Re: How to love God.

"We know not what the reality of the sun is, but we know the sun by the ray,
by the heat, by its efficacy and penetration. We recognize the sun by its
bounty and effulgence, but as to what constitutes the reality of the solar
energy, that is unknowable to us. The attributes characterizing the sun,
however, are knowable. If we wish to come in touch with the reality of
Divinity, we do so by recognizing its phenomena, its attributes and traces,
which are widespread in the universe. All things in the world of phenomena
are expressive of that one reality. Its lights are shining, its heat is
manifest, its power is expressive, and its education, or training,
resplendent everywhere. What proof could there be greater than that of its
functioning or its attributes which are manifest?" (Abdu'l-Baha, The
Promulgation of Universal Peace, p. 422)

"As our knowledge of things, even of created and limited things, is
knowledge of their qualities and not of their essence, how is it possible to
comprehend in its essence the Divine Reality, which is unlimited?"
(Abdu'l-Baha, Baha'i World Faith - Abdu'l-Baha Section, p. 321)

"Were any one to soar, on whatever wings, as long as Thine own Being
endureth, throughout the immensity of Thy knowledge, he would still be
powerless to transgress the bounds which the contingent world hath set for
him." (Baha'u'llah, Prayers and Meditations by Baha'u'llah, p. 133)

"This is conclusive argument showing that all available human criterions are
erroneous and defective, but the divine standard of knowledge is infallible.
Therefore man is not justified in saying: "I know because I perceive through
my senses"; or: "I know because it is proved through my faculty of reason";
or: "I know because it is according to tradition and interpretation of the
holy book"; or: "I know because I am inspired." All human standard of
judgment is faulty, finite." (Abdu'l-Baha, Baha'i World Faith - Abdu'l-Baha
Section, p. 253)



"Douglas McAdam" <douglasmcadam@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:V-OdncXJdadubA7anZ2dnUVZ_gqdnZ2d@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

God Is Single and Alone: The Only Absolute Reality; Divine: Beyond
Personal Knowing

( d ) On the throne of eternity, from the inaccessible heights of His
station, His tongue proclaimeth that there is none other God but Him.
(Baha'u'llah: Prayers and Meditations, Pages: 86-87)

( e ) Absolute existence is strictly confined to God.
(Baha'u'llah: Gleanings, Page: 157)

( f ) Immeasurably exalted is He above the strivings of human mind to
grasp His Essence, or of human tongue to describe His mystery?. He is

and hath ever been veiled in the ancient eternity of His own exalted
and indivisible Essence, and will everlastingly continue to remain
concealed in His inaccessible majesty and glory.
(Baha'u'llah: Gleanings, Page: 318)

( g ) 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. "No vision taketh in Him, but He taketh

in all vision; He is the Subtile, the All-Perceiving.?
(Baha'u'llah: The Kitab-i-Iqan, Page: 98)

( h ) Know thou of a certainty that the Unseen can in no wise
incarnate His Essence and reveal it unto men. He is, and hath ever
been, immensely exalted beyond all that can either be recounted or
perceived.
(Baha'u'llah: Gleanings, Page: 49)

( i ) For the attempt of the evanescent to conceive the signs of the
Uncreated is as the stirring of the drop before the tumult of Thy
billowing oceans? O my God.
(Baha'u'llah: Prayers and Meditations, Page: 194)

( j ) That ideal King hath, throughout eternity, been in His Essence
independent of the comprehension of all beings, and will continue,
forever, in His own Being to be exalted above the adoration of every
soul.
(Baha'u'llah: The Kitab-i-Iqan, Pages: 52-53)

( k ) Having recognized thy powerlessness to attain to an adequate
understanding of that Reality which abideth within thee, thou wilt
readily admit the futility of such efforts as may be attempted by thee,

or by any of the created things, to fathom the mystery of the Living
God, the Day Star of unfading glory, the Ancient of everlasting
days. This confession of helplessness which mature contemplation must

eventually impel every mind to make is in itself the acme of human
understanding, and marketh the culmination of man's development.
(Baha'u'llah: Gleanings, Pages: 165-166)

( l ) Thou hast ordained that the utmost limit to which they who lift
their hearts to Thee can rise is the confession of their powerlessness

to enter the realms of Thy holy and transcendent unity, and that the
highest station which they who aspire to know Thee can reach is the
acknowledgment of their impotence to attain the retreats of Thy sublime

knowledge ?this very powerlessness ?beloved of Thee? and?Thou
hast
decreed (it) as the goal of them that have reached and attained Thy
court (Baha'u'llah: Prayers and Meditations, Page: 89)

( m ) All that man is able to understand are the attributes of
Divinity, the radiance of which appears and is visible in the world and

within men's souls.
(`Abdu?l-Bahá: Some Answered Questions, Page: 221)



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