FOUNDATIONS of
WORLD UNITY
Compiled from
Addresses and Tablets
of
'ABDU'L-BAHÁ
"The gift of God to this enlightened age is
the knowledge of the oneness of mankind
and of the fundamental
oneness of religion."
BAHÁ'Í PUBLISHING TRUST
WILMETTE, ILLINOIS
CONTENTS
Page
THE TRUE MODERNISM ........... 9
THE SOURCE OF REALITY ........... 11
THE DAWN OF PEACE ............ 14
THE CAUSE OF STRIFE ............ 18
UNIVERSAL PEACE ............. 20
THE PROPHETS AND WAR ........... 22
FOUNDATIONS OF WORLD UNITY ......... 28
RACIAL HARMONY ............. 34
THE SPIRIT OF JUSTICE ............ 36
COOPERATION ............... 38
THE CRITERIONS OF TRUTH .......... 45
MAN AND NATURE ..................... 48
THE MICROCOSM AND THE MACROCOSM ....... 51
THE UNIVERSAL CYCLES ........... 54
EDUCATION ............... 55
THE HOLY SPIRIT ......................57
SCIENCE. ................ 60
SPIRITUAL SPRINGTIME ............ 63
ETERNAL UNITY .............. 66
THE DARKENED LIGHTS ............ 69
THE NEED OF DIVINE EDUCATION ........ 72
RELIGION: ESSENTIAL AND NON-ESSESTIAL ...... 79
RELIGION RENEWED .................... 83
DIVINE LOVE ............... 86
THE FOUNDATION OF RELIGION ......... 92
THE QUICKENING SPIRIT ................ 100
THE LAW OF GOD .................... 104
CONTINUITY OF REVELATION .......... 107
INTRODUCTION
THE search for a principle of unity capable of binding
together the peoples of the world in some valid and
creative relationship is undeniably the essential matter
confronting the present generation. Nothing save world unity
caa release the vast productive energies at the disposal of the
modern mind; nothing else can replace the racial idealisms
which now, having served their day, become causes of conflict
rather than sources of agreement; nothing short of this ultimate
will stay the trends toward anarchy eating at the heart of the
body politic in every organized nation. The swift, turbulent
current of change runs too deep for any dam of compromise to
restrain its power and effect some status of stability or repose
behind which the human spirit may slumber beyond alarm.
The very continuity of those myriad inter-relationships developed
by competitive as well as cooperative forces depends
upon the establishment of an organic unity corresponding to
the inner not less than to the outer facts of life.
As the necessity for such a universal principle of unity
appears more urgent and unescapable, humanity grows more
sensitive to any influence capable of solving the continuous
crisis which civilization has become.
The distinctive characteristic of the life-work of 'Abdu'l-Bahá
consists in the fact that it was not merely a noble, self-sacrificing
and tireless insistence upon world unity as an ideal,
but likewise a definite presentation of world unity as a way of
life. At a time when even the most enlightened liberalism conceived
of unity in partial terms‹a limited unity affecting only
one plane of experience, such as religion, ethics, science or
politics‹'Abdu'l-Bahá by word and deed created a truly universal
conception of the new term.
To 'Abdu'l-Bahá, world unity was not a mere linking together
of formal institutions developed by society in its age of
spiritual darkness and division, but a meeting and blending of
minds and hearts awakened to a new consciousness of the
destiny of humanity. As by the action of a pure solvent, his
vision served to melt away the outer self imposed by environment
and quicken the inmost center of being where response is
to the universal Will. The purposes and powers of that Will
were upheld by him in a victory of love so complete that the
sum total of his life becomes a vindication not of a nation, not
of a race, not of a religion, but of mankind.
But 'Abdu'l-Bahá stood as witness to the triumph of a love
which is inseparable from mind. His interpretations of the
fundamental human problems anticipated by a generation the
conclusions of science and philosophy and possess a quality of
synthesis which science and philosophy have never attained.
The East and the West combined in his nature, preserving the
integrity and essential truth of each type of experience; but his
nature combined and reconciled also those humanly unrelated
qualities of faith and reason, humanitarian love and justice,
mystical devotion and administrative energy whose divergences
in all men are the original cause of disunity in every form. His
perception of the underlying oneness of life poured forth in an
all-embracing sympathy and understanding the effect of which
is like irrigation upon desert lands. Through this one life we
have a glimpse of a united humanity in which universal attributes
make possible new and superior social forms.
A superficial reading of his letters and public addresses,
looking for the same treatment as would be given their topics
by one confined to the established attitude of the religionist or
social scientist, will fail utterly to make contact with the wisdom
so freely offered the modern world in its hour of supreme need.
This wisdom is revealed in statements compact with vision
embracing a wider area of reality rather than in effort to develop
any one thought or subject to its detailed fulness. His task did
not include accomplishing any of the results of the specialist,
but in re-establishing the wholeness of life.
A new mental and spiritual focus is required on the part of
the reader himself; an attitude in which partisan victory or
exclusive authority, subtle as well as gross, is less desirable than
reality at any cost. When this focus is attained, assimilation of
'Abdu'l-Bahá's wisdom leads to a distinctive result, the gradual
but certain rellnquishment of those inner veils of prejudice
which darken the understanding however active and keen the
mind. For this wisdom is not the passive formula of the philosophic
intellect, it is charged with an intensely energizing
quality released from those depths where truth is lived as well
as seen.
The present work consists of selections from public addresses
delivered by 'Abdu'l-Bahá during his journey through Europe
and America immediately preceding the War, or from letters
written to friends in the West answering questions of similar
theme. This journey was in itself a significant sign of world
unity, in that he spoke before audiences representing practically
every social division or interest of our complex modern life.
From Columbia University in New York to Leland Stanford in
California, from the Bowery Mission to the dinner table of a
diplomat in Washington, 'Abdu'l-Bahá traversed not merely
the geographical but also the spiritual area of the American
people, leaving with them the assurance that if they can solve
their greatest spiritual problem, amity and cooperation between
the white and colored races, their influence will be decisive in
promulgating universal peace.
In brief: 'Abdu'l-Bahá may be likened to a Rosetta stone
inscribed with the human story in three languages‹the language
of the mind, the language of the heart, and the language
of the spirit. By reference to this threefold reality, we find the
key to that which is undeveloped in ourselves or unknown in
the universe and thus approach that inner realization of God
which is the foundation of the new age.
HORACE HOLLEY
Green Acre, Eliot, Maine
August 6, 1927