"Candles of Unity"

[arthra]

Behold how its light is now dawning upon the world's darkened horizon.

The first candle is unity in the political realm, the early glimmerings of which can now be discerned.

The second candle is unity of thought in world undertakings, the consummation of which will erelong be witnessed.

The third candle is unity in freedom which will surely come to pass.

The fourth candle is unity in religion which is the corner-stone of the foundation itself, and which, by the power of God, will be revealed in all its splendour.

The fifth candle is the unity of nations -- a unity which in this century will be securely established, causing all the peoples of the world to regard themselves as citizens of one common fatherland.

The sixth candle is unity of races, making of all that dwell on earth peoples and kindreds of one race.

The seventh candle is unity of language, i.e., the choice of a universal tongue in which all peoples will be instructed and converse.

Each and every one of these will inevitably come to pass, inasmuch as the power of the Kingdom of God will aid and assist in their realization.

~ Abdu'l-Baha, Selections from the Writings of Abdu'l-Baha, p. 32



2 - www

 

[Lunitik]

The candle itself being oneness...

How though can politics exist in oneness? The very word has at its root "pole", it is a force to divide man. It can surely be dropped in light of the second candle.

Many view the peak of religion to be exactly freedom, thus again two candles can be dropped - the third and fourth.

The fourth, fifth, sixth, and seventh each pertain to unity of peoples... but wait, the first combination is this essentially as well.

We're down to two: Unity of people, and unity of religion. Religion in the modern world is categorized as the belief in God, and people are just the collection of men. This isn't a unity though, God and man, they are distinct. Well, God is a belief, and is man not also a belief? He is a collection of social input and conceptions about himself. Two beliefs, hmm...

What if these too could be merged? Is anything else plausible if the candle is true unity? If it is not so, then we must conclude the candle stick is worthless, that these are distinct candles, that they may as well be on different continents.

No, oneness is absolute, there are no exceptions.

 

[arthra]

When Abdul-Baha was referring to these principles there were few people who understood their meaning..

"The first candle is unity in the political realm, the early glimmerings of which can now be discerned."

Consider around 1870 when Baha'u'llah addressed Tablets to the various rulers


When Bahá'u'lláh arrived at 'Akká, through the power of God He was able to hoist His banner. His light at first had been a star; now it became a mighty sun and the illumination of His Cause expanded from the east to the west. Inside prison walls He wrote epistles to all the kings and rulers of nations summoning them to arbitration and Universal Peace

(Compilations, Baha'i World Faith, p. 222)

He urged them to form a world parliament...for the most part this was ignored.

In 1899, the first International Peace Conference was held in The Hague to elaborate instruments for settling crises peacefully, preventing wars and codifying rules of war.

Abdul-Baha was invited to the Peace Conference at Mohonk NY when He was visiting the US in 1912...

After the devestating WWI the nations began forming the League of Nations in hopes of preventing war..

Read what Abdul-Baha wrote to the Central Organization for Durable Peace in 1919:

Therefore Bahá’u’lláh, fifty years ago, expounded this question of universal peace at a time when He was confined in the fortress of ‘Ákká and was wronged and imprisoned. He wrote about this important matter of universal peace to all the great sovereigns of the world, and established it among His friends in the orient. The horizon of the east was in utter darkness, nations displayed the utmost hatred and enmity towards each other, religions thirsted for each other's blood, and it was darkness upon darkness. At such a time Bahá’u’lláh shone forth like the sun from the horizon of the east and illumined Persia with the lights of these teachings.

Among His teachings was the declaration of universal peace. People of different nations, religions and sects who followed Him came together to such an extent that remarkable gatherings were instituted consisting of the various nations and religions of the east. Every soul who entered these gatherings saw but one nation, one teaching, one pathway, one order, for the teachings of Bahá’u’lláh were not limited to the establishment of universal peace. They embraced many teachings which supplemented and supported that of universal peace.

Lawh-i-Hague (Tablet to the Hague)

WWII left internationalism in tatters for the most part..until around 1945 when the United Nations met

The UN Charter was signed on 26 June 1945 by the representatives of the 50 countries in San Francisco.

Since the founding of the United Nations there's been steady progress and the establishment of the International Court of Justice

Home | International Court of Justice

which happens to have a recommendation of Baha'u'llah..around 1868.

Bahá'u'lláh also advocated the establishment of an international
court of arbitration, so that differences arising between
nations might be settled in accordance with justice and reason,
instead of by appeal to the ordeal of battle.
In a letter to the Secretary of the Mohonk Conference on
International Arbitration, in August 1911, 'Abdu'l-Bahá
said: --

"About fifty years ago in the Book of Aqdas, Bahá'u'lláh
commanded people to establish universal peace and
summoned all the nations to the divine banquet of international
arbitration, so that the questions of boundaries,
of national honor and property, and of vital interests between
nations might be settled by an arbitral court of justice,
and that no nation would dare to refuse to abide by
the decisions thus arrived at. If any quarrel between
two nations it must be adjudicated by this international
court and be arbitrated and decided upon like the judgment
rendered by the Judge between two individuals. If at
any time any nation dares to break such a decision, all the
other nations must arise to put down this rebellion."

(Dr. J.E. Esslemont, Baha'u'llah and the New Era, p. 168)

So I think we can say that the glimmerings of that candle of unity in the political realm can be discerned today much better than it was say a hundred years ago...

 

[Lunitik]

So I think we can say that the glimmerings of that candle of unity in the political realm can be discerned today much better than it was say a hundred years ago...

But to what end? Politics will never be a force of unity for the simple reason it is about anything but. Politics divides, and you want to use it to unite, impossible! Baha'u'llah has talked a great deal about consultation, but it means that both parties will be unhappy, it means both will rebel because nothing is really solved. He says no man should desire power, that only a man who does not desire it should be given it, but if he really doesn't desire it he will refuse it. Power corrupts even the most humble, though. A man does not become humble because he is successful, he is humble because his arrogance has been defeated. Now arrogance will come again because he has been given power, but of course it will come in disguise, he will say it is because of the position he fills, he will show his arrogance through the course of that very power. He no longer needs to consult, he can simply pit the many over the few, or divide them equally so his say is final - this is, after all, how power is gotten: manipulation.

No, if unity is to be found, it must be done without politics, without any form of government. People should do things out of love, not because it will turn a profit. We can have different groups set up for different functions and they simply do the work that is necessary out of their love. This is not how Baha'u'llah has envisaged, but is it any more idealistic? We teach children to be egoistic, to identify with certain things - in this case a particular religion - and expect them to be different to those seeking power obviously. We wonder why criminals are the way they are, but it is no different in politics, it is simply more structured in the latter case. There is the same need for power, the same pushes to be the top person. There is no fundamental difference at all...

You know I have been around Baha'is, and one thing showed me that this faith cannot work: a man in the meeting proclaimed that Baha'is are to fight to take over the world and no one reacted other than to say that it is dangerous to discuss in front of the new person. Whether you uphold his view or not is irrelevant, it is becoming the direction of the faith; seeing that nothing else is really working people are becoming desperate, and violence is always the direction desperate people turn. They are still utterly violent, now they simply have a new cause, but it is the same desire for power. Man hasn't changed much, and will not change much, until he realizes the dangers of all identification, of all things which uphold the ego, the notion of "I", because when the "I" is formed it has to be defended, everyone wants their lives to mean something and this is the foundation of ego. No matter whether it is planted in the garden of humility or arrogance, it is still ego which is grown.

This is my problem with Baha'u'llah: he speaks of a great unity in man, not realizing he is actually creating a new schism. Abdu'l Baha has gone further in this, saying that Baha'is should keep to themselves, now the schism is complete and ego can flourish. I saw in the other Baha'is I met, and I saw it developing in myself, you cannot change the world by copying its mistakes. Baha'is look at the UN as confirmation of their beliefs, but what has the UN actually accomplished? It is the same chasing of power but on a larger stage, and many times less efficiently.

 

[Lunitik]

You will, perhaps, be interested to learn that around 80% of all inmates in America are Christian, even more if we include Muslims, identification with a Higher Power through belief does not seem to create better people. If you have encountered God directly, there is a fundamental change in the person, but through belief they will simply change the teaching to fit themselves. When God is directly realized, you have given up your will, you have dropped your ego and system of beliefs - at least momentarily - and this alone causes the encounter.

Belief, without true knowing, is a dangerous thing because it creates a very strong ego. Without true knowing, you will have to defend something you do not really know to be true, when you have no good argument you will have to defend in another way or simply avoid the situation. Avoiding, however, causes you to doubt, you have repressed your inability to express logically or reasonably and thus doubt festers within you. You are told to simply remain steadfast, but to what end? What if you're actually wrong and you have thrown your whole life away on account of manipulation?

No, you will at least want to fight everyone that doesn't believe, even if you never actually do. Your avoidance is the ultimate sign of disrespect, not of love. You are saying this person isn't even worth your time, it is impossible he could come to your level of intelligence. This is a delusion on your part though, you have not experienced anything of the divine and in the case of Baha'is even believe you cannot since true experience makes you a Manifestation according to the texts.

It all results in the necessity to become as a rock, not as a flower, and the rock has no fragrance, it does not share its love because it has none. It is simply unmoveable, whereas even a gust of wind moves the flower. Only the sensitivity of the flower can ever hope to come in the presence of God though, the stone has nothing to offer at all.

 

[taijasi]

The League of Nations, which became the United Nations, was begun by one of the most enlightened and spiritual men on this planet ... motivated by the Ideal of Unity between all peoples planet-wide, but with a focus on ONE World Government.

Nicholas Roerich did not find the support of the Hierarchy, carrying with him Chintamani - which helped anchor something DIVINE on our planet (as it has several times before) - all because of some unattainable, pie-in-the-sky, purely idealistic but oh-so-unrealistic PIPE DREAM.

Own up to the failings if you will. Otherwise, you must obviously be a part of the solution. Christ kind of put that clearly: Either you're for the Ideal of Unity ... or you are in opposition. If you argue that it cannot, will not ever be attained in the government arena, you are OPPOSED to Unity, not necessarily because you wish it could happen but just don't believe in it, but because some of us know that it is *inevitable* .... and therefore we know the occult basis for the well-known statement of the Christ.

It is not that the Baha'i Faith is the only avenue toward realizing and attaining both spiritual (or religious) Unity as well as political and racial Unity. Yet it remains an obvious fact that the Baha'i Faith is one certain Path by which [ALL] men may approach and attain to such realizations - not just conceptually but actually, FOR ALL TO SEE.

When there are bugs on the windshield, turn on the wipers. Use the cleaning fluid. ADD fluid, when the fluid is depleted. Kind of simple, really. That piece of wool that some like to place over the windshield, right before they stick their head in your window and start shouting all about doom & gloom and the UNattainable?

I'd throw that on the ground. It's just getting in the way ... and such people, however well-intentioned [let's see, we must be honest here, but we must also clear obstructions as they arise] ... are misguided, often quite self-deluded.

Let's avoid the prattle about how the UN has failed us too, okay? If countries like the U.S. would PAY their dues, and if people would stop arguing such crap like, "Oh, we'll neeeeeever attain to political unity!" ... perhaps we'd already BE more unified on this front. Or then again, it may just take a few more decades, and CLEANING HOUSE [sic!!!] in America (and other places) where a bunch of Right-wing, Tea-bagging NUT JOBS have determined to stick as solidly in the mud as they can, MUCKING things up for those trying to achieve forward PROGRESS and keep the momentum.

The Baha'is are wise enough to be a postive influence without getting caught up in the partisanship and bickering. The Speaker of the House, by contrast, is as close to Mr. Hilter as any of us have seen in American politics recently ... and living proof that the American people have about six important screws loose these days. GOD WILLING [sic!] we shall see our current relatively enlightened leader and his administration continue to inspire us and help to steer this country out of the ditch that screw-ups like the last crew of Nazi's helped put us in ...

... but this IS a Democracy, and that means even the people with room temperature IQs are allowed to get out there in a few more months and CHOOSE DESTINY. It's quite frightening, actually ... but I'm more disturbed when I see people trying to piss on someone else's parade, or ramble on about what will "never happen" because of how horrible human nature is.

Stop being so jaded. Try a different approach. Or maybe just get educated. This planet has already experienced several iterations of societies, civilzations or cultures that are way more enlightened than its current assembled collection ... and some of these did prove that political UNITY is as attainable as tying your shoes. It just takes patience, a little bit of know-how and MUCH, much PRACTICE.

My soapbox is now yours. Please don't waste the opportunity!

 

[Lunitik]

AndrewX: I am simply saying it cannot come about through politics, and I also do not think there needs to be any central power agency at all. For me, all of society should be enlightened - it should be the very nature of our education, which means to draw out, yet we use it to fill kids with nonsense. There is no reason why all cannot at least be brought to a place where satori is possible, and from there government is no more necessary at all. I have said that there should still be organizations responsible for community needs - such as infrastructure - but they should do it out of love for their community. While I do not see money going away any time soon, it must be overcome for a truly idealistic world to exist. Money creates greed in people, there can be no debate of this. We should come up with a way to reward people directly for their positive influence on the society, not simply because they earn a lot of money. People can do many things simply because they enjoy them, natural curiosity will keep us inventing just to improve life. There should be a group which monitors peoples activities in the society and manages the rewards. Without money though, government isn't necessary or possible, but without government there is no more need for war - war is simply power centers sending subjects out to die so they don't have to give up their power. It is not that I am jaded though, it is because I believe society would function better on motivations of pure love. The very nature of politics does not permit love, it cannot exist in unity because it relies on the opposite standpoints. In pure love, man will focus solely on bettering himself and our world, he will work because not doing so will be boring for him. He will be grateful and want to give back, but he should be able to help in whatsoever way he feels he can be helpful - the industries should be more prepared to teach exactly what they need, and be responsible for the learning they need in their field rather than colleges and universities that don't really understand their field at all, they are just trying to get you to pass a given test. All would function far better, and man would be far more happy because there would be absolute freedom for all rather than simply pretending it is the case today. It is a disgusting fact that in the world revolving around money, it is impossible to profit from actually doing good, yet the richest company in the world actually has a policy of NOT doing philanthropy. If this ideal isn't one day accomplished, man will always remain disgustingly egoistic. For me, it has to come about though, more and more are looking to the mystery schools, we are more and more aware of the similarities in the faiths, that they are all pointing to enlightenment, encountering divine love and melting into it. Science is starting to prove religions truths, and will eventually merge back with it. The West is finally moving away from the nonsense of Christianity and looking finally at Christ with a right interpretation - although actual Christians deny it is the possible. This cannot be rushed though, it is moving at the right pace, man has to achieve such abundance that he simply doesn't want money any more, then it will happen of its own accord. Today, we are creating more and more distinction between rich and poor, eventually machines will replace the poor though and there will no longer be a need to maintain a class to do your labor. Now money simply looks like passing around toilet paper and will naturally be seen for what it is, unnecessary.