Like seeketh like and taketh pleasure in the company of its kind

 

 

O SON OF DESIRE!

Give ear unto this: Never shall mortal eye recognize the everlasting beauty, nor the lifeless heart in aught but in the withered bloom. For like seeketh like, and taketh pleasure in the company of its kind.

Sign of intelligence is contemplation

Baha'u'llah dit qu'il y a un signe (de Dieu) dans tous les phénomènes: le signe de l'intelligence est la contemplation et le signe de la contemplation est le silence, car il est impossible pour l'homme de faire deux choses à la fois, il ne peut à la fois parler et méditer...
Vous ne pouvez pas donner le nom "d'être humain" à une personne dépourvue de cette faculté de méditation; sans elle, elle serait tout simplement un animal, plus inférieur que les bêtes.
C'est par la faculté de méditation que l'homme parvient à la vie éternelle, qu'il reçoit le souffle de l'Esprit-Saint; I' effusion de l'esprit est donnée lors de la réflexion et de la méditation...
La méditation est la clé pour ouvrir les portes des mystères. Dans cet état, l'homme fait abstraction de lui-même; dans cet état il s'isole de l'influence de tous objets extérieurs, dans cet état d'âme subjectif, il est plongé dans l'océan de vie spirituelle et peut découvrir les secrets des choses en elles-mêmes.
(PT, pp. 174-175 en anglais)
Compilation réalisée par le département de la recherche
de la Maison Universelle de Justice
Centre mondial baha'i 

Noble

O SON OF SPIRIT! I created thee rich, why dost thou bring thyself down to poverty? Noble I made thee, wherewith dost thou abase thyself? Out of the essence of knowledge I gave thee being, why seekest thou enlightenment from anyone beside Me? Out of the clay of love I molded thee, how dost thou busy thyself with another? Turn thy sight unto thyself, that thou mayest find Me standing within thee, mighty, powerful and self-subsisting.


O SON OF SPIRIT! Noble have I created thee, yet thou hast abased thyself. Rise then unto that for which thou wast created.

Steadfastness - like the trees

Steadfastness is indispensable these dark hours of human history. The Blessed Beauty praises those who bear trials with steadfastness.

A twofold obligation resteth upon him who hath recognized the Day Spring of the Unity of God, and acknowledged the truth of Him Who is the Manifestation of His oneness. The first is steadfastness in His love, such steadfastness that neither the clamor of the enemy nor the claims of the idle pretender can 290 deter him from cleaving unto Him Who is the Eternal Truth, a steadfastness that taketh no account of them whatever. The second is strict observance of the laws He hath prescribed—laws which He hath always ordained, and will continue to ordain, unto men, and through which the truth may be distinguished and separated from falsehood. 
(Bahá'u'llah in Gleanings from the Writings of Bahá'u'lláh, pages 289 to 290)

Steadfastness is also praised by 'Abdu'l-Bahá

Today, the greatest of all titles and praises are firmness and steadfastness, for the tests and trials are of the utmost intensity. I ask God that day by day thou mayest increase in steadfastness, so like unto a solid rock thou mayest withstand the tempestuous sea of test.

The people of the world are like unto trees (i.e., trees without roots), they are torn up by the passing of a gust of wind, but trees which are deeply rooted, strong and sturdy, are not uprooted by the most violent tempest—therefore they produce leaves, blossoms and fruits.

('Abdu'l-Bahá in Tablets of Abdu'l-Bahá Abbas, page 683)

Steadfastness is also praised in this poem that was a favorite of Nelson Mandela's. By William Ernest Henley. 1849-1903

Invictus

OUT of the night that covers me,
  Black as the pit from pole to pole,
I thank whatever gods may be
  For my unconquerable soul.

In the fell clutch of circumstance
  I have not winced nor cried aloud.
Under the bludgeonings of chance
  My head is bloody, but unbow'd.

Beyond this place of wrath and tears
  Looms but the Horror of the shade,
And yet the menace of the years
  Finds and shall find me unafraid.

It matters not how strait the gate,
  How charged with punishments the scroll,
I am the master of my fate:
  I am the captain of my soul.

Detachment

Inspire them O my Lord, with a sense of their own powerlessness before Him Who is the Manifestation of Thy Self, and teach them to recognize the poverty of their own nature in the face of the manifold tokens of Thy self-sufficiency and riches, that they may gather together round Thy Cause, and cling to the hem of Thy mercy, and cleave to the cord of the good-pleasure of Thy will.
(Bahá’u’lláh, Prayers and Meditations, page 48)



“Inspíralos, oh mi Señor, con el sentimiento de su propia impotencia, ante Quien es la Manifestación de Tu propio Ser, y enséñales a reconocer la miseria de su
naturaleza, frente a las múltiples señales de Tu independencia y riqueza, para que se reúnan en torno a Tu Causa, se adhieran al borde de Tu misericordia y se aferren al cordel del beneplácito de Tu voluntad”.
(Bahá’u’lláh, Oraciones y Meditaciones, Barcelona: Editorial Bahá’í de España, 2000, pp. 46-47)

                         ***

Divest, then, Thy servants, O my God, of the garments of self and desire, or grant that the eyes of Thy people may be lifted up to such heights that they will discern in their desires naught except the stirring of the gentle winds of Thine eternal glory, and may recognize in their own selves nothing but the revelation of Thine own merciful Self, that the earth and all that is therein may be cleansed of whatever is alien to Thee, or anything that manifesteth aught save Thy Self.
(Bahá’u’lláh, Prayers and Meditations, page 325)

“Despoja, entonces, a Tus siervos, oh mi Dios, de la vestidura del yo y del deseo, o
concede que los ojos de Tu pueblo puedan ser elevados a tales alturas que nada
disciernan en sus deseos salvo el ligero movimiento de las suaves brisas de Tu eterna gloria, y nada puedan reconocer en su propio ser, que no sea la revelación de Tu propio misericordioso Ser, para que la tierra y todo lo que en ella existe sea limpiada de cuanto es ajeno a Ti, o de cualquier cosa que manifieste algo que no sea Tu propio Ser”. 28
(Bahá’u’lláh, Oraciones y Meditaciones, Barcelona: Editorial Bahá’í de España, 2000, pp. 279-280)

Fate

  Fate is of two kinds: one is decreed, and the other is conditional or impending. The decreed fate is that which cannot change or be altered, and conditional fate is that which may occur. So, for this lamp, the decreed fate is that the oil burns and will be consumed; therefore, its eventual extinction is a decree which it is impossible to alter or to change because it is a decreed fate. In the same way, in the body of man a power of life has been created, and as soon as it is destroyed and ended, the body will certainly be decomposed, so when the oil in this lamp is burnt and finished, the lamp will undoubtedly become extinguished. But conditional fate may be likened to this: while there is still oil, a violent wind blows on the lamp, which extinguishes it. This is a conditional fate. It is wise to avoid it, to protect oneself from it, to be cautious and circumspect. But the decreed fate, which is like the finishing of the oil in the lamp, cannot be altered, changed nor delayed. It must happen; it is inevitable that the lamp will become extinguished.
('Abdu'l-Baha in Some Answered Questions, page 244 "Fate")