Monday, January 28, 2008

"Wert thou to ponder in thine heart, from now until the end that hath no end...this divinely ordained and subtle Reality..."


I've made a point in my life to study a lot of science along with all the "humanities".

The deeper I got into science, the more clearly I could see the logical effect of denying the existence of God.

Scientists are only the latest in a long line of humans that claimed infallible understanding.

It's really rather funny when they make a bold claim that blows back in their face.

The human mind--or, rational faculty--is a field of study that has ultimately embarrassed colleges full of scientists...

"Consider the rational faculty with which God hath endowed the essence of man. Examine thine own self, and behold how thy motion and stillness, thy will and purpose, thy sight and hearing, thy sense of smell and power of speech, and whatever else is related to, or transcendeth, thy physical senses or spiritual perceptions, all proceed from, and owe their existence to, this same faculty. So closely are they related unto it, that if in less than the twinkling of an eye its relationship to the human body be severed, each and every one of these senses will cease immediately to exercise its function, and will be deprived of the power to manifest the evidences of its activity. It is indubitably clear and evident that each of these afore-mentioned instruments has depended, and will ever continue to depend, for its proper functioning on this rational faculty, which should be regarded as a sign of the revelation of Him Who is the sovereign Lord of all. Through its manifestation all these names and attributes have been revealed, and by the suspension of its action they are all destroyed and perish.

"It would be wholly untrue to maintain that this faculty is the same as the power of vision, inasmuch as the power of vision is derived from it and acteth in dependence upon it. It would, likewise, be idle to contend that this faculty can be identified with the sense of hearing, as the sense of hearing receiveth from the rational faculty the requisite energy for performing its functions.

"This same relationship bindeth this faculty with whatsoever hath been the recipient of these names and attributes within the human temple. These diverse names and revealed attributes have been generated through the agency of this sign of God. Immeasurably exalted is this sign, in its essence and reality, above all such names and attributes. Nay, all else besides it will, when compared with its glory, fade into utter nothingness and become a thing forgotten.

"Wert thou to ponder in thine heart, from now until the end that hath no end, and with all the concentrated intelligence and understanding which the greatest minds have attained in the past or will attain in the future, this divinely ordained and subtle Reality, this sign of the revelation of the All-Abiding, All-Glorious God, thou wilt fail to comprehend its mystery or to appraise its virtue. Having recognized thy powerlessness to attain to an adequate understanding of that Reality which abideth within thee, thou wilt readily admit the futility of such efforts as may be attempted by thee, or by any of the created things, to fathom the mystery of the Living God, the Day Star of unfading glory, the Ancient of everlasting days. This confession of helplessness which mature contemplation must eventually impel every mind to make is in itself the acme of human understanding, and marketh the culmination of man's development."

Bahá’u’lláh: Gleanings from the Writings of Bahá’u’lláh, Selection LXXXIII, pp. 164-166

4 comments:

Sophia said...

Imagine life without minds. How drab to just wonder around taking care of primitive needs without a mind to ponder on the beauty and near-impossibility of itself!

Alexys Fairfield said...

Alex,
This si simply beautiful.

I love the way it is presented so eloquently, like music to my ears.

Peace my friend.

Alexander M Zoltai said...

This was originally written in the 1800s in Persian or Arabic and translated by Bahá’u’lláh's grandson into English...

"We have noticed a tendency in a number of countries to attempt to
translate Bahá'í literature into the current, easy, everyday
language of the country. This, however, should not be an
overriding consideration. Many of the Tablets of Bahá'u'lláh and
'Abdu'l-Bahá are in exalted and highly poetic language in the
original Persian and Arabic and you will see, for example, that
when translating Bahá'u'lláh's Writings into English the beloved
Guardian did not use present-day colloquial English but evolved a
highly poetic and beautiful style, using numbers of archaic
expressions reminiscent of the translations of the Bible."

(From a letter dated 7 October 1973, written by the Universal House of Justice to a National Spiritual Assembly)

(Compilations, Lights of Guidance, p. 108)

Alexander M Zoltai said...

Oh, Sophia!

Please do write some stories!!!

~ Alex