The world of existence is an emanation of the merciful attribute of God.
God has shone forth upon the phenomena of being through His effulgence of
mercy and He is clement and kind to all His creation. Therefore the world
of humanity must ever be the recipient of bounties from the eternal Lord;
even as His Holiness Christ has declared, "Be ye perfect even as your
Father which is in heaven." For His bounties like the light and heat of
the sun in the material heavens descend alike upon all mankind.
Consequently man must learn the lesson of kindness and beneficence from
God Himself. Just as God is kind to all humanity, man also must be kind to
his fellow creatures. If his attitude is just and loving toward his fellow
men, toward all creation, then indeed is he worthy of being pronounced the
image and likeness of God.
Brotherhood or fraternity is of different kinds. It may be family
association, the intimate relationship of the household. This is limited
and subject to change and disruption. How often it happens that in a
family, love and agreement are changed into enmity and antagonism. Another
form of fraternity is manifest in patriotism. Man loves his fellow-men
because they belong to the same nativity. This is also limited and subject
to change and disintegration, as for instance when sons of the same
fatherland are opposed to each other in war, bloodshed and battle. Still
another brotherhood or fraternity is that which arises from racial unity,
the oneness of racial origin, producing ties of affinity and association.
This likewise has its limitation and liability to change, for often war
and deadly strife have been witnessed between people and nations of the
same racial lineage. There is a fourth kind of brotherhood, the attitude
of man toward humanity itself, the altruistic love of humankind and
recognition of the fundamental human bond. Although this is unlimited it
is nevertheless susceptible to change and destruction. Even from this
universal fraternal bond the looked-for result does not appear. What is
the looked-for result? Loving-kindness among all human creatures and a
firm, indestructible brotherhood which includes all the divine
possibilities and significances in humanity. Therefore it is evident that
fraternity, love and kindness based upon family, nativity, race or an
attitude of altruism are neither sufficient nor permanent since all of
them are limited, restricted and liable to change and disruption. For in
the family there is discord and alienation; among sons of the same
fatherland strife and internecine warfare are witnessed; between those of
a given race, hostility and hatred are frequent; and even among the
altruists varying aspects of opinion and lack of unselfish devotion give
little promise of permanent and indestructible unity among mankind.
Therefore the Lord of mankind has caused His holy divine Manifestations to
come into the world. He has revealed His heavenly books in order to
establish spiritual brotherhood, and through the power of the Holy Spirit
has made it practicable for perfect fraternity to be realized among
mankind. And when through the breaths of the Holy Spirit this perfect
fraternity and agreement are established amongst men, this brotherhood and
love being spiritual in character, this loving-kindness being heavenly,
these constraining bonds being divine, a unity appears which is
indissoluble, unchanging and never subject to transformation. It is ever
the same and will forever remain the same. For example consider the
foundation of the brotherhood laid by His Holiness Christ. Observe how
that fraternity was conducive to unity and accord and how it brought
various souls to a plane of uniform attainment where they were willing to
sacrifice their lives for each other. They were content to renounce
possessions and ready to joyously forfeit life itself. They lived together
in such love and fellowship that even Galen, the famous Greek philosopher,
who was not a Christian, in his work entitled "The Progress of the
Nations" says that religious beliefs are greatly conducive to the
foundation of real civilization. As a proof thereof he says, "A certain
number of people contemporaneous with us are known as Christians. These
enjoy the superlative degree of moral civilization. Each one of them is a
great philosopher because they live together in the utmost love and
good-fellowship. They sacrifice life for each other. They offer worldly
possessions for each other. You can say of the Christian people that they
are as one person. There is a bond amongst them that is indissoluble in
character."
It is evident therefore that the foundation of real brotherhood, the cause
of loving co-operation and reciprocity and the source of real kindness and
unselfish devotion is none other than the breaths of the Holy Spirit.
Without this influence and animus it is impossible. We may be able to
realize some degrees of fraternity through other motives but these are
limited associations and subject to change. When human brotherhood is
founded upon the Holy Spirit, it is eternal, changeless, unlimited.
In various parts of the Orient there was a time when brotherhood,
loving-kindness and all the praiseworthy qualities of mankind seemed to
have disappeared. There was no evidence of patriotic, religious or racial
fraternity but conditions of bigotry, hatred and prejudice prevailed
instead. The adherents of each religion were violent enemies of the
others, filled with the spirit of hostility and eager for shedding of
blood. The present war in the Balkans furnishes a parallel of these
conditions. Consider the bloodshed, ferocity and oppression manifested
there even in this enlightened century; all of it based fundamentally upon
religious prejudice and disagreement. For the nations involved belong to
the same races and nativities, nevertheless they are savage and merciless
toward each other. Similar deplorable conditions prevailed in Persia in
the nineteenth century. Darkness and ignorant fanaticism were widespread;
no trace of fellowship or brotherhood existed amongst the races. On the
contrary, human hearts were filled with rage and hatred; darkness and
gloom were manifest in human lives and conditions everywhere. At such a
time as this His Holiness Baha'u'llah appeared upon the divine horizon,
even as the glory of the sun, and in that gross darkness and hopelessness
of the human world there shone a great light. He founded the oneness of
the world of humanity, declaring that all mankind are as sheep and that
God is the real and true shepherd. The shepherd is one and all people are
of his flock.
The world of humanity is one and God is equally kind to all. What then is
the source of unkindness and hatred in the human world? This real shepherd
loves all his sheep. He leads them in green pastures. He rears and
protects them. What then is the source of enmity and alienation among
humankind? Whence this conflict and strife? The real underlying cause is
lack of religious unity and association for in each of the great religions
we find superstition, blind imitation of creeds, and theological formulae
adhered to instead of the divine fundamentals, causing difference and
divergence among mankind instead of agreement and fellowship. Consequently
strife, hatred and warfare have arisen, based upon this divergence and
separation. If we investigate the foundations of the divine religions, we
find them to be one, absolutely changeless and never subject to
transformation. For example each of the divine religions contains two
kinds of laws or ordinances. One division concerns the world of morality
and ethical institutions. These are the essential ordinances. They instill
and awaken the knowledge and love of God, love for humanity, the virtues
of the world of mankind, the attributes of the divine kingdom, rebirth and
resurrection from the kingdom of nature. These constitute one kind of
divine law which is common to all and never subject to change. From the
dawn of the Adamic cycle to the present day this fundamental law of God
has continued changeless. This is the foundation of divine religion.
The second division comprises laws and institutions which provide for
human needs and conditions according to exigencies of time and place.
These are accidental, of no essential importance and should never have
been made the cause and source of human contention. For example during the
time of His Holiness Moses--Upon him be peace! --according to the exigencies
of that period, divorce was permissible. During the cycle of His Holiness
Christ inasmuch as divorce was not in conformity with the time and
conditions His Holiness Jesus Christ abrogated it. In the cycle of Moses
plurality of wives was permissible but during the time of His Holiness
Christ the exigency which had sanctioned it did not exist, therefore it
was forbidden. His Holiness Moses lived in the wilderness and desert of
Sinai; therefore his ordinances and commandments were in conformity with
those conditions. The penalty for theft was to cut off a man's hand. An
ordinance of this kind was in keeping with desert life but not compatible
with conditions of the present day. Such ordinances therefore constitute
the second or non-essential division of the divine religions and are not
of importance for they deal with human transactions which are ever
changing according to the requirements of time and place. Therefore the
intrinsic foundations of the divine religions are one. As this is true,
why should hostility and strife exist among them? Why should this hatred
and warfare, ferocity and bloodshed continue? Is this allowable and
justified? God forbid!