WORLD ORDER
THE BAHÁ’Í MAGAZINE
April, 1941
• The World Wide Law . . . . . . . . . . . Chester F. Barnett 1
• Conquest, Poem . . . . . . . . . . . Gertrude W. Robinson 9
• From a Panama Diary, II . . . . . Louise Caswell and Cora H. Oliver 10
• Evolution in Social Order . . . . . . . . . . Horace Holley 17
• Gratitude and Praise . . . . . . . . . . . . Compilation 25
• Bahá’í Answers to World Questions
- Can Political Alliance Secure Peace? . . . . . . . . . . 31
- What Does the Body Politic Need? . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
- Whence Is This Divine Remedy? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
- What Is Promised for This Century? . . . . . . . . . . . 33
• I, Yahweh, Book Review . . . . . . . . . Garreta Busey 34
• Bahá’í Lessons . . . . . . 36 • With Our Readers . . 38
FIFTEEN CENTS
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 . . . Soon will the present-day order be rolled up, and a new one spread out in its stead.—Bahá’u’lláh
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, Alice Simmons Cox, Horace Holley, Bertha Hyde Kirkpatrick. CONTRIBUTING EDITORS: Marcia Steward Atwater, Hasan M. Balyusi, Dale S. Cole, Geneveive L. Coy, Shirin Fozdar, Marzieh Gail, Inez Greeven, Annamarie Honnold, G. A. Shook.
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APRIL 1941, VOLUME VII, NUMBER 1
WORLD ORDER
THE BAHÁ’Í MAGAZINE
VOLUME VII APRIL, 1941 NUMBER 1
The World-Wide Law
Chester F. Barnett
- BAHÁ’U’LLÁH CAME TO ESTABLISH
- THE KINGDOM PROMISED BY CHRIST
THERE ARE fundamental and distinguishing principles taught and exemplified in the Bahá’í Faith not found in any other religion. If this were not true no reason could be ascribed for its existence.
If we look to the wisdom of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, the great Exemplar of the Bahá’í Faith, we are taught that there are certain prejudices which destroy the edifice of mankind. These prejudices are religious, racial, national, economic and political. The Oneness of Humanity, as comprehended in the Bahá’í Faith, is a new spiritual concept. To make this concept an actuality ways and means have been divinely appointed to destroy these prejudices which separate and divide mankind. It is through the operation of the administrative order being developed in the Bahá’í Faith that these prejudices will be destroyed and present-day society transformed.
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When we consider the failure of the great world religions,
each and all, to unify mankind, as shown by history, with the
consequent strife, dissension and discord, we are prone to
question their Divine origin. However, Bahá’u’lláh has assured
us that the teachings of these religions were suited to
the needs and capacities of the ages when given.
Experience has taught that lack of a successor to the Founder in whom is lodged authority to interpret the words and language of a new world teaching, and failure to authorize institutions and the necessary organization to effectuate its purposes, have resulted in much of the religious strife found in history, with even ultimate loss of the real spirit of the Founder.
The Founders of the Bahá’í Faith, through that Divine inspiration which is the property alone of a Prophet, have pointed the way through the means at hand in this age to unite mankind in a combined spiritual and social order.
BAHÁ’U’LLÁH’s WILL AND TESTAMENT
The Bahá’í administrative order derives its authority
directly from Bahá’u’lláh, the Author. In His Will and
Testament He appointed His Son, ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, the Center
of His Covenant, with the admonition to all believers to turn
to Him as the source and center of interpretation, declaring
in substance that the Voice of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá shall be taken and
considered as the Voice of Bahá’u’lláh. Then, ‘Abdu’l-Bahá
in His Will and Testament appointed Shoghi Effendi, His
grandson, Guardian of the Bahá’í Faith, with provision for
a successor in the Guardianship in the first born of the lineal
descendants of Shoghi Effendi, or succession in another Branch
of the Holy Family in case of spiritual incapacity of such first
born. Not only that, all authority to interpret the Writings
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of Bahá’u’lláh and ‘Abdu’l-Bahá has been lodged in the
Guardianship.
Coupled with the Institution of the Guardianship are the local Houses of Justice, the secondary Houses of Justice, and a Universal House of Justice yet to be formed, all as authorized by the Will and Testament of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá. In the fullness of time the Universal House of Justice will be instituted, and the membership thereof elected by the secondary Houses of Justice, now known as the National Spiritual Assemblies, of the Bahá’í world.
The Guardian of the Faith will be the “sacred head” of the Universal House of Justice with authority to appoint “hands of the Cause” to aid him in the execution of his duties.
Under the Will and Testament of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá the Universal House of Justice shall have authority to enact laws suitable to the exigencies of the time not inconsistent with the words and language of the Writings of Bahá’u’lláh and ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, as interpreted by the Guardian, and to repeal the same if found necessary.
But the objection may be made that there is no check upon
the power of interpretation by the Guardian, or the power
of legislation by the Universal House of Justice. The answer
to that objection is found in the express words and language
of the Writings left by Bahá’u’lláh and ‘Abdu’l-Bahá embodying
all the vital tenets of the Cause, so that occasion for
interpretation and legislation on all vital tenets of the Cause,
while important, is incidental to the application of the body
of revealed Truth. All experience of the past points to the
lack of an authorized interpreter and of foreordained agencies
of administration, after the passing of the Founder, as the
most conspicuous sources of strife and discord among followers,
resulting in perversion and ultimate collapse of the reality
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of religions. Therefore, the Founders of the Bahá’í Faith
have assured unerring guidance in the exercise of the functions
of the Guardianship and the Universal House of Justice.
We have been instructed by the Guardian as to the high mission which the Bahá’í Administrative Order is destined to perform in the affairs of the world. He has written: “Not only will the present-day Spiritual Assemblies be styled differently in the future, but they will be enabled also to add to their present functions those powers, duties and prerogatives necessitated by the recognition of the Faith of Bahá’u’lláh, not merely as one of the recognized religious systems of the world, but as the State Religion of an independent and Sovereign Power. And as the Bahá’í Faith permeates the masses of the peoples of East and West, and its truth is embraced by the majority of the peoples of a number of the Sovereign States of the world, will the Universal House of Justice attain the plenitude of its power, and exercise, as the supreme organ of the Bahá’í Commonwealth, all the rights, the duties, and responsibilities incumbent upon the world’s future super-state.” (The World Order of Bahá’u’lláh, pp. 6-7)
THE FEDERAL PRINCIPLE
‘Abdu’l-Bahá has placed His approval upon the principle
of federalism underlying the Federal Government of the
United States of America, as applicable to the relationships
now existing between the peoples and nations of the world.
(The World Order of Bahá’u’lláh, p. 37). In describing
this world government the Guardian has further said: “This
commonwealth must, as far as we can visualize it, consist of
a world legislature, whose members will, as the trustees of
the whole of mankind, ultimately control the entire resources
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of all the component nations, and will enact such laws as shall
be required to regulate the life, satisfy the needs, and adjust
the relationships of all races and peoples. A world executive,
backed by an international Force, will carry out the decisions
arrived at, and apply the laws enacted by, this world legislature,
and will safeguard the organic unity of the whole commonwealth.
A world tribunal will adjudicate and deliver its
compulsory and final verdict in all and any disputes that may
arise between the various elements constituting this universal
system.” (The World Order of Bahá’u’lláh, p. 203)
A practical illustration of the principle of federalism is the structure of the Federal Government of the United States of America. The Constitution of the United States has created three separate and distinct departments in the Federal Government, —legislative, executive and judicial. This Federal Government has been vested with certain powers which the states comprising the Federation are powerless to exercise for themselves as separate entities, and other powers which they could not be trusted to exercise efficiently in the interest of all. Notwithstanding these cedings of power to the Federal Government, power is retained over matters necessary to local self-government. These are the underlying principles of a federated government.
In the same manner, the New World Order as elucidated
by the Guardian contemplates a super-state in which shall be
created legislative, executive and judicial functions. Its jurisdiction
shall comprise certain powers which the member nations
are powerless to exercise for themselves as separate
entities, and other powers which they could not be trusted to
exercise efficiently in the interest of all. The Guardian has
suggested what some of these powers shall be. Besides the
police power already mentioned, necessary to prevent wars
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and reduce armaments, it shall be empowered to enact laws
with respect to the teaching of a world language, a uniform
and universal currency and of weights and measures. It is
only by vesting such a super-state with sufficient power that
“the economic resources of the world will be organized, its
sources of raw materials will be tapped and fully utilized, its
markets will be co-ordinated and developed, and the distribution
of its products will be equitably regulated,” as stated by
the Guardian. (The World Order of Bahá’u’lláh, p. 204)
THE DIVINELY-APPOINTED INSTITUTION
The powers mentioned are not all inclusive of what such a super-state shall exercise. Their mention is sufficient to point the way to that Divinely-appointed institution which shall be fashioned to eliminate religious, racial, national, economic and political prejudices which now separate and divide mankind.
Let no one fall into the error of supposing that the Administrative
Order in the plenitude of its power will supplant
national jurisdiction over domestic affairs. Such a development
would destroy the principle of federalism which
‘Abdu’l-Bahá has declared to be applicable to a federation of
nations, and lead to excessive centralization which the Guardian
has stated shall be avoided. The principle of federalism
requires a super-state with powers such as the Guardian has
mentioned, delegating to the member nations such powers as
they require for the discharge of their respective functions.
The language of the Guardian has made this plain wherein
he said: “Let there be no misgivings as to the animating purpose
of the world-wide Law of Bahá’u’lláh. Far from aiming
at the subversion of the existing foundations of society, it seeks
to broaden its base, to remold its institutions in a manner consonant
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with the needs of an ever-changing world. It can conflict
with no legitimate allegiances, nor can it undermine essential
loyalties. Its purpose is neither to stifle the flame of a
sane and intelligent patriotism in men’s hearts, nor to abolish
the system of national autonomy so essential if the evils of
excessive centralization are to be avoided. It does not ignore,
nor does it attempt to suppress, the diversity of ethnical origins,
of climate, of history, of language and tradition, of thought
and habit, that differentiate the peoples and nations of the
world. It calls for a wider loyalty, for a larger aspiration
than any that has animated the human race. It insists upon
the subordination of national impulses and interests to the
imperative claims of a unified world. It repudiates excessive
centralization on one hand, and disclaims all attempts at uniformity
on the other.” (The World Order of Bahá’u’lláh,
pp. 41-42)
In response to the manifest need for a federation of nations, as contemplated in the Bahá’í Faith, we meet with the objection that it is an impractical ideal. The answer to that objection is the application of the principle of federalism to the original thirteen States of the United States of America, and forty-eight as a whole, with their diversity of languages, religions and races. Distances between nations and lack of means of contacting each other were barriers which in all former ages of the world prevented such a union of nations. Scientific discoveries and modern means of transportation and communication have so unified the world materially, that it must be welded together spiritually and politically, or perish.
Another objection to a federation of nations is the probability
of inability to acquire impartial agencies of administration.
We can conceive that there might be adequate representation
in any parliament or congress created, so that necessary
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and proper laws might be enacted. But could the office
of executive be entrusted to a citizen of any particular nation,
or the judiciary to the members of a part of the nations only?
There is reason to believe from the writings of the Guardian
that in the initial effort of the nations to formulate a world
commonwealth an attempt will be made by some governmental
device to surmount these difficulties in administration. It is
only through trial and error that the member nations of the
world commonwealth will come to understand that the supreme
organ of the world commonwealth in the attainment of its
purposes must have a spiritual background entirely divorced
from the secular in origin. (The World Order of Bahá’u’lláh,
p. 7)
THE NUCLEUS AND PATTERN
It behooves the followers of Bahá’u’lláh to realize the high mission which the Administrative Order will be called upon to perform, and the part each individual must take in its development. Through its agency a large body of persons in the world must be trained to develop a world organization capable of exercising all the rights, the duties, and responsibilities incumbent upon the world’s future super-state. Such an organization will be the Universal House of Justice, with the Guardian as its “sacred head,” Divinely appointed to develop the necessary foundation principle, the Oneness of Humanity, with elective representation vested in every nation in the world, and freedom from any political domination distinctive to any member nation. In it will be contained the nucleus necessary to the executive and judicial elements of the future super-state. Its origin and development will be sure guarantees of that impartiality in administration which the supreme organ of the world commonwealth must exercise.
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Is there any other manner in which the long promised
Kingdom of God on earth may come to pass? Was there ever
a period in the world’s history when God’s Kingdom was more
needed than now?
It should not be forgotten that Jesus the Christ promised the Kingdom of God on earth, and His own particular prayer has been a continual intercession throughout the ages for that Divine consummation. The whole of His Teachings were designed to prepare the world for the Kingdom. The mission of the Bahá’í Faith is in fulfillment of the promises of Christ, and in the manner He foretold.
CONQUEST
Gertrude W. Robinson
- My heart was as a city rimmed about
- By fortress walls, impregnable in power.
- There was no room within for any doubt
- Of conquest in Life’s trying battle hour.
- My own desire was cradled in a shrine
- To which I brought the offerings of each day;
- I was all confident this heart of mine
- Could not be conquered. Self held regal sway.
- And then Love came with humble mien; unsheathed
- A sword of Wisdom on the fortress wall.
- My heart that once with selfish passion seethed,
- Bowed down before Love’s universal call.
- My city crumbled. In defeat I knew
- That out of selflessness my victory grew.
From a Panama Diary
Louise Caswell and Cora H. Oliver
II
MRS. TERESA COMBER, a Spaniard, who has lived here since
childhood, has helped us both in material and spiritual ways
by acquainting us with the background of the Panamanians
and taking us to places which we would not have found by ourselves.
With her we visited the dry-docks, among the largest
in the world, since closed to the public; Chinese gardens where
we saw the primitive manner of living as portrayed in the
picture “The Good Earth,” two small towns on the Old Panama
Road, San Francisco de la Caleta and Pedregal; a lottery
drawing; the large public market; the sandy beach where native
boats from islands and the coast were anchored to unload
their cargoes of fruit, vegetables and charcoal; and the historical
flat arch of the Santo Domingo Church, the only flat
arch in the world. As we drove along the highway to the
interior we saw cows under cocoanut trees; these two kinds of
milk producers made us thirsty, so we stopped at a thatched
roof hut for some pipa juice (milk of the green cocoanut)
which was very refreshing. Among the brightly colored flora
were: moon flower vines with pale blue blossoms; buginvillaea
vines, purple, fucshia, orange and pink; cactus; sugar cane;
golden dew-drop with purple flowers and gold berries; wild
bananas; cashew trees; cotton trees with yellow flowers;
poincianas, with white, yellow and pink flowers; wild plantain;
mahogany trees; banyan trees; alligator pear, mango and cabbage
trees; alamenda vines; coral vines, known by Spaniards
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as “cadena de amor”—love’s chain; royal frangipani trees;
papaya trees; calabash trees with gourds. And among the
fauna, morphos—blue butterflies; macaws; and iguanas—
edible lizards.
Mrs. Comber, a rare and gifted person, explained points of interest to us, and our friendship was cemented as the conversation gradually changed from the tropical life around us to a discussion of the Source of life, “the one Power which animates and dominates all things which are but manifestations of Its energy.”
The sudden death of President Arosemena on December 16 has plunged the Republic into a period of mourning. We joined the throng at the Cathedral for the funeral, and watched the procession for two hours. Circumstances have given Panama three presidents in one month.
We have extended our teaching activities to the Atlantic side of the Isthmus, to Cristobal and Colon, where we gave the Teachings to several people and left literature at the Y. M. C. A. We visited Mr. and Mrs. Ralph Edgecombe, friends of the Cause who have recently come to Panama from Haiti. They are true lovers of mankind, standing out as beacon lights in a sea of racial prejudice.
Dr. Octavio Mendez Pereira, Rector of the Universidad
Nacional, formerly Panama’s minister to England and France
and at one time Secretary of Public Instruction, gave us his
picture and an article for The Bahá’í World, vol. VIII. As far
as our knowledge goes Dr. Pereira is Panama’s leading literary
figure. He has written extensively on the history of the Republic
and now conducts a daily column in “La Estrella.” He
has shown special courtesy to us. When we called at his office
one day he was presiding at a directors’ meeting. Waving aside
everyone, including the special guard at the door, he came to
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meet us and ushered us to his private desk, much to the surprise
of all.
The three schools we visited this month were: La Boca (colored) in the Zone whose superintendent, Mr. Osborne, is interested in the Teachings; Escuela Profesional in Panama; Lyceo de las Señoritas in Panama where we presented Bahá’í literature to Mme. Calvo, one of Panama’s leading women.
We were overjoyed to find that Mrs. McMillan, who learned of the Faith from Cora, (on the boat en route to Panama), has written for Bahá’í literature from Colombia, where Mr. and Mrs. McMillan expect to live for several years.
Through Dr. Richard Behrendt, German Jewish refugee and professor of sociology and economics at the Universidad Nacional, and his wife, we have met other interesting people— among them Dr. Walter Watson, philosophy professor, and his wife; Mr. Cespedes, director of secondary education in Panama, and Mrs. Cespedes, of North America, and many others. The two young Panamanian women who have come here to exchange Spanish for English lessons have both shown appreciation for our friendship and told us that our attitude was exceptional for North Americans, one of them going so far as to say that she had formerly had a low opinion of the people from the United States. This young woman’s innocent remark expresses a common attitude which confronts us in our teaching mission.
Three months’ stay in this Republic where the land is divided and the world united by the Panama Canal challenges us to persevere in our glorious task “so fraught with responsibilities and so rich in possibilities.”
January 1-February 7, 1940. “O people of Bahá! Ye are the breezes of spring that are wafted over the world.” (Bahá’u’lláh)
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At the dawn of each day we commune with God, supplicating
His assistance and giving thanks for His bounties. We
try to follow the noble example of Martha Root who prayed
much. It has been reported that she said the Tablet of Ahmad
three times daily and sometimes nine times. We have found
that the confirmations of Bahá’u’lláh descend upon us when we
pray for specific matters, however small; we then act with complete
confidence as though our prayer had already been answered.
Public lectures were given at La Boca (Jamaican) Women’s Life Problem Club by invitation of the president of the club; an illustrated lecture on the Temple at the Universidad Nacional de Panama, in Spanish, to a group of students, the Rector and professors; another illustrated Temple lecture at the Balboa Army and Navy Y. M. C. A., which has opened the way for future work and a lecture on the Atlantic side in the Cristobal Y. M. C. A. Excellent radio and newspaper publicity was given these lectures by their respective sponsors. These public lectures represented months of persistent foundation work. While we can have no meetings where we live we are exchanging hospitality with our Panamanian friends as well as English and Spanish lessons.
We have observed Panamanian life and customs by attending graduation exercises at various schools, riding through the streets at carnival time, and attending a mass in the beauteous ruins of the cathedral of La Vieja. We also attended a large military review in the Canal Zone in honor of President Boyd of the Republic of Panama. As the strains of the national anthem of Panama played by the United States Army Band reached us we were thrilled at the thought of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s promise for this privileged land and could hardly believe we were here to play a part in its unfoldment.
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A recent letter from a Bahá’í friend, Mrs. Haney, has
been such an inspiration to us that we have read it several times
and wish to share it. She writes, in part: “When the famous,
intelligent, magnetic and lovable pioneer—she with all the
graces and spiritual capacity to make one a winning personality
—Lua Getsinger . . . made a wonderful pioneer trip to India,
and she surmounted every difficulty in her path and doors
opened for her in the most miraculous way, the Master said of
her and her work, She could not have accomplished this service
save for the confirmations of Bahá’u’lláh . . . in a greater or
lesser degree the beautiful words of the Master may be applied
to every pioneer, for the promises of God to His creatures are
always fulfilled. We have but to do our part.”
The Master said, in speaking of pioneers, “to advance always, to achieve some new service every day, and to widen the horizon of the intellect every hour—these three rules must become a part of the program of their lives. With steadfast resolution and firm feet they must stand before every difficulty . . .”
One other quotation comes to me as I write. Bahá’u’lláh said, “Proclaim My Cause before the people and do not fear.” And I recite these words daily: “Go thou straight on and persevere in His service.”
February 7-March 2, 1940. “Peerless is this day, for it is
as the eye to past ages and centuries, and as a light unto the
darkness of the times.” (Bahá’u’lláh) The Bahá’í month of
Dominion, Mulk, has given us glimpses of God’s dominion
over all by unfolding some of the limitless possibilities of the
work here as foretold by our Guardian. Let us not imply, however,
that we have no tests. At times all doors seem closed and
then we remember that even with God there is motion and
stillness, activity and quiescence; and in these dark night hours
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we are conscious that the dawn will break and the sun of the
teachings will arise and illumine this Republic of Panama.
The Guardian tells in The Advent of Divine Justice that at the close of this first century the present generation will hand on to the generation that must succeed it the torch of Divine Guidance . . . that they in turn . . . may carry that torch . . . to the darkest and remotest corners of the earth. During the month of Dominion children have come to the meetings. First two, then five and now nine, and incidentally they have come with a beautiful mother whose son told her of the Faith as a result of the meetings at La Escuela de Artes y Oficios. Our difficulty at present is finding a suitable place to meet. Thus far they have come with the adults and sit with rapt attention and show a remarkable ability for memorizing the written word. What a power they will be as they develop, carrying with them the Creative Word itself. They range in age from eight to thirteen years. Three sisters are Greek and the others are Panamanians.
The La Boca group is radiant and an inspiration to any one coming in contact with them. The sudden arrival of Lorol Schopflocher has further stimulated their interest, some coming to the three meetings during the week and literally hanging on to every word. They are really Panamanians, so we feel we have made a greater inroad into the Republic than we would have thought possible at this time. Surely God will make this downtrodden race glorious. Such faithfulness is enviable and such determination and perseverance to know the truth is to be commended. Truly they will become a great power and will, in turn, arise and assist in establishing the banner of Bahá’u’lláh in this most great land of promise.
The evening of Lorol’s arrival a meeting was held at La
Universidad Nacional through the courtesy of the Rector, at
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which nineteen were present, representing various races and
nationalities. They not only gave a warm response to Lorol’s
talk but also came to the following meetings. No doubt it was
the first inter-racial experience for some of them, but they
found in Bahá’u’lláh’s unifying message a power that transcended
all man-made limitations and barriers. Among them
were a dentist, a superintendent of schools, a statistician, teachers,
a fingerprint expert, a young philosopher, the wife of a
University professor, and a woman attorney. The lovely children
attended and showed such attention and interest as we
have never before witnessed in children at a meeting of this
kind.
The illustrated Temple lecture at the Cristobal Army and Navy Y. M. C. A. attracted the Peruvian Consul and his wife and the Ecuadorian Consul. Their interest was indicated before the lecture began when they introduced themselves to us. The next day we were invited to the home of the Peruvian consul for tea. He had first heard of the Bahá’í Faith from Mrs. Pilkington in Portland, Oregon. The same weekend we attended as guests the Isthmian Religious Workers’ Federation and later became members. This of course means that the group of religious leaders on the Isthmus has recognized us as religious workers also. Some indicated their interest by asking questions. One minister is now reading some of the Teachings.
(To be continued)
O Son of Man!
My eternity is My creation, I have created it for thee. Make it the garment of thy temple. My unity is My handiwork; I have wrought it for thee; clothe thyself therewith, that thou mayest be to all eternity the revelation of My everlasting being.
—BAHÁ’U’LLÁH
Evolution in Social Order
Horace Holley
THE critical intelligence, examining the structure of civilization, remarks the decisive influence of certain symbolic abstractions, like justice, truth, progress, which, though undefined and indefinable, seem to serve as the channels along which the energies of society are conveyed. A society, indeed, continues to exist only as long as there is sub-conscious agreement upon the nature of its basic concepts. The social nature of man functions within the element of symbolic ideal and truth as a ship functions in the sea. When skepticism replaces faith in the security, continuance and rightness of a society, it is as though the sea had dried up, and the ship settles to wreckage on stony ground. From one point of view, a bad civilization is infinitely better than none, for in the complete loss or misdirection of his social instinct man turns his energies not merely against his fellows but also against his own fundamental being. But in times of supreme crisis our option to choose between an imperfect society and anarchy is seized from us: the very nature of crisis is that men no longer act from instinct but from rational concepts which are denials and perversions of the instinctive will to live in an ordered and friendly group.
The constant source of those symbolic values is the family,
the nucleus of all civilization as well as culture in its social
expression. Men are always subconsciously aware of their
childhood in a family. Their mature lives represent effort
to maintain the best and highest family experience, or compensate
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for its lack. The skeptic need not condemn social
instinct because it is irrational or undefined: social instinct is
the family unit asserting itself—asserting the claims of others
—against the self of individualism which would assert that
only itself exists. The complete skeptic shows the triumph
of individualism over family. He can no longer unite with
any group, though the inmost passion of his destructive philosophy
is the cry of the orphan for the parents, for the brothers
and the sisters, whom the orphan never possessed.
It is not really necessary to seek formal definitions for
social justice and for truth and faith in progress. In any given
society, at any given time, the true meaning of the symbol is
its power to evoke social memory and renew faith that the
values of the highest, creative tradition can be fulfilled despite
temporary obstacle. In a living society, instinct animates
action for the maintenance of a quality of human association—
not for the realization of any formal program of rational type.
An agricultural people composing one social class, among whom
the attitude of the neighbor, the fellow human being who
stands in a relationship to family experience, has developed
through generations, producing not merely symbolic festival
but a type of mutually helpful economy (nursing when the
neighbor’s family needs help in illness, gathering for the
raising of a new barn, etc.)—such a people acquires a strong
homogenous instinct. It lives socially, without need of a
rational social philosophy; and when such a people becomes
incorporated in a larger society, as when the old New England
village became part of the American union, they for a long
period bring to the larger society a special value unlike that
brought to it, for example, by an urbanized group among
whom neighborliness does not exist, and whose collective instinct
evolves an economy in which individual enterprise has
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the greatest reward, with family subordinated to the struggle
for power among the dominating individuals.
DOOM OF ARTIFICIAL SOCIETIES
Both the agricultural and the urban group uphold the same political philosophy in such cases; they make use of the same symbolic terms; but time, the great sifter, invariably proves that where there are profound differences in the quality of the social experience of constituent political groups, the groups evolve in different directions and will eventually break asunder unless new and greater forces intervene.
Herein lies the fatal weakness of political societies which
attempt to make the factor of authority and power, plus a
program of state economy, serve as substitutes for the deep,
sub-conscious instinct of unity which in the past has extended
the family experience into racial civilizations possessing homogenous
values. The political society which bases its hope
upon the fulfillment of economic advantage, arbitrarily exerting
the pressure of statute or decree for the spirit of trust
which exists among physical and spiritual neighbors, is nothing
else than an incorporated venture, an elaboration of the freebooter’s
expectation of treasure, and its term expires with
frustration of material hope. Nothing takes the place of actual
human experience, the struggles and sufferings of people living
out their inner dream, satisfying their self-respect, seeking
fulfillment in happy human relations rather than in isolating
wealth or power. Indeed, there is a vital distinction to be
made between organic societies and those which are artificial
and short-lived. Just as a united family can survive hardships,
troubles, difficulties and sorrows which would sever mere
acquaintances in a brief time, so will the homogenous, organic
society endure for centuries, while the great aggregates of
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military victory or political domination invariably shatter
when their inner divergence coincides with sufficient duality
of advantage outside. The artificial society can have every
external mark of the organic society: political agencies, cultural
institutions, economic instruments and even creeds and
rites of worship; but its lack of animating spirit reveals the
body without soul. Sooner or later, the selfish advantages
or the pressure of fear or the habit of inertia binding its people
together will not avail against new spiritual or social influences
exerted from without. A lifeless society can accomplish
nothing which proceeds from the mysterious forces of life
itself.
“No place is there for any one to flee to when once Thy laws have been sent down, and no refuge can be found by any soul after the revelation of Thy Commandments.” (Prayers and Meditations, p. 197)
THE CYCLE OF EXPERIENCE
But the law of development is likewise organic, and no
society endures beyond its full cycle of collective experience.
During the ages when tribes and races were being formed,
undoubtedly the power of family instinct weakened, social
symbols lost their mutuality, and the people traversed a time
of transition when tradition went down in confusion and the
future appeared dark and insecure. Later, when the larger
society received its historical shape and outline, the social instinct
was reborn in association with conceptions of justice, truth
and progress corresponding to the nature of the new and larger
unit of tribe or race. The family returned, no longer an end in
itself but a means to the greater end of the inter-family group.
But this principle of development, which carries a society
through the full cycle from birth to death to rebirth, is only
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temporarily obscured by the rise and collapse of artificial
political units. The rise of the artificial society, indeed, is only
possible during the periods of transition, when men’s hold on
mutual values and experiences is temporarily weak. In this
respect, an artificial society would represent the spiritual death
intervening between the loss of the tradition and the rise of
the new ideal.
Evolution, then, in terms of social order, can mean nothing else than man’s capacity to form organic unions of increasing size and complexity until the world of mankind has realized itself as the supreme organism of life on this planet.
But human destiny can not be defined merely as a process by which the fundamental social instinct longest associated with the family somehow carries the family outward until it includes the world. The social instinct in itself is no less conservative than capable of change. It preserves each unit with the same devoted loyalty that it at a previous stage composed the unit from lesser units. The social instinct today is struggling, with the supreme effort of all history, to preserve units which have fulfilled their usefulness and can no longer stand as ends to themselves. Even though the modern nation, after the experience of several hundred years, has become a tremendous agency for the fulfillment of men’s latent powers and the attainment of their ideals, nevertheless it is incapable of dealing with the supra-national problems of raw material and distribution which have come into being since the effect of science revolutionized human work and thought, and is likewise incapable of creating spiritual relationships among races, classes and creeds. One cannot look to the national units of society today, with their conflicting philosophies, to evolve, of their own experience, a true world order.
Social evolution, in fact, has never been confined to the
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family instinct; it has made use of that divine endowment of
unifying possibility as the agency for the spread of spiritual
truth. Man’s social evolution has, in reality, been his religious
and not merely his political or cultural history.
It is here that the man of faith parts from the man who trusts entirely in psychology or sociology as interpreter, guide and energizer of civilization. Our sub-conscious memory of good is nothing else than a connection, lost through generations of increasing unbelief, with the principles and laws revealed when the traditional religion was born. The vital importance of the family is not because it can originate truth but because it gives to each successive truth its most intimate and spontaneous expression. In order to displace the lesser by the greater truth, as when the tribe evolved into the race, or the races into the nation, the family unit must invariably be shattered and then re-formed.
Thus the periodic rise and fall of city culture and urban civilization: the city is the destroyer of the family unit in its traditional mold, as the country serves as the slow healer, the patient and timeless restorer of this core of human experience.
“Divest, then, Thy servants, O my God, of the garments of self and desire . . . that the earth and all that is therein may be cleansed of whatever is alien to Thee, or any thing that manifesteth aught save Thyself.” (Prayers and Meditations)
BRINGER OF THE SPIRIT
Stripped of its outer husk, religion has ever come to men
as bringer of the spirit by which and in which alone they could
combine in a larger social unit. Religion has enabled the race
to create the new and larger mold of community life from
age to age. It has educated men ethically to realize life on
ever higher levels of experience. It has developed the mind
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to awareness of justice, truth and progress transcending its
former concepts. It has made possible a greater and richer
environment of human relations within which the soul could
progressively unfold its latent endowment. Religion has
periodically brought the soul of man back into the mystery
of the Kingdom of God, that man might develop understanding
of himself and other men as inhabitants of that Kingdom.
It is our awareness of the Kingdom, quickening the instinctive
sense of mutuality and oneness nurtured in the family,
that makes social evolution possible for a race combining body,
mind and soul.
The individualist, the “orphaned” soul, looks to religion only for its abstract philosophy, its cosmic element. He would divorce religion from the whole scheme of social evolution and make it serve some need of individual salvation. Every age has its conflict between normal experience and types of psychic frustration, but the main channel of human history leads not to the cell of the recluse but to the gathering of the beloved friends.
In religion we have the mystery of the Father producing relationship between His spiritual children. The concept of family is raised up into the whole exaltation of being, raised up and universalized until one can realize mankind itself as a family, a mutuality, a common trust, a neighborhood of coworkers, sustained by the outpouring of that same Spirit which, in the days of Moses or Christ or Muḥammad, created relationship throughout the smaller orbit of society existing before the physical unification of the earth.
From the history of religion we learn that political citizenship
is not sufficient to produce effective and enduring unity.
The meaning and possibility of secular citizenship is vast,
because the concept of citizenship implies equality and responsibility
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and cooperation in matters transcending race and creeds.
But when citizenship is inspired with one divine Spirit, this is
the perfection of human experience and the supreme privilege
of life in the Kingdom. This is the lesson we learn from
Bahá’u’lláh about the evolution of social order, the attainment
of peace: that first there is a Divine creation, an outpouring
of the Spirit, and then there is a gathering of peoples within
this Spirit; and when the peoples of faith by knowledge, by
suffering, by prayer, by discipline, have laid away their former
limited social and psychological personalities, and been imbued
with the Spirit, then at last there is true social order, true fellowship,
true civilization, upon earth. For Bahá’u’lláh has
supplied the universal and worldwide types of truth and justice
which harmonize man’s inner life with his social experience.
The future of society is not contingent upon the possibility
of sixty-five different nations coming to agree upon some
political scheme and to set up international institutions for the
administration of a secular world law yet non-existent and unknown.
The future of society, its relief from the plagues
of war and revolution, depends entirely upon the capacity of
the people to recognize and revere the Divine Law Giver,
since religion today establishes a morality and an ethics to be
the basis of man’s ordered life. We are to obey God, not man.
“I testify, O my God, that Thou hast, from eternity, sent down upon Thy servants naught else except that which can cause them to soar up and be drawn near unto Thee, and to ascend unto the heaven of Thy transcendent oneness. Thou hast established Thy bounds among them, and ordained them to stand among Thy creatures as evidences of Thy justice and as signs of Thy mercy, and to be the stronghold of Thy protection amongst Thy people, that no man may in Thy realm transgress against his neighbor.” (Bahá’u’lláh)
The Divine Art of Living
A Compilation
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
GRATITUDE AND PRAISE
DO YOU REALIZE how much you should thank God for His
blessings? If you should thank Him a thousand times with
each breath it would not be sufficient, because God has created
and trained you. He has protected you from every affliction
and prepared every gift and bestowal. Consider what a kind
Father He is. . . . He has given us a kind father and compassionate
mother, . . . refreshing water, gentle breezes and
the sun shining above our heads. In brief, He has supplied
all the necessities of life although we did not ask for any of
these great gifts. . . . He has created us in this radiant century,
a century longed for and expected by all the sanctified
souls in past periods. . . . The philosophers of history have
agreed that this century is equal to one hundred past centuries.
This is true from every standpoint. This is the century of
science, inventions, discoveries and universal laws. This is
the century of the revelation of the mysteries of God. . . .
Therefore you must render thanks and glorification to God
that you were born in this age. Furthermore you have listened
to the call of Bahá’u’lláh. . . . You were asleep; you are awakened.
Your ears are attentive; your hearts are informed.
You have acquired the love of God. You have attained to the
knowledge of God. This is the most great bestowal of God.
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. . . You must appreciate the value of this bounty and engage
your time in mentioning and thanking the True One. You
must live in the utmost happiness. If any trouble or vicissitude
comes into your lives, if your heart is depressed on account
of health, livelihood or vocation, let not these things affect
you. They should not cause unhappiness, for Bahá’u’lláh
has brought you divine happiness. . . . Render continual thanks
unto God so that the confirmations of God may encircle you
all. (‘Abdu’l-Bahá, Promulgation of Universal Peace, pp.
182, 183)
Be thou happy and well pleased and arise to offer thanks to God, in order that thanksgiving may conduce to the increase of bounty.
Thank thou the kind Father . . . that the world of creation and the heart of the universe found comfort in His mercy.
Reflect upon this: What a bounty and what a favor it is that the sages of the world and the wise among mankind are incompetent of comprehension, yet the little children of the Kingdom have attained the Truth, dwell and abide under the shadow of the Tree of Life and are assisted by the eternal and everlasting gift!
O Compassionate God! Thanks be to Thee for Thou hast awakened me and made (me) conscious. Thou hast given me a seeing eye and favored me with a hearing ear; hast led me to Thy Kingdom and guided me to Thy Path. . . . O Thou Compassionate God! Bestow upon me a heart which, like unto glass, may be illumined with the light of Thy love, and confer upon me a thought which may change this world into a rose-garden through the spiritual bounty. Thou art the Compassionate, the Merciful! Thou art the Great, Beneficent God! (Tablets of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, pp. 483, 426, 427, 484, 640, 641)
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Reflect, O people, upon the mercy of God and upon His
favors, then thank Him in mornings and evenings. (Tablets
of Bahá’u’lláh, p. 89)
Wherefore be thankful to God, for having strengthened thee to aid His Cause, for having made the flowers of knowledge and understanding to spring forth in the garden of thine heart. Thus hath His grace encompassed thee, and encompassed the whole of creation. Beware, lest thou allow anything whatsoever to grieve thee. (Gleanings from the Writings of Bahá’u’lláh, p. 303)
PRAISE
O my God! O my God! Praise be unto Thee! for Thou hast created me of the most excellent fabric, in the most honored form, and in the most exalted kind of Thy creation; didst nurture me from the breast of Thy favor, . . . until I grew up under the protection of Thy divinity, and reached full growth through Thy favor and grace. Then Thou hast made me to experience various circumstances and suffer countless calamities, afflictions, troubles and griefs. . . . Thou hast finally guided me to the fountain of Thy favor and illumined my sight through the light of Thy guidance, quickened my spirit with Thy fragrances of holiness and moved my heart with the breeze of the garden of Thy favor. . . . Verily, Thou art powerful to do that which Thou willest! Verily, Thou art potent and mighty. (Tablets of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, pp. 614, 615)
I give praise to Thee, O my God, that the fragrance of Thy lovingkindness hath enraptured me, and the gentle winds of Thy mercy have inclined me in the direction of Thy bountiful favors. (Bahá’u’lláh, Prayers and Meditations, p. 240)
Glory be to Thee, O my God! I can have no doubt that
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should the . . . breeze of Thy bountiful favor cease . . . to
breathe over all created things, the entire creation would perish.
. . . Magnified, therefore, . . . be the potency of Thine exalted
might. (Idem, p. 90)
Exalted art Thou above my praise and the praise of any one beside me, above my description and the description of all who are in heaven and all who are on earth! (Idem, p. 315)
Magnified be Thy name, O my God, for that Thou hast manifested the Day which is the King of Days, the Day which Thou didst announce unto Thy chosen ones and Thy Prophets in Thy most excellent Tablets, the Day whereon Thou didst shed the splendor of the glory of all Thy names upon all created things. (Idem, p. 117)
O Son of Being! Make mention of Me on My earth, that in My heaven I may remember thee, thus shall Mine eyes and thine be solaced. (Arabic Hidden Words, 43)
Intone, O My servant, the verses of God that have been received by thee, as intoned by them that have drawn nigh unto Him, that the sweetness of Thy melody may kindle thine own soul, and attract the hearts of all men. Whoso reciteth, in the privacy of his chamber, the verses revealed by God, the scattering angels of the Almighty shall scatter abroad the fragrance of the words uttered by his mouth, and shall cause the heart of every righteous man to throb. Though he may, at first, remain unaware of its effect, yet the virtue of the grace vouchsafed unto him must needs sooner or later exercise its influence upon his soul. (Gleanings, p. 295)
BAHÁ’U’LLÁH’S GRATITUDE
I have wakened every morning to the light of Thy praise
and Thy remembrance, and reached every evening inhaling
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the fragrances of Thy mercy. (Prayers and Meditations, pp.
103, 104)
Every time I lift up mine eyes unto Thy heaven, I call to mind Thy highness and Thy loftiness, and Thine incomparable glory and greatness; and every time I turn my gaze to Thine earth, I am made to recognize the evidences of Thy power and the tokens of Thy bounty. And when I behold the sea, I find that it speaketh to me of Thy majesty, and of the potency of Thy might, and of Thy sovereignty and of Thy grandeur. And at whatever time I contemplate the mountains, I am led to discover the ensigns of Thy victory and the standards of Thine omnipotence. (Prayers and Meditations, p. 272)
Every trouble that hath touched me in Thy path hath added to my joy and increased my gladness. I swear by Thee, O Thou Who art the King of Kings! None of the kings of the earth hath power to hinder me from remembering Thee or from extolling Thy virtues. (Idem, p. 105)
I yield Thee such thanks as can cause the sick to draw nigh unto the waters of Thy healing, and can help those who are far from Thee to approach the living fountain of Thy presence. (Idem, p. 329)
JOY
O Son of Man! Rejoice in the gladness of thine heart, that thou mayest be worthy to meet Me and to mirror forth My beauty. (Arabic Hidden Words, 36)
Know thou that there are two kinds of happiness: spiritual and material.
As to material happiness . . . it is but imagination, an image
reflected in mirrors, a specter and shadow. . . . It is something
which but slightly removes one’s afflictions; yet the
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people imagine it to be joy, delight, exultation and blessing.
All the material blessings, including food, drink, etc., tend
only to allay thirst, hunger and fatigue. They bestow no
delight on the mind nor pleasure on the soul; nay, they furnish
only the bodily wants. So this kind of happiness has no
real existence.
As to spiritual happiness, this is the true basis of the life of man, because life is created for happiness, not for sorrow. . . . . Happiness is life; sorrow is death. Spiritual happiness is life eternal. This is a light which is not followed by darkness. . . . This is a life that is not followed by death. . . . This great blessing and precious gift is obtained by man only through the guidance of God. . . .
This happiness is the fundamental basis from which man is created, worlds are originated, the contingent beings have existence and the world of God appears like unto the appearance of the sun at mid-day.
This happiness is but the love of God. . . .
Were it not for this happiness the world of existence would not have been created. (‘Abdu’l-Bahá, Star of the West, vol. 7, p. 163)
This is the day of rejoicing and the hour of ecstasy! This is the season of the dead arising from the graves and gathering together! And this is the promised time for the attainment of plenteous grace.
Be calm, be strong, be grateful, and become a lamp full of light, that the darkness of sorrows be annihilated, and that the sun of everlasting joy arise from the dawning-place of heart and soul, shining brightly. (Tablets of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, p. 405)
BAHÁ’Í ANSWERS TO WORLD QUESTIONS
CAN POLITICAL ALLIANCE SECURE LASTING PEACE?
AMONG the bonds of unity is the political bond. How often we find that certain governments have been politically bound together, amongst them obtaining a political intercourse and oneness which afterwards was subjected to change and these governments arose against each other on the field of battle. Thus the oneness of politics is not sufficient. (‘Abdu’l-Bahá, Bahá’í Scriptures, p. 280)
OF WHAT IS THE BODY-POLITIC IN NEED?
The body-politic today is greatly in need of a physician.
It is similar to a human body afflicted with severe ailments.
. . . The disease which afflicts the body-politic is lack of love
and absence of altruism. In the hearts of men no real love
is found and the condition is such that unless their susceptibilities
are quickened by some power so that unity, love and
accord may develop within them, there can be no healing, no
agreement among mankind. Love and unity are the needs
of the body-politic today. Without these there can be no
progress or prosperity attained. . . . Science cannot cure the
illness of the body-politic. Science cannot create amity and
fellowship in human hearts. Neither can patriotism nor racial
allegiance effect a remedy. It must be effected solely through
the divine bounties and spiritual bestowals which have descended
from God in this day for that purpose. This is an
exigency of the times and the divine remedy has been provided.
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The spiritual teachings of the religion of God can
alone create this love, unity and accord in human hearts.
(‘Abdu’l-Bahá, Promulgation of Universal Peace, p. 166)
Consider the civilization of the Occident—how it has occasioned commotion and agitation to the people of the world. . . . It is impossible to reform these violent, overwhelming evils, except the peoples of the world become united in affairs, or in one religion. Harken to the voice of this oppressed One, and adhere to the Most Great Peace. (Bahá’u’lláh, Bahá’í Scriptures, p. 150)
It becomes evident that the oneness of Reality—perfect amity among mankind—cannot be accomplished save through the power of the Holy Spirit, for the world of humanity is likened to the body and the Holy Spirit is likened to the animating power of the body; just as the human spirit is the cause of the cohesion of the various parts of the human organism, likewise the Holy Spirit is the cause of the unity and amity of all mankind. (‘Abdu’l-Bahá, Bahá’í Scriptures, p. 280)
WHERE IS THE SOURCE OF THIS DIVINE REMEDY?
The principles of His Holiness Bahá’u’lláh, like unto the spirit, shall penetrate the dead body of the world, and the Love of God, like unto an artery, shall beat through the heart of the five continents. The East shall become illumined, the West perfumed, and the children of men shall enter beneath the all-embracing canopy of the oneness of the world of humanity. (‘Abdu’l-Bahá, Bahá’í Scriptures, p. 467)
Every great Cause in this world of existence findeth a
visible expression through three means; first, intention; second,
confirmation; third, action. Today on this earth there
are many souls who are the spreaders of peace and reconciliation
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and are longing for the realization of the oneness and
unity of the world of man; but this intention needs a dynamic
power, so that it may become manifest in the world of being.
Today the divine instructions and lordly exhortations of
Bahá’u’lláh promulgate this most great aim, and the confirmations
of the Kingdom are the supports and defenders of this
eminent intention. For the power of the Word of God is
penetrative and the existence of the divine Kingdom is uninterrupted.
Therefore, ere long it will become evident and
clear that the ensign of the Most Great Peace is the teachings
of Bahá’u’lláh. For the intention, the power and the action,
all the three essential elements are brought together and the
realization of everything in the contingent world dependeth
upon these three principles. (‘Abdu’l-Bahá, Bahá’í Scriptures,
p. 467)
WHAT IS PROMISED FOR THIS CENTURY?
The century has come when all the nations are to be unified.
The century has come when all the nations shall enjoy international peace.
The century has come when all the races and tribes of the world shall do away with racial prejudice and associate fully.
The century has come when all the nativities of the world shall prove to be one home of the human family. Thus may humankind, in its entirety, rest comfortably and in peace under the great and broad tabernacle of the one Lord. (‘Abdu’l-Bahá, Bahá’í Scriptures, p. 399)
Religious and sectarian antagonism, the hostility of races and peoples, and differences among nations, will be eliminated. (‘Abdu’l-Bahá, Unfoldment of World Civilization, p. 45)
I, YAHWEH
BOOK REVIEW
Garreta Busey
Here is an entertaining and instructive account[1] of man’s changing attitude towards God. Because it takes the form of personal history, written by “Yahweh,” god of the ancient Hebrews, it may seem, at first glance, to be irreverent. “The reader realizes almost at once, however, that this is not God Himself, so boldly and so humanly represented, but the personification of man’s idea of God.
As he is represented here, Yahweh has no power of development within himself. He advances only by means of the Prophets, Who receive their wisdom from a higher Source than him. Emerging from among Abraham’s household gods, in Ur, he began to form his character in the mold of purity and justice and righteousness, because Abraham himself possessed those qualities. In those days Yahweh lived with a nomadic people and gave his blessing on flocks and herds. Later, instructed by the inspiration and wisdom of Moses, he set forth the Law. But always, being merely the image of God in the minds and hearts of men, he was to revert to a more human character until some Prophet should lift him again to a higher spiritual plane. By Amos he was endowed once more with justice, by Hosea with compassion, by Isaiah with faith.
Always in search of a Prophet to instruct him, Yahweh yearned
toward the Galilean when He appeared, seeing in Him, mistakenly,
an instrument for bringing in the temporal kingdom of the Jews. But
his suggestion of this plan to Christ brought only the stern command:
“Get thee behind me, Satan.” Later Yahweh does become a veritable
Christian. He learns love and humility. He causes soldiers to turn
away from warfare and goes with Paul to the wide lands of Western
Europe. It is Constantine who persuades him to take up the sword,
and from this time forth Yahweh is to reflect increasingly the more
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human aspects of men’s aspiration, until, in modern times, he finds,
somewhat to his bewilderment, that he is tribal god to each of the
warring nations of Europe. Returning to Palestine to refresh himself
with memories of his youth, he rejects Christ openly, is judged
and disowned by God Himself, and retires into a cave, there to await
his revenge:
“And it shall come to pass that I will drive the nations into the valley of Armageddon where I will sift them as wheat and choose from them the strongest. Aye, that people which is most fierce and mighty in battle I shall choose. “They shall be mine only people and I their only god . . .
“I, Yahweh, shall do this thing against which the ages have prepared me . . . And if perchance there be One mightier than I to thrust me down to the pit, I shall have had my day.”
The book is an ingenious and ironic record of the spiritual aspiration of man, tutored by God’s Chosen Ones, prone to fall into error, lifted from time to time one step higher than ever before. To the Bahá’í reader, however, the record is incomplete. He would add yet another Prophet, Bahá’u’lláh, Who will lead man out of Armageddon, in the clear knowledge that God Himself is inconceivable to the human heart, that we must now forswear that travesty on Him which we have built up in our imaginations and find help only in His direct Word for this day, which tells us what we are to do.
- ↑ I, Yahweh, by Robert Munson Grey, Willett, Clark & Company, 1937.
O Son of Man!
Thou art My dominion and My dominion perisheth not, wherefore fearest thou thy perishing? Thou art My light and My light shall never be extinguished, why dost thou dread extinction? Thou art My glory and My glory fadeth not; thou art My robe and My robe shall never be outworn. Abide then in thy love for Me, that thou mayest find Me in the realm of glory.
—BAHÁ’U’LLÁH
BAHÁ’Í LESSONS
“In this new cycle, education and training are recorded in the Book of God as obligatory and not voluntary.”—‘Abdu’l-Bahá.
The Laws of Bahá’u’lláh
I. Bounty for all Mankind in this Day.
- Divine Law of Kingdom revealed, Gl 12, 210-11; P-M 14, 27.
- Bahá’u’lláh, the Bearer of this Law, P-M 286; WOB 57-63.
- From same Source as laws of other dispensations, Gl 287.
- Only refuge, knowledge and life, P-M 197; Gl 203.
- Supreme power for advancement of men, Gl 93, 331.
- Only power for understanding and unity, Gl 97, 286-7; PUP 158.
- Not mere code, but choice wine, Gl 332-3; HW (P) 33-35, 37.
- Man forbidden to question divine authority, Gl 86-87, 333.
- Obedience required by God, Gl 293, 333; Íqán 217.
- Obedience, prerequisite of spiritual attainment, HW (A) 38-39; Gl 87, 127-9, 330-331.
- Two aspects of revealed law, PUP 387.
- New “outer” laws in this Day, Íqán 238-244, 71-2; PUP 449.
- Meditation: Gl, 332-3; P-M 65-66, 86-87.
- Readings: SAQ XI and XIII.
II. Laws regarding Spiritual Development.
- Search, HW (P) 4, 35; Wisdom 125-7 (also Gl 4-5; Tablets 5-6).
- Effort HW (P) 39-40; Gl 81, 262.
- Love for God, HW (A) 5-7.
- Prayer, HW (A) 16; Gl 265, 280, 295; P-M 283.
- Meditation, Wisdom 162-4.
- Detachment and purity, HW (A) 52-62, (P) 10-12, 32-33; Gl 319; Íqán 91, 3-4.
- Self-surrender, HW (A) 17-18, 45-48; Gl 335-8; P-M 90-91.
- Submission to creational limits, HW (A) 24; Gl 165-7; Íqán 141.
- Faith, Gl 143, 86; SAQ 149-150, 165.
- Certitude, HW (P) 7-9, 33; Íqán 48-49, 120; Gl 104-5.
- Courtesy (reverence), Gl 305; Tablets, 27.
s, Tablets, 8-10; SAQ 251. d security, HW (A) 8-10, 40. amity, HW(A) 48-51. of ‘Abdwl-Bahé III 524-6. 293-5. WYP) 48, 54; Gi 215; Lab 7. aa (G2) vis (EN ies. npanions, HW(P) 3, 56-58. ry, malice, HW(P) 6, 42. gue, HW (A) 26-29, (P) 44, 66; G/ 265, 279. HW(P) 5, 69, 76; Gl 290, 305; Tab 84-85. ) 68; Gl 288, 315. Steadfastness, Gl 289-90. t: Igdn 192-200 (GI 264-272). Advent, 18-22; 24-28; 63-67; B-NE 90-109; 3. srning certain Individual and igations. cnowledge, Tab 11; Igén 99-105; PUP 104-106. ducation and progress, GZ 9, 94-95; B-NE 185-8. ‘ause, G2 196-7; 303-4, 314; HW(A) 41-43. | 80-82; Gl 202; Tad 89. 215-217, 287-288, WOB 41-45, 38-39. ition of civilization), G/ 92-98, 218-219. civilization), Gl 216, 235, 250-1, 342-3. >) 49-55; Tab 57; Gl 276. perty, GZ 278, 297; HW(P) 43. y, B-NE 178. riminals, GZ 219; SAQ 307-12. a and women, B-NE 181-4. 124-139. vvernment, G/ 241; Will and Testament, 10.
- Advent, 69-72.
| Advent 22-253; 31-33.
———“1V. banat Urainances:
Readings: B-NE 158-163; 213-227. Procedure, 1:1 (Prayer); 1-2 (Fasting); 1:13-14.
WITH OUR READERS
WITH this April issue World Order begins volume VII and the second year in its new dress. The Bahá’í Magazine under one name or another has been published for thirty-one years. We are happy to report that our subscription list is increasing, but— it really ought to be bigger, so let us keep up our good work. At present there are a few more than 1600 on the list. It is most encouraging to report that several gifts for foreign library subscriptions have come in lately, but there are still several hundred library subscriptions both at home and abroad that had to be dropped when the library gift was withdrawn which have not been taken care of. Very few libraries as yet will themselves subscribe but many will accept subscriptions and display the magazine. One library is reported as renewing its subscription direct. The editors realize how important it is to make World Order so vital and attractive that any one who reads one copy will want to have it again, and here, too, we need your help. We can use more human interest stories such as Mrs. Hunt’s in the March issue.
An interesting suggestion comes from Los Angeles: “A member of my committee in charge of World Order gives an interesting review at the Feast, following the arrival of the new issue. We find this stimulating to sales and so far the subscriptions seem to be increasing over last year.”
Many words of appreciation have come about Mr. Cobb’s article The World Beyond in the January number. One friend writes it “is the best piece I’ve read in all the Bahá’í literature. Tve read it over and over and can commit it to memory.”
This month we want to share
with you a story sent by Harold
Hunt, a pioneer in Huntington,
West Virginia who tells of an
experience with the poor in that
city, an experience which reminds
us of what Bahá’u’lláh has said
about the poor. Huntington, he
tells us, has many underprivileged.
The city suffered severely
in the 1937 flood and under
the WPA these hard-hit citizens
have built a flood wall as well
[Page 39]
as other projects. “Not the least
hopeful aspect of the future of
the city,” writes Mr. Hunt, “is
the strange common-mindedness
of the people which has, no doubt,
grown from the affliction.” Then
Mr. Hunt continues with the
story of a man whom he met
when he was working with a
volunteer relief committee which
had been formed when there was
not enough money in the treasury
to pay the WPA checks:
“One evening I met the man who has become the object of this tale. He was one of the many poor. Nothing at first seemed to set him apart from the others except an uncommon meekness. He needed a gas stove. . . The man who had loaned him one had come to take it. He was without means of cooking. I gave him a card to the Salvation Army. One day chancing to pass there I entered the Salvation Army place. There stood John Forth. He was in the act of getting a stove. Soon they had promised him one and he prepared to leave for home. Finding he had no money for fare home I offered him some coins. He took them hesitatingly.
“With the passing of the emergency I did not see John any more nor any of the others with whom I had worked. They had kept a promise to invite me to speak to them about the Bahá’í Revelation. This was consummated beautifully.
“On June 17th while standing
on the corner waiting for a
bus a man approached me and
held out a coin to me. ‘Let me
have a nickel change, I want to
pay you.’ The suddenness of his
appearance and his strange request
confused me for a moment.
Most people ask for coins on the
street. They don’t ask for change
or that we should accept money.
This man had on overalls. . . .
Finally it dawned on me that he
was paying back a debt to me.
His face was a mask. That same
meekness however lay there. And
he seemed gentler. When I
realized that my friend John
Forth was the same man I had
befriended and that he was now
showing his appreciation my joy
. . . knew no bounds. I expressed
myself happily to him. He had
found work on a large WPA
project. . . . This humble man
had enriched my life. Certainly
I shall always feel grateful to
him. But my gratitude to God
and to Bahá’u’lláh who thus from
their great bounty have conferred
an inestimable treasure upon me
is greatest.” Then Mr. Hunt
[Page 40]
quotes these words of Bahá’u’lláh:
“If ye meet the debased and
down-trodden, turn not away disdainfully
from them, for the
King of Glory ever watcheth
over them and surroundeth them
with such tenderness as none can
fathom except them that have
suffered their wishes and desires
to be merged in the will of your
Lord, the Gracious, the All-Wise.”
By the way, in the March issue of Bahá’í Youth is printed Harold Hunt’s story of the first believer in West Virginia. Also in that number are excerpts from Lady Blomfield’s book The Chosen Highway which give some of the precious spoken memories of Bahíyyih Khánum, the Greatest Holy Leaf. This little quarterly is full of good things and is only forty cents a year. Send to Mrs. Mae G. Dyer, 119 Schermerhorn St., Brooklyn, N.Y.
We are happy to present to our readers in this issue a study of the Bahá’í Administrative Order by Judge Chester F. Barnett of Peoria, Illinois. This article seems especially timely not only for Bahá’ís but for other groups which are beginning to ask what will be the nature of the new world order which will take the place of the rapidly disintegrating old order. Judge Barnett as one familiar with law and the courts and a careful student of Bahá’í writings is well fitted to write on this subject. In his study of Evolution in Social Order, Horace Holley searches out causes influencing direction of evolution in social order which are often overlooked, but which become apparent to Bahá’í students. Mr. Holley, one of the editors of World Order and secretary of the Bahá’í National Spiritual Assembly needs no introduction to Bahá’ís. Continued in this number are the notes From a Panama Diary by our pioneers Mrs. Louise Caswell and Mrs. Cora Oliver. We hope other pioneers will follow this example and send us their experiences and observations. Our regular features, including the book review by Miss Busey; Divine Art of Living, a compilation by Mrs. Paine; Bahá’í Lessons, compiled by Mrs. Cox; and Bahá’í Answers to World Questions gathered by Mrs. Kirkpatrick complete this April issue.
Correction: Pan American Day is April 14 and not April 12 as stated in the March number.
BAHÁ’Í LITERATURE
Gleanings From the Writings of Bahá’u’lláh, selected and translated by Shoghi Effendi. The Bahá’í teachings on the nature of religion, the soul, the basis of civilization and the oneness of mankind. $2.00.
Epistle to the Son of the Wolf, translated by Shoghi Effendi. Revealed by Bahá’u’lláh toward the end of His earthly mission, this text is a majestic and deeply-moving exposition of His fundamental principles and laws and of the sufferings endured by the Manifestation for the sake of mankind. Bound in fabrikoid, $1.50.
Kitáb-i-Íqán, Translated by Shoghi Effendi. This work (Book of Certitude) unifies and coordinates the revealed Religions of the past, demonstrating their oneness in fulfillment of the purpose of Revelation. Bound in cloth. 198 pages. $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. $2.00.
Some Answered Questions. ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s explanation of questions concerning the relation of man to God, the nature of the Manifestation, human capacities, fulfillment of prophecy, etc. $1.50.
The Promulgation of Universal Peace. In this collection of His American talks, ‘Abdu’l-Bahá laid the basis for a firm understanding of the attitudes, principles and spiritual laws which enter into the establishment of true Peace. 467 pages. Bound in cloth. $2.50.
Bahá’í Prayers, a selection of Prayers revealed by Bahá’u’lláh, the Báb and ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, each Prayer translated by Shoghi Effendi. 72 pages. Bound in fabrikoid, $0.75. Paper cover, $0.35.
The World Order of Bahá’u’lláh, by Shoghi Effendi. On the nature of the new social pattern revealed by Bahá’u’lláh for the attainment of divine justice in civilization. $1.50.
BAHÁ’Í PUBLISHING COMMITTEE
110 LINDEN AVENUE, WILMETTE, ILLINOIS
The Revelation proclaimed by Bahá’u’lláh, His followers believe, is divine in origin, all-embracing in scope, broad in its outlook, scientific in its method, humanitarian in its principles and dynamic in the influence it exerts on the hearts and minds of men. The mission of the Founder of their Faith, they conceive it to be to proclaim that religious truth is not absolute but relative, that Divine Revelation is continuous and progressive, that the Founders of all past religions, though different in the non-essential aspects of their teachings, “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.” His Cause, they have already demonstrated, stands identified with, and revolves around, the principle of the organic unity of mankind as representing the consummation of the whole process of human evolution. This final stage in this stupendous evolution, they assert, is not only necessary but inevitable, that it is gradually approaching, and that nothing short of the celestial potency with which a divinely ordained Message can claim to be endowed can succeed in establishing it—SHOGHI EFFENDI.
