I doubt if there is a Baha'i living who has the proper
concept of what the station and functions of our Guardian are. We are, for one
type of mentality, too close to 'Abdu'l-Baha and for another type, not yet far
enough from Him; sufficient historical perspective has not yet been gained, to
see the true implications of the Guardianship. There are those who confuse the
powers of the Guardian with those of the Manifestation of God, expecting him to
be all-knowing. There are others who cannot reconcile themselves to the thought
of all the power, the supreme power, vested in him. Those who endow him with an
omnipresent knowledge are over-exaggerating, which is not rendering any service
to one who seeks to properly grasp his function and position in the Baha'i Dispensation.
On the other hand many people, preponderatingly in the West, where there is
such an abnormal attitude towards personality, where there is such a jealousy
and fear of leadership, greatly underrate the Guardianship's prerogatives which
are in no way personal but rather functional. The first type demands that the
Guardian pass on the correctness of a new astrophysical theory or foretell the
date of the end of Indian-Pakistan troubles; the second type, reading the
provisions of the Master's Will, seeing the unbelievable authority vested in
the Guardianship, thinks of it in terms of a man, a leader, who will dispose of
means, and endowed with functions no man has ever before had, and is
consequently afraid of one human being exercising so much power and tries to
minimize 'Abdu'l-Baha's statements. Both are utterly wrong. The Guardian is not
the Manifestation of God who was the Heavenly Balance in which any knowledge
could be weighed. Unless there is something in the Teachings to indicate an
answer -- maybe something only a Guardian could detect or interpret, but
something -- he will not pass on matters beyond his ken. Nor does he claim to
know the end from the beginning. So much for those who exaggerate in one
direction.
