Abolishing
the Extremes of Poverty and WealthThe unity of humankind foreseen by Bahá'u'lláh is unity based on justice. One of the most striking examples of injustice in the world today is the grave imbalance in economic and material conditions. A relatively small percentage of humankind has immense wealth, while the majority of the world's population lives in dire poverty and misery. This imbalance exists both within nations and between nations. Moreover, the gap that separates rich and poor continues to widen, which indicates that existing economic systems are incapable of restoring a just balance.
A satisfactory solution to the world's present economic crisis lies in a profound change of heart and mind which only religion can produce. From the Bahá'í perspective, the prevailing materialistic assumptions about economic development reflect a profound error of conception about human nature itself. `Abdu'l-Bahá wrote that
"The fundamentals of the whole economic condition are divine in nature and are associated with the world of the heart and spirit..."1
"The disease which afflicts the body politic is lack of love and absence of altruism..."2
Bahá'u'lláh asserted that economic injustice is a moral evil and as such is condemned by God. In particular, Bahá'u'lláh warned:
O YE RICH ONES ON EARTH!The poor in your midst are My trust; guard ye My trust, and be not intent only on your own ease.3
And:
O CHILDREN OF DUST!
Tell the rich of the midnight sighing of the poor, lest heedlessness lead them into the path of destruction, and deprive them of the Tree of Wealth.4
The human and material resources at our disposal must be used for the long-term good of all, not for the short-term advantage of a few. This can be done only if cooperation becomes the basis of organized economic activity. 'Abdu'l-Bahá said that cooperation gives life to society just as the life of an organism is maintained by the cooperation of the various elements of which it is composed:
1.
`Abdu'l-Bahá, The Promulgation of Universal Peace (Wilmette:
Bahá'í Publishing Trust, 1922. 2nd edition 1982), p. 238. `
2. Abdu'l-Bahá, Star of the West, Vol. 7, pp. 147-48.
3. Bahá'u'lláh, The Hidden Words (Wilmette: Bahá'í Publishing Trust, 1985), p. 41.
4. Bahá'u'lláh, The Hidden Words (Wilmette: Bahá'í Publishing Trust, 1985), p. 39.
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