Where there is no vision, the people perish.
(King
James Bible, Proverbs 29:18)
I have
said that two kinds of metaphor, visual and auditory, are often used in the Bahá’i Writings to express the divine creative process. Visual metaphors discuss the reconfiguration
of all things into new patterns and forms, while auditory metaphors speak of
their being called into being.
The calling into being is
sounded in and the pattern of reconfiguration comes
forth from the gaps of time where occurs the resonant connecting of orders, the
vibratory joining and knitting together of creation and Revelation. The resonant interval is the pause between the
end of one creation and the beginning of another creation, as testified by
Baha’u’llah: “Verily, We have caused every soul to expire by virtue of Our
irresistible and all-subduing sovereignty. We have, then, called into being a
new creation, as a token of Our grace unto men.” (Gleanings from the Writings of Baha'u'llah: 29-30)
The
reconfiguration of creation is captured in this visual statement from the
Master: “Praise and thanksgiving be unto
Providence that out of all the realities in existence He has chosen the reality
of man and has honored it with intellect and wisdom, the two most luminous
lights in either world. Through the agency of this great endowment, He has in
every epoch cast on the mirror of creation new and wonderful configurations. If
we look objectively upon the world of being, it will become apparent that from
age to age, the temple of existence has continually been embellished with a
fresh grace, and distinguished with an ever-varying splendor, deriving from
wisdom and the power of thought.” (The Secret of Divine Civilization:1) Reconfiguration goes as deep as the atoms and
molecules of the universe. How do we
know this?
Let’s turn to the resonating call of the Word of God? Baha’u’llah says about the effect of the Bab’s Revelation: “I
testify that no sooner had the First Word proceeded, through the potency of Thy
will and purpose, out of His mouth, and the First Call gone forth from His lips
than the whole creation was revolutionized, and all that are in the heavens and
all that are on earth were stirred to the depths. Through that Word the
realities of all created things were shaken, were divided, separated,
scattered, combined and reunited, disclosing, in both the contingent world and
the heavenly kingdom, entities of a new creation, and revealing, in the unseen
realms, the signs and tokens of Thy unity and oneness….No sooner had that Revelation been unveiled to men's
eyes than…every several atom in all created
things acquired its own distinct and separate character.” (Prayers and
Meditations by Baha'u'llah: 295-296)
Though on the plane of manifestation all is made new, the
essence of all things remains unchanged.
Hence a new creation is the essence bursting forth in new forms. The
resonant interval is, then, also where the return of all things happens, for everything in the world of being
is the return of its prior state and the origin of its next state. Baha’u’llah says about the Return and the
beginning and end states of all things: “Thou hast asked regarding the subject
of the return. Know thou that the end is like unto the beginning. Even as thou
dost consider the beginning, similarly shouldst thou consider the end, and be
of them that truly perceive. Nay, rather consider the beginning as the end
itself, and so conversely, that thou mayest acquire a clear perception. Know
thou moreover that every created thing is continually brought forth and
returned at the bidding of thy Lord, the God of power and might.”
As to the Return…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.” (Tablets of Baha'u'llah:
183)
Nonetheless, even with the return of all things in a
renewed creation the mental distance between creations is an abyss too wide for
the mind to leap across unaided. Hence, God
comes near, Paradise is brought nigh, the distance is eclipsed. And that distance is covered only by the
heart through the power of love and attraction, the yearning for God.
Knowledge
changes and reveals all things, but love is their unchanging essence, (i.e.
what is revealed) for God’s love
is “the vital bond inherent, in accordance with
the divine creation, in the realities of things.” (Selections from the Writings of Abdu'l-Baha:27) Cosmologically, love is the fundamental substance
of the universe, the “material” cause of all.
By material cause I don’t mean a material substance, of course, but the metaphysical
receiver of primal intellect and divine will, attracting them to itself and
holding within itself the potentials and virtues of all created and createable
things. While Primal Will generates all
things, and divine, universal intellect creates and orders all reality, Divine love is the
pre-existent, unified Reality, because it is what all realities come forth
from. Baha’u’llah reveals this relation when He says, as the Voice of
God: “I knew My love for thee, hence I created thee.” (Arabic Hidden Words #3)
Love of any kind is no dreamy, passive feeling. It has many aspects. It can be a burning flame that causes intense pain, the steed of the Valley of Love. But the heat of divine love is the creative power that
transports souls to eternal life, and transmutes their essential being. One must be moved by it, magnetically attracted to the fire and be cleansed by it, freed from all attachments to water and clay before eternity dawns. The Master says: “The greatest gift of man is
universal love—that magnet which renders existence eternal. It attracts
realities and diffuses life with infinite joy. If this love penetrate the heart
of man, all the forces of the universe will be realized in him, for it is a
divine power which transports him to a divine station and he will make no
progress until he is illumined thereby. Strive to increase the love-power of
reality, to make your hearts greater centers of attraction and to create new
ideals and relationships.” (Abdu'l-Baha, Divine
Philosophy: 110) Baha’u’llah
describing the searing effects of this transmutation of soul, this rebirth, asserts: “Such
is the potency of the Divine Elixir, which, swift as the twinkling of an eye,
transmuteth the souls of men!” (The
Kitab-i-Iqan: 155)
“The flame of the fire of love, in this world of earth
and water,” states ‘Abdu’l-Baha, ‘comes through the power of attraction and not
by effort and striving. Nevertheless, by effort and perseverance, knowledge,
science and other perfections can be acquired; but only the light of the Divine
Beauty can transport and move the spirits through the force of attraction.” (Some Answered Questions: 130)
Love, the power of attraction, is the supreme
power of movement for the soul. To feel
this power is the direct connection.
The love of God both holds all things together and is the
repository holding within its infinite potentialities every possible creation. It is resonant with potential
to be reconfigured and have new forms be called into being. Yet things come together in specific
combinations to create phenomena by a voluntary movement, by affinity. If their joining into phenomena was involuntary
there would be no decomposition of form, so it must be, in some sense,
voluntary. That points to a Master Will,
a divine voluntus, energizing the divine intellect to create.
Another aspect of the relation of love is that of the
human Reality for its creator.
Baha’u’llah makes this statement in which we perceive, again, both
visual and auditory metaphors: “Whensoever the light of Manifestation of the
King of Oneness settleth upon the throne of the heart and soul, His shining
becometh visible in every limb and member. At that time the mystery of the
famed tradition gleameth out of the darkness: ‘A servant is drawn unto Me in
prayer until I answer him; and when I have answered him, I become the ear
wherewith he heareth...." (The Seven
Valleys: 22)
This personal, inner direct connection, based on the recognition
that: “So pervasive and general is this revelation that nothing whatsoever in
the whole universe can be discovered that doth not reflect His splendor. Under
such conditions every consideration of proximity and remoteness is obliterated”
eclipses the distance between God and soul. The
distance eclipsed is also inward and spiritual: "Wonder
not, if my Best-Beloved be closer to me than mine own self; wonder at this,
that I, despite such nearness, should still be so far from Him."...
Considering what God hath revealed, that "We are closer to man than his
life-vein," the poet hath, in allusion to this verse, stated that, though
the revelation of my Best-Beloved hath so permeated my being that He is closer
to me than my life-vein, yet, notwithstanding my certitude of its reality and
my recognition of my station, I am still so far removed from Him.” (Baha'u'llah,
Gleanings from the Writings of
Baha'u'llah: 184)
Now, spiritually, faith is hearing and
vision is seeing, or, better, insight. Both are discerning and spiritual
discernment is recognizing God in everything.
That is, recognition is either seeing God with thine own eyes or hearing
His Voice with thine own ears.
The connection between faith and hearing
was stated by St. Paul: “Faith cometh by hearing, and
hearing by the Word of God.” (King James Bible. The Book of Romans 10:17)
‘Abdu’l-Bahá echoes St. Paul when He says “the voice of God hath made
thine ears to hear.” (Tablets of
‘Abdu’l-Bahá. V.1:132) If faith
comes by hearing, then faith is the result of hearing and recognizing a
particular Voice, a Voice which by itself alone commands hearing, the same
Voice that called one into being. This
Voice is the first Sound of all creation.
It is, in a sense, the only voice.
"Know thou that every hearing ear,
if kept pure and undefiled, must, at all times and from every direction,
hearken to the voice that uttereth these holy words: “Verily, we are God’s, and
to Him shall we return.” (Gleanings
from the Writings of Bahá’u’lláh: 345)
Regarding vision, or spiritual insight,
Baha’u’llah wrote that He hoped “that through the loving-kindness of the
All-Wise, the All-Knowing, obscuring dust may be dispelled and the power of
perception enhanced, that the people may discover the purpose for which they
have been called into being. 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)
He stated, in words that bring together
so much of what we have been examining regarding vision, rebirth, and
recognition: “Beseech the peerless and incomparable Lord to bestow a
penetrating insight upon His servants, for insight leadeth to true knowledge
and is conducive to salvation. Indeed, the attainments of man's understanding
are dependent upon his keenness of sight. Were the children of men to gaze with
the eye of understanding, they would see the world illumined with a new light
in this day. Say: The Daystar of knowledge is manifest and the Luminary of
insight hath appeared. Fortunate indeed is the one who hath attained, who hath
witnessed, and who hath recognized.” (Baha'u'llah, Tabernacle of Unity)
He also indicated from where vision and spiritual
insight would come: “They who recite the verses of the All-Merciful in the most
melodious of tones will perceive in them that with which the sovereignty of
earth and heaven can never be compared. From them they will inhale the divine
fragrance of My worlds—worlds which today none can discern save those who have
been endowed with vision through this sublime, this beauteous Revelation.” (The Kitab-i-Aqdas: 61)
Creation must periodically be recreated so that it is
resonant with the new spiritual message and coherence achieved between the
spiritual and the material. But we must
bring our faculties into wakefulness and expression to perceive it in its new
form and Song.
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