ha'u'llah urges those who believe in Him to "see with thine own eyes and
not through the eyes of others", to "know of thine own knowledge and not
through the knowledge of thy neighbour". Tragically, what Baha'is see in
present-day society is unbridled exploitation of the masses of humanity by
greed that excuses itself as the operation of "impersonal market forces".
What meets their eyes everywhere is the destruction of moral foundations
vital to humanity's future, through gross self-indulgence masquerading as
"freedom of speech". What they find themselves struggling against daily is
the pressure of a dogmatic materialism, claiming to be the voice of
"science", that seeks systematically to exclude from intellectual life all
impulses arising from the spiritual level of human consciousness.

And for a Baha'i the ultimate issues _are_ spiritual. The Cause is not a
political party nor an ideology, much less an engine for political
agitation against this or that social wrong. The process of transformation
it has set in motion advances by inducing a fundamental change of
consciousness, and the challenge it poses to everyone who would serve it
is to free oneself from attachment to inherited assumptions and
preferences that are irreconcilable with the Will of God for humanity's
coming of age. Paradoxically, even the distress caused by prevailing
conditions that violate one's conscience aids in this process of spiritual
liberation. In the final analysis, such disillusionment drives a Baha'i to
confront a truth emphasized over and over again in the Writings of the
Faith:

He hath chosen out of the whole world the hearts of His servants, and made
them each a seat for the revelation of His glory. Wherefore, sanctify them
from every defilement, that the things for which they were created may be
engraven upon them.(150)

XII

The opening statement of the Gospel attributed to Jesus' disciple,
John--"In the beginning was the Word..."--has fascinated readers for two
thousand years. The passage goes on to assert with breathtaking simplicity
and directness a spiritual truth that has been central to all revealed
religions, vindicated time and again in a succession of civilizations down
the ages: "He was in the world, and the world was made by Him". The
promised Manifestation of God appears; a community of believers forms
around this focal centre of spiritual life and authority; a new system of
values begins to reorder both cons