THE UNIVERSAL HOUSE OF JUSTICE
Ridvan 2013
To the Baha'is of the
World
Dearly loved Friends,
"The Book of God
is wide open, and His Word is summoning mankind unto Him." In such
exhilarating terms does the Supreme Pen describe the advent of the day of union
and ingathering. Baha'u'llah continues: "Incline your ears, O friends of
God, to the voice of Him Whom the world hath wronged, and hold fast unto
whatsoever will exalt His Cause." He further exhorts His followers:
"With the utmost friendliness and in a spirit of perfect fellowship take
ye counsel together, and dedicate the precious days of your lives to the
betterment of the world and the promotion of the Cause of Him Who is the
Ancient and Sovereign Lord of all."
Beloved co-workers:
This stirring pronouncement comes to mind unbidden when we see your consecrated
efforts around the world in answer to the call of Baha'u'llah. The splendid
response to His summons can be witnessed on every side. To those who pause to
reflect on the unfoldment of the Divine Plan, it becomes impossible to ignore
how the power possessed by the Word of God is ascendant in the hearts of women
and men, children and youth, in country after country, in cluster after
cluster.
A worldwide community
is refining its ability to read its immediate reality, analyse its
possibilities, and apply judiciously the methods and instruments of the Five
Year Plan. As anticipated, experience is most rapidly accumulating in clusters
where the frontiers of learning are being consciously advanced. In such places,
the means for enabling an ever-rising number of individuals to strengthen their
capacity for service are well understood. A vibrant training institute
functions as the mainstay of the community's efforts to advance the Plan and,
as early as possible, skills and abilities developed through participation in
institute courses are deployed in the field. Some, through their everyday
social interactions, encounter souls who are open to the exploration of
spiritual matters carried out in a variety of settings; some are in a position
to respond to receptivity in a village or neighbourhood, perhaps by having
relocated to the area. Growing numbers arise to shoulder responsibility,
swelling the ranks of those who serve as tutors, animators, and teachers of
children; who administer and coordinate; or who otherwise labour in support of
the work. The friends' commitment to learning finds expression through
constancy in their own endeavours and a willingness to accompany others in
theirs. Further, they are able to keep two complementary perspectives on the
pattern of action developing in the cluster firmly in view: one, the three-
month cycles of activity--the rhythmic pulse of the programme of growth--and
the other, the distinct stages of a process of education for children, for
junior youth, and for youth and adults. While understanding clearly the
relationship that connects these three stages, the friends are aware that each
has its own dynamics, its own requirements, and its own inherent merit. Above
all, they are conscious of the operation of powerful spiritual forces, whose
workings can be discerned as much in the quantitative data that reflect the
community's progress as in the array of accounts that narrate its
accomplishments.
What is especially
promising is that so many of these distinctive and salient features which
characterize the clusters furthest advanced are also evident in communities at
much earlier points in their development.
As the experience of
the friends has deepened, their capacity for fostering within a cluster a rich
and intricate pattern of life, embracing hundreds or even thousands of people,
has risen. How pleased we are to note the many insights the believers are
gaining from their endeavours. They appreciate, for instance, that the Plan's gradual
unfoldment at the level of the cluster is a dynamic process, one that is
necessarily complex and does not lend itself to ready simplification. They see
how it moves forward as they increase their ability both to raise up human
resources and to coordinate and organize well the actions of those who arise.
The friends realize that as these capacities are enhanced, it becomes possible
to integrate a wider range of initiatives. Equally, they have come to recognize
that when a new feature is introduced it requires special attention for some
time, but that this in no way diminishes the significance of other aspects of
their community-building endeavours. For they understand that if learning is to
be their mode of operation, they must be alert to the potential offered by any
instrument of the Plan that proves to be especially suited to a particular
point in time and, where called for, invest greater energy in its development;
it does not follow, however, that every person must be occupied with the same
aspect of the Plan. The friends have also learned that it is not necessary for
the principal focus of the expansion phase of every cycle of a programme of
growth to be directed towards the same end. Conditions may require that in a
given cycle, as an example, attention be primarily aimed at inviting souls to
embrace the Faith through intensive teaching efforts, undertaken as individuals
or collectively; in another cycle, the focus could be on multiplying a specific
core activity.
Furthermore, the
friends are conscious that the work of the Cause proceeds at different speeds
in different places and for good reason--it is, after all, an organic
phenomenon--and they take joy and encouragement from every instance of progress
they see. Indeed, they recognize the benefit that accrues from the contribution
of each individual to the progress of the whole, and thus the service rendered
by each one, in keeping with the possibilities created by a person's
circumstances, is welcomed by all. Gatherings for reflection are increasingly
seen as occasions where the community's efforts, in their entirety, are the
subject of earnest and uplifting deliberation. Participants learn what has been
accomplished overall, understand their own labours in that light, and enhance
their knowledge about the process of growth by absorbing the counsels of the
institutions and drawing on the experience of their fellow believers. Such
experience is also shared in numerous other spaces that are emerging for
consultation amongst friends intensely engaged in specific endeavours, whether
they are pursuing a common line of action or serving in a particular part of
the cluster. All these insights are located in a wider appreciation that
progress is most easily achieved in an environment imbued with love--one in which
shortcomings are overlooked with forbearance, obstacles are overcome with
patience, and tested approaches are embraced with enthusiasm. And so it is
that, through the wise direction of institutions and agencies of the Faith
functioning at every level, the friends' exertions, however modest
individually, coalesce into a collective effort to ensure that receptivity to
the call of the Blessed Beauty is identified quickly and nurtured effectively.
A cluster in this condition is clearly one where the relationships among the
individual, the institutions, and the community--the Plan's three
protagonists--are evolving soundly.
From this landscape of
thriving activity, one prospect deserves particular mention. In the message
addressed to you three years ago, we expressed the hope that, in clusters with
an intensive programme of growth in operation, the friends would endeavour to
learn more about the ways of community building by developing centres of
intense activity in neighbourhoods and villages. Our hopes have been exceeded,
for even in clusters where the programme of growth has not yet achieved
intensity, efforts by a few to initiate core activities among the residents of
small areas have demonstrated their efficacy time and again. In essence, this
approach centres on the response to Baha'u'llah's teachings on the part of
populations who are ready for the spiritual transformation His Revelation
fosters. Through participation in the educational process promoted by the
training institute, they are motivated to reject the torpor and indifference
inculcated by the forces of society and pursue, instead, patterns of action
which prove life altering. Where this approach has advanced for some years in a
neighbourhood or village and the friends have sustained their focus, remarkable
results are becoming gradually but unmistakably evident. Youth are empowered to
take responsibility for the development of those around them younger than
themselves. Older generations welcome the contribution of the youth to
meaningful discussions about the affairs of the whole community. For young and
old alike, the discipline cultivated through the community's educational
process builds capacity for consultation, and new spaces emerge for purposeful
conversation. Yet change is not confined merely to the Baha'is and those who
are involved in the core activities called for by the Plan, who might
reasonably be expected to adopt new ways of thinking over time. The very spirit
of the place is affected. A devotional attitude takes shape within a broad
sweep of the population. Expressions of the equality of men and women become
more pronounced. The education of children, both boys and girls, commands
greater attention. The character of relationships within families--moulded by
assumptions centuries old--alters perceptibly. A sense of duty towards one's
immediate community and physical environment becomes prevalent. Even the
scourge of prejudice, which casts its baleful shadow on every society, begins
to yield to the compelling force of unity. In short, the community-building
work in which the friends are engaged influences aspects of culture.
While expansion and
consolidation have steadily progressed over the past year, other important
areas of activity have also moved forward, often in close parallel. As a prime
example, the advances at the level of culture being witnessed in some villages
and neighbourhoods are due in no small part to what is being learned from
Baha'i involvement in social action. Our Office of Social and Economic
Development recently prepared a document which distils thirty years of
experience that has accumulated in this field since that Office was established
at the Baha'i World Centre. Among the observations it makes is that efforts to
engage in social action are lent vital impetus by the training institute. This
is not simply through the rise in human resources it fosters. The spiritual
insights, qualities, and abilities that are cultivated by the institute process
have proven to be as crucial for participation in social action as they are for
contributing to the process of growth. Further, it is explained how the Baha'i
community's distinct spheres of endeavour are governed by a common, evolving,
conceptual framework composed of mutually reinforcing elements, albeit these
assume varied expressions in different domains of action. The document we have
described was lately shared with National Spiritual Assemblies, and we invite
them, in consultation with the Counsellors, to consider how the concepts it
explores can help to enhance existing efforts of social action pursued under
their auspices and raise consciousness of this significant dimension of Baha'i
endeavour. This should not be interpreted as a general call for widespread
activity in this area--the emergence of social action happens naturally, as a
growing community gathers strength--but it is timely that the friends reflect
more deeply on the implications of their exertions for the transformation of
society. The surge in learning that is occurring in this field places increased
demands upon the Office of Social and Economic Development, and steps are being
taken to ensure that its functioning evolves commensurately.
An especially notable
feature of the last twelve months has been the frequency with which the Baha'i
community is being identified, in a wide variety of contexts, with efforts to
bring about the betterment of society in collaboration with like-minded people.
From the international arena to the grassroots of village life, leaders of
thought in all kinds of settings have expressed their awareness that not only
do Baha'is have the welfare of humanity at heart, but they possess a cogent
conception of what needs to be accomplished and effective means for realizing
their aspirations. These expressions of appreciation and support have also come
from some previously unexpected quarters. For example, even in the Cradle of
the Faith, despite formidable obstacles placed by the oppressor in their path,
the Baha'is are increasingly recognized for the profound implications their message
holds for the state of their nation and respected for their unbending
determination to contribute to the progress of their homeland.
The suffering borne by
the faithful in Iran, particularly in the decades since the most recent wave of
persecutions began, has spurred their brothers and sisters in other countries
to come to their defence. From among the invaluable endowments which, as a
consequence of that endurance, the worldwide Baha'i community has acquired, we
mention one in this connection: an impressive network of specialized agencies
at the national level that has proven capable of systematically developing
relations with governments and organizations of civil society. Parallel to
this, the processes of successive Plans have refined the community's ability to
participate in prevalent discourses in every space where they occur--from
personal conversations to international forums. At the grassroots, involvement
in this kind of endeavour builds naturally, through the same organic approach
that characterizes the steady increase of the friends' engagement in social
action, and no special attempt to stimulate it is necessary. At the national
level, however, it is more often becoming the focus of attention for these same
dedicated agencies already functioning in dozens of national communities, and
it is proceeding according to the familiar and fruitful pattern of action,
reflection, consultation, and study. To enhance such efforts, to facilitate
learning in this domain, and to ensure that steps taken are coherent with the
other endeavours of the Baha'i community, we have recently established at the
Baha'i World Centre the Office of Public Discourse. We will call on it to
assist National Spiritual Assemblies in this field by gradually promoting and
coordinating activities and systematizing experience.
Encouraging progress is
occurring in other areas as well. In Santiago, Chile, where the Mother Temple
of South America is being erected, the building work continues apace. The
concrete construction of the foundations, basement, and service tunnel is
complete, as are the columns that will bear the superstructure. The
anticipation associated with this project is growing, and a similar sense of
expectation is stirring in the seven countries where national or local Mashriqu'l-Adhkars
are to be raised up. In each one, preparations have commenced, and the
contributions the believers are making to the Temples Fund have begun to be
used; however, practical considerations, such as location, design, and
resources, represent only one aspect of the work being undertaken by the
friends. Fundamentally, theirs is a spiritual endeavour, one in which the whole
community participates. The Master refers to the Mashriqu'l-Adhkar as "the
lodestone of divine confirmations", "the mighty foundation of the
Lord", and "the firm pillar of the Faith of God". Wherever it is
established, it will naturally be an integral component of the process of
community building that surrounds it. Already, in those places where a House of
Worship is to appear, awareness of this reality is deepening among the rank and
file of the believers, who recognize that their collective life must more and
more reflect that union of worship and service which the Mashriqu'l-Adhkar
embodies.
On each front, then, we
see the Baha'i community moving steadily forward, advancing in understanding,
eager to acquire insights from experience, ready to take on new tasks when
resources make it possible, agile in its response to fresh imperatives,
conscious of the need to ensure coherence among the various areas of activity
in which it is engaged, wholly dedicated to the fulfilment of its mission. Its
enthusiasm and devotion are apparent in the tremendous fervour generated by the
announcement some two months ago of the convocation of 95 youth conferences
throughout the world. We are gratified not only by the reaction of the youth
themselves but also by the expressions of support voiced by their fellow
believers, who appreciate how the younger followers of Baha'u'llah act as a
vital stimulus to the entire body of the Cause.
We are filled with hope
by the successive evidences we see of the spread of Baha'u'llah's message, the
reach of its influence, and the growing awareness of the ideals it enshrines.
In this season of anniversaries, we call to remembrance that "Day of
supreme felicity", separated from this Ridvan by a century and a half,
when the Abha Beauty first proclaimed His Mission to His companions in the
Najibiyyih Garden. From that sanctified spot, the Word of God has gone forth to
every city and every shore, summoning humanity to an encounter with its Lord.
And from that initial retinue of God-intoxicated lovers, a diverse community of
purpose has blossomed, variegated flowers in the garden He has reared. With
each passing day, rising numbers of newly awakened souls turn in supplication
towards His Shrine, the place where we, in honour of that blessed Day and in
gratitude for every bounty bestowed upon the community of the Greatest Name,
bow our heads in prayer at the Sacred Threshold.
[signed: The Universal
House of Justice]
