Today, this Servant has assuredly come to vivify the world and to bring
into unity all who are on the face of the earth. That which God willeth
shall come to pass and thou shalt see the earth even as the Abha (Most
Glorious) Paradise.--BAHA'U'LLAH, Tablet to the Ra'is.
Conflict versus Concord
During the past century scientists have devoted and immense amount of
study to the struggle for existence in the plant and animal world, and,
amid the perplexities of social life, many have turned for guidance to the
principles which have been found to hold good in the lower world of
nature. In this way they have come to regard rivalry and conflict as
necessities of life, and the ruthless killing out of the weaker members of
society as a legitimate or even necessary means of improving the race.
Baha'u'llah tells us, on the other hand, that, if we wish to ascend the
scale of progress, instead of looking backward to the animal world, we
must direct our gaze forward and upward, and must take not the beasts, but
the Prophets as our guides. The principles of unity, concord and
compassion taught by the Prophets are the very antithesis of those
dominating the animal struggle for self-preservation, and we must choose
between them, for they cannot be reconciled. 'Abdu'l-Baha says:--
In the world of nature the dominant note is the struggle for
existence--the result of which is the survival of the fittest. The
law of the survival of the fittest is the origin of all
difficulties. It is the cause of war and strife, hatred and
animosity, between human beings. In the world of nature there is
tyranny, egoism, aggression, overbearance, usurpation of the
rights of others and other blameworthy attributes which are
defects of the animal world. Therefore, so long as the
requirements of the natural world play paramount part among the
children of men, success and prosperity are impossible. Nature is
warlike, nature is bloodthirsty, nature is tyrannical, for nature
is unaware of God the Almighty. That is why these cruel qualities
are natural to the animal world.
Therefore the Lord of mankind, having great love and mercy, has
caused the appearance of the prophets and the revelation of the
Holy Books, so that through divine education humanity may be
released from the corruption of nature and the darkness of
ignorance, be confirmed with ideal virtues and spiritual
attributes, and become the dawning-place of merciful emotions....
A hundred thousand times, alas! that ignorant prejudice, unnatural
differences and antagonistic principles are yet displayed by the
nations of the world toward one another, thus causing the
retardation of general progress. This retrogression comes from the
fact that the principles of divine civilization are completely
abandoned, and the teachings of the prophets are forgotten.
The Most Great Peace
In all ages the Prophets of God have foretold the coming of an era of
"peace on earth, goodwill among men." As we have already seen Baha'u'llah,
in the most glowing and confident terms, confirms these prophecies and
declares that their fulfillment is at hand. 'Abdu'l-Baha says:--
... in this marvellous cycle, the earth will be transformed, and
the world of humanity arrayed in tranquility and beauty. Disputes,
quarrels, and murders will be replaced by peace, truth, and
concord; among the nations, peoples, races, and countries, love
and amity will appear. Co-operation and union will be established,
and finally war will be entirely suppressed.... Universal peace
will raise its tent in the centre of the earth, and the Blessed
Tree of Life will grow and spread to such an extent that it will
overshadow the East and the West. Strong and weak, rich and poor,
antagonistic sects and hostile nations--which are like the wolf and
the lamb, the leopard and kid, the lion and calf--will act towards
each other with the most complete love, friendship, justice, and
equity. The world will be filled with science, with the knowledge
of the reality of the mysteries of beings, and with the knowledge
of God.--Some Answered Questions, pp. 74-75.
Religious Prejudices
In order to see clearly how the Most Great Peace may be established, let
us first examine the principle causes that have led to war in the past and
see how Baha'u'llah proposes to deal with each.
One of the most fertile causes of war has been religious prejudice. With
regard to this the Baha'i teachings show clearly that animosity and
conflict between people of different religions and sects have always been
due, not to true religion, but to the want of it, and to its replacement
by false prejudices, imitations and misrepresentations.
In one of His talks in Paris, 'Abdu'l-Baha said:
Religion should unite all hearts and cause wars and disputes to
vanish from the face of the earth; it should give birth to
spirituality, and bring light and life to every soul. If religion
becomes a cause of dislike, hatred and division it would be better
to be without it, and to withdraw from such a religion would be a
truly religious act. For it is clear that the purpose of a remedy
is to cure, but if the remedy only aggravates the complaint, it
had better be left alone. Any religion which is not a cause of
love and unity is no religion.
Again He says:--
From the beginning of human history down to the present time
various religions of the world have anathematized one another and
accused one another of falsity.... They have shunned one another
most rigidly, exercising mutual animosity and rancor. Consider the
history of religious warfare.... One of the greatest religious
wars, the Crusaders, extended over a period of 200 years....
Sometimes the Crusaders were successful, killing, pillaging and
taking captive Muhammadan people; sometimes the Mussulmans were
victorious, inflicting bloodshed and ruin in turn upon the
invaders.
So they continued for two centuries, alternately fighting with
fury and relaxing with weakness until the European religionists
withdrew from the East, leaving ashes of desolation behind them
and finding their own nations in a condition of turbulence and
upheaval.... Yet this was only one of the "Holy wars."
Religious wars have been many. Nine hundred thousand martyrs of
the Protestant cause was the record of conflict and difference
between that sect of Christians and the Catholics.... How many
languished in prisons! How merciless the treatment of captives!
All in the name of religion!
The Christians and Muhammadans considered the Jews as satanic and
the enemies of God. Therefore they cursed and persecuted them.
Great numbers of Jews were killed, their houses burnt and
pillaged, their children carried into captivity. The Jews in turn
regarded the Christians as infidels, and the Muhammadans as
enemies and destroyers of the laws of Moses; therefore they called
down vengeance upon them and curse them even to this day.
When the light of Baha'u'llah dawned from the East, He proclaimed
the promise of the oneness of humanity. He addressed all mankind
saying: "Ye are all fruits of one tree. There are not two trees,
one a tree of divine mercy, the other a tree of Satan." ...
Therefore we must exercise the utmost love toward one another. We
must not consider any people the people of Satan, but know and
recognize all as servants of one God. At most it is this: some do
not know, they must be guided and trained.... Some are ignorant,
they must be informed. Some are as children, they must be helped
to reach maturity. Some are ailing, their moral condition is bad,
they must be treated until their morals are purified. But the sick
man is not to be hated because he is sick; the child must not be
shunned because he is a child, the ignorant one is not to be
despised because he lacks knowledge. They must be treated,
educated, trained and assisted in love. Everything must be done in
order that all humanity may live under the shadow of God in the
utmost security, in happiness of the highest type.
Racial and Patriotic Prejudices
The Baha'i doctrine of the unity of mankind strikes at the root of another
cause of war, namely, racial prejudice. Certain races have assumed
themselves to be superior to others and have taken for granted, on the
principle of "survival of the fittest," that this superiority gives them
the right to exploit for their own advantage, or even to exterminate,
weaker races. Many of the blackest pages in the world's history are
examples of the pitiless application of this principle. According to the
Baha'i view people of every race are of equal value in the sight of God.
All have wonderful innate capacities which only require suitable education
for their development, and each can play a part, which, instead of
impoverishing, will enrich and complete the life of all the other members
of the body of humanity. 'Abdu'l-Baha says:--
Concerning the prejudice of race; it is an illusion, a
superstition pure and simple, for God created us all of one
race.... In the beginning also there were no limits and boundaries
between the different lands; no part of the earth belonged more to
one people than to another. In the sight of God there is no
different between the various races. Why should man invent such a
prejudice? How can we uphold war caused by such an illusion? God
has not created men that they should destroy one another. All
races, tribes, sects and classes share equally in the bounty of
their Heavenly Father.
The only real difference lies in the degree of faithfulness, of
obedience to the laws of God. There are some who are as lighted
torches; there are others who shine as stars in the sky of
humanity.
The lovers of mankind, these are the superior men, of whatever
nation, creed or color they may be.
Equally mischievous with racial prejudice is political or patriotic
prejudice. The time has now come when narrow national patriotisms should
be merged in the wider patriotism whose country is the world. Baha'u'llah
says:--
Of old it hath been revealed: "Love of one's country is an element
of the Faith of God." The Tongue of Grandeur hath ... in the day
of His manifestation proclaimed: "It is not his to boast who
loveth his country, but it is his who loveth the world." Through
the power released by these exalted words He hath lent a fresh
impulse, and set a new direction, to the birds of men's hearts,
and hath obliterated every trace of restriction and limitation
from God's Holy Book.--Tablet of the World.
Territorial Ambitions
Many are the wars which have been fought over pieces of territory whose
possession has been coveted by two or more rival nations. The greed of
possession has been as fertile a cause of strife among nations as among
individuals. According to the Baha'i view, land rightly belongs not to
individual men or individual nations but to humanity as a whole; nay,
rather, it belongs to God alone, and all men are but tenants.
On the occasion of the Battle of Benghazi(27) , 'Abdu'l-Baha said:--
The news of the Battle of Benghazi grieves my heart. I wonder at
the human savagery that still exists in the world: How is it
possible for men to fight from morning till night, killing each
other, shedding the blood of their fellowmen? And for what object?
To gain possession of a part of the earth! Even the animals when
they fight have an immediate and more reasonable cause for their
attacks. How terrible is it that men who are of the higher kingdom
can descend to slaying and bringing misery to their fellow beings
for the possession of a tract of land--the highest of created
beings fighting to obtain the lowest form of matter, earth.
Land belongs not to one people but to all people. The earth is not
man's home but his tomb.
However great the conqueror, however many countries he may reduce
to slavery, he is unable to retain any part of these devastated
lands but one tiny portion--his tomb.
If more land is required for the improvement of the condition of
the people, for the spread of civilization ... surely it would be
possible to acquire peaceably the necessary extension of
territory. But war is made for the satisfaction of men's ambition.
For the sake of worldly gain to the few terrible misery is brought
to numberless homes, breaking the hearts of hundred of men and
women. ...
I charge you all that each one of you concentrate all the thoughts
of his heart on love and unity. When a thought of war comes,
oppose it by a stronger thought of peace. A thought of hatred must
be destroyed by a more powerful thought of love. When soldiers of
the world draw their swords to kill, soldiers of God clasp each
other's hands. So may all the savagery of men disappear by the
mercy of God, working through the pure in heart and the
sincere of soul. Do not think the peace of the world an ideal impossible
to attain. Nothing is impossible to the divine benevolence of God. If you
desire with all your heart friendship with every race on earth, your
thought, spiritual and positive will spread; it will become the desire of
others, growing stronger until it reaches the minds of all men.
Universal Language
Having glanced at the principal causes of war and how they may be avoided,
we may now proceed to examine certain constructive proposals made by
Baha'u'llah with a view to achieving the Most Great Peace.
The first deals with the establishment of a universal auxiliary language.
Baha'u'llah refers to this matter in the Book of Aqdas and in many of His
Tablets. Thus in the Tablet of I_sh_raqat He says:--
The Sixth I_sh_raq (Effulgence) is Concord and Union amongst men.
Through the radiance of Union have the regions of the world at all
times been illumined, and the greatest of all means thereunto is
the understanding of one another's writing and speech. Ere this,
in Our Epistles, have We commanded the Trustees of the House of
Justice, either to choose one of the existing tongues, or to
originate a new one, and in like manner to adopt a common script,
teaching these to the children in all the schools of the world,
that the world may become even as one land and one home.
About the time when this proposal of Baha'u'llah was first given to the
world, there was born in Poland a boy named Ludovic Zamenhof, who was
destined to play a leading part in carrying it into effect. Almost from
his infancy, the ideal of a universal language became a dominant motive in
Zamenhof's life, and the result of his devoted labors was the invention
and widespread adoption of the language known as Esperanto, which has now
stood the test of many years and has proved to be a very satisfactory
medium of international intercourse. It has the great advantage that it
can be mastered in about a twentieth part of the time required to master
such languages as English, French or German. At an Esperanto banquet given
in Paris in February 1913, 'Abdu'l-Baha said:--
Today one of the chief causes of the differences in Europe is the
diversity of languages. We say this man is a German, the other is
an Italian, then we meet an Englishman and then again a Frenchman.
Although they belong to the same race, yet language is the
greatest barrier between them. Were a universal auxiliary language
in operation they would all be considered as one.
His Holiness Baha'u'llah wrote about this international language
more than forty years ago. He says that as long as an
international language is not adopted, complete union between the
various sections of the world will be unrealized, for we observe
that misunderstandings keep people from mutual association, and
these misunderstandings will not be dispelled except through an
international auxiliary language.
Generally speaking, the whole people of the Orient are not fully
informed of events in the West, neither can the Westerners put
themselves in sympathetic touch with the Easterners; their
thoughts are enclosed in a casket--the international language will
be the master key to open it. Were we in possession of a universal
language, the Western books could easily be translated into that
language, and the Eastern peoples be informed of their contents.
In the same way the books of the East could be translated into
that language for the benefit of the people in the West. The
greatest means of progress towards the union of East and West will
be a common language. It will make the whole world one home and
become the strongest impulse for human advancement. It will
upraise the standard of the oneness of humanity. It will make the
earth one universal commonwealth. It will be the cause of love
between the children of men. It will cause good fellowship between
the various races.
Now, praise be to God that Dr. Zamenhof(28) has invented the
Esperanto language. It has all the potential qualities of becoming
the international means of communication. All of us must be
grateful and thankful to him for this noble effort; for in this
way he has served his fellowmen well. With untiring effort and
self-sacrifice on the part of its devotees Esperanto will become
universal. Therefore every one of us must study this language and
spread it as far as possible so that day by day it may receive a
broader recognition, be accepted by all nations and governments of
the world, and become a part of the curriculum in all the public
schools. I hope that Esperanto will be adopted as the language of
all the future international conferences and congresses, so that
all people need acquire only two languages--one their own tongue
and the other the international language. Then perfect union will
be established between all the people of the world. Consider how
difficult it is today to communicate with various nations. If one
studies fifty languages one may yet travel through a country and
not know the language. Therefore I hope that you will make the
utmost effort, so that this language of Esperanto may be widely
spread.
While these allusions to Esperanto are specific and encouraging, it
remains true that until the House of Justice has acted on the matter in
accordance with Baha'u'llah's instruction the Baha'i Faith is not
committed to Esperanto nor to any other living or artificial tongue.
'Abdu'l-Baha Himself said: "The love and effort put into Esperanto will
not be lost, but no one person can construct a Universal
Language."--'Abdu'l-Baha in London, p. 95.
Which language to adopt, and whether it is to be a natural or constructed
one, is a decision which the nations of the world will have to make.
Universal League of Nations
Another proposal frequently and powerfully advocated by Baha'u'llah was
that a Universal League of Nations should be formed for the maintenance of
international peace. In a letter to Queen Victoria, written while He was
still a prisoner in the barracks of Akka,(29) He said:--
O Rulers of the earth! Be reconciled among yourselves, that ye may
need no more armaments save in a measure to safeguard your
territories and dominions....
Be united, O Kings of the earth, for thereby will the tempest of
discord be stilled amongst you, and your people find rest....
Should any one among you take up arms against another, rise ye all
against him, for this is naught but manifest justice.
In 1875, 'Abdu'l-Baha gave a forecast of the establishment of a Universal
League of Nations, which is especially interesting at the present time(30)
in view of the strenuous attempts now being made to establish such a
league. He wrote:--
True civilization will unfurl its banner in the midmost heart of
the world whenever a certain number of its distinguished and
high-minded sovereigns--the shining exemplars of devotion and
determination--shall, for the good and happiness of all mankind,
arise, with firm resolve and clear vision, to establish the Cause
of Universal Peace. They must make the Cause of Peace the object
of general consultation, and seek by every means in their power to
establish a Union of the nations of the world. They must conclude
a binding treaty and establish a covenant, the provisions of which
shall be sound, inviolable and definite. They must proclaim it to
all the world and obtain for it the sanction of all the human
race. This supreme and noble undertaking--the real source of the
peace and well-being of all the world--should be regarded as sacred
by all that dwell on earth. All the forces of humanity must be
mobilized to ensure the stability and permanence of this Most
Great Covenant. In this all-embracing Pact the limits and
frontiers of each and every nation should be clearly fixed, the
principles underlying the relations of governments towards one
another definitely laid down, and all international agreements and
obligations ascertained. In like manner, the size of the armaments
of every government should be strictly limited, for if the
preparations for war and the military forces of any nation should
be allowed to increase, they will arouse the suspicion of others.
The fundamental principle underlying this solemn Pact should be so
fixed that if any government later violate any one of its
provisions, all the governments on earth should arise to reduce it
to utter submission, nay the human race as a whole should resolve,
with every power at its disposal, to destroy that government.
Should this greatest of all remedies be applied to the sick body
of the world, it will assuredly recover from its ills and will
remain eternally safe and secure.--The Secret of Divine
Civilization, pp. 64-65.
Baha'is see grave deficiencies in the structure of the League of
Nations(31) which falls short of the type of institution which Baha'u'llah
described as essential to the establishment of world peace. On December
17, 1919, 'Abdu'l-Baha declared:--
At present Universal Peace is a matter of great importance, but
unity of conscience is essential, so that the foundation of this
matter may become secure, its establishment firm and its edifice
strong.... Although the League of Nations has been brought into
existence, yet it is incapable of establishing Universal Peace.
But the Supreme Tribunal which His Holiness Baha'u'llah has
described will fulfill this sacred task with the utmost might and
power.
International Arbitration
Baha'u'llah also advocated the establishment of an international court of
arbitration, so that differences arising between nations might be settled
in accordance with justice and reason, instead of by appeal to the ordeal
of battle.
In a letter to the Secretary of the Mohonk Conference on International
Arbitration, in August 1911, 'Abdu'l-Baha said:--
About fifty years ago in the Book of Aqdas, Baha'u'llah commanded
people to establish universal peace and summoned all the nations
to the divine banquet of international arbitration, so that the
questions of boundaries, of national honor and property, and of
vital interests between nations might be settled by an arbitral
court of justice, and that no nation would dare to refuse to abide
by the decisions thus arrived at. If any quarrel between two
nations it must be adjudicated by this international court and be
arbitrated and decided upon like the judgment rendered by the
Judge between two individuals. If at any time any nation dares to
break such a decision, all the other nations must arise to put
down this rebellion.
Again, in one of His Paris talks in 1911, He said:--
A supreme tribunal shall be established by the peoples and
governments of every nation, composed of members elected from each
country and government. The members of this great council shall
assemble in unity. All disputes of an international character
shall be submitted to this court, its work being to arrange by
arbitration everything which otherwise would be a cause of war.
This mission of this tribunal would be to prevent war.
During the quarter of a century preceding the establishment of the League
of Nations a permanent Court of Arbitration was established at The Hague
(1900), and many arbitration treaties were signed, but most of these fell
far short of the comprehensive proposals of Baha'u'llah. No arbitration
treaty was made between two great Powers in which all matters of dispute
were included. Differences affecting "vital interests," "honor" and
"independence" were specifically excepted. Not only so, but effective
guarantees that nations would abide by the terms of the treaties into
which they had entered were lacking. In the Baha'i proposals, on the other
hand, questions of boundaries, of national honor and of vital interest are
expressly included, and agreements will have the supreme guarantee of the
World League of Nations behind them. Only when these proposals are
completely carried out will international arbitration attain the full
scope of its beneficent possibilities and the curse of war be finally
banished from the world.
Limitation of Armaments
'Abdu'l-Baha says:--
By a general agreement all the governments of the world must
disarm simultaneously. It will not do if one lays down its arms
and the others refuse to do so. The nations of the world must
concur with each other concerning this supremely important
subject, so that they may abandon together the deadly weapons of
human slaughter. As long as one nation increases her military and
naval budget other nations will be forced into this crazed
competition through their natural and supposed interests.--Diary of
Mirza Ahmad Sohrab, May 11-14, 1914.
Nonresistence
As a religious body, Baha'is have, at the express command of Baha'u'llah,
entirely abandoned the use of armed force in their own interests, even for
strictly defensive purposes. In Persia many, many thousands of the Babis
and Baha'is have suffered cruel deaths because of their faith. In the
early days of the Cause the Babis on various occasions defended themselves
and their families by the sword, with great courage and bravery.
Baha'u'llah, however, forbade this. 'Abdu'l-Baha writes:--
When Baha'u'llah appeared, He declared that the promulgation of
the truth by such means must on no account be allowed, even for
purposes of self-defense. He abrogated the rule of the sword and
annulled the ordinance of "Holy War." "If ye be slain," said He,
"it is better for you than to slay. It is through the firmness and
assurance of the faithful that the Cause of the Lord must be
diffused. As the faithful, fearless and undaunted, arise with
absolute detachment to exalt the Word of God, and, with eyes
averted from the things of this world, engaged in service for the
Lord's sake and by His power, thereby will they cause the Word of
Truth to triumph. These blessed souls bear witness by their
lifeblood to the truth of the Cause and attest it by the sincerity
of their faith, their devotion and their constancy. The Lord can
avail to diffuse His Cause and to defeat the froward. We desire no
defender but Him, and with our lives in our hands face the foe and
welcome martyrdom." (written by 'Abdu'l-Baha for this book).
Baha'u'llah wrote to one of the persecutors of His cause:--
Gracious God! This people need no weapons of destruction, inasmuch
as they have girded themselves to reconstruct the world. Their
hosts are the hosts of goodly deeds, and their arms the arms of
upright conduct, and their commander the fear of God. Blessed that
one that judgeth with fairness. By the righteousness of God! Such
hath been the patience, the calm, the resignation of contentment
of this people that they have become the exponents of justice, and
so great hath been their forbearance, that they have suffered
themselves to be killed rather than kill, and this notwithstanding
that these whom the world hath wronged have endured tribulations
the like of which the history of the world hath never recorded,
nor the eyes of any nation witnessed. What is it that could have
induced them to reconcile themselves to these grievous trials, and
to refuse to put forth a hand to repel them? What could have
caused such resignation and serenity? The true cause is to be
found in the band which the Pen of Glory hath, day and night,
chosen to impose, and in Our assumption of the reins of authority,
through the power and might of Him Who is the Lord of all
mankind.--Epistle to the Son of the Wolf, pp. 74-75.
The soundness of Baha'u'llah's nonresistance policy has already been
proved by results. For every believer martyred in Persia, the Baha'i faith
has received a hundred new believers into its fold, and the glad and
dauntless way in which these martyrs cast the crowns of their lives at the
feet of their Lord has furnished to the world the clearest proof that they
had found a new life for which death has no terrors, a life of ineffable
fullness and joy, compared with which the pleasures of earth are but as
dust in the balance, and the most fiendish physical tortures but trifles
light as air.
Righteous Warfare
Although Baha'u'llah, like Christ, counsels His follows as individuals and
as a religious body to adopt an attitude of nonresistance and forgiveness
toward their enemies, He teaches that it is the duty of the community to
prevent injustice and oppression. If individuals are persecuted and
injured it is wrong for a community to allow pillage and murder to
continue unchecked within its borders. It is the duty of a good government
to prevent wrongdoing and to punish offenders.(32) So also with the
community of nations. If one nation oppresses or injures another, it is
the duty of all other nations to unite to prevent such oppression.
'Abdu'l-Baha writes:--"It may happen that at a given time warlike and
savage tribes may furiously attack the body politic with the intention of
carrying on a wholesale slaughter of its members; under such a
circumstance defense is necessary."
Hitherto the usual practice of mankind has been that if one nation
attacked another, the rest of the nations of the world remained neutral,
and accepted no responsibility in the matter unless their own interests
were directly affected or threatened. The whole burden of defense was left
to the nation attacked, however weak and helpless it might be. The
teaching of Baha'u'llah reverses this position and throws the
responsibility of defense not specially on the nation attacked, but on all
the others, individually and collectively. As the whole of mankind is one
community, an attack on any one nation is an attack on the community, and
ought to be dealt with by the community. Were this doctrine generally
recognized and acted on, any nation contemplating an aggression on another
would know in advance that it would have to reckon with the opposition not
of that other nation only, but of the whole of the rest of the world. This
knowledge alone would be sufficient to deter even the boldest and most
bellicose of nations. When a sufficiently strong league of peace-loving
nations is established war will, there, become a thing of the past. During
the period of transition from the old state of international anarchy to
the new state of international solidarity aggressive wars will still be
possible, and in these circumstances, military or other coercive action in
the cause of international justice, unity and peace may be a positive
duty. 'Abdu'l-Baha writes that in such case:--
A conquest can be a praiseworthy thing, and there are times when
war becomes the powerful basis of peace, and ruin the very means
of reconstruction. If, for example, a high-minded sovereign
marshals his troops to block the onset of the insurgent and the
aggressor, or again, if he takes the field and distinguishes
himself in a struggle to unify a divided state and people, if, in
brief, he is waging war for a righteous purpose, then this seeming
wrath is mercy itself, and this apparent tyranny the very
substance of justice and this warfare the cornerstone of peace.
Today, the task befitting great rulers is to establish universal
peace, for in this lies the freedom of all peoples.--The Secret of
Divine Civilization, pp. 70-71.
Unity of East and West
Another factor which will help in bringing about universal peace is the
linking together of the East and the West. The Most Great Peace is no mere
cessation of hostilities, but a fertilizing union and cordial cooperation
of the hitherto sundered peoples of the earth which will bear much
precious fruit. In one of His talks in Paris, 'Abdu'l-Baha said:--
In the past, as in the present, the Spiritual Sun of Truth has
always shone from the horizon of the East. In the East Moses arose
to lead and teach the people. On the Eastern horizon rose the Lord
Christ. Muhammad was sent to an Eastern nation. The Bab arose in
the Eastern land of Persia. Baha'u'llah lived and taught in the
East. All the great spiritual teachers arose in the Eastern world.
But although the Sun of Christ dawned in the East, the radiance
thereof was apparent in the West, where the effulgence of its
glory was more clearly seen. The divine light of His teaching
shone with a greater force in the Western world, where it has made
more rapid headway than in the land of its birth.
In these days the East is in need of material progress and the
West is in need of a spiritual ideal. It would be well for the
West to turn to the East for illumination, and to give in exchange
its scientific knowledge. There must be this interchange of gifts.
The East and the West must unite to give to each other what is
lacking. This union will bring about true civilization where the
spiritual is expressed and carried out in the material. Receiving
thus, the one from the other, the greatest harmony will prevail,
all people will be united, a state of great perfection will be
attained, there will be a firm cementing, and this world will
become a shining mirror for the reflection of the attributes of
God.
We all, the Eastern and the Western nations, must strive day and
night, with heart and soul, to achieve this high ideal, to cement
the unity between all the nations of the earth. Every heart will
then be refreshed, all eyes will be opened, the most wonderful
power will be given, the happiness of humanity will be assured....
This will be the Paradise which is to come on earth, when all
mankind will be gathered together under the Tent of Unity in the
Kingdom of Glory.