various cultural expressions of succession to the leader of the Cause
1. Meaning of Shoghi Effendi having Mason Remey always walk to his left and sit to his left
In 1952 after being appointed President of the International Bahá'í Council Shoghi Effendi told Mason Remey that he was always to sit at his left hand whenever he went into a meeting or into the shrines to worship. (http://www.bahai-guardian.com/tribute.html, accessed 7/16/2011)
according to military tradition a superior always sits to the right and a subservient to the left.
2. Meaning of having a son to communicate with others and having the IBC fulfill this role for Shoghi Effendi
All the brothers sided with Muhammad-Ali. They expelled the Master and His family from the Mansion. There were almost a hundred people in the Mansion. The Master had no son, his daughters were young. It was only when the first American pilgrims came that it was changed.The Master had no Sons, no man in His family to send messages by to the believers. His sense of mourning for Baha'u'llah was deepened by His family turning against Him. This was dispersed by the arrival of the first pilgrims from the West. pg 15-16 (http://bahai-library.com/pilgrims/maxwell.notes.html accessed 7/16/2011) [Mason Remey was one of those early American pilgrims, 1908]
http://www.bahai-studies.ca/journal/files/jbs/6.4.Hassall(scanned).pdf
All communications listed in the Baha'i World Vol. I-XII from the International Baha'i Council were signed by Charles Mason Remey as the President. (cf. White, 1981, pg. 338, pg. 345)
3. "The latest pilgrim used to sit at the head of the table. Now Mason Remey sits there. The Guardian sits on his right, and the latest pilgrim on Mason's left, opposite Shoghi Effendi. Ruhiyyih Khanum sits on the Guardian's immediate right. The pilgrim is only three feet away, yet a world away from him." http://bahai-library.com/sears_pilgrimage_haifa (accessed 6/10/2012) [is this because Mason was the official host, west pilgrim house was the residence of the IBC of which Mason was the President of, or that the second in command sits to the left, Mason being second in command to Shoghi?]