Descent and ascent: the human being at the dawn

arcs of ascent and descent

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Editorial introduction

The station of the human being, ‘Abdu’l-Bahá teaches, is the end of night and the beginning of day: the last degree of darkness and the first of light, the point where the arc of descent through mineral, plant and animal meets the arc of ascent that climbs through spirit toward God. It is also a place of real freedom, for one who stands on the line between light and darkness can move in either direction, and the way back up is never a return to the same earthly condition but a creating anew. Ecclesiastes, sending the dust back to the earth and the spirit back to God who gave it, holds the two returns side by side within a single human life ^[1]. What makes the upward movement visible, ‘Abdu’l-Bahá suggests, is education, cooperation and reciprocity: ascent is a matter of relationships as much as of inward experience. The path runs on into the ceaseless renewal of all things, into the long story of evolution, and into the spiritual wayfaring by which a soul takes its first steps into day.

Selected passages

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Man is in the ultimate degree of materiality and the beginning of spirituality, that is, he is at the end of imperfection and the beginning of perfection. He is at the furthermost degree of darkness and the beginning of the light. That is why the station of man is said to be the end of night and the beginning of day, meaning that he encompasses all the degrees of imperfection and that he potentially possesses all the degrees of perfection. He has both an animal side and an angelic side; and the role of the educator is to so train human souls that the angelic side may overcome the animal.

(‘Abdu’l-Bahá, Chapter 64, The Station of Man and His Progress after Death, 1904 ca. -- AB00420)

The world of existence has been likened unto a circle. It possesses two arcs: the arc of descent and the arc of ascent. In this circle, the circle of human existence occupies the middle station, or the meeting point of the extremes of the two arcs, which comprehends the last degree of the arc of descent and the first degree of the arc of ascent, or the darkest stage of the night of human ignorance and the dawn of human enlightenment.

(‘Abdu’l-Bahá, Words spoken on 1912-Oct-04 in San Francisco -- ABU0214)

However, those who have thoroughly investigated the questions of divinity know of a certainty that the material worlds terminate at the end of the arc of descent; that the station of man lies at the end of the arc of descent and the beginning of the arc of ascent, which is opposite the Supreme Centre; and that from the beginning to the end of the arc of ascent the degrees of progress are of a spiritual nature. The arc of descent is called that of "bringing forth" and the arc of ascent that of "creating anew." The arc of descent ends in material realities and the arc of ascent in spiritual realities. The point of the compass in describing a circle does not reverse its motion, for this would be contrary to the natural movement and the divine order and would disrupt the regularity of the circle.

(‘Abdu’l-Bahá, Chapter 81, Reincarnation, 1904 ca. -- AB00036)

All things proceed from God and unto Him they return. He is the source of all things and in Him all things are ended.

(Bahá’u’lláh, Kitab-i-Aqdas (The Most Holy Book), 1290-05-15 [1873-Jul-11] -- BH00001)

Know thou moreover that every created thing is continually brought forth and returned at the bidding of thy Lord, the God of power and might.

(Bahá’u’lláh, Suriy-i-Vafa (=Lawh-i-Vafa), to Shaykh Mulla Muhammad Husayn Vafa -- BH00354)

This is the Ocean out of which all seas have proceeded, and with which every one of them will ultimately be united. From Him all the Suns have been generated, and unto Him they will all return.

(Bahá’u’lláh, 1290 [1873] or earlier, to Siyyid Muhammad Al-Husayni (son of Siyyid Jafar Yazdi) -- BH01828)

The Creator of all is One God. From this same God all creation sprang into existence, and He is the one goal, towards which everything in nature yearns.

(‘Abdu’l-Bahá, Words spoken on 1911-Oct-28 in Paris -- ABU0491)

Creation is the expression of motion. Motion is life. … All created forms are progressive in their planes, or kingdoms of existence, under the stimulus of the power or spirit of life. The universal energy is dynamic. Nothing is stationary in the material world of outer phenomena or in the inner world of intellect and consciousness.

(‘Abdu’l-Bahá, Words spoken at Unitarian conference in Boston, 1912-May-22 -- ABU0161)

God did not create the world suddenly but God's breath of life becomes God's creative word of command, logos, which continuously creates the world. We have a continuing and not a single act of creation.
… All created things, i.e. emanated things, move in a cycle, better expressed, in an elliptical curve.
The Bab and Baha'u'llah taught: The creation, the emanated, is the descending curve of the Logos (the breath of life of God) and the development (evolution) is the ascending curve; this (curve) is, however, nothing else than the coming back or returning of all things to God, be it for destruction or for absolute perfection.

(‘Abdu’l-Bahá, On the creation of the world: words to Miss St. and others in summer of 1910 -- ABU0017)

'Abdu'l-Baha was asked to explain the development of life from its lowest to its highest forms. He explained that the development of existence may be represented by two arcs forming a circle. The one descending, the other ascending. Beginning with the mineral, the vegetable and the animal, the human follows, being at the end of the descending arc, and therefore the very lowest point of life.
If a man becomes stationary at that point he is the lowest of the low.
It is by progressing into the spiritual life that the ascending arc is reached and man can grow and develop.

(‘Abdu’l-Bahá, Words to Mr and Mrs Hannen, spoken on 1909-Feb-23 -- ABU2609)

If we represent creation by a circle, at the top of it is God the creator, from His left descends the mineral creation, beginning first with the mineral kingdom, next below that is the vegetable kingdom, below that again is the animal kingdom, and at the bottom of the circle is man. This signifies that man has the power of being infinitely more degraded than the other three kingdoms and can do more harm.
… But though this station is the "lowest of the low", it is also the dawning point of the new life, and the spiritual ascent to God!

(‘Abdu’l-Bahá, Words to E.J. Rosenberg et al, spoken around Feb. 1901 -- ABU1314)

Praise be to God Who created and brought forth a comprehensive, perfect, all-encompassing Point, possessing and containing all universal meanings in the world of existence, wherein all realities, effects and ordinances are integrated and included through simplicity and unity, calling to oneness in all affairs in the realm of being.
Then it became detailed, multiplied, branched out and was explained, and revolved in the circle of letters, appearing in the most wonderful forms, becoming a magnet for its spirits, and manifesting with the most beautiful beauty in all ranks and stations.
Then it returned and came back to its center in the praiseworthy station.

(‘Abdu’l-Bahá, 1900 or <, to Afnan, Haji Siyyid Mihdi son of Khal Asghar -- AB04615)

O true friends! Divine philosophers believe that the human world's journey through the realm of existence is like two arcs, that is, in the arrangement of a circle which consists of two arcs. One arc they interpret as the arc of descent and the other arc they name the arc of ascent.
The Persians were caught for thirteen hundred years in the circle of existence on the arc of descent until they reached the utmost degree of fall and descent.

(‘Abdu’l-Bahá -- AB03708)

In other words, man must throughout all the degrees of life evolve and progress day unto day, for life is continuous.

(‘Abdu’l-Bahá, Words spoken at Rue St. Didier 30 in Paris, 1913-Mar-16 -- ABU0989)

The first or descending scale is the natural or material one. The second or ascending scale is the spiritual. The first half is the night the second is the day. The world is the greatest distance from GOD, but the rays of GOD upon it are direct ones. The world is the darkest, but it is always so before the dawn, and the ascending scale begins the day.
… There are three births: first, the material; second, to be born of water; third to be born of spirit. When man first enters the spiritual world he is born of water or the truth and knowledge of GOD. He must become as a little child-unworldly, without jealousy, enmity, covetousness, love of money, desires, and to take on all the qualities of GOD, and begin to ascend the other half of the circle.

(‘Abdu’l-Bahá, Words to Lua Getsinger, Dec. 1900 -- ABU0299)

But humanity is the dawning of light, which is to say that it is the beginning of the Day of Oneness and Guidance and the end of the night of plurality and loss.

(‘Abdu’l-Bahá, Tafsir-i-Kuntu Kanzan Makhfiyyan (Commentary on the Hadith of the Hidden Treasure), 1868 or <, to Ali Shawkat Pasha -- AB00006)

For the inner reality of man is a demarcation line between the shadow and the light, a place where the two seas meet; it is the lowest point on the arc of descent, and therefore is it capable of gaining all the grades above. With education it can achieve all excellence; devoid of education it will stay on, at the lowest point of imperfection.

(‘Abdu’l-Bahá, to Teachers of Tarbiyat School -- AB01170)

For man standeth on the demarcation line between light and darkness. In the circle of existence, he is situated at the lowest point, which marketh at once the end of the arc of descent and the beginning of the arc of ascent. For this reason, he is free to move in either direction: towards light or darkness, towards ignorance or guidance---depending on the one that prevaileth. Should the rational faculty prevail, man would shine radiantly and occupy a lofty station in the realms on high. And should the self and the lower nature prevail, the result would be darkness and he would fall into the nethermost fire.

(‘Abdu’l-Bahá, 1919-Oct-26, to Ali son of Husayn Khayyat Tihrani -- AB01183)

Everything moves forward or backward, nothing is without motion.
… All material things progress to a certain point, then begin to decline. This is the law which governs the whole physical creation.
… All creation, whether of the mineral, vegetable or animal kingdom, is compelled to obey the law of motion; it must either ascend or descend. But with the human soul, there is no decline. Its only movement is towards perfection; growth and progress alone constitute the motion of the soul.

(‘Abdu’l-Bahá, Words spoken at Dreyfus home in Paris, 1911-Nov-10 -- ABU0054)

Praise be to God Who hath ever caused His Names and Attributes to penetrate the degrees of existence; Who hath made the effects of those Names and Attributes to shine resplendent and their signs to be firmly established in both the hidden and manifest worlds. By them He hath made the Sanctified Realities, they who are the Recipients of the grace of God and the Bearers of glad-tidings, to be the sole Revealers of His Being, and hath caused them to move in the firmament of perfection in descending and ascending arcs.

(‘Abdu’l-Bahá, Lawh-i-Aflakiyyih (Tablet of the Celestial Spheres), 1876-08 ca. -- AB00023)

Such as communicate the generating influence and such as receive its impact are indeed created through the irresistible Word of God which is the Cause of the entire creation, while all else besides His Word are but the creatures and the effects thereof.
… Every thing must needs have an origin and every building a builder. Verily, the Word of God is the Cause which hath preceded the contingent world -- a world which is adorned with the splendours of the Ancient of Days, yet is being renewed and regenerated at all times. Immeasurably exalted is the God of Wisdom Who hath raised this sublime structure.

(Bahá’u’lláh, Lawh-i-Hikmat (Tablet of Wisdom), 1292? [1875-1876], to Mulla Muhammad Qa'ini (Nabil-i-Akbar) -- BH00223)

In surveying the vast range of creation thou shalt perceive that the higher a kingdom of created things is on the arc of ascent, the more conspicuous are the signs and evidences of the truth that co-operation and reciprocity at the level of a higher order are greater than those that exist at the level of a lower order. For example, the evident signs of this fundamental reality are more discernible in the vegetable kingdom than in the mineral, and still more manifest in the animal world than in the vegetable.

(‘Abdu’l-Bahá, to Baha'is of Mosul -- AB00446)

Further quotations · supplied wording and references

It is God Who originates creation and repeats it...

(Qur'an 10:34, also 27:64)