Tuesday, 30 April 2019
Sunday, 21 April 2019
16:22
Happy Ridvan
15:51
Twelth Baha'i Principle is The Establishment of an International Tribunal, or Parliament of Man, with a descendant of King David as its Executive
The twelth foundation stone, the Amethyst, is violet. It symbolizes spiritual light--reverence, healing, serenity and poise. This Tribunal of all nations must be as the ultra-violet rays for the "healing of the nations" and it must seek spiritual light in all reverence, that it may fulfill its high calling, imparting a sense of security, poise and serenity to the hearts of all humanity.
'Abdu'l-Baha
We cannot live under twenty-first century conditions guided by eighteenth century concepts. Most of our present day problems can be laid to the door of our unwillingness to make a correspondingly swift change in our thinking and consciousness as citizens of this one world order. The pace has 'upset our equilibrium'.
Planetary civilization will emerge from the wreckage of nationalism, just as nationalism emerged from the wreckage of feudalism. Old forms have to break up before new ones can evolve. Nationalism has run its course but is loath to relinquish its prerogatives. Nothing short of experiences such as world wars, world depressions, world revolutions can convert a nationalistic psychology into an international psychology. Under the duress of such events, however, we are witnessing this very change take place before our eyes.
The present picture brings little comfort to most people struggling under this duress. Living through world events today is similar to undergoing major surgery for a critical disease. How the patient goes through it and how he recovers depends in great measure upon the faith he has in his skilled surgeon. If he doubts that the operation will cure him or that his surgeon has the ability to successfully operate, his fears will put him through a hell of suffering in addition to his physical pains; and the fright is as likely to kill him as the disease itself. Assurance that the operation will cure and that the surgeon is entirely worthy of his confidence will pull him through the crisis on a tide of hope and confidence that actually controls his physical recovery. Psychosomatic science confirms this.
It is apparent that if we are to survive today and carry forward civilization today the only development possible in its evolution, a one-world society, we must undergo some surgical operations in our thinking and behavior as citizens.
Baha'u'llah did not offer this World Order plan as a philosophic treatise. His viewpoint is not that merely of a sociologist. He spoke with spiritual authority and founded a religion dedicated to the service of a one-world civilization. He had a definite and concrete faith that the necessary spiritual dynamics had been divinely released into the consciousness of humanity to bring about this New World Order.
National rivalries, hatreds and intrigues will cease, and racial animosity and prejudices will be replaced by racial amity, understanding and cooperation. The causes of religious strife will be permanently removed, economic barriers and restrictions will be completely abolished, and the inordinate distinction between classes will be obliterated. Destitution on the one hand, and gross accumulation of ownership on the other, will disappear.
The enormous energy dissipated and wasted on war whether economic or political, will be consecrated to such ends as will extend the range of human inventions and technical development, to the increase of the productivity of mankind to the extermination of disease, to the extension of scientific research, to the raising of the standard of physical health, to the sharpening and refinement of the human brain, to the exploitation of the unused and unsuspected resources of the planet, to the prolongation of human life, and to the furtherance of any other agency that can stimulate the intellectual, the moral, and spiritual life of the entire human race.
A world federal system, ruling the whole earth and exercising its unchallengeable authority over its unimaginably vast resources. Blending and embodying the ideals of both East and West. Liberated from the curse of war and its miseries, and bent on the exploitation of all the available sources of energy on the surface of the planet. A system in which Force is made the servant of Justice. Whose life is sustained by its universal recognition of one God and by its allegiance to one common Revelation. Such is the goal toward which humanity, impelled by the unifying forces of life, is moving.
A Universal House of Justice -- with the Davidic King, the great grandson of Abdu'l-Baha, as its President -- is the medicine for this sick world. This body is the Supreme Institution of the Kingdom of God, established on earth as it is in heaven in fulfillment of the Lord's Prayer that Jesus gave and told the Christians to pray for. This body, the Supreme Institution of the Kingdom of God on earth as it is in heaven, is the Universal House of Justice that all the nations of the world will joyously and unhesitatingly belong to. The purpose of the living, functioning, descendant of King David through Baha'u'llah and Abdu'l-Baha at its head is so we can recognize Baha'u'llah's true Universal House of Justice from fakes, frauds, and imitations. (see Isaiah chapters 2, 9, and 11) The hearts of all mankind shall willingly and eagerly turn their trust and loyalty to this world governing body, as all the people of the world shall see with their third eye opened -- of their intellect -- that this is the plan that God Himself has given us all for the salvation and redemption of all human kind. Already the world has seen three prototypes, or imitations, of this world Parliament. First in the World Court, secondly in the League of Nations, and third in the form of the United Nation's Organization. These three bodies, however, failed to achieve the unifying force to unite all the peoples and nations of the world, as these failed attempts did not originate from God but from the imitation of man, they lacked the spiritual endowment of authority to unite the world together as one family, one race of humanity. This government, the Kingdom of God on earth as it is in heaven, does not originate from the minds of men but has been delivered unto all humanity from God Almighty via the Supreme and Universal Manifestation of Himself, which is the second coming of Christ in the person of Baha'u'llah.
The world commonwealth outlined by Baha'u'llah is governed by the Universal House of Justice, this is a World Parliament freely elected by the peoples of the earth, currently in its appointed stage. It must have authority to enforce its decisions upon any dilatory or rebellious member of the commonwealth, and such action must be as swift and certain as it would be in the case of an individual who breaks the law. No such world government an succeed unless backed by the authority of the whole human race. This is the principle of unity and oneness of mankind with the complete abandonment of prejudices, on which the future of mankind depends.
This world authority must, in the interests of the whole human race, establish law in the place of war. It must strictly limit the armed forces of every nation according to their internal needs. It must plan and put into practice a world system of economics which will remove the present evils of waste, inferior quality, want in the midst of plenty. It must assume sole control over tariffs, excise, sources of raw material. It must foster a spirit of world civilization among all the people of the planet.
The president, that is the executive branch of the Universal House of Justice and titled the Guardian, is that promised return of the descendant of the lineage of King David, re-established by Baha'u'llah. The office of President carries with it the right and obligation of the Executive Branch, a duty which is permitted to no one else, as defined and delineated in the sacred Will and Testament of Abdu'l-Baha. The Davidic King is therefore the permanent head of the Universal House of Justice, which is the executive branch of the New World Order, God's Kingdom on earth as it is in heaven.
Together, and inseparable, the Universal House of Justice with the Davidic King, Abdu'l-Baha's great grandson, as its President, forms the nucleus of the Kingdom of God on Earth as it is in heaven, the New World Order. As this institution has been established with its component parts, its organic institutions, and is functioning with efficiency and vigor, it is, by the unfolding of world events and the predestined Will of Omnipotent God, being projected to all the people of the world. Not by the will of man or any scheme or plan of any group of people, but by an act of Almighty Providence alone, this victory is given over to the people of God. Coinciding with great world calamity, catastrophe and social upheavel, the divine banner of the genealogy of Baha'u'llah is now being unfurled and upraised above the heads and ramparts of all the onlooking and terrified people of the world, showing the continuation of the line of David in the Executive Branch of this Universal House of Justice, which is to last forever (see Psalms 89). Such is the inescapable mind and plan of God; for by this method, world disaster and calamity contrasting the good news (gospel) of the proclamation of this Kingdom of God (Davidic), God has vouchsafed and made certain that His and only His Universal House of Justice should be asserting its claims and demonstrating its unfailing capacity to be regarded not only as the nucleus but the very pattern of the New World Order destined to embrace in the fullness of time the whole of mankind.
Enter the rock and hide in the dust from before the terror of the Lord and the Glory of His Majesty."
"And men shall enter the caves of the rocks, and the holes of the ground, from before the terror of the Lord, and from the Glory of His Majesty, when He rises to terrify to the earth." (Isaiah 2:10,19)
"The earth lies polluted under its inhabitants; for they have transgressed the laws, violated the statutes, broken the everlasting covenant. Therefore, a curse devours the earth, and the inhabitants suffer for their guilt; therefore, the inhabitants of the earth are scorched, and few men are left." (Isaiah 24:5,6)
"The world's equilibrium hath been upset through the vibrating influence of this most great, this new World Order. Man-kind's ordered life hath been revolutionized through the agency of this unique, this wondrous System - the like of which mortal eyes have never witnessed."
Baha'u'llah
15:39
Eleventh Baha'i Principle is A Universal Auxiliary Language
The eleventh foundation stone, the Jacinth, is somewhat like the Jasper, rose red, the universal color, the hue of the heart. A race can only understand the heart of another when it can speak the same language.
'Abdu'l-Baha
In all the world there is nothing more important than to be understood by your fellow men, for upon this depends the progress of civilization itself.
'Abdu'l-Baha
One of the major causes of differences today among the peoples and nations of the world is the diversity of their languages. each nation and people have their culture history, territory and language, isolated by boundaries from a neighboring people . Wars, misunderstandings, conflicts and disputes arise from the lack of clear understanding and communication between them. Although they belong to the same race, the lack of a common language is the greatest barrier between them. Were a universal auxiliary language in operation they would all be considered as one.
Only think how the International Language will facilitate intercommunication among all the nations of the earth. Half of our lives are consumed in acquiring a knowledge of language, for in this enlightened age every man who hopes to travel in Asia and Africa and Europe must learn several languages, in order that he may converse with their peoples. But no sooner does he acquire one language than another is needed. Thus one's whole life may be passed in acquiring those languages which are a hindrance to international communication. The; International Language frees humanity from all these problems.
Oneness of language will transform mankind into one world, remove religious misunderstandings and unite East and West in the spirit of brotherhood and love. Oneness of language will change this world from many families into one family. This auxiliary international language will gather the nations under one standard, as if the five continents of the world had become one, for then mutual interchange of thought will be. possible for all. It will remove ignorance and superstition, since each child of whatever race or nation can pursue his studies in science and art, needing but two languages his own and the international. The world of matter will become the expression of the world of mind. Then discoveries will be revealed, inventions will multiply, the sciences advance by leaps and bounds, the scientific culture of the earth will develop along broader lines. Then the nations will be enabled. to utilize the latest and best thought,. because expressed in the International Language.
'Abdu'l-Baha
The greatest means of progress between the East and West, would be to have a union of a common language. It would give the world the strongest impulse to become united 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 and it shall cause good fellowship between the various races.
Since this principle of 'a universal auxiliary language' was proclaimed by Baha'u'llah, Basic English and a few other world languages have been invented to aid the world in a common means of understanding.
Ludovic Zamenhof, through the result of his devoted labor was the invention and widespread adoption of the language known as 'Esperanto'. Gaining the most popular support throughout the world communities, it has now stood the test of many years and has proved to be encouraging and a very satisfactory medium of international intercourse. New efforts shall always continue to establish a common means of communication between the races of men. The unity of mankind depends upon his abilities to understand the thoughts of his brother's heart.
The Sixth Ishraq' (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.
Baha'u'llah, Tablet of Ishraqat
It is not intended that there should be only one language. The international tongue and script is to auxiliary. National culture, literature, art, genius, are to be preserved and developed, but all people must learn at least two languages, i.e., their native tongue and the national tongue. Unity in diversity is the desired result and not uniformity. It is hoped that the world language will be spoken with enthusiasm to understand one's neighbor, many a burr and accent will enhance its beauty.
His Holiness Baha'u'llah wrote about this international language during the years of his life more than ninety 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 misunderstanding keep people from mutual association, and these misunderstandings will not be dispelled except through an international auxiliary language.
Saturday, 20 April 2019
15:45
Tenth Baha'i Principle is A Spiritual Solution to the Economic Problems of the World
The tenth foundation stone, the Chrysoprasus, is like opaque Chrysolyte, a clear green which embodies truthfulness, justice, sincerity and purity, and these are the requisites necessary for the solution of all economic problems-- the Golden Rule--"Do unto others as Ye would have that they do unto you."There is no cut and dried system of economics. Bahá'u'lláh establishes certain principles and leaves it to us to build the structure. There is a danger of the popular term "new world order" conjuring up a picture of something for nothing, of state supported individuals enjoying all the advantages of prosperity without any adequate contribution of hard work or service. Bahá'u'lláh requires every-one to work, no idle rich and no idle poor.
'Abdu'l-Baha
The most despised of men before God is he who sits and begs. ... The best men are they that earn a livelihood by their calling and spend upon themselves and upon their kindred for the love of God, the Lord of all worlds.
Baha'u'llah
The tragic story of modern waste is now commonplace. Fruit rotting on the trees and vines, sugar falling from wharves into the sea, wheat being burned. Millions underfed and in need of these things. Railways and ships being left idle. Producers anxious to sell and workers eager to gather and despatch. But the destruction of food, and starvation, face each other across the world, even across the very same c country! Thus in spite of the fact that 'laissez faire' and unrestricted competition give way to socialization and cooperation, the basis of prosperity is still individual effort, hard work and independence.
... it is incumbent on everyone to engage in crafts and professions, for therein lies the secret of wealth to men of understanding! " " Trees that yield no fruit have been and will ever be for the fire."
Baha'u'llah
The weird and wonderful devices advocated to stimulate buying power brings wealth only back onto the wealthy. Future generations looking back at this period, must be forever amazed at a generation which could capture a beam from Arcturus to light the opening of the World's Fair and at the same time tolerate the poverty and misery of millions in the midst of an overwhelming plenty, a generation which spends a huge proportion of its wealth on war.
The fundamentals of the whole economic structure are Divine in nature and are associated with the world of the heart and spirit.
Although the body politic is one family, yet because of lack of harmonious relations some members are comfortable and some in direct misery, some members are satisfied and some members are hungry, some members are clothed in most costly garments and some families in need of food and shelter. Why? Because this family (of mankind) lacks the necessary reciprocity and symmetry . This household is not well arranged. This household is not living under a perfect law. All the laws which are legislated do not insure happiness. They do not provide comfort. Therefore a law must be given to this family by means of which all the members will enjoy well being and happiness."
'Abdu'l-Baha
Reciprocity and symmetry, these are the needs of the new social order. Cooperation must replace unbridled competition and planned economic system must take the place of the present muddle. This is the real economic problem, that in an age when cooperation is needed in human affairs, principles which served mankind successfully during the age of competition, are still upheld and regarded as inviolate. They are lamentably effete as shown by results.
Tariffs, currency manipulation, monopoly of raw materials, low wages, these are the great saboteurs of world prosperity. But they are only agents, the real monster is economic self-sufficiency. Nearly every nation, or groups of nations, has tried to practice this, and has gloried in what it believed to be its ability to be self-supporting. At the same time every effort has been made to keep up "foreign" trade, that is to sell the other man something without buying anything in return.
Economic self-sufficiency is born of fear and selfishness and leads straight to war. In this modern world all people are in need of each other, can supply each other's wants, and by the reciprocal action of buying and selling, contribute to an increasing standard of living. This is provided of course that the results of labor are equitably shared, and not concentrated in the hands of a minority. And the basis of equity must be universal, otherwise some nations will undersell all the others by using cheaper labor, and that will start the same old round again of nations will undersell all the others by labor, and that will start the same old tariffs, and etc.....
The economic problem, like every major difficulty facing us today, is insoluble except on a world scale. We can not have poverty in one country and prosperity in the rest, the Atlantic Charter recognizes this. Neither can we cure poverty and unemployment in one country alone, it is a world problem.
A spiritually united body can solve the economic problem once given the authority to set the world's standards. It can remove the barriers to international trade which result from the attempts of nations to be self-sufficient. It can liberate the energies now devoted to war for service to the arts of peace, and it can provide the necessary machinery for an easier and greater interchange of goods and services. Such things as a world currency, a world bank, a single system of weights and measures would come within its Charter. It must maintain free access to the raw materials of the planet, and protect the rights of all peoples. Maintain a universal minimum standard of living, and limit the economic power of individuals.
God is not partial and is no respecter of persons. He has made provisions for all. The harvest comes forth for everyone. The rain showers upon everybody and the heat of the sun is destined to warm everyone. Therefore there should be for all humanity the utmost happiness, the utmost comfort, the utmost well-being.
'Abdu'l-Baha
15:30
Ninth Baha'i Principle is Universal Compulsory Education
The ninth foundation stone, the Topaz, the glory of the sun, is symbolical of the light of knowledge and the glory of wisdom, which universal education will establish in the world when the golden Topaz, the light of the teachings of Baha'u'llah, is understood and lived.
'Abdu'l-Baha
Education is one of the most important factors in the evolution of humanity. Only one department of life is more potent, and that is religion. In epochs characterized by religious zeal and piety, religion and education work hand in hand. Together they constitute a single unifying, inspirational, guiding force which coordinates all human thought and expression within a traditionally accepted pattern. In such periods education serves what is in reality its most basic purpose, the training of character. Education not change characters, which are all different, but it assist them to develop to their utmost capacity.
The Prophets also acknowledge this opinion, to wit: That education hath a great effect upon the human race, but they declare that minds and comprehension's are originally different. And this matter is self-evident; it cannot be refuted. we see that certain children of the same age, nativity and from the same household, under the tutor ship of one teacher, differ in their minds and comprehension's. No matter how much the shell is polished, it can never become the radiant pearl. The balance stone will not become the world illumining gem.... That is to say, training doth not change the Human substance, but it produces a marvelous effect. By this effective power all that is registered, in latency, of virtues and capacities in the human reality will be revealed. It is for this reason that, in this new cycle, education and training are recorded in the Books of God as obligatory and not voluntary.
'Abdu'l-Baha
Modern civilization has been stirred to its depths by this new principle. Compulsory education for children, and the extension of education facilities for adults, have become a new primary policy of government. Nations which deliberately seek to restrict the independence of mind and spirit among their citizens, by that very policy have aroused revolution within and suspicion and fear outside their boundaries. Bahá'u'lláh had two great world aims, to build up a spiritually regenerate humanity, and to establish a functionally united world. To both of these aims education is intrinsic.
Baha'u'llah gave great prominence to education in delineating the structure of the future World Society. It is chiefly through educative influences that we must build up an ideology and loyalty consecrated to the goal of world peace. Only through education of youth and adult can the adverse and chaotic elements which now compose human society be guided and fused into that dynamically functioning world unity which we now have come to believe is the keystone of the arch of human progress.
Man is the supreme Talisman. Lack of a proper education hath, however, deprived him of that which he doth inherently possess.
Baha'u'llah
Literacy is only the barest foundations for education, not education itself. First and foremost, as a means towards world unity and world-federation, youth must be trained in wider and nobler values than at present. The loyalties to family, tribe, clan, and nation which have gradually evolved in human society are not enough to satisfy the wider horizons and needs of today. There must be a new and more universal loyalty to mankind itself as a whole, a "one -world" zeal and dedication. Loves of family, of clan, of nation are praiseworthy and will continue to hold their legitimate place in the social pattern. But unless and until a greater love is bred in humans, love of one's world, a United Nations can not successfully function.
Conversely, it may be stated that no system of education in the future will satisfactorily spiritualize its curriculum until it is able to harmonize religion with science. Baha'u'llah made it one of the major principles of the New World Order. He envisaged, this harmonization taking place, and the spiritual factors of human existence being taught in a scientific way.
A deep respect for law will be engendered in each citizen by inculcation of spiritual values. In fact, law it-self rests ultimately upon spiritual foundations. Had we no spiritual training we should be unaware of Justices, Mercy and Wisdom. Our juvenile delinquency problem, our divorce problem, our crime problem, all witness the lack of stress in spiritual character building in our educational systems. Through education by such spiritual training, a character would be formed more capable of meeting the strains and temptations of life. Becoming more resolute in enterprise, more fertile in creative imagination, more responsible to the calls of duty, more worthy and capable as a true citizen of world democracy.
We must promote worldly, by every means within our power, the material as well as spiritual enlightenment of the youth. The means for the education of children, to provide the best means for their progress and development, is incumbent upon the world of mankind. It becomes not only progress towards world unity, but is the brightest outlook for the future generations of children. They shall possess a common knowledge of all things, illiteracy shall disappear, moral and spiritual worthiness strengthened, and oneness achieved through the education of all.
