In order for the standard of human rights now in the process of
formulation by the community of nations to be promoted and established as
prevailing international norms, a fundamental redefinition of human
relationships is called for. Present-day conceptions of what is natural
and appropriate in relationships--among human beings themselves, between
human beings and nature, between the individual and society, and between
the members of society and its institutions--reflect levels of
understanding arrived at by the human race during earlier and less mature
stages in its development. If humanity is indeed coming of age, if all the
inhabitants of the planet constitute a single people, if justice is to be
the ruling principle of social organization--then existing conceptions that
were born out of ignorance of these emerging realities have to be recast.
Movement in this direction has barely begun. It will lead, as it unfolds,
to a new understanding of the nature of the family and of the rights and
responsibilities of each of its members. It will entirely transform the
role of women at every level of society. Its effect in reordering people's
relation to the work they do and their understanding of the place of
economic activity in their lives will be sweeping. It will bring about
far-reaching changes in the governance of human affairs and in the
institutions created to carry it out. Through its influence, the work of
society's rapidly proliferating nongovernmental organizations will be
increasingly rationalized. It will ensure the creation of binding
legislation that will protect both the environment and the development
needs of all peoples. Ultimately, the restructuring or transformation of
the United Nations system that this movement is already bringing about
will no doubt lead to the establishment of a world federation of nations
with its own legislative, judicial, and executive bodies.
Central to the task of reconceptualizing the system of human relationships
is the process that Baha'u'llah refers to as consultation. "In all things
it is necessary to consult," is His advice. "The maturity of the gift of
understanding is made manifest through consultation."
The standard of truth seeking this process demands is far beyond the
patterns of negotiation and compromise that tend to characterize the
present-day discussion of human affairs. It cannot be achieved--indeed, its
attainment is severely handicapped--by the culture of protest that is
another widely prevailing feature of contemporary society. Debate,
propaganda, the adversarial method, the entire apparatus of partisanship
that have long been such familiar features of collective action are all
fundamentally harmful to its purpose: that is, arriving at a consensus
about the truth of a given situation and the wisest choice of action among
the options open at any given moment.
What Baha'u'llah is calling for is a consultative process in which the
individual participants strive to transcend their respective points of
view, in order to function as members of a body with its own interests and
goals. In such an atmosphere, characterized by both candor and courtesy,
ideas belong not to the individual to whom they occur during the
discussion but to the group as a whole, to take up, discard, or revise as
seems to best serve the goal pursued. Consultation succeeds to the extent
that all participants support the decisions arrived at, regardless of the
individual opinions with which they entered the discussion. Under such
circumstances an earlier decision can be readily reconsidered if
experience exposes any shortcomings.
Viewed in such a light, consultation is the operating expression of
justice in human affairs. So vital is it to the success of collective
endeavor that it must constitute a basic feature of a viable strategy of
social and economic development. Indeed, the participation of the people
on whose commitment and efforts the success of such a strategy depends
becomes effective only as consultation is made the organizing principle of
every project. "No man can attain his true station", is Baha'u'llah's
counsel, "except through his justice. No power can exist except through
unity. No welfare and no well-being can be attained except through
consultation."