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WORLD '
ORDER
JULY. 1944
THE ARCHITECT’S DESICN—Earl H. Reed ‘ABDU’L-BAHA IN AMERICA—Marzieh Gail THE SPIRIT OF INTER-AMERICAN FELLowsmp—Loulie A. Mathews A NEW HEAVEN, Editorial—Garreta Busey SOCIAL BASIS bF WORLD UNITY——Elsie Austin THE CARNIVAL Is OVER, Poem—Sylvia Margolis THE ONENESS 0F RELIGION—-Mrs. Charles Reed Bishop
WITH OUR READERS
15::
THE BAHA’I’ MAGAZINE
W orld Order was founded March 21, 1910 as Bahá’í News, the first organ of the American Bahá’ís. In March, 1911, its title was changed to Star of the West. Beginning November, 1922 the magazine appeared under the name of The Bahá’í Magazine. The issue of April, 1935 carried the present title of W 0er Order, combining The Bahá’í Magazine and World Unity, which had been founded October, 1927. The present number represents Volume XXXV of the continuous Bahá’í publication.
WORLD ORDER is published monthly in Wilmette. Ill., by the Publishing Committee of the National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of the United States and Canada. EDITORS: Gmeta Busey, Alice Simmon- Cox, Gertrude K. Kenning, Horace Holley, Bertha Hyde Kirkpatrick.
Editorial Office 69 Annorsronn Row, Wmnm'm, ILL.
Publication Office 110 an-m Avmz, Wuma, ILL.
C. R. Wood, Business Manager Printed in U.S.A.
JULY, 1944, VOLUME X, NUMBER 4
SUBSCRIPTIONS: 81.50 per year, for United States, its territories and possession; for Canada, Cuba. Mexico. Central and South America. Single copies, 15c.Foreign subscriptions, $1.75. Make checks and money orders payable to World Order Magazine, 110 Linden Avenue. Wilmette, Illinois. Entered as second class matter April 1' 194-0, at the post office at Wilmette, 111., under the Act of March 3, 1879. Contents copyrighted 1944 by Bahá’í Publishing Committee. Tide registered at U. S. Patent Office.
CHANGE OF ADDRESS SHOULD BE REPORTED ONE MONTH IN ADVANCE
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The Bahá’í Magazine
VOLUME X
J ULY, 1944
NUMBER 4
The Architect’s Design
EARL H. REED
HE design and construction
of the Bahá’í Temple conveys an impression of deep and sincere religious conviction. Like the Dome of the Rock in the Mosque court at Jerusalem, on the site of Abraham’s sacrifice and the Temple of Solomon; like the pillared holy places of Egypt, Greece and Rome; like Amiens and St. Peter’s and even resembling the solidity of Moses’ mountain, it signifies the Divine aspirations of mankind.
Here rich symbolic elements of fine and staunch material have been skillfully interwoven to form an impressive mass which unmistakably tells the Bahá’í story in terms of Architecture. Accomplishment of this end was the dominant task of Louis J. Bourgeois, the Architect. And he met it well, as one performing a prolonged act of faith.
So expressive is the structure that this observer has been largely able to derive from it
his limited understanding of the philosophical and religious background from which it emerged. It aflords striking example of effective cooperation of those who build with those for whom they build. Some “spell” has indeed been cast over the enterprise. A definite program, so essential in any building process, was presented, comprehended, and is in process of realization in a manner not often seen in this age of over-night construction “miracles.” The program is broad, fresh and vital—and so is its architectural answer.
But what of the needs stated in this program? The Book of Laws said, “Construct edifices in the most beautiful manner possible”; the Guardian said that around th e c e n t r a l edifice, “—shall cluster—institutions of social service”, and, “higher scientific education”, but “the central building will be devoted solely—to prayer and worship”,
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that it, “must have nine sides, doors, fountains, paths, gateways, columns, and gardens”—“with the ground floor, galleries and domes.” And finally, “Thus science will be the handmaid of religion, both showering their material and spiritual gifts on all humanity”. Such are the bare outlines of a noble architectural program.
During forty years, so much of it has been accomplished in a planned and orderly fashion, as to leave little doubt but that in good time, the complete vision will be actualized. By 1944, as required, the fabric has been erected and the exterior finished as well. The manner of doing has called forth admiration on every side. Without world wide support and sacrifice this would not have been possible—many, like the humble shopman in distant India who gave his sleeping mat, have contributed in free will fashion.
Hundreds of minds and hands have been utilized in the building of the Temple—Architects’, Engineers’, Builders’, Sculptors’, skilled Craftsmen’s and Labourers’. Last but not least the members of the Faith itself, acting through their democratically constituted Executive Committee should he mentioned, numbering five thousand active workers in
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North America alone. Each has had a share in developing this important regional home of a universal religious concept.
By 1909 the Wilmette site had been purchased. It is admirably suited to effective carrying out of the central portion of the program. Free views are afforded of the nine sided structure from many directions and it is displayed to full advantage. Processes of architectural planning have been adequate to produce a satisfying mass and at the same time a functional result. The first floor was wisely raised high above Lake Michigan and .adjoining streets so that the dome, soaring one hundred sixty one
‘feet above it, becomes a land mark of great distinction, dominating the region. This also made possible the securing of extensive floor areas in the ground floor for auditorium, radiating alcoves and utilities, without destroying the simple and powerful effect of the domed Hall of Worship. Technological advances in ventilation, air conditioning and lighting have greatly extended the potentialities for use of this subterranean space.
This observer well remembers
first seeing, about 1920, the large
plaster model of the Temple
which had been prepared to
present the architect’s concep
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tion. Like many fellow architects he was struck by the originality of the design and the bold beauty of the dome. A fine design inevitably undergoes processes of modification and refinement during its developmental stages. The Temple was no exception. The thinning down of its girth at the behest of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá was an act of technical intelligence, which at one stroke assured a soaring grace to the structure, eliminated unneeded space and reduced costs of construction to a practicable basis.
The same doubts assailed this observer as many others regarding the novel axial relationship of the inviting segmented entrances with the central mass behind—for passage to the Hall of Worship is efiected directly toward and through each of the nine, four pointed bases, of the superstructure supports. But rigid technical investigation and the judgment of passing time have confirmed the correctness of this disposition of the encircling entrance vestibule mass. Through it the edifice gains a most unusual quality of aliveness.
He remarked year by year, the successive steps of construction—the sinkingr of the caisson wells to bed rock in 1921, the
completion of the fort-Iike lower
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portion containing the auditorium, and then of upper portions and the galleries. Finally the dome itself was raised and received its distinguished ornamentation. Not until recently did close examination reveal to this observer that the best known building methods and materials had been applied to assure long life and continued comeliness to this unique structure.
In common with other religious buildings, Bahá’í Temple includes in its composition many symbolisms. Intertwined curved forms signifying cosmic unity; the out-giving meanings of the many fine sculptured pierced openings; sides numbered to the greatest digit for nine world religions and eighteen encircling steps; inwrought swastika, cross, crescent and star; carved utterances such as “The earth is but one country and mankind its citizens.” Diverse motives of historic styles have been employed. High flung, above all, are the pointed segmental ribs of the dome, lending spiritual character to the whole in a fashion heretofore untried.
A beautiful design ignobly executed would have constituted a negation of the principles underlying the Bahá’í Faith. But the
Temple structure, a work of the
late Major H. J. Burt, was skill
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fully and solidly designed in harmony with the architect’s intent. The Hall of Worship, though incomplete, is already impressive with its exposed, rhythmical, concrete members. Such stark structure is much admired by modems today. Yet the practical policies adopted for the Temple, require that it be clothed in richer material to bring human scale to its vast volume and an atmosphere of divine worship through subtly controlled lighting, modulated space enclosure, and color.
The architectural committee, of which Mr. Allen B. McDaniel has long been a member, made a most fortunate move when it chose for the exterior, the brilliant white, cast-concrete product, of the Earley Studio. How its quartz aggregate was developed and the steps of its modelling, casting and ingenious attachment to the structure were worked out form a fascinating chapter of the history of the building of the Temple. This observer is not aware of the existence of a finer example of cast-concrete application than the present one. By way of appraisal, one has only to examine the perfection of the encircling steps, each laid onehalf inch from the next for drainage, and allowance for ex WORLD ORDER
pansion, as are all other cast sections. In the dome they are ten feet square in places, carefully reinforced with steel, here as everywhere else, and they weigh up to three and one-half tons. As completion stages are entered upon, many complex problems of material selection will be encountered—may the committee be equally successful with these.
In the not too distant future, judging from the astonishing growth rate of membership in the Faith, numerous other architectural problems of more general nature must also be met and solved. For instance that of a landscape setting in order to merge the monumental domed mass of the Temple into its small scale suburban location; the arranging of entrance approaches and most important of all, the location and disposition of social service and educational elements in completion of the ensemble. That decisions in these matters will be wisely made as to order and method, also seems certain.
No attempt has or will be made here to attach a label of historic style to Bahá’í Temple. It is vital and universal in spirit, befittingly Oriental in its intricacy of treatment, and the dome ornament is vigorously modern. A modest statement by
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the architect contains this passage, “those structural lines which originated in the faith of all religions are the same but so covered over are they with decoration picturing creed upon creed and superstition after superstition, that we must needs lay them aside and create a new form of ornament.” Thus did he succeed in weaving into the Temple a notable expression of “unity of all religious mankind”, creating thereby a monument to universal peace among men. Louis J. Bourgeois passed away just before the starting of the work on the superstructure in 1930. He had completed his design, including full-sized drawings of remarkable accuracy, we are told. Some reached a length of one hundred nine feet and involved tremendous effort. From his studio home on Lake Michigan, just east of the Temple, he had hoped to enjoy the supreme satisfaction of an architect—that
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of viewing day by day, the progressive realization of his architectural dreams.
F rench Canadian by birth and trained in Paris, he had assisted Louis H. Sullivan, the Chicago master, and other architects, erected churches in Canada, and participated in the Hague Peace Palace competition during an active professional life. He was a member of the Bahá’í Faith and the design of the Temple was his culminating work. In its interest and in order to consult with the Leader of the Faith, he made a pilgrimage to Palestine where he left some original drawings. His vivid spirit lives on Within these walls which he never saw. A fellow architect feels it a privilege to pay Louis J. Bourgeois tribute on the occasion of the Centenary of the Bahá’í Faith which he served so well.
Address delivered on the program of the Bahá’í Centenary, May 19-25, 1944.
When the Mashriqu’l-Adhkár is accomplished, when the lights are emanating therefrom, the righteous ones are presenting themselves therein, . . . . then the believers shall rejoice, the hearts shall be dilated and overflow with the love of the All-living and Self—existent God. The people shall hasten to worship in that heavenly Temple, the fragrances of God will be elevated, the divine teachings will be established in the hearts like the establishment of the Spirit in mankind; the people will then stand firm in the
Cause of your Lord, the Merciful.
——‘ABDU’L-BAHA
‘Abdu’l-Bahá in America
MARZIEH GAIL
NE of the poems of William
Blake centers around the legend that Jesus visited the West. This poem has been set to music and Paul Robeson sings it unforgettahly. Blake says among other things: “And did those feet in ancient time Walk upon England’s mountain green? . . . And did the Countenance Divine Shine forth upon our clouded hills?”
Almost in our time, a world faith has been born. One of the Central Figures of this faith journeyed to the West. ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s western journey will mean more and more to this hemisphere and to the whole world, as the years go by.
‘Abdu’l-Bahá sailed on the Cedric from Alexandria, and He reached New York April 11, 1912. The reporters went aboard the Cedric at quarantine. The ship was held up several hours because there was smallpox and some typhoid aboard. They found the Master 011 the upper deck, standing where He could see the pilot; one of the interviewers, Wendell‘ Phillips Dodge, wrote an especially fine feature article which the As sociated Press later throughout the world.
‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s face, the account says, “was light itself.” He was “strongly and solidly built . . . alert and active . . . His head thrown back and splendidly poised . . . A profusion of iron grey hair bursting out at the sides of the turban and hanging long upon the neck; a
. . massive head . . . remarkably wide aeross the forehead and temples . . .” He was wearing a long black robe over a second robe of light tan, and His turban was pure white.
‘Abdu’l-Bahá was always at home with everyone. When the reporters approached Him He talked to them about newspapers. He said: “There are good and bad newspapers. Those which . . . hold the mirror up to truth, are like the sun: they light the world. . . .”
During the crossing, the Master had spent much of His time standing beside the wireless operator. He was greatly interested in modern inventions; He was to say: “Science is not material; it is Divine . . . every other blessing is temporary. Science
spread
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is a blessing which man does not have to give up.”
The reporters were pleased when ‘Abdu’l-Bahá told them a story about a pilgrim going to Jerusalem; ‘Abdu’l-Bahá had said to the pilgrim that love for God should be to him as a telegraph wire, one end in the heavenly kingdom, the other in his heart. The pilgrim answered that his telegraph wire had broken down. The Master had replied: “Then you will have to use wireless telegraphy.”
There was a memorable moment when the Cedric passed alongside the Statue of Liberty. As you know, the Statue seems almost a living presence. There is a definite feeling of holiness about it, because it embodies the hope of so many millions of people around the planet. ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, standing on the deck before it, “held His arms wide . . . in salutation and said, ‘There is the new world’s symbol of liberty and freedom. After being forty years a prisoner I can tell you that freedom is not a matter of place. It is a condition . . When one is released from the prison of self, that is indeed a release.’ ”
The reporters asked Him about women’s suffrage. He told them that women should be given the same advantages as
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men—that if you had to choose between educating a boy and a girl, educate the girl—that even physical inequalities are due to custom and training. He added that the world of tomorrow will be much more a woman’s world than now, because “the spiritual qualities . . . are gaining ascendancy.”
’All this time, and since early morning, hundreds of Bahá’ís had been waiting on the pier. ‘Abdu’l-Bahá did not wish a public welcome, and when the ship docked, He sent word that they should meet Him that aft ernoon at the home of Mr. and Mrs. Edward B. Kinney.
In looking over the records of that journey, we find that the American clergy, both rabbis and ministers, gave ‘Abdu’l-Bahá a special welcome and paid Him many tributes. A few sacrificed their pulpits to become declared Bahá’ís.
-His first public talk in America took place in a church. It was the Church of the Ascension on lower F ifth Avenue in New York. This old church is open day and night, and some of us like to go there and remember the days of the Master, because His presence is always immediate there. A light always burns on the altar between two white candles. There is a low,
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carved wooden pulpit. The stained glass is aquamarine and amber, draped Gospel figures and sky and blossoms; much pale gold, and an Oriental feeling; pale gold organ pipes, like bars of sunlight moving into the shadows. The rector, Percy Stickney Grant, said when he introduced ‘Abdu’l-Bahá: “In Him we see a master of the things of the spirit.”
Another early talk was at the Bowery Mission in New York. ‘Abdu’l-Bahá told the poor that they were His companions. He told them that Jesus lived in the fields, exposed to rain and cold. He said happiness does not depend on wealth. At the close He shook hands with each of the three or four hundred men present and gave each some pieces of silver, so that none of them went without food and a bed that night. ‘Abdu’LBahá Himself was poor to the end of His life, because He gave everything away. During His last night on earth, they wanted to change His night robe to cool Him from the fever; they looked for His other robe, but He had none because He had given it away.
Soon after coming to America the Master visited Washington. He was greeted at the railway station by Persia’s envoy. Banished from His native land,
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‘Abdu’l-Bahá was nevertheless
welcomed across the world by Persia’s representative.
In Washington many leading personalities of the day were presented to the Master at the home of Mr. and Mrs. Parsons and also at the Persian Legation. The Red Cross was having its ninth international meeting, and its Secretary, Miss Mabel Boardman, generally left her office only to consult with President Taft, but she came to the Legation to meet ‘Abdu’l-Bahá; among others present at this reception were Admiral Peary, just back from the North Pole and the celebrity of the hour, and Alexander Graham Bell, inventor of the telephone. The Master met each one and said something specially directed to each. To Admiral Peary He said, smiling: “You have been afar off, in those northern regions. What did you find there, except ice and cold? If you journey in the regions of heaven, you will find the Divine Presence.”
Alexander Graham Bell was
so impressed by the Master that
he invited Him to attend a
Wednesday night symposium at
the Bell home, where every
available scientist of note was a
frequent guest. In the course of
His talk there, the Master said
that the telephone was vitally im
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portant, but that His own work was to teach men how to communicate with God.
In Washington, ‘Abdu’l-Bahá also spoke to over one thousand of the faculty and students at Howard University. He always seemed happiest when both Negro and white were present, as on this occasion. The audience listened hreathlessly. His talk was “followed by a positive ovation and a recall.”
‘Abdu’l-Bahá a l w a y s approached the question of human varieties without sentimentality. He simply declared that all human beings are made of one substance. That day at Howard He said: “Today I am most happy . . . I see the white and colored people together. In the estimation of God there is no distinction of color; all are one in the color . . . of servitude to Him . . . I pray in your behalf that there shall be no name other
than that of humanity among you.”
There was a famous children’s meeting held in Washington, typical of many that followed. (The Master had time for the children. One child printed a letter to Him, and He answered it on the back, in His own hand, and returned it to the family to keep.) He blessed and embraced the children and gave
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them gifts: rock candy, or perhaps an envelope full of flower petals. He taught the giving of presents. A Bahá’í who sat outside His door told me that from dawn till midnight, people would stream in with fruit or flowers, and each person would leave with some gift another had brought.
Costly gifts He would not accept. He did not permit the American Bahá’ís to pay His expenses or to give Him things. He said you should even shake the dust of a town off your shoes and not carry it away with you.
Late one afternoon in Washington He said: “Today from morning until this moment, I have been speaking. F rom dawn even until now.” Looking back, we wonder how His body could bear the load. In New York alone, during the se'venty-nine days He was there, He made public addresses in, or formal Visits to, fifty-five different places. He was sixty-eight; He
‘ had been a prisoner forty years.
Once He said to Juliet Thompson: “I work by the confirmation of the Holy Spirit. I do not work by hygienic laws. If I did I would get nothing done.” That afternoon, He spoke of the sinking of the Titanic; He was grieved that some of His fellowpassengers had transferred at Naples, from the Cedric to the
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Titanic. He said: “At first it is very difficult to welcome death.” Then He told them: “These things take place sometimes that men may know that there is a Protector, and that is God . . . may know that He is thereal Keeper.”
In Chicago ‘Abdu’l-Bahá spoke before the Fourth Annual Convention of the National Convention for the Advancement of Colored People. He said that being made in the image and likeness of God was not meant in a physical sense, but that “the perfections of God, the divine virtues, are reflected . . . in the human reality.” He spoke at Hull House, saying “There is need of a superior power to overcome human prejudices. . .”
He addressed the Federation of
Women’s Clubs and the Theosophical Society.
A photograph shows ‘Abdu’l-Bahá here, on this ground, laying the cornerstone of this Temple. The Master is seated, perfectly natural and at ease, holding a wooden implement of some kind. Every one in the' picture looks serious, and aware. In the corner you can see Lua, the Mother Teacher of the West. The Master broke the earth with a gold trowel; then He called for more workmanlike implements and they brought an axe and
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shovel. The nations whose citizens helped break the ground that day were Persia, Syria, Egypt, India, South Africa, England, France, Germany, Holland, Norway, Sweden, Denmark, the Jews of the world, and the American Indians. When the Master set the stone in its place He said, “The Temple is already built.”
Iri the same way, we Bahá’ís know that the federated world of the future—the Most Great Peace—is already built.
Speaking at the Plaza Hotel in Chicago, the Master said this about the destiny of America: “. . . because I find the American nation so capable of achievement, and the American Government the fairest of Western Governments, its systems superior to others, My wish and hope is that the banner of peace may be raised first on this continent, that the standard of the Most Great Peace may here be unfurled. May the nation of America and its government unite in their efforts, in order that this light may dawn from this point and spread to all regions. . . .”
He loved to walk in Lincoln Park. There is a photograph showing the Bahá’ís seated on park benches around Him and listening to Him teach. One day in the park He said: “Some of you have observed that I have
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not called attention to any of your individual shortcomings. I would suggest to you, that if you shall be similarly considerate in your treatment of each other, it will be greatly conducive to the harmony of your association.”
Somewhere in America
‘Abdu’l-Bahá had a memorable talk with a rabbi. The rabbi finally said, “Indeed, you are one of the greatest logicians of the world. Up to this time I have been talking to you as a man; now I will address you as a rabbi.” As always with the Jewish peoples, ‘Abdu’l-Bahá explained the station of Christ and urged them to accept Him. He showed how Jesus spread the Old Testament around the world. He said that if they would declare that Christ was the Word of God their troubles would be over. Of their persecutions He once prophesied: “You must not think it is ended. The time may come when in Europe itself they will rise against the Jews.” The rabbi objected to the Christians worshipping Jesus and the Master replied: “Christ was the mirror; God was the sun.”
Among the interviewers one of my favorites is ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s talk with Hudson Maxim, the inventor. Maxim invented a high explosive called “Maximite”; he
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was the first in America to make smokeless gunpowder; he built a dynamite factory, and so on. The Master showed on this occasion that He could speak with humor even about the central purpose of His life—world peace; He said: “During these six thousand years there has been constant war, strife, bloodshed. We can see at a glance the results. Have we not a sufficient standard of experience in this direction? Let us now try peace for a while. If good results follow, let us adhere to it. If not let us throw it away and fight again. Nothing will be lost by the experiment.”
Maxim said, our industries kill more men than war does, through preventable accidents. The Master replied, “War is the most preventable accident.”
Maxim kept minimizing the dangers of modern warfare. He said, “War is no more dangerous than automobiling.” The Master kept insisting on the terrific power of modern war, describing results which have only been realized today. He said, “ . . . in modern times the science of war has reached such a stage of perfection that in twenty-four hours one hundred thousand could be sacrificed, great navies sent to the bottom of the sea, great cities destroyed . . . The possibilities
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are incalculable, inconceivable. . . .” Maxim replied by making a diagram to show one’s relative safety when in the neighborhood of an exploding bomb.
One minister who came was not friendly. ‘Abdu’l-Bahá answered all his questions with reserve and patience. The minister asked by what authority Bahá’u’lláh is placed with Abraham, Moses and Jesus—and ‘Abdu’l-Bahá said, “Today we believe Bahá’u’lláh to be an educator of humanity, as Abraham, Moses, and Jesus were educators. . . If He has opened the doors of human hearts to a higher consciousness, He is a heavenly educator. If He has not accomplished this we are privileged to deny His claim. . . .” Then ‘Abdu’l-Bahá gave the minister an armful of white roses.
In the pine grove at West Englewood, New Jersey, the Master founded a commemorative meeting which will last always. He said, “The very words I utter to you on this occasion shall be reiterated . . . in the ages to come.” There were Negro and white present—there were Jews, Christians, Moslems. The Master was Host. As always when He was present, there was love present.
He brought something back
to the world that had died out of it. He brought love back. His stay on earth with us reminds me of something Swedenborg has written: “There was a certain hard-hearted spirit with whom an angel spoke. At length he was so affected by what was said that he shed tears, saying that he had never wept before, but he could not refrain, for it was love speaking.”
When the Master first came to America a moving picture company requested Him to pose for them. He replied “Ifllayli k_húb” (very good). The Bahá’ís were horrified. They told Him that His photograph would be shown in moving picture houses all over the country. He replied “Bisyér lfilfib” (most good). The company took a wonderfully impressive short of Him; as He was photographed, He was praying that God would
bless this means of spreading the Faith.
Later the Bahá’ís requested Him to have a longer film made and this was done in the Howard MacNutt home in Brooklyn. Many of you have seen it. The Master is all in white. He strides up and down in the garden, reminding one of what the ancients said—that the gods were known by their walk. He also shows
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His absolute meekness and servitude—going here and there as the Bahá’ís asked. You may have noticed that in the film, a lady kisses His hand; His reaction is instant disapproval. He did not wish such demonstrations, because He said we are all servants. In one shot He is almost completely hidden —by hats—ladies’ hats. A long line of people pass before Him, many of them women, each one supporting a 1912 hat. (I privately call that scene the Clouds which obscure the Sun of Truth.) A recording was later made of His voice, speaking the same words as in the film, but everyone agrees that it does not affect one as did His living voice.
At first it seemed as if the Master did not plan to visit
California. He said that He had already worked very hard in the
United States. He said He had “breathed on the souls . . . of all the Bahá’ís in such a way that had it been upon bone, it would have taken on flesh . . .” One day in Dublin, New Hampshire, He told how the California Bahá’ís were urging Him to visit the West Coast. He loved Dublin; He said in English: “Good mountains, good green, good mead ow, good plain, good view. . . .” He always responded to green trees. Once on the train,
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going past trees, He turned to a fellow-passenger and said, “The green—the green!” The prison land around ‘Akká had been
very barren.
Somebody in Dublin wanted to know: “What shall we say when they ask, ‘Of what use are the flies and mosquitoes?’ ” ‘Abdu’l-Bahá told him to answer: “Of what use are you? What benefit have you given to the world? The same benefit that you have given to the world, the mosquito has. You say that the mosquito . . . sucks human blood; but you kill animals and eat them . . . Therefore you are more harmful than the mosquito.”
And ‘Abdu’l-Bahá went to California and other western states. America’s first Bahá-i, Thornton Chase, died in Los Angeles before the Master reached there. ‘Abdu’l - Bahá went to the graveside and scattered flowers over it—took the flowers and scattered them. It was like Shakespeare’s word “to strew” (“Sweets to the sweet . . . I thought thy bride-bed to have deck’d . . . And not have strewed thy grave”). Even from Beirut, Syria, people wrote to America about this episode. The Master said that the Bahais should visit the grave of Thornton Chase every year on His behalf and take flowers there.
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There were many unforgettable days in California. In Sacramento, the capital, the Master said: “May the first flag of International Peace be upraised in this state.”
In Oakland He spoke before the Japanese Y.M.C.A. A Japanese poet, Mr. Kanno, read a poem composed in His honor. The Master’s talk was translated from Persian to English to Japanese. There were many scholars present. Mothers held out their babies to Him and He smiled and
blessed them and said: “Good baby, Japanese baby.”
He addressed nearly two thousand of the students and faculty at Standford University, being introduced by the president, David Starr Jordan. As at Howard University, they gave Him an ovation.
The November lst, 1912, issue of the Palo Altan is entirely devoted to ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s visit and His California addresses. The editorial is titled: “The New Evangel.”
People will always remember the day He spoke in Temple Emmanu—El, the great synagogue in San Francisco. He stood in the pulpit, between pillars of palms, and the sunlight filtered down through colored windows. As ever, He urged the Jewish people
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to believe in Christ, and gave them logical reasons for so believing. In the same way, He always urged the Christians to believe in the Prophet Muhammad. He did not always tell people what they wanted to hearHe. told them what they had to hear—and made them like it.
In San F rancisco He spoke to the blind. He said “sight is only for a time, but insight sees the beauty of God. May you not see the dust. . . .” He showed special favor to East Indian university students who visited Him. He loved Golden Gate Park, and used to walk along the shore of a little lake there.
And there was the great Feast in Oakland, at the home of Mrs. Goodall. The rooms were decorated with yellow Chrysanthemums and pyramids of fruit. ‘Abdu’l-Bahá w a l k e d about, speaking to the Bahá’ís as they sat at the table and ate.
Here in California too, as in New York, He affirmed His function as the center of the Covenant. He showed how every Prophet entered into a Covenant with His people: promised a future Prophet. Abraham promised Moses; Moses promised Je s u s; J e su s, Muhammad; Muhammad, the Báb and Bahá ’u’lláh. But Bahá’u’lláh’s Covenant is unique in human history,
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because it is two-fold: He tells of a Promised One who will not appear before a full thousand years; but He also appoints
in writing the Interpreter of His Faith, the Center of His
Covenant, His Son ‘Abdu’l-Bahá. Today we know what they did not know in 1912—that ‘Abdu’l-Bahá in His turn appointed a Center, around which the Bahá’í Faith revolves: His grandson, Shoghi Effendi, the Guard ian of the Cause.
New York is called the City of the Covenant, because in New York ‘Abdu’l-Bahá climaxed His life work by establishing for all time the character and implications of Bahá’u’lláh’s Covenant. This fact of the Covenant protects the Bahá’í Faith from schism, all over the world.
In Boston, exactly thirty-two years ago tonight, the Master spent His Birthday at the home of Mr. and Mrs. Francis W. Breed. Mrs. Breed baked the
birthday cake herself, and she‘
planted tiny flags all over it, representing as many nations as
she could find. . . .
The main lesson He taught, I think, was love. You could say He was all mind, all magic and sensitivity and laughter, but still the main thing was love. Everyone understood it. A nun going by on the street looked
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tenderly at Him; He spoke to one of the Bahá’ís in His party and said, “Tell her who I am.” In California He gave a talk and as always He stopped every few moments for the interpreter to put the words into English. There was an American in the audience, a poor man, an uneducated man; he hated the interpreter; he said: “Why does that fellow interrupt the Master all the time?”
On the Celtic, that last day, when ‘Abdu’l-Bahá was to sail away, He told His followers that they must love all mankind. He said, “Beware lest ye offend any heart, lest ye speak against anyone in his absence, lest ye estrange yourselves from the heloved of God . . . You must even treat your evil-wishers as your well-wishers . . . Those who are not agreeable toward you must be regarded as those who are congenial and pleasant. . . .”
This western hemisphere will always carry the mark of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s footsteps; always remember His coming out of prison, in His old age, to sow the seeds of peace in the West. Because it is as one of the poets has written — “The years are very long, but love is longer.”
Address delivered on the program of the Bahá’í Centenary, Wilmette, Blinois, May 19-25, 1944.
The Spirit of Inter-American Fellowship
LOULIE A. MATHEWS
UMAN progress is not
achieved by the rotation of days, but is motivated by events. Minor events change man a little; great events often revolutionize man’s whole being. When the Word of God is spoken and man listens, the Word causes faith to replace fear, fellowship to become real and natural, and a crystal clear happiness that nothing can disturb enfolds man.
From the creative word of this day How two mighty streams of consciousness; an awakening to spiritual values and an all-embracing fellowship.
How often while travelling in the Americas was I reminded of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s interpretation given to Daniel Sutton of the cryptic utterance of Jesus “For many are called but few are chosen”. The many, referred to in the gospel, are those who have no objective knowledge of the Prophet, yet at the center of their being they know him, while the few refers to those chosen souls who surround the Manifestation of God during His early pilgrimage.
I had an example of what ‘Abdu’l-Bahá meant during a
journey through the wild lake region of Chile. We had reached an island so remote as to suggest the end of the world. Only two people were there, Sr. de Bermuilt and his wife. She was curious to know what had brought us to this desolate spot and I explained that all peoples must be made aware of the advent of Bahá’u’lláh and of the principles which he brought. After we had talked for some time she said, “Surely so vast a movement must have a head, a guiding spirit.” “Oh yes,” I replied, “we have a Guardian, one who makes practical the precepts of Bahá’u’lláh and directs our steps into all countries.” The Senora called to her husband who was reading near a kerosene lamp. “Listen, Gustave, this little lady says there has been a prophet on earth and that his commands are being carried forward by aGuardian of his cause. What do you think of this plan? Do you believe a spiritual leader could direct the world?” Gustave took this question into his logical mind and for a few moments there was silence. Pres- . ently his face lighted and his words were full of eagerness.
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“Yes, I think I could believe that! The solutions provided by statesmen and thinkers seem futile; But under the leadership of one divorced from politics and world power, under a Guardian with a definite and spiritual plan, in this I see a solution, one in which I can believe.” In a flash of insight, through grasping the idea of the guardianship, he saw the revelation and accepted it. Within three months he had translated and copied long hand “The Goal of the New World Order” both into Spanish and German, thus making one of the earliest contributions to Bahá’í Latin-American literature.
Again in Buenos Aires I met the Countess Del Aquiera. She related to me the great dramatic experience of her life. “My husband and I came from Spain,” she said, “where our families were prominent Catholics. Arriving in Argentina, we helped build the beautiful cathedral you see in the square. We reared our children under the shadow of the church and consulted the Arch bishop on all important matters. Thus the years passed until a mortal illness overtook my husband. As I sat by his bedside during those last hours, he took my hand and said: ‘Marie, can you hear me?’ ‘Yes,’ I replied. ‘I am leaving you and I want to
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tell you that there is something wonderful on earth that we know nothing about, it is called Bahá’í; when I am gone, do you search until you find and embrace it fearlessly.’ ” And afterwards she sought over a period of years and when, at last she had found it, she embraced it with - all her heart.
A new degree of fellowship is growing up in the Americas. The fences are coming down so we are better able to see one another. We catch a glimpse of the meaning of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s statement: “The gift of God to this enlightened age is the knowledge of the oneness of mankind.”
Science and religion are united by the principles of Bahá’u’lláh and science is a bulwark of racial unity. The scientists agree that no master race is permanent, no nation’s feet are riveted to the crest of civilization. Their premise is that individuals differ but that biological differences are small. Ability and talent are universal qualities from which all may partake. The noted scientist, Dr. Carver, was asked how he happened to turn his attention to the peanut. “Every morning,” replied Dr. Carver, “I rose at four o’clock to pray and ask God to direct me, thus I received the answer to begin to study the common unnoticed objects around
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me. I was not to be satisfied with the surface of things but to look inside; to find the inner core, for all things have gifts to give man.” Underneath his doorstep he found in the soil colors that resemble the lost paints of antiquity, among the weeds sustenance and in the peanut thirty-three useful ingredients. He called our attention to the fact that the Creator had given man the mineral, vegetable and animal kingdoms but in this
wonderful day He had added another —— the synthetic, with
which man will rebuild the world.
Throughout the ages the Prophets have repeated the
Golden Rule, but in this radiant age, fellowship is greatly accelerated, because it not only relates one man to another, but relates each man to the whole human family. Love, the touchstone of the heart, has for a long time lain like pressed flowers between the leaves of our prayerhooks. Brotherly love has been left he WORLD ORDER
hind us in our church pews. But today we must carry it with us wherever we go, for the essence of religion does not change from age to age. Bahá’u’lláh counsels us: “Consort with all the people with joy and fragrance for fellowship is the cause of unity and unity is the source of order in
the world.”
The Americas, like a sensitized plate exposed to the light, are having Bahá’u’lláh’s precepts etched upon them.
Two thousand years ago the utterances of Jesus levelled the walls of Rome and today the impact of Bahá’u’lláh’s message is shaking the pillars of the world. The faith brought us by the founders of the Bahá’í Religion is spreading from one country to another, from one continent to another, until at the appointed time, the kingdom of God promised man from the beginning shall flower in our midst.
Address delivered on the program of the Bahá’í Centenary, May 19-25, 1944..
May America become the distributing center of spiritual enlightenment and all the world receive this heavenly blessing. . . . The American continent gives signs and evidences of very great advancement. . . . Its future is even more promising, for its influence and illumination are far-reaching.
It will lead all nations spiritually.
—‘ABDU’L-BAHA
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—€a[itoria/
NE of the most dramatic experiences in the life of an
individual is that of “conversion.” In a miraculous way he is overnight transformed. He has been stale; he is refreshed. He has been sad; he becomes joyful. He has been futile; he achieves purpose. Lonely, he is companioned; dead, he receives life. Such an experience brings harmony to the person who undergoes it. He perceives with sudden lucidity the relations of things, and he is able to see the confused elements of his self in a just proportion. God has been made a point of reference in his life: all things fall into their proper place in relation to Him.
This is a kind of heaven—a plane of consciousness on which the individual soul feels its relation to God.
Almost at once the newly converted one finds himself drawn into companionship with others who have the same experience. The love of God forms between them a bond, and religious communities, more or less closely knit, are the result. The experience of the individual in all religions has been, therefore,
A NEW HEAVEN
partly personal, partly com munal. . So it is with the Bahá’í. He too feels at the beginning of his religious life that joyful sense of reunion with God; he too is assured that as an individual he is important and that his rewards will be in accordance to his own merit. But the communal life of the Bahá’í is different from all others, for the moment he becomes a part of the Bahá’í Community he enters upon a process of education which, building upon the foundations laid by the older religions, develops in him a new kind of con sciousness, hitherto unknownthe awareness of being a part, in a new way, of one humanity. This consciousness, which is more than the mere intellectual recognition of a fact but is rather the knowledge of truth felt and experienced, has been attained gradually by the Bahá’ís of America. Exhilerated by the new outpouring of spiritual power in this age, they tended at first to emphasize personal inspiration, individual guidance. Devoted to the Manifestation for this day, prayerful, radiant, they
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were yet like the saints of the older dispensations, without that mature conception of unity which is the heart of the new revelation. In the home of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá many of them were given the first glimpse of it, for there the peoples of all nations, races, religions were fused in a whole which transcended limitations. But only hard work and bitter experience could make that reality visible throughout the world.After the passing of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, the Bahá’í Administrative Order, the divinely appointed instrument for the development of unity, came into being. Many were the heart-aches, difficult the struggles before it could so unite the Bahá’í Community that the flow of its inspiration———from the Word of God, through the Guardian, through the National and local Assemblies—was felt to be one force. It was only when that unity was established that the gigantic task could be undertaken of carrying to every part of the western hemisphere the vision of mankind as one organism, united in obedience to a new Manifestation of God’s purpose. On the 23rd of May of this year, one hundred years after the inception of the Faith, the first part of that task was accomplished.
The Community had worked
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with increasing intensity for seven years to prepare its House of Worship and to complete the teaching work undertaken for that time. It had been promised a spiritual reward. The House of Worship in which they gathered had been built by the sacrifice of believers ( and of believers alone) the world over. It stood white and shining in a kind of celestial beauty, and as one approached it one felt at once the joy of the meeting of all peoples. For there were among those who came together there Bahá’ís from many lands, the ofispring of many races and many religions, consorting together with “joy and fragrance.”
As the last minutes of the century drained away, the people quietly assembled. Under the great universal dome they heard the Word of God as it has reverberated down the ages, as it has been pronounced anew, clearly and compellingly in our time, and the consciousness of the unity of God and of all men, felt and experienced, made them at that moment one self. Lifted to a new level of understanding capable of bringing the warring elements of human society into harmony and proportion, they entered a new heaven, which will create a new earth.
—G. B.
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Social Basis of World Unity
ELSIE AUSTIN
ODAY, people who seek to
stress the spiritual basis of peace and justice among men, or who dare to accent the necessity for the regeneration of human hearts and characters as the first step to needed social change, are usually rebuffed by those who immediately cry out, “Oh, you must be practical and realistic.”
This is because so many folk think that the only practical approach to human problems is one which deals immediately with outward evidences of what is desirable. They do not see human needs beyond the specific projects devised for education and security. Outwardly these matters do represent the things which separate the “Haves” from the “Have Nots” in human society, and if you look at them in this light, they may seem to be the sole issues which have all along produced restlessness, division and strife among men.
However, any social program which is to operate for true world betterment must of necessity go beyond outward evidences, if it is to be really practical. The best plans for social cooperation
and peace are always limited by the kind of human beings who must use and apply them. There is no more realistic force in the world today than the Bahá’í Faith. In its teachings and its social program there are profoundly realistic approaches to the fundamental social changes which must be the basis of any real and lasting unity for mankind.
The Bahá’í Faith is first of all 3 Faith which harmonizes the inward incentives and outward procedures to unity. Outward procedures give the means for unity and inward incentives give the heart for unity. There is great difference between folk who have the means for unity and the folk who have the heart for unity.
Legislation and the interplay of conflicting social interests may furnish a kind of means for unity, and even a certain state of outward compliance. However, legislation and the pressures of expediency have never been able to get at the inward fears, jealousies, greeds and animosities of men. And it is these which furnish the vicious inner motives
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which can browbeat the intelligence of men and make mockery of outward social compliance. Nearly everyday we see tragic instances of failure where social change depends upon means alone. Instances where people nullify and obstruct legislation, where they sabotage social effort or fail to produce and support the kind of courageous policies and action needed for the patterns and standards consistent with just and enlightened ideals. The means for unity is there, but legislation is killed or evaded; communities lose their moral integrity in compromise with policies of hatred and division, and people excuse themselves from honest upright action by saying, “Law is not the way to do this.” “The time is not ripe” or “This is the right policy, but we must work up to it gradually.” Now, all such people are really saying is, “I have not the heart to do this thing” or “The people whose opinion I fear have not the heart for forthright action about this, and I do not know how to reach them.”
The religion of Bahá’u’lláh, founder of The Bahá’í Faith, begins with that essential spiritual regeneration of the human being which creates a heart for brotherhood and impells action for the unity of mankind. Bahá’u’lláh
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has made it very plain that the test of Faith is its social force. Principal and social planning are useless until they are rendered dynamic by the stamina and will of men to enforce and apply spiritual ethics to human aflairs.
The second great realism of the Bahá’í faith is that it provides new patterns for the application of spiritual principle to the social problems of humanity.
When Bahá’u’lláh first proclaimed some eighty years ago, “This is the hour of the coming together of all the races and nations and classes. This is the hour of unity among the sons of men,” the prophecy was a far fetched ideal to the world of jealous politics and cultural isolation which received it. But the unity of mankind today is no mere social ideal. Human strife has made it a social necessity.
It is not surprising then to see that human unity is an increasingly popular subject for liberal thought and action. Nor is it surprising that programs to foster unity are being launched on every hand. Yet so many of the bona fide efforts for unity are being fatally compromised because they must be launched through the established social patterns which preserve old disunities. Do people learn brotherhood and the spiritual attitudes
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and social cooperation which brotherhood involves by lectures or hesitant compromising ventures, which leave untouched and unchanged the separate education, separate worship, separate security, separate social planning which shape every phase of their community living —— embittering separations made in terms of differences of race, creed, culture and nationality? Any social pattern which elaborately preserves and accents these outward differences and their resultant inward animosities must of necessity crucify the objective of social unity.
The Bahá’í Teachings not only destroy without equivocation the fallacies which have nourished social strife and disunity, but they provide new patterns of social living and development through which men learn brotherhood by performance.
And what realistic way is there, you may ask, to deal with the ancient bitter diversities of race, religion and culture? What can be done with the changing pressures of unstable economics and the conflicting education of the world’s peoples?
The Bahá’í Faith provides for the diversities of religion, that long needed center of reconciliation, which can produce harmonious understanding of its
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varying prophets and systems. Bahá’u’lláh has shown us in the Bahá’í Revelation that the great revealed religions of the world are like lamps which carry the pure light of Divine Truth providing social teaching and discipline for humanity. But as that lamp is home by human hands, there are periods when conflicting interpretations of the Divine Word, dogmas and superstitions, alienate and divide men. Periods when the temptations of material power pervert religion into an instrument for the exploitation and suppression of human development. It is because of this that new lamps have always come and will always come. Each of the great lamps tests the social “force of the others. In this men should find source for progress, not reason for strife. God in His mercy has provided in the Divine Faiths a continuous and successive re newal of Universal Spiritual Truth.
The Bahá’í learns the relation and ordered unfoldment of Truth in all Divine Religions. Thus Spiritual Faith is lifted above the period differences of its various names and systems. Is it unrealistic that in a world so in need of spiritual regeneration, Jews, Christians, Moslems, and Believers of all Divine Faiths
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should be given that which will relate their spiritual purposes and development and thus enable them to travel harmoniously a wide free path to greater social demonstration and understanding of the Truth? Is this not a more effective way to create the heart for unity than the elaborate separations and the jealous fencing off of Religious paths? Today men so preserve and concentrate upon their symbolic differences that the common
goal is lost in confusion and animosity.
There are really no diversities of race to those who truly accept the fact that all mankind is God’s creation. Yet the outward differences of color, physiognomy and culture have annoyed and divided us. When members of the human family meet each other who have striking differences in appearance and manners, they resort very naturally to reactions of fear, distaste and derision, which grow out of the human complex for conformity and the fear of strangeness. Unity of mankind is not only a basic principle in the Bahá’í Faith, but it is also the basis of a new social pattern in terms of which Bahá’ís worship, work, educate themselves and contribute their capacities to civilization. Living in a Bahá’í com WORLD ORDER
munity is a matter of learning differences, appreciating them and achieving with them great loyalties to human welfare, which are above the narrow confinements of race, creed and class, color and temperament. The most practical knowledge in the world is the knowledge that the world can never become what so many people like to believe; a world in which we make other people look, act, and understand in terms of that with which we are familiar. That kind of world is neither possible nor desirable. What we really want is a world of harmonized differences, where a man can make his contribution with other men for the good of all mankind. This is the world of the Bahá’í Community, a community covering seventy-eight national backgrounds and thirtyone racial origins and Heaven knows how many temperaments and cultural backgrounds in this first one hundred years. A growing Community which operates with every possible human difference to take into consideration, yet its members through practicing and perfecting their practice of the Bahá’í Teachings, have achieved a unity of objectives through which entirely new social patterns, standards and virtues are being evolved.
People do not like to mention
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religion and economics in the same breath. The problem is that of the economically disinherited who in bitter restless upsurge change periodically the pressures and controls of this world’s unstable economics. It is practical to talk of trade policies, of commerce regulations and spheres of influence, now. However, the world must soon face the fact that economic instability and the bitter struggle and suffering which go on because of it, have a question of human motives, human development, behind them. Motives behind the failure to use opportunity, or the use of it to selfishly acquire and control wealth, goods, and services, constitute the real factors causing the unhealthy inequalities, the exploitation and suppression in human society. Bahá’u’lláh stressed the need of a spiritual basis as the first step in the development of stable world economics. The extremes of poverty and vast wealth are not only matters of material opportunity and education, they are also matters of greed and slothfulness in human characters.
Material education and spiritual enlightenment must be applied to, bring the kind of economic adjustments which will make possible responsible efforts for all people and insure a just
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distribution of wealth, goods and services for all people.
Until then, we are all, regardless of our skins, creeds and countries, caught economically between the evil extremes which are produced by the J eeter Lesters and those masters of selfish financial genius, who like a cancerous growth, feed upon and weaken the earth’s human and material resources.
Nothing but the wholesome regeneration of human hearts and establishment of new social ohjectives for the efforts and acquisitions of men, will in the final analysis remedy these ills.
The great realisms of the Bahá’í Faith lie in its new spiritual teachings and in the new social patterns which they provide for needed development of mankind; a development which will turn men from the beliefs and superstitions which are destructive to human solidarity and create in them the heart to initiate and perfect new standards, new morals and new undertakings for a great new era of civilization.
These achievements are possible when man is afforded that perfect combination of Human and Spiritual Unity. ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, the great expounder Of the Bahá’í Teachings, has described it in these words:
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“Human Unity or solidarity may be likened to the body, whereas unity from the breaths of the Holy Spirit is the spirit animating the body. This is a perfect unity. It creates such a condition in mankind that each one will make sacrifices for the other and the utmost desire will
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life for the other and strives with all sincerity to attain His good pleasure. This is the unity that caused twenty thousand people in Train to give their lives in love and devotion to it. It made the Báb the target of a thousand arrows and caused Bahá’u’lláh to suffer exile and imprisonment
be to forfeit life and all that pertains to it in behalf of another’s good. It is the unity which through the influence of the Divine Spirit is permeating the Baha” 18, so that each offers his
for forty years. This unity is
the very spirit of the body of the world.”
From Centenary Program, May 19-25, 1944.
THE CARNIVAL IS OVER SYLVIA MARGOLIS
Behold! the carnival is over!
The revelling and feasting’s done!
The vineyards burned, the fleshpots empty, The Age is wasted like a sun!
Beneath the gaunt and gaping roofs
Its multi-colored gauds of lust
Like bits of stained confetti, lie Dispersed and scattered in the dust!
The empty couches, jeweled thrones,
The palaces and perilous dreams All, all have been laid waste forever Beneath the Day’s uprooted beams!
The captains of command are vanquished, Dust are the hands of tyranny;
And king 5 and princes flee and vanish Like chafif before the Lord’s decree!
Ye poor and needy of all nations,
Ye tricked and taunted of the earth,
See ye not your suff’rance is accomplished, Another Era comes to birth?
Behold! beyond the ruthless carnage, Beyond the spoil and the rage,
Your blood has stormed the gates of Heaven And brings to birth the Promised Age!
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The Oneness of Religion
MRS. CHARLES REED BISHOP
NDISSEVERABLY linked to
the oneness of mankind is the Bahá’í view of the oneness of religion. By this we affirm that the religions founded by the Holy Prophets are all from God; their inner core is one spiritual reality and is unfolded to mankind from age to age by the process of divine Revelation. The Scriptures preserved by each of the communities of believers are the testimony given by the Prophet-Founders of faith in God.
Unless this audience can admit the possibility of God speaking again today and giving to mankind new and greater knowledge of Himself through His Prophet, it is not possible to grasp the Bahá’í faith in one world, one humanity, one religion—and one God. Such limitations of outlook and orthodoxy, I, among others would lament because it is plain to me that so long as our knowledge is confined to the past it is spiritual ignorance; more‘ definitely, only through the new knowledge of God transmitted by the Prophet activating our time and guiding our future can faith be alive today.
It is heartening to hear that every Bahá’í pioneer from Alaska to the Straits of Magellan is proving in these days the widespread decline of fanaticism and even of sectarianism. One of our teachers in an alien land met the wife of a brigadier general who asked to know of the Faith. When she learned that it claimed humanity to be one spiritual creation and religions one Truth she gave her heart —— and her home for a meeting. Her invitation cards, bidding the officers of the post ‘and their families to tea and a talk, skipped by the formal titles academicians would approve and announced forthrightly the speaker on “The Bahá’í Faith Embracing All Religions.”
During the weekend of the Bahá’í traveller’s visit to the new friend of the Cause, the household was busied with no small preparations for the announced meeting. Impressed by this collaboration from those whom the world would have designated as “strangers”, the visiting speaker begged to know from her hostess: “What makes you undertake all of this so casually?”
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To which the lady replied, “When I went out to India to join my husband nineteen years ago, a very different world opened to me. On one occasion, in the north, we came upon a city that had been conquered and destroyed and built again many times. When the Moguls (the Muslim conquerors) seized it, they built it again and perhaps better than before. Leading into the citadel they made a gate inscribed with an Arabic verse over the entrance. I asked an aide-de-camp to interpret for me, and heard from him the following: ‘Said Jesus upon Whom he ' praise! This World is a bridge; pass over it but build no house thereon. He who can hope for an hour can hope for eternity. This life is but an hour. Spend it in devotion. The rest is unseen.”’
And she continued with the explanation, “From this I knew that the Muslim conquerors were believers in Christ and in Muhammad, too —— finding nothing incompatible in their acceptance of two Prophets instead of one. From it I glimpsed a possible unity or oneness of religion and resolved that if I came upon a fuller view of this truth I would serve it.”
Many others are searching for this same truth beyond the contradiction of appearances, and
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coming to it—although by less enchanting adventures. From the heart of the common man, too, is coming the increasing demand for clarity of insight. Last month a popular magazine printed a photograph of the small treasures left by a lad who fought in New Zealand and is among the missing. Found among some coins, pictures of two dear persons, and a few bars of soap was a diary with the following entry made in a somewhat illiterate hand: “People don’t think much about religion nowadays. But we need a voice from on High, brother, and I don’t mean maybe. This thing has got out of human ability to run. I’m no religious fanatic. But we are in a situation where something better than human brains has got to give us advice.” (Life, April 17, 1944)
I submit that the Revelation towards which humanity is groping
is the one which God has sent
for this mature Age. The Prophet
Bahá’u’lláh brings to us the
whole or full view of oneness.
“This century is as the eye to
all past centuries.” By His summons to awaken, the eye of
humanity is opened to the light
of this Day; it looks backward
and sees the divided peoples, the
local cultures and separate cycles
of religion, but that same eye is
able to look forward to the one
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ONENESS 0F RELIGION
ness of the world of humanity
and of faith.
Importantly, all the religions established throughout past cycles by the Manifestations of God are true —— but they are prophetic only: each renewed from age to age the divine promises of the Kingdom that would come. The people of faith have lived by hope and the renewal of hopes, but now is the cycle of realization. Therefore, the Message of Bahá’u’lláh brings not one more promise of the Kingdom of God on earth, but the Kingdom itself and with it the fulfillment of all prophecy and aspiration. In each past cycle a particular Name of God was given; today Bahá’u’lláh is the Bearer of the whole Name, “The Greatest Name” for this —— the blooming Age. The long-awaited Day of God for this planet.
In school I was handed the advice of the philosopher Hegel: “The historian brings his categories with him, for he who has nothing to contribute will find but little to perceive.” So, if you will, contemplate with me—and with “the eye of this century”the Tree of Religion now standing in full view?
Although the Tree has but one Root —- the very Source of its being — it bears two mighty branches, the Ayran and the
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Semitic. By these we designate not racial but language groups inasmuch as the Word of God is the common denominator of all human societies. And it is from among the peoples who spoke in the Indo-Iranian or the Semitic languages that God chose His Mouthpieces at intervals marking the beginning of a cycle. The Words of power that were tittered are the Revelations designated variously—Zoroastrianism,
Judaism, Christianity, lslém. Their Truth is One. Viewing more closely the
Aryan branch of the Tree of Religion, we observe that the folkways, laws and institutions of the lesser branches named Brahmanism, Buddhism and Zoroastrianism difier vastly. Nonetheless, that which they have in common is more important and far more permanent: this is the accent they all place upon the spiritual awakening of man.
As for the Semitic branch of the Tree, proceeding from it we discern the branches of Judaism, Christianity and Islam. These Revelations brought the knowledge of God through the medium of Hebrew and Arabic. (Syriac also has been a tongue of Revelation in seasons now forgotten except in the Bahá’í Writings.)
Again the essential truth is not the diversity of social laws and
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institutions which each maintains, but, rather, their common accent falling upon the Logosthe Revelation of the Names and Attributes of God.
It was astonishing to me, at the world Congress of Faiths in London some years ago, to hear a few exponents of the IndoIranian religions claim universal values based upon the antiquity of their Teachings. As a Bahá’í I held the contrary view: all religions areone in their Divine Source and Essence, but their social laws are progressively given in order to meet the changing needs of mankind; therefore, it is the youngest and newest Revelation from God that is intended for universality. It is the renewed Tree that bears the fruit seasonably.
The Bahá’í Faith is the renewal of the Tree of Religion. Its Co-Founders bring the Aryan and Semitic branches to fruition today. For the Báb, Prophet and Martyr—whom we commemorate in this Centenary—comes out of the lineage of Abraham through the Prophet Muhammad. (In keeping with the Covenant with Abraham, Muhammad was
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a remote son of Ishmael.) Furthermore, Bahá’u’lláh was descended from the Zoroastrian kings. Even the geneological and historical promises are complete. Heretofore, the Aryan and Semitic religions were separately viewed and hence irreconcilable, but with “the eye of this century” they are seen in relation to the whole Tree. By the Manifestations of the Báb and Bahá’u’lláh, God the Creator has caused the Tree of Religion to flourish again—Jaden with fruit for all mankind.
My spiritual friends, do not hesitate to take advantage of this matchless instrument. Seize the Word uttered by the Prophet in this Day and transmit it! Cherish your minorities; bind man to man and nation to nation. Allow the religions to realize their oneness. Achieve the undivided consciousness of one God, one humanity, one universal faith ——- and one Order of Prophethood: upon this you are building the World Community. And a grateful posterity will bless you!
From Centenary Program, May 19-25, 1944.
The potentialities inherent in the station of man, the full measure of his destiny on earth, the innate excellence of his reality, must all be mani fested in this promised Day of God.
—Bahá’u’lláh
[Page 135]
WITH OUR READERS
INCE our June issue, which, as
proposed, was entirely devoted to addresses delivered at the great Bahá’í centenary celebration, was quite inadequate in space to record the talks we hoped to print and since many were not available at the time of printing, we are making this July number a supplement to the June souvenir edition. Those who attended the centenary and convention will be glad to have this permanent record of the talks which presented so many phases both of the Bahá’í teachings and of the development of the Cause over its first century for themselves and for teaching aids. Those who were not fortunate enough to attend can through these printed pages share, in part at least, in the great experience. We hope to print, from time to time, other of the available talks.
“The Architect’s Design” was the address given by our honored guest speaker Earl H. Reed On the first evening of the centenary celebration, May 19, when the program commemorated the completion of the Temple edifice and its outer ornamentation. Mr. Reed is a well known architect of Chicago, past president of the architectural society, and at present member of the faculty of Northwestern University. His appreciative talk shows with what interest and questioning he watched the building of the Temple from its inception.
Sunday afternoon, May 21, the public meeting was devoted to the
general theme, “The Bahá’í World Faith” and the two addresses dealt
with the two fundamental principles of our Faith—“The Oneness of Hu manity” and the “Oneness of Religion”. In this issue we print the address on the latter subject by Helen Bishop of Pasadena, California. Mrs. Bishop has served the Cause as a teacher and traveler in European countries, in Mexico and this country and for some time was Bahá’í representative at Geneva, Switzerland. At present she is continuing her activities in the United States. Our readers will remember her, too, as contributor to these pages.
The program Tuesday evening, May 23, centered around the history and development of the Bahá’í Faith in America. Although impossible to crowd ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s all-important visit to North America into twenty minutes or a few pages, yet Mrs. Gail’s talk is a happy and impelling reminder of the deep incentive His visit gave to personal devotion, to teaching the Faith, to unity in the Cause of Bahá’u’lláh. Mrs. Gail is known to our readers through her many contributions to these pages. For some time her home has been in New York but, we understand, in the near future it will be in San Francisco.
One of the several speakers on Wednesday evening, the 24th, was Loulie A. Mathews whose outstanding work in the Bahá’í international field; gave her a fitting place on the pro. gram which that evening was devoted to “The Meeting of the Americas”. Her talk, “The Spirit of Inter-American Fellowship” impressed us again with the knowledge that wherever a Bahá’í may go are to be found souls spiritually prepared for the message
of Bahá’u’lláh. Mrs. Mathews lives at
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Temerity Ranch, Colorado Springs, where is held each year the Bahá’í International School.
The gathering which brought to a happy close the week of celebration was the banquet at the Stevens Hotel, Chicago, commemorating the fiftieth anniversary of the beginning, in Chicago, of the Bahá’í Faith in North America. The large attendance and rich program contributed by friends of the Faith and by Bahá’ís from different countries and races testify to the strong growth of the Cause in these fifty years. We select for this issue the talk by Elsie Austin entitled “The Social Basis of Unity of Mankind,” an important phase of the Bahá’í teaching and one often overlooked by other groups which stress world unity. Miss Austin is legal adviser in one of the government departments in Washington, D‘. C., and a devoted worker in the Bahá’í community in that city.
Miss Busey’s editorial pointing out, as it does, the step which the Bahá’í Revelation takes beyond that of any previous Revelation, reminds us that the centenary celebration marking the end of one century is but the beginning of another which calls for deeper devotion and more strenuous effort to bring about a new earth.
4" * 4! One of our Canadian believers writes feelingly of her new experience in friendship when the friendship is between Bahá’ís. “I can’t explain it,” she says, “but since being a Bahá’í I meet people with a definite expectancy of liking them, and on meeting a young woman who had come from the other side of the border to help our young assembly, I had the instant feeling that I knew
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her though I had not seen her before. The feeling was that we should get away by ourselves and talk about a lot of things that just couldn’t wait because we had been waiting a long time as it was to say them. . . . Yes, Bahá’í friendships are different. They look to the inside before the out.”
U‘ ‘I {I
Our business manager gives us a most encouraging report of the increasing circulation of World Order. The report says: “During the past year more than 400 new subscribers have been added to our lists and a duplication of this accomplishment during the coming year will insure that the magazine will become selfsustaining in its‘ manufacture. The enrolled subscribers now exceed 2,000 and we do hope that with the continued efforts of assemblies, groups, teachers and individual Bahá’ís that the enrollment will have attained at least a 500 increase during the coming year.”
This would seem to be a goal not too difficult to attain and certainly worthy of effort in the first year of our second century. Many local assemblies do good work in promoting the magazine through their library committees; others have special World Order committees. The business manager has receipt books containing receipts for 25 subscriptions which will be sent to the librarian or World Order committee upon request. Extra copies of the May and June issues are available upon request at 10 cents a copy in quantities of ten or more. This includes mailing to one or different addresses. The price for less than ten remains at 15 cents a copy. Remittance should accompany order.
—THE EDITORS.
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TRUTHS FOR A NEW DAY
Promulgatcd b‘y ‘Abdu’l-Bahá Throughout North America in 1912
These teachings were given, by Bahá’u’lláh over seventy years ago and are to be
found in His published writings of that time.
The oneness of mankind. Independent investigation of truth. The foundation of all religions is one. Religion must be the cause of unity.
Religion must be in accord with science and reason.
Equality between men and women. f Prejudice of all kinds must be forgotten. Universal peace.
Universal education.
Spiritual solution of the economic problem. A universal hmguage.
An international tribunal.
