mg145

Specifically things that weren't proven by scientists until after his time.

Thanks in advance!

arthra

Of course "science" is based on observation and experiments and so on.. What has been revealed though are intimations about the future and a few of these in my opinion have been found in my opinion by Baha'u'llah and in the Utterances and Writings of Abdul-Baha and Shoghi Effendi..

Abdul-Baha talked about a "railroad" from the earth to the heavens.

"I know, verily, that the universal, never ending, eternal, bright and divine establishments are only the diffusing of the breaths of God, and the spreading of the instructions of God, and all that are beside these, though they be the reigning over all the regions of the earth, or the construction of railroads from the earth to the heavens, or means of transportation with the rapidity of rising lightning from the globe of earth to the globe of the sun, all are mortal, perishing, demolishing and disadvantageous, in comparison with the divine establishments."

(Abdu'l-Baha, Tablets of Abdu'l-Baha v1, p. 32)

We wouldn't call it "railroads" today but scientists are working on a space tether:


The space tether experiment, a joint venture of the US and Italy, called for a scientific payload--a large, spherical satellite--to be deployed from the US space shuttle at the end of a conducting cable (tether) 20 km (12.5 miles) long.

We haven't developed a means of transport "with the rapidity of rising lightning" as yet but it may be possible.

Abdul-Baha and Shoghi Effendi were interested in instant communication around the world and I think anticipated the internet we have today..

In the nineteenth century Baha'u'llah spoke of the need for a one world language and Esperanto seems to fill that role although we cannot say for sure it will be the universal auxiliary language as yet.

Innovation and instant transfers of funds across boarders are also foreseen I think when Baha'u'llah taught the principle of a one world monetary system:

In a breathtakingly short space of time, national borders, already under assault, became permeable, with the result that vast sums now pass instantly through them at the command of a computer signal. Complex production operations are so reconfigured as to integrate and maximize the economies available from the contributions of a range of specializing participants, without regard to their national locations. If one were to lower one's horizon to purely material considerations, the earth has already taken on something of the character of "one country" and the inhabitants of various lands the status of its consumer "citizens".


(Commissioned by The Universal House of Justice, Century of Light, p. 132)



- Art

arthra

While rumaging around I found the following from a book review:

Indeed, the spirit of modern science's search for unity and a unified field theory seem to have been anticipated in 'Abdu'l-Bahá assertions that nature is governed by one 'universal law' which is in operation from the invisible atom to the stars:

I mean that this limitless universe is like the human body, all the members of which are connected and linked with one another with the greatest strength. How much the organs, the members, and the parts of the body of man are intermingled and connected for mutual aid and help, and how much they influence one another! In the same way, the parts of this infinite universe have their members and elements connected with one another, and influence one another spiritually and materially. ('Abdu'l-Bahá, Some Answered Questions 245)


Source:

http://bahai-library.com/reviews/weber.dialogues.html

arthra

Consider the Hidden Words:

O SON OF MAN! Wert thou to speed through the immensity of space and traverse the expanse of heaven, yet thou wouldst find no rest save in submission to Our command and humbleness before Our Face.

(Arabic Hidden Words, #40)

Could this be an intimation of space flight..?

The Hidden Words were revealed along the Tigris River before 1863.

- Art

sas

I remember coming across a writing about humans discovering other sources of fuel from elements not yet discovered with reference to the ocean. I will try to find this so I can post the exact quote.

lukasali

I always thought Baha'u'llah's assertion that each element can be transmuted into any other element neatly described (and substantially preceded widespread scientific acceptance of the plausibility of) nuclear fusion.

BruceDLimber

Greetings, Lukasali!

While it's true that any element can be transmuted to any other, it's not always easy!

It turns out the elements occupy a V-shaped energy curve.

Because of this, it's fairly straightforward (if the term can be used at all for nuclear reactions) to change heavy elements into lighter ones (fission).

And it's also fairly straightforward to change light elements into heavier ones (fusion).

As long as you're tending toward iron, which occupies the bottom of the "V," you're OK.

But going the other direction is not only tough but takes HUGE amounts of energy (the opposite of the huge RELEASE of energy the above reactions yield!

So to take the famous "copper to gold" statement in the Writings as an example, turning copper to iron is relatively (<=please note this word!) easy. But then proceeding from iron to gold is really, really TOUGH!!!

C'est la vie. :-)

Regards,

Bruce

BruceDLimber

Greetings, Lukasali!

While it's true that any element can be transmuted to any other, it's not always easy!

It turns out the elements occupy a V-shaped energy curve.

Because of this, it's fairly straightforward (if the term can be used at all for nuclear reactions) to change heavy elements into lighter ones (fission).

And it's also fairly straightforward to change light elements into heavier ones (fusion).

As long as you're tending toward iron, which occupies the bottom of the "V," you're OK.

But going the other direction is not only tough but takes HUGE amounts of energy (the opposite of the huge RELEASE of energy the above reactions yield! (This is the famous E=mc**2 equation, but where you have to supply the tremendous E value in order to finish with a miniscule m value.)

So to take the famous "copper to gold" statement in the Writings as an example, turning copper to iron is relatively (<=please note this word!) easy. But then proceeding from iron to gold is really, really TOUGH!!!

C'est la vie. :-)

Regards,

Bruce

Pollwr

I am not sure if Bahá'u'lláh revealed new science. I don't think that was His purpose in revealing the Words of God. However, he does seem to hint at future progress in science.

"Strange and astonishing things exist in the earth but they are hidden from the minds and the understanding of men. These things are capable of changing the whole atmosphere of the earth and their contamination would prove lethal. Great God! We have observed an amazing thing. Lightning or a force similar to it is controlled by an operator and moveth at his command. Immeasurably exalted is the Lord of Power Who hath laid bare that which He purposed through the potency of His weighty and invincible command."

(Baha'u'llah, Tablets of Baha'u'llah, p. 69)

""National rivalries, hatreds and intrigues will cease, and racial animosity and prejudice will be replaced by racial amity, understanding and co-operation. The causes of religious strife will be permanently removed, economic barriers and restrictions will be completely abolished, and the inordinate distinction between classes will be obliterated. Destitution on the one hand, and gross accumulation of ownership on the other, will disappear. The enormous energy dissipated and wasted on war, whether economic or political, will be consecrated to such ends as will extend the range of human inventions and technical development, to the *xiii* increase of the productivity of mankind, to the extermination of disease, to the extension of scientific research, to the raising of the standard of physical health, to the sharpening and refinement of the human brain, to the exploitation of the unused and unsuspected resources of the planet, to the prolongation of human life, and to the furtherance of any other agency that can stimulate the intellectual, the moral, and spiritual life of the entire human race."

(Baha'u'llah, The Proclamation of Baha'u'llah, p. xii)

Pollwr

Just as I convinced myself the transforming of Copper to Gold was just a metaphor for spiritual transformation, I found this quotation:

"In His Tablet to Siraj, Bahá'u'lláh states that the followers of Mirza Yahya in Adrianople had been asserting that just as gold cannot be transmuted into baser metal, so a soul who attains an exalted station (i.e. Mirza Yahya) can never lose it. In answer to this Bahá'u'lláh has revealed these words:

Consider the doubts which they who have joined partners
with God have instilled into the hearts of the people of this
land. 'Is it ever possible,' they ask, 'for copper to be transmuted
into gold?' Say, Yes, by my Lord, it is possible. Its
secret, however, lieth hidden in Our Knowledge. We will
reveal it unto whom We will. Whoso doubteth Our power,
let him ask the Lord his God, that He may disclose unto him
the secret, and assure him of its truth. That copper can be
turned into gold is in itself sufficient proof that gold can, in
like manner, be transmuted into copper, if they be of them
that can apprehend this truth. Every mineral can be made to
acquire the density, form, and substance of each and every
other mineral. The knowledge thereof is with Us in the
Hidden Book.(29)

The question of alchemy has occupied the minds of people for centuries. During Bahá'u'lláh's ministry it was a live issue and several believers were involved in it. Bahá'u'lláh urged them not to seek to achieve it at that time. However, He confirmed that transmuting baser metal into gold, the dream of the alchemist, was possible. He promised that it would be realized, and asserted that its realization would constitute one of the signs of the coming of age of humanity. He also prophesied that after its discovery a great calamity would await the world unless mankind came under the shelter of the Cause of God.(30) Present-day physicists, through special nuclear processes, are able to transmute various elements into others. *"

(Adib Taherzadeh, The Revelation of Baha'u'llah v 2, p. 267)

drhine

One quote that has always impressed me is:

The learned men, that have fixed at several thousand years the life of this earth, have failed, throughout the long period of their observation, to consider either the number or the age of the other planets. Consider, moreover, the manifold divergencies that have resulted from the theories propounded by these men. Know thou that every fixed star hath its own planets, and every planet its own creatures, whose number no man can compute.

(Baha'u'llah, Gleanings from the Writings of Baha'u'llah, p. 162)

Of course, only recently has science proven that this is even possibly true

BruceDLimber

Greetings! :-)

Baha'u'llah certainly DID reveal new scientific knowledge, including some that isn't widely realized!

I quote just a subset of a longer list of prophecies made by Him and already fulfilled:


" 20. The explosive acceleration of scientific and technological progress.
21. The development of nuclear weapons.
22. The achievement of transmutation of elements, the age-old alchemist's dream.
23. Dire peril for all humanity as a result of that achievement.
24. The discovery that complex elements evolve in nature from simpler ones.
25. The recognition of planets as a necessary by-product of star formation.
26. Space travel.
27. The realization that some forms of cancer are contagious or communicable.
28. The fruitless search for a 'missing link' between man and ape.
29. The non-existence of a mechanical ether (the supposed light-carrying substance posited by classical physics), and its redefinition as an abstract reality.
30. The breakdown of mechanical models (literal images) as a basis for understanding the physical world."


You can find the full details of these in both Gary Matthews' The Challenge of Baha'u'llah and He Cometh with Clouds, so I refer you to them for further details.

Best! :-)

Bruce

CHRISTOPHE

Hello,

specially today in may countries thief love copper, for example in spain they are steal overnight tonnes of coppers(electrical cables;train cables;etc etc)
copper is gold right now 5€ the meter......lol

bwb

"The beast that ascendeth out of the bottomless pit shall war against them, and shall overcome them, and kill them": this beast means the Umayyads who attacked them from the pit of error..."
(Abdu'l-Baha, Some Answered Questions, p. 51)

"Only two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I'm not sure about the former."
Albert Einstein

So, comparing the two quotations, I think that 'Abdu'l-Baha discovered that human error, or human stupidity, are bottomless, or infinite, before Albert Einstein also made that discovery. Hey, look at all the cool icons that you can use on this forum:
:wackorolleyes:blink:winkmellow:huh :unsurewub:drytongue

Solar system model of the atom?:
"So you will find the smallest atoms in the universal system are similar to the greatest beings of the universe."
(Abdu'l-Baha, Some Answered Questions, p. 182)

whine of astonsihment

Excellent post!

dwlehning

I know that some people who are not Baha'is have difficulty with the above quote, because of Baha'u'llah's statement that every planet has its creatures. They look at it only from the material sense, and so feel this statement is incorrect since we know that most planets do not have life as we know it on them, such as Mercury and Venus which are too hot to harbor life. But if looked at from the spiritual standpoint, it makes perfect sense. Creatures, the way I see this, relates to those of the spiritual realm (creatures which no man can compute). Thus physical science in its present form cannot quantify these spiritual creatures. The amazing thing here is that Baha'u'llah makes mention of planets around other stars long before science confirmed extrasolar planets! Indeed, this is an excellent quote.

bwb

We don't "know" that at all. Science has already verified that there are living organisms, mostly micro-organisms, called "extremophiles" which can live in even the most extreme environments.

Eftekhar Be Khoda

Or they're bacteria. We have found lots of extremophiles in all kinds of weird places. We've even found bacteria inside nuclear reactors. I think the obvious makes more sense to me.

DLC-ME | The Microbe Zoo