Baha'u'llah, the West, and the Birth of Modernity: An Essay on the Awakening of Humanity

'. . . the Days immediately associated with the Manifestation of God possess a unique distinction and occupy a station which no mind can ever comprehend.' Bahá'u'lláh

The 19th century was unique in every possible dimension. It saw the appearance of two Manifestations of God, and it witnessed the birth of the modern age and the most far-ranging transformations in human society in recorded history, wrought by the Spirit of the Age upon the events of the day and upon the rulers who, consciously or unconsciously, laboured under its influence. Bahá'u'lláh interacted with those forces of society, commenting upon the state of the masses of humanity, admonishing the rulers and foreseeing, in prophecy and allusion, the tragic consequences of their neglect of His call. We live in the shadow of the 19th century, and find in the Writings of Bahá'u'lláh and 'Abdu'l-Bahá the response of God to those very forces that even today form the structure of our modern societies. We are entering upon a new phase in the history of mankind, marked by the development of the capacity of the masses to forge their own destiny and to contribute to an ever-advancing civilization.