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WORLD ORDER
THE BAHÁ’Í MAGAZINE
SEPTEMBER, 1948
Why Can’t We Be Friends?
Stanwood Cobb
Fingers of One Hand
Robert Gulick
Civilization on Trial, Book Review
Robert W. McLaughlin
Builders, Poem
Stanton A. Coblentz
Meditation and Prayer, Editorial
Pearl Easterbrook
Poverty or Wealth?
Olivia Kelsey
The New Age in Which We Live
Ina M. Trimble
Freedom from Self
Gene W. Crist
With Our Readers
20¢
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. Editor: Garreta Busey. Managing
Editor: Eleanor S. Hutchens. Associate Editors: Victor de Araujo,
Elsa Blakely, Robert Durr, Pearl Easterbrook, Gertrude Henning,
Flora Emily Hottes, Mabel H. Paine.
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under the Act of March 3, 1879. Content copyrighted 1948 by
Bahá’í Publishing Committee. Title registered at U. S. Patent
Office.
ONE MONTH IN ADVANCE
THE picture this month shows Mt. Illimani in Bolivia. From June through September, when it is winter in the southern hemisphere, this glorious 21,000 foot peak of the Andean Cordillera Real, lifts its snowy majesty into the brilliant and cloudless blue of the Bolivian sky. It dominates the southern end of the deep valley in which lies La Paz (whose name means Peace), and Bolivian Bahá’ís, living in the world’s highest capital at 12,000 feet above sea-level, marvel at it daily when the purity of the sunrise and the transforming glory of the sunset clothe it in unforgettable splendor.
One of the inspiring prayers revealed by Bahá’u’lláh rises naturally in the mind and in the heart at such times: “I beseech Thee, O my God, by the Tabernacle of Thy majesty upon the loftiest summits, and the Canopy of Thy Revelation on the highest hills, to graciously aid me to do what Thy will hath desired and Thy purpose hath manifested.”
The first Bahá’í Spiritual Assembly of Bolivia was founded in La Paz in April, 1945, and now Sucre, traditional capital of the country, also has its Assembly.
WORLD ORDER
The Bahá’í Magazine
VOLUME XIV SEPTEMBER, 1948 NUMBER 6
Why Can’t We Be Friends?
STANWOOD COBB
ALMOST a hundred years ago
Bahá’u’lláh proclaimed to
mankind His message of harmony
and unity. He condemned
not only war but also all expressions
of prejudice and disharmony
between human beings
on the planet, which, He said,
was created to be “one home.”
“Verily, the words which have
descended from the heaven of the
will of God are the source of
unity and harmony for the world.
Close your eyes to racial differences
and welcome all with the
light of oneness.” “We desire
but the good of the world and
the happiness of the nations;
that all nations should become
one in faith and all men be as
brothers; that the bonds of affection
and unity between the sons
of men should be strengthened;
that diversity of religion should
cease, and differences of race be
annulled.”
RELIGIOUS ENMITY
The most potent among the prejudices which Bahá’u’lláh condemned were those arising from the mistaken zeal of religionists who looked upon other sects and other world religions as worthy only of their antagonism or aggressive attack. Religion, He said, should be the cause of unity. Religion is one in reality; and if that which parades under the name of religion causes disunity and even bloodshed, then there is something definitely wrong in such a religion.
Enlightened thought in Christendom
has progressed a long
way toward those goals of religious
friendship and brotherhood
which Bahá’u’lláh urged.
That mistaken theology has
waned which obligated zealous
Christians to believe that all
other religions were false claimants
to truth and their founders
either imposters or subject to
hallucinations. Such is not the
nature of enlightened religious
thought today. Not only do the
cultured class of Christians recognize
[Page 184]
truth and beauty in other
religions, but even the missionary
approach to religionists of
other countries is one of appreciation
and fellowship. It seems
improbable that warfare and
bloodshed would take place
again upon this planet through
the faulty ardor of religious devotion.
“An essential principle of Bahá’u’lláh’s teaching,” says ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, “is that religion must be the cause of unity and love amongst men; that it is the supreme effulgence of divinity, the stimulus of life, the source of honor, and production of eternal existence. Religion is not intended to arouse enmity and hatred nor to become the source of tyranny and injustice. Should it prove to be the cause of hostility, discord and the alienation of mankind, assuredly the absence of religion would be preferable. Religious teachings are as a course of treatment having for its purpose the cure and healing of mankind. If the only outcome of a course of treatment should be mere diagnosis and fruitless discussion of symptoms, it would be better to abandon and abolish it. In this sense, the absence of religion would be at least some progress toward unity.”
NATIONALISM
Next to the evils of religious intolerance Bahá’u’lláh condemned the prejudices arising from patriotism and devotion to one’s own country. Pride in one’s own country can be beneficent only when merged into love for the whole human race and devotion to its universal welfare. Selfish nationalism gives rise to evils which threaten the very existence of humanity.
Subsequent events have proved the prophetic correctness of Bahá’u’lláh’s famous preachment: “Let not a man glory in this, that he loves his country; rather let him glory in this, that he loves his kind.”
The elimination of selfish and jingoistic nationalism was deemed necessary to the achievement of that great goal to which Bahá’u’lláh dedicated His life and for which He suffered forty years of banishment and imprisonment —the goal of human oneness and of federated world unity.
Legitimate loyalties, however, are not condemned.
“Let there be no misgivings
as to the animating purpose of
the world-wide Law of Bahá’u’lláh,”
says the present world
leader of the Bahá’í Faith,
Shoghi Effendi. “Far from aiming
at the subversion of the
existing foundations of society,
it seeks to broaden its basis, to
[Page 185]
remold its institutions in a manner
consonant with the needs of
an ever-changing world. It can
conflict with no legitimate alliances,
nor can it undermine essential
loyalties. Its purpose is
neither to stifle the flame of a
sane and intelligent patriotism in
men’s hearts, nor to abolish the
system of national autonomy so
essential if the evils of excessive
centralization are to be avoided.
It does not ignore, nor does it
attempt to suppress the diversity
of ethical origins, of climate, of
history, of language and tradition,
of thought and habit, that
differentiate the peoples and nations
of the world. It calls for
a wider loyalty, for a larger aspiration
than any that has yet
animated the human race.”
RACIALISM
Thirdly, Bahá’u’lláh condemned all racial and color prejudice. There is only one race in reality upon this planet—the human race. “All are the leaves of one tree.” Such diversities as appear should lend charm rather than aversion to human association, just as diversity of colors in a flower garden add to its attractiveness. One cannot ignore the fact of these diversities. But they should not be the cause of unfriendliness.
As regards these racial prejudices it must be realized that we are dealing with very deep-seated emotions springing from biological sources. To primitive man the stranger is always an enemy, something to be feared and distrusted. These antagonistic fears and prejudgments so innate in man’s psychology are very difficult to eliminate. Admirable as are all cultural attempts to eliminate intolerance, it seems to the writer that only a spiritual attack upon his human weakness can be successful.
This is what Bahá’u’lláh intended
when He proclaimed the
need of a new consciousness in
the human race, a consciousness
of the oneness of mankind. Such
a unifying emotion as this must
spring from spiritual sources;
from an awareness of the essential
oneness of man as cast in
the image of God. And to fortify
such a unifying consciousness
there must be drawn into active
expression that force of divine
love which all the Prophets have
exemplified and have urged
their followers to practice one
toward another. “Love one another,
as I have loved you,” was
the main thesis of John’s reporting
of his Master’s teaching—
“As a mother loves its child and
protects it at the risk of her life,
so turn with boundless love to
all mankind,” said Buddha.
This is where the attack on prejudice
[Page 186]
must originate—in the
heart, not in the brain. Tolerance,
worthy expression of liberalism
and humanism as it is,
must become something more
positive and more dynamic if
the unity of the human race is
what is envisioned.
We cannot merely eliminate prejudice, leaving nothing in its place. Something else must be substituted, or else new prejudices will arise. The emotionally egocentric and intellectually analytical factors of human nature tend always to discriminations which lead to unkind and unsympathetic judgments. Thus, even if all the prejudices in the world were by some miracle wiped out of existence today, unless the hearts of men were changed new prejudices would arise tomorrow.
There is only one thing that can annihilate existing prejudices and prevent new ones from forming—a loving, charitable heart that instinctively goes out in kindly thought and deed to others. Such a heart exists only in those who are spiritually attuned to the great Heart of Love.
The one factor missing in current
secular attempts to eliminate
prejudice and intolerance
from the world—universal love
—was expounded a generation
ago by ‘Abdu’l-Bahá in one of
his Paris addresses—“We must
find a way of spreading Love
among the sons of Humanity.
. . . The Perfect Love needs an
unselfish instrument, absolutely
freed from fetters of every kind.
The love of family is limited.
. . . Patriotic Love is finite. . . .
The Love of Race is limited;
there is some union here, but
that is insufficient. Love must be
free from boundaries. . . . The
love of Community of Interest in
service is likewise fluctuating.
. . . All these ties of Love are
imperfect. It is clear that limited
material ties are insufficient
to adequately express the Universal
Love. . . . The great unselfish
Love for Humanity is
bounded by none of these imperfect,
semi-selfish bonds; this
is the one perfect Love, possible
to all mankind, and can only be
achieved by the Power of the
Divine Spirit. No worldly power
can accomplish the Universal
Love. . . . Shed the Light of a
boundless love on every human
being whom you meet, whether
of your country, your race, your
political party, or of any other
nation, color or shade of political
opinion. Heaven will support
you while you work in this ingathering
of the scattered peoples
of the world beneath the
shadow of the Almighty Tent of
Unity. You will be the servants
[Page 187]
of God, who are dwelling near
to Him, His divine helpers in
the service, ministering to all
Humanity. All Humanity! Every
human being! Never forget
this!”
Most notably is the problem of prejudice and intolerance felt by the submerged minorities of the world such as the Jews, the Negroes, the American Indians. What sort of a spiritual rebirth of humanity can do away with these racial barriers which are the cause of such deepseated inequities, exploitations and social cruelties! The Bahá’í Faith works ardently for the goal of universal brotherhood and Bahá’ís apply the principles of unity in every aspect of their religious practice. In this Bahá’í field will be found today, in various countries of the world, a complete and profound expression of unity and harmony between all peoples—regardless of race, creed or color. The Bahá’ís express this oneness in all their activities—social and educational as well as religious. And they confidently look forward to a day when the human race will in reality be one; when all the enmities, hostilities, and injustice of prejudice and intolerance will have disappeared completely under the power of a spiritual love which brings a real and abiding unity.
ORIENT AND OCCIDENT
One of the most important and epoch-making contributions of the Bahá’í Faith to world unity is its ability to unite the Orient and Occident in a warm fellowship of spiritual faith and practical living. All through history an apparently unsurmountable gulf has separated the peoples and civilizations of the Orient from those of the Occident. Alexander caused only a temporary bridging of these cultures. The Caesars, conquering all the Occident, were unable to penetrate Asia beyond the nearer borders of Persia.
Even Christianity, which was propagandized in India and China in the same centuries in which it was being successfully established in Germany and England, never obtained a vital foothold in the Asiatic countries. It conquered everywhere westward of its birthplace, but made no conquests eastward. Thus it contributed nothing toward coalescence of the Orient and Occident.
Buddhism, strangely enough,
had a converse experience. It
penetrated successfully everywhere
eastward of its birthplace,
but left only vague philosophical
[Page 188]
influences in the culture of the
western world.
Islám—which has demonstrated throughout its history a remarkable power of unifying peoples of most diverse races and bringing them into an active brotherhood—seemed destined also to operate in certain particular areas and among certain races; and while it holds the key to unity even today among the peoples of these same widely scattered and diverse races, it has never evidenced much ability to win Occidentals to its fold.
A NEW WORLD FAITH
It is perhaps the destined time for a new world faith to arise, capable of winning the allegiance both of Orientals and of Occidentals. This remarkable ability the Bahá’í Faith has demonstrated, from its inception. It is widespread in India, Persia, Egypt, and other countries of the Orient; and is also strongly established in the United States, Canada, Mexico, and the twenty-one countries of Latin America; and is making headway in many European countries.
Certain it is that the Bahá’í Faith can bring into a warm and loving brotherhood the peoples of the Orient and the Occident; can wipe out the distrust which western imperialism has created among Asiatics; can lay the foundations for reciprocal and friendly relations between these two diverse cultures of the world.
Occidentals, through the spiritual potency of the Bahá’í teachings, develop a sense of spiritual values which up to date has more characterized the Orient than it has the Occident. And the Oriental Bahá’í, mystical by birth, becomes more progressive under the immensely practical teachings and principles of the New World Order as laid down by Bahá’u’lláh. The Oriental Bahá’í wants education for his children; he wants developments in the fields of public health, technology and industry; he looks forward to the universal goal of a world civilization in which the best values of the Orient and Occident will be expressed.
Thus the brotherhood and fellowship between Oriental and Occidental Bahá’ís has much more than a sentimental value. It has already begun to express itself in the practical ways above-mentioned, and will continue to do so very significantly in the coming generation, as the Bahá’í Faith wins Occidentals in larger numbers to its spiritual fold and invigorates in still greater proportion the passivity of the Orient.
Fingers of One Hand
ROBERT GULICK
IS IT possible to organize religion
without killing it?
The answer depends on how religion is defined. If we think of faith in terms of a state of trance or remoteness from the world, perhaps organization is detrimental. As soon as the conception is broadened to embrace human service, however, the element of teamwork enters the picture.
The Bahá’í Faith recognizes both the spiritual or personal and the material or social aspects of religious experience. The spiritual side of faith is changeless, eternal. The world’s great living religions have always subscribed to the same fundamental tenets—the law of love, the golden rule, belief in God and His Messengers. This does not mean that religion is merely a process of repetition for it is necessary to reaffirm the fundamental verities from age to age. In large measure, these ideas have entered into our racial heritage, but it is one thing to agree with a principle and quite another to translate it in terms of personal conduct. A single call by a physician does not suffice for all time, no matter whether the healer be human or divine. The other side of religion concerns those outward matters necessary for the advancement of civilization on this planet. It must change in every era in accordance with the requirements of human society.
It is clear that the great issues of our day are social in nature. War and poverty cannot be abolished by a little personal piety here and there. We need also the ability to work together harmoniously. A major task in which Bahá’ís all over the world are engaged is the clearing away of the debris of national, religious, and racial prejudice. In order to coordinate our efforts to hasten the coming of the Kingdom “on earth as it is in heaven,” it is essential to have an organization for the pooling of talents and resources. But the Bahá’í Administration has an even greater significance.
Bahá’u’lláh commanded His
followers to be “as the fingers of
one hand” and He has, for the
first time in the world’s religious
history, established institutions
for consultation and collective
action in the form of local, national,
and (in the future) international
houses of justice. These
are the necessary instruments for
[Page 190]
realizing human unity. Constituting
as they do a “pattern for
future society,” they merit close
examination.
Administration of the affairs of the Faith is a matter of primary concern to the rank and file believers, not merely to their elected representatives. Every Bahá’í is a potential member of a local and of a national Assembly and it is his duty to take an active part in the election of the Assembly, loyally to abide by its decision, and to enforce its verdict. It is a privilege coupled with responsibility.
The Guardian of the Bahá’í Faith is the heart and spiritual powerhouse of the Administrative Order. The secret of the remarkable victories in extending the Faith to more than four-score countries, in building the House of Worship by Lake Michigan, and in overcoming persecution, lay in relating desires and efforts to his wishes. He is the general of the armies of peace and light, the “Sign of God” among men. Bahá’ís acknowledge their inestimable privilege in having the benefit of his constant guidance and they feel impelled to reflect and ponder on every hint that he gives for the promotion of the vital interests of the Cause. They strive to obey his counsel instantly, precisely, and fully.
Work on committees and other administrative activities is not a substitute for the Faith but is merely the means to an end, the direct instrument for the propagation of the Faith. According to the revered Guardian, the administrative organism has a two-fold function: “It should both provide the impulse whereby the dynamic forces latent in the Faith can unfold, crystallize, and shape the lives and conduct of men, and serve as a medium for the interchange of thought and the co-ordination of activities among the divers elements that constitute the Bahá’í community.”
Regular community gatherings
known as feasts begin with
a period of prayer and the reading
of selections from Bahá’í
scriptures, continue with discussion
of community problems, and
close with refreshments and personal
visiting. The feasts provide
opportunities for even the humblest
members of the group to
put forward their suggestions in
all frankness and to perfect their
capacity for self-expression. The
Guardian has stated that “the
main purpose of the Nineteen
Day Feasts is to enable individual
believers to offer any suggestion
to the local Assembly
which in its turn will pass it to
the N. S. A. (National Spiritual
[Page 191]
Assembly).” Such observations
and recommendations are offered
in a kindly but candid spirit. It
is laudable that the members
should praise one another, but
personal considerations cannot
be allowed to cramp or misdirect
the free flow of consultation.
‘Abdu’l-Bahá asserted that “the
shining spark of truth cometh
forth only after the clash of differing
opinions.”
The obligation of voting in Bahá’í elections carries with it the duty to investigate cautiously and personally the qualifications of those available for office. In Bahá’í elections, there are no nominations, no electioneering, no trotting out of dark horses. Each voter must, therefore, dispense with the opinions of others and determine through direct, personal experience which individuals are best fitted to perform the duties of Assembly members and convention delegates. Voting is looked upon not as an opportunity for conferring favors or bestowing honors but simply as the means for choosing workers to perform definite tasks. The Guardian has indicated that the National Assembly members should be those who can best combine the “necessary qualities of unquestioned loyalty, of selfless devotion, of a well-trained mind, of recognized ability and mature experience.” Such all-too-rare attributes are desirable in all administrators. In order to develop knowledge and capacity among the Bahá’ís, courses in a wide range of subjects are offered children, youth, and adults in regular Bahá’í schools from Maine to California and in special institutes and conferences. Perhaps the central feature of a Bahá’í election is meditation as contrasted with the mud-slinging of partisan politics.
The Bahá’í Faith centralizes authority in the Houses of Justice, at present called Assemblies, but it is not bureaucratic power. These Assemblies cope with an amazing array of problems in individual adjustment, financial difficulties, marital relationships, public teaching, international relief, and virtually everything else requiring more than personal attention. There are towns in Persia where even the non-Bahá’ís request these Assemblies to solve their problems. This administrative machinery stimulates and coordinates the voluntary, spontaneous endeavors of free individuals.
The Assembly is required to
ascertain the views and wishes of
the community which it serves
and it may be called upon to
justify its decisions. The danger
of arbitrary conduct and of lethargy
[Page 192]
that follows from too long
a tenure of office is reduced by
holding elections every year. Rotation
in office is not a fetish and
changes are not made for the
sake of novelty but new blood is
always welcome on an Assembly
when it strengthens the body.
The Guardian has emphasized that “Administrative efficiency and order should always be accompanied by an equal degree of love, of devotion and spiritual development.” Administration is part and parcel of the Faith, not something apart. The chosen officials are not ornaments of the Cause but co-workers who have been entrusted with the performance of specified duties, “instruments for a more efficient and dignified presentation of the Cause of God.” In elaborating on the fundamentals of procedure, the Guardian very significantly declares: “Let us also bear in mind that the keynote of the Cause of God is not dictatorial authority but humble fellowship, not arbitrary power, but the spirit of frank and loving consultation. Nothing short of the spirit of a true Bahá’í can hope to reconcile the principles of mercy and justice, of freedom and submission, of the sanctity of the right of the individual and of self-surrender, of vigilance, discretion and prudence on the one hand, and fellowship, candor, and courage on the other.”
Particular attention is given the place of youth in the administrative framework. A person may become a Bahá’í at the age of fifteen and be appointed to any committee, local or national, on the same basis as an adult. Participation in elections is limited, at least for the present, to those over twenty-one. In the Advent of Divine Justice, written in 1938, Shoghi Effendi, the Guardian, urged youth to participate in both the teaching and administrative spheres of Bahá’í activity and it was in response to the summons that John Eichenauer, then seventeen, went as a pioneer to Latin America. Among my most thrilling experiences in Persia were the meetings with the children in their classes in character-building and with those young people who are the spiritual heirs of such youth as Badí’ who gave his life that the Faith might live.
A very wholesome characteristic
of the Faith is the stress put
upon action. It is not enough to
say, “I believe.” If one truly believes,
his deeds must exceed his
words. The administrative mechanism
is in itself powerless to
lead to an earthly paradise, even
though it be an indispensable
vehicle for reaching that goal.
[Page 193]
Far too often reformers want to
change society but are unwilling
and unable to change themselves.
The Bahá’ís have no alibi. Their
task is definite. The going may
be rough, but there is no other
way—and there never was. This
is the rebirth mentioned by
Christ. Shoghi Effendi puts it in
these words: “Not until we live
ourselves the life of a true Bahá’í
can we hope to demonstrate the
creative and transforming potency
of the Faith we profess.
Nothing but the abundance of our
actions, nothing but the purity of
our lives and the integrity of our
characters, can in the last resort
establish our claim that the
Bahá’í spirit is in this day the
sole agency that can translate a
long-cherished ideal into an enduring
achievement.”
The challenging task of this day is to bring together the peoples of the world in a peaceful, forward-looking union. The Bahá’í Administrative Order is a “freedom train” of the spirit. It is a tough job to persuade people to climb on board. As in the spiritual, “there’s room for many a mo’.” ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s technique of teaching as described by Shoghi Effendi, merits the closest scrutiny: “Wise and tactful in His approach, wakeful and attentive in his early intercourse, broad and liberal in all his public utterances, cautious and gradual in the unfolding of the essential verities of the Cause, passionate in His appeal yet sober in argument, confident in tone, unswerving in conviction, dignified in His manners—such were the distinguishing features of our Beloved’s noble presentation of the Cause of Bahá’u’lláh.”
To sum up, organization may injure the purely spiritual side of religion and it is for this reason that rituals, ceremonials, and pageantry in general have no place in the Bahá’í Faith. But an administrative set-up is necessary for handling both local and global problems. The Bahá’í Faith meets the needs of man and society.
THE SEARCH FOR TRUTH
Man must cut himself free from all prejudice and from the result of his own imagination, so that he may be able to search for Truth unhindered. Truth is one in all religions, and by means of it the unity of the world can be realized.
All the peoples have a fundamental belief in common. Being one, Truth cannot be divided, and the differences that appear to exist among the nations only result from their attachment to prejudice. If only men would search out Truth, they would find themselves united.
Civilization on Trial
Book Review
ROBERT W. MCLAUGHLIN
A COUNTERPART to the
broad and intensive interest
that met Mr. Toynbee’s A Study
of History has been a desire to
meet the author on a more personal
and perhaps contemporary
plane. Civilization on Trial[1]
makes this possible. It consists
of thirteen essays, mostly based
on lectures given in the United
States, Canada, and England.
The essays range from statements
of personal philosophy to
revealing interpretations of
events in Greece, China, or Islám,
always with an eye to analogies
to be drawn with events in
our current civilizations, and
with a forward look to the world
embracing civilization to come.
To Mr. Toynbee the outstanding
event in contemporary history is
that “the human race has been
brought under one roof”.
Mr. Toynbee includes some hundreds of years in “contemporary” history. One of the most valuable concepts to be gained from reading him is a sense of the tremendous sweep of time in the universe. All civilizations of which we have record are compressed into a mere 6000 years, whereas man has existed on this planet for perhaps 600,000 years and life for some 800,000,000 years, while the earth is of the nature of 2,000,000,000 years old. Another concept to be gained is that we must study the history of civilizations on a world wide basis, and without cultural prejudice, if we are to be mentally prepared for the problems of modern history. These concepts were admirably presented in Mr. Toynbee’s Bicentennial Lecture at Princeton, here reprinted under the title which gives the volume its name.
Civilization on Trial has been
written as an interlude in A
Study of History. It is desirable
that we should read Civilization
as a supplement to A Study. The
first five of the thirteen sections
of A Study have been published
in six volumes totalling something
over 3200 pages. These
volumes contain the analysis of
the geneses, growths, breakdowns,
and disintegrations of
civilizations. Civilization on
Trial furnishes some of the
background for the writing of
A Study of History. The Study
is of such great import that one
[Page 195]
wants to know all about how it
came to be. The first essay, “My
View of History,” describes the
value of a thorough knowledge
of the Graeco-Roman World, not
only because that stands in a
relationship of “apparentation
and affiliation” with Western
Christendom, but because we
have there on a scale upon which
we can more easily focus, the
problems of modern times. But
Mr. Toynbee did not stop there
and he cast aside the blinders
that are too often handed out
with copies of Thucydides. The
facts that Rome and China were
contemporaries, quite oblivious
of each other, that the Oxus-Jaxartes
Basin cradled civilizations,
as well as the Tigris or the Nile,
were deeply enough impressed
on Mr. Toynbee to give him a
world wide breadth of understanding,
quite lacking, for instance,
in Gibbon, or in almost
any other eminent historian of
modern times. Not until the
colorful diversity of past civilizations
is mentally absorbed, is
one historically ready for the
concept of the Oneness of Mankind.
Granted that a score of civilizations have come into being, the author asked himself, “What was it that, after so long a pause, had so recently set in such vigorous motion once again, towards some new and still unknown social and spiritual destination, those few societies that had embarked upon the enterprise called civilization?” He read Spengler, as did many in the 1920’s, and whereas most of us were put off by Spengler’s arbitrary formula of rise and fall of civilizations in conformity with a fixed mechanistic time table, he grasped Spengler’s analysis of the parallel elements in civilizations and set out to find what it was that really made them happen.
Mr. Toynbee, in A Study of
History disabuses our minds of
what does not produce a civilization.
We will be interested in his
conclusion that race is not a controlling
factor, and that there is
no innately superior race, such
as the Nordic race, which is responsible
for the creation of
cvilizations, just as there is no
special climatic environment
that brings civilization forth. It
is in the process of “challenge
and response” that he finds a
clue. One wonders, perhaps,
whether the mere fact that challenges,
adversities, and stimuli
are always present at the geneses
and growths of civilizations
necessarily means that they
should be accepted as of the
nature of the basic cause. The
blows of a blacksmith’s hammer
[Page 196]
certainly shape the forging of a
tool and are necessary to its forging,
but there is more to the concept
and production of the tool
than that. At some point there
was a concept that such a tool
should exist, that the time was
right for making it, and the challenge
of the hammer blows and
response of the iron became an
inevitable part, but only a part,
of the process. Mr. Toynbee concludes
his first essay in “Civilization
on Trial” with this:
“While civilizations rise and fall and, in falling, give rise to others, some purposeful enterprise, higher than theirs, may all the time be making headway, and, in a divine plan, the learning that comes through the suffering caused by the failures of civilizations may be the soverign means of progress. Abraham was an émigré from a civilization in extremis; the Prophets were children of another civilization in disintegration; Christianity was born of the sufferings of a disintegrating Graeco-Roman world. Will some comparable spiritual enlightenment be kindled in the ‘displaced persons’ who are counterparts, in our world, of those Jewish exiles to whom so much was revealed in their painful exile by the waters of Babylon? The answer to this question, whatever the answer may be, is of greater moment than the still inscrutable destiny of our world-encompassing Western civilization.”
And again, in the second essay, he says: “Our Western ‘know how’ has unified the whole world in the literal sense of the whole habitable and traversable surface of the globe; and it has inflamed the institutions of War and Class, which are the two congenital diseases of civilization, into utterly fatal maladies. This trio of unintentional achievements presents us with a challenge that is formidable indeed.” The challenge is undoubtedly there. What of the response?
Toynbee, the historian, has
set up the twenty odd civilizations
that have appeared within
the six thousand years of recorded
time, and by scientifically observing
and describing the cycle
of each, has found what appear
to be laws that condition not
only the rise and growth and disintegration,
but the interrelationship
of the civilizations. He has
himself attempted a partial summary
of the deductions of thousands
of pages of A Study of
History. First he defines what he
meant by a civilization: “. . .
each of these civilizations is,
while in action, a distinctive attempt
at a single, great human
enterprise, or, when it is seen in
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retrospect, after action is over,
it is a distinctive instance of a
single, great common human experience
. . . mankind trying to
rise above mere humanity—
above primitive humanity, that
is—towards some higher kind of
spiritual life . . . Civilization, as
we know it, is a movement and
not a condition, a voyage and
not a harbor. No known civilization
has ever reached the goal
of civilization yet.” We are reminded
of the words of the Prisoner
at Acre: “All men have
been created to carry forward an
ever-advancing civilization . . .
to act like the beasts of the field
is unworthy of men . . . that the
leaders of men in every land
may fully recognize the purpose
for which the Eternal Truth hath
been revealed, and the reason
for which they themselves have
been created.”
In “My View of History”, Mr. Toynbee summarizes: “Briefly stated, the regular pattern of social disintegration is a schism of the disintegrating society into a recalcitrant proletariat and a less and less effective dominant minority. In the last rally but one, the dominant minority succeeds in temporarily arresting the society’s lethal self-laceration by imposing on it the peace of a universal state. Within the framework of the dominant minority’s universal state the proletariat creates a universal church, and after the next rout, in which the disintegrating civilization finally dissolves, the universal church may live on to become the chrysalis from which a new civilization eventually emerges.” What of this chrysalis? Where may we look? There is little question about the existence of wide schism in a disintegrating society today. In our study under Mr. Toynbee’s guidance of more than twenty civilizations, which are “philosophically contemporary” and therefore analogous to an already tottering Western Christendom, we have been empirically shown from what direction, at least, comes our help.
Surely not from the idolatrous
worship, Mr. Toynbee has
warned, of such gods as nationalism
and racialism, nor from
undue adoration of our technological
adeptness. The essay entitled
“Islam, the West, and the
Future” carries one up to what
the author, as a historian, chooses
to call the Pillars of Hercules
beyond which lies the ocean of
future time. The essay is extraordinary
and wonderful; extraordinary
because so free of that
unconscious bias and patronage
that can characterize Western
scholarship when its learning is
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focused away from the Western
homeland; wonderful, because
empirically and by historical deduction,
based on the analysis of
civilizations contained in A
Study of History, one is led to
the source of the “chrysalis” to
which we must look for the salvation
of our civilization, as well
as Civilization with a capital
“C”.
In the action and reaction of Islam and Western Society upon one another, first Christendom and then Islam was at bay; both survived. Economically and culturally, “conquered Islam took her savage conquerors captive and introduced the arts of civilization into the rustic life of Latin Christendom”. The encounter today between the West and Islam is historically analagous to that between Rome and Israel.
As the impact of the West is felt by Islam, there have arisen, says Mr. Toynbee, the Moslem equivalents of Judaean Zealots and Herodians. The vast majority of the Islamic peoples are “being enrolled in that vast, cosmopolitan, ubiquitous proletariat which is one of the most portentous by-products of the ‘Westernization’ of the world.” The stage has been set again in Palestine for the asking of the question: ‘Can any good thing come out of Nazareth?’ From that underworld of the Oriental proletariat, of which Nazareth was one type and symbol, Mr. Toynbee reminds us, “there came forth some of the mightiest creations hitherto achieved by the spirit of man; a cluster of higher religions. Their sound has gone forth into all the lands, and it is still echoing in our ears. Their names are names of power: Christianity and Mithraism and Manichaeism.”
These precedents portend, the author says, that Islam may well influence the future in ways that pass understanding.
“Indeed, under the impact of
the West, the great deeps of
Islam are already stirring”, we
continue to quote from Mr.
Toynbee, “and even in these
early days we can discern certain
spiritual movements which might
conceivably become the embryos
of new higher religions. The
Bahá’í and Ahmadi[2] movements,
which from Acre and Lahore
have begun to send out their
missionaries to Europe and
America, will occur to the contemporary
Western observer’s
mind; but at this point of prognostication
we have reached our
Pillars of Hercules, where the
prudent investigator stays his
course and refrains from attempting
to sail out into an
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ocean of future time in which he
can take no more than the most
general bearings.”
We can well remind ourselves of the telescoping of the time schedule of the universe, which Mr. Toynbee so clearly has laid before us. There may not be quite time for watching, from the shelter of the Pillars of Hercules, ‘rivals’ for the necessary function of a universal religion out of which a world civilization will evolve. A yacht race with an atomic bomb poised over the course and supersonic speed at the command of contestants is not a pleasant place for spectators. Surely the finish will be far beyond the supposed limits of an ancient world, and though the historian, as an historian, stops where history stops, those who would be there at the finish had best board the ship and come along. History has shown us that at these times of crisis God does give man his bearings, and out of such superficially unlikely places as Nazareth and Acre.
In reading both Civilization on Trial and A Study of History, readers of this magazine will find a deep kinship with the author in his desire really to understand what has happened so far on this planet and what is apt to happen. If their experience is like that of the writer of this review, their admiration of the author will deepen into respect and affection. The volumes are full of tongue twisters, but there is never a touch of pedantry. And you will have a great deal of fun, if you take it easily, because Mr. Toynbee tells stories wonderfully well. He is, as an individual, so completely on the side of the angels, and at the same time, as an historian, he relentlessly pursues the empirical method. But above all, we are grateful that at this particular juncture in the affairs of the world a great writer of history has appeared with a concept of the universal character of the cycle which we have entered.
BUILDERS
STANTON A. COBLENTZ
- He who erects in tinsel, courts acclaim,
- For round his door all casual flashes shine.
- But he whose stones are truth is shunned by fame;
- Unseen within, the timeless and divine.
Meditation and Prayer
Editorial
“SAY, God suffices all things
above all things, and nothing
in the heavens or in the earth
but God suffices.
“Verily, He is in Himself the Knower, the Sustainer, the Omnipotent.”
Bahá’u’lláh says, “There is a sign from God in every phenomenon. The sign of the intellect is contemplation, the sign of contemplation is silence.” The world is so very much with us that some one has suggested we are again passing through an ice age. Our first ice age was a physical one destroying all vegetable and animal life. Our modern ice age is one of the spirit. The destruction it causes reaches into every field of human activity.
Are not present conditions flashing the red light? Are not present conditions calling loudly “stop”? Can thinking man not hear that call, “Stop, man! O, stop! else you plunge deeper into the mire of self-destruction?”
Perchance the call has reached the hearts of a great many, who now are asking “What then?” To those we suggest they “seek the sign of God in every phenomenon.” How shall we discover that sign? Through prayer, which brings an increasing consciousness of the ever present signs of God.
Is there anyone in the whole world who would not pay for the precious privilege of making the right decision today, tomorrow, or next month? What a spiritually endowed humanity Bahá’u’lláh anticipates as He describes life upon this planet in the future. How and when shall this humanity appear? There are those who believe man will cease to be a mere animal at that moment in which he purposefully starts developing the faculty of meditation. Shall we begin today?
It matters not where we find ourselves working out our destiny; all that is required of us is to begin. Upon what shall we meditate? Upon the Words of God. Where shall we find them? In the revealed Word of His Manifestation. These Words are the food of man’s soul. What happens to the physical body when we cease feeding it? It begins to deteriorate. May it not be that we are starving spiritually?
The heart is the seat of God’s
Love. Are hearts failing and bodies
dying because they do not
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have the strength and health of
the Love of God to sustain them?
“Say, God suffices all things above all things,” “All things above all things.”
If He does, let’s cease contemplating anything but Him. Let us refuse to waste precious human thought energy on anything but God.
“And nothing in the heavens or in the earth but God suffices.” If these words of God’s Manifestation be true, the challenge demands that we seek and find the way to the One and Only Power that shall suffice for us in all eternity.
“Verily, He is in Himself the Knower, the Sustainer, the Omnipotent.”
“The Knower, the Sustainer,” what a privilege! We may turn unto the Knower, the One who will sustain us through the present grade of life’s school in which we are working, and through all grades we shall ever attain.
“The Omnipotent,” the All-Powerful. He, the All-Powerful awaits our turning to Him.
‘Abdu’l-Bahá says: “Through the faculty of meditation man attains to eternal life, through it he receives the breath of the Holy Spirit. Through this faculty man enters into the very Kingdom of God.”
Prayer! the key that opens so many doors. But, praying a prayer and reading a prayer are as distinctly different as the difference in the experience of two men, one of whom gazes upon a table groaning with delicious food, while the other sits down and partakes of that food. God speed the day when all humanity shall pray the prayers brought to this tottering world by God’s Manifestation, Bahá’u’lláh, with a faith so steadfast that no storms can move, that nothing can disturb, and that shall endure to the end. “As ye have faith so shall your powers and blessings be.”
DETACHMENT
Our greatest efforts must be directed towards detachment from the
things of the world; we must strive to become more spiritual, more luminous,
to follow the counsel of the Divine Teachings, to serve the cause of Unity
and true equality, to be merciful, to reflect the Love of the Highest on all
men, so that the light of the spirit shall be apparent in all our deeds, to the
end that all humanity shall be united, the stormy sea thereof calmed, and
all rough waves disappear from off the surface of life’s ocean henceforth
unruffled and peaceful. Then will the New Jerusalem be seen by mankind,
who will enter through its gates and receive Divine Bounty.
Poverty or Wealth?
OLIVIA KELSEY
ONE day a long time ago
someone picked up a stone.
It was different from other stones
and it chanced to be a great asset
in combating the enemy and
in hunting. Another time a spark
set aflame by chance some brush
and dried leaves, and fire came
to take its place as something of
rare value to man. It was the
first sign of a new relationship
between man and the outer
changing world. In time he grew
to adore the things which he had
found were useful to him. In his
consciousness there had been established
the sense of closeness
to them and dependence upon
them.
Ages passed. With the aid of a mysterious power man was rising above nature; he was changing and, in turn, changing the world about him. This change always synchronized with an immediate need. Thus as civilizations rose and fell, material values changed with the exigencies of the times: cattle, sheep, grain, skins, slaves, copper, silver, gold, tobacco and sugar cane, and paper money have been standards of wealth. To an Arab in the desert of Arabia riches would be a well, some goat’s milk and a handful of dates; to an Eskimo, in the Arctic region, warm blood and flesh of seal, dogs and a sledge. The standard of material wealth could never be permanent because of its essential nature, derived from the ephemeral world.
Out of the jungle man came, then, bringing with him an age-long sense of insecurity. It was natural that he should look for respite from the struggle for existence, and, believing that he had found it in those perishing things, cling to them. But the law of the jungle is hunter and hunted —the spoils to the victor. So permanent security he never found in that world and he came to know that it was never intended in the scheme of things that he should find peace or security in the world of decay and corruption. His concept of wealth, however, had undergone changes. To a slave in Egypt, Babylonia, Greece, Rome, riches would have been freedom; to the oppressed wealth meant kindness; to the ignorant it meant knowledge; to the grasping and greedy wealth meant power, political, social, financial. In reality it was freedom man most desired: —freedom from death, destruction, pain, fear.
[Page 203]
Religion has always opened to
man a new sphere. Even in his
most primitive state he was
guided. As religion unfolded to
him spiritual light it impressed
the reality of a sphere of stability
and permanence attainable
through powers and faculties
within man ranking above the
senses and intellect. Channels of
Grace have brought this Sphere
near to man and united him consciously
with it. It is the World
of Origin of all things visible
and invisible, awaiting man’s
recognition. These Divine Beings
Who have blazed the spiritual
path for man, come in periods of
time known as cycles and found
Dispensations of God. We call
them Messiah, Lord, Educator,
Teacher, Messenger of God,
Prophet. They alone have opened
the door of life more abundant,
of wisdom and knowledge, of
compassion and love, of infallible
guidance and protection,
of material and spiritual wealth,
of freedom and progress. After
the advent of such a Personage
“the universe is wrapt in an ecstacy
of joy and gladness,” “a
cycle of radiance, an age of mercy
dawns.” The New Spirit flooding
the world creates new literature,
new arts and sciences, new
industries, new philosophy, and
a nobler social pattern. They
come to make man known to
himself and to call to his remembrance
his Creator, God. They
have repeated, with increasing
power, the story of man’s spiritual
origin and destiny.
They declare the riches of a world of permanence and that man’s mission here is not in behalf of his own desires and idle fancies, but that he is intended to become a servant of God. ‘Abdu’l-Bahá says, “God created man lofty and noble; made him a dominant factor in creation. He has specialized man with supreme bestowals, conferred upon him mind, perception, memory, abstraction, and the powers of the senses. These gifts of God to man were intended to make him the manifestation of divine virtues, a radiant light in the world of creation, a source of life and the agency of constructiveness in the infinite fields of existence . .”
Thus the Trainer and Leader
of so great a creation as man
must be invested with tremendous
power; His station is “He
Doeth Whatsoever He Willeth”
and “He saith ‘Be’ and it is.” It
is from Him that man’s spiritual
capacity is replenished and sustained
and man, in turn, must radiate
that spiritual energy into
all the worlds with which he
shares relationship. Clearly,
then, the achievement of spiritual
capacity is the be-all and the
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end-all of man’s life on earth
and hereafter; his success, security,
greatness, happiness, and
abounding wealth. That is why
Jesus said “Seek ye first the
Kingdom of God and all things
else shall be added unto you.”
To a Bahá’í this means imitating
watchfully and earnestly,
insofar as possible, the pattern
the Messenger of God presents;
“ceaseless endeavor” to fit one’s
self to be worthy to live and die
for God. We have the perfect example
in the lives of these great
Messengers of God. Picturing
their grandeur Bahá’u’lláh says,
“Human tongue can never befittingly
sing their praise and human
speech can never unfold
their mystery.”
Praising and glorifying God, the Source of Their almighty power, They guide mankind to God, the Fountain of true wealth. Thus Bahá’u’lláh writes “It is He Who hath called into being the whole of creation, Who hath caused every created thing to spring forth at His behest . . . All else besides Him stand poor and desolate at His door, all are powerless before the greatness of His might, all are but slaves in His Kingdom. He is rich enough to dispense with all creatures.”
But if the Teachers of God have taught man dependence upon God, They have also cried loudly of man’s moral and spiritual responsiblities. Much has been given to man and much has been forgiven him. Because of the quality of his nature there is always temptation, his senses attracting him to the world and his spirit yearning for the Infinite. He must choose between the two worlds his soul mirrors to him and struggle between two outlooks —the natural, limited, finite world of self, and the sublime, real and infinite world of God. He must learn to discriminate between doubt and certainty, greed and generosity, hatred and forgiveness, arrogance and humility, tyranny and love, poverty and wealth. In life he encounters disappointment, frustration, loss, sorrow, dishonor and deprivation, and as he meets these problems and grapples with them the powers of the soul are released and perfected. ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, great Exemplar of the Bahá’í Faith, said, after enduring half a century of hardship, toil, imprisonment, persecution and sorrows,—“Troubles rest me.”
It is evident, however, from
the words of the Prophets, that
God did not intend that His
children should be overwhelmed
with misery and unhappiness.
But until the will and understanding
are tamed and made
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receptive, how may man receive
his true inheritance? “All that is
in the heaven and on earth I have
ordained for thee, except the human
heart which I have made the
habitation of My Beauty and
Glory. . . .”
And again Bahá’u’lláh says “. . . that which God, Glorious is His mention, has desired for Himself, is the hearts of His servants, which are treasures of love and praise of the Lord and stores of divine knowledge and wisdom.”
And He contrasts earth’s treasures, which confuse the soul, with the magnificence God has in store for him in his true station as a creature of faith: “This poverty and these riches, this abasement and glory, this dominion, power, and the like, upon which the eyes and hearts of these vain and foolish souls are set,—all these things fade into utter nothingness in that Court! Even as he hath said ‘O men! Ye are but paupers in need of God; but God is the Rich, the Self-Sufficing.’ By ‘riches’ therefore, is meant independence of all else but God, and by ‘poverty’ the lack of things that are of God.”
If worldly ease and honors were intended as the signs of the splendor of man, why then did those Faithful Stewards of God avoid them and endow themselves with service and love, selflessness and martyrdom?
Abraham grew up in the city of Ur in Chaldea and He might have lived an untrammelled life selling images of gods in his father’s shop. But He obeyed the Voice of the One True God and summoned the people to “Righteousness.”
Moses had been reared in the palace of Pharaoh, but when He was commanded to arise and deliver the children of Israel, He responded and became the Interlocutor of God. The key to His Message was “Obedience.”
Buddha was a Prince of India and He lived a number of years on earth unaware that such things as misery, sightlessness, poverty and failure exist. To lift mankind above its degradation He became the most lowly of the lowly and taught the lesson of “Detachment.”
Jesus might have lived a comfortable life as a carpenter, unfamiliar with sorrows and persecution that ended with His crucifixion. But He went “about His Father’s business,” preparing the way for the Kingdom of God on earth. His message was “Love.”
Muḥammad was renowned
for His rectitude of character.
As a successful citizen of Mecca
He could have lived a shielded
[Page 206]
and luxurious life. But God commanded
Him to “Recite” and He
arose to implant the lesson of
“Resignation to the Will of
God.”
And so it was with the Báb (Gate of God) Who announced on May 23, 1844, the Dawn of the Promised Day. In words such as these Bahá’u’lláh testifies to His devotion to God, and the flame He enkindled in the hearts of His disciples and followers: “Who in this world is able to manifest such transcendent power, such pervading influence? . . . Hath the world since the days of Adam, witnessed such tumult, such violent commotion? . . . Methinks, patience was revealed only by virtue of their fortitude, and faithfulness itself was begotten only by their deeds.”
And Bahá’u’lláh, Author and Founder of the new Day of God, that majestic and awe-inspiring Personage, who for over forty years suffered imprisonment, banishment, torment and indescribable hardships, that through Him, God might become glorified again in the soil of human hearts. When he was in the pestilential dungeon of Țihrán, in stocks, the Voice of God summoned Him to arise for the “regeneration of mankind.” All of the previous lessons were preparatory for the one He brings— “Unity.” To the glory of His work and Message, so healing, so all-enfolding, so blessed for all mankind, this quotation from the pen of Shoghi Effendi, Guardian of the Bahá’í Faith, is an eloquent testimony.
“The Revelation of Bahá’u’lláh,
whose supreme mission
is none other than 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. It should be
viewed not merely as yet another
spiritual revival in the
ever-changing fortunes of mankind,
not even as the culmination
of one of a series of recurrent
prophetic cycles, but rather
as marking the last and highest
stage in the stupendous evolution
of man’s collective life on this
planet. 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
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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. . . .”
With infinite love and care mankind has been led through perilous ways to this Wondrous Age. He was a savage ranging the wilds, contending with beasts and the elements. A greater freedom was prepared for him and he became a nomad, tending flocks and wandering at will about the earth. In time he outgrew that experience and a nobler opportunity was presented to him. He became an agriculturist, tilling the soil, gathering harvests, advancing civilization. Of his own will he might have remained satisfied with that life, but greater potentialities were awaiting development —a new challenge greeted him and he entered the Age of Commerce. Now that experience has reached its climax and a vaster horizon beckons to him. We cannot appreciate the glory of the Age at whose threshold we stand, “the coming of age of the entire human race.” But viewing the achievements of the past, we apprehend that the lesson of Unity will employ lovelier qualities, higher susceptibilities, mightier powers of the soul. “Children of the half-light”, we cannot pierce the future nor fathom the Golden Age that is being born out of a world of agony. Our mission is rather to labor and pray for its inauguration. Who, studying the writings of Bahá’u’lláh, its Day-Star of Truth, can doubt its grandeur:—
“Say, O men! This is a matchless Day . . . The whole human race hath longed for this Day, that perchance it may fulfill that which well beseemeth its station, and is worthy of its destiny.”
Who would not be enraptured by the words of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá its perfect Exemplar and Interpreter, foreshadowing its glorious consummation?—
“This is a new cycle of human power, all the horizons of the world are luminous and the world shall become indeed as a garden and a paradise. It is the hour of unity of the sons of men and of the drawing together of all races and all classes. The gift of God to this enlightened age is the knowledge of the oneness of mankind and the fundamental oneness of religion. War shall cease between the nations and by the Will of God the Most Great Peace shall come. The world shall be seen as a new world and all men shall live as brothers.”
The New Age in Which We Live
INA M. TRIMBLE
ALTHOUGH it is more than
two years since the United
Nations Peace Conference was
held, we are still a long way
from attaining peace. In many
parts of the world there is still
much fighting and bloodshed going
on, in others famine and
starvation, in others industrial
strife, inflation and unemployment.
Everywhere there is chaos,
unrest, and destruction. Sometimes
it would seem that even
the elements are taking part in
the general upset.
Bahá’u’lláh said: “The world is in travail and its agitation waxeth day by day. Its face is turned toward waywardness and unbelief. Such shall be its plight that to disclose it now would not be meet and seemly. Its perversity will long continue.”
It has been said that “without change there can be no life.” There are two kinds of change— one slow and gradual, the other rapid, sudden, and dramatic. We will call the sudden changes “critical” stages of development, as when the mineral reaches the boiling and melting point, when the solid suddenly becomes a liquid, or when liquid becomes a gas. In plant life the “critical” stage occurs when the seed germinates, when the bud bursts into bloom; in animal life, when the grub becomes a butterfly, when the chick emerges from the shell, or when the babe is born.
In the higher life of the soul there is a similar change when a person is “born again”, i.e. attains a spiritual “re-birth”. Then the whole character, aims, and activities are radically changed.
To carry this thought still further: as vegetation of all kinds bursts into new life in the springtime, just so the whole of mankind has a “critical” stage of change and development, a “rebirth”. Modes of life which may have persisted for centuries can be quickly and irrevocably changed and humanity enter on a new phase of life as different from the old as the butterfly is from the caterpillar or the bird from the egg.
So it would seem that our world is going through that “critical” stage, that trial and struggle, that travail and sickness, which in due time will bring forth a new age—a better one, we hope.
History tells us that great civilizations
have been built by
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great religions. God never forgets
his covenant with His creation,
never deserts us in our
time of greatest need. Always,
when humanity reaches a low
ebb in social conditions, and
calamities surround us, He sends
us another Divine Messenger,
when a new Dispensation is begun
and a great civilization
founded. God foresees the sickness
besetting mankind and sends
the divine remedy long before the
real crisis occurs—the sickness
and crises which in time turn
men’s hearts to God for help.
In view of the turmoil prevailing around the globe, it is quite evident that mankind is in need of divine help now. Bahá’ís believe we have that help in the Revelation of Bahá’u’lláh. Because of His many years of imprisonment, He was enabled to write voluminously, leaving His teachings to the world in great detail. He re-states all the old basic principles of the ancient faiths, and adds much more. He gave us a plan by which to build a new civilization, largely based on a World Commonwealth or Super-state of all the nations. This includes a World Parliament, a World Tribunal, a World Executive and a World Police Force. By Bahá’u’lláh’s comprehensive plan:—Economic barriers will be destroyed, and the interdependence of capital and labor recognized. Religious prejudice and strife will be stilled forever, because there will be only one World Religion. Race prejudice will finally be extinguished. There will be no more wars, because a capricious and militant nationalism will have been transmuted into a consciousness of world citizenship.
His teachings tell us clearly how to accomplish all this, and when this plan has been fully inaugurated there will be the greatest and fairest civilization the world has ever known. This is a far cry from what we see around us today, but it is the goal for which we strive and to which we must look in our moments of depression.
‘Abdu’l-Bahá assures us: “In this present cycle there will be an evolution in civilization unparalleled in the history of the world. The world of humanity heretofore has been in the stage of infancy, now it is approaching maturity. In one year of this ripened period an unprecedented measure of development will be witnessed. The outworking Universal Spirit in man will reveal itself in unlimited degrees of perfection.”
At another time, He says:
“This is a new cycle of human
power, all the horizons of the
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world are luminous and the
world will become indeed as a
rose garden and a paradise.”
Shoghi Effendi says: “This is the greatest drama in the world’s spiritual history.”
Bahá’u’lláh, addressing the followers of Christ, exclaims— “Followers of the Gospel, behold the gates of heaven are flung open. He that hath ascended unto it hath now come . . . Lo, the sacred Pledge hath been fulfilled, for He, the Promised One, is come.”
And again Bahá’u’lláh says: “This is the King of Days, the Day that hath seen the coming of the Best Beloved, Him Who through all eternity hath been acclaimed the Desire of the world. The world of being shineth in this Day with the resplendency of this Divine Revelation. All created things extol its saving grace and sing its praises. The universe is wrapped in an ecstasy of joy and gladness. The Scriptures of past Dispensations celebrate the great jubilee that must greet this most great Day of God. Well is it with him that hath lived to see this Day and hath recognized its station. Were mankind to give heed in a befitting manner to not more than one word of such a praise, it would be so filled with delight as to be overpowered and lost in wonder. Entranced, it would then shine forth resplendent above the horizon of true understanding.”
These are great promises, and we Bahá’ís believe them, in spite of the chaos we see around us. And why shouldn’t we? If as much progress is made in the next century as during the past one, we will see great changes indeed.
During the first century of the Faith, great strides were made. Now there are Bahá’ís in ninety-one countries, and the framework of the Bahá’í Administration is being laid in many of them. This means that men and women of hostile races, nations, classes and religions have been organized in harmony under the banner of one world religion.
This great change must begin with the individual. Anyone who sincerely desires to help make this great change will begin with himself; that is, he will try to live brotherly love, learn to reorganize his life so as to give his best efforts to the service of humanity. He will be transformed and become as a leaven, creating a spirit of brotherly love and goodwill all around him.
This Faith will grow, will encircle the globe, and will finally blossom out into a new world order, the World Order of Bahá’u’lláh.
Freedom from Self
GENE W. CRIST
BAHÁ’ÍS are admonished to
proclaim boldly the verities
underlying the Faith. Today no
truth is more important to mankind
than the newly revealed one
that God has put freedom within
the reach of every human being.
It is interesting, therefore, to note
some of the gems from the Revelation
of Bahá’u’lláh in regard to
this truth.
During the World War, the leaders of our country declared that the universal desire was fourfold: freedom of worship, freedom of speech, freedom from fear, and freedom from want. However, the freedom of which we are speaking is something different from any of these. It is freedom of the soul.
We all share the longing for happiness. According to Dwight Hillis, “happiness is the test of character.” How true this may be can be clearly seen when we learn, from the Bahá’í Revelation, as well as from experience, that happiness, in its highest expression, is the result of the freedom of the soul.
We are interested in that which will produce freedom from disease; freedom from destructive habits; freedom from worry; freedom from destructive thinking; freedom from emotional upset; freedom from fear; freedom from tradition, bigotry, intolerance, superstition and many other things too numerous to mention. May these not all be summed up as freedom from self? . . . . . .
Let us think of these elements of freedom separately.
Freedom from disease: well, disease is an effect—there are many causes. Usually these causes are something over which we have control. Often it is what or how we eat. More often it is what we are thinking or feeling. Destructive, evil thoughts create poison in the blood stream. At a recent convention of healers it was stated that every man and woman lives under the law that everything unfolds from within outwardly. That is why if we nurse hurts, injuries, jealousies, worries, we shall have diseased conditions which all the pills and vitamins in the world will not take away.
The medical profession has
come to the conclusion that 50%
of all disease exists in the mind
before evidencing itself in the
body and that, in the other 50%,
mental conditions are an important
contributing cause. We need
to get the negative forces out of
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our system so that the Spirit may
flow in. Bahá’u’lláh’s words,
“Jealousy eats up the body and
rage burns up the liver” are a
powerful concrete expression of
this same idea.
And as to the causes of destructive thinking, fears, criticism, emotionalism and the development of such unlovely traits: are these not caused by self-concern, self-indulgence and selfishness? Or, to put it another way, knowing that evil does not exist as a concrete force, we realize that self-love, with all these things which imprison us and keep us bound, is the lack of love for others and for God.
‘Abdu’l-Bahá has said, “When one is released from the prison of self, that is indeed freedom! For self is the greatest prison! When this release takes place one can never be imprisoned.” And Bahá’u’lláh: “Free thyself from the fetters of this world, and loose thy soul from the prison of self. Seize thy chance, for it will come to thee no more” . . . . “Purge thy heart from malice; and innocent of envy, enter the Divine court of holiness.” We have God’s Words given us through Bahá’u’lláh: “The candle of thine heart is lighted by the hand of My power— quench it not with the contrary winds of self and passion.” We are taught to pray: “Give me to drink from the chalice of selflessness, with its robe clothe me and in its ocean immerse me.”
From ‘Abdu’l-Bahá we learn that happiness is commanded. We are taught to pray for it. We are told what creates it. And we are told how to procure it;
“O Thou Benevolent God, . . . Purify and sanctify me. Give me a portion from the outpouring of holiness so that sorrow and sadness may vanish, joy and happiness descend, despondence and hopelessness be changed into cheerfulness and trustfulness, and let courage take the place of fear.”
This trustfulness gives us freedom from worry. “Oh put your faith in the Almighty, for He faileth not and His goodness endureth forever . . . His refreshing breeze ever carries healing in its wings to the parched souls of men.”
It is interesting but sad that
so many are trying to attain
mental poise and to control destructive
habits through other
than spiritual channels. Le
Compte de Nouy in Human Destiny
pleads with men to come
up from the physical and sense
level to higher ground. He says
that man must free himself from
his lower nature and, in the great
struggle the gaining of this freedom
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entails, he must find the
necessary strength in “his sense
of human dignity”. Well, I ask
you, how much would this help
to liberate a person from the
domination of habit in the face
of strong temptation? Can we expect
much if he has no power
greater than his own desires
and sense of dignity?
I have talked with many who have such problems—they always say the same thing; they always say they are “trying hard.” This is not the method! It is exactly the reverse of the Divine method! What a glorious blessing, to have been given the Divine Technique!—the technique for obtaining freedom from physical weaknesses and all faults and vices which imprison us! For example, there is this prayer given us by Bahá’u’lláh:
“I beg of Thee, O my God, by Thy most exalted Word which Thou hast ordained as the Divine Elixir . . . through whose potency the crude metal of human life hath been transmuted into purest gold . . . to ordain that my choice be conformed to Thy choice and my wish to Thy wish. . . . Happy is the man who hath recognized Thee and discovered the sweetness of . . . Thy Kingdom and tasted of the things that have been perfected therein by Thy grace and favor.”
When this Elixir, with its God-given potency, begins to effervesce in the heart, it regenerates and creates the desire to release everything that is contrary to God’s will—it creates radiant acquiescence and produces freedom from self.
* * *
There is another kind of freedom, also. May I mention a recent experience of mine? I frequently go to see a lovely old lady who, for want of a suitable place, has been hospitalized in an institution that cares primarily for the insane. Not only is she normal mentally—she is far above the average person, keen and alive and very interesting. However, she is confined to her bed and unable to use her hands for any needlework, and she is unable to read on account of poor eyesight. There she lies propped up on her pillows, in a room that is part of a ward that contains about forty screaming, sickningly hopeless, insane patients.
All through her lifetime, this
dear old lady read the best
books, heard the most learned
speakers, and reveled in the writings
of the outstanding poets. A
long time ago I took her the little
volume “101 Poems.” Line by
line she memorized these gems
by Keats, Shelley and others and
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she not only has memorized
them, but she has made a deep
study of their symbology and
meaning. When I go there week
after week, and she commences
to talk to me about their deep
meanings and spiritual implications,
I see her absolutely detached
from her tragic surroundings.
One day I said to her, “It
is marvelous how you soar above
your surroundings and surmount
all your handicaps. I see you
absolutely free!” And she replied,
“I am free—I am with
Keats and Coleridge and Shelley.
I am not in this room.”
So also is it with her in her times of prayer—her spirit takes her from that mad house into the spiritual realm.
She has taught me to know what the Master, ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, meant when He said:
“Freedom is not a matter of place, but of condition. I was happy in that prison for those days were passed in service. . . . It was a horrible looking room, yet I lived there two years in the utmost happiness. . . . I was very happy all the time, because I was a free man. Shut off in that room my spirit traveled throughout the immensity of space. . . . If we are imprisoned in the material world our spirits can soar into Heaven and we shall be free indeed.”
A last word:—To you who are seeking that which will give you religious liberty, I wish to say that when one accepts the Revelation of Bahá’u’lláh, he achieves not merely religious freedom but freedom from traditions, from superstitions, from domination of priests, rabbis and ministers, from pre-conceived ideas, from man-made interpretations of the Word of God, from denominationalism and narrowness, and from race enmities. Furthermore, he is given the answers to all controversial questions, for only through Bahá’u’lláh have the mysteries of Biblical symbology and the meaning of prophecy been given to Man.
All are invited to drink deeply from this rich Source of Truth. It is a loving invitation extended to you by your Heavenly Father through Bahá’u’lláh:
“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. . . .”
WITH OUR READERS
SOME interesting information on
Stanwood Cobb, author of “Why
Can’t We Be Friends?” can be
found in our May issue. New readers
may want to acquaint themselves
further with Mr. Cobb’s previous
contributions by reading his article
on “Beauty and Art in the Bahá’í
World” (May, 1948) and the excerpt
from “Symbols of America” (June,
1947).
In his article “Fingers of One
Hand,” Robert L. Gulick Jr. focuses
attention on the harmonious and cooperative
functioning of the Bahá’í
communities. He makes use of his
knowledge both as an observer who
has traveled in Europe, Asia, and
Africa, and as a member, at one
time or another of various Bahá’í
communities and therefore a participant
in Bahá’í administrative work.
His two previous contributions to
World Order (“Beloved Irán: Land
of Light,” December, 1947; and
“Far Away Isfáhán,” February,
1948) dealt with his impressions of
Irán on his visit to that country
last year.
One might say it takes an architect
to understand another architect,
both dealing in ideas, but one imagining
a building in brick and
stone, the other conceiving a theory
to explain the rise and fall of world
civilizations. This month Robert W.
McLaughlin, the architect, analyzes
the historian Arnold Toynbee’s most
recent book, Civilization on Trial.
Mr. McLaughlin graduated from
Princeton University in 1921, and a
few years later was a proctor travelling
fellow in Italy, France, and
England. He was associated with the
late Charles Over Cornelius in archaeological
and restoration work, and
became a pioneer in the manufacture
of prefabricated houses, back in
1932. In 1940, he established a research
laboratory for the study of
building technique at Bedford Village,
New York. We are happy to
welcome Robert McLaughlin as a
new contributor to World Order.
The editorial this month was written
by Miss Pearl Easterbrook, one
of the newly appointed editors of
World Order. She is now living in
Peoria, Illinois.
Olivia Kelsey wrote the article
“Poverty or Wealth.” She is a New
Jersey Bahá’í whose new book,
Bahá’í Answers, makes available in
convenient reference form the authentic
answers from Bahá’í writings
to questions most often asked of
Bahá’ís. Mrs. Kelsey has also written
a dramatization of the life of the
Báb, which has been presented at the
summer schools and in some of the
Bahá’í communities.
“The New Age in Which We Live”
is the first contribution from Ina M.
Trimble, of Edmonton, Alberta. She
is an artist who does chiefly landscape
paintings in pastels. She
writes of her background: “My
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maiden name was Fuller, and I am
a Puritan descendant of the “Mayflower”
Fullers, Dr. Fuller and
Sam Fuller. My great-grandfather
was a Kentucky slave-owner but
freed all his slaves before the Civil
War and ran what was called an
“underground railroad-station” to
help those escaping northward across
the Ohio River. My mother was
born in Newcastle-on-Tyne, in England
and was brought up in Baltimore,
Maryland. I was born and
educated in Nebraska and then my
father moved to Alberta, Canada,
where later I married an Irish
Canadian.” Although Mrs. Trimble
is a shut-in, unable to walk from
the effects of arthritis, she enjoys
entertaining, and has always made
her home a center of Bahá’í meetings
and activities.
Mrs. Gene Crist, author of the
meditative article “Freedom from
Self,” is a relatively new but valuable
contributor to World Order.
Her interest in religion dates far
back. As a girl she taught the Bible
in Sunday Schools. In her moving
article “If—With All Thy Heart,”
printed in our issue of June, 1947,
she tells: “My faith led me to teaching
very early; later to an intense
interest in comparative religions;
and finally into the study of philosophy
and metaphysics.” She conducted
courses for training Sunday
School teachers in several different
churches and organized the Teacher
Training Department in the Columbia
College of Religious Education.
She spent some months in China and
Japan and saw, first-hand, “the
sickening inadequacy of religions
which have become intermingled
with superstition, destructive practices
and devil worship.” “My travels
in the Orient,” she says, “helped
to give my teaching a better background
—and I finally majored in
Philosophy with Dr. James Richardson
of George Washington University.
His History of Philosophy was
the text book, with supplementary
reading. It was the subject of comparative
religions which made me
especially interested in another religion
and a philosophy which had
all the answers.” Mrs. Crist lives in
Washington, D.C., where for years
she has directed the Conservatory
Preparatory School.
Stanton Coblentz, author of “Builders”, will be remembered for his poem “Leaves” which appeared recently. He is a California poet whose experience has included the editorship of the poetry magazine Wings, the compilation of anthologies, and the writing of several books of prose.
The variety of articles in this issue
of World Order is encouraging
to the editors who would like to
make the magazine increasingly valuable
in presenting the many facets
in the Bahá’í World Faith. Since we
have no paid staff and no budget to
pay for contributions, we are wholly
dependent upon friends for life-giving,
well-written, and inspiring articles.
Bahá’í Sacred Writings
Works of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá
Distributed by Bahá’í Publishing Committee
110 Linden Avenue, Wilmette, Illinois
A TRAVELER’S NARRATIVE
The late Prof. Edward G. Browne received this work in manuscript from ‘Abdu’l-Bahá at ‘Akká while investigating the developments in the Faith since the Martyrdom of the Báb. Its authorship was not known by Prof. Browne. Translated and edited by him, ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s explanation of the meaning of the Báb’s Revelation and the Declaration of Bahá’u’lláh was first published by Cambridge University but the rights have been acquired by the Publishing Committee. This text was written by ‘Abdu’l-Bahá at some date prior to 1892.
SOME ANSWERED QUESTIONS
This text is based on ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s oral replies to questions addressed to Him by Laura Clifford Barney at Haifa in 1907. Her notes were later approved by Him. The work is divided into sections, dealing with the Prophets, the nature of man, interpretation of prophecy and religious symbol, and some social questions.
THE PROMULGATION OF UNIVERSAL PEACE
Prepared from stenographic records of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s public addresses in the United States and Canada from April to December, 1912, and His intimate talks delivered to Bahá’í groups during that period. Here is ‘Abdu’l-Bahá confronting the West on the eve of the collapse of its civil, cultural and religious civilization signalized by the outbreak of the first World War, warning the leaders and masses of their peril, summoning them to heed the Advent of the Promised One of all nations, and establishing in America the principles and ideals which have since become the program of the liberal and progressive spirit. ‘Abdu’l-Bahá at the same time clearly explained the nature of the new spiritual community which alone can apply this program to society and produce a new world order.
TABLETS OF ‘ABDU’L-BAHA
For many years ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, His outer life restricted by the conditions of exile and imprisonment inflicted upon Him by the Turkish church-state under Islám, shared His spirit and His beneficient wisdom with Bahá’ís of many countries who addressed communications to Him, some as individuals, others as members of Bahá’í bodies. Three volumes were compiled in America based on Tablets dated prior to 1916. These pages invited one to enter an inner place, as it were, glowing with the fire of a love sustained by God. (Some other Tablets are found in Chapters VIII and IX of Bahá’í World Faith.)
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.