The first step in the reconstruction of human society is for
individuals to accept Bahá'u'lláh as the Manifestation of God for this age and
to begin to strive, as well as they can, to follow His Teachings in their
individual and in their communal lives. Conversion is but the first step, yet
it is the essential one. Without it no amount of expertise or scientifically
based knowledge will have a lasting effect, because the fundamental motivating
and sustaining power will be lacking.
As the Bahá'í community grows it will acquire experts in
numerous fields -- both by Bahá'ís becoming experts and by experts becoming
Bahá'ís. As these experts bring their knowledge and skill to the service of the
community and, even more, as they transform their various disciplines by
bringing to bear upon them the light of the Divine Teachings, problem after
problem now disrupting society will be answered. In such developments they
should strive to make the utmost use of non-Bahá'í resources and should
collaborate fully with non-Bahá'ís who are working in the same fields. Such
collaboration will, in the long run, be of far more benefit than any attempt
now to treat such scientific endeavours as specifically Bahá'í projects operating
under Bahá'í institutions and financed by investment of Bahá'í funds.
Paralleling this process, Bahá'í institutional life will also be developing, and as it does so the Assemblies will draw increasingly upon scientific and expert knowledge -- whether of Bahá'ís or of non-Bahá'ís -- to assist in solving the problems of their communities.
In time great Bahá'í institutions of learning, great
international and national projects for the betterment of human life will be
inaugurated and flourish
The Bahá'í work for the reconstruction of human society can
thus be seen to comprise three streams: the most fundamental is the spreading
of the Word of God, the winning of the allegiance of ever-greater numbers of
men and women to the Cause of Bahá'u'lláh and the establishment of the Bahá'í
Administrative Order; concurrent with this is the contribution to human
advancement and to the progress of the Bahá'í community made by individual
Bahá'ís in the pursuit of their daily work; and then there are the projects and
institutions for human advancement launched and operated by Bahá'í Spiritual
Assemblies as their resources grow and the range of their activities expands.
It is for the Universal House of Justice to direct the energies of the
believers in these various channels and to make known what activities are
timely and have priority.
- The Universal House of Justice (From a letter dated 21 August 1977 written on behalf
of the Universal House of Justice to an individual believer; ‘Messages from the
Universal House of Justice 1963-1986’)
