8. O SON OF SPIRIT!

There is no peace for thee save by renouncing thyself and turning unto Me; for it behooveth thee to glory in My name, not in thine own; to put thy trust in Me and not in thyself, since I desire to be loved alone and above all that is.

does this mean that God is a "jealous" God? no, we already know that God loves us, regardless of what we do. instead we have to look at what really is best for us - we have to let go of our own ego and focus on what God wants for us. that's what is meant by loving God alone and first, and letting go of our own ideas and thoughts. an excellent quotation from 'Abdu'l-Bahá:

Whosoever has lost himself, has found the universe and the inhabitants thereof! Whosoever is occupied with himself is wandering in the desert of heedlessness and regret! The master-key of self-mastery is self-forgetfulness. The road to the palace of life is through the path of renunciation.

7. O SON OF MAN!

If thou lovest Me, turn away from thyself; and if thou seekest My pleasure, regard not thine own; that thou mayest die in Me and I may eternally live in thee.

I'm not sure how much more there is to say except for what's already written. isn't it quite clear what we have to do?

in regards to this, I talked with a friend of mine about the aspects of personal development. and simply put, there are two aspects of it:
1. doing less of the wrong thing.
2. doing more of the right thing.

obviously the two are interconnected, as doing more of the right will cause you to do less of the wrong, and vice versa. but it's a very interesting way of looking at things, and to look at oneself to see if one is progressing in the right direction. am I doing more good things? am I doing less wrong things? good questions to ask oneself every now and then.

6. O SON OF BEING!

Thy Paradise is My love; thy heavenly home, reunion with Me. Enter therein and tarry not. This is that which hath been destined for thee in Our kingdom above and Our exalted dominion.

word definition:
tarry: to delay or be tardy in acting, starting, coming, etc.; linger or loiter.

I'm not sure how much more there is to say except what's in the Hidden Word. I've already talked about loving God, and it is quite clear that we should hurry to loving and reuniting with God. that's what is best for us...

5. O SON OF BEING!

Love Me, that I may love thee. If thou lovest Me not, My love can in no wise reach thee. Know this, O servant.

I think an analogy would be good here: imagine that we are plants, and God's love is the sun. the sun is always shining in all directions, but it is only when we turn towards the right source, that we will be able to benefit from the radiance of it. turning our back will do us no good.

and what does loving God mean? well, I think it simply means getting to know Him, again acquiring those qualities and virtues of Him, and being thankful for what He has bestowed on us.

4. O SON OF MAN!

I loved thy creation, hence I created thee. Wherefore, do thou love Me, that I may name thy name and fill thy soul with the spirit of life.

a continuation of last week's Hidden Word, with God loving us, and also loving creating us. now we are told to love Him, in other words get to know Him and reflect His qualities. God will then "name our name", which I understand in a way as remembering us and bestowing His bounties and grace upon us, which will fill our soul with the "spirit of life".

being filled with the spirit of life, would be to find that eternal love of God that filled the disciples of Christ, Muhammad's followers, the Letters of the Living, and all heroes and heroines of the Faith. I found a very interesting quotation about the spirit of life in 'Abdu'l-Bahá's Some Answered Questions (pp 300-301), which explains this spirit of life, the love of God, and its effect (my bolding):

"... the love of God, the light of which shines in the lamp of the hearts of those who know God; its brilliant rays illuminate the horizon and give to man the life of the Kingdom. In truth, the fruit of human existence is the love of God, for this love is the spirit of life, and the eternal bounty. If the love of God did not exist, the contingent world would be in darkness; if the love of God did not exist, the hearts of men would be dead, and deprived of the sensations of existence; if the love of God did not exist, spiritual union would be lost; if the love of God did not exist, the light of unity would not illuminate humanity; if the love of God did not exist, the East and West, like two lovers, would not embrace each other; if the love of God did not exist, division and disunion would not be changed into fraternity; if the love of God did not exist, indifference would not end in affection; if the love of God did not exist, the stranger would not become the friend. The love of the human world has shone forth from the love of God and has appeared by the bounty and grace of God."

quite beautiful and amazing, isn't it?

3. O SON OF MAN!

Veiled in My immemorial being and in the ancient eternity of My essence, I knew My love for thee; therefore I created thee, have engraved on thee Mine image and revealed to thee My beauty.

I will add another quotation first:

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.

so God is unknowable, we cannot possibly get to know His essence. however, through His love for us, we are created and have acquired the ability to get to know Him and reflect His glory. God has "engraved on us His image"; we are able to acquire the qualities of God and show them forth as virtues, such as patience, tolerance, discipline, justice, kindness, and, of course, love. here's a beautiful extract of the qualities of God's love for man:

... the love that flows from God to man; it consists of the inexhaustible graces, the Divine effulgence and heavenly illumination. Through this love the world of being receives life. Through this love man is endowed with physical existence, until, through the breath of the Holy Spirit -- this same love -- he receives eternal life and becomes the image of the Living God. This love is the origin of all the love in the world of creation.

also read this compilation on the concept of spiritual beauty.

2. O SON OF SPIRIT!

The best beloved of all things in My sight is Justice; turn not away therefrom if thou desirest Me, and neglect it not that I may confide in thee. By its aid thou shalt see with thine own eyes and not through the eyes of others, and shalt know of thine own knowledge and not through the knowledge of thy neighbor. Ponder this in thy heart; how it behooveth thee to be. Verily justice is My gift to thee and the sign of My loving-kindness. Set it then before thine eyes.

word definition:
justice: the quality of being just; righteousness, equitableness, or moral rightness. / the moral principle determining just conduct. (I chose those definitions of justice as I think they are mostly relevant to this Hidden Word.)
confide: to have full trust; have faith.
loving-kindness: tender kindness motivated by or expressing affection.

so after being told to have a pure, kindly and radiant heart, the next step is in how to act - being given free will, we can choose to act morally righteous, doing the right thing. seeing with our own eyes, knowing through our own knowledge, we must independently investigate for the truth, without relying upon others or following old traditions.
I find it interesting that justice is God's gift to us, and a sign of His kindness and affection for us (more on that in next Hidden Word). if we equal this to adminitions of our behavior, we might even say that justice leads to liberty:

Say: True liberty consisteth in man's submission unto My commandments, little as ye know it. Were men to observe that which We have sent down unto them from the Heaven of Revelation, they would, of a certainty, attain unto perfect liberty. (Kitáb-i-Aqdas, verse 125)

there are probably lots more of interesting points to be made here, do you have any thoughts?

1. O SON OF SPIRIT!

My first counsel is this: Possess a pure, kindly and radiant heart, that thine may be a sovereignty ancient, imperishable and everlasting.

word definition:
sovereignty: the status, dominion, power, or authority of a sovereign; royalty.

this is the very first Hidden Word, and I like that the very first counsel we get is about our heart. if our heart is pure, kindly and radiant, we will have the same status as royalty. and I will believe that the sovereignty referred to is not in this mortal world...

Hidden Words

I have decided to start with the Hidden Word of the week. The Hidden Words were revealed by Bahá'u'lláh around 1857 while He was in Baghdad. it is revealed in part arabic and persian, and consists of a collection of short, but beautiful statements on how to live life. the tone is from God speaking to humanity, and it is basically the essence of everything revealed in the religions of the past. this is from the beginning of it, sort of the preface:

HE IS THE GLORY OF GLORIES!
This is that which hath descended from the realm of glory, uttered by the tongue of power and might, and revealed unto the Prophets of old. We have taken the inner essence thereof and clothed it in the garment of brevity, as a token of grace unto the righteous, that they may stand faithful unto the Covenant of God, may fulfill in their lives His trust, and in the realm of spirit obtain the gem of Divine virtue.

now I will probably go through them in order, one each week, which will take me about 3 years to finish. but I have decided not to do that for the very first one, but instead take one that meant quite a lot to me. this is number 4 from the persian:

O SON OF JUSTICE!
Whither can a lover go but to the land of his beloved? and what seeker findeth rest away from his heart's desire? To the true lover reunion is life, and separation is death. His breast is void of patience and his heart hath no peace. A myriad lives he would forsake to hasten to the abode of his beloved.

and the reason why I picked this one here, is because it influenced me and my decision to come here to serve. Bahá'u'lláh being the beloved, where else would I find my rest and reunion than here? it was a difficult choice to move, but still easy at the same time. I am very happy to be here, and do not regret it for a second.

this obviously does not have to mean physical nearness, as we are trying to be close to God on a spiritual level. however, being here, physically close to the Shrines and having access to everything else historical that has happened here, certainly does help.