Perchance,
God willing, this terrestrial world may become as a celestial mirror upon which
we may behold the imprint of the traces of Divinity, and the fundamental
qualities of a new creation may be reflected from the reality of love shining
in human hearts. From the light and semblance of God in us may it be, indeed,
proved and witnessed that God has created man after His own image and likeness.
(Abdu'l-Baha,
The Promulgation of Universal Peace: 234)
God knows past, present, and future, not as tenses, but as a
singularity of knowledge unfolding organically, in this world at least, in
temporal sequence. It unfolds
organically because there are different levels and planes of meaning enfolded
within creation that are unfolded by the Word, with the simpler and less
profound unfolding first. Thus, while
all knowledge is already an existing reality, what can be known at any one time
is a result of necessary limitations of all kinds. The greatest of these is progressive
Revelation, that series of expanding spiritual contexts created by the
succession of divine Revelators bringing specific messages to humankind. On
this point, Baha’u’llah remarks:
“Knowledge is all that is knowable; and might and power, all creation.”
(The Kitab-i-Iqan: 185)
Yet, since all knowledge always exists, the limits of any
Revelation—i.e. the knowable--is not necessarily an absolute limitation placed
upon what can be known during Its time. For example, Baha’u’llah wrote about
Socrates: “What a penetrating vision into philosophy this eminent man had! He
is the most distinguished of all philosophers and was highly versed in wisdom.
We testify that he is one of the heroes in this field and an outstanding
champion dedicated unto it. He had a profound knowledge of such sciences as
were current amongst men as well as of those which were veiled from their minds.
Methinks he drank one draught when the Most Great Ocean overflowed with
gleaming and life-giving waters.” (Tablets of Baha'u'llah: 146) So, how did Socrates, and others down through
the ages, do this? For me, the key to
answering this question lies in Baha'u'llah's statement: "Methinks he
drank one draught when the Most Great Ocean overflowed with gleaming and
life-giving waters." I will approach this topic is by
considering the relation of light and what reflects it. First, by
light we mean different realities on different planes of being.
Regarding different kinds of light, in one of His talks in Paris,
‘Abdu’l-Baha spoke of three kinds of light.
The first kind is physical light, which enables the eyes to see the
physical world. The second kind of
light He called the light of the intellect.
Of this inborn light He says: “It is the light of the intellect which
gives us knowledge and understanding, and without this light the physical eyes
would be useless.”
“But the third light He named the Divine Light. Its relation to the light of the human
intellect is as follows: “This light of the intellect is the highest light that
exists, for it is born of the Light Divine.
The light of the intellect enables us to understand and realize all that
exists, but it is only the Divine Light that can give us sight for the
invisible things, and which enables us to see truths that will only be visible
to the world thousands of years hence.
It was the Divine Light which enabled the prophets to see two thousand
years in advance what was going to take place and today we see the realization
of their vision. Thus it is this Light which we must strive to seek, for it is
greater than any other.
“Seek with all your hearts this Heavenly Light, so that you may be
enabled to understand the realities, that you may know the secret things of
God, that the hidden ways may be made plain before your eyes.
“This light may be likened unto a mirror, and as a mirror reflects all
that is before it, so this Light shows to the eyes of our spirits all that
exists in God's Kingdom and causes the realities of things to be made visible.
By the help of this effulgent Light all the spiritual interpretation of the
Holy Writings has been made plain, the hidden things of God's Universe have
become manifest, and we have been enabled to comprehend the Divine purposes for
man.
“I pray that God in His mercy may illumine your hearts and souls with
His glorious Light, then shall each one of you shine as a radiant star in the
dark places of the world.” (Paris Talks: 68-70)
However, does there exist a mirror for the light of each plane of
being?
The Master
explains that three realities compose the human reality. Two of these, the physical body and the
intellect, are universally active and common in varying degrees of strength to
all individuals. The physical senses
perceive physical light. The inborn
intellect can perceive the realities of existing things. But ‘Abdu’l-Baha elucidates a third reality:
“Yet there is a third reality in man, the spiritual reality. Through its medium
one discovers spiritual revelations, a celestial faculty which is infinite as
regards the intellectual as well as physical realms. That power is conferred
upon man through the breath of the Holy Spirit. It is an eternal reality, an
indestructible reality, a reality belonging to the divine, supernatural
kingdom; a reality whereby the world is illumined, a reality which grants unto
man eternal life. This third, spiritual reality it is which discovers past
events and looks along the vistas of the future. It is the ray of the Sun of
Reality. The spiritual world is enlightened through it, the whole of the
Kingdom is being illumined by it. It enjoys the world of beatitude, a world
which had not beginning and which shall have no end.”
“That celestial
reality, the third reality of the microcosm, delivers man from the material
world. Its power causes man to escape from nature's world. Escaping, he will
find an illuminating reality, transcending the limited reality of man and
causing him to attain to the infinitude of God, abstracting him from the world
of superstitions and imaginations, and submerging him in the sea of the rays of
the Sun of Reality.” (Foundations of World Unity: 51) I believe that awakening this celestial
faculty is what enables the soul to enter into the spirit of faith. It is worth noting that He says the
“celestial faculty” is “infinite as regards the intellectual as well as
physical realms”.
This discussion shows that, as the Master makes clear, the divine Light
becomes manifest in the human reality when the heart opens to it. Recall, too, Baha’u’llah’s statement that the
heart is the “recipient of the light of God.”
(Gleanings: 186) It is in this same
context that we can consider His quoting an Islamic Hadith: "Knowledge is
a light which God casteth into the heart of whomsoever He willeth."
(The Four Valleys: 53) The celestial faculty receives the Divine Light. The Divine Light awakens the celestial
faculty. Knowledge is there,
intelligence attains to it at every state through different modalities: senses,
intellect, celestial faculty. Each great
leap made the individual soul or by humanity—from senses to natural intellect
to celestial faculty—is infinite as regards the stages below and prior to it.
When the celestial faculty awakens within the
hearts of many human individuals we shall have access to planes of knowledge
which can only be dreamed about by the natural intellect. It is from the
exercise of this faculty that we shall create sciences of the spirit, as
happened when the intellect latent within humanity awakened millenia ago to begin the development of intellectual science through the shining of the divine Light. But we must, as Socrates did, drink from the
overflowing Ocean of knowledge.
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