Nature and Challenge of Tests, The
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Dear Friends,

I speak for both Janet and myself in expressing our boundless
happiness to back here in the bosom of the American Bahá'í Community.
We lived here for 12 years in the state of Michigan. They were 12 very
formative, very happy years where we learned so much about the Faith
and about the nature of the Bahá'í community.

And in returning to the United States on this occasion, our hearts are
filled with the memory of those years and of the energy, the
dedication and the wonder of the American Bahá'ís we had the pleasure
of knowing at that time.

I speak to you, of course, tonight as an individual. I do not speak
for the Universal House of Justice. I speak simply as an individual
Bahá'í who happens at this time to be a member of that body. So the
remarks I offer you this evening are mine alone.

I begin by directing my attention and yours to a theme given emphasis
by the beloved Guardian, Shoghi Effendi, from the earliest years of
his ministry as Guardian of the Cause. In fact, in the very first
message sent by the Guardian to the Bahá'ís of the United States and
Canada, on January 21, 1922, the Guardian drew attention to this
point, and reiterated it in subsequent messages. And what was the
point?

Shoghi Effendi, 73 years ago, told the believers in America that at
some time in the future they would be tested. He said that they would
receive tests--intellectual rather than physical. He said that
they would be sent to purify the American Bahá'ís and to make them
brighter than ever.

A few years later Shoghi Effendi returned to that theme. He said,
"and yet how often we seem to forget the clear and repeated
warnings of our beloved Master, Who, in particular during the
concluding years of His mission on earth, laid stress on the severe
mental tests which would inevitably sweep over his loved ones of the
west. Test that would purge, purify and prepare them for their noble
mission in life."

 Inevitable mental tests

This theme, that the American Bahá'ís were being prepared for what
Shoghi Effendi describes as the inevitable coming of mental tests,
appears again and again in his writings and was further emphasized by
the Universal House of Justice in its lengthy letter of May 19, 1994,
in which the House of Justice offered the hope and the prayer "may
they, the American Bahá'ís, be granted the celestial strength to pass
over and over again the mental tests which 'Abdu'l-Bahá promised He
would send to them to purify them."

There are many other passages in the writings of the Guardian which
refer to these mental tests. For example, in the last of the published
messages from Shoghi Effendi to the American Bahá'ís, he foreshadowed
what the future would hold. He indicated at that time that there would
be intellectual rather than physical tests from outside the Bahá'í
community. He referred to the fact that the Faith would be subject ot
the onslaught of ecclesiastical leaders , the traditional defenders of
religious orthodoxy, and that these would be powerful detractors
aiming at the extinction of the Faith from without.

But in addition, in that last message of September 1957, Shoghi
Effendi clearly and unambiguously referred to the fact that there
would be mental tests to the American Bahá'ís from within their
community. He listed a number of forces at work in American society
and said the administrative strongholds of the Faith were bound to be
subjected to a severe spiritual challenge from within due to the
impact of those forces, and he urged the friends to strengthen the
Bahá'í community in preparation for the combat with the "nefarious
elements seeking to undermine it form within."

These statements are part of the heritage of the American Bahá'í
community. They are statements which foreshadow periods of challenge,
periods of difficulty, periods of testing and also foreshadow great
victories.

As one of the statements I have read points out, Shoghi Effendi
describes these tests as having the purpose of making the friends
"shine ever brighter," of being "ever more luminous," of "enabling the
American Bahá'í community to fulfill the glorious destiny laid down
for it in the Writings of the Bab, Bahá'u'lláh and 'Abdu'l-Bahá."

The point I make tonight is that I have, over a period of time, come
to the conclusion that we live now in that time of mental tests. That
the time of mental tests is not off in the distant future but it is
now.

 The nature of mental test

Why do I say this? I say this because of the nature of mental tests.
We are well experienced and well knowledgeable about physical tests.
Our dear friends from the Cradle of the Faith, many of whom are in the
audience tonight, are well versed in physical tests. For 150 years
this infant Faith in various countries of the world has had to contend
with physical tests--with torture, imprisonment, martyrdom, the
disruption of homes and families. We are note experienced in mental
tests.

The Universal House of Justice, in a message of January 1986, referred
to the fact that the Cause of God was emerging from obscurity. In
other words, it was leaving the first of the seven stages of its
evolution laid down by the Guardian and entering the second stage,
and that second stage is that of persecution or repression. We
are now entering and have entered the stage where we, as a worldwide
Bahá'í community, will learn more and more about mental tests.

And my perception, my view, is that tonight as we gather here, my
belief is that we are now experiencing these mental tests. What do I
mean by mental tests? Tests which lead to an erosion of faith and
belief and which can give rise to disorder in the Bahá'í community.
One of the features of mental tests is that we may be blinded by the
standards and values of a non-Bahá'í society and by being blinded
thereby may fail these tests.

We may run the risk of underestimating the danger of such tests, of
being complacent, of not becoming aware of these tests until it is too
late. We may be like the warrior in his armor plate waiting for
battle, waiting too late while the battle rages and is decided in
front of him while he stands there waiting.

I believe that there are elements to the mental tests which we, as
part of the American Bahá'í community--and I think Janet and I
still think of ourselves as being American Bahá'ís in many ways--
and I hope no tape of this reaches Australia!--there are three
elements of the mental tests which I feel are pertinent to us tonight.
And I'd like to mention these three and then discuss them in detail.

The first is this. I believe we are tested now by the need to develop
spirituality in a materialistic environment. This is our test. Second,
we are tested in our level of commitment to the betterment of humanity
in an environment which is increasingly characterized by apathy and
lethargy. And third, we re tested by the need to acquire an entirely
new attitude toward social organizations and institutions.

I believe that it is in these three areas that we, who live in this
glorious country, who are part of this vibrant community, we are
tested. Will we pass or will we fail. The community will pass. The
American Bahá'í community is destined to go through great and
wonderful things. But we, as individuals, are subject to tests.

 Developing a sense of spirituality

Let me take up the first of these. The first mental test that I think
is upon us today is the challenge to develop a sense of spirituality
in an environment which is increasingly preoccupied and, indeed,
obsessed with the materialistic dimensions of life. The writings of
the Guardian, the statements of the House of Justice in recent years,
repeatedly call upon the friends to spiritualize their lives, to
develop a world view which accommodates the all-important, the vital
spiritual dimension of existence together with and, indeed, with
priority over its material dimension.

We are urged to do this. We are told in our Teachings that our duty as
believers in Bahá'u'lláh is to commit ourselves to the
spiritualization of our lives. We are promised that if we do this, we
will augment our powers and capacities and that we will, only in this
way, find happiness and fulfillment.

When this does not occur--and who is to say that we will pass
this test--when this does not occur, religion degenerates to a
mere creed; a set of rituals and empty practices. When this does not
occur, we will find ourselves drawn inevitably into the materialistic
perception of the world events and course of world history. WE will be
obsessed with the fears, the anxieties, the preoccupations, the
apprehensions and suspicions of those around us and our world view of
the spiritual progress of humanity will be lost. Our community life
will degenerate into ritualistic practice if this process of
spiritualization is not embarked on and energetically pursued.

Why do we find it so difficult? I think it is because we--no
matter how many Bahá'ís there are in any location, we are relatively
few. We spend most of our lives interacting with people who are not
Bahá'ís, some of whom are wonderful people of fine and exalted values
and others are not. WE are subject to forces and influences and
inclinations and advice and ideas which are essentially materialistic.
And this unconsciously molds our world view.

For decades, and indeed centuries, it was commonly held that in order
to spiritualize our lives, we should forsake the material world. We
should discard material possessions. WE should embrace asceticism in
the pursuit of the spiritual development of ourselves. This erroneous
conception has been put to rest by the Revelation by Bahá'u'lláh of
the Law of Huququ'llah.

In giving us the mercy and the benefit of the Law of Huququ'llah,
Bahá'u'lláh has, in essence, told us this part of your surplus, of
your accumulated assets, this part belongs to God. The rest of it, the
other 81 percent, is yours.

You may wish to offer it sacrificially for the welfare of mankind. You
may wish not to do so, that is your business. Part of it belongs to
God. We are called upon as a matter of conscience o pay our Huquq. We
don't speak of contributing to Huququ'llah. One contributes to the
national, local and international Funds but one pays Huququ'llah.

 The wisdom of Huququ'llah

The concept of spiritualization as involving necessarily the total
abandonment of material comforts, pursuits and benefits, that concept
has been overthrown by the insight and wisdom provided by the Law of
Huququ'llah. I want to share with you my perception of spirituality,
of how it is that we may attain spirituality. Because this is our
challenge. This is a challenge to every one of us--how to attain
a spiritualized development of ourselves.

I believe that the process of spiritual development rests upon three
principles. The first is this: that certain actions which we carry out
in this world prescribed by the Manifestation of God attract a
mysterious but vital spiritual power to them.

That there are certain prescriptions given in the Teachings of our
religion which we accept with faith on the understanding that if we
follow these prescriptions, we will attract in a mysterious,
incomprehensible manner a great spiritual power. This is a complex and
difficult point for us to understand.

Fortunately, during the course of the Dispensation preceding the
coming of the Bab and Bahá'u'lláh, scientists began the systematic
study of magnetism. And as a result, human society learned something
about magnets and about the magnetic principle and magnetism as a
phenomenon. We know now that magnetism is a phenomenon whereby atoms
are arranged in little systems of organization called dipoles which
are pointing in the same direction, and associated with it is
something we call magnetic force--a force which acts at a
distance which is invisible but which is very strong.

As a result, one finds that this first of the three principles that I
see underlying the process of spiritual development, that this
principle is illustrated in the Bahá'í Writings repeatedly by
Bahá'u'lláh, 'Abdu'l-Bahá and the Guardian by use of the analogy of
the magnet. The analogy of the magnet has enabled the central Figures
of our Faith to vividly convey to us the vital principle that certain
actions carried out, according to the prescription of God, attract a
powerful invisible force.

Let me read some examples. One place, "Faith is the magnet which draws
the confirmation of the Merciful One." 'Abdu'l-Bahá saying, "the
commemoration of God attracts confirmation and assistance like unto a
magnet." Again, "unity and harmony is the magnet which draws the
confirmations of God," and so on. "Directing mankind in the right path
is the magnet which attracts the help of God."

 The magnet which attracts

Shoghi Effendi says, "Today, as never before, the magnet which
attracts blessings from on high is teaching the Faith of God." In
another place, the Guardian says, "consecration to the glorious task
of spreading the Faith and living the Bahá'í life creates the magnet
for the Holy Spirit." And so it goes on.

So the first of the three principles which I see as underlying
spiritual development is the principal of magnetism--the
principle of certain actions carried out in a spirit of devotion and
consecration attracting a great spiritual force just as in the mundane
world certain arrangements of atoms attract the force of magnetism.
This principle of magnetism carries right through the Bahá'í Writings.
You find, for example, that Bahá'u'lláh speaks of His Revelation and
describes it as a "magnet" or "lodestone."

He says His revelation will act as a "lodestone for all the nations
and kindreds of the earth." In another place, 'Abdu'l-Bahá refers to
Bahá'u'lláh as the Manifestation of God in these terms: 'The Lord has
manifested the Magnet of the souls and hearts in the Pole of the
existing world."

So this first principle underlying the spiritualization process, I
believe, is that of the attraction of powerful spiritual forces
through prescribed actions. A so-called magnetic principle.

The second principle, I see, in the process of spiritual development
is that of constructive interaction. The first one is that if we pray,
if we fast, if we teach the Faith, if we practice unity, if we hold
spiritual meetings, we attract spiritual forces and powers.

The second principle of constructive interaction is illustrated by a
simple example.

We know in our Writings that prayer attracts spiritual forces. Let us
say I pray a little bit that I will attract a certain amount of the
spiritual forces. This will reinforce my endeavors. This will make me
stronger. I will pray more. It is a very simple model, but it is
enough for our purpose. I will pray more. This will attract a greater
measure of spiritual powers. I will pay even more. This will attract
even further spiritual powers. I will pray even more and so it will
build up.

So I speak of this second principle as one of what I call constructive
interaction. You start off with a little bit. It attracts some forces,
makes you stronger. You do more which attracts even more forces and so
it builds up. And, in that sense, we are called upon to practice these
spiritual virtues, to carry out these devotional practices--the
practice of teaching and contributing to the Fund, of participating in
the work of the Faith--confident that they will attract
spiritual forces which will reinforce our endeavors and make us do
even more and more.

 'The Temple is already built'

It is in this light--this principle of constructive interaction
--this is the only way in which I can comprehend a strange and
mysterious statement which appears in our Writings and which is
attributed to the Master, 'Abdu'l-Bahá, here on this very spot in the
year 1912. On that occasion, when 'Abdu'l-Bahá had laid the
cornerstone of this magnificent edifice in which we are sheltered
tonight, He made a very strange remark. Having laid the cornerstone,
'Abdu'l-Bahá is reported to have said to the friends gathered on that
occasion, "The Temple is already built."

"The Temple is already built." In 1912 there was a stone that they put
in the ground, none of this structure was here. 'Abdu'l-Bahá said,
"The Temple is already built." How can we understand a statement such
as that? I believe it was simply an expression of this principle of
constructive interaction. That what He was saying as He explained at
that time, "You have only to begin. Everything will be all right."

Telling the dear friends gathered in 1912, "Make a start, make a
beginning. You will attract spiritual powers. This will reinforce your
endeavors. You will do even more, attract even greater spiritual
powers, and a time will come when the Temple will come into physical
existence. It is already built by virtue of the efforts you have
embarked upon in 1912." It is in that sense that I see this principle
of constructive interaction as vital to the process of
spiritualization.

As I mentioned, I think there are three elements of the
spiritualization process. The principle of magnetism, by which we
carry out certain actions and attract spiritual forces, and the
principle of constructive interaction by which we make an effort that
attracts even more powers and so it builds up form there.

If only there were these two principles--how much simpler life
would be. It is a source of great regret to me that I have to tell you
that there are not two principles but three. Because the third
principle is that of testing.

The testing is inevitable. The testing is a source of drama, the
source of success and failure in our personal and collective lives.
But when we make efforts, when we attract spiritual forces, when we
build up in strength, and so on, we are tested.

We are subject to tests again and again. We are told that the testing
process is intrinsic to that of spiritual development. There are not
two principles, there are three, and the third is that of testing.

We are tested to see if we really have the fortitude, the strength,
the determination to persist in the face of adversity, in the face of
distraction, in the face of ridicule, in the face of the desire to
relax, to avoid the hardship and the effort that is involved.

The Guardian tells us that this process of testing is necessary, as he
describes it, so that inner spiritual forces become stimulated, and
that tests are gifts of God to enable one to grow and develop. But let
us also be aware that tests are not automatically passed. The very
fact that we, as believers, are subject to testing implies no
guarantee that we will successfully traverse that test. The history of
our Faith repeatedly demonstrates that there are some who pass and
there are some who fail, and the Cause of God proceeds toward its
glorious destiny.

I have tonight chosen as my theme, mental tests. And the first of the
mental tests that I have drawn attention to is that of spiritualizing
our lives in a materialistic environment. To do this, we need to
identify the dangers which confront us.

We need to commit ourselves with determination to the pursuit of acts
of devotion, to the implementation of the great moral and ethical laws
of our Faith. And we need to realize clearly and definitely that the
principles to which we subscribe as Bahá'ís are in many ways radically
different from what have become the standards and generally accepted
norms of American society around us.

We are not here for the purpose of condemnation. We are here for the
purposes of finding our paths to God, of finding our way forward
during a time of great turmoil and testing and hardship and suffering
for all elements of humanity. We will only do so by a full realization
that we have chosen the path of Bahá'u'lláh--and the path of
Bahá'u'lláh is in many ways quite distinctly different form that of
society around us.

To take but one example: our concept of chastity as an indispensable
element of the moral life of a Bahá'í is that sexual relations are
permissible only between two people of the opposite sex who are
married to each other. This is our standard. It is not the standard of
our society. It is described in some areas as homophobic. It is
described in many other ways. But this is our standard. This is what
our religion tells us, and we are committing ourselves to a spiritual
path in the pursuit of the law of Bahá'u'lláh irrespective of whether
or not it conforms to the society around us.

We differ from the people around us very much in certain concepts. For
example, we differ in the concept of duty. The concept of duty has in
many ways become unpopular. But we are people of duty. We are people
who do things we don't particularly want to do out of a sense of duty.
We are people who do things we find difficult, which we find
uncomfortable, which we find disconcerting. Why? Not out of a desire
for martyrdom, but out of a sense of duty.

We Bahá'ís are a people of duty. We are a people of discipline. We are
a people of responsibility. We are a people who revere and honor such
concepts as honesty and trustworthiness. We need to pass the test of
spiritualization in a materialistic environment.

We need, above all, courage; the courage and the willingness to be
different, to persevere, to persist in the work of the
spiritualization of our lives irrespective of other considerations and
the forces and influences of the people around us.

The second of the three tests that I feel are upon us in the United
States today is that we are tested to develop ourselves as committed
human beings concerned about the future of humanity and the changing
world. The Cause of God today requires more and more such committed
human beings.

The future of America

Shoghi Effendi, in a passage written not long before his passing,
referred to the future of the American nation. And one of the things
he mentioned as being within the future of the American nation has
arrested my attention in recent years. He said, at that time, that the
Bahá'ís of America faced a future challenge. And what was that
challenge? In the message published in the book Citadel of Faith,
Shoghi Effendi refers to a number of challenges before the American
friends, one of which was that "apathy and lethargy [would] paralyze
their spiritual faculties in the future."

We, today, face that test--the test of overcoming apathy and
lethargy. The test that those around us increasingly lack zeal and
idealism and a passion for changing the world. Society around us has
lost its vision. It lacks heroes and heroines. They have become
discredited. Exposes have been written about them. They have been
found to have feet of clay. There are no heroes. There are no
heroines. There is no vision.

It is a matter of making it through day by day, being concerned only
for one's self because no one else is interested in us. You survive or
not. It is a hard, cruel world out there.

 The creation of a new society

That is not the Bahá'í way. We are people committed to the creation of
a new society. We are summoned to heroism. We are summoned to
sacrifice. We are summoned to idealism and to altruism. We are people
creating a new society, a new civilization. We are people who love and
are concerned about generations yet unborn and we are prepared to
dedicate our lives that those generations to come, in decades and
centuries into the future, may have a better life; may have a life of
peace and unity and harmony and the possibility for the full
development of their potential.

This is the idealism to which we are summoned as Bahá'ís. We need to
overcome the apathy and lethargy of society and stand apart as people
dedicated to the creation of a new world.

What does this mean? How do we achieve this? How will it come about? I
believe that we, as believers, need a far deeper understanding of the
role of the Faith in the redemption of mankind.

We are not simply spreading one religion to clutter up a world full of
religions. We are not simply seeking to elbow our way into the
community of the faiths of mankind. We are not simply content to make
the Encyclopedia Britannica Year Book and become known as a religion
that has spread around the world. We are not simply content to
assemble an array of national and local assemblies and prestigious
events and gatherings. Our religion is that of the Promised One of All
Ages. Our religion is that of the World Redeemer Who has come after
thousands upon thousands of years of toil and turmoil and suffering
during the whole of recorded history.

We stand at a break point in the history of human civilization and we,
as Bahá'ís, are the vehicle for the implantation of spirit into the
body of mankind which is now being molded through great difficulty and
suffering into a unified entity.

In my present functioning as a member of the Universal House of
Justice, I find myself at times meditating on a statement which
appears in the writings of the Guardian and it appears without
conditionality--I find no conditionality attached to it. It is
rather a definite statement without any maybes or possiblies or
perhapses.

And in that statement, the Guardian refers to the institution of which
I am a member, the Universal House of Justice. And he says that "this
House is one which posterity will regard as the last refuge of a
tottering civilization."

When I read that passage, I say to myself, "What does it mean about
the future condition of mankind?" I sometimes sit in the council
chamber in the Seat of the Universal House of Justice, I look at my
eight colleagues seated around the table, I realize that we nine are
no the House of Justice. It is a great, magnificent spiritual entity
of which we are simply the weak and feeble outward expression.

 The great changes to come

But I say to myself, "This institution, this Universal House of
Justice with which I have to some extent become familiar over these
years, it, the Guardian tells us definitely, categorically, without
conditionality, will be such that posterity will look upon it as the
'last refuge of a tottering civilization."

I offer this passage to you simply as an indication of the great
changes that are coming to humanity.

When they will come--in which decade, in which century--we
know not. But we do know that they will come--that the Cause of
which we are all members is destined to play a major transforming,
revolutionizing role in the history of humanity on this planet.

And I think if we can revive in our minds the vision of the magnitude
of the aims and objectives of the Cause--aims which are far
beyond human comprehension, which are feasible only because of the
power of God which we believe animates Bahá'u'lláh and His Revelation
--if we do this, then we will revive that vision and we will
become once more committed human beings dedicated to the welfare of
humanity in this generation and countless generations yet unborn into
the future.

Finally, I come to the third of the three mental tests to which I have
wanted to draw attention tonight. And it is a challenge and a test
which the Bahá'í friends in many parts of the world are experiencing.
I address my remarks to you as American Bahá'ís but I have made
similar remarks in other countries that I have visited recently.

My concern--and what I see to be a very dangerous and pressing
mental test to the Bahá'ís in the western countries as well as other
parts of the world--is that the believers in these countries
live in a society which has developed certain attitudes about social
organizations and institutions.

These attitudes are firstly that people are suspicious and distrustful
of their government and its bureaucracy. They have found through
bitter experience that their governmental leaders have become corrupt,
that the bureaucracy of their social organization suffocates them,
restricts their freedom and, in many ways, is a source of their
suffering.

People today do not have a sense of community. They have learned, at
bitter cost, not to trust eah other, not to trust those who appear
honest and upright and of good character because, so often, they have
been found to be opposite. They have, therefore, developed a sense of
extreme individualism, of worship of unfettered personal freedom.

 Attitudes of society

People in our society increasingly feel a sense of powerlessness in
relation to their authorities. They find themselves insignificant,
unable to change the system, doomed to suffer its adverse and
oppressive circumstances and consequences. Therefore, they often
resort to radical actions outside the system. They become terrorist.
They become anarchists. They seek the overthrow of the system. They
seek its destruction. They say, often with a certain justification,
anything is better than what we've got.

These are increasingly the attitudes of society around us. They were
foreshadowed by Bahá'u'lláh in His Tablets to the kings and religious
leaders. Shoghi Effendi described in detail the evolution of society
during what he called this "age of critical transition." It is now
upon us. People in our society have developed those attitudes and, if
we were to question those people, they would offer us ample
justification for the attitudes which they display.

The great mental test we face as believers is test that we may,
unconsciously and inadvertently, transfer those attitudes from the
larger society which is manifestly in decline into the Bahá'í
administrative system.

That is our test. Because if we bring those attitudes in with us,
without even realizing it, we will disrupt and damage the
administrative system ordained by Bahá'u'lláh.

Shoghi Effendi wrote on this theme some years ago. He said, "Our
present generation, mainly due to the corruptions that have been
identified with organizations, seems to stand against any institution.
Religion as an institution is denounced. Government as an institution
is denounced. Even marriage as an institution is denounced."

"We Bahá'ís should not be blinded by such prevalent notions. If such
were the case, all the Divine Manifestations would not have invariably
appointed someone to succeed Them. Undoubtedly, corruptions did enter
those institutions but these corruptions were not due to the nature of
the institutions, but to the lack of proper directions as to their
powers and the nature of their perpetuation."

"What"--this is still the Guardian's words--"What
Bahá'u'lláh has done is not to eliminate all institutions in the
Cause, but to provide the necessary safeguards that would eliminate
corruptions that caused the fall of previous institutions." What those
safeguards are is most interesting to study and find out and most
essential to know.

 The challenge of detachment

In other words, we are challenged to detach ourselves, to emancipate
ourselves from the prevailing, and indeed, not just prevailing but
rapidly increasing sense of suspicion, of distrust and disfavor which
characterizes attitudes of people in our society toward their
institutions and avoid such attitudes coming into the relationship of
the believers to the Bahá'í institutions.

They are not the same. They are radically different. This is a system
ordained by Bahá'u'lláh, by the Manifestation of God. It has
characteristics. It has a system to it which enables it to purify
itself of any adverse attitude and behavior. It stands quite different
from the way of the world. If we bring the way of the world into the
Bahá'í Administrative Order, all we will do is temporarily disrupt it.
All we will do is irreparably damage our own personal spiritual
development.

We need to develop new attitudes. We need to develop a far deeper
understanding of the Covenants of Bahá'u'lláh and 'Abdu'l-Bahá. It is
not enough to sign the card to say, "I believe there is a Covenant.
There are these people around with a variety of titles. Whatever they
are I accept them. Fine, that's it." This is not enough, friends.

We will be swept away because there are dangerous forces in our
society. There are insidious influences. We have to protect ourselves
now, and our protection is deepening in the Covenant.

Let me read to you a very, very difficult and challenging paragraph
from the Guardian. In this paragraph the Guardian makes statements
which I would never dare to say. I read them because it is the
Guardian. I am safe. You can't attack me for reading them. The
Guardian is writing. I would never had the courage to stand before you
and make the kind of statements I am going to read to you now.

Shoghi Effendi says that "the believers need to be deepened in the
knowledge and appreciation of the Covenants of both Bahá'u'lláh and
'Abdu'l-Bahá. This is the stronghold of the faith of every Bahá'í, and
that which enables him to withstand every test and the attacks of the
enemies outside the Faith." So far it's not too bad. I would
have said that. Now comes the difficult part.

"This is the stronghold of the Faith of every Bahá'í, and that which
enables him to withstand every test and the attacks of the enemies
outside the Faith and the far more dangerous, insidious, lukewarm
people inside the Faith who have no real attachment to the Covenant,
and consequently uphold the intellectual aspect of the teachings while
at the same time undermining the spiritual foundation upon which the
whole Cause of God rests."

 The Covenant: our protection

Now do you understand why I said I would not have had the courage to
make these remarks? It is simply the words of the Guardian telling us
that only through deepening in the Covenant will we withstand no only
the attacks of people outside the Faith but what describes as the "far
more dangerous" attacks, the "insidious" attacks of those he describes
as 'lukewarm people inside the Faith who have no real attachment" to
the Cause, who uphold the intellectual aspect of the teachings while
undermining its spiritual foundation.

Friends, we do not have the right to judge. As individuals we cannot
judge. I cannot say this person is one of those lukewarm people who
upholds the intellectual, undermines the spiritual. I have no right to
make such a statement. You cannot make that statement about me or
about anybody else in this room or in this country.

We are not here to categorize or to judge. But Shoghi Effendi tells us
that the Bahá'í community includes those elements. We are not here to
engage in adversarial actions against those we categorize in that way.
We are here to make ourselves spiritually healthy and strong so that
whoever they are, wherever they are, we are not to judge, but we will
be immune to their dangerous, insidious influence.

So our task is not to engage in witch hunts. Not to go searching and
to put labels on this one, that one or the other. Our task is to do
exactly as Shoghi Effendi said--to deepen ourselves in the
Covenant so we will be spiritually strong and healthy and withstand
these adverse attitudes toward the institutions of the Faith.

We need also in dealing with this test, the test of acquiring a new
attitude toward our social organizations and institutions, we need to
rethink what is criticism. There is criticism and there is criticism.
There are passages in the Writings which refer to criticism as being
an appropriate measure, an appropriate element of Bahá'í consultative
and community practice, and nobody is disagreeing with that. But what
we also have in our Writings are references to the extremely dangerous
character of what the Guardian refers to as "vicious and negative"
criticism.

"Criticism and discussions of a negative character, which may result
in undermining the authority of the Assembly as a body, should be
strictly avoided." And I think most people are smart enough to know
what is the difference. They are also smart enough to find ways of
worming around whatever rule you lay down. Because it is a question of
attitude rather than a question of mere words of speech.

 Freedom from negative criticism

We look toward a constructive, developmental Bahá'í community which
doesn't pretend it is immune from any means of further development and
refinement of its practices and conduct but which is free from what
the Guardian refers to as criticism of a negative nature which has the
effect of undermining the authority of the Assembly.

One of the favorite and most wasteful and destructive practices in
Bahá'í community life in certain quarters is that of speculation about
calamity. I am sure you've all had experiences at certain times of
spectacular remarks about the evaporation of skyscrapers and
submarines off the coast and so on.

There is a passage--there are many passages in the Bahá'í
Writings--where Shoghi Effendi says we don't know in what form
the calamity will occur. Calamity is occurring now and so on and so
forth. There is one passage and I am going to read it you where the
Guardian says this is calamity. Finally, we found it.

The letter, written on behalf of the Guardian, December 18, 1949, was
published in the Bahá'í News in July 1950--and what does he say?
He defines a calamity. He says:

"Vicious criticism is indeed a calamity. But its root is lack of faith
in the system of Bahá'u'lláh (i.e. the administrative order) and lack
of obedience to Him--for He has forbidden it. If the Bahá'ís
would follow the Bahá'í laws in voting, in electing, in serving, and
in abiding by assembly decisions, all this waste of strength through
criticizing others could be diverted into cooperation."

So one of the elements of acquiring the new attitude toward social
organizations is deepening in the Covenant, a second one is that of
rethinking the nature of criticism because it is a constructive
element of Bahá'í consultation, and the third and final element that I
mention is quite revolutionary. It is a statement where Shoghi Effendi
was asked to define what were the parameters for the Cause in bringing
in large numbers of people. And he set out four parameters; three of
them are obvious and the fourth is very unusual. He said these were
the requirements without which the Cause can never really bring in
large numbers of people. He said:

"Without the spirit of real love for Bahá'u'lláh, for His Faith, and
its institutions, and the believers for each other." Three of those
are obvious, the fourth one isn't.

We would expect the believers to have real love for Bahá'u'lláh. We
would expect them to love His Faith. We would expect them, in fact,
hope that the believers would love each other.

But Shoghi Effendi defines as one of the four requirements for
bringing in large numbers of people that we develop a sense of love, a
sense of real love for the institutions of the Faith. This is
radically new in the Bahá'í Dispensation.

Where do you find individuals who, since we are in the state of
Illinois, who will come to you and say, "I love the Illinois state
legislature." Where do you find somebody who says, "I love the House
of Representatives," or "I love the Senate." Maybe you'll find a few
who say "I am in love with the Supreme Court," particularly if it has
gone their way. Where do you find people who say, "I love the
executive branch of government; I love the city council; I love our
district administration." This is foreign to western thought. This is
inimical. This is radical.

The prevailing thought is that less government is better. The more
government, we should get these rascals out of our hair, and so on. We
go off in an entirely different direction.

We are not just 60 degrees away. We are not 90 degrees or 150 degrees
away. We are 180 degrees away. We are in entirely the opposite
direction, because our religion tells us that without the spirit of
real love for the institutions of the Cause, we cannot bring in large
numbers of people.

I have almost reached the end of my remarks but not quite because it
is easy to love institutions which one perceives as functioning
marvelously well. It is easy to love institutions that function
marvelously. If you are in a community and your local Spiritual
Assembly is doing magnificent, wonderful things, sure you can love it.
I love them also.

But can you love an institution which is functioning in an incomplete
developmental way, which is making mistakes, which is having trouble
with its unity, with its activity, with its executive action, which
forgets to advise you of important events and the like? This is our
challenge. How can we do it without hypocrisy?

We can do it the same way a parent loves a child. When the child is
stumbling, is behaving badly, is filled with some illness, or is
grappling with some social grace, the parent loves the child because
the parent sees in that child the potential for development. Through
love and nurturance, the child will develop and fulfill its potential.
Through criticism and a lack of love the child's growth will be
stunted; its development will never be realized.

So it is we are called upon to love our institutions, not in a sense
of artificiality, not in a sense of hypocrisy, but in a sense of
perfect faith that these are institutions ordained by Bahá'u'lláh with
a glorious, magnificent future ahead of them. Through our love, our
nurturance, our support, our compassion, our understanding, they will
develop. They will evolve. It is this kind of love we seek--radically different from the attitude of criticism, suspicion,
disorder, corruption which informs the attitude of people in the
society around us toward institutions which are in decline and
dissolution.

 The Plan's triple theme

As you know, the Three Year Plan, now hastening to its conclusion,
revolves around a triple them--enhancing the vitality of the
faith of individual believers, greatly developing the human resources
of the Cause, and fostering the proper functioning of the local and
national Bahá'í institutions. It is in striving to overcome the three
mental tests that I have called attention to tonight that I believe we
can best fulfill the responsibilities laid upon us in pursuit of the
Three Year Plan in our role as Bahá'ís.

I bring my remarks to conclusion. It is well known that the American
Bahá'í community is a community endowed with great potential.
'Abdu'l-Bahá blessed these shores with His footsteps. He lavished love
and care on this country.

Shoghi Effendi wrote his major messages to the American Bahá'ís. He
called upon the American believers as the chief executors of the
Tablets of the Divine Plan. And I can assure you that the Universal
House of Justice loves the American Bahá'í community and its
institutions in no less a way than the love that was showered upon the
friends in this country by the Master and the Guardian.

We turn to the American Bahá'í community with a great deal of trust
and confidence and, if you will allow it, with pride at the potential
and the greatness of what this community can achieve.

There is no doubt in my mind that all the promises in the Writings
about the future glory and destiny of the American Bahá'í community
will be fully and completely realized. Everything that 'Abdu'l-Bahá
says about it will come true. It will occur. It is inevitable. There
is no doubt about it.

But what there is doubt about is, where will you and I be? Will we be
part of this great development? Will we be part of these victories?
Will we survive these dangerous and challenging mental tests to which
I see we are subjected now? Will it be our lot to ride on the crest of
this wave of victories or will we be swept aside? Will we, in fact,
join those in Bahá'í history who failed the tests when the tests came
upon them? The choice is ours. The choice is ours, friends. The choice
is ours.
-- Nature and Challenge of Tests, The (Used by permission of the curator)