From the beginning to the end of its life, every living thing in this world passes through different stages. Each stage has its own conditions and presents its own requirements. In the life of the human being, the conditions and requirements of infancy, of childhood, of adolescence, of youth and maturity are not the same. Each stage prepares us for the next, sharpening our faculties and training our intelligence.
Similarly there are periods and stages in the life of humanity as a whole. Humanity is now leaving behind its childhood and entering the long-awaited period of maturity. That which could meet the needs of its early history does not satisfy the demands of this day. The playthings of infancy and childhood no longer satisfy the adult mind.
From every standpoint the world of humanity is undergoing revolutionary change, whether in government or law, in science or industry. Old standards of ethics, moral codes and methods of living in the past are not adequate for the present age of advancement and progress.
This is the time of maturity and reformation in religion as well. Bigotry and dogmatic imitations of ancient beliefs have become the source of animosity. They must pass and give way to heavenly teachings which have been revealed for the advancement of humanity in this age. This reformation and renewal of the fundamental reality of religion constitutes the true spirit of modernism, the unmistakable light of the world, and the divine remedy for all the ills of humanity.
Excerpted from Book 2 of the Ruhi Institute, Arising to Serve, pg. 67
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The Revelation of Bahá’u’lláh, whose supreme mission is none other but the achievement of this organic and spiritual unity of the whole body of nations, should, if we be faithful to its implications, be regarded as signalizing through its advent the coming of age of the entire human race. It should be viewed not merely as yet another spiritual revival in the ever-changing fortunes of mankind, not only as a further stage in a chain of progressive Revelations, nor even as the culmination of one of a series of recurrent prophetic cycles, but rather as marking the last and highest stage in the stupendous evolution of man’s collective life on this planet.
— Shoghi Effendi