“There are three processes in teaching: the first is to attract the people; the second is to convert the people; and the third is to be consecrated. There must be attraction, conversion, and consecration. The teachers must not be unwise.” (Shoghi Effendi, Memories of ‘Abdu’l-Baha: Recollections of the Early Days of the Baha’is of California, p. 115)
Dear friends:
Shoghi Effendi has explained that the key to the ultimate victory of the light is conditioned upon the inner transformation of character and personality development in service to the Cause of God:
“Not by the force of numbers, not by the mere exposition of a set of new and noble principles, not by an organized campaign of teaching–no matter how worldwide and elaborate in its character–not even by the staunchness of our faith or the exaltation of our enthusiasm, can we ultimately hope to vindicate in the eyes of a critical and skeptical age the supreme claim of the Abha Revelation. One thing and only one thing will unfailingly and alone secure the undoubted triumph of this sacred Cause, namely, the extent to which our own inner life and private character mirror forth in their manifold aspects the splendor of those eternal principles proclaimed by Baha’u’llah.” (Shoghi Effendi, Baha’i Administration, p. 196)
Now we come across a deepened teaching: the principle of consecration in the faith. What does this mean “consecration?”
“The friends must realize the Power of the Holy Spirit which is manifest and quickening them at this time through the appearance of Baha’u’llah. There is no force of heaven or earth which can affect them if they place themselves wholly under the influence of the Holy Spirit and under its guidance. Such individuals who are subject to the negative influences of the world are those who are not properly consecrated in the Faith.” (Shoghi Effendi, August 11, 1957)
The catastrophe that is upon us now is primarily due to the forces of purification that are quickly liberating a dead and inanimate humanity toward the inner life of the spirit. Those who experience this purification cannot survive this catastrophe (both spiritual and material/both inward and outward) unless they are properly consecrated in the faith, thus freeing themselves from the negative influences emerging in the outer external world due to this cleansing disaster.
However being and becoming “consecrated in the Faith” will mean different inner adjustments for all of us, as we undergo the personal tests and challenges that God has set for us in this world and upon our encounters on the path of teaching in our journeying unto God. Group tests are that which we encounter as a community. Personal tests are those that help us in a very specific and idiosyncratic manner, to pass those group tests and remain growing in the school of the prophets.
In either case–as both operate upon us at once through the divine decree of God–what the deep inner experience of consecration will mean and feel like is something that we will have to discovery each and everyone for ourselves. This cannot be articulated outwardly with mere words.
The transformation, purification and consecration of the soul unto God is above all personal and private. However, once the station of personal spiritual consecration is properly attained–and the mirror of the self is severed from the dross of negative influences of this world that tend to warp the personality; and these grievous veils are rent asunder–the quality of the group meetings, 12 Principle Unity Feasts, Forums, Firesides, and Council meetings, and all other functions, activities and gatherings of the friends, will take on a reflected characteristic, that shall bring down the power, so to speak, of the light of God into the world of activity in a manner and style unheard of in all prior dispensations of the past, and never seen upon the earth in such a magnitude of focus, and consummate expression of lordly power, that all obstacles shall most easily be overcome. This we are promised in the Covenant, and this we are firmly assured is the sacred writings of God. All this in the name: Baha’i.
Consecration? We ask ourselves: “What does this really mean for me?” “What truly is this ‘consecration’ for myself? And for the group and community I associate within?”
Something for all of us to meditate upon in this coming year, something for us all to strive to acquire through the grace of God, as we prepare to gather and assemble in the first weeks of August next year.
In service,
Your servant and co-worker in the vineyard
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