Direct Connection

The meaning is that the life of the Kingdom is the life of the spirit, the eternal life, and that it is purified from place, like the spirit of man which has no place. For if you examine the human body, you will not find a special spot or locality for the spirit, for it has never had a place; it is immaterial. It has a connection with the body like that of the sun with this mirror. The sun is not within the mirror, but it has a connection with the mirror.

In the same way the world of the Kingdom is sanctified from everything that can be perceived by the eye or by the other senses—hearing, smell, taste or touch. The mind which is in man, the existence of which is recognized—where is it in him? If you examine the body with the eye, the ear or the other senses, you will not find it; nevertheless, it exists. Therefore, the mind has no place, but it is connected with the brain. The Kingdom is also like this. In the same way love has no place, but it is connected with the heart; so the Kingdom has no place, but is connected with man.

(Abdu'l-Baha, Some Answered Questions: 242)

Direct connection refers to the relations connecting opposites either between levels of reality, between kingdoms within one level of reality, or upon one level of reality.  Thus, direct connection has many levels and stations.  Direct connection of opposites upon the same level of reality is not hard to grasp.  This kind of direct connection appears in the body’s systems of reciprocity that create a unity of opposites, so that one thing changes into its opposite in the system, like the exchange of air within the lungs, or the union of arteries and veins at the capillary level of circulation, when the blood reaches the furthermost limit, both in space and in oxygen, to begin the return trip to the heart and lungs and replenish its oxygen.  The two systems together work synchronically as one.  It is the union of opposites in reciprocal flow and action, where one requires the other, which is its opposite, as do all paired opposites, such as day/night, hot/cold.  But it occurs through the operations and sustaining power of a intermediating structure.  “An intermediary is needed to bring two extremes into relation with each other. Riches and poverty, plenty and need: without an intermediary power there could be no relation between these pairs of opposites.” (Abdu'l-Baha, Paris Talks: 58)

These are examples on a single plane, within one system and context, but they indicate by analogy the nature of another union of opposites: those between levels of being within a level of reality, the uniting of systems and contexts, as the sun’s relation to the mirror.  These are more difficult to grasp.

In all cases, direct connection is not an one-way event or movement of energy, but a relation between two things in the identity of two things as one, because each is an aspect of something larger than both.  It is the Glorious structure where “these two are the same, yet they are different.” (Tablets of Baha’u’llah: 140)  Both the sun and the mirror are physical things, but their relation, unlike that of capillaries, for example, is through an invisible medium.  Their relation is one of resonance, not actual physical union.  Here, direct connection emphasizes the relation of two distinct entities connecting through and because of a more subtle field of energy and structure holding the two together in resonant harmony, like entangled photons acting and reacting simultaneously in an universal medium across great distances of stellar space.  Resonance always implies cause and effect between formal and final cause, a harmonic relation one with another, even with oneself in object and subject.

Though two entities or things can be primarily identified as two different things, even, in some cases, as different orders of being, they have also an indirect and more essential relation with each other through the medium of the environment, which is the greater power perceived from the vantage point of the separate realities themselves.  That is, from one view, every created thing is only itself in relation with other things and, from another, is a manifestation of the environment or essential organizing principles.  However, this mental distinction collapses into an actual embracing unity if we hold both views simultaneously and think of each created thing as an unique configuration of the essential principles that create everything.  Since all direct connection is so by virtue of the two-way flow, the union in this case is one of procession and return; input/output, or other such metaphors.  But procession and return follow the path of direct connection. 

The relation holds between God and His creation: “All things proceed from God and unto Him they return. He is the source of all things and in Him all things are ended.” Kitáb-i-Aqdas: 72.)

It holds between the soul and the Manifestation of God, and the sun and all created things:  “Every man endued with insight among Thy servants is persuaded that my self liveth eternally and can never perish, inasmuch as remembrance of Thee is eternal and will endure so long as Thine own Self endureth, and Thy praise is everlasting and will last as long as Thine own sovereignty will last. By its means Thou art glorified by such of Thy chosen ones as call upon Thee and by the sincere among Thy servants. Nay, the praise wherewith any one, in the entire creation, praiseth Thee proceedeth from this exalted self and returneth unto it, even as the sun which, while it shineth, sheddeth its splendor upon whatsoever may be exposed to its rays. From this sun is generated, and unto it must return, the light which is shed over all things.” (Baha'u'llah, Prayers and Meditations by Baha'u'llah: 127)

It also holds between a created thing and its return to existence in some manner.  Baha’u’llah answered one inquirer on this point: “As to the Return, as God hath purposed in His sacred and exalted Tablets wherein He hath made this theme known unto His servants; by this is meant the return of all created things in the Day of Resurrection, and this is indeed the essence of the Return as thou hast witnessed in God's own days and thou art of them that testify to this truth.... And this Return is realized at His behest in whatever form He willeth. Indeed He is the One Who doeth and ordaineth all things. .” (Tablets of Baha'u'llah: 183-184)

But it is not the actual thing that returns, but a something that returns in new form: “That which hath been in existence had existed before, but not in the form thou seest today.” (Tablets of Baha'u'llah: 140)  It is not reincarnation, but a new creation, a new configuration of essential qualities.  Because everything returns in new form, past and future are also in a relation of direct connection, Baha’u’llah admonishing: Say: O ye that have eyes to see! The past is the mirror of the future. Gaze ye therein and be apprised thereof;” (Baha'u'llah, Tabernacle of Unity: 5)

We’ll continue to explore this foundational idea of direct connection in the next few posts.