Posted by Mike (218.5.173.91) on December 31, 2002 at 05:28:40:

In Reply to: Re: All Writings Are Mystical - All and Every One posted by brandon on December 29, 2002 at 21:42:04:

Another thupence worth...

Firstly, I do feel that there is much that mysticism is broadly misunderstood. Mysticism perhaps should be defined as the practice of prayer, meditation and forms of worship that are motivated by an innate yearning for union with the Absolute.

Human being's,innate and instinctive attraction to the "Alpha and the Omega" is mystical. Humans are, therefore, mystical in nature. The aim of life is reunion with the Absolute - the Alpha and the Omega -, and thus life may also be descibed as mystical in nature. God's Religions show us the way to cultivate these innate, instinctive yearnings, to reflect (individually and collectively), to progressively greater degrees, the virtues of which only He possesses in their Absolute form, and thereby to become progressively closer to Him (for nearness is likeness). God's Religions, as such, are also essentailly mystical in nature.

This said, we are aware that religion Teachings were distinguished by Abdu'l-Baha into two groups, the mystical and the practical. It is still fair to say though that even those 'practical' Teachings (laws etc) are - by virtue of the fact that their purpose is the development of an environment, a unified, global, divine civilisation based on these Laws and Ordinances that is nearer to God and reflects His Perfections - nonetheless mystical in nature.

Secondly, while I admire your enthusiasm and desire to emmerse yourself ever deeper in to the ocean of His words, I cannot but wonder whether it is possible that you have already gained a profound enough knowledge of the Writings that are currently available?

If, on the other hand, your comparing yourself to Einstein was not an act of complete self-delusion and you are as devoted and able a seeker of truth as he; and, if, in addition, your reference is specifically and exclusively to mystcal texts, then it must be that you have already penetrated and unravelled the mysteries and discovered all those pearls of divine and consumate wisdom that lay hidden in the depths of those mystical Writings that are available?

Or perhaps I am doing you injustice and the real reason for you wanting to see more of those mystical Writings is that you feel you are no longer inspired by the available mystical texts? If this is the case then I would venture to suggest that the underlying reason for this is that perhaps you are failing to meditate upon these Texts. In theory at least, it should be possible for us to gain fresh insights and therefore inspiration by simply meditating upon the same single Hidden Word every morning and evening.

Or are you refering to the subtle affect that letting the Words of God wash over as you recite has upon the soul; reviving, uplifting enlightening? Granted, while reading without meditating upon the Texts is insufficient if we want to grow, the fact that just reading the Texts without meditating upon them has an effect is undeniable. Yet, again, this is an end that can be reached by simply reading the the same short Text every day. For it is the spirit that you recite those Texts in that is key.

If, however, you are merely curious and frustrated; curious to know, and frusrated by the fact that your inability to satisfy that sense of curiosity is due to decisions that are made that you are not in a postion to change, then all I have to say is that ultimately, we need to have faith and to be patient. We need faith in the knowledge that these Texts not being available will not hinder our spiritual growth and that the Universal House of Justice knows what it is doing and that when they deem that the time is right the Texts will be made available, and the patience to wait until that time.

Finally, even if the Universal House of Justice are keeping certain Texts from us (and I'm not sure that that is so) so what? Them doing so would be in perfect conformity with the principle of progressive revelation. Can you imagine complaining to God that He is keeping mystical knowledge from you? For, in principle, complaining about the Universal House of Justice keeping mystical Texts from us is tantamount to precisely that. Wisdom would suggest to me that we should be grateful rather than frustrated by the gradual and progressive nature of the process by which these Texts are made available to us. This is especially true for those of us that are from a Jewish or Christian background because it is necessary for us to do a bit of catching up and to gain a thorough knowledge of Islam as a prerequisite to us attaining a thorough scholarly knowledge of the Baha'i Faith.

Mike

this topic is closed - post at bahai-library.com/forum