Can you organize the Baha'i Faith?

Can you organize the Baha'i Faith?

By John Taylor; 2006 June 21

"If an individual has an opportunity to plant a tree, even if he knows the Day of Judgment is imminent, let him plant the tree." (Muhammad)

A while back I stumbled across the following quote in an early Baha'i book:

"The Baha'i revelation is not an organization. The Baha'i Cause can never be confined to an organization. The Baha'i revelation is the spirit of this age. It is the essence of all the highest ideals of this century. The Baha'i Cause is an inclusive movement; the teachings of all religions and societies are found here. Christians, Jews, Buddhists, Mohammedans, Zoroastrians, Theosophists, Freemasons, Spiritualists, et al., find their theories fully developed in this revelation." (Baha'i Year Book, Vol. 1, 1925-1926, p. 146)

I liked these sentiments and hoped that it was authentic scripture. This was cited without attribution in an article called "The Unity of Civilization" by a non-Baha'i scholar, Y. S. Tsao. Did it come from the Master? Ocean turned up dry, so I tried Sifter, Star of the West. That search engine found its earliest occurrence in the following, which I quote again in full, since there is at least one slight difference:

"The Baha'i Movement is not an organization. You can never organize the Baha'i Cause. The Baha'i movement is the spirit of the age. It is the essence of all the highest ideals of this century. The Baha'i Cause is an INCLUSIVE MOVEMENT: The teachings of all the religions and societies are found here; the Christians, Jews, Buddhists, Mohammedans, Zoroastrians, Theosophists, Freemasons, Spiritualists, et. al. find their highest aims in this Cause. Even the Socialists and philosophers find their theories fully developed in this Movement." (Abdu'l-Baha, quoted in "The Baha'i Temple at Wilmette To Be Built with Money from Every Race, Clime and Religion under the Sun," By Isabel Fraser, The North Shore Review, May 16, 1914, in Star of the West, Vol. 25, p. 67)

This evidently was originally cited at the start of an article in a local newspaper announcing to neighborhood residents some details about what would soon be built on the then empty Wilmette temple grounds, written a year or two after the Master had dedicated it. How authentic the quote is, I still do not know.

Then along came Ruth White, an admirer of the Master who hardly became what we today would call a Baha'i. She challenged the Will of the Master. Also, she latched onto the first sentence of this statement and held it above all other Baha'i teachings. She said in effect: "The spirit bloweth where it listeth," so do not dare try to tell the wind where it should go. She told this to everybody who would listen. Her vehemence caused a ruckus for decades, both within the Faith and later from outside. She resisted every attempt to organize the Cause, a position contradictory and impracticable and hard to believe today. Attempts were made early on to counter that ridiculous position. Here is a sort of note about a pilgrim's note from August of 1921, from a talk by Mason Remey.

"Some of the friends of the Baha'i Cause have been a little confused regarding the organization of the holy Cause because of the wide circulation of some words, to the effect that this Cause should never be organized thus some have imagined that no form of Baha'i organization should exist. Now of late we are informed by pilgrims returning to their homes from Palestine that Abdu'l-Baha has explained that these words circulated to the effect that the Cause should never be organized, give an impression very different found that of the reality of his teachings.

"Experience in the Baha'i Cause shows us that when special questions arise, it is always well to gather together all of the holy Words treating of the subject, for when studying all of the divine teachings treating of any one subject we obtain an all around and a comprehensive conception of the truth of the matter. From one short excerpt from the holy Words, separated from its context, erroneous meanings may be obtained. This danger does not exist when we study the particular statement in its rightful relation with the entire teaching. (SW, Vol. 12, p. 154)

This kind of comparative textual analysis can of course be done much more quickly and easily today, what with database search technology. Even a lazy lump like me can juxtapose and compare scriptural nuances along with the best of them. What I have collected together this morning would have taken years to do before, not to mention requiring a fluency in several languages that I do not have. Let us be grateful for what we are given.

The Guardian was forced by such agitators as White to draw firm lines early in his ministry. For example, the above quote from the Master seems to imply that you can be a freemason or an adherent of another religion and still be a Baha'i. When he took over leadership of the Faith, most Baha'is were indeed affiliated with such groups. He quickly ended that practice; a slogan sums up the line he drew, "association, not affiliation." Similarly, although he was the consummate organizer and planner, and in spite of agitators like Ruth White, he nonetheless came down firmly on the side of the spirit -- if not necessarily the letter -- of what the Master was quoted above as saying:

"Regarding the relationship of the Cause to the Administration; the Baha'i Faith as the Guardian himself has repeatedly and emphatically stated cannot be confined to a mere system of organization, however elaborate in its features and universal in its scope it may be. Organization is only a means to the realization of its aims and ideals, and not an end in itself. To divorce the two, however, would be to mutilate the Cause itself, as they stand inseparably bound to each other, in very much the same relationship existing between the soul and body in the world of human existence." (From a letter on behalf of Shoghi Effendi to an individual believer April 19, 1939, Lights of Guidance, p. 2)

I think that very good grounds for this attitude were laid in the Most Holy Law Book of Baha'u'llah: "This is not a Cause which may be made a plaything for your idle fancies, nor is it a field for the foolish and faint of heart." (Aqdas, 84) It is an organization, admittedly, but we do not organize it, God does. The Master Himself made his own position very clear on the urgent need for organization on behalf of morality, in spite of the truth that the "spirit bloweth where it listeth." He said, for example, that, "Our Party is God's party; we do not belong to any party." (Abdu'l-Baha, quoted by Shoghi Effendi, in Lights of Guidance, p. 444) Also, when he met the Mayor of Berkley, California on 7 October, 1912 he was asked about economics. This was the Master's reply:

"We must strive until mankind achieves everlasting felicity. Laws are needed which can both preserve the ranks of individuals and secure peace and stability for them because society is like an army, which needs a general, captains, lieutenants and privates. Not all can be captains nor can all be soldiers. The grades of responsibility are essential and the differences of rank a necessity. Just as a family needs old and young, master and mistress, servants and attendants, likewise society needs organization and structure. However, all must be part of an order which will ensure that each lives in complete comfort within his own station. It should not be that the master lives in comfort while the servant is in pain; that is injustice. Similarly, it is impossible that all be either servants or masters; then there would be no order."

The Mayor wondered how soon this will come about. The Master answered:

"As these laws are in conformity with the demands of the time, they will unfailingly prevail, although they will be implemented gradually. Everything can be prevented or resisted except the demands of the time. The time is ripe for the governments to remedy these ills. Relief must be brought to the toiling masses. Otherwise, if these ills are allowed to become chronic, their cure will be difficult and they will precipitate a great revolution." (Mahmud, 309)

This of course was said some three years before the Bolshevist revolution began to play out, and some ten years after a socially conservative President of the United States had been shot to death by a socialistic anarchist. The eschatological question in Christianity as to whether it is appropriate to organize for social good or just sit back and wait for the Return came and solved all our problems had been translated into a secular context with a vengeance. Wait or act? That question was vexed and unanswerable, but of course it was nothing compared to the paralysis of today. This morning Silvie, while still in bed, asked me the difference between global warming and global dimming. One cools and the other warms, I explained, like a bow and arrow aimed at the head of all life on earth. The greater the tension between them the more dire the danger and the more careful we have to be. The worst thing to do is to do nothing or to do the wrong thing. Only God, united resolve and a wholly new organization will get us out of this predicament. There is no magic involved but there is good reason both to hope and work. Mahmud records the following about the Master in Cincinnati,

"Today He spoke about the Universal House of Justice and the International Parliament of man, where representatives from all the parliaments of the world will resolve conflicts between nations, such as that in the Balkans. This organization will cure the chronic diseases of the nations." (Mahmud, 373-374)

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John Taylor

badijet@gmail.com