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WORLD ORDER
DECEMBER, 1945
A SPIRITUAL RENAISSANCE—G. A. Shook
WORLD CITIZENS—Marguerite True
THE DAY OF GOD—Bahá’u’lláh
PIONEER JOURNEY: BOLIVIA—Virginia Orbison
THE BASIS OF OPTIMISM, Editorial—Garreta Busey
FROM ONE SERVICE MAN TO ANOTHER—Duart Brown
CHALLENGE TO LIBERAL THOUGHT, Book Review—Arthur Dahl
THE TIME FOR LOVE HAS COME, Poem—Angela Morgan
‘ABDU’L-BAHÁ, THE DIVINE EXEMPLAR—Mariam Haney
INDEX TO “ADVENT OF DIVINE JUSTICE”—William Kenneth Christian
WITH OUR READERS
THE BAHÁ’Í MAGAZINE
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 XXXVI 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, William Kenneth Christian, Gertrude K. Henning, Horace Holley, Bertha Hyde Kirkpatrick.
Editorial Office
Mrs. Gertrude K. Henning, Secretary
69 ABBOTSFORD ROAD, WINNETKA, ILL.
Publication Office
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C. R. Wood; Business Manager Printed in U.S.A.
DECEMBER, 1945, VOLUME XI, NUMBER 9
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 1945 by Bahá’í Publishing Committee. Title registered at U. S. Patent Office.
CHANGE OF ADDRESS SHOULD BE REPORTED ONE MONTH IN ADVANCE
WORLD ORDER
The Bahá’í Magazine
VOLUME XI DECEMBER, 1945 NUMBER 9
A Spiritual Renaissance
G. A. SHOOK
STORIES of heroism are timeless and placeless. The tragic lives of those Pilgrim Fathers who laid the foundation for democracy, never fail to command our reverence and respect. Even in religion, where prejudice usually prevents us from seeing the other fellow’s viewpoint, the martyr who lays down his life for what is ostensibly a lost cause, invokes our sympathy and benevolence. In fact no great movement was ever promulgated without suffering and persecution.
Persecution affects the hearts, humility always outlives power. When a conqueror is banished or exiled his career is ended, but when a prophet or saint is banished his defeat is his glory.
We all realize that the world is passing through the most momentous crisis in history. Perhaps we are tired of hearing this, but let us reflect that religions are born in times like these.
At rare intervals in the progress of humanity a spiritual genius, a supernormal being comes to our planet to revive the fortunes of mankind, and generally he comes to a people who are weak and backward. Bahá’u’lláh, the Founder of the Bahá’í Faith, appeared in Persia about the middle of the last century and at a time when Persia had descended from a position of significance to one of appalling degradation. Its ancient glory was entirely eclipsed by its religious fanaticism, intolerance and bigotry. Under such conditions Bahá’u’lláh proclaimed those universal ideals which were destined to spread over the entire world. Those who had a real longing for divine illumination and spiritual freedom were drawn to Him, for His logic was incomparable and His love irresistible. They counted suffering for God’s sake a supreme blessing.
Naturally the leaders of the
church-state who owed their
power and prestige to the crass
ignorance and superstition of the
people were not ready for precepts
[Page 258]
which would enlighten humanity,
and incidentally deprive
them of their position and livelihood.
The Guardian of the Faith
has written: “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.”
The masses responded to this sublime call and were persecuted with barbaric cruelty but the infant Faith was not to be extinguished by instruments of torture. Quoting again from the Guardian of the Faith: “A persecution, kindling a courage which as attested by no less eminent an authority than the late Lord Curzon of Keddleston, has been unsurpassed by that which the Fires of Smithfield evoked, mowed down, with tragic swiftness, no less than twenty thousand of its heroic adherents, who refused to barter their newly born faith for the fleeting honors and security of a mortal life.”
Professor Carpenter of Oxford, commenting upon the rise of the Bahá’í Faith asks, “Has Persia in the midst of her miseries, given birth to a religion that will go round the world?”
Bahá’u’lláh came from a wealthy and distinguished family of Persia. Many of His family occupied important positions in the government. While still a youth His father died and He would have succeeded to his high position in the government, but He refused the offer, and the prime minister made this interesting comment, “His thoughts are not like ours. Let Him alone.”
For His enlightened principles, which alone could have restored Persia, Bahá’u’lláh suffered imprisonment and banishment. His property was confiscated and He was subjected to poverty and humiliation. A few Western writers have declared that no mortal unaided by some miraculous power could have survived the horrors of His imprisonment. While He was cognizant of His misfortunes He always showed the greatest fortitude, for He says, “I am not impatient of calamities in His Way, nor of afflictions for His love and at His good pleasure—God hath made afflictions as a morning shower to His green pastures, and as a wick to His lamp, whereby earth and heaven are illumined.”
Bahá’u’lláh and a few of His
followers were finally exiled to
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‘Akká, Palestine where, it was
confidently supposed, He would
shortly succumb. After a few
years the officials, convinced that
He had not merited any kind of
punishment, removed some of
the restrictions so that life became
more tolerable.
In spite of the fact that for the most of His life He was cut off from His followers and the world at large, He nevertheless succeeded in spreading His Cause. About the time He was exiled to Palestine He sent letters to the principle rulers of Europe and the East. He pleaded the cause of His oppressed followers and also implored the rulers to champion and establish what He termed, “the Most Great Peace”. These letters constitute one of the most momentous documents in history.
While in ‘Akká He was visited by the distinguished orientalist, the late Professor Edward Granville Browne, of Cambridge. To him, Bahá’u’lláh said in part: “We desire but the good of the world and the happiness of the nations; yet they deem us a stirrer-up of strife and sedition worthy of bondage and banishment. . . . That all nations should become one in faith and all men as brothers; that diversity of religion should cease and differences of race he annulled. Let not a man glory in this, that he loves his country: let him rather glory in that, that he loves his kind.”
During His lifetime Bahá’u’lláh appointed His eldest son ‘Abdu’l-Bahá as the interpreter and expounder of His writings. In 1912 ‘Abdu’l-Bahá came to America. He traveled from coast to coast addressing peace societies, clubs and churches of all denominations. The purpose of this long arduous journey was to promulgate the teachings of Bahá’u’lláh. From America He went to Europe with the same message. But He also inspired His hearers with new hope. Speaking in the City Temple, London, He said, “This is a new cycle of human power. All the horizons of the world are luminous, and the world will become indeed as a garden and a paradise.”
During the British occupation in Palestine, government officials of all ranks sought interviews with Him. In fact the government representatives were so profoundly impressed with His work in the interest of peace conciliation and plan for the betterment of the world, that a knighthood of the British Empire was conferred on ‘Abdu’l-Bahá in 1920.
Today we all realize to some extent the significance of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s western journey, a journey in fact to all the world, for we are partially awakened from our deep slumber.
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“The gift of God to this enlightened
age is the knowledge
of the oneness of mankind and of
the fundamental oneness of religion.
War shall cease between
nations, and by the Will of God
the ‘Most Great Peace’ shall
come; the world will be seen as a
new world, and all men will live
as brothers.”
As we view the world around us, we are compelled to observe the manifold evidences of that universal fermentation which, in every continent of the globe and in every department of human life, be it religious, social, economic or political, is purging and reshaping humanity in anticipation of the Day when the wholeness of the human race will have been recognized and its unity established. A two-fold process, however, can be distinguished, each tending, in its own way and with an accelerated momentum, to bring to a climax the forces that are transforming the face of our planet. The first is essentially an integrating process, while the second is fundamentally disruptive. The former, as it steadily evolves, unfolds a System which may well serve as a pattern for that world polity towards which a strangely-disordered world is continually advancing; while the latter, as its disintegrating influence deepens, tends to tear down, with increasing violence, the antiquated barriers that seek to block humanity’s progress towards its destined goal. The constructive process stands associated with the nascent Faith of Bahá’u’lláh, and is the harbinger of the New World Order that Faith must erelong establish. The destructive forces that characterize the other should be identified with a civilization that has refused to answer to the expectation of a new age, and is consequently falling into chaos and decline.
A titanic, a spiritual struggle, unparalleled in its magnitude yet unspeakably glorious in its ultimate consequences, is being waged as a result of these opposing tendencies, in this age of transition through which the organized community of the followers of Bahá’u’lláh and mankind as a whole are passing.
World Citizens
MARGUERITE TRUE
IN THE writings of Bahá’u’lláh we find a phrase which is new to most of us; a term which should awaken us to a new concept of life in this generation, and enable us to achieve, through its application, a world of greater understanding and harmony. This phrase is “world citizen”.
We are slowly coming to realize that because of our developments in transportation and communication, the world has become a neighborhood. We are beginning to be conscious of the fact that we are evolving from nationalism into a world of internationalism, of world living. In the material sense, we see that this is inevitable, and yet inwardly, we are not preparing ourselves to live in such a world. Though we may wish to deal economically and politically with other peoples and countries of the world, we still have certain mental reservations which prevent us from achieving world unity. Bahá’u’lláh said, “The world is but one country and mankind its citizens.” The first half of this statement we are beginning to accept, but the second half we tend to overlook. And yet, if we stop to consider, we will see that until we have learned to accept all men in a spirit of true brotherhood, we cannot live in peace in this small world.
In order to grasp the full meaning of life as a citizen of the world, we will need to comprehend certain truths. ‘Abdu’l-Bahá said, “You can best serve your country if you strive, in your capacity as a citizen of the world, to assist in the eventual application of the principle of federalism underlying the government of your own country to the relationships now existing between the peoples and nations of the world.” We need to realize that, as Bahá’u’lláh said, the world is like a human body, and that if one part of it is ill or in trouble, it will sooner or later affect the whole. No longer can we sit idly by while others are in difficulty, and feel that we can be immune to their difficulties. If we wish peace for the world, we shall have to share our responsibilities as citizens and nations in this new world in order to bring this peace into reality.
Let us consider, now, the
deeper implications of the phrase
“world citizen.” First of all, we
will need to recognize the fundamental
oneness of mankind. Science
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is continually proving the
absence of racial distinction. But
in spite of this evidence, we still
find ourselves with a feeling of
superiority, one group over another.
The spiritual recognition
of the oneness of humanity,
alone, can wipe away the veils
of misunderstanding and prejudice
which have caused so much
bloodshed and strife in the past.
This spiritual truth we find in
Bahá’u’lláh’s statements, “Ye are
all the fruits of one tree, the
leaves of one branch, the flowers
of one garden. Know ye not why
We created you from one clay?
That no one should exalt himself
over the other.”
Another mental reservation which we must overcome in our step to world citizenship is that of national superiority. We still tend to exalt one nation above another, either through the bold practice of flag-waving, or through the more subtle means of belittling other countries. If we made the effort to view nations with more understanding, we would see that each one has something of value to contribute to life on this planet, some unique contribution for mankind and we would also see that each nation has its faults. Therefore, since each nation has different qualities we cannot measure them one against another. We also see that the feeling of national superiority has caused many a youth to “give his life for his country” only to find that his Country was plunged into another war. In many countries the value of a piece of land, of world conquest, or riches is still greater than that of man’s life. “Glory is not his who loves his country, but glory is his who loves his kind” said Bahá’u’lláh. We have not yet learned the concept of living as a family of nations, in which any nation who is disobedient to the laws of humanity is to be treated as a delinquent among nations. ‘Abdu’l-Bahá states, “Conflict and contention are in no wise permitted. Every aggressor deprives himself of God’s grace.”
If we are to become world
citizens we will need to understand
each other spiritually. We
will need to investigate the bases
of other men’s religions, and to
accept all of the Divine Prophets
or Manifestations as Messengers
from the same God. For the basis
of all religions is one, Bahá’u’lláh
explained, inasmuch as
they have all emanated from the
same Divine Source. It is the
growth of rituals, forms, ceremonies
and dogmas which has
blinded us to this truth, and kept
us from the recognition of the
fundamental oneness of all religion.
Acceptance of other people
on the basis of progressive
revelation will be one of the
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greatest steps to world citizenship.
Bahá’u’lláh said, “Consort
ye, O people, with the people
of all religions with joy and
fragrance.”
Perhaps closer to our hearts, and more prominent in our minds, we find those obstacles of petty prejudices which continue to be barriers between us and our neighbors. We are too willing to believe that a whole nation is immoral merely because one citizen of that nation married at an age which we consider too young, or acted in a manner not conforming with our own social standards. We conclude too quickly that a whole nation is “uncivilized” because a few of its members do not act according to our personal concept of civilized man. We tend to emphasize the faults of others and to praise our every act, in spite of the fact that history may show that we have made the same errors.
It is a change of heart, the love of man through the love of God which will be the deepest and most fundamental change in people throughout the world. Until the hearts of people are changed, we can never expect a world of lasting peace. In clear and compelling tones, Bahá’u’lláh warns: “Breathe not the sins of others so long as thou art thyself a sinner.” ‘Abdu’l-Bahá further states: “Look always at the good and not at the bad. If a man has ten good qualities and one bad, look at the ten and forget the one. Never allow ourselves to speak one unkind word about another even though that other be our enemy. Beware lest ye offend any heart! Beware lest ye hurt any soul! Beware lest ye deal unkindly toward any person! Beware lest ye be the cause of hopelessness to any creature. Should one become the cause of grief to any one heart, or of despondency to any one soul, it were better to hide oneself in the lowest depths of the earth than to walk upon the earth.”
Thus we see that nearly eighty years ago, Bahá’u’lláh and His son, ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, revealed the Teachings which are essential for true world unity. Laying the foundation of this unity in the very hearts of men by exhorting them to lay aside their prejudices, to discard their out-moded creeds and traditions, to arise to a new concept of the brotherhood of man and the unity of the human race, Bahá’u’lláh began at the very root of man’s inner being to mould a new race of men, a better civilization, a Golden Age.
The Day of God
WORDS OF BAHÁ’U’LLÁH
THE Revelation which, from time immemorial, hath been acclaimed as the Purpose and Promise of all the Prophets of God, and the most cherished Desire of His Messengers, hath now, by virtue of the pervasive Will of the Almighty and at His irresistible bidding, been revealed unto men. The advent of such a Revelation hath been heralded in all the sacred Scriptures. Behold how, notwithstanding such an announcement, mankind hath strayed from its path and shut out itself from its glory.
Say: O ye lovers of the one true God! Strive, that ye may truly recognize and know Him, and observe befittingly His precepts. This is a Revelation, under which, if a man shed for its sake one drop of blood, myriads of oceans will be his recompense. Take heed, O friends, that ye forfeit not so inestimable a benefit, or disregard its transcendent station. Consider the multitude of lives that have been, and are still being, sacrificed in a world deluded by a mere phantom which the vain imaginations of its peoples have conceived. Render thanks unto God, inasmuch as ye have attained unto your heart’s Desire, and been united to Him who is the Promise of all nations. Guard ye, with the aid of the one true God—exalted be His glory—the integrity of the station which ye have attained, and cleave to that which shall promote His Cause. He, verily, enjoineth on you what is right and conducive to the exaltation of man’s station. Glorified be the All-Merciful, the Revealer of this wondrous Tablet.
Verily I say, this is the Day in which mankind can behold the Face, and hear the Voice, of the Promised One. The Call of God hath been raised, and the light of His countenance hath been lifted up upon men. It behooveth every man to blot out the trace of every idle word from the tablet of his heart, and to gaze, with an open and unbiased mind, on the signs of His Revelation, the proofs of His mission, and the tokens of His glory.
Great indeed is this day! The allusions made to it in all the sacred Scriptures as the Day of God attest its greatness. The soul of every Prophet of God, of every Divine Messenger, hath thirsted for this wondrous Day. All the divers kindreds of the earth have, likewise, yearned to attain it. No sooner, however, had the Day Star of His Revelation manifested itself in the heaven of God’s Will, than all, except those whom the Almighty was pleased to guide, were found dumbfounded and heedless.
O thou that hast remembered Me! The most grievous veil hath shut out the peoples of the earth from His glory, and hindered them from hearkening to His call. 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.
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The time foreordained unto the peoples and kindreds of the earth is now
come. The promises of God, as recorded in the holy scriptures, have all been
fulfilled. Out of Zion hath gone forth the Law of God, and Jerusalem, and
the hills and land thereof, are filled with the glory of His Revelation. Happy
is the man that pondereth in his heart that which hath been revealed in the
Books of God, the Help in Peril, the Self-Subsisting. Meditate upon this,
O ye beloved of God, and let your ears be attentive unto His Word, so that
ye may, by His grace and mercy, drink your fill from the crystal waters of
constancy, and become as steadfast and immovable as a mountain in His
Cause.
In the Book of Isaiah it is written: “Enter into the rock, and hide thee in the dust, for fear of the Lord, and for the glory of His majesty.” No man that meditateth upon this verse can fail to recognize the greatness of this Cause, or doubt the exalted character of this Day—the Day of God Himself. This same verse is followed by these words: “And the Lord alone shall be exalted in that Day.” This is the Day which the Pen of the Most High hath glorified in all the holy Scriptures. There is no verse in them that doth not declare the glory of His holy Name, and no Book that doth not testify unto the loftiness of this most exalted theme. . . . It is incumbent, in this Day, upon every man to place his whole trust in the manifold bounties of God, and arise to disseminate, with the utmost wisdom, the verities of His Cause. Then, and only then, will the whole earth be enveloped with the morning light of His Revelation.
Bestir yourselves, O people, in anticipation of the days of Divine justice, for the promised hour is now come. Beware lest ye fail to apprehend its import and be accounted among the erring.
Say: The first and foremost testimony establishing His truth is His own Self. Next to this testimony is His Revelation. For whoso faileth to recognize either the one or the other He hath established the words He hath revealed as proof of His reality and truth. This is, verily, an evidence of His tender mercy unto men. He hath endowed every soul with the capacity to recognize the signs of God. How could He, otherwise, have fulfilled His testimony unto men, if ye be of them that ponder His Cause in their hearts. He will never deal unjustly with any one, neither will He task a soul beyond its power. He, verily, is the Compassionate, the All-Merciful.
Say: So great is the glory of the Cause of God that even the blind can perceive it, how much more they whose sight is sharp, whose vision is pure. The blind, though unable to perceive the light of the sun, are, nevertheless, capable of experiencing its continual heat. The blind in heart, however, among the people of the Bayán—and to this God is My witness—are impotent, no matter how long the Sun may shine upon them, either to perceive the radiance of its glory, or to appreciate the warmth of its rays.
Pioneer Journey: Bolivia
VIRGINIA ORBISON
EARLY one hot December morning in 1943, after several false starts with anti-climactic despedidas, (farewells) the plane schedule got together with the weather and I was actually on my way through the lush outskirts of Asunción del Paraguay to the tiny airport built beside the huge modern airfield which was still under construction by the North Americans. Gertrude Eisenberg, seeing me off, looked small but valiant. She was left alone to carry on the task of keeping together and teaching the group started two years before by Elisabeth Cheney. This little hand had been restimulated by my visit and it had grown during these last four short months. Gertrude, who had recently arrived, found the ninth adult, who, that following April, made possible the formation of the first Spiritual Assembly of Paraguay.
As only one plane a week went out of Paraguay to the North, obtaining passage was a problem with or without priorities. The plane was well burdened as we flew up the broad winding Río Panará into the jungle country. In a few hours it arrived at Corumbá, a far corner of Brazil. It was only hot then, not very hot, or impossibly hot. The little river port town in the heart of the continent had the usual plaza, an avenue of magnificent royal palms, a U.S. Navy Catalina floating at anchor, and much tropical fruit for sale. All Brazilian cars seem to have long ornate satin cushions resting in the space between the rear seat and the rear window. There were even the taxis which are, as in all other places, just passenger cars charging a more or less uniform fare depending on whether one looked like an experienced or inexperienced gringo. Panagra passengers are put up at a row of houses serving as “hotel”— all very informal.
The next morning we flew over
the river and over the Chaco
country, making many hops into
cleared spots in the jungles. The
plane carried Indians—one with
a little pig under her arm and
manta—chickens, cargo lashed
to the front seats and men in
tropical work clothes. Quite a
contrast to the formal travel of
more frequented lanes. At one
place we landed near a little
cemetery where a little band of
Indians wierdly sounding rondadores
(pipes of Pan), crude
[Page 267]
drums and quenas (flutes) were
pounding and wheezing beside
the tombstones, and the passengers
stood about while the plane
loading proceeded. We were in
Bolivia.
Santa Cruz was our stop for the night. We were certainly on the Local-Stops-at-all-Points plane! This interesting but primitive colonial-type town was seen only from the air, as Pan Air has fine modern accommodations for its passengers at the airport. After boarding our plane in the morning we gradually climbed, and instead of jungle, we were over high stark dramatic mountains, gorges and peaks with only color—no vegetation whatever— in short, the high Andes. The broad and watered valley of Cochabamba (most popular resort of the Bolivians) was a contrast. There I saw my very first Cochabambina, a lovely chola (a class of mixed Indian and other blood) walking primly in her high stiff white stove-pipe hat with broad brim (the higher the hat, the richer she is) with her colored fringed manta or shawl, many wide colored skirts, high boots and long black braids to give her great elegance.
Leaving healthful Cochabamba, we flew on and on, higher and starker, along the Altiplano with its reliefmap appearance until we reached the rim of the great Andean gash in which nestles La Paz. There we left our twin-motor 21-passenger Douglas, and after good hot coffee and a toasting by the fireplace, we took the cabs to the edge of the rim, and dived down the winding steep spectacular descent into the city below. There was the great mountain, Illimani, gorgeous and resplendent in brilliant snow watching over the city from far over the other side, just as Eleanor Adler had seen it when her train wormed in from the Chilean port of Arica two years before. At that time, there were no Bahá’í friends to take her in and make her comfortable upon her first encounter with such a strange land—12,025 feet up, and not a word of Spanish, completely alone. Not really alone, because the “company of His chosen angels” was there to guide her immediately to the house of Yvonne Cuellar, who soon became the first believer in Bolivia, and who opened the way ardently for the spreading of the Faith of Bahá’u’lláh in that land. Seven months later, Eleanor left Bolivia leaving a glorious trail of interest in the Cause, and four devoted and capable believers.
To this very house of Yvonne
Cuellar I, too, went, and there
found my Bahá’í home in La Paz.
More Bahá’ís had been added,
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all helped and inspired by Flora
Hottes, loved and able pioneer
who had arrived in the past year.
Many friends came to hear about
and discuss the Faith with us.
Suddenly there came the terror
and unrest of a revolution—and
then, a few days later, Christmas,
bringing little boys in small
troups making queer Incaica
music on drums and quenas as
they went from house to house to
play and dance for the Niño
Dios in His little manger.
Very early on New Year’s Day I left for a trip to Sucre which is the Capital, although the President lives in La Paz, the center of all activity. The Supreme Court meets in Sucre, named after the Mariscal Sucre, one of the famous South American heroes. Although there is much antagonism and national rivalry among these countries, they all fervently observe the birthdays of their mutual heroes and liberators—such as the great Simón Bolivar, San Martin, Sucre, etc.!
All alone in my camarote or sleeping compartment, I sketched scenes of the bare altiplano, flat beige-colored plains with never a tree or a flower, small windowless houses of adobe and thatched roofs, each with its tiny cross with holy-water jug on top; Indians squatting in heavy ponchos in the rain—rain leaking into the cars and deluging one between cars while jerking one’s way to the comedor. This was a voyage of adventure through all the other cars: chair, second, third classes always getting more crowded with cholos, children, baskets, and more wet, as the dining car is always on the end of the train and has a little chimney stack. A school girl on vacation who shared my room returned at night after spending the day with other friends on the train. The bunks were arranged one over the other and all bedding was stored on the top one during the day. One cannot be exclusive and buy up the whole camarote, but this is at least one room which is shared only with one person of the same sex!
Early morning found us in the
completely unique Villa Imperial
de Potosí. There loomed the
famous pyramid-shaped Cerro
Rico (Rich Hill), the nearly untouched
colonial city spreading
down the long slope. All the
silver to finance the Spanish
Armada came out of that hill.
They said that I was the first
white woman to look upon the
vast and varicolored valley from
the lofty top of that cerro (and
this I like to believe!). Other
women there were—in their
many long, brilliantly colored
skirts and man-type felt hats,
working the mines along with the
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men. But only tin is now taken
after the workings of four centuries.
Idle llamas gazed at us
with supercilious aristocratic air
as the heavy truck struggled up
the steep winding slippery road.
Cable buckets passed overhead
carrying down the ore which
only llamas used to bear.
Four days were spent in Potosí while waiting for the autocarril which goes to Sucre. At the Rancho Hochschild where I was priviledged to stay, the mine officials were most hospitable. Much to be remembered were the long drive through rarely visited country; movies of ancient vintage shown in what had been a precious carved stone church built by the Spaniards; the Moneda where all the coin of Bolivia has been minted—the machinery brought from Spain and powered by oxen or slaves —the machinery of centuries commencing with wooden apparatus, down to present day steel; the Mascarón, a huge Bacchus-like face in natural colors over an archway, said to be the caricature of a former governor. One evening here around the fire of sweet-smelling moss clods from the Alto, the world’s travail and the great remedy brought by Bahá’u’lláh were discussed with these Jewish friends, who among the millions, had been forced into pain and change.
A six-hour run in a 4-motor Chrysler bus on railway wheels was spent in gasping delightedly at some of the loveliest and most dramatic bits of this earth that one could wish to see. The driver enjoyed chasing donkeys, goats or sheep off the tracks, coming as near as possible without touching them. It seemed extraordinary to leave one great valley, only to climb suddenly into another having a round mirror lake; then to descend gradually into a land full of spectacularly flowering cactus, pepper trees and into the sweet valley where is sequestered the city of Sucre.
The four-day sojourn seemed
much longer—so many things
happened! Immediately, don
Raúl Jaimes Freyre, the distinguished
writer and educator;
brother of the great Ricardo,
man of letters, was found in his
house, house of the Inquisition of
former times. It was the scene
also, of a latter-day “inquisition”
during the lectures given there on
the Faith of Bahá’u’lláh, as the
intellectuals and artists gathered
to hear, question, cavil and believe
—some to read and promise
deeper study of the teachings.
The tiled white city of Sucre is
an isolated paradise. Life parades
so leisurely across the
cobble stones using no busses or
street cars. Charming and courtly
are the people, but impossible
[Page 270]
for an outsider to know without
proper entré. Like Potosí, it is
still dreaming of Spanish days
and is proud of its withdrawn
culture. To sit, or “hacer el
paseo,” around the Plaza near
noon and at dusk, is to review
one’s friendships.
Much pain, as always, was felt at leaving such dear, if recently found, friends. Back to Potosí I journeyed with only time for dinner at the Rancho before catching the train for La Paz. There I found Alicia Bustamante, the famous Peruvian artist who had shown such lively interest in the Faith while in La Paz. The long return was spent with a school teacher and her friend, who enjoyed hearing of the new world Faith destined to unite all of mankind in harmonious living. There was an invitation to visit their school. Twenty-four hours later, at night-fall, from out of the complete blackness of rain-clouds suddenly we beheld the magic lining of twinkling lights in the enormous bowl of La Paz beneath the splendor of a well-washed full moon. Great Illimani sparkled adamantly in its manta of silver snow.
And there was Flora Hottess, loved pioneer for Bolivia, comfortably resting in my bed when I arrived. She had just returned from a much needed change of altitude to Lima. We listened to stories of her experiences with Eve Nicklin in Peru. The last few days were spent in endless visa and permiso de salida hunting, and again the usual false starts. The delays made it possible for me to see again the wonderful Bolivian friends, and to visit a very quaint and interesting annual fair—Feria de las Alacitas. For several days booths are set up by cholos in a plaza where one can buy, in miniature, all the objects of one’s desire for the coming year.
Sadness crept on me at leaving the valiant country of Bolivia where a culture of great interest has been built up and maintained under almost insuperable physical difficulties: killing altitude, inadequate transportation, no seaport, lack of proper nourishment, lack of water, tortuously grown vegetation or hot, wild lowland jungles inhabited by strange animals and naked savages.
Bolivia should especially welcome the great unifying impulse of Bahá’u’lláh which brings the only possible solution to its political, social and spiritual problems. All of these will end with the fulfillment of the destiny of the oneness of the Americas, and indeed, the world, all bound together harmoniously by the mystic chain of Bahá’í love and unity.
Editorial
The Basis of Optimism
WHEN a Bahá’í looks about him at the plight of the world, when he reads the newspapers and listens to the radio or to the conversations of his friends, he sometimes wonders why he is so sure that all will eventually be well in a world ridden by problems apparently too difficult for the human mind and heart to solve. The great abyss of hatred between lately warring peoples; the distrust becoming evident between recent allies; famine; strikes; racial antagonism; religious dissension; these are only a few of the troubles that must be overcome by great masses of people. The Bahá’í, aware of all this, may sometimes marvel that he feels no slightest doubt of the future tranquility of mankind. How can he he so sure?
He has, of course, the age-old promise of religion: prophecies out of the past describing a golden age to come. These prophecies, which have come to seem like mere ideals, wishful dreams, mirages reflecting the impossible desires of the human heart, he has had reaffirmed by the Báb and Bahá’u’lláh in accents of authority. But even in the face of the stirring utterances of the Founders of his Faith, he might still sometimes feel that the new world order they proclaim is very far away, if it were not that he has already experienced it.
The creation of a happy and harmonious order of society is an unfolding process which has passed through many stages and will pass through more, but its consummation is not far away. Through hundreds of thousands of years, man has been prepared for it, has been lifted from level to level of individual and social consciousness by the Prophets of God. Thousands of years ago he was given a vision of the end for which he was being prepared: “The wolf shall also dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid,” . . . “The Kingdom of God is at hand.” . . . “And I saw a new heaven and a new earth.” . . .
But now the preparation is
nearing its end and the long-heralded
order has become actual.
It first achieved reality in
the consciousness of the Báb and
Bahá’u’lláh. The new world
order existed in Them only until,
when They had communicated it
[Page 272]
to Their followers, it took form
within these others too and began
gradually to be expressed in the
Bahá’í Community, the vehicle
by which it is being carried
around the world.
Our assurance, in the face of the chaotic disorder of our times, comes from our actual experience of the future order of society in ourselves and in the Bahá’í Community. It is an experience hard to describe, now as in the time of Christ, except in parables. It is the spiritual element in which we live, as fish live in water. Immersed in it, we function as human beings are meant to do. Deprived of it, we gasp and struggle to exist. It is the climate of our thought, for it establishes in us certain attitudes which condition our mental processes and which make us feel one with people from strange parts of the world. Many of the knottiest problems cease to exist in that climate.
Life in the Bahá’í Community is simply an extension of that individual experience to the group. Not that community life is immediately easy! Because of the intensity with which Bahá’ís feel their Faith, problems sometimes arise which seem to be just as acute as those which afflict the world at large. But they do not destroy the confidence of the Bahá’í, for he knows that the method of solving them is there before him, reiterated time after time by Bahá’u’lláh, by ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, and by Shoghi Effendi, and he realizes that to the sincere, the application of that method is nothing more than good exercise for a healthy organism. He may see also another reason why such troubles may be wholesome, for when we plunge into this new spiritual element in which mankind is henceforth to live, if we swim too easily, we may come to look complacently on those still gasping on the shore and so lose sympathetic contact with the world we are destined to serve. At this point it may be more important for a rapidly increasing number of people to learn a way of life by which all problems can be solved than for all the wrongs of the world to be instantly righted.
These then constitute the basis for the unshakable optimism of the Bahá’í: the powerful assurances of the Founders of his Faith, the consciousness of a new set of attitudes which become as natural to him as breathing, and his experience of the evolving perfection of the Bahá’í Community in the technique of living together. They signify to him the coming of the Kingdom.
From One Service Man to Another
DUART BROWN
I’VE MET you somewhere, friend, soldier, sailor, marine. Yes, I’ve met you somewhere on the highway, or the train, or the bus, in camp, or on bivouack, or maybe on an L.S.T. with its landing barges hung along the decks like grey monsters crouched to spring. I’ve smiled at you and you’ve smiled back, and you’ve said: “Hello, soldier!” and “where are you from?” and “what are the girls like in your town?” Then, after a few words, we’ve passed along again into the great khaki and blue stream of the men of war.
But sometimes I’ve wanted to speak to you about something else, and I’ve wondered how to say it, and because I haven’t known I’ve said nothing. I’ve dreaded seeing the look come into your eyes that says: “Who does this guy think he is?” It’s the way we Americans react when a stranger approaches us about something we consider too personal. But it’s important to me to try to speak to you, and that’s why I’m using the printed word instead of the spoken. It’s more impersonal, and, if you don’t like what I say, you can put down the pages and say: “the guy is bats!” But I won’t know you said it; so that next time we meet we can smile once more and say “hello!” and still be friends.
You know how the statesmen have been saying “We are fighting a war to end war,” and how so many mothers’ hearts have cried “Let this be the last time, oh Lord!” But there is a small secret part of your mind and mine that tells us those words were said before by other statesmen and other mothers, and then forgotten. We’ve listened to the cry that “this time it will be different!” with considerable skepticism, and yet way deep down we’ve known that only if men will have faith in peace will there ever be peace.
The question comes right down
to this: “How strongly do we
want peace for ourselves and our
children?” Are we of the same
mold as the French King, Louis
the Fifteenth, who said with carefree
selfishness while the forces
of the revolution that came after
his death gathered around him:
“After me the deluge!” Or, if
some immortal Power came to
you tomorrow and said: “If you
cut off your two arms, your children
and your children’s children
will be spared from war!” would
you cut off your arms? Well,
[Page 274]
would you? Think it over,
friend.
If you’re the kind of fellow who honestly believes he would willingly sacrifice himself for a real peace, then let’s get on from here. I think most of the men at Tarawa, Saipan and Iwo Jima were that kind.
All right now; I’ve got you burning to sacrifice yourself for future peace. You’d even be willing to throw your living body into a Japanese mine field, you say, if that would do the trick. O.K., buddy, I’m for you. I think you really would do it, because there are plenty like you that have. But maybe there is a more effective method than this sort of self-sacrifice, at least there will be after the war is over.
Now let me say to you that I believe with all my heart that there is a great Immortal Power that is right now sweeping through the world and saying into the ears of those who will listen. “There will be peace for your children and your children’s children and so on for all time, if . . .”
I have purposely left that sentence unfinished for the words are different to different men. But I think we can all agree that permanent peace can only come if, first we have faith in it, second, we have cooperation to attain it, and third, we have the spiritual rebirth necessary to keep faith and cooperation alive and strong enough to make futile the efforts of those men who try to bring on war. It is thus just plain common sense that spiritual rebirth is the vital catalyst, the warp within the woof of permanent peace.
What do we mean by the words
spiritual rebirth? Do we not
mean the surging of a spirit in
man so strong, so deep and so
widespread that both difficulties
and misunderstandings are swept
away as is chaff on a torrent. It
was the Christian torrent that
saved the civilization of Rome
from degenerating into sensual
futility and laid the whole moral
tone for the advancing modern
world. It was the Jewish torrent
that brought a savage shepherd
tribe into glory with the new and
wonderful idea of a single all
powerful God. It was the Muḥammadan
torrent that reclaimed
the savage tribes of Arabia
from stupid superstition and internecine
warfare and made them
for three centuries the chief
bearers of civilization through
the dark ages. It is a new and
greater religious torrent today
that is preparing the world for
the timeless Peace that is to
come. You, my Service friend,
have the choice of being an obstruction
who stands against that
[Page 275]
vast current as Louis the Fifteenth
foolishly stood against the
flood of Revolution in France, or
you can join the glorious company
who march on to the greatest
victory in all human history.
From the dark and ignorant land that was Persia in the Nineteenth Century comes the new Light of the World. The Bahá’í Faith, fresh and vigorous with youth, stemming from three of the most exciting and inspiring minds the earth has ever known: the Báb, or Gate; Bahá’u’lláh, the Glory of God; and ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, the Exemplar; brings new hope to all men. God this time, through the mouths of the Great Three, has spoken a message to mankind so invigorating, so inspired with answers to all the great questions of our complex civilization that the wisest of men are amazed at its insight and all-embracing comprehension.
Free of the inhibitions and outworn dogmas of older religions yet proclaiming all major religions part of the same message from God, seeking unity with science in the search for truth yet bringing spiritual truths that science alone never can fathom, the Bahá’í gospel supplies the desperately-needed healing medicine for the ills of the modern world. Unity is the watchword of the Bahá’ís: unity of man, of races, of religions, towards a common goal, world peace and cooperation. Along with unity goes the destruction of prejudices under the onslaught of education and knowledge, a new and stronger moral code with the spiritual authority to fully explain and back it, a democratic administration that draws wisdom and cooperation and comradeship in a great cause up through the ranks of its believers. This is a part of the spirit and nature of the Bahá’í Faith.
If I can give you a sense of our enthusiasm for this new world movement and arouse in you a curiosity to find out more, then, buddy, I’ve done my job. It will be for the words of the Masters themselves to lead you on.
Only when the lamp of search, of earnest striving, of longing desire, of passionate devotion, of fervid love, of rapture, and ecstasy, is kindled within the seeker’s heart, and the breeze of His loving-kindness is wafted upon his soul, will the darkness of error be dispelled, the mists of doubts and misgivings be dissipated, and the lights of knowledge and certitude envelop his being.
—BAHÁ’U’LLÁH
CHALLENGE TO LIBERAL THOUGHT
Book Review
ARTHUR DAHL
A BASIC TENET of the Bahá’í teachings is the reconciliation of science and religion, and the necessity for harmonious cooperation between the two fiields to further man’s progress in both the material and spiritual realms. ‘Abdu’l-Bahá has said: “God has endowed man with intelligence and reason whereby he is required to determine the verity of questions and propositions. If religious beliefs and opinions are found contrary to the standards of science they are mere superstitions and imaginations. . . . The harmony of religious belief with reason is a new vista which Bahá’u’lláh has opened for the soul of man.”
This is a new and radical departure from the attitude that has been generally prevailing in both fields. For centuries many of the entrenched religious institutions have dogmatically held to a literal interpretation of the sacred writings, parts of which were meant to read symbolically, and parts of which were of dubious authenticity. They stubbornly resisted the efforts of a growing science to point out the illogical nature of their position, and went as far as to condemn whole branches of science for being so presumptuous. Scientists on their part went to the other extreme and declared that all religion was superstition, useful enough in the primitive ages of the past, but now to be supplanted once and for all by an age of human enlightenment and reason. Though some of the more broad-minded scientists and clergy are working toward a middle ground, in general the two fields of thought are still poles apart.
An insight into the scientific position may be obtained from an article by John Dewey, Challenge To Liberal Thought, in the August, 1944, Fortune. Professor Dewey has been for decades an influential and honored leader in the fight for humanistic philosophy and scientific education. His views reflect a blending of sympathy for and understanding of the methods and accomplishments of modern science with the philosopher’s and educator’s grasp of human history and of the interplay of moral values with material progress.
His article is ostensibly a rebuttal of attacks being made by a group of so-called “liberal” educators, headed by President Hutchins of the University of Chicago, on the so-called “practical” scientific education Professor Dewey has long and successfully advocated. He utilizes this opportunity to succinctly restate the basic ideas that are the cornerstone of his philosophy.
The crux of Professor Dewey’s thought is his conviction that the only value that is universally good, that is our final goal in life, is growth. Change is ever-present in life, and the desirable condition to be achieved is continuous improvement. Among men, this growth is possible only by joint, integrated experience, each man adding to and absorbing from the knowledge of his fellows. Hence all men, not just the select few, should have direct experience and learn-by-doing according to the most up-to-date methods.
[Page 277]
Professor Dewey distrusts the
“liberal” theory of education because
he believes it is founded upon
a concept of man’s fundamental nature
as fixed and static, the same in
all ages and in all parts of the world.
He feels that this group, in subordinating
scientific subjects to “liberal”
subjects, is looking back to the
Greek philosophers and medieval
theologians, whose ideas were based
upon different historical conditions.
It is here that he betrays his reasons for distrusting religion and theology. For him all religion also holds the view that man is basically unchangeable, and therefore he feels religion is diametrically opposed to his own system of thought. “According to medieval theological philosophy the basis of all ultimate moral principles is supernatural—not merely above nature and reason, but so far beyond the scope of the latter that they must be miraculously revealed and sustained.” By which he implies that principles which claim divine inspiration are usually unreasonable.
He feels that the inflexible attitudes of past religions and moral philosophies have created cleavages which have led to the serious splits in our civilization today. “There is one between man and the supernatural; one between temporal and the eternal; one between humanism and divinity; one between the inner and the outer; and finally one between the civic and social (or things of this world generally) and the alleged supernatural destiny of man—needing, of course, a special supernatural and infallible church to bridge the gulf.” This cleavage, he thinks, is one of the most serious problems of modern life, and must be bridged.
Unknowingly, Professor Dewey has brilliantly pointed out the logic and truth of the Bahá’í views on progressive religious development. Are the moral and religious questions, he asks, to be met in the spirit and method of the pre-scientific era, while science and technology develop as best they can on their own in a subordinate position? Both Bahá’ís and Professor Dewey answer “no,” though for different reasons.
The Bahá’í Faith teaches that Professor Dewey’s principle of growth is as applicable to religion as to social progress, and that one is impossible without the other. Bahá’ís accept the intervention of God in human affairs through a series of divinely inspired prophets, but for the purpose of helping, not impeding, the maintenance of sound relationships in the human realm. Those teachings or acts of religious bodies that are unreasonable or that prevent steady progress in human and material affairs, are not in accord with the teachings of the prophets, and therefore not true religion. To damn religion and the concept of revelation because of the unwarranted extension of power and authority assumed by religious institutions and their leaders is a tragically short-sighted point of view.
Bahá’ís believe that the tenets and principles of their Faith, if considered objectively, would appear entirely reasonable and consistent to Professor Dewey and the other scientists and humanistic philosophers with similar beliefs. They are further convinced that their Faith, through integrating and coordinating man’s progress in the material realm with his inner needs, offers the soundest remedy for the cleavages Professor Dewey so rightly fears.
The Time for Love Has Come
ANGELA MORGAN
- The time for love has come!
- The hour for the doing away with hoof and claw,
- With tooth and fang and snout,
- With bomb and gun and battleship and hell.
- The fiery dragon must be put to rout,
- Humanity be wakened from the spell
- Of brutal centuries. For shame! For shame!
- To tolerate this crime, too black to name,
- To urge our sons with sound of battle drum
- To murder one another—
- Friend against friend, brother against brother—
- The time for love has come!
- The time for love has come!
- The time for love and the going away from greed.
- That man who says: “My church, my faith, my creed
- Are Truth and Truth alone; all else is naught”—
- Nor knows all men, all Truth, all creeds as one—
- Is sinning against the Father and the Son.
- He is sinner, blacker than the lost
- Who hugs a selfish Credo at the cost
- Of peace upon the earth,
- Good will to men.
- Let time and Truth and justice smite him dumb—
- The time for love has come!
- The time for love has come—
- The hour for the casting away of spite and malice,
- Of bitter “mine and thine.”
- The world must quaff a deeply poisoned chalice
- Unless man’s brew of hate is turned to wine—
- The wine of understanding and of peace.
- Earth’s tortured multitudes must know release,
- Be lifted from the mire to breathe the morning,
- No need for hatreds and no need for scorning—
- Forever gone the crime of trench and slum—
- The time for love has come!
- The time for love is here!
- The Hour for love and the birth of a new race,
- War’s dark and fierce dominion grows apace—
- Its roots lie deep within the rotting ground,
- The unrelinquished past, unkind, uncouth.
- Our precious rituals are all outworn
- In this black moment of a planet torn
- By conflicts terrible and fears profound,
- By desperate exploitation
- Of our youth.
- The Hour has come for the casting away of fear—
- The time for Love is here!
- The time for love has come—
- The time for love and the putting away of pride.
- Along the roads where brutal armies ride
- Emerge the dazzling hosts, with banners flung,
- Of a new Kingdom and an unheard tongue.
- The battlefronts of heaven are flashing white
- With armies now in vigorous formation.
- All who believe in spiritual power
- Join hands, join wills, nor ask what creed or clan,
- One word for all: the fellowship of man.
- For, hark the fife! And hark the rolling drum—
- The time for love has come!
Oh people of the world! The religion of God is to create love and unity; do not make it the cause of enmity and discord. All that is regarded by men of insight and the people of the most lofty outlook as the means for safeguarding and effecting the peace and tranquillity of man, has flowed from the Supreme Pen. But the ignorant ones who are the victim of self and desire, are heedless of the consummate wisdom of the truly wise One, and their words and deeds are prompted by fancy and superstition.
Oh people of the world! I counsel you to act in a manner which shall tend to elevate your stations. Cling to divine virtue and obey the divine law. Truly I say, the tongue is for mentioning that which is good; do not defile it by evil speech. “God hath forgiven your past ways.” You must henceforth speak that which is worthy. Shun reviling, maligning, and whatsoever will offend your fellowmen.
Truly I say, virtue is the greatest commander which leads the cause of God to victory, and the legions which deserve this commander are pure, sanctified and praiseworthy deeds and attributes.
—BAHÁ’U’LLÁH
‘Abdu’l-Bahá, the Divine Exemplar
MARIAM HANEY
WHAT was it that opened the locked doors of so many hearts? Was it not because ‘Abdu’l-Bahá brought down into the world of actuality the living of His Teachings! He, the Divine Exemplar, taught by His life as well as by His Words. His entire teaching tour of America was a time of mighty revealing; never before had the people of this continent had the opportunity to listen to Truths so profoundly stated.
But what did He teach? Justice, love, mercy, charity, kindness, and all other heavenly qualities which have been fundamental in the religions of divine origin through the ages. He restated these same mighty truths, and gave added knowledge, new remedies and new laws applicable to the present time of the human race.
‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s teachings both in public and private revolved around the world’s greatest problems and their solution by spiritual means. Constantly He referred to the removal of prejudices of all kinds—religious, racial, patriotic, social, economic, etc.—every form and variety of prejudice must be uprooted for, as ‘Abdu’l-Bahá said, “Prejudice is a hindrance to realization.”
“The first form of dissension among mankind,” He Said, “arises from religious differences. His Holiness Bahá’u’lláh has given full teachings to the world which are conducive to fellowship and unity in religion. . . . The greatest cause of human alienation has been religion, because each considered the belief of the other as anathema and its followers deprived of the mercy of God.”
“Another cause of dissension and discord is the fact that religion has been pronounced at variance with science. . . . Bahá’u’lláh has removed this form of dissension and discord from among mankind and reconciled science with religion. This accomplishment is specialized to Him in this Day.”
Referring to the important subject of universal peace— there is scarcely a page in the address of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá in America that does not in some way directly or indirectly expand and elucidate this principle. He says, to quote briefly from these pages:
“At present universal peace is
a matter of great importance, but
[Page 281]
unity of conscience is essential,
so that the foundation of this
matter may become secure, its
establishment firm and its edifice
strong. Therefore His Holiness
Bahá’u’lláh, fifty years ago [now
over eighty years] expounded
this question of universal peace
at a time when He was confined
in the fortress of ‘Akká and was
wronged and imprisoned. He
wrote about this important matter
of universal peace to all the great
sovereigns of the world, and established
it among His friends
in the Orient.”
Concerning the prejudice of race, ‘Abdu’l-Bahá said: “The most urgent requisite of mankind is the declaration of the oneness of the world of humanity—this is the great principle of Bahá’u’lláh. That which will leaven the human world is a love that will insure the abandonment of pride, oppression and hatred. . . . It is quite impossible to strike at the root of these racial, political, religious and patriotic prejudices unless the inhabitants of the world may come under the shadow of Bahá’u’lláh.”
‘Abdu’l-Bahá repeatedly answered questions on the solution of the economic problem. Just one excerpt from His answers can be here recorded: “The fundamentals of the whole economic condition are divine in nature and are associated with the world of the heart and the spirit. This is fully explained in the Bahá’í teaching, and without knowledge of its principles no improvement in the economic state can be realized.”
These are only a few of the Principles which ‘Abdu’l-Bahá propounded and which were first given to the world by Bahá’u’lláh in His utterances penned by His own hand many, many years ago, and elucidated and expanded by ‘Abdu’l-Bahá in His writings and talks. In addition He emphasized other vitally important principles such as the independent investigation of Truth, a world Supreme Tribunal, the one foundation of all religions, the equality of men and women, universal education, a universal auxiliary language, etc.
Number seven in a series of notations on Bahá’í activity in North America from 1893 to 1921.
O Son of Being!
Love Me, that I may love thee. If thou lovest Me not, My love can in no wise reach thee. Know this, O servant.
—BAHÁ’U’LLÁH
INDEX TO “ADVENT OF DIVINE JUSTICE”
WILLIAM KENNETH CHRISTIAN
- ‘Abdu’l-Bahá
- Assurance of success to American community, 61-62
- Encouragement to teachers, 51-2
- Example in race relations, 28, 29
- “Movement of Left”, 75
- Administrative institutions
- Instruments for teaching, 40, 44
- Vehicles for truths of Faith, 37
- Alcohol, abstinence from, 25, 27
- America, 5, 52
- Corruption in, 16
- Course of national evolution, 75-6
- Destiny of, 72-77
- Future of, 72
- High qualities of, 16
- Immediate future (1938), 76
- Most challenging issue, 28
- Must abandon isolation, 74
- American Bahá’í community
- ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s assurance of success, 61-62
- Achievements of, 7-8, 9
- All responsible for teaching, 37, 38, 41-2, 44
- “Chief remaining citadel”, 5
- “Chief creator of . . . World Order of Bahá’u’lláh”, 9
- Confirmation of, 13
- Differs from American culture, 13
- Difficulties faced by, 6
- Focus attention on self, 17
- Future possibilities, 11-12, 52
- “Living sacrifice”, 6
- Most challenging issue, 28
- Minorities within, 29-30
- Not content, laurels won, 62
- Present opportunities, 40
- Promises under Divine Plan, 11
- Reason for ushering in World Order, 15-17
- Reflections to steel resolve, 61-62
- Responsibility, 17-52
- Role of youth, 18
- Spiritual requisites for teaching success, 18-36
- Surpassed sister communities, 6-7
- Twofold crusade, 34-35
- Unique station, 5
- Asceticism, 28
- Assemblies
- Consideration of teaching, 44
- “Crowning distinction”, 23
- Rectitude of conduct, 22
- Báb
- Reason for appearance in Persia, 15
- Bahá’í administration
- Dependence upon moral rectitude, 18, 19
- Efficiency in, 44
- Bahá’í community
- Influenced by world crisis, 2, 4
- Trials prove solidarity, 1
- Bahá’í elections, 29
- Bahá’í electors, 22
- Bahá’í, qualities of, 21
- Admonition to, 63-64
- Believers, conduct of, 18-36
- Believers should be distinguished, 21
- “Teaching, all-pervading concern of life”, 44
- Bahá’u’lláh
- Charge to teachers, 5-51
- Consummation of past revelation, 65
- “Distinguishing function”, 14
- Greatness of His Revelation, 64-67
- Power to create a new earth, 67-8
- Prophesies world tribulation, 68-9, 74
- Subordinates personal inclination to law, 23
- Tribulations of, 23
- Why He appeared in Persia, 15
- Balkans, 75
- Canada, 48
- Capacity, 50
- Character, influence of, 19, 20, 21-22
- Chastity, 18, 19, 21, 24, 25, 27, 34
- Christ, 38, 66
- Churches, non-membership, 22
- Civilization, 26
- Companionate marriage, 25
- Confirmation, 38, 39, 47, 48, 51, 57, 71
- One can guide a nation, 48
- Cordell Hull, quoted, 75
- Costa Rica, 60
- Day of God, 64-7
- Deeds, 19, 20, 21, 70
- Democracy, 72
- Deputy teachers, 55-56, 70
- Detachment, 26, 27, 50
- “Cities of silver and gold”, 19
- “Valley of pure gold”, 26
- Divine Plan, 6, 9
- Dedication to, 61
- Inter-continental scope, 11
- Effort, 13, 17, 23, 32, 4-7, 48, 52, 70
- El Salvador, 60
- Eskimos, 46
- Faith,
- Attitudes in defending, 22
- “Blessed is the spot”, 70
- History and teachings must be studied, 41
- Reason for attacks, 35
- Stages in its growth, 12
- Station of defender, 71
- Under attack, 4-5
- Values of attacks, 35
- “Vie with each other in service”, 70
- Federalism, 74
- Fellowship, 54-55
- Force, revolutionizing, 39, 40, 60-61
- Forgiveness, 24
- Freedom, 5,6
- Germany
- Future of believers in, 2-3
- God,
- Day of, 64-7
- Force of destruction and construction, 39, 40
- Trust in, 69
- Greatest Holy Leaf, 37
- Guatemala, 60
- Heart, for revelation of His Glory, 26
- Holy Land
- Conditions affecting Faith (1938), 3-4
- Honduras, 60
- Honesty, 21
- Indians, 46
- Inter-American Committee, 49
- Must launch teaching offensive, 49, 56
- Inter-community activity, 45
- Irán
- Condition of Faith (1938), 3
- Condition when Bahá’u’lláh appeared, 14, 15
- Reason for appearance of Faith there, 15
- Irreligion, 24
- ‘Ishqábád, 3
- Islám, should be studied, 41
- Jews, 14, 46
- Justice, 16, 19, 20, 22, 23, 24
- Kindliness, 20, 21
- Latin America
- All energies must be concentrated on, 53-4
- Bahá’u’lláh’s charge to teachers, 50-51
- Deputy teachers, 55-56
- Erection of administration, 52, 53
- Necessity for settlers, 53, 55
- Prerequisites to teaching in, 41
- Second phase of Seven Year Plan, 48-9
- Spirit of Bahá’í teachers, 49-50, 54, 55
- Translations essential, 34
- Law of God, 23
- Left, Movement of, 75
- Loneliness, not to be grieved at, 51
- Love, 21, 48
- Manifestations
- Appear among people in moral decline, 14, 15
- Purpose of, 20, 22
- Manners, 21
- Mashriqu’l-Adhkár, teaching instrument, 37, 40
- Minority, discrimination favoring, 29-30
- Moderation, 26, 28
- Modesty, 25
- Moral rectitude, 18, 19, 22, 24, 34
- Moses, 14, 16
- Most Great Justice, 23
- Most Great Peace, 24
- Muḥammad, 14, 66
- National Assembly and race prejudice, 30
- Negro race, 28-34, 46
- Neighbor, 70
- New creation of men, 67
- New race of men, 14, 15, 26, 71, 72
- Nicaragua, 60
- Nudism, 25
- Numbers, smallness of, 52
- Oneness of mankind, 28-34
- Opium, 25
- Order, 16, 18
- Panama, special position of, 59-60
- Peter, 38
- Piety, 20
- Pioneers, 56-57 (see also “Teaching,” “Settlers”). Confirmation of, 57
- Politics, non-identification, 22
- Prejudice, freedom from, 18, 19, 30
- Progress, 22
- Prohibitions, 27
- Punishment and reward, 23
- Puritanism, 28
- Purity, 20, 25, 27
- Qur’án, should be studied, 41
- Race discrimination, 29, 30, 31, 32
- Race harmony, principal for developing, 31-34
- Racial prejudice, most challenging issue, 28
- Racial superiority, 33
- Reward and punishment, 23
- Righteousness, 20
- Seven Year Plan
- “A trial of strength”, 10, 61
- Knowledge required of teachers, 41
- Laying firm foundation, 46-7
- Of utmost importance, 40
- Principles to guide teacher, 42-44
- Requires all energies, 53-4
- Responsibility of all believers, 37, 38, 41-2
- Second phase, 48-9
- Study requirements, 37
- Translation essential, 54
- Speech, 19, 21, 42, 50, 55, 69, 70, 71
- Sincerity, 20, 21
- Steadfastness, 71
- Study requirements for teachers, 41
- Summer school attendance, 45
- Teaching
- “All-pervading concern” of life, 44
- Armor of love, 48
- Bahá’u’lláh’s charge to teachers, 50-51
- Cautious, 55
- Confirmation by Bahá’u’lláh, 38, 39, 47, 48, 51
- Deputies, 55, 56, 70
- Encouragement of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, 51-2
- Great opportunities, 39, 40, 44, 55
- Influence of lowliest believers, 38
- Principles for individual, 42-44
- Responsibility of all, 37, 38, 41-2, 44, 69-71
- Settlers, 53, 55
- Special attention to groups, 45
- Spirit of Bahá’í teachers, 49-50, 54-55
- Study required of teachers, 41
- Temple as instrument, 37, 40
- “Trust in God”, 42
- Use administrative channels, 44, 56
- Temperance, 25, 43
- Ṭihrán, 3
- Time, 23, 40, 68-69
- Translations
- Latin America teaching, 54
- True believer, station of, 64
- Trustworthiness, 19, 20
- Truthfulness, 19, 20, 21, 22
- Unity, 31, 32
- Unity
- And diversity, 32, 45
- “Great human garden”, 31, 45
- Purpose of justice, 23
- Universal House of Justice, 18, 22, 24
- Wisdom, 20, 70
- Woodrow Wilson, reference to, 74, 75
- Women, Bahá’í
- Achievements of, 57
- Present teaching opportunities, 57-58
- World, condition of, 39
- Conditions summarized (1938), 74-75
- Detached from, 27
- Tribulations prophesised, 68-9
- Vanities of, 25, 26
- Youth, Bahá’í, 18, 25, 58
The Advent of Divine Justice, by Shoghi Effendi; Bahá’í Publishing Committee, 1940.
“The continent of America,” ‘Abdu’l-Bahá so significantly wrote, “is, in the eyes of the one true God, the land wherein the splendors of His light shall be revealed, where the mysteries of His Faith shall be unveiled, where the righteous will abide, and the free assemble.”
Already, the community of the believers of the North American continent —at once the prime mover and pattern of the future communities which the Faith of Bahá’u’lláh is destined to raise up throughout the length and breadth of the Western Hemisphere—has, despite the prevailing gloom, shown its capacity to be recognized as the torchbearer of that light, the repository of those mysteries. the exponent of that righteousness and the sanctuary of that freedom . . .
The community of the organized promoters of the Faith of Bahá’u’lláh in the American continent—the spiritual descendants of the dawn-breakers of an heroic Age, who by their death proclaimed the birth of that Faith—must, in turn, usher in, not by their death, but through living sacrifice, that promised World Order, the shell ordained to enshrine that priceless jewel, the world civilization, of which the Faith itself is the sole begetter. While its sister communities are bending beneath the tempestuous winds that beat upon them from every side, this community, preserved by the immutable decrees of the omnipotent Ordainer and deriving continual sustenance from the mandate with which the Tablets of the Divine Plan have invested it, is now busily engaged in laying the foundations and in fostering the growth of those institutions which are to herald the approach of the Age destined to witness the birth and rise of the World Order of Bahá’u’lláh.
—SHOGHI EFFENDI
WITH OUR READERS
THE following account of a simple incident—simple yet full of significance —comes to us from Philadelphia:
It was about 9:30 in the evening, we were busily reading some Spanish when the bell rang and the caretaker of the apartment house came in followed by a gentleman. We had previously acquainted the caretaker with the Bahá’í Faith and she said: “You have a guest, a Bahá’í from Uruguay.” We asked him: “Have you your credentials?” (A customary procedure for traveling Bahá’ís.) He produced them and said, “Alláh-u-Abhá” and we were immediately united by an inner bond.
Mr. Antonio Menderos, a merchant marine, had but one day in our city, but he was determined to spend his free time with Bahá’ís. Although he spoke but little English, and our Spanish is not too fluent, yet we had a wonderful visit, learning of his activities, of his being present at the dedication of the monument to beloved May Maxwell in Buenos Aires and of other spiritual events deep in his heart, and in turn telling him of our Bahá’í joys and activities. . . . This visit brought home to us very vividly that the spirit is the reality and that the realization of this spirit is quickening the world, for Bahá’u’lláh has breathed a new life into the dead body of the world. We felt that on meeting this Bahá’í brother we were meeting all the friends from the Latin American countries so closely were we united to them. There was felt a oneness of spirit that is different from anything else and which is difficult to put into words. This is something one feels deep in his inner existence. . . .
At this first meeting, our brother from Uruguay and we had everything in common because we discussed the activities of the Bahá’í friends throughout the world. It was an evening that seemed to be devoid of time and place. Without possessing the teachings of Bahá’u’lláh we would be strangers; with this “gift of God to this enlightened age of the oneness of mankind,” we are eternal friends. . . .
When Mr. Menderos left that evening he said: “This evening has been like an oasis in the desert.”
• • •
We are glad to share with our readers the following warm friendly letter, from far away Tasmania, addressed to the editors and staff of World Order:
Beloved Fellow Bahá’ís, Alláh-u-Abhá!
We, the members of the Hobart Bahá’í group, feel we would like you to know how eagerly we look forward to the arrival of World Order each month and how thoroughly we enjoy reading the contents. It is indeed one of the most vital of the visible links between the friends the world over.
Though it is many years since our
beloved Master, ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, penned
the following words, we realize
how faithfully you have fulfilled
your threefold trust, not only in the
so-called times of peace, but also
[Page 287]
(by the bounty of God) through the
difficult times of war.
“Similarly, the magazine, The Star of the West, must be edited in the utmost regularity, but its contents must be the promulgator of the Cause of God, so that, both in the East and the West, they may become informed of the most important events.”
We wish to thank you, one and all, for your splendid services and ceaseless devotion to the Cause and for the inspiration, information and comfort which World Order and Bahá’í News carry from you in the U.S.A. to the Bahá’ís in the little heart-shaped island of Tasmania.
(Signed)—Hobart Bahá’í Group.
The present editors can claim only a small part of this appreciation and gratitude and we hope that former editors and contributors when the magazine was called Star of the West and Bahá’í Magazine will read this. We are very conscious, too, we could not carry on without our contributors.
• • •
Professor Glenn Shook who contributes the lead article “A Spiritual Renaissance” is known to constant readers of World Order for his always logical and scientific approach to and analysis of Bahá’í teachings. His subject will appeal to thoughtful people who see spiritual rebirth as the only remedy for world ills as well as to all Bahá’ís. He is professor of physics at Wheaton College, Norton, Massachusetts.
Resurgence of intense nationalism does not mean that the idea of world citizenship is dead. In her treatise on this subject, in her article, “World Citizens”, Marguerite True points to the source of the pattern and of the power for creating world citizens in the highest sense. Mrs. True is a frequent contributor to World Order. “Christians, Awake!” was published in the October number. This year Mrs. True is Secretary of the National Bahá’í Public Meetings Committee as well as chairman of the National Bahá’í Contacts committee. She serves the Cause and her family in her home city of Grosse Point, Michigan.
That we are living in a unique age all are aware. Some think of it as a new age or an age of transition into a new and better age; others believe that this time of chaos leads only to more and final destruction. Bahá’ís know that it is the “Day of God,” “The Promised Day,” and no words except those of Bahá’u’lláh can fittingly convey the meaning of this title. From month to month World Order plans to print excerpts from the writings of Bahá’u’lláh under the title “The Day of God” that readers may ponder and understand the true meaning of this New Age into which we are entering, the deep significance of the chaos through which we are passing, and the bounty and glory of the New Age which is dawning.
Our readers will remember two previous articles by Virginia Orbison, the first telling of her adventurous trip to South America, and the second “Pioneer Journey—Paraguay,” published last June, telling of further experiences on the way to and in Paraguay. Now we have her equally interesting and inspiring account of her life in Bolivia. Miss Orbison has been having a vacation in the United States but will soon return to South America to carry on her pioneer work for the Bahá’í Faith in that continent.
Corporal Duart Brown sends from
a separation center in California his
[Page 288]
stirring appeal “From One Service
Man to Another.” By the same author
was “Deep Shadows in the
Orient” in our November number.
One of his poems “The Light of Life”
appeared in a previous number.
Arthur L. Dahl Jr. who contributes “Challenge to Liberal Thought” lives in Palo Alto, California. He made his first contribution to World Order in October, 1942. Since then he has made several contributions to these pages. In our recent September number we published his timely article about the progress of international language. He is chairman of the Geyserville Bahá’í School program committee and serves the Faith in many other ways.
Angela Morgan, well known poet and lecturer permits us to print her poem, “Time for Love.” “Song of the New World” by the same poet was printed with her permission in our August, 1941, issue. One of our friends recalls a brief interview with Miss Morgan who spoke of her great affection for Martha Root when they became acquainted with each other in London.
Under the title “‘Abdu’l-Bahá, the Divine Exemplar” Mariam Haney continues her series which we are publishing from time to time telling about Bahá’í activities in the United States from 1903 to 1921. In the October issue Mrs. Haney told of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s visit to America. This month her article continues that visit but is concerned with how ‘Abdu’l-Bahá taught and what He taught.
The Index to The Advent of Divine Justice which we are printing this month has been made by Kenneth Christian, chairman of the National Index Committee. In submitting it for publication in World Order Mr. Christian writes that he has suggested its publication in this magazine “because past study material in the magazine has seemed to be very useful to the believers and since an index to the Advent might help stimulate teaching by calling attention to the many wonderful things packed into that letter.” We print this as a number in our Literature Series and hope as Mr. Christian suggests that our readers will find it most valuable in study and teaching. Most of our readers are acquainted with Mr. Christian through his previous contributions to the magazine and through his public talks. He has recently moved to East Lansing, Michigan, where he is engaged in teaching and study at Michigan State College. The Index Committee is working on a complete index of Bahá’í books and Mr. Christian asks for comments and suggestions from the believers concerning this sample index. If such letters are sent in care of World Order they will be forwarded to Mr. Christian.
The thoughtful and timely editorial, “The Basis of Optimism,” by Garreta Busey and this department, complete the contents of this issue.
—THE EDITORS
Bahá’í World Faith
This book contains a representative selection of the Writings of Bahá’u’lláh and of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, and is the largest collection of Bahá’í literature in English translation now available in one volume.
A detailed Table of Contents and an Index make the Bahá’í teachings readily accessible for study as well as reading and meditation.
The plan of the book arranges the contents in nine chapters, as follows—
- Part One—Writings of Bahá’u’lláh
- Chapter One—The Great Announcement
- Chapter Two—The Promised One
- Chapter Three—The Life of the Soul
- Chapter Four—Laws of the New Age
- Chapter Five—The Mystery of God
- Part Two—Writings of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá
- Chapter Six—The Faith of Bahá’u’lláh
- Chapter Seven—Soul, Mind and Spirit
- Chapter Eight—The Loom of Reality
- Chapter Nine—The Divine Plan
Each of these chapters has been treated as a unit of significance, and the sequence of the nine chapters conveys a sense of the unfoldment of the Bahá’í Dispensation in the Tablets of Bahá’u’lláh, His Will and Testament, the Tablets and Addresses of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, and in His Testament and Plan for the World Order of Bahá’u’lláh.
The passages selected have been taken from fifteen different publications as well as from the National Archives.
Printed on thin light paper and bound in green fabrikoid. 465 pages. Per copy, $1.50.
BAHÁ’Í PUBLISHING COMMITTEE
110 Linden Avenue, Wilmette, Illinois
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, and ordered and progressive society. . . .
- Inculcates the principle of equal opportunity, 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