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Paris Talks
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Pages 27-30
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THE PITIFUL CAUSES OF WAR, AND THE DUTY OF EVERYONE TO STRIVE FOR PEACE
October 21st
`Abdu'l-Bahá said:
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I hope you are all happy and well. I am not
happy, but very sad. The news of the Battle of Benghazi
grieves my heart. I wonder at the human savagery
that still exists in the world! How is it possible for men
to fight from morning until evening, killing each other,
shedding the blood of their fellow-men: And for
what object? To gain possession of a part of the earth!
Even the animals, when they fight, have an immediate
and more reasonable cause for their attacks! How
terrible it is that men, who are of the higher kingdom,
can descend to slaying and bringing misery to their
fellow-beings, for the possession of a tract of land!
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The highest of created beings fighting to obtain the
lowest form of matter, earth! Land belongs not to one
people, but to all people. This earth is not man's home,
but his tomb. It is for their tombs these men are
fighting. There is nothing so horrible in this world as
the tomb, the abode of the decaying bodies of men.
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However great the conqueror, however many
countries he may reduce to slavery, he is unable to
retain any part of these devastated lands but one tiny
portion--his tomb! If more land is required for the
improvement of the condition of the people, for the
spread of civilization (for the substitution of just laws
for brutal customs)--surely it would be possible to
acquire peaceably the necessary extension of territory.
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But war is made for the satisfaction of men's ambition;
for the sake of worldly gain to the few, terrible
misery is brought to numberless homes, breaking the
hearts of hundreds of men and women!
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How many widows mourn their husbands, how
many stories of savage cruelty do we hear! How many
little orphaned children are crying for their dead
fathers, how many women are weeping for their slain
sons!
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There is nothing so heart-breaking and terrible as
an outburst of human savagery!
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I charge you all that each one of you concentrate all
the thoughts of your heart on love and unity. When a
thought of war comes, oppose it by a stronger thought
of peace. A thought of hatred must be destroyed by a
more powerful thought of love. Thoughts of war
bring destruction to all harmony, well-being, restfulness
and content.
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Thoughts of love are constructive of brotherhood,
peace, friendship, and happiness.
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When soldiers of the world draw their swords to kill,
soldiers of God clasp each other's hands! So may all
the savagery of man disappear by the Mercy of God,
working through the pure in heart and the sincere of
soul. Do not think the peace of the world an ideal
impossible to attain!
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Nothing is impossible to the Divine Benevolence of
God.
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If you desire with all your heart, friendship with
every race on earth, your thought, spiritual and
positive, will spread; it will become the desire of
others, growing stronger and stronger, until it reaches
the minds of all men.
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Do not despair! Work steadily. Sincerity and love
will conquer hate. How many seemingly impossible
events are coming to pass in these days! Set your faces
steadily towards the Light of the World. Show love
to all; `Love is the breath of the Holy Spirit in the
heart of Man'. Take courage! God never forsakes His
children who strive and work and pray! Let your hearts
be filled with the strenuous desire that tranquillity and
harmony may encircle all this warring world. So will
success crown your efforts, and with the universal
brotherhood will come the Kingdom of God in peace
and goodwill.
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In this room today are members of many races,
French, American, English, German, Italian, brothers
and sisters meeting in friendship and harmony! Let
this gathering be a foreshadowing of what will, in
very truth, take place in this world, when every child
of God realizes that they are leaves of one tree, flowers
in one garden, drops in one ocean, and sons and
daughters of one Father, whose name is love!
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