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Dear Co-worker: Messages from Shoghi Effendi to the Benelux countries , pp93-4
Josephine Diebold, 30 November 1949
Dear Bahà’i Sister:
Your letter dated November 23 has reached our beloved Guardian, and he has instructed me to answer you on his behalf.
He fully realizes how very distressing it is to see any inharmony in a Bahd’i Community. However, a great deal of inharmony - if not all of it — is due to the fact that the Bahà’is do not properly understand the administration. They know that the Spiritual Assembly is the body to decide the affairs of the Community, but they do not let it do so! This is usually due not to lack of a desire to see the assembly function, but rather to over-anxiety to see it do what one or two people think is the proper thing.
It is very hard for people to learn to function the way Abdu’l-Bahá says we should: the friends on the assembly must consult freely, all of them; then whatever the majority decides must be accepted wholeheartedly, for the sake of God. Personal opinions are important, but once the majority has voted, they must be given up and not clung to.
The Guardian appreciates very much your devotion to the Faith, and your loving and helpful attitude towards your fellow Bahà’is. He urges you to go on encouraging them, and pointing out to them that these are small problems - growing pains - and will and can be overcome.
He will certainly pray for the unity of the friends there.
With Bahà’i love, R. Rabbání
Assuring you of my loving prayers for your success in the service of our beloved Faith and for the realization of every hope you cherish for the promotion of the interests of its institutions, your true brother, Shoghi
1949-11-30 to Josephine Diebold re dealing w/ disharmony
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