Indeed, the chief reason for the evils now rampant in
society is a lack of spirituality. The materialistic civilization of our age
has so much absorbed the energy and interest of mankind, that people in general
no longer feel the necessity of raising themselves above the forces and
conditions of their daily material existence. There is not sufficient demand
for things that we should call spiritual to differentiate them from the needs
and requirements of our physical existence. The universal crisis affecting
mankind is, therefore, essentially spiritual in its causes. The spirit of the
age, taken on the whole, is irreligious. Man's outlook upon life is too crude
and materialistic to enable him to elevate himself into the higher realms of
the spirit.
- Shoghi Effendi (From a letter written on behalf of Shoghi Effendi to an individual
believer on 8 December 1935, quoted by the Universal House of Justice in a letter
dated 12 June 1984 written on its behalf to an individual believer; ‘Messages
from the Universal House of Justice 1963-1986’)
