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Hello again.
I have been away for some time. On returning I saw this wonderful letter with weighty quotes by Martin Luther King.Thanks a lot for making this forum still weightier by letting His precious findings embellish this forum.
I sat down by my computer to tell about the Bahai view of the true nature of man,and about my wonderful meeting with 3000 Bahais in London on th 3rd to 4th of Jan.but when I saw what Marisol had written I thought I'd at least begin in another way.I 'll again take up what Bahai is and translate a few words as well as I can from an introductory book about the Bahai Faith. In earlier letters that I have written here at the forum I have stated that" the Bahai Faith is a world religion, whose purpose is to unite all races and peoples in one universal Cause and one common Faith. The Bahais are followers of Bahaullah, Whom they consider to be the Promised One of all ages. As you know almost every people have a tradition that promises a future, when peace and harmony will prevail on earth and when men will live in prosperity. We believe that the promised age has come and that Bahaullah is that greatest Figure,Whose teachings will make men able to build a new world. In one of His Writings Bahaullah says:"
"That which the Lord hath ordained as the sovereign remedy and mightiest instrument for the healing of all the world is the union of all its peoples in one universal Cause, one common Faith. This can in no wise be achieved except through the power of a skilled, an all-powerful and inspired Physician. This verily is the truth, and all else but error."( Excerpts from Gleanings by Bahaullah).
So...you might wonder,why am I then praising the wisdom of Martin Luther King?Of course I'd do that, Bahaullah commands we must not deny the truth of the foregoing Messengers of God..
To be brief, I consider truth to be but one thing, just like we find the light in different lamps, all giving out radiance, whatever the colour of the lamp-shades. The(unfortunate) one person who just looks at the lamp-shade is risking to miss the light itself and would ,if he does, therefore deny the light of the next lamp, which might have a different lamp-shade. OK?
And, more closely -Lamp-shade, what do I mean? I mean that each Messenger manifesting the light and love of God has its own name, of course, certain clothes of His period, certain miracles perhaps and messages too,which are suitable for the time and society in which He appears. This is the symbolism of the lamp-shade. He,the Manifestation or Messenger,--- a Moses, an Abraham, a Christ---... speaks in different languages but always with the power and majesty of God. At one time the Holy Voice of God was heard in old India saying: (My own translation) "Whenever justice is declining, O Bharat, and godlessness is increasing, then I send forth my Spirit. To save what is good, to destroy the evildoers and manifest Myself from time to time for the establishment of righteousness". From Bhagavad Geeta, Krshna speaking to Arjuna," the seeker on the battleground of the soul" (My quotation marks)..
Therefore I say, it is the duty of man to seek out the One who is the Manifestation of God for the Age, in which he lives.the One Who is speaking as the Holy Spirit of God. I have said this before, it is really worth reemphasising .That very age that has been prophesied about among the adherents of all the major Faiths of the world, in that part of their scriptures called the Teachings of the latter days. or the escatologic part(s) of the scripture..That new age began in the middle of the 19th century. And all mankind was fast asleep, just as Christ hinted at.
Ponder upon this for a while. How often does such a Personage appear? Not so often. In truth such a Personage doesn't come until the old Faith(s) has become as a thing forgotten, that is, all is forgotten except the name, the lamp-shade, the rest is formalism.(Like in old Persia where the Bahai Faith was founded.) Again, ponder upon this, why did Christ appear? It is because the old Faith had become a barren empty formula , an empty cup which Christ even called the "devil"having come into the people. Therefore Christ established righteousness among millions all around the world.
So, I hope we have now established or found out why they do come, and when.
What about this age, isn't the world of worshipping the old idols of materialism, once again, religion to such a great extent having become an empty formula.This is understood by the many.Now I'll shift a little to another issue.
The other week I heard a priest and a few others, philosophers speak about the hollowness of this age. The priest, a Canadian, having settled here in Sweden said more precisely that "there is no common code of values in society today". I believe he wasn't just speaking about Sweden, which is very secularized, but had looked further out into the world. The philosophers said that this is very good. "Now everybody can express themselves more freely, they might have any kind of personal code."And, isn't this a victory, and precious to hold on to? This can be met with, yes," at last, after ages of opression from the ruling authorities , mainly religious, the individual is free of expression and this opinion was also presented at the Philosophical Room on the Swedish Radio.
I'd say the clash of diverging opinions about the correct or true order of things and processes in this contingent world must be protected by a frame consisting of divine rules. Yes I am speaking about the whole world here, that is the society we are members of in this advanced age.Just as at any smaller meeting where we have a chairman, and order of speaking, there must be those frames.The voice of the individual is of course free, and we Bahais must speak out our opinions in all matters also in the Bahai community but we must adhere to certain divine societal rules. Even our assembly meetings (of at least 9 chosen individuals) are designed to follow certain divinely ordained rules.First among those is to speak in a tone of" friendliness and compassion". But, again, all around this divine frame is missing, gone with the decline of faith in men's hearts, in the rest and not only in the swedish society . I agree with that Canadian.Due to this this lacking of societal common code of behaviour sees,at worst, the emergence of stress, oppression and quarrels, anxiety, crimes, even wars, rape, wild kids impossible to impart any education, sect-leaders who drag people into the djungle to make them commit collective suicide, the terrible pollution of the earth,whatever horrors....
We can look at this in a positive way, though.That is The freedom we have.That we see ourselves on our own, not relying on the interpretation of obstruse things concerning divinity presented by others. It leaves the individual with the responsibility to seek for himself, like: you do not have to believe what the religious authorities say, high or low, you see yourself standing all alone as you are bornon your own and will die on your own. Hear Bahaullah once more:
O Son of Spirit!
The best beloved of all things in My sight is Justice; turn not away
therefrom if thou desirest Me, and neglect it not that I may confide in
thee. By its aid thou shalt see with thine own eyes and not through the eyes of others, and shalt know of thine own knowledge and not through
the knowledge of thy neighbour. Ponder this in thine heart; how it
behooveth thee to be. Verily justice is My gift to thee and the sign of
My loving kindness. Set it then before thine eyes." It is my hope for all whom I meet in life that they will flee from the existential anxiety and seek the Sun of Truth until they are blessed with its warming rays, which are like honey for our hearts, taking away the loneliness of our invisible hearts, the starved spiritual heart of our age..
This honey only, the divine honey is the solace for all mankind. This is the power that attracts the bewildered heart of mankind, so lost and so stressed in striving to dispell the threatening spears of diverging opinions, looking into every direction for the ever guiding Light of the All-Merciful. This honey is hidden in the Revelation of Bahaullah.And this is nothing but the divine Love, "that mysterious something" , that hidden manna,which everybody is searching land and sea today.(My quotationmarks). Listen Marisol and all my readers what Bahaullah says to you:
"O My Brother!
Hearken to the delightsome words of My honeyed tongue, and quaff the stream of mystic holiness from My sugarshedding lips. Sow the seeds of My divine wisdom in the pure soil of your heart, and water them with the water of certitude, that the hyacinths of My knowledge and wisdom may spring up fresh and green in the sacred sanctity of thy heart!"
"He Who is your Lord, the All-Merciful, cherisheth in His heart the desire of beholding the entire human race as one soul and one body.Haste ye to win your share of God's good grace and mercy in this Day that eclipseth all other created Days. How great the felicity that awaiteth the man that forsaketh all he hath in a desire to obtain the things of God! Such a man, We testify, is among God's blessed ones."
Bahaullah
Dear friends, now and then I find pictures(because I am a poet -artist, to describe what I mean. Often Abdu'l-Bahá, son of Bahaullah speaks about the Sun of Truth. I have taken the visible sun to say that in parts the old faiths can be seen as sun-settings. The sun is there, as always,(meaning God is there always), but when, after a thousand years or so, the Sun of an old faith goes down, it sends out no warmth, though its wise words still can be repeated, the light is fading and soon it will disappear, just like the setting visible sun, but worse, before it goes down the sky is uplit with the light of fire, of sharp reddish and orange colours. This I like to see as a symbol for fanaticism, of oppressive persuation, the misuse of religion and in the worst case, the killing of others,called" "infidels".Many people around the world keep staring at this, saying, oh how lucky I am: I am not religious!.So therefore religion is also declining because of this, among downhearted onlookers.I was once,among these kind of onlookers. Whenever you see this fire, be assured, this phenomenon is nothing to be afraid of. That kind of "sunshine", not worth the name will soon dissolve into nothing, precisely because the new sun-Sun is at hand in another rising place.Nay , rather it has arisen to its zenit! This time the Sun of truth has arisen in a new horizon: old opressive 19th century Persia. This is a description of our age's religious sky or situation as I see it.
"Whenever justice is declining, Oh Bharat and godlessness is increasing, then I send fort my Spirit..."
The Bahais are indeed convinced of the Truth of the Revelation of Bahaullah,and of the Ones of bygone ages no matter whether the adherents of them do not believe that we believe in them..yes... no matter how the world will look like tomorrow, maybe upside down.We will stand by mankind, we are all its servants.We will always point to the glorious future of mankind, point to the path forwards to it and are happy at it. I saw the steadfastness of my brothers and sisters in the Faith in London, an enormously positive and inspiring and reassuring experience. And a humorous one too, with much laughter.The speaker, a member of the Universal House of Justice told us many pedagogic funny stories to emphasize important matters regarding the growth of the Faith of Bahaullah.Oh for the joy of those fast fleeting hours among these strong faithful ones! We laid out many good plans in workshops together for the nearest future.
I could go on and on, but I should perhaps close for now.
All the best to all of you, dear readers and friends.
Laila
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