World Order/Volume 5/Issue 9/Text

From Bahaiworks

[Page 319]

WORLD ORDER

DECEMBER 1939


PEACE A DIVINE CREATION

Bahá’u’lláh


A SPIRITUAL BILL OF RIGHTS

Kenneth Christian


SCIENCE AND VALUE

G. A. Shook


THE VALLEY OF ASTONISHMENT

Howard Colby Ives


ABBAS EFFENDI

Marcia Steward Atwater


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CONTENTS OF THIS ISSUE

DECEMBER 1939 VOLUME 5 NUMBER 9


THE FRUIT OF EXISTENCE • Editorial .......................................... 321

A SPIRITUAL BILL OF RIGHTS • KENNETH CHRISTIAN ...... 323

WORLD CITIZENS • CAROLINE S. WOODRUFF ........................ 327

BURSTING THE CAGE ASUNDER • LOUIS G. GREGORY ...... 329

SCIENCE AND VALUE • G. A. SHOOK ............................................ 332

THE VALLEY OF ASTONISHMENT • HOWARD COLBY IVES . 338

ABBAS EFFENDI • MARCIA STEWARD ATWATER .................. 344

THEY MET THE DAWN, III • ALICE SIMMONS COX ................ 348

PEACE A DIVINE CREATION • WORDS OF BAHÁ’U’LLÁH ... 354

INTEGRITY, THE CROWN OF VIRTUE • HELEN GRIFFING . 358


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: 536 Sheridan Road, Wilmette, Ill.

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.

December 1939, Volume 5, Number 9


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WORLD ORDER

December 1939 Volume 5 Number 9


THE FRUIT OF EXISTENCE

IT is a commonly accepted belief or philosophy of life, and this among people of fine and benevolent character, that good deeds are sufficient, that is, that a highly ethical life fulfills God’s requirements, or possibly we had better say the requirements of a refined conscience, for such people may not recognize God as a controlling factor in human life. But this belief, as far as the records show, has never been the teaching of the Prophets of God who have founded the great religions, or of the lesser but highly inspired prophets. Take, for example, the teaching of Christ. He plainly taught that there are two great commandments which must dominate human lives and conduct. But we are prone to forget that the first and great commandment is: “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart and with all thy soul and with all thy mind” even though we observe carefully the second “which is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.”

These two commands were the basis of Moses’ teaching, too, for Christ quoted directly from Mosaic law in making these two obligations the complete basis for right living and actions. Also of the ten commandments we find that the first four are concerned with our relation to God and the rest bear on our dealings with our fellowmen. And in summarizing the good life the prophet Micah wrote: “What doth the Lord require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God?”

Brother Lawrence, a Carmelite lay brother of the seventeenth century, knew well this great and simple truth that the love of God is necessary to perfect a deed. The little book known as “The Practice of the Presence of God” tells how Brother Lawrence’s every-day, rather hum-drum life became a very happy one. By cultivating the habit of doing everything for the love of God he found that humble kitchen tasks for which he had formerly felt an aversion and business dealings in buying supplies for the monastery for which he had no natural taste became easy and well performed. His whole object, he declared, was not to obtain happiness but “that he might perform all his actions for the love of God.” Extreme asceticism seemed unnecessary to him and he found his love of God grew by doing everything for Him rather than by performing set devotions, though the latter were not neglected.

[Page 322] Are we of this modern age exempt from this dual obligation required by the Prophets of old? Bahá’u’lláh, speaking as the Messenger of God for today says, “O son of being! Walk in My statutes for love of Me.” And again He says, “O children of Adam! Holy words and pure and goodly deeds ascend unto the heaven of celestial glory. Strive that your deeds may be cleansed from the dust of self and hypocrisy and find favor at the court of glory.”

‘Abdu’l-Bahá gives a simple illustration which makes it clear that even our seemingly good deeds may not be completely good. He says: “If virtue were only a matter of obtaining and giving forth, as this lamp is lighted and illuminates the house— without doubt this illumination is a benefit—then why do we not praise the lamp? The sun causes all the beings of the earth to increase, and by its heat and light gives growth and development: is there a greater benefit than that? Nevertheless, as this good does not come from good-will and from the knowledge and love of God, it is imperfect.”

And that we may understand more fully He says: “Know that such actions, such efforts, and such words are praiseworthy and approved, and are the glory of humanity. But these actions alone are not sufficient; they are a body of greatest loveliness but without spirit. No, that which is the cause of everlasting life, eternal honor, universal enlightenment, real salvation and prosperity, is first of all, the knowledge of God. It is known that the knowledge of God is beyond all knowledge, and is the greatest glory of the human world. . . . Secondly comes the love of God, the light of which shines in the lamp of the hearts of those who know God. . . . In truth, the fruit of human existence is the love of God, for this love is the spirit of life, and the eternal bounty. . . . Briefly, if to the knowledge of God is joined the love of God, and attraction, ecstasy, and goodwill, a righteous action is then perfect and complete. Otherwise, though a good action is praiseworthy, yet if it is not sustained by the knowledge of God, the love of God, and a sincere intention, it is imperfect.”

So Bahá’u’lláh and ‘Abdu’l-Bahá set again for us the standard of perfection. Mankind has slipped very far from the standards set by Jesus Christ. Bahá’u’lláh calls us again to strive for their attainment and to make our deeds show that we love God with the mind, the soul and the heart.

B.H.K.


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A SPIRITUAL BILL OF RIGHTS

KENNETH CHRISTIAN

IN a realistic sense, man was not born free. He was born with the potentiality for freedom. Man has always had to learn how to be free.

A major portion of history so far, has been the struggle of man to free himself from the restrictions of nature and geography. Food and shelter have had to be wrested from forest and jungle. Oceans, mountains, and plains have had to be conquered.

The second great struggle of man has been for freedom from slavery and the tyranny of his fellow-man. Only in the last few centuries has this struggle shown any appreciable practical results. And there is a third great struggle for freedom. Glimmerings of it have been seen before in history. Now this struggle has become a necessity to the further progress of civilization. Man must now be free from himself, from the fears which are his inheritance in the struggle against nature, from the suspicion, prejudice, and separation which are his inheritance in the struggle against slavery and tyranny.

In the struggle for freedom from nature, men have been led by inventors and engineers. In the struggle for freedom from slavery and tyranny, men have been led by statesmen, by champions of liberty, liberalism, and tolerance, and by the quiet, penetrating influence of humanitarians. In the struggle to free man from himself, men have been led by Prophets and saints of God, and encouraged by the philosophers and men of arts. This struggle has been the most difficult, for its achievement in any wide sense has depended upon the success of men in conquering nature and in securing release from tyranny.

In any primitive society, the all-important thing is to conquer nature. Men must have food and shelter: without these bases, life cannot exist. But as soon as nature has been conquered to any reasonable extent, the problem of organized government comes to the fore, and with any consideration of government comes the problem of freedom from slavery and tyranny. We in America know the rich heritage of the struggle for freedom. We know the fight which led to granting of Magna Charta at Runneymede. We know the social and political triumph attached to the enactment of the Bill of Rights as the first ten amendments to the American Constitution.

But still men are not free. To millions of people in the world, the struggle for subsistence is very real and life-long in duration. Millions, though possessing the necessities of life, still live under the social and [Page 324] political dominance of highly organized groups, and nowhere in the modern world can we point to large groups of people who are really free from fear.

In the view of Bahá’u’lláh, men do not know yet what freedom really means. To some people, freedom is license. To others, freedom means a system of government where groups may, within regulation, fight to enact in law their respective desires. In the light of the Bahá’í teachings, freedom means to live in the love of God, with justice practised in all phases of life, under the law of God.

On first inspection, this may seem a very vague and idealistic statement. But if we inspect carefully those tendencies which imprison the mind and spirit of man, and then look at the specific injunctions of Bahá’u’lláh, we can begin to see what spiritual freedom for man really means.

First, man must be freed from the inherited restrictions of theology and ecclesiasticism. In a recent poll of 43,000 children in Manhattan public schools, the third most hated individual was voted “The Devil.” Here, in an age of science, when reason and common sense ought to be permeating all of life, thousands of city children cling to a belief in a fictitious individual created by theologians. . . . Coupled with this fear mechanism, there is at the basis of every theological system, in every religious denomination, the fundamental assumption that the particular denomination possesses a better path to God than that followed by peoples of other faiths.

Second, man must be freed from those ideas of mysticism and asceticism which warp the individual life into an unsocial pattern. Asceticism is an unwarranted extreme in Christianity. It has manifested itself in many religious orders and retreats. And modern intellectuals embrace the essence of this idea when they take complete refuge in the pursuits of the intellectual life and feel no obligation to the social order in which they live. The extremely wealthy, also, tend to be esthetic in that they welcome the way of luxury as a protective antidote against the realistic surge and flow of life.

And the modern world is flooded with attractive forms of mysticism. Psychologic religions, health fads, and mystic cults flourish and feed by appeals to the egos of many thousands who have been torn from the moorings of old religious forms. These movements all appeal to man by offering to develop latent “powers” within him—to enable him to attain the same understanding as Christ, to guarantee him absolutely perfect health no matter what, to hold forth to him the tantalizing promise of understanding “mysteries” reserved only for the comprehension of the elect and those willing to pay the proper fees. In such movements there is no appeal to the heroic and noble side of man’s nature. He is not asked to sacrifice for goals not easily obtainable, and to expend effort when the real fruits may not be discernible for several centuries.

Third, present-day society suffers, more than at any previous period, from the “cultural drag” of the past. Within one hundred years, science and invention have given the world [Page 325] the physical means for unity in all phases of life. Yet we continue to think and act in forms long outmoded. The friction which has resulted is taking the form of continued and terrifying crises. Men point to the dissolution of society as they see every old form of thought and action crumble effetely in the present turmoil. And the only logical solution, proven by historic experience, is the evolution of a new social order which can adequately and justly utilize the fruits of modern science. These great periods of change have occurred before at long intervals. Always the path of inevitable progress has been blocked by the methods of an outmoded culture. The same difficulty is ours today. World unity is guaranteed by science and so each limited form of thought and action has been challenged by the hand of destiny. . . . We continue to think in class terms; we move inevitably into a wider social arena. We laud purely nationalistic concepts; but economics has become hopelessly international in scope. We try to think in terms of restricted cultures— dividing life activities into neat religious, political, social, and economic compartments—but in actuality all these divisions fail, and the confusion of men mounts as leaders strive blatantly to deny the steady processes of social amalgamation. . . . In their confusion, men refuse to define their terms as they call each other names, as they rant loudly against “isms”— tilting Quixoticly to gain public favor and playing upon any fear and prejudice which will gain a temporary following.

Confusion, prejudice and fears— whether they be the result of manmade theologies, of the egotistic appeals of varied forms of estheticism, or of the useless ways of thought and action which constitute the “cultural drag” of the past—from all this modern men need, most desperately, to be freed.

And where may they turn for the new freedom?

Men may turn to political leaders. But what are the difficulties here involved? One must accept political immorality, logrolling, and the methods of the party system. No political method yet developed has produced workable justice for minorities. The democratic method, which has come nearest to bringing the good things of life to all people, requires acceptance of political immorality as an inevitable working principle. And if the autocratic method is followed, the people tend always to be at the mercy of the leader or the party.

If freedom is sought in purely economic terms, similar dilemmas result. Always, a partial view of modern life—be it a political, economic, social, or religious view—tends to distort life’s problems beyond all reason.

What concept then is big enough to enable man to think clearly in terms of the world as he finds it? Surely “Political Man” of the national jingoists will not suffice. Surely “Intellectual Man” of the theologians and philosophers is an inadequate concept. Surely purely “Economic Man” of the socialist-economic theorizers is insufficient.

Would it not greatly clarify our conception of life to use the concept of “Mature Man” found in the writings [Page 326] of Bahá’u’lláh? For Bahá’u’lláh, though a Prophet of religion, never spoke of life and living in the limited manner of the professional religionist. He saw all great problems as problems of living, understandable in terms of justice and human values, not capable of being neatly classified as economic or political, as religious or social. “Mature Man,” then, would be that individual who sees life as the working fusion of these four aspects —not one of which is wholly dominant.

But to enable men to see life in terms of maturity, requires some changes in social conditions as they now exist. It is at this point that the major principles in the teachings of Bahá’u’lláh assume great importance. To free men and women, to enable them to think and act maturely, a greater Bill of Rights, one going beyond mere political rights, must be promulgated. The principles of Bahá’u’lláh are a Spiritual Bill of Rights which can free man from the inherited mistakes and erroneous concepts of the past.

Bahá’u’lláh, first, challenges men to think freely by urging each to “investigate truth independently,” to scorn mere imitation of ancestral forms. He commands men to abandon superstitions and prejudices of all kinds. He attacks limited social concepts by urging that men “recognize all races, classes and nations of men as one.” Bahá’u’lláh states emphatically that true science and true religion could not help but be in accord. And He strikes at all religious sectarianism and bigotry by calling upon men to recognize the obviously one divine source of all revealed religion.

Second, the remaining chief principles of Bahá’u’lláh are designed to establish justice in the spirit of the oneness of mankind. A universal system of education must be gradually set up. Men must agree upon and adopt an international auxiliary language, which, with the mother tongue, will enable any individual anywhere to act as a world citizen. Men and women must be granted equal social rights and opportunities. The extremes of wealth and poverty must be abolished. Any work performed in the spirit of service must be recognized as the highest form of individual prayer. Men must devote themselves to the establishment of world peace through federation of the nations.

The full implications of these principles can come only through careful consideration of them in relation to our present social order. But an intellectual view of these principles will not give the complete picture.

Those men and women—in all the five continents—who look to Bahá’u’lláh as the Manifestation of God for this age, see these principles as but the outline of a new social order. They are but the Spiritual Bill of Rights which will guide men in the creation of a just social world when, in the decades ahead, the system of war-making destroys itself. For we are now at the period of transition from the age when men first gained freedom from tyranny, and the new age when men will gain freedom from fear and become mature.


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WORLD CITIZENS

CAROLINE S. WOODRUFF

THE Drama of human life began on the gigantic stage of the world many thousands of years ago— long, long before recorded history drew aside the curtains and threw the spotlight on the play.

The first acts, for all their simplicity, had moved in accordance with the theme of the Great Playwright. Charred sticks and hollowed stones, brightly daubed cave murals, and megaliths—all the discarded stage properties of long forgotten scenes— reveal the conflicts of the grand drama: struggles for food and warmth and shelter, for beauty, for personal achievement, and spiritual perfection that have characterized the players of all times.

As if the struggle for survival against the odds of hostile nature and the struggle to develop the latent capacities of man himself were not enough, at some fatal moment was introduced the struggle of man against his fellows, and history’s tale begins with thundering chariots and the clash of arms.

Whether or not nations are merely “struggle groups,” as a modern sociologist insists, the development of strong national consciousness, from the days of the Hyksos to the days of Hitler, has always been accompanied by a show of force. The intense conflicts associated with the kaleidoscopic rise and fall of nations during the recorded years of history have often enticed the historian from the central theme of the great human drama, which, however vaguely it may be conceived, can scarcely be self-extermination through bigger and better wars. It is only recently that historians have given us anything that can be properly called the history of mankind, in contrast to the history of nations.

The great achievements of the human race, the things that have contributed most to our physical and spiritual welfare, have seldom been national or even racial in character. They have been attained through the collaboration of citizens in one or more nations, or have always had a way of crossing political boundary lines to ameliorate the existence of peoples under every flag. There is no French way of curing tuberculosis or German method of solving a quadratic equation. No nation has a monopoly on the automobile, the telephone, the radio, the electric light, soap, the tin can, pen and ink, the music of Wagner, or the Iliad of Homer. Astronomers of every nation peer at the stars with the instrument designed by Galileo, through the lenses invented by some long forgotten [Page 328] artisan; human eyes search for truth in the Koran, the Talmud, and the Holy Bible. The fruits of science, agriculture, invention, sculpture, literature —the most useful and beautiful and desirable things of the world —are non-national in character. They bear the mark of no flag, the seal of no dictator.

The French may well be proud of Madame Curie, but she belongs to all people. The names of Harvey, Pasteur, Reed are celebrated in the history of mankind—they are citizens of the world. Dr. W. W. Bauer, of the American Medical Association, says: “It seems to me that in the history of medicine through the ages, there is to be found an excellent example of what constitutes world citizenship. There are no international medical treaties, no formal pledges; but actions speak louder than words. The progress of medicine against disease is a truly international achievement, spurred by healthy rivalries and seldom marred by nationalistic quarrels. Sharing the conquest of diphtheria, we find the German von Behring, Klebs and Loefler, the Japanese Kitasato, the French Roux and Ramon, the American Park and Zingher. Insulin, discovered by the Canadian Banting, did not remain a Canadian monopoly any more than did liver for pernicious anemia or ethylene gas anesthesia remain American because of Minot, Murphy, and Whipple or Yuckhardt. These discoveries were given to the world freely, without thought of individual profit or selfish national advantage.”

What is true in medicine is true also in the science and art of education. Comenius, Froebel, Rousseau, and Mann have influenced educational procedure from Bronxville to Bombay.

The great masterpieces of literature bear no national trademark. Byron and Goethe, Tennyson and Chaucer, Emerson and Burns—their music has transcended all boundaries and will live forever in all tongues. Even great characters of fiction have stimulated imagination through the medium of every language—Nora in the doll’s house, Hamlet in the palace of his father, Robinson Crusoe on his lonely island, Seigfried, the Knights of King Arthur, Roland, Aeneas, Jean Valjean—and there is no end.

“Whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, . . . whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report”—are things in which citizens of any nation may take pride as achievements of their fellowmen.

One of the first tasks of the school in laying the basis for world citizenship is to teach the drama of mankind, with its petty conflicts and wasteful, progress-delaying struggles, of course—they are part of the show of the ages—but with the focus held on the great theme, represented in the conquest of disease and hunger and want through science and invention, and the attainment of beauty and spiritual perfection against the odds of man’s own nature and the challenge of nature in the world about him. As H. G. Wells says, “Human history is one history and human welfare is one whole.”


Reprinted from Indian Journal of Education. The author is President, National Education Association, U.S.A.


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BURSTING THE CAGE ASUNDER

LOUIS G. GREGORY

THE human soul has been likened to a bird of Paradise. It is however imprisoned in the cage of earth and thereby denied the freedom and happiness due the heir to so lofty a state. The bars of the cage appear to be whatever obstacles hinder the progress of so wondrous an entity, so priceless a reflection of the divine reality. Such bars seem of the earth and differ with mortals and environments, but impose experiences which all are fated to share. It is release that brings victory to the soul.

The cage with many is a mounting ambition, without the strength of body or mind needed for the ascent. Poverty, especially the lack of means to acquire culture, may be a very serious situation for many others. Other limitations are such as superstitions, prejudice, errors of judgment, resentments due to real or fancied wrongs, vanity, ill health and other afflictions of body or soul. The cage will be broken when the bird through introspection, effort and prayer finds its kinship with birds of the Higher Realm. If we are thrilled by the stirring narratives of the heroes of God who have won deathless fame through the ages and long to be like them, the mere desire will not avail. Although our strength and courage may be infinitely less than theirs, the openings also far less glorious, yet the latent powers of the soul are only discovered by trial.

But the great freedom which fits for fellowship with the immortals cannot be limited to self-development and abandoning the world to its blind fate. The struggle to break for others the cage, the more quickly leads to one’s own emancipation. A national organization of women which has done great things for humanity has for its motto, “Lifting as we climb!” Wings of faith and knowledge gain strength by lending aid. Such an attitude attracts divine favor.

Some years ago a woman of wealth, after a long period of study and meditation, became a Bahá’í. She tried patiently but vainly to convey the message to those upon her own high social plane; but they were not ready. She then found much joy in association with people of humbler rank who were spiritually alive. Later there came to her from the Holy Land a message to teach the poor. Then a strange thing happened. She was shown in a dream that the poorest people were not her new associates, but her wealthy former companions because they lacked spiritual understanding. Thereupon reestablishing the connection she sought and won their cooperation in humanitarian endeavors. Later she had imposed upon her the [Page 330] responsibility of bringing together two hostile racial groups. Thus to the end of her saintly life she was constantly breaking cages, was greatly loved by everyone and fully merited the great station given her by ‘Abdu’l-Bahá.

Recently the Ministers’ Association of a university city were discussing a strange phenomenon. A young woman barely turned twenty, calling herself a Bahá’í, was elected president of the Young Women’s Christian Association, although the record showed that she held no membership in any church. Should such an unprecedented a matter be allowed to stand? Very grave doubts were expressed. Eventually one of them arose and said:

“It so happens that I know that young woman and she is by far the best Christian of my acquaintance!” This summarily put an end to the discussion and the status was undisturbed. Distinguished for deeds is the record of this young woman and the entire family of which she is a member. She led a thousand women and though youthful, has broken many shells.

There lives in another city a wealthy colored friend who well expresses the Bahá’í Faith in terms of every-day service. She formerly conducted beauty parlors and brings an engaging technique into her services to humanity. “How beautiful are you today?” This is her almost invariable query when meeting people or answering the telephone, as she ever seeks the realities of souls. Such an inquiry might prove embarrassing to those of us who lack pulchritude, did not the signs point to spiritual planes. Recently a southern white Bahá’í invited her to visit her home and give the message to a group of her friends. Upon arrival in that southern city it was found that the expected hearers would not meet her on a social plane, although as a servant they would. Fortunately this radiant soul had read the play called “The Servant in the House.” She also revered the servitude of the Master. And so, putting aside her jewelry and other finery and donning a white apron, she took her place in the kitchen, whence she was called to give the teachings to the friends of her hostess. This she did in a most winsome way. Not long afterward when her white friend returned the visit, she discovered the wealth, and high standing of this colored friend, among both races, in her northern home. “The heights of humility,” as the Master calls them, were ascended in this case; and who knows how many cages they may shatter in the future?

Not long ago, in the deep South, the writer met an interracial group of earnest, thoughtful people, intent upon bridging by spirituality the awful chasm of race. All listened with sympathy and understanding to the trials on both sides of the divide. A colored worker made a very frank statement of the hardships of travel due to the prejudice of race. At the close of his address the most prominent white man present said to him:

“Whenever you come to my city have no fear of hotels. We have a spare room and you are welcome at my table!” The man who said this has a faith that is so strong that it [Page 331] not only breaks cages but removes mountains. His influence is very large.

People in cities of the far West speak reverently of a colored physician who taught them of Bahá’u’lláh. His faith was firm and luminous. Although very capable he was desperately poor, because in view of prejudice his practice was confined to his own racial group, very small in numbers in the city where he lived. One night he invited the attracted ones to a unity feast, at his office, spread in their honor. A day or two afterward he was found dead with but a few pennies in his pocket. The autopsy said starvation. He had spent his last money aiding the attraction of friends to the Kingdom of God, denying himself to the limit. Can it be thought that his traces are lost?

A Bahá’í who now lives in a great city found existence in peonage in the deep South, a section where school kept two months a year sometimes. Unusual abilities and thirst for knowledge facilitated her escape. Marriage followed with one of like mind, and husband and wife by work, character and business acumen became influential. They heard the Call of God in war time and since then their home has been a center of spiritual influence and a hospice for visiting friends. But not content with their own bursting shells, they have delivered all their relatives from durance vile, at one time going so far as to charter a coach to facilitate the flight of those left behind to economic and educational freedom. They have also spread the message in their great city and as far west as California. Their firmness through the years has been like a beacon light.

But why multiply illustrations? If anyone bears and heeds the divine call, it is because someone had kindly helped him to break his “shell of conventionality” and the favor of the Almighty has smiled upon him and released him from the cage of self. This is the day for every mortal to find release. The Supreme Call is sounded:

“O son of Spirit!”

“Burst thy cage asunder, and, even as the phoenix of love, soar into the heavens of holiness. Renounce thyself, and, filled with the spirit of mercy, abide in the realm of Celestial sanctity.”




That the Cause associated with the name of Bahá’u’lláh feeds itself upon those hidden springs of celestial strength which no force of human personality, whatever its glamor, can replace; that its reliance is solely upon that mystic Source with which no worldly advantage, be it wealth, fame or learning, can compare; that it propagates itself by ways mysteriously and utterly at variance with the standards accepted by the generality of mankind, will . . . become increasingly manifest as it forges ahead towards fresh conquests in its struggle for the spiritual regeneration of mankind.—SHOGHI EFFENDI.


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SCIENCE AND VALUE

G. A. SHOOK

ALL superstition rests upon that kind of intuitive knowledge which is based upon immediate experience; and science has demonstrated over and over again that this kind of knowledge is not necessarily valid. To illustrate, the casual observer infers that the earth is flat but he is justified in his conclusion although he is wrong. A more careful observer watches a ship moving away from the shore and notes that the hull disappears first and finally the highest point of the mast. He concludes, and correctly, that the earth’s surface is curved. The scientific mind, with some knowledge of astronomy, observes that as he travels North or South a given distance, his latitude changes the same amount regardless of his position on the earth’s surface. He infers, therefore, that the earth’s surface is spherical but this does not prevent him from further search. He observes, further, that the shadow on the moon during the time of a lunar eclipse is sensibly circular regardless of the part of the earth that is turned toward the sun. Now a rotating sphere would cast a circular shadow and so our scientific mind comes to the same conclusion, namely, that the earth is spherical.

This kind of experience, however, is not immediate—our immediate experience tells us that the earth is flat.

Now when a man tries to advance by holding to subjective religion alone, neglecting this fundamental scientific principle, he falls into superstition and obtains no real progress. But it is also true that man makes no substantial progress when he neglects religion and falls into materialism.

Ever since the rise of modern science, man has been confused about the relation between science and religion. Science has been applied where it has no function, as in the realm of values, and it has been neglected where it should have been applied, as in the realm of sentiment and emotion. To begin with, we should distinguish clearly between two possible approaches to religion, and by religion we mean the reality of religion that the great Revelators bring to humanity.

One approach assumes that a scientific attitude toward religion is permissible and experience shows that this attitude is desirable. Another approach regards religion as a scientific object, something we can measure and analyze as we would measure and analyze an object of science. But experience shows that religion cannot be weighed and measured as a scientific object.

The tendency of modern science is [Page 333] away from any kind of speculation, even so-called scientific speculation, that has no experimental foundation. To be sure, we may study the history of the progress of mankind to see if those who believe in God are really different from those who do not, as Prof. MacIntosh has done, and we are justified in calling this study a scientific investigation because we are dealing with facts of history as a scientist deals with facts, without prejudice or bias. But we would hardly go so far as to judge the essential reality of religion as something which could be measured as we would measure scientific objects.

THE SCIENTIFIC APPROACH

No modern scientist of any standing would think of measuring religion as he measures the scientific objects and certainly he would not conclude that the truths of religion were not valid because they could not be subjected to scientific measurements.

If we wish to be strictly scientific in our approach to religion and particularly to a new Faith, let us examine the facts as a scientist would examine facts.

One of the fundamental tenets of the Bahá’í Faith is the unfettered investigation of truth and this is compatible with the scientific spirit. Again, the Founder of the Bahá’í Faith, Bahá’u’lláh, proclaimed another truth equally important, namely, that Divine Revelation is continuous and progressive. The Founders of all past religions “abide in the same Tabernacle, soar in the same heaven, are seated upon the same throne, utter the same speech and proclaim the same Faith.” Can it be demonstrated that Divine Revelation has ceased? Can any extant religion prove that it is the last and final Revelation? Suppose, which is more than probable, that more than one of the existing religions should make this claim, what is the unbiased observer to believe? Again, there are organized Bahá’í communities in over forty countries. “Christians of various denominations, Muslims of both the Sunní and Shiah sects of Islám, Jews, Hindus, Sikhs, Zoroastrians, and Buddhists, have eagerly embraced its truth, have recognized the Divine Origin and fundamental unity underlying the teaching of all the Founders of past religions, and have unreservedly identified themselves with both the spirit and form of its evolving institutions.” Can anyone claim to have a scientific approach to religion and refuse to investigate the precepts, standards, and claims of this Faith? Here is a real field for the exercise of the scientific attitude.

But to return to science and value. To clarify our ideas we may imagine that man lives in two worlds.

MAN’S TWO WORLDS

There is the physical universe which may be subjected to observation and experiment, a world which can be measured and analyzed. The following words of Lord Kelvin, so often misquoted and misinterpreted, may be partially responsible for the nineteenth century notion that we cannot be certain of any thing but scientific facts; “When you can measure what you are speaking about, and express it in numbers, you know something [Page 334] about it; and when you cannot measure it, when you cannot express it in numbers, your knowledge is of a meager and unsatisfactory kind; it may be the beginning of knowledge but you have scarcely in your thoughts advanced to the stage of a science.”

Then there is the realm of value. Justice, mercy, and tolerance are as real to man as are scientific facts or scientific objects, even though they cannot be subjected to scientific study. Science cannot make value judgment.

Now religion belongs to the realm of value and much of the confusion that exists about the validity of religious truths would disappear if we would think sometimes in terms of value. It is only natural that the human mind should try to think of abstract ideas in terms of concrete and familiar ideas but we should draw out analogies from the proper field. Perhaps the development of religion is more akin to the development of art or music or literature than to science. No one would reject a good painting or a good musical composition on the ground that he had no scientific basis for his appreciation. He would feel free to reject a work of art if it did not measure up to certain standards and although artists may not agree that such standards should be applied, they would all agree that such standards could not be determined scientifically.

To the prose-mind, poetry is a very clumsy, indirect medium of expression and yet in reality the poet says, in a very few words, just what he wishes to say. It is only when we attempt to convey the same meaning in prose that we have difficulty. It is prose and not poetry that is full of circumlocutions. This lack of appreciation of poetry, however, is not a reflection upon the poet, but upon those who are devoid of originality and imagery. The more we attempt a mechanical explanation of an imponderable entity, the less we know about it. In the nineteenth century a scientific phenomena was explained whenever a model could be constructed, but science has progressed a long way from this viewpoint. Today we look behind the model and we realize that it is inadequate.

SOURCE OF MORAL LAWS

This brings us to a very fundamental question and around this question the progress of humanity revolves. Where do we get our moral laws? Where do we get our standards of value? Are there any truths that are not merely the result of man’s reaction to his environment? Is there any kind of knowledge that is not the product of man’s experience, or man’s experimentation, or the creation of man’s mind, or the revelation that comes to him from turning inward to some latent force, or the revelation he gets from meditating and contemplating upon some unknowable, undefinable Being? All new knowledge is a product of revelation but the revelation of imperfect humans, like ourselves, is necessarily limited.

There must be laws in the universe, standards of value that are not fully known to us. There must be a realm just beyond us that is cognizable through some medium more reliable than man’s fallible mind or intuition. The vegetable is a little ahead of the [Page 335] mineral and the animal is certainly ahead of the vegetable. While man is an animal, he has the power to think and by reason, inference and logical deduction, he not only sees but is able to live in a world that is beyond and wholly unknown to the animal. If we wish to be scientific it is quite reasonable to assume that there might be knowledge beyond the concepts of man and yet in some way accessible to him.

In the animal kingdom the species improves through a long, painful and uncertain process but the moment the animal comes in contact with a higher kingdom, that is, the moment it becomes domesticated, its advance is rapid, continuous and certain.

There are a few men here and there who seem to have an extraordinary insight—spiritual geniuses. Moreover, today the world certainly needs some kind of a spiritual revival. Is it not possible that now and then a spiritual genius with perfect insight might appear in the world to awaken a new spiritual life and to restore the fortunes of humanity?

Philosophers like Descartes and Leibnitz were led by ontological proofs to the conclusion that a Superhuman Spirit must exist and is it not quite possible that an a priori argument might be advanced for the existence of a Manifestation or Revelator of God? But we are not quite in the position of Descartes and Leibnitz; we can fall back upon history— Divine Revelators have existed in the past. Bahá’u’lláh, like the Founders of all past religions, has restored an essential concept that is an integral part of Revelation, namely, that the Prophet creates the world of value. The idea has not been opposed so much as ignored. The origin of values has been explained in various ways ranging from the view of the materialistic philosopher who regards man merely as an animal reacting to his environment, to the mystical philosopher who feels that by turning inward the world of values may be revealed.

As we have said, science has practically nothing to say about value, but if one wishes to maintain a scientific attitude then we must not overlook the historic fact that spiritual rebirth has been brought to the world by the great Prophets. The philosophers have trained and educated a few followers in morals and ethics, and their work is praiseworthy, but the Prophets have educated races and nations.

TWO KINDS OF VALUE

The Prophet brings two kinds of values to humanity, subjective and objective.

Truth, goodness and beauty are subjective values. As I understand the Bahá’í axiology, these higher values are synonymous with the attributes of God, which are manifested by the Prophets, Christ, Muhammad, or Bahá’u’lláh. “The virtues and attributes pertaining unto God are all evident and manifest, and have been mentioned and described in all the heavenly Books. Among them are trustworthiness, truthfulness, purity of heart while communing with God, forbearance, resignation to whatever the Almighty hath decreed, contentment with the things His Will hath provided, patience nay thankfulness [Page 336] in the midst of tribulation, and complete reliance, in all circumstances, upon Him. These rank, according to the estimate of God, amongst the highest and most laudable of all acts.”[1]

The Omnipotent Creator, as we have said before, cannot be known by man, His Creation. This is explicit in all the writings of Bahá’u’lláh; our only knowledge of God comes to us through the Prophet, direct access is impossible. “He Who is everlastingly hidden from the eyes of men can never be known except through His Manifestation, and His Manifestation can adduce no greater proof of the truth of His Mission than the proof of His own Person.”[2] While this doctrine bars the way to any kind of speculation concerning the nature of God, it is not incompatible with modern science.

Religion is primarily individual, but man is only a part of a larger unit—society. Social relations require some kind of expression, inspiration must be related to experience, there must be articles of belief, essential concepts and finally laws for the regulation of society. These objective values are the goals, principles and laws that the Prophet brings. Some of the laws are absolute and unchangeable during the dispensation of the Prophet, while others are relative and necessarily may be subject to change. The Founder of the Bahá’í Faith, during His lifetime, made provision for an Institution to embody the truths of His Revelation. This Institution, which is discussed in some detail elsewhere,[3] will provide for those ordinances that must necessarily change from time to time.

The Bahá’í Faith is often associated with certain so-called principles such as the independent investigation of truth, the reconciliation of Science and Religion, the elimination of prejudices of all kinds, universal Peace, universal education, etc. These are objective values. In reality they are goals toward which the Bahá’ís are striving; they are not articles of Faith and one does not become a Bahá’í by subscribing to these aims alone.

Here again we may turn to another realm of value. The coming of a musical genius would probably put an end to the activities of mediocre composers but we would hardly regard such an event with disfavor.

For our subjective and objective values we must look to the Prophet; the Bahá’ís believe that this kind of knowledge is obtained only through Divine Revelation. The Prophet creates the spiritual life of man and without this Divine Spirit the world would revert to savagery.

Let us consider how a fundamental principle may effect society. Between the years 1860-1870, Bahá’u’lláh wrote to rulers of the world calling them to what He termed The Most Great Peace. He showed that the world had emerged from adolescence and that it could no longer think in terms of the laws and principles which applied only to self-contained nations. In His Tablet to Queen Victoria, He said, “. . . . Be reconciled among yourselves, that ye may need armaments no more save in a measure to safeguard your territories and Dominions. Be united, O concourse of the sovereigns of the world, for thereby will [Page 337] the tempest of discord be stilled amongst you and your peoples find rest. Should anyone among you take up arms against another, rise ye all against him, for this is naught but manifest justice.”[4] As we know, the rulers gave very little heed to this admonition and yet the world realizes today that there can be no peace nor prosperity for any nation so long as all the nations live in constant fear of war. When the nations of the world become united the occasional offender can be put down without disturbing the world at large, as is the case today.

The statesmen of that period should have foreseen that science and invention were rapidly drawing the nations together and that, moreover, a misuse of science, as in modern warfare, would ultimately destroy civilization. Moreover, the most discerning ones should have foreseen that unity and cooperation would bring out latent capacities in the race.

In this interim what has humanity learned by experience? Has any savant proposed any law or principle comparable to those laws and principles revealed by Bahá’u’lláh seventy-five years ago? Is it at all probable that without Divine aid humanity will establish security and harmony? The Prophets have disclaimed any latent power within man to discover or rediscover the higher values.

Again if we wish to take a scientific attitude, let us remember that the modern atomic theory is based upon assumptions which are incompatible with classical physics. The discoveries of the twentieth century opened up a new world to science; a world in which the concepts of the nineteenth century were quite inadequate. Science had to break with a long cherished tradition, but the gain was incomparably greater than the loss.

After all, the more we contemplate the possibilities of a fresh Revelation of the Divine Will, the more plausible it becomes.

In the first place, the world has reached maturity and it needs a new kind of guidance. “How pathetic indeed are the efforts of those leaders of human institutions who, in utter disregard of the spirit of the age, are striving to adjust national processes, suited to the ancient days of self-contained nations, to an age which must either achieve the unity of the world, as adumbrated by Bahá’u’lláh, or perish.”[5]

Again, in spite of humanity’s advancement along certain lines, it seems unable to prevent its own destruction. “. . . Who, contemplating the helplessness, the fears and miseries of humanity in this day, can any longer question the necessity for a fresh revelation of the quickening power of God’s redemptive love and guidance? Who, witnessing on one hand the stupendous advance achieved in the realm of human knowledge, of power, of skill and inventiveness, and viewing on the other the unprecedented character of the suffering that afflict, and the dangers that beset, present-day society, can be so blind as to doubt that the hour has at last struck for the advent of a new Revelation, for a re-statement of the Divine Purpose, and for the consequent revival of those spiritual forces that have, at fixed intervals, rehabilitated the fortunes of human society?”[6]


  1. Gleanings from the Writings of Bahá’u’lláh, p. 290.
  2. Ibid, p. 49.
  3. World Order, June 1937, p. 105.
  4. Goal of a New World Order, p. 20.
  5. Ibid, p. 16.
  6. The Golden Age of the Cause of Bahá’u’lláh, p. 12.


[Page 338]

THE VALLEY OF ASTONISHMENT

HOWARD COLBY IVES

I.

WHAT a world of surprises this is! Picture the awed astonishment if, never having seen a sunrise, you should stand upon some “peak in Darien” and watch the darkness fade, the nearness take on phantom shapes, the stars dim like candles beneath an arc-light, the farness grow to beauty, the first rays tip the waves with flame and then—the Orb rise in majestic grandeur, slowly, slowly, slowly shaping all the world where only a few brief moments ago all was shapelessness, creating before your eyes a cosmos where before was chaos, where all was without form and void.

And this is only one of the infinite variety of astonishing events which only their accustomedness makes casual. Birth! What a physical and psychical miracle! Death! What a tragedy and glory! The mind! Its development from infancy to age! Its weakness and its strength; its heights of affirmation and depths of negation; its assumptions, its denials, its courage, its despairs! Only our blindness keeps us from our knees.

If this is true of the amazements possible to the eye and heart awake to the marvels of the material world, what shall we say of the astonishment growing like the dawning of the day in the mind and spirit of the beholder as he, even dimly, realizes that behind that which is seen lie significances, unseen marvels, before which all that the physical eye envisages is “as the pupil of the eye of a dead ant?” To one who, his inner eye of heart even a little opened, sees spread before him that marvelous “creation of the King of Oneness,” and “at every moment witnesses a wonderful world and a new creation,” all that his outer eye perceives is now known as blindness.

We begin to understand what Plato was struggling to express when he talked of the “noumenal behind the phenomenal:” what Kant must have felt when he spoke of the “Ding an Sich;” what Bishop Berkeley means when he insists on the unreliability of the visible and the permanency of the invisible; what John Fiske referred to when he speaks of the mysterious reality lying behind the unreality of that which we see with the outer eye, which “we can neither solve nor elude;” what Professor Eddington really means when he speaks of the “symbols” used by the scientist as “a cryptogram which we may decipher but find the result to be in an unknown language.”

How plainly we see, in the light of the Revelation of Bahá’u’lláh, that all such words and seeming explanations are nothing but a groping in the dark, a longing of the blind for vision? It [Page 339] somehow reminds us of Helen Keller, her blind eyes and deaf ears unable to “sense” the approach of a friend, yet alert with eager nerves to decipher the vibrations of the floor beneath her feet. Or of one ignorant of differential calculus poring over the equations of an Einstein.

“What—O What lies hidden thus?” we cry. With Paul we dimly know that “that which is seen is temporal but that which is unseen is eternal,” but after all that leaves us supremely dissatisfied and uncertain. We still know not the meaning of either “temporal” or “eternal.” The “contingent world” lies on our spiritual eyelids like pennies on the lids of a corpse. And if One Mighty and Wise stoops and moistens with His blessed tongue of Revelation the clay of mortal things, and with that mixture anoints our blind eyes, what a glorious universe of the spirit unrolls its panorama! If “the Nightingale of the heart” sings to us of that universe how that “Song” reverberates through the corridors of the immortal spirit of us! Then, indeed, the adventurous soul “plunges in the sea of grandeur and at every moment his astonishment increases.” Just as when the eyes of one born blind are opened to the marvels of the material creation of the Omnipotent One, and, for the first time, he knows color, form and perspective, so when the traveler in the Path of the True One on his journey from self to God, sets foot in the universe of the Spirit, new mysteries unfold.

What an untrodden realm to the one born blind that mystic world of color is! Could you describe “blue,” or “red,” or “mauve,” or “dawn-pink” to the congenitally blind? But when his eyes are “opened,” and he cries: “Now,—I see!” Of what use to him your efforts toward description? Freud and his followers may, in the language of the learned-simple, with the tongue of “the ignorant ones whom men call savants,” attempt to describe the significances of “dreams,” and trace these marvelous experiences of the travels of the soul of man while the body sleeps to “the subconscious longings.” But when Bahá’u’lláh tells of “the mysteries and wisdoms” concealed therein in order that “philosophers may not be able to deny the mysteries of the after-life;” when He, with divine eloquence and appealing tenderness, implores: “O my brother! The heart is a store of divine mysteries, make it not a receptacle for mortal thoughts, and consume not the capital of thy precious life by engrossing thyself with this evanescent world. Thou art of the realm of holiness, attach not thy heart unto the earth! Thou art a denizen of the Court of Nearness, choose not an earthly home!”

Then, somehow, God willing, a certitude flows over us like a merciful sea, and our heart finds rest and peace which all the books of the “simple-savants” deny us. Somehow, in this illumination conferred upon us by the Sun of Reality through such blessed words, the eyes of the sincere believer become a little wider opened, and, like the kitten on its ninth day of life, he becomes dazzled with the wonders and astonishments, the marvels and amazements of the new creation opening before him. He does, indeed, at [Page 340] least begin to “witness the creation of all things during this gloomy and disastrous age.” Somehow his ears are quickened to the Divine Voice; somehow his feet step into a new world; a new dimensional universe lies spread before him, and every least thing, event, deed, becomes charged with a meaning, a significance, a dynamic energy unknown before.

II.

It is evident that this introduction of the aspiring soul into a new-dimensional universe must have profound reactions. Unless it does so it is no less evident that that universe still remains a terra incognita. If the babe after birth still retains the sightless eyes, the deaf ears, the unused feet and hands, which characterized it while in the womb, it is to all intents and purposes still unborn.

The effects produced are dependent upon two causes. One the Light shed abroad upon that opening universe; the other the Source of that Light; the recognition of the Sun of Reality, the Day-Spring of Beauty.

His Holiness, Christ, warned His disciples that they should walk in the Light if they were really children of Light. And Bahá’u’lláh says: “O servants, if ye are possessors of insight, enter the city of the seeing; if ye are the people of hearing, step into the land of the hearing; and if ye are the possessors of heart, choose an abode in the fortress of the assured ones. . . .”

The first of these two dynamic forces, the illumination of the heart and mind of the sincere traveler in the Seven Valleys, is hinted many times.

He is “taught the explanation of that which he knoweth not.”

He reaches the summit of Truth and beholds God in all things; “sees naught in existence but the Countenance of His Highness the Beloved One.”

“The assistance of the Invisible surrounds him.”

He knows joy in pain, wealth in poverty, life in death.

He “opens the portal of truth and devotion and closes the doors of superficiality.”

He sees the end in the beginning and rejoices in calamity, even before the divine result appears.

He will have none of the parti-colored spectacles which dim the pure Light of that Sun and falsify the “Creation of the King of Oneness.” For he has actually “entered into the retreat of the Friend and become an intimate in the Pavilion of the Beloved.”

The second of these Forces which have transformed the life of the believer simply because he has entered the “new heaven and earth,” and upon which depends the complete functioning in that Universe, is the constant recognition of and dependence upon the Manifestation of God. This also is hinted, or clearly expressed, many times.

“Caused him (humanity) to give utterance to a wonderful melody in the most excellent Temple,[1] in order that all may thereby reach the summit of Truth.”

“Wert thou to taste these fruits from the Tree of Knowledge planted near the Lights of the Essence in the Mirrors of Names and attributes.”

[Page 341] “Inhale the smell of the lost Joseph from the Harbinger of Oneness.”

“The morn of Knowledge hath dawned and the candles of traveling and Wayfaring are eclipsed.”

“The mysteries of the Friend and the Lights of the Beloved.”

“Pours Light upon all things by the command of the King of Manifestation.”

“Are kept afar from the gems of wisdom of the Lord of the Messengers.”

“Whose simple Word confers new fresh Life on all dead bodies.”

“Those who have gained no portion of the Splendor of the Beautiful One.”

“All mentions concern only the Splendors of the Sun of Truth manifest in the Mirrors.”

“The True One hath become as manifest as the Sun.”

“If the Manifestation of God assist.”

We begin to see the reasons for our astonishment. Every effect must have an adequate cause, and when we even dimly realize that the Cause back of our amazement is nothing less than the rising of the Sun of Reality upon our spiritual horizon, and the guiding Hand of God made flesh within our hand—then, while the astonishment, the wonderment still increases with every step, yet beyond this looms the certitude of a soul established upon a Rock. A faint similitude of this combination of astonishment at beholding a “new world and a new creation” with a guiding hand and a loving heart may be seen in the ushering of the newborn babe into the world of light from the dark world of the womb, and there finding a mother’s love, a father’s care, a home and “eyes to watch him and hearts to love.” Or it may be likened to the amazement and certitude of a traveler lost in the desert, foodless, waterless, homeless, friendless; overwhelmed with darkness and cold. Upon whom suddenly dawns a glorious sun revealing the desert as actually a paradise, trees loaded with luscious fruits, springs of living water gushing from every rock and a Guide, a Friend, an Omnipotent Protector, an All-Wise Counsellor, at immediate hand, in heart-warming “Nearness,” in a communion “closer than his own identity.”

What a tragic—what an unspeakably dreadful thing to debase the miracle of this inner vision, this inner hearing, this inner Voice to the thaumaturgy of the miracle-monger! Of what use to open the eyes of the physically blind, or to unstop the ears of the physically deaf? Are not those eyes still doomed to be closed forever by the dusty grave? Are not those ears still to be deafened eternally to all mortal sounds and voices? Shall we so scorn the Teachings of God in His Manifestation as to believe He has no other and greater, no more astonishing worlds to reveal to us than this little dab of muddy things?

On the other hand how wonderful, how amazing, to have the inner eye opened far enough to enable us to “see men as trees walking!” When we see so-called “men” as nothing but walking stones, or trees, or hogs-upright, then truly the veils begin their rending. And how unanswerable then the explanation that bursts the lips [Page 342] of the heart:—“One thing I know— whereas I was blind now I see!”

III.

There remains the consideration of the support of the life in this newfound world of reality. What is its food, its clothing, its habitation, its activities?

The babe after birth from the physical womb depends no longer for its sustenance upon the life-blood of the mother. It partakes of the food pertaining to the world he has entered. No longer is he naked, he is clothed in garments prepared by loving hands and suitable to the new environment. The narrow, cramped and dark room from which he has been released is exchanged for an expansiveness, a splendor, a peopled palace of comparatively infinite magnificence. Can we not picture his astonishment? Can we not marvel with him over the amplitude, the lights, the voices?

And what shall we say of his activities? Here words are so inadequate to convey even a trace of that marvel. He was naught but a curled-up morsel of static flesh. He was, seemingly, doomed eternally to uselessness and silence. Now, almost in the twinkling of an eye, he moves, he breathes, he sees, he hears. His heart beats independently, his limbs obey his will, his eyes respond to loving eyes. To those who have looked into the eyes of a few-days-old babe a trace of this astonishment is visible. But what mind can compass the actuality of that awe-inspiring awakening!

All this is but a faint significance of the birth of a soul into the world of spiritual Reality. The darkness and inactivity of the womb-world as compared to the world of men, is a slight similitude as compared with the vastness of the change from the darkness, the futility, the confusions worse than silence, of this mortal world to the infinite horizons, the splendor of that Sun, the whisperings in the heart of the Supreme Concourse, the “music which confers life on man.”

But this life must be sustained. It is not enough for the babe to be born. He must be fed, clothed, housed, educated. And, above all he must “earn his living.” His activities must be commensurate with the scope, the gifts, the friendships, the responsibilities of the world upon which he has entered. So with the universe of the spirit into which the twice-born soul has stepped. He must accommodate himself to that new and heavenly environment. He must “partake of the food from heaven, which is never withheld from them that deserve it and is never exhausted.” Unless he does so his life withers, and he reenters the “matrix of the world.” The inexhaustible feast of His Revelation prepared for sincere believers is that food from heaven, that “water of life,” that “goodly gift,” “imperishable bounty,” and “immortal draught.” And he earns his spiritual living by unselfish service to his fellows. The sweetness of servitude literally becomes the food of his spirit.

And he also “puts off the old garments from body and soul and becomes clothed with a new and immortal robe.” He “clothes himself in the characteristics of God.” He sees himself as naked and is ashamed, [Page 343] and seeks even a “fig-leaf” of the spiritual Tree of Life with which to hide his mortal shame.

And his home, his new abiding-place! What mortal tongue may utter its beauty, its spaciousness, its transcendent glories! His “Home” has become “His mansion boundless and holy.” His dwelling place is the “Place of the Most High.” He “reclines upon the high couch of significances and partakes of pure spiritual wines.

While outwardly dwelling upon the earth yet inwardly his habitation is quite other.

How humbling to the natural egotism of mortality is this Vale of Astonishment! While at every step his amazement increases, it is also true that at every step “he loathes his own being.” Because the “Beauty of the All-Glorious” so overshadows all that he heretofore has coupled with the term “beauty;” the comparison of his midget being with the Being of the Incomparable One; the Majesty of “the King of Oneness” has so dwarfed the “greatness” of men that there remains no room for any consideration of the self. The being of the traveler is simply swallowed up in the Ocean of His Mercy, the heavens of His Bounty, the abysses of His Love. No wonder he cries: “O God, increase my astonishment in Thee!” For he knows that all he so far has attained in that divine journey is only a step in the infinitude of His spaciousness; only a foretaste of that heavenly feast. How supremely true it is that “there is no end to mentioning these grades.”

“Naught shall befall us save that which God hath decreed unto us.”


The sixth in a series on the Seven Valleys of Bahá’u’lláh.


  1. The Manifestation of God.




Look not upon the creatures of God except with the eye of kindliness and of mercy, for Our loving providence hath pervaded all created things, and Our grace encompassed the earth and the heavens. This is the Day whereon the true servants of God partake of the life-giving waters of reunion, the Day whereon those that are nigh unto Him are able to drink of the soft-flowing river of immortality, and they who believe in His unity the wine of His Presence, through their recognition of Him Who is the Highest and Last End of all, in Whom the Tongue of Majesty and Glory voiceth the call: “The Kingdom is Mine. I, Myself, am, of Mine own right, its Ruler.”

—BAHÁ’U’LLÁH.


[Page 344]

ABBAS EFFENDI

MARCIA STEWARD ATWATER

TO attempt to give a portrait of any great man, is in the last analysis, a failure from the start; for the thing that makes him great is an essence of the spirit that will not, cannot, be confined. Its secret lies in the dynamics of its unrestrained action.

This, being true of any great man, how is it possible at all to portray for you him, who was in his own perfect being, at once the very essence of the perfections of all great men plus that to which the race will attain in its ultimate perfection? For Bahá’u’lláh called ‘Abdu’l-Bahá the Perfect Exemplar; the man to whom all men must look for the perfection of the man of the future. Thus, to attempt to put ‘Abdu’l-Bahá in the frame of a talk is like attempting to frame a prism reflecting the rays of the sun, without losing the iridescence. For He is the crystal prism reflecting the sun of Bahá’u’lláh’s mighty, universal Truths of being; impossible adequately to frame and retain the sunshine.

‘Abdu’l-Bahá, in His long life devoted to serving the Cause of His Father, amply demonstrated to the world that the spiritual perfections are in no wise incompatible with the able discharge of the practical affairs of this world—that indeed, the spirit is the spring board of practical and successful living, and the necessary fuel that drives the vehicle of civilization.

In him, the sincere Christian finds the proof that the life to which the Lord Jesus Christ called mankind, is no dream impossible today of realizing in the confusions of modern living. Thus he, the Christian, finds a new hope and a new impetus to live according to the precepts of the great Teacher of Christianity.

‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s character looms the higher as a towering pillar of faith, when we consider that by far the greater part of His long and selfless life was spent within the confines of a dismal prison. While still very young, ‘Abdu’l-Bahá accompanied his glorious Father, Bahá’u’lláh, on His long exile, which culminated in the prison of ‘Akká under Turkish rule; and it was not until after His Father’s death in 1892, and the rise of the Young Turk Party which released all political prisoners in 1908, that ‘Abdu’l-Bahá knew the light of freedom, and changed places with His cruel captor, the deposed Sultan of Turkey.

What is the mystery of a man, a human being, who can endure the rigors of a long, a cruel, and eminently unjust incarceration in one of the worst prisons in the world, and emerge joyous; his soul absolutely unembittered [Page 345] by such an experience to the point that he becomes, for thousands of people all over the world, a shining inspiration of happiness itself? Who is able to take his place in the great world which he has never known by actual contact, and astonish all who knew him by his deep and exact knowledge of human affairs, all over that world? He, who was uneducated by man!

For ‘Abdu’l-Bahá was at home in any environment, be it humble or distinguished as the world considered it. To scientists, He was able to speak in their own terms; to those well-versed in the economic problems of life, He exhibited such profound knowledge of their science as to astonish; to the humble working man, He was one of them; to the great world of culture and sophistication He seemed no stranger. Wherever he went, through the majesty of His utter simplicity of heart, He seemed to belong, and be loved.

‘Abdu’l-Bahá is no stranger to America. While in the prison of ‘Akká His greatest dream was to journey to America, that glorious land of destiny which He said would lead the world in the establishment of all the principles, which Bahá’u’lláh had promised were destined as the proper heritage of man. He longed throughout those long and cruel prison years, to bring the message of hope to America, to establish His Father’s Cause on this great western continent.

So, as soon as the long confinement was over, he set out to visit us, in 1912, and many and varied are the stories told of this most significant visit from the great Exemplar of the new teachings.

He journeyed to the West. He addressed many and varied groups, one of which gathered at Stanford University, to hear this man who emphasized unceasingly, the oneness of mankind. Here, then President David Starr Jordan commented: “‘Abdu’l-Bahá will surely unite the East and the West, for he walks the mystical path with practical feet.” He addressed groups throughout the country —universities, churches of all denominations, visited in the homes of the wealthy, befriended the poor; and all marveled whence rose this veritable stream of love that He poured out upon all mankind, from what deep springs of divine understanding gushed forth such torrents of wisdom, hope, love, profound knowledge— and not least such joyous and refreshing humor. For He had a humor that disarmed the most critical, a living refutation of the popular conception that humor is inconsistent with high spirituality.

‘Abdu’l-Bahá spoke so often of the necessity to be happy. He said it is a higher law. Constantly He admonished His friends: “Be happy, be happy;” and for all His care-worn trial-laden years, He was happy.

Across this vast continent He left a broad highway of remembrance, paved with gleaming new hope, with shining love for all mankind. For ‘Abdu’l-Bahá brought the light of divine guidance to America; this noble man who could say: “Servitude to all mankind is my perpetual religion;” who was knighted by the British Government for distinguished service to humanity in the very land that [Page 346] knew him as a Turkish prisoner. At an age when most men consider their work in this world over, ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, the Servant of God, was just beginning His physically active life that prison bars had restrained for so long. What manner of man was this?

To best gain a perspective of His station, I can do no better than to quote from the eminent Dr. J. E. Esslemont, who said: “Bahá’u’lláh was preeminently the revealer of the Word. His forty years’ imprisonment gave Him but limited opportunities of intercourse with his fellow-men. To ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, therefore, fell the important task of becoming the exponent of the Revelation, the doer of the Word, the great exemplar of the Bahá’í life in actual contact with the world of today, in the most diverse phases of its myriad activities. He showed that it is still possible, amid the whirl and rush of modern life, amid the self-love and struggle for material prosperity that everywhere prevail, to live the life of entire devotion to God and to the service of one’s fellows, which Christ and Bahá’u’lláh and all the prophets have demanded of men. Through trial and vicissitudes, calumnies and treachery on the one hand, and through love and praise, devotion and veneration on the other, He stood like a lighthouse founded on a rock, around which wintry tempests rage and the summer ocean plays, His poise and serenity remaining ever steadfast and unshaken. He lived the life of faith, and calls on His followers to live it here and now. He raised amid a warring world the Banner of Unity and Peace, the Standard of a New Era, and He inspires those who rally to His support with the Spirit of the New Day.”

‘Abdu’l-Bahá says of himself: “My station is the station of servitude, a servitude which is complete, pure and real, firmly established, enduring, obvious, explicitly revealed and subject to no interpretation whatever. I am the Interpreter of the Word of Bahá’u’lláh. Such is my interpretation.”

And Bahá’u’lláh said of Him: “When the ocean of My presence hath ebbed, and the Book of My Revelation is ended, turn your faces toward Him Whom God hath purposed, Who hath branched from this Ancient Root.” These are but a few highlights that I am able to throw upon the figure of him whom Bahá’u’lláh Himself called the “Mystery of God.”

Such was the man who blessed America with His footsteps, which will one day go down in history as the blessing of the unfathomable mercy of God. Such was the man whom all pure hearts loved, and whose memory today millions of human beings cherish. It was He who said: “The continent of America, in the estimation of the True One, is the field of the effulgence of light, the kingdom of the manifestation of mysteries, the home of the righteous ones and the gathering place of the free . . . May the tabernacle of Universal Peace be placed upon the apex of America.”

‘Abdu’l-Bahá returned to Palestine, and His manifold activities continued with little abatement despite increasing bodily weakness and weariness up till the last day or two of His life. Early in the morning of November 28th, 1921, He passed away so peacefully, that, to the two daughters [Page 347] watching by His bedside, it seemed as if He had gone quietly to sleep. The sad news spread, and was flashed over the wires to all parts of the world.

The following description by an eye-witness, of His funeral in the city of His long imprisonment, bears eloquent testimony to the reverence paid this great soul’s life, as the perfect Exemplar of what God calls man to become: “It was a funeral the like of which Haifa, nay, Palestine itself, had surely never seen, so deep was the feeling that brought so many thousands of mourners together, representative of so many religions, races and tongues.

“The High Commissioner, Sir Herbert Samuel, the Governor of Jerusalem, the Governor of Phoenicia, the chief officials of the government, the Consuls of the various countries, resident in Haifa, the heads of the various religious communities, the notables of Palestine, Jews, Christians, Moslems, Druses, Egyptians, Greeks, Kurds, and a host of his American, European and native friends, men, women and children, both of high and low degree—all, about ten thousand in number, mourning the loss of their beloved one. ‘O God, our God,’ the people wailed, ‘Our Father has left us, our Father has left us.’ They slowly wended their way up Mount Carmel, the vineyard of God. After two hours’ walking, they reached the garden of the Tomb of the Báb, the Divine Herald of this Dispensation. As the vast concourse pressed around, representatives of the various denominations, Moslems, Christians, Jews— all hearts being ablaze with fervent love of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, some on the impulse of the moment, others prepared —raised their voices in eulogy and regret, paying their last homage of farewell to their loved one. So united were they in their acclamation of him, that there seemed to be nothing left for the Bahá’ís to say.”

This was ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, the Servant of God, the embodiment of love itself; who, with that love, wrote: “Have full assurance that love is the mystery of the appearance of God; that love is the divine aspect of God; that love is spiritual grace; that love is the light of the kingdom; that love is as the breath of the Holy Spirit in the spirit of man. Love is the cause of the manifestation of truth in the material world. Love is the essential bond of union which exists between God and all things in their ultimate reality. Love is the light by which man is guided in the midst of darkness. Love is the communication between truth and man in the realm of consciousness. Love is the means of growth for all who are enlightened.”

“Oh friends of God! Be ye manifestations of the love of God, and lamps of guidance in all horizons, shining by the light of love and harmony. How beautiful is the shining of this shining!”


One of a radio series delivered at Los Angeles in February, 1939.


[Page 348]

THEY MET THE DAWN

ALICE SIMMONS COX

“Whoso openeth his lips in this Day and maketh mention of the name of his Lord, the hosts of Divine inspiration shall descend upon him from the heaven of My name, the All-knowing, the All-Wise. On him shall also descend the Concourse on high, each bearing aloft a chalice of pure light.”

— BAHÁ’U’LLÁH

III.

WHEN Thomas Carlyle wrote “Heroes and Hero Worship” in 1841 he accomplished a remarkable task as far as our particularized interest is concerned in this writing. Although he was not a poet—we digress to that extent—he was at moments one of those “intellectual” men to whom Emerson’s description so aptly applies: “that beside his privacy of power as an individual man, there is a great public power, on which he can draw, by unlocking at all risks, his human doors, and suffering the ethereal tides to roll and circulate through him: then he is caught up into the life of the Universe, his speech is thunder, his thought is law. . . .”[1]

Perhaps it is not strange then that Carlyle, a man who “in his heart was always planning a house or a temple to the God of truth and justice,”[2] should speak with “the flower of his mind,”—with an intellect “taking its direction from its celestial life.”[3]

It was Carlyle, who of all influential thinkers of the Christian part of the world, in his time, abandoned prejudice but to discover in honest research in a study of Islám that Muḥammad was a Messenger of God. That the divine nature of this particular “hero” of his startling book should not be completely clear to him was not surprising. The surprising thing was that Muḥammad spoke to him as a Messenger at all. Significant is this in view of the fact that when Carlyle was thus lighting the fires of inspiration in his own soul, far off in the Mesopotamian valley a few Muhammadan mullas were themselves questioning the orthodox creeds of their faith, and seeking, through purity of heart and openness of mind, to find the real pearls of truth in the original Word of their Prophet. Led, some consciously and some unconsciously, by the first faint glow of light from the Dawn of the new Revelation which was to break over Írán in 1844, men of West and of East, laymen and divines, were removing one by one the veils from their own eyes —that they might behold the signs of Truth concerning God and man. The mystic will seek in the recesses of his soul for the gems of God’s Ocean, the scholar will turn to study of great events and great lives, the religiously [Page 349] trained man will add to this the pursuit of truth from scriptural sources. Each, according to the earnestness of his search, approaches nearer to the Court of true Knowledge. Each, according to the purity of his soul, finds his “thoughts had taken a wider range of vision,”[4] through a finer inspiration, such, as perhaps then unknown to him, is one of the effects of the new advent of Divine Revelation.

Carlyle wrote of Muḥammad: “God has made many revelations: but this man, too, has not God made him, the latest and newest of all? The ‘inspiration of the Almighty giveth him understanding:’ we must listen before all to him.

“The rude message he delivered was a real one. . . . This man’s words were not false, nor his workings here below. . . . To Arabia it was as a birth from darkness into light. Within one century Arabia is at Granada on this hand, at Delhi on that. The history of a nation becomes fruitful, soul-elevating as soon as it believes. The Great Man was always as lightning from Heaven; the rest of men waited for him like fuel, and then they too would flame.”

Was Carlyle sensing the divinity of Muḥammad because in his soul he felt the forces of the universe converging with “increasing purpose” toward a new center of spiritual life, a new Hero of God, as it were, from Whom an advanced civilization should take its measure and its name? Like Vergil, who was uncertain as to the identity of the Child of the Divine whom he foretold, he may not have seen all the deeper implications of the truth which he had begun to uncover. His service was similar to that of the Roman bard, one of preparation for his readers. He removed barriers of intolerance and paved a way for some minds for the ultimate recognition of the fundamental unity of all religions, and indirectly thus for recognition of a new Manifestation of God.

SECOND ADVENT

Carlyle typified in the western world that breath of reform in the East which was stirring certain Muhammadan students to go back to the origins of their faith for the springs of spiritual and moral power. He was, likewise, part of a rising tide of dissatisfaction in his own hemisphere,— a tide which soon spread throughout the Occident in a wide variety of semi-religious and semi-philosophical movements, each of which began with its objective as the re-discovery of the pure teachings of Jesus. When such a stirring takes place in the heart of an old, established religious order, it is a sign of purification and momentous change. For when people sincerely seek for a truth long eclipsed by “the silt of time,” such as Will Durant says in the “Crisis of Christianity” has obscured both the personality and the ideals of the Founder,[5] they frequently find it discommodes the order of both individual thought and social relationships. In the instance of religious truth, the old thought, re-discovered, is itself so revolutionary and the new sacrifice demanded so drastic as to be acceptable at first only to the few truly detached souls. Yet it is the thought and the renunciation from which the civilization of the day arose [Page 350] and once spiritually flourished! And is the new thought, for they are one. It will renew spiritual life for man on the earth if enough men can recognize and adopt its standards.

What would happen if Christians could go back to the original teachings of Jesus as Carlyle attempted to do with the Qur’án of Muḥammad? What would these origins really be? May we apply the same questions with justification to the other great revealed religions of the world, each of which was the source of a great civilization and each of which holds similar claim to divine ordination?

If Buddhism could back to its origins, what would it find? If Judaism would seek in the earliest available sources, in the Torah and the Prophets, what would it find? If the Parsees could discern the basic teachings of Zoroaster through the maze of interpretation and ritual that has grown up around them what would they find? For Bahá’ís history already gives the one answer to this composite question.

When Shaykh Ahmad of Bahrayn studied the Qur’án with resolute and pure intention he found that he knew and wrote of the moment of Bahá’u’lláh’s birth fifty-two years before Ḥusayn ‘Alí announced Himself as God’s Prophet for the millenial age. When Mullá Ḥusayn, versed in knowledge of Islám, sought for inspiration in the divine utterances of Muḥammad he found it in 1844 in the life-giving words of the youthful Muḥammad-‘Alí, of Shiráz, the Báb, Herald of Bahá’u’lláh, and Himself a Manifestation of God. When a rector of the Church of England watched and prayed for the Second Advent of Christ, he at long last found it fulfilled in the Advent of Bahá’u’lláh’s Dispensation, the Coming promised by every religion since the cycle of Adam began. When a Unitarian pastor in America bent his energies to serve the brotherhood and happiness of man through the example of the greatest man and teacher that he knew, he was led to realization of that Man’s special divinity as the Christ through a recognition of Bahá’u’lláh’s divine station and an understanding of Bahá’u’lláh’s teachings. The golden age of hope became for him the true Kingdom of God erected in accord with the perfect plan of the “latter-day” Prophet and fulfilling the prophecies of the Christ.

This succession of the Prophets is the law of progress, Bahá’ís believe. Each Prophet is the “return” of the previous Messenger, foretold by Him as the renewer of His teachings in the sense that He brings a message from God and imbues mankind with the same essence of spiritual love and wisdom in consequence of individual effort put forth in search of Him. Each is a Sun, focus of the spiritual energies of the universe, which rises, on earth, through a Dawn of judgment for the old order and of awakening for the new. This is the creational truth that has given birth and impetus to that movement in every heart which has turned it from the sham and discord rampant in the passing century to seek illumination, strength and peace in the spiritual origins of its own once-chosen people. Approaching thus the source of Life, through the fog of [Page 351] translations, misinterpretation, erroneous records and long-forgotten symbolism, the soul of the seeker might easily fail of its goal, were it not for the Light that shines once again making all things clear in the present and the past. We might well look upon the future with dismay save that in the story of Bahá’u’lláh we find “the meaning of all the prodigies and portents of our time.”[6]

LIGHT OF UNITY

In America in the middle of the nineteenth century there were a few persons who felt the conscious urge of a great expectation for the coming of a universal Prophet. Whether among the poets there were such as these, we cannot be sure from a reading of their verse. In Rhoesus, however, James Russell Lowell wrote truth perhaps greater than he knew. Let us read these lines together with several from Lowell’s Present Crisis, which show a remarkable intuition about divine guidance, the unity of mankind, the inescapable fact of enforced choice between good and evil, when a great Cause is born, and the irrevocable power of judgment which such a Cause wields.

“God sends His teachers unto every age
To every clime and every race of men
With Revelation fitted to their growth
And shape of mind.”
(Rhoesus)


“For mankind are one in spirit, and
an instinct bears along,
Round the earth’s electric circle,
the swift flash of right or wrong . . . ,
Once to every man and nation
comes the moment to decide,
In the strife of Truth with Falsehood,
for the good or evil side;
Some great cause, God’s new Messiah,
offering each the bloom or blight,
Parts the goats upon the left hand
and the sheep upon the right,
And the choice goes on forever,
’twixt that darkness and that light.”
(The Present Crisis, 1843).

We may never know how far the sight of such poets as this later penetrated into the meaning of world events. In the highly enlightened atmosphere of that charmed circle of New England writers of which Lowell was for a time a member, souls undoubtedly bared their deepest convictions. We have poetic evidence of one other American who had contact with the new Dawn: Three days before he died, Longfellow, with customary gentleness and a pulsing surge of joy sang:

“O Bells of San Blas, in vain
Ye call back the Past again!
The Past is dead to your prayer;
Out of the shadows of night
The world rolls into light;
It is daybreak everywhere.”
(The Bells of San Blas, 1882).

Into cities and villages of the United States new hope went with Stephen Foster’s popular phraseology, which nevertheless has a larger than national viewpoint:

“War in all men’s eyes shall be
A monster of iniquity,

[Page 352]

In the good times coming.”

An American poet (born 1852) whose appeal has been particularly to those people who, since the opening of this present century, have been seeking some means of adjustment for social wrongs, who himself became famous overnight because of his sympathy for the down-trodden of humanity revealed in the immortal “The Man with the Hoe,” renews on these shores the century-old plea of Shelley for individual freedom to grow and for brotherhood. His is a calm assurance that this is in harmony with the creative purpose of the universe and the pre-ordained destiny of man. From Edwin Markham’s Brotherhood we read:

“The crest and crowning of all good,
Life’s final star, is Brotherhood.
For it will bring again to Earth
Her long-lost Poesy and Mirth;
Will send new light on every face,
A kingly power upon the race. . . .
Our hope is in heroic men,
Star-led to build the world again.
To this Event the Ages ran!
Make way for Brotherhood—make way for man.”

Let us now hear the Call of Bahá’u’lláh for unity and brotherhood, which because of its creative, life-impelling power as the Word of God is final and perfect assurance of the accomplishment, in an international commonwealth, of the ideals and dreams, which, issuing from the realms of the Spirit, have inspired the greatest souls of this age. To this goal our creation now moves.

“The utterance of God is a lamp, whose light are these words: Ye are the fruit of one tree, and the leaves of one branch. Deal ye one with another with the utmost love and harmony, with friendliness and fellowship. He who is the Day-Star of Truth beareth me witness. So powerful is the light of unity that it can illuminate the whole earth. . . . Exert yourselves that ye may attain this transcendent and most sublime station, the station that can ensure the protection and security of all mankind. This goal excelleth every other goal, and this aspiration is the monarch of all aspirations.”[7]

CHALLENGE OF FAITH

While the world was swirling into the maelstrom of war in the years before 1914, although on the surface of minds there was deceiving calm, Alfred Noyes saw into the significance of events. Once again, through the lips of an English poet came the exultant cry: it is morning! The rush of coming day speeds through his words, the cannons of the old order roar and die away below, love stands on the pinnacle of the world and summons men to the way of Life. With all the fervor and challenge of John the Baptist the poet cries out: Prepare! then “bid this mightier movement stay.”

“It is the Dawn of Peace! The nations
From East to West have heard the cry,—
Through all earth’s blood—red generations
By hate and slaughter climbed thus high,
Here on this height—still to aspire,

[Page 353]

One only path remains untrod,
One path of love and peace climbs higher!
Make straight the highway for our God!”
(The Dawn of Peace)

A full hundred years followed the first apocalyptic visions. The world had not yet come into its Golden Age! The war of 1914 bombed the citadel of a religious faith in science; the peace of Versailles shattered many utopian dreams. But like the unconquerable soul of America’s war president, there were other souls who “Still had faith,” a faith that now burns higher as the turmoil of collapse and transition increases and the Sun of spiritual consciousness rises from the Dawn. We find this growing certainty poignantly expressed by the colored poet, Claude McKay:

“In the East the clouds grow crimson
With the new dawn that is breaking,
And its golden glory fills the western skies.
O my brothers and my sisters, wake! arise!
For the new birth rends the old earth
And the very dead are waking,
Ghosts are turned flesh, throwing
off the graves’ disguise,
And the foolish, even children,
are made wise;
For the big earth groans in travail
For the strong, new world in making—
O my brothers, dreaming for dim centuries,
Wake from sleeping: to the
East turn, turn your eyes!”
(Exhortation: Summer 1919).

How well we can now summarize:

“These things shall be: a loftier race
Than e’er the world hath known shall rise
With flame of freedom in their souls
And light of knowledge in their eyes. . . .
“Nation with nation, land with land,
Unarmed shall live as comrades free;
In every heart and brain shall throb
The pulse of one fraternity.
“New arts shall bloom of loftier mold,
And mightier music thrill the skies,
And every life shall be a song,
When all the earth is paradise.”
(John A. Symonds, A Hymn of the Future).

(Concluded)


  1. Emerson, The Poet.
  2. Long, W. J., English Literature, p. 531.
  3. Emerson, op. cit.
  4. ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, Divine Philosophy, p. 162.
  5. Saturday Evening Post, Aug. 5, ’39, p. 36.
  6. Shoghi Effendi, Intro. to The Dawn-Breakers, xxxvi.
  7. Bahá’u’lláh, Gleanings.


[Page 354]

PEACE A DIVINE CREATION

WORDS OF BAHÁ’U’LLÁH

THE Great Being, wishing to reveal the prerequisites of the peace and tranquillity of the world and the advancement of its peoples, hath written: The time must come when the imperative necessity for the holding of a vast, an all-embracing assemblage of men will be universally realized. The rulers and kings of the earth must needs attend it, and, participating in its deliberations, must consider such ways and means as will lay the foundations of the world’s Great Peace amongst men. Such a peace demandeth that the Great Powers should resolve, for the sake of the tranquillity of the peoples of the earth, to be fully reconciled among themselves. Should any king take up arms against another, all should unitedly arise and prevent him. If this be done, the nations of the world will no longer require any armaments, except for the purpose of preserving the security of their realms and of maintaining internal order within their territories. This will ensure the peace and composure of every people, government and nation. We fain would hope that the kings and rulers of the earth, the mirrors of the gracious and almighty name of God, may attain unto this station, and shield mankind from the onslaught of tyranny. . . . The day is approaching when all the peoples of the world will have adopted one universal language and one common script. When this is achieved, to whatsoever city a man may journey, it shall be as if he were entering his own home. These things are obligatory and absolutely essential. It is incumbent upon every man of insight and understanding to strive to translate that which hath been written into reality and action. . . . That one indeed is a man who, today, dedicateth himself to the service of the entire human race. The Great Being saith: Blessed and happy is he that ariseth to promote the best interests of the peoples and kindreds of the earth. In another passage He hath proclaimed: It is not for him to pride himself who loveth his own country, but rather for him who loveth the whole world. The earth is but one country, and mankind its citizens.

LAY not aside the fear of God, O kings of the earth, and beware that ye transgress not the bounds which the Almighty hath fixed. Observe the injunctions laid upon you in His Book, and take good heed not to overstep their limits. Be vigilant, that ye may not do injustice to anyone, be it to the extent of a grain of mustard seed. Tread ye the path of justice, for this, verily, is the straight path.

[Page 355] Compose your differences, and reduce your armaments, that the burden of your expenditures may be lightened, and that your minds and hearts may be tranquillized. Heal the dissensions that divide you, and ye will no longer be in need of any armaments except what the protection of your cities and territories demandeth. Fear ye God, and take heed not to outstrip the bounds of moderation, and be numbered among the extravagant.

We have learned that you are increasing your outlay every year, and are laying the burden thereof on your subjects. This, verily, is more than they can bear, and is a grievous injustice. Decide justly between men, and be ye the emblems of justice amongst them. This, if ye judge fairly, is the thing that behoveth you, and beseemeth your station.

Beware not to deal unjustly with any one that appealeth to you, and entereth beneath your shadow. Walk ye in the fear of God, and be ye of them that lead a godly life. Rest not on your power, your armies, and treasures. Put your whole trust and confidence in God, Who hath created you, and seek ye His help in all your affairs. Succor cometh from Him alone. He succoreth whom He will with the hosts of the heavens and of the earth.

Know ye that the poor are the trust of God in your midst. Watch that ye betray not His trust, that ye deal not unjustly with them and that ye walk, not in the ways of the treacherous. Ye will most certainly be called upon to answer for His trust on the day when the Balance of Justice shall be set, the day when unto every one shall be rendered his due, when the doings of all men, be they rich or poor, shall be weighed.

If ye pay no heed unto the counsels which, in peerless and unequivocal language, We have revealed in this Tablet, Divine chastisement shall assail you from every direction, and the sentence of His justice shall be pronounced against you. On that day ye shall have no power to resist Him, and shall recognize your own impotence. Have mercy on yourselves and on those beneath you. Judge ye between them according to the precepts prescribed by God in His most holy and exalted Tablet, a Tablet wherein He hath assigned to each and every thing its settled measure, in which He hath given, with distinctness, an explanation of all things, and which is in itself a monition unto them that believe in Him.

Examine Our Cause, inquire into the things that have befallen Us, and decide justly between Us and Our enemies, and be ye of them that act equitably towards their neighbor. If ye stay not the hand of the oppressor, if ye fail to safeguard the rights of the down-trodden, what right have ye then to vaunt yourselves among men? What is it of which ye can rightly boast? Is it on your food and your drink that ye pride yourselves, on the riches ye lay up in your treasures, on the diversity and the cost of the ornaments with which ye deck yourselves? If true glory were to consist in the possession of such perishable things, then the earth on which ye walk must needs vaunt itself over you, because it supplieth you, and bestoweth [Page 356] upon you, these very things, by the decree of the Almighty. In its bowels are contained, according to what God hath ordained, all that ye possess. From it, as a sign of His mercy, ye derive your riches. Behold then your state, the thing in which ye glory! Would that ye could perceive it!

Nay! By Him Who holdeth in His grasp the kingdom of the entire creation! Nowhere doth your true and abiding glory reside except in your firm adherence unto the precepts of God, your wholehearted observance of His laws, your resolution to see that they do not remain unenforced, and to pursue steadfastly the right course.

O YE rulers of the earth! Wherefore have ye clouded the radiance of the Sun, and caused it to cease from shining? Hearken unto the counsel given you by the Pen of the Most High, that haply both ye and the poor may attain unto tranquillity and peace. We beseech God to assist the kings of the earth to establish peace on earth. He, verily, doth what He willeth.

O kings of the earth! We see you increasing every year your expenditures, and laying the burden thereof on your subjects. This, verily, is wholly and grossly unjust. Fear the sighs and tears of this Wronged One, and lay not excessive burdens on your people. Do not rob them to rear palaces for yourselves; nay rather choose for them that which ye choose for yourselves. Thus We unfold to your eyes that which profiteth you, if ye but perceive. Your people are your treasures. Beware lest your rule violate the commandments of God, and ye deliver your wards to the hands of the robber. By them ye rule, by their means ye subsist, by their aid ye conquer. Yet, how disdainfully ye look upon them! How strange, how very strange!

Now that ye have refused the Most Great Peace, hold ye fast unto this, the Lesser Peace, that haply ye may in some degree better your own condition and that of your dependents.

O rulers of the earth! Be reconciled among yourselves, that ye may need no more armaments save in a measure to safeguard your territories and dominions. Beware lest ye disregard the counsel of the All-Knowing, the Faithful.

Be united, O kings of the earth, for thereby will the tempest of discord be stilled amongst you, and your peoples find rest, if ye be of them that comprehend. Should any one among you take up arms against another, rise ye all against him, for this is naught but manifest justice.

O YE the elected representatives of the people in every land! Take ye counsel together, and let your concern be only for that which profiteth mankind, and bettereth the condition thereof, if ye be of them that scan heedfully. Regard the world as the human body which, though at its creation whole and perfect, hath been afflicted, through various causes, with grave disorders and maladies. Not for one day did it gain ease, nay its sickness waxed more severe, as it fell under the treatment of ignorant physicians, who gave full rein to their personal [Page 357] desires, and have erred grievously. And if, at one time, through the care of an able physician, a member of that body was healed, the rest remained afflicted as before. Thus informeth you the All-Knowing, the All-Wise.

We behold it, in this day, at the mercy of rulers so drunk with pride that they cannot discern clearly their own best advantage, much less recognize a Revelation so bewildering and challenging as this. And whenever anyone of them hath striven to improve its condition, his motive hath been his own gain, whether confessedly so or not; and the unworthiness of this motive hath limited his power to heal or cure.

That which the Lord hath ordained as the sovereign remedy and mightiest instrument for the healing of all the world is the union of all its peoples in one universal Cause, one common Faith. This can in no wise be achieved except through the power of a skilled, an all-powerful and inspired Physician. This, verily, is the truth, and all else naught but error.


Excerpts from Tablets revealed between 1863 and 1892.




THE foundations of all the divine religions are peace and agreement, but misunderstandings and ignorance have developed. If these are caused to disappear you will see that all the religious agencies will work for peace and promulgate the oneness of humankind. For the foundation of all is reality and reality is not multiple or divisible. His Holiness Moses founded it, His Holiness Jesus raised its tent, and its brilliant light has shone forth in all the religions. His Holiness Bahá’u’lláh proclaimed this one reality and spread the message of the “Most Great Peace.” Even in prison He rested not until He lighted this lamp in the East. Praise be to God! all who have accepted His teachings are lovers of peace, peacemakers ready to sacrifice their lives and expend their possessions for it. Now let this standard be upraised in the West and many will respond to the call. America has become renowned for her discoveries, inventions and artistic skill, famous for equity of government and stupendous undertakings; now may she also become noted and celebrated as the herald and messenger of Universal Peace.

—‘ABDU’L-BAHÁ.


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INTEGRITY, THE CROWN OF VIRTUE

HELEN GRIFFING

MY doorbell has a nasty way of sticking, especially when salesmen call. That unrelenting buzz jangles on one’s nerves. Such was my mood when I opened the door for little Pedro.

There he stood, rumpled and untidy, a little fellow not more than six or seven years old, but more than slightly thin and undersized for his age. His great brown eyes pleaded. “Magazine, lady?” and he showed me his wares. Anticipating my refusal, he quickly held up a card for me to read: “This is Pedro. He is a nice little boy, and I hope that you will buy his magazines.” It was signed by the landlord, a doctor who is well-known for his quick sympathy and deeds of charity. Of course I bought. But at the same time I suggested to Pedro that if he were going to come every week, I preferred magazines of a different character, and named some for him. Gravely the incident was repeated for several weeks; and it was not until Michael happened to be calling on me that Pedro was finally convinced that either his method of sales or his wares were at fault. Michael is a disarming and cordial gentleman, as indeed most Irishmen are, but he has the faculty of smelling salesmen even before they ring the bell, and instinctively resents the violation of hospitality which they represent. Michael, I might add, is a beautiful Kerry Blue.

The doorbell rang—and stuck— again. A short, stocky woman stood at the door. She looked much the type of homebodies here, and with quick cordiality I invited her in hoping it was a near-neighbor come to call. Asking me if I were Mrs. So-and-So, she sank her heavy hot body onto the morning paper which I had hastily tossed on the davenport enroute to the door. I smiled, and told her that I was Miss Somebody-Else. “Oh,” and a moment of silence ensued. Disappointment crossed her face. I asked if she would like a glass of cold spring water. “No-o-o.” She gave a quick smile, and her eyes darted birdlike around the room. “You live alone?” she queried. And without waiting an answer, launched on the object of her visit. “I’m selling the Book of Amazing Information, which all the teachers want you to buy—you’ll find it such a help for the children’s home work.” Her expression was determined, and her gimlet eyes bored into mine. . . . Several days later, I attended a metaphysical lecture at the request of a friend. It so happened that I was formally introduced to the book-saleswoman. Apparently unabashed, she assured me that she was an avid student [Page 359] of Truth, that her former work had been with a social service group, and all her life had been dedicated to the higher virtues.

These are two seemingly insignificant incidents. Any one of us can multiply them a hundred-fold. Yet they troubled me: the utter abandonment of self-respect on the part of the lady canvasser, and the little boy Pedro. All of us have personal standards of honorable conduct, a certain amount of self-respect and integrity, of honesty. Can we lay the entire responsibility upon economic necessity? Is integrity the price of bread? And what of the thousands of little Pedro’s?

At the time this is being written,[1] the world is waiting for another great war. We are, in reality, waiting for another Tower of Babel to fall, a tower built by greed and false thinking. The keynote was given a quarter of a century ago when a treaty was referred to as a “scrap of paper.” We have not outgrown the psychology that makes such thinking possible. Rather has the Versailles Treaty intensified it. We live in a kaleidoscopic world, with no stability. What is true today is in no sense valid tomorrow. Shifting, changing values and standards are the order of the day. That we live in a world of our own making few people will dispute: yet the emphasis is away from any personal responsibility. We have not admitted that the depression is the direct result of selfishness expressed through speculation, graft, and fictitious values. It is reflected in our international affairs to the point where solemn pledges no longer have significance. All has become a matter of expediency. Yet in viewing the world situation one is not impressed by the differences between the nations. There is no more difference there than between two men—one of whom is hungry. The world has become too close to maintain any longer that fallacious idea of independence. We are mutually interdependent, as individuals, as groups, as nations, whether we will or no.

“God’s greatest gift to man is that of intellect, or understanding,” ‘Abdu’l-Bahá told a group of Parisians. Yet at the time it seems the deadliest menace of humanity. Facing a world war, it is sobering to reflect that the inability to enlist intelligence may annihilate the cumulative heritage of the past. On the one hand we owe progress to the disciplined logic of scientists, statesmen, economists and spiritual leaders. In dismal contrast we see the undisciplined warrings of nations over fleshpots and messes of pottage. Compare the resources of Nature —lavish, superb and orderly— with the unruly strivings and warped judgments of mankind. Compare the atmosphere of laboratory and council chamber. Blindly our selfishness has led us into concepts, and the world psychology of today is based on fear: fear of aggression, fear of economic starvation. And so our false thinking has led us to believe that economic security means life itself, where as it is only one phase of the larger life.

Confused by externals, we sometimes forget that these are surface displays only; they are the result, not the cause. The true defect lies deeper and is essentially an individual problem. We cannot create any agency of the [Page 360] common weal stronger than the integrity of the individuals who comprise it. “No people can build higher than their faith, more grandly than their inspiration.” Basically, the answer to the blind allegiance of the mass to a dictator can be found in this lack of responsibility in the individual. Life has become complex, and we have voluntarily allowed society to impose the conventions and usages of the moment upon us. We must break up the old pattern of acceptance and live the inward life. We must rise, individually, above compromise and doubt. But we can do this only if spiritual truths become realities.

We need only turn to our histories and re-read them to learn the great secret of successful living. From them we learn that every great civilization has been founded by a Prophet of God. It is by faithful adherence to the principles and precepts brought by these great world Teachers that humanity has reached by successively higher levels from the primitive to a great world culture. Each Prophet taught the cardinal qualities of moral life. The familiar Ten Commandments are found in all. The Golden Rule antedates Jesus by centuries. The fundamentals are found in all great religions, though the method of dealing with them differs.

Bahá’u’lláh, the Manifestation of God for this day, has re-stated the eternal verities, clothed them to fit the needs and requirements of this age. He has shown so clearly the Path, which is none other than knowledge of God. We are an ungodly people, at best. Given knowledge, we can and will emerge from our present state, for the world of God and the world of man are not separated by any distance other than the interval of understanding. Just as love for truth proves stronger than the lure of fleeting temporary expressions, so worship for our Creator should transcend the love for any one of His manifestations. For truth, like every seemly lady, changes her garments frequently. Yet it is truth alone that holds the allure. Our ultimate happiness does not depend upon material possessions or mental pleasures, but upon the development of reason and the adjustment of conduct to principles. We are not forced to live beyond our understanding and capacity, but surely our inner convictions shape and refine our outer lives. Certain principles we make our own. Integrity consists in living up to them.

PERHAPS the virtues are all contained in this prayer revealed by ‘Abdu’l-Bahá:

“O my glorious Lord!

“Help me to refrain from every irregular inclination, to subdue every rebellious passion, to purify the motives of my conduct, to conform myself to that meekness which no provocation can ruffle, to that patience which no affliction can overwhelm, to that integrity which no self interest can shake, that I may be fitted to serve Thee and to teach Thy Word.

“Verily Thou art the mighty, the powerful!”


One of a series by members of Bahá’í Youth Group.


  1. August, 1939.


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