Tonight I wanted to post something uplifting. There is a heaviness to the air. We go back to work tomorrow, summer is over, pools are closing and Fall is in the atmosphere. Al was saying he doesn’t feel like he had vacation. Someone was working in the neighborhood this morning with a loud mower and weeder, and it should have been quiet. People did not respect the holiday (Labor Day).
However, kids were having fun fishing and riding around the neighborhood on their bikes, and they had a good day. Now they are in bed and getting up early for school tomorrow. I will get up early as well and head off to campus, trying to get back into work-mode.
Before posting something uplifting, let me say something the opposite. Al and I have been watching a show, “CRiminal Minds,” because it is well done. The characters are believable, somehow they have some depth and realness. But the shows are always about serial killers or people inflicting pain on another human being, especially men hurting women. I have come to believe there is a new sadism at work in nightly crime tv shows. Women are shown getting hurt, tortured and killed in umpteen different, sick ways, over and over and over. Though the good guys are trying to save them, it is SICK and sadistic, and I feel doing more harm than good. Tonight there was a new show starting, the premier episode of yet another crime tv show. I watched the first couple minutes, and saw a young teenage girl out in the woods with an older man, get her hands tied together and her head bashed in with a rock. In about 2 mins. of the show. I am disgusted. Seriously, what does this do to our inner psyches to watch this over & over?? If nothing else, it makes women afraid and in need of being rescued, and makes us feel there are tons of sadistic, serial killers out there. Yes, there are always some who appear but most murders happen because some young kid takes a gun to a robbery and stupid things happen. Guns are deadly.
We are all afraid of each other. We need to encourage purity of heart, charity without desire for payback, good works, thinking of the 1 good quality in a person even when there are 9 other bad ones, appreciation of difference and diversity, friendship, and service. Please keep good thoughts in your minds and put forth these good qualities into the world. It is really worthwhile to do so.
And now for the uplifting part. This is a talk given by ‘Abdu’l-Baha in a church, in England, in 1911. A prisoner most of his life, imprisoned for promotion of the oneness of humankind and other such things, He made one trip to the Western world as an old man. Totally unfamiliar with Western culture, yet He spoke from the heart and reached the depth of their souls. See how He uplifts! Just keep reading. Enjoy.
St. John’s Westminster: Introduction
On September 17th, ‘Abdu’l-Bahá at the request of the venerable Archdeacon of Westminster addressed the congregation of Saint John the Divine after evening service. With a few warm words characteristic of his whole attitude Archdeacon Wilberforce introduced the revered Messenger from the East, who had crossed seas and countries on his Mission of Peace and Unity for which he had suffered forty years of captivity and persecution. The Archdeacon had the Bishop’s chair placed for his Guest on the Chancel steps, and standing beside him read the translation of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s address himself. The Congregation was profoundly moved, and following the Archdeacon’s example knelt to receive the blessing of the Servant of God — who stood with extended arms — his wonderful voice rising and falling in the silence with the power of his invocation. As the Archdeacon said: “Truly the East and the West have met in this sacred place tonight.” The hymn “O God our help in ages past” was sung by the entire assembly standing, as ‘Abdu’l-Bahá and the Archdeacon passed down the aisle to the vestry hand in hand.
Outside the Church, Salvationists were holding their meeting and ‘Abdu’l-Bahá was deeply impressed and touched at the sight of the men, women and children gathered together in the night, at the street corner, praying and singing.
Discourse of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá at St. John’s,
Westminster.
September 17th, 1911.
O NOBLE Friends! O Seekers for the Kingdom of God! Man all over the world is seeking for God. All that exists is God; but the Reality of Divinity is holy above all understanding.
The pictures of Divinity that come to our mind are the product of our fancy; they exist in the realm of our imagination. They are not adequate to the Truth; truth in its essence cannot be put into words.
Divinity cannot by comprehended because it is comprehending.
Man, who has also a real existence, is comprehended by God; therefore, the Divinity which man can understand is partial; it is not complete. Divinity is actual Truth and real existence, and not any representation of it. Divinity itself contains All, and is not contained.
Although the mineral, vegetable, animal and man all have actual being, yet the mineral has no knowledge of the vegetable. It cannot apprehend it. It cannot imagine nor understand it.
It is the same with the vegetable. Any progress it may make, however highly it may become developed, it will never apprehend the animal, nor understand it. It is, so to speak, without news of it. It has no ears, no sight, no understanding.
It is the same with the animal. However much it may progress in its own kingdom, however refined its feelings may become, it will have no real notion of the world of man or of his special intellectual faculties.
The animal cannot understand the roundness of the earth, nor its motion in space, nor the central position of the sun, nor can it imagine such a thing as the all-pervading ether.
Although the mineral, vegetable, animal and man himself are actual beings, the difference between their kingdoms prevents members of the lower degree from comprehending the essence and nature of those of the superior degree. This being so, how can the temporal and phenomenal comprehend the Lord of Hosts?
It is clear that this is impossible!
But the Essence of Divinity, the Sun of Truth, shines forth upon all horizons and is spreading its rays upon all things. Each creature is the recipient of some portion of that power, and man, who contains the perfection of the mineral, the vegetable and animal, as well as his own distinctive qualities, has become the noblest of created beings. It stands written that he is made in the Image of God. Mysteries that were hidden he discovers; and secrets that were concealed he brings into the light. By Science and by Art he brings hidden powers into the region of the visible world. Man perceives the hidden law in created things and co-operates with it.
Lastly the perfect man, the Prophet, is one who is transfigured, one who has the purity and clearness of a perfect mirror — one who reflects the Sun of Truth. Of such a one — of such a Prophet and Messenger — we can say that the Light of Divinity with the heavenly Perfections dwells in him.
If we claim that the sun is seen in the mirror, we do not mean that the sun itself has descended from the holy heights of his heaven and entered into the mirror! This is impossible. The Divine Nature is seen in the Manifestations and its Light and Splendor are visible in extreme glory.
Therefore, men have always been taught and led by the Prophets of God. The Prophets of God are the Mediators of God. All the Prophets and Messengers have come from One Holy Spirit and bear the Message of God, fitted to the age in which they appear. The One Light is in them and they are One with each other. But the Eternal does not become phenomenal; neither can the phenomenal become Eternal.
Saint Paul, the great Apostle, said: “We all, with open face beholding as in a mirror the glory of God, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, as by the Spirit of the Lord.”
O GOD the Forgiver! O Heavenly Educator! This assembly is adorned with the mention of thy holy Name. Thy children turn their face towards thy Kingdom, hearts are made happy and souls are comforted.
Merciful God! cause us to repent of our shortcomings! Accept us in thy heavenly Kingdom and give unto us an abode where there shall be no error. Give us peace; give us knowledge, and open unto us the gates of thy heaven.
Thou art the Giver of all! Thou art the Forgiver! Thou art the Merciful! Amen.
(Abdu’l-Baha, Abdu’l-Baha in London, p. 22)
I have seen a mist rise from our pond behind our house, where puffs of clouds or smoke rise up from the water, traveling heavenward. It is a mesmerizing sight, and happens in periods of change, when the air is suddenly cooler or warmer.
Tonight I am really tired. I drove 12 hrs yesterday. There has been a lot of stress regarding money over the last month. Tonight, I could not go for a walk w/ my hubby around the pond. I have to listen to my body and know when it is telling me, “Too much, girl, take it easy and slow down.” Right now at 10:15pm, I feel the sore throat coming on, which is what my body does when it is overloaded. So I have to listen.
