Cleansing the Doors of Perception

If the doors of perception were cleansed every thing would appear to man as it is, Infinite. For man has closed himself up, till he sees all things thro' narrow chinks of his cavern.

(William Blake, The Marriage of Heaven and Hell)

At this point, in determining in broad outline what might be some of the conditions of the appearance of “the science of the love of God”, a science which, according to ‘Abdu’l-Baha, will renovate all the conditions of existence, it is to be understood that the work may be mostly about, as Blake stated above, clearing away obstacles blocking the way to true and greater vision, what Baha’u’llah often called giving up the murky maze of  illusory “idle fancies and vain imaginings” of a too narrow view of Reality to, instead, “follow the Straight Path.”

“The straight path,” He says, “is the one which guideth man to the dayspring of perception and to the dawning-place of true understanding and leadeth him to that which will redound to glory, honour and greatness.

We cherish the hope 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, p. 34)

He lamented: “The world is illumined with the effulgent glory of His countenance. And yet, behold how far its peoples have strayed from His path! None have believed in Him except them who, through the power of the Lord of Names, have shattered the idols of their vain imaginings and corrupt desires and entered the city of certitude.” (Gleanings from the Writings of Baha'u'llah: 12)

Vain imaginings and corrupt desires are idols of Reality that we create and form attachments to, but which actually limit vision by limiting the scope of Reality, like looking with a blindfold and calling it real sight.  The perceptual faculties must then, as Blake said, be cleansed and opened.   Baha’u’llah exhorts humanity: “Arise, O people, and, by the power of God's might, resolve to gain the victory over your own selves, that haply the whole earth may be freed and sanctified from its servitude to the gods of its idle fancies—gods that have inflicted such loss upon, and are responsible for the misery of, their wretched worshipers. These idols form the obstacle that impedeth man in his efforts to advance in the path of perfection.” (Gleanings from the Writings of Baha'u'llah: 93)

Entering into a new spiritual Reality depends upon us learning the signs and symbols of it that are promulgated by Revelation, the creator both of Reality and of the effective means to investigate it.  “Unveiled and unconcealed, this Wronged One hath, at all times, proclaimed before the face of all the peoples of the world that which will serve as the key for unlocking the doors of sciences, of arts, of knowledge, of well-being, of prosperity and wealth”  . (Tablets of Baha'u'llah: 96) 

The science of the love of God will probably not look like any current science, any more than the intellectual mansions of conceptual thought that humanity has erected and experimentally verified look like the myths and tales of old that grew from the raw data of life given to the mind by the senses.  The science of the love of God will be the true gnosis, the knowledge of revelation, the knowledge of faith and vision and salvation, the knowledge of the heart and the laws of its structure, the knowledge of the hidden, higher levels of creation in operation from the foundation of the world.  The great religious Founders have been at great pains to bestow the keys of understanding of these dimensions upon humanity, but we for the most part steadfastly refuse them.

But let us not go too far.  We are erecting the science of the love of God, not building a science of God.  At best we understand a glimmer of His attributes and qualities, and these through the heart.  Yet, Baha’u’llah asserts: "The birds of men’s hearts, however high they soar, can never hope to attain the heights of His unknowable Essence….Far be it from His glory that human pen or tongue should hint at His mystery, or that human heart conceive His Essence." (Gleanings from the Writings of Baha'u'llah: 193)

To build a science of the love of God we must try to perceive the world around us as a divine creation, and explicate in some manner the nature of divine knowledge and bring forth the faculties within the human reality that enable that knowledge to be known.  None of this is science proper, as we know and practice it.  That is not a bad thing, for, again, we do not want to clog our doors of perception.  We want to be open to new ways of knowing Reality.

We read in a recent post that one of the innate endowments of the human reality is, according to ‘Abdu’l-Baha, a love of Reality.  Perhaps another name for the science of the love of God is science of the love of Reality.

But Reality is something of a slippery term, often meaning anything to each and nothing to all.  What does ‘Abdu’l-Baha means by it?  Perhaps we can start with something that He said while in America: “The foundation of the divine religions is reality; were there no reality, there would be no religions. Abraham heralded reality. Moses promulgated reality. Christ established reality. Muhammad was the Messenger of reality. The Báb was the door of reality. Bahá'u'lláh was the splendor of reality. Reality is one; it does not admit multiplicity or division. Reality is as the sun, which shines forth from different dawning points; it is as the light, which has illumined many lanterns.” (The Promulgation of Universal Peace: 124)

It is worth noting that Reality is prior even to religion, in His mind, since Reality is the foundation of religion.  But it is this direct relationship between Reality and religion established by the universal Mind of the Great Luminaries mentioned above which generates, in each case and for its time, the first knowable (i.e. revealed) form of Reality.  The Master explains: “Briefly, the supreme Manifestations of God are aware of the reality of the mysteries of beings. Therefore, They establish laws which are suitable and adapted to the state of the world of man, for religion is the essential connection which proceeds from the realities of things. The Manifestation—that is, the Holy Lawgiver—unless He is aware of the realities of beings, will not comprehend the essential connection which proceeds from the realities of things, and He will certainly not be able to establish a religion conformable to the facts and suited to the conditions.” (Some Answered Questions:158)

But our discussion also points to the very real, but these days mostly forgotten, truth that religion is one on the most powerful means of investigating reality, the other two being science and art.  Reality is the foundation of all of them.  So when we investigate reality through religion, science, or art, we are investigating the same Reality and should, therefore, come up with the same truths, however differently they may be formed and expressed. Cleansing the doors of perception makes this truth radiantly clear, and forces us to discard outworn prejudices and to demolish those false limitations we impose on our vision.

Different Lights Different Mirrors

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. 

Divine Sciences

The resuscitation or rebirth of the spirit of man is through the science of the love of God. It is through the efficacy of the water of life. This life and quickening is the regeneration of the phenomenal world.

(Abdu'l-Baha, The Promulgation of Universal Peace: 277)

I have not been concerned in these posts with laying out in any detail the science of the love of God, which Abdu’l-Baha is reported to have said will “renovate the conditions of existence.“ I am concerned only with determining in broad outline what might be the conditions of its appearance.

One of the innate endowments of the human reality is, according to ‘Abdu’l-Baha, a love of Reality.  It's what drives the scientific enterprise.  He wrote: “Science is the first emanation from God toward man. All created beings embody the potentiality of material perfection, but the power of intellectual investigation and scientific acquisition is a higher virtue specialized to man alone. Other beings and organisms are deprived of this potentiality and attainment. God has created or deposited this love of reality in man.” (The Promulgation of Universal Peace:  49)  Perhaps another name for the science of the love of God is love of reality.

Names aside, the key word in both phrases is love.  And this means the heart moves into prominence as an organ of intelligence.  So, the fundamental question becomes: Which “Reality” does one love?  I have argued that the heart is specially created for obtaining divine knowledge. But the heart must be cleansed, purified and detached from all attachments to the things of this world and attachments to the Spirit made before its reflective capacities of the Divine can be really shown, and its innate intelligence for spiritual perception operate fully.

In one reported conversation of ‘Abdu’l-Baha's while He was in London, we read: “When asked how this attachment is to be made, how the love of God is to be obtained, since there are many people in the world who admit the existence of a Deity but without any emotion, 'Abdu'l-Bahá said: 'Knowledge is love. Study, listen to exhortations, think, try to understand the wisdom and greatness of God. ... The soil must be fertilized before the seed be sown.'" ('Abdu'l-Bahá from an article in The Fortnightly Review, June 1911, by Miss E. S. Stevens. Star of the West# 5)  In one of His prayers He implores the Almighty: “O my forgiving Lord! Light up the hearts with the rays of a lamp that sheddeth abroad its beams, disclosing to those among Thy people whom Thou hast bounteously favoured, the realities of all things.” (Selections from the Writings of Abdu'l-Baha: 44)

Educator, Stanwood Cobb, founder of the Chevy Chase Country Day School and president of The Association for the Advancement of Progressive Education from 1927–1930, predicts that: “A wholly new science will evolve under the Bahá'í aegis—a new type of psychology. The present materialistic psychology, which either denies or ignores the existence of a soul, will yield ground to a more spiritual science which will unfold to youth the essential nature of his being and his consequent spiritual potentialities.

“In fact, the whole process of education, including the acquisition of knowledge and the acquirement of skills, will be reoriented around those spiritual potentialities which are basic not only to the development of moral character but also to the wholesome development of man's emotional nature. Such a spiritual psychology will lift the human mind, expand its horizons, and develop powers higher than the materialistic scientist has been able to conceive.”(Bahá’i World Vol. 12: 877)

Baha’u’llah advises every individual to: “Free thyself from the fetters of this world, and loose thy soul from the prison of self. Seize thy chance, for it will come to thee no more.” (The Persian Hidden Words #40)

Some of these fetters must surely be the limitations we impose upon our understanding by material sciences and philosophies.  Hence getting to the heart’s level of intelligence can never be accomplished by wandering through the labyrinth of current intellectually-based, materially-oriented, sciences, arts, and philosophies, or to chart unnumbered concepts, facts and their verifications, synthesizing as we go.  Neither can it be reached by reasoning arguments to a conclusion, which another reason may overthrow.  Spiritual knowing is another order of knowledge requiring another faculty to perceive, know and understand; one that brings not just knowledge but also certitude.   That is, spiritual understanding is another order of knowing—as the intellectual is compared to the sensory—because it flows from another order of our being. To open this new faculty, to attain to spiritual knowledge, the soul must extricate itself from the drowsy dream of space/time reason, and ephemeral, phenomenal things.  “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)

In another place Baha’u’llah calls the individual “O Man of Two Visions!”  He means a material and a spiritual vision of things are both available to the intelligence.  But He is clear that if one wishes to know the divine, spiritual realm, one must: “Close one eye and open the other. Close one to the world and all that is therein, and open the other to the hallowed beauty of the Beloved.”  (The Persian Hidden Words #12)  This Hidden Word is closely linked with the one preceeding it, which reads: “Blind thine eyes, that thou mayest behold My beauty; stop thine ears, that thou mayest hearken unto the sweet melody of My voice; empty thyself of all learning, that thou mayest partake of My knowledge; and sanctify thyself from riches, that thou mayest obtain a lasting share from the ocean of My eternal wealth. Blind thine eyes, that is, to all save My beauty; stop thine ears to all save My word; empty thyself of all learning save the knowledge of Me; that with a clear vision, a pure heart and an attentive ear thou mayest enter the court of My holiness.” (The Persian Hidden Words #11)

Now, of course, He is not advocating any sort of physical mutilation, such as actually putting out one’s eye, but rather figuratively explaining what needs to be done to acquire a proper view of spiritual things.  One must turn one’s whole being to the spiritual realm to gain admittance.  It is this view that opens the floodgates of divine knowledge to pour from the heart.

Yet, sciences of the spirit are not limited to a new psychology of love, or imaginatively exploring the airy mysteries of something called spiritual reality and the like .  Indeed, one of the aspects of spiritual science is that it have real meaning and some practical end in view.  Sciences of the spirit embrace the entire range of human activity, but from a perspective that starts from the spiritual as the most significant aspect to consider.

Baha’u’llah says, for example: “One of the names of God is the Fashioner. He loveth craftsmanship. Therefore any of His servants who manifesteth this attribute is acceptable in the sight of this Wronged One. Craftsmanship is a book among the books of divine sciences, and a treasure among the treasures of His heavenly wisdom. This is a knowledge with meaning, for some of the sciences are brought forth by words and come to an end with words.” (From a Tablet - translated from the Persian) (The Compilation of Compilations vol. I, p. 1)

While, obviously, in the establishment of sciences of the spirit there are millions of miles to go and millennia of time to do it, yet, given the current state of the human and natural worlds now is the time to start renovating the conditions of existence.  This begins with quickening and resuscitating the human spirit, and: “The resuscitation or rebirth of the spirit of man is through the science of the love of God. It is through the efficacy of the water of life. This life and quickening is the regeneration of the phenomenal world.”

Climbing the Spiraling Circle of Existence

Briefly, there were many universal cycles preceding this one in which we are living. They were consummated, completed and their traces obliterated. The divine and creative purpose in them was the evolution of spiritual man, just as it is in this cycle. The circle of existence is the same circle; it returns.

(Abdu'l-Baha, The Promulgation of Universal Peace: 219)

In one of His talks at table ‘Abdu’l-Baha stated: “The Theosophists believe that man on the arc of ascent [i.e. the circle of existence] will return many times until he reaches the Supreme Center; in that condition matter becomes a clear mirror, the light of the spirit will shine upon it with its full power, and essential perfection will be acquired. Now, this is an established and deep theological proposition, that the material worlds are terminated at the end of the arc of descent, and that the condition of man is at the end of the arc of descent, and at the beginning of the arc of ascent, which is opposite to the Supreme Center. Also, from the beginning to the end of the arc of ascent, there are numerous spiritual degrees. The arc of descent is called beginning, [literally “bringing forth”] and that of ascent is called progress.[literally “producing something new” ] The arc of descent ends in materialities, and the arc of ascent ends in spiritualities. The point of the compass in describing a circle makes no retrograde motion, for this would be contrary to the natural movement and the divine order; otherwise, the symmetry of the circle would be spoiled.” (Some Answered Questions: 285-286)

Now, when ‘Abdu’l-Baha says that the “circle of existence is the same; it returns”, and the Theosophists say that a human being “returns many times until he reaches the Supreme Center” a difference in meaning about “return” exists. First, return has nothing to do with either the endless repetition of natural cycles or the reincarnation of the human soul, as many believe. The circle returns, but as spiritual movement it is also progressive, since, as ‘Abdu’l-Baha says: There is no limitation to the spirit of man, for spirit in itself is progressive”, (The Promulgation of Universal Peace: 101) and since the purpose of the return of the circle is “the evolution of spiritual man.”  Putting “return” together with “evolution” gives us the image of cycles—the same yet different.

Hence movement around the circle is more like a spiral—which can be demonstrated in three-dimensions, but not two.  The purpose is to move toward a perfect state, i.e. the “Supreme Center” which must be the highest point on the circle, otherwise “the beginning of the arc of ascent”, which is also the end of Arc of Descent, would not be “opposite to the Supreme Center”—the top of the circle in two-dimensions, the top of the spiral in three.

‘Abdu’l-Baha shows the fallacy of thinking that perfection can be achieved through the simple return of something: “If we say that this reincarnation is for acquiring perfections so that matter may become refined and delicate, and that the light of the spirit may be manifest in it with the greatest perfection, this also is mere imagination. For, even supposing we believe in this argument, still change of nature is impossible through renewal and return. The essence of imperfection, by returning, does not become the reality of perfection; complete darkness, by returning, does not become the source of light; the essence of weakness is not transformed into power and might by returning, and an earthly nature does not become a heavenly reality….Therefore, it is evident that returning and coming back to the material world does not become the cause of perfection. This theory has no proofs nor evidences; it is simply an idea. No, in reality the cause of acquiring perfections is the bounty of God.” (Some Answered Questions: 285)

From another view, the circle of existence is actually two arcs joined, moving in opposite directions to each other, one down, one up, but as one movement when fitted together as a circle.  They join because, as the little homily goes, “opposites attract.”  Too, when they knit together a magnet and field, i.e. the circle, is formed.   The Arc of Descent and the Arc of Ascent meet twice in direct connection to make the circle of existence: once at the bottom of the arc of descent, ending in materialities, which means the material world or world of being, and again at the top of the arc of ascent, which is complete knowledge of being.  It is what James Joyce calls in Finnegans Wake, “double-ends joined”.  The circular form of Finnegans Wake itself, with the last word of the last page connecting with the first word of the first page, being a literary union of the B and the E, the beginning and end which join.

The circle of existence as the union of the Arc of Descent and the Arc of Ascent also presents the progressive creation of being, (i.e. the Arc of Descent) from inward to outward, and the progressive human knowledge of being, (i.e. the Arc of Ascent) from outward to inward, ending in heavenly knowledge.

The circle as two arcs is “these two are the same, yet they are different”, another example of the principle of complementarity, not just as structure but also as process in movement, because each is in the other and moves toward its opposite and finds its realization in the other.  The Yin/Yang symbol is such an image of the structure of complementarity.  It is opposites united.

We have already discussed the two direct connections, the double joining and knitting together of the B and the E.  Spirit is joined with and is infused into matter at the end of descent, and matter unites with spirit through divine knowledge, at the end of ascent.  Traditional Christian theology, and also alchemy, believed that spirit was, through a series of descending dimensions, or emanations, imprisoned in matter, and the way to salvation lead up through the various grades of knowledge of being, often seven in number, (see Baha’u’llah’s discussion is the Seven Valleys) which progressively releases spirit from its prison—knowledge releasing in reverse order to the stages of spirit's materialization.  While descending along the Arc of Descent was progressive materialization, moving up the Arc of Ascent was progressive etherealization.  Descending was an externalization process, ascension was the internal process of progressive enlightenment. 

Let us take the image of the arcs of descent and ascent, not as a metaphor for the creation of the cosmos and humanity’s knowledge of it, but, as the opening quote states, as a metaphor for historical cycles.  Here also, as the Master says, “the circle of existence is the same circle: it returns.”  But their purpose was, again, not mindless repletion, but to progressively move humanity toward achieving a universal cycle and, having achieved this, these cycles were consummated, completed and their traces obliterated. The divine and creative purpose in them was the evolution of spiritual man.  At the center, or heart, of the dual arcs of rise and fall of civilization that form any cycle of history is the Manifestation of God for that time.  The center of the centers, (i.e. the Supreme Center) is Baha’u’llah.  The sphere of influence that He draws, i.e. the effective range of His laws, which is the entire planet, comes from the supreme power released by His Revelation, which elicits a response from all humanity, however unconscious at first.

Each circle of existence draws the boundaries of a field of life.  It has a locus, or center point, which is the highest point and the nexus of all interactions in the field, so progressive movement around the circle, while presented as a spiral upward, is actually inward toward the inmost heart.  We must always remember that, spiritually, inward is not downward, but, metaphorically, upward--it is not directional but of greater or lesser value. Hence the purpose was to reach the “Supreme Center” which is the highest state of the Self possible for that time, which is not God or His Manifestation, but the image and likeness of God within the mid-most heart of the human reality,.  One picture for all this is the wheel of life mandala which, some believe, was first painted by the Buddha Himself.  Similar mandala images were used in alchemical literature to depict the stages of their work, and Jung used mandalas as symbols for the wholeness of self.

Spiritually, moving around the circle of existence has to be an upward/inward spiraling movement since “any movement animated by love moveth from the periphery to the centre” (Selections from the Writings of Abdu'l-Baha: 197) and because, as the Master explains: “In the world of spirit there is no retrogression. The world of mortality is a world of contradictions, of opposites; motion being compulsory everything must either go forward or retreat. In the realm of spirit there is no retreat possible, all movement is bound to be towards a perfect state. ‘Progress’ is the expression of spirit in the world of matter.” (Abdu'l-Baha, Paris Talks: 90)

Inside the Direct Connection

Moreover, entrance and exit, descent and ascent, are characteristics of bodies and not of spirits—that is to say, sensible realities enter and come forth, but intellectual subtleties and mental realities, such as intelligence, love, knowledge, imagination and thought, do not enter, nor come forth, nor descend, but rather they have direct connection.

(Abdu'l-Baha, Some Answered Questions: 108)

As part of my on-going exploration of what the Bahá’i Writings call the science of the love of God, a few posts ago I presented the notion, following the statement of ‘Abdul-Baha above, of direct connection between and upon levels of reality.  I have been thinking more about it, and here is where I am at the moment.

Direct connections, as I am using the term, are special connections of completion.  In its largest example direct connection is the joining and knitting together by the Manifestation of God of the archetypal opposites B and the E, eternity and temporality, distinction and unity, to configure creation.  In modern language, for Baha’u’llah’s phrase “joined and knit together” might be substituted the “making of coherence” between spiritual and material levels of reality. 

Direct connection is the point and moment of the uniting, that fusing, of opposites, making manifest the condition of these two are the same, yet they are different. Historically, it also marks the time when the end of one order occurs so that a new one may appear, which is the linking of disparate historical ages into a temporal succession that progressively manifests the “religion of God, eternal in the past, eternal in the future”.  The connection itself is always characterized by chaos and turbulence, because it is where complexity is built.  It is the process of something changing into its opposite, both in order that each become complete and in order for both to continue and progress, to gradually crystallize chaos into a new order.  Joining and knitting together B and E into one means that at every level and kind, direct connection of opposites crosses in meaning and structure, inverts, incorporates, and reverses flow.  Even the simple mirror-image appears as the reverse lateral polarity of the object being reflected.   Changing into the opposite is accomplished through the movement called chiasmus, a word which means crossing—to be discussed in a later post.

This is also the process of transformation, for all transformation is done by strengthening the weak points of any structure or process.  This upsets the equilibrium of the structure which destroys the first structure as a new one is built.  Hence, as the Bible says, the last become first and the first last under the guidance of a new organizing quality.

I see three fundamental kinds of direct connection of opposites, each kind of connection corresponding to one of the main levels of reality: physical, mental, spiritual. 

Direct connections in the physical body are readily seen and understood—I previously gave the examples of the connections between the arteries and veins and the respiratory and circulatory systems. It is the coupling of actual material entities and things.  I also said in passing that connections between higher and lower orders of reality are more complex and harder to perceive, for the levels are operating at different frequency domains.  When speaking of direct connection between higher and lower levels of Reality, the challenge is to find a way to capture in words the counter-interactive flow between these orders of being, different states of the universe, one material, one immaterial; one temporal, one eternal.

At the level of mind and intellect it is the joining together of thought and thing into knowledge through resonant energy, via harmony and vibration, the commingling of waves and frequencies, and an isomorphism of structure between the object of knowledge and its reflection in the mirror of the mind—after passing through the chiasmus of the retina. The mind is what it beholds, knows the thing by becoming the thing, being immaterially what it perceives materially.  It can do this because: “…all these planes and states are folded up and hidden away within him.  Dost thou reckon thyself only a puny form, when within thee the universe is folded?” (Baha'u'llah, The Seven Valleys: 33)

This sort of direct connection is metaphorically captured in the example ‘Abdu’l-Baha uses of the sun, its light, and the mirror on which the imprint of the image of the sun becomes manifest: indeed all things on earth are a kind of mirror of the sun’s light.  The physical actuality is an analogy of the intellectual Reality.

He applies this analogy to the mind’s acquisition of knowledge:  “For example, knowledge, which is a state attained to by the intelligence, is an intellectual condition; and entering and coming out of the mind are imaginary conditions; but the mind is connected with the acquisition of knowledge, like images reflected in a mirror.” (Some Answered Questions: 108)

But still higher is the joining and knitting together of Divine Spirit and human soul.  Here the metaphor is named appearance, again similar in some of its aspects to the light-image appearing in a mirror.  But this is pure metaphor, and the process inverts.  It is not like a physical object appearing in a physical mirror by passing through the medium of light, which is a commonplace phenomenon in physics.  Neither is it just like a spiritual light appearing in a nonphysical mirror, like the acquisition of knowledge, though the analogy remains fruitful. 

‘Abdu’l-Baha explains: “The Holy Spirit is the Bounty of God and the luminous rays which emanate from the Manifestations; for the focus of the rays of the Sun of Reality was Christ, and from this glorious focus, which is the Reality of Christ, the Bounty of God reflected upon the other mirrors which were the reality of the Apostles. The descent of the Holy Spirit upon the Apostles signifies that the glorious divine bounties reflected and appeared in their reality….Therefore, as it is evident and clear that the intellectual realities do not enter and descend, and it is absolutely impossible that the Holy Spirit should ascend and descend, enter, come out or penetrate, it can only be that the Holy Spirit appears in splendor, as the sun appears in the mirror.” (Some Answered Questions: 108)

The sun appearing in the physical mirror, and knowledge appearing in the mirror of the mind, indicate some initial condition of “separation” and “movement”—the first physical, the second intellectual—between the “object” and the mirror, and the movement ends in a union of two become metaphorically one. Sensible realities “enter and come forth”—i.e. they move through physical space. The discussion on acquiring knowledge indicates that it is the mind that moves toward union with “another”, whether person or thing.  That is, levels of knowledge, because they are there for the mind to discover, point to mental movement since “knowledge is a state attained to by the intelligence”.  Once union is attained, detailed knowledge of that state is then acquired and learned: deficit is transformed into asset; absence becomes presence.

In the spiritual situation, (i.e. the image of the higher appearing in the reality of the lower to animate it and establish its influence) direct connection is formed from the higher communicating with itself as its own image and likeness.  I have called this state of knowing “recognition by direct perception", especially of the soul’s recognition of the Manifestation of God.  About it the Bab wrote: “No one hath ever been able befittingly to recognize Him nor will any man succeed at any time in comprehending Him as is truly meet and seemly, for any reality to which the term 'being' is applicable hath been created by the sovereign Will of the Almighty, Who hath shed upon it the radiance of His Own Self, shining forth from His most august station. He hath moreover deposited within the realities of all created things the emblem of His recognition, that everyone may know of a certainty that He is the Beginning and the End, the Manifest and the Hidden, the Maker and the Sustainer, the Omnipotent and the All-Knowing, the One Who heareth and perceiveth all things…”(Selections from the Writings of the Bab:111-112)

Here it is the heart that moves by the power of attraction and longing for connection to Higher Reality within it.  Here it is not union with another but reunion with oneself that is the purpose.  The higher reality is unveiled, becomes manifest.  An example of this sort of direct connection, of the higher communing with its own image that is the center of the lower, is this statement from Baha’u’llah: “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...." For thus the Master of the house hath appeared within His home, and all the pillars of the dwelling are ashine with His light. And the action and effect of the light are from the Light-Giver; so it is that all move through Him and arise by His will. And this is that spring whereof the near ones drink, as it is said: "A fount whereof the near unto God shall drink...." (The Seven Valleys: 21)

For the soul, the higher consciousness within it can only appear when the lover of has made an effort to connect with God.  That effort is the giving up of self.  Prior to that, though the higher was present it was not apparent.  Baha’u’llah tells us that achieving the condition of spiritual direct connection requires one thing: “Love Me, that I may love thee. If thou lovest Me not, My love can in no wise reach thee. Know this, O servant.” (Arabic Hidden Words #5)

In the spirit, direct connection is pre-established potential, though latent, unconscious and inactive.  The process is not acquisition, but, rather, bringing forth.  The soul is drawn to God in prayer in longing and attraction.  When He answers He Himself becomes the organ of hearing His own answer.  Thus direct connection in the heart is established consciously and reunion is attained.  

A DIRECT PERCEPTION OF REALITY

Praise be to God! the least change produced in the form of the smallest thing proves the existence of a creator: then can this great universe, which is endless, be self-created and come into existence from the action of matter and the elements? How self-evidently wrong is such a supposition!

These obvious arguments are adduced for weak souls; but 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.

(Abdu'l-Baha, Some Answered Questions: 6)

I said that one cannot reason one’s way to direct perception.  This takes one farther away, because, after the eclipse of intellectual distance, reason can only go on within a fading mental space.  That is, one does not reason to direct perception, rather, one reasons from it.  To rely solely upon reason reenacts the story of the Tower of Babel, when humans attempted to build a tower that would “reach unto heaven”. Instead, because they built outward instead of inward, they splintered and the one language of spirit fractured into a cacophony of voices talking past each other.  ‘Abdu’l-Baha reminds us that: “any movement animated by love moveth from the periphery to the centre, from space to the Day-Star of the universe.” (Selections from the Writings of Abdu'l-Baha: 197)

Direct perception, i.e. the state of knowing by recognition, not cognition, through the spiritual faculties of faith and vision, i.e. to perceive with our God-like faculties, is a gift of the heart.  This gift, like reason, is not bestowed upon a soul as an addition to other natural and spiritual endowments.  The ability to perceive directly, like verbal or mathematical ability, is innate, an essential aspect and characteristic of the human reality.  The gift, as a potential, is bestowed at conception.  The archetypal direct perception of recognition is: “If it be your wish, O people, to know God and to discover the greatness of His might, look, then, upon Me with Mine own eyes, and not with the eyes of any one besides Me. Ye will, otherwise, be never capable of recognizing Me, though ye ponder My Cause as long as My Kingdom endureth, and meditate upon all created things throughout the eternity of God, the Sovereign Lord of all, the Omnipotent, the Ever-Abiding, the All-Wise.” (Gleanings from the Writings of Baha'u'llah: 272)

We can ask: What inhibits this state of direct perception from coming forth?  In one passage, Baha’u’llah points indirectly to the reason: “We cherish the hope 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: 34)

The phrase “obscuring dust” does not refer, it seems to me, to accurate sensory apprehensions, or to true logical and scientific conclusions and established facts, but rather to false theories, prejudicial beliefs, emotional attachments to unchallenged dogmas and rigid ideologies, whether religious or scientific, that are taken to be true and final. A belief in the finality of some notion or fact inhibits or interdicts actual or further investigations.  For example, dogmatic materialism circumscribes knowledge by limiting itself to a purely material causality.  On the other side, pure imaginations that pass as spiritual understanding, such as misguided religious beliefs, or what seems to be the sole content of some ‘new age’ writing, do the same thing. 

Baha’u’llah says of those who uphold standards of impartial investigation: “These souls are the protectors of the Cause of God on earth, who shall preserve its beauty from the obscuring dust of idle fancies and vain imaginings.” (The Summons of the Lord of Hosts: 10)

But, as with all gifts, to activate, bring forth, and train direct perception—to see Him with His own eyes—requires that certain internal conditions be in place.  The divine knowledge that one may obtain by direct perception is only reached by the heart’s attraction for the Holy Reality.  The attitude that indicates attraction for the Divine is humility. The House of Justice says Baha’is must adopt “a humble posture of learning.”  Baha’u’llah’s counsel is: “O my brother, when a true seeker determineth to take the step of search in the path leading to the knowledge of the Ancient of Days, he must, before all else, cleanse and purify his heart, which is the seat of the revelation of the inner mysteries of God, from the obscuring dust of all acquired knowledge, and the allusions of the embodiments of satanic fancy….He must so cleanse his heart that no remnant of either love or hate may linger therein, lest that love blindly incline him to error, or that hate repel him away from the truth. Even as thou dost witness in this Day how most of the people, because of such love and hate, are bereft of the immortal Face, have strayed far from the Embodiments of the Divine mysteries, and, shepherdless, are roaming through the wilderness of oblivion and error.” (Baha'u'llah, The Kitab-i-Iqan: 192)

What can direct perception accomplish?  'Abdu'l-Bahá said: "There is but one power which heals—that is God. The state or condition through which the healing takes place is the confidence of the heart. By some this state is reached through pills, powders, and physicians. By others through hygiene, fasting, and prayer. By others through direct perception." (Abdu'l-Baha in London: 95)  Again, if healing comes about through “confidence of the heart” and direct perception is one avenue to reach that confidence, which may be more like certainty, then it is the heart that sees.   

Direct perception of higher states occurs in the heart, where lies the celestial faculty “that is infinite both in regards man’s physical and intellectual faculties”. This celestial faculty, the Master explains: “...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.” (Foundations of World Unity: 51) 

But there are broader implications and greater results than personal healing.  I have often referred to Baha’u’llah’s restatement of the ancient Hermetic truth of the conjunction of the two states of the B and E, Spirit and Matter.  As He says: “these two are the same, yet they are different.”  Each state (i.e. the state of difference and the state of sameness) is perceived by a type of perception, but sameness is inclusive of the state of difference; difference having come from sameness. 

Perceptually, when the two become one to the mind and heart it marks the change in understanding from “yet they are different” to “these two are the same”.  It is then that the opposites seen in polar contradiction in difference are reframed as complements of a union, like the writer and his pen, creator and instrument.  They are separate and different until writing begins, but when working together, they become one yet different. 

The archetype of the condition of “these two are the same, yet they are different” is the relation between God and His Manifestations.  Baha’u’llah writes, for example: “Men have failed to perceive Our purpose in the references We have made to Divinity and Godhood. Were they to apprehend it, they would arise from their places, and cry out: ‘We, verily, ask pardon of God!’ The Seal of the Prophets—may the souls of all else but Him be offered up for His sake—saith: "Manifold are Our relationships with God. At one time, We are He Himself, and He is We Ourself. At another He is that He is, and We are that We are." (Baha'u'llah, Epistle to the Son of the Wolf: 41)

It is the purpose of the Manifestations to awaken the faculty of “inner perception”, to train the divine endowment of the celestial faculty, so we may have a direct perception of the creation as a divine construct, one infinitely greater than the infinite physical universe.  Difficult to see and believe?  The Master said above: if the inner perception be open, a hundred thousand clear proofs become visible.  Otherwise, we are left with only the weakness of human reason.

The Spiritual Creation and the Universe

Thou didst wish to make Thyself known unto men; therefore, Thou didst, through a word of Thy mouth, bring creation into being and fashion the universe.

(Baha'u'llah, Prayers and Meditations by Baha'u'llah: 6)

The fundamental purpose of the entire universe is, according to the above statement, for human beings to know God.  The universe is the physical part of creation, fashioned to be a kind of laboratory of spiritual discovery.  To know God requires a special power of knowing, since it is clear that the animals, plants and minerals know nothing of God, and, if we could ask them, would likely say they don’t care about knowing.

So who are these creatures that God wants to reveal Himself to so they will know Him and how did God fashion them to know Him?  Let’s take the second question first.

In one of His Hidden Words Baha’u’llah reveals the inner thoughts of the Mind of God: “Veiled in My immemorial being and in the ancient eternity of My essence, I knew My love for thee; therefore I created thee, have engraved on thee Mine image and revealed to thee My beauty.” (Arabic Hidden Words #3)

Intellect, or Mind, is the way that God creates the universe out of His love for Man.  Of Mind ‘Abdu’l-Baha says: “This supreme emblem of God stands first in the order of creation and first in rank, taking precedence over all created things. Witness to it is the Holy Tradition, "Before all else, God created the mind." From the dawn of creation, it was made to be revealed in the temple of man.” (The Secret of Divine Civilization: 1) 

  Now this Mind which is first created is not your mind or my mind, but the universal Mind of the Manifestations. ‘Abdu’l-Baha explains:  “The first thing which emanated from God is that universal reality, which the ancient philosophers termed the "First Mind," and which the people of Baha call the "First Will." This emanation, in that which concerns its action in the world of God, is not limited by time or place; it is without beginning or end—beginning and end in relation to God are one. The preexistence of God is the preexistence of essence, and also preexistence of time, and the phenomenality of contingency is essential and not temporal, as we have already explained one day at table.”

As great as this First Mind is, the Master goes on: “Though the ‘First Mind’ is without beginning, it does not become a sharer in the preexistence of God, for the existence of the universal reality in relation to the existence of God is nothingness, and it has not the power to become an associate of God and like unto Him in preexistence.” (Some Answered Questions: 203)

About the human creation the Master states: “He has chosen the reality of man and has honored it with intellect and wisdom.” (The Secret of Divine Civilization: 1)  Our intellectual endowment is part of what is meant by the human reality being made in the image and after the likeness of God and His Manifestations.  But the human intellect, however powerful, is a pale reflection of the infinite divine Mind or Will, which is first created.

Yet, we must always recognize that, as the lead quote says, Love is prior, even before Mind.  Love was already there for Mind to know.  Love is the uncreated substance from which Mind creates all aspects of the universe, because Mind or Intellect knows God’s Love for His creation within His own essence.  Thus, for me, when ‘Abdu’l-Baha says “The reality of man is his thought” (Paris Talks: 17) it implies both that we think best about what we truly love most and we love best what we think about most.   We may be thinking beings, but first we are loving beings.  Our best thinking grows out of love, in imitation of our Creator.  Too, when He states: “Knowledge is love” ("Star of the West" Vol. 20, No. 10, p. 314) it is because Mind comes forth from love.

‘Abdu’l-Baha wrote this powerful paean to the power of Love in its many contexts (I have bold-faced those statements that bear directly on my theme): “Know thou of a certainty that Love is the secret of God's holy Dispensation, the manifestation of the All-Merciful, the fountain of spiritual outpourings. Love is heaven's kindly light, the Holy Spirit's eternal breath that vivifieth the human soul. Love is the cause of God's revelation unto man, the vital bond inherent, in accordance with the divine creation, in the realities of things.  Love is the one means that ensureth true felicity both in this world and the next. Love is the light that guideth in darkness, the living link that uniteth God with man, that assureth the progress of every illumined soul. Love is the most great law that ruleth this mighty and heavenly cycle, the unique power that bindeth together the divers elements of this material world, the supreme magnetic force that directeth the movements of the spheres in the celestial realms.  Love revealeth with unfailing and limitless power the mysteries latent in the universe.  Love is the spirit of life unto the adorned body of mankind, the establisher of true civilization in this mortal world, and the shedder of imperishable glory upon every high-aiming race and nation.” (Selections from the Writings of Abdu'l-Baha: 27)

Creation is the bringing forth by Mind of all the qualities latent in God’s Love.  Said another way, while the substance of all things is the same in essence, (i.e. all physical things come forth from the primal matter which is the physical and mental counterpart to divine Love) creation is the imprint of formal cause upon material cause, knowledge upon love.  Love and intellect form a pair of opposites on every level, and the union of these opposites is so that their underlying oneness may become manifest. 

The fundamental qualities and essential connections of the universe, (i.e. the spiritual foundation of the creation) are, in their full primal unity, the names and attributes of God and the inherent relations existing between them.  Every Revelation reconfigures these on the plane of manifestation, creating the knowledge of God, which is the essence of all knowledge.  Baha’u’llah wrote: “Whatever is in the heavens and whatever is on the earth is a direct evidence of the revelation within it of the attributes and names of God, inasmuch as within every atom are enshrined the signs that bear eloquent testimony to the revelation of that Most Great Light. Methinks, but for the potency of that revelation, no being could ever exist. How resplendent the luminaries of knowledge that shine in an atom, and how vast the oceans of wisdom that surge within a drop!....From that which hath been said it becometh evident that all things, in their inmost reality, testify to the revelation of the names and attributes of God within them. Each according to its capacity, indicateth, and is expressive of, the knowledge of God. So potent and universal is this revelation, that it hath encompassed all things visible and invisible. (Gleanings from the Writings of Baha'u'llah: 177-178) 

Every name and attribute of God is within all created things, because each and every one of His qualities is universal and permeates the entire creation; each created thing bearing and expressive of both a single Name of God in its essence and, in its relations, a unique configuration of all God’s Names and attributes.  Baha’u’llah says, for example: “Every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God is endowed with such potency as can instill new life into every human frame, if ye be of them that comprehend this truth. All the wondrous works ye behold in this world have been manifested through the operation of His supreme and most exalted Will, His wondrous and inflexible Purpose. Through the mere revelation of the word “Fashioner,” issuing forth from His lips and proclaiming His attribute to mankind, such power is released as can generate, through successive ages, all the manifold arts which the hands of man can produce. This, verily, is a certain truth. No sooner is this resplendent word uttered, than its animating energies, stirring within all created things, give birth to the means and instruments whereby such arts can be produced and perfected. All the wondrous achievements ye now witness are the direct consequences of the Revelation of this Name. In the days to come, ye will, verily, behold things of which ye have never heard before. Thus hath it been decreed in the Tablets of God, and none can comprehend it except them whose sight is sharp.” (Gleanings from the Writings of Bahá’u’lláh: 141 – 142)