World Order/Volume 10/Issue 5/Text

[Page 135]

WORLD
 ORDER

AUGUST, 1944


BAHÁ’Í CENTENARY BANQUET

Editorial—Gertrude K. Henning

The Chairman’s Introductory Remarks
 Albert R. Windust


RELIGIOUS FOUNDATIONS OF WORLD UNITY—
Raymond Frank Piper


BAHÁ’Í CENTENARY RADIO PROGRAM


THE CRISIS OF OUR AGE, Book Review—Garreta Busey


MEXICAN COMMUNITY—Florence De Bell Keemer


WITH OUR READERS


15c

THE BAHÁ’Í MAGAZINE




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World 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 World 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: Garreta Busey, Alice Simmons Cox, Gertrude K. Henning, Horace Holley, Bertha Hyde Kirkpatrick.


Editorial Office
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Publication Office
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Printed in U.S.A.

AUGUST, 1944, VOLUME X, NUMBER 5


SUBSCRIPTIONS: $1.50 per year, for United States, its territories and possessions; 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, 1940, at the post office at Wilmette, Ill., under the Act of March 3, 1879. Contents copyrighted 1944 by Bahá’í Publishing Committee. Title registered at U. S. Patent Office.


CHANGE OF ADDRESS SHOULD BE REPORTED
ONE MONTH IN ADVANCE




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WORLD ORDER

The Bahá’í Magazine

VOLUME X   AUGUST, 1944   NUMBER 5



Bahá’í Centenary Banquet

Editorial


THE final meeting and fitting climax to the week’s celebration of the Bahá’í Centenary was the banquet held Thursday evening, May twenty-fifth, in the Grand Ballroom of the Stevens Hotel, Chicago. This banquet commemorated the fiftieth anniversary of the establishment of the Bahá’í Faith in the Western World. The gathering was the largest number of Bahá’ís ever to be so assembled in one room in this part of the world.

The seven days preceding had been busy with meetings of the convention during the day and public gatherings in the evening. Because of the great number of Bahá’ís who came to Wilmette for the Centenary—more than sixteen hundred, including delegates and visitors—there was not space enough in the Foundation Hall of the House of Worship for all to gather in one group to hear and see the programs. The large overflow had been comfortably accommodated on the auditorium floor where a public-address system carried the voices of the speakers and the music to the hundreds gathered under the stately dome.

But the Grand Ball Room of the Stevens Hotel was large enough to hold all the Bahá’í Centenary participants at one time. It was a festive and joyous occasion. The immenseness of the gold and crystal room, and the many tables of guests all happily conversing with one another were thrilling to see. One could feel the buoyant spirit borne of joy and hope which pervaded the entire atmosphere; and truly the varied races and nationalities were joined unitedly with one purpose in mind and with fealty in one great and divine Cause. The love and understanding engendered by a world-embracing Faith was perfectly exemplified; and those present thrillingly felt the oneness of mankind actually [Page 138] put into practice. It is what can be done when people join their hearts in justice and love under the firm guidance of the principles of Bahá’u’lláh.

During the serving of dinner the soft music of a string ensemble came from the balcony of this beautifully ornamented room. After dinner the program began with a welcoming address by Albert R. Windust of Chicago, the chairman, who brought out the importance of this celebration commemorating the fifty years since the Bahá’í Faith was first brought to the attention of the peoples of the Western Hemisphere at the Parliament of Religions of the World’s Columbian Exposition in Chicago.

Dr. R. F. Piper of Syracuse, N. Y., the guest-speaker, was the first to address the audience.

Following Dr. Piper, Miss Elsie Austin, a Bahá’í of Washington, D. C., gave an address, “The Social Basis of World Unity,” in which she explained the need for the application of the Bahá’í tenets as a necessity for the regeneration of human hearts and characters as the first step to a needed social change.

At nine-thirty a radio broadcast began with a vocal selection by Walter Olitzki of the Metropolitan Opera Company of New York City. First to talk was Alfred Osborne, Inspector of Schools for the Canal Zone, Panama. Mr. Osborne spoke for the number of delegates who came from Latin and South America and from the West Indies. He stressed unity in diversity as being evidenced by the Bahá’ís attending the centenary as in contrast to the barriers of racial and religious prejudice that are still exercised so generally in the world today. Immediately following, Dr. Fernando Nova of Bahia, Brazil, spoke. It was necessary to break his address because of the termination of radio time by a concluding solo, “The Lord’s Prayer,” by Mr. Olitzki. After this Dr. Nova resumed his address for the banquet audience. More short talks followed; one by a nineteen-year-old Persian youth, a fourth generation Bahá’í; another by Miss Hilda Yen of Chungking, China, who had just recently declared her acceptance of the World Faith of Bahá’u’lláh.

To have attended this thrilling Centenary Banquet was a privilege as well as a glorious experience. It was an inspiration to the Bahá’ís to continue relentlessly their labors of spreading and strengthening the Bahá’í Faith in the Western world. —G. K. H.




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The Chairman’s Introductory Remarks

ALBERT R. WINDUST


Bahá’í Friends and Guests—

During the past week Bahá’ís from Central and South American Republics, the Provinces of the Dominion of Canada, and the States of the United States, have gathered in the Bahá’í House of Worship, the first in the Western Hemisphere, to commemorate the one hundredth Anniversary of the advent of their Faith.

At the request of Shoghi Effendi Rabbani, Guardian of the Bahá’í Faith in the world today, we are gathered here in Chicago tonight at this Banquet as a part of that Commemoration, but especially to remember and to honor the Fiftieth Anniversary of the inception of the Faith in the Western World, which took place in this city during the year 1894.

It was a small group, a very small group, of three men and one woman, who gathered in a modest dwelling on the West Side, and who have the honor— the very great honor—of being the first souls in the Western Hemisphere to recognize and acknowledge the Advent of the Promised Day of God, that long-looked-for divine event to which all creation moved. The Message of that Advent, this small group had heard from the lips of a Syrian gentleman[1] who came to Chicago at the time of the World’s Columbian Exposition in 1893.

The Dawn of this Promised Day, this little group learned, had spread in the East fifty years before, in 1844, through the appearance of the Báb, The Gate, in the land of Persia; and its Sunrise had occurred nineteen years later, 1863, in Mesopotamia, through Him Whom God made manifest, Bahá’u’lláh, the Glory of God, as foretold by the Báb.

It was some years later before the increasing number of Bahá’ís in America became aware that the Name and Words of Bahá’u’lláh had been voiced at the Parliament of Religions held in Chicago during the World’s Columbian Exposition.[2]

It remained for this small group of three men and one woman whom we honor here tonight to be, in the year 1894, the first in the Western Hemisphere to recognize and acknowledge [Page 140] the Manifestation of the Glory of God and to champion His Cause.

Who are these honored few? They are: William F. James, Miss Marion A. Miller, Edward W. Dennis, and Thornton Chase, the first Bahá’í in America, a title bestowed upon him by ‘Abdu’l-Bahá in 1912.

And it was this small group who made it possible for ‘Abdu’l-Bahá to record, in the year 1917, that the call of the Kingdom was, in the very beginning, raised in Chicago. This is indeed a great privilege, for in future centuries and cycles it will be as an axis around which the honor of Chicago will revolve.

Therefore, we, I feel sure, count it a great privilege to be here tonight, to commemorate the Fiftieth Anniversary of that Event, which may he recognized, in the course of time, as the first of many commemorations, during future centuries and cycles.


From Bahá’í Centenary Program, May 19-25, 1944.


  1. ↑ Ibrahim Khayrullah.
  2. ↑ See “Reflected in the West”, by Garreta Busey in World Order, January, 1944.



Consider the heedlessness of the world, for notwithstanding the efforts and sufferings of the Prophets of God, the nations and peoples are still engaged in hostility and fighting. . . . God is loving and kind to all men and yet they show the utmost enmity and hatred toward each other. Consider their ignorance and heedlessness!

Your duty is of another kind, for you are informed of the mysteries of God. Your eyes are illumined, your ears are quickened with hearing. You must therefore look toward each other and then toward mankind, with the utmost love and kindness. You have no excuse to bring before God if you fail to live according to His command, for you are informed of that which constitutes the good pleasure of God. You have heard His commandments and precepts. You must, therefore, be kind to all men; you must even treat your enemies as your friends. You must consider your evil-wishers as well-wishers. Those who are not agreeable toward you must be regarded as those who are congenial and pleasant; so that perchance this darkness of disagreement and conflict may disappear from amongst men and the light of the divine may shine forth; so that the Orient may be illumined and the Occident filled with fragrance; nay, so that the East and West may embrace each other in love and deal with one another in sympathy and affection. Until man reaches this high station, the world of humanity shall not find rest, and eternal felicity shall not be attained. . . . It is my hope that you may become successful in this high calling, so that, like brilliant lamps, you may cast light upon the world of humanity and quicken and stir the body of existence like unto a spirit of life. This is eternal glory! This is everlasting felicity! This is immortal life! This is heavenly attainment! This is being created in the image and likeness of God!

And unto this I call you, praying to God to strengthen and bless you. —‘ABDU’L-BAHÁ




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Religious Foundations of World Unity

RAYMOND FRANK PIPER


MY THREE main topics are derived from one tremendous sentence of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá: “It is our duty in this radiant century to investigate the essentials of divine religion, seek the realities underlying the oneness of the world of humanity, and discover the source of fellowship and agreement which will unite mankind in the heavenly bond of love.” Topics:

I. The perilous opportunities of our time.
II. Trustworthy foundations of belief.
III. Urgent responsibilities that summon us.

I. THE PERILS OF OUR AGE.

We live in a momentous age. “Do ye know in what cycle ye are created?” asked ‘Abdu’l-Bahá. “This period of time is the Promised Age, the time for growing, the century of Universal Peace. There is not one soul whose conscience does not testify that in this day there is no more important matter in the world than that of Universal Peace. Every just one bears witness to this.” “The Most Great Peace,” solid with concord and abundant living, is everyman’s yearning; it is the sublime goal of civilization emphasized by the Bahá’í Faith. The objective is clear, but perils and opportunities unparalleled in history face us.

Consider seven perils of our dangerous age.

1: The chasm between knowledge and practice. Modern man has easy access to immense treasures of truth; formally he accepts scientific method, freedom, religious liberty, and other ideals, but he translates a pitiful fraction of his knowledge into action. This peril demands unity of Words and deeds, an essential integrity and sincerity of mind.

Peril 2: the lag of spiritual understanding behind mechanical communication. Amazing scientific instruments, such as radio, printing press, motion picture, and airplane, have erased boundary lines between nations and made the whole earth one physical environment; but high barriers of prejudice, ignorance, indifference, and misunderstanding continue to bound and bind such important mental spheres as language, religion, [Page 142] and national affairs. Can we now match supranational machines with supranational patterns of cooperation? Can we create the mental tools of international understanding and cooperation which will remove the barriers which separate and confuse us? This peril demands the unity of a universal auxiliary language and of world-wide human sympathy.

Peril 3: the survival of parochial institutions in a cosmopolitan era. Contemporary man is half modern, half archaic; parts of him remain nineteenth-century, medieval, and primitive. He enjoys the universal fruits of agriculture, medicine, technology, and music without thinking of national labels; yet in his economic, educational, military, religious, and national organizations he is commonly parochial. Frank Kingdon declares, “Here is the basic tension of our times. In actual experience we are world citizens but the institutions by which we live are provincial. We are like children growing up in a home that speaks a language foreign to that of the surrounding community.” This peril demands new patterns of world-wide cooperation.

Peril 4: the conflict between prophet and multitude. We recognize the tragic paradox that the multitudes crucify their greatest benefactors, and that communism itself needs commanding leaders. We know that Plato feared democracy because it gave power to uninstructed, unrestrained crowds and decided vital issues by quantity of votes rather than by weight of reasons. We have a right to fear the barbarians in our midst who want the benefits of civilization without paying the necessary cost of discipline. How reconcile the powerful momentary desires of the masses with the considered plans of prophetic statesmen? This peril demands symphonic societies in which prophet and people strive with new earnestness to serve one another, in which majority and minority hold each other in mutual respect.

Peril 5: conflict between East and West. Chasms of ignorance and of pride shut us from the spiritual treasures of the Orient and create many false and needless conflicts. Can we now build bridges of understanding whereby East and West may supplement each other and create a richer synthetic civilization? This peril calls for an immense extension of sympathetic understanding between the peoples of Occident and Orient.

[Page 143] Peril 6: the transition from destructive competition to constructive federation among nations. Mankind has gradually enlarged social organizations from family, tribe, and state, to great nations; the next sociological and logical step is a family of nations. Can we now pass in an orderly, peaceful fashion into the parliament of man, the united nations of the world? This peril demands political and social acumen and unity of unprecedented grandeur.

Peril 7: uncertainties concerning spiritual authorities. The average American does not know in whom to put his trust; yet he does not seek far because he regards himself as wise enough. The demand for common sense is small because everyone thinks he already has an ample supply. In fact, however, multitudes of men are putting their trust in illusory or dangerous gods: technology, the collective state, an esoteric cult, a self-appointed leader, or their own uncritical judgments. Can we find somewhere a prophet whose voice will command the confidence of men through its reasonable and righteous power? This peril demands a new understanding and unity of religious goals and an unshakeable trust in a Supreme Power outside ourselves.

These seven perils present a partial picture of the conflicts which afflict our age. At the same time every one of them is a challenge to us to advance to a higher level of civilization.

These problems are painfully acute to thoughtful Americans because, while we are yet children in world affairs, history has thrust us into the center of the world’s stage. Time Magazine for May 22, 1944, page 21, reports some startling Gallup statistics: “27,000,000 U. S. adults do not know that the Japs have taken the Philippines. 54,000,000 have never heard of the Atlantic Charter. More than half of the adult population does not know that the U. S. never belonged to the League of Nations.” Although we are untrained in universal outlook, we are necessary for a successful new world order.

In three hundred years we Americans have acquired a prosperity that other nations emulate; they at least think we are successful. They do not know all our shortcomings. In his book, They Shall Not Sleep (as reported in Omnibook, May, 1944, page 40), Leland Stowe declares, “As I moved from one country or war zone to another nothing [Page 144] impressed me more than the frightening contradiction inherent in America’s position in the twentieth-century’s revolution.

“Hundreds of millions of the world’s peoples look to the United States as the symbol of freedom and their greatest hope. But the American people are tragically unprepared, both mentally and spiritually, for leadership in a new universe which we can neither prohibit nor escape. Only a few of these rising, stirring, struggling legions of men and women realize that a large proportion of Americans are not at all certain about our own definition of freedom or about what democracy really implies in an age of machines and mass production.”

Now while we confront dreadful problems a benevolent Providence has come to our aid. We read in the Hindu Bhagavad-Gita (4:7-8) how Lord Krishna revealed that the Divine Being becomes incarnate in the world in any epoch in which lawlessness uprises in order that he may destroy evil doers and establish righteousness. Did not the Divine Mind anticipate the perils of our day when, one hundred years ago, He commissioned the Bahá’í prophets to bring us a universal gospel of unity which is remarkably adapted to meet our most urgent problems? For every kind of conflict which assails us this gospel provides as a remedy a definite pattern of unified action.

The Bahá’í Faith has had a century in which to establish itself around the globe and to erect its greatest House of Worship near the heart of America, within two hundred twenty-five miles of our center of population. The Bahá’í teachings are providentially loaded with precisely the goods which we Americans direly need in this catastrophic era.

For our amazing intolerances they offer an inclusive tolerance the excellence of which is self-evident to them and to others who know it. The world-wide perspective and the universal principles which we need permeate their scriptures. They condemn every religion which breeds strife among men and exalt the common ideals in all the religions and high prophets of God. Their prophet leaders possess the kind of picturesque and attractive personalities which Americans prize. They have long set their wills to attain those world institutions which we are just now finding indispensable for peace. The Bahá’í teachings can contribute immensely, I believe, to that training [Page 145] for world citizenship which we sorely need. The amazing fitness of these teachings to our needs and their peculiar timeliness are two facts which attest their divine origin.

Now, a careful analysis of our major problems proves that their solution must be spiritual, that is, through the creative, redeeming power of men possessed of good-will, cooperativeness, reverence, and other ethical qualities. ‘Abdu’l-Bahá declared, “The kingdom of peace, salvation, uprightness, and reconciliation is founded in the invisible world, and it will by degrees become manifest through the power of the Word of God!” Lewis Mumford closed his book, Story of Utopias, thus: “Other civilizations have proved inimical to the good life and have failed and passed away; and there is nothing but our own will-to-utopia to prevent us from following them. If this dissipation of Western civilization is to cease, the first step in reconstruction is to make over our inner world, and to give our knowledge and our projections a new foundation.”

In the Syracuse newspaper, the Post-Standard, of May 17, 1944, the leading editorial began with these words in blackfaced type: “The American people are looking for strong spiritual leadership. They want it not only in their churches, but as well in the country’s leadership, in public office, in industry and business, in professional life and every other activity in which they engage.”

Today no intelligent citizen or religionist can escape the solemn obligation to know with clearness and certainty what are the safe spiritual foundations for the new age. Let us now fix firmly in mind seven concepts which are integral to the pattern of peace: three principles of belief and four of action. These seven principles are familiar but fateful. I have not invented them. I merely point them out with admiration and humility. They shine forth from many bibles and philosophies, but they gleam with extraordinary brilliance from the pages of Bahá’í scriptures. The Bahá’í prophets speak with the triple authority of Divine commission, ethical rightness, and rational coherence.

Hear the words of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá: “The prophets of God have founded the laws of divine civilization. They have been the root of all knowledge. They have established the principles of human brotherhood. [This] spiritual brotherhood unites nations, [Page 146] removes the cause of warfare, transforms mankind into one great family, and insures Universal Peace. Therefore, we must investigate the foundation reality of this heavenly fraternity. We must forsake all imitations and promote the reality of the divine teachings.”

II. TRUSTWORTHY FOUNDATIONS
OF BELIEF.

Philosophy is the serious business of determining the nature of reality and of defining the reliable ends of life. As a philosopher I am enthusiastic about Bahá’í teachings because they abound in profound philosophic insight and because with philosophical sweep they focus attention upon the great problems. They meet well the ultimate criterion of truth: a coherent and inclusive whole of ideas concerning reality.

Bahá’u’lláh ascribed a beautiful name to the body of essential truth; namely, “the City of Certitude.” He said, “That City is none other than the Word of God revealed in every age and dispensation.” He warns against mistaking common stones for the wondrous jewels of divine knowledge. Surely we desire our plans for peace to rest upon the surest discoverable foundations. Let us now look at three enduring monuments in the City of Certitude: the reality of God, the greatness of man, and the scope of the Kingdom.

A. The Reality of God.

The one final ground of confidence and hope for the individual and for civilization is God. Declared Bahá’u’lláh, “God’s commandments are the greatest fortress for the protection of the world and for the preservation of mankind.” A Chinese proverb asks, “If you offend Heaven, to whom can you pray?” Note four attributes of God:

(1) God is the mysterious Supreme Being who sustains all things. Listen to the majestic words of Bahá’u’lláh: “All things are dependent upon His will, and the worth of all acts is conditioned upon His acceptance and pleasure.” “He is, in truth, the Fountain of all life, and the Quickener of the entire creation, and the Object of the adoration of all worlds, and the Best-Beloved of every understanding heart, and the Desire of all them that are nigh unto Him.”

The Bahá’í books emphasize two proofs for God’s existence: the perfection of the human mind and the order of nature. We read: “To connect and harmonize these diverse and infinite realities an all-unifying Power is necessary, that every [Page 147] part of existent being may in perfect order discharge its own function.” “Not a single atom in the entire universe can be found which doth not declare the evidence of His might.” The poet, A. E. Johnson, affirms, “God is that but for Whom all disintegrates.”

(2) It follows next that God is through His signs present everywhere. We read: “The divine breath animates and pervades all things.” “God standeth within all things and watcheth over all things.” “The mirror of His knowledge reflecteth, with complete distinctness, precision, and fidelity, the doings of all men.” “Wonder not, if my Best-Beloved be closer to me than mine own self; wonder at this, that I, despite such nearness, should still be so far from Him.”

(3) God is good: God is loving and merciful, all-bountiful, the Most Generous, the Help in Peril, infinite in grace.

(4) Finally, God is the eternal Truth, the everlasting protector. Several significant corollaries follow from this conception of God. Conscious cooperation with the will of God is the best balance wheel of personal life. One of Bahá’u’lláh’s Words of Wisdom is, “The source of all good is trust in God, submission unto His command, and contentment in His holy will and pleasure.”

Further, if reality flows from one Cosmic Mind, then our philosophic view of the universe must form a unified system, and also the historic religions should have much in common. These are two important Bahá’í teachings. ‘Abdu’l-Bahá asserts, “The foundation of all the religions of God is one.” “The fundamentals, the foundations, of all [religions] are fellowship, unity, and love.” Thus it is evident that devotion to one God is a practical basis for cooperation among religionists.

Bahá’í leaders stress the existence of harmony among the teachings of the high prophets and religions of the world. This fact of common values constitutes an urgent summons to religionists everywhere to silence their differences, to cooperate in battle against dangerous common enemies, and to gain the strength of union in seeking the goals they agree upon: the practice of good-will, universal peace, devotion to a Supreme Being, and others. Wasteful strife among religions contradicts their essential purpose and obstructs the coming of peace. The Bahá’í teaching that the central aim of religion is to establish unity among mankind needs [Page 148] world-wide acclaim. The next step should be the active functioning of a federation of religions in support of enduring peace. The Bahá’ís contemplate “a World Religion, destined to attain in the fullness of time, the status of a world-embracing Commonwealth, which would be at once the instrument and the guardian of the Most Great Peace.” Also, “that which the Lord hath ordained as the sovereign remedy and mightiest instrument for the healing of all the world is the union of all its peoples in one universal Cause, one common Faith.”

B. The Greatness of Man.

The second foundation truth in the City of Certitude is the greatness and dignity of man. God has endowed man with intelligent freedom, and peace cannot thrive in any society which makes man a slave to any machine, human overlord, or totalitarian state. The self is the bearer of all values; therefore, since there would be no human values without the self, there is nothing for which it can be exchanged. The destruction of human beings in war is the most abominable of all crimes, while the command to value life, to respect and honor one’s neighbor is a supreme duty, second only to the love of God.

Listen to some of the Hidden Words of Bahá’u’lláh: “O Son of Man! I loved thy creation; hence, I created thee. Wherefore, do thou love Me, that I may fill thy soul with the spirit of life. O Son of Being! within thee have I placed the essence of My light. I created thee rich and revealed to thee My beauty. Thy heart is My home; sanctify it for My descent. O Son of Spirit! Noble have I created thee; rise then unto that for which thou was created.” Elsewhere he declares, “Upon the reality of man God hath focused the radiance of all of His names and attributes, and made it a mirror of His own Self. Alone of all created things man hath been singled out for so great a favor, so enduring a bounty.”

C. The Commonwealth of Love.

The third principle in the City of Truth is the commonwealth of love, the Kingdom of God, the Most Great Peace. Bahá’í writings abound in such exquisite words concerning love that I am constrained to quote freely. Let us distinguish three aspects of the commonwealth.

(1) The basis of the commonwealth of love is the biological unity of the race. We read that “The incomparable Creator hath created all men from one same substance.” “Humanity is one [Page 149] in kind; it is one race, one progeny. All are fruits of one branch, waves of the same sea. In every respect all stand upon the same footing—all have the same requirements.” Hence, all men are potentially brothers because they are made alike by one Father.

(2) The cement of the commonwealth is love. “The religion of God is absolute love and unity.” “Thou canst best praise God if thou lovest His loved ones.” “The foundation of the Kingdom of God is laid upon justice, fairness, mercy, sympathy, and kindness to every soul.” “All the creatures are equal in this one family of God save whosoever is more kind, more compassionate—he is nearer to God.” “In the world of humanity the greatest king and sovereign is love.”

(3) The goal of the commonwealth of love is world-wide harmony and peace among men. “The divine purpose is that men should live in unity, concord, and agreement, and should love one another.” “When love is realized and the ideal spiritual bonds unite the hearts of man, the happiness and tranquillity of mankind will be immeasurably increased.” “The scope of Universal Peace must be such that all the communities and religions may find their highest wish realized in it.”

I have now set forth three foundation principles of universal peace: the sovereignty of God, the dignity of man, and the kingdom of love.

III. FOUR URGENT
RESPONSIBILITIES.

The three foundation ideas generate four compelling duties for every individual who truly desires universal peace and abundant life. These responsibilities are not confined to Bahá’ís, although the very clearness and definiteness of the Bahá’í revelation places a greater responsibility upon those who know it than upon others. While the major ideas are common to the great faiths, yet the Bahá’í Faith is distinctive in the particular techniques of unity which it proposes for realizing the kingdom. My article on “Ways to Wholeness” (World Order, Dec., 1943; Jan., 1944) specified a dozen kinds of fruitful ethical unities which remain empty abstractions until individual persons actualize, organize, embody them in action. The harmonious integration of all strands of these concrete unities will produce the Most Great Peace.

The attainment of universal peace requires the cultivation of [Page 150] a whole company of spiritual arts. The arts of making war have reached exceeding fineness; the subtle arts of making peace need now to be cultivated with the same resolute and exacting intelligence. The silencing of the implements of war will be no guarantee of enduring peace; that peace will be the joint product of multitudes of individuals who know how effectively to execute the arts of peace. For each kind of peril, for every type of unity, special techniques must be devised and practiced. The fashioning of a good life or a good society is no less a difficult art than winning a battle or building a battleship, an industry, a symphony, or a temple.

The emphatic point is that we dare not take lightly the problems of peace-making; they are serious, perilous problems which challenge our most creative and consecrated intelligence. Successful arts of peace will alone produce that genuine freedom for which we long: the mastery of all conditions, physical and mental, which are necessary for realizing our legitimate wishes in the world.

Responsibility 1: is to practice the presence of the Spirit of God: to glorify Him, seek to know His Will, to draw upon His inexhaustible power, and witness to his greatness. The writings of Bahá’u’lláh are rich in exhortations like these: “The first and foremost duty prescribed unto men, next to the recognition of Him Who is the eternal truth, is the duty of steadfastness in God’s Cause. Cleave thou unto it, and be of them whose minds are firmly fixed and grounded in God. No act, however meritorious, did or can ever compare unto it. It is the king of all acts.” “Place not thy reliance on thy treasures. Put thy whole confidence in the grace of God, thy Lord. Let Him be thy trust and thy helper in whatever thou doest.”

What art is involved here? The art of worship, of creative prayer. The essence of worship is the commitment of one’s life to God and the endeavor to enlarge and adjust one’s purposes to the divine will. The fruit of effective worship is clearer purpose and stronger good-will.

Further, as soon as your faith is strong and joyful, you will want to make it attractive to others by the art of skillful communication. Declares Bahá’u’lláh, “Our mission is to seize and possess the hearts of men.” Again he says, “The essence of religion is to testify unto that which the Lord hath revealed, and follow that which He hath [Page 151] ordained in His mighty Book.” ‘Abdu’l-Bahá urges, “O friend! Be set aglow with the fire of the love of God, so that the hearts of the people will become enlightened by the light of thy love.”

Daily rule number 1: Every day my trust in God grows stronger, and every day I tell someone of God’s greatness.

Responsibility 2: the unwavering practice of love to one’s neighbor. The dignity of man deserves respect. The kingdom is composed of persons who love. Love increases knowledge, encourages goodness, and conquers evil doers. Therefore, “Blessed are they who are kind and serve with love.” “The religion of God is to create love and unity.” To increase the amount and the quality of good-will in the world is a basic duty.

Hear the superb words of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá: “Enkindle with all your might in every meeting the light of the love of God; gladden and cheer every heart with the utmost loving-kindness; show forth your love to the stranger just as you show it forth to your relations.” As more and more men dwell together in one loving family, universal peace draws nearer.

What art is involved here? The art of reconciling human differences on a higher and richer level. Let us apply to personal relations a basic rule in the appreciation of beauty: to find rhythm in every artistic work but also to find variety and originality. To expect artistic works or human beings to fit our modes of desiring is tyranny. We can learn how to enjoy, utilize, harmonize varieties of personality. The kingdom is like a great work of art; it is a unity in variety.

How does the man of goodwill treat an angry antagonist? He sympathizes with him, quietly loves him, and thus subdues his emotions. How deal with a controversial person? If two souls quarrel about a question, both are wrong, for both lack that condition of good-will which is a precondition of creative discussion.

Daily rule number 2: Every day I seek to appreciate someone different from me, and everyday I do some loving kindness to my neighbor.

Responsibility 3: to become an expert in one art of peacemaking, in one kingdom institution. The question for each of us is: What particular job can I do according to my ability in the immediate future to hasten [Page 152] the coming of the Most Great Peace?

Daily rule number 3: Every day I clarify my mission in the world, and every day I strengthen my chosen kingdom institution; or, if you prefer: Every day I define my duty as a world citizen, and every day I perfect my chosen art of peace-making.

It is your duty tonight to think clearly of what is to be your contribution to the Most Great Peace. It is your duty tomorrow to define that duty more clearly. It is your duty every day to refine your technique in the kind of peace-making in which you choose to be a specialist. And only you, with God’s help, can finally discover your unique mission. Bahá’u’lláh said, “The faith of no man can be conditioned by anyone except himself.” But every individual should regard himself as that crucial grain of sand which may turn the balance in favor of the reign of peace.

Behind the three duties already defined lies duty number four: an inclusive responsibility, the practice of creative faith. Creative faith means that dynamic synthesis of clear vision, trust in reality, and aggressive adventure by which a person produces new conditions which are favorable to the coming of the kingdom. Such faith creates conditions which confirm our hopes; therefore, it is indispensable for the growth of the kingdom. If faith in a fact will help to create the fact, then it is our duty to believe.

What facts ground our faith? These: Reality is orderly, reliable. It is weighted in favor of the good man because it is God’s world. Life is not static but progressive, long-reaching, eternal. The world is “infinitely unfinished.” Happiness is not an end attainment, but a daily process of realizing particular goods. Perfection is not a static effect, but the direction of personal expansion. These are the grounds.

Here are the words of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá oncerning faith: faith with knowledge is one of the “wings of ascent”. “Faith is the means of the ascent of the human soul to the lofty station of divine perfections.” Faith is like the potential of the seed which you plant; you plant it with trust in an orderly world, and, with proper sunshine and rain, it becomes a magnificent tree.

I treasure the word of my teacher, W. E. Hocking: “Destiny in practice means the direction of your next step.” If your [Page 153] next step, and the next, moves towards greater love, then your well-being is certain and your destiny secure; if in the opposite direction, you are living in peril for yourself and you are obstructing the Most Great Peace.

Daily rule number 4: Every day I stretch my faith toward the coming of the kingdom of love, and every day I will do a concrete deed to hasten its realization on earth.

All the facts of history warn us: this is a time to live dangerously, to live assiduously, to live creatively. Every day is precious and perilous; and the days of opportunity are passing swiftly. Contemporary minds are more plastic than ever and more receptive to words backed by reality and love. Let us meet the incomparable challenge by more creative faith, by more intelligent devotion to God’s cause, by finer arts of peace. The combination of Bahá’í Faith with American ingenuity and energy should make a winning team for the establishing of enduring peace in the world upon solid foundations.

I want to conclude with some superb words from the sacred writings, first of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá: “Today is the day for steadfastness and constancy. Blessed are they that stand firm and immovable as the rock, and brave the storm and stress of this tempestuous hour.” “O peoples of the world! Arise and bestir yourselves, that My Cause may triumph, and My Word be heard by all mankind.” “Ye are now in a great station and noble rank, and ye shall find yourselves in evident success and prosperity, the like of which the eye of existence never saw in former ages.”

And finally from Bahá’u’lláh: “God grant that the light of unity may envelop the whole earth, and that the seal, ‘the Kingdom is God’s’ may be stamped upon the brow of all its peoples.” “Set your faces toward unity, and let the radiance of its light shine upon you.”


Address delivered at the Bahá’í Centenary Banquet, Hotel Stevens, Chicago, Ill., May 25, 1944.



The honor of man is through the attainment of the knowledge of God; his happiness is from the love of God; his joy is in the glad-tidings of God; his greatness is dependent upon his servitude to God. The highest development of man is his entrance into the divine kingdom; and the outcome of this human existence is the nucleus and essence of eternal life.

—‘ABDU’L-BAHÁ




[Page 154]

Bahá’í Centenary Radio Program

Broadcast over station WCFL, Chicago, from Bahá’í Centenary Banquet, Hotel Stevens, May 25, 1944.


ANNOUNCEMENT BY
MRS. SHIRLEY WARDE

WE ARE speaking to you from the ballroom of the Stevens Hotel. As a special broadcast, we are bringing you a portion of the program of the Bahá’í banquet which is being held here tonight. This banquet closes the week-long convention of the Bahá’ís of the Western Hemisphere, and the celebration of the hundredth anniversary of the Bahá’í Faith. The convention and the anniversary meetings have been held in the Bahá’í Temple at Wilmette, the newly completed house of worship, which has been acclaimed the world’s most beautiful structure and a masterpiece of architecture. Gathered here in the banquet hall are delegates from thirty-one countries, forty-four states of our nation, and five provinces of Canada, from eleven republics of Central and South America, and even from the far-flung outposts of Alaska and Hawaii.

The guests assembled have just heard an address by Dr. Raymond Frank Piper, professor of philosophy, the University of Syracuse. The chairman, Mr. Albert R. Windust, is one of the first Bahá’ís of Chicago and one of the group who originally conceived the idea of building a great universal house of worship here in the heart of the American continent. Now he is about to introduce the next guest on tonight’s program, so we turn our microphone over to Mr. Albert Windust.

INTRODUCTION BY
ALBERT R. WINDUST

We are very happy to be able to share with our friends of the radio audience a portion of this last evening of the momentous celebration that has brought us all together from many parts of the world. During the week of our Centenary celebration, we have heard many languages spoken beneath the all-sheltering dome of the Bahá’í Temple, but there are two languages we all understand—the language of the spirit and that of music. We greet you in both and here, to make our greeting in music heard, is Walter Olitski, baritone of the Metropolitan Opera Company and one of our Bahá’í guests at this Centenary. Mr. Olitski sings for you, as his first [Page 155] number, the beautiful Aria by Handel, “Where Ere You Walk,”—and it is a tribute in song to the revitalizing influence of the prophet when he walks the earth. . . .

Thank you, Walter Olitski, for that beautiful interpretation. Our next guest is a man who stands midway between north and south, our delegate from Panama, that vital link between North and South America. We thought it fitting that he should speak on this occasion for both the Americas, since, through his republic, flows the great spiritual stream of Bahá’í spirit and brotherhood, from our shores to those of our Latin-American coworkers for the unity of all men. Mr. Alfred Osborne was educated at our own University of Chicago and is today supervisor of schools in the Canal Zone. I am very happy to present to you, Mr. Alfred E. Osborne.

INTERVIEW OF
ALFRED E. OSBORNE

I am one of a number of delegates from Latin-America and the West Indies. Many of us are in the United States for the first time. Two of us have come from as far south as Brazil and Chile. In spite of extreme difficulties due to the present war conditions, we all managed somehow to get transportation, for doors miraculously opened to permit us to be present at the All-America Bahá’í Centenary.

I am sure that the other delegates from Central and South America feel the way I do. I wish it had been possible for all the believers in our countries and all the believers in the United States, in fact, all those people who have never even heard of the Bahá’í Faith to have been present during this Centenary Celebration and to have seen for themselves that a pattern of life based on unity and fellowship has actually been set up and is being practiced today by hundreds and thousands of believers throughout the world, representing various backgrounds in race, religion, nationality and culture.

We all have desired a new world in which love and justice, peace and harmony, shall prevail. There is not a single person who has not prayed and longed for the Kingdom of heaven on earth. Still we do know that the old barriers of prejudice, of race, class and creed, separate the members of the human family. The sad fact is this: that although our material civilization has brought us closer together, has reduced or removed the physical barriers of distance and place, yet the peoples of the [Page 156] earth have not yet learned to cooperate with one another and live in peace and harmony. To witness, therefore, some of the events of the Centenary observance which indicate that human nature can certainly change, that new social values can be deliberately created; that in fact, the new world is already in existence in the world-wide Bahá’í family, should be tidings of great joy and hope to a world weighed down with grave social problems and faced with serious post-war adjustments. In the Bahá’í Teachings we read this statement: “Today the world of humanity is walking in darkness because it is out of touch with the world of God.” For the past week I have been living in the world of God.

In the Bahá’í Temple I saw the people of various racial, religious and cultural backgrounds assembled to worship God and to celebrate the one hundredth Anniversary of God’s new Revelation to mankind. But more than that, I saw these people actively demonstrate the cardinal principle of the Bahá’í Faith “that religion is man’s attitude toward God reflected in his attitude towards his fellowman.” For here, under the dome of the Bahá’í Temple, all are equal not only in the eyes of God but also in the eyes of one another. In the Bahá’í House of Worship there is no difference of race, no difference of color, no difference of creed, no difference of class.

There in Foundation Hall during the Convention sessions the highest type of democracy was in evidence. Every delegate, regardless of his education, social status, color or nationality, had the right and the privilege of contributing to the deliberations of the Convention. And each contribution was given consideration regardless of its source. Here was an assembly composed of delegates not motivated by sectional interests, not seeking the favors of their constituents, not previously instructed as to their voting, their attitudes or their decisions; not concerned with their own locality; but delegates working for the welfare of the whole world community; interested as much in the problems of Brazil as those of the United States, of Jamaica as those of Canada; willing to alter pre-conceived ideas in the light of consultation and majority thinking; and voting only for those un-nominated individuals whom they felt possessed those intellectual, moral and spiritual qualities requisite [Page 157] for service on the Bahá’í National Spiritual Assembly.

I was thrilled to see the spirit of true fellowship lived and practiced during every moment of the Centenary. Even around the dining tables under the huge tent was “man’s attitude toward God reflected in his attitude toward his fellow man.” Here were various groups speaking various languages but even between those with whom there was no communication through the spoken word, there was complete understanding through the language of the heart. One of the Latin-American delegates expressed this truth nicely when he facetiously reminded us of Bernard Shaw’s expression “that the United States and England were separated by the same language,” but the North and South American countries represented at the Bahá’í Centenary were united in spite of different languages.

In different localities Of the world where religious and racial prejudices have been such strong barriers that it has been absolutely impossible for people to meet together in the spirit of understanding and fellowship, today under the banner of the Bahá’í Faith the Muhammadan and Jew; the Buddhist and the Christian; the Occidental and the Oriental; the Black and the White, the rich and the poor, all find their differences dissolved in the penetrating light of Bahá’u’lláh’s message for this age. This Teaching creates the consciousness of the oneness of the world and proves that we are all members of the same human family, despite superficial differences in color and physiognomy. In the words of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, Son of the Founder of the Bahá’í Faith, “The lovers of mankind, these are the superior man, of whatever nation, creed, or color they may be. . . God is no respecter of persons on account of either color or race. . . Inasmuch as all were created in the image of God, we must bring ourselves to realize that all embody divine possibilities.”

This Teaching creates the consciousness of the essential unity of all revealed religion and shows that the Prophets are one in spirit, one in purpose and one in the source of their power. According to this marvelous teaching each Prophet fulfills the promise given by his predecessor, enlarges the scope of truth and gives assurance that another prophet will come at the end of the era.

One picture that stands out vividly in my mind is the enthusiastic photographing on the [Page 158] Temple grounds of the believers, representing various racial backgrounds. In these photographs were the believers from Írán, France, Central and South America, China, Canada, Cuba, Hawaii, Alaska, Jamaica, Mexico and the United States. Surely this was eloquent evidence of the unity in diversity which is one of the cardinal principles of the Bahá’í Faith.

These thousands of believers in the Cause of Bahá’u’lláh, gathered together from all parts of the world, were able to conquer physical distance through the marvelous means of transportation available today. They came to the Centenary not as strangers from distant lands but as members of one loving, all-embracing Bahá’í family. And that is what it means to be a Bahá’í. To be a Bahá’í is to find in every distant land a home, in every stranger a friend, in every fellow human being, a true brother. For the Bahá’í is already a citizen of the world. He believes and practices the admonition of Bahá’u’lláh, who has written:

“The world is but one country and mankind its citizens.”
“Ye are all leaves of one tree and the fruits of one branch.”
“Let not a man glory in this that he loves his country; let him rather glory in this that he loves his kind.”

Mr. Windust speaks:

I think we have all felt this week as Mr. Osborne has stated, that we have experienced a preview, as it were, of the new world that we shall all live in some day, and which is today already a very tangible world populated by the Bahá’ís around the globe.

I’d like to introduce to you now some other citizens of this new Bahá’í world, citizens from its far-flung ramparts, and representing its varied races.

First, from the nerve-center of our own North America, I’d like to introduce Miss Elsie Austin, an attractive young attorney from Washington, D. C. Miss Austin was the first Negro woman to be appointed assistant attorney general of Ohio. She is now in Washington with the federal government and is connected with many national educational groups. Miss Austin. . . .

INTERVIEW OF
MISS ELSIE AUSTIN

The Bahá’í centenary has had a profound effect upon all of us. It is something to see people who represent every traditional separation come together and practice a belief.

[Page 159] It convinces one that the Bahá’í faith is that force which is powerful enough to make men turn from old resentments and entrenched aversions to establish together needed social patterns for new spiritual and material achievements.

Mr. Windust speaks:

Now we swing down into South America, to hear from Señor Edvardo Gonzales López, our delegate from Guayaquil, Ecuador. Señor López is a graduate of Ecuador College. He has been broadcasting for the past nine months on the Quito radio. He is attending the Bahá’í Centenary and came to this country for that purpose just a few days ago. He will speak in Spanish and it will be translated. Señor López. . . .

INTERVIEW OF
EDUARDO GONZALES LÓPEZ

I should like to tell you, friend of the Americas, that which we witnessed in Wilmette, Illinois, in the United States, during the past week, was not just a spectacle of a large group of people coming together from all over the western hemisphere— not simply a convention—not just the celebration of the Bahá’í centenary—it was much more. What we witnessed during that centenary celebration was the fruit, the first harvest, of the seed sown by ‘Abdu’l-Bahá in North America. This seed was cultivated by the North American Bahá’ís, and then borne by the spiritual wind to the South American continent. This seed was sown on good soil and is now bearing fruit. It can be clearly seen that because of the meeting at this centenary celebration of the two Americas in real brotherhood and fellowship, that the seed was not sown in vain.

The North American Bahá’ís are fortunate indeed in being the means by which this work has been accomplished—and the means by which the southern hemisphere will become illuminated. To the North American Bahá’ís, therefore, is the glory of the first harvest, but in the future it will be for all the Americas, both North and South, and all will be joined in the fulfillment of that prophetic utterance of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, son of the founder of the Bahá’í Faith, that “the standard of peace and brotherhood will be raised in the Americas.”

Mr. Windust speaks:

Again from South America, and deep in that continent, we bring you our delegate from Bahia, Brazil, who is Dr. Fernando [Page 160] Nova. In addition to his private practice, Dr. Nova is the city physician of Bahia. He has just arrived in this country to attend the Bahá’í convention, and will remain here for three months for medical research. Dr. Nova. . . .

INTERVIEW OF
DR. FERNANDO NOVA

I think this Bahá’í Convention has been a powerful spectacle. I wish many people could have had the opportunity to see what it has been my privilege to see. They would surely be attracted to these teachings. I have seen a demonstration of faith which has been an inspiration, and which will be an inspiration to the people of Brazil when they hear about it. It will bring more clearly an understanding of brotherhood and peace to the people of Brazil. I have just arrived from Bahia, Brazil, and yet because of the friendliness and fellowship of the people at the convention, I feel a nearness, a closeness to the North Americans. I intend to remain among you for about three months and I hope to become better acquainted with you.

Ordinarily it takes several weeks to get into this country because of all the necessary government regulations, but by the grace of God the way was opened up to me and I came in three days and was able to witness this great demonstration of brotherhood on the shores of Lake Michigan in North America. Greetings to all the North Americans from a South American brother.

Radio broadcast ended with Dr. Nova’s interview because of termination of the half-hour radio time.

Mr. Windust speaks:

Here with us, too, is a young man who is not a delegate but a guest at our celebration. From faraway Teheran, in Írán, nine of these Persian youths, all Bahá’ís, recently came to America to study in our colleges. Eight of them have been with us this past week, and I want you to meet now, Firúz Kasemzadi. Although only nineteen, Firúz is a fourth-generation Bahá’í, and comes from the land where the Bahá’í revelation was first proclaimed. I want you to meet Firúz Kasemzadi. . . .

INTERVIEW OF
FIRUZ KASEMZADI

I have Visited many countries of Europe and Asia, and in all those countries I have been among the Bahá’ís, and I saw a very definite difference between those Bahá’í communities and [Page 161] the people who surrounded them. The main difference was this— that the Bahá’í community was entirely free of the prejudices that existed all around it. They brought together all nations, races, and classes of people. They established a pattern of the New World Order, the only pattern which can work, and which I saw in action in this most glorious convention. I saw all these delegates gathered from so many places, working in perfect unity as the parts of one organism; the administrative organism which is destined to change the face of the Americas and in the years to come, of the world.

Mr. Windust speaks:

From another faraway land, we have had as our guest, Miss Hilda Yen, of Chungking, China. Miss Yen represented China at the League of Nations in 1935 and 1937. She is an aviatrix, and, after her experience in the battle of Hongkong and her escape to Free China, she flew to this country to lecture on how to win universal peace. She is a brand new Bahá’í and I am sure we would all like to hear her impressions of this Centenary celebration. Miss Yen. . . .

INTERVIEW OF
MISS HILDA YEN

Five years ago I was in the United States travelling and lecturing on China, on world federal government and on world peace. I was at that time flying the plane “The Spirit of New China,” and on one of my trips I crashed. Upon recovering from this accident I had a realization that the first life I had lived (before the accident) had been for China. But what I think of now as my second life I dedicated to the service of God and of all mankind. Since then I have been in China again and was in the battle of Hong Kong. I escaped from there to “Free China”, and flew over to this country last year.

Since coming to your country again I have found a faith, a religion in action, that will bring into reality the oneness of mankind and all the good things men are entitled to. I have found, at last, a group of sincere people who actually practice what they preach and do not just pay lip service to the brotherhood of man. I find that I agree with all of their teachings and have just recently embraced this faith.




[Page 162]

CRISIS OF OUR AGE

GARRETA BUSEY

Book Review


Professor Sorokin of Harvard University has produced a book[1] which will be extremely interesting to students of the Bahá’í Faith, for in its main thesis, i.e. that the cause of the present crisis in human society is man’s dissociation from God, the argument of the book runs parallel to the teachings of Bahá’u’lláh.

Professor Sorokin divides human progress into periods which he calls ideational, idealistic, and sensate. In the ideational period of a culture— the European Middle Ages, for instance —all things are referred to an absolute value, or God, and revealed truth is the only truth which is recognized. In such a period, a new principle begins inevitably to emerge— the principle that true reality is discoverable only by means of the senses, that seeing (or hearing, or touching, or smelling) is believing. The sensory approach to truth becomes synthesized with the ideational, or religious, approach to form an attitude which Professor Sorokin calls idealistic. Idealism, thus defined, is based on the premise that reality is partly sensory and partly beyond the reach of our senses— that reason, the senses, and that which is beyond them are blended into “an infinite manifold, God”. Such, he maintains, was the culture of the fifth and fourth centuries B.C. and the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries A.D. In the natural course of the cycle, however, the sensory elements of culture become ever more insistent until they predominate and we have a sensate culture, in which all the departments of man’s activity are based on the principle that knowledge is to be obtained only by the senses. Since about the sixteenth century, Professor Sorokin declares, our culture has been mainly sensate.

Today sensate culture has exhausted itself. In the absence of any criterion of value above the imperfect evidence of the senses, truth has become entirely relativistic, temporal, and materialistic. Man is regarded, not as a child of God and “the bearer of His truth”, but as a system of reflexes, no more important than any animal. He is inclined to seize selfishly the material good of today, having no assurance of tomorrow, and, as a consequence, every department of human life, from ethics and morality even to economics, has disintegrated. Professor Sorokin shows by tables and charts that crises such as this have always occurred when the predominant culture shifts from an ideational to a sensate stage, or vice versa, but today we are in the greatest crisis of them all. A similar shift occurred at the end of the Graeco-Roman sensate period, which was the beginning of the Christian era, as well as in the twelfth to the fourteenth centuries A.D., when [Page 163] Christian ideational culture made way for our present sensate age. The shifts, he believes, are inevitable, as are also the violent disturbances which accompany them.

The book contains a rather detailed and statistical analysis of the symptoms of the degeneration of this sensate era, and these will be of interest to Bahá’ís. They include the break-up of the family, the increase of suicide, the decline of the birth-rate, the use of science for destructive purposes, the disappearance of the binding power of contracts and treaties and, as a consequence, the increase of force and violence. Excess of liberty has resulted in the enslavement of great masses of people and man must turn, says Professor Sorokin, to inner liberty, “the ideational haven” provided by Christianity. The remedy for this situation will come about through the defection of an increasingly greater number of the best minds from sensate to ideational, or religious, standards. More and more of the people will abandon materialistic desires and seek an inner, spiritual wealth. The tools provided by the sensate age will thus come to be used for the service of God.

In comparing the above thesis with with the teachings of Bahá’u’lláh, the Founder of the Bahá’í Faith, we find interesting resemblances and just as interesting differences. Bahá’u’lláh, and ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, His interpreter and exemplar, have asserted many times that the cause of the present crisis is man’s defection from God. In Some Answered Questions, ‘Abdu’l-Bahá explains very clearly the relative value of sensory and revealed knowledge. Man may achieve knowledge by means of his senses, by his reason, by tradition, or through the bounty of the Holy Spirit as it appears in the Manifestations or Prophets of God, the Founders of the great religions of the world. “A ray of this light falls upon the mirrors of the hearts of the righteous, and a portion of this power comes to them through the Holy Manifestations.” Of these four sources of knowledge, the first three are imperfect. Only the last is indubitable.

Not all sensate knowledge is to be despised, however. In the Bahá’í teachings, the sharp antithesis between the things of this world and those of the next disappears. Bahá’u’lláh states it and He resolves it. On the one hand, He says: “O Man of Two Visions! Close one eye and open the other. Close one to the world and all that is therein, and open the other to the hallowed beauty of the Beloved.” On the other: “O My servants! Ye are the trees of My garden; ye must give forth goodly and wondrous fruits, that ye yourselves and others may profit therefrom. Thus it is incumbent on every one to engage in crafts and professions, for therein lies the secret of wealth, O men of understanding! For results depend upon means, and the grace of God shall be all-sufficient unto you. Trees that yield no fruit have been and will ever be fit for the fire.” The “world,” He explains, is naught but that which prevents us from loving God. Asceticism is condemned. Material goods are for man’s benefit, if he but use them in the service of God, for this is to be His Kingdom on earth. Even the truth as perceived [Page 164] by the senses is of use, not as an absolute criterion of value, but as an instrument for the establishment of such a Kingdom. Man must know and use the laws of nature, but he must obey the laws of God. Thus sensory knowledge and achievement are recognized and given their proper evaluation, in the Revelation itself.

The description of the shift from godlessness to godliness now taking place in the world, as it is described by Shoghi Effendi, Guardian of the Bahá’í Faith, is similar in many respects to that offered by Professor Sorokin. An increasing number of men and women, disillusioned by the world as it exists today, are turning to a more spiritual interpretation of value and are finding it in the Revelation of Bahá’u’lláh, which provides the basis for a new grasp of truth, a new social and political structure, and a new art. The cells of the future civilization, already growing within the old organism, will insure the health of humanity when the crisis is over. This is true, not because man on his own initiative turns back to the older religious systems, but because a fresh spiritual impetus has been given to human faith. It is on this point that Professor Sorokin’s book differs most widely from the Bahá’í teachings. He leaves one with the impression that the shifts of culture from ideational to sensate and vice versa are mechanical and originate in man. He neglects the fact that the existence of Christ, coinciding with the greatest impotence of Graeco-Roman culture, gave disillusioned man the center to which he could turn and provided him with a more than human Power with which to rebuild his world. Similarly, the advent of Muḥammad and the impact upon Europe of the civilization which He founded provided the creative basis for the great achievements which Professor Sorokin ascribes to the sensate age. Sensate man alone could not have held society together for so long a time. Islám provided, among other things, the creative impulse for the development of modern science, a necessary physical preparation for the world unity at the threshold of which we stand at the present time.

But what of this latter day, dies irae, dies illa, the greatest crisis in human history? Has no magnet been provided today for the spiritual impulses of man, bewildered as never before in the midst of the “vast cultural dumping ground” into which he has converted his civilization? In Professor Sorokin’s summary of the creative contributions of the sensate age, he says:

“The contributions of sensate culture have been mediocre in the fields of religion, ethics, and to some extent in metaphysics. It created no great new religion. It only diluted the great medieval Christianity. Its attempts to create its own religion yielded either a spiritless distortion or an atrocious mutilation of Christianity, producing the religious monstrosities of hundreds of different sects, each one more bizarre than the last. It created also many gospels of positivist and ‘scientific’ religions, each representing an ugly hybrid of distorted science as well as of twisted religion.”

True, and yet in that same period a new religion was created, not by man, but by God.


  1. ↑ Pitirim A. Sorokin, “The Crisis of Our Age,” E. P. Dutton & Co., New York. In a later book, “Man and Society in Calamity”, Professor Sorokin discusses possible ways for the rehabilitation of mankind.




[Page 165]

Mexican Community

FLORENCE DE BELL KEEMER


So intense must be the spirit of love and loving kindness that the stranger may find himself a friend” . . . “For universality is of God and all limitations earthly.”

SO TAUGHT ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, and all of these things have been exemplified in Mexico this summer. To give any adequate idea of the Bahá’í spirit down here, it is difficult to be impersonal. Among people of Latin ancestry, in the first place, nobody is impersonal, and in the second place, who could wish them to be different from their charming, hospitable selves?

Everywhere indeed, gentleness and a winning courtesy seem to prevail, from the Indian hucksters in the markets to the conductors on the crowded “Camions,” who are mysteriously capable of being everywhere at once, helping every harassed mother at the strategic instant.

In the Bahá’í Community which is enjoying a steady growth, this characteristic assumes added significance. If we of the United States have called ourselves in the past “the Melting Pot of Nationalities”, it seems doubly true of the capital of Mexico today, a teeming city made up of sharply contrasting peoples who dwell side by side in an amazingly friendly fashion. This cosmopolitan friendliness is reflected in the Bahá’í membership, which is just rounding out the half-hundred mark. Among this number are two Indian women who recently declared themselves. There are school teachers, lawyers, printers, factory workers, government employes and clerks in various capacities, and their families.

At my first meeting I heard a gentle Polish lady, a refugee, making herself more or less understood by means of a few words each of German, French, and Spanish. She speaks each fluently, and is making headway with English. Such an experience makes one realize the necessity of the “universal language” which some hope may turn out to be English, but which Latin peoples find especially difficult on account of the many possible sounds of each vowel, and no rules to cover, while their own vowels have one sound each.

At another time the son of an African medicine man of the [Page 166] Congo, recited his own poems in Spanish (which he learned in Cuba), and ended by chanting one of the old Congo incantations. His young wife is Mexican.

One feature of these meetings is the attendance of a large proportion of well mannered children, who always come with their parents. A plan is just being formulated to hold a separate class for them, to be presided over by two of the younger Bahá’ís as teachers, at the same hour as the adult meeting.

This community is also proud possessor of a well-arranged library of several hundred books, which may be consulted on the premises.

As the direct work of the Mexico City Bahá’í community, a teaching plan has been carried on in Vera Cruz, Puebla, and other cities, from which at an early date flourishing assemblies are expected to be formed. There are nine registered believers in each of the two cities mentioned, the result of a recent teaching mission.

One of the most significant aspects of this city from the teaching standpoint is the apparent readiness of many people to discuss religious subjects, anywhere, anytime. Many souls are definitely seeking the truth, but are utterly at sea in the matter of procedure, or of historical backgrounds of the faiths. As an example of this, on two succeeding days by two widely differing families, both intelligent, the same question was asked: “Why are the Jews persecuted, how did that begin, and why has it continued?”

Another aspect of this same spirit is evident in the unconscious way many households cherish crucifixes and shrines in their homes which are scarcely more than symbols of the past; for they are conventions, intimately flanked by books and magazines on Unity, Christian Science, or other religious philosophies of the day.

So, here and further afield, “putting on the armor of love,” we must “wax stronger” . . . “Arise in His name . . . and be assured of ultimate victory.”



The believers of God throughout all the Republics of America, through the divine power, must become the cause of the promotion of heavenly teachings and the establishment of the oneness of humanity.

—‘ABDU’L-BAHÁ




[Page 167]

WITH OUR READERS


THE wealth of material from our Centenary programs makes it again possible to devote much of our issue to Centenary addresses. We are using most of our space this month to addresses and talks given at the great Centenary banquet, the culminating event of the week of celebration.

The editorial article by Gertrude Henning takes us quite completely into the joyous spirit of the Bahá’í Centenary banquet. Our Bahá’í readers will recall that it was the wish of the Guardian, Shoghi Effendi, that this banquet be held in the city of Chicago. Through his secretary he wrote: “A banquet, at which distinguished friends, sympathizers and admirers of the Cause should be invited to be present, should be held in a befitting setting in the city of Chicago where the Cause was first established in America. In this connection, the Guardian would like to point out that the first center was, as affirmed by Dr. Khayrullah himself, established by him in 1894. Hence it is justifiable to consider the establishment of the Faith of Bahá’u’lláh in the continent of America to have begun in 1894. The American believers will, therefore, be celebrating in May, 1944, at once the hundredth anniversary of the establishment of the Faith, the completion of the exterior ornamentation of the Temple, and the fiftieth anniversary of the establishment of the Bahá’í Faith in the Western hemisphere, and, indeed, in the entire Western world. To this marvelous coincidence adequate recognition should be given during the dedication ceremony in the form of thanksgiving prayers, in the meetings held in the Foundation Hall of the Temple, at the sessions of the Convention, through the press, and over the radio.”

As we reread these instructions and look back on the Centenary we ask ourselves—could we possibly have had so wonderful, so satisfying a celebration in every aspect if our Guardian had not sent us the broad picture and even many of the details of its plan?

* * *

The introductory remarks by the banquet chairman, Albert Windust, gave the impressive story of the founding of the Bahá’í Faith in the Western World. Mr. Windust, a Bahá’í since the early days of the Cause in America, was one of the founders of the Bahá’í publications and first editor of the Bahá’í magazine. These remarks appear in this issue.

The guest speaker that evening was Dr. Raymond Frank Piper of Syracuse University. In introducing him Albert Windust, chairman of the occasion said: “Dr. Raymond Frank Piper, professor of philosophy at Syracuse University, has for many years directed his attention to study and investigation in the field of comparative religion. In 1932 and 1933 he traveled through eighteen countries [Page 168] and interviewed over five hundred people in a special study of Oriental philosophy and religion, particularly as affecting the conditions of human happiness. During the journey he met Bahá’ís in Honolulu and grew interested in the teachings of Bahá’u’lláh. We have the fruit of his scholarship in articles written by Dr. Piper for World Order, the Bahá’í magazine, notably his essay on “Ways to Wholeness” which appeared a few months ago. Dr. Piper has invited several Bahá’í lecturers to address his class on comparative religion, has gathered with the friends at the Annual Souvenir of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá at West Englewood, New Jersey, and has visited our Bahá’í school at Green Acre. His subject “Religious Foundations of World Unity” has profound importance, his capacity to present it is unusual. We are proud of our privilege to present Dr. Piper on this final program of the Bahá’í Centenary.”

Our readers will recall that Elsie Austin’s address which followed Dr. Piper’s was printed in the July World Order.

During the half hour of the banquet when several brief talks were carried over the radio to the outside world Shirley Warde, widely recognized radio artist, author and actress, was announcer. Alfred Osborne of Panama, Dr. Fernando Nova of Brazil, Hilda Yen of China, Firúz Kasemzadi of Írán, Eduardo Gonzales López, each spoke briefly. Representing, as these Bahá’ís did, the black, white and yellow races and many nationalities, their contributions to this program reminds us that the Bahá’í Faith stands for unity in diversity since all were united in one Faith. Unfortunately the half hour was not sufficient for all the talks to be broadcast.

The banquet and the Centenarv week came to a close with the following remarks by Mr. Windust:

“You will recall that in the year 1912, ‘Abdu’l-Bahá spent nine months in the United States and Canada. He journeyed from the Atlantic to the Pacific coast and back. The day of His departure from America, December 5th, on board the Steamship Celtic, He gave final words of exhortation to the Bahá’ís of the Western World.”

* * *

In her article “Mexican Community” Florence DeBell Keemer writes out of her experience of several months among Bahá’ís and others in Mexico City. Mrs. Keemer is now helping to establish the Bahá’í Faith in Guatemala.

* * *

In order that our readers may keep in touch with some of the best current thought that runs parallel, or partly parallel, to Bahá’í Teachings, we offer, from time to time, brief book reviews. Although Crisis of Our Age is not the most recent of books setting out such thought, its value still holds as Miss Busey’s review points out.

—THE EDITORS.




[Page 169]


Bahá’í Literature


Gleanings from the Writings of Bahá’u’lláh, selected and translated by Shoghi Effendi. The Bahá’í teachings on the nature of religion, the soul, the basis of civilization and the oneness of mankind. Bound in fabrikoid. 360 pages. $2.00.

Epistle to the Son of the Wolf, translated by Shoghi Effendi. Revealed by Bahá’u’lláh toward the end of His earthly mission, this text is a majestic and deeply-moving exposition of His fundamental principles and laws and of the sufferings endured by the Manifestation for the sake of mankind. Bound in cloth. 186 pages. $1.50.

The Kitáb-i-Íqán, translated by Shoghi Effendi. This work (The Book of Certitude) unifies and coordinates the revealed Religions of the past, demonstrating their oneness in fulfillment of the purposes of Revelation. Bound in cloth. 262 pages. $2.50.

Prayers and Meditations by Bahá’u’lláh, selected and translated by Shoghi Effendi. The supreme expression of devotion to God; a spiritual flame which enkindles the heart and illumines the mind. 348 pages. Bound in fabrikoid. $2.00.

Some Answered Questions. ‘Abdu’l-Bahá's explanation of questions concerning the relation of man to God, the nature of the Manifestation, human capacities, fulfillment of prophecy, etc. Bound in cloth. 350 pages. $1.50.

The Promulgation of Universal Peace. In this collection of His American talks, ‘Abdu’l-Bahá laid the basis for a firm understanding of the attitudes, principles and spiritual laws which enter into the establishment of true Peace. 492 pages. Bound in cloth. $2.50.

Bahá’í Prayers, a selection of Prayers revealed by Bahá’u’lláh, the Báb and ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, each Prayer translated by Shoghi Effendi. 72 pages. Bound in fabrikoid, $0.75. Paper cover, $0.35.

The World Order of Bahá’u’lláh, by Shoghi Effendi. On the nature of the new social pattern revealed by Bahá’u’lláh for the attainment of divine justice in civilization. Bound in fabrikoid. 234 pages. $1.50.


BAHÁ’Í PUBLISHING COMMITTEE
110 Linden Avenue, Wilmette, Illinois




[Page 170]

THE BAHÁ’Í FAITH

Recognizes the unity of God and His Prophets,

Upholds the principle of an unfettered search after truth,

Condemns all forms of superstition and prejudice,

Teaches that the fundamental purpose of religion is to promote concord and harmony, that it must go hand in hand with science, and that it constitutes the sole and ultimate basis of a peaceful, an ordered and progressive society. . . .

Inculcates the principle of equal opponunity, rights and privileges for both sexes,

Advocates compulsory education,

Abolishes extremes of poverty and wealth.

Exalts work performed in the spirit of service to the rank of worship,

Recommends the adoption of an auxiliary international language, . . .

Provides the necessary agencies for the establishment and safeguarding of a permanent and universal peace.

—SHOGHI EFFENDI.
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