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.
The value of the contribution we as Bahá’ís can make to the process demands
that we ourselves grasp the significance of the historic transformation wrought
by the twentieth century.
(‘Century of Light’, a document prepared under the
supervision of the Universal House of Justice and published in 2001)
