The Truth

The last few posts have dealt with topics like submission, self, trust, and justice.

In various ways, they've all spoken to the Truth that Godliness can be trusted.

But...

Words smooth as silk can be as slippery as snakes while rough-shod sentences can be reliable and rock-solid.

Today's excerpt from Reality brings you a means of estimating the reliability of various people's proposed "Truth".

"Be fair: Is the testimony of those acceptable and worthy of attention whose deeds agree with their words, whose outward behavior conforms with their inner life? The mind is bewildered at their deeds, and the soul marveleth at their fortitude and bodily endurance. Or is the testimony of these faithless souls who breathe naught but the breath of selfish desire, and who lie imprisoned in the cage of their idle fancies, acceptable? Like the bats of darkness, they lift not their heads from their couch except to pursue the transient things of the world, and find no rest by night except as they labor to advance the aims of their sordid life. Immersed in their selfish schemes, they are oblivious of the Divine decree. In the daytime they strive with all their soul after worldly benefits, and in the night season their sole occupation is to gratify their carnal desires. By what law or standard could men be justified in cleaving to the denials of such petty-minded souls and in ignoring the faith of them that have renounced, for the sake of the good pleasure of God, their life and substance, their fame and renown, their reputation and honor?"

Bahá’u’lláh: The Kitáb-i-Íqán, paragraph 250, pp. 207-208

Self, Lust, and Ruin

Most folk go through life, spending most of their youth pursuing the pleasures and dangers of the physical world.

Somewhere between 30 and 60, most people reach at least a bit of resignation about the pain from weakened spirituality.

They may not even call it spirituality, only knowing it's something other than pursuit of physical pleasure.

The two quotes from Reality for today both have a certain severity to them but are capable of lifting you to a new understanding of your place in this World...

"This physical world of man is subject to the power of the lusts, and sin is the consequence of this power of the lusts, for it is not subject to the laws of justice and holiness. The body of man is a captive of nature; it will act in accordance with whatever nature orders. It is, therefore, certain that sins such as anger, jealousy, dispute, covetousness, avarice, ignorance, prejudice, hatred, pride and tyranny exist in the physical world. All these brutal qualities exist in the nature of man. A man who has not had a spiritual education is a brute."

‘Abdu’l-Bahá: Some Answered Questions, Chapter 29: "Explanation of Verse Twenty-Two, Chapter Fifteen, of the First Epistle of St. Paul to the Corinthians", p. 119

"O REBELLIOUS ONES!

"My forbearance hath emboldened you and My long-suffering hath made you negligent, in such wise that ye have spurred on the fiery charger of passion into perilous ways that lead unto destruction. Have ye thought Me heedless or that I was unaware?"

Bahá’u’lláh: The Hidden Words, Persian #65

The Trouble with My Self . . .

Yesterday's post was about submission being better than liberty for humans.

Today's excerpts from Reality are both about our "self"--which usually wants the very liberty that's such a problem for it...

"....it is impossible for a human being to turn aside from his own selfish advantages and sacrifice his own good for the good of the community except through true religious faith. For self-love is kneaded into the very clay of man, and it is not possible that, without any hope of a substantial reward, he should neglect his own present material good."

‘Abdu’l-Bahá: The Secret of Divine Civilization, pp. 96-97

"Despair, both here and hereafter, is all you will gain from self-indulgence..."

‘Abdu’l-Bahá: The Secret of Divine Civilization, p. 105

Give Me Submission Or Give Me Death

I'm from the United States of America and one of the buzz-words in America is "liberty".

Today's quote from Reality claims that liberty is not what we should strive to attain.

Apparently, our proper goal is "submission".

Just sounds dead wrong to a "modern" ear, eh?

So how well are our terribly modern theories of how to live serving our needs?

Many modern folk seeking liberty will deny the following quote. I have a strong tendency to believe they haven't hit 55 years of age yet...


"Consider the pettiness of men’s minds. They ask for that which injureth them, and cast away the thing that profiteth them. They are, indeed, of those that are far astray. We find some men desiring liberty, and priding themselves therein. Such men are in the depths of ignorance.

"Liberty must, in the end, lead to sedition, whose flames none can quench. Thus warneth you He Who is the Reckoner, the All- Knowing. Know ye that the embodiment of liberty and its symbol is the animal. That which beseemeth man is submission unto such restraints as will protect him from his own ignorance, and guard him against the harm of the mischief-maker. Liberty causeth man to overstep the bounds of propriety, and to infringe on the dignity of his station. It debaseth him to the level of extreme depravity and wickedness."

Bahá’u’lláh: The Kitáb-i-Aqdas, paragraphs 122-123, p. 63

Our Dangerous Physical World

There's no way to avoid the fact that the physical world can be dangerous for our bodies.

How about being dangerous for our souls?

Some folks can't bridge the apparent contradiction between being spiritual and being in a body.

Then, there are the exaggerations of religious teachings that claim literal truth for the idea that the body and its world are evil.

Try out this reasoning:

If God is Good then being in a body for awhile must be capable of being good and all this physical stuff must have some good reason for existing.

The best answer I've found is that the World is just fine if it doesn't get between us and God.

Today's quote from Reality puts it more strongly; but then, sometimes we need a severe viewpoint:

"ALAS! ALAS! O LOVERS OF WORLDLY DESIRE!

Even as the swiftness of lightning ye have passed by the Beloved One, and have set your hearts on satanic fancies. Ye bow the knee before your vain imagining, and call it truth. Ye turn your eyes towards the thorn, and name it a flower. Not a pure breath have ye breathed, nor hath the breeze of detachment been wafted from the meadows of your hearts. Ye have cast to the winds the loving counsels of the Beloved and have effaced them utterly from the tablet of your hearts, and even as the beasts of the field, ye move and have your being within the pastures of desire and passion."

Bahá’u’lláh: The Hidden Words, Persian #45

Who Can I Trust ?!

Knowing who to trust can be tricky.

Folks who seem upright and fair can turn right around and stab you in the back.

"Good Friends" can betray you to your enemies.

"True Love" can evaporate overnight.

Today's quote from Reality provides a means for seeing where people stand in relation to justice, equity, fairness, and trust:

"Know thou for a certainty that whoso disbelieveth in God is neither trustworthy nor truthful….He that acteth treacherously towards God will, also, act treacherously towards his king. Nothing whatever can deter such a man from evil, nothing can hinder him from betraying his neighbour, nothing can induce him to walk uprightly."

Bahá’u’lláh: The Summons of the Lord of Hosts, Súriy-i-Mulúk or Súrih to the Kings, paragraph 60, p. 210

God and the Rulers

No comment on today's quote from Reality, except to say it was written over 100 years ago:

"Say: It behoveth you, O Ministers of State, to keep the precepts of God, and to forsake your own laws and regulations, and to be of them who are guided aright. Better is this for you than all ye possess, did ye but know it. If ye transgress the commandment of God, not one jot or one tittle of all your works shall be acceptable in His sight. Ye shall, erelong, discover the consequences of that which ye shall have done in this vain life, and shall be repaid for them. This, verily, is the truth, the undoubted truth. How great the number of those who, in bygone ages, have committed the things ye have committed, and who, though superior to you in rank, have, in the end, returned unto dust, and been consigned to their inevitable doom! Would that ye might ponder the Cause of God in your hearts! Ye shall follow in their wake, and shall be made to enter a habitation wherein none shall be found to befriend or help you. Ye shall, of a truth, be asked of your doings, shall be called to account for your failure in duty with regard to the Cause of God, and for having disdainfully rejected His loved ones who, with manifest sincerity, have come unto you. It is ye who have taken counsel together regarding them, ye that have preferred to follow the promptings of your own desires, and forsaken the commandment of God, the Help in Peril, the Almighty. Say: What! Cleave ye to your own devices, and cast behind your backs the precepts of God? Ye, indeed, have wronged your own selves and others. Would that ye could perceive it! Say: If your rules and principles be founded on justice, why is it, then, that ye follow those which accord with your corrupt inclinations and reject such as conflict with your desires? By what right claim ye, then, to judge fairly between men? Are your rules and principles such as to justify your persecution of Him Who, at your bidding, hath presented Himself before you, your rejection of Him, and your infliction on Him every day of grievous injury? Hath He ever, though it be for one short moment, disobeyed you? All the inhabitants of Iraq, and beyond them every discerning observer, will bear witness to the truth of My words."

Bahá’u’lláh: Gleanings from the Writings of Bahá’u’lláh, Selection
LXV, pp. 123-124

Religion & Spirituality

I tend to use the word "spirituality" in this blog and avoid the word "religion".

This isn't because I believe, with what seems a growing majority of people, that "spirituality" is good and "religion" is bad. This has become so intrenched an attitude that even "rational" people cling to it.

I feel religion is the Source of spirituality and that folks seeing religion as bad are confusing the human practice of something with its Essence.

So, it often seems the best course to avoid in-your-face posts. Surely hope you don't feel this post is that way...

Check out this apostrophe to Muhammad from Bahá’u’lláh ( included in the compilation Reality ), clearly showing the importance of True Religion:

"Behold, O Muhammad, how the sayings and doings of the followers of Shi’ih Islam have dulled the joy and fervor of its early days, and tarnished the pristine brilliancy of its light. In its primitive days, whilst they still adhered to the precepts associated with the name of their Prophet, the Lord of mankind, their career was marked by an unbroken chain of victories and triumphs. As they gradually strayed from the path of their Ideal Leader and Master, as they turned away from the Light of God and corrupted the principle of His Divine unity, and as they increasingly centered their attention upon them who were only the revealers of the potency of His Word, their power was turned into weakness, their glory into shame, their courage into fear. Thou dost witness to what a pass they have come. Behold, how they have joined partners with Him Who is the Focal-Point of Divine unity. Behold how their evil doings have hindered them from recognizing, in the Day of Resurrection, the Word of Truth, exalted be His glory. We cherish the hope that this people will henceforth shield themselves from vain hopes and idle fancies, and will attain to a true understanding of the meaning of Divine unity."

Bahá’u’lláh: Gleanings from the Writings of Bahá’u’lláh, Selection
XXVIII, pp. 69-70

The Soul Rules

Today's excerpt from Reality seems to say that our souls have autonomy -- can "decide" how to deal with our existence.

The whole issue of God giving us the freedom to choose within the concept that we are completely dependent on Him for our lives and all within them, can boggle the mind.

But, naturally, God can do Whatever, Whenever...

"When we speak of the soul we mean the motive power of this physical body which lives under its entire control in accordance with its dictates. If the soul identifies itself with the material world it remains dark, for in the natural world there is corruption, aggression, struggles for existence, greed, darkness, transgression and vice. If the soul remains in this station and moves along these paths it will be the recipient of this darkness; but if it becomes the recipient of the graces of the world of mind, its darkness will be transformed into light, its tyranny into justice, its ignorance into wisdom, its aggression into loving kindness; until it reach the apex. Then there will not remain any struggle for existence. Man will become free from egotism; he will be released from the material world; he will become the personification of justice and virtue, for a sanctified soul illumines humanity and is an honor to mankind, conferring life upon the children of men and suffering all nations to attain to the station of perfect unity."

‘Abdu’l-Bahá: ‘Abdu’l-Bahá on Divine Philosophy, Chapter 3: Soul,
Mind and Spirit: A Meditation of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, pp. 120-121)