He has noted with care what you had written him regarding the question of admittance of applicants into the Cause. This is certainly a matter which calls for the utmost tact, wisdom and consideration on the part of Bahá’í Assemblies. While, as he himself has repeatedly stressed, a uniform procedure should be adopted and followed whereby every applicant should be required to express his whole-hearted and unconditional acceptance of the essential verities of the Cause, great care should also be taken not to insist on matters of a secondary importance which the newcomer cannot, for obvious reasons, fully grasp and apprehend at the beginning. Once the applicant has been admitted in the Community with a clear understanding of the duties and responsibilities, and essential implications which such membership entails, there would be no difficulty for him in gradually adjusting his whole ideas according to the requirements set forth in the Teachings. The process of becoming a Bahá’í is necessarily slow and gradual. The essential is not that the beginner should have a full and detailed knowledge of the Cause, a thing which is obviously impossible in the vast majority of cases, but that he should, by an act of his own will, be willing to uphold and follow the truth and guidance set forth in the Teachings, and thus open his heart and mind to the reality of the Manifestation.
- Shoghi Effendi (From a letter written on behalf of Shoghi Effendi; ‘Directives from the Guardian’)
