Transcript of: Study tape on the Bahá’í response to today's world (c. 1969) Gregory Dahl & Phil Christensen



[0:00] [Christensen] "A tempest, unprecedented in its violence, unpredictable in its course, catastrophic in its immediate effects, unimaginably glorious in its ultimate consequences, is at present sweeping the face of the earth. Its driving power is remorselessly gaining in range and momentum. Its cleansing force, however much undetected, is increasing with every passing day. Humanity, gripped in the clutches of its devastating power, is smitten by the evidences of its resistless fury. It can neither perceive its origin, nor probe its significance, nor discern its outcome. Bewildered, agonized and helpless, it watches this great and mighty wind of God invading the remotest and fairest regions of the earth, rocking its foundations, deranging its equilibrium, sundering its nations, disrupting the homes of its peoples, wasting its cities, driving into exile its kings, pulling down its bulwarks, uprooting its institutions, dimming its light, and harrowing up the souls of its inhabitants."

[1:21] [Dahl] In this very first paragraph of The Promised Day Is Come, Shoghi Effendi hints at the tremendous tempest and trials which are besetting and will increasingly beset mankind. This study tape will deal with the nature of these tempests and trials, and what the response of a Bahá’í should be to today's world and to these movements in today's world. [Christensen] And in the next half hour two Bahá’ís, Greg Dahl myself Phil Christensen will attempt to explore the Writings, our divine standard and what light they shed on these issues.

[2:05] [Dahl] "The well-being of mankind, its peace and security, are unattainable unless and until its unity is firmly established. This unity can never be achieved so long as the counsels which the Pen of the Most High hath revealed are suffered to pass unheeded." This passage is found in the Gleanings of Bahá’u’lláh page 286. [Christensen] Exactly the same idea is put forth by ‘Abdu’l-Bahá in his memorable epistle to his own nation that of Iran, the Secret of Divine Civilization. On page 73 of that book, the Master says: "It is certain that the greatest of instrumentalities for achieving the advancement and the glory of man, the supreme agency for the enlightenment and the redemption of the world, is love and fellowship and unity among all the members of the human race. Nothing can be effected in the world, not even conceivably, without unity and agreement, and the perfect means for engendering fellowship and union is true religion."

[2:05] [Christensen] Perhaps one of the most central themes in the Bahá’í faith is the contrast between the disintegration of an old society, a society which has failed to accept its manifestation Bahá’u’lláh and the construction, the building up of a new World order based on the principles ‘Abdu’l-Bahá is talking about here, love and fellowship and unity. But in this passage he makes it very clear that there is only one way, the perfect means for achieving this fellowship in this union, true religion. And perhaps there is no other, more important idea to which we, as Bahá’ís should look when we're determining our own response to the tempest Shoghi Effendi described. That is, to the idea that only, the Bahá’í faith, only the foundation of Bahá’u’lláh is a stable platform on which to stand in this age. It's almost as if the whole world was sinking in quicksand, if you've ever seen a Tarzan movie, you know what it's like for somebody to be sinking in quick stand. Somebody in that situation will grasp at anything, leaves of grass or twigs, even though they know that such material can't possibly bear their weight because they have no other choice. But we the Bahá’ís, even though we may be part of a world that sinking in the quicksand of materialism and heedlessness and disunity, have a foundation to stand on, the rock of God. And we can stand on that rock, and only that rock will save us. And if we resort to grasping at straws, so to speak, we will find ourselves sinking to the very bottom with the rest of our civilization.

[5:04] [Dahl] Every Bahá’í knows that the Bahá’í faith stands for peace, and for the establishment of peace in the world. As a matter of fact the collection of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá's talks in this country is entitled 'The Promulgation of Universal Peace'. And this was certainly one of his major, if not his major theme in the talks that he gave when he traveled across this country in 1912. In one of these places where he stopped in this country He was asked, presumably by somebody in the audience, which was greater: peace or love? And his answer, which is found in the promulgation of Universal Peace page 164 is "...love is greater than peace, for peace is founded upon love. Love is the objective point of peace, and peace is an outcome of love. Until love is attained, peace cannot be." I think this is very fundamental to an understanding of the Bahá’í attitude towards lots of things that are going on in the world, because as usual Bahá’ís perceived and emphasize cause, rather than effect, and ‘Abdu’l-Bahá was teaching that peace and the ordering of society is in many respects, although perhaps not entirely, is the result of underlying qualities like love, and the lack of peace is a lack of these underlying qualities. So to address ourselves to the needs of peace means not that we demonstrate in front of town halls, but rather that we establish first this love in the heart of man, and this is essentially what the Bahá’ís are doing.

[6:50] [Dahl] ‘Abdu’l-Bahá on a number of other occasions, specifically referred to other misconceptions and limited notions of what could achieve peace or unity in the world. For instance, in The Promulgation of Universal Peace on page 105 He says: [Christensen] "The Most Great Peace cannot be assured through racial force and effort; it cannot be established by patriotic devotion and sacrifice; for nations differ widely and local patriotism has limitations. Furthermore, it is evident that political power and diplomatic ability are not conducive to universal agreement, for the interests of governments are varied and selfish; nor will international harmony and reconciliation be an outcome of human opinions concentrated upon it, for opinions are faulty and intrinsically diverse. Universal peace is an impossibility through human and material agencies; it must be through spiritual power. There is need of a universal impelling force which will establish the oneness of humanity and destroy the foundations of war and strife. None other than the divine power can do this." ‘Abdu’l-Bahá goes through so many of the twigs, the blades of grass at which we grasp and just says they're not what is important. He goes through patriotic and devotion and sacrifice, political power and diplomatic ability, human and material agencies of all kind. And he says about all of those that these will not achieve universal peace only, the divine power inherent in true religion. Only the rock of God can do that job.

[8:49] [Dahl] And I think much of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá's message to the American Bahá’ís is summarized in one short sentence, which is found in the Tablets of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá on page 374, ‘Abdu’l-Bahá says: "Keep yourselves entirely clear of the world's conditions of gloom..." Think how much is implied in that beautiful sentence, how much of attitude and of feeling and of response, that Bahá’ís should keep themselves clear of the world's conditions of gloom. Not to become so involved that we become weighed down in the conflicts, in the chaos that surrounds us in outward society. And you know, the Guardian also heaped upon the American believers many bounties in his perception of our problems and his analysis of our failings. And in the most interesting quote found in Baha’i News Number 252 the Guardian through his secretary describes some of these characteristics.

[9:55] [Christensen] "The Guardian is well aware that the American believers are heavily committed, that they have been doing for years the lion’s share of Bahá’í work, that they have achieved brilliant victories for the Faith. However, he sometimes feels that due to the very characteristics so praiseworthy in them, their openness, their sincerity and a certain credulity in their nature. They are more prone to being disturbed by the currents abroad in the world than are older and maturer races. He feels the very disturbing political conditions all around us are troubling them more than they should. He feels they should think about this and reorient themselves on their Bahá’í work. For, after all, the very essence of the reason a person has accepted Bahá’u’lláh is that he has decided this Way alone is the solution to the absolutely hopeless problems facing humanity. A Bahá’í must be wholly a Bahá’í, concentrate on the work of the Cause, and put aside from his mind the distracting influences that scream at him from every newspaper these days. Naturally, this does not mean he must be insular, it means he must concentrate more consciously on doing the work of the Cause."

[11:23] [Dahl] I love that phrase, reorient themselves to their Bahá’í work because to me that summarizes so much off the crux of what the Bahá’í attitude towards movements in the world around us must be. We must continually be reorienting ourselves to what is most important. You know sometimes I think it certainly helps me a great deal to, because it's more objective, to think about what it must be like to be a Christian in year 100. To think of well, there must have been many issues facing the Senate of Rome at that time. There must have been many political issues current in that part of the world. And yet do we remember any of these issues? Perhaps a scholar of Roman history does. But the average man remembers people people like Peter and Paul in the early years of Christianity, or the early believers of Christianity who sacrificed themselves and their lives in the path of this growing religion of God. These are the people that we remember and people who at that time were completely unknown and despised. So it seems to me that this helps a great deal to remind us that even the most major calamity of our time and the most major war and national elections and all kinds of movements in our society will eventually pass and people will forget them and there will be new issues and new movements and new wars to be concerned about. And yet the activities of the Bahá’ís will be remembered forever, and will be reviewed in the span of history because we are establishing the foundation of the New World Order, which will last for 500,000 years.

[13:12] [Christensen] Having stressed therefore how many passages there are in the writings which clearly outlined the fact that only the Bahá’í faith, only Bahá’u’lláh offers a foundation in today's world and a way to deal with its problems. Perhaps we could turn ourselves to some applications of that principle, which affect each Bahá’í living in the 20th century. For example, there's the question of obedience to government.

[13:41] [Dahl] Bahá’u’lláh himself says, and this is quoted in Bahá’í World faith on pages 192 and 3: "In every country or government where any of this community reside, they must behave toward that government with faithfulness, trustfulness and truthfulness". [Christensen] And ‘Abdu’l-Bahá in his Will and Testament and Shoghi Effendi thought this was so important that he requoted in the Bahá’í Administration on page eight of the Will and Testament the Master says, "According to the direct and sacred command of God we must obey and be the well-wishers of the governments of the land, regard disloyalty unto a just king as disloyalty to God Himself and wishing evil to the government a transgression of the Cause of God.

[14:36] [Dahl] The question is often raised by Bahá’ís, whether we have the choice of deciding which is a just government. Because ‘Abdu’l-Bahá in this passage refers to a just government. In response to a question regarding that passage, Shoghi Effendi through his secretary addressing the National Teaching Committee for Central America in a letter which is published in Baha’i News number 215 on page 1, says: "What the Master’s statement really means is obedience to a duly constituted government, whatever that government may be in form. We are not the ones, as individual Bahá’ís, to judge our government as just or unjust—for each believer would be sure to hold a different viewpoint, and within our own Bahá’í fold a hotbed of dissension would spring up and destroy our unity. We must build up our Bahá’í system, and leave the faulty systems of the world to go their way. We cannot change them through becoming involved in them; on the contrary, they will destroy us."

[15:45] [Christensen] This issue is directly related to the question of non-participation in politics and perhaps we could deal with the two together. Again we have direct guidance from the writings. Friends, what a bounty that we have such a vast storehouse of wisdom from which to draw. For example, on this one issue we can turn again to the writings of Shoghi Effendi, Bahá’í Administration page 24 and find [Dalh]: "the friends of God the world over are strictly forbidden to meddle with political affairs in any way whatever". [Christensen] What clearer guidance could you wish for? And yet, having isolated these commandments that we be obedient to a duly constituted government and that we refrained from any kind of interference from meddling in political affairs. It's sometimes difficult for Bahá’ís who of course are obedient to these commands because they accept Bahá’u’lláh as a divine educator, they accept his word, it is none less difficult for many Bahá’ís to understand why such commandments should exist. Now Shoghi Effendi spends quite a bit of time in the World Order of Bahá’u’lláh explaining some reasons, and perhaps we could just summarize a few of those now.

[17:09] [Dahl] Shoghi Effendi on pages 64 to 67 discusses the problem of Bahá’ís in relation to politics, and it's too long to quote here, but we encourage you to even stopped the tape and to look at this passage, you'll find it on page 66. He mentions a couple reasons why Bahá’ís shouldn't involve themselves in politics. One of them is is very clear that the the Bahá’í faith is a worldwide community and their are Bahá’ís in all countries of the world. Many of these countries in places where the government or groups within the country are ready to persecute the believers and the actions of the believers in any one part of the world must necessarily reflect on the treatment of Bahá’ís elsewhere. And Shoghi Effendi continues by saying that it's not out of expediency that we refrain from politics. It's not entirely because we're concerned about the safety of our fellow Bahá’ís, but rather because participation in any kind of partisan politics in any kind of world or national movement or struggle, which divides between groups, implies that if there are Bahá’ís on the other side, if you belong to one movement which is opposed to another movement or another country and there are Bahá’ís in that other movement or that other country, then Bahá’ís are divided against Bahá’ís and Bahá’ís are divided against other human beings, and this is clearly in opposition to the most fundamental principles of our faith, namely the unity of mankind. How inconceivable to have Bahá’ís in one political party campaigning against Bahá’ís in another political party. How patently in contradiction to the Bahá’í teachings.

[18:58] [Christensen] Friends, our goal is to build a new world order of Bahá’u’lláh, to build that New World order we know and from Bahá’u’lláh through ‘Abdu’l-Bahá through Shoghi Effendi and most recently, the Universal House of Justice, we have been told that we can do nothing to salvage the old world order. There is no point in becoming in involved in politics in an effort to put some sort of salve on the symptoms of the basic spiritually illness which we alone as followers of Bahá’u’lláh can cure. Instead we must return to the foundation of Bahá’u’lláh, stand upon it and while other people are sinking in the quicksand of this age we must be building, for only we can build, and only that new world order can ultimately save our world.

[19:50] [Dahl] You know I heard a story once and it's probably changed considerably in the telling, so I don't vouch for its authenticity but I think it's illustrative. The story is that Rúḥíyyih Kh ánum, who's the wife of Shoghi Effendi once had a dream, and in this dream there was a vast flood, and many people were drowning in the flood, and there was great misery. And so she rushed to the edge of the rising waters and was busily trying to pull people out of the flood to try to alleviate some of the bad effects of this calamity. And she was wondering, at that time where ‘Abdu’l-Bahá was, she thought surely he would be down helping her relieve the human misery. So she turned around and up on the hillside she saw ‘Abdu’l-Bahá working on something, and she found this very puzzling and she asked him, what are you doing ‘Abdu’l-Bahá? And he said he was building a machine to stop the flood. And she uses this to illustrate how important it is for Bahá’ís to think about cause instead of just effect and again to reorient themselves to their Bahá’í work.

[20:55] [Christensen] Perhaps we could explore in just a little more detail where our responsibilities then do lie, in the midst of the tempest of social change. We've already found out that our writings to make it very clear our responsibilities are not to the old world order, are not just making some sort of patchwork repairs, they are to building the new world order. And yet we have some even more specific guidelines, some examples of what that building might entail. Greg has researched a couple of quotations from old Baha’i News' which bear on this problem.

[21:36] [Dahl] In a letter to an individual believer dated December 8th, 1947 Shoghi Effendi writing through his secretary refers to the problem of whether Bahá’ís should contribute money to the fund, to the Bahá’í Fund or to other organizations that are relieving the suffering of mankind. In response to a question on this matter, he writes through the secretary "In the first place every believer is free to follow the dictates of his own conscience as regards the manner in which to spend his own money. Secondly, we must always bear in mind that there are so few Bahá’ís in the world, relative to the world’s population, and so many people in need, that even if all of us gave all we had, it would not alleviate more than an infinitesimal amount of suffering. This does not mean we must not help the needy, we should; but our contributions to the Faith are the surest way of lifting once and for all time the burden of danger and misery from mankind, for it is only through the System of Bahá’u’lláh—Divine in origin—that the world can be gotten on its feet, and want, fear, hunger, war, etc., be eliminated. Non-Bahá’ís cannot contribute to our work or do it for us; so really our first obligation is to support our own teaching work, as this will lead to the healing of the nations." This is published in Baha’i News Number 210.

[23:09] [Dahl] In Baha’i News number 171, Shoghi Effendi writing again through his secretary to an individual believer in a letter dated March 25th, 1943 says: "If the Bahá’ís could evaluate their work properly they would see that whereas other forms of relief work are superficial in character, alleviating the sufferings and ills of men for a short time at best, the work they are doing is to lay the foundation of a new Spiritual Order in the world founded on the Word of God, operating according to the Laws He has laid down for this age. No one else can do this work except those who have fully recognized the meaning of the Message of Bahá’u’lláh, where as almost any courageous, sincere person can engage in relief work, etc. The believers are building a refuge for mankind. This is their supreme, sacred task and they should devote every moment they can to this task."

[24:14] [Christensen] In still another quote from Baha’i News, we find Shoghi Effendi stressing again that the cardinal principle which we must follow is obedience to the government prevailing in any land in which we reside. We see therefore that we must do two things, shun politics like the plague and be obedient to the government in power in the places where we reside. He goes on to say, and this is Baha’i News Number 241: "We must obey in all cases except where a spiritual principle is involved, such as denying our Faith. For these spiritual principles we must be willing to die. What we Bahá’ís must face is the fact that society is disintegrating so rapidly that moral issues which were clear a half century ago are now hopelessly confused and what is more, thoroughly mixed up with battling political interests. That is why the Bahá’ís must turn all their forces into the channel of building up the Bahá’í Cause and its Administration. They can neither change nor help the world in any other way at present. If they become involved in the issues the Governments of the world are struggling over, they will be lost. But if they build up the Bahá’í pattern they can offer it as a remedy when all else has failed."

[25:40] [Dahl] We hope that it's clear by now that the Bahá’í ruling that Bahá’ís not participate in politics is not intended to discourage Bahá’ís from activities, but rather that it's because the Bahá’ís have so many more important things to do, and that we're so busy building the Bahá’í order and doing Bahá’í things that we literally don't have time and that it's harmful to us to become involved in other kinds of activities. Shoghi Effendi emphasizes this point very powerfully on page 40 of the Advent of Divine Justice. [Christensen] "The opportunities which the turmoil of the present age presents, with all the sorrows which it evokes, the fears which it excites, the disillusionment which it produces, the perplexities which it creates, the indignation which it arouses, the revolt which it provokes, the grievances it engenders, the spirit of restless search which it awakens, must, in like manner, be exploited for the purpose of spreading far and wide the knowledge of the redemptive power of the Faith of Bahá’u’lláh, and for enlisting fresh recruits in the ever-swelling army of His followers. So precious an opportunity, so rare a conjunction of favorable circumstances, may never again recur. Now is the time, the appointed time, for the American believers, the vanguard of the hosts of the Most Great Name, to proclaim, through the agencies and channels of a specially designed Administrative Order, their capacity and readiness to rescue a fallen and sore-tried generation that has rebelled against its God and ignored His warnings, and to offer it that complete security which only the strongholds of their Faith can provide." We must exploit this turmoil, but we exploit it not by becoming involved in it. Rather, we exploit it in order to teach the faith.

[28:02] [Dahl] To summarize what we've been trying to say, let me quote from a letter again of Shoghi Effendi through his secretary to an individual believed quoted in Baha’i News number 171 on page 2. "If the believers could properly evaluate the work they are doing they would be astonished at its importance, but they are in the position of not being able to see the forest for the trees; they are too close to it to realize its true import."

[28:34] [Christensen] Friends perhaps we could conclude with a passage, a single sentence from Shoghi Effendi's World Order letters, page 26 in which he gives us a ringing battle cry. "Ours is the duty to ponder these things in our heart, to strive to widen our vision, and to deepen our comprehension of this Cause, and to arise, resolutely and unreservedly, to play our part, however small, in this greatest drama of the world’s spiritual history."