Recitation of the Tablets of Visitation at Baha’i Holy Days: 19 August 1992

The Universal House of Justice has received your letter of 15 June 1992 regarding the conduct of Bahá'í Holy Day observances. We have been asked to provide the following response.

The commemoration of Holy Days, including the development of programs for these observances, is a matter left to the discretion of the appropriate National and Local Spiritual Assemblies, which are entrusted with the responsibility of ensuring that such observances are conducted in a manner in keeping with the spirit of the divine teachings and ordinances. While it is customary for the Tablets of Visitation to be recited at the conclusion of the Holy Day programs held at the Bahá'í World Centre, as well as in countries of the Middle East, this practice is not binding upon Bahá'í communities elsewhere, nor has a specific time been fixed for the recitations to occur.

Nothing has been found in the Bahá'í Writings requiring the friends to stand and face the Qiblih whenever the Tablets of Visitation are recited. No issue should be made of this matter when a Holy Day observance is being held. However, when one is actually in, or within the precincts of one of the Holy Shrines, it is an act of simple reverence to stand and face that Shrine when the Tablet of Visitation is recited.

For the Department of the Secretariat

(Baha’i Library Online)

The Gaia Concept [1]: 8 June 1992

Memorandum

To: The Universal House of Justice 

June 8, 1992

From: The Research Department

In his letter of 15 April 1992, Dr. --- states that he has received an inquiry on the Gaia hypothesis, which regards the planet earth as a living organism, and asks if we have prepared a memorandum on the subject.

The Research Department has not previously received any inquiries on the Gaia hypothesis. We can, however, provide the following for Dr. ---'s consideration.

Briefly stated and in the words of its originator, James Lovelock, the Gaia hypothesis postulates that "the physical and chemical condition of the surface of the Earth, of the atmosphere and of the oceans has been, and is, actively made fit and comfortable by the presence of life itself ... in contrast to the conventional wisdom which held that life adapted to the planetary conditions as it, and they, evolved their separate ways.'' [2]

We have attached a selection of extracts from the Writings of Bahá'u'lláh and the Writings and Utterances of 'Abdu'l-Bahá on the subject of nature. The extracts neither confirm nor oppose the Gaia proposal, the resolution of which would appear to be in the domain of science. They do, however, state some fundamental principles about created phenomena and their inter-relationships, subjects that bear reflection by those who investigate the Gaia hypothesis. Among the points made in the attached extracts are the following: