TOMORROW

and

TOMORROW

by
STANWOOD COBB

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Chapter I:
What Will Tomorrow Bring?	1

Chapter II:
There Was a Man	8

Chapter III:
A World at Peace	  15

Chapter IV:
A New World Order	21

Chapter V:
Solution of the Economic Problem	29

Chapter VI:
Prejudice Must Go 	  42

Chapter VII:
One World—One Language	  48

Chapter VIII:
Science and Religion 	   55

Chapter IX:
Education 	  63

Chapter X:
“This Century of Radiance”	75

CHAPTER I

What Will Tomorrow Bring?

What will tomorrow bring? That is the anxious thought which rules in every mind. It is the vital question which absorbs not only this country, but every country in the world.
What the morrow will bring lies in the power of humanity itself to effect. The future lies within the province of our will. But what is our will? A will to peace, or a will to war? A will to international anarchy, or a will to world unity and international organization?
In its New Year’s Letter of 1949 the Whaley-Eaton Service proclaims this message: “There is one undisputed fact—that the old world is gone, never to return. A new world must be built with new objectives and new methods of reaching these objectives. What kind of a new world? Where are we at, and whither are we drifting?”

2
‘The affirmative attitude [the will-to-progress] can produce of itself only a partial and imperfect civilization,” says Albert Schweitzer. [Out of My Life and Thought. Albert Schweitzer; Holt, 1949] “Only if it becomes inward and ethical can the will-to-progress which results from it possess the requisite insight to distinguish the valuable from the less valuable, and strive after a civilization which does not consist only in achievements of knowledge and power, but before all else will make men, both individually and collectively, more spiritual and more ethical—” [and, Schweitzer might have added, more felicitous and happy].
This is a profound statement. It goes to the root causes of that chaos which now pervades our war-torn world. Humanity’s will-to-progress—now preponderantly secular and materialistic in its expressions—has arrived at a cul-de-sac. Progress is halted, detoured, threatened with extinction before the fated and fatal struggle of the masses the world over—both within and without the Iron Curtain—for greater privilege and prosperity.
This struggle—erratic and illusioned as it may be in many of its manifestations—is basically an ethical one, the quest of underprivileged and exploited humans for equity.
But since the curse of the age is its secularism, the urge for equity on the part of the masses is led down the wrong road. It has become an intense struggle for power. This errant route leads to no solution. Struggles for power will end only in still more chaos, still more inequities on the part of one side or the other.
Schweitzer gives us the right diagnosis and the right solution. The judgments and activities of world leadership must be exercised from the plane of ethics. The motivation must be spiritual. Then its expressions— practical, and beneficial on the material plane—will suffer no collapse from the struggling and combative wills of human groups.

3
Does it sound unpractical to state that resurging waves of spiritual motivation must pervade, buoy up and move forward the collective human activities upon this planet before the will-to-progress can operate again on secure and stable lines? What is needed is a spiritual renaissance to usher in that material millennium of planetary peace and prosperity which has now become the fond and hopeful dream of humanity.
And where is such a spiritual renaissance to come from, save from the world’s leaders? Tolstoi in his “The Kingdom of God” wisely points out that in order to attain to that world pattern of loving fellowship and peace which is the concrete and ultimate goal of Christian effort it is not necessary to wait until all humans—or even the major portion of them—become spiritually motivated. All that is necessary is for the preponderance of world leadership to become consecrated to this goal, and the masses will follow their lead as they have always followed inspired leadership throughout historic and epochal movements of humanity.

4
It is the leadership that has the responsibility. The commoners have no recourse but to depend upon their leaders. Even in our own highly literate and voluble democracy we can do nothing save through leadership. The wisest of us, as private citizens, can only shield the vote or agitate. We have neither the experience, nor expert and often secret knowledge, upon which to base wise judgments and actions. Even Congress itself is now dependent more and more upon the research of staffs of specialists connected with its committees or organized under the Library of Congress for Congressional research and aid.
Even when we dissent from our political leaders and seek to establish popular movements for the correction and improvement of their decisions, we have to rely upon leaders to so organize.
If such dependence upon leadership is evident in this advanced civilization of America, how much more evident is it in those countries where the masses are illiterate, ignorant and uninformed? They must perforce both submit to leadership and rely upon it to bring them that equity toward which they dumbly or vociferously aspire.

5
Inspired leadership can mould whole nations, as it did our own in the critical and formative years of the forging out of that constitution and federal government which stands today as a model for the whole world.
Creative leadership, year in and year out, evolves and establishes within each nation new modes, practices and arts that advance its civilization. Sometimes— and this is desperately needed today—the influence of such leadership oversteps national boundaries and emanates an expansive inspiration over all humanity.
This is especially the nature and province of those great spiritual leaders whose messages tend to be universal and whose influence is planetary. These worldwide proclaimers of truth and righteousness envisage all humanity as their audience, and the entire planet as the theatre of their action. Their vision is cosmic and their message universal. Like Isaiah, they have preached a gospel of peace and brotherhood for the whole world; and like him they have looked forward to a time when “the knowledge of God shall cover the earth, as the waters cover the sea.”

6
The influence of all leadership is forward-looking and progressive. But the influence of the world’s great spiritual leaders is not only futureward but even prophetic. They feel the pulse of humanity itself, to which their great hearts are dedicated in a love that is almost superhuman; and they sense, with a sensitivity that divides truth from error, the Cosmic Purpose which would prevail in the affairs of humanity as it prevails in the development of the entire cosmos. They see, as it were, the Blueprints of Destiny, to the fulfillment of which they dedicate their every energy and will.
It is not given to many humans, this power of planetary leadership. But the forward-looking vision and the dedication of one’s will and ability and efforts to the improvement of humanity—this is a gift and privilege open to all men. One can tune oneself to those Cosmic vibrations which play upon humanity for its inspiration and advancement; and one can receive—in proportion to one’s abilities—a power of leadership, small or great, for the benefit of an ailing world.
We might ask—as the writer has often done—is progress inherent in the universe? We have yet to receive from men thus queried an answer of negation. Do we not indeed all live and move in this faith, that existence is inherently progressive? Progressive not only for the material universe but also for human beings, both individually and collectively.
Yet if we further inquire as to how this Cosmic Will-to-Progress can infringe upon and effect the movements of humanity, we shall be forced to conclude that it can be only through the power of inspired leadership. Man has been given a will of his own and can move forward only under his own volition.
The Creative Will does not reveal Itself to the human world through messages blazoned on the sky; or through stentorious proclamations piercing the interstellar voids. No. It is the Still Small Voice that guides humanity, through the instrumentality of those who have the gift of cosmic hearing. “Those that have ears, let them hear!” This is the eternal way of the Eternal. And throughout all time there have been those who have responded and taken upon themselves the colossal task of relaying to humanity divinely inspired guidances for its benefit and crescent welfare.
Only thus can progress come to the living, sentient, thought-endowed mass of humanity. Our physical evolution is unconscious. But our cultural evolution is conscious—the result of conscious inspired leadership and of conscious and effective response to this leadership. That is the way humanity moves forward. That is the way of the past, as it will be the way of the future.
What a great responsibility, then, rests upon those humans who have the gift of leadership and the call to exercise its power! “Feed my sheep,” was Christ’s last injunction to his disciples. For we are indeed as sheep, and we have to be led if we are to reach the promised land.
Today the call and need for leadership is greater than at any time in history. Every people, the world over, labor under great dislocations and dilemmas that threaten national disaster. They are looking bewilderedly for leaders to guide them to security and plenty.
But the problems of individual nations are as nothing compared to the problems of the world itself, as the arena of a planetary struggle which calls for planetary solutions. Particularistic solutions are not enough. No nation now can live unto itself. Solutions must be universal.
And as each national group is seeking desperately for leadership, so is the planet as a whole calling aloud for planetary leaders endowed with vision and with power of influence great enough to move the whole planetary mass of humanity forward out of its dilemma of chaos into a future of order and security, of peace and fellowship, of universal equity and love.Such a leader arose in the Nineteenth Century with a message both of secular and of spiritual progress— profoundly spiritual yet eminently practical—which has subsequently evolved into a world movement.

CHAPTER II

There Was a Man
Bahà’u’ilàh is the most extraordinary spiritual figure, and the greatest progressive, that the nineteenth century produced. His life story is dramatic. He was born in Teheran, Iran, in 1817, scion of a noble and wealthy family. His father was a Minister of State under the Shah.
He was a brilliant youth, with an extraordinary power of attraction that was felt by all. He never attended school or college, receiving the mere rudiments of education in the home. He was, nevertheless, early in life distinguished by extraordinary wisdom and knowledge as well as by a universal kindliness and generosity.
Bahà’u’ilàh, as the oldest son, was expected to follow the family career of statesmanship. He chose instead that path of religious and humanitarian reform which eventuated in a great world movement; but which led also along a thorny path of persecution, exile and life imprisonment. The corrupt Islamic clergy of Iran did not relish the powerful blasts of reform which BaháVlláh directed toward them; and possessing control both of the church and of the law they were able to effect the banishment of the prophet to the Turkish penal colony of Acre, Palestine. In that city whose pestilential climate few prisoners could long survive BaháVlláh was held a prisoner from 1868 to 1892— confined at times in a foul dungeon, at times in a residential compound.* When BaháVlláh died in 1892, 4Abdu’l-Bahá the eldest son, became by BaháV- llàh’s designation the leader and expounder of the newly born Bahà’i World Faith, the teachings of which reached 8

There Was a Man

9

this country for the first time in 1893 at the Conference on World Religions held at the World’s Fair in Chicago. ‘Abdu’l-Bahà remained also a prisoner at Acre until 1908, when the Turkish Revolution freed him. In 1912 he spent a year in this country in a missionary tour from coast to coast.t
2
The central core of Bahà’u’ilàh’s universal message was peace and world unity. This, before 1860, was something that neither Europe nor America was awake to, far less the Orient. Religious leaders everywhere had no conception that peace was the most crying need of the world. But BaháVlláh had a prophetic conviction that world peace was the will of God for humanity in this age; and that as such it would be achieved, regardless of human obstructions and in spite of human weaknesses.
The development of this vision led BaháVlláh to make further pronouncements in delineation of subsidiary factors of a great world civilization which would be the culminating achievement of a humanity at last come of age—mature enough to follow a planetary program, and to construct the long-dreamed-of edifice of world brotherhood which prophets have forecast, philosophers discussed and poets dreamed of.
*Bahá’u’lláh had such a power of winning the love of the Turkish governors of Acre that they had to be changed frequently by the Sultan. To one of these governors who became friendly Bahà’u’ilàh presented a pen that had been the humble instrument of revelation. This governor’s son, Professor Fikret Bey of Robert College, Constantinople, showed me this pen, in 1908, as one of his most cherished possessions.
tThe writer had the privilege of visiting ‘Abdu’l-Bahà in February, 1908, while he was still a prisoner, and again in 1910, when he was at last a free soul and residing at a more wholesome elevation on the slopes of Mt. Carmel—spending on the first occasion three days as his guest, and on the second, a week. Later on the privilege of close intimacy with this great
He chose the rulers of the western world as the recipients of this peace message. To them individually and collectively were addressed epistles of appeal and great authority, calling them in the Name of God to cease from war and to establish world peace, world federation and world brotherhood. Warnings were repeatedly sounded of the complete disintegration and collapse of the contemporary civilization unless the bedrock of Divine standards of morality were reestablished as the basis of human society.
The wealth of subject matter, the sublime dignity of these epistles is an illuminating searchlight on the path of history from the nineteenth century through today. A fragmentary excerpt may serve as an indication of the tenor of this message:
“Fear God, O Kings of the earth. . . . Observe the injunctions laid upon you in His Book. . . . Tread ye the path of justice. . . . Compose your differences and reduce your armaments, that the burden of your expenditures may be lightened. . . . Heal the dissensions that divide you and ye will no longer be in need of any armaments except what the protection of your cities and territories demandeth. . . .”
“O Banks of the Rhine! We have seen you covered with gore inasmuch as the swords of retribution were drawn against you; and you shall have another turn. And we hear the lamentations of Berlin, though she be today in conspicious glory.”
To the rulers of Great Britain, Russia, Turkey, Iran, France, Germany, Austria, the United States and to the Pope, this Prisoner addressed messages from Adrian- ople, and continued to do so even after the final incarceration in 1868 placed BaháVlláh behind the seven-feet thick walls of the ancient fortress-prison of
spiritual leader—who seemed the very essence of wisdom and love—was renewed in Paris, Washington, Boston and New York.There Was a Man
Acre in Palestine, famous throughout centuries as Acca of the Crusades. Each missive was safely delivered into the hands of its august recipient, and the tone of authority was weakened not one iota by reason of the author having penned these messages from behind prison bars.*
At the time of BahâVllâh’s imprisonment, Acre was notable as a pestilential fever-ridden spot where the chances of survival were slight. BaháVlláh and family and disciples, numbering about eighty-four people, were imprisoned in the army barracks in dirty and crowded conditions. Malaria and dysentery soon broke out, and some died. Two years were spent in the barracks and seven in a house that at first was almost as bad as the barracks.
Yet not only were the messages to the world’s rulers completed in this dreadful spot. But also a wealth of teachings on education, economics, sociology, evolution, immortality; beatitudes, meditations, prayers and prophecies,—all poured from BahâVllâh’s inspired pen, creating a design and standard for a spiritualized one-world society.
3
It must be realized that BaháVlláh did not elaborate this world plan. It came, it was distinctly stated, as a revelation. Neither the spiritual nor the world-organization teachings of BaháVlláh were mere syntheses of past or contemporaneous thought. BaháVlláh pre-
* Where today are the dynasties whose heads received those missives? Russia? Germany? Austria? France? Turkey? Iran? Only in Great Britain, in spite of major upheavals, the same dynasty still reigns. Queen Victoria was the individual member to receive the message. Her grand-daughter, Marie of Roumania, was later to write of Bahà'u’ilàh’s Faith: “It gathers together all those who have searched for words of hope. The germ of eternal Truth which lies at the core cannot but take root and spread.’’Tomorrow and Tomorrow
sented this World Reform movement not as a philosopher, but as a Prophet; not in an advisory and hortatory capacity, but as a compulsive agent of Destiny. It was not from personal desire, but from a definite spiritual conviction that this mission to reform humanity was accepted. In the epistle to the Shah of Iran Bahà’u’ilàh states: “O King, verily I was as any one among mankind, slumbering upon my couch. The gales of the All-Glorious passed by me and taught me the knowledge of what hath been. . . . And He bade me proclaim between the earth and the heaven. ... I have not studied those sciences which men possess, nor have I entered colleges. . . . This is a leaf which the breezes of the Will of thy Lord have stirred . . . causing me to speak for His Celebration amidst the nations. . . .”
What did this extraordinary personage look like?
We owe the description of Bahà’u’ilàh’s appearance to the only Occidental who ever visited the Prophet, Professor Browne, famous Orientalist of Cambridge University, England. This visit was made in 1890, two years before Bahà’u’ilàh’s passing. Professor Browne wrote: “The face of him on whom I gazed I can never forget. Those piercing eyes seemed to read one’s very soul; power and authority sat on that ample brow. ... No need to ask in whose presence I stood, as I bowed myself before one who is the object of a devotion and love which kings might envy and emperors sigh for in vain.”
And what did Bahà’u’ilàh say to Professor Browne? A brief statement, pregnant with hope and assurance to this war-ravaged planet, was quietly voiced in 1890 to this scholar from England—like a benediction upon a humanity that had shown Bahà’u’ilàh little but scorn, cruelty, imprisonment and impoverishment.
“We desire but the good of the world and the happiness of the nations. That all nations should become one in faith and all men as brothers; that the bonds ofThere Was a Man
affection and unity between the sons of men should be strengthened; that diversity of religions should cease, and differences of race be annulled. What harm is there in this? Yet so it shall be; these fruitless strifes, these ruinous wars shall pass away, and the Most Great Peace shall come. ... Is not this that which Christ foretold? . . . These strifes and this bloodshed and discord must cease, and all men be as one kindred and one family. . . . Let not a man glory in this, that he loves his country; let him rather glory in this, that he loves his kind.”
4
BaháVlláh died at the age of seventy-five in 1892. The Prophet’s tomb at Bahji is already a place of world pilgrimage. His teachings since then have become spread throughout the world. Especially publicized are the great principles for a one-world social consciousness and organization, which may be summarized as follows:—
Unity of all religions Oneness of the human race Independent investigation of truth Religion must be the cause of unity Freedom from prejudice of all kinds—national, political, racial, religious and class Equality of men and women Universal education Reconciliation of science and religion A universal auxiliary language Solution of the economic problem, spiritually and practically
A universal tribunal for settlement of international problems World PeaceTomorrow and Tomorrow
These principles are not new today, but they were very new in the 1860’s. Now they have impregnated the thinking and actions of all progressives the world over. Bahà’u’ilàh breathed the spirit of this age, which is the dawn of the age of the Commonwealth of Man. Tolstoy once wrote to a friend, “We spend our lives trying to unlock the mystery of the universe, but there was a Turkish prisoner, BaháVlláh, in Akka, Palestine, who had the key.”
Bahà’u’ilàh’s followers are numbered from every race and religion. Organized groups exist in over two hundred countries. Bahà’i literature has been translated into over one hundred languages, and is at present being translated into many more additional languages.
This world movement has demonstrated a unique ability to draw into its fold followers not only from every nation but also from every race and religion. And it has won from many world leaders words of sympathetic praise. The following chapters are designed to bring to the general reader a brief description of the chief factors of BahâVllâh’s New World Order.CHAPTER III
A World at Peace
“As in other centuries, a world choice is again compelled—and again possible,” says Adolf A. Berle, Jr., in “Natural Selection of Political Forces.” “If selection now is made well, our children may enjoy a plateau of kindly peace enduring longer, spiritually more serene, than any history has yet known. Multitudes are in the valley of decision—but in the words of Joel, the day of the Lord is near in the valley of decision.”
The miracle of the rapid growth of a will-to-peace throughout the world is directly concomitant with the development of new and terrifying death-dealing military weapons. War on the ground had always been tragically destructive. But war from the air, on the scale recently attained, is too devastating for humanity to endure.
Each of the two World Wars has left as its ni<5st important result the formation of an organization to end war. These organizations have been feeble, but they have been sincere. The latter, known as the United Nations—due to the great and growing dread of war amongst humanity—has been able to win greater allegiance, support, and sincere effort on the part of all the peoples of the world than did its precursor, The League of Nations.
It is a striking fact that the founder of each of these peace organizations was familiar with the writings and message of BaháVlláh, who from as early as 1870 began to summon humanity to the white throne of peace.
In messages to the leading rulers of the world (including the President of the United States) sent from Adrianople and from the prison-fortress of Acre,
15

Tomorrow and Tomorrow
Bahà’u’ilàh summoned them in the name of God to call a world conference in which steps should be taken to abolish war and to organize a supernational world government. At the time there was no significant will- to-peace in the world. On the contrary the leading nations were employing warfare—minor or major in degree—as a means to national aggrandizement, wealth or empire-building. Warfare had always been so employed in the past.
Therefore the world, in 1870, gave little heed to the proclamations of Bahà’u’ilàh. But it overlooked one item which would eventually induce a desperate search for permanent peace. Bahà’u’ilàh foretold that the instrumentations of warfare would become so deadly and all-destructive as to eventually compel humanity to desist from war entirely. World events have proved the truth of this prognostication. Sadly enough, it is not idealism which is at last inducing humanity to outlaw war. It is not the moral sense but the fear of race annihilation which—under entirely new and unexpected conditions—forces governments to entertain new and unexpected convictions and plans.
Human nature may not greatly change, as the cynics maintain. But the directives of human activity often change, and never more potently than today. So that now there exists that which did not exist in 1870— a universal will to avoid war which is equivalent to a universal will-to-peace.
2
A very important factor in bringing about world peace is the linking together of the East and West. The kind of peace which we envision is not the mere cessation of war, but a close working union and cordial cooperation of the hitherto sundered peoples of the earth. Especially is this true of the Orient and Occident.

A World at Peace
From ancient times when unity was attained only by conquest, Europe and Asia were never amalgamated.
Alexander, invading Asia to its very center, was prevented by a premature death from carrying out his grandiose scheme of uniting these two disparate civilizations. He had a great vision of world unity. But even had he lived, could he have brought his dream to success? Probably not, for the time was not yet ripe.
Rome, even at the height of her power, was never able to penetrate Asia further than the Near East. Consequently the Graeco-Roman civilization, the greatest unitary civilization the world has yet known, was confined to the Mediterranean and its hinterlands.
Twice China, at rare heights of military power and ambition, advanced her conquering armies westward in a gesture toward Europe, but without success. Ghenghis Khan overran almost all of Asia and Europe but left no permanent unifying influence.
Ultimately Europe—with its rising technology, energy and military power—was to bring Asia under subjection. But this subjection has not brought about unity. Quite the contrary, Asia, passive in her impotence, nurtured deep resentments which gave birth as soon as opportunity was offered to a wave of successful nationalism. Only in this present epoch, therefore, can Asia in true independence and equality take her place in the family of nations and share sincerely in the movement toward world unity. It is a fact of great significance that India and Indonesia now play a part in the United Nations together with other Asiatic nations which had previously maintained or secured independence.
Now for the first time in the history of the planet the stage is set for the actual union, on equal terms, of the East and the West. BaháVlláh laid great emphasis on the supreme importance of such a union. Each of these two planetary partners has inestimable treasures to

Tomorrow and Tomorrow
confer upon the other. And a true fellowship and effective harmony between them will cause the world’s civilization to advance by leaps and bounds.
“The East is in need of material progress and the West is in need of a spiritual ideal,” said ‘Abdu’l- Bahá,* speaking in Paris in 1911. “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.”
3
The world longs for peace. But none of its respective nations, not even this country, is prepared to relinquish nationalism to the extent which BaháVlláh pointed out would be necessary in an effective world organization.
Two mandatory considerations are still withheld from fulfillment in the United Nations. The first is the relinquishment of national sovereignty to the point of accepting without right of veto the adjudications of a world court. The second inevitable requirement of stable peace is national disarmament down to the point of internal security only, and the establishment of an international police force.
The world is not yet ready for these two momentous steps. Nor can they be accomplished without due cau-
*‘Abdu’l-Bahá, son of BaháVlláh, became in 1892 the leader and expounder of the Bahà’i World Faith.

A World at Peace
tion. The writer heard ‘Abdiťl-Bahá, in Washington in 1912, make a significant reply to a lady who in her passion for peace asked if we should not set an example by disarming first. He answered that it would not be safe for one country to disarm while others were still armed; this must be a simultaneous procedure.
One may ask, what will ever be able to bring about such a simultaneous procedure? The answer is, events. For events have a miraculous power to change and freshly motivate human action. One need only point to World Wars I and II as examples of this, in impelling the League of Nations and the United Nations. And events in Korea caused the establishment of a token international police-force with a speed that parliamentary deliberation could never have brought about.
BaháTs, the world over, look to unseen events of the future to precipitate actions in fulfillment of Bahà’u’ilàh’s New World Order such as humanity at this date of writing is neither ripe for, nor even able intelligently to conceive and plan.
These coming events may not seem, at the time when they occur, to be beneficent. But their impact, however calamitous, will at least have the result of precipitating humanity into a durable peace and world order.
World peace is not merely a matter to be arranged between governments by treaties. It is the concern of every citizen of this one-world-home of humanity. This is the point of exercising our free will to avoid that nullification of progress, that race annihilation that threatens us.
If only we had as ardent a zeal for peace propaganda as we exhibit for war propaganda!
It was to this ideal that BaháVlláh exhorted humanity in the latter part of the nineteenth century. The abolition of prejudice of all kinds from each citizen’s consciousness is a cardinal principle of Bahà’u’ilàh’s teaching. His words “and by the Will of God the MostTomorrow and Tomorrow
Great Peace shall come” imply the birth of such a zeal for peace in our social consciousness. For the Will of the Creator can be expressed in human affairs only by the agency of human will.
Loyalties are a tender subject, and a shifting or new orientation is always anticipated with fear and apprehension. It took over thirty years for our thirteen founding colonies to achieve some semblance of unity in the larger loyalty from state to federation. We must not expect, therefore, that the citizens of the various countries of the world can now react any differently or any faster to the momentous project of world federation. The scale is much larger and the relationships much more complex than was the case in the founding of the United States.
How can we be expected to achieve loyalty to humanity as first, and our particular country as second? “Let not a man glory in that he loves his country; let him rather glory in this, that he loves his kind,” wrote BaháVlláh eighty years ago.
This is a larger order. But the will to do so can devise the means. This must be understood: love of humanity first and foremost no more undermines a healthy pride in making our nation the most worthy unit we possibly can in the aggregate of a one-world society than did the principle of federalism undermine the healthy growth of the thirteen states into a nation.
“Ye are all the fruits of one tree, and the leaves of one branch.”CHAPTER IV
A New World Order
The abolition of war is to be only the first step in a colossal plan for a world organized in effective unity, fully functioning as a federated unit, and dedicated to the establishment of a universal civilization founded on justice and good will and expressing itself in forms of prosperity, beauty, and joy-of-living more glorious that even the world’s great poets and seers have hitherto conceived.
“All men were created to carry forward an ever-advancing civilization. . . . Soon will the present Order be rolled up and a new one spread out in its stead. . . .
“The world’s equilibrium hath been upset through the vibrating influences of this most great, this New World Order. ...”
Nothing in the universe stands still; and history is the study of this motion in human affairs. But the pace of the motion in the eighty years since Bahà’u’ilàh wrote the above words has been as a whirlwind in comparison to the development of former epochs.
Ten to fifteen centuries passed as society proceeded from the family to clan status, the clan to the tribe, tribes to feudal states, feudal states to nations. Each transition was marked by upheaval; but relative order followed relative chaos in the various parts of the globe as civilization progressed.
Then in fifty years the miracle of the annihilation of space and time on the planet occurred.
21Tomorrow and Tomorrow
From Roman times until about 1840 A.D. travel had remained at the same pace. In Queen Victoria’s reign it still took thirteen days to go from Rome to London, just as it had when Rome ruled England. By 1924 land travel was six times as fast, water travel four times as fast. Today flight around the world can be accomplished in just over three days.
In the same period, communications have leaped from days and weeks for letters to reach their destination to a few minutes for a radiogram to go anywhere in the world.
Our planet home has shrunk proportionately; and within the last few years we have been forced to realize that under these conditions human affairs must be administered as a one-world society. A New World Order is inevitable.
We cannot live under twentieth 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 uponA New World Order
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 to the only development possible in its evolution—a one-world society—we must undergo some surgical operations in our thinking and behavior as citizens.
Bahà’u’ilàh 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.
2
Some of the features of BahâVllâh’s structure for world civilization—as restated in 1936 by Shoghi Effendi, the present world leader of the Faith BaháV- lláh established—can already be discerned emerging from the conflicts and upheavals of today!
“The unity of the human race, as envisaged by Bahd’u’lldh, implies the establishment of a world commonwealth in which all nations, races, creeds and classes are closely and permanently united, and in which theTomorrow and Tomorrow
autonomy of its state members and the personal freedom and initiative of the individuals that compose them are definitely and completely safeguarded”
Within the last thirty years, the commonwealth has superseded the empire. Britain established the British Commonwealth of Nations, granting autonomy to its members; Holland followed suit recently; and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics displaced the empire of the tsars. A United States of Europe has been proposed. Capping the arch of such world-spanning organizations is the United Nations—containing actual provisions toward a world commonwealth.
II
“This commonwealth must, as far as we can visualize it, consist of a world legislature, whose members will, as the trustees of the whole of mankind, ultimately control the entire resources of all the component nations, and will enact such laws as shall be required to regulate the life, satisfy the needs and adjust the relationships of all races and peoples.”
It may be a far cry to visualize world legislative control of the world’s resources. Yet, if the possession and control of economic resources is to recurrently plunge the world into war, as modern history evidences, humanity may be forced to adopt such measures. The safeguarding of the interests and personal freedom of every individual in the component nations sharply distinguishes this world-commonwealth ideal from any characteristics of a world police state.
III
“A world executive, backed by an international Force, will carry out the decisions arrived at, and apply the laws enacted by, this world legislature, and will safeguard the organic unity of the whole commonwealth.A New World Order
A world tribunal will adjudicate and deliver its compulsory and final verdict in all and any disputes that may arise between the various elements constituting this universal system.”
We have had two attempts within our lifetime to establish such a tribunal; but both the League of Nations and the United Nations Council suffer the same frustration of purpose by reason of the lack of force to implement their decisions. This is an example of our reluctance to change our standards to conform to the inevitable march forward of progress of civilization.
IV
“A mechanism of world inter-communication will be devised, embracing the whole planet, freed from national hindrances and restrictions, and functioning with marvellous swiftness and perfect regularity ”
The mechanism of this world inter-communication we already have, but its freedom from national hindrances and restrictions is far from realization, and again evidences our reluctance to relinquish old habits.
V
“A world metropolis will act as the nerve center of a world civilization, the focus towards which the unifying forces of life will converge and from which its energizing influences will radiate”
This follows as a corollary of a one-world government, but the phraseology implies something far more than a magnificent architectural collection of buildings with all the appurtenances. Buildings do not radiate “energizing influences.” We can only infer that this means a spiritually orientated legislative, executive, humanitarian and educational organism inhabiting such a metropolis. No lesser power could possibly exert theTomorrow and Tomorrow
potency which would be demanded as the energizing influences for the population of the whole planet.
VI
“A world language will either be invented or chosen from among the existing languages and will be taught in the schools of all the federated nations as an auxiliary to their mother. A world script, a world literature, a uniform and universal system of currency, of weights and measures, will simplify and facilitate intercourse and understanding among the nations and races of mankind/9
The tragic debacle over currency today cries aloud for this solution of a “uniform and universal system of currency.” World trade demands a unified system of weights and measures. A universal language is a sine-qua-non for the achievement of a universal civilization.
VII
“In such a world society, science and religion, the two most potent forces in human life, will be reconciled, will co-operate, and will harmoniously develop. The press will, under such a system, while giving full scope to the expression of the diversified views and convictions of mankind, cease to be mischievously manipulated by vested interests, whether private or public, and will be liberated from the influence of contending governments and peoples ”
We are all aware today of the colossally evil power of propaganda, the deadliest weapon of them all. But the above goes further than political manipulation of the press and upholds true freedom from mischievous manipulation “by vested interests, whether private or public.” This goes to the very depths and lengths of the matter, for it would be a vastly different press indeed if granted this comprehensive freedom.A New World Order
VIII
“The economic resources of the world will be organized, its sources of raw materials will be tapped and fully utilized, its markets will be coordinated and developed, and the distribution of its products will be equitably regulated”
Sub-committees of United Nations have already begun analytical work along these lines, and the agitation to remove trade barriers, and the abolition of such among European countries are steps toward this ideal.
3
The remainder of Shoghi Effendi’s statement carries us forward with a sweeping vision of what we may hope to expect as this one-world emerges from the wreckage of nationalism. It may not happen in our era, but rather evolve through its upheavals into the kind of world we would wish our children to inherit.
“National rivalries, hatreds and intrigues will cease, and racial animosity and prejudice 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 sharpen-Tomorrow and Tomorrow
ing 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 unchallengeable authority over its unimaginably vast resources, blending and embodying the ideals of both the East and the 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.”*
Our own will to achieve this millennium is the only retarding factor in its realization. Progress is inherent in the universe and in human affairs. Nothing can withstand it. As Bahà’u’ilàh said to Professor Browne, “By the Will of God the Most Great Peace shall come.” The world, dark though today’s picture may be, is nearing constantly the fulfillment of that benediction.
*“A Pattern for Future Society”—Shoghi Effendi, 1936, Bahà’i Publishing Trust.CHAPTER V
Solution of the Economic Problem
It may be that the chief motivations, as well as the chief earthly needs of human beings, are economic. Certainly the economic problems of the world have taken front page position today. And owing to the extraordinary ideological cleavage of the world’s peoples today along lines of economic theory and practice, even such major problems as world peace and world federation are subject to the prior solution of the economic conflict.
The idea of bringing spiritual values into a discussion of a remedy for our economic predicament would seem far-fetched to most economists. Yet, in the thousands of strikes that have harassed the industrial world in the last half century, what has been the demand of the strikers? Justice. And what is Justice but a moral, or spiritual quality? In economics it expresses itself in the proper distribution of life’s necessities and comforts in return for work or services performed. Recently, in discussing some world problems with a brilliant lawyer and public relations expert in Washington, I suddenly asked him, “If you were asked to select one word, one single principle that would solve all humanity’s problems, what would it be?” He reflected a moment and then said, “Justice!”
Marxism accuses religion of betraying the masses. Yet from what source save religion spring our concepts of such moral principles as Justice? Science makes no pretense of inculcating such principles into the human consciousness. But religion does and has always done so. However, until our era no religion has explicitly entered the field of economics. But in-
29Tomorrow and Tomorrow
eluded in the voluminous teachings which BaháVlláh bequeathed to the world some eighty years ago are certain basic principles of a global economic pattern.
The principles enunciated by BaháVlláh were: (1) social security; (2) graduated income tax; (3) industrial profit sharing.
( 1 ) When the Persian sage announced these principles in 1870, the concept of social security was hardly existent. BaháVlláh declared that it is a responsibility of the State to concern itself with the livelihood of its individual citizens. No person should be left the prey to dire poverty. Where and when employment is not available, the laborer must receive minimum support.
It took the Great Depression of the ’30’s to bring the world to this same conviction. Government had not hitherto considered that its function had anything to do with the livelihood of the individual citizen. Property it must support and protect. But human living must be left to chance or to charity.
Such rapid advances have been made in the concept and practice of social security that today no government could stand which callously announced that the livelihood of its citizens was of no concern to it. On the contrary, governments today are rising and falling on the strength of their apparent concern for the welfare of their citizens, not only collectively but as individuals.
So it appears that this first great principle of BaháVlláh—the welfare and economic normalcy of the individual—is being established once and for all as a world-accepted idea.
This consummation is, of course, not due only to the annunciations of BaháVlláh. His followers would say that it is due to the same planetary inspirations which poured so powerfully through their prophet. It is a part of the Spirit-of-the-Times, like world peace and world federation. A vital necessity in the evolution ofSolution of the Economic Problem	31
humanity as an organized whole, it has at last received intelligent recognition and practice.
(2) The concept of graduated income-tax, when annunciated by BaháVlláh, was not formulated or practiced anywhere in the world. This idea began to emerge with the dawn of the twentieth century and by now has found general acceptance and practice. It is founded on Justice. Its limits have perhaps not yet been reached. As practiced in conjunction with social security, it tends to remove the vast gulf which has hitherto existed between the miseries and tragedy of extreme poverty and the glamour of colossal wealth with its futile and wasteful luxuries. This new equity the awakened consciousness of humanity is everywhere demanding.
BaháVlláh gave no intimation of how far the leveling process was to go. This would be left to future governments. But as later expounded by ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, the aim and result would be to reduce large incomes and to insure to all humans at least a sufficiency for the daily needs. The right of human competence to win superior financial rewards, incomes, and luxuries would still be preserved.
The practice of graduated income-tax is today entrenched in all countries of the world. It is irksome to people of large incomes. Few people of any income welcome it. The fact is, the public as a whole has not yet awakened to the vast importance of income-taxation as a balancer of fortune, a pledge to social justice and a supreme duty of the modem citizen.
When the day comes that income-tax will be contributed with spiritual motivation, as suggested by BaháVlláh, the millennium will have arrived! Speaking to this point in 1912, ‘Abdu’l-Bahà stated that citizensTomôrrow and Tomorrow
of the future would voluntarily and with a sense of spiritual responsibility join in the principle of wealth sharing. Oliver Wendell Holmes demonstrated this attitude in his bequest of personal wealth to his nation.
By the proper administration of graduated income and inheritance tax, economic justice will be assured. This economic equilibrium is but one of the detailed applications of the great law of Justice with which it was BahâVllâh’s self-imposed mission to impregnate the individual and collective life of humanity.
(3) Highly important to a successful economic pattern is an adjustment of the respective interests of capital and labor in such a way as to secure industrial harmony and stability. The convulsions, the cataclysmic adjustments, the revolutions violent or peaceful which are taking place over the planet concern mainly this problem. And if this problem can be solved, once and for all, the rest of the world’s economic problems can be peacefully and sanely solved by wise international effort.
The problems of international trade, of technological utilization of the planet’s natural resources, of increase in agricultural productivity,—all of these are less obdurate than the problem of capital and labor. The former problems, important as they are, the world is tackling with reasonable hope of solution. It requires only time and patience—in a humanity consecrated to peace—to put solutions into effect.
But as between capital and labor there is no universally agreed-upon solution. All the troubles in the world today spring from the world’s major crisis,—the awakening of the masses to their power, and their demand for an equitable adjustment of the factors of production wages and consumption.
In January, 1947, Theodore Helme wrote in the “New Age Interpreter”: “The workers of the world are in rebellion, and rebellion arises out of an instinctSolution of the Economic Problem	33
deeper than they themselves recognize. It springs from their social rating as a commodity to be bought and sold in the highest labor market. But workers are not a commodity; they are human beings endowed with spiritual impulses which for their natural expression require a freedom not existent within the material and psychological limitations which the present class status imposes upon them.
“It is inevitable that this spiritual repression and resultant inner lack should be felt most keenly by those whose life has become the most machine-like. In our industrial civilization they constitute a vast number. They have grown into a mighty power. In the terminology of the class struggle they are the proletariat. In the American scene they make up what we call Labor. Within this massive grouping a sort of spiritual ferment is taking place.”
Rudolph Steiner, occult sociologist, has stated:— “the destiny of world history for the present and the immediate future depends on what is going through the heads of this modern proletariat. For the proletariat is striving for power, for control by means of the majority, and it is to be considered in its actions as we consider the results of the necessary course of nature, of elemental occurrences. ... It must be judged by its actions somewhat as we judge an earthquake, or the spring tide of the sea.
“The old formulas will accomplish nothing toward solving the labor riddle. It will simply be a continuation of the see-saw enactments designed to keep two irreconcilable elements from getting out of hand and going on a rampage of national sabotage. The corrective measures necessary must be taken on more fundamental levels.
“In order to do this, labor cannot be treated as an isolated problem. It must first of all be dealt withTomorrow and Tomorrow
in relation to the social whole. A reorganization of our social structure must be effected in such a way that no man will henceforth be relegated to a class status, but integrated into the social organism in such a way that whatever his work may be, he will in some way participate creatively in the economic, political and spiritual life of the collective body of which he is a part.
“This is not possible in the present one-fold structure of society. It can come to pass only when the three primary departments of life—namely the economic, the political and the spiritual—will be so constituted as to function autonomously, each according to their own inherent natures, yet coordinated into a unified whole.”
What shall be the answer? Communism makes its claims. Socialism experiments. Free capitalistic enterprise tries to hold to its ancestral pattern of production. And a myriad of varied theories range between these extremes.
To find the answer is important. For this is not an academic problem. It is a problem which is being fought with t(blood and iron” the world over. The economic factor is the very life-pulse of humanity. A stable and successful pattern must be found, or civilization may collapse in the class struggle.
Labor unionism is not the answer to the problem of capital and labor, and it never can be. The organization of labor, as at present constituted, is for the purpose of industrial warfare—if and when necessary— to gain its desired ends. Therefore the present industrial situation is one in which industrial warfare constantly impends.
This statement is not intended as a condemnation of unionism, or a condemnation even of its use of warfare to attain its ends. The industrial situation beingSolution of the Economic Problem	35
what it has been—past to present—labor has had no other way of attaining what it considers to be its just dues. And the history of unionism is, in the main, the history of significant benefits to labor, attained through arduous and dangerous struggle.
Nevertheless, a condition of chronic warfare is not a stabilized or advantageous condition for society. This economic warfare can be as disastrous to humanity as that warfare between nations which is now so generally condemned by the intelligence and conscience of mankind.
What, then, is the solution? It must be one which renders justice to both the employer and the employee; and which assures such mutual advantages as to permanently stabilize the labor situation.
Mutuality, the key to stability in all human relations, can be as effective in the labor problem as it is in other problems of life. Any situation or arrangement between two parties, in which each stands satisfactorily to gain, is a stable situation; for neither party would desire to disrupt it. This holds for all relationships of life,—whether as between man and wife, householder and servant, seller and buyer, employer and employee.
A mode of expressing industrial mutuality and democracy was included by BaháVlláh in the general economic pattern. It was to be an obligatory principle. Its effective operation would solve once and for all the problem of labor and capital; would secure stability and economic success to the system of free enterprise; and would ultimately bring a great enhancement of general prosperity and welfare. This magic solution of the industrial capital-labor problem is profit-sharing.
At the time when BaháVlláh enunciated this economic fiat, profit-sharing was not anywhere being practiced as a definite and conscious economic principle. In the late eighties it was tried in France, in the ninetiesTomorrow and Tomorrow
spread to England and Belgium, and during the first quarter of the present century attained to noteworthy success in a few industrial concerns in this country.
The progress of this economic movement, slow and spasmodic, was disastrously affected by depressions, especially by the Great Depression of the ’30’s. (The major crux in the application of any theory of profit sharing is not so much how to share existent profits as what to do when there are no profits!)
True profit-sharing, as intended by BaháVlláh and as defined in economic theory today, is the apportionment of a pre-determined share of the net profits to labor. Under this definition, the bonus system is not profit-sharing; nor is that system which encourages labor to buy stock in an enterprise it is engaged in; nor any system which leaves entirely to the judgment of management what profit-division it will grant to labor at the end of the year. True profit-sharing guarantees at the beginning of the employed term what percentage of net profit shall accrue to labor.
* * *
Profit-sharing as an economic movement has had a hard up-hill climb because it has been opposed both by labor and by management.
Labor has opposed profit-sharing for several reasons, chiefly because it is suspicious of it as a disguised method of stepping-up production. The bonus system has been used for this purpose to the disadvantage of labor. Labor must first be convinced of the utter sincerity of both motive and practice before it would even consider any application of profit-sharing to the industrial problem.
Also there are obvious self-interested motivations in unionism which have caused it persistently and historically to oppose profit-sharing.Solution of the Economic Problem	37
On the part of the industrialist, profit-sharing is viewed with disapprobation because of the technical difficulties involved in applying it to any large enterprise; because of the lack of any satisfactory solutions for periods in which there are no profits; because profit-sharing implies access on the part of labor to the books in the nation’s industries, in some of which not even the stock holders are allowed to be cognizant of what are the-true net profits.
Nevertheless, in spite of these staggering obstacles profit-sharing in one form or another is forging ahead and definitely demonstrating a remarkable success in producing harmony between employer and employee; increasing production within a humane and practicable degree; and so enlisting the interests of labor in the attainment of annual profits as to increase at every point efficiency both in management and production and a concomitant reduction of wastes.
* * *
Profit-sharing, where sincerely applied, produces such marked advantages to labor that in all such enterprises the problem of labor adjustments is lifted entirely out of the strike-warfare field and an era of permanently stable labor relations ensues.
On the part of the industrialist, profit-sharing presents an appeal because of its promise of peaceful and harmonious solution of the labor problem, insuring also such gains in economy of production as to largely if not entirely offset the share of capital-profits awarded to labor.
It should be here emphasized, however, that profit- sharing, as intended by Bahà’u’ilàh, is not a mere economic device to harmonize the relations of capital and labor. It is a further application of the great world- principle of Justice. It is to ensure a socially equitable division—as between labor and capital—of the profitsTomorrow and Tomorrow
earned under their mutual enterprise and endeavor. As designed by BaháVlláh, profit-sharing is a mandatory measure for industrial justice; and it is to be applied regardless of whether or not it steps up production sufficiently to insure industrialists and shareholders against any net deprivation.
Strikes, in such an economy, would be eliminated. In case of radical dispute between management and labor the courts would have jurisdiction. And in this same connection, early in this century ‘Abdu’l-Bahá spoke of the necessary responsibility of the law and the government to maintain industrial peace:—“The interference of courts of justice and of the Government in difficulties pending between workmen and manufacturers cannot be compared with ordinary affairs between private persons, which do not concern the public, and with which the Government should not occupy itself. In reality, although they appear to be matters between private persons, these difficulties between patrons and workmen produce a general detriment; for commerce, industry, agriculture and the general affairs of the country are all intimately linked together. If one of these suffers an abuse, the detriment affects the mass. Thus the difficulties between workmen and manufacturers become a cause of general detriment.”
* * *
In modern terminology, Bahà’u’ilàh’s economic pattern may be considered to be that of a limited, equitable humanitarian system of capitalistic free enterprise. 4Abdu’l-Bahá in his public addresses in this country, pointed out the impossibility of any success in attempting to establish economic equality. He stated—“Absolute equality is impossible. For absolute equality in fortunes, honors, commerce, agriculture, industry would end in a want of comfort, in discouragement, in disorganization of the means of existence, and in universalSolution of the Economic Problem	39
disappointment. The order of the community would be quite destroyed.” ... A glimpse behind the Iron Curtain will verify this statement!
Although for practical purposes the economic pattern of the New World Order of BaháVlláh is treated in this separate chapter, it should be realized that in actual practice economics in the Bahà’i World State would not exist as an isolated factor. This vast and potent field of human endeavor would merge into the overall pattern of a great civilization, spiritually motivated and resting on foundations of supreme justice.
As is apparent today from the ideological and military conflicts going on all over the world, what is needed is unity to take the place of the current chaos—unity between labor and production within each country, and economic unity between all the countries of the world.
Eventually, from all these economic experiments, a uniform pattern of perfection will arrive. But the Bahà’is claim this necessary goal cannot be achieved without spiritual motivation and guidance. Supreme justice must permeate every economic relationship upon the planet. Only an awakened spiritual conscience can accomplish this. The leaders both of production and of labor must be inspired to aim at justice rather than at self-interest.
“The secrets of the whole economic question are spiritual in nature,” ‘Abdu’l-Bahà declared, “and are concerned with the world of the heart and spirit. . . . The disease which afflicts the body politic is lack of love, and absence of altruism. In the hearts of men no real love is found, and the condition is such that unless their susceptibilities are quickened by some power so that unity, love and accord develop within them, there can be no healing, no relief among mankind. Love and unity are the needs of the body politic today.”Tomorrow and Tomorrow
3
In the area of economics—as in the greater area of world peace and federation—spiritual forces are deemed necessary to inspire, guide and stimulate humanity toward vitally needed planetary goals. The problem is not a secular one. It is at the bottom a spiritual one. Spiritual potencies released in individuals and in groups are essential to the effective organization of world unity, including both its political and its economic factors.
Never before has a religion so entered into the economic field, ultimately to dominate it. Some religions in the past have exerted an influence in economic fields, as for example Judaism—the laws of which tended to preserve a simple agricultural economy, with individual ownership of land. (Cf. the author’s “Security for a Failing World,” p. 13.) Christianity brought in its train a wave of charitable institutions unknown to the contemporaneous pagan world, subsequently to be expanded into an intrinsic feature of the great Christian civilization. Islam in its early stages showed, like Judaism, a sincere concern for the welfare of the individual and a strong support for simple justice in his defense.
But in all these religions, as the primitive zeal and springtime fervor died out, the intended and designated patterns of justice for the common man succumbed to exploitation on the part of those in high places. It was such exploitation that Christ attacked in many of His preachments. This, and not His moral preachments, led to His crucifixion.
Bahà’u’ilàh, at all times, brings the great power of Spirit to bear upon man’s mundane affairs. Nothing in human activity—either individual or collective—is to be purely secular. His pattern for a New World

Solution of the Economic Problem	41
Order is everywhere suffused with Spirit. He declared, in fact, that without the power of Spirit this civilization could not come to pass. He foresaw, also, that without much travail and suffering humanity would not arrive at such a prevalence of Spirit in human motivation. He foresaw the valley of the shadow of death through which mortals would have to pass in order to attain the sunlit fields of world peace and security. We are in this dark valley now; from which, the Bahà’is declare, we shall emerge only through the guidance and power of Spirit.CHAPTER VI
Prejudice Must Go
Harmony and fellowship between peoples and nations is a necessary foundation for universal peace and world federation. So important, in fact, is this factor of friendship that Bahà’u’ilàh in all preachments concerning the New World Order insisted on the elimination of prejudices of all kinds—whether religious, racial, patriotic or political.
“All warfare and bloodshed in human history have been the outcome of prejudice,” declared ‘Abdu’l- Bahá in 1912, in an address on the World Faith of BaháVlláh to the Metaphysical Club of Boston. “This earth is one home and one nativity. God has created mankind with equal endowment and right to live upon the earth. Racial prejudice or separation into nations proceeds from human motives or ignorance. Why should we be separated by artificial and imaginary boundaries? This is one globe, one land, one country.”
Wherever the Bahái World Faith spreads, it harmonizes and unites its adherents. There is no consciousness or distinction of race or color. Actually there is being formed here the beginnings of a new race; which is the human race, freed from all those divisions that have accumulated through thousands of years of trial and error upon this sad old earth.
We might look back to see why and how these divisions have grown up. But it is better to look forward to the glad day when these unnecessary and destructively hampering separations and antagonisms no longer exist. Such is the hopeful vision which stimulates the epochal activities of Bahà’is, the world over.
42

Prejudice Must Go 2
The roots of prejudice are deep seated in man's biological and emotional nature. Primitive man shares with the animals an instinctive aversion to everything different and foreign. Civilization has broadened the horizons of men’s minds and consciousness and has gradually brought all areas of the world into contact, so that foreignness “per se” is almost a thing of the past.
But civilization by merely secular means has not proved itself capable of eliminating prejudice. As one source of prejudice dies down another source may spring up as the interests and desires of various groups come into apparent conflict with one another. Indeed, the alarming fact is apparent that virulent prejudice can be very rapidly spread by indoctrination, as under Nazi-ism and Communism.
Yet if humanity is to attain to organizational unity, to that “One World” which we are beginning to envision as not only a desirable but an inevitable goal if humanity is to survive, then somehow prejudice must be disposed of.
On the credit side we have the laudable achievement of the United Nations in evolving, for the first time in history, a Universal Declaration of Human Rights. This in itself proves the awakened consciousness of the world on the question of prejudice. Morally and legally fifty-eight countries of the world have adopted, after several years work, a basic statement of the justice and protection under national and international law which are the inalienable right of every human being on earth. The first part of Article 2 of this Bill of Rights hits immediately at prejudice. “Everyone is entitled to all the rights and freedoms set forth in this Declaration, without distinction of any kind, such as race, color, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth or other status.Tomorrow and Tomorrow
All of the fifty-eight nations have pledged themselves to support and carry out the articles of this Declaration. There are innumerable difficulties yet to be overcome; and how far, in the final analysis, such protection of human rights could be enforced is a moot question indeed. Earnest endeavors are being made, and will continue to be made, to activate these human rights. But there are the ever-present “intangibles” of social customs in each country which no other power outside of that country could possibly interfere with; and there are, as between masses of peoples, the ever-dangerous currents of nationalism.
3
Since prejudice is a negative quality, a weed flourishing in sour soils, what is needed is a positive and constructive treatment. Those things which conduce to unity will of themselves drive out prejudice. A fuller understanding of the economic and cultural interrelationship and interdependence of various nations and areas of the world will help to stimulate the awareness of the need of world unity. In this field we see not only an increase in effort, but an increase in results.
The natural field for developing a wholesome emotional attitude is in youth. Adults have to be reconverted, reconditioned. It is a slow and difficult process. But youth can more easily be educated into new channels of perception and emotional reaction. And the earlier such education begins the more stable and advantageous the results.
Consequently Bahà’is lay great importance upon the training of their children in the broad and universal doctrine of the oneness of humanity. Bahà’u’ilàh declared the first requisite to world unity and worldPrejudice Must Go
federation to be this new consciousness of oneness. The study of mathematics and sciences and languages rate, in Bahà’i consideration, as secondary in importance to this great humanized area of oneness.
Hitler indoctrinated hate. The Bahà’is indoctrinate a vitalizing love for all humanity. Mere absence of prejudice will not suffice. What is needed is the presence of an ardent constructive force such as only love can contribute. The opposite of hatred is not the absence of this quality, but the activating presence of love. Nothing else will suffice.
Bahà’u’ilàh’s utterance to Professor Browne in 1890 brings this to sharp focus:—“Close your eyes to racial differences and welcome all with the light of oneness. We desire but the good of the world and the happiness of nations; that all nations should become one in faith and all men be as brothers; that the bonds of affection and unity between the sons of men should be strengthened; that diversity of religion should cease, and differences of race annulled. ... Is not this that which Christ foretold?”
Bonds of affection and unity are not established by governments or legislative agencies of any kind. Even cultural reciprocity—while it nurtures enlightenment and dispels that fog of ignorance which has been stated to be the densest of all matter—does not engender affection.
4
During his tour of the United States in 1912, ‘Abdu’l- Bahá in a certain lecture made the statement that “the disease which affects the body politic is absence of love and altruism. We declare that love is the cause of the existence of all phenomena and that the absence of love is the cause of disintegration or nonexistence.Tomorrow and Tomorrow
And at another time he said, “Love is the highest law in this great universe of God. Love is the law of order between simple essences, whereby they are apportioned and united into compound substances in this world of matter. Love is the essential and magnetic power that organizes the planets and the stars which shine in infinite space. . . . Love is the highest honor for all the nations of men. . .
In thus tracing the power of this attraction, love, as the cohesive and creative force in the universe, it can more readily be understood what was meant by the statement that “the disease which affects the body politic is absence of love and altruism.” It is this cosmic power of love that BaháVlláh enjoined in the words “that the bonds of affection and unity between the sons of men should be strengthened; that diversity of religion should cease, and differences of race annulled.”
5
This is a power far beyond the lukewarm attitude of tolerance. This is the active ingredient to be injected into human consciousness once again in pristine fervor to annihilate the canker of prejudice.
To take all the world to one’s bosom is frequently accounted a ridiculous impossibility. So it is, measured solely by the equations of intimate personal terms that characterize our immediate relationships. An impersonal love is hard to define, harder still to grasp. But that quality of spirit that resents deep-seated inequities, exploitations and social cruelties as keenly as if perpetrated on one’s kin and that cannot remain apathetic about victims of prejudice,—this social attitude approaches the power of love as a universal force. “Love thy neighbor as thyself” carries a worldwide connotation today, so close have our relationships

Prejudice Must Go
in a one-world family become. That is one reason why prejudice affects more deeply the body politic than even in bygone ages. We know we must achieve understanding or perish. Understanding is the preliminary step towards achieving those bonds of affection and unity between the sons of men, foundation of the welfare of nations.
Bahà’u’ilàh constantly stressed the consciousness of oneness. “Let not a man glory in that he loves his country; let him rather glory in this, that he loves his kind.” It is this transcendent love that is the antidote for prejudice. And it is this standard of citizenship for a one-world society that must be striven for by each citizen.
This is not an affair within the realm of executive government. The conquest of prejudice is the job and responsibility of all of us. Diversity there will always be. For diversity is legitimate. It is a prime asset of human relationships; it gives the color, beauty and interest to all our cultural life; it provides the range of talent necessary to carry on the world’s work. To dislike people because they are “different” and do not conform to the pattern of our own social customs is ridiculous and tragic. Pressing upon us from every aspect of life today, enforcing our realization of its truth and the urgency of its application, is the simple sublimity of Bahà’u’ilàh’s utterance eighty years ago—
“This handful of dust the earth is but one home; let it be in unity.”

CHAPTER VII
One World—One Language
Whether or not it all began with man’s vain effort to storm the gates of Heaven from the Tower of Babel, there are now some eight hundred different languages in use in the world today. Most of the world’s inhabitants are bound within the barriers of their native tongue. Only the cultured few acquire means of communication with other nationals by the study of languages.
Most fields of human activity today are organized on a world scale. The conferences and conventions of all kinds of scientists, artists in many fields, educators, service and welfare organizations, cultural interests of all kinds, in addition to official and governmental agencies, now meet constantly with fellow members from all over the world.
After World War I the Versailles Conference had to have each proposed part of the peace treaties and all preliminary debates thereon translated thirty-six times. United Nations was faced with a similar linguistic obstacle, more effectively met by reduction to five official languages—with still further reduction to three (English, French, and Spanish) for simultaneous earphone translation.
The growing interchange of students and the vastly increased output of scientific textbooks in every field present another immense translation task.
We can now realize the import of Bahà’u’ilàh’s advocation of a world auxiliary language, to be taught universally. “The day is fast approaching when all the peoples of the world will have adopted one universal language and one common script. [And when this is 48

One World—One Language
achieved] “to whatsoever city a man may journey, it shall be as if he were entering his own home. These things are obligatory and absolutely essential. It is incumbent upon every man of insight and understanding to strive to translate that which hath been written into reality and action. . .
The machinery for the adoption and inculcation of the auxiliary language, as outlined by BaháVlláh almost a century ago, is extremely simple. All that is required for this planetary achievement is that the nations of the world by delegated conference should agree either upon an existing language, or an artificial language such as Esperanto, and then require it to be taught in all the schools of the world. Thus in a single generation the universal language would be in effective use.
2
It is not solely or chiefly for practical reasons that BaháVlláh proclaimed the necessity for establishing a universal language. It is the psychological and spiritual influences that give to a universal language, in the purpose of BaháVlláh, its primary importance. World rulers have always realized the effectiveness of language as a means of unity. The Turks enforced such unity of language by forbidding the use of any subordinate languages, in written form at least, within their Empire. The written use of Bulgarian, Armenian and other languages languished among its subject peoples. Not until the Nineteenth Century did dictionaries exist of such languages, and these were compiled by American missionaries. This ruler-psychology of the Turks appears justified by the fact that the restoration of these national languages actually did create an aroused sense of nationalism among the conquered peoples, a national-Tomorrow and Tomorrow
ism which eventually expressed itself in revolutionary movements.
The United States of America presents a striking example of the power of language to unite various racial strands. Had the colonies continued separate linguistic cultures on the part of British, Swedes, and Dutch; then adding to this confusion of Babel the languages of subsequent masses of immigrants: Italians, Norweigans, Poles, Jews, Mexicans, etc.,—there never would have been successfully achieved that national unity which gives both prosperity and potency to this country. The existence of our literate, monolanguaged people of one hundred and fifty millions is something unique in all history. Unity of language has been one of the most important factors in our advance of education, of invention, of standards of living; in fact, of all that goes to make up the American civilization.
Thus, if language can help to create a sense of nationalism, it can equally well help to create a sense of internationalism.
‘Abdu’l-Bahà emphasized this viewpoint in a talk given to Esperantists in 1912 in Washington: “Unless the unity of language is realized, the ‘Most Great Peace’ and the oneness of the human world cannot be effectively organized and established; because the function of language is to portray the mysteries and secrets of human hearts. The heart is like a box and language is the key. We can open the box by using the key, and observe the gems it contains. Therefore the question of an auxiliary international tongue has the utmost importance. Through this means, international education and training become possible; the evidence and history of the past can be acquired. The spread of the known facts of the human world depends upon language. The explanation of divine teachings can only be conveyed through this medium. As long as diversity of tongues and lack of comprehension of other lan-One World—One Language	51
guages continues, these glorious aims cannot be realized. Therefore the very first service to the world of man is to establish this auxiliary international means of communication. It will become the cause of the tranquility of the human commonwealth. Through it, sciences and arts will be spread among the nations, and it will prove to be the means of the progress and development of all races. We must endeavor with all our powers to establish this international auxiliary language throughout the world. It is my hope that it may be perfected through the bounties of God, and that intelligent men may be selected from the various countries of the world to organize an international congress whose chief aim will be the promotion of this universal medium of speech.”
3
We come now to the important question of what language would or should be selected for this purpose. Plainly an existing language would be more economical than an artificial one. For one of the major existing languages, if selected, would be already a going concern and would have a large and rich literature immediately accessible to all the peoples of the world.
The chief obstacles to the selection and acquisition of an existing language are nationalistic jealousies and inertias. Language, as has already been shown, has been an important factor of imperialism. It has also been conceived as a potent weapon of economic and cultural nationalistic penetration. Thus while the selection of an existing language would greatly simplify the establishment of linguistic unity, the obstacles to such a selection are almost insuperable at present.
It was with this point in view that Zamenhof conceived the idea, over half a century ago, of creating an artificial language based on the major European languages, which he named Esperanto (one whoTomorrow and Tomorrow
hopes). A humble school teacher, this ardent linguist devoted his spare time to creating and perfecting his auxiliary language—to which he devoted his whole life and his modest professional income with great zeal and sacrifice. Zamenhof’s chief motive in the creation of this universal language was the factor so strongly emphasized by Bahà’u’ilàh—the establishment of unity and friendship between all the peoples of the world.
Zamenhof did a good job on his Esperanto, so good that no subsequent attempts at the creation of a universal language have taken the lead from Esperanto. The International Auxiliary Language Association, in a recent scientific study of the various competitive artificial languages, came to the conclusion that Esperanto, because of its simplicity and its long priority in the field, had an important lead over all other artificial languages.
It is claimed that Esperanto can be learned in six weeks and acquired with fluency in six months. Its vocabulary, being based on the Latin, Teutonic, and Slavic derived languages, is especially easy of acquirement by Western people. And its grammar is reduced to almost nothing.
Esperanto made great progress in the decades subsequent to the first World War, reaching the point of' being prescribed in secondary schools of some European nations and allowed as optional in others. The rise of Hitlerism and the second World War proved a setback to its progress. Meanwhile new compétitives have appeared in the field—such as Novo Latino, Ido, Espe- rantido, and Simplified English.
After due consideration of all these artificial candidates for planetary usage, one’s mind reverts to the great advantages of an existing language, if one could be harmoniously selected. Any artificial language would be lacking in that aesthetic charm which has accrued through centuries of usage to the world’s historic languages.One World—One Language
Quite dispassionately, one may cite several advantages of English as a candidate for world usage. First, by reason of trade, travel and political influence, English has already encompassed the world. Secondly, either in original composition or in translation, there exists a larger body of literature in English than exists in any other one language; larger in volume, perhaps, including translations, than all the other literatures of the world put together. Thirdly, English grammar is more simplified than that of any other of the existing languages. Against the easy acquisition of English is its abominable variations in spelling and pronunciation. This lamentable weakness would have to be remedied for world usage. It may happen, indeed, that English will promote its own usage so rapidly that, by the time the world is ready to make a selection, English will be a “fait accompli.”
Historically, there have been brilliant cultural epochs which flourished under the advantage of a common cultural language. In the Roman Empire Latin was the universal official and cultural language. Throughout the great Islamic Culture which flourished from India to Spain, Arabic was the universal language of learning, of culture and of science. In Medieval and Renaissance Europe, Church Latin became the universal language, facilitating the Church Learning and universalizing its culture in all European countries. History thus proves the truth and logic of Bahà’u’ilàh’s advocacy of an international auxiliary language for a world that is rapidly approaching a single orbit—the orbit of the Commonwealth of Man.
5
From looking backward it is possible to look forward and envisage what a truly universal auxiliaryTomorrow and Tomorrow
language would mean to the expansion and enrichment of everyone’s life, and to the facilitation of governmental, trade, scientific and industrial activity.
If, as Bahà’u’ilàh advocated, the countries of the world should by conference select one of the existing languages or an artificial language and require its study in all the schools of the world, within a single generation thereafter the auxiliary language would be a going concern. Then indeed wherever one travelled it would be “as if entering one’s own home,” for we should be able to understand all those about us, wherever we went.
Trade and travel would be both stimulated and aided by the universal language. The availability of the whole world as a unit for the exercise of vocational and professional abilities would undoubtedly accentuate the flow of cultural and physical wellbeing everywhere. The benefits of a world language understandable by all seem so obvious that one wonders why radio and movie magnates, aviation and other travel companies do not begin to promote the idea, if only from the viewpoint of practical and business advantage.
The great dynamics of the plan, however, are essentially dedicated to the spiritual and cultural advancement of the race. “The proper understanding of man is man.” Language is the sole agency of that understanding in most of human relationships. It surely is essential to a one-world society, that men should have one common means of expressing that understanding.CHAPTER VIII
Science and Religion
The steady, victorious advance of science has tended not only to technologize but also to secularize the life of humanity. This has proved an advantage from one point of view, in that it has freed man’s mind and man’s creative activities from the chains and trammels of religious creed and tradition. Human beings are no longer burned at the stake for proclaiming scientific truth.
But the secularization of all human activities and affairs on the planet has been fraught also with tragic consequences. Man is a being—as differentiated from animals—with capacity for spiritual perception and spiritual motivation. Science, detouring the life of humanity from these precious and necessary goals, has almost completely stultified man’s spiritual powers—so far as daily living is concerned. The result is a secular civilization of shallow roots and sour soil; what Sorokin describes as a sensate culture; the kind of civilization which Toynbee finds, from his study of history, always to have culminated in collapse.
And despite all the efforts of religionists to infuse life with spiritual zeal and understanding, science continues to increase its devastating hold upon the human mind and soul. For science now controls the training of mental powers and the forming of human intelligence throughout our vast and powerful educational system.
Indeed there is every sign that the whole world is growing not less but more secular daily; not more spiritual but less spiritual as the years pass by. Modernism, with its magic and magnetic power of applied science and technologization, is revolutionizing old cul-
55Tomorrow and Tomorrow
tures, sweeping away ancestral moorings and leading the peoples of the world adrift on a sea which becomes more stormy and dangerous with each ensuing year.
Traditional religion has nowhere in the world proved its ability to stem this vast flood of scientific secularization. On the contrary the enormous influence of Science—with its power to both know and do, to combat ignorance and inertia, and to create higher standards of living—is devastating the vitality of all the world’s ancient religions. Not one of these—not even Christianity, the religion under which this modern science has arisen—is able to regain its waning influence and power of motivation.
To recapture the imagination and character of man, religion must first make terms with science; not by surrendering to science one jot of truth or principle, but by restating spiritual truth in terms compatible with the known and accepted truths of science. There must be a reconciliation between science and religion. Both are needed by humanity.
2
About the time when theologians of the “enlightened” west were battling with scientists over Darwin’s “Origin of Species,” and with geology’s findings that millions of years and not six days were absorbed in the creation of the earth, a clarion call of reason and clarification sounded from the Near East. It was unheeded, overwhelmed by the clamor and excitement of the contentions. Bahà’u’ilàh made the reconciliation of science and religion one of the cardinal points of the Bahà’i teachings. He upheld the authority of science. “Knowledge is like unto wings for the being of man, and is as a ladder for ascending. To acquire knowledge is incumbent on all, but knowledgeScience and Religion
of those sciences which may profit the people of the earth, and not of such sciences as begin in mere words and end in mere words. The possessors of sciences and arts have a great right among the people of the world.” That the progress of the race was dependent upon the aspect of truth revealed by science and as well as by the aspect of truth revealed by religion— was unequivocably upheld.
In 1912 Bahà’u’ilàh’s son, ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, told an American audience that science and religion were the two wings upon which civilization must fly.
“We may think of science as one wing and religion as the other; a bird needs two wings for flight, one alone would be useless. Any religion that contradicts science, or that is opposed to it, is only ignorance. . . . Religion which consists only of rites and ceremonies of prejudice is not the Truth. . . . Much of the discord and disunion of the world is created by these man-made oppositions and contradictions. If religion were in harmony with science . . . much of the hatred and bitterness now bringing misery to the human race would be at an end. I say to you: Weigh carefully in the balance of reason and science everything that is presented to you as religion. If it passes this test, then accept it, for it is Truth. If, however, it does not so conform, then reject it, for it is ignorance. It is impossible for Religion to be contrary to science, even though some intellects are too weak or too immature to understand truth. God made religion and science to be the measure, as it were, of our understanding. Take heed that you neglect not such a wonderful power. Weigh all things in this balance. Put all your beliefs into harmony with science, there can be no opposition, for truth is one. When religion, shorn of its superstitions, traditions and unintelligent dogmas, shows its conformity with science, then will there be a great unifying, cleansing force in the world, which will sweep before it all wars, disagree-Tomorrow and Tomorrow
ments, discords and struggles, and then will mankind be united in the power oj the love of God”
In promulgating the teachings of BaháVlláh to the West, ‘Abdu’l-Bahá frequently stressed the point that for the first time in history the founder of a major religion championed the cause of science and clarified the interdependence of each in the path of progress. “Mankind hath been created to carry forward an ever advancing civilization,” stated Bahà’u’ilàh. When speaking at Leland Stanford University in 1912, ‘Abdu’l- Bahá called science the “the illumination of the world of humanity.” He stated:
“The greatest attainment in the world of humanity has ever been scientific in nature. It is the discovery of the realities of things. . . . The highest praise is due to men who devote their energies to science; and the noblest center is a center wherein the sciences and arts are taught and studied. Science ever tends to the illumination of the world of humanity. . . . All human discoveries were once secrets and mysteries sealed and stored up in the bosom of the material universe until the mind of man which is the greatest of divine effulgen- cies penetrated them and made them subservient to his will and purpose.”
3
As in all conflicts, a mutual understanding of the role of each contestant would eliminate the struggle for power over men’s minds. If science needs guidance for the fruits of its work, religion can supply that guidance by its influence. If religion understands physical well-being and an ever-expanding knowledge of our environment to be part of the Creator’s plan for human evolution, it can look to science to nurture that wellbeing.Science and Religion
George Sarton, professor of Science History at Harvard University, stated the need for this wider understanding comprehensively and beautifully in his book “The Life of Science.”
“The greatest story which cries to be told is that of the rhythm of the mutual inter-relations between science, art and religion. The story is very difficult to tell because it is not a story of progress like the history of science, but of vacillations and vicissitudes, harmony followed by chaos, beauty mixed with horrors ... the story of man’s sensitiveness to the fundamental problems and the main values of life.”
In delineating the four epochs of the history of science, Sarton brings out in astonishing manner how strong the rhythm has been. The foundations of science were laid for us by the Mesopotamian civilizations, whose scholars and scientists were their priests; and to them we owe the foundations of medicine, navigation, astronomy and some mathematics. The second development came through the Greeks, as taught in the traditional way in our schools and colleges. The third stage of development, however, is to be credited to the meteoric rise of Islam, whose Abbassid caliphs drank avidly at the fountain of the ancient Persian and Hindu, as well as Greek sources of knowledge. For nearly four hundred years Islam led the scientific world as from one end of Islam to the other, from Spain to India, the great body of past knowledge was exchanged between her scholars and the torch carried forward with new discoveries. Scholars of Christendom from about the eleventh century, were mainly occupied for over two hundred years in re-translating from Arabic into Latin the same knowledge that had been denied them when the church closed its doors on pagan Greece. Thus Islam paved the way for the Renaissance, which in turn led to science’s fourth great development in our modern western world.Tomorrow and Tomorrow
In two out of the four epochs it was the stimulus of religion that fostered science.
4
As if anticipating the needs of future generations born in a golden age of science, Bahà’u’ilàh left a statement concerning God which seems keyed to the understanding of a scientific mind.
“Unity in its true meaning is that God should be realized as the one power which animates and dominates all things which are but the manifestations of its energy.”
The careful avoidance here of any definition of God is striking. The words are “should be realized,” as if, envisioning the great scientific age dawning, all scientific exploration of that energy could be encompassed entirely within that realization. For the words “all things” include mental energy and the vast field of man’s inspired intellectual accomplishments.
The statement does not stop there. It is prefaced by the words “Unity in its true meaning is.” What unity? Unity of thought between science and faith on truth, obviously. Also unity between religious systems, whose basic teachings could find only confirmation in the statement. With basic unity realizable between religions on their most fundamental point—the existence of God—and unity on basic truth established between science and religion, we arrive at an approach to unity in all other fields.
Like the British mathematician who confessed to me that if he had not faith in a marvellous moral order in the universe life would not be worth living, there are millions of intelligent people who find church creeds incredible, but long for the bread of a reasonable faith. Even an agnostic scientist, however, would find sympa-Science and Religion
thetic insight into his attitude of mind in many statements of BaháVlláh concerning the Deity and concerning the utter inability of the human mind to comprehend God.
BaháVlláh reasonably points out that we do not know even the inner reality of our own selves nor of our fellowmen. We know what makes us tick physically—at least, we almost know—and our investigations into the human mind and lately the study of psychosomatic medicine have opened up the beginnings of our understanding of emotions and mental processes. But there are realms of consciousness in us far beyond that; and we do not even know the wellspring of the spark of physical life.
Our researches into psychology have started us on an understanding of what BaháVlláh terms “characteristics and attributes.” The characteristics or attributes of all things are the standards by which we recognize them, including ourselves. This, then, would be the only manner in which we might apprehend the existence of the Diety—the evidences of divine attributes. Thus that theology professor was correct who accepted the majesty, beauty and grandeur of creation as an evidence of the energy of that “single power that animates and dominates all things.”
Truth, wisdom, love, mercy, knowledge, etc., are likewise attributes of that Power, infinitely greater than any one human being or all humanity together, but in which we all share and understand as something nearer the divine and far beyond our physical, animal being.
These characteristics and their inspiration for the human mind and soul are the study of what ‘Abdu’l- Bahá referred to as “divine science” as distinct from material science. Here is another point of reconciliation between science and religion. Just as humanity has benefited immensely from the intelligence of theTomorrow and Tomorrow
scientists, so the scientist will find protection for his work by harnessing his intelligence to this “one power which animates and dominates all things.”
Faith in the divine attributes of truth, wisdom, love, mercy, knowledge, beauty, power, and the endeavor to practice them, enabled us to build the ladder of our ascent from jungle man to where we are today.
This is the only “creed” BaháVlláh taught:—to resuscitate these attributes in each individual conscience and to bring their healing power to the cure of our maladjustments, our prejudices, our ignorance, for the establishment of that unified, peaceful, one-world society which is the only possible step forward that the march of human progress can take on this planet.
What quarrel could be left between science and religion on such a basis for active faith?CHAPTER IX
Education
Education is one of the most important factors in the evolution of humanity. There is only one department of life 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.
In general this pattern makes for progress. But toward the end of every great epoch a crystallization takes place—a civilizational sclerosis which is antiprogressive. Then, for the sake of progress, long established patterns with their strong authoritative hold upon the reverence and loyalty of mankind have to be broken up. It is the day of the iconoclast, a period of confusion and chaos.
Such is the era in which we live today. Old landmarks have disappeared. Signposts unquestioningly followed for ages have decayed and fallen. All authorities, all loyalties are subject to questioning. Apart from devotion to science and to technological progress, there is no central idea or common loyalty to guide humanity and to channel its expressions and activities. Thus it happens that there is for this generation no definite unifying goal toward which with definite assurance we can progress.
63Tomorrow and Tomorrow
2
In such an age of confusion education is also confused. It is impotent to operate with that influence upon society of which it is in reality capable. And because it has become entirely dissociated from and even suspicious of religion, education today almost entirely lacks those character-building influences which it has always exerted in strongly religious periods.
This is a tragic failure! For education, especially when harmoniously yoked with religious inspirations and loyalties, has an immense power to mold character, to inspire consecration to lofty goals and to point and lead the way to human progress.
Such is far from being the case today. The educators themselves are too much a part of the confusion of the age to be capable of leading humanity out of the bondage of technological materialism. It is a case of the blind leading the blind. In fact, education to- diîy is more an expression of the sociological “mores” than it is a regulator of these “mores.”
Yet even in the midst of this disintegrating age we have seen some potent examples of the power education has to mould youth. Tragically enough, this influence has been evil and illusionary. Hitler, in less than a generation, made Naziism a powerful dynamic and reduced to impotence those whom he could not enlist in its loyalties. He was able to do this because he could induce, by one means or another, education to be unitary and single-visioned along the lines of an ideology which, while anti-religious, yet managed to induce in its followers those loyalties and zeals which characterize religion. Communism, where it is ardent, presents a similar phenomenon.
IT is far easier, of course, to motivate loyalties to egocentric ideologies than to self-sacrificing ones; easierEducation
to arouse and guide a brutalizing process in humans than to induce a serviceable and noble development. In other words, men more easily become devils than they become saints. The wonder is that saints and saintliness have exerted such influences as they have throughout the history of an unregenerate humanity.
3
As might be expected, BaháVlláh 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.
Bahďulláh 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.
Primary in the Bahà’i educational program, as the first step toward an intelligent and unified humanity, is the overcoming of illiteracy. BaháVlláh specified the need for universal education. Illiteracy and ignorance must be eliminated from the planet. To fail in this is a sin before God; and parental carelessness must be safeguarded by governmental provision (a dictum especially needed in the Orient).
“Man is the supreme Talisman. Lack of a proper education hath, however, deprived him of that which he doth inherently possess.”
At the time BaháVlláh, around 1870, gave to the world the pattern for a universal civilization, the con-Tomorrow and Tomorrow
cept of universal free education existed in only a few countries and functioned only partially there. Since then more countries have established the means for universal education. And in the most advanced countries, universal primary education, free secondary education and the growing practice of college attendance have made a dynamic change in the educational pattern, with distinct sociological consequences. We observe here a notable rise in the level of man’s culture and an amazing progress in technological fields. Certain it is, as Bahà’u’ilàh said, that education can awaken and disclose precious values in man.
Yet still, as of today, education in three-quarters of the globe is used to uphold and crystallize the traditional caste system, rather than to universalize literacy and the development of intelligence.
Only within the last two decades have all nations given at least lip service to the goal of universal literacy, until it has at last become an established part of the world’s ideology. No government, however insincere it may still be in its devotion to mass education, would dare to openly proclaim a callous indifference to the education of even its humblest citizen.
Thus it seems likely that before the end of this century, one of Bahà’u’ilàh’s major goals for world civilization will have been attained. The world’s citizenry will at least be able to read and write.
4
But literacy is only the barest foundations for education—not education itself. What would be the important factors in such a curriculum as Bahà’u’ilàh indicated?
First and foremost, as a means toward world unity and world-federation, youth must be trained in widerEducation
and nobler values than at present. As Bahà’u’ilàh pointed out, the loyalities to family, clan, tribe and nation which have gradually evolved in human society are not enough to satisfy the wider horizons and needs of today.
As stated in the requisites for “World Peace and World Federation,” 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 cannot successfully function.
Bahà’i parents all over the world inculcate in their children from infancy, as a spiritual law, the unprejudiced attitude that they are members of one human family. The first loyalty is to God; the next is to humanity; and then follows national and family loyalties. It is an all-inclusive attitude, containing the lesser and particular, rather than a particular working toward selective exclusion.
Textbooks and courses in social sciences of the future will reveal the oneness of human life upon the planet. They will aim to develop a sincere appreciation of other cultures, religions and folk-aspirations. The beauty and value of variety will be stressed. Prejudices of color, race, religion will be eliminated by spiritual as well as intellectual indoctrination.
5
The rise of science as a usurper of men’s loyalties and the secularization of education are two of the most notable factors of modern civilization. These two factors are causally connected. It was because religion challenged and opposed at every hand the findings ofTomorrow and Tomorrow
science that intellectuals revolted from the Church and from Church influence in education.
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. This is so important and pressing a need for humanity that BaháVlláh made it one of the major principles of the New World Order, as described in the previous chapter. He envisaged, as we have seen, 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 itself rests ultimately upon spiritual foundations. Had we no spiritual training we should be unaware of Justice, Mercy and Wisdom. The very prerequisite of formulating laws to govern society is an understanding of these spiritual qualities. Had we no concept of right and wrong we would have no criterion of Justice upon which to base law. Did we not realize what mercy is, our application of law would deny humane consideration or extenuating circumstances for a wrongdoer. If wisdom were not our spiritual endowment the formation and application of laws would be short sighted and restricted.
Our juvenile delinquency problem, our divorce problem, our crime problem, all witness the lack of stress in spiritual character building in our educational systems.
When in 1913 the writer was in Paris in connection with a travel school for boys, he was invited to call upon 4Abdu’l-Bahá, leader of the Faith, who was residing there for a few months. In the course of the conversation he was asked what subjects I taught. “Algebra, Geometry and Latin,” was the reply. Fixing his deeply luminous eyes upon his visitor, ‘Abdu’l-Bahà gravely asked, “Do you teach the spiritual verities?” The writer, embarrassed how to explain why spiritual subjects wereEducation
not on the college preparatory curriculum, answered briefly, “No, there is no time for that.”
‘Abdu’l-Bahà made no comment. He did not need to. The writer, out of his own mouth, had condemned himself and his generation. ‘Wo time for spiritual truth!” Time for everything else,—for science in all its broad scope; for culture such as could be absorbed by youth; for amusement and recreation. But no time for the spirit!
Bahà’u’ilàh’s emphasis on the spiritual foundations of citizenship would correct this fatal lack in modern education. By such spiritual training a character would be formed more capable of meeting the strains and temptations of life; 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.
6
In various utterances on education BaháVlláh strongly upholds the value of the intellect—“The brightest gem in the reality of man.” Our intellectual capacity has raised us to the summit of existence phys ically. We have not only freed ourselves from limitations imposed by nature; we have even conquered nature and become ruler over it—over everything except ourselves and our animal inclinations. We are monarchs with immense power, but without a sufficiently regal nature to rightly use that power.
The proper orientation of our intellectual powers, like our behavior as citizens in other fields of endeavor, is achieved by the upholding of moral standards in our educational curriculum. It is the primary goal of the education BaháVlláh advocated.Tomorrow and Tomorrow
His suggested curriculum was even more practical and more vocational in aspect than the most progressive of modem colleges:—“Teach not those subjects that begin in words and end in words, but those subjects that pertain to human welfare.”
There is a growing tendency now to eliminate much dead wood in modern curricula—less attention to traditional classic education and greater stress on physical and social sciences. Language study will be greatly simplified in course of time by the development of a universal auxiliary language. Then, everywhere in the world, only one other language than the native tongue will need to be studied. This auxiliary language, begun in primary grades, will be so thoroughly mastered as to open to the student all the world’s important cultural and scientific literature.
But education is not complete until each student is prepared by such training to earn a livelihood. This practical slant is very strong in the teachings of Bahà’u’- lláh. Work done in the right spirit is considered equivalent to worship—i.e., it is a service to God as well as to man. Consequently, all must be equipped for a vocational or professional career, some trade or science or art. To be idle when one is able to work is a sin. “Verily the most despised of men before God is he who sits and begs.” Any type of economic parasite is thus denounced. For youth to emerge from secondary schools or colleges unequipped for a career is a formidable error, according to Bahà’u’ilàh’s educational program.
7
Perhaps the most revolutionary statement coming when and where it did of Bahà’u’ilàh regarding education was the advocation of the education of women. For an Oriental to propound such a prin-Education
ciple, and at a time when the Occident was barely aware of its soundness, was extraordinary. His reasons are widely different from and far more fundamental than the reasons that since then have brought educational opportunity even to western women.
BaháVlláh stated that equal educational rights should be given to women because they are the moth- ers of future citizens. Unless the mothers of the race are enlightened citizens, we cannot expect the world’s citizenry to be enlightened. Basic education, largely concerned with the spiritual and moral values, is the responsibility of the mother to the child, long before school age. The ancient sanctity of motherhood thus assumes its place in a re-statement keyed to an age where universal education is a must in social progress.
The Orient cannot afford to lag behind the Occident in education, and the plan of BaháVlláh offers it to Oriental women on a basis perhaps more acceptable than the fashion in which the Occident predicates its achievement in the education of women. Perhaps also, this new evaluation of motherhood is something which the Occident has to re-realize. Thus BaháVlláh was more modern than the moderns when he said, eighty years ago, that education must be supplied by the parents, but that if the support of the parents should be lacking, then the state must assume the education of the children, and if preference had to he exercised on economic grounds, then the preference must be given to the girl, the future mother of tomorrow’s citizen!
8
BahâVllâh’s explanation of the psychological and spiritual factors involved in man’s acquisition of knowledge brings a new understanding of epistemology. The mystery has never yet been fully solved, of how sensa-Tomorrow and Tomorrow
tions and perceptions coming to us through our nervous system can be transformed into memories and concepts. Still less explicable is our marvelous ability to cognate, to generalize, to form abstract ideas: a creative power which lifts us completely above the animal world and enables us to both comprehend and rule the world of nature to which, if we were mere animals, we would be conditioned and obedient.
What is the full extent of these powers we have still to learn. It is certain, however, that a more spiritual psychology would be a great stimulus to the unfolding of new and marvelous creative powers in the human race.
Man’s creative powers would then enlist, much more than at present, that strange faculty of ours which is variously designated intuition, inspiration, the subconscious. This inspirational phenomenon, according to BaháVlláh, is in reality the power of the soul, which can endow man’s mind with a more immediate contact with the Universal Mind. Such, briefly, is the Bahà’i explanation of that strange power of intuition which plays such an extraordinary part in the inspirations and achievements of genius.
It is this power shining through the mind which gives it a light capable of illuminating dark and perplexing areas of thought; of solving the most complex problems; and of creating dazzling achievements in art and science.
Intuition is one of the three chief qualities of genius, one of the three great factors of the creative process— of which the other two are sensitivity and conceptual power.
By fostering the sensitivity of children; by enlisting spiritual motivations and aids for the development of conceptional power; and by opening up a wholeEducation
new field of theoretical and practical science revolving around a study of intuition,—the creative power of humanity will be greatly enhanced.
No longer will educational institutions be abhorred by the genius as something to be escaped from. For the first time in the history of the human race the educational system will seek to understand genius; to aid it in its avid thirst for knowledge and power; and to make of the school a place where individuals of creative vision will feel at home.
9
Francis Bacon said, “I take all knowledge to be my province.” As late as the beginning of the nineteenth century Thomas Jefferson could assert a similar broad goal. But the prevailing opinion today is one of despair of any one person’s power to grasp the wealth of knowledge—spreading out into so many departments—that science has by now brought into existence. This is the age of specialization, and humanity suffers from disparateness resulting from such a training. Are we to go on with greater and greater specialization so that there will arise classes of scientists as distinct in their mental workings as are the classifications of science under which they operate?
This is not necessary. Let it be stated with certainty that humanity cannot build up a body of knowledge which it is not capable of understanding. Every man has it within his power to comprehend all of phenomenal existence. This is a power innate in man but as yet undeveloped.
In the present state of vast complexity of knowledge, a unitary concept of being can be arrived at only through the aid of the intuition. If the intuition is understood to be a power of the soul—more im-Tomorrow and Tomorrow
mediate in its operation than man’s ordinary mental powers—then it follows that through adequate use of the intuition man may grasp, in essence though not in detail, the reality of any and all fields of knowledge which man can create.
It may therefore be expected that there will arise a new type of thinker, capable of grasping intelligently the realities of all fields of knowledge; not by specialization in them but by a survey of all fields with the aid of the intuitional powers. Such scientific synthesizers or philosophers will be used as directors of education, of science, and of human affairs.
10
Ultimately a single curriculum will characterize education all over the world—cementing world unity by means of the great cohesive force of common ideals, a common body of knowledge, a unified objective and a moral and spiritual harmony.
The work of UNESCO (United Nations Educational Scientific & Cultural Organization) quietly proceeds toward the dissemination of the cultural and scientific knowledge among students of all member nations, and eventually this common body of knowledge will help to develop a universal curriculum.
The effect upon society of this new grasp of totality, this new awareness and cognition of the unity of knowledge will be immense. It will work as a more intelligent directive for human progress and happiness. It will inspire art and enrich culture. And it will confer a new breadth and dignity on all human enterprise and association.CHAPTER X
“This Century of Radiance”
The whole world is astir with new ideas, new aspirations and new strivings. The ideals and necessary principles of a world civilization such as BaháVlláh proclaimed are dawning everywhere in the consciousness of humanity. Many of these ideals—universal education, equal rights of men and women, social security, the abolition of poverty—are already being achieved in part, and are moving on rapidly toward complete fulfillment. Other ideas—such as a universal auxiliary language; a world monetary system; abolition of racial, religious and national prejudice; the harmonization of science and religion—are realized as essential to world unity.
How long will it take for universal acceptance and a fairly effective universal achievement of these important and essential elements of a new world order? It does not need a clairvoyant to answer this question. Sociologists, through their science of statistics, are frequently able to prognosticate with remarkable fidelity situations a few decades ahead. This they do by plotting the past curve of progress of any particular trend, and continuing this curve into the future. This can even be done mathematically, and this process is called “extrapolation.”
A careful study of all the above mentioned trends, tracing their curve of progress from 1850 on, would give a rather definite assurance of universal success before the end of the present century.
This optimism was frequently voiced by ‘Abdu’l- Bahá in his public addresses in this country near the beginning of the century. He called the twentieth cen-
75

Tomorrow and Tomorrow
tury the century of light, the century of radiance, the century in which humanity would come of age and establish world unity. “Verily the century of radiance has dawned, minds are advancing, perceptions are broadening, realizations of human possibilities are becoming universal, susceptibilities are developing. . . . From every standpoint the world of humanity is undergoing a re-formation ... is in the throes of evolutionary activity indicating the passing of old conditions and the advent of the new age of reformation.”
‘Abdu’l-Bahà declared emphatically that the twentieth century would bring the consummation of all this evolutionary activity, and witness the dawn of world unity and peace. And he described the teachings of BaháVlláh as being “the very healing of the sick world, the remedy for every need and condition. In them may be found the realization of every desire and aspiration, the cause of the happiness of the world of humanity, the stimulus and illumination of mentality, the impulse for advancement and uplift, the basis of unity for all nations, the fountain-source of love amongst mankind, the center of agreement, the means of peace and harmony, the one bond which will unite the east and the west.”*
As ‘Abdu’l-Bahà is believed by Bahà’is to have had a prophetic power in wearing the mantle of his father, a general faith and optimism prevail within their ranks. In fact, a prominent government official—not himself a Bahà’i—recently remarked, “The Bahà’is are the only optimists left in the world.”
2
Regarding the continuance and successful culmination of these cultural and humanitarian trends already
*The Promulgation of Universal Peace, pp. 434-35. From an Address given in New York, November 17, 1912.This Century of Radiance
mentioned, there can be on the part of all thinking people—as we pointed out at the beginning of this chapter—a general though not a specific assurance. But one field of human aspiration remains blocked and obstacled in such degree as to cause a prevailing despair. And this despair is deep indeed because the aspiration referred to, that of world peace, is essential to the successful achievement of all the other aforementioned aspirations of humanity. Among all humanitarian and progressive ideals world peace has priority. Unless it can be achieved, we may well despair of achieving anything of stable value upon the planet!
And disappointingly we find that no method of sociological or statistical prognostication can give us here that measure of assurance that our hearts desire. There are too many unforeseen, uncontrollable and incalculable factors here, in this field of war and peace, to permit of assured forecasts.
All we can say is that the world is in crying need of peace; as a whole wishes peace; and in fact, is committed with all its heart to this great desideratum. We can go further and say that war is too dreadful, that humanity cannot survive if it continues, and that a way must be found to eliminate it from this planet!
We can say all this, but still have little faith. In fact, we are today at the very nadir of our confidence as regards the possibility of achieving, within any recognizable period, that ultimatum to Mars which we have, through the late weary years, so longed to make effective.
3
But the Bahà’is have faith even in this field of blood and darkness. Two main concepts lift themTomorrow and Tomorrow
above discouragement in the face of whatever perils threaten. First, they believe that destiny operates in human affairs; and that, as BaháVlláh said, it is the will of God that war should cease. They believe that a great Cosmic Force is available as a leverage to world peace—a Force able to help humanity to overcome all obstacles. Secondly, they accept with complete faith ‘Abdu’l-Bahà’s repeated assurances that world peace and world unity will be achieved within this century.
The Bahà’is have faith. But they are also realists. They do not expect this apogee of the star of world peace until after still greater darkness and world perturbations. It will be these perturbations—rather than any general trend of idealistic progress—that will force humanity to end war and establish peace once and for all.
These cataclysmic calamities are near at hand, it is believed. So foretold ‘Abdu’l-Bahá. And so warns their present world leader, Shoghi Effendi. A decade or more of immense suffering lies before humanity, the world over. A suffering which will bear fruit in a universal and successful devotion to the tenets and practice of world peace.
This planetary ordeal will be brief. It will be in fulfillment of all the Biblical prophecies. The best preparation any individual can make is to increase the attachment of his heart to God and strengthen his spiritual forces. This will both enable him to endure, and to teach others the way of endurance and of final escape. There is no escape for humanity from its dilemma, the Bahà’is believe, save through turning to God and learning how to spiritualize those human institutions which are now so proudly and so wantonly secular; so ridden by termites of evil that they are ripe for fall.“This Century of Radiance”
4
The structure of world unity and world federation must be erected on spiritual foundations. This, in a word, is the message of the Bahďí World Faith. Nothing short of this will endure. Religion has always been a cohesive force, capable of unifying diverse cultures and habits. On the intellectual plane human beings will always differ; and this is as it should be, for the intellect is essentially an analytical instrument. Only on the spiritual plane can complete harmony of aim and action be achieved—under devotion to a common truth, a common cause, and to goals accepted as spiritually mandatory.
Therefore, although the beginnings of world unity and the inauguration of world federation may be achieved through secular means, the Bahà’is believe that this noble experiment must be strengthened and supported by a fast-growing and universal spiritual consciousness that will yield complete fealty to the concept and practice of oneness in human affairs.
Certainly all the. great world religions can, and actually do unite in loyalty to this program of peace and unity. It is the splendid goal, glittering from afar, to which the earliest Christians dedicated their lives— the establishment of the Kingdom of God on earth. Every religion, in fact, preaches such a brotherhood.
But the dynamic power to mold human wills and control human affairs has somehow died out; leaving the Church in all lands less effective than the dollar, the laboratories of science, or the sword.
Will a new and vital spiritual inspiration seize hold of humanity and bestow upon it the mind and will to live more nobly? The Bahà’is believe so. They dedicate their lives and all their abilities to this great goal—of a spiritualized humanity banded together in

Tomorrow and Tomorrow
love and harmony, building noble institutions within the pattern of a federated world.
5
The greater the darkness that envelops the world the nearer is the dawn. That is the faith that upholds Bahà’is in both thought and action. And certainly it is true for all of us, that no activities are ineffective that are directed toward the achievement of these world goals. The dread of futility is apt to paralyze action. But we can be assured that no effort is futile that is spent in the direction of destined and inevitable goals.
Everything that pertains to human progress as a whole pertains to each individual as a necessary factor of this progress. Let us repeat what we said at the beginning of this book, the world of tomorrow will be what we choose and work to make it.
Therefore the greater the obstacles that menace world peace the greater must be our devotion and zeal for this object. What the world needs in this transitional epoch is a supreme and spiritualized dedication to these planetary goals that are in reality spiritual in essence.
As the writer bade farewell to Ernest Gross and wished him Godspeed in his new work as alternate delegate to the United Nations Gross remarked soberly, “Secular means are not enough!” “You mean that spiritual means are needed?” “Yes!” was his terse reply.
The Bahà’is would say “Amen!” to this. And they rejoice at every contribution to world unity on the part of any individuals or movements. They are keen to discern progress or even sincere efforts toward the goals they envision; and they hold to their faith even when world disasters obstruct and endanger these goals.

“This Century of Radiance 6
Josiah Royce, greatest philosopher Harvard has produced, gave an inspiring message to the world in his little booklet, “The Philosophy of Loyalty.” Unlike most of his writings this can easily be understood. In it he says that man as an individual does not reach maturity until he finds a cause to which he can devote himself and in which he can lose himself. Then his individual life is raised above those perturbations which daily annoy or threaten tranquility. For he lives not in and for himself, but in and for a great movement which can defy the years and seemingly outlast Time itself. Man is mortal but Truth is immortal. Man as an individual is feeble; but as a loyal adherent to a Great Cause he partakes of an infinite courage and strength.
Such has been the history of loyalty. Perhaps it is this that Christ had in mind when He said, “He who would save his life shall lose it”—that is, never attain to real maturity. “But he who shall lose his life for My sake (for Truth’s sake), shall find it unto life eternal.”
As we look around us today and study the movements which so strenuously occupy humans in every part of the world, we can easily perceive that where these movements are effective they are movements of loyalty.
It is not difficult for us to see what goals today are worthy of our striving. What is needed is not only choice but dedication; not only wise effort but spiritual potency. In the great exigencies of humanity today no man can be lukewarm; no man can remain neutral. We must take sides. We must assume loyalties.
That movement which enlists and holds the greatest loyalty will ultimately prevail. Numbers alone do not count. Mathematics are less than spirit. ObstaclesTomorrow and Tomorrow
will yield to devotion and zeal. We are in reality dealing, at this present crisis of the world’s existence, with intangibles. And the sooner we realize that we are dealing with intangibles, the sooner will we hew a path to success. Outer force may be rallied to meet outer force. But it is the side that can enlist the greatest amount of intangible force that will win in the end.
Of these intangible forces, shall it be said that the Force of Evil can outweigh the Force of Good? Never has it been so in the history of the universe, and never will it be so. The Force of Good will outweigh the Force of Evil, and order will prevail over disorder. But goodness, as mere goodness, cannot win the battle. To goodness must be added force. And then evil, of itself, will galvanize into successful action this force oj goodness.
On the planet Earth, in this day and generation, goodness means world peace; and the force of good is equivalent to that power of a federated world which can guarantee this peace.
Let all of us who pray and work for this great end hold fast to that noble vision of endeavor which Browning voiced:
“One who never turned his back but marched breast forward,
Never doubted clouds would break Never dreamed, though right were worsted, wrong would triumph,
Held we fall to rise, are baffled to fight better, Sleep to wake.”