# Remembering Shoghi Effendi as Interpreter

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> Transcript of a talk given by Glenford Mitchell, July 27,
> 1997, at the Foundation Hall of the House of Worship in Wilmette,
> Illinois. Taken from a series of two cassette tapes, © 1997 National
> Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá'ís of the U.S.
> 
> Contents:
>  Audio Tape #1
>  Audio Tape #2
> 
> 
> 
>  	"1997 marks the centenary of the Birth of Shoghi Effendi. There are 
> no celebrations of the occasion official or otherwise, because Shoghi 
> Effendi did not wish his birthday to be celebrated. He made this clear in 
> writing to commemorate any event associated with his life would be 
> tantamount to a departure from those established truths that are 
> enshrined within our beloved Faith. However there is nothing to stop us 
> from remembering him, indeed how can we forget so unique and 
> indispensable a figure of the Faith of Bahá'u'lláh. Since I have been offered 
> an opportunity[a] very welcome [one] I should say, and a pleasant 
> opportunity of being with you today, I invite you to join me in 
> remembering Shoghi Effendi as interpreter.
> 
>  It is only fair, I think, to tell you that the talk I am about to give will be 
> lengthy. It comprises [of] three parts. The first part is the Word as 
> Genesis, second interpreting the Word and third the 
> literature of interpretation. Now, perhaps you have heard that 
> phrasing before because I have been involved is some form of 
> resurrection... and ..not as spectacular as that involved Lazarus but it was 
> some form of resurrection because some years ago I wrote an article by 
> this title which was published in the World Order magazine so since I 
> assume most of you have not heard about this article I take a chance and 
> bring a large of it chunk to your attention. So then let's begin. 
> 
> Contents:
>  Audio Tape #1
>  Audio Tape #2
> 
> 
> [+CHAPTER1]
> 
>  PART - I
> 
>  THE WORD AS GENESIS 
> 
>  "The Word is the beginning and the end of all things." You 
> know the Word Capital W. "In the beginning was the Word, and the 
> Word was with God and the Word was God". So begins the gospel 
> according to St. John. "Thou didst wish to make thyself known unto 
> men, therefore thou didst through a Word of Thy mouth bring creation unto 
> being and fashion the universe". So goes one of the statements in 
> one of the well known prayers of Bahá'u'lláh. Creation is sustained and 
> advances by the power of the Word. The manifestation comes in a human 
> form and although we have in Him a physical presence, a tangible sign of 
> God's love, yet this is temporary. When He leaves what we have is the 
> Word because His most important act is to deliver the Word. Bahá'u'lláh 
> describes it, that is the Word in a prayer as "Thy most sublime Word, 
> through whose potency Thou didst call creation into being and didst reveal 
> Thy Cause".
> 
>  The Word then is the abiding evidence of the reality of the Manifestation. 
> It becomes the generating force of civilized life. Bahá'u'lláh says, 
> "The Word is the master-key for the whole world, inasmuch as 
> through its potency the doors of the hearts of men, which in reality are 
> the doors of heaven, are unlocked." And the Word is extended or 
> renewed in successive appearances of the Divine Messenger. In this very 
> terminology - Divine Messenger - Word is implied. As the initiator, the 
> dynamo the sustainer of existence the Word exercises an influence that 
> pervades all things and all conditions. "It hath ever dominated and 
> will continue to dominate the realm of being", Bahá'u'lláh says. 
> The Word is at the center of the realm of thought, through which 
> consciousness expresses itself. Abdu'l-Bahá tells us, that "the reality 
> of man is his thought." It stands to reason then that it is at this point 
> of reality that the Word produces a powerful impact. In a large sense, 
> thought is the product of the Word, and reflects its effects and even some 
> of its characteristics. Thought is revealed through the employment of 
> language. Language being you might say, a coherency of words. So the Word 
> in a certain sense is a progenitor of words. Bahá'u'lláh speaks of the 
> "Word of God as the Cause of the entire creation while all else 
> besides His Word are but the creatures and effects thereof." 
> Thought also manifests itself though varieties of actions and patterns of 
> behavior. In this regard the Master informs us that the thought without 
> action is useless. "The power of thought is dependent in its manifestation 
> in deeds", He asserts. Of course, we know what Bahá'u'lláh has to say about 
> words exceeding deeds. Good intentions you know but no action. You know 
> what kind of road is paved by such. 
> 
>  
> 
>  Informal or Spontaneous Interpretation:
> 
>  A vital occupation of thought is its search for meaning. The why and 
> wherefore of things tangible and intangible. The reason for this or that 
> constantly exercises our thought. Without a sense of meaning human life 
> is impossible. Perhaps this is why so many people when they do not 
> understand the meaning of or the reason for something they fill in the void 
> with products of the[ir] imagination. One of these of course is 
> superstition. Meaning comes through a variety of modes and means such as 
> experience, observation, instruction, conversation. But common to any 
> effort in arriving at a meaning is the capacity to interpret. That is, the 
> ability to understand or to make sense of signs, language, behavior, 
> relationships, actions, impressions, dreams and all other kinds of 
> phenomenon, etc. etc. In fact human beings are forever engaged in the act 
> of interpreting, as you are now. Webster's third international dictionary 
> offers the following as one definition of the word interpret: to understand 
> and appreciate in the light of individual belief, judgment, interest or 
> circumstances. In other words to construe, so you interpret a law, you 
> interpret a contract, you interpret the signs of a coming storm and so on 
> and so on. There are of course other definitions of [the word] interpret, and 
> we shall come to them later. What this definition, taken together with the 
> points already made, conclusively indicates is this: Interpretation is an 
> essential activity or function of intelligence. We do it all the time, 
> and indeed, cannot do without doing it. Right now you are doing that. How 
> else can you understand in any shape or form what I am saying to you. And 
> you are doing other things besides listening to my words, you are watching 
> my gestures, you are trying to decide whether I slept enough last night, 
> you are interpreting all kind of things while I talk. (laughter from the 
> audience). You are registering, you are interpreting you are understanding 
> things that I do, in ways that I would not understand. But that's fine. It is 
> constant, this exercise of the human the mind, it is spontaneous, it is 
> irrepressible [and] involuntary. As the Universal House of Justice said in 
> one of its letter to an individual with regards to the interpretation of the 
> Bahá'í teachings "a clear distinction is made in our Faith between 
> authoritative interpretation and the interpretation or understanding that 
> each individual arrives at for himself from his study of the teachings. 
> While the former is confined to the Guardian", that is the authoritative 
> interpretation "that later according to the guidance given to us by the 
> Guardian himself, should be by no means suppressed. In fact such 
> individual interpretation is considered the fruit of man's rational 
> power". This brings us to the second consideration of the talk namely 
> interpreting the Word.
> 
>  
> 
>  PART -II
> 
>  INTERPRETING THE WORD 
> 
>  We might start here by attempting to provide a context, by establishing 
> categories of interpretation, and exploring briefly additional dictionary 
> definitions of interpret and interpretation. It seems to me that 
> interpretation falls into three main categories. Now these I invented, and I 
> hope you will have mercy on me if I am totally wrong. So the three are: 
> 	informal or spontaneous,  formal,  
> and authoritative. 
> 
>  Those are my categories. Informal or spontaneous, formal, 
> authoritative. The first that is the informal, as already described, refers 
> to the habit of mind which obliges one to derive meaning or understanding 
> from the normal ongoing occurrences and conditions of life. The second, 
> that is formal is concerned with a disciplined or a systematic approach to 
> interpreting phenomenon, including Sacred Scripture. The third, 
> Authoritative, is unique to the Bahá'í Faith, and is related specifically to 
> the interpretations of Abdu'l-Bahá and Shoghi Effendi. We will come back 
> to the second and the third categories, since the first has already been 
> touched upon. Here I need the further aid of definitions. Interpret: 
> Webster says, to explain or tell the meaning of, in other words to expound, 
> elucidate, translate. Translate into intelligible or familiar language or 
> terms. Again Webster says, to apprehend, and represent by means of art.- 
> There you go by means of art-, show by illustrative representations, bring 
> perhaps a score or a script to active realization by performance. So 
> interpret means all of that, and interpretation of course is the act or 
> result of interpreting, and you, I won't go any further into defining it 
> because you understand all of that.
> 
>  Formal Interpretation:
> 
>  Now regarding the formal category of interpretation, let me introduce the 
> formal terminologies as used in academic circles, and by Biblical scholars 
> and by such establishments as the Roman Catholic Church. 
> Hermeneutics. This derives from the Greek word Hermenuin, to 
> interpret. This is the intellectual discipline concerned with the nature and 
> presuppositions of the interpretation of the human expression. This word 
> is associated etymologically with the name of the Greek God Hermes. He 
> was considered the messenger of the Gods and Deity of boundaries. Hermes 
> took messages from the Gods to others, i.e. to an audience, and therefore 
> was a mediator or an interpreter. Thus the associations of the term 
> Hermeneutics with Hermes reflect the inherently what they call the 
> triadic structure of the act of interpretation. A sign, I drew a chart for it. 
> I had to do it for myself. A sign or a message or a text of some sort 
> requires a mediator or interpreter to convey to some audience. So the 
> triadic structure implicitly contains major conceptual issues concerning 
> Hermeneutics. The nature of a text, what it means to understand a text. 
> How understanding and interpretation are determined by the 
> presuppositions and beliefs of the audience to which the text is being 
> interpreted. I want also to call your attention, before I go on with this, to 
> other words that will pop up. Exegetics which is at the bottom of 
> my chart there is another term for Hermeneutics. It is the science of 
> interpretation especially of Scripture, and then what you get from that is 
> exegesis, that is exposition, explanation, especially critical 
> interpretation of a text or a portion of Scripture. And then the one who 
> does it is called an exegete. I'll be using these terminologies on and 
> off throughout my talk. Now, even though interpretation is fundamental to 
> all the intellectual disciplines, Hermeneutics is relatively new to Western 
> culture. Friedrich Schleiermacher, who lived between 1768 and 1834 is 
> generally regarded as the founder of modern Hermeneutics. Then there was 
> a man named Wilhelm Dilthey, who lived between 1833 and 1911. He hoped 
> to develop a foundational discipline for the cultural sciences that would 
> render their conclusions as objective and as valid as those of the natural 
> sciences. Collateral with this newly born interest in Hermeneutics was a 
> rapid emergence of specialized disciplines as recognized and preserved by 
> the organizational structure of the modern university. Art-History, 
> Anthropology, Economics, History, the various literatures, Political 
> Science, Psychology, Philosophy etc. By the way, I picked up all this 
> materials from encyclopedias. Encyclopedia of Religion and what not. So 
> that's where I got my materials. At first it appeared these disciplines 
> were more concerned with methodologies than with hermeneutics. But 
> powerful intellectual currents have forced hermeneutics forward. Interest 
> in it has therefore burgeoned among literary critics, sociologists, 
> historians anthropologists, theologians philosophers and students of 
> religion. What has brought about these currents? I am told by the things I 
> have read. 1) New theories of human behavior in the psychological and 
> social sciences, that's one 2) Developments in epistemology and 
> philosophy of language, these have encouraged claims that what counts as 
> reality for a given culture is a function of the linguistic structures 
> superimposed upon experience. 3) Arguments advanced by philosophers 
> such as Ludwig Wittgenstein and Martin Heidegger that all human 
> experiences basically are interpreted and all judgments take place within 
> a context of interpretation mediated by culture and language behind which 
> it is impossible to go. A general assumption seems to have emerged from 
> all this namely, that human consciousness is situated in history and 
> cannot transcend it. This assumption thus raises important questions 
> concerning the cultural conditioning in any understanding. The effort at 
> laying down the foundational principles for hermeneutics has however not 
> realized its goal. The encyclopedia of religion states that even a 
> superficial glance at the contemporary intellectual scene reveals little 
> agreement concerning how hermeneutics is conceived or how the 
> discipline should proceed. The encyclopedia also calls attention to the 
> fact that the intellectual disciplines constituting the modern university, 
> have themselves been fractured into parties each of which has its own 
> methods and mode of interpretation. In psychology for example, there are 
> behaviorists, cognitive psychologists, Freudians, Jungian and Gestaltists, 
> just as in social sciences there are functionalists, structuralists, ethno-
> methodologists, and Marxists. Nonetheless interest in hermeneutics 
> surges. They say that diversity and conflict of interpretation have 
> increasingly have provided the stimulus and the urgency for acquiring 
> understanding and agreement. The study of religion, where we come in, 
> produces more problems for hermeneutics than any other academic 
> discipline. We can thank God that our Faith found a way of resolving that. 
> The Encyclopedia of Religion comments that, conceptually religions 
> themselves may be regarded as communities of interpretation. So the 
> scholarly study of them takes the form of an interpretation of an 
> interpretation. OK. Now I fiddled around and read a little bit about 
> Buddhism, and I discovered this. This is an illustration. The fundamental 
> problems of Buddhist hermeneutics are the co-existence of conflicting 
> sources and concepts of authority. According to tradition, the Buddha was 
> not the sole preacher of Dharma. Even during Buddha's life, His disciples 
> acted as missionaries and their words were considered as part of the 
> original message of Buddhism. The texts affirm that at the Buddha's own 
> behest the disciples began each sermon with the words meaning "thus have 
> I heard on one occasion". This formula presumably served as a guarantee of 
> authenticity or rather of faithfulness to the teachings of the Master, yet 
> the same introductory formula was used indistinctly for sermons 
> attributed to the Master, to his disciples or to mythical sages and deities. 
> Scholarly study of religion and modern hermeneutics very often are 
> based on assumptions that are different from religious interpretation, 
> therefore the religious participant frequently views scholars' 
> interpretation as reductionistic and alien. The consequence is the 
> endless debate among scholars of religion as to whether and to what 
> degree scholarly interpretation of religion does justice to the believers 
> own point of view. Western scholarship in religion is commonly allied 
> with the religious tradition of liberal Protestantism. This tradition is 
> itself a product of a series of bitter hermeneutical debates concerning the 
> application of historical critical methods to the Christian Bible. These 
> debates showed that orthodox Christians regarded the application of these 
> methods as "alien mode of interpretation". You see what has happened to a 
> religion that does not have interpreters. The issues involved were 
> resolved by liberal Protestantism which defined the essence of religious 
> faith as "experience rather than doctrine, or historical belief". Just 
> think about that for a minute. Schleiermacher, the founder of modern 
> hermeneutics, was himself a liberal Protestant. He exerted such influence 
> on the arrival at this compromise, much influence I should say. His opinion 
> was that the various religions were the culturally conditioned forms of an 
> underlying universal religious sensibility. The locus of Faith thus shifted 
> from belief to experience. Very important point now bear in mind. The 
> problem here essentially rests with the text and the inability to establish 
> its authoritative meaning. This proposed shift, in my view, of Faith from 
> belief to experience seems no less than a dodge. The way then to 
> determine the intent of the Author of a Sacred text, according to 
> Schleiermacher is to develop the basic grammatical and psychological 
> conditions necessary for the understanding of any text whatever. He felt 
> that the nature of language was the crucial theoretical issue. An 
> elaboration of this point goes like this, and I quote "A correct 
> interpretation requires, not only an understanding of the cultural and 
> historical context of an author, but a grasp of the latter unique 
> subjectivity. This can be accomplished only by an act," they say " of 
> divination and intuitive leap by which the interpreter re-lives the 
> consciousness of the author. By seeing this consciousness in the larger 
> cultural context the interpreter comes to understand the author better 
> than the author understands himself or herself". Interesting. It seems 
> normal to think that understanding of the authors intent is essential to 
> interpretation. and Schleiermacher had regard for this point of view of course. 
> However for some decades now the prevailing attitudes of scholars has 
> been to ignore the authorial intent altogether. For example. the 
> Encyclopedia states that most literary criticisms has been built on the 
> assumption that a literary text has its own afterlife independent of the 
> author and that to understand it has little or no relationship to the 
> understanding the authors intentions when writing it. I don't mind 
> that. It's nice to play around with fiction. It's fun. Anyway, I want to get 
> us out of this entanglement with Academia. That's not really what I want 
> to do. I was having fun playing with you. Probably I don't understand half 
> of what I am saying to you. 
> 
>  One theorist holds that there is no one right or wrong way to interpret 
> anything, including texts, hence the quest for agreement is not a 
> desideratum. In other words, it's not desired, it's not essential. It's not 
> needed. Imagine that. Wittgenstein advanced the notion that explanations 
> and interpretations make sense only within a horizon of pre-suppositions, 
> practices and assumptions that our culture mediates to us or tradition so 
> to speak. When all is said and done, these philosophers and theorists 
> have not been able to lay down singly or collectively a general theory of 
> understanding on which there is agreement, but the conflicting fragments 
> of thoughts they have brought to the continuing debate regarding 
> hermeneutics have seized upon the minds of the less thoughtful folks than 
> they and produced pretexts for a license of expression and criticisms that 
> not only shatters religious faith, but also threatens all good sense. 
> Now I wanted to give an example of Roman Catholic Churches reaction to 
> all of this. In 1993, you can see I was having fun, I have read these 
> documents. I don't understand it but anyway. In 1993 the Pontifical 
> Biblical Commission issued a document on the interpretation of the Bible 
> in the Church. It is a fascinating document for a Bahá'í to read, really 
> honestly, I have read them. Its issuance in 23 April 1993, to 
> commemorate the centenary of the encyclical of Leo the XIII. This thing he 
> called Providenticimus Deus and the 50th anniversary of the 
> encyclical of Pius XII which he called Divino Efflante Spirito. Both 
> concerning Biblical Studies. Pope John Paul II in his address on that 
> occasion, that is 1993 said that " on the one hand Providenticimus Deus 
> wanted especially to protect Catholic interpretation of the Bible from 
> the attacks of rationalistic science, on the other hand Divino Effante 
> Spirito was primarily concerned with defending the Catholic 
> interpretation from attacks that opposed the use of science by exegetes, 
> that wanted to impose a non-scientific so called spiritual interpretation 
> of the sacred scriptures." These things are two opposing things you see. 
> He furthermore quotes an assertion made at the second Vatican Council 
> " All that has been said about the manner of interpreting the Scripture is 
> ultimately subject to the judgment of the Church, which exercises the 
> Divinely conferred Commission and ministry of watching over and 
> interpreting the Word of God". Now I would like to know the Scriptures 
> that underlie this. Now, so, I have dealt with formal interpretation so 
> to speak. So let's deal a little bit with authoritative, which brings us 
> home. 
> 
>  Authoritative Interpretation:
> 
>  I have suggested three categories of interpretation: 1) Informal or 
> Spontaneous, that is the habit of mind which obliges one to derive meaning 
> or understanding from the normal ongoing occurrences and conditions of 
> life. 2) Formal, a disciplined or systematic approach to understanding or 
> interpreting a phenomenon including Sacred Scriptures, one which even 
> though it aspires towards a scientific method does not adhere to a general 
> theory of understanding on which there is an agreement. 3) Authoritative. I 
> have adopted the description authoritative for the third category which is 
> related to the Bahá'í Faith and is unique to it. This uniqueness derives 
> from a distinctive fact. Namely that Bahá'u'lláh himself in two major 
> documents, explicitly, designated an interpreter of His Writings. No 
> Revelator before Him has so clearly done this. A lack which has been 
> largely responsible for the disunity and schism within other major 
> religions. In both the Kitab-i-Aqdas and the Kitab-i-Ahd, which is the book 
> of Covenant, Bahá'u'lláh designated Abdu'l-Bahá as the interpreter of God's 
> Word. You know that. This unequivocal statement appears in the most Holy 
> Book. "When the Ocean of My presence hath ebbed, and the Book of My 
> revelation is ended, turn your faces towards him whom God hath purposed 
> who hath branched from this Ancient Root." Again Bahá'u'lláh 
> states "when the mystic dove will have winged its flight from its 
> sanctuary of praise and sought its far off goal, its hidden habitation, 
> refer ye whatsoever ye understand not in the Book, to him who hath 
> branched from this Mighty stock". Abdu'l-Bahá commenting on the 
> authority conferred on him, stated the following "in accordance with 
> the explicit texts of the Kitab-i-Aqdas, Bahá'u'lláh has made the Center of 
> the Covenant, the interpreter of His Word. A Covenant so firm and mighty 
> that from the beginning of time until the present day, no religious 
> dispensation has produced its like". Again Abdu'l-Bahá says, "I am 
> according to the explicit texts of the Kitab-i-Aqdas, and the Kitab-i-Ahd 
> the manifest interpreter of the Word of God, whoso deviates from my 
> interpretation is a victim of his own fancy." Bahá'u'lláh makes a highly 
> illuminating statement about appointed interpreters. Listen. "Know 
> assuredly", he said. "Just as thou firmly believest that Word 
> of God, exalted be His Glory, endureth for ever, thou must likewise believe 
> with undoubting faith that its meaning can never be exhausted." 
> Then this, "They who are its appointed interpreters, they 
> whose hearts are the repositories of its secrets, are however the only 
> ones who can comprehend its manifold wisdom." 
> Fascinating and instructive to contemplate the phrase "they 
> whose hearts are the repositories of its secrets. secrets of the Word. The 
> indication is that there is something here which transcends the 
> competencies of academic training. Obviously, the function of 
> authoritative interpretation is in its very nature and purpose different 
> from any arrangement we have known before. Its purpose extends beyond 
> the need to know the meaning of the Scripture as they apply to the 
> interactive behavior of the individuals, of peoples, of societies. It is to 
> make possible the achievement of the primary aim of the Bahá'í 
> Revelation, namely, the unity of the entire human race. As you know the 
> Bahá'í Faith has had the benefit of two appointed interpreters - Abdu'l-
> Baha and his successor Shoghi Effendi. 
> 
>  Let me now quote from a text of antiquity. Since it provides a bridge to 
> the third and final part of the talk that is the Literature of Interpretation. 
> This text is taken from [literature] on Christian doctrine, a treatise by St. 
> Augustine, which deals with Christian exegesis. "It is the duty of the 
> interpreter and teacher of Holy Scripture, the defender of the true Faith, 
> and the opponent of error both to teach what is right and to refute what is 
> wrong, and in the performance of this task, to conciliate the hostile, to 
> rouse the careless, and to tell the ignorant both what is occurring at 
> present and what is probable in the future. But once that his hearers are 
> friendly, attentive, and ready to learn, whether he has found them so or 
> has himself made them so, the remaining objects are to be carried out in 
> whatever way the case requires. If the hearers need teaching, the matter 
> treated of must be made fully known by means of narrative. On the hand to 
> clear points that are doubtful requires reasoning and the exhibition of 
> proof. If however, the hearers require to be roused, rather than instructed, 
> in order that they may be diligent to do what they already know, and to 
> bring their feelings into harmony with the truths they admit, greater vigor 
> of speech is needed." Isn't that fascinating? St. Augustine. 
> 
>  Shoghi Effendi, the great-grandson of Bahá'u'lláh was an interpreter of 
> holy Scripture for 36 years from 1921 to 1957 he labored at his divine 
> task producing in the end a wealth of interpretive literature, whose 
> implications for our times and for the far future demands serious study. In 
> a field, that had only been speculated about in the past, Shoghi Effendi by 
> the very nature of his calling, perfected a new literary form. His is a kind 
> of an achievement of which St. Augustine, one of the outstanding ancient 
> Christian thinkers, might have dreamed, in writing his treatise on 
> Christian doctrine. While it is not being suggested that we go back to the 
> 5th century universe of St. Augustine, to find meaning in the works of this 
> 20th century Interpreter; it is instructive and not merely a matter of 
> curiosity, that the Augustinian idea was never truly realized until the 
> passing of Bahá'u'lláh in 1892 and the subsequent assumption of the office 
> of Interpreter by Abdu'l-Bahá who in turn acting in accordance with the 
> divine authority explicitly conferred upon him by Bahá'u'lláh, appointed 
> Shoghi Effendi to succeed him. It is largely the fact of appointment that 
> lends a hitherto unknown dimension to the matter of interpretation in the 
> Bahá'í dispensation and places a unique stamp on Abdu'l-Bahá's and Shoghi 
> Effendi's works as Interpreters of Scripture. That the prevailing Christian 
> concept and practice of interpretation which St. Augustine had to shape, 
> differs in essential details from the Bahá'í experience since the passing 
> of Bahá'u'lláh also deserves notice but ...[ I lost my way here. but it is not 
> the purpose of this talk to do this] The intention here is to discuss the 
> writings of Shoghi Effendi and as it serves the purpose of literary review 
> to ascertain the motivation of the author some attention to Shoghi 
> Effendi's major function as an interpreter is unavoidable. If therefore 
> Augustine is invoked, it is principally because, retrospection may offer 
> dimension where comparisons are impossible. The question of authenticity 
> and the method of interpretation with which he wrestled, has only now 
> been conclusively answered in the Revelation of Bahá'u'lláh, fifteen 
> centuries later, and in a way that the facts of Christ's ministry and the 
> realities of Augustine's time could not have prepared his vision to 
> perceive. Yet we can appreciate how significant was his yearning, and 
> with what remarkable resourcefulness he discerned and defined the need 
> for authentication of scriptural meaning. 
> 
>  Bahá'u'lláh who declared, Himself to be the Spokesman of God for 
> our time, identifies unity as the central purpose of His Revelation and 
> relates this to the consummate purpose of God for man. Unity of mankind 
> envisaged by Bahá'u'lláh calls for the establishment of a World Order, 
> based on the laws and principles, which He Himself has left enshrined in 
> His recorded Writings, produced over a period of forty years. The Bab 
> Himself the author of an independent revelation, and the forerunner of 
> Bahá'u'lláh alludes to the glorious prospects of the system to be conceived 
> by His Successor. He states in the third chapter of the Persian Bayan, 
> "Well is it with him who fixeth his gaze upon the order of Bahá'u'lláh 
> rendereth thanks unto his Lord for he will assuredly be made manifest. God 
> hath indeed irrevocably ordained it in the Bayan." Of this central 
> purpose of Bahá'u'lláh's revelation, Shoghi Effendi writes, " .. for 
> Bahá'u'lláh we should readily recognize, has not only imbued mankind with 
> a new and regenerating spirit, he has not merely enunciated certain 
> universal principles, or propounded a particular philosophy, however 
> potent, sound and universal these may be. In addition to these, he 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." The Houses of Justice, 
> institutions of Bahá'u'lláh's World Order, which he summons the people of 
> every city, hamlet or village, of every country to elect according to 
> principles enunciated by him are to function under the direction and 
> protection of a Supreme legislative institution the Universal House of 
> Justice. This Supreme institution, no less than the Local and National 
> Houses of Justice, now known as the Local and National Spiritual 
> Assemblies, is to reach its decisions through a process of consultation in 
> which divine guidance is vouchsafed by God. Although all these institutions 
> are assured of divine guidance, the Universal House of Justice is 
> especially freed from all error. The establishment and evolution of these 
> unique institutions are part of a grand design, which is made possible 
> through a unique provision namely, the establishment of the Institution of 
> the Center of the Covenant, in the person of Abdu'l-Bahá, the eldest son of 
> Bahá'u'lláh. You know what the Scriptures are that designated him such, as 
> the Center of the Covenant, and we know how much Bahá'u'lláh wrote about 
> His son, how He loved him, how he praised him, how he conveyed in His 
> various Writings, the nature, the character of His successor. For instance, 
> in one of his Tablets, Bahá'u'lláh says, "Render thanks unto God O 
> People! for his appearance," that is Abdu'l-Bahá's appearance, 
>  "for verily he is the most great favor unto you, the most perfect 
> bounty upon you, and through him every moldering bone is quickened, 
> whosoever turneth towards him hath turned towards God, and whosoever 
> turneth away from him, hath turneth away from My Beauty, hath 
> repudiated My Proof and transgressed against Me. He is the Trust of God 
> amongst you, His Charge within you, His manifestation unto you, and His 
> appearance amongst His favored servants. We have sent him down in the 
> form of a human temple, Blessed and sanctified be God who created 
> whatsoever He willeth through His inviolable, His infallible Decree. They 
> who deprive themselves of the shadow of the Branch, are lost in the 
> wilderness of error, are consumed by the heat of worldly desires, and are 
> of those who will assuredly perish".  You know in that passage 
> where Bahá'u'lláh says he is His charge within you, His manifestation unto 
> you. Do you remember in the Old Testament when Moses was being 
> assigned His mission as a Manifestation, and He was parrying with God and 
> wanted to slip out of it, and He made all kinds of excuses, and one of His 
> excuses was that He was a stammerer and could not speak, and God said, 
> all right, you are still the one, Aaron can speak, you tell him what to say. I 
> am your God and You are his God. You see it's interesting. 
> 
>  In exalted and emphatic tones Bahá'u'lláh elaborated His Covenant with 
> His followers, who were not to be left shepherdless after His passing in 
> 1892, as to His meaning. He left no room for interpretation or error of 
> judgment. Above all Abdu'l-Bahá was the Center of the Covenant, a center 
> in which an unexampled variety of divine prodigies converge. It is no 
> wonder then, that Abdu'l-Bahá in an affirmation of Bahá'u'lláh's Covenant 
> exclaims. "So firm and mighty is this Covenant, that from the beginning 
> of time until the present day, no religious dispensation has produced its 
> like." During a period of 29 years from 1892, till 1921 through 
> unceasing struggle and unremitting pain, inflicted by the attacks by the 
> enemies of the Cause, Abdu'l-Bahá directed the far flung affairs of the 
> Cause, traveled to the West to establish its teachings, delineated its 
> Institutions and revealed the whole pattern and framework of the 
> Administrative Order brought by his Father. No narration, no exposition, no 
> description indeed no literature yet exists, that adequately conveys the 
> essential nature of one who accomplished so much against so many odds, 
> yet it is increasingly demonstrable, that Abdu'l-Bahá's appointment as the 
> Center of Bahá'u'lláh's Covenant welded the universal concepts of the Faith 
> he championed, and prevented its reduction to a veritable pandemonium of 
> contending factions and vested interests. Bahá'u'lláh's metaphorical 
> designation of His son inspired feelings of awe, "The most Mighty 
> Branch", "The limb of the law of God", "A shield unto all who are unto 
> heaven and on earth", "A Shelter for all mankind", "A stronghold for 
> whosoever hath believed in God", "The Master", "The Mystery of God". 
>  The last " The Mystery of God", is an 
> expression according to Shoghi Effendi, by which Bahá'u'lláh himself has 
> chosen to designate him which while it does not by any means justify us 
> to assign him the station of prophet-hood, indicates how in the person of 
> Abdu'l-Bahá, the incompatible characteristics of a human nature and 
> superhuman knowledge and perfection have been blended and are 
> completely harmonized. Abdu'l-Bahá's interpretive mind was the crucible 
> in which Bahá'u'lláh's purpose and the sum of Bahá'í experience were fused 
> in the creation of yet another heretofore unknown Institution, the 
> Guardianship. From the reading of Abdu'l-Bahá's Will and Testament 
> following his passing on November 28th 1921, there flashes upon the 
> consciousness of the bereaved Bahá'í community a youthful figure of 
> Shoghi Effendi. As he according to that document is the "Sign of 
> God", the " Chosen Branch", " The Guardian of the Cause of 
> God", " He unto whom His loved ones must turn". He is the 
> expounder of the Word of God. Abdu'l-Bahá's Will, a tri-partied document, 
> regarded by Bahá'ís as the Charter of Bahá'u'lláh's New World Order, is 
> elaborate in its emphasis on this appointment in a manner reminiscent of 
> Bahá'u'lláh's own treatment of the appointment of the Center of the 
> Covenant. Bahá'u'lláh had written in His own hand, in the Kitab-i-Ahd, that 
> is the Book of Covenant, in which the appointment of Abdu'l-Bahá was re-
> affirmed. Abdu'l-Bahá too wrote in his own hand, the Will and Testament. 
> There are certain resemblances in the construction of the appointive 
> language, of each in the elaboration, in the multiple confirmations, there 
> is no room for doubt as to the identity of the appointee or the authority 
> conferred upon him. You are familiar with these texts. 
> 
>  Shoghi Effendi tells us writing about, Guardian, Guardianship, about 
> himself, he says, "the fact that the Guardian has been specifically 
> endowed with such power as he may need to reveal the purport and 
> disclose the implications of the utterances of Bahá'u'lláh and of Abdu'l-
> Baha does not necessarily confer upon him a station co-equal with those, 
> whose words he is called upon to interpret. He can exercise that right and 
> discharge this obligation and yet remain infinitely inferior to both of 
> them in rank and different in nature". For instance, he tells us that 
> "the Guardian cannot claim to be the perfect exemplar of the teachings 
> of Bahá'u'lláh or the stainless mirror that reflects His light". True, the 
> Guardian, the offspring of Abdu'l-Bahá's interpretive mind the co-sharer in 
> the genius of divine interpretation occupies a lesser rank, nonetheless he 
> emerges as an unequal figure in his own right. 
> 
>  Shoghi Effendi as an Interpreter: 
> 
>  	Shoghi Effendi's interpretive work has to be seen against the broad 
> fabric of his responsibilities as a successor of Abdu'l-Bahá. With the 
> passing of Abdu'l-Bahá it fell to him to guide the Bahá'ís toward fulfilling 
> the world encompassing goals, set by Bahá'u'lláh and amplified by Abdu'l-
> Baha. There was a divine plan to be pursued. It required the firm 
> establishment of new institutions. The pursuance of world wide Teaching 
> Projects, the protection of the Faith against its enemies, in short the 
> building of the New World Order proclaimed by Bahá'u'lláh. Through the 
> extensive travels of Abdu'l-Bahá in the east and the west and the copious 
> correspondence that flowed from his indefatigable pen, the Faith had been 
> established in 35 countries but the adherents were for the most part 
> loosely organized and largely unaware of the principles of Bahá'í 
> Administration. If Shoghi Effendi's appointment as Guardian, was to have 
> meaning, if it implied preserving the integrity of the Faith, as well as its 
> teachings, he had to do more than explain the texts, he had to direct and 
> guide his trust, through the crucible of transformation. He had to forge a 
> Bahá'í community. In addition to interpretation, Shoghi Effendi's writings 
> were made to serve three major objectives. These were in fact the 
> essential purposes of his exegetic works. These three purposes were: the 
> establishment and consolidation of Bahá'í Institutions, the prosecution of 
> the Bahá'í Teaching programs, the nurturing of Bahá'í community life. Now 
> let's look at the first.
> 
>  Establishment and consolidation of the Bahá'í Institutions: 
> 
> 
>  Shoghi Effendi gave paramount attention at the outset to building 
> administrative Institutions. We find evidences of this among his first 
> letters to the West. In a letter to the North American believers, dated 23 
> March 1923, he wrote "and now that this all important work may suffer 
> no neglect but rather function vigorously and continuously in every part of 
> the Bahá'í World, that the unity of the Cause of Bahá'u'lláh may remain 
> secure and inviolate, it is of the utmost importance, that in accordance 
> with the explicit texts of the Kitab-i-Aqdas, the Most Holy Book, in every 
> locality, be it city or hamlet, where the number of adult declared 
> believers exceeds nine, a Local Spiritual Assembly be forthwith 
> established. To it all local matters pertaining to the Cause must be 
> directly and immediately referred for full consultation and decision. The 
> importance, nay, the absolute necessity, of these Local Assemblies is 
> manifest when we realize that in the days to come they will evolve into 
> the Local House of Justice, and at present provide the firm foundation on 
> which the structure of the Master's Will is to be reared in future." 
> From this beginning Shoghi Effendi urged and guided the formation of Local 
> and National Spiritual Assemblies. On Nov. 4 1957 the time of his death, 
> there existed as many as 26 National Spiritual Assemblies and over 1000 
> Local Assemblies throughout the world. The second purpose.
> 
>  The prosecution of the Bahá'í Teaching Programs:
> 
>  Having abolished the clergy, Bahá'u'lláh urged upon His 
> followers to the primary duty of teaching His Faith as "the most 
> meritorious of all deeds" moreover, Abdu'l-Bahá in a series of 14 
> letters known as the Tablets of the Divine Plan, addressed to the Bahá'ís 
> in United States and Canada, outlined the program by which the teaching of 
> the Faith was to be effected throughout the world. Although various 
> Teaching Projects had been undertaken by the spontaneous response of 
> individuals to these Tablets, it was not until 1937, sixteen years after 
> the death of Abdu'l-Bahá that a systematic Teaching Scheme, known as the 
> Seven Year Plan was adopted in this very room I think (Foundation Hall of 
> the House of Worship in Wilmette) by the North American believers, under 
> the tutelage of Shoghi Effendi and with the direction of their National 
> Spiritual Assembly. There is a fascinating story surrounding this but I 
> don't have the time to get into it. In the interim he had been building the 
> administrative system, the channel through which the teaching 
> enterprises, which were to grow successively larger until they encircled 
> the globe were to be directed. The Second Five Year Plan launched in 1946 
> preceded the ambitious 10 year international teaching and consolidation 
> plan initiated in 1953. At the time of his death in the mid point of the 
> later Plan the Faith had already been established in 200 countries and 
> dependencies. The plan achieved all its major goals and at the end in 1963, 
> the centenary of the anniversary of the Declaration of Bahá'u'lláh's 
> mission, the Universal House of Justice was elected, by 56 National 
> Spiritual Assemblies. The third, 
> 
>  Nurturing of Bahá'í Community life
> 
>  Nurture of Bahá'í communities, let me make a few comments on that. The 
> tragic circumstances, which greeted the birth of the Faith, imprisonment 
> and martyrdom of the Herald Prophet the Bab, vehement opposition of the 
> Muslim clergy, which led to the slaughter of some 20,000 Babis, the 
> imprisonment and exile of Bahá'u'lláh, and the official proscriptions 
> imposed upon His followers had by 1921 forged the beginnings of 
> independent Bahá'í Community life in Iran and other muslim countries 
> where Bahá'í membership had grown significantly. But although as a result 
> of his travel from 1911 to 1913 Abdu'l-Bahá had raised up thousands of 
> believers in the West. His instructions concerning Bahá'í collective life, 
> had not yet been absorbed. As has already been observed, Spiritual 
> Assemblies, the pivots around which the various communities revolved 
> had not yet been established on a firm foundation. The believers had not 
> yet known their significance as the channels for guiding and promoting the 
> application of certain devotional practices, such as fasting and praying, 
> the dissemination of Bahá'u'lláh's teaching for developing the inner life of 
> the individual believer, the use of the Bahá'í Calendar and the observance 
> of Bahá'í Feasts, Holy Days and anniversaries. The demands upon Shoghi 
> Effendi for instruction, clarifications and direction concerning these vital 
> purposes were clear. He was the first and ultimate source of genuine 
> guidance, to whom the Bahá'ís must turn. His treatment of each and all 
> was inextricably linked to his appointment as the expounder of the Word 
> of God. These purposes were made the avenues of his exegetic expression, 
> the means by which life was breathed into his explanations. Every thought 
> he expressed had some particular implication for the immediate or future 
> action of the community, whether that action concerned institutional 
> functions, great undertakings, or the transformation of the character of an 
> individual. It becomes increasingly evident from the reading of his 
> writings, in relation to the occasions which elicited them that thought 
> is not to be wasted on sheer argument, much less on satisfying the pride 
> of authorship as has been true of the philosophic and exegetic tradition 
> followed by ancient and modern theologians. Hair splitting arguments are 
> to be avoided entirely. Thought expressed must serve some purpose, be 
> related to some direction, or deed, must urge, inform, confirm or amplify 
> action. Thus we discover in his performance as interpreter an eminent 
> example of Abdu'l-Bahá's meaning when he states, " The reality of man 
> is his thought", and points out the two differences in two 
> classifications of thought namely, thought that belongs to the world of 
> thought alone and thought that expresses itself in action. Shoghi Effendi's 
> interpretations were obviously oriented to action. In much the same way 
> the as texts he was called upon to interpret. I have already referred to the 
> texts that got us launched in establishing Institutions, Local and National. 
> Here instruction and interpretation are synthesized. They are one and the 
> same thing, because he is asserting the authority and meaning of the 
> Kitab-i-Aqdas when he calls us to establish Local or National Houses of 
> Justice or Spiritual Assemblies. The only variable is time. The use of 
> which falls within the discretion of his authority as appointed guide. An 
> exposition of functions of Local Spiritual Assemblies follows the 
> instructions and forms the basis of the letter containing it. A letter in 
> which is also included an explanation of the need and the basis for the 
> establishment of the National Spiritual Assemblies. In another example a 
> letter written on May 12 1925, Shoghi Effendi Explains further about the 
> formation of National Spiritual Assemblies. He writes, "Regarding the 
> method to be adopted for the election of the National Spiritual 
> Assemblies, it is clear that the texts of the Beloved's Testament," 
> that is Abdu'l-Bahá's testament. "gives us no indication as to the 
> manner in which these Assemblies are to be elected. In one of his earliest 
> Tablets, however, addressed to a friend in Persia, the following is 
> expressly recorded, " Whatever time all the beloved of God in each 
> country, appoint their delegates and these in turn elect their 
> representatives and these representatives elect a body, that body shall be 
> regarded as the Supreme Bait-ul-Adl." i.e. Universal House of 
> Justice. The Guardian goes on , "These words, clearly indicate that a 
> three stage election has been provided by Abdu'l-Bahá for the formation of 
> the International House of Justice, and as it is explicitly provided in his 
> Will and Testament that the Secondary Houses of Justice, i.e. the National 
> Spiritual Assemblies must elect the members of the Universal one, it is 
> obvious that the members of the National Spiritual Assemblies will have 
> to be indirectly elected by the body the believers in their respective 
> provinces." You see he lets us, he opens a window and lets us into his 
> processes of thinking. "In view of these complimentary instructions, 
> the principle set forth in my letter of March 12, 1923 has been 
> established requiring believers in every country to elect a certain number 
> of delegates, who in turn will elect their national representatives, 
> whose" that is the National Assembly, you see, "sacred obligation 
> and privilege will be to elect in time God's Universal House of 
> Justice". Here we gather some insight into the progressive stages of 
> exegesis, as they relate to the growth and actions of the community. This 
> letter which went on to amplify the principles enunciated by Abdu'l-Bahá 
> was a reply to a communications dated April 4 and 18, 1925 which the 
> Guardian had received from the National Spiritual Assembly of the United 
> States and Canada that supplied him with the information on a variety of 
> subjects and raised questions that he had already treated in a letter 
> written two years before. A number of points emerge from a scrutiny of 
> such letters. Interpretations are given in response to the expressed or 
> demonstrated need of the community at the time. Shoghi Effendi seems 
> completely to avoid gratuitous, random interpretations of the Sacred 
> texts. The questions and needs of the community outline the course 
> and output of his exegesis. In this way his exegesis evolves with the 
> community. It is thus possible to trace and gauge the progressive stages 
> of Bahá'í community development by reading his letters chronologically. 
> Since they rest on enduring principles, the interpretations given are not 
> limited by time. They both satisfy and transcend the need of the moment, 
> and thus serve the future as well as the present. Take for example the 
> letter just cited, above earlier. The principles of elections for the 
> National Spiritual Assemblies which he explains are unchangeable, yet 
> they are written in reply to a question of the moment. The introductions of 
> similar letters, repeatedly affirm the interplay between the information 
> or question received by Shoghi Effendi and the subsequent guidance he 
> issued. Refer for instance, to his letter to the National Spiritual Assembly 
> of the United States and Canada, this one dated 27 February 1929, he 
> writes, "Dearly Beloved Co-workers, I have been acquainted by the 
> perusal of your latest communications with the nature of the doubts that 
> have been publicly expressed by one who is wholly misinformed as to the 
> true precepts of the Cause. Regarding the validity of the Institutions that 
> stand inextricably interwoven with the Faith of Bahá'u'lláh" or to his 
> letter dated March 21, 1930 "Dearly Beloved Co-workers, amid the 
> reports that have of late reached the Holy Land most of which witnessed 
> the triumphant march of the Cause, a few seem to betray a certain 
> apprehension, regarding the validity of the Institutions which stand 
> inseparably associated with the Faith of Bahá'u'lláh." These are the 
> opening passages of the letters published under the respective titles, 
> "The World Order of Bahá'u'lláh" and "The World Order of Bahá'u'lláh - 
> further Considerations" These are indispensable documents, you 
> can't survive without reading them. These are the responses to those 
> questions, to those letters. Both as I say are indispensable responses on 
> the philosophy of Bahá'í Administration. It is no wonder then, that Shoghi 
> Effendi had an insatiable need for information, and was relentless in the 
> gathering and meticulous in the classification of data. You of the 
> present generation must remember that the House of Justice needs 
> information. It does not get revelation, and if you do not supply 
> information, you are likely to miss out on a lot of things, and it is likely 
> to make its own decisions in its own way and you will have to obey it. 
> (Laughter from the audience). He writes "I am eagerly awaiting, 
> the news of the progress of the activities initiated to promote the 
> teaching work within and beyond the confines of the American 
> continent." This he sent in a cable, but he could not have relied and did 
> not rely solely on Assemblies for information. Amatu'l-Baha writes in her 
> biography of him that he did not always wait until official channels 
> corroborated the arrival of a pioneer at the pioneering post or some other 
> good news which has been conveyed to him by a pilgrim. This practice of 
> his should not however mislead us into thinking that he was not 
> extraordinarily thorough. The exactitude with which he compiled 
> statistics, sought out historic facts, worked on every minute details of 
> his maps and plans, was astonishing, she says. Although the data he 
> received were put to a variety of uses, it is evident that the springs of 
> interpretation were often activated by the influx of information. His 
> principle of translating exegesis into action were variously manifested in 
> his methods of persuasion, by which he alternately employed several 
> modes of praise, censure and exhortation. A brief survey of the Advent 
> of Divine Justice, the published letter which Shoghi Effendi wrote to 
> the Bahá'ís of Bahá'ís of the United States and Canada on December 25 
> 1938, will illustrate his methods. I will just do a run through this. 
> 
> 
> [+CHAPTER2]
> 
> 
> 
> In April 1937,  these Bahá'ís had at the direction of the Guardian, launched
> the Seven year Plan. The first long range Teaching Program designed as a
> systematic response to Abdul-Baha's Charter. The Plan set three goals to be
> accomplished by the end in 1944, of the first century of the Bahá'í era.
> Forming a Local Spiritual Assembly in each province of Canada and in each State
> of the United States, establishing a Bahá'í Center in each country of Central
> and South America and in certain European countries, and completing the
> exterior ornamentation of the Temple in Wilmette. These were the three major
> goals of the Seven Year Plan, the First Seven Year Plan. And the series of
> letters and cablegrams he sent to the North American believers during the first
> year of the Plan, Shoghi Effendi marvels at the range which the driving force
> of their ceaseless labors has acquired and the heights which the sublimity of
> their faith has attained. His exhortations are frequent and compelling. The
> Seven Year Plan, he writes, "must at all costs be prosecuted with increasing
> force and added consecration. The American believers must gird up their loins
> of endeavor and step into the arena of service with such heroism as shall
> astound the entire Bahá'í World. But intermingled with his expression of
> gratification and praise, are displays of anxiety, increasingly intensified by
> the falling shadows of World War II. He intimates his deepening concern,  not
> from fear of the gathering specter but from uneasiness about its probable
> repercussions upon the outlook of those who were to prosecute such a bold
> program. So he writes. "Severe, and unprecedented as may be the internal
> tests and ordeals, which the members of this community may yet experience,
> however tragic and momentous the external happenings which might well disrupt
> the fabric of the society in which they live, they must not throw out these six
> remaining years, allow themselves to be deflected from the course, they are now
> steadily pursuing."
> Again he says, "The rumblings that precede the eruption of those
> forces which must cause the limbs of humanity to quake, can already be
> heard." Yet he praises the community which is "standing ready, alert,
> clear-visioned and resolute."
> 
> It is against this background of bold planing and courageous action on the one
> hand and the precarious world conditions on the other that Shoghi Effendi
> penned one of his most widely used Works, as I refer to the Advent of the
> Divine Justice. He had seized upon the chance afforded him by the seeming
> incongruity of the humble plan of hope and the imminence of the war to
> reconcile the paradox in an exposition of Bahá'í principles. He begins this
> long and wonderful document with praise. "Best beloved brothers and sisters,
> in the love of Bahá'u'lláh, It would be difficult indeed to adequately express
> the feelings of irrepressible joy and exaltation that flood my heart every time
> I pause to contemplate the ceaseless evidences of the dynamic energy which
> animates the stalwart pioneers of the World Order of Bahá'u'lláh, in the
> execution of the plan committed to their charge." He's got you. [laughter
> from the audience] He then documents the reasons for his praise, for he never
> stoops to flattery. He comments on the resourcefulness of the National
> representatives of the American believers, appreciates the generous support
> accorded them by the community at large, observes the close interaction,
> complete cohesion, continual harmony and fellowship between the various Bahá'í
> agencies, as constituting a phenomenon which offers a striking contrast to the
> disruptive tendencies manifested in the present day society. "The community
> has reason to be grateful" he says, "for the interposition of a ever
> watchful providence." He writes, "Whereas every apparent trial, with
> which the unfathomable wisdom of the Almighty deems it necessary to afflict His
> chosen community, serves only to demonstrate afresh, its essential solidarity,
> and to consolidate its inward strength. Each of the successive crisis in the
> fortunes of the decadent age exposes more convincingly than the one preceding
> it the corrosive influences that are fast sapping the vitality and undermining
> the basis of its declining institutions." He then enumerates certain
> crises afflicting the Bahá'í communities in Europe and Asia. The Nazi regime
> has banned the activity of the German Bahá'í community. In central Asia the
> city enjoying the unique distinction of having been chosen by Abdu'l-Bahá as
> the home of the first Mashriqu'l-Adhkar of the Bahá'í world, the community
> finds itself at the mercy of the forces which alarmed at its rising power are
> now bent on to reducing it to utter impotence. In Persia, wherein reside the
> immense majority of its followers the community faces a continuing campaign of
> repression, in the Holy Land  the heart and world center of the World embracing
> faith, as state of unrest interferes with the flow of pilgrims and suspends
> various projects associated with the physical development of the World Center.
> This somber survey of the state of the Bahá'í community is not however to
> become a litany of defeat, for Abdu'l-Bahá has written that, and he quotes you
> see,  "the continent of America is in the eyes one true God, the land
> wherein the splendors of His light shall be revealed, and where the mysteries
> of His Faith shall be unveiled, and where the righteous will abide and the free
> assemble." Shoghi Effendi sees it. "Already the community of the
> believers of the North American continent at once the prime mover and pattern
> of future communities which the Faith of Bahá'u'lláh is destined to raise up
> throughout the length and breadth of the western hemisphere, has despite the
> prevailing  gloom shown its capacity to be recognized as the torchbearer of
> that light. The repository of those mysteries. The exponent of that
> righteousness, and the sanctuary of that freedom." When last did you read
> the Advent, Do you remember or know that you are all of that. Hence the
> North American Bahá'í Community is the one "chief remaining citadel, the
> mighty arm, which still raises aloft the standard of unconquerable faith."
> If you wonder why the pioneers took off and went into the wildernesses of the
> world, acquaint yourself with these texts. "Thus while its sister
> communities are bending beneath the tempestuous winds, that beat upon them from
> every side, this community preserved by the immutable decrees of an omnipotent
> Ordainer and deriving continual sustenance from the mandate with which the
> Tablets of the Divine Plan have invested it, is now busily engaged in laying
> the foundations and in fostering the growth of those institutions which are to
> herald the approach of the age destined to witness the birth and rise of the
> World Order of Bahá'u'lláh".
> 
> He has resolved a paradox and the burden of the actual proof rests on the
> shoulders of the American Bahá'í Community. "A community, relatively
> negligible in its numerical strength." That fact itself a paradox. How can
> it bear this awesome challenge? He stirs the community's sense  of pride by
> reciting its matchless and brilliant record of service. He does this for
> pages, paragraphs, but quickly warns that, "magnificent as has been this
> record, reminiscent as it is, in some of its aspects, of the exploits with
> which the dawnbreakers of a heroic age have proclaimed the birth of the Faith
> itself, the task associated with the name of this privileged community, is far
> from approaching its climax, only beginning to unfold." He then points the
> community's vision to the grand possibilities of the future, which the
> successful prosecution of the Plan in progress will lead to. These include
> among others the election of the Universal House of Justice, and its
> establishment in the Holy Land. He asserts the certitude of the ultimate
> blessings that must crown the consummation of their mission. But again he
> warns, and now listen to this, "Dearly beloved friends, great as is my love
> and admiration for you, convinced as I am of the paramount share which you can
> and will undoubtedly have in both the continental and international spheres of
> the future Bahá'í activity and service," This is 1938, mark you, "I feel
> it nevertheless incumbent upon me to utter at this juncture, a word of warning,
> the glowing tributes so repeatedly and so deservedly paid to the capacity, the
> spirit, the conduct and the high rank of the American believers, both
> individually and as a community, must under no circumstances be confounded with
> the characteristics and the nature of the people from which God has raised them
> up. A sharp distinction between that community and that people must be made,
> and resolutely and fearlessly upheld, if we wish to give due recognition to the
> transmuting power of the Faith of Bahá'u'lláh in its  impact on the lives and
> standards of those who have chosen to enlist under His banner, otherwise the
> supreme and distinguishing function of His Revelation, which is none other than
> the calling into being a new race of men will remain wholly unrecognized and
> completely obscured." He then illustrates his meaning, by calling attention
> to the circumstances, and surroundings in which the prophets of God chose to
> appear. They deliver their message, in countries and amid peoples and races who
> are either in a state of decline, or in a state moral and spiritual
> degradation. he asserts the conviction that "not by reason of any racial
> superiority, political capacity or spiritual virtue, which a race or nation
> might possess but rather as a direct consequence of its crying needs, its
> lamentable degeneracy, and irremediable perversity, has the prophet of God
> chosen to appear in its midst, and with it as a lever has lifted the entire
> human race to a higher and nobler plane of conduct, for it is precisely under
> such circumstances, and by such means the prophets have from time immemorial
> chosen and were able to demonstrate their redemptive power to raise from the
> depths of abasement and of misery the people of their own race and nation
> empowering them to transmit in turn to other races and nations the saving grace
> and the energizing influence of their Revelation" . Isn't that an amazing
> perspective? This principle he suggests, applies to a lesser degree to the
> American Community, and you must listen carefully, "which has been appointed
> as the executor of the Divine Plan" Chief executors at that, "The
> American believers are not therefore," he says, "to imagine for a
> moment, that for some mysterious purpose or by any  reason of inherent
> excellence or special merit, Bahá'u'lláh has chosen to confer upon their
> country and people so great and lasting a distinction, it is precisely by
> reason of the patent evils which notwithstanding its other admittedly great
> characteristics and achievements, an excessive and binding materialism, has
> unfortunately engendered within it, the author of their Faith, and the Center
> its Covenant have singled it out to become the standard bearer of the New
> World Order envisaged in their Writings" Principle again of the lever,
> "It is by such means as this, that Bahá'u'lláh can best demonstrate to a
> heedless generation His Almighty Power, to raise up from the very midst of a
> people immersed in a sea of materialism, a prey to one of the most virulent and
> long-standing forms of racial prejudice, and notorious for its political
> corruption, lawlessness and laxity in moral standards, men and women, who as
> time goes by will increasingly exemplify those essential virtues, of self
> renunciation, of moral rectitude, of chastity, of undiscriminating fellowship,
> of holy discipline and of spiritual insight that will fit them for the
> preponderating share they will have in calling into being, that world order,
> and that world civilization of which their country no less than the entire
> human race stands in desperate need." Having thus explained a divine
> riddle, he exhorts the American believers, "to weed out by every means in
> their power, those faults and habits and tendencies which they have inherited
> from their own nation, and to cultivate patiently and prayerfully, those
> distinctive qualities and characteristics that are so indispensable to their
> effective participation in the great redemptive work of their Faith". His
> logic is impeccable. The force of his presentation convincing. A sensitive
> alteration of praise and censure and of exhortation accomplishes his dual
> purpose of fixing his meaning and inducing volition. There is drama as well in
> this versatile undulation of modes which holds and fascinates the reader to the
> point of taking action. This is precisely what moved hundreds of believers of
> various backgrounds to plant the banner of their newfound faith in remote parts
> of the earth amid peoples with whom they had been previously been wholly
> unfamiliar. Those distinctive qualities and characteristics, which he
> identified as rectitude of conduct, chastity and holiness, freedom from
> prejudice, with which they were to be indispensably armed for their magnificent
> undertakings received the full measure of his treatment in a subsequent section
> of this monumental message, a section constituting one of the most eloquent
> exegetic compositions to be found in his writings, you are all familiar with
> that, "They must show forth such trustworthiness, such truthfulness and
> perseverance, such deeds and character that all mankind may profit by their
> example," This is followed by a copious quoting of corroborative extracts
> from the Writings of Bahá'u'lláh and "Abdu'l-Bahá. And then he goes on to
> elucidate further the themes that he has appointed you know of chastity and
> holiness, and again a compilation of corroborative extracts from the Writings,
> Having equipped the believers, with the tool of their success, he devoted the
> remainder of the Advent of Divine Justice to the questions of the Seven
> Year Plan, relating his comments to the broader divine plan of Abdul-Baha of
> which it is a part. You know from having read the book what he has done, in
> calling the friends to service in this Plan and explaining how they should go
> about it. He sends them to Latin America, he sends them scampering across the
> country here in the United States, he sends them throughout the reaches of
> Canada. Then he concludes about his dissertation letter with a word about the
> destiny of America, as envisaged by Abdul-Baha assuring them that,
> "Paradoxical as it may seem", remember they are facing the Second World
> War, storm clouds are gathering. The Americans are in a state of isolationist
> zeal, as they frequently get into this, we want to pull in the horns. Remember
> our first President said, "Don't get entangled in the foreigners business". All
> right Shoghi Effendi is saying, "Paradoxical as it may seem, her only hope
> in extricating herself from the perils gathering around her is to become
> entangled in that very web of International Association which the hand of
> inscrutable Providence is weaving." Shoghi Effendi snatched the very words
> out of the literature of this country and turned it around. They said don't get
> entangled.
> 
> He said No, paradoxical as it may seem entanglement is the thing. As was the
> custom when a letter such as this, is received from the Guardian, the National
> Assembly acted immediately to publish and circulate it. When therefore in
> September 1939, the first shots of World War II were fired, the North American
> Bahá'í Community knew how to react. At the end of its Seven Year Plan in 1944,
> it had accomplished every goal that had been set for it. On D-Day a year later,
> it had already with the urging of its Guardian, been preparing for the second
> Seven Year Plan, which would take scores of its members to Teaching Frontiers
> designated for them in the war ravaged countries of Europe. Shoghi Effendi had
> succeeded eminently, in translating exegesis into heroic action, at one of the
> most critical and discouraging periods of world history. This is coming to end.
> A word more. It will come to an end. A word more about his skill of
> persuasion. "Exegesis is true to its purpose if it induces or perpetuates
> action in the building or the New World Order." The exegete as Augustine
> might have observed must therefore both expound knowledge and arouse response.
> As the earlier review of the Advent of Divine shows by employment of praise,
> censure and exhortation, Shoghi Effendi produces that rhetorical drama, which
> captivates and impels the reader, drama thus becomes a tool of instruction. But
> there is more. Time being an indispensable factor of drama, must also perform
> its appropriate functions. Shoghi Effendi knew that well; and he found ample
> opportunity to bend time to his advantage. Whether on the occasions of the
> observance  of  Bahá'í holy days and significant anniversaries, or of a Temple
> construction project or of the arrival of pioneers at their remote posts, or of
> the death of teachers of the Faith, such ceremonial messages as he was often
> moved to write, that is statements in respect of the observance of important
> events were therefore not spent on these occasions alone but served also to
> heighten the horizon and intensify the vision of the faithful. A holy day is
> imminent. He writes, "Fellow laborers in the Divine Vineyard, On the 23rd of
> May of this auspicious year, (this was 1934) the Bahá'í World will
> celebrate the 90th anniversary of the founding of the Faith of Bahá'u'lláh. We
> who at this hour find ourselves standing on the threshold of the last decade of
> the first century of the Bahá'í era might well pause to reflect upon the
> mysterious Dispensation of so august, so momentous a Revelation. The rest
> of the introduction is about the prophetic missions of Bahá'u'lláh and the Bab,
> an explanation of the position and the rank of Abdul-Baha and the discourse of
> the theory on which Bahá'í Administrative Order is based. The letter is now
> referred to as the Dispensation of Bahá'u'lláh. We can't live without
> it.
> 
>  It is the anniversary of the death of Abdul-Baha. He writes, "The
> inexorable march of recent events has carried humanity so near to the goal
> foreshadowed by Bahá'u'lláh that no responsible follower of His Faith viewing
> on all sides the distressing evidences of the world's travails, can remain
> unmoved at the thought of its approaching deliverance. It would not
> seem inappropriate when at a time we are commemorating the world over the
> termination of the first decade since  Abdul-Baha's sudden removal from our
> midst, to ponder in the light of the teachings bequeathed by him to the
> world, such events as have tended to hasten the gradual emergence of the
> World Order anticipated by Bahá'u'lláh. Thus began a letter now called the
> "Goal of a New World Order"
> 
> There are other examples of Shoghi Effendi's employment  of time. He
> used the anniversary of the Ridvan festival, the anniversary of the declaration
> of Bahá'u'lláh at which time the administration of the Faith is renewed by the
> election of the Assemblies, to impress upon the Bahá'í community the practical
> steps towards the realization of its vision. In his messages of this occasion
> he would catalog and measure the communities' achievements, revise and
> interpret its goals, and praise and challenge its capacity. A sense of
> historical significance permeates these messages, in which the vision of the
> community is made to perceive through its accomplishments and goals, a
> panorama of the past, the present and the future. One such occasion in 1957, he
> writes, "As we gaze in retrospect, beyond the immediate past and survey in
> however a cursory a manner, the vicissitudes afflicting a tormented society,
> and recall the strains and stresses to which a fabric of dying order has been
> increasingly subjected, we cannot but marvel at the sharp contrast presented on
> the one hand by the accumulated evidences of the orderly unfoldment and the
> uninterrupted multiplication of the agencies of an administrative order
> designed to be the harbinger of a World Civilization, and on the other by the
> ominous manifestations of the acute political conflicts, of social unrest, of
> racial animosity, of class antagonism, of immorality and of irreligion
> proclaiming in no uncertain terms the corruption and obsolescence of the
> institutions of a bankrupt order. Against the background of these afflictive
> disturbances, the turmoil and retribution of a travailing age we may well
> ponder the portentous prophesies uttered well nigh four score years ago by the
> Author of our Faith, as well as the dire predictions made by him who is the
> unerring interpreter of His teachings, all foreshadowing a universal commotion
> of a scope and intensity unparalleled in the annals of mankind. Violent
> derangement of the World's equilibrium, the trembling that will seize the limbs
> of mankind, the radical transformation of the human society, the rolling up of
> the present day order, the fundamental changes effecting the structure of
> governments, the weakening of the pillars of religion, the rise of
> dictatorships, the spread of tyranny, the fall of monarchies, the decline of
> ecclesiastical institutions, the increase of anarchy and chaos, the extension
> and consolidation of the movements of the left, the fanning into flame of the
> smoldering fire of racial strife, the development of infernal engines of war,
> the burning of cities, the contamination of the atmosphere of the earth, these
> stand out as the signs and portents that must either herald or accompany the
> retributive calamity which as decreed by Him who is the Judge, the  Redeemer of
> mankind must sooner or later afflict the society which for the  most part and
> for over a century has turned a deaf ear to the Voice of God's Messenger in
> this Day, a calamity which must purge the human race of the dross of its age
> old of corruption's and weld its component parts into a firmly knit world
> embracing fellowship, a fellowship destined in the fullness of time to be
> incorporated in the framework and to be galvanized by the spiritualizing
> influences of a mysteriously expanding, divinely appointed order, and to flower
> in the course of future dispensations into a civilization the like of which
> mankind has at no stage in its evolution witnessed."  How is that for
> eloquence? I die when I read these things.
> 
> Among the most appealing features of Shoghi Effendi's writings, and
> particularly of his occasional messages are the meaning they give to history,
> and the prospect they assign to the future. The future, or put differently the
> destiny of humanity emerges as the dominant theme of his work, and from the
> vision of it we gather a hitherto unformulated understanding of the past and
> the present. In his essay, Unfoldment of the World Civilization, for
> instance, there is an outline of the implications of Bahá'u'lláh's Revelation
> which lends the reader an unusual perspective of historical process. A process
> that occurs in the light of man's purpose which according to Bahá'u'lláh is to
> carry forward an ever advancing civilization, having evolved though the various
> units of social life, family, tribe, city-state and nation, mankind's present
> goal is the unity of nations a world superstate, the final step in man's social
> evolution. This goal is concomitant with his impending spiritual maturity. I
> don't want to read the passage that folds that out. That's too long. But you
> know how wonderful it is, in the Unfoldment of the World Civilization
> where he gives the vision of the unity of mankind. We pass that by today. But,
> ummm... just a smidgen. [laughter from audience] "The unity of the human race
> as envisaged by Bahá'u'lláh," he writes, "implies the establishment of a
> world commonwealth, in which all nations, races, creeds and classes are closely
> and permanently united, and  in which the autonomy of its state members and
> the personal freedom and initiative of the individuals that compose them are
> definitely and completely safeguarded." that's a taste.
> Now the other day when we were getting ready to put up our website, I
> remembered a line from this very section of his letter, and it says this: "a
> mechanism of world inter-communication will be devised embracing the whole
> planet freed from national hindrances and restrictions, and functioning with
> marvelous swiftness and perfect regularity."  He wrote that 60 years
> [rather] 61 years ago, and now we go to our computers and we push a button and
> there it is.
> 
> Future society thus outlined is no utopian dream. On the contrary it is the
> natural outcome of mans spiritual maturity as is fruit bearing the natural
> consequence of the maturity in the tree. Attaining to such a society involves a
> travail of growth, and transition which in spiritual terms implies a
> transformation in the character of man - a transformation analogous to the
> process of adolescence, Shoghi Effendi therefore encourages no illusory ease of
> attainment of world unity. He is as forthright as about the setbacks and
> pitfalls to be encountered, as he reassuring of the inevitability of this
> attainment. Referring to Bahá'u'lláh's principle of federation of nations,
> Shoghi Effendi once mused, "Who knows that for so exalted a conception to
> take shape a suffering more intense than any it has yet experienced will have
> to be inflicted upon humanity. Could anything less than the fire of a civil war
> with all its violence and vicissitudes, a war that nearly rent the great
> American Republic have welded the states, not only into a union of independent
> units, but into a nation in spite of all the ethnic differences that
> characterize its component parts, that so fundamental a revolution involving
> such far reaching changes in the structure of the society can be achieved
> through the ordinary processes of diplomacy and education seems highly
> improbable, we have but to turn our gaze to humanity's blood stained history to
> realize that nothing short of intense mental as well as physical agony has been
> able to precipitate those epoch-making changes that constitute the greatest
> landmarks in the history of human civilization." You see how
> straightforward he was about things. By statements such as this Shoghi Effendi
> kept the balance between prospect and practicality. One derives from his
> balanced outlook, a quality of naturalness about the goals of the Bahá'í Faith
> and their attainment, a cohesive and compelling analysis of historical process
> emerges from the portrayal of  cause, effect and prospect in such essays as the
> Goals of a New World Order, The Unfoldment of World
> Civilization  and the Promised Day is Come. This quality of
> naturalness induces belief in his perceptions - a belief which is enhanced by
> the success of the Bahá'í community in translating his instructions into
> triumphs despite some of the most trying circumstances. One recalls for
> instance that the instructions and advise given in the Advent of Divine
> Justice and the other letters that Shoghi Effendi wrote in the 30's and
> 40's guided the community towards the accomplishment of its goals amid the
> confusion and doubts caused by the World War II.
> 
> Now a word about him as the interpreter. I think now I am coming closer to the
> end, bear with me a little bit. Shoghi Effendi wrote a prodigious quantity of
> letters which formed the bulk of his literary work, but he also translated the
> words of the Bab, Bahá'u'lláh and Abdul-Baha from Arabic and Persian into
> English. Gifted with a masterly grasp of the rich vocabulary and the subtle
> nuances of English, and endowed with the power of unerring perception, he
> turned any translation into a thing of wonder and delight. His major works of
> translation include three complete works of Bahá'u'lláh, Epistle to the Son
> of the Wolf,  The Hidden Words of Bahá'u'lláh, and the
> Kitab-i-Iqan, and the compilations of Bahá'u'lláh's writings for instance
> the Gleanings from the writings of Bahá'u'lláh  and Prayers and
> Meditations. One of his most celebrated translations is the Dawn
> Breakers - Nabil's narrative of the early days of the Babi Revelation. It is
> said by those who know the original Persian text of the narrative that Shoghi
> Effendi did more than translate it; he performed the rare feat of creating a
> translation more splendid than the original, yet unfailing in fidelity of its
> source. Although a considerable number of Shoghi Effendi's letters and messages
> now appear in several anthologies and in a few instances a single letter has
> been lengthy enough to be published as a book, for instance the Advent of
> the Divine Justice and The Promised Day is Come, he actually set out
> to write only one book in English - God Passes By - which is a
> stupendous history of the first century of the Bahá'í Faith. It is in this book
> that one can appreciate the versatility of his narrative style. The temptation
> to set an example is irresistible. The extract I will now read follows a
> recitation of vivid activities during Abdu'l-Bahá's travels in the West. Note
> how skillfully Shoghi Effendi produces two contrasting bodies of narrative, one
> in an opening series of questions, the other in a corresponding series of
> answers. In this one paragraph salient features of almost seventy years of
> Bahá'í history are strung together in contrasting colors as it were upon the
> thread of Abdul-Baha's life. Listen. "Who knows what thoughts flooded the
> heart of Abdu'l-Bahá as He found Himself the central figure of such memorable
> scenes as these?  Who knows what thoughts were uppermost in His mind as He sat
> at breakfast beside the Lord Mayor of London, or was received with
> extraordinary deference by the Khedive himself in his palace, or as He listened
> to the cries of "Allah-u-Abha" and to the hymns of thanksgiving and praise that
> would herald His approach to the numerous and brilliant assemblages of His
> enthusiastic followers and friends organized in so many cities of the American
> continent?  Who knows what memories stirred within Him as He stood before the
> thundering waters of Niagara, breathing the free air of a far distant land, or
> gazed, in the course of a brief and much-needed rest, upon the green woods and
> countryside in Glenwood Springs, or moved with a retinue of Oriental believers
> along the paths of the Trocadero gardens in Paris, or walked alone in the
> evening beside the majestic Hudson on Riverside Drive in New York, or as He
> paced the terrace of the Hotel du Parc at Thonon-les-Bains, overlooking the
> Lake of Geneva, or as He watched from Serpentine Bridge in London the pearly
> chain of lights beneath the trees stretching as far as the eye could see?
> Memories of the sorrows, the poverty, the overhanging doom of His earlier
> years; memories of His mother who sold her gold buttons to provide Him, His
> brother and His sister with sustenance, and who was forced, in her darkest
> hours, to place a handful of dry flour in the palm of His hand to appease His
> hunger; of His own childhood when pursued and derided by a mob of ruffians in
> the streets of Tihran; of the damp and gloomy room, formerly a morgue, which He
> occupied in the barracks of Akka and of His imprisonment in the dungeon of that
> city - memories such as these must surely have thronged His mind.  Thoughts,
> too, must have visited Him of the Bab's captivity in the mountain fastnesses of
> Adhirbayjan, when at night time He was refused even a lamp, and of His cruel
> and tragic execution when hundreds of bullets riddled His youthful breast.
> Above all His thoughts must have centered on Bahá'u'lláh, Whom He loved so
> passionately and Whose trials He had witnessed and had shared from His boyhood.
> The vermin-infested Siyah-Chal of Tihran; the bastinado inflicted upon Him in
> Amul; the humble fare which filled His kashkul while He lived for two years the
> life of a dervish in the mountains of Kurdistan; the days in Baghdad when He
> did not even possess a change of linen, and when His followers subsisted on a
> handful of dates; His confinement behind the prison-walls of Akka, when for
> nine years even the sight of verdure was denied Him; and the public humiliation
> to which He was subjected at government headquarters in that city - pictures
> from the tragic past such as these must have many a time overpowered Him with
> feelings of mingled gratitude and sorrow, as He witnessed the many marks of
> respect, of esteem, and honor now shown Him and the Faith which He
> represented.
> (God Passes By, pages 292-293)
> 
> It should perhaps not be surprising at all, given the motivations of his
> purpose, to observe that Shoghi Effendi also possessed the power of definition
> to a superlative degree, and found more ways than a celebrated giant of letters
> to use this power. When you read for example his definition of a chaste and
> holy life, you perceive resources of this power that would hardly occur to you
> in reading the writings of the modern literati. Shoghi Effendi took to his
> literary endeavours this code of chastity and holiness as he had defined it.
> Neither art nor literature is to be prostituted. The use of language must
> therefore reflect the virtues of rectitude, and yet employ the creative force
> of imagination. Deny falsity and yet be quickened by drama. Eschew perversity
> and yet engage the appeal of beauty. Language must exhibit a wholesome respect
> for the meaning of words. A meticulous attention to the arrangements of
> sentences a precise calculation of the effect of paragraphs. In any case it
> must say what it means and mean it well. The good purpose of language is
> related to the principle of a chaste and holy life. The proper use of language
> is related to the principle of rectitude of conduct. You see then that the
> fabric of his literary work owes its strength and integrity to this strict
> adherence to these principles; unlike the perversion of the language which
> George Orwell saw in modern political writing as largely the defense of the
> indefensible. His manner, his usage, his motivation of language, embody the
> high principles it espouses and legitimizes the information and pleasure it
> conveys. The messages of the Guardian grew into a voluminous body of literature
> of a wholly new character; and although there is much more to be said about
> its uncommon literary quality that can be contained in this talk, the deepest
> sense of its character, it can be said in summary is in the realm of the
> spirit and thus remains somewhat elusive except to those who experience it
> directly. One could remark randomly about his periodic sentence in which
> multiple compounds of phrases explode with brilliant sparks of meaning at the
> ending statement, about the baroque constructions, in which words are arranged
> in rich designs of meaning and imagery like the settings of fine stone, about
> the appreciation of assonance and alliterations, about the lyrical cadence of
> his sentences, which sound better and seem to enlarge upon their meanings when
> read aloud, about his one sentence paragraphs, about the mathematical precision
> of his usage, about his ability to compress multitudinous meanings into a
> slight space, to reconcile conciseness and amplitude, precision and suppleness,
> force and elegance. You might say in the end that Shoghi Effendi has distilled
> the ancient classical virtues, in fact he has distilled the virtues of language
> in any age and clothed them with the principles of spirit, you could say he
> rescued the virtues of English, in this respect Orwell who in this century
> bemoaned the plight of English in our decadent civilization, would most likely
> have loved and lauded Shoghi Effendi's continual success in loading such
> substance into his sentences that they seem to crackle with the weight of their
> significances. The roots of all these marvels in the writings of Shoghi Effendi
> have their deeper foundation elsewhere. Their foundation is in the fear of God,
> to which Bahá'u'lláh repeatedly exhorts humanity. In these exhortations
> Bahá'u'lláh exhorts all people to what ennobles them, that correct respect for
> the majesty of their God, who created them out of  his love, to carry forward
> and ever advancing civilization, which ultimately must lead them inexorably and
> eternally toward Him. Shoghi Effendi being the noblest of men knew better than
> anyone else, how vital was this sense of respect to the critical role, in which
> he must unerringly guide through his interpretation of God's Word the processes
> of an ever advancing civilization.
>
> — *Remembering Shoghi Effendi as Interpreter (Used by permission of the curator)*