poor Dave

 

The Winds of History

The Bible says, "Where there is no vision, the people perish." There has never been a human society that has not been founded on a system of belief that gave meaning and purpose to life. When such systems of belief fail, the members of those societies cease to make the required sacrifices to maintain essential social relationships. When this happens a society loses the cohesive power that sustains it, and disintegration sets in.

We live in a world that has entirely lost its moral moorings, in which all of the ethical reference points of the past have been entirely swept away. The effect on the masses of humanity, leaders and led alike, has been to create the deepest anxiety of which human beings are capable.

The poet W.B. Yeats has described our age as one in which "the best lack all conviction, while the worst are filled with passionate intensity".

As mankind has experimented with different forms of government, each time believing that he will finally end the cycle of man’s subjugation of man, each form has demonstrated itself to be non-viable in the long run. Even democratic governments eventually find effective action impossible due to an ever-increasing partisanship.

The bankruptcy of communism as an economic system in the former Soviet Union seems to have left the field open for the triumph of capitalism, yet that ill-tempered old German, Karl Marx, would say that his complaints of economic inequality, class prejudice, consumerism and rampant materialism have remained largely unsolved. Meanwhile, in the new Eurasian democratic frontier, an economic condition called gangsterism by the west, but which is actually unrestricted Lassaise-faire capitalism gone mad, has reduced the living standard of the average Russian to well below the level they ‘enjoyed’ under communism. Despite his lip service to religion, the capitalist is no less materialistic and ethically bankrupt than his communist brother. The solution to our inability to govern ourselves effectively and provide for the material needs of mankind is neither ideological nor economic but spiritual.

Underdeveloped nations are envious of and seek to imitate the material comforts of the west, while we in the developed world have come to realize that our dependence on machines has made us more vulnerable than ever to even temporary interruptions in services that mean the difference between life and death to us. As the complexity of our technology increases and society becomes more dependent on it, the potential impacts of tiny mishaps become catastrophic.

In a letter written to the American Baha’i Community in 1925, Shoghi Effendi, Guardian of the Baha’i Faith, wrote of the even then worsening condition of the current world order:

“The plight of mankind, the condition and circumstances under which we live and labor are truly disheartening, and the darkness of prejudice and ill-will enough to chill the stoutest heart. Disillusion and dismay are invading the hearts of peoples and nations, and the hope and vision of a united and regenerated humanity is growing dimmer and dimmer every day. Time-honored institutions, cherished ideals, and sacred traditions are suffering in these days of bewildering change, from the effects of the gravest onslaught, and the precious fruit of centuries of patient and earnest labor is faced with peril. Passions, supposed to have been curbed and subdued, are now burning fiercer than ever before, and the voice of peace and good-will seems drowned amid unceasing convulsions and turmoil.”

[BA, p.61]

On the causes of the world’s manifold problems, ‘Abdul-Baha writes:

“When we review history from the beginning of human existence to the present age in which we live, it is evident all war and conflict, bloodshed and battle, every form of sedition has been due to some form of prejudice--whether religious, racial or national--to partisan bias and selfish prejudice of some sort.”

[AB, PUP]

Is there, then, a solution to the malaise that infects our society? Baha’is believe that the solution to all these issues can be found in the Writings of Bahá'u'lláh. As Bahá'u'lláh Himself wrote:

“The All-Knowing Physician hath His finger on the pulse of mankind. He perceiveth the disease, and prescribeth, in His unerring wisdom, the remedy. Every age hath its own problem, and every soul its particular aspiration. The remedy the world needeth in its present-day afflictions can never be the same as that which a subsequent age may require. Be anxiously concerned with the needs of the age ye live in, and center your deliberations on its exigencies and requirements.”

[GWB, 213]

Underlying the body of His principles and concepts, Bahá'u'lláh has created a unified, coherent worldview, a universal theory of history, if you like, a comprehensive vision of the nature of man and society.

But Bahá'u'lláh has not merely outlined a theory of social evolution; nor has He contented Himself with the creation of a model. The Bahá'í community, with all its limitations and shortcomings, is itself the nucleus of an emerging "race of men".

"A race of men," is His written promise, "incomparable in character, shall be raised up which, with the feet of detachment, will tread under all who are in heaven and on earth, and will cast the sleeve of holiness over all that hath been created from water and clay."

[ADJ, 31-32]

What makes Bahá'u'lláh's worldview unique is that it is truly universal. Unlike all the systems that preceded it, it embraces not only the entire diversity of the human race, but also the entirety of human experience. Nothing that is truly human is alien to it.

No better illustration of this character of Bahá'u'lláh's System can be made than in the fact that this nucleus, this example to the world that Bahá'u'lláh has constructed, the Administrative Order of the Baha’i Faith, functions as well in an African village as in an American city. The Local Spiritual Assembly in Bombay, India finds an exact match in the Local Spiritual Assembly of Bristol, England. The same procedures and consultative techniques apply equally well in Indonesia and Indiana.

In former times, the expansion of religions into new areas often entailed attempts to export cultural norms as well as religious beliefs from the originating country, “making little Europeans out of the natives,” so to speak. In other cases, as the religion moved geographically, it took on characteristics of the area it was invading. This is illustrated by the incredible changes wrought on Buddhism by Taoist and Confucian influences it encountered in China. Although there are now Baha’is in every country of the world, their diversity in languages and cultures neither changes their faith and practice as Baha’is, nor does the Faith require any change to the essence of their culture.

The Guardian makes the method by which the Baha’i Cause can achieve the goals presented to them by the Central Figures of their Faith clear:

“Ours is then the duty and privilege to labor, by day and by night, amidst the storm and stress of these troublous days, that we may quicken the zeal of our fellow-men, rekindle their hopes, stimulate their interest, open their eyes to the true Faith of God and enlist their active support in the carrying out of our common task for the peace and regeneration of the world.”

[BA, p.51]

So it is the task of the Baha’is to act as an example to our fellow citizens in every land. In fact, he makes it clear that their success depends entirely on their reflection of the Teachings of the Founder of their Faith.

“Not by the force of numbers, not by the mere exposition of a set of new and noble principles, not by an organized campaign of teaching--no matter how worldwide and elaborate in its character --not even by the staunchness of our faith or the exaltation of our enthusiasm, can we ultimately hope to vindicate in the eyes of a critical and skeptical age the supreme claim of the Abha Revelation. One thing and only one thing will unfailingly and alone secure the undoubted triumph of this sacred Cause, namely, the extent to which our own inner life and private character mirror forth in their manifold aspects the splendor of those eternal principles proclaimed by Baha'u'llah.”

[BA, p.66]

It is not possible, at this early date, to define in its particulars the eventual form of government that the coming world commonwealth described by Bahá'u'lláh will take. In the words of Shoghi Effendi, "All that we can reasonably venture to attempt is to strive to obtain a glimpse of the first streaks of that promised Dawn which must, in the fullness of time, chase away the gloom that has encircled humanity," but some of the aspects of that order have been defined by the Guardian:

“Some form of a world super-state must needs be evolved, in whose favor all the nations of the world will have willingly ceded every claim to make war, certain rights to impose taxation and all rights to maintain armaments, except for purposes of maintaining internal order within their respective dominions. Such a state will have to include within its orbit an international executive adequate to enforce supreme and unchallengeable authority on every recalcitrant member of the commonwealth; a world parliament whose members shall be elected by the people in their respective countries and whose election shall be confirmed by their respective governments; and a supreme tribunal whose judgment will have a binding effect even in such cases where the parties concerned did not voluntarily agree to submit their case to its consideration.”

And further:

“A world community in which all economic barriers will have been permanently demolished and the interdependence of Capital and Labor definitely recognized; in which the clamor of religious fanaticism and strife will have been forever stilled; in which the flame of racial animosity will have been finally extinguished; in which a single code of international law--the product of the considered judgment of the world's federated representatives-- hall have as its sanction the instant and coercive intervention of the combined forces of the federated units; and finally a world community in which the fury of a capricious and militant nationalism will have been transmuted into an abiding consciousness of world citizenship--such indeed, appears, in its broadest outline, the Order anticipated by Baha'u'llah, an Order that shall come to be regarded as the fairest fruit of a slowly maturing age.”

[WOB, 40-41]

To sum up, I can do no better than to cite

“The world's equilibrium hath been upset through the vibrating influence of this most great, this new World Order. Mankind's ordered life hath been revolutionized through the agency of this unique, this wondrous System--the like of which mortal eyes have never witnessed.

Immerse yourselves in the ocean of My words, that ye may unravel its secrets, and discover all the pearls of wisdom that lie hid in its depths. Take heed that ye do not vacillate in your determination to embrace the truth of this Cause--a Cause through which the potentialities of the might of God have been revealed, and His sovereignty established. With faces beaming with joy, hasten ye unto Him.”

[GWB, 136]

R, Cromb 1975. Still oddly apropos!

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