If we Bahá'ís cannot attain to cordial unity among
ourselves, then we fail to realize the main purpose for which the Báb,
Bahá'u'lláh and the Beloved Master lived and suffered. In order to achieve this
cordial unity one of the first essentials insisted on by Bahá'u'lláh and
'Abdu'l-Bahá is that we resist the natural tendency to let our attention dwell
on the faults and failings of others rather than on our own. Each of us is
responsible for one life only, and that is our own. Each of us is immeasurably
far from being "perfect as our heavenly father is perfect" and the
task of perfecting our own life and character is one that requires all our
attention, our will-power and energy. If we allow our attention and energy to
be taken up in efforts to keep others right and remedy their faults, we are
wasting precious time. We are like ploughmen each of whom has his team to
manage and his plough to direct, and in order to keep his furrow straight he
must keep his eye on his goal and concentrate on his own task. If he looks to
this side and that to see how Tom and Harry are getting on and to criticize
their ploughing, then his own furrow will assuredly become crooked. On no
subject are the Bahá'í teachings more emphatic than on the necessity to abstain
from faultfinding and backbiting while being ever eager to discover and root
out our own faults and overcome our own failings. If we profess loyalty to
Bahá'u'lláh, to our Beloved Master and our dear Guardian, then we must show our
love by obedience to these explicit teachings. Deeds not words are what they
demand, and no amount of fervour in the use of expressions of loyalty and
adulation will compensate for failure to live in the spirit of the teachings.
- Shoghi Effendi (From a letter dated 12 May 1925 written on behalf of Shoghi Effendi to an
individual believer; The Compilation of Compilations, vol. II, Living the Life)
