tempests rage and
the summer ocean plays, His poise and serenity remaining ever steadfast
and unshaken. He lived the life of faith, and calls on His followers to
live it here and now. He raised amid a warring world the Banner of Unity
and Peace, the Standard of a New Era, and He assures those who rally to
its support that they shall be inspired by the Spirit of the New Day. It
is the same Holy Spirit which inspired the Prophets and Saints of old, but
it is a new outpouring of that Spirit, suited to the needs of the new
time.

CHAPTER 5: WHAT IS A BAHA'I

Man must show forth fruits. A fruitless man, in the words of His Holiness
the Spirit (i.e. Christ), is like a fruitless tree, and a fruitless tree
is fit for fire.--BAHA'U'LLAH, Words of Paradise.

Herbert Spencer once remarked that by no political alchemy is it possible
to get golden conduct out of leaden instincts, and it is equally true that
by no political alchemy is it possible to make a golden society out of
leaden individuals. Baha'u'llah, like all previous Prophets, proclaimed
this truth and taught that in order to establish the Kingdom of God in the
world, it must first be established in the hearts of men. In examining the
Baha'i teachings, therefore, we shall commence with the instructions of
Baha'u'llah for individual conduct, and try to form a clear picture of
what it means to be a Baha'i.

Living the Life

When asked on one occasion: "What is a Baha'i?" 'Abdu'l-Baha replied: "To
be a Baha'i simply means to love all the world; to love humanity and try
to serve it; to work for universal peace and universal brotherhood." On
another occasion He defined a Baha'i as "one endowed with all the
perfections of man in activity." In one of His London talks He said that a
man may be a Baha'i even if He has never heard the name of Baha'u'llah. He
added:--

The man who lives the life according to the teachings of
Baha'u'llah is already a Baha'i. On the other hand, a man may call
himself a Baha'i for fifty years, and if he does not live the life
he is not a Baha'i. An ugly man may call himself handsome, but he
deceives no one, and a black man may call himself white, yet he
deceives no one, not even himself.

One who does not know God's Messengers, however, is like a plant growing
in the shade. Although it knows not the sun, it is, nevertheless,
absolutely dependent on it. The great Prophets are spirits suns, and
Baha'