Not Debate, but Consultation: A Talk at the Hotel Plaza, Chicago

On the second of May, 1912, ‘Abdu’l-Bahá arrived at the Hotel Plaza in Chicago and was received by a gathering of friends eager to hear Him speak about the Bahá’í teachings on consultation. He had observed parliamentary debate during His travels — the cut and thrust of it, the speeches scored as victories or losses — and He wished the believers to understand that what He was asking of them was something different in kind.

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> Consultation must have for its object the investigation of truth. > He who expresses an opinion should not voice it as correct and > right but set it forth as a contribution to the consensus of > opinion.

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He spoke of the disciples of Christ, who, after His ascension, gathered to take counsel together. They did not stand on personal attachments. *Each member contributing thoughtfully and accepting superior ideas without ego,* one disciple proposed total detachment from the world, another proposed that detachment should not exclude family responsibility.

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> All the disciples replied, "Surely we will — it is agreed; this > is right."

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That, ‘Abdu’l-Bahá said, was consultation: not opinions clashing, but truth being approached from many sides. The members of a spiritual assembly must *carefully consider the views already advanced by others before speaking.* The aim is not to win but to discover. The atmosphere is *love,* and the standard is the unity of the body once the conversation is done.

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He warned the friends that an assembly governed by debate would forever require an outside judge to settle its disputes; an assembly governed by consultation would settle them itself, for it would not have generated disputes in the first place.

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The talk has been a touchstone of Bahá’í community life ever since: *spiritual conference in the attitude and atmosphere of love.*

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