One of the elements that Baha’is can bring to the current difficulties is the confidence that we will overcome racism and build a nation, even a world, in which racial differences are only regarded as a source of beauty and not a source of division.  Baha’u’llah promised us that we can get there and His Revelation is intended to give us the spiritual perspective necessary to transcend petty differences, like those of race or color. ‘Abdu’l-Baha’ described it simply as the maturity of the human race-

“All created things have their degree or stage of maturity. The period of maturity in the life of a tree is the time of its fruit-bearing… The animal attains a stage of full growth and completeness, and in the human kingdom man reaches his maturity when the light of his intelligence attains its greatest power and development… Similarly there are periods and stages in the collective life of humanity. At one time it was passing through its stage of childhood, at another its period of youth, but now it has entered its long-predicted phase of maturity, the evidences of which are everywhere apparent… That which was applicable to human needs during the early history of the race can neither meet nor satisfy the demands of this day, this period of newness and consummation. Humanity has emerged from its former state of limitation and preliminary training. Man must now become imbued with new virtues and powers, new moral standards, new capacities. New bounties, perfect bestowals, are awaiting and already descending upon him. The gifts and blessings of the period of youth, although timely and sufficient during the adolescence of mankind, are now incapable of meeting the requirements of its maturity.”

What we are seeing in the world today is massive transition, like the kind that occurs when a teenager becomes an adult. Some kids take a while to make that transition, clinging to behaviors that worked for them in adolescence. Our society is going through the same kind of process. The world is now effectively one single entity, interdependent but not yet united- not yet mature. In that transition, the pain is caused by our clinging to old values, values that reflect a less mature stage in our social development, and the “new virtues and powers, new moral standards, new capacities” have not yet become a firm part of our culture.  Those old values- nationalism, various forms of racial superiority- have been inherited from previous generations, and are unconsciously part of us.

In another letter of Shoghi Effendi addressed to the Baha’i community, he outlined the implications of the principle of the “oneness of humanity”- the guiding light in our transition to social maturity-

“The principle of the Oneness of Mankind—the pivot round which all the teachings of Bahá’u’lláh revolve —is no mere outburst of ignorant emotionalism or an expression of vague and pious hope..It implies an organic change in the structure of present-day society, a change such as the world has not yet experienced. It constitutes a challenge, at once bold and universal, to outworn shibboleths of national creeds—creeds that have had their day and which must, in the ordinary course of events as shaped and controlled by Providence, give way to a new gospel, fundamentally different from, and infinitely superior to, what the world has already conceived. It calls for no less than the reconstruction and the demilitarization of the whole civilized world.”

This expression’ “an organic change in the structure of present day society” has had a great influence in Baha’i thinking. “Organic” suggests a change that is deep, embedded within, and integrated with other aspects of life.  It’s not a superficial change, but a change that is profound and long lasting.

When we look at the world today, the Baha’i Writings teach us to see two processes going on- the disintegration of the old values- the “old world order”- and the integration associated with the “new world”- where new values are replacing the old.  If you look closely at the world, and know that we are moving towards a world of unity and peace at the end, you can see both processes happening. With that knowledge, you don’t panic when challenges inevitably come, but can see it as the unfoldment of the natural processes of a society moving towards its maturity. Even seemingly backward steps are really just a recoil that causes a spring forward.

As Baha’u’llah promises us- “Soon will the present order be rolled up and a new one spread out in its stead. Verily thy Lord speaketh the truth and is the knower of things unseen.” And in another passage- “Yet so it shall be.  These fruitless strifes, these ruinous wars, shall pass away and the Most Great peace shall come”