"Pointing with her finger unto My head, she addressed all who are in heaven and all who are on earth, saying: By God! This is the Best-Beloved of the worlds, and yet ye comprehend not."

Súriy-i-Haykal (continued)  
    

Haykal of the Báb

   "Pointing with her finger unto My head, she addressed all who are in heaven and all who are on earth, saying: By God! This is the Best-Beloved of the worlds, and yet ye comprehend not. This is the Beauty of God amongst you, and the power of His sovereignty within you, could ye but understand. This is the Mystery of God and His Treasure, the Cause of God and His glory unto all who are in the kingdoms of Revelation and of creation, if ye be of them that perceive. This is He Whose Presence is the ardent desire of the denizens of the Realm of eternity, and of them that dwell within the Tabernacle of glory, and yet from His Beauty do ye turn aside.

Leonardo DaVinci, Vitruvian Man

   



    O people of the Bayán! If ye aid Him not, God will assuredly assist Him with the powers of earth and heaven, and sustain Him with the hosts of the unseen through His command "Be", and it is! The day is approaching when God will have, by an act of His Will, raised up a race of men the nature of which is inscrutable to all save God, the All-Powerful, the Self-Subsisting. He shall purify them from the defilement of idle fancies and corrupt desires, shall lift them up to the heights of holiness, and shall cause them to manifest the signs of His sovereignty and might upon earth. Thus hath it been ordained by God, the All-Glorious, the All-Loving."...

~ Baha'u'llah

(The Summons of the Lord of Hosts)

"Turning My face, I beheld a Maiden—the embodiment of the remembrance of the name of My Lord—suspended in the air before Me."

    
Súriy-i-Haykal (continued)  

Haykal of the Báb detail

   "Blessed is He Who hath caused to rain down upon His Servant from the clouds of enmity, and at the  hands of the people of denial, the shafts of tribulation and trial; and yet seeth Our heart filled with gratitude. Blessed is He Who hath laid upon the shoulders of His Servant the burden of the heavens and of the earth—a burden for which We yield Him every praise, though none may grasp this save them that are endued with understanding. Glorified is He Who hath surrendered the embodiment of His Beauty to the clutches of the envious and the wicked—a fate unto which We are fully resigned, though none may perceive this save those who are endued with insight. Glorified is He Who hath left Husayn to make His dwelling amidst the hosts of His enemies, and exposed His body with every breath to the spears of hatred and anger; yet do We yield Him thanks for all that He hath destined to befall His Servant Who repaireth unto Him in His affliction and grief.

    While engulfed in tribulations I heard a most wondrous, a most sweet voice, calling above My head. Turning My face, I beheld a Maiden—the embodiment of the remembrance of the name of My Lord—suspended in the air before Me. So rejoiced was she in her very soul that her countenance shone with the ornament of the good pleasure of God, and her cheeks glowed with the brightness of the All-Merciful. Betwixt earth and heaven she was raising a call which captivated the hearts and minds of men. She was imparting to both My inward and outer being tidings which rejoiced My soul, and the souls of God’s honoured servants."...

~ Baha'u'llah

(The Summons of the Lord of Hosts)

"Blessed is He Who, in a well-guarded Tablet, hath prescribed a fixed measure unto all things."

Súriy-i-Haykal (continued)

Haykal of the Báb detail

    "Blessed is He Who, in a well-guarded Tablet, hath prescribed a fixed measure unto all things. Blessed is He Who hath revealed unto His Servant that which shall illumine the hearts and minds of men. Blessed is He Who hath sent down upon His Servant such tribulations as have melted the hearts of them that dwell within the Tabernacle of eternity and the souls of those who have drawn nigh unto their Lord. Blessed is He Who hath showered upon His Servant, from the clouds of His decree, the darts of affliction, and Who beholdeth Me enduring them with patience and fortitude. Blessed is He Who hath ordained for His Servant that which He hath destined for no other soul. He, verily, is the One, the Incomparable, the Self-Subsisting.

    Blessed is He Who hath caused to rain down upon His Servant from the clouds of enmity, and at the  hands of the people of denial, the shafts of tribulation and trial; and yet seeth Our heart filled with gratitude. Blessed is He Who hath laid upon the shoulders of His Servant the burden of the heavens and of the earth—a burden for which We yield Him every praise, though none may grasp this save them that are endued with understanding. Glorified is He Who hath surrendered the embodiment of His Beauty to the clutches of the envious and the wicked—a fate unto which We are fully resigned, though none may perceive this save those who are endued with insight. Glorified is He Who hath left Husayn to make His dwelling amidst the hosts of His enemies, and exposed His body with every breath to the spears of hatred and anger; yet do We yield Him thanks for all that He hath destined to befall His Servant Who repaireth unto Him in His affliction and grief." ...

~Baha'u'llah

(The Summons of the Lord of Hosts)

"He is the Most Wondrous, the All-Glorious!"

Star Tablet Haykal in handwriting of the Báb
British Library

"This is the Súrih of the Temple which God hath ordained to be the Mirror of His Names between the heavens and the earth,  and the Sign of His Remembrance amidst the peoples of the world.

He is the Most Wondrous, the All-Glorious!
Glorified is He Who hath revealed His verses to those who understand. Glorified is He Who sendeth down His verses to those who perceive. Glorified is He Who guideth whomsoever He pleaseth unto His path. Say: I, verily, am the Path of God unto all who are in the heavens and all who are on the earth; well is it with them that hasten thereunto!

Glorified is He Who sendeth down His verses to those who comprehend. Glorified is He Who speaketh forth from the Kingdom of His Revelation, and Who remaineth unknown to all save His honoured servants. Glorified is He Who quickeneth whomsoever He willeth by virtue of His word "Be", and it is! Glorified is He Who causeth whomsoever He willeth to ascend unto the heaven of grace, and sendeth down therefrom whatsoever He desireth according to a prescribed measure." ...

~Baha'u'llah

(The Summons of the Lord of Hosts)

Happy Earth Day 2020!

Sunflower - © 2020 Dawn Egerton

"Every man of discernment, while walking upon the earth, feeleth indeed abashed, inasmuch as he is fully aware that the thing which is the source of his prosperity, his wealth, his might, his exaltation, his advancement and power is, as ordained by God, the very earth which is trodden beneath the feet of all men. There can be no doubt that whoever is cognizant of this truth, is cleansed and sanctified from all pride, arrogance, and vainglory...."

~Bahá'u'lláh,

 Epistle to the Son of the Wolf, Wilmette, Bahá’í Publishing Trust, 1988, p. 44

Earth Day 50th Anniversary -Halldor Thorgeirsson with Rainn Wilson

In this episode, I’m in Reykjavik, Iceland with Halldor Thorgeirsson, the Chair of Iceland’s Climate Council, and retired Senior Director of the United Nations Climate Change Secretariat (UNFCCC). We talk about the environment, and Halldor teaches me about how Carbon Matter really matters. He tells me about Iceland, his work, how he became a Baha’i, the importance of consultation and accompaniment, Baha’is who have influenced his life, and the importance of moral leadership and engaging in constructive forces in our society. I hope you enjoy the conversation!  -Rainn Wilson

"Nature in its essence is the embodiment of My Name, the Maker, the Creator."

DuPont Falls - © 2020 Dawn Egerton

"Nature in its essence is the embodiment of My Name, the Maker, the Creator. Its manifestations are diversified by varying causes, and in this diversity there are signs for men of discernment. Nature is God’s Will and is its expression in and through the contingent world. It is a dispensation of Providence ordained by the Ordainer, the All-Wise. Were anyone to affirm that it is the Will of God as manifested in the world of being, no one should question this assertion. It is endowed with a power whose reality men of learning fail to grasp. Indeed a man of insight can perceive naught therein save the effulgent splendor of Our Name, the Creator. Say: This is an existence which knoweth no decay, and Nature itself is lost in bewilderment before its revelations, its compelling evidences and its effulgent glory which have encompassed the universe."

Bahá'u'lláh, Tablets of Bahá'u'lláh, p. 142