|
Thanks Nick and Good Day to you all.
Still I am without a job, but I am so glad to be here with you instead, with my increasing group of readers.
In spite of the assurances made by Abdu'l-Bahá, that a world government would be easy and practicable to form in this communicative world of today, you might harbour some scepticism. However, I sincerely wish to be sure you are with me all the way. Therefore I'll meet some of the common objections to the idea of a world government.
I'll quote from Tyson: World Peace and World Government and Shoghi Effendi, the Guardian of the Bahai Faith and Great grandson of Bahaullah
"1.Scepticism Due to an Erroneous View of history
...this scepticism is characterized by statements such as,
'Mankind has always divided itself into nations and it always will'.
Although empires arose in a few places in our early history(and we tend to focus historical studies on these) much smaller units of social organization such as family groups, villages and tribes were the rule in ancient times, not the exception. A view of history seen in terms of ever expanding units of organization is, in fact, much more accurate. Thus, the momentum of history carries us toward maintenance of the nation-state status quo."
Tyson
Unification of the whole of mankind is the hallmark of the stage which human society is now approaching. Unity of family, of tribe, of city-state, and nation have been successively attempted and fully established. World unity is the goal towards which a harassed humanity is striving. Nation building has come to an end. The anarchy inherent in state sovereignty is moving towards its climax. A world, growing to maturity, must abandon this fetish, recognize the oneness and wholeness of human relationships, and establish once for all the machinery that can best incarnate this fundamental principle of its life.
Shoghi Effendi
2." Scepticism Due to the World's Size and its Diversity of value.
The world is no longer too big for planetary management, we are living in a global village. It is, in fact, too small to do without it..."" although international values are needed,they are required to operate on the international level only. Elsewhere, diversity in values can continue to exist. And agreement on values at the international level is not so difficult inasmuch as leaders and diplomats from all nations have, for many years, been participating in communal efforts. They are not strangers to each other.
Regarding the question of size and diversity of the international organization, Shoghi Effendi has said:
Take but one instance. How confident were the assertions made in the days preceding the unification of the states of the North American continent regarding the insuperable barriers that stood in the way of their ultimate federation! Was it not widely and emphatically declared that the conflicting interests, the mutual distrust, the differences of government and habit that divided the states were such as no force, whether spiritual or temporal, could ever hope to harmonize or control?. And yet how different were the conditions prevailing "at that time" from those that characterize present-day society! It would indeed be no exaggeratrion to say that the absence of those facilities which modern scientific progress has placed at the service of hgumanity in our time made the problem of welding the American states into a single federation, similar though they were in certain traditions, a task infinitely more complex than that which confronts a divided humanity in its efforts to achieve the unification of all mankind."
Tyson
3."Fear of the unknown
"... We have created national governments before, but we have never created a world government. Fortunately however, we are NOT wthout precedents. Federalism, the system in which several smaller regions are united under a transregional government, which has authority only over trans-regional affairs, is the system under which most large national governments and many smaller ones operate today. Argentina, Australia,Australia, Brazil, Canada, India, Mexico, Nigeria, Switzerland, the USA" and others" are included in this group. It is fair to say that the collective experience of mankind in creating federated systems is sufficient to assure us that a proper federated system for the world could also be created."
Tyson
There is also the European Union, which is not a federated group , yet , but let us see , the sceptics might change their minds. First and foremost it is created in order to keep the peace. I think it is quite exiting to follow its further development.
4."Skepticism and Fear Caused by Religious Beliefs"
Some religious people will claim that the creation of a world government is insufficient to solve all the problems of humanity because a world government cannot address the spiritual element of the problem. Bahais wholeheartedly agree with such a view, The spiritual developemnt of mankind is the ultimate solution to problems induced by materialism. In the words of Bahaullah: 'The corrosion of ungodliness is eating into the vitals of human society; what else but the Elixir of His potent Revelation can cleanse and revive it?'
Tyson
The guardian wrote:
Not even, I venture to assert, would the very act of devising the machinery required for the political and economic unification of the world...provide in itself the antidote against the poison that is steadily undermining the vigor of organized peoples and nations. Shoghi Effendi
"Thus, world government is not seen as a panacea for all of the world's ills, but rather as a necessary first step to resolving them. Although the resulting peace will be the greatest peace the world has yet known, it is still referred to as 'The Lesser Peace'..".." But the abolition of war will do more than eliminate the threat to human survival and save untold resources. It will also eliminate the source of much of the fear, suspiscion, and hatred that now plagues mankind"..." When man eventually reaches the point where the motive for peace is no longer fear of mutual destruction but genuine love for one's fellow man, and when the philosophy of materialism gives way to the universal recognition of one God, then the 'Most Greatr Peace', the Kingdom of God on earth, will have begun."
Tyson
Also there are other objections sprung from religious beliefs. And since this is a religious forum I'll come back to that shortly.
As for now I'd just say:
"Peace is inevitable", remember.
Kind regards from Laila
|