# Haifa Notes

*Exported from [Holy-Writings.com](https://www.holy-writings.com/) on 2026-06-21 — 1 clipping.*

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> Source: Bahá'í Library Online (bahai-library.com), curated by Jonah Winters. Used by permission of the curator. Original citation: Ramona Brown, Haifa Notes, bahai-library.com.
> ──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
> 
> Haifa Notes
> 
> Ramona Brown
> 
> 1954
> 
> Haifa Notes - May 2, 1954
> by Mrs Ramona A. Brown of Oakland, California
> 
> [page 1]
> 
> AMERICAN BAHA'IS - Anything can happen at any time! It all depends
> on the political situation. In America the Cause is stifling. The
> American Bahá'ís need shock medicine. They do not obey. They need a
> shock. They have fallen down on the job. They are inactive - over
> administrative. Their home front is an absolute failure. They were
> given the DIVINE PLAN first. The Administration was given to the
> American Bahá'ís. The whole world plan depends upon America.
> 
> The basis of the Administration is the Local Spiritual Assembly. It must
> function liquidly; all matters must flow through the LSA, first, then to
> higher or other Administrative bodies. The LSA should not divert their
> funds nor scatter their energies; they must not expend money for local
> expansion, rent a center, have paid advertising, nor paid publicity.
> The members of the LSA only have authority when in session.
> American communities must maintain all present LSA's, concentrate
> on the home front, and go to the Goal Cities.
> 
> The Bahá'ís must disperse from the cities, for the people in the cities
> will be trapped when they want to get out. They must disperse for their
> protection - the cities are doomed - New York, Chicago, San Francisco,
> Los Angeles. They must flee from the United States, because America
> will become the storm center of the future. When asked, "Should the
> pioneers go back home after the calamity and help reconstruct,"
> Shoghi Effendi replied, "Reconstruct what?" The young people must
> disperse far away. The old ones to outlying places - they must settle the
> goal cities. Sell your property and pioneer! Buy property in Central
> Africa! Those with independent means must pick up and go, and not
> wait for the committees to move them. Those with spirit must pack up
> and go. Take their passport and go. "I will be the one to direct them. I
> can warn them, but I cannot make them go. Those who will not arise to
> serve create unhappiness for me, and danger for the believers. There
> must be a mass response. When I see no response, I am paralyzed.
> 3,000 should have gone out from America; 495 offered, but only 200
> went. The Cause will triumph in spite of the actions and inactivity of
> the believers. If the country falls down another will make up for it.
> The Bahá'ís have been given the method - now they must have the
> "spirit." It is hopeless for capable teachers in the cities (the people
> will not listen). There should be 1,000 American, self-sacrificing,
> consecrated, loving, interested, well-organized, conservative teachers
> to pioneer. In America there are few Bahá'í teachers equipped to teach
> and the capable ones are suppressed - the committees keep them from
> teaching. I instantly act as soon as I can find someone I can use. If I
> have the right tools, I can act. An artist cannot create without tools to
> use. When I want something done, I ask the American Bahá'ís to do it.
> There is not enough dedication on the part of the masses. The friends
> are calculating too much and there is too much emphasis on non-
> essentials. Bahá'ís must have a new way of life. They need to be
> different from other people. They must be distinguished. The more
> distinguished, the more they will attract the people. The greater the
> distinction, the greater the attraction. It is not enough to be good and
> kind and to lead a religious life today; it does not count for much unless
> one accepts the Manifestation of God - if one has heard of Him. One
> must accept the Manifestation in this Day. If one has not heard of
> Bahá'u'lláh, they are not to blame -the blame lies with the Bahá'ís. If
> the Bahá'ís fail to teach the Faith, the people who do not hear of the
> Faith are not to blame. The blame lies with the Bahá'ís.
> 
> [page 2]
> 
> All men are not of the same capacity. To serve to full capacity is
> meritorious with God. God judges men by how they use their capacity.
> The new race of men will be wholly devoted souls. Bahá'u'lláh was sent
> to bring about World Unity, and World Unity is the cornerstone of the
> Faith of Bahá'u'lláh. Every city, every town and every village will
> have a Temple and a House of Justice in the future. There are three
> basic processes in teaching - the first is to attract the people; the
> second is to convert the people; and the third is to be consecrated.
> There must be attraction, conversion and consecration. The teachers
> must not be unwise. There are three Charters to be used (I) the
> Covenant of Bahá'u'lláh, or "The Divine Plan" - (2) the Will and
> Testament of Abdul'-Baha with the Plan for World Administration, and
> (3) The Tablet of Carmel - the Charter for the development for the
> World Center of the Faith (see God Passes By, page 194, and Gleanings,
> pages 14-16). The Tablet of Carmel is the symbol of the House of Justice;
> the Ark is the symbol of the Administrative Body; the higher cave of
> Elijah is the real one where Bahá'u'lláh revealed the Tablet of Carmel
> in such a loud voice that the priests heard it.
> 
> We must encourage the marriage of blacks and whites; black men and
> white women, and white men and black women. If black women
> married white men and domineered them, it would make a great
> impression. American women should marry German men to tone them
> down and German women should marry American men to tone them
> down. American women domineer their husbands and make them
> work and play. In the Bible it speaks about the "half-baked race" - that
> refers to the Americans.
> 
> There are 400 Negro Bahá'ís in America. Maybe we should send Enoch
> Olinga to America to teach the American Negroes. If he were sent, we
> should send him to the deep South. The Negroes are sensitive,
> suspicious and distrustful. The Africans are pure-hearted, like
> children, but immature. They accept the Americans because they are
> also pure in heart and simple.
> 
> The African Bahá'ís keep asking why they have not been given the
> Faith before - why it was so long in coming. Why don't they ask the
> American Bahá'ís that question? Especially the American Bahá'ís. Do
> the American Bahá'í women hold the Negro babies in their arms and
> really love them?
> 
> "A community sent a bulletin saying they had obeyed me - they had
> done the Iqan. Obey? Obey? Obey? Whom do they obey? Why do they
> not read my cablegrams? Why do they not disperse? If they do not
> respond and disperse, they will suffer spiritually, materially and
> physically."
> 
> Suffering purifies people. Those who do not respond will lose
> everything for all eternity; those who do respond will gain
> everything for all eternity.
> 
> For pioneers to leave their posts means the next to arrive will have to
> go through the difficulties all over again and it will be twice as
> difficult for them. You must persevere and do not think of "home sweet
> home."
> 
> The new race will be wholly devoted souls. This is the Age of the
> maturity of the human race - a spiritual emergency between man and
> God. There are three stages in the evolution of mankind. The first
> stage is that of infancy and childhood. The second stage is that of
> manhood, at the age of 21. The third is that of Maturity, at 40.
> Humanity has now reached the third stage. The human race is now 40,
> and has reached the age of Maturity and must perfect God's work.
> 
> The Guardian was asked, "Have you ever been in America?" He
> answered, "No, but I hope to go."
> 
> [page 3]
> 
> Ruhiyyih Khanum (his wife) said "Apathy, corruption, decadence,
> creates unhappiness for Shoghi Effendi and danger for the believers.
> They must pack up and move out of cities, go to small communities or
> villages. No one has the right to prevent them."
> 
> AMERICA: For America, the best medicine is shock medicine.
> America is exposed to great dangers. It will be the storm center of the
> future. Americans do not have enough belief in God - not enough
> detachment; they must be more spiritual, disencumber themselves
> from things, have Bahá'í standards, not American standards.
> Americans are too materialistic, too mechanized, too attached to family,
> health and death. There must be less materialism, less intellectualism,
> and more spirit. America has become isolated. anything can happen at
> anytime. America is the most disturbed nation, politically, on earth.
> The people are living in a fool's paradise.
> 
> Excesses in America are causing animosity and making enemies - this
> is due to their independence, ruthlessness, bad manners and
> aggressiveness. Manners, art, music, literature and morals or corrupt.
> America goes to extremes on sex. The Tower of Babel is not a
> building but carrying things to excess. There is too much
> organization in America and too little spirit.
> 
> It is positively dangerous to live in Cities. The cities are doomed. They
> will go up in smoke. They will evaporate. People are flocking to
> churches through fear. Americans must have a totally new way of life,
> become a new race of men wholly devoted souls, devoted to God and His
> ways. They must get to a simpler way of life. The standards of America
> must be lowered - have fewer luxuries. It would be better for the
> Americans to go back to the old ways, live a more easy life and stop
> tearing around to make money.
> 
> The husband works all day, comes home at night tired; the wife has
> been resting all day; she makes him dress up and go out and stay up
> late, then the next day, go to work again. The men die early and leave
> insurance, the widows use the money to travel and have a good time.
> The Master also spoke of this.
> 
> The young people of America should go out into the Country on farms
> and work with their hands and produce food for their families.
> Americans are pure-hearted, simple and child-like, enthusiastic and
> industrious, but do not carry things through. They do things with the
> most leisure.
> 
> Americans are exposed to great dangers. Today the power of America is
> in the hands of the masses (see God Passes By, page 218). There is a
> terrific power in the press and the people are swayed by it. The United
> States had a civil war and a federal state was forged not to be dissolved.
> The United States, on a national scale, sets the pattern for an
> international pattern. The United States must be united to preserve the
> "oneness." There will be a world civil war, followed by the
> establishment of a world state; all the nations will be a part of it and
> will have to conform to it. This war has already started in Korea.
> Mankind cannot be purified and cleansed without suffering.
> 
> It is essential that the youth of today study deeply the Faith, as they will
> usher in the Most Great Peace. The Lesser Peace will be established
> within this century. The Most Great Peace, in the next century. The
> Global Crusade will establish the Bahá'í Faith the world over, but will
> not have a direct influence in establishing the United States of the
> world. The first period will be that of suffering and cleansing; the
> second period will be that of unification, and the third, the
> establishment of the Bahá'í World Faith. After the International State
> is established and wars cease, the
> 
> [page 4]
> 
> money now being expended for destruction and war will be used for
> education and science, and a method will be discovered for
> interplanetary communication, even interplanetary conferences. The
> time will come when people can cross the entire nation (The whole
> world one nation) in one hour and eventually beyond the
> continent into interplanetary travel. The cycle of 6,000 years of city
> building has come to an end, and now we will have a new pattern,
> starting with villages, etc. Material civilization is becoming like the
> ancient city of Babylon and it must be destroyed. In America the
> destruction will be great!
> 
> ISTANBUL: It is much more important to concentrate on Istanbul than
> on Ankara, the capital, because Istanbul is associated with Bahá'u'lláh.
> It is the key to the whole Black Sea area, the melting pot of East and
> West. It is the ancient capital before Constantinople, and the place of
> suffering and persecution of Bahá'u'lláh. A national assembly must be
> established there, as Istanbul will be the seat of the N.S.A. and the
> Haziratu'l-Quds in the future.
> 
> RUSSIA: There are 16 republics in Russia. The Bahá'í Faith was
> established in five. There are no Bahá'ís in Russia now; all the Bahá'ís
> were scattered and banished and exiled to Siberia. In the future the
> Bahá'ís will enter Russia - they will pour into east Russia through
> Alaska, to northwest Russia from Norway, Sweden and Denmark, to
> southeast Russia from Japan and to west Russia from Germany.
> 
> SCANDINAVIA The Scandinavian countries, Norway, Sweden and
> Denmark have a great destiny ahead. Stockholm is very important and
> that is why the Temple will be built there. The Danish people have
> wonderful qualities - the good qualities of the German and English
> without their faults. They are strong-hearted and determined,
> tenacious and devoted. They have a great future.
> 
> ISRAEL: The Jews await the Kingdom of God; the Christians await the
> end of a 6,000 year process. We are assured that the Jews will get all of
> Palestine; Abdu'l-Bahá mentioned this in "Some answered Questions";
> also, the British Secretary Balfour in his declaration mentioned it. The
> Jews are establishing their home in Palestine. The word "Israel" means
> "Hastening to God." "Isra" means "hastening" and "el" means "God."
> The Jews suffered for 2,000 years for persecuting Christ, "The Son of
> God," for 3 years; the Moslems and the Arabs persecuted Bahá'u'lláh,
> "the Father," for 50 years, so they will suffer more and endure greater
> sufferings. The time of banishment is now over for the Jews. They
> will return to Palestine and Palestine will be their home forever. The
> Moslems and Arabs will be scattered. The Arabs suffered severe defeat
> because they did not respond to the call of Bahá'u'lláh. One million
> Jews came into Israel and one million Arabs went out of Israel in 1948
> and 1949. The Jews will get all of Palestine because the Arabs will make
> trouble with the Jews and the Jews will drive them out. The standard of
> Israel must be raised - there must be more cleanliness - become cleaner
> - but have no luxuries. The Christian Spiritual Center was in Israel,
> then in Greece, then in Rome, where it is now, and the Pope is still its
> head (he is shaking in his boots). The administrative center of Islam is
> Mecca. The Land of Canaan was under Babylon before the time of Saul,
> who made it the first Civic Kingdom. After Babylon, India, Persia, then
> the Greek, and later, the Roman Empire, then came the English
> Mandate and the free state of Israel. This is the Spiritual Center of the
> Bahá'í World. The Shrine of the Bab is the Spiritual Center of the
> Bahá'í World. The Jews are coming into the Faith to support it, but they
> do not know it yet. The House of Justice is the Administrative Center of
> the World. It will be built on Mount Carmel in
> 
> [page 5]
> 
> close proximity of the Shrine of the Bab, overlooking the Shrines of
> the Greatest Holy Leaf and those of the Mother and brother of the
> Master. The first edifice to be built there will be the International
> Archives - later the Universal House of Justice and those of the
> Guardianship and the Haziratu'l-Quds. These will form an arc above the
> Monument Gardens. All will be located on Mount Carmel. The House of
> Justice legislates on subjects not revealed in the Holy text. The Shrine
> of the Bab has two factors - (I) because the Bab was martyred and his
> body was brought there, (2) because Bahá'u'lláh was banished there
> by enemy governments causing changes in Palestine.
> 
> THE LATINS, PERSIANS AND TURKS: are immature and unstable and
> cannot carry things through. They get enthusiastic and then it fades
> away.
> 
> AFRICA: There are 200 localities in Africa. Shoghi Effendi would like
> to have a picture of all the African Bahá'ís. He said this can only be
> accomplished by having a conference, but it is not yet time for that -
> the government would become suspicious and the believers are not yet
> firmly enough established, but later it will be held in Kampala. He
> asked about the Haziratu'l-Quds in Uganda. "Busy like a beehive, with
> Friends coming and going constantly. But the English neighbors
> ignore us and the cross the street to avoid speaking to us," was the
> answer. Shoghi Effendi said, "We long needed such a center in Africa.
> The Haziratu'l-Quds might be changed and converted into a National
> Headquarters, or another one acquired - expend as little as possible on
> repairs." The Guardian gave a dervish robe that had belonged to
> Bahá'u'lláh as a gift to the Haziratu'l-Quds in Uganda. He asked if Bill
> Foster has been heard from - the answer was "No." Ted Cardell had a
> very difficult place - Windhock, is in Southwest Africa, but he has
> courage and determination. He said the Banani family is an example to
> all Bahá'ís (pioneers) - in fact to all Bahá'ís. He said the Collisons had a
> fine spirit and what they have done is doubly meritorious because they
> went pioneering, then went out a second time. It is not enough to go
> pioneering - one must leave and pioneer elsewhere. The World Order
> of Bahá'u'lláh will embrace all mankind. There will be four pillars in
> Africa - four local centers - Kampala, Tunis, Johanesburg and Cairo.
> Africa and the islands of the Seas will have the greatest future. The
> Africans are pure-hearted and child-like. But property in Central
> Africa - there must be 50 centers in Africa. Teach the Pygmy who
> speak so well and tell him to go to the Pygmies and teach them. The
> most rapid growth of the Faith is (I) in Africa; (2) Germany, (3) in
> England.
> 
> There are 50 centers in England, Scotland, Ireland and adjoining
> islands - 200 localities in Africa - only 3 or 4 communities in France.
> Eventually in the world at the end of the Ten Year Plan, there will be
> 60 National Spiritual Assemblies.
> 
> Christian Scientists are blind and not sure. They think that they
> are perfect and pure and that they are an example to the world, but
> they are not. The Bahá'ís use their effort to use God's Plan which is
> mysterious. The Bahá'ís will build the New World Order relying upon
> God. The Bahá'ís have no ulterior motives; they do not expect anything
> from people. The Christian Scientists receive money for their
> teachings. The Bahá'í Faith is God-inspired, divine in origin,
> embracing all mankind.
> 
> JOSEPH SMITH: was a seer, not a Prophet of God - neither major
> nor minor. He had a
> 
> [page 6]
> 
> higher standard, (the same applies to the Quakers), but the Bahá'ís
> have a higher standard coupled with God's power that comes direct
> from God for this age.
> 
> *******************************
> 
> True Copy by:
> 
> Charles M. Manson
> 
> Culver, Minnesota
> 
> January 5, 1955
> 
> METADATA
> 
> Views20670 views since posted 1998; last edit 2025-09-30 13:00 UTC;
> 
> previous at archive.org.../brown_haifa_notes;
> URLs changed in 2010, see archive.org.../bahai-library.org
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> — *Haifa Notes (Used by permission of the curator)*