At a Feast in Toronto this past summer I had the
opportunity to have a conversation with retired Universal House of Justice
member Douglas Martin. I asked him about
his writing, and he said he wrote because the House of Justice continually
exhorted him to write, and what he wrote poured down from heaven, and so he
never put his own name upon any of it.
Bahá’ís have read many seminal documents that have flowed through his
pen and were undersigned by the House of Justice or announced that it was
written at its behest.
He says
he is not writing anymore and looked genuinely surprised when I asked him if it
didn’t concern him that this inactivity would cause his gifts to atrophy. He replied that it did indeed concern him,
and that no one had ever asked him that before.
He had
been asked to write his memoirs, but decided it was too daunting a task at this
stage; however, Westwind pictures has filmed several hours of his spoken
reminiscences which will be edited and released when the House of Justice sees
fit. He laughed and added with unfeigned
sincerity that they’ll be careful to delete anything outrageous he might happen
to say.
