The Revelation of Bahá'u'lláh, whose supreme mission is none
other but the achievement of this organic and spiritual unity of the whole body
of nations, should, if we be faithful to its implications, be regarded as
signalizing through its advent the coming of age of the entire human race. It
should be viewed not merely as yet another spiritual revival in the
ever-changing fortunes of mankind, not only as a further stage in a chain of progressive Revelations, nor even as the
culmination of one of a series of recurrent prophetic cycles, but rather as
marking the last and highest stage in the stupendous evolution of man's
collective life on this planet. The emergence of a world community, the
consciousness of world citizenship, the founding of a world civilization and
culture -- all of which must synchronize with the initial stages in the
unfoldment of the Golden Age of the Bahá'í Era -- should, by their very nature,
be regarded, as far as this planetary life is concerned, as the furthermost
limits in the organization of human society, though man, as an individual,
will, nay must indeed as a result of such a consummation, continue indefinitely
to progress and develop.
- Shoghi Effendi (‘The World Order of Baha'u'llah’)
