# Forging More Perfect Unions

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> Source: Bahá'í Library Online (bahai-library.com), curated by Jonah Winters. Used by permission of the curator. Original citation: William Barnes, Forging More Perfect Unions, bahai-library.com.
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> 
> Published in the Journal of Bahá’í Studies Vol. 5, number 1 (1992)
> © Association for Bahá’í Studies 1992
> 
> Forging More Perfect Unions
> William Barnes
> Abstract
> The author believes that, to avoid disintegration, social advances toward more inclusive political structures must be accompanied
> by a moral advance toward more universal values. This article discusses the three stages of humanity’s global political
> unification, as these are described in the Bahá’í writings: confederation, federation, and commonwealth. Since in the author’s
> view forms of government are outer expressions of inner levels of collective unified consciousness, each of these forms of
> government also marks a stage of humanity’s deepening inner unification. Of particular note is the discussion of the changing
> concept of competition. Competition has been the dynamic power behind humanity’s advance to this point. Competition will
> remain the driving power of advance, but, based on statements from the Bahá’í writings, the author argues that if human beings
> are to create a united world they must stop competing selfishly to obtain individual, national, or regional goals and, instead,
> compete selflessly to forge cooperative structures that will benefit all humanity.
> 
> Résumé
> L’auteur croit que, pour éviter la désintégration, toute progression sociale visant à établir des structures politiques plus
> englobantes doit nécessairement s’accompagner d’une progression morale vers des valeurs plus universelles. L’article traite des
> trois étapes de l’unification politique globale de l’humanité telles que décrites dans les écrits bahá’ís: cofédération, fédération, et
> commonwealth. Puisque, de l’avis de l’auteur, les formes de gouvernement sont l’expression extérieure de niveaux intérieurs
> d’une conscience collective unifiée, chacune de ces formes de gouvernement représente une nouvelle étape de l’unification
> intérieure grandissante de l’humanité. L’auteur traite aussi de l’évolution du concept de la compétition. Alors que la compétition
> a constitué jusqu’à maintenant—et continuera d’étre—la puissance dynamique à l’origine de la progression de l’humanité,
> l’auteur croit, en se fondant sur les écrits bahá’ís, que pour realiser l’unification mondiale, il faut que les humains cessent d’être
> en compétition égoïste les uns avec les autres en vue d’atteindre un objectif personnel, national, au régional; il leur faudrait plutôt
> rivaliser entre eux de façon désintéressée en vue de mettre en place des structures coopératives susceptibles de bénéficier à toute
> l’humanité.
> 
> Resumen
> El autor es partidario de que para evitar la desintegración, los avances sociales hacia estructuras políticas más inclusivas deben
> ser acompañadas por un avance moral hacia valores más universales. Esta disertación presenta las tres etapas de la unificación
> política global de la humanidad de acuerdo con los escritos bahá’ís: confederación, federación, mancomunidad. Puesto que,
> según opina el autor, los modos de gobierno son expresiones externas de niveles internos de conciencia colectiva unificada, cada
> uno de estos modos de gobierno señala una etapa de profundización de la unificación interna de la humanidad. Vale
> especialmente mencionar la exposición sobre la alteración del concepto de la competencia. Hasta el presente, la potencia
> dinámica tras el avance de la humanidad ha sido la competencia. La competencia seguirá siendo la fuerza motriz del progreso, no
> obstante que, basado en declaraciones extraidas de los escritos bahá’ís, el autor sostiene que si los seres humanos esperan crear
> un mundo unido, precisan abandonar, en la obtención de metas individuales, nacionales, o regionales, la competencia egoísta y,
> en vez, competir desinteresadamente para forjar instituciones cooperativas que beneficiarán a toda la humanidad.
> 
> I f peace and security are to mean something more than the temporary exhaustion that is the outcome of nations
> periodically clubbing each other senseless, then cooperation is essential. Conflict is inevitable so long as narrow
> self-interest drives human desire, but cooperation takes different forms. It can be either the result of a convergence
> of interests that immediately dissolves when these interests wane, or it can be a form of being, as for example the
> organs of the body acting in concert to manifest growth and life. The first form of cooperation is that of separated
> units temporarily connecting to work together for some common end or for some individual purpose that needs
> another to be realized. The second kind of cooperation is that of units manifesting an enduring unity.
> The Bahá’í writings indicate that the political unification of humanity will progress from the present emphasis
> upon the first form of cooperation to an emphasis upon the second kind. However, they warn that this outer
> movement must be paralleled by a psychological shift from selfish competition that divides humanity into warring
> camps, to selfless competition, which will be the means by which stronger cooperative structures may be created. If
> such a psychological transformation does not occur, humankind will experience an unprecedented violent upheaval
> that could destroy civilization. This article explores the stages of the social and psychological movement of
> humanity as it is presented in the Bahá’í writings.
> Competition
> Competition comes out of the child’s self-protecting, self-aggrandizing “me first” attitude, a stage of life in which
> selfishness and self-development are the same thing. However useful an attitude during the early years, this child’s
> world of value becomes self-destructive when carried into maturity with its give-and-take relationships. The same
> principle may be applied to the growth of nations and their relationships.
> Any attempt to unite the self-interests of competing sovereign nations, such as the various regional associations
> now emerging, is difficult to maintain if cooperation is only a marriage of mutual convenience. For such unions are
> really a means to promote national interests and hold together only as long as these interests are served. Nations also
> enter into regional unions to gain competitive economic advantage over other regions. Awareness of this fact causes
> other nations to form blocs to protect their economies and improve their competitive edge. Thus the anxiety and
> tension that competition arouses are perpetuated on a larger scale.l Such cooperation cannot create true unity, only a
> guarded, uneasy truce between watchful rivals.
> One hundred years ago Bahá’u’lláh counselled against making “a union that would lead to disunity or a concord
> which would create discord” (Tablets 167). Today we see the wisdom in this counsel. For even as greater
> cooperative economic and political structures are built within the existing world system, the competition among
> peoples for physical and intellectual resources makes the system breakdown faster and more destructively.
> Any political structure that is less than global can only exacerbate “us” versus “them” feelings. If the world’s
> peoples are truly to unite, divisive feelings must be overcome. Political unity alone can only indicate that such unity
> is possible. Even the creation of a global political structure could not by itself overcome the antipathy, suspicion,
> and mistrust that have long divided nations and peoples, nor stop competing nations from instinctively throwing in
> front of each other hindrances that cause frustrations to boil over into angry name-calling and finger-pointing, and,
> sometimes wars. Outward unity cannot stand upon inward divisions. As Shoghi Effendi warned:
> 
> Not even, I venture to assert, would the very act of devising the machinery required for the political and
> economic unification of the world…provide in itself the antidote against the poison that is steadily
> undermining the vigor of organized peoples and nations. (The World Order 34)
> 
> The poison is in the heart. Bahá’ís contend that humanity’s outer social growth toward a global order must occur
> in tandem with inner moral growth toward universal human values, since a new social order would function neither
> properly nor for long without a grounding in new inclusive ways of thought and feeling. Bahá’u’lláh wrote: “The
> earth is but one country, and mankind its citizens” (Tablets 167). Nations and peoples must outgrow the tendency to
> see themselves as separate pieces of humankind. Instead, they must perceive themselves as the limbs and members
> of the organic body of humanity. In this new view, national growth must be measured according to how well a
> nation’s people and institutions act in relation to noble, moral standards rather than how voraciously they can
> consume a greater variety of goods or how forcefully they can make their expressions of self-interest felt in
> international politics. In their outlook nations must conform to the organic principle that “the welfare of the part
> means the welfare of the whole, and the distress of the part brings distress to the whole” (Shoghi Effendi, Promised
> Day 122).
> Unless humankind makes this bold inner leap toward unity, Shoghi Effendi forecasts that “the forces of a world
> catastrophe can alone precipitate such a new phase of human thought ...”2 (The World Order 46).
> 
> The Vision of Bahá’u’lláh
> Bahá’u’lláh’s Revelation is a vision of human society revolving around the pivotal principle of the oneness of
> humanity. His mission was to guide humankind toward full social and psychological realization of this principle.
> Toward this end Bahá’u’lláh reaffirmed in peerless language those eternal human values of love, peace, justice,
> compassion, respect, and tolerance: that great symphony of ethical virtues common to all the great religions and
> which alone constitute the only proper foundation for a global social order. But more than revitalizing these
> individual moral ideals Bahá’u’lláh
> 
> as well as ‘Abdu’l-Bahá after Him, has, unlike the Dispensations of the past, clearly and specifically laid down a
> set of Laws, established definite institutions, and provided for the essentials of a Divine Economy. These are
> destined to be a pattern for future society, a supreme instrument for the establishment of the Most Great Peace,
> and the one agency for the unification of the world, and the proclamation of the reign of righteousness and
> justice upon the earth. (Shoghi Effendi, The World Order 19)
> The system fashioned by Bahá’u’lláh to govern the worldwide Bahá’í community offers itself as a means to
> integrate and harmonize divergent interests by incorporating them within a framework of dynamic cooperative
> relationships. So new is this system that Bahá’u’lláh said it revolutionizes humankind’s ordered life and upsets the
> world’s equilibrium (Gleanings 136).
> This earlier equilibrium was established on the principle that human beings are only clever, contentious monkeys
> whose proper goals are material. Bahá’ís believe that “all were made for harmony and union” (Bahá’u’lláh, Tablets
> 164). Hence people are essentially peaceful and cooperative beings whose proper goals are spiritual. We have not
> perceived this until now because, as Bahá’u’lláh wrote: “Lack of a proper education” has deprived us “of that which
> [we] ... inherently possess” (Gleanings 259).
> A harmonious and unified world does not mean the end of competition, however. Competition is an essential
> drive in human beings and the means of human development. One of the unique features of Bahá’u’lláh’s system
> grows out of a call to every individual to use the innate creative drive of competition as the means to advance the
> entire human race and not just that part to which one is immediately connected.3 This great transformation in
> thought is part of what Shoghi Effendi called “an organic change in the structure of present-day society, a change
> such as the world has not yet experienced” (The World Order 43).
> Organic change means a living thing grows into a new form of itself. However, in organic advances, prior stages
> are never lost. They are conserved and absorbed into the higher stage and put to new but logically related purposes,
> thus continuing the advance toward a perfect (i.e., complete) form called maturity, after which physical decline
> toward death begins.
> However for human beings, individually and collectively, maturity means that physical growth reaches its
> highest form so a new spiritual kind of growth can supersede it (‘Abdu’l-Bahá, Selections 285). Advance from this
> point of completion is not according to new forms of established physical and psychological laws but, rather,
> according to new laws. Hence at maturity the physical order becomes distinct from the spiritual order. Yet to
> achieve continuity of identity through this great reorientation, the laws and principles of life that governed physical
> growth must be conserved and incorporated within the spiritual order. This is done by a transformation in the
> meaning and purpose of human life. For the individual it means a change from selfish to selfless, to stop living for
> self and to begin living for others—spouse, family, children, friends.
> This same principle applies to humanity’s development. Its collective form was stated by ‘Abdu’l-Bahá:
> 
> According to an intrinsic law, all phenomena of being attain to a summit and degree of consummation, after
> which a new order and condition is established. As the instruments and science of war have reached the degree
> of thoroughness and proficiency, it is hoped that the transformation of the human world is at hand and that in the
> coming centuries all the energies and inventions of man will be utilized in promoting the interests of peace and
> brotherhood. (Bahá’í World Faith 232)
> 
> Bahá’ís believe that humanity has reached its stage of maturity.4 Hence a unified, cooperative world order must
> be created. However, this order of peace cannot logically grow out of the divisive, competitive order of war. It can
> only replace war. New spiritual and social principles must emerge to unify humankind. Yet the competitive
> principles that ruled human society until now, whose extreme and degenerate expression is the world wars of this
> century, must in some measure be conserved within the new order. To accomplish this, competition must be given
> new moral direction and purpose. A new cooperative social structure must conserve competition but put this energy
> to use building rather than destroying human unity. To answer this need Bahá’u’lláh wrote:
> 
> Vie ye with each other in the service of God and of His Cause. This is indeed what profiteth you in this world,
> and in that which is to come. (Quoted in Shoghi Effendi, Advent 83)
> 
> ‘Abdu’l-Bahá echoed this statement:
> 
> Happy the soul that shall forget his own good, and like the chosen ones of God, vie with his fellows in
> service to the good of all.... (Secret 116)
> 
> To “vie” in spiritual matters means to compete individually to advance the development of such human virtues
> as self-sacrifice, love, justice, and humility, and to strive to be of service to the common good. Collectively, it is a
> challenge to stop cooperating to compete better to advance national or regional interests and, instead, compete to
> advance the whole of humanity. Any individual may help humanity advance toward a cooperative and unified world
> order by supporting just government everywhere it is found:
> It is incumbent upon every man, in this Day, to hold fast unto whatsoever will promote the interests, and
> exalt the station, of all nations and just governments. (Bahá’u’lláh, Gleanings 94–95)
> 
> Bahá’ís are to do this by spiritual means:
> 
> Let them obey the government and not meddle in political affairs, but devote themselves to the betterment of
> character and behaviour, and fix their gaze upon the Light of the world. (‘Abdu’l-Bahá, Selections 319)
> 
> Stages of Unity
> Achieving an inwardly and outwardly united world will take time and work through several stages. The Bahá’í
> writings envision three distinct stages of humanity’s collective political evolution. First, the confederation of
> nations, growing out of the present United Nations; second, a federation of nations under a world government; third,
> a global commonwealth whose greatest development will be the peace and security of all people.5 Each of these
> stages will have substages of development. Each is a more perfect political unity because each is a more
> comprehensive embodiment of unifying moral values.
> Humankind is in the first stages of creating a world confederation of states and nations. The principle of national
> sovereignty still dominates and limits the cooperative possibilities of nations, though, as mentioned earlier,
> associations of states and organizations representing states are forming with increasing rapidity and enduring for
> longer periods of time. A confederation is an association of sovereign states, each of which may delegate rights and
> powers to a central government but does not delegate its sovereignty. To confederate is to unite through alliances,
> leagues, and compacts formed for the purpose of acting together as a group, but not as one.
> ‘Abdu’l-Bahá said the early glimmerings of political unity could be discerned in his lifetime because the creation
> of the League of Nations was “the dawn of universal peace ...” (Selections 311). The League of Nations was formed
> after the first global war to put an end to the threat of future wars. Representatives gathered from leading nations at
> The Hague, Netherlands, to consider ways to create a durable peace. They asked ‘Abdu’l-Bahá for his thoughts on
> this topic, and he sent a powerful message to its executive committee in which he explained the essential
> requirements for world peace.6 The Hague Convention did not adopt ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s ideas. Protecting national
> interests was still uppermost in their minds.
> ‘Abdu’l-Bahá wrote about The Hague Assembly:
> 
> It is evident that this meeting is not what it is reputed to be and is unable to order and arrange affairs in the
> manner which is befitting and necessary.... The meeting at the Hague should have such power and influence that
> its word will have an effect on the governments and nations. (Selections 307)
> 
> Because they lacked this power and since the collective psychological structures of unity necessary to ensure
> enduring peace were not understood, ‘Abdu’l-Bahá prophesied that “in the future another war, fiercer than the last,
> will assuredly break out; verily, of this there is no doubt whatever. What can the Hague meeting do?” (Selections
> 307).
> When in the aftermath of humanity’s second experience of global war the exhausted nations formed the stronger
> confederation of the United Nations, much more than the glimmerings of the light of political unity could be
> perceived. The reality of a world government began to grow. However, for successful global governance, nations
> must sacrifice some of their sovereignty. Chiefly, they must cede the right to make war. This transfer of power
> means federation.
> Politically a federation is a single sovereign power. Its component parts may have all sorts of powers and rights
> to manage their internal affairs, but they do not have sovereignty. Federation is union by mutual consent. The word
> is derived from the Latin fides and fidere, from which words we get fidelity and faithfulness. Its cement, in other
> words, is from the heart, a binding by feelings of loyal submission and trust embodied in legal compact. Being a
> union by faith, federation is much like what the Bible calls a covenant and thus implies deeper spiritual bonds than
> does confederation—bonds more difficult to break and which if broken portend greater destruction.
> Bahá’ís believe that the next major step in humanity’s political evolution is the creation of a world-embracing
> federation of nations and that the federal unification of humanity is fast approaching.7 The American system is the
> model for the world system, said ‘Abdu’l-Bahá: “The United States may be held up as the example of future
> government...” (Promulgation 167). Establishing this global federation is the foundation of what Bahá’u’lláh called
> the lesser or political peace. This peace, the Bahá’í writings indicate, will be brought about by conscious decision
> and mutual consent of the world’s leaders.8
> Although the Bahá’í community will not directly create this world government, Shoghi Effendi wrote that
> Bahá’u’lláh’s appeal to governments and peoples laid down the “essentials of that social code, that Divine
> Economy, which must guide humanity’s concerted efforts in establishing that all embracing federation which is to
> signalize the advent of the Kingdom of God on this earth...” (The World Order 61).
> A world federal system is the political structure of world unity, but this outer creation only signalizes the advent
> of the emerging Kingdom of God. Humanity must go further than political unification and organize into an organic
> commonwealth. The cooperation of nations and peoples in the “World Commonwealth envisaged by Bahá’u’lláh...”
> (Shoghi Effendi, The World Order 168) is the true form and expression of humankind’s collective being.
> A political commonwealth is an association of independent states, but no part dominates any other.
> Commonwealth comes from common weal, which means the public good or general welfare. Thus commonwealth
> is related to such ideas as community and concord. Commonwealth implies fully matured democratic political
> institutions in which the whole body of humanity may participate.9 But a true commonwealth is a government of the
> mind, binding people by common interest, shared sentiment and goals. This spiritual tradition is their real common
> wealth.
> The one embracing heritage of humanity, our common wealth, is that of the one eternal religion of the prophets.
> This religion has always and progressively overcome entrenched human differences and welded disparate peoples
> together into a common civilization and culture. Bahá’u’lláh revelation claims to be the heir and continuer of this
> tradition, organically connecting all previous revelations, civilizations, and cultures together as different expressions
> of one common essence. Shoghi Effendi asserted that
> 
> the Faith of Bahá’u’lláh is now visibly succeeding in demonstrating its claim and title to be regarded as a World
> Religion, destined to attain, in the fullness of time, the status of a world-embracing Commonwealth, which
> would be at once the instrument and the guardian of the Most Great Peace announced by its Author.10
> 
> By the Bahá’í Faith’s aid, humanity will unite to such an extent that ‘Abdu’l-Bahá could foresee that in the
> distant future
> 
> no nation with separate and restricted boundaries—such as Persia, for instance—will exist. The United States of
> America will be known only as a name. Germany, France, England, Turkey, Arabia—all these various nations
> will be welded together in unity. (Promulgation 19)
> 
> Conclusion
> The nations, unable from lack of a coordinated vision to do more than grope their way into the darkness of a divided
> future, exist in a present state that provides them no context with which to understand or build their common future.
> They painfully work toward the ideal of unity from a condition of disunity. From this perspective, world unity can
> only be achieved through an exasperating trial-and-error search for the right structure of social relations. The force
> and completeness of Bahá’u’lláh’s vision of human society comes from his revelation that the world is already
> united, though humankind does not realize this. From this understanding, Bahá’u’lláh constructed integrated and
> integrating social institutions that manifest and develop this unity. For Bahá’ís the problem is not to find the right
> structure of relations, but to get people to see Bahá’u’lláh’s structure as the right one:
> 
> The well-being of mankind, its peace and security, are unattainable unless and until its unity is firmly
> established. This unity can never be achieved so long as the counsels which the Pen of the Most High have
> revealed are suffered to pass unheeded. (Bahá’u’lláh, Gleanings 286)
> 
> Looking back over the past 150 years of global ferment, one can see this period of history either as a gradual
> unfoldment of more cooperative arrangements, or as the growth of larger and more ferocious collective selfhoods
> competing for influence. Actually, until the world achieves unity, both views are valid.
> But as this article has argued, forms of government are outer expressions of inner levels of unified
> consciousness. Both are built upon shared collective values. It is these values that ultimately hold any human system
> together, not its treaties; the inner moral sentiments, not the outer legal fiats. The degree to which humanity may
> erect enduring forms of political and economic unity depends upon the degree to which human beings are united
> inwardly. The transformation of the present “lamentably defective” order of confederating states into a glorious
> federated one is the greatest political development in human history, and the one fraught with greatest perils. But the
> establishment of a global federation signals humanity’s entry into mature social relations. Such a transformation can
> be navigated only if universal values, building on the principle of humanity’s essential oneness, guide policy.
> The evolutionary change of systems is the result of a great shift in the understanding of human purpose and the
> collective means to attain these purposes. The means through which humankind has progressed has been
> competition. This remains unchanged. But in Bahá’u’lláh’s vision this creative potential is harnessed to the most
> sublime moral ends and for the benefit of all. Human beings should compete to create stronger cooperative
> structures. The final result will be to forge a perfect union embracing all humanity, a union where people’s “outward
> conduct is but a reflection of their inward life, and their inward life a mirror of their outward conduct” (Bahá’u’lláh,
> Gleanings 271).
> 
> Notes
> 1. Recently a spate of books and articles discussing these regional associations has appeared. Among the best of
> these discussions, and perhaps the most widely read, is Lester Thurow’s Head to Head. The book is subtitled, “The
> Coming Economic Battle among Japan, Europe and America.” Thurow sees the need for cooperation but also
> understands that competition will be around for some time. For example, he writes on page 24: “In the economic
> contest that lies ahead, the world is not divided into friend and foe. The game is simultaneously competitive and
> cooperative. One can remain friends and allies, yet still want to win.” This is no doubt true, but the point is that
> within a united world everybody can win, and with selfless competition this is possible.
> 2. The nature of this catastrophe is anybody’s guess. We cannot with certainty claim it means a third global war.
> An environmental disaster could accomplish the same thing. But, perhaps, the real calamity is nothing so singular
> and dramatic. A real calamity is swirling around us already in the form of moral degeneration, corruption, despair,
> and prejudice that make life such a burden to so many and which if not reversed will certainly bring about those
> awful fears that haunt our thoughts and invade our peace.
> 3. Internal competition is the innovative force in any well-run organization. But such competition must be for the
> purpose of realizing corporate goals. Analysts concur that such high-level functioning occurs only when the
> company has invested considerable time and effort in socializing its members in meaningful collective values. See,
> for example, Thomas Peters and Robert Waterman, In Search of Excellence.
> 4. ‘Abdu’l-Bahá wrote that humanity “has entered its long-predicted phase of maturity, the evidences of which
> are everywhere apparent ...” (quoted in Shoghi Effendi, The World Order 165).
> 5. Numerous examples of all these have existed in the past, and exist today, of course. Few of these neatly fit
> under the definitions I have given. For example, the Commonwealth of Independent States is not a commonwealth,
> according to our definition. One may call oneself anything one likes. There is always the problem of squaring neat
> verbal definitions with messy political realities, because politicians and political theorists use the same. word for
> different purposes. My point is that humanity will pass through these stages together once the globe is united.
> 6. See ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, Selections 296-308 for extracts from this letter.
> 7. The talk of federating the European states is a most welcome sign of world federation. The change from a
> mere economic alliance into a political union is associated with a change of consciousness. Without inner union,
> “federal” structures fall apart once their political binding force is removed and the unresolved ethnic differences
> reemerge, as the present carnage in the former Yugoslavia shows. The American federal structure has remained
> intact because as ‘Abdu’l-Bahá pointed out, in America one finds “a oneness of interest and unity of national policy.
> These are, indeed, United States” (Promulgation 396).
> 8. “We pray God—exalted be His glory—and cherish the hope that He may graciously assist ... the kings of the
> earth—may God aid them through His strengthening grace—to establish the Lesser Peace. This, indeed, is the
> greatest means for insuring the tranquillity of the nations. It is incumbent upon the Sovereigns of the world—may
> God assist them—unitedly to hold fast unto this Peace, which is the chief instrument for the protection of all
> mankind” (Bahá’u’lláh, Epistle 30).
> 9. Establishing the Kingdom of God does not bring an end to kings. As Bahá’u’lláh wrote: “Although a
> republican form of government profiteth all the peoples of the world, yet the majesty of kingship is one of the signs
> of God. We do not wish that the countries of the world should remain deprived thereof. If the sagacious combine the
> two forms into one, great will be their reward in the presence of God” (Tablets 28).
> 10. The quotation is from The World Order 196. The essential features of this commonwealth are discussed in
> The World Order 203–4.
> Works Cited
> 
> ‘Abdu’l-Bahá. The Promulgation of Universal Peace: Talks Delivered by ‘Abdu’l-Bahá during His Visit to the
> United States and Canada in 1912. Comp. Howard MacNutt. 2d ed. Wilmette, IL: Bahá’í Publishing Trust,
> 1982.
> ———. The Secret of Divine Civilization. Trans. M. Gail with Ali-Kuli Khan. 3d ed. Wilmette, IL: Bahá’í
> Publishing Trust, 1975.
> ———. Selections from the Writings of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá. Comp. Research Dept. Bahá’í World Centre. Trans. Marzieh
> Gail et al. Haifa: Bahá’í World Centre, 1978.
> 
> Bahá’u’lláh. Epistle to the Son of the Wolf. Trans. Shoghi Effendi. 3d ed. Wilmette, IL: Bahá’í Publishing Trust,
> 1988.
> ———. Gleanings from the Writings of Bahá’u’lláh. Trans. Shoghi Effendi. 2d ed. Wilmette, IL: Bahá’í Publishing
> Trust, 1976.
> ———. Tablets of Bahá’u’lláh Revealed after the Kitáb-i-Aqdas. Comp. Research Department of the Universal
> House of Justice. Trans. H. Taherzadeh et al. 2d ed. Wilmette, IL: Bahá’í Publishing Trust, 1988.
> 
> Bahá’u’lláh and ‘Abdu’l-Bahá. Bahá’í World Faith. Rev. ed. Wilmette, IL: Bahá’í Publishing Trust, 1956.
> 
> Peters, Thomas, and Robert Waterman. In Search of Excellence. New York: Harper and Row, 1982.
> 
> Shoghi Effendi. Advent of Divine Justice. 4th ed. Wilmette, IL: Bahá’í Publishing Trust, 1984.
> ———. The Promised Day is Come. Rev. ed. Wilmette, IL: Bahá’í Publishing Trust, 1980.
> ———. The World Order of Bahá’u’lláh: Selected Letters. 2d ed. Wilmette, IL: Bahá’í Publishing Trust, 1974.
> 
> Thurow, Lester. Head to Head. New York: William Morrow and Company, 1992.
>
> — *Forging More Perfect Unions (Used by permission of the curator)*