Oh, but let me start over again. I was at the dentist's office having a gap between two of my back teeth closed up. This was a minor but annoying problem that had been bugging me for a while, and the dentist decided to just help me out. (For a fee, of course.) He said that it would probably be better for me in the long run as this would likely prevent decay in the future. (If only all such problems were so easily solved.)
So there I was, mouth wedged open, and mind bored. After all, you can only look at those holes in the ceiling tiles for so long. That was when I decided to recite the Tablet. And that was when I realized that I couldn't recall the order of anything in that third part of it. What to do? Study it, was my answer.
It has been a long time since I've looked at this Tablet. Oh, I mean I still read it quite often, but it has been a while since I've looked at it here. One of my first articles looked at the verbs in the second sentence, and then I did a longer study of part 2 (here, here and here). Those articles have firmly fixed that half of the Tablet in my mind. Because I was able to find some sense as to the order of what is them, I find that I can never quite forget them. And thus it occurred to me this morning, as I was wondering what to write about, that I've never looked at either parts 3 or 4 here, and that is why I couldn't recall the order of various phrases in the third part.
To start, let me just remind you (not that you need it, dear Reader) of how I am defining the different sections of this Tablet: Ahmad's name. Baha'u'llah mentions his name three times in this Tablet, and that splits it into four smaller sections, if you will. (You know: part 1, "Ahmad", part 2, "Ahmad", part 3, "Ahmad", part 4.) It's not an authoritative way to look at it, nothing official there, just the way that makes it more manageable for one as dim as myself.
So here it is; the third section of the Tablet of Ahmad:
O Ahmad! Forget not My bounties while I am absent. Remember My days during thy days, and My distress and banishment in this remote prison. And be thou so steadfast in My love that thy heart shall not waver, even if the swords of the enemies rain blows upon thee and all the heavens and the earth arise against thee.
Be thou as a flame of fire to My enemies and a river of life eternal to My loved ones, and be not of those who doubt.
And if thou art overtaken by affliction in My path, or degradation for My sake, be not thou troubled thereby.
Rely upon God, thy God and the Lord of thy fathers. For the people are wandering in the paths of delusion, bereft of discernment to see God with their own eyes, or hear His Melody with their own ears. Thus have We found them, as thou also dost witness.
Thus have their superstitions become veils between them and their own hearts and kept them from the path of God, the Exalted, the Great.
Be thou assured in thyself that verily, he who turns away from this Beauty hath also turned away from the Messengers of the past and showeth pride towards God from all eternity to all eternity.
Remember, to me this all falls under the category of "informing the severed one of the message which hath been revealed by God", which is also just my own interpretation. (See that first article from way back when.)
How, you may ask?
Well, this section seems, in a sense, like information to me. "Forget not My bounties". "Remember My days". "...(B)e... steadfast in My love". "Be... as a flame of fire... and a river of life eternal". "Rely upon God". These, among others, are all information about how Ahmad is to be. Baha'u'llah also imparts other information, facts about other people, like the fact that they " are wandering in the paths of delusion, bereft of discernment to see God with their own eyes, or hear His Melody with their own ears". He also tells him that whoever "turns away from this Beauty hath also turned away from the Messengers of the past". There is lots of information in this one section.
So, let's take it from the top.
O Ahmad! Even though He is addressing Ahmad in particular, I often feel as if He is also addressing me personally. I believe that He is addressing each one of us through the person of Ahmad, and even though that is also only my personal interpretation, it works for me.
Forget not My bounties while I am absent. First and foremost in this section, we are to remember the many bounties in our life. While I could go into the many bounties in Ahmad's personal life, such as all the time he spent with the Blessed Beauty, I like to read it in a more generic manner. You see, Baha'u'llah is not here, present physically in my life. He is absent. He has passed on to His other Kingdom. But His bounties are still here, through His Writings and His institutions. Now all this is also in addition to the other many bounties that are present in my life, such as family, friends, health, the beauty of a sunrise, a caterpillar hanging on a leaf, and so on and so forth. When I recall all these bounties, I cannot help but wonder at how blessed my life is.
What a great place to begin.
Of course, it's not all peaches and roses. (Where on earth did that phrase come from?) There are some difficult moments in life, too.
Remember My days during thy days, and My distress and banishment in this remote prison. But then again, my troubles are so minuscule compared to His. You see, when I think about all the blessings in my life, I am naturally drawn to remember some of the problems, too. I don't know why. Perhaps it's a human thing, for I've heard that others have this same problem. And while I don't think I have to worry too much about two empires conspiring to throw me into prison, there are other things that are real and happening to many other people around the world that put my own problems to shame. So the dishes aren't all nice and orderly, so what? At least we have dishes. At least we have a kitchen, and a home. So the siren from the military base goes off every morning, quite often before my alarm clock goes off, so what? At least I'm not being awoken by the sound of bullets of bomb blasts.
When I look at my problems, and compare them not only to those of Baha'u'llah, but weigh them in comparison to my own blessings, they fall away to nothingness.
More than that, though, is that when I recall Baha'u'llah's life, I'm not only seeing the immensity of the problems He faced. but also the manner in which He faced them: with dignity and honour, forgiveness, compassion and love. Can I do any less? (Ok, the honest answer is yes, and I have, but I'm really trying to do better. Really, I am.)
So now I have been reminded not only of all the good things in my life, but also of how I should respond to some of the not-so-good things.
And be thou so steadfast in My love that thy heart shall not waver, even if the swords of the enemies rain blows upon thee and all the heavens and the earth arise against thee. But let's be serious, it's not easy. There are many times in my life when I get angry, and not just at other people, but at God. (Less often in the last twenty years than in the first, but still...) When some really awful things happen, it is very easy to try and lay the blame at God's feet. (That conjures up an interesting image. Feet of the Cause? Never mind.)
Looking at the structure of this line, it seems that there is a lot in it. The time to be steadfast is when things are most difficult. It's easy to be firm when things are going well, but the true test is when things are tough.
It's also relatively easy to be steadfast when it is your enemies who are causing you the pain. They are the enemy, after all, and that's what enemies do, right?
But when it is your friends who are the source of pain, when the very "heavens and the earth arise against thee", that's another story. It's not as easy then.
When it's an institution of the Faith, I'm sure it's much harder to be that detached. Imagine, for example, that I'm hurt, perhaps by another Baha'i that I feel wronged me in some way. And, of course, they feel the same. I go to my Assembly and ask for help. If they decide against me, and feel that I was the one in the wrong, that could be a source of tremendous pain. It might feel as if the very heavens were arising against me. But let's face it, they're probably right. I probably am the one in the wrong. It is at this exact time that I really need to be steadfast, not allow my heart to waver, and be obedient. Perhaps I will learn from it, and maybe even grow in strength and capacity.
If I fall away at this time, of all times, am I really doing anything other than giving in to my own ego? Probably not.
Now, dear Reader, I'd love to continue this right now, and work until the end of the section, but I have a meditation workshop I'm supposed to conduct in about 20 minutes. So I have to go. Thanks for bearing with me on this one, and I look forward to any of your thoughts or insights before I finish the section.
No comments:
Post a Comment