Ridvan 2012

To the Baha'is of the World

Dearly loved Friends,

1 Midafternoon on the eleventh day of the Ridvan festival one hundred years

ago, 'Abdu'l-Baha, standing before an audience several hundred strong, lifted

a workman's axe and pierced the turf covering the Temple site at Grosse

Pointe, north of Chicago. Those invited to break the ground with Him on that

spring day came from diverse backgrounds--Norwegian, Indian, French, Japanese,

Persian, indigenous American, to name but a few. It was as if the House

of Worship, yet unbuilt, was fulfilling the wishes of the Master, expressed on

the eve of the ceremony, for every such edifice: "that humanity might find a

place of meeting" and "that the proclamation of the oneness of mankind shall

go forth from its open courts of holiness".

2 His listeners on that occasion, and all who heard Him in the course of His

travels to Egypt and the West, must have but dimly comprehended the far-

reaching implications of His words for society, for its values and

preoccupations. Still today, can anyone claim to have glimpsed anything but an

intimation, distant and indistinct, of the future society to which the

Revelation of Baha'u'llah is destined to give rise? For let none suppose that

the civilization towards which the divine teachings impel humankind will follow

merely from adjustments to the present order. Far from it. In a talk

delivered some days after He laid the cornerstone of the Mother Temple of the

West, 'Abdu'l-Baha stated that "among the results of the manifestation of

spiritual forces will be that the human world will adapt itself to a new social

form," that "the justice of God will become manifest throughout human affairs".

These, and countless other utterances of the Master to which the Baha'i

community is turning time and again in this centennial period, raise awareness

of the distance that separates society as it is now arranged from the

stupendous vision His Father gifted to the world.

Alas, notwithstanding the laudable efforts, in every land, of well-

intentioned individuals working to improve circumstances in society, the

obstacles preventing the realization of such a vision seem insurmountable to

many. Their hopes founder on erroneous assumptions about human nature that so

permeate the structures and traditions of much of present-day living as to have

attained the status of established fact. These assumptions appear to make no

allowance for the extraordinary reservoir of spiritual potential available to

any illumined soul who draws upon it; instead, they rely for justification on

humanity's failings, examples of which daily reinforce a common sense of

despair. A layered veil of false premises thus obscures a fundamental truth:

The state of the world reflects a distortion of the human spirit, not its

essential nature. The purpose of every Manifestation of God is to effect a

transformation in both the inner life and external conditions of humanity. And

this transformation naturally occurs as a growing body of people, united by the

divine precepts, collectively seeks to develop spiritual capacities to

contribute to a process of societal change. Akin to the hard earth struck by

the Master a century ago, the prevailing theories of the age may, at first, seem impervious to

alteration, but they will undoubtedly fade away, and through the "vernal

showers of the bounty of God", the "flowers of true understanding" will spring

up fresh and fair.

3 We yield thanks to God that, through the potency of His Word, you--the

community of His Greatest Name--are cultivating environments wherein true

understanding can blossom. Even those enduring imprisonment for the Faith are,

by their untold sacrifice and steadfastness, enabling the "hyacinths of

knowledge and wisdom" to flower in sympathetic hearts. Across the globe, eager

souls are being engaged in the work of constructing a new world through the

systematic implementation of the provisions of the Five Year Plan. So well have

its features been grasped that we feel no need to comment further on them here.

Our supplications, offered at the Threshold of an All-Bountiful Providence, are

for the assistance of the Supreme Concourse to be vouchsafed to every one of you

in contributing to the progress of the Plan. Our fervent desire, bolstered by

witnessing your consecrated efforts during the past year, is that you will

intensify your sure-footed application of the knowledge you are acquiring

through experience. Now is not the time to hold back; too many remain unaware

of the new dawn. Who but you can convey the divine message? "By God,"

Baha'u'llah, referring to the Cause, affirms, "this is the arena of insight and

detachment, of vision and upliftment, where none may spur on their chargers save

the valiant horsemen of the Merciful, who have severed all attachment to the

world of being."

4 To observe the Baha'i world at work is to behold a vista bright indeed.

In the life of the individual believer who desires, above all, to invite

others into communion with the Creator and to render service to humanity can

be found signs of the spiritual transformation intended for every soul by the

Lord of the Age. In the spirit animating the activities of any Baha'i

community dedicated to enhancing the capacity of its members young and old, as

well as of its friends and collaborators, to serve the common weal can be

perceived an indication of how a society founded upon divine teachings might

develop. And in those advanced clusters where activity governed by the

framework of the Plan is in abundance and the demands of ensuring coherence

amongst lines of action are most pressing, the evolving administrative

structures offer glimmerings, however faint, of how the institutions of the

Faith will incrementally come to assume a fuller range of their

responsibilities to promote human welfare and progress. Clearly, then, the

development of the individual, the community, and the institutions holds

immense promise. But beyond this, we note with particular joy how the

relationships binding these three are marked by such tender affection and

mutual support.

5 By contrast, relations among the three corresponding actors in the world

at large--the citizen, the body politic, and the institutions of society--

reflect the discord that characterizes humanity's turbulent stage of

transition. Unwilling to act as interdependent parts of an organic whole, they

are locked in a struggle for power which ultimately proves futile. How very

different the society which 'Abdu'l-Baha, in unnumbered Tablets and talks,

depicts--where everyday interactions, as much as the relations of states, are

shaped by consciousness of the oneness of humankind. Relationships imbued with

this consciousness are being cultivated by Baha'is and their friends in

villages and neighbourhoods across the world; from them can be detected the

pure fragrances of reciprocity and cooperation, of concord and love. Within

such unassuming settings, a visible alternative to society's familiar strife is

emerging. So it becomes apparent that the individual who wishes to exercise

self-expression responsibly participates thoughtfully in consultation devoted

to the common good and spurns the temptation to insist on personal opinion; a Baha'i institution, appreciating the need for coordinated

action channelled toward fruitful ends, aims not to control but to nurture and

encourage; the community that is to take charge of its own development

recognizes an invaluable asset in the unity afforded through whole-hearted

engagement in the plans devised by the institutions. Under the influence of

Baha'u'llah's Revelation, the relationships among these three are being endowed

with new warmth, new life; in aggregate, they constitute a matrix within which

a world spiritual civilization, bearing the imprint of divine inspiration,

gradually matures.

6 The light of the Revelation is destined to illumine every sphere of

endeavour; in each, the relationships that sustain society are to be recast; in

each, the world seeks examples of how human beings should be to one another.

We offer for your consideration, given its conspicuous part in generating the

ferment in which so many people have recently been embroiled, the economic life

of humanity, where injustice is tolerated with indifference and

disproportionate gain is regarded as the emblem of success. So deeply

entrenched are such pernicious attitudes that it is hard to imagine how any one

individual can alone alter the prevailing standards by which the relationships

in this domain are governed. Nevertheless, there are certainly practices a

Baha'i would eschew, such as dishonesty in one's transactions or the economic

exploitation of others. Faithful adherence to the divine admonitions demands

there be no contradiction between one's economic conduct and one's beliefs as a

Baha'i. By applying in one's life those principles of the Faith that relate to

fairness and equity, a single soul can uphold a standard far above the low

threshold by which the world measures itself. Humanity is weary for want of a

pattern of life to which to aspire; we look to you to foster communities whose

ways will give hope to the world.

7 In our Ridvan message of 2001, we indicated that in countries where the

process of entry by troops was sufficiently well advanced and conditions in

national communities were favourable, we would approve the establishment of

Houses of Worship at the national level, whose emergence would become a feature

of the Fifth Epoch of the Formative Age of the Faith. With exceeding joy we now

announce that national Mashriqu'l-Adhkars are to be raised up in two countries:

the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Papua New Guinea. In these, the

criteria we set are demonstrably met, and the response of their peoples to the

possibilities created by the current series of Plans has been nothing short of

remarkable. With the construction of the last of the continental temples in

Santiago under way, the initiation of projects for building national Houses of

Worship offers yet another gratifying evidence of the penetration of the Faith

of God into the soil of society.

8 One more step is possible. The Mashriqu'l-Adhkar, described by 'Abdu'l-

Baha as "one of the most vital institutions of the world", weds two essential,

inseparable aspects of Baha'i life: worship and service. The union of these

two is also reflected in the coherence that exists among the community-building

features of the Plan, particularly the burgeoning of a devotional spirit that

finds expression in gatherings for prayer and an educational process that

builds capacity for service to humanity. The correlation of worship and

service is especially pronounced in those clusters around the world where

Baha'i communities have significantly grown in size and vitality, and where

engagement in social action is apparent. Some of these have been designated as

sites for the dissemination of learning so as to nurture the friends' ability

to advance the junior youth programme in associated regions. The capacity to

sustain this programme, as we have recently indicated, also fuels the

development of study circles and children's classes. Thus, beyond its primary purpose, the learning site

fortifies the entire scheme of expansion and consolidation. It is within these

clusters that, in the coming years, the emergence of a local Mashriqu'l-Adhkar

can be contemplated. Our hearts brimming with thankfulness to the Ancient

Beauty, we rejoice to inform you that we are entering into consultations with

respective National Spiritual Assemblies regarding the erection of the first

local House of Worship in each of the following clusters: Battambang,

Cambodia; Bihar Sharif, India; Matunda Soy, Kenya; Norte del Cauca, Colombia;

and Tanna, Vanuatu.

8 To support the construction of the two national and five local

Mashriqu'l-Adhkars, we have decided to establish a Temples Fund at the Baha'i

World Centre for the benefit of all such projects. The friends everywhere are

invited to contribute to it sacrificially, as their means allow.

9 Beloved co-workers: The ground broken by the hand of 'Abdu'l-Baha a

hundred years ago is to be broken again in seven more countries, this being but

the prelude to the day when within every city and village, in obedience to the

bidding of Baha'u'llah, a building is upraised for the worship of the Lord.

From these Dawning-Points of the Remembrance of God will shine the rays of His

light and peal out the anthems of His praise.

[signed: The Universal House of Justice]