Last night, we discussed the subjects of love and brotherhood. Love is of several kinds. One of these is the love a person feels for his immediate family and other relatives. This love alone, however, is not sufficient. How often have the bitterest hatred and the most rancorous enmity developed among the members of a family! It is evident, then, that familial love by itself is not enough.
The same likewise applies to the love a person feels for the members of his own race; this love, too, is inadequate. How many the times when animosity has sprung up between peoples and races, and grown so fierce that it has led each party to shed the other’s blood and plunder his property!
Another kind of love and brotherhood is one that is nationalistic in nature. How numerous the countrymen that have risen up against one another with enmity and hatred, and uprooted each others families! It is clear, therefore, that nationalistic love and brotherhood are likewise insufficient.
Still another kind involves love and brotherhood among one’s own kind. How frequently have discord and strife ravaged entire clans and tribes! It is apparent, then, that love and brotherhood among ones own kind is not enough.
Any fruits which these kinds of love may bear are all ultimately limited and temporary. They will not conduce to the edification of the soul, nor will they result in the gladness of the spirit. Thus, that divine love and spiritual brotherhood which is instilled through the breaths of the Holy Spirit must exist amidst humankind. The fruits of this love and brotherhood are infinite and eternal; they will never be subject to change or alteration. So long as this love and brotherhood exist among a people, their spiritual and physical progress alike shall be limitless. Animated by this love and brotherhood, such a people would readily yield up their lives for one another, inasmuch as this heavenly love and brotherhood go hand in hand with eternal life; the one is inextricably bound to the other. The world of humanity is illumined with these ideals. Its glory lies in this love, and its exaltedness depends on this brotherhood. I cherish the hope, therefore, that you will cling to this love. Indeed, I hope that you may cause the appearance of this love in the world, and also become the dawning-places of this brotherhood and the means through which these sweet savours are diffused, that the outpourings of Bahá’u’lláh’s grace may be made manifest in the world of humanity, and the bounties of God encompass all humankind. I hope that you all shall be the recipients of such confirmations.
- 'Abdu'l-Baha (Words of ‘Abdu’l-Baha, 21 December 1912, London, England recorded by Mahmud Zarqani, His secretary and chronicler during His travels in the West; ‘Mahmud’s Diary’, vol. 2: ‘Abdu’l-Baha in Europe 1912-1913)