Baha'u'llah and the Mind-Blowing Creator

Seems like there is so much calamity in my life, I never know what to pray about first. I'd like to pray for mercy but then I remember:

My calamity is My providence. Outwardly it is fire and vengeance, inwardly it is light and mercy.

~Baha'u'llah

So if I prayed for mercy I'd probably get more of the same.

I find it comforting to read the Writings of Baha'u'llah, however challenging.

I keep coming back lately to the same remarkable essay by Baha'u'llah, number XXVII in Gleanings of the Writings of Baha'u'llah, which builds beautifully one concept after another. It would not be possible to quote from it extensively, however, I would like to share some highlights.

Concept # One, in the initial paragraph, describes how God created the Universe out of nothingness. This is a paradox to the human mind, because there are passages where 'Abdu'l-Baha states that the quality or name of the Creator is inherent in the Unknowable Essence we call God, so there was no time the creation did not exist. Using the analogy of our sun in the solar system, part of the essence of the sun is the quality of releasing or putting out rays of light and heat: if the rays were not released, the sun would not be the sun. So as long as there has been a Creator, there has been a creation. And yet, in this passage Baha'u'llah describes the universe being created from nothingness:

All-praise to the unity of God, and all-honor to Him, the sovereign Lord, the incomparable and all-glorious Ruler of the universe, Who, out of utter nothingness, hath created the reality of all things, Who, from naught, hath brought into being the most refined and subtle elements of His creation, and Who, rescuing His creatures from the abasement of remoteness and the perils of ultimate extinction, hath received them into His kingdom of incorruptible glory.

There are two parts to this process: being created, and being rescued from a state of remoteness from God. So to the limited and logical, linear human mind this is a paradox, that the creation is a never-beginning, never-ending process, by the Creator.

Nothing short of His all-encompassing grace, His all-pervading mercy, could have possibly achieved it. How could it, otherwise, have been possible for sheer nothingness to have acquired by itself the worthiness and capacity to emerge from its state of non-existence into the realm of being?

I had never thought of this notion before, that to come into existence requires capacity and worthiness. Everything, from the Big Bang to the initial squirms of life in the primordial soup, to the emergence of oxygen-creating microbes which changed the atmosphere into what is currently breathable to life as we know it, depended on the light and mercy of God.

Leapfrogging over most of this passage, more is revealed. Even the continued existence of the creation from one moment to the next is dependent on God:

There can be no doubt whatever that if for one moment the tide of His mercy and grace were to be withheld from the world, it would completely perish.

One might look at the Creator as cruel, unpleasant, despotic, and controlling, to think that every breath we take is dependent on Him. As humans like to be in control of our lives, it is a disconcerting thought. But the more positive thought is that we exist because of God's love for us, because He loved His creation, and we were created and continue to be created from moment to moment because of God's grace and mercy. That would be the humble way to see the position of creation and humankind in the universe.

So, the Universe, Life, and Everything We Know About has been created and is continually in the process of being created. God's not done yet.

Concept # Two:

[From the same passage]: Having created the world and all that liveth and moveth therein, He, through the direct operation of His unconstrained and sovereign Will, chose to confer upon man the unique distinction and capacity to know Him and to Love Him--a capacity that must needs be regarded as the generating impulse and the primary purpose underlying the whole of creation . . . Upon the inmost reality of each and every created thing He hath shed the light of one of His names, and made it a recipient of the glory of one of His attributes. Upon the reality of man, however, He hath focused the radiance of all of His names and attributes, and made it a mirror of His own Self. Alone of all created things man hath been singled out for so great a favor, so enduring a bounty.

For readers of the Bible, we may recognize that man [humankind, not just males] was created in God's image. We potentially may reflect all of God's attributes, and have the capacity to know and love God. This leads to:

Concept # Three: These energies with which the Day Star of Divine bounty and Source of heavenly guidance hath endowed the reality of man lie, however, latent within him, even as the flame is hidden within the candle and the rays of light are potentially present within the lamp. The radiance of these energies may be obscured by worldly desires even as the light of the sun can be concealed beneath the dust and dross which cover the mirror. Neither the candle nor the lamp can be lighted through their own unaided efforts, nor can it ever be possible for the mirror to free itself from its dross. It is clear and evident that until the fire is kindled the lamp will never be ignited, and unless the dross is blotted out from the face of the mirror it can never represent the image of the sun nor reflect its light and glory.

So here is a human soul with the potential to reflect the attributes of God, and with the unique capacity to know and love God, but unable to do so without outside assistance. What will happen next?

Concept # Four: And since there can be no tie of direct intercourse to bind the one true God with His creation, and no resemblance whatever can exist between the transient and the Eternal, the contingent and the Absolute, He hath ordained that in every age and dispensation a pure and stainless Soul be manifest in the kingdoms of earth and heaven.

Baha'u'llah goes on to say that this Soul, this "mysterious and ethereal Being" has a twofold nature: physical and spiritual; and a double station: the Voice of God Himself, and the human station. These Souls are what the Baha'i Writings refer to as "Manifestations of God," who have come in every time and at whatever place They are most sorely needed, to communicate from God to humankind.

From the foregoing passages and allusions it hath been made indubitably clear that in the kingdoms of earth and heaven there must needs be manifested a Being, and Essence Who shall act as a Manifestation and Vehicle for the transmission of the grace of the Divinity Itself, the sovereign Lord of all. Through the teachings of this Day Star of Truth every man will advance and develop until he attaineth the station at which he can manifest all the potential forces with which his inmost true self hath been endowed. It is for this purpose that in every age and dispensation the Prophets of God and His chosen Ones have appeared amongst men, and have evinced such power as is born of God and such might as only the Eternal can reveal.

Concept # Five:I will say this, then let Baha'u'llah have the last word: the outpouring of God's Grace is never ending. These Manifestations of God will continue to appear forever: Can one of sane mind ever seriously imagine that, in view of certain words the meaning of which he cannot comprehend, the portal of God's infinite guidance can ever be closed in the face of men? Can he ever conceive for these Divine Luminaries, these resplendent Lights either a beginning or an end? What outpouring flood can compare with the stream of His all-embracing grace, and what blessing can excel the evidences of so great and pervasive a mercy? . . . From the beginning that hath no beginning the portals of Divine mercy have been flung open to the face of all created things, and the clouds of Truth will continue to the end that hath no end to rain on the soil of human capacity, reality and personality their favors and bounties. Such hath been God's method continued from everlasting to everlasting.