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WORLD ORDER

SEPTEMBER 1938

PRICE 20c

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CONTENTS OF THIS ISSUE

SEPTEMBER 1938 VOLUME 4 NUMBER 6

LIFE IN AN ORDERED UNIVERSE • EDITORIAL ................................. 203

THE WORLD OF YESTERDAY, TODAY, AND TOMORROW • L. W. SCHURGAST ........... 205

A MESSAGE TO THE WOMEN OF THE AMERICAS • ROSA MARIA MARTINEZ-GUERRERO ... 212

THE WORLD OF HEART AND SPIRIT • HORACE HOLLEY ........................... 214

BY HIS NAME • KATHERINE P. and DALE S. COLE ............................. 223

PETITION, Poem • FLORA HOTTES ........................................... 226

SELF-DEVELOPMENT • STANWOOD COBB ........................................ 227

MAN’S LAWS HAVE FAILED • ALICE N. PARKER ................................ 235

OVERCOMING WORRY • ORCELLA REXFORD ...................................... 238

THE STAIRWAY, Poem • ROSE NOLLER ........................................ 242

VIEWING THE WORLD AS AN ORGANISM

Change of address should be reported one month in advance.

WORLD ORDER is published monthly in New York, N. Y., by the Publishing Committee of the National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of the United States and Canada. EDITORS: Stanwood Cobb and Horace Holley. CONTRIBUTING EDITORS: Alice Simmons Cox, Genevieve L. Coy, G. A. Shook, Dale S. Cole, Bertha Hyde Kirkpatrick, Marzieh Carpenter, Hasan M. Balyusi, Shirin Fozdar, Inez Greeven. BUSINESS MANAGER: C. R. Wood. PUBLICATION OFFICE: 135 East 50th Street, New York, N. Y. EDITORIAL OFFICE: 119 Waverly Place, New York, N. Y.

SUBSCRIPTIONS: $2.00 per year, $1.75 to Public Libraries. Rate to addresses outside the United States, $2.25, foreign Library rate, $2.00, Single copies, 20 cents. Checks and money orders should be made payable to World Order Magazine, 135 East 50th Street, New York, N. Y. Entered as second class matter, May 1, 1935, at the post office at New York, N. Y., under the Act of March 3, 1879. Contents copyrighted 1938 by BAHÁ’Í PUBLISHING COMMITTEE. Title Registered at U.S. Patent Office.

September 1938, Volume 4, Number 6

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WORLD ORDER

September 1938 Volume 4 No. 6

LIFE IN AN ORDERLY UNIVERSE

IF the Universe is orderly, it follows that definite laws are discoverable in accordance with which this orderliness is inviolately maintained. These laws as functioning in human life, where consciousness operates, may be called moral laws.

There are certain moral laws, then, which ensue from the very nature of man and of the Cosmos which man inhabits. The great central laws of the Universe are Unity in Multiplicity and Harmony in Diversity. From these great cosmic laws as they apply to the life of man individually and collectively, and to man’s relation with the Universe in its totality, may be derived many minor laws by which human behavior, if it is to be wise and successful, must be regulated.

These two cosmic laws of Unity and Harmony are the scientific foundations, then, of the moral character of man. They are essential to social life upon this planet. They are essential to the individual’s relation to the Whole. Their due observance guarantees harmony, happiness and health; and in proportionate degree, success. If we could adequately conceive the colossal and infinite scope of these laws and their cosmic inviolability, we should fear to break them.

Thus the moral laws are scientific, just as the physical laws are scientific. They are not legalistic, not rules created by man. They are simply the procedure of the Universe, the methods which the Universe employs for successful functioning. Only by following these methods of the Universe and obeying the laws which the Universe itself lays down, can man hope to thrive on the planet which he inhabits and which he will eventually learn to operate.

A life-long study along these lines has convinced the author that the moral truths, where really discoverable, can be stated almost in mathematical terms. That is, like the physical laws, they have a certainty, an inviolability, and a proportion or ratio-adjustment.

WHY, then, cannot ethics be a science, and the building of character proceed without the need of religion? Unfortunately it is not the [Page 204] intellect which rules in most individuals, but the emotional and desire nature. Only philosophers control their behavior by their intelligence.

Religious foundations for character are needed for two reasons. First, religion is essential to give motivation and spiritual aid for the reinforcement of reason as grounds for character development; religion can control man’s emotional nature, as the intellect cannot, for the reason that religion is in itself a master emotion and as such has the power to regulate and harness man’s other emotions to lofty ends. Secondly, religion brings to humanity definite spiritual concepts not easily derived from the scientific examination of the Universe. The Prophets reveal us to ourselves from a plane of knowledge which we may call inspirational or revelatory. Once They give Their majestic message, we realize its cosmic truth.

These Revelators speak from the plane of immediate or intuitive knowledge. They are able to explain to us the occult or hidden spiritual nature of man and of the Universe.

As a modern scientist might go among backward peoples and teach them the great physical laws of nature and their application, so the Revelators come to man upon this planet from a plane of higher experience and knowledge and teach humanity moral and spiritual laws essential to its spiritual development, and equally applicable to material progress in so far as such progress is implicated in man’s obedience to certain necessary cosmic laws.

The moral development of humanity would be infinitely slow but for the message of the Revelator, and man’s spiritual progress would stop far short of its distant lofty goals but for the higher truths which the Revelator brings.

THE science of human behavior and the art of right living are more important today by far than are any of the physical sciences. Our discoveries in physics, chemistry, biology have put us far ahead materially and have built up a marvelous technological civilization.

Meanwhile, man’s moral and spiritual progress have sadly lagged— resulting in the immense moral confusion of humanity today; the breakdown of all the sanctions of the past; the rapid social, political, and economic deterioration of humanity; and the threatening trend of planetary disintegration.

Humanity could live happily and successfully for centuries without making a single further discovery in the fields of the physical sciences. But humanity will suicidally perish if there does not speedily ensue moral and spiritual regeneration.

We must then for the present concentrate, the world over, on those great spiritual laws which make for harmony and happiness in human existence. Here lies humanity’s necessary path for the next few generations.

S. C.

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THE WORLD OF YESTERDAY, TODAY AND TOMORROW

L. W. SCHURGAST

THE world of yesterday, the history of the past, is the story of a childhood. It is the story of the infancy of the human race. Born into a hostile world the child is protected by its mother’s love and nourished by the stream of milk provided by a benevolent nature. Thus the cradle of humanity was watched and rocked by the Everpresence of divine love and the bounteous gifts provided by nature on its fields and trees.

The task before humanity then was to grow and to develop the faculties which a future independent life demanded. The crib of the baby was the caves of earth. Each individual group of humanity developed independently, fully unaware of any future problems, be they social, political, economic, racial, or religious. Unable to defend itself against the dangers from the outside, humanity laid its trust unknowingly in the divine providence.

Gradually humanity as a whole developed new faculties. It learned to rove around in the world, it learned to use its hands and feet, it learned to comprehend the connection between cause and effect and with it it received a sense of value.

The social problems of early humanity were the problems of the family. The political problems were the protection of the homestead, the economic problem was the gathering of food and the protection from the animals, and in this stage we find the first emergence of a religious awe.

As time went on, and groups of humanity inhabited various parts of the world and came into contact with each other, the first social problems arose; and they brought forth the creation of the clan or tribe with the dual authority of the patriarch and the chief. There appeared the first benefits and the first problems of planning and of cooperation. Just as the children of the neighborhood gather together in ever-shifting groups and learn to live together and to share, thus did primitive humanity [Page 206] learn by means of these same experiences.

As we look at early history we cannot help but realize the close resemblance between the evolution of the race and that of an individual child. We find humanity trying to delve into the secrets of nature, trying to understand the why and wherefore. We find humanity learning to live together in larger groups and masses and to develop the faculties which differentiate it from the rest of creation. Step by step locally united groups are being assimilated into new kinds of units, which within themselves develop certain standards of living, certain standards of value. And thus as a child develops the first traits of personality the various human groups develop similar traits. Children form gangs, fight and make up, and gradually develop the ability to absorb some of the organized experience of the past. As bad habits develop, the parents interfere and try to correct. And in the same way, when humanity started to adopt harmful ways of living, the divine providence sent a religious teacher, a prophet, that it might mend its ways.

As the intelligence of the human race grew, and as its sphere of action expanded, humanity developed into states and nations. The problems grew. There arose the first understanding of the problems of economics, of sociology, of politics. Some units grew larger, and some stayed small. The degrees of intellectual development appeared and we talk about forward and backward nations, about culture and civilization. If we look at the wars of the past, we can compare them to the fights of the neighborhood children. Being brought up in separated parts of the world the various nations develop certain individualities and certain traits foreign to others. The history of the world of yesterday is the history of the childhood of humankind.

IT must always be remembered that the life of the human race as a whole is a complicated pattern. We are therefore apt to create wrong impressions by analyzing this pattern along specific lines, such as social, economic, religious, etc. Yet we can best point out some of humanity’s problems by viewing the various phases of life individually.

Economically speaking humanity in the past was shackled by want. The youthful human intellect was to a great extent directed to the overcoming of this want. We learned to increase our efficiency by the invention and application of such simple machines as the wheel and the lever. We began to utilize the strength of the horse, the elephant, and the camel. But with all these helps we were still constantly faced with starvation or utter destitution, when droughts, torrential rains or similar natural catastrophes destroyed our livelihood or our simple raw materials. So humanity learned to save its supplies and for uncounted generations the waking hours of almost all human beings had to be devoted to the creation or the preservation of the necessities of life. Small, indeed, was the number of those whom humanity could spare for other than production purposes. [Page 207] The luxury of a few meant more toil and more misery for the masses. This picture held true from the earliest beginning of mankind to the present era.

Politically speaking human relations were dominated by local separation. For thousands and thousands of years the radius of activity of man was confined to his walking distance. Only very few could increase this radius by the use of domestic animals. Since economic necessity absorbed the lives of almost all human beings, political history was made by one in a thousand or in ten thousand. The masses of the people influenced it but very little.

Socially speaking human life was influenced by the climatic conditions under which the various groups lived and by the produce which these regions offered. The everpresent threat of need and starvation imposed stringent limitations upon society. The law of the survival of the fittest dominated even such highly developed social groups as we find in ancient Egypt, Persia, China, and Greece. The life of humanity as a whole in all its phases was limited by geographical conditions just as the life of the child is limited to the home and its immediate surroundings.

THE WORLD OF TODAY

But the child grows up, becomes independent of the home, it sets forth into a broader world with new contacts, greater independence, and a wider horizon. Tremendous new problems arise when it learns to adapt itself to the outside world. In the same way the present-day era provides humanity with a completely new set of problems and difficulties. With the appearance of the Báb and Bahá’u’lláh basic changes in the conditions of life on the planet gained momentum. There came the call to Unity. There came the development of the machine, which affected every standard of the past. Man learned to utilize new forms of energy, such as electricity, and managed to harness some of the older ones, such as steam. There came the development of the printing press, of rapid locomotion, and a vast increase in productive ability. The standards of old were shattered and disappeared. Adolescent mankind tried to develop new standards in an ever-increasing torrent of progress and change.

When you live in the maelstrom of the world of today, it is hard to realize that the laws and values of the past no longer exist. So it may be well to pause a minute and to visualize what changes have taken place which fundamentally abrogate the old order. For the first time since humanity exists can we perceive an era of plenty. No longer is our productive ability chained to the needs of today. The machine can produce for today and tomorrow.

For the first time since humanity inhabited this earth has the radius of activity of the individual been increased. Instead of being able to travel forty or sixty miles in one day, our sphere of daily action has grown to 400 and 600 miles with the automobile and railroad, and to several thousand miles with the airplane.

For the first time since humanity [Page 208] lived on this earth have large numbers of human beings been freed from the toil of production and made available for the functions of service and search after truth.

For the first time since humanity lived on this earth is accumulated and specialized knowledge available to the masses through the mass-production of printed matter.

These facts are recognized by all modern thinkers. Indeed it is hard to understand how thinking individuals can still try to apply the standards of the past to the life of today when we fully grasp the revolutionary nature of these new developments. As Bahá’ís we furthermore know that a still more revolutionary evolution has taken place and is dominating the world of today. Never before in the history of humankind has there come a prophet who spoke to humanity as a whole, who vitalized every nook and cranny of this world of ours.

Now it is a well known fact that human society is very slow in adapting itself to changes. It is therefore not really astonishing that we are today living in a world in which the individual is coping with the changes of the day while society is still struggling with the problems of the last hundred years.

Economically speaking we are trying to organize mass-production, new materials, and new methods while still blindfolded by the economic fallacy of the age of need.

Politically speaking we are trying to live in a world without river-and-mountain-barriers and yet cling to the old notions of a self-subsisting state or nation.

Socially speaking we are living in a world of tremendous speed in change trying to cling to the laws, which governed a society which was stable for thousands of years.

Religiously speaking we are living in a world which by the will of God has been called upon to realize its unity, while organized religion still clings to creed and sect.

And in this dualism which exists between the life of humanity individually and collectively lies the secret of the strain which grinds and rasps on human nerves. Do we not here again see the similarity between the picture of humanity of today and the picture of the young human being in the days of adolescence, child one moment and adult the next, torn between the traditions of the home and the experiences in life outside. The young man and the young woman leaving the home and setting forth into the world take with them the traits of the family and the neighborhood, and it takes several years before the contacts with the outside world create a new personality. What wonder, then, that this young humanity, freed from the fetters of local limitation, of need, of ignorance, is still trying to form its new character under the new influences of freedom, of plenty, and of knowledge? New standards of right and wrong are emerging, the old fixed bearings of the past are crumbling, new problems are demanding new solutions and new decisions every day.

We do not know what has to be discarded and what of the old values can be assimilated into the new pattern of life.

[Page 209] WHEN the last great war was over and the great poet and sage, Rabindranath Tagore, was traveling through the West, he was asked by a group of earnest young men: “Do you believe in the presence of divine justice on earth, and if so, how can you explain the war?” And the great sage answered as follows: “Yes, my friends, I believe in the presence of divine justice on earth. And I shall try to give you some inkling of the meaning of the war. Millions of years ago, when the waters receded, and terra firma emerged, and life started to conquer the earth, nature developed various kinds of animals. They lived according to the laws of nature and each one strove for the dominance of the world. Then nature gave them greater strength and greater size. And in the geological formations which formed the surface of the earth in those ancient times we find the traces of these gargantuan brutes. Some had the speed of our modern vehicles, some had the strength of our steamshovels, some had a breath of our poison gases, some had the destructive abilities of our cannons and tanks. And they all fought for the supremacy of the world, but none won it. And there emerged in the due process of evolution a different kind of being, called man. It was endowed with none of the destructive powers of those great brutes. It was tender and feeble, but it had something they did not have, the human soul, the human spirit. And without weapons of death, without poisonous breath, without the strength of steamshovels, and without the destructive ability of guns and tanks, it conquered the earth. As it began to multiply, it tried to copy the standards of the past. It tried to meet the strength of the giant brute by banding together in ever increasing numbers, it tried to match the strength and might of nature with powerful machines dealing death and destruction. And just like the beasts of the past these various groups fought each other, they banded together in greater and greater numbers, they improved the destructive ability of the weapons they had invented, and they tried to find poison gases and rays which would enable one of them to become the collective master of the world. But none of those nations and peoples has ever conquered the world, nor will it ever do so. But there will arise a new spirit, a new spirit of collective humankind. It will seem feeble and helpless when compared with the powers of the past, but it will rule the world just as the infant man gained ascendancy over the powers of nature.”

And as we watch this new spirit of collective humanity appear above the horizon of the war-torn world of yesterday, we see the sun of the world of tomorrow tint the horizon of the future of humanity.

Meanwhile the problems and the struggles which beset a dying civilization are growing in number and in size. In striving to find solutions for these problems we apply the experience of the past and only succeed in more tightly enmeshing ourselves in the labyrinth of fallacies. Some leaders of humanity know and realize that any basic solution of present-day troubles must be international in nature. [Page 210] They know that at this moment humanity is not quite ready for this step. They see that they can therefore only apply stop-gap remedies which in themselves again prove ineffective and futile. And as the sufferings of human masses increase and awaken more and more thinking individuals to the true need of the age, we are step by step approaching the world of tomorrow. “Soon the old order will be rolled up and a new one will be spread in its place,” Bahá’u’lláh has said.

THE WORLD OF TOMORROW

The world of tomorrow is the world of the unity of humankind, it is the world of humanity which has become of age. When the death struggle of this dying civilization will have shaken and almost destroyed a harassed humanity there will arise those men who will lead us into the new era of unity. The idea of the League of Nations, of a true league of nations, will become a reality. Mankind will realize that every part of the human body is bound to suffer if any one of its parts is suffering. We shall learn to realize that the body of humanity reacts to a sore just as the individual human body reacts to a neglected infection of any extremity. And as the outstanding leaders of humanity the world over will fail to cure our ills, we shall learn to turn our face to the great Creator, to that great unknowable Essence, which we call God. We shall learn to apply the remedies which the Prophet of our age has so clearly enunciated. We shall learn to trust in God and to love God. “Love Me that I may love thee. If thou lovest Me not, thy love can in no way reach Me.” But as we open the gates of human hearts to let the love of God and its creative power rebuild the shattered structure of this world of ours there will emerge a mankind reborn.

The present economic chaos beset by the grasping greed of the overrich on the one hand, and by absurd demands and destructive tactics of the poor on the other hand, will give way to a new economic order. In it capital and personal initiative will work hand in hand with the laboring classes. Management will realize its dependence on labor, and labor will realize its dependence on management. All will share in the profits of production, transportation and distribution. We realize today that the freedom of the owner of a gun is not unduly limited by laws which forbid him to shoot off this gun in any direction at any time. We shall realize in the future that the freedom of the owner of capital is not unduly restricted by laws which will insure the use of this capital for the welfare of humanity at large. The law of trusts will apply to the ownership of capital. When a rich man dies leaving a trustee in charge of his capital, that trustee can manage the property with certain minor legal restrictions and without outside interference as long as he manages it in the interest of the beneficiaries. If he violates his trust he is removed from his trusteeship and replaced by another trustee. This law in the future will apply to any ownership of capital. All accumulated wealth will be but a trust fund. The [Page 211] owner will be the trustee, human society will be the beneficiary. Every laborer will share in the profits of his enterprise. Taxation will be placed on the shoulders of those who are best fitted to carry this load, and will prevent both an excessive accumulation of wealth and extreme poverty. The international authority will create an international currency with which no single human group can tamper.

In the fields of politics the individual community will again come into its own. It will however be regarded and regard itself as one of the small units which in the aggregate constitute a whole. Thus every village and every town, every state and every nation will look at itself as an organism which through mutual cooperation with other similar organisms make up humanity. And in each little unit, just as in the large unit of the forum of the nations, the will of the majority will constitute the law. The representatives who are elected to these political bodies will be chosen for their ability to serve humanity as a whole rather than some small group. An international police-force composed of contingents from every part of the world will enforce the collective will of humanity. The individual nations will give up some of their sovereign rights but they will in return gain the help and cooperation from the world at large.

In the social field we shall come to realize that various social groups may be different and at the same time not superior or inferior. The new social order will be built on the realization that differences in humankind contribute to the beauty of humanity as a whole just as the various kinds of flowers in their multitudiness hues contribute to the beauty of the flower garden. The realization that we “are all the leaves of one tree and the drops of one sea,” will cement us all by one common bond.

In the field of racial relations we shall come to realize that each group has something to contribute to the welfare of humanity. There will no longer exist the idea of race-supremacy. And as all the races of the world, the black and the white, and the yellow, and the red, are amalgamated into this great single body of humanity they will emerge as one before the eyes of God and man.

In the field of religion we shall also learn to stress unity rather than differentiation. The concept of progressive revelation will confirm each religious group in the Divine origin of its teachings and its beliefs. We shall learn to differentiate between the basic moral and ethical teachings which are the same in all true religions and the man-made additions of ritual and creed. Out of the confusion of church and sect, ritual, dogma and creed there will again arise the realization that religion is a concept of Divinity as expressed through life.

As these changes will gradually take place and as we shall progress from chaos to the “lesser peace,” and finally to the Most Great Peace, powers will be released in humankind which will bring us a progress far beyond the most fantastic hopes of the idealistic dreamers of today.

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A MESSAGE TO THE WOMEN OF THE AMERICAS

ROSA MARIA MARTINEZ-GUERRERO

IN the name of the Federation of Argentinian Women I have the honor to greet the Women of the American Nations on this day set aside by the Pan-American Union, as Pan-American Day. Today we should strengthen the bonds of friendship and the determination to use intelligent action in our mutual relationships.

In this grave hour of the world’s History a common aspiration, a common hope surges throughout the Americas. There is abroad throughout all this New World a new spirit, a creative impulse leading these nations to a greater awareness of their high destiny and therefore to a deeper consciousness of their responsibilities. Those two voices, conscience and responsibility, are heard by the Women of America with special significance, as is evident in all the active programs of organized and awakened feminism. I ask: What other purpose is evident in the feminist movement throughout America, save the deep desire to help the men who are sincerely striving for the progress of their respective nations and for the welfare of all Humanity? It is in order to be of greater and greater assistance in this great work, that the awakened woman of today is asking for her complete civil and political rights.

The Federation of Argentinian Women is only one of the many similar organizations throughout America that are symbolic of this new spirit and goal. All give evidence of an ever increasing awareness of their common ideals and aspirations and are keenly conscious of their responsibilities at this hour.

Our sisters of the North, having received their political freedom before we achieved that goal, are today well organized and effectively active in the fields of social service. Therefore, my message today is especially directed to the women of the Latin-American nations, knowing I am but expressing the thoughts of my sisters throughout these lands. We have a [Page 213] common heritage of ancestry, a similar history and we now have to challenge and win the victory over the same prejudices and obstacles. Our evolution of growth has been the same, we understand one another, our language is one. Our awakening at this very hour of dire distress throughout the entire world, is simultaneous and with one united conscience we desire to assume our responsibilities for the future high destiny of a new World Order. Men of high intellectual capacity are aware of tremendous changes in the near future. Women intuitively know these facts with even deeper awareness.

We realize our most fortunate position in the New World from which we sadly contemplate the stern realities all about us that seem to be engulfing a great portion of Humanity. We also understand the grave responsibilities that so fortunate a position places on us who dwell in these lands of great opportunities; we feel the courage of our youth, free from the ancient inhibitions, and realize the necessity to organize our splendid opportunities and our noble aspirations. For these reasons we but desire a greater liberty for the expression and cooperation of women and we are constantly studying the obstacles that impede our progress. In all these nations there are today men and women who know the hour has struck for America. Women of America! let us arise, prepared and united for the future! Vigilant and distressed as we observe a world bent on its own destruction, let us learn and reflect. We will thus discriminate between ideals merely expressed and the deeds of leaders; we will thus learn to truthfully call things by their true names; to wisely examine, and then fearlessly praise or condemn all acts that are not anchored to the eternal fundamentals of morality. We shall never agree that lives, that to us are precious, can be ruthlessly destroyed. Nor shall we ever deny that the things of the Spirit are of supreme importance, in all their noble expressions.

Let us listen to the voices each one hears within the holy silence of her own heart, saying: “Accept nothing which your heart rejects and your reason denies; accept nothing that can not become an accepted part of your noblest self; be a party to nothing tinged with lies and hypocrisy.” Thus by individually arousing each conscience we strengthen the hopes for a new moral conscience in human society, each one bearing her share of the vast responsibilities before us. To the hearts of women everywhere, comes the cry of a bewildered, lost and suffering humanity. In response, we strive to help, not to forget our own homes, but to extend our love and service in a broader field; not forgetting our own youth but to serve youth everywhere. Motherhood is the instinctive, active spirit, motivating all our dreams and activities. The world stands in dire need of this protecting, self-forgetting spirit of motherhood, and is waiting for its full expression in the institutions of society.

A radio broadcast delivered over Inter-American Radio on Pan-American Day. The author is Vice-President of the Federation of Argentinian Women in Buenos Aires. English translation by Frances B. Stewart.

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THE WORLD OF HEART AND SPIRIT

HORACE HOLLEY

THE dire hardship, mental and moral strain, and the perils of war and revolution involved in the world’s economic problem have come to constitute the severest challenge which religion has ever faced in the entire course of history. There is no retreating from the fact that this problem represents the acute aspect of the whole general social condition of the age, the major symptom of the disease of civilization affecting not merely the security of the individual but also the structure of every social institution. Our status as human beings, our most profound interests and responsibilities as conscious individuals, and our capacity as citizens, alike depend upon a final solution of the economic problem. During the brief span of a few generations it has steadily enlarged in scope from the controlled relations of individuals within the organized nation to the uncontrolled relations of nations themselves. An apparently small break in the dike has become an overwhelming flood.

But while the traditional religious view has endeavored to envisage the economic problem within limits corresponding to conditions existing in the past, or sought to reduce it to the field of personal ethics, or to assume experimental relations with some existing secular social philosophy, the Faith of Bahá’u’lláh anticipated the whole problem of modern civilization and for four generations has upheld the true world outlook upon the trend that is now everywhere recognized to be as wide as the world and as deep as the motives and purposes of human life on earth.

The vital importance of a sound and adequate approach to the economic problem arises from the very fact that the popular understanding of the term “economics” magnifies it far beyond its original and intrinsic scope, and involves the economic problem with every other aspect of social instability and unrest. This means that the power, effectiveness and continued existence of both religious and civil institutions depend upon their ability to bring relief and establish progressive order in the collective life of mankind. From the Bahá’í point of view, what is loosely called the “economic problem” is [Page 215] simply a descriptive phrase employed to cover the fundamental issues of religion and civilization. The disease has become identified with its most painful and widespread symptom.

WHAT IS ECONOMICS?

The simplest conceivable economic system would be the life of a family in the wilderness, sustained by hunting, fishing, agriculture and handcraft. Practically every operation and function of the most intricate and evolved social system would exist in the activities of that family in rudimentary form, with, however, one vital distinction: that the family bond supplies the strongest possible motive for mutual cooperation, and makes possible the exchange of goods and services with the least possible interference. If for that symbolic family we substitute the same number of hostile, suspicious or indifferent individuals, the problem of sustenance would be transformed from the fulfilment of mutual love to the application of the principle of personal advantage. Unless supreme necessity controlled that selfish instinct, such a group of individuals would soon be overwhelmed. But the family bond, minimizing selfishness, making one individual willing to sacrifice himself for the others, uplifting the daily task from drudgery or danger to the realm of voluntary self-expression and group harmony, can and has survived difficulties and dangers throughout history which would soon destroy the group were its mutuality to be lost. At the outset, therefore, one must recognize that, irrespective of the technical distinctions between different economic systems, the problem of physical existence and social fulfilment involves two diametrically opposed motives and spiritual qualities —the motive of unity and the motive of selfish advantage.

History is but the record of the spread of that symbolic family around the earth, the fatal loss of its sense of kinship, and the substitution of social systems of varying degree of unity or selfishness for the instinctive mutuality characterizing the original family unit. The pressure of necessity has at times produced, as within the nation at war, a quality of cooperation resembling the family bond, even though but temporarily and even though this cooperation within the nation has been spiritually offset by the concentration of struggle against the foreign foe. Such effect of historical necessity like war testifies over and over again, despite the opposed facts, to the great truth that human beings are capable of social fusion and that whenever fusion takes place, reserves of energy, efficiency, and inner joy are released from long-hidden and long-forgotten spiritual resources within the human soul. The “glory of war” persisting in warriors down the ages reflects this inner release of unsuspected power and sense of fulfilment during supreme emergency, though tragically its source is ascribed to the fact of struggle rather than to the condition of social fusion the struggle produced.

In normal times, the substitute for necessity, or social pressure, is the function of government. As peoples grow civilized they feel less and less [Page 216] pressure from the wilderness and encounter fewer supreme emergencies of the type confronting the original settlers or pioneers. To the degree that they become unable to attain social fusion through religious faith or psychological experience, they make up for its lack by developing the power of the king or state. The economy their civilization evolves rests upon authority at all points where it can not rest upon instinct, and henceforth the economic system remains so inseparably a part of their civil and religious code that it can only be altered indirectly, by altering the civil code or the religious values first.

The question, what is economics? simply can not be answered in terms of any unvarying scientific definition. Economics is and has always been an evolving reality, at first so implicit in human relations and external tasks that those concerned are completely unconscious of it; gradually extended to include relationships which take on the character of the external problem and, in doing so, lose the quality of mutuality; and finally, an aspect of imposed social authority either civil or religious in form. What the modern man means by economics is that order of human relations and daily tasks so far removed from the concept of family loyalty that the physical token of exchange, money, has become the one and only symbol of wealth. The real wealth represented by vigorous effort, successful attainment, cooperative work and social fulfilment in a community inspired by one sustaining spirit, is forgotten or lamented as no longer attainable on earth. Economics, in brief, when as a system or a science or philosophy it can be apprehended and manipulated as an entirely separate and distinct aspect of civilization, represents nothing else than the decay of an ancient religion or the vain hope that the ills of society can be healed without the inspiration of true faith. The civilization in which economic reality can be intellectually or ethically severed from all other realities and relationships is itself in the condition of decay. One who isolates economics from the whole scheme of life is no longer dealing with life, but is musing upon a blueprint abstraction which represents but a skeleton whence life has fled.

THE spiritual tragedy of the age is our loss of true historical perspective. We begin our social inquiry with the invention of the steam engine or with the breakdown of the feudal order shortly before. Such a limited view fails to perceive the organic nature of society and its rise and fall in terms of spiritual or material motive.

The feudal order disappeared for two reasons: first, because the component territorial units broke away from the social body of Christendom; and second, because its submerged individuals struggled for their rights and insisted upon a new and higher status. The nations arose, and with the nations, the ideal of liberty among the people. Those who had been serfs wanted political, legal and social rights, and the personal status developed under feudalism was transformed into status by contract. Written constitutions established a contractual [Page 217] basis for citizenship, and the wage system had a similar effect for industry. The movement, outwardly, was from unity and conformity to separatism and differentiation. Inwardly, it was from instinct and social habit to reason and conscious will. To accomplish such a movement, powerful religious sanctions had to be repudiated by at least a considerable portion of the public. The trend can only be explained and appreciated in terms of a far greater social cycle, involving the rise, development and eventual disintegration of a civilization.

THE PROBLEM OF CIVILIZATION

Beneath the modern industrial period, consequently, one must recognize the working of forces in the direction of the secularization of life, and the reduction of a moral culture to its component parts, which would have operated quite independently of the eruptive influence of science and invention. The swift progress of the machine in the West intensified but did not create the general trend.

By that swift progress, the territorial isolation of the nation, which was the historical justification for nationalism, was eventually destroyed. An “industrial process” developed under which it became necessary to seek both raw materials and markets in areas beyond the political frontier. The national sovereignty which had been essential and sufficient to deal with the relations of individuals and groups within the nation became a fictitious authority when applied to the industrial process as a whole. Hence came into being the complex problem of our civilization: the factor of competition transferred from domestic groups to sovereign states, each multiplied in power by scientific industry and all more and more dependent upon the world as a whole, less and less capable of maintaining themselves in independent isolation; with, furthermore, the secular outlook established in terms of struggling class philosophies within many of the nations.

The element of social tension within the nation is no less vital than the competition of the national states themselves.

The factory system, created from feudalized classes and peoples, made sharp divisions between wages and profits, and between labor and management. The consuming markets were so under-capitalized that profit and low wages seemed synonymous terms. As factories increased in size, the owners and managers became more and more separated in feeling and outlook from the workers. The organic principle, that society is and must be only an extension of the family, weakened and died; a considerable proportion of the people found that in winning the political struggle for equality they had lost the basis of economic security and sustenance. Too late and too unorganized to prevent this outcome of individualism arose the realization that industry, to maintain itself, must maintain its own market, its market being the people as a whole and not merely a small wealthy class.

The conviction that industry constituted too great a power to depend [Page 218] upon individual wills inevitably gathered force. From that force has been released the ideas, programs and organizations whose influence opposes industrial individualism with the principle of socialization.

THE PROBLEM OF INDUSTRY

The general principle of socialization underlies a number of mutually exclusive programs and parties, from those motivated by conceptions of a classless society eventually reducing the functions of the state to a minimum, to those which promote the conception of the totalitarian state possessing a maximum of centralized authority, ownership and control.

The strife between the theories and programs has served to obscure the fundamental issue and to introduce the factor of violence into a problem which in essence is highly spiritual in nature.

The fundamental issue may be defined as the question of determining the proper relations of individuals to society, and of society to individuals. This question, in turn, resolves itself into the problem of how the psychology of the united, mutually cooperative family applies to mankind as a whole. Are factory owners and workers entrenched enemies, or are they partners in a common task? Does the political liberty of the individual extend to the corporation which combines the property of ten thousand individuals and carries responsibility for the income and welfare of a million workers? Are some economic enterprises so inherently social in aim, method or result that they come into a different area of truth than individual conscience or class outlook?

But these vital questions, raised in one form or another in all industrial countries, can not be treated on their intrinsic merits nor solved in relation to their ultimate human significance in a world so darkened and troubled by international conflict as is the world today. No national state at this time is able to solve simultaneously both its internal and external problems, for the reason that both problems are worldwide in scope and both are spiritual in character. We reach the end of our available human resources, and our future destiny lies with the Creator of mankind.

For it has become evident that the application of authority alone, in the form of unrestricted physical force and psychic influence, does not solve social problems. If sufficient power is concentrated to suppress class dissension, that power but serves to augment the larger dissensions of peoples and states. The world has come to a dire extremity for lack of a unifying spirit capable of producing instruments of agreement and mutual decision, and for lack of an international order capable of removing the sources of strife and inculcating the consciousness of the oneness of mankind.

THE ONENESS OF MANKIND

Our lack of an organic sense of history is no mere matter of deprivation of intellectual knowledge. It is but one symptom of the decay of religious faith. If the heart still turned in adoration to the ancient Founder [Page 219] of religion, that attitude would bridge the chasm between the centuries and provide a living sense of the unity of peoples and of events. In losing that source of universal love, we have departed from any realization of a family bond in society, and in losing the vision of the unity of peoples we have repudiated the connections between successive historical events. We regard events merely as manifestations of personal or group will; those connections by which alone the workings of cause and effect are made apparent have become completely veiled. A secular society ignores the manifestations of Providence but does not thereby remove itself from their full and complete application to human affairs. The modern world has public policy but no social morality; it has desperate hope in the power of the state but no faith in God; it has the technology of material fulfilment, but its spiritual isolation makes inevitable the increase of poverty, of class disturbance and of international war.

A more vivid spiritual faith, or a truer spiritual culture, would bring appreciation of the fact that the workings of Providence throughout the course of known history have had a visible and not merely a hidden or mysterious manifestation. As the Bahá’í teachings assert, each civilization has had its origin in the power of faith released by the Prophet or Manifestation of God; each civilization has developed to the height of its capacity, and at that apex of attainment has worshipped human works and human powers, lost its faith, and thence undergone a process of division and strife until completely overthrown. The rise and fall of successive civilizations mark the footprints of a Divine will interposed upon human affairs.

Bahá’u’lláh, whose mission was to renew the spirit of religion in this age, upheld the conception of mankind as an organic unit. He taught the progressiveness of religion as the vitalizing spirit which from age to age restores, by conscious faith in the one God, the sense of kinship among human beings. He has bridged the yawning chasm between the Prophets of past ages, whose followers limited their faith and loyalty to one race or one territorial area and failed to recognize the sublime truth that all religions have been phases of one Religion. To the Bahá’í, the bond of faith removes and obliterates the false divisions and distinctions between the peoples, races, classes and creeds of humanity. “Ye are the leaves of one tree,” Bahá’u’lláh declared to the people of this age. The fire of devotion to this principle consumes that prejudice which underlies each and every source of organized and inveterate strife. The spirit of conscious faith, returning to mankind in the hour of direst need, has created a spiritual community including believers in many parts of the world. The rich and the poor have true inner contact; the whites and the blacks recognize one another as members of the same human family, all alike dependent upon unity for their very security and continued physical existence.

The spread of this faith quickens the realization that the spiritual imperative is the true dynamic of social [Page 220] progress, the fundamental reality whose mere shadow has given rise to such concepts as “economic determinism.” It produces capacity for peaceful discussion and agreement upon truths which concern the welfare of all. It frees human beings from the influence of local environment and tradition, making them ready for world citizenship. It raises to the level of moral and ethical principles those social problems which have been regarded as merely economic or political in significance. The Bahá’í answer to what is termed the “economic problem” is that this problem, in reality, constitutes but one facet of the true problem confronting mankind today, the unification of peoples in the light of their attitude to God, and the attainment by the nations of a world order possessing the elements of deliberation, decision and action in the realm of international affairs.

The Bahá’ís have full conviction that any course of action and any attitude falling short of this goal will fail to remove the dangers of modern life and bring no relief. The motives of mankind, and hence their institutions, so long as they seek isolation or partisan victory, can only intensify the chaos into which destiny has brought a time responsible for a collective failure to know and obey the laws revealed by the Prophets of the past.

The follower of Bahá’u’lláh holds fast, in an hour when all else fails, to the principle of evolution in the life of the race. This age, he is informed, represents the maturity of man. The Divine teachings, therefore, have been revealed in greater measure than could be understood or applied in prior ages. With the coming of maturity, man collectively becomes responsible for the achievement of higher tasks, as he is given the privilege of greater truth. The establishment of a world civilization calls for the use of the utmost spiritual, ethical and mental capacity. In accepting this gigantic task, the race consciously works out its destiny, thereby drawing nearer to the will of God. What men now fail to recognize as their true human function, or ignore as the measure of their collective possibility, will reappear to their consciousness as additional social burden and torment until ignorance or indifference is consumed as by fire.

The greater measure of spiritual truth Bahá’u’lláh revealed contains the elements of a world order, for religion today is a social and not merely a personal truth.

“Soon will the present-day order be rolled up, and a new one spread out in its stead.”

“Arise, O people, and, by the power of God’s might, resolve to gain the victory over your own selves, that haply the whole earth may be freed and sanctified from its servitude to the gods of its idle fancies—gods that have inflicted such loss upon, and are responsible for the misery of, their wretched worshipers. These idols form the obstacle that impeded man in his efforts to advance in the path of perfection. . .

“Having created the world and all that liveth and moveth therein, He, through the direct operation of His unconstrained and sovereign Will, chose to confer upon man the unique distinction and capacity to know Him [Page 221] and to love Him—a capacity that must needs be regarded as the generating impulse and the primary purpose underlying the whole of creation.”

“God’s purpose in sending His Prophets unto men is twofold. The first is to liberate the children of men from the darkness of ignorance, and guide them to the light of true understanding. The second is to insure the peace and tranquillity of mankind, and provide all the means by which they can be established.”

“THE WORLD OF THE HEART AND SPIRIT”

The Bahá’í teachings assert definitely that “the fundamentals of the whole economic condition are Divine in nature and are associated with the world of the heart and spitit.” They therefore offer no detailed and final plan for the operation of industry and finance. Their aim is to produce in man himself that quality of personal motive and social vision out of which an organic and functional world society can alone proceed. If we can but view the world of mankind as a vital organism, sustained by one spirit, its institutions serving as organs and limbs, all interdependent and mutually serving the interests of the whole, we emerge from the consciousness of an era that is dying and can serve an age that is coming to birth. In this conception, the office of religion differs profoundly from the maintenance of rites, ceremonies and specialized institutions which religion has seemed to be throughout ages in the past. Its mission today is to release the spirit of world unity, and to convey truths about man and society possessing the validity of spiritual law. Nothing can re-inspire vital life within the mechanisms of the old order. A new order is required, a new order ordained. Only that possesses survival value which can adapt to the needs and purposes of a unified world.

“For Bahá’u’lláh . . . has not only imbued mankind with a new and regenerating Spirit. He has not merely enunciated certain universal principles, or propounded a particular philosophy, however potent, sound and universal these may be. In addition to these He, as well as ‘Abdu’l-Bahá after Him, have, unlike the Dispensations of the past, clearly and specifically laid down a set of Laws, established definite institutions, and provided for the essentials of a Divine Economy. These are destined to be a pattern for future society, a supreme instrument for the establishment of the Most Great Peace, and the one agency for the unification of the world, and the proclamation of the reign of righteousness and justice upon the earth.”

To summarize: No secular economic philosophy can be interposed into the present national societies as a solution of their ills for the reason that secular systems are based upon material considerations which exclude the spiritual element in man. A sound economy must be a world economy and at the same time represent fulfilment of individual possibilities and the potential resources of social cooperation. The way to true progress, moreover, can not be attained merely [Page 222] by shifting ownership or control back and forth between secularized individuals and secularized states. Man’s relationships to man must reflect spiritual laws, and statutes deprived of spiritual content seem but temporary expedients in the light of the grave international emergency.

As the human organism is the unity of diverse elements, substances and organic powers, so in the world community of the future there will be institutions, regulations and methods for dealing with economic affairs. Economic affairs, however, will be integrated with all other fundamental human activities and aims, in the same manner as the human skeleton, nervous system, tissues and blood are correlated into the whole scheme of personality. But only the outlines of the future order can now be discerned. The elimination of war must precede the adoption of international law in the economic field. We are in the midst of a dynamic world movement, which static definitions either of human nature or of social principle utterly fail to interpret. The Bahá’í teachings are in themselves dynamic, unfolding continuously their significance as they penetrate into the human soul. These teachings establish the stupendous truth that a World Economics can be nothing else than the social application of a World Faith.

“A world community in which all economic barriers will have been permanently demolished and the interdependence of Capital and Labor definitely recognized; in which the clamor of religious fanaticism and strife will have been forever stilled; in which the flame of racial animosity will have been finally extinguished; in which a single code of international law—the product of the considered judgment of the world’s federated representatives—shall have as its sanction the instant and coercive intervention of the combined forces of the federated units; and finally a world community in which the fury of a capricious and militant nationalism will have been transmuted into an abiding consciousness of world citizenship —such indeed, appears, in its broadest outline, the Order anticipated by Bahá’u’lláh, an Order that shall come to be regarded as the fairest fruit of a slowly maturing age.”

[Page 223]

“BY HIS NAME”

KATHERINE P. and DALE S. COLE

THERE are many mysteries in the Revelation of God, some of which can only be disclosed through His Bounty, but there are others which yield, at least partially, to prayer and meditation. Some lie deeply imbedded in the words of the Revelation but some of their meanings may be comprehended. The striving for understanding brings a deeper sense of knowledge as well as the benefit of the effort itself.

Everyone longs to pray more effectively not only for the tangible results hoped for, but for the exhilaration and inspiration experienced. We long to “feel” prayer as well as to gain by it. Perhaps the feeling is just as important as any other factor. If prayer puts us in a better frame of mind, is that not, in itself, an answer?

Many of the prayers revealed are supplications in which the phrase “By Thy Name” or some similar wording appears repeatedly. Perhaps the petition is made “by” some attribute of God or some sacred or holy object. In just one prayer the following phrases occur: “By Them who are the Day Springs of Thy Invisible Essence,” “By the Ocean of Thy Mercy,” “By Thy Most Great Name,” “By Thy Name,” “By Thy Might,” “By Thy foot-steps in this wilderness,” “By the Words ‘Here am I, Here am I—’,” “By the signs of Thy Kingdom and the mysteries of Thy Dominion,” “By Thy Beauty.”

The word “by” may suggest the alternatives “through” and “in consideration of.”

What is the mystery of these phrases? By trying to understand them can we learn to pray more effectively? Is there not a possible dual and triple implication in them?

One Name of God has been given us and also many names, all of which suggest some infinite power or some perfect virtue. For instance, the All-knowing, suggests that all knowledge is God’s; the All-powerful, that all power is His; the Merciful, that He is compassionate. Countless different examples are familiar to all those who read the Revelation of Bahá’u’lláh.

The dual aspect is this, that since God is the Creator, there are creatures. There is the relationship of Creator [Page 224] (1) to His creatures (2). Since He is Merciful there are recipients of His Mercy.

Supplication “By Thy Might” is an affirmation that God is mighty. It is an expression of our faith in His might and as an affirmative expression of a belief and conviction, it has the beneficent effects of inducing a positive attitude on the part of the affirmer.

At the same time it is a voluntary admission of our relationship to Him, of weakness to utter Strength. He is mighty, we are powerless and entirely dependent upon His might. A sincere expression of our relationship to God must, by its very nature, be a form of praise, for no creature can contemplate his Creator or any of His attributes, without being filled with gratitude and praise.

THERE is also the salutary element of discipline in voicing this relationship affirmatively, for no matter how successful we may be in the affairs of this world, our accomplishments are as naught when compared to the achievements of God, and we are more liable to realize our own insignificance when we are affirming some phrase that suggests this to our consciousness.

On the other hand, no matter how poor we may be, hope steals into the heart when we speak of God’s Bounty, Mercy and Beneficence.

The triple implication has to do with the idea of “trinity” explained by ‘Abdu’l-Bahá. For instance, there is the giver of a gift, the gift itself, and the receiver of the gift.

The supplication “In Thy Name, the Merciful” suggests that God is the vouchsafer of Mercy (the Giver), there is Mercy itself (the gift) and we hope to be the recipients of the gift, the Mercy.

Since the names of God suggest virtues and perfections, all of which are His possessions, many of which He bestows upon men, this idea of trinity of giver, gift and receiver, is associated with numerous supplications.

The emphasis is upon the fact that we are entirely dependent upon God, whether we realize it or not, and that the realization of it is an important step in spiritual education and progress. There are many statements in the teachings to the effect that faith is essential and that when we rely utterly on God, His aid is unfailing. Affirmations of faith stimulate its growth.

The use of such phrases as “By Thy Name” is not a mere matter of form, and even if it were, “form without spirit is dead.” There are probably many reasons for the use of such phrases, some of which may become revealed to the sincere meditator, but do not all of them suggest these two aspects; the dual one of the relation of the creature to God; and the triple one of the Giver, gift and receiver of the gift? Are not both of these aspects laden with implications for us? It is quite possible that many meanings will occur to us progressively, as our susceptibility to spiritual information deepens.

THESE are not phrases to be spoken or read hurriedly or unthinkingly. They are in the form, also, of [Page 225] an address. We are petitioning in a prayer of supplication, and we must address the One to Whom we are petitioning respectfully, lovingly, and attentively. How else can we hope to attain His attention to our plea? We must “transcend the murmur of syllables and sounds” in the phrases of address and affirmation because they have great significance and importance. To pass over them unfeelingly is only to block the channels through which Bounty flows.

There are, possibly, as many “techniques” of prayer as there are those who pray, but as long as we use the revealed prayers, and even if we pray in our own words, these phrases of address and affirmation, are an accepted part of revealed prayer. We are told that the revealed prayers have a unique power, consequently every word of them is essential and has purpose. As patterns for those who wish to pray in their own words, they are the perfect examples to be followed.

These phrases are often repeated at the closing of the prayers, the mere repetition of similar, if not identical expressions, is evidence of their worth and essentiality. We approach the Giver with our petition with these phrases. In the body of the supplication we state our needs and hopes. We leave our petition in His hands by again affirming, or reaffirming our Faith in Him and our relationship to Him.

In order to receive any gift we must be in a state of receptivity. We do not turn our backs upon, or act inattentively to any friend in the act of making us a present or of lending aid.

These great affirmative phrases may be intended to increase our receptivity, thereby placing us advantageously in the state of being better able to receive the Bounties of God, in whatever particular form they may be vouchsafed. We are unworthy at best, and any possible aid to increasing our worthiness merits our sincere and continuous consideration. A consciousness of some of the meanings of these phrases is one of the bounties we may acquire.

OUR human abilities are such that we can retain in consciousness only one thought, one conception at a time, consequently there is wisdom in concentration on a single idea at a given instant. Resultantly, we can reflect only one single attitude at a time arising from the thought then in mind.

We cannot pray directly to God in His Essence because that method is too abstract for our finite minds. We require some conception, image or idea upon which to fix our attention, possibly something which can be visualized mentally, and which is intellectually and spiritually real. Perhaps these phrases are aids to this end.

It is said that all we can hope to comprehend of God is His attributes, never His Essence, that it is for this purpose of manifesting actually these attributes to us, as guides for our development, that the Manifestations come. They present these attributes in a manner adapted to our understanding, so the use of phrases descriptive of these attributes serves to impress their virtues on our minds, to strengthen our faith, and lend more [Page 226] facility to prayer.

In thinking of the attributes of God we must think in terms of the superlative, of perfection. It is not so difficult to think relatively, such as of a strong man and a stronger one, but comprehending the ultimate is another matter. The dimensions of the world of perfection are of another order and beyond the grasp of human minds. However, when these phrases, expressing the attributes of God pass into our consciousness, as when praying, we can and should respond to them in a degree, and thus be assisted in appreciating their meanings in so far as our capacity extends. When they are read or recited, should they not be followed by an appreciative pause? “By Thy Might”—pause, think what the Might of God means, before going on. One immediately becomes aware of the tremendousness of it and of one’s own weakness and insignificance, and in so doing becomes humble, and lost in wonder. Being so, one is, for the instant at least, detached from this limited, earthly existence and all its trivialities. Treat other similar phrases, when encountered, likewise.

When we supplicate “by” the attributes of God, or any of the revealed phrases, we are petitioning “through” or “in consideration of” the most powerful influences in the universe. Really feeling this should bring deeper joy and greater effectiveness.

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PETITION

FLORA HOTTES

Grant me Thy Presence, Lord of Light,

Thy Lamp unto my feet,

And lead me up the darkling way

Till I my Master meet;

Give me Thy Spirit’s gift divine,

That I at last may learn

What true gifts are, and learning, strive

Thy Bounty to return;

Until I bring before Thy Throne

The gifts Thou gavest me,

And show myself Thy servant, Lord,

In true humility.

Grant me Thy Nearness, Lord of Worlds,

I have no other prayer,

For where Thy Presence is enshrined

Both love and life are there.

[Page 227]

SELF-DEVELOPMENT

STANWOOD COBB

THE individual is born into this world helpless and harmless. He is incapable of committing evil. But he cannot on that account be said to have a perfect character. That is attained only by wrestling with life itself in a stage of maturity where man has the strength and intelligence to choose good or evil.

The first stage in the building of character is necessarily one of self-development. The early years of every human being as of the animals, are years of expansion, of development, of maturation.

The infant, the child, the youth develop by experimenting with the world around them. Character is being formed in these adjustments of the individual to society, even from the earliest years; but this character development is largely in the hands of those who train the infant. It is not until adolescence is approached that the child is mature enough to analyze himself and deliberately build for character.

Parents and educators have a great responsibility, therefore, as regards the kind of character that emerges in the “teens.” This character, as conditioned by home and school, is not easily modified in later years. The child with a good home and with intelligent parents who carry out conscientiously and effectively their responsibilities in the way of child-training, —such a child, especially if morally stimulated by family example as well as by precept, has a fortunate advantage over all other children.

THE stage of life from adolescence to physical maturity is still one of self-development and self-expression. During this period of youth the individual has little responsibility to society but much responsibility to himself. It is his duty to discover and develop all his powers and train them for efficient achievement in later years. Most important during this period is the exploration and discovery of oneself, the development of practical wisdom, and the careful choice of a profession.

One should build for success. There is nothing unspiritual in a process of self-development that will make for efficient functioning in one’s [Page 228] chosen career and lead to material success.

Vocational or professional skills, efficiency in one’s work, industry, ambition to excel and to rise to the top: these qualities are perfectly compatible with spiritual law, though they are expressions of the material side of man. Since we live in a world of matter, we must adapt ourselves to it successfully. Such an adaptation is our first spiritual obligation toward existence.

Work, and through work material success, are a cosmic and universal obligation. Men can find no alibi in their religion for neglect of external responsibilities and of the factors of success. Education itself must fulfill the obligation of preparing youth for a successful career. It is the duty of the educator to equip youth not only with general knowledge but also with vocational or professional skills. Work is a cosmic duty, to which all men, without exception, are obligated. And man’s work should be efficient and fruitful.

The first duty that youth face in the development of character, then, is the duty of self-development. Youth has a sacred obligation to awaken and train all his powers to their fullest potentiality. This is not selfish, though it may appear egocentric. Ambition is a virtue in youth. Later in life it may become a fault and a danger.

THERE are certain virtues essential to success and happiness in life which must be acquired early: industry, honesty, self-restraint, control of the physical desires, harmony with one’s social environment, the spirit of cooperation, patience, sincerity. It is such qualities as these which great men early in their teens set themselves consciously to achieve. If these qualities are gained by the individual, success and happiness in proportionate degree are assured him.

Religion, with its definite ethical precepts and its strong motivations and sanctions, is a powerful factor in the building up of a character which may have its practical as well as its spiritual aspects. It saves youth from excesses and from self-indulgence; makes for self-restraint, probity, integrity, cooperation and loyalty. It stimulates moral progress and inspires constant effort toward self-improvement.

The fact that an earnest, religious-founded conscience is a factor of material success is definitely shown in the economic history of the Puritans, the Scotch Presbyterians, the Huguenots, and the Quakers, all of whom have been as notable for their economic success as for their moral and religious conscience. There may be other factors for the outstanding economic success of these sects, but the sober character of solid integrity inspired by religious conscience is of all factors by far the most notable and effective.

It may not be dignified of religion to base its appeal to youth on grounds of practicality. But youth should not be unaware that the only completely sound, wholesome and effective life is one which travels on the highway chartered by religion.

THE study of one’s own self, [Page 229] the realization of one’s tendencies toward good and evil, of one’s potentialities for achievement is the most fascinating and valuable of all studies. It was the slogan of the ancient Greeks:—“Know thyself.”

The physical sciences teach us the nature of the world around us and how to rule it. “The Occidental,” says Edward Carpenter, “knows how to rule everything in the world except the square foot under his own hat.”

Psychology teaches us our own nature and how to rule that. Psychology today is materialistic in its tendencies. The psychology of the new age will be spiritual in its foundations and this spiritualized science of psychology will be profoundly effective in aiding youth to acquire a perfect character.

Spiritual psychology teaches man the dual nature of his being: that on the one hand he inherits from his physical evolution all the qualities of the animal—aggressiveness, cruelty, greed, envy, cunning, temper, self-seeking; on the other hand, man has that within him that gives him the capacity of developing the spiritual qualities of kindliness, patience, honesty, self-sacrifice, universal love, and purity of mind and body.

The tragic limitation of present-day psychology and education is the failure to discover and present the spiritual side of man, which is just as potent and far more important a side of his nature than his animal trend. Every man, every woman, has the capacity and the power to progress along the path of spiritual perfectioning. One of the most important missions of the Founders of religions is to assert this quality and call upon man to rise from the lower, earthly side of his nature toward the celestial, angelic side.

“In man there are two natures, his spiritual or higher nature and his material or lower nature. In one he approaches God, in the other he lives for the world alone. Signs of both these natures are to be found in men. In his material aspect he expresses untruth, cruelty and injustice; all these are the outcome of his lower nature. The attributes of his divine nature are shown forth in love, mercy, kindness, truth and justice, one and all being expressions of his higher nature. Every good habit, every noble quality belongs to man’s spiritual nature, whereas all his imperfections and sinful actions are born of his material nature.

“If the soul identifies itself with the material world it remains dark, for in the natural world there is corruption, aggression, struggles for existence, greed, darkness, transgression and vice. If the soul remains in this station and moves along these paths it will be the recipient of this darkness; but if it becomes the recipient of the graces of the world of mind, its darkness will be transformed into light, its tyranny into justice, its ignorance into wisdom, its aggression into loving kindness, until it reach the apex. Then there will not remain any struggle for existence. Man will become free from egotism; he will be released from the material world; he will become the personification of justice and virtue, for a sanctified soul illumines humanity and is an honor to mankind, conferring life upon the [Page 230] children of men.”

THE physical qualities of man are not in themselves evil. It is the use we put them to that may make them harmful. In themselves they are part of the biological foundation for existence. In animals they are necessary and quite innocent. In man they are also necessary—but not innocent unless sublimated by the power of the spirit.

It is those fundamental urges in a human being which he shares with the animal world that give him energy and power of achievement. This physical side of man is as important to his existence on this earthly plane as is the spiritual side.

The first application of intelligence to our self-training in character should be the awareness of our duality and the effort to transubstantiate our animalistic qualities into spiritualized correspondences on a higher plane.

Thus one’s tendency to anger can be modified into a power for controlling other human beings for noble ends. George Washington knew how to change his fierce and at one time ungovernable temper into a powerful factor for governing men.

The instinct for self-preservation which is expressed in the animal as greed and cruelty can be modified in man to an expression of energy and efficiency for career success. In a spiritualized humanity, such expression of the will-to-exist need not be cruelly competitive nor egoistic. On such a spiritualized plane of humanity there will not remain any distressing struggle for existence.

EVERY individual starts life with a certain hereditary or destined endowment. This is his working capital. It is important for him to realize as early as possible in life those tendencies toward good and evil, toward failure and success with which he started existence on this earthly plane. To be wisely aware of one’s faults and ignoble tendencies is to make constant effort toward overcoming them. To be aware of one’s proficiencies and gifts is essential to a wise and successful choice of career.

One should make a daily practice of self-examination, not in any morbid way, but from a spiritual standpoint —daily reaffirming one’s resolution to overcome one’s faults and strengthen one’s virtues.

What would I be tomorrow that I am not today? Thus we should examine our accounts each night, and each morning start forth to increase our treasures of perfections. The only wealth we intrinsically possess is the richness of personality we have gained through self-unfoldment. By means of this wealth, all things we would gain are directed unto us. This is the universal law of growth.

In the analysis of self or of others, this truth is very helpful: that our faults are the shadows of our virtues. In other words, faults are but the excess of some quality in us which is valuable when exercised under proper restraint.

We have already spoken of how capacity for anger may be a danger or a value to man. So every quality in excess becomes a fault and danger to one’s success and happiness. For instance, thrift may become penury and [Page 231] stinginess; efficiency may become overbearing; amiability tends toward irresponsibility.

In fact, there is not a single virtue but which tends toward a vice when in excess. On the other hand, there is no fault in individuals which may not be modified into a valuable trait.

THE first claim which life makes upon us is the claim of perfecting our bodies. The proper care and use of the body is in reality a spiritual obligation. Christianity emphasized our sacred duty to our bodies, that they are temples of the living God. We may not abuse them. To do so is a sin, even though it brings no harm to other people.

This responsibility to our bodies as vehicles of our mind and of our soul is strongly emphasized by every religion. Control of the appetites and passions is the beginning of spiritual development. Lack of control of them injures body, mind and soul.

Even in the simplest things we should practice self-restraint and wisdom. Our diet should be wholesome and not over-indulgent as to amount. We should keep to regular and adequate hours of sleep and should take what recreations we need but not which tend to deplete one’s vitality or which are merely a waste of time, and this kind should be avoided.

Youth owes a sacred duty, then, to his body during the important formative period of post-adolescence leading into manhood and womanhood. Parents should instill in their children this sense of responsibility and should train them in wholesome methods of eating and of bodily care and send them out into life intelligent managers of their own physical system.

There is no demand that spirituality can make upon us which would betray the body and its needs. Spirit does and can control and guide through matter, Marie Watson reports ‘Abdu’l-Bahá to have said; but matter has its own laws upon its own plane and will exact its own toll; he who fails to acknowledge and recognize this truth will lead to a wrong psychology and the result is difficult to remedy.

The thing to note here is that this responsibility to our bodies is in reality a spiritual responsibility and cannot be abdicated in the name of religion. Spiritual enthusiasts can find no alibi in their religious teachings for neglecting their bodies or for thinking that strong souls can be built upon sickly constitutions, enfeebled by too much unwise zeal. “Balance in all things,” was the motto of the ancient Greeks, and it is the guiding spirit in the transcendent teaching of all the Revelators.

Mens sana in corpore sano— “a sound mind in a sound body” was the Roman Maxim. Youth is a period not only for body-building but also for mental development through education. An ignorant person may have a kindly and noble character, but he cannot be said to have attained that lofty station which God has designed for human beings. If religion is one of the wings upon which humanity flies, science is the other. The acquisition of knowledge is therefore a spiritual responsibility.

This advice should be given to [Page 232] every college student: “I hope that while you are studying in this college you may so excel all other students in the various branches of knowledge taught therein that all of them may testify that the Bahá’í students have another power, are inspired with another effort, are imbued with a nobler ambition, are stimulated by higher motives and make wider and deeper exertions than others. . . .

“Let the corps of professors and the students be impressed with the purity and holiness of your lives so that they may take you as paragons of worthiness, examples of nobility of nature, observers of the moral laws, holding in subordination the lower element by the higher spirit, the conquerors of self and the masters of wholesome, vital forces in all the avenues of life. Strive always to be at the head of your classes through hard study and true merit. Be always in a prayerful state and appreciate the value of everything. Entertain high ideals and stimulate your intellectual and constructive forces.”

There is no end to study, it does not cease upon graduation from college. At every age we should be expanding our mental horizons and acquiring an ever-growing and more solid body of knowledge for the better understanding of the world and universe we live in.

Knowledge is power. It lifts man from the condition of dumb-driven cattle in the fields of life into enlightened human beings capable of managing their own destiny. The acquisition of knowledge enobles man.

It is the vision and aim of America to afford educational opportunities to all. Theoretically, these opportunities are without limit. Practically, distinct limits to institutional education arise from economic or other causes. But such limitations can afford no alibis to those who sincerely yearn for knowledge and culture. The avenues to these great life-values lie open on every hand. Self-education, once literacy is acquired, is a feasible and unlimited possibility, and has certain advantages over standardized institutional education on the higher levels.

The most thoroughly cultured man I have ever known was not a college graduate, and I doubt very much whether the rich flavor of his culture could have developed in the frigid atmosphere of intellectual bureaucracy which reigns in most institutions for higher learning.

The moral is, no one need remain supine in conditions of ignorance or low culture. Aspiration, application and discrimination cannot fail to enrich educationally and culturally any individual who desires such enrichment. The means of culture are abundantly at hand. It is the degree of desire which will measure the degree of effort and accomplishment.

To any who would say: “I never had the opportunity to get an education,” I would reply: “You never truly wanted one!”

As the first step in character is self-development, so the first proof of capacity for a strong rich character is resolution and achievement in world fields of knowledge. We have no one but ourselves to blame for failure.

TOWARD what types of knowledge [Page 233] should we aspire? We cannot afford to give our valuable time to the acquisition of miscellaneous and desultory knowledge. Nor should our primary aim in the development of intelligence and acquisition of knowledge be simply self-advancement or the glorification of self, but the ability to contribute to human progress.

The youth of today should therefore master both the physical and social sciences. Especially should they become proficient in history, sociology, economics, psychology, and political science. They must be prepared to assume leadership in world affairs and these studies are very important foundations.

Throughout the process of education as the chief factor of self-development, we must beware of selfishness or too great self-centeredness. Youth must develop the altruistic and spiritual qualities at the same time that they are developing their intellectual powers.

I like the following ideal of education set forth by ‘Abdu’l-Bahá in a talk to the students of Beirut University: “The Universities and colleges of the world must hold fast to three cardinal principles.

“1. Whole-hearted service to the cause of education, the extension of the boundaries of pure science, the elimination of the causes of ignorance and social evil, a standard universal system of instruction, and the diffusion of the lights of knowledge and reality.

“2. Service to the cause of the students, inspiring them with the sublimest ideals of ethical refinement, teaching them altruism, inculcating in their lives the beauty of holiness, and the excellency of virtues and animating them with the excellences and perfections of the religion of God.

“3. Service to the oneness of the world of humanity; so that each student may consciously realize that he is a brother to all mankind, irrespective of religion or race. The thoughts of universal peace must be installed in the hearts of all scholars. . . .”

In all this great and important process of self-development, of character formation, of intellectual advancement throughout the period of youth we must learn how to call upon powers greater than ourselves if we are to make adequate achievement. Man cannot through his own will power and intelligence create a perfect character for himself. The pull of the animal is too strong in us. We cannot, as it were, lift ourselves by our own bootstraps. The human will is not a completely adequate instrument for perfecting the self. For the will is divided in its allegiance, torn and pulled in two diverse directions; toward the spiritual plane by the spiritual side of our nature, toward mundane goals by the natural and desire side of our nature.

Thus the will is not a completely free and independent instrument for self-perfection. Instead of being able to dominate and rule our desire-nature by the will and intelligence, we tend to be controlled and governed by our emotions and to make use of our intelligence as an instrument to gain the objects of our desires.

It is vastly important, then, that we [Page 234] train our desire-nature heavenward, so to speak; in other words, come more and more earnestly to desire spiritual progress and spiritual powers and attainments. This desire is greatly strengthened by aspiration, prayer and meditation, and by association with others who are spiritually minded.

Prayer is the food of spirit. We can no more expect to develop spiritually without it than we could expect to develop physically without food. Man cannot rise spiritually by his own unaided efforts. He needs the power of the Holy Spirit for self-perfectioning. This is attained through prayer, through turning to God and beseeching aid and grace for such a spiritual development.

THERE is a mysterious power which is called the Grace of God. It is something that few understand, perhaps none except the Manifestation. It is that attribute of Deity which is available upon earnest request and beseechment for help in trouble, and more valuable still, for aid in spiritual development. Its contribution to our spiritual progress may be compared to the contribution of sunshine and richness of soil to the growth of plants. By directing the grace of God to us through prayer and meditation, we can make amazing progress in spiritual growth transcending the slow and tedious average.

It is the grace of God, this special outpouring of the Holy Spirit toward man’s needs, that causes those miracles of transmutation of human character which characterize the highest experiences of religious history. Through this power we see men and women turn from evil or from selfish idle lives to become veritable saints. This power is especially potent in the early period of a great world religion. It is released in great waves upon the planet and becomes available for every earnest seeker.

The noblest fruits of human character have been achieved under the stimulus of devotion to religion—Religions of personal devotion—Christianity, Krishnaism, certain aspects of Buddhism and of Islám—this relationship of man to God through the channel of a Revelator with the eternal stimulus and inspiration of that perfect and noble pattern held before him, has produced the most glorious and noble characters in history.

We are today at the dawn of another great religious epoch. We must learn to avail ourselves of this tremendous power of the Holy Spirit and of the grace of God for attaining the most perfect self-development and character growth. We need this aid not only for character but also for an intellectual development that shall be universal in its scope. We are not fulfilling our function as spiritual beings until we shine with a new potency in the midst of a materialistic and evil world. Not until humanity awakens to this new plane and standard of self-development and self-perfection will an ideal social pattern for the world be achieved.

A chapter from “Character: A Sequence in Spirited Psychology,” originally prepared as a series of lectures delivered at Louhelen Bahá’í Summer School; to be published in book form during the autumn of 1938.

[Page 235]

MAN’S LAWS HAVE FAILED

ALICE N. PARKER

THE policy of war is a failure because it leads to more wars. Old, rankling scores have to be paid back, unjust settlements have to be undone; the hatred and anger they engender flare up again and burst into a new flame. The League is failing because nations have not yet learned that in a related whole, mutual concessions are necessary—the sacrifice of individual desires for the greatest good of the greatest number:—because all the nations did not join it; because selfish interests are still at work; because it failed to settle economic injustices; because there was very little mutual trust.

Cooperation is a hard lesson for those trained in the old glory-of-conquest school, the old grab game and the old respect for military power. Nevertheless, man cannot and will not give it up. The majority of the nations still hold to the League and are more than ever recognizing the necessity for it. They know there must be a tribunal for arbitration of difficulties as the only alternative to war, and the prospect of war as it has come to be, is unthinkable. So, we see crises and provocations which in pre-war days would have led to immediate war, being in many cases smoothed out by discussion and yielding of attitudes and issues. Secretary Hull in his enlightened speech of October 19, 1937, counselled, “National and international patience and self-restraint” as a way to peace. The world is now in the process of teaching itself that lesson. Each day, the conflict which seems imminent is postponed because of the exercise of these qualities.

But for certain nations, still dominated by out-worn ideals, the world might be spared another great, physical conflict, but there would still remain the basic injustices, the urgent and valid needs, with their resultant discontent, suffering and resentment, destroying harmony and general world progress. These injustices can only be settled by means of a Federation of Nations acting under the recognition of their essential oneness. “Each for all and all for each” is a soundly scientific motto. We are learning the truth that nothing else works.

[Page 236] Man seems to have to learn his lessons by the law of opposites. He must go through infinite misery in order to win happiness, strife and bloodshed in order to long and work for peace. He must suffer from his childishness in order to “put away childish things.” He must taste the bitterness of antagonisms, of fierce competition, in order to appreciate the beauty of cooperation and friendliness. He must destroy in order to construct. Like Lucifer, he must fall from his own pride—the deadliest of the “seven deadly sins”—before he will submit himself to the laws of God. The story of Margaret Fuller smugly remarking that she “accepted the Universe,” and Carlyle’s comment, “Gad! she’d better,” is almost too well known to be repeated. Yet, too valuable to be forgotten. Is man learning to accept the laws of the Universe? There are many evidences that he is.

THAT great cosmic forces are now at work, breaking up old habits, attitudes and conceptions, laying the foundation for the establishment of a new era based upon more mature and enlightened ideals, no one can doubt who opens his eyes to see the signs of the times. With the terror of war and its wholesale destruction upon us men are learning to long for peace as never before, to be horrified at their own bestiality. Out of the remnants of the League must arise a better and juster one which men will regard as their salvation from extermination. Out of selfish antagonisms must come a better realization of interdependence and cooperation. Out of injustices, a longing to establish justice; out of our racial enmities and prejudices, a growing understanding of the truth that in us all is the same life from the same source containing the same potentialities.

These ideals are growing in the world. There are many movements which show that man’s mind is maturing, his emotions becoming more socialized, that his understanding of the truths of life is deepening. Peace societies are spreading their propaganda all over the world. Many are seeing the wickedness and insanity of war who once believed it to be an honorable and heroic activity. The old idea of conquest is now looked upon as highway robbery. Many of the youth of the world have agreed never to fight unless their country should be invaded. Prison is preferable to killing, they say. The Youth Movement is helping to destroy racial prejudice and to promote the feeling of brotherhood. A longing for a religion which is not doctrinal and credal but which will bring man near to his Creator and to his brother is resulting in the breakdown of religious prejudices. A need for a religion which will unify is growing in men’s souls. Modern man is in search of his soul and the things of the spirit. His reliance upon the material has had a rude shock. He feels the need of security, stability, infallibility, if you will, for his faith in his own ego is shaken. He is ready for a great spiritual revelation and that revelation has not failed him. He has simply to open his eyes and see.

IF we “lift our eyes from the clod” and contemplate the cosmic [Page 237] scheme, we find everywhere law, order, and harmony. The planetary systems demonstrate the law of harmonious action. So perfect is this harmony that it has been called “the music of the spheres.” Havelock Ellis speaks of this cooperative action as, “The Dance of Life;” Dante, in his “Paradiso,” shows those spirits who are obedient to the laws of God making beautiful figures and patterns as they go about their separate, spontaneous activities. This little planet, at present, seems to be a discordant note in universal harmony, and man’s conception of selfish individualism, a childish, foolish blasphemy.

Bahá’u’lláh calls us to recognize the truth, now become a dictum of science, that mankind is one. We all partake of the same life, in which must necessarily be the same potentialities and capacities. As one ethnologist puts it, “Enough individuals have arisen in each race to prove that there are no superior races.” Differences are but stages of progress in the evolutionary process. Racial colors are but skin deep caused chiefly by climate and environment. They add variety and, therefore, beauty to the whole.

This law of unity is not only the truth of religion but also the truth of science. It remains only for man to make an application of it in all his relationships. It is recognized as the principle underlying the units of the family, the community and the state. The nations lag behind in its adoption. Their collective attempt, however, at corporate action shows the world’s progress towards law-abidingness. The individualistic behavior of some nations and its disastrous results but serve to prove the necessity of obeying the laws of God.

The efforts now being made to obtain peace, show that the statesmen in the majority of nations are seeing the vision of World Citizenship and unified action. The need of a World Economic Conference is being emphasized by Peace Societies as well as world leaders. The question of disarmament is postponed until more basic issues—such as a restoration of a free flow of trade, the better distribution of raw materials, and territorial expansion and limits have been discussed and adjusted.

The world is being prepared, by bitter experiences, to establish a World Order founded upon the Law of Unity and Justice. It will be a New Era based upon belief in God and obedience to His laws—man’s laws have failed.

Bahá’u’lláh writes: “Religion is the greatest of all means for the establishment of order in the world and for the peaceful contentments of all that dwell therein. . . . Verily, I say, whatsoever hath lowered the lofty station of religion hath increased the waywardness of the wicked, and the result cannot be but anarchy. . . . As the body of man needeth a garment to clothe it, so the body of mankind must needs be adorned with the mantle of justice and wisdom. Its robe is the Revelation vouchsafed unto it by God.”

[Page 238]

OVERCOMING WORRY

ORCELLA REXFORD

“WORRYITIS,” the great mental disease, is the predilection to worry which seems to afflict the great body politic, as it is rare to find a person free from it.

Even in the definition of the word, worry, we obtain an insight into its actual effects on the individual. In Anglo-Saxon times worry was the word meaning wolf. In the dictionary its definition is: to choke; to suffocate; to shake and tear with the teeth (as a dog does a rat); to tease; trouble; harass or to be anxious.

Mentally speaking, worry is to the mind a destructive, disturbing and harassing emotional experience, while in its deeply seated forms it is a veritable wolf, seizing its victim by the throat, choking, suffocating and tearing with its teeth. If we could see a picture of the consciousness of a worrier, its aspect would be so terrifying that men would flee from it in horror. If one would torture another human being in a manner that a worrier tortures himself, he would be considered a sadistic monster, for the worrier sticks the knife of worry into his own soul, turns it around and around, prods open old wounds and gloats over the suffering and anguish occasioned thereby. This monster, Worry, pursues us from the cradle to the grave, it dogs our waking and sleeping hours.

There is no occasion too hallowed for it to attend, unbidden. The wedding and the funeral alike attract it. No reception, ball or banquet is without its presence. It sits at every table, and sleeps in every bed. It travels on every journey. Millions have willingly given over their precious lives in slavery to this Frankenstein which exists alone in the realm of the imagination.

It is most commonly found in those of a neurotic temperament, as it is a form of anxiety neurosis. It originates in building pictures in the imagination which are destructive and negative. It is uncontrolled thinking; a bad habit of mind-wandering; dwelling upon unhappy circumstances and allowing any kind of thoughts to drift through the mind without consent. It could never exist in one who had centered himself in the spiritual life and was possessed of divine wisdom and [Page 239] the knowledge of the Holy Spirit. It is one of the surest methods of turning away from the Holy Spirit.

Worry is an exaggerated form of self-consciousness and ingrown ego. It is most highly developed in those people who have a feeling of inferiority or who did not learn cooperation as children. Those who were occupied in getting what they could for themselves and who retreated within when crossed. It also is most frequently found in people who have no religion and are living a purely material life.

“The world seeks the love of self not of God. If it seeks the first all things are added unto it, if the second all shall be taken from it. Love is not love that loves itself, self is the image not the God. Wouldst thou have eternal life? then find the secret in eternal Love.”

WHAT IS THE WORRIER?

The worrier is an uneducated thinker. He is a denial of God. He sets up his way contrary to God’s plan, he suggests that God is incapable of managing his life. The thought life of the worrier is always opposed to the divine plan. He not infrequently is non-religious or has a belief in religion only. The worrier builds a little universe of his own separate from the rest of the world and there establishes himself as a miniature creator. Like a child at play, imitating his elders this worrier acts out his role, of childish romanticism, that of “playing God.”

All things must move according to his liking,—everything must run with perfect smoothness; no one can assume any responsibilities but himself; he complains and fusses about the weather; the “life of the party” away from home, he becomes moody and a “cross patch” at home. Nothing pleases him, he is over-solicitous for himself and others. If he travels, he wishes he had stayed at home. If he stays at home he wishes to travel. Nothing is as it should be. He has regrets over the past and suffers from forebodings of the future. Worry becomes his refuge from Reality, whenever his little world doesn’t react to his wishes. The weather must be just right, his food, the attention he receives from others, his work, his play, his loves must all play homage to his supremacy. So long as he makes money, has someone to dominate, and receives attention from life and those from whom he considers it his due, all is well. In this miniature world, when things go wrong and he begins to reap the destruction of his negative thoughts, he crawls further into his “shell” and becomes “ingrown.” This always brings him mental suffering.

The childish self-centered individual has the feeling of being abused, of self-pity, of lack of appreciation, that the world hasn’t treated him right, of rebelliousness, revenge, of wondering why he should be selected out of all people in the world to endure such agony. “Surely no one ever suffered as I, before. It isn’t right, it isn’t just,” he says to himself. The more he argues thusly the more ingrown he becomes. Soon he imagines that everything in the world is directed toward him, since he can’t conceive [Page 240] of a world that doesn’t revolve about him as a center. He dreads to meet new people. If he sees them whispering they are talking about him; if they are formal they don’t like him; if pleasant, they “have an ax to grind.” Soon he begins to act nonsocial, he does not fit in, he suffers needlessly.

“If you wish to be miserable” states Charles Kingsley “think about yourself, about what you want, what you like, what respect people ought to pay you; and then to you nothing will be pure. You will spoil everything you touch, you will make misery for yourself out of everything which God sends you, you will be as wretched as you choose.”

A study of creation would teach the worrier that all life is made up of cells, each a miniature world all of its own, patterned after the Cosmos, but each with a special work to do. It is only able to function in connection with the other worlds of like construction. The cells work side by side, neither worrying about the reputation of the others nor craving appreciation, they work for the good of the whole. Each cell has a cycle of life and then dies and gives way to others, so the law of sacrifice enters in. When a cell becomes rebellious and separates itself from others, it becomes diseased and the combined efforts of the rest are aroused to eject it. In the Divine plan there is no place for worry. Each cell has its special work for the good of all. The cells of the eye are no more important than the cells of the hand. All must work together.

“Ye are all the leaves of one tree, and the drops of one ocean.” Bahá’u’lláh has come to take us out of the infancy of the race into its maturity. The egoist, the worrier, is infantile, he must learn to grow up to think and reason as an adult. That means to come out of his little world and mingle with others, to know that he is part of the world, of its imperfections, its mistakes and its sufferings and that others experience the same things that he has and triumphed over them. All his problems he will submit to God just as the musician asks the director what part he is to play. Then he practices to perfect himself that he shall not be a jarring note in the symphony. A worrier is out of tune with life. He must submit his will to God’s will, pray for help and guidance in his problems, practice living a glorious life and serve others cooperatively and in unity. Whatever is a departure from unity brings suffering, it is nature’s way of showing us that we are out of tune, that we have turned off the Ray of the Spirit.

If the world could be rid of worry (and it will when the Divine Remedy is applied) a greater service would be rendered mankind than to create new sciences or inventions. What graves it has filled prematurely! More people have lost their lives through fear and worry than from any other cause, barring deaths from the habitual use of drugs and alcohol. It fills lives with nameless terrors from birth to death, causes accidents, hardens the arteries, ruins digestion, spoils the nerves, crowds the insane asylums, hastens old age, blasts hopes, renders genius impotent, creates inefficiency, [Page 241] produces failures and broken hearts, breaks up homes, bankrupts businesses, and drives the desperate worrier to the dregs of vice. The amount of energy consumed in useless worry if properly directed into constructive channels would make of this world a Paradise, for every thought directed into worry channels delays the progress of the world that much. Worry has never done and never will do anyone any good, therefore master it.

It is a pitiful sight to witness the crowds hurrying along our city streets with hard, tense, anxious faces, harassed and driven by worry about the past, present or future, when their faces should be radiant with love and happiness. Nowhere can one witness a joyful countenance.

THE POWER TO OVERCOME

The habit of dismissing at will, disagreeable thoughts is a difficult but not an impossible thing to acquire and is highly desirable, but can only be done by reasoning with oneself in a logical way and asking oneself what good is accomplished by this thinking and to turn the mind to something that is worth while. When Gladstone was asked: “But don’t you lie awake at night, thinking how you ought to act, and how you ought to have acted?” He answered: “No, I don’t, what would be the use of that?”

Whatever the worry, the anxiety, say to yourself: A sensitive plant can stand what it likes, but it takes a philosopher to stand what he doesn’t like and one gets through life easier by being a philosopher than a sensitive plant. “Seek not that things should happen as you wish but wish the things which happen to be as they are, then you will know tranquillity.”

One who worries about aggravations in daily life would do well to ponder the language of the Chinese philosopher:

“The legs of the stork are long, the legs of the duck are short; you cannot make the legs of the stork short, neither can you make the legs of the duck long.”

When you use your will and intelligence you remove the original worry by ceasing to resist it. When we relax we allow the forces of the Universe to act upon us. Resistance in the mind is unwillingness for a thing to happen and the more unwilling we are the greater the strain and anxiety, and finally these cause more trouble than the thing itself about which we worry. Non-resistance encourages a restful attitude of mind, which enables us to view the matter in the right perspective. Become conscious of God’s love and protection for us. The advantages of non-resistance are innumerable. People have lost their common sense perspective because for generations we have had the desire to have our own way and this has held us in bondage while we were trying to have freedom but it is opposed to natural law, which does not believe in force. We should stand aside and let the spirit work its will in us. Live in harmony with God’s laws.

Turn your thoughts from the personal to the universal; from “one-sideness” to “all-sidedness” (unity); from self love to universal love and from competition to cooperation. Be a matured man, not a child.

[Page 242]

THE STAIRWAY

ROSE NOLLER

DARKNESS

Speeding and coiling,

Until its powerful frustration burst—

And there was Light!

And with Light what cannot Life do?

The network of man sprang up, searching for meaning;

And meaning broke here and there with buds,—

Buds, and occasional blossom maturing to fruit.

And Life used man, giving him free will,

The fire of which he could not understand.

And his designs and meanings melted in flames,

To return to the primal darkness—to begin again.

And he has begun many times, always with some little lesson learned,

Through numberless aeons—

Through numberless aeons! . . . .

The patience of his Life Stuff!

How many times has he begun again and been torn to shreds by his powerful freedom,

His nature misapprehended;

How many times has he felt the throes of new birth and stumbled again?

Yet the Designers of Life sit calm,

Knowing that man, little by little, shall ponder the marvel of his might and its multiplicity;

He shall gather it into a focus and build a state where there are no forlorn;

Where the image is the image intended from the beginning!

But now, he is more a bully school boy, with disastrous toys;

Those that know the Design are few;

Those that render it asunder are many—many in their stupidity and pretended wisdom;

The spirit of man will, nevertheless, have its way,

And when the last war is over, which shall be in the coming span,

We shall have a new and gracious life.

The pain of horrible hazards will fathom a truth, long felt and taunted;

These few will become many,

And a Fire-new Earth will sweep away this forever haunting blindness and pain into evolutionary oblivion!

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