Daily Frameworks for 04 March 2023

Jalál, 03 ‘Alá’ (Loftiness), 179 B.E

The Nine Year Plan: 2022-2031

Developing materials of this nature is a complex exercise, and it is of course not a goal that every training institute develop its own branch courses. Training institutes, in consultation with the National Spiritual Assembly and the Counsellors, will determine when it is timely to develop or adopt such additional educational materials. Many institutes will simply select branch courses appropriate to their needs from those of proven effectiveness created by other institutes. Beyond branch courses, it is anticipated that institutes will in the future prepare or adopt other types of courses, which may be integrated in some way into the main sequence or be offered separately. This will, naturally, require the acquisition of even greater capacity by the institutes. However, notwithstanding the far-reaching effects of their efforts, institutes are not expected to address all the educational needs of the Bahá’í community. Within divers populations, large-scale growth will lead to new educational endeavours to address other pressing demands. ^{1 2}

Selections from the Writings of ‘Abdu’l‑Bahá

The Manifestations of God are likewise in agreement with the view that education exerteth the strongest possible influence on humankind. They affirm, however, that differences in the level of intelligence are innate; and this fact is obvious, and not worth debating. For we see that children of the same age, the same country, the same race, indeed of the same family, and trained by the same individual, still are different as to the degree of their comprehension and intelligence. One will make rapid progress, one will receive instruction only gradually, one will remain at the lowest stage of all. For no matter how much you may polish a shell, it will not turn into a gleaming pearl, nor can you change a dull pebble into a gem whose pure rays will light the world. Never, through training and cultivation, will the colocynth and the bitter tree change into the Tree of Blessedness. That is to say, education cannot alter the inner essence of a man, but it doth exert tremendous influence, and with this power it can bring forth from the individual whatever perfections and capacities are deposited within him. A grain of wheat, when cultivated by the farmer, will yield a whole harvest, and a seed, through the gardener’s care, will grow into a great tree. Thanks to a teacher’s loving efforts, the children of the primary school may reach the highest levels of achievement; indeed, his benefactions may lift some child of small account to an exalted throne. Thus is it clearly demonstrated that by their essential nature, minds vary as to their capacity, while education also playeth a great role and exerteth a powerful effect on their development. ³

1. Universal House of Justice. The Nine Year Plan: 2022-2031. 1st ed. Wilmette, Illinois: Baha’i Publishing, 2022, 80. ↩
2. Universal House of Justice. “1 January 2022 – To All National Spiritual Assemblies.” Bahá’í Reference Library, January 1, 2022. https://www.bahai.org/library/authoritative-texts/the-universal-house-of-justice/messages/20220101_001/1#451741691. ↩
3. ’Abdu’l-Bahá. Selections from the Writings of ʻAbduʼl-Bahá. Translated by Marzieh Gail. Reprint. Wilmette, Illinois: Bahá’í Publishing Trust, 1996, 131-132. https://www.bahai.org/library/authoritative-texts/abdul-baha/selections-writings-abdul-baha/6#347735506 ↩