House of Worship

The Mashriqu'l-Adhkar is one of the most vital institutions in the world, and it hath many subsidiary branches. Although it is a House of Worship, it is also connected with a hospital, a drug dispensary, a traveller's hospice, a school for orphans, and a university for advanced studies. Every Mashriqu'l-Adhkar is connected with these five things.

(Selections from the Writings of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá: 99)

There is one more institution of the Bahá’í Order that I want to briefly discuss in relation to the oneness and wholeness of human relations embodying the spiritual, social and material relations of human community in the converging and culminating of historical processes of evolution. That is the institution of the House of Worship.  Though manifest so far only at the continental level, the Bahá’í vision sees every village, town and city with a House of Worship at its center, and around which cluster agencies of social service.  Indeed, some Houses of Worship are now being built at the national and even local levels.

Historically, sacred sites and places of worship were a focal point of community life.  Indeed ‘Abdu’l-Bahá pointed out that: "The original purpose of temples and houses of worship is simply that of unity—places of meeting where various peoples, different races and souls of every capacity may come together in order that love and agreement should be manifest between them . . . that all religions, races and sects may come together within its universal shelter.” (The Promulgation of Universal Peace: 65)

Worship, the temple, and its festivities were the spiritual, social, and physical foundations of human community.  The institution of the House of Worship is a perfect demonstration of this principle.  The Baha’i House of Worship is both the reappearance of the ancient principle that human community is founded upon the collective need to worship, and of its expansion into more “worldly” concerns.  That is, the auxiliary social institutions of learning and care that are to surround the collective center of the House of Worship—a hospice for travelers, a university, a dispensary of medicine, a hospital, a school for orphans—embody the oneness and wholeness of human relations, and give expression to the core principles of service and commitment to knowledge that animate the Bahá’i Community.

Too, as we saw with the Feast and the Spiritual Assembly, which were both the culmination of long processes operating in social evolution and a convergence of various forms of community and governance, the whole conception of worship reappears in its highest form in the Bahá’i House of Worship, which is for all humankind, and enfolds within its structure all those who come to worship, and then unfolds in centers of service and learning because this process is how human community is built and flourishes.  This is not some accidental similarity between ancient and modern thought.  Rather, the whole process of human social evolution is brought together in one consciously revealed thought that spreads out organically in the world. 

The Universal House of Justice wrote: “A symbol of this process may be seen in the House of Worship and its dependencies. The first part to be built is the central edifice which is the spiritual heart of the community. Then, gradually, as the outward expression of this spiritual heart, the various dependencies, those ‘institutions of social service as shall afford relief to the suffering, sustenance to the poor, shelter to the wayfarer, solace to the bereaved, and education to the ignorant,’ are erected and function. This process begins in an embryonic way long before a Bahá'í community reaches the stage of building its own Mashriqu'l-Adhkar, for even the first local center that a Bahá'í community erects can begin to serve not only as the spiritual and administrative center and gathering place of the community, but also as the site of a tutorial school and the heart of other aspects of community life. The principle remains, however, that the spiritual precedes the material. First comes the illumination of hearts and minds by the Revelation of Bahá’u’lláh, and then the grass roots stirring of the believers wishing to apply these teachings to the daily life of their community. Such stirrings can be fostered, encouraged and assisted by the national and continental institutions of the Faith, but without them any activities introduced from above might well prove abortive.” (Compilation. Developing Distinctive Bahá’í Communities)

For the past few hundred years the image of human beings was that of selfish, greedy, grasping individuals intent only on self-interest and maximizing personal material comfort and security. Social institutions were built, starting in western nations, with this creature in mind. These institutions saw their primary role to manage the anarchy inherent within him, often by coercion, threat, prisons, and force. The institutions of most societies were organized upon authoritarian principles requiring passive obedience to a leader or leadership. Hence the individual and his social institutions were caught up in a terrible conflict of purpose and were forced to work against each other, only coming together to negotiate some temporary blend of desires.  Over time this has had terrible consequences for social harmony. 

But in the Bahá’i Order individuals and institutions operate on the same values and principles, and work together to realize common goals and purposes.  Within the framework of the Order of Bahá’u’lláh, there is complete harmony between the aspirations of the individual and the objectives of the community when mediated through common institutions that are built upon and share the same spiritual values, aspirations, and goals, instead of standing opposed to them, as has been the case of the past few hundred years.  These divine institutions help power the positive release of the energies of personal initiative and foster the full development of human potential, while the cult of personal leadership by charisma is entirely eschewed.  To examine the internal dynamics of this relationship the next post will discuss the interplay of authority, power and initiative in the Bahá’i Order.  

Culmination and Convergence

The Feast may well be seen in its unique combination of modes as the culmination of a great historic process in which primary elements of community life—acts of worship, of festivity and other forms of togetherness—over vast stretches of time have achieved a glorious convergence.

(Universal House of Justice, A Wider Horizon, Selected Letters 1983-1992:67-68)    

The image of culmination and convergence links the end, culmination, and the beginning, convergence, as one structure, or, in another image, combines them into de Chardin’s Omega Point which is, actually, the same as the Primal Point: the union of the center of life and the highest degree of life’s development, The Revelation of the Bab is both the culmination of the Prophetic Cycle of Revelations and the convergence of all these Revelations upon and into Itself, so that a new Spiritual Reality, the Revelation of Baha’u’llah, may appear, which is the culmination and convergence of all previous Revelation, including that of the Báb, or Gate.  Out from the heart of this Spiritual Reality, which is both a new Revelation and Revelation renewed, unfolds a new consciousness of humanity’s oneness and a new and whole global Order, the culmination of these two evolutionary processes, and their convergence into a revolutionary new configuration of humanity destined to take us to undreamed of heights of development. 

Likewise, consciousness of the oneness of humanity is not just the notion of humanity as one species on one planet today, but also the consciousness of humanity as a single evolving species from the beginning to the end of time.  This consciousness is the culmination of human self-awareness and a convergence of all attempts to see humanity as one spiritual reality moving toward one social purpose and civilized goal, namely the all-embracing world civilization foretold by all the Scriptures.  This civilization is, in turn, the culmination of all human efforts to build societies and the convergence of their different methods, characteristics, and individualities into a new structure of social relations.

But further, the Revelation of Bahá’u’lláh must also, from in its inmost spiritual heart to Its outermost social expression, exemplify this principle. This is the great pivot of collective human life, thought and history, the point where humanity turns onto a new and inclusive cycle of development. The Revelation of Bahá’u’lláh and His divine Order must both renew and unite all progressions and give them new form and direction, so that the highest and the inmost are united as one now and forever; the culmination and the convergence are themselves twin aspects of a single unfolding process, the seed and the fruit are the same, though in time one appears at the beginning and the other at the end.

As the revelation of Bahá’u’lláh is a consummation of the stages of progressive Revelation, and the consciousness of humanity’s oneness is the consummation of advances in human self-awareness and self-understanding, so the Bahá’i Order is the consummation and convergence of the processes of civilization building and social evolution in history.  With that in mind let us set the Bahá’í Feast in full historical context.

The House of Justice explains: “The Feast may well be seen in its unique combination of modes as the culmination of a great historic process in which primary elements of community life—acts of worship, of festivity and other forms of togetherness—over vast stretches of time have achieved a glorious convergence. The Nineteen Day Feast represents the new stage in this enlightened age to which the basic expression of community life has evolved. Shoghi Effendi has described it as the foundation of the new World Order, and in a letter written on his behalf, it is referred to as constituting ‘a vital medium for maintaining close and continued contact between the believers  themselves, and also between them and the body of their elected representatives in the local community.’" (The Universal House of Justice, A Wider Horizon, Selected Letters 1983-1992:67-68)   The Nineteen Day Feast operates at the very base of society. “It is intended”, writes the House of Justice, “to promote unity, ensure progress, and foster joy.” (A Wider Horizon, Selected Letters 1983-1992: 66)

The Feast is not a traditional social gathering, nor is it something totally new.  It is, however, revolutionary in the true meaning of that word, as a revolving back to the origin.  The Feast is, according to the House of Justice, the culmination of a great historic process of human civic life and a convergence of different forms of human togetherness.  Thus this culminating stage integrates all past stages and forms of the long evolution of community life.  The culminating aspect opens a vast new way to look at the Bahá’í Order historically—as the highest expression of social relations that have always existed—the radiant converging aspect points to an equally vast future of integrated and joyous community life built upon the foundation of the Feast.

That foundation, proclaims the House, is that: “the Feast is rooted in hospitality, with all its implications of friendliness, courtesy, service, generosity and conviviality. The very idea of hospitality as the sustaining spirit of so significant an institution introduces a revolutionary new attitude to the conduct of human affairs at all levels, an attitude which is critical to that world unity which the Central Figures of our Faith labored so long and suffered so much cruelty to bring into being. It is in this divine festival that the foundation is laid for the realization of so unprecedented a reality.”  (A Wider Horizon, Selected Letters 1983-1992: 70)

The House of Justice continues: “Moreover, because of the opportunity which it provides for conveying messages from the national and international levels of the administration and also for communicating the recommendations of the friends to those levels, the Feast becomes a link that connects the local community in a dynamic relationship with the entire structure of the Administrative Order. But considered in its local sphere alone there is much to thrill and amaze the heart. Here it links the individual to the collective processes by which a society is built or restored. Here, for instance, the Feast is an arena of democracy at the very root of society, where the Local Spiritual Assembly and the members of the community meet on common ground, where individuals are free to offer their gifts of thought, whether as new ideas or constructive criticism, to the building processes of an advancing civilization. Thus it can be seen that aside from its spiritual significance, this common institution of the people combines an array of elemental social disciplines which educate its participants in the essentials of responsible citizenship.” (A Wider Horizon, Selected Letters 1983-1992: 67-68)

This is an absolutely amazing statement.  The House of Justice sees the Feast as an arena where pathways of energy running through the whole hidden Order, from the individual up to the House of Justice and back, connect in an open, dynamic, reciprocal relationship.  Again Feast is not just a regular time and place set aside for Bahá’ís to get together in worship, or to discuss their business, or to engage in relaxed sociability.  Seen in its full context, the Feast is the beginning of a great new thrust in social evolution, because participating in a Bahá’í Feast is a way for every individual to be linked to “collective processes by which a society is built or restored”.  The Feast is a community institution of an Administrative Order that is “the pattern and nucleus” of an emerging world order.  It is “an arena of democracy at the very root of society” combining “an array of elemental social disciplines which educate its participants in the essentials of responsible citizenship.” Hence by participating enthusiastically in a Feast one is helping to restore and rebuild one’s own society—building civilization from the ground up.

The Bahá’í Order is truly an organic entity, growing through a process of absorbing the light of spirit, for the purpose of building and restoring society.  The Feast, as a community institution and an integral part of that Order, is one mirror of the Kingdom receiving the imprint of light from that higher realm.

Next post will discuss the institution of the House of Worship, another fundamental element of the Divine Economy.

The Imprint of Light

Thou art the head of an assembly which is the very imprint of the Company on high, the mirror-image of the all-glorious realm.

(Selections from the Writings of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá: 164)

“The World Order of Bahá’u’lláh,” wrote the Universal House of Justice, “encompasses all units of human society; integrates the spiritual, administrative and social processes of life; and canalizes human expression in its varied forms towards the construction of a new civilization.” (The Universal House of Justice, 1994 May 19, response to United States National Spiritual Assembly.)

Underpinning the governance of this Order are the stable unchanging forms of the Local Assembly, elected everywhere by the same direct method, and the Bahá’í Feast, the common institution of Bahá’ís everywhere. National Assemblies and the Universal House of Justice, the supreme governing body of the Bahá’í world, are elected by indirect representation.  Universality of values (e.g. absence of prejudice, equality of the sexes, truthfulness, trustworthiness) and of purposes (e.g. spiritual development, unity of all human beings, justice), is an essential element of each part of this order and its functioning, and is the touchstone of its stability and simplicity. Yet, because each level of the order has its own sphere of jurisdiction and individuality, it can also continually modify its secondary aspects in order to respond innovatively to change.  Thus the oneness and wholeness of human relationships are built into the very fabric of these interlocking institutions.  But this is because these relations are a fundamental principle of life, something that incarnates and expresses a spiritual reality.

As the revelation of Bahá’u’lláh is Itself a consummation of the stages of progressive Revelation, and consciousness of humanity’s oneness is the consummation of human advances in collective self-awareness and understanding, so the Bahá’i Order is the consummation of the historical processes of civilization building and social evolution.  With that in mind let us set the Bahá’í Order in full spiritual and historical context.  First, the spiritual.

This statement of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá opening this post, written to the members of a Local Spiritual Assembly, attests to an ancient principle, namely, that the human social world is an imperfect mirror-image, an imprint of light, of an existing, perhaps pre-existing, celestial society; a spiritual kingdom which Christ said was “prepared for you from the foundation of the world.” (The Book of Matthew 25:34)  This spiritual society is a spiritual pattern which is both the organizing code for organic social development and is indicative of human connections with the Supernal Realm. 

The metaphor of the mirror-image is often used in sacred Scriptures to describe the relation of the divine world with that organic world of human society that is growing toward it.  For example, ‘Abdu’l-Bahá wrote: “Perchance, God willing, this terrestrial world may become as a celestial mirror upon which we may behold the imprint of the traces of Divinity, and the fundamental qualities of a new creation may be reflected from the reality of love shining in human hearts.” (The Promulgation of Universal Peace: 235) 

Organically, the divine structure, Shoghi Effendi says, is stirring within the womb of the Bahá’í Administrative Order, which is both the pattern and nucleus of the emerging world civilization, the social template for a new world order.  Yet the Bahá’i Order is not just a receptacle of spirit.  It is also transformational.  It is the channel for the outflowing of spirit into the world, the power driving what Bahá’u’lláh calls “an ever-advancing civilization” that “all men were created to carry forward.” (Gleanings from the Writings of Bahá’u’lláh: 214)  If we ask, “Ever-advancing toward what?”, the only answer for me can be: “Toward the divine society”, the Kingdom of heaven on earth, the full realization of that society established at the foundation of the world.  But realization means that humanity must make a major evolutionary leap, one unlike any that it has made till now.

The House of Justice writes: “Thus, enshrined in His Revelation is a pattern for future society, radically different from any established in the past, and the promotion of His laws and exhortations constitutes an inseparable part of the effort to lay the foundations of such a society.” (Letter from House of Justice, 19 April 2013)  The future society they refer to is the fully manifested pattern of the Kingdom of God on earth that all humanity is evolving toward.  So, by the phrase “growing toward it”, I mean that through the interaction of the divine Word guiding human effort to improve conditions, earthly society looks more and more like the divine one.  

This ancient yet novel conception may be hard for many to grasp.  Even for the members of the Bahá’í community, recognizing the divinity of the structure they are working within can be a challenge.  The House of Justice wrote: “There needs to be a recognition on their part of the Assembly's spiritual character and a feeling in their hearts of respect for the institution based upon a perception of it as something beyond or apart from themselves, as a sacred entity whose powers they have the privilege to engage and canalize by coming together in harmony and acting in accordance with divinely revealed principles.” (The Universal House of Justice, 1994 May 19, response to United States National Spiritual Assembly.)

To indicate how that relationship between the divine and human realms works and know for what purpose the Bahá’í Administrative Order was constructed, ‘Abdu’l-Bahá remarks, "so that the perilous darkness of ignorant prejudice may vanish through the light of the Sun of Truth, this dreary world may become illumined, this material realm may absorb the rays of the world of spirit.” (Selections from the Writings of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá: 105)  Again, the divine Order is both the foundation and the goal of human social evolution.  Its unfoldment is the continual advance of human society, and the closer human society gets in structure and activity to the divine structure the more rays of the world of the spirit are absorbed, and it is this light-energy, when it is absorbed, that powers advances toward greater social complexity and coherence.

Thus the House of Justice says that one important characteristic of Bahá’í administration is that: “Even as a living organism, it has coded within it the capacity to accommodate higher and higher degrees of complexity, in terms of structures and processes, relationships and activities, as it evolves under the guidance of the Universal House of Justice.” (The Universal House of Justice, Riḍván 2010)

This evolution contrasts sharply with the disintegrating materialist order.  While in the old order great rents appear within its fabric with increasing frequency, spaces of dissension that mark a further decline in that culture, in the Bahá’í Order spaces of integration open up “at the level of culture” that both mark advances in its complexity and release new powers. Here, in these openings, is where new flows of divine energy enter the human world, where community activities and structures appear that can canalize this energy, where novel interactions spontaneously are generated, where unity is forged anew, where links, connections and transformations occur.  They provide a glimpse into the workshop where a new spiritual world of human culture in the likeness of the divine is created as it is being created.

The Bahá’í Order is the social structure of the oneness and wholeness of human relationships, the “machinery that embodies this fundamental principle of life.”  This Order develops according to organic principles, but only so long as it absorbs spiritual energy, which it is designed to do, as the mirror is designed to absorb and reflect the rays of the sun.

            We’ll look at the Bahá’i Feast in the next post.

Essentials of a Divine Economy

Does not the very operation of the world-unifying forces that are at work in this age necessitate that He Who is the Bearer of the Message of God in this day should not only reaffirm that self-same exalted standard of individual conduct inculcated by the Prophets gone before Him, but embody in His appeal, to all governments and peoples, the essentials of that social code, that Divine Economy, which must guide humanity's concerted efforts in establishing that all-embracing federation which is to signalize the advent of the Kingdom of God on this earth?

(Shoghi Effendi, The World Order of Bahá’u’lláh: 60)

This, and the next few posts, will explore the concept of Divine Economy, keeping in mind that the word, economy, means “household.”  The household I am talking about is planet earth and its family members are all humanity. 

To move from the present international political order, whose core principle is the “anarchy inherent in state sovereignty”, (The World Order of Bahá’u’lláh: 202) into a new global unity built upon the oneness of humanity, “the pivot round which all the teachings of Bahá’u’lláh revolve” (The World Order of Bahá’u’lláh: 42) is not going to be easy, of course  To construct society upon the principle of the oneness of humanity implies, Shoghi Effendi said, "an organic change in the structure of present-day society, a change such as the world has not yet experienced." (The World Order of Bahá’u’lláh: 43)

A global social order cannot be erected independently of the consciousness of the oneness of humanity, for it is the outer social embodiment of this inner unifying consciousness.  Thus, consciousness of world unity cannot acknowledge the finality of the principle of national sovereignty and interest, but, rather, that “in a world of interdependent nations and peoples the advantage of the part is best to be reached by the advantage of the whole....The welfare of the part means the welfare of the whole, and the distress of the part brings distress to the whole." (The Promised Day is Come: 122)  Consciousness of human oneness, like other unifying spiritual conceptions, breaks into a polarity of complementary material or social parts that interact reciprocally to increasingly manifest the coordinating powers of the spiritual.

Hence, one part of the organic change in the structure of society, to be recognized before the union of political states can be effected, is the establishment of a universal system of social governance based upon a conception named by Shoghi Effendi “the oneness and wholeness of human relationships”.

How did Shoghi Effendi know this?  He noticed effects, what are often called the signs of the times, and read them correctly.  Shoghi Effendi also said that the world was falling into ruin from the “lamentable inability of the world's recognized leaders to read aright the signs of the times.” (The World Order of Bahá’u’lláh: 36) I will discuss what I think are two such signs: the demise of the international political order, and the rise of communications technology.

 Shoghi Effendi saw that the nation-state system, having reached exhaustion, was collapsing, and understood why.  He wrote in 1936:  “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 a climax.  A world growing to maturity must abandon this fetish, recognize the oneness and wholeness of human relationships, and establish once and for all the machinery that can best incarnate this fundamental principle of life.”  (The World Order of Bahá’u’lláh: 202) 

Being a fundamental principle of life, the oneness and wholeness of human relations range from the principles and standards restoring the primary and universal social institutions of marriage and family, to the principles that strengthen civic organizations and institutions, such as education, to the principles organizing international political relations and building the organs of world government.  That is why they are universal.

Because they are a fundamental principle of life, the oneness and wholeness of human relationships have always been the essential form of human society.  Today, because of communications technology, which helps build world consciousness, they can be fully manifest as a fundamental principle of a global civilization. 

As a principle organizing humanity’s social development  through history, the oneness and wholeness of human relations can become fully manifest now because, at the end of history and development (wholeness), the essential spiritual form itself (oneness) becomes manifest in fully mature organic stature.  Said another way, oneness is the archetypal spiritual form out from which was generated the wholeness of all the development toward its manifest mature form.  This is the working of spiritual causality, and we saw the same principle at work earlier in the appearance of the universal Revelation of Bahá’u’lláh to unify the religions, and the promulgation of the consciousness of the oneness of all humanity to unite human beings.

The global Bahá’i community can be seen as one model, though only a nascent one, of these relations.  But the distinction characterizing the Bahá’í community is that it is truly a global community, a single social organism.  Every local Bahá’í community is as the embryo of a global community living within the womb of a national one. 

What does the oneness and wholeness of human relationships look like and how do these operate in present society? Though no complete answer to this question can be given, certain principles structuring them can be understood because they are already functioning within the social order established by Bahá’u’lláh.

First, the need to create the oneness and wholeness of human relationships means that simple adjustments to current human relations cannot effect the radical transformation required to unite in a global civilization.  It means, rather, that nothing less than a new kind and totality of human relationships be created, a qualitative change that embodies a truly organic and universal restructuring of social life resulting from a reconceptualization of both the nature of humanity and the structure of society.   Such relationships embody a new ideal of civil society.  

Seen separately, the oneness of human relationships, arising out of the urge of human beings to form groups, unifies individuals into purposeful on-going collective experience. The wholeness of human relations, stemming from the need to diversify to bring about the expression of the full range of human potentialities, allows full play to humanity's creative drive, humankind's sole hope of meeting novel situations successfully. 

Oneness and wholeness are complementary necessities that act reciprocally to manifest a single principle, unity.  One without the other is insufficient to build or transform society, because both qualities are required to nurture the whole human being.  Together, not separately, they compose a fundamental principle of life, a unity manifest in a diversity, and unity in diversity is totality.