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Dear readers.
Let us hear again some words by the Son of Bahaullah, Abdu'l-Bahá who journeyd here among us in Europe and also in the US and Canada during the years just before world war I..
He never said one single word of discouragement.
His first concern when He met people was their happiness. He always asked : Are you happy? And then He gave that person words of consolation and encouragement. I must write more about Him when I get an English book about Him. Would you like me to?
Here I'll present a speech on Religion renewed.
"Creation is the expression of motion. Motion is life. Amoving object is a living object whereas that which is motionless is as dead. All created forms are progressive in their planes or kingdoms of existence under the stimulus of the power or spirit of life. The universal energy is dynamic. Nothing is stationary in the material world of outer phenomena or in the inner world of intellect and consciousness.
Religion is the outer expression of the divine reality. Therefore it must be living, vitalized, moving and progressive.
If it be without motion and non-progressive it is without the divine life; it is dead. The divine institutes are continously active and evolutionary; therefore the revelation of them must be progressive and continous.
All things are subject to re-formation. This is a century of life(the 20th) and renewal. Sciences and arts, industry and invention have been reformed. Law and ethics have been reconstituted, reorganized. The world of thought has been regenerated. Sciences of former ages and philosophies of the past are useless today. Present exigencies demand new methods of solution; world problems are without precedent. Old ideas and modes of thought are fast becoming obsolete. Ancient laws and archaic ethical systems will not meet the requirements of modern conditions, for this is clearly the century of a new life, the century of the revelation of the reality and therefore the greatest of all centuries. Consider how the scientific developments of fifty years have surpassed and eclipsed the knowledge and achievements of all the former ages combined.
Would the announcements and theories of ancient astronomers explain our present knowledge of the sun-worlds and planetary systems? Would the mask of obscurity which beclouded mediaeval centuries meet the demand for clear-eyed vision and understanding which characterizes the world today? In view of this,shall blind imitations of ancestral forms and theological interpretations continue to guide and control the religious life and spiritual development of humanity today? Shall man gifted with the power of reason unthinkingly follow and adhere to dogma, creeds and hereditary beliefs which will not bear the analysis of reason in this century of effulgent reality?
Unquestionanbly this will not satisfy men of science, for when they find premise or conclusion contrary to present standards of proof and without real foundation, they reject that which has been formerly accepted as standard and correct and move forward from new foundations.
The divine prophets have revealed and founded religion. They have laid down certain laws and heavenly principles for the guidance of mankind. They have taught and promulgated the knowledge of God, established praiseworthy ethical ideals and incalculated the highest standards of virtue in the human world. Gradually these heavenly teachings and foundations of reality have been beclouded by human interpretations and dogmatic imitations of ancestral beliefs. The essential realities which the prophets labored so hard to establish in human hearts and minds while undergoing ordeals and suffering tortures of persecution, have now well nigh vanished. Some of these messengers have been killed, some imprisoned; all of them despised and rejected while proclaiming the reality of divinity. Soon after their departure from this world, the essential truth of their teachings was lost sight of and dogmatic imitations adhered to.
Inasmuch as human interpretations and blind imitations differ widely, religious strife and disagreement have arisen among mankind, the light of true religion has been extinguished and the unity of the world of humanity destroyed. The Prophets of God voiced the spirit and unity and agreement. They have been the founders of divine reality. Therefore if the nations forsake imitations and incvestigate the reality underlying the revealed Word of God they will agree and become reconciled. For reality is one and not multiple.
The nations and religions are steeped in blind and bigoted imitations. A man is a Jew because his father was a Jew. The Mohammedan follow implicitly the footsteps of his ancestors in belief and observance. The Buddhist is true to his heredity as a Buddhist. That is to say they profess religious belief blindly and without investigation, making unity and agreement impossible. It is evident therefore that this condition will not be remedied without a re-formation in the world of religion. In other words the fundamental reality of the divine religions must be renewed, reformed, revoiced to mankind.
- From the seed of reality
religion has grown into a tree which has put forth leaves and branches, blossoms and fruits. After a time this tree has fallen in to a condition of decay.
. The leaves and blossoms have withered and perished; the tree has become stricken and fruitless. It is not reasonable that man should hold to the old tree, claiming that its life forces are undiminished, its fruits unequalled, its existence eternal. The seed of reality must be sown again in human heart in order that a new tree may grow therefrom and new divine fruits refresh the world. By this means the nations and peoples now divergent in religion will be brought into unity, imitations will be forsaken and a universal brotherhood in the reality itself will be established. Warfare and strife will cease among mankind; all will be reconciled as servants of God. For all are sheltered beneath the tree of His Providence and Mercy. God is kind to all; He is the Giver of bounty to all alike, even as His Holiness Jesus Christ declared that God "sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust:" that is to say the mercy of God is universal. All humanity is under the protection of His love and favor, and unto all He has pointed the way of guidance and progress.
Progress is of two kinds
material and spiritual. The former is attained through observation of the surrounding existence and constitutes the foundation of civilization. Spiritual progress is through the breaths of the Holy Spirit and is the awakening of the conscious soul of man to perceive the reality of divinity. Material progress insures the happiness of the human world. Spiritual progress insures the happiness and eternal continuance of the soul. The prophets of God have founded the laws of divine civilization. They have been the root and fundamental source of all knowledge. They have established the principles of human brotherhood...We must forsake all imitations and promote the reality of the divine teachings. In accordance with these pinciples... and by the assistance of the Holy Spirit, both material and spiritual happiness shall become realized...Until all nations and peoples become united by the bonds of the Holy Spirit in this real fraternity, until national and international prejudices are effaced in the reality of this spiritual brotherhood,
true progress, prosperity and lasting happiness will not be attained by man.
Thanks to the renewed religion that Bahaullah has revealed it is quite possible to get to that Union Abdu'l-Bahá speaks about. It contains no manmade interpretations, it is written down by the Revealer Himself or checked by Him ( after He was poisoned and got a shaking hand) whereupon He signed the revealed text.
He himself has appointed Abdu'l-Bahá. to present faithfully the Faith. .He is the sole Interpreter
Abdu'l-Bahá is the guarantor or warrantor, appointed by the Founder of this Faith and whatever He says in His tablets and letters is of the truth of Bahaullah.
Abdu'l-Bahá is also called the Master and the Mystery of God.
Not in a thousand years from now will there be created such a divine personality as Abdu'l-Bahá. He is the Perfect human being and our perfect Exemple to try to follow.
Abdu'l-Bahá is the bulwark against secterianism.
He it was who presented the Faith to the Westerners, speaking in our way.
A Bahaiyouth is to choose his Faith after investigation of the truth. He must also study other religions so as to be rightly confirmed. He or she can choose his religious path at the age of fifteen.
There must be no adhering to this faith by habit of "family tradition." The first principle of this faith is independent search for truth.
And this is one of the signs of mankind having reached maturity.
All children must be educated in order to be able to study religion and the sciences and arts. + be taught a profession.
This was all for today
Kind regards from Laila
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