As to the patriotic prejudice, this is also due to absolute
ignorance, for the surface of the earth is one native land. Every one can live
in any spot on the terrestrial globe. Therefore all the world is man’s
birthplace. These boundaries and outlets have been devised by man. In the
creation, such boundaries and outlets were not assigned. Europe is one
continent, Asia is one continent, Africa is one continent, Australia is one
continent, but some of the souls, from personal motives and selfish interests,
have divided each one of these continents and considered a certain part as
their own country. God has set up no frontier between France and Germany; they
are continuous. Yet, in the first centuries, selfish souls, for the promotion
of their own interests, have assigned boundaries and outlets and have, day by
day, attached more importance to these, until this led to intense enmity,
bloodshed and rapacity in subsequent centuries. In the same way this will
continue indefinitely, and if this conception of patriotism remains limited
within a certain circle, it will be the primary cause of the world’s
destruction.
- ‘Abdu’l-Baha (From the First Tablet to the Hague, 17 December
1919; revised translation under the direction of the Universal House of
Justice, available at the online ‘Baha’i Reference Library’ site of the Baha’i
World Center)
