Selections from the writings of ‘Abdu'l-BaháʻAbdu'l-Bahá
Religion
Selections from the writings of ‘Abdu'l-Bahá
ʻAbdu'l-Bahá
Bahai Faith
It happened one day in the time of Christ—may the life of the world be a
sacrifice unto Him—that He passed by the dead body of a dog, a carcass
reeking, hideous, the limbs rotting away. One of those present said: ‘How
foul its stench!’ And another said: ‘How sickening! How loathsome!’ To be
brief, each one of them had something to add to the list.
But then Christ Himself spoke, and He told them: ‘Look at that dog’s
teeth! How gleaming white!’
The Messiah’s sin-covering gaze did not for a moment dwell upon the
repulsiveness of that carrion. The one element of that dead dog’s carcass
which was not abomination was the teeth: and Jesus looked upon their
brightness.
Thus is it incumbent upon us, when we direct our gaze toward other people,
to see where they excel, not where they fail.
Praise be to God, thy goal is to promote the well-being of humankind and
to help the souls to overcome their faults. This good intention will
produce laudable results.
145: THOU DIDST WRITE AS TO THE QUESTION OF SPIRITUAL ...
Thou didst write as to the question of spiritual discoveries. The spirit
of man is a circumambient power that encompasseth the realities of all
things. Whatsoever thou dost see about thee—wondrous products of human
workmanship, inventions, discoveries and like evidences—each one of these
was once a secret hidden away in the realm of the unknown. The human
spirit laid that secret bare, and drew it forth from the unseen into the
visible world. There is, for example, the power of steam, and photography
and the phonograph, and wireless telegraphy, and advances in mathematics:
each and every one of these was once a mystery, a closely guarded secret,
yet the human spirit unravelled these secrets and brought them out of the
invisible into the light of day. Thus is it clear that the human spirit is
an all-encompassing power that exerteth its dominion over the inner
essences of all created things, uncovering the well kept mysteries of the
phenomenal world.
The divine spirit, however, doth unveil divine realities and universal
mysteries that lie within the spiritual world. It is my hope that thou
wilt attain unto this divine spirit, so that thou mayest uncover the
secrets of the other world, as well as the mysteries of the world below.
Thou didst ask as to chapter 14, verse 30 of the Gospel of John, where the
Lord Christ saith, ‘Hereafter I will not talk much with you: for the
Prince of this world cometh, and hath nothing in Me.’ The Prince of this
world is the Blessed Beauty; and ‘hath nothing in Me’ signifieth: after Me
all will draw grace from Me, but He is independent of Me, and will draw no
grace from Me. That is, He is rich beyond any grace of Mine.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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