If we Bahá'ís cannot attain to cordial
unity among ourselves, then we fail to realize the main purpose for which the
Bab, Bahá'u'lláh and the Beloved Master lived and suffered. In order to achieve
this cordial unity one of the first essentials insisted on by Bahá'u'lláh and
'Abdu'l-Bahá is that we resist the natural tendency to let our attention dwell
on the faults and failings of others rather than on our own. Each of us is
responsible for one life only, and that is our own. Each of us is immeasurably
far from being "perfect as our heavenly father is perfect" and the
task of perfecting our own life and character is one that requires all our
attention, our will-power and energy.
(From a letter dated 12 May 1925 written
on behalf of Shoghi Effendi to an individual believer; The Compilation of
Compilations, vol. II, Living the Life)
