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On 8 Sep 2008 at 18:48, Don Calkins wrote:
> In my opinion, this sounds like something written on behalf of Shoghi
> Effendi rather than by him.
>
> Can anybody verify this one way or the other?
According to this, it is on behalf:
We must be like the fountain or spring that is continually emptying
itself of all that it has and is continually being refilled from an
invisible source. To be continually giving out for the good of our
fellows undeterred by the fear of poverty and reliant on the
unfailing bounty of the Source of all wealth and all good -- this is
the secret of right living.
Letter written on behalf of Shoghi Effendi, in Bahá'í Funds:
Contributions and Administration, p. 11.
The letter was first published -- and attributed to the Guardian, not
a secretary - in the Bahai News Letter of September 1926.
You are right, such an extended metaphor would be unusual for Shoghi
Effendi. And I don't think he would tell the friends to give without
thought of poverty, relying on God. He was more practical than that:
he knew the value of sacrifice, but I don't think he would encourage
a "live on faith" approach to life's practical problems. Also, the
doublet "fountain or spring" sounds like the source was in Persian,
and had the word `ain, which is a very ambiguous word (as is
'spring'), so it has been translated with two words. Doubling-up in
translation is something Sohrab does in his translations of the
Master's letters, but it is also common enough in translated texts.
My guess is that the metaphor of our giving to the Funds being like a
spring continually refilled from an invisible source was already
being used among the Persian friends, was translated by them for the
English friends, was attributed to Shoghi Effendi in a pilgrim's note
(the Star of the West version does not specify a letter, just words
of Shoghi Effendi) and was later thought to be words in a letter. The
fact that there is no date or addressee for it, and that some sources
attribute it to Shoghi Effendi, some to a secretary (in Bahai
Administration it appears twice, on page 20 it is from the Guardian,
on page 95 it has no source) all suggests that it was an oral source
originally - a pilgrim's note.
- Sen
Sen McGlinn
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
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When, however, thou dost contemplate the innermost essence of things,
and the individuality of each,
thou wilt behold the signs of thy Lord's mercy . . ."
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