ongoing immersion in the Creative Word progressively frees one from
the grip of the materialistic assumptions--what Baha'u'llah terms "the
allusions of the embodiments of satanic fancy"(63)--that pervade society
and paralyze impulses for change. It develops in one a capacity to assist
the yearning for unity on the part of friends and acquaintances to find
mature and intelligent expression. The nature of the core activities of
the current Plan--children's classes, devotional meetings and study
circles--permits growing numbers of persons who do not yet regard
themselves as Baha'is to feel free to participate in the process. The
result has been to bring into existence what has been aptly termed a
"community of interest". As others benefit from participation and come to
identify with the goals the Cause is pursuing, experience shows that they,
too, are inclined to commit themselves fully to Baha'u'llah as active
agents of His purpose. Apart from its associated objectives, therefore,
wholehearted prosecution of the Plan has the potentiality of amplifying
enormously the Baha'i community's contribution to public discourse on what
has become the most demanding issue facing humankind.

If Baha'is are to fulfil Baha'u'llah's mandate, however, it is obviously
vital that they come to appreciate that the parallel efforts of promoting
the betterment of society and of teaching the Baha'i Faith are not
activities competing for attention. Rather, are they reciprocal features
of one coherent global programme. Differences of approach are determined
chiefly by the differing needs and differing stages of inquiry that the
friends encounter. Because free will is an inherent endowment of the soul,
each person who is drawn to explore Baha'u'llah's teachings will need to
find his own place in the never-ending continuum of spiritual search. He
will need to determine, in the privacy of his own conscience and without
pressure, the spiritual responsibility this discovery entails. In order to
exercise this autonomy intelligently, however, he must gain both a
perspective on the processes of change in which he, like the rest of the
earth's population, is caught up and a clear understanding of the
implications for his own life. The obligation of the Baha'i community is
to do everything in its power to assist all stages of humanity's universal
movement towards reunion with God. The Divine Plan bequeathed it by the
Master is the means by which this work is