Words of a Wise Man

I have been blessed to know a very wise man, and to have lived inside of his dreams for a brief but powerful time of my life. This man walked quickly, as he had so very much to do. Each step he took was taken in the name and cause of the people he loved most, refugee children. When the speed of his step bordered on sprinting it was only because such was required, not because his dream was slipping away and he was desperate to catch it, but because so much was becoming possible all at once and he was simply trying to keep up with the progress of his own ideas as they became reality. Even he once said, “I need to walk more slowly, to look at the flowers.” His profound logic being that even when our greatest calling begs of us a faster pace, if we do not possess an inner harmony, how will we ever enjoy what our labor and tireless vision gives birth to.

I am exhausted in this moment, but not tired, nor bored. I am searching, for what is next. I can hear it calling my name as my feeling in the present state of things becomes increasingly restless. Its face I am looking for, and like to think I will recognize when we finally cross paths. I thought to myself but a few months ago, I have forgotten the sound of my own footsteps, and while I believe I am doing good with my time and effort, nothing is worth leading one to forget or fail to notice the beauty of the world around and within. I am looking because I want to remember, to recall that piece of myself that dreamed of what is next to come, and awaited the world at large with bated breathe. I want to recall, for the pace that I have been maintaining, while it has been filled with good people and deeds, has led me to forget, to cease to see the beauty of it all, and so I search with the words of a wise man resounding in my ears because I want to remember, I want to become, I want to awaken.

The day is approaching when thy agitation will have been transmuted into peace and quiet calm.

(Baha’u'llah, Gleanings from the Writings of Baha’u'llah, p. 111)

Be Still

There is calm in the morning, in the stillness of dew collected within the blossom’s cradle. There is quiet in the sun stretching its arms cross the earth to embrace yet another day. May our hearts beat with a melodious rhythm in sync with the symphony of the world at large, and ours souls be contemplative when thoughts of the Beloved manifest. May our prayers be those of love and conviction, void of self and whim, and may our understanding be authentic, our focus directed, and our reflection and goal nothing other than eternal. God is near.

I hope that the lights of the Sun of Reality will illumine the whole world so that no strife and warfare, no battles and bloodshed remain. May fanaticism and religious bigotry be unknown, all humanity enter the bond of brotherhood, souls consort in perfect agreement, the nations of earth at last hoist the banner of truth and the religions of the world enter the divine temple of oneness, for the foundations of the heavenly religions are one reality. Reality is not divisible; it does not admit multiplicity. All the holy Manifestations of God have proclaimed and promulgated the same reality. They have summoned mankind to reality itself and reality is one. The clouds and mists of imitations have obscured the Sun of Truth. We must forsake these imitations, dispel these clouds and mists and free the Sun from the darkness of superstition. Then will the Sun of Truth shine most gloriously; then all the inhabitants of the world will be united, the religions will be one, sects and denominations will reconcile, all nationalities will flow together in the recognition of one Fatherhood and all degrees of humankind gather in the shelter of the same tabernacle, under the same banner. 257

(Abdu’l-Baha, Baha’i World Faith – Abdu’l-Baha Section, p. 255)

Contentment

How is one to define contentment? I recall a time in my life in which the words I used to describe my state of being were “intrinsically discontent”, and now I am left wondering, almost three years later, how precise such terminology actually was in narrating my mind’s eye at the time.

I suppose the existential question this brings to mind is, how does one accurately qualify his or her level of contentment/discontent at any given moment. I am left with one persistent thought, spiritual certitude.

The time referred to above, during which I named myself intrinsically discontent, I was on a spiritual search, thus that time in my life was neither void of passion nor sense of self, it was my own perception/definition of God, whom I knew to exist, which was lacking. This was a time in my life full of vigor and excitement, but simultaneously a sense of loss as I had shed one religious identity in search of another.

Now, at a time in my life when my personal identity is fundamentally rooted and intertwined with my spirituality, deeply embedded in the Baha’i definition of God, there are many factors within my life which I feel have room for improvement, which perhaps even cause me discontent, and yet there is a sense of confirmation that this is much more than simply a path I am plodding along, merely one of millions I can choose from. I possess an innate knowledge, an a priori sense that it is the path and this is because each step I take, each bend in the road I venture down, is motivated by the Divine Alliance of my own free will and God’s Omnipotent plan, for none other than myself. Thus the phrase intrinsically discontent has no place here, its words bear no meaning in my present, and what I hope to be eternal state of being, for God is near, and I am listening.

And since I noted thy mention of thy death in God, and thy life through Him, and thy love for the beloved of God and the Manifestations of His Names and the Dawning-Points of His Attributes — I therefore reveal unto thee sacred and resplendent tokens from the planes of glory, to attract thee into the court of holiness and nearness and beauty, and draw thee to a station wherein thou shalt see nothing in creation save the Face of thy Beloved One, the Honored, and behold all created things only as in the day wherein none hath a mention.

(Baha’u'llah, The Seven Valleys, p. 2)