I would like to illustrate from another passage of his writings where his intention is perhaps clearer, what Shoghi Effendi means by the term "mutilated".
In his introduction to "God Passes By" he explains that the periods of Baha'i history must be understood as one inseparable whole; to divorce any of the later periods of our history from the pure spirit animating the Faith in its earliest days, to see these periods in isolation from one another, would be to "mutilate" the history of the Cause and pervert its truth. This is a precise analogy to the statement he had written a decade earlier about divorcing the Guardianship from the World Order of Baha'u'llah, and illustrates what he means, and more importantly, what he does not mean: "The century under our review [1844-1944] may therefore be considered as falling into four distinct periods, of unequal duration, each of specific import and of tremendous and indeed unappraisable significance. These four periods are closely interrelated, and constitute successive acts of one, indivisible, stupendous and sublime drama, whose mystery no intellect can fathom, whose climax no eye can even dimly perceive, whose conclusion no mind can adequately foreshadow. Each of these acts revolves around its own theme, boasts of its own heroes, registers its own tragedies, records its own triumphs, and contributes its own share to the execution of one common, immutable Purpose. To isolate any one of them from the others, to dissociate the later manifestations of one universal, all-embracing Revelation from the pristine purpose that animated it in its earliest days, would be tantamount to a mutilation of the structure on which it rests, and to a lamentable perversion of its truth and of its history . . . . "These four periods are to be regarded not only as the component, the inseparable parts of one stupendous whole, but as progressive stages in a single evolutionary process, vast, steady and irresistible. (Shoghi Effendi, God Passes By, Introduction, pp. xiv - xv) This is exactly the same structure the Guardian uses in the Dispensation, where he states that the Guardianship and the Universal House of Justice are inseparable from one another; just as here he states that the four periods of Baha'i history are one. Here the Guardian uses two synonyms for "divorce" -- to "isolate" or to "dissociate." He further explains his intent of the word "mutilate" as meaning a "perversion of its truth and of its history." "Mutilation" of the Cause, in Shoghi Effendi's terminology, is a distortion of its fundamental truths. It is the same "mutilation of the Text" which Baha'u'llah condemns in the Iqan: "Verily, by 'perverting' the text is not meant that which these foolish and abject souls have fancied . . . Nay, rather, by corruption of the text is meant . . . the interpretation of God's holy Book in accordance with their idle imaginings and vain desires." (Iqan, p. 86) Shoghi Effendi's statement in the Dispensation "Divorced from the Institution of the Guardianship the World Order of Baha'u'llah would be mutilated" has absolutely nothing to do with the lack of a living Guardian. The context shows that he is using this powerful terminology to show two things: That the Guardianship and the Universal House of Justice are interconnected; and that the Guardianship is not an innovation, but is rooted in Baha'u'llah's original concept of His World Order -- that it was Baha'u'llah's idea. If you read the paragraphs before and after the "Divorced from the Institution of the Guardianship" with this in mind, i.e. from the middle of page 147 to the bottom of page 148 of The World Order of Baha'u'llah, this becomes clearer. "Mutilation" of the World Order would be to see Baha'u'llah's original concept of His World Order as not containing the Guardianship. *That* is what Shoghi Effendi is saying would be to divorce the Guardianship from His World Order. Brent __________________________________________________ You are subscribed to Baha'i Studies as: mailto:[email protected] To unsubscribe, send a blank email to mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] To subscribe, use subscribe bahai-st in the message body to [EMAIL PROTECTED] Baha'i Studies is available through the following: Mail - mailto:[email protected] Web - http://list.jccc.edu/read/?forum=bahai-st News - news://list.jccc.edu/bahai-st Public - http://www.escribe.com/religion/bahaist Old Public - http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected] New Public - http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]
