The Baha'i Faith and the Western Esoteric Tradition

Abstract: The Baha’i Faith claims to be the eight largest and second most widespread religion in the world. Superficially it appears to be a fusion of Shiite millennialism, Western social radicalism and a benign globalist perspective. This paper seeks to reappraise a forgotten aspect of the introduction of the Baha’i Faith to the West, the importance of individuals seeped in the mystical, the occult and esoteric to the creation of the synthesis of modernity and mysticism which underpins the Baha’i perspective. See also papers on three Bahá'í figures, Alice Buckton: Bahá'í Mystic, Robert Felkin: Bahá'í Mage, and Wellesley Tudor Pole: Bahá'í Seer.