The Baha'i Studies Listserv Perhaps all this demonstrates that neither the Guardian nor the Universal House of Justice are (nor have they claimed to be) prophets.
============================================================================ === > On 26 Jan 2009 at 6:05, David Friedman wrote: > > > The Baha'i Studies Listserv > > > > "This is the stage which the world is now approaching, the stage of > > world unity, which, as Abdu'l-Baha assures us, will, in this century, > > be securely established." (PDC) > > I've discussed this on my blog at > > http://senmcglinn.wordpress.com/2009/01/15/century-of-light/ > > Basically, the phrase "this century" which appears so self-evident is > not so simple: the underlying Persian terms do not necessarily mean > "100 years" let alone 100 years in the Gregorian counting, and Shoghi > Effendi's practice when translating the two Persian words (qarn and > `asr) is to use a range of English terms: dispensation, age, > generation, cycle, century, days, time.... So Shoghi Effendi > obviously does not think that these terms mean "100 years." > > Even where he does translate qarn as century, he sometimes shows by > context that he does not mean 100 years but rather the Bahai era: > > ..this wondrous revelation [duur], this glorious century [qarn] (The > Promised Day is Come, p. 119) > > ..ere the close of this century [qarn] and of this age [`asr] (The > World Order of Baha'u'llah, p. 205) > > > How would one explain to a non-Baha'i that we already have world > > unity, that the nations are already united? > > We don't. We - the world - don't have world unity or unity of > nations, and we (the Bahais) don't try to claim that we do when we > obviously don't. > > > How would one also argue that the unity of nations is securely > > established, particularly with the invasion of Iraq this century? > > We can't: the unity of nations is mentioned in the 7 candles of > unity. It is translated by Shoghi Effendi in the World Order of > Baha'u'llah : > > "The fifth candle is the unity of nations [wahdat-e watan] - a > unity which in this century [qarn] will be securely established, > causing all the peoples of the world to regard themselves as citizens > of one common fatherland." > > There's a previous translation by Shoghi Effendi in the Bahai World > vol 2 pp 50-51 : > > The fifth candle is national unity [wahdat-e watan] which in this > century will be securely established, causing all the peoples and > nations of the world to regard themselves as citizens of one common > fatherland. > > Wahdat is unity, watan means homeland: the idea is that there should > only be one watan/homeland, which is the globe itself. The earth will > be one country and mankind its citizens. We are not even close to > that, not by centuries (old-style 100-year centuries). > > Even after the institutions and treaties required for the Lesser > Peace are in place (which is still far away), many years and false > starts will go by before all of the people of the world actually > enjoy peace and security. I will not see it, I am afraid my children > will also not see it. And then after that, it will take a generation > or three before there is "unity of nations" in the sense that the > world is "one homeland" . > > For comparison: Europe has had its lesser peace for 50 years, it is > only 10 years or so ago that we all got the right to travel and live > and work in every other country, and only now - because of that - is > Europe actually becoming "one homeland." It is not yet one nation (it > has no foreign policy for example), but there is a small but growing > sense among the people that "Europe" is our homeland. I would say we > have come 10% of the way to wahdat-e watan in Europe, and two or > three more generations should complete the process (at the centre: > Scandanavia will take longer, and I really wonder about the Brits). > > I think we need to rethink the tasks facing this generation of Bahais > and the next in this perspective. Our primary tasks have to be > building local Bahai communities and making them open to society (in > old-fashioned terminology, consolidiation and teaching). The top-down > model of the Lesser Peace arriving soon envisioned that the > governments were about to form the lesser peace and would > simultaneously recognise the Bahai Faith at the international level : > > During the last year, there was a sharp increase in the visits to the > World Centre of high-ranking government officials, other dignitaries > and media representatives, demonstrating the growing significance of > the spiritual and administrative centre of the Faith in the eyes of > the world. This appeared to underscore a trend towards a greater > familiarity of the governments of the nations with the evolving > centre of a World Faith. Viewing this trend from the Mountain of God, > the site of the current construction projects, and considering it in > conjunction with the developments taking place in local and national > Bahá'í communities, we can appreciate more adequately the unfolding > reality of the vision projected by Shoghi Effendi when he explained > the implications of the raising up of buildings that will constitute > the world administrative seat of the Faith of Bahá'u'lláh. "This vast > and irresistible process", he said, "will synchronize with two no > less significant developments .. the establishment of the Lesser > Peace and the evolution of Bahá'í national and local institutions". > It is a vision which, given the state of the world, compels the > completion of the Mount Carmel Projects as scheduled. (The Universal > House of Justice, Ridvan 152, 1995) > > It's not going to happen that way. What is happening is the > development of an open, horizontal, organic, global society, in which > "government" and "the media" no longer have that huge central > role, in which information is shared and trade and relationships are > transacted person-to-person. It's the move from the centralised > national societies of the modern era to the universal mycelium of > post-modern society. > > The Bahai Faith will prosper in the new society, because it is > designed for it; for the Bahai community to prosper it too will have > to adjust to postmodernity, until it appears in the global social > mycelium as a naturally-belonging part of it, not as a foreign body. > It is not the familiarity of the governments of the nations that we > must seek, but familiarity below the grassroots > > Sen __________________________________________________ You are subscribed to Baha'i Studies as: mailto:[email protected] Unsubscribe: send a blank email to mailto:[email protected] Subscribe: send subscribe bahai-st in the message body to [email protected] Or subscribe: http://list.jccc.edu:8080/read/all_forums/subscribe?name=bahai-st Baha'i Studies is available through the following: Mail - mailto:[email protected] Web - http://list.jccc.edu:8080/read/?forum=bahai-st News (on-campus only) - news://list.jccc.edu/bahai-st Old Public - http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected] New Public - http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]
