O members of parliaments throughout the world!  Select ye a single language for the use of all on earth, and adopt ye likewise a common script.

~ Baha’u'llah, The Kitab-i-Aqdas, paragraph 189

One of the tenets of the Baha’i Faith is the establishment of what we refer to as a “universal auxiliary language” and in a post of that same title, I mentioned the propensity for Baha’is to be polyglots.  There is no direction as to which language should be adopted, but it is made clear that it should be a second language and used in business and education.  In this way, it does not have to take away from a person’s native language.

As a student of linguistics and how language affects a person’s culture and thoughts, I would never want to see the removal of languages from our society as they do so much to enhance diversity, but can unfortunately also lead to divisions amongst us as well.  Several people have made comments on previous posts regarding the use of Esperanto.  What I find to be the most promising aspect of this language came from one of their websites, and it is the idea that because nobody is a native speaker of Esperanto, everybody will be at the same disadvantage.  While traveling in India I noticed some elements of this.  English was the common language for many Indians who spoke different dialects of other languages.

While I do see the merits of having a second language that was common to all, I have reservations as well.  It seems like such an overwhelming task.  Some people will resist.  Those that begrudgingly accept a second language may only speak it minimally rendering its use to only the most basic functions.  If people do not make a whole-hearted attempt at it, they will become frustrated, and feel that it is not working.  However, I do wish the world would try.  In my experiences, and travels, the first step to forging a true relationship and understanding something about each other was to… understand each other.

The children were memorizing the following quote:

All men have been created to carry forward an ever-advancing civilization.

~ Baha’u'llah, Gleanings from the Writings of Baha’u'llah, p. 214

They were a little stuck on exactly what “an ever-advancing civilization meant”.  The teacher and I seemed to explain that “ever-advancing” refers to something that continuously progresses and improves; and that a civilization is comprised of the society we live in, containing social rules and a government.  They were not quite seeing how it all fit together, though.

I attempted to use the example of technology, presenting my digital camera, and how devices such as that have advanced over time—each generation making slight improvements.  They seemed to accept this concept, though I’m not sure it was fully absorbed.  Unfortunately, it was not until after the class that more ideas came to me.

While technology certainly is one advancement that can be seen, it came to mind first only because it is tangible.  Other advancements in our civilization have been much more profound, though not always as apparent on the surface:

• 600 years ago people believed the world was flat
• 150 years ago there was slavery in the United States
• 90 years ago women in the United States were not allowed to vote
• 70 years ago nobody had heard of a computer
• 60 years ago placing a long-distance telephone call required speaking to an operator
• 60 years ago White and Black were prohibited by law from attending the same schools
• 20 years ago the World Wide Web had not yet come into existence
• 100 days ago all of the Presidents of the United States were White

There have clearly been some advancements that our civilization has realized.  Baha’u’llah has told us all that our purpose is to “carry forward” further advancement and there are still plenty of area that need it:

• 2,700,000 = the number of slaves in the world, including children
• 93,000,000 = the number of children who are being denied an education
• 2,800,000,000 = the number of people living on less than $2 per day

Incidentally, the teacher of this class is the author of Meeting the Dual Challenge