Throughout history, there have been attempts to create a desire for peace and to put an end to war. They met with limited success.
Yet over 200 years ago, Baháʼu’lláh, Founder of the Baháʼí Faith, created a divinely inspired blueprint for the establishment of world peace with detailed instructions to the rulers and peoples of the world. But humanity was not ready to listen. War continued to rage, more attempts to put limits on fighting were started and stopped, but there was no international attempt with any unity or purpose strong enough to bring any lasting results. The prevailing attitude seems to have been that humanity was “naturally” prone to fight and therefore nothing could be done to change this innate default.
In an attempt to avert the possibility of further damage to the world through war, the Universal House of Justice wrote a seminal document in 1988 called “The Promise of World Peace,” which was distributed to every government of the world and to regions, provinces and municipalities in countries everywhere. Many leaders were inspired by the prerequisites for peace Baha’u’llah so eloquently laid out: equality of women and men, the elimination of prejudice, universal education, the unity of science and religion – but still no action. It was touted as ideal but not realistic.
Then we faced increasing climate disaster, the polarization of the political right and left, increased lawlessness and terrorism, and a global pandemic. We the people, started to see that we need a better way, a new path forward. Still petty interests, corruption, inequity, and injustice continued.
But now with the possibility of a nuclear threat and a third world war looming in our minds. Baháʼu’lláh’s blueprint for peace and the conditions for the elimination of war are now not only timely, but of paramount importance to our survival. The volume of Baháʼu’lláh’s writings on the topic of peace is significant, and touches on all aspects of human life, but this post focuses specifically on the responsibility of governments to ensure peace.
Baháʼu’lláh, speaking as the mouthpiece of the Creator wrote:
The Great Being, wishing to reveal the prerequisites of the peace and tranquility of the world and the advancement of its peoples, hath written: 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.
Baháʼu’lláh and the New Era, p 137
This quote is the beginning of a treatise explaining the importance of national governments coming together to consult, deliberate and strategize to bring about peace. As has surely become apparent, peace will not happen on its own. The absence of war is necessary, but it is not peace. Removing the possibility of war only clears the land for the house of peace to be built. But if this home is constructed using the same blueprint that allowed previous wars to flourish, it will not offer a sustainable peace. We need a new design. On this theme ‘‘Abdu’l-Bahá, Son of Baháʼu’lláh wrote:
Bahá’u’lláh has drawn the circle of unity, He has made a design for the uniting of all the peoples, and for the gathering of them all under the shelter of the tent of universal unity. This is the work of the Divine Bounty, and we must all strive with heart and soul until we have the reality of unity in our midst, and as we work, so will strength be given unto us.
‘‘Abdu’l-Bahá, Paris Talks, p 54
Peace will only happen when we all put our minds and hearts towards building it. Yet foundational in this work is the critical responsibility of national governments.
Baháʼu’lláh explained,
Such a peace demandeth that the Great Powers should resolve, for the sake of the tranquility of the peoples of the earth, to be fully reconciled among themselves. Should any king take up arms against another, all should unitedly arise and prevent him.
Tablets of Bahá’u’lláh revealed after the Kitab-i-Aqdas, p 168
There are glimmerings of the possibility of unity towards peace but we are not yet there. Certainly there has been significant unity of thought among the governments of the West to stop war in Ukraine through joint sanctions. Although it is terrifying to be at the threshold of such a pregnant moment, it is nonetheless hopeful to see so many of the world’s governments working together in unity, possibly for the first time in the troubled history of humanity’s relations with one another. Even so, not all the world’s governments are participating in this effort. And why would they, when the West did so little to stop wars in Liberia, Rwanda, Syria, Iraq and Yemen? Why would they when western countries have been quick to accept white refugees while denying refugees of colour? Until there is true concern for all the races and peoples of the world, patchwork attempts at peace will only perpetrate the existing order.
In many of His Writings Baháʼu’lláh emphasized the key to world peace as unity among the sovereigns of the world. He framed that unity as a consultative process with a specific outcome that can only be taken at a universal level through mutual agreement. That agreement is firstly a decision, in the best interests of all of humanity, to not allow any government to take up arms against another. Secondly this decision would have the power to unite all the nations against any government that acts aggressively towards another country.
Be united, O kings of the earth, for thereby will the tempest of discord be stilled amongst you, and your peoples find rest, if ye be of them that comprehend. Should any one among you take up arms against another, rise ye all against him, for this is naught but manifest justice.
Gleanings from the Writings of Bahá’u’lláh, pp 253-254
According to the Teachings of Baháʼu’lláh, the means to establish this unity of purpose is through consultation and mutual agreement. It is a consultation between sovereign nations unified through the desire to protect the entire human race, a unity that rises above petty concerns and self-interests. This unity inspires governments to arise and of their own volition accept hardship and difficulty for the greater good of all.
Two centuries ago, Baháʼu’lláh gave advice for exactly this situation:
Our hope is that the world’s religious leaders and the rulers thereof will unitedly arise for the reformation of this age and the rehabilitation of its fortunes. Let them, after meditating on its needs, take counsel together and, through anxious and full deliberation, administer to a diseased and sorely afflicted world the remedy it requireth.
The Great Being saith: The heaven of divine wisdom is illumined with the two luminaries of consultation and compassion. Take ye counsel together in all matters, inasmuch as consultation is the lamp of guidance which leadeth the way, and is the bestower of understanding.
Tablets of Bahá’u’lláh revealed after the Kitab-i-Aqdas, p 168
He continued in another tablet:
They must put away the weapons of war and turn to the instruments of universal reconstruction.
Epistle to the Son of the Wolf, pp 30-31
If this is not the time to proclaim the essential oneness of the entire human race, and to establish a true foundation for world peace, then when?
Canada is home to the largest Ukrainian population in the world outside of the Ukraine. In Edmonton Ukrainians form one of the five largest ethnic groups in the city. As a city we have increasingly shown unity to help alleviate local, national and international disasters and to contribute to relief efforts with generosity. This too is hopeful and inspiring. Let us remember our collective responsibility to dedicate our actions towards the common good.
In conclusion, a talk in London by ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, Son of Baháʼu’lláh, given in 1913, offers a compelling statement to fuel our efforts towards sustainable world peace:
During the last six thousand years nations have hated one another, it is now time to stop. War must cease. Let us be united and love one another and await the result. We know the effects of war are bad. So let us try, as an experiment, peace, and if the results of peace are bad, then we can choose if it would be better to go back to the old state of war! Let us in any case make the experiment. If we see that unity brings Light we shall continue it. For six thousand years we have been walking on the left-hand path; let us walk on the right-hand path now. We have passed many centuries in darkness, let us advance towards the light.
‘Abdu’l-Bahá In London, p 62-63