The Twentieth
Century, the most turbulent in the history of the human race, has reached its
end. Dismayed by the deepening moral and social chaos that marked its course,
the generality of the world’s peoples are eager to leave behind them the
memories of the suffering that these decades brought with them. No matter how
frail the foundations of confidence in the future may seem, no matter how great
the dangers looming on the horizon, humanity appears desperate to believe that,
through some fortuitous conjunction of circumstances, it will nevertheless be
possible to bend the conditions of human life into conformity with prevailing
human desires.
In the light of the
teachings of Bahá’u’lláh such hopes are not merely illusory, but miss entirely
the nature and meaning of the great turning point through which our world has
passed in these crucial hundred years. Only as humanity comes to understand the
implications of what occurred during this period of history will it be able to
meet the challenges that lie ahead.
(From: ‘Century of Light’, a document
prepared under the supervision of the Universal House of Justice and published
in 2001)
