Posted by Nick Stone (210.14.209.162) on November 25, 2002 at 10:30:09:

In Reply to: These Posts Are Dangerous posted by Stuart on November 25, 2002 at 08:54:35:

Dear Stu,

My questions are not meant to be provocative. As Baha'is we must be spiritual midwives, guiding mankind towards the Lesser Peace and in sight of the principles of our faith at all times.

I don't think I am being political, because I am not talking about individuals, or political parties. My post was not aimed solely at the United States, as I am fully aware that most of the Western World is equally complicit in similar activities.

I don't want to get into a discussion about who is doing what right and what wrong, what I am interested in is how these momentous events that are unfolding before our eyes are related to the Lesser Peace.

Another thing I am interested in IS the role of the USA. Abdu'l-Baha and Shoghi Effendi both talk about the future role of the USA. Were they being political?

When I hear about the human suffering ongoing in the world, it is clear to me that the Baha'i Faith is the only answer. The Faith IS political, in its own way. It aims to completely change the nature of our lives on this planet. It is a system of governance, amongst other things.

I wish to ask the question - when the most powerful nations on the Earth continually turn their back on Baha'u'llah and the most fundamental precepts of our Faith, those of justice and equity, what must happen?

As Baha'is, we do not know exactly what will happen and when, but we know the path to the Lesser Peace will be torturous. In 1996, the Universal House of Justice wrote a letter to an individual believer. One part said that "clearly the emergence of the Lesser Peace will be a gradual process and its various stages will no doubt witness tests and setbacks, as well as great advances. It will certainly include, however, a development of historic importance: that point at which the majority of the world's nation-states formally commit themselves to a global order comprising institutions and laws, and equipped with the means by which collective means can be enforced. While we cannot at present forsee the precise form which this development will take, much less the point at which it will occur, we recognise that it is a feature of the process of the Lesser Peace."

In the Unity of the Nations and the Lesser Peace document recently released by the Research Department of the Universal House of Justice, it quotes Shoghi Effendi in stating that:

As humanity was plunged into a world war which Shoghi Effendi described as ãthe titanic upheaval foreshadowed seventy years ago by the prophetic Pen of Baháâuâlláhä and as the ãlong-predicted world-encircling conflagrationä, he pointed out to the Baháâís that this great conflict was an ãessential prerequisite to world unificationä.

(Letters of The Universal House of Justice, 2001 Apr 19, Unity of Nations and the Lesser Peace, p. 7)

Does this mean that the momentous event that Baha'u'llah described when He wrote that "And when the appointed Ê119Ê hour is come, there shall suddenly appear that which shall cause the limbs of mankind to quake." has already occured?

But yet still the world is going from bad to worse. The September 11th events, terrible as they were, have barely changed the world at all, other than instilling a sense of heightened vulnerability in the West. Actually things go on as they were, and innocent people still die and injustice still prevails.

So it brings me to my last thought.

ã... That the forces of a world catastrophe can alone precipitate such a new phase of human thought is, alas, becoming increasingly apparent. That nothing short of the fire of a severe ordeal, unparalleled in its intensity, can fuse and weld the discordant entities that constitute the elements of present day civilization, into the integral components of the World Common Wealth of the future, is a truth which future events will increasingly demonstrate.

ã... Nothing but a fiery ordeal, out of which humanity will emerge, chastened and prepared, can succeed in implanting that sense of responsibility which the leaders of a newborn age must arise to shoulder.

(Compilations, Lights of Guidance, p. 133)

What do people make of that? It may be just speculation, but if someone is sufficiently motivated to tell me their thoughts, I would be grateful. But try not to be too political, ok? ;-)

Nick

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