August 16. On this date in 1949, an individual whose visit to a Bahá'í Temple had elicited an "emotional reaction produced by disappointment" wrote Shoghi Effendi.

 

August 16. On this date in 1949, an individual whose visit to a Bahá'í Temple had elicited an "emotional reaction produced by disappointment" wrote Shoghi Effendi.

30 September 1949

To an individual believer

Dear Bahá'í Sister:

Your letter to our beloved Guardian, dated August 16, reached him and he has instructed me to answer it on his behalf.

He was grieved to hear of some of the things you describe. It shows great spiritual immaturity on the part of some of the Bahá'ís and an astonishing lack of understanding and study of the teachings. To live up to our Faith's moral teachings is a task far harder than to live up to those noble principles the Moral Re-Armament inculcates, fine and encompassing as they are! Every other word of Bahá'u'lláh's and `Abdu'l-Bahá's writings is a preachment on moral and ethical conduct; all else is the form, the chalice, into which the pure spirit must be poured; without the spirit and the action which must demonstrate it, it is a lifeless form.

He judges, from what you say, that the friends have not or at least many of them have not, been properly taught in the beginning.

There is certainly no objection to stressing the "four standards" of the Moral Re-Armament -- though any teaching of our precious Faith would go much more deeply into these subjects and add more to them.

When we realize that Bahá'u'lláh says adultery retards the progress of the soul in the afterlife -- so grievous is it -- and that drinking destroys the mind, and not to so much as approach it, we see how clear are our teachings on these subjects.

You must not make the great mistake of judging our Faith by one community which obviously needs to study and obey the Bahá'í teachings. Human frailties and peculiarities can be a great test. But the only way, or perhaps I should say the first and best way, to remedy such situations, is to oneself do what is right. One soul can be the cause of the spiritual illumination of a continent. Now that you have seen, and remedied, a great fault in your own life, now that you see more clearly what is lacking in your own community, there is nothing to prevent you from arising and showing such an example, such a love and spirit of service, as to enkindle the hearts of your fellow Bahá'ís.

He urges you to study deeply the teachings, teach others, study with those Bahá'ís who are anxious to do so, the deeper teachings of our Faith, and through example, effort and prayer, bring about a change.

With Bahá'í love,

R. Rabbani

P.S. He feels your experience at the Temple should be regarded as in part an emotional reaction produced by disappointment and the fact you were still exalted by your happy days at the Moral Re-Armament camp. No doubt, if you visit the Temple under different circumstances, you will feel there an entirely different atmosphere -- the one you expected to find, and which does exist.

May the Almighty guide, bless and sustain you, remove all obstacles from your path, and enable you to serve, effectively and at all times, the vital interests of His Faith and of its institutions,

Your true brother,

Shoghi