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WORLD ORDER
THE BAHÁ’Í MAGAZINE
May, 1940
• The Question of Religious Unity . . . . . Horace Holley 37
• Texts for Nine Outer Doors of the Mashriqu’l-Adhkár 49
• First Steps in Spiritual Progress . . . . . . . . Bahá’u’lláh 50
• Reveille, Poem . . . . . . . . Elizabeth Benchley Murray 57
• Is Our Present Civilization Worthy? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58
- Will It Endure? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59
- What Will Take Its Place? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60
• Gleaning, Poem . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Ida Judith Baum 62
• The Internationalism of a Biologist, Book Review . . . Maye Harvey Gift 63
• Bahá’í Truths . . . . 70
• Bahá’í Lessons . . . . 71
• With Our Readers . . . . 74
FIFTEEN CENTS
Bahá’u’lláh . . . has not only imbued mankind with a new and regenerating Spirit . . . He . . . has, unlike the Dispensations of the past, clearly and specifically laid down a set of laws, established definite institutions, and provided for the essentials of a Divine Economy. These are destined to be a pattern for future society, a supreme instrument for the establishment of the Most Great Peace . . . —SHOHHI EFFENDI.
CHANGE OF ADDRESS SHOULD BE REPORTED ONE MONTH IN ADVANCE
WORLD ORDER is published monthly in Wilmette, Ill., by the Publishing Committee of the National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of the United States and Canada. EDITORS: Stanwood Cobb, Horace Holley, Bertha Hyde Kirkpatrick. CONTRIBUTING EDITORS: Marcia Atwater, Hasan M. Balyusi, Dale S. Cole, Alice Simmons Cox, Genevieve L. Coy, Shirin Fozdar, Marzieh Gail, Inez Greeven, Annamarie Honnold, G. A. Shook.
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Entered as second class matter April 1, 1940, at the post office at
Wilmette, Ill., under the Act of March 3, 1879. Contents copyrighted
1940 by Bahá’í Publishing Committee. Title registered
at U.S. Patent Office.
MAY 1940, VOLUME VI, NUMBER 2
WORLD ORDER
THE BAHÁ’Í MAGAZINE
VOLUME VI MAY, 1940 NUMBER 2
The Question of Religious Unity
Horace Holley
THREE PRINCIPLES ENTER INTO THIS CRUCIAL QUESTION . . .
THE TWO DECADES following the Versailles Treaty witnessed a deep and widespread interest in the subject of religious unity. For many, this interest stemmed from the vivid sense of horror aroused by the experience of a world at war; for others, some degree of religious unity appeared essential as a moral basis for the international political unity hoped-for in the League. For all adult and conscious persons, the post-war world appeared to represent in many ways a new beginning. Its larger frontiers discredited habits of parochialism, and its seething populations called for the re-establishment of the very foundations of civilized order and intercourse.
A number of great inter-religious conferences were held,
With a view to creating some continuous effort to solve the question
of unity among the ecclesiastical bodies of East and West.
In circumstances of dignity and an atmosphere of earnest endeavor,
Christian, Jew, Muhammadan, Hindu, Buddhist and
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other religionists maintained discussion, carried out carefully
arranged agendas, turned to God in prayer. The spectacle,
in comparison to the death-struggle of the followers of these
faiths through years of battle, was encouraging to the masses
of people in civilized lands. An eternal instinct, bearing the
awareness of unity through ages of suspicion, hatred and strife,
seemed to be at the point of providential fulfilment. On the
other hand the experienced student of religion could not fail
to note that in none of these conferences were representatives
of the two great branches of Christianity itself encountered
on terms of mutual equality, that the agendas were efforts to
recognize differences rather than produce oneness of understanding
and worship, and that the degree to which ecclesiastical
bodies, in distinction to voluntary lay effort, were committed
to any abandonment of their historical isolation, was not clearly
apparent. Moreover, the rise of the totalitarian state destroyed
the movement before it had developed to the point of
facing the crucial issues at stake.
There has, however, been a transfer of effort from the international scale originally attempted to the realm of inter-religious association within the United States. The movement served by lay Protestants, Catholics and Jews in America in apparently the only visible heir of the great world hope which arose as soon as the war had ceased.
The fundamental conditions of this intra-national effort
are, of course, very different to those faced by the larger conferences
of Stockholm, Oxford, Geneva and Jerusalem.
American religionists stand upon the firmer basis of social
stability guaranteed by their government; they represent only
branches of their respective religious bodies and not their
executive, responsible and authoritative heads; and their essential
problem appears to be one of mutual tolerance within the
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framework of a politically unified civilization. Americans
have witnessed in other parts of the world in recent years the
recrudescence of such primitive, unbelievable and hideous religious
and racial intolerance, such bestial savagery inflicted
upon helpless peoples victim to the anti-religious legalism of
military power, that the very incapacity of the rest of the
world even to meet and discuss universal problems supplies a
new and powerful incentive to their demands for a settlement
of historic religious issues.
THREE PRINCIPLES OF RELIGIOUS UNITY
The present nature of the terrible exigency which confronts all sincere followers of revealed religion can be summed up in the statement that once more, as in the days of Christ, the implacable enemy of divine law is not the paganism of persons but the inherent purpose and nature of the state. Mankind once more lives under the shadow of collective evil; the instruments of culture, science, industry and politics are all become weapons in the hands of those who must dominate soul and body or destroy.
Such an exigency is not to be met by the holding of conferences which create a verbal record of cooperation and good will but produce nothing in the world of action.
The Bahá’ís are more than sympathetic to all effort to unify the religions. The principle of religious unity lies at the very heart of their faith. In the daily practice of their religion they manifest this principle in their relations to non-Bahá’ís, since their relations to one another maintain the victory of spiritual oneness achieved over all the historic divisions which have denied the oneness of God.
The Bahá’ís, however, do not approach this great world
problem superficially. They do not analyze its nature in terms
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of the survival of creeds, rites and ecclesiastical organizations.
They are not concerned with matters of diplomatic adjustment.
They are not satisfied with a goal of tolerance which merely
gives all churches the right to proselytise under more favorable
terms, each having been given the other’s official and public
blessing. The Bahá’ís realize that the world of humanity is
at this hour in desperate danger; their conception of religion
is not that type of institutional activity which could not prevent
these wars and revolutions from arising and therefore conveys
no hope that it is able to transmute war and revolution into
peace.
To every Bahá’í, there are three principles which enter into the question of religious unity. Until these three principles are all met and fulfilled, all effort to bring about true association and agreement of historic religious bodies is ineffective and useless.
TRANSFORMATION OF THE INDIVIDUAL
The first principle is that every individual human being
involved in a movement for religious unity must have undergone
transformation at the very core of his being. He must
accept not merely the ideal of the occasional public gesture or
the possible far-remote future eventuation of the ideal, but
realize that ideal here and now in complete acceptance of the
principle of spiritual equality among the revealed religions.
He may not graciously offer favors to an inferior nor sign a
moral armistice when struggle is inconvenient, to be resumed
when the chance of victory is enhanced. Nor can the worker
confine his acceptance to persons of his own race, culture and
civilization. The principle of religious unity requires nothing
less than the passionate conviction that all human beings are
children of one God, and that every obstacle to unity of worship,
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unity of understanding and unity of action is to some
degree a denial of the very basis of revealed religion.
“Gird up the loins of your endeavor, O people of Bahá,” Bahá’u’lláh declares to His followers, “that haply the tumult of religious dissension and strife that agitateth the peoples of the earth may be stilled, that every trace of it may be completely obliterated. For the love of God, and them that serve Him, arise to aid this most sublime and momentous Revelation. Religious fanaticism and hatred are a world devouring fire, whose violence none can quench. The Hand of Divine power can, alone, deliver mankind from this desolating affliction.” (Gleanings, page 288)
Speaking in a Christian church in Philadelphia during
June, 1912,—while the people were still unaware of the terrible
war that was so imminent,—‘Abdu’l-Bahá thus described the
condition of civilization which prevails when religions are disunited:
“True religion is the source of love and agreement
amongst men, the cause of the development of praiseworthy
qualities, but the people are holding to the counterfeit and
imitation, negligent of the reality which unifies; so they are
bereft and deprived of the radiance of religion. They follow
superstitions inherited from their fathers and ancestors. To
such an extent has this prevailed that they have taken away
the heavenly light of divine truth and sit in the darkness of
imitations and imaginations. That which was meant to be conducive
to life has become the cause of death, that which should
have been an evidence of knowledge is now a proof of ignorance;
that which was a factor in the sublimity of human nature
has proved to be its degradation. Therefore the realm of the
religionist has gradually narrowed and darkened and the sphere
of the materialist has widened and advanced; for the religionist
has held to imitation and counterfeit, neglecting and discarding
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holiness and the sacred reality of religion. When the
sun sets it is the time for bats to fly. They come forth because
they are creatures of night. When the lights of religion become
darkened the materialists appear. They are the bats of
night. The decline of religion is their time of activity; they
seek the shadows when the world is darkened and clouds have
spread over it.” (Promulgation of Universal Peace, page 174)
It is thus a vital question to look into the motive of all who advocate religious unity. Is it an expression of the true spirit of oneness, or a factor of patriotism or some other localized feeling? Does it seek to establish the will of God, or is it an accommodation under social pressure? The individual, surely, who claims to believe in a religious unity for the whole world can only prove the sincerity of his assertion by re-examination of his own religious affiliation. If he maintains a connection with any institution whose creed or practice establishes sectarianism, small or great, he serves unity with word but disunity by deed. Let him either strive to universalize his own church, or step into the arena of world faith.
UNITY AND RELIGIOUS INSTITUTIONS
We must distinguish between those social movements which remain in the realm of personal sentiment and those which become powerful enough to create the instruments necessary for carrying out their fundamental purpose. An inter-faith movement composed of persons most of whom are identified with a sectarian creed, and not in any way committing their churches or synagogues or mosques to new and more inclusive views, is a movement capable only of producing a temporary feeling of satisfaction in the hearts of its active workers. It in reality is not a movement but merely a subjective attitude.
The situation created by such diffuse sentiment is precisely
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like the peace movement in Europe prior to 1914. Millions
adhere to the ideal in feeling and thought, some manifest
extraordinary heroism. Meetings are held, programs prepared,
publicity carried out, the ideal appears to be firmly
established in the public consciousness. An international crisis
appears, the governments declare war, and the sentiment comes
to an end or burns in the souls of a few martyrs whose agony
lights a torch to illumine a later time.
The test of the progress of the movement for religious unity is therefore more than an examination of personal sentiment. It involves the institutions whose relations to religionists correspond to the relations of state to citizens. When the overwhelming majority of the institutions of organized religion rewrite their constitutions so as to establish creed and doctrine upon the foundation of the oneness of religion, we may say that the movement toward unity has become firmly established. But as long as the public movement actuates individuals who have no authority, the movement is impotent, like the gatherings of international peace movements before the war which provided splendid occasions for sentiment but changed no government’s foreign policy one single iota. What is needed is not truth of sentiment alone but truth of social organization.
The existence of the sentiment, however, does produce a
new moral atmosphere which the institutions are compelled
to recognize. Much thought has been devoted to the problem
of coordinating the institutions of the different religions,
and the idea has even been advanced that churches should
produce a League of Religions, as the governments produced
a League of Nations. Of this intention, two comments must
be made. First, a League does tend to coordinate bodies previously
in a state of general anarchy, and does promise a trend
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at least in the direction of unity. Second, a League is composed
of its constituent organizations, recognizes their sovereignty
and guarantees their existence and survival. A League,
therefore, presents the astounding spectacle of an organization
which simultaneously both unites and isolates its member
bodies. It produces the fiction of unity while maintaining the
fact of separation. For a League, based on the notion of
sovereignty of its parts, will never even discuss any subject
forbidden by a powerful sovereignty which considers itself in
any way threatened by the discussion. The League of Nations
attempted to coordinate great nations which maintained divergent
and hostile policies. A League of Religions could do
nothing more. For the assumption of sovereignty is in itself
the rejection of unity in advance. Unity only emerges when
the organizations yield up their sovereignty for the sake of
true cooperation.
There is a completely irreconcilable diversity in the upholding of the ideal of religious fellowship in terms of personal sentiment, and its suppression in terms of organized doctrine and creed. Moreover, if we turn back to the historical record to learn how the different sects emerged from the revealed religion, we realize that each of these sovereignties incorporates some great social or religious struggle and gives permanence to some divisive episode. In other words, the unity longed for was once possessed and then abandoned under conditions which have produced in minds and hearts the equivalent of forts and armed frontiers. If the religionists could not preserve the inner unity they received from God, how are they to create an outer unity which will have any real effect or influence or permanence? Each religious organization has multiplied the number of clergy whose existence and authority are dependent on disunity.
THE ESSENCE OF RELIGIOUS UNITY
The question of religious unity is only in part a matter of uniting creed and doctrine. The essence of the matter is something far more vital and difficult. That is, religious unity as agreement in the realm of formal religion leaves untouched the fundamental problem of the unity of nations, races and classes. The people of the world are suffering intolerable burdens and agonies because of the entrenched division of nations, economic policies, classes and races. The whole earth has become enslaved to the principle of struggle. What world policy do the religionists offer mankind, what hope of a solution of the real problems of war and poverty and prejudice is involved in the sentiment of those who discuss unity or in the maneuverings of formal religious bodies?
We can not afford to overlook certain fundamental truths. One of these truths is that secular power, divorced from universal ethics and become an end in itself, reveals the death of the traditional religion. As long as groups of people remain united in obedience to divine will, their religion saves them from strife and contention; but the moment the spirit of unity fails, they divide into secular groups and become subject to the principle of destruction. All great systems of secular authority in the world today represent the collapse of ancient spiritual cultures. Instead of the Revelation of Moses, which established a moral people, we have the revolutionary influence of the scattered fragments of Judaism; instead of Christendom we have the nations of Europe; instead of Islam we have the secular nationalities of the Near East. For the secular element is precisely the application to civilization of that materialism which, as ‘Abdu’l-Bahá lamented, appears when the lights of religion are extinguished.
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The essence of the problem, consequently, is not how to
coordinate doctrines but how to revive the creative spirit of
faith in the souls of a darkened world. How to unite the
sundered and antagonistic peoples of earth in one faith and
one law—that is the question to be raised by the sincere and
the enlightened. Short of this the issue of religious unity is
fictitious: the question of how organizations which have outlived
their historic usefulness can survive.
Now let us approach this great question in the light of how religious unity was once actually accomplished. Let us leave the realm of theory and enter the domain of truth—as attested by the processes of history itself.
When Christ arose in the darkness of Roman dominion and Jewish ecclesiasticism, did He call the churches, synagogues and religious societies into conference in order to debate their respective rights, privileges, authorities, powers and jurisdictions? Did He summon organizations to unity or did He act directly upon the conscious human soul? And did He describe unity as the agreement of human ideas and methods or as the unity of man with God?
To ask the question is to answer it once and for all. Christ united the people of different religions, different races, different classes into one people by revealing the Way to God. Those who chose that Way attained unity; those who rejected the Way remained under the shadow of the fatality invoked by the glory that was Rome.
Has the method of God changed to suit the convenience of a later generation? The Bahá’ís follow Bahá’u’lláh who declared that the method of God in revealing the Way to the people is unchanged from generation to generation, from age to age and from cycle to cycle throughout the history of man.
Bahá’u’lláh has laid in this modern world the foundation
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of spiritual unity. He has opened the Way that leads to God.
He has revealed the oneness of all religion in the oneness of
the Manifestations, in the harmony of all basic spiritual truth.
He has produced a spiritual society which maintains the constant
victory of reconciliation among believers who have come
from every traditional church and creed. He has created a
world Faith, and brought to this darkened earth a world Law
which contains the principle of Universal Peace. Bahá’u’lláh
has immersed mankind in a sea of light. He has destroyed the
foundation of fiction and pretence. He has joined the truth
of social sovereignty with the truth of spiritual worship; and
His Revelation marks the long-awaited dawn of true civilization
on earth. By forbidding a professional clergy, Bahá’u’lláh
has prevented the forces of reaction from triumphing at some
later date.
“We have erewhile declared—and Our Word is the truth: —‘Consort with the followers of all religions in a spirit of friendliness and fellowship.’ Whatsoever hath led the children of men to shun one another, and hath caused dissensions and divisions amongst them, hath, through the revelation of these words, been nullified and abolished. From the heaven of God’s Will, and for the purpose of ennobling the world of being and of elevating the minds and souls of men, hath been sent down that which is the most effective instrument for the education of the whole human race. . . . ‘It is not his to boast who loveth his country, but it is his who loveth the world.’” (Gleanings, page 95)
“There can be no doubt whatever that the peoples of the
world, of whatever race or religion, derive their inspiration
from one heavenly Source, and are the subjects of one God.
The difference between the ordinances under which they abide
should be attributed to the varying requirements and exigencies
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of the age in which they were revealed. All of them, except
a few which are the outcome of human perversity, were ordained
of God, and are a reflection of His Will and Purpose.
Arise, and, armed with the power of faith, shatter to pieces the
sowers of dissension amongst you. Cleave unto that which
draweth you together and uniteth you.” (Gleanings, page 217)
“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.” (Gleanings, page 255)
Among the bounties of God is revelation. Hence revelation is progressive and continuous. It never ceases. It is necessary that the reality of divinity with all its perfections and attributes should become resplendent in the human world. The reality of divinity is like an endless ocean. Revelation may be likened to the rain. Can you imagine the cessation of rain? . . . The greatest bestowal of God to man is the capacity to attain human virtues. Therefore the teachings of religion must be reformed and renewed because past teachings are not suitable for the present time. ‘ABDU’L-BAHÁ, The Promulgation of Universal Peace, page 373.
Texts for the Nine Outer Doors of the Mashriqu’l-Adhkár
Words of Bahá’u’lláh
- 1. The earth is but one country; and mankind its citizens.
- 2. The best beloved of all things in My sight is Justice; turn not away therefrom if thou desirest Me.
- 3. My love is My stronghold; he that entereth therein is safe and secure.
- 4. Breathe not the sins of others so long as thou art thyself a sinner.
- 5. Thy heart is My home; sanctify it for My descent.
- 6. I have made death a messenger of joy to thee; wherefore dost thou grieve?
- 7. Make mention of Me on My earth that in My heaven I may remember thee.
- 8. O rich ones on earth! The poor in your midst are My trust; guard ye My trust.
- 9. The source of all learning is the knowledge of God, exalted be His glory.
The Divine Art of Living
A Compilation
CHAPTER TWO
FIRST STEPS IN SPIRITUAL PROGRESS
THE PURPOSE OF OUR LIVES
Words of Bahá’u’lláh
THOU didst Wish to make Thyself known unto men: therefore, Thou didst, through a word of Thy mouth, bring creation into being and fashion the universe. There is none other God except Thee, the Fashioner, the Creator, the Almighty, the Most Powerful. (Prayers and Meditations, p. 6)
O Son of Man! Veiled in My immemorial being and in the ancient eternity of My essence, I knew My love for thee; therefore I created thee, have engraved on thee Mine image and revealed to thee My beauty. (Arabic Hidden Words, 3)
Whatever is in the heavens and whatever is on the earth
is a direct evidence of the revelation within it of the attributes
and names of God, inasmuch as within every atom are enshrined
the signs that bear eloquent testimony to the revelation
of that most great Light. Methinks, but for the potency
of that revelation, no being could ever exist. . . . To a supreme
degree is this true of man, who, among all created things, hath
been invested with the robe of such gifts, and hath been singled
out for the glory of such distinction. For in him are potentially
revealed all the attributes of God to a degree that no created
being hath excelled or surpassed. All these names and attributes
are applicable to him. Even as He hath said; “Man
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is My mystery, and I am His mystery.” Manifold are the
verses that have been repeatedly revealed in all the heavenly
Books and the holy Scriptures, expressive of this most subtle
and lofty theme. Even as He hath revealed: “We will surely
show them Our signs in the world and within themselves.”
. . . And yet again He revealeth: “And be ye not like those
who forgot God, and whom He hath therefore caused to forget
their own selves.” In this connection, He Who is the
eternal King—may the souls of all that dwell within the
mystic Tabernacle be a sacrifice unto Him—hath spoken: “He
hath known God who hath known himself.” (Iqán p. 101)
Know thou that, according to what thy Lord, the Lord of all men, hath decreed in His Book, the favors vouchsafed by Him unto mankind have been, and will ever remain, limitless in their range. First and foremost among these favors, which the Almighty hath conferred upon man, is the gift of understanding. His purpose in conferring such a gift is none other except to enable His creatures to know and recognize the one true God—exalted be His glory. This gift giveth man the power to discern the truth in all things, leadeth him to that which is right, and helpeth him to discover the secrets of creation. (Gleanings, p. 194)
Thou hast asked Me concerning the nature of the soul.
Know, verily, that the soul is a sign of God, a heavenly gem
whose reality the most learned of men hath failed to grasp,
and whose mystery no mind, however acute, can ever hope to
unravel. It is the first among all created things to declare
the excellence of its Creator, the first to recognize His glory,
to cleave to His truth, and to bow down in adoration before
Him. If it be faithful to God, it will reflect His light, and
will, eventually, return unto Him. If it fail, however, in its
allegiance to its Creator, it will become a victim to self and
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passion, and will, in the end, sink in their depths. (Idem,
p.158)
The purpose of God in creating man hath been, and will ever be, to enable him to know his Creator and to attain His Presence. To this most excellent aim, this supreme objective, all the heavenly Books and the divinely-revealed and weighty Scriptures unequivocally bear witness. (Idem, p. 70)
ADVANCING TOWARD THE IMMORTAL REALM
O Son of Love! Thou art but one step away from the glorious heights above and from the celestial tree of love. Take thou one pace and with the next advance into the immortal realm and enter the pavilion of eternity. Give ear then to that which hath been revealed by the pen of glory. (Persian Hidden Words, 7)
In this valley (of search), the Wayfarer rides the steed of patience. Without patience the Wayfarer in this journey will reach nowhere and attain no goal. Nor should he ever be downcast. Were he to strive for ages without beholding the beauty of the Friend, he should not become dejected. For those who strive to reach their goal rejoice in the promise that “He who seeks Us with perseverance shall be assuredly guided unto Us” (Qur’án); and in their search, they firmly gird up their loins of service, and steadily seek to journey from the plane of heedlessness to the realm of being. No chain shall hinder them and no counsel deter them.
It is requisite for such servants to purge the heart—which is the well-spring of divine treasure—from every impression, to forsake blind imitation inherited from their forebears and to close the door of friendship or enmity to all upon the earth. (The Seven Valleys, p. 7)
When a true seeker determines to take the step of search in the path leading to the knowledge of the Ancient of Days, he must, before all else, cleanse and purify his heart, which is the seat of the revelation of the inner mysteries of God, from the obscuring dust of all acquired knowledge, and the allusions of the embodiments of satanic fancy. He must purge his breast, which is the sanctuary of the abiding love of the Beloved, of every defilement, and sanctify his soul from all that pertaineth to water and clay, from all shadowy and ephemeral attachments. He must so cleanse his heart that no remnant of either love or hate may linger therein, lest that love blindly incline him to error, or that hate repel him away from the truth. Even as thou dost witness in this day how most of the people, because of such love and hate, are bereft of the immortal Face, have strayed far from the Embodiments of the divine mysteries, and, shepherdless, are roaming through the wilderness of oblivion and error. (Iqán, p. 192; also Gleanings p. 264.)
From the exalted source, and out of the essence of His favor and bounty He hath entrusted every created thing with a sign of His knowledge, so that none of His creatures may be deprived of its share in expressing, each according to its capacity and rank, this knowledge. This sign is the mirror of His beauty in the world of creation. The greater the effort exerted for the refinement of this sublime and noble mirror, the more faithfully will it be made to reflect the names and attributes of God, and reveal the wonders of His signs and knowledge. (Gleanings, p. 262)
A new life is, in this age, stirring within all the peoples of
the earth; and yet none hath discovered its cause or perceived
its motive. Consider the people of the West. Witness how,
in their pursuit of that which is vain and trivial, they have
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sacrificed, and are still sacrificing, countless lives for the sake
of its establishment and promotion. . . . O friends! Be not
careless of the virtues with which ye have been endowed,
neither be neglectful of your high destiny. Suffer not your
labors to be wasted through the vain imaginations which certain
hearts have devised. (Gleanings, p. 196)
That the heart is the throne, in which the Revelation of God the All-Merciful is centered, is attested by the holy utterances which We have formerly revealed. Among them is this saying: “Earth and heaven cannot contain Me; what alone can contain Me is the heart of him that believeth in Me, and is faithful to My Cause.” How often hath the human heart, which is the recipient of the light of God and the seat of the revelation of the All-Merciful, erred from Him Who is the Source of that light and the Well Spring of that revelation. It is the waywardness of the heart that removeth it far from God, and condemneth it to remoteness from Him. Those hearts, however, that are aware of His Presence, are close to Him, and are to be regarded as having drawn nigh to His throne. (Gleanings, p. 186)
Thine eye is my trust, suffer not the dust of vain desires
to becloud its luster. Thine ear is a sign of My bounty, let
not the tumult of unseemly motives turn it away from My
Word that encompasseth all creation. Thine heart is My
treasury, allow not the treacherous hand of self to rob thee
of the pearls which I have treasured therein. Thine hand is
a symbol of My loving-kindness, hinder it not from holding
fast unto My guarded and hidden Tablets. . . . Unasked, I
have showered upon thee My grace. Unpetitioned, I have
fulfilled thy wish. In spite of thy undeserving, I have singled
thee out for My richest, My incalculable favors. . . . O My
servants! Be as resigned and submissive as the earth, that from
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the soil of your being there may blossom the fragrant, the
holy and multicolored hyacinths of My knowledge. Be ablaze
as the fire, that ye may burn away the veils of heedlessness
and set aglow, through the quickening energies of the love of
God, the chilled and wayward heart. (Gleanings, p. 322)
Happy are the clear-sighted that have learned to distinguish the transitory from the eternal, that have turned their faces to the Imperishable and are named among the Immortals in the realm of power and glory. (Bahá’í World, vol. I, p. 43)
OUR NEED OF THE MANIFESTATION
These energies with which the Day Star of Divine bounty and Source of heavenly guidance hath endowed the reality of man lie, however, latent within him, even as the flame is hidden within the candle and the rays of light are potentially present in the lamp. The radiance of these energies may be obscured by worldly desires even as the light of the sun can be concealed beneath the dust and dross which cover the mirror. Neither the candle nor the lamp can be lighted through their own unaided efforts, nor can it ever be possible for the mirror to free itself from its dross. It is clear and evident that until a fire is kindled the lamp will never be ignited, and unless the dross is blotted out from the face of the mirror it can never represent the image of the sun nor reflect its light and glory.
And since there can be no tie of direct intercourse to bind
the one true God with His creation, and no resemblance whatever
can exist between the transient and the Eternal, the contingent
and the Absolute, He hath ordained that in every age
and dispensation a pure and stainless Soul be made manifest
in the kingdoms of earth and heaven. . . . These Essences of
Detachment, these resplendent Realities are the channels of
God’s all-pervasive grace. Led by the light of unfailing guidance,
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and invested with supreme sovereignty, they are commissioned
to use the inspiration of their Words, the effusions
of their infallible grace and the sanctifying breeze of their
Revelation for the cleansing of every longing heart and receptive
spirit from the dross and dust of earthly cares and
limitations. Then, and only then, will the Trust of God,
latent in the reality of man, emerge, as resplendent as the rising
Orb of Divine Revelation, from behind the veil of concealment,
and implant the ensign of its revealed glory upon
the summits of men’s hearts. (Gleanings, p. 65-67)
Of all men, the most accomplished, the most distinguished, and the most excellent are the Manifestations of the Sun of Truth. Nay, all else besides these Manifestations, live by the operation of their Will, and move and have their being through the outpourings of their grace. (Gleanings, p. 179)
That which is pre-eminent above all other gifts, is incorruptible in nature, and pertaineth to God Himself, is the gift of Divine Revelation. Every bounty conferred by the Creator upon man, be it material or spiritual, is subservient unto this. It is, in its essence, and will ever so remain, the Bread which cometh down from Heaven. It is God’s supreme testimony, the clearest evidence of His truth, the sign of His consummate bounty, the token of His all-encompassing mercy, the proof of His most perfect grace. He hath, indeed, partaken of this highest gift of God who hath recognized His Manifestation in this Day. (Gleanings, p. 195)
Reveille
Elizabath Benchley Murray
- There will be war again—
- And you, so gentle now,
- Loath to give pain—
- Will kill, and by some fierce compulsion
- Kill again—and sink at last
- Yourself in that red stain.
- O not for you! If you must pass
- Then go as one who leads the way—
- Man of a new, exalted race
- Proclaiming a new day.
- (How many do I know whose earth trails end
- Within the time that history must mark
- As epoch-ending? Which, called friend,
- Will forfeit time ere dawn defeat the dark?)
- Seize then this hour
- And live it to the hilt.
- No, not in quest of gold
- Nor passion’s flower—
- For gold is transient and the blossoms wilt—
- But rather seek that bright eternal fire
- And light thy torch, and turn
- And pass thy flame to others. Let it burn
- Bright in the darkness ’till the sun lifts higher.
* * *
- (Still, failing this, I pray you will arise
- From black seared trench or bursting battlefield,
- And cry, with your last breath,
- A Glory! to that Name you now deny!)
BAHÁ’Í ANSWERS
IS OUR PRESENT CIVILIZATION WORTHY?
NO MATTER how far the material world advances it cannot establish the happiness of mankind. Only when material and spiritual civilization are linked and coordinated will happiness be assured. Then material civilization will not contribute its energies to the forces of evil in destroying the oneness of humanity, for in material civilization good and evil advance together and maintain the same pace. For example, consider the material progress of man in the last decade. Schools and colleges, hospitals, philanthropic institutions, scientific academies and temples of philosophy have been founded, but hand in hand with these evidences of development, the invention and production of means and weapons for human destruction have correspondingly increased. . . .
All this is the outcome of material civilization, therefore
although material advancement furthers good purposes in life,
at the same time it serves evil ends. The divine civilization
is good because it cultivates morals. . . . If the moral precepts
and foundations of divine civilization become united with
material advancement of man, there is no doubt that the happiness
of the human world will be attained and from every
direction the glad-tidings of peace upon earth will be
announced. Then humankind will achieve extraordinary
progress, the sphere of human intelligence will be immeasurably
enlarged, wonderful inventions will appear and the spirit
of God will reveal itself; . . . Then will the power of the
divine make itself effective and the breath of the Holy Spirit
penetrate the essence of all things. Therefore the material
and the divine or merciful civilizations must progress together
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until the highest aspirations and desires of humanity shall become
realized. (‘Abdu’l-Bahá, Promulgation of Universal
Peace, p. 105)
Does this outward civilization, without true inward civilization, give rise to general peace and well-being, and is it likely to meet with the divine sanction and approval? Or is it the destroyer of the highest principles of humanity and of the foundations of happiness and prosperity? (‘Abdu’l-Bahá, Mysterious Forces of Civilization, p. 71, 72)
O Son of Man! Upon the tree of effulgent glory I have hung for thee the choicest fruits, wherefore hast thou turned away and contented thyself with that which is less good? Return then unto that which is better for thee in the realm on high. (Arabic Hidden Words, no. 21)
WILL IT ENDURE?
The civilization so often vaunted by the learned exponents of arts and sciences, will if allowed to overleap the bounds of moderation, bring great evil upon men. . . . If carried to excess, civilization will prove as prolific a source of evil as it had been of goodness when kept within the restraints of moderation. . . . The day is approaching when its flame will devour the cities, when the Tongue of Grandeur will proclaim: “The Kingdom is God’s, the Almighty, the All-Praised!” (Bahá’u’lláh, cited in The Unfoldment of World Civilization, p. 34)
The signs of impending convulsions and chaos can now be discerned, inasmuch as the prevailing Order appeareth to be lamentably defective. (Idem, p. 2)
Beset on every side by the cumulative evidences of disintegration,
of turmoil and of bankruptcy, serious-minded men
and women, in almost every walk of life, are beginning to
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doubt whether society, as it is now organized, can through its
unaided efforts, extricate itself from the slough into which it
is steadily sinking. Every system, short of the unification of
the human race, has been tried, repeatedly tried, and found
wanting. Wars again and again have been fought, and conferences
without number have met and deliberated. Treaties,
pacts and covenants have been painstakingly negotiated, concluded
and revised. Systems of government have been patiently
tested, have been continually recast and superceded. Economic
plans of reconstruction have been carefully devised, and
meticulously executed. And yet crisis has succeeded crisis, and
the rapidity with which a perilously unstable world is declining
has been correspondingly accelerated. (Shoghi Effendi,
The Unfoldment of World Civilization, p. 30)
The world is in travail, and its agitation waxeth day by day. Its face is turned toward waywardness and unbelief. Such shall be its plight that to disclose it now would not be meet and seemly. (Bahá’u’lláh, cited in The Unfoldment of World Civilization, p. 21)
WHAT WILL TAKE ITS PLACE?
We stand on the threshold of an age whose convulsions proclaim alike the death-pangs of the old order and the birth-pangs of the new. Through the generating influence of the Faith announced by Bahá’u’lláh this New World Order may be said to have been conceived. We can, at the present moment, experience its stirrings in the womb of a travailing age an age waiting for the appointed hour at which it can cast its burden and yield its fairest fruit. (Shoghi Effendi, Unfoldment of World Civilization, p. 9)
What else, . . . but the unreserved acceptance of the Divine
Program enunciated, with such simplicity and force as far back
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as sixty years ago, by Bahá’u’lláh, embodying in its essentials
God’s divinely appointed scheme for the unification of mankind
in this age, coupled with an indomitable conviction in the
unfailing efficacy of each and all of its provisions, is eventually
capable of withstanding the forces of internal disintegration
which, if unchecked, must needs continue to eat into the vitals
of a despairing society. (Shoghi Effendi, The Goal of a New
World Order, p. 14)
In this present cycle there will be an evolution in civilization unparalleled in the history of the world. The world of humanity has hitherto been in the stage of infancy, now it is approaching maturity. Just as the individual organism having attained the period of maturity reaches its fullest degree of physical strength and ripened intellectual faculties, . . . likewise the world of humanity in this cycle of its completeness and consummation will realize an immeasurable upward progress. (‘Abdu’l-Bahá, The Promulgation of Universal Peace, p. 35)
He Who is your Lord, the All-Merciful, cherisheth in His heart the desire of beholding the entire human race as one soul and one body. Haste ye to win your share of God’s grace and mercy in this Day that eclipseth all other created days. (Bahá’u’lláh, cited in Unfoldment of World Civilization, p- 43)
The unity of the human race, as envisaged by Bahá’u’lláh, implies the establishment of a world commonwealth in which all nations, races, creeds and classes are closely and permanently united, and in which the autonomy of its state members and the personal freedom and initiative of the individuals that compose them are definitely and completely safeguarded. (Shoghi Effendi, Idem, p. 43)
A world federal system, ruling the whole earth and exercising
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unchallengable authority over its unimaginably vast
resources, blending and embodying the ideals of both the East
and the West, liberated from the curse of war and its miseries,
and bent on the exploitation of all the available sources of
energy on the surface of the planet, a system in which Force
is made the servant of Justice, whose life is sustained by the
universal recognition of one God and by its allegiance to one
common Revelation—such is the goal towards which humanity,
impelled by the unifying forces of life, is moving. (Shoghi
Effendi, Idem, p. 44)
GLEANING
Ida Judith Baum
- My heart is rich with autumn’s crop,
- Abundant with vineyards, too,
- My heart has culled the chaff from the wheat
- Because, dear Lord, of You.
- The seeds I planted in the spring
- Were blessed with kindly Hands
- And so, in the soil of nurtured love
- I walk through verdant lands.
- I walk through fertile groves, dear God,
- And plow for fuller fields,
- Because my heart now surely knows
- The harvest Heaven yields.
THE INTERNATIONALISM OF A BIOLOGIST
BOOK REVIEW
Maye Harvey Gift
“A GRADUAL DEVELOPMENT of social attributes, a sub-stratum of social tendencies . . . extends throughout the entire animal kingdom. . . . It may well be that the social hierarchy of chickens, canaries and men have much in common.” Such comments cause us to turn with keen expectation to “The Social Life of Animals,” by W. C. Allee, Professor of Zoology, University of Chicago, who, for thirty years, has been studying this subject. Very possibly we shall discover another far-reaching law, which like a shining cord, binds the entire creation into one great organism.
The high point of the volume is the chapter “Some Human
Implications.” The author explains that in attempting to
analyze human behavior on the same basis as applies among
animals, he reaches most interesting results when he chooses
“some phase of reactions of men in which integration has not
developed much beyond that found in the semi- or quasi-social
animal aggregations” which he has been exploring in the lower
forms of creation. “Among the possible aspects of human
behavior that meet this requirement and that lend themselves
to biological analysis is the whole set of activities that center
around the relations between nations. Even the most optimistic
humanist will not maintain that those are at present, or
ever have been, on as high a plane as that which characterizes
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many of the personal interactions of mankind, or those of the
smaller groupings of men.”
Prof Allee points out that the modern international system is based on the theory that war is inevitable because of struggle for existence as man’s motivation; “for the ordinary thoughtful person is not aware that the tendency toward a struggle for existence is balanced and opposed by the strong influence of the cooperative urge.” He proposes “to cut through the shifting tangle of international policies down to the basic biological significance which it holds for us.” In so doing he accepts Prof. Malinowski’s explanation of war. “To label all brawling, squabbling, dealing of black eye or broken jaw, war, as is frequently done, simply leads to confusion. War can be defined as the use of organized force between two politically independent units, in pursuit of tribal policy. War in this sense enters fairly late into the development of human society.”
FALLACIOUS ARGUMENTS FOR WAR
The author then considers the stock arguments on the inevitability
and justification of war, arguments which since the
publication of the book the present world upheaval seems to
have rendered curiously inadequate. From the biological
standpoint these arguments are fallacious. Advocates of the
thesis that wars keep racial stocks vigorous “are troubled by
the Chinese. This much-discussed and frequently invaded land
was populated by the forerunners of the present Chinese during
the days when Egypt, Assyria, Babylonia, Greece, and
Persia, to name no more, were fighting the wars recorded in
our general histories. Those warlike peoples have lost their
racial vigor but the Chinese, who have been relatively peaceful,
have retained it. This stumbling block cannot be removed by
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denying racial vigor to the Chinese; they have, in the past,
absorbed too many temporary conquerors, and have occupied
and are occupying by peaceful penetration too much of the
earth’s territory, to be dismissed as a racially decadent people.
There are anthropologists who reckon them biologically the
most advanced people living today.”
In exploding the stock over-population theory, he says that not long ago he heard an expert say “that population pressure is not a direct cause of war, but can be used by a clever leader to range a nation behind aggressive policies which lead to war. In the short run it is easier than to educate people to apply the available knowledge which would allow” a country to provide adequately for her people from her own potential resources without need of invading other countries.
The question of primary interest is: Can the basic principles of struggle and cooperation work together in the international relations of men? The objection that the world is too large a unit for a workable international organization is no longer tenable. Prof. Allee describes the type of society of nations acceptable to the scientist. “Such an international organization might be set up much as the federal government of our own country was planned, to supervise the functioning of different states. This system calls for representative government, a relatively unbiased court of final judicial appeal, and certain potential police power, which in our American experience has been used but rarely on a national scale.”
THE PRINCIPLE OF FEDERALISM
This at once reminds the student of the Bahá’í Faith of
‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s reply to a high ranking federal officer. “You
can best serve your country if you strive, in your capacity as
a citizen of the world, to assist in the eventual application of
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the principle of federalism underlying the government of your
own country to the relationships now existing between the
peoples and nations of the World.” (World Order of
Bahá’u’lláh, p. 37.)
After pointing out certain weaknesses of the League of Nations which must be avoided, Prof. Allee makes this significant statement: “the biologist’s international system must be a dynamic organization capable of and designed to effect changes rather than set up to preserve any given status quo. . . . Biology teaches the inevitability of change, if it teaches anything.”
The rigidity of past organizations has led to a widespread belief that crystallization is inherent in organization as such. However this is not the case. The World Order revealed by Bahá’u’lláh as suited to the maturity of the human race overcomes this seemingly insuperable objection. This Order “has been so fashioned that whatever is deemed necessary to incorporate into it in order to keep it in the forefront of all progressive movements,” can be embodied. (World Order of Bahá’u’lláh, pp. 22, 23.) The Universal House of Justice, as Bahá’u’lláh’s international body is termed, can legislate upon any matter not included in the revealed laws of the Prophet. It can also abrogate any out-moded enactments. “Thus for example, the House of Justice enacteth today a certain law and enforceth it, and a hundred years hence, circumstances having profoundly changed and the conditions being altered, another House of Justice will then have power, according to the exigencies of the time, to alter that law. . . . The House of Justice is both the initiator and the abrogator of its own laws.” (Will of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá.) This elasticity “enables it, even as a living organism, to expand and adapt itself to the needs and requirements of an ever-changing society.” (Idem, p. 23.)
[Page 67]
In the proposed system of Prof. Allee “there will be not
only the means for international consultation, and a hearing
for the troubles of the world; there will also be the necessity
for courts of international justice. One of these may well grow
out of the present World Court at Geneva, patterned on the
Supreme Court of this country; another might be a development
of the international court of arbitration which has been
located for many years at The Hague.” This raises the moot
question: “Should these courts be supported by police power?
As a realistic biologist,” the author continues, “it seems to me
that international police force will probably be a necessity in
those cases when a nation or a section of a nation attempts to
raise itself . . . by direct action, rather than by waiting for the
results of the more just but slower pressure of world opinion.
. . . But it is certain that if an international organization is to
succeed, police power must be used very rarely. . . . It is noteworthy
that such enforcement has not been used in the long
and successful operation of our own Supreme Court.”
From its inception the Bahá’í Faith has stressed the necessity of an enforcing body in world affairs. ‘Abdu’l-Bahá in 1911 wrote to the Secretary of the Mohonk Conference on International Arbitration: “About fifty years ago in the Book of Aqdas, Bahá’u’lláh commanded people to establish universal peace and summoned all the nations to the divine banquet of international arbitration, so that questions of . . . vital interests between nations might be settled by an arbitral court of justice, and that no nation would dare to refuse to abide by the decisions arrived at. If any quarrel arise between two nations it must be arbitrated and decided upon like the judgment rendered by the Judge between two individuals. If at any time any nation dares to break such a decision, all the other nations must arise to put down this rebellion.”
LEGITIMATE FIELD OF STRUGGLE
What does Prof. Allee consider the legitimate field for the struggle for existence? “From the standpoint of pure biology, disregarding considerations that may seem to smack of the social sciences, the mortal enemies of man are not his fellows of another continent or race; they are the aspects of the physical world which limit or challenge his control, the disease germs which attack him and his domesticated plants and animals, the insects that carry many of these germs as well as working notable direct injury. . . . The only kind of mass slaughter for which there is precedent in animal biology is found in interspecific struggles. One species of animal may destroy another and individuals may kill other individuals, but group struggles to the death between members of the same species, such as occur in human warfare, can hardly be found among non-human animals. . . . In our struggle with our physical environment, with disease germs and insects, we have ample opportunity for the struggle for existence, and stimulus enough to apply to the limit the principle of cooperation.” So far the heavy expense of maintaining armament has made it impossible to attack this type of enemy of humanity in any adequate and effective manner. Paul de Kruif in his “Fight for Life” gives vivid emphasis to this tragic fact. Tuberculosis, cancer and other diseases are awaiting eradication, child-birth to be made safe, but in each instance the deterrent is lack of funds. But there is always money available for the destruction of human life, for war.
Prof. Allee, after warning that the eradication of war must
not be expected immediately, concludes: “there seems to be no
inherent biological reason why man cannot learn to extend the
principle of cooperation as fully through the field of international
relations as he has already done in his personal affairs.
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In addition to the unconscious evolutionary forces that play
upon man as well as on other animals, he has to some extent
the opportunity of consciously directing his own social evolution.”
To repeat, man “has to some extent the opportunity of consciously directing his own social evolution.” What a wealth of implications those few words contain! Upon the extent and effectiveness of that conscious directing the destiny of humanity today would seem to depend. History reveals that whenever human ingenuity, stripped of spiritual vitality, has brought to fruition its harvest of frustration and strife, a great world religion appears. This renewed spiritual impulse results in a different and higher type of civilization. Surely humanity is again on the threshold of such an hour. An hour when the heart of the world is gripped with a passionate longing to close the blood-stained pages of warfare, and turn the luminous pages of peace: peace among the nations, peace among the races, peace among the religions.
It is the function of the great Prophet to accomplish that wherein man, unaided, fails. Consider the hitherto cryptic words of Jesus the Christ: “I am the way, the truth and the life.” This has ever been true of the Revealer of a world religion, the Initiator of a new civilization. Bahá’ís believe this is true today of Bahá’u’lláh. The Way is universal peace through world federation. The Truth inspiring this expression, the intrinsic oneness of mankind. The Life the power of the Spirit of God, the only energy sufficient to effect such a reversal of motives and deeds as could make possible a new civilization of conscious all-embracing cooperation. This is the destiny of a mature and sorely chastened humanity.
BAHÁ’Í TRUTHS
Words of Bahá’u’lláh
Let thy soul glow with the flame of this undying Fire that burneth in the mid-most heart of the world, in such wise that the waters of the universe shall be powerless to cool down its ardor. Make, then, mention of thy Lord, that haply the heedless among Our servants may be admonished through thy words, and the hearts of the righteous be gladdened. (Gleanings, page 38.)
So blind hath become the human heart that neither the disruption of the city, nor the reduction of the mountain in dust, nor even the cleaving of the earth, can shake off its torpor. (Gleanings, page 39.)
The Prophetic Cycle hath, verily, ended. The Eternal Truth is now come. (Gleanings, page 60.)
Whatever duty Thou hast prescribed unto Thy servants of extolling to the utmost Thy majesty and glory is but a token of Thy grace unto them, that they may be enabled to ascend unto the station conferred upon their own inmost being, the station of the knowledge of their own selves. (Gleanings, pages 4, 5.)
Having created the world and all that moveth therein, He, through the direct operation of His unconstrained and sovereign Will, chose to confer upon man the unique distinction and capacity to know Him and to love Him,—a capacity that must needs be regarded as the generating impulse and the primary purpose underlying the whole of creation. (Gleanings, page 65.)
BAHÁ’Í LESSONS
Character: A Foundation Stone of World Order
STANDARD BEARERS OF A NEW WORLD ORDER
The Call:
“O people of God! Do not busy yourselves in your own concerns; let your thoughts be fixed upon that which will rehabilitate the fortunes of mankind and sanctify the hearts and souls of men. This can best be achieved through a virtuous life and a goodly character.” (Gleanings, 93-4.)
“One thing and one only will unfailingly and alone secure the undoubted triumph of this sacred Cause, namely, the extent to which our own inner life and private character mirror forth in their manifold aspects the splendor of the eternal principles proclaimed by Bahá’u’lláh.— Shoghi Effendi.
The Challenge:
“To vindicate the truth of the teachings of Bahá’u’lláh and demonstrate their practicability to an unbelieving world.”
- Man the supreme Talisman: Gleanings, 259-60.
- Need of a universal educator: Answered Questions, 8-13.
- Divine education the Source of World Order: Gleanings, 330-31; “East and West”—Bahá’í Prayers, 181-85; Tarazat.
- Need for true self-knowledge: Gleanings, 326-7; Tarazat I; HWA 11, 13.
- Spiritual prerequisites for World Order
- Essential virtues: Advent of Divine Justice, 16
- Moral rectitude: Same, 18-14
- A chaste and holy life: Same, 24-28
- Complete freedom from racial prejudice, Same, 28-34
- A double crusade: Advent of Divine Justice, 34- 36
- Perfecting the inward life
- Transforming the outer world
DIVINE EDUCATION:
The inward life; self-development; personality.
Self-bondage: Gleanings, 294, CXXXVI; Bahá’í Prayers, 170.
“There is no prison but the prison of self.” ‘Abdu’l-Bahá
“O God! Help me to restrain every
irregular inclination, to subdue every
rebellious passion. Purify the motives
of my conduct that I may conform
myself to that meekness which
no provocation can ruffle, to that
patience which no affliction can overwhelm,
to that integrity which no
interest can shake. That I may be
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qualified to serve Thee and teach
Thy Cause.” ‘Abdu’l-Bahá: A prayer
for individual development.
- Self-love: Bahá’í Scriptures, 477, P912.
- Pride vs. humility: Same, 449-50, P820; 496, P957; 134, P51; Gleanings, 315; HWP 5; 47.
- Subtlety of ego: Bahá’í Scriptures, 487, P936.
- Envy vs. fairness: HWP 6; 42; Tarazat:5.
- Backbiting: Gleanings, 265; HWA 26; 27; HWP 44; 66.
Holy Discipline:
- Loyalty and obedience: Gleanings, 86-7, XXXVIII; 289-90, CXXXIII; 330-1, CLV; Bahá’í Prayer, 33:1.
- Self-examination: Gleanings, 236-P2.
- Teaching oneself: Same, 277; 334-5; Bahá’í Scriptures, 452, P827.
- Dedication: Gleanings, 264; 322, CLIII; HWA 44; 58-9; HWP 32.
- Prayer: Bahá’í Scriptures, 466, P869; 438, P796; 491, P945; 156, P138; 452, P826.
- Tests: Gleanings, 42; 129; Bahá’í Scriptures, 469, P877; 443, P808; 439, P798.
- Practice of nobility: Bahá’í Scriptures, 450, P822; 490, P941.
- Confirmation: Gleanings, 9, V; Bahá’í Scriptures, 504, P970; Tablets of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, I:62; 106; Advent of Divine Justice, 63-4; 69.
DIVINE EDUCATION:
The outward life; altruism; universality.
“O Son of Man! If you have virtue in sight, renounce that which benefits you and choose that which is of profit to others.”
- Moral rectitude: Tarazat: 3; Gleanings, 94; 250; Bahá’í Scriptures, 261, P543; Ishrakat: 4; Advent of Divine Justice, 19-22.
- Justice: Bahá’í Scriptures, 148, P107; 157, P144; HWA 2; 28-9; Gleanings, 235-7; 278; 342-3; Mysterious Forces of Civilization, 45; Advent of Divine Justice, 22-4.
- Trustworthiness and truthfulness; honor: Tarazat: 4, 5; Gleanings, 232; 297; CXXXVIII, 299; 305; Bahá’í Scriptures, 452, P828; 453, P829. :A chaste and holy life: Gleanings, 118; 287; 297; HWP 32; Mysterious Forces, 68-9; Advent of Divine Justice, 24-8; World Order of Bahá’u’lláh, 187-88.
- Indiscriminating fellowship: Gleanings, 33; 95; Bahá’í Scriptures, 435, P790; 450, P823; HWA 68; Wisdom of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, 11-12.
- Abandonment of racial prejudice: Advent of Divine Justice, 28-34.
- Universal love: Bahá’í Scriptures, 438, P795; 454, P832; P821.
- Harmony and understanding: Gleanings, 7-9; 314, CXLV; 315, CXLVI; 333. CLVI-334; 94-5; Bahá’í Scriptures, 422-4, P766; 493, P950; Mysterious Forces, 62-4; Promulgation of Universal Peace, 2: 261.
- Generosity: Gleanings, 202; 278; Bahá’í Scriptures, 190, P282; 414, P754; HWA 30; 57; HWP 49.
- Service: Bahá’í Scriptures, 377-9, P709; 460, P849; Advent of Divine Justice, 42-3; Wisdom of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, 71-3.
DIVINE EDUCATION:
Self-renunciation; power of the God-filled life.
“I love in this state, O my God, to beg of Thee all that is with Thee, that I may demonstrate my poverty, and magnify Thy bounty and Thy riches, and may declare my powerlessness and manifest Thy power and Thy might.” (Prayers and Meditations by Bahá’u’lláh, 319.) “Let us not regard our own respective capacities; nay, rather let us regard forever the favors and bounties of God.” Promulgation of Universal peace, 2:415. Gleanings, 8; 334-5; Bahá’í Scriptures, 452, P825; 507, P972; 468, P876.
- The spirit of man in relation to God:
- The lamp: Gleanings, 277; HWA 11.
- The channel: Gleanings, 323, CLIII.
- The door: Bahá’í Scriptures, 438-9, P797.
Significance of sacrifice (sacre + ficio = to make holy)
“Every man trained through the teachings of God and illumined by the light of His guidance . . . sacrifices the imperfections of nature for the sake of the divine perfections. Consequently every illumined, heavenly individual stands in the station of sacrifice.” Promulgation of Universal Peace, 2:444-8. Gleanings, 337-8; Bahá’í Scriptures, 497-8, P958.
Spiritual insight: Eternal progression: Gleanings, 267-9; Bahá’í Scriptures, 436, P791; 482, P921; Answered Questions, ch. 62; Seven Valleys.
Majesty of the Cause of God: Deepening realization of need for continual preparation and growth to meet evolving responsibilities under the World Order. Read especially: Goal of a New World Order, Golden Age of Bahá’u’lláh, America and the Most Great Peace, in: The World Order of Bahá’u’lláh; Advent of Divine Justice, 58-72.
WITH OUR READERS
THOSE of our readers who did not see the item in the February 19th issue of NewsWeek which was referred to on page 10 of our March Bahá’í News will be interested in the following excerpt from said item: “In a log cabin atop a wooded hill at Teaneck, N. J., Oscar P. Stone and Eleanor Samuels married themselves. A woman pianist played Liszt’s ‘Liebestraum’ and a man read aloud from a holy book, but neither was essential to the service. There wasn’t even a clergyman to recite a ritual. All 25-year-old Oscar had to do was say: ‘Verily, we are content with the Will of God.’ And 19-year-old Eleanor completed the marriage with: ‘Verily, we are satisfied with the Desire of God.’
“ . . . it was an important occasion in the history of the cult called Bahá’í. Only once before (a few years ago in Wilmette, Ill.) had American members been wed in a Bahá’í service without the necessity of a civil marriage as well. For but two states—New Jersey and Illinois—have acknowledged Bahá’ísm as a religious society entitled to solemnize marriage for its followers.”
In the same vein there followed a few statements regarding the history and beliefs of the Bahá’í Faith. We add the reply which the National Spiritual Assembly sent through its secretary:
“Members of the American Bahá’í community have noted with interest your story on Bahá’í marriage in your issue of February 19. We will appreciate the privilege of amplifying it with a few important relevant facts.
“The Bahá’í conception of marriage is a reconciliation of three
vital principles: obedience to God, personal freedom of choice, and
social responsibility. Marriage in the Bahá’í community is a divine
institution; the two persons concerned marry because it is their will
and desire; and before the Bahá’í Assembly will sanction the marriage
it must have the written consent of all four parents, or of all parents
who have survived. The followers of Bahá’u’lláh believe that
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marital love cannot be isolated from the whole texture of personality,
and therefore this love, to be real and permanent, must be subordinate
to the love of the soul for its Creator.
“This conception, the Bahá’ís believe, renews and re-creates the institution of marriage, ridding it of any mere ecclesiastical ritualism and priestly authority on the one hand, and of all superficial civil license on the other. Bahá’í marriage has been observed in this country for many years, but always until recently, in addition to the civil ceremony. Of late years a number of local Assemblies have incorporated as religious bodies, and authority to conduct legal marriage derives from this new status.
“It might be added that Bahá’í marriage also reflects the underlying spirit of the Faith of Bahá’u’lláh, which aims to produce a unified, harmonious society and not simply a new religious sect. We regard the teachings of Bahá’u’lláh as the psychological and sociological laws of the new era of history—the era characterized by world problems and the ultimate conflict between the human soul and materialism. The faith of the Bahá’ís is that the older, provincial culture and ethics cannot solve world problems, and when this is more generally realized, the Bahá’í Faith will be accepted as the world Faith of man.”
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THE DEFINITE AIM in introducing this department into our newly planned World Order magazine is to offer opportunity for friendly relationship and cooperation between the readers and the magazine. Here we may have an exchange of helpful experiences in teaching or of inner experiences which are not too intimate to share, briefly told. Here is a chance, too, for suggestions for making the magazine more helpful as a teaching medium.
Some questions which the editors would like to have answered
were in a recent letter sent out by the editors to national committees:
“Will it help the small new group of Bahá’í students? Will it provide
a new and better means of contact with friends of the Cause?
Will it contribute to the development of the smaller, struggling local
communities? Is it a source of good material for the teacher? And
how can it be improved? How can the magazine fit more perfectly
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into the needs of your committee? Where are new capacities for
providing material to enrich the magazine and adapt it to the requirements
of a world community?”
And we might add can we make our magazine so helpful, so inspiring that every believer who does not subscribe to it or does not read it regularly will feel deprived? Can we make it so warm and friendly that all will look forward eagerly to its arrival each month as to the coming of a friend?
In the early days of the issuing of the magazine (then called The Star of the West) ‘Abdu’l-Bahá wrote: “Endeavor ye, as far as possible, to publish such valuable, interesting and instructive articles as to give joy and fragrance to the friends in all parts of the world.” So please continue to send us such articles concerned with the direct teachings and history of our Faith as well as the briefer items and suggestions referred to above.
* * *
IN ORDER that we may feel a friendly acquaintance with the contributors each month this column will give a brief introduction for each new contributor. The writer of the leading article on Religious Unity, Horace Holley, needs no introduction to Bahá’ís. He is secretary of the National Spiritual Assembly and one of the editors of World Order; the two contributors of verse, Elizabeth Benchley Murray and Ida Judith Baum, are among the younger Bahá’ís, Miss Murray in New York and Miss Baum in Binghamton. Miss Flora Hottes who is compiling Bahá’í Lessons also grew up in Urbana and now has charge of the children’s library in Kenosha, Wisconsin. And still another of our May contributors, Maye Harvey Gift, had her educational training in Urbana and also her Bahá’í start. Mrs. Gift is a deep student of the teachings and has long served the Cause in Peoria, Illinois.
THE EDITORS
BAHÁ’Í LITERATURE
Gleanings From the Writings of Bahá’u’lláh, Selected and translated by Shoghi Effendi. The most important publication to appear in the English language containing Writings of Bahá’u’lláh. The excerpts include references to the nature of religion, the soul, immortality, civilization and the virtues and qualities of the new age. 354 pages. Bound in fabrikoid. Per copy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $2.00
Kitab-i-iqán, Translated by Shoghi Effendi. This work (Book of Certitude) unifies and coordinates the revealed Religions of the past, demonstrating their oneness in fulfilment of the purpose of Revelation. Bound in cloth. 198 pages. Per copy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $2.50
Prayers and Meditations by Bahá’u’lláh, Selected and translated by Shoghi Effendi. The supreme expression of devotion to God; a spiritual flame which enkindles the heart and illumines the mind. 348 pages. Bound in fabrikoid. Per copy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $2.00
Some Answered Questions, Edited by Laura Clifford Barney from explanations made to her by ‘Abdu’l-Bahá in answer to questions dealing with religious, scientific, philosophical and humanitarian subjects. The Bahá’í view on current problems. 350 pages. Bound in cloth. Per copy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $1.50
The Wisdom of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, Edited by Lady Blomfield. In this work is preserved the daily discourses given by the Master to groups in Paris shortly before the war of 1914, where the Revelation of Bahá’u’lláh was interpreted as the sole power capable of saving the world from its materialism. 172 pages. Paper cover. Per copy . . $0.25
The Promulgation of Universal Peace. The stenographic record of talks given by ‘Abdu’l-Bahá to public audiences and to Bahá’í groups in cities of the United States and Canada during 1912. Here the Master laid the basis for a firm understanding of the attitudes, principles and spiritual laws which enter into the establishment of true Peace. 232 pages. Bound in cloth. Per copy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $2.50
The World Order of Bahá’u’lláh, By Shoghi Effendi. The Guardian of the Faith appointed in the Will and Testament of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá deals with the relation between the spiritual power released by Bahá’u’lláh and the new social order to be established on the ruins of a war-torn civilization. 226 pages. Bound in fabrikoid. Per copy . $1.50
Soon will the present day order be rolled up and a new one spread out in its stead.—Bahá’u’lláh
