World Order/Volume 12/Issue 2/Text

[Page 31]

WORLD ORDER

MAY, 1946


BAHÁ’U’LLÁH’S EPISTLE TO THE SON OF THE WOLF—Marzieh Gail

YOUTH AND THE MODERN WORLD 1. THE DECLINE OF MECHANISM—G. A. Shook

UNITY IN HUMILITY, Editorial—Garreta Busey

BAHÁ’Í FAITH IN GERMANY—Hermann Grossmann

REQUIEM, Poem—Duart Brown

MEDITATIONS—Gladys Kline

MY JOURNEY TO ‘AKKÁ—Sydney Sprague

THE BÁB, Poem—Frances Mitchell

WITH OUR READERS

15c

THE BAHÁ’Í MAGAZINE


[Page 32]

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 ABBOTTSFORD ROAD, WINNETKA, ILL.


Publication Office 110 LINDEN AVENUE, WILMETTE, ILL.


C. R. Wodd, Business Manager

Printed in U.S.A.

MAY, 1946, VOLUME XII, NUMBER 2

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, it the post office at Wilmette, Ill., under the Act of March 3, 1879. Content copyrighted 1946 by Bahá’í Publishing Committee. Title registered at U.S. Patent Office.

CHANGE OF ADDRESS SHOULD BE REPORTED ONE MONTH IN ADVANCE


[Page 33]

WORLD ORDER

The Bahá’í Magazine

VOLUME XII MAY, 1946 NUMBER 2

Bahá’u’lláh’s Epistle to the Son of the Wolf

NOTES BY MARZIEH GAIL

THIS is the last major outstanding Tablet of Bahá’u’lláh. The last He wrote before He left us; before that happened of which the Báb has written, “all sorrow is the shadow of that sorrow.”1 This is the last of the hundred books He revealed for us.

It was written to a priest in Iṣfáhán, a priest called the “Son of the Wolf”. His father had spoken the words that sent the “twin shining Iights,”—the King of Martyrs and the Beloved of Martyrs—to their death. They were laid in two sandy graves near Iṣfáhán. (Years afterward, an American woman named Keith Ransom Kehler knelt there and wept and brought them flowers; then in a few days she was stricken and died, and the friends carried her back to these same graves and buried her beside them).

This priest, Áqá Najafí, had committed the unforgivable sin: he had violated the Covenant and blasphemed against the Holy Spirit;2 that is, he had hated, not the lamp, not the Prophet of God as an individual—from ignorance, or because he did not recognize Him—but the light itself, the perfections of God which the Prophet reflects; he had hated the light in the lamp—and “this detestation of the light has no remedy . . . .”3

This priest was, then, the most hopeless of sinners. His evil found expression in many ways, and among them was this, that with his pupils, he kicked at and trampled the martyred body of Mírzá Ashraf, in Iṣfáhán (not the Ashraf of whom we read in Gleanings;4 Siyyid Ashraf, whose head was cut off in Zanján).

And yet, Bahá’u’lláh begins this Tablet with a prayer of repentance for Áqá Najafí to recite. He offers this breaker of the Covenant forgiveness; just as, in His Most Holy Book, He offers forgiveness to Mírzá Yaḥyá, the treacherous half-brother who tried to destroy him.5 This offering is a demonstration of “Badá” —of the principle of the free operation [Page 34] of the Will of God, Who doeth whatsoever He willeth and shall not be asked of His doings. It proves how mistaken is that large group of human beings who believe that everything is on a mechanical basis—that this much sin brings this much punishment, and so much good buys so much reward. To them, God is a blind force, operating mechanically— something like the third rail in the subway. They themselves, however, would greatly resent being called a blind force. (The Báb develops this principle of “Badá” in the Persian Bayán.)6

“Thou beholdest, O my God, him who is as one dead fallen at the door of Thy favor, ashamed to seek from the hand of Thy loving-kindness the living waters of Thy pardon.”7

“Thou hast ordained that every pulpit be set apart for Thy mention . . . but I have ascended it to proclaim the violation of Thy Covenant. . . .”8

“O Lord, my Lord! and again, O Lord, my Lord! and yet again, O Lord, my Lord!”9

Throughout the Tablet, he is several times directed to pray;10 is addressed as would be one of Bahá’u’lláh’s own sons;11 is told to arise and serve the Faith;12 to believe, serve and trust;13 to enter the presence of Bahá’u’lláh (Whom he had never seen);14 to save men from the “mire of self,”15 to “seek the Most Great Ocean”16 and that “thereupon, will the doors of the Kingdom be flung wide before thy face . . .”17 He is told: “O Shaykh! We have enabled thee to hear the melodies of the Nightingale of Paradise . . . that thine eye might be cheered. . . ”18

As Dr. ‘Alí-Kulí Khán has pointed out (unpublished manuscript notes)19 the varying titles by which Bahá’u’lláh addresses Aqá Najafí indicate that the Letter is intended for a much larger audience than he. It is “a presentation of the Faith to humanity”; many aspects of man are singled out and addressed. These titles include: “O Shaykh”20; “O distinguished divine,”21 “O thou who hast gone astray!”22 “O thou who hast turned away from God!”23 Occasionally, too, others are specifically named “O people of Bahá,”24 “O Hádí,”25. Many aspects of man are singled out and addressed. You find here, not only the evil priests who in every dispensation hold men back from their Lord26—the “blind mouths” of Lycidas—but the good divines, who are “as eyes to the nations”27, reminiscent of the “‘Ulamá in Bahá” of the Most Holy Book. You find here the king and the scholar, the everyday believer, the saint, the sinner.

[Page 35] This Tablet, then, is much more than a letter to an individual. It is an important general presentation of the Faith. In this Work, as the Guardian tells us, Bahá’u’lláh “quotes some of the most characteristic and celebrated passages of His own writings, and adduces proofs establishing the validity of His cause.”28

Most books bring you closer to the author. But when you study the work of Bahá’u’lláh, He eludes you. As the Guardian has told us in The Dispensation of Bahá’u’lláh, He is “unapproachably glorious”.

Goethe says, “Above all peaks there is rest.” I have read this Book three times and studied it over a long period; it seems to me more likely that above all peaks there is another peak.

You want, though it is almost impossible, to read this at one sitting. It comes rapidly, and the English translation by the Guardian is flawless. You want more and more of it and are too impatient to stop and think over this and this, as you are urged along, and you mark things to come back to.

It contains sentences like these:

“I belong to him that loveth Me . . . .”29

“. . . others had, at times, to nourish themselves with that Divine sustenance which is hunger”30

“In the treasuries of the knowledge of God there lieth concealed a knowledge which, when applied, will largely, though not wholly, eliminate fear.”31

Man’s actions are acceptable after his having recognized (the Manifestation).”32

“He is truly learned who hath acknowledged My Revelation, and drunk from the Ocean of My knowledge, and soared in the atmosphere of My love . . .”33

“A just king enjoyeth nearer access unto God than anyone.”34

“These, verily, are men who if they come to cities of pure gold will consider them not; and if they meet the fairest and most comely of women will turn aside.”35

It offers historical material which in future will stimulate the keenest research. We learn, for example, of the Master’s first betrothal36; of Bahá’u’lláh’s arrest in Níyávarán37 and of the kind of chains He was bound with38; of the machinations against Him by Persian officials in Constantinople39 and of the suicide there of Hájí Shaykh Muḥammad-‘Alí40; the fact that Mírzá Yaḥyá was not exiled out of Persia41; that he abandoned the writings of the Báb in Baghdád42; that Hádí Dawlat-Ábádí tried to destroy [Page 36] every copy of the Bayán43; that the Azalís tried to claim Siyyid Javád-i-Karbalá’í as one of themselves, pasting his picture under that of Mírzá Yaḥyá44; that Bahá’u’lláh had never read the Bayán45; that in 1863 (this date is given in God Passes By);46 Bahá’u’lláh suggested to a Turkish official, Kamál Páshá, that his government convene a gathering to plan for a world language and script. (In this connection, Volapük was invented by Johann Martin Schleyer of Konstanz, Baden, about 1879; Esperanto, by Dr. Ludovic Lazarus Zamenhof, was first discussed in print by him in 1887; cf. Webster’s New International Dictionary, 1929).

It gives us a moral code, including such precepts as: “If anyone revile you, or trouble touch you, in the path of God, be patient, and put your trust in Him Who heareth, Who seeth. He, in truth, witnesseth, and perceiveth, and doeth what He pleaseth, through the power of His sovereignty.”47 “The sword of wisdom is hotter than summer heat, and sharper than blades of steel . . .”48 “. . . withhold not from the poor the things given unto you by God through His grace. He, verily, will bestow upon you the double of what ye possess.” “If ye become aware of a sin committed by another, conceal it, that God may conceal your own sin.”49 “Be . . . thankful in adversity. . .”50 “Be fair in thy judgment and guarded in thy speech . . . Be . . . a haven for the distressed, an upholder and defender of the victim of oppression . . . a home for the stranger. . .”51

The fear of God is continually stressed: “We enjoin the servants of God and His handmaidens to be pure and to fear God. . . .”52 “The fear of God hath ever been a . . . safe stronghold . . .”53 “Their [the Bahá’ís’] hearts are illumined with the light of the fear of God . . .”54 Students of the Qur’án will remember how strikingly the fear of God is likewise extolled in that Book55: “God loveth those who fear Him,” and 56 “Whoso feareth God, his evil deeds will He cancel. . . .”

Among many such precepts, Bahá’u’lláh states here: “Regard for the rank of sovereigns is divinely ordained. . . .”57 and interprets “Render unto Caesar” far differently from the current meaning given this verse in Christendom, where it is made to imply that Caesar is a sort of reversal of God, a concept at variance with the Bahá’í teaching on kingship.58

Bahá’u’lláh also answers, in this Work, a question often asked: Why a new religion? He [Page 37] says, by implication to the Muslims, that if they prefer what is ancient, why did they adopt the Qur’án in place of the Old and New Testaments? And He states that if bringing a new Faith be His crime, then Muḥammad committed it before Him, and before Him Jesus, and still earlier, Moses59. He adds, “And if My sin be this, that I have exalted the Word of God and revealed His Cause, then indeed am I the greatest of sinners! Such a sin I will not barter for the kingdoms of earth and heaven.”

(Strange, how often the public asks this question, forgetting today’s universal wretchedness; the mind’s loneliness, that is crowding those brick buildings with the barred porches, that you see as you travel through the country; the enslavement of human beings by other human beings like themselves; the moral rottenness— you have only to look at the sidewalks of any big city early in the morning, and the debris in its gutters, you do not even have to read the doctors’ case histories, or the newspapers. And if you are one of those “nice people” so many persons claim to be, who do not drink to excess, nor harm anyone, and therefore do not need a God to obey—or need only some sterile deity of their own choosing, a selection from whose precepts they will follow when they see fit, and whose synthetic thunder, listened to, or not listened to, once a week, does not fool them for a moment—then you are empty, you are ineffective, you make no impact on society; and those discarded men sprawling in the streets are your glass of wine, and those piles of dead bodies you turn away from in the newsreels, are your professed goodwill, and all that useless agony in so many men’s and women’s hearts, is your sexual sophistication.)

The Bahá’ís of the West are gradually learning more about the Báb; through The Dawn-Breakers, The Dispensation of Bahá’u’lláh, and this present Text, they are drawing closer to Him, and to the story of His life, which is the story of His love for Bahá’u’lláh. Among His utterances here quoted is the striking plea to His followers that even should an imposter arise after Him, they should not protest against the man, nor sadden him60. (In time, twenty-five persons, most of whom later begged forgiveness of Bahá’u’lláh, claimed to be He Whom God Shall Manifest.61 This was because of His longing to protect the True One. He is His own proof, the Báb told His followers “. . . who then can know Him through any one except Himself?”62 [Page 38] The breath of the Báb’s despair is here63, and His beautiful words, “I . . . am, verily, but a ring upon the hand of Him Whom God shall make manifest . . . .”64 Bahá’u’lláh links the Heraldship of the Báb with that of John the Baptist, and shows how John’s companions as well “were prevented from acknowledging Him Who is the Spirit (Jesus).”65

Not only are we brought near to Him Who was the return of the Twelfth Imám, but to all the Imáms, and—since the Guardian is as the Imám—to the institution of Guardianship in our own Faith. The reference to the “snow-white” hand of the Qá’im goes back to Moses’ sign in the Qur’án.66 By the “Impost”67 is meant the tithe, payment of which is a religious duty, as are the Fast, the Pilgrimage, etc.: “We are the Way . . . and We are the Impost, and We are the Fast, and We are the Pilgrimage, and We are the Sacred Month, and We are the Sacred City . . . .,” says the Imám Jáfar-i-Ṣádiq. In connection with the Imámate, E. G. Browne’s brief summary68 is valuable: “According to the Imámite view . . . the vice-regency is a matter altogether spiritual; an office conferred by God alone, first by His Prophet, and afterwards by those who so succeeded him . . . the Imám of the Shiites is the divinely-ordained successor of the Prophet, one endowed with all perfections and spiritual gifts, one whom all the faithful must obey, whose decision is absolute and final, whose wisdom is superhuman and whose words are authoritative.”

Swiftly, in this Book, the scenes pass. There is the dungeon, and the dream there, and the promise: “Verily We shall render Thee victorious by Thyself and by Thy Pen . . . Erelong will God raise up the treasures of the earth—men who will aid Thee. . .”69 There is the dramatic suicide in the mosque, of Hájí Shaykh Muḥammad-‘Alí.70 There is the “city, on the shores of the sea, white, whose whiteness is pleasing unto God. . . .”71 The mood varies, the tempo shifts. You can hear these swift questions and answers72 in music, as a kind of spiritual: “Hath the Hour come? Nay, more; it hath passed . . . Seest thou men laid low? Yea, by my Lord . . . Blinded art thou . . . Paradise is decked with mystic roses . . . hell hath been made to blaze . . .” There are the thought-inducing lines on the moan of the pulpits73: “I was walking in the Land of Ṭá (Ṭihrán)—the dayspring of the signs of Thy Lord—when lo, I heard the lamentation of the pulpits and the voice of their supplication unto God, blessed and glorified be He. They cried out [Page 39] and said . . . Alas, alas! . . Would that we had never been created and revealed by Thee!” This reminds us of the Qur’ánic verse, referred to earlier by Bahá’u’lláh74: “God, Who giveth a voice to all things, hath given us a voice . . .”75 And then the earth-quaking apostrophe to the She-Serpent: “Judge thou equitably, O She-Serpent! For what crime didst thou sting the children of the Apostle of God. . .?”76 This refers to the martyrdom of the “twin shining lights,” descendants of Muḥammad; you would need Michelangelo or Milton to comment here.

People who must choose often ask whether they should add this or that book to their private library. My reasons for owning this one are: Its beauty of text, translation, and format; its brevity; its richness from the academic point of view—the materials it offers for study; its comprehensiveness —for, although it is an independent creative work, having its own unity of form, its own personal spirit—it is almost an anthology, and one selected by Bahá’u’lláh Himself. And then, there is the totality of its impact on the reader, and the eternal gift it holds out to him, of the mercy of God.

Yes, it helps us to enter His presence; it brings us to “Him Whom the world hath cast away and the nations abandoned . . .”77

Where has Áqá Najafí gone now? Where has he gone in his enormous globular turban and his curled-up shoes? He was, as Bahá’u’lláh called his fellow, “the last trace of sunlight upon the mountain-top.”78 Where has he taken all his hatred? In any event, it became the occasion of this Book, this last earthly gift to us from Bahá’u’lláh; His enemies brought Him poison, but He changed it into honey for His loved ones.

References may he found in the With Our Readers department of this issue.

This is one in a series of articles on Bahá’í books.



Say: O people of God! Adorn your temples with the adornment of trustworthiness and piety. Help, then, your Lord with the hosts of goodly deeds and a praiseworthy character. We have forbidden you dissension and conflict in My Books, and My Scriptures, and My Scrolls, and My Tablets, and have wished thereby naught else save your exaltation and advancement. Unto this testify the heavens and the stars thereof, and the sun and the radiance thereof, and the trees and the leaves thereof, and the seas and the waves thereof, and the earth and the treasures thereof. We pray God to assist His loved ones, and aid them in that which beseemeth them in this blest, this mighty, and wondrous station.—BAHÁ’U’LLÁH


[Page 40]

Youth and the Modern World

I. THE DECLINE OF MECHANISM

G. A. SHOOK

RATIONAL criticism is a dominating factor in the world of modern youth and these articles were written with this in view. They are concerned with some vital issues that confront youth today, such as the mechanistic concept of life, a world government, the need of a new administrative order, the value of modern mysticism, and the place of meditation in a scientific world.

In this first article the decline of the mechanistic concept of life and its implications are discussed. This is a real issue today and it is closely related to the well known Bahá’í principle: religion must be in accord with science and reason.

THE UNREAL WORLD

There is just as much sanction for the pursuit of spiritual knowledge as for the pursuit of scientific knowledge. Science cannot question this; the most it can say is, science does not know.

Physics has never been satisfied with a mathematical description of nature. It has always tried to discover, and up to the twentieth century believed it had discovered, the underlying reality. As far back as the sixth century B. C. the Ionian school maintained that the universe could be explained in terms of every-day experience. At least Plato tells us that Anaxagoras made this claim. And here we must remind the reader that to explain a phenomenon of nature we must describe it in familiar terms.

Ever since this Ionian period, science (particularly physics,) has explained the processes of the inanimate world by means of models, like the atom or the ether. For example, if we want to explain how light travels from one point to another, we may imagine the space between the two points filled with some medium, which in the past we called the ether. We then endow this ether with certain properties like elasticity and inertia which we know are essential for the propagation of waves of any kind. We must, of course, be consistent with all our assumptions; if light does not show any of the properties of waves, we are not justified in saying it is a wave phenomenon. On the other hand we may have reasons to believe that a ray of light is a flight of particles, in which case we do not need the ether. Of course this hypothesis [Page 41] must likewise be tested to determine if it fits the observed facts. Both of these models have been tried and neither is entirely satisfactory. Naturally we raise the question, is the ether real? In the early part of the nineteenth century it was very real but today we can only regard it as a construct of the mind.

This is far from satisfactory even to a scientist, and it is just this unsatisfactory state of things that has led philosophers and scientists to alter their views about the reality of the material world, the world of particles, velocities and forces. By the beginning of the twentieth century physicists realized that the inanimate world could not be explained by models. In his recent book, Physics and Philosophy, Sir James Jeans shows clearly that physics merely furnishes us with a pattern of events, the symbolism of the real world. Models can only give us partial aspects of nature.

The significance of this new attitude can hardly be overestimated. The modern physicist now realizes that he cannot solve some very fundamental problems in his own field. Empirical knowledge, the kind of knowledge that sense data yields, is losing its exalted position and the materialist is slowly losing cast. However we should not jump to the conclusion that all scientists are becoming spiritual or that every student of physics realizes the change; the vast majority do not. On the other hand science is ready to admit that there may be another world beyond physics. The success of science and the decadence of religion have forced upon us a limited view of life but certainly they have not removed the fundamental realities of life.

Having arrived at the doctrine that the world of matter is unreal, we might indulge in a little retrospection. Should you ask any student of elementary physics why a stone falls to the earth he would probably tell you that the stone was attracted to the earth by the force of gravity. This is manifestly not an explanation but should you press him further he might tell you about Newton’s universal law of gravitation. Now as a matter of fact Newton’s law does not explain force and moreover Newton was fully aware that it did not. He hesitated at first to give out the law because he realized that it failed to explain why two masses attract each other. The law merely tells us how the force depends upon mass and distance but it gives us no insight into the nature of the force. Had he been able to show that the space between the two bodies in question, is filled with invisible elastic cords then we [Page 42] might be able to explain gravitational force. Let us consider another example. A generation ago we explained some magnetic phenomena by means of molecular magnets. We said a piece of iron contains a large number of small magnets and then we proceeded to explain how these magnets could rotate and produce the observed effects. We overlooked the fact that this is really no explanation of magnetism; it merely tells us that a large magnet is made up of a number of small magnets.

One recalls ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s repeated injunction, that man can comprehend the qualities but not the essence.

DETERMINISM AND FREEWILL

In a very real sense Newton laid the foundation for modern physics. To his original mechanics additions were gradually made and this more complete work is known to us as the “classical mechanics”. Let us suppose we have a system of material particles moving at random. The classical mechanics say, if we know the position and velocity of each particle at some given moment, we can determine the position and velocity of every particle at some future time. In general this would require a superhuman mind but that is not the important point. The important point is this, the state of the system at some future instant is determined by the state at this instant and the state at this instant is determined by the state at some past instant. This is obvious in the case of a single body moving with constant velocity. Suppose a car is moving from east to west at forty miles per hour. If we know where it is now, we can tell where it will be two hours hence and where it was two hours ago.

Now if the materialist is correct, and man is merely an aggregation of particles which are subject only to mechanical causes, then he can do nothing to shape his future, that is, he has no freewill. If he feels that the only certain knowledge available to him is empirical, that which is gained through the senses, then he must accept this inescapable position. The present is a necessary result of the past and the future is determined by the present. Of course, he may insist, as he always does, that if he wishes to turn to the right rather than the left, certainly he is free to choose. But the question still remains, why did he choose to turn to the right? This is not a mere quibbling over terms; rather it shows the dilemma in which man finds himself when he abandons all superhuman and superrational knowledge. By holding to partial aspects of reality and neglecting [Page 43] his own inner experiences and those of the race, he has robbed himself of the very thing which makes for his progress. The materialist cannot take refuge in the idea that the mind has some power over the body, for thought, if he be consistent, is merely a mechanical motion in the brain and therefore subject to the classical mechanics.

The plain man may say, this is all nonsense, he can control his own career and no one can convince him otherwise. In this we can hardly concur for some of the greatest philosophers and scientists have pondered over the problem of mechanistic determinism for three hundred years without solving it, and so far as we can see today, there is no answer for us if we maintain that man is nothing more than a collection of material particles. To be sure the plain man was undisturbed by all this discussion. He labored, he hoped, he feared, but he never lost his faith and that is just what the philosophers wanted him to do, for no freewill means no moral responsibility.

Today the ethical philosopher who rejects the superrational and the supernatural, is in a dilemma. He would like to retain enough freewill to make man morally responsible and enough determinism to make him realize that he will reap what he sows. In the early days of this doctrine, orthodox theology maintained that it was just another way of saying that all things were pre-ordained by God. One could then choose between God and the Newtonian mechanics, but in time, philosophers felt that the Newtonian mechanics was quite sufficient. The agnostic of the eighteenth or nineteenth century naturally believed he had the support of science. Today, however, he has not such support for if we cannot explain the inanimate world by models, certainly we cannot apply them to man. Mechanistic determinism is gone.

On the other hand if the principle of causality still holds, then there must be some kind of determinism, though not necessarily mechanistic determinism. Certainly no one would want to live in a world where man’s choice was not determined by something. Those philosophers who are not willing to accept the reality of the spiritual world, are still pondering over the problem of freewill. However let no one imagine that this is a simple problem; it is, in fact, extremely complex and while it is resolved by postulating a superhuman or divine will, most philosophers are a long way from accepting this view. We can however meet the old time materialist on his [Page 44] own ground, and this is the kind we usually meet.

The new physics builds a kindlier world; at least, it leaves room for the world of the spirit. You are now at liberty to believe in the divine, if you wish; it is no longer unscientific. Science really has nothing to say about the realm of the spirit.

Mechanistic determinism is gone, but if you insist upon being a Victorian materialist, you must accept the dictum that you have no freewill. This is a bit embarrassing, for if you really accept the mechanistic concept of life, we must conclude that after all you did not choose to be a materialist, the choice was merely the result of a peculiar configuration of the particles of your brain and another configuration might have caused you to take a different view of life.

So much for the decline of mechanism and the failure of the classical mechanics (or as we sometimes say, the classical physics) to give a complete description of nature. In this connection one is reminded of the comments of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá concerning the materialistic philosophers. Little did we realize at the time the significance of His remarks. Now through the writings of Shoghi Effendi we see the final product of this kind of philosophy, namely the complete secularization of society and the almost complete secularization of religion.

Science makes observations in the physical world, carries out controlled experiments and strives at laws.

We assume there is an underlying reality and we draw pictures to represent it, but we have no means of telling whether these pictorial representations correspond to this reality or whether they are merely products of our imagination. Twentieth century physics believe they are merely products of the mind. They assist us in discovering the world of appearance and that is all modern science asks of them. We do not identify the world of appearance with the world of reality, but we do not deny the existence of the world of appearance. The world of appearance is the world we know through our senses.

THE REAL WORLD

There is however another world which exists quite apart from this world of appearance (this world which is made known to us through empirical knowledge), namely the world of the spirit. We do not have to prove scientifically that there is such a world. It exists on its own right and since it is just as much a part of our life as is the world of [Page 45] science, we need make no apologies for its existence.

There is an urge in man that drives him to pursue scientific knowledge, although it does not guarantee him wealth or fame, nor does it satisfy any of the so-called basic desires of life. Can we not assume that in some other part of his inner self there may be another kind of urge which compels him to search for spiritual values? The one is just as reasonable or, if you prefer, just as unreasonable as the other.

As opposed to scientific knowledge, spiritual knowledge gives us a universal outlook, a comprehensive view of man and nature. It is concerned with the sum total of all these aspirations which spring from a deeper level of consciousness and we are all constrained to admit that there must be levels of the human soul which are beyond the reach of science.

Here we are not dealing with particles, velocities, and forces or anything analogous to these physical quantities. Since there is nothing of this kind to measure, there is no place for a Newtonian mechanics or a modern physics. This does not mean however, that the world of the spirit is not as real as the world of science. The lack of some satisfactory scientific esthetic measure does not deprive man from appreciating music. The entities of this subjective world have no sensuous quality, but they do have a category, a function in the scheme of things. We start with this fundamental postulate, sanctioned by experience; that for the fulfillment of this earth life (to say nothing of a future spiritual life) we cannot be wholly concerned with the world of science. There is a tendency, of course, to regard the world of the spirit as less substantial, less real than the world of science merely because it is subjective, but as we pointed out, the world of science lacks reality.

Let us consider the illustration which ‘Abdu’l-Bahá uses in His Four Criteria of Truth. We see something in front of us which appears to be a circle of light. We infer it is a circle of light. We may have seen a circle of light which resembles this phenomenon, but if we have not, we can form a mental image of one. In either case we label the object in front of us a circle of light. Our knowledge however is only inferential, and we may not be correct; as a matter of fact the circle we see may be produced by a revolving point of light.

The knowledge of the world of science is symbolic but the knowledge of the world of the spirit is intimate.

In the spiritual world man does not distinguish between appearance [Page 46] and reality. The spiritual world is a world of reality and not a world of appearance. We do not build models to imitate an underlying reality, as in physics.

Just as experience in the world of sensation leads to judgments of sense-perception, that is, to empirical knowledge, so experience in the world of the spirit leads to an inner awareness of perception of spiritual values, that is, to spiritual knowledge. Man must experience spiritual values. After experience, reflection, but not before. Spiritual values are antecedent to discussions about them. If they did not exist, we could not talk about them. It is this experience in the realm of spiritual values that the rationalist overlooks or discounts, probably because it is more akin to esthetic appreciation than to scientific investigation, and therefore to him not very reliable.

THE WORLD OF REVELATION

Finally it is through the great prophetic religions and not through man’s experience, that spiritual values come to the world. Man has capacity but this capacity is latent within him, “. . . . even as the flame is hidden within the candle and the rays of light are potentially present in the lamp.” Dominated as we are today by a sensate culture, it is difficult for most people to grasp the significance of revelation in the realm of moral and spiritual values although in art it presents no problem. What we call good music is the music of the great revealers of music. We do not explain why the music of Mozart is good; we start with his music as a standard. In the field of art no one would claim that the progress of music depends merely upon the collective experience of the race or that every man is a potential revealer of music and that through meditation and reflection he can become a composer. Such a doctrine would never be advanced for obvious reasons. Granted that every man may attain the status of a musical genius, practically no one ever does.

While the decline of mechanism has not pointed the way to revealed truth, it has at least removed some of the formidable barriers.

This is the first of five articles in a series, “Youth and the Modern World.”



Man has two powers, and his development two aspects. One power is connected with the material world and by it he is capable of material advancement. The other power is spiritual and through its development his inner, potential nature is awakened. These powers are like two wings. Both must be developed, for flight is impossible with one wing. Praise he to God! Material advancement has been evident in the world but there is need of spiritual advancement in like proportion.—‘ABDU’L-BAHÁ.


[Page 47]

Editorial

Unity in Humility

IF THE basis of the civilization of the future is to be the unity of all peoples, then the most important study for every individual in the world today is the means whereby it may be attained, a study which eventually searches the very heart and soul of every human being.

Outwardly men are united in a variety of ways: by laws sanctioned by force; by the natural bonds of race, history, and traditions; by similar education and similar tastes. But people of different nations, of different races and cultures are sometimes drawn closely together for a common purpose or in loyalty to one spiritual Authority. This is the force which has bound together the adherents of the great religions.

All of these forces are evoked by Bahá’u’lláh to unite mankind today. He ordains a world state, all men under one law. He establishes the unity of the races. He demands universal education. He provides certain attitudes and daily observances which give us a common background. And, by clearly demonstrating the religions to be all stages of one religion, which culminates in a new revelation today, He bestows on us the unity of loyalty to one God and gives us a common purpose. But even within an all-inclusive faith there may be serious dissensions unless the people learn the difficult lesson of love. Love is the cement necessary for enduring society, and its essential element is humility.

In the Bahá’í Administration, the basic practice ground for this love-supported unity, on which civilization is to rest, is the Nineteen Day Feast, the pattern in miniature for a united world. There individuals, widely different in race, education, class, and culture, come together to worship God, to discuss their common purpose, and to learn to love each other. A glance at this characteristic Bahá’í institution may be helpful even to those who do not call themselves Bahá’ís, for its spiritual principles are capable of universal application.

‘Abdu’l-Bahá, in His instructions to Bahá’ís on the conduct of this Feast, laid great emphasis on humility. He said that each one, when he comes into the Feast, must look upon all the others as better than himself. This is a very wholesome attitude in any organization, [Page 48] but it is very easy to be insincere in it. Suppose you have unusual ability and know that you are spending yourself in service. You look about you and see a good many others who seem to be doing very little, and it may be hard for you to say sincerely that you are less than they. But what do we really know about any other person—his steadfastness; his secret kindnesses; his hidden capacities, undeveloped for lack of opportunity; the problems of his life; his future achievements? He may be doing his best. Think whether you are doing yours, and reflect that if you are without humility you are the least of those present.

But it is not only the active and aggressive members of a community who must enter the feast humbly. He who has few talents, who is never asked to speak in public, for instance, or even to read aloud, who is passed over, forgotten, when this or that needs to be done—if such a one is hurt or resentful, he too, needs humility. When he has learned to say sincerely in his heart that all the others are better than himself, he will rejoice in their gifts and thus, in a measure, possess them. For in any community, and especially that of the Greatest Name, the talents of one belong to all, being gifts of God. Each, then, speaks in the voices of others, their accomplishments are his accomplishments—if he loves them and supports them. When all the members of a community come thus humbly to the Feast, unity has been achieved.

But humility is far more profound than this. Any comparison of individuals becomes childish nonsense when we lift our thoughts to God and remember that every created thing bears His imprint, before which even the Manifestation is humble. Bahá’u’lláh, He Who was called the Blessed Perfection, cried out: “And were I to arise to serve one of Thy servants, and to wait at his door so long as Thine own kingdom endureth and Thine omnipotence will last, as a sign of my acknowledgment of the tie that bindeth him to Thy name, the Creator, I would, likewise,— and to this Thy glory beareth me witness—have to confess my complete failure to do him adequate service, and my deprivation of what can truly befit his station.”

How pitiful a thing is our humility in the face of that Humility, our love in the face of that Love. If we could catch only a trace of it, unity among men would be established forever.

—G. B.

[Page 49]

Bahá’í Faith in Germany

HERMANN GROSSMANN

The last summer school held at Esslingen in 1936 and the National Bahá’í Convention of Heidelberg in May, 1937, demonstrated a culminating point in the history of the Faith in Germany, as they proved the brilliant achievement of a period of strenuous teaching and administrative efforts. The reports about the last German pilgrims meeting with the Guardian in Haifa were presented before the Convention and shared with the believers.

The first signs of impending persecutions of the Cause occurred a short time before in Stuttgart: a menacing article against the Cause was published in a national socialist youth paper of Stuttgart, and the doorplate of the Bahá’í-Büro of that city was stolen by unknown culprits.

On May 21, 1937, the Faith and its administrative institutions were interdicted by special order of the Reichsführer SS and chief of the German police Heinrich Himmler, published by the newspapers in June, 1937. The vain efforts of Mr. Max Greeven to obtain an annulment of that order have been reported. Also the personal efforts of Mr. Otto Goldreich, believer of Stuttgart, in appealing to the secret police of his town, had no results. By confiscation of the stock, all the books and leaflets of the Bahá’í-Verlag and the Bahá’í-Esperanto-Eldonejo, as well as “Sonne der Wahrheit” and “La Nova Tago” were lost. Also the archives of the National Spiritual Assembly and local Assemblies, the greater part of private books and even personal souvenirs were taken; while the secret police of Heidelberg, at request, explicitly stated that private possession of Bahá’í books and visits among the friends, even in larger number, were not prohibited. Mr. Emil Jörn, believer of Warnemünde, was not allowed to write to or meet any one of the believers.

In 1939 Mrs. Marta Brauns-Forel of Karlsruhe, member of the N.S.A., had to undergo a domiciliary visit; her books and correspondence were confiscated and she herself cross-examined during four hours in a most rude and scoffing manner. Because of a letter from Mrs. Anna Grossmann of Neckargemünd, member of the N.S.A., found at Mrs. Brauns’, Mrs. Grossmann was interrogated by the officer of the secret police, Gerst of Karlsruhe, probably one of the examiners of [Page 50] Mrs. Brauns, although the letter did not contain any word about the Cause. As no matter of complaint could be found, she was officially admonished for having kept “suspicious relations to a former member of the National and Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís, a certain Frau Brauns in Karlsruhe”. A copy of one of the daily prayers of Bahá’u’lláh, multiplied by Mr. Paul Köhler, believer of Dresden, which was found at the said domiciliary visit, gave reason for a sentence of a lower court (Amtsgericht) of Dresden, condemning Mr. Köhler to six months of prison. (Some years later he died by an accident.)

The third and most menacing wave of persecutions arose in 1943, when Mrs. Carla Macco, believer of Heidelberg, was suddenly put into prison owing to the hackbiting accusations of a political character. It is to be supposed that the center of all the subsequent trials and persecutions was the said officer Gerst from the secret police of Karlsruhe, who had already been the initiator of the second wave of attacks leading finally to the imprisonment of Mr. Köhler. As the calumnious character of the accusations against Mrs. Macco became evident, she was then accused of being an active Bahá’í and based on falsified records of her sayings before the secret police, she was condemned to six months of imprisonment. These falsifications were made against a number of other believers.

A defense for Mrs. Macco was almost impossible, as nobody was allowed to get in touch with the prisoner and even her lawyer had no chance to know the accusations charged against her nor to participate in the session of the special court. Only a number of weeks afterward Dr. Hermann Grossmann learned the facts when others were examined by the secret police of Karlsruhe. This gave a chance to the son of Mrs. Macco, the late Mr. Frith Macco, also a devoted believer of Heidelberg, to see his mother and shield her from being transported to a concentration camp. On December 1, 1943, the examiner, Gerst, came for domicilary visit to the homes of Miss Elsa Maria Grossmann and Dr. Hermann and Mrs. Anna Grossmann at Neckargemünd and Miss Frida Eichler at Heidelberg, believers belonging to the Local Spiritual Assembly of Heidelberg. Miss Elsa Maria Grossmann and Frida Eichler were examined most rudely and in a threatening manner. From Miss Grossmann even private correspondence and objects not at all referring to the Cause nor to Bahá’í persons, were taken away and kept.

[Page 51] Dr. Hermann Grossmann lost the greater part of his most valuable Bahá’í library and archives, which had to be destroyed, including nearly all his documents and records concerning the development of the Faith in Germany, which he had gathered with great pains over a period of twenty years. Only a part, at Dr. Grossmann’s plea, was allowed to be given to the University Library of Heidelberg, which accepted it most gratefully and treated it with care and attention. Thus the University Library of Heidelberg has become the first one in Germany to possess an important collection of materials on the Faith. Elsa Maria Grossmann was arrested, and without any reason being assigned, was kept for nine days at Heidelberg in prison cell No. 19.

Further interrogations were instigated by the secret police of Karlsruhe in Heppenheim-an-der-Bergstrasse, Darmstadt, Stuttgart, Esslingen, Göppingen and Dresden. The various examinations entirely agreed on the same truth that all the interrogated believers had abstained from any proceeding which might have been opposed to the prohibition of May 21, 1937, and the interpretation given to it by the secret police of Heidelberg. They also stated plainly the nonpolitical attitude of the believers who did not deviate even in the slightest from the principles of the Faith. Nevertheless, on May 2, 1944, the first great public judicial proceedings were taken against seven of the examined believers and friends of the cause before the special court of Darmstadt. Here are the names of the accused:

Mr. Hans Gaius Schmidt, believer of Heppenheim and his wife, Mrs. Margareta Schmidt.

Mr. August and Mrs. Maria Ehlers, believers of Klingental near Heppenheim.

Mrs. Marie Schenk of Nieder-Ramstedt near Darmstadt.

Mrs. Anna Maria Schweizer of Stuttgart-Zuffenhausen.

Mrs. Anna Grossmann of Neckargemünd.

These were falsely accused of “having continued the organization of the dissolved and prohibited Bahá’í sect.”

The case of the defendants was argued with admirable courage and warm understanding for the Faith by two well-known counsels, the late Herr Carl Neuschäffer from Darmstadt and Herr Edwin Leonhard from Heidelberg.

Strange to say, the persecutions during all that time did not pay attention to Dr. Hermann [Page 52] Grossmann personally, in spite of his previous share in the German Bahá’í work. Thus he got the great chance to fight for the Cause of Bahá’u’lláh at the center of the secret police of Karlsruhe, as well as before the tribunals of Darmstadt and Heidelberg, where he succeeded in being admitted as a witness for the defendants. He explicitly stated the absolute nonpolitical character of the Faith, and the attitude of the believers, pleading for a just treatment of the Bahá’ís, who only cling to a Faith which has to be regarded as the firmest foundation of any assured order in their respective countries, as well as in the world as a whole. He asked the secret police to make an effort to clear up the matter and lead to an abolition of the interdiction. As a matter of fact the accusations of hostility to the State were not further pressed but only accusations maintained of transgression of the prohibition or interdiction. Thus the persecutions could be temporarily reduced to a less endangering character, yet they restricted, at least for the greater part of the believers, any chance of contact. He, as well as the accused Bahá’ís, when interrogated about the international character of the Cause, stated that the Faith stands specially opposed to the attempt made to regard the Cause as hostile to the state, an interpretation which entirely disregarded the attitude of Bahá’ís throughout the world, as well as in Germany.

At the special court trial in Darmstadt, it happened for the first time that a larger number of Bahá’ís stood before the bar in a German tribunal. The spirit of the Cause of Bahá’u’lláh there strongly revealed itself, and its majesty and power became evident in each one of the believers present. Particularly Mrs. Schweiser showed a most genuine and unique manner of spiritual understanding and leadership in picturing the essentials of the Faith. The trial at this court, as well as all examinations at other places, culminated in the question raised by the interrogators whether the believers would further cling to the Cause, and in their clear confession of the Faith of Bahá’u’lláh.

On June 27, 1944, there took place a trial before the lower court of Heidelberg against two believers, Miss Frida Eichler and the twenty year old Ruth Espenlaub from Göppingen, who both were accused of the same trespasses as the believers before the special court of Darmstadt. This trial, contrary to the one of Darmstadt, had a public character [Page 53] and—strange act of Providence! While the Bahá’ís were deprived of every possibility of teaching the Cause privately or in a public way, here the public prosecutor gave a clear statement of the history and principles of the Faith, as well as of the claim of Bahá’u’lláh. The courageous confession also of these believers revealed most emphatically the greatness and victory of the Cause.

The judges had declared before the tribunals that they intended to extinguish the Cause in Germany, but the almighty arm of Bahá’u’lláh was stronger than the forces of His enemies. In the lack of any possibilities to maintain their false accusations and attempts made against the Cause and its believers, the judge finally had to abstain from any condemnation which might have attacked the lives and property of the Bahá’ís. A part of them were fined and had to pay sums of money, these were the accused of Darmstadt and Heidelberg. The same happened later to Dr. Hermann Grossmann and Miss Elsa Maria Grossmann, who all of a sudden received a fine of a sum of money or six months in prison for the former and one month for the latter.

The persecutions seemed to have come to an end, and the political occurrences which followed demonstrated that the enemies of the Cause had really finished their game. At every place in Germany where the light of the Faith had been enkindled, the believers with unceasing endeavor tried to keep the full splendor of its glory. An eventful chapter of the development of the Faith in this country has come to a close. At the end of this record stand still the names of those who lost their lives on the battlefields or by other war events, among them some of our promising Bahá’í youths. These are their names as far as at the moment can be recorded:

Jörg Brauns of Karlsruhe
Wilhelm Gollmer of Stuttgart
Hansjörg Kohler of Stuttgart-Untertürkheim
Fritz Macco of Heidelberg
Alfred Schweizer of Zuffenhausen.

The fate of other young friends is still unknown. By other war events died Mrs. Else Gericke and her two little daughters, Margot and Rita, all from Leipzig. The fate of four Jewish believers of Frankfurt, i. e. Miss Sophie Rothschild from Weinheim and the three sisters Werthheimer, is still unknown. They were deported, [Page 54] as far as can be remembered in November, 1941, and it is to be supposed that they are no longer alive. Up to the last moment before their deportation friends of Frankfurt, Darmstadt and Neckargemünd took care of them while in the Ghetto, at the risk of their lives, and Edith Horn was present at Miss Rothschild’s the very moment when Sophie and her neighbors were called for deportation.

May the sacrifice of their lives and the fact that none of the living believers—as far as the writers of this record are informed— flinched or failed for a single moment in the profession of their faith, become the foundation-stone of a new era of development of the Cause in Germany and lead, in connection with the brilliant achievements of the believers all over the world, at the top of which are those of our American friends, to the final establishment of the World Order of Bahá’u’lláh, Whose Faith we all love more than our lives.

Translation of report prepared by Dr. Grossmann for the Guardian of the Faith.



REQUIEM

DUART BROWN

A broken moon has hurtled into the sea and the waves lift roaring.
I see a gleam on smooth, black water, silent, entransing.
In the night with the soft wind from the desert I see peace and terror in one glance:
A world exploding, then a great calm like an alpine meadow in summer.
Night covers earth-pain and I am washed by a wind that is no wind
But the breath of primal gods bringing the soul to the clay of man.
O my soul! the Lord of all things hath tried thee with pain.
Awaken then to thy destiny.
He hath taken from thee the cup of earthly love
And smashed it in the fire of life.
Wouldst thou cower then and mew like a lost kitten at midnight?
Rejoice instead with a great gladness, for His love exceeds all other as the sun outshines the candle,
And into thy heart shall He come to replace this terrible emptyness with a joy beyond all joy to the end of time!


[Page 55]

Meditations

GLADYS KLINE

‘ABDU’L-BAHÁ was a lover of nature. Confirmation of this assertion can easily be established by studying His teachings. One evening as He sat on the shore of the Mediterranean and the sun was tinting the clouds with mauve and gold, He said to his companions that they should look at the sea; for so is the bounty of God today flowing like the waves of the sea. Humanity must try to appreciate His Goodness, His Power and Glory.

It was in the month of September that I sat on the sandy shore of Lake Michigan, and viewed as though captivated, the agitated waters. Their surface was disturbed by the force of a tremendous wind. The beauty of the whitecaps was enchanting as they rolled hither and yon and spread themselves over the turbulency. When in this mood the sea reveals its power and majesty, and manifests its inherent traits. The waves rolled high, and broke with great fury on the shores of this vast body of water as though trying to liberate themselves from the boundaries destined by nature. Yet I know that underneath all this visible disturbance there was a calmness and quietness in its depths. This is the picture of the soul who truly lives under the shadow of the Almighty for unto him who has traveled the path to God is vouchsafed a quietude of mind and a strength of heart to keep him steadfast in the hour of trouble.

The mighty waves were carrying debris of all sorts. But they rid themselves of much of this weight by constantly depositing on the shore that which would be a burden and eventually become a hindrance to their freedom. Is not there a striking similitude between the action of the waves and the effect of trouble and sorrow in the life of man? Trials are the builders of the soul, and suffering the renovator of the heart. Speaking of tests, ‘Abdu’l-Bahá once declared, “Tests are not sent as punishments, but to reveal the soul to itself. Suffering unfolds both the strength and weakness. Tests are sometimes creative of grateful surprise also; for in the midst of our trials we are amazed at the fullness of our strength and our resources, and so the heavy discipline is creative of assurance; the trial becomes the source of greater confidence, faith and trust. It strengthens and confirms.” So let us meet our trials with gratitude in our hearts for they will bring us nearer to the Best Beloved.

[Page 56] There was also another obvious action of the waves. By their continuous beating upon the shore, many unsightly, worthless objects became visible. This same course of events is true in an individual’s life. Tests give man the opportunity to see reflected in the mirror of his life the qualities of character, which need to be cast out. Habits of old standing and certain traits may appear which were thought to be cleansed and sanctified from our inner self. It then becomes necessary to importune God’s help to rid ourselves of that quality which hampers or keeps us from releasing ourselves and “winging our flight to the rose-garden of unfading splendor.” One of our well-known writers has said that God hath many sharp-cutting instruments and rough files for the polishing of His jewels; and those He especially loves, and means to make the most resplendent He hath often set His tools upon.

As I sat there an awareness was born within me of the incessant undulations of the waters and the rhythmic recurrence of the waves. As the waves appeared successively, so man is tested time and again that he may determine just how well he is prepared for the duties that lie ahead. God says, “I will have a tried people.” Tests are a measuring stick for our strength and weakness. Are we cultivating the perfectibilities of our souls that we may victoriously meet the vicissitudes of the morrow? Divine nearness or likeness to God can become the possession of every individual by attaining the love and knowledge of God, and by severing himself from all save God. It is also contingent upon self-sacrifice and the purification of the heart. Positive determination must be exercised to break the attachment which holds one to material desires and earthly affections. If we sometimes feel that the ways of God are a bit hard, let us draw nigh unto Him through prayer and study and be steadfast in His love. “As in nature, and in the arts, so in grace; it is rough treatment that gives souls, as well as stones, their lustre. The more the diamond is cut the brighter it sparkles, and in what seems hard dealing, God has no end in view but to perfect our graces. He sends tribulations, but tells us their purpose that ‘tribulation worketh patience, patience experience and experience hope’.”

While watching the waves, I became equally enthralled with other beauties of nature. I looked into the dome of blue above and there beheld the bounties of God and sensed once again the immensity of His unity and purpose.

[Page 57] Part of the time the color was obscured by the swift moving cumulus clouds as they floated along with grandeur and loveliness. They were not hampered by attachment to earthly matter; they were not encumbered by fear, but rather were free and unrestrained. Man is prone to be bound by habits of body and mind, which are detrimental to the progress and growth of his soul. Bahá’u’lláh says, “Haste forth unto your celestial habitation. Announce unto yourselves the joyful tidings: He Who is the Best-Beloved is come . . . Let all eyes rejoice and let every ear be gladdened. Now is the time to gaze on His beauty and now is the fit time to hearken to His voice.” So in thinking of the clouds, let us recall what ‘Abdu’l-Bahá said when speaking to Marie Watson. He said that she must be like the swift-moving clouds. They move, nothing hinders them. He would pray for her that she would be like those clouds. Nothing should hinder her. She should teach the people what the love of God is give them the Glad Tidings and not let unpleasant things annoy her. She must be as far removed from them as these clouds were above her. The important thing is to spread the Teachings, to show love and compassion, to be kind to all, and not wound the feelings of others and to seek to make people happy.

The sea gulls, flying about in great numbers, were not intimidated by the might of the wind. In spite of its immense power they glided about and floated in and out of its force with ease and naturalness. By intuition and through experience they have mastered their bodies and have learned to take advantage of and submit to the power of the wind. Thereby these creatures of nature have attained true liberty. As followers of God, just how much are we using the Power, foreordained for us, to meet life’s problems? Are we being illumined by the love of God? Are we letting the rain of Divine Mercy refresh our hearts each day? Are we putting on the whole armor of God and safeguarding our hearts and minds so that we can continue on the path to God? Bahá’u’lláh in speaking of true liberty wrote in the Book of Aqdas: “Say: True liberty consisteth in man’s submission unto My commandments, little as ye know it. Were men to observe that which We have sent down unto them from the Heaven of Revelation, they would, of a certainty, attain unto perfect liberty. Happy is the man that hath apprehended the Purpose of God in whatever He hath revealed from the Heaven of His Will, that pervadeth all created things.”


[Page 58]

My Journey to ‘Akká

SYDNEY SPRAGUE

THE week in ‘Akká had just come to a close; my last day there had been one of the most beautiful. I had taken a walk with one of the Persians, and we had spent the afternoon in the garden of the Riḍván; a veritable garden of Eden it seemed to me in its luxuriant foliage, where every fruit could be eaten in safety.

We spoke together of the days when Bahá’u’lláh himself sat under the large spreading tree near the fountain, and taught his disciples. We seemed to feel a spiritual atmosphere in that spot, where so many words of life had fallen from the lips of the great Teacher. I remember saying to my friend: “The pictures painted of the joys of Paradise, seem to me no more ideal than this,” and he said: “Think of it—you an American, and I a Persian, and yet our hearts are quickened by the same love, and we sit in Paradise together.”

Nothing had been said about my departure from ‘Akká, and I had begun to hope that my stay might be indefinitely prolonged. Two or three things encouraged this hope, I had been making my self useful in a small way. There is a school in ‘Akká for the Bahá’í children; and while I was there, their regular teacher was away on a long journey, and I asked the Master if I might teach them during his absence, to which he graciously consented.

The school is held in the room of a large inn, which is used by Muḥammadan traders. The court of the inn was usually crowded with the donkeys and camels of the travelling caravans, and often our lessons would be disturbed by the discordant bray of some “locomotive of the Orient.”

I taught the boys grammar, geography, physiology, and other subjects, and found them all very bright and eager to learn. They would write out exercises in English for me, which afterwards they would show to the Master for his inspection. . . .

But to go back to my last day in ‘Akká. When I returned from my afternoon in the garden of the Riḍván, I was told that the Master wished to speak to me. I found Him in the large room upstairs, which looks out to the Mediterranean, sitting on the divan. He beckoned me to come and sit beside Him, and after taking my hand and holding it in His, in a grip of steel, He told me very impressively that He [Page 59] wished me to leave for India that night. This announcement came as a thunderclap out of a clear sky. It is true that I had wished before to go to India, and had written to the Master while I was in Paris, asking that I might be allowed to do so some day, but while in ‘Akká I had forgotten everything except that I wanted to live there always. The Master knew my thought. “I want you to consult your own wishes in this,” he said in effect. “I only desire your happiness. It will be a very good thing, a very good thing, if you will go now to India, but if you wish to stay in ‘Akká longer you may do so, otherwise you may go to India and return to ‘Akká, sometime, to finish your visit, and you can study Persian, so that I may be able to talk to you when you come again without an interpreter.”

The Master, as all His followers know, never commands or compels obedience, He only sweetly suggests, and His followers have found that to follow His suggestions will surely lead them on in the right way.

I thanked the Master for His confidence in me, and said that if I could be of service to His Cause, I would be glad to go.

He told me that it was a very important mission on which He was sending me, that the results of this journey would he very great; that I might not see them, but in the future they would be known.

I realized the importance of it all. I was to be the first Western Bahá’í to go to the far Orient, and carry tidings that my fellow believers in Europe and America are one in love and unity with their Oriental brethren. I was to see the literal fulfilment of that beautiful prophecy of Bahá’u’lláh: “The East and West shall embrace as lovers.”

I expressed to the Master my doubt as to my worthiness to carry out this great mission. He told me not to worry, I would be strengthened. His thoughts and His prayers would follow me. The thoughts of the King are always with his generals who are fighting in the front rank.

During the whole of the interview, the Master never relinquished my hand, but held it in a vice-like grasp, so that I felt I should feel its impress all the days of my life; and I felt, too, as though He were imparting to me some of His own strength and courage, which have never failed Him during the half-century of His wanderings, exile, imprisonments, and persecutions. Truly, few have endured what He has endured. The sword has been ever hovering over His head. The way to Calvary has been trodden [Page 60] many times. He has been betrayed in the house of His friends, nay, even in that of His brother. But through all the mists and clouds of these sorrows and afflictions pierces ever the sun of His countenance—that radiant and divine smile of His which scarcely ever leaves His face, and which to see is to have a glimpse of “one like unto the Son of Man.”

The Master gave me a few more special instructions about my voyage, and after giving me his blessings left me.

Before saying farewell to ‘Akká, I wish to tell of an incident which occurred there, and which will illustrate better than anything the effect of the Bahá’í teaching.

One night during my stay there, the Master invited all the pilgrims present to supper. We were gathered together in a little upper chamber that evening— some forty men and women. Would that I had the pencil of a Raphael, or the pen of a Dante, to fittingly describe that scene! We sat round that common table, old and young, rich and poor, dark and fair; the various colored robed and turbans giving striking color to the scene. We represented five of the world’s great religions, and many different races. We had come from places as far as America on the one hand and India on the other. We had been complete strangers a few days before, but now we all felt a warmth of friendship and affection for one another.

The Master himself did not sit with us at the table, but served us, going from one to the other, heaping the rice on our plates and saying a kind word to each, thus bringing home to us the beautiful saying: “Let him that is greatest among you be your servant.” Some of the Orientals there were strong, rough men, of humble birth, and I saw that they could hardly bear that the Master should wait on them. I knew that they felt as did Peter when Christ washed his feet. After the supper a Tablet was chanted in Persian, and then one of the oldest men there made a beautiful speech to us, the Westerners present; it was like the thanksgiving of an aged Simeon that his old eyes had witnessed such a scene and that he could depart in peace. A certain Bahá’í from Washington replied for us. This supper, truly the Lord’s supper in all its spiritual significance, will ever be to me the most beautiful and impressive incident in my life. Let those who sincerely desire love and unity to be brought about on earth, think of the significance [Page 61] of this scene which took place in a Turkish prison.

I left ‘Akká at two a.m., in order to catch a boat leaving Haifa at an early hour in the morning. Two of the Persians accompanied me in the carriage. What a wonderful ride it was! The night was luminous with many stars—great brilliants, sparkling in their deep purple setting.

We drove through the dark, narrow streets of ‘Akká, not a sound to be heard but the clatter of our horses’ hoofs. At the gate of the fortress, the Turkish sentinal challenged us, but a satisfactory answer being given by my friend, we were allowed to pass. We drove along the beach of the sea, which is the road to Haifa. As we passed the garden of the Riḍván, the palm trees, stirred by the evening breeze, waved us an adieu. Then we forded the two shallow streams which Naaman boasted of to the prophet as the rivers he possessed, afterwards passing a caravan of camels, which moved in the dark like some strange uncanny creature of the night, and seeing fishermen with their nets hurrying for an early morning catch. Nearing Haifa, the first streaks of dawn began to appear, and then, with a suddenness which always surprises one in the Orient, the sun arose, and we entered the town by daylight. I found four Zoroastrian pilgrims there, Ardeshir, Khosroe, Bahram, and Feridoon, who were returning to India, and were much surprised to see me.

“The boat is very late,” they said, “and we should have been off long before this.”

The steamer had arrived at the same time as myself, so no time was lost in getting aboard, and I laughingly said to my friends: “You see I have given up my two good Muḥammadan friends and have gained four good Zoroastrian ones in their place.” As we sailed out of the Bay of ‘Akká, I looked up at Mount Carmel, and saw the tomb of the Blessed Báb, shining in the morning light like a great pearl brooch on the emerald breast of the mountain. In the distance were the gleaming minarets and domes of ‘Akká.

Here, on the holy mount, reposed that glorious Herald of Truth, the Dawn of this great Day; and there, a few miles distant, lived the third of the great Trinity of Teachers, continuing that mighty work for the spiritualizing of the world begun in Persia sixty years ago. Who could have believed, When the Báb arose in the black night of Persia like a glorious morning star, that [Page 62] its light would have endured and its beams spread over the whole earth? Little did the persecutors who put his followers to the sword and finally gave him a martyr’s death, think that the hated and despised sect would blossom forth as a universal and honored religion. Could anyone have predicted that when his wounded and bleeding body was thrown out into the streets of Tabríz, to be dishonored, that it would one day be brought by loving hands over hill and plain to the Holy Land itself, and repose for ever on God’s mountain, and that fifty years after his heroic death, men and women from all parts of the earth would meet at his tomb and remember him in their hearts?

This article is one in a series relating to the author’s early Bahá’í journey to India.



THE BÁB

FRANCES MITCHELL

We celebrate the Day of One whose Light
Appeared unto a dark and cruel world,
Of dawn the harbinger, no more the night
Could harbor falsehood, as His flag unfurled.
His crown is Faith and He is clothed in Love;
We crave His courage and His ecstacy!
As battles rage around us and above,
We need a portion of His constancy!
We honor Him, the Báb, the glorious Gate,
Who opened vistas on the path of Truth.
He never faltered when the hawks of hate,
Would claw His Message and destroy His Youth.
We sing His praise, who knew with certainty,
The “Best Beloved” of the Age to be.


[Page 63]

WITH OUR READERS

MAY is a month especially precious to Bahá’ís for in it occur three Bahá’í anniversary days. Two of these, the twelfth day of Riḍván and the day of the Declaration of the Báb are days of great joy and gladness. May 29th, the anniversary of the ascension of Bahá’u’lláh is observed with suitable prayer and readings and, the Guardian advises, if feasible, at 3 A.M. General information about the celebration of Bahá’í Holy Days may be found in volume IX of Bahá’í World and in Bahá’u’lláh and the New Era by Dr. Esslemont.

Those who have been reading World Order for some time will recall that lists of suitable readings for these and other Holy Days were published in this magazine during 1943-1944, those for Riḍván in January and April, 1944, and those for the ascension of Bahá’u’lláh and the Declaration of the Báb in March, 1944.

• • •

Our table of contents opens this month with Marzieh Gail’s study of The Epistle to the Son of the Wolf. This is a book which should be better known to Bahá’ís because it was, as Mrs. Gail points out, the last of Bahá’u’lláh’s longer works and because it makes plain certain points in history and teaching not contained elsewhere. Mrs. Gail’s careful notes and explanations will most certainly stimulate many who are not familiar with this important book to study it and will give deeper understanding of it to those already somewhat familiar with it. Mrs. Gail is the daughter of ‘Alí-Kuli Khán, former head of the Persian legation in Washington, DC. and is a student and journalist of recognized experience and ability. She is one of those rare persons in America who is proficient in the Persian language. During two years’ residence in Ṭihrán she conducted a newspaper column in Persian, French and English. She is also a most pleasing public speaker. Our readers are familiar with other of her contributions to World Order. Her report on the United Nations Conference on International Organization entitled “The Peace in San Francisco” appeared in our July, 1945, issue. Mrs. Gail now resides in Pedro Valley, California.

The editors hope to print later a glossary which accompanied this article but are awaiting instructions from the Guardian in regard to glossaries in general.

Following is the list of references in Marzieh Gail’s study article, “Bahá’u’lláh’s Epistle to the Son of the Wolf”: (1) Le Bayán Persan, A.L.M. Nicolas trans, II, 118; (2) 5, 8, 83; (3) Some Answered Questions, 146; (4) Gleanings 135; (5) God Passes By, 215; (6) op. cit., II, 97; (7) 6; (8) 8; (9) 4; (10) 9:18; (11) 93; (12) 88:97; (13) 103, 113, 114; (14) 130, 131; (15) idem; (16) 139; (17) 140; (18) 103; (19) 1-2; (20) passim; (21) 2; (22) 82; (23) 84; (24) 15; (25) 163, etc.; (26) 15, 16; (27) 17; (28) God Passes By, 219; (29) 25; (30) 35; (31) 32; (32) 61; (33) 83; (34) 91-92; (35) 124; (36) 170; (37) 20 et seq.; (38) 77; (39) 106, 123; (40) 108 et seq.; (41) 166; (42) 167; [Page 64] (43) 165; (44) 161, cf. also The Dawn-Breakers, pp. 188-189 and notes; (45) 165; (46) God Passes By, p. 157 and 161, also Son of the Wolf, 138; (47) 24; (43) 55; (49) idem; (50) 93; (51) idem; (52) 23; (53) 27; (54) 122; (55) e.g. 9:4; (56) 65:5; (57) 89; (58) idem; (59) 52; (60) 159-160; (61) God Passes By, 125, 131; (62) 153; (63) 160; (64) 155; (65) 171, cf. also 157; (66) 28:32, etc. 112; (67) 113; (68) cf. A Traveller’s Narrative, 1891, Note 0, p. 296; (69) 20-21; (70) 180 et seq.; (71) 179; (72) 131 et seq.; (73) 127, 163; (74) 9; (75) 41:20; (76) 100; (77) 36; (78) 99.

In this issue we present the first in a series of five articles by Glenn Shook in which he shows how the Bahá’í Teachings clarify some of the problems which puzzle thoughtful young people. In this first article entitled “The Decline of Mechanism” he elaborates upon the changed attitude in thinking among scientists in regard to God and the universe. “Youth and the Modern World” is the title of the series which will appear in five issues. Professor Shook’s training as a scientist, as a teacher of youth and a thorough student of the Bahá’í Faith makes him well fitted to cover this subject. He has contributed many valuable articles to World Order the most recent of which appeared in our December, 1945, issue entitled “A Spiritual Renaissance”. He is professor of physics in Wheaton College, Norton, Massachusetts.

The editorial by Garreta Busey, “Unity in Humility” will help all in necessary heart-searching. Miss Busey now heads the editorial committee of Bahá’í News as well as serving on the World Order committee, has a full time job as teacher of English in the University of Illinois and is active in Bahá’í work in Urbana-Champaign, Illinois.

The “Bahá’í Faith in Germany” by Hermann Grossmann is with a few omissions the report which Mr. Grossmann made to Shoghi Effendi as soon as communication was opened after the surrender of Germany. In addressing the Guardian Mr. Grossmann says: “This is to give you a first report about the conditions of the Faith and the events relating to it in Germany since May, 1937. It is mostly recorded from memory in the lack of the documents concerned and notes lost.” And as a postscript he writes: “This was written down immediately after the entrance of the American troops in Neckargemünd. The further development of events brought us in touch with the friends of Stuttgart and Esslingen through the believer of Leipzig, Mr. Hans Richter, who is wandering through Germany in search of his family.” We are indebted to John C. Eichenauer, young American Bahá’í, stationed with the United States Army in Stuttgart, for a copy of Mr. Grossmann’s letter and to Mrs. Beatrice Ashton of Evanston for the copy sent to this magazine.

Those who feel closer to God in the quiet woods and fields and near lakes and streams will enjoy Gladys Kline’s contribution, “Meditations”. This is Miss Kline’s first contribution to World Order. Her home is in Kalamazoo, Michigan, where she is employed in social service work and is active in promoting the Bahá’í Faith.

—THE EDITORS.


[Page 65]

Bahá’í Literature

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

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

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

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

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

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

The World Order of Bahá’u’lláh, by Shoghi Effendi. On the nature of the new social pattern revealed by Bahá’u’lláh for the attainment of divine justice in civilization. Bound 1n fabrikoid. 234 pages. $1.50.

God Passes By, by Shoghi Effendi. The authoritative documented historical survey of the Bahá’í Faith through the four periods of its first century: The Ministry of the Báb, the Ministry of Bahá’u’lláh, the Ministry of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, and the Inception of the Formative Age (1921-1944). In these pages the world’s supreme spiritual drama unfolds. xxiii plus 412 pages; Bound in fabrikoid. $2.50.

BAHÁ’Í PUBLISHING COMMITTEE

110 Linden Avenue, Wilmette, Illinois


[Page 66]

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.
Retrieved from "https://bahai.works/index.php?title=World_Order/Volume_12/Issue_2/Text&oldid=224460"