FREE BOOKS

Author's List




PREV.   NEXT  
|<   123   124   125   126   127   128   129   130   131   132   133   134   135   136   137   138   139   140   141   142   143   144   >>  
soul of Amatu'l-Baha Ruhiyyih _Kh_anum, beloved consort of Shoghi Effendi and the Baha'i world's last remaining link with the family of 'Abdu'l-Baha, was released from the limitations of this earthly existence.... Her twenty years of intimate association with Shoghi Effendi evoked from his pen such accolades as "my helpmate', 'my shield', 'my tireless collaborator in the arduous tasks I shoulder'.... As the initial shock of grief began to lift, appreciation of yet another of the inexhaustible bounties of Baha'u'llah gradually took its place. To a figure whose long lifetime had spanned most of the century--and whose indomitable spirit had sustained Baha'i struggles and sacrifices throughout its latter half--it had been given to live and celebrate the magnificent victories to which she had so magnificently contributed. * * * * * In calling on those who have recognized Him to share the message of the Day of God with others, Baha'u'llah turns again to the language of creation itself: "Every body calleth aloud for a soul. Heavenly souls must needs quicken, with the breath of the Word of God, the dead bodies with a fresh spirit."(159) The principle is as true of the collective life of humankind, 'Abdu'l-Baha points out, as it is of the lives of its individual members: "Material civilization is like the body. No matter how infinitely graceful, elegant and beautiful it may be, it is dead. Divine civilization is like the spirit, and the body gets its life from the spirit...."(160) In this compelling analogy is summed up the relationship between the two historical developments that the Will of God propelled forward along converging tracks during the century of light. Only a person blind to the intellectual and social capacities latent in the human race, and insensitive to humanity's desperate needs, could fail to take deep satisfaction from the advances that society has made during the past hundred years, and particularly from the processes knitting together the earth's peoples and nations. How much more are such achievements cherished by Baha'is, who see in them the very Purpose of God. But this Body of humanity's material civilization calls aloud, yearns more desperately with each passing day, for its Soul. As with every great civilization in history, until it is so animated, and its spiritual faculties awakened, it will find neither peace, nor justice, nor a unity that rises above the le
PREV.   NEXT  
|<   123   124   125   126   127   128   129   130   131   132   133   134   135   136   137   138   139   140   141   142   143   144   >>  



Top keywords:
spirit
 

civilization

 

Shoghi

 
Effendi
 

century

 

humanity

 

tracks

 

latent

 

insensitive

 

capacities


social

 
person
 

converging

 
intellectual
 
relationship
 

beautiful

 

Divine

 

elegant

 

graceful

 

Material


matter

 

infinitely

 

compelling

 

developments

 

historical

 
propelled
 

forward

 

analogy

 

summed

 

passing


desperately

 

yearns

 
Purpose
 

material

 

history

 

justice

 

awakened

 

animated

 

spiritual

 

faculties


hundred
 
members
 

society

 

advances

 

satisfaction

 
processes
 

knitting

 
achievements
 
cherished
 

peoples