Touching the recent decision of the National Spiritual Assembly to place
as much as possible of the current details of the work in the hands of its
national committees, I feel I should point out that this raises a
fundamental issue of paramount importance, as it involves a unique
principle in the administration of the Cause, governing the relations that
should be maintained between the central administrative body and its
assisting organs of executive and legislative action. As it has been
observed already, the role of these committees set up by the National
Spiritual Assembly, the renewal, the membership and functions of which
should be reconsidered separately each year by the incoming National
Assembly, is chiefly to make thorough and expert study of the issue
entrusted to their charge, advise by their reports, and assist in the
execution of the decisions which in vital matters are to be exclusively
and directly rendered by the National Assembly. The utmost vigilance, the
most strenuous exertion is required by them if they wish to fulfill as
befits their high and responsible calling, the functions which it is
theirs to discharge. They should, within the limits imposed upon them by
present-day circumstances, endeavor to maintain the balance in such a
manner that the evils of over-centralization which clog, confuse and in
the long run depreciate the value of the Baha'i services rendered shall on
one hand be entirely avoided, and on the other the perils of utter
decentralization with the consequent lapse of governing authority from the
hands of the national representatives of the believers definitely averted.
The absorption of the petty details of Baha'i administration by the
personnel of the National Spiritual Assembly is manifestly injurious to
efficiency and an expert discharge of Baha'i duties, whilst the granting
of undue discretion to bodies that should be regarded in no other light
than that of expert advisers and executive assistants would jeopardize the
very vital and pervading powers that are the sacred prerogatives of bodies
that in time will evolve into Baha'i National Houses of Justice. I am
fully aware of the strain and sacrifice which a loyal adherence to such an
essential principle of Baha'i administration--a principle that will at once
ennoble and distinguish the Baha'i method of administration from the
prevailing systems of the world--demands from the national representatives
of the believers at this early stage of our evolution. Yet I feel I cannot
refrain from stressing the broad lines along which the affairs of the
Cause should be increasingly conducted, the knowledge of which is so
essential at this formative period of Baha'i administrative institutions.