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.

  

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)