Portals to Freedom

by Howard Colby Ives

Oxford: George Ronald, 1983
date of original: 1937

To
SHOGHI EFFENDI

The Grandson of
Abdu'l-Bahá

By Him Appointed
Guardian of the Bahá'í Faith

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	TABLE OF CONTENTS	PAGE
	Introduction	13
Chapter One
	Retrospect. Spiritual Bankruptcy. A Dawning Hope. The Golden Silence.	18
Chapter Two
	The Glance That Saved the World. A Divine Sincerity. The Masterly Teaching Method.	34
Chapter Three
	True Wealth, Power and Freedom. The Table of Abdu'l-Bahá. Very Great Things. "Are you interested in Renunciation?"	50
Chapter Four
	The Attraction of Perfection. The Boys from the Bowery. A Black Rose and a Black Sweet.	60
Chapter Five
	A Leaf in the Breeze of the Will of God. "My Throne is My Mat." Inscription in "The Seven Valleys."	69
Chapter Six
	The Reality and Essence of Brotherhood. "Cannot You Serve Him Once?" True Brotherhood Due to the Breaths of the Holy Spirit. "O, you should have Seen Him!"	80
Chapter Seven
	An Eternal Bond. The Wedding. The need for Reformation of Laws Pertaining to Divorce. The Laws of Bahá'u'lláh. Four Kinds of Love. The Children of the New Day.	92
Chapter Eight
	"The Most Perfect Gentleman I have ever known." The Master Teacher. The Spiritual Warrior. A Fable. "It behooves You to Manifest Light." The Gift. The First Tablet.	114
Chapter Nine
	The American Itinerary. The Power of the Spirit. "Her Highness the Cow." True Greatness. The Divine Teaching Method.	132
Chapter Ten
	The Universe of Bahá'u'lláh. The Evolution of Man. The Glory of Self-Sacrifice.	149
Chapter Eleven
	Instruction in the Way of Life. What is Authority? The Science of the Love of God.	167
Chapter Twelve
	The New World Order. A Divine Civilization. The Kingdom of God on Earth.	175
Chapter Thirteen
	Some Divine Characteristics. The Humility of Servitude. The Station of True Manhood.	192
Chapter Fourteen
	Abdu'l-Bahá's Last Words in America. Seven Distinctive Characteristics of the Teachings. Evidences of the New World Order.	211
Chapter Fifteen
	By Their Fruits Shall Ye Know Them. Four Tablets.	229
Chapter Sixteen
	Conclusion.	250
	Notes

Illustration

ABDU'L-BAHÁ, WASHINGTON, D.C., 1912
Frontispiece

Portals To Freedom was first published before many of the current translations of Bahá'í writings were available. Some of the quotations used in this book were taken from earlier renditions of these works, as for example, The Seven Valleys and the Four Valleys, The Hidden Words and others. Also several quotations were taken from a compilation, Bahá'í Scriptures, much of which has been retranslated and revised into a newer work called Bahá'í World Faith. For an accurate rendition of the Bahá'í Writings, these current editions should be used as references.