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"Having created the world and all that liveth and moveth therein, He,
through the direct operation of His unconstrained and sovereign Will,
chose to confer upon man the unique distinction and capacity to know
Him and to love Him -- a capacity that must needs be regarded as the
generating impulse and the primary purpose underlying the whole of
creation.... Upon the inmost reality of each and every created thing
He hath shed the light of one of His names, and made it a recipient
of the glory of one of His attributes. Upon the reality of man,
however, He hath focused the radiance of all of His names and
attributes, and made it a mirror of His own Self. Alone of all
created things man hath been singled out for so great a favor, so
enduring a bounty.
(Baha'u'llah, Gleanings from the Writings of Baha'u'llah, p. 65)
"He hath entrusted every created thing with a sign of His knowledge,
so that none of His creatures may be deprived of its share in
expressing, each according to its capacity and rank, this knowledge.
This sign is the mirror of His beauty in the world of creation. The
greater the effort exerted for the refinement of this sublime and
noble mirror, the more faithfully will it be made to reflect the
glory of the names and attributes of God, and reveal the wonders of
His signs and knowledge.... There can be no doubt whatever that, in
consequence of the efforts which every man may consciously exert and
as a result of the exertion of his own spiritual faculties, this
mirror can be so cleansed from the dross of earthly defilements and
purged from satanic fancies as to be able to draw nigh unto the meads
of eternal holiness and attain the courts of everlasting fellowship."
(Baha'u'llah: Gleanings, CXXIV)
When these different limbs and organs come under the influence of
man's sovereign soul, and the soul's power pervadeth the limbs and
members, veins and arteries of the body, then difference reinforceth
harmony, diversity strengtheneth love, and multiplicity is the
greatest factor for co-ordination.
(Abdu'l-Baha, Selections from the Writings of Abdu'l-Baha, p. 291)
Every age hath its own problem, and every soul its particular
aspiration.
(Baha'u'llah, Gleanings from the Writings of Baha'u'llah, p. 213)
The primary purpose, the basic objective, in laying down powerful
laws and setting up great principles and institutions dealing with
every aspect of civilization, is human happiness; and human happiness
consists only in drawing closer to the Threshold of Almighty God, and
in securing the peace and well-being of every individual
(Abdu'l-Baha, The Secret of Divine Civilization, p. 60)
In Baha'i Administration, pp. 63-64, Shoghi Effendi wrote:
"Let us also remember that at the very root of the Cause lies the
principle of the undoubted right of the individual to self-
expression, his freedom to declare his conscience and set forth his
views. If certain instructions of the Master are today particularly
emphasized and scrupulously adhered to, let us be sure that they are
but provisional measures designed to guard and protect the Cause in
its present state of infancy and growth until the day when this
tender and precious plant shall have sufficiently grown to be able to
withstand the unwisdom of its friends and the attacks of its
enemies..."
"The unity of the human race, as envisaged by Baha'u'llah, implies
the establishment of a world commonwealth in which all nations,
races, creeds and classes are closely and permanently united, and in
which the autonomy of its state members and the personal freedom and
initiative of the individuals that compose them are definitely and
completely safeguarded." (Shoghi Effendi WOB 203)
This challenge, ... faces no doubt primarily the individual believer
on whom, in the last resort, depends the fate of the entire
community. He it is who constitutes the warp and woof on which the
quality and pattern of the whole fabric must depend....
It is upon the individual believer, constituting the fundamental
unit in the structure of the home front, ... (Shoghi Effendi, Citadel
of Faith, pages 130, 155)
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