Category: Prophet of Shiraz

The Prophet of Shiraz- Part 3

Published December 16, 2019 by admin

In this final part of the discussion of the Writings and teachings of the Bab, Dr Williams highlights some of the very specific ways that the Bab prepared the people for the coming of Baha’u’llah. Never in the history of humanity has a Messenger of God so clearly defined His intentions and carried out His mission. He was then executed in 1850 at the hands of the Persian authorities, ending His time on this earth. However, all His promises would ultimately be fulfilled in the coming of Baha’u’llah and His name would come to be celebrated as the personification of sacrifice and detachment by people all over the world.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 25:20 — 38.5MB) | Embed

Subscribe: Google Podcasts | Email | RSS | More

Comments closed

The Prophet of Shiraz- Part 2

The Prophet of Shiraz- Part 2

Published December 16, 2019 by admin

In Part 2 of the presentations on the life and theology of the Bab, Dr Williams presents the basic theological ideas that are found in His Writings. If we think of ourselves and all creation being like a painting and envision ourselves living in that painting, we can more easily understand what the Bab meant by the Essence of God being unknowable and that we understand Him only by how He is manifest in the world we experience. The unique role of the Revelations of God in forming the great religions of humankind is then explained, as a reflection of the Will of God to the world, like the paintbrush reflects the Will of God to the painting.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 36:41 — 54.6MB) | Embed

Subscribe: Google Podcasts | Email | RSS | More

Comments closed

The Prophet of Shiraz- Part 1

The Prophet of Shiraz- Part 1

Published December 12, 2019 by admin

As part of the Foundations of the Revelation course, we are posting the set of presentations delivered by Dr. Williams and focused on the history and teachings of the Bab. The Bab’s revelation is extraordinarily important, because He was the first Manifestation of God to explain so explicitly the nature of the revelations of God- how they are progressive, natural, suited to human societal and spiritual development and reflect a dynamic world. He also performed the unique role of preparing Persian society for the appearance of the most universal revelation ever to come to humanity- that of Baha’u’llah. The presentations are divided into three parts. Part 1 provides some of the history and basic course of the Bab’s life and teachings. Part 2 introduces His theology and Part 3 continues the discussion of His theology but highlights the texts that are emblematic of the main purpose of His mission- to prepare the people for Baha’u’llah. Part 1 is below. Part 2 is in this post, and Part 3 in this one.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 16:08 — 24.4MB) | Embed

Subscribe: Google Podcasts | Email | RSS | More

Comments closed

Splendor of Our Hearts

Splendor of Our Hearts

Published October 28, 2019 by admin

This remarkable quote from the Bab summarizes so many concepts about His mission and the nature of the revelations from God. The full quote is as follows. In it, the Bab is describing Baha’u’llah and His mission to prepare people for him-

HE—glorified be His mention—resembleth the sun. Were unnumbered mirrors to be placed before it, each would, according to its capacity, reflect the splendor of that sun, and were none to be placed before it, it would still continue to rise and set, and the mirrors alone would be veiled from its light. I, verily, have not fallen short of My duty to admonish that people, and to devise means whereby they may turn towards God, their Lord, and believe in God, their Creator. If, on the day of His Revelation, all that are on earth bear Him allegiance, Mine inmost being will rejoice, inasmuch as all will have attained the summit of their existence, and will have been brought face to face with their Beloved, and will have recognized, to the fullest extent attainable in the world of being, the splendor of Him Who is the Desire of their hearts. If not, My soul will indeed be saddened. I truly have nurtured all things for this purpose. How, then, can anyone be veiled from Him? For this have I called upon God, and will continue to call upon Him.

As we noted in previous essays, the Revelations of God are like the rising and setting of the sun. They have always come at different times in history and different places to illuminate human consciousness and human understanding about spiritual reality. The religions that are amongst humankind are reflections of different times in history when a revelation has come. Some are very old, and their origins are even lost. Some, like Christ and Muhammad, we know quite a bit about and have seen their impact on the world.

They have always spoken to us within the limits of our capacity and one revelation is preparation for the next step in our spiritual evolution. This was the Bab’s primary teaching. In the quote above, He is expressing the nature of His mission- “to devise means”- whereby people would recognize the next Revelation. When we study the Bab’s revelation- we see what He means by “devising means”. Even on the most mundane level this was true. He told his followers, for instance, to develop the mail system to the utmost excellence, because when “Him Whom God Shall Make Manifest” comes into the world, the message of His coming will be delivered that much faster. But through his theological explanations, down to His prayers and exhortations of various forms, He was helping people develop the spiritual consciousness to appreciate a new Revelation in its fullest aspect, and of course accept it.

We also learn from the quote above what it means to become spiritually close to a Revelation from God. We will reach the “summit of our existence”, and recognize “to the fullest extent attainable in the world of being”, the “splendor of Him Who is the Desire of our Hearts’. This explains why people have reacted so strongly and profoundly to the Revelations when they have come into the world- why they have had such a great impact. It’s because we are finding God in the purest form revealed to us- the splendor of our hearts. The Bab’s teaching about the nature of religion- so beautiful, so dynamic, so evolutionary and revolutionary- is something we are still trying to fully grasp.

As Baha’is all over the world celebrate the bicentenary of the Birth of the Bab 200 years ago, we will be reflecting on these passages and their meaning for us today.

Comments closed

Tree of Revelation Bent Low

Tree of Revelation Bent Low

Published October 22, 2019 by admin

In accomplishing His mission of preparing the world for Baha’u’llah, the Bab used many beautiful and natural metaphors. One of the most powerful is the idea of a divine revelation being like a tree under which people take “spiritual” shade. It’s a beautiful idea. If we think of Jesus or Muhammad’s revelation, for instance, and how their teachings allowed whole civilizations and their people to find spiritual rest beneath the “tree” of their teachings. The tree gave their lives meaning, provided moral and spiritual guidance, held their family’s together, and innumerable other bounties.

The Bab referred to His own revelation as the “Bayan”, and so He is saying in this quote that when His religion reaches its fullest development, He will bend it low in honor of the one who is to come after Him- Baha’u’llah- whom the Bab refers to as “Him Whom God shall make manifest”.

The period of the Bab’s revelation was very short, only 19 years, something He Himself predicted. There are many references in the Bab’s Writings about how His revelation’s sole intent was to prepare for the one to come after. The Bab sacrificed His life and that of many of His followers so that the world would be better prepared for the Revelation of Baha’u’llah. That is why the Bab is often considered to have personified humility and sacrifice.

Comments closed

The Sun

The Sun

Published October 19, 2019 by admin

Verily, the sun is but a token from My presence so that..My servants may discern in its rising the dawning of every Dispensation.

The quote is one of the many places where the Bab uses the analogy of the rising and setting of the sun to explain the nature of the Revelations of God to humanity, (which He also refers to as “Dispensations”). It is a very powerful analogy because it expresses a number of features simultaneously. If we think about the physical sun, and our relationship to it, we recognize that we are all dependent on it for our life. All the energy that exists on earth ultimately comes from the sun. The plants use its energy directly, which feeds the animals, which then support other animals, and then we eat both to grow and develop as humans. Without the sun, the world would be cold and dark, with no light to illumine our path or reveal anything about the world around us.

In the world of spiritual truth, it is the Revelations of God that are like the sun. They don’t feed us physically, but in the world of ideas, spiritual truths, and inspiration, they are like the sun to us. Following their appearance, a new life begins to appear. Humans begin to talk about spiritual things again, turn their hearts towards that which is noble and true and begin to express it more fully in their lives. A day of resurrection- of renewal- has come. The Bab would further describe that humans should be like mirrors, who are turned towards the sun and begin to reflect its light to others. He referred to His own early followers as “mirrors” to express this idea concretely.

If we think about this analogy more deeply, new insights come to the fore. Even though the sun can look a little different every day, it isn’t the sun that has changed, but intervening clouds or other phenomena that are different. It is our relationship to the sun that changes, not the sun itself. Also, when the sun shines its light on the earth, the light can look different depending on what reflects it- it can be red, blue- the infinite variety of colors and images we see in the world. But all those different aspects are not because of the light itself, which doesn’t change, but the differences of the objects and places that are illumined by the light. In the same way, the Revelations of God have the same inner essence, an essence that never changes, but what varies from Revelation to Revelation- the different appearances of the Sun- is the place upon which it shines, which gives each Revelation a different character- a different “color”.

In the passage that began this essay, the Bab tells us that the Sun is a “symbol” of the inner spiritual reality of our world. In the one below, He continues the idea that our experience of God is not the Essence of God, but the Will of God expressed in all creation. He refers to each of the Revelations of God- like that of Christ, Muhammad and of course Baha’u’llah- as being all the same in that they are expressions of the “Primal Will” of God. The “Primal Will” is like the paintbrush in the painting of creation- it is what acts in the world under the control of the Painter, who is God.

If, however, thou art sailing upon the sea of creation, know thou that the First Remembrance, which is the Primal Will of God, may be likened unto the sun. God hath created Him through the potency of His might, and He hath, from the beginning that hath no beginning, caused Him to be manifested in every Dispensation through the compelling power of His behest, and God will, to the end that knoweth no end, continue to manifest Him according to the good-pleasure of His invincible Purpose.

And know thou that He indeed resembleth the sun. Were the risings of the sun to continue till the end that hath no end, yet there hath not been nor ever will be more than one sun; and were its settings to endure forevermore, still there hath not been nor ever will be more than one sun. It is this Primal Will which appeareth resplendent in every Prophet and speaketh forth in every revealed Book. It knoweth no beginning, inasmuch as the First deriveth its firstness from It; and knoweth no end, for the Last oweth its lastness unto It.

In the time of the First Manifestation the Primal Will appeared in Adam; in the day of Noah It became known in Noah; in the day of Abraham in Him; and so in the day of Moses; the day of Jesus; the day of Muḥammad, the Apostle of God; the day of the “Point of the Bayán”; the day of Him Whom God shall make manifest; and the day of the One Who will appear after Him Whom God shall make manifest. Hence the inner meaning of the words uttered by the Apostle of God, “I am all the Prophets,” inasmuch as what shineth resplendent in each one of Them hath been and will ever remain the one and the same sun.

In these passages and many others from the Bab, we can see that his teaching about the nature of religion is new and invigorating, and more consistent with what we now know from science than previous understandings of religion. God doesn’t manifest his religion just once in the world, but endlessly, in. a process that will never cease. We know that the physical world- our earth and universe- are ancient. The Bab also is expressing that God is a “living God”- a God that cares about His creation and is illuminating their spiritual and intellectual lives with periodic expressions of His truth- suited to human capacity at that time in history. Just as the natural world is dynamic and ever-evolving- the relationship of humanity to God is dynamic and ever-evolving. Humans used to believe the world was only 6 thousand years old, and Aristotle- who dramatically influenced medieval thinkers- held a view that the world was static and unchanging. In the centuries before the Bab’s revelation, those ideas were challenged, particularly among European thinkers. They would then turn away from religion itself, thinking it was too static, too much locked in the past, or just too old. The Bab is setting up a new way of thinking about religion- one that is progressive, dynamic, evolutionary, and ever-suited to humanity’s capacity.

One last point. You’ll notice in the quote above that the Voice that is speaking is that of God- “The sun is a token of My presence”- meaning God’s presence, Both the Bab and Baha’u’llah occasionally speak in this way- from the perspective of God as the author. As we discussed in previous essays, the Manifestations of God represent God to us, therefore they can speak with the Voice of God directly. In the second quote, the Bab speaks from His own voice, in which He is explaining a concept that helps us understand our relationship to God. These different “voices” are very common in the Baha’i Writings- both the Bab and Baha’u’llah. If we reflect back on the Gospels, Christ also distinguished between these different “stations”, how he was bringing God’s message but also spoke with the authority of God. The Quran and the words of Muhammad are similarly distinguished. Through these “voices”, they are exhibiting the primary theological point made by the Bab, that the Revelations of God are “God” to us.

Comments closed

Paradise

Paradise

Published October 17, 2019 by admin

We post this quote as part of our series honoring the teachings of the Bab, whose 200th anniversary Baha’is are celebrating around the world in the month of October.

The quote summarizes the primary teaching of the Bab- that the closest we can come in this world to a spiritual paradise is to draw close to one of the Revelations from God that have formed the major religions of humankind.

Imagine, if you are a Christian, being able to come into the presence of Jesus Christ and be like one of the apostles, sit amongst them while He delivered one of His sermons- like the Sermon on the Mount. It’s not hard to imagine that you could not come closer to God in this life than have such an experience.

The Bab is expressing that this is also true of the other Manifestations that have come into the world, and indeed, there is no experience “more wondrous” than to have that experience. This is especially true if one chooses to “sail upon the sea of the heavenly kingdom of His good-pleasure”. “Good pleasure” is a term the Bab uses to express what God wants you to do- it is to do “God’s will”.

The Bab’s language is exhilarating, once you get used to the terminology. And we always have to remember that His job was to prepare the people for the coming of a new Revelation from God, the most universal Revelation ever to come to humanity, so this passage and His many others were intended to teach people about how to regard what they were about to experience with the coming of Baha’u’llah.

After Baha’u’llah did manifest Himself, his followers would literally walk over mountains and deserts, for months, just to “attain His presence” and “hear His verses”. Many have left accounts of the experience, though they are often short on details as most say that it was simply indescribable.

Comments closed

Dawn of the Light

Dawn of the Light

Published October 16, 2019 by admin

One of the powerful images that the Bab uses for the Revelations of God coming to humanity is the rising and setting of the sun. We will post an essay shortly on this topic. The Bab’s revelation itself is often referred to in these terms as He was heralding a new revelation from God- that of Baha’u’llah- one that would lead us towards unity all over the world. The Bab was the “breaker of the dawn”. The historical record of the Bab and his early followers is even called “The Dawnbreakers” to reflect this idea.

In honor of the 200th anniversary of the Birth of the Bab, the Universal House of Justice commissioned a film- called “Dawn of the Light”. The film can be seen on YouTube with link below. Enjoy!

Photo by Sandro Schuh on Unsplash. Photo taken in Brazil.

Comments closed

The Dayspring

The Dayspring

Published October 12, 2019 by admin

The following is an essay as part of the Prophet of Shiraz series, exploring the theology of the Bab. You can find the whole series linked to the main page.

According to both the Bab and Baha’u’llah, all of us have the native capacity to recognize the beauty of God, both within us and outside of us, in nature and other people. We’ll come back later to the ways in which we can see God within the natural world- a powerful idea in both the Bab and Baha’u’llah’s Revelations. But that universal “revelation of God” is general, independent of time and place, and in a sense- passive- because it doesn’t speak to us in a specific way.

Humanity’s spiritual development however plays out in history in a specific way and is inter-related with social forces. We also don’t necessarily recognize our native spiritual capacities, or they can be swamped by other priorities. For that reason, the Bab and Baha’u’llah tell us that God speaks to us in a more specific sense, within the context of history, through His “Manifestations”- a term the Bab coined for what in other scriptures are called “prophets” or “messengers”, even “avatars”. These are individuals that “manifest” the reality of God in a specific sense. The Bab’s writings will explain that that kind of “Revelation” is just as natural as the more general “revelation” all of us experience. (For the purposes of these essays, a “Revelation” with a big “R” refers to the Revelations that come through the Founders of the great religions of humankind, whereas the more general “revelation” with a little “r” refers to the truth that all things in their innermost essence reflect the qualities of God.)

In all the great religions of the past, a primary issue that occupied the attention of their early followers is the nature of the Founder of their faith in relationship to God and other elements of their metaphysical universe. This is a major element of Christian history, in which the early leaders of the church strove to understand Christ’s relationship to God based on His statements in the Gospels. In some instances, Jesus made a distinction between Himself and God- “My Father, who art in Heaven”, and at other times He explicitly identified Himself with God- “I and the Father are one”. These seemingly contradictory statements perplexed the early Christian community and ultimately led to different interpretations of who Christ was. Some believed that Christ instantiated the “Essence” of God, while others believed He was related to the Essence but not formally God Himself. A famous gathering of the early bishops of the church at the First Council of Nicea in 325AD canonized the official “creed” of the early church- that Jesus was the “Son” begotten by the “Father” through the action of the “Holy Spirit”- a creed now known as the Trinity. Early Christian theology generally leaned towards Christ representing the essence of God, basically an incarnation of God into a human being.
.

Muhammad was more clear in the Quran about His station. He was the “Prophet”, the “Messenger”, who brought the Quran, but the Voice in the Quran was God Himself- even though the words were spoken by Muhammad. Early Muslims even made a distinction between words that Muhammad spoke from his own human perspective, and those He revealed in the Quran. This relationship is reflected in the Quran itself- with verses starting with “Say:”, as if God is telling Muhammad to recite. The pronoun “We”- “the royal We”- is also used as the first person for God in the Quran, in order to make it clear that God is speaking- “And as for those who strive in our path, We will surely guide them in Our ways” (Quran 29:70)

The Quran also “corrects” the Christian interpretation of Christ’s divinity, stating that it was improper to consider God having had a son in any literal sense, let alone “incarnating” God in human form- “Say: God is One, the Eternal God. He begot none, nor was He begotten. None is equal to Him.” (Quran 112:1-4) In the Islamic Revelation, Christ, like Muhammad, was considered a Messenger of God and clearly subservient to God’s essence, which was separate from the Messengers of God.

Another key concept in Islam is the “Unity of God”. To refer to God as “one” was misleading, as God was beyond numbers, thus it was more appropriate to talk about his “unity” than his “oneness”. To uphold the “unity of God” meant to not put anything up as a “partner” with God (“to join partners with God”)- and worship Him alone. This made Islam a universal religion in which all previous “Messengers” were sent by the same One God, whose reality was reflected in all that exists. There is much discussion in Islamic theology of what it truly means to uphold the “unity of God” in one’s beliefs.

In the revelation of the Bab, we have a very unique situation. The Bab Himself was a Manifestation of God, but He also was tasked with preparing the way for Baha’u’llah’s revelation. Whereas in the past, the followers often had to try and piece together the nature of their Founder after He had left the earth, the Bab explains in great detail the relationship of Baha’u’llah to God before His Revelation. Indeed, it could be said that explaining the nature of Divine Revelation was His primary mission. But it wasn’t a theoretical issue, as Baha’u’llah would come within the lifetime of the generation the Bab was addressing, something the Bab Himself clearly states- “But for the sole reason of His being present amongst this people, We would have neither prescribed any law nor laid down any prohibition.” Indeed, the Bab uses His own Revelation, as well as many references to Baha’u’llah as “Him Whom God Shall Make Manifest” as examples of the relationship of humans to God and His Manifestations.

It’s worth reviewing a passage of the Bab that expresses some key concepts. The following passage of the Bab- explicitly revealed in answer to a general theological question- succinctly expresses His main teaching. It also reflects the beauty and illustrative nature of His language. If these Writings are new to you, it will undoubtedly seem complex to you on first reading but we will parse it out so it is clear-

“Thou hast asked concerning the fundamentals of religion and its ordinances: Know thou that first and foremost in religion is the knowledge of God. This attaineth its consummation in the recognition of His divine unity, which in turn reacheth its fulfilment in acclaiming that His hallowed and exalted Sanctuary, the Seat of His transcendent majesty, is sanctified from all attributes. And know thou that in this world of being the knowledge of God can never be attained save through the knowledge of Him Who is the Dayspring of divine Reality.”

First, the Bab states the question that he was asked- about the fundamentals of religion. Then, he states something that is obvious on its surface- that “first and foremost in religion is the knowledge of God”. But what does it mean to know God?

He goes on to answer that question but first upholds the concept of God’s “divine unity”, further stating that understanding the concept of divine unity “reaches its fulfillment” in recognizing that God is unknowable- “sanctified above all attributes”- meaning above all human attributes, or indeed any attribute that humans could conceive. This is an evolution on the traditional Islamic concept in which God is beyond numbers. In the Bab’s theology, God is not even describable by any attribute at all- completely outside of our capacity to know in a direct sense.

He then concludes with His primary teaching- that in this “world of being”, meaning the world you and I live in, “knowledge of God” can only be knowledge of “Him Who is the Dayspring of Divine Reality”.

So religion all comes down to knowing the “Dayspring of Divine Reality”- but what’s that??

The “Dayspring of Divine Reality” is one of the many beautiful and descriptive terms that Bab uses for the essence of the Prophets and Messengers of God- Jesus, Muhammad, and of course Baha’u’llah- the hero of the Bab’s Writings.

In this short passage, the Bab has stated the essential teaching of His revelation- that God, the actual God, the “essence’ of God- is not something humans can know. Our experience of God is limited to how He manifests Himself to us- and the primary “manifestation” of God to us is the Revelations of God that form the major religions of humankind.

Those are the “Daysprings of Divine Reality”. But what’s a “Dayspring”?

“Dayspring’ is an older English word that goes back to the King James Bible, and it meant the place on the horizon where the sun rises. So, the “dayspring” is the place on the earth where God- “the Sun”- manifests himself to humanity. That is, in the form of a prophet or messenger of God. But notice that the Bab no longer refers to them as “prophets” or ‘messengers” but more literally as something that represents God on earth, something that is God to us, even though its not God in essence. We will see that the Bab frequently uses the analogy of the sun to explain the relationship of the Manifestations of God to humanity. (We will also see that it is a very powerful analogy!)

The Bab will go on to say in other passages that, since the essence of God is unknowable, recognizing the “unity of God” means to recognize the “unity” of his Manifestations, as that is the path through which we get to know God in this “world of being”. All the revelations of God- in abstract form- are one Reality- and recognizing them as one Reality- is the true meaning of appreciating “divine unity”.

With that, the Bab takes an abstract God, completely beyond human understanding to know, and brings him down to the practical experience of humanity- that religion itself- the historical revelations of God- are our experience of God, the most we can possibly know. And to see them all as One is the highest degree of spiritual understanding.

So, the Christian concept that Christ was God is true in the sense that Christ was the expression of God’s Will to humanity, and, for all intents and purposes, “God” to us. The Islamic understanding was also true in that neither Christ nor Muhammad represented the Essence of God, which is unknowable to humans.

Pretty neat. 2000 years of theological controversy resolved in one short paragraph!

One final point-subtle but important- to tie this into the intellectual and scientific developments in Europe at the same time in history. The scientific conclusions of Darwin and other naturalists were that humans were not the absolute center of the universe, that there was a vast universe out there, with other planets, and an ancient biological life story that went back eons. This made humans feel small and lost in a cold, heartless and meaningless universe that seemed to not really care if we existed or not.

The Bab’s theological evolution is subtle but very important. God exists and is real, but our concepts of God are relative to us, to our view of the world, and even to our time in history- based on our capacity at that time. The Manifestations of God are humans. They speak our languages, express themselves in ways we easily understand, live among us, suffer and die.

But at the same time they represent God to us, in a manner we can understand. As the Bab says in one passage, God manifests Himself “to His creation through his Creation”.

Yes, we do live in a vast universe with an infinite variety of life, but God still wants us, puny as we are, to make spiritual progress, so He reveals His message to us in a way we can understand. By putting the emphasis on the Revelations of God as our primary experience of God, the Bab is validating our experience and helping us to again feel at home in the universe.

Photo by Christian Widell on Unsplash

Comments closed

The God of You

The God of You

Published October 9, 2019 by admin

This essay is part of the “Prophet of Shiraz” series, in honor of the Bicentenary of the Bab. Previous essays in this series can be found on the main page under “The Prophet of Shiraz”.

In the Bab’s and later Baha’u’llah’s writings, we find a new lens in which we can come to understand God and appreciate spiritual reality. We have already discussed how the Bab and Baha’u’llah taught that the actual reality of God, the Essence, is unknowable to human beings because of the profound differences that exist between us and God.

A crude but helpful analogy for this relationship is to imagine that you are a video game character living in a video game. What could you know of the creator of the video game? In a direct sense, nothing. You are living in a reality, in a world, that is completely dependent on the video game creator but your entire universe is the other objects in the game itself, a world made up of pixels and images. You simply don’t have the capacity to connect with anything outside of the game. In the same way, the Bab tells us that our understanding of God is limited to how God expresses His Will within the world that we live in, as we cannot escape the limitations of our own reality to appreciate the Essence of God. That “Will” or “Primal Will” in the terminology of the Bab, is how we experience God and is therefore God to us.

“And within the inmost reality of all things there hath been, and will forever continue to be, a sign from God through which the unity of the Lord is celebrated. This sign, however, is a reflection of His Will present within it, through which nothing is seen but God.”

Though we overwhelmingly think of the world in terms of its material aspects, a fundamental idea in the teachings of the Bab and Baha’u’llah is that everything in creation, including us, is really a spiritual reality in its essence. That spiritual reality is a reflection of the Divine Will that exists within it. Materiality is just an aspect of that spirituality, it’s outer expression.

People tend to talk about God in three different ways. For some people, their experience of God and spirituality is from looking within themselves- finding the “light” within and following it. For others, they see God in a world around us, in nature or other people. Most people also see God reflected in one of the founders of the great religions of humanity, who in some way claimed to represent God to us.

The Bab, and later Baha’u’llah, tells us that each of these three senses in which people experience God is true. The supreme and ultimate goal of life is to increasingly recognize the aspect of Divinity that is expressed in these three ways of knowing God. But it isn’t the actual God that we come to know, but how God is revealed to us through all creation, including our own selves.

That first way of experiencing God, and the one available to everyone that has ever lived, is to see the evidences of God within oneself. This aspect of our experience is independent of time and place, because every human throughout history has carried it within them at all times.

“Behold with the eye of thy heart. Verily thy truth, the truth of thy being, is the divinity of thy Lord revealed unto thee and through thee. Thou art He Himself, and He is thou thyself, except that indeed thou art that thou art, and He is that He is.”

Our inner path to experience the divinity of our own selves is the journey each of us is on. The Bab taught that everything and everyone has two aspects- their “divinity”, also sometimes called their “higher nature”, which reflects the perfection within them, and their outer aspect or “lower nature”. Our divinity is the expression of the Will of God within us and is the most full and complete experience of God we can ever have, as we experience it personally and directly. It is also the aspect that connects us spiritually with all creation, because all things and all people, despite the outer aspects, are ultimately expressions of the Divine Will, which is their true inner reality:

Every created entity in itself reflects the Greater World…Verily God hath fashioned all things in the form of His Divine Unity in such wise that when a servant is purified from all protestation and doubt and instead reflects the splendors of the divine revelation unto him and through him, in utmost equity, he will be naught but the Divine Self, that ‘verily there is none other God but Him, the Beloved, the Compassionate’.”

In this sense in which we experience God, all the terms of religion, such as “paradise”, “hell”, or any other state, are wrapped up within ourselves.

“For verily, before God and before those who behold paradise in this earthly life, every moment is the very Day of Resurrection. Shouldst thou purify thy vision and cleanse thy sight, though would assuredly witness that the “Balance” hath been appointed within thine own soul, paradise hath been brought nigh unto thee on thy right hand, hell hath been made to blaze on thy left…Wert thou so desire in thy heart the performance of a good deed, God would assuredly reward thee within thy soul….”

Indeed, it is this inner journey that is the essence and purpose of all religion, in which we find the fullest revelation of God within our own selves.

“True worship is realized for those who worship God through Him and submerge themselves in the Sea of Absolute Unity. For in that Sea, the worshipper and the words or worship are annihilated, and thus there remains not for the worshipper but the very revelation of God and the pure countenance of the Beloved…”

This idea of God somehow existing within us is of course not a new idea and is found in many ancient philosophies and religions. It is a strong part of the Hindu and Buddhist traditions, and was expressed in Islam through the “mystics” of Sufism. What is new in the Bab’s revelation, and will be amplified and further clarified by Baha’u’llah, is that it is not the actual God that we are experiencing when we look inward, but the revelation of divinity that exists within our own selves. That divinity is itself an expression of the Will of God in all creation, and therefore, by connecting with our own divinity, we are connecting with the underlying reality of all life. But the Essence of God remains separate in an unknowable sphere beyond any form of human experience to touch.

The difference may seem to be a technical one, and on an experiential level it may be, but it solves a major theological challenge to seeing the great religions of humanity as a coherent whole. It unites two separate but inter-related strands of religious perspective- one that sees God as separate from creation and lording over all things, like a parent towering over her children- and the other that sees God as our close companion with whom we can have a mystical relationship, as a “lover” and a ‘beloved”. As we will see, the Bab will weave these two strands together with the concept of divine revelation itself, to build a powerful and beautiful tapestry- one that will then explode into reality through the Revelation of Baha’u’llah.

Translations of the Bab’s Writings noted above are from Dr Nader Saeidi’s book “Gate of the Heart”, an introduction to the Writings of the Bab. Dr Saiedi’s insights and translations, from that book, have been of enormous value in preparing these essays. We include his translations with tremendous gratitude!

Photo by Josh Boot on Unsplash

Comments closed