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WORLD ORDER
SEPTEMBER 1939
THE WORD OF GOD
Editorial
RACE UNITY
Shoghi Effendi
SCRIPTURES OF DIFFERENT FAITHS
Pritam Singh
SPIRITUAL ELEMENT IN EDUCATION
Richard D. Mosier
DIVINE ART OF LIVING
Marcia Steward Atwater
CONTENTS or THIS ISSUE
SEPTEMBER 1939 VOLUME 5 NUMBER 6
THE WORD OF GOD • Editorial ............................................. 201
RACE UNITY • SHOGHI EFFENDI ............................................. 203
THE SCRIPTURES OF DIFFERENT FAITHS • PRITAM SINGH ....................... 208
THE SPIRITUAL ELEMENT IN EDUCATION • RICHARD D. MOSIER .................. 218
THE VALLEY OF KNOWLEDGE • HORACE HOLLEY ................................. 222
HAS AMERICA INTERNATIONAL RESPONSIBILITIES? • BERTHA HYDE KIRKPATRICK ... 225
THE SOUL’S JOURNEY • Poem • ELSIE PATTERSON CRANMER ..................... 227
ISLAM, XII (Conclusion) • ALI-KULI KHAN ................................. 228
TO AN OLD SOLDIER OF EUROPE • Poem • GEORGE NEDWIN HANSEN ............... 233
GIVING UP THE SELF • JESSICA LEVINE RUSSELL ............................. 234
THE DIVINE ART OF LIVING • MARCIA STEWARD ATWATER ....................... 236
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, Bertha Hyde Kirkpatrick and Horace Holley. CONTRIBUTING EDITORS: Alice Simmons Cox, Genevieve L. Coy, G. A. Shook, Dale S. Cole, Marcia Atwater, Annemarie Honnold, 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 1939 by BAHA’I PUBLISHING COMMITTEE. Title Registered at U. S. Patent Office.
September 1939, Volume 5, Number 6
WORLD ORDER
September 1939 Volume 5 No. 6
THE WORD OF GOD
Editorial
THE greatest strain that language is ever put to is when a Prophet tries to convey supernal truths by means of words of ordinary human usage. The Messenger of God comes to this planet with knowledge of a higher plane—a stage of existence far beyond the experience of the human race.
What instruments has the Revelator for declaring and expounding these cosmic truths? Only words. He must operate within the limitations of existing language. And language consists of words representing objects and concepts within the experience and understanding of the existent human race. These words of which language consists have literally been manufactured by humanity step by step, in relation to its needs and ability to express and record human experience and thought.
How, then, can a Manifestation declare and expound, by means of this limited vocabulary, truths deeper than any words have yet been created for expressing? His task is to make words fulfill a higher function than they have ever been previously called upon to fulfill. He must somehow stretch and expand the expressive power of existent language. How does He do this? Partly by means of symbolism —using concrete figures to suggest the abstract, and analogy to portray stages of spiritual growth and states of being beyond contemporary human experience and comprehension.
Imagine a highly cultured scientist from some great urban center alighting by airplane amidst a primitive savage tribe of New Guinea. Set down thus in their isolated jungle life, how could he explain to them, in terms of their own primitive language, the wonders of a technological civilization —electric lights, automobiles, skyscrapers, subways, trains, radios, moving pictures? By means of the small and limited vocabulary evolved among these savages, this citizen of a higher world would have to expound to them marvels far beyond their ken—beyond even their mental grasp. He could only suggest, hint, use words as stimulative symbols— trying by this means or that to open the windows of their souls and aid them to gain the capacity to see and conceive things supernal in relation to their own low stages of existence.
[Page 202]
So the Revelator uses symbols and
parables in order to make language
convey His meanings. He can not
hope that, even so, humanity will attain
a clear grasp and comprehension
of these far truths He brings. If by
the words He utters He succeeds in
conveying inspiration and awakening
aspiration, the Revelator must then
trust to the power of man’s soul to
reach, through and beyond the limitations
of language, into the very nature
and experience of that Reality which
He seeks, through words, to describe.
BUT fortunately the Revelator is not limited to words as such. What He is expressing is, after all, not His own thoughts, but the thoughts of God. So the Revelator’s words become more than a plurality of speech or language idioms—they become the Word itself.
What does this mean? It means that the Word of God is the Holy Spirit, clothing itself in human language, just as through the maternal principle it clothes itself in living forms. That is to say, the language used by a Revelator has something which no other spoken or written language possesses. It has a living Force—the Force of the Holy Spirit.
This Force effects language-expression in ways not easily discernible, yet clearly apparent in respect to their inspirational power upon the human heart.
Shall we say that the Revelator uses words in new and rare juxtapositions? That He plays upon the mystic organ of speech, making the sounds and music of words convey That which must be even speechless?
Whatever means He uses, the Manifestation succeeds in giving to language a miraculous new power, so that ever after human speech is enriched and amplified. Every Sacred Book has the effect of adding a new lustre to human speech. In whatever language the Word of God has appeared, it has stamped that language with the indelible beauty of its own expressiveness. This magic power of the Word goes over even into translations. Thus the Qur’án has become the model of Arabic style; the Bible, the model of Christian style in whatever language it has been translated.
Similarly, the language of Bahá’u’lláh —His mighty and majestic use of words to compose the Word itself— will inevitably affect all human language, as it reaches this country and that and brings to the spoken and written word everywhere upon this planet the supernal power and beauty of the Abhá Kingdom.
So this, too, is one of the miracles of the Prophet—that working within the limitations of existent language, somehow, without the creation of a single new word, He manifests the Word itself, and leaves the power of human speech thereafter forever enriched.
RACE UNITY
SHOGHI EFFENDI
As to racial prejudice, the corrosion of which, for well nigh a century, has bitten into the fibre, and attacked the whole social structure of American society, it should be regarded as constituting the most vital and challenging issue confronting the Bahá’í community at the present stage of its evolution. The ceaseless exertions which this issue of paramount importance calls for, the sacrifices it must impose, the care and vigilance it demands, the moral courage and fortitude it requires, the tact and sympathy it necessitates, invest this problem . . . with an urgency and importance that can not be overestimated. White and negro, high and low, young and old, whether newly converted to the Faith or not, all who stand identified with it must participate in, and lend their assistance, each according to his or her capacity, experience, and opportunities, to the common task of fulfilling the instructions, realizing the hopes, and following the example, of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá. Whether colored or non-colored, neither race has the right, or can conscientiously claim, to be regarded as absolved from such an obligation, as having realized such hopes, or having faithfully followed such an example. . . .
Let them call to mind, fearlessly and determinedly, the example and conduct of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá while in their midst. Let them remember His courage, His genuine love, His informal and indiscriminating fellowship, His contempt for and impatience of criticism, tempered by His tact and wisdom. Let them revive and perpetuate the memory of those unforgettable and historic episodes and occasions on which He so strikingly demonstrated His keen sense of justice, His spontaneous sympathy, for the down-trodden, His ever-abiding sense of the oneness of the human race, His overflowing love for its members, and His displeasure with those who dared to flout His wishes, to deride His methods, to challenge His principles, or to nullify His acts.
To discriminate against any race,
on the ground of its being socially
backward, politically immature, and
numerically in a minority, is a flagrant
violation of the spirit that animates
the Faith of Bahá’u’lláh. The consciousness
of any division or cleavage
in its ranks is alien to its very purpose,
principles, and ideals. Once its members
have fully recognized the claim
of its Author, and, by identifying
themselves with its Administrative
Order, accepted unreservedly the principles
and laws embodied in its teachings,
every differentiation of class,
creed, or color must automatically be
[Page 204]
obliterated, and never be allowed,
under any pretext, and however
great the pressure of events or of
public opinion, to reassert itself. If
any discrimination is at all to be
tolerated it should be a discrimination
not against, but rather in favor
of the minority, be it racial or
otherwise. Unlike the nations and
peoples of the earth, be they of the
East or of the West, democratic or
authoritarian, communist or capitalist,
whether belonging to the Old World
or the New, who either ignore, trample
upon, or extirpate, the racial, religious,
or political minorities within
the sphere of their jurisdiction, every
organized community, enlisted under
the banner of Bahá’u’lláh, should feel
it to be its first and inescapable obligation
to nurture, encourage, and safeguard
every minority belonging to
any faith, race, class, or nation within
it. . . .
Freedom from racial prejudice, in any of its forms, should, at such a time as this when an increasingly large section of the human race is falling a victim to its devastating ferocity, be adopted as the watchword of the entire body of the American believers, in whichever state they reside, in whatever circles they move, whatever their age, traditions, tastes, and habits. It should be consistently demonstrated in every phase of their activity and life, whether in the Bahá’í community or outside it, in public or in private, formally as well as informally, individually as well as in their official capacity as organized groups, committees and Assemblies. . . .
“O ye discerning ones!” Bahá’u’lláh has written, “Verily, the words which have descended from the heaven of the Will of God are the source of unity and harmony for the world. Close your eyes to racial differences, and welcome all with the light of oneness.” “We desire but the good of the world and the happiness of the nations,” He proclaims, “. . . that all nations should become one in faith and all men as brothers; that the bonds of affection and unity between the sons of men should be strengthened; that diversity of religion should cease, and differences of race be annulled.” “Bahá’u’lláh hath said,” writes ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, “that the various races of human kind lend a composite harmony and beauty of color to the whole. Let all associate, therefore, in this great human garden even as flowers grow and blend together side by side without discord or disagreement between them.” “Bahá’u’lláh,” ‘Abdu’l-Bahá moreover has said, “once compared the colored people to the black pupil of the eye surrounded by the white. In this black pupil is seen the reflection of that which is before it, and through it the light of the spirit shineth forth.”
“God,” ‘Abdu’l-Bahá Himself declares,
“maketh no distinction between
the white and the black. If the hearts
are pure both are acceptable unto
Him. God is no respecter of persons
on account of either color or race.
All colors are acceptable unto Him,
be they white, black, or yellow. Inasmuch
as all were created in the
image of God, we must bring ourselves
to realize that all embody divine
possibilities.” “In the estimation of
God,” He states, “all men are equal.
There is no distinction or preference
[Page 205]
for any soul, in the realm of His justice
and equity.” “God did not make
these divisions,” He affirms, “these
divisions have had their origin in man
himself. Therefore, as they are against
the plan and purpose of God they are
false and imaginary.” “In the estimation
of God,” He again affirms, “there
is no distinction of color; all are one
in the color and beauty of servitude
to Him. Color is not important; the
heart is all-important. It mattereth
not what the exterior may be if the
heart is pure and white within. God
doth not behold differences of hue
and complexion. He looketh at the
hearts. He whose morals and virtues
are praiseworthy is preferred in the
presence of God; he who is devoted
to the Kingdom is most beloved. In
the realm of genesis and creation the
question of color is of least importance.”
“Throughout the animal kingdom,”
He explains, “we do not find
the creatures separated because of color.
They recognize unity of species
and oneness of kind. If we do not find
color distinction drawn in a kingdom
of lower intelligence and reason, how
can it be justified among human beings,
especially when we know that
all have come from the same source
and belong to the same household?
In origin and intention of creation
mankind is one. Distinctions of race
and color have arisen afterward.”
“Man is endowed with superior reasoning
power and the faculty of perception,”
He further explains, “he is
the manifestation of divine bestowals.
Shall racial ideas prevail and obscure
the creative purpose of unity in His
Kingdom?” “One of the important
questions,” He significantly remarks,
“which affect the unity and solidarity
of mankind is the fellowship and
equality of the white and colored
races. Between these two races certain
points of agreement and points of distinction
exist which warrant just and
mutual consideration. The points of
contact are many. . . . In this country,
the United States of America, patriotism
is common to both races; all have
equal rights to citizenship, speak one
language, receive the blessings of the
same civilization, and follow the precepts
of the same religion. In fact
numerous points of partnership and
agreement exist between the two
races; whereas the one point of distinction
is that of color. Shall this, the
least of all distinctions, be allowed
to separate you as races and individuals?”
“This variety in forms and coloring,”
He stresses, “which is manifest
in all the kingdoms is according to
creative Wisdom and hath a divine
purpose.” “The diversity in the human
family,” He claims, “should be the
cause of love and harmony, as it is in
music where many different notes
blend together in the making of a
perfect chord.” “If you meet,” is His
admonition, “those of a different race
and color from yourself, do not mistrust
them, and withdraw yourself into
your shell of conventionality, but
rather be glad and show them kindness.”
“In the world of being,” He
testifies, “the meeting is blessed when
the white and colored races meet together
with infinite spiritual love and
heavenly harmony. When such meetings
are established, and the participants
associate with each other with
perfect love, unity and kindness, the
angels of the Kingdom praise them,
[Page 206]
and the Beauty of Bahá’u’lláh addresseth
them, ‘Blessed are ye! Blessed are
ye!’” “When a gathering of these
two races is brought about,” He likewise
asserts, “that assemblage will become
the magnet of the Concourse on
high, and the confirmation of the
Blessed Beauty will surround it.”
“Strive earnestly,” He again exhorts
both races, “and put forth your greatest
endeavor toward the accomplishment
of this fellowship and the cementing
of this bond of brotherhood
between you. Such an attachment is
not possible without will and elfort
on the part of each; from one, expressions
of gratitude and appreciation;
from the other, kindliness and recognition
of equality. Each one should
endeavor to develop and assist the
other toward mutual advancement. . . .
Love and unity will be fostered between
you, thereby bringing about
the oneness of mankind. For the accomplishment
of unity between the
colored and white will be an assurance
of the world’s peace.” “I hope,”
He thus addresses members of the
white race, “that ye may cause that
down-trodden race to become glorious,
and to be joined with the white
race, to serve the world of man with
the utmost sincerity, faithfulness, love,
and purity. This opposition, enmity,
and prejudice among the white race
and the colored can not be effaced except
through faith, assurance, and the
teachings of the Blessed Beauty.”
“This question of the union of the
white and the black is very important,”
He warns, “for if it is not realized,
erelong great difficulties will
arise, and harmful results will follow.”
“If this matter remaineth without
change,” is yet another warning,
“enmity will be increased day by day,
and the final result will be hardship
and may end in bloodshed.”
A tremendous effort is required by both races if their outlook, their manners, and conduct are to reflect, in this darkened age, the spirit and teachings of the Faith of Bahá’u’lláh. Casting away once and for all the fallacious doctrine of racial superiority, with all its attendant evils, confusion, and miseries, and welcoming and encouraging the intermixture of races, and tearing down the barriers that now divide them, they should endeavor, day and night, to fulfill their particular responsibilities in the common task which so urgently faces them. Let them, while each is attempting to contribute its share to the solution of this perplexing problem, call to mind the warnings of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, and visualize, while there is yet time, the dire consequences that must follow if this challenging and unhappy situation that faces the entire American nation is not definitely remedied.
Let the white make a supreme effort
in their resolve to contribute their
share to the solution of this problem,
to abandon once for all their usually
inherent and at times subconscious
sense of superiority, to correct their
tendency towards revealing a patronizing
attitude towards the members of
the other race, to persuade them
through their intimate, spontaneous
and informal association with them
of their intentions, and to master their
impatience of any lack of responsiveness
on the part of a people who have
received, for so long a period, such
grievous and slow-healing wounds.
[Page 207]
Let the negroes, through a corresponding
effort on their part, show by every
means in their power the warmth of
their response, their readiness to forget
the past, and their ability to wipe
out every trace of suspicion that may
still linger in their hearts and minds.
Let neither think that the solution of
so vast a problem is a matter that exclusively
concerns the other. Let
neither think that such a problem can
either easily or immediately be resolved.
Let neither think that they
can wait confidently for the solution
of this problem until the initiative has
been taken, and the favorable circumstances
created, by agencies that stand
outside the orbit of their Faith. Let
neither think that anything short of
genuine love, extreme patience, true
humility, consummate tact, sound initiative,
mature wisdom, and deliberate,
persistent, and prayerful effort,
can succeed in blotting out the stain
which this patent evil has left on the
fair name of their common country.
Let them rather believe, and be firmly convinced, that on their mutual understanding, their amity, and sustained cooperation, must depend, more than on any other force or organization operating outside the circle of their Faith, the deflection of that dangerous course so greatly feared by ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, and the materialization of the hopes He cherished for their joint contribution to the fulfillment of that country’s glorious destiny.
An excerpt from “The Advent of Divine Justice” by Shoghi Effendi.
This Day a door is open wider than both heaven and earth. The eye of the mercy of Him Who is the Desire of the worlds is turned towards all men. An act, however infinitesimal, is, when viewed in the mirror of the knowledge of God, mightier than a mountain. Every drop proffered in His path is as the sea in that mirror. For this is the Day which the one true God, glorified be He, hath announced in all His Books unto His Prophets and His Messengers. —BAHÁ’U’LLÁH.
THE SCRIPTURES OF DIFFERENT FAITHS[1]
PRITAM SINGH
A STUDENT of comparative religion should be familiar with the scriptures of different historical faiths. He should know when they were written or recorded, what were the main contents of those scriptures and what they teach. For such a student, it is not necessary that he should go to the originals and study them in the languages in which these scriptures were revealed. If he were to do that, he would have to study Hebrew, Arabic, Sanskrit, Pali and Persian (old and new)—all very difficult languages to learn. In these days he can buy the translations in English or in the vernaculars and go through them and get into their spirit and not wrangle about the interpretations of the texts. Such a study of course would be very fruitful and create a spirit of understanding and sympathy and enable the student to arrive at truth for himself. He will learn about religion at first hand and not by hearsay.
It is with this object that I wish to present in the briefest possible manner an account of the scriptures of different faiths in the hope that some, at any rate, will take up their study in their leisure time.
THE HINDU SCRIPTURES
Among the scriptures of the Hindu religion the most outstanding and the most comprehensive is the Bhagawad-Gita, which should be considered as a text in Hinduism by a student of comparative religion. The Vedas, the Upanishads and the various schools of philosophy are too technical and very difficult to master and can be studied at a later stage.
In all the sacred literature of India no book has exerted so profound and universal an influence on religious thought and life of Hinduism in all its branches, as Bhagwad-Gita of Sri Krishna. It has rightly been called the greatest philosophical poem in the literature of the world.
The Gita, which forms a part of the Mahabharata, is the most popular religious poem in Sanskrit literature. It is a book conveying lessons of philosophy, religion and ethics and is available in every language and can be read in a short time. Its message is simple and is within the reach of all and is universal in its scope. The main spirit of the Gita is that of the Upanishads; only there is a greater emphasis on the religious side.
The date of its composition is not
known, but it was probably written in
500 B. C. The philosophical background
of the Gita as stated above is
taken from the Upanishads. The
author of the Gita, however, made
[Page 209]
the impersonal and the absolute of
the Upanishads into a personal Ishwara.
Then there are the teachings
of the Sankhya, the Yoga and the
Vedanta to be found in combination.
These terms, however, when they occur
in the Gita do not represent the
classical philosophic schools of
thought, but as reflective and meditative
methods of gaining salvation or
union with God. For instance, though
the Gita recognizes the distinction between
Pursha and Prakriti, yet it
overcomes this dualism by saying that
there is a spiritual fact behind this
play of nature. Pursha or spirit is not
an independent reality, it is the spectator
and not an actor. Prakriti or
nature does everything.
Again the two doctrines, the theistic and the pantheistic, are mixed up with each other and follow each other and the two beliefs are treated almost throughout as though there was indeed no difference between them. This change of emphasis from the speculative to the practical, from the philosophical to the religious, is indeed marvelous. “The central purpose of Gita,” in the words of Prof. Radhakrishnan, “is to solve the problem of life and stimulate right conduct.” The Gita, therefore, is a system of speculation as well as a rule of life, an intellectual search for truth, as as well as an attempt to make the truth dynamic in the soul of man.
Above all the Gita harmonizes the different ideals of life and synthesizes them all and shows the exact place and value of each of them. For instance, Gita recognizes two kinds of knowledge, that which seeks to understand the objective phenomena of existence and that which grasps the ultimate principle behind the phenomena by means of intuition. The one is called Vigyan or Science and the other Gayan or knowledge, that is to say the integral knowledge of the common foundation of all existence. As a means of getting the second kind of knowledge, the Gita recommends the Yogic discipline, of which the essential steps are purification of mind, concentration and its identification with the real when we reach it. True Yoga, according to the Gita, is the control of senses and indifference to the attractions of material objects. True Gayan or knowledge is the recognition of a self-existent eternal spirit in every man. An equal emphasis is laid on Karma or action and on Bhakhti or devotion. As a matter of fact the Gita coordinates Gayan, Karma and Bhakhti.
THE BUDDHISTIC SCRIPTURES
We shall next take up the Buddhistic Scriptures which are in the Pali language, as they were like the Vedas, reduced to writing long after the founder of Buddhism had given them to his disciples. The Pali language is like the old Sanskrit.
Lord Buddha or the “Enlightened One” lived from 567 B.C. to 487 B.C. and his sayings and discourses were compiled and completed two hundred and fifty years after his death and were reduced to writing in about 80 B.C. in Ceylon by his disciples after they had sifted and sorted them in the various councils held from time to time. The present translations are largely from the Pali texts.
The Buddhist scriptures are known
[Page 210]
as Tripitakas or Three Baskets and
deal with the life and sayings of
Buddha. They are known in Pali as
Suttas. The part dealing with the
discipline of monks is known as
Vinaya and that dealing with the
Buddhistic doctrines, such as psychology,
logic and ethics, is known by the
name of Abhidhamma. These constitute
the Tripitakas or Three Baskets
of Law.
The Buddhist thought evolved slowly, and consequently, it varies through slight degrees as the centuries passed by. Many schools of thought have therefore arisen in the past, the two most important being the Mahayana (the Greater Vehicle) and Hinayana (the lesser Vehicle)— a school that flourished in the North.
The teachings of Buddha as they have come down to us through the Pitakes may be briefly described as follows:
“Buddha taught that the seeker of Salvation should be warned against the two extremes of self-indulgence and self-mortification, both are unworthy and unprofitable.”
There is the Middle Way following which, according to Lord Buddha, man arrives at peace of mind, knowledge, enlightenment and attains to Nirvana or liberation. This Middle Way is the well known eightfold path of Buddha which has been described as follows:
The first step in the path is right belief, i.e. belief in the four fundamental principles enunciated by Buddha. He assumed that suffering was universal; and that we must find out the cause of this suffering and try to remove it, and then he pointed out the way which is known as the eightfold path of which right belief is the first step. Then follows the right resolution or the resolve to renounce all sensual pleasures, to have malice towards none and to harm no living creature. Right speech means that one should abstain from backbiting and slander, should not use harsh language, not tell lies, nor indulge in frivolous talk. Right conduct according to Buddha would consist in being chaste and in not taking what does not belong to one and in not destroying life. All these steps are ethical of course. Buddha also emphasizes the right means of subsistence, that is to say, that one should earn his living properly by giving up wrong occupations and then he must make right effort which meant that he should acquire all the good qualities he can and overcome all the evil qualities. These are the steps to moral discipline, and in order to attain Nirvana or liberation one should undergo intellectual processes also, such as overcoming sorrow, grief and pain by thinking and meditation, till one arrives at the last stage, the one of absorption, which is a state which transcends pain as well as pleasure, and brings perfect bliss, which is Nirvana or liberation according to Buddha.
Rhys Davids says, “In depth of
philosophic insight, in the method of
Socratic questionings often adopted,
in the earnest and elevated tone of
these discourses, one is often reminded
of the dialogues of Plato,
and the success of Buddha was due
to the fact that he gave to his disciples
a simple rule of life and also
[Page 211]
gave them the yellow robe, the shaven
head and the begging bowl and consequently
millions followed him.”
Buddhism today, however, is in a static state and its scriptures are in a language which very few can understand. As a gospel of renunciation and as a moral code, however, it remains unsurpassed. Buddha’s emphasis was on Dharma or righteousness as the driving principle of the universe and the supremacy of the individual effort, and perfection of the human personality by the extinction of all desire and passion. He gave to the people at large the simple Dharma of love, justice and righteousness.
THE ZENDA AVESTA
The scriptures of the Zoroastrians (the Parsis of India) of whom there are about a hundred thousand living in and near Bombay, are known as Zenda Avesta or commentaries on the Avesta (Vesta means knowledge). The Avesta represents a long period of diverse development spread over about one thousand years. The original Avesta is said to have consisted of 21 volumes, but the ravages of Alexander the Great seem to have destroyed a large number of the old manuscripts. The various scattered manuscripts were later on collected by the Sassanian Kings (third and fourth centuries A.D.). The language of these scriptures is old and extinct and very few oriental scholars can understand them. The modern translations are in Pahlavi of course, and the original has undergone many changes in course of time. The Gathas, or the words attributed to the Prophet Zoroaster, form part of the Zenda Avesta.
The Zenda Avesta, like the Bible, consists of many books and extends over a period of one thousand years as stated above. The process of compilation was roughly as follows. The sayings of the Prophet Zoroaster and those who immediately followed him were the first to be recorded. These records were then edited and elaborated by successive generations. The language originally was Gathic Avestan. In course of time new explanations were added in a dialect known as the “Younger Avestan” or Zenda. The modern Zenda Avesta is in the Pahlavi language which was the spoken language in the Sassanian times and is nearer to modern Iranian. The languages and dialects of the Zenda Avesta are, however, all interrelated.
Gathas form the most important part of the Avesta and are “metrical sermons” attributed to Zoroaster himself and are regarded as revelations. These were recorded more than three thousand years ago. Considering the age, it is really remarkable that such fine literature should find birth in the primitive civilization of ancient Iran. The art of verse seems to have been very highly developed in that age. One Gatha, however, is in prose which is a collection of prayers. The Yasna of which the Gathas form a part, is a book of liturgy meant to be used in connection with the various ceremonies current among the Parsis. Besides the Yasna there is the Vendidad which means “law against the demons.” All these constitute the Zenda Avesta.
Subsequent to the invasion of Islam
there were other books like Bundahisk
[Page 212]
and Zartusht Namah in modern
Iranian which tell us a good deal
about the life and teachings of Zoroaster.
Not only the old manuscripts
suffered at the hands of the Greeks,
the Muhammadans also destroyed
many Zoroastrian books. The Zenda
Avesta therefore which has come
down to us is fragmentary and mutilated
and very much mixed up.
The Zoroastrian faith based on these scriptures is monotheistic in the main. Ahura Mazdah or Ormuzd as the Parsis call Him, signifies the “Wise Lord!” Before Zoroaster’s coming people worshipped many kinds of spirits. He showed them that there was one Ahura (spirit) and he was Mazdah (the wise one). Justice and Truth must be rendered as his service by men of good speech, good thoughts and good deeds. It sounds paradoxical, that we should find two spirits postulated, the good and the evil, thus giving a color of dualism to the teachings of Zoroaster. This dualism is not of co-eternal spirits however; because it maintains that the evil spirit will ultimately succumb to the good.
Zoroaster’s teaching therefore is monotheistic, behind which was a tendency to philosophic dualism based on moral grounds. It is false to assume that Zoroaster taught the worship of the sun or any of the elements of nature. He took fire as a symbol of Divine Purity. In short, the ethical code laid down by Zoroaster stands very high. Purity is enjoined for the self which can be kept clean by good speech, good thoughts and good deeds. The Parsis, however, lay more emphasis on external purity than on the internal.
Judaism and Zoroastrianism have many things that are common, but it appears no contacts existed between the Zoroastrians and the Jews in the past. Both are non-proselytising faiths, and in both there is the dualistic trend such as Satan and God, Evil and Good, Virtue and Vice, Heaven and Hell, which runs through Christianity as well as Islam too. As a matter of fact, Zenda Avesta passed in course of ages through many hands and was colored with the ideas current in different times. Among others we may mention the Magian, the Greek, the Hindu and the Muslim influences. At present the Zoroastrian faith is in a static condition and these scriptures are of historical interest only.
THE HOLY BIBLE
The Bible consists of the Old Testament and the New. The Old Testament is composed of many books written in different times of the world’s history. It contains some fables, to us incredible, and teachings that occasionally contradict each other. But, for the Jews and for the Christians the Old Testament remains a book of splendor. It tells, in psalm, in laws and in prophecy, how man has been seeking God through the ages. The Old Testament has rightly been called “History’s Psalm.”
The New Testament, on the other
hand, centers round Jesus, though
Jesus wrote none of it. The Apostles
differing from each other in intelligence
and outlook wrote down what
they thought Jesus had said and done.
The Gospels show that Jesus Christ
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made very little reference to the Old
Testament, though he had fully imbibed
its spirit. The Apostles really
provided the frame for the picture of
this Great Teacher and they made it
so well that the picture and the frame
seemed to have merged into one. The
New Testament that is in our hands
today was compiled from scores of
writings in 397 A.D. at Carthage by
a Council of learned Christians.
In studying the Old Testament, we should remember that all its tales were written hundreds of years after the events they purport to describe. They are not history but are more like parables with a moral for the people of Israel. The Old Testament may be conveniently divided into Pentateuch (five books) containing the ordinances of Jewish ethics and laws as taught by Moses. The old books, the books of the prophets, and the chronicles of the kings of Israel, together with historical narrative and legend, contain many sublime religious truths expressed in song, prayer and prophecy. It is, however, in the Psalms of David that the Old Testament finds its best expression. The essence of the Jewish religion lies in the immense stress which it lays on the moral life upon earth, as the truest exemplification of our belief in and love of God.
We see the Semitic nomads, freed from the captivity of the Pharaohs of Egypt under the leadership of Moses, enter Cannan and become the “chosen people” of their racial God, Jehovah, “who from a governor of a single family, becomes a tribal governor, then a race governor; a friend of monarchy; the destroyer of monarchy; and lastly the inspirer of a prophecy about a Messiah following an Exile and thus the disappointer of all Jewish hopes thus raised.”[2] Once the Jews had made Palestine their home, they did not think of military conquest. The quest of righteousness became their chief passion and their highest vision. As a matter of fact, Judaism inculcates a high ethical teaching. So much about the Old Testament.
The claim made for Jesus that He was the Messiah offended the Jewish divines and led to his Crucifixion. Many legends have grown around the person of Jesus and many miracles, such as healing the sick, giving sight to the blind, and even raising the dead have been attributed to him. The idea of a divine eternal Christ, however, came from non-Jewish sources, and it was St. Paul who connected it with the idea of Jesus as Messiah and thus made Christianity appear different from Judaism. There has been a great divergence on many points such as Trinity, Resurrection and Salvation through Christ, and the two religions have grown and developed along different lines, the Jew remaining where he was before the Advent of Christ. This much however is common, that the Christian Church has retained the Old Testament along with the New, thus demonstrating the continuity of two religions which had as a matter of fact one source. Later it appears the Prophet of Arabia built Islam on the foundations laid down by the Prophets of Israel and elaborated by the Apostles of Jesus Christ.
THE HOLY QUR’AN
There are very few among the Hindus who make a careful and a critical study of this sacred scripture of the Muslims. The present writer assures the readers that such a study will be fruitful in results. In addition to familiarizing a Hindu with the technique and terminology of the three Semitic faiths—Judaism, Christianity and Islam—the study of the Qur’án will produce in him a sympathy for the Muslim point of view and also generate a tolerant attitude of mind for the followers of faiths different from his own.
Very good translations of this scripture are available almost in every language of the world, and by a rapid reader the book can be gone through in a week or ten days at the most. The Muslims regard the Qur’án as a revelation from God through the Prophet Muhammad (Peace be on Him) who himself was an unlettered person. The earlier revelations such as those incorporated in the Old Testament and in the New were in the Hebrew language, but the Qur’án was revealed in the Arabic language. As regards its style and diction, it is as simple and sublime as the previous revelations and with a little effort can be read in the original also.
The Holy Qur’án was revealed piecemeal during a period of twenty-three years out of which the Prophet spent 13 years in Mecca and 10 years in Medina. Since the collection was made from various sources and mostly from the memories of the people, the chronological order could not be observed and hence there is repetition in the verses of the Qur’án. There are altogether 114 Chapters called Surahs of which some are longer than others. Each chapter or Surah is divided into sections which are not connected with each other. And yet for the last thirteen centuries and more this scripture has inspired the lives of millions of Muslims all over the world. The Qur’án is the fountainhead from which all the teachings of Islam are drawn and the book is regarded as an absolute and final authority on almost everything by the people of Islam.
In addition to the Qur’án there is the Hadiths or tradition which signifies the precept and example of the Prophet and is regarded as a secondary source of the Law of Islam. These traditions were collected after the death of the Prophet and have been handed down to us through various channels, some authentic and others perhaps spurious.
The Qur’án enjoins a belief not
only in what has been revealed to the
Prophet Muhammad, but also in the
previous revelations as embodied in
the Torah and the Gospels, or the
revelations vouchsafed to Moses and
to Christ. As a matter of fact the
Qur’án regards the previous revelations
as much of Divine origin as its
own and the Prophets that have gone
before are regarded as true Prophets
from God. For example we read:
“And verily we gave unto Moses the
scripture and we caused a train of
messengers to follow after him, and
we gave unto Jesus, son of Mary, clear
proofs (of Allah’s sovereignty), and
we supported him with the holy spirit.
It is ever so, that when there cometh
unto you a messenger (from Allah)
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with that which ye yourselves desire
not, ye grow arrogant and some ye
disbelieve and some ye slay.” (Surah
II, 87)
M. Muhammad Ali in the introduction to the English translation of the Qur’án says: “Revelation according to the Holy Qur’án, is not only universal but also progressive. . . . A revelation was granted to each nation according to its requirements and in each age in accordance with the capacity of the people of that age.”
This view is confirmed by what has been said in John XVI, 12-13. “I have yet many things to say unto you, but ye cannot hear them now. Howbeit when the spirit of truth is come, he will guide you unto all truth.”
It is evident that the doctrine of the Qur’án is mainly based on the earlier scriptures revealed to Moses and Jesus and there is a close resemblance in the teachings of these three faiths. Take for example the doctrines of the Unity of God, the Day of Judgment, Heaven and Hell, Sin and Satan and the principle of punishment and reward—all these occur and reoccur in the Old Testament and in the New as well as in the Qur’án. Many of the institutions, such as that of prayer, fasting, charity, the observance of Sabbath, etc., are common to the three faiths. All three—Jews, Christians and Muslims—are called the “People of the Book” and all subscribe to faith in a God and His Messengers. The Qur’án makes mention of Adam and Eve, Noah, Abraham, Moses, Jesus, David, and many other Biblical Prophets and the accounts tally even in minor details. Read for example the Surah of Joseph and you will see the whole story narrated in the Old Testament also.
The function of a Prophet is to give the lead to the people among whom he appears and considering the age and the country where Muhammad proclaimed the Message, he had wonderful success. He faced opposition and was forced to give a defensive fight to the ignorant tribes of Arabia and took them out of the mire of superstition and taught them to fear God and obey His commandments. The Qur’án was in fact a reminder for the Christians as well as the Jews, who had forgotten the teachings of their own Prophets and had been led astray. What Christ did for the lost sheep of Israel, that Muhammad did for the wild tribes of Arabia. The study of the Qur’án will drive home to us the gigantic work of reform taken up by Muhammad thirteen hundred years ago. If for nothing else, then for the sake of knowing the great work that Muhammad did, every Hindu should take up the study of this great and noble scripture. Here are a few verses from the Qur’án taken at random. These speak for themselves.
“Seek help in patience and prayer; and truly it is hard save for the humble-minded.”
“O ye who believe! Seek help in steadfastness and prayer. Lo! Allah is with the steadfast.”
“Allah is the Protecting Friend of those who believe. He bringeth them out of darkness into light.”
“Allah hath blighted usury and made alms-giving fruitful. Allah loveth not the impious and guilty.”
“Deal justly, that is nearer to your duty. Observe your duty to Allah.”
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One could go on quoting passage
after passage calling people to righteousness
and to God and setting a high
ethical ideal for the people of that
age. Every Hindu should take up the
Qur’án and read it for himself and
form his own opinion about it. That
is the least that is expected of a student
who is interested in the fascinating
study of religion.
THE BAHÁ’Í SCRIPTURES
The scriptures of different faiths of which we have spoken above were all collected and collated long after they had been revealed. This was of course due to the want of proper means of recording and reproducing at the time. The scriptures of which we are going to speak now were recorded by the founder of the Bahá’í Faith himself under the shadow of the prison walls of Akka (Palestine). From this prison Bahá’u’lláh wrote letters to the crowned heads of the world, to Queen Victoria, the Czar of all Russias, the Presidents of the American Republics, Napoleon III of France, to the Emperor of All Austrias, the Kaiser of Germany, the Shah of Persia and the Sultan of Turkey, exhorting them to desist from war and to be just and kind to their subjects. Among Bahá’u’lláh’s other works may be mentioned “Iqan” (Book of Certitude) which explains the functions of Prophets and the true significance of their messages. “Hidden Words” and “Seven Valleys” are beautiful books which are worth studying. In the “Alwahs” or Tablets of Bahá’u’lláh are incorporated many exhortations and teachings, and besides these there is one book “Al-Agdas” which is in Arabic and gives the Bahá’í Law in full detail.
‘Abdu’l-Bahá, the son of Bahá’u’lláh, is the interpreter of the words of his Father and his letters (Tablets) written to his followers in all parts of the world have been collected, compiled and translated into English. Among the writings of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá we may mention the “Mysterious Forces of Civilization,” “Some Answered Questions” and Letters or “Makatibs.” His discourses delivered in America and Europe, which he visited in 1911-13, have also been collected and translated into English and these should also be regarded as part of the Bahá’í writings.
“The Bahá’í revelation is the spirit of this age. It is the essence of all the highest ideals of this century. The Bahá’í Cause is an inclusive movement; the teachings of all religions and societies are found here. Christians, Jews, Buddhists, Muhammadans, Zoroastrians, Theosophists, Freemasons, etc. find their highest aims in this Cause. Socialists and philosophers find their theories fully developed in this revelation.
“The Bahá’í message is a call to religious unity and not an invitation to a new religion, not a new path to immortality. God forbid! It is the ancient path cleared of the debris of imaginations and superstitions of men, of the debris of strife and misunderstanding and is again made a clear path to the sincere seeker, that he may enter therein in assurance, and find that the word of God is one word, though the speakers were many.”
Thus we see that the scriptures of
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the old historical faiths merely gave
the message and called people to
righteousness, they did not give a
comprehensive program for uniting
the races, the nations and the religions
of the world. The study of the Bahá’í
Literature, however, would open out
a large vista for the student of comparative
religion and reveal to him
the fundamental spiritual fact that all
the different faiths had a divine origin
and were really one in essentials and
in basic principles and that all the
prophets gave the same teaching of
love, of good will and of brotherhood
and it will also reveal a new fact that
we have not only to see unity in this
diversity, we have to make that unity
an accomplished fact in real life. Unless
Jews and Christians, Muslims and
Hindus, Zoroastrians and Buddhists
come and sit on the same platform
and live under one canopy and walk
under the same banner and follow
one Universal Faith, the great teachers
of religion and their scriptures
would not achieve the real object of
religion—viz, the unification of all
mankind. Every historical faith and
its scriptures put forward a claim to
be universal, but the followers of each
invite others to their own particular
fold and make no attempt to bring
about real unity so needed in the
sphere of religion in an age like ours.
The comparative method of study of
these scriptures would at least put us
on the road to such a reconciliation.
Justice is so dear to the heart of nature that, if in the last day an atom of injustice were found the universe would shrivel like a serpent’s skin to cast it off forever.-HINDU SCRIPTURES.
To rule with equity is like the North Star which is fixed and all the rest go round it.—CONFUCIUS.
One hour of Justice is worth seventy years of pious devotion.-MUHAMMAD.
Know thou, of a truth, that these great oppressions that have befallen the world are preparing it for the advent of the Most Great Justice.— BAHÁ’U’LLÁH.
If man had even the rudiments of justice, such a state of things would be impossible.—‘ABDU’L-BAHÁ.
THE SPIRITUAL ELEMENT IN EDUCATION
RICHARD D. MOSIER
ONE annoying characteristic of modern education is its failure, in many cases, to provide for the spiritual enrichment of the child. Our schools have been richly provided for by an unstinting American public. Materially, they are the best in the world: they are the best equipped; they are most modernly housed; they have thoroughly trained teachers. They have every opportunity for developing healthy, well-rounded individuals. Yet from the doors of our schools each year flows a swollen torrent of children into the leveling arena of modern life. These children have not been fortified inwardly to withstand the cruel buffets of fate. The adjustments and reorientations these children will make to the confusing mist of contemporary life will be more frequent and more disturbing, because, somewhere in their journey through the schools, they were not apprised of the wealth they possess for the enjoyment of modern life.
We have taught these children the diameters of planets, but have forgotten to teach them the measurements of their own souls. We taught them, once, that they possessed spiritual wealth; and once, to respect their teachers and the things these teachers said to them. Once education was respected because it was given deeper emotional meaning through ritual and ceremony. Today we are too sophisticated for that. We are neglecting a great source of power; we are denying a force that could increase the respect for and the effectiveness of education.
But let us look into the typical American school. What does a child do, all the day long? Well, the average child goes to elementary school from the age of about six to twelve. During the elementary school period the child is taught to read, to write, and the fundamentals of arithmetic. Stories of the history of his country are taught him. Nature study (which, oddly enough, is conducted in the classrooms) familiarizes him. with his material surroundings. Civics is taught him, and science. His play on the athletic field is directed, and a sense of “fair play” is inculcated.
Then he shifts the scene of his activities
to the high school. The main
objective of this school is the socialization
of the child. He is encouraged to
participate in assemblies, dramatics,
and student government. The sciences,
including the social sciences, literature,
art, and music, comprise the
curriculum. The student is taught familiarity
with the various occupations
which may interest him as a means of
getting a living. He learns the opportunities
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of each occupational field,
the qualifications required, and the
training he will have to undergo to fit
him for one or another of these.
In the course of his progress through the elementary and the high schools, the student will have come in contact with many teachers; and by this time he is beginning to wonder what people mean when they speak of “teaching.” One teacher in his fifth grade room may have asked him to recite on the facts which he had been required to memorize. Most of this teacher’s time is devoted to such drill and memorization work. The measure of the student’s success, in this class, is his ability to recall the facts of history, or geography, or the rules of arithmetic, or grammar.
If we go with him to another room, we shall see a situation entirely different. Here the teacher is trying to guide the learner in the solution of problems that have some relation to life. The building of an automobile engine might be studied, or the methods used in the manufacture of clothing. Facts are learned as the child needs them. He can place them, then, in their proper categories, and store them up for future needs. Very little of this teacher’s time is spent in drilling her students on the bare facts of her subject. Very much of her time is spent in directing the student’s activities in the face of life-like, problem-solving situations.
Now these two teaching situations, no one needs to be told, represent two different philosophies of education. The first one is the old method; the latter one is the newer. And though this latter method seems more efficacious in the light of present-day needs, it is yet to be noticed that in neither case was any time devoted to the spiritual enrichment of the child.
Yet the history of education reveals that its story has been, until very recent times, the story of its spiritual element. The primitive man, for example, was engrossed in defending himself and in supplying his needs. He gradually became conscious of the value of passing on to his children ways of doing things which had had survival value for himself and his group. When he began to do something about this felt need, he laid the basis for all that has been called education; he struck the first stone in the foundation of the system of education that we enjoy today.
But primitive man soon realized that unless he could devise some means of impressing his youngsters with the seriousness and significance of what he was teaching, it would have no hold on them. Gradually he came to associate what he was teaching his boys and girls with the rituals and ceremonies of his religion. This was natural enough, since what was taught was always related to religion. Even if he should want to teach the boy to hunt, he would have to teach the boy, among other things, the tribal dance of ceremony which gave significance to the hunt and showered the blessings of the propitiated one upon the hunter. He was linking education with the processes that had had survival value for himself and his group.
Primitive religion was natural
enough. The primitive man was faced
with a host of unfriendly forces. The
rain washed away the mud structure
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of some of his huts, the wind swept
the roof off his house at the most disconcerting
times, a tree might fall and
crush his young ones. In the face of
these antagonistic forces, he developed
a ritual, ceremonies designed to
propitiate the powers and gain their
favor. He appeased these forces by
gift, by worship, and by sacrifice. By
these acts the primitive man hoped
that the thunderbolts of heaven would
not strike him in their wrath.
The significance, then, of linking his educational teachings with his propitiatory ceremonies can easily be seen. His teachings had great value because they were themselves linked by other processes to powers which had the power of life and death over him. But his children had imitated their father even before the period of conscious indoctrination. They imitated his every act, as we see its counterpart in modern children when they play “house,” or pretend to be doctors or merchants. The child, in this case, was actually—“learning by doing;” he was unconsciously and without formal education preparing himself for the duties he would assume as a grown and matured member of his tribe.
But passing these simple religious ceremonies on to the new generation became the first step in conscious education. The primitive man was concerned that his child learn the religious observances of his group. But in time the process of teaching became too much of a task for the parent, and so a priest class grew up, whose duties included teaching the masses of the tribe the proper ceremonies and incantations. The task had become too arduous and burdensome for the parents of the children, since their time was largely occupied in getting food and in protecting the home. This class of priests became the teachers of the adults and the children, for the ceremonies, were, by this time, becoming increasingly complex. The spiritual element was abundantly provided for in this early education.
Greek education had the same emphasis. That is, primitive education has as its end, though it probably was not an avowed end, the preparation of the child to be a self-sustaining and a contributing member of the group. To this end he was taught the religious ritual as well as the more practical arts of hunting and fishing. So it was in Greek education. Its sole objective was the preparation of the child for intelligent citizenship.
The education of the Greek boy was one of doing. He participated in those struggles in rhetoric called debates, he lived in army barracks, he took part in athletic contests. And the religious element of his education was not forgotten.
In order to respect the customs and institutions of his fathers, he was required to learn the proper observances and prayers to the various gods. (There was even a god of wine!) Greek religion was extremely individualistic. Each individual attended to the gods of his choice. The objects of his experience, then, took on added emotional significance as he connected them with his individualistic religion. They were active in his life because they were the things he used and did, and because he reverenced them.
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The contribution of the Greeks to
modern education was not so much in
its aspect of civic-mindedness, but
rather in the philosophical elements
out of which it grew. From the
Homeric period Greek lads had been
taught to reverence bravery as a virtue.
The gods favored one who was
brave and virtuous. The ceremonies
of these gods made his blood tingle.
In Roman education practically the same thing obtained, because it was modelled after that of the Greek. It was natural that such an origin would tend to give the same emphasis.
Roman education is merely mentioned here to demonstrate the thesis of our argument. It and Greek and primitive education gained the respect of those who came within its province because it linked, no matter how meagerly, what it taught with what it worshipped. The significance of these early systems of education for modern education is to teach it that it, too, must connect in the lives of the boys and girls under its direction what is learned in the school with some of the resources they possess for the fuller enjoyment of life.
The education of the middle ages, we must confess, does not suit the tenure of our argument so well. After the fall of Rome, about the fifth century, the Church protected learning from the indiscriminate destruction of the barbarians, and, in time, converted these very barbarians to Christianity. Although the spiritual element of the education of this time was abundantly provided for, yet the Church tended to set up iron-clad fiats, degenerated into orthodoxy, and stifled progress. It preserved learning for a thousand years, but it did not increase it! Then, too, it ignored the education of the masses. Only those selected for the priesthood, or the fortunate individuals who clambered in under its protective wing received any real education.
The education of the middle ages had its glaring faults: primitive education had its faults; Greek education had its faults; Roman education had its faults; but all of these increased the effectiveness of what they were teaching and its hold on the minds of the children by providing richly for the spiritual element. In this, we moderns can learn from them.
But what is it to “spiritually enrich” the child. It is to elevate his soul by giving back to him his self-respect and his God. It is to heighten the meaning of education for him by increasing the emotional and ritualistic aspects of the curriculum.
We must teach our boys and girls that they must face not material realities alone, but those of the spirit also. We must apprise our boys and girls of the resources they possess within for fuller enjoyment of life. We must make them see that what is taught is very much related to their own spiritual welfare. In short, the child who has been spiritually enriched will be increasingly aware of himself and his universe, and he will know that within him are resources which he can use for the enjoyment of a full life and the attainment of high destinies. American education can do these things; and the children who emerge from its portals will know that no harm can come to a good man either here or after death.
THE VALLEY OF KNOWLEDGE
HORACE HOLLEY
IF measured by social results, the supreme power available to men is that of will. Every concentration of effort over a prolonged period, even by those not distinguished by superior talents, produces remarkable attainment. The student who is capable of real concentration becomes the embodiment of the knowledge he pursues. The professional man, in comparison to the layman, seems to have miraculous possession of his science or For concentration not only draws upon deeper wells of inner resource, it likewise automatically excludes both from within and from the external environment all that could be dissonant to the single, fixed aim.
Conspicuous examples of the effects of will are the many who have built great fortunes in the previous two generations. In a society and a natural environment equally available to the majority of their contemporaries, they found occasion to transmute the common opportunity into gold, influence and business authority.
Even more striking have been the cases of persons who, burdened by physical ailment, apparently incurable by physicians, have not merely succeeded in great accomplishment but have also risen gradually above the effects of the ailment itself.
The world has yet to realize what doors swing open, and what paths are traversed to the goal, when ordinary persons emerge from indifference and stagnation into the conviction of sustained and concentrated will. The two conditions are as different as malleable iron and hardened steel, or as a lump of clay and that which takes significant form under the sculptor’s hand.
But this concentration of will represents the complete giving of one’s life to the one particular goal that has been chosen. The goal itself may be trivial and ultimately even harmful. A childish impression, deep enough to give lasting sensitiveness, may become the master of the grown man, the direction of his entire life and the source of his one predominant value.
Indeed, the very fact that through will accomplishment comes has blinded us to the larger truth, that not rigid concentration but responsiveness to new values is the essence and mystery of man’s will. Thus the man who spends his life in building a great fortune is an example of concentration, but his very unalterable conviction means that his will has become fixed in a mold which he himself is unable to break. This type of will passes into the realm of habit, and habit alone is nothing more than repetition.
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Imagine a room that is darkened
except for the entrance of one ray of
light, and in the room a man with a
mirror. He can deflect that ray so as
to illlumine the entire room, or he
can direct it to one spot alone. Will
is the capacity to turn the mirror of intelligence
in any direction. The longer
the mirror is fixed in one direction
the more we will apprehend the particular
conditions which it confronts,
but the less we know of the room as
a whole. Man in the universe is like
that man in the darkened room. The
one ray entering this physical cosmos
is the ray of spiritual truth. Every
man has a mirror by which that ray
can be made to illumine the place, the
condition or the plane towards which
the mirror turns. But we identify the
ray with the mirror in which it reflects,
and too frequently we identify
the image with the mirror, feeling
both light and power in our personal
intelligence and not realizing intelligence
as an instrument given us for
a purpose larger than any personality.
Responsiveness, when not mere inconstancy of attention or vagary of desire, is that larger strength of will which prevents us from becoming victim of the capacity to concentrate upon the wrong goal. The process of maturity rids every man of childish desires, attainment of which would represent sterility of being. The man of flexible will can concentrate without becoming completely absorbed in the goal of his own personal choice. He gives to each occasion the attention it deserves, and does not abandon his whole being permanently to anything less than that which can fulfill his entire being. He will not confuse the means with the end, but considers that the goal of human life lies beyond the gratification of sense or success in the immediate social values of his time and place. All these are means, not ends, to be employed and enjoyed, but without abandonment of his capacity to grow in awareness of other and more important things.
The “Seven Valleys” of Bahá’u’lláh is, in one sense, an explanation and training in the mystery of responsiveness. It carries the process of growth, that is of life, beyond a succession of things and even of experiences and powers, to the goal that God Himself set up for the attainment of the human soul. It is the breaker of all molds which, by attachment to the world of sense and self-willed thought, human beings in all times have chosen as the end of being. It discloses a path of development within and yet around and without that procession of desires, subtle or gross, we call growth.
The spiritual process begins when personal desire and self-will come to the end of their capacity to satisfy the consciousness. It proceeds from stage to stage in the evolution of a higher self—not a self that is absorbed in self-selected mental or psychic images, deemed spiritual because they are not visible, material things, but a self that can become purified until its chosen goal is the goal of its Creator.
In the Seven Valleys there are
places of arrival and repose, where
the fruit of sincerity and sacrifice can
be enjoyed for a time, where the
powers can be quietly gathered together
in preparation for the next journey.
The Valley of Knowledge is one of
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these bowers of paradise that has been
created in the spiritual world, immune
to the tempests of the physical
universe, or to the confusions of society,
or to the betrayals of self. Honey
and milk are spread before the weary
traveler by an unseen Hand.
The traveler through the realms of life does not proceed from lesser to greater accomplishment in terms of wealth, professional skill or any immediate human goal. He learns that man is a being who has been created of different elements and endowed with diverse powers. He begins to apprehend the fact that the existence of different spiritual worlds, co-existent with this physical world, is fully proven by the manifestation of qualities and virtues in other men. The artist lives in a different world than the dull peasant, and the saint lives in a different world than the artist. Each of these worlds has its particular laws, principles and conditions. One who has attained consciousness can pass from one world to another, but no human being can destroy the integrity of their distinctions.
In the Valley of Knowledge “his inner eye will be opened.” That is, he can at last apprehend the difference between being and doing, between doing and having, and between the will that concentrates and the will that responds to a higher Will. He will “see war as peace” and “find the significance of life in death.” That is, he will realize the operation of cause and effect in and throughout all the worlds, and ask no more for a slave’s paradise of self-satisfaction glutted until no more can be desired. This is the Valley, or experience, in which the soul begins to rise into a higher conception of human relations, and leave behind those actions and reactions which confuse and torment the unaware. All are servants of the Creator, therefore none is master or slave to his fellow. “The morn of knowledge has dawned.” The soul need no more travel through a darkened universe lit only by the flickering lamp of his own personal imagination. His universe is lighted by the Creator’s power and beneficent mercy, as the earth at dawn receives the illumination of an arisen sun.
For in the Valley of Knowledge the soul perceives that in the Manifestation of God exists the function of the Sun of Truth, the universal Sun that blazes in all the worlds of man’s being, the Teacher of the Law of creation, experience, development and eternal life.
The third in a series on the Seven Valleys of Bahá’u’lláh.
HAS AMERICA INTERNATIONAL RESPONSIBILITIES?
Answers to Questions
BERTHA HYDE KIRKPATRICK
RECENTLY there came over the air an address which seemed significant and especially so because it was being delivered by a professor of one of our leading universities and not before a learned audience but to a so-called popular audience, a group of some two thousand women gathered for Farm Women’s Week. We are accustomed to hear and talk about international relations and to regard the responsibility for such relations as resting with European nations and to hear discussions about how to keep America out of war; but the theme of this talk was America’s inter-national responsibility. It gave, I think, a look a little farther into the future than we sometimes take and was concerned not so much with immediate war or peace as with what would lead to permanent peace and insure our freedom and democracy. Its conclusion was a plea that we begin now to educate ourselves and think of ourselves as not simply Americans but as citizens of the world.
Today, as was clearly pointed out in these pages quite recently (see World Order, May, 1939, Transition in World Economy by Emeric Sala.) a world economy has in reality taken the place of a national economy. Certain economists have long understood this and we all know that much of our food and materials needed in industry come from all parts of the world and that we send products and goods to all parts of the world. Rapid transportation, instantaneous communication and our needs link America with the world and make her a part of the world as never before. In spite of these well known facts we as a people are not world conscious. We still in our thinking cling to the “myth of nationalism.”
We can here only very briefly touch
upon two points in this talk, two
reasons why it would seem that the
people of the United States should
take some responsibility in cultivating
world-mindedness, in accepting and
promoting the idea of world economy.
First, America is a great nation—few
realize how great. In wealth, in commerce,
in many kinds of production
she leads the world. In numbers
alone, we have, roughly speaking,
multiplied our population by ten in
the last century while Europe has multiplied
hers by four. And this increase
in numbers together with other factors
has meant a vast increase in production
and trade. This very greatness
carries with it great responsibility. To
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whom much is given shall not from
him much be required? We are not
only a part of the world but a great, an
important and powerful part. This
greatness and importance has come
upon us so rapidly that we hardly yet
realize our position or responsibilities.
We as a people still think in terms of
the childhood of our nation and so
shrink from the responsibilities of
maturity. We still think of ourselves
as isolated.
But does this thinking of ours based, as it is, on the false premise that our United States is sufficient unto itself lead us where we want to go? Does it lead to our own security and prosperity? We love peace and democracy, the speaker said, and we want the freedom that goes with them. Will this thinking which is based on premises that were facts one hundred fifty years ago when it was possible, to a degree at least, to avoid “entangling alliances” lead to a permanent peace and insure our democracy? We cannot here follow the argument in detail but step by step the speaker showed that the persistent pursuit of this unreal policy of isolation would lead to one of two things—a reduction of our standard of living (already taking place in certain groups) or a radical reduction in the number of our people. In either case we would lose our place in the world as a great, a prosperous and leading country of the world, we would lose our ability to protect ourselves. Could we hope under such conditions to long maintain our free democracy? Would such conditions insure any lasting peace? Perhaps our responsibilities to people of other countries correspond more closely with our responsibilities to ourselves than we yet realize.
Can we change our thinking? Can we replace the “myth of nationalism” with the idea of world citizenship and realize that in this day it is only as we benefit all mankind that we benefit ourselves? The followers of Bahá’u’lláh believe that the American people will change their thinking— are gradually changing it and that America will arise to assume her destined responsibility in promoting world economy and other affairs which lead to world peace. How definitely these words of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá point to this destiny:
“May this American democracy be the first nation to establish the foundation of international agreement. May it be the first nation to proclaim the unity of mankind. May it be the first to unfurl the Standard of the Most Great Peace!” “The American nation is equipped and empowered to accomplish that which will adorn the pages of history, to become the envy of the world, and be blest in both the East and the West for the triumph of its people. . . . The American continent gives signs of very great advancement. Its future is even more promising, for its influence and illumination are far-reaching. It will lead all nations spiritually.”
And in this connection the following
words of Shoghi Effendi, the present
Guardian of the Bahá’í Faith and
the interpreter of the words of its
Founder and its Exemplar, should be
carefully considered: “A word, if the
destiny of the American people, in its
entirety, is to be correctly apprehended,
should be said regarding the
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orientation of that nation as a whole,
and the trend of the affairs of its
people. For no matter how ignorant
of the Source from which these directing
energies proceed, and however
slow and laborious the process, it is
becoming increasingly evident that
the nation as a whole, whether
through the agency of its government
or otherwise, is gravitating, under the
influence of forces that it can neither
comprehend or control, towards such
association and policies, wherein as
indicated by ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, her true
destiny must lie. Both the community
of the American believers, who are
aware of that Source, and the great
mass of their countrymen, who have
not as yet recognized the Hand that
directs their destiny, are contributing,
each in its own way, to the realization
of the hopes and the fulfillment of the
promises, voiced in the above quoted
words of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá.”
THE SOUL’S JOURNEY
ELSIE PATTERSON CRANMER
- We were thrust down into the savage dark,
- Who had grown too proud; unarmed were we,
- Who girded up our strength in the young days
- Flushed with o’er-boldness—blind with overpraise,
- Each day a day of running happiness. . . .
- Masters of Life—what did we want with God?
- So were we left of all the gifts He gave,
- Wisdom and Loveliness together fled.
- Dead dreams, dead hearts and Loves most dearly dead.
- Thus were we left in dark abysmal ways,
- Crouched to our knees, broken and lost and stark,
- Pierced through and through with bleeding agony,
- With just faint breath enough in us to cry:
- “If there be God in Heaven—for God’s sake save!”
- So came we cowed and crawling to His knee.
- O, blessed rain from eyes so long grown dry!
- O, blessed life to those who long since died!
- O, holy, holy peace, after the long pain!
- O Voice, O Blessed Arms that draw us to His side,
- “Couldst thou have found Me hadst thou not been crucified?”
ISLAM
ALI-KULI KHAN
XII.
JUNE eighth and ninth A. D. 632 (A. H. XI). The news which rapidly spread, brought Abu Bekr back from his home. At first Omar in wild words, refused to believe that the Prophet was indeed dead, and he thought that it was a swooning spell. But all doubt was soon dispelled. Abu Bekr entered the mosque where a vast multitude had assembled, and then repaired to the guest chamber. He gazed upon his departed friend, and stooping down, kissed the face saying: “Sweet wast thou in life, and sweet thou art in death.” . . . “Yes, thou art dead; (and referring to Omar’s wild words without) “Thou art too precious with the Lord that He should give thee the bitter cup to drink a second time.”
At the death of the Prophet, the great army camp at Jurf broke up. Osama, at the Prophet’s command was about to ride off, when the news of the Prophet’s death reached him. He returned to the mosque and planted his banner at the entrance to the house of A’isha where the Prophet had breathed His last.
The groups at the mosque each proposed a chief to succeed the Prophet. Omar was on the point of addressing them in rash words, which in his impetuous and excited state, would have harmed the cause of Islam. But Abu Bekr held him back. The Meccans were shouting to have a Koreish appointed, and the citizens urged that a Medinan be given the great office. Abu Bekr in mild but firm words assured the citizens that the Arabs would not accept any one but a Koreish. He also rejected the citizens’ demand that Medina should have one chief and Mecca another. For this would have destroyed the solidarity of Islam. Abu Bekr said:—“O people of Medina! We Koreish are Ameers and ye are our Wazeers. We are the noblest of the Arabs by descent! Choose ye whom ye will of these two (pointing to Omar and Abu Obeida) and do allegiance to him.” Omar then, in resounding words, referred to Muhammad’s appointment of Abu Bekr to lead the prayer and urged the latter’s election. Then, raising Abu Bekr’s hand to the multitude, he pledged faith to him. Omar’s words and act touched the heart of the populace. All opposition vanished, and Abu Bekr was saluted as Caliph (successor of the Prophet).
Meanwhile, Ali, Osama, and Al
Fadl were in A’isha’s room preparing
the body for burial. The body was
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washed and laid out on the very spot
which was the scene of death. The
garment in which Muhammad died
was left upon Him. Two sheets of
fine white linen were wound around
it. Over all was cast a covering of
striped yemen stuff. These preparations
accomplished, the body awaited
burial.
THE FIRST CALIPH
On Tuesday, June ninth, the people, after being addressed by Omar, swore allegiance to Abu Bekr. In his inaugural speech, Abu Bekr told the people that although he had become the chief over them he was not the best among them; that if he did well, they should support him, and if he erred, they should set him right. He swore to do justice, to strengthen the weak, and to prevent the aggression of the strong.
Ali and Fatima were occupied with their duties indoors as the body of the Prophet was being laid out. The Shi’ites believe that Ali expected to be chosen Khalif, and they support this belief by strong and authentic traditions. European writers who mostly look upon Islam as a secular movement aiming at the establishment of temporal authority, side with the Sun’nites in considering Ali unfit for such a role. But to Ali and his descendants, (the school of the Twelve) Islam is a spiritual Faith, and he and his eleven lineal descendants are the spiritual successors and true interpreters of the faith of the Prophet.
On Tuesday, June ninth, Abu Bekr ordered the grave dug in the house of A’isha, on the very spot where the Prophet had died. This is supported by the words of Muhammad Himself. The body was visited by many of the Muslims and after an oration from Abu Bekr, was buried in the grave dug in a vaulted fashion.
A’isha continued to live in her house in a room next to the one where Muhammad was buried. When Abu Bekr and Omar died, they, too, were buried there, near the tomb of the Prophet.
Omar and many leaders among the Moslems insisted that the army should not be sent to the Syrian border, but kept at home as a safeguard to the Muslims. Abu Bekr opposed this plan and considered it imperative to carry out this last order of the Prophet. Osama was, therefore asked to lead his forces to Syria. Within twenty days after his departure, he returned to Medina, having over-run the province of Belka, and avenged his father’s death and the disastrous defeat of Muta.
Osama entered Medina at the head of a triumphal procession. He rode upon his father’s horse, and the banner held so lately by Muhammad’s own hand, floated before him. Abu Bekr, and leading citizens went forth to meet him, and the returning army was received with joyous acclamation. The conquerors then entered the mosque and offered a prayer and thanks.
The rapid spread of Moslem conquest
followed the return of Osama’s
army. Rebellious desert tribes were
put down, and within a few short
years, Syria, Irak, and Persia, and the
strongholds of Asia Minor were subjugated,
thus engulfing in common
ruin the earliest seats of Christianity
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and the faith of Zoroaster. But these
are not matters to be detailed here.
TRADITIONS ABOUT MUHAMMAD
Regarding the personal appearance and character of Muhammad, tradition furnishes ample information. The vigor of His carriage continued to the end of His life. His form was stately and commanding. His dark black eyes showed a depth of feeling. His winning expression gained the love and confidence of strangers immediately. One admirer says: “He was the handsomest, the bravest, the brightest-faced, and most generous of men.” It was as though the sunlight beamed in His countenance. His stern frown made captives tremble. His erect figure began in later years to stoop; but the step remained firm and quick. His gait has been likened to one descending a hill with rapidity. . . . He was thorough and efficient in every act. His life was characterized by a patriarchal simplicity. He attended to His personal needs. He gave alms with His own hand. He mended His clothes, tied up the goats, cobbled His own sandals, and even helped His women folk in their tasks. He wore plain white cotton cloth, and only in high and festive occasions did He wear fine linen—striped or dyed in red.
He was fond of sweet scents. He was to all, easy of access. His word was law, and compelled willing obedience. He received embassies and deputations with the utmost courtesy and consideration, and although He was illiterate and was never known Himself to write, He displayed the qualifications of an able and experienced ruler.
He treated the most insignificant of his followers with urbanity and regard. He was modest, kind, patient, generous, and self-denying. He disliked to say “no,” and when He needed to do so, He preferred silence. Ai’sha spoke of him as: “More bashful than a veiled virgin, and if anything displeased Him, He showed it by His face; not by His words.” He never refused an invitation to the house of the meanest, nor declined a proffered present, however small. He was tender and sympathetic with the bereaved. Gentle towards little children, He often accosted a group of them at play with the salutation of peace. He shared His food with others, even when it was scarce, and He was solicitous for the personal comfort of all about Him.
He was a faithful friend, as is shown by His attachment to Ali, and to Zeid, the Christian slave of Khadija. He was just and temperate and showed moderation towards his enemies. He treated his foremost opponents with a gracious, and even friendly consideration. He was loving and tender as a father.
In His prophetical character, one is
struck by His constant and vivid sense
of a special and all-pervading Providence.
He always, “Sat down and
rose up with the mention of the
Lord.” When the first fruits of the
season were brought to Him he would
kiss them, place them upon His eyes,
and say: “Lord, as Thou hast shown
us the first, show unto us, likewise,
the last.” He ever saw and humbly
acknowledged the Hand of God, both
in trouble and affliction; and in prosperity
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and joy.
Amongst the benefits left by Muhammad and His system, (which are attested by his worst enemies) are that He banished forever, the darker elements of superstition which had for ages shrouded the Arabian and other heathen lands.
Idolatry succumbed to Islam and God’s unity, and infinite perfections and His all-pervading providence became a living principle in the hearts and lives of Muhammad’s followers. Islam inculcated the social virtues of brotherly love towards all within it; proscribed infanticide; enjoined protection of orphans, and the treatment of slaves with consideration, and prohibited intoxicating drinks, and thus established a degree of temperance unknown to any other creed.
Muhammad’s early biographers refer to passages in Isaiah XLII and LXI, and to St. Matthew XII, V18, as applying to the coming of the Prophet. The same authorities speak of His humility, shown by His riding upon asses, by accepting the invitations even of slaves, and, when mounted, by His taking another behind him. He would say: “I sit at meals as a servant doth; and I eat like a servant; for I really am a servant.” He hated nothing more than lying and would keep aloof from any lying Muslims until He was assured of their repentance. In His speech, He enunciated each syllable distinctly, as distinct as the sound of the dice thrown on the chess boards—a simile used by one of his biographers.
When offered by Gabriel the Valley of Mecca full of gold, He refused it, saying that when He was hungry, He would come before the Lord lowly; and when He was full, with praise.
He used to wear two garments: His sizzar, or undergarment, was shown four inches below His knees. He would draw the end of His mantle under His shoulder.
His time was divided into three parts: One, given to God. The second, allotted to His family. The third, to Himself. But when public business and welfare became too pressing, He gave up one half of his own share of time to the service of others. He never made personal use of the tithes, and was so scrupulous in this respect that He would not eat even a date picked up on the road, lest perchance it might have dropped from a tithe-load. For the tithe belonged to the poor, and “The family of Muhammad may not eat of the tithes.”
He greatly relished sweetmeats and honey. He used to eat moist dates and cooked food together, and He most relished a mess of bread cooked with meat, and a dish of dates dressed with butter and milk. In eating fresh dates, He kept such as were bad in His hand. And when asked for the dates so rejected, He answered, “Not so; what I do not like for myself, I do not like to give to thee.”
He disliked onions, saying that the angel which visited Him disliked them, although He allowed others to eat of them freely. So also with garlic; which He refused to eat for the same reason.
During the early years at Medina
when Muhammad was in straitened
circumstances, Ai’sha tells us that for
months together, He did not get a full
meal, nor would fire be lighted in His
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house, either for baking bread or cooking
meat. In reply then to “How then
did you live?”, she would answer,
“By dates and water and by what the
citizens used to send unto us. For
such of them as had cattle, they would
send us a little milk. The Prophet
never indulged in the luxury of two
separate dishes the same day: if he
had flesh, there was nothing else: and
so, if he had dates or bread.” Ai’sha
also states that in those days, she and
the Prophet ate without a lamp or
without a light, as they had no oil.
The early Muslim biographers speak
of the “Seal” of Prophecy on the back
of Muhammad to have been of the
size and appearance of a pigeon’s egg.
It is said to have been the divine seal,
which, according to the Scriptures,
marked Muhammad as the last of the
prophets.
From various traditions, the “Seal” would seem to have been a mole of unusual size. Muhammad had a ring made of gold which He wore on His right hand with the stone inwards. As He found that the Muslims began to follow His example and make rings of gold for themselves, the Prophet ascended the pulpit, took His ring off, and said, “By the Lord, I will not wear this ring ever again,” and He threw it from Him.
Four chapters are written in the description of His armor, swords, coats of mail, shields, lances and bows.
The first horse He ever possessed was bought for ten ounces of silver, and He called it, “Es-Sekb” (Running Water) from the easiness of its paces. Another horse was called “Sababa,” and a third horse “Al-Murtajis.” Then there was His white mule, “Dul-dul,” a gift from Mukawkis. Farwa, Governor of Syria, sent Him a mule called Fidda (silver) which He gave to Abu Bekr, also an ass. Still another ass was called “Ya’fur.”
His riding camels were Al-Kaswa, and Al-Abda, which in speed outstripped all others. He also had twenty milch camels and seven goats. He attached great and unusual blessing to the possession of goats. He would say, “There is no house possessing a goat, but a blessing abideth thereon; and there is no house possessing three goats, but the angels pass the nights there, praying for its inmates until the morning.”
Muhammad’s servants were fourteen or fifteen persons who served Him at various times. His slaves He always freed. Muhammad’s private property consisted of seven gardens which Mukheirik, the Jew, left Him. It is said that the dates growing in them were the sweetest in taste. After Him, these gardens were dedicated to pious purposes. The donor is said to have been a learned Jewish priest, and a leader of the Beni Kainuka, who “Recognized Muhammad by His marks and identified Him as the promised prophet.” This Jewish chief was killed at the Battle of Ohod on the side of the Muslims. Muhammad spoke of him as “The best of the Jews.”
There were also few other properties,
one of them the summer garden
of Mary, the mother of Ibrahim, His
late son. Another was Fadak at At-Ta’if,
which was claimed by Fatima
after her father Muhammad’s death,
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but which was refused by the Caliph
Abu Bekr.
From the proceeds of these gardens, Muhammad supported His family, and what remained was given over for the use of the Muslims, who needed charity.
A number of wells are enumerated from which the Prophet drank, and on which He invoked a blessing. One well, called “Gharsh,” was named by Him “One of the fountains of Paradise.” He also drank from the Fountain of Buda’a, filling both hands with it and sipping it. To this fountain He would send the sick for healing. Another well was “Ruma,” which, by order of the Prophet, was purchased by Othman for four hundred Dinars and made free to the public, by the wish of Muhammad.
(Concluded)
TO AN OLD SOLDIER OF EUROPE
GEORGE NEDWIN HANSEN
- Your hands were strong which plowed these battle fields long years ago;
- Your harvest rich in wheat for both, whom we now call friend or foe.
- After these years your plow turns up the bones of those long dead;
- Now war again plants younger bones,—bones of your sons instead.
- Thus do the seeds of hate in cycle seem to turn without end.
- But God be praised I need no longer hate;
- I’ve learned the way at last to be your friend.
- I am your friend because deep down inside your inmost heart
- You are my brother; in life’s great scheme we cannot live apart.
- We need each other no matter what your race, your skin or creed.
- Let us once more plant love with wheat to meet a common need.
- Forgive me friend, (though late) wrongs of the past; I’ll make amend.
- But God be praised I need no longer hate;
- I’ve learned the way at last to be your friend.
GIVING UP THE SELF
JESSICA LEVINE RUSSELL
GETTING out of a spell of depression is easy when you give up something for God.
If you are not a believer, you may scoff at such a sentiment, but I have learned its truth during these past twelve months. Giving up something for God may sound simple, but it isn’t, when that to be given up is your Self.
I had to give Self up—not the one which eats, drinks, sleeps and breathes, but the one which lay encrusted beneath the snobbery, temptations and selfishness of my former agnosticism.
At my first Bahá’í meeting I gasped at the variety of listeners present. Mixed in with those of my own age and environment were an elderly gentleman who seemed better fitted to a synagogue; my host and hostess who could easily have graced the finest of drawing-rooms; a few open-eyed, intelligent colored persons; two physicians, and some college instructors, while the speaker himself was a cultured Persian who spoke on the origin of the Bahá’í Faith.
Subsequent meetings slowly helped me to comprehend the meaning of this varied attendance. I began to absorb the fundamental Bahá’í teachings, which promulgate the oneness of mankind, foster the independent investigation of all truths, prove that the foundation of all religion is one, that religion must be the cause of unity, that it must be in accord with science, that men and women are equal, that prejudice of all kinds must be forgotten, that there should be universal peace, universal education, a universal language, an international tribunal and a spiritual solution of the economic problem.
I learned that the Bahá’í Faith has no rituals, no paid clergy, no religious ceremonials, no public prayers, and it teaches only the fundamental belief in God and His Manifestations.
The story of Bahá’u’lláh needed no retelling after I had heard it once. His sacrifices, His imprisonment, the complete vindication of His Teachings have made me weep many times, helping to dissolve the callous wall I had built up against my fellow-beings.
It is strange that in a Faith almost a hundred years old I have found the true meaning of my own modern existence. The teachings of Bahá’u’lláh are so timely as to seem tenets expressed newly today. Through them there has been built up a foundation of social, spiritual and moral law such as to inspire every waking deed to better itself.
In the structure of the World Order
outlined to me by the Bahá’í books, I
have learned why Bahá’u’lláh is truly
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the Manifestation for This Day. He
has brought to a sick world the only
remedy possible to make it well, and
though I may never see the complete
fulfillment of this Plan, still the bounty
of being a helper in its preparation
is now the overwhelming purpose of
my life.
I have been a Bahá’í for the past year, during which time my greatest pleasure has been in the discovery of prayer. Now, at last, I know what it is to pray to God joyfully, with thanks, instead of tearfully, with terror. At last I can talk with God through this medium and not have to strike the supplicant attitudes which had kept me from Him before. And finding prayer has taught me that my prayers must be redoubled, as must be my efforts for others. I must pray for the fulfillment of the Will of God, not for the accomplishments of my own desires. God alone knows the pattern which we must follow, and when my feeble wishes are not fulfilled then must I realize that a more divine plan is in the offing. And always I am conscious of a vibrant gratitude for the life I so oftened desired to lose, for since becoming a Bahá’í I have never allowed myself to forget how fortunate I am in being permitted to spread His Cause and His Word.
Many times I go to the direct writings of the Bahá’í Faith, knowing that these books which are written by Bahá’u’lláh, ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, His son, and Shoghi Effendi, the present Guardian of the Bahá’í Faith, help to ever preserve and replenish my store of spiritual knowledge. After all, I have to realize that my mental and material attributes are merely lent to help equip me for His Service, so it is well that I keep these capabilities fit for use.
Perhaps now my meaning is clearer when I say “Give Up Something for God.” In giving up Self I have lost nothing but the useless part of my malformed being, and in its place have acquired the reality of Life and the steady joy which the Faith gives to each true believer. All I have given up is a shell whose incompatibility with my present existence makes it a receding memory. From now on I can live serene in the knowledge that I am a Bahá’í, and as such I am opening the door to many more seekers.
THE DIVINE ART OF LIVING
MARCIA STEWARD ATWATER
BEFORE we consider living as a Divine Art—what is life itself? All the Holy Prophets of God have told man in different ways at different periods of time, that he is an eternal being—and that living is an eternal business—and it is only upon this platform of understanding, that a Divine Art of Living for mankind can be predicated. But, in turn, this necessary understanding must be rooted in knowledge—not hope, mere belief, or anticipation of its being developed after so-called death. If we are to believe the Words of the Prophet of God, eternal life begins now, and, stripped of the limitations of time and ignorance, living becomes a Divine Art.
There are five steps that lead man to an understanding of this Art. First he must independently investigate for himself the word of God. Thus he will come to know his God—this knowledge within himself gives birth to faith—faith in, and dependence on, the laws of the Creator. Only then is he equipped to really live.
Today, while all the world of religion is anticipating the advent of another great Messenger of God, the Bahá’ís know that He has already come! How do they know? Primarily because they cared sufficiently about the possibility to investigate what He had to say—to take this first necessary step in the path to any real knowledge on any subject. And here we found the fulfillment of the Lord Jesus Christ’s promise: “Even the Spirit of Truth, Whom He would send, Who would lead us unto all Truth” in Bahá’u’lláh, the Glory of God— Mighty, Powerful, speaking to man in the name of the Father—explaining to man for the first time in Revelation the very law of Revelation itself.
He tells us that the only way of knowing God is through His Representative, Whom He sends to the created world at different periods of time according to the law of a mighty cycle. He tells us that only at this point, the point of the Manifestation, can man know his God and learn the laws that He has ordained that man shall live by for his complete happiness—that living may be a Divine Art in reality and not theory.
Bahá’u’lláh tells man that all the Founders of all great Religions were Holy Messengers sent by God to speak to man in His Name; and that as the human race grows and develops so the Revelation of God grows in scope and knowledge to fit man’s needs.
Thus Bahá’u’lláh, in this day, this
scientific age, brings us God’s scientific
knowledge of His laws. To Him
we must turn if we are really to live
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and to develop our latent potentialities
as the children of God.
And when we turn to Him, we are told in no uncertain terms that eternal life begins the moment we become truly conscious of God—for God is eternal and man lives as an eternal conscious individual in this knowledge of his Creator.
To the Bahá’í these are no mere words—the creative power of God lives in them, penetrates the soul, quickens the body, vanishes every fear and limitation, and living becomes that God-given privilege it is meant to be. Faith becomes a reality, a creative force, Prayer becomes a tangible connection between the individual and his God, the consciousness of the love of God becomes such a dynamic, driving impulse to live that limitations become but figments of man’s finite imagination.
Through the knowledge of God as revealed by Bahá’u’lláh, man becomes at home in the universe, unafraid, possessed of the “peace that passeth understanding.” His mind becomes a clear mirror that reflects all the multiple bounties of God, his understanding becomes illumined, his perceptive powers develop, his heart becomes a citadel of God’s love and his soul is radiant with joy.
All these things become possible through the conscious knowledge of his God; for true knowledge is power, it is light, it is the only freedom, it is the only happiness, in this world of existence. For true knowledge is God’s knowledge, the unerring compass of life, the radiant star of hope, the touchstone of love and faith, the life of the soul.
All these things become possible to those who truly seek their God. And in accordance with the law of Revelation as given us today, we must seek our God in the presence of His Manifestation of today, Bahá’u’lláh. For today Bahá’u’lláh is the source of knowledge, of power, of light, speaking not of Himself but of God, directing man in the ways of his Lord.
He tells us why we were created. He says in the Name of God: “I desired to be known, therefore I created thee.” The whole purpose of life of man is therefore to know God, consciously to know Him, consciously to love Him, consciously to live in accordance with His laws.
Why is it we accept so gratefully other laws? The great law of electricity as discovered by Franklin, a human creature like ourselves, we accept and permit to become the light of our homes. What about the home of our souls, through which we live throughout the eternality of time, whether we will or no? Is it not important that in them we permit the Divine Light to shine of which electricity is but an outward symbol? Since we are told by the Divine Manifestation of God that He is the transmitter, as it were, of the light of God, is it important that we know Him? Is there anything in this world more important, if this be true? Is it not, therefore, primarily important, that we investigate and find out for ourselves whether it is true or not?
Bahá’u’lláh Himself said: “Deliver
the Message thus: tell the people the
Promised One of all ages is here—
with proofs and evidences.” Now
this is a mighty statement, but this is
[Page 238]
what His followers are telling you,
secure in their knowledge of its truth,
staggering though it is to the human
intellect—telling you that it is true in
the midst of such a confusion of cults,
creeds, metaphysical doctrines and
false prophets as the world has never
seen before. But there is a saying “that
where there is smoke there is fire.”
Bahá’u’lláh is that fire, the Manifestation
of the fire of the love of God.
The blood of twenty thousand martyrs sacrificed in the path of their Lord, testifies to the dynamic force inherent in this Cause of God. Does a mere wise man’s manifesto command such things, does anything but the Divine Power so enkindle men’s souls that they joyfully lay down their lives en masse for its sake? Does anything less than the power of God manifest such welding power as can organize millions of people under the banner of one religion such as the Christ’s teaching did, and as Bahá’u’lláh’s teachings are doing today? Let us be reasonable, let us be just: is such a thing possible by any but a Divine Power?
Let us reflect with unprejudiced hearts, concerned only with the desire to learn the Truth. Did a great philosopher such as Plato, a great scientist such as Herbert Spencer, or even a great mystic such as Swedenborg, have the power, with all their wisdom, so to touch the hearts of men as the words of a Christ, or a Buddha, or a Muhammad, with the result that a great structure of faith reared its head on the foundation of Their words?
Nations are welded through love of country and mutual economic benefits, but the souls of men are welded together through the power of the revealed Word of God. This power of God is the very root of all power— anything else is but the result of this great Cause.
Today, again, to a world united physically by ships, planes, telegraph and radio, but never in its history so dis-united morally and spiritually, there has been sent that great unifying force which alone is capable of uniting the hearts and souls of men. This was manifested in the Great Universal Prophet, Bahá’u’lláh, sent by God to unite the whole world—not just one nation or one people this time, but the whole world. The outward form of unity is here—through modern invention and science the separate countries and continents have become in reality one. Now it remains to fill that form with a dynamic spiritual content.
We must learn, as the physical earth is one earth, so we are one race, one humanity, and there is but one God, and His universal Manifestation is Bahá’u’lláh. Under His great standard of unity all religions will find their fulfillment and their highest aim. Religious prejudice, that root of all other prejudice, will vanish.
We, as individuals, will live in the consciousness of One God, One Religion, One humanity—and the dream of peace will have become a reality. The kingdom of heaven will be established in all its glory upon the earth.
This is the Mission of Bahá’u’lláh,
and it will be accomplished for God
never speaks in vain. Already beyond
all refutation the old order of civilization
is being rolled up, and slowly
[Page 239]
but unmistakably to the discerning
eye, the new civilization, the Divine
Civilization, is unfolding its potentialities
in the souls of men.
This is but the early dawn of the sun of Truth, soon its radiance will become manifest to all the world. Through the creative power of God as released through Bahá’u’lláh that civilization that all of the Prophets have spoken of, of which all poets have dreamed, and for which all lovers of humanity have prayed, will be an established fact.
This is the Bahá’í Message to the world today, and while this civilization is in the process of becoming, all those who will can find not only the formula but the dynamic force of the power of God for the Art of Divine Living.
Oh people of the world, you have waited so long, prayed so long for this Day, and It is here. God has kept His Covenant with all His Holy Prophets since the dawn of Time— The Promised One has come!
One of a radio series delivered at Los Angelea in February, 1939.
As the bee gathers nectar without injuring the beauty of the fragrance of the flower, so should a wise man live in this world.—BUDDHA.
If wise and virtuous men were to govern a state for a hundred years they would put an end to tyranny and punishments.—CONFUCIUS.
When you connect yourself with base men and show them favor, they commit crimes with the power you give them, whereby you participate in their guilt.—PERSIAN SCRIPTURES.
Observe equity in your judgment, ye men of understanding heart! He that is unjust in his judgment is destitute of the characteristics that distinguish man’s station.—BAHÁ’U’LLÁH.
May America become the distributing center of spiritual enlightenment and all the world receive this heavenly blessing.—‘ABDU’L-BAHÁ.
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