The blessings of the Ancient Beauty are being showered upon
the followers of the Greatest Name. Our efforts to serve Him and humanity are
being crowned with victories throughout the world. As we give thanks for these
splendid achievements, as the Cause of God spreads in every land, as our
institutions become more perfected, as the number of believers increases over
the face of the planet, our individual lives must increasingly mirror forth
each day the teachings of Baha'u'llah and we must so live our lives that all
will see in us a different people. The acts we perform, the attitudes we
manifest, the very words we speak should be an attraction, a magnet, drawing
the sincere to the Divine Teachings.
Baha'u'llah tells us that prejudice in its various forms
destroys the edifice of humanity. We are adjured by the Divine Messenger to
eliminate all forms of prejudice from our lives. Our outer lives must show
forth our beliefs. The world must see that, regardless of each passing whim or
current fashion of the generality of mankind, the Baha'i lives his life
according to the tenets of his Faith. We must not allow the fear of rejection
by our friends and neighbours to deter us from our goal: to live the Baha'i
life. Let us strive to blot out from our lives every last trace of prejudice --
racial, religious, political, economic, national, tribal, class, cultural, and
that which is based on differences of education or age. We shall be distinguished
from our non-Baha'i associates if our lives are adorned with this principle.
If we allow prejudice of any kind to manifest itself in us,
we shall be guilty before God of causing a setback to the progress and real
growth of the Faith of Baha'u'llah. It is incumbent upon every believer to
endeavour with a fierce determination to eliminate this defect from his
thoughts and acts. It is the duty of the institutions of the Faith to inculcate
this principle in the hearts of the friends through every means at their
disposal including summer schools, conferences, institutes and study classes.
The fundamental purpose of the Faith of Baha'u'llah is the
realization of the organic unity of the entire human race. Bearing this
glorious destiny in mind, and with entire reliance on the promises of the
Blessed Beauty, we should follow His exhortation:
“We love to see you at all times consorting in amity and
concord within the paradise of My good-pleasure, and to inhale from your acts
the fragrance of friendliness and unity, of loving-kindness and fellowship.
...”
With loving Baha'i greetings,
The Universal House of Justice
(‘Messages from the Universal House of Justice, 1963-1986’)
