MichaelAW

I struggle to understand exactly what a Supreme Being actually is, what is the definition of.

Then I would ask, what is the BF definition of The Supreme Being?

Michaelaw

I found these various references,

SUPERNATURAL BEING
Pronunciation (US):
Dictionary entry overview: What does supernatural being mean?
• SUPERNATURAL BEING (noun)
The noun SUPERNATURAL BEING has 1 sense:
1. an incorporeal being believed to have powers to affect the course of human events

And

Incorporeal or uncarnate means without the nature of a body or substance.[1] The idea of incorporeality refers to the notion that there is an incorporeal realm of existence, or "place", that is distinct from the corporeal or material universe. Incorporeal beings or objects are not made out of matter in the way a physical, material being or object exists. The idea of the immaterial is often used in reference to the Christian God or the Divine. This being has at times been defined as the Prime Mover or First Cause that exists in an incorporeal or intelligible realm that transcends both space and time, especially in the physical realm. The notion that incorporeality is even possible requires the belief that something can exist or affect the physical, matter or energy, without physically existing at the point of effect. A ball can directly affect another ball by coming in direct contact with it, and is visible because it reflects the light that directly reaches it. An incorporeal object or being could not perform these functions as it has no material construction with which to perform these functions and would thus not be visible or able to affect anything that is of a physical construction.

And

1. BEING
The state or fact of existing.

InvestigateTruth

I notice you have 2 questions. A Supreme Being and The Supreme Being.

Well, my understanding is that, in the Baha'i Faith view, there is no "A Supreme Being". We only have the Supreme Being, and He is God Himself. Just another Name of God, such as "The Merciful"

For example in the following passages from the Writings of Baha'u'llah:

The word of God which the Supreme Pen hath recorded...-Tablets of Baha'u'llah

The Supreme Pen is Baha'u'llah.


Verily He Who is the Day-star of Truth and Revealer of the Supreme Being holdeth, for all time, undisputed sovereignty over all that is in heaven and on earth, though no man be found on earth to obey Him. - Iqan

The Supreme Being is God.

Offcourse it's part of the Baha'i Long Obligatory prayer, which says : "I testify that Thou hast been sanctified above all attributes and holy above all names."

So as Abdulbaha explained in the Some Answered Questions, we uses these names for God just so we know, He is free from all imperfections, but He indeed is sanctified above all attributes and holy above all names.

cire perdue

I think that is a worthy thing to consider. My thoughts are I had religion until I went to Al Anon and learned what faith was. There I learned that God is the God of my understanding and that I will always be in the state of coming to understand God. In 12 step programs God is can be referred to as a higher power. It changed my life to hear other people talking about faith and prayer and got me out of my own restricted vision. I try to live like I am on a bus and God is driving! I'm not ultimately in charge, though I am responsible. This is very compatible with the Baha'i Faith and this IS my personal view, one surely does not have to go else where, but the Faith became more to me, partly because I needed additional understanding.

MichaelAW

None of this answers my question. To clarify further, we Bahai believe in a singular Supreme Being as the sole creator of all. What is a Supreme Being? When I hear the word 'being' I get an image of something tangible, with a form, . To be a Being, doesn't that indicate a physical form of some sort, even if it exists in something like another dimension??? I also know that we cannot know God except thru Manifestation yet I seem to recall the Bahai assertion that God Is a Supreme Being.

Pollwr

Ah, so you are striving to know the Unknowable?

armin

There are many ways different ways that what you're saying can be interpreted. We all live in our own unique world inside our head; the way we perceive the world both literally and spiritually. So keeping all of that in mind, it could be said that in our own unique individual world we are all supreme beings. Thus "a" supreme being.

God, The almighty, The single being who exists, but is unseen to our eyes, both literally and spiritually, is "the" supreme being.

No question is wrong or bad to ask if it is asked with pure intentions. So, coming down the chain step by step, ring by ring, we can see how things really are and understand the intended meaning of God's verses revealed to us. God, The one supreme being, is the unknowable but like you said it yourself we can only know him through His manifestations.

That was just how I see it. Hope it was helpful.

Sen McGlinn

"God exists" is shorthand for "God is the source of existence", just as "God is love" is shorthand for "God is the source of love." Existence, and therefore being, seems to me to be used in the Bahai writings as a relative attribute, like all the other attributes which can be relatively present or absent. For example,

God is not part of this field of more-or-less existent things, but above and below and around it:

So God is not a being, in the sense of one of the general class of beings: God is not part of any class.

~ Sen

arthra

When you consider the following I think it will be helpful..

XIX. To every discerning and illuminated heart it is evident that God, the unknowable Essence, the Divine Being, is immensely exalted beyond every human attribute, such as corporeal existence, ascent and descent, egress and regress. Far be it from His glory that human tongue should adequately recount His praise, or that human heart comprehend His fathomless mystery. He is, and hath ever been, veiled in the ancient eternity of His Essence, and will remain in His Reality everlastingly hidden from the sight of men. "No vision taketh in Him, but He taketh in all vision; He is the Subtile, the All-Perceiving."...

~ Baha'u'llah, Gleanings from the Writings of Baha'u'llah, p. 46


All the people have formed a god in the world of thought, and that form of their own imagination they worship; when the fact is that the imagined form is finite and the human mind is infinite. Surely the infinite is greater than the finite, for imagination is accidental while the mind is essential; surely the essential is greater than the accidental.

Therefore consider: All the sects and peoples worship their own thought; they create a god in their own minds and acknowledge him to be the creator of all things, when that form is a superstition -- thus people adore and worship imagination.

That Essence of the Divine Entity and the Unseen of the unseen is holy above imagination and is beyond thought. Consciousness doth not reach It. Within the capacity of comprehension of a produced reality that Ancient Reality cannot be contained. It is a different world; from it there is no information; arrival thereat is impossible; attainment thereto is prohibited and inaccessible. This much is known: It exists and Its existence is certain and proven -- but the condition is unknown.

All the philosophers and the doctors knew that It is, but they were perplexed in the comprehension of Its existence and were at last discouraged, and in great despair they left this world. For the comprehension of the condition and mysteries of that Reality of realities and Mystery of mysteries there is need for another power and another sense. That power and sense is not possessed by mankind, therefore they have not found any information. For example: If a man possess the power of hearing, the power of tasting, the power of smelling and the power of feeling, but no power of seeing, he cannot see.

Hence, through the powers and senses present in man the realization of the Unseen Reality, which is pure and holy above the reach of doubts, is impossible. Other powers are needed and other senses required. If those powers and senses are obtained, then information can be had; otherwise, not.

~ Abdu'l-Baha, Baha'i World Faith, p. 381

MichaelAW

The Baha'i Concept of God

The Bahá'í Concept of God1

The Bahá'í belief in one God means that the universe and all creatures and forces within it have been created by a single supernatural Being. This Being, Whom we call God, has absolute control over His creation (omnipotence) as well as perfect and complete knowledge of it (omniscience). Although we may have different concepts of God's nature, although we may pray to Him in different languages and call Him by different names--Allah or Yahweh, God or Brahma--nevertheless, we are speaking about the same unique Being.

The above is a direct quote on the Bahai official website. It says God is a 'Supernatural Being'. What is the Baha'i definition of a supernatural being? It repeatedly uses the word 'being'.

Sboyce

How can the woodwork explain the carpenter?

arthra

"To every discerning and illumined heart it is evident that God, the unknowable Essence, the divine Being, is immensely exalted beyond every human attribute, such as corporeal existence, ascent and descent, egress and regress. Far be it from His glory that human tongue should adequately recount His praise, or that human heart comprehend His fathomless mystery. He is and hath ever been veiled in the ancient eternity of His Essence, and will remain in His Reality everlastingly hidden from the sight of men.

"No vision taketh in Him, but He taketh in all vision; He is the Subtile, the All-Perceiving."[1]

No tie of direct intercourse can possibly bind Him to His creatures. He standeth exalted beyond and above all separation and union, all proximity and remoteness. No sign can indicate His presence or His absence; inasmuch as by a word of His command all that are in heaven and on earth have come to exist, and by His wish, which is the Primal Will itself, all have stepped out of utter nothingness into the realm of being, the world of the visible."

[1 Qur'án 6:103.]

~ Baha'u'llah, The Kitab-i-Iqan, p. 93

So human tongue cannot adequately recount His praise nor can human heart comprehend His essence.

"Know thou of a certainty that the Unseen can in no wise incarnate His essence and reveal it unto men. He is, and hath ever been, immensely exalted beyond all that can either be recounted or perceived.... He Who is everlastingly hidden from the eyes of men can never be known except through His Manifestation, and His Manifestation can adduce no greater proof of the truth of His mission than the proof of His Own Person"

Bahá'u'lláh, Gleanings, p. 49.


Also

"As our knowledge of things, even of created and limited things, is knowledge of their qualities and not of their essence, how is it possible to comprehend in its essence the Divine Reality, which is unlimited? ... Knowing God, therefore, means the comprehension and the knowledge of His attributes, and not of His Reality. This knowledge of the attributes is also proportioned to the capacity and power of man; it is not absolute."

`Abdu'l-Bahá, Some Answered Questions, 3d ed. (Wilmette: Bahá'í Publishing Trust, 1981), pp. 220-21.

MichaelAW

Wow, can't any of you simply say, 'gosh, I don't have an answer?

To clarify one last time, some one made an official comment on the official Baha'i faith website declaring that God is considered a supernatural being and I was hoping to get a definition as to what is a supernatural being.

Peace and love.

tonyfish58

I have absolutely no Idea why this is posted "supernatural being" To me it is not in harmony with the Baha'i scriptures. It is on the Official Websites and thus may have to be addressed?

I agree it helps conger up an image of God which we are told is not possible.

Good Question

Regards Tony

Eric

A human tendency to try to understand everything and that is one of our strengths.

97. There are certain pillars which have been established as the unshakeable supports of the Faith of God. The mightiest of these is learning and the use of the mind, the expansion of consciousness, and insight into the realities of the universe and the hidden mysteries of Almighty God.

To promote knowledge is thus an inescapable duty imposed on every one of the friends of God. It is incumbent upon that Spiritual Assembly, that assemblage of God, to exert every effort to educate the children, so that from infancy they will be trained in Bahá'í conduct and the ways of God, and will, even as young plants, thrive and flourish in the soft-flowing waters that are the counsels and admonitions of the Blessed Beauty.

(Abdu'l-Baha, Selections from the Writings of Abdu'l-Baha, p. 126)

However, we are not capable of understanding everything. God is far above our comprehension and any attempt to understand must inevitably fail.

66. O CHILDREN OF THE DIVINE AND INVISIBLE ESSENCE!
Ye shall be hindered from loving Me and souls shall be perturbed as they make mention of Me. For minds cannot grasp Me nor hearts contain Me.

(Baha'u'llah, The Arabic Hidden Words)

If we want to become conscious of His existence we are in need of words, like supernatural being, inadequate as these words may be. If you would like to know the meaning of the words 'supernatural being' specifically - the dictionary is probably your best bet.

LordOfGoblins

'supernatural' is just a word. Why get caught up on it?
I am pretty certain the implication is just that God is not a natural phenomina that occurs in the natural world or some such thing...
Dont worry about it. Not worth much concern.
all the best.

LordOfGoblins

Did you try a dictionary???


supernatural - definition of supernatural by the Free Online Dictionary, Thesaurus and Encyclopedia.

su·per·nat·u·ral (spr-nchr-l)
adj.
1. Of or relating to existence outside the natural world.
2. Attributed to a power that seems to violate or go beyond natural forces.
3. Of or relating to a deity.
4. Of or relating to the immediate exercise of divine power; miraculous.
5. Of or relating to the miraculous.

cire perdue

it's a Higher Power!

BruceDLimber

Correction: The name for the Hindu Supreme Being is Brahman, not to be confused with Brahma.

Peace, :-)

Bruce