[Arktwo] A Vision

[Bruce Beach]

Since Osama bin Laden
has thoughtfully put forth his vision for America
and the world -
I thought it befitting to provide to you -
the one to which I subscribe.

This vision has been in existence
for over a century -
and the sources I quote are decades old.

Be fair!
How do you find
that this vision compares to
Osama bin Laden's -
or Bush's
or Putin's
or the Founding Fathers of the United States?

How does this vision compare
to that which you would propose?

I realize that but a small part
of my readership will actually be able
to read and evaluate what I present here.
I recognize that catastrophic events
are going to have to occur
before an otherwise preoccupied
humanity will be willing
to consider these ideas.

I anticipate that as with my last newsletter -
there are those who will respond
that this is not in accordance
with what they understand to be Christ's plan -
and that they will unsubscribe.

But -
all that matters not.
I am trying to present to you -
as clearly as I can
the principles and concepts
upon which I base the analysis
that you read in this newsletter.

For that reason -
I have also broken out
the presented statement
into my method of 'phrase presentation' -
which I hope will make it more comprehensible.

The following is an extract from
"The Promise of World Peace",
published by the Baha'is
on behalf of the
Universal House of Justice
twenty-two years ago.
-----------
In the Bahá'í view,
recognition of the oneness of mankind
"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."

Elaborating the implications
of this pivotal principle,
Shoghi Effendi, the Guardian of the Bahá'í Faith,
commented in 1931 that:
"Far from aiming at the subversion
of the existing foundations of society,
it seeks to broaden its basis,
to remold its institutions
in a manner consonant with the needs
of an ever-changing world.
It can conflict with no legitimate allegiances,
nor can it undermine essential loyalties.
Its purpose is neither
to stifle the flame
of a sane and intelligent patriotism
in men's hearts,
nor to abolish the system of national autonomy
so essential if the evils
of excessive centralization
are to be avoided.
It does not ignore,
nor does it attempt to suppress,
the diversity of ethnical origins,
of climate,
of history,
of language and tradition,
of thought and habit,
that differentiate the peoples
and nations of the world.
It calls for a wider loyalty,
for a larger aspiration
than any that has animated the human race.
It insists upon
the subordination of national impulses and interests to the imperative
claims
of a unified world.
It repudiates excessive centralization
on one hand,
and disclaims all attempts at uniformity
on the other.
Its watchword is unity in diversity".

The achievement of such ends
requires several stages
in the adjustment of national political attitudes,
which now verge on anarchy
in the absence of clearly defined laws or
universally accepted and enforceable principles
regulating the relationships between nations.
The League of Nations,
the United Nations,
and the many organizations and agreements
produced by them
have unquestionably been helpful
in attenuating some of the negative effects of
international conflicts,
but they have shown themselves incapable
of preventing war.
Indeed,
there have been scores of wars
since the end of the Second World War;
many are yet raging.

The predominant aspects of this problem
had already emerged in the nineteenth century
when Bahá'u'lláh first advanced his proposals
for the establishment of world peace.
The principle of collective security
was propounded by him
in statements addressed to the rulers of the world.
Shoghi Effendi commented on his meaning:
"What else could these weighty words signify,"
he wrote,
"if they did not point
to the inevitable curtailment
of unfettered national sovereignty
as an indispensable preliminary
to the formation of the future Commonwealth
of all the nations of the world?
Some form of a world super-state
must needs be evolved,
in whose favour
all the nations of the world
will have willingly ceded
every claim to make war,
certain rights to impose taxation
and all rights to maintain armaments,
except for purposes of maintaining internal order
within their respective dominions.
Such a state will have to include
within its orbit
an International Executive
adequate to enforce supreme
and unchallengeable authority
on every recalcitrant member of the commonwealth;
a World Parliament
whose members shall be elected
by the people in their respective countries
and whose election shall be confirmed
by their respective governments;
and a Supreme Tribunal
whose judgement will have a binding effect
even in such cases
where the parties concerned
did not voluntarily agree
to submit their case to its consideration.

"A world community
in which all economic barriers
will have been permanently demolished
and the interdependence of capital and labour
definitely recognized;
in which the clamour of religious fanaticism
and strife will have been forever stilled;
in which the flame of racial animosity
will have been finally extinguished;
in which a single code
of international law-
the product of the considered judgement
of the world's federated representatives-
shall have as its sanction
the instant and coercive intervention
of the combined forces of the federated units;
and finally a world community
in which the fury of
a capricious and militant nationalism
will have been transmuted
into an abiding consciousness
of world citizenship-
such indeed, appears,
in its broadest outline,
the Order anticipated by Bahá'u'lláh,
an Order that shall come to be regarded
as the fairest fruit of a slowly maturing age."

The implementation
of these far-reaching measures
was indicated by Bahá'u'lláh:
"The time must come
when the imperative necessity
for the holding of a vast,
an all-embracing assemblage of men
will be universally realized.
The rulers and kings of the earth
must needs attend it,
and, participating in its deliberations,
must consider such ways and means
as will lay the foundations of
the world's Great Peace amongst men."

The courage,
the resolution,
the pure motive,
the selfless love of one people for another-
all the spiritual and moral qualities required
for effecting this momentous step towards peace
are focused on the will to act.
And it is towards arousing
the necessary volition
that earnest consideration must be given
to the reality of man,
namely, his thought.
To understand the relevance
of this potent reality
is also to appreciate the social necessity of
actualizing its unique value
through candid,
dispassionate
and cordial
consultation,
and of acting upon the results of this process.
Bahá'u'lláh insistently drew attention
to the virtues and indispensability
of consultation for ordering human affairs.
He said:
"Consultation bestows greater awareness and transmutes conjecture into
certitude.
It is a shining light which,
in a dark world,
leads the way and guides.
For everything there is
and will continue to be
a station of perfection and maturity.
The maturity of the gift of understanding
is made manifest through consultation."
The very attempt to achieve peace
through the consultative action he proposed
can release such a salutary spirit
among the peoples of the earth
that no power could resist the final,
triumphal outcome.

Concerning the proceedings
for this world gathering,
'Abdu'l-Bahá, the son of Bahá'u'lláh
and authorized interpreter of his teachings,
offered these insights:
"They must make the Cause of Peace
the object of general consultation,
and seek by every means in their power
to establish a Union of the nations of the world.
They must conclude a binding treaty
and establish a covenant,
the provisions of which shall be sound,
inviolable
and definite.
They must proclaim it to all the world
and obtain for it the sanction
of all the human race.
This supreme and noble undertaking-
the real source of the peace and well-being
of all the world-
should be regarded as sacred
by all that dwell on earth.
All the forces of humanity must be mobilized
to ensure the stability and permanence
of this Most Great Covenant.
In this all-embracing Pact
the limits and frontiers
of each and every nation should be clearly fixed,
the principles underlying the relations
of governments towards one another
definitely laid down,
and all international agreements
and obligations
ascertained.
In like manner,
the size of the armaments
of every government should be strictly limited,
for if the preparations for war
and the military forces of any nation
should be allowed to increase,
they will arouse the suspicion of others.
The fundamental principle
underlying this solemn Pact
should be so fixed
that if any government later
violate any one of its provisions,
all the governments on earth
should arise to reduce it
to utter submission,
nay the human race as a whole should resolve,
with every power at its disposal,
to destroy that government.
Should this greatest of all remedies
be applied to the sick body of the world,
it will assuredly recover from its ills
and will remain eternally safe and secure."

The holding of this mighty convocation
is long overdue.

With all the ardour of our hearts,
we appeal to the leaders of all nations
to seize this opportune moment
and take irreversible steps
to convoke this world meeting.
All the forces of history
impel the human race towards this act
which will mark for all time
the dawn of its long-awaited maturity.
-------------
It is this mighty convocation
that I look forward towards -
after the Great Calamity
that is about to befall mankind.

Peace and love,
Bruce
DawnSayer@webpal.org