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WORLD ORDER
FEBRUARY, 1947
WORLD PEACE THROUGH WORLD RELIGION — Helen Bishop
A FRESH STREAM OF WISDOM — Garreta Busey
CHASING A HOBGOBLIN — Duart Brown
PRAYER, Poem — L. Khai
ARISE AND TEACH — Hazel McCurdy
SONG FOR A NEW DAY, Poem — Silvia Margolis
RACIAL UNITY, Editorial — Gertrude K. Henning
BAHÁ’Í ADMINISTRATION, Book Review — Horace Holley
PIONEER JOURNEY—Ecuador — Virginia Orbison
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 XXXVII 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: Eleanor S. Hutchens, William Kenneth Christian,
Gertrude K. Henning, Horace Holley, Bertha Hyde Kirkpatrick.
Editorial Office
Mrs. Gertrude K. Henning, Secretary
69 ABBOTSFORD ROAD, WINNETKA, ILL.
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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. Content copyrighted 1947 by Bahá’í Publishing Committee. Title
registered at U. S. Patent Office.
ONE MONTH IN ADVANCE
WORLD ORDER
The Bahá’í Magazine
VOLUME XII FEBRUARY, 1947 NUMBER 11
World Peace Through World Religion
HELEN BISHOP
RELIGION as it is generally
practiced nowadays cannot
hold the peace. For the most part
our age is familiar only with eclectic
and sectarian forms that offer
no worldwide basis for a new
civilization. At their worst, expounded
by superstitious or fanatical
believers, such religious
forms divide men and nations
and are too frequently made use
of by schemers who conquer and
rule. At their best, they are good
because they fill somebody’s psychological
or mystical needs and
lie within the right to freedom of
thought.
Even the latter function has become costly to society. From the point of view based upon wholeness —by that I mean from a planetary perspective—a merely personal religion is a luxury in this critical period. A luxury is something pleasant to have even though we admit it is not necessary for survival.
By now are we not all persuaded that our survival depends upon the unity of mankind? Any man who opposes the world community cuts off the branch on which he sits. Unity holds survival value. And nonetheless, personal opinions and beliefs are held which threaten the essential unity of all mankind.
I submit that divided and sectarian religions can never unify the earth’s peoples. This I saw for myself while we represented the Bahá’í World Faith at the seat of the League of Nations. Even then the sectarian religions held no peace plan in common. Through lack of unity the spiritual forces were dissipated, and now, for a second time, the statesmen are making a secular peace. Theirs is a mundane plan which does not admit the Higher Kingdom or reckon with the true nature of man.
However, every Bahá’í is glad
the United Nations is working
realistically for the economic
and political security of the
earth. And still let us make our
plea—the Bahá’í plea—for
“unity of conscience in world undertakings”
[Page 322]
as the spiritual basis
of an enduring peace.
To a Bahá’í, religion means the collective consciousnes. God recreates it as the beginning of a new cycle. Today the root of the collective consciousness is the sense of the oneness of humanity and of the religions founded by the Holy Prophets. Whenever the Word of God has been revealed a degree of unity has been reached among the peoples who believed. But in our day the entire human race has been summoned to the higher citizenship that is world unity and peace.
When ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, the Interpreter of the Bahá’í Revelation, was invited to send a message to the Second Hague Conference, He wrote: “Your motive and purpose is identical with that of ours.”
“. . . Peace-loving is not only one of the products of the intellect, but also is a belief based on faith and it is one of the eternal principles of God . . . But in this problem, knowledge alone is not sufficient. An executive force is needed so that it (Universal Peace) may become established . . . And it is evident that this most great aspiration cannot be attained through the ordinary emotions. Nay rather, it needs intense spiritual feelings to turn it from potentiality to actuality.”
To illustrate the gap that lies between modern ideals and attainments He reminds us in the same Letter that the civilized world knows cruelty to be bad and kindness good; that tyranny is wicked and justice admirable: “Notwithstanding this, all the people, with the exception of a limited number, are lacking in praiseworthy character and justice.” Even the blessed Apostle Paul lamented: “the good that we would do, we do not, but the evil that we would not do, that we do.”
Because of this gap between human ideals and behavior, we are deluding ourselves if we fancy we can meet the challenge of peace by our unaided powers. Men are beset by fierce prejudices of religion, class, race and nation. Such are the greatest menace to the rise of a world community designed for peace. If all men were capable of pure intellection, then they might think their way through and out of these unreasonable prejudices. But the human species has spent too long a past in the jungle to behave reasonably over the peace. The nations are still motivated by emotions arising out of tribal consciousness.
It was to the extraordinary
emotion of the Medieval world
that the poet, Heinrich Heine referred
[Page 323]
when he stood with a
friend contemplating the cathedral
at Amiens. His friend asked,
“Why is it that nowadays we
cannot build such structures?”
To which the poet replied, “My
dear Alphonse, men in those days
had convictions whereas we have
only opinions, and it takes something
more than opinions to build
a community project of the magnitude
of a Gothic cathedral.”
For Europe in the Middle Ages was extraordinarily religious. Its statesmanship arose out of one central spiritual authority. State anarchy was a sin. An offense against God. But modern states do not even recognize one central spiritual authority, and international anarchy is barely defined as a crime. An offense against the state.
Yet the Medieval world was far more international than we are. I mean it. I realized this when I came upon the struggles of the stateless, who passed through Geneva under a brief respite from the fearful existence of getting along without a passport. When I found I was helpless to help so many, I gazed at the Alps and they reminded me of the thousands of students walking without passports from Rome to the centers of learning in Germany or the renowned universities of France and England.
Then boundaries were not frontiers because Christianity was still a spiritual community with an executive force. It used Latin as an international auxiliary language. Imposing art forms expressed one symbolic truth. In fact, that old world had more unity and thereby more peace than ours. Nonetheless, moderns would not have been happy in the Medieval culture. It had no freedom at all.
In parenthesis, I would like to remark that the Dark Ages were not as unillumined as we like to suppose. How could an epoch have been dark when it was dominated by the divine Light of the Gospel? To be sure, the cultural atmosphere was institutionalized in monasteries and castles. The monks built walls and the dukes were protected by moats, nevertheless within their respective domains lighted candles burned. It is by comparison with the glamorous light of the Renaissance that the Middle Ages were dark. Our own generation is dark enough and without any excuse whatsoever! And that is the end of my parenthesis.
Anyhow, we moderns cannot
go back into the Middle Ages—
or even as far back as the Renaissance
for that matter. Not to
the culture or the religion prevailing
then. A clever American
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has said that nobody can go backwards
into the future.
Evolution is at work in our own age too! Do not doubt that the Bahá’ís have some faith in evolution. Above all else, understand that the Bahá’ís put even more faith in the Redeemer. Whosoever seeks that divine Person need not go backwards into Biblical time. Since then the Manifestation of God has appeared on earth. Indeed, His Appearance is recent as historical time is figured, for He left the earth in the decade before the opening of the twentieth century.
When Christ appeared as a personal savior, He transmitted to all capable of faith in Him that spiritual peace which is “. . . one of the eternal principles of God.” As He said, “In the world ye shall have tribulation; in Me ye shall have peace. But be of good cheer. I have overcome the world.”
And He had. For the Roman Empire was destroyed by the wars of conquest. It went down in an onslaught of elemental peoples with less intellect than the civilized Romans but with far more vitality. Meanwhile, the spiritual victory of Christ continued to bring peace into individual hearts down the ages.
Our modern age is a New Dispensation. It was begun by the Prophethood of the Báb in 1844. He prepared the way for the coming of the World Redeemer, Bahá’u’lláh.
The title is proper, because Bahá’u’lláh is the latest Visitation of the Holy Spirit carrying enough redemptive power to lift up all nations into a commonwealth of the planet. The outpouring of the Holy Spirit through His Pen summoned the nineteenth century kings and spiritual rulers to become responsible to God before the nations and to abolish war. The revealed Law of God in ample Texts now unfolds the oneness of religion as the key mystery of a world that was created to be one humanity and one faith.
This one World Faith of Bahá’u’lláh is the extraordinary emotion that can sublimate all tribal consciousness. The spiritual transformation of the entire human race lies within the offices of the Holy Spirit. Now. Nor can any narrower pattern outline a lasting peace.
In a Letter addressed to the
Reverend David Buchanan, a
Bahá’í world citizen then residing
in Portland, Oregon, ‘Abdu’l-Bahá
warned that the secular
peace of 1918 would not withstand
“fresh difficulties.” The recipient
of the Letter had been a
classmate of Woodrow Wilson at
[Page 325]
Princeton. While commending
“the self-sacrificing President
Wilson”, the Great Teacher goes
on to say: “For universal peace
will not be brought about through
human power and shall not shine
in full splendor unless this
weighty and important matter
will be realized through the
Word of God and be made to
shine forth through the influence
of the Kingdom of God.
“Eventually it shall be thoroughly established through the power of Bahá’u’lláh . . .
“Undoubtedly the general condition of the people and the state of oppressed nationalities will not remain as before. Justice and right shall be fortified but the establishment of Universal Peace will be realized fully through the power of the Word of God.”
Cannot we learn one lesson from history? In the third and fourth centuries after Christ, the civilized world tried vainly to hold on to the Pax Romana. Classic civilization was crumbling and its upholders knew it: what they did not perceive was that a more imposing culture had been called into being by the Gospel.
Cannot the twentieth century realize that God is the Lord of history and His divine Pattern is bigger than we think it is? The intervention of God in human evolution and affairs is the arrival of the Prince of Peace Who is named Bahá’u’lláh.
The Word of God has called the World Commonwealth into being. One World Religion can bring the collective consciousness to maturity. Wherever peace is discussed or groped for (and even if the peacemakers do not tell it) the true aim is the maturity of the human race on this planet. For the fruit of spiritual maturity is peace.
The Most Great Peace, . . . as conceived by Bahá’u’lláh—a peace that must inevitably follow as the practical consequence of the spiritualization of the world and the fusion of all its races, creeds, classes and nations—can rest on no other basis, and can be preserved through no other agency, except the divinely appointed ordinances that are implicit in the World Order that stands associated with His Holy Name. In His Tablet, revealed almost seventy years ago to Queen Victoria, Bahá’u’lláh, alluding to this Most Great Peace, has declared: “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. This can in no wise be achieved except through the power of a skilled, an all-powerful and inspired Physician.
A Fresh Stream of Wisdom
GARRETA BUSEY
THE number and the variety
of the problems which beset
us today stun us when we contemplate
them, knowing as we do
that, if they are to be solved, they
must be solved quickly. Atomic
energy is a sword over our heads
warning us to get speedily to
work on the most formidable and
complicated task that has ever
confronted the mind and heart of
man.
The human intelligence is so remarkable an instrument that it might solve these problems separately, if only we had time for trial and error and for bringing ourselves into agreement. The equitable distribution of food, economic justice, universal education, world government—all these could he arrived at scientifically, if we all wanted them, if mankind did not offer so intricate a complexity of backgrounds and desires, or if human beings were puppets to be pulled by strings into a system produced by some scientist or philosopher. But even if the majority of the men and women of the world could be convinced of the authority of the theorist, they would still have to be cut away from the deep-flowing streams of emotion which spring out of the diverse traditions of the past. To escape annihilation, many of them might consent to become automatons under a beneficent system, but as many more, it seems possible, would prefer to perish as human beings.
Not an arbitrary system but an education of the human spirit is what we must arrive at speedily —the awakening in men and women of an actual love for their fellows everywhere, a love in which differences of background and appearance will be forgotten and the desire to sacrifice oneself, so notable an attribute of human nature, will be used to serve mankind, not merely a partisan group. Survival in this, the most dangerous period of the world’s history, requires not the suppression of the will of the individual but its development. Our loyalties must expand to embrace the world instead of its parts.
How is this to be accomplished?
By political propaganda?
To a limited extent, perhaps.
Many good ideas may be spread
in that way, but after the flagrant
deceptions and the brutal wars
of our immediate past, we are inclined
[Page 327]
to suspect propaganda. By
the advancement of learning?
Yes, but knowledge is an instrument
which may be used for selfish
as well as unselfish ends. By
religion? Though God alone
stands above us, untouched by
the animosities of men, religion
itself has been so frequently
made the instrument of self-seeking
politics that we hesitate
to trust it. And yet religion is that
force whose primary function it
is to educate the human spirit
and to redirect the loyalties of
men. Only a new statement of the
divine Will, a fresh stream of
wisdom from the original Source,
unsullied by our greed, can bring
us together.
If you will look into the Bahá’í Writings, you may find in them that wisdom. Bahá’u’lláh, their Author, had nothing to gain and everything to lose by promulgating His Teachings, as you will see if you study His life. Nor was He an abstract theorist who would cut us off completely from our past. He never denied the truth of the faiths we have loved, but rather, He reaffirmed them in their essential purity, stripped them of the superstitions they had accumulated, and added that new measure of truth so sorely needed by us for the task which is before us. His Teachings are profound but they are practical. They renew in us that love which causes men to sacrifice themselves for those whom they have thought to be their enemies, and they show us how to build a peaceful world based not on force but on man’s spontaneous recognition of true wisdom when it appears.
Bahá’u’lláh assures us that the age of peace and abundance, so long desired, is at hand, and, in the face of surrounding chaos, we believe Him, because we have seen the miracle which He has wrought: in more than seventy countries, we have seen Him bring together in an organic unity men and women of hostile races, nations, classes, and creeds. His very words carry conviction because in them we hear that same combination of “sweet reasonableness” and authority which we have heard before in the words of Christ.
“That all nations should become
one in faith and all men
as brothers,” He said in 1890 to
a European scholar who sought
Him out where He was imprisoned;
“that the bonds of affection
and unity between the sons
of men should be strengthened;
that diversity of religion should
cease, and differences of race be
annulled—what harm is there in
this? . . . Yet so shall it be; these
fruitless strifes, these ruinous
[Page 328]
wars shall pass away, and the
‘Most Great Peace’ shall come.
. . . Do not you in Europe need
this also? Is not this that which
Christ foretold? . . . Yet do we
see your kings and rulers lavishing
their treasures more freely
on means for the destruction of
the human race than on that
which would conduce to the happiness
of mankind. . . . These
strifes and this bloodshed and
discord must cease, and all men
be as one kindred and one family
. . . Let not a man glory in this,
that he loves his country; let
him rather glory in this, that he
loves his kind.”
Not only does Bahá’u’lláh set before us this lofty ideal but He also puts it within our reach by giving us the specific means by which it may be realized.
The Bahá’í Teachings lie open for your perusal. You may accept them or reject them as your judgment dictates. But you will find that, having read them fairly and with an open mind, you cannot lay them aside without having gained somehow new hope for the future.
Let there be no misgivings as to the animating purpose of the world-wide Law of Bahá’u’lláh. Far from aiming at the subversion of the existing foundations of society, it seeks to broaden its basis, to remold its institutions in a manner consonant with the needs of an ever-changing world. It can conflict with no legitimate allegiances, nor can it undermine essential loyalties. Its purpose is neither to stifle the flame of a sane and intelligent patriotism in men’s hearts, nor to abolish the system of national autonomy so essential if the evils of excessive centralization are to be avoided. It does not ignore, nor does it attempt to suppress, the diversity of ethnical origins, of climate, of history, of language and tradition, of thought and habit, that differentiate the peoples and nations of the world. It calls for a wider loyalty, for a larger aspiration than any that has animated the human race. It insists upon the subordination of national impulses, and interests to the imperative claims of a unified world.
Chasing a Hobgoblin
DUART BROWN
“A FOOLISH consistency,”
says Emerson in his famous
essay on Self-Reliance, “is
the hobgoblin of little minds,
adored by little statesmen and
philosophers and divines.” He
goes on to explain that great
minds in every age have rarely
allowed their thoughts to become
anchored to outworn
social ideals or outworn modes
of thinking. A great man
changes his mind whenever he
feels the need. We know, for instance,
that Lincoln’s thoughts at
the time of the debates with
Douglas were based on a much
more moderate attitude towards
slavery than at the time of the
Emancipation Proclamation.
Lincoln throughout his life was
constantly maturing, deepening
his insight, and changing his
mind about men and things. Little
minds were always jumping
on him for his lack of consistency
in war and peace, but history has
born out the greatness of his
changes of concept.
Let’s chase this hobgoblin of little minds! Consistency is perhaps the greatest bane of religious thought since the world began. Priesthoods and divines through the centuries have had the habit of fastening upon mankind calcified religious forms which have lost all touch with their original vigorous beginnings. We have only to read the New Testament to see Jesus constantly running head-on into the mummified religious practices and ideas of the Jewish priesthood. These men placed consistency in belief before recognition of the voice of God with the result we all know, the crucifixion and rejection of the One who had come to save them.
This rigid attitude of mind is
only too apparent in the world today.
Men who exclaim with horror
over the treatment meted out
to Jesus for bringing new thought
into the world, are afraid to meet
or discuss the fresh ideas that
are reviving the world of the
present. Emerson, in defining his
great man as one who has the
self-reliance to change his mind
to meet the changing facts of the
world, might have defined part of
the greatness of God in the same
terms. We know that the God
Who spoke to Jesus used more
advanced ideas and words than
He Who spoke to Moses. The
world had changed and God had
changed His revelations to meet
[Page 330]
a changing need. The impiety of
the priests and pharisees of ancient
Jerusalem lay in denying
that God could make a new revelation
for a new age.
Out of Persia in our own period of history comes One Who speaks with the words of God, and again, because God appears inconsistent, there are many who refuse to listen to Him when He speaks. Bahá’u’lláh has met the same scorn and stones and ridicule that Jesus faced, all because of the “consistency of little minds.”
Why is God apparently not consistent from age to age? The answer is so simple that it is indeed strange how so few can understand. Let us compare God to a great and brilliant teacher who takes a class of children and teaches them from the first grade through to graduation from college. We know very well that if he is a teacher worth his salt he will not teach the same things in the same way from year to year. If he does, he will graduate a class of thoroughly bored nincompoops. Each year his attitude towards, and his methods with his students will change. They are growing up and his teaching must grow up with them. If we listened to him talking to the first graders, we would note that his approach would be very simple, very incomplete and, by our standards, very childish. Yet it would be perfectly fitting for the age he was teaching. If, however, he used the same words and tone on the sixth graders, they would be both bored and astonished. The astonishment would be at the simple fables he told to explain things they were now capable of understanding with more realism. Again, if he talked to his college seniors with the same words and tone that he used with the sixth graders they would laugh at him in scorn. Mature people quite naturally resent being talked to in the language that is reserved for children.
We know that the world of today
is more grown up than the
world of 1 A.D. Even the simple
mind can recognize the vast increase
of knowledge and insight
that science and discovery has
brought to modern man. Yet
many of the priests and divines of
today are using the same teaching
techniques and ideas that
were introduced on earth two
thousand years ago! Though
some of the things God taught to
man at that time were eternal and
will live forever, such as the love
for your fellow man, some
others, such as the idea of hell
fire, have lost their meaning and
force in a new age. The result is
that we who are graduates of a
[Page 331]
more advanced world, are now
being talked to and exhorted in
the words that were meant for intermediate
students. No wonder
there has come a vast upsurge of
irreligion to the world; no wonder
the atheists and agnostics are
waxing strong. Many come to religion
seeking solutions to modern
problems and mature difficulties,
and are answered by immature
diagnoses that give them
no help. Fortunately there is a
realization of this lack among
some modern religious leaders
and they are striving to advance
their ideas and ideals, realizing
that when religion becomes static
it begins to die.
As God evolves His plan, man must change his mind. The living, breathing Word of God, refusing to be confined within the crystalized minds of self-appointed interpreters, is with us again. Out of Persia and the Near East He has spoken with words that answer the specific problems of this world of today. Those who have wisdom, those who have intelligence, will leave the lessons that were meant for the sixth graders and join the mature minds of the graduating class.
Such minds will quickly recognize in the principles set forth in the Bahá’í Writings answers to the problems of the modern atomic age. Let us list some:
1. Union of mankind in one universal cause, one common faith. This alone can stamp out all cause for atomic warfare.
2. The recognition of prejudices against other peoples and religions for what they are, childish regressions to barbarism.
3. The understanding that all the great religions emanated from God equally and are all part of the same Truth, but that naturally the latest emanation, the Bahá’í Faith, brings the Truth for this age.
4. The cooperation of science and religion in the search for truth and the knowledge that there can be no fundamental antagonism between them.
5. Worship of God through creative work such as arts and crafts, education, invention, etc. The imperative necessity that every man take part in this for his own self-discipline.
6. The need to develop the ability and self-control of every man through his absorption of the greatest possible degree of education. It is free, universal and scientific education that is a mighty force to overcome prejudice, bad morals and irreligion, provided it is paced by a mighty new religious faith that is in tune with the modern world.
7. The end of priesthoods.
[Page 332]
Man is at last sufficiently mature
to learn to be his own teacher and
disciplinarian. He no longer
needs other to do his thinking for
him. He must think for himself!
8. The adoption of a universal language that becomes the second language of every land, thus eliminating at a stroke all the absurd mixups and time-wasting translations and interpretations made necessary by the present babel of tongues.
We could list many more of these modern principles of the Bahá’í Faith. This is enough for an inkling. It is enough to help us understand that when we become men we must put aside childish things and act as men. To men instead of children God is now speaking.
PRAYER
L. KHAI
- O Beloved!
- The Superlative of every good,
- The Love that needs
- No knowledge of face, or form, or speech,
- The Love so great we can never touch Thy Reality
- But whose touch has realized all things
- And Whose knowledge molds life’s essence—
- Thou only art the Eternally Perfect
- And the totality of beauty.
- Out of eternity
- Thou hast plucked the smallest grain
- And called it time—
- A speck of dust on Thy robe’s hem
- Is the material universe—
- Thy thought in the space of an eyewink
- Comprehendeth the spiritual universe.
- O Thou! Who asketh for all we know
- Yet givest all we know—
- Infinity is not enough for all our praise of Thee,
- O Most Adored One!
- Origin of man’s spirit—
- Singular, yet All-Containing—
- Though beyond any and all approach.
- Thou art the life of every living soul.
Arise and Teach
HAZEL MCCURDY
WE KNOW work brings its
own reward or results, so
also there is a reward for teaching
the Cause of God. We not only
experience joy and happiness,
but we receive from God spiritual
bounties. Bahá’u’lláh says:
“Whosoever quickens one soul in
this Cause is like unto one quickening
all the servants and the
Lord shall bring him forth in the
day of resurrection (the day of
the departure or ascension of the
soul of the body) unto the
Riḍván (Paradise) of Oneness,
adorned with the Mantle of Himself,
the Protector, the Mighty,
the Generous. Thus, will ye assist
your Lord, and naught else save
this shall ever be mentioned in
this Day before God, your Lord,
and the Lord of your forefathers.”
In the writings of Bahá’u’lláh we find these spiritual bounties of teaching. First is with regard to writing. “If any man were to arise to defend, in his writings, the Cause of God against its assailants, such a man, however inconsiderable his share, shall be so honored in the world to come that the Concourse on high would envy his glory. No pen can depict the loftiness of his station, neither can any tongue describe its splendor. For whosoever standeth firm and steadfast in this holy, this glorious, and exalted Revelation, such power shall be given him as to enable him to face and withstand all that is in heaven and on earth. Of this God is Himself a witness.”
The second concerns speech. “By the righteousness of God! Whose openeth his lips in this Day and maketh mention of the name of his Lord, the hosts of Divine inspiration shall descend upon him from the heaven of My name, the All-Knowing, the All-Wise. On him shall also descend the Concourse on high, each bearing aloft a chalice of pure light. Thus hath it been foreordained in the realm of God’s Revelation, by the behest of Him Who is the All-Glorious, the Most Powerful.
“There lay concealed within
the Holy Veil, and prepared for
the service of God, a company of
His chosen ones who shall be
manifested unto men, who shall
aid His Cause, who shall be
afraid of no one, though the entire
human race rise up and war
against them. These are the ones
who, before the gaze of the dwellers
on earth and the denizens of
[Page 334]
heaven, shall arise and, shouting
aloud, acclaim the name of the
Almighty, and summon the children
of men to the path of God,
the All-Glorious, the All-Praised.
Walk thou in their way, and let
no one dismay thee.”
The third is by deeds. “One righteous act is endowed with a potency that can so elevate the dust as to cause it to pass beyond the heaven of heavens. It can tear every bond asunder, and hath the power to restore the force that hath spent itself and vanished. . .
“Be pure, O People of God, be pure; be righteous, be righteous . . . Say: O people of God! That which can ensure the victory of Him Who is the Eternal Truth, His hosts and helpers on earth, have been set down in the sacred Books and Scriptures, and are as clear and manifest as the sun. These hosts are such righteous deeds, such conduct and character, as are acceptable in His sight. Whose ariseth, in this Day, to aid Our Cause, and summoneth to his assistance the hosts of a praiseworthy character and upright conduct, the influence flowing from such an action will, most certainly, be diffused throughout the whole world.”
The fourth bounty regards journeys. “They that have forsaken their country for the purpose of teaching Our Cause— these shall the Faithful Spirit strengthen through its power. A company of Our chosen angels shall go forth with them, as bidden by Him Who is the Almighty, the All-Wise. How great the blessedness that awaiteth him that hath attained the honor of serving the Almighty! By My life! No act, however great, can compare with it, except such deeds as have been ordained by God, the All-Powerful, the Most Mighty. Such a service is, indeed the prince of all goodly deeds, and the ornament of every goodly act. Thus hath it been ordained by Him Who is the Sovereign Revealer, the Ancient of Days.”
In the notes of Martha Root
we find this story of Lua Getsinger,
loved disciple of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá.
Lua was preparing to
journey to India. Suddenly turning
to her, ‘Abdu’l-Bahá asked
her what plans she had made for
India. She answered that she had
no plans except to obey the will
of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá. Then turning to
Lua He asked what she would do
if they dispute these teachings.
She replied, “I shall turn to
‘Abdu’l-Bahá and call upon Him
for spiritual confirmation. After
repeating the Greatest Name I
shall open my mouth and say what
is given me to say.” And what
should she do if they beat her?
[Page 335]
“I shall know that the Confirmations
of God are descending upon
me.” And what would she do if
they put her in prison? “I shall
thank God that I have walked in
the path of God and have been
permitted to partake of the suffering
that ‘Abdu’l-Bahá suffered
for years.” He was silent
for a moment. Then ‘Abdu’l-Bahá
raised his voice, giving to it a
dramatic emphasis, and asked
what she would do if they killed
her. “I shall realize that the first
favor that I ever asked ‘Abdu’l-Bahá
has been granted.” There
was silence for a moment. The
Master’s eyes were closed. Then
he said that when one goes out
to teach, he should think of all
these things. He must be prepared
at all times for whatever
comes in the Path of God. During
the many years He and His
family were in prison, each moment
they were under the sword.
They felt that perhaps tomorrow
or tonight or in an hour, or in
the very hour an order may come
from the Sulṭán to kill all of
them. They never went to bed
a single night of that time thinking
to see the morrow.
Since we know that it is a command
of God in this Day to teach
and there are many ways of
teaching and we mentioned only
four, and all teaching has spiritual
bounties, we know spiritual
necessities are also required.
These, also, are found in the
Writings of Bahá’u’lláh. First is
belief. “Say: Teach ye the Cause
of God, O people of Bahá, for
God hath prescribed unto every
one the duty of proclaiming His
Message, and regardeth it as the
most meritorious of all deeds.
Such a deed is acceptable only
when he that teacheth the Cause
is already a firm believer in God,
the Supreme Protector, the Gracious,
the Almighty.” Second is
detachment. “Whose ariseth to
teach Our Cause must needs detach
himself from all earthly
things, and regard, at all times,
the triumph of Our Faith as his
supreme objective. This hath,
verily, been decreed in the
Guarded Tablet. And when he
determineth to leave his home,
for the sake of the Cause of his
Lord, let him put his whole trust
in God, as the best provision for
his journey, and array himself
with the robe of virtue. Thus hath
it been decreed by God, the Almighty,
the All-Praised.” The
third necessity is character. “God
hath prescribed unto every one
the duty of teaching His Cause.
Whoever ariseth to discharge this
duty, must needs, ere be proclaimeth
His Message, adorn
himself with the ornament of an
upright and praiseworthy character,
so that his words may attract
[Page 336]
the hearts of such as are receptive
to his call. Without it, he
can never hope to influence his
hearers.” Next we must have a
kind approach. “Show forbearance
and benevolence and love
to one another. Should any one
among you be incapable of grasping
a certain truth, or be striving
to comprehend it, show forth,
when conversing with him, a spirit
of extreme kindliness and good
will. Help him to see and recognize
the truth, without esteeming
yourself to be, in the least superior
to him, or to be possessed
of greater endowments.” And
last is love. “If he be kindled
with the fire of His love, if he
foregoeth all created things, the
words he uttereth shall set on fire
them that hear him. Verily, thy
Lord is the Omniscient, the All-Informed.
Happy is the man that
hath heard Our voice, and answered
Our call. He, in truth, is
of them that shall be brought
nigh unto Us.”
This love is illustrated by one
of the Persian traditions about
Ios, the shepherd boy, who tended
his flocks in the valleys and on
the sloping hills of Persia. He
was poor and simple and knew
no life but the care of his sheep,
but one love he had and one great
longing—it was to behold the
face of his King. He had never
seen this One of whose greatness
and goodness he heard wonderful
tales, and he felt that he would
live content and die happy if he
could but once behold His face.
One day Ios heard that the King
with his retinue would pass on
the highroad not far from his
pasture. Shaken with the intensity
of his love he left everything
and stationed himself on the
road. At last the royal procession
appeared, boys on horseback,
soldiers and buglers glittering,
gorgeous in the sunshine. Ios’
eyes gazed past all this to the
royal equipage slowly approaching;
with flushed face and throbbing
heart he watched for the
face he had waited and longed
for all his life. Seeing that the
procession was stopped in its
progress, the King inquired the
cause and was informed that a
poor shepherd boy stood in the
way and begged to see him. The
King commanded that the boy
be brought, and Ios trembling
with joy came to the side of the
carriage, and gazed long and
steadfastly on the face he
adored. The King amazed at this
ardent look said: “Who art
thou?” “Ios, the shepherd boy,
my King,” he replied. “What
dost thou seek from me?” “Oh
my King,” he said, “All my life I
have longed for thee. The utmost
desire of my heart has been to
behold thy face. Now I am happy
[Page 337]
and content, I can return to my
humble life forever blest since I
have beheld thee.” The King was
greatly touched and looking long
and earnestly as the boy passed
on his way. But the memory of
Ios haunted him—such love he
had not known. All those who
surrounded him lived by his favors
and bounty, but here was
one who sought nothing, asked
nothing—who could live and die
on the memory of his face. Small
wonder that the noble King made
the simple peasant the most loved
of all his courtiers. Such is the
adoration of the soul who lives
to praise his Lord.
The greatest act of praise is teaching. The courage to arise and teach is refreshed and sustained by these words of Bahá’u’lláh: “The whole duty of man in this Day is to attain that share of the flood of grace which God poureth forth for him. Let none, therefore consider the largeness or smallness of the receptacle. The portion of some might lie in the palm of a man’s hand, the portion of others might fill a cup, and of others even a gallon measure.” “God’s grace is being poured out upon all men. Fill thy cup, and drink in His Name, the most Holy, the All-Praised”.
SONG FOR A NEW DAY
SILVIA MARGOLIS
- O, ask not whence this joy,
- So resonant and clear—
- It drowns the voice of anguish
- And floods my heart with cheer;
- Nor whence that temperate love
- That ebbless flows in me,
- Bearing me lightly, lightly,
- As foam is borne by the sea.
- O, Wonder not at all
- My bubbling ecstasy
- That like a fount of peace
- Flows, immersing me;
- I only know ’tis Dawn
- And a New Day comes apace
- With Love upon its Wings
- And Joy upon its Face!
Editorial
Racial Unity
AMERICA cannot attain the
spiritual triumph destined
for it until it has successfully
overcome the flagrant racial
prejudice now existing within its
boundaries. Prejudice against
the Negro in some of the southern
states has been carried into
local laws even though the United
States constitution declares equal
rights for that race. This racial
discrimination has been held
over from pre-Civil War times
and passed on to succeeding generations
in spite of scientific enlightenment
that human beings
are alike in structure in all races.
Prejudice is man-made and not God-made. In America African Negroes were brought here as slaves to work on the great plantations of the South. Opportunities for schooling and independent wage earning were not offered, or open to them. This resulted in the fact that few were able to acquire education and from that grew the feeling that the Negro was intellectually inferior. The true facts were not acknowledged by the bulk of the people. Man developed this prejudice by ignoring the facts and by being unaware of the Law of God that there are no racial differences in the creation of man.
Had the spiritual teachings of Christ been carried out as He had meant them, there would not have been this breach among the white people and the black people of this country. But in the institutions of most churches not much thought and certainly no concerted action was given to this growing racial prejudice.
In the Bahá’í community
there is no racial discrimination;
for not only is it a Bahá’í principle
to teach the oneness of mankind,
but also it is a Bahá’í ordinance
to practice that oneness.
In Shoghi Effendi’s letter to the
Bahá’ís of America, The Advent
of Divine Justice, he states: “To
discriminate against any race, on
the ground of its being socially
backward, politically immature,
and numerically in a minority, is
a flagrant violation of the spirit
that animates the Faith of Bahá’u’lláh
. . . Freedom from racial
prejudice, in any of its forms,
should, at such a time as this
when an increasingly large section
of the human race is falling
a victim to its devastating ferocity,
be adopted as the watchword
of the entire body of the American
believers, in whichever state
[Page 339]
they reside, in whatever circles
they move, whatever their age,
traditions, tastes, and habits. It
should be consistently demonstrated
in every phase of their activity
and life, whether in the
Bahá’í community or outside it,
in public or in private, formally
as well as informally, individually
as well as in their official
capacity as organized groups,
committees and Assemblies. It
should be deliberately cultivated
through the various and everyday
opportunities, no matter how
insignificant, that present themselves,
whether in their homes,
their business offices, their
schools and colleges, their social
parties and recreation grounds,
their Bahá’í meetings, conferences,
conventions, summer
schools and Assemblies.”
From both scientific teachings and spiritual laws we may deduce that whatever prejudice there is in the world has been made by man himself. Anthropologists tell us that there is only one human species and therefore all races of human beings must be of one family. No racial differences have ever caused the toes of the feet or the number and kinds of teeth to differ. Biologically all men are outfitted alike. Superficial differences like skin color or texture of hair were developed by climatic environments, as also were body sizes and shapes of skulls. Because many generations of people lived in one part of the world, certain distinctive traits became more prominent and people were readily recognized as a part of that area from which they came. Modern science has proven that the structure of the human body is the same in all races and that the four types of human blood are to be found in all peoples of the world.
The Manifestations of God also have told us that mankind is one. They have provided the moral teachings so essential since man has the ability to choose the manner in which he behaves. We have the moral and scientific teachings in balance. They agree. It is essential that man recognize their agreement if he is to survive material and scientific progress. Racial unity is not a dream but part of God’s creation and will be an eventual reality. We can choose His way and annul these differences of races for He has given us the pattern for a world society in which all men shall be active brothers.
BAHÁ’Í ADMINISTRATION
Book Review
HORACE HOLLEY
Bahá’í Administration by Shoghi Effendi. Bahá’í Publishing committee, Wilmette, Illinois, Third edition, 1946.
THROUGHOUT the history of civilization,
the problem of authority
was never satisfactorily
solved until the Bahá’í Era created
the connection between divine law
and the social community. Men have
confused authority with power, understanding
neither the true nature
of authority nor the function of
power, with the result that civilization
has been an interminable dispute
between two opposite and irreconcilable
views, and society has
plunged from the tyranny of the
few to the chaos of the many, enjoying
only a few brief periods of repose
when a temporary balance
could be achieved between the two
extremes. One can truly remark that
the world has never seen an organic
society but only experimental groupings
which endured as long as the
external pressures of nature and
other human groups could sustain a
prevailing outlook or creed or philosophy.
Only the persistence of the
family unit has assured the continuity
of the race throughout its troubled
and tragic career.
Revealed religion has successively reinvigorated the human spirit and supplied a pure vision of a spiritual and moral goal if not of social evolution. The early Christian community preserved the spirit of Christ’s teaching to the individual, but Christendom produced no Christian civilization. The problem of linking together the many local communities raised social issues for which no moral teachings existed to supply a principle of action. Arbitrary authority was therefore developed on the model of prior political experience. This arbitrary authority identified itself with notions of supreme social power which found expression in doctrines and in pressures colored less by the original teachings than by an institutional will to dominate and survive. Evangelical Christianity arose to restore the balance by asserting the opposite extreme: by opposing individual conscience to the claims of an authority and power composed of a mixture of imperial Rome and the gospel revealed in Palestine. The modern national state, unconsciously inspired by the social principle revealed by Muḥammad, but deprived of the continuity of divine guidance He had offered Islám in the person of the Imams, has been unable to create a balanced society of either the democratic or authoritarian type, but by enforcing a truce between opposed religious factions it has given the individual rights and opportunities which did not previously exist. The national state transformed feudalism into industrialism, but at that point became engulfed in interstate conflict.
The period from 1919 to 1939 put
both church and state on trial for the
last time. The period longed for
peace but not as potently as it longed
for the conditions which incubated
the complete break between state and
moral tradition, between church and
[Page 341]
the omnipotent power of God. The
ancient formulas of authority and
power came to fulfilment, proving to
be destructive forces in human life.
There is no reality in the claim that
individual conscience rather than divine
revelation is the way of guidance
to society; and there is no reality
in the claim that a multitude of
human beings can manufacture an
authority and endow it with spiritual
sanction. Each extreme has an apparent
validity through the need to
oppose the other; but the validity
exists as an argument and not as a
creative social power.
In that same period the Bahá’í concepts of community began to be applied.
Our immediate source of reference is the volume entitled Bahá’í Administration consisting of the letters written by Shoghi Effendi as Guardian of the Bahá’í Faith from January 21, 1922 to July 17, 1932, to the Bahá’ís of America, to their National Spiritual Assembly, and, in one case, to the Bahá’ís of America, Great Britain, Germany, France, Switzerland, Italy, Japan and Australasia. The first edition, published in 1927, was later amplified to include the communications up to and including the lament at the passing of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s sister, Bahíyyih Khanúm, known as the Greatest Holy Leaf. In 1929 the Guardian initiated what appeared to be a second series of general communications which with his permission have since been published separately as The World Order of Bahá’u’lláh.
The introduction pointed out that: “The passing of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá on November 28, 1921, created a problem of religious administration unparalleled in the history of the world. Since the declaration of the Báb in 1844 there had come into being a community of faith containing representatives of every race, creed and class—hundreds of thousands of believers —united successively in devotion to the Báb, Bahá’u’lláh and ‘Abdu’l-Bahá and now suddenly bereft of that spiritual leadership and inspiration which had so long served as the foundation of their unity, the unbreakable bond welding them into a new faith.
“The Bahá’í community, in fact, presented so complex a variety of types, conditions, races, nationalities, languages, classes and religious traditions that it might have been taken as a true cross section of humanity. The problem of maintaining these souls in unity of action as well as unity of belief—of continuing their spiritual continuity unimpaired through the obvious dangers of moral, and physical disruption surrounding it on every side—exemplified, though on a comparatively small scale, the problem of unifying humanity itself.” “Bahá’í administration is nothing less than a worldwide ethics, the special characteristic of which is to transform subjective faith into positive cooperative action.”
On so modest a scale as to escape
the attention of the nations and the
faiths, the followers of Bahá’u’lláh
in those few years underwent a transformation
which has no equal in
history. They had been members of
one race; they became parts of the
new humanity. They had been citizens
or subjects of one state; they
became world citizens. They had
been born into a denominational religion
which made faith a formula
[Page 342]
and practice a mode of worship; and
they became conscious that divine
revelation is the action of omnipotence
upon the whole of existence.
The student, even the avowed Bahá’í, may well ponder with astonishment how such a transformation took place.
The first requisite was that in the Will of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá an authority was created within the spirit and area of the revelation itself. It did not arise by election of the community nor by agreement between struggling factions. The Master, ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, passed out of sight, but His creation stood before the Bahá’ís, and the Bahá’ís accepted the authority and recognized the power as something conferred from God and not something claimed by man.
The second requisite was that an international body of Bahá’ís existed, firm in their faith and their knowledge, on whose willingness and capacity to respond the structure of world order could be laid. The new pattern for society could be traced through their mutual relationships; their obedience gave a social body to the creative idea. Beyond their conscious understanding to foresee, the sacrament of truth and social principle was upheld and drew them forward, step by step, until they stood on ground high enough to afford them a view of the new country to which they had been led.
The Bahá’í social pattern contains institutions endowed with specific functions and powers. These institutions have an elective membership, but neither the electors nor the elected define the institution. It has been created for them, and they must learn from its nature what they are expected to do. The elected are nine in number, and the functions and powers are of the institution and not of the person. They can only serve unitedly, and the union requires discussion and decision on a level where personality is unable to go. The institution stands steadfast, holding the standard to which persons must conform.
Between the different orders of institution there is harmony and creative interaction, because each has its orbit around the one universal center. The local area has its integrity but this is sustained not by self-sufficiency but through dependence upon the larger national area. Here is another integrity, another interdependence. The world area, whence comes the statement of justice and social principle on which humanity depends, is represented not only by an elective world institution but also by the Guardian in his office of chairman of that body connecting it with the spiritual element with which he has been endowed.
The man of pure faith can accept this new order because it emanates from the source of prayer and truth, and expresses the qualities of true ethics in action. The man of rational intelligence can accept it because the Bahá’í order creates world unity, endows peace with its necessary powers, preserves the integrity of the small and weak locality, and makes religion justify itself as the champion of human rights, lawgiver, and source of the virtues and qualities which give meaning to human life.
Bahá’í administration is more
than a pattern. It is likewise an agency
for the transformation of individuals
and social groups. It is a power,
[Page 343]
descended to human experience,
which no hmnan agency can control.
How tenderly this consummation began! “At this early hour when the morning light is just breaking upon the Holy Land, whilst the gloom of the dear Master’s bereavement is still hanging thick upon the hearts, I feel as if my soul turns in yearning love and full of hope to that great company of His loved ones across the seas, who now share with us all the agonies of His separation.” (January 21, 1922) “How great is the need at this moment when the promised outpourings of His grace are ready to be extended to every soul, for us all to form a broad vision of the mission of the Cause to mankind, and to do all in our power to spread it throughout the world.” “Hence the vital necessity of having a local Spiritual Assembly in every locality where the number of adult declared believers exceeds nine, and of making provision for the indirect election of a Body that shall adequately represent the interests of all the friends and Assemblies throughout the American continent.” “So great is the importance of these Assemblies that once ‘Abdu’l-Bahá after having Himself and in His own handwriting corrected the translation . . . directed him (the translator) in a Tablet to submit the above-named translation to the Spiritual Assembly of Cairo, that he may seek from them before publication their approval and consent.” (March 5, 1922) “The importance, nay the absolute necessity of these local Assemblies is manifest when we realize that in the days to come they will evolve into the local House of Justice, and at present provide the firm foundation on which the structure of the Master’s Will is to be reared in future.” (March 12, 1923)
The deterioration of worldly affairs was pointed out to the believers with an urgent reminder of their mission: “let us pray to God that in these days of world-encircling gloom, when the dark forces of nature, of hate, rebellion, anarchy and reaction are threatening the very stability of human society, when the most precious fruits of civilization are undergoing severe and unparalleled tests, we may all realize, more profoundly than ever, that though but a mere handful amidst the seething masses of the world, we are in this day the chosen instruments of God’s grace, that our mission is most urgent and vital to the fate of humanity, and, fortified by these sentiments, arise to achieve God’s holy purpose for mankind.” (November 14, 1923) “Humanity, torn with dissension and burning with hate, is crying at this hour for a fuller measure of that love which is born of God, that love which in the last resort will prove the one solvent of its incalculable difficulties and problems.”
“And as we make an effort to demonstrate
that love to the world may
we also clear our minds of any lingering
trace of unhappy misunderstandings
that might obscure our
clear conception of the exact purpose
and methods of this new world
order, so challenging and complex,
yet so consummate and wise . . . The
various Assemblies, local and national,
constitute today the bedrock
upon the strength of which the Universal
House of Justice is in future
to be firmly established and raised.
Not until these function vigorously
[Page 344]
and harmoniously can the hope for
the termination of this period of
transition be realized . . . Nothing
short of the spirit of a true Bahá’í
can hope to reconcile the principles
of mercy and justice, of freedom and
submission, of the sanctity of the
right of the individual and of self-surrender,
of vigilance, discretion
and prudence on the one hand, and
fellowship, candor, and courage on
the other.” (February 23, 1924)
The process of world transformation has not been completed. The National Assemblies are yet to be convened for the formation of the Bahá’í world body. Truth and ethical principle are still to be recognized as the law of nations and the foundation of economics. But in these letters the beginning is revealed, the light disclosed, the path made manifest. The world can see an authority which is in essence entire obedience to God, and a power which is nothing else than the protector of man. The era of spiritual reality has dawned, and the world must increasingly reflect the condition of a heavenly realm.
With a prayer and a dedication this record concludes. In his lament uttered after the death of Bahíyyih Khanúm, the Guardian addressed to her spirit these words: “Whatever betide us, however distressing the vicissitudes which the nascent Faith of God may yet experience, we pledge ourselves, before the mercy-seat of thy glorious Father, to hand on, unimpaired and undivided, the glory of that tradition of which thou hast been its most brilliant exemplar.” (July 17, 1932)
The principle of the Oneness of Mankind—the pivot round which all the teachings of Bahá’u’lláh revolve—is no mere outburst of ignorant emotionalism or an expression of vague and pious hope. Its appeal is not to be merely identified with a reawakening of the spirit of brotherhood and good-will among men, nor does it aim solely at the fostering of harmonious cooperation among individual peoples and nations. Its implications are deeper, its claims greater than any which the Prophets of old were allowed to advance. Its message is applicable not only to the individual, but concerns itself primarily with the nature of those essential relationships that must bind all the states and nations as members of one human family.
Pioneer Journey—Ecuador
VIRGINIA ORBISON
JOHN STEARNS left his own
land, as have many others in
their times and ours, to introduce
the Cause of God in its renewed
and amplified beauty where it
was not before known. His mission
was to tell the new pattern
ordained by God for the age of
destiny into which we are being
thrust—ready or not. As a boy
he must have had unconscious
foreknowledge that his lot upon
this earth was to be hard and full
of pain. In unrelenting stoicism
he used to sleep on the floor without
covering so that he could go
into the woods and not be concerned
over lacking in comforts
or even being lost. He was the uncompromising
leader among his
brothers and sisters, and his advice
in all matters was always
asked, even by his mother. They
were resigned, then, and not surprised
at his tearing up of all
roots at home and starting a new
life in a far-off city which straddles
the Equator. Although not
believers in the same Faith, they
respected his unbending decision
to carry out his mission.
On May 23, 1940, he arrived in the capital city, Quito. For a while he lived in a pension and taught English in the Instituto Cultural in order to become acquainted with people. He was soon making plans to import machinery to start a candy-making business for his support. Candy in the European or North American style is a rarity in some South American countries, but much liked by its peoples. After many months of communication, finances and transportation, the Kandy Kitchen was established in a “modern” apartment. And here also, the first Bahá’í meetings were held.
A South American always asks a “gringo” (who can be nearly anyone not of the country—but mostly it applies to United States citizens) why he has come to the South. This is the cue for the Bahá’í pioneer to tell of the Cause, and it brings forth varying forms of response. Of course, in all of Ecuador, the Name of Bahá’u’lláh had probably never been said unless Martha Root had paused in the port of Guayaquil for a few hours and uttered the Greatest Name, while making her trip around the Americas about twenty-five years ago.
John, in his quiet reserved
way, would invite the people he
met to talk and to tea. Soon he
[Page 346]
could call many of them strong
friends. One evening a fervent
and intelligent young man of
Guayaquil came to hear from his
lips the story of Bahá’u’lláh and
the destiny towards which the
world is so rapidly moving.
Eduardo González López left the
house only after a full night of
discussion—a convinced believer
in this new World Faith, although
he did not enroll until a
year had passed. John and “Les”
passed many months of study,
hard work and of bending all efforts
for spreading the Faith.
John spoke and “Les” interpreted,
made translations, broadcast
radio programs. It was a
busy time and certainly not without
its dissonances. The radio
programs were broadcast for
about a year. “Words and Music”
and “Bahá’í Echoes” were
made into booklets and distributed
as far afield as the broadcasts
themselves.
Soon John and “Les” saw many persons rally to this new Cause. Some left Quito to go to other parts, or out of the country, so there were never enough in one place to form a Spiritual Assembly. During this time some Bahá’í travelers had stopped in Quito—always a heart-warming event! Among these had been Eleanor Adler on her way to Bolivia, Marcia Steward to Chile, Mr. and Mrs. Raffi Motteheddeh who greatly helped and encouraged John, Philip Sprague, and Mrs. Mary Barton, also Etta Mae Lawrence on her way to be the pioneer for Argentina.
In October 1943 John discovered
that the pain he had tried to
ignore for so long was a serious
illness. Two months later he
made a long, painful land trip
to Lima for treatment at the Hospital
de Radium Therapia, leaving
his business with Bahá’í
friends as he would never admit
the thought of not recovering.
Eve Nicklin, pioneer to Peru,
helped him and tried to comfort
him. He endured all pain and the
torturing treatments almost without
comment. After a cable from
the Guardian whose prayers had
been asked for, John had a period
of seemingly regained
health. Some of this time he spent
with Raymond Betts, American
business man in Lima, lying in
the desert sun by an intensely
blue pool with not a trace of
vegetation anywhere. Hundreds
of years before the subjects of
the Inca had bathed there. Here
was discussed the Faith of Bahá’u’lláh,
although Mr. Betts had
heard of it from Eve Nicklin and
Flora Hottes. Later, on April
21, Mr. and Mrs. Betts became
members of the first Spiritual
Assembly to be formed in
[Page 347]
Peru. Shortly after this, John
knew that he must have another
operation, which he bore, and
was watched over by Irma and
Ray Betts who took him into
their home. He lasted a short
time only. He seemed to make
himself endure until the return
of Ray who had gone away on a
long trip. Then, in a hospital on
November 7, 1944, he died. Eve,
Irma and another friend were
with him on that afternoon.
The beloved Guardian wrote: “The radiant and selfless services of dear John Stearns will not be forgotten, and the country is indeed blessed where a pioneer not only taught but remained and died while still loving and glorifying his Faith.”
The believers in Ecuador left by John became scattered. Help there was needed and this task fell to my lot. In Lima, during the months from January to September he had sometimes told me of his work in that land. Two months’ interval was spent in Bolivia where my instructions were received to proceed to Quito, Ecuador, in place of Artemus Lamb who was not able to stop there on his way to his mission in Chile.
It took only five hours flight from Lima to reach Guayaquil— port town—where priority in war-time made a stop-over necessary. While awaiting decisions in this matter, a conversation began with a delightful Chilean woman who was on her way to New York. We found that we had met before in Santiago de Chile at the home of one of her relatives. Her brother and his family had been one of my first friends. His satirical political paper “Topaze” had made him famous as well as his production of several motion picture productions. Jorge Délano was later to be invited to the United States by its President, who was also one of his distant cousins. Señora Délano de Sierra had recently returned from a stay in Punta Arenas, Magallanes, the world’s southernmost city, where she had met Marcia Steward, pioneer to Chile, and had become most interested in the Cause. Argentina was also the scene of her meeting with many believers.
That night in my hotel, Eduardo
Gonzáles and Emilio Minervini,
two of the faithful ones of
Guayaquil (young Jorge Sarco
was the third), came to see me.
But early next morning the trip
towards Quito was resumed. Rivers,
jungles, tropical flowering
trees, higher and higher—past
the great volcanos—Chimborazo
and Cotopaxi, past a wooded
shelved table-land which was enchantment,
and into the neighboring
[Page 348]
valley where is situated one
of the precious cities of the
Andes—Quito.
Just as surely as the world of the Incas, from Quito to Tiahuanaco was stripped and wrecked, so in our time we see the mighty convulsion —only on a world-wide scale. The old values are being swept aside in Ecuador, in South America, and indeed all over the world. It is the Bahá’í who proclaims the source of the Impulse which is revolutionizing mankind’s ordered life—this in his small but ever-widening orbit. His soul-shaking duty is to bring orientation to the participants in this upheaval. His duty is to set in motion the actual knowledge of the meaning of the pushing down and ruthless change which disturbs people in our time. The World Plan brought by Bahá’u’lláh clarifies and gives direction to this process.
Quito, now, was to see an attempt
at the continuance of
John’s labor. Only three believers
remained. However, activity for
me was rudely curtained by prolonged
and persistent neuritis.
Change of living quarters and
medical aid did not help. On the
night of Christmas, unsleepingly
pondering why such obstacles
should be presented when a Spiritual
Assembly was the intense
hope for April, it occurred to me
that perhaps Guayaquil was the
destined spot. Air passage was
obtained the next day, but only a
moment’s delay would have
meant a month of waiting. Seventeen
to twenty-four hours on an
Ecuadorian train was unthinkable,
with its midnight dark ride
across the River Guayas on the
antiquated boat “Guayaquil”—
perhaps ending in a spectacularly
beautiful trek through jungles,
and wading over washouts on the
way—this being the beginning of
the rainy season. Young Chico
who had served me well helped
me to pack, or rather to throw
things into my case and the books
into a carton which fell apart
upon being taken off the plane.
About an hour after leaving
Quito I was on my way to a comfortable
bed in the Gran Hotel,
Guayaquil. The tropical heat
thawed out the pain in two weeks.
Through “Les” Gonzáles I became
established in a comfortable
guest house run by his aunt
and a fine English woman. Here
also we were able to hold the first
real Bahá’í meetings in Guayaquil
—the upper room fixed with
seats, desk, table, lamp, ferns
and flowers and—most important
—Bahá’í hooks and pictures.
In Guayaquil “Les” had gathered
two other faithful ones who
had come from Quito. “Les” had
been the delegate from Ecuador
[Page 349]
to the Bahá’í Centenary held in
Wilmette at the Bahá’í House of
Worship in May and also the
meeting for the Latin-Americans
in July of 1944. His attendance
at Bahá’í Summer School and
Convention had greatly inspired
and informed him. He, it was,
who had kept alive the Faith in
Guayaquil.
From January to April we worked together, the four of us— gradually adding others. One more came from Quito. Another “cool” believer came alive. Friends were met and brought to the gatherings held regularly. The date of April 21st crept nearer and the tension which Eve and I had experienced in Lima the year before was repeated. A young medical student who came to exercise his scientific learning at the Bahá’ís’ expense, left with fervent expressions of conviction of Bahá’í truths. He soon declared his intentions but insisted that he would examine thoroughly, so as to he sure of his action. Suddenly he and another serious and fine young man, who had felt himself not worthy, begged to be accepted. April 8th came bringing Haig Kevorkian from Buenos Aires. He was to be the pioneer in Guayaquil, and arrived only after lengthy travel. April 17th found us needing one more, as neither Haig nor I was eligible to be on the Spiritual Assembly, as neither one had a permanent residence visa. The person nearest to joining us was a lovely Norwegian exile, who had a beauty shop. That very day Else Jorgensen asked that she might enroll!
So, in the upper room, surrounded by our Bahá’í hooks, pictures and many flowers, in the hot breeze of the electric fan— each in his “best” and with happy smiles—the first Spiritual Assembly of Ecuador was formed. The memory of John Stearns was very strong with us as we all felt that he was happy at last over the flowering of his devoted and selfless labors in that land.
On May 17, 1945 was the date of my reluctant farewell to Guayaquil. This new Bahá’í Community seemed especially remarkable as it consisted of very young people. Five men of unusual attractiveness and capacity, all under twenty-five, one of thirty-two, and two women but a few years older. Haig Kevorkian, whose family came to Argentina as pioneers with the Guardian’s own counsel, stayed with them to help them develop and strengthen their Assembly. The declared aim of these young people was to form a nucleus, ever-growing, of an inviting example of living, to their compatriots in Ecuador.
WITH OUR READERS
“WORLD Peace Through World
Religion” is the address given
by Helen Bishop at the public meeting
at Wilmette at the time of the
1946 convention. Her theme cannot
be emphasized too often for the world
at large does not yet heed. Mrs. Bishop’s
treatment of her subject is impressive
and those who heard her will
be glad to have her address in
print. Those who did not hear it will
be grateful for this opportunity to
read it.
Mrs. Bishop is constantly active in teaching the Bahá’í Faith and has traveled and taught in Mexico and European countries as well as our own. For some time she headed the Bahá’í International Bureau in Geneva, Switzerland. Our readers will remember other of her contributions to World Order. The most recent of these was “The Oneness of Religion” in our July, 1944, issue. The thesis which Mrs. Bishop wrote when she obtained her bachelor’s degree from Reed College, Oregon, was a study of the laws of Bahá’u’lláh for a world civilization. Parts of this were printed in the Bahá’í Magazine in 1934. Her home is in Pasadena.
Our constant readers feel acquainted
with Garreta Busey, who
contributes “A Fresh Stream of Wisdom”
to this issue, since she was one
of our editors for several years and
has contributed anicles and poems
besides her editorials. At present she
is chairman of the committee which
edits Bahá’í News and is active in
Bahá’í work in her home city, Urbana,
Illinois. In civilian life Dr.
Busey is Associate Professor of English
in the University of Illinois.
Can we change our minds? In his
“Chasing a Hobgoblin” Duart Brown
asks us to understand that even in
religion it is necessary to have an
open mind. Since Mr. Brown accepted
the Bahá’í Faith about two
years ago he has contributed several
articles and poems to World Order.
His “Anatomy of Prejudice” was in
our January issue. Mr. Brown gives
his address as Los Altos, California.
Mr. Brown writes in regard to his
civilian life: “I am at present attending
Stanford University as a graduate
student in biology. At the same
time I am running a small business
called ‘The Naturegraph Company’.
Naturegraphs are loose leaf pages
containing pictures, distribution maps
and descriptions of birds, insects,
butterflies, etc. found in the United
States. They are used mainly in
schools, but also by many people interested
in wild life. In my spare
time from these two jobs I am writing.
The book I have just done a
final revision on is called The Amateur
Naturalist’s Handbook, and is
being published by Little, Brown &
Company. Then I am working on a
school reader for the American Adventure
Series, which I hope to finish
sometime in the spring. I became
a Bahá’í in January, 1945, being introduced
to the Faith by Mrs. Shirley
Ward, who is at present pioneering
in Buenos Aires. . . . I very soon
knew that the Faith had what I needed
[Page 351]
to fill a spiritual void left within
me by a scientific education that
made acceptance of the ordinary
Christian Church well nigh impossible.”
“Arise and Teach” is the first
contribution from Hazel McCurdy of
Lima, Ohio. Mrs. McCurdy is a
member of the Ohio and West Pennsylvania
Regional Teaching Committee
and of the Lima Spiritual Assembly
and is actively engaged in teaching
the Faith. As a civilian she with
another Bahá’í conducts a private
kindergarten.
Gertrude Henning represents the
editors on the editorial pages this
month on the subject, “Racial Unity”.
The review of Bahá’í Administration
is another in our series of reviews
of Bahá’í books. Mr. Holley is
secretary of the Bahá’í National Assembly
and one of the editors of
World Order.
The name of Virginia Orbison is
familiar, too, to readers of World
Order and they will welcome another
in her series of sketches telling of her
pioneer journeys to Latin American
countries and her experiences in
teaching the Bahá’í Faith. Other contributions
in this series have been:
Pioneer Journeys to Chile, to Paraguay,
to Bolivia, to Peru. This last
named appeared in our January number.
At last accounts Miss Orbison
was in Sao Paulo and we understand
she intends to go to Portugal soon.
* * *
Our readers will be interested in the announcement sent us by The National Conference of Christians and Jews that the 14th annual observance of Brotherhood Week comes this month, February 16-23. The special theme is Brotherhood-Pattern for Peace. Bahá’ís may wish to join in the educational programs carried out by many groups during that week. This is one of the organizations which are carrying out one of the basic principles of Bahá’u’lláh, the Oneness of Mankind. Step by step this spirit of oneness is being cultivated in many ways and by many groups.
* * *
As there are organizations which
are working for the Bahá’í principle
of the Oneness of Mankind so there
are magazines. One of these is Asia
and the Americas. The article entitled
“The Great Experiment of Miscegenation”
in the November number of
this magazine is of definite interest
to Bahá’ís. It is an interesting and
informing treatment of the policy of
interracial marriages in Brazil which
has kept the country largely free
from racial prejudice. The author
relates two incidents which are typical,
he says, “of the violent reaction
which any outright act of discrimination
provokes in Brazilians.” The
author does not claim that there is
never any racial discrimination in
Brazil. He believes, however, when
any discrimination is shown it is in
reality class rather than racial discrimination
and says that “it can
truthfully be said that there is less
of it than in any other country in the
world” and that “any outspoken act
or statement denoting racial prejudice
. . . is a betrayal of every ideal
for which the nation stands.” The
author of this article is Dr. Hernane
Tavares de Sa. He has recently been
[Page 352]
on a lecture tour in the United
States.
The same issue of this magazine carries a chapter from the new book, The Chrysanthemum and the Sword by Ruth Benedict, which helps us to understand some characteristics of the Japanese. The stated purpose of Asia and the Americas is “to help create better understanding and good feeling between the peoples of the East and the peoples of the Americas.”
* * *
One of our readers tells a little incident which illustrates one of the many channels through which men have for centuries been building up customs and ideas which make for separateness instead of oneness; and shows that even folklore and games which definitely have a common origin may develop a spirit of separateness. She writes: “When I was up on a hill in the golf course of an African town, which ten years earlier had been a frontier post, the English children were playing what my cousin and I knew as ‘London Bridge is falling down’. Joining in the game I began to sing, without thinking, the words with which I was familiar. The governess raised her eyebrows and laughed just as I realized my mistake and said I would explain later. It was the same tune and game but the words began, ‘Oranges and Lemons’, and continued, ‘I owe you five farthings, when shall I pay them?’ The advice not to use old bottles for new wine had not been followed. But in this case the governess and I soon came to an understanding. . . . If the world could only meet as we did on that African hill and sing the same song letting bygones be bygonos it would discover more and more oneness.”
The Cause of Bahá’u’lláh is too
big to be contained in this small
magazine, but each month World
Order carries articles, quotations and
verses, each of which makes clear
some phase of the teachings of Bahá’u’lláh
and carries the recreative
spirit of the New Day.
We are glad to know in what ways you find World Order useful or how we might make it more useful. One of our California readers was especially delighted with the September issue and sent $1.50 asking for as many copies as that would buy. She said that the article “How the Bahá’í Has Found True Faith” by Miss Edna True answered all her questions about Christ and she wished the copies for “missionary work”. The article, she says “was a marvelous answer to my complete understanding of the ‘Christ’ problem.”
Another subscriber writes with his renewal: “I hope Bahá’ís generally are taking full advantage of this teaching medium of their monthly magazine, which (apart from the Temple in another way) is a strong and friendly informant bringing new light and hope to all races and peoples.”
From another California reader comes this word with her renewal subscription for World Order: “Cannot get along without it. It surely is one of our best teachers.”
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
TRUTHS FOR A NEW DAY
promulgated by ‘Abdu’l-Bahá
Throughout North America in 1912
These teachings were given by Bahá’u’lláh
over seventy years ago and are to be
found in His published
writings of that time.
The oneness of mankind.
Independent investigation of truth.
The foundation of all religions is one.
Religion must be the cause of unity.
Religion must be in accord with science and reason.
Equality between men and women.
Prejudice of all kinds must be forgotten.
Universal peace.
Universal education.
Spiritual solution of the economic problem.
A universal language.
An international tribunal.