# Towards a Spiritual Civilization

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> Source: Bahá'í Library Online (bahai-library.com), curated by Jonah Winters. Used by permission of the curator. Original citation: Ian C. Semple, Towards a Spiritual Civilization, bahai-library.com.
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> Published in the Journal of Bahá’í Studies Vol. 11, number 3/4 (2001)
> © Association for Bahá’í Studies 2001
> 
> Towards a Spiritual Civilization*
> Ian C. Semple
> 
> *Presented as a plenary address at the Twenty-fifth Annual Conference of the Association for Bahá’í Studies,
> Seattle, Washington, 2 September 2001.
> 
> T    he theme of this conference is “Towards a Spiritual Civilization” and, in a sense, everything that is being
> discussed relates to this goal. This morning I would like to examine briefly three principal methods which are
> being used to achieve Bahá’u’lláh’s purpose for the spiritualization of humankind. The proper use of each method
> depends on our knowledge of the Faith while, conversely, the process of acting upon them deepens our knowledge.
> Bahá’í scholarship, in its many levels and aspects, is a thread which runs through them all. As Bahá’u’lláh says, in
> the Third Tajalli: “In truth, knowledge is a veritable treasure for man, and a source of glory, of bounty, of joy, of
> exaltation, of cheer and gladness unto him” (Tablets of Bahá’u’lláh 52).
> The first of the three methods is the perpetual striving of each Bahá’í to draw closer to God in mind, action,
> and spirit.
> Second is the persistent and fundamental work of teaching His Message and building His Administrative
> Order.
> Third is the participation of Bahá’ís in humanitarian service and the betterment of the life of society.
> Finally, we shall consider the nature of the goal towards which all this is leading. Having this clear in our
> minds illuminates the stages we pass through on our path towards it.
> I have used the words “first,” “second” and “third” because such a priority can be seen both in the strength
> which the earlier gives to the later, and in the experience of the Bahá’í community. In the earliest years of the
> Dispensation, the love and obedience to God and His Manifestation in the heart of each believer was almost all there
> was. The Scriptures themselves were only then being revealed, there was no community structure as such, and
> collaboration with other people in the work of advancing human society was impossible. However, I shall not
> discuss the three methods sequentially. At the present time, all three are being fully used. They reinforce and
> supplement each other.
> We are only in the year 158 of the Bahá’í era. The range of tasks that demand our attention are infinite in
> range and number. How are we to know what is the most urgent?
> It was Shoghi Effendi who taught us how to build systematically, using plans to focus our endeavors, lest we
> dissipate our time and energy. When the Bahá’í community was small, the plans could be simple. Growth has led to
> the opening of new possibilities, and an increase in complexity. The progressive decentralization of the work which
> this requires does not lessen the importance of planning and collaboration. We are still in the condition in which, as
> ‘Abdu’l-Bahá explained, the important often has to be sacrificed so that the most important can be achieved.
> 
> United Action and Individual Initiative
> Over the decades, and especially in recent years, Bahá’ís have been learning to think in terms of process—of
> attuning their activities to the current stage in any particular process. This requires a breadth of vision in both space
> and time. One needs to evaluate experiences of past events, understand the implications of current actions for future
> developments, and measure their interaction with other activities being pursued at the same time. Such a method of
> planning and working is, in the long run, far more productive than pursuing successive, isolated, bright ideas, the
> immediate effect of which may be striking, but can soon die away without enduring benefit to the work as a whole.
> Nevertheless, it is essential that creative individuals continue to have “bright ideas.” One of the skills which
> Bahá’í institutions are learning is how to evaluate and encourage these ideas and relate them to the work as a whole,
> so that they will contribute to overall progress, rather than be mere diversions. The resultant interplay of united
> action and individual initiative is an enrichment of Bahá’í community life. It is especially noticeable in the field of
> social and economic development. We not only have Bahá’í projects directed by Spiritual Assemblies, but also
> many activities which are characterized as “Bahá’í-inspired projects.” While under the overall aegis of a Spiritual
> Assembly, such projects are largely independent, do not need detailed guidance by the institutions of the Faith, are
> not a drain on the limited Bahá’í funds, and often, being designed for general humanitarian purposes, can make use
> of funds allocated by non-Bahá’í foundations and institutions. They are also perfect vehicles for collaboration with
> non-Bahá’í individuals and agencies who have similar humanitarian aims.
> Although the pursuit of social and economic development can draw people to the Faith and so, indirectly,
> support the teaching work, we must always be careful to observe a clear distinction between the two. Our
> humanitarian work must be seen, both by Bahá’ís and by others, as a bona fide contribution to the betterment of life,
> and not a mere front for teaching the Faith. At the same time, whatever we do in this area must not be in conflict
> with the teachings and principles of the Faith. For example, here, as in all our activities, we must guard against
> involvement in partisan politics.
> This illustrates the vital need for every believer to acquire a sound and penetrating knowledge of the
> teachings. This is essential not only to ensure that we act in accordance with the principles of the Faith, but also for
> the spiritual development of our souls. On this too depends our ability to teach the Faith to others, which is the
> ultimate source of all well-being for ourselves and for those to whom we convey the Message.
> However, because all of us are still learning, and are imperfect in our understanding of the Faith, we
> inevitably make mistakes. It is clear, therefore, how important is the development of the Administrative Order and
> the evolution of its national and local institutions. The consultation employed by these institutions, and the authority
> they exercise in guiding the believers, help to avoid the ill effects of unwisdom or lack of knowledge on the part of
> individuals.
> Thus, no matter how important is work in the area of social and economic development it always
> complements, but cannot take the place of, the work of directly teaching the Faith and establishing its institutions on
> a sound basis.
> 
> Tolerance and Righteousness
> One area in which there is increasing activity on the part both of Bahá’í institutions and of Bahá’í-inspired projects
> is that of moral education. Governments and educational institutions in many parts of the world are coming to
> recognize the pressing need for moral, and even spiritual, education, if their societies are not to decline still further
> into crime, anarchy, and chaos, and many of them have been turning to the Bahá’ís to fill this gap.
> It is in such activities that Bahá’ís and Bahá’í institutions can fulfil Bahá’u’lláh’s injunction to “associate
> with all the peoples and kindreds of the earth with joy and radiance” (Tablets of Bahá’u’lláh 36), working with them
> for the reduction of human misery, and the betterment of human society.
> Here, I think, a specific example can be helpful in understanding how difficult problems can be solved by the
> application of wisdom, breadth of vision, and clear understanding.
> A distinction must be made between the standards that Bahá’ís uphold, on the one hand, and what we can
> expect of other people, on the other. In one African country, where AIDS is already a scourge of a magnitude that is
> not even dreamt of in the United States—the statistics are always changing, but I heard recently of one country
> where 60 percent of the population is now HIV positive—in one such country, as I said, the government decided to
> launch a nationwide campaign to get people to use condoms, and it appealed to the various religious bodies to help
> in this campaign.
> Among the religious bodies, the Catholics and the Muslims refused, because they said it would countenance,
> and even encourage, extramarital sex. The National Spiritual Assembly wrote to ask the Universal House of Justice
> for advice. The advice given was this: The Assembly should follow two courses. Within the Bahá’í community it
> should increase the intensity of educating the believers in Bahá’í moral standards, including complete abstinence
> from sex outside the marriage bond; the friends, in duty to God, should uphold this standard, and it would be their
> best protection against infection. In relation to those outside the Bahá’í community, however, the Assembly should
> recognize, and should explain to the believers, that the majority of the people were not Bahá’ís, that they were not
> subject to Bahá’í law, and that they lived in a society where extramarital sex was the norm. In order to do at least
> something to protect them, the National Assembly would actively support the government’s campaign.
> A similar distinction between what can be expected of Bahá’ís and what standards can be applied to others, is
> found in many areas of moral education and social interaction. It is in relation to such situations that one can
> appreciate the force of Bahá’u’lláh’s words in the Lawh-i-Maqsúd: “The heaven of true understanding shineth
> resplendent with the light of two luminaries: tolerance and righteousness” (Tablets of Bahá’u’lláh 169–70). And,
> again, in the Tablet of Tarázát He wrote: “This Wronged One exhorteth the peoples of the world to observe
> tolerance and righteousness, which are two lights amidst the darkness of the world and two educators for the
> edification of mankind. Happy are they who have attained thereto and woe betide the heedless (Tablets of
> Bahá’u’lláh 36).
> A Growing Thirst for Spirituality
> Beyond the need for moral education, there is also a growing thirst for spirituality in people at large, and this is one
> reason why the House of Justice has encouraged Bahá’í communities to hold gatherings for prayer, meditation, and
> reading of the Writings. These not only help raise the level of spirituality among the Bahá’ís themselves, but help
> spiritually thirsty non-Bahá’ís to enrich their lives and learn of the teachings of Bahá’u’lláh.
> While pursuing all our activities in the Bahá’í community with due vigor and commitment, we must
> nevertheless recognize that whatever we do in humanitarian service, the conveying of moral standards and the
> encouragement of spirituality and, indeed, in the teaching of the Faith itself, can have only a limited effect unless
> and until people fully accept the claim of Bahá’u’lláh. These activities are parts of a process and are not complete or
> adequate in themselves. One finds, for example, that some seekers have a kind of “buffet” attitude to religion—
> indeed this attitude can be found even among registered Bahá’ís who, after having accepted the Faith, have failed to
> deepen their understanding of it—they are interested only in what they feel they need for themselves, so they take a
> little of this and a bit of that, and leave all the rest. Thus, increasing their spirituality and exposing them to the
> teachings of Bahá’u’lláh may not be sufficient to lead to a complete acceptance of His Message.
> There is a well-known passage from Gleanings from the Writings of Bahá’u’lláh, which is frequently quoted:
> “The well-being of mankind, its peace and security, are unattainable unless and until its unity is finally established”
> (286). Some understand this to mean that all that is necessary to attain the unity of which Bahá’u’lláh writes, is to
> establish a general attitude of tolerance among all people, accepting that every ideal, teaching, and program is as
> valid as any other. But if we really wish to know how to establish unity, we should remember that this quotation
> continues: “This unity can never be achieved so long as the counsels which the Pen of the Most High hath revealed
> are suffered to pass unheeded.”
> So far we have been considering three ways in which the Bahá’í community is helping humankind to raise the
> standards of morality and spirituality and well-being in society, and conveying to all people the Message of
> Bahá’u’lláh. But, as He wrote in the Lawh-i-Maqsúd, “At the outset of every endeavour, it is incumbent to look to
> the end of it” (Tablets of Bahá’u’lláh 168). What do we have in mind as the attainment of a spiritual civilization?
> And should we not, within our own community and in our personal lives, strive towards a far greater realization of
> the meaning of true spirituality than we can expect of the world at large? This is dependent upon full recognition of
> Bahá’u’lláh as the Manifestation of God for this age, and is also a principal means whereby we attain to such full
> recognition. In the last extract quoted in Tablets of Bahá’u’lláh is this passage:
> 
> The supreme cause for creating the world and all that is therein is for man to know God. In this Day
> whosoever is guided by the fragrance of the raiment of His mercy to gain admittance into the pristine Abode,
> which is the station of recognizing the Source of divine commandments and the Dayspring of His Revelation,
> hath everlastingly attained unto all good. Having reached this lofty station a twofold obligation resteth upon
> every soul. One is to be steadfast in the Cause with such steadfastness that were all the peoples of the world to
> attempt to prevent him from turning to the Source of Revelation, they would be powerless to do so. The other
> is observance of the divine ordinances which have streamed forth from the wellspring of His heavenly-
> propelled Pen. For man’s knowledge of God cannot develop fully and adequately save by observing
> whatsoever hath been ordained by Him and is set forth in His heavenly Book. (268)
> 
> The recognition of Bahá’u’lláh establishes a personal relationship and connection between the Manifestation
> of God and the believer. As we study the attitudes towards Bahá’u’lláh evinced by ‘Abdu’l-Bahá and Shoghi
> Effendi and, above all, as we study the Writings of Bahá’u’lláh Himself and use His prayers, we become profoundly
> aware of the fact that in all things we are but willing instruments in His Hand, and that He can achieve things which
> we could never dream of attempting on our own strength. With closeness to Bahá’u’lláh, one learns to rely with
> confidence on His help and guidance in all that happens.
> 
> Three Stories of Faith
> I would like to tell you three stories. I relate them from my own faulty memory, but I think I am being reasonably
> accurate, and they demonstrate a truth to which hundreds and thousands of pioneers and other Bahá’ís can testify
> from their own experience: If one does all that one can to serve the purpose of Bahá’u’lláh, He will do the rest.
> The first relates to a Bahá’í who had a shop in ‘Akká during the lifetime of Bahá’u’lláh. One day ‘Abdu’l-
> Bahá came to him and told him that Bahá’u’lláh wished him to go immediately to Jedda—the port on the Red Sea to
> which pilgrims came on their way to Mecca. The Bahá’í promptly shut up his shop and asked if he might first go to
> Bahjí to take his leave of Bahá’u’lláh. But ‘Abdu’l-Bahá said, no, there was no time, he must take the ship for Jedda
> at once. So the Bahá’í went.
> In the Red Sea a storm blew up and the sailors were afraid of drowning. The Bahá’í thought to himself: “I am
> embarked on a mission for Bahá’u’lláh; He will not let us drown.” The boat arrived in Jedda and, as the Bahá’í
> stepped ashore, he realized that he had forgotten to ask why he was to come there. But he thought, “Never mind, that
> will be shown to me”. As he walked through the streets he came upon Hájí Mírzá Haydar-‘Alí, who he thought was
> still imprisoned in the Sudan, and he realized he must have been sent to bring Hájí Mírzá Haydar-‘Alí to
> Bahá’u’lláh, which he did. Bahá’u’lláh, when greeting the Bahá’í, assured him: “We were with you in that storm on
> the Red Sea.”
> The second is the story of the opening of Spitsbergen. This is a group of islands north of Norway, about the
> same latitude as the north of Greenland, about ten degrees from the pole. The only industries there were coal mining
> and hunting, and unless one had a job there was nowhere to live. Several Bahá’ís were eager to get there, for it was
> One of the goals of the Ten Year Crusade. One of them, Paul Adams, a young Englishman, had, like the others,
> applied for work, but none was forthcoming. He then thought whether there was anything else that he could do
> which he had not done, and he realized that he could at least get closer geographically. So he went from London to
> Tromsø in the north of Norway, and there he learned of Hilmar Nøis, a hunter from Spitsbergen, who needed an
> apprentice for the coming winter. Paul took the job and became the Knight of Bahá’u’lláh for Spitsbergen.
> The third, which is similar, concerns the secretary of a National Spiritual Assembly. The Universal House of
> Justice had learned that the president of one of the Muslim countries was visiting Europe and it was eager to have a
> letter delivered to him. So it sent the letter to the National Assembly and the secretary did all he could to get the
> embassy to give him an interview with the ambassador in order to deliver the letter. The embassy was courteous but
> there was no result; clearly they were being evasive. So the secretary wondered what else he could do, and decided
> that, even without an appointment, he could at least go to the capital where the embassy was situated. He took the
> letter and went. As he approached the gates of the embassy, a lady also approached them, so he stood back to let her
> pass. She smiled and thanked him, and asked if she could help. He told her he had an important letter for the
> ambassador. She said, “Come with me, I am his secretary.”
> I do not relate these stories as evidences of miracles, but rather to illustrate a natural spiritual phenomenon.
> God and His Manifestation are not just satisfying philosophical concepts, They are the most fundamental of the
> realities of our lives Whose purpose and presence should always be in our thoughts.
> None of us will ever really understand the station of a Manifestation of God, but we know, from His own
> Writings, that He is the vehicle of the Message and Power of God sent to the world to take it to the next stage in its
> evolution, and we must bow to the fact that, whatever we learn and understand about Him is but a shadow of the
> reality. The essence of true spirituality, therefore, is the close relationship which grows between a believer and the
> Manifestation of God and, therefore, with God, which enables the believer to pass through the vicissitudes of this
> life in confidence and serenity and achieve things which he knows are far beyond his own capacity.
> The stories I have told relate to drawing on divine power to carry out services for the Faith, but the same
> power can guide and reinforce every effort we make to obey the laws of God, uphold the principles of the Faith, and
> reform our characters.
> Moreover, the more we can attain to that spirituality, the more we can awaken it in the hearts of others. As
> Bahá’u’lláh wrote: “Piety and detachment are even as two most great luminaries of the heaven of teaching. Blessed
> the one who hath attained unto this supreme station, this habitation of transcendent holiness and sublimity” (Tablets
> of Bahá’u’lláh 253).
> This understanding of individual spirituality should indicate to us the characteristics of a spiritual civilization.
> It is not just a society in which the people engage in prayer and meditation and are aware of the spiritual things of
> life such as beauty, harmony, and kindliness. It is a society which lives and functions in accordance with the will of
> God and in the consciousness of His guiding Hand and Spirit. To describe such a civilization and how we will move
> towards it, I can do no better than to read the closing paragraphs of The Promised Day is Come. This passage is
> undoubtedly familiar to you all, but it bears reading and rereading as we struggle with the problems, sufferings, and
> looming disasters of the present period in history.
> 
> To the general character, the implications and features of this world commonwealth, destined to
> emerge, sooner or later, out of the carnage, agony, and havoc of this great world convulsion, I have already
> referred in my previous communications. Suffice it to say that this consummation will, by its very nature, be a
> gradual process, and must, as Bahá’u’lláh has Himself anticipated, lead at first to the establishment of that
> Lesser Peace which the nations of the earth, as yet unconscious of His Revelation and yet unwittingly
> enforcing the general principles which He has enunciated, will themselves establish. This momentous and
> historic step, involving the reconstruction of mankind, as the result of the universal recognition of its oneness
> and wholeness, will bring in its wake the spiritualization of the masses, consequent to the recognition of the
> character, and the acknowledgment of the claims, of the Faith of Bahá’u’lláh—the essential condition to that
> ultimate fusion of all races, creeds, classes, and nations which must signalize the emergence of His New
> World Order.
> Then will the coming of age of the entire human race be proclaimed and celebrated by all the peoples
> and nations of the earth. Then will the banner of the Most Great Peace be hoisted. Then will the worldwide
> sovereignty of Bahá’u’lláh—the Establisher of the Kingdom of the Father foretold by the Son, and anticipated
> by the Prophets of God before Him and after Him-be recognized, acclaimed, and firmly established. Then
> will a world civilization be born, flourish, and perpetuate itself, a civilization with a fullness of life such as
> the world has never seen nor can as yet conceive. Then will the Everlasting Covenant be fulfilled in its
> completeness. Then will the promise enshrined in all the Books of God be redeemed, and all the prophecies
> uttered by the Prophets of old come to pass, and the vision of seers and poets be realized. Then will the
> planet, galvanized through the universal belief of its dwellers in one God, and their allegiance to one common
> Revelation, mirror, within the limitations imposed upon it, the effulgent glories of the sovereignty of
> Bahá’u’lláh, shining in the plenitude of its splendor in the Abhá Paradise, and be made the footstool of His
> Throne on high, and acclaimed as the earthly heaven, capable of fulfilling that ineffable destiny fixed for it,
> from time immemorial, by the love and wisdom of its Creator.
> Not ours, puny mortals that we are, to attempt, at so critical a stage in the long and checkered history
> of mankind, to arrive at a precise and satisfactory understanding of the steps which must successively lead a
> bleeding humanity, wretchedly oblivious of its God, and careless of Bahá’u’lláh, from its calvary to its
> ultimate resurrection. Not ours, the living witnesses of the all-subduing potency of His Faith, to question, for
> a moment, and however dark the misery that enshrouds the world, the ability of Bahá’u’lláh to forge, with the
> hammer of His Will, and through the fire of tribulation, upon the anvil of this travailing age, and in the
> particular shape His mind has envisioned, these scattered and mutually destructive fragments into which a
> perverse world has fallen, into one single unit, solid and indivisible, able to execute His design for the
> children of men.
> Ours rather the duty, however confused the scene, however dismal the present outlook, however
> circumscribed the resources we dispose of, to labor serenely, confidently, and unremittingly to lend our share
> of assistance, in whichever way circumstances may enable us, to the operation of the forces which, as
> marshaled and directed by Bahá’u’lláh, are leading humanity out of the valley of misery and shame to the
> loftiest summits of power and glory. (123–24)
> 
> Works Cited
> 
> Bahá’u’lláh. Gleanings from the Writings of Bahá’u’lláh. Trans. Shoghi Effendi. Wilmette, Ill.: Bahá’í Publishing
> Trust, 1976.
> ———. Tablets of Bahá’u’lláh Revealed after the Kitáb-i-Aqdas. Comp. Research Dept. of the Universal House of
> Justice. Trans. Habib Taherzadeh et al. Haifa: Bahá’í World Centre, 1978.
> 
> Shoghi Effendi. The Promised Day is Come. Wilmette, Ill.: Bahá’í Publishing Trust, 1980
>
> — *Towards a Spiritual Civilization (Used by permission of the curator)*