Even the sun, ‘Abdu’l-Bahá observes, is known to us only by its heat and light, and a human being by qualities, never by the hidden essence beneath them. That modest admission opens a vast question. If the mind cannot fathom a pebble or a friend at the root, what does it hold when it pictures God? Only its own image, he answers, for whatever the mind encompasses is smaller than the mind itself. Yet the principle that humbles us also exalts us: the animal cannot conceive the human, but the human spirit embraces mineral, plant and beast, wrests secrets from nature, and may receive a ray of that all-knowing intellect which belongs to the Manifestations of God. The Kena Upanishad asks a kindred question, whether the source of seeing can itself be seen [1]. To live with this teaching is to hold wonder and humility together. The path leads on to the ladder of the kingdoms of existence, to the mind’s astonishing power of discovery, and to the soul as a small world mirroring the great one.
As our knowledge of things, even of created and limited ones, is of their attributes and not of their essence, how then can it be possible to understand in its essence the unbounded Reality of the Divinity? For the inner essence of a thing can never be known, only its attributes. For example, the inner reality of the sun is unknown, but it is understood through its attributes, which are heat and light. The inner essence of man is unknown and unfathomed, but it is known and characterized by its attributes.
(‘Abdu’l-Bahá, Chapter 59, Man's Comprehension of God, 1904 ca. -- AB00395)
02
And yet that image is comprehended, the human mind being the comprehender thereof, and certainly the comprehender is greater than that which lieth within its grasp; for imagination is but the branch, while mind is the root; and certainly the root is greater than the branch.
(‘Abdu’l-Bahá, 1906-May-23, to Kanichi Yamamoto -- AB01117)
03
The all-encompassing must assuredly be greater than that which is encompassed, and thus the latter can in no wise discover the former or comprehend its reality. No matter how far human minds may advance, even attaining the highest degree of human comprehension, the uttermost limit of this comprehension is to behold the signs and attributes of God in the world of creation and not in the realm of Divinity.
(‘Abdu’l-Bahá, Chapter 37, The Connection between God and His Manifestations, 1904 ca. -- AB00105)
04
The higher plane, however, understandeth the lower. The animal, for instance, comprehendeth the mineral and vegetable, the human understandeth the planes of the animal, vegetable and mineral. But the mineral cannot possibly understand the realms of man. And notwithstanding the fact that all these entities co-exist in the phenomenal world, even so, no lower degree can ever comprehend a higher.
(‘Abdu’l-Bahá, 1921-May-01, to Mr A A Dan Zidgiz -- AB00103)
05
In the animal world there is the sense of feeling, but in the human world there is an all-embracing power. In all the preceding stages the power of reason is absent, but the soul existeth and revealeth itself. The sense of feeling understandeth not the soul, whereas the reasoning power of the mind proveth the existence thereof.
In like manner the mind proveth the existence of an unseen Reality that embraceth all beings, and that existeth and revealeth itself in all stages, the essence whereof is beyond the grasp of the mind.
(‘Abdu’l-Bahá, Lawh-i-Dr Forel (Tablet to Dr Forel), 1921-Sep-21, to Auguste Forel -- AB00020)
06
For knowledge of a thing requires one to encompass that thing and until a person encompasses a thing, he cannot understand its reality.
… Because for one thing to understand another depends on two things:
First is encompassment. This means that until one thing encompasses another, it cannot understand its inner nature.
… Secondly is similarity and likeness. Until one thing can be likened to something else its reality can never be imagined.
(‘Abdu’l-Bahá, Tafsir-i-Kuntu Kanzan Makhfiyyan (Commentary on the Hadith of the Hidden Treasure), 1868 or <, to Ali Shawkat Pasha -- AB00006)
The available source contains an omission or incomplete wording; sentence boundaries need review.
07
Observe with the eye of reality physical (kharijiyyah), created things. You will see that everything else is not able to understand what is above it even were it to progress in its station to the highest degree of [its] existence, even as thou dost witness that the mineral however much it may progress and ascend to the summit of perfection is unable to know or to understand the station of the vegetable. And similarly, however much the plant may increase in splendour and growth, it can never become aware of the reality of the animal.
(‘Abdu’l-Bahá, Tafsir Ghulibatu'r-Rum (Commentary on the Hadith ``Rome was Overthrown"), to Abd Al-Ghani -- AB00007)
08
The perfections of the mineral are translated into the vegetable and from thence into the animal, the virtue always attaining a superlative degree in the upward change. In each kingdom we find the same virtues manifesting themselves more fully, proving that the reality has been transferred from a lower to a higher form and kingdom of being.
(‘Abdu’l-Bahá, Public address given at the Theosophical Society on 1912-May-04 -- ABU0070)
09
All these sacred words show us that man is made in God's image: yet the Essence of God is incomprehensible to the human mind, for the finite understanding cannot be applied to this infinite Mystery.
God contains all: He cannot be contained. That which contains is superior to that which is contained.
(‘Abdu’l-Bahá, Words spoken at Dreyfus home in Paris, 1911-Oct-20 -- ABU0061)
10
That which comes within human grasp is finite, and in relation to it we are infinite because we can grasp it. Assuredly, the finite is lesser than the infinite; the infinite is ever greater.
(‘Abdu’l-Bahá, Public address given at Parsons home on 1912-Nov-10 -- ABU0102)
11
Man's spirit comprehends the realities of kingdoms which have no knowledge of him, even as the child in the womb has no knowledge of exterior existence; nevertheless, the mother comprehends the child's existence. The superior kingdom understands the inferior, but that the inferior comprehends it is no proof of the non-existence of the superior kingdom.
You can understand perfectly those below you, but not those in advance of you, though they can come down to you. It is the same law as we find in this world.
(‘Abdu’l-Bahá, Words spoken ca. Sep. 1911 in London -- ABU1355)
13
This spirit, which in the terminology of the philosophers is called the rational soul, encompasses all things and as far as human capacity permits, discovers their realities and becomes aware of the properties and effects, the characteristics and conditions of earthly things.
(‘Abdu’l-Bahá, Chapter 55, Soul, Spirit, and Mind, 1904 ca. -- AB02018)
14
This spirit is the discovering power that encompasses all things. All the wondrous signs, all the crafts and discoveries, all the mighty undertakings and momentous historical events of which you are aware have been discovered by this spirit and brought forth from the invisible realm into the visible plane through its spiritual power. Thus it abides upon the earth and yet makes discoveries in the heavens, and deduces that which is unknown from known and visible realities.
(‘Abdu’l-Bahá, Chapter 36, The Five Kinds of Spirit, 1904 ca. -- AB00266)
15
All sciences, arts, inventions, crafts, and discoveries of realities proceed from this singular power. This is a power that encompasses all created things, comprehends their realities, unravels their hidden mysteries, and brings them under its control.
(‘Abdu’l-Bahá, Chapter 48, The Difference between Man and Animal, 1904-Oct ca. -- AB00057)
16
Know, therefore, that the human reality encompasses the realities of all things and discovers their true nature, their properties, and their mysteries. For instance, all the existing crafts, inventions, sciences, and branches of learning have been discovered by the human reality. At one time they were all hidden and concealed mysteries, but the reality of man gradually discovered them and brought them forth from the invisible world into the visible realm.
(‘Abdu’l-Bahá, Chapter 71, Spiritual Discoveries, 1904-Oct ca. -- AB00482)
17
These ideal virtues or powers in man surpass or surround nature, comprehend natural laws and phenomena, penetrate the mysteries of the unknown and invisible and bring them forth into the realm of the known and visible.
(‘Abdu’l-Bahá, Public address given at Plaza Hotel on 1912-May-02 -- ABU0122)
18
Science, so to speak, is the breaker of the laws of nature.
… He takes the sword from nature's hand and uses it upon nature's head.
(‘Abdu’l-Bahá, Public address given at Columbia University on 1912-Apr-19 -- ABU0145)
19
If you wish to explain it by the senses, it is impossible. You say it is the discoverer of the reality of things. This is the encompasser. This is the discoverer. This is the maker of rules. This is the cause of order in the world. The world of existence moves because of this. These are its qualities.
(‘Abdu’l-Bahá, Words to Fugeta et al, spoken on 1920-Jan-01 -- ABU1881)
20
O God! O Thou Who hast shone upon luminous realities with the dawning of knowledge and guidance, distinguishing them from all other created things through this supreme gift, and making them encompass all things - perceiving the realities of beings and bringing forth hidden mysteries from the realm of the unseen into the world of effects, singling out whom Thou pleasest with Thy mercy!
(‘Abdu’l-Bahá, 1908-May-21, to Spiritual Assembly of Tihran et al -- AB00787)
21
All teaching and knowledge are enclosed in the soul of man, because his soul encompasses everything. To study means to try to bring them to light. For instance: The flowers, fruits, and leaves are contained in the seed; and with the heat, light, and soil, the fruits are manifested. The figure is contained in the mirror, but the mirror of itself has not the power to reflect it. Polishing is necessary in order to give out a perfect reflection.
(‘Abdu’l-Bahá, Words to George Winterburn et al, spoken around 1904-Feb-06 -- ABU2176)
22
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. Illumined by the spirit through the instrumentality of the soul, man's radiant intelligence makes him the crowning-point of Creation.
(‘Abdu’l-Bahá, Words spoken on 1911-Nov-17 in Paris -- ABU0577)
23
The spiritual power associated with the world of nature is the power of investigation, and it is through investigation that it discovers the realities and properties of things. But the heavenly intellectual power, which is beyond nature, encompasses, knows and comprehends all things, is aware of the divine mysteries, truths and inner meanings, and discovers the hidden verities of the Kingdom. This divine intellectual power is confined to the holy Manifestations and the Daysprings of prophethood.
(‘Abdu’l-Bahá, Chapter 58, The Extent and Limitation of Human Perception, 1904 ca. -- AB00747)
24
Briefly, the universal Manifestations of God are aware of the truths underlying the mysteries of all created things, and thus they found a religion that is based upon and consonant with the prevailing condition of humanity. For religion consists in the necessary relationships deriving from the realities of things.
(‘Abdu’l-Bahá, Chapter 40, The Knowledge of the Divine Manifestations, 1904 ca. -- AB00780)
25
Man has two planes: the physical and the intellectual. The divine revelators have three: their physical condition, which is shared by all mankind - they eat, they sleep, they are sometimes ill, they become well again, they become fatigued, they undergo all that man can undergo; their intellectual degree and their holy reality which surrounds all beings and comprehends secrets. Their horizons enfold the universe, for they are the suns of real truth illuminating all the regions of thought, dispersing the darkness, uplifting the world of mankind and making the material world heavenly.
Concerning the matter of spiritual discoveries that you mentioned, the human spirit has a comprehensive power over the realities of things. … Thus it is evident that the human spirit has comprehensive power and control over the realities of things, and discovers secrets hidden in the realm of this world. But the Divine Spirit discovers divine realities and universal mysteries in the heavenly realm.
(‘Abdu’l-Bahá, 1907-Nov, to Paul Kingston Dealy -- AB00092)
27
The spirit of man alone penetrates the realities of God and partakes of the divine bounties.
(‘Abdu’l-Bahá, Public address given on 1912-Aug-16 -- ABU0004)
28
To maintain that the testimony of Providence was incomplete, that it hath therefore been the cause of the denial of the people, is but open blasphemy. … Nay, the manifold bounties of the Lord of all beings have, at all times, through the Manifestations of His divine Essence, encompassed the earth and all that dwell therein. Not for a moment hath His grace been withheld, nor have the showers of His loving-kindness ceased to rain upon mankind.
(Bahá’u’lláh, Kitab-i-Iqan (The Book of Certitude), 1278 ca. [1861-1862], to Haji Mirza Siyyid Muhammad, great uncle of the Bab (Khal-i-Akbar) -- BH00002)
29
Know verily that whenever this Youth turneth His eyes towards His own self, he findeth it the most insignificant of all creation. When He contemplates, however, the bright effulgences He hath been empowered to manifest, lo, that self is transfigured before Him into a sovereign Potency permeating the essence of all things visible and invisible.
(Bahá’u’lláh, 1290 [1873] or earlier, to Ghulam -- BH11250)
30
Now if someone were to explain to a fetus the virtues and vices of this world, and describe its bounties and punishments, could the fetus conceive of it? No, by God! For in the world of the womb these virtues and vices, these bounties and punishments do not exist for it to conceive of them. For instance, the fetus cannot imagine hearing and sight, and whatever you might convey would be mere fancy to it. Yet when it steps into this world, it observes that which no eye hath seen, nor ear heard, nor entered into the heart of the fetus.
(‘Abdu’l-Bahá, 1909-Mar-01, to Aqa Abdu'l-Ali Quchani (Ishqabad) -- AB00188)
31
Since we do not see it, we will say that as the mineral and vegetable belong to this world and are utterly ignorant of the human kingdom-- one might question the mineral - find it utterly ignorant of the vegetable, one might even find that it denied the existence of the plant-- that if one questioned the embryo in the womb about the human kingdom, it would know nothing of it, and would even deny its existence; even so the realities of the Kingdom of Heaven are not to men."
(‘Abdu’l-Bahá, Words to Myron Phelps spoken around Jan. 1909 at the home of Mirza Asadu'llah -- ABU0681)
32
When the soul of man ascends to the bountiful realm, it certainly unveils this physical world, for every higher station unveils the station below it, but a lower station cannot unveil a higher station.
(‘Abdu’l-Bahá, 1920-Aug-19, to Shahriyar Isfandyar Parsi -- AB00576)
Further quotations · supplied wording and references
33
...the comprehension of one thing by another is dependent upon two things. First, by encompassing.... second is by resemblance and likeness which is to say unless one thing resembles another it can in no way conceive its reality.
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34
...in the animal world, the mineral and vegetable characteristics are present and in addition the characteristics of the animal world are to be found, which are the faculties of hearing and of sight. In the human world the characteristics of the mineral, vegetable and animal worlds are found and in addition that of the human kind...
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35
Humanity consists of the spiritual reality and that reality is penetrative in all things, and it is that reality which discovers the invisible mysteries, and through that reality all sciences, arts and inventions become known and manifest. Whatever thou beholdest of the works of man is but a faint ray of that reality. It encircles all things and comprehends all things. The human spirit is the discoverer of things, the seer of things and comprehends all things... As the spirit of man environs all things, therefore he has discovered them and brought them from the unknown world into the arena of manifestation.
SW v02#14 p007 (Daily Lessons Received at Akka, p. 88, From a Tablet to Ella Cooper)
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36
This spirit is an evident light. This spirit (of man) is the power of discovery which surrounds and comprehends everything.
(Pilgrim notes of Ethel Rosenberg, 1904, p. 41)
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37
If it directs itself to the Center of Guidance, it acquires the power to comprehend all things and encompasses the realities of things as they are.
(Abdu'l-Baha, provisional translation, MKT1)
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38
I am the light which is before all things. It is I who am all things. From me all things came forth, and to me all things extend. Split a piece of wood, and I am there; lift up the stone, and you will find me. (Gospel of Thomas)
Source reference not supplied
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