arthra

It behoveth you to seek agreement and to be united; it behoveth you to be in close communion one with the other, at one both in body and soul, till ye match the Pleiades or a string of lustrous pearls. Thus will ye be solidly established; thus will your words prevail, your star shine out, and your hearts be comforted....



~ Abdu'l-Baha, Selections from the Writings of Abdu'l-Baha, p. 85

arthra

I am lost, O Love, possessed and dazed,

Love's fool am I, in all the earth.

They call me first among the crazed,

Though I once came first for wit and worth.

O Love, who sellest me this wine,

O Love, for whom I burn and bleed,

Love, for whom I cry and pine --

Thou the Piper, I the reed.

If Thou wishest me to live,

Through me blow Thy holy breath.

The touch of Jesus Thou wilt give

To me, who've lain an age in death.

Thou, both End and Origin,

Thou without and Thou within --

From every eye Thou hidest well,

And yet in every eye dost dwell.

(From an Ode of Rumi)

~ Abdu'l-Baha, Memorials of the Faithful, p. 30

arthra

Man is the supreme Talisman. Lack of a proper education hath, however, deprived him of that which he doth inherently possess. Through a word proceeding out of the mouth of God he was called into being; by one word more he was guided to recognize the Source of his education; by yet another word his station and destiny were safeguarded. The Great Being saith:

Regard man as a mine rich in gems of inestimable value.

Education can, alone, cause it to reveal its treasures, and enable mankind to benefit therefrom. If any man were to meditate on that which the Scriptures, sent down from the heaven of God's holy Will, have revealed, he would readily recognize that their purpose is that all men shall be regarded as one soul, so that the seal bearing the words "The Kingdom shall be God's" may be stamped on every heart, and the light of Divine bounty, of grace, and mercy may envelop all mankind.

The one true God, exalted be His glory, hath wished nothing for Himself. The allegiance of mankind profiteth Him not, neither doth its perversity harm Him. The Bird of the Realm of Utterance voiceth continually this call: "All things have I willed for thee, and thee, too, for thine own sake."

If the learned and worldly-wise men of this age were to allow mankind to inhale the fragrance of fellowship and love, every understanding heart would apprehend the meaning of true liberty, and discover the secret of undisturbed peace and absolute composure. Were the earth to attain this station and be illumined with its light it could then be truly said of it: "Thou shall see in it no hollows or rising hills."

~ Baha'u'llah, Gleanings from the Writings of Baha'u'llah, p. 259-261

Orthodox

Is it a statement towards humanity or just bahai?

arthra

For all mankind my friend.. Thanks for your post! :wink

Orthodox

I feel as if that is a dream which will never become true. Unless a group is willing to compromise there will never be unity. Never.

pheonixduprese

Pessimistic post is pessimistic.

Orthodox

And its correct.

Pollwr

What a pity we cannot look into the future. I think with the Power of the Will of God it will be. Of course, if you don't believe that this Bahá'í revelation is infused with that power you will not agree with me. And the proof - well that is to come and we probably won't live to see it!

Don't you agree though that it would be a good dream and worth working towards?

Orthodox

Yes it will come when Christ actually returns as King.

whine of astonsihment

From the personal memoirs or 'pilgrim notes' of one of His followers, we have an 'unauthenticated' reply to this question from Baha'u'llah.

He told them that a time would come when all the rulers and governments of the world would recognize the damage that religious intolerance and strife had caused and decide to do away with it altogether.

After a period of time (?1-2 generations or many who knows?), they would come to the conclusion that this too was not working as planned and at that point they would tell the peoples of the world to examine the teachings of all the great religions and 'choose just one' for all to live by.

Guess which one they will choose folks?

Theological sci-fi or prophecy? "Only the Shadow knows"I suppose ... but I think it was Einstein who said: "Once you can accept the universe as matter expanding into nothing that is something, wearing stripes with plaid comes easy. "