For those of us in our 50s and 60s, there was a time when being part of the Baha’i Faith meant being surrounded by genuine love, compassion, and joy. We remember a community that was alive — not with programs and reports, but with kindness and sincerity. A community where hearts were open, mentors were patient, and spirituality wasn’t measured in numbers but in the light of people’s actions.
Back then, the Baha’i community felt like a family. Love and acceptance were tangible, and everyone tried to live by Baha’u’llah’s teachings through their deeds — to truly be “a blessing to the world of humanity.”
Then the Institute Process began… and it was like the air was sucked out of the room. The focus shifted overnight. The warmth, the love, the spontaneity — all vanished. The beautiful, organic fellowship we had once known was replaced by a cold system of checkboxes and reports. Instead of hearts awakening, we were now told to fill in blanks and memorize lessons from the Ruhi books.
Where once we had mentors — radiant souls who lived by example, kindness, and humility — they quietly disappeared, replaced by self-proclaimed experts and administrators who spoke in numbers, charts, and “core activities.” They measured spirituality in statistics and success by how many study circles were completed.
It was as though love for God and humanity had been replaced by a fast-food version of worship — quick, shallow, and systemized.
A generation has passed since then. My mentors are gone now, and my years are fewer than before. Those of us who still remember that vibrant, loving community — the one that was filled with true seekers and lovers of truth — have been pushed aside. We’ve been labeled “old-fashioned” or “inactive” because we don’t find God through forms, attendance lists, or “clusters.”
Tt’s heartbreaking. Something precious feels stolen — destroyed by an overreaching administrative system that lost touch with the spiritual roots of the Faith.
The truth is, all of this began with the erroneous decision of the Universal House of Justice to introduce the Institute Process in place of encouraging believers to read and reflect directly upon the Holy Writings themselves. As Mrs. Ruth White rightly observed decades ago, “The Baha’i administration has become the enemy of the Baha’i Faith.”
In stead of nurturing hearts , t h e Administration chose to build systems. Instead of fostering personal transformation, it built bureaucratic empires. Instead of empowering individuals to seek truth independently, it created dependency on structured programs that drain the soul of genuine experience.
Now, we see the results — dwindling communities, disconnected youth, and believers who no longer read the words of Baha’u’llah or Abdu’l Baha for themselves. The spirit of the Faith — the radiant, loving, inclusive spirit that once embraced everyone — has been replaced by cold formality.
And many, like me, have been left asking:
What happened to the Faith we loved?
It’s time to return to the true essence of Baha’u’llah’s message — to love, to seek truth independently, and to build community not through systems and statistics, but through sincerity and service.
Only then can we reclaim what was lost.
Editor’s Note:
This heartfelt reflection, shared by a longtime believer, echoes the feelings of countless Baha’is around the world who have witnessed the decline of spiritual warmth within the Faith under institutional rigidity. The Free Baha’i community believes that true revival will only come when we return to the original message of Baha’u’llah — one that calls for unity, compassion, and the independent investigation of truth, free from administrative control.
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