Annotations

Have you ever annotated any of the Writings?

I mean, have you ever added little notes explaining for yourself what phrases or seeming asides are referring to?

Just the other day I picked up "The World Order of Baha'u'llah" again, and began re-reading it for the umpteenth time. As usual, I found myself wondering what some of the references the Guardian made were. Fortunately, at some point in the past, I made notes, and this has made my read of it a lot easier.

One example, is his reference in the very first sentence to "the doubts that have been publicly expressed, by one who is wholly misinformed as to the true precepts of the Cause". This, of course, is a reference to Ruth White, and what has to have been the most ridiculous attack on the Faith, what with her claim that the Master's Will was a forgery. I mean, she couldn't read Persian, had no knowledge of His impeccable handwriting, and no basis for recognizing His particular cadence and style of writing. Given this complete lack of information, and ignoring the fact that not even the avowed enemies of the Faith, including His half-brother, who were in a position to make such an assessment never for a moment dreamed of making such a ludicrous claim, she has my vote as the most absurd Covenant-breaker of all time.

Later on, he speaks of World Unity (the magazine), the abortive scheme of the Geneva Protocol, the proposal for a United States of Europe, and so on. These are all things that people of the day would have known, but some of which I did not. With just a bit of research, and a few notes, I made my reading of this text, as well as many others, a lot easier to understand. I also now find it a lot easier to relate these writings to current events.