(Bahá’u’lláh, Lawh-i-Dunya (Tablet of the World), 1308 ? [1890-1891], to Mirza Siyyid Muhammad Afnan (known as Aqa Mirza Aqa Nurud-Din) -- BH00238)
The pathways of love: receiving, returning, and sharing
four; five pathways of love
Editorial introduction
Love, ‘Abdu’l-Bahá says, is the greatest of all living powers, and He traces it along several roads at once: from God to His creatures, from the creature back to God, between hearts that see the beauty of God reflected in one another, and within God’s own Essence, the Hidden Treasure that desired to be known and so created the world. Sometimes He adds a fifth road, a person’s love for his own self, ruinous as selfishness but a spur upward when it means knowing oneself as God’s creature with a station to reach. The lists differ, and that is part of the lesson: love is one reality seen from different standpoints, always received before it is given. Love the creatures for the sake of God, He counsels, and their faults will not make you impatient; care for the poor, protect the weak, let affection for family carry a ray of the infinite love. The First Letter of John asks how anyone can love the unseen God while failing the brother he can see [1]. From here the way leads into the love of God itself, into love as fire, and into the attractive power that binds the realms of being together.
Selected passages
The world was created through love, and all are commanded to live in fellowship and unity. Fix your gaze upon and make mention of this blessed word which hath shone forth from the horizon of the mouth of the King of Oneness: "I was in My Ancient Being and My Eternal Essence; I knew My love in thee, therefore I created thee, cast upon thee My image and revealed to thee My beauty."
(Bahá’u’lláh, 1298-10 [1881-Aug], to friends of God -- BH00359)
(‘Abdu’l-Bahá, Tablet of the Divine Plan (U.S. and Canada III), 1916-Apr-19, to Baha'is of the United States and Canada -- AB00032)
(‘Abdu’l-Bahá, Words spoken at Paster Wagner's church in Paris, 1911-Nov-26 -- ABU0502)
O lover of the Dawning-Place of the lights of love!
There are four well-known degrees of love. First is the love from God to the servant, as evidenced by the verse "He loves them." Second is the love from the servant to the Lord, as proven by "they love Him." Third is love from servant to servant, as attested by the verse "merciful among themselves." Fourth is from Truth to Truth, as established by "I loved to be known."
(‘Abdu’l-Bahá, to Prince Muhibbali Mirza -- AB04822)
(‘Abdu’l-Bahá, The Four Kinds of Love: Words spoken at 97 Cadogan Gardens in London, 1913-Jan-04 -- ABU0651)
There are different kinds of degrees of love:
First, from God to God; the Spiritual flow from God to the Manifestations. This is the bounty of the Holy spirit, perfect in its effulgence and Expression as the light of the sun in a mirror.
Second, from God to the creatures. This is called Eternal life: that which the disciples received in their heavenly blessings, divine guidance and abundant power.
Third, from the creatures to God. The outcome of this is Faith, Assurance, and turning to God in spiritual recognition and relationship.
Fourth, from the people of God to the people of God. For instance, we witness such devotion among believers that they will sacrifice life for each other. Through this love is the accomplishment of Unity among them. By this love all believers become as one. This is the Divine Spirit of Love which gives Life to the world, illumines the temples of existence, restores sight to the blind, causes the deaf to hear, makes the dump speak, and transforms enemies into friends.
Fifth, from man to himself. If this is simply selfishness it is as disastrous to the soul, but if it be spiritual and conscious devotion to self it becomes a spur upward and onward. Mere selfish love is like a man whirling round and round until he becomes dizzy and falls. The true love of self is that which leads forward and upward in a direct course toward higher life and being.
(‘Abdu’l-Bahá, Words to Mary MacNutt et al in 1904 -- ABU1710)
The Master said there are five kinds of love:
1st. "The love of His own perfections which caused GOD to create, that His Beauty might be made manifest and appreciated.
2nd. "The love between sanctified souls for the attributes of the divine which they see reflected in one another.
3rd. "GOD's love to man individually that is gained according to the measure in which a man turns to GOD.
4th. "Man's love for GOD, the Creator. This is the cause of his life, progress and happiness.
5th. "Is the love of self, which directed to the ego will deprive the man of all true development, but if the love of self is a realization that he is a creature of GOD and must therefore attain to the station appointed for him, this love will be an uplifting one."
(‘Abdu’l-Bahá, Words to Mary Lucas and other pilgrims, spoken on 1905-Feb-04 -- ABU1470)
And they have pierced the pearls of knowledge and wisdom with the diamonds of explanation and have designated the stages of Love as being four. And this servant will, in this treatise mention five stages although in the view of this evanescent drop, from one viewpoint, the stages of Love are limitless and countless in number while, from another, they are clearly seen clothed in the garment of oneness. For the variation in the stations of love are from differences of stations and stages and in each world of the worlds and in each stage of the stages there can be seen a magnetism of oneness . Within the grasp of its power is the mutual attraction of the reality of all things and the pulling [together] of the subtlety of Being. And this magnetism of oneness is the station of Love and Attraction (khullat ).
(‘Abdu’l-Bahá, Tafsir-i-Kuntu Kanzan Makhfiyyan (Commentary on the Hadith of the Hidden Treasure), 1868 or <, to Ali Shawkat Pasha -- AB00006)
(Bahá’u’lláh, Haft Vadi (The Seven Valleys), to Shaykh Muhiyid-Din Judge of Khaniqayn et al -- BH00047)
(Bahá’u’lláh, Chihar Vadi (The Four Valleys), to Shaykh Abdur-Rahman Karkuki et al -- BH00306)
(Bahá’u’lláh, Hidden Words - Persian, 1274 ca. [1857-1858] -- BH00113)
(Bahá’u’lláh, Kitab-i-Aqdas (The Most Holy Book), 1290-05-15 [1873-Jul-11] -- BH00001)
It is not possible for us to love everybody with a personal love, but we must love all humanity alike.
… There are many stages or kinds of Love. In the beginning God, through His Love, created man. Man is the highest product of His Love, and the purpose of man's existence is to reflect this Love of God in his soul. But man in his egotism and love of self turns away from his Creator and thereby prevents the accomplishment of the Divine Plan. The Manifestations appear to show man the way to God through Love. By them, man is brought to the condition of severance from his egotism and being absorbed into the Ocean of Love Divine.
(‘Abdu’l-Bahá, Words to Julia Grundy spoken around Jan. 1905 -- ABU1872)
(‘Abdu’l-Bahá, Words spoken on 1911-Oct-24 in Paris -- ABU0281)
(‘Abdu’l-Bahá, Address to the children at Plaza Hotel in Chicago, 1912-May-05 -- ABU0666)
(‘Abdu’l-Bahá, Address to the Baha'is at Kinney home in New York, 1912-Dec-02 -- ABU1122)
(‘Abdu’l-Bahá, Address to the Baha'is at the Phillips studio in New York, 1912-Apr-12 -- ABU0543)
The man who does very little good and magnifies it in his speech, is not good. if I love you, you know it, I need not tell you all the time; on the other hand, if I did not love you, you would know it also, and you would not believe me if I said I did love you a thousand times.
(‘Abdu’l-Bahá, Words spoken in 1911 -- ABU2032)
(‘Abdu’l-Bahá, Words to the Baha'is, spoken on board the SS Celtic in harbor, 1912-Dec-05 -- ABU0270)
(‘Abdu’l-Bahá, 1906 ca., to Arthur Cuthbert -- AB00131)
(‘Abdu’l-Bahá, Chapter 84, The Station of Actions Performed without the Knowledge of God, 1904 ca. -- AB00063)
(‘Abdu’l-Bahá, Public address given in Church of the Ascension on 1912-Jun-02 -- ABU0006)
(‘Abdu’l-Bahá, Public address given on 1912-Aug-16 -- ABU0004)
(‘Abdu’l-Bahá, Lawh-i-Mahabbat (Tablet of Love), 1902-Oct-16, to George Emerson Witte -- AB01214)
There are two kinds of Love - the material and the spiritual. Material love means the attachment of men to each other, whether it be friendship or any other relation and it always ends in grief, for the spiritual love is the only enduring love.
(‘Abdu’l-Bahá, Words spoken ca. 1900 -- ABU0709)
Such love is real; there is no interruption for this connection, nor any separation for this union; this foundation shall never be destroyed, for it is eternal; hence it is established that the love which exists among the beloved of God is everlasting, for it is a Divine bounty, a Godly appearance, a melody of the Kingdom and a heavenly cohesion.
… Therefore, this love which is among the beloved is a Divine bounty, a Godly splendor, an eternal manifestation and the power of Divinity; it is perpetual.
(‘Abdu’l-Bahá, Words to Remey and Struven on 1910-May-13 -- ABU1197)
Further quotations · supplied wording and references
God (al-haqq) wanted to see the essences (archetypes -- al-a'yan) of His most perfect Names (al-asma al-husna) whose number is infinite - and if you like you can equally well say: God wanted to see His own Essence ('ayn) in one global object (creation -- kawn) which having been blessed with existence (al-wujud) summarized the Divine Order (Command -- al-amr) so that there He could manifest His mystery (sirr) to Himself.
(Ibn 'Arabi, from the Fusus al-Hikam, in Burckhardt, The Wisdom of the Prophets, p. 8)
Its importance is due to the existence of an explicit statement put in the mouth of God Himself in a famous Tradition which may be considered the starting-point, the basis, and the very gist of his philosophy: 'I was a hidden treasure, and I desired (ahbabtu, 'loved') to be known. Accordingly I created the creatures and thereby made Myself known to them. And they did come to know Me.' As this Tradition tells us with utmost clarity, Love (hubb) is the principle which moved the Absolute toward the creation of the world. It is, in this sense, the 'secret of creation' (sirr al-khalq) or the 'cause of creation' ('illah al-khalq)....
(Izutsu, Sufism and Taoism, p. 136)
And the movement which is coming into existence of the world is a movement of Love. This is clearly indicated by the Apostle when he says (conveying God's own words): 'I was a hidden treasure, and I loved to be known.' If it were not for this love, the world would never have appeared in this concrete existence. In this sense, the movement of the world toward existence was a movement of Love which brought it into existence.
(Ibn 'Arabi, In Izutsu, Sufism and Taoism, pp. 136-137. Cf. Burckhardt, The Wisdom of the Prophets, pp. 104-105)
And if someone assumed that the origin of love was the longing for beauty itself which was there before in men's souls, and their recognition of it and kinship with it and unreasoned awareness that it is something of their own, he would hit, I think, on the truth about its cause.
Plotinus, Enn.III.5.1 But contemplate it without casting your thought outwards. For it does not lie somewhere leaving the other things empty of it, but is always present to anyone who is able to touch it... Plotinus, Enn.VI.9.7
Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us first.... 1 Jn 4:10 We love him, because he first loved us. 1 Jn 4:19
Source reference not supplied
The first of all the commandments is, Hear, O Israel; The Lord our God is one Lord: And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength: this is the first commandment. And the second is like, namely this, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. There is none other commandment greater than these.
Mark 12:29-31
If a man say, I love God, and hateth his brother, he is a liar. 1 Jn 4:20
Source reference not supplied
By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.
John 13:35
We must love God, and in this state, a general love for all men becomes possible. We cannot love each human being for himself but our feeling towards humanity should be motivated by our love for the Father who created all men.
LG#1341, UD.458 (4 Oct. 1950 on behalf of Shoghi Effendi)
The love which Baha'u'llah wishes us to acquire is a love that embraces the whole mankind. The reason why one feels attracted is due to such gifts and qualities with which the soul is endowed and which exert a powerful and latent influence.
LG#1342 (20 Nov. 1937 on behalf of Shoghi Effendi)
...love of God, and consequently of men, is the essential foundation of every religion, our own included. A greater degree of love will produce a greater unity, because it enables people to bear with each other, to be patient and forgiving.
COC#1299 (7 Jul. 1944 on behalf of Shoghi Effendi)
Love is, indeed, a most potent elixir that can transform the vilest and meanest of people into heavenly souls.
LG#741 (6 Dec. 1935 on behalf of Shoghi Effendi)
This love amongst the believers is the magnet which will, above all else, attract the hearts and bring new souls into the Cause. Because obviously the teachings -- however wonderful -- cannot change the world unless the Spirit of Baha'u'llah's love is mirrored in the Baha'i Communities.
COC#1302 (27 Oct. 1944 on behalf of Shoghi Effendi)
The underlying foundation upon which the Kingdom rests is love and this must be securely established among the friends and must be widely spread so that it may become the cause of the establishment of the oneness of mankind. This love must be so intensified among the friends as to make of them true servants of one another expending their wealth and sacrificing their lives for one another and consecrating their being to the existence of other souls. Then ye shall observe how people will flock and gather under the shade of the pavilion of the oneness of mankind. SW_v13#12 p.343x,
AB08065
Beyond all else, it is a demonstration of that love for His children, which He knew in the depth of His "immemorial being" and in the "ancient eternity" of His Essence, and which caused Him to create us all. In the noblest sense, then, attention to the requirements of His World Order is a reciprocation of that love.
M86-01 60.10 (29 Dec. 1988 from The Universal House of Justice)
Ultimately, the power to transform the world is effected by love, love originating from the relationship with the divine, love ablaze among members of a community, love extended without restriction to every human being. … You are channels for this divine love; let it flow through you to all who cross your path. Infuse it into every neighborhood and social space in which you move to build capacity to canalize the society-building power of Baha'u'llah's Revelation.
(22 July 2020 from the Universal House of Justice)
Continue exploring
For thought and discussion
Questions to carry forward
- What changes when love is understood as something received before it is offered?
- How do the different accounts of four or five kinds of love illuminate distinct relationships?
- How might one distinguish selfishness from a love of oneself that supports spiritual growth?
- What practices could extend care beyond those whom one naturally likes?
- How does First John’s test of love toward a visible brother challenge an inward claim of devotion?
- What would it mean for love to shape the habits, conversations, and institutions of a community?