It is good for the Bahá’ís to learn that being a Bahá’í is essentially an inner thing, or way of life, and not dependent on fixed patterns. Important as our organized Institutions are, they are not the Faith itself. The strength of the Cause grows no matter how much disrupted its activities may temporarily be. This we see over and over again, in lands where the Faith has been temporarily banned; at times when the believers are persecuted and even killed; where they are serving all alone or scattered and isolated. So it has been a stimulating experience for the American believers to be without their schools for a few years, rather than a depressing one.
- Shoghi Effendi (From a letter written on behalf of Shoghi Effendi; ‘Directives from the Guardian’)
