Bahai Faith; Peace -- Religious aspects -- Bahai Faith
Consider how the Báb endured difficulties and tribulations; how He gave
His life in the Cause of God; how He was attracted to the love of the
Blessed Beauty, Bahá’u’lláh; and how He announced the glad tidings of His
manifestation. We must follow His heavenly example; we must be
self-sacrificing and aglow with the fire of the love of God. We must
partake of the bounty and grace of the Lord, for the Báb has admonished us
to arise in service to the Cause of God, to be absolutely severed from all
else save God during the day of the Blessed Perfection, Bahá’u’lláh, to be
completely attracted by the love of Bahá’u’lláh, to love all humanity for
His sake, to be lenient and merciful to all for Him and to upbuild the
oneness of the world of humanity. Therefore, this day, 23 May, is the
anniversary of a blessed event.
24 May 1912
Talk at Free Religious Association, or Unitarian Conference
Boston, Massachusetts
From Stenographic Notes
Creation is the expression of motion. Motion is life. A moving object is a
living object, whereas that which is motionless and inert is as dead. All
created forms are progressive in their planes, or kingdoms of existence,
under the stimulus of the power or spirit of life. The universal energy is
dynamic. Nothing is stationary in the material world of outer phenomena or
in the inner world of intellect and consciousness.
Religion is the outer expression of the divine reality. Therefore, it must
be living, vitalized, moving and progressive. If it be without motion and
nonprogressive, it is without the divine life; it is dead. The divine
institutes are continuously active and evolutionary; therefore, the
revelation of them must be progressive and continuous. All things are
subject to reformation. This is a century of life and renewal. Sciences
and arts, industry and invention have been reformed. Law and ethics have
been reconstituted, reorganized. The world of thought has been
regenerated. Sciences of former ages and philosophies of the past are
useless today. Present exigencies demand new methods of solution; world
problems are without precedent. Old ideas and modes of thought are fast
becoming obsolete. Ancient laws and archaic ethical systems will not meet
the requirements of modern conditions, for this is clearly the century of
a new life, the century of the revelation of reality and, therefore, the
greatest of all centuries. Consider how the scientific developments of
fifty years have surpassed and eclipsed the knowledge and achievements of
all the former ages combined. Would the announcements and theories of
ancient astronomers explain our present knowledge of the suns and
planetary systems? Would the mask of obscurity which beclouded medieval
centuries meet the demand for clear-eyed vision and understanding which
characterizes the world today? Will the despotism of former governments
answer the call for freedom which has risen from the heart of humanity in
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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