--Issue No. 1 December 1924:
To the Assemblies of the United States and Canada
To the Assemblies of the United States and Canada
Dear Baha’i Friends:
In order to extend the purpose of the general letters issued by the National Assembly, and increase their usefulness as a means to completer understanding and more active unity among all the friends, it has been decided to publish them in printed form, amplifying the letter itself with details of Baha’i activities as brought to our attention by Assemblies and individual believers throughout the world.
With the assistance of local Spiritual Assemblies, a copy
will be placed in the hands of every active believer. A quantity of this News
Letter is being sent to each secretary on our records, and the secretaries are
requested to distribute them to the believers in their Assemblies. As hitherto,
the letters of the National Assembly will be sent to all isolated Baha’is; and
we urgently request that the names of all believers not members of local
Assemblies be sent to the National secretary at the above address. We believe
also that it will be of interest to Assemblies outside of the United States and
Canada to receive copies regularly.
The subject to which all the friends are urged to give their
closest attention at the present time is that of the decisions arrived at
by the National Assembly in consultation with the Temple Committee and the
believers who met in the studio of Mr. Bourgeois on the Temple grounds,
Wilmette, Illinois, Sunday, October 19th. The purpose of this special meeting
of consultation was fully explained in our general letter No. 3 dated September
25th.
Acting upon the recommendation of the Temple Committee, the National Spiritual Assembly voted the sum of seven thousand dollars to meet the costs of the following improvements upon the Foundation Hall and Temple grounds:
Two cloak rooms and toilets: $600.00
Partition to enclose meeting room: $400.00
Heating apparatus: $575.00
Weather-proofing roof: $1,700.00
Skylights: $1,300.00
Plank walk: $100.00
Shrubbery and vines: $400.00
Keeper’s cottage: $2,000.00
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Total: $7,075.00
The Temple Committee was requested to place contracts for
this work at once, in order that these improvements may be reported as entirely
completed at the National Convention of 1925. The result of this expenditure
will be to place the Foundation Hall in condition of usefulness and also to
make at least a beginning upon the work of beautifying the grounds.
Of far greater significance to the success of the Temple
work as a whole was the decision to request the Temple Committee to gather
together all legal documents, contracts, and accounts, including all receipts
and expenditures and vouchers covering every item in connection with the work
of the Temple from the earliest days, draw up a complete report based upon
these records, and present this to the National Spiritual Assembly to be
published for the information of all the friends in detail.
The treasurer of the National Fund was also authorized to
pay five hundred dollars on each of the two outstanding Temple notes this
quarter.
An itemized report covering receipts and expenditures for
the Temple from April 1, 1924 to October 16, 1924, follows on next page.
It will be noticed that the Temple statement contains a
payment on taxes amounting to $1503.13. Since that payment was made, permission
has been received from Haifa to apply for tax exemption under the customary
laws applying to property used exclusively for religious purposes, and it is
improbable that any tax item will appear in the Temple Report for 1925.
As we compare the slight improvements which it is now in our
power to have done for the Temple, with that vision of a supremely gracious and
beautiful edifice in completion, which has for so many years inspired the
devoted friends of Abdu’l-Baha throughout the world, it is only too evident
that some vital spirit of executive power is still lacking among the members of
the Cause in this country. The time has come for us to turn resolutely away
from that expectation of results bestowed upon us as a gift from on high, and
to deepen our own capacity to obey both the spiritual and material commands so
often reiterated to us by word and by deed in the interests of the uniform
World Plan, so that the advancement of the Cause in all its phases may rest
upon the substantial foundation of human effort penetrated by a consciousness
of the Divine Will for this age.
It is natural enough for periods of doubt and foreboding to
seize upon any individual or even group. Such periods indicate that we have
come to the end of our present understanding of the Cause, and are, in fact,
nothing more than opportunities to attain to a larger and more universal
understanding. The pool of water left by the spring freshets will soon
evaporate under the heat of the summer sun, while the spring that is fed from
below will continue to give forth its pure waters throughout the year.
Let us all admit that each of us on entering the Cause
brought with him something at least of his previous tradition and experience.
So long as this element remains in our consciousness, we cannot but believe
that this Cause will be served by the same means and methods used by members of
other movements. But as this mental habit is overcome, and this spiritual veil
is removed by the universal forces which have their expression in and through
Abdu’l-Baha, our faith requires for its entire nourishment nothing outside of
those steadfast assurances we have received from him.
That there exists in this country many hearts already
prepared to join in the task of erecting an edifice to the Glory of God and the
brotherhood of man; that there is even at this hour more than sufficient funds
to give embodiment to the ideal of the Most Great Peace -- and that these
unknown brothers and sisters are as anxious to work side by side with us as we
are to increase our own numbers -- this is a fact of which we cannot have the
slightest doubt. But neither can we have the slightest doubt that this
assistance will be given us in but meager measure until we have fulfilled the
conditions of sacrifice and love which alone can attract and convince the
waiting souls.
The outer and visible point of unity corresponding to that
inward and invisible oneness to which we, as Baha’is, have been called, is the
National Fund. The institution of this central Baha’i Fund is yet so new and so
unprecedented that we have failed to grasp its entire significance. In one
aspect, the Baha’i Fund is a protection to every believer against those
enthusiastic but frequently ill-advised solicitations which are inevitable
where many hundreds of people are in close association year after year. In
another aspect, the Baha’i Fund is our opportunity to prove our spiritual
faithfulness upon the plane of practical affairs as upon the plane of mind and
heart. By the supreme witness of Abdu’l-Baha’s own life, we know that
faithfulness is a way of living which embraces the whole of life. Our first
response to the opportunity offered us by the National Fund should be a
reconsideration of our daily lives in every detail, so that they may become
controlled by a new sense of order and inspired by a new purpose. The effect of
our understanding of the National Baha’i Fund should be to cultivate our every
resource to the utmost, for not otherwise shall we be able to feel any pride in
our capacity to serve this aspect of the Cause. It is for each believer to
determine for himself what portion of his income can be allotted to the Fund;
it is for each believer to determine for himself just where to draw the line
between economy and extravagance -- the standard of giving has been set for us
once and for all.
In still another aspect, the National Baha’i Fund is deeply
significant, for it means that we ourselves are willing not to decide for which
specific purpose our contributions shall be used. Otherwise, those who
preferred the Temple above all other activities of the Cause would create a
fund for the Temple alone; those who most deeply felt the necessity for
teaching, would maintain a separate teaching fund; while those who wanted to spread
the literature would be most interested in increasing a publishing fund. These
separate centers of activity would inevitably, in time, while each might be
perfectly legitimate in itself, lead to division and disharmony among the
friends. Shoghi Effendi has given permission to specify the object of our
contributions, but the ideal method is to leave this to the decision of the
National Spiritual Assembly. We cannot too fully realize the fact that the
institution of the National Spiritual Assembly is inseparably wrapped up with
the institution of the National Fund.
Can we not, from now on, cherish as one more characteristic example
of the bounty of Abdu’l-Baha this privilege of uniting in one conscious loyalty
the spiritual and material phases of our lives -- so tragically sundered today
in the lives of the great majority of mankind?
The report of the National treasurer submitted at the last
meeting of the National Spiritual Assembly is given on page 2.
A later report of the Treasurer, to be given in full in our
next Letter, shows that the balance at this moment is only slightly over one
thousand dollars. In view of this crisis, the National Spiritual Assembly has
appointed a National Finance Committee, representing all five Regional
Divisions, to assist in removing the root causes for such a condition. The work
of this Committee [sic] will be taken up in detail in another Letter, but
meanwhile we urge each individual believer to resolve to contribute a minimum
of one dollar a month to the National Fund during 1925.
If such results follow this statement of facts, then it will
be possible to formulate some concrete plan for erecting the first external
unit of the Temple. The real plan for building the Temple is surely contained
in the general Letters of Shoghi Effendi -- and it is to mark a beginning of
faithfulness to those Letters that we are emphasizing the solemn need for
active unity as proved by deeper interest in the welfare of the National Fund.
It is hoped that every aspect of these important subjects
will be thoroughly discussed by the friends in their local Assemblies, and a
just balance be arrived at between the local and national funds. Individuals,
after contributing to their local Fund, may also contribute directly to the
National Fund. Only by immediate and whole hearted response from one and all
can we meet even the comparatively slight financial obligations already
undertaken in behalf of the Temple -- and this is but one of the several
responsibilities carried by the National Fund.
Even the brief summary of the current events of the Cause
given below will reveal how successfully the friends of Abdu’l-Baha, are
carrying the Message to the public in these stirring days. In later News
Letters more space will be devoted to these happenings, so that all may be
fully informed.
Yours in service to Abdu’l-Baha.
National Spiritual Assembly,
by: Horace Holley, Secretary.