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Abstract: Annual message to the Bahá'ís of the world. Notes: |
Ridván 2000:
Bahá'í Era 157
2000-04
Ridvan 2000
To the Bahá'ís of the World
Dearly loved Friends,
We bow our heads in gratitude to the Lord of Hosts, our hearts
brimming with joy, as we witness how marvellous a difference four years have
made since the launching of the global Plan now concluded at this Festival
of Splendours. So marked was
the progress achieved during this period that our world community attained
heights from which bright new horizons for its future exploits can clearly
be discerned.
The quantitative difference resulted mainly from a more critical
qualitative difference. The
culture of the Bahá'í community experienced a change.
This change is noticeable in the expanded capability, the methodical
pattern of functioning and the consequent depth of confidence of the three
constituent participants in the Plan--the individual, the institutions and
the local community. That is so
because the friends concerned themselves more consistently with deepening
their knowledge of the divine Teachings and learned much--and this more
systematically than before--about how to apply them to promulgating the
Cause, to managing their individual and collective activities, and to
working with their neighbours. In
a word, they entered into a learning mode from which purposeful action was
pursued. The chief propellant
of this change was the system of training institutes established throughout
the world with great rapidity--an accomplishment which, in the field of
expansion and consolidation, qualifies as the single greatest legacy of the
Four Year Plan.
In the increased capacity of individuals to teach the Faith, as shown
in the thrust of individual initiatives; in the improved ability of
Spiritual Assemblies, Councils and committees to guide the endeavours of the
friends; in the introduction of new patterns of thought and action which
influenced the collective behaviour of the local community--in all such
respects the system of training institutes demonstrated its indispensability
as an engine of the process of entry by troops.
By extending their operation through local study circles, many
institutes magnified their capacity to cover wide regions with their
programmes. Mongolia, for
instance, set up 106 study circles and, as a result, recorded a significant
rise in the number of new believers. Concurrent
with these kinds of developments, the members of our worldwide community
also gave more attention to drawing on the power of prayer, to meditating on
the sacred Word, and to deriving the spiritual benefits of participation in
devotional gatherings. It is
through the workings of these elements of an intensified individual and
collective transformation that the size of the community is increasing.
Although the number of new believers has as yet only slightly
surpassed those of recent years, it is immensely gratifying to see that this
increase is now geographically widespread, is engaging ever-larger segments
of the community, and is successful in integrating new declarants into the
life of the Cause.
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So salutary, so promising a condition of the
Faith also owes much, beyond measure, to the advisory influence,
collaborative role and practical work of the Institution of the Counsellors
which were amplified with respect to the formation and operation of
institutes --an amplification that reflected the timely stimulation imparted
by a vibrant and ever alert International Teaching Centre.
The central theme of the Four Year Plan--that of advancing the
process of entry by troops--produced a high degree of integration of thought
and action. It focused
attention on a major stage of the evolution of the Bahá'í community that
must be attained during the Formative Age; for until entry by troops is more
widely sustained, the conditions will not be ripe for mass conversion, that
breakthrough promised by Shoghi Effendi in his writings.
The thematic focus of the Plan bore implications for all categories
of Bahá'í activity; it called for a clarity of understanding which made
possible systematic and strategic planning as a prerequisite of individual
and collective action. The
members of the community came gradually to appreciate how systematization
would facilitate the processes of growth and development.
This raising of consciousness was a huge step that led to an
upgrading of teaching activities and a change in the culture of the
community.
The integrative aspects of the theme were evident in the efforts at
planning, building institutional capacity, and developing human resources.
The threads connecting all these can be traced from the outset of the
Plan to its very end. The December 1995 Conference of the Continental Boards of
Counsellors in the Holy Land marked the beginning. There the Counsellors were oriented to the features of the
Plan. This was followed by
their consultations with National Spiritual Assemblies in national planning
sessions that moved subsequently to the regional level, involving Auxiliary
Board members, Local Spiritual Assemblies and committees. Thus, at all levels, elements of the Bahá'í administration
became involved in the planning process, and reached beyond this stage to
that of implementation, at which the institutional capacity to cope with
entry by troops had to be created. Two
major steps were taken in this regard:
one was the establishment of training institutes; the other was the
formal establishment and widespread introduction of Regional Bahá'í Councils
as a feature of the administration between the local and national levels to
strengthen the administrative capacity of certain communities where the
growing complexity of the issues facing National Spiritual Assemblies
required this development. Equally
of relevance to integrating the essentials of the process were the
strategies defined for the work in social and economic development, which is
a critical part of consolidation, and in external affairs, which is a vital
factor in enabling the Faith to manage the consequences of its emergence
from obscurity. The combined
effect produced resounding results, the enumeration of which would far
exceed the compass of these pages. We are moved, however, to cite certain highlights that
illustrate the scope of the Plan's achievements.
In the Holy Land, the construction of the Terraces and the buildings
on the Arc forged ahead with every assurance of meeting the announced
deadline for their completion at the end of this Gregorian year.
Moreover, the building in Haifa to which we referred in our last
Ridvan message in connection with the expanded size of pilgrimage groups is
ready for use as of this Ridvan. In
this same connection, architectural plans were approved for the much-needed
facility to be built at Bahji to accommodate pilgrims and other Bahá'í and
non-Bahá'í visitors. The
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translation of the Texts for the expected new
volume of Bahá'u'lláh's Writings has been completed and preparations are
under way for its publication.
Strides in expansion and consolidation were manifest in ways other
than those already mentioned: in
pioneering, proclamation, the publication of literature, the use of the
arts, the formation of Spiritual Assemblies, and advances of Bahá'í studies
associations. Some 3,300
believers settled as long- and short-term international pioneers.
That many countries usually on the receiving end had themselves
dispatched pioneers abroad was a further indication of the maturation of
national communities. True to the mandate addressed to their members, the Canadian
and United States communities excelled in the number of pioneers that left
their shores and in the much greater number of travelling teachers,
including a significant representation of youth.
Especially noteworthy, too, was the heartening response of believers
of African descent in the United States to the call that Bahá'í teachers
travel to Africa.
Proclamation of the Cause involved a variety of actions which
included the sponsoring of a wide range of occasions--anniversaries,
commemorations, discussion groups, exhibits, and the like--that made it
possible for large numbers of people to become acquainted with the teachings
of the Faith. The Houses of Worship were magnetic centres for visitors who
entered their doors in increasing numbers, especially in India, where some
five million people were received during the last year. Added to such activities were the multiple uses of the media
to get the Bahá'í message across. In
the United States, some 60,000 inquirers responded to a media campaign
designed by the National Teaching Committee.
Worldwide, knowledge of the Faith was spread through the appearance,
more frequently than before, of unsolicited, sympathetic articles in the
print media. There was a
similar broadening of exposure through readiness on the part of radio and
television stations to include regular Bahá'í programmes; this was so in
such countries as the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Liberia.
Such fortunate developments were crowned by the independent choice of
international media establishments to use the Shrine of the Bab and the
Terraces as the site for the telecast of the Holy Land's segment of the
worldwide media programme celebrating the arrival of the year 2000.
The use of the arts became an important feature in the proclamation,
teaching, deepening and devotional activities of the worldwide community. The arts attracted young people, who applied them to their
teaching and deepening activities principally through the numerous drama and
dance workshops active in many parts of the world.
But the dynamics of the arts went far beyond singing and dancing to
involve a range of imaginative activities that grounded people in the Cause.
Where folk art was used, particularly in Africa, the teaching work
was greatly enhanced. For
example, Ghana and Liberia each mounted a Light of Unity Project for
promoting the arts in teaching. In
India, the Communal Harmony Group had a similar purpose.
Mostly at the urging of the Counsellors and with the support of the
Continental Fund, a boost was given to the translation and publication of
Bahá'í literature especially in Africa and Asia.
Moreover, the Kitab-i-Aqdas appeared in a complete Arabic edition and
in other languages.
While the restriction of the formation of Local Spiritual Assemblies
to the first day of Ridvan, which took effect in 1997, produced the
anticipated decrease in the number of these institutions, the fall was not
drastic. The number has since
held its ground and a sound process
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of consolidation is in place. Eight new pillars of the Universal House of Justice were
raised up, bringing the total of National Spiritual Assemblies to 181.
Particularly gratifying has been the gathering momentum, during these
four years, of Bahá'í scholarly activity, which forged ahead with the vital
task of reinforcing the intellectual foundations of the Faith's work.
Two invaluable results have been the impressive enrichment of Bahá'í
literature and the production of a body of dissertations examining various
contemporary problems in the light of Bahá'í principles.
The network of Associations of Bahá'í Studies, celebrating this year
its twenty-fifth anniversary, welcomed five new affiliates during the Plan.
Reflective of the diversity and creativity that this field of service
is attracting were the holding of Papua New Guinea's first Bahá'í studies
conference and the Japanese Association's ground-breaking focus on the
spiritual origins of traditional Japanese scholarship.
Progress in the field of social and economic development was
decidedly qualitative, although figures showing an increase of projects were
also impressive. Annually
reported activities grew from some 1,350 at the beginning of the Plan to
more than 1,800 nearing its end. The
movement towards a more systematic approach remained the dominant
characteristic of the work during this period.
To promote consultation and action on the principles of social and
economic development, the Office of Social and Economic Development at the
Bahá'í World Centre sponsored 13 regional seminars in which an estimated 700
representatives from 60 countries participated.
This Office also attended to the devising of pilot projects and
materials suitable for the mounting of organized campaigns to foster youth
empowerment and literacy, community health worker training, the advancement
of women, and moral education. An
example was the programme in Guyana that trained more than 1,500 literacy
facilitators; another was the completion in Malaysia of eight modules for
the advancement of women, which became the basis for training sessions held
in Africa, Asia and Latin America. A
plan to integrate Bahá'í radio stations with the work of training institutes
was initiated in the Guaymi region of Panama.
As institutes have the potential to provide training for social and
economic development, a movement in that direction involved a dozen
institutes, which are currently experimenting with such efforts in areas
including literacy, community health worker training, and vocational
training. A number of Bahá'í-sponsored
and Bahá'í-inspired agencies have devoted their energies to projects, such
as the one which involved collaboration with the World Health Organization
in combating river blindness in Cameroon; more than 30,000 individuals have
received the needed medication through this Bahá'í project.
Another instance is the private university in Ethiopia, Unity
College, whose student body has risen to 8,000.
Another is Landegg Academy in Switzerland, which, while expanding and
consolidating its academic programme, extended highly appreciated assistance
in the ongoing quest for a remedy to the horrendous social consequences of
conflict in the Balkans. Yet
another is Nur University in Bolivia, which, in a collaborative project with
Ecuador, offered training to more than 1,000 school teachers in its moral
leadership programme. In this
field of social and economic development, such evidences of capacity
building were a great benefit to the purposes of the Plan.
Guided by the external affairs strategy communicated to National
Spiritual Assemblies in 1994, the community's capacity in the fields of
diplomatic and public information likewise expanded at an astonishing rate,
placing the Bahá'í community in a dynamic relationship with the United
Nations, governments, non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and the media.
The strategy focused activities at international and national levels
on two key objectives: to
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influence the processes towards world peace, and
to defend the Faith. Through
the measures adopted for the defence of our dearly loved co-religionists in
Iran, the Bahá'í International Community won a new measure of respect and
support that created opportunities for other aims of the strategy to be
pursued. To meet the challenge
of the intractable situation in Iran, our institutions and external affairs
agencies devised new approaches to activating available instruments of
governments and the United Nations. The
case of the persecutions in Iran occupied the attention of the highest
authorities on the planet. Indeed,
the news that an Iranian court had reaffirmed death sentences for two of the
friends and imposed a similar sentence on a third evoked a sharp response
from the President of the United States, who issued a clear admonition to
Iran. As a consequence of the
interventions of world leaders and the United Nations, the executions of
Iranian Bahá'ís virtually stopped and the number of those sentenced to
long-term imprisonment was drastically reduced.
While we have welcomed these interventions, we acclaim the
self-sacrificing spirit, the fortitude, and the indomitable faith of our
brothers and sisters in Iran that have invested such efforts with potency.
These manifest qualities of the soul baffle their compatriots as to
the stamina with which they withstand the assaults so viciously and so
relentlessly unloosed against them. How
else could one explain that so few have been able to stand up to so many for
so long? How else could they
have aroused the active concern of the world when even a single one of them
faces the threat of death? Iran's
tragedy is that the assailants have until now failed to see that the divine
principles for which these persecuted ones have sacrificed their possessions
and even their lives contain the very solutions that would satisfy the
yearnings of a population in its hour of discontent.
But there can be no doubt whatever that the systematic tyranny to
which our Iranian friends have so cruelly been subjected will ultimately
yield to the Almighty Power guiding the mysterious proceedings toward their
assured destiny in all its promised glory.
With regard to the other objective of the external affairs strategy,
the lines of action were guided by four themes--human rights, the status of
women, global prosperity, and moral development.
Our records show a huge step forward in the work on human rights and
the status of women. With
regard to the former, the United Nations Office prosecuted a creative
programme of human rights education which has, so far, served as a means of
building the capacity of no fewer than 99 National Spiritual Assemblies for
diplomatic work. Regarding the status of women, the existence of 52 national
offices for the advancement of women, the contributions of numerous Bahá'í
women and men to conferences and workshops at all levels, the selection of
Bahá'í representatives to crucial positions on key NGO committees, including
the one that serves the United Nations Development Fund for Women, show how
the followers of Bahá'u'lláh assiduously promote His principle of the
equality of women and men.
At the same time an array of initiatives are disseminating
information about the Bahá'í Faith to various publics.
These include such innovative undertakings as:
the launching of "The Bahá'í World" Web site, which is
already averaging 25,000 visits a month; the issuing of a statement entitled
Who is Writing the Future?, which is helping the friends everywhere talk
about contemporary issues; the airing since last November on the World Wide
Web of "Payam-e-Doost", the Persian-language radio programme
broadcast for an hour weekly in the Washington, D.C., metropolitan area--a
programme which is available at all times throughout the world on the
Internet; and the implementation of a highly original television programme,
To the Bahá'ís of the World 6
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applying moral principles to day-to-day problems,
which has won the warm endorsement of government authorities in Albania,
Bosnia-Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Hungary, Romania, Slovenia, and the
former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia.
A phenomenon that has gathered force as the century draws to its end
is that the people of the world have arisen to express their aspirations
through what has come to be known as the "organizations of civil
society". It must be a
source of great satisfaction to Bahá'ís everywhere that the Bahá'í
International Community as an NGO representing a cross-section of humankind
has won such trust as a unifying agent in major discussions shaping the
future of humankind. Our
principal representative at the United Nations was appointed to co-chair a
committee of non-governmental organizations--a position that is giving the
Bahá'í International Community a leading role in the organization of the
Millennium Forum. This
gathering, called by UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan and scheduled to be
held in May, will give organizations of civil society an opportunity to
formulate views and recommendations on global issues which will be taken up
at the subsequent Millennium Summit in September of this year to be attended
by heads of state and government.
Humanity's awakening to the spiritual dimensions of the changes
occurring in the world have a special significance for Bahá'ís.
The interfaith dialogue has intensified. During the Four Year Plan it increasingly involved the Faith
as a recognized participant. The
Parliament of the World's Religions held in Cape Town last December brought
together some 6,000 attendees, among whom was a strong Bahá'í delegation.
Bahá'ís served on both the South African and International Boards of
Directors that planned the event. For
Bahá'ís, interest in the occasion arose particularly from the fact that the
first mention of the Name of Bahá'u'lláh at a public gathering in the West
had occurred at the Parliament held in Chicago in 1893.
Two inter-religious events held in Jordan last November included
Bahá'ís as invited participants: a
conference on conflict and religion in the Middle East, and the annual
meeting of the World Conference on Religion and Peace.
Bahá'í representatives attended events in Vatican City and New Delhi
sponsored by the Roman Catholic Church; on the latter occasion, in the
presence of Pope John Paul II, Counsellor Zena Sorabjee was one of the
representatives of religions addressing the gathering.
In the United Kingdom, the Faith was placed in the public arena when
Bahá'í representatives joined members of eight other major religions for an
interfaith celebration of the new millennium in the Royal Gallery of
Westminster Palace, where, in the presence of Royalty, the Prime Minister,
the Archbishop of Canterbury and other distinguished persons, reference was
made to the gathering of the "nine major religions of the United
Kingdom." In Germany, for
the first time Bahá'ís were included in an interfaith dialogue.
This reversed a longstanding attitude of Christian denominations
which had avoided contact with the Faith owing to a book written by a
Covenant-breaker and issued by a Lutheran publishing house in 1981.
The remedy was provided in a 600-page scholarly rebuttal written by
three Bahá'ís and published in 1995 by a leading non-Bahá'í firm,
representing a signal victory for the German Bahá'í community.
An English translation was published in the last year of the Plan.
Interfaith dialogue took an unusual form when at Lambeth Palace in
1998 representatives of the World Bank and of nine major religions held a
meeting which led to the formation of the World Faiths Development Dialogue.
The announced aim of the Dialogue is to try to bridge the gap between
the faith communities and the World Bank in order to enable them to work
together more effectively to overcome world poverty.
The frequency and wide embrace of interfaith gatherings
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represent a new phenomenon in the relations among
the religions. It is apparent
that the various religious communities are striving to achieve the spirit of
friendliness and fellowship among themselves that Bahá'u'lláh urged His
followers to show towards the followers of other religions.
The concentrated endeavour of the Bahá'í community in these four
years occurred at a time when the wider society grappled with a torrent of
conflicting interests. In this
brief but intensely dynamic span, the forces at work in the Bahá'í community
and throughout the world proceeded with relentless acceleration.
In their wake were revealed more conspicuously than before the social
phenomena to which Shoghi Effendi alluded.
More than six decades ago, he had called attention to the
"simultaneous processes of rise and of fall, of integration and of
disintegration, of order and chaos, with their continuous and reciprocal
reactions on each other". These
twin processes did not continue in isolation from those specific to the
Bahá'í community but at times proceeded in such a way as to invite, as has
already been shown, the direct involvement of the Faith. They seemed to run at opposite sides of the same corridor of
time. On one side, wars
fomented by religious, political, racial or tribal conflict raged in some 40
places; sudden, total breakdown of civil order paralyzed a number of
countries; terrorism as a political weapon became epidemic; a surge of
international criminal networks raised alarm.
Yet on the opposite side, attempts at implementing and elaborating
the methods of collective security were earnestly made, bringing to mind one
of Bahá'u'lláh's prescriptions for maintaining peace; a call was raised for
an international criminal court to be established, another action that
accords with Bahá'í expectations; to focus attention on the imperative need
for an adequate system to deal with global issues, world leaders are
scheduled to meet in a Millennium Summit; new methods of communications have
opened the way for everyone to communicate with anyone on the planet.
The economic disintegration in Asia threatened to destabilize the
world economy, but it prompted efforts both to remedy the immediate
situation and to find ways of bringing a sense of equity to international
trade and finance. These are
but a few examples of the two contrasting but interactive tendencies
operating at this time, confirming Shoghi Effendi's inspired summation of
the forces at work in God's greater plan, "whose ultimate objectives
are the unity of the human race and the peace of all mankind."
At the conclusion of these four eventful years, we have arrived at a
portentous convergence of ends and beginnings in measures of Gregorian time
and the Bahá'í era. In one
instance, this convergence entails the wrapping up of the twentieth century
and, in the other, opens a new stage in the unfolding of the Formative Age.
The perspective from these two frames of time prompts us to reflect
on a vision of world-shaping trends that have synchronized, and to do so in
the context of the insight so graphically projected by Shoghi Effendi at the
inception of the Arc he conceived. During
the course of the Plan, this vision assumed a brilliant clarity as the
construction projects advanced on Mount Carmel, as world leaders took bold
steps towards fashioning the structures of a global political peace, and as
local and national Bahá'í institutions moved to new levels in their
evolution. We carry with us a
sacred and enduring memory of the twentieth century that stirs our energies
even as it sets our path: It is
of that seminal moment in the history of humankind when the Centre of the
Covenant of Bahá'u'lláh, during an unparalleled ministry, designed the
architecture of a new World Order and when, subsequently during some of the
most devastating years, the Guardian of the Faith devoted his utmost
energies to raising up the structures of an Administrative System that, at
the end of the century, stands before the gaze of the world in the wholeness
of its essential form. We come
thus to a bridge between times. The
capacities developed through a century of
To the Bahá'ís of the World 8 Ridvan
2000
struggle and sacrifice by a handful of
intoxicated lovers of Bahá'u'lláh must now be applied to the inescapable
tasks remaining to the Formative Age, whose many epochs of unremitting
labour will lead to that Golden Age of our Faith when the Most Great Peace
will envelop the earth.
We begin at this Ridvan with a Twelve Month Plan.
Brief though it is, it must and will suffice to accomplish certain
vital tasks and to lay the ground for the next twenty-year thrust of the
Master's Divine Plan. What was
so carefully begun four years ago--the systematic acquisition of knowledge,
qualities and skills of service--must be augmented.
Wherever they exist, national and regional institutes must activate
to the full the programmes and systems they have adopted.
New institutes must be formed where such needs have been identified.
Greater steps must be taken to systematize the teaching work
undertaken through individual initiative and institutional sponsorship. It is partly for this purpose that in several areas of each
continent the Counsellors and the National Assemblies have established
"Area Growth Programmes". The
results will provide a body of experience for the benefit of future Plans.
The individual, the institutions and the local community are urged to
focus their attention on these essential tasks, so as to be fully prepared
for the five-year enterprise to begin at Ridvan 2001--an enterprise that
will take the Bahá'í world to the next phase in the advancement of the
process of entry by troops.
But beyond giving attention to these tasks, there is a pressing
challenge to be faced: Our
children need to be nurtured spiritually and to be integrated into the life
of the Cause. They should not
be left to drift in a world so laden with moral dangers.
In the current state of society, children face a cruel fate. Millions and millions in country after country are dislocated
socially. Children find
themselves alienated by parents and other adults whether they live in
conditions of wealth or poverty. This
alienation has its roots in a selfishness that is born of materialism that
is at the core of the godlessness seizing the hearts of people everywhere. The social dislocation of children in our time is a sure mark
of a society in decline; this condition is not, however, confined to any
race, class, nation or economic condition--it cuts across them all.
It grieves our hearts to realize that in so many parts of the world
children are employed as soldiers, exploited as labourers, sold into virtual
slavery, forced into prostitution, made the objects of pornography,
abandoned by parents centred on their own desires, and subjected to other
forms of victimization too numerous to mention.
Many such horrors are inflicted by the parents themselves upon their
own children. The spiritual and
psychological damage defies estimation.
Our worldwide community cannot escape the consequences of these
conditions. This realization
should spur us all to urgent and sustained effort in the interests of
children and the future.
Even though children's activities have been a part of past Plans,
these have fallen short of the need. Spiritual
education of children and junior youth are of paramount importance to the
further progress of the community. It
is therefore imperative that this deficiency be remedied.
Institutes must be certain to include in their programmes the
training of teachers of children's classes, who can make their services
available to local communities. But
although providing spiritual and academic education for children is
essential, this represents only a part of what must go into developing their
characters and shaping their personalities.
The necessity exists, too, for individuals and the institutions at
all levels, which is to say the community as a whole, to show a proper
attitude towards children and to take a general interest in their welfare.
Such an attitude should be far removed from that of a rapidly
declining order.
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Children are the most precious treasure a community can possess, for
in them are the promise and guarantee of the future.
They bear the seeds of the character of future society which is
largely shaped by what the adults constituting the community do or fail to
do with respect to children. They
are a trust no community can neglect with impunity.
An all-embracing love of children, the manner of treating them, the
quality of the attention shown them, the spirit of adult behaviour toward
them--these are all among the vital aspects of the requisite attitude. Love demands discipline, the courage to accustom children to
hardship, not to indulge their whims or leave them entirely to their own
devices. An atmosphere needs to
be maintained in which children feel that they belong to the community and
share in its purpose. They must
lovingly but insistently be guided to live up to Bahá'í standards, to study
and teach the Cause in ways that are suited to their circumstances.
Among the young ones in the community are those known as junior
youth, who fall between the ages of, say, 12 and 15.
They represent a special group with special needs as they are
somewhat in between childhood and youth when many changes are occurring
within them. Creative attention
must be devoted to involving them in programmes of activity that will engage
their interests, mold their capacities for teaching and service, and involve
them in social interaction with older youth.
The employment of the arts in various forms can be of great value in
such activity.
And now we wish to address a few words to parents, who bear the
primary responsibility for the upbringing of their children.
We appeal to them to give constant attention to the spiritual
education of their children. Some
parents appear to think that this is the exclusive responsibility of the
community; others believe that in order to preserve the independence of
children to investigate truth, the Faith should not be taught to them.
Still others feel inadequate to take on such a task.
None of this is correct. The
beloved Master has said that "it is enjoined upon the father and
mother, as a duty, to strive with all effort to train the daughter and the
son," adding that, "should they neglect this matter, they shall be
held responsible and worthy of reproach in the presence of the stern
Lord." Independent of the
level of their education, parents are in a critical position to shape the
spiritual development of their children.
They should not ever underestimate their capacity to mold their
children's moral character. For they exercise indispensable influence through the home
environment they consciously create by their love of God, their striving to
adhere to His laws, their spirit of service to His Cause, their lack of
fanaticism, and their freedom from the corrosive effects of backbiting.
Every parent who is a believer in the Blessed Beauty has the
responsibility to conduct herself or himself in such a way as to elicit the
spontaneous obedience to parents to which the Teachings attach so high a
value. Of course, in addition
to the efforts made at home, the parents should support Bahá'í children's
classes provided by the community. It
must be borne in mind, too, that children live in a world that informs them
of harsh realities through direct experience with the horrors already
described or through the unavoidable outpourings of the mass media.
Many of them are thereby forced to mature prematurely, and among
these are those who look for standards and discipline by which to guide
their lives. Against this
gloomy backdrop of a decadent society, Bahá'í children should shine as the
emblems of a better future.
Our expectations are alive with the thought that the Continental
Counsellors will gather in the Holy Land in January 2001 on an occasion that
will celebrate the occupation by the International Teaching Centre of its
permanent seat on the Hill of God. Auxiliary
Board members
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from throughout the world will participate with
them in what will undoubtedly turn out to be one of the historic happenings
of the Formative Age. The
coming together of such a constellation of Bahá'í officers must by its very
nature produce untold benefits for a community which will again be close to
ending one Plan and embarking on another.
As we contemplate the implications, we turn our hearts in gratitude
to the very dear Hands of the Cause of God 'Ali-Akbar Furutan and 'Ali
Muhammad Varqa, who by their residence in the Holy Land hold aloft the torch
of service which the beloved Guardian lit in their hearts.
With this Twelve Month Plan, we cross a bridge to which we shall
never return. We launch this
Plan in the earthly absence of Amatu'l-Baha Ruhiyyih Khanum.
She remained with us to the virtual end of the twentieth century as a
beam of the light that had shone during that incomparable period in the
history of the human race. In
the Tablets of the Divine Plan, the Master lamented His inability to travel
throughout the world to raise the Divine call, and in the intensity of His
disappointment He penned the hope: "Please
God, ye may achieve it." Amatu'l-Baha responded with boundless energy,
touching far-flung spots of the earth in the 185 countries that were
privileged to receive her inimitable gifts.
Her example, which will retain forever its splendour, illumines the
hearts of thousands upon thousands throughout the planet. Against the
inadequacy of any other gesture, might we all not dedicate our humble
efforts during this Plan to the memory of one for whom teaching was the
primary purpose, the perfect joy of life?
[SIGNED: THE UNIVERSAL HOUSE OF JUSTICE]
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