Melt an alloy apart and each metal returns to its own nature; let a body decay and it becomes dust, which is still something. ‘Abdu’l-Bahá builds from such ordinary observations to a claim about existence itself: composition is life and decomposition is death, but the elements are never annihilated, only transformed, and absolute nothingness is not a place anything goes. The constituents of a flower, of food, of a human frame circulate endlessly through the mineral, vegetable and animal kingdoms, and within every being lie the mysteries of all beings. Lucretius, arguing that nothing comes from nothing or returns to it, reaches a similar conclusion from a very different outlook, with no God or spirit in view [1]. The words atom, element and simple here belong to older discussions than the laboratory’s, and ‘Abdu’l-Bahá Himself allows that what we have called simple may yet prove decomposable. What survives the dissolution of a form is the question that leads toward existence and nonexistence, toward substance and form, toward the soul’s immortality, and toward that uncompounded reality which alone is beyond change.
The simple elements always retain their nature as simple elements.
So, if iron be alloyed with some other metal, it will display qualities which it did not have before; but on the dissolution of the alloy it will return to its original state and display the ordinary qualities of the metal.
(‘Abdu’l-Bahá, Words to Myron Phelps and Madame Canavarro in Dec. 1902 -- ABU1139)
02
When we examine the natural world, we see that every being is composed of diverse elements, so that from the mingling of these elements this creature has come into existence while another has passed away. This transition of the elements is evident and cannot be denied.
(‘Abdu’l-Bahá, Address at Theosophical Society of Edinburgh, 1913-Jan-09 -- ABU0078)
03
As for created things, their life consists in composition and their death in decomposition. But matter and the universal elements cannot be entirely destroyed and annihilated. No, their annihilation is merely transformation. For instance, when man dies his body becomes dust, but it does not become absolute non-existence: it retains a mineral existence, but a transformation has taken place and that composition has been subjected to decomposition. It is the same with the annihilation of all other beings, for existence does not become absolute non-existence and absolute non-existence does not acquire existence.
(‘Abdu’l-Bahá, Chapter 53, The Connection between God and Creation, 1904 ca. -- AB00876)
04
For instance, the body of man being the resultant factor of the composition of these atoms, when this body becomes the subject of decomposition we call that death, but those atoms of which the body of man was composed, being simple and primordial, are indestructible.
(‘Abdu’l-Bahá, Words to the friends, spoken at Rue St. Didier 30 on 1913-Feb-09 -- ABU0591)
05
But to speak seriously it is a scientific fact that the elements which make up the body of man are indestructible. They will return again to the animal and mineral kingdoms. The animal is eaten again by man and it is transformed into the body of man. This is an endless circle.
(‘Abdu’l-Bahá, Words spoken on 1913-Jan-22 in Paris -- ABU0234)
06
For instance, the world of elements cannot be annihilated, because pure existence cannot be annihilated; and what we observe are but transformative modifications in the composition of the essence. The combination of different elements has formed physical man; when the composition is destroyed the elements will return to their component parts. Complete annihilation cannot take place.
… When we die our bodies return to the mineral and vegetable world. This example shows the inter-relationship of the different kingdoms which is erroneously called annihilation.
Therefore, total annihilation is an impossibility, and existence can never become nonexistence.
(‘Abdu’l-Bahá, Public address given at the Theosophical Society on 1912-May-04 -- ABU0070)
08
Scientific philosophy has demonstrated that a simple element ("simple" meaning "not composed") is indestructible, eternal.
(‘Abdu’l-Bahá, Words spoken at Dreyfus home in Paris, 1911-Nov-10 -- ABU0054)
09
A true and fundamental scientific principle is that an element itself never dies and cannot be destroyed for the reason that it is single and not composed. Therefore, it is not subject to decomposition.
(‘Abdu’l-Bahá, Public address given at Parsons home on 1912-Nov-09 -- ABU0138)
10
Not one atom is annihilated nor the storehouse of energy is ever exhausted in the production of such multitudes of beings.
(‘Abdu’l-Bahá, Words to Shaykh Yousef and others, spoken on 1915-Feb-21 -- ABU0441)
11
For every part of the universe is connected with every other part by ties that are very powerful and admit of no imbalance, nor any slackening whatever. … Physical bodies are transferred past one barrier after another, from one life to another, and all things are subject to transformation and change, save only the essence of existence itself -- since it is constant and immutable, and upon it is founded the life of every species and kind, of every contingent reality throughout the whole of creation.
(‘Abdu’l-Bahá, 1902-Sep-13, to Mrs J O Wilhelm -- AB01624)
12
Thus for beings there is never annihilation -- there is only transfer from one rank to another. For example, when man dies his elements are not annihilated; those single elements transfer to another rank. Thus there is no annihilation for existence -- existence is ever-living. Everything is alive, living, existent. The ultimate truth is that it transfers from one station to another, and until beings circulate through all ranks, perfection is not attained.
(‘Abdu’l-Bahá, Words spoken on 1912-Aug-02 in Dublin, NH -- ABU0151)
13
Briefly stated, the idea is as follows: --
Man is indestructible. The man you see before your eyes has travelled through all the worlds of existence.
(‘Abdu’l-Bahá, Words spoken in Jan. 1913 -- ABU1774)
14
When we study phenomena, with the investigation of truth as our object, we discover that the law of conservation of energy is a reality; that the elemental realities are ever existent, and that phenomena are the compositions thereof; that each phenomenon or existent being is composed of certain elements, this being a scientific fact that can be verified by natural philosophy; that every single molecule is composed of certain atoms; that the ion is indestructible and subject to coursing and journeyings throughout interminable space.
(‘Abdu’l-Bahá, Words spoken at Theosophical Society in San Francisco, 1912-Oct-11 -- ABU1593)
15
Know, therefore, that death does not pertain to existence. At most, there is transition from one state to another, for the soul of man is not composed; it is not a formation of elements subject to dissolution. If it was composed, we would have to consider it mortal.
(‘Abdu’l-Bahá, Address to the Baha'is and others at Parsons home in Dublin, 1912-Aug-07 -- ABU0184)
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16
...the elements, the indivisible elements which have gone into the composition of this flower are eternal and changeless. Therefore the realities of all phenomena are immutable.
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17
The elements of metals are not true single elements - a time will come when all the elements will be decomposed.
(Pilgrim notes of Ethel Rosenberg, 1904, p. 40)
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18
...The followers of Truth hold that all material things will prove on close examination to be composite and compound forms, even though philosophers through the ages may have regarded them as simple substances.
(Provisional translation, ABU0054)
Supplied quotation · catalogue passage not verified
Sentence boundary needs source review; the supplied wording is retained.