A Thought on Part 2

As you are aware, over the past few months we have been going back over Part 2 of this book. We had noticed that we were feeling fairly lost, and couldn't figure out why. Then we realized that we had gone over Part 1 about 3 times before we began writing about it, so why, we wondered, did we think we could write about Part 2, never having studied it together.

The way that we did this was to just read it, paragraph by paragraph, and see if we could figure out what Baha'u'llah's outline was. How did He organize His argument? How did He present it? How did He lead the uncle of the Bab, step by step, to this glorious revelation?

And we were still lost.

We read some, and stumbled, and read a bit more, and stumbled a bit more. But we noticed that each week we would try to recall what Baha'u'llah had talked about leading up to where we were. And by trying to recapture what we had read, we discovered that an outline was unveiling itself before our eyes.

In essence, this is what we would say each week as began to get ready to move on to the next few paragraphs.

Beginning with paragraph 102, the first one in Part 2, He reminds us of these wonderful contradictions: the Manifestation is the Sovereign, although nobody obeys Him; He is utterly independent of all save God, but is destitute, too. He reminds us, in the next paragraph, that the Manifestations are sent down to educate us about God, and about ourselves. That is Their job, if you will. Then He goes on, in paragraph 104, to tell us that God is unknowable, and exalted beyond all attributes. There is no direct connection between God and us. Since we can't know God directly, He sends us His Messengers (paragraph 106).

After this, in paragraph 107, He tells us that everything in creation shows forth an attribute of God, but within every human all the attributes are shown to some degree. In other words, everything shows one aspect of God, but humanity shows all these attributes. And out of all of humanity, the Messengers show this to the highest degree (109). All the Manifestations have all these attributes, whether or not they are visible to others (110), whether it is sovereignty, dominion, or any other attribute of God. But even then the people have failed to seek divine knowledge from Them (111).

So what about Sovereignty, the root of the question that the uncle asked Baha'u'llah (113)?

This sovereignty is not what we expect (114). It is not the pomp and glory of the gilded kings that we think of when we traditionally think of sovereignty. It is a spiritual sovereignty that They show either during Their life, or afterwards (117).

He then goes on to give a few examples, reminding us of how They showed the attribute of the Judge by dividing the good from the wicked (120). Then He reminds us that these various terms, "resurrection", "judgement", "paradise", "hell": these are all symbolic terms (123). Every Messenger has reaffirmed this. It is, in essence, their "purpose" (128).

Today, in the 1860s, we can see the same pattern playing out with the Bab (130).

Then He asks a great question. Which type of sovereignty is more important: the physical sovereignty of a monarch on earth, or the spiritual sovereignty of the Messenger (131)? Obviously the latter.

Baha'u'llah then offers a few paragraphs in which He demonstrates the symbolic meaning of many traditions, showing how they cannot possibly be literal, especially in the light of history. Through this, we get a glimpse of the real sovereignty held by the Manifestations.

He then looks at the concept of being in the "Divine presence", and the various interpretations of what this can mean. His conclusion is that it refers to being in the presence of the Manifestation during His time on earth. And that is why this time, while He was still walking on earth, was so important.

From there He continues by asking us to ponder the state of the world today (133). Look at the people around you, and see if they are really being obedient to the law of God, or not. For many centuries, people have long felt that when the next Messenger appears, They will conquer their enemies, and establish a wonderful kingdom on earth. Baha'u'llah shows that this was not the case with any of the past religions, so why would it be true today? Their sovereignty was not of this earth, and any earthly rule came much later.

He then spends a number of paragraphs outlining the true sovereignty held by the Manifestations, and their followers.

After all that, He then goes on to talk about the idea that God would never send another Messenger. He points out the foolishness of this idea, and talks about many prophecies alluding to another Manifestation. By paragraph 152, He has already clearly demonstrated the true meaning of the phrase "the Day of Resurrection".

And this, dear Reader, is as far as we have gotten over the summer.