Haifa Notes
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Source: Bahá'í Library Online (bahai-library.com), curated by Jonah Winters. Used by permission of the curator. Original citation: Gayle Woolson, Haifa Notes, bahai-library.com.
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Haifa Notes

Gayle Woolson

1956

Feb. 16, 1956

The following points are things which the Guardian said which
concern Latin America:

When I conveyed to him the loving greetings of the Bahá'ís of
South America, he said: "I am pleased with Latin America." Then
he asked: "How are the friends in South America?" "Are they
working? Are they progressing? Are they firm in the Cause of
God?" I answered: "Yes, but we still have a long way to go before
we can say it is satisfactory."

Then he asked: "Are they now familiar with the Institution of the
Hands?" I said, yes and that we had received the visit of some of
the Hands. He said: "I am looking forward to the time when there
will be a Hand in South America and one in Central America."

I asked: "How can we create a greater sense of individual
responsibility in South America?" He said: "They must be
encouraged to have it. They need much encouragement. The
Assemblies there are nascent, not even infant yet, just nascent.
that is why we must be patient."

He said one Hazira was destroyed (referring to one in Teheran)
but 40 were gained. He asked me about the countries that had
their Haziras and endowments in South America. He then said:
"It is very important that they all get these before April. The
present Haziras are only temporary. This is just a start. They will
be improved upon in the future."

It is essential that the Bahá'ís do not become involved in politics
especially in Latin America where the governments are very
unstable. The Bahá'í Faith is supra-national, supra-natural. It is
divine. We are above politics. Becoming involved in politics is
particularly dangerous in Latin America. We are patriotic but
not nationalistic. We are more than patriotic. We uphold
patriotism but maintain that it is not enough. We are above
nations and above parties. "We are," Abdu'l-Bahá said, "the party
of God." We are promoting God's policy. We love the world and by
loving the world, we love our own nation. Bahá'u'lláh said: "Let
not a man glory in that he loves his country but rather in that he
loves his kind." By making this statement, this is what
Bahá'u'lláh meant: A Bahá'í can be a candidate for Parliament
providing he does not become affiliated with a party.

It is not enough to convert to the Faith. The new believer must
develop spiritually and arise to teach others. Conversion should
not be the goal of the teacher. The goal is that the new believer
should arise to teach others. This is why progress in Africa is so
extraordinary. The new believers go out and teach others.

The friends must teach with determination and patience. If the
process is slow, they must not become discouraged, but to have
determination is important.

As to how to attract the Indians, he said: "Attract them through
friendliness and kindness. Give them preference in everything;
not only equality but preference, preferential treatment.
Teaching the Indians is very important. Not only establish
contact but convert them. Then they must take part in the
administrative activities of the Faith. Do you remember what the
Master said about the American Indians? He compared them
with the Arabs at the time of Muhammad. The Indians must be
given preferential treatment. The Bahá'ís must treat them just
the opposite of the way the others treat them. Amongst the
Bahá'ís, the minorities in any country must be given
preferential treatment. If there is a tie between two believers
for anything, and one is of a minority group, there must not be a
second vote. Preference must be given to the believer of the
minority group. The Spanish and Portuguese speaking people
must not monopolize the field (he said with humor). The
Indians must be attracted.

[page 2]

This is very important. In north america, the minority groups
are the Negroes and the Indians. In Latin America, the only
minority group is the Indian.

A Bahá'í cannot practice spiritualism or be a medium. In the
case of a Bahá'í who does this, don't expell him immediately; give
him time and be patient. Quietly and gently point out to him that
he must give up this practice. Spiritualism is a fancy. In most
cases, they think they are communicating with the spirits, but
they are not. As to the question as to how to approach the
spiritualists, the GUARDIAN said: "Avoid them and look for the
people that are seeking the Faith. There are many that are
seeking that are not involved in these practices. One must
search for the seeking ones. In looking for these, do not limit
yourself to your own group or friends. Associate with others.
Association is different from affiliation. Live and associate with
the natives of the country in which one is pioneering. Attract
the local element.

If the believers are firm in the Faith, they will leave other
organizations. A person cannot belong to something that has
principles and teachings that are in conflict with the Faith.
Otherwise, he is not faithful to either the Faith or the other
organization. Firmness in the Faith is what is needed. The more
attracted the Bahá'í becomes to Bahá'u'lláh, the more dedicated
he will become. Increased attachment to Bahá'u'lláh is what is
needed and this will draw them away from other things.

[From another Woolson Pilgrim Note manuscript,
this passage appears here:
Enkindle the heart; touch the heart. If the approach is the
intellect they will not detach themselves from other
organizations. If the heart is touched they will make the
sacrifice. Much tact, much patience is needed. Do not tell them
from the beginning that they have to leave their organizations.
They can be taken in while still belonging to them but
eventually and finally they will have to detach themselves from
them. Much tact, much wisdom and patience must be
used.]

In the case of Masons who want to become Bahá'ís, tell them that
there are things in Freemasonry that are not in accordance with
the Bahá'í Faith, for example, secrecy, and see what their
reaction is. Don't be rigid. Don't make it hard for people to come
into the Faith. Let them come in and then continue deepening
them and touching the heart until they are firm. Give them a
chance. First: Touch the heart by creating love for God and for
Bahá'u'lláh, attachment to Bahá'u'lláh. Second: be creating love
for their fellow-men. Then they will become re-created. They
are moving too slowly in South America.

The National Assembly of South America must encourage the
believer, it must stimulate them. They must become re-created,
become aflame. It is easy for the Latin Americans to be set
aflame, They must not lean on the North American. We must
have unity in essentials, but in non-essentials we must stimulate
diversity so that each country will have its own spirit in the work
and not the North American spirit.

Latin America has a great future. The Latin Americans are
"associates" of the North Americans. The North Americans are
the "champion builders". The Canadians are the "Allies". The
Latin Americans are the "Associates". All the rest are
"auxiliaries".

Work with the weak places, not the strong ones. Give special
attention to the weak ones until their roots are firmly planted.

More sacrifice is needed. The more sacrifice is involved, the
more effective the Bahá'í work will be. Of course, all work is
effective, but the degree of effectiveness is greater when
sacrifice is involved. In Latin America, they do not exert enough
effort.

The Guardian spoke of four steps in the progress of the Faith:

1) Consolidation (building the Administrative Order)

2) Extension (of the teaching)

3) Publicity

4) Proclamation

[page 3]

Publicity has been given to the Faith all over the world due to
persecutions in one country. The persecutions have given the
Faith more publicity than the consolidation work and more than
the teaching work. Publicity and proclamation are associated
with the enemies of the Cause. If there has been world publicity
through persecution in one country, what will it be like when all
the countries persecute us; not only the ecclesiastics but the civil
authorities as well. The Master has prophecies that both the
ecclesiastics and the civil authorities would persecute us. The
Bahá'ís of Latin America must be prepared to face this
persecution and accept that it must come. The enemies will be the
ones to give publicity and to proclaim the Cause. We will handle
the consolidation and the propagation, and the enemies will
handle the publicity and the proclamation." "Proclamation" of
the Faith is different from "publicity." "Proclamation" will come
only after persecution of the churches and the governments. In
America, Australia, Africa, Europe, all except in Persia, we have
not been persecution. Proclamation can only come after
persecution.

The question was asked: If all the Prophets teach the same
spiritual teachings, why does Buddha teach the existence of
reincarnation and Bahá'u'lláh not? The Guardian answered: "Not
Buddha - the Buddhist priests. We do not have the original
writings of Buddha, nor of Krishna, nor even of Zoroaster. We
have the Gathas of Zoroaster which are authentic but these are
only prayers. That is why Bahá'u'lláh and the Master do not
quote these Prophets as we do not have their original writings.
There are many books in these religions but they are not the
original works. Bahá'u'lláh and Abdu'l-Bahá quote the Quran
which is authentic, and authentic verses of the New Testament,
but do not quote these other Prophets for this reason. The Bahá'ís
must be very appreciative of the fact that we have the original
authentic works of the Bab, Bahá'u'lláh and 'Abdu'l-Bahá.

He again said: The believers must become recreated, must be set
afire, then they will leave these beliefs. They must become
enkindled, they will accept all Bahá'u'lláh's sayings just because
just because He says it. If they are afire, they will accept all that
we say, and they will become detached from these beliefs. The
important thing is to set them afire.

Then he said, it should be easy for the Latins to become enkindled
because of their temperment. I said, yes, but they don't always
stay lit. He siad, The NSA must encourage them.

He turned to me and said, referring to South America: do the
friends realize that the Haziras are the seats of the future Houses
of Justice? They are a combination of Washington Pentagon and
the Supreme Court. The Hazira is one building which is the seat
of either national or local Assemblies. In Haifa, the series of
Administration buildings would constitute the World Hazira. He
then referred to the four world Administrative buildings that
would be constructed in Haifa, saying, the Archives Building is
for preservation; the Guardianship building is for Interpretation;
the Building of the Hands is for Propagation and the Building of
the Universal House of Justice is for Legislation.

The Institution of the Hands is superior to the Universal House of
Justice and the NSAs, just as the cabinet is superior to Parliament.
The Hands are like the Ministers of the cabinet. The Institution
of Hands constitutes the eyes. The Auxiliary Boards will have
their Auxiliary Board under them. These institutions will
evolve.

[page 4]

The A R K (he spelled this out) will be built around the Arc. We
are building the seat of the Ark of Safety. The only Ark of Safety
is the Administrative Order. Noah's Ark was built and the deluge
came. This Ark is being built and the deluge will come. A Persian
pilgrim, pioneering in Arabia, told me this afternoon (the
Guardian was relating to us) that he had found a Muhammaden
tradition which says that two-thirds of the world's population will
be destroyed. How exactly this coincides with the prophecy of the
New Testament regarding the destruction of two-thirds of the
people. I wouldn't be surprised if this literally happens. There
are too many people in the world anyway, and many of them are
corrupt. But there will be enough left to build the world Order of
Bahá'u'lláh. Latin America is relatively safe because it is far
away from the danger zone. The U.S. is in danger, Tehran is in
great danger, also North Africa.

The Towers of Babel today of today are the sky-scrapers. These
will be destroyed. the people of the tower of Babel were haughty,
proud, filled with vain-glory; they had turned away from God
and were arrogant and God punished them. This will happen
again for the same reason. The world is in the same condition
today. The protection for the Bahá'ís is in dispersing. This is
good for the Cause and for themselves. (Then he repeated
Protection for the Bahá'ís is in dispersal.

The lesser peace will come will come not through a Federation of
Nations, but through a world federal government.

In three years, the 2500 centers we had in the world were raised
to 3700. One-hundred of these were in Latin America. The Faith
is now established in 243 territories. There are four islands left
that do not have pioneers and it is because they are privately
owned. We are now entering into the third phase of the world
Crusade which will be the most brilliant phase as its objective
will be to create 50 NSAs to amplify the basis for the Universal
House of Justice. We have 12 NSAs now, we will have three more
in Africa this year, and 13 next year, four of which will be in
Latin America and one in Alaska.

The first phase of the world crusade lasted one year and consisted
of the opening of the virgin territories. One-hundred were
opened. The second phase lasted two years, during which time
forty Haziras were purchased. the third phase will have as its
main objective the widening of the basis for the Universal House
of Justice. by establishing more NSAs.

Then Shoghi Effendi asked me, "which country of South America
do you think would be most envied if it branched off with its own
NSA. I said, I did not know. He said, "Chile has the most centers,
hasn't it?" And I said yes. Then he said, "a country that would
branch off with its own NSA would be a great stimulus to the
others to do the same thing.

Bahá'ís from northern countries of South America should
reinforce the islands near them, like the Galapagos Islands, Juan
Ferandez, Margarita and Trinidad. These are near the coast. I'm
not asking them to go somewhere in the middle of the sea.

Just as Africa excelled Latin America, the Islands of the Pacific
will excell Africa.

The last day I was in Haifa, the Guardian said to me, "I want you to
emphasize wherever you go, that the friends must not make an
effort to teach the Syrians, especially in Brazil, particularly in
Sao Paulo. Many have migrated there from Palestine and they
are envious of the Faith. They will cause trouble later. Latin
America is not mature enough yet to face the difficulties that
these people would create. Latin American must develop
normally and healthily. It would be unhealthy for the Latin
American communities to have these troubles at this time. Later,
when the communities are stronger, they can take the risk, but
not to antagonize them. If one meets up with them, treat them
kindly. They will create much trouble in the future so it is better
to make no effort to attract them.

[This appeared here from another Woolson Pilgrim
Note manuscript:
(Personal note: The Syrians of Palestine hate Israel as that land
was taken away from them to be given to the Jews. Now they see
how the Bahá'í Faith is beautifying Israel with its World Center
building gardens and it has made them envious. in their effort to
attack Israel, the Bahá'í Faith will also be a
target.)]

[page 5]

In reference to Ahmad Sohrab, the Guardian said, "He is trying to
copy our organization. At first he attacked organization, now he
sees it is more effective. We have Assemblies, he has chapters.
We have a fund, he established a fund. We have conferences, he
has conferences." The Guardian asked me if he has spread his
organization to South America. I answered, a little literature, but
not much. He said when you meet a member of this group (the
New History Society or Caravan) ignore them. Do not try to
convert them, it is no use now. When he dies, they will all
become Bahá'ís. Our enemy is doing us a favor. Ignore them and
be confident. Do not be afraid.

The Guardian asked me, "Do the believers in Latin America keep
the Fast?" I said, some do and some don't. He said, "They must be
encouraged to observe the Bahá'í Laws."

The more we dominate our instincts, the more successful our
work is.

It is more meritorious in the sight of God to go as a settler than as
a visiting teacher. It is more effective.

The enemies are vigilant for anything to attack.

He gave Leroy Ioas some instructions concerning the arc and the
spiral garden connected to it which is being developed now, then
he said, "The arc is very important as the administrative
buildings are around it."

Another day, after talking about a new star in the new garden
(an eight pointed star outlined by the short shrubs) he said,
"There are many stars going up on Mount Carmel. The stars of
heaven have fallen on mount Carmel (Smilingly), This fulfills
the prophecy that the stars shall fall from heaven. The eight
pointed star in the gardens at Bahji surrounding the Shrine of
Bahá'u'lláh, represents the submission of the Bab to
Bahá'u'lláh.

One of the Persian pilgrims at Haifa when I was, told me that one
of the Persian men in their group had asked the Guardian about
his descendants, about a son, and the Guardian answered,
"Everything that is written in the Will and Testament will be
fulfilled. The Bahá'ís must not be anxious about this."

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Typed 1998 by Robert Stauffer.
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-- Haifa Notes (Used by permission of the curator)