Esperanto The Convert: Lidia Zamenhof and the Bahai FaithAuthor: David Poulson "The Earth is but one country and mankind its citizens." Baha'u'llah. In the last Esperanto Topic article, I wrote a 12- point summary of Dr Zamenhof's personal philosophy, the ethical system which he called Homaranismo. The next thing I want to do is to compare this with the main principles of the Bahai faith, which, as far as I understand it, can also be summarized in 12 main points as follows. 1 The essential unity of the human race. The first point in this list corresponds to Zamenhof's idea that the human race should be treated as one family. The seventh point is more or less the same as Zamenhof's view that we should not judge any individual according to his racial origin but according to his behaviour and actions. And point ten, the need for a universal auxiliary language is obviously common to both sets of principles. Point eight above does not have a corresponding dot point in the summary of Homarismo. But it is well-known that Zamenhof wished for peace among hostile nations…which decent person does not?…and he fully recognised the importance and value of education in the battle against ignorant prejudice and the destructive consequences of irrational hatred.. Finally, there is some agreement between point 4 above and Zamenhof's belief that your own religion ought to be a matter of personal choice and not something forced on you by your ethnic background. So half of the principles listed above match views held by Dr. Zamenhof. But after that it seems to me I that the two systems begin to diverge. The Bahai faith moves in a direction which I would describe as spiritual, even mystical, while Homarismo shows that Zamenhof belongs to an ancient and honourable line of humanistic thinkers. Initially, Lidia probably shared her father's views and was not sympathetic to any religion but given the extent to which the basic principles of the Bahai faith matched those of Homarismo, she probably found it easy to listen courteously to the proselyting of Martha Root. But, as Lidia grew older, she became first a sympathiser and then a fervent convert to Bahai and, indeed, showed in her writings and her speeches that she herself had a very strong spiritual or mystical side to her nature. For clear evidence of this, see in particular: "Man and Mankind on the Way of Progress" This is a translation of a talk given by Lidia Zamenhof during the 23rd International Esperanto Conference held in Cracow, Poland in August 1931. You will find it at David Pardue's site with a number of other useful Web resources, all very helpful for anyone wishing to find out more about Bahai and its connection with Esperanto. You will also find some stylish translations which Lidia made from the Polish writer Henryk Sienkiewicz. Here is a partial list of the material which David Pardue has put together.. Articles about the Bahai faith in English and Esperanto. "La Bahaa Filozofio" "Bahaismo, la religio de paco" "Baha'u'llah kaj la Nova Epoko" "Baha'u'llah and the New Era" The Baha'i Faith and Universal Language Translations from literary works made by Lidia Zamenhof Lux in tenebris lucet Four stories by Henryk Sienkiewicz (1846-1916), a famous Polish writer who received the Nobel prize for literature in 1905. All of the above items can be located by following this link Other useful resources can be located at these links: 1. The Bahai Faith and Esperanto 2. Search results 3. The Bahai Faith: Basic facts 4. Bahaanoj kaj Esperantistoj In fact, as you will see if you follow these links, there is so much material available in both English and Esperanto on the subject of Bahai that I can now leave this aspect of Lidia's life and move on to other things. So I propose to leave Lidia altogether for now, knowing that her life story is still incomplete, and investigate instead another little-known religion which also has very strong links with Esperanto. In fact, I think that the Esperanto connection may even be stronger than that of Bahai! Please join me next time to learn a little about Oomoto and judge for yourself. |