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("The act of creation apparent in beings is such that it demonstrates it proceeds from a power and will which sees and knows most things, the whole universe even, in each thing particularly if it is animate, and which recognizes and secures the animate creature’s relationship with the universe; it thus demonstrates that it cannot be the act of causes, which are material and are not all-encompassing. Through the meaning of Self-Subsistence, a particular c..." içeriğiyle yeni sayfa oluşturdu) |
("Since, as the whole universe testifies, the True Beloved and Absolutely Beautiful One causes man to love Himself through His most beautiful names, which are altogether exquisite, and desires man to love Him, then most certainly He would not endow man who is both His beloved and His lover with an innate enmity and cause him to be vexed with Himself from afar; He would not endow man’s spirit with a hidden enmity, which would be altogether contrary to m..." içeriğiyle yeni sayfa oluşturdu) |
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(Aynı kullanıcının aradaki diğer 37 değişikliği gösterilmiyor) | |||
609. satır: | 609. satır: | ||
For about a year this instance of wisdom was sufficient for me. Then the truly wonderful and subtle miracles of art to be found in creatures, in particular in animate beings, were disclosed. I understood that these subtleties of art which are so fine and wonderful are not only to set forth meanings for the gazes of intelligent beings. For although innumerable such creatures may study each being, their studying is both limited, and not all of them will be able to penetrate all the subtleties of art in those animate beings. That is to say, the most important result of the creation of animate beings and the most significant purpose of their natures is to present to the Pre-Eternal Self-Subsistent One’s own gaze the marvels of His art and the compassionate gifts and bounties He has bestowed. | For about a year this instance of wisdom was sufficient for me. Then the truly wonderful and subtle miracles of art to be found in creatures, in particular in animate beings, were disclosed. I understood that these subtleties of art which are so fine and wonderful are not only to set forth meanings for the gazes of intelligent beings. For although innumerable such creatures may study each being, their studying is both limited, and not all of them will be able to penetrate all the subtleties of art in those animate beings. That is to say, the most important result of the creation of animate beings and the most significant purpose of their natures is to present to the Pre-Eternal Self-Subsistent One’s own gaze the marvels of His art and the compassionate gifts and bounties He has bestowed. | ||
As for this purpose, it satisfied me for a long time and from it I understood the following: the wisdom and purpose of creation, which is to present the endless subtleties of art in beings, particularly in animate beings, to the gaze of the Pre- Eternally Self-Subsistent One, that is, for He Himself to behold His own art, was sufficient for that vast outlay. | |||
Some time later I realized that the subtleties of art in the individual features and forms of beings did not continue; they were being renewed and were undergoing change at great speed; they were being transformed within an endless activity and creativity. I started to ponder over it, saying: “The wisdom in this creativity and activity must necessarily be as extensive as the activity itself.” Then, the two instances of wisdom mentioned above began to seem insufficient; they lacked something. With extreme curiosity I began to search and seek for a further purpose and instance of wisdom. All praise be to God, through the effulgence of the Qur’an of Miraculous Exposition, after some time a vast, limitless wisdom and purpose became apparent at the level of the mystery of Self-Subsistence. And through it, the divine mystery called the talisman of the universe and riddle of creation was understood. It is explained in detail in the Twenty-Fourth Letter, so here in the Third Ray we shall briefly mention only two or three points. | |||
Look from this point to the manifestation of the mystery of Self-Subsistence: it has plucked all beings out of non-existence, and according to the meaning of the verse, It is God who has raised the heavens without any supports that you can see,(13:2) has caused each one of them to remain in infinite space. It has bestowed stability and permanence on them, and caused them all to display the manifestation of the myster y of Self-Subsistence. If not for this support, nothing at all could continue to exist of its own accord. Everything would topple over into the infinite void and tumble into non- existence. | |||
Furthermore, just as all beings rely on the All-Glorious Self-Subsistent One for their existence, stability, and permanence, they continue in existence through Him, so according to the meaning of the verse, And to Him goes back every affair,(11:123) the tips of thousands of chains or lines in the states and conditions of beings are fastened to the mystery of Self-Subsistence, which, if the comparison is not mistaken, is like the centre or central pole of telephone and telegraph lines. If they did not rely on that luminous point of support, thousands of unending sequences of causes would be necessary, which according to scholars is an impossible and false notion; in fact, there would have to be as many of these absurd unending sequences of causes as there are beings. For example, one thing – protection or light or existence or sustenance, for instance – in one respect relies on the next thing, and that on the next, and that on the next, until finally since it cannot be infinite, it has to come to an end. Thus, the end of all such lines and sequences lies in the mystery of Self- Subsistence. But when this mystery has been understood, the links and the meaning of each thing relying on the next in those imaginary sequences do not remain, they disappear and everything is seen to look directly to the mystery of Self-Subsistence. | |||
< | <span id="Üçüncü_Şuâ"></span> | ||
=== | ===THIRD RAY=== | ||
By means of one or two introductory points, we shall point out to a small degree the disclosure of the mystery of Self-Subsistence within divine creativity and dominical activity, which verses like the following allude to: Every day He manifests Himself in yet another way.(55:29)* A sovereign doer of whatever He wills.(11:107)* He creates whatever he wishes.(30:34, etc.)* In Whose hand is the dominion of all things.(36:83)* So look to the signs of God’s mercy, how He restores the earth to life after its death.(30:50) | |||
'''The First:''' When we look at the universe, we see that one group of creatures, which are tossed around in the flood of time and follow on one after the other convoy after convoy, come for a second and then immediately vanish. Another group comes for a minute and then passes on. One species stops by in the Manifest Word for an hour, then enters the World of the Unseen. Some of them come and alight in the Manifest World for a day, some of them for a year, some for a century, and some for an age; they perform their duties and then depart. This astonishing travelling and passage of beings and flow and flux of creatures is driven and directed with such order, balance and wisdom, and the one who commands them and those convoys does so with such insight, purpose and planning that even if all minds were to unite and become one mind, it would be unable to comprehend the essence of this wise direction; it would be unable to find any fault in it and so could not criticize it. | |||
''' | |||
Thus, within this dominical activity, not allowing any of those pleasing creatures that it loves, especially animate creatures, to open their eyes, the pen of divine determining and decree despatches them to the World of the Unseen; not permitting them even to draw a breath, it discharges them from the life of this world. It continuously fills the guesthouse of the world and empties it without the guests’ consent. Making the globe of the earth like a slate for writing and erasing, through the manifestation of He grants life and deals death,(2:258) the pen of divine determining and decree ceaselessly inscribes writings on it, and renews and replaces them. | |||
One meaning of the wisdom in this dominical activity and divine creativity and a fundamental requirement and a motive cause of them is a limitless, endless instance of wisdom that may be divided into three important branches. | |||
'''The First Branch of that wisdom is this:''' Every sort of activity, whether particular or universal, yields pleasure. There is a pleasure in all activity. Indeed, activity is pure pleasure. Yes, activity is the manifestation of existence, which is pure pleasure and is the shaking off and becoming distant from non-existence, which is pure suffering. | |||
''' | |||
Everyone with ability follows with pleasure the unfolding of his ability through activity. The revealing of innate talents through activity arises from a pleasure and results in a pleasure. Everyone who possesses some perfections follows with pleasure their disclosure through activity. Since there is present in every activity a perfection and pleasure which is thus loved and sought after, and activity too is a perfection; and since there are apparent in the world of animate creatures the manifestations of a boundless love and infinite compassion which arise from a perpetual and pre-eternal life; those manifestations show that as the requirement of that eternal Life which is fitting for the necessary existence of the One who thus loves and is compassionate and makes Himself loved, and is worthy of His holiness, there are – if the terms are not mistaken – at the utmost level such sacred qualities in that Most Pure and Holy Life as divine passion, hallowed love, and sheer pleasure. And it is these qualities that continuously renew, agitate, and change the universe through endless activity and infinite creativity. | |||
The Second Branch of the wisdom in the limitless divine activity which looks to the mystery of Self-Subsistence: This looks to the divine names. It is well-known that everyone who possesses beauty wants to both see and display his beauty; that everyone who possesses some skills desires and loves to attract attention to his skills by exhibiting and proclaiming them; he desires and loves his skill, which is a beautiful truth and meaning that has remained concealed, to be revealed and to find ardent admirers. | |||
These fundamental rules are in force in all things according to the degree of each. According to the testimony of the universe and the evidence of the manifestations and embroideries of the thousand and one most beautiful names of the All-Glorious Self- Subsistent One, who possesses absolute beauty, there are in every degree of each of those names a true loveliness, a true perfection, a true beauty and a most exquisite truth. Indeed, in every degree there are endless different sorts of loveliness and innumerable beautiful truths. | |||
Since the beings of the universe are mirrors reflecting the sacred beauties of those names and the tableaux displaying their beautiful embroideries and the pages setting forth their beautiful truths, those constant and eternal names will entirely and unceasingly renew and change the universe through their manifestations as a consequence of that sacred divine love and due to the mystery of Self-Subsistence. In this way they will display their endless manifestations and infinite, meaningful embroideries and books both to the witnessing gaze of the All-Glorious Self- Subsistent One, whom they signify, and to the studying gaze of uncountable numbers of intelligent creatures and creatures endowed with spirits, and will display countless tableaux out of a finite and limited thing and numerous individuals out of a single individual and multiple truths out of a single truth. | |||
< | <span id="Dördüncü_Şuâ"></span> | ||
=== | ===FOURTH RAY=== | ||
'''The Third Branch of the wisdom in the constant and astonishing activity in the universe:''' Everyone who is compassionate is happy at giving pleasure to others; and everyone who is kind is gratified at making others happy; everyone who is loving is gladdened by pleasing others who are worthy of being pleased; and everyone who is noble-hearted takes pleasure at making others happy; everyone who is just rejoices at upholding justice and at winning the gratitude of those whose rights are vindicated by punishing the deserving; and every skilful craftsman takes pride in exhibiting his work, at its functioning as he hoped it would function, and at its giving the desired results. | |||
''' | |||
Thus, each of the above-mentioned principles is a fundamental rule which is in force throughout the universe and the world of mankind. Three examples demonstrating that these rules function in the divine names have been explained in the Third Stopping Place of the Thirty-Second Word. It is appropriate to write a summary of them at this point, so we say the following: | |||
For example, an extremely kind, generous, munificent, noble-hearted person who embarks the poor and needy on a large ship, gratifies them with banquets and bounties and sails it in the seas around the world, will watch them happily since he is superior to them, take pleasure at those needy people’s gratitude, rejoice and be pleased at their taking pleasure, and feel proud. | |||
If someone who is merely a distribution official takes such pleasure and delight at holding an insignificant banquet, consider the following: the Ever-Living and Self- Subsistent One embarks all animals and men and countless angels, jinn and spirit beings on the ship of the earth, which is a vessel of that All-Merciful One; He spreads the face of the earth before them as a dominical table laden with varieties of foods, and with delights and sustenance for all the senses; he causes those needy, thankful, grateful and happy creatures to sail the regions of the universe, and not only makes them happy in this world with all these bounties but also makes the bounties tables in the unending banquets in the Paradises of the Eternal Realm. It is therefore the meaning of dominicality alluded to by the divine qualities resulting from the thanks, gratitude, joy and delight of those creatures which look to the Ever-Living and Self- Subsistent One, which we are powerless and not permitted to express, like holy pleasure, sacred pride, and hallowed delight that necessitate this constant activity and ceaseless creativity. | |||
And for example, if a skilful craftsman builds a gramophone that requires no records and it plays just as he wishes, how proud and delighted he will be; he will say to himself: “What wonders God willed!” Seeing that an insignificant piece of art in which there is no true creation engenders a feeling of such pride and pleasure in the craftsman’s spirit, then consider the following: The All-Wise Maker creates the totality of the universe as a divine orchestra and wondrous workshop which strikes up and gives forth countless sorts of songs and hymns praises and glorification; He displays all the species, all the worlds, in the universe through a different craft and different miracles of art; and not only does He fashion many machines in the heads of animate creatures, each like a gramophone, camera or telegraph, He also fashions in the heads of human beings, both a gramophone without records, a camera without a film, a telegraph without wires, and a machine twenty times more wonderful. It is therefore meanings like sacred pride and holy pleasure and the exalted qualities of this sort which proceed from dominicality and arise from creating such machines, and their functioning in the required way and producing the desired results that necessitate this unceasing activity. | |||
And for example, a just ruler takes pleasure and is gratified and feels proud at taking the part of the oppressed against tyrants in order to uphold justice, at protecting the poor against the wrongdoing of the powerful, and at giving to everyone his due. Since this is a fundamental rule of rulership and justice, consider the following: The Ever-Living and Self-Subsistent One, who is the All-Wise Ruler and is Absolutely Just, bestows on creatures and especially on animate ones the necessary conditions for life, which are known as the rights of life; and to preserve their lives, He grants them the necessary abilities and members; and He compassionately protects the weak from the evil of the powerful. Therefore, the dominical qualities and sacred meanings, which we are powerless to express, that arise from this and from the execution of the mystery of justice, which in this world is total with regard to establishing justice for all animate beings and partial with regard to punishing wrongdoers, and especially that arise from the manifestation of supreme justice at the supreme tribunal of the resurrection, necessitate the constant activity in the universe. | |||
Thus, as these three examples show, since each of the most beautiful names give rise to certain sacred divine qualities in this unceasing activity, they require unceasing creativity. | |||
And since the development, unfolding and blossoming of abilities and faculties yield a joy, expansiveness and pleasure; and since on the performance and completion of a duty and on being released from it, everyone entrusted with such a duty experiences a feeling of relief and gratitude; and since to receive many fruits from a single seed and to gain a hundredfold profit from a single thing is a most pleasurable trade, then most certainly the One who causes the innumerable abilities of creatures to unfold, after employing the creatures in valuable duties, will discharge them, but to a higher state. That is to say, He raises elements to the level of minerals; minerals to plant life; plants to the level of animal life by means of sustenance; and animals to the high level of human life, which is conscious. | |||
It may be understood then just how important are the sacred meanings and divine dominicality arising from the constant activity and dominical creativity which, on the demise of their external existences, cause all animate creatures to leave behind them multiple existences taken from them, like their spirits, essences, identities, forms, existences in the Worlds of Similitudes, Knowledge, and the Unseen, the sheaths of their spirits, and astral bodies, all of which are charged with duties in their places. This is explained in the Twenty-Fourth Letter. | |||
'''A Decisive Answer to an Important Question''' | |||
''' | |||
One group of the people of misguidance says that the being who changes and transforms the universe with this constant activity must himself be subject to change and alteration. | |||
'''The Answer:''' God forbid! A hundred thousand times, God forbid! The fact that mirrors on the ground change demonstrates not that the sun in the sky changes, but on the contrary that its manifestations are being renewed. Moreover, change and alteration are impossible in the Most Pure and Holy Essence, who is pre-eternal, post- eternal, sempiternal, in every respect absolutely perfect and absolutely self-sufficient, totally free of, detached from, and beyond matter, space, restriction, and contingency. Change in the universe points to his lack of change and alteration, not to His changing. For one who causes constant change and causes numerous things to move must himself be unchanging and not move.For example, if you spin a large number of globes and balls which have each been tied to a piece of string and cause them all to move unceasingly within an order, you have to remain in one place and not change or move, for if you did, it would spoil the order. | |||
It is clear that one who causes objects to move within an order must himself not move, and one who causes objects to change ceaselessly must himself be unchanging so that these actions may continue in an orderly fashion. | |||
'''Secondly:''' Change and alteration arise from createdness, from being renewed in order to be perfected, from need, materiality, and contingency. Since the Most Pure and Holy Essence is both eternal, and in every respect absolutely perfect and absolutely self-sufficient, and totally detached from matter, and necessarily existent, most certainly His changing and altering is not possible; it is impossible. | |||
< | <span id="Beşinci_Şuâ"></span> | ||
=== | ===FIFTH RAY=== | ||
are two issues. | |||
'''F i r s t M a t t e r''' | |||
''' | If we wish to see the greatest manifestation of the name Self-Subsistent, we shall set up two telescopes in order to observe the whole universe with our imaginations. One of them will show the most distant objects, the other minute particles. So if we look through the first telescope, we see that through the manifestation of the name of Self-Subsistent and without support, of millions of globes and stars thousands of times larger than the earth, some have been made apparently stationary in the matter known as ether, which is subtler than air, while others have been made to travel apparently as their duty. | ||
Then we look through the second telescope, which is the microscope of the imagination, to observe minute particles. Through the mystery of Self-Subsistence, taking up orderly positions like the stars, the particles of the bodies of animate creatures on the earth are all in motion and performing their duties. We see that especially the miniscule agglomerations forming the particles known as red corpuscles and white corpuscles in the blood of animate beings, like the planets, move with two orderly motions like Mevlevi dervishes. | |||
A Summary(*<ref>*This is a brief summary of the six sacred names which bear the greatest name and are the basis and subject of the six main sections of the Thirtieth Flash.</ref>) | |||
A summary is appropriate here in order to examine the sacred light the six names of the greatest name form, blending together like the seven colours in light. It is as follows: | |||
Look beyond the greatest manifestation of the name Self-Subsistent which thus upholds and gives permanence and continuity to all the beings in the universe: the greatest manifestation of the name Ever-Living has set aflame all animate beings with its manifestation. It has illuminated the universe. It gilds all animate beings with its manifestation. | |||
Now look again: beyond the name Ever-Living, the greatest manifestation of the name Single confers a unity on the universe with all its elements and parts. It puts a stamp of unity on each being’s forehead. It places a seal of oneness on each being’s face. It causes them to proclaim its manifestation with endless, countless tongues. | |||
Now consider the greatest manifestation of the name Sapient beyond the name Single: it incorporates in a fruitful order, wise regularity and purposeful harmony appropriate to each all the beings we observe through the two telescopes of the imagination, from stars to particles, whether universal or particular, from the greatest sphere to the most minute. It adorns and gilds all beings. | |||
Then look beyond the greatest manifestation of the name Sapient: in regard to its aspect that was examined in the Second Point, through the greatest manifestation of the name All-Just, the universe with all its beings is administered with such balance, equilibrium and measure within unceasing activity, that if just one of the heavenly bodies were to lose its balance even for a second, that is, if it were to break free of the manifestation of the name All-Just, it would cause chaos among the stars; it would be like Doomsday. | |||
Thus, all beings and all the different realms of beings from the army of the stars to the army of minute particles, that is, from the largest sphere that is the vast belt known as the Milky Way to the sphere of the motion of red and white corpuscles, stand shoulder to shoulder in a manner gauged with the finest balance and measure, so demonstrating that all those beings are obedient and totally subjugated to the commands proceeding from the command of “‘Be!’ and it is.” | |||
Now look beyond the greatest manifestation of the Name All-Just to the greatest manifestation of the name Most Holy, which was explained in the First Point: the fact that it renders all the beings in the universe so pure, clean, clear, beautiful, adorned and shining demonstrates that it has bestowed on the universe and on all beings the form of beautiful mirrors worthy of reflecting the utter essential beauty of the Absolutely Beautiful One and the sheer loveliness of His most beautiful names. | |||
'''In Short:''' These six names and six lights of the greatest name have enwrapped the universe and all beings in ever-differing, multifarious colours, embroideries and adornment. | |||
''' | |||
'''Second Matter of the Fifth Ray''' | |||
''' | Just as the manifestation of Self-Subsistence in the universe is at the level of unity and glory, so in man, who is the centre, pivot, and conscious fruit of the universe, it is at the level of oneness and beauty. That is to say, just as the universe subsists through the mystery of Self-Subsistence, so it in one respect subsists through man, who is the most complete place of manifestation of the name of Self-Subsistent. For since most of the wisdom, aims, purposes, and benefits in the universe look to man, the manifestation of Self-Subsistence in him is as though a support for the universe. It may be said that the Ever-Living and Self-Subsistent One willed man to be in the universe and created it for him. For with the comprehensiveness of his nature, man can understand and take pleasure in all the divine names. He can understand many of names through the pleasure to be found in sustenance in particular. Whereas the angels cannot know them through that pleasure. | ||
Because of this important comprehensiveness, the Ever-Living and Self- Subsistent One has given man a stomach and appetite with which He allows him to understand all His names and to taste all the varieties of His bounty, and He has generously laden the table with endless varieties of foods for man’s stomach. | |||
He has also made life a stomach, like the physical one, and has spread an extensive table of bounties before the senses, which are like the hands of the stomach of life. With its senses, life offers a sort of thanks for all the ways it benefits from the table of bounties. | |||
After the stomach of life, He has bestowed on man the stomach of humanity, which requires sustenance and bounties in a wider sphere than life. Intelligence, mind, and imagination, the hands of this stomach, benefit from the table of mercy, which is as broad as the heavens and the earth, and give thanks. | |||
After the stomach of humanity, He has spread before man another table of bounties which is infinitely vast. He has made the beliefs of Islam like an immaterial stomach requiring extensive sustenance and has extended its table outside the sphere of contingency and included in it the divine names. With this stomach and the great pleasure of sustenance, man perceives the names of All-Merciful and All-Wise and exclaims: | |||
“All praise be to God for His mercifulness and His wisdom!” And so on.Man is able to benefit from limitless divine bounties with this vast immaterial stomach. And there is a further sphere in this stomach, which is the pleasure of divine love. | |||
Thus, the Ever-Living and Self-Subsistent One has made man a centre and pivot of the whole universe; He has spread before him a table of bounties as broad as the universe, and subjugated the universe to him. The reasons for this and for the universe in one respect subsisting through the mystery of Self-Subsistence manifested through man are man’s three important duties: | |||
'''His First Duty''' | |||
''' | All the varieties of bounties dispersed throughout the universe are put into order through man. All those things beneficial to man are strung like prayer-beads on a string and the ends of the strings of those bounties are tied to man’s head. Man is thus made a list of all the various contents of the treasuries of mercy. | ||
'''His Second Duty''' | |||
''' | By reason of his comprehensiveness, this is for man to be the most perfect addressee of the Ever-Living and Self-Subsistent One; by appreciating and admiring His astonishing arts, to be His loudest herald; and by offering every kind of conscious thanks, to give praise, glory, and thanks for all the varieties of His bounties and the limitless different sorts of His gifts. | ||
'''His Third Duty''' | |||
''' | Through his life, this is to act in three respects as a mirror to the Ever-Living and Self-Subsistent One and His qualities and all-embracing attributes. | ||
'''First Aspect:''' This is to perceive through his own absolute impotence the absolute power of his Creator and its levels, and through the degrees of his impotence, the degrees of His power. It is to understand through his own absolute poverty, His mercy and the degrees of His mercy, and through his weakness, His strength; and so on. It is to be a mirror and measuring instrument for his Creator’s attributes of perfection through his own defective attributes. Just as darkness is a perfect mirror for displaying electric light, the brilliance of the light being proportionate to the darkness of the night, so man acts as a mirror to the divine perfections through his own defective attributes. | |||
''' | |||
'''Second Aspect:''' Using the universe as a yardstick and with his own partial will, tiny knowledge, minute power, and apparent ownership, and by building his own house, man understands and acts as a mirror to the ownership, art, will, power, and knowledge of the universe’s Fashioner. | |||
''' | |||
'''Third Aspect:''' Man’s acting as a mirror in this respect has two faces: | |||
''' | |||
'''First:''' It is to display in himself the ever-differing embroideries of the divine names. To put it simply, by reason of his comprehensiveness, man is like a tiny index and miniature specimen of the universe and so displays the embroideries of all the names. | |||
'''Second Face:''' This face acts as a mirror to the divine attributes. That is to say, just as man points to the life of the Ever-Living and Self-Subsistent One through his own life, so he acts as a mirror to and makes known such attributes of the Ever-Living and Self-Subsistent One as hearing and sight, by means of his own sense of hearing and sense of sight that develop during his life-time. Furthermore, man acts as a mirror to the sacred attributes of the Ever-Living and Self-Subsistent One through the very numerous and responsive senses, meanings, and emotions that are present with his life, which do not develop but which boil up in the form of feelings and emotions. | |||
For example, as a result of such emotions, through meanings like loving and feeling proud, pleased, happy and cheerful he acts as a mirror to attributes of that sort, on condition they are suitable and worthy for the sacredness and absolute self-sufficiency of the Most Pure and Holy Essence. Also, through his comprehensive life, man is an instrument that recognizes and measures the attributes and qualities of the All-Glorious One, and is an index of the manifestation of His names, and a conscious mirror, and so on, he acts as a mirror to the Ever-Living and Self-Subsistent One in many respects. Man is also a unit of measurement, an index, a scale, and a balance to the truths of the universe. | |||
For example, extremely decisive evidence for the existence of the Preserved Tablet in the universe and an example of it is man’s faculty of memory. And a decisive evidence of the existence of the World of Similitudes and an example of it is man’s faculty of imagination. And evidence for the existence of spirit beings in the universe and an example of them are the powers and subtle faculties in man.(*<ref>*The elements in man point to the elements in the universe, and his bones to its stones and rocks, his hair to its plants and trees, and the blood which flows in his body and the fluids which issue from his eyes, ears, nose and mouth to the spring and mineral waters of the earth. Similarly, man’s spirit points to the spirit world, his faculty of memory to the Preserved Tablet, and his power of imagination to the World of Similitudes, and so on. Each of his members and faculties points to a different world and bears decisive witness to their existence.</ref>) And so on. In small measure man may display almost visibly the truths of belief present in the universe. | |||
Man performs many important functions like those mentioned above. He is a mirror to enduring beauty. He is the place of manifestation announcing sempiternal perfection. He is one needy and thankful for eternal mercy. Since beauty, perfection, and mercy are everlasting and eternal, it is surely necessary and inevitable that man, who is the desirous mirror to enduring beauty, the enraptured herald of everlasting perfection, and thankful and needy for eternal mercy, will go to an everlasting realm to remain there permanently, that he will go to eternity to accompany those eternal qualities, and will accompany that eternal Beauty, everlasting Perfection, and ever- enduring Mercy for all eternity. | |||
For an eternal beauty cannot be content with an impermanent admirer, a mortal lover. Since beauty loves itself, it desires love in return for its love. Transience and impermanence transform such love into enmity. | |||
If man was not going to go to eternity and remain there permanently, he would feel enmity rather than innate love for eternal beauty. As is described in a footnote in the Tenth Word, one time a celebrated beauty expelled a lover from her presence, whereupon his love turned into enmity and in order to console himself, he said: “Ugh! How ugly she is!”, thus insulting and denying her beauty. Indeed, man is hostile to what is unfamiliar to him, just as he quite simply wishes to be hostile to and find fault in things he cannot obtain or possess. | |||
Since, as the whole universe testifies, the True Beloved and Absolutely Beautiful One causes man to love Himself through His most beautiful names, which are altogether exquisite, and desires man to love Him, then most certainly He would not endow man who is both His beloved and His lover with an innate enmity and cause him to be vexed with Himself from afar; He would not endow man’s spirit with a hidden enmity, which would be altogether contrary to man’s nature, who is by his nature the most lovable and loving creature and the most exceptional that He has created for worship. | |||
For man would only be able to cure the deep wounds caused by eternal separation from an Absolute Beauty that he loves and whose value he appreciates by enmity towards it, being vexed with it, and denying it. | |||
It is from this point that the unbelievers’ enmity towards God Almighty arises. In which case, the Pre-Eternal Beauty will surely make manifest in man a perpetual life in a permanent realm in order to be present together with him who is an enraptured mirror to Himself on the journey to post-eternity. | |||
Since man has been created in such a way that by his very nature he longs for and loves an Ever-Enduring Beauty; and since an Ever-Enduring Beauty cannot be content with an impermanent lover; and since, in order to find consolation from the pain and sorrow arising from some aim that he does not know or cannot attain or possess, man pacifies himself through discovering the faults of such an aim, rather, through nurturing a hidden enmity towards it; and since the universe was created for man, and man was created to know and love God; and since the Creator of the universe, together with His names, is eternal; and since the manifestation of His names will be perpetual, everlasting, and post-eternal; then man will most certainly go to an everlasting realm and will manifest an everlasting life. | |||
Furthermore Muhammad the Arabian (Upon whom be blessings and peace), who is the supreme guide and perfect man, made known and demonstrated most perfectly in himself and in his religion the value and all the perfections and duties we have explained above concerning man. This demonstrates that the universe was created for mankind and its aim and object is mankind. So too the aim and object of mankind, and its choicest and most valuable member, and its most brilliant mirror to the Single and Eternally Besought One is Ahmad Muhammad (Upon whom be blessings and peace). | |||
Upon whom and upon whose family be blessings and peace to the number of good deeds of his community. | |||
O God! O Most Merciful! O Most Compassionate! O Single One! O Ever-Living! O Self-Subsistent! O Sapient! O All-Just! O Most Holy! | |||
We beseech You through the truth of Your All-Wise Criterion of Truth and Falsehood, the Qur’an, and through veneration for Your Most Noble Beloved, and through the truth of Your Most Beautiful Names, and through veneration for Your Greatest Name, to preserve us from the evil of the instinctual soul and of Satan and from the evil of jinn and of men. Amen. | |||
Glory be unto You! We have no knowledge save that which You have taught us; indeed You are All-Knowing, All-Wise!(2:32) | |||
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<center> [[Yirmi Dokuzuncu Lem'a]] ⇐ [[Lem'alar]] | ⇒ [[Otuz Birinci Lem'a]] </center> | <center> [[Yirmi Dokuzuncu Lem'a/en|The Twenty-Ninth Flash]] ⇐ | [[Lem'alar/en|The Flashes]] | ⇒ [[Otuz Birinci Lem'a/en|The Thirty-First Flash]] </center> | ||
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