From Valley to Valley

After passing through the Valley of knowledge, which is the last plane of limitation, the wayfarer cometh to

The Valley of Unity

and drinketh from the cup of the Absolute, and gazeth on the Manifestations of Oneness.

(Baha'u'llah, The Seven Valleys: 17)

Another way to look at the time we now live in, at the range of knowledge available to the human intelligence, and to the unparalleled transition that the human race is passing through and the unimaginable glories that await it upon the successful navigation of that journey, is to look at Baha’u’llah’s treatise, The Seven Valleys.  Though about the stages of the individual soul’s journey back to God, or at least, as Baha’u’llah says, to “the first gate of the heart's citadel, that is, man's first entrance to the city of the heart” (The Seven Valleys: 40) it can also, in some of its aspects, be read as a statement of humanity’s current stage of transition.

I mean, in particular, to look at the transition from the Valley of Knowledge to the Valley of Unity, the third and fourth valleys respectively.  We can look at this in light of the Bab’s statement about the kinds of knowing available to the soul: “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.” (The Bab quoted in Gate of the Heart: 44)

First, after passing through the second valley, the tumultuous Valley of Love, into the Valley of Knowledge, the seeker will “come out of doubt into certitude, and turn from the darkness of illusion to the guiding light of the fear of God. His inner eyes will open and he will privily converse with his Beloved; he will set ajar the gate of truth and piety, and shut the doors of vain imaginings. He in this station is content with the decree of God, and seeth war as peace, and findeth in death the secrets of everlasting life. With inward and outward eyes he witnesseth the mysteries of resurrection in the realms of creation and the souls of men, and with a pure heart apprehendeth the divine wisdom in the endless Manifestations of God.” (The Seven Valleys And the Four Valleys: 11 – 12)

This sounds like a great deal to be able to do, but the most intriguing thing for me is the following statement, which I have in part bold-faced: “After passing through the Valley of knowledge, which is the last plane of limitation, the wayfarer cometh to

The Valley of Unity

and drinketh from the cup of the Absolute, and gazeth on the Manifestations of Oneness. In this station he pierceth the veils of plurality, fleeth from the worlds of the flesh, and ascendeth into the heaven of singleness. With the ear of God he heareth, with the eye of God he beholdeth the mysteries of divine creation. He steppeth into the sanctuary of the Friend, and shareth as an intimate the pavilion of the Loved One. He stretcheth out the hand of truth from the sleeve of the Absolute; he revealeth the secrets of power. He seeth in himself neither name nor fame nor rank, but findeth his own praise in praising God. He beholdeth in his own name the name of God…He looketh on all things with the eye of oneness, and seeth the brilliant rays of the divine sun shining from the dawning-point of Essence alike on all created things, and the lights of singleness reflected over all creation.” (The Seven Valleys And the Four Valleys: 17 – 18)

Perhaps it is in the Valley of Unity that the soul, as the Bab says, “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.”  Recall that “unity” is the pivotal principle of the Bahá’i Revelation.   His Revelation guides humanity through the Valley of Unity, so to speak: which would make the Valley of Knowledge the Bab’s valley.  I believe that there is support for this statement.

First, in Islamic prophecy the Bab is the Qa’im (He Who Arises).  He has a special mission in regards to knowledge.  Baha’u’llah writes: “Thus it is related in the "Biharu'l-Anvar," the "Avalim," and the "Yanbu'" of Sadiq, son of Muhammad, that he spoke these words: "Knowledge is twenty and seven letters. All that the Prophets have revealed are two letters thereof. No man thus far hath known more than these two letters. But when the Qá'im shall arise, He will cause the remaining twenty and five letters to be made manifest." Consider; He hath declared Knowledge to consist of twenty and seven letters, and regarded all the Prophets, from Adam even unto the "Seal," as Expounders of only two letters thereof and of having been sent down with these two letters. He also saith that the Qá'im will reveal all the remaining twenty and five letters.” (Baha'u'llah, The Kitab-i-Iqan: 243-244)

The remaining 25 letters were hidden and unmanifest, but existent.  Thus all knowledge is already present and has been from the beginning.  But the remaining letters are not necessarily to be manifested at the same time.  The Bab will both “reveal all the remaining letters” and “will cause” the remaining letters “to be made manifest.”

If all knowledge is 27 letters, and the Bab revealed the last 25 letters, then the Valley of Knowledge, the “last plane of limitation”, which is the plane of manifestation of spirit, is complete.  Anything completed is limited, is finite.  Humanity can now pass into Unity and the Absolute.  This does not mean, of course, that there will not be other Revelations, or that there is no more to be known or to learn, but, I believe, that all the essential tools (the 27 letters of knowledge) are available to combine together in all possible combinations to generate and encode the knowledge needed to recreate the world, and, through divine guidance, to successfully meet any challenge or situation.  It is the difference between a binary code of two numbers or letters and a code of 27 letters, a complete alphabet—infinite difference in the coding of knowledge.

It is also of note, for me, that the Valley of Unity is the fourth valley.  This recalls the special place that four has had in many spiritual traditions, especially when linked with ten.

Four is everywhere the number of material manifestation and of cycles completed, continually evident in the four directions, the four material elements, the four seasons, etc., while ten represents the completion of the numerical cycle both in time and in space.  The Bab also speaks of the three as spiritual degrees and four as material degrees of manifestation (See Saidi, Gate of the Heart), thereby stating the seven stages of divine creative action, the stages of the great alchemical work, and combining the third and fourth valleys to make seven—recalling Baha’u’llah statement that the Bab’s Revelation is the first part of His Revelation.

The Tao Te Ching states: "one produced two, two produced three, three produced all numbers".  The implication of this is that four, the number produced immediately after three, is equivalent to all numbers. This is because once one has the first four numbers, one also has a decad (a set of ten), which represents the complete numerical cycle.  1+2+3+4=10 is also known as the tetraktys.

The word "Tao," is chosen to refer to this ultimate principle needed for all ten thousand entities of reality to be manifest.  The Chinese expression ten thousand things is used to mean the indefinite multitude of all forms and beings in manifest existence.   As the Master says: “The appearance in manifestation means that a single thing appears in infinite forms.” (Some Answered Questions: 293)

Now, ten thousand is the fourth power of ten.  The number ten thousand as indicating indefinite multiplicity is by no means restricted to Chinese usage. For example, in ancient Greek, the term myrioi means "ten thousand" and, with a small change of accentuation, means "an indefinite multiplicity". This dual usage has carried over into English, where the word "myriad", which means literally "ten thousand", is used to mean an indefinite large number.

This close metaphysical (i.e. symbolic) association of four with ten is also evident in the sign of a cross (clearly a fourfold figure) to represent the number ten both in Chinese characters (where it is an upright + cross) and in Roman numeration (where it is a diagonal X cross) It is also that of chiasmus in Greek.  The word chiasmus is a Latin term from the Greek chiasma, meaning "crossing".  This in turn is from the Greek chiázō, "to shape like the letter Χ".    This same Greek letter is, of course, shorthand for Christ.

The cross enclosed within a circle (one of the most universal of symbols, found in every culture), is often a mandala, and thus a "map of the universe" or a perfect representation of ten raised to the fourth power.  The Master stated: “As for the symbol of the cross, appointed in former times: Know verily, that the cross form is a wonderful figure and consists of two right lines placed crosswise-one perpendicular to the other—and this figure exists in all things. (Tablets of Abdu'l-Baha v3: 598)

This association of the fourth power of ten with the indefinite applies to space as well as to time, making the Einsteinian space/time continuum of four dimensions absorbing the static Newtonian three and marking out the last necessary term of all manifest spatiality.