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[Page 71]

WORLD ORDER THE BAHÁ’Í MAGAZINE

Science and World Order Edris Rice Wray

Pioneer Kaleidoscope Alice Dudley

The Undernourished, Poem Garreta Busey

Test by Fire, Editorial Flora Emily Hottes

Mullá Husayn: First Letter of the Living Arthur Dahl

Leaves, Poem Stanton A. Coblenz

The Bahá’í Trail, Poem Duart Vincent Brown

A Bahá’í School Margaret Kunz Ruhe

What Did I Care? Poem Ida Elaine James

Meditations

With Our Readers [Page 72]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. Editors: Victor de Araujo, Elsa Blakely, Garreta Busey, Robert Durr, Pearl Easterbrook, Gertrude Henning, Flora Emily Hottes, Eleanor S. Hutchens, Mabel H. Paine.

Publication Office 110 LINDEN AVENUE, WILMETTE, ILL. C. R. Wood, Business Manager Printed in U.S.A.

Editorial Office Miss Garreta Busey, Editor 503 WEST ELM STREET, URBANa Ill.

JUNE, 1948, VOLUME XIV, NUMBER 3

SUBSCRIPTIONS: $2.00 per year, for United States, its terri tories and possessions; for Canada, Cuba, Mexico, Central and South America. Single copies, 20c. Foreign subscriptions, $2.25. Make checks and money orders payable to World Order Maga- zine, 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 1948 by Bahá’í Publishing Committee. Title Registered at U. S. Patent Office.

CHANGE OF ADDRESS SHOULD BE REPORTED ONE MONTH IN ADVANCE [Page 73]

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WORLD ORDER

The frontispiece shows a group of students and teachers at Green Acre, the oldest of the Bahá’í summer schools. Located on a beautiful tract of forest and meadow land on the shores of the Piscataqua River, in Maine. Green Acre has an interesting history. There, in 1894, Miss Sarah J. Farmer started a series of conferences devoted to the ideals of human unity. Such men as John Greenleaf Whittier, Edward Everett Hale, Edwin H. Markham, Ralph Waldo Trine, William Dean Howells, William Lloyd Garrison, and Booker T. Washington have been associated with these conferences, which were opened on July 4, 1894, with a ceremony culminating in the raising of a flag of World Peace.

Now there are three other Bahá’í schools in the United States: Louhelen, in Michigan; Geyserville, in California; and Temerity Ranch, devoted to the training of Bahá’í pioneers to foreign lands, in Colorado. A beautiful tract of land has recently been given for a new school in Canada. They all offer to anyone who is interested in the Faith instruction in its Teachings and an opportunity to participate in the Bahá’í way of living.

Two years later, Miss Farmer became acquainted with the Bahá’í Faith. She visited ‘Abdu’l-Bahá in Palestine and thereafter dedicated herself and Green Acre to the religion which embodies in their purest form the ideals for which she had been striving. [Page 75]

Science and World Order

EDRIS RICE WRAY

SCIENCE is inescapably involved in the achievement of world order in this day. In the first place, the development of modern science has caused the world to shrink into a neighborhood, thus making world order possible. For ten thousand years man depended upon animal power for his transportation. In the last one hundred years science has given us the electric and steam trains, the automobile, and the jet propulsion airplanes. We can now go around the world by air in a shorter time than was formerly necessary to go from Boston to New York.

Secondly, science has made the achievement of world order an urgent necessity. For with the development of atomic power, as well as the knowledge of the potentialities of biological warfare, we face annihilation. In the words of Arthur Compton, the well-known physicist, “We shall learn to live together as brothers or we shall not live.”

It would seem that the chaos and confusion of today is the result of poor timing. Ideas and attitudes have not kept pace with scientific advance. In other words, we are thinking in terms of the horse-and-buggy era. The urgency to achieve world order cannot be over-estimated. Time is running out.

Since thinking people everywhere are becoming increasingly aware of this urgency, why do we not achieve world order? There are two main causes for our lack of constructive activity. Too many of us cannot face new facts or accept new ideas. Some of us are too immature. We are afraid to face the new. We are like a man who cannot see, merely because he refuses to open his eyes. He would like to see, but he is afraid to give up the darkness he is used to. Holding on to the habitual, traditional way of thinking and acting gives one a sense of security (false though it may be) and we are loath to relinquish it.

Another group of us is too old [Page 76]psychologically. We are unable to accept new ideas. It has been said that a man is as old as his concepts. When one's concepts are crystallized, he is old whether he is eighteen or eighty. If the purpose of life is to grow and develop, living after development has stopped is useless. In this age, nothing but the scientific spirit will be of any value if we wish to solve our problems. We must search for truth in the field of social relations just as the true scientist approaches his problems. First, an open mind is essential. As Spallanzi, the Italian scientist, said, “If I want to find truth, I must have an open mind. I have to learn to follow where the facts lead me. I have to learn to whip my prejudices.” We too must be willing to sacrifice our preconceived ideas in order to attain truth.

According to Dr. Paul Hatt, sociologist at Wayne University, Detroit, our failure to achieve world unity is due to our "beloved barriers." He explains that belonging to a group gives one a feeling of warmth and security. One's ego is inflated by being a member of the group. However, when our loyalty to the group comes in conflict with other groups, these group-loyalties become destructive.

The most important beloved barriers are those of religion, race, nation, and class. Dr. Hatt believes it essential that we examine our loyalties to ascertain whether they are on a rational or an emotional basis.

When considering the lack of progress, or rather, actual stagnation, of science during the first fourteen centuries, we can gain some insight into the dead end in which we find ourselves now. During this period, the scientific world, and especially medicine, made no progress. Dana, the medical historian, calls this age the age of "coma in medicine." In the first century there lived a physician by the name of Galen. He wrote many books on anatomy, physiology, diagnosis, and treatment. Though he had never dissected the human body or conducted a physiological experiment, he was considered a great authority. For fourteen centuries no doctor had the temerity to question the authority of Galen. Observation and experimentation were strictly prohibited, and no one dared entertain an idea which differed from the tradition of Galen. Servitas, the first to dissect the body of a dead man in order to gain accurate knowledge of anatomy, was condemned to death. Harvey, who in the fifteenth century discovered the cir- [Page 77]

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culation of the blood, was driven from his lecture chair and called the “frogs' dancing master", all because he dared experiment and observe. When Copernicus presented his new theory that the earth revolved on its axis and itself revolved around the sun, he brought down upon his head the condemnation of the Church and was denounced by the leading scientists and astronomers of his time.

The age of progressive medicine has been only the last four centuries. This age dawned when scientists became courageous enough to throw off dogmatic adherence to traditional thinking and to step out into the uncharted road of new concepts. When we look at international politics, social relations, and religion today, does it not remind us of this period of stagnation in science? We seem to be particularly determined that religion be static and unchanging, while science goes forward and progresses.

The scientific approach would be to define the problem and then set about searching for the answer. The scientists as a group are facing the problem of the world's dilemma. It is unprecedented for scientists to leave their laboratories, journey to Washington, and concern themselves with politics and statesmanship. Yet many of the leading atomic scientists have done this very thing. In the words of Dr. Joseph Mayer of the Department of Nuclear Studies at the University of Chicago, "We scientists are scared.” And well they may be, for they have put into the hands of immature man, still emotionally and psychologically living in the horse-and-buggy era, the weapons with which to destroy himself. They can't help feeling that this awful responsibility is on the shoulders of those who have made this destruction possible. Many of them share the feelings of Einstein, who declares that he wishes he had had nothing to do with it.

Not many years ago it was thought that, if the scientists would only develop better and faster methods of communication and transportation, somehow world unity would come about.

It was also thought that if, through the development of science, man would attain a higher standard of living, with more comforts and gadgets, he would himself achieve a higher level in his social relationships. Now it becomes apparent that science is neither good nor bad. It can be used either constructively or destructively. The problem seems, therefore, to be located, not in [Page 78]...the external world about us, but within man himself.

Many of these same scientists are now looking for the answer in moral standards, ethical concepts, indeed, in religion itself. The Surgeon-General of the United States Public Health Service, Thomas Parran, Jr., in speaking of public health problems today, said, "Many are coming to realize that there is a disease of men's minds and spirits which is far more drastic. Men must learn how to get along together. This mysterious missing factor is to be found in religion."

Many a sincere scientific person has, consequently, turned to the world of religion for the answer. The first problem confronting one is "Where shall I start?" If one is to start with Christianity, which of the two hundred and fifty or more different sects is Christianity? Where is true Christianity? As the search continues, the confusion deepens, for each group with equal vehemence declares its particular version of Christianity to be the one and only path to God. We must also face the fact that Christianity, thinking in world terms, is actually a minority religion. We cannot shut our eyes to the seventy-three percent of the world's peoples who firmly believe that the Muḥammadan, the Buddhist, or the Zoroastrian religion is the one and only path to God.

At such a time sincere people everywhere will welcome the news that there is in the world today a religion which has for its chief objective world order. This modern universal religion can be accepted by scientists, since its basic tenet is the belief that religion to be truth must be in accord with science and reason. Any religion not in conformity with science is declared to be superstition and not worthy of consideration.

In the light of the Bahá’í teachings, true science and true religion cannot conflict because both are truth, and truth does not conflict with itself. The difficulty has arisen because pseudo-science and pseudo-religion have been mistaken for the real thing.

It is largely a matter of definition. Science is defined as that branch of truth which concerns itself with material phenomena. It is a product of the mind of man. By observation and experimentation it discovers the laws which govern the material universe. By the application of these findings, man progresses materially, he lives in greater comfort, learns to combat disease, and is able to move with greater [Page 79]rapidity over the face of the earth.

Religion, on the other hand, is concerned with the world of the spirit. It answers the great questions of the universe: Where do we come from? Where are we going? What is the purpose of our existence? It clarifies the relationship of man to man and of man to God. It provides the catalyst which enables groups of people to live together in peace.

The source of religion has always been the Prophets of God, the Founders of the world’s great religions. Pseudo-religion is the product of the minds of men and is superimposed, as the centuries pass by, on the original teachings of these Founders of religion. This process is so insidious that the man-made additions to religion come to be accepted as religion, and religion, proportionately, ceases to fulfill its original purpose.

This explains why religions have often become in practice something entirely foreign and often in direct opposition to the original teaching. As an example of this trend, we can cite the burning of witches in America and Europe, the Holy Catholic Inquisition in Spain, in which, during the Middle Ages, thousands of men, women, and children were subjected to the most revolting and unspeakable tortures because they dared to differ even slightly from the accepted Church dogmas. It is well known that for seven hundred years the Church violently opposed any scientific progress. In speaking of this cleavage between science and religion, the internationally known French scientist, Lecomte du Noüy states: “Religions could not always overcome the difficulties created by the immense and rapid development of science and by its ever-increasing prestige. Some of them reacted by entrenching themselves behind absolute dogmas and intransigent interpretations; they refused to evolve, and settled down in an obstinate state of stagnation..."¹

According to the Bahá’í teachings, the first prerequisite in the investigation of truth, whether scientific or religious, is that our search be unfettered and independent. We have made the mistake, in both fields, of blind adherence to dogma and tradition. We approach our task full of prejudices. We set out to prove what we wish to believe, not to follow wherever truth may lead.

Bahá’u’lláh teaches that the primary function of religion is to unite people and make them love each other. Whenever religion

¹Human Destiny, published by Longmans, Green & Co., Inc., Copyright 1947. [Page 80]becomes a cause of conflict, it is better to get rid of it. It is like a medicine which aggravates the disease. The intelligent person will stop taking the medicine. In the same manner, when our interpretation of religion causes us to be in conflict with other religionists, our religion has become fruitless. It is time to stop and examine what we call religion.

In surveying the world situation, it is obvious that the principle momentum of our age is toward division and strife. We are on the brink of annihilation because of our divisions and group antagonisms. Some force must be found which can counteract this tendency and unite these antagonistic groups. In the opinion of Emery Reves, “Human society can only be saved by universalism. A new religion of universalism . . . is bound to arise from the ruin and suffering caused by the impending collapse of the era of nationalism.”

The Bahá’í Faith, for one hundred and three years, has been working steadily toward this goal. There are now followers in more than ninety countries of the world. These people have given up their “in-group" consciousness for the larger loyalty of world consciousness. They think of themselves less as citizens of their own nations and more as citizens of the planet; less as members of any particular race and more as members of the human race; less as followers of any particular religious group and more as children of one God. In the words of the Founder of the Bahá’í Faith, "The earth is but one country and mankind its citizens."

Bahá’ís believe that the basis of world unity is religious unity. For there must be a unity of conscience throughout the world and a universal adherence to one moral code, one standard. Lecomte du Noüy believes, "The happiness of peoples depends in part on the unity of religious thought. The world will believe in peace only when the churches will demonstrate that it can exist."

How has it been possible for the Bahá’ís to achieve the seemingly impossible? For Bahá’ís the world over comprise people from every religion—Christians from both Catholic and Protestant backgrounds, Jews, Muḥammadans, Buddhists, Hindus, Zoroastrians, and those from no religious background. In studying the Bahá’í teachings the student comes to realize that the belief in

--- ² Anatomy of Peace published by Harper & Bros., copyright, 1945. p. 87. ³ Human Destiny, published by Longmans Green & Co., Inc., 1947, p. 140. [Page 81]

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plurality in religion is a denial of religion itself. There can be but one God behind the universe, Who is the source of all religious truth. That He spoke in every age through different mouthpieces does not mean that He is not the same God speaking. The fact that fundamentally every Prophet taught the same basic truths is proof of this. That the message in each age differed slightly in accordance with the varying needs and capacities of the various people to whom the Prophet came is only a proof of the knowledge and wisdom of God. Why then are the followers of the world's religions so blind to this fact? They lack perspective and fail to realize that what divides them is partly the different name in each age and especially the different set of man-made interpretations which are added to every religion by the theologians. They are completely unable to separate the original message of the Founders of the religions from the man-made interpretations added later. The unthinking person swallows it all because he is brought up to believe it all. He accepts it all with the same blind allegiance, as equally valid, not having the perception to discriminate truth from falsehood. Many thinking persons, as well, do not seem to have the power to discriminate between true religion and pseudo-religion but do have the courage to start thinking through some of the church doctrines. When they find any of them at variance with science, which today many take as the one dependable yardstick, they throw the whole thing over and become agnostics.

The Bahá’í, however, recognizing that the Founders of all the world's religions are from the same God, realizes that he cannot accept one without accepting them all. Likewise he cannot deny one without denying them all. The original message is always the same and is always in accord with scientific truth. Thus division in religion becomes childish and a sign of ignorance. The barriers automatically fall away as soon as the student breathes the fresh invigorating air of religious unity, Now, instead of devoting his precious energies to opposing and hating the other religionists, he dedicates himself to the task of building world unity. The scientist can now have faith without conflict in his mind between his religious convictions and scientific truth. The Bahá’í loses his group consciousness by raising his sight above all divisional thinking. He is a citizen of the [Page 82]world and he is dedicated to the establishment of a world consciousness in the minds of men everywhere. He ceases to think of people as members of any group, be it national, racial, or religious. People are all members of the human race.

The Bahá’ís everywhere are constantly striving with great enthusiasm to establish world civilization. The means for the establishment of world order are the special characteristics of the message of Bahá’u’lláh which are adapted to this twentieth century. In the 1860's (when Bahá’u’lláh was a prisoner of the Turks because of this teaching of world unity) He proclaimed to the rulers of the world His plan for world order. In essence this plan calls for a federation of the nations of the world, a world legislature to make world law, a world court to settle the disputes between the nations, and a world police force to enforce the decisions of the court. In addition He pointed out the need for a universal auxiliary language to be learned by all the peoples of the world in addition to their mother tongue, so that all could understand one another. The need for a universal educational curriculum to be taught in all the schools of the world was stressed. This education, which must consist of a basic education plus training in some art, craft, or profession, must be made available to every child on the planet. Women in the new age must have equal rights and privileges with men and must receive the same education. In fine, the blueprint for world order was given to the world at that time. How interesting to the Bahá’ís to see the world slowly, falteringly, advance toward the very plan outlined by Bahá’u’lláh over eighty years ago.

Unless the law of God is given to man in an unmistakable manner so that all may read it and know, how can we say that this or that is the law? Unless there is a standard with authority behind it great enough to command a voluntary obedience, of what value is it? This is why pronouncements of philosophers or educators or statesmen, no matter how idealistic or practical they may be, cannot fundamentally change the attitudes and actions of a people. We had ample evidence during the war that an order cannot be forced on any people. They will resist it to the last breath. A Prophet of God has been said to be that one who makes us want to do what we don't want to do. It is said that human nature can never change. The Prophets of God have dem- [Page 83]

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onstrated throughout history that they are the only ones possessing the power to change it. The transformation of the simple ignorant fishermen who became the Disciples of Christ is a striking example.

A student of international affairs recently said that world order is not being achieved, because we have no common loyalty, no motivation toward world order.

The world will achieve order. Peace between nations will be attained. It is inescapable. It is inevitable. The Messenger of God has come again to revivify the souls of men. The plan has been given whereby world civilization will be achieved. The law has gone forth for this universal age. People will finally obey it when they realize that the authority behind this message is God Himself. It is just this that makes the followers want to obey. The call to unity is strong enough to raise the followers above the limitations of division. It is able to light in their hearts the fire of devotion which caused 20,000 of the early followers to give their lives for it and millions today all over the planet to dedicate themselves to its goals.

Throughout the world the Bahá’ís seem like islands of stability in a chaotic universe. They are not touched by the antagonisms and hatreds, the materialism and falsities of a dying age. They are engaged night and day in building the new civilization.

The divine Physician has put his finger on the pulse of the world and prescribed the remedy. But just as in the practice of medicine there are patients who call the doctor and then wonder why they don't get well, when they haven't applied the remedy he has prescribed, so today the world cries out for help but turns its back on the Physician when he appears. Finally, when the patient gets sick enough, he will become frightened and feel helpless, and then he will be willing to do anything the doctor says. He will hang on to every word and carry everything out to the letter. Likewise, the world will go on a while yet trying to solve its problems with the brains of men. But the situation has gone far past that stage. Sooner or later, like a dying man, the world will reach out for the divine remedy. "That which the Lord hath ordained as the sovereign remedy and mightiest instrument for the healing of all the world is the union of all its people in one universal Cause, one common Faith." [Page 84]

Pioneer Kaleidoscope

ALICE DUDLEY

TO BECOME suddenly transported to a rarefied atmosphere is an exhilarating experience. From a mountain top or from an aeroplane, a traveller looks down upon the landscape and seeks familiar scenes. He discovers his objective and is content. But a Bahá’í traveller seeks heights in another dimension and perceives vistas "dependent upon the vision of the Wayfarer."

"They that have forsaken their country for the purpose of teaching Our Cause," promises Bahá’u’lláh "these shall the Faithful Spirit strengthen through its power. A company of our chosen angels shall go forth with them as bidden by Him Who is the Almighty, the All-Wise."

We who have the privilege of leaving our homes to teach the Cause of God in a foreign land, have had ample proof of angelic guidance and protection and an intimate knowledge of "that mysterious Power, far, far away from the ken of men and angels."

This unworthy wayfarer, in a few brief months, has been hurled to heights beyond the measure of mortal mind, and looks out upon vistas obscured by the dust of earthly limitations. But a Greater Vision perceives the true picture of which this wayfarer glimpses only the preview.

THE SETTING-STOCKHOLM

As yet, the landscape is only dimly defined, but a few shapes emerge, their form to be determined later. Casting a glow over the whole is the light shed by an earlier wayfarer—Martha Root—and it serves to illuminate all horizons:

In an Esperanto Club one evening, when a Roumanian journalist was relating the sufferings of his stricken country, I offered a little gift of food and clothing. And now from the past emerges part of the design to give shape and color to the pattern, for the journalist, in Bucharest, had aided Martha when she desired an audience with the queen. Now in Stockholm he again becomes the link with the royal family of Roumania, for on that same evening when he was seeking aid for his native land, he visited the home of the president of the Esperanto Club, and there he saw a Bahá’í World with a photograph of Queen Marie as the frontispiece. Thus he learned that I was a Bahá’í. The follow- [Page 85]

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ing morning he related the events of the previous evening to the Roumanian minister and began speaking of the Faith. To his surprise, the minister interrupted, saying, "I know about the Bahá’í Faith. Queen Marie herself told "The minister then asked to meet me and offered to forward greetings to Princess Ileana. The centenary photograph of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá and the Temple became this greeting.

THERE CAME THREE

The first, an atheist, disillusioned by the debauchery which he witnessed daily, gave up his career as a violinist. An accident confined him to bed for a year and, as the realization came over him that it had been for a purpose, he began seeking. Finally he regained his belief in God, but his spiritual thirst was still unquenched. Then on June 10, 1947, he saw a new word, new word, “Bahá’í”, in a Stockholm newspaper and the notice of a lecture. He attended and heard Mason Remey tell of Bahá’u’lláh. On July 30, 1947, at the Feast of Perfection, he declared his faith and his willingness to give his life for Bahá’u’lláh. He had found his mission.

The second, an idealist, had from earliest youth, dedicated his life to the interests of peace, and to that end, had studied Esperanto, believing a universal language would be a medium. On November 21, 1934, he heard Martha Root speak on "The Progress of the Bahá’í Movement" at the Esperanto Club, of which he was then the secretary. At the conclusion of her talk, Martha handed him her script, which he kept all through the years. (It is now a part of the Bahá’í archives of Stockholm.)

When the Guardian proclaimed "A God-Given Mandate" and the Bahá’ís answered the summons, this second seeker, now president of the Esperanto Club, again came in contact with the Faith. He heard the call and began reading. And then one night in a dream a voice spoke to him and said, "Why do you think you must read all the books first? Turn to your own works and you will find the answer. Why do you think Martha Root was pointing you out?" He obeyed. He went through papers he had prepared in the past for presentation at the Esperanto Club and discovered that they embodied the spirit of the teachings of Bahá’u’lláh. At the Feast of Names, on August 21, 1947, he became the second believer under this present plan of God.

"Let the flame of search burn with such fierceness within your hearts as to enable you to attain [Page 86]"your supreme and exalted goal," says Bahá’u’lláh. The third seeker, an artist and student of religion and philosophy, began seeking a way to aid humanity. From his study of religions he came to the conclusion that, in essence, all were one, and yet, upon all sides, there was only division. Several years ago a copy of the fqán was placed in his hands by Gustaf Sundquist. It was read and put aside. Later it was read again and again. This seeker had found the source of all knowledge. He had become a believer. He telephoned Gustaf and told him of his convictions and his determination to perfect his knowledge of the Teachings as a preparation for a life of service. He met with the other Bahá’ís and in the space of several weeks, at the Feast of Might, on September 8, 1947, he became the third.

These are the bearers of the Name of God in this Day. O blessed Sweden!

THE UNDERNOURISHED

GARRETA BUSEY

Replete but empty-eyed, they go, The ghosts within them thin, Shivering in a cold wind that has come up Out of the void. Poor souls, scarce filling out the clothes they wear, The rippling muscle, the clear, ruddy skin, And lustrous hair! Oh souls, here's plenty! Here at last Is rich unrationed fare. They dare not taste, But turn, perversely famished, feed on waste, And, feasting, pitifully fast. [Page 87]

Editorial — Test by Fire

Wreck fires train... Plane plunges to earth in flames . . . Family dies in burning home. . . Explosion destroys factory. Who does not read such headlines daily in the newspapers of our time? Earnest Bible students, recalling the numerous biblical references in which are predicted a latter-day proving of the world by fire, might well believe that those days of tribulation are upon us.

Bahá’ís scan the headlines, and they do not deny the gravity of the events recounted. They interpret what causes them, recognize their spiritual significance, and so redeem their essential tragedy. More and more people are beginning to see that the source of the modern unrest, imbalance and universal holocaust is not war, nor economic inequality, nor even lack of vital religion, but that which is beneath and behind them all—the alienation of the human spirit from God. Man was created in the spiritual image of God. Without the divine nearness he is dead, and brings devastation and death upon all about him. When there is desperation and sickness and annihilation within the soul of man, how should we not expect those conditions to reproduce themselves in his actions? The explosion comes first in the heart; the fire first burns fiercely in the soul before there appears the outward destruction of homes, of industries, and of nations.

Bahá’ís see in our day not the end of the physical globe, but the end of an old order which must die before a new and better one can be born. We cannot remake civilization today with the shabby materials we have on hand from yesterday. There must be new forms, new instruments, new faith and motives and renewed human beings. In the Old Testament (Malachi 3:3) there is a beautiful and suggestive symbol of God as a silversmith. A silversmith watches the silver while it is being refined in the furnace, and at the moment that he sees his own image reflected in the molten silver, he removes it from the fire. So also the Divine Silversmith removes the precious silver of human souls from the fire of tribulation when the purifying and refining process is complete. We all want world security, world peace, world unity. [Page 88]But it will be bought at a price, and that price is world preparedness, and "not by might nor by power, but by My Spirit', saith the Lord of Hosts.”

Bahá’u’lláh has written: "O Son of Man! My calamity is My providence, outwardly it is fire and vengeance, but inwardly it is light and mercy. Hasten thereunto that thou mayest become an eternal light and an immortal spirit." Hasten thereunto.

Bahá’ís do not evade the issue nor shrink from their responsibility. The gates of the morning open after the night is past. There is no growth to a higher plane without sacrificial death of the lower. And there is no victory without suffering accepted, understood, and surmounted.

"Narrow is the way and strait the gate”—and it always was. There is one Way—it is God's Way of divine wisdom and inconceivable and redemptive Love which can chastise almost to the death in order to awaken and purify and transform.

Bahá’ís declare, in the midst of the world's darkness and the fires that luridly light it, that the Way, the Word, the Manifestation of God, has come again to the nations in Bahá’u’lláh; that His world-encircling Law has been given, and even now the brightness of its universal vision is touching the minds of men wherever they are awake. In the middle of the last century He proclaimed: "The well-being of mankind, its peace and security, are unattainable unless and until its unity is firmly established . . . Ye are the fruits of one tree, and the leaves of one branch . . ." In the same period, Tennyson prophetically wrote in "In Memoriam":

“And all is well, though faith and form Be sundered in the night of fear; Well roars the storm to those who hear A deeper voice across the storm . . ."

Bahá’ís believe that they hear that deeper Voice. Whenever there are kindled in the world those fires which burn but do not warm the hearts of men, that Voice speaks again to us with authority as of old, and it can lift us above the smoke and flame to the clear and pure air of a mountain top which looks across territories without boundaries to far-off and limitless horizons.

F. E. H. [Page 89]

Mullá Husayn: First Letter of the Living

ARTHUR DAHL

THE early days of every major religion have in time become hallowed and enshrined in the hearts of its followers. They are the days when the Prophet of God walked upon the earth, and the new-born spirit He brought came into conflict with the fast-fading leadership of the decadent society of the times. And they are the days when a few heroic figures, who recognized the Prophet for what He was, kept alive His spiritual force, nurtured it in the face of all opposition, and laid the groundwork for the great organized religion that was to follow. Such disciples, though they may have been simple and unpretentious in background and outward accomplishments, assume epic proportions in historical perspective and serve as model and inspiration over the centuries for millions of people.

The years of the founding and initial development of the Bahá’í Faith rank second to none in their dramatic intensity, in the depth of the devotion of the early believers to their Cause, and in the violence of the sacrifices they were called upon to make in the face of the most ruthless and unprincipled opposition. The history of this period is all too little known in the western world, for it offers striking contrast between pure spiritual fervor and the basest form of lust, greed, and narrowness. Its pages contain the stories of an unparalleled number of heroic figures, whose courage, selflessness and spiritual insight stand out luminously when compared with the materialistic age we live in, and whose lives set a shining example for all Bahá’ís to follow.

In the Bábí Dispensation, one of the greatest characters, apart from the Báb Himself, was Mullá Husayn-i-Bushrú’í, the first believer, who was thus designated by the Báb as the First Letter of the Living, and surnamed Bábu’l-Báb (the Gate of the Gate). It is he to whom we are indebted for the first-hand account of the Declaration of the Báb; it was he who fought so courageously for his Faith, and who perished at Fort Tabarsí at the head of the Bábí defenders. Shoghi Effendi has told us that the Báb lavished on him eulogies, prayers, and tablets three [Page 90]times the length of the Qur’an, in which he was referred to as "beloved of my heart" and "Primal Mirror”, which called the dust of his grave so potent as to cheer the sorrowful and heal the sick, and which praised him as the one whom "the creatures, raised in the beginning and in the end" of the Bábí Dispensation, envy, and will continue to envy, till the "Day of Judgment." Bahá’u’lláh, in the Kitáb-i-fqán, acclaimed him as the one but for whom "God would not have been established upon the seat of His mercy, nor ascended the throne of eternal glory."

In The Dawn-Breakers, Nabíl’s magnificent history of the Bábí Dispensation, Mullá Ḥusayn first appears as a follower of Siyyid Kázim, the beloved disciple of Shaykh Ahmad, who had exhorted Islám to turn from its decadent ways and await the coming of One who was foretold in its holy writings, and who alone "could dissipate the mists of prejudice and ignorance which had enveloped that Faith." Upon the death of Shaykh Ahmad, Siyyid Kázim was the target of renewed attacks by the enemies of this doctrine. Realizing the value of securing the support of certain important ecclesiastical leaders, Siyyid Kázim chose Mullá Ḥusayn from among his followers for the delicate mission of winning their favor. Though he was dusty and poorly clothed, his courage, forcefulness, tact, and eloquence won for him not only an audience but wholehearted approval from these leaders, to the delight of Siyyid Kázim, who sent him a glowing tribute which was circulated among the other disciples and caused some of them to believe that Mullá Husayn himself might be the Promised One their master continually referred to as living in their very midst, yet unrecognized by all.

After Siyyid Kázim’s death, Mullá Husayn assumed the natural leadership of his followers, and set out to carry out the Siyyid’s last instructions, to "quit their homes, scatter far and wide, purge their hearts from every idle desire, and dedicate themselves to the quest of Him to whose advent he had so often alluded." Many of the other followers were luke-warm in their faith and found excuses for not carrying out this quest, but Mullá Husayn, with a few others, spent forty days of retirement and prayer in his native town of Bushrúyih and then set out on his travels. He was drawn irresistibly to Shíráz, and to that fateful interview, on May 22, 1844, which was to mark [Page 91]

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the beginning of the coming of age of mankind. His own first-hand account of this momentous meeting with the Báb, as recounted to Mírzá Aḥmad-i-Qazvíní, who in turn told it to Nabíl, gives to historians and believers for centuries to come an authentic description of the birth of the Bahá’í era.

A few hours before sunset Mullá Husayn was walking outside the gate of the city, when he was approached by a young man with a radiant countenance, who embraced and greeted him as if he had been an intimate and lifelong friend. “He extended to me a warm invitation to visit His home, and there refresh myself after the fatigues of my journey .. I was profoundly impressed by the gentle yet compelling manner in which that strange Youth spoke to me. As I followed Him, His gait, the charm of His voice, the dignity of His bearing, served to enhance my first impressions of this unexpected meeting.

"We soon found ourselves standing at the gate of a house of modest appearance. ... As I entered the house and followed my Host to His chamber, a feeling of unutterable joy invaded my being. Immediately we were seated, He ordered a ewer of water to be brought, and bade me wash away from my hands and feet the stains of travel. I pleaded permission to retire from His presence and perform my ablutions in an adjoining room. He refused to grant my request, and proceeded to pour the water over my hands. He then gave me to drink of a refreshing beverage, after which He asked for the samovar and Himself prepared the tea which He offered me. ...

"I renewed my ablutions and prepared for prayer. He, too, stood beside me and prayed. Whilst praying, I unburdened my soul, which was much oppressed, both by the mystery of this interview and the strain and stress of my search. I breathed this prayer: 'I have striven with all my soul, O my God, and until now have failed to find Thy promised Messenger. I testify that Thy word faileth not, and that Thy promise is sure'. . .

"It was about an hour after sunset when my youthful Host began to converse with me. 'Whom, after Siyyid Kázim,' he asked me, 'do you regard as his successor and your leader?' 'At the hour of his death,' I replied, ‘our departed teacher insistently exhorted us to forsake our homes, to scatter far and wide, in quest of the promised Beloved . . .' 'Has your teacher,' he [Page 92]further enquired, ‘given you any detailed indications as to the distinguishing features of the promised One?’

Whereupon Mullá Ḥusayn outlined the many exceptional qualifications which had been described by Siyyid Kázim, after which the Báb demonstrated that they were all manifest in His person. For a moment Mullá Ḥusayn, greatly surprised, politely demurred, and was immediately “seized with fear and remorse, such as I could neither conceal nor explain. I bitterly reproved myself, and resolved at that very moment to alter my attitude and soften my tone.”

Mullá Ḥusayn had determined to set two tests as the basis of his acceptance of the Promised One, the interpretation of a book of his own, based upon the abstruse and hidden teachings of Shaykh Aḥmad and Siyyid Kázim, and the revelation, without time for reflection, of a commentary on the Súrih of Joseph, in a style and language differing from the prevailing standards. When he handed the Báb his book, the Báb glanced at certain passages in it, closed it, and began to address His guest. “Within a few minutes,” Mullá Ḥusayn continues, “He had, with characteristic vigor and charm, unravelled all its mysteries and resolved all its problems. Having to my entire satisfaction accomplished, within so short a time, the task I had expected Him to perform, He further expounded to me certain truths which could be found neither in the reported sayings of the Imams of the Faith nor in the writings of Shaykh Aḥmad and Siyyid Kázim. These truths, which I had never heard before, seemed to be endowed with refreshing vividness and power. . .

“He then proceeded to say: ‘Now is the time to reveal the commentary on the Súrih of Joseph.’ He took up His pen and with incredible rapidity revealed the entire Súrih of Mulk, the first chapter of His commentary on the Súrih of Joseph. The overpowering effect of the manner in which He wrote was heightened by the gentle intonation of His voice which accompanied His writing . . . I sat enraptured by the magic of His voice and the sweeping force of His revelation. . .

“‘This night,’ He declared, ‘this very hour will, in the days to come, be celebrated as one of the greatest and most significant of all festivals. Render thanks to God for having graciously assisted you to attain your heart’s desire, and for having quaffed from the sealed wine of His utterance.’” [Page 93]

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After dinner had been served, and the hour of prayer passed, "He then addressed me in these words: 'O thou who art the first to believe in Me! Verily I say, I am the Báb, the Gate of God, and thou art the Bábu’l-Báb, the gate of that Gate. Eighteen souls must, in the beginning, spontaneously and of their own accord, accept Me and recognize the truth of My Revelation. Unwarned and uninvited, each of these must seek independently to find Me.

"And when their number is complete, one of them must needs be chosen to accompany Me on My pilgrimage to Mecca and Medina. There I shall deliver the Message of God to the Sharíf of Mecca. I then shall return to Kúfih, where again, in the Masjid of that holy city, I shall manifest His Cause.

"It is incumbent upon you not to divulge, either to your companions or to any other soul, that which you have seen and heard. Be engaged in the Masjid-i-Ílkhání in prayer and in teaching. I, too, will there join you in congregational prayer. Beware lest your attitude towards Me betray the secret of your faith. You should continue in this occupation and maintain this attitude until our departure for Hijáz. Ere we depart, we shall appoint unto each of the eighteen souls his special mission, and shall send them forth to accomplish their task. We shall instruct them to teach the Word of God and to quicken the souls of men.' Having spoken these words to me, He dismissed me from His presence. Accompanying me to the door of the house. He committed me to the care of God."

Overwhelmed and dazzled by this meeting, Mullá Ḥusayn rejoined his friends and renewed his teaching activities. As the Báb had foreseen, one by one seventeen others sought Him out, the last being the young Quddus; they were declared the Eighteen Letters of the Living and scattered far and wide over the land proclaiming the coming of the Promised One and the birth of the new Faith.

Mullá Husayn had expected to be the chosen companion of the Báb during His pilgrimage to Mecca and Medina. Instead the Báb sent him on a long, arduous journey to Țihrán, implying that a secret of great importance to the Cause lay hidden in that city. He vigorously taught the new Faith in all the cities he passed through, in Ișfáhán, Káshán, and Qum. In Țihrán he learned of and sent a message to Bahá’u’lláh, who sent back words of love and appreciation, to Mullá [Page 94]Husayn’s great happiness. He then carried on his teaching in Khurásán, and wrote the Báb a report of all that had taken place, which was received with great joy.

Finally his journey took him back to Shíráz, where he was reunited with the Báb. Here certain of the believers, who had come into the Cause to gain power for themselves, and who envied Mullá Ḥusayn’s growing favor with the Báb and the devotion with which the other disciples regarded him, came out in the open with their attack and, after some unpleasantness, were expelled from the Cause.

As the teaching of the Faith became more vigorous and widespread, opposition on the part of the corrupt government and clergy also increased. Finally the Báb was incarcerated in the fortress of Máh-Kú, in the northern mountains of Persia. Mullá Husayn, after an interview with Bahá’u’lláh, walked to this fortress, and through the leniency of the jailer, who was deeply moved by his Prisoner, was allowed to stay with the Báb for nine days, being finally sent to Mázindarán. Mullá Husayn sensed that this would be his last visit with his Master in this life, and that he would shortly be called upon to sacrifice his life for the Cause, for in their farewell the Báb made no mention of a subsequent meeting, and suggested that in Mázindarán the nature of the task he would be called upon to perform would be revealed.

In Mázindarán Mullá Husayn was the guest of Quddús, and was treated with great deference and respect by his host and all the company. Yet after dinner, on the night of his arrival, Quddús asked him regarding his mission, and upon being told of the mystery that was to be revealed to him, gave him a manuscript to read. The effect of this on Mullá Husayn was immediate and profound. Deeply moved at the loftiness and penetrating influence of these paragraphs, he said: "I can well realize that the Author of these words has drawn His inspiration from that Fountainhead which stands immeasurably superior to the sources whence the learning of men is ordinarily derived. I hereby testify to my whole-hearted recognition of the sublimity of these words and to my unquestioned acceptance of the truth which they reveal." After he had spoken, Mullá Husayn knew from his host’s silence and expression that Quddús himself had written the manuscript.

This incident once more demonstrated the depth of Mullá [Page 95]

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Husayn’s insight and the greatness of his character. His breadth of knowledge was so great and the force of his personality so strong that if he had chosen to advance the same claims as the Báb he would have been unquestionably accepted by many of Siyyid Kázim’s followers. Here again, his abilities and close relationship to the Báb would have rallied the loyalty of most of the Bábís, yet upon recognizing the spiritual power of Quddús he immediately adopted an attitude of humility and respect that was noticed by all in the household the next morning, and put his services entirely at Quddús’ disposal.

His first mission was to proclaim the verities of the Faith to the notorious Sa’ídu’l-‘Ulamá which he did with great vigor and logic, so that those in attendance were deeply moved. The evil old man could not answer his arguments and was reduced to using abusive language. When Mullá Husayn saw that his opponent was unable to grasp the significance of this Message, he arose and said: “My argument has failed to rouse you from your sleep of negligence. My deeds will in the days to come prove to you the power of the Message you have chosen to despise.” He then traveled to Khurásán, where he purchased land and constructed a house, named Bábíyyih, which Quddús made his headquarters and which was an effective center for teaching the growing new Faith.

The force of this teaching activity caused great agitation through the province, and aroused the envy and enmity of the authorities. Under the orders of the chief constable, Mullá Husayn’s attendant, Ḥasan, was seized. His nose was pierced, a cord was passed through the incision, and he was then paraded through the streets. Mullá Ḥusayn did his best to restrain the desire for vengeance among his followers, but some of them banded together and loudly raised the cry, “Yá Sáḥibu’z-Zamán” (“O Lord of the Age”) through the streets of Mashhad, the first of its kind to be raised in Khurásán, and a signal for the tremendous events which lay ahead. Hearing of this, Mullá Husayn is reported to have remarked: “You have refused to tolerate the trials to which Hasan has been subjected; how can you reconcile yourselves to the martyrdom of Husayn?”

As a result of all these disturbances Prince Ḥamsih Mírzá, who was camped near the city, placed Mullá Husayn under protective custody. The captain of the [Page 96]prince’s artillery had insisted that his own life be taken if any harm were to be done to Mullá Husayn, and so the devoted Bábí was well treated during his visit with the prince. During this period the far-reaching conference of Badasht took place, and ever-increasing pressure was brought to bear upon the Báb, Bahá’u’lláh, Quddús, and the adherents of their Cause.

Shortly after his return to Mashhad, Mullá Husayn received a messenger from the Báb, bidding him adorn his head with the green turban, emblem of the Báb’s lineage, and hurry to the assistance of Quddús. This journey to Jazíry-i-Khadrá, accompanied by two hundred and two companions, began on July 21, 1848, and achieved important teaching results in the towns and villages passed through on the way. The party camped for a few days on the highroad to Mázindarán, and several times Mullá Husayn warned his followers of the danger that lay ahead, explicitly declaring: "I, together with seventy-two of my companions, shall suffer death for the sake of the Well-Beloved. Whoso is unable to renounce the world, let him now, at this very moment, depart, for later on he will be unable to escape." Twenty of his followers chose to return, being unable to face the trials he predicted.

The Sa’ídu’l-‘Ulamá, still smarting from his inability to cope with Mullá Husayn’s eloquence, and fearful of the rising fervor of the Bábís, dispatched a band of his followers to attack Mullá Husayn and his companions. Though the attackers were well armed, while the Bábís had only their swords and their steeds, Mullá Ḥusayn restrained his followers from joining battle until several of his companions had been shot. Then, when one of his staunchest supporters fell dead at his feet, Mullá Ḥusayn sprang on his charger, brandished his sword, and pursued the assailant of his fallen companion. And here occurred one of those miraculous events the fame of which traveled the length of the Bábí world, and acted as an additional spur to the efforts of those fighting for the new Cause. Mullá Ḥusayn, who was characterized by those who knew him as a man of only moderate physical strength, found his adversary hiding behind a tree, and with one stroke of his sword cut across the trunk of the tree, the body of his opponent, and the barrel of the man’s musket. As a result, the amazed attackers soon fled, and the inhabitants of Báfurúsh pleaded for peace. [Page 97]

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Several other times the caravan was attacked by superior forces, but in each case the spirit, strength, and zeal of the Bábís put their attackers to rout. Even treachery was of no avail against them.

Arriving at the shrine of Shaykh Tabarsí on October 12, 1848, Mullá Husayn set about the planning and construction of a fort to defend his band of devoted followers from the attacks he knew were inevitable. The labors of construction were carried on by his companions with the same zeal and happiness they showed in teaching or in defending their Faith in battle. During this period, Bahá’u’lláh inspected the work and expressed His satisfaction.

The approaching completion of the fort aroused the interest of the people of the surrounding countryside, and the increased animosity of the civil and religious authorities. An appeal was addressed to Náşiri’d-Dín Sháh, as yet inexperienced in the affairs of state, to suppress this new creed once and for all, and he was advised that this could be done in two days' time. A well-equipped army of about twelve thousand men was raised, and set up camp in front of the fort. Messengers bringing food and water to the Bábís were intercepted, but a torrential rain provided water to the occupants of the fort and ruined some of their opponents' opponents' ammunition, while the next night an unusually heavy snow storm further impeded the efforts of the army.

The attack was scheduled for the next day, December 1, 1848. To surprise the enemy Quddús, escorted by Mullá Husayn and three other mounted companions, followed by the entire company on foot, emerged from the fort and charged the enemy, the ringing cry of “Yá Sáḥibu’z-Zamán" bringing consternation to the Sháh’s army. In forty-five minutes the battle was over, the army having fled without killing a single Bábí.

During the next nineteen days a moat was constructed around the fort. Shortly afterward a much larger army, led by Prince Midhí-Qulí Mírzá, appeared to continue the battle. Once more, on December 21, 1848, the Bábís carried the attack to the enemy, a mounted force of two hundred, led by Quddús and Mullá Husayn, throwing themselves upon the vastly stronger forces. Through a rain of bullets Mullá Husayn forced himself to the prince's private apartments, the prince escaping barefooted by throwing himself from a back window into the moat. Without [Page 98]its leader the army again become panic-stricken and fled, leaving behind considerable considerable treasure, which the Bábís did not touch. However, during this engagement Quddus was wounded when a bullet struck his mouth, knocking out several teeth and injuring his throat and tongue.

Once more the Bábís had a breathing spell in which to repair the damage to their fort and strengthen themselves for the next attack. During this period the prince set about gathering a new and still larger army, which erected a series of seven barricades around the fort.

On February 1, 1849, Mullá Husayn intimated to his companions that his end was approaching. His face was illumined with joy, and he continued to the last to animate the zeal of his fellows.

"Alone with Quddús, who powerfully reminded him of his Beloved, he poured forth, as he sat at his feet in the closing moments of his earthly life, all that an enraptured soul can no longer restrain. Soon after midnight, as soon as the morning-star had risen, the star that heralded to him the dawning light of eternal reunion with his Beloved, he started to his feet and, mounting his charger, gave the signal that the gate of the fort be opened. As he rode out at the head of three hundred and thirteen of his companions to meet the enemy, the cry of 'Yá Sáhibu’z-Zamán!' again broke forth, a cry so intense and powerful that forest, fort, and camp vibrated to its resounding echo."

As before, the courage and hard driving force of the Bábís routed far stronger units of the enemy. However, one of the enemy had hidden in a tree, and, seeing that Mullá Husayn’s horse had caught its leg in a tent rope, was able to take aim and shoot Mullá Husayn in the breast, though without knowing the identity of his victim. Two of Mullá Husayn’s companions gathered him up and carried him to the fort.

The following eye-witness account, by Mullá Sádiq and Mullá Mírzá Muḥammad-i-Furúghí, describes the poignant death of Mullá Husayn:

"We were among those who had remained in the fort with Quddús. As soon as Mullá Husayn, who seemed to have lost consciousness, was brought in, we were ordered to retire. 'Leave me alone with him,' were the words of Quddús as he bade Mírzá Muḥammad-Báqir close the door and refuse admittance to anyone desiring to see him. 'There are certain confidential matters which I desire him alone [Page 99]

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to know.’ We were amazed a few moments later when we heard the voice of Mullá Husayn replying to questions from Quddús. For two hours they continued to converse with each other. We were surprised to see Mírzá Muḥammad-Báqir so greatly agitated. ‘I was watching Quddús,’ he subsequently informed us, ‘through a fissure in the door. As soon as he called his name, I saw Mullá Husayn arise and seat himself, in his customary manner, on bended knees beside him. With bowed head and downcast eyes, he listened to every word that fell from the lips of Quddús, and answered his questions. ‘You have hastened the hour of your departure,’ I was able to hear Quddús remark, ‘and have abandoned me to the mercy of my foes. Please God, I will ere long join you and taste the sweetness of heaven’s ineffable delights.’ I was able to gather the following words uttered by Mullá Husayn: ‘May my life be a ransom for you. Are you well pleased with me?’ ”

“A long time elapsed before Quddús bade Mírzá Muḥammad-Báqir open the door and admit his companions. ‘I have bade my last farewell to him,’ he said, as we entered the room. ‘Things which previously I deemed it unallowable to utter I have now shared with him.’ We found on our arrival that Mullá Husayn had expired. A faint smile still lingered upon his face. Such was the peacefulness of his countenance that he seemed to have fallen asleep. Quddús attended to his burial, clothed him in his own shirt, and gave instructions to lay him to rest to the south of, and adjoining, the shrine of Shaykh Tabarsí. ‘Well is it with you to have remained to your last hour faithful to the Covenant of God,’ he said, as he laid a parting kiss upon his eyes and forehead. ‘I pray God to grant that no division ever be caused between you and me.’ He spoke with such poignancy that the seven companions who were standing beside him wept profusely, and wished they had been sacrificed in his stead. Quddús, with his own hands, laid the body in the tomb, and cautioned those who were standing near him to maintain secrecy regarding the spot which served as his resting place, and to conceal it even from their companions. He afterwards instructed them to inter the bodies of the thirty-six martyrs who had fallen in the course of that engagement in one and the same grave on the northern side of the shrine of Shaykh Tabarsí. ‘Let the loved ones of God,’ he was heard to remark as he consigned them to their tomb, ‘take [Page 100]heed of the example of these martyrs of our Faith. Let them in life be and remain as united as these are now in death.'

Altogether, under Mullá Husayn's leadership the small band of Bábís withstood the force of superior arms for one hundred and sixteen heroic days. Even in the great battle which resulted in Mullá Husayn's death, the army of the prince was successfully withstood. And although through treachery and overwhelming strength the courageous believers were finally subdued physically, their spiritual spark was deeply rooted and flourished, laying the foundation for a great world religion.

Thus ended the brief but glorious career of Mullá Husayn. He was eighteen when he met Siyyid Kázim and thirty-six when he fell a martyr. He combined those rare qualities of intellectual leadership, physical courage, keen spiritual insight, and utter self-effacement which inevitably result in epic personalities. He is one of the great figures in Bahá’í history, and he lives today and will live for centuries as an inspiration and a standard for all those who walk in the path of God.

LEAVES

STANTON A. COBLENTZ

How many million million leaves combine To make the backbone of the mountain green, Each sprouting, with no thought of “me” or “mine," To build the total scene, — Each sprouting, for its season in the sun, Unnoticed as a foam-fleck on the sea, Not knowing that its simple toil has spun The world's life-tapestry! [Page 101]

The Bahá’í Trail

DUART VINSON BROWN

The Lord has made a path for us to strive beyond the dare of men into the wild vastness of the hills, To climb and climb to heights where all those before have trembled shaking on the brink of things, Then turned about retreating to the safety of the valley floor. But we shall cross the backbone of the world where whirlwinds spin the dust of mountain snows And see a peak beyond that lifts from cliff to cliff up heights to stagger brave men's hearts, Then on and on, through glacier, cirque and Matterhorn to the savage rim of rock that cuts the sky. To climb this too our hearts shall set the way, through gasp and stagger to the giant's crown. And then, what then? Why we shall go beyond to climb in blackest space and seek our fate among the Pleiades, To circle Mars and Moon and see where starts the Milky Way, the birthplace of the stars. If we be takers of this trail, what things shall we not dare to do? If our minds be limpid as the clearest stream and sharp as Moorish scimitars, The truth shall lead us ever on from peak to peak in thoughts and deeds, And though we seem to climb the very limits of cerulean blue, yet shall there be beyond, beyond and then beyond a glory of yet mightier heights for us to scale. [Page 102]

A Bahá’í School

MARGARET KUNZ RUHE

AS WE entered the dining room at the Green Acre Bahá’í School one Sunday night last summer, a bit weary from our long drive, we noticed at once the warmly smiling faces about us and felt the quiet, secure comfort of a spot where love and cooperation are the guiding motives. There was a repose, a calm, a strength in that atmosphere that made our minds and hearts soar beyond ourselves into a larger, fuller existence. The days that followed in rapid succession confirmed this first impression and gave us a rich adventure in colorful, constructive community living.

Perhaps the many joyful, active, sometimes even boisterous, children were the most striking feature of Green Acre. There were children of varied nationalities and many religious and racial backgrounds—over thirty-five in all. Our two small sons joined the children’s beginners’ class, and gleaned many valuable lessons. After the first class, our older boy said with sincere astonishment, “Mammy, this is a school where children never fight.” Later he announced proudly, “I’m a Bahá’í child.” The teachers trained the children in the art of consultation, and decisions were reached after full and frank discussion by all the youngsters. The newest theories of child psychology were combined with the teachings of pure religion, and the results were remarkable. We saw demonstrated the principle that when science and religion join hands, a new race of men can and will develop.

The adults too formed a colorful and varied group. A Bahá’í lady from Lima, Peru, black-haired and black-eyed, had three fine, rollicking youngsters with her. A school teacher, not a member, from Brooklyn, was assistant to the manager and handled the sale of books. His charming wife managed the three small members of the family. In the group there were college professors, teachers, writers, students, a child psychologist, a physicist, housewives, a radio engineer, a dancer, the wife of a former diplomat, an opera singer, a radio script instructor, etc. All gave of their talents and skills in generous, selfless fashion. They were distinctive personalities in that they demonstrated purpose, direction, resolution, and radiance in their daily activities. [Page 103]

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The courses were conducted as workshops, and in accordance with the modern educational trend of group participation, the students were all urged to play an active part, not just a spectator rôle. There were workshops in the following: Beginners' Public Speaking; Advanced Public Speaking; Visual Aids; Research; Bahá’í Administration; Comparative Religions; and Public Relations. Each student selected his workshops on the basis of his individual needs and tastes. The workshops were conducted by trained personnel whose aim was to develop each student, as well as to disseminate facts and information. Here again we see the use of a modern educational theory: the aim was to develop each student rather than merely to stuff him with facts and knowledge.

On Monday night (every Monday night) Community Consultation was held. Then all campers gathered to pool their ideas, suggestions, criticisms, comments, and questions. The entire program was discussed. There was lively consultation on important and unimportant items. A skilled group leader guided the consultation, and out of this session there grew new plans and new angles to enhance the value of the program. Many services at Green Acre are performed by volunteers, and by the end of the consultation period, nearly every one in school had a job assigned him. It may have been making posters, cleaning the lecture hall, cutting and arranging roses, doing business errands, ringing the bell for classes, or anything else. At those meetings we were always filled with deep and humble admiration for the staff members who worked hard day after day, without pay, but for the love of Bahá’u’lláh. There is to be found here a magnificent demonstration of true community living.

The day was always opened with prayers and readings from the inspirational writings of Bahá’u’lláh and ‘Abdu’l-Bahá. Again each person took his turn in selecting the devotions and meditations. At night, after the evening meal, there was again a quiet time for community prayers. Thus the law of Bahá’u’lláh requiring that we pray each morning and evening was adhered to. The observing of the spiritual laws of life gave the clue to the happy, harmonious life at Green Acre.

This is only one Bahá’í school. The others have their own individuality, but they all offer similar experiences in creative, joyful living. [Page 104]

What Did I Care?

IDA ELAINE JAMES

In the playtime of dawn's unsullied air We raced, and whether white or black How did I know, what did I care? Blood was red and the pulse not slack.

In the cruel glare of the noon-day sun Youth revealed my bias too plain. I sifted my friendships, every one, What did I care when inflicting pain?

In the flagging twilight of softened heart- Obliterating mellow glow- Who could tell the black and white apart? What do I care, now that I'll go

Down in the black of departure's night, The color of hands that move to mine? Can a comforting voice be black or white? Varied tendrils. . . . living vine. [Page 105]

Meditations

The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament showeth His handywork—Psalms 19

Gaze upward through immeasurable space to the majestic order of the colossal suns. These luminous bodies are numberless. Behind our solar system there are innumerable stellar systems; above these are the remote aggregations of the Milky Way. Extend your vision beyond the fixed stars and again you will behold many spheres of light. Indeed the creation of the Almighty is beyond the grasp of the human intellect. —‘ABDU’L-BAHÁ

Whatever I behold I readily discover that it maketh Thee known unto me, and it remindeth me of Thy signs, and of Thy testimonies. By Thy glory! Every time I lift up mine eyes unto Thy heaven, I call to mind Thy highness and Thy loftiness and Thine incomparable glory and greatness; and every time I turn my gaze unto Thy earth, I am made to recognize the evidences of Thy power and the tokens of Thy bounty. And when I behold the sea, I find that it speaketh to me of Thy majesty, and of the potency of Thy might, and of Thy sovereignty and Thy grandeur. And at whatever time I contemplate the mountains, I am led to discover the ensigns of Thy victory and the standards of Thine omnipotence. . . . I can hear from the whisper of the winds the sound of Thy glorification and praise, and can recognize in the murmur of the waters the voice that proclaimeth Thy virtues and Thine attributes and can apprehend from the rustling of the leaves the mysteries that have been irrevocably ordained by Thee in Thy realm. ―BAHÁ’U’LLÁH

A drop of the billowing ocean of His endless mercy hath adorned all creation with the ornament of existence, and a breath wafted from His peerless paradise hath invested all beings with the robe of His sanctity and glory. A sprinkling from the unfathomed deep of His sovereignty and all-pervasive Will hath, out of utter nothingness, called into being a creation which is infinite in its range and deathless in its duration. The wonders of His bounty can never cease, and the stream of His mercy and grace can never be arrested. The process of His creation hath no beginning and can have no end. -BAHÁ’U’LLÁH

The entire creation hath been called into being to exalt Thy triumph and to establish Thine ascendency, and all bounds that have been set by Thee [Page 106]are but the signs of Thy sovereignty and proclaim the power of Thy might. How great, how very great are the revelations of Thy wondous power in all things! —BAHÁ’U’LLÁH

The signs of God shine as manifest and resplendent as the sun amidst the works of His creatures. Whatsoever proceedeth from Him is apart, and will always remain distinguished from the inventions of men. —BAHÁ’U’LLÁH

How all-encompassing are the wonders of His boundless grace. Behold how they have pervaded the whole of creation. Such is their virtue that not a single atom in the entire universe can be found which doth not declare the evidences of His might, which doth not glorify His holy Name, or is not excessive of the effulgent light of His unity. So perfect and comprehensive is His creation that no mind nor heart, however keen or pure, can ever grasp the nature of the most insignificant of His creatures. —BAHÁ’U’LLÁH

When we observe that in the kingdom of minerals the divine bounties are continuous, how much more shall we expect and realize in the divine spiritual kingdom! How much greater the radiation of the lights of God and the bounty of life everlasting upon the soul of man! As the body of the universe is continuous, indestructible, the bounties and bestowals of the divine spirit are everlasting. . . .

This illimitable divine bounty has no beginning and will have no ending. It is moving, circulatng, and becomes effective wherever capacity is developed to receive it. . . . Therefore we must be hopeful that through the bounty and favor of God, this spirit of life infusing all created things shall quicken humanity and from its bestowals the human world become a divine world, this earthly kingdom the mirror of the realm of divinity, the virtues and perfections of the world of humanity become unveiled and the image and likeness of God be reflected from this temple. —‘ABDU’L-BAHÁ [Page 107]

WITH OUR READERS

EDRIS Rice Wray, author of "Science and World Order" is a physician and an ardent Bahá’í now pioneering in Puerto Rico. A graduate of Vassar and Northwestern Medical School, she had a private practice in Evanston for twelve years, was women's physician for the National College of Education, and served on the Medical Staff of Northwestern University. She has lectured throughout the United States and Canada on both medical and Bahá’í subjects. This year she sold her practice and went to Puerto Rico to help with the Bahá’í work there. She is now with the Department of Public Health. Once when a public meeting was scheduled at which she was to talk, she was called to the mountain town of Lareo to combat an epidemic of diphtheria. She remained almost a week and returned to San Juan only a few hours before her lecture.

It is not too early for us to be thinking about attending one of the Bahá’í summer schools. Margaret Kunz Ruhe's story of life at one of them, Greenacre, Maine, serves as a reminder of the deep satisfaction that comes from such fellowship and study. Mrs. Ruhe is a former member of the Urbana youth group, a graduate of the University of Illinois with her Master's in social service from Bryn Mawr, and an active Bahá’í in Georgia. She lives with her physician husband and two small sons in Atlanta. In January of 1944 her "After the War: One World", and in July, 1944, her "The Road We Are Traveling" appeared in the magazine.

Another in our Bahá’í heroes series is "Mullá Ḥusayn”, by Arthur Dahl, Jr. The material for With Our Readers comes from the letters of authors, for the most part, and of these we kept a file. Unfortunately the letter in which Mr. Dahl tells about himself is six years old! Perhaps each of you will send some biographical data when you submit manuscripts. Arthur Dahl is a Palo Alto Bahá’í who has completed graduate work in business administration and who has served in a firm of estate managers and investment counsellors. He has taught at the Western Bahá’í summer school at Geyersville, and has contributed such things to World Order as, “Religion and Economics," March, 1943, “Contemporary Peace Plans and the Bahá’í Program", March, 1944, "The Races of Mankind", September, 1944, and "San Francisco-1945", in August, 1946.

Mrs. Alice Dudley tells us this month of her current pioneer experiences in Sweden. Her Bahá’í life began in San Francisco on Naw Rúz, 1939. From 1942-1945 she lived in Fargo, North Dakota, to help establish the Bahá’í Faith there. After her return to San Francisco she held secretarial and advertizing positions and was active in work for racial harmony. At the beginning of the current seven year plan she went to Sweden. This is her first contribution to the magazine.

Our editorial for the month comes from a third pioneer, Flora Hottes, [Page 108]who spent several years in Bahá’í teaching in Bolivia, Peru, and Uruguay. This year she came back to Urbana to "rest". While resting she has translated South American letters and manuscripts, helped with the Spanish translation of God Passes By, served on the Inter-America committee, served as an editor for World Order, prepared to teach a Louhelen class, served on the local spiritual assembly, and conducted a study class.

“The Bahá’í Trail" is a poem by Duart Vinson Brown, a welcome and well known contributor. He is a biologist whose writing includes the publication of a school reader, of a book called The Amateur Naturalist's Handbook, and of a series of looseleaf wild life folders called Naturegraphs.

Stanton Coblentz, whose poem "Leaves", appears this month, has for fifteen years been editor of the poetry magazine, Wings. He also has complied three anthologies, the latest of which is The Music Makers, 1945, and has written several books of prose. His home is Mill Valley, California.

The Bahá’í principles and ideals are fine, but how can you change human nature in order to put these principles into effect?

Answer: According to the Bahá’í view, the problems of human life, individual and social, are so inconceivably complex that the ordinary human intellect is incapable of itself of solving them aright. Only the Omniscient fully knows the purpose of creation and how that purpose may be achieved. Through the prophets He shows to mankind the true goal of human life and the right path of progress; and the building up of a true civilization depends upon faithful adherence to the guidance of prophetic Revelation. Bahá’u’lláh says:

"Consider the civilization of the people of the Occident-how it has occasioned commotion and agitation to the people of the world. Infernal instruments have been devised, and such atrocity is displayed in the destruction of life as has not been seen by the eye of the world. . . . It is impossible to reform these violent, overwhelming evils, except the peoples of the world become united upon a certain issue, or under the shadow of One Religion."

The present state of Europe and of the world in general eloquently confirms the truth of these words written so many years ago. Neglect of the prophetic commands and the prevalence of irreligion have been accompanied by disorder and destruction on the most terrible scale, and, without the change of heart and aim which is the essential characteristic of true religion, the reform of society seems an utter impossibility. (Bahá’u’lláh and the New Era, by J. E. ESSLEMONT.) [Page 109]Bahá’í Literature Writings of Shoghi Effendi Guardian of the Bahá’í Faith Distributed by Bahá’í Publishing Committee 110 Linden Avenue, Wilmette, Illinois

BAHA’I ADMINISTRATION

This work deals with the development of Bahá’í local and national institutions in North America during the years following the passing of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá. It is an exposition of the Will and Testament of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá in terms of the experience of the American Bahá’ís and the source of guidance and inspiration to believers entering a new stage in the evolution of the Faith.

THE WORLD ORDER OF BAHÁ’U’LLÁH

Here the Bahá’ís learned, between 1929 and 1936, of the role to be played by the Bahá’í world community and its institutions during the collapse of the old order and the rise of a new civilization. Here also they found for the first time the pattern of future society and an insight into the whole meaning of the Dispensation of Bahá’u’lláh.

THE ADVENT OF DIVINE JUSTICE

Shoghi Effendi in December, 1938, set in motion the first stages of the world mission conferred by ‘Abdu’l-Bahá upon the North American Bahá’í community—the Bahá’í answer to the destruction which had overtaken society.

THE PROMISED DAY IS COME

The history of the modern world set forth in terms of the Revelation proclaimed by the Báb and Bahá’u’lláh and its rejection by the civil, religious and educational leaders of the day. War and revolution understood as evidences of a process of Divine chastisement inflicted upon the entire human race to purify it for the blessings of the Kingdom.

GOD PASSES BY

A summary of the first hundred years of Bahá’í history, presenting the expectancy of the Promised One, the mission of the Báb, the mission of Bahá’u’lláh, their work and action, the ministry of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, the spread of the Faith to sixty-eight countries and the rise of the administrative order. Spiritual history of the World Religion, made possible by unique capacity of its first Guardian, presenting a union of Person with revealed Truth, and of truth with Event. [Page 110]

THE BAHÁ’Í FAITH

Recognizes the unity of God and His Prophets, Upholds the principle of an unfettered search after truth, Condemns all forms of superstition and prejudice, Teaches that the fundamental purpose of religion is to promote concord and harmony, that it must go hand in hand with science, and that it constitutes the sole and ultimate basis of a peaceful, an ordered and progressive society, . . . Inculcates the principle of equal opportunity, rights and privileges for both sexes, Advocates compulsory education, Abolishes extremes of poverty and wealth, Exalts work performed in the spirit of service to the rank of worship, Recommends the adoption of an auxiliary international language, . . . Provides the necessary agencies for the establishment and safeguarding of a permanent and universal peace.

-SHOGHI EFFENDI.