CHAPTER SEVEN
At the Gates of the New Age - 3

The conjunction of Neptune and Pluto in 1891-92 initiated the process which we see operating during this twentieth century. It began the new Electronic Revolution, with the discoveries of X-rays and radium, with the Quantum Theory — and also with Freudian psychoanalysis which led to the proliferation of psychological systems and of techniques of psychotherapy. The release of atomic energy which began when Neptune entered Libra (first atomic pile reaction in Chicago December 1942) and the atomic explosions of 1945 were further manifestations of the capacity inherent in a consciousness attuned to the rhythm of cosmic energy to perform in the creative-destructive mode of the Divine. God is focused in the infinitesimally small as well as in the immensely vast universal Whole. The release of God-power in perfect and total performances is the meaning of "divine Sonship."
      This is why our century is one dynamized by "activism." It is a century of consciousness become act. But all releases of power are bi-polar. Every intense light casts an equally intense shadow. To a Sri Aurobindo and Gandhi answer a Hitler and Stalin. Likewise to the Bahai Faith envisioning a World-Order based on Love answered last century the World-Communism of Karl Marx fostering the war of classes and the ruthless "dictatorship of the proletariat." The two polarities of power and of consciousness are necessary within the ever-dynamic Harmony of the universal Whole.
      The Forties of last century constituted undoubtedly a turning point. It focused the final aspect of the Industrial Revolution through the spread of railroads and the first telegraphic communication. It was the beginning of the Humanitarian Movement which took various forms, whether in the field of religious socialism (mainly through French leaders like St. Simon, Lamennais, Fourier) or in that of medicine and of spiritual healing (through disciples of Mesmer). It saw the extraordinary spread of Spiritualism throughout the U. S. and later in Europe. And it witnessed in May 1844 the Declaration of the Bab in Persia, announcing the end of an Age and the impending appearance of a great "Divine Manifestation" which would sound forth the creative Tone of a new era of human evolution.
      The story of the young, beautiful and fascinating Persian youth Mirza Ali Muhammad, who took the name of the "Bab" (meaning, the Gate) is an extraordinary one. It is detailed in a remarkable book, The Dawn-Breakers (Bahai Publishing Committee, New York). Thousands of his followers were tortured and killed. He himself was put to death by the fanatic Mohammedan clergy. One of these followers, Mirza Husayn Ali (born in Teheran, November 12, 1817 exactly at sunrise, and the son of a minister of the Persian Shah) was thrown into a pestilential airless dungeon, chained with criminals. There this man became aware of his status and he was finally released thanks to the entreaties of the Russian ambassador (an interesting connection!), and exiled with his family and a few friends to Bagdad where he proclaimed his status as a "divine Manifestation." Baha'u'llah was sent later to Haifa where he passed away. The tombs of the Bab and Bahalu'llah are now located on the famous Mount Carmel near the headquarters of the Bahai Movement.
      This Movement spread to the Western world under the leadership of Baha'u'llah's son, Abdul Baha, until after World War I, then of a relative of both the Bab and Bahalu'llah, Shoghi Effendi. After the latter's death a few years ago, the movement is now directed by a group named "the Hands of God," and it has centers in nearly every country of the world. In Winnetka, near Chicago, a Bahai temple of remarkable architecture is an extraordinary monument to the vitality of this faith. The main emphasis in the Bahai writings is on basic principles of world-organization and interpersonal, communal, everyday relationships. The fundamental twelve principles of the New Order proclaimed by Bahalu'llah are (1) the oneness of mankind; (2) independent investigation of truth; (3) the foundation of all religions is one; (4) religion must be the cause of unity; (5) religion must be in accord with science and reason; (6) equality between men and women; (7) prejudice of all kinds must be forgotten; (8) universal peace; (9) universal education; (10) spiritual solution of the economic problem; (11) a universal language; (12) an international tribunal.
      In contrast to the Bahai Image which radiates organizing power substantiated in love and peace, the Communist Image projected by Marx, and made triumphant some seventy-two years later by Lenin, has featured violence, deceit, and power without love — sheer and naked power.