In the Orient I was informed of the lofty purposes and wonderful
attainments of the American people. When I arrived in this country, I
realized that American ideals are indeed most praiseworthy and that the
people here are lovers of truth. They investigate reality, and there is no
trace of fanaticism among them. Today the nations of the world are on the
verge of war, influenced and impelled by prejudices of ignorance and
racial fanaticism. Praise be to God! You are free from such prejudice, for
you believe in the oneness and solidarity of the world of humanity. There
is no doubt that the divine confirmations will uphold you.
One of the forms of prejudice which afflict the world of mankind is
religious bigotry and fanaticism. When this hatred burns in human hearts,
it becomes the cause of revolution, destruction, abasement of humankind
and deprivation of the mercy of God. For the holy Manifestations and
divine Founders of religion Themselves were completely unified in love and
agreement, whereas Their followers are characterized by bitter antagonism
and attitudes of hostility toward each other. God has desired for mankind
the effulgence of love, but through blindness and misapprehension man has
enveloped himself in veils of discord, strife and hatred. The supreme need
of humanity is cooperation and reciprocity. The stronger the ties of
fellowship and solidarity amongst men, the greater will be the power of
constructiveness and accomplishment in all the planes of human activity.
Without cooperation and reciprocal attitude the individual member of human
society remains self-centered, uninspired by altruistic purposes, limited
and solitary in development like the animal and plant organisms of the
lower kingdoms. The lower creatures are not in need of cooperation and
reciprocity. A tree can live solitary and alone, but this is impossible
for man without retrogression. Therefore, every cooperative attitude and
activity of human life is praiseworthy and foreintended by the will of
God. The first expression of cooperation is family relationship, which is
unreliable and uncertain in its potency, for it is subject to separation
and does not permanently cement together the individual members of
humanity. There is also a cooperation and oneness in nativity or race
which is likewise not efficient, for although its members may agree in
general, they differ radically in personal and particular points of view.
Racial association, therefore, will not ensure the requirements of divine
relationship. There are other means in the human world by which physical
association is established, but these fail to weld together the hearts and
spirits of men and are correspondingly inefficient. Therefore, it is
evident that God has destined and intended religion to be the cause and
means of cooperative effort and accomplishment among mankind. To this end
He has sent the Prophets of God, the holy Manifestations of the Word, in
order that the fundamental reality and religion of God may prove to be the
bond of human unity, for the divine religions revealed by these holy
Messengers have one and the same foundation. All will admit, therefore,
that the divine religions are intended to be the means of true human
cooperation, that they are united in the purpose of making humanity one
family, for they rest upon the universal foundation of love, and love is
the first effulgence of Divinity.
Each one of the divine religions has established two kinds of ordinances:
the essential and the accidental. The essential ordinances rest upon the
firm, unchanging, eternal foundations of the Word itself. They concern
spiritualities, seek to stabilize morals, awaken intuitive
susceptibilities, reveal the knowledge of God and inculcate the love of
all mankind. The accidental laws concern the administration of outer human
actions and relations, establishing rules and regulations requisite for
the world of bodies and their control. These are ever subject to change
and supersedure according to exigencies of time, place and condition. For
example, during the time of Moses, ten commandments concerning the
punishment of murder were revealed in His Book. Divorce was sanctioned and
polygamy allowable to a certain extent. If a man committed theft, his hand
was cut off. This was drastic law and severe punishment applicable to the
time of Moses. But when the time of Christ came, minds had developed,
realizations were keener and spiritual perceptions had advanced so that
certain laws concerning murder, plurality of wives and divorce were
abrogated. But the essential ordinances of the Mosaic dispensation
remained unchanged. These were the fundamental realities of the knowledge
of God and the holy Manifestations, the purification of morals, the
awakening of spiritual susceptibilities--eternal principles in which there
is no change or transformation. Briefly, the foundation of the divine
religions is one eternal foundation, but the laws for temporary conditions
and exigencies are subject to change. Therefore, by adherence to these
temporary laws, blindly following and imitating ancestral forms,
difference and divergence have arisen among followers of the various
religions, resulting in disunion, strife and hatred. Blind imitations and
dogmatic observances are conducive to alienation and disagreement; they
lead to bloodshed and destruction of the foundations of humanity.
Therefore, the religionists of the world must lay aside these imitations
and investigate the essential foundation or reality itself, which is not
subject to change or transformation. This is the divine means of agreement
and unification.
The purpose of all the divine religions is the establishment of the bonds
of love and fellowship among men, and the heavenly phenomena of the
revealed Word of God are intended to be a source of knowledge and
illumination to humanity. So long as man persists in his adherence to
ancestral forms and imitation of obsolete ceremonials, denying higher
revelations of the divine light in the world, strife and contention will
destroy the purpose of religion and make love and fellowship impossible.
Each of the holy Manifestations announced the glad tidings of His
successor, and each One confirmed the message of His predecessor.
Therefore, inasmuch as They were agreed and united in purpose and
teaching, it is incumbent upon Their followers to be likewise unified in
love and spiritual fellowship. In no other way will discord and alienation
disappear and the oneness of the world of humanity be established.
After we have proved the validity of the Manifestations of the Word of God
by investigating the divine teachings, we must discover for a certainty
whether They have been real Educators of mankind. Among the revelators of
the law of God was Moses. When He appeared, all the contemporaneous
nations rejected Him. Notwithstanding this, single and alone He
promulgated the divine teachings and liberated a nation from the lowest
condition of degradation and bondage. The people of Israel were ignorant,
lowly, debased in morals--a race of slaves under burdensome oppression.
Moses led them out of captivity and brought them to the Holy Land. He
educated and disciplined them, established among them the foundations of
material and divine civilization. Through the education of Moses these
ignorant people attained an advanced degree of power and prestige,
culminating in the glory of the reign of Solomon. From the abyss of
bereavement and slavery they were uplifted to the highest plane of
progress and civilized nationhood. It is evident, therefore, that Moses
was an Educator and Teacher. The purpose and mission of the holy, divine
Messengers is the training and advancement of humanity, the cultivation of
divine fruits in the gardens of human hearts, the reflection of heavenly
effulgence in the mirrors of human souls, the quickening of mental
capacity and the increase of spiritual susceptibilities. When these
results and outcomes are witnessed in mankind, the function and mission of
the Manifestations are unmistakable. Christ, single and alone, without
schooling or outward education and trained to labor in the shop of a
carpenter, appeared in the world at the time when the Jewish nation was in
the greatest abasement. This radiant Youth, without wealth, power of
armies or prestige, rescued the Jews who believed on Him from tyranny and
degradation and lifted them to the highest plane of development and glory.
Peter, His disciple, was a fisherman. Through the power of Christ he shed
light upon all the horizons of the world. Furthermore, various people of
the Greek, Roman, Egyptian and Assyrian nations were brought together in
unity and agreement; where warfare and bloodshed had existed, humility and
love were manifest, and the foundations of divine religion were
established, never to be destroyed. This proves that Christ was a heavenly
Teacher and Educator of the world of humanity, for such evidences are
historical and irrefutable, not based upon tradition and circumstantial
report. The power of His Word in cementing these nations together is as
clear and evident as the sun at midday. There is no need of further
demonstration.
The proof of the validity of a Manifestation of God is the penetration and
potency of His Word, the cultivation of heavenly attributes in the hearts
and lives of His followers and the bestowal of divine education upon the
world of humanity. This is absolute proof. The world is a school in which
there must be Teachers of the Word of God. The evidence of the ability of
these Teachers is efficient education of the graduating classes.
In the early part of the nineteenth century the horizon of Persia was
shrouded in great darkness and ignorance. The people of that country were
in a condition of barbarism. Hatred and bigotry prevailed among the
various religions; bloodshed and hostility were frequent among sects and
denominations of belief. There were no evidences of affiliation and unity;
violent prejudice and antagonism ruled the hearts of men. At such a time
as this Baha'u'llah proclaimed the first principle of His mission and
teaching--the oneness of the world of humanity. His second announcement was
the investigation of reality; the third was the oneness of the foundations
of the divine religions. Through spiritual education He led the people out
of darkness and ignorance into the clear light of truth, illuminated their
hearts with the splendor of knowledge, laid a true and universal basis for
religious teachings, cultivated the virtues of humanity, conferred
spiritual susceptibilities, awakened inner perceptions and changed the
dishonor of prejudiced souls to the highest degree of honor and capacity.
Today in Persia and the Orient you will find the followers of Baha'u'llah
united in the closest ties of fellowship and love. They have abandoned
religious prejudices and have become as one family. When you enter their
meetings, you will find Christians, Muslims, Buddhists, Zoroastrians, Jews
and representatives of other beliefs present, all conjoined in a wonderful
unity without a trace of bigotry or fanaticism, and the light of the
oneness of the world of humanity reflected in their faces. Day by day they
are advancing, manifesting greater and still greater love for each other.
Their faith is fixed upon the unification of mankind, and their highest
purpose is the oneness of religious belief. They proclaim to all humanity
the sheltering mercy and infinite grace of God. They teach the
reconciliation of religion with science and reason. They show forth in
words and deeds the reality of love for all mankind as the servants of one
God and the recipients of His universal bounty. These are their thoughts,
their beliefs, their guiding principles, their religion. No trace of
religious, racial, patriotic or political prejudice can be found among
them, for they are real servants of God and obedient to His will and
command.
My highest hope and desire is that the strongest and most indissoluble
bond shall be established between the American nation and the people of
the Orient. This is my prayer to God. May the day come when through divine
and spiritual activity in the human world the religions shall be
reconciled and all races of mankind come together in unity and love. Fifty
years ago Baha'u'llah proclaimed the peace of the nations and oneness of
the divine religions, addressing His words to all the kings and rulers of
the world in specific Tablets. Therefore, my supreme desire is the unity
of the East and West, universal peace and the oneness of the world of
humanity.
TALKS 'ABDU'L-BAHA DELIVERED IN OAKLAND, PALO ALTO, SAN FRANCISCO, AND
SACRAMENTO
7 October 1912
Talk to Japanese Young Men's Christian Association
Japanese Independent Church, Oakland, California