The Center of the Spirit of Faith

When man is not endowed with inner perception, he is not informed of these important mysteries. The retina of outer vision, though sensitive and delicate, may, nevertheless, be a hindrance to the inner eye which alone can perceive. The bestowals of God which are manifest in all phenomenal life are sometimes hidden by intervening veils of mental and mortal vision which render man spiritually blind and incapable, but when those scales are removed and the veils rent asunder, then the great signs of God will become visible, and he will witness the eternal light filling the world.

(Abdu'l-Baha, The Promulgation of Universal Peace: 88)

We read in the last post that the soul and mind common to all people is an outcome of Nature.  It is able to understand the hidden mental mysteries of nature, because “nature, also, in its essence is an intellectual reality and is not sensible; the human spirit is an intellectual, not sensible reality.” (Abdu'l-Baha, Some Answered Questions: 83)

But, I also intimated, there is a level of spirit greater than intellect lying latent within the human reality. This greater spirit within puts us in touch with objective realms of being obscured by the natural or intellectual.  It is called the spirit of faith.  Awakening this spirit enables us to perceive, recognize and understand spiritual realities. 

Recall that ‘Abdu’l-Baha said the spirit of faith “comes from the breath of the Holy Spirit, and by the divine power it becomes the cause of eternal life. It is the power which makes the earthly man heavenly, and the imperfect man perfect.  It makes the impure to be pure, the silent eloquent; it purifies and sanctifies those made captive by carnal desires; it makes the ignorant wise.” (Some Answered Questions: 143) 

The center and special receptive faculty of the spirit of faith is the heart.  The heart, too, is a power of the rational faculty.  Remember Baha’u’llah’s statement: “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.” (Gleanings from the Writings of Baha'u'llah:163)

In the perception of spiritual realities, understanding flows from the Holy Spirit, which reveals the Will of God.  The Holy Spirit arouses the spirit of faith in receptive souls, and the spirit of faith enables the rational faculty to make divine knowledge into human knowledge.

‘Abdu’l-Baha explains how the human heart attains to the spirit of faith: “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.” (Some Answered Questions: 217-218).

To understand divine realities the heart must be awakened to the spirit of faith lying dormant within it. These realities cannot be perceived or proved incontrovertibly to exist by reason alone, though reason can point to them.  But there is a way to be certain of them.  ‘Abdu’l-Baha explains: “…if the inner perception be open, a hundred thousand clear proofs become visible. Thus, when man feels the indwelling spirit, he is in no need of arguments for its existence; but for those who are deprived of the bounty of the spirit, it is necessary to establish external arguments.” (Some Answered Questions: 6)

But every Holy Book also warns of the heart going astray: “How often hath the human heart, which is the recipient of the light of God and the seat of the revelation of the All-Merciful, erred from Him Who is the Source of that light and the Well Spring of that revelation. It is the waywardness of the heart that removeth it far from God, and condemneth it to remoteness from Him. Those hearts, however, that are aware of His Presence, are close to Him, and are to be regarded as having drawn nigh unto His throne.” (Gleanings from the Writings of Baha'u'llah: 185)

In The Seven Valleys, Baha’u’llah describes the mystical path back to God.  He says at the end of the final and seventh valley, the Valley of True Poverty and Absolute Nothingness: “They who soar in the heaven of singleness and reach to the sea of the Absolute, reckon this city—which is the station of life in God—as the furthermost state of mystic knowers, and the farthest homeland of the lovers. But to this evanescent One of the mystic ocean, this station is the first gate of the heart's citadel, that is, man's first entrance to the city of the heart; and the heart is endowed with four stages, which would be recounted should a kindred soul be found.” (The Seven Valleys: 41)

In His explication of these four stages of the heart, named The Four Valleys, in the second of the four valleys Baha’u’llah wrote: “This station conferreth the true standard of knowledge, and freeth man from tests. In this realm, to search after knowledge is irrelevant, for He hath said concerning the guidance of travelers on this plane, "Fear God, and God will instruct thee."  And again: "Knowledge is a light which God casteth into the heart of whomsoever He willeth."

Wherefore, a man should make ready his heart that it be worthy of the descent of heavenly grace…” (The Four Valleys: 53)

Attainment to this spirit of faith is to perceive behind the coverings of this world to the spiritual realities within.  It puts one in touch with eternal verities and grants the soul eternal life.  Baha’u’llah refers to all these attainments in one paragraph.

“It is clear and evident that when the veils that conceal the realities of the manifestations of the Names and Attributes of God, nay of all created things visible or invisible, have been rent asunder, nothing except the Sign of God will remain—a sign which He, Himself, hath placed within these realities. This sign will endure as long as is the wish of the Lord thy God, the Lord of the heavens and of the earth. If such be the blessings conferred on all created things, how superior must be the destiny of the true believer, whose existence and life are to be regarded as the originating purpose of all creation. Just as the conception of faith hath existed from the beginning that hath no beginning, and will endure till the end that hath no end, in like manner will the true believer eternally live and endure. His spirit will everlastingly circle round the Will of God. He will last as long as God, Himself, will last.” (Gleanings from the Writings of Baha'u'llah: 140-141)

What may come after the heart’s levels of understanding, is anybody’s guess.