What Is God? ============ Exported from Holy-Writings.com on 2026-06-19 1 clipping 1. Source: Bahá'í Library Online (bahai-library.com), curated by Jonah Winters. Used by permission of the curator. Original citation: Stanwood Cobb, What Is God?, Washington, DC: The Avalon Press, 1955, bahai-library.com. ────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── WHAT IS GOD? BY STANWOOD COBB AVALON PRESS WASHINGTON, D.C. COPYRIGHT— 1955 ... BY STANWOOD COBB MANUFACTURED IN UNITED STATES OF AMERICA ^t)edication To the Apocalyptic Splendor — The Spiritual Potency that guides and inspires May its Tide wax full upon earth's shore, Deep from the Ocean of Omniscience. Dedicated to SEERS & HIEROPHANTS Inspired by the Almighty reface ^/se following verses are an attempt to open up vistas into the Infinite in a way that prose could not accomplish. Let the reader look upon each stanza as a mystic avenue of Light, giving (it is hoped) some faint suggestion of Reality. These poems are intended neither for inculcation nor in doctrination, but as focal points of contemplation on the Majesty, the Omnipresence and the All-enfolding Beneficence of man's Creator, King and Friend. Let the reader, as he will, pursue whatever flights of spiritual imagination these stanzas lead him to in his own search for God. For man's spiritual search must be individual, his desire individual, and his at tainment individual. No one can find God for another person, but we can lift each other up by sharing our inspirations and our faiths. Our communions with Divinity must be in the silence of our own hearts; but our journey Godward can and should be in gladsome fellowship. What is God? The World has ever sought, And still must seek, to solve this mystery. Here avails but little — scientific thought Or fragile cobwebs of philosophy. We look, we search the universe, in vain — The Whole is not discernible in part: But when soul-weary, sore with pain, We look within we find Him in our heart. Not immense learning but the gift of Grace Enables us to see Him face to face: The Ancient Beauty is the Holy Grail Revealed to Love where other seekers fail. Canto Oh, THE SEARCH FOR GOD I J). we peer into the awesome Infinite and question—“What is God?” The ancients were more humble—stood abashed on ground where He had trod. II * 7 the majestic sky they raised imploring hands beseeching the Unknown To grant protection and beneficence from His Almighty throne. III O. the priests dared breathe His sacred Name, only the privileged approach His august Presence where no worldliness could venture to encroach. IV S} oes God exist? We do not need the tomes of philosophic mists To prove the sun. We only need its warmth to know that exists. it - s V –4. so with God. Discussions cannot prove what wisdom has not sown. The proof of His existence comes from search by souls in ripeness grown. VI ~/. faith, like healing, be empirical: we learn by adept stages. its Experience achieves certitude its where doubt battle wages. VII ^^nce we have felt the tenderness, the warmth, the love of the Divine — We no more doubt this Spirit of Existence than that the sun can shine. VIII God a Personality? We err if we say "Yes" or "No". He is not less than Personality — this much we surely know. IX could the universe in quality surpass its Architect? Or life develop attributes and traits only its Maker could perfect? this could not originate From atoms which his sovereign will compels, nor from a soulless Fate. XI J. man is mind, then God is Greater Mind. If humans can devise— Then Deity is the cosmic Architect both Skilled and Super-wise. XII _9. of man capable selfless love, is whence comes this quality? did not rise from matter's catenations, It nor star-dust energy. XIII ~/. underlies existence, from solar heat to the life beneath the sod— A love that vitalizes matter, yet is not matter, but is God. XIV G. is the Gracious, and His loving thought enfolds each living thing. He is the radiance of dawn and dusk, the joy of birds that sing. * XV G. is the safe Protector. His Wisdom guides, His spirit shelters all. He knows His universe, His angels speed at His commanding Call. XVI S. God is Peace, but not the peace of death. He is the Peace of Power— A Power that transcends motion and achieves infinity each hour. XVII º , he way of God is utter Peace and Power. Then man should contemplate This Cosmic Way, and so transform his life to such celestial state. XVIII G. is Creative Will, the Great Transformer; to His Plan all Nature flows. His Thought inhabits every solid form and every wind that blows. * XIX / he world moves by the magic of His Mind; His secret aim deploys All upward growth from minuscule to man from grief to cosmic joys~ XX V 1 [y ast cosmic currents move as He designs, infinities that terrify. He stays forever Inaccessible, remoter than the sky. XXI 'M/. then can reach His throne, or worship at his Holy sanctuary? Only those who travel on such Beams of Light as to defy earth's gravity. Canto j(MVO GOD IS THE QUEST OF LEARNING God, Thou art not only Knowledge, but the quest of every learning: The goal of search, the ardent heart's desire, the essence of all yearning. II JJ. who finds Thee has found the Ultimate. What questing further needs he Of erudition, vain imaginings, arid philosophy? III G. all do is Wisdom. Therefore the wise, seeking cosmic Way a To truth and wisdom, kindle their white light from His Supernal Ray. IV 4. atheists deny. Let the scholar pour over his musty book. of Seekers truth glean wisdom from the skies, low-learning all forsook. V God, our reason cannot bridge Thy gulf, nor solve Thy mystery. The mind falls short: —only the humble heart can find its way to Thee. VI J4. is most learned who has plumbed the depths of that Reality, Which like an ocean rims the shores of life with vast Finality. J/ VII most is wise whose inmost search is Love. His knowledge is most vast Who, sitting at Supper with his Lord of Lords, shares a Divine repast. VIII _9. is not merely where the flesh-bound body but where desires fly is, That sets the soul’s evolving destiny sky. or to nearer earth IX ay that life has no meaning save in God — the temporal is void. Life is most real when ruled celestially, all earthliness destroyed. J immortality is not time's prolongation, but Time spiritually And Infinity is not mere endless space, betrothed. but Space suffused with God. XI O. need not die to reach this Limitless. Existence can be free. its The bird has but to leave gilded cage Infinity. to reach Canto J. GOD AS CREATOR hat is God? The Infinite Creator! By His August Command Worlds come into being — universes fashioned by His Hand. II else is created and conditioned, He Alone the Uncreate. All else, as non-existent in His presence, Is subject to His State: — III G. is the transcendent universal of all plurals that exist. ONE Every event that links with Time and Space His command keeps tryst. at IV G. the Absolute, the Primal Cause— is His Essence still vortex a From which flows out creation’s myriad forms 3. their Source forever Formless. V G. is all action, yet He Calm is a stiller than tropic sea: The Life-pulse existence, yet He dwells of eternally. in Peace VI /8. creation was the Thought of God: within creation His Love, is From which flows universal Energy and Wisdom interwove. VII –4 that Man has of intellectual power, All truth that he can find Is but a faint illumination from the Universal Mind. VIII G. lies beyond the far horizons of our finite mind and thought. We grasp Him only so much and so far As the intuitive soul has caught. out GOD AS THE DREAD DESTROYER I 6. is the maker of the ruthless drought— the heat that sickly broods: He is the cause of over-copious rains and devastating floods. J/ II is the Hurler of the thunder-bolt, the Heart of the cyclone: All dreaded storms that rage on land and sea are sourced from Him alone. Ill or no other being shares His august Rule — no partner and no mate; He is the Power of the Universe and the sole Hand of Fate. IV » Id s\J . ow can we gladly chant His supreme praise? How turn our aching hearts In adoration to that Lord of Lords from whom such sorrow starts? V 2/ ob learned we cannot hold our love for Him only to sunny days. “Even though He slay me, will I trust Him!” such should be man's steadfast praise. VI G. does not need fair-weather friends. within each heart to form He seeks A faithful love, a constant fealty in sunshine or in storm. VII 1 1 his is life's chief dilemma — how to keep a heart of loving hope And see God as the Beloved, even when our feet in darkness grope. VIII hat is God? He is the dread Destroyer Who tears down every form, With Time's Assistance all anew to build to the more Perfect Norm. Canto Jw GOD AS JUSTICE I 0. is not Vengeance. We personify our own proud hearts When we apply that quality to Him Who only love imparts. II G. is immortal unrecorded Law, that is not merely now But always was and will be operative, to guide and to endow. III /3.ut Divine Law is not that fearsome thing we esteem law to be; It is the creative flow of Love itself ruling eternally. IV od is Cosmic Justice—the moral law behind an ordered universe. His punishment is clear: in each wrong act lies its inherent curse. V /3. God is infinite forgiveness, love and tender mercy, too: No matter what our Karmic weight of sin, each day begins anew. VI G. is the Merciful. If He were not, who would be left alive? To err is human; to forgive, divine. all God’s grace helps thrive. to VII hat is God's Justice? It is not legal fiat nor punishment for tort. It is the universal reign of good, the splendor of Love's Court. VIII \Jod is Equilibration, the fine balance of universal life Holding the atom in its destined place, shielding the stars from strife. IX C. but this Balance, this Consent-to-Peace rule the affairs of man, Life would unfold with frictionless design under celestial plan. Canto-Si, GOD AS BEAUTY herever we see beauty, we see God. It is the shining mark He traces with indelible love and grace on all His handiwork. n 1. . J his Beauty is bewilderment and joy to each perceiving soul— And for the artist is the occult clue to life's dynamic Whole. III 0. is in mountains and the midnight sky, in beauty of the stars, The crescent moon and the amazing comet that through the heaven flares. IV * y he stir of nature in the Womb of Earth is the Divine Will to bring From barren soil and tired bare-branched trees the shining new-born Spring. \J od is the vigor of the winter months, the softness of the spring, The luxury of summer foliage, the growth in everything. VI J4. is the Painter of the sunset hues — His promise in the sky That Light —even though darkness intervene — has immortality. VII is the Creative Essence of Existence. All things of Earth and Sky Are fashioned by Him into loveliness for our adoring eye. VIII since He made us in His image for perfection's distant plan, He molds all things to slowly-growing beauty — even the Soul of Man. IX 4. only ugliness is the lack of life— decadence or decay. Only by constant growth does Beauty hold its in Earth or Man sway. X 4. Beauty, then, the Soul's Inspiration, be moral law; of the symbol God’s willing that the Spirit may in time raise man above all flaw. Cranio Seeven GOD AS INSPIRATION I G. is the Fire blazing from the Bush, the Speaker on the Mount, The Wisdom-Source of the Prophetic Word, the soul’s perpetual Fount. II G. Wisdom and His mystic Word are one, that through the heavens ride And reach the spiritual sense of man to counsel and to guide. / J/ III Word that was, from time's beginning, old; His wisdom that creates, L All this lies patent for the need of man, stands waiting at his gates. IV 4. him who, yearning for high excellence, is sensitive to hear, all Fling open of the windows his soul grown near. to paradise V ///. was not made for idle ease or joys. In work he finds God best: And in creative tasks he shares with Him the Apocalyptic quest. VI 0. is the Giver of Progress, the Divine Source of inventions and of arts: His spirit breathes upon creative souls and kindles ardent hearts. J/ VII all is the hidden Cause of great work, inspiration; of the Source The Divine Afflatus that imbues the poet with vision and creation. VIII y all he invisible impulse human progress, of * the Blue Prints of Perfection. Man rises potential cosmic heights to powered by This Protection. s HAPPINESS AND PRAYER I - y he universe is not a hostile waste where man must walk alone. Spirit is the tender Friend, the mystic Guide of faith full-grown. II G. is the faithful Answerer of Prayer. We do not need to know How our beseechments reach His lofty Throne, or how His blessings flow. Ill Q. J t is enough to pin our faith on His ability to hear, And guide our actions by the simple trust His love and aid are near. rv but the cause lies in ourselves — We ask for fruits denied by Fate to him who neither digs nor delves. V