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WORLD ORDER
AUGUST; 1946
SAN FRANCISCO, 1945—Arthur Dahl
WHERE INTOLERANCE BEGINS—Benjamin Kaufman
EVENT IN HAMADÁN—Marzieh Gail
THE MEN OF A NEW DAWN, Editorial—William Kenneth Christian
YOUTH AND THE MODERN WORLD IV ELEMENTS OF A WORLD COMMONWEALTH—G. A. Shook
GLEANINGS FROM THE WRITINGS OF BAHÁ’U’LLÁH, Book Review—Bertha Hyde Kirkpatrick
ASSIGNMENT TO AMERICA—Shoghi Effendi
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. Kenning, Secretary
69 ABBOTTSFORD ROAD, WINNETKA, ILL.
Publication Office
110 LINDEN AVENUE, WILMETTE, ILL.
C. R. Wood, Business Menager
Printed in U.S.A.
AUGUST, 1946, VOLUME XII, NUMBER 5
SUBSCRIPTIONS: $1.50 per year, for United States, its territories and possessions; for Canada, Cuba, Mexico, Central and South America. Single copies, 15c. Foreign subscriptions, $1.75. Make checks and money orders payable to World Order Magazine, 110 Linden Avenue, Wilmette, Illinois. Entered as second class matter April 1, 1940, at the post office at Wilmette, Ill., under the Act of March 3, 1879. 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
WORLD ORDER
The Bahá’í Magazine
VOLUME XII AUGUST, 1946 NUMBER 5
San Francisco, 1945
ARTHUR DAHL
I
BAHÁ’Í communities in Northern California were electrified by the announcement, in February, 1945, that the Conference to create the charter for the new United Nations organization was to convene in San Francisco on April 25.
Here was one of the momentous cross-roads of history, a time pregnant with opportunity. The war was drawing to a close. Though the challenging immediacy of the atomic bomb was still a closely guarded military secret, there was a vast wave of realization throughout the world that the close cooperation maintained by the Allies during the war must be continued and strengthened in the peace, that the one lesson to be learned from this war was the absolute necessity for some form of government on the world level. This Conference was to mark the birth of such a government, tentative, perhaps, but nevertheless a real beginning, and focused upon it were not only the rapt attention but also the hopes and prayers of people everywhere.
To Bahá’ís in the Bay Area
this Conference meant the first
real application of one of the
basic principles the Cause has
been advocating for more than
seventy years. It meant the meeting
on their doorstep of some of
the world's greatest statesmen
for the purpose of putting Bahá’í
teachings into practical operation,
with the attention of the
world focused upon them, thus
offering an unparalleled opportunity
to present the wider
implications of the Bahá’í Faith
to an aroused and receptive public.
Finally it meant the prophetic
fulfillment of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s
words, spoken at Sacramento,
California, on October
26, 1912: “The greatest need in
the world today is International
Peace. The time is ripe. It is
time for the abolition of warfare,
the unification of nations and
governments. . . . Inasmuch as
the Californians seem peace-loving
[Page 130]
and possessed of great
worthiness and capacity, I hope
that advocates of peace may
daily increase among them until
the whole population shall stand
for that beneficent outcome.
. . . Then may altruistic aims and
thoughts radiate from this center
toward all other regions of the
earth and may the glory of this
accomplishment forever halo the
history of this country. May the
first flag of International Peace
be upraised in this State.”
Accordingly, shortly after the announcement the Spiritual Assemblies of San Francisco, Oakland, Berkeley, and Burlingame met and drew up recommendations for a more ambitious teaching program than had ever before been undertaken in this area. Acting upon these recommendations, the National Spiritual Assembly appointed a national Committee on Bahá’í Peace Plan “to promote the Bahá’í Teachings in connection with the Allied Nations Conference.”
Specifically the Committee was asked to undertake: (1) the preparation of a special pamphlet presenting the basic elements of the Bahá’í Peace Program; (2) arrangements for a special radio broadcast; (3) one large public meeting; (4) arrangements for local window displays; (5) preparation and placement of suitable publicity and advertising; (6) attendance at the conference of an official observer; (7) cooperation with activities of Bay Area Assemblies.
The National Spiritual Assembly itself sent to President Roosevelt a message of support and encouragement in his efforts toward world government and unity. It was deemed particularly significant that the Conference convened exactly thirty years after the first International Bahá’í Congress, meeting in San Francisco under official auspices of the Panama-Pacific International Exposition, sent a similar message to President Wilson on April 25, 1915.
The stage was being set for the momentous occasion. The Committee, whose letter of appointment was dated March 19, had only a little more than a month to tackle one of the biggest Bahá’í teaching jobs ever attempted in this country. And the physical handicaps multiplied. People began to flood into San Francisco. Hotels were overflowing, restaurants were jammed, communication and transportation were exceedingly difficult, all organizations having to do with printing and publicity were under intense pressure.
Yet there was also great drama
and excitement in the air. For
some the Conference was a colorful
[Page 131]
show, with radio and screen
stars for once giving way to international
political personalities,
with the romantic make-believe
of the theater replaced, for example,
by the equally romantic
flowing robes of the delegates
from Saudi Arabia. But for
many others the Conference was
the fulfillment of a dream, the
first emergence of the world into
an international political climate
commensurate with the maturity
of our material civilization. It
was a solemn moment, a hopeful
moment, yet also a dangerous
moment, for with so much at
stake, the obstacles were formidable.
No one had any illusions about these difficulties, about the wide gap between the ideal and the politically possible. Everyone realized that the greatest amount of tact, wisdom, fortitude, and patience must be brought to the task by the delegates if they were to avoid the many serious pitfalls along the way. Yet, at the opening plenary session, observers were impressed with the seriousness and the humility which most of the delegates displayed. There was a sense that they were well aware of the preciousness of the life and the spirit they were to bring into being.
II
The Committee on Bahá’í Peace Plan envisaged that its opportunity was two-fold: (1) to broaden the knowledge of the delegates as to the tremendous contributions to universal peace to be found within the Bahá’í Teachings, and to impress them with the virility of the Cause in this country; and (2) to reach the general public with the Teachings at a time when it was acutely interested in problems of world cooperation and order.
The breadth and scope of the Bahá’í Teachings on world peace, and the fact that they have been promulgated for over seventy years and are still well in advance of the times could not help but be impressive, and would compare favorably with the strictly limited objectives of the charter of the new organization. In addition, the proof of these principles in practice, through the successful operation of the Bahá’í world community, would offer the additional evidence required by people with a realistic turn of mind.
The opening stroke of the
Committee’s program was the
half-hour radio broadcast, at
3:15 p.m. on Saturday, April 21,
over Station KQW, the Columbia
Broadcasting System station
in San Francisco. Securing this
time had been well-nigh providential.
Radio time was at a
premium during the Conference,
particularly over the larger stations.
[Page 132]
In addition, the network
stations would not accept sponsored
programs of a religious nature.
However, acceptance by
Robert W. Kenny, Attorney General
of California and Technical
Adviser to the American delegation
at the Conference, of the
committee’s invitation to be guest
speaker, and the production by
the committee of a dramatic
script, dignified, in keeping with
the occasion, yet with emphasis
on human interest, led KQW’s
Department of Public Events to
offer the committee this time
gratis, as a program in the public
interest. Not only was the
time strategically placed during
the weekend before the Conference
opened, but it began just
fifteen minutes after the commemoration
of the Declaration
of Bahá’u’lláh.
The program, called “World Order Is The Goal”, followed the dramatic technique, developed so rapidly by radio in recent years, of using many and varied voices to build on a central theme. In all, ten Bahá’ís participated, with Shirley Warde as narrator. The momentous place of the Conference in human history was indicated, and voices from the far comers of the globe spoke of the hopes and the urgent need of people everywhere for peace and unity. The sympathy of the Bahá’í Teachings with these aims was indicated by readings from Bahá’u’lláh and ‘Abdu’l-Bahá.
Then Attorney General Kenny eloquently demonstrated the necessity for a true world democracy, with equality of all nations before international law, if we are to have lasting peace, and called on America to accept the responsibility which its material strength makes possible in helping to achieve this objective. Following this talk the Bahá’í plan for peace was presented, emphasizing that this is a spiritual as well as a political problem, and that only the Bahá’í Faith has “both a plan for a comprehensive cooperative society on a world-wide scale and the spiritual dynamic capable of putting it into operation.”
A glimpse of the united world of tomorrow was given through readings from Shoghi Effendi’s memorable paragraphs on world commonwealth. Miss Warde concluded the program with these words: “Yes, it is towards this goal—the Goal of a New World Order—that humanity must strive. God grant that the step we take in San Francisco may set us firmly on the path.”
This program was given widespread
publicity in over twenty
California cities and towns,
both through paid advertisements,
news articles, and direct
[Page 133]
mailings. It was recorded,
through the cooperation of the
National Radio Committee, and
was rebroadcast in San Francisco
over Station KYA on May 2,
the last day of Riḍván. Twenty-five
pressings of the recording
were made, and orders were received
from Bahá’ís in forty-three
cities throughout the country,
many of whom were able to
arrange for rebroadcasts over
their local stations.
Though it is difficult to directly measure the results of a radio program, the committee received many indications, both from Bahá’í communities and from friends, that the program had been very well received and had stimulated considerable public interest. As one example, an attorney, whose secretary is a believer, invited fifteen people in his building to listen on April 21, including the entire staff of the Brazilian Consulate and two Canadians. All said they liked the program, but the Brazilians were especially pleased, saying of the principles: “That’s just what we want.”
The San Francisco Spiritual Assembly coordinated its regular weekly “Bahá’í World Order Program” with the efforts of the Committee on Bahá’í Peace Plan. The thirteen week series, from March 11 to May 27, broadcast to a well-established audience over Station KYA, Sundays, 6:30-6:45 p.m., was built on the theme “Foundations of Universal Peace”, and was designed to present the basic elements of the Bahá’í Peace Program, as well as the Bahá’í concept of the evolution of society toward the Most Great Peace, as outlined by Shoghi Effendi in the closing pages of The Promised Day Is Come. Each broadcast carried the historic utterance of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá at Sacramento, which was also printed on the announcements which were distributed to some 2,500 people. Later this series was repeated in Southern California by the Los Angeles Spiritual Assembly.
III
The second major event in the teaching campaign was the public symposium, held two weeks after the Conference opened, on May 9, at the Scottish Rite Auditorium. Once again the theme was “World Order Is The Goal”, and it was presented (in the words of the program) “as a tribute to the purposes of the United Nations Conference for International Organization, and with the hope that the principles of the Bahá’í Faith may add their contribution to this momentous endeavor in the cause of universal peace.”
The committee had invited the
late Dr. Rudolf Holsti, Former
[Page 134]
Minister of Foreign Affairs of
Finland, Former Permanent
Delegate to the League of Nations,
and Acting Professor of
Political Science at Stanford
University, to speak at the symposium,
and he not only accepted
this invitation but graciously
offered to assist in arranging a
banquet preceding the meeting.
He had been a distinguished
statesman and ardent champion
of the League of Nations, and
had attended every Assembly of
the League from 1922 to its last
gathering in 1939, as delegate
from Finland. As a result, he
enjoyed the friendship and respect
of leaders of many nations,
and knew personally many of the
leading delegates at the present
Conference.
Following Dr. Holsti’s wish, invitations to the banquet were sent to those colleagues to whom he planned to pay special tribute in his symposium address, in all, twenty-four Conference delegates from thirteen nations, nine of whom headed their respective delegations. The following found it possible to attend as official representatives and guests of honor:
His Excellency Francisco Castillo Najera, delegate for Mexico and Ambassador to the United States
His Excellency Ivan Kerno, delegate for Czecho-Slovakia, Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary
Dr. Li Shu-Fan, Adviser to Chinese delegation, and Adviser to Chinese Supply Commission
Dr. Carlos Rodriguez Jiminez, Secretary to Venezuelan delegation and Consul General
M. Alphonse Als, Adviser to Luxembourg delegation, and Chief of Cabinet, Ministry of Foreign Affairs
Exceedingly courteous replies were received from the others, who found it necessary to decline because of the heavy pressure of work at this early stage of the Conference. At a later date the committee was able to forward to these delegates, on behalf of the National Spiritual Assembly, a copy of the brochure, “The Bahá’í Peace Program”, which was presented as a memento to the banquet guests.
In all there were fifty present
at the Palace Hotel, including
twenty-six other guests, many of
them distinguished friends of Dr.
Holsti. Several of them were
college professors, and most had
never attended any previous
Bahá’í meeting. There was no
formal program, but the feast
was characterized by a dignity,
warmth, and graciousness which
appeared to make a deep impression
on the guests as well as the
Bahá’ís who were present. Several
of the guests expressed their
[Page 135]
pleasure in the evening in a most
friendly manner.
The symposium, held but a few days after victory in Europe, was attended by an estimated 600 to 700 people, who seemed to be well aware of the tremendous responsibilities facing not only the Conference but all the peoples of the world, to destroy the barriers between nations which have heretofore blocked the road to peace. The banquet guests from Mexico, Czecho-Slovakia, and Venezuela, as well as the Consul for Iceland, Mr. Thorlacksen, contributed informal statements which were remarkable both for their cordial appreciation and their comprehension of Bahá’í principles. Dr. Holsti analyzed the successes as well as the failures of the League of Nations and eloquently concluded that the spirit with which any world organization is administered and supported is far more important than the technical perfection of its structure and constitution. He pointed out the repeated failure of “realistic” attempts to control the world by force, and quoted the views of leaders of today, including many of the delegates at the Conference, that the first prerequisite is spiritual idealism in dealing with today’s realities. He urged America, as the greatest source of material might, mental progress, and moral strength, to lead the idealistic battle. “Let us put all our energies in making the world opinion so strong that the new world organization will become this time a definite success in the maintenance of good will between individuals and nations in the service of the loftiest aspirations of mankind.” This proved to be Dr. Holsti’s last major public statement, for quite suddenly this great public servant passed away in September, 1945.
The Bahá’í speakers were Mrs. Dorothy Baker and Leroy Ioas, both members of the National Spiritual Assembly. With their customary clarity and force they outlined the broad scope of the Bahá’í Teachings on peace, and demonstrated the necessity for achieving unity spiritually as well as politically, with religion the essential source of spiritual unity.
The symposium was widely publicized, through newspaper articles and advertisements, spot announcements on the radio, and the mailing of some 3,500 invitations. An exhibit of the Temple model, literature, and the spread of the Faith Was arranged for the meeting, and 350 advance copies of the new brochure were distributed to audience and banquet guests.
Mrs. Baker engaged in other
[Page 136]
teaching activities during the five
days she was in San Francisco.
She addressed a tea at the Woman’s
City Club for about seventy-five
guests, student groups at
Stanford University and the University
of California, the entire
student body at Montezuma
School for Boys, a fine public
meeting in San Mateo, and two
other public meetings in San
Francisco. Her graciousness and
spiritual perception made a
marked impression on all those
who had the opportunity of
hearing her. She was also the
subject of an extensive interview
printed in the San Francisco
News on May 9, which included
quite a detailed statement of the
Bahá’í principles on peace.
IV
The third major undertaking of the committee was the preparation and distribution of a special brochure on “The Bahá’í Peace Program”. From the beginning the committee realized that this publication might have far-reaching results, and determined that every effort should be made to create as distinguished a book as possible from the standpoint both of content and format.
The writings of Bahá’u’lláh, ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, and Shoghi Effendi were combed to find those statements which most graphically outlined the teachings of the Cause on peace, and the nature of the society which must evolve if a lasting peace is to be attained. These were arranged in three sections, each with a suitable introduction: (1) “The Federation of Mankind”, presenting the Faith’s concrete proposals for world organization; (2) “The Guiding Principles of World Order”, establishing the necessity for the oneness of mankind; (3) “The Renewal of Faith”, outlining Bahá’u’lláh’s challenging claim that only the Word of God could reach men’s hearts and inspire them to achieve the unity and world community necessary for peace in our time.
The preface paid tribute to the objectives of the Conference, and pointed out the fulfillment of the prophetic utterances of Bahá’u’lláh and ‘Abdu’l-Bahá. In its brief sixteen pages, the brochure indicated the pertinence, urgency, and most of all the tremendous scope of the Bahá’í Faith as a medium to lead the world to peace.
A total of 11,500 copies of the
brochure were published during
the Conference, an edition of
20,000 being subsequently ordered
by the National Spiritual
Assembly. In the third week in
May copies were mailed to everyone
connected with the Conference
(delegates, advisers, consultants,
[Page 137]
secretariats, press and
radio representatives) and in
addition 1,800 copies were
mailed to leading citizens in the
area. Other Assemblies and
Groups and the Regional Committee
in California distributed
thousands more, and a limited
number were made available to
Bahá’í communities throughout
the United States and Canada.
From various sources the committee heard that the brochure aroused considerable interest among the delegates and their advisers. The Bahá’í News Service said: “From very reliable non-Bahá’í sources in Chicago, I learn that the Faith is being discussed with considerable interest among the delegates.” Some journalists in Chicago were also heard to say that they were deeply “impressed by the Bahá’í teachings while in San Francisco.”
V
In addition to the newspaper publicity secured for the radio broadcast and Symposium, two direct newspaper projects were undertaken with the publication of large display advertisements, two columns by ten inches, in leading San Francisco dailies, outlining the basic principles advocated by Bahá’ís relating to peace. The first, called “The Bahá’í Peace Program”, carried a tribute to the Conference, and enumerated ten principles “as the essential foundation of a just and lasting peace”. It appeared in excellent locations in the San Francisco Chronicle for Sunday, May 6, and the San Francisco News for May 7. The second enumerated some of “Bahá’í Contributions To World Peace”, and briefly outlined the nature of the Cause. It appeared in the San Francisco Chronicle, Examiner, and News on June 23 and 25.
As with radio time, newspaper space during the Conference was in very short supply, and the committee considered it providential that it was able to secure space for the above displays, as well as for all of its other publicity, particularly since the first of the big advertisements appeared just before V E Day, while the second was associated with the closing of the Conference and the visit of President Truman to San Francisco. In all, the record of the Conference campaign publicity in California totalled 69 items, appearing in 36 newspapers in 26 cities and towns. In San Francisco, articles and advertisements were printed in eight newspapers, including the four leading dailies, as well as legal, commercial, Negro, and neighborhood journals.
Summarizing the “Bahá’í
campaign of public information”,
an article in the San Francisco
[Page 138]
Examiner stated: “Publicity
in the daily papers told tens
of thousands of readers how
Bahá’í teachings provide the
spiritual and moral motivation
which will make the peace machinery
function.”
VI
Another effective publicity medium utilized to bring the Faith before the public during the Conference was the public exhibit. Five displays were arranged during this period, the most important being a four-week’s exhibit, starting June 4, in the window of the main office of the American Express Company, just half a block from Union Square, in one of San Francisco’s finest shopping districts. The international character of the Faith was stressed, with a model of the Temple being flanked with photographs and copies of Bahá’í literature in many languages, as well as the peace brochure and signs outlining some of the Bahá’í principles. An official of the company afterwards wrote to a member of the committee: “We want to tell you that we are glad to have had this display, because many people have shown interest and have stopped in asking questions and also for booklets.”
Other exhibits of Temple photographs and Bahá’í literature were presented at the Yazdi Shop in Berkeley, the Ross Radio Shop in San Mateo, the A. C. Ioas Printing Co. in San Francisco, and at the Symposium.
As a national organization, the Faith was permitted to send an official observer to the conference, and to display the peace brochure at the Conference headquarters for observers. The Bahá’í World was also allowed an observer, and another believer attended representing the Carnegie Foundation. In addition to these official observers, a number of other Bahá’í were able to attend the various plenary sessions and other open meetings, or in other ways were associated with the Conference and its personalities, and many stimulating personal contacts were made.
His Excellency Sir Ramaswami Mudaliar, leader of the Indian delegation, as a result of a friendly contact with the Committee on Bahá’í Peace Plan, made a point of visiting the Bahá’í Temple at Wilmette on his way home from the Conference. He had commanded respect and the admiration of the Bahá’ís for his work as chairman of the Committee on the Economic and Social Council, whose report reflected kindred concern for the unity and well-being of all peoples.
VII
It is still much too early to estimate
[Page 139]
the success of the United
Nations, as drafted by the delegates
at the San Francisco Conference.
It is also impossible to
foresee the results of the Bahá’í
teaching campaign conducted
there. Who knows how many
hearts were stirred, how many
souls quickened with interest,
how many seeds were planted,
needing only further nourishment
to grow to the maturity of
service to the Cause.
Certainly the committee, and all those from the Northern California Bahá’í communities who assisted it so vigorously, felt that this campaign was a memorable experience and an exceptional opportunity. There was a sense of greatness and expectancy in the air all during the Conference, and it seemed so natural that the Bahá’í Faith should be offered as the answer for those tragic problems the delegates and the world were trying so desperately to solve.
“I rejoice in the success of the high endeavors of the Peace Committee in San Francisco,” Shoghi Effendi, Guardian of the Bahá’í Faith, cabled on July 1, 1945. For the members of the committee it was a privilege and a joy to present the healing truths of the Bahá’í Faith at the period which may prove to be the tentative but none-the-less definite beginning of the period of the Lesser Peace.
The Revelation of Bahá’u’lláh, whose supreme mission is none other but the achievement of this organic and spiritual unity of the whole body of nations, should, if we be faithful to its implications, be regarded as signalizing through its advent the coming of age of the entire human race. . . . The emergence of a world community, the consciousness of world citizenship, the founding of a world civilization and culture—all of which must synchronize with the initial stages in the unfoldment of the Golden Age of the Bahá’í Era —should, by their very nature, be regarded, as far as this planetary life is concerned, as the furthermost limits in the organization of human society, though man, as an individual, will, nay must indeed as a result of such a consummation, continue indefinitely to progress and develop.
—SHOGHI EFFENDI
Where Intolerance Begins
BENJAMIN KAUFMAN
IT was Friday evening, December 15, 1944. The armies of Von Runstedt were poised on the western border of Germany prepared to launch the attack which would speed the end of the European War. In a few hours I would be riding in a jeep toward Antwerp to be caught in the Battle of the Bulge. But now, comfortably seated and having dinner in famous Grand Hotel in Paris, my thoughts were not of the present. With a Colonel in the Medical Corps, a Red Cross girl and a war correspondent of one of the Chicago papers, I was discussing Peace which we felt would soon be here.
The Colonel was speaking. “We cannot have a real, lasting Peace,” he said, “until people start to practice two simple things: right-thinking and right-acting”. And he went on to tell this story.
A year before the war he had occasion to motor through Hungary. Arriving in a small town at noon one day he observed about one hundred school children, ranging from six to twelve years of age, kneeling before a flag pole in the center of the square.
“Is this a religious ceremony of some kind?” he inquired of some men nearby.
“Come, I will show you”, one replied.
They made their way through the mass of kneeling figures to the center of the group.
“Look”, said the man, pointing.
Around the flag pole the Colonel saw a bed of flowers beautifully arranged in the map of Hungary. Its striking features were three chains flung across the flowery design separating it into four divisions. One partition represented territory taken from the little country after World War I and given to Rumania; another part represented land given to Yugoslavia; a third was that taken over by Czechoslovakia. The fourth section indicated what remained after the spoils of war had been divided. And each of those youngsters, attended by teachers, was deep in fervent prayer dedicating his life, his birthright and sacred honor to the bloody task of recovering those bits of territory. It was a solemn event which occurred every day at noon.
The Colonel’s story reminded
me of an episode in my own
[Page 141]
childhood. I had attended a small
country school with two other
boys, Pat and Mike. We were inseparable
companions. In spring
we fished together, visited the
“‘ole swimming hole” in summer,
gathered nuts in fall, and
went skating in wintertime. It
was a friendship in the tradition
of The Three Musketeers. Then
at recess one day I faced Pat and
Mike, their hands clinched and
their eyes flashing hate.
“We can’t play with you any more”, said Mike.
“For heaven’s sake, why not?” I demanded in amazement.
“Because my mother says you are a Jew”, answered Pat.
The three of us were thoroughly confused but our courses seemed clear. For many months afterwards I was forced to battle those two former friends caught in the whirlpool of blind intolerance. It took many years to heal the scars caused by the ultimatum of Pat’s mother.
Right-thinking and right-acting.
A great responsibility rests upon parents and educators throughout the world to banish chauvinism and intolerance and to champion the cause of international cooperation and tolerance. A disastrous war has shown how easily wrong-thinking and wrong-acting can hurtle millions of innocent people into headlong flight down the road to catastrophe. Not a small portion of those millions were children who had their thinking manufactured for them. If it happens again, the human race is lost.
The only alternative is thoughtful instruction at home and in school. A little light spread in one generation will produce the Lesser Peace in the next. May we have the decency of mind and soul to achieve it!
Prejudices of all kinds, whether religious, racial, patriotic or political are destructive of divine foundations in man. All the warfare and bloodshed in human history have been the outcome of prejudice. This earth is one home and nativity. God has created mankind with equal endowment and right to live upon the earth. As a city is the home of all its inhabitants although each may have his individual place of residence therein, so the earth’s surface is one wide native land or home for all races of humankind. Racial prejudice or separation into nations such as French, German, American and so on is unnatural and proceeds from human motive and ignorance. All are the children and servants of God. Why should we be separated by artificial and imaginary boundaries?
—‘ABDU’L-BAHÁ
Event in Hamadán
MARZIEH GAIL
THE woman lay rigid on her bed, her head sharply back, her teeth were clenched, there was blood on her lips. Ḥakím, renowned for his sagacity and medical knowledge, looked at her; he saw her dying; he saw his own life going with her—the work of his life all falling away, as if it had never been. He saw his people trampled in the streets, stoned, their homes violated.
She screamed and fell back, exhausted, but her body gathered for the next spasm and then it was rigid again, and her face frozen into the risus again.
Ḥakím could not move. He could only remember that he, a Jew, had poisoned a Muslim’s wife. He had mixed up the powders, somehow he had done that; it was not quinine he had sent her, it was strychnine and he was a Jew, and now she was dying.
And he saw the days of his life go by before his eyes. Saw his house, in the shabbiest quarter of town, the quarter abandoned to the Jews; he saw it clearly, with its door built low, as the Persian Jews were made to build them; he listened again to the wild knocking on his door, late tonight, the frenzied husband, pounding on his low door.
He thought of how boys ran after him, and mocked him in the streets, and the onlookers laughed. He felt again the cotton cloth his patients wrapped around their wrists, to guard themselves from his unclean touch. He remembered the roll of goods one family kept in the sickroom, so they could unroll it, clear to the street, for their Jewish doctor to walk over and not contaminate the house.
As he stood there, a great bitterness rose in him. He remembered his long years of work, and the work of his father before him. Both famous doctors, healing the sick in a place where everyone was sick; where the water was tainted and there was filth in the streets. Risking their lives; serving, healing, and without thanks. It was a condescension, a favor, the Muslims were doing a Jew, to let him help them. If the patient recovered, a wretched fee, or no fee at all; if he died, it was a plot, a Jewish plot to wipe out the dominant race. Ḥakím was very bitter, standing there beside the bed; he looked down at the colored patch on the front of his worn coat; the patch he was made to wear to show he was a Jew.
Then the woman’s husband
[Page 143]
was speaking to him: “I understand,
he was saying; I know.
Even if I lose her . . . You only
made a mistake. Anyone will
make a mistake . . . No matter
what happens, you are safe. You
have my word.”
At first Ḥakím could not hear him. Then he heard, but it was meaningless; unless, incredibly, this was a new kind of man, a kind Ḥakím had never met before. He burst out: “What is your religion, that you speak to me in this way?” The husband answered only: “I am not a Muslim.”
Ḥakím’s heart beat again. He ran out into the street. It was late at night, but somehow he found an apothecary’s shop and bought what he needed. He came back to the woman and worked over her. The time between her spasms grew longer, the terrible grimace relaxed; by morning he had saved her.
Ḥakím was at the end of his strength, but he refused to leave the house and go home. “What is it you believe?” he kept saying.
“My brother, Muḥammad, and I are Bahá’ís”, Muḥammad-Báqir Naráqi told him. “We teach the Faith of Bahá’u’lláh. Whatever happens to us, good or bad, we see it only as a chance to teach.”
Ḥakím studied the Faith with them and became a Bahá’í.
And one Sabbath day he did the bravest thing that a Jew could do. He went to the main synagogue of the town. Before the rabbi or the congregation knew what was happening he had made his way into the pulpit. From there he called out: “O children of Israel! Listen to one of your own blood and race! One who has always upheld his religion and obeyed its tenets and protected its holiness! What sort of a man do you know me to be?”
They cried with one voice that he was a man known for his devotion and goodness and wisdom. Then he said, and wept saying it: “I have searched a long time for my Lord; at last I have found Him; and I have found a new truth: that two Beings, Christ and Muḥammad, have come, one after the other. They have revealed what Moses was not ordained to reveal. These two are both Prophets of God.”
Some of the people went forward then, to seize him and kill him for a blasphemer; but others came and saved him, because his voice had the ring of their holy ones of old. Afterward, people crowded to his house, and although the rabbis rose against him, he converted to the Faith of Bahá’u’lláh some forty of his race.
Editorial
The Men of a New Dawn
People will begin to appreciate the scope of Bahá’u’lláh’s vision and the depth of His insight into human nature in the centuries ahead. At present we speak and write inadequately of this vast Revelation for the maturity of man. But inadequate or not, certain obligations rest definitely upon our shoulders, and these we cannot shirk.
Bahá’u’lláh placed upon each and every Bahá’í the joyous task of teaching others, urging that we be “as unconstrained as the wind” in giving to others some knowledge of the Faith. Second, He admonished men to show forth in daily action the high standards of true faith. “We commend the friends of the true One to good deeds. . . . The benefit of the utterance of the merciful One goes to those who practice.” Third, He applied to the social relationships of men and women the principles of moral conduct. This Bahá’u’lláh did by creating institutions through which a new religious spirit could take shape and recreate the world.
“The distinguishing feature,” Bahá’u’lláh wrote, “that marketh the preeminent character of this Supreme Revelation consisteth in that We have, on the one hand, blotted out from the pages of God’s holy Book whatsoever hath been the cause of strife, or malice and mischief amongst the children of men, and have, on the other, laid down the essential prerequisites of concord, of understanding, of complete and enduring unity.”
The informed Bahá’í, making a conscientious daily effort to live the precepts of his Faith and to advance its institutions throughout the world, stands in sharp contrast to other people. While the life of a liberal person may be marked by great tolerance, the Bahá’í finds himself commanded to “Consort with all the peoples, kindreds, and religions of the world with the utmost truthfulness, uprightness, faithfulness, kindliness, good-will and friendliness.” It is clear to the Bahá’í that mere tolerance is insufficient; instead he must actively appreciate and defend the rights of all races and peoples.
While many people pride
themselves on exclusive doctrines
of creed and race and nation, the
Bahá’í takes pride in the spiritual
unity of all people as children
[Page 145]
of a common Creator. While
the sectarian religionist holds
fast to tradition, the Bahá’í has
accepted the promise of God to
renew religion in this age; he
sees in the revelation of Bahá’u’lláh
the latest declaration in
the age-old unfoldment of religion.
While many kindly people
willingly subscribe to the doctrine
of brotherhood, the Bahá’í
considers it essential to his spiritual
life, and therefore a normal
part of his life, to mingle easily
and equally with people of other
races: to break bread with them
and share the fraternal joys of
hospitality, to listen with equal
consideration to the members of
all races in the Bahá’í community,
and to share with them the
struggles and triumphs of common
spiritual adventure in consolidating
the far-flung Faith of
Bahá’u’lláh.
While many people seek escape from the grave problems of our time in a feverish and empty round of social activity, the Bahá’í is reminded that “All men have been created to carry forward an ever-advancing civilization.” “Bend your energies to whatever may foster the education of men,” Bahá’u’lláh has said. While many people make money and power the measure of success, Bahá’ís insist that the foundations of a decent society for human beings must be the qualities of truthfulness, honesty, loving kindness, justice, and unity.
While many people glory in complete self-comfort and the notion that the desires of an individual are superior to the social good, the Bahá’í realizes that there is no secure human comfort or decency unless men are united in faith and trust. They know that this unity must be world-wide and not limited to old political, geographic, and cultural frontiers.
Bahá’ís did not need an atomic bomb dropped upon Nagasaki to know that men and women everywhere must be united in one world—or they might very well have none. When Bahá’u’lláh declared that the message of God for our time required the uniting of people in social institutions divine in origin, He uttered a revolutionary religious concept. With unerring clarity He traced the decay of old institutions and customs. And world events of the past sixty years proclaim His truth. With confidence He proclaimed the practicality of uniting the world’s peoples in one culture and one civilized order. With rapidity the physical means for this achievement have been discovered.
The men and women of the
Bahá’í community throughout
the world are united by a common
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devotion to God. They respond
in obedience to the revelation
of Bahá’u’lláh, making effort
to shape their conduct by the
high ethical standards which He
set forth and laboring to create
those institutions of justice which
they are convinced express the
will of God for our time. They
are moved to sacrifice by recognition
of a will higher than their
own desires.
The increasing response of people to the message of Bahá’u’lláh makes a sharp contrast to the confusions, divisions, and immorality of our time. Those who hold sectarian beliefs, those who make money their god, those who love themselves above all else are, indeed, “the men of the cave against the men of the new dawn.”
—W. K. C.
Judge ye fairly the Cause of God, your Creator, and behold that which hath been sent down from the Throne on high, and meditate thereon with innocent and sanctified hearts. Then will the truth of this Cause appear unto you as manifest as the sun in its noon-tide glory. Then will ye be of them that have believed in Him. . .
Immerse yourselves in the ocean of My words, that ye may unravel its secrets, and discover all the pearls of wisdom that lie hid in its depths. Take heed that ye do not vaccilate in your determination to embrace the truth of this Cause—a Cause through which the potentialities of the might of God have been revealed, and His sovereignty established. With faces beaming with joy, hasten ye unto Him. This is the changeless Faith of God, eternal in the past, eternal in the future. Let him that seeketh, attain it; and as to him that hath refused to seek it—verily, God is Self-Sufficient, above any need of His creatures.
Say: This is the infallible Balance which the Hand of God is holding, in which all who are in the heavens and all who are on earth are weighed, and their fate determined, if ye be of them that believe and recognize this truth. Say: Through it the poor have been enriched, the learned enlightened, and the seekers enabled to ascend unto the presence of God. . .
The Hand of Divine bounty proferreth unto you the Water of Life. Hasten and drink your fill. Whoso hath been reborn in this Day, shall never die; whoso remaineth dead, shall never live.
—BAHÁ’U’LLÁH
Youth and the Modern World
IV ELEMENTS OF A WORLD COMMONWEALTH
G. A. SHOOK
WORLD COMMUNITY AND WORLD GOVERNMENT
THE first task of a world government, if not the sole reason for its inception, is the promulgation of universal peace. If the nations of the world could live together peacefully, they would probably not be very much concerned with any kind of world unity.
Turning for a moment to the Bahá’í peace plan, we observe that it is based upon a number of assumptions which differentiate it from all other plans. For example it assumes: that we are living in a rapidly evolving world, that human institutions ultimately deteriorate, that human nature can change and that man, unaided by some superhuman power, can never extricate himself from a major crisis such as we witness today. Moreover it assumes that if peace is to be permanent and enduring, it must be universal, and it cannot be universal until there is world unity which in turn presupposes world justice. Finally, if world justice is to be more than a word, there must be some kind of world court.
All this implies a world state, that is, a world commonwealth like the United States, and a world government or super-state like our federal government.
At the outset it might be well to comment a little upon a few terms like world commonwealth, world super-state, and supreme tribunal.
Sometimes we distinguish between
the community and the
government, that is, between the
society of individuals which is
held together by some common
bond, such as language or culture,
and the government of this
community which is necessary
for its real unity. For example,
we say that in order to establish
the Lesser Peace there must be a
commonwealth of nations, that is,
some kind of world community.
But we also know there must be
some form of government associated
with this commonwealth
of nations, that is, there must be
a world super-state. Here we are
differentiating between the world
community which we call the
commonwealth of nations and
the instrument that makes it function,
which we call the world super-state.
To be sure a group of
states might have common rights,
[Page 148]
interests and privileges and still
lack political unity. This was
true of the ancient Greek city-states,
the Italian city-states, and
to a lesser degree the American
Colonies. Such a condition is, of
course, never desirable. Finally
the world government (world
super-state) must have a court
to settle disputes between the various
constituents of the commonwealth
and in the Bahá’í
peace plan this court is called
the world tribunal or supreme
tribunal.
Let us digress long enough to define a few more terms that are now in common use.
A confederation is an association of states or nations in which each nation retains its national sovereignty. It is a group of independent nations bound together by some common interest such as trade or peace. Within the confederation there is no supreme, over-all, or sovereign power to enforce its decisions. It may have a court (one branch of its government) and this court may settle disputes between nations but its decisions cannot be enforced.
The League of Nations was a confederation and so was the American Confederation (League of Friendship) before the adoption of the constitution of the United States.
In a federation (or union) on the other hand, each state must surrender some of its sovereign rights. The people of a federation feel an allegiance to the federal government and not merely to the state or nation to which they happen to belong. Broadly speaking, the unit of the federation is the citizen rather than the state although a federal system like the United States could not exist without the individual states. For example we speak of the citizens of the United States but we do not speak of the citizens of the League of Nations. The American Union is a federation. It has a central power which is above the state. It is an interstate government and through it the peoples of the various states live together harmoniously. Here we do not make a distinction between community and government, but the meaning is clear.
While each member nation of the UNO is rather unwilling to yield any of its sovereign power nevertheless the UNO is really a world government in primitive form. We must remember that the state members of the future world commonwealth will still have a function and Shoghi Effendi makes it clear that the autonomy of these state members will be completely safeguarded.
A government which exists for
the people is a living organism.
It can expand and adapt itself to
[Page 149]
an evolving world. A government
which exists for the sake of governments
cannot expand in the
same way.
FEDERATION, A CORPORATE PERSONALITY
When we say American Nation, we usually think of a community of individuals with a common language, culture, history, and aspiration. If a foreigner comes to us, assimilates some of our culture, learns our language and shares in our aspiration, he becomes one of us. This is true, of course, of any democracy which has not succumbed to an intolerant and militant nationalism.
When we think of the nation in this way, we may not associate it with the government at Washington. We know this government exists and we know that it is a part of us. Without it we would not exist. Whether the government is to be identified with the community or whether it is separate, need not concern us here. We know that we are all bound together in some very real way, and that the government exists for us.
We say, for example, the United States entered the war. We do not mean that we as individuals entered the war, rather this living organism, of which we are an integral part, entered the war. On the other hand, we also know that it is congress that declares war.
All this we know, more or less intuitively; it is just part of our social existence. But the time has now come when we must regard the citizens of the world as we regard the citizens of our country. We must have the same feeling toward the commonwealth as we have toward our own nation.
WORLD GOVERNMENT AND WORLD FORCE
The reader is familiar with some of the details of the future world government, which have been given to us by Shoghi Effendi, but several points might be stressed here.
First of all, a unanimous vote of the member nations is not required. This is possible because the world government exists for the people of the world and not for sovereign nations. If a court consists of, say seven powers, and if no power desires to be ruled by the other six, then of course the seven will insist upon a unanimous vote. Under these conditions all decisions will be agreeable to all seven powers but not necessarily to powers outside the court.
Moreover the judgments of the
world court (world tribunal or
supreme tribunal) have a binding
effect. If a nation has a problem
[Page 150]
which should be submitted
to the world court, the latter will
consider the problem and arrive
at a decision even if that nation
does not voluntarily submit its
case. Not only does the court
make decisions, but the decisions
can be carried out; for the
world executive is backed by an
international force.
It is also interesting, in the light of present events, to remember that ‘Abdu’l-Bahá anticipated a pact or covenant. Speaking of the collective efforts of the sovereigns, He says, “They must make the Cause of Peace the object of general consultation, and seek by every means in their power to establish a Union of the nations of the world. They must conclude a binding treaty and establish a covenant, the provisions of which must be sound, inviolable and definite. They must proclaim it to all the world and obtain for it the sanction of all the human race. This supreme and noble undertaking—the real source of the peace and wellbeing of all the world—should be regarded as sacred by all that dwell on earth.”
THE DECLARATION OF PEACE
This covenant is the declaration of the Lesser Peace. This peace cannot be established until there is a union of the nations and this in turn cannot take place until there is some curtailment of national sovereignty. The declaration of peace will prepare the way for the creation of a world government and the world government will protect the covenant. Without the world government (world super-state) the covenant would not be very stable.
As near as we can foretell events, the order seems to be: curtailment of national sovereignty, creation of the world commonwealth, declaration of the Lesser Peace, and then the beginning of the world government.
So much for the collective efforts of the nations to establish machinery for the promulgation of this Lesser Peace. The Bahá’í community may never exert any direct influence in this initial work and yet it is well aware of its mission to perfect those instruments which are necessary for the development of the embryonic World Order of Bahá’u’lláh, without which there will never be a world civilization.
THE BAHÁ’Í COMMUNITY
The world at large will necessarily
judge the Bahá’í community,
in fact any movement, by its
size, tangible benefits, and its
direct influence rather than its
potentialities. However those
who are laboring to consolidate
[Page 151]
the varied activities of the World
Order of Bahá’u’lláh are confident
that it alone can establish
the Golden Age. This confidence
is inspired, not only by faith in
God’s changeless purpose, but
also by the unfoldment of the
new civilization, for every important
step we witness today is
but a reflection of the rise and
consolidation of this World Order.
One thing seems fairly certain, the consummation of this colossal task will be very slow and gradual. Unconscious of the principles established by Bahá’u’lláh, the nations of the world will take the initial step in the reconstruction of mankind. In time, the principles and goals of the Faith will be recognized and it will then take its place among other religions. Finally, as a result of the spiritualization of the masses, mankind will see the potency of this building-process and will begin to incorporate these ideals in the world government.
Since the Universal House of Justice has the power to enact all ordinances that are not explicit in the Writings, it necessarily has the power to create those elements of world government that are essential for a world civilization.
The various branches of government with which we are familiar are not mentioned specifically in the Writings but that is not of primary importance. We know the Universal House has been created, we know how its members will be elected, and we know that its sphere of jurisdiction has been clearly defined; the details will evolve naturally as the world civilization unfolds.
In conclusion we must remember that world peace, which is the first concern of the world commonwealth, rests upon certain basic assumptions that are not universally recognized. For example, we are not living in a static world; human institutions are not exempt from the law of decay and must eventually deteriorate; human nature is not destined to remain just as it is today; and finally without some superhuman power humanity cannot evolve out of its present chaotic condition. Moreover the foundation of World peace is world justice and world justice implies world solidarity.
This is the fourth of five articles in a series, “Youth and the Modern World”.
Unity is the expression of the loving power of God and reflects the reality of divinity.
—‘ABDU’L-BAHÁ
GLEANINGS FROM THE WRITINGS OF BAHÁ’U’LLÁH
Book Review
BERTHA HYDE KIRKPATRICK
THE title of this treasure-book describes exactly what it is, for here are gathered selections from the extensive writings of Bahá’u’lláh gleaned from the original Persian and Arabic and translated into English by Shoghi Effendi, Guardian of the Bahá’í Faith. Taken from a variety of sources, such as letters to individuals and to rulers, long expositions or books, and a few from the Aqdas or Book of Laws, they give us the basic teachings of Bahá’í Faith.
To read these Gleanings understandingly one needs to know something of the history of the Bahá’í Faith: that Bahá’u’lláh during about forty years of the past century was, so His followers believe, the instrument and mouthpiece of God, revealing God’s will, and that the instructions He gave will, when carried out, make this earth a fit place for all mankind—what Christ called the Kingdom on earth. We may think, then, of His writings as the Scriptures for today.
Some of the subjects dealt with in these selections are: the immeasurable greatness of God; His eternal interest in and love of mankind; His slowly evolving plan for the Kingdom on earth, interpreted as an age of justice and lasting peace; the meaning of the Day of God and explanation of prophecy; explanation of the term Manifestation of God, and the need for a Mediator between God, the Creator, and His creatures; the high station to which man by following the instructions given by God through His Manifestation is capable of developing; man’s eternal life; the meaning of divine revelation and of progressive revelation; the oneness of religion and of mankind.
The excerpts reveal a variety of literary composition, for in these pages the philosopher will find logical arguments; the poet, rare and beautiful imagery; the mystic, passages which bring him into the presence of God; the moralist, straightforward and clear instructions for an upright life. Bahá’u’lláh’s language is dignified, scriptural, and yet modern in that it deals with the needs and problems of today. Several passages are taken from the Kitáb-i-Íqán, or Book of Certitude, called by Shoghi Effendi a book of “unsurpassed pre-eminence” and whose style he speaks of as “matchless in its irresistible eloquence.”
The selections are numbered, but no captions are used which might guide us in studying the book. Familiarity with it, however, shows us that the subject matter is arranged under five general heads although the subjects necessarily overlap. These are:
- 1. God and the Day of God, pages 1-46;
- 2. The Manifestations, pages 46-136;
- 3. The Soul and Immortality, pages 136-200;
Gleanings from the Writings of Bahá’u’lláh, Bahá’í Publishing Committee, 1939.
- 4. The Most Great Peace, pages 200-259;
- 5. Individual Responsibility in Living and Teaching, pages 259-346.
1. GOD AND THE DAY OF GOD.
So we open the book and are at once led to the central object of all religion, God. His immeasurable greatness: “Exalted, immensely exalted art Thou above the strivings of mortal man to unravel Thy mystery, to describe Thy glory, or even to hint at the nature of Thy Essence.” And in the second selection we read, “The beginning of all things is the knowledge of God, and the end of all things is strict observance of whatsoever hath been sent down from the empyrean of Divine Will.”
Perhaps only to those familiar with Old Testament prophecy does the “Day of God” have significance, and as we read on we find that Bahá’u’lláh does link the present with words uttered 2500 and more years ago. “The promises of God,” He states, “as recorded in the Holy Scriptures have all been fulfilled.” It is difficult for us who have been accustomed to associate the prophetic words of the Old Testament either with the coming of Christ or with some vague far-off time to adjust our minds to even the possibility of living in the day of fulfillment. Yet many of those prophecies foretold a time of dire calamity, a day “great and very terrible”. It should not be difficult to see the fulfillment of such prophecies in events of today. But often Bahá’u’lláh speaks of this present time as “a glorious day” in which “God’s most excellent favors have been poured out upon men.” It is the “Divine Springtime,” “the day in which the fragrances of mercy have been wafted over all created things.” With these and other beautiful analogies Bahá’u’lláh bids us rejoice that God has again manifested Himself in human form. He so promised and has fulfilled His promise. Surely such a time is the Day of God.
2. THE MANIFESTATIONS OF GOD.
Through about ninety pages we find explanations and analogies telling what and who are the Manifestations of God. They are the “Bearers of the Trust of God,” the “Exponents of a new Cause and the Revealers of a new Message”. In outward appearance They are men like ourselves. They are, for example, Adam, Noah, Moses, Jesus, Muḥammad. They are Mirrors reflecting God’s attributes, “His Beauty, His Might and Glory”. Often They are spoken of as Prophets of God and sometimes as Divine Physicians Who alone know the cause of the sickness of humanity and Who alone know and give the remedy. They speak for God: “The Person of the Manifestation hath ever been the representative and mouthpiece of God.” Coming many times in different bodily forms and with different names, yet the Manifestations of God are one in spirit; “Know thou assuredly that the essence of all the Prophets of God is one and the same.”
And why is it necessary that again
and again these divine Messengers
come to earth? Because this is the
way God has chosen to communicate
His will and plan to us. They are
the Messengers and also the Mediators
between God and man. Cod considers
man worthy of such bounty
because He has chosen “to confer
upon man the unique distinction and
capacity to know Him and to love
Him”. But this capacity lies latent
[Page 154]
within man just as the light, Bahá’u’lláh
says, lies hidden in the candle
and cannot be lighted by its own unaided
effort. The Manifestation of
God pours out the warmth and light
necessary to kindle the fire of His
love.
3. THE SOUL OF MAN AND IMMORTALITY.
If man is of such great worth and if from time immemorial God has sent His Messengers to redeem man and to teach him how to raise himself above his animal nature, how to advance in civilization, man’s existence must extend beyond the few years of his earthly life. “How could such Souls,” asks Bahá’u’lláh referring to the Manifestations, “have consented to surrender Themselves unto Their enemies if They believed all the worlds of God to have been reduced to this earthly life?” Thus Bahá’u’lláh teaches, as the Manifestations of God have always taught, that man’s soul is immortal. Nowhere else do we find such complete and logical proof of the existence of the soul and of its external life. “The soul of man”, Bahá’u’lláh states, “is exalted above and independent of all infirmities of body or mind.” Clear explanations and illustrations follow this statement. But although we may understand the importance of man’s soul and its immortality, its nature is beyond our comprehension. Of this Bahá’u’lláh says, “Know, verily, that the soul is a sign of God, a heavenly gem whose reality the most learned of men hath failed to grasp, whose mystery, no mind, however acute, can ever hope to unravel.”
4. THE MOST GREAT PEACE.
But man’s responsibility extends beyond his own individual salvation. “All men have been created to carry forward an ever-advancing civilization” Bahá’u’lláh affirms, and “The heights which, through the most gracious favor of God mortal man can attain, in this Day, are as yet unrevealed to his sight”. This goal, a true civilization worthy of the potential capacities with which God has endowed man, Bahá’u’lláh calls the age of the Most Great Peace. In the past the Prophets of God have pointed to and promised such an age. Jesus Christ called it the Kingdom on earth. But now is the time to actually build on the foundations of the new civilization already laid. Through many pages Bahá’u’lláh tells us some of the essentials of the plan. There must be complete reconciliation and unity among the nations, concerted disarmament, a universal language supplementing national languages, and basic to all, one common Faith, the religion of God, laws of God to which all will gladly render obedience.
Many of the sections in these pages are gleaned from letters which Bahá’u’lláh addressed directly to “Kings of the Earth”, “Leaders of religion”, “Contending peoples”. In these He not only sets out the goal and means of true civilization but gives clear warnings as to what will happen if rulers and nations continue to pile up armaments and overburden their people. It is all too evident that these warnings were not heeded by the rulers and leaders. It is others who have heeded and are building the new civilization in accord with Bahá’u’lláh’s plan.
5. INDIVIDUAL RESPONSIBILITY IN LIVING AND TEACHING
Although Bahá’u’lláh put great responsibility
upon the rulers for disarmament
and for devoting themselves
[Page 155]
to the betterment of their subjects
and upon the divines for understanding
His mission and instructing
the people rightly, He did not relieve
the mass of mankind from responsibility.
The last eighty-seven pages of
the book set such standards of
“praiseworthy character and upright
conduct” and “righteous deeds” as
can “ensure the victory of Him Who
is the Eternal Truth.”
The hearts now, as always, belong to God and it is only as the individual hearts are awakened to the new call that we can hope for a world in which progress will always be upward so that a lasting peace may be achieved. Such awakened souls must arise to teach others of this great new age but, Bahá’u’lláh warns, he who would “teach the Cause of his Lord let him before all else, teach his own self.” The people of Bahá must “gird up the loins of endeavor”. The great aim is unity for “Ye are all fruits of one tree, and the leaves of one branch.”
In these last pages we find passages of great poetic beauty, others of compelling exhortation, and some of clear and simple instructions. Sometimes we find a sentence or group of sentences which seem to tell all in a few words as: “My object is none other than the betterment of the world and the tranquillity of its people. The well-being of mankind, its peace and security are unattainable until its unity is firmly established. This unity can never be achieved so long as the counsels which the Pen of the Most High hath revealed are suffered to pass unheeded.”
And in this last section of the book is the passage taken from the Íqán and known to Bahá’ís as “The Seeker” in which is set out the attitude of open-mindedness, true humility, purity of heart and detachment in which the sincere seeker for truth approaches this Message of the New Day. Some who take up this book with little knowledge of Bahá’u’lláh’s message and mission will like to study this passage first of all. Others will like to plunge in and “immerse” themselves “in the ocean of God’s words,” feel the power and beauty and truth in the words of Bahá’u’lláh and then go back to drink deep of the water of life. Whichever method is used the true seeker will gain in these Gleanings a new understanding of God’s hand in the events and tremendous changes now taking place in the world and a great incentive to do his part in helping to build the civilization of the New Age.
This is one in a series of articles on Bahá’í books.
For Bahá’u’lláh . . . has not only imbued mankind with a new and regenerating Spirit. He has not merely enunciated certain universal principles, or propounded a particular philosophy, however potent, sound and universal these may be. In addition to these He, as well as ‘Abdu’l-Bahá after Him, have, unlike the Dispensations of the past, clearly and specifically laid down a set of Laws, established definite institutions, and provided for the essentials of a Divine Economy. These are destined to be a pattern for future society, a supreme instrument for the establishment of the Most Great Peace, and the one agency for the unification of the world, and the proclamation of the reign of righteousness and justice upon the earth . . . —SHOGHI EFFENDI
Assignment to America
SHOGHI EFFENDI
THE opening years of the second century of the Bahá’í Era are witnessing the launching of yet another stage of an enterprise the range of whose unfolding processes we can, at the present time, but dimly visualize. . . .
The impulse from which this historic world-embracing crusade, which, alike in the character of its Founder and the nature of the tasks committed to its participants, is unprecedented in religious history, derives its creative power may be said to have in a sense originated with the mandate issued by the Báb in His “Qayyúmu’l-Asmá,” one of His earliest and greatest works, as far back as the opening years of the first Bahá’í century, and directed specifically to the “peoples of the West,” to “issue forth” from their “cities" and aid His Cause.
To this initial impulse given by the Herald of our Faith, whilst confined in the heart of far-away Asia, a still greater force was communicated, and a more specific direction given, when the Author of our Faith Himself, having already set foot on the fringes of the continent of Europe, addressed, in His Kitáb-i-Aqdas, from behind the walls of the prison-city of ‘Akká, some of the most celebrated passages of that Book to the Chief Magistrates of the entire American continent, bidding them “bind with the hands of justice the broken,” and “crush the oppressor” with the “rod of the commandments” of their Lord. Unlike the kings of the earth whom He had so boldly condemned in that same Book, unlike the European Sovereigns whom He had either rebuked, warned or denounced, such as the French Emperor, the most powerful monarch of his time, the Conqueror of that monarch, the Heir of the Holy Roman Empire, and the Caliph of Islám, the Rulers of America were not only spared the ominous and emphatic warnings which He uttered against the crowned heads of the world, but were called upon to bring their corrective and healing influence to bear upon the injustices perpetrated by the tyrannical and the ungodly. To this remarkable pronouncement, conferring such distinction upon the sovereign rulers of the Western Hemisphere, must be added not only the passages in which the Author of our Faith clearly foreshadows the revelation of the “signs of His dominion” in the West, but also the no less significant verbal affirmations which, according to reliable eyewitnesses, He more than once made in regard to the glorious destiny which America was to attain in the days to come.
That same impulse was markedly accelerated when the Center of the Covenant Himself, through a series of successive acts, chose to disclose, to an unprecedented extent, the character of the Mission reserved for the followers of Bahá’u’lláh in that continent, and to delineate the tasks whereby that God-given design was to be fulfilled.
WITH OUR READERS
OUR leading title “San Francisco, 1945” recalls immediately the great peace conference when the constitution of the United Nations was adopted. In the letter accompanying his article Arthur Dahl says: “This was written at the express request of the Committee on Bahá’í Peace Plan. I realize that this is reaching you much later than it should. . . . However, we feel that this story is a matter of important historical record, and as such will he interesting even a year late.
“Though the enclosed article is entirely my own work, I leaned so heavily on the splendid chronicle written by Marion Holley Hofman for The Bahá’í World that I thought it only right that her name should appear as co-author. I think it should be made clear, however, that she has not seen the finished manuscript.”
The editors are taking this way of recognizing Mrs. Hofman’s important part and are printing the article under Mr. Dahl’s name as author. Our readers will remember other of Mr. Dahl’s contributions to World Order. His last previous one was a review of the book One Nation in our recent March issue. Mr. Dahl’s home is in Palo Alto, California. Mrs. Hofman’s home is now in England as many of our readers know.
Our constant readers will remember Benjamin Kaufman’s two previous articles both entitled “In the Army”, one written in 1942 and the other in 1946 after four years of army experience. In the letter which came with “Where Intolerance Begins” Mr. Kaufman says: “I have recently been discharged from the army and am living in Rahway, New Jersey. While overseas my family lived in Los Angeles, California, where my wife was active in Bahá’í circles. . . . My war experiences left me with many strong convictions. The little incident, herein enclosed, illustrates one of them. I am sure that other Bahá’ís who were in the service had similar lessons brought home to them.”
On the same subject of prejudice and intolerance is Marzieh Gail’s “Event in Hamadán” based, as she explains, on a true incident. Something happens, we learn, when prejudice meets unselfish devotion. Lack of space did not allow the author’s last paragraph which ran like this: “This happened seventy years ago in Hamadán the Echatana (treasurehouse) of the ancients. It is the story of Ḥakím Aqá Ján (son of Ḥakím Lálizár), the first Jewish Bahá’í of that city.”’ Mrs. Gail’s rather frequent contributions to World Order make her well known to our readers.
This month William Kenneth Christian contributes our editorial entitled “The Men of a New Dawn”. For a number of years Mr. Christian has been a contributor to World Order and within the past year he has been appointed to the editorial committee. At the April election he became a member of the National Spiritual Assembly. He is instructor in written and spoken English at the Michigan State College and makes his home in Lansing.
[Page 158]
“Elements of a World CommonWealth”
is the fourth in Glenn
Shook’s series under the general title
“Youth and the Modern World”. Professor
Shook is head of the department
of physics in Wheaton College,
Norton, Massachusetts.
The article on Gleanings from the Writings of Bahá’u’lláh by Bertha Hyde Kirkpatrick is another in our Bahá’í Literature Series. The object of this series is to better acquaint our readers, especially new Bahá’ís and non-Bahá’í’s with the great richness and variety of Bahá’í writings and the type of writings found in each book. The last previous one in this series was in our May issue when Marzieh Gail wrote about Bahá’u’lláh’s Epistle to the Son of the Wolf. Mrs. Kirkpatrick is a member of the World Order editorial committee. Her home is in Olivet, Michigan.
“Assignment to America” is a page of excerpts taken from a long letter from Shoghi Effendi dated Haifa, Palestine, June 15, 1946, addressed to the Bahá’ís of the United States and Canada, in which the Guardian outlines the immediate tasks assigned to the believers of that Community.
• • •
Our readers and the editors alike echo the sentiment in the following bit from a letter by one of our readers: “I close with the hope that we may have the pleasure of reading something in the magazine from Rúhíyyih Khanúm—as the last time World Order magazine published an interesting letter from her was, unless memory fails me, a month before the Centenary . . .” The last contribution, however, which Rúhíyyih Khanúm generously sent us was published in May, 1945, only a little over a year ago. The title was “Ring Out the Old, Ring in the New”, and it was a beautiful account of the celebration of the Centenary in Haifa the year before.
A copy of the Herald of the South has come to the editorial desk and in it was a contribution by Rúhíyyih Khanúm. (The Herald of the South is the quarterly magazine published by the Bahá’ís of Australia and New Zealand.) The title of the article is “The Fragrance of Letters”, and it starts as follows: “From all over the world letters stream into the Guardian’s mail bag. Many of them set forth the problems in the life of some individual who no longer feels able to cope alone with his difiiculties, sorrows or perplexities, and turns with a full heart to the Head of his Faith for help in his hour of need. But many others tell tales of victory, of unquenchable devotion to the Cause of God, of gladness and of gratitude. Some of the passages in these latter kind of letters are worthy indeed of being shared with others who toil in the Vineyard of God all over the world, and of serving to inspire their efforts and cheer their hearts. . . All are naturally published with the knowledge of the Guardian.”
Then follow several pages of excerpts
from letters from many corners
of the globe. Many of them
were from our own American Bahá’ís
who have gone to other countries or
settled in a new place in the United
States. Others told of other pioneers
in other lands. The following tells
how Bahá’ís are working in India to
spread the Faith: “This year the
publicity given the Cause has been
intense. Lectures have been given
[Page 159]
by different Bahá’í teachers in
various parts of India . . . A microphone
and two loud speakers have
been purchased in order to lecture
among the masses of mill laborers of
Ahmedabad . . . half of which is
comprised of mill laborers. It has
eighty mills and so far lectures have
been delivered by Mrs. Shirin Fozdar
to the workers of a dozen mills. The
laborers evince deep interest and beg
for literature.”
In her closing paragraph Rúhíyyih Khanúm says: “We Bahá’ís are not extraordinary people; in fact there is nothing very distinguished about the members of the Faith at present except what they believe in and the effect it has had on their minds and lives. . . . One sees demonstrated [in these letters] the workings of spiritual laws: the sick are so often healed; the weak arise and forget all about themselves in the joy of service; youth shows forth the wisdom of age, and age the boundless enthusiasm of youth. The pulse of the Cause can be felt here, and it beats strong and steady. The news flows in to the Guardian, the heart, and the steadying influence of his inspired vision and judgment flows out again to guide, strengthen and lead the followers of Bahá’u’lláh on their path of service to all mankind.”
• • •
A letter from a New Zealand reader reminds us of the fine work of Alvin Blum in those islands. The writer also makes friendly comment in regard to our magazine. He writes at length and we can select only parts of his letter. “You ask for comments on World Order,” he says: “Needless to say I think it’s fine, but I can’t help wondering if its appeal is not mainly to Bahá’ís . . . quite a number have said to me, ‘Why don’t they use simpler language?’ . . . Now another point. Cannot more articles be introduced of a personally helpful nature”.
The writer speaks of finding help in Lady Blomfield’s Chosen Highway “because it shows ‘Abdu’l-Bahá as one able to help people with their immediate personal problems.”
Similar suggestions have come to us from other readers. We welcome the suggestions and would also welcome such articles, well written and based on Bahá’í teachings. Occasionally they come to us and we print them. “Successful Marriage” in our April number and “Bahá’í Children and the Peace” in the same number and the editorial on “Humility” in the May number might be counted in this class.
While none of us can improve on
the instructions and help for right
living and right meeting of personal
problems given us in Bahá’u’lláh’s
and ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s own words and
found in such books as Prayers and
Meditations, Hidden Words, The
Advent of Divine Justice, The Gleanings,
The Divine Art of Living, yet
some may be able to write in such
a way as to call attention to the high
ideals of Bahá’í daily life, and to help
readers along the path of achievement.
Incidents and personal experience
help others. Prosperity and
happiness in the usual rather superficial
use of the terms are not, we
know, the goal of the Bahá’í teachings.
Those looking for the deeper
spiritual joy which comes from service
and from the consciousness that
one is helping to lay the foundation
of a world order wherein everyone
has a fair chance of making the most
[Page 160]
of himself will find it in following
the Bahá’í teachings.
• • •
The comments of our friendly correspondent give us an opportunity to discuss briefly with our readers the policy and aim of World Order magazine. It is true that the magazine is intended primarily for Bahá’ís, but through them we know it reaches others who are interested in our Faith and wish to learn more about it. It also reaches others through libraries. We hope it is the kind of magazine that a Bahá’í may hand to someone interested in the Faith, or even to one who, he hopes, will be interested, and ask that person to read some particular article, with, perhaps, a word of explanation. We also hope it is the kind of magazine which helps Bahá’ís to grow in the Faith, to link up the Faith with current events and books and sometimes to provide them with material for a talk or broadcast. Naturally it should be of more help to those new in the Faith than to those who have made an almost lifelong study of the words of Bahá’u’lláh and ‘Abdu’l-Bahá. The occasional printing of a new index or study outline should be a help to every Bahá’í. We also want it to supplement Bahá’í News in bringing us in touch with Bahá’ís in other lands. We wish we had more contributions from our pioneers in other countries.
In each issue we try to have a variety of types of articles because we know we have a variety of types of readers, but we are always limited in what we print by what is contributed. We know that some issues are better than others. Occasionally we receive a contribution so universal in subject matter and so well written that practically all our readers like it, are moved and helped by it.
We believe articles should be well written. This does not mean that they should necessarily have long words and involved phrases, or on the other hand that they must necessarily be expressed in short words and phrases. In either style, they should be clear and understandable. The magazine as an organ of the Faith of Bahá’u’lláh should have the best we can give it both in form and spirit.
We hope in a few months to add pictures in each issue and shall be glad to receive contributions and suggestions along this line. And please send us the type of article you would like to see printed in World Order. We do not promise to print it, but we will give it our sincere and careful attention.
• • •
We welcome Eleanor Sweney Hutchens as another new member of World Order editorial committee and regret that Garreta Busey felt obliged to withdraw from the committee on account of the pressure of other Bahá’í work and her professional duties.
—THE EDITORS.
Bahá’í World Faith
This book contains a representative selection of the Writings of Bahá’u’lláh and of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, and is the largest collection of Bahá’í literature in English translation now available in one volume.
A detailed Table of Contents and an Index make the Bahá’í teachings readily accessible for study as well as reading and meditation.
The plan of the book arranges the contents in nine chapters, as follows—
- Part One—Writings of Bahá’u’lláh
- Chapter One—The Great Announcement
- Chapter Two—The Promised One
- Chapter Three—The Life of the Soul
- Chapter Four—Laws of the New Age
- Chapter Five—The Mystery of God
- Part Two—Writings of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá
- Chapter Six—The Faith of Bahá’u’lláh
- Chapter Seven—Soul, Mind and Spirit
- Chapter Eight—The Loom of Reality
- Chapter Nine—The Divine Plan
Each of these chapters has been treated as a unit of significance, and the sequence of the nine chapters conveys a sense of the unfoldment of the Bahá’í Dispensation in the Tablets of Bahá’u’lláh, His Will and Testament, the Tablets and Addresses of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, and in His Testament and Plan for the World Order of Bahá’u’lláh.
The passages selected have been taken from fifteen different publications as well as from the National Archives.
Printed on thin light paper and bound in green fabrikoid. 465 pages. Per copy, $1.50.
BAHÁ’Í PUBLISHING COMMITTEE
110 Linden Avenue, Wilmette, Illinois
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.