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ETERNAL UNITY 66 |
What is real unity? When we observe the human world we
find various collective expressions of unity therein. For
instance, man is distinguished from the animal by his degree
or kingdom. This comprehensive distinction includes all the
posterity of Adam and constitutes one great household or human
family which may be considered the fundamental or physical unity of
mankind. Furthermore, a distinction exists between various groups of
humankind according to lineage, each group forming a racial unity
separate from the others. There is also the unity of tongue among
those who use the same language as a means of communication;
national unity where various peoples live under one form of government
such as French, German, British, etc.; and political unity which
conserves the civil rights of parties or factions of the same government.
All these unities are imaginary and without real foundation, for no
real result proceeds from them. The purpose of true unity is real and
divine outcomes. From these limited unities mentioned only limited
outcomes proceed whereas unlimited unity produces unlimited result.
For instance, from the limited unity of race or nationality the results
at most are limited. It is like a family living alone and solitary; there
are no unlimited or universal outcomes from it.
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The unity which is productive of unlimited results is first a unity
of mankind which recognizes that all are sheltered beneath the overshadowing
glory of the All-Glorious; that all are servants of one God;
for all breathe the same atmosphere, live upon the same earth, move
beneath the same heavens, receive effulgence from the same sun and
are under the protection of one God. This is the most great unity, and
its results are lasting if humanity adheres to it; but mankind has
hitherto violated it, adhering to sectarian or other limited unities
such as racial, patriotic or unity of self-interests; therefore no great
results have been forthcoming. Nevertheless it is certain that the
radiance and favors of God are encompassing, minds have developed,
perceptions have become acute, sciences and arts are widespread and
capacity exists for the proclamation and promulgation of the real and
ultimate unity of mankind which will bring forth marvelous results.
It will reconcile all religions, make warring nations loving, cause
hostile kings to become friendly and bring peace and happiness to the
human world. It will cement together the Orient and Occident, remove
forever the foundations of war and upraise the ensign of the “Most
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Great Peace”. These limited unities are therefore signs of that great
unity which will make all the human family one by being productive
of the attractions of conscience in mankind.
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Another unity is the spiritual unity which emanates from the
breaths of the Holy Spirit. This is greater than the unity of mankind.
Human unity or solidarity may be likened to the body whereas unity
from the breaths of the Holy Spirit is the spirit animating the body.
This is a perfect unity. It creates such a condition in mankind that
each one will make sacrifices for the other and the utmost desire will
be to forfeit life and all that pertains to it in behalf of another’s good.
This is the unity which existed among the disciples of His Holiness
Jesus Christ and bound together the prophets and holy souls of the
past. It is the unity which through the influence of the divine spirit is
permeating the Bahá’ís so that each offers his life for the other and
strives with all sincerity to attain his good-pleasure. This is the unity
which caused twenty thousand people in Persia to give their lives in
love and devotion to it. It made the Bab the target of a thousand
arrows and caused Bahá’u’lláh to suffer exile and imprisonment forty
years. This unity is the very spirit of the body of the world. It is
impossible for the body of the world to become quickened with life without
its vivification. His Holiness Jesus Christ—may my life be a
sacrifice to him!—promulgated this unity among mankind. Every soul
who believed in Jesus Christ became revivified and resuscitated through
this spirit, attained to the zenith of eternal glory, realized the life
everlasting, experienced the second birth and rose to the acme of good
fortune.
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In the Word of God there is still another unity, the oneness of the
Manifestations of God, His Holiness Abraham, Moses, Jesus Christ,
Mohammed, the Bab and Bahá’u’lláh. This is a unity divine, heavenly,
radiant, merciful; the one reality appearing in its successive manifestations.
For instance, the sun is one and the same but its points of
dawning are various. During the summer season it rises from the
northern point of the ecliptic; in winter it appears from the southern
point of rising. Each month between it appears from a certain zodiacal
position. Although these dawning-points are different, the sun is the
same sun which has appeared from them all. The significance is the
reality of prophethood which is symbolized by the sun, and the holy
Manifestations are the dawning-places or zodiacal points.
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There is also the divine unity or entity which is sanctified above
all concept of humanity. It cannot be comprehended nor conceived
because it is infinite reality and cannot become finite. Human minds
are incapable of surrounding that reality because all thoughts and
conceptions of it are finite, intellectual creations and not the reality
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of divine being which alone knows itself. For example, if we form a
conception of divinity as a living, almighty, self-subsisting, eternal
being, this is only a concept apprehended by a human intellectual
reality. It would not be the outward, visible reality which is beyond
the power of human mind to conceive or encompass. We ourselves have
an external, visible entity but even our concept of it is the product of
our own brain and limited comprehension. The reality of divinity is
sanctified above this degree of knowing and realization. It has ever
been hidden and secluded in its own holiness and sanctity above our
comprehending. Although it transcends our realization, its lights,
bestowals, traces and virtues have become manifest in the realities of
the prophets, even as the sun becomes resplendent in various mirrors.
These holy realities are as reflectors, and the reality of divinity is as
the sun which although it is reflected from the mirrors, and its virtues
and perfections become resplendent therein, does not stoop from its
own station of majesty and glory and seek abode in the mirrors; it
remains in its heaven of sanctity. At most it is this, that its lights become
manifest and evident in its mirrors or manifestations. Therefore
its bounty proceeding from them is one bounty but the recipients of
that bounty are many. This is the unity of God; this is oneness;—unity
of divinity, holy above ascent or descent, embodiment, comprehension
or idealization;—divine unity—the prophets are its mirrors; its lights
are revealed through them; its virtues become resplendent in them,
but the Sun of Reality never descends from its own highest point and
station. This is unity, oneness, sanctity; this is glorification whereby
we praise and adore God.
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