A new version of the Bahá’í Reference Library is now available. This ‘old version’ of the Bahá’í Reference Library will be replaced at a later date.
The new version of the Bahá’i Reference Library can be accessed here »
A new version of the Bahá’í Reference Library is now available. This ‘old version’ of the Bahá’í Reference Library will be replaced at a later date.
The new version of the Bahá’i Reference Library can be accessed here »
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ADDRESS BY ‘ABDU’L-BAHÁ AT THE FRIENDS’ MEETING HOUSE, ST MARTIN’S LANE, LONDON, W.C. 173 |
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They divided Divine philosophy into two parts:
one kind is that of which the knowledge can be acquired
through lectures and study in schools and
colleges. The second kind of philosophy was that of the
Illuminati, or followers of the inner light. The schools
of this philosophy were held in silence. Meditating, and
turning their faces to the Source of Light, from that
central Light the mysteries of the Kingdom were reflected
in the hearts of these people. All the Divine
problems were solved by this power of illumination.
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This Society of Friends increased greatly in Persia,
and up to the present time their societies exist. Many
books and epistles were written by their leaders. When
they assemble in their meeting-house they sit silently
and contemplate; their leader opens with a certain
proposition, and says to the assembly ‘You must meditate
on this problem’. Then, freeing their minds from
everything else, they sit and reflect, and before long the
answer is revealed to them. Many abstruse divine
questions are solved by this illumination.
174
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Some of the great questions unfolding from the
rays of the Sun of Reality upon the mind of man are:
the problem of the reality of the spirit of man; of the
birth of the spirit; of its birth from this world into
the world of God; the question of the inner life of the
spirit and of its fate after its ascension from the body.
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If they find a solution with the assistance of the
inner light, they accept it, and afterwards they declare
it: otherwise they would consider it a matter of blind
imitation. They go so far as to reflect upon the essential
nature of the Divinity, of the Divine revelation, of the
manifestation of the Deity in this world. All the divine
and scientific questions are solved by them through the
power of the spirit.
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It is an axiomatic fact that while you meditate you
are speaking with your own spirit. In that state of
mind you put certain questions to your spirit and the
spirit answers: the light breaks forth and the reality is
revealed.
175
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Meditation is the key for opening the doors of
mysteries. In that state man abstracts himself: in that
state man withdraws himself from all outside objects;
in that subjective mood he is immersed in the ocean of
spiritual life and can unfold the secrets of things-in-themselves.
To illustrate this, think of man as endowed
with two kinds of sight; when the power of insight is
being used the outward power of vision does not see.
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Nevertheless some thoughts are useless to man; they
are like waves moving in the sea without result. But
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if the faculty of meditation is bathed in the inner light
and characterized with divine attributes, the results
will be confirmed.
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