Befriended Stranger

I’ve been reflecting lately on the need for stillness. In this frantic life, it is so easy to get lost in the constant mental calculations of possibilities and outcomes. But to get to the right answer, you need to ask the right question, and as one of my most favorite writers once said:

There are no right answers to wrong questions.

- Ursula K LeGuin

She also wrote in her marvelous “Earthsea Wizard”:

To light a candle is to cast a shadow.

But back to the need for stillness.

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 engendered. Whoso hath been quickened by its vitalizing power, will find himself impelled to attain the court of the Beloved; and whoso hath deprived himself therefrom, will sink into irretrievable despondency. He is truly wise whom the world and all that is therein have not deterred from recognizing the light of this Day, who will not allow men’s idle talk to cause him to swerve from the way of righteousness.

(Baha’u'llah, Gleanings from the Writings of Baha’u'llah, p. 168)

I read this quote and think that sometimes, probably most of the times, the only way to hear God speak is to still the mind and let the heart talk. And if the heart is cleansed for the descent of God, then the heart’s voice will be heard loud and clear.

O SON OF BEING!
Thy heart is My home; sanctify it for My descent. Thy spirit is My place of revelation; cleanse it for My manifestation.

(Baha’u'llah, The Arabic Hidden Words)

And further, reflecting on “the Beginning is reflected in the End”: if one is not calm, centered, focused on God’s Will in the beginning, probably it will show in the end. And vice versa, if the beginning is rooted in the calm, confident reliance on God’s guidance, the end will be the way it needs to be, regardless of the specifics of the outcome, regardless of our inability to see the end in the beginning.

The beginning of all things is the knowledge of God, and the end of all things is strict observance of whatsoever hath been sent down from the empyrean of the Divine Will that pervadeth all that is in the heavens and all that is on the earth.

(Baha’u'llah, Gleanings from the Writings of Baha’u'llah, p. 5)

O ye close and dear friends of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá!
In the Orient scatter perfumes,
And shed splendours on the West.
Carry light unto the Bulgar,
And the Slav with life invest.

(Abdu’l-Baha, Selections from the Writings of Abdu’l-Baha, p. 270)

Tonight I watched with my parents a video dedicated to Baha’i Pilgrimage! Ah, what a joy to recall my visit to the point of the world’s adoration! What a blessing to be able to bring back those wonderful, spiritual, nurturing, transforming days! What a bounty to have gone on Pilgrimage! Praised be to God!

My God, the Object of my adoration, the Goal of my desire, the All-Bountiful, the Most Compassionate! All life is of Thee and all power lieth within the grasp of Thine omnipotence. Whosoever Thou exaltest is raised above the angels, and attaineth the station: “Verily, We uplifted him to a place on high!” and whosoever Thou dost abase is made lower than dust, nay, less than nothing.

O Divine Providence! Though wicked, sinful, and intemperate, we still seek from Thee a “seat of truth,” and long to behold the countenance of the Omnipotent King. It is Thine to command, and all sovereignty belongeth to Thee, and the realm of might boweth before Thy behest. Everything Thou doest is pure justice, nay, the very essence of grace. One gleam from the splendors of Thy Name, the All-Merciful, sufficeth to banish and blot out every trace of sinfulness from the world, and a single breath from the breezes of the Day of Thy Revelation is enough to adorn all mankind with a fresh attire.

Vouchsafe Thy strength, O Almighty One, unto Thy weak creatures, and quicken them who are as dead, that haply they may find Thee, and may be led unto the ocean of Thy guidance, and may remain steadfast in Thy Cause. Should the fragrance of Thy praise be shed abroad by any of the divers tongues of the world, out of the East or out of the West, it would, verily, be prized and greatly cherished. If such tongues, however, be deprived of that fragrance, they assuredly would be unworthy of any mention, be they words or thoughts.

We beg of Thee, O Providence, to show Thy way unto all men, and to guide them aright. Thou art, verily, the Almighty, the Most Powerful, the All-Knowing, the All-Seeing.

Baha’u'llah, Prayers and Meditations by Baha’u'llah, pp. 252 - 253

From today’s Baha’i Readings:

The sanctified souls should ponder and meditate in their hearts regarding the methods of teaching. From the texts of the wondrous, heavenly Scriptures they should memorize phrases and passages bearing on various instances, so that in the course of their speech they may recite divine verses whenever the occasion demandeth it, inasmuch as these holy verses are the most potent elixir, the greatest and mightiest talisman. So potent is their influence that the hearer will have no cause for vacillation. I swear by My life! This Revelation is endowed with such a power that it will act as the lodestone for all nations and kindreds of the earth. Should one pause to meditate attentively he would recognize that no place is there, nor can there be, for anyone to flee to.

(Baha’u'llah, Tablets of Baha’u'llah, p. 198)

A few relevant word definitions from Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary…

Elixir is:

1. a substance held capable of changing base metals into gold
   
2. a substance held capable of prolonging life indefinitely
3. the essential principle

Talisman is:

1. an object held to act as a charm to avert evil and bring good fortune
2. something producing apparently magical or miraculous effects

Lodestone, I recall from my Ruhi classes, is a natural magnet, or as the dictionary puts it, something that strongly attracts.

Last night my dear wife’s paternal grandmother passed away. I will always remember her for her ecstatically joyful dance during our wedding celebration and for her sense of style expressed in the elegantly beautiful princess-life dresses she loved to wear. She was a very artistic lady with passion for life, delicate soul and genuine interest in spirituality. She raised seven children practically by herself, while her hardworking husband was taking care of the family business. Whatever challenges her long life brought to her and to those around her, she was blessed with the presence of her whole family the moment her soul winged its way to the spiritual realm. May her spirit rests in peace and may her soul find true reunion with its Creator.

O SON OF JUSTICE!
Whither can a lover go but to the land of his beloved? and what seeker findeth rest away from his heart’s desire? To the true lover reunion is life, and separation is death. His breast is void of patience and his heart hath no peace. A myriad lives he would forsake to hasten to the abode of his beloved.

(Baha’u'llah, The Persian Hidden Words)