I don’t know about you, but I feel let down.  What a waste of an opportunity for leaders of some of the world’s most powerful nations to meet together as peers, and bend their minds and hearts to alleviating the global challenges we all face.  But perhaps, when they sit around the table together at their high-profile gatherings, they are no more successful at holding efficient and effective deliberations than my colleagues and I are in our more humble offices in Johannesburg.  It’s a familiar scenario: a group of like-minded individuals, with a shared vision and goal, who nevertheless mostly talk in circles for hours, repeating arguments and issues without reaching consensus. It’s not a lack of will that hampers us, I think, but rather of us not giving enough importance to the correct process, and spiritual significance, of consultation.

In a 1995  statement released by the Baha’i International Community (entitled The Prosperity of Humankind, and written after a series of global conferences including the Rio Earth Summit), the vital role of correct consultation is outlined:

Central to the task of reconceptualizing the system of human relationships is the process that Bahá’u’lláh refers to as consultation. “In all things it is necessary to consult,” is His advice. “The maturity of the gift of understanding is made manifest through consultation.”

Next, the statement spells out the problems in the way most deliberations and discussions are held today:

The standard of truth seeking this process demands is far beyond the patterns of negotiation and compromise that tend to characterize the present-day discussion of human affairs. It cannot be achieved—indeed, its attainment is severely handicapped—by the culture of protest that is another widely prevailing feature of contemporary society.  Debate, propaganda, the adversarial method, the entire apparatus of partisanship that have long been such familiar features of collective action are all fundamentally harmful to its purpose: that is, arriving at a consensus about the truth of a given situation and the wisest choice of action among the options open at any given moment.

So, what are the prerequisites in this “standard of truth seeking”?

What Bahá’u’lláh is calling for is a consultative process in which the individual participants strive to transcend their respective points of view, in order to function as members of a body with its own interests and goals. In such an atmosphere, characterized by both candor and courtesy, ideas belong not to the individual to whom they occur during the discussion but to the group as a whole, to take up, discard, or revise as seems to best serve the goal pursued. Consultation succeeds to the extent that all participants support the decisions arrived at, regardless of the individual opinions with which they entered the discussion. Under such circumstances an earlier decision can be readily reconsidered if experience exposes any shortcomings.

Once we “transcend” our point of view, and learn to hold discussions in an atmosphere of “candor and courtesy”, and ensure that we remain detached from our ideas, able to evaluate each idea objectively and on its merits, what results can we expect?

Viewed in such a light, consultation is the operating expression of justice in human affairs. So vital is it to the success of collective endeavor that it must constitute a basic feature of a viable strategy of social and economic development. Indeed, the participation of the people on whose commitment and efforts the success of such a strategy depends becomes effective only as consultation is made the organizing principle of every project. “No man can attain his true station”, is Bahá’u’lláh’s counsel, “except through his justice. No power can exist except through unity. No welfare and no well-being can be attained except through consultation.”

So vital is the spiritual skill of consultation that it is considered to be a fundamental principle of the Baha’i Faith, with Bahá’u’lláh exhorting mankind to “take counsel together in all matters”. He describes consultation as “the lamp of guidance which leadeth the way” and as “the bestower of understanding”.

If their political advertising is anything to go by, not really.  There seems to be mainly two tactics: Chicken Little politics (“the sky is falling down, the sky is falling down”) and the politics of fear (“Mr. X voted 125 times to ban alligator hunting.  If you vote for Mr. X, he will destroy you, your family and the whole American way of life”).  Four out of five adverts I have seen are negative ones, focusing on what is wrong with the opponent, rather than what is positive about the candidates themselves.

Shoghi Effendi, explaining that Baha’is are expressly forbidden to take part in partisan politics, said the following:

It remains for the individuals to so use their right to vote as to keep aloof from party politics, and always bear in mind that they are voting on the merits of the individual, rather than because he belongs to one party or another.

The merits of the individual, as far as I can see, should be what kind of a servant s/he would be.  In the present world order, to be a servant is to have a low social standing, a low salary and little respect.  In Baha’u'llah’s new world order, this definition will be turned on its head, with the rendering of service a duty and an aspiration.

So, what makes a good civil servant? `Abdu’l-Bahá clearly outlines what is expected of those entrusted with service to civil society;

Should any one of you enter into the service (or employment) of the government, he must live and act with the utmost truthfulness, righteousness, chastity, uprightness, purity, sanctity, justice and equity. But if—I seek refuge in God—any one betray the least of trusts or neglect and be remiss in the performance of duties which are intrusted to him, or by oppression takes one penny of extortion from the subjects, or seeks after his own personal, selfish aims and ends in the attainment of his own interests, he shall undoubtedly remain deprived of the outpourings of His Highness the Almighty.

Bahá’u'lláh, the Founder of the Baha’i Faith, addressed a series of letters to the kings and rulers of the time, which included the following exhortation:

Take heed, O concourse of the rulers of the world! There is no force on earth that can equal in its conquering power the force of justice and wisdom… Blessed is the king who marcheth with the ensign of wisdom unfurled before him, and the battalions of justice massed in his rear. He verily is the ornament that adorneth the brow of peace and the countenance of security. There can be no doubt whatever that if the day star of justice, which the clouds of tyranny have obscured, were to shed its light upon men, the face of the earth would be completely transformed.

These are tough standards to meet, even for those with the best of intentions.  I believe becoming a good servant is a life-long pursuit, one based on the suppression of the ego and increasing selflessness.  For instance, a good civil servant should be a master at consultation.  Consultation is only effective when its participants learn to be detached from their ideas, and work towards the greater good. The more our egos get involved, the more they get bruised, and need to be protected, and the more we lose sight of the goal:

…is there any deed in the world that would be nobler than service to the common good? Is there any greater blessing conceivable for a man, than that he should become the cause of the education, the development, the prosperity and honor of his fellow-creatures? No, by the Lord God! The highest righteousness of all is for blessed souls to take hold of the hands of the helpless and deliver them out of their ignorance and abasement and poverty, and with pure motives, and only for the sake of God, to arise and energetically devote themselves to the service of the masses, forgetting their own worldly advantage and working only to serve the general good.

`Abdu’l-Bahá

In the aftermath of the genocide, a new constitution was adopted, one that ensured that at least 30% of the members of parliament would be female. Billions of dollars from donors and investors have been flowing into the country. There has been steady economic growth driven by a growth in rural agriculture and skills development, as well as improvements in clean water access and primary health care. And, while serious problems remain — such as the growing divide between rich and poor — it is surely heartening to see such significant improvements in such a short span of time.

And now a little piece of history has been made – a news story which very nearly slipped under the radar (hardly surprising with all the coverage of collapsing banks and looming elections). Just over a week ago, Rwanda became the first country ever to have a majority of women in parliament, with at least 55% of MP positions going to women.

Why might this be regarded as historic? Well, let’s start with the words of Bellancilla Nyonawankusi, a Rwandan election official, as quoted on News24:

All Rwandans have a role to play in the reconciliation, but women can do it better than men… They are the ones who were the first to be affected by the genocide and they are the ones who are bringing up the children.

This critical connection between war, motherhood and the raising of children was emphasized in a moving passage from Abdu’l-Baha, while He travelled the Western world expounding the teachings of the Baha’i Faith. It was part of a talk delivered to a Women’s Suffrage gathering in New York, in 1912:

The most momentous question of this day is international peace and arbitration, and universal peace is impossible without universal suffrage. Children are educated by the women. The mother bears the troubles and anxieties of rearing the child, undergoes the ordeal of its birth and training. Therefore, it is most difficult for mothers to send to the battlefield those upon whom they have lavished such love and care. Consider a son reared and trained twenty years by a devoted mother. What sleepless nights and restless, anxious days she has spent! Having brought him through dangers and difficulties to the age of maturity, how agonizing then to sacrifice him upon the battlefield! Therefore, the mothers will not sanction war nor be satisfied with it. So it will come to pass that when women participate fully and equally in the affairs of the world, when they enter confidently and capably the great arena of laws and politics, war will cease; for woman will be the obstacle and hindrance to it. This is true and without doubt.

(Abdu’l-Baha, The Promulgation of Universal Peace, p. 134)

It is clear that the world is still playing catch-up to these words, and women everywhere continue to struggle for an equal voice in the decision-making arena.  But how poignant it is that a small, mountainous country in East Africa — which has endured so much recent agony — should suddenly, and quite unexpectedly, be showing us the way.

The disintegrative forces — those old, oppressive, corrupt phenomena in the world — were, no doubt, getting me down.

Sometimes, it seems as if oppression, corruption, and injustice are King. Sometimes, it seems the change brought about by the integrative forces is painfully slow.

As I scanned the news, it seemed all hope was lost: a bomb in Istanbul, soaring fuel prices, and the inevitable snarkiness that surrounds the U.S. presidential elections.

Then, hidden among the headlines, I found a gem of a story. It spoke of a music program at a woman’s prison in Venezuela. The women — some thieves, some drug smugglers, and even a Malaysian law student who claimed she was wrongly imprisoned — participate in a voluntary orchestral program that offers classical training. In this program, the women find hope and purpose. One participant remarked, after her three daughters watched her performance, “I finally felt useful in this life.”

This, to me, is an example of the integrative forces arising in the world. Sometimes small, sometimes quiet, but altogether a reflection of a changing attitude in the world.

It’s easy, though, to look at these integrative efforts with a sense of cynicism. I often hear, from my peers or in my own mind, lamentations about how the U.N. is mired in stagnation, or that the millions of dollars the World Bank pours into development hardly produces equivalent results. Or, that successful and well-meaning endeavors in social and economic development are too small to make any kind of true impact.

Our generation is an eternally impatient one, and tends to seek quick-fixes. If we only stopped to reflect on how much we’ve accomplished in the past century, and how much more, as our consciousness expands, humanity will inevitably grow.

In order for humankind to progress, though, it is imperative that we reflect on the nature of the world, on the failures and successes of present institutions, and then act accordingly. Shoghi Effendi, the Guardian of the Bahá’í Faith, wrote:

The world is in great turmoil and its problems seem to become daily more acute. We should, therefore, not sit idle, otherwise we would be failing in carrying out our sacred duty. Bahá’u'lláh has not given us His Teachings to treasure them and hide them for our personal delight and pleasure. He gave them to us that we may pass them from mouth to mouth until all the world becomes familiar with them and enjoys their blessings and uplifting influence.

– Shoghi Effendi, Bahá’í News, no. 73 (May 1933), p. 2

Bahá’ís believe that Bahá’u'lláh’s teachings, rooted in the concept of the oneness of humanity, are not only those that will help solve the world’s ills in the future, but are already beginning to do so. Bahá’u'lláh was imprisoned and placed into exile for most of His life — yet His teachings have already manifested themselves in ways both small and large, and millions of individuals around the world, on all continents, have embraced His Faith.

And I’d venture to assert that as a steadily growing cohort of individuals who engage in sustained social action emerges, beginning from the grassroots, and based on the spirit of Bahá’u'lláh’s teachings, our adolescent world will, ever steadily, blossom into the calm of maturity.

So, while my awkwardness personally never ended after adolescence, my adherence to Bahá’u'lláh’s teachings makes me certain that humanity’s will.

Living abroad this year, I’ve soaked up the news more than ever before. I don’t know if it’s an attempt to stay connected with home, or just a new means of procrastination.

And what a year to stay connected — natural disaster in Burma, a heated race in Zimbabwe, Olympic protests against China, a historical presidential election in the U.S.

I reflect on the year, and I can’t help but notice that the vast majority of the news is, well, quite gloomy. Even with the unprecedented breaking of gender and racial boundaries in the U.S. presidential election, the news was constantly fraught with the polarizing, oftentimes nasty coverage that emphasized personality and appearance over issues of substance.

It made me remember why, in the past, I avoided reading the news in the first place — because it was so darn depressing.

But my personal habits have also shifted a bit this year, in that I’ve made a more serious commitment to read from the Bahá’í Writings. And in the process of steadily increasing my knowledge of the Bahá’í Faith, the gloomy nature of the world suddenly seems less depressing to me. In fact, it makes a lot of sense — and, I’d venture to assert, it’s kind of exciting?

Let me backtrack by saying that lives lost, the triumph of dictators, or partisan quarreling in the presidential election is not exciting. It’s sad, and, if I didn’t have the writings of Bahá’u'lláh, ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, and Shoghi Effendi from which to draw perspective, I’d hop on the next train to the Himalayas with my bag of soy nuts to stare at the clouds in seclusion rather than face the pain of this world.

Two words, however, ring in my head as I read about the world’s woes and triumphs: disintegration and integration.

Let me put this in some context. Most of the world’s traditions — religious, cultural, tribal, or otherwise — speak of the promise of a bright, peaceful, unified future. Bahá’ís believe that that time has arrived.

“But what of all the depressing gloominess you were just talking about?” some of you might be thinking.

This is where my favorite analogy — that comparing the whole of humankind to a human being — comes in. Humanity has gone through its childhood already: grappling with the fact that women are equal to men, that slavery is inhumane, how to rub two sticks together to create fire, and the like. Not everyone is fully in accordance with all those issues (except for the fire part), but in the past century and a half, we’ve made more progress than all previous centuries combined.

Nowadays, we seem to be zooming ahead in certain aspects. Information from India to Chile in seconds? Check. Eradication of many communicable diseases? Check. And yet, we still haven’t figured out a way to get along. We’re making inroads, but somehow, the tension in the world seems to be getting worse and worse.

Isn’t it a bit like adolescence? You’ve figured out how to walk, talk, and feed yourself, but suddenly, a whole new set of problems abounds. Mom and dad are still driving you around -- embarrassing! –, that blemish on your nose never goes away, and you seem to be a lot smellier these days.

And so it is with humanity. We’ve figured out some of the basics, and we astonish ourselves with our scientific and technological advancements. But doesn’t some of that partisan political sniping remind you of gossiping middle-schoolers? Are not the waves of violence and oppression that plague societies reminiscent of the turbulence that surrounds the teenage years? Our global community searching for commonality — what are human rights, what is justice? — similar to an adolescent seeking his or her identity? And likewise, doesn’t our endless quest for knowledge and truth, or our rising suspicion of and exasperation with many present institutions, bring to mind that struggle in the chasm between childhood and adulthood?

It’s certain that the old, oppressive ways are the world are disintegrating – at times rapidly, and other times at a painfully lethargic pace. But with this disintegration has come a gradual, sometimes subtle integrative process.

‘Abdu’l-Bahá elucidated this theme in a talk given in New York City, in 1912:

From every standpoint the world of humanity is undergoing a reformation. The laws of former governments and civilizations are in process of revision; scientific ideas and theories are developing and advancing to meet a new range of phenomena; invention and discovery are penetrating hitherto unknown fields, revealing new wonders and hidden secrets of the material universe; industries have vastly wider scope and production; everywhere the world of mankind is in the throes of evolutionary activity indicating the passing of the old conditions and advent of the new age of reformation. Old trees yield no fruitage; old ideas and methods are obsolete and worthless now. Old standards of ethics, moral codes and methods of living in the past will not suffice for the present age of advancement and progress.

(Abdu’l-Baha, The Promulgation of Universal Peace, p. 438)

In Part II, I’ll explore the integrative phenomena arising in today’s world, and the central role the Bahá’í Faith plays in the building up of a new civilization.

Meanwhile, a homework assignment: try reading the news today. Any examples of the integrative processes I mentioned? Leave me a comment and let me know what you think.

Now picture this scenario: we have one young player on the team, going by the name of Zim, who has been committing fouls persistently throughout the game (in full view of everyone). This carries on for a while, everyone sees it but feels powerless to do anything because, well, none of them are referees, nor do they consider it their job to intervene.

Eventually it goes too far, Zim commits one foul too many and everything boils over. Two of the older players, call them Britain and the United States, charge up to Zim and start yelling and gesticulating. “Get your act together and play by the rules!” they shout, to which Zim impetuously shrugs his shoulders and responds: “Who are you to tell me what to do? I’ve seen the two of you committing plenty of fouls yourselves. Besides, it’s no secret that both of you have fouled me in the past.”

Along come two more of the senior players — China and Russia — and they join in the fray: “Leave him alone,” they say, “It’s not our job to sort this situation out, nor has he fouled any of us, so basically we have nothing to gain from intervening!” They argue back and forth on this theme for a while, neither party giving an inch, until eventually they turn to Zim’s best friend hoping that maybe he can do something about it.

And, as if things weren’t divided enough, South Africa has worked out his own strategy: “Don’t worry, I’m talking to him. All he needs is a bit of encouragement. I hope that at some point he will play by the rules, but in the meantime we’ll just have to tolerate him.” So, after wasting the whole afternoon arguing, they carry on playing with nothing resolved.

Doesn’t it seem obvious at this point that a referee is needed?

The question of Zimbabwe is merely the latest in a whole catalog of decision-making failures at the international level, and as people scratch their heads for answers yet again, one wonders when the penny will finally drop. Will it require another major crisis, on the scale of a world war, for leaders to realize that their priorities are worn and outdated? That the days of selfish nationalism, of excessive patriotism, of stubbornly clinging to the perceived good of one’s own nation instead of sincerely caring for the good of the whole, are well and truly over. Well over a century ago, Baha’u'llah stated:

The well-being of mankind, its peace and security, are unattainable unless and until its unity is firmly established.

And with every passing crisis, with the increasing complexity of modern-day issues, the truth of these words becomes more and more evident. What’s more, (and I apologize for using the football analogy again), it becomes increasingly apparent that the game of politics can’t keep being played without, at the very least, a base set of laws that all will adhere to. Nor can it continue to be played without a referee who has everyone’s full backing, not only to make decisions, but more importantly to ACT on those decisions. Although, perhaps “referee” is the wrong term to use here (after all, history has repeatedly demonstrated how excessive centralization has a tendency to promote despotism). Anyone who has watched a game of football knows how frustrating it can be when the ref makes one (unchallengeable) decision and video replays confirm he got it totally wrong! A “refereeing panel”, or world parliament backed by a formidable international force, is more like the answer, according to the Baha’i Writings.

The Baha’i International Community, in a fascinating document entitled “Turning Point For All Nations“, broadly surveys the political landscape in the light of past and present happenings. In addition, the document offers several compelling suggestions on how to advance towards the goal of lasting peace. For example, in addressing the question of which of the myriad political systems to choose as a model for world governance, they write the following:

Furthermore, in devising a specific framework for the future international order, leaders should survey a broad range of approaches to governance. Rather than being modeled after any single one of the recognized systems of government, the solution may embody, reconcile and assimilate within its framework such wholesome elements as are to be found in each one of them.

For example, one of the time-tested models of governance that may accommodate the world’s diversity within a unified framework is the federal system. Federalism has proved effective in decentralizing authority and decision-making in large, complex, and heterogeneous states, while maintaining a degree of overall unity and stability. Another model worth examining is the commonwealth, which at the global level would place the interest of the whole ahead of the interest of any individual nation.

Extraordinary care must be taken in designing the architecture of the international order so that it does not over time degenerate into any form of despotism, of oligarchy, or of demagogy corrupting the life and machinery of the constituent political institutions.

So federalism has proven it’s effectiveness in uniting diverse groups within a flexible framework, and is a possibility, as is the idea of a world commonwealth. Well, what next? The temptation exists to simply file these thoughts away and worry about the future when it happens, playing the role of passive observer. Wrong approach. In the atomic age it is clearly dangerous to ignore such questions for too long. What the world desperately needs right now is a critical mass of people who share the same vision of unity — and who will strive their utmost to promote it.

While we believe this formulation of a world government is at once the ultimate safeguard and the inevitable destiny of humankind, we do recognize that it represents a long-term picture of a global society. Given the pressing nature of the current state of affairs, the world requires bold, practical and actionable strategies that go beyond inspiring visions of the future. Nevertheless, by focusing on a compelling concept, a clear and consistent direction for evolutionary change emerges from the mire of contradictory views and doctrines.

(Baha’i International Community, 1995 Oct, Turning Point For All Nations)

I’ve been thinking about what qualities a successful woman leader should have. There is the conventional wisdom that the most successful have been those that have exhibited mostly masculine qualities, downplaying their feminine side. A column by Nicholas Kristof, for the New York Times, gives an excellent account of recent female political figures. Most interesting for me, though, was a study he quotes which says that women, compared with men, tend to excel in consensus-building and certain other skills useful in leadership. In a statement released in 1983, entitled “Equality of Men and Women: A New Reality“, the Baha’i International Community quotes the following passage from the Baha’i Writings:

The world in the past has been ruled by force and man has dominated over woman by reason of his more forceful and aggressive qualities both of body and mind. But the scales are already shifting, force is losing its weight, and mental alertness, intuition, and the spiritual qualities of love and service, in which woman is strong, are gaining ascendancy. Hence the new age will be an age less masculine and more permeated with the feminine ideals, or, to speak more exactly, will be an age in which the masculine and feminine elements of civilization will be more properly balanced.

In a recent TIME article, “The Girl Gap“, which looks at the state of education for girls and women in Afghanistan, the authors state that every “social and economic index shows that countries with a higher percentage of women with a high school education also have better overall health, a more functional democracy and increased economic performance”. This closely echoes the words of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, published in the “Promulgation of World Peace” (a collection of the talks delivered by ‘Abdu’l-Bahá during His visit to the United States and Canada in 1912):

That is to say, there must be no difference in the education of male and female in order that womankind may develop equal capacity and importance with man in the social and economic equation. Then the world will attain unity and harmony. In past ages humanity has been defective and inefficient because it has been incomplete. War and its ravages have blighted the world; the education of woman will be a mighty step toward its abolition and ending, for she will use her whole influence against war. Woman rears the child and educates the youth to maturity. She will refuse to give her sons for sacrifice upon the field of battle. In truth, she will be the greatest factor in establishing universal peace and international arbitration. Assuredly, woman will abolish warfare among mankind. Inasmuch as human society consists of two parts, the male and female, each the complement of the other, the happiness and stability of humanity cannot be assured unless both are perfected. Therefore, the standard and status of man and woman must become equalized.