transcending the material condition
Editorial introduction
Your hands and feet will be working, ‘Abdu’l-Bahá told a questioner, but your heart must be attached to the Almighty: the body was made for this world and the heart for the dwelling of the Holy Spirit. Transcending the material condition is not escape from circumstance but a change in what a life is for. He speaks of a love of heights that marks human beings off from every other creature, and of a knowledge that breaks the laws of nature even while a mosquito bite can still kill the knower. The test is practical: the blood-thirsty grow gentle, wealth is spent on the poor, and a conscience soars while the body sits in chains. Bahá’u’lláh asks how long human birds will nest in a perishable ash-pit. The Bhagavad Gita’s lotus leaf, untouched by the water it rests on, gives a kindred image of action without attachment to its fruit [1]. From here the way leads toward detachment and renunciation, the discipline of the spiritual wayfarer, and the meeting of material and spiritual civilization.
Your hands and feet will be working but your heart must be attached to the Almighty. The body of man is created for this world but his heart is made for the habitation of the Holy Spirit.
Now we come to the subject.
By enduring ascetic hardships, the powers of nature will undergo dissolution, which will result in great weakness whereby one is made incapable of doing anything. He will not show any temper. He will not do any corruption. He will not cause a riot. He is quiet. He is wronged. He is like a lamb. But this is due to weakness. But he who has attained spiritual asceticism acquires these attributes by the strength of character.
O handmaid of God! The treasures of earth are corrupted by rust and moth, as Christ hath said, and thieves break in and steal them, and in the end they vanish like scattered dust. They profit not the wealthy except those who spend them in the path of God upon the poor and weak out of love for their Generous Lord. But the treasures of heaven are preserved and protected with God. Nothing can corrupt them and no thief can steal them. Blessed is the one who acquireth from that mighty treasure.
One must have been retrograded to the lowest point as to be perfectly satisfied with eating, drinking and sleeping. The enjoyment of man comes through the unfoldment of his intellect, intelligence, the virtues of the world of humanity and the divine characteristics.
God has deposited in man the ideal power. The animal kingdom is deprived of the enjoyment of that ideal power which is in man and which enables him to discover the realities of things. This reality, this ideal reality, causes men to attain to knowledge of the aesthetic world. This ideal power prompts man to become informed of the knowledge of God. This ideal power prompts man to ascend heavenward and to discover the mysteries of God.
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.
Therefore it has become evident that there is a holy power in man - Reflect carefully and then you will realize to what extent man is physically a prisoner to the laws of nature - The slightest draught - a little cold will make him ill or some heat will incommode him - A small mosquito -bite may become deadly for him. This is in relation to his physical reality, but his intellectual or his ideal reality is victorious over all phenomena and with that power he conquers the world of nature.
Man has the power of knowledge which will exalt him to Heaven, and the power of ignorance which will debase him to the lowest condition.
Light itself does not see things but rather makes things visible. Based on this, the light of a candle or lamp or the sun reveals things but does not itself see anything. Secondly, the light of vision reveals things and sees them. And if it were higher than luminous bodies like the light of a candle or lamp, they do not perceive the things they reveal and see and know. But with all its elevation, the light of the mind is limited by conditions and time because it cannot reveal and see and understand things except after their creation and formation.
In the view of the earthworm, the sign of intelligence is to delve into the lower strata of the earth. If any creature turns toward the higher strata, the lowly earthworm calls it mad, saying it knows not its own good and recognizes not its own benefit. For although in the lower strata there are a myriad heaps of earthly dross, it deprives itself of these and hastens to the higher strata where there is neither mire nor clay, neither putrefaction nor moisture - only air and sky and meadow and purity.
O my daughter, live the life of a Baha'i and you will always have to be occupied with great thoughts; all that which is trivial, half-hearted, will have no more hold over you, your soul will feel more and more liberated and released from the fetters of the narrow, trivial, mean and empty, you will grow eagle's wings for the highest flights of thought; Nearer my God to Thee, nearer to Thee!
The duty of man is to overcome the lower nature by the omnipotence and positiveness of the higher. He must not let his nobler sentiments be stifled and asphyxiated.
The world of nature is darkness upon darkness, and its illumination comes through divine knowledge. The glory of the human world lies in divine love. The outcome of life is entrance into the Kingdom of God, and the fruit of existence is to be characterized by divine attributes. If man is deprived of these divine lights, he becomes lower than the animal. But if his face is illumined by the lights of God's love and his heart adorned with divine knowledge, he will soar beyond the world of limitations.
Through the power of the Kingdom, man is saved from the grasp of nature by the sanctified Manifestations of God and is illumined by the light of divinity. That is, he is released from the clutches of the animal world and guided to the highest pinnacle of humanity.
The world of mankind is an animal world, not until man is spiritually born again out and away from the womb of nature i.e., become wholly detached from it, can he cease to remain a perfect animal. It is the Divine Teachings that convert this animal into a human soul.
This is so except for those souls who are truly believers in God, believers in the signs of God, attracted to the Kingdom of God, and in truth turned toward God. Such souls have been freed from the clutches of nature. After having been ruled by nature, they become rulers over nature; after having been defeated by nature, they become victorious over nature. Nature invites man to passion and desire, while the love of God draws man to the realms of sanctity and holiness.
Do not be captives of materiality, be free of these bonds, for animals are captives of materiality but humans are not. God created them free.
Freedom is this: that man gains deliverance from captivity to the world of nature and becomes a prince in the city of eternal glory.
Through spiritual power humans can free themselves from this captivity, through divine laws can find salvation from these perils - becoming luminous instead of dark, living instead of dead, seeing instead of blind, unlimited instead of limited.
The world and the hereafter are two states: if your focus is on God, you are in Paradise, and if your gaze is upon yourself, you are in the Fire and in this world.
Man will never be able to render service at the divine threshold unless he is free from desire and he shall never attain everlasting glory and honour unless he is rescued from the humiliation of attachment to this world.
Enable others, too, to free themselves from this material world so that they may soar in the limitless expanse of the Kingdom.
Upon arrival in the city of 'Akka, should it be possible for every soul to meet the Most Great Branch, and upon departure to see some of the sincere loved ones before leaving the city, it would be more beneficial to their spiritual state, as they would not have witnessed human thoughts and earthly deeds. If souls possess insight, the signs of Truth will not be obscured to them.
Whenever you desire to enter a Baha'i meeting first purify your hearts from all outside questions, put aside all the material or physical emotions, be ye in the utmost holiness and sanctification, be ye the channels for the love of God, then be ye occupied with the mention of the name of God, hearken to the heavenly words and advices of His Holiness Baha'u'llah, deliver eloquent and inspiring addresses - so that ye may become abstracted from ought else save God, your spirits may take higher flights, the sphere of your thoughts may be widened, the spiritual susceptibilities become predominant, the material emotions be entirely forgotten and all be submerged in the luminous sea of the Breaths of the Holy-Spirit.
The pure heart is like a mirror - no matter how far the mirror may be from the sun, it still reflects the lights more than all other things and shows forth the manifestations of mysteries. Thus, capacity and purity of heart is the condition, not physical proximity.
The Love of GOD is that peculiar kind of bond which is not subject to corruption; whereas, other bonds, other loves, are subject to instantaneous corruptive changes. For the least cause such another love might be changed into hate. It owes its origin to a cause; when the cause is removed, the effect will likewise disappear.
But the Love of God is not dependent upon material causes.
If thou fulfill its requirements, which are purity of intention, attractive love, insight, discovery of truth and absolute spiritual attitude, thou wilt become entirely free from the physical conditions and wilt soar to the spiritual realms.
O handmaiden of God! Your letter arrived and from its contents it became known that you have a desire to draw near to God and that you are averse to the world of self and passion and the darkness of nature. Your aim is divine illumination and heavenly grace.
This bounty will appear when the divine illumination enlightens the heart, and illumination depends upon spirituality - that is, when you become freed from physical limitations, divest yourself of human conditions, and become a heavenly angel, the mercy of all worlds, and the gift of spiritual beings.
These souls have another flight and another song. They speak of another world and call to another realm. The world of nature is dark and narrow; they seek progress in the world of the Kingdom. They are free from every bond and detached from the contaminated world of water and clay.
How long shall human souls seek their abode and dwelling-place in this earthly dust-heap? And for how much longer shall these human birds build their nests and make their homes in this perishable ash-pit? If they be birds of the meadow of divine knowledge, they must needs spread their wings and take flight unto the branches of the gardens of oneness. And if they be fish of the ocean of love, they must needs move and swim therein. The wingless bird is but a worm clinging to the earth, and the waterless fish is naught but dust in the lowest of the low.
O thou of high resolve! Thou knowest the measure of lofty resolve and hast proof of the sublimity of purpose. The eagle soaring to the heights of glory will not make its nest and abode in the branches of this transient and base world of abasement. The whale of the divine sea will not take up residence in a worldly stream, and the lion of the Lord's springtime will not make its dwelling in the jungle of vain imaginings and desires.
This arena is vast and unlimited; therein the charger of spirit must move swiftly, for here one cannot travel by foot.
Let your resolve be lofty, and soar ye in this pure atmosphere on the wings of detachment.
Spread thy wings and fly until thou dost reach a world that is sanctified above description and explanation, and exalted above the understanding of the peoples of the world.
It is evident that spiritual friends who dwell in the divine nest must pass beyond the dust and transcend the spheres, lift their feet from the earth and step into the sacred precincts of the Lord of Lords.
I hope that thou art occupied with the sweet fragrances of the love of the Beloved and the breezes of attraction to the countenance of the Desired One, having transcended the world and all who dwell therein and hastened to the realm of placelessness.
O fire enkindled by the flame of God's love! While in this earthly homeland bind thy heart to the world of purity, and while in this dark domain turn thy face unto the illimitable realm.
How strange and bewildering! For this is a world of dust, and this human reality is hopelessly enmeshed in its corrupt desires. How shall it ever become happy and joyous, unless it first forgets all save God and turns its gaze from this nether world to that which is in the realms above, beholds the reality of the concourse on high, and earnestly beseeches the assistance of the divine kingdom of Abha?
O seekers of the Divine Kingdom! Happy art thou that have turned to God and have raised thy sight from this material world to the realm above.
I hope that this trip will make thee wholly spiritual, and become entirely dismantled from the requirement of the physical world...
O daughter of the Kingdom! Tell your dear friend that although you are in the north, but in the east; although you are on earth, I pray God that you may become heavenly.
Therefore, O friends, forget the earthly world and turn to the divine realm, so that you may witness the outpourings of the Beauty of Abha like the spring rain which, praise be to God, has watered the field of hearts and caused flowers of inner meanings and realities to grow.
You pray and we too will pray that people may turn away from the world of nature and seek godly feelings and find spiritual attractions and become enkindled with the fire of divine love and be quickened by the spirit of heavenly bestowal.
O thou bright candle of the love of God! In this transient realm, raise high the banner of divine knowledge, so that thou mayest attain the eternal realm and seek everlasting sovereignty, and sit upon the throne of joy in the spiritual world.
But thou shalt spread thy wings and soar from the depths of earth to the heights of heaven, ascending from this elemental world to the most luminous realm, for thou hast gained wings from God's guidance and, God willing, hast turned away from all save the Beloved and recognized the goal of all.
That thou mayest sever thyself from this world and soar up to the Universe of the Creator!
Therefore for all of us it is far better to spread our wings and fly from this perilous depth, entering a world that is sanctified from these dangers, so that we may find rest in that soul-stirring atmosphere of the Ever-Living, the Omnipotent One.
Pass beyond this earthly plane that thou mayest behold the lights of the realm above and attain the celestial sovereignty. Free thyself from the vain imaginings of the ignorant that thou mayest raise aloft the banner of divine mysteries.
And if you seek sovereignty over both worlds, set your foot upon the crown of sovereignty and the world.
O Sulayman! This is the time of Solomonic grandeur and the season of spiritual sovereignty, and that servitude at the Sacred Divine Threshold - this is eternal dominion and everlasting crown-bearing.
The lights of earthly sovereignty shall eventually fade, yet the light of this torch shall endure even from all eternity to all eternity. The more this light burneth, the more shall its radiance wax and its rays more resplendent shine, for the oil of this lamp is guidance from the All Merciful and its wick is provided through the bounty of the Lord.
For those souls who enter beneath the shade of God's all-embracing Word manifest the highest existence even in a particle of dust, just as thou observest the traces of those holy souls in the world of dust as well.
Although they too are determined beings, yet being illumined from the praised station and assisted from the extended shadow, they attain eternal realization in the world of existence and find everlasting determination.
We are not physical beings, He said, but spiritual bodies. We must thank GOD for our spiritual existence. The body is earthly, but the spirit is heavenly. The first is of this world, and the second belongs to the Kingdom. The first is of the attributes of darkness and the other of illumination. The first is limited to space the second is Placeless and Limitless.
You would become so spiritual that no trace of the physical realm and the affairs of this world would remain in the essence of your being. Your inner and outer reality would become a pure and sanctified spirit.
When the lights of the favors of the Divine Unity encompass someone, they completely forget their physical condition. Sight no longer has any power in the kingdom of existence - the sovereign of spiritual insight rules supreme.
The physical world has no authority, and the sensations of this mortal realm have no effect. The spirit must be in a state of joy and follow the signs, turn toward the Kingdom on high and receive bounties from the realm of might.
When thou findest the way to the Kingdom, the earthly world shall be of no account; and when thou art illumined the darkness will not affect thee—nay, rather the four corners of the earth will then be radiant and every thorn will become a rose and a rose-garden.
His soul soars in the life-giving atmosphere of the divine realm even though his body may fall to the bottom of a pit. His conscience takes wing in the celestial expanse of the All-Merciful's bounty even though his person may be bound in chains and cage.
Say: God hath changed the prison into the Most Exalted Horizon and hath named it with all names.
When the heart is full of the love of God it loses consciousness of the body. Then pain is as pleasure, then darkness is as light! If such a one is shut in a prison there are no walls for him, no solitude, he knows not a prison!
We should not always be focused on physical comfort, but rather should seek a high purpose and goal even if it is contrary to bodily ease.
They sacrifice spiritually in the way of God and so they sacrifice all apparent and outward conditions in order to show the perfection and completeness of the Truth of their Manifestation. This is the station of simple radiance which shines forth and makes them separate from all worldly things and leads them into such a condition that while they are walking on the earth yet they are travelling in the supreme Horizon, they close their eyes to their ease and everything else and hasten with all joy and fragrance to martyrdom in the Cause of God.
These poor people are being killed and don't know why they are sacrificing their lives for dirt - dirt which is the lowest of created things. … What a difference between these and those - between souls who sacrifice themselves for dirt and souls who sacrifice themselves for the Blessed Beauty!
Days shall pass and precious life shall end, and when the evening of death arrives and the dawn of the hereafter breaks, all comfort shall become hardship and all profit shall become loss - except for the afflictions of the friends, the tribulations of the oppressed, and the trials of those who suffered persecution, who in the market of contingent being had dealings with the Beloved Lord and gained boundless profit, attained great benefit, witnessed ancient glory, found grace and bounty, and rose like a shining moon from the horizon of the Kingdom.
Fix not your gaze upon these fleeting days, nor be ye saddened by whatsoever befalleth you therein. Rather, fix your gaze upon that which hath been ordained in the Kingdom for His devoted men and women.
Beware lest thou grieve at what hath befallen thee in this transient life, for it shall pass and come to an end, while that which hath been ordained for thee in the tablets of might shall enduringly remain.
If the earthen house and mortal dwelling-place was burned, yet I hope that thou mayest build thy nest and abode, like unto the birds of holiness, in the Tree of Life in the Divine Kingdom. [...]
The wealth of which thou hast been thus deprived shall be transformed into endless riches and the treasure chests of heaven!
Consider those persons whose lives were limited to material concerns, who took no share of the life of the soul. Their traces have become completely obliterated. No mention, no sign, no fruit, no name from them remains. Even on this speck of dust, neither tomb nor trace. At most, for a few days their tombs were inhabited, only to become covered with earth and vanish.
But in the view of God's loved ones, this world and survival therein and the endurance of traces in this world hold absolutely no importance. Their concern is to establish in another world, to build foundations in the highest horizon rather than this lowest earth. They seek neither name nor sign nor foundation in this world, for they see that this world's foundation is built upon wind.
In these days when people assemble together the conversation is all about the acquiring of wealth. Man in this way becomes self-centered, spirituality leaves him, and he becomes like children who delight to play with pebbles on the shore. When a matured man associates with children, his heart will become depressed.
My hope is that you may become free from the material world and strive to understand the meaning of the heavenly world, the world of lasting qualities, the world of truth, the world of eternal kingliness, so that your life may not be barren of results, for the life of the material man has no fruit of reality. Lasting results are produced by reflecting the heavenly existence.
Thou wilt be weary of the degrading stages of the nether world of matter, and wilt ascend to the blessed and manifest height of the Beauty of the Desired One.
Rather, he shall behold all creation as nonexistent and shall turn towards the direction of the All-Merciful.
I swear by the Dawning-Place of Revelation, shouldst thou become aware of it, thou wouldst behold thyself in a station that is sanctified, holy and pure from the clouds and conditions and vain imaginings of the world of creation.
Then raise them up to such heights that the world shall not prevent them from turning unto Thee, from gazing toward Thy direction, and from setting their faces toward Thy Name, which Thou hast made the Sovereign of all names and through which Thou hast ordained the life of all the worlds.
Say: The Day of Return is manifest and the Mother Book speaks without veil or concealment that which will guide all from poverty, weakness and vain imaginings to the horizons of wealth, power and certitude.
Bodily health is not important. What is more important is spiritual health which gives eternal pleasure and has everlasting effect. The more the body is cared for, the worse it becomes. Thus denial is preferable for the body. I took only a cup of milk today and I feel much better. Why should man undergo so much trouble and hardship merely for the purpose of eating?
In Persia the Arabs have no doctors. All the people submit to God. There are no physicians, nor remedies. When a person gets sick he eats barley soup. When he has a fever he eats dates. This material health is of no great importance.
Wert thou informed with the science of anatomy thou wouldst have realized that this human mechanism and these material organs cannot last more than 120 years.
In man's nature there must be a desire to ascend and not to descend. The underground air is suffocating. It would have been better if we had gone by road above.
No man can be happy without God, though he may not know why he is miserable.
Man must be freed from every material tie and must seek the path of the Kingdom. He must not look backward, he must look forward; not downward, but heavenward.
Lord, cause this luminous youth to be immersed in a divine, spiritual state sanctified from physical conditions.
That it may free the souls from the darkness of the world of nature. May illumine them by the Divine Light.
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.
… May the radiant sea of reality become clear and unveiled of its clouds; may people become freed from the quagmires of the world of matter and soar upward to the city of light.
Pray that our Happiness be divine in origin and not parasitical; our progress be ideal and not wholly material; the sphere of our intellect be vast, our cognate faculties be marvelous, our severance he perfect and our sanctity and holiness be heavenly.
May you ascend to such a world that you may behold all creation beneath you!
The Master- By attaching no importance to material things. According to the laws which bind us to this planet, everyone is tied to the gratification of self, to the satisfying of desires. What I meant for you is that you may be freed - that you may become the embodiment of spirit - that you may become an angel.
Although they are as fishes I hope that they may be changed into birds and soar upward toward the immensity of this glorious space. Then they will behold nature in all its ravishing beauty.
Further quotations · supplied wording and references
Deliver us from this world of vain imaginings and cause us to reach the endless world. Make us detached from the world of nature
God in His infinite goodness has exalted us to so much honour, and has made us masters over the material world. Shall we then become her slaves? Nay, rather let us claim our birthright, and strive to live the life of the spiritual sons of God.
The endowments which distinguish the human race from all other forms of life are summed up in what is known as the human spirit; the mind is its essential quality. These endowments have enabled humanity to build civilizations and to prosper materially. But such accomplishments alone have never satisfied the human spirit, whose mysterious nature inclines it towards transcendence, a reaching towards an invisible realm, towards the ultimate reality, that unknowable essence of essences called God.
For thought and discussion