Back to Contents
Forward to Part VII
The Prosperity Of Humankind
A Statement Prepared by the
Bahá'í International Community's
Office of Public Information
Part VI
To contemplate a transformation of society on this scale is to raise
both the question of the power that can be harnessed to accomplish it
and the issue inextricably linked to it, the authority to exercise
that power. As with all other implications of the accelerating
integration of the planet and its people, both of these familiar terms
stand in urgent need of redefinition.
Throughout history -- and despite theologically or ideologically
inspired assurances to the contrary -- power has been largely
interpreted as advantage enjoyed by persons or groups. Often, indeed,
it has been expressed simply in terms of means to be used against
others. This interpretation of power has become an inherent feature
of the culture of division and conflict that has characterised the
human race during the past several millennia, regardless of the
social, religious, or political orientations that have enjoyed
ascendancy in given ages, in given parts of the world. In general,
power has been an attribute of individuals, factions, peoples,
classes, and nations. It has been an attribute especially associated
with men rather than women. Its chief effect has been to confer on
its beneficiaries the ability to acquire, to surpass, to dominate, to
resist, to win.
The resulting historical processes have been responsible for both
ruinous setbacks in human well-being and extraordinary advances in
civilization. To appreciate the benefits is to acknowledge also the
setbacks, as well as the clear limitations of the behavioural patterns
that have produced both. Habits and attitudes related to the use of
power which emerged during the long ages of humanity's infancy and
adolescence have reached the outer limits of their effectiveness.
Today, in an era most of whose pressing problems are global in nature,
persistence in the idea that power means advantage for various
segments of the human family is profoundly mistaken in theory and of
no practical service to the social and economic development of the
planet. Those who still adhere to it -- and who could in earlier eras
have felt confident in such adherence -- now find their plans enmeshed
in inexplicable frustrations and hindrances. In its traditional,
competitive expression, power is as irrelevant to the needs of
humanity's future as would be the technologies of railway locomotion
to the task of lifting space satellites into orbits around the earth.
The analogy is more than a little apt. The human race is being urged
by the requirements of its own maturation to free itself from its
inherited understanding and use of power. That it can do so is
demonstrated by the fact that, although dominated by the traditional
conception, humanity has always been able to conceive of power in
other forms critical to its hopes.
History provides ample evidence that, however intermittently and
ineptly, people of every background, throughout the ages, have tapped
a wide range of creative resources within themselves. The most
obvious example, perhaps, has been the power of truth itself, an agent
of change associated with some of the greatest advances in the
philosophical, religious, artistic, and scientific experience of the
race. Force of character represents yet another means of mobilising
immense human response, as does the influence of example, whether in
the lives of individual human beings or in human societies. Almost
wholly unappreciated is the magnitude of the force that will be
generated by the achievement of unity, an influence "so powerful",
in
Bahá'u'lláh's words, "that it can illuminate the whole
Earth."
The institutions of society will succeed in eliciting and directing
the potentialities latent in the consciousness of the world's peoples
to the extent that the exercise of authority is governed by principles
that are in harmony with the evolving interests of a rapidly maturing
human race. Such principles include the obligation of those in
authority to win the confidence, respect, and genuine support of those
whose actions they seek to govern; to consult openly and to the
fullest extent possible with all whose interests are affected by
decisions being arrived at; to assess in an objective manner both the
real needs and the aspirations of the communities they serve; to
benefit from scientific and moral advancement in order to make
appropriate use of the community's resources, including the energies
of its members. No single principle of effective authority is so
important as giving priority to building and maintaining unity among
the members of a society and the members of its administrative
institutions. Reference has already been made to the intimately
associated issue of commitment to the search for justice in all
matters.
Clearly, such principles can operate only within a culture that is
essentially democratic in spirit and method. To say this, however, is
not to endorse the ideology of partisanship that has everywhere boldly
assumed democracy's name and which, despite impressive contributions
to human progress in the past, today finds itself mired in the
cynicism, apathy, and corruption to which it has given rise. In
selecting those who are to take collective decisions on its behalf,
society does not need and is not well served by the political theatre
of nominations, candidature, electioneering, and solicitation. It
lies within the capacity of all people, as they become progressively
educated and convinced that their real development interests are being
served by programmes proposed to them, to adopt electoral procedures
that will gradually refine the selection of their decision-making
bodies.
As the integration of humanity gains momentum, those who are thus
selected will increasingly have to see all their efforts in a global
perspective. Not only at the national, but also at the local level,
the elected governors of human affairs should, in
Bahá'u'lláh's view, consider themselves responsible for
the welfare of all of humankind.
Forward to Part VII
Back to Contents