Bahá'u'lláh and the New EraEsslemont, J. E. (John Ebenezer)
Religion
Bahá'u'lláh and the New Era
Esslemont, J. E. (John Ebenezer)
Bahai Faith; Bahá'u'lláh, 1817-1892
“Ye are all fruits of one tree, the leaves of one branch, the flowers of
one garden.” That is one of the most characteristic sayings of
Bahá’u’lláh, and another is like it: “Glory is not his who loves his own
country, but glory is his who loves his kind.” Unity—unity of mankind, and
of all created beings in God—is the main theme of His teaching. Here again
the harmony between true religion and science is evident. With every
advance in science the oneness of the universe and the interdependence of
its parts has become more clearly evident. The astronomer’s domain is
inseparably bound up with physicist’s, and the physicist’s with the
chemist’s, the chemist’s with the biologist’s, the biologist’s with the
psychologist’s, and so on. Every new discovery in one field of research
throws new light on other fields. Just as physical science has shown that
every particle of matter in the universe attracts and influences every
other particle, no matter how minute or how distant, so psychical science
is finding that every soul in the universe affects and influences every
other soul. Prince Kropotkin, in his book on Mutual Aid, shows most
clearly that even among the lower animals, mutual aid is absolutely
necessary to continued life, while in the case of man, the progress of
civilization depends on the increasing substitution of mutual aid for
mutual enmity. “Each for all and all for each” is the only principle on
which a community can prosper.
The Era of Unity
All the signs of the times indicate that we are at the dawn of a new era
in the history of mankind. Hitherto the young eagle of humanity has clung
to the old aerie in the solid rock of selfishness and materialism. Its
attempts to use its wings have been timid and tentative. It has had
restless longings for something still unattained. More and more it has
been chafing in the confinement of the old dogmas and orthodoxies. But now
the era of confinement is at an end, and it can launch on the wings of
faith and reason into the higher realms of spiritual love and truth. It
will no longer be earthbound as it was before its wings had grown, but
will soar at will to the regions of wide outlook and glorious freedom. One
thing is necessary, however, if its flight is to be sure and steady. Its
wings must not only be strong, but they must act in perfect harmony and
coordination. As ‘Abdu’l-Bahá says:—“It cannot fly with one wing alone. If
it tries to fly with the wing of religion alone it will land in the slough
of superstition, and if it tries to fly with the wing of science alone it
will end in the dreary bog of materialism.”
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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