THE EARTH IS BUT ONE COUNTRY

JOHN HUDDLESTON

The National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of the United Kingdom

1976/1988

PART VI

 

Chapter 5: The waves of One Sea

A – Love, Not prejudice

In the last chapter the discussion dealt with the individual finding his relationship with God, with the universe and with himself. This chapter is concerned with the individual coming to terms with his fellow creatures of the human race. Perhaps a useful way for an individual to look at his relationship with others is for him to see it from two points of view: how he should think of others, and how others may think of him.

Bahá’u’lláh said that mankind is one family. For a Bahá’í this is the guiding thought in relating to others.

“Do not be satisfied until each one with whom you are concerned is to you as a member of your family. Regard each one either as a father, or as a brother, or a sister, or as a mother, or as a child. If you can attain to this, your difficulties will vanish; you will know what to do.”

This guiding thought is given additional meaning when all men and women are thought of as spiritual beings:

“Each sees in the other the Beauty of God reflected in the soul, and finding this point of similarity, they are attracted to one another in love. This love will make all men the waves of one sea.”

In some the spiritual qualities are more developed than in others:

“The only difference between members of the human family is that of degree. Some are like children who are ignorant and must be educated until they arrive at maturity. Some are like the sick and must be treated with tenderness and care. None are bad or evil! We must not be repelled by these poor children. We must treat them with great kindness, teaching the ignorant and tenderly nursing the sick.”

To help develop the best in people, Bahá’ís are enjoined to make a point of emphasizing the positive qualities in others and to pass over those characteristics which are negative. Clearly this approach also has a very beneficial effect on the character development of those who put it into practice.

“To be silent concerning the faults of others, to pray for them, and to help them, through kindness, to correct their faults. To look always at the good and not at the bad. If a man has ten good qualities and one bad one, to look at the ten and forget the one; and if a man has ten bad qualities and one good one, to look at the one and forget the ten.”

In following this principle Bahá’ís will strive to avoid engagement in useless argument. Modeling themselves after the example of Abdu’l-Bahá, they will try to do more listening than talking and to bring out in others those ideas which are constructive. The positive approach if sincerely followed will always have its effect.

“If you desire with all your heart, friendship with every race on earth, your thought, spiritual and positive, will spread; it will become the desire of others, growing stronger and stronger, until it reaches the minds of all men.”

• Bahá’ís are devoted to the unity of mankind but the unity sought is not one of uniformity, but one of diversity. Far from wanting all people to be the same, Bahá’ís glory in the diversity of the human race because they see in that diversity an enrichment of the culture and experience of world society as a whole.
• The sufferings which many of the oppressed peoples of the world have undergone have deepened their potential spiritual qualities more than might be the case with others, and Bahá’í Writings indicate they will have a special contribution to make to the spiritual development of the future world society.
• One of the main tasks of Bahá’ís is to eliminate prejudice. One example of Bahá’í action in the field of religious prejudice is the strong defence of Islám in the West where, there is still a strong bias against anything pertaining to Islám.
• Many Jews have learned to love the figure of Jesus through Bahá’í teachings, a love which they have never acquired from Christians, who have persecuted and vilified the Jewish people for nearly two thousand years.
• The main effort of eliminating prejudice is action not words. Bahá’ís believe that the most effective way of removing fears about people you do not know is to go out and mix with them.
• Bahá’ís of every conceivable background meet together regularly in a loving and constructive atmosphere at local, regional, national and international conferences.
• One of the greatest pleasures the writer has experienced occurred soon after he became a Bahá’í, when he attended a Bahá’í regional conference and saw not only blacks and whites mixing together like true brothers and sisters, not only the most educated in earnest discussion with those of little or no formal education, but some frail looking old ladies in feathered hats quite at home in consultation and fun with a group of the most formidable-looking long-haired and bearded students one could hope to meet.
• It is one of the glories of the Bahá’í Faith that the otherwise lost and lonely can find in it a home and a shelter. The Bahá’í Faith is for all peoples, every man, woman and child.
• Typical is the work now being done by Bahá’ís amongst poor black people of the rural South of the United States. The give and take in the cultural coming together has been truly life-giving. Bahá’ís of all backgrounds have been regularly in homes which are little more than wooden shacks, sometimes containing barely enough fuel to last the winter.
• As a result they have understood in a deeper way than ever before Bahá’u’lláh’s teaching on detachment from material possessions: how could they ever again be concerned about fancy new cars or houses after having seen such grinding poverty in their own family – and to have witnessed nevertheless such a cheerful spirit.
• Nor will they ever forget that such cruel poverty is allowed to exist side by side with the most blatant opulence in this, the richest and “the most democratic” country in the world.

 

B – The qualities of attraction

It was suggested at the beginning of this chapter that the second way of thinking of our relationship with others, is to imagine how they might see us. The Bahá’í view is that it is not sufficient to have a sense of love and respect for our fellow human beings. This love must be reflected in our own character as well as in our views. If we wish to be loved by others we should not make it difficult for them. It is our responsibility to make ourselves worthy of that love.

• The basis for a sound relationship between two parties is trust. It should be the ambition therefore of every man who wants a new just society to make himself worthy of other’s trust.
• The first requirement in obtaining the trust of others is truthfulness. Today the lie pervades all aspects of society. Progress cannot be made because there is no foundation on which to build.
• Another prerequisite of trust is honesty. Present-day standards of honesty are low.

This is not just a simple matter of crime rates, but of bribery and corruption in public administration, shoddy goods, poor services, and exorbitant prices in commerce, and the dishonest activity of much of private life. Whilst there is so much dishonesty there can be no genuine trust between men. If there is no trust there is little chance of a just society. Trust can be readily given only to a person who is upright, faithful, reliable, sincere. How frequent in present-day society are the hollow words of friendship, which are not supported by acts of friendship, or the easily made promises which are never kept.

• A strong and fruitful relationship between two parties requires more than trust, important as this is. Needed in addition are the qualities of warmth such as kindliness, compassion, courtesy and generosity – in short, concern for the welfare and feelings of others.
• Kindliness and gentleness are amongst the most rewarding of qualities for they bring an immediate sense of well-being and warmth to both giver and receiver.
• Closely related to kindliness is compassion, the particular concern for those who have had misfortune.
• Compassion should be felt not only for those who have had misfortune but also for those who may have done wrong.
• Bahá’ís are forbidden gossip or backbiting because this is considered one of the most unkind, indeed savage, acts that one human being can inflict on another.
• Gossip can only thrive where there is an audience. It is therefore incumbent on a Bahá’í not to listen to gossip as well as not to speak of it.
• The strain and frustration of living in modern society has caused a decline in the regard for courtesy as a virtue. Some maintain that courtesies are old fashioned, suffocating mannerisms which must be swept away as being of no relevance. Yet courtesy is really an aspect of kindliness: small every day acts of refinement which show a concern for the feelings of others.
• One of the most unpleasant and common manifestations of discourtesy is the habit of looking down on the views of others.
• Another common example of discourtesy is bad language and abuse.
• A sign of spiritual maturity is the degree to which we are attached to the well being of others rather than to our own material possessions.
• As the most intelligent creatures on earth we have grave responsibilities to protect all living things. Animals may only be killed in self-protection or to meet our genuine needs for food and clothing, and even then these must be no cruelty.

 

C – Service to others

The teachings of the Bahá’í Faith concerning man’s relationship with God, himself, and his fellowmen come to ultimate fruition, not in words or attitudes, but in action. A man fulfils himself in his work, which is an act of creation. Bahá’ís view an act of creation as prayer, a means of expressing appreciation of our existence. It follows that we should take the greatest pride and care in every piece of work we do, no matter how humble. Cleaning a street is just as much an act of creation when done with care and pride as the administration of a giant industrial complex, or the designing of a beautiful building, or the writing of a poem. Work becomes a burden when no pride is taken in it and it is seen only as a way of earning our living or of acquiring property and power.

• What gives work real meaning is when it is done in the service of others. The highest station which man can achieve is when he is serving humanity.
• It is one of the more encouraging signs of our times that young people in the rich countries have turned against those values of their elders which place so much emphasis on personal acquisition of material riches.
• They are looking for ways of contributing to the public good; of serving their fellowmen.
• Bahá’í youth are more and more entering such necessary fields of service to humanity as medicine, agriculture, education and social work and those professions concerned with the preservation of our environment.
• Such service can be made more effective the more skills a person has, and it is one of the basic principles of the Bahá’í Faith to encourage education as much as possible in those sciences which will increase the capacity for service, as well as in the moral teachings provided by religion.

Service to mankind is particularly meritorious when it involves sacrifice. In Bahá’í Writings sacrifice is shown as a beneficial act, contributing to the spiritual growth and detachment of both giver and receiver. Sacrifice is the real test of sincerity. It is the test of whether one is willing to put conscious standards, hopes and ideals before personal comfort. Too often those who talk of a brave new world are those who want others to make the sacrifices. The man who sacrifices for others is a man indeed! This is morality.

D – The standard

The most appropriate way to summarize this chapter is to quote a passage each from Bahá’u’lláh and Abdu’l-Bahá in which They describe those qualities which will make a new race of men who in turn will build a new world society.

“Be generous in prosperity, and thankful in adversity. Be worthy of the trust of thy neighbour, and look upon him with a bright and friendly face. Be a treasure to the poor, an admonisher to the rich, an answer of the cry of the needy, a preserver of the sanctity of thy pledge. Be fair in thy judgment, and guarded in thy speech. Be unjust to no man, and show all meekness to all men. Be as a lamp unto them that walk in darkness, a joy to the sorrowful, a sea for the thirsty, a haven for the distressed, an upholder and defender of the victim of oppression. Let integrity and uprightness distinguish all thine acts. Be a home for the stranger, a balm to the suffering, a tower of strength for the fugitive. Be eyes to the blind, and a guiding light unto the feet of the erring. Be an ornament to the countenance of truth, a crown to the brow of fidelity, a pillar of the temple of righteousness, a breath of life to the body of mankind, an ensign of the hosts of justice, a luminary above the horizon of virtue, a dew to the soil of the human heart, an ark on the ocean of knowledge, a sun in the heaven of bounty, a gem on the diadem of wisdom, a shining light in the firmament of thy generation, a fruit upon the tree of humility.”

“For you I desire spiritual distinction; that is you must become eminent and distinguished in morals. In the love of God you must become distinguished from all else. You must become distinguished for loving humanity; for unity and accord; for love and justice. In brief, you must become distinguished in all the virtues of the human world; for faithfulness and sincerity; for justice and fidelity; for firmness and steadfastness; for philanthropic deeds and service to the human world; for love toward every human being; for unity and accord with all people; for removing prejudices and promoting international peace. Finally, you must become distinguished for heavenly illumination and acquiring the bestowals of God. I desire this distinction for you. This must be the point of distinction among you.”

Chapter 5: A New Family Life

A – The equality of men and women