A word of warning should, however, be uttered in this connection. The love
of one's country, instilled and stressed by the teaching of Islam, as "an
element of the Faith of God," has not, through this declaration, this
clarion-call of Baha'u'llah, been either condemned or disparaged. It
should not, indeed it cannot, be construed as a repudiation, or regarded
in the light of a censure, pronounced against a sane and intelligent
patriotism, nor does it seek to undermine the allegiance and loyalty of
any individual to his country, nor does it conflict with the legitimate
aspirations, rights, and duties of any individual state or nation. All it
does imply and proclaim is the insufficiency of patriotism, in view of the
fundamental changes effected in the economic life of society and the
interdependence of the nations, and as the consequence of the contraction
of the world, through the revolution in the means of transportation and
communication--conditions that did not and could not exist either in the
days of Jesus Christ or of Muhammad. It calls for a wider loyalty, which
should not, and indeed does not, conflict with lesser loyalties. It
instills a love which, in view of its scope, must include and not exclude
the love of one's own country. It lays, through this loyalty which it
inspires, and this love which it infuses, the only foundation on which the
concept of world citizenship can thrive, and the structure of world
unification can rest. It does insist, however, on the subordination of
national considerations and particularistic interests to the imperative
and paramount claims of humanity as a whole, inasmuch as in a world of
interdependent nations and peoples the advantage of the part is best to be
reached by the advantage of the whole.
The world is, in truth, moving on towards its destiny. The interdependence
of the peoples and nations of the earth, whatever the leaders of the
divisive forces of the world may say or do, is already an accomplished
fact. Its unity in the economic sphere is now understood and recognized.
The welfare of the part means the welfare of the whole, and the distress
of the part brings distress to the whole. The Revelation of Baha'u'llah
has, in His own words, "lent a fresh impulse and set a new direction" to
this vast process now operating in the world. The fires lit by this great
ordeal are the consequences of men's failure to recognize it. They are,
moreover, hastening its consummation. Adversity, prolonged, worldwide,
afflictive, allied to chaos and universal destruction, must needs convulse
the nations, stir the conscience of the world, disillusion the masses,
precipitate a radical change in the very conception of society, and
coalesce ultimately the disjointed, the bleeding limbs of mankind into one
body, single, organically united, and indivisible.