The Revelation of Bahá'u'lláh, whose supreme mission is none
other but the achievement of this organic and spiritual unity of the whole body
of nations, should, if we be faithful to its implications, be regarded as
signalizing through its advent the coming of age of the entire human race. It
should be viewed not merely as yet another spiritual revival in the
ever-changing fortunes of mankind, not only as a further stage in a chain of
progressive Revelations, nor even as the culmination of one of a series of
recurrent prophetic cycles, but rather as marking the last and highest stage in
the stupendous evolution of man's collective life on this planet. The emergence
of a world community, the consciousness of world citizenship, the founding of a
world civilization and culture – all of which must synchronize with the initial
stages in the unfoldment of the Golden Age of the Bahá'í Era – should, by their
very nature, be regarded, as far as this planetary life is concerned, as the
furthermost limits in the organization of human society, though man, as an
individual, will, nay must indeed as a result of such a consummation, continue
indefinitely to progress and develop.
(Shoghi Effendi, ‘The World Order of Baha’u’llah’)
