Mind and nature: discovery, power and responsibility

Man takes the human voice and stores it in a phonograph. The voice naturally should be free and transient according to the law and phenomenon of sound, but man arrests its vibrations and puts it in a box in defiance of nature's laws.

He has no wings, but he does not submit himself to this fact; he makes wings and conquers the air. He has no fins, but he conquers the sea. He conquers the night by creating for himself light; the cold by making heat; his limited senses by supplementing and extending them.

Man through scientific knowledge and power rules nature and utilizes her laws to do his bidding. According to natural limitations he is a creature of earth, restricted to life upon its surface, but through scientific utilization of material laws he soars in the sky, sails upon the ocean and dives beneath it.

Man is able to resist and oppose nature inasmuch as he discovers the natures of things and, by virtue of this discovery, has mastery over nature itself. Indeed, all the crafts that man has devised proceed from this discovery. For example, he has invented the telegraph, which connects the East and the West. It is therefore evident that man rules over nature.

Consider carefully: all these highly varied phenomena, these concepts, this knowledge, these technical procedures and philosophical systems, these sciences, arts, industries and inventions -- all are emanations of the human mind. Whatever people has ventured deeper into this shoreless sea, has come to excel the rest.

All that you observe of crafts, wonders, effects and discoveries was once in the realm of the unseen and was a hidden matter. The human spirit discovered that hidden secret and brought it from the realm of the unseen to the world of being. For example, steam power, photography, phonography, telegraphy, mathematical problems - all of these were once hidden secrets and protected mysteries.

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.

Through the power of the rational soul man can discover the realities of things, comprehend their properties and penetrate the mysteries of existence. All the sciences, branches of learning, arts, inventions, institutions, undertakings and discoveries have resulted from the comprehension of the rational soul. These were once impenetrable secrets, hidden mysteries and unknown realities, and the rational soul gradually discovered them and brought them out of the invisible plane into the realm of the visible.

Thus, great discoveries have been made, mighty enterprises have been established, wonderful inventions have appeared, and the mysteries of the universe have stepped forth from the invisible plane into the realm of the visible.

This reality of man encompasses all things and is the discoverer of things. All these things that thou seest were once not in existence, but this power which is in man has discovered them whilst they were hidden. Everything has been hidden. Man has discovered it. That which was hidden has become manifest, much as the telegraph, the phonograph, electricity. In former centuries it was hidden, no one had any knowledge of it. The power of man has brought it to light.

All the industries, inventions and facilities surrounding our daily life were at one time hidden secrets of nature, but the reality of man penetrated them and made them subject to his purposes. According to nature's laws they should have remained latent and hidden; but man, having transcended those laws, discovered these mysteries and brought them out of the plane of the invisible into the realm of the known and visible.

For instance, he imprisons in an incandescent lamp the illimitable natural energy called electricity -- a material force which can cleave mountains -- and bids it give him light. He takes the human voice and confines it in the phonograph for his benefit and amusement. According to his natural power man should be able to communicate a limited distance, but by overcoming the restrictions of nature he can annihilate space and send telephone messages thousands of miles.

He takes electricity, and through his ingenuity imprisons it and makes of it a wonderful power for lighting, and a means of communication to a distance of thousands of miles.

Look around at your city. Darkness would be over everything unless man would take natural electricity, a strong power, and make it light the streets and houses.

But the reasonable or intellectual reality with which man is endowed enables him to transcend the laws of physical nature. For example, according to the laws of nature man is a denizen of the earth; he must walk upon the earth, and, because he is born on this globe, he belongs to this earthly life. This is a regulation of nature. But man, through his intellectual power transcends this law of nature, discovers the science of aviation and flies in the air like a bird.

All things are subdued by the hand of man, who withstands nature itself.

All other beings are captives of nature and cannot free themselves from its exigencies: man alone can withstand nature. So nature attracts all bodies to the centre of the earth, but through mechanical means man moves away from it and soars in the air; nature prevents man from crossing the sea, but man builds ships and traverses the heart of the great ocean, and so forth: the subject is endless.

Man, however, is the opposite - he is nature's master. For example, according to nature's requirements and laws, man is an earthbound creature, not one of air or water. Yet despite this natural law, he breaks nature's rule - he soars through the air, traverses the surface of the sea as if it were an open field, runs upon the waters, and pilots vessels beneath them. This contravenes nature's universal law. … Thus it is evident that man breaks nature's law and is therefore the noblest of all created things, for he possesses universal capabilities.

Consider how all other phenomenal existence and beings are captives of nature. The sun, that colossal center of our solar system, the giant stars and planets, the towering mountains, the earth itself and its kingdoms of life lower than the human -- all are captives of nature except man. No other created thing can deviate in the slightest degree from obedience to natural law. The sun in its glory and greatness millions of miles away is held prisoner in its orbit of universal revolution, captive of universal natural control. Man is the ruler of nature.

All material phenomena are subject to nature. All material organisms are captives of nature. None of them can deviate in the slightest from the laws of nature. This earth, these great mountains, the animals with their wonderful powers and instincts cannot go beyond natural limitations. All things are captives of nature except man. Man is the sovereign of nature; he breaks nature's laws.

Therefore, humans break nature's rules and laws, and command nature. For example, although by nature humans are earthly creatures like elephants and lions whose place and station is the earth, despite not being aquatic creatures they violate nature's law and move freely upon the sea, cross the great ocean, fly in the air, and travel beneath the sea. This electrical force which you observe, although no force is more rebellious and defiant than it - when it strikes a mountain it splits it to its base - humans capture it and imprison it.

But humans, through knowledge, can breach nature's law. Through the power of knowledge, they can break nature's order. Though an earthly being with spirit, humans can ride upon the sea, soar in the air, move beneath the waters, seize the sword from nature's hand and strike at nature's heart. All this is accomplished through the power of knowledge.

Yet this human being - small in body but vast in thought, mighty in understanding and intense in strength - rules over nature, rends its laws, demolishes its foundations, breaks its dominion, humbles its sovereignty, severs its might, and pays no heed to its decrees, scorning its principles and statutes.

… Through a spiritual power, man utterly rends asunder all nature's laws and wrests the drawn sword from nature's hand to strike it a crushing blow - and this is a breach, nay rather, a tearing apart of nature's law.

They bring forth all nature's hidden stored secrets from the realm of the unseen to the realm of the seen. Thus they are the abrogator of nature's law and the destroyer of its principles.

This sacred power is unique to humans and by this spiritual power they are distinguished from other animals.

Look and see how all beings cannot transgress beyond the world of nature - they are captive, but humans are free from nature's bondage for they break through nature. For example, observe that according to nature living things are earthbound, yet humans fly in the air - this is against nature. They move upon the sea and travel beneath it - this breaks the general law of nature.

However man has seized the sword from nature and with it is beating nature back. For example, the natural law is for man to remain on earth. Yet, he swims in the sea like a fish or flies in the air like a bird. Or the law of nature is for electricity to flow freely. But we see that man has captured this power in the confines of a bulb.

This is sufficient and complete proof that man is ruler over nature and completely overturns the general law of nature. Consider what power, what gift God has given to man that he is ruler over nature, yet man considers himself a prisoner of nature.

I met a man this morning who belongs to the sect of Buddhists and I said to him, "What is your message?" He replied "l'Amour, Love!" I said, "Yes, but what besides that?" He repeated, "Love, that is all, that is the only message."

But the word Love is not a message; the word Love indicates an infinite thing, and how shall we bring an infinite thing into relation with humanity which is finite?

There are in reality many kinds of love and each in itself is infinite and finite. There is the love of country, or the patriotic love, there is the family love, there is the love of friendship, the love of man and woman-each one is finite and limited. There is only one love which is infinite and unlimited and divine, and that is the love which comes with the Breath of the Holy Spirit - the Love of God - which breaks all barriers and sweeps all before it.

Animals are completely subject to nature, they are its slaves. They live and die in the places in which they are born, and they are the victims of storm and flood, they are hemmed in by desert, forest, by the great rivers and the sea.

But man has conquered nature, and is free. He is no longer the slave of the physical world, he dominates it and is free. He compels the physical world to do his will. He crosses wide spaces, sails over the ocean, and is beginning to fly through the air. He is in all things a freed being, and can give his commands to that nature in the midst of which he was born.

So man who is freed from material things and dominates nature, should learn to render his love also unlimited and divine. He should open his soul to the Breeze of God, that it may blow through him and break down all barriers.

So, if you love, endeavor to love divinely. If you love your country, love it not with the narrow feeling that it must be loved because it is yours alone, but with the greater consciousness that your home is a part of the universe. If you love brother or comrade or wife, love each one as a part of God, and not with the narrow sense of possession which renders the love selfish and exclusive. Then the Breeze of God blowing constantly through your love will purify it and make it divine so that the Breath of the Holy Spirit will enter into your being and unite you to God.

But do not seek the honors and loves of this world, seek rather God and His love, and then the Honors and Loves which belong to Him will be yours. All the glory of the heavens in his, all the beauty of the flowers, the scent of the roses and the colors of the sunset. But more than this the beauty of the soul is His, so that when you look long upon His beauty, it takes many forms and reappears in your consciousness in many figures. But all other beauty fades and disappears, all other honor but His becomes insignificant, all other love but His is undesirable.

Now it is known that all motion is compelled motion. This sun is compelled to move, even these other spheres are compelled to move. All motion is compelled, not volitional. Man is distinguished from all created things; nature - all things are its captive. The sun, for all its greatness, is its captive. But man, whose body is so small, God hath created within him a sacred power that can break the laws of nature.

Man possesses certain virtues of which nature is deprived. He exercises volition; nature is without will.

… 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.

"Nature lacks reason, will power. It cannot discover its own secrets; it cannot foresee the future; it cannot remember the past; it cannot make heavenly discoveries; it cannot communicate with the East and the West in one minute; it cannot imprison the voice in a machine, and so on. This proves that the soul of man is above nature. This sun, with all its light, is a captive, it has no will power, but the spirit of man is above the sun.

All past events lie behind nature's veil, behind nature's covering. Man discovers events and realities from five thousand years ago, saying that by this sign and principle it was thus. This transcends nature, for these events and matters lie behind nature's veil. Likewise with matters that have not yet emerged from nature's depths, events of which no trace has yet appeared - man deduces what results will emerge in the future.

Once it was said that the man had a spirit and that power in the man was his sensation of reason. He can realize sensation and comprehend spiritual things. For instance, the globe of this world is round. Columbus discovered the existence of other lands than his own through his spiritual sense. All of the inventions, all of the arts and all of the improvements are by the power of the spirit in man.

Consider: according to nature's law man should be a prisoner of fierce beasts, yet he captures them instead. He leaves behind an inheritance of science and knowledge from the present time for the sake of future centuries. According to nature's law, cause and effect go hand in hand; if the cause ceases, the effect is lost as well. But the traces of man after his death continue to reveal themselves. Man interferes with the laws of nature by making a fruitless tree fruitful, by transforming poisonous substances which cause death into the means of health and life.

Man dries up the sea, inundates the desert, circumnavigates the globe, discovers what is under the earth, rides upon the air and creates new sciences. These are the signs of the crowning spiritual power of man, -- that power which can make nature his prisoner.

The Divine Law is present in man and attains a certain development when the human nature overcomes it. A man may take a forest and by skillful attention turn it into a garden. But if it be neglected for a time, it reverts into its former condition.

The spirit is the power of life, the mind is the power which apprehendeth the reality of things, and the soul is an intermediary between the Supreme Concourse (or Spiritual World) and the lower concourse (or material world).

But the Universal Emperor over the entire body is the Spirit. It is the Spirit that rules and controls all the functions of the body...

The available source contains an omission or incomplete wording; sentence boundaries need review.

All that we see around us is the work of mind. It is mind in the herb and in the mineral that acts on the human body, and changes its condition.

"Yes," Abdul Baha answered, "when the complaint is mental in its cause and source. Many diseases springing from inside the body" (I give the interpreter's exact words) "have a mental origin. These can be best healed by mind cure.

It can control natural phenomena; it is a supernatural power which transcends all contingent beings. It has immortal life, which nothing can destroy or pervert.

If the luminous aspect of the human intellect overcometh the world of nature, it will acquire the power of discovery which is the basis for wondrous insights, and become informed about the realities and the characteristics of things.

Although the physical reality of man is a prisoner of Nature yet his spiritual reality controls Nature - That is why the spiritual reality becomes the discoverer of the verities of things - When the spiritual reality of man is trained and the powers of intellect are developed man reaches to such a high pinnacle of perfection that he can perceive the secrets of the realms of Nature, unravels the mysteries of Nature, unfolds the hidden purposes of the kingdom, brings before our vision the accomplishment of past cycles and understands the things which will happen in the future.

The Greatest Bestowal of the Lord of mankind to man is this power of reason or intellect. Through it man overcomes all the difficulties; reveals the mysteries of existence, solves the problems of life and attains to the highest station of comprehension….

The available source contains an omission or incomplete wording; sentence boundaries need review.

Although human thought is a mirror of realities - that is, there exists in humans a power that discovers realities - similarly, human reality is a mirror of the lights of the Kingdom, having the capacity for the manifestation of heavenly realities within it, for divine mysteries to become apparent in it, and for the images of the Supreme Concourse to be impressed upon it.

This power gives man effectual control over nature. He is enabled to discover reality and bring invisible things into the courts of the visible. Thus he is enabled to render effective the will of God and give it material station.

He shall be able to withstand all the forces of the world for he will rise up through the power of the Kingdom and no material power can withstand that mighty force.

The power of God is always victorious over all things.

How can man be content to lead only an animal existence when God has made him so high a creature? All creation is made subject to the laws of nature, but man has been able to conquer these laws. The sun, in spite of its power and glory, is bound by the laws of nature, and cannot change its course by so much as a hair's breadth. The great and mighty ocean is powerless to change the ebb and flow of its tides -- nothing can stand against nature's laws but man!

But to man God has given such wonderful power that he can guide, control and overcome nature.

The spiritual will-power is susceptible of such limitless progress that man will disregard his comfort, endure smilingly all difficulties and forfeit his life for the public weal. Strive that you may obtain this will-power.

God has deposited in the brain of man, the seed of such a wonderful will-power, that once grown into full stature, it will not be satisfied with anything. It will spur its possessor to rise higher and higher, to study more and more, to gain more knowledge and success.

Man must attach himself to an infinite reality so that his glory, his joy and his progress may be infinite. Only the spirit is real; everything else is as shadow.

But the pearls and jewels hidden in the mind of man are the knowledge, virtues, capabilities, etc. These pearls can grow and increase in lustre forever, but the pearls of the sea remain always the same.