To contemplate a transformation of society on this scale is to raise both
the question of the power that can be harnessed to accomplish it and the
issue inextricably linked to it, the authority to exercise that power. As
with all other implications of the accelerating integration of the planet
and its people, both of these familiar terms stand in urgent need of
redefinition.
Throughout history--and despite theologically or ideologically inspired
assurances to the contrary--power has been largely interpreted as advantage
enjoyed by persons or groups. Often, indeed, it has been expressed simply
in terms of means to be used against others. This interpretation of power
has become an inherent feature of the culture of division and conflict
that has characterized the human race during the past several millenia,
regardless of the social, religious, or political orientations that have
enjoyed ascendancy in given ages, in given parts of the world. In general,
power has been an attribute of individuals, factions, peoples, classes,
and nations. It has been an attribute especially associated with men
rather than women. Its chief effect has been to confer on its
beneficiaries the ability to acquire, to surpass, to dominate, to resist,
to win.
The resulting historical processes have been responsible for both ruinous
setbacks in human well-being and extraordinary advances in civilization.
To appreciate the benefits is to acknowledge also the setbacks, as well as
the clear limitations of the behavioral patterns that have produced both.
Habits and attitudes related to the use of power which emerged during the
long ages of humanity's infancy and adolescence have reached the outer
limits of their effectiveness. Today, in an era most of whose pressing
problems are global in nature, persistence in the idea that power means
advantage for various segments of the human family is profoundly mistaken
in theory and of no practical service to the social and economic
development of the planet. Those who still adhere to it--and who could in
earlier eras have felt confident in such adherence--now find their plans
enmeshed in inexplicable frustrations and hindrances. In its traditional,
competitive expression, power is as irrelevant to the needs of humanity's
future as would be the technologies of railway locomotion to the task of
lifting space satellites into orbits around the earth.
The analogy is more than a little apt. The human race is being urged by
the requirements of its own maturation to free itself from its inherited
understanding and use of power. That it can do so is demonstrated by the
fact that, although dominated by the traditional conception, humanity has
always been able to conceive of power in other forms critical to its
hopes. History provides ample evidence that, however intermittently and
ineptly, people of every background, throughout the ages, have tapped a
wide range of creative resources within themselves. The most obvious
example, perhaps, has been the power of truth itself, an agent of change
associated with some of the greatest advances in the philosophical,
religious, artistic, and scientific experience of the race. Force of
character represents yet another means of mobilizing immense human
response, as does the influence of example, whether in the lives of
individual human beings or in human societies. Almost wholly unappreciated
is the magnitude of the force that will be generated by the achievement of
unity, an influence "so powerful", in Baha'u'llah's words, "that it can
illuminate the whole Earth."
The institutions of society will succeed in eliciting and directing the
potentialities latent in the consciousness of the world's peoples to the
extent that the exercise of authority is governed by principles that are
in harmony with the evolving interests of a rapidly maturing human race.
Such principles include the obligation of those in authority to win the
confidence, respect, and genuine support of those whose actions they seek
to govern; to consult openly and to the fullest extent possible with all
whose interests are affected by decisions being arrived at; to assess in
an objective manner both the real needs and the aspirations of the
communities they serve; to benefit from scientific and moral advancement
in order to make appropriate use of the community's resources, including
the energies of its members. No single principle of effective authority is
so important as giving priority to building and maintaining unity among
the members of a society and the members of its administrative
institutions. Reference has already been made to the intimately associated
issue of commitment to the search for justice in all matters.
Clearly, such principles can operate only within a culture that is
essentially democratic in spirit and method. To say this, however, is not
to endorse the ideology of partisanship that has everywhere boldly assumed
democracy's name and which, despite impressive contributions to human
progress in the past, today finds itself mired in the cynicism, apathy,
and corruption to which it has given rise. In selecting those who are to
take collective decisions on its behalf, society does not need and is not
well served by the political theater of nominations, candidature,
electioneering, and solicitation. It lies within the capacity of all
people, as they become progressively educated and convinced that their
real development interests are being served by programs proposed to them,
to adopt electoral procedures that will gradually refine the selection of
their decision-making bodies.
As the integration of humanity gains momentum, those who are thus selected
will increasingly have to see all their efforts in a global perspective.
Not only at the national, but also at the local level, the elected
governors of human affairs should, in Baha'u'llah's view, consider
themselves responsible for the welfare of all of humankind.