Tuesday, December 18, 2018

Paragraph 143

This poverty and these riches, this abasement and glory, this dominion, power, and the like, upon which the eyes and hearts of these vain and foolish souls are set,—all these things fade into utter nothingness in that Court! Even as He hath said: “O men! Ye are but paupers in need of God; but God is the Rich, the Self-Sufficing.” By ‘riches’ therefore is meant independence of all else but God, and by ‘poverty’ the lack of things that are of God.

Way back in paragraph 102, the first paragraph of Part 2, you will recall He wrote, "He verily is independent of all earthly dominion, though He be utterly destitute." Here, Baha'u'llah is continuing to help us redefine what we think of as common terms: sovereignty, wealth, power, dominion, and the like.

In fact, by citing this particular verse from the Qu'ran, 35:15, He is also reminding us of the entire Surih in which it is found. This Surih, or chapter of the Qu'ran, begins by warning the people not to be deceived by those whose motives are satanic, and then continues on by giving examples of contrasts that are not equal. He reminds us in this Surih, that not all things are equal. There is a great difference between the darkness and the light, the living and the dead. And we would do well to remember this.

It seems to us that every time Baha'u'llah quotes a passage from the Qu'ran, He is not merely quoting that particular passage, but in fact is reminding us of the entire context of the quote itself.

In Part 1 of this book, the Kitab-i-Iqan, Baha'u'llah gave us multiple meanings of those phrases from Jesus, found in Matthew 24. Here, in Part 2, He is redefining basic terms so that these meanings can make sense.

For example, if we think of wealth as the mere acquisition of worldly property, then the statements about the wealth of the Messenger of God make no sense. Neither Jesus nor Muhammad were what we would call wealthy. And if we try to apply this limited definition to the Bab, then we would see that it doesn't apply to Him either.

But when we look at Baha'u'llah's new definition, wealth and riches being independent of all save God, then we recognize the true wealth of all the Messengers and saints.

Whether in science or philosophy or religion, if we have poor definitions of our terms, then we can only go so far in our understanding before things break down. But when we get a better set of definitions, miracles can seemingly occur. The best example we have of this is Einstein redefining our concepts of time and space. Before his new definitions, we had found the limitations of the Newtonian definitions, and could not get any further in our discoveries. But with Einstein's new definitions, we had breakthroughs in various fields like chemistry, nuclear physics, computer technology, and discovered all the wonders and miracles of the modern age.

The same holds true with these new definitions that Baha'u'llah is giving us, too. When we apply the old definitions, we find that we can only go so far in our understanding of the world. Various quotes and traditions make no sense when we examine them closely. But when we use His new definitions, then wonders open up before our eyes, and everything seems so much clearer.

As we discover these new meanings, and begin to embrace them in our lives, and our vision of the world around us, it is as 'Abdu'l-Baha said, "Thou shalt surely behold wondrous traces and shalt discover the signs of thy Mighty Lord."

Tuesday, December 4, 2018

Paragraph 142

In like manner, it is related that on a certain day, one of the companions of Sádiq complained of his poverty before him. Whereupon, Sádiq, that immortal beauty, made reply: “Verily thou art rich, and hast drunk the draught of wealth.” That poverty-stricken soul was perplexed at the words uttered by that luminous countenance, and said: “Where are my riches, I who stand in need of a single coin?” Sádiq thereupon observed: “Dost thou not possess our love?” He replied: “Yea, I possess it, O thou scion of the Prophet of God!” And Sádiq asked him saying: “Exchangest thou this love for one thousand dinars?” He answered: “Nay, never will I exchange it, though the world and all that is therein be given me!” Then Sádiq remarked: “How can he who possesses such a treasure be called poor?”


Here, Baha'u'llah is continuing His theme of true wealth.

He says, "In like manner...", and we can see the similar refocusing of our understanding of what is meant by wealth. Whereas in the previous paragraph He talks about how poverty and wealth are an internal perception of the true wealth in the world around us, here He looks a bit more closely at what is truly valuable, namely the love of God.

It's very interesting to read this story, in our overly-consumeristic culture, for the emphasis is placed so directly on the intangible. It touches on detachment from the material, and also on the importance of love.

Today, we focus so much of our attention on work and our paycheck that we often forget about what is truly important in our life. Time and again we read of elders who are on their deathbed saying that they regret not spending more time with their family. They will often comment that they have never heard anyone say that they wished they worked a few more hours. Even as we write this, it sounds ridiculous. And yet, this is how we often define ourselves, and others. We talk about our job, or our salary.

In some cultures, though, the emphasis is on family, or religion. They talk about their ancestors or which faith they follow. In these cultures there is often a healthier balance in their lives.

When we see the true wealth of our relations, whether by blood or love, then we are far more aware of the great bounties in our life.

Baha'u'llah, in His Hidden Words, writes, "I have created thee rich and have bountifully shed My favor upon thee." He also says, "I created thee rich, why dost thou bring thyself down to poverty?" In both these quotes, He reminds us of the great gifts He has bestowed upon us, and that it is usually ourselves, through our lack of awareness and gratitude, that create our own inner poverty.

Here, in this story, Sadiq reminds his companion that there are many things worth far more than a few measly coins. The love of one's family, the time spent with one's children, those moments spent growing older with one's spouse: how can any of these be worth sacrificing for a bit of pocket change?

Now, this is not to say that we shouldn't work. Of course we should earn a living. But this is just to help put that into a healthy perspective.

And that, we feel, is one of the things we can learn from this paragraph.