Mirrored from www.bahai-library.org
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THE OPENING STATEMENT OF THE GOSPEL attributed to Jesus' disciple, John —
"In the beginning was the Word..." — has fascinated readers for two
thousand years. The passage goes on to assert with breath-taking simplicity and
directness a spiritual truth that has been central to all revealed religions,
vindicated time and again in a succession of civilizations down the ages:
"He was in the world, and the world was made by Him". The promised
Manifestation of God appears; a community of believers forms around this focal
centre of spiritual life and authority; a new system of values begins to
reorder both consciousness and behaviour; the arts and sciences respond; a
restructuring of laws and of the administration of social affairs takes place.
Slowly, but irresistibly, a new civilization emerges, one that so fulfils the
ideals and so engages the capacities of millions of human beings that it does
indeed constitute a new world, a world far more real to those who "live,
move, and have their being"[151] in
it than the earthly foundations on which it rests. Throughout the centuries
that follow, society continues to depend for its cohesion and self-confidence
primarily on the spiritual impulse that gave it birth.
With the appearance of Bahá'u'lláh, the phenomenon has recurred — this time on
a scale that embraces the totality of the earth's inhabitants. In the events of
the twentieth century can be seen the first stages
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of the universal transformation of society set in motion by the Revelation of
which Bahá'u'lláh wrote:
I testify that no sooner had the First Word proceeded, through the potency of Thy will and purpose, out of His mouth ... than the whole creation was revolutionized, and all that are in the heavens and all that are on earth were stirred to the depths. Through that Word the realities of all created things were shaken, were divided, separated, scattered, combined and reunited, disclosing, in both the contingent world and the heavenly kingdom, entities of a new creation, and revealing, in the unseen realms, the signs and tokens of Thy unity and oneness.[152]
Shoghi Effendi describes this process of world unification as the "Major
Plan" of God, whose operation will continue, gathering force and momentum,
until the human race has been united in a global society that has banished war
and taken charge of its collective destiny. What the struggles of the twentieth
century achieved was the fundamental change of direction the Divine purpose
required. The change is irreversible. There is no way back to an earlier state
of affairs, however greatly some elements of society may, from time to time, be
tempted to seek one.
The importance of the historic breakthrough that has thus occurred is in no way
minimized by recognition that the process has barely begun. It must lead in
time, as Shoghi Effendi has made clear, to the spiritualization of human
consciousness and the emergence of the global civilization that will embody the
Will of God. Merely to state the goal is to acknowledge the great distance that
the human race has yet to traverse. It was against the most intense resistance
at every level of society, among governed and governors alike, that the
political, social and conceptual changes of the past hundred years were
achieved. Ultimately, they were accomplished only at the cost of terrible
suffering. It would be unrealistic to imagine that the challenges lying ahead
may not exact an even greater toll of a human race that still seeks, by every
means in its power, to avoid the spiritual implications of the experience it is
undergoing. Shoghi Effendi's words on the consequences of this obduracy of
heart and mind make sober reading:
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Adversities unimaginably appalling, undreamed of crises and upheavals, war, famine, and pestilence, might well combine to engrave in the soul of an unheeding generation those truths and principles which it has disdained to recognize and follow.[153]
Barely a third of the twentieth century had elapsed when the Guardian summoned
the followers of Bahá'u'lláh to a far deeper understanding of the Cause itself
than anything they had yet appreciated. The Faith had reached the point, he
said, when it was "ceasing to designate itself a movement, a fellowship
and the like", designations which, although perhaps appropriate at a time
when the message was first being introduced to the West, now "did grave
injustice to its ever-unfolding system". Rejecting as adequate even the
term "religion" in its familiar sense, he pointed out that the Faith
was already:
...visibly succeeding in demonstrating its claim and title to be regarded as a World Religion, destined to attain, in the fullness of time, the status of a world-embracing Commonwealth, which would be at once the instrument and the guardian of the Most Great Peace announced by its Author.[154]
As the century advanced, the same creative Force that was awakening the
generality of humankind to its oneness was progressively releasing the powers
inherent in the Cause and opening a new role for it in human affairs. Over the
first two decades of the century, through the loving care of the Master, the
spiritual and administrative foundations necessary to Bahá'u'lláh's purpose
were established. On the base thus made available — during the thirty-six years
of his own ministry, and the subsequent six years during which his Ten Year
Crusade guided the community's efforts — Shoghi Effendi devoted himself to
refining the administrative instruments needed to carry forward the Divine
Plan. With the successful establishment in 1963 of the Universal House of
Justice, the Bahá'ís
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of the world set out on the first stage of a mission of long duration: the
spiritual empowerment of the whole body of humankind as the protagonists of
their own advancement. By the time the century ended, this immense effort had
brought into existence a community representative of the diversity of the
entire human race, unified in its beliefs and allegiance, and committed to
building a global society that will reflect on earth the spiritual and moral
vision of its Founder.
This process was immeasurably strengthened in 1992 through the long-awaited
publication of a fully-annotated translation into English of the Kitáb-i-Aqdas,
a repository of Divine guidance for the age of humanity's collective maturity.
A spreading circle of translations was soon providing followers of the Faith
around the world with direct access to a Book which its Author has described
as: "the Dayspring of Divine knowledge, if ye be of them that understand,
and the Dawning-place of God's commandments, if ye be of those who
comprehend."[155]
Apart from the soul's recognition of the Manifestation of God, nothing awakens
so great a sense of confidence and vitality in human consciousness — both
individual and collective — as does the force of moral certitude. In the
Kitáb-i-Aqdas, laws that are basic to both personal and community life have
been reformulated in the context of a society that embraces the whole range of
human diversity. New laws and concepts address the further needs of a human
race that is entering on its collective coming of age. "O peoples of the
earth!", is Bahá'u'lláh's appeal, "Cast away that which ye possess,
and, on the wings of detachment, soar beyond all created things. Thus biddeth
you the Lord of creation, the movement of Whose Pen hath revolutionized the
soul of mankind."[156]
A feature of the past hundred years of Bahá'í development that should seize the
attention of any observer is the Faith's success in overcoming the attacks made
on it. As had been the case during the ministries of the Báb and Bahá'u'lláh,
elements in society who either resented the rise of the new religion or feared
the principles it teaches sought by every means in their power to suffocate it.
Hardly a decade of the past century did not witness attempts of this kind —
ranging from the bloody persecutions incited by Shí'ih clergy and the shameless
falsehoods concocted and spread by their Christian counterparts, to systematic
efforts at suppression by
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various totalitarian regimes, and, finally, to violations of their commitment
to Bahá'u'lláh on the part of the insincere, the ambitious or the malevolent
among its professed adherents. By every human standard, the Cause should have
succumbed to a barrage of opposition without parallel in recent history. Far
from succumbing, it flourished. Its reputation rose, its membership vastly
increased, its influence spread beyond the dreams of earlier generations of its
followers. Persecution served to galvanize its supporters' efforts. Calumny
drove believers to seek a more mature understanding of its history and
teachings. And, as both the Master and the Guardian had promised, violation of
the Covenant washed out of its ranks persons whose behaviour and attitudes had
dampened the faith of others and inhibited progress. If the Cause could bring
no other testimony to the powers that sustain it, this succession of triumphs
alone should suffice.
Three years before his passing, Shoghi Effendi took advantage of the
acquisition of the last plot of land needed for the erection of the International
Archives Building to describe for the Bahá'í world the nature and significance
of the building project on the slopes of Mount Carmel that the Master had
inaugurated and that he himself was pursuing:
These Edifices will, in the shape of a far-flung arc, and following a harmonizing style of architecture, surround the resting-places of the Greatest Holy Leaf ... of her Brother ... and of their Mother.... The ultimate completion of this stupendous undertaking will mark the culmination of the development of a world-wide divinely-appointed Administrative Order whose beginnings may be traced as far back as the concluding years of the Heroic Age of the Faith.[157]
The current stage of this ambitious enterprise was brought to its successful
conclusion in the final year of the century. An outpouring of resources from
believers throughout the world had responded to the vision of Bahá'u'lláh for
this sacred spot, announced in His Tablet of
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Carmel: "Rejoice, for God hath in this day established upon thee His
throne, hath made thee the dawning-place of His signs and the dayspring of the
evidences of His Revelation." In the complex of majestic buildings spread
out along the Arc and the flights of terraced gardens rising from the foot of
the mountain to its summit, the Cause whose influence had steadily expanded
throughout the world during the century of light emerged finally as a visible
and compelling presence. In the crowds of visitors from every land thronging the
stairs and pathways each day and the stream of distinguished guests who are
welcomed to the World Centre's reception rooms, perceptive minds already sense
the dawning fulfilment of the vision recorded twenty-three hundred years ago by
the prophet Isaiah: "And it shall come to pass in the last days, that
the mountain of the Lord's house shall be established in the top of the
mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills; and all nations shall flow
unto it."[158]
The Bahá'í Cause is distinguished above all else by its nature as an
uncompromised organic whole. Embodying the principle of unity that lies at the
heart of Bahá'u'lláh's Revelation, this nature is the sign of the presence of
the indwelling Spirit that animates the Faith. Alone among the religions of
history — and despite repeated efforts to break this unity — the Cause has
successfully resisted the perennial blight of schism and faction. The success
of the community's teaching work is assured by the fact that the instruments it
uses were created by the Revelation itself, that it was the Faith's Founders
who conceived the methods for the prosecution of its Divine Plan, and that it
was They who guided, in every significant detail, the launching of the
enterprise. During the twentieth century, through the efforts of 'Abdu'l-Bahá
and the Guardian, Mount Carmel itself has become an expression of this oneness
of the Faith's being. In contrast to the circumstances of other world
religions, the spiritual and administrative centres of the Cause are
inseparably bound together in this same spot on earth, its guiding institutions
centred on the Shrine of its martyred Prophet. For many visitors, even the
harmony that has been achieved in the variegated flowers, trees and shrubs of
the surrounding gardens seems to proclaim the ideal of unity in diversity that
they find attractive in the Faith's teachings.
Nothing so dramatically marked the conclusion of one hundred years
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of achievement as an event that also plunged believers the world over into deep
sorrow. On 19 January 2000, a message from the Universal House of Justice
announced:
In the early hours of this morning, the soul of Amatu'l-Bahá Rúhíyyih Khánum, beloved consort of Shoghi Effendi and the Bahá'í world's last remaining link with the family of 'Abdu'l-Bahá, was released from the limitations of this earthly existence.... Her twenty years of intimate association with Shoghi Effendi evoked from his pen such accolades as "my helpmate", "my shield", "my tireless collaborator in the arduous tasks I shoulder"....
As the initial shock of grief began to lift, appreciation of yet another of the
inexhaustible bounties of Bahá'u'lláh gradually took its place. To a figure
whose long lifetime had spanned most of the century — and whose indomitable
spirit had sustained Bahá'í struggles and sacrifices throughout its latter half
— it had been given to live and celebrate the magnificent victories to which
she had so magnificently contributed.
In calling on those who have recognized Him to share the message of the Day of
God with others, Bahá'u'lláh turns again to the language of creation itself:
"Every body calleth aloud for a soul. Heavenly souls must needs quicken,
with the breath of the Word of God, the dead bodies with a fresh spirit."[159] The principle is as true
of the collective life of humankind, 'Abdu'l-Bahá points out, as it is of the
lives of its individual members: "Material civilization is like the body.
No matter how infinitely graceful, elegant and beautiful it may be, it is dead.
Divine civilization is like the spirit, and the body gets its life from the
spirit...."[160]
In this compelling analogy is summed up the relationship between the two
historical developments that the Will of God propelled forward along converging
tracks during the century of light. Only a person blind to the intellectual and
social capacities latent in the human race, and insensitive
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to humanity's desperate needs, could fail to take deep satisfaction from the
advances that society has made during the past hundred years, and particularly
from the processes knitting together the earth's peoples and nations. How much
more are such achievements cherished by Bahá'ís, who see in them the very
Purpose of God. But this Body of humanity's material civilization calls aloud,
yearns more desperately with each passing day, for its Soul. As with every
great civilization in history, until it is so animated, and its spiritual
faculties awakened, it will find neither peace, nor justice, nor a unity that
rises above the level of negotiation and compromise. Addressing the
"elected representatives of the people in every land", Bahá'u'lláh
wrote:
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.[161]
It is not, therefore, in providing support, nor encouragement, nor even example
that the work of the Cause chiefly lies. The Bahá'í community will go on
contributing in every way possible to efforts toward global unification and
social betterment, but such contributions are secondary to its purpose. Its
purpose is to assist the people of the world to open their minds and hearts to
the one Power that can fulfil their ultimate longing. There are none, except
those who have themselves awakened to the Revelation of God, who can bring this
help. There are none who can offer credible testimony to a coming world of
peace and justice but those who understand, however dimly, the words with which
the Voice of God summoned Bahá'u'lláh to arise and undertake His mission:
Canst thou discover any one but Me, O Pen, in this
Day? What hath become of the creation and the manifestations thereof? What of
the names and their kingdom? Whither are gone all created things, whether seen
or unseen? What of the hidden secrets of the universe and its revelations? Lo,
the entire creation hath passed away! Nothing remaineth except My Face, the
Ever-Abiding, the Resplendent, the All-Glorious.
This is the Day whereon naught can be seen except the splendors of the Light
that shineth from the face of Thy Lord, the Gracious, the
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Most Bountiful. Verily, We have caused every soul to expire by virtue of Our
irresistible and all-subduing sovereignty. We have, then, called into being a
new creation, as a token of Our grace unto men. I am, verily, the
All-Bountiful, the Ancient of Days.[162]
NOTES
[151]
Bahá'u'lláh, The Kitáb-i-Íqan, op. cit., p. 34.
[152]
Bahá'u'lláh, Prayers and Meditations (Wilmette: Bahá'í Publishing Trust,
1998), p. 295, (section CLXXVIII).
[153]
Shoghi Effendi, The World Order of Bahá'u'lláh, op. cit., p. 193.
[154] ibid.,
p. 196.
[155]
Bahá'u'lláh, The Kitáb-i-Aqdas, op. cit., paragraph 186.
[156] ibid.,
paragraph 54.
[157]
Shoghi Effendi, Messages to the Bahá'í World, 1950-1957, op. cit., p.
74.
[158]
Isaiah 2.2 Authorized (King James) Version.
[159]
Shoghi Effendi, The Advent of Divine Justice, op. cit., pp. 82-83.
[160] Selections
from the Writings of 'Abdu'l-Bahá, op. cit., p. 317, (section 227.22).
[161] The
Proclamation of Bahá'u'lláh (Haifa: Bahá'í World Centre, 1967), p. 67.
[162] Gleanings
from the Writings of Bahá'u'lláh, op. cit., pp. 29-30, (section XIV).