Evolution and Involution: Creation and Attraction

So we should view the evolutionary force in man, and in all life, as the promise of self-transcendence.  It is not a compulsive force like gravity, if indeed it is a force at all, but it induces internal transformation.

(Arthur Young, The Reflexive Universe: 245)

Evolution is the push outward into the highest complexity, involution is the attraction inward toward the deepest center, a centrifugal movement and a centripetal movement.  Evolution and Involution go on simultaneously, as the tree heightens and spreads its canopy, it also drives its roots both inwardly and outwardly into the earth. These dual-processes are twin effects of a single all-encompassing power.

As I have been exploring, one part of the switch from human to divine knowledge, from intellectual to spiritual intelligence, is to pass from cognition to recognition as the primary means of knowing. Recognition is wholistic not reductionist.  Its knowledge is, first, reflexive not objective, though it has an objective dimension.  It sees the “other” as oneself in other form, for it grounds all perception in the principle that there is a “primal oneness deposited at the heart of all created things.”  (Selections from the Writings of Abdu'l-Baha: 263)

Yet, though forms are the same or, at least, equivalent, between levels of reality, there are, simultaneously, differences in value and station.  It is again the “B” and the “E” joined and knit together in the original unity of “these two are the same, yet they are different.”  The archetype of this relation is that between God and His Manifestations, as explained by Baha’u’llah: “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." (Epistle to the Son of the Wolf: 41)

For the growing individual, consciousness moves, by and large, from the sensory through the intellectual into the spiritual, or divine. A similar process is seen in the evolutionary record of humanity’s growth in consciousness, as the collective has moved from the sensory of archaic culture, through the intellectual birthed with Adam, and is now passing from the intellectual into the divine, all previous cycles assimilated into the higher that replaces it.

This movement in knowledge goes from outer physical appearance to inner spiritual reality.  The inward movement is attraction to a manifestation of God and the recognition of It, or Him, as so.  The physical universe and the mental cosmos are both Revelations of God, the first the secondary the second the primary, and these forms are from the creative power of the divine Mind.  Each is also immediately connected to their Creator, so God may be seen anywhere—“Even as He hath revealed: "We will surely show them Our signs in the world and within themselves." (Baha'u'llah, The Kitab-i-Iqan: 101)

But the greatest Manifestation of God is the Figure called the Great Prophet.  He is the mid-most heart of all and movement toward Him is the involutionary movement that manifests as the outer evolutionary one.

I mean that, besides the evolutionary thrust, another movement, a counterbalancing and complementary movement to the evolutionary also goes on. This movement is not primarily of knowledge and recognition, but of love and attraction.  This is the involutionary movement of attraction to the center.  The dictionary defines involution as the act or an instance of enfolding or entangling in greater involvement, complexity and intricacy. In language it is a grammatical construction usually characterized by the insertion of clauses between the subject and predicate—think Shoghi Effendi.  In mathematics, involution is a function, or transformation, or operation, that is equal to its inverse, i.e., which gives the identity when applied to itself an inward curvature or penetration, a sort of fractal.  In humanity it is the levels of intensity of attraction to Him, the spiraling inward of the moth to the flame.

In the universe this attraction is called gravity, in the cosmos of mind it is the growth of identity toward the integrated self, in divine creation it is love for the Manifestation of God.  All the powers and capacities are within the center, the locus and focus of the circle of life and its highest Point, and are released from there, as the mighty oak is brought forth from the tiny acorn.  Let us recall that “the universe is enfolded” within the seed which is every soul.  The release and organization of these powers, attributes and capacities is evolution.

From the perspective of this metaphor, the divine spiritual creation unfolds into the intellectual cosmos which manifests as the physical universe.  The universe is unlocked and released by the cosmos, and cosmos by creation.  Progress in love and attraction is levels of intensity.  It moves from “the periphery” of this world to the mid-most spiritual heart of creation through the opening of progressively inner doors of love and perception, moving from separation to union, not inward from light to dark, but, rather, inward from dark to light.  The Master says: “Be self-sacrificing in the path of God, and wing thy flight unto the heavens of the love of the Abha Beauty, for any movement animated by love moveth from the periphery to the centre, from space to the Day-Star of the universe. Perchance thou deemest this to be difficult, but I tell thee that such cannot be the case, for when the motivating and guiding power is the divine force of magnetism it is possible, by its aid, to traverse time and space easily and swiftly.” (Selections from the Writings of Abdu'l-Baha: 197-198)    

Evolution or development in this world starts when the form of a material thing begins to resonate in response to new spiritual energies and frequencies set vibrating within it, creating increasingly complex geometries of harmonic structure that push the form toward disequilibrium.  The form eventually loses its established internal coherency, breaks down, and then is rebuilt in new form on a new frequency.  Material evolution is marked by an increasing outer physical complexity of form.  Mental evolution is the blossoming of higher mental capacities. Spiritual evolution is the advances made in consciousness and love by progressive Revelation.

Humanity exists in the middle earth of the creation, in the cosmos built of thought, since “the reality of man is his thought.”  Its involution moves inward which is spiritually upward, while its evolution moves outward; that is, spiritually downward, though materially and socially upward.  The complements that are evolution and involution are mirror images and the basis of chiasmus which is the engine of transformation, the Word and its echoes or vibrating effects both in the world and in the human soul.  But transformations within any organic system, whether natural or social, reach an upper limit, or asymptote, after which a new order must be established.

The word asymptote is derived from the Greek (asumptōtos) which means “not falling together”.  That is, there is no actual, literal connection between things.  In analytic geometry, an asymptote of a curve is a line such that the distance between the curve and the line approaches zero as they tend to infinity, but never actually touch.  Thus there always exists a gap where resonance, or vibratory effect, can take place to harmonize the one with the other, or, if in time, the old with the new, so there is some sort of continuity, even when there is a discontinuity—“these two are the same, yet they are different.” In knowledge this resonance, this harmony, is effected by the symbol, a word which means “to throw together”.  Indeed, figurative language of any kind does this.

Metaphor is one of several kinds of analogical devices.  But whether the analogical device is metaphor, simile, allegory, or some other type of figure, it will contain three basic parts: the tenor, that which is being described; the vehicle, that which is compared to the tenor; and the meaning, that area of similarity between the tenor and vehicle which is the field which generates both.

That is, both inner sign and outer sign when thrown together in a symbol refer to each other.  But each individually also and simultaneously and together refer to a more general ground or field of divine thought that they came forth from and return to in meaning.

Transformations occur within every organic system. They are the means of development, (i.e. bringing out more of the “primal oneness” deposited at the core of things). At the end of development transformations of the whole system must occur for life to continue.  To transcend the whole system means to transcend the limitations of the system’s form.  Thus, in transcendence the whole form of the system must collapse before the new form can fully appear. The breakdown is a result of the evolutionary impulse of the new form pushing its way into creation through a vibrating influence.  Evolution is not just accompanied by the involution.  Both flow out from the original creation of the universe enfolded into every soul when vibrated to a new harmony by a progressive Revelation to which it returns via the twin spiraling paths of evolution and involution.

Word and Matter: Words Matter

Look at the world and ponder a while upon it. It unveileth the book of its own self before thine eyes and revealeth that which the Pen of thy Lord, the Fashioner, the All-Informed, hath inscribed therein. It will acquaint thee with that which is within it and upon it and will give thee such clear explanations as to make thee independent of every eloquent expounder.

(Tablets of Baha'u'llah: 141-142)

This quote from Baha’u’llah, which also appeared last post,  refers to God “the Fashioner” inscribing His Revelation on the pages of the world—as Adam named things in the garden and gave them perceptible intellectual existence, which is the birth of human intellectual consciousness as we know that term.  Creation was, in traditional Christian theology, the verbum factum, the secondary revelation of God.  Scripture, the verbum scriptum, was the primary revelation.

But it also points out to me that writers are conjurors, words are powerful talismen.  God “calls” creation into being; His Manifestation is the “Word made flesh” and His Words are creative.  But it also points to the original meaning of the word “poet” as “the maker.”  Every poet makes ideas and things intellectual perceptible to the mind through figurative language. The Word as the primary creation acting upon Nature means that “Nature in its essence is the embodiment of My Name, the Maker, the Creator.” (Tablets of Baha'u'llah: 141)  Too, let us remember that: “…nature, also, in its essence is an intellectual reality and is not sensible.” (Abdu'l-Baha, Some Answered Questions: 83)

As the spiritual Word acts upon the intellectual reality of Nature Its vibrational effects call forth responses called material reality, i.e. that which the Pen of thy Lord, the Fashioner, the All-Informed, hath inscribed therein..  The sonorous imprint of the Word of God is the proof of the Voice of God sounding throughout creation.  The secondary creation is the physical universe, the crafts of God.  Humanity imitates His actions in our speech, art and crafts.

But even more fundamentally, the Manifestation of God infuses His own Being into creation in some manner.  With every Revelation of this returning archetypal Being a new creation is “called into being.”  Baha’u’llah writes of the Bab: “When He purposed to call the new creation into being, He sent forth the Manifest and Luminous Point from the horizon of His Will; it passed through every sign and manifested itself in every form until it reached the zenith, as bidden by God, the Lord of all men." (Tablets of Baha’u’llah: 101)

‘Abdu’l-Baha, in one of His tablets, frames the bringing forth of the universe in terms of fashioner and fashioned, using Aristotelian arguments of causality, specifically the union of formal cause (the essential form of something) and material cause, the primal substance that essential form imprints upon.  He wrote: “For example it has been stated that all things are composed of two elements: the "Fashioner" and the "Fashioned". By "Fashioned" is meant substance and primary matter and by "Fashioner" is meant the form and shape which confines and limits the primary matter from its state of indefiniteness and freedom to the courtyard of limitation and definite form. For example, letters and words are composed of two things: The first is the substance which is ink and pencil-lead and is the "Fashioned" while the second is the forms and features of the letters and words which are the "Fashioner". Now this specific substance and this specific form were created simultaneously although the general substance was created before the specific form. It is clear that, before the existence of this specific form and shape, the ink had an external existence which had no specific form or shape and had the ability and potential to assume the shape of any letter or word and was not restricted or specified to a particular shape or form. Similarly, the general shape and form had an existence before substance specified them since before being specified by substance (which is ink or pencil-lead) the general shape and form of letters and words had a mental existence in the mind of the writer. Moreover, general form and general substance were also created simultaneously. For it is not possible for a thing to have an external existence and not to be formed into a shape because substance and primal matter in order to exist need shape and form; while shape and form in order to appear need substance. Thus has it been said: Substance needs form to endure.  In attaining shape it has imprisoned form.

"This is not a false circular argument. It is usually known as an interdependent or connected argument. For a false circular argument is one where one thing is dependent on another which is in turn dependent on the first in one or two stages. Since it has been shown that specific substance and specific form were created simultaneously as also were general substance and general form, therefore potentialities and their recipients come into being at one and the same time and neither precedes the other except in essence.”(Provisional Translations, I was a Hidden Treasure)
        Through this discussion we return to Baha’u’llah’s statement in His Tablet of Wisdom—wisdom literature being, again, Hermetic literature: “That which hath been in existence had existed before, but not in the form thou seest today. The world of existence came into being through the heat generated from the interaction between the active force and that which is its recipient. These two are the same, yet they are different.” (Tablets of Baha'u'llah: 140)

Other metaphors for this relation of fashioner and fashioned, of formal and material cause, are the creative interplay between God’s knowledge and love for His creation.  In one of The Hidden Words, Baha’u’llah wrote: “Out of the essence of knowledge I gave thee being, why seekest thou enlightenment from anyone beside Me? Out of the clay of love I molded thee, how dost thou busy thyself with another? Turn thy sight unto thyself, that thou mayest find Me standing within thee, mighty, powerful and self-subsisting.  (The Arabic Hidden Words #13)

Looking closely at this statement we realize that the phrase, “Out of the essence of knowledge I gave thee being”, is formal cause, because both the Being of the Manifestation of God and His Word are the essence of knowledge.  Baha’u’llah states: “Notwithstanding all these evident and significant traditions, all these unmistakable and undisputed allusions, the people have rejected the immaculate Essence of knowledge and of holy utterance, and have turned unto the exponents of rebellion and error.” (The Kitab-i-Iqan: 241)

On the other hand, “Out of the clay of love” is the primal material cause or substance, the archetypal substance that is the “recipient” of the active force of the Will and Knowledge of God through His Manifestation.  Thus, at the heart of all creation, meaning the One Who is the Source and Center and lasts from beginning to end, the Alpha and Omega, in Jesus words, of this relationship between fashioner and fashioned, of formal and material causes, is the Being of the Manifestation “standing within thee, mighty, powerful and self-subsisting.” 

By inner heart, i.e. the center and locus of human understanding, is meant the will and its volitions.  As I quoted last post, the Master is recorded as having said: “Will is the centre or focus of human understanding. We must will to know God, just as we must will in order to possess the life He has given us. The human will must be subdued and trained into the will of God. It is a great power to have a strong will, but a greater power to give that will to God. The will is what we do, the understanding is what we know. Will and understanding must be one in the cause of God. Intention brings attainment.” ('Abdu'l-Bahá: Ten Days in the Light of Acca: 30)  More on this in my next post.

THE OMNISCIENT FASHIONER

O SON OF BOUNTY! Out of the wastes of nothingness, with the clay of My command I made thee to appear, and have ordained for thy training every atom in existence and the essence of all created things.

(Baha'u'llah, The Persian Hidden Words #29)

To start again by recapping:  One way to view creation is to see it as comprising three levels: a material universe; an intellectual cosmos; the divine qualities or attributes.  The first two are creation, properly speaking. The third level, what I am calling the level of divinity, composed of the archetypal qualities of God, is, strictly speaking, not really part of creation, but is, rather, the foundation of its creative power.  I call it a level to distinguish it from the Essence of God which is unknowable.

These three levels correspond to the three levels of the human reality: body, mind and spirit or soul.  The divine level is latent within the rational, thinking human soul.  The Master says “…man has a soul in which dwells the divine spirit…(Paris Talks: 24)  Our diivinity is activated and brought into moral expression through contact with the Word of God.  Again, ‘Abdu’l-Baha states: “By mere intellectual development and power of reason, man cannot attain to his fullest degree—that is to say, by means of intellect alone he cannot accomplish the progress effected by religion….Therefore, the world of humanity must be confirmed by the breath of the Holy Spirit in order to receive universal education. Through the infusion of divine power all nations and peoples become quickened, and universal happiness is possible.” (The Promulgation of Universal Peace: 170)

Let us take a closer look at this foundational level through examining what Baha’u’llah says about two qualities of God, “the Fashioner and “the Omniscient”.  However, we must also and always context any discussion of the origin of creation with this caution from Baha’u’llah: “None can grasp the reality of the origin of creation save God, exalted be His glory, Whose knowledge embraceth all things both before and after they come into being. Creation hath neither beginning nor end, and none hath ever unravelled its mystery. Its knowledge hath ever been, and shall remain, hidden and preserved with those Who are the Repositories of divine knowledge.” (Tabernacle of Unity: 47)  I am not about to unravel the mystery of the origin of creation.  I will simply put forth some insights, gleaned from the Revelation of Baha’u’llah, “the repository of divine knowledge” and attempt to make some sense of them

Since the dawn of language and scripture, the metaphor of the Word has been the primary vehicle to explain the creation, its Creator, and knowledge.  Baha’u’llah says: “The entire creation hath been called into being through the Will of God, magnified be His glory, and peerless Adam hath been fashioned through the agency of His all-compelling Word, a Word which is the source, the wellspring, the repository, and the dawning-place of the intellect. From it all creation hath proceeded, and it is the channel of God's primal grace.” (Tabernacle of Unity: 47)

The same relation between will, or volition, creativity, and knowledge holds for the human reality.  ‘Abdu’l-Baha is reported to have said: “Will is the centre or focus of human understanding. We must will to know God, just as we must will in order to possess the life He has given us. The human will must be subdued and trained into the will of God. It is a great power to have a strong will, but a greater power to give that will to God. The will is what we do, the understanding is what we know. Will and understanding must be one in the cause of God. Intention brings attainment.” ('Abdu'l-Bahá: Ten Days in the Light of Acca: 30)

The two attributes of God, “the Fashioner”, i.e. His Will expressed through His Word and “the Omniscient”, i.e. the All-knowing One, pervade the world and history, eternity and temporality, folded in and unfolding out.  It is knowing, Omniscient, and doing, Fashioner.

About God’s Name “the Fashioner” Baha’u’llah wrote: “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.”

He goes on to say his about the divine quality of Omniscience: “In like manner, the moment the word expressing My attribute "The Omniscient" issueth forth from My mouth, every created thing will, according to its capacity and limitations, be invested with the power to unfold the knowledge of the most marvelous sciences, and will be empowered to manifest them in the course of time at the bidding of Him Who is the Almighty, the All-Knowing. Know thou of a certainty that the Revelation of every other Name is accompanied by a similar manifestation of Divine power. Every single letter proceeding out of the mouth of God is indeed a mother letter, and every word uttered by Him Who is the Well Spring of Divine Revelation is a mother word, and His Tablet a Mother Tablet. Well is it with them that apprehend this truth.” (Gleanings from the Writings of Baha'u'llah: 141)

Again, He starts with the primacy of the union of the Will and the Word, power and knowledge.  These generate human arts (Fashioner) and sciences (Omniscient) which reflect Them. It is interesting to me that in this statement, in regards to knowledge itself, humans are not mentioned as necessary to its appearance.  God and His creation alone are mentioned, with humans of course being part of the creation.  Created things themselves are “invested with the power to unfold the knowledge of the most marvelous sciences”, and they, that is the created things, “will be empowered to manifest them in the course of time…”  The scientific knowledge to be unfolded is, in essence, the knowledge that God has of His creation. Divine knowledge, Baha’u’llah stated above, “embraceth all things both before and after they come into being” There is a double dose of power put into the universe.  First, once “The Omniscient” is mentioned, every created thing is invested with power to unfold marvelous sciences.  But being invested with power to do something is not the same as being able to do it.  Will is also necessary, along with an instrument to effect the purpose of the Will.  Hence, secondly, these same created things holding this knowledge “will be empowered to manifest” their knowledge in the course of time.  How?: through human arts and sciences.  And knowledge manifests “at the bidding of Him Who is the Almighty, the All-Knowing.” i.e. the Fashioner through uttering the Word.

We humans don’t “get” or “acquire” real knowledge through some sort of appropriation. It is not ours!  Rather, we discover knowledge (Scientia) when it manifests!!!  But to say that it can manifest is to say that it is already there awaiting the conditions of its manifestation.  We reflect this knowledge in our mind or heart.  How? We tune in to its vibration, attain to that state.  The Master states: “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)  We learn knowledge when we become open to its manifestation.   Not appropriation, but cooperation.  Baha’u’llah says: “Look at the world and ponder a while upon it. It unveileth the book of its own self before thine eyes and revealeth that which the Pen of thy Lord, the Fashioner, the All-Informed, hath inscribed therein. It will acquaint thee with that which is within it and upon it and will give thee such clear explanations as to make thee independent of every eloquent expounder.” (Tablets of Baha'u'llah: 141-142)
This tells me that, since "every atom in the universe" provides training in how to understand the creation,  we should listen to the voice with which every created thing is invested, and it will tell us of the sciences locked within it.  More in next post.  

Divine Creation

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. Through that Call Thou didst announce unto all Thy servants the advent of Thy most great Revelation and the appearance of Thy most perfect Cause.

No sooner had that Revelation been unveiled to men's eyes than the signs of universal discord appeared among the peoples of the world, and commotion seized the dwellers of earth and heaven, and the foundations of all things were shaken. The forces of dissension were released, the meaning of the Word was unfolded, and every several atom in all created things acquired its own distinct and separate character.

(Baha'u'llah, Prayers and Meditations by Baha'u'llah, p. 295-296)

I am continuing the discussion of the three levels or contexts of the creation.  To recap: the first level is the universe of matter in all its levels and forms.  The second level, presented last post, I name cosmos, and is the intellectual or mental foundation of the universe.  This level is the Word, the Revelation of God, the movement of the divine Intellect. It generates both all material existence and human intellectual life by the imprinting of a configuration of eternal, divine thought-forms upon the primal substance (i.e. matter) of the universe and the human mind.  This mind, said Max Planck, one of the founders of modern physics, “is the matrix of all matter.” This post will talk about the highest level of the divine creation itself, namely, the level of the foundational qualities of God, remembering that in spiritual relations the highest is always the foundation and origin.

The whole of creation originates in the outpouring of the Primal Will into the divine, universal Intellect, traditionally named Logos, which is the archetypal form of all.  Through Logos uttering the vibratory influence of the Word, Divine Will forms chaos, i.e. universal matter, into the primary and recurring forms of life which in their universal relations and myriad interactions bring into being infinite individual creatures.  It is Logos which “in every epoch casts on the mirror of creation new and wonderful configurations.” (The Secret of Divine Civilization:1)  Logos encodes the Primal Will, which is the Source of all, the Foundation of Creation and its Sustainer at all times.  "Glory be to Thee, O my God!,” writes Baha’u’llah apropos this theme, “The power of Thy might beareth me witness! I can have no doubt that should the holy breaths of Thy loving-kindness and the breeze of Thy bountiful favor cease, for less than the twinkling of an eye, to breathe over all created things, the entire creation would perish, and all that are in heaven and on earth would be reduced to utter nothingness.” (Prayers and Meditations by Bahá’u’lláh: 90)

By new configuration is meant new design by rearranging the intervals between things, such as a new configuration of furniture in a room.  Recall, Baha’u’llah says: “That which hath been in existence had existed before, but not in the form thou seest today.” (Tablets of Baha'u'llah: 140)  And “As to the Return…by this is meant the return of all created things in the Day of Resurrection….And this Return is realized at His behest in whatever form He willeth.” (Tablets of Baha'u'llah: 183-184)

As the opening quote states, the effulgence of the Word has both integrating and disintegrating effects: new spaces open in the fabric of things as old ones close, and new complexities of life are formed.  The intervals of creation are not empty spaces but resonant intervals. Each is a pulsating matrix of energies out from which crystallize new entities of creation.  Revelation, the Logos, the expression of the Primal Will, is the creational codes of the templates of creation.

By coded templates of creational development I mean spiritual energies and structures that provide the dynamism and instructions for building forms of life.  In short, I mean the interacting archetypal qualities of God that are the foundation of cosmos and universe. A spiritual template is like biological DNA, the genetic code. DNA is not only instructions how to make proteins, but also, through a sub-code buried within the same stretches of DNA that make proteins, instructions telling when and how to regulate and activate their expression through millions of gene switches.  But these switches are, in creation, intervals and gaps, similar in my mind to those between nerve synapses, over which electrical impulses pass. These foundational spiritual codes include the essential sequences of activity that transform spiritual impulse into material creation and the regulatory instructions deciding how energies are controlled, making it possible to transform that spiritual code into an organic code that can build the proper material structures.  Building spiritual energy and code into material structure is not a simple formula, however.  Learning and response, modification and change occur from the determining factors of physical limitation.  But all is guided toward a desired end, at every step a conscious creative choice occurs.  Time in this view is not a continuous flow, but an infinite series of “moments” both in context and creating context: what quantum physicists call collapsing the indeterminacy of possibility into one actuality.  All living organisms, from bacteria to human beings, more or less share this basic construct and growth pattern.

The basic DNA “alphabet” of four digits or four letters is enough to code for all the different proteins and macro molecules in each cell right down to the genetic variations of our inherited characteristics, much as the twenty six letters of the English alphabet are enough to write nearly every word ever uttered by humankind.  Such codes store multi-layered meanings and functions that science cannot yet decipher, but which may also code more than biochemical reactions.  Their potentials unfold in response to environmental stimulations from the outside, but also are timed by internal clocks.

Similarly, language is not just letters and words, but also syntactical and grammatical rules (codes) deciding how to combine these essential phonemic units into larger units of meaning called sentences, paragraphs, pages, essays and books—thought into sound, then, via writing, sound into sight.  Likewise, mathematics is not only an infinite series of numbers, but is also logical rules for combining numbers into highly complex operations of calculation.

   Revelation is a divine code of infinite complexity for building not only Nature but also, human consciousness and society, into increasingly complex structures.  It unfolds the biological potentialities of Nature into an infinity of living organisms, and the intellectual potentialities of human consciousness into the arts and sciences to grasp these entities of a new creation.  “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.” (Baha'u'llah, Tablets of Baha'u'llah: 96)

 Every quality or attribute of God is archetypal and universal, meaning that it is diffused throughout the entire creation.  So the whole, infinitely large, and eternal creation is one single entity to God.  ‘Abdu’l-Baha reminds us in one of His table talks that: “It is necessary, therefore, that we should know what each of the important existences was in the beginning—for there is no doubt that in the beginning the origin was one: the origin of all numbers is one and not two. Then it is evident that in the beginning matter was one, and that one matter appeared in different aspects in each element. Thus various forms were produced, and these various aspects as they were produced became permanent, and each element was specialized. But this permanence was not definite, and did not attain realization and perfect existence until after a very long time. Then these elements became composed, and organized and combined in infinite forms; or rather from the composition and combination of these elements innumerable beings appeared.

This composition and arrangement, through the wisdom of God and His preexistent might, were produced from one natural organization, which was composed and combined with the greatest strength, conformable to wisdom, and according to a universal law.” (Some Answered Questions: 181)

He reiterated this view at another time, stating: “The organization of God is one; the evolution of existence is one; the divine system is one. Whether they be small or great beings, all are subject to one law and system.” (Some Answered Questions: 199)

We’ll begin to see how this creational process might work, at least in outline, in the next post titled, Fashioner and Fashioned, knowing and doing.

Cosmos

Look at the world and ponder a while upon it. It unveileth the book of its own self before thine eyes and revealeth that which the Pen of thy Lord, the Fashioner, the All-Informed, hath inscribed therein. It will acquaint thee with that which is within it and upon it and will give thee such clear explanations as to make thee independent of every eloquent expounder.

(Baha'u'llah, Tablets of Baha'u'llah: 141-142)

If the metaphor for the universe is things and their organic relations of composition to create physical life, the metaphor for the cosmos is words and their relations of composition to create mental life.  As the universe has atoms, elements, planets, on up to stars and galaxies, all within one universe pulsing with life, so the cosmos, the intellectual dimension of creation, has, figuratively, letters, words, pages on up to books and libraries until they are contained in one Book, even one Word, named Logos, pulsing its meanings and principles of thought.  These intellectual signs are proof of Thought and Reason, which creates the cosmos, which emanates into the universe, all of which is held within the knowledge of God. 

Cosmos is founded upon the spoken or written intellectual Revelation that is the Word (traditionally, the verbum scriptum). The universe is the sensible Revelation that is Nature (verbum factum). These are in complete correspondence and perfect accord. ‘Abdu’l-Baha says, for example, “…the outward is the expression of the inward; the earth is the mirror of the Kingdom; the material world corresponds to the spiritual world.” (Some Answered Questions: 283) 

The Knowledge of God is “deposited” within the creation.  It is infinitely deep, the least of His signs cannot be fathomed.  Consider these statements from Baha’u’llah apropos this theme: “Every created being however revealeth His signs which are but emanations from Him and not His Own Self. All these signs are reflected and can be seen in the book of existence, and the scrolls that depict the shape and pattern of the universe are indeed a most great book.” (Tablets of Baha'u'llah: 60)  And: “How all-encompassing are the wonders of His boundless grace! Behold how they have pervaded the whole of creation. Such is their virtue that not a single atom in the entire universe can be found which doth not declare the evidences of His might, which doth not glorify His holy Name, or is not expressive of the effulgent light of His unity.” (Gleanings from the Writings of Baha'u'llah: 62)

The lower reality is contained in the higher reality.  The human reality—remember, “the reality of man is his thought”—being the crown of creation and essentially a spiritual creation possessing in potential all the qualities of God, is described by ‘Abdu’l-Baha: “Man is said to be the greatest representative of God, and he is the Book of Creation because all the mysteries of beings exist in him.” (Some Answered Questions: 236)  But above the human reality, i.e. the Book of Creation, is the Manifestation of God, the Word made flesh.  Of Them Baha’u’llah writes: “GOD testifieth that there is none other God but Him and that He Who hath appeared is the Hidden Mystery, the Treasured Symbol, the Most Great Book for all peoples, and the Heaven of bounty for the whole world. He is the Most Mighty Sign amongst men and the Dayspring of the most august attributes in the realm of creation.” (Tablets of Baha'u'llah: 47)

The intellectual Reality of the Word and all Its meanings is often named, I believe, the Kingdom of Names.  The Bab wrote to one of His inquirers: "If thou art sailing upon the sea of God’s Names, which are reflected in all things, know thou that He is exalted and sanctified from being known through His creatures, or being described by His servants. Everything thou beholdest hath been called into being through the operation of His Will. How can such a created thing, therefore, be indicative of His essential oneness? God’s existence in itself testifieth to His Own oneness, while every created thing, by its very nature, beareth evidence that it hath been fashioned by God." Selections From the Writings of the Báb:  125

Of the influence on the universe of Revelation, Baha’u’llah asserts: “The breeze of the bounty of the King of creation hath caused even the physical earth to be changed, were ye to ponder in your hearts the mysteries of divine Revelation.” (Kitab-i-Iqan: 47)  It does so, because, as our opening quote from Baha’u’llah states, the world “revealeth that which the Pen of thy Lord, the Fashioner, the All-Informed, hath inscribed therein.”  These are the new configurations of the universe of things as the Master describes in the opening page of The Secret of Divine Civilization. 

Following the metaphor of words, which are articulate sound, the Holy Books of the Judeo-Christian tradition speak of God calling creation into being.  The cosmos is the level of continual transformation, the middle earth, so to speak, existing between Nature and Spirit and is their conjunction.  This is brought out in Genesis which opens with the phrase: “In the beginning God created heaven and earth.”  Man appears later in the week, created, first, spiritually, after the image and likeness of God. (Genesis 1:26), only later in Genesis 2: 7 is he given material being: “And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.”  The two halves are united when “the breath of life”, i.e. the spirit or power of thought, is breathed into the nostrils of the first man, the form of red clay (Adamah) which is the physical form of the human being.  “It is this spirit to which the verse in the Old Testament refers when it states that man has been created "after the image and likeness of God". (Abdu'l-Baha, Foundations of World Unity: 91)  One might also use the metaphor of light and say that this image was imprinted on the human reality as light upon a mirror.

Given this conjunction, whatever the metaphor employed, it should be no surprise that, as the Master says: “It is evident that human personality appears in two aspects: the image or likeness of God, and the aspect of Satan. The human reality stands between these two: the divine and the satanic.”  On the natural level each of us is given a body. What about the level of Spirit?  ‘Abdu’l-Baha goes on: “It is manifest that beyond this material body, man is endowed with another reality, which is the world of exemplars constituting the heavenly body of man.” (The Promulgation of Universal Peace: 465)

Living squarely in the level of change and transformation, the work of  humanity is to bring forth its own and nature’s potentials through learning and education.  Spirit educes human potential by providing certain mental forms called spiritual principles that resonate with existing inner potentials of the human reality, bringing them forth to expression.

The Universal House of Justice writes: “There are spiritual principles, or what some call human values, by which solutions can be found for every social problem….The essential merit of spiritual principle is that it not only presents a perspective which harmonizes with that which is immanent in human nature, it also induces an attitude, a dynamic, a will, an aspiration, which facilitate the discovery and implementation of practical measures.” (The Universal House of Justice, The Promise of World Peace: 3)

It is no different in principle from school education which, for example, presents certain mathematical or language forms to the existing but not yet expressed potentials for math and language resident within every human being. One does not TEACH math or language, one draws these capacities forth through math and language structures and forms. These are mental forms and shapes in harmony with potentials.  Potential is not an unformed lump, but rather an unexpressed, unmanifest power.  Potential can take on any form or shape that brings it forth into the plane of reality, as a painter translates a three-dimensional object onto the two-dimensional plane of the canvas.

Energy Matters

The essence of existence is a spiritual reality because invisible forces of the spirit are the origin of matter and the foundation thereof.

(Shoghi Effendi, quoted in Keven Brown “A Baha’i Perspective on the Origins of Matter.”: Journal of Baha’i Studies 2.3 (1990) 15-44.

Let me start this next series of posts by reviewing the three levels of the divine creation, as I see them.  First and lowest (i.e. most manifest) level is the universe around us, the infinite physical world, with all its galaxies, numberless stars and planets, cosmic dust and layers upon layers of subatomic energies.

Next and higher is the Cosmos, composed of the archetypal thought forms and intellectual structures of reality that science infers or discovers and whose foundation is the on-going Revelations of God that configure the universe.  It is also the human understanding of this level of creation, (i.e. what is called cosmology) written in the various poetic, philosophical and scientific languages of their times and across time.

Finally, at the highest level is the divine Creation, the foundational, spiritual powers (attributes of God,) each a universal, that are revealed and configured by the knowledge of God—i.e. the knowledge that God has of the creation which manifests His Will: a knowledge that is infused into every atom of creation.  From this level or plane of Reality cosmos and universe unfold.  It is what Shoghi Effendi meant, I believe, by "the essence of existence", in the opening quote above.

For me, The Word is the primary creation. The secondary creation is the physical universe, the crafts of God. Yet it is all three levels taken together--in descending order from the foundation: powers, structures, things--along with their inter-relations, that are the whole creation, and which, within the knowledge of God, are as the signs and symbols written in the Book of Creation, or book of existence.  This post will examine the universe.  Discussions of the cosmos and creation will follow.

Material science, which has been the dominant paradigm of the past few hundred years, recognizes only the sensible, physical universe as real, with human knowledge being the results of rigorous and systematic investigation into the laws and principles governing that universe, though that perspective has been changing and enlarging since the turn of the twentieth-century.

Physics now recognizes different levels of matter and energy just in the physical universe.  There is visible matter, dark matter, energy, and dark energy, which seems to power the expansion of the universe, the latter three composing about 96% of the universe. All these it seems arise out from the zero-point field, or quantum vacuum, which is the ground state of energy of the universe.  Visible matter, what we see with our eyes and telescopes is about 4%. 

The concept or notion of ether has been round a very long while, but fell into disfavor in the nineteenth century when, at the height of the materialist era when all things had not only to have physical being but physical, measureable causes, some sensible substance called ether could not be detected.  However it is making a comeback as science again begins to open the door to the possibility of the existence of non-material phenomena.

Still, mainstream science does not as yet recognize non measureable phenomena as real.  ‘Abdu’l-Baha disputes that claim and provides reasoning to infer the existence of realities that are not sensible.  “If we wish to deny everything that is not sensible, then we must deny the realities which unquestionably exist. For example, ethereal matter is not sensible, though it has an undoubted existence. The power of attraction is not sensible, though it certainly exists. From what do we affirm these existences? From their signs. Thus this light is the vibration of that ethereal matter, and from this vibration we infer the existence of ether.”  (Abdu'l-Baha, Some Answered Questions: 190)

To me, this is also a logical proof of the mental foundation (i.e. cosmos) to physical existence.  Apropos this point, He also stated: “In the same way, nature, also, in its essence is an intellectual reality and is not sensible; the human spirit is an intellectual, not sensible reality.” (Some Answered Questions: 83)  Trying to prove the existence of the ether or any purely intellectual reality through the measurement of a physical apparatus will prove fruitless.  Yet such failure should not lead to the fallacy of believing that absence of proof is proof of absence.  It is like trying to prove the existence of a thought by measuring it with some sort of Geiger counter-like apparatus.  At best one does not capture the thought, which is a purely intellectual reality, but the effects or vibrations of that thought on the world.  Effects are signs of existence, as the painting is of the painter, not that existence in itself. Hence anything which creates effects must exist.  ‘Abdu’l-Baha explains: “For instance, the nature of ether is unknown, but that it existeth is certain by the effects it produceth, heat, light and electricity being the waves thereof. By these waves the existence of ether is thus proven.” (Baha'i World Faith: 341)

But all these levels of matter, this infinite depth of the universe, rests on one thing which never changes in nature.  The Master states: “The existence of living things signifies composition, and their death, decomposition. But universal matter and the elements do not become absolutely annihilated and destroyed.  No, their nonexistence is simply transformation.” (Some Answered Questions: 203-204)  We can ask: Is what the Master calls “ethereal matter,” “universal matter,” “the nature of ether”, the same thing as what physicists call zero-point energy?  I don’t know.  That will be a question which, I presume, spiritual science will answer.

’Abdu’l-Baha goes to present the idea that this one, universal matter specialized in its different aspects into the basic elements, and the infinite unities of form and substance, the B and the E joining and knitting together, gradually produced innumerable created things.  “It is necessary, therefore, that we should know what each of the important existences was in the beginning—for there is no doubt that in the beginning the origin was one: the origin of all numbers is one and not two. Then it is evident that in the beginning matter was one, and that one matter appeared in different aspects in each element. Thus various forms were produced, and these various aspects as they were produced became permanent, and each element was specialized. But this permanence was not definite, and did not attain realization and perfect existence until after a very long time. Then these elements became composed, and organized and combined in infinite forms; or rather from the composition and combination of these elements innumerable beings appeared.”

“This composition and arrangement, through the wisdom of God and His preexistent might, were produced from one natural organization, which was composed and combined with the greatest strength, conformable to wisdom, and according to a universal law.”  (Abdu'l-Baha, Some Answered Questions: 181)

Let’s return to the idea of an ether.  ‘Abdu’l-Baha says that ether is not a physical reality, but an intellectual one, so it cannot be detected by physical instruments.  Ether, then, is not in or a part of or even the physical foundation of physical space.   Perhaps it is something like a mental medium through which pass waves of thought. It is a non-localized, conceptual or thought-medium, an abstract space characterized not by physical relations but logical, rational ones.  To physical reality it would appear or be conceived as a void, but that is a product of reasoning from certain assumptions and beliefs that make thought itself somewhat unreal, a result only of chemical and neurological interactions.

‘Abdu’l-Baha calls the world of thought a “boundless sea.”  He goes on to state the relation between this “sea” of thought and the world of existence, saying “the effects and varying conditions of existence are as the separate forms and individual limits of the waves; not until the sea boils up will the waves rise and scatter their pearls of knowledge on the shore of life.” (The Secret of Divine Civilization: 109)

Ether, then, may, like concepts of space and time and other concepts of physics and science, indeed the whole domain of thought, be part not of the universe but of the cosmos.

CLEANSING THE DOORS OF PERCEPTION II

But, 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.

(Baha'u'llah, The Kitab-i-Iqan, p. 192)

Divine knowledge enters the human world through a “celestial faculty”, whose seat is the heart.  This faculty puts humanity in touch with a sacred dimension of the creation, but only if it is cleansed and purified.   But by putting in touch I don’t mean that divine knowledge is sitting “out there” beyond some mental horizon passively waiting for some heart to get in touch with it.  Quite the contrary. Baha’u’llah writes, quoting an Islamic Tradition: “Knowledge is a light which God casteth into the heart of whomsoever He willeth.” (The Kitab-i-Iqan: 46)

Nonetheless, we do have to work for it.  But working for sacred or divine knowledge is not like doggedly pursuing a subject of study, such as mathematics or language, but rather working to open or, figuratively, clean the perceptual faculty that can receive the “light” being cast, so that it appears in its fullest brilliance in the polished mirror of the heart.  Hence, perhaps the most important aspect of working for divine knowledge is to recognize that divine knowledge is not like human knowledge and is not “obtained” in the same manner. Divine knowledge is not “acquired knowledge”, which is what must be cleansed and purified from off the mirror of the heart. It is received, as a gift. The proper attitude to receive it is humility, so that one may understand it—which, of course, means “to stand under.”

Baha’u’llah points to the limitations of acquired knowledge or human learning and the dangers that taking acquired human knowledge as the highest knowledge presents to the unwary: “We beseech God to strengthen thee with His power, and enable thee to recognize Him Who is the Source of all knowledge, that thou mayest detach thyself from all human learning, for, "what would it profit any man to strive after learning when he hath already found and recognized Him Who is the Object of all knowledge?" Cleave to the Root of Knowledge, and to Him Who is the Fountain thereof, that thou mayest find thyself independent of all who claim to be well versed in human learning, and whose claim no clear proof, nor the testimony of any enlightening book, can support.” (Gleanings from the Writings of Baha'u'llah: 176)

In another place He warns an inquirer: “Beware lest human learning debar thee from Him Who is the Supreme Object of all knowledge, or lest the world deter thee from the One Who created it and set it upon its course….Tear asunder the veils of human learning lest they hinder thee from Him Who is My name, the Self-Subsisting.” (The Summons of the Lord of Hosts: 56)

Divine or spiritual knowledge is the essence of all knowledge.  Of this kind of knowledge there is precious little learned in any age, but it is the quickest way to grasp the core of all things.  According to Baha’u’llah: “It hath already been abundantly demonstrated that in that divinely-appointed Day the majority of them that have sought and attained His holy court have revealed such knowledge and wisdom, a drop of which none else besides these holy and sanctified souls, however long he may have taught or studied, hath grasped or will ever comprehend. It is by virtue of this power that the beloved of God have, in the days of the Manifestation of the Day Star of Truth, been exalted above, and made independent of, all human learning. Nay, from their hearts and the springs of their innate powers hath gushed out unceasingly the inmost essence of human learning and wisdom.” (Gleanings from the Writings of Baha'u'llah: 263)  But the criteria for comprehending this knowledge is deceptively simple to the unaware, and here we return to the metaphor of cleanliness and purity to get a better idea of it: “The understanding of His words and the comprehension of the utterances of the Birds of Heaven are in no wise dependent upon human learning. They depend solely upon purity of heart, chastity of soul, and freedom of spirit.” (Baha'u'llah, The Kitab-i-Iqan: 210)

His dismissive references to acquired knowledge and human learning should not be confounded with true knowledge possessed by humans.  He is not arguing against accurate scientific conclusions and established facts, but rather rebuking passively received opinions, prejudicial beliefs, unchallenged dogmas and rigid ideologies, whether religious or scientific, that are taken to be true—and which may have been generally agreed upon at one time—that inhibit or interdict further investigations into Reality.  He means, for example, such rigid attitudes as dogmatic materialism and thoughts that are pure imaginations, as much of new age writings seem to be.  He calls upon His followers to be protectors of divine knowledge: “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.” (Baha'u'llah, The Summons of the Lord of Hosts: 10)

And what is the ultimate purpose of learning of any kind? “We have decreed, O people, that the highest and last end of all learning be the recognition of Him Who is the Object of all knowledge; and yet, behold how ye have allowed your learning to shut you out, as by a veil, from Him Who is the Day Spring of this Light, through Whom every hidden thing hath been revealed. (Gleanings from the Writings of Baha'u'llah: 198)

As I have been exploring, one part of the switch from human to divine knowledge is to pass from cognition to recognition as the primary means of knowing spiritual reality. Recognition is wholistic not reductionist.  Its knowledge is, first, reflexive not objective.  It sees the “other” as oneself in other form, for it grounds all perception in the principle that there is a “primal oneness deposited at the heart of all created things.”  (Abdu'l-Baha, Selections from the Writings of Abdu'l-Baha: 263)

Yet, it also simultaneously sees the differences of form and station.  It is again the “B” and the “E” joined and knit together in the original unity of “these two are the same, yet they are different.”  The archetype of this relation is that between God and His Manifestations, as explained by Baha’u’llah: “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)

          This same relation binds the fundamental faculty of the human reality with all its powers and attributes: “Consider the rational faculty with which God hath endowed the essence of man. Examine thine own self, and behold how thy motion and stillness, thy will and purpose, thy sight and hearing, thy sense of smell and power of speech, and whatever else is related to, or transcendeth, thy physical senses or spiritual perceptions, all proceed from, and owe their existence to, this same faculty. So closely are they related unto it, that if in less than the twinkling of an eye its relationship to the human body be severed, each and every one of these senses will cease immediately to exercise its function, and will be deprived of the power to manifest the evidences of its activity. It is indubitably clear and evident that each of these afore-mentioned instruments has depended, and will ever continue to depend, for its proper functioning on this rational faculty, which should be regarded as a sign of the revelation of Him Who is the sovereign Lord of all. Through its manifestation all these names and attributes have been revealed, and by the suspension of its action they are all destroyed and perish.” (Gleanings from the Writings of Baha'u'llah: 163)  The same relation can be said to exist between white light and all the colors of light, as shown through a prism, that compose it.