There is no task more urgently necessary that the assurance
of perfect harmony and fellowship among the friends, especially between the
Local Assemblies and individual believers. The Local Assemblies should inspire
confidence in the individual believers, and these in their turn should express
their readiness to fully abide by the decisions and directions of the Local
Assembly. The two must learn to co-operate, and to realize that only through
such a co-operation can the institutions of the Cause effectively and
permanently function. While obedience to the Local Assembly should be
unqualified and whole-hearted, yet that body should enforce its decisions in
such a way as to avoid giving the impression that it is animated by dictatorial
motives. The spirit of the Cause is one of mutual co-operation, and not that of
a dictatorship.
- Shoghi Effendi (From a letter dated 28 October 1935 written on behalf of Shoghi Effendi to an individual believer; The Compilation of
Compilations, vol. III, Issues Concerning Community Functioning)
