Divorced from the social, humanitarian, educational, and
scientific pursuits centring around the Dependencies of the Mashriqu'l-Adhkar,
Bahá'í worship, however exalted in its conception, however passionate in
fervour ... cannot afford lasting satisfaction and benefit to the worshipper
himself, much less to humanity in general, unless and until translated and
transfused into that dynamic and disinterested service to the cause of humanity
which it is the supreme privilege of the Dependencies of the Mashriqu'l-Adhkar
to facilitate and promote.
(Shoghi Effendi, from a letter dated 25 October 1929
to the Bahá'ís of the United States and Canada, quoted in a letter from the
Universal House of Justice dated 18 December 2014 to the Bahá'ís in Iran; also
in ‘The Baha’i World 1973-1976)
