

And let us serve humankind, our hands in soil and grime!

Let us go to render this. Oh how our hearts ache so!

Desirous of reunion, of innate association. Bring us close! they cry.

With ardor each piercing cry is heard

by the songbirds of these souls.

Yet how these songbirds languished,

their pleas so long denied.

Weary they returned to wait, till time and space would merge.

To take melodious flight on love’s two wings . . .

to the realm of Kings.

Where merged as one, with the One, their songs would coincide.

Entwined beyond the realms of time

as willing captives in His Love,

within the Celestial Nest,

their pleas were put to rest.

—Cherlynn A. Rush

Copyright © 1991 by the National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of the United States

[Page 18]

[Page 19]

Bahá’ís Coming to Terms
With AIDS

BY EDWARD E. BARTLETT

Copyright © 1991 by Edward E. Bartlett. This essay has been adapted from presentations made at the Washington, D.C., Bahá’í Center, July 1987, and at the Bahá’í International Health Agency Conference, Princeton, New Jersey, October 1987.

LIKE A HAND-FASHIONED Persian rug, the scientific, political, and moral threads of the acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS) are bound tightly together. To make sense of the AIDS-sociomedical crisis, individuals who profess a religion must first disentangle the religious warp from the scientific woof.

For Bahá’ís the personal moral position is unequivocal: sexual chastity and avoidance of illicit drugs. If these two precepts were widely followed, the AIDS problem would eventually be eliminated. Yet if Bahá’ís view AIDS only as a moral issue, they risk making the Bahá’í Faith myopic—because persons already infected by the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) will no longer come to them in search of spiritual meaning, because they will become insensitive or judgmental toward Bahá’ís afflicted with the virus, and because they may forget that the Bahá’í Faith is a religion for the masses, not for the few. Bahá’ís must grapple with both the moral and scientific ramifications of AIDS. Only then can they arrive at a position that combines the dictates of scientific knowledge, compassion, moral righteousness, and justice.

Consider a number of experiences recently faced by Bahá’ís in the United States:

• An active member of a spiritual assembly (the governing body of Bahá’ís in a given locality) is diagnosed with AIDS. The Bahá’í, wanting to continue to participate in community activities, shares the diagnosis with the assembly. The assembly, wanting to be supportive in every way, wonders whether and how to share the information with the community. The assembly first contacts the state health department to become better informed about the nature of AIDS.
• A Bahá’í whose professional work involves him in working with AIDS patients decides to “adopt” one of the patients to help provide emotional and spiritual support. Upon learning of the plan, the spiritual assembly in her community advises against it, reasoning that this activity could place the Bahá’í Faith in a bad light.
• A Bahá’í hears a report that an eight-year-old with HIV is attending the same school as her child. She wonders whether she should protest or send her child to a private school.
• An individual with AIDS wants to attend a Bahá’í meeting to discuss the Faith. The spiritual assembly indicates that attendance at the community fireside is “inadvisable.”
• A Bahá’í returns from his post in Africa. Although he did not undergo any blood transfusions, he did receive injections at local clinics. He does not think he has been infected but would like to have the HIV test to be sure. He wonders if his insurance company will deny him coverage if it finds out he had the [Page 20] test. He wonders what the Bahá’ís might think if the result is “positive.”

Cases such as these highlight the challenges Bahá’í communities will increasingly face as the AIDS epidemic continues its relentless spread. What does knowing about the problem of HIV add to individuals’ understanding of themselves and their relation to others and to God? I first asked myself this question five years ago. The following is what I have learned through my continuing search.

A Global Health Problem

THE EMERGENCE of AIDS on a global scale poses a major medical, public health, and social threat. Recent statistics from the Centers for Disease Control reveal the startling expansion of death from AIDS, which is now estimated to be the second leading cause of death among American men between the ages of twenty-five and forty-four.

On the international scene, the World Health Organization has estimated that over five million persons have been infected with the HIV. In several central African countries, where heterosexual transmission of HIV predominates, the spread of the virus among the technical and professional classes threatens future economic development. In North America, many Western European countries, Australia, and New Zealand, HIV has been spread mostly by homosexual and bisexual men and by IV drug users. As a result, the World Health Organization has established the WHO Global Programme on AIDS, which provides technical assistance to national AIDS control activities and conducts global AIDS-related activities, such as surveillance and research.

No other disease in memory has evoked such a powerful response from such a diverse range of interest groups—homosexuals, drug users, prostitutes, bisexual men, hemophiliacs, persons who received blood transfusions before March 1985 (when blood began to be routinely screened for HIV), veterans of the “sexual revolution,” health care professionals, policemen and paramedics, professional football players, and others. Because of the overriding questions of ethics, personal morality, and expenditure of funds, evangelical preachers, politicians, and newspaper pundits have not hesitated to inject their wisdom, too.

The Bahá’í Response

WHAT IS the proper response of Bahá’í individuals and communities to the AIDS/HIV epidemic? The answer necessitates Bahá’ís’ defining their relationship to the secular world, applying the principle of unity in diversity, and accepting the challenge of personal spiritual growth in ways they have not considered before.

The first answer many earnest Bahá’ís offer to the AIDS/HIV epidemic is, “Just teach people about the Bahá’í Faith. Then people will abstain from extramarital sex and drug abuse—that will stop the AIDS epidemic.” Although this approach is partly correct from the long-term perspective, it is superficial and insensitive to the current epidemic of fear— superficial because it ignores the fact that some persons have acquired the virus from blood transfusions and the blood-clotting factor used to treat hemophilia, and insensitive because it ignores the needs of those who are not ready to follow religious teachings or of those who engaged in extramarital sexual or illicit drug use activities before becoming Bahá’ís.

A more careful examination of the AIDS/ HIV issue reveals considerable ambiguities in judging exactly how Bahá’ís should respond.

There are three requirements Bahá’ís will need to pass through to respond spiritually to the HIV epidemic:

1. Becoming knowledgeable about the HIV disease.
2. Overcoming personal fears and prejudices.
3. Becoming a positive agent for a moral solution.

[Page 21] Becoming Knowledgeable
about the HIV Disease

THE FIRST stage Bahá’ís must pass through in order to respond spiritually to the HIV epidemic is becoming knowledgeable about the disease. This involves knowing something about the disease’s clinical aspects, about control measures, and about the unlikelihood of HIV’s being spread through casual contact.

Clinical Aspects. AIDS stands for acquired immune deficiency syndrome. “Acquired” refers to the fact that the disease is not hereditary. “Immune deficiency” refers to the ravaging effects of the AIDS virus on the body’s immune system, particularly the T4 cells, the “command cells” of the body’s immune response. As a result, the body becomes susceptible to a variety of disorders, such as pneumonia, dementia, cancer, diarrhea, and skin rashes—hence the term “syndrome.”

AIDS is caused by a virus known as HIV— human immunodeficiency virus. HIV is spread by three principal routes:

1. Exchange of bodily fluid during sexual intercourse.
2. Exchange of blood, hence the danger to IV drug users and hemophiliacs.
3. Perinatal transmission from an infected mother to the infant in utero, during delivery, or through breast feeding.

The irony of the HIV epidemic is that, although the virus can be lethal, it is itself not a very strong organism. It is killed by household bleach.

The Centers for Disease Control estimates that one million Americans are infected with HIV. What concerns public health professionals most is that only 10 percent of these persons know that they are HIV-positive, meaning that most may be unwittingly spreading the virus.

Once HIV enters the human host, it generally takes eight to twelve weeks for antibodies to appear. Of those who contract the virus the great majority will eventually develop AIDS. Once AIDS is diagnosed, the prognosis is grim—75 percent die within two years.

HIV testing (often referred to erroneously as “AIDS testing”) involves detecting the body’s antibody (a protein that counteracts a foreign substance) to HIV. The HIV test actually involves two procedures: an initial screening test, the ELISA (Enzyme Linked Immuno Sorbent Assay), and a subsequent confirmatory test, the Western blot. Although some groups have advocated wider HIV testing, it needs to be approached with caution because of the problem of false positives —tests indicating the presence of the virus where none exists. The number of false positives increases dramatically when low-risk groups, such as applicants for marriage licenses, are screened. The issue of bearing the cost of performing the HIV test on large segments of the population is a concern, as well as the ethical and logistical dilemmas of maintaining the confidentiality of HIV test results from the prying eyes of wary health care professionals and from the insurance company asked to reimburse the expense of an HIV test.

Control Measures. Until a cure is developed, the most effective control measure available is preventive education. Preventive education should emphasize that HIV transmission can be stopped by a variety of measures, including the use of physical barriers, such as condoms; reducing the number of sexual partners; and, most effectively, maintaining a monogamous sexual relationship with an HIV-free partner. Educational programs advocating such measures are being offered in schools, medical clinics, mass media, and increasingly in churches.

Physical isolation is unlikely to be successful because of the logistical, financial, and ethical problems in identifying victims and dispatching them to quarantine camps.

The Case against Casual Transmission. Many have posed highly creative, hypothetical situations, such as the tears of an HIV [Page 22] carrier falling into another person’s hangnail. Though such risks do exist, yet to date not a single case of HIV transmission has been traced to mosquito bites, shaking hands, hugging, swimming pools, being in crowded places, sharing eating utensils, sneezing or coughing, or contact with infected saliva or tears.

Several studies have examined AIDS patients’ families who cared for the patients at home and thus came into close and repeated contact with them. Even in such circumstances HIV transmission has been rare, occurring, for example, when a family member continued to engage in sexual intercourse with the infected patient. Scientists, therefore, have concluded that HIV is not casually transmitted.

Overcoming Personal Fears
and Prejudices

THE SECOND stage Bahá’ís must go through in their quest for a spiritual response to the HIV epidemic is overcoming personal fears and prejudices.

AIDS has been termed the leprosy of the 1980s. The enormous fear it generates has stimulated some to comment on a secondary epidemic, “IFAIDS”—“Irrational Fear of AIDS.” Once Bahá’ís become knowledgeable about AIDS, particularly about its modes of transmission, they can address lingering prejudices and overcome IFAIDS.

The Challenge of Unity in Diversity. A central Bahá’í teaching, according to Bahá’u’lláh, the Prophet-Founder of the Bahá’í Faith, is unity in diversity: “The diversity in the human family should be the cause of love and harmony, as it is in music where many different notes blend together in the making of a perfect chord.” One of the fundamental challenges facing Bahá’ís is coming to grips with cultural diversity and pluralism. For example, despite long-standing racial integration of many North American Bahá’í communities, many feel that racial unity still eludes them.

In the main, the HIV epidemic has affected homosexuals and bisexuals, intravenous drug users, and children born to such persons. If Bahá’ís are to stem the HIV tide or offer solace to its victims, they need to enlarge their definition of diversity. For example, homophobia, an irrational fear of homosexuals, is one such attitude that AIDS is forcing many to reconsider.

Strengthening the ability not merely to tolerate but to appreciate diversity will strengthen their ability to respond to the HIV epidemic collectively and individually.

Divine Punishment? Probably the most nagging question that Bahá’ís are almost afraid to ask is, “Is the AIDS epidemic a punishment from God, a chastisement for sexual immorality or for using illicit IV drugs?” The Bahá’í writings offer many examples of God’s punishing individuals and groups who did not follow His law. Certainly AIDS is a consequence of certain behavior, but is it also a divine punishment? No individual Bahá’í has the right or the authority to say that the AIDS epidemic is God’s punishment. The range of persons affected by the HIV epidemic—IV drug users, homosexuals, hemophiliacs, recipients of blood transfusions before 1985, spouses or sexual partners of such persons, and infants born to women with the HIV virus—shows the difficulty in making such a judgment. The question has no answer. Excessive attention to it could divert Bahá’ís from launching compassionate and effective programs to stem the spread of HIV.

Becoming a Positive Agent
for a Moral Solution

ONCE Bahá’ís become knowledgeable about HIV disease and come to terms with their fears, they can begin to consider, individually and collectively, the practical implications of a spiritual solution to the AIDS problem.

Collective Bahá’í Responses. Since the release by the Universal House of Justice, the international governing and legislative body of the Bahá’í Faith, of a statement on social [Page 23] and economic development, Bahá’í individuals and institutions have begun to forge responses to social problems. This process will be easier if they learn from the experiences of other religious organizations.

One Catholic university, for example, wanted to develop projects on AIDS/HIV infection. Because of the Catholic Church’s official position against birth control and a general reluctance to discuss sexual matters, the following issues emerged:

1. Should the university, which has a long-standing commitment to community service, ignore the epidemic because the scientific, ethical, and theological issues are too difficult?
2. Should the university only recommend sexual abstinence and thus run the risk of losing credibility and its potential to help those who do not want to become abstinent?
3. Should the university recommend use of condoms on the condition that the condoms are only to prevent spread of HIV, not to prevent conception?
4. Should the university distribute a brochure on “safe sex” developed by an outside group to avoid placing the university’s imprimatur on the materials?
5. Should the university hospital develop its own clinics for AIDS and HIV patients?
6. How should the university respond to the request of a homosexual student group for recognition and funds?
7. How should the university respond to the needs of Catholic clergy who have contracted AIDS?

How would a Bahá’í university respond to similar questions? Important similarities and differences exist between Catholic and Bahá’í positions on sexual conduct. Hence consideration of such questions will help Bahá’í communities to become stronger in the future.

Conflicting Desires. The difficulty that Bahá’í institutions experience in devising collective responses to social problems stems from conflicting desires. On the one hand, they wish to be associated with progressive movements and to demonstrate through deeds their commitment to improving humanity’s lot. Shoghi Effendi specifically encouraged Bahá’ís to be at the forefront of progressive movements. On the other hand, Bahá’ís wish to avoid associating with any endeavor that could become controversial or that is not entirely consistent with Bahá’í objectives and methods. “It is surely very necessary that the Friends,” Shoghi Effendi has written, “should keep in touch with the modern social movements. without committing ourselves, whether by word or deed, to programmes or politics that are not in strict conformity with the tenets of the Faith.”

The Dilemma of Political Involvement. The Bahá’í writings adjure Bahá’ís to refrain from involvement in partisan politics. Yet virtually every issue with important ramifications to society elicits some response from politicians. As a result, many Bahá’ís, preferring to err on the side of caution, maintain that taking any collective approach to the HIV/AIDS issue could be construed as “political.” As a result, Bahá’í institutions, perhaps unintentionally, are recoiling from direct interface with the problems that affect society.

True, the controversies that embroil HIV/AIDS have an element of partisan politics. In some states adherents of political parties have pushed for measures that could compromise certain civil rights, including the right to confidentiality. Certain politicians have been known to resort to a sort of AIDS demagoguery. Yet many would argue that the controversies surrounding HIV/AIDS fall essentially in the realm of science and public health policy, not partisan politics.

Toward a Constructive Interface. The comprehensiveness of the Bahá’í revelation and the myriad subtleties of the revealed Word [Page 24] suggest that selecting the right path will require simultaneous consideration of a variety of scientific, moral, and theological issues. Formulaic prescriptions, such as “AIDS is a punishment from God,” or “We can’t do anything because it might be viewed as political,” fail to acknowledge the complexity of the problem and the depth of the need.

At a practical level, part of the difficulty can be resolved if Bahá’ís appreciate the spectrum of options available. The central question is, “To what extent will our activities be identified as ‘official’ Bahá’í projects?” Below is a nine-point continuum of possible activities from the non-official to the official:

1. Offering prayers.
2. Individual acts of assistance to persons in need.
3. Individual participation in humanitarian groups.
4. Individual statements presenting perspectives that are labeled as Bahá’í—for example, “According to the Bahá’í writings, persons should refrain from premarital and extramarital sexual activity.
5. Statements by Bahá’í institutions, such as spiritual assemblies, that are circulated within Bahá’í circles only.
6. Statements by Bahá’í institutions such as spiritual assemblies that are publicly shared—perhaps as a letter to a newspaper editor.
7. Participation in and support for events (such as a public education campaign) by a Bahá’í institution.
8. Official cosponsorship of an event by a Bahá’í institution.
9. Initiating and hosting of a public event by a Bahá’í institution.

Becoming aware of a continuum of involvement can help in selecting the optimal response. Selection of the appropriate level depends on the nature of the issue and the strength of the Bahá’í community. Certainly, any individual Bahá’í can undertake the first four levels of activity. Commitment at the remaining five levels is suggested by the letter on social and economic development from the Universal House of Justice.

Forging a Spiritual Solution to AIDS. In the final analysis Bahá’ís believe fervently in the efficacy of a spiritual solution to secular problems. Certainly Bahá’ís feel a spiritual kinship with two statements that appeared in the Islamic World Review: “The provision of condoms, condoning and facilitating sexual irresponsibility, is therefore hardly the answer, even if they temporarily reduce the transmission of [the] AIDS [virus].” “Too little has been said so far, and too vaguely, about the radical shift in attitudes needed to halt the advance of the epidemic.” Acting on similar premises, many fundamentalist Christian groups have been lobbying the United States government to promote a moral solution to AIDS, particularly the need for sexual abstinence. Does the Bahá’í approach differ from the position of the conservative Christian denominations? If so, how?

The essence of the traditional religious as well as the Bahá’í position is premarital sexual abstinence and marital fidelity. Yet what most distinguishes the two groups is the Bahá’í insistence on deeds. ‘Abdu’l-Bahá observed that “Love manifests its reality in deeds, not only in words—these alone are without effect” and that “The wrong in the world continues to exist just because people talk only of their ideals, and do not strive to put them into practice.” Traditional Christians, on the contrary, often argue for their moral vision with little consideration of the practicalities of implementation. They are seldom interested in compromise. Rigidity provokes an equally unyielding response from other interest groups. This process is apparent in current discussions on abortion, where advocates on both sides of the controversy appear [Page 25] to be imprisoned by the rigidity of their own rhetoric, thus thwarting the task of finding common ground and a workable solution.

Bahá’í, while equally steadfast in their principles, are also driven by the necessity for action. The Bahá’í approach to a spiritual solution to AIDS should be characterized by

• A positive view of the nature of sex, which means considering such options as school sex education and AIDS education in the mass media.
• The humility not to attempt to impose Bahá’í moral standards on those who are not Bahá’ís.
• The wisdom to recognize that change usually occurs slowly. Salvation for those at risk of acquiring HIV will begin by reducing the number of sexual partners, using condoms, and switching to less injurious forms of drug dependency, such as oral drugs or clean needles.
• The willingness to compromise on details, while remaining steadfast on the central principles.

Thus Bahá’ís and traditional Christians have a similar ideological position regarding sexual abstinence. What distinguishes the two groups, however, is the dictum to follow ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, who walked the “Mystical Way” with “practical feet.” We should not advocate a rigid and unacceptable dogma that we aspire to impose on Bahá’ís and those who are not Bahá’ís.

Emerging Spiritual Maturation

INDIVIDUAL Bahá’ís concerned about the implications of the AIDS epidemic will want to take personal action. Apart from the altruistic advantages, squarely addressing the AIDS problem will yield benefits. Such efforts are a metaphor for

1. Demonstrating Bahá’ís’ determination not to allow exaggerated fears to dictate their behavior. For example, what will be their response if their children’s classmate turns out HIV-positive? Does a negligible or nonexistent chance of contagion justify the certain psychological harm of opposing school attendance by the affected child?
2. Reexamining lingering puritanical attitudes toward sex, thereby strengthening Bahá’ís’ belief in a positive, frank approach to the subject.
3. Gaining new insights into the equality of the sexes as Bahá’ís reexamine their attitudes toward homosexuals. Rather than viewing feminine and masculine qualities as opposites, Bahá’ís will come to see them on an androgenous continuum.
4. Delving into Bahá’ís’ most profound feelings about death and overcoming a cultural tendency to fear or deny death. As Dr. Martin Luther King reportedly observed, “A man who does not fear death has no fear.” Understanding our sentiments about death will help us to overcome the fear of death.
5. Learning to avoid judgmental attitudes. The example of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, Who radiated respect and love to high and low alike, can only inspire Bahá’ís not to judge others’ behavior.

As the AIDS/HIV epidemic grows, Bahá’ís will need to consider prayerfully and to act resolutely both collectively and individually. The solution to AIDS is a spiritual quest marked not by defensive dogmatism but rather by loving deeds. Acting on spiritual insights, Bahá’ís will not only redeem humanity but will also advance their own spiritual development. For many, AIDS is becoming a metaphor for mystical maturation.

[Page 26]

[Page 27]

Vacations

The Day of Resurrection, said the Báb,

it is a day on which the sun

rises and sets as on all other days.

“How often has the Day of Resurrection dawned

and the people of the land where it occurred

did not learn of the event.

Had they heard they would not have believed

and thus they were not told.”

Vacations happen like that now since I’ve retired—

no more a sacred space reserved ahead,

the terms set forth and honored to the jot,

a time assigned and planned,

ended by calendar and clock.

Now must I watch in secret for the sign,

the moment when the clouds above,

the stony sepulcre beneath shall suddenly

let me out to light, and airy stillness,

new in a new Creation, blessedly alone

yet consonant with all that I love most.

A moment, a millenium—

not to be measured on a calendar

of jostling inch-wide days.

—Anna Stevenson

Copyright © 1991 by the National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of the United States

[Page 28]

[Page 29]

Multicultural Education and
the Oneness of Humanity

BY BARBARA JOHNSON

Copyright © 1991 by Barbara Johnson.

Acceptance of the oneness of mankind is
the first fundamental prerequisite for reorganization
and administration of the world
as one country, the home of humankind.

The Universal House of Justice

The Promise of World Peace

IN The Promise of World Peace, the Universal House of Justice, the international governing and legislative body of the Bahá’í Faith, poses the primary question of our day: How are we to change patterns of alienation and conflict into patterns of harmony and cooperation so that a troubled world can move from an era of danger, anxiety, and war into an age of collective security and universal peace? Part of the answer offered by the Universal House of Justice is the challenge to see change as an educative process beginning with the inculcation of a set of universal principles. These principles provide a new intellectual framework to simultaneously protect and nourish diverse cultural groups while enfranchising them as members of an emerging world community. Implicit in the Bahá’í peace message is the recognition that such an intellectual restructuring requires a new approach to education:

Universal acceptance of this spiritual principle [the oneness of humankind] is essential to any successful attempt to establish world peace. It should therefore be universally proclaimed, taught in schools, and constantly asserted in every nation as preparation for the organic change in the structure of society which it implies.

If students are to flourish in today’s multicultural world, provincial educational models must be replaced with a more sophisticated, multicultural approach that proceeds from the bedrock principle of the oneness of humankind.

Many others share the view of the Universal House of Justice that humanity requires a new manner of thinking and a new approach to universal education. The constitution of UNESCO asserts that, “Since war begins in the mind of man, it is in the minds of men that the defence of peace must be constructed. . . .” Javier Pérez de Cuéllar, Secretary-General of the United Nations, observes that

the improvement of communications among the peoples of the world is essential. The structures of world peace are often built in the minds of ordinary people, based on feelings of security and confidence in a just and rational world. If people are insecure about their neighbours and do not know their nature or intentions, it is only too easy to generate fears, whether justified or unjustified.

Anne Janeway, director of the International [Page 30] Training Program at the School for International Training, an upper-level undergraduate and graduate school in Brattleboro, Vermont, for persons interested in international education and administration also argues the need for “cross-cultural communication and education”:

The movement of which we are increasingly aware at this time in the late Twentieth Century points to efforts to establish a new world order in which both the unity and the diversity which characterize the reality and richness of our world are recognized and appreciated as a constant challenge to us all. On a mental level it is not difficult to acknowledge that we are one with our fellow human beings around the world; we are also quite obviously different when it comes to the way we live our lives, view the world, plan for the future. To make choices which include the needs of others, especially those with whom we seemingly have little in common, is a great deal more difficult. We see the need for institutions and policies that speak to our essential unity; we also see the need for institutions and policies that speak to and value our diversities. We need at least bi-focal vision, the ability to see the parts as well as the whole, and we need to appreciate the fact of unity in diversity to such an extent that it will be possible to translate that appreciation into action, i.e., decisions for the future.

James W. Botkin, a professor in the Harvard Graduate School of Education; Mahdi Elmandjra, professor at the University Mohamed V in Morocco and Director General of the Moroccan Broadcasting and Television Services; and Mircea Malitza, mathematics professor at the University of Bucharest in Romania and former Romanian Minister of Education, have described in No Limits to Learning the type of education needed in an era when “unprecedented human fulfilment and ultimate catastrophe are both possible.” In their book, a major report to the Club of Rome, they state that “innovative learning is a necessary means of preparing individuals and societies to act in concert in new situations.” Acting in concert requires participation, for “no greater need exists than to learn how to participate effectively.”

Participative multicultural education can contribute to the cause of peace, social and economic development, and the resolution of a host of problems ranging from environmental to interpersonal ones. In addition, multicultural education helps to preserve the best of the past while promoting an “ever-advancing civilization” because it stresses experiential, interactive learning; is global in content; and explores the richness and diversity of the human family.

Teachers at all levels find an increasing necessity to be familiar with the techniques of multicultural education. Every collection of students draws from many cultures, even though some collections are more diverse than others. Teachers see increasing diversity among students as a result of increased travel, migration, international business, and other endeavors. They also come to perceive increased diversity among students by understanding better the students they have. And teachers are coming to recognize that students’ differences are strengths that promote the growth and development of the classroom group, not threats to its unity.

The questions that teachers in a rapidly changing world must ask are many. How does a teacher maximize learning when working with students from several cultural backgrounds? How can a teacher use the varied backgrounds of the students to stimulate [Page 31] learning about themselves, about communication techniques, about the cultures they represent, and about other cultures around the world? How do the disciplines of bilingual education, interpersonal and intercultural communications, and global education deal with these questions? What, in fact, is the need for multicultural education? Is the need broadly perceived among educators and policy makers?

Some of the concepts associated with multicultural education can be outlined, together with some of the ways in which those concepts can be incorporated in any classroom or into a project specifically designed to teach the oneness of humankind.

The Process of
Multicultural Education

AS AN APPROACH, multicultural education stimulates learning by using the diversity of the learning group itself as a strength to promote learning and to develop skills necessary for approaching social issues of the day. A true multicultural classroom would, of course, include students from various ethnic groups, races, religions, family groups, points of view, and other “cultures.” But, in a certain sense, every classroom is multicultural, just as in another sense every classroom is unicultural. We all share a common humanity; we all live in some type of group, usually a family of one sort or anorher; we all share this century in which together we face many challenges and opportunities. Multicultural education addresses the challenges of the day by utilizing what each person from whatever background has to contribute, whatever the classroom setting.

The hope for multicultural education includes behavioral change in individuals and in groups. As Daniel C. Jordan, former director of the Center for the Study of Human Potential at the University of Massachusetts, observed: To behave differently, we need to feel differently. To feel differently, we need to perceive differently; we need to see and hear different interpretations of the data available to us. To perceive differently we need to know differently; we need to have a more rounded view of the world. We need to expand our vision so that we include all of us. We need to see, hear, taste, smell, and touch much, much more of the world that is available to us. We perceive the data that validates our significant or habitual experiences. Our hearts respond to other individuals and groups when we understand, know, and perceive our connections with them. We act when our hearts, minds, and will are all engaged. According to ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, the son of Bahá’u’lláh, the Prophet-Founder of the Bahá’íFaith, and the appointed interpreter of His teachings, change requires “knowledge, volition and action.” Education that presents only knowledge works with one-third the available resources. Thus multicultural education should incorporate experiential learning.

John Wallace, director of the School for International Training, describes a poignant example of experiential learning. He relates his reaction to seeing, shortly after having written a paper on the effects of a drought in Bengal, the dead removed from the streets of Calcutta. He earned an “A” for his paper, but his experience changed his life. Wallace elucidates five principles or values that have guided his use of experiential learning as student, teacher, and administrator. First, intellectual study must accompany cross-cultural experience if that experience is to have meaning. Second, the true value of experiential education is “its force as a motivator” for study. Wallace considers this affective influence of [Page 32] experiential learning to be “perhaps the major value which it possesses.” Third, the personal challenge inherent in experiential learning can give the student

increased self-confidence, a deeper awareness of one’s own strengths and weaknesses, and a heightened knowledge of effective approaches to other human beings—all of which come from having functioned successfully in a strange environment and under a different set of ground-rules than one has been accustomed to in one’s own culture.

Wallace’s first three values address the principles of knowledge, volition, and action. To those three principles, he adds two more: Fourth, “the holistic nature of experiential learning” promotes an understanding of the “interplay of forces . . . which comprise that society.” Fifth, “experiential learning is soundly based upon what we know of how human beings best learn.” We learn by doing. The success of experiential learning is conditioned upon its being “planned, affective, individual, and thoughtfully evaluated.”

Experiential education is not just any experience. Nor does experiential education necessarily require sending a group of citizens or school children to the other side of the globe. Valuable as such trips are, they are not an option available to all at every educational level. But experiential education does require using available resources (including people with experience or upbringing in other places) to provide students with enough varied situations in and out of the classroom to enable them to begin to question, to feel, and to do. Those three very natural forms of behavior are easily stimulated even in a traditional learning environment. Detailed source books of activities, techniques, songs, games, structured experiences, films, video and audio tapes are readily available.

Experiential learning is not narrowly focused on experience only. Alvino Fantini, director of the Department of Language Education at the School for International Training, says that learning by doing is most effective when it is based on the understanding that

1. People learn in a variety of ways. Furthermore, individual learners constantly vary the strategies whereby they learn, in accordance with a variety of factors present at the moment. Although most learners are unaware of when and which strategy is being used, nonetheless they know when they are learning or when they are confused, which is one clue as to what works and what does not.
2. All techniques available to teachers must have some value, regardless of the Method from which each is derived. Because all techniques have some potential value—especially when used within an appropriate context—we should be careful not to exclude any.
3. Each student has a distinct personality, style, and competence, as does each teacher. Because of this, we will want an approach which permits the teacher—in conjunction with the learner—freedom to consider all of this in selecting techniques appropriate to a given situation.
4. Finally, although all techniques have some value, there should be some rationale for selection rather than a random [Page 33] choice from a vast armory of techniques (based on what is known about learning theory, linguistic theory, the teacher, the learner and the available techniques).

Psychologist and author Carl Rogers cites a series of Studies that confirm the experiential nature of human learning. When students “are permitted to think their way through to new understandings,” he writes, “the concepts they derive in the process have greater depth, understanding, and durability.” Students are motivated to learn to satisfy their own needs, interests, and hopes, more than to please a teacher. Effective learning is most often centered in life or work. Experiences with direct application to the student’s goals and direct participation by the student at every phase of the project facilitate learning. Educational programs must provide for differences in style and pace of learning, heterogeneous backgrounds, and varied educational histories. Finally, “students must be confronted by issues that have meaning and relevance for them.”

Leslie Hart, a brain researcher, reports that the brain functions best when students are given “many choices in interests and short-term strategies for learning and exploration.” Philosopher Alfred North Whitehead declares, “There is only one subject matter for education, and that is Life in all its manifestations.”

Francis X. Sutman, Eleanor L. Sandstrom, and Francis Shoemaker, scholars who prepare teachers to work in classroom settings with children from widely varied cultural and linguistic backgrounds, have adapted experiential learning techniques to the multicultural classroom. They recommend that the teacher “plan specific learning activities . . . for individual students or groups of students” and manage the flow of individual and small group activities. Such personalized instruction becomes especially important in multilingual classrooms, “a situation not at all uncommon in urban schools, and becoming more common in rural schools.” In addition to planning individualized or small group instruction, the teacher is encouraged to pose real life problems for the students, guide individual students to research different aspects of the problem, and facilitate collaborative problem-solving that incorporates each student’s contribution to the solution. Sutman, Sandstrom, and Shoemaker believe that teachers must “Organize and teach courses in a way that students have ample opportunity to deal with the resolution of realistic problems.”

Effective multicultural education engages students in active learning experiences. The process of experiential learning directly serves some of the goals considered necessary for education in our time. As students learn to set goals for learning, address real issues in their lives, and work both individually and in groups, they develop skills urgently needed to build a humane future.

The Global Content of
Multicultural Education

OVER the past century tremendous change has affected virtually every aspect of life. Notwithstanding gross imbalances, inequalities, and crises, living conditions have improved in most parts of the world. Longer lives, more food, and less disease have resulted in larger populations. The presence of more people and improved production, transportation, and [Page 34] communication have allowed and will continue to allow many, many more connections among people throughout the world. Multicultural education studies cultures from a global point of view so that students become aware of the human family as a whole rather than a multitude of “thems.” If students and teachers could maintain the lovely vision of our earth as it is seen from space, if they could see humanity as the soul or as the rational mind of the planet, they would find themselves better able to face shared challenges.

Robert Muller, President of the United Nations Peace University of Costa Rica and former Assistant Secretary-General of the United Nations, calls for global education in this global age. He describes the interdependent nature of both the natural world and human society, explaining that the current environmental and energy crises, food shortages, peace and justice issues, and many other questions of grave importance to humanity have been studied for decades by agencies of the United Nations. He believes that it is the “duty and the self-enlightened interest of governments to educate their children properly about the type of world in which they are going to live.” Moreover, he asserts that

A child born today will be faced as an adult, almost daily, with problems of a global interdependent nature, be it peace, food, the quality of life, inflation, or scarcity of resources. He will be both an actor and a beneficiary or a victim in the total world fabric, and he may rightly ask: “Why was I not warned? Why was I not better educated? Why did my teachers not tell me about these problems and indicate my behavior as a member of an interdependent human race?”

Addressing the United States Convention of Catholic Educators and Librarians in 1981, Muller described the almost infinite variation within the human family with regard to religious, linguistic, national, racial, gender, age, economic, social, educational, professional, and other differences. “Thus,” he said, “we enter the global age with more than 150 nations, 5,000 languages, scores of religions” and many other differences that can become sources of contention. Muller called the “first task” of the United Nations

to build bridges, peace and harmony between these groups, to listen to their views and perceptions, to prevent them from blowing each other up and endangering the entire planet, to seek what each group has to contribute, to understand their legitimate concerns, values, denominators and objectives, and to grasp the meaning of the vast and complex functioning of life from the largest to the most minute, from the total society to the individual, from human unity to an endless, more refined diversity.

Seymour Fersh, professor of education at Fairleigh Dickenson University in Teaneck, New Jersey, and scholar of Asian studies, agrees that we live in a world that allows increasingly more interaction among groups. This interaction among different groups makes it necessary to study different cultures because “Ignorance of others is not bliss and what you don’t know can hurt you.” Moreover, “Such knowledge can be of immediate and profound benefit and pleasure to the learner.”

The Robert Muller School in Dallas, Texas, named after the United Nations Peace University president, bases its curriculum on his call for global education. The World Core Curriculum Manual, written and published at the school to describe its history, philosophy, and goals, provides a comprehensive example of global education. The World Core Curriculum views human reality in light of the manifold interdependent systems in the physical universe and in human society. It describes how this century’s rapid increase in knowledge has revitalized human endeavor, confirmed [Page 35] the spiritual teachings underlying all religions, and provided a framework for incorporating vast amounts of new information.

The World Core Curriculum integrates the traditional disciplines into several key areas: First, the curriculum introduces the physical universe “from the infinitely large to the infinitely small” as the foundation of “true world citizenship based upon a responsibility toward care of our planet.” Second, the curriculum presents the ”quantitative and qualitative characteristics” of humanity, emphasizing “the beauty of diversities” and “the pervading thread of sameness that unites all.” Third, the World Core Curriculum considers humanity’s development over time to promote “an understanding of how the interrelations of national and international events are shaping the future.” Fourth, it explores “the four aspects of man—physical, emotional, mental and spiritual.” The World Core Curriculum seeks to provide students with the information they need “to become a healing force upon the planet.”

The Robert Muller School uses experiential learning methods in its curriculum for students ranging in age from birth through high school. The remarkable accreditation report written about the school for the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools praises virtually every aspect of the school, finding that “the fulfillment of objectives goes far beyond the ordinarily accepted criteria for educational standards.” Following a long list of commendations, the accreditation team made only two recommendations: that the school provide educators everywhere with information about its curriculum and methods and that the school maintain long-term records about the students so that the effects of the school’s education on their later life can be assessed. The report suggests that the school continue and expand its current work.

The Bilingual Aspect of
Multicultural Education

BILINGUAL education is a natural component of multicultural education. As noted previously, it is more and more common to find that students in a classroom are not only multicultural but multilingual as well. One of the goals in a multicultural classroom has always been to produce learning that allows children to function in the dominant society. While that is certainly a praiseworthy goal, it has all too often resulted in the children’s incomplete learning of both their mother tongue and of the culturally dominant language. Thus the children lack lingual competence in the mother tongue and the second (or third, and so forth) language as well. At the same time, they also can lose their cultural heritage.

When bilingual education results in bilingual fluency, the best of both worlds is realized. In addition to the obvious advantage of being able to communicate effectively with more of the world’s people, bilingualism promotes two ways of thinking, two ways of perceiving the world, two ways of being. The interaction of two ways of being increases creativity, increases the number of potential solutions to problems and potential pathways to explore. Although programs in bilingual education vary, my observations indicate that such programs usually include the following objectives for all students:

1. Communication skills (listening, speaking, reading, writing) in both the first and second languages.
2. Appreciation of both the first and second cultures.
3. High self-esteem through valuing one’s cultural heritage.
4. High performance in all subjects because of receiving initial instruction in the first language as appropriate.

Whereas bilingual learning is an advantage [Page 36] to all students, it is a necessity for those whose first language is not the culturally dominant language.

While students are developing language competence, during which time lecture and discussion are at first completely ineffective, personalized instruction and interdisciplinary problem-posing prove their worth. These teaching methods allow students to make more rapid progress because the task can be tailored to individual ability levels, because the problem is meaningful to students, and because peer interaction reinforces learning. In addition, when problem-posing education becomes problem-solving education, the resultant actions can actually improve a challenging life situation.

Sutman, Sandstrom, and Shoemaker have described the situations faced by many students in a bilingual classroom—situations that can become opportunities for problem-posing education:

Every minute of the day the teacher in a multicultural setting faces dramatic evidence of the physiological and psychological individuality of children, of the economic or political pressures behind the migration of their parents, of the subtle and sometimes sharp diversities of their customs and values, and of course, of the woeful blockages to communicative interaction in their strange new situations. The teacher is aware of their desperate need in coping with these aspects of their lives.

Sutman, Sandstrom, and Shoemaker believe that, in addition to bilingual fluency and pedagogical competence, teachers in bilingual settings require training in child and adolescent psychology, cultural anthropology, urban sociology, the linguistic base of the target language, and sociolinguistics if they are to understand and effectively work with their students.

Sutman, Sandstrom, and Shoemaker offer a very simple example of problem-posing education. Beginning students are asked to use a local restaurant to learn about an unfamiliar culture. First, the students select the restaurant and secure its menu. Next, they translate the menu into their first language. Then, they consider the geographic and agricultural reasons why members of that culture might eat foods unfamiliar to the students. Eventually, students conclude their problem-oriented study with the pleasant and practical experience of eating in the restaurant.

Problem-oriented teaching encourages the development of bilingualism, multiculturalism, and thoughtful, creative individuals. Such teaching methods do not remove traditional teaching options from a teacher; rather, they promote more effective use of traditional methods because the teacher’s overall widened repertoire allows more freedom to choose the best approach to achieve a particular result.

Until such time as the peoples of the world agree on a single language—whether already existing or especially created—to serve as an international auxiliary language, bilingual education will provide an essential aspect of education to meet the needs of humanity. Human beings need to be able to talk together to solve problems, plan for the future, and advance themselves both materially and spiritually.

Intercultural and Interpersonal
Communications for
Multicultural Education

MULTICULTURAL education requires a teacher expert in communications because every factor that increases communicative competency also increases learning. Beyond language itself, gestures; intonations; nonverbal expression; manners; views of reality, time, and space; even the connotations of shared words vary among cultures. Research in interpersonal communications has shown that just as communication patterns vary among cultures, [Page 37] they also vary among individuals in a single culture. Assumptions that anyone knows exactly what another person means can be very dangerous to personal and working relationships. Fortunately, teachers can validate assumptions by learning to write well, listen carefully, think clearly, and seek more information from published research in linguistics, psychology, anthropology, sociology, and communications.

Teachers and students learning together in a multicultural classroom have a unique advantage —each other. While individuals may lack conscious awareness of their culture’s communicative style, they are expert in its use. Sensitive teachers can learn a great deal about their groups through careful observation and gentle experimentation. In fact, awareness that differences exist can go a long way to promore learning about them because each configuration of students is unique. Teachers, using an approach that reflects scientific and scholarly research, can ask questions for which they do not already have an answer. When such questions are posed by or for the group, the result can be inquiry and discovery by the group as a whole.

Developing skills in consultation, which is increasingly the preferred method for planning and problem solving in contemporary business and administration of all sorts, also promotes learning within a group of students. Consultation produces better results because more information—including facts, feelings, intuitive insights, and points of view—is available within a group than to an individual. Consultation also produces better results because, when all concerned have presented their views, they have more trust in the decision and are more likely to support it even if the decision is not their preferred one.

John Kolstoe, who has studied Bahá’í consultation for over thirty years, calls consultation “a major tool for the coming-of-age of the human race, a fundamental element in the bringing into being of a new world civilization.” The adversarial system, he explains, that has worked for so long and was such an improvement over force as a decision-maker, no longer serves the needs of humanity. Decisions must be made that have an impact beyond the immediate dispute. Questions and disputes are complex, interrelated, and transdisciplinary. Only “consultation among both interested and disinterested parties can place all issues in a more comprehensive perspective” and assess the wider implications of an issue.

Kolstoe defines consultation as a process that produces a change to accomplish a definite purpose. It requires participants in the consultative process to express their views frankly, listen with careful attention to the views of others, consider the information available and the feelings expressed, aspire to the best decision for all, and maintain a focus on the question under discussion. While consultation is not easily mastered, it can be effectively used even during the learning process. According to Kolstoe,

Consultation is both the means of jointly considering something and a means of allowing an idea to grow. There is a unique blend of experiences, knowledge, minds, hearts, feelings, hopes and fears. In a condition of suspended judgment these combine to allow the development of an idea, a transformation which comes about when [Page 38] there is a sincere exchange. Generally the final result is quite different from either the original thought or any of the specific additional contributions. It is neither a compromise nor the simple addition of one thought to another: it is a new creation.

As teachers develop the potential implicit in the art of consultation, they also develop themselves—and most important, their students.

Implications for Action

THE NEED for multicultural education, in the light of the principles underlying it, carries clear implications for action. Multicultural education promotes mutual understanding, develops competency in communication, and provides the bedrock on which a new world order can be built, because it strengthens unity in diversity. As Kolstoe observes:

There is no major problem which cannot be solved or accepted if we have unity. Conversely, there is no problem of significance which can have a lasting or meaningful solution without unity. Consider any of the major issues of the day. The problems which today’s leaders are attempting to solve are perplexing. It does not matter if the issue is global, national or local; the right solution is elusive because there are vested interests and antagonistic factions seeking their own objectives. If those same people had unity of purpose they would be able to work out solutions which would prove beneficial to all.

Because its process and content are interwoven, multicultural education provides experiences that develop knowledge, arouse volition, and stimulate action. It operates with a global perspective, seeing individual differences as lovely variations that together enrich humanity as a whole. As the Moravian educator and theologian Comenius said over two hundred years ago:

We are all citizens of one world, we are all of one blood. To hate a man because he was born in another country, because he speaks a different language, or because he takes a different view on this subject or that, is a great folly. Desist, I implore you, for we are all equally human. . . . Let us have but one end in view, the welfare of humanity.

Because multicultural education builds upon consultation, it requires communicative competence. Effective communication requires that people be skilled in perceiving nonverbal communications, listening, speaking, reading, and writing in both their mother tongue and an international language. Communication is more than words; it is amazingly complex, yet all can master and use it as a tool to solve problems and make decisions. Our collective responsibility is to develop the tools with which civilization can advance. Again, Kolstoe observes:

The primary tool for this work is consultation. It is also one of the fundamental elements in the building of the divine edifice for the future. At this stage of development, consultation is crude and elementary. Nonetheless, it is the most appropriate tool for the task. This tool, necessary both for today and the future, is being honed, refined and developed while the process is going on. As a problem arises, an aspect of the divine scheme capable of addressing it is developed. The needs of the day trigger the required development. All the solutions potentially lie within the framework already established.

Thus multicultural education emphasizes the oneness of humanity, builds appreciation for the differences that beautify our oneness, and develops a consultative approach to problem solving.

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Authors & Artists

EDWARD E. BARTLETT is the executive director of the International Patient Education Council and editor of the Patient Education and Counseling journal. Dr. Bartlett helped develop HIV education programs at Georgetown University.

HOLLY E. HANSON, who worked for seven years in the Office of Social and Economic Development at the Bahá’í World Center, is a graduate fellow in the doctoral program in African and Latin American history at the University of Florida. Her book Social and Economic Development: A Bahá’í Approach was published by George Ronald in 1989.

BARBARA JOHNSON, who holds a doctorate in global education from Union Institute in Cincinnati, has been the coordinator of strategic planning at Southwestern College in Winfield, Kansas. Dr. Johnson has served as volunteer coordinator of curriculum and staff development for the Maxwell International Bahá’í School in Vancouver. She is also a consultant in curriculum development in Native American, global, and multicultural education.

CHERLYNN A. RUSH is a doctoral candidate in political science at the University of Wisconsin at Madison.

ANNA STEVENSON has turned from graphic arts and painting to poetry as her eyesight has become limited. She coordinates “The Mature Poets,” a writing group in the San Francisco area.

ART CREDITS: Cover design by John Solarz; photograph by Della L. Marcos; p. 1, photograph by Mark Sadan; p. 3, photograph by Steve Garrigues; p. 6, photograph by Steve Garrigues; p. 18, photograph by David L. Trautmann; p. 26, photograph by Steve Garrigues; p. 28, photograph by Charlotte Hockings; p. 39, photograph by Steve Garrigues.

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