Lidia [Life of Lidia Zamenhof, Daughter of Esperanto by Wendy Heller]

'Our whole life is ceaseless learning,' Lidia told the audience. 'The child first learns to speak and to walk . . . and later he goes to school, where, having begun with the alphabet and the elements of mathe- matics, he enlarges his knowledge until his mind rises above the earth to explore the mysteries of the solar systems and milky ways.

' And if his mind also inclines toward analytical work he will begin to investigate the material universe until finally in the structure of the atom, that tiny universe, he will uncover the same laws that rule the solar systems . . .

'And he will bow his head before that eternal law, before that unwritten code of universal harmony. He will begin to feel himself only one small note in that eternal symphony, and he will realize that he must not be a squeak but a note in harmony with the symphony of existence.

'What is that eternal harmony, that potency, penetrating through and holding in its power the universe? It is exactly that which we understand by the word "God". We may call it by a thousand names, in a thousand different tongues - no matter - the essence remains the same. It is only important that we understand that those thousand names refer to one sole and identical, eternal and infinite Being.

'There are people who deny the existence ofthat Power. Some, truly the most naive, deny because they cannot see, hear and feel that power. They cannot "capture" God in the net of their perception . . . They deny, saying that the idea of God is a childish fantasy which no serious proofs confirm. They fail to comprehend that everything that exists eloquently attests to the potency of that which created - that one green leaf attests to that Power better than thick volumes could possibly do, that the hum of summer insects . . . is a voice stronger than the loud talk of those who do not understand that there exists no effect without a cause; that where there is a creature, there must be a Creator. Seeing a table, they realize that there must have been a woodcutter who cut the wood, a furniture-maker who gave it form, but seeing before them worlds and suns, they do not comprehend that there must have been an Intellect that planned them, a Will that brought them into being, a Hand that directs them.

'There are people who believed and lost their faith. Oh, that is.the fate of many of those who prayed but found their prayers unfulfilled; those who in sickness begged for health; those who in misery asked for help; those whom death robbed of their best beloved; finally millions of those who lived through the inferno ofthe war who, having avoided the bombs and gases, vainly eke out the most miserable existence. All those hopeless, rebellious ones ask: 'Does God really exist? Where is

He? How could He create so much misery and cause so many tears to flow?"

'Or it appears to these people that besides God another and equal power reigns in the world, which is the scene of an eternal battle between the good God and the prince of darkness.

'The Baha'f teachings proclaim the nonexistence ofevil. Is it possible to imagine a power which would be able to stand against the Creator of everything? To believe in Satan means in fact not to believe in God, for it means not to believe in His most essential attributes: His power over everything and His goodness . . .

'That which we call evil is only lack ofgood. Darkness is only lack of light. Blindness is only lack of vision. These are but passing circum- stances, often created by ourselves. They will pass, for eternity is an attribute of God, and to Him only good belongs.

'One may say, on the contrary, that it is small consolation to the blind to assert that his blindness will pass - together with his life. But that is the viewpoint of the short-sighted. For life does not pass . . .

'With full assurance the Baha'i teachings assert the immortality of the human spirit. The body is only an instrument, which the spirit uses for a time to express itself. Even if the instrument becomes defective, the hand that uses it does not perish. The body is like a garment that becomes outworn and is cast away. But its wearer is not cast away along with the garment. The body is like a cage in which dwells the bird ofthe spirit, before it breaks the cage and flies to heavenly heights.

'And when bodily life shall cease, when the blind eyes are closed, other eyes will open and thejoys of the spiritual world will recompense the sufferings of those whose physical eyes saw not the brilliance of the material sun . . .

'What is true of man', she concluded, 'is also true of mankind. It also must learn the lesson ofharmony, and that harmony it must find, before all else, in itself. It must be like a chord in which one note does not grate against another, but together with the others forms a beautiful harmony. It must be fragrant as a garden where many diverse flowers bloom one beside another. It must feel as one tree rich with many brother-leaves, one sea abounding with many brother-drops . . .'