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.