Thank you very much.
Dear friends, I am very pleased to have the opportunity to meet with
you this afternoon, and to speak about a subject which is of such
fascination to me as the Four Year Plan.
As you can well understand my role in the Four Year Plan was as one of
the participants in the consultation of the Universal House of Justice
in the formulation of that document, but since Ridvan my role is that,
as is your role, of studying this marvelous document trying to derive
insight and understanding from it. And it is in that context that I
speak to you this afternoon, I obviously do not speak for the
Universal House of Justice, nor do my views represent necessarily
those of the Institution. I speak to you as an individual believer
who, as with all of us, had the opportunity to peruse this message and
to try to derive insight from it.
As the days and weeks go by it becomes more and more apparent to me
that the Four Year Plan represents not simply another in an almost
infinite series of plans which have come from the World Center of the
Faith during much of the formative age. Rather it seems to me that
this plan represents a significant turning point in the development of
the Faith. It is not like other plans, it has certain radically
different features and my impression is that the Four Year Plan
represents a far more concentrated attention on the development of the
Bahá'í way of life, and ultimately the Bahá'í civilization, than has
been apparent in any of the other plans in recent years. This is a
different kind of plan, its emphasis is not only on the propagation of
the Faith, on the enlargement of its size, but also to an extent not
previously apparent in a plan, does it focus on the Bahá'í way of
life.
As I endeavor to understand the nature and significance of this plan
it appears to me that there are three very important principles which
underlie it. Obviously this is an individual view, others would study
the plan and they'd say there are seventeen important principles which
underlie it and they'd view it as equally valid as mine. But as I look
at it, it comes to my mind that there are three very important
principles which one needs to think about and understand at as deep a
level as possible in order to appreciate what this plan is about and
why.
The first of those three is this, I believe that the Four Year Plan
represents to an extent not previously apparent the unconventional
view of the world which we Bahá'ís hold. We all live in a society
which is going in a certain direction, which has its own interests,
its values, its preoccupations, and its concerns. Immersed as we are
in that society, it is nevertheless most important that periodically
we stop and remind ourselves that our view of the world differs very
markedly, very radically from that of the people around us. Central to
that difference is the Bahá'í view about spiritual forces.
Our view, as best I understand it, is that any adequate model of the
world in which we live must take account of the effect that there are
great spiritual forces at work in it. This is not simply a matter of
abstract theology. We believe that these spiritual forces have a
direct bearing on the conduct of all individuals be they Bahá'í or
not. But that vast majority of the human population which are not
members of the Bahá'í Faith are nevertheless themselves influenced by
these spiritual forces. The things I read in the Bahá'í Writings
indicate to me that the existence and operation of these spiritual
forces is essential to an adequate understanding of the policies of
governments and social bodies and that the course of world events in
the later part of the nineteenth century, during the whole of the
twentieth century and beyond, can only adequately be understood in
terms of the operation of spiritual forces. It is in this sense that I
believe the Bahá'í perspective of the world is not simply a little
different, not simply somewhat different, not even very different, but
radically different from that of the people around us.
Our thinking about what is happening to us, what is happening to those
around us, what is happening to the world in which we live, is
strongly determined by the operation of spiritual forces. And you'll
find this mentioned in the Four Year Plan particularly in paragraphs
37 and 38. The Bahá'í perspective is set out very clearly by Shoghi
Effendi in a passage around the middle of The Advent of Divine
Justice, and in that passage the Guardian speaks of what he calls a
God born force. He tells us that this force originates with the coming
of the Bab and Bahá'u'lláh, and he goes on to describe it in the words
of the Bab as "vibrating within the inmost beings of all created
things." And then he quotes Bahá'u'lláh in referring to this force and
stating that its vibrating influence has upset the equilibrium of the
world and revolutionized its ordered life. In these and many other
passages from the writings of the Guardian we read not simply poetry,
not simply inspiration, not simply ideas which inspire the heart,
which move the soul, rather we read statements of truth, statements of
precise analytical truth, describing the state and condition of the
world and what is happening in it. And as I understand from this
passage, the Guardian is telling us that a mysterious force has been
injected into creation. With the coming of the Bab and Bahá'u'lláh
that force is at work today, not simply in the hearts of the Bahá'ís,
not simply in the institutions of the Bahá'í Faith, but far more
broadly and far more generally, as the Bab says "vibrating within all
created beings and all created entities of the earth."
This has several very important implications for us.
One of these is that we are challenged as Bahá'ís, to internalize in
our thinking the existence and operation of that force. In other words
to take it into account not only in our conscious thinking but in our
unconscious being. Let me take an example, the force of gravity. It
becomes part of our unconscious model of the world. If I throw a stone
out the window, I naturally expect it will fall downwards and not
upwards. I don't say to myself "now let me think, F = mg - what is the
force of gravity, will it operate, which way will the stone fall, let
me work out the calculation and so on." It's become part of my
automatic thinking, I try not to fall out of airplanes, or to walk
over cliffs or anything like that, not because of any calculated
thought on my part but simply because the force of gravity has become
part of my natural unconscious model of the world.
Now I think the great challenge to us as Bahá'ís is through our
deepening, through our meditation and our prayer, to become so deeply
conscious of the existence of this great spiritual force which has
been injected into the world with the coming of the promised ones that
it becomes automatic to our thinking. And of course the example of the
life of Abdu'l-Bahá is peerless in offering us a model of a way of
life in which the existence of these spiritual forces was so
automatically part of his being.
This spiritual force is also crucial to our confidence and our vision
of the future. If we don't take cognizance of this spiritual force we
will quite naturally be fearful, be uncertain, be deeply troubled
about the forces arrayed against us and the difficulties we face.
There was a very interesting letter written by the Universal House of
Justice in January 197l to one of the National Spiritual Assemblies in
Europe which at that time was facing great difficulties in the
progress of the Faith, and it had carried out a very comprehensive and
detailed analysis of the problems facing that country, of the lack of
resources, material, and human, available to the Bahá'í community and
the challenges before it. Having carried out that analysis it wrote to
the House of Justice for guidance on what it should do. In the
response of House of Justice there is one very crucial paragraph, it
refers to the need for a greater realization of the power of
Bahá'u'lláh to reinforce the efforts of those who serve Him, of His
promise to do so, and of the impotence of all our deeds without this
divine assistance. The crucial point that I want to draw your
attention to is the following statement in this letter of the House of
Justice, it says "Any evaluation of the situation is entirely
misleading if it does not take this supreme power into consideration."
I find this a very strong statement. It doesn't simply say that the
analysis is inadequate, is incomplete, without accommodating the
existence of this great mysterious spiritual force, rather it goes
much further and says "any evaluation is entirely misleading" if the
existence and operation of this spiritual force is not given due
weight.
Our belief in such spiritual forces and their operation in the world,
gives rise to the fact that we use in our conversation and in our
Writings some very strange words. And one of the very strange words we
use in Bahá'í discourse is the word "destiny". Our Writings refer to
"destiny", they refer to the "destiny of individuals", they refer to
the "destiny of nations". Here in the United States we have passages
addressed to the United States Bahá'í community which refer to the
"destiny of America". That there is a foreordained determined end to
events in this country, and to the role which the people of this
nation are, in fact, destined to play. This does not deny the
legitimacy of individual discretion of our right to choose to follow
or not to follow, to act correctly or incorrectly, but we are told
that in the aggregate, in the macroscopic sense there is an ordained
destiny to events in the world.
This was very much apparent when the Universal House of Justice issued
its statement on world peace. And it described world peace as not only
something we hope for and aim for and work towards, but something
which is inevitable. There again, the sense of destiny which is
informed by our cognizance of the operation of such spiritual powers.
One finds in The Advent of Divine Justice, where Shoghi Effendi,
speaking of the destiny of America in the later part of that book,
refers to the American nation as a whole, whether through the agency
of its government or otherwise, he describes this American nation as
gravitating under the influences of forces it can neither comprehend
nor control, toward such associations and policies wherein as
indicated by `Abdu'l-Bahá her true destiny must lie. This is
revolutionary stuff. This is incredible. This is the kind of thing
that will get you locked up if you speak about it too loudly outside
this room, because what Shoghi Effendi is telling us is that this
magnificent nation in which we are now resident is gravitating under
the influence of forces it can neither comprehend nor control. What
political commentator is going to agree with this perspective? Who is
it who will have the courage to say the United States in its
governmental policies is subject to forces it can neither comprehend
nor control. Since this is election year, who will get elected on a
platform such as this? Our view of the world is very, very, different
from that of the society around us as Shoghi Effendi tells us in the
passage I read, this nation as well as other nations around us are
evolving towards that area where their true destiny must lie.
This concept of destiny, this concept of a fore ordained goal to the
position of the various nations in the world derives from our
cognizance, our appreciation of the mysterious spiritual forces that
are at work in the world. In our daily lives we are subject to
influences from all directions, we have the news on television, we
have newspapers, we have conversation with friends in school or at
work, or in social contact, and through all that interaction we are
inclined to forget, to not give due account to the fact that our model
of the world is radically different, is totally different from that of
the people around us, our powers, our potential, our goal, our
destiny, our purpose is entirely different because this great
spiritual force is at work in the world.
It is for this reason that we who are Bahá'ís will at times find
ourselves carrying out activities which to the world around us appear
irrational. Activities of voluntary sacrifice. Activities, even if the
time comes, activities of martyrdom. The policies of the Universal
House of Justice, unless viewed in a spiritual perspective will at
times appear irrational. Upon what rational basis did the Universal
House of Justice decide to embark upon the vast constructional project
we call the Arc project? In the state of Israel, on an exposed
position overlooking an oil refinery in a major port of that country
in a time of such turmoil and danger and upset and the prospect of
destructive warfare in that country. Where was the rationality in such
a decision? Why now? Why not fifty years later when maybe the country
has settled down somewhat? Why at this time?
The answer can only come through the cognizance of the operation of
powerful great mysterious spiritual forces. And I suggest this to be
one of the basic principles underlying the Four Year Plan.
The second principle I see as basic to the Four Year Plan is its
extraordinary emphasis upon processes rather than events.
And I think if you look through the messages of the Four Year Plan
you'll find again and again, our attention is directed not simply to
events, but much more than that to processes. We live in a world where
the attention is principally upon events and occurrences. As Bahá'ís
we give due weight to events. The twenty-first day of April is an
event. One's birthday is an event. The night or day of the nineteen
day feast is an event. We do not deny the significance and value of
events. But the principle emphasis in our religion seems to me, to be
on processes rather than events, and this, I think, derives from the
fact that we see our religion and its community as organic, and in any
organic body there are processes at work. The process of growth, the
process of development of skills and abilities, the process of aging.
All these things are processes which characterize the evolution in
time of an organic body.
And I believe that the Four Year Plan to a greater extent than other
plans directs our attention to the existence and operation of
processes. This change of orientation, this change of viewpoint, from
event to process has many significant implications.
It means we must become sensitive to recognize the significance of
small events. If we are to be process oriented we must become
sufficiently insightful, sufficiently sensitive to recognize that some
small events are most significant in terms of process. Other small
events are insignificant, they're nothing. But certain small events
are very crucial.
We find several examples of this in the Bahá'í Writings. You'll find
for example the remarkable example in "Unfoldment of World
Civilization", the letter of Shoghi Effendi, where he referred to what
is regarded as a very small, and fairly minor, and rather embarrassing
event which occurred in the late 1930's where the League of Nations
decided to impose sanctions upon Italy for its invasion of Ethiopia.
And these sanctions did not work, the nations did not agree to follow
them, or they agreed nominally but in practice they didn't, and
everything was a horrible failure to the great embarrassment to the
League of Nations. Shoghi Effendi on the other hand, treats that small
event quite differently, he refers to it as an event without precedent
in the world. He said "their decision is no doubt an event without
parallel in human history, for the first time in the history of
humanity, the system of collective security, which had been set out by
Bahá'u'lláh, had been tried. Never mind it failed, it was a step
forward, he saw it as very significant in the development of the
process of world government.
There are many other passages in the Guardian's writings where he
refers to the great significance of events which we would regard as
relatively minor or relatively small. For example, let me take one
more example from "Citadel of Faith", where Shoghi Effendi referred to
the activities of President Woodrow Wilson, and Woodrow Wilson is in
many ways regarded as a visionary whose actions did not lead to a very
useful result, he was very disappointed of course with the actions of
the United States Congress in relation to America's participation in
the League of Nations. Shoghi Effendi, on the contrary, refers to the
activities of President Woodrow Wilson in setting out his points about
the future organization of humanity and playing a role in the
establishment of the League of Nations, not only does he praise the
great success, the achievements of President Wilson, but much more
than that, he says that these achievements of Wilson signalized the
dawn of the Most Great Peace. Not the dawn of the Lesser Peace, the
dawn of the Most Great Peace. This further is an example of the
divinely guided insight of the Guardian in seeing the great
significance of events, which to the ways of the world were minor,
were insignificant or relatively inconsequential.
It derives from the orientation to process rather than to event, and
we need to draw upon our deepening in the Writings so that we acquire
a similar sensitivity, a similar insight so we can recognize that in
certain small events there is great significance from the prospective
of process. It also means that we need great patience in setting the
foundations for the future growth of the Faith. We need great
confidence in carrying out events, or activities, which may seem
mundane or inconsequential, but which are called upon at this stage in
the growth of the Faith. We need the confidence to recognize that what
we do is one step in the evolution of a great and mighty process in
the future.
This process orientation also requires that we develop the wisdom to
know what is appropriate at what time in the stage of the Faith, and
what is inappropriate, what is best left to the future and what was
appropriate thirty or forty years ago but is not appropriate today.
The needs change as the process evolves.
The Four Year Plan of course is full of process. The House of Justice
in a message of January, 1994 concerning the Arc Project referred to
the World Order of Bahá'u'lláh as representing the operation of three
interactive processes. One, the development of the World Center based
upon the Tablet of Carmel, the second process, the development of the
Administrative Order, based upon the Will and Testament of
`Abdu'l-Bahá, and third, the development of the spread of the Faith
around the world, based on the Tablets of the Divine Plan. These three
processes are at work in the functioning of the Bahá'í community, they
interact closely with each other, which means we must give due
attention to all three simultaneously in the work of the Faith, and
one finds that one can quite profitably analyze the form and structure
of the Four Year Plan in terms of the operation of these three
processes.
Sometimes as I travel I hear the friends speak about the Four Year
Plan and they say its primary objective is entry by troops. Because I
don't want to appear arrogant, or sanctimonious, or a know it all, I
usually keep quiet when I hear them say that, but internally I cringe,
because I don't think this is true. I don't think the Four Year Plan
is about entry by troops. I think the Four Year Plan is about
advancing the process of entry by troops, and as evidence I would
suggest that one look closely at wherever this phrase "entry by
troops" is used in the Four Year Plan, or the supplementary messages
associated with it, and I will suggest that you will find there that
the House of Justice has been very, very careful to use the phrase
"entry by troops" in conjunction with the preamble of "advancing the
process of entry by troops".
Our Four Year Plan is designed to move that process along. If, in the
Cook Islands or in Tuvalu in the Pacific Ocean, we're now enrolling
three or four believers a year maybe at the end of the Four Year Plan
we'll be enrolling twenty or thirty new believers a year, still
relatively modest compared to the population of those areas but an
advance in the process. And the orientation in the Four Year Plan to
process is illustrated very strongly by the focus on advancing the
process of entry by troops, and you'll find the compilation issued by
the House of Justice, and prepared by its research department a few
years ago, on entry by troops, is entirely process oriented, it is not
event oriented, and I think by absorbing the distinction between
process and event we will very successfully be able to orient
ourselves to what the House of Justice has in mind as this central
objective of the Four Year Plan.
The third of the three fundamental principles which I see as
underlying the Four Year Plan is that of the concept of change.
I mention this because my observation of history is that religions
have a lot of problems with change. It is very difficult for a
religion or a religious community or organization to handle change.
Change is unsettling, change can be disruptive, change can lead to
division or polarization, most often under the impact of the
development of society, when a religion is subject to the stress of
change, its community tends to polarize. One segment of those who are
traditional, who are resistant to new ideas, who don't want the settle
condition change, who say "what's wrong with you? This has worked very
well for so many decades. Why are you upsetting the apple-cart? Why
are you changing all this?" And the other segment of those who are so
focused on change, so attached to it that they follow superficial and
ephemeral trends, destroying the foundations of the religious
community, and creating disunity.
So change has historically been a difficult problem for religious
communities to handle. Where does the Bahá'í Faith fit in with this?
When we look at the Bahá'í teachings we find that the ideal human
state which our religion is seeking to create in its followers is that
not of a group of obedient automata, not of a set of robots following
fixed instructions. The ideal human state that this religion we belong
to is creating is that of creativity, of human beings who are
innovative who generate knowledge through invention and insight. Our
religion aims at social and individual development. It aims at change.
Our religion is focused on creating an ever advancing civilization.
Our approach to change does not end with the death of the individual.
Our concept of the after life is not of a static paradise where we sit
around in lawns with water going by and eating grapes and things like
that. Our concept of the after life is a dynamic one of change and
progression beyond the dimensions of space and time, whatever
progression may mean in such a setting. Progression - advancement
toward God. It is for this reason I believe that the Bahá'í Faith
represents to an extent never before seen in human history, represents
a religion committed to change. Change is in our bones. Change is
intrinsic to the very core of our religion. Change is basic to the
purpose and the direction of our religion and you will find that the
Four Year Plan calls for change and in many instances for substantial
change.
`Abdu'l-Bahá states in a passage which is quoted in "Wellspring of
Guidance"; he says "the times never remain the same, for change is a
necessary quality and essential attribute of this world, and of time
and place." And it is for this reason I believe that one of the major
functions of the Universal House of Justice as an institution in the
Cause is that of the promotion of change and the appropriate
adaptation of the functioning of this religion to accommodate,
facilitate, and promote change.
This has very vital implications for us. It means that we need to be
well deepened in the Faith. Because if one is going to open the door
to change, and we have not only opened the door, we have torn the door
off its hinges, if one is to open the door to change as we have done,
it is crucial that one derive the insight and wisdom and good judgment
to distinguish between those things which should not be changed and
should remain constant, and those things which are open to change. If
we confuse that there will be all kinds of problems. If we change
those things that should remain constant we'll undermine the
foundations of the religion and ultimately be disobedient to
Bahá'u'lláh. If we allow to remain fixed those things which are open
to change, we will retard the purpose of the Faith which is
advancement, development, creativity, innovation, an ever advancing
civilization.
One of the main purposes of the Covenant is to provide the necessary
means for initiative, creativity, and change within the boundaries of
the preservation of integrity, purity, and the unity of the Faith. The
Covenant has in a very real sense, been given to us by Bahá'u'lláh and
`Abdu'l-Bahá to provide the right framework for change, so we can
accommodate and facilitate change while remaining obedient to
Bahá'u'lláh. By not changing those things that are constant, and
distinguishing between that which is constant and that which is
subject to change.
We find in our Faith as others find - who are artists, who are
creative, who are great intellectuals, who are scholars - we find that
obedience and discipline are essential prerequisites to creativity and
change, and it is in that sense that the Covenant must occupy a
central role in our lives, not simply to preserve the integrity and
unity of the Faith, but much more than that to open the way to
legitimate and appropriate change within the realm of that ordained by
Bahá'u'lláh.
We need also cultivate that sense of security which is open to
appropriate change which provides the necessary degree of flexibility,
to the operation of the Faith. We need to avoid rigidity and also
avoid the tendency to excessive fluidity, which of course is very
disruptive as well as contrary to the teachings of the Faith.
It is for this reason that one finds in several passages in the Four
Year Plan and also in the supplementary message to the Bahá'ís of
North America and Greenland that the House of Justice emphasized the
importance of trust and confidence towards the institutions of the
Faith in order that the Cause may realize its potential. Because it is
to the institutions of the Faith that we turn for guidance and
coordination in steering us appropriately through the dimensions of
change in guiding us into those things which are open to change and
those things that must always remain fixed and constant. And as the
years go by and as the perils of political correctness reach out to
us, it will become more and more important to us to be very clear in
our minds that there are certain things in our religion that are not
open to change because they are ordained by the infallible authority
in our Cause and there are certain other things which are open to
change where change is welcomed as part of the exercise of human
progress and creativity.
...[Tape unclear]...
As I move towards the conclusion of my talk and it is that of the
nature of the Bahá'í community. The point I want to make is that the
Four Year Plan lifts the veil. The Four Year Plan lifts the veil and
shows us what kind of community we are aiming to create.
And it seems to me it indicates we are aiming to create a religious
community which is without precedent in the history of humanity, and
which is without parallel in the various communities of mankind.
Let me illustrate my point. One of the major emphasis in the Four Year
Plan is that of individual initiative. You'll find this particularly
addressed in paragraphs 20, 2l and 22 of the Four Year Plan message:
the repeated call to the individual members of the rank and file of
the Bahá'í community to exercise an appropriate degree of individual
initiative.
We are looking to create a Bahá'í community of activists. Of
individuals who are active; who are not passive; who don't just sit
there and do whatever they are told to do but who think for
themselves; who participate in consultation; who offer their views;
who exercise their individual discretion in various ways.
In contrast to so many organizations we see individual initiative and
activism as a source of strength rather than weakness. So often
organizations see their strength in the fact that they have this
captive audience of people who will do whatever they're told: walk to
the right, walk to the left, walk straight ahead, stand still, move,
run, jump, whatever. We see our strength in individual initiative and
activism. We seek to create that kind of community.
Beyond that our concept of a Bahá'í community is as described in
paragraph 25 of the Four Year Plan message: a composition of diverse
interacting participants that are achieving unity in an unremitting
quest for spiritual and social progress. Not only do we call for
individual initiative, but rather we call for diversity and
interaction of the various participants in the Bahá'í community.
We do not see the ideal spiritual state as that indicated
conventionally in religion: of the individual who retires to a
solitary location to contemplate profound spiritual matters who lives
as a hermit or a monk, as a recluse in a monastery, or in a desert.
Rather, our concept of spiritual progress is of diverse interacting
participants engaged in this quest for spiritual and social progress.
It is a very, very different kind of view.
Another element of the vision of a Bahá'í community found in the Four
Year Plan is the emphasis now placed upon self motivation. Especially
in the development of the local community.
There is a very, very radical statement which appears in the messages
leading up to the Four Year Plan of December last year and is also
referred to in the Ridvan message. And that radical new element is a
decision of the Universal House of Justice that starting with Ridvan
1997, all Local Spiritual Assemblies are to be elected only on the
first day of Ridvan. The significance of this will become apparent in
a few month's time.
Its significance is indicated by the fact that in a message of
December 1995 to the Councilors, the House of Justice envisaged that
this could lead to a substantial loss in the number of Local
Assemblies. What does this mean? It means that henceforth the primary
responsibility for the formation of Local Spiritual Assemblies will
rest with the individual members of that community. Not in somebody
sent from a distant location to round up relatively passive members of
the community and say "Today is Ridvan, you haven't heard of Ridvan?
Well never mind. It is Ridvan. We're going to go through this election
and these nine people, not all of whom may be present, are the members
of the Local Assembly and I'll be back next Ridvan and we'll go
through the whole thing again." From now on self motivation is going
to be central to the life of Bahá'í communities, and this hard
decision, if I may call it that, will quite likely lead to a
substantial loss in the number of Local Spiritual Assemblies next
Ridvan.
If this gloomy prognostication proves to be correct, do not be
alarmed, it is part of the healthy constructive growth of the Cause.
The House of Justice in one of these several messages of the last
several months says "if there is a substantial loss in the number of
Local Assemblies at Ridvan 1997, the number will gradually come back
and of course ultimately exceed the initial number." It is healthy for
us now, at this point, to change the decision that had been made some
years ago because of the nature of process thinking; to change the
decision and say henceforth its going to be done differently and we're
going to emphasize self-motivation in Local Assembly functioning.
It is part and parcel of the evolution of the Bahá'í community to the
point that where it reaches a crossroads between quality and quantity,
it chooses quality. Obviously it seeks both; we're looking for both
quality and quantity. We would prefer that such crossroads decisions
never arise, but if they do we will take quality rather than quantity.
Another element of the Bahá'í community, as expressed in the Four Year
Plan message, is the renewed emphasis on knowledge and training in the
life of Bahá'í communities. We are not saved by faith alone: we
require knowledge, we require the development of skills and training.
And so you find in the Four Year Plan an emphasis on centers of Bahá'í
learning and Institutes - a far greater emphasis than has appeared in
any previous plan.
Why? Because process thinking has led us to the point where,
henceforth, knowledge, information, training and skills will be
vitally important to the life of the Bahá'í community. It means that
we are moving in the direction of a Bahá'í community which will not
look like a Christian congregation in disguise. It will not consist of
a small group of overworked administrators, who we call the Local
Spiritual Assembly or the National Spiritual Assembly, surrounded by a
congregation of passive participants. It will be a different kind of
community from a Christian congregation.
In a so-called "third world", our Bahá'í community will not henceforth
look like a missionary religion run by a group of Americans or
Persians or Australians or Europeans with a large number of indigenous
who basically do what they are told, and follow the instructions
issued from the National Center. It will change completely, it will
look like a different kind of community from anything found elsewhere.
This new kind of Bahá'í community illuminated by knowledge, diverse
interactive participants, individual initiative, self motivation -
this new kind of Bahá'í community will not come into being magically
during the four years of the Four Year Plan. We are initiating a
process, at the end of the four years these characteristics of which I
speak will not have occurred in all the places we'd like them to
occur, but the next Plan will build on it and the Plan after that.
We have set our course in a new and important direction which may take
us many decades to achieve but will lead us to a Bahá'í community like
nothing else we have ever seen. We will stand in this way in contrast
to the society around us - a society distinguished more and more by
alienation and passivity, lacking aspiration or vision, suspicious of
others, without bonds of trust and community. A contrast between the
Bahá'í community and the condition I have just described will become
more and more apparent.
Many of the things we are calling for in this plan are the nuclei of
great developments of the future. I look around the Bahá'í world and
see the activities now being taken to create centers of Bahá'í
learning. Some are very modest beginnings; in some places there is no
building and it doesn't matter. In some place, it's fairly rudimentary
in terms of what's done and the regularity of how systematic it is and
whether there is a halfway decent curriculum or anything like that.
But it is a start and I see in these centers of Bahá'í learning -
fledgling though they might be - the seed, the beginning of great
Bahá'í institutions of learning which will flourish in centuries to
come. And those Bahá'ís of the future, hundreds of years beyond us,
will look back and wonder at the small beginning made with these
centers of Bahá'í learning in the various countries of the world. It
is in this sense that I feel the Four Year Plan sets us at a turning
point in the development of the Faith.
I have almost concluded my remarks but I have one more major point to
make.
In my experience as a Bahá'í - which is an alarmingly long period as
Johanna Conrad very kindly pointed out - I have noticed a number of
misconceptions which have existed in the folklore of the Bahá'í
community over the years and I am delighted to see that three major
misconceptions are put to rest in the Four Year Plan message. By "Four
Year Plan message", I refer to the Ridvan message and to the
supplementary messages which go with it, all of which have been
published in the Four Year Plan booklet that I hope you've had a
chance to see.
So before I conclude my remarks, I want to refer to these three
misconceptions and to indicate how I see the Four Year Plan as having
dealt with them and hopefully put them to rest. To a well deserved
rest.
The first misconception concerns the importance of education.
The Four Year Plan message seems to me very clearly to draw the
attention of Bahá'ís young and old to the fact that the Bahá'í Faith
needs well-trained minds. It needs people who understand the Bahá'í
teachings, who are literate, who are well informed of world events,
and who have a good, sound, strong education, as much as they can get,
in accord with their life circumstances, their opportunities, their
freedom, their abilities and their skills. In one of the messages of
the Four Year Plan, the House of Justice enjoins the Bahá'ís to get
trained minds, to contribute to the arts, crafts, and sciences for the
advancement of civilization.
In the message to North America the House of Justice calls upon us to
seek receptive souls on the campuses of colleges and universities. I
mention this because occasionally hear people say "time is too short;
divine deadlines have to be met," and so on. And this is certainly
true; these are phrases that appear in House of Justice messages. But
such phrases have to be looked at in context. Time is short, divine
deadlines do have to be met, but we need believers with well-trained
minds who are educated, who understand the ways of the world, who are
well informed, who are capable of carrying out the work of the cause.
We need these friends with a great huge precondition. If they cannot
meet that precondition, then no thanks. If they cannot meet that
precondition, forget it. Don't get your education, don't study, don't
do anything like that. That precondition is that in the process of
getting their education - becoming well informed, becoming capable,
acquiring great skills - that these friends remain active and devoted
and committed to the work of the Cause. If the process of acquiring
eminent skills and education has involved with it the price to be paid
of diminishing one's commitment to the work of the Cause then it's too
high a price to be paid. Obviously there are times when it is busy,
there are examinations, there are things to be done. But nevertheless
we look for believers who are not only well educated, very developed
in a highly eminent and capable way, but at the same time have not
relaxed their devotion to the Cause, their adherence to the Covenant,
the commitment to the work of the Cause and the support of its
institutions.
Those who can combine both of these disciplines are those who are like
jewels to us as we move into the future. And that misconception about
education I think is very much resolved by the Four Year Plan.
The second of the three misconceptions that I see resolved in the Four
Year Plan concerns women.
As you know, our Writings very clearly specify the vital importance we
attach to the application and realization of the equality of men and
women. And as I travel around the world I find that from time to time
there is a desire and a temptation to abridge this commitment in the
name of traditional and cultural practices.
Yes, we all know that "equality of men and women is important in the
Bahá'í Faith but this is something we should watch for the future. If
we do it now our culture will be disrupted. The traditions which are
central to our way of life will be overturned and there will be
disruption."
That line of thinking I believe is totally invalid. And I think the
Four Year Plan in several of its messages: the message to Africa, the
message to the nations of the Pacific, and the Pacific Rim, the
message to the Indian subcontinent, the message to west and central
Asia as well as other places - all indicate that the approach of the
Faith is that of uncompromising determination to bring about the full
implementation of the equality of the sexes and if this involves
change in traditional cultures, so be it. If that's the price we have
to pay, so be it. We are committed to putting into practice what
Bahá'u'lláh has called for. If there was to be no change in
traditional culture, then what is the purpose of the Bahá'í Faith
coming? Why are these teachings necessary if they are not to produce
and promote change?
In that sense one finds the Four Year Plan repeatedly directs our
attention to a greater endeavor: to bring about a full implementation
of the equality of men and women. And this applies to all of us - to
those of us who've come from a traditional background where equality
has not been apparent, and have immigrated to the United States, as
well as those who live in other cultural settings. We are committed
fully to the equality of men and women irrespective of what your
cultural background, or my cultural background is, and that
misconception is very clearly resolved in this Four Year Plan.
The final misconception concerns the role of the United States.
As one travels, one hears American Bahá'ís, and others who are not
American, question whether in fact the wonderful things said about the
United States of America in the Bahá'í Writings - said by `Abdu'l-Bahá
and by the Guardian - whether they still apply. And this line of
argument generally takes the form of the relatively modest number of
enrollments (which is a concern to the institutions of the Faith in
the United States as well as elsewhere), to certain excesses of the
American way of life, and to all kinds of other things. Those who are
particularly extreme might advocate that America has lost its primacy.
They might say "Well, that referred to the past it doesn't apply
today. It's all been fulfilled. It's a different condition," or they
might also say that "Oh, there are similar statements about every
other country in the world, but only the ones about America get
published and publicized."
There are a number of ingenious approaches to that line of thinking,
and as somebody who, despite what I said last year in Wilmette, is not
an American, and is in fact from Australia - it is a challenge to
somebody who is not an American to give appropriate weight to the
remarkable statements made in the Bahá'í Writings about the United
States of America. Well, all of this is entirely irrelevant now
because the Universal House of Justice - with the authority assigned
to the House of Justice - has in the message to the North American
believers answered this question very definitively, in my opinion.
In paragraph l4 of that message, the House of Justice quotes one of
the very lavish statements of Shoghi Effendi about the United States
Bahá'ís, the outstanding protagonists of the Cause of God. etc. etc.,
and then it makes its pronouncement and the pronouncement of the House
of Justice is that when we survey the distinguished accomplishments of
the American Bahá'ís during the past three years we see striking
evidence of the continuing applicability of this description.
As far as I'm concerned the discussion's over. The House of Justice
has there quoted a statement of Shoghi Effendi offering great and
appropriate praise to the American Bahá'ís, and the House of Justice
says there is evidence of the continuing applicability of these
remarks and this assessment of Shoghi Effendi. So those who are
concerned about the role of the United States of America in the Bahá'í
community may rest easy that this matter has now been resolved by the
House of Justice.
I now bring my remarks to a conclusion. My purpose has simply been to
indicate to you what I see to be some of the significance of the Four
Year Plan.
We're obviously living in very dramatic times. Great changes are
occurring on a daily basis. The response of the Bahá'í World to the
Four Year Plan has been, I think, without precedence in comparing it
to the response to any previous Plan. We have wonderful things
happening, we have great opportunities, we have an increased
receptivity on the part of the people of the world to the message of
the Cause. Days lie ahead of us which will be challenging, which will
include difficulties, which will call for sacrifice, but beyond all
that, the days which lie ahead of us as members of the Bahá'í
Community will be exciting beyond any power we have to imagine and
will lead us to victories the like of which we cannot yet even dimly
comprehend.
Thank you.
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