What is real unity? When we observe the human world we find various
collective expressions of unity therein. For instance, man is
distinguished from the animal by his degree or kingdom. This comprehensive
distinction includes all the posterity of Adam and constitutes one great
household or human family which may be considered the fundamental or
physical unity of mankind. Furthermore, a distinction exists between
various groups of humankind according to lineage, each group forming a
racial unity separate from the others. There is also the unity of tongue
among those who use the same language as a means of communication;
national unity where various peoples live under one form of government
such as French, German, British, etc.; and political unity which conserves
the civil rights of parties or factions of the same government. All these
unities are imaginary and without real foundation, for no real result
proceeds from them. The purpose of true unity is real and divine outcomes.
From these limited unities mentioned only limited outcomes proceed whereas
unlimited unity produces unlimited result. For instance, from the limited
unity of race or nationality the results at most are limited. It is like a
family living alone and solitary; there are no unlimited or universal
outcomes from it.
The unity which is productive of unlimited results is first a unity of
mankind which recognizes that all are sheltered beneath the overshadowing
glory of the All-Glorious; that all are servants of one God; for all
breathe the same atmosphere, live upon the same earth, move beneath the
same heavens, receive effulgence from the same sun and are under the
protection of one God. This is the most great unity, and its results are
lasting if humanity adheres to it; but mankind has hitherto violated it,
adhering to sectarian or other limited unities such as racial, patriotic
or unity of self-interests; therefore no great results have been
forthcoming. Nevertheless it is certain that the radiance and favors of
God are encompassing, minds have developed, perceptions have become acute,
sciences and arts are widespread and capacity exists for the proclamation
and promulgation of the real and ultimate unity of mankind which will
bring forth marvelous results. It will reconcile all religions, make
warring nations loving, cause hostile kings to become friendly and bring
peace and happiness to the human world. It will cement together the Orient
and Occident, remove forever the foundations of war and upraise the ensign
of the Most Great Peace. These limited unities are therefore signs of that
great unity which will make all the human family one by being productive
of the attractions of conscience in mankind.
Another unity is the spiritual unity which emanates from the breaths of
the Holy Spirit. This is greater than the unity of mankind. Human unity or
solidarity may be likened to the body whereas unity from the breaths of
the Holy Spirit is the spirit animating the body. This is a perfect unity.
It creates such a condition in mankind that each one will make sacrifices
for the other and the utmost desire will be to forfeit life and all that
pertains to it in behalf of another's good. This is the unity which
existed among the disciples of His Holiness Jesus Christ and bound
together the prophets and holy souls of the past. It is the unity which
through the influence of the divine spirit is permeating the Baha'is so
that each offers his life for the other and strives with all sincerity to
attain his good-pleasure. This is the unity which caused twenty thousand
people in Iran to give their lives in love and devotion to it. It made the
Bab the target of a thousand arrows and caused Baha'u'llah to suffer exile
and imprisonment forty years. This unity is the very spirit of the body of
the world. It is impossible for the body of the world to become quickened
with life without its vivification. His Holiness Jesus Christ--may my life
be a sacrifice to Him!--promulgated this unity among mankind. Every soul
who believed in Jesus Christ became revivified and resuscitated through
this spirit, attained to the zenith of eternal glory, realized the life
everlasting, experienced the second birth and rose to the acme of good
fortune.
In the Word of God there is still another unity, the oneness of the
Manifestations of God, His Holiness Abraham, Moses, Jesus Christ,
Muhammad, the Bab and Baha'u'llah. This is a unity divine, heavenly,
radiant, merciful; the one reality appearing in its successive
manifestations. For instance, the sun is one and the same but its points
of dawning are various. During the summer season it rises from the
northern point of the ecliptic; in winter it appears from the southern
point of rising. Each month between it appears from a certain zodiacal
position. Although these dawning-points are different, the sun is the same
sun which has appeared from them all. The significance is the reality of
prophethood which is symbolized by the sun, and the holy Manifestations
are the dawning-places or zodiacal points.
There is also the divine unity or entity which is sanctified above all
concept of humanity. It cannot be comprehended nor conceived because it is
infinite reality and cannot become finite. Human minds are incapable of
surrounding that reality because all thoughts and conceptions of it are
finite, intellectual creations and not the reality of divine being which
alone knows itself. For example, if we form a conception of divinity as a
living, almighty, self-subsisting, eternal being, this is only a concept
apprehended by a human intellectual reality. It would not be the outward,
visible reality which is beyond the power of human mind to conceive or
encompass. We ourselves have an external, visible entity but even our
concept of it is the product of our own brain and limited comprehension.
The reality of divinity is sanctified above this degree of knowing and
realization. It has ever been hidden and secluded in its own holiness and
sanctity above our comprehending. Although it transcends our realization,
its lights, bestowals, traces and virtues have become manifest in the
realities of the prophets, even as the sun becomes resplendent in various
mirrors. These holy realities are as reflectors, and the reality of
divinity is as the sun which although it is reflected from the mirrors,
and its virtues and perfections become resplendent therein, does not stoop
from its own station of majesty and glory and seek abode in the mirrors;
it remains in its heaven of sanctity. At most it is this, that its lights
become manifest and evident in its mirrors or manifestations. Therefore
its bounty proceeding from them is one bounty but the recipients of that
bounty are many. This is the unity of God; this is oneness;--unity of
divinity, holy above ascent or descent, embodiment, comprehension or
idealization;--divine unity. The prophets are its mirrors; its lights are
revealed through them; its virtues become resplendent in them, but the Sun
of Reality never descends from its own highest point and station. This is
unity, oneness, sanctity; this is glorification whereby we praise and
adore God.