An election process guiding humanity towards its collective maturity

Humanity is at a point where its mission towards the building of vibrant and prosperous communities has never been more urgent. 

And so the delegates of the 2026 National Baha’i Convention were counseled as member of the Continental Board of Counsellors for Australasia, Reena Torabi, provided her opening remarks. 

The Convention is one of 16 national conventions held across the Australasian continent. Miss Torabi said the delegates’ primary purpose was to participate in the election of the national governing body of the Baha’i Faith, the National Spiritual Assembly. As Shoghi Effendi, The Guardian of the Baha’i Faith, states: 

Miss Torabi said the election process played an integral role “not only for the progress of the Cause but more broadly for humanity as a whole”. She said it was part of a new system which would guide humanity towards its collective maturity. 

“[The Guardian] draws attention to the ‘tremendous impetus’ to the execution of the plans of the Faith which results from the ‘consultation and mingling of the friends’ at Convention, and to the valuable role of the delegates in carrying back to their fellow-believers ‘a very real awareness of the work in hand and the needs of the hour’,” she said. 

As well as having the sacred duty of electing the National Spiritual Assembly, Miss Torabi mentioned the important responsibility bestowed upon delegates to engage in distinctive conversations characterised by “focus, discipline, love and respectful qualities” – conversations that will inform the incoming National Spiritual Assembly as it carries out its responsibilities. 

Acknowledging the “profound upheaval” and visible “forces of disintegration” unfolding across the world to which “many societies are grappling to respond”, Miss Torabi remarked on the “far more constructive movement” and process of integration which the Baha’i community was bringing into being. 

“The responsibility of advancing the [community-building efforts] rests upon [us all],” she said. 

The National Baha’i Convention follows a recent gathering where individuals from all walks of life and from a variety of settings came together to learn and reflect on the approaches to community-building across Australia, New Zealand and the Cook Islands. 

It was one of a series of gatherings held across the world as called for by the international governing body of the Baha’i Faith, the Universal House of Justice. 

Miss Torabi said these gatherings called participants to reflect on what has been learned and accomplished over the past four years, the “first phase of the Nine Year Plan”, and contemplate the significance of this global enterprise at the commencement of the second phase.