Nurturing “the roots which sustain the spiritual life of the community and ensure its sound development”

As the processes impelling a rapidly evolving Order on the highroad of its destiny multiply and gather momentum, attention should be increasingly directed to the vital need of ensuring, by every means possible, the deepening of the faith, the understanding and the spiritual life of the individuals who, as the privileged members of this community, are called upon to participate in this glorious unfoldment and are lending their assistance to this historic evolution.

• A profound study of the Faith which they have espoused, its history, its spiritual as well as administrative principles;
• a thorough understanding of the Covenant of Bahá'u'lláh and of the Will of `Abdu'l-Bahá;
• a deeper realization of the implication of the claims advanced by the Founders of the Faith;
• strict adherence to the laws and principles which They have established;
• a greater dedication to the fundamentals and verities enshrined in Their teachings

- these constitute, I feel convinced, the urgent need of the members of this rapidly expanding community. For upon this spiritual foundation must depend the solidity of the institutions which they are now so painstakingly erecting. Every outward thrust into new fields, every multiplication of Bahá'í institutions, must be paralleled by a deeper thrust of the roots which sustain the spiritual life of the community and ensure its sound development. From this vital, this ever-present need attention must, at no time, be diverted; nor must it be, under any circumstances, neglected, or subordinated to the less vital and urgent task of ensuring the outer expansion of Bahá'í administrative institutions. 

- Shoghi Effendi  (From a letter dated 30 December 1948 to the National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá'ís of Australia and New Zealand; The Compilation of Compilations, vol. I, The Importance of Deepening Our Knowledge and Understanding of the Faith)