As each phase of society chooses the alternative embodying justice set forth by God as outlined above, the general consequence is the gradual unfoldment of the world civilization of peace and justice envisioned by Baha'u'llah and includes the following features:
It has been the male half of the human race that has mostly run society throughout history. Although mankind has evolved as much as it has, this may be more in spite of, rather than because of, the fact that men and not women have traditionally occupied most of the key powerful positions in society... 'Abdu'l-Baha has remarked:
Voters are deeply concerned about the deficit. Three-quarters report that they discuss it with their friends or family a lot or some and more than nine in 10 voters call the deficit either a crisis or a major problem, rivaling the concern over the current employment situation."Are there any similar polls of Baha'is?" and other questions began flashing in my frontal cortex.
Great extremes of wealth and poverty, expressed in such arrangements as slavery, feudalism, aristocracies, caste and monopoly on capital, have characterized societies throughout history and are detrimental, according to Baha'u'llah, to both the rich and the poor. He describes one aspect of the liability of excessive wealth:Although this may be contrary to the conventional belief of many, Baha'u'llah declares that one of the greatest injustices burdening mankind is a religious system which no longer promotes the growth of the individual and society toward its full destiny:What "oppression" is greater than that which hath been recounted? What "oppression" is more grievous than that a soul seeking the truth, and wishing to attain unto the knowledge of God, should know not where to go for it and from whom to seek it? ...by "oppression" is meant the want of capacity to acquire spiritual knowledge and apprehend the Word of God. By it is meant that when the Day-star of Truth hath set, and the mirrors that reflect His light have departed, mankind will become afflicted with "oppression" and hardship, knowing not whither to turn for guidance. (BC,31-2)
According to the process of divine justice, the cumulative progress of mankind up to our time is generally the consequence of acceptance by men of the guidelines laid down by God's Great Educators in the past, such as Moses, Jesus, and Muhammad. Similarly, the consequences of man's denial of the divine standard proclaimed by Baha'u'llah a century ago are the following features of the current sickness of humanity:The promised day is come, the day when tormenting trials will have surged above your heads, and beneath your feet, saying: "Taste ye what your hands have wrought!" (PDC,1)
They are themselves the victims of what their own hearts have devised, and yet they perceive it not. (BWF,132)
Justice as set forth in the Baha'i revelation is key to understanding the meaning of complex and confusing events in the world and to seeing how they are part of a process by which mankind is evolving from its present turmoil to a unified world civilization. People often think of justice only in limited even though appropriate contexts such as in the treatment of deviants from society. However, the major emphasis of Baha'u'llah, the founder of the Baha'i Faith, was justice as a principle to govern and organize society itself, God's judgment of society, not just a court's judgment of a criminal. In its most general definition, then, justice describes the ongoing interaction between God and man, an interaction which has three components: God's standard, man's alternatives, and the consequences of these alternatives.
