Source: Bahá'í Library Online (bahai-library.com), curated by Jonah Winters. Used by permission of the curator. Original citation: Jack McLean, Under the Divine Lote Tree: Essays and Reflections, bahai-library.com.
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Under the Divine Lote Tree
Essays and Reflections

J.A. McLEAN

GEORGE RONALD
OXFORD
GEORGE RONALD, Puhlisher
46 High Street, Kidlington, Oxford OX5 2DN

©J.A. McLean 1999
All Rights Reserved

British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data

A catalogue record for this book is availablt: from the British Library

ISBN 0-85398-438-7

COVt'T painting: ([) Carol E\'am

Veils of Ligbt (detail) (www.carolcvans.com)

Typesetting by Beatrice Reynolds, Geneva. Switzerland
Printed and bound in Gn':Jt Britain by
Biddies Ltd, Guildford and King", Lynn
This book is dedicated to
my mother
Joyce Mary Halsted McLean
with deepest gratitude

'By My Life!
The names of handmaidens who are devoted to God
are written and set dOWtI by the Pen ofthe Most High
in the Crimson Book..
BAHA'u'LLAH
'The 'World passeth a'U,'ay
and thaI 'ii;hicb is everlasting is
the love of God.'
BAHA'u'LLAH
Contents
Acknowledgements. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. xi

Introduction ....... .......................................... 1

THE BOOK OF KNOWLEDGE ............................... 5
The Dream of Knowledge ................................ 7
Beyond ................................................ 9
Time ................................................. 10
Midpoint in Time . .................................... . 11
Defeating Tyrannical Time .... .......................... . 13
The Soul: Both In and Out of Time ....................... 14
Mystery and the True Name ....•......................... 15
The Beginning and End of Names ...............•......... 17
Questionable Logic: Nothingness and the
End of Philosophy ........................•......... 18
Christ in Gethsemane: The Existential Moment and the
Irony of Knowledge ................................. 24
Science, Consciousness and the Personal Category ........... 29
The Cosmic Space Traveller and the Oneness of the
Spiritual Universe . ................................. . 32

THE FRAGRANCE OF SPIRITUALITY ....................... 35
Spirituality: A Short Definition ........................... 37
Analogies on Crystals and a Spirituality of Imperfection . .... . 37
Divine Fragrance: Thoughts on an Anecdote ................ 39
Happiness for its Own Sake .............................. 41
viii UNDER THE D,V,NE LOlE TREE

Sun and Shadow .................. . .44
Divine Daring. and Fear and
Trembling in the Pilgrim's HC,lrt ....••. . .. 44
Thl' Silence of the Sacred ... , .. , .. , ..... . 46
The Void of forgetting ..... , ... , . , .. , .. . .... 46
Mfr7.a Abu'l-ra~I's Humility and
One's Gifts and Accomplishml'nts .. . .. 47
Heart's Desire .49

FIRE AND LIGHT .... . 51
I.ow is Cogniti,,ác .... . .53
Love Divine ............ . . .............. 53
Truc Love ................ . . ........ 55
Pafcet Faith Means the Then is Now. . .......... 57
Wonderful Trust .................. . . ... 5lJ
LeJrning 10 Trust Lon' .. . .. 59
Pcrfec( Lon: .......... . . .............. 61
Loving All of Him .. . ........... 61

IN SEARCH OF NOTHING. . ...... 63
Positive Detachment. ... 05
Only Seek What God Has Laid Out For You. . . . . . . . . . . 67
What Can I Refuse to the Universe? .... , ..... . . .... 68
Gravity and Flight. ......................... . . ...... 69
Acceptance Jnd Self-Affirmation ... . .70
The Blessing of rhe Impossible Dream. . ............ 72

THE SUPREME TALISMAN ............. . . .. 75
The Human Person ..................... . . ............ 77
The Livin~ Question .. . ..... 78
A Vision of the Children of Tomorrow. . . ............. 79
Dancing Angels? A Spoof on Pseudo-Theology. . . ... 79
Ego and the Scholar ........................ , , . . . . . . .. f; 1
The Mystic.. . .. . ... ... . .. . . ... . . ... . . . .. 83
L~,.'t Mystic Souls Appear ................. , ..... , . . 85
The Cult of the Peuy Personality. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .... 8S
The Laughin~ Saint. . ... 86
John H. Wileott: Cowboy Pioneer ..... . ....... 86
CONTENTS ix

THE BODY BEAUTIFUL. ...............•.....••••......•... 89
Love and the Body Beautiful .........•................... 91
Consumer Psychology and Glorifying the Body ............. 92
Goodness is Now Obsolete .............................. 94
The Metaphysics of History and Fine Art ................... 94
Ecstasy. An and the Brevity of Life ........................ 97
Beauty ................................................ 99

NOTHING GOLD CAN STAy .......•............•...•..... 101
Divine Losses and New Beginnings . ...................... 103
The Sense of the Platonic and Paradise Lost ......•......... 103
'Nothing Gold Can Stay'. or the Beginning of
Knowledge and the End of Innocence ............••.... 105
In Praise of Failure .................................... 108

IN EXTREMIS ........................•.........••...••.... III
True Joy ...................•.....•........•....••.... 113
Golden Joy ................•....••........••......... 113
In the Ebb and flow of Joy and Sorrow ................... 113
For the Brokenhearted True Believers ..................... 114
The Existential Moment . ............................... 115
The Epiphanic Moment ................................ 116
Wherefore Anger and Pain? ......................•..... 116
The Plummet into Sorrow . ............................. 117

ON REAL GROUND ...................................... 119
The Call of Truth ................•.....••............. 121
Truth and Discipleship .........•...•................... 121
Simple Truths ......................................... 122
The Biggest Lie of All ...................•.............. 123
What the Martyr Knows .................•.............. 123
The Martyr and the Lie ................................. 124

LOGOSANDMYTHOS .................................... 129
The Convergence of Theology and Poetry ........•........ 131
The Power of Poetry and Holy Writ ...................... 136
x UNDER THE DIVINE LorE TREE

'Fain Would They Put Out His Light
With Their Mouths' ................................. 138
Caught in the Web of Words ............................ 139
The Four Books ...................................... HI
The Sound .nd the Fury ................................ 141

BEING-IN-THE-WORLD ................................... 143
Self-Revelation and Community . ........................ 145
The Rove.lingSelf .................................... 146
The Abolition of Priesthood:
Self-Knowledge and Ministering to Society ...... ....... 146
We Can Still Celebr.te the World ........................ 147
The Call ofthe Wild ................................... 149

THE LONG JOURNEY HOME ............................. 151
Death as a Going Away to a Far L.md ..................... 153
The Dead and Gone. and Divine Motion . ................. IS3
Death Ilreaks Nature', Endless Cycle ..................... 155
The Best Legacy ...................................... 156

Bibliography . ................................. . .. ........ 158

Notes a11d Referellces ... , ..................................... 164
Acknowledgements
Authors usually write to be published and while there are other valid
reasons for writing~ most writers hope to share their thoughts with
as wide an audience as possible. My first vote of thanks consequently
must be warmly extended to May Hofman of George Ronald
Publisher for supporting a creative composition that is somewhat
atypical in approach. Her thorough review of the manuscript resulted
in the revision of several passages and a clarification of my intended
meaning. In spite of the broadcasting capability of the Internet and
other electronic media, book publishing still makes possible the
realization of 'Abdu'I-Bahi's statement: 'The publication of high
thoughts is the dynamic power in the arteries of life; it is the very soul
ofthe world' (The Secret of Divine Civilization, p. 109).
I would also like to thank Christopher Buck of the Department
of Religious Studies at Milliken University; Decatur, Illinois for his
several suggestions relating to the Table of Contents. I am also
grateful to Stephen Lambden for sharing his article The Lote-Tree
Beyond Which There Is No Passing (Sidratu'l-Muntahd)' which
supplemented my own notes with pertinent information used in the
Introduction.
Thanks are likewise extended to all those who over the past few
years have taken the time to send mail or otherwise express appre-
ciation for a previous work, Dimensions in Spirituality: Reflections
on the Meaning of Spiritual Life and Transformation in Light of the
Baha'i Faith (George Ronald: Oxford, 1994). It is gratifying to
know that this book has struck a responsive chord and to have been
of assistance and encouragement to others, either in their spiritual
xii UNDER THE DIVINE LOTE TREE

journey or in the work of scholarship. The many discussions I
have had with friends and scholars over the years both in the
Associations for Baha', Studies in Canada, the United States or the
United Kingdom, and elsewhere, have all greatly added to the
stimulus needed for writing.
I would like especially to mention here Wendi and Moojan Momen,
Stephen Lambden, Todd Lawson and Udo Schaefer, whose ongoing
accomplishments and dedication to the discipline of scholarship
continue to inspire me in my own work and whose friendship has been
a much-appreciated source of enrichment.
Introduction
Under the Divine Lote Tree reflects a diversity of thoughts, moods and
voices. These have been arranged thematically in what is intended to
form a greater ensemble. Two common threads, however, bind these
eighty-five pieces together: the search for truth and spirituality. I count
these two as one in our continual quest for the knowledge of God, self-
understanding and spiritual transformation. As the subtitle indicates,
this book is not intended to be a thorough-going metaphysic. But it
does share, at least, a similar aim to that of speculative philosophy as
'a flight after the unattainable'.! Spirituality I define broadly here as the
experience of God and the soul in relation to other souls on OUf
common journey that 'Abdu'I-Baha has called a 'pilgrimage',' whose goal
is the celestial city, the heavenly kingdom and the sanctuary of the soul.
About a third of the following pieces are more academic in
tone but all have been written with the thoughtful reader in mind. Most
of these essays are 'personal' and correspond to what might be called
reflection. or to creative or insight writing. Even these designations are
not meant to be taken too definitively for there are also testimonial,
evocative, even lyrical elements in the pages that follow. The essays are
fairly brief but I have tried to provide insight or inspiration, and in
some cases to clarify or question the commonplace. Most essays are a
few pages in length. Some thoughts are contained in only a paragraph
or two. Others are brief pensees, consisting of a few sentences, although
there are no maxims.
While Baha'u'IIah highly praised learning, the following saying from
one of his chief mystical works might be taken as encouragement
2 UNDER THE D,V,NE LmE TREE

of more free-ranging, creative forms of writing: '... for quotation from
the words of others proveth acquired learning, not the divine bestowal.'
Creativity is one of the many forms of 'divine bestowal'J which is,
of course, a chan"s - a grace, a heavenly gift.
The question is sometimes raised as to what extent personal
experience is reflected in the writer's craft, but for writers of spiritual
literature or philosophical theology, this question is far less ambigu-
ous. While some of these essays are expository and didactic, my own
experiences thus far gained on the journey of life have formed the
existential background and inspiration for a good number of them.
A few derive directly from what I can only call mystical experience.'
for in order to be genuine. spiritual writing must correlate knowledge
and experience. In this endeavour. one is always conscious of
Baha'u'ILih's admonition that words should not exceed deeds. In any
casc, if they do, life has a relentless wa), of catching up. with a
reminder to be authentic or at least to always strive to be authentic.
I take this to mean being as true as possible to the expression of
spiritual principles in what is commonly, but well and truly called
'real life'. Anything else would be a delusion.

For those who may be unfamiliar with the meaning of the title, I
include in this introduction a brief \\'ord of explanation. The
original context is Islamic. The complctc Arabic expression from
which the translation (divine lote trcc' derives is Sitlratu'l-Muntahd.
rendered as 'the lote-tree beyond which there is no passing' in
George Sale's 1734 translation of the Quran and adopted by Shoghi
Effendi.' Quranic references to the tree are found in 53:14,16;
34:16[15J; and 56:28 [27]. Rodwell in his translation of the Qur'an
(1861) stayed close to the Arabic original when in the surah of The
Star (53:14) he translated this phrase as the 'Sidrah-tree which
marks the boundary'. No such tree exists by that name. The species
is. however. extant as the lote tree (var. lotus) or zizypbyus plant,
although the specific variety to be identified with the Sidrah tree of
the Qur'an is disputed. The lote tree has an extensive sacred
symbology and is sometimes contextualized as the 'divine lote tree'.
INTRODUCTION 3

Shoghi Effendi transliterated the expression as Slidratu'l-Muntahd
in his translations of the Baha'i sacred writings. In a few translations
of this expression, Shoghi Effendi simply retained the Arabic original
as a substantive. One of Baha'u'llah's prayers, for example, he
translated 'to make whosoever arises to serve Thy Cause as a sea
moving by Thy desire; ablaze with the fire of Thy Sad rat, shining from
the horizon of the heaven of Thy will'. 6 Here the word Sadrat is used
as a proper noun. The translation of the 1991 edition of Baha'i
Prayers, however, replaces Shoghi Effendi's translation with the
looser, more generic expression 'Thy Sacred Tree'. Elsewhere, Shoghi
Effendi translated the same expression as 'the Divine Lote-Tree"
which I have adopted for the title of this book.
While the more recent translation 'Thy Sacred Tree' might be more
widely understood, with associations harking back to the burning
bush out of which God spoke to Moses on Sinai, Shoghi Effendi's
modified Arabic version Sadrat, regardless of its botanical or linguistic
correctness, both invokes curiosity and invites learning. In other
words, upon further research, the seeker discovers that the word is
rooted in a Quranic context and that the expression is not only
significant for Muslims but is also prophetic for Baha'is, for the
Sadratu'l-Muntahd is a clear reference to Baha'u'llah, as both He
himself and Shoghi Effendi have declared.'
The identity and nature of the Late (Sidrah/Sadrat) Tree has
resulted in a rich tradition of commentary within Islam. The tree
stood at the apogee or high point in Muhammad's mystical vision
of paradise encountered during the mi'rdj (night journey). Beyond
it lay the domains of Alldh, realms impenetrable even to the Prophet
of Hijaz. The symbology of the Divine Lote Tree is diverse:'
the source and station of all prophets and divine revelation; the
individual and universal soul; the ultimate seedbed of faith and
the faith of the individual believer; the outer limit of all human and
divine knowledge and at the same time its source; the tree of life
on whose leaves are written the destinies of all souls - all these may
be included in the meaning. Maurice Gaudefroy-Demombynes
writes of the cosmological significance of the late tree when he
states that commentators interpreted its meaning as 'un arbre de
lotus nabaq [fruitJcapable d'embaumer I'univers'. ('a nabaq late tree
4 UNDER THE DIVINE LOTE TREE

capable of perfuming the universe')." Here it is a symbol of
spirituality.
One can also consider the Divine Lote Tree (Baha'u'llah) as being
the archetypical or preeminent 'Cosmic Tree' whose symbolism has
been studied by historian of religion/comparative religionist Mircea
Eliade,ll Eliade writes: 'One can even admit the possibility that all the
variants of the Cosmic Tree come in the last analysis from one single
center of diffusion.''' Taken theologically, Eliade's statement has
special significance for J Baha'i. For it rarely occurs to one that when
Baha'u'llah addresses humanity with the words 'Ye are the fruits of
one trec, and the leaves of one branch', IJ He points at the same time
to Himself as the regenerative symbol. the Tree of Life that sustains
a single humanity. Eliadc's designations of the cosmic tree as imago
mundi and axis mundi 14 may both be theologically interpreted to
apply to Baba'u'ILih. For Baha'is view Baha'u'llah as the divine pattern
or ur-archetype on which the spiritual meaning of world order is
patterned and the pole or axis which sustains the world and makes
possible communication (revelation) between heaven and earth.

J.A. MeLeall
Salt Sprillg Island
Rritisb Colmnbid, Canati,l
JlIly 1999
THE BOOK OF KNOWLEDGE
The Dream of Knowledge
In order to acquire knowledge, I must dream. True knowledge
cannot emerge merely from intellectual effon and a slavish obser-
vance of the dialectical process. The dialectical process consists of
what I will to discover when once I have focused my attention on a
specific question or issue. Dreaming, however, allows the mind to
rest from intentionality and opens the way to the more free-ranging
world of symbol and spirit, thus allowing them to present to
consciousness what they will, following their own wisdom. The
various stages of research and analysis confine the thinker to the
limits of waking-consciousness and thought. In order to gain more
comprehensive knowledge, we must avail ourselves of the free-
flowing powers of the oceanic world of subconsciousness in which
we are immersed in dreams.
The powers of the dream of knowledge release themselves, not
only in deep sleep, but also in the waking states and half-states of
reverie when ego-consciousness is partially suspended. Indeed, there
in that reality where a perfect correspondence is suddenly struck
between the subconscious and conscious worlds, remarkable truths
are discovered. Dreaming releases elements of myth, poetry and
story, the symbols and hypostatic meanings that conscious thought
cannot so easily access. Through such processes reality is presented
to us in its various guises. After all, it is reality (Ar.=al haqq) that
the believer, thinker and scholar are after, not just one of its more
constricted forms.
The conscious interpretation of reality requires, of course, the
collaboration of analytic reasoning. It is in this collaboration of

8 UNDER THE DIVINE LOTE TREE

conscious thought and subconscious processes, of symbol and spirit
on the one hand, and logic and analysis on the other, that more
comprehensive knowledge will emerge. Especially, it is the knowledge
of self that the dream of knowledge reveals. Once I awake from the
dream of knowledge, even though I enter the daylight world, the
dream still lingers on like a vapour trail, carrying its discoveries into
the conscious mind. Thus comprehensive knowledge or the discovery
of truth may be viewed as a continual transiting and exchange
between the subconscious and the conscious wor1ds.
We should be careful of too closely guarding our thoughts or of
thinking that we own them as a type of intellectual property. Our
thoughts merely surround us as an atmosphere forming the larger
world of our elemental life, just as the swimmer is immersed in the
water of a lake Dr an ocean. To use another analogy, the thinker is like
the boatman on a river. The river (the world of thought) carries the
boatman along. He may well steer his craft but he does not entirely
control the current. In this sense, the thinker is just the manager of
the mental processes that come to consciousness. Although it may
seem that the thinker 'owns' his thoughts in some sense, he is actually
highly dependent on a vast reservoir of pre-existent thought in the
same way that the sculptor or the fine artist is dependent on the
materials oui of which objets d'art are fashioned. If I am able to think,
then what I do think is not really created by me. I have merely
discovered it.
The dream of knowledge arises with the grace of effortless
attainment. At a higher level, the thinker begins to discourse freely
by himself. When this happens, the thinker is no more in control of
his thoughts. He becomes their inspired instrument and merely
gives them voice, in the same way that the singer sings the song or
that the poet writes verse.
The angel friends who direct our actions also direct our thoughts
from the unseen world. This guidance is often revealed in dreams and
in those awe-filled moments that have a significant impact on our lives
or our current preoccupations. But in order to find this guidance, we
have to let ourselves dream. We have to allow the mind quiet times
of rest, ro momentarily desist from ceaseless 'mental fight',' even
though this mental fight is also an integral part of the process. As in
THE BOOK OF KNOWLEDGE 9

other areas of our spiritual life, the virtue of surrender will prove
efficacious in unlocking the great door of knowledge.
Angels attend us unawares, and though few of us may see them,
sometimes we can heartheir wings rustling. So is it true, as the child
asks, that when it rains the angels are crying? In the mythopoeic
answer to this question the dream of knowledge lies hidden.

Beyond
One of the most captivating words in English is beyond. Beyond
belongs simultaneously to the realms of time, place and space. It
points to an ideal. Beyond has an unique evocative quality. It says: 'Be
on' ... Be on your way' ... 'Travel'. The word transports beyond self,
past Baudelaire's rapt adoration of the clouds, '...j'aime les nuages ...
les nuages qui passent.. .la-bds... la-bds ... les merveilleux nuages!,2 and out
into the vastness of the cosmos. Beyond evokes a vision of things far
away and unattainable, things purely platonic whose lofty Olympian
beauty can only be admired from a distance, not grasped. The word
beyond recalls Victor Hugo's haunting phrase - 'Ie ne suis qu'une force
qui va' - a sentence that tells of a mystery of movement leading where,
we do not know.
Beyond indicates that wherever we may be right now or expect
others to be, they may already be past that point. That in itself bodes
well or ill. For individuals may be beyond others in goodness and
virtue, or beyond in things reprehensible. The word beyond indicates
that the usual barriers have been broken down, those norm~tive and
comfortable confines in which most individuals circulate. So there is
a freedom in being beyond, and a daring, but a great risk too.
Icarus was beyond when he flew too close to the sun, catching his
wings on fire and falling into the Aegean Sea.' The beyond that Icarus
invaded was a violation of the golden mean, a maxim that was for the
Greeks, who valued proportion in all things, almost a religion. For if
we dare to reach beyond, we may surprise ourselves to find that we
have indeed gone beyond and have arrived at that point which we once
sought to grasp. In reaching this point, we may find that either we
have made new empowering spiritual advances or have reached a hard
place from which it proves difficult to return. For the beyond can be
10 UNDER THE DIVINE LOTE TREE

realised, and if it is, then it is no longer the beyond. It becomes the
here and now, in this space around me, a space that is no longer away
ahead of me, nor hopelessly out of my reach, as it once was. This once
beyond has become the present realisation.
BfJ'onti points to transcendence, to every holy thing that is in the
heavens above and sustains OUT world without our even knowing it.
Transcendence is a state beyond. It is also called heaven. There is a
time beyond. It is called eternity. There is a place beyond. It is called
the placeless. There is space beyond. It is called infinity. Lastly, there
is attaining the beyond ourselves, where all things cease - the point
of detachment, the station of self-sacrifice and spiritual
transformation where we begin to live in and for God.

The follCYIi:ing fOllr essays deal'ii.:itb time frum co1ltrastillg perspectiv(ás. Time
presf!1lts a l1U'tdph),sicallmderst.mdillg oftime ami t:ieu:s time. OIKe its 111)'5(('1)'
is grasped, as d friend. Midpoint in Time tI,>"ls u'ith thf! ('xistelltial '"01KffllS of
fadllg the peut, pn'smt ,md future 011 the life jorfmey. Defeating ~Hannical
Time. a shorter piece, mmicieN time to be a hearth's5 god u:ho m,ikes imperiom
demands 011 rmrli't'es but u:ho md)' be defeat('d by beluga/err to tbe potmtialities
ofthe prese1lt mom('1ltalu''')'$ "boltt to be bom. The Soul: Both In and Out of
Time n11ects 011 the ('01ltmsting experiences of the soul ill tbe Iigbt of etrmit)'.

Time
lime is a mysterious creature. Somctimes it gocs so fast we can
scarcely imagine that it has gone. At other times it drags on painfully
slowly, and no matter what we do we cannot speed it up. Sometimes
there is no time, as when they say: 'We are out of time.' Then at
another moment we are told that there is 'all the time in the world'.
But how much time is 'all the time in the world'? Surely, it cannot be
measured. And yet we do measure time. We measure it in seconds.
minutes, hours, days, weeks, months, years and so on. Unlike the
atom, however, time cannot be split. Neither can it be manipulated
in any way. But it can be used, foolishly or wisely.
They say time is wasted, but it is not so, for time outlasts
everything in the universe. It is our lives we waste. As long as the
universe lasts, there will be time. They talk about the beginning and
THE BOOK OF KNOWLEDGE 11

the end, but there is no beginning and no end, really. Beginnings and
endings are just turning points) significant events, heart beats or
moments of high drama in the lives of individuals or in history.
Something has always preceded these beginnings, and something
will always follow these endings.
There is no beginning, no end of time. There is only the beginning
and the end of the lives of sentient beings, those who are conscious
and who can either use or measure time. When there is an end to time,
the universe as we know it will no longer exist. In one very real sense,
there is only the now.
The child is either oblivious of time or feels it as a burden and a
mystery. 'When will I grow up?' the child asks. 'When will we be
there?' asks the impatient, travel-weary young one. For the youth,
time is an opportunity to affirm the powers of self, to become what
one is becoming, to find an identity. Only the aware individual is
really conscious of passing time.
We may well fear time, and fear it with reason. For like the tide,
as the maxim says, it waits for no man, will not indulge the
hesitation of any woman. It is more precious than gold but cannot
be bought or sold. Though its effects are ever-determinative, it is
intangible. It runs more freely than water through our fingers. The
only way to truly understand time in this world is to measure and
use. This is all that can be done with time. Measure and use.
This old and venerable, kindly father will smile on you if you
respect his ways. If time becomes your benefactor and your patron,
he will laud your persistent efforts with kindly praise. But I tell you
there is a real secret and a solemn mystery to time. Very few
discover it while they are here. This is the secret: to know that you
are now in eternity and that time is your friend.

Midpoint in Time
Each pilgrim is on a journey midway between the past and the future.
That midpoint is, of course, the present. The future lies before us like
an open road, bright and full 01 promise. But at the same time, we are
at certain moments in our lives only too fully aware that the past
lingers on, determining in part today's moods and feelings. II the past
12 UNDER THE D,V,NE LOTE TREE

has been a happy one, there may be little to trouble the mind in the
present. If, however, the past contains regrets -and few of us do not
have some - we know that the only profitable thing we can do with
this past, both for our own good and for the sake of others, is to learn
its valuable lessons and turn the page to the next chapter of our lives
in order to write a more congenial script. I am learning that sub-
mission to one's fate and thankfulness for all that life brings to my
door are great liquid assets in fulfilling my 'unfolding destiny"
without which acceptance would be a formidable difficulty.
While the past may inspire confidence to face the future, especially
for those who can count blessings among their legacy, it is future
expectations that offer that most life-giving of attributes - hope. Now
hope is a powerful alchemy of both desire and expectation, and to
make good its promise, hope is best accompanied by the confident
expectation of fulfilment; othenvisc it proves not to be sanguine.
Luke-warm hope always undermines its true spirit which fully
anticipates realisation.
While the past may store confidence to face the future, it does
not offer hope. The past reflects back memories, full of satisfaction
or tinged with regret. For most of us, memories of the past are
bitter-swet'l and that oxymoron, it seems, is a singular feature of the
human condition. The unending search for tomorrow beckons [he
wayfarer, for although tomorrow contains no memories. it holds
nonetheless rhe potential for brighter ones. This potential is itself a
boon. for great expectations feed the soul. Tomorrow contains the
glowing promise of a better life.
Yet it is hard to live for tomorrow, bright though we believe it to
be, harder than to live for yesterday. For tomorrow, unlike the past,
is and will remain undefined. And if tomorrow, contrary to the
dictum. docs finally come. it is not exactly as Wl' expected. But
anticipated in the spirit of faith, strength can be derived from the
promise of another day. We increase both faith and strength in the
firm belief that tomorrow will bring other journeys, fresh adventures,
friendly faces and fast friends.
And what of today? The saints, the mystics and the sagacious, both
of the past and the present, have discovered the answer to that
question. It was and is to live in the now. The 'spiritually learned" know
THE BoOK OF KNOWLEDGE 13

that the future is best made ready by fully experiencing the present,
by completely living this instant, by attending fully to the task at hand,
to the goal to be won, by being fully conscious that this moment - now
- is the only bit of time that we shall ever own. These select few who
have learned the secret of the now - not to forever mourn the past nor
dissipate present opportunities by living in too great an anticipation
of the future - have discovered the way to contentment. They know
that by overcoming today's test, by attending to today's problem as
best they can, by assuaging today's pain and solving today's riddle, they
will be empowered to break the vicious circle; they 'will be freed from
the darkness of continually repeating the past'á and become capable
of creating for themselves a new life at every moment.

Defeating Tyrannical Time
Time can be a harsh taskmaster, even a slave-driver. But the tyrant of
time can be governed. The despot of time can be conquered. The way
to humble time, the trick in discomfiting Kronos, is to goad him into
combat, to engage him in sport, to challenge him to defeat you in the
arena of the busy life. This contest, this sport, this bloodless war must
be waged at sunrise. The gauntlet must be taken up in the early hours
of day. The tyrant of time is overmastered by the strategy of the slow
and steady pace. The race is won by running long into the hours of
evening. Time is routed by the marathon that continues late into the
night, even unto the first streaks of light at early dawn.
Time is fleeing away this very moment like the grains of sand
dropping through the hour glass. Let me make now the best of time
- which is to make the best of the present moment. Let me stop this
oppressive tyrant though it be just for a breath, in the here and now,
in the Dasein,' in the just-being-there, in being fully present to the
possibilities of the now and ever-alert to the potentialities of the
radiant moment that is about to be born. The true believer knows
that time is only a tyrannical false god that reigns but briefly, then
dies. He is to be served while he yet lives and is able to make his
imperious demands. But the true believer serves him in the knowl-
edge that one day the tyrant of time shall fall victim to himself and
be no more.
14 UNDER THE DIVINE LOTE TREE

The Soul: Both In and Out of Time

He who bil/ds to himselfa JO)',
Does the "'il/ged life destro),:
But he u'bo kisses the joy tIS it flies.
Lh'es ;11 Etemity's sun-rise.
WILLIAM BLAKI;K

It is both a consolation and a hope to realise that the soul lives both
in and out of time. According 10 'Abdu'I-Baha, the soul is a created
phenomenon and has thus been created in time, yet lives eternally
from the moment of its creation.' It lives both in the now and the
forever. The soul shares with the body its mortality but outlives the
body when it puts on the garment of immortality. Wh,lI does this
mean for human experience?
While it inhabits the body, all the experiences of the soul are
present in the psyche and available to the human mind. Most
individuals forget about unpleasant experiences or events in time -
or at least their impact fades - as does indeed the effect of pleasant
ones. The human tendency is 10 live in the dynamic of the now, what-
ever that dynamic may be.l'or it is the now that usually occupies the
immediate attention of the soul.
Yet the soul wants 10 carry its most meaningful, joyous or richly
transformational experiences into eternity. It will be a cause..' of joy to
the soul if it is still possible 10 repeat such experiences in the present,
or at least 10 remember them. But it will be a cause of sorrow to the
soul if these experiences arc no longer available 10 us and if we regret
their passing.
Precisely at such times, when we are simultaneously rewarded and
vexed by 'the remembrance of things past',10 it is a consolation to
remember that the soul lives in eternity - that what once was, still is.
And we can best remember through detachment. The sorrow of the
'remembrance of things past' can be transcended through detach-
meot. The practice of detachment will help bring the soul back into
eternity and back into joy. By simply remembering the moment
without clinging to it, without desiring its repetition, "'e shall live it
once again, and by the same process, experience eternity.
THE BoOK Of KNOWLEDGE 15

This is admittedly difficult to do for it is in the nature of the soul
to long for the repetition of 'peak experiences'." But if we are able to
escape or to abandon the all-too-human desire to repeat the self-same
experience in the here and now - which is an impossibility because the
circumstances are by now different - by a surprising paradox we shall
know the joy of the experience afresh. It is only the regret of not being
able to relive the self-same experience that causes pain. The point is
that for the part of the soul that lives in eternity, the joy of such
experiences is always available to us, that is, if we are satisfied to simply
remember them with gratitude, without longing, without regret, with-
out the desire to possess them again. If such experiences or events were
(are) truly pure and truly lovely, were (are) selfless and sincere, I believe
that they will live eternally and we will find them again, for 'Surely He
will not sufferthe reward of His favoured ones to be 10st'Y As for the
memory of unhappy experiences, the best remedy here is to create new
experiences which will become a remembered source of joy.

Mystery and the True Name
'What is it?' is a commonsense and fundamental question raised by cer-
tain philosophers who seek to discern the identity of any thing. Names
are an attempt to answer that question. In Pascal's understanding, there
are such things as essential names. Essential names are 'divested of
all other meaning'." These names cannot be reduced to any other
signifier. They are essential signs and cannot really be understood in
terms of synonyms or substitutes. Any other signifiers used to describe
them are only approximations. When we have reached the point where
something cannot be described in other words, we have reached its
identity as a true name.
A true name, then, is something that cannot be given any other
name than its own, any other name than the one it already has. Thus,
'Abdu'l-Baha said in a famous passage: 'My name is 'Abdu'l-Baha
[Servant of Baha]. My qualification is ~bdu'l-Baha. My reality is
~bdu'l-Baha. My praise is 'Abdu'I-Baha.'14 ~bdu'l-Baha is the true
name. The 'Servant of Baha'is his reality. When Moses, the great
legislator, met Yahweh on Sinai, He inquired of God what God's name
might be. According to the Eloist tradition, God told Moses to tell
16 UNDER THE DIVINE lOlE TREE

the people of Israel that 'I am who I am (Ebyeh asher ebyeh) 15 sent me'.
The 'I am' (the Eternal One) is in this example one of God's true
names which cannot be explained by any other reference.
The familiar example of colours comes to mind to furtherelucidate
the true name. If you did not know colours and were to ask: 'What
colour is this apple?' one would respond, 'red' or 'green' and you would
understand immediately. If you wanted to inquire further. you might
ask: 'But what is rcd?' At this point you would be obliged to resort to
analogies that share the common property that we call red: the red of
the rose. the red of blood. the glow of sunrise or sunset. the red of the
beloved's cheek. etc. An esoteric passage in the writings of the Bab
depicts a quintessential red. ' ...the Maid of Heaven. begonen by the
Spirit of Baha. abiding within the Mansion hewn out of a mass of ruby.
tender and vibrant .. .'I6Yet. however abstruse the explanation might be.
the answer is simply that 'red is red'. It is nothing other than itself. True
names result at the point of an essential understanding or bare reality,
that point beyond which there is no defining.
Now what is the point of the foregoing? The bare essential of the
true name underscores the fact that both language and human thought
are incapable of transcending their own limitations. Baha'u'llah has.
of course, alluded to this very theme several times in his writings. In
one passage he says:

How greal [he multitude of truths which the garment of words can never
contain! How vast the number of such verities as no expression can
adequately describe. whose significance can never be unfolded, and to which
not even the remotest allusions can be made! How manifold arc the truths
which must remain unuttered until the appointed time is comeP7

It is to be emphasized, however. that the true name. though it be
familiar or commonplace. does not reveal the essential mystery of
any being. Thus. even though we name things. in so doing we do nOt
capture their essence. disempower them or even necessarily make
them familiar or bring them into closer relationship with us. They
remain surrounded in mystery. Language and human thought in no
way pierce the veils of mystery that encompass the slightest things
in creation. The water droplet. the blade of grass. the speck of sand.
THE BoOK OF KNOWLEDGE 17

the crystal, the smooth stone all retain their essential mystery.
Think, then, of the mysteries contained in the human being, that
most subtle and complex of all creatures, alluded to in the saying
attributed to the Imam 'Ali: 'Dost thou reckon thyself only a puny
form when within thee the universe is folded?')' How much more
so is this idea true of God Himself, that mystery of all mysteries!
Whatever we name the Divinity, even when He names Himself
Bahd, His most essential true name, such naming does in no way
capture His essential reality. Thus, the true name remains and will
always remain shrouded in mystery. That mystery is the hidden
name within the name, the unknown attribute of God.

The Beginning and End of Names
Where did naming begin? In the Judaeo-Christian tradition at least,
the Book of Genesis tells us that naming began with Adam. Adam,
that first link in the prophetic chain that bears his name (the Adamic
Cycle)," named with God's permission the birds of the air and the
beasts of the field.20 This naming of the creatures by Adam also
signifies that Adam possessed the science of knowing their true
identity. It also indicates that Adam was God's deputy or representa-
tive, for clearly God might have named the creatures Himself,
dictating the names to Adam. The Book of Genesis states, however,
that God 'brought them [the creatures1unto Adam to see what he
would call them'.21 Here is one evidence of Adam's prophetic power.
Where do names end? Names will end when we know the true
identity of things. Once we are able to perceive the essence of a thing,
once we come to visualise its pure identity, we shall no longer need
to identify it by name. Names will disappear when we no longer need
to ask the questions: 'Who are you?' 'What is it?' For then we will
know the thing itself and understand its essence and no longer 'see
through a glass, darkly'. St. Paul had a clear intimation of this essential
knowledge when he wrote: 'For now we see through a glass, darkly;
but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even
as also I am known.''' I imagine that in that vast world beyond, in the
spiritual birth that breaks forth after death, we shall not have names,
nor need them, even though we shall recognise and be recognised.
18 UNDER THE DIVINE lOTE TREE

Questionable logic:
Nothingness and the End of Philosophy

Philosophy is a complex mass of reflections that at higher levels
aims at simplicity, a simplicity clearly discernible in the writings of
the great thinkers. Few philosophers reach this stage, but in several
of the great ones such as Plato, Kant or Spinoza, this drive toward
simplicity and synthesis becomes more apparent. Spinoza at least,
unlike some of the philosophers of idealism such as Hegel, was
never impressed with the sophistry of words, with the spinning of
verbal webs, with the intoxication of the phonic tollr de force. There
is a beautiful clarity running through a great deal of Spinoza's
thought. I do nO! mean by this that everything Spinoza wrote is
simple; only lhat his work is admirable for its clarity as well as its
profundity, particularly his writing on virtue in the Ethics."
No\\" and again something remarkable happens to the philosopher's
work at these higher levels. Sometimes in the later stages of analysis,
an abrupt shift in thought occurs. The bifurcation radically changes
the earlier thought, or at least departs from it in a significant way. We
sec this shifting panern in the earlier and later Wingenstein. The ear-
lier Wingenstein was associated with the linguistic positivism of the
Vienna circle, so heavily influenced by the growing ascendancy of
twentieth century science but, unlike Adolf Carnap who was an acer-
bic critic of the 'nonsense' of all metaphysical language, the later
Wingenstein clearly recognized the meaningfulness of all language,"
and indeed, posited forms and families of language as more discrete
and characteristic languages within language itself. Most embarrass-
ing of all to the analytical philosophers, the once earlier positivistic,
ultra-rational Wingenstein later alluded to mysticism and such things
incomprehensible. Like the silent theologians of the via negativ" and
the mystics, Wingenstein could write such things as 'There is indeed
the inexpressible. This shows itself; it is the mystical.'''This statement
caused the poet Julian Bell to recognize in Wingenstein an anti-philo-
sophical philosopher and declare him to be what he was:
He smuggles knowledge from a secret source
A mystic in the end. confessed ano plain
The ancient enemy returned again ..:!'"
THE BOOK OF KNOWLEDGE 19

We also see this pattern in the earlier and later Heidegger. Agnostics
could claim that the earlier Heidegger belonged to them. The later
Heidegger, still preoccupied with Sein and Dasein," although still
veiled as ever, whispered his concern for all Being, but spoken now in
a more careful way, in open, sensitive and sober tones that might
be described as a mystical monism. Whether he excogitated this
mystical monism with or without theism, Heidegger has left us guess-
ing, but he was one who cenainly recognized the spiritual power(s)
inherent in an increasingly personal Being or beings of the universe.
In the case of St. Thomas Aquinas, nigh unto death, he suddenly
stopped writing altogether, saying that everything he had written
previously 'now seems like straw'. Z8 What happened to Aquinas we do
not precisely know, but a year before he died on 7 March 1274 he had
a 'mysterious experience o29 while saying Mass. A vision or a mystical
occurrence that profoundly shook his soul is one interpretation. But
whatever happened to him, it made the world of thought, for all its
precision and nobility, all its concern for truth, seem meaningless.
Another, more sceptical, interpretation has it that Aquinas suffered a
mental breakdown.'o Death, however, sometimes intervenes and the
philosopher is removed from the scene so that the later thinking
cannot be developed in a more systematic, thoroughgoing way.
The presence of the thought-shift bears out 'Abdu'I-Baha's state-
ment that the philosopher, through the self-same mode of logic, will
overturn a previous conclusion and advance a new one. 'Abdu'l-Baha
teaches that Plato first proved by logic the geocentric theory of the
eanh and the sun and then by the same logic proved the heliocentric
theory." My reading is that ~bdu'I-Baha's observation is meant to
caution against relying too heavily on the epistemological tool of
reason or logic as an absolute guide. The same caution is sounded with
respect to the other epistemological tools." A judicious balance
among them offers a surer picture of reality.
~bdu'I-Baha's caution needs to be heeded. Even with Kant's
impressive critique of the powers of reason,3) from the time of the
Enlightenment (and for centuries afterward) rcason or logic took on
an absolute character in western philosophy. But anything other than
God that poses as an absolute must be imperfect and its defects recog-
nised and exposed. The same may be said of any other epistemological
20 UNDER THE D,V,NE LOTE TREE

tool that attempts to pass for the Absolute. In 'Abdu'I-Baha's teach-
ing. however, it is only God who bestows absolute cenainty, working
through the guidance of the Holy Spirit, as It illuminates the faculties
of understanding:

But the bounty of the Holy Spirit gives the true method of comprehension
which is infallible and indubitable.This is through the help of the Holy Spirit
which comes to man, and this is the condition in which certainty can alone
be attaincdá 34

These affirmations lead us clearly in the direction of the
prophetic figure as the sole sure source of knowledge and wisdom,
for it is only He who claims to be so possessed of the Holy Spirit
and to speak with such certitude.
Western philosophers have generally not paid close enough
attention to the weaknesses inherent in their own epistemology.
Logic is notorious for becoming caught in a trap of its own making,
for being prone to antinomies 35 and for being subject to circular
reasoning from which it can escape only by exiting. Intuition is far
more synoptic. Moreover, logic deduces only those correct con-
clusions or 'therefores' that are already implicit in and follow
unavoidably from its own premises. In this sense it is all too
predetermined and predictable.
Euclid's geometry is valid only if we are measuring space by the
axioms that lie at the basis of his system. Once we leave Euclid's
mathematical world, the geometrician begins to measure according
to a diffferent, non-Euclidian, standard. Bernhard Riemann's
(1826-1866) elliptical geometry, for example, went beyond Euclid's
work to include the concept of unbounded, curved space.'" The
non-Euclidian cannot say, of course, that Euclid was wrong; only
that Euclid has calculated according to another measure, a standard
that the non-Euclidean does not employ. Now, someone may argue
lhat if there be contradiction, faulty logic must perforce be at work.
Perhaps. But it must also be said that Bertrand Russell's affirmation
thaI there is a single, universal and undeniable propositional logic
was destroyed by G6del's proof in 1931. G6del affirmed that every
mathematical system of logic which will repeat its operations
THE BoOK OF KNOWLEDGE 21

infinitely must necessarily contain propositions which cannot be
proven by the same system - a kind of mathematical faith.
These considerations raise at the same time another question.
That question is 'so what?' The 'so what?' question implies that
even when logic is faultless, is consistent with itself, and when
arbitrary and unavoidable conclusions inevitably follow from first
premises, this mode of reasoning still runs the risk of passing for an
end in itself, rather than a means.
Logic above all should be a means 10 an end: namely, the
elucidation of a truth, and nOt purport 10 be the proof of the Truth.
The fact that P=Q is proven, once the conclusion is drawn and the
'therefore' stated, may in fact be meaningful only to the logician and
to a few others who are interested in such demonstrations. The 'so
what?' question has 10 be raised in the face of what has been called
the 'violence of logic'. The hyperbole expressed in the word
'violence' indicates that when logic is used outside of its valid norms
and attempts to become the exclusive vehicle for understanding
reality, it tends 10 crush forms of reasoning that the logician has
falsely concluded are less sure than itself.
Logic by itself is woefully deficient in meaning and where there
be no meaning, to slightly vary a phrase from the Book of Proverbs,
'the people perish'." How meaningful is it to the life and death of
the individual 10 say that P=Q without contradiction? It is only
meaningful to those who conceive of human reasoning in such a
narrow and restrictive fashion, and who allow for no other mode of
reasoning. When one lies close to death, is one then moved to
salvation by the inescapable conclusion that P=Q? If one is not in
any case interested in salvation, then either my point is proven, or
there is no logic present at all.
Is it rather not more meaningful and reasonable 10 wonder what
will loom up when we close our eyes for the last time, or to wonder
what our fate will be when once we are delivered from the agony of
death? Is it not more meaningful 10 hope and to pray, indeed 10
know, that a higher and more glorious form of being will, in some
other dimension, be ushered in, when in what surely must be the
greatest of all surprises, we shall have discovered that we have not
died at all but have been born again?
22 UNDER THE DIVINE LorE TREE

I am not arguing here simply in extremis, from the most apocalyp-
tic example in an individual's life, the moment of death itself, when we
come to dwell for all eternity in the land of the last things. All of life,
every waking tum, calls us to discover moments of significance. They
come as moments of revelation, or as moments of intimate disclosure
in which the universe speaks to us, in Manin Buber's word, as a
'Thou'." They come as quiet, simple and loving moments full of
transpon, exaltation or ecstasy of soul, or quiet but assuring incre-
ments in 'the peace of God which passeth all understanding'. 3. Herein,
I think, lies the true meaning of meaning.
Another significant and curious thing happens to the mind of the
philosopher, once again at these higher levels. The tendency towards
simplicity to which I have referred above becomes even further marked
as the mind of the philosopher reaches the end-point of systematis-
ation and makes breakthroughs into higher forms of consciousness.
These higher forms of consciousness are usually a clear recognition of
the limits of the power of the human mind to fathom the Grand Plan
that is called Reality. Prospero's broken staff in Shakespeare's play The
Tempest (Act V. sc.l), a symbolic gesture that the poet and writer
Horace Holley has interpreted as applying to Shakespeare's own
'self-recognized limitations as a writer'40 is an indication that there
were other powers and other realms that were not at his command.
The work of the enlightened philosopher at these higher levels
ventures further away from writing as chatter and further and
further into silence, and then increasingly into nothingness. By this
I mean that at some significant point in the philosopher's life, he
realises that somehow his philosophy must be expressed in concrete
action, in morality, in real living. Kant knew this truth. He called it
the exercise of 'die praktische Vemunft' or practical reason; that is,
reason put into practice in the service of morality. Kant realised that
any system of ethics must lead to peace with one's neighbours,
human dignity, and a life of duty and virtue in which reason assents
in the exercise of free will to fulfil a higher moral purpose.41
It is precisely here that philosophy tends toward nothingness to
find fulfilment. By nothingness, however, I do not intend the void
of meaninglessness, the dubious negation that had inveigled the
imagination of Jean-Paul Sartre, a negation that leaves the individual
THE BOOK OF KNOWLEDGE 23

with that most questionable and obscure possibility of freedom,
that of being able to 'annihilate nothingness'(neantiser Ie neant).42
For what kind of freedom is it to be able to negate nothingness?
Does the negation of nothingness somehow usher us into the world
of being? How can two negatives somehow create a positive? Only
being can annihilate nothingness.
The nothingness to which I refer is rather the silent eloquence of
the deed; the deed that does not draw attention to itself, the
nothingness that is selflessness. It is the cessation of discourse and
the articulate testimony of the deed that sounds both the end and
fulfilment of philosophy. This nothingness is the nothingness that
results when the philosopher realises that all he has written signifies
nothing unless he lives, or seriously attempts to live, a life of devotion,
reverence for all of life, and spiritual virtue. Such nothingness is the
nothingness and the insignificance of what I have written, the
insignificance that pales before the unavoidable imperatives of the-
what-I-must-be, the what-I-must-do and the-what-I-must-live. For
all great philosophy must at some point end in silence; at that point
where words end and deeds begin.
Although as the scriptures testify, it is the prophet who prepares
the way for the prophet who is to come, in another back-handed sense
the philosopher also makes the ground ready. For what the prophet
teaches cannot be taught by the philosopher, although he may lead
us to the door. As Holley has said of Shakespeare, the notes that the
writer sounds - and I take his point to apply equally well to the
philosopher - consist only of the notes that he or she can hear and
compose, however moving and beautiful the melody may be. 'Thus
it seems to most students that Shakespeare is and must be supreme
in literature for all time. Shakespeare, it seems, sounded all the
available notes on the keyboard of life.''' Shakespeare sounded all the
available notes, says Holley. This implies that other notes there were,
silent notes that Shakespeare could neither hear nor play.
But the symphonies composed by the prophets are written in other
keys and in scales with which we are not immediately familiar or can
scarcely hear in the beginning. Their compositions originate in that
sacred silence that is the end of philosophy and the beginning of
wisdom and truth. Those who are willing to listen will soon discover
24 UNDER THE DIVINE lOTE TREE

the delights of the prophetic song and will desire to make music after
their fashion. All that the prophets have said and done bears fruit in
the silent witness of the life lived for God, at that point where
philosophy ends and is fulfilled, in the fragrance of spirituality.

Christ in Gethsemane:
The Existential Moment and the Irony of Knowledge
As a philosophy, existentialism is closer to real life than any other, for
its roots do not lie in philosophical speculation at all, but rather in a
profound reflection and experience of the depths of those living,
determinative, divine realities that we call life and death and in the
affirmation or denial of self and others. We find especially telling
examples of the existential moment during those rare days when 'God
walks among men', in the lives of the prophets, apostles, manyrs and
saints. These examples can be found in the events of the Hebrew Bible
and the Gospel and indeed in any spiritual history which tells us of
the Divine Epiphany revealed in its encounter with the human world.
One of the deepest roots of existentialism lies in its contrary, in the
possibility and threat of non-existence, the risk that life may be snuffed
out. 'Abdu'I-Bah:i when speaking of death, says for example: 'Death
is the absence of life. Therefore, on the one hand, we have existence;
on the other, nonexistence, negation or absence of existence.'''4 The
deeper questioning resulting from the contemplation of our own
annihilation (the fear of death), leads us to the philosophical disposi-
tion that is called the existential. This fear of annihilation, whether
from the uncenainties in our personal lives, the still persistent nuclear
threat orthe certainty of death, has risen up like a tidal wave of despair
to engulf entire nations, producing the psychological angst that has
been so pervasive in the second half of the twentieth century and which
has defined the mood of much existential literature. Yet when taken
in a more positive spiritual perspective, existentialism does not convey
that pessimism with which it has been associated. Viewed with the eyes
of faith, the existential moment leads to realism and beyond realism
into hope and spiritual transformation.
In the Christian tradition, the Gospel accounts of the betrayal,
passion and crucifixion of Jesus as well as Peter's momentary denial
THE BOOK OF KNOWlEDGE 25

of Christ furnish meaningful examples of the existential moment.
Here we find the Anointed of God earnestly praying in the Garden
of Gethsemane, supplicating his Father for strength during his last
few hours on earth, looking into his soul so that he may offer up in
a sacrificial spirit his blessed life. The prayer is so heartfelt, so deep,
that his luminous brow is beaded with drops of sweat like pearls of
blood. St. Luke's account reads: 'And being in an agony he prayed
more earnestly: and his sweat was as it were great drops of blood
falling down to the ground.";
In those agonizing moments, Christ spoke a few words that have
caused no small amount of wonderment: 'Father, if thou be willing,
remove this cup from me: nevertheless not my will, but thine, be
done.''' Some have concluded that Jesus spoke thus in a moment
when nerve failed; when the human nature of the man Yeshua, not the
deified Christ, was praying for mercy, for the chance to escape the
supreme sacrifice destined for him that day. Such interpretations have
been justified by recourse to the human nature of Jesus; that Yeshua
was experiencing the fear and anguish that all men experience,
begging God to release him from the fate that awaited.
Yet these poignant words might be understood in another way - as
the prayer of the Son trying to read the divine mind of the Father, the
prayer of the sacrificial lamb struggling to discover what the holy will
and the irrevocable decree of the Father might be. For who, even the
Son, may read the final will of the Father until that will is fully
disclosed? From several other Gospel passages we know that Jesus
prophesied his own death," a death that came as a certainty decreed.
Yet while the tragic but triumphant story was still unfolding, who could
know, even the Son himself, what the Almighty might finally enjoin?
For in all sacred history, in all readings of the divine will, as both
Bah.'u'll.h and 'Abdu'l-Baha have clearly indicated, there is a word
that points to a divine uncertainty, to a condition of doubt that
indicates that things may turn out to be either this or that. That word
is 'impending'." Now impending means that the ensuing result is not
a decided issue. It may also point to an event that is likely. The event
may be probable, even imminent, but neither imminence and
probability necessarily mean that the result has already been
decided. The divine decree just might surprise us in a sudden twist or
26 UNDER THE DIVINE lOTE TREE

turn and declare the outcome otherwise. One of the greatest
freedoms that God possesses is the possibility of changing the Divine
Mind; this changing of the Mind of God encloses the deepest
wisdom. Then might it not also have proven to be the supreme mercy
and wisdom of God to have let that cup pass from Jesus? Could
Christ, locked into the dark heart of the passion in Gethsemane,
despite the prophecies of his own death, have so easily and clearly read
the Divine Will as it was unfolding? No, there is another inter-
pretation to this pathetic scene than a slip in steadfastness.
The disciples, however, could not watch with him. Their eyelids
closed. One has to wonder why they did not sense that this might be
his last night on earth, his last hours with them. Perhaps in their naivete,
they never imagined that one so glorious, one so much in touch with
powers not of this world could be taken from them. And as sleep
invaded their eyes, a profound note of human frailty is sounded.
There in that nocturnal garden in Jerusalem, we encounter the
existential moment: the aloneness, the utter solitude of the self bear-
ing up under its burden, the naked self heavily labouring, watching,
waiting, struggling, trying to read and to acquiesce to the will of God,
waiting for some sign, struggling to be born again into a stronger,
clearer state of courage and acquiescence.

I come now to a clarification of the meaning of the phrase 'the irony
of knowledge'. Its reference points are Judas Iscariot and Saint
Peter. In that moment of consternation when Christ had announced
to the disciples who had gathered to celebrate the Paschal Meal for
the last time that one of them would betray him, Judas along with
the others said to Jesus: 'Master, is it I?' Christ replied to Judas:
'Thou hast said.'''
Here is a cogent example of the irony of knowledge. We are accus-
tomed to believing that knowledge is power and that to be forewarned
is to be forearmed. We are taught that with knowledge and foresight
souls can be educated, behaviour can change. Judas, however, could not
be dissuaded by the foreknowledge of Christ from enacting the treach-
erous deed which according to 'Abdu'I-Baha was motivated by a
conflagration of hate and envy which had consumed his heart:
THE BOOK OF KNOWLEDGE 27

Judas !scariot was the greatest of the disciples, and he summoned the people
to Christ. Then it seemed to him that Jesus was showing increasing regard
to the Aposde Peter, and when Jesus said. 'Thou an Peter, and upon this rock
I will build My church: these words addressed to Peter, and this singling out
of Peter for special honour, had a marked effect on the Apostle, and kindled
envy within the heart of Judas. For this reason he who had once drawn nigh
did turn aside, and he who had believed in the faith denied it, and his love
changed to hate, until he became a cause of the crucifixion of that glorious
Lord. that manifest Splendour. Such is the outcome of envy. the chief reason
why men turn aside from the Straight Path.50

The meaning of Judas's existential moment is that fore-
knowledge is a useless thing in the face of the malevolent will. And
in the face, too, of the inexorable will of destiny by which such woes
must come into the world."
The irony of knowledge is again revealed in Peter's denial of Christ.
Peter swore and protested aloud at that same table that he would rather
die than deny his Lord: 'But he spake the more vehemently, If I should
die with thee, I will not deny thee in any wise.''' But he did nonethe-
less. In this Peter, like Judas, had foreknowledge that did not prevent
him. For when a maidservant identified him as being with the Galilean,
he swore that he knew him not53 and he did so swear to save his life.
Peter for all his oaths was caught in the trap of his own denial. 'Surely
thou also art one of them; for thy speech bewrayeth [betrays1thee,'''
they said to him. But he only swore the harder.
We also in our aloneness, when our friends and companions are
powerless to lift the burden from our shoulders, or we from theirs,
when we can do nothing but go through the fires of purgation our-
selves or watch our friends being consumed by the flames, live out
then our own existential moment.
The Gospel stories of Judas and Peter are an object lesson in the
powerlessness of knowledge when the human will fails. As the great
Aquinas has written, even though the intellect moves the will, will also
moves intellect and thus our actions. 55 Judas's mind condemned his
action; otherwise he would not have later sought death by his own
hand. But he was overcome by the passions of self and thus suffered
from a grievous defect of the will. For it is will that determines to a
28 UNDER THE DIVINE lOTE TREE

great extent human conduct. It is the will that resolves whether or not
we will believe, whether we will affirm or deny, whether we will do
or not do, either to seek to do good or to seek to do harm - that and
the mercy of God. Without will, knowledge is lame.
But the story does not end here. Unlike Judas, who was so filled
with self-loathing that he went out and hanged himself, Peter's
story ends happily. After walking alive through the fires of remorse,
Peter was transformed and became the 'rock' (Gk.=petros) that
Christ had foretold. No doubt Peter was saved by the prayers of his
Master: 'And the Lord said: Simon, Simon, behold, Satan hath
desired to have you, that he may sift you as wheat: But I have prayed
for thee, that thy faith fail not: and when thou art converted,
strengthen thy bretheren.'56 Simon bar Jonah ultimately came to
manifest the steadfastness his Master had foreseen in him and for
which He had prayed. Peter became firm in the end, after coming
through his own Gethsemane of sorrow - the denial of the One he
loved most in the world.
It would be difficult to fully imagine the fires of sorrow and
regret that seared Peter's heart once the full realisation struck him
that fear and cowardice had compelled him to deny his Master, that
One who had bestowed upon him the very essence of love and
kindness. But in time the fever of remorse was stilled, the shameful
deed was assuaged, and the man became again a tower of strength,
in steadfastness constant, and more importantly, for all time. The
fisherman who became caught in his own net stumbled and fell, but
then rose up to cast again into salvific waters and in the name of
Christ gathered up thousands of souls.;7
The existential moment, then, is the moment of that inner solitude
and vulnerability when we must needs come face to face with self,
with our own identity. Truthfulness takes many forms. Coming face
to face with the reality of self is one of the most difficult truths to face
and accept. Although we may evade and deny for a time, if we
ultimately deny this moment of truth, we shall deny the condition of
our own soul and the possibilities for spiritual growth. The
existential moment is that moment of truth when the soul is plunged
into a wasteland of meaninglessness, when all the knowledge in the
world seems as useless as a weed. Meaning and transformation are
THE BOOK OF KNOWLEDGE 29

forged in the fiery ordeals of the moment.
The existential moment cannot be fully foreseen. Its apocalyptic
descent precludes preparation. It cannot be analysed away. Yet, most
importantly, this moment can be the prelude to spiritual trans-
formation and so has proven to be many times throughout sacred
history. The existential moment is the lesson of life itself, the lesson
that only life and nothing else can give, the lesson that no book of
philosophy nor any human writing can convey.

Science, Consciousness ond the Personal Category
In the late twentieth century and as we prepare to enter the third
millennium, scientists have been attempting, through a variety of
approaches. to fuse quantum mechanics and general relativity into a
single 'unified' post-quantum theory. In so doing they have come to
realise that science is not just a collection of detached, objective state-
ments about the universe, but that the universe is a reflection of what
is in the mind itself. The workings of consciousness are becoming an
object of scientific reflection. Physicist Bob Toben has called
consciousness 'the totality beyond space-time' and 'the missing hidden
variable in the structuring of matter'.58 Other physicists such as John
Wheeler," David Bohm 60 and Fritjof Capra," albeit in varying degrees,
have invoked mystery, holism, philosophy, and eastern mysticism, and,
most important, the role of the mind itself, in bringing science and
religion closer together. Consequently, it is rather more likely that the
'Grand Unified Theory' will work on a larger scale, uniting the timeless
truths of philosophy; mysticism and religion with a scientific world-view.
Sir Arthur Eddington, who was knighted in 1930 for his con-
tribution to astrophysics, wrote these telling words about the
centrality of the mind itself in relation to science:

Recognizing that the physical world is entirely abstract and without actuality
apart from its linkage to consciousness, we restore consciousness to the
fundamental position instead of representing it as an inessential complication
occasionally found in the midst of inorganic nature at a late stage of
evolutionary history... all features of consciousness alike lead into the external
world of physics. 62
30 UNDER THE DIVINE LorE TREE

In another celebrated Eddington phrase, he said crisply: 'The
stuff of the world is mind stuff.'''
Now, that which is nearest the self is and must be personal. Mind
or consciousness is not only nearest the self. In onc sense, it is the self.
The synthesizing scientists mentioned above (and there are a number
of others) are telling us that the further we advance into science, the
further we travel both within and without; the deeper we travel into
outer space, the more we penetrate inner space. Unavoidably, with
mind, both the personal and the spiritual begin to unfold. These
scientists have already begun to realise the implications of a more
personal view of the universe, one that does not destroy the
foundations of science but rather augments and complements its
morc traditional views. Science in and of itself cannot furnish a total
'world-view', for it is only the parr, not the whole. The total world-
view must necessarily derive from both science and religion.
Philosophy has a central role to play in the new synthesis of
religion and science. However, its limitations must be recognised.
Within its ordinary constraints, philosophy does not venture beyond
the objective and the detached. Although analysis, objectivity and
rational constraint constitute philosophy's strengths, they are also at
the same time its weakness and limitation. Earnest seekers beg for
experience. They want not only to analyse and describe, but also to
taste. They wish, not only to describe flight, but to fly. They are
seekers after God. We arc bound, at some point on this journey, to leave
the excogitations of philosophy behind to strive to enter the mystical
realm, to go beyond theory and engage inpraxis [ = theory + practice].
Mysticism is characterised paradoxically both by silence and by
dialogue. In silence, one speaks with oneself and in dialogue we enter
into conversation with others. When we enter the realm of the
mystical, we realise that the universe is speaking to us as the reflection
of a living God who without being a person is nonetheless a personal
Being in the most intimate sense. The universe during such experi-
ences becomes transformed, as viewed through Buber's categories,
from an impersonal and remote 'it' into a living 'Thou'.64 The leaves
on the trees and the blades of grass, every living thing declares
mystery and rapture in a transpersonal language that is intensely
bright with colour and meaning. In that moment, all our senses come
THE BOOK OF KNOWLEDGE 31

alive from out of the numbness of our half-knowing. In this vision
of things, the world is, in 'Abdu'l-Baha's phrase, 'beautiful in colour
and redolent of fragrance in the kingdom of God'.á' Thus mysticism,
like science itself, heightens consciousness in an acute way.
Erwin Schrodinger (1887-1961) not only discovered a form of
wave mechanics (Schrodinger's wave equation) and won the Nobel
Prize for physics in 1933, but also wrote lucid mystical prose replete
with poetic feeling. The following is a passage that Schrodinger
wrote about the relationship of our oneness with 'Mother Nature'
experienced in the eternal now. This gifted physicist was at the same
time able to envision and experience nature in a hypostatic mode.

Thus you can throw yourself flat on the ground. stretched out upon Mother
Earth, with the ccnain conviction that you are onc with her and she with you.
You are as finnly established. 3S invulnerable. as she - indeed. a thousand times
finner and more invulnerable. As surely as she will engulf you tomorrow, so
surely will she bring you forth anew to new striving and suffering. And not
merely 'some day': now, today, every day she is bringing you forth. not once,
but thousands upon thousands of times. just 3S every day she enguHs you a
thousand times over. For eternally and always there is only now. one and the
same now; the present is the only thing thai has no end. M

She sounds like a living being, a personal being, does she not? Just
symbol and metaphor? Perhaps. But at the heart of Schrodinger's
statement is a profound personal relationship of communion with
something that is both within and beyond oneself.
At the heart of the personal realm beckons the experience of
prayer and meditation and our discovery of that living and loving
Spirit who cares for each of His creatures and all their move-
ments, trials. thoughts and aspirations, just as if this one poor
solitary creature had been the sole object of all of His loving and
creating. God is the essence and epitome of all that is personal. His
creation consequently, when perceived according to its divine
intention, cannot be anything other than personal. This person-
hood includes as much the mind of the scientist as that of the
mystic - which arc increasingly coming to be recognized as one
and the same mind.
32 UNDER THE DIVINE LOlE TREE

The Cosmic Space Traveller
and the Oneness of the Spiritual Universe

Today's cosmic space travellers must summon up the same courage
as the great explorers of the Renaissance who set their very lives in
the balance, and relying on the new theories of Copernican science,
set out in their little Caravels to explore far-away continents across
vast oceans. Unlike some Renaissance adventurers, however, today's
cosmic space traveller will always return safe from his spiritual
wanderings. Indeed he will be more alive than ever, for his travels will
have added to his perceptions and knowledge. Just as the Renaissance
explorers discovered one 'round' geophysical world, the cosmic space
traveller of today will also discover the spherical unity of the 'great
chain of being'.
The critical thinker may be sceptical of this purported oneness. Yet
certain commonalities in the world's religions have been identified by
the Perennialist Aldous Huxley as his 'four fundamental doctrines','7
by Joachim Wach in his chapter on 'Universals in Religion'," and in
Friedrich Heiler's 'seven principal areas of unity?'" to name but a few.
Further, the unity of the great religions is either implicit or explicit
in the writings of several of the outstanding comparative religionists
and scholars of religion today such as Huston Smith,'O Wilfred
Cantwell Smith 71 and Frithjof Schuon. 72 That such a common core
might not lend itself to a rigid codification or universal assent still
does not invalidate the reality of the oneness of spiritual truth. The
sceptic who doubts such affirmations suffers from spiritual myopia.
He lacks that susceptibility that philosopher-poet George Santayana
apdy expressed in describing Henri Bergson's idealism of the
universal mind as a 'cosmic sensibility'.73
The oneness of the spiritual universe is a given. Its giver is God.
It is as much 'one' as the world that we see every day with physical
eyes but are unable to conceive in totality. As we need the
perspective of altitude in space to observe the geophysical oneness
of this planet, so too we require a higher and broader vision of
spiritual truth to perceive the metaphysical oneness of the great
religions. The oneness of truth is as much a pure gift as the 'being'
of the physical world we now inhabit. But unlike the physical
THE BooK OF KNOWLEDGE 33

universe that we take for granted upon the undeniable evidence of
its existence, we are still loath to accept the oneness of the spiritual
universe. Even though we have known for centuries that the earth
was 'round' (spherical), it was not until our beautiful blue planet,
partially veiled in stratospheric clouds, was photographed in the
cold darkness of infinite space, that we became fully conscious that
'the earth is one country'.74 The time is soon coming when the
consciousness of the oneness of the spiritual universe will be as
widely accepted as the geophysical oneness of our planet.
For whatever journey we plot for ourselves and in whichever
direction we travel, some things are inevitable. All spiritual explorers
share the same human condition. We are all born, live, love and laugh,
suffer and die. If we so choose, mariners may meet in the 'midmost
hean' of the ocean. 75 And in our cosmic rendezvous, we shall discover
that the ocean of existence which has given life to all, and upon which
we all sail for a time our little craft, is common property, claimed,
shared and cherished by every sailor.
The new synthesis of metaphysics, spirituality and science that is
being forged by the brightest minds today beckons us to explore a
unified cosmos to which Huxley's bold and imaginative title 'brave
new world' (borrowed from Shakespeare) might truly apply. The
new synthetic science will have as profound an effect on the unity
of humanity as the Copernican Revolution did on the obsolete
geocentric theories of the first Italian Renaissance. Every spiritual
explorer who goes journeying today will find that he or she has
contributed to the making of a new map, whose vastness is as yet
unrealised - the chart of the human soul and the commonality of the
world's great religions - two of the brightest reflections of the Divine
Mind. This map will reflect a new creation, outlining the shapes and
patterns of the spiritual potentialities inherent in the new world
order. Bathed in light, it will far eclipse in detail and depth the
geophysical maps of old.
THE FRAGRANCE OF SPIRITUALITY
Spirituality: A Shart Definitian
Spirituality, for centuries confined to the house of worship, the convent
or hermitage, the monastic hall or the divinity school, has by now
entered the home, the office, the secular institution of learning and
society at large. Two fundamentals of spirituality are devotion and service
to God and humanity. How can we better serve God and the human
family? In answering this question, we shall come closer to an
understanding of spirituality. We serve God through love, prayer, self-
sacrifice, charitable deeds, through striving to know and to love God and
His friends, by teaching others, by pioneering into new realms of service.
Some serve God by study, writing, teaching and research. By
examining our own confused thoughts, we may make them less
obscure and thereby illumine with a little light our own lives and the
lives of our friends. We may serve God, too, through contemplation,
and as Milton said, by patience in difficulties, by standing and waiting
- 'They also serve who only stand and wait" - watching the divine
plan unfold in our long hours, anticipating His presence and working
through the greater and lesser tests of life.
No understanding of spirituality can be merely academic, for this
would be a travesty of its true spirit which demands continual
practice. The spiritual life makes eloquent testimony of itself. It needs
no other proof.

Analogies on Crystals and a Spirituality of Imperfection 2
Few things in nature seem more perfect than a crystal. Geologists tell
us that the perfection of the crystal results from its very large

38 UNDER THE DIVINE lOlE TREE

numbers of atoms or molecules that are concentrated in near-perfect
mathematical alignment. Rarely is even one atom in a thousand out
of line with another. But many crystals could not have grown into
luminous multi-coloured gems without imperfections. The colour of
gemstones, for example, is due mainly to imperfections. Imper-
fections enable the atoms within crystals to move about and chemical
reactions to take place. Crystals and gemstones owe their special
characteristics of beauty and perfection to flaws.
These rudimentary notions of crystallography suggest rich
analogies with spiritual development. The crystal is near-perfect
because the design of its atomic structure is 'in line'. By analogy, the
righteous soul is in line or conforms to the law of God: 'In all these
journeys the traveller must stray not the breadth of a hair from the
"Law", for this is indeed the secret of the "Path" and the fruit of the
Tree of "Truth":' From this alignment the believer derives strength
of character and spiritual beauty, and acquires perfections.
Another commonplace but nonetheless useful comparison
between crystallography and spirituality is the idea that every soul is
a precious gem, each having its own particular hue or colour. Some
gems are more common than others but they arc still nonetheless all
beautiful. Some souls, like the blue or pink diamond, are rare and it
is their rarity that makes them precious. When such souls shine with
the light of virtue or reflect the lustrous depths of Lady Wisdom, we
arc struck by their rich value. Rarer still than diamonds or pearls is
the ruby. A ruby is by analogy any unique and precious soul, a deep,
rich gem of inestimable value. Such a soul shines with the deep ruby
red lustre of celestial love.
The science of crystallography teaches us by analogy that JUSt as
imperfections in the crystal cause its growth and produce its lasting
beauty, human imperfections are an indispensable function of
spiritual development. We do well to remind ourselves consequently
that the imperfections that we often see in our own moral and psycho-
logical make-up are but God's way of helping the soul to att.in th.t
unattainable goal of spiritual perfection. For it is to the extent that
the careful and conscientious individual strives to overcome character
flaws that he or she draws closer to God. Imperfections can act as
catalysts or reactors that precipitate alchemical changes in the life of
THE FRAGRANCE OF SPIRITUALIlY 39

the soul. But the soul in struggling against the imperfections of self
not only acts and exercises free will and determination, but is also
acted upon by the forces of divine confirmations. Through patience
and effort and the ebb and flow of activity and passivity, such a soul
gains colour, beauty and perfection, and just as important,
individuality. Imperfections are, in Daniel C. Jordan's cogent little
phrase, but the means for 'becoming your true self'.' The true
jewellers and gem polishers of humanity are the prophets of God.

Divine Fragrance: Thoughts on on Anecdote
The Baha'i writings speak in several passages of 'divine fragrance'.
In the Kitab-i-Aqdas (The Most Holy Book) Baha'u'IJah says, for
example, 'Happy is the lover that hath inhaled the divine fragrance
of his Best-Beloved from these words, laden with the perfume of a
grace which no tongue can describe." In the same book He writes
that those who recite the verses of God 'in the most melodious
of tones ...will inhale the divine fragrance of My worlds .. ." This
phraseology, it st:,ems to me, is not just poetry.
I propose here that divine fragrance is not only a poetic symbol
but also a sensible substance. In the same way that perfume can be
detected by the olfactory sense, the spiritual fragrance of an individual
or a piece of writing, a musical composition, painting, sculpture, or
other great work of art can be detected from the aesthetic atmosphere
surrounding that individual or creative work. Although the scientist
or the sceptic may doubt that anyone possesses an ability to tangibly
detect spiritual fragrance from an aesthetic world just beyond the
fringe, it is nonetheless as real as the scent of a woman passing, but
alas, just as fleeting. It may be rare, but is nonetheless real, this ability
to detect the fragrance of a work of art that is, in Keats's expression,
both beautiful and true.'
The question of a divine or spiritual fragrance poses the conundrum
of a literal or figurative interpretation of Baha'i scripture, interpreta-
tion that has to be seen in light of human experience. Faced with a
literal and/or symbolic interpretation of those writings that mention
divine fragrance, a reader may well ask if one can really inhale spiritual
fragrance. The possibiliry should not be so quickly dismissed. Science
40 UNDER THE DIVINE LorE TREE

may tell us that scents cannot issue from nonexistent organic sources.
Yet more than one soul will testify that the smell of roses permeated
the air when there were none in the vicinity or that the scent of lilacs
was strong where no garden was to be found.
In addition to my own experiences, there are testimonials. I
relate one of these here.' While travelling in England in July 1993, I
met Mrs. Dorothy Brown at a fireside meeting to which I was
invited to speak at the home of Roger and Muriel Wilkinson of
Kendal, Cumbria. It was in fact Dorothy's decisive experience of
the divine fragrance that had caused her to declare herself a Baha'i
fifty years before. Dorothy recounted to me that when she had first
heard of the Baha'i Faith, in her then sceptical frame of mind she
had audaciously challenged her teacher Audrey Thompson by
saying something to this effect: 'If this God of yours knows that the
very hairs of your head are numbered, why doesn't He come and tap
me on the shoulder?'
At that very moment, Dorothy said, the room was suddenly filled
with the unmistakable, overpowering scent of roses. Dorothy was not
alone in smelling the fragrance. Audrey smelled it too, and, Dorothy
said, she turned as white as a sheet. As for Dorothy, she required no
further proof. She was transformed by this experience and became a
believer. Dorothy trembled as she told the story, recalling her audac-
ity at the time in challenging God in such a bold way. The scientist or
the sceptic who would like to explain the experience in terms of the
imagination stimulating chemical reactions in the brain would have to
explain not only what stimulus caused the reaction, but also how two
people could share the same experience simultaneously. Doubtless
they did not share the same brain.
I found further confirmation about divine fragrance a few days
later in Caernarfon, North Wales, when I was visiting my friend
Robert Parry. While there, I came across this text as I was reading
the Baha'i writings one morning:

He will come to your aid with invisible hosts, and support you with armies
of inspiration from the Concourse above; He will send unto you sweet
perfumes from the highest Paradise. and waft over you the pure breathings
that blow from the rose gardens of the Company on high.'
THE FRAGRANCE OF $PIRITUAUTY 41

It is entirely possible that this text refers to a state that is other
than a purely symbolic, a state where the spiritual and the physical
meet in perfect correspondence.
I have not concluded, however, that the individual who experiences
such occurrences possesses any rare or mystical gifts. Such experiences,
though they may count as personal confirmations, are incidental and
not basic to faith. They can be meaningful for no one but the individ-
ual who experiences them. In terms of a proof of faith, the anecdote
that I have related above must be classified as weak; it falls into the same
category as miracles. These are proofs for those who see (or in this case
smell), but not proofs for those who have not seen (or smelled) 10 -
privileged proofs, one might call them, valid for the individual only. I
look upon such experiences, nonetheless, as tangible expressions of the
existence of spiritual substances, the 'proof' that the Holy Spirit at
times allows itself to be verified by other than rational means. In this
case, the means are through the senses, which are paradoxically in other
situations quite unreliable and at times very misleading.
That one may conceive of the fragrance of spirituality in this way,
as a real perfume emanating from the bower of heaven, does not
indicate the wholesale adoption of a thorough-going scriptural
literalism. There are, however, many things which defy explanation
and which exist nonetheless. Spiritual fragrance is a sign, albeit rare,
of the divine presence, a vital manifestation from that 'prayer-
hearing, prayer-answering God'lI who is able to touch seekers
directly with a message from His presence as a loving token and
grace, as a confirmation from a world beyond. Spiritual fragrance
means that Spirit is sensible 12 - and must be - while we are still in
the world, as sensible as the fragrance of the spring rains and the
moistening earth that release the fragrance of the flower and the
myriad other forms that come to life from within the earth.

Happiness for its Own Sake
We can venture only so far into an understanding of happiness, for
happiness is above all to be lived rather than analysed. Although
much has been written and said about the nature of happiness, this
pearl of great price remains an inexhaustible theme. I contrast this
42 UNDER THE DIVINE lOlE TREE

view of happiness with the one that says happiness is a by-product
of something else, of virtuous living, for example. Although this no
doubt m;y be true, it will not prove true in every case. For one may
well be virtuous but not happy, although it docs not follow that one
can be happy and vicious.
The world has its own kind of happiness, what I call the spirit of
living for the world alone." This is that sense of well-being which
ignores the spiritual realm, and gets along quite happily according to
the comfortable ways of natural law. sociability and human sentiment.
I t is the way of happiness that takes what the world has to offer and
does so with a happy heart. Most people seek happiness this way and
doubtless many find this kind of happiness in the world for a while.
The happiness the world has to offer is, however, by nature not
durable, and so proves to be. It will escape us in the end. But by fixing
our attention on end things we shall not be deceived.
Living for the world alone cannot procure divine happiness. Divine
happiness resides in another order of being. It is based, not upon
natural sentiment, that is, neither the subtle or volatile emotions, but
upon what 'Abdu'I-Bah:i calls 'spiritual susceptibilities'." This means
being susceptible or open to the promptings of the Holy Spirit, the
lofty thoughts that filter down from the ether of divine knowledge,
and enjoying the satisfaction that comes in the conscious realisation
of being created in the divine image and of fulfilling a divine purpose.
This is trile happiness. While the man or woman born of the Spirit
may share with anyone all the legitimate pleasures and joys that life
offers, the man or woman lacking a spiritual mind cannot share in the
delights of faith and certitude and the satisfaction of deciphering the
geometry. of the mind of God.
I oppose the notion of self-existent happiness to the concept of
happiness as functionality, to its being dependent upon observing
ethical practices, rules or norms. I am not advocating, of course, the
flaunting of the momllaw. I am rather seeking that flight of mystic
joy, of unrestmined celebration, a relaxation of the self-directed will,
a laying down of the burden of self, a forgetting of sin. Happiness is
a gift to be cherished and celebrated merely because it is a divine
birthright, in the nalUre of things. If I think otherwise, then I must
also think that I must perform a, band c in order to be happy. In other
THE FRAGRANCE Of SPIRITUAUTY 43

words, that I must deserve my happiness. Such thoughts can in fact
be counter-productive to the creation of the very happiness I seek.
For at what point are we competent to judge that we have done
enough to deserve to be happy? The happiness I seek comes as an 'ode
to joy'. It is simply for the thing itself, because of the thing itself.
Such happiness is like the smile. You may be smiling because you
are happy. But some people smile because they love to smile. They
smile for no other special reason. If you ask someone 'Why are you
smiling?' they may say 'Because I am getting married today', or
simply 'Because I like to smile'. It is in the nature of the human
being to enjoy and to share in happiness. Happiness is a free gift, a
gratuitous act. And this ever-present consciousness that happiness is
a free gift in the nature of things, as the greatest bestowal of God,
causes the perpetuation, increase and re-creation of happiness.
We should not be deceived by the appearance that others enjoy
a greater happiness than ourselves. For happiness, like water, finds
its own level. To envy those who seem happier is illusion. Happiness
coexists simultaneously at several levels and in this sense happiness
is relative. At any time, we may find ourselves ascending to a higher
level or descending to a lower one. So we rejoice at our own level.
Happiness is the possession of all those who love God.
Birds are happy when they fulfil their own natures; when they can
make nests and find the seed necessary to ensure their survival. But
for human happiness, we must look beyond material necessity.
~bdu'l-Baha said the cow lived 'blissfully',1> not merely because the
cow was created by God, and so is blessed, but because the cow
'knows' a kind of sensual happiness. 'Untroubled'l6 it enjoys the
fulfilment of its bodily functions; chewing the sweet grass, giving
milk and grazing undisturbed. This must be a kind of happiness.
However, the happiness of the material mind and the worldly-wise is
not the happiness of the spiritual soul. Those who have experienced
spiritual happiness know what it is.
There is another consideration. Many things will eclipse this happi-
ness of mine, if only for a time: ill health, misfortune, relationships gone
bad, the death of loved ones, and not least of all, my own ignorance or
folly. But spiritual happiness has the power to shine through the clouds
of mental and emotional disarray, bringing healing in its wings.
44 UNDER THE DIVINE LorE TREE

'Abdu'I-Bah. qualifies as truly noble those who are happy in the
midst of trials:

In circumstances of ease and comfort. health and well-being, gratification and
felicity, anyone can live contentedly; but to remain happy and contented in
the face of difficulty, hardship and the onslaught of disease and sickness -
this is an indication of nobility, 17

For when life is good, and one can 'feed on the fat of the land'
(Gen. 45:18)," it is easy to be happy. It is at this relatively low level
of unchallenged happiness that most people function. But when we
realise that happiness exists for its own sake, as a gift from God who
desires happiness for us, we can rejoice in spite of adverse conditions.
It is those who are happy in the end who shall be truly happy.

Sun and Shadow
When we choose to stand in the light of the sun, our shadow side is
unavoidably going to be revealed. When we see our shadow, we
contemplate that great dark void, the vast potential of formless non-
entities that have not yet become well-defined spiritual attributes.
OUf shadow is a reminder that our dark side is an ever-present
condition of the light, a symbol both of what we are and what we
might still be. Above all, we are reminded that in this world, sun and
shadow dwell ever together.

Divine Doring, and Fear and Trembling
in the Pilgrim's Heart
We must be not only willing but also daring enough to venture to
enter the mysterious and majestic presence of the sacred. For the
blessed few, that daring may have been realised as a real encounter
in historical time with a holy figure. Sometimes it is expressed as
an arduous search for truth, or by sacrificing oneself for a worthy
cause or loved one. Sometimes it means to venture bravely into the
mountains and valleys of the mystical or to plunge into the heart of
prayer or to pioneer into new realms. But wherever such daring leads,
THE FRAGRANCE OF SPIRITUALITY 45

spiritual life cannot be truly experienced without audacity, without
the spirit of adventure.
Without this daring, one cannot experience divine confirmations.
Without this daring, the depths of love could not be brought to the
surface of human relationships from the most profound recesses of
the heart. Without this daring, the pilgrim soul could not receive
the tangible spiritual proofs and evidences coming from the bounty
of God. Without this daring, heroic souls could not become the
robber barons who 'seize and possess the hearts of men'" for their
sovereign lord.
We know from historical accounts that some Baha'i pilgrims, when
they first saw an individual whom they misperceived to be 'Abdu'l-
Bah., felt their spirits crushed. Plunged into momentary despair, such
souls might have lost faith had the Master not soon appeared to fulfil
all their expectations and fill their hearts with His love. But what is
interesting in these cases of momentary disappointment is that the
great expectation, the fear and trembling that first arose in the
pilgrim's heart, both precipitated the test of the believer's faith and
at the same time allowed for its satisfactory resolution.
Now there is to be sure a certain risk in going into the presence
of the Chosen Ones of God, a risk that we will be found out, that
our life and character with all its warts will be exposed. Some feared
this and did not gO.20 But the heavenly love let loose in the believer's
heart for these Holy Beings was so oceanic that it overcame any fear
of inadequacy. In place of fear, the pilgrim felt comfortably at home.
The strange irony is that the pilgrim was found out anyway but in a
way not anticipated - with. gentle lifting of the veil .nd with the
greatest courtesy, sometimes with merely a kind word, a look or a
glance. This truer insight into the inadequacies of self was .Iso part
of the bounty of the pilgrimage, one facet of the benediction.
Now if one thinks of these Sacred Figures as divine assayers, as
celestial jewellers who are able to gaze into the divine gem of the
soul and tell its worth at a glance, one should also consider the
mercy of their sin-covering eye. It is good to think about this sin-
covering eye, that these Great Ones did not see the flaws - or if they
did, overlooked them with that divine magnanimity that the critical
mind prone to look for the fault cannot understand. They looked,
46 UNDER THE DIVINE lOTE TREE

not at the cracks and dark spots that beclouded the lustre, but
instead marvelled at the gem that was shining with the love of God.

The Silence of the Sacred
The sacred has a myriad methods of touching the human soul, in
drawing the spirit to itself. Sometimes the sacred will gently invade
the citadel of the soul as the touch of a soft breeze or the caress of
a whisper. In such moments, we experience a wcicome, temporary
suspension of our busy senses. All creation seems to hold its breath
while the sacred whispers its secret mysteries to our enchanted ears.
Now the cosmic voice has faded to the faintest echo. We listen for
the songs of the spirit and enter the unmistakable realm of sacred
time. We dare not utter a sound, for the spoken word might break
the fragile silence. }f"'b....
What shall we call the sacred? How shall we name the holy? We
know not how to name the unnamable. If we write down the Beloved's
name, we shall profane the memory. We ponder in our hearts the sweet,
silent lessons of love. The silence of the sacred is eternal. It is always
there. Patiently. it awaits our rapt attention. longing to fill our souls
with peace. to enchant us with mysteries. to transport us to the Elysian
Fields. to the blessed isles of the West.

The Void of Forgetting
In Mahayana Buddhism, the notion of Shm,ayata (Sk.= emptiness,
void) is fundamental. I consider here the Buddhist notion of the
void simply as the departure point for a personal reflection on the
void as forgetting. a void that comes in the form of grace. This
emptying of the mind is a cleansing. a suspension of the ego-drives
of minutes. hours. days or months ago. drives that no longer compel
the ego to seck their fulfilment in yiolation of the voices of reason
and wisdom. The ambitious project that was once under way. that
waybill of the ego's plans and schemes. has been voided.
A power exists in prayer. in a dream or even in a dreamless sleep
that can void the selfish desire, or the strongest of impulses, that
craving for ego fulfilment. Once we descend into the void. the slate
THE FRAGRANCE OF SPIRITUAlITY 47

of the mind is wiped clean. Distorted or unhappy memories are
erased from the psyche and the tentative script of the writer's vain
imaginings, the half-formed letters of all those hazy or impossible
dreams that once seemed legitimate and true.
The restless mind and the wayward heart pursue their own self-
interest. And self-interest, I should note, is not always selfish
interest. But sometimes the seemingly legitimate needs, plans and
schemes of the moment are voided in the interests of the
development of a greater self and a more magnanimous plan. The
void of forgetting is a sign that a greater power is at work, evidence
that a greater will has countermanded a lesser one. It remains to be
seen whether or not the void will find acceptance in the seeker's
mind or rather prove to be mere suspension.
For now, the desires of the heart will have to wait. Let the seeker
who desires to know the Will of God watch and wait, be patient,
reflect, consider the movements of her own soul, experiment, seek
and discover. Let the seeker pray earnestly and supplicate at every
moment that she be alert enough to discern the Will of God and
content enough to dwell happily in the now-of-what-God-has-
ordained. The seeker will thus come to know whether or not the
waybill of the self-directed project is to be stamped with approval
or be declared void. She will see whether or not it conforms to the
will of self or the Will of God, or both.

Mirza Abu'I-FoQI's Humility and One's Gifts
and Accomplishments2l
The great Baha'i scholar-saint and 'learned apologist'" Mirza Abu'l-
Fapl (pron. Fazel) is said to have wept on occasion when his friends
and admirers paid him a compliment. More than simply embarrassed
by such effusions of praise, he wept perhaps because he knew to
whom he really owed his gifts. Mfrza Abu'I-Fapl knew that the
measure of his achievement was in no way proportional to its source,
the grace of Baha'u'llah. As a true Baha'i scholar, he wrote only out
of a desire to love Baha'u'llah more perfectly and for a love of truth.
I well imagine that Abu'I-Fapl, in a spirit of loving-kindness, was
often grateful for the kind words spoken in his favour by his friends.
48 UNDER THE DIVINE LOTE TREE

But he knew that what friends and admirers eulogized in him was
nothing other than what Baha'u'llah had chosen to reveal. Mirza's
tearful reaction to praise suggests that he felt it was not fitting to
applaud the vehicle, that praise of the instrument in some sense
devalued the Celestial Composer. His pain was that his admirers
were not always conscious of this.
Praising the vehicle or the instrument is somewhat like praising
a beautiful woman or a handsome man for beauty or good looks.
Though they may enjoy the compliment, what merit do they
possess in being beautiful? They did not earn it but rather came by
the gift through inheritance or good fortune.
Some may disagree with my drawing analogies between a man or
a woman's beauty and the accomplishments of the learned because
the scholar works hard for success and thus deserves it. Beauty is
not gained through striving but knowledge, according to the
principle of just deserts, is gained by dint of effort, nOt granted.
What I am considering here, however, is that the very capacity for
discipline or insight. for learning and achievement, has itself a
source. It did not create itself. The ultimate source does not lie
within the individual. It lies with Baha'u'llah. The learned merely
share in the bounty that He has bestowed. Of course, unless one
exercises the gift or strives to fulfil the potential, one cannot share
in that bounty. What would be regrettable is that one would not
develop the gift nor cultivate the fallow ground.
Nor should false humility playa part in the recognition of one's
successes, for Shoghi Effendi has qualified this as 'hypocritical' and
'unworthy of a true Baha'I':

There is nothing more harmful to the individual-and also to society - than
false humility which is hypocritical, and hence unworthy of a true Baha'i. The
true believer is one who is conscious of his strength as we1l as his weakness .. ,23

It is rather simply a question of recognizing the True Source of all
gifts. The potter honours the vessel. The vessel does not honour itself.
The vessel may well be admired but it is the potter who receives the
praise. This is one of the meanings of non dignus sum (Lat. = I am not
worthy), a phrase so often on the lips of the great ones of old.
THE FRAGRANCE OF SPIRITUALITY 49

Hearl's Desire

Somewhere at the end of this multi-coloured rainbow, at journey's
end, lies the fulfilment of all the desires of the heart. The greatest of
these is that He might love us, bestow upon us the breath of life,
make us His own and grant us that greatest and most unimaginable
of all pure graces - to live with Him forever.
FIRE AND LIGHT
love is Cognitive
The logician imagines that the cognitive statement is the impregnable
fortress of human thought because it clearly distinguishes true from
false. When the false is eliminated, truth remains, pure, incon-
trovertible, unambiguous rational thought. According to this logic,
pure rationality affords the highest possible degree of certitude. Such
confidence endows the cognitive statement with epistemological
authority, that much sought-after prize cherished by the scientifically
minded. But love, I argue, falls as much as logic within the realm of
the cognitive, for love toO is rational. The cognitive distinguishes the
true from the false. Love also proves to be true or false. Consequently
love is cognitive. True love is at the same time real, rational and
endowed with authority. False love is unreal, irrational and unbeliev-
able. Pascal, who proved himself both as mystic and mathematician,
comes to mind. His famous dictum says: 'Le coeur a ses raisons que la
raison ne connait pas' (The heart has its reasons which reason does not
know). His next line, not so well known, is equally beautiful: 'We feel
it in a thousand things: Then he says: 'Is it by reason that you love
yourself?'! Love's reasons far surpass those of logic.

love Divine
The mystical experience described in paragraph three of the essay below began
in a mundane moment that quickly became transfonned into an extraordinary
event. It occurred one Saturday evening after supper as I was preparing to go out.
1 was actually standing at the ironing board pressing my clothes - a thoroughly
mundane activity. Although I did not note the exact time and date, the experience

54 UNDER THE DIVINE lOTE TREE

took place at about 70 'clock hI the evening itl (ájlber March or April - in central
Canada a transition time between winter and spring.
It was already quite dark outside but a strangely comrasting luminosity
played agaimt the horizml. It was unusually mild that even big a"d a warmish
wind was blowing. I opened wide the balcony doors to look outside and let
the fresh air into the apartnumt. The umtsual combinati01I of luminosity and
the movement of the 'warnl u";lld in the branches ofthe trees Olftside created a
strange. eerie atmosphere. I had returned to the ironing board and picked up
the iron again, when suddenly I became conscious ofan unmistakable mental
and spiritual transformation, This experience was not dramatic. as some other
mystical experiences of mi"e have been. but it 'W'as "onetheless just as real,
The preclailing state was a pervasive peace and a sublime. hea7,.'enly love that I
had never before knUliln and the quiet, assured, undisturbed consciousness ofa higher;
living present'e, Although my everyday state ofconsciollSness was momentarily sig-
lIificantiyaltered, I remained 1I0netheless very much mysel[and I u'as fully aware
ofthe change that had come over me. I had bem IfShered illtoa higber,purerimi-
mation ofdivine life, This mystic visitation came. as it sometimes does. in a time of
great duress alld so brought a wollderful consolation. The troubled tboughts I had
been experiendng only minutes before had completely disappeared. The real sel[had
emerged within the real wor/d. I "'as experiencillg aforetaste ofhe""ell, that divine
love which is all peace and ""hich sustains the life ofboth heavell alld earth.

'Abdu'I-Baha says that there are only four types of love: (1) the
love of God for man (2) the love of man for God (3) the love of
God for the Self of God (4) the love of man for man (humanity for
one another).' The love I write of here is the first type: 'the love that
flows from God to man'.J He says that 'this love is the origin of all
the love in the world of creation'.'
Human love when practised selflessly by lovers is a beautiful and
noble thing. All too often. however. as the great love stories of
literature attest and as daily experience reveals. human love can be
pain-filled and contradictory. full of longing. struggle and regret. In
its more dramatic and darker manifestations. death and tragedy result.
Heavenly love. divine love. in marked contrast. issues from a realm
that is all peace. This type of love cannot. however. be reduced to
peace alone. for such love is more than peace. It is peace and eternal
life. Heavenly love. as its name indicates. is born in heaven and
FIRE AND LIGHT 55

envelops the world in all its graces. This is a love that is solemn and
sacred but without severity. It is an extraordinarily great love, moving
within the inmost heart of the world but still suffusing all things
above and below. This is a love both lucid and still, a love that enriches
to the point where we feel enabled to easily dispense with all else. It
is human love, personal love, but purified and detached, expanded,
heightened, strengthened. It seeps into the depths of the All and
circulates throughout the veins and arteries of the body of the
cosmos, moving with a great regularity, like the life-giving flow of
blood that sustains the whole body and on which it depends. It
bestows 'the peace of God which passeth all understanding'.'
Heavenly love moves in that coincidence of opposites in which
all things are passing away and simultaneously being born anew at
every moment. It is a love that exists in the paradox of eternity that
contains past, present and future alike, both death and eternal life.
When, by some mysterious grace of God, such a love enters our
heart, we have no troubled thought. There is no cry of anguish, no
utterance of pain, sorrow or regret. The soul is wrapped in equanimity.
It lives in eternity. For a moment it dwells in heaven on earth. This
form of heavenly love brings balance and peace of mind to the soul
and liberates all its faculties. Through the aegis of love divine,
everyday waking consciousness is transcended and the soul is lifted
up to some higher station but remains at the same time grounded in
itself. It exists both in the heights and in the depths. This love enriches
as nothing else can.
When love divine invades your heart, you will recognize yourself
as another self, purified, stabilised and brought to some great fulfil-
ment. Through love divine the soul auains maturity. You will become
as the ocean itself, hugging the breast of the vast shores of earth.

True love
True love does not complain of the pain endured in its path. It is a
flourishing branch when once watered never dies. a yearning to
break forth into the higher. purer realms of freedom and grace. True
love is all at once an affirmation, an acceptance, an invitation and an
embrace. a saying yes to God and yes again. This love causes us to
56 UNDER THE DIVINE LOlE TREE

emerge from the hell fire of doubt, denial and despair into the
affirmation of belief and trust and dispenses that power divine
which God has bestowed upon humanity for the dispelling of grief.
It grants the gift of solace to the world.
True love is the most sublime instrument for uniting all hearts. It
points the way to peace and concord and makes a way for the willing
heart to find love's reasons in the face of an arbitrary and irrational
spirit. True love will never knowingly seck to disappoint or hurt
another and will give freely of itself without asking recompense. It
makes light of time, place and age, builds bridges across the void of
days and the diversity of human experience.
Such love knows neither race, colour nor hue bue lifts up its voice
to sing the sweet song of the universal. True love is everywhere and
always the same. It is here and now. Its re-creation lies in the genesis
of its own experience, a perpetual, self-replenishing stream of healing
waters, a balm to each sick and sorry soul) an inspiration to every
aspiring heart. True love decks out the festal board of fellowship and
invites the honoured guest, the special friend to come and sup at the
banquet table of God's love.
True love is a communion of the heans, a meeting of the minds,
and a taking of delight in the company of God's loved ones. It is an
ever-awakening and perpetual discovery of the beauties of soul of all
those who walk the spiritual path. It discovers at each new and
wondrous turn a springtime of joy. True love brings stimulation to
the mind and refinement of the sensibilities. Through the force of
this all-conquering love, humanity will be irresistibly drawn to that
common bond of unity which shall doubtless conquer the ugly
spectacle of malice, discord, hate and war.
True love turns to face the fearful shadows that stalk us at every
turn and dispels them with nothing but a word from Him. It opens
the eyes of the blind and becomes eyes to those who cannot see. It
lightens the burden of those who are in misery and sets them free.
True love is the only hope we may hold in store for the present and
future happiness of the human race. Within the graceful, soaring
wings of this white dove of peace lie concealed every inestimable
grace that God has chosen to bestow upon His people. It is, in sum,
our final salvation and our only hope. It is our first and last prayer.
FIRE AND LIGHT 57

Perfect Faith Means the Then is Now

Trust in God, which Baha'u'ILih says is 'the source of all good',' is a
learned experience. An intellectual understanding of trust will not
serve in moments of crisis. It is, moreover, precisely in moments of
crisis that we learn to trust God, not with our heads hut with our
hearts, and with every fibre of our being. Nothing less will bring us
safely through adversity. Like so many other realities in spiritual life,
there is something mysterious in this process of trust. We may try,
we may falter for as long as it takes, but if we persist through our
pain we shall discover in one sublime moment that wonderful
release that comes with truly placing 'all our affairs" in His hands.
As we learn to trust God, we learn also to grow in faith, for faith is
essentially trust (Gr.pistis). Christ admonished us to be as perfect as
our heavenly Father when He said: 'Be ye therefore perfect, even as
your Father which is in heaven is perfect." I understand this
admonition to mean that we are called to have perfect faith.That
formidable word 'perfect' found in Christ's admonition suggests
something redoubtable, a perfection impossible to attain but one that
we cannot help striving for because perfection in the individual sug-
gests not only moral integrity but also beauty of character.
What does it mean to have perfect faith? There are many meanings
to the phrase. One primary meaning, however, has already been
indicated by both Christ and Baha'u'llah. It is the sure knowledge that
what one has asked of God has already been received. The person of
perfect faith already lives in that future condition when the petition
has been granted. Stated simply, perfect faith means the then is now.
Christ said in SI. Matthew's Gospel: 'And all things whatsoever ye
shall ask in prayer, believing, ye shall receive.'á In The Seven Valleys
Bahi'u'llah alludes to that spiritual condition of being able to see the
end in the beginning. He writes of the mystic wayfarers in the Valley
of Knowledge: 'Yet those who journey in the garden land of knowl-
edge, because they see the end in the beginning, see peace in war and
friendliness in anger.''' For these pilgrims, the then is now.
Seeing the end in the beginning or believing the prayer of petition
has already been granted depends upon a certain visionary experience
of seeing the future in the present. Baha'u'llah certainly knew of the
58 UNDER THE D,V,NE LOTE TREE

difficulty of attaining this condition when He wrote of it, of how
trying it is for frail human beings to see a victorious end when they
feel as if they are only at the beginning of their journey or still in the
thick of their troubles. Yet for all His great compassion, this is
nonetheless the spiritual condition that He calls us to allain.
Baha'u'llah says something quite astonishing in the Prayers and
Meditations that bears on this theme: 'I bear witness that Thou hadst
turned toward Thy servants ere [before ] they had turned toward Thee,
and hadst remembered them ere they had remembered Thee.'" I take
this text to refer to both God and Baha'u'lIah, for according to the
belief in divine unity, divine omniscience is a special attribute of the
Divine Manifestation. Baha'u'lIah, as the Manifestation of God, not
only knows the question before it is asked - He grants the request
before it is made. Put differently in Aristotelian terms, He knows not
only the potentiality but also the actuality, which in this case must be
an actuality not yet realised or thus far not experienced in time. 'Abdu'l-
Baha saw this actuality in the potentiality when, after He laid the
dedication stone of the MotherTemple of the West in Wilmette, Illinois,
on 1 May 1912 is reported to have said: 'The temple is already built.'12
To render this idea somewhat clearer, we may try to imagine a full-
grown oak tree while holding an acorn in our hand. We can imagine
the acorn full-grown because we have seen other oak trees and are
familiar with them. Although we can visualise the full-grown tree, we
cannot actually see this particular oak full-grown when it is still a seed.
But this is precisely what Baha'u'llah can do. He can see the very, indi-
vidual oak in the acorn and see it as it will be. When He asks us to see
the end in the beginning, He is asking us also to dare to have such faith.
This prophetic power is not the same thing as mere clairvoyance
or seeing into the future. For Bah.'u'lI.h not only grasps the person
or the thing as he/she/it will be, but also sees into his/her/its very
nature and understands the essence. This is a power that is reserved
only for the Manifestations of God and differs categorically from
those powers possessed by psychics and spiritual souls.
When He says that He hears our prayer even before we have
turned to Him, we begin to realise something of the unfathomable
greatness of Baha'u'llih. Who has ever said before that He heard the
rising dirge of our prayer while there was still the silence of despair?
FIRE AND LIGHT 59

Who has yet proclaimed that He saw the mighty oak of our faith
when it was still an acorn. that is. even before the seed was planted!
Who has said before that He saw the brilliant. luminous jewel of our
soul when it was still the splintered fragment of a cloudy crystal?
It may happen that these two types of perfect faith - the sure
knowledge that the prayer has already been answered and seeing the
end in the beginning - are combined in one and the same experience.
For seeing is a form of knowing. just as knowing is a form of seeing.

Wonderful Trust
The way of salvation is the way of trust. If we want to overcome our
fears, we must begin to trust Him, to cast away our life with all its will-
ing, controlling, manipulating and predicting. We must be wary of the
sly insinuations of the subtle ego and truly put our life in His hands.
When we become His standard bearer, He shall reveal us to the
world. When we bear aloft the ark of His covenant, He shall bear us
on His shoulders through the battle. When we throw ourselves into
His ocean, we shall walk on water and find safe haven in the arc of
salvation that weathers the fiercest gale. When we cease to be self-
directed, we shall discover what it means to be God-directed.
Our mental afflictions and petty annoyances will disappear little
by little. By paying no heed, we shall not be excessively disturbed
by them. By just continuing in His way and abandoning our life to
Him. we shall begin to know true freedom and true joy. And once
we enter that placeless realm of trust, we shall /ly through the open
skies of the Spirit and our hearts shall rejoice, for we shall know that
we have found the way to true freedom.

Learning To Trust Love
As time passes, I am learning to trust the many faces of love I have
known throughout my life, even the ones that rent my being in
two, the ones I thought so pure and could not bear to live without. I
see now that these many faces of love had something supremely
important to teach me and they go on living inside me, teaching me
even now their own special lessons. For in time, I begin to see more
60 UNDER THE DIVINE LorE TREE

clearly the reasons for lessons once so painful and obscure. Time and
patience help to put all things, even love, into perspective. At least, I
should s~y into a certain perspective, for there is no mystery greater
than love and nothing more confounding and difficult into which to
see clearly. I have also learned to trust the wisdom of my own tears,
for I have found in them, and perhaps especially in them, the secrets
of life's great blessings.
A child's love, though pure, cannot stand the rigours of love. As
adults, we retain and must retain something of the child's love. We
sometimes think that if we can love as children do, we will be happy.
But it is not quite that simple. Love requires something greater than
the innocence of the child. Love requires discipline. Love requires
what the great Carl Jung called 'soul-work'.
With the passing years, I am learning to trust the lamp of Lady
Wisdom, lovely Sophia who burns her golden globe inside me. When
her still, small voice speaks with assured, quiet clarity and when the
multiple voices of guidance are heard as one, we know she speaks
truly. But even this guidance must be tested by experience, one of the
many faces of wisdom. for sometimes our intuitions prove wrong.
As we contemplate our little plans and schemes and those cherished
dreams that have gone astray, we see ever so clearly that God does what
He wills. And faced with His inexorable will, we are quite powerless.
We empower ourselves only in submitting to that will. Even when we
pray with all our hearts, with the very fibres of our being, we must not
think that we shall set the course of love and detennine love's destiny.
For Love itself sometimes answers our prayers in ways contrary to our
first heartfelt expectations. Try as we may, we cannot set the course of
the of-where, the of-how, the of-why our prayer may fly throughout
the universe to knock at the threshold of God's door. We cannot fix
the of-whom it shall mark, the souls it may join together or tear apart
on their appointed courses so that they may be 'sustained by the power
of Truth',13 so that the One Great Will may fulfil Its purpose in our
little lives. Even sincerity cannot hope to rule the Will of God.
We pray for what we will. Yet blinded as we sometimes are by self
and passion, we cannot know before clarity descends, cannot under-
stand the broader sweep, the larger plan, cannOt discern the arc of
destiny, the rod of deliverance, cannot yet completely fathom while
FIRE AND LIGHT 61

we are in transition, the greater destiny, the bounties that await, the
purer love that is about to be born.

Perfect Love
There is no fear in love; but perfect love casteth out fear: because fear hath
torment. He that feareth is not made perfect in love.
1 JOHN 4:18

Perfect love accepts all, does not manipulate, is content. asks
nothing, gives freely, does not mourn, is not consumed with
longing, has no regrets." It is the available warm heart that offers
itself gladly, that joyfully embraces other hearts, both now and
forever. Perfect love is the pure gift of being. gladsome and free,
without condition, a pure gift that simply is.

Loving All of Him
Existentially, the love of God makes unconditional demands. Faith
and love are total experiences. The great commandment of Moses,
uttered by Jesus to a Pharisee that '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'." makes this call to totality clear. The love
of God is with the whole being. The total demands of faith have
made of religion a very powerful, moving force for the development
of civilization. Sadly, as the historical record also attests, this total
response has made religion a terrible force for destruction in the
hands of the fearful, the ambitious and the fanatic.
Loving God means loving all the attributes of His unknowable
essence, however imperfectly we perceive that essence. God is
primarily love, knowledge and will. The Baha', sacred writings declare
that God first created and ordered the universe through the Primal
or First WilL" He said: Be, and it is 17 Will is primary in the knowledge
and experience of God.
What does this mean for spirituality? It means in practical terms
that we cannot say we love God if we detest what is happening in our
personal lives. We cannot say we love God if we deny our destiny.
62 UNDER THE DIVINE LOTE TREE

Loving God means loving all of Him and that must mean loving what
He has willed for us now. What we are experiencing now is our
destiny. Only through fully accepting our destiny can we come to
know and to love God and to know and to love ourselves. Ultimately,
knowing and loving God and knowing and loving self mean the same
thing; 'He hath known God who hath known himself:" It follows,
then, that he has loved God who has loved himself.
One of the meanings of divine unity, whether that unity is
relationship to another or relationship to God, is that the lover sees
God's will in our will and in our will His own. Every true lover of God
realises that the most acute and painful experiences of life. and
perhaps especially these, reflect the wisdom of the divine will. When
we can begin to look upon life tests as instruments for divine healing,
or opportunities for confronting self and for spiritual growth, we will
learn to welcome such adversities and to benefit from them. If we are
able to embrace pain with a willing heart, for the nobler purpose of
our own spiritual development - and by our own spiritual progress
furtherthat of the community and the world - we shall be able to find
love's hidden. gentle consolation. The Divine Archer lets fly love's
arrow truly. With great skill and mastery does His shaft of love speed
to the heart of things. And His dart is a better remedy for our ills than
all the medicines of earthly physicians.
IN SEARCH OF NOTHING
Positive Detachment
Detachment might be defined as an individual's being unaffected by
the negative influences of the world. This definition, however, is
incomplete. The more complete formulation would also express the
converse - being attached to the positive influences of God. Without
qualification, detachment might make a negative definition only. One
might be detached but aloof, unfeeling, uncaring or uninvolved. In
common parlance, detachment has an antisocial nuance, implying
withdrawal from the world. By contrast, the attribute of detachment
in Baha'f spirituality always implies the positive affirmation of attach-
ment to the will of God. Detachment cannot support notions of
negativity or even neutrality. Neutrality is temporary disengagement.
One may temporarily disengage from the world but how does one
temporarily disengage from God or from the will of God?
But from what are we freed, if detached, and how are we to
become so? Detachment expresses itself in one of its meanings as
'Abdu'l-Bah.'s definition of self-mastery. It is self-forgetfulness l
We become detached by forgetting - forgetting the 'thorn in the
flesh',' the demons in the head, the afflictions of the spirit and even,
and just as important, our subtly concocted thoughts. When we
cease to be possessed by thoughts of self, even by our own joys,
sorrows, preoccupations or intellectual schemes, we shall become
possessed by the things of God.
Now another question arises in relation to detachment and the
pervasiveness of pain. How does the wilful or afflicted spirit forget
its own hurts or desires, its pleasure or pain? Simply by attaching
itself to the will of God. Attaching here means letting go and

66 UNDER THE DIVINE lOTE TREE

trusting. I say 'simply' but nothing proves more difficult. However,
with constant practice through the tests of life the seeker does learn
to let go. We feel joy in turning over the insistent self with all its ego
drives to the One who holds in His hands the destinies of all things
and who is able to heal all our ills.
The more we trust, the more we become free. The more we let
go, the less attached we become. Detachment becomes real in those
wonderful moments when we give up our will to God and really
acquiesce to His decree. The ultima thuM (Gk.=furthest island) in
this journey is that safe isle in the ocean of God's love where we live
in and for Him. Such detachment is epitomized in that last of
Baha'u'llah's universe of the valleys, 'the valley of true poverty and
absolute nothingness' when He says: 'This station is the dying from
self and the living in God, the being poor in self and rich in the
Desired One."
In this valley, you find yourself sinking deeper within the self as
if you were immersed in water. But suddenly you discover yourself
standing on ground zero. At that point you have reached land's end.
You have arrived. You are grounded, contented and at peace. In this
state, you remain conscious of both your body and your thoughts
but the body becomes a lighter, more transparent medium. Your
thoughts are no longer wrung out of the mind with so much
intensity and effort. They float by, as Thomas Merton says,like 'big
blue and purple fish' that swim past in the darkness of conscious-
ness ... this sea which opens within me as soon as I close my eyes." I
imagine Merton's big blue or purple thought-fish swimming up to
the surface to catch a rare glimpse of the light, perhaps to make a
break for an insect on the surface of the water, then to glide back
down into darker waters where the sea grasses sleep. Merton's
thought-fish swimming along in the sea of the mind parallels
Baha'u'llah's metaphor of His revelation as the 'most great Ocean'
containing all the aquatic life forms: 'This most great, this
fathomless and surging Ocean is near, astonishingly near unto you.
Behold it is closer to you than your life-vein!"
At deeper levels of detachment, you momentarily lose self-
consciousness. You become totally abstracted. Then, when you return
to yourself, you realize that in a rare moment you have been touched
IN SEARCH OF NOTHING 67

by the bliss of the Glory of God. But you cannot sustain such states
long. They are like Blake's analogy of joy as a winged creature:

He who binds to himself aJoy
Does the winged life destroy;
But he who kisses the Joy as it flies
Lives in Eternity's sun-rise.f':>

Only Seek What God Has Laid Out For You
One Sunday morning in an anxious moment I found myself invoking
God in these words: '0 God! Where shall I go now? What would you
have me do?' I stood looking out of the kitchen window into the back
yard, that stretch of lawn I had so badly neglected over the years. The
rectangular plot was far from being the ideal model of suburban
greenery. It had become unsightly with the passage of time, overrun
with patches of wild clover, plantain, dandelion weed, and nondescript
vegetation growing up between what was left of the grasses, choking
them out of existence on the dry, lumpy, clay-filled soil.
No sooner had I voiced my thought when about a dozen sparrows
flew in from the back yard next door where they had just been feeding
on a narrow strip of grass that ran alongside the neighbour'S garden.
They flew up into the Russian Olive tree in the adjacent yard, rested
there for a moment, and then in one quick motion swooped back
down onto my weedy stretch of lawn.
They seemed happy, those little sparrows, just flocking together
and feeding on the seeds of that poor excuse of a lawn that I had
judged by my own neglect to be so useless. But I fclt nonetheless a
surge of contentment that these little creatures could find sustenance
there. Only moments before, my yard had seemed nothing but an
eyesore. Now, as I watched the birds feed, I saw that weedy plot trans-
formed into a land of plenty. A moment later the sparrows flew back
to the fence, up into the Russian Olive again and down once more for
a final feed. Once sustained, they flew away.
What a life of simplicity, I thought. And in that simplicity came
the answer to the anxious question posed only minutes before. These
68 UNDER THE DIVINE LorE TREE

sparrows were merely following what God had laid out for them,
seeking their sustenance on the wing, flying together, being happy.
The answer to my question came in that epiphanic moment/ in the
beautiful simplicity of their example. 'Go nowhere. Do nothing,'
came the reply. 'Be content simply to follow what God has laid out
for you, flocking together with those whom you love and who are of
like mind. Move from seed to seed in the garden of God's grace,
feeding on what precious moments of spiritual meaning and
contentment the breaking day offers.' Above all, these happy avian
creatures brought the message that I need not seck after anything at
all. What I sought after. God had already generously provided.

What Can I Refuse to the Universe?
One cold winter afternoon I returned home. struggling with a severe
test. In my combative mood. I heard a militant voice rising up inside
me saying: 'I will refuse this test.Jihad' is justified.' As I walked along
the snow-packed street. I began to gaze up and away to the southern
horizon where a pale January sky hung over the edge of the Ottawa
Valley. From the hill where 1 stood in Gatineau. I surveyed the city of
Ottawa. a few miles distant. palled over with snow. The Ottawa River
lay inen below. a frozen. naked ribbon of white. The light of the late
afternoon had begun to fade from the winter sky. The first city lights
along the crown of the capital were just beginning to glimmer.
1 resumed my walk but in the next instant slowed my pace again
and paused. Standing motionless, I looked intently at the winter
panorama stretched out before me. As I stood surveying the frozen
scene, I sensed some deeper force at work. I began 10 hear a slow, barely
audible heanbeat. a great. low rumbling sound from deep within the
world. My impression was one of some awesome and majestic, unseen
force, the world soul containing, sustaining and moving the All. In that
dawning of a higher. deeper consciousness, I became silently aware of
a great mastermind that with the greatest of ease drives all things.
Brought to the conscious realization of such an organization of
power. I began to acquiesce to my situation. My thoughts shifted. The
tension eased. I said to myself: 'What shall I now refuse 10 accept
faced with all this might? What shall I now not accept in the face
IN SEARCH OF NOTHING 69

of this vast and vibrating mechanism,' this "divinely-appointed
system,"10 this universe of life? What shall I now refuse to It? For
does It not sustain all, and all who dwell within It, through Its own
profound laws, Its own skilful unseen ways, Its own hidden wisdom?
What am I and my troubles in the face of this mighty motion? Why
should I refuse to accept the road that I am bound to travel? For the
Maker of that road and the road itself enclose a wisdom that I am
ignorant of. Only let me find a greater trust.' Such thoughts as these
came to me that day as if welling up from a deeper, purer stream that
assuaged the struggles that sometimes pit us here against one another
and set self against self.
I felt my ego shrinking on the face of the cold earth. My former
combative self became greatly pacified against the backdrop of the
grand organization that I contemplated. 'Where was my place: I asked
myself, within such a 'wondrous system'?" My place, I realized, was
to become minute, to adjust myself to the workings of the rhythm of
this great Tao."
More than this. I found satisfaction in the thought that I might not
only shrink, but one day disappear without a trace and become a thing
forgotten, like a drop in an ocean. No nihilistic urge was this. It
seemed rather the appropriate reflection for one small creature living
for such a brief time on the face of this gigantic sphere spinning and
orbiting in space. Thus I discovered on that cold January afternoon
consolation in the grandeur of our world and solace in the thought
that my petty problems would be managed well and would eventually
disappear in the cosmos.

Gravity and Flight
Everyone has two contending tendencies of soul. One is to fly.
The other is to remain grounded. The desire for flight is a longing
for spiritual freedom, a yearning after brilliance, to know fire and
light, to soar in the rarest of climes. It is to be learus.1l When we
experience gravity, we seck the cool darkness of the night season.
We experience desire. We want to be held down, to mix with the
earth and the elements, to remember that we are made of blood and
bone, to take delight in the flesh.
70 UNDER THE DIVINE LOTE TREE

Gravity is not materialism or gross sensuality. It is connectedness
to earth mother. It is recalling our origins in the womb, of being
nurtured at our mother's breast, remembering that we have come
from the matrix of life. It is a desire to return to the source and as
medieval pilgrims once did in the great cathedrals of Europe, seek
sanctuary and protection. Gravity is knowing that only through the
body and the senses can the spirit express itself. Gravity says that
the body takes on qualities of soul, that the soul becomes flesh, that
it seeks the heart's other half, the animus/anima.
But gravity can become a prison. We can easily become
enmeshed in gravity. If the bird of the soul flies too low, it becomes
trapped in the fowler's net. Then it flutters helplessly until it is
either consumed or released by the fowler. Gravity can become
addiction in its many forms, 'the multiple identities that were born
of passion and desire', \4 in the frenetic, inverted search for peace.
We must learn to walk a tightrope between two worlds, to dance
between heaven and earth, to walk on air and return gently to terra
firma. We must learn to raise aspiring, upraised hands to the sky while
moving carefully over ground. We must glance heavenward even as we
dip our feet into the fast-flowing stream of the source of life. For if we
linger too long on earth, our wings will become sullied and we may find
ourselves forced to dwell in the dust, unable to take flight again.
We know when gravity becomes life-threatening, for we hear an
ominous nOte of caution being sounded. If the joy that we have
sought is followed by sorrow, than we know that we are being
overpowered by gravity. If we find ourselves caught in a tournament
of fears, when sorrow jousts repeatedly with joy and passion
altercates with pain, we are being held fast by gravity. Then we must
fly upward again where the air is pure and sweet and where the sky
is clean and blue. As we learn to defy gravity and fly, even as we
welcome the return to earth, we shall no longer be forced to dwell
in the dust, but shall spread our wings and fly again with ease.

Acceptance and Self-Affirmation
Acceptance is everything in spiritual life. First, we have to accept the
fact that we have been born. If we do not accept that we are in the
IN SEARCH OF NOTHING 71

world, life becomes hateful. The sad spectacle of suicide occurs when
the soul is unable to accept life in this world. Once we accept being-
in-the-world, we have to accept our share of life's tests and difficulties,
its 'changes and chances'," its hard knocks and 'body blows'."
Many of us also have to accept failed relationships. The ego
reluctantly admits responsibility for its actions, but acceptance is
salutary. Many good lessons are to be found in failure that serve us
positively in the next stage of life. Perhaps the hardest thing is to
accept death, either our own or another's. To lose someone we have
lived with for a long time and loved dearly is not easy. Nor is it easy
to lose a child, that most cherished fragment of your heart and soul,
that still fresh flower of youthful possibilities. But time brings
acceptance and acceptance brings peace. The death of self likewise
proves very hard, for self does not die without a fight.
'Growing old gracefully', even though it witness the gradual
decline of powers and abilities, is an attitude we can cultivate and
even rejoice in, for all stages of life contain their own particular joys
and sorrows, rewards and punishments. One day we shall see that
death, that grand imposter, is not the end at all, but a new and radiant
beginning, when we shall be thankful for all we have experienced
and endured.
Some might view acceptance as a rather passive virtue. It is not
valued in a consumer society that puts a premium on control -
regrettably there is no premium on self-control- on setting one's own
agenda and gratifying desire. But passivity is not to be equated with
weakness. Clay is a passive recipient in the hands of the sculptor but
as the sculptor moulds the material, a new form is created. Passivity
indicates a willingness to be acted upon by the force or forces greater
than self, the forces of tension and test, of love and will.
But what if the heart breaks? The broken heart learns in time to
become the willing heart, the heart that is open, the heart through
which the warm blood of life still flows. The broken heart is the
heart that God does not despise: 'The sacrifice acceptable to God is
a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, a God, thou will not
despise.'l7 Willingly receiving something that is imposed, some
weight or burden that one cannot so easily throw off, is precisely
what makes acceptance such a mighty virtue in spiritual life.
72 UNDER THE D,VINE LorE TREE

The sister virtue of acceptance is self-affirmation. Without self-
affirmation, acceptance makes us victims. When we combine accept-
ance with self-affirmation, we become active agents for creative
possibilities. Rather than submitting passively to 'the slings and
arrows of outrageous fortune', IS we become active participants in the
creation of our own destiny. We seize the threads of life and begin to
weave our own pattern. We run swiftly with the ball we have been
handed in the game of life, We playas judiciously as we can the hand
we have been dealt. Whatever is in the cards or in the stars, we shall
count as gain in the end.

The Blessing of the Impossible Dream
The song from Carousel, the 1960s' musical, says that we should
'Dream the Impossible Dream', Yet I am thinking that it is sometimes
better, sometimes wiser, not to dream the impossible dream. I would
like to fly off the ground but I cannot. I should like to travel with my
body at the speed of light but it can't be done. I may desire friendship
with a certain person hut such a friendship does not happen or is not
advisable. I may desire to overcome an adverse condition with prayer.
But prayer alone does not suffice. I shall have to take actual steps,
physical steps, or perform certain deeds in order for my prayer to be
realised. I may desire with all my heart that a certain door open but
it remains shut and with good reason.
The voice that says 'nothing is impossible' as it pursues its own
lusty plan may be speaking with the exalted voice of hubris. Now
Christ did say that 'with God all things are possible'.J' But I hear an
unspoken note of wisdom in Christ's saying, a voice implied in
these authoritative words. That voice says that all things possible are
not desirable. It is good for us to determine which of these 'all
things' of which Christ speaks are the things of God.
Now the imagination can easily conceive of things impossible
and through this ability imagination proves to be an incredible
power. I may well imagine, for example, that I find a block of ice in
the middle of the Sahara Desert, but reason tells me that even if I
can find such a thing, it will not be there for long. Even though I can
create the image in the mind's eye, I know that such a conception
IN SEARCH OF NOTHING 73

exists only in the imagination. Here dreaming the impossible dream
produces neither practical result nor benefit.
Faith does indeed have the power to defeat nature and so render
the impossible dream possible. But sometimes it is better to let
nature defeat us. In jurisprudence, the legal meaning of 'impossible'
is 'impracticable in the nature of the case'. We may well 'hitch our
wagon' of imagination to the 'star' of faith, but we should decide
whether or not the dream is really desirable before making it a
reality. This mismatch of the dream to reality explains the meaning
of the commOn saying about prayer one sometimes hears these
days: 'Be careful what you pray for. You may get it.' Or as the jurist
might say, the impossible dream is 'not practicable'. The question is:
do we really desire to have what we do not really want? We may well
conceive something imaginatively but once the thing becomes ours,
we sometimes no longer know what to do with it. We JUSt cannot
execute our plan because we really know better. At such times, the
voice of Lady Wisdom is whispering in our ears: 'not practicable'.
We ignore that voice at our peril.
Those things that can be conceived when faith and imagination
conspire are literally incredible; that is, they are beyond belief.
'Beyond belief' means here that belief has become reality. Energy
has been poured forth to bring the impossible dream into reality.
Reality is beyond belief because it is already in the here and now. We
do not have to believe in existence. We are in existence.
To dream the impossible dream, something more than dreaming
is required. Will power is required. Love is required. Labour is
required. Discipline is required. Commitment is required. When faith
and imagination join forces, things happen, great works are accom-
plished in deed, not just in thought or word. Some plans deserve to
be born. With them our labour is justified since they are a benefit to
others and to ourselves. But other plans miscarry. And miscarry they
should, where nature has deemed, through her own wisdom, that they
are not fit to live in the world.
THE SUPREME TALISMAN
The Human Person
Man is the supreme Talisman. 1
IIAHA'u'llAH

The human person is the model, the life form on earth beyond which
'there is no passing'.' Without the human being there would be no
literature, no 3rt, no philosophy, no science, no history; in short, no
civilization at all. While this last statement may be a truism, it bears
reflection nonetheless. Without the human being, there would be
nothing but a void and meaningless world; in fact, no world at all since
we would not be in it. 'Abdu'I-Baha says: 'For the enlightenment of
the world dependeth upon the existence of man. If man did not exist
in this world, it would have been like a tree without fruit." The world
found meaning in human terms only when Adam, as recorded in the
opening passages of the Book of Genesis, endowed creation with logos
by naming the creatures.' This naming of the creatures by Adam is an
extraordinarily significant act in the history of human thought. In one
sense it announces the beginning of philosophy, for the ability to name
things means that one has discerned their identity. It is the human
being who ascribes meaning to creation at the bidding of God.
In this connection, philosophers have failed to direct their atten-
tion to an essential relationship in the world of existence. Although
they have analysed in detail the meanings created by the meaningful
one (man), they have not scrutinized the source of meaning, man
himself. There are, consequently, philosophies of all sorts of things,
but no anthrophilosophy; there are philosophies of life, but structured
philosophies of the human being are only just beginning to emerge.

78 UNDER THE DIVINE LorE TREE

Is it not better to attempt to understand the one who ascribes mean-
ing, as well as the meanings themselves? Understanding the source of
meaning (the human being) is cenainly as desirable as understanding
meaning's derivatives (philosophy).
Regarding the revelation of the names and attributes of God in
the world of creation in relation to man, Baha'u'lhih has written:

How resplendcnt the luminaries of knowledge that shine in an atom, and
how vast the oceans of wisdom that surge within a drop! To a supreme degree
is this true of man, who. among all created things. hath been invested with
the robe of such gifts. and hath been singled out for the glory of such
distinction. For in him arc potentially revealed all the auributcs and names
of God to a degree that no other created being hath excelled or surpassed.
All these names and a[tributes arc applicable to him. E\'en as He hath said:
'Man is My mystery. and I am his mystery.';

Like ~bdu'I-Baha who is the Greater Mystery," man is the lesser
mystery of God. Bending the mind to discover the multiple meanings
of the whole human person in an integrated anthrophilosophy bids fair
as a promising project, as a great intellectual enterprise. As we delve
deeper into this new spiritual anthropology, we shall enter into a
second Renaissance, one that will far outshine the movement of the
ans and sciences that radiated outward from nonhern Italy in the
fourteenth century. We arc now on the verge, not merely of that second
Renaissance, but of the entirely new and unprecedented birth of a uni-
fied global community. One of the distinguishing features of the world
about to be born will be the full recognition of spiritual personhood.

The living Question
Where did you come from, little one? Who are you? Where do you
belong? Where are you going? Who are you, venerable one? What
is your story? What is your reason? What tales lie wrapped up inside
you? What countries have you travelled through? Let me hear your
rhyme. What times you must have lived in, what climes you must
have seen! Ah, to me you are a living question, a wonderful mystery.
You are old, but you arc still young. Your face is wrinkled, your
THE SUPREME TALISMAN 79

body frail, but your soul has the freshness of youth. Why must you
leave the world so soon? I will miss you.

A Vision of the Children of Tomorrow
I see in my dream the children of tomorrow seated between the freshly
planted rows in the garden of knowledge. They peacefully absorb with
all the reverent concentration of which they are capable. These pure
souls are wedded to knowledge from an early age. Through the
solicitous care of their elders, they learn to revere spiritual education.
They are ever eager to assimilate every truth planted in the green garden
of mysteries and to drink, in earliest childhood, from the fountain of
divine truth.

Dancing Angels? A Spoof on Pseudotheology'
The theologians and their students leaned a little more closely
together to engage the debate. The question was put by the chair.
'What we have here, my friends: the cleric intoned, 'is not a case in
the artifice of oratory, nor an example of deceptive ambiguity,
but a question not at all, you see, devoid of substance. I pose today's
question as follows: do we dance around the angels orthey around us?
'This is not, do not be deceived, a mere trifling matter or a now
outmoded quodlibetS of schoolmen that once resounded throughout
our hallowed lecture halls. This is a question vital to all those devoted
to the Cause of Truth.'
Heads nodded in agreement, as the theologian plodded on,
underscoring the weightiness of the subject.
'Beware of thinking that it does not matter. Of course it matters!
We make mention here of angels. We converse in this place about
God. What subject could be more important, what issue more
weighty? Lack of interest in such a question would be tantamount
to neglect of the worthy pursuit of metaphysical truth.' A murmur
of assent ran through the hall.
With these opening remarks, the discussion was engaged. A
learned theologian, supported by his students, took up the case for
the affirmative.
80 UNDER THE DIVINE LOTE TREE

'We argue', he began, 'in favour of the second proposition. We
declare that the angels dance around us. The angels dance around us
because the fact that they are able to dance means that they have free-
dom of movement. Having freedom of movement clearly infers that
they have greater power. If you are able to dance around someone, as
in the expression 'she danced rings around him', you are unquestion-
ably possessed of superior power and ability. Furthermore, the fact that
the angels dance around us, that is, in a circle, is very suggestive.
Esoterically, it indicates that they have become initiates into that
ancient symbol of unity. Only inductees into the sacred temple of the
divine mysteries enjoy the hidden mysteries claimed by those initiates.
These angelic beings alone may claim the right to dance in a ring.'
The theologian waded ahead. 'Consider further these arguments.
Those who are able to dance around us would ostensibly be free to
move, while we would be obliged to sit still in the middle of the circle.
This sitting still indicates that we are motionless; in a sense, that we
do not have the right to move since we are surrounded by them. This
clearly indicates the superior power and privilege of the angels.
Unavoidably, the conclusion must be drawn that the angels dance
around us,'
A respectful hush fell over the assembly as it sat quietly reflecting
on the presentation just made. At the appointed signal from the chair,
a second theologian arose and gravely began to make his case, this
time for the negative. Without hesitation and with great enthusiasm,
he launched into his demonstration.
'My learned friend has presented an impressive argument, but
with all the respect due to the wise in holy orders, he errs. I argue,
consequently, in favour of the first proposition: that we dance around
the angels. It is abundantly clear, following the courtly analogy, that
we must dance around the angels because only kings and nobles have
the right to sit undisturbed while their attendants move about them.
It is clear that we, occupying a rank lowerthan the angels, must move
about them at their pleasure, and busy ourselves doing their bidding
and fulfilling their every want and need. Such exalted spiritual powers
must be waited upon. They do not wait upon others. Therefore, we
can safely conclude that we dance around the angels, that is, we do
their obeisance, not the reverse.'
THE SUPREME TALISMAN 81

The assemblage listened in rapt attention. 'Further, to dance
around others indicates that only those at the centre of the circle are
entertained by the dancing. The dancers are engaged in dancing, not
enjoyment. It is clear in this case that it would necessarily have to
be the angels who would enjoy such dancing. We would not be
entertained by their dancing, for the dignity of their rank and
station would prevent this. To be entertained by them would not
befit their exalted position. Therefore, it is clear that only those of
a lower rank would dance to entertain those of a higher rank.
Therefore, it must be that we dance around the angels.'
A deep silence fell, followed by a flurry of voices while the newly
exercised theologians excogitated meaningfully in order to settle the
vexed question and to ponderthe merits of thesis and antithesis. Just
then a 'still small voice" - that of a unnoticed choirboy who had been
watching from the precincts outside the learned circle - dared to
speak up. With mild but disarming penetration the innocent child
raised the question: 'But, reverend sirs, we cannot see the angels. How
would we know that they dance around us or not?'
The theological society fell into an embarrassed silence, the
tangled web of words broken by youthful innocence and wisdom.

Ego and the Scholar
Ego, that subtle seducer, is an ever-present danger to the scholar.
Even though one be motivated by a love of truth, the dangers of ego-
entrapment loom up all the same, casting long shadows over the
scholar's work. The calculated risk of scholarship is that one become
self-centred rather than truth-centred. Here we encounter the
conundrum of the relationship between the scholar and his/herwork.
The pretended 'objective' status of scholarship is a delusion. The
claim that scholarship is an independent body of knowledge, unrelated
and unconnected to the scholar, existing, in some sense outside the self
as pure argument, elucidation or concrete findings, is untenable. For
the scholar shares at least this in common with the poet. Both are
engaged in the act of poie" (I make). Both make something. In this
sense, scholarship is a creative expression or labour, an extension, as
it were, of the self. Scholarship is thus a highly subjective act.
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While truth may be the supreme objective, the scholar is unavoid-
ably engaged with self as the medium through which truth emerges.
This subjective engagement means that no scholar can present his or
her understanding of truth in a totally objective, Olympian fashion.
The nature of the scholar's task is always to fall back on one's own
thoughts, research, resources and defences - in shon, one's own
view of this or that particular corner of the universe of thought. To
the extent that the scholar is attached to his own views, he or she is
ego-bound.
While the free exercise of the reflective self is the mainspring of
scholarship, this privilege carries at the same time certain respon-
sibilities. Like a missile flying through space that must correct its
trajectory to remain on course, the reflective self is likewise in
constant need of correction. Spirituality is the best remedy for the
work of the scholar and indeed must exist in a symbiotic relationship
with the pursuit of knowledge. It is all too easy to fall into the tangled
web of one's own conceits. Standing back from the work and
removing the self as much as possible aid in this process of retaining
clarity of vision.
To the proud and ostentatious, as Baha'u'llah has often warned,
knowledge becomes a veil that makes one blind not only to divine
truth but, just as important, to one's own conceit. That one can be
'massively learned'lO but spiritually blind or morally defective is one
of the strange maladies that afflict certain academics.
Baha'u'llah has drawn a clear demarcation line between divine
and satanic knowledge. In a trenchant passage, He categorizes the
arrogant among those versed in the satanic:

Know verily that Knowledge is of two kinds: Divine and Satanic. The onc
welleth out from the fountain of divine inspiration; the other is but a
reflection of vain and obscure thoughts. The source of the former is God
Him.e1f; the motive-force of the latter the whisperings of selfish desire. The
one is guided by the principle: 'Fear ye God; God will teach you;' the other
is but a confirmation of the truth: 'Knowledge is the most grievous veil
between man and his Creator: The former bringeth fonh the fruit of
patience. of longing desire. of (rue understanding. and love; whilst the latter
can yield naught but arrogance. vainglory and conceit. I I
THE SUPREME TALISMAN 83

No hyperbole, this passage indicates that for some strange souls,
the acquisition of learning proves to be an insidious disease. But
however one defines satanic knowledge, if knowledge is gold, then
we should be wary of 'the men who moil for gold'á2 in a fever. For
learning that leads to 'arrogance, vainglory and conceit' will make
one blind to the colour of gold itself.
The tempests of ego really mount up in a fury when a scholar is
driven to control, manipulate or dominate others by dint of
reputation or learning. Here is the perverse side of scholarship. Such
fierce storms have laid waste many a fair land.
'Abdu'l-Baha writes that •... self-love is kneaded into the very clay
of man ..:" One expression of this self-love is the desire to be
always at the centre of things. Egocentrism is dangerous, not only
because it impedes the spiritual progress of the scholar, but also
because it increases the fawning of the obsequious or produces its
own naive victims who are over-awed by learning.
The truly learned would despise conceit if such loathing did not
further arm the ignorant. It is a powerful voice that says: '1 know.
You do not;' but it is a voice that rings patently hollow. Whether
shouted aloud, quietly affirmed or merely implied, this voice either
disappoints, angers, or alienates. Bah:i'u'll:ih commanded that
certain of His writings be thrown into the Tigris. This gesture
demands profound reflection on the part of every scholar who
values detachment.

The Mystic
While the scholar is exposed to the dangers of egocentrism, certain
drawbacks are also inherent in the life of the mystic or the
contemplative, as they themselves have often testified. Excessive
solitude and a certain aloofness from engaging in and with the world
impede the process of contributing to 'an ever-advancing
civilization'." The mystic life, however, is not a project of erecting
a framework for the objectification of intellectual truth, but rather
a journey, an experience of the active and growing realization of the
Self of God within the immortal soul, the bride of the Beloved. The
mystic takes up the infinitely difficult task of the 'practice of the
84 UNDER THE DIVINE LOTE TREE

presence of God' from moment to moment, of finding traces of
God's face in all of creation and hearing some faint echo of the
Divine voice in the human hean and amid the complexities of
human experience when one's guide must be as much oneself as the
written word.
The dangers of spiritual pride, passivity and self-absorption are
ever-present to both scholar and mystic alike. But the mystic knows
that ultimately it is the awakening of the mind and the
spiritualization of the soul that alone will win salvation. The mystic
knows that formal learning and its accomplishments, unless they be
entirely dedicated to the service of God, have a relatively minor role
to play in the salvation of the soul.
The mystic sets out alone to trek across the endless desert of the
divine mind. To sail upon the boundless ocean of existence mystics
rely, not upon the knowledge of others, but on nothing other than
the all-sufficing grace of God, 'and with unquestioning reliance on
His promises as the best provision for their journey'." And while
seeking communion with the Spirit of God, mystics must endeavour
at the same time to become a source of social good and contribute to
the advancement of society, without becoming either a slave or a
victim to its demands.
The mystic transcends all earthly loves in order to find love
divine. And if he does find earthly love, he knows that it can survive
only if sustained by that larger, more spacious reality of divine love.
He flees from the dialectic of subtle disputation in order to hold
holy discourse. He tires of endless words, conferences and debates,
no matter how brilliant. He would rather be back in his study with
his books and his God, thinking things over, and, Zen-like, 'sitting
quietly, doing nothing."á
He regrets if at any time he has become drunk with the power of
his own words or has insisted too strongly on his own opinion. All
this defining, qualifying, being precise, has a hollow ring and fades as
fast as the echo of a lone voice in a canyon. He would like to leave
behind the learned assembly that struggles with itself, to abandon the
loquaciousness, the gifts displayed. He would rather simply think
things over and thank God for ever-present favours and beseech Him
lest he slip unknowingly into the firepit of his own ego.
THE SUPREME TALISMAN 85

let Mystic Souls Appear

I know that God has created mystic souls in the world and I am
longing for them to appear, so that they may touch me and teach me
what they know. I am longing to meet them and to share with them
the secrets and mysteries of the divine life. I am longing juSt to share
their company and be in their presence so that they may heal me and
change me forever.

The Cult of the Petty Personality
o friet1ds! Let not the deceptive glamour of this fleeting world - to whose
impermanence all things attest - cut you offfrom God's l71during bestowals, nor
deprive you from partaking of the spiritual sustenance that He hath sent dawn
from the heavet1 of His bounty. "
BAHA'u'LLAH

The cult of the petty personality, which has by now permeated all
industrialized societies and is rapidly colonizing the developing
world, is both shallow and false because it ignores the meaning of
true artistry and degenerates into narcissism.Those who idolize the
actor or the pop artist, who idealize the current leader or
mindlessly follow or cater to the influential personalities of the day,
fail to realize that the qualities they have imagined have a greater
source outside and beyond the individual, who merely reflects
them. These devotees of 'pop culture' are not at all conscious that
any such gifts are not the proprium of the artist, leader or celebrity.
Their gifts are by nature endowments, a point I have touched on
elsewhere. ls By definition, an endowment is something one has
received. If anything, one should be grateful to the source of the
endowment, rather than idolizing its recipient. The cult of the
petty personality will persist as long as its followers fail to observe
these words of Baha'u'llah: 'God grant that all men may turn unto
the treasuries latent within their own beings.'!' The only remedy
for the mindless adulation of the rich, the powerful and the famous
is to become fully conscious of the divine bestowal of one's
self-worth.
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The Laughing Saint

The French have a saying pertinent to my theme - Un saint triste est
un triste saint (A saint who is sad is a sad saint indeed). The flavour
of the double entendre is lost in the translation but the message is
nonetheless conveyed. Some of the funniest people I know are saints.
Real saints have learned to laugh at themselves and this ability is, I
think, one of the deepest roots in the psychology of humour. These
saints are happy because they have learned to laugh at the very things
that in other circumstances gave them embarrassment or pain. It takes
a secure and liberated person to laugh at oneself. The insecure person
is always offended by the joke that pokes fun at self or others, for he
wrongly imagines that deprecatory laughter is humiliation.
What the self-righteous do not realize, however, is that laughing
at oneself or others is really just another way of loving the imperfect
creature in us all. For it is precisely the imperfections of the self that
make it profoundly winsome and loveable. At a deeper level, we love
those whom we love, not in spite of, but because of their faults. The
'perfect person' without foibles, who lacks any aura of humanity, is
not really very appealing. The laughing saint knows, as William Sears
wrote all those years ago, that 'God loves laughter'." The laughing
saint recognizes in these three words just another door to self-
transcendence and liberation.

John H. Wilcoll: Cowboy Pioneer
John H. Wilcolt was a cowboy pioneer who settled in Kendall,
Montana. An old photograph" shows him mounted on a fine horse
with his ten-gallon hat cocked to one side. His lasso is hanging down
from his western saddle horn and the handle of a redoubtable
six-shooter sits in full view high up on his hip. He is wearing a
handsome bandanna and his chaps are decorated with engraved silver
buttons. Fearsome spurs jut back from his cowboy boots and his
sleeves are rolled up to the elbows. If you look at his picture closely,
you'll see a robust man with a zest for life, a man proud of his new
accomplishments, who had found himself at last on the plains of
Montana.
THE SUPREME TALISMAN 87

John H. Wilcott was no tenderfoot. When he went for the mail,
he carried a gun because of wild steers and snakes. 'This country is
wild with rattlesnakes and wolves,' he says in a letter dated 1910.
'Oil costs fifty cents a gallon, potatoes four cents a pound. Before
the cold weather came I used to lie in bed in the morning and shoot
sage hens or prairie chicken:22 Since the country was infested with
rattlesnakes, he and his mama dared not sleep with an arm outside
their beds. The hens and chickens would destroy their garden and
four or five times a day he would venture out and drive them away
along with the rabbits.
Mr. Wilcott had settled in Montana 10 proclaim the Baha', Cause.
He brought the Baha', teachings to frontiersmen who would swear
at him when he gave them a pamphlet, and curse the name of God.
So he gave them instead an old newspaper from Santa Anna sent to
him by a missionary offering Christ crucified, or a book called
Indian Wars and Brave Deeds.
From her tent on the plains, Mama Wilcott tended to sick
cowboys, sheep herders, the newly-settled and wanderers. I wonder
how many of those rough and ready men had an inkling who this
'diploma doctor' really was, the one who ministered to their physical
ailments and nursed along that rarer spiritual need she detected in a
few. Along with the few medicines in her possession, she poured out
on them the balm of the love of God.
Before he became a cowboy pioneer. John H. Wileott was a one-
time city dweller in Kenosha. Wisconsin. In 1910 he left Kenosha,
once called Pike Creek village and later Southport, a city that had a
fine situation above Lake Michigan and an excellent harbour, a
prosperous manufacturing centre, a historical and art museum and the
Petrifying Springs Park. All this he left to become a cowboy pioneer.
John H. Wileott was no great artist who desperately seeks and
finally finds fame, the kind of fame the ambitious will die for. He did
not need any descent into hell to transform his spiritual consciousness,
no deranging of the senses so that he could emerge purified. John H.
Wilcott needed no Dionysian excesses to find out who he really was.
He knew what the greatest deed in the world was and he did it.
Now who is going to remember John H. Wilcott? A fewofus may
end up being remembered as a footnole in a scholarly article. or as a
88 UNDER THE DIVINE LOTE TREE

book on a fond reader's shelf. Some may be interviewed on the radio
or even on Tv. A very few of us will end up being remembered by
history, or they may write an article for an encyclopedia or better still
be in an encyclopedia. Most of us, however, will die obscure, just
one of the millions who pass this way throughout the dusty ages on
planet earth.
But this cowboy pioneer who roamed the bleak plains of
Montana rode in the Lord's vineyard. John H. Wilcott knew who he
was. He knew that 'in the land of the free and the home of the brave'
the way to glory was to become a cowboy pioneer.
THE BODY BEAUTIFUL
Love and the Body Beautiful
Today the 'body beautiful' has become an overt sex object, flaunted
on the commercial market, just one more product of desire. This
enslavement of corporeal beauty to carnal desire has in effect reduced
and deprived beauty of its more subtle powers to awaken, to refine, to
captivate and to please. Beauty as reflected in the more quiescent
organic and inorganic life forms that we find in nature and the
creatures, or in the elegance of architecture and the variegated patterns
found in works of art, has today become sacrificed to more sensual
appetites.
By contrast, for the ancient Greeks, in whose sculpted and linear
proportions we find the rOOts of western aesthetics, and for Plato
especially, the love of beauty was intimately interwoven with the
love of God. In Plato's account of the 'ladder of love' in his superb
dramatic dialogue The Symposium, Plato elaborated his philosophy
of love in the ascent of the soul upward to the world of Forms as being
caught up in a vision of beauty at the end point of knowledge. Plato's
idea of beauty being wedded to knowledge concords with an idea of
'Abdu'I-Baha on the same theme. 'Abdu'I-Baha says: 'If, then, the
pursuit of knowledge lead to the beauty of Him Who is the Object
of all Knowledge, how excellent that goaL." In Diotima's speech to
Socrates at the dinner-party (symposium), Diotima argues that the
soul ascends by the initiate's ability to be rightly led from the lower
forms of physical beauty upward to moral beauty and then on to the
beauty of knowledge whose true object is 'absolute beauty and knows
at last what absolute beauty is'.' For both Plato and 'Abdu'I-Baha,that
absolute Beauty is an ecstatic vision of the Beauty of God.

92 UNDER THE DMNE LOTE TREE

For Plato, at the highest levels in the world of Forms, all the
sublime attributes tend to coalesce. Thus, not only love, knowledge
and beauty, but also the virtues and truth itself are all expressions of
one manifold:

Do you not see that in that region alone where he [the contemplative] sees
beauty with the faculty capable of seeing it, will he be able to bring fonh not
mere reflected images of goodness but true goodness, because he will be in
contact not with a reflection but with the truth?]

For Plato true love causes us to perceive 'absolute beauty in its
essence, pure and unalloyed ... divine beauty where it exists apart and
alone'.' Plato's aesthetic vision consisted, then, not only of a trans-
cendent fusion of love and beauty but also of that essence which
contains virtue, purity and truth.
How fitting it is to remember in this context that one of the many
titles of Baha'u'lhih is the 'Blessed Beauty' Uamal-i-Mltbarak) and
that those who love and contemplate Him may experience Plato's
radiant fusion of love, knowledge and beauty as a high point in the
soul's ascent. This is one of the meanings of the beatific vision spoken
of by the mystics.

Consumer Psychology and Glorifying the Body
It seems to me that today's frenetic society has missed a fundamental
point of logic with its on-line, no-wait, quick-bred consumer
psychology. In all affluent societies, manufactured goods have become
the idols that masquerade and substitute for spiritual values. They are
the body that is worshipped without the spirit. North Americans
especially have developed the cult of the body beautiful in an
obsessive, sensate, corporeal materialism that would have astonished
the ancient Greeks. Sensate appetites are being fully exploited in the
media by commercial interests, in a denatured and desperate drive to
possess the soul. Sophisticated consumer items have become the little
rewards to which one treats oneself, the badges proudly worn that mark
success, the soothing comforts one freely bestows upon oneself or
others to relieve the nerve-shattering stresses of our frenzied way of life.
THE BODY BEAUTIFUL 93

A recent luxury automobile television commercial tells the story
of substitute values. It opens with the strains of celestial music, the
intoning of a heavenly choir. The coveted white status symbol glides
into the picture screen, slinking sleekly around a comer into full view.
The heavenly music crescendoes. The celestial voices are raised to an
exalted pitch. The apocalyptic moment has come at last - the victo-
rious entrance of the promised one. Hosanna in the highest! The
accompanying voice message is terse, proud and challenging.
'Celebrate the guts and the glory.' The inversion is complete. A cause
for celebration, the acquisition of courage, the celestial attribute of
glory, are now made readily available to those with the requisite cash
flow or viable credit margin.
But even such crass commercial messages provide us with meta-
physical food for thought. If the avid promoters of consumer products
want to glorify the objects they hold up for public envy, why not
glorify instead the spirit that made such things? We do not have to
inject God and religion into the discussion at all. Is not the human
genius that made the car greater than the car itself? The compact disc,
the multimedia computer, the cellulartelephone, the 'surround sound'
high-definition television and all the other techtronic' miracles being
hatched out in the research labs of the industrialized nations - not to
forget the item that framed this reflection, the luxury automobile - are
marvellous inventions every one. But if one wants to idolize them in
such a fashion and sing their praises, why not be prouder of the spirit
that created such things than of the things themselves?
It would make much more sense for those who have jettisoned
God and religion in this consumer-oriented society, to found a
purely secular religion based on the adulation of the human mind.
At least it would lead to the worship of the intellectual as well as the
material. Atheistic though such a hollow religion would be, it would
still be better than the worship of the fabricated objects so keenly
coveted by the consuming public. This is only slow logic. But the
late twentieth century dedicated consumer is not only possessed..
For all his sophistication and know-how, he has become deaf and
dumb. In his blind adoration of technically performing material
goods, he cannot even lift up his sights to recognize that the human
spirit is greater than the thing it has made.
94 UNDER THE D,V,NE lOlE TREE

Goodness is Now Obsolete

Today goodness holds little interest for the popular imagination and
is regarded as virtually obsolete. It has consequently become void of
the power of moral persuasion it once enjoyed. Nothing can be got
from goodness. So the people think. For them, it is a useless, devital-
ized thing. In postmodern literature, for example, the genuinely good
person is largely ignored by writers as being a lack-lustre individual.
This is one of the failings of modern characterization generally, that
the hero or 'good person' has suffered an eclipse. The virtuous
character, if not actually suspect, is perceived as uniformly flat and
has consequently received little attention from loday's writers, except
to be cast in the role of victim or as a modicum of mediocrity.
Goodness. however, implies not JUSt something benign, but also a
quality of strength. Today's fiction writer may well find a challenge
in creating reader interest through depicting the strong, vinuous
individual, but we all stand to be enriched and inspired by the reinte-
gration of a certain moral authority into contemporary literature. It is
not a forgone conclusion, even in roday's post modern mind set, that
goodness or strength of character will not sustain reader interest and
serve the best interests of contemporary writing. For is it not true
that goodness and strength are what we end up loving most?

The Metophysics of History and Fine Art
Over the millennia civilizations have come and gone, but still their
traces remain. In the spare and graceful lines of temple columns, in
script, in artifacts of all sons, the remnants of ancient peoples still
bear witness to their pas!. Behind the desire of the historian to
know and to record history integrally, to capture the whole sweep
of evolving, organized human life on the planet, lies the quest for
etern ity. All history radiates onward as one flowing stream of
spiritual energy, as fluctuations of a wave. Just as science attains the
personal the more it advances,' so does history attain the infinite the
more widely it surveys. I~rom the atomic moments of particular
civilizations, the historian broadens his vision to survey patterns, to
observe the 'rise and fall', a metaphorical phrase itself dependent on
THE BODY BEAUTIFUL 95

the metaphysical notions of causality, space and time. The desire to
discover, in the German historian Leopold von Ranke's well-known
phrase, 'wie es eigentlich gewesen' (how things really were or what
really happened), points to interpretation. Providential history espe-
cially has an inescapable metaphysical component.
In the abstract sense, as there is only one religion, the religion of
humanity, there is only one history, the history of the human race
on the planet earth. Although only rocks and rubble, broken and
silent temple columns and long-deserted arenas and amphitheatres
may survive from past ages, these remains are very much our history.
For it is our history's roots that lie in those rocks and rubble, in
those mute pillars of the temple, in the silent amphitheatre or the
decaying spons palace. The historian reestablishes the continuity,
forges the direct links between the ancestors and ourselves.
As a quest for the infinite and the eternal, history cannot be under-
stood without an effort of the imagination. It is with imagination as
well as with documents and artifacts that history is reconstructed.
Imagination works the creative synthesis that assists in the recon-
struction of past events. In this sense, the writing of history is a creative
act. The historian must imaginatively reconstruct the ancient
scenarios that he or she surveys. Since the historian is distant in time
from the scene or events, this reconstruction must be a kind of re-
creation. The historian must make the sought-after events come alive
again in a process that cannot be achieved without the collaboration
of both intellect and imagination. But the synthetic powers of
imagination in this case can never be exact. They are only loosely
representative of the events they seek to recreate.
Many consider history, like art, to be immobile. One speaks, for
example, of 'the dead weight of the past' as if past events were buried
and inert. But the paradox of history is that the past is both dead and
alive. History is dead in the sense that the selfsame event can never
be relived exactly as it was. But it remains alive and moving in the
major events that shape the present age and in the everyday gestures
of individuals, as well as in the life of nations. History is alive in the
present tense of current events and in individual lives; the happenings
of the past, for good or ill, perpetuate themselves into the present and
have to a great extent determined what we are doing now. Especially
96 UNDER THE DIVINE LOTE TREE

in the history of technology does the past project itself into the
present. Our sophisticated, clever gadgets and labour-saving devices
have developed from their more rudimentary historical antecedents,
dating back to early Palaeolithic times. Within these modern tech-
nologies, we find more primitive forms encapsulated and transformed
into more complex ones.
To say that the past lives on in the present moment is true, not just
in current events and contemporary history, but in all of time. For the
moment that has just died is continually being reborn in the moment
that is now. JUSt as the past has a decisive impact on the present, so
will the present impact decisively upon the future. In this sense, there
is only one eternal continuum. In mythology, the Titan god Kronos
bestowed upon humanity that most important single element which
makes all life possible and upon which history depends and becomes
eternal- time. As long as there is time, there will be history. History
must be concerned with this eternity or 'all time'.
What the artist shares with the historian is the concern to
capture the moment or the scene and to preserve its living quality.
The creation of great art results in a paradox, for works of art are
only deceptively static. In great art one senses that the static form,
the medium through which the artist creates, actually moves or is
alive. In reality the fine artist actually achieves the sense of a moving
or living image preserved in a motionless form. Thus, as the artist
works, there is a mighty striving to freeze eternity in a moment and
to create motion in immobility.
This motion in immobility is~ of course, one of the characteristics
of both the Divine Manifestation and the human soul. Baha'u'llah
proclaims about His own coming:

He Who is both the Beginning and the End, He Who is both Stillness and
Motion, is now manifest before your eyes. Behold how, in this Day, the
Beginning is reflected in the End, how out of Stillness Motion hath been
engcndered. 7

In what is rightly called a 'coincidence of opposites', He writes
of this paradoxical nature of the human soul which reflects its
qualities in art:
THE BoDY BEAUTIFUL 97

It is ~till, and yet it soareth; it moveth, and yet it is still. It is. in itself, a
testimony that beareth witness to the existence of a world that is contingent.
as well 35 to the reality of a wor1d that hath neither beginning nor end. 8

In the same way that love and death, and the loss and regaining
of identity or true self, have been the motivating force for much
great literature and philosophy, so the quest for eternity and the
thirst for the infinite are the source of all true art and history. Even
at the level of worldly fame, the most cherished desire of those who
withdraw from public life is to be remembered favourably 'when
history is written'. Thus, the quest for eternity lives on, even at the
most mundane levels.
The historian must consequently seek the total picture, the
meaning of the whole so as to make sense of humanity's ordered
life, at this date now much disordered. If historians mechanically
reconstruct only minuscule atomic moments, specific episodes or
even periods or ages, they do not really succeed in capturing history.
If they do not succeed in capturing the meaning in the pattern of
events they interpret and the telos' of history, they have not really
succeeded, for history is the manifestation of the human spirit in
the concrete act and can never be devoid of a higher significance. He
who does not learn the lessons of history, learns history not at all.
Without the sense of the metaphysical, history remains deprived of
a deeper meaning and it cannot afford to be so deprived. Without
the sense of the metaphysical, art can never become fully conscious
of its eternal value.

Ecstasy, Art and the Brevity af Life
The whistling train that passes in the dark of night has been for
many years my private symbol for the brevity of life. Until now, I
have never analysed the reason, having been content to imbibe and
enjoy this haunting sound in a quiet, reflective moment. But I
suppose it is because the whistle of the passing train, like the human
voice, sounds briefly, then dies. It returns to life, but ultimately
fades away. The nocturnal whistle of the passing train contains the
mystery of return. It is a haunting sound that swells and fades,
98 UNDER THE DIVINE LOTE TREE

returns in refrain, then disappears. It whistles from we know not
where, over there in the distance, this enigma of a train just passing
through. Life too comes from we know not where, then passes by.
For many, the brevity of life has generated much fear in the soul,
deep dark pools of anguish and angst. Many who love life cannot bear
to contemplate the fact that one day they will die, will no longer be
able to continue to enjoy what they take pleasure in doing now. To
many souls the prospect of death is terrifying, unless the thought of
extinction and the cessation of consciousness bring them consolation.
In order (Q escape from such grim realities, men and women drive
themselves to attain dizzying heights of passion and pain, succumbing
to a frantic search for strong sensations, desperately hoping to numb
themselves against the aching meaninglessness and sharp pain of life.
But by seeking liberation in a misdirected quest for pleasure, we
will never be able to discover true joy. True joy cannot be had by
desperate attachment. Souls in flight desire Eros but they do not know
that true Eros is the ecstasy of the love of God. In the flight from self,
they never discover that it is in the 'possession' of their souls that they
will escape death and all the dark fears surrounding it. In possessing
the soul they will step into eternity and attain a larger life of bliss and
transfiguration. And to rephrase a teaching of Jesus, to possess onc's
soul, one must lose it. 10
However, this ever-larger-looming spectre of life's brevity has
been not only the cause of the great escape and the desperate search
for the pleasure principle, but also the source of much great art and
literature. In such creative work lies hidden the quest for immor-
tality. Artists desire most through their work, not only to move
their own souls and the souls of others, but also to perpetuate their
existence, to live on and through the work that they have created.
In all great art is heard the sometimes faint, sometimes booming
voice of a prayer for immortality! a prayer that cries: 'Let me not die
a thing forgotten, a thing obscure. Let me live.' Such a prayer
contains within it the seed of its own realization. The imaginative
individual faces, then, the contemplation of fast-fading life in pro-
ductive instead of destructive ways. Life's brevity impels the artist
to self-transcendence, which is but creativity and immortality in
another form.
THE BODY BEAUTIFUL 99

Beauty

One of the functions of beauty is simply to be beautiful for beauty's
sake. Of course, beauty does increase our sense of pleasure, wellá
being and delight, or creates a plenitude and contentment of both
senses and soul. But as the expression so aptly puts it: 'Beauty is its
own excuse for being.' Beauty has no right, either earned or con-
ferred, to exist. It simply does exist in the nature of things and
requires nothing else to justify its existence. Functionality may apply
to beauty, but if so applied, is secondary. Beauty's main function is to
be beautiful and thus augment that sense of deep tranquillity, joy and
admiration that the onlooker experiences. We should be cautious
when praising beauty or when recognizing the merits it possesses. If
beauty is rewarded, it is not because it has earned recompense, but
rather simply because it has been itself. Beauty owes the world
nothing and the world owes beauty nothing other than its admiration,
if admiration can ever be owed. Those who mindlessly adore beauty,
however, are mistaken if they do not adore beauty's source rather
than its reflection. True beauty is not vain and does not wish for
wanton idolaters.
NOTHING GOLD CAN STAY
Divine Losses and New Beginnings
If we have lost a love, then surely another is waiting to be found. If
we look deeply into the ash pile of our broken dreams, we will find
a glowing ember waiting to rekindle the flame of love's ancient
story. When perennial flowers wither and die, their seed contains
the germ of a new beginning. So it is with the aspiring soul. An ever
more abundant life stirs within her being.
However lovely and fragrant, it is the same flower that returns
every spring. Not so with the soul. After the agony of loss and the
winter of discontent comes spiritual rebirth. Following the long
sleep of death, the soul experiences a new awakening. Unlike the
perennial flower which maintains the same form year after year, a
purer, more stable and refined self appears in the divine springtime.
With the passing days, the spiritual soul becomes more ' ... beautiful
in colour and redolent of fragrance in the kingdom of God'.'
If we feel as though we are dying, let us willingly accept death while
remembering that we are sure to be resurrected. The layers of the old
self, no longer fit for the present task, are being torn away by the pain.
As the mask of the former self comes unglued, a stronger, more beau-
tiful face of spirituality is taking form. We are not losing but gaining.
A new self is emerging. We are being born again.

The Sense of the Platonic and Paradise Lost
It is both strange and true that those things we have lost, or at least
imagined we have lost, or paradoxically not yet attained, seem to be
the most beautiful, most real things in the world. Of course, in the

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Platonic sense this must be so. Plato's Ideas in the world of Forms
enjoyed an ideal beatified existence in a world beyond. Whether that
world was to be found in some transcendent spiritual realm or existed
only within the mind of the contemplative philosopher matters little.
The far-off, unattainable nature of the Ideas, as much as their being
the only ultimately real things in existence, accoumed for their appeal.
I have often wondered at this paradise lost and paradise not yet
attained. reflecting on the meaning of Proust's phrase that 'the real
paradise is the paradise we have lost'.' We might well add to the French
writer's aphoristic expression, 'or the one that we have not yet gained'.
The paradisiacal point which we so strongly believe in, love or long for,
whether it lies in the misty past or still looms up before our eyes, bright
with the fair promise of future things, is nothing other than a vision
of happiness welling up from the deepest desires of the soul.
On the one hand, this paradise of happiness seems to be held
firmly in the grasp of the fair maiden of the future. The lover who has
not yet met with destiny, the ailing body who longs for healing, the
poor or destitute one who desires wealth, the troubled soul who longs
for inner peace, the ambitious person who desires success - this
earnestly sought-after happiness is connected with a moment that
is not in the now, but in the future. And if and when that future
becomes the now, in that moment when the secret desires of the hean
are attained, then the happiness we once imagined becomes another
happiness. It becomes a happiness transmuted, now tinged with the
wan light of reality and sometimes with disappointment.
There is, consequently, a note of caution to be sounded here. If this
happiness is not really attainable, and each seeker must decide for
himself when it is no longer attainable, then the seeker, if he truly
loves himself and has mercy on his own soul, will tear up the unreal
script of his own desires. For this unrealized happiness will become
as bitter as gall and will serve only to frustrate and to disillusion his
present and future hopes.
And what of the paradise past? Wherein lies the lure of' ... the days
that are no more'?' This paradise is the paradise of the secret garden,
of that lost Eden through which we once freely roamed. It is the
paradise of that place whose access we once enjoyed unencumbered
but whose entrance is now barred by angels with a flaming sword.'
NOTHING GOlD CAN STAY 105

This is the paradise of the forbidden return. 'No!' the angels say. 'You
may not enter here again. Go on with your journey, whatever it may
be. Be faithful to the truth you have come to discover and we will show
you another Eden, so lovely that you will long for this one no more.'
But in our sorrow and our longing, when we are •...wild with all
regret? if we continue to cling to this lost paradise ever the more
desperately in the hope of regain, we shall be cast down. Cast down
until that moment when, by virtue of a greater wisdom and the
grace of God, we are ushered again into that larger, clearer vision of
reality that alone can set us free. Then we shall realize that in the
Plan of God, and for all those who love Him and who seek that
special destiny He has set down for each aspiring soul, nothing is
ever really lost and every heartfelt prayer is answered.

'Nothing Gold Con Stay',
or the Beginning of Knowfedge
and the End of Innocence
Experience soon teaches that much of life's sorrow stems from loss.
Yet fonnal education provides poor preparation for the inevitable
losses that all must face over the course of a lifetime. Such losses
bring in their wake the psychological distress and trauma that occur
most poignantly with the death ofloved ones or the end of relation-
ships, or in times of transition.
The child or youth, if he is happy, tends to live in the false
security of present circumstances. He never suspects that all that is
familiar to him - the playground, the park, the school, the vacant lot
or open field, the familiar street, the family and friends - cannot be
a permanent setting in his life. He cannot envisage that soon he will
be banished from this green garden. Especially, the child or youth
never contemplates that those who share the inmost recesses of his
heart, or tutor his soul, will one day move on, or he will leave them.
If he does suspect this truth, he does not want to believe it.
The American poet Robert Frost (1874-1963), writing in the
tradition of wisdom literature, sought to convey the truth that life's
golden moments must be followed by inevitable losses. None of
that pure gold can stay:
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Nature's first green is gold,
Her hardest hue to hold.
Her carly leaf's a flower;
But only so an hour.
Then leaf subsides to leaf.
So Eden sank down to grief.
So dawn goes down to day.
Nothing gold can stay./:.

Thest! verses demand the cultivation within ourselves of a certain
informed realism without which we cannot successfully navigate
through the stormy seas of life's tests. When B.h"'u'lh'h warns us to
contemplate what might befall us in the future,' far from promoting
a fear-ridden pessimism He must. I think. be warning us to be sharp-
sighted and to be wary of a certain naivete vis-a-vis the world. For
there are no guarantees against the instability of human affairs.
But there is something else connected with these necessary losses.
The Hebrew Bible teaches that 'in much wisdom is much grief: and
he that increaseth knowledge increaseth sorrow." It is a hard fact of
life to realize that we mature more through trial and suffering than
we do through the ' ... ease of a passing day'.' Sorrow has much to do
with the acquisition of knowledge and particularly the knowledge of
self, for the acquisition of self-knowledge must signify an end to naive
innocence. The innocence and credulity of the child's mind and the
gusty enthusiasm of youth, for all their sweetness and sincerity, must
sooner or later evolve into that vision of the world that seeks some-
thing greater than the repetition of its own happiness. Adults must
learn the same lesson.
Now there is, to be sure, a certain winsomeness and purity in this
outlook of innocence, in this anticipation of the eternal return of
the ever-lovely. But there is nonetheless a flaw in it, an irksome fly
in the precious ointment of the golden moment. It is precisely the
defect of unknowing, the impairment of not being acutely aware of
'all things passing away', of not being cognizant that 'nothing gold
can stay'. The French Canadians have retained in their sometimes
picturesque speech an inkling of this connection between innocence
and the failure of knowledge, for even today when they say 'Ii est
NOTHING GOLD CAN STAY 107

bien innocent', they do not mean that he is innocent, but rather that
he is naive.
The child's innocence, says 'Abdu'I-Baha, is pure but untried lO
and is consequently not based on the conclusions of the sure mind.
What is ideally supposed to happen is that the child or youth's
experience of transitory events becomes the cause of the acquisition
of real self-knowledge that will help ground him in the mature
experience of the adult.
There is, however, a paradox to be lived in this experience of the
loss of innocence and the acquisition of the knowledge of self. In the
process of becoming worldly-wise and of having to sew 'aprons' of
'fig leaves' over our naked bodies, 11 the individual should in later years
continue to maintain the innocence of childhood and the enthusiasm
of youth. Something of this innocence must be preserved in the faith-
state of adulthood, for Christ has said that unless we become as little
children, we cannot enter the Kingdom of Heaven: 'Verily I say unto
you, Whosoever shall not receive the kingdom of God as a little child
shall in no wise entertherein.''' There should never be an end to this
purity of heart, this vulnerability, this spontaneous wonderment and
willingness to believe which are the blessings of childhood.
In time, we learn to see with the eyes of faith that even in loss (and
sometimes especially in loss) there can be great blessings. The sense
of loss and mourning, whatever its origin and despite its bitter
poignancy, causes the bounds of the soul to be stretched to the limits.
to rise to greater heights of reliance upon God or to plummet further
into the depths of human experience. Such fiery ordeals mature the
soul with understanding, make it mellow and touch it with pathos. a
pathos that more greatly sensitizes the soul to the sadness and
suffering of others. For sorrow is of little value if it does not in some
way make us wiser or better people. more ready to assist our friends
who themselves have been touched by the sad things of life.
The lesson that 'nothing gold can stay' also has a larger and
immense creative value, for its compensation is to be found in the
quest for a philosophy of wisdom. and in the time-tested universal
truths contained in literature and religion. For gold that does not
stay spurs us on to find a currency that is of everlasting value. one
that is always good on every market and in every time and clime.
108 UNDER THE DIVINE LOTE TREE

Another question arises. How to teach the child or youth detach-
ment to prepare for the inevitable changes that must accompany the
journey of life? How do we teach the child or youth to enjoy and to
love the things that now fill his world, yet not cling to them? That is
a great question, one to which I have no ready answer. Only the life
experiences themselves that come with the passage of time will ready
the child or youth for future developments and that slowly-ripening
sense of detachment that usually comes with age. Somehow, the child
must be made aware that some of these things that he or she loves and
cherishes will not always be here. And the best way to make aware is
with a gentle wisdom.
But there is, I think, another means to convey the sense of the joy
of sacrifice, of laying down the things we love, and the elemental self
we love, with singing. This joy of sacrifice to compensate for loss can
never be learned without complete trust in God and without the assur-
ance of His never-failing love and compassion.

In Praise of Failure
Guilt-ridden, gloating western society seems to be preoccupied
more by its failures than its successes. Failures abound these days.
We hear, for example, that a corporate merger attempt has failed,
some ambitious engineering project has failed, a much touted
scientific experiment has failed. The world of scandal that so rivets
the public's attention is intimately connected with moral failure.
Sentimentalists like to indulge their failures. Romantics sorrow
over paradise lost, over the what-could-have-been-that-never-was.
Some sad and sorry pan of ourselves disappears or dies with the
failure. It loves to be sweetly mourned. Much self-love, I think, must
linger in many a failure.
The religious. particularly, with their conscious or unconscious
inheritance of original sin and consequent paradise lost. seem to be
always mourning losses. 'Ah, what a shame,' they say when they hear
another couple has divorced, when friends knew all too well the
union was pathological. Or 'Fred lost his job just yesterday and the
prospects arc dismal. It's just too bad,' they say. Yet the sympathy is
understandable. The tender zone of the heart, the compassionate
NOTHING GOLD CAN STAY 109

friend, wants to commiserate with the victim. The tough part,
however, the Spartan soldier wants to say, 'Stand up and take it like a
man' (now a politically incorrect statement). Let us rephrase: 'Stand
up and take it like a human.' German speakers put it better. 'Stand up
and take it like a Mensch. Be a Mensch (human being)'. Yet failure
raises the question, and has to: why is unsuccess so endemic to human
existence? Such a ubiquitous pattern in human experience must be
here by design, be it ever so unconscious.
Failure may be an indication that one is ignoring or violating the
workings of spiritual law. The notion of spiritual law has existed in
Hinduism and Buddhism for millennia as Karma (action, deed) 13
and is well-expressed in its biblical textual parallel in the Epistle of
Paul to the Galatians: 'for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he
also reap'(6:7),14 no doubt ancient rabbinical teaching. Spiritual law
is simply the metaphysical demonstration of the scientific principle
of cause and effect. Like it or not, it is as predictable as the rise of
the northern star. According to spiritual law, those who fail, fail
predictably. Sadder but wiser, they may wish that they had not left
the ranks of the humble, the naive and the innocent who did not
dare to try the tempting experiment. If they accept their chastise-
ment and are still functional enough to tell the tale, they will have
another opportunity. Failure, then, can become an eventual cause
for celebration, for it causes us to become more aware of our own
motives, to work more consciously with and for the creation of our
own destiny, rather than passively submitting to what we might
view as the outrages of fate and fortune.
Failure, if accepted as an opportunity to relearn the lesson, can
prove to be a fruitful discipline. I have not consulted the historical
record to determine the count, but for every successful experiment
of the prodigious American inventor Thomas Alva Edison (1847-1931),
there were many failures. Edison's workshop and laboratory at Menlo
Park and later at Orange, New Jersey exemplified the principle that
for the patient and the assiduous worker, failure is often the prelude
to success. Edison came to understand, however, that some of his
experiments, no matter how many times repeated, were destined to
be failures. They were blind alleys. No mailer how many times you
run up a blind alley, you will always hit the wall. In this case, Edison
110 UNDER THE D,V,NE LOTE TREE

learned to move away or to take another tack. He was successful
precisely because he learned to move away at the right time and to see
the possibility of another victory in defeat. It is self-defeating to stand
at the wall for too long.
Through twists, turns and accidents - and accidents, we do well
to remember, are also pan of the scientific method - some of Edison's
'failures' turned out to be his greatest successes. For Edison and his
(cam. as for spiritual scientists, the road to success requires the
implementation of Thomas Kuhn's 'paradigm shift',I; a shift in
consciousness. a looking at the bigger picture, at what is trying to
emerge in the now. When faced with failure, Edison and his team were
able to seek other solutions and step back to apprehend the way that
nature seemed to be leading them. What is true for the inventor is
likewise true for the spiritual artisan. When we are able (0 put aside
our own wilful designs and preconceptions. we too are led to make great
discoveries. Sometimes it is just a case of relentless trial and error.lf>
When failure strikes, we do well to regroup and look at the
bigger picture, to wrestle with the experiment. Where is it taking
us? Let it lead the way. Our failures, although often self-determined,
contain their own hidden wisdom and justice. Once we begin to
take a more detached view and really listen to the needs of our own
soul, and to the needs of olhers, we toO shall find what we seek.
Finally, one has to remember this. Not everything that initially
looks like failure proves to be so in the long run. What the world
loves to write off so quickly in judgemental fashion often proves in
the 'fullness of time' to be surprisingly resilient, and to come back
with poetic justice as a resounding success.
IN EXTREMIS
True Joy
Teach us, 0 God, to know that there is something greater than our
sufferings, something greater than the loves we have known. It is
Thou Thyself. Thou art true joy.

Golden Joy
All our suffering is in some sense sacred. Suffering is the natural
tendency by which we rid ourselves of imperfections. Whether that
suffering be God-scnt or self-caused, if we are able to accept the
visitation of the holy and redemptive discipline that suffering brings
in its wake, we shall discover its salutary effects in understanding,
growing, healing, transcending, becoming free, finding balance,
seeing once more with clarity, renewing and doing afresh. We are
happy when we discover that in this fast-fleeting world of illusion,
the mask of sorrow conceals the shining face of joy. By some dimly
understood law of opposites or by the mysterious mercy and grace
of God, we discover that beyond 'the thorns and briars of sadness
and despondency'\ awaits the gold of joy.

In the Ebb and Flow of Joy and Sorrow
We are all of us seekers after joy. As 'Abdu'l-Baha has said in a
pointed phrase, 'Joy gives us wings!" We ascend on the wings of joy.
When stirred by joy, we feel as if we touch the face of God. The
ecstatics among us want joy to be everlasting. Yet more often than
we care to be, we are visited by sorrow. We come all too slowly to

114 UNDER THE DIVINE lOlE TREE

the realization that the 'steady state' does not reside in the ebb and
flow of the tides of human feeling.
We mistakenly cling to joy, just as we mistakenly resent sadness
as a wearisome, oppressive intruder. We do well to remember,
especially in our darker moments, that in one sense both joy and
sorrow arc imposters - 'imposters' because the polarities of human
existence reveal themselves to be only the shifting features on an ever-
varying countenance, dancers in a minuet of changing partners.
Both joy and sorrow are to be embraced and accepted with equa-
nimity in the multi-textured fabric that defines our life. When gripped
hard in the clutches of sorrow, it is a consolation to remember that
sorrow's face is as liable to fade as quickly as that of joy. We are
mistaken if we believe that sadness will last forever, just as we
mistakenly cling to joy as if she would so brightly define all our
waking moments.
When we find ourselves laughing through our tears, we realize
then just how fluid joy and sorrow are, and how very closely the one
is linked to the other. If we are cast down deeply enough into the
heart of sorrow, we will soon find ourselves uplifted on soaring
spirits. Indeed, the depths of sorrow produce their corresponding
heights of joy. Perhaps this is why 'Abdu'I-Baha wrote these
wonderful words which may first read as a puzzlement: ' ... affliction
is but the essence of bounty, and sorrow and toil are mercy
unalloyed, and anguish is peace of mind .. :' True words for those
who accept with equanimity the contrasting movements of the
human soul.

For the Brokenhearted True Believers
One of the believer's greatest tests is the test of 'Dear God, this is not
what I had prayed for,' the test during which the soul cries out 'Father,
no, this cannOt be!' The believer has prayed that God in His mercy
would answer the heartfelt supplication, would not visit this test upon
him. The deepest desire of the heart is not granted, the fondest of
prayers not heard. If he has fcared much, like Job, his worst fears have
come upon him: 'For the thing which I greatly fcared is come upon
me, and that which I was afraid of is come unto me:'
IN EXTREMIS 115

But we must wait a moment. The end is not yet. Hope still rings
out in the cathedral bells of the words 'in a little while'. Consolation
is breathed into the phrase 'in God's good time'. Next time the
fulfilment of our prayer will be found in the words 'as you would
have me do'.
Whatever we have lost, we have Baha'u'liah. This is our supreme
consolation. He is our salvation and eternal life. What then have we
lost? What choice is there to be made? Our solace can be found in
remembering Robert Browning's words:

Grow old along with me!
The best is yet to be.
The last of life, for which the first was made:
Our times are in His hand
Who saith, 'A whole I planned,
Youth shows but half; trust God; see all, nor be afraid!,s

The Existential Moment
In spiritual life, two contrasting moments hold great potential for
significant transformation - the existential moment and the epiphanic
moment. Although these moments, as I define them, are found at the
antipodes of pain and pleasure, of humiliation and exaltation, they
converge at a point of renewal and resurrection. The first comes
clothed in the garments of agony, fear and dread. The second ascends
on wings of joy in a breathless moment of divine delight. Both are
harbingers of spiritual birth. One is the birth of trial by fire; the other,
the birth of a glorious awakening from a long, dreamless sleep.
The existential moment is apocalyptic. It comes as a surprise,
unexpected and unpredictable. We are crushed at its onset. It is a
sudden meeting with the shadow self, the elemental self, the worldly
self, the unruly self that lives for the moment and has momentarily
rejected divine law in the interests of its own imperious demands. The
existential moment is a meeting with the alter ego that can no longer
be delayed. The true believer is forced painfully to peel away the
outworn mask of the old self and persistent habits. The image of the
hidden higher self is seeking definition and desires to come clear.
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The existential moment is defined by another meaning in the
search for truth: of the confrontation with self, of standing face to
face with the lower self that attempts to assert its supremacy within
the human soul. Unless we are vigilant, this lower self can easily
become 'a monster of selfishness',6 In the existential moment, we
face ourselves as the 'quintessence of passion', as 'rebellious ones',
as 'children of fancy', as a 'weed that springeth out ofthe dust'.' The
existential moment is a moment of high realism, stark and real, that
momentarily outweighs any other consideration. Through our
struggle with that angel of darkness do we release the dayspring of
pure light that would shine from within our soul.

The Epiphanic Moment
The reverse side of the existential moment is the epiphanic moment.
Also sudden in its manifestation, by contrast the epiphanic moment
is a moment of exaltation, of illumination or triumph when we are in
Wordsworth's phrase 'surprised by joy'.' This epiphanic moment is
'a numinous disclosure of glory, an experience of awe or reverence,
triumph or celebration, a hierophany that looms up large with
promise and exaltation. It is Bah"u'll.h in the Garden of Rislvan,' and
all the lesser reflections of that spiritual event. It is the believer
winning the desires of the heart. It may be a divine healing, a mystical
encounter, or the certitude that our lesser will has become one with
the greater Will of God.'10

Wherefore Anger and Pain?
Any complaining I do in the present is the residue of life's past
frustration and pain, the imagined unfulfilled hopes and dreams.
Any anger I now manifest derives from my failure to accept
graciously and to reconcile myself to the hurts that are inevitably
bound up with my unfolding destiny. Any whining, any note of
self-pity, is due to an inability to understand at the deepest levels,
to have greater faith and trust, to detach myself from the things
that I fancy I love most deeply and would not bear to live
without.
IN EXTREMIS 117

The Plummet into Sorrow

The natural human tendency in the face of psychological pain is recoil.
But the brave fight against sorrow sometimes only intensifies the
suffering. As we resist, the trouble persists. If we struggle too hard
to climb the 'arc of ascent' while we are on the 'arc of descent'," the
spiritual energies consumed in the battle may prove to be futile and
lead to the reverse effect of a surcharge of grief. In this case, it may
be better to go along with the plummet into sorrow and honestly
embrace the test that has visited us.
This consent to a free-fall into distress is not to be confused with
futile self-punishment. It is a willingness to drain the cup we have
been asked to drink. It is really a search to rediscover an equipoise
by a relaxation of the will, by a giving in and a giving over. By letting
ourselves sink deeper into the dark waters of what may seem like
endless night, we shall come to plant our feet again on solid ground
and rediscover equilibrium.
For certain souls, the walk into the long night of sorrow proves
too much; overwhelmed, they do not return. For such as these,
sorrow has pronounced its sentence with a weighty finality. But
once willing to give in and to let ourselves be pulled deeper into
what seems at the time like a swirling vortex, we find release from
the wasted energies of spiritual combat and the overpowering,
depressive forces that momentarily had taken hold.
In this life, we are all captains of our little ship. The plummet into
sorrow is like navigating the waters of a raging river. If we are skilful
enough to adjust to the current without being overpowered and if
our craft is strong enough to stay afloat while we are being jetted
along, we shall soon find ourselves in calmer waters. By the willing
consent to plummet into sorrow and to work with its energies, we
shall soon find ourselves released.
ON REAL GROUND
The Call of Truth
Many have heard the call. Either it is beautiful, insistent and clear,
bright with the promise of a new day, or it fills us with fear and
trembling, making us anxious with the hope in which love and dread
dwell together as partners. But only time and ardent prayer will make
it clear whether or not the call is a reflection of the Will of God or the
subtle promptings of self.

Truth and Discipleship
Those who imagine truth to be merely an intellectual construct, or a
series of interwoven constructs, circumscribe the magnitude of truth
itself. Truth is not just a net with which to entrap little fish. Truth is a
reality greater than intellect, greater than the multitude of rational
configurations contained within it. Truth is not an idea or conglom-
erate of ideas, or even a Meta-Idea. Truth is an immense metaphysical
force field, a terra firma on which one may build - for self-realization,
for peace, for historical evolution and societal progress, for the noble
strength and beauty of knowledge. Truth is not merely a matter of
intellectual curiosity seeking to be satisfied, of propositions waiting
to be discovered, connected, synthesized, juxtaposed and presented,
new facts uncovered. It exerts a far profounder influence on spirits,
souls, and lives.
To fully understand truth's import, we must consider the teaching
of Jesus that the truth will make us free: 'And ye shall know the truth,
and the truth shall make you free." Let us see, however, the whole
context of Christ's saying: 'Jesus then said to the Jews who had

122 UNDER THE DIVINE LOTE TREE

believed in him, "If you continue in my word, you are truly my
disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free.""
Christ is indicating a clear relationship between belief in Him,
between His word and discipleship, on the one hand, and knowing
the truth on the other. In other words, recognition of the True
Prophet and obedience to Him will lead us into truth. And this
truth will be better known by taking on the yoke of discipleship.
This one saying alone forever shatters the narrower definitions of
truth as being confined to mere philosophical concepts and
identifies it clearly as a living dynamic, capable of profoundly
altering and influencing lives and leading us to clearer vision. The
truth will make us free if we become disciples. Disciples' are
committed, know how and why to obey.

Simple Truths

TRUTH is the one great manifold. There are many types of truths,
as there are truths both great and small. The greatest truths are the
simplest and these essential truths are the ones most capable of
effecting spiritual transformation and moulding conduct. We need
not be deceived nor frustrated in our attempt to understand the
truth by seeking out subtle and obscure formulations. That God
loves every soul more than it loves itself is a simple but most
profound truth, one that few souls fully grasp. Were the full
significance of just this one truth to be fully realized, the face of the
whole earth would change dramatically. That God has a Cosmic Will
that is already revealed to the world and to every individual who
believes in a Divine Plan, is another truth which makes for world-
shaping, world-shaking consequences, were it only to be realized by
every conscientious soul. Many of the great truths are not only
simple and self-evident, but remain as yet unrealized and ineffective
because they are neither entertained, cherished nor lived by with the
greater mass of humanity. It is also true that truth, when it shall be
fully realized, will liberate humanity from the chains of sorrow. One
of the greatest truths is that for those who love God and do His will,
there is really never any need to fear and never any need to sorrow.
With them all will be well.
ON REAL GROUND 123

The Biggest Lie of All

The biggest lie we will ever tell is the one we tell ourselves. Sometimes
we lie to ourselves because we cannot bear to hear what the truth is
whispering in our ears. So we write our own script and it sounds
believable for a time. Sometimes lying to ourselves i. a temporary
palliative measure. We think it' is care and it supports the dying patient
for a while. The fictitious ego clings to the lie because it falsely
believes that it needs this delusion to survive. Sooner or later we learn
that when we lie to ourselves, we belittle who we are and minimize
the potentialities for freedom and strength contained within our own
being. But the truth is strong, very strong. Truth will out.
Gradually, the rising, midmorning sun of truth begins to dispel the
mists of deception and circumstance. We become peaceful and
thankful for the clearer vision of reality. We let go of illusion. Soon
we are grateful to be liberated. Like the snake that sloughs off its dead
skin, we move into a freer, more spacious atmosphere. We understand
then that the lies we tell ourselves are not huge, deceptive monsters
but only spectres in the mind -little, white fairies we create ourselves
because we cannot bear to walk alone in the dark.

What the Martyr Knows
The martyr knows that only in dying can she be made whole. She
knows that only in returning to God the most precious gift of all,
the gift of life itself, can she be fulfilled. By divine decree she was
created free. Whatever she chooses now must be made in that field
of clarity where compulsion no longer reigns. She knows that there
can be no deep, no true satisfaction for her, no lasting fulfilment,
until she has done her all, given her all, let her life's blood /low, let
the pith and heart of her devotion be crushed by the millstone of
suffering, that it might yield up the precious oil to light the wick in
the lamp of the love of God.
The name she loves most, the name she loves above all, is
Baha'u'll.h's name, and it is written on her heart. Whatever other
name she may have carried there for a while is now but a faded
memory. She lives, she breathes for Him alone.
124 UNDER THE DIVINE lOTE TREE

She wonders if she did not secretly will this agony for herself in
some hidden part of her soul, for she was not whole without it, not
quite happy before. Perhaps, childlike, she was too content to bask
in that innocent joy that never knew sorrow's name. Perhaps she
was too content to gambol in the green, pleasant spaces of Eden,
free just to roam and to feel secure in the paradise of His love, happy
just to mention His name, to teach His truth.
But now she knows that the paradise she once knew had to be
snatched away in order that love's gift might be yielded up, in order
that others might live, feel, know, rejoice in what she knows now. This
most awful of secrets, most terrible of mysteries exacts payment with
the heaviest of prices. Only in dying to self may she truly live. Only
in dying to self may others live because of her.
She knows that this martyrdom is not selfishness, knows that it is a
true desire for communion with the Blessed Beauty, a desire to be in His
presence. But does she know, does she really know, she wonders, what
it is to desire to be in that presence? Can such a desire which has so freely
entered her heart, and which seemingly costs nothing, be won so easily?
No, this dying to self is not selfishness. Her desire for communion is a
longing to share with all who may care to drink from the same heady
cup, a communion she proffers to all those who seek to know and to
understand. She prays that all may feel, all may know what she feels and
knows. She prays that all may taste the precious love she has found.

The Martyr and the Lie
(remembering the faithful in Iran)
'0 perverse hater! Didst thou imagine that martyrdom could abase this Cause?'4

The martyr cannot lie about the truth he has embraced, for he knows
that the lie is both the master and monster of self-betrayal and
deception. When one fools oneself, one cheats oneself out of the
possibility of being faithful to the truth which alone, as Christ has
said, will set us free.' If a believer denies his faith, he puts the densest
of veils over his soul and clouds over his mind. In so doing, he darkens
the truth which is the brightest of all the bright things in the world
since its primary source lies in the shining Word of God.
ON REAL GROUND 125

Some individuals lie in order to avoid embarrassment, depriva-
tion, pain, or in more serious circumstances, imprisonment or
death. This is a natural thing to do. It is natural for all living
organisms to seek self-preservation and protection from bodily
injury. So in that sense, fountain of all vices though it is, lying is
natural, since by it men hope to protect and preserve their lives. But
when one denies one's faith, this avoidance of pain is bought at a
terrible cost. The cost is self-deception to both oneself and the
oppressor. It is double-deception. The final cost is betrayal of oneself
and the community of the faithful. More important, it is a breaking
of one's covenant with the Almighty.
For the believer, denial takes on dramatic dimensions and the
profoundest of meanings. If a believer denies the truth to avoid
imprisonment, torture or death, he knows that in so doing he must
deny the One whom he has loved, been faithful to and believed in.
But if he denies, he proves, alas, that he is not grateful for such
bounties. Thus does he prove that he has not really loved, been
faithful to, and believed in his sale salvation.
Denial is the antithesis not only of faith but also of life, for faith is
life-affirming. Faith is saying Yes to God. I think it is true to say that
the true believer always says Yes to God. This saying Yes to God, how-
ever, sometimes means saying No to other people and to situations.
If the believer is placed in life-threatening circumstances because of
his faith, the whole outcome of the meaning of the situation hinges
precisely on his affirmation or denial. of his saying Yes to God and
No to man or No to God and Yes to man. The case of the martyr or
the apostate is a crystal clear illustration of the eitherlor in which all
is won or lost purely in the meaning of the situation.
Some have wondered why the believer does not just dissimulate
his faith in order to save his life, following the practice of taqfya
(leatman) (dissimulation) which is condoned, for example, in hlli'ah
Islam but which, according to twelver theologian 1;Iasan ibn Yusuf
(died 1326 eEl, could not be legitimately practised after the coming
of the Q:\'im, who did in fact appear in 1844 in the person of the
Bab." After all, according to this strategy, the believer does not really
deny. He just pretends to deny but really goes on believing in his
heart. But this cannot be, for the true believer is always and forever
126 UNDER THE DIVINE LOTE TREE

a true witness. The true witness will lift up his voice to proclaim the
truth, even, and especially, in the face of indifference or opposition.
If a believer denies the Truth and the One whom he has loved and
been faithful to, he commits the worst kind of treachery. For that One
whom he has loved and been faithful to has given him spiritual life and
has granted him eternal salvation. To deny the truth of one's faith is
analogous to that son or daughter who sinks to cursing or execrating
the parents who have loved him and given him life. His parents brought
him into the world, raised him up and educated him to discriminate
between the truth and falsehood, upon which the progress of his soul
and the en tire world depends. The apostate commits such ingratitude
just by breathing the word No. The believer, then, cannot just pretend
to deny the truth in order to save his life, any more than a loving son
or daughter can curse or deny his parents. In so doing, he would in
effect be denying the genesis of his own spiritual life. By so doing, he
would bring shame not on them, but on himself.
But there is another important point here, one that concerns the
other parties involved in this double deception - the oppressors. In
such dire circumstances, the denial or the affirmation of the believer
will profoundly affect the oppressor, be he guard, judge or executioner.
For it has to be considered that the fate of the oppressor's soul hangs
in the balance as well. If the believer denies his faith, he will also
deceive the oppressor into believing that he has won the day by his
insatiable lust for power and control.
Martyrdom is not a pathetic kind of powerlessness, a sheep going
to the slaughter. Martyrdom is both a silent and a vocal protest against
oppression. It is the most telling of all silent protests and the most
eloquent of all declarations. The martyr's silent protest is made in his
refusal to breathe the word No. But his voice echoes from the
mountain tops as he cries out: 'Yes, I believe!' This silent protest
against oppression and this eloquent affirmation of faith rise up in the
martyr's heart as an anthem to the loftiest freedom of conscience, as
an emancipation of being that cannot be bound by chains and fetters
orthreatened with extinction. It is complete triumph over the fear of
a cowardly death.
Perchance, in the midst of such heart-wrenching circumstances the
oppressor may be changed too. And if the oppressor's heart cannot
ON REAL GROUND 127

be changed by the love and devotion, the sincerity, the strength of
spirit, the remarkable courage, the kindness and tender-heartedness
of the one whom he oppresses, then he will never be changed. The
oppressor must also see, as much as the martyr, that the threat of
death, and death itself, will not force the true believer to recant. And
perhaps it may so happen that through the sacrifice of such a pure life,
the oppressor will also be changed and by some great miracle and by
some sorrowful repentance become a believer.
LOGOS AND MYTHOS
The Convergence of Theology and Poetry
I ask here whether one may find parallels between the work of
poetry and theology, whether they can in some fashion co-exist or
complement one another. How can two such different metiers
converge or co-inhabit the same intellectual space?
I maintain that poetry and theology are not to be found at the
antipodes but rather share connex spheres. At first view, this does
not appear to be so. On the one hand, the theologian bends his or
her mind to the discipline of rational thought as it relates to the
unveiling of truth in the field of philosophical theology. The .
theologian aims for a kind of 'fixity' or permanence in the thinking.
Without this element of permanence the theology will not be
considered durable. The poet, on the other hand, is not bound by'
the framework of established beliefs or by rational argument, and is
thus able to give free reign to the powers of the imagination. The
poet remains unbound by any discrete language of systems and
doctrines.
Poetry is above all an intensification of experience. It is first of all
that moment of mundane life which has become hyper-intensive in.
the experience and imagination of the poet. The poetic act comes to
life in that moment when, through the lens of the living eye, mind and
heart, the poet takes 'the stuff of life' and transforms it into a more
elevated, articulated form of discourse. Poetry is essentially a creation
of vision, a vision that transports the poet beyond the context of
everyday waking-consciousness, that transcends the ordinary
mentaVemotional state in an experience akin to the mystical. In this
view, poetry is primarily transformation.

132 UNDER THE DIVINE LOTE TREE

Here, then, is the first meeting-place of the two domains. Both
poet and theologian dwell in the land of the mystical vision. By
'mystical', however, I do not mean any rarefied state such as being
absorbed into the Godhead, nor do I intend the classical types or
forms of religious consciousness that phenomenologists such as
Rudolf Otto and others have defined.' By 'mystical' I intend for the
theologian a quest for a vision of God in the objective structures of
human thought. For the poet, it means a highly sharpened and
sensitized focus, an intense awareness, a keen joy, a transformation
of the quotidian. Both poet and theologian may experience cosmic
consciousness, illumination, intimations of divine love and the like.
Poetry is a dancing, theology a conversation with angels. Poets
experience verse as entering into a symphony of joy. The intensified
experience of the poet is akin to the grace of which the theologian
speaks. For there is a kind of grace in the poetic act. One cannot
create the poetic experience through effon alone, in the same way
that one cannot attain salvation by effort alone. Some poets may
well complete a poem, to echo Thomas Alva Edison's remark on
genius, by dint of perspiration,' but the initial impulse is most
often one of inspiration. The task of the theologian, however, is
to wrestle and to plod, to finally articulate to full satisfaction the
clean, noble structures of human thought as they pertain to the
Divine. In this he too finds joy and when he comes to the end of
his labours, he knows that they have been greatly assisted by the
grace of God.
Inspiration, whether poetical or theological, is a type of grace.
The poetic experience is a flight into rarer space, a moment when
the wind of song fills your sails or the picture gallery of the
imagination seizes your eye or profounder insights capture the
mind. You are delightfully plunged into a mystery, not at all sure
how this process has come about. It is a given. Thus, 'the purpose
of poetry" is not didactical, although there is to be sure a didactical
element in some poetry, and particularly in the verse of the
'metaphysicals'.' The purpose of poetry is rather to represent a
transformational vision of reality. That it is practically impossible
to avoid the abstract, metaphysical element in poetry' is another
common ground. The two fields converge in the metaphysical.
lOGOS AND MYTHOS 133

The poet, as Northrop Frye's metaphor with respect to all of
literature has it, 'swallows' life, or at least as much as he or she is able
at one sitting: 'Literature does not reflect life, but it doesn't escape
or withdraw from life either: it swallows it. And the imagination
won't stop until it's swallowed everything.'" But the poet not only
swallows life whole: the poet also prepares the meal in a particular way.
To use another commonplace suggested by Frye's analogy, the poet
and poetic art are akin to the activity of the skilled chef and the dishes
concocted in fine cuisine.
The master chef takes the raw materials of the vegetable and herb
garden and marketplace and transforms them into something that is
both palatable and satisfying; something that not only attracts the eye,
but delights the taste buds and ultimately rewards, not just the stom-
ach, but the whole organism. The poet uses a roughly equivalent process,
selecting the same commonplace experiences available to almost every-
one within a given culture- a journey, alove experience, a life event, some
insight or realization, a daily occurrence, a glimpse of nature or a dip into
the future - in short, anything that captures the attention. The poet, like
the chef, arranges the material according to his or her skills and undoubt-
edly hopes to satisfy, or at least to impress, the reader's literary palate.
Some poets use mundane experience to erect a highly complex
metaphysical world view as did T.S. Eliot and Wallace Stevens, a meta-
physical scheme that takes great acumen to decode and interpret as a
coherent whole. The work of criticism is an art and a skill all unto itself,
a complement to the poetic act. Other poets, like Yeats, have delved
into the storehouse of myth, dream, symbol, folklore and nature
religion. For Blake, the poem revealed both heaven and hell. But what-
ever poetry is, it starts in some sense on earth, within the purview of
the poefs immediate experience.
Poetry is consequently not the non-substantial, ethereal art that
those who devalue, ignore or do not understand it so often claim. This
is so simply because poetry does not and cannot escape the sense
world. The five senses furnish in the first place the raw material for
the poetic imagination, not the other way around. This means that
poetry is not essentially a flight into fancy or a series of woven
vagaries; it is rooted in the real world. This rootedness in the sense
world means that poetry has as a constant referent the concrete as
134 UNDER THE D,V,NE lOTE TREE

much as the abstract. It is rather the arrangement or juxtaposition of
those concrete elements that renders some poetry resistant to facile
interpretation. Poetry transforms the concrete world through the
imagination and the intuitive sense, injecting into the process an
intellectual element of interpretation, an extended vision which
characterizes the poet's Weltdnschauung.
Now theology is not just a dogmatic piece of writing that promotes
the protective doctrines of a religious institution. The work of theol-
ogy is to uncover a spiritual truth where it was not apparent before.
The theologian's work is to make explicit that which was formerly
obscure in the storehouse of God's wisdom. Theology takes months
and years, often with great effort or labour, to elaborate what is given
in poetry in minutes or hours. What requires a six-day cycle of
creation in theology is crelted in verse in a few intense atomic moments.
Poets work with the pcn, the creative powers of the mind, the
ambient world and the world of experience. Their chief source of
material lies both within the human psyche and the relationship of
self to the world. The poet has only to call on these powers through
the faculty of imagination.
Theologians, however, as a convention of the discipline. must show
proof of book-learning. They must be familiar with the thoughts of
the masters before professing a view. Thus the theologian must become
a seeker of truth, a scholar engaged in research and discovery, fre-
quenting the university library and classroom, un shelving tomes,
wading into them, taking notes, reflecting and concluding. Although
wordcrait requires an equally disciplined attention to detail, poets need
no credentials other than themselves, their own experience and vision.
Theologians, as much as they may explore the knowledge of
bygone days, remain in constant search of the living truth, truth for
our time, truth for now, truth that will speak to the requirements of
our age in a language that seekers will understand. Theology, like
poetry, is a minute-by-minute unveiling of the mysterious. It is that
impenetrable sense of the mysterious that both poet and theologian
are called upon to reveal. Both are called upon to reveal and explain
the inexplicable, the hidden things of God.
The process in which the theologian participates, as stated above,
is the way of intellectual labour and the revelation sought is not in
LOGOS AND MYIHOS 135

the beginning a way made plain. Like the Amerindian on a vision
quest, the theologian must wait for his own vision in the wilderness,
pray for coherence and meaning to descend, or like Peter, the
Apostle of Christ, wait for the Angel of the Lord to liberate him
from the prison of his own ignorance. 7 Theology, then, is labour, a
labour in which the theologian seeks to engage in a finer definition
of the truth, a cogent construct of the intellect from which others
may profit in their efforts to understand the knowledge of God
which according to Baha'u'llah is 'the most exalted station to which
any man can aspire'. 8
The theologian, like the poet, seeks to bring the things which
have captured his vision into sharper focus, so that a greater number
of seeking souls may participate in the understanding he offers. In
so doing, the theologian works in a way analogous to a photog-
rapher developing a negative in the dark room, in the acid bath of
truth in which he attempts to dissolve all that is spurious in what he
has thought and written. The theologian must 'work patience' for
this time-consuming process. The result of one's efforts does not
literally descend from heaven in a sanctified moment. It is born of
the fruit of effort and labour.
In this day of unity, theology can no longer mean dogmatism: the
dead weight of sclerotised thought that vainly attempts to fix forever
what must inevitably yield to history and to the fresh insights of an
ever-expanding consciousness. Poetry, for its pan, must continue to
be viewed as one of the most consequential forms of art. For poetry
is the unveiling of all life, all human experience. Theology, like the
larger literature of which it forms a part, must increasingly seek the
universal and seek it in the human condition. The theologian's subject,
like the poet's, should be life itself and be related to all of life. Rilke's
broad definition that 'poetry is existence'" applies also to theology.
Theology is existence and requires the participation of the existential.
Theology today can no longer be meted out through the
'violence of logic' or dry morsels of sterile information incapable of
feeding the human soul. Theology must be somehow connected to
the whole person, to the intellectual, moral and spiritual dimensions
of human experience. Theology should be a comprehensive science,
collaborating not only with the poetic arts, but with all learning.
136 UNDER THE DIVINE LOTE TREE

Both poetry and theology cause ' ... the tender light of faith to
shine/By which alone the mortal heart is led/Unto the thinking of
the thought divine."o

The Power of Poetry and Holy Writ
Some view poetry as a purely decorative thing, fitting only for
circumstance, or as an activity having a certain aesthetic value but
lacking the cogency of propositional thought. We can readily admit
that the power of poetry does not lie in its propositional value. But
this is not an impediment. Rather, the power of poetry resides in its
ability to move and sensitize the soul, to challenge the mind and to
heighten the imagination. These abilities take on increased
importance when we consider the poetic features possessed by
Holy Writ to empower the soul.
That Holy Writ has strong poetic features is evident even from
a cursory reading of scripture, regardless of its tradition of origin.
Within the Abrahamic faiths, the poetry of scripture was released
millennia ago through the repetitive, commanding power of the
prophetic announcement and the prophetic song. The power and
pathos of the warnings, invocations and lamentations of the Hebrew
prophets strike us as being marked by strong poetic features. At the
end of the Hebrew prophetic cycle, Christ taught Gospel truth
through a great variety of poetic allusions and forms, allusions and
forms that were not used as mere didactic tools or artifice but were
unveiled to the listener as an intrinsic part of the message of
wisdom itself. The relentless enemies of the prophet of l;Iijaz tried
to belittle both Muhammad and His mission by referring to Him
as merely a mad poet. We read in the Sura called 'The Ranks' that
when Muhammad exhorted the Meccans to worship no God but
Allah, they replied: 'Shall we then abandon our gods for a crazed
poet?'" If the barbaric tribes of Saudi Arabia had fallen under the
spell of poetry in the Arabic tongue, they clung to idol worship no
less, at least for a time.
Both prophet and poet make their appeal in the same way. The
urgency of the prophetic announcement is made chiefly through a
harmony of voice, by captivating attention through the auditory
LOGOS AND MYTHOS 137

sense. As St. Francis de Sales (1567-1622) has so incisively pointed
out in his Introduction to the Devout Life, the way to the heart is
through the ear." Faith grows, as St. Paul said, by hearing: 'So then
faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.'''
Thoughtful listening to sacred scripture can be likened to reaping
the harvest of one's understanding.
Sacred scripture comes to the awakened spirit as a great, celestial
river whose purifying waters baptise both the mind and soul of the
consecrated listener. These waters educate, purify, inspire, reprove
and guide aright. In a process of cross-fertilization with scripture,
poetry helps to prepare the soul for that greater poem which is divine
revelation. Sacred scripture in turn cultivates an appreciation of all
that is fine in poetry.
The sacred word, like the great traditions of poetry, is clothed in
the garments of lyricism and beauty. Divine revelation rarely
expresses itself without the poetic elements of lyricism, beauty,
weight, feeling, proportion, form and balance. Even that individual
who might otherwise remain unmoved to the precepts of religion
can be moved all the same by the lyricism and power of divine
verses. He would be a dead soul indeed who claims to love poetry
and who is not moved by the poetry of heavenly verse.
Very little divine discourse, when one surveys it broadly, is strictly
cognitive in nature. One should not reduce the value of sacred
scripture by making it out to be a mere receptacle for ideas or
concepts about God and creation. For when God speaks to
humanity; He does not speak primarily as the God of the philosopher
but as the God who awakens the mind and heart of the humble soul
and as the God who demands spiritual transformation. In this
transformation, poetry has no small part to play.
In Plato's Republic we find that Socrates experienced a crisis of
confidence vis-ii-vis the poets as guardians of the lamp of wisdom"
because he feared that the volatile nature of poetry might lead the soul
into excess and thereby dethrone reason. For the ancient Greeks,
passion led to excess, and for a people who valued above all balance
and moderation, excess was an offence against the gods. While today
we may not view poetry as being antithetical to either reason or
wisdom, we still have to be wary of dismissing it as inconsequential.
138 UNDER THE DIVINE LOTE TREE

'Fain Would They Put Out His light With Their Mouths'

Baha'u'ILih in the Kitdb-i-Iqan (Book of Certitude) quotes from the
Qur'.n: 'Fain would they put out God's light with their mouths: But
God hath willed to perfect His light, albeit the infidels abhor it.'15 The
fuller context of this passage" develops the contrast between spiritual
sovereignty and earthly sovereignty; between the passing temporal
authority of kings on the one hand, and the eternal sovereignty of
God and His Manifestations on the other.
Baha'u'll.h tells us in this passage that a cyclically recurring event
in the lives of the Divine Manifestations is the fiercest opposition to
their Cause by the clergy and the people. Chief among their arsenal
of weapons is the vitriolic tongue. These opponents of the Divine
Messenger wage an unholy war of words against the sayings and
doings of the Promised One and His followers whom they have so
wrongly judged to be imposters. Their campaign of defamation is
waged through denial and ridicule, distortion and slander, falsification
and hate. These thoughtless gainsayers are more preoccupied by the
preservation of their vested interests than they are by the search for
truth and the recognition of the True Prophet.
This emphatic rejection of the Manifestation of God is a salient
leitmotiv in the historical pattern of comparative religions. Albert
Schweitzer wrote that 'it is the fate of every truth to be a subject
of laughter until it is generally recognized.''' His statement applies
in preeminent fashion to the initial reception accorded the
Manifestations of God and Their teachings. Although the naysayers
cause incalculable harm to the Prophet, His followers and loved ones,
in the end they arc defeated. Ultimately, their calculated machinations
prove to be a blessing for the promotion of the Word of God, since
this very opposition provides an opportunity for the irresistible
power of the Divine Word to assert itself.
But the Quranic maxim's meaning is not restricted only to the
concrete once-and-once-only historical Sitz im Leben 18 of the Divine
Manifestation while He walks upon the earth. It has meaning for us
now. Those of us who live in contemporary western society may
witness other ways of putting out God's light with the mouth. These
ways are more subtle, unconscious and passive and although they may
lOGOS AND MYTHOS 139

be less motivated by vindictiveness and ill-will than by neglect they
can be just as fatal.
It is the hollow 'white noise' of secular speech with its incessant,
meaningless chatter that never utters the words God, faith and
spirituality that is today dimming the light of God. Such endless talk,
with no divine referent, with no spiritual framework as ground, gives
off nothing but static. It sounds as the merest passing wind, giving
vent to the vaguest and vainest of fancies. Its incessant discussion and
analysis, even if trenchant, are mere sophistty. Its idle speculation
brings no peace. For secular speech at the end of the day does not tell
what is really happening - the good news that the Promised One has
come and that a new world is being born. Yet, thankfully, history does
repeat itself. Just as opposition to the True Prophet and His message
created opportunities in the past to proclaim the teachings, so does
hollow secular speech create opportunities today for God-talk.
Then there are the silent tongues, the ones who put out the light
of God by default because they do not speak, because they dare not
be heard. These silent ones let pass without contest each new advance
of the forces of irreligion: a compromise in principle here, a giving in
to expediency there, turning a blind eye to wrong-doing, 'going with
the flow', taking the path ofleast resistance, following the fashionable
but fleeting present moods and trends, failing to take a stand or falling
in unthinkingly with the mounting tide of the current political will,
whether it be right or wrong. These silent ones put out God's light
with the mouth because they do not speak. They too create victims
-the victims of silence: those who become victims because those who
are silent dare not speak out against the power-hungry, the misguided
and the perverse.

Caught in the Web of Words
'Abdu'I-Karim and l:Iasan were talking about their Lord.
'God', said 'Abdu'l-Karim, 'is truly incomparable in His gifts to
humanity.'
'How truly you speak; replied l:Iasan.
'Abdu'l-Karim continued, 'He has blessed us with a mind divine,
the rarest of blessings.'
140 UNDER THE DIVINE LOTE TREE

'You speak truly: .ssened I;Iasan.
'Abdu'I-Karim resumed, 'It has been the one great joy of my life
to use this divine mind to the fullest of my capacity. 1 have spent
many pleasure-filled hours in my study reading, composing and
investigating, in contemplation of the abstruse realities of the
metaphysical world.'
'Blessed be the Blessed One: rejoined I;Iasan.
'But I have one great fear: ventured 'Abdu'I-Karim.
'May the Banisher of all fears banish this one too,' I;Iasan
responded sympathetically.
'Abdu'l-Karim continued, 'I fear that I may forget that I am dust
and my ego may overwhelm me. I fear lest 1 forget that all my gifts
come from the Blessed One. At that moment 1 shall lose my several
powers and abilities, for I know that without Him I am nothing. 1
could do nothing, teach nothing, compose nothing. Should that day
come, and should 1 fall into the trap of my own ego and forget my
Lord, then all will be lost. 1 shall even lose my own soul.'
I;Iasan remained silent, thought for a moment and then replied.
'Dear 'Abdu'I-Karim, should that day come, and you forget that
the Blessed One - on Him be glory - is the source of all of your
gifts, will that make you any less His son? Even if you should
renounce the Source of all gifts to rely upon your own powers, will
you be any less of a man? Will your soul be less eternal because you
will have forgotten its divine origin?'
Just then an angel of light, one of the company on high, appeared
in a vision before I;Iasan and spoke to his hean. '0 my servant I;Iasan,'
intoned the messenger, 'fall silent and speak no more, for you are
weaving a tangled web of words in which you will entrap both
yourself and 'Abdu'I-Karim. Speak one more word, both his soul and
yours will fall into the abyss of hell!'
Thus did 'Abdu'I-Karfm test himself. Thus did 'Abdu'I-Karim
test I;Iasan. Thus did I;Iasan test 'Abdu'I-Karim. Thus did I;Iasan test
himself. Thus did the angel of the Lord test I;Iasan.
For. moment, their very souls hung in the balance. The outcome
is with God.
Blessed be the silent ones who do not entangle themselves and
others in the web of their own fearful words, who do not entrap
LOGOS AND MYTHOS 141

themselves in the veil of their own doubts. Words are perilous
things, the cause of our salvation or damnation. The tests of the
tongue shake our very foundations with fear and trembling.

The Four Books
There are four books I am fond of reading: (1) the book of
revelation (2) the book of nature (3) the book of the philosophers
(4) the book of humanity. When I read the book of revelation, I am
conscious that the Omniscient One is pouring out the spirit of life
from on high upon my soul. When I read the book of nature, my
eyes are filled with the beauty of the colours, the sounds and the
forms of this great mysterious work of God. When I read the book
of the philosophers, my mind is challenged and strengthened by the
precise discipline, the keen perception and high resolve of the
geometers of thought. But when I read the book of humanity, I read
the three other books at once.

The Sound and the Fury
Words are like shifting sands in a Sahara of meaninglessness.
They are as fluid as water. Never to be nailed down, they invent a
dance of point and counterpoint. No sooner are they spoken than
they can be called back, renounced, recanted. These curious black
markings on a page give the impression of permanence but vanish
like the wind into the stores of memory. Words are maddeningly
imprecise, though we sometimes fancy that writers possess the art
and precision of jeweller's tools.
In conversatlon, we are astonished howaften we stumble about our
meaning, leaving the company of our friends less than content with
the thought we have striven to convey. How often have we regretted
words we may have spoken in anger or thoughtlessness, words which
cut to the quick and carry their wounds for days, months, even years.
Yet how often, too, have words come as a heavenásent blessing, as a
welcome balm of healing and relief to both body and soul.
Words are volatile and chaotic. They can be as unpredictable and
ruinous as a roaring tornado that devastates a countryside, or as
142 UNDER THE DIVINE lOTE TREE

measured and stately as the noble utterances of a speech from the
throne. Watch out for words, the concealed weapons that can be
foisted upon you with lightning speed by the cunning or the cruel.
Watch out for words that beguile the unsuspecting victim. Yet know
and appreciate the awesome power of these fond friends to heal, to
transform and to create, the floating jewels at their brilliant best
when they speak the words of love.
BEING-IN-THE-WORLD
Self-Revelation and Community
Some of the religious prefer concealment behind the veil of discretion,
behind the quiet and moderate tones of tact, caution and diplomacy.
For these believers, self does not figure into the discussion. One's
hopes, feelings, disappointments, life experiences have no relevance.
Instead, one stays on the safer ground of the mollifying effect of
objectivity and detachment.
r wonder if this veiling of self, this mood of caution, is always
desirable. Discretion and the spirit of diplomacy may quiet souls and
pacify spirits. That may be a lesser good. Such an approach, however,
tells nothing about the soul, nothing about the real life experiences
or the wisdom gained by the spiritual pilgrim. That is the greater
good. This concealment of self does not reach out to the one who is
striving to understand or to endure the heat of the day. The guarded
voice says in effect: 'Only this question exists. Let us look at it
objectively. We do not matter in all of this. I do not exist. You do not
exist.' Such are the drawbacks of objectivity. Objectivity, so highly
prized by the scholar, does a disservice in personal interaction and
community life. For objectivity in these circumstances means treating
persons and life situations as if they were objects. This approach is
artificial and dehumanizing.
It is important to distinguish self-revelation from confession. The
person who reveals self is sharing wisdom or counsel, not offering
cold comfort by admitting to the lowest common denominator.
There is, to be sure, something discreet, a certain modesty in the
concealment of self. But there is also something lacking in this
reticent voice, something properly amiss. It is precisely the vety thing

146 UNDER THE DIVINE LorE TREE

that it is wont to pass over in silence- the life of self. By 'self' I mean
especially that sense of compassion and sympathy that does not draw
back from sharing learned experiences, honest perceptions, the
treasures found at the deepest levels of the mine of life's most
strenuous ordeals. It is only by daring to share this intimate sense of
self that the bonds of friendship and community will be forged.
Although self-revelation runs the risk of vulnerability, true
community cannot emerge without the sense of intimacy in which we
become guides and physicians to one another.

The Revealing Self
The revealing self is the affirmative voice of the man or the woman
who speaks as the honourable creation of God. But let all of us who
reveal ourselves and who wish to utter this imperious word 'I' also
shrink before its many dangers. Let us take care that we grow not sick
with promoting self rather than truth. For self-revelation means that
he who dares to speak must know that, at the same time as he lifts up
his voice, he will err. She who dares to reveal herself must know that
when she does speak, the same divine light that has illumined her
lantern will also reveal at the same time her shabby clothes.
All the same, we the 'generation of the half-light'! must in the
here and now, and for the swiftly passing days that are still ours,
dare to utter the word T. This is the I of the divine subjectivity, the
I of the self that 'is not rejected but beloved', the self that 'is well-
pleasing and not to be shunned',' the I of the divine actor who
shares his soul and makes himself present to all those who long to
change the world.

The Abolition of Priesthood:
Self-Knowledge and Ministering to Society
There is much wisdom in Baha'u'lIah's edict abolishing the
priesthood and the cloistered life, in enjoining His followers to live
in the world.) Closed societies, we have long since come to discover,
are inhabited by demons of their own. The 'knight of faith" or the
spiritual pilgrim naturally welcomes a moment of retreat from the
BEING-IN-THE-WORLO 147

world. But if we hope to flee permanently from the inevitable
oppression that marks human society today, we shall be furthering
a process that is only self-defeating.
By withdrawing our spiritual resources from an increasingly
dysfunctional society, we become unable to minister to its pressing
needs. While the world clearly does expose the individual to grave
dangers for spiritual well-being, it also creates at the same time
opportunities for healing, transformation and social welfare. We
have all been thrown into the gaping jaws of society and we must
learn to live in the world with nothing but our own wits and
resources to enable us to survive.
The Baha', writings voice strong warnings of the corrosive
influence that would be let loose on spiritual souls living in
contemporary society. Yet facing the tests of the world through
spiritual discipline is the chief means of acquiring virtue in this
promised day. Virtue, to be virtuous, must be virtue tested. John
Milton (1608-1674) made the point in his Areopagitica, a pamphlet
written on the model of classical rhetoric in which he argued for the
repeal of the censorship laws passed by Parliament on 14 June 1643:

As therefore the state of man now is, what wisdom can there be to choose,
what continence to forbear, without the knowledge of evil? He that can appre-
hend and consider vice with all her baits and seeming pleasures, and yet abstain,
and yet distinguish. and yet prefer that which is truly bener, he is the true way-
faring Christian. I cannot praise a fugitive and cloistered vinuc, unexercised
and unbreathed, that never sallies out and sees her adversary, but slinks out
of the race, where that immortal garland is to be run for, not without dust and
heat. Assuredly we bring not innocence into the world? we bring impurity
much rather: that which purifies us is trial. and trial is by what is contrary. S

Alfred, Lord Tennyson wrote in his great dramatic monologue
Ulysses these words that well express the fortitude that believers must
develop living in today's society: 'One equal temper of heroic hearts/
Made weak by time and fate, but strong in will(fo strive, to seek, to
find, and not to yield:" Tennyson also wrote about his poem Ulysses
that it gave 'the feeling about the need of going forward and braving
the struggle of life ..:7 This is a good description of those souls who
148 UNDER THE DIVINE LOTE TREE

choose to live in the world. I emphasize the word choose, for one can
live out a meaningless existence by default, blindly and passively
submitting to what one views to be either a cruel fate or a deadening,
humdrum existence.
Shoghi Effendi also alerted us to another reality bearing on this
question. He wrote that the pernicious influences to which we are
all exposed would originate not just from without, but from within
ourselves. The Guardian of the Baha'i Faith tells us that when
trouble comes to believers, it originates not only in the contrary
behaviour of the thoughtless or the malicious. Spiritual souls, he
wrote, often bring their troubles upon themselves: 'Generally
speaking nine-tenths of the friends' troubles are because they don't
do the Baha'i thing, in relation to each other, to the administrative
bodies or in their personallives:s
The frank realism with which Shoghi Effendi conveys this point
remedies an all too common tendency to blame society or others for
one's troubles. This self-inflicted harm of which the Qur'an also
speaks' is, however, the rite of passage, the necessary training, the
price one pays for acquiring the gift of self-knowledge and for becom-
ing fit to advance the cause of an 'ever-advancing civilization',IO of
becoming a source of social good. But believers know that they have
a shelter, a refuge and a guide as they navigate through stormy seas.
If they are shipwrecked, it does not matter. If they be faithful to Him,
in time they shall be rescued.
Yet for all the hard lessons we may be destined to learn as we
fathom her mysterious ways, Lady Wisdom is a wonderful teacher.
For jf we allow her, she teaches us to become wiser than our own
unwisdom. Sophia teaches us that even when we become ensnared
by our own folly or fall into the trap of the malicious, Baha'u'llah
will graciously assist those who are willing to profit by their
mistakes and who implore His help in their peril.

We Can Still Celebrate the World
We can still celebrate the world today in spite of its dire threat to
human happiness. The Baha'i Faith, as is true of the other great
religions, calls for a rejection of the world. But in doing so, it defines
BEING-IN-THE-WORLD 149

the 'world' only as anything which prevents us from loving God. 1I
Following this definition, the world actually enables us to love God
more completely through a deeper appreciation of His many beautiful
names and attributes revealed in all of creation.
We can still celebrate the world today by celebrating ourselves. We
can rejoice in the realization that there is still much left in the soul to
be loved and because wherever we are in our spiritual journey, we have
been able to endure our lives up to this moment and because we are
still here learning to live and to love, to understand, to suffer and to
forgive, to work and to praise - with this end in mind: that we might
make a difference in the world and become a cause of healing.
We can still celebrate the world today by admiring the soul
beauty in others. A myriad faces of joy are still to be seen, faces of
bliss mirroring mystery, individual waves that have emerged from
that vast unknown Sea of Reality. For that greatest of all mysteries,
the endless, unfathomable Sea of Being, in its profound mystery, in
its heights and depths, contains us one and alL In that Great Sea, we
may all learn to swim secure and be confident in the realization that
its salutary waters will carry us safely to the farthest shore.

The Call of the Wild
This morning at dawn, I heard the birds crying. I say crying because
dominating all the rest was the seagull, a waterfowl that is becoming
less of a marine creature. Gulls are becoming skilful adapters to urban
living and are quite content to fly in from nearby rivers and scavenge
what they can at the local fast food outlets.
These pesky birds cbme diving boldly into parking lots and
amble ungainly along the pavement in search of scraps. Resented as
intruders in the sprawling shopping malls of towns and cities, I like
to think of them in their natural environment, white feathered,
airborne creatures, soaring silently above the blue water. There they
are a welcome image of beauty.
Other songsters I heard at daybreak, both the delicate and the
rakish: peepers, twitterers, rollers, squawkers, whistlers, sparrows,
jays, canaries, thrushes and other unidentifiables in the motley avian
crew. There were melodies of all shades on the tonal scale, songs to
150 UNDER THE D,V,NE LorE TREE

please every ear. But strangely, all the various tunes did not make for
cacophony, even though one could not have found the noise
harmonious. It was more like the prattle of a large family starting off
a busy day at home. Even the birds of the air seemed to be enjoying
the sense of community.
Yet as I listened intently, I heard something else in the dawntime
singing of these birds. It was the cry of the wild, or in Jack London's
phrase, 'the call of the wild'." The call that I heard that morning was
the call of 'let it be'. It was a call that invoked the memory of some-
thing both ancient and primitive, wild and free, a mystery that is at
once sacred and unknowable, a natural phenomenon to be revered
because of its sheer duration since the dawn of time. The call of the
wild has endured for eons. For eons yet let it remain, the voice said,
as long as the rivers flow, as long as the grasses grow, as long as the
oceans roll.
In the pensive mood that lingered within me this morning, I sent
out a quiet prayer that this ancient call might yet fall on kinder cars,
on more sensitive and determined hearts. But with that prayer came
also the stark and frightful realization that all things wild and free
could just as well not be. that all this could be irretrievably lost
because of our own stupidity, lethargy and negligence. Finally, as
this state of consciousness waned, I recalled the ever meaningful.
passionate prayer of the poet-priest Gerard Manley Hopkins in
lnversnaid: '0 let them be left, wildness and wet;/ Long live the
weeds and the wilderness yet.'''
THE LONG JOURNEY HOME
Death as a Going Away to a Far Land
Sometimes death comes with gentleness or kindness, merely as a
going away to a far land. When the death of a friend does not occasion
profound grief, we apprehend the transition into second birth as a
long but safe journey to an unknown place. This is not the wrenching
death that shocks and dislocates but that passing away that comes
with acquiescence.
This experience of death comes as a welcome visitation by a
distant relative who one day appears at our door to carry us off to a
mysterious destination. The angel of mercy comes and carries off
the earth child to an unseen realm. The departure is a merciful
ending that contains, as all endings do, the seeds of new beginnings.
We may wonder that we are not more affected by this departure,
why we do not mourn or weep or see the black of night in the light
of day. It is because our friends and loved ones who have travelled
to that far-off realm are simply 'away'. This is the kindly death, the
death serene, the going away to a far land.

The Dead and Gone, and Divine Motion
Written after hearing ofthe sudden death ofDr. Jacques Breton
from his bereaved wife, 17 August 1995

Certain ones in the land of the living consider the dead as poor
unfortunates who have been decisively deprived of enjoying the
benefits of life in this world. Yet in the perspective of faith, it is the
dead who are fortunate. For the faithful lovers of God among the

154 UNDER THE DIVINE LOTE TREE

departed have moved on and are continuing their journey. They
have been launched into the next orbit of that great spiritual
adventure which for now, at least, eludes us by its mystery and its
unfathomable greatness.
It is both an insight and a consolation to realize that the whole
movement of creation in this world of Nasllt' and beyond - and this
is one of the great laws of creation - flows from death to life, from
nonexistence to existence, from the material to the spiritual, from
sorrow into joy. The telos (Gk. =end, goal) of the cosmic order always
drives toward a larger life of immortality, detachment, freedom and
joy. In the design of God, that larger life can be fully realized only in
the Great Beyond. This lesser world, as 'Abdu'l-Baha has said, is a
world of inestimable value for our spiritual development, but it is one
in which the gains are slowly and sometimes painfully achieved
through hard knocks, reversals and set backs: 'The world of mortality
is a world of contradictions, of opposites; motion being compulsory
everything must either go forward or retreat.'2 Also: 'It is easy to
approach the Kingdom of Heaven, but hard to stand firm and staunch
within it, for the tests are rigorous and heavy to bear.'3
Death is a great enigma, perhaps the greatest, but it cannot be
reduced only to the word mystery, a mystery that forbids us to
break silence and to make any conscious breakthrough this side of
the veil into that light beyond. Death has many faces and many
meanings. In death one may discover the drama of sacrifice or
heroism, the welcome end, or the broken heart. For death is all of
these things. For those unable to bear up under the weight of the
world any longer, we find in death both solace and pathos. As we
contemplate death, we come face to face with the realization of the
awesome overlordship of God, that He holds in His mighty hand
not only the fate of our own poor soul, but the final destinies of all
the inhabitants of the earth, past, present and future.
That a countless multitude of souls have passed on, some 'old
and full of days',' others in tragic and untimely fashion, while still
others in their tenderest days and years - and all being thronged in
the unseen realms above - must arouse the greatest wonderment in
every believer. These realizations should cause us to pause and to
reflect on our own mortality and the brevity of life itself and to
THE LONG JOURNEY HOME 155

impel us to find in the brief days that are still ours, a way to God,
the path to peace and reconciliation both with ourselves and others.
And, if we are not still too numb with grief, if only recently touched
by death's icy hand, this final departure should cause us to meditate
profoundly on the hope-giving promises of eternal life recorded in
holy scripture, the new beginning destined in the worlds of God
above. This inevitability of ever-approaching death may then enable
us to see that for those who truly love and trust Him, the motion
of our little lives is nothing but a journey to the throne of God.

Death Breaks Nature's Endless Cycle
The flow of life that we call nature moves along a circular and
cyclical path (Gk. kyklos=circle) from death to life and from life to
death. All creatures are locked into this eternal cycle that transits
continuously between the phenomena of life and death. ~bdu'l­
Bah. has expounded grandly on this theme. Within the cycle of this
eternal return, He teaches, nature moves from death to life and life
to death as matter undergoes a never-ending eventual reintegration
in the physical world in higher forms.' At the moment of death,
these higher forms which reach their summit in the human being are
gradually broken down and recommence the slow journey back to
the various elements of nature, culminating finally again in man.
The pattern recommences ad infinitum.
Although the nonbeliever considers death to be the final curtain in
the drama of human existence, by God's grace it is but the means of
attaining the fullness of life. The endless movement of this eternal cycle
is broken each time the soul leaves the body to take on the celestial
form that befits it best. With the departure of the soul from the body,
an extraordinary event takes place that both transcends and defeats the
blind, cyclical pattern that imprisons all of nature's elements in blind
obedience. The final link in the great chain of nature is broken by the
spirit when it pierces the shell of the body and casts off its corporeal
existence to assume a higher, spiritual life form. Death reveals that
'coincidence of opposites' in which the final defeat of the body signi-
fies at the same time the victory and crown of an earthly life and the
ushering in of a larger existence as yet unimagined.
156 UNDER THE DIVINE LOTE TREE

The Best Legacy
Most people, whether they find themselves handicapped by old age or still
robust enough to live out their dreams, desire to bequeath a legacy. That
legacy, whether one's descendants, a material endowment, a complex of
values, a significant body of work, or simply the hope of being lovingly
remembered, are all indirect ways of ensuring immortality. We all yearn
for something essential to remain once we have departed, something
associated with what we once were or stood for, what we once loved.
I ask, what is the greatest, the most lasting legacy? What is the
most valuable treasure that we may leave behind, the means by
which we may continue to best benefit the living? What is that
legacy to which one may truly aspire without fear of futility? Good
questions all, for their answer will reveal nothing less than one of
life's great secrets and the purpose of existence itself.
I estimate that the greatest legacy bequeathed by any soul is a life
of service to humanity performed for the sake of the love of God.'
For sincere service to humanity, however a believer conceives God and
such service to be, will prove to be a triple benefit: to the cause for
which it is perfortned, to the recipient of the deed and to the doer. It
is relatively unimportant what kind of service one performs. It is self-
less service that counts. For Bah.'u'll.h has written that 'the reward
of no good deed is or ever will be 10st'.'One should consider conse-
quently the larger horizon, the one that begins with dedication and the
zeal of effort and ends in a spirit of detachment and humility. Whether
the service be found in the professions or works of philanthropy,
charity or social action, the field of development, scholarship,
teaching, counsel, healing, bestowing the gift of love or the spirit of
compassion - all these deeds are the best legacy. 'Greater than the
prayer is the spirit in which it is uttered:'And greater than the deed is
the spirit in which it is performed.
It is the entire devotion of the soul that determines the value of
the legacy in the end. Each and evety devoted act has the power to
send its lasting effects vibrating down the succeeding generations.
The heart offered up in the spirit of sacrifice is the best legacy of all,
the meagerest thanks for the life He has bestowed upon us, for all
He has taught us and wrought in our lives.
THE lONG JOURNEY HOME 157

What this legacy really is can never be fully described and is known
in toto to God alone, for it is an expression of that mystery of
mysteries, that divine gem, the human soul. If the cause be unknown
(the soul), the effect likewise can never be fully known (the deed). In
bequeathing this legacy, there is and must remain an unknown,
a vast horizon which we simply cannot see. We can never fully
appreciate, never fully estimate, what a life devoted to the love of God
has been, all that it has meant. So much more is this true of great souls
and their mission. In future times and in other realms, so 'Abdu'l-BaM
tell us, it will become clearer what that legacy has meant." For now, we
may find joy in securing a legacy that we may pass down to honour
those who came before us and to be a cause of celebration to those who
may one day rejoice in our memory.
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Notes and References
Introcluction
IThe expression is from an unnamed source in Reck, Speculative
Philosophy, p. 2.
2'Abdu'I-Bah" Promulgation, p.336.
JBah"u'lI.h, Seven Valleys, p.26.
'See, for example, the following essays: Love Divine, The Silence of
the Sacred, The Dream ofKnowledge, Happiness for its Own Sake, The Void
ofForgetting, Positive Detachment, What Can J Refuse to the Universe?
5Shoghi Effendi, God Passes By, p. 94. Notes on Quranic
references have been provided by Stephen Lambden.
'Bahd'( Prayers, p. 99.
'See, for example, 'The Tablet of Visitation' in Bah"u'lhih,
Prayers and Meditations, p. 313.
'See Baha'u'llah, Gleanings, XXIX, p.70: XLII, p.91: XCVIII,
p.198. See also Shoghi Effendi, God Passes By, p. 94.
'The summary points that follow I have greatly compressed and
simplified from Stephen Lambden's article The Lote-Tree Beyond
Which There Is No Passing (Sidratu'l-Muntaha,' (forthcoming
Shorter Encyclopedia ofthe Bahd'( Faith). I have combined Lambden's
findings with some of my own readings.
IOGaudefroy-Demombynes, Mahomet, p. 94 (my translation).
"See, for example, Eliade's Patterns in Comparative Relzgion, pp.
270 ff.
"Eliade, 'Methodological Remarks on the Study of Religious
Symbolism' in History of Religions, p. 93.
"Bah"u'lI.h, Gleanings, CXII, p. 218.
"Eliade, as in note II.

NOTES AND REFERENCES 165

The Book of Knowleclge
'From William Blake's four quatrains, ~d did those feet ...' in the
Preface to his prophetic poem Milton. The last one reads: 'I will not cease
from Mental Fight/Nor shall my Sword sleep in my hand/lill we have
built JerusalemlIn England's green & pleasant land.' Blake, Selection,
p.162. See also Abrams (ed.), Norton Anthology, vol. 2, p. 78.
21 love the clouds ... the passing clouds... over there ... over there...
the marvellous clouds!' From Baudelaire's short essay Eetranger in
Le spleen de Paris, p. 15 (my trans.).
'The story of Icarus and his father Daedalus was told by both
Ovid and Apollodorus. Daedalus and Icarus were imprisoned by
King Minos in the Labyrinth on the island of Crete. To escape from
the island, Daedalus fashioned two pairs of wings that were affixed
to the body by wax. Before escaping, Daedalus warned his son to
keep to a middle course because if Icarus flew too high, the heat of
the sun would melt the wax and disaster would result. Icarus
disregarded the counsel of his father, and delighted by the new and
wonderful power of flight soared blissfully higher until, as his father
had predicted, the sun melted the wax and he fell into the sea. This
myth is an object lesson in the Greek ethical preoccupation with the
Golden Mean.
4The phrase 'unfolding destiny' is from the title of Shoghi
Effendi's messages to the Baha'is of the British Isles, The Unfolding
Destiny of the British Baha'i Community (1981).
'The 'spiritually learned' is a key phrase of 'Abdu'I-Baha's in The
Secret ofDivine Civilization. See, for example, pp. 33, 36, 39, 58.
"Regarding the first Baha'i principle of the independent
investigation of the truth, 'Abdu'I-Baha has written: 'The first
[principle1 is the independent investigation of the truth; for blind
imitation of the past will stunt the mind. But once every soul
inquireth into truth, society will be freed from the darkness of
continually repeating the past.' Selections, p. 248.
'The concept of Dasein (being there: Ger. da=there, sein =to be)
is basic to Heidegger's philosophy. In the introductory key sentence
of his seminal work Being and Time, Heidegger explains Dasein with
this somewhat obscure statement: 'Das Wesen des Daseins liegt in
seiner Existenz.'('The essence of being there (Dasein) lies in its
existence.') Dasein refers to typically human existence and is the
prelude to the greater discussion of Sein (Being). It connotes an
openness or an availability to reality and a willingness to participate
in being.
166 UNDER THE DIVINE LorE TREE

'hom Blake's Notebook, this poem is variously titled Several
Answ£'Ted Questions or Liberty. See U ntermeyer (ed.), Living Verse, p.184.
"Know that, although the human soul has existed on the earth
for prolonged times and ages, yet it is phenomenal. As it is a divine
sign, when it has come into existence, it is eternal. The spirit of man
has a beginning, but it has no end; it continues eternally... The
meaning of this is that, although human souls are phenomenal, they
are nevertheless immortal, everlasting and perpetual...' 'Abdu'l-
Baba, Some Answered Questions, pp. 151-152.
"One of the translations of the title of Marcel Proust's
monumental novel Ii la recherche du temps perdu.
liThe expression is from the title of psychologist Abraham
Maslow's Religions, Values, and Peak Experiences (1978). Basically,
Maslow's peak experience refers to an altered state of consciousness,
fleeting but rotally spontaneous 'moments of highest happiness and
fulfilment' and 'harmonious oneness' with the universe in which the
individual loses self-consciousness and ceases to be concerned by the
events of the past or the future. It is a vital experience of focusing on
and living in the now when all things flow with ease.
I2Baha'u'ILih, Tablets, p. 247.
"Pascal in De l'esprit geometrique (,On the geometrical spirit') refers
to 'definitions of names' as arbitrary definitions which are commonly
understood and accepted. Thoughts and Minor Works, p. 429.
"The complete quotation reads: 'My name is 'Abdu'I-Baha. My
qualification is 'Abdu'I-Baha. My reality is 'Abdu'l-Baha. My praise
is 'Abdu'I-Baha. Thralldom to the Blessed Perfection is my glorious
and refulgent diadem, and servitude to all the human race my
perpetual religion . . . No name, no title, no mention, no
commendation haw J, nor will ever have, except ~bdu'I-Baha. This
is my longing. This is my greatest yearning. This is my eternal life.
This is my everlasting glory.' Quoted by Shoghi Effendi in 'The
Dispensation of Bah"u'ILih' in World Order, p. 139.
"Exodus 3:14.
16The Bab, Qayyiimu'l-Asma', in Selections, p. 54.
"Baha'u'llah, Gleanings, p. 176.
"Quoted by Bah.'u'llah in The Seven Valleys, p. 34.
'"This is the phrase used by Baha'fs to refer to a universal
prophetic cycle beginning with Adam and whose 'supreme
Manifestation' is Baha'u'll.h. 'Abdu'l-Baha, Some Answered
Questions, p. 161.
"Genesis 2: 19.
NOTES AND REFERENCES 167
"ibid.
221 Corinthians13:l2.
23See Part IV of Spinoza's Ethics, 'Of Human Bondage or of the
Strength of the Emotions'.
2'See Carnap's essay 'The Elimination of Metaphysics Through
Logical Analysis of Language' in Logical Positivism, pp. 60-81.
"Quoted from Wittgenstein's Tractatus by Passmore, Hundred
Years, p. 382.
26From Bell's poem Epistle on the Subject of the Ethical and
Aesthetic Beliefs of Herr Ludwig Wittgenstein, partially quoted by
Passmore, ibid. p. 381.
27See above, note 7.
2'Kenny, Aquinas, p. 26.
29ibid.
30ibid.
31'Abdu'I-Bah" Some Answered Questions, pp. 297-98: ' ... Plato at
first logically proved the immobility of the earth and the movement
of the sun; later by logical arguments he proved that the sun was the
stationary centre, and that the earth was moving.'
32See 'Abdu'I-Baha's discourse on 'The Four Methods of
Acquiring Knowledge', Some Answered Questions, pp. 297-299.
"See Kant's Critique of Pure Reason (1781).
34'Abdu'I-Bah., 'The Four Methods of Acquiring Knowledge',
Some Answered Questions, p. 299.
35 An antinomy is a contradiction between two conclusions
drawn from equally credible premises .
.36Einstein later applied Riemann's geometry to the physical
umverse.
"Proverbs 29: 18 reads: 'Where there is no vision, the people
perish: but he that keepeth the law, happy is he.'
"Buber writes: 'In every sphere in its own way, through each
process of becoming that is present to us, we look out toward the
fringe of the eternal Thou; in each we are aware of the breath from
the eternal Thou; in each Thou we address the eternal Thou' (/ and
Thou, p. 6). This 'Thou' is nothing other than the holy, the
numinous or the sacred encountered in the process of becoming.
3"The expression is from St. Paul: 'And the peace of God, which
passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds
through Christ Jesus' (Philippians 4:7).
,oSee J.A. McLean, Dimensions, p.139, commenting on Holley's
article 'The Writings of Bah"u'IIah', in Star ofthe West (1922), p.lOS.
168 UNDER THE D,V,NE LOTE TREE

41S ee, for example, Kant's Critique of Practical Reason,
Groundwork of the Metaphysic of Morals, and his essay on Perpetual
Peace.
"Cited by Gabriel Marcel in his talk 'Being and Nothingness' in
Homo Viator, p. 169.
"Holley, 'The Writings of Bahi'u'll"h', p. 105.
H'Abdu'l-Baha, Promulgation, p. 296.
';Luke 22:44.
"ibid. v.42.
"Sec, for example, Matthew 17:23, Luke 22:20, Mark 14:24.
"Bah,,'u'llih says in the Gleanings: 'Know thou, 0 fruit of My
Tree, that the decrees of the Sovereign Ordainer, as related to fate
and predestination, arc of two kinds. Both are to be obeyed and
accepted. The one is irrevocable, the other is, as termed by men,
impending. To the former all must unreservedly submit, inasmuch
as it is fixed and settled. God, however, is able to alter or repeal it.
As the harm that must result from such a change will be greater than
if the decree had remained unaltered, all, therefore, should willingly
acquiesce in what God hath willed and confidently abide by the
same. The decree that is impending, however, is such that prayer and
entreaty can succeed in averting it' (Gleanings, LXVIII, p.D3).
'Abdu'l-Baha says in Some Answered Questions: 'Fate is of two
kinds: one is decreed, and the other is conditional or impending'
(p.244).
"Matthew 26:25.
SQ'Abdu'l-Baha, Selections, p. 163.
"Jesus said: 'The Son of man goeth as it is written of him: but
woe unto that man by whom the Son of man is betrayed! it had been
good for that man ifhe had not been born' (Matthew 26:24). Christ
here indicates the inexorable nature of his predestined death: 'The
Son of man goeth as it is written of him.' This underscores the
principle of fate or predestination. Yet it is clear from His saying
that predestination (it must be) docs not absolve one of moral
responsibility. Judas in betraying Christ fulfils the will of God, yet
is held to account for the betrayal.
"Mark 14:3l.
"Matthew 26: 71-72.
"ibid. v.73.
55In his discourse on the relationship of the will to the intellect
in the Fourth Article of Question 82, 'The Will' in Summa
Theologica, Aquinas engages in circular arguments as to which is a
NOTES AND REFERENCES 169

greater power, the intellect or the will. He seems to lean strongly in
favour of the superiority of the will. He says that the intellect,
unlike the will, is capable of apprehending 'universal being and
truth' (Reply, Obj. 1). Yet he also states in the same Reply that 'will
is higher than intellect' since it can move the intellect to perform the
good. Finally, Aquinas recognizes the futility of such circular
argument and settles for the synthesis that 'these powers include
one another in their acts' (Reply, Obj. 1).
"Luke 22: 31-31. Christ's phrase 'when thou art converted' is
remarkable, for it is likely that Peter had already considered himself
to be converted but he had not yet been really tested by the searing
flames of self. There is an object lesson here for all religious. Some
may consider themselves to be already believers and converted,
whereas in reality they are still not yet ripe.
"I remember visiting the church of St. Francis de Sales while 1
was a student in Paris during the 1960s. The church lies not far from
the Jardin du Luxembourg and from where I once lived at Place de
l'Estrapade in the vicinity of the Pantheon and the Sorbonne. In
that church stood a life-sized bronze statue of St. Peter on a high
pedestal. The feet of St. Peter stood approximately at shoulder
height. When I looked at the bronze feet, I marvelled at how the
individual toes had been worn completely smooth over the
centuries from the number of times pious hands had touched the
fisherman's foot in order to invoke his blessing.
"Toben, Space-time and Beyond, p. 11.
"John Archibald Wheeler coined the term 'black hole' in the late
1960s. Wheeler, 'the archetypal physics-far-poets physicist',
published with his mentor Niles Bohr the first paper that
successfully explained nuclear fission in terms of quantum physics.
Wheeler was involved in the construction of the first fission bomb
during World War II and the first hydrogen bomb in the early years
of the Cold War. After the war he became one of the leading
authorities on general relativity. Both Wheeler and Bohr held that
the behaviour of quanta was indeterminate and depended on the act
of observation itself. See John Horgan, The End oiScience, p. 80.
6°As an alternative to Bohr's subjectivistic and indeterminate
particle theory, David Bohm proposed the 'pilot wave' by which
particles are particles at all times and not just when they are being
observed. Thus his theory was less dependent on metaphysical
interpretation. Bohm is also known for his philosophy of
'implicate order' which drew analogies between quantum
170 UNDER THE D,V,NE LOTE TREE

mechanics and eastern religion. Implicate order holds that
underlying the world of appearances there is always a deeper,
hidden layer of reality. For Bohm the pilot wave was the implicate
order of the particle. Bohm was influenced by Krishnamurti and
the Tibetan Book of the Dead and coauthored Science, Order, and
Creativity with F. David Peat. Reality for Bohm was ultimately
unknowable. New discoveries also create new mysteries. Sec
Horgan, The End of Science, pp. 86, 87, 89.
61Theoretical physicist Fritjof Capra's The Tao of Physics (1975)
became the breakthrough book on the parallels between modern
physics and Hindu, Buddhist and Chinese thought.
"Eddington, The Nature of the Physical World, pp. 332 and 333.
"Quoted by David Foster in The Philosophical Scientists, p. II.
"See note 38 above for a description of Buber's 'Thou'.
65'Abdu'I-Baha, from a Bahn prayer for assemblies. Bahd'i
Prayers, p. 110.
""Quoted by Wilber, Quantum Questions, p. 97.
"In his Introduction to the Bhagavad-Gita, Huxley as a
proponent of the Perennial philosophy outlined 'four fundamental
doctrines' which constituted a 'Highest Common Factor' or 'its
chemically pure state'. Summarized, these four doctrines of the great
religions are: (1) all forms of life, both organic and inorganic,
conscious and unconscious, are manifestations of the 'Divine
Ground' without which they would be non-existent; (2) human
beings have 'direct intuition' of the Divine Ground, a form of
knowing superior to 'discursive rcason'; (3) the human being
possesses a dual nature: a 'phenomenal ego' and 'an eternal Self', 'the
spark of divinity within the soul'; (4) the human being's purpose in
life is to identify with the eternal Self and thus come to know directly
the Divine Ground. Bhagavad-Gita, p.13.
"Joachim Wach, 'Universals in Religion' in Types of Religious
Experience, pp. 30-47.
"Heiler's scholarly article The History of Religions as a
Preparation for the Co-operation of Religions', is rich in scriptural
detail and makes a convincing case for the unity of the world's great
religions. Heiler argues for 'seven principal areas of unity which the
high religions of the earth manifest'. I greatly compress the main
points here: (1) the transcendent Reality underlying all being; (2) the
immanence of the transcendent reality in human hearts; (3) the
supreme Reality is the highest goodness and truth to which the soul
of humanity may aspire; (4) the Reality of the Divine reveals itself
NOTES AND REFERENCES 171

to all as boundless, outpouring love; (5) the way to God is the
way of renunciation, sacrifice and prayer; (6) service to humanity,
love and compassion for all creatures; (7) love is the superior way
to God. In Eliade and Kitigawa (eds.), The History of Religions,
pp.132-160.
'"Smith's best presentation on this theme is perhaps Forgotten
Truth (1976).
"Wilfred Cantwell Smith writes in Toward a World Theology, p.4:
'those who believe in the unity of mankind, and those who believe
in the unity of God, should be prepared therefore to discover. a
unity of mankind's religious histoty.'
"See Schuon, The Transcendent Unity of Religions (1975).
73Santayana, Winds ofDoctrine, p. 97.
"'The eanh is but one country, and mankind its citizens' is one
of Baha'u'llah's most frequently cited quotations. Gleanings, CXVI,
p.250.
"Addressing the seeker, Bah:\'u'llah says: 'Let thy soul glow with
the flame of this undying Fire that bumeth in the midmost hean of
the world, in such wise that the waters of the universe shall be
powerless to cool down its ardour. Make, then, mention of thy
Lord, that haply the heedless among Our servants may be
admonished through thy words, and the hearts of the righteous be
gladdened.' Gleanings, xv, p. 38.

The Fragrance of Spirituality
'Milton's celebrated line is from his sonnet On His Blindness
(1655?). Complete Poetical Works, p.190.
'The phrase 'spirituality of imperfection' is taken from the title
of Junz and Ketcham's excellent volume The Spirituality of
Imperfection. Modern Wisdom From Classic Stories. The underlying
theme of the book is that failure and acceptance are the precursors
to spiritual growth.
'Baha'u'llah, The Seven Valleys, pp. 39-40.
'This is the title of Daniel C. jordan's publication Becoming Your
True Self. First issued as a pamphlet, Becoming Your True Self has
been revised in booklet form. Jordan points to certain
psychospiritual aspects of faith and self-understanding as being
necessary for spiritual transformation.
'Baha'u'llah, Kitdb-i-Aqdas, para. 4, pp. 20-21.
"ibid. para. 116, p. 61.
172 UNDER THE DIVINE LOTE TREE

"Beauty is truth, truth beauty, - that is allIYe know on earth, and
all ye need to know.' John Keats, Ode on a Grecian Urn, in The
Norton Anthology of English Literature, vol. 2, p. 823.
'Mrs. Brown kindly gave permission for the use of her story.
"Abdu'l-Baha, Selections, pp. 186-187 (emphasis mine).
lO'Abdu'I-Baha states the Baha'i position on miracles as follows:
'For if we consider miracles a great proof, they arc still only proofs
and arguments for those who are present when they are performed,
and not for those who are absent.' 'Abdu'l-Baha looks to the
pragmatic and universal proofs of prophethood as more solid proofs
of revealed religion. His example is that of Christ's being empowered
to establish a world religion through the power of his own person,
even though he faced crucifixion alone. 'Now this is a veritable
miracle which can never be denied. There is no need of any other
proof of the truth of Christ.' Some Answered Questions, pp. 100-101.
"From a prayer for spiritual qualities. Baha'i Prayers, p. 147.
"Meaning here capable of physical sensation.
"This is an echo of 'Abdu'l-Bahi's statement that Thoughts may
be divided into two classes: (1st) Thought that belongs to the world
of thought alone. (2nd) Thought that expresses itself in action.' Paris
Talks, p. 4. It is the italicised phrase that has been transposed above
into another context.
\4<Abdu'I-Baha teaches that the development of 'spiritual suscepti-
bilities' forms an integral part of the essential and timeless aspect of
religion. In 'Abdu'l-Bahi's talks there are many such references to sus-
ceptibility to things spiritual. I include here just one quotation: 'Each
of the divine religions embodies two kinds of ordinances. The first is
those which concern spiritual susceptibilities, the development of moral
principles and the quickening of the conscience of man. These are essen-
tial or fundamental, one and the same in all religions, changeless and
eternal- reality not subject to transformation.' Promulgation, p. 106.
I'The animal lives this kind of life blissfully and untroubled,
whereas the material philosophers labour and study for ten or twenty
years in schools and colleges, denying God, the Holy Spirit and divine
inspirations. The animal is even a greater philosopher, for it attains the
ability to do this without labour and study. For instance, the cow denies
God and the Holy Spirit, knows nothing of divine inspirations, heav-
enly bounties or spiritual emotions and is a stranger to the world of
hearts. Like the philosophers, the cow is a captive of nature and knows
nothing beyond the range of the senses.' Promulgation, pp.311-312.
This is a sublime example of the maxim that 'ignorance is bliss'.
"ibid.
NOTES AND REFERENCES 173

"Tablets of J4bdu'l-Baba, p. 263. Partially retranslated at the
Baha'i World Centre.
'''Translation from The Jerusalem Bible. The King James' version
reads •... eat the fat of the land'.
'''This statement of Baha'u'llah is recorded in Gleanings, p.212:
'It is not Our wish to lay hands on your kingdoms. Our mission is
to seize and possess the hearts of men.'
2°1 know a dedicated, very exemplary Baha'i who said to me that
she declined to go on pilgrimage when Shoghi Effendi was the
Guardian of the Baha'i Faith because: '1 did not want him to look
into my face and know everything about me.'
2IThis essay does not intend to suggest that a Baha'i should not
be conscious of his or her strengths as the quotation from Shoghi
Effendi has indicated in note 23 below. My reflection here
consciously exaggerates one perspective in order to make a point.
22Shoghi Effendi so qualified MirzaAbu'I-Fa!'ll in God Passes By, p. 19S.
23Letter written on behalf of Shoghi Effendi in The Light of
Divine Guidance, vol. 1, p. 70.

Fire and Light
'Blaise Pascal, Thoughts, p. 99. Pascal's famous saying is found in
Section Four, no. 277 of Les pensees: 'On the Means of Belief'. The
complete thought reads: 'The heart has its reasons, which reason
does not know. We feel it in a thousand things. I say the heart
naturally loves the Universal Being, and also itself naturally,
according as it gives itself to them; and it hardens itself against one
or the other as it will. You have rejected the one, and kept the other.
Is it by reason that you love yourself?'
2'Abdu'I-Baha, 4 January 1912: 'The Four Kinds of Love', in Paris
Talks, pp.I92-4. This statement would seem to be both an
interpretation and a clear textual parallel of Baha'u'llah's statement
in The Seven Valleys, p.2S: 'The journeys in the pathway of love are
reckoned as four: From the creatures to the True One; from the
True One to the creatures; from the creatures to the creatures; from
the True One to the True One.'
"Abdu'I-Baha, Paris Talks, p. 193.
'ibid.
SSt. Paul in Philippians 4:7. The complete sentence reads: 'And
the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your
hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.'
174 UNDER THE DIVINE LOTE TREE

6The SOurce of all good is trust in God, submission unto His
command, and contentment with His holy will and pleasure:
'Words of Wisdom', in Tablets of Bahd'u'lldh, p. 155.
'The phrase 'all our affairs' is from a line in 'Abdu'l-Baha's
beautiful prayer that begins: '0 God, refresh and gladden my spirit:
The fourth line of the prayer reads: 'I lay all my affairs in Thy hand:
Bahd'i Prayers, no. 61.
8Matt. 5:48.
'ibid. 21 :22.
'OBaha'u'll.h, Seven Valleys, p. 15.
"Prayers and Meditations by Bahd'u'lldh, p. 254 (italics added by
the present author).
12Marzieh Gail, 'Commemoration of the Twenty-fifth
Anniversary of 'Abdu'l-Baha's Visit to America', The Baha'i World,
vol. VII, p. 219. Gail does not identify the source of her reported
statement. The statement 'The temple is already built' is not
recorded in 'Abdu'l-Baha's address on 1 May 1912 at 'high noon' at
the dedication of the first stone on the temple ground at Wilmette,
Illinois. See 'Address of Abdul-Baha at the Dedication of the
Mashrak-el-Azkar Grounds, Chicago, High Noon, May 1, 1912' in
Star of the West, vol. 3, no. 4,17 May 1912.
"The Bab, Selections, p. 68.
14The phrasing is patterned after 1 Corinthians 13.
I5The Pharisee who was 'tempting him' had asked Jesus: 'Master,
which is the great commandment in the law?' (Mark 12:30).
16'Abdu'I-Baha teaches that 'The first thing which emanated from
God is that universal reality, which the ancient philosophers termed
the "First Mind", and which the people of Baha call the "First Will".
This emanation, in that which concerns its action in the world of
God, is not limited by time or place; it is without beginning or end
- beginning and end in relation to God are one: In this same talk,
'Abdu'l-Baha explains that the relationship of dependence of the
creatures upon God is a relationship of 'emanation', Creatures do
not manifest (God in another form) but rather emanate from Him.
'The Relation Between God and the Creature', in Some Answered
Questions, pp. 202-203.
17In the Fourth Valley of The Four Valleys, Baha'u'lI.h cites the
tradition/verse: '0 My Servant! Obey Me and I shall make thee
like unto Myself. I say "Be", and it is, and thou shalt say "Be", and
it shall be: The Seven Valleys and the Four Valleys, p. 63.
NOTES AND REFERENCES 175

ISBaha'u'lI.h has revealed that the full expression of all the names
and attributes of God are found within the human being: 'All these
names and attributes are applicable to himá ... 'In this connection.
He Who is the eternal King - may the souls of all that dwell within
the mystic Tabernacle be a sacrifice unto Him - hath spoken: "He
hath known God who hath known himself" ... From that which
hath been said it becometh evident that all things. in their inmost
reality. testify to the revelation of the names and attributes of God
within them. Each according to its capacity. indicateth. and is
expressive of. the knowledge of God.' Gleanings. pp. 177-178.

In Search of Nothing
"The secret of self-mastery is self-forgetfulness.' Despite
searching. I have not been able to locate the source of this line.
2'fhe expression, sometimes misquoted as 'thorn in the side', is
St. Paul's from 2 Corinthians 12:7. Paul says that he was given a
'thorn in the flesh' and was buffeted by 'the messenger of Satan'
lest he should feel himself too exalted with the abundance of
revelations he had received.
'Babaáuállah. The Seven Valleys. p. 36.
4Merton. The True Solitude. p. 16.
5BabaáuálJ.ih. Gleanings. p. 326.
"From Blake's Notebook. see note 6to 'The Book of Knowledge'
above.
'See also below. 'The Epiphanic Moment'. p. 116.
SIn Islam.Jihad refers not only to 'holy war'. those who 'fight
for the Cause of God' (2:186). but it also has an ethical meaning
(~isba) by which the believer is exhorted to strive/struggle/
reform/contend with oneself and to 'bid to good and reject the
reprehensible'. according to the ~ad(th of the Prophet: 'Whoever
sees something reprehensible. let him change it with his own hand.
and if he is unable. with his tongue. and if he is unable to do that.
in his heart.' Quoted in Williams. Islam. p. 195. In the context
above. I am of course referring to its symbolic meaning.
91 have used the word 'mechanism' here but it does not convey
exactly what I mean. The word is somewhat too fixed and stilted. but
since machines are usually characterized by mobility. I have settled for
mechanism. The world I saw on that afternoon was not mechanical in
the strictest sense. but it was organized and definitely moving.
176 UNDER THE D,V,NE lOlE TREE

lO"fhis expression I have taken from another context but it seems
suitable here. The original context is Shoghi Effendi's reference in
The World Order of Bahd'u'lldh to the Faith of Baha'u'lhih. He
stipulates that Baha'fs. if they are to maintain their own organic
unity, must strictly refrain from partisan politics and formal
affiliation - as distinguished from association - with other religious
organizations (p. 199).
liThe phrase 'wondrous system' is borrowed from Baha'u'lIah's
description of His new World Order: 'The world's equilibrium hath
been upset through the vibrating influence of this most great, this
new World Order. Mankind's ordered life hath been revolutionized
through the agency of this unique, this wondrous System - the like
of which mortal eyes have never witnessed.' Kitdb-i-Aqdas, v. 181,
quoted by Shoghi Effendi in The World Orderof Bahd'u'lldh, p. 109.
1![ n Chinese philosophy and religion, the Tao is the 'way' which
Lao Tzu, the sage of the sixth century BCE, taught all forms of life
should follow. The word Tao means literally 'teachings of the Way'
but has come to have a wide variety of meanings in the perspective
of a western world-view. According to context, the word Tao has been
translated variously as: road, nature, path, course, even being, reason
and speech. The Tao comes closest in western thought to the ground
of being, or natural order of the universe or cosmic spirit, a monistic
principle reflected in the harmony and balance of yin and yang. It is
the individual's duty to submit to and to put oneself in harmony with
Tao. D.C. Lau contends, however, that 'no term can be applied to the
tao because all terms are specific, and the specific, if applied to the tao
will impose a limitation on the range of its function.' Lao Tzu, p. 19.
"For the story of Icarus, see above, p. 165, note 3.
14'Abdu'I-Baha, Selections, p. 76. The full sentence reads: 'Let all be
set free from the multiple identities that were born of passion and
desire, and in the oneness of their love for God find a new way of life.'
15Baha'u'lIah, in a passage reminiscent of the words of Jesus (Matt.
7: 26-27), writes: 'Build ye for yourselves such houses as the rain and
floods can never destroy, which shall protect you from the changes
and chances of this life. This is the instruction of Him Whom the
world hath wronged and forsaken.' Gleanings, CXXIII, p. 261.
lflThe context is 'Abdu'l-Baha's arguments against reincarnation.
He wrote: 'What peace, what ease and comfort did the Holy Ones of
God ever discover during Their sojourn in this nether world, that
They should continually seek to come back and live this life again?
Doth not a single turn at this anguish, these afflictions, these
NOTES AND REFERENCES 177

calamities, these body blows, these dire straits, suffice, that They
should wish for repeated visits to the life of this world? This cup was
not so sweet that one would care to drink of it a second time.'
Selections, p. 184.
I7Psalm 51:17 (Revised Standard Version).
"Shakespeare, from Hamlet's famous soliloquy 'To be or not to
be: that is the question:lWhether 'tis nobler in the mind to
suffer/The slings and arrows of outrageous fortunelOr to take arms
against a sea of troubleslAnd by opposing end them.' Hamlet, Act.
III, sc. i.
'''Mark 10: 27. The full verse reads: 'With men it is impossible, but
not with God: for with God all things are possible.' This was Christ's
response to the assembly who had asked who might be saved after
Jesus uttered the famous words: 'It is easier for a camel to go through
the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God'
(Mark 10:25). The 'needle's eye' was the common Hebrew name for
a small door or gate in the city wall. To spare the trouble of opening
the main gate, a smaller one was built in the side of the wall through
which the camel might pass. But in order to do so, the camel had to
be lowered to its knees and struggle through.

The Supreme Talisman
'BaM'u'llah, Gleanings, CXXII, p.259. 'Man is the supreme
Talisman. Lack of a proper education hath, however, deprived him of
that which he doth inherently possess. Through a word proceeding
out of the mouth of God he was called into being; by one word more
he was guided to recognize the Source of his education; by yet
another word his station and destiny were safeguarded. The Great
Being saith: Regard man as a mine rich in gems of inestimable value.'
2Taken from George Sale's 1734 translation of the Quranic phrase
Sidratu'l-Muntaha, 'the lote-tree beyond which there is no passing'.
The translation was subsequently adopted by Shoghi Effendi.
lSelections, no. 88, p. 120.
'Genesis 2:19.
'Gleanings, XC, p. 177.
áShoghi Effendi writes in 'The Dispensation of Baha'u'llah': 'He
is ... the "Mystery of God" - an expression by which Baha'u'IJah
Himself has chosen to designate Him, and which, while it does not
by any means justify us to assign to Him the station of
Prophethood, indicates how in the person of 'Abdu'I-BaM the
178 UNDER THE DIVINE LorE TREE

incompatible characteristics of a human nature and superhuman
knowledge and perfection have been blended and arc completely
harmonized.' The World Order of Baha'u 'Ilah, p.134.
'This satirical piece is meant to underscore the soporific futility
of those discussions, following Baha'u'lIah's dictum, that 'begin and
end in words alone'. 'Such academic pursuits as begin and end in
words alone have never been and will never be of any worth. The
majority of Persia's learned doctors devote all their lives to the
study of a philosophy the ultimate yield of which is nothing but
words.' From the Tablet of Maqsud, in Tablets, p. 169.
8A quodlibet was an academic exercise held in the medieval uni-
versity in which the master and a student or slUdents voluntarily agreed
to a disputation. The answers were afterward set down and published.
'The expression 'still small voice' is from 1 Kings 19:12. It refers
to the voice of God heard by the prophet Elijah in a cave on Mount
Horeb (Sinai) after he had fled there following Queen] ezebel's threat
to kill him in the aftermath of the slaying of the 450 prophets of Baal
in the famous contest on Mount Carmel (1 Kings 18:1-40). Among
other things in this encounter with Yahweh, God gave to Elijah the
mission of appointing as his successor the farmer Elisha. This Elijah
did by casting his prophetic mantle on him (1 Kings 19:19).
lOAn expression once used in personal conversation by a scholar
of B:ibf-Islamic slUdies, Todd Lawson of McGill University. He was
referring to another scholar.
II Bah:i'u'lhih, Kitab-i-lqan, p. 69.

"From the poem by Robert W. Service, The Cremation of Sam
McGee. The fuller reading is: 'There are strange things done in the mid-
night sun/By the men who moil for gold;/The arctic trails have their
secret tales/ That would make your blood run cold.' Collected Poems.
"The complete quotation reads: 'For self-love is kneaded into
the very clay of man and it is not possible that, without any hope of
a substantial reward, he should neglect his own present material
good. That individual, however, who puts his faith in God and
believes in the words of God - because he is promised and certain
of a plentiful reward in the next life, and because worldly benefits
as compared to the abiding joy and glory of future planes of
existence are nothing to him - will for the sake of God abandon his
own peace and profit and will freely consecrate his heart and soul to
the common good. "A man, too, there is who selleth his very self
out of desire to please God"(Qur'an 2:203).' 'Abdu'l-Baha, The
Secret of Divine Civilization, pp. %-97.
NOTES AND REFERENCES 179

"Baha'u'llah wrote: 'All men have been created to carry forward
an ever-advancing civilization: Gleanings. CIX, p. 215.
"From Shoghi Effendi, Messages to the Baha'i World, April 1956,
p.102.
'"This is one line of a two-line Zenrin Kushu poem quoted by
Allan Watts in The Way of Zen, p. 134. The couplet reads: 'Sitting
quietly, doing nothing/Spring comes, and the grass grows by itself:
The Zenrin Kushu was compiled by Toyo Eicho (1429-1504 CE)
and is an vast anthology of some five thousand two-line poems
drawn from a great variety of Chinese religious and popular sources.
Zen students were required to quote from the Zenrin Kushu once
they had solved the koan (puzzle) the Zen Master had put before
them. The poem gave the answer to the koan.
"From a Tablet translated from the Persian, quoted from
'Trustworthiness' in The Compilation ofCompilations, vol. II, p. 333.
"See the essay 'Mirza Abu'I-Fat;lI's Humility and One's Gifts and
Accomplishments', p.47 above.
I'Baha'u'llah, irom the 'eleventh leaf' of Kalimat-i-Firdawsiyyih
(Words of Paradise), Tablets, p. 72.
2°God Loves Laughter is the title of Sears' book (London: George
Ronald, 1960). The Guardian of the Baha'i Faith, Shoghi Effendi,
appointed William Sears a 'Hand of the Cause of God' in October
1957, among the final contingent of Hands of the Cause appointed
by him. 'Hand of the Cause' was a title given by Baha'u'llah to
exemplary Baha'i teachers to assist in the work of teaching and
protecting the Baha'i Faith.
21See BahaiNews [sic],vol. l,no. 14,23 November 1910, in Star
of the West, vol. I, 1910.
22ibid.

The Body Beautiful
l'Abdu'I-Baha, Selections, p. 110.
'Plato, Symposium, p. 94.
3ibid. p. 95.
'ibid.
'As far as I know, a word of my own making.
"This is the theme of my essay 'Science, Consciousness and the
Personal Category' on page 29 above.
7Baha'u'llah, Gleanings, LXXXV, p. 168.
'ibid. LXXXII, pp. 161-162.
180 UNDER THE DIVINE lOTE TREE

'Gk.=end. Teleology is that branch of cosmology that treats of
end causes. By the telos of history I refer to it being driven by a
Master Plan that reflects the Wtll of God toward some ultimate end
which for Baha'fs is the inevitable establishment of the kingdom of
God on earth.
"'He that findeth his life shall lose it: and he that loseth his life
for my sake shall find it' (Matthew 10:39). 'For what shall it profit
a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? Or
what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?' (Mark 8:36-37).

Nothing Gold Can Stay
'From a prayer by 'Abdu'l-Baha for meetings: 'May each one
become beautiful in colour and redolent of fragrance in the
kingdom of God.' Baha'i Prayers, p.ll O.
"Les vrais paradis sont les paradis qu'on a perdus.' Literally 'The
true paradises are the paradises we have lost.' I have retained the
singular in my translation above for euphonic reasons. Marcel
Proust, Le temps retrouve (Time Regained), 1926, Chapter 3, p. 215.
'From Alfred, Lord Tennyson's poem Tears, Idle Tears. The first
verse reads: 'Tears, idle tears, I know not what they mean/Tears
from the depth of some divine despair/Rise in the heart, and gather
to the eyes/In looking on the happy Autumn-fields/And thinking
of the days that are no more.' Norton Anthology, vol. 2, p. 1123.
'We read in the Book of Genesis that once the Lord God
banished Adam and Eve from the garden of Eden' ... he placed at the
east of the garden of Eden Cherubims, and a flaming sword which
turned every way, to keep the way of the tree of life' (3:24).
SAlsa from Tennyson's poem quoted in note 3 above. The last
verse reads: 'Dear as remembered kisses after death/And sweet as
those by hopeless fancy feigned/On lips that are for others; deep as
love/Deep as first love, and wild with all regret/O Death in life, the
days that are no more.'
'Nothing Gold Can Stay, from Selected Poems of Robert Frost,
p.138.
7'Lament not in your hours of trial, neither rejoice therein; seek
ye the Middle Way which is the remembrance of Me in your
afflictions and reflection over that which may befall you in future.
Thus informeth you He Who is the Omniscient, He Who is aware.'
Kitdb-i-Aqdas, para. 43, p. 35.
NOTES AND REFERENCES 181

'Ecclesiastes I: 18.
'The phrase is taken from Baha'u'llah, Hidden Words, Persian no.
39: '0 offspring of dust! Be not content with the ease of a passing
day, and deprive not thyself of everlasting rest. Barter not the garden
of eternal delight for the dust-heap of a mortal world. Up from thy
prison ascend unto the glorious meads above, and from thy mortal
cage wing thy flight unto the paradise of the Placeless.'
IO'The hearts of all children are of the utmost purity. They are
mirrors upon which no dust has fallen. But this purity is on account
of weakness and innocence, not on account of any strength and
testing, for as this is the early period of their childhood, their hearts
and minds are unsullied by the world. They cannot display any great
intelligence. They have neither hypocrisy nor deceit. This is on
account of the child's weakness, whereas the man becomes pure
through his strength ...This is the difference between the perfect man
and the child. Both have the underlying qualities of simplicity and
sincerity - the child through the power of weakness and the man
through the power of strength.' 'Abdu'l-Baha, Promulgation, p. 53.
"This is an allusion to Genesis 3:7 in which Adam and Eve after
having eaten of the fruit of the tree of good and evil in the midst of
the garden and having had their eyes opened' ... knew that they were
naked; and they sewed fig leaves together, and made themselves
aprons'. This consciousness of their own nakedness, I take as a
symbol of the pain that is inherent in self-consciousness or the rude
awakening from the bliss of innocence which must inevitably
accompany true self-knowledge.
"Luke 18:17.
I3The derived meaning is: the appropriate result of deeds.
l'The complete verse reads: 'Be not deceived; God is not
mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.'
ISAccording to science writer John Horgan who interviewed
Thomas Kuhn and a number of other leading scientists in The
End of Science: Facing the Limits of Knowledge in the Twilight of
the Scientific Age, the phrase 'paradigm shift' was not invented by
Kuhn (p. 43). In cryptic fashion, Horgan does not tell us who did
first use the term. In Kuhn's book The Structure of Scientific
Revolutions (1962), the paradigm was the 'keystone of his model'
(of science) (p. 42): 'a collection of procedures or ideas that
instruct scientists, implicitly, what to believe and how to work'
(p. 43). The 'shift' occurs with anomalies, phenomena that the
paradigm cannot account for. By following through on anomalies,
182 UNDER THE DIVINE LOTE TREE

new paradigms are created in revolutionary fashion and the old
ones sometimes abandoned. Kuhn stated in the interview that the
term 'paradigm shift' had become 'hopelessly overused' and 'out
of control' (p. 45). Kuhn assumed partial responsibility himself
for not defining the term closely enough. It could refer in one
contcxt simply to an experiment; in another to a scientific world-
view or collection of beliefs.
"In 1879 Edison spent $40,000 developing the forerunner of
the electric light bulb. This was the incandescent lamp which made
light by means of a carbonized cotton thread that glowed in a
vacuum for more than 40 hours. Edison had tried many filaments
before he found a durable one.

In Extremis

"Abdu'I-Bahi in Contentment, je'wels From The Words Of
'Abdu'I-Bahd, p. 13. The complete quotation reads: 'Be thou not
unhappy; the tempest of sorrow shall pass; regret will not last;
disappointment will vanish; the fire of the love of God will become
enkindled, and the thorns and briars of sadness and despondency
will be consumed!'
"Abdu'I-Bahi, Paris Talks, p. 109.
"Abdu'I-Bahi, Contentment. jewels From The Words Of'Abdu'l-
áBahd, p. It.
'Job 3:25.
'From Browning's metaphysical poem Rabbi Ben Ezra, in
Norton Anthology, vol. 2, p. 1302. Abraham Ibn Ezra's (1092-1157)
reputation was made principally as a commentator of the Hebrew
Bible. The later period of his life was reportedly happier than the
earlier part.
áShoghi Effendi makes a binary distinction in the Baha',
understanding of self. One is the divine self, the identity of the
individual created by God; the other is the ego ' .. the dark,
animalistic heritage each onc of us has, the lower nature that can
develop into a monster of selfishness, brutality, lust and so on'.
From a letter written on behalf of Shoghi Effendi to an individual,
10 December 1947, in Lights afGuidance, p. 113, no. 386.
'The foregoing forms of address are taken from Baha'u'llih's
Hidden Words, nos. 50,65,67,68 respectively (Persian).
8 From the title of Wordsworth's poem Surprised by joy.
NOTES AND REFERENCES 183

"For a moving poetic envisioning of this unparalleled spiritual
event, see Robert Hayden's poem Baha'u'llah in the Garden of
Ridwan in Selected Poems. .
'OFrom my essay 'The Possibilities of Existential Theism for
Baha'i Theology', in Revisioning the Sacred, pp. 200-20 I.
"Here I am using the two expressions 'arc of ascent' and 'arc of
descent' as metaphors for higher and lower spiritual states or
simply for joy and sorrow - differently from their original context
in the Baha'i writings. 'Abdu'I-Baha used them in a more technical
way in his refutation of reincarnation in Some Answered Questions.
In His talk, the expressions would seem to refer to: (1) higher or
lower incarnations respectively (p.284) (2) the various degrees of
the material and spiritual worlds which find themselves joined in
the human being (p.286) (3) 'beginning' (descent) and 'progress'
(ascent) (p.286).

On Real Ground
'John 8:32.
'ibid.
)There is an evident but sometimes unnoticed connection
between the words 'disciple' and 'discipline'. The Latin words
discipulus (disciple) and disciplina (discipline) are cognates.
'Baha'u'lhih, Epistle to the Son of the Wolf, p. 101.
'John 8:32.
"The Bab invalidated the doctrine. Bah:i'u'llah confirmed the
Bab's abolition of taqfya. The Twelvers were the largest of the
Shfah sects and practised taqfya (katman) which condoned the
propriety, even the necessity, of concealing one's beliefs among
non-Shfah. The doctrine dated from the times when the Shi'ah
were a persecuted minority. Williams, Islam, p. 216.

Logos and Mythos
'See Otto's classic study of the phenomena of religious
consciousness in The Idea of the Holy (1958).
2Edison said in a newspaper interview: 'Genhls is one per cent
inspiration and ninety-nine per cent perspiration: Life (1932),
ch.24.
184 UNDER THE D,V,NE LorE TREE

'This is the title of an article by Shirin Sabri in The Journal of
Baha'i Studies (vol. 1, no. 1, 1988-1989, pp. 39-58). Both David L.
Erickson and I took issue with some of Sabri's points in the same
journal, vol. 2, no. 1, 1989-1990, pp. 73-82. Sabri's response to these
comments is found in vol. 2, no. 2,1989-1990, pp. 77-82.
'John Donne (1572?-1631) is usually designated as the founder
of the 'metaphysical school' that predominated in England
especially in the first half of the seventeenth century. Other poets
of this spiritual tendency include George Herbert, Richard
Crashaw, Henry Vaughan, Thomas Traherne and Francis Quarles,
while in secular poetry Cleveland, Marvell and Cowley employ a
similar poetic style. Metaphysical poetry generally treats of love,
both human and divine, the soul's relationship to God, and personal
relationships. It is prone to making arguments and often strikes one
as a kind of search for truth in the making, with the poet speaking
out loud to himself in poetic dialectic. Some critics find that the
metaphysicals employ the terminology and even the arguments of
the medieval school men. Donne rejected the elevated language of
Elizabethan poetry and made good use of startling similes and
metaphors ('metaphysical conceits') that had a certain vivid shock
value. For an excellent introduction, see Gardner (ed.), The
Metaphysical Poets.
SIn my commentary to The Journal of Baha'i Studies referred to
above in note 3, I wrote that it is practically impossible to avoid the
metaphysical element in poetry: 'Spiritual and metaphysical
thematics are a basic substratum of a great deal of poetry, modern
or otherwise' (p. 79).
6Frye, The Educated Imagination, p. 33.
'There are two accounts in the Acts of the Apostles which speak
of Peter's miraculous release from prison by an angel. Acts 5: 19
speaks of the release of Peter and the apostles from the 'common
prison' in Jerusalem by an angel of the Lord who opened the prison
doors by night. Acts 12:1-12 recounts Peter's deliverance while he
was chained to two Roman guards and his escape to the house of
Mary, the mother of John Mark, where the believers had been
praying.
'Baha'u'lIah, Gleanings, XXXv, p. 85. The complete quotation
reads: 'Whatever, therefore, He saith unto you is wholly for the sake
of God, that haply the peoples of the earth may cleanse their hearts
from the stain of evil desire, may rend its veil asunder, and attain
unto the knowledge of the one true God - the most exalted station
to which any man can aspire.'
NOTES AND REFERENCES 185

'Quoted from an uncited source by Patrick Bridgewater in the
Introduction to Twentieth Century German Verse, p. xii.
a
IOFrom poet-philosopher George Santayana's poem World, in
Poems (1923).
l1Qur'an 37:36.
12The context is 'Remedies for False Friendships', St. Francis'
advice to Philothea (Madame de Charmoisy) who had placed herself
under his spiritual direction in 1607. St. Francis writes: 'In God's
name, Philothea, be ruthless in this matter; your hean and your ears
are so closely associated that is as impossible to prevent love from
flowing down from your ears into your heart as to stay a torrent
once it begins to flow from the mountain tops.' Introduction to the
Devout Life, p. 145.
t3Romans 10:17.
"Plato attacked the point of view that poets such as Homer were
valid sources of ethical knowledge. According to Socrates, only
those who had studied at the Academy and were masters of
Dialectic had any knowledge of the 'real' world of Forms. A verbal
presentation, no matter how skilful, of the heroes who adorned
Greek epic poetry did not signify for Socrates that the poets
possessed the sure knowledge that guided right conduct. Moreover,
such verbal presentations were only representational, not the real
thing. For Socrates dramatic poetry appealed to the emotions, not
to reason, and had deleterious effects on the character since it led to
the expression of emotions that one normally suppressed in real life.
See the discussion in The Republic of Plato, Book X, Sections 25, 26
and 27.
ISQur':In 9:33.
I"See Baha'u'llah, Kitdb-i-Iqan, pp. 124--126.
"Schweitzer's statement was made in the context of racial
equality. He wrote: 'Once it was considered folly to assume that men
of colour were really men and ought to be treated as such, but the
folly has become an accepted truth.' Such thinking forms part of
Schweitzer's guiding philosophy of 'reverence for life' (veneratio
vitae). Civilization and Ethics, Pan 11: 'The Philosophy of
Civilization', p. 215.
"German for 'seat in life' or 'setting in life'. This expression
originates from the German school of form criticism early in the
twentieth century which had a tremendous impact on Biblical
studies. Form criticism broke Biblical texts down into smaller
literary units and raised questions relating to the setting in which
such texts arose prior to oral tradition or circulation, the intention
186 UNDER THE DIVINE LorE TREE

of the author, the target audience, etc. I use it above to refer only
to the historical and cultural setting in which the Manifestation of
God lived.

Being-in-the- World
I Quoted by Shoghi Effendi in The World Order of Bahd'u'l!dh,
p.168
2 Baha'u'llah, The Four Valleys, in The Seven Valleys and the Four
Valleys. Both the previous quotations are from p. 50.
JNote 61 of the Kitdb-i-Aqdas (The Most Holy Book), p. 195,
states that the following verses of paragraph 36 of the same book
constitute 'the prohibition of monasticism and asceticism': 'How
many a man hath secluded himself in the climes of India, denied
himself the things God hath decreed as lawful, imposed upon
himself austerities and mortifications.' Baha'u'll.h also forbade
monasticism to his followers in a Tablet to Napoleon III: '0
concourse of monks! Seclude not yourselves in churches and
cloisters. Come forth by My leave, and occupy yourselves with
that which will profit your souls and the souls of men. Thus
biddeth you the King of the Day of Reckoning ... Enter ye into
wedlock, that after you someone may fill your place.' Proclamation
of Bahd'u 'l!dh, p. 95.
'The expression 'knight of faith' is Kierkegaard's and refers to
Abraham. In his Fear and Trembling Kierkegaard elaborates upon
Abraham's willingness to sacrifice his son Isaac: 'The knight of
faith is obliged to rely upon himself alone, he feels the pain of not
being able to make himself intelligible to others, but he feels no
vain desire to guide others' (p. 90). 'The true knight of faith is
always absolute isolation, the false knight is sectarian.' Fear and
Trembling, p. 89.
'John Milton, Areopagitica, in Abrams, Norton Anthology, 6th
ed. 1993, vol. 1, p. 1462.
áIn many poetry anthologies, e.g. Abrams, Norton Anthology,
5th cd. 1979, vol. 2, p. 1111.
7Unidentified source in editor's introductory note to the poem,
The College Survey of English Literature (1945), p. 903.
'From a letter written on behalf of Shoghi Effendi to an
individual believer, 8 January 1949. Lights of Guidance, no. 388,
p.114.
"Say: 0 my servants, who have transgressed to your own hurt,
despair not of God's mercy, for all sins doth God forgive.
NOTES AND REFERENCES 187

Gracious, Merciful is He!' 39:54: 'The Troops' (Rodwell's
translation).
1°'All men have been created to carry forward an ever-advancing
civilization.' Baha'u'llah, Gleanings, CIX, p. 215.
"'Whatsoever deterreth you, in this Day, from loving God is
nothing but the world. Flee it, that ye may be numbered with th.
blest.' Baha'u'llah, Gleanings, CXXVIII, p. 276.
I2The Call of the Wild is the title of the book by Jack London
(1903). It is the delightful, skilfully written story of the adventures
of the dog, Buck, 'dognapped' by an unscrupulous gardener from
Judge Miller's home in the Santa Clara Valley of California and
forced to perform dog sled service during the Klondike gold rush
in the Yukon.
I3Inversnaid is a Scottish town by Loch Lomond. Hopkins,
Poems; also in various anthologies, e.g. The Norton Anthology of
Modem Poetry, p.l06; The Faber Book of Modem. Verse, p.49.

The Long Journey Home
lIn Baha'i theology God is manifest on various planes both in
this world and the realms beyond. Baha'u'llah delineates these
realms in his mystical, cosmological Tablet, Law~-i-kullu't-ta'am
(The Tablet of All Food). The realm of NasHt is the lowest of these
realms, God's manifestation in the physical world. All things,
whether animal, vegetable, mineral or human, emanate from God
at the phenomenological level. For a provisional translation of the
Tablet that gives the historical background and a very detailed
commentary, see Lambden, 'A Tablet of Mirza !:Iusayn-'Ali'.
2'Abdu'l-Baha, Paris Talks, p.SS.
''Abdu'l-Baha, Selections, no.219, p. 274.
"The Hebrew Bible refers to the death of Isaac in the following
manner: 'And Isaac gave up the ghost, and died, and was gathered
unto his people, being old and full of days: and his sons Esau and
Jacob buried him'(Gen: 35:29).
'The theme of 'Abdu'l-Baha's address to the students of Leland
Stanford Junior University at Palo Alto, California on S October
1912 was the 'intrinsic oneness of all phenomena', the idea that 'all
things are involved in all things' (Promulgation, p. 349). In this
address, 'Abdu'l-Baha expounds on the predetermined and cyclical
coursings of the 'cellular clements' as they are transferred from the
lower to the higher kingdoms during their evolutionary journey.
188 UNDER THE D,V,NE LOTE TREE

He explains that the human being has the power of intellect which
is able (0 transcend the limitations of nature and to produce
wonderful scientific discoveries.
6A theological clarification is required by the phrase 'for the sake
of the love of God'. God does not need our services. It is we who
need to perform such services for His sake, that is, at His behest for
our own benefit as well as the benefit of others. 'I:'or His sake'
means to please Him, for in pleasing Him we please and benefit
ourselves and others at the same time. In sum, 'for the sake of God'
means to do His will.
'From a Tablet translated from the Persian and Arabic, quoted from
the compilation Women in TheCompilatioll o/Compilations, vol. 2, no.
2144, p. 379. The fuller context reads: 'By the Day-Starof ancient mys-
tenes! The sweet-scented fragrance of every breath breathed in the love
of God is wafted in the court of the presence of the Lord of Revelation.
The reward of no good deed is or ever will be lost. Blessed art thou,
doubly blessed art thou! Thou art reckoned amongst those hand-
maidens whose love for their kin hath not prevented them from
attaining the shores of the Sea of Grace and Mercy.'
'Source uncited, in Ruth]. Moffett, Do'a: The Call to Prayer, p. 32.
9Thc idea expressed in the above sentence is transposed from
another context referring to the greatness of the twentieth century
and the future rapid growth of the Baha'i Cause. I include it here as
a parallel expression of the idea that the true understanding of the
greatness of present things is garnered in future times: 'In the ages
to come, though the Cause of God may rise and grow a hundredfold
and the shade of the Sadratu'l-Muntaha shelter all mankind, yet this
present century shall stand unrivalled, for it hath witnessed the
breaking of that Morn and the rising of that Sun. This century is,
verily, the source of His Light and the dayspring of His Revelation.
Future ages and generations shall behold the diffusion of its
radiance and the manifestations of its signs. Wherefore, exert your-
selves, haply ye may obtain your full share and portion of His
bestowals.' 'Abdu'I-Bahi, Selections, p. 67.

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