Bahai Faith; Peace -- Religious aspects -- Bahai Faith
Fifth, spiritual brotherhood. All mankind must attain to spiritual
fraternity—that is to say, fraternity in the Holy Spirit—for patriotic,
racial and political fraternity are of no avail. Their results are meager;
but divine fraternity, spiritual fraternity, is the cause of unity and
amity among mankind. As heretofore material civilization has been
extended, the divine civilization must now be promulgated. Until the two
agree, real happiness among mankind will be unknown. By mere intellectual
development and power of reason, man cannot attain to his fullest
degree—that is to say, by means of intellect alone he cannot accomplish
the progress effected by religion. For the philosophers of the past strove
in vain to revivify the world of mankind through the intellectual faculty.
The most of which they were capable was educating themselves and a limited
number of disciples; they themselves have confessed failure. Therefore,
the world of humanity must be confirmed by the breath of the Holy Spirit
in order to receive universal education. Through the infusion of divine
power all nations and peoples become quickened, and universal happiness is
possible.
These are some of the principles of the Bahá’ís.
Question: Will women or men aid this new religion most? Which will be more
capable?
Answer: In Persia the men have aided it more, but in the West perchance
the women. In the West women evidently have precedence in religion, but in
the East men surpass the women.
Question: What will be the food of the united people?
Answer: As humanity progresses, meat will be used less and less, for the
teeth of man are not carnivorous. For example, the lion is endowed with
carnivorous teeth, which are intended for meat, and if meat be not found,
the lion starves. The lion cannot graze; its teeth are of different shape.
The digestive system of the lion is such that it cannot receive
nourishment save through meat. The eagle has a crooked beak, the lower
part shorter than the upper. It cannot pick up grain; it cannot graze;
therefore, it is compelled to partake of meat. The domestic animals have
herbivorous teeth formed to cut grass, which is their fodder. The human
teeth, the molars, are formed to grind grain. The front teeth, the
incisors, are for fruits, etc. It is, therefore, quite apparent according
to the implements for eating that man’s food is intended to be grain and
not meat. When mankind is more fully developed, the eating of meat will
gradually cease.
8 June 1912
Talk at 309 West Seventy-eighth Street, New York
Notes by John G. Grundy
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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