Lessons Learned Will Shape the Community’s Future

The final words in a most memorable chapter in the history of the Cause have now been written, and the page turns. This Riḍván marks the conclusion of an extraordinary year, of a Five Year Plan ¹, and of an entire series of Plans ^{2 3 4 5} that began in 1996 ⁶. A new series of Plans beckons, with what promises to be a momentous twelve months serving as a prelude to a nine-year effort due to commence next Riḍván ⁷. We see before us a community that has rapidly gained strength and is ready to take great strides forward. But there must be no illusions about how much striving was required to reach this point and how hard-won were the insights acquired along the way: the lessons learned will shape the community’s future, and the account of how they were learned sheds light on what is to come. ⁸