empty learning; false spirituality
Editorial introduction
People know the name of the Lamp, ‘Abdu’l-Bahá once remarked, and repeat it constantly, without the least idea that a lamp is meant to give light. Learning can fail in exactly that way, and so can worship. Bahá’u’lláh draws the line sharply: sciences that begin with words and end with words have never been of any worth, while those that bear fruit for the well-being of people are acceptable to God. A man seats himself among the sandals by the door while coveting the seat of honour; another lays claim to inner knowledge and deeper knowledge hidden within it; a third washes the feet of all mankind and worships on every mountain, yet without sincerity none of it is accepted. The Dhammapada makes the same point with a herdsman counting another man’s cattle: reciting the teaching is not living it [1]. The invitation is demanding, to ask whether what we know has made us more useful, more truthful, more awake. The path continues through hypocrisy and pride, the claim to inner knowledge, and the question of what makes a religious practice sincere.
Today, people know of Jesus Christ His name, His name without His realities or His qualities. Knowing only the name of the Lamp, they repeat it constantly, utterly unaware of the use of the lamp, and that it should give light.
Praise be to God that the Baha'is are trying to live those eternal principles and when they hold a rosary in their hands and repeat the Most Great Name they visualize before their eyes the divine characteristics of the Manifestation and strive to walk in his footsteps. If they gain this ideal benefit from the rosary, well and good, otherwise there will be no difference between their manner of their worship and other communities.
My heart is in a continual state of thanksgiving, and so often those accustomed to this form say the words with the lips merely, and their hearts are far from being in a state of thanksgiving.
Thereafter, efforts must be made to teach them sciences, crafts and knowledge to the extent possible, for without heavenly virtues and upright character, the mere acquisition of learning and arts will not suffice and will not prevent moral corruption and the harms of self and passion, but rather will become the cause of promoting false thoughts and a means of strengthening personal interests, unless accompanied by divine education.
Conversely, if a person is deprived of divine virtues and spiritual education, their knowledge becomes an instrument of oppression - in the political realm turning celebration into battle, demolishing and destroying the foundation of comfort; in the religious realm promoting unsound opinions and false traditions, causing enmity and discord between human souls.
Many souls spent years in worship, acquired knowledge, became versed in arts and sciences, passed their time in contemplation, and yearned for mystical revelations. Yet despite this, as their intentions were not pure, they remained deprived and were defeated in the arena of divine knowledge.
The affliction of the world comes from the ignorant one who adorns himself with the ornament of knowledge and makes a show of it, for he forbids the helpless servants from that which benefits them and commands them to that which harms them.
When intelligent and learned people see these imitations and customs as being contrary to reason and knowledge they forsake the divine religion and are not aware that these are idle fancies of the leaders and have nothing to do with divine principles.
How great the results that would have appeared if these people [who were well-versed in Islamic jurisprudence and doctrine] had practised that kind of hair-splitting on matters of actual importance! To what avail did they spend all the days of their lives on sciences and subjects that begin with words and end with words? Their endeavours bore no other fruit but this.
The science of jafr had currency in the Qur'anic Dispensation, but its derived principles were unknown, therefore correct results were not obtained. But in this Dispensation all are commanded not to pursue matters that do not yield great results.
However, the obsolete and futile disciplines of "usulism" are not useful. They cause confusion and madness. One should not waste time on them.
In Persia, however, in that time such sciences had prevalence which were mere imaginations, but their names were great. They had termed them Hekmat-i-Eshrakieh (a system of old philosophies). The people would busy themselves in the studying of these sciences and would take pains for thirty to forty years. At the end they would realize that their studies consisted of mere superstition and pure nonsense. Those helpless souls (students) would become disappointed and discouraged.
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Take the example of the theological students of the University of Al-Azar. They spend all their lives in that institution with no visible result. When a young man enters a Western college he comes out after a few years, either an engineer, or electrician, or architect, or physician, or any of the many technical and practical professions; but these good-for nothing students of Azhar waste their wonderful lives and are a heavy burden on the shoulder of the state. This is a crime! An unpardonable sin!"
All their theories and opinions have been useless and without result. They have made a trial of this, still they are not warned. They start in word and end in word. Their whole system of philosophy is based on speculations and conjectures, most unpractical and imaginary.
"Another time" he said "a theological poet wrote a book after several years of hardships and privations and took it to a learned man to be read and corrected. He read the book and found out that its contents are very much like the cobwebs of a spider or the phantasmal imaginations of a sickly brain. Therefore he marked the first and the last page; thus conveying the idea that the book is not worth correcting."
The son, then going up the platform took as his text one of the most difficult verses of the Khoran and round it collected many subtle interpretations, philosophic axioms etc. The audience was not only not moved but was bored at such a dry sermon that the people instead listening to him began to speak amongst themselves.
One of them asked, "What is the meaning of the word, 'Musafir'?" Another responded that in Turkish it meant a guest. Yet a third replied, "This is evident, and there is no need to ask. Musafir is a derivative of Israf. That is, when a musafir comes, then one's expenses will increase." I went into the other room and saw them busy with dancing and playing music.
A hundred thousand gleaming pearls can emerge in an instant from the shell of reason and wisdom, displaying their radiance in the market of the jewelers of the Abha Kingdom.
You must therefore free thoughts from the fetters that have chained the necks of the philosophers and sages of old without proof or evidence - mere confused dreams unsupported by any divine authority, like the mathematical theories of Ptolemy the Wise built upon conjecture and fancy, which they claimed explained causes and expounded reasons with definitive benefit, until God revealed the truth and lifted the veils from the reality of mysteries, manifest as the sun at high noon. Verily those thoughts were confused dreams, conjectures and fancies.
God hath made conjecture in all the Tablets a manifest sin. God may forgive you for what ye have earned for yourselves before this day -- verily He is forgiving and merciful toward those who turn unto Him.
"Some people" he said "are like unto the spiders. The more you [tear] to pieces their cobwebs of imagination and imitations the greater will it become their zeal to spin again.
What captives of superstitions people are! What troubles they endure for the sake of name and fame! What fruit will these superstitions bear! All are transitory and perishable and no trace of them will remain. It will be as though they had never existed. They are sowing seeds in a barren land. Man ought to sow pure seeds in a fertile soil, not in infertile lands.
"The moldered, two-thousand-years-old superstitions of the heedless, ignorant peoples, whether of Asia or Europe, should not be spread in that revered gathering place; for, if such be the case, let it be known for certain that that assemblage will yield no result and will, before long, be forgotten and consigned to oblivion, similar to other meetings of bygone times.
Just think of the perfect architectural plan of the bee which builds its hexagonal comb with such precision and exactitude that one is astonished. Its food is the extract of flowers and its independence is so complete that it does not require any assistance from others but it assists others by giving them a quantity of sweet honey. But man must study hard, many years and then labor right night and day in order to be able to build a house, prepare a table which may not be as perfect architecturally as the honey-comb; and a as luscious as honey; thus man desires to become as low in his ambition as the bees and ants.
Some souls forget this divine life and choose to dwell in obscurity, occupying themselves day and night with worldly hopes and desires, thinking that soon conditions will improve and so-and-so will advance and so-and-so will retreat, thus passing their precious lives.
Such souls are like cold iron that is never affected by anything - even under hammer and anvil they show no effect, seek no realization, no thought, no depth of understanding, and desire nothing but worldly livelihood.
O thou who speakest in praise of God!
The tongue must needs have remembrance and the minds must needs have thought. However, remembrances and thoughts are diverse and different. Some people occupy themselves with remembrance of imaginary truths and shadowy reflections. When these vain imaginings disappear and these shadowy reflections set, they are left frustrated and at a loss.
Therefore if he worships the 'cognition' of his mind as 'God,' he is not worshipping God, he is worshipping the product of his imagination. Then would it not be better to worship 'himself' because he will considered [sic] the 'creator' of that thought of God and as such he is greater and more substantial. We will then be reduced to self-worship and every one will be a god - a law unto himself - a worse system of polytheism than that of Greece, Rome and India! There will be as many Gods as there are human beings!
As to the station of annihilation according to the Sufis, they imagine that contingent reality can be divested of its temporality and become endowed with the attributes of the Ancient One, like iron and fire, wherein the iron is divested of its characteristic nature and the quality of fire becomes manifest and evident in it. They claim this station is attained through spiritual disciplines and wayfaring, and they imagined its manifestation within themselves through fancy, thus declaring "I am the Truth." Yet the temporal cannot be divested of temporality, which is essential to its nature, for that which is essential cannot be separated from the essence of a thing.
Speaking about the fantastic hyperboles of the Suffists as regards the projection of spirit out of the body and even the transference of the body from one place to another the Master told this story which is recorded in the Sufi literature and believed as possible by many devotees.
Sometimes people imagine that they leave the body and travel in the sky, then return to the body. They think so. In India they are full of these ideas, and these are the cause of their downfall--because of their imaginations.
O Ali! A group was present and gathered in that place and, by the One True God, it was witnessed that one of those souls repeatedly struck himself against stone, clod, and wall for more than four hours until there was fear of his demise, and afterward fell unconscious upon the ground and for about two hours had absolutely no awareness. And they count such actions among the miracles. God is quit of them and we are quit of them. Verily thy Lord is the All-Knowing, the All-Informed. He knoweth the treachery of eyes and what is hidden in the breasts of all beings.
Among the people are those who claim they would cast themselves into the fire. Say: Cast thyself into the light, if thou be of them that know. We have servants throughout the world who perform greater deeds than they claim. We have left them to their vain imaginings - they are indeed of the distracted ones.
O Ali! There are and have been people in the climes of India who have denied themselves food and drink, have found companionship with wild beasts, and spend their nights and days in arduous spiritual exercises, constantly engaged in remembrance. Nevertheless, not one of these souls is mentioned in the presence of God, even though they count themselves among the pillars, stakes and unique ones of the earth.
O thou who art the Ornament of the Mystics!
There are many worshippers and countless ascetics, yet few are truly wakeful to divine knowledge. One spends day and night in bowing and prostration, another lies dormant in the corner of piety and asceticism, another remains in the well of nature, heedless of the moon in the heights of truth, while yet another wanders occupied in the gardens of mathematical science, oblivious to the light of divine unity and the manifestation of the divine identity.
Consider how many souls claimed knowledge and, in their own imagination, followed the spiritual path for years, yearning for the vision of a great one and awaiting the dawning of lights. They believed the sun of truth was manifest in mineral, plant and animal. From thorns they claimed to smell the fragrance of the rose garden, and from poison they claimed to taste the supreme honey.
Furthermore, consider the mystical knowledge of previous mystics. By My life, all wander in the wilderness of delusions and are immersed in the ocean of idle fancies.
This one was found intoxicated by the dregs from the chalice of illuminist philosophy; that one was lost in the wilderness of theosophy and vain imaginings. A third had sunk to the ocean depths of such learning as can only lead to insanity and still another was trapped in the wasted labyrinth of traditional allusions and signs. It became evident, then, that all their pretensions and claims had been false and insincere, that their yearnings were naught but pure fantasy.
O seeker of truth! Those souls who counted themselves among the people of truth and considered themselves discoverers of mysteries and secrets have grown cold and withered at the obstacle of unconsciousness, and like the dead have crept disappointed, frustrated and hopeless into the pit of contemplation and mystical unveiling. You who neither claimed gnosis nor pretended knowledge of the secrets of truth have, praise be to God, attained and reached that which was the ultimate hope of true mystics.
O thou who art aware of the mysteries of the Day of Resurrection!
The mystics have been gathered in the company of the ignorant, and those who claimed knowledge and truth have crept behind the veil of heedlessness.
Most dervishes wander in the valley of heedlessness, save a few who, through the grace of the All-Merciful, have in this spiritual springtime been adorned with luminous robes. Despite their claims to maturity and mystical knowledge, most of this group remain veiled.
For example, observe how some superstitious people from India gathered there, what fruit was produced and what benefit was gained except the spread of superstitions?
They have many fantastic dogmas, wild in their improbabilities and impossible in their applications. For example, it is said that they believe that in the uttermost part of China there are many cities, each one of which are inhabited by many millions of people. These cities are covered with vast revolving domes etc etc. The Jews also have a belief as regard the city of Sabbath which is very large and inhabited only by the children and the descendents of Moses. This city is surrounded by a broad river of moving sand, which defies all entrance therein.
The Chinese held a superstition that if they burn certain pieces of paper this will drive the devils away; they sometimes burnt these pieces of paper on board ships when they were travelling in order to drive away devils, and by so doing they set fire to the ships and destroyed many lives. This was a type of dangerous and harmful superstition.
To most men who have not heard the message of this teaching, religion seems an outward form, a pretence, merely a seal of respectability. Some priests are in holy office for no other reason than to gain their living. They themselves do not believe in the religion they pretend to teach.
In this Day all the temples, mosques, churches and synagogues have become gathering-places of entertainment. Although they mention the name of God and spend time ostensibly in prayer and in communion and in fellowship with each other, in truth they are heedless of the actual Truth, are immersed in selfish lusts and desires, are occupied with their private fancies and aspirations. Their hearts are not pure and their souls are not radiant. They do not implore God with real sincerity nor pray to Him with true fervour. They do not develop spiritual sensibilities or attraction of conscience nor any real cordiality or genuine fellowship.
It is very strange to see how man is ever prompt to associate worship and prayer with certain forms of amusements and pastimes!
Verily, the people who rejoice in the day of the feast and enjoyed the tree (which) was decorated, following the custom of ancient times, are the people of superstitions. By the Majesty of thy Lord! Were they in the time of Christ, they would turn their backs and would not behold His smiling, glorious face; but today they in the shallow waters of their superstitions without discretion.
They derive no benefit, for they know not Christ and, imitating their forebears and ancestors, raise a lifeless cry and worship their own vain imaginings.
For many years I have sinned against God and his servants. I have ransacked the houses, orphaned the children, burned the hearts and have committed all kinds of iniquities. Is the government of God so child-like as to forgive all my past sins with the repetition of a mere formula? Is his system of dispensing justice so loose? Be gone! Thou ignorant Mullah! Thou art telling me all these things to get ten Piastres as thy fee.
"Once a learned man journeyed to see me to receive my blessing, saying he knew and comprehended the Baha'i teachings.
… He instantly flared with indignation and strode angrily about the room.
He went again to the shop of the mentioned person and saw a man with a thick mustache and two beardless youths attending him. He thought to himself that this person was truly dissolute.
He knows not that an ugly jackal, though it tarry long in the dye-vat, will never sprout peacock plumes nor crow like the cock of paradise. And the divine mystics are not captivated by colored skins, but rather seek spiritual radiance and the melody of the All-Merciful.
O eloquent poet, the poets of the world mostly spoke and composed contrary to reality, hence the famous saying "the greatest of them are the biggest liars" and in the Qur'an it states "And the poets - [only] the deviators follow them." For their odes and praises are words without meaning, glass without a lamp, body without soul.
They mumble about sciences while remaining veiled from the effacement of the imaginary and the clarity of the known. They mutter about arts but know not what they say, as if they were parrots or the calf that had a hollow sound.
O wayfarer on the path of guidance! A hundred thousand spiritual guides appeared in the world, each claiming guidance and salvation and asceticism and success. They were wandering in the valley of error while claiming to show the way. They were wolves who appeared in shepherds' clothing. They were the darkness of misguidance while the name of the light of guidance was upon their tongues.
Beware of such people who come to you in sheep's clothing; outwardly they are as harmless as the gentle lambs, but inwardly they are as venomous as the deadly cobras.
Strange it is that, despite such deeds, the divines of these regions and territories do not accept one another, each counting himself to be the most accomplished and most pious. Destruction be upon them and upon those who follow them without clear proof, or evidence, or testimony, or reason!
They have stretched forth their necks in hypocrisy and violated the Covenant and Testament. Among them are those who imagine that verses must end with 'All-Knowing' or 'All-Wise' or with an alif at their end, or with the addition of waw and nun to similar words, supposing these to be words which the All-Merciful has revealed in their hearts. Nay, by God! Rather has Satan inspired their hearts.
Like in Islam, they will create an outward and inward aspect, and will claim there are outer and inner meanings, and through such pretexts will cause division and discord among the Baha'is.
And regarding what you wrote about Mirza Abdullah and Mirza Sami' being in doubt - those souls have become confused by the fabricated traditions of the foolish.
Despite this, a few crows have taken over the field and with their cawing and croaking have created such a disturbance in this meadow that they wish to turn this garden of the All-Merciful into a dark furnace, and this divine paradise into a satanic dungheap. They want to turn the grateful birds into despised vultures, and the zealous falcons into ungrateful crows. They wish to transform the parrots of the divine sugar-land into earthly graveyard crows, and turn the rose garden of inner meanings and truths into a thornfield of endless vices.
And the second rank is preoccupation with tales and stories and narratives and allusions and casting doubts into weak hearts.
Know this much: that whatever you hear that is other than the remembrance of the Ancient Beauty is meant to occupy with that which profits not and heedlessness from the remembrance of God.
First, thou must purify thy heart from every principle thou hast received from thy scholars, for they have drawn from turbid springs flowing one into another, some rejecting others.
And surely those whom ye consider possessed of insight are ignorant ones who have made claims to knowledge and wisdom. Hearken unto the words of the Primal Point and Universal Manifestation Who said that the sifter of wheat of the land of Sad donned the garment of leadership though he had not studied a single letter of knowledge, while Shaykh Muhammad Hasan, who penned five hundred thousand verses in the practice of devotion unto God, produced not a single word that might deliver him from the fire in the Day of Resurrection.
O thou who art turned to the Beauty of the All-Merciful! Though outwardly thou art not among the learned and hast not acquired what the divines of the nations have gained, yet praise God that thou art established upon the throne of great success. The Most Exalted One, may the spirit of all existence be a sacrifice unto Him, hath said that although Shaykh Muhammad Hasan had written three volumes on jurisprudence, he remained deprived, while the wheat-cleaner of Isfahan donned the robe of jurisprudence.
Mulla 'Ali of Kand, who carried volumes of books and for years acquired sciences and arts which, in his own estimation, others were incapable and powerless to acquire, did not attain to the recognition of God, glorified be His majesty, and remained fixed and established in his own error.
It hath been observed that a person who spent numbered years acquiring outward knowledge, upon hearing the Divine Word, fled as "asses fleeing from a lion," for it is indeed difficult for him to lay down his burden.
He who has studied all branches of knowledge yet has failed to recognize Him Who is the Known is accounted as the most ignorant among men, and his name is not inscribed in the Preserved Tablet of glory. We have counseled all the manifestations of knowledge, one and all, not to hesitate in this Cause, even should they possess all the gems of wisdom and learning.
How many a learned one hath been withheld by knowledge from the Sovereign of all knowledge, and how many an illiterate one hath quaffed the sealed wine through His Name, the Mighty, the Wondrous.
He who tendeth sheep in the valleys and upon the mountains is, in the sight of God, superior to those who have perused the books of the world in the evenings and the mornings and during the nights and days.
Among them are those whom knowledge hath prevented from the Known One, and those whom vain imaginings have veiled from the horizon of certitude.
Beware lest learning debar you from the Self-Subsisting or vain imaginings veil you from God, the Lord of all worlds.
Say: O people! By God, that which had never appeared in creation hath now appeared, and the All-Merciful hath come with the kingdom of proof. Turn ye unto Him and follow not every veiled learned one.
Those whom you have taken as men of learning are, by My life, worshippers of vain imaginings. They have no mention with God, the Mighty, the Praiseworthy.
The ignorant ones of the earth who today are known as divines have been and continue to be the fountainhead of vain imaginings, except such as God hath willed, the Lord of the worlds.
Follow not those who lay claim to knowledge, for they have turned away from Him Who is known when He came with manifest sovereignty.
Blessed is the learned one who beholdeth the Truth with his own eyes and followeth that which he hath been commanded by God, the Mighty, the Loving.
At all times and seasons the shrill voice of the Most Exalted Pen and the rustling of the Lote-Tree of the utmost boundary are raised up, yet the people of the mortal realm are deprived of hearing, for they have followed those who have ever been the dawning-places of idle fancies and vain imaginings. Many are the learned ones who are barred from true knowledge, while thou, through God's grace and loving-kindness, glory be to Him, hast attained unto it.
In the Persian tongue it is mentioned: Today the people of the Bayan are seen to be more veiled than all peoples and more remote than all nations. They have newly grasped at former traditions, saying at times that such and such a verse of the Qur'an states thus, and such and such a narrator has related thus, and how they pride themselves on mentioning former traditions.
How many a worshipper hath worshipped God through nights and days, yet when the Lord of all men appeared, denied Him and followed every ignorant remote one. And how many of the learned and the mystics discoursed of knowledge and wisdom, yet when the All-Merciful came, turned away from Him - these are indeed among the heedless ones.
How many mystics who laid claim to mystical knowledge turned away when He Who conversed with God was seated upon the Throne of His Revelation, and thus found themselves deprived of the presence of the True Object of all knowledge.
Consider the vain imaginings of the former people - how they were all deprived of the lights of the Dayspring of Manifestation and the Voice of the Speaker on Sinai.
Whoso worships God through the drops of the sea and the sands of the desert and the leaves of the trees and their fruits, while remaining heedless of this Cause - such a one is among the idolaters, for his deeds have veiled him from Him through Whom all things were established in the Book.
And for drowning there are diverse degrees: Among the people are those who are drowned in their hopes, and among them those in vain imaginings, and among them those in desire, and among them those in knowledge, and among them those in deeds.
Know thou that they who claim to be enraptured by any name save this Name are among the heedless ones. … Among them are those who worship idle fancies and perceive it not, imagining themselves to be among those who have attained the light of certitude.
It would be a pity if one possessed of insight and knowledge should still be illumined by the light of a setting star of idle fancies and seek enlightenment from the moon of imagination which is in eclipse.
They seek after thorns and thistles - that is, vain imaginings and idle fancies - while turning away from the pearls of utterance, clinging instead to pebbles and date-stones.
Say: We have abandoned vain imaginings unto you, and have taken what We were commanded in the Book of God, the All-Knowing, the All-Informed. Say: We have abandoned the carrion, inasmuch as the heavenly table hath been sent down from the heaven of the bounty of our Lord, the Mighty, the All-Praised.
Shatter the idols of vain imaginings to which the former people clung, and be not of the patient ones. There was no pulpit from which they did not deny the right of God and His Manifestation, and command the servants to that which caused the hearts of those near to God to lament.
Take hold of the divine Books with the hand of certitude, and with a mighty arm shatter and cast down the idols of vain imaginings.
The books of the learned profit you not, nor do your ancient tales. Cast them behind you and hold fast unto this Book.
Those who follow vain imaginings are in doubt and hypocrisy. Blessed is the strong one who hath rent asunder the veils and cast behind him idle fancies.
The sun of idle fancies hath been eclipsed and the orb of assurance hath dawned, for the All-Merciful hath come with His great glory.
… Cast aside vain imaginings - this is the day of divine disclosure and witnessing.
Cast aside the vain imaginings of the common folk and the conjectures of those whom God hath made worse than cattle, and gaze with penetrating vision upon this glorious cycle and new age.
For a long time this Wronged One has not been inclined towards scholarly investigation, nor is He now, for in the early years such learned matters were discussed as would suffice. Now this brief exposition that hath been set forth was solely out of consideration for you.
By the truth of My Self, thy letter which was in the Persian tongue is more beloved before God than the utterances of the deluded ones who day and night fancy themselves to have attained the stations of knowledge of the Lord of all creation. For today the purpose of all things is that the fragrance of the good-pleasure of the All-Merciful should waft from them. Whatever thing is deprived of this station is recorded before God as among the most worthless of things.
Among the people are those who cling to words while turning away from the Munificent One, and those who grasp at learning while remaining heedless of God, the Lord of what was and what shall be, and those who were stirred by the stirring of the breezes of the All-Merciful throughout creation and drew near, saying "I believe in Thee, O Lord of the seen and unseen!"
Say: O My loved ones, reflect deeply upon the veils of glory and ever keep them before your eyes, lest perchance the glorified veils of idle fancy prevent you from the Court of Oneness.
O Lord, Lord! The darkness has intensified and the tents have collapsed upon the heads of the people. The veil of pride has prevented eyes from beholding the lights, and their hearts are sealed such that they can barely comprehend the mysteries. They plunge into the depths of denial and are absorbed in heedlessness and aversion, while imagining themselves to be the righteous ones. Lord, they are ignorant of their own ignorance, and vain imaginings have deceived them. They think these are sciences and arts that guide to the right path. O my God, they have learned words but remain veiled from the meanings and symbols in the scriptures and tablets.
The lights of the highest heaven shine not beneath the earth, and the pure soul findeth not its dwelling in the layers of dust. The manifest light shineth from the highest horizon, and the brilliant lamp gloweth within the delicate glass. Therefore must every essence be sought in its mine, and every fruit be hoped for from its tree.
The glory be upon thee and upon thy father and thine uncle and thy mother and thy two brothers and upon those who have cast aside vain imaginings and idle fancies, holding fast to the loving-kindness of the True One, the Knower of things unseen.
Cast aside all imaginings, then turn thy face toward thy Lord, the Mighty, the All-Knowing. He will verily protect thee in truth beneath the shadow of His protection. There is none other mighty save Him. His is the command and the creation, and all before Him are as a handful of clay.
Further quotations · supplied wording and references
What Baha'u'llah meant primarily with "sciences that begin and end in words" are those theological treatises and commentaries that encumber the human mind rather than help it to attain the truth. The students would devote their life to their study but still attain no where. Baha'u'llah surely never meant to include story writing under such a category; and shorthand and typewriting are both most useful talents very necessary in our present social and economic life.
For thought and discussion