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Praying for a Decent Election

By John Taylor; 2008 Apr 27, 18 Jalal, 165 BE

 

"God's most lordly gift to man is decency of mind." (Aeschylus)

 

The Guardian said that the Universal House of Justice "must be regarded as the apex of the Baha'i Administrative Order," (God Passes By, 332). But it is more than just the leadership of a world religion. It presents something new under the sun, a model for purified polity unheard of in the history of the world. Because of our small numbers, the press does not give the Baha'i Faith or the House of Justice the same attention that it gives the Dalai Lama or the Pope. But that will surely change.

 
According to an official press release called, "Baha'is to elect Universal House of Justice," the supreme body of the Baha'i Faith will be elected on the 9th Day of Ridvan, the time when the Holy Family joined Baha'u'llah on the island where His declaration had taken place, which will be the day after tomorrow.

 

"A global election process that began with people in 100,000 cities and villages around the world will culminate on 29 April when delegates gather here to elect the international governing body of the Baha'i Faith." (Baha'i News Service, 22 April 2008 http://news.bahai.org/story/620)

 

I pray for these electors, members of some 170 National Assemblies, who are themselves reflecting silently over a grave choice. Not just me, but Baha'is around the world are thinking and praying for these participants at the World Center. The convention is taking place not only on the holiest ground for Baha'is, but also at our holiest time of the year, the Ridvan festival. From the outside, this election is more interesting than usual, since two members of the outgoing institution have retired. This leaves at least two seats of nine with instead of faces a big question mark sitting in them.

 

These elections are not being televised. It is hard to imagine how they could be. As a result, so we have no flashes of the paparazzi, live satellite feeds or other striking images of what is going on in Haifa right now. Certainly, there will be no smoke arising from an enclosed building signalizing the beginning and consummation of the voting, as there is for the choice of a Pope. Everything that happens is open and plainly displayed to the onlooker. Still, an aura of holy mystery must still surround the gathering. If it were depicted, the reflection of awe and sanctity on the faces of the participants may not be as striking from a distance as a smoke signal, but in an age of television closeups, it has potential to make an intimate impact, one day. We can be sure that the usual trappings of the democratic process are absent in Haifa. Certain it is that these almost sixteen-hundred electors are not embroiled in calculating tactics, in manipulation, juggling names or complex power plays. Only silent prayer and reflection. Pomp, display, even oblique mention of personalities -- gossip is a sin at the worst of times for Baha'is -- is, whatever the subject of their deliberations, far from the tongues of the participants at that convention.

 

Still, the fateful choice before them has to be prominent in their subjective world, in private thoughts and meditation. The unknown names of nine men called to show forth the right stuff is hidden right now, like a babe in the womb. It exists only inside the Spirit which will move these hearts to vote. Theirs is to concentrate on but one thing: the Will of Baha'u'llah. His Spirit is invisible, it inhabits the silence hovering over the Shrines, where right now voters are being primed to decency of mind by the greatest of bounties, regular visits to the Holy Sites. The effect of their turning to the Cynosure of the age will only be presented to the world when the time is right, two days from now.