As you may know, Esperanto is one of a number of languages developed as an auxiliary language for international communication. It has enjoyed greater success than any of its counterparts owing largely to its simplicity.

Esperanto has an interesting connection to the Bahá'í Faith. Bahá'u'lláh called for the adoption of a universal auxiliary language, to be taught in all schools around the world. As in so many other areas, we can see the development of languages such as Esperanto as a response to the spiritual forces unleashed by the new revelation. Ludwik Zamenhof, the Polish physician who created the language, first published his work in 1887, a mere 5 years before Bahá'u'lláh's ascension. 'Abdu'l-Bahá drew attention to Esperanto on a number of occasions in the early 20th century, although it was clear that He did not view it as sufficiently developed at that time to function as a universal auxiliary language. Even so, He encouraged Bahá'ís to learn it and did not discount the possibility that in time Esperanto might mature into a true universal language.

Of even greater interest is the fact that Dr. Zamenhof's daughter Lidia came into contact with the prominent Bahá'í teacher Martha Root. Lidia eventually embraced the Faith of Bahá'u'lláh, and traveled to America in 1937 at the invitation of U.S. National Spiritual Assembly and with the encouragement of Shoghi Effendi to promote and teach Esperanto in that country. Unfortunately, within a year she unintentionally ran afoul of immigration law and was denied an extension of her stay. In December 1938, she returned to Poland. She continued her efforts in the service of the Bahá'í Faith and in the promotion of Esperanto until she was arrested by the Nazis and forced into the Warsaw Ghetto. She perished in the Treblinka extermination camp sometime after the summer of 1942.

Martha Root apparently believed that Bahá'u'lláh and 'Abdu'l-Bahá had guided her to Lidia Zamenhof, and Lidia herself acquired a deep conviction that her father, although he did not know it, had been directly influenced by Bahá'u'lláh in the creation of Esperanto. Others were not so certain, however. In those days there were strong Esperantist movements among socialists, who did not want the issue of a universal language to be mixed up with religion. Also, 'Abdu'l-Bahá's statements on Esperanto's immaturity may have left lingering doubts in the minds of many Bahá'ís notwithstanding the encouragement He offered for learning the language. The Bahá'í Esperanto League formed in 1973, but in the main Bahá'ís have not embraced Esperanto, or any other language, as a likely universal auxiliary language.

Bahá'u'lláh's call for such a language is clear. Indeed, He stated that the adoption of such a language would be one of two signs marking the maturity of the human race. We clearly are not quite to that point. A bewildering array of social, political and economic issues stand between us and the goal of a universal language, so it probably is no surprise that little progress has been made on this front, even within the Bahá'í community. Yet shouldn't we be examining these issues, exploring the possibilities, and gaining experience with alternative languages? Isn't it now time that we got serious about promoting the concept of a universal auxiliary language?

I believe it is.