Let there be no mistake. The principle of the Oneness of
Mankind – the pivot round which all the teachings of Bahá'u'lláh revolve – is
no mere outburst of ignorant emotionalism or an expression of vague and pious
hope. Its appeal is not to be merely identified with a reawakening of the
spirit of brotherhood and goodwill among men, nor does it aim solely at the
fostering of harmonious co-operation among individual peoples and nations. Its
implications are deeper, its claims greater than any which the Prophets of old
were allowed to advance. Its message is applicable not only to the individual,
but concerns itself primarily with the nature of those essential relationships
that must bind all the states and nations as members of one human family. It
does not constitute merely the enunciation of an ideal, but stands inseparably
associated with an institution adequate to embody its truth, demonstrate its
validity, and perpetuate its influence. It implies an organic change in the
structure of present-day society, a change such as the world has not yet
experienced. It constitutes a challenge, at once bold and universal, to outworn
shibboleths of national creeds–creeds that have had their day and which must,
in the ordinary course of events as shaped and controlled by Providence, give
way to a new gospel, fundamentally different from, and infinitely superior to,
what the world has already conceived. It calls for no less than the reconstruction
and the demilitarization of the whole civilized world–a world organically
unified in all the essential aspects of its life, its political machinery, its
spiritual aspiration, its trade and finance, its script and language, and yet
infinite in the diversity of the national characteristics of its federated
units.
It represents the consummation of human evolution–an
evolution that has had its earliest beginnings in the birth of family life, its
subsequent development in the achievement of tribal solidarity, leading in turn
to the constitution of the city-state, and expanding later into the institution
of independent and sovereign nations.
The principle of the Oneness of Mankind, as proclaimed by
Bahá'u'lláh, carries with it no more and no less than a solemn assertion that
attainment to this final stage in this stupendous evolution is not only
necessary but inevitable, that its realization is fast approaching, and that
nothing short of a power that is born of God can succeed in establishing it.
- Shoghi Effendi (From a message dated 28 November 1931, in ‘The World Order of Bahá'u'lláh’; The
Compilation of Compilations, Vol.III, Cultural Diversity in the Age of
Maturity)
