But the universal divine mind, which is beyond nature, is
the bounty of the Preexistent Power. This universal mind is divine; it embraces
existing realities, and it receives the light of the mysteries of God. It is a
conscious power, not a power of investigation and of research. The intellectual
power of the world of nature is a power of investigation, and by its researches
it discovers the realities of beings and the properties of existences; but the
heavenly intellectual power, which is beyond nature, embraces things and is
cognizant of things, knows them, understands them, is aware of mysteries,
realities and divine significations, and is the discoverer of the concealed
verities of the Kingdom. This divine intellectual power is the special
attribute of the Holy Manifestations and the Dawning-places of prophethood; a
ray of this light falls upon the mirrors of the hearts of the righteous, and a
portion and a share of this power comes to them through the Holy
Manifestations.
(‘Abdu’l-Baha, Some Answered Questions: 218)
In the quote above, it is worth noting where
‘Abdu’l-Baha indicates that the light from the universal Mind of the Manifestation
falls: on the heart, wherein resides the faculty which recognizes Him. This light is what, I believe, Baha’u’llah
means when He states, in contrasting spiritual with only intellectual knowledge: "Knowledge is a light which God casteth
into the heart of whomsoever He willeth." It is this kind of knowledge
which is and hath ever been praiseworthy, and not the limited knowledge that
hath sprung forth from veiled and obscured minds. This limited knowledge they
even stealthily borrow one from the other, and vainly pride themselves therein!”
(The Kitab-i-Iqan: 46)
Recognition is, as I have stated before, the
heart’s way of knowing spiritual reality, an entering into a higher stage of
spiritual understanding named the spirit of faith. This means of knowing brings
certitude. Baha’u’llah states: “Do thou
ponder these momentous happenings in thy heart, so that thou mayest apprehend
the greatness of this Revelation, and perceive its stupendous glory. Then shall
the spirit of faith, through the grace of the Merciful, be breathed into thy
being, and thou shalt be established and abide upon the seat of certitude.” (The Kitab-i-Iqan: 236)
Like the other faculties discussed so far,
the faculty of intellect, too, expresses new powers and latent capacities when
it comes, through the power of faith, under the sway of the divine Word. ‘Abdu’l-Baha states that: “Spirit in the
human world is the discoverer of the realities of existence. All the
inventions, all the sciences, all the hidden mysteries are brought to light
through the activity of the spirit on the plane of life. While living in the
Orient it organizes affairs in the Occident; while living on the earth it
discovers the heavenly constellations. These examples ought to show you that
the spirit of life is omnipotent, especially when it establishes a
communication with God and becomes the recipient of the eternal light—then it
transforms itself into a ray of the effulgence of the eternal sun.
“This station is the greatest of all
stations, for this connection of the spirit of man with God is like unto a
mirror and the sun of reality is reflected in it. Thus it becomes the
collective center of all the virtues; its emanation is the bestowal of the king
of bestowers; its radiations are the manifold splendors of the infinite
luminary; its sanctity is from the highest summit of divine essence. This
station is the station of heavenly inspiration and is called the station of the
divine grace. It signifies that the rays of the sun of reality are resplendent
in the mirror and the attributes of the sun of reality are reflected therein.
This is the ultimate degree of human perfection, for the attainment of which
the thinkers and philosophers of all time have longed and poets have dreamed;
it is the mystery of mysteries and the light of lights wherein the spirit
become eternal, self-subsistent, age-abiding.” (Abdu'l-Baha, Divine Philosophy: 166-167)
The intellect is limited in its understanding
and denied its full range of power if there has been no awakening of the
religious faculty, no entry into the spirit of faith. This limitation results in a blinding of the
discerning faculty of justice, leading to a foggy conception of what is morally
right and good.
Again, the spirit of faith is no mere form of belief, but, rather, a way of knowing, Baha’u’llah saying that a soul enlightened by
true faith will be “established and abide upon the seat of certitude.” But the way to achieve this understanding is through a kind of
reversal of direction of consciousness, an inversion of purpose, a sort of
turning the self inside out that comes with the proper understanding of the
importance of spiritual origin. The
power of understanding discovers the Word and recognizes It as such. But it cannot recognize It as such until the
natural intellect sacrifices itself to the higher self, until there is a
willingness to do this. Baha’u’llah
states: “The essence of understanding is to testify to
one’s poverty, and submit to the Will of the Lord, the Sovereign, the Gracious,
the All-Powerful.” (Tablets
of Baha’u’llah: 155-156) And: “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.” (Gleanings
from the Writings of Baha'u'llah: 165)
The Bab wrote: “For
verily the soul, while bound by the ephemeral and transitory things of this
world, is confined, in its understanding, to limited phenomena only. However, once the soul hath soared beyond the
realm of nature and becometh submerged in the ocean of absolute unity, then can
it acquire the capacity to discern the reality of all sciences and knowledge in
their full plentitude.” (Gate of the
Heart: 44)
‘Abdu’l-Baha
stated: “What a heavenly
potentiality God has deposited within us! What a power God has given our
spirits! He has endowed us with a power to penetrate the realities of things;
but we must be self-abnegating, we must have pure spirits, pure intentions, and
strive with heart and soul while in the human world to attain everlasting glory.”
(The Promulgation of Universal Peace:
187)
With the inspired and transformed intellect,
vision is added to faith, the mind opens to reasoning by and from faith i.e. certitude,
intention is perfected, spiritual transformation takes place, and the science
of the love of God becomes possible. The
rational faculty, the power of understanding, achieves its final stage and
transcendent power in the condition of the vision of God; i.e. God seeing
through it. Baha’u’llah exclaims: “If it
be your wish, O people, to know God and to discover the greatness of His might,
look, then, upon Me with Mine own eyes, and not with the eyes of any one
besides Me.” (Gleanings from the Writings
of Baha'u'llah: 272) And: “In this
Day whatsoever serveth to reduce blindness and to increase vision is worthy of
consideration. This vision acteth as the agent and guide for true knowledge.
Indeed in the estimation of men of wisdom keenness of understanding is due to
keenness of vision.” (Tablets of
Baha'u'llah: 35) Finally: “Thy
hearing is My hearing, hear thou therewith. Thy sight is My sight, do thou see
therewith, that in thine inmost soul thou mayest testify unto My exalted
sanctity, and I within Myself may bear witness unto an exalted station for
thee.” (Baha'u'llah, The Arabic Hidden
Words #44)
But in the end, or, rather, in the beginning,
all this active force, this transformation and reversal, this awakening of
faculties and powers, depends upon the exercise of the faculty of will. We will take that up next.
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