I have come hither to find that material civilization has
progressed greatly, but the spiritual civilization has been left behind. The
material civilization is likened unto the glass of a lamp chimney. The
spiritual civilization is like the light in that chimney. The material
civilization should go hand-in-hand with the spiritual civilization. Material
civilization may be likened unto a beautiful body, while spiritual civilization
is the spirit that enters the body and gives to it life. With the propelling power of spiritual civilization the
result will be greater.
His Holiness Jesus Christ came to this world that the people
might have through Him the civilization of Heaven, a spirit
of oneness with God. He came to breathe the spirit into the body of the world. There
must be oneness in the world of man. When this takes place we will have the
Most Great Peace. (‘Abdu’l-Baha, from an address at the church of Ascension,
New York, 1912; ‘Diary of Juliet Thompson’)
