Assemblies - Consultation Principles

Patience and restraint, however, should at all times characterize the discussions and deliberations of the elected representatives of the local community, and no fruitless and hair-splitting discussions indulged in, under any circumstances.

Shoghi Effendi, Lights of Guidance, p. 81

The friends should therefore not feel discouraged at the differences of opinion that may prevail among the members of an Assembly for these, as experiences has shown, and as the Master's words attest, fulfil a valuable function in all Assembly deliberations. But once the opinion the majority has been ascertained, all the members should automatically and unreservedly obey it, and faithfully carry it out.

Shoghi Effendi, Lights of Guidance, p. 80