28 December 2005
To
all National Spiritual Assemblies
Dear
Baha'i Friends,
1 In the coming
weeks you will be engaged in consultations on the features of the next Five Year Plan as described in our message dated 27 December
2005 to the Conference of the Continental Boards of Counsellors. We feel that these deliberations will benefit
from the following comments regarding the curriculum of the training institute.
2 When in our message
dated 26 December 1995 we underscored the need for a
formal programme of training, we were aware that
certain elements of a curriculum meeting the necessary requirements existed in
the materials of the Ruhi Institute. It was our conviction, however, that the
accumulated experience at that point did not justify our recommending a
specific set of materials to be used by training institutes throughout the
world. Therefore, the messages
written by us and on our behalf in the early part of the Four
Year Plan encouraged National Spiritual Assemblies and the Counsellors
to open the way for training institutes to follow whatever curriculum they
deemed appropriate. Yet, conscious
of the inherent difficulty in creating comprehensive programmes,
we repeatedly expressed the view that the execution of plans should not await
protracted decisions on the question of curriculum and that materials readily
available should be used. The
availability of such materials was limited worldwide, and National Spiritual
Assemblies and institute boards began to adopt the books of the Ruhi Institute as they became aware of them, often through
the Counsellors. By the time the
Four Year Plan came to a close, it was all too apparent that national
communities which had vigorously set out to implement the sequence of courses
designed by the Ruhi Institute were far ahead of
those who had attempted to develop their own programme.
3 It was the Five Year Plan, however, that served to convince
Counsellors, National Assemblies and boards everywhere of the merits of the Ruhi Institute curriculum. The introduction of the seventh book in
the Institute's main sequence at the start of the Plan enabled many to
appreciate more the intimate connection between the flow of individuals through
a sequence of courses and the movement of clusters from one stage of growth to
the next. Indeed, as progress was
achieved in hundreds of clusters, it became clear to institutions at all levels
that the content and order of the main sequence prepared the friends to carry
out those acts of service required by the pattern of growth being established
in a cluster. We have, in fact,
described the dynamics of this relationship in our message of 27 December 2005.
4 We have now
familiarized ourselves with the Ruhi Institute's
present plans for curriculum development, which increasingly draw on experience
worldwide in sustaining large-scale expansion and consolidation. We welcome the decision of the
Institute, for example, to move the book currently occupying the fifth position
in the sequence to a set of courses branching out from Book 3 for preparing
Baha'i children's class teachers and to insert in the fifth place a new book
for raising up animators of junior youth groups. That the eighth book in the main
sequence, initiating a series concerned with the institutional aspects of
service to the Cause, will address the all-important question of the Covenant
is noted with equal pleasure. With
these thoughts in mind, we have reached the conclusion that the books of the Ruhi Institute should constitute the main sequence of
courses for institutes everywhere, at least through the final years of the
first century of the Formative Age when the Baha'i community will be focused on
advancing the process of entry by troops within the framework for action set
forth in our 27 December message.
5 To select one
curriculum to be used by training institutes worldwide for a certain period of
time is not to ignore the variety of needs and interests of the friends as they
endeavour to better equip themselves to understand
and apply the teachings of Baha'u'llah.
Nor does it in any way diminish the value of the efforts made to develop
courses and materials to respond to these needs. It is not intended to suggest, either,
that one curriculum should necessarily appeal to everyone. What this decision does imply, however,
is that the present demands of the growth of the Faith are such that, for some
years to come, training institutes should not attempt to meet all of the needs
and interests of the friends.
6 The institutions of the
Faith will continue to respect the wishes of those who, for whatever reason, do
not feel inclined to participate in the study of the books of the Ruhi Institute.
Those not so disposed should recognize that there are many avenues of
service open to them, including, above all, individual teaching which is the
paramount duty of every Baha'i.
Local deepening classes and summer and winter schools, which remain an
important feature of Baha'i community life, will provide ample opportunities
for them to deepen their knowledge of the teachings. What we ask of such friends, as we have
in the past, is that they not allow their personal preferences to hamper in any
way the unfoldment of an educational process that has shown the potential to
embrace millions of souls from divers
backgrounds. Regarding the
materials that have been developed in other contexts over the years, and which
will continue to emerge, these surely have their proper place in the Baha'i
community. Some, for example, form
the basis for deepening classes at the grassroots, while others, with the
necessary modifications, can be situated along one of the branches of courses
stemming out from the Ruhi Institute's main sequence.
7 In this connection, we
feel that the subject of branch courses deserves a few words of
explanation. In our message dated 9
January 2001 to the Conference of the Continental Boards of Counsellors, we
indicated that the main sequence could be likened to the trunk of a tree, which
supports other courses branching out from it, each branch addressing some
specific area of action. A set of
health materials being developed in
[signed: The Universal House of Justice]
cc: The Hand of the Cause Dr. 'Ali-Muhammad Varqa
International Teaching
Centre
Boards of Counsellors
Counsellors