"It is good for the Baha'is to learn that being a Baha'i is essentially an
inner thing, or way of life, and not dependent on fixed patterns.
Important as our organized Institutions are, they are not the Faith
itself. The strength of the Cause grows no matter how much disrupted its
activities may temporarily be. This we see over and over again, in lands
where the Faith has been temporarily banned; at times when the believers
are persecuted and even killed; where they are serving all alone or
scattered and isolated. So it has been a stimulating experience for the
American believers to be without their schools for a few years, rather
than a depressing one."