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| The Bahá’ís: An exploration of the history, beliefs, and practices of the Bahá’í Faith A publication of the Bahá’í International Community |
The conviction that every individual belongs to one human family is at the heart of the Bahá’í Faith. We are all citizens and co-stewards of one planet. A growing awareness of our common heritage and interdependence allows us to strive for unity in our diversity.
The Bahá’í writings assert that we are “flowers of one garden, leaves of one tree” and share a common purpose— to carry forward an ever-advancing material and spiritual civilization. Bahá’u’lláh proclaimed the oneness of humanity and called for the removal of any cause of division that would lead people to see themselves as “us” and “them.”
“Humanity may be likened unto the vari-colored flowers of one garden. There is unity in diversity. Each sets off and enhances the other’s beauty.”
Oneness of Humanity and Elimination of Prejudice
The principle of the oneness of humankind is the central teaching of the Bahá’í Faith. Recognition and acceptance of this principle necessitates the abandonment of prejudice of every kind—race, class, color, gender, creed, nationality, age, material wealth— everything that people have used to consider themselves superior or inferior to others. Indeed, Bahá’u’lláh’s vision for a new civilization inspires people to see themselves as citizens of one common homeland, which is the planet itself.
Prejudice—false perception—blinds us to the fact that every person is essentially a spiritual being with unique talents and capacities, a “mine rich in gems of inestimable value.”
Bahá’u’lláh compared the world of humanity to the human body. Healthy functioning of the body depends on cooperation. Millions of cells, diverse in form and function, play their part in maintaining health. The body’s various parts do not compete for resources; rather, each cell plays its role in a continuous process of giving and receiving. So it is with individual humans in an intercon- nected world.
Genuine, universal fellowship is a requisite for realizing human unity. According to the Bahá’í writings, “So intense must be the spirit of love and loving kindness, that the stranger may find himself a friend, the enemy a true brother, no difference whatsoever existing between them.”
Truly putting into practice the principle of the oneness of humankind, however, goes beyond overcoming prejudice and awakening the spirit of brotherhood and goodwill. The Bahá’í writings state that “It implies an organic change in the structure of present-day society, a change such as the world has not yet experienced. It calls for no less than the reconstruction and demilitarization” of the planet, for a “world organically unified in all the essential aspects of its life” and yet infinite in its diversity. The writings affirm that attainment of this stage of human evolution “is not only necessary but inevitable.”
Excerpted from The Bahá’ís
One Human Family
