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Paris Talks
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Pages 21-22
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THE NEED FOR UNION BETWEEN THE PEOPLES OF THE EAST AND WEST
Friday, October 20th
`Abdu'l-Bahá said:
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1 |
In the past, as in the present, the Spiritual Sun of
Truth has always shone from the horizon of the East.
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Abraham appeared in the East. In the East Moses
arose to lead and teach the people. On the Eastern
horizon arose the Lord Christ. Muhammad was sent to
an Eastern nation. The Báb arose in the Eastern land
of Persia. Bahá'u'lláh lived and taught in the East.
All the great Spiritual Teachers arose in the Eastern
world. But although the Sun of Christ dawned in the
East the radiance thereof was apparent in the West,
where the effulgence of its glory was more clearly seen.
The divine light of His Teaching shone with a greater
force in the Western world, where it has made a more
rapid headway than in the land of its birth.
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In these days the East is in need of material progress
and the West is in want of a spiritual idea. It would be
well for the West to turn to the East for illumination,
and to give in exchange its scientific knowledge. There
must be this interchange of gifts.
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The East and the West must unite to give to each
other what is lacking. This union will bring about a
true civilization, where the spiritual is expressed and
carried out in the material.
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Receiving thus the one from the other the greatest
harmony will prevail, all people will be united, a state
of great perfection will be attained, there will be a firm
cementing, and this world will become a shining
mirror for the reflection of the attributes of God.
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We all, the Eastern with the Western nations, must
strive day and night with heart and soul to achieve
this high ideal, to cement the unity between all the
nations of the earth. Every heart will then be refreshed,
all eyes will be opened, the most wonderful power will
be given, the happiness of humanity will be assured.
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We must pray that by the Bounty of God, Persia will
be enabled to receive the material and mental civilization
of the West, and by Divine Grace to give in return
her spiritual light. The devoted energetic work of the
united peoples, occidentals and orientals, will succeed
in establishing this result, for the force of the Holy
Spirit will aid them.
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The principles of the Teachings of Bahá'u'lláh should
be carefully studied, one by one, until they are realized
and understood by mind and heart--so will you become
strong followers of the light, truly spiritual,
heavenly soldiers of God, acquiring and spreading the
true civilization in Persia, in Europe, and in the whole
world.
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This will be the paradise which is to come on earth,
when all mankind will be gathered together under the
tent of unity in the Kingdom of Glory.
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