The fruit of creation: dignity that calls for a response

The Blessed Beauty saith: "Ye are all the fruits of one tree, the leaves of one branch." Thus hath He likened this world of being to a single tree, and all its peoples to the leaves thereof, and the blossoms and fruits. It is needful for the bough to blossom, and leaf and fruit to flourish, and upon the interconnection of all parts of the world-tree, dependeth the flourishing of leaf and blossom, and the sweetness of the fruit.

For this reason must all human beings powerfully sustain one another and seek for everlasting life; and for this reason must the lovers of God in this contingent world become the mercies and the blessings sent forth by that clement King of the seen and unseen realms.

The true fruit of man is therefore Love. The purpose of a tee is to produce fruit. Man is like a tree. His fruit should be Love.

Strive diligently to acquire both outward and inward perfections, for the fruit of the human tree has ever been outer and inner perfections.

Praise and thanksgiving be unto Providence that out of all the realities in existence He has chosen the reality of man and has honored it with intellect and wisdom, the two most luminous lights in either world. Through the agency of this great endowment, He has in every epoch cast on the mirror of creation new and wonderful configurations. If we look objectively upon the world of being, it will become apparent that from age to age, the temple of existence has continually been embellished with a fresh grace, and distinguished with an ever-varying splendor, deriving from wisdom and the power of thought.

Having created the world and all that liveth and moveth therein, He, through the direct operation of His unconstrained and sovereign Will, chose to confer upon man the unique distinction and capacity to know Him and to love Him -- a capacity that must needs be regarded as the generating impulse and the primary purpose underlying the whole of creation, as mentioned in the well-known sacred tradition. … Upon the inmost reality of each and every created thing He hath shed the light of one of His names, and made it a recipient of the glory of one of His attributes. Upon the reality of man, however, He hath focused the radiance of all of His names and attributes, and made it a mirror of His own Self. Alone of all created things man hath been singled out for so great a favor, so enduring a bounty.

How resplendent the luminaries of knowledge that shine in an atom, and how vast the oceans of wisdom that surge within a drop! To a supreme degree is this true of man, who, among all created things, hath been invested with the robe of such gifts, and hath been singled out for the glory of such distinction. For in him are potentially revealed all the attributes and names of God to a degree that no other created being hath excelled or surpassed.

70 Likewise, reflect upon the perfection of man's creation, and that all these planes and states are folded up and hidden away within him.

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. It is the mirror with the disposition to reflect all of the conflicting and opposing Names and is the source of the revelation of all of the Attributes of Divinity and Lordship. … However although he is the dawning-place of the manifestation of all the Names and Attributes, one of the Divine Names is manifested most strongly and appears most intensely [in each person]. Thus his being originates from this Name and returns to it.

O ye beloved friends of God! God- glorified be His power, magnified be His sovereignty!- the Source of all grace unto mankind and the Educator of all the peoples of the world, hath honoured man with His pure favours and the perfect loving-kindness of His Lordship by making him the quintessence of all created things and the visible world.

All that has been created is for man who is at the apex of creation and who must be thankful for the divine bestowals, so that through his gratitude he may learn to understand life as a divine benefit.

'Should Prayer take the form of action?'

Abdu'l-Baha. -- 'Yes: In the Baha'i Cause arts, sciences and all crafts are (counted as) worship. The man who makes a piece of notepaper to the best of his ability, conscientiously, concentrating all his forces on perfecting it, is giving praise to God. Briefly, all effort and exertion put forth by man from the fullness of his heart is worship, if it is prompted by the highest motives and the will to do service to humanity. This is worship: to serve mankind and to minister to the needs of the people. Service is prayer. A physician ministering to the sick, gently, tenderly, free from prejudice and believing in the solidarity of the human race, he is giving praise'.

'What is the purpose of our lives?'

Abdu'l-Baha. -- 'To acquire virtues. We come from the earth; why were we transferred from the mineral to the vegetable kingdom -- from the plant to the animal kingdom? So that we may attain perfection in each of these kingdoms, that we may possess the best qualities of the mineral, that we may acquire the power of growing as in the plant, that we may be adorned with the instincts of the animal and possess the faculties of sight, hearing, smell, touch and taste, until from the animal kingdom we step into the world of humanity and are gifted with reason, the power of invention, and the forces of the spirit.'

The mineral kingdom possesses the power of existing. The plant has the power of existing and growing. The animal, in addition to existence and growth, has the capacity of moving about, and the use of the faculties of the senses. In the human kingdom we find all the attributes of the lower worlds, with much more added thereto. Man is the sum of every previous creation, for he contains them all.

Of all things in the world, man is the highest. Compare him with the mineral, the vegetable, and the animal.

… But man, while possessing all the qualities and capacities of these three kingdoms, has besides them a perceiving power by which he may penetrate to the reality of all things.

The noblest of all earthly beings is man. In him are realized the animal, the vegetable and the mineral kingdoms, that is, all these degrees are contained in him in such wise that he is endowed with them all. And, being endowed with all these degrees and stations, he is informed of their mysteries and aware of the secrets of their existence.

The Essence of Divinity, the Sun of Truth, shines forth upon all horizons and is spreading its rays upon all things. Each thing has some portion of that bounty, but the human reality, which combines the perfections of the mineral, the vegetable and animal, and as an additional token of grace, possesses the human perfections, is the noblest of created beings.

Each kingdom of creation is endowed with its necessary complement of attributes and powers. The mineral possesses inherent virtues of its own kingdom in the scale of existence. The vegetable possesses the qualities of the mineral plus an augmentative virtue, or power of growth. The animal is endowed with the virtues of both the mineral and vegetable plane plus the power of intellect. The human kingdom is replete with the perfections of all the kingdoms below it with the addition of powers peculiar to man alone. Man is, therefore, superior to all the creatures below him, the loftiest and most glorious being of creation.

By it man is distinguished above all the other phenomenal kingdoms. Although he possesses all the virtues of the lower kingdoms, he is further endowed with the spiritual faculty, the heavenly gift of consciousness.

Although man is part of the animal creation, he possesses a power of thought superior to all other created beings.

Man is not human by virtue of his body; man is human by virtue of his spirit. For in physical matters, man shares attributes with animals, but through the spirit he is distinguished from them.

When man allows the spirit, through his soul, to enlighten his understanding, then does he contain all Creation; because man, being the culmination of all that went before and thus superior to all previous evolutions, contains all the lower world within himself.

The greatest of human virtues is knowledge. Knowledge is the cause of divine bounty's manifestation. Knowledge is the discoverer of mysteries. Knowledge is like a mirror in which the images of all things are reflected. Knowledge gives to each person the learning of all humanity, and makes each individual human being equivalent to all humanity, because knowledge teaches one whatever all humanity has discovered - that is, whatever is known by all humanity.

Finally, we reach the kingdom of man. Here we find that all the degrees of the mineral, vegetable and animal expressions of love are present plus unmistakable attractions of consciousness.

Man is the most distinguished species in that he combines the perfections of all three classes--that is, he possesses a material body, the power of growth, and the power of sensation. Beyond the mineral, vegetable and animal perfections, however, he also possesses a special perfection of which other created things are bereft, namely, the perfections of the mind. Thus man is the noblest of all existing things.

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.

In the world of existence there is nothing so important as spirit, nothing so essential as the spirit of man. The spirit of man is the most noble of phenomena.

Some say that human existence is among those things that have appeared in the world of being and that are due to the exigencies of nature. Were this true, man would be the branch and nature the root. But is it possible that there could exist a will, a consciousness, and certain perfections in the branch which are absent in the root?

It is through the appearance of the spirit in the material body that this world is illumined. Just as the spirit of man is the cause of the life of his body, so is the whole world even as a body and man as its spirit. If man did not exist, if the perfections of the spirit were not manifested and the light of the mind was not shining in this world, it would be like a body without a spirit.

The world of existence holds the station of one temple, one body; and man in comparison thereto is the spirit of such body. Just as the body, without spirit, is dead; even so the world of the existence minus the presence of man is as dead. … Were man absent in the world, the body of the world would be dead.

If man had not been put upon this earth the world would be dead. I do not speak of the physical man, but the human attainments which are the adornment of existence. If man did not exist, this world would have no beauty, no eternity, no object.

For the enlightenment of the world dependeth upon the existence of man. If man did not exist in this world, it would have been like a tree without fruit.

Existence is like a tree, and man is the fruit.

The phenomena of the world are like unto the tree and man is similar unto the fruit thereof. The tree is planted, reared and watered for the sake of its fruits. If the gardener did not have the fruit as his ultimate object he would not have planted the tree.

We speak now in examples, as Christ spoke in parables. The world is like a tree: the mineral kingdom is like the root; the vegetable kingdom is like the branches; the animal kingdom is like the blossoms; and man is like unto the fruit of that tree. The tree is but for its fruit. If the gardener did not expect fruit, he would never plant trees; in the same way every thing is for man.

Similarly, observe the weakness of the fruit's existence in the original tree before emerging from it - though within the tree it is so weak as to be completely imperceptible, such that if one were to cut the tree into pieces, not a trace of the fruit or its form would be found. Yet after emerging from the tree it appears with wondrous beauty and mighty strength, as can be observed in fruits, some of which become more delectable after being separated from the tree.

For so long as it is acknowledged that these different beings have appeared in time, it is possible that man simply came into existence after the animal. Thus we observe in the vegetable kingdom that the fruits of different trees do not appear all at once; on the contrary, some appear earlier in the season and others later. This priority is not a proof that the later fruit of one tree was produced from the earlier fruit of another.

But as to evolution, it is true of both the body and the spirit. Consider how many sciences, arts, discoveries and achievements have come into existence since the days of Moses till the present time through the progress of the human soul in knowledge and perfections. Similarly, how much the soul has evolved from the moral point of view. From the material standpoint, you can see also how much civilization has progressed.

The specificity and essentiality of things are permanent and changeless; only within the limits of a particular species do progress and decline occur. For example, the human species and human nature have been and will forever remain preserved and protected. As can be observed, the mummified ancient human bodies that have been extracted from the pyramids of Egypt, though five thousand years have passed since their death, have not changed or altered even by a hair's breadth from the human form. … There is no altering in God's creation.

O seeker of truth! Man is the greatest part of the world of existence and the fruit of the tree of the visible world. His species is eternal, and this everlasting reality has neither beginning nor end. What Western philosophers say about human evolution - that man has come from the mineral, vegetable and animal kingdoms and reached this station through growth and development - is mere fancy, for the human species is ancient. Perhaps on this earth it was initially like a seed, then progressed and reached the station of "the best of creators." But that seed which gradually developed was the human species, not animal. Therefore this species is ancient and was originally the noblest of earthly creatures.

We regard man as the chief member because, among all created things, he encompasses all the perfections of existence.

Now, what we mean by "man" is the complete human being, the foremost person in the world, who is the sum of all spiritual and material perfections, and who is like the sun among all created things.

Thus man is a perfect mirror facing the Sun of Truth and is the seat of its reflection. The splendour of all the divine perfections is manifest in the reality of man, and it is for this reason that he is the vicegerent and apostle of God. If man did not exist, the universe would be without result, for the purpose of existence is the revelation of the divine perfections.

… This Man of whom we speak here is not just any man: that which we intend is the Perfect Man. For the noblest part of the tree, and the fundamental purpose of its existence, is the fruit. A tree without fruit is of no use.

Man is the sum of Creation, and the Perfect Man is the expression of the complete thought of the Creator -- the Word of God.

Therefore, all phenomena are the manifestations of God, especially man, who is the greatest sign, because he is the most consummate phenomenon.

Man is like a mirror upon which the Sun of Reality, with all its radiance, with all its heat and energy, is reflected and revealed, and when we use the word "man" we refer primordially to the greatest specimen of humanity, the noblest man, that is to say, the perfect member of humanity.

When we come to the estate of man, we find his kingdom is vested with a divine superiority. Compared to the animal, his perfection or his imperfection is superior. In comparison with man the perfection of a flower is insignificant.

Thus, man is shown to be the sum of all creation, the superior of all created beings, the goal to which countless ages of existence have progressed.

The consummation of this limitless universe with all its grandeur and glory hath been man himself, who in this world of being toileth and suffereth for a time, with divers ills and pains, and ultimately disintegrates, leaving no trace and no fruit after him. Were it so, there is no doubt that this infinite universe with all its perfections has ended in sham and delusion with no result, no fruit, no permanence and no effect.

Briefly, there were many universal cycles preceding this one in which we are living. They were consummated, completed and their traces obliterated. The divine and creative purpose in them was the evolution of spiritual man, just as it is in this cycle. The circle of existence is the same circle; it returns. The tree of life has ever borne the same heavenly fruit.

If you attain to this supreme goal all the elements of the world of creation will be ready to serve you at your bidding, i.e. they will find their highest attainment in you and through you or, in other words, you will become the fruits of the world of existence... The evolution of the perfect man is a fruit of creation, just as the evolution of the trunk, branches, leaves and blossoms of the tree is the fruit thereof.

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Regard this globe. Its divisions are mineral, vegetable and animal. Man is the result of all these; therefore man is the result of all existence here.

… This is the fruit of the tree of creation - to be freed from the darkness of the planet in order to enter the worlds of light. This is the object of existence; this is the fruit of the tree of humanity.

If such be the blessings conferred on all created things, how superior must be the destiny of the true believer, whose existence and life are to be regarded as the originating purpose of all creation.

God testifieth that there is no God but He. His is the Kingdom and the Dominion, then the Might and the Omnipotence, then the Power and the Divine Realm, then the Strength and the Celestial Domain, then the Sovereignty and the Human Kingdom. He giveth life and causeth death, then causeth death and giveth life. Verily, He is the Living Who dieth not, the King Who passeth not away, the Just Who wrongeth not, the Sovereign Who changeth not, and the One from Whose grasp nothing escapeth. He is powerful over all things. And blessed be He unto Whom belongeth whatsoever is in the heavens and on earth and what lieth between them. There is no God but He, the Mighty, the Beloved. And blessed be He unto Whom belongeth the dominion of the heavens and the earth and what lieth between them. There is no God but He, the Protector, the Self-Subsisting.

Say: God is more exalted than all things, and all before Him are prostrate in worship. Say: God hath ever been transcendent in the kingdoms of the heavens and the earth and what lieth between them, and exalted in the kingdom of Command and Creation and what lieth beneath them. All are His servants and all are devoted to Him. Say: These are among the dwellers of the Psalms where descendeth the form which hath come down from heaven. They imagine they worship God their Lord, and they remember Him by night and by day, but God beareth witness that there is no God but He, and they are in four manifestations, and aforetime they were guided by God, but after God sent down the Books unto the Messengers, when they became veiled, they entered the fire and they shall not be helped except if they enter into the Bayan and then become certain of their Lord's command. Verily We have ordained for them their religion, but on that Day they will not recognize Us, nor will they return unto God their Lord.

O people of the Bayan! Have mercy upon yourselves. Do not remain, after Him Whom God shall make manifest, in that which God hath given you aforetime, lest He bear witness against you without guidance and make you like unto those who were given the Book before you. Fear God, then, and unto Him shall ye return. Say: Verily your return unto Him Whom God shall make manifest is your return unto God your Lord. Ye desire to return unto God your Lord. Say: God is independent of all that is in the heavens and on earth and whatsoever is between them, but ye are poor in your faith in God and His signs. What aileth you that ye fear not God? Say: Verily We shall purify you in every Manifestation, causing you to enter into God's religion and bringing you out of that wherein ye were before. What aileth you that ye remember not?

Say: From the beginning that hath no beginning until now, We have been witness unto all things, but they await not the testimony of their Lord and act according to their own testimonies. Say: Your own testimonies will profit you not on the Day of Resurrection before Him Whom God shall make manifest, save what God testifieth concerning you. O people of the Bayan! Fear ye all together the Day when God desireth to take what is with you and give you what He pleaseth. This is the Day of Truth. Even as ye took before, so shall ye take, and even as ye return deposits one to another, so unto Him Whom God shall make manifest shall ye return what is with you. What is with you shall profit you not, even to the weight of a grain of mustard seed. Did their patience profit those who were given the Gospel, or those who were before them? What aileth you that ye remember not? And unto God belong the issues of all matters, both before and after.

Yet contingent being, in its existence and conditions, needs the outpouring from the Necessary Being. Thus the Impenetrable Unseen, transcendent beyond consciousness, has manifested to the realities of things through Names and Attributes. Nothing exists but has its portion of this divine outpouring and merciful manifestation, and "there is nothing but glorifies His praise."

As for man, he combines all contingent perfections - the mineral body, the vegetable refinement, the animal senses - and beyond these, he possesses divine perfection through grace.

Existence is like a tree - all other beings besides man are like its leaves and branches, but man is in the condition of the fruit.

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All beings other than Man only reflect, each one of them, singly, one aspect of the Absolute. … Man, on the contrary, not only synthesizes all the forms of the Divine self-manifestation which are scattered over the world of Being, but also is conscious of this whole. This is why a true comprehensive unity is established by Man, corresponding to the Unity of the Absolute. Man is in this sense the Imago Dei. And because of this peculiarity, Man can be ... the 'vicegerent' of God on the earth.

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