It is evident that nothing short of this mystic transformation could cause such spirit and behavior, so utterly unlike their previous habits and manners, to be made manifest in the world of being. For their agitation was turned into peace, their doubt into certitude, their timidity into courage. Such is the potency of the Divine Elixir, which, swift as the twinkling of an eye, transmuteth the souls of men!
This is the fourth of thirty paragraphs looking at the first of the two stations of the Manifestations of God, that of "pure abstraction and essential unity". But it is also the first of four paragraphs that talks about the "divine elixir", and the transformation wrought by it.
How are these two related? What does the "divine elixir" have to do with that station of "pure abstraction and essential unity"?
Great question. Thanks for asking.
Let's begin by looking at what this divine elixir does, and then we can go back and see how the two are related.
Baha'u'llah says here that this incredible and magical potion, the divine elixir, turns agitation into peace, doubt into certitude, and timidity into courage
Here we, of course, notice a path of development. Once you have found the peace within yourself, after recognizing the new revelation, you then become more convinced of its absolute truth. Once your simple belief has grown into full-fledged certainty, then you have no fear proclaiming it. We move from peace to certitude to courage.
In many ways it is like the very path this book takes. It begins with the peace we find in our own religion. From there, He builds our certainty not only in our own faith, but in all faiths. He shows us how they are all essentially the same message. In a sense, that is the end of Part One. Now in Part Two He is asking us to arise to serve the Cause. He is asking us to take that next step and move from a personal belief to an outward demonstration of the truths we have discovered. He is asking us to overcome our own timidity and arise to the station of courage. Of course, He will develop this theme at length later in the book.
Back to the divine elixir and what it does.
As we sought to try and describe it, we found we could do no better than to quote the Universal House of Justice from the letter "One Common Faith". And while it is a bit longer than we generally like to quote, we found ourselves unable to change or remove a single word:
Throughout history, the primary agents of spiritual development have been the great religions. For the majority of the earth’s people, the scriptures of each of these systems of belief have served, in Bahá’u’lláh’s words, as “the City of God”, a source of a knowledge that totally embraces consciousness, one so compelling as to endow the sincere with “a new eye, a new ear, a new heart, and a new mind”. A vast literature, to which all religious cultures have contributed, records the experience of transcendence reported by generations of seekers. Down the millennia, the lives of those who responded to intimations of the Divine have inspired breathtaking achievements in music, architecture, and the other arts, endlessly replicating the soul’s experience for millions of their fellow believers. No other force in existence has been able to elicit from people comparable qualities of heroism, self-sacrifice and self-discipline. At the social level, the resulting moral principles have repeatedly translated themselves into universal codes of law, regulating and elevating human relationships. Viewed in perspective, the major religions emerge as the primary driving forces of the civilizing process. To argue otherwise is surely to ignore the evidence of history.
Here we see that this effect of transformation and inspiration are found in every faith. It is, in fact, one of the defining characteristics of a faith. After all, if it is not inspiring, why would anyone follow it?
This leads us to another point, namely that of conversion. While it is important to teach the faith, no matter what your faith is, it is also important to recognize that our job is just to share these ideas. They will take root in whichever heart's God desires. And as more people find inspiration from these teachings, they will respond accordingly.
But it is really important to recognize that the Messengers do not require converts. They are truly independent of anything we can do. So why do They come? Why do They suffer? For our transformation. As 'Abdu'l-Baha so beautifully said,
"The purpose of the appearance of the Manifestations of God is the training of the people. That is the only result of Their mission, the real outcome. The outcome of the whole life of Jesus was the training of eleven disciples and two women. Why did He suffer troubles, ordeals and calamities? For the training of these few followers. That was the result of His life. The product of the life of Christ was not the churches but the illumined souls of those who believed in Him. Afterward, they spread His teachings."
In the end it is all about this transformation of hearts.
Once the heart is changed, everything else follows. People become more just. The laws become more just. The society itself begins to change. And before long, a new and better civilization is born.
But it all begins with the transformation of the individual, which is also why we are told that this faith of Baha'u'llah's will spread through our teaching efforts, and not by the sword.
We could easily go on and on about how the heart is central to all this, but really, we think we're just going to leave this here for now. After all, there are three more paragraphs that talk about this divine elixir.
