This is the final part of an essay in three parts. The first two parts are:
Part one: Anguish — what causes it? What heals it?
Part two: Responding to the anguish of a confused society
This is our time
Restating the theme of this essay, as developed in the first two parts, it is that anguish can only be transcended by engaging honestly with reality. Beyond the brute facts of existence decreed by nature, the aspect of reality that overwhelmingly affects human beings, is social reality.1 Therefore, if society is flaky, its members will be untrusting and insecure; whereas, a coherent society nurtures the flourishing of its individual members. By the same token, an individual faced with living in a flaky society can best ensure their own happiness, and resist the impact of negative forces upon them, by working earnestly with others for the transformation of their society.
Escaping societal flakiness is generally not feasible, especially since nearly everywhere in the world today is affected by similar problems at a fundamental level. Sartre goes so far as to say, uncompromisingly: “If I am mobilised in a war, this war is my war …”. He means that our only choices are in how we deal with the circumstances we are thrown into by historical accident. The age into which we are born is not our choice. Our choice of response may be a courageous one, or “fear, flight and recourse to magical types of conduct”, but whatever a person decides, they “shall carry the whole responsibility for it”, Sartre writes2.
To clarify, I am saying here that mental and spiritual anguish cannot be escaped simply by moving to another place; I am not referring to the material hardship or peril to life for political reasons that causes refugees to seek out sanctuary, which is patently a very good reason for making an escape, and within the range of honourable choices. And I do not deny that a change of location may contribute to a change of outlook or open up new opportunities for being an effective person. The latter reasons for moving do not necessarily indicate escapism, as they can be a potent means of learning and growth.
Moving on, personal and collective anguish are two sides of one coin, which the covid era has brought home to us forcefully. Our task as individuals then, in the words of Bahá’u’lláh, is this: “Be anxiously concerned with the needs of the age ye live in, and centre your deliberations on its exigencies and requirements.” 3 We can better “seize the day” that we live in, by making ourselves aware of our position in history’s flow. These words, by Karlo MIla, are addressed to “mana”:
when you flow through my body / I know / I am caught in the current of a river / larger than the length of my own lifetime
it bends where we have all been before / same rapids / other waters / our veins / my blood
I know / I am in the flow / of something greater than my own self
— From “Mana”, by Karlo Mila 4
For understanding our identity in the context of time’s neverending flow, Māori in Aotearoa have developed a sophisticated intellectual framework, denoted by the term, “whakapapa”. The term is often rendered in English as “genealogy”, but its meaning is far richer. According to the article, “Whakapapa Māori”, on Ross Himona’s website, maaori.com5:
“Whakapapa” is to place in layers, lay one upon another. Hence the term Whakapapa is used to describe both the recitation in proper order of genealogies, and also to name the genealogies. The visualisation is of building layer by layer upon the past towards the present, and on into the future.
The article further explains:
The term “Te Here Tangata”, literally The Rope of Mankind, is also used to describe genealogy. I visualise myself with my hand on this rope which stretches into the past for the fifty or so generations that I can see, back from there to the instant of Creation, and on into the future for at least as long. In this modern world of short term political, social, economic and business perspectives, and instant consumer gratification, Te Here Tangata is a humbling concept.
Te Ara, the Encyclopaedia of New Zealand, states6:
Whakapapa is a taxonomic framework that links all animate and inanimate, known and unknown phenomena in the terrestrial and spiritual worlds. Whakapapa therefore binds all things. It maps relationships so that mythology, legend, history, knowledge, tikanga (custom), philosophies and spiritualities are organised, preserved and transmitted from one generation to the next.
The reason I have dwelt on the concept of whakapapa is to introduce the kind of holistic approach that I want to take in this part of my discussion.
Origins of our predicament
Let’s now look at the whakapapa of our present predicament. If the world were a person, it would be a hospital case, undergoing tests to diagnose its malady, and receiving urgent care to keep it alive. Various remedies have been proposed, focusing on economic systems, redress of injustices, fostering goodwill and moral decency, environmental protection, and so on. In all these areas, fine initiatives have been taken, and some terrible ones too, that have made the patient worse off. However, no initiative, so far, has stimulated the patient to robust health, and a more fundamental diagnosis is needed in order to identify a more powerful strategy of healing. The most conclusive diagnosis that I know of is the one made by Bahá’u’lláh. Bahá’ís regard the teachings of Bahá’u’lláh as a distillation of the spirit of the age; an expression of the world’s inmost heart and soul. As ‘Abdu’l-Bahá put it:
[Bahá’u’lláh’s] revelation of the Word embodies completely the teachings of all the Prophets, expressed in principles and precepts applicable to the needs and conditions of the modern world, amplified and adapted to present-day questions and critical human problems. That is to say, the words of Bahá’u’lláh are the essences of the words of the Prophets of the past. They are the very spirit of the age and the cause of the unity and illumination of the East and the West. The followers of His teachings are in conformity with the precepts and commands of all the former heavenly Messengers.7
The diagnosis presented in writings of Bahá’u’lláh and His successors is that the basic cause of humanity’s ills is a deficiency in its spiritual perceptions. This manifests in corrupted religion, confused morality, and dysfunctional governance.
A highly cogent analysis for understanding our times was explicated from Bahá’u’lláh’s teachings by Shoghi Effendi8 in the 1920s through to the 1950s. The discussion that follows will pick up some key points, related to our theme, from that analysis (which is far greater in scope than these few points). A large portion of Shoghi Effendi’s analysis of the times is contained in seven lengthy general letters to the Bahá’ís in the United States and Canada, issued from 1929 to 19369. Shoghi Effendi anticipated gloomy days ahead, for a long time, before humanity will eventually learn to overcome its noxious illusions and, for the first time in its long history, establish a truly peaceful civilization. Obviously, we are still in deeply gloomy times, although humanity has made several steps forward since the 1930s, as a result of painful lessons learned.
The 1930s, when Shoghi Effendi wrote his seven major letters, has been described in Century of Light 10 as: “… a period marked by deepening uncertainty and anxiety about all aspects of human affairs. On the one hand, significant advances had been made in overcoming barriers between nations and classes; on the other, political impotence and a resulting economic paralysis greatly handicapped efforts to take advantage of these openings. There was everywhere a sense that some fundamental redefinition of the nature of society and the role its institutions should play was urgently needed—a redefinition, indeed, of the purpose of human life itself.” 11 Century of Light goes on to observe that while “humanity found itself at the end of the first world war able to explore possibilities never before imagined”, the 1920s and 1930s “were a period of deepening gloom throughout the Western world”.
In a 1931 letter, having described turmoil then occurring, Shoghi Effendi stated: “Is it not a fact — and this is the central idea I desire to emphasize — that the fundamental cause of this world unrest is attributable, not so much to the consequences of what must sooner or later come to be regarded as a transitory dislocation in the affairs of a continually changing world, but rather to the failure of those into whose hands the immediate destinies of peoples and nations have been committed, to adjust their system of economic and political institutions to the imperative needs of a rapidly evolving age?” 12
What were those “imperative needs” and which adjustments did Shoghi Effendi advocate? Describing some of the symptoms of a sick world, he wrote: “Economic distress … together with political confusion, financial upheavals, religious restlessness and racial animosities, seem to have conspired to add immeasurably to the burdens under which an impoverished, a war-weary world is groaning.” 13 He warned against underestimating the profundity of the crisis. “No scheme which the calculations of the highest statesmanship may yet devise; no doctrine which the most distinguished exponents of economic theory may hope to advance; no principle which the most ardent of moralists may strive to inculcate, can provide, in the last resort, adequate foundations upon which the future of a distracted world can be built.” 14
Solutions to our predicament
The ultimate answer, he wrote, lay in “Bahá’u’lláh’s prodigious scheme for world-wide human solidarity”. 15 Trenchantly: “How pathetic indeed are the efforts of those leaders of human institutions who, in utter disregard of the spirit of the age, are striving to adjust national processes, suited to the ancient days of self-contained nations, to an age which must either achieve the unity of the world, as adumbrated by Bahá’u’lláh, or perish.” 16 He elaborates:
Let there be no mistake. The principle of the Oneness of Mankind — the pivot round which all the teachings of Bahá’u’lláh revolve — is no mere outburst of ignorant emotionalism or an expression of vague and pious hope. Its appeal is not to be merely identified with a reawakening of the spirit of brotherhood and good-will among men, nor does it aim solely at the fostering of harmonious cöoperation among individual peoples and nations. Its implications are deeper, its claims greater than any which the Prophets of old were allowed to advance. Its message is applicable not only to the individual, but concerns itself primarily with the nature of those essential relationships that must bind all the states and nations as members of one human family. It does not constitute merely the enunciation of an ideal, but stands inseparably associated with an institution adequate to embody its truth, demonstrate its validity, and perpetuate its influence. It implies an organic change in the structure of present-day society, a change such as the world has not yet experienced. 17
Shoghi Effendi does not see the world adjusting its ways in harmony with Bahá’u’lláh’s counsel overnight, but over a long series of painful reversals and advances. For instance, Century of Light tells us:
At a relatively early point in the second world war, the Guardian set that conflict in a perspective for Bahá’ís that was very different from the one generally prevailing. The war should be regarded, he said, “as the direct continuation” of the conflagration ignited in 1914. It would come to be seen as the “essential pre-requisite to world unification”. And so it came to pass: These statements proved prophetic. With the end of hostilities, it gradually became apparent that a fundamental shift in consciousness was under way throughout the world and that inherited assumptions, institutions and priorities that had been progressively undermined by forces at work during the first half of the century were now crumbling. If the change could not yet be described as an emerging conviction about the oneness of humankind, no objective observer could mistake the fact that barriers blocking such a realization, which had survived all the assaults against them earlier in the century, were at last giving way. 18
Surveying the world scene at the end of the twentieth century, Century of Light noted remarkable progress that had occurred over the century, including these examples:
“Unity of thought in world undertakings”, a concept for which the most idealistic aspirations at the opening of the twentieth century lacked even reference points, is also in large measure everywhere apparent in vast programmes of social and economic development, humanitarian aid and concern for protection of the environment of the planet and its oceans. As to “unity in the political realm”, Shoghi Effendi has explained that the reference is to unity which sovereign states achieve among themselves, a developing process the present stage of which is the establishment of the United Nations. The Master’s [‘Abdu’-Bahá’s] promise of “unity of nations”, on the other hand, looked forward to today’s widespread acceptance among the peoples of the world of the fact that, however great the differences among them may be, they are the inhabitants of a single global homeland. 19
In a statement titled “A Governance Befitting”, 20 marking the 75th anniversary of the United Nations in 2020, the Bahá’í International Community encapsulated the current position:
The years concluding the United Nations’ first century represent a period of immense opportunity. Collaboration is possible on scales undreamt of in past ages, opening unparalleled prospects for progress. Yet failure to reach an arrangement supporting effective global coordination risks consequences far more severe—potentially catastrophic—than those arising from recent disruptions. The task before the community of nations, then, is to ensure that the machinery of international politics and power is increasingly directed toward cooperation and unity. 21
In April 2021, the Universal House of Justice wrote that:
… humanity, chastened by the exposure of its vulnerability, seems more conscious of the need for collaboration to address global challenges. Yet, lingering habits of contest, self-interest, prejudice and closed-mindedness continue to hinder the movement towards unity, despite growing numbers in society who are showing in words and deeds how they, too, yearn for greater acceptance of humanity’s inherent oneness. We pray that the family of nations may succeed in putting aside its differences in the interests of the common good. 22
It is important to notice the kind of terms used in Bahá’í literature to describe the desirable way of promoting change. They are not generally terms which speak of “overturning” or “destroying” existing systems, but rather “reconstructing”, ”transforming”, “remoulding”, and “spiritualizing” the present-day order, and bringing about “an organic change” in society. Bahá’u’lláh and those to whom he passed on the mantle of Bahá’í leadership in subsequent generations — ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, Shoghi Effendi, and today, the Universal House of Justice — have always reached out in support of efforts by government and civil society leaders, and ordinary people of all social ranks, to improve the lot of humanity. Bahá’ís are forbidden to become involved in anything that has the slightest hint of rebellion about it. ‘Abdu’l-Bahá wrote in His Will and Testament:
According to the direct and sacred command of God we are forbidden to utter slander, are commanded to show forth peace and amity, are exhorted to rectitude of conduct, straightforwardness and harmony with all the kindreds and peoples of the world. We must obey and be the well-wishers of the governments of the land, regard disloyalty unto a just king as disloyalty to God Himself and wishing evil to the government a transgression of the Cause of God.23
As indicated by the foregoing discussion of world events since the second world war, Shoghi Effendi discerns that the movement for the reconstruction of the world happens through the agency of the nations and peoples of the world themselves. The Bahá’í community is not trying to agitate for their ideals politically, or find a way to impose them on the unwilling, but only to seed them into popular consciousness. Indeed, Bahá’u’lláh has made it impossible for the Bahá’í community to advance its goals by force, as He forbade any forceful means whatsover for the promotion or defence of the faith. Not even aggressive speech is permitted, let alone resort to arms.
… rendering assistance unto God, in this day, doth not and shall never consist in contending or disputing with any soul; nay rather, what is preferable in the sight of God is that the cities of men’s hearts, which are ruled by the hosts of self and passion, should be subdued by the sword of utterance, of wisdom and of understanding. Thus, whoso seeketh to assist God must, before all else, conquer, with the sword of inner meaning and explanation, the city of his own heart and guard it from the remembrance of all save God, and only then set out to subdue the cities of the hearts of others.24
Shoghi Effendi writes of Bahá’u’lláh’s vision: “Far from aiming at the subversion of the existing foundations of society, it seeks to broaden its basis, to remould its institutions in a manner consonant with the needs of an ever-changing world. … It does not ignore, nor does it attempt to suppress, the diversity of ethnical origins, of climate, of history, of language and tradition, of thought and habit, that differentiate the peoples and nations of the world. It calls for a wider loyalty, for a larger aspiration than any that has animated the human race.” 25
Religion’s waning and revival
The delusions that Shoghi Effendi identifies as the most serious obstacles to social progress are certain deadly misconceptions in the realm of religion and morality. The attention that he gives to this concern contrasts with mainstream discourse today, which tends to treat religion as a rather trivial cultural phenomenon which is mostly the private affair of those so inclined. The Bahá’í view is very different. Shoghi Effendi quotes a statement of Bahá’u’lláh: “Religion is, verily, the chief instrument for the establishment of order in the world, and of tranquillity amongst its peoples. The weakening of the pillars of religion hath strengthened the foolish, and emboldened them, and made them more arrogant.” 26 Bahá’u’lláh is also quoted stating: “The world is in travail, and its agitation waxeth day by day. Its face is turned towards waywardness and unbelief.” 27 If religion is important, religious misconceptions, of course, have important consequences.
The Bahá’í perspective is that the greatest source of inspiration driving human progress has always been the influence of God’s Messengers, or “Manifestations”, such as Abraham, Krishna, Moses, Buddha, Jesus and Muhammad. These great Personages have appeared in history as “the Word made flesh”, communicating the Divine will as it has applied to different times and places. Bahá’u’lláh says of them:
These sanctified Mirrors, these Daysprings of ancient glory are one and all the Exponents on earth of Him Who is the central Orb of the universe, its Essence and ultimate Purpose. From Him proceed their knowledge and power; from Him is derived their sovereignty. The beauty of their countenance is but a reflection of His image, and their revelation a sign of His deathless glory. They are the Treasuries of divine knowledge, and the Repositories of celestial wisdom. Through them is transmitted a grace that is infinite, and by them is revealed the light that can never fade. 28
As I understand it, Shoghi Effendi suggests that the religions founded by the great Messengers of the past reached an acute crisis of confidence and credibility during the nineteenth century with ongoing effects up to the present time. This has led, for example, to the predominant narrative that religion is merely an offspring of ancient superstitious thinking that will soon be rendered obsolete by modern scientific thinking, which was basically, it is said, founded by Europeans in the Enlightenment period. In this narrative, modern scientific rationalism sweeps old world views aside, hence rationalistic secularism is the way of the future.
The Bahá’í narrative regards current secularism as the mark of a hiatus in the fortunes of religion, not a permanent condition. A spiritual and religious orientation will be restored to the centre of societal functioning through a process of revising and updating our understanding of religion and washing away the grubby misconceptions that have been plastered onto it by credos based on ignorant or corruptly-motivated errors of judgement.
In terms of tracing the story of the decline of religion leading to our present predicament, a striking glimpse is offered in the following paragraph from Shoghi Effendi (from which I previously quoted a portion).
The Hegelian philosophy which… has, in the form of an intolerant and militant nationalism, insisted on deifying the state, has inculcated the war-spirit, and incited to racial animosity, has, likewise, led to a marked weakening of the Church and to a grave diminution of its spiritual influence. Unlike the bold offensive which an avowedly atheistic movement had chosen to launch against it, both within the Soviet union and beyond its confines, this nationalistic philosophy, which Christian rulers and governments have upheld, is an attack directed against the Church by those who were previously its professed adherents, a betrayal of its cause by its own kith and kin. It was being stabbed by an alien and militant atheism from without, and by the preachers of a heretical doctrine from within. Both of these forces, each operating in its own sphere and using its own weapons and methods, have moreover been greatly assisted and encouraged by the prevailing spirit of modernism, with its emphasis on a purely materialistic philosophy, which, as it diffuses itself, tends increasingly to divorce religion from man’s daily life. 29
In 1941, when German Nazism and Soviet Communism were at their zenith, and racism was widely practiced as an explicit policy in many Western countries and their colonies, Shoghi Effendi wrote:
God Himself has indeed been dethroned from the hearts of men, and an idolatrous world passionately and clamorously hails and worships the false gods which its own idle fancies have fatuously created, and its misguided hands so impiously exalted. The chief idols in the desecrated temple of mankind are none other than the triple gods of Nationalism, Racialism and Communism, at whose altars governments and peoples, whether democratic or totalitarian, at peace or at war, of the East or of the West, Christian or Islamic, are, in various forms and in different degrees, now worshiping. Their high priests are the politicians and the worldly-wise, the so-called sages of the age; their sacrifice, the flesh and blood of the slaughtered multitudes; their incantations outworn shibboleths and insidious and irreverent formulas; their incense, the smoke of anguish that ascends from the lacerated hearts of the bereaved, the maimed, and the homeless.30
These vivid words cause me to stop and ponder their import.
The true spirit of the age
Ring out false pride in place and blood,
The civic slander and the spite;
Ring in the love of truth and right,
Ring in the common love of good.Ring out old shapes of foul disease;
Ring out the narrowing lust of gold;
Ring out the thousand wars of old,
Ring in the thousand years of peace.Ring in the valiant man and free,
The larger heart, the kindlier hand;
Ring out the darkness of the land,
Ring in the Christ that is to be.— Alfred Lord Tennyson, “In Memoriam” (published 1850) 31
Many people find it strange, these days, to hear it claimed that God has sent another Messenger to expound His Word. Atheists are convinced that Nietzsche definitively certified God’s death in the 19th Century, while religionists tend to assume that their own religion is quite adequate for the needs of humanity, so a new Revelation of heavenly guidance is a most unlikely event (perhaps until the Day of Judgment). Shoghi Effendi attributes the world’s reluctance to respond to Bahá’u’lláh to being unprepared for His appearance, because of not having properly learned from the religions of the past, and the reason for this is that religion has been corrupted morally and impoverished intellectually, mainly through ignorance, avarice, and egotism amongst its priestly leaders (despite the best efforts of sincere and insightful individuals within their ranks).
The appearance of Bahá’u’lláh continues the chain of Messengers whom the Divine Will has sent forth to guide humanity, and essentially, it is this momentous event that guarantees the continuity of religion into the future. It is the light that Bahá’u’lláh’s teachings shed on the meaningfulness of past religions that will uncover their brilliance to the eyes of the disillusioned peoples of the world. Shoghi Effendi expresses his confidence that:
The indwelling Spirit of God which, in the Apostolic Age of the Church, animated its members, the pristine purity of its teachings, the primitive brilliancy of its light, will, no doubt, be reborn and revived as the inevitable consequence of this redefinition of its fundamental verities, and the clarification of its original purpose.32
Whether or not someone feels inclined to accept Bahá’u’lláh’s Prophetic claim to be the Manifestation of God for this Day, the depth of His insight, it seems to me, would be acknowledged by any fair-minded person who were to investigate His teachings and examine His life. It is granted that some may find implausible the “theory” that such figures as Manifestations of God exist, if it does not fit within their framework of understanding, so they may prefer some other explanation for Bahá’u’lláh’s wisdom, but nevertheless recognise its power to enlighten. His followers, for their part, find in His teachings the essence of the spirit of the age, hence we believe that the world is moving towards their implementation, even though as yet largely unconscious of their source. “The principle of the Oneness of Mankind — the pivot round which all the teachings of Bahá’u’lláh revolve” — is also the pivot round which historical events revolve at this time. The Bahá’ís regard all actions in support of human unity as a positive response to the spirit of the age and all those who seek the world’s peace as our companions in arms, wielding the swords of light and the spears of love in the battle to save our planet from the ravages of division and injustice, until its gloom dissolves in a blaze of glory.
To serve such a vision of interdependence and oneness, to be engaged in “something greater than my own self”, surely draws forth strength from our deepest reserves — enabling us to overcome the crushing power of anguish, and to honour our whakapapa, collaboratively braiding the Rope of Mankind for future generations.
Acknowledgements
I wish to thank Sitarih Ala’i, Sione Tu’itahi, and Anne Lowe, for kindly giving valuable input on this essay while it was being prepared.
About the links in the notes below
Many of the links to Bahá’í literature in the end notes lead directly to the respective paragraphs of the works cited.
An excellent resource for study of this topic is Paul Lample’s Revelation and Social Reality
Jean-Paul Sartre, Essays in Existentialism, 64. In later writings, Sartre moderated this uncompromising position by giving more weight to restrictions on choice imposed from without, especially on those living under oppressive conditions. But I think he clearly shows that to claim freedom of conscience implies being prepared to heroically accept whatever consequences may flow from our choices. Martyrs who submit to the executioner rather than deny their faith epitomise such ultimate conviction and freedom.
Bahá’u’lláh, Tabernacle of Unity
Karlo Mila is a New Zealand poet of Tongan-Palagi descent. The poem, “Mana” is published at: https://www.bestnewzealandpoems.org.nz/past-issues/2017-contents/karlo-mila/
Ross Himona, “Whakapapa Maori: Structure, Terminology and Usage”
‘Abdu’l‑Bahá, The Promulgation of Universal Peace
Head of the Bahá’í Faith from 1921 until his death in 1957
Subsequently compiled into a book titled, The World Order of Bahá’u’lláh
Century of Light is an historical commentary commissioned by the Universal House of Justice
Shoghi Effendi, The World Order of Bahá’u’lláh
A Governance Befitting, 8
The Universal House of Justice, letter to the Bahá’ís of the World, Riḍván 2021
‘Abdu’l‑Bahá, The Will and Testament of ‘Abdu’l‑Bahá
Bahá’u’lláh, The Summons of the Lord of Hosts
Bahá’u’lláh, Epistle to the Son of the Wolf. Cited by Shoghi Effendi in The World Order of Bahá’u’lláh
Bahá’u’lláh, Gleanings from the Writings of Bahá’u’lláh. Cited by Shoghi Effendi in The World Order of Bahá’u’lláh
Bahá’u’lláh, The Kitáb-i-Íqán
Shoghi Effendi, The Promised Day is Come
Alfred Lord Tennyson, In Memoriam, [Ring out, wild bells]