Creating a New Mind:
Reflections on the Individual, the Institutions, and the Community

by Paul Lample

In this creative book, Paul Lample discusses the influence of the human mind in shaping human reality. He identifies three vehicles for changing reality: the individual, the institutions and the community at large. He highlights the need for study and learning and places the Bahá’í Writings as the pivot around which learning and change can happen.

With the conclusion of the Four Year Plan, the Faith has passed through a critical moment both in the “scheme of Bahá’í and world history.” During this time, the Universal House of Justice called upon the individual, the institutions, and the community to become more systematic in their efforts to advance the process of entry by troops, and beyond, to build a new civilization. This book reexamines the nature of each of these protagonists and focuses on the process of learning in the light of divine guidance that lies at the heart of our ability to progress toward the purpose intended by Bahá’u’lláh. The subjects raised are central to the progress of the Bahá’í world in coming decades.

First edition, 1999 (revised 2009):

Second edition, 2004: