The Baha'i Administration is only the first shaping of what
in future will come to be the social life and laws of community living. As yet
the believers are only just beginning to grasp and practice it properly. So we
must have patience if at times it seems a little self-conscious and rigid in
its workings. It is because we are learning something very difficult but very
wonderful -- how to live together as a community of Baha'is, according to the
glorious teachings.
- Shoghi Effendi (From letter dated 14 October 1941 written on behalf of
Shoghi Effendi to two believers; quoted by the Universal House of Justice in a
letter dated 30 July 1972 to the National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is of
Bolivia; ‘Messages from the Universal House of Justice 1963-1986’)
