But hear, O My brother, My plaint against them that claim to be associated with God and with the Manifestations of His knowledge, and yet follow their corrupt inclinations, consume the substance of their neighbour, are given to wine, commit murder, defraud and slander each other, hurl calumnies against God, and are wont to speak falsely. The people attribute all these deeds unto Us, whilst their perpetrators remain shameless before God. They cast aside that which He hath enjoined upon them and commit that which He hath forbidden. Yet it behoveth the people of truth that the signs of humility should shine upon their faces, that the light of sanctity should radiate from their countenances, that they should walk upon the earth as though they were in the presence of God and distinguish themselves in their deeds from all the dwellers of the earth. Such must be their state that their eyes should behold the evidences of His might, their tongues and hearts make mention of His name, their feet be set towards the lands of His nearness, and their hands take fast hold upon His precepts. And were they to pass through a valley of pure gold and mines of precious silver, they should regard them as wholly unworthy of their attention.
These people, however, have turned aside from all this and placed instead their affections upon that which accordeth with their own corrupt inclinations. Thus do they roam in the wilderness of arrogance and pride. I bear witness at this moment that God is wholly quit of them, and likewise are We. We beseech God to suffer Us not to associate with them either in this life or in the life to come. He, verily, is the Eternal Truth. No God is there but Him, and His might is equal to all things.
I was reading a bit of Gems of Divine Mysteries, that wonderful book by Baha'u'llah, when I ran across the preceding passages. I was going to just look at the second paragraph, but realized that it needed to first one to explain who "These people" are. I apologize, dear Reader, you are stuck reading 2 paragraphs instead of just one. Well, I'm not really sorry. I mean, it is the Writings of Baha'u'llah, after all.
So, let's begin at the beginning.
A "plaint" is an accusation or a charge, so Baha'u'llah is making an accusation against a group of people. Specifically, He is accusing them of saying that they believe in God, but then lists a whole whack of things that they are doing that goes against the Divine teachings. They "follow their corrupt inclinations, consume the substance of their neighbour, are given to wine, commit murder, defraud and slander each other, hurl calumnies against God, and are wont to speak falsely." They accuse Baha'u'llah of these very crimes, yet commit them themselves with impunity.
Then, as we would expect, He counsels us as to how we should behave. It's quite the list, and worthy of study.
The first thing He says is that "the signs of humility should shine upon their faces". This is interesting, for it determines, to an extent, the first impression we make on others. And we all know how important first impressions can be. But to try to make this an expression on your face? Wow. That's difficult. I have a hard time imagining it. It seems to me that the face would be relaxed, with a soft look of love, never showing any sneering sign of superiority. But to shine? It seems to me that this implies a smile of some sort, and we know, from Haji Mirza Haydar-Ali, that Baha'u'llah loved to see a face wreathed in smiles.
The second part is "that the light of sanctity should radiate from their countenances". It seems to me that this is a step above the first. You can be humble, but still be a fairly wretched person, mired in all sorts of issues. I just imagine the stereotypical broken-down drunk. There may be a humility to them, more from being humiliated, but not the light of sanctity. So here He seems to be saying that humility is a good first step, but our actions must also be pure and free from sin.
Then He says that we "should walk upon the earth as though they were in the presence of God". Ok. Sometimes when I'm all alone, I'll slouch a bit, or be a bit more bedraggled in my attitude. Guilty as charged. But what if I were to always recognize the fact that I'm in the presence of my Lord? I would hold myself, carry myself quite differently. And this, I feel, is quite important. We never know who's watching. More importantly, it will become an ingrained habit. And there's something about carrying ourselves with dignity: we feel more dignified.
Finally, He says we must "distinguish (ourselves) in (our) deeds from all the dwellers of the earth". To be honest, that's not that difficult these days. With so many people mired in complaining about injustices, lusting after material wealth, working the merest minimum amount they can get away with, this is not too difficult. We can distinguish ourselves by standing up to injustice through encouragement to others, practicing detachment and contentment, and striving for excellence in all that we do. I'm not saying it's easy, but just that compared to the world around us, even trying to do things distinguishes us.
"Such must be their state that their eyes should behold the evidences of His might, their tongues and hearts make mention of His name, their feet be set towards the lands of His nearness, and their hands take fast hold upon His precepts. And were they to pass through a valley of pure gold and mines of precious silver, they should regard them as wholly unworthy of their attention." We must learn to see God in everything, speak only that which upholds the underlying unity of all creation, and feel that unity deep within our very heart, for it is that unwavering love of all that will help us better understand this message that Baha'u'llah has brought. And we must continually walk that straight path He has laid out before us, striving with all our strength to help build His promised kingdom. And as for money? It's only a tool that we can use in our efforts, worth no more than that.
But really, the reason I shared this paragraph was so that I could look at the next one.
The people that Baha'u'llah condemns in the beginning of that first paragraph are the ones who "have turned aside from all this and placed instead their affections upon that which accordeth with their own corrupt inclinations." They don't care about justice or integrity. They only care about their own base desires, doing whatever they feel is good for them at the moment, with no regard for others or the future.
Interestingly enough, He says that they are wandering "in the wilderness of arrogance and pride". What an interesting turn of phrase. I had never thought of arrogance and pride as a wilderness, but really, is there anything else further from a true civilization? And this is not the nice nature of a Disney movie, the kind of sweet forest I love to walk around during the day. no, this is a wilderness, harsh and dangerous, deadly, where every moment of survival is a struggle. That, to me, describes arrogance and pride, for I see within the hearts of those who have succumbed to their lure that very struggle every moment. It is such a sad waste of time and energy, so much effort to maintain for so little reward. Ah, the dangers of the ego.
"I bear witness at this moment that God is wholly quit of them, and likewise are We. We beseech God to suffer Us not to associate with them either in this life or in the life to come." And if hell is defined as remoteness from God, well, you can't be more remote than that.
"He, verily, is the Eternal Truth. No God is there but Him, and His might is equal to all things."
Ok. This is what really caught my eye, thanks to my loving wife.
"Eternal Truth", sure. No problem. Truth being that which accords to reality, it makes sense. No God but Him? Again, no problem, for there is only one reality.
"His might is equal to all things." Hmmm.
Might is power or strength, a form of energy that is used in action.
Equal to? Well, that just means they have the same value, can be exchanged for each other.
All things. Every bit of matter in all of creation.
So God's might, His energy, is equivalent to all of creation, every bit of matter in the entire universe. They are equivalent. Of course, like two different currencies, there is an exchange rate involved.
And what would that exchange rate be?
E = mc2
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