To Be Coming From Editorial Martha Root: Traveling Star M. R. Garis The Baha'i Faith and Mormonism Further Reflections William P. Collins Return of Enoch Anna Stevenson Literature's Cracked Mirror Frederick Glaysher 1· er VOLUME 17, NUMBER 3 • PUBLISHED Q UARTERLY Editorial Board: IN THIS ISS UE FIRUZ KAZEMZADEH BETTY J. FISHER 2 To Be Comin g from: Editorial HOWARD GAREY -t Interchange: Letters from and to the Editor Consultant in Poetry: WILLIAM STAFFORD 9 Martha Root: Traveling Star by M. R. Gms 23 On Time poem by Brei Breneman WORLD ORDER is published qu.mcrly bl' 25 The Baha'i Faith and Mormonism: further the Nation.ii Spiritual Assembly ol the B.1h.1'ls RcAections of the U nited States, 415 Linden Avenue, W il ­ mette, IL 6009 1. Appli cation to Mail at Sccond­ by Wil!tam P. Collins class post.ige rates is pend in !> at W ilmette, IL. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to 35 Return of Enoch WORLD ORDER, 415 Linden A\'Clrne, Wil­ mette, IL 60091. by A 11na Ste·ue11so11 -+3 The views expressed herein .ire those of the .tu­ Never Learned the Name of rlowers thors and do not necessarily ,-cf1ect the opinions poem by Thomas Washingwn of the publisher, the National Spi1-itual Assem­ bly of the Baha'is of the United St.nes, or of the -+5 Literature's Cracked Mirror Editorial Board. Manuscripts should be type­ written and double spaced throughout, with the book review by Frederick Clayshcr footnotes at the end. The contributor should keep a carbon copy. Return post.tge should be -+8 Authors & Artists in This [ssue included. Sen d manuscript~ .1nd other ed it ori::tl co rrespondence to WORLD ORDER, 415 Lin­ den Avenue, Wilmette, IL 60091. Subscription r.lle>: U.S.A .. I yc.u-, SI0.00: 2 ye.trs, SIX.00: single- copin. S3.0J. All other countries. I year, 512.00; 2 yc.1r~ 1 $22 . 00~ ... inhlt.: copies 53.00. Copyright c) 198), Nation.ii Spirit u.il Assem­ bly of the B.ih3'is of the Unttcd St.Hes, All Riglm Reserved. Printed in the U.S.A . ISSN 0043-8804 2 WORLD ORDER: SPRING 1983 To Be Coming From ABOUT ten years ago we began to hear a new idiom in English, "to be com- 1""\. ing from"-as in "I (don't) see where you're coming from." It has near­ ly the same meaning as " ... what (you're) driving at," but its perspective is different. Whereas "What are you driving at?" demands to know what con­ clusion you are leading up to, and to know immediately, "Where are you coming from?" is a more thoughtful question, more interested in causes than effects, more concerned with motives than with aims, more curious about the unique subjective experience than about the objective end-point. 9 A religion, an ideflogy, any system of shared goals may be viewed from these two perspectives. It is, indeed, important to know the creed, doctrine, tenets, goals of a community that defines itself by them-that is, by what it is "driving at." But a different perception of reality comes from the knowledge of the varied paths that the members of such a community have traveled to join it. There is a basic difference between an "interest group," which, how­ ever diverse in origin it might be, is bound together by one narrow purpose (for or against capital punishment, abortion, or prayer in school; price sup­ ports for milk or tobacco; particular kinds and methods of taxation) and a spiritual community whose members have a common faith and a common vision. As for the "interest group," its members are concerned about particu­ lar results; though they may be aware that their fe ll ows "come from" posi­ tions that may be in other respects different from their own- or even incom­ patible-they tolerate or overlook these differences in their single-minded pursuit of a particular piece of legislation. The spiritual community is another matter. Unity is its watchword, a uni­ ty of spiritual and ethical values, which in some instances are rooted in a common cultural and ethnic inheritance. Such a community, while tending to be cohesive and steadfast, would also tend to be conservative to the point of rigidity, self-limited in numbers and influence. However, if to unity the spiritual community joins a potential universality, that community cannot be founded upon a uniformity of cultural inheritance, or personality types, or any such exclusivist self-categorization. Its members must "come from" a variety of origins- religious, ideological, racial, cultural, social, education­ al-while "driving at" unifying goals, so that by whatever roads they have ar­ rived at their common highway, their fellowship will be driven as with a sin­ gle will to a world of peace, love, progress, and justice. It is not in the name of such abstractions alone that the people of Baha, re­ cruited from the ranks of the most devout of all religions, whether Southern Baptist or Shiite fundamentalist, or of the most liberal Christian or Jewish intellectual groups, or the hardheaded agnostics of the scientific community, or the traditionalists of the villages of India or of Native America, have joined forces to create such a world or that they have found the confidence that such a world is within human reach. The former adherents of exclusivist religions have widened their view of salvation and the means of attaining it; the former atheists have convinced themselves by their study of the Baha'i Writings in confrontation with the disciplined, critical thinking and results 3 of their own scientific work, that the world is, indeed, in need of salvation, and that salvation will not result from a totall y nonspiritual approac h to hu­ man problems, and, further, that Baha'u'llah has revealed the way to di scov­ er the ultimate unity of the spiritual and material dimensions, neither of which can be effective without the other. These discoveries can not be made without love-love for man, for the creation and its Creator, a love which makes it credible that, as these words were being written, the news came in that sixteen Baha'ls, of whom ten were women, had just been executed in Iran. Incredible as that criminal act may appear, it is even harder to imagine how, in the absence of such love, these martyrs could have freely chosen this martyrdom, for a word of recantation would have spared their li ves . They cannot be written off as fanatics, if only because of the universality and selfl.e ss ness of their motives: they are doing it for us, for the future of the world, a world that will be free of the fanaticism that withers the so ul and imposes the harshest of rules on the nonconformist, in short, of the fa nat i­ cism that has decreed their death. They di ed believing that their sacrifice will contribute to the end of all the tyrannies that poison today's world, and that, in the absence of the will to put their lives w here their belief is, the world would truly be doomed. This is where they are coming from and what they are driving at. Let our ardent prayer be that, in our turn, our belief w ill have the same strength to transcend rhetoric. 4 WORLD ORDER: SPRI NG 1983 Interchange LETTERS FROM AND To THE EDITOR WE ARE well aware that our readers have a one of the greatest contemporary poets of strong interest in religions and the relation­ the United States." The reviews of A Glass ships among them. Over the years WORLD Face in the Rain bear out the enthusiastic as­ ORDER has run articles that explored var­ sessment. Suzanne Juhasz, from the English ious aspects of Hinduism, Buddhism, Zor­ Department of the University of Colorado, oastrianism, Christianity, and Islam, and Boulder, wrote in Library Journal, that "It is some that attempted to present Baha'i views a pleasure and privilege to read Stafford's of these faiths. In the Fall 1980/Winter 1981 newest collection: to take part in his admira­ issue we published William P. Collins' "The ble way of being in the world; to have the Baha'i Faith and Mormonism: A Prelimi­ excitement and satisfaction of experiencing nary Survey," an article that raised a number his language. Stafford's poems, like the of questions that needed further examina­ world he writes about, have a simplicity tion. In the current issue Mr. Collins contin­ that resonates, 'where talk finds truth, slides ues the endeavor, probing some Mormon near I and away.'" beliefs in the light ofBaha'I teachings. Booklist provides even more insight into Through fortunate coincidence we have the special treat one finds in Mr. Stafford's scheduled for this issue another article in­ poems: "With typical modesty and accura­ spired by an interest in Mormonism, the re­ cy, Stafford has described his poetry as flective and impressionistic piece by Anna 'much like talk, with some enhancement.' Stevenson. Together the two articles dem­ Enchantment might have been an even more onstrate not merely the tolerance but the af­ apt term, as his large new collection consis­ fection we feel for religious traditions that tently shows. Directly and without preten­ hold beliefs at variance with our own but in sion, these short lyrics charm with images, whose teachings we gladly discern truths insights, and, yes, inspirations, as he looks common to all religions. on the world, relationships, the comforts of familiar things, and sends back the message that everything counts.