Overview of the life and thought of a Lebanese-American writer, intellectual, and political activist, who believed in the oneness of religions and the brotherhood of nations and devoted his life to promoting East-West understanding.
published in Journal of Bahá'í Studies, 24:3-4, pages 39-47 Ottawa: Association for Bahá'í Studies North America, 2014
About: In a world that is shaken daily by violence, hatred, and destruction, we are drawn to reflect on the urgent need for reconciliation and mutual understanding between nations if such atrocities are to be avoided in the future. It is sobering to reflect that Tomás Masaryk’s words, written in The Making of a State (1925), remain as pertinent as ever over seventy-five years later: “Chauvinism, racial or national intolerance, not love of one’s own people, is the foe of nations and humanity. Love of one’s own nation does not entail non-love of other nations (435).”