The Word and the unfolding of meaning

The Great Being saith: The Word is the master key for the whole world, inasmuch as through its potency the doors of the hearts of men, which in reality are the doors of heaven, are unlocked. No sooner had but a glimmer of its effulgent splendour shone forth upon the mirror of love than the blessed word 'I am the Best-Beloved' was reflected therein.

It is clear and evident, therefore, that the first bestowal of God is the Word, and its discoverer and recipient is the power of understanding. This Word is the foremost instructor in the school of existence and the revealer of Him Who is the Almighty. All that is seen is visible only through the light of its wisdom. All that is manifest is but a token of its knowledge. All names are but its name, and the beginning and end of all matters must needs depend upon it.

The fruit hidden in the tree appears upon its branches in response to the power of the sun; man and all other organisms live, move and have their being under its developing rays; nature is resplendent with countless evolutionary forms through its pervading impulse -- so that we can say a function of the sun is the revelation of the mysteries and creative purposes hidden within the phenomenal world.

The outer sun is a sign or symbol of the inner and ideal Sun of Truth, the Word of God.

The Pen of Utterance, by the leave of the All-Merciful, sailed upon the ocean of meanings, and when by the will of the True Sovereign it emerged, several drops fell from it and appeared in the form of letters. Then a breeze from the repository of the All-Merciful Will passed over them, causing the disconnected letters to combine, and the word "Verily I am God, there is no God but Him" became manifest.

Praise be to God Who has shone forth with the Sun of Will upon the Kingdom of meanings and utterance, whereupon appeared the Torah, the Gospel, the Qur'an and other Books, and through them revealed the laws of religions.

The Spirit descendeth at all times upon My heart that We may recite the Book of thy Lord as He willeth in a clear Arabic tongue.

Praise be to God Who uttered a Word, and lo, it appeared in one station in human form. Blessed be the All-Merciful Who caused it to speak in the realm of possibility concerning the mysteries of what is and what shall be. And in another station it appeared in the form of images, and when He breathed into it, all who are in the heavens and earth were thunderstruck, save those who held fast to God, our Lord, the Mighty, the Bestower. And in yet another station it flowed as though it were the water of life.

O thou who art enkindled with the divine fire!

At the dawn of creation, the all-encompassing Creative Word was realized in human form. And when this luminous reality appeared in the realm of existence with all its stations, distinctions, determinations, characteristics, mysteries and phases, that all-encompassing Word was explained and interpreted.

Cleave unto that which draweth you together and uniteth you. This, verily, is the most exalted Word which the Mother Book hath sent down and revealed unto you.

When We manifested the Word from the horizon of Will, among the people were those who turned towards it and those who turned away and denied their Lord, the All-Merciful.

God, the True One, testifieth and the Revealers of His names and attributes bear witness that Our sole purpose in raising the Call and in proclaiming His sublime Word is that the ear of the entire creation may, through the living waters of divine utterance, be purged from lying tales and become attuned to the holy, the glorious and exalted Word which hath issued forth from the repository of the knowledge of the Maker of the Heavens and the Creator of Names.

The realities of all things are contained in a Word that the Tongue of Grandeur uttered when He was established upon the Throne with a sovereignty that encompassed all the worlds. Verily that which is encompassed cannot know the Encompasser, and that which perceiveth cannot perceive Him Who is beyond perception.

… Glorified be its Creator above being known through the knowledge of His creation or being described by attributes that were limited by human understanding. How can that which is originated reach the sea of eternity, or the evanescent attain unto Him through Whose command was the Kingdom of immortality created?

This "Letter" [BH01125, paragraph 10] means a person. As the world came forth from the Mouth, that person is the reflection of the Light of GOD.

For by the Word is not meant the body of Christ but the divine perfections that were manifested in Him. Thus Christ was like a spotless mirror which was turned towards the Sun of Truth, and the perfections of that Sun, that is, its light and heat, were plainly manifest in that mirror. If we look into the mirror, we see the sun and we say it is the sun.

… If a clear and spotless mirror were placed before the sun, the light and heat, the form and image of the sun would appear therein with such a manifestational appearance that if a beholder were to say, "This is the sun," he would be speaking the truth. But the mirror is the mirror and the sun is the sun. The sun is but one sun, and remains one even if it appears in numerous mirrors.

The creative word of command of God, the logos, is not merely a spark out of God, but the logos is the life-breath of God. In the logos, in the life-breath of God, already all the possibilities of existence rest, all the forms of being of creation. Let Baha'u'llah Himself speak: "The word of God, the logos, is God's highest, overflowing (emanating) love, kindness and the "being" in all that is and has been; that is, goodness [kindness] and love, thought of as logos, are the resting pole in the transientness [evanescence] of appearances.

But, while God does not create, the first principle of God, Love, is the creative principle. Love is an outpour from God, and is pure spirit. It is one aspect of the Logos, the Holy Spirit. It is the immediate cause of the laws which govern nature, the endless verities of nature which science has uncovered.

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made. In him was life; and the life was the light of men. And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not.

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