The Lesser and the Most Great Peace
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Source: Bahá'í Library Online (bahai-library.com), curated by Jonah Winters. Used by permission of the curator. Original citation: George Orr Latimer, The Lesser and the Most Great Peace, Wilmette, IL: Bahá'ı́ Publishing Committee, 1944, bahai-library.com.
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The Lesser
and the
Most Great Peace
by
George Orr Latimer

A discussion of the evolution of
World Peace from Political to
Spiritual civilization.

BAHA'i PuBLISHING CoMMirTEE

Wilmette, Illinois
..
'

CoPYRIGHT     J 944
Bv THE NATIONAL SPIRITUAL ASSEMBLY OF THE

BAHfi.'is OF THE UNITED STATES AND CANADA

Approved by the Reviewing Committee
of the National Spiritual A ssembly

Printed in U.S .il..
THE LESSER AND THE
MOST GREAT PEACE

A   T a Reception by the New York
Peace Society on May lJ, 1912,
the guest of honor, 'Abdu'l-Baha,
made the following significant state-
ment: "Today there is no greater
glory for man than that of service in
the cause of the 'Most Great Peace.'
Peace is light whereas war is darkness.
Peace is life; war is death. Peace is
guidance; war is error. Peace is the
foundation of God; war is satanic
institution. Peace is the illumination
of the world of humanity; war is the
destroyer of human foundations."
During this memorable visit to
America He further indicated that it
would take only a spark to explode
the mighty arsenals of Europe. Two
years later the conflagration of war
swept over the greater part of that
continent, finally involving the United
States in an effort to end all war. At
the close of the so-called World War,
certain institutions were established,
including the League of Nations, for
the express purpose of settling the
disputes, rivalries and differences be-
tween nations by means of arbitration,
rather than a resort to armed force.
And now thirty years after the utter-
ance above quoted, the worId again
is hurled into a maelstrom of terror
and bloodshed that is destined to
eclipse all previous wars of recorded
history in the destruction of life,
property, liberty,-even civilization
itself; for today the machinery of
warfare is so perfected that entire
nations can be obliterated in the span
of a few days or weeks. Is it not the
time to re-examine the factors that
produce a civilization and to study
the "science of peace" so that the
energies and inventions of man will
be devoted to the establishment of
human brotherhood which is the basic
creative law of God and His
Prophets?
It is evident that some plan for
World Order must be adopted if
peace is to become a permanent real-
ity. The material means that have
been utilized in the past have proved
futile in stemming the tides of war,
aggression and exploitation, due main-
ly to the fact that the sovereign na-
tions after signing some peace pact,
still maintain their right to do as they
will by recognizing no authority
greater than their own. As long as
this attitude remains, national security
which rests on armed strength, along
with the control of markets and mate-
rials, becomes more important than
collective security. Each nation will
still claim the right to be judge and
jury in every case involving its rela-
tionship with some other sovereign
state. This attitude has greatly de-
veloped in recent years to the extent
that some writers have aptly termed
it the "Religion of Nationalism."
It means that the interests of one
country are greater than those of a
group of nations united by some
solemn agreement for the welfare of
all. Certainly nationalism as a re-
ligion cannot be reconciled with any
traditional religion for the obvious
reason that it would have to vary
according to one's nationality rather
than to one's faith in God.
NEED FOR WoRLD CoNTROL

The need for some form of world
control has found serious and ever
increasing consideration at the hands
of many forward looking thinkers in
recent years. A series of important
suggestions for postwar peace are out-
lined by Otto Tod Mallery in his
timely book, "Economic Union and
Durable Peace." (Harper & Brothers
I 943)   In this survey six plans are
presented for study; (I) The League
Plan, with formulated provisions to
remedy the flaws in the original
Covenant of the League of Nations;
( 2) The Federation Plan, proposed
by Clarence K. Streit in his "Union
Now" which offers a federation of
the existing democracies as a basis for
world government with union citizen-
ship, a defense force, a customs-free
economy, union money and a postal
and communications system; (3) The
Good Neighbor Plan, an informal
cooperation of nations, without defin-
ite machinery, such as is found in the
commissions which bind the twenty-
one Republics of the Western Hemi-
sphere; (4) The Good Will Plan,
suggested by Lionel Curtis in his
book "World Order", which stresses
an underlying moral principle that
applies to individuals and nations
alike, since 'the loyalties and the spirit
of cooperation, whether in family,
tribe, State or nation, are the durable
blocks out of which the progress of
mankind is hewn,' and wherein the
ideals of religion and politics are
closely associated; (5) The Banking
and Credit Plan, outlined by Pro-
fessor Hans Heymann of Rutgers
University in his "Plan for Perma-
nent Peace", which proposes a Bank
of Nations, in cooperation with a Fed-
eral World Authority, to deal with
special problems of labor migration,
unemployment insurance, crop insur-
ance, raw materials and other inter-
national matters and to coordinate
the economic functions of a world
community with power to issue cur-
rency and create credit; ( 6) The
Economic Union Plan projected by
Mr. Mallery, which is in essence the
proposal of an international commis-
sion, with limited objectives, working
with other institutions now existing
or which may be set up,-a union of
like-minded nations rather than the
whole world,--an organization based
upon the threefold representation of
governments, of organized labor and
of organized managers with no nation
excluded because of race, color, form
of government, or previous condition
of servitude to dictators or idealogies,
and which will cooperate with de-
feated peoples and grant equal access
to raw materials and to markets.
In the recent book "Problems of
Lasting Peace", Mr. Herbert Hoover
and Mr. Hugh Gibson stress the
combining of the economic and poli-
tical principles with the moral prin-
ciples for international good will,
while Mr. Wendell L. Willkie offers
a plan for the creation of a world
wherein equality of opportunity is
guaranteed for every race and every
nation. Other plans have been out-
lined and Charters have been signed
which admittedly are not binding on
the governments signatory thereto,
but all these plans and Charters are
lacking in one or more essential in-
gredients. The whole question of
peace resolves itself upon the estab-
lishment of a form of world order
that will include all the individuals,
communities and nations of the world.
It has become quite evident that "no
scheme which the calculations of the
highest statesmanship may yet devise;
no doctrine which the most distin-
guished exponents of economic theory
may hope to advance; no principle
which the most ardent of moralists
may strive to inculcate, can provide,
in the last resort, adequate founda-
tions upon which the future of a dis-
tracted world can be built." (Shoghi
Effendi, The Goal of A New World
Order.) The League of Nations with
all its good intent was only a balance
of Powers, whose representatives had
no authority for decision but had to
refer all important matters back to
their respective governments. Thus
any attempt to unify the world for
permanent peace can succeed only to
the extent to which such effort in-
cludes all the nations of the world
and inculcates the moral and spiritual
values.
Mr. Mallery, stressing this point,
makes the following valuable con-
tribution: "Surely every man deeply
concerned for a durable peace will
feel the need of enlisting all men of
good will in order to bring the King-
dom of God on earth. Therefore,
the plans of religious leaders to
spiritualize the inner man are as essen-
tial to any plan as mortar is to
bricks."
The vision of world peace is not
an illusion but its appearance in the
realm of reality depends upon an
impartial insight into human values,
IO
with a stout resolution needed for
its realization, for, according to Mr.
H. G. Wells, (The Common-Sense
of World Peace): "We are facing a
task vast and difficult enough to tax
all the gifts and resources of man-
kind, a task whose magnitude the
majority of us-even among the most
devoted-are only beginning to com-
prehend, and the very prevalent per-
suasion that a few amiable declara-
tions, a few amiable conferences, a
Pact or so and a picnic or so, will
suffice to lay the foundations of a
permanent world peace is a pure
delusion. A permanent world peace
implies a profound revolution in the
nature of every existing government
upon earth, and in the fundamental
ideas upon which that government is
based."
PROBLEMS TO BE OVERCOME

Many and diverse are the prob-
lems to be overcome before a lasting
peace is possible of attainment. In
the political realm, the system of the
II
"balance of power" bears no relation-
ship to justice as it rests on the shift-
ing scales of counter-alliances. Im-
perialism subordinates the native in-
terests of a colony and increases the
demand for greater military power
to protect the lines of communication
with the "mother" country. The
system of competitive armaments
makes it impossible to distinguish
between offensive and defensive
armaments. The control of the air-
lanes after the war must submit to
some plan of collective security.
Unrestricted sovereignty and the pol-
icy of isolation must accept the moral
basis for international law. Likewise,
political nationalism, with its exag-
gerated theories of racial superiority
which attempt to justify the right of
one people t o dominate other races,
thereby denying the free activity of
the human spirit and the right of
individual judgment in political mat-
ters, has led to governmental control
of educational institutions and the
agencies for news dissemination,
I '2
thereby suppressing the cultural bonds
between nations.
In the economic and social fields
there are such factors as high tariffs,
the struggles for new "living spaces'',-
unemployment, war debts, the trag-
edy of enforced displacement of large
populations from their homelands,
refugee children, pillage, hunger and
disease, to mention only a few, which
create distrust and hostility. The
resultant inequality of social condi-
tions lowers the public morale and
lays the foundation for the rise of
dictatorship and autocracy in govern-
ment, thus sowing the seeds for future
internal revolutions and more inter-
national warfare.
What then will make nations
repudiate war as an instrument of
national policy, adopt a legalized
procedure for the settlement of dis-
putes, and establish the priority of the
moral law as a basis of conduct in
their mutual efforts to create eco-
nomic security, social justice and inter-
national conciliation?
MORE THAN HUMAN
PowER REQUIRED
Something more than human power
is necessary for the establishment of
peace on earth and its counterpart,
good will toward men. Great was the
desire for peace after the world war.
All the governments tired of war-
with its huge expenditures and great
loss of life, the countless orphans and
the destitute widows, all yearned for
peace. The representatives of the
various nations assembled in Paris to
lay the foundations of Universal
Peace, yet 'Abdu'l-Baha foresaw at
that time, that in the atmosphere of
self-interest and misunderstanding
that still prevailed, no permanent
peace could be established because the
spiritual factor had been left out of
the discussions. In a letter to the
late Dr. David Buchanan, a class-
mate of President Wilson, written in
January, r9r9, He wrote as follows:
"In such an atmosphere Universal
Peace will not be practicable, nay
rather fresh difficulties will arise.
r4
This is because interests are conflict-
ing and aims are at variance. We pray
and beseech at the Divine Kingdom
and beg for the world of humanity
rest and composure. For Universal
Peace will not be brought about
through human power and shall not
shine in full splendor unless this
weighty and important matter be
realized through the Word of God
and be made to shine forth through
the influence of the Kingdom of God.
Eventually it shall be thoroughly
established through the power of
Baha'u'llah. Verily, his honor, Presi-
dent \\Tilson, is self-sacrificing in this
path and is striving with heart and
soul with perfect good-will in the
world of humanity. Similarly, the
equitable government of Great Brit-
ain is expending a great deal of effort.
Undoubtedly the general condition
of the people and the state of small
oppressed nationalities will not re-
main as before. Justice and Right
shall be fortified but the establish-
ment of Universal Peace will be real-
ized fully through the power of the
Word of God."
A copy of this Tablet was sent to
the President's headquarters in France
and its receipt acknowledged by his
secretary. History has already record-
ed the rejection of a spiritual basis
and the ultimate shattering of most
of the noble ideals brought to the
council chamber at Versailles, with
its culmination in the present world
catastrophe. Yet the great service
for peace is still ahead of us, in spite
of the surrounding gloom, for it is
God's Will that Peace and the Uni-
fication of mankind be established in
this world. In 1915, 'Abdu'l-Baha
wrote to Andrew Carnegie: "There-
fore, ere long, a vast and unlimited
field will be opened before your view
for the display of your powers and
energies. You must promote this
glorious intention with the heavenly
power and the confirmation of the
Holy Spirit. I am praying in your
behalf that you may pitch a pavilion
and unfurl a flag in the world of
peace, love and eternal life."
The concept of world federation
was envisaged by Baha'u'llah over
seventy-five years ago. Shortly after
His declaration that He was the
Promised One of past cycles who was
to establish a spiritual civilization on
earth He proclaimed: "These fruit-
less strifes, these ruinous wars shall
pass away and the 'Most Great Peace'
shall come!" He sent Tablets to the
Rulers and Kings of the world, an-
nouncing His Mission and calling
them to establish the Kingdom of
God on earth, thus sowing the ger-
minating seeds of a real and lasting
.federation. He warned that "the
signs of impending convulsions and
chaos can now be discerned, inasmuch
as the prevailing Order appeareth
to be lamentably defective." He
prophesied that: "soon will the pres-
ent day Order be rolled up, and a
new one spread out in its stead." His
appeals were rejected and the rulers
continued to mcrease their expendi-
tures for military preparedness and
soon Europe and Asia were once more
plunged into war. His final call to
the sovereigns of the earth was in
the following admonishment: "Now
that ye have refused the Most Great
Peace, hold fast unto this Lesser
Peace, that haply ye may in some
degree better your own condition and
that of your dependents."
THE NATURE OF THE
LESSER PEACE

It is evident from the above quota-
tions that the establishment of world
peace will come in two stages: The
Lesser and the Most Great Peace.
The Lesser Peace will be achieved
when war is abolished as the method
of settling quarrels and disputes be-
tween nations. To this end, Baha-
'u'llah, in the Tablet to Queen Vic-
toria, admonishes the heads of gov-
ernments to "be reconciled among
yourselves, that ye may need no
more armaments save in a measure
to safeguard your territories and
dominions. . . . Be united, 0 kings
of the earth, for thereby the tempest
of discord will be stilled amongst
you, and your peoples find rest, if
ye be of them that comprehend.
Should any one among you take up
arms against another, rise ye all
against him, for this is naught but
manifest justice." This statement
indicates that "some form of a world
Super-State must be evolved that
will establish a single code of inter-
national law" with a Supreme Tri-
bunal whose decisions in carrying the
law into effect will have a binding
result upon any and all disputant
parties. It calls for a World Parlia-
ment or Congress composed of elect-
ed representatives of the people with
an International Executive strong
enough to enforce the solemn com-
pact entered into by the nations. Each
nation will necessarily surrender its
claims to make war, as well as the
rights to impose certain taxes, to this
supreme commonwealth. A world
community will gradually be de-
veloped, thus transmuting the "Re-
ligion of Nationalism" into a lasting
consciousness of responsible world
citizenship. By general agreement
the governments of the world will
disarm, retaining only sufficient arms
to preserve internal order; however,
these governments will contribute a
proportionate share of their army and
navy to establish an international
police force for the preservation of
the union of all the states and the
enforcement of the great treaty that
will create the foundation for uni-
versal peace. This is a very brief
outline of the World Federation
found in the Teachings of Baha-
'u'llah. There are one or two points
of vital import which are further
developed by 'Abdu'l-Baha in a letter
sent to the Central Organization for
a Durable Peace, at The Hague in
r 9 r 9. One is that the national assem-
blies of each country should elect the
choicest men of its country who are
well informed concerning inter..,
national laws and the relationships
between governments and who are
likewise aware of the essential needs
of humanity. The number of the
representatives are in proportion to
. the number of inhabitants of each
country. The election of these repre-
sentatives must be confirmed by the
congress or parliament of each nation,
by the cabinet and by the national
executive so that they truly represent
the government. The members of
the Supreme Tribunal will be chosen
from these delegates, thus the will
of the people will be fully expressed
at the council chamber, and when a
decision is arrived at, either unani-
mously or by majority-rule, there
will no longer be any pretext for
objection as both the plaintiff and
defendant are properly represented
by their duly accredited represen-
tatives.
The Bahi'f plan seeks to broaden
the basis of the existing foundations
of society in a changing and evolving
world. "Its purpose," writes Shoghi
Effendi, (Goal of a New World
2I
Order) "is neither to stifle the flame
of a sane and intelligent patriotism
in men's hearts, nor to abolish the
system of national autonomy so essen-
tial if the evils of excessive central-
ization are to be avoided. It does
not ignore, nor does it attempt to
suppress, the diversity of ethnical
origins, of climate, of history, of
language and tradition, of thought
and habit, that differentiate the peo-
ples and nations of the world. It
calls for a wider loyalty, for a larger
aspiration than any that has animated
the human race. It insists upon the
subordination of national impulses
and interests to the imperative claims
of a unified world. It repudiates ex-
cessive centralization on one hand,
and disclaims all attempts at uni-
formity on the other." When the
organs of the human body lack co-
brdination, disease, dissolution and
finally death result. The body-
politic can well be likened to the
human organism. If the various
members are cooperating in harmony,
life will find expression in the fullest
degree, but dissention and rivalry
will inevitably lead to discord and
warfare, disintegration will follow
and ultimate extinction will be the
result.
It is increasingly apparent that to
achieve this "Lesser Peace,'' human-
ity will have to pass through the fire
of a severe ordeal before the warring
elements of present-day civilization
can be welded and fused into a new
alloy of international concord. The
maimed from the battlefields, the
bombed civilian population, the be-
reaved widows, the homeless orphans
and the purged refugees, one and
all will demand from their chastened
leaders, a new world order. The
institutions that will safeguard the
peoples and nations of the world will
arise as a phoenix from the ashes of
the present conflict.
THE MosT GREAT PEACE

But from the Baha'f viewpoint,
there is yet another step to be taken,
that of the establishment of the "Most
Great Peace." "This can in no wise
be achieved except through the power
of a skilled, an all-powerful and in-
spired Physician," asserts Baha'u'llah.
It is the union of all the people of
the world in one common Faith. The
social laws and institutions established
by Baha'u'llah cannot be separated
from His moral precepts and spiritual
principles. He not only called upon
the Rulers of the world to establish
the institutions that would prevent
warfare, but He likewise exhorted
them to accept His Revelation,
destined to spiritualize the world and
to fuse the races, creeds, classes and
nations into a divinely conceived
World Order. To the people who
accept His Mission, He declares
(Tablet to Napoleon III): "The
sword of wisdom is sharper than the
sword of steel-if ye are of those
who know. Draw forth the sword
in My name and power, then invade
the cities of the hearts of those who
are fortifying themselves in the forti -
fication of desire." Humanity is
entering the stage of maturity both
individually and collectively. As the
individual assumes his responsibility
as an apostle of the Cause of God in
this day, so likewise the nations of
the world must accept their collective
obligation to establish a World Order
based on the Word of God.
When the new spiritual forces
manifest themselves, the human
world will be enabled to adapt itself
to a new social form wherein the
justice of God will be the keynote
of human affairs. The principle of
justice is emphasized throughout the
Writings of Baha'u'llah. He enjoins
the House of Justice, that Supreme
Tribunal to be elected by universal
suffrage, to direct their gaze to the
revealed Word of God "for the train-
ing of the servants, for the upbuild-
ing of countries, for the protection of
men and for the preservation of
human honor," for He adds, "if the
lamp of Religion remain concealed
agitation and anarchy would prevail,
and the orb of justice and equity and
the sun of peace and tranquility would
be withheld from giving light." This
is the reason why He addressed
powerful epistles to the rulers of
the world and counseled President
Ulysses S. Grant to assist with the
hands of justice the broken-hearted
and to adhere to the command for
the Most Great Peace, "which is the
greatest means for the protection of
mankind" and "the main cause for
the security and tranquility of the
world." (Tablet of l@raqat.)
However, with one exception, the
rulers and sovereigns who held the
peace and welfare of their country-
men in their hands, did not heed
this summons to the court of justice
and permitted the great oppressions
to continue. The one sovereign
responding to this call, was the late
Queen Marie of Roumania who, in
1936, made the following public
declaration: "More than ever today
when the world is facing such a crisis
of bewilderment and unrest, must we
stand firm in Faith seeking that which
binds together instead of tearing
asunder. To those searching for
light, the Baha'f Teachings offer a
star which will lead them to deeper
understanding, to assurance, peace
and good will with all men."
The advent of Divine Justice and
its consequent spiritualization of man-
kind will fuse the races, classes,
creeds and nations into a great World
Civilization based upon the durable
structure of a World Faith. Fore-
seeing the efforts now being made
for the settlement of international
disputes by those with a vision of a
wider, more inclusive loyalty, Baha-
'u'llah pointed out: "The time must
come, when the imperative necessity
for the holding of a vast, an all-
embracing assemblage of men will
be universally realized. The rulers
and kings of the earth must needs
attend it, and, participating in its
deliberations, must consider such ways
and means as will lay the foundations
of the world's Great Peace among
men." The resultant treaty must be
sound, definite and inviolable and
receive the sanction not only of all
the rulers but of all the human race.
Unity of purpose and justice for all
are the standards for the new human-
ity. The establishment of a world
commonwealth will be realized
through (a process of) gradual stages.
Ultimately Universal Peace will be
achieved and it will signify the estab-
lishment of the Kingdom of God
upon earth. The "Lesser Peace" may
come in the near future, while the
"Most Great Peace" will eventually
be realized and remain eternally
effective and secure, through the
potency of Divine decree. There will
be a merging of the two elements-
the organization of a world common-
wealth and the institution of a world
religion, and then Universal Peace
will be fully realized, by this achieve-
ment of organic and spiritual unity.
In its fullness, the Revelation of
Baha'u'llah is not alone another stage
in the progressive prophetic cycles
'28
that have come to this earth, nor is
it yet another spiritual revival, but it
represents the founding of a world
civilization and culture, with its lead-
ers and representatives responsible to
a world citizenry for the maintenance
of new moral standards, new virtues,
higher ideals and greater service to
the common weal. It represents the
growth of mankind from adolescence
to maturity through a process of
spiritual integration culminating in
that Golden Age proclaimed by all
the prophets of the past as the ulti-
mate destiny for man on this planet.
-- The Lesser and the Most Great Peace (Used by permission of the curator)