Precis:
Song: Nobody dies; A Definition of Life; Scientific Proofs; Quantum Holography; Life as energy and Radiation; The Spirit of John Lennon, Jesus, Krishna, Aunt Madge...Living Letters, a demonstration. Near Death Experiences; Visions and Dreams; Why are Children taken into the Next World so early?? Do we return?; Transhumanism (a new movement); The Nature of the Next World; What we need to do to get there; Bahai Buriel; The big Debate.
Baha’u’llah: In the same way the world of the Kingdom is sanctified from everything that can be perceived by the eye or by the other senses—hearing, smell, taste or touch. The mind which is in man, the existence of which is recognized—where is it in him? If you examine the body with the eye, the ear or the other senses, you will not find it; nevertheless, it exists. Therefore, the mind has no place, but it is connected with the brain. The Kingdom is also like this. In the same way love has no place, but it is connected with the heart; so the Kingdom has no place, but is connected with man.
Baha’u’llah: Wert thou to attain to but a dewdrop of the crystal waters of divine knowledge, thou wouldst readily realise that true life is not the life of the flesh but the life of the spirit. For the life of the flesh is common to both men and animals, whereas the life of the spirit is possessed only by the pure in heart who have quaffed from the ocean of faith and partaken of the fruit of certitude. This life knoweth no death, and this existence is crowned by immortality.
RUMI: My soul is from elsewhere, I'm sure of that, and I intend to end up there.
Abdul Baha: To consider that after the death of the body the spirit perishes, is like imagining that a bird in a cage will be destroyed if the cage is broken, though the bird has nothing to fear from the destruction of the cage. Our body is like the cage, and the spirit is like the bird … if the cage becomes broken, the bird will continue and exist: its feelings will be even more powerful, its perceptions greater, and its happiness increased.
Abdul Baha: ...total annihilation is an impossibility, and existence can never become non-existence. This would be equivalent to saying that light can become darkness, which is manifestly untrue and impossible. As existence can never become non-existence, there is no death for man; nay, rather, man is everlasting and everliving…. Through his ignorance, man fears death; but the death he shrinks from is imaginary and absolutely unreal; it is only human imagination… Be as lights of the world which cannot be hid and which have no setting in horizons of darkness. Ascend to the zenith of an existence which is never beclouded by the fears and forebodings of non-existence.
Abdul Baha: This present life is even as a swelling wave, or a mirage, or drifting shadows. Could ever a distorted image on the desert serve as refreshing waters? No, by the Lord of Lords! Never can reality and the mere semblance of reality be one, and wide is the difference between fancy and fact, between truth and the phantom thereof.
Know thou that the Kingdom is the real world, and this nether place is only its shadow stretching out. A shadow hath no life of its own; its existence is only a fantasy, and nothing more; it is but images reflected in water, and seeming as pictures to the eye.
Bahai Faith Introduction
Audio Visual and talking.
What is Spirit
We need to make a Quantum Leap in our understanding here...for Spiritual concepts are placeless and timeless. When we thnk of Intellectual or Spiritual concepts like Love, Loyalty, Integrity, Kindness, Odedience, Compassion, Humility, Tolerance, Trust, Patience, Respect...etc
You wouldnt say I have left you a cup of Patience in the Kitchen would you...no because these qualities can not be contained.
So it is with the Spirit of a person, If I were to make mention of Farahnaz, we all obtain in our inner vision an image of Farahnaz and her Attributes and Qualities. But that Image appears to us all. That which is Farahnaz is not IN either of us. The essense of Farahnaz appears to us like an image would appear in a mirror. If we now turn our inner mirror towards Paul, then Paul will appear in the mirror of our imagination.
So this is how Baha'u'llah explains the appearance of the spirit or soul of a person in the vesel of the Human Body. He says it neither enters nor leaves because it is like the Sun shineing in a mirror. when the mirror is turned toward the Sun the Sun appears in it with all its qualities. If the mirror is smashed or buried, the Sun is not affected, it still remains in the sky, for in reality it left the sky.
So when we say the soul is in the body, it a simile, we do not mean it literaly that the Soul is somewhere inside the Body, for you will not find it there, but rather that the Soul appears in the body as an image in a mirror.
We have all experienced love, and yet where is it, its not a physically discerible thing and yet who would deny its existense.
The same with the world of our dreams, our experiences in that world can be very real, yet again they belong in a timeless, placeless world that is wrapped up in this world. A little like a baby in the womb catches glimpses of the is world whilst in its mothers womb.
The Bird of the spirit
The soul or the spirit in the body is like a bird in a cage. The bird is not meant ot live in a cage, the bird is meant to soar in the heavens that is the sky and perch on trees and sing its melody. We place the bord ina cage becuase we like the beauty of the bird, and if we feed it and give it water it will grow. And if the bird is healthy and developed wjen we release ot from its cage it will fly away into the immensity of the sky singing anmd happy. The sould is the same. But if we do not feed it and give it water it becomes very small amd malnourished and when we open its cage it can not fly into freedom.
Consider a baby in the womb of its mother, where is it, its in this world isnt it and its permanently and essentially connected to this world and all of its needs come from this material world via the umbilical chord of its mother, yet in the main it is oblivious to this world. And all the time it is in the womb it is developing powers that are of no real use to it in the womd...however they are being developed for its next world, this world. In this world it will see talk hear walk touch smell etc...
So it is with the soul...this is a perfect analogy that Baha'u'llah has given us. If the embryo in the womb does not develop a power whilst in the womb it cannot develop naturaly that power ion this world, and it will be hampered.
So it is with the soul.
Where was a chicken before it broke through the shell of its egg..it was here! But there was a very thin barrier wasnt there.
That part of us that is physical returns to the earth. Thats where it came from. The soul likewise returns to its source, and Baha'u'llah tells us it comes from God.
When a baby is born into the physical world the first thing its mother does is feed it. She feeds it milk and the baby has never tasted milk before and it takes a while to become acustomed but pretty soon it wants more and more...and its the same with the soul. And the milk of the human soul is the Word of God...the Writings of Baha'u'llah..and at first it is hard but soon the sould grows and develops and wants more and more and aquires iyts eternal nature.
Can we define Life
Before we can say whether or not it continues…can we say what life is??.
Descartes: I think therefore I am.
Baha'u'llah: Having created the world and all that liveth and moveth therein, He, through the direct operation of His unconstrained and sovereign Will, chose to confer upon man the unique distinction and capacity to know Him and to love Him—a capacity that must needs be regarded as the generating impulse and the primary purpose underlying the whole of creation…. Upon the inmost reality of each and every created thing He hath shed the light of one of His names, and made it a recipient of the glory of one of His attributes. Upon the reality of man, however, He hath focused the radiance of all of His names and attributes, and made it a mirror of His own Self. Alone of all created things man hath been singled out for so great a favor, so enduring a bounty.
**ENERGY: The Scientific principle and Law of the conservation of ENERGY. **
Is it movement?…not entirely because the wind moves the ocean moves and although it has a physical existence and vibration or wave, compared to a person there is no Life..
So we need to focus on Human life...what defines Human Life....a plant lives an animal lives, a flame lives whilst it is burning...when the flame stops burning has it ceased to exist or in fact has its energy been converted into another form. Heat and light continue to radiate..the heat appears to weaken and vanish because it is dissipated over a wide area but the heat continues...so the energy of the flame combines with all that is.
The atoms of a Human Being continue to exist after the person has passed on.
The heat and energy of the candle It has gone to a place we can't see. The visual spectrum of entire spectrum of Electro Magnetic Radiation is very small.
So the proof of the existence of energy is measured by the effect it has. Not by whether or not we can see or touch it it.
Love as energy
So we know that love is a power because we see its effects, but can we physically touch it...no we can not! You cannot have a lump of love or a cup of love because it is not part of the physical realm. So we can see that in physics all energy continues to exist but changes its form.
The Human Spirit as energy
We know that the individual human spirit exists...we can see its effect…does it cease to exist when the body loses its physical life?
Is the spirit of John Lennon still alive??? Is the spirit of Shakespeare still alive??? Is the spirit of Mozart still alive??? Is the spirit of Nelson Mandela still alive??? Is the spirit of Jesus still alive??? Is the spirit of Moses and Buddha still alive??? Is the spirit of Baha’u'llah still alive???
In fact it can be seen that a persons spiritual existence is heightened after their physical death.
So this power we call the individual human spirit...it is not a physical lump and does not exist in time and space and yet it is an energy associated with the human body of the individual.
So what continues of us...certainly our good deeds our light our energy...that which defines us.
If we conjure up a thought or impression of a loved one whilst they are not here what is it that we see and feel.
If you dream of a loved one you sense their very essence and yet they are not physically with you. And so it is when they physically pass...something remains with us....so they are not completely extinguished.
And the greater energy and or light and good deeds that person radiates the more we feel their presence even when they leave us physically.
Can one person change the world with the energy of their Human Spirit…YES!
Radiation
Radiation is the word....heat and light is radiated from a source.
How often do we say a certain person radiates love, wisdom and light...what do we mean...we can not see or touch it yet still we feel it, and we know it exists because we detect its effect.
And according to all scientific and philosophical wisdom...radiated energy can not be destroyed. This is both a Physical and a Spiritual LAW.
Jesus: Love will never come to an end.
Scientist say that we are still lookng for proof that something tangible exists after the death of a Human Being. They say what medium would carry the information of a persons life?...yet Science itself gives us the answer, talk about not being able to see the wood for the trees. when we look into the night sky we see the light from stars many millions of light years away. And we are told by Science that some of these stars have ceased to exist and are dead stars....yet the light continues to radiate and we see all the information concerning that star with our eyes and telescopes. So it is with each Human Being...our light continues to radiate when we cease to exist physically.
Abdul Baha's statement on Light being an Intellectual reality.
At this very instant in time we are surrounded by an invisible energy...an entire world is closer to us than our lifes vein. There is a world of Electro Magnetic Radiation surrounding each and every one of us and pervading our bodies. Just turn on a radio and you will hear it.
Quantum
A quantum of Solace....quantum (latin for Ammount. In SCIENCE: a discrete quantity of energy proportional in magnitude to the frequency of the radiation it represents.) The amazing thIng about the observable universe is that at the micro level all appears to act like a wave...yet when we perform the act of observing...then it appears as a particle. Its almost as if, adding the conciouse mind of the observer to an experiment, creates a particle.
Science estimates that 95% of the universe is comprised of Dark Matter (Unseen Energy)
Alll this correlates perfectly with Abdul Baha's and Baha'u'llah's statements:
Baha'u'llah: Dost thou reckon thyself a puny form when within thee the universe is enfolded? Abdul Baha: The forces of EMR are an intellectual reality Like love
Muhammad:The Bab: He created you from a single soul.
Science atests that physical bodies are not eternal because they are comprised of mutiple elements...however One Element would be eternal.
The Soul of Nature Gia God is in all...however we must not confuse this by thinking that God is Nature or the Soul of Nature is God..The Essence of God cannot be contained in anything...it is rather like the Spirit of Van-Goh is contained in his art. The Spirit of God is in His Creation The Universe and Humanity not the Essense of God. A painter is in his painting but not the essense of the painter.
Abdul Baha: Though man has powers and outer senses in common with the animal, yet an extraordinary power exists in him of which the animal is bereft. The sciences, arts, inventions, trades, and discoveries of realities, are the results of this spiritual power. This is a power which encompasses all things, comprehends their realities, discovers all the hidden mysteries of beings, and through this knowledge controls them: it even perceives things which do not exist outwardly; that is to say, intellectual realities which are not sensible, and which have no outward existence, because they are invisible; so it comprehends the mind, the spirit, the qualities, the characters, the love and sorrow of man, which are intellectual realities.
quantum Mechanoics and Science is now showing that beyond the electrons and Quarks in an atom, their lies a universal conciousness a Grand Unified Field. This Field is infinite, has always been and will always be. This is what we would call an Emanation of God, just as light Eminates from the Sun. This Will of God is in everything and our conciousness appears to be a part of this Grand Unified Field. So our conciousness effects the whole universal conconciousness. If we are Happy we project happiness into the energy arround us.
This is the spiritual reality that all the Great Teachers have taught us..what you think you will be. Quantum Field Theory, Superstring Theory, Relativety
Unified Field Theory is an ocean of pure abstract intelligence termed zero point energy or dark(in that its invisible) energy. (Dark Metter) It is thought that Black Holes may be the fountain points of all creation, the Universal Filed of Intelligence creating the matterial world.
Probability Waves are Statistical Information Waves or Logos. (me)
Balance this with Baha'u'llah's statements on reality being a mirrage.
Baha'u'llah: Dost thou reckon thyself only a puny form when within thee the universe is folded?
Baha'u'llah: The world is but a show, vain and empty, a mere nothing, bearing the semblance of reality. Set not your affections upon it. Break not the bond that uniteth you with your Creator, and be not of those that have erred and strayed from His ways. Verily I say, the world is like the vapor in a desert, which the thirsty dreameth to be water and striveth after it with all his might, until when he cometh unto it, he findeth it to be mere 329 illusion. It may, moreover, be likened unto the lifeless image of the beloved whom the lover hath sought and found, in the end, after long search and to his utmost regret, to be such as cannot “fatten nor appease his hunger.”
LETTERS OF THE LIVING...living letters: a physical demonstration of life after the dissolution of the body.
Carl Sagen: What an astonishing thing a book is. It's a flat object made from a tree with flexible parts on which are imprinted lots of funny dark squiggles. But one glance at it and you're inside the mind of another person, maybe somebody dead for thousands of years. Across the millennia, an author is speaking clearly and silently inside your head, directly to you. Writing is perhaps the greatest of human inventions, binding together people who never knew each other, citizens of distant epochs. Books break the shackles of time. A book is proof that humans are capable of working magic.
Words can be translated into enduring action...how indeed can we have enduring action without words to inspire and manifest that action.
1-2000 Words of an obscure Jewish Preacher (Yeshua Ben Joseph) would go on to shape the lives of countless millions for 2000 years. The Bab Baha'u'llah and Abdul-Baha 11 Million Words.
What is the effect of Words in the World, this is the test. By thier fruits ye shall know them! If we examine the effect of Baha'u'llah's Words in the World what do we see...well we see His Teachings are now the second most wide spread Faith on Earth in just 160 Years.
Divine Revelation is different...the penetrating and Transforming force of the Word of God.
George Townshend: (Hand of the Cause) There is a note a music a voice in The writings of Baha'u'llah...which has such power it seems to shake the air as one reads...If other proof were lacking this Mighty Voice would be sufficient.
Jesus: I am the Alpha and the Omega!
John 1:1: In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God...The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us.
Paul: II Cor 3:2-3 It is clear that you are a letter from Christ, the result of our ministry, written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts.
The Life and Works of Jesus have been radiated to us down the centuries by the medium of letters and words. We refer to the Living Word. The Living Letters. The Word that is life. Many great lives have been depicted to us in words and from those words we sense the Spirit of the individual. And of course that Spirit is indestructible.
If we represent a human life by a pool or indeed an ocean of random letters and then bring some of those letters to life by scooping them up and arranging them in a perfect order…in the same fashion physical elements at the point of conception are arranged in such a perfect order that they mysteriously attract life to the embryo...a magical thing happens!
A life is attracted to the letters and we can witness life radiating from them…
Here is a small section of our ocean of letters…
lhtternbuvgilfomyassrcorkdntoeleedravgdcahjkwebfhlsppkndnlajndbhhdlowworeinncclkdncskljknaakmfvkdocdnojnkdfnmdcnlsokwwpfegnzzcmodcn….
Lets give life to a handful of them...
let your heart burn with loving kindness for all who may cross your path
If we scatter the letters back into the pool....although the physical representation has been destroyed...the spirit of what we saw and heard and felt remains. Even more so as what we have constructed here is a statement by Abdul Baha and therefore is the Creative Word of God.
And so it is with each and every one of us.
How sacred and of great import is this Human Life with which we have been gifted…and how eager we must be to radiate good deeds of love and wisdom so that we may give to the vast ocean that is the Human Spirit and be a wave thereof.
The Nature of existence in the Eternal realms
Baha’u’llah: Know thou of a truth that the soul, after its separation from the body, will continue to progress until it attaineth the presence of God...If any man be told that which hath been ordained for such a soul in the worlds of God...his whole being will instantly blaze out in his great longing to attain that most exalted, that sanctified and resplendent station…. The nature of the soul after death can never be described, nor is it meet and permissible to reveal its whole character to the eyes of men...The light which these souls radiate is responsible for the progress of the world and the advancement of its peoples. They are like unto leaven which leaveneth the world of being, and constitute the animating force through which the arts and wonders of the world are made manifest…The world beyond is as different from this world as this world is different from that of the child while still in the womb of its mother.
Baha'u'llah: If any man be told that which hath been ordained for such a soul in the worlds of God, the Lord of the throne on high and of earth below, his whole being will instantly blaze out in his great longing to attain that most exalted, that sanctified and resplendent station.
Abdul Baha: You will retain your individuality and will not be swallowed up in one vast spirit. Concerning the condition of the human soul after its ascension from the material world: the essence of the human soul is clarified from material substances and purified from the embodiment of physical things. It is exclusively luminous; it has no body; it is a dazzling pencil of light; it is a celestial orb of brightness.
Abdul Baha: As the child in the womb does not yet know the use of its members, it does not know what its eyes are for, neither its nose, nor ears, nor tongue—so also it is with the soul on earth. It cannot understand here the uses and powers of its spiritual gifts, but directly it enters the eternal kingdom, it will become clearly apparent.
Abdul Baha: In the matrix of the mother we were the recipients of endowments and blessings of God, yet these were as nothing compared to the powers and graces bestowed upon us after birth into this human world. Likewise if we are born from the matrix of this physical and phenomenal environment into the freedom and loftiness of the life and vision spiritual, we shall consider this mortal existence and its blessings as worthless by comparison.
Abdul Baha: Just as man has been physically born into this world, he may be reborn from the realm and matrix of nature, for the realm of nature is a condition of animalism, darkness and defect. In this second birth he attains the world of the Kingdom. There he witnesses and realizes that the world of nature is a world of gloom, whereas the Kingdom is a world of radiance; the world of nature is a world of defects, the Kingdom is a realm of perfection; the world of nature is a world without enlightenment, the Kingdom of spiritual humanity is a heaven of illumination. Great discoveries and revelations are now possible for him; he has attained the reality of perception; his circle of understanding is illimitably widened; he views the realities of creation, comprehends the divine bounties and unseals the mystery of phenomena. This is the station which Christ has interpreted as the second birth. He says that just as ye were physically born from the mother into this world, ye must be born again from the mother world of nature into the life of the divine Kingdom.
Abdul Baha: This world is not much of a place for the realization of truth. This world is but the womb of the world of reality. Twins in the matrix may even embrace each other without knowing what they do. They are in darkness and cannot know their relationship to their mother who nourishes them, or their father who cares for them and provides for them. However, when they are born out of the world of darkness and live in this world, they realize each other and become assured that they have a father and a mother. So will you become assured when you enter the world of light and then you will realize how great is my fatherhood for you.
Abdul Baha: For the Kingdom of God is sanctified from time and place; it is another world and another universe. But the holy souls are promised the gift of intercession. And know thou for a certainty, that in the divine worlds, the spiritual beloved ones (believers) will recognize each other, and will seek union (with each other), but a spiritual union. Likewise, a love that one may have entertained for any one will not be forgotten in the world of the Kingdom. Likewise, thou wilt not forget (there) the life that thou hast had in the material world.
Shoghi effendi: The possibility of securing union with his beloved in the next world is one which the Bahá’í Teachings are quite clear about. According to Bahá’u’lláh the soul retains its individuality and consciousness after death, and is able to commune with other souls. This communion, however, is purely spiritual in character, and is conditioned upon the disinterested and selfless love of the individuals for each other.
The Passing of Martha Root
Regarding the passing of Martha Root, a telegram dated October 18, 1939 was received from the Guardian as follows: The pure leaf and renowned teacher, sign of severance torch of love and tenderness, standard of courage and faithfulness, consolation of the eyes of the people of Baha, Martha Root, has ascended to the highest summits of paradise. The people of the Supreme Concourse came forth to meet her with the shout, ‘Welcome to thee, O pride of men and women teachers! Well done, well done, thou who hast spent thy whole being in devotion to the Kingdom of the Lord of signs and utterances! Blessed, a thousandfold blessed art thou within this shining, proud and lofty station! Inform all the Friends of the necessity of calling special meetings in all the provinces for two full weeks to honor her exalted station. Shoghi Rabbani.
Hierarchy of levels
Certitude, assurance, pleasing to God, the perfect soul, the soul of the Kingdom.
8 Levels Shoghi Effendi: The Concourse on high, The Inmates of the Holy Sanctuary, The Cherubim of the Supreme Paradise, The Maids of Heaven in the Kingdom on High, The Company of the Prophets and Messengers in the Divine Realm, The Branch of Baha seated on the Right of the Mighty Throne, The Primal Point seated before the Throne in the Midmost Heart of the Celstial Heights, The Ancient Sovereign Seated on His Throne of Glory (Baha'u'llah) in His most Luminouse Abha Kingdom.
Shighi effendi: At this moment the central figures are viewing you from on high and proclaiming well done Well done O people of Baha
The heroism of the feat should be such as to cause the concourse on High to be amazed, a feat that will bring joy to the inmates of the Holy sanctuary and the Cherubim of the Supreme Paradise, a feat that will move the hearts of the Maids of Heaven in the Kingdom on High, a feat that will become the pride of the Company of the Prophets and Messengers in the Divine Realm, a feat that the Branch of Baha seated on the Right of the Mighty Throne will praise, a feat that the Primal Point seated before the Throne in the Midmost Heart of the Celstial Heights will applaud, a feat to which The Ancient Sovereign Seated on His Throne of Glory (Baha'u'llah) in His most Luminouse Abha Kingdom will solemnly attest.
A servant must set his whole mind and his whole heart to service to the Cause!
What we need to do to get there
Baha'u'llah: It is clear and evident that all men shall, after their physical death, estimate the worth of their deeds, and realize all that their hands have wrought. I swear by the Day Star that shineth above the horizon of Divine power! They that are the followers of the one true God shall, the moment they depart out of this life, experience such joy and gladness as would be impossible to describe, while they that live in error shall be seized with such fear and trembling, and shall be filled with such consternation, as nothing can exceed. Well is it with him that hath quaffed the choice and incorruptible wine of faith through the gracious favor and the manifold bounties of Him Who is the Lord of all Faiths.
Abdul Baha: By what means can man acquire these things? How shall he obtain these merciful gifts and powers? First, through the knowledge of God. Second, through the love of God. Third, through faith. Fourth, through philanthropic deeds. Fifth, through self-sacrifice. Sixth, through severance from this world. Seventh, through sanctity and holiness. Unless he acquires these forces and attains to these requirements he will surely be deprived of the life that is eternal. But if he possesses the knowledge of God, becomes ignited through the fire of the love of God, witnesses the great and mighty signs of the Kingdom, becomes the cause of love among mankind, and lives in the utmost state of sanctity and holiness, he shall surely attain to second birth, be baptized by the Holy Spirit and enjoy everlasting existence.
Abdul Baha: The spirits of heavenly souls will find eternal life, that is, they will attain the highest and most great stations of perfection; but the spirits of the heedless souls, although they are eternal, yet they are in a world of imperfection, concealment and ignorance. This is a concise answer. Contemplate and meditate upon it, in order that thou mayest comprehend the reality of the mysteries in detail. For instance: No matter how much the mineral has an existence and life, yet in comparison to man, it is entirely non-existent and deprived of life. For where man is translated from life to death, his comparative station will be that of a mineral existence.
Abdul Baha: It is even possible that the condition of those who have died in sin and unbelief may become changed—that is to say, they may become the object of pardon through the bounty of God, not through His justice—for bounty is giving without desert, and justice is giving what is deserved. As we have power to pray for these souls here, so likewise we shall possess the same power in the other world, which is the Kingdom of God. Are not all the people in that world the creatures of God? Therefore, in that world also they can make progress. As here they can receive light by their supplications, there also they can plead for forgiveness and receive light through entreaties and supplications. Thus as souls in this world, through the help of the supplications, the entreaties and the prayers of the holy ones, can acquire development, so is it the same after death. Through their own prayers and supplications they can also progress, more especially when they are the object of the intercession of the Holy Manifestations.
Shoghi Effendi: No man can "obtain everlasting life" in the full sense of the term, except through acknowledging the Manifestation of God, in this age, Bahá'u'lláh. If he doesn't do it in this world he will have a chance to progress in the next one.
Shoghi Effendi: Concerning your question whether a soul can receive knowledge of the Truth in the world beyond: Such a knowledge is surely possible, and it is a sign of the loving mercy of the Almighty. We can, through our prayers, help every soul to gradually attain this high station, even if it has failed to reach it in this world. The progress of the soul does not come to an end with death. It rather starts along a new line. Bahá'u'lláh teaches that great and far-reaching possibilities await the soul in the other world. Spiritual progress in that realm is infinite, and no man, while on earth, can visualize its full power and extent.
O Thou forgiving Lord! Although some souls have spent the days of their lives in ignorance, and became estranged and contumacious, yet, with one wave from the ocean of Thy forgiveness, all those encompassed by sin will be set free. Whomsoever Thou willest Thou makest a confidant, and whosoever is not the object of Thy choice is accounted a transgressor. Shouldst Thou deal with us with Thy justice, we are all naught but sinners and deserving to be shut out from Thee, but shouldst Thou uphold mercy, every sinner would be made pure and every stranger a friend. Bestow, then, Thy forgiveness and pardon, and grant Thy mercy unto all. Thou art the Forgiver, the Lightgiver and the Omnipotent.
UHJ: Only God can judge another soul. As individuals, we are not in a position to truly know the spiritual condition of another person nor are we informed of the effort they are making to fight their spiritual battles.
The reason we must turn to Todays Manifestation
Abdul-Baha: The cornerstone of the religion of God is the acquisition of divine perfections and the sharing of his Manifold bestowals. The essential purpose of faith and belief is to ennoble the inner being of man with the outpourings of grace from on high. If this be not attained, it is, indeed, deprivation.
Abdul-Baha: If he comes under the shadow of the True Educator and is rightly trained, he becomes the essence of essences, the light of lights, the spirit of spirits; he becomes the centre of the divine appearances, the source of spiritual qualities, the rising-place of heavenly lights, and the receptacle of divine inspirations.
Its as if there are plenty of streams from which we may drink, but the older ones have become infected with dust and dirt and are not very clean, and may even be deseased they are so old.
If some-one is directing you toward a new gleaming and pure stream gushing with crystal clear water, giving life to millions, why would we wish to turn away from it and content ourselves with the old and now impure stream.
Prayer and Meditation
Prayer is communion with God. The gifts and the bounties of God are forever shining upon us like the Sun. But just like a Radio is showered with all the stations available to it...it can not receive them unless it is switched on!
Prayer switches us on and we receive the gifts and bounties of God in the form of Wisdom , this is The Holy Spirit.
As for Meditaion Reflection and Contemplation these are essentially the same. When we say MNeditate on this, we dont necessarilly mean sit in the lotus position and empt your head of all thoughts. we mean reflect on the meaning, contemplate the meaning. Not wishing to give offence but for some it is easy to empty their heads, as there is not much in there in the first instance.
No Meditate on means think about it converse with the inner reality and answers will come.
Baha'u'llah: One moments earnest reflection is equasl to 70 years of pious worship.
Near Death Experiences
42% of americans have a mysticaql encounterwith death.
8,000000 americans have reported NDE
66% of Nurses in the UK report Mystical experiences i the prescence of people dieing.
All report is as a life changeing experience. All becoming far more compassionate, loving, giving and spiritual, with an nincreased desire to learn and klnow God.
A Study by Ian Currie Dr Moody Astonishingly one in five people report an out of body experience.
Common Features: Strange sound; Peace and Painlessness; Great Joy; Out-of-Body Experience; The Tunnel; Rising Rapidly into the Heavens; People of Light; The Being of Light; Life Review; Reluctance to return.
The Tibetan Book of the Dead: a gleaming bright light will shine white from the heart of God with such power that you hardly dare to look into it...and still you won't be able to stare your eyes away from it!
20 percent of children who have experienced NDE attempt suicide. They want so much to return to the experience they had. This correlates perfectly with Baha’u’llah’s statement that if we saw the next world even through the eye of a needle we would take our own lives in our desire to be there.
It had been believed the brain stopped all activity 30 seconds after the heart had stopped pumping blood around the body, and that with that, awareness ceases too. However recent reports show that patients who's heart has stopped pumping for up to 3 minutes report stunning awareness and consciousness and can even report on incidents that happened in the operating theatre during 3 minute period when their heart stopped pumping and they were clinically dead..
The Silver chord
Ecclesiastes 12:6-7: Remember him - before the silver cord is severed, or the golden bowl is broken; before the pitcher is shattered at the spring, or the wheel broken at the well, and the dust returns to the ground it came from, and the spirit returns to God who gave it.
Dreams and Visions
Baha’u’llah: Behold how the thing which thou hast seen in thy dream is, after a considerable lapse of time, fully realized. Had the world in which thou didst find thyself in thy dream been identical with the world in which thou livest, it would have been necessary for the event occurring in that dream to have transpired in this world at the very moment of its occurrence. Were it so, you yourself would have borne witness unto it. This being not the case, however, it must necessarily follow that the world in which thou livest is different and apart from that which thou hast experienced in thy dream. This latter world hath neither beginning nor end. It would be true if thou wert to contend that this same world is, as decreed by the All-Glorious and Almighty God, within thy proper self and is wrapped up within thee. It would equally be true to maintain that thy spirit, having transcended the limitations of sleep and having stripped itself of all earthly attachment, hath, by the act of God, been made to traverse a realm which lieth hidden in the innermost reality of this world
John Lennons statement of music and words coming through him in a state of bliss. Albert Einsteins statement concerning the reality of his famouse theories coming to him in a state of dream/vision
Can we return: Reincarnation
Abdul-Baha: No Merciful God would ever make a soul pass through this world twice.
And if we could but perceive the gloriouse worlds that await us beyond the Veil, we would have no desire whatsoever to come back to this dust heap of a mortal world.
This world is a world of injustice and pain.
Quip: I dont believe in reincarnation, I didn’t believe it when I was a Hamster and I don’t believe it now!
I think Reincarnation allows for certain enlightened, quick learners to attain enlightenment or Nirvana in one life time..without the need to return...so this is the life I want to concentrate on, I want to work with the quick l;earners who wish to traverse this material kingdom of pain in one leap, one life time.
indeed there is apparently a form of Budhism called Fast Track Budhism which concentrates on reaching enlightenment in one lifetime...so if you will The Bahai Faith is a Fast Track method to enlightenment in one life-time.
God willing we can all learn our lessons in one life time.
Abdul-Baha: If he attains rebirth while in the world of nature, he will become informed of the divine world. He will observe that another and a higher world exists. Wonderful bounties descend; eternal life awaits; everlasting glory surrounds him. All the signs of reality and greatness are there. He will see the lights of God.
All these experiences will be his when he is born out of the world of nature into the divine world. Therefore, for the perfect man there are two kinds of birth: the first, physical birth, is from the matrix of the mother; the second, or spiritual birth, is from the world of nature.
In both he is without knowledge of the new world of existence he is entering. Therefore, rebirth means his release from the captivity of nature, freedom from attachment to this mortal and material life. This is the second, or spiritual, birth of which Jesus Christ spoke in the Gospels.
And if we still adhere to the belief that we are the product of many previous lifes, well OK, lets try and achieve Nirvana and karmic release in this present one...right now...lets start today...today is the first day of the rest of your life and it could be your last life...lets see what we have to do to live that life to its full potential and reach Nirvana and Enlightenment.
That which is spirit is timeless and spaceless. In this physical world material objects exist in time and space. However the Spiritual or intellectual realities like love and wisdom etc, they are timeless and spaceless, they are everywhere and nowhere.
So as they are not restricted by the laws of place, there is no entering or leaving of the spirit.
It is rather that the spirit appears in the body of a person, just like the Sun appears in a mirror. The sun doesnt enter or leave the mirror, its appearence or image may cease to radiate from the mirror if the mirror is smashed or burried, but the Sun doesnt leave the Mirror, because it never actually entered it, the Sun is still in the Sky, it never came down.
So it is with the Soul or Spirit of Man. It has an appearance or connection with the body. when the body disintegrates the soul is untouched, it was never in reality inside the body, so how can it leave. Once it has left however its powers are far Greater as Baha'u'llah sais and may become the influence and inspiraion of bodies here opm earth.
Moojan Moman: Rebirth. The concept of rebirth was developed by Buddhists from the earlier Hindu concepts of reincarnation. However, since in Buddhism there is the concept of anatta (no self), it is not the self of a person that returns, but the collection of the five khandhas (skandhas), the predispositions and characteristics of an individual. It could be argued that this concept is not very different from the Bahá'í concept that in every age there occurs the return of certain individuals from previous ages--not in the sense that there is a return of the self-same person, but that there is the return of the personality characteristics of such a person. A parallel is drawn in the Bahá'í scriptures with the return of the rose each season with the same characteristics as the rose of the previous season (KI 159, SAQ 81:282-9; see "Return").
The Reality of the next World...would we desire to return?
Lets look at what the reality of the Next World is before we ask ourselves if we would wish to return to this material world. For I feel that if we were to appreciate the beauty and effulgence and light and the prescence of God in the Next Realm. the seemingly romantoc notion or returning here would be abhorent.
In deed one of the recuring factors in all NDE s is an absolute reluctance to return to the body. In fact many show a great anger at those would be heroic doxctors or Surgeons who bring the patient back, they dont want to come back, they are in the most glorious place.
Baha'u'llah states that the next worl is as different from this world as this world is different from the world of the mothers womb.
Consider a child in the Womb of its Mother...all the time growing amd prepareing its organs its eyes its ears for the many wondrouse delights of the world it going to be born into, and once it is born into this wondrous world ofn its adoring family ajnd lushious food.. and companionship etc, would it ever choose to go back to the world of its Mothers Womb.
Like wise we are here developing our arms and legs fo the next world, the heaveny attributes of God, Love, compassion, patience, forgiveness, steadfstness, humility, wisdom, benevolence, mercy etc these are out instruments if you will of the next world. And when we gain entrance to that gloriouse world of light and the prescence of all the souls who have ever been, our dearly departed frinds and family memebers, The Manifestations of God Themselves and the very Prtescence of God,,in a Kingdom of suoperbnal light and all encompassing love, a world of no pain no sorrow, free from the cage of the body, then would we find the notion of retruning to this World an attractive notion...by God we would not!
Once the bord is free of the cage and flying in the bright summer sky does iot want ot return....does the baby once free of its Mothers Womd and adjusted to the light and beauty and sound of this world, would it try to return to the dark world of the womb, of course not.
Also if we look at the pupose of the spiritual realms, rea;ms which are the origin of all the saciences amd arts and highest thoughts of humanity, a sphere ofn direct influence for us whilst we sre here below, we have a very real contact with bygone souls, is it any wonder that we are inspired by souls of a bygone era.
Baha’u’llah speaks of return in Kitab-i-Iqan Page101 No transmigration of the soul…a rose returns but it is the fragrance that returns rather than the actual essence…for it is another Rose. Messnegers of God Return in the sense that their inner Reality is The Word of God…yet their outer reality is as another Human Being…which is why Jesus says dont worship me for I am but a man like you…
Do the math...If we all reincarnated one of two things would happen...either the worlds population would stay as one figure...or if new souls were also created then the Population would almost double.
Another argument: Those in favour of Reincarnation state the the soul chooses its next life in the world Below. However, given the numerous descriptions of NDEs and the perfect Joy of the Next World...and given Baha'u'llah's statement that if we were to see the glory of that World through the eye of a needle, we would take our own life in our eagerness to be there...who would then choose to come back? Isn't it rather like a baby choosing to go back to its mothers womb after birth.
A mother who loses a child at say the age of 5...if she then gives birth to another child would she ever really think that the second child is the actual return identically of the first child?
It is also noteworthy that most recounters of past lives seem to rather romantically choose a hero or a heroin. It is rare to hear some-one announce that they are the return of Jack the Ripper or Hitler, but common to find the return of an Egyptian Dancer or Cleopatra. Also worth noting is that there can only logically be one return of the individual soul of Cleopatra , so how can so many claim to be her return??
The Big Debate: Is there life after Death
The Parable of the Twins In a mother’s womb were two babies. The first baby asked the other: “Do you believe in life after delivery?” The second baby replied, “Why, of course. There has to be something after delivery. Maybe we are here to prepare ourselves for what we will be later.” “Nonsense,” said the first. “There is no life after delivery. What would that life be?” “I don’t know, but there will be more light than here. Maybe we will walk with our legs and eat from our mouths.” The doubting baby laughed. “This is absurd! Walking is impossible. And eat with our mouths? Ridiculous. The umbilical cord supplies nutrition. Life after delivery is to be excluded. The umbilical cord is too short.” The second baby held his ground. “I think there is something and maybe it’s different than it is here.” The first baby replied, “No one has ever come back from there. Delivery is the end of life, and in the after-delivery it is nothing but darkness and anxiety and it takes us nowhere.” “Well, I don’t know,” said the twin, “but certainly we will see mother and she will take care of us.” “Mother?” The first baby guffawed. “You believe in mother? Where is she now?” The second baby calmly and patiently tried to explain. “She is all around us. It is in her that we live. Without her there would not be this world.” “Ha. I don’t see her, so it’s only logical that she doesn’t exist.” To which the other replied, “Sometimes when you’re in silence you can hear her, you can perceive her. I believe there is a reality after delivery and we are here to prepare ourselves for that reality when it comes….”
On the back of a Bikers Jacket: Is there life after death? Touch my daughter and you'll find out.
Bahai Burial
Transhumanism
DNA engineering to create better or immortal Human Beings…so an Individual becomes God-like (NONSENSE) Combining technology with Humanity. Creating a Computer to rival the Brain and merging this with the Human Body.
An interesting part of this documentary available on FOTV Documentaries states that we thought that the infinitely small had no limit..however of you continue to cut a piece of string you reach a Quantum state where upon if you make the Final Cut the pieces all of a sudden are everywhere…in other words they have lost the e ability to be in any one position. This scientifically proves that they are everywhere at the same point in time. Like information or software. Scientists say that this proves the existence of an eternal place less realm that is infinite. It also shows us that this physical reality is a SHADOW or subset of the eternal reality. So perhaps the truth is we already live in a world that is controlled by a greater force…i.e. the Kingdom of God the Abha Kingdom. This is out Workshop we do not die. we just become everywhere.
Suicide
The condition of those who take their own lives
Shoghi Effendi: It is too bad that young and promising men, who if they remain living can render great services to humanity, should take away their life at a moment of despair. The world, especially in these days, is full of woes and sufferings. We should be brave and have a stout heart. Trials and tribulations should arouse in us added vigour and greater determination and not dampen our zeal and kill our spirit.
UHJ: The House of Justice admonishes you to put all thought of suicide and death out of your mind and concentrate on prayer and effort to serve the Cause of Baha'u'llah.
Abdul Baha: You must not injure yourselves or commit suicide…Should anyone at any time encounter hard and perplexing times, he must say to himself, “This will soon pass.” Then will he be calm and quiet. In all my calamity and difficulties I used to say to myself, “This will pass away”. Then I became patient. If anyone cannot be patient and cannot endure, and if he wishes to become a martyr than let him arise in service to the Cause of God. It will be better for him if he attains to martyrdom in His path
Abdul Baha: That honorable personage has been so much subjected to the stress and pain of this world that his highest wish became deliverance from it. Such is this mortal abode — a storehouse of afflictions and suffering. It is negligence that binds man to it for no comfort can be secured by any soul in this world, from monarch down to the least subject. If once it should offer man a sweet cup, a hundred bitter ones will follow it and such is the condition of this world. The wise man therefore does not attach himself to this mortal life and does not depend upon it; even at some moments he eagerly wishes death that he may thereby be freed from these sorrows and afflictions. Thus it is seen that some, under extreme pressure of anguish, have committed suicide.
Shoghi Effendi: It is very hard to be subject to any illness, particularly a mental one. However, we must always remember these illnesses have nothing to do with our spirit or our inner relation to God.
UHJ: The Universal House of Justice was deeply saddened to learn of the tragic deaths of your daughter…Such a senseless cutting short of the lives of capable young people who have so much promise before them is a loss to mankind and an agonizing trial for those to whom they were near and dear. You ask what you, as a Baha’i, can do to assist the progress of their souls. The House of Justice has asked us to say that ‘Abdu’l-Bahá has stated that good works performed in the names of those who have passed on assist their progress in the next life. Therefore, if you will consecrate to their memory your services to your fellow human beings, and, above all, your efforts to teach the Message of Baha’u’llah, you may be sure that this will rejoice them in the worlds beyond.
To Be Continued...
The Buddhist View
Moojan Momen: The following is the Buddha's description of it in the famous Udana passage in the Khuddaka Nikaya: "There is, O monks, an Unborn, Unoriginated, Uncreated, Unformed. Were there not, O monks, this Unborn, Unoriginated, Uncreated, Unformed, there would be no escape from the world of the born, originated, created, formed. Since, O monks, there is an Unborn, Unoriginated, Uncreated, Unformed, therefore is there an escape from the born, originated, created, formed. What is dependant, that also moves; what is independent does not move" (Udana 8:3). Nagarjuna, the founder of the Madhyamika school of Buddhism, argues from this passage that without the acceptance of an Ultimate Reality (Paramartha) there can be no deliverance (nirvana) (Madhyamika Karikas, cited in Murti 235).
A Question from a believer to Buddha "The Buddha teaches that all conformations are transient, that all conformations are subject to sorrow, that all conformations are lacking a self. How then can there be Nirvana, a state of eternal bliss?"'
And the Blessed One on that occasion, breathed forth this solemn utterance: "There is, O monks, a state where there is neither earth, nor water, nor heat, nor air; neither infinity of space nor infinity of consciousness, nor nothingness, nor perception nor non-perception; neither this world nor that world, neither sun nor moon. It is the uncreate. That O monks, I term neither coming nor going nor standing; neither death nor birth. It is without stability, without change; it is the eternal which never originates and never passes away. There is the end of sorrow.
"It is hard to realize the essential, the truth is not easily perceived; desire is mastered by him who knows, and to him who sees aright all things are
“There is O monks, an Unborn, Unoriginated, Uncreated, Unformed. Were there not, o monks, this Unborn, Unoriginated, Uncreated, Unformed, there would be no escape from the world of the born, originated, created, formed. ~ Udana, 80-81”
The life of mortals in this world is troubled and brief and combined with pain. For there is not any means by which those that have been born can avoid dying; after reaching old age there is death; of such a nature are living beings.
People pass away, and their fate afterdeath will be according to their deeds.
This body will be dissolved and no ammount of sacrifice will save it. Therefore, seek thou the life that is of the mind. Where self is, truth cannot be; yet when truth comes, self will disappear. Therefore let thy mind rest in the truth; propogate the truth, put thy whole will in it and let it spread. In the truth thou shalt live forever.
Truth can not be fashioned. Truth is one and the same; it is immutable. Truth is above the power of death; it is omnipresent, eternal, and most glorious.
Let no man be single, let every one be wedded in holy love to the truth. And when Mara, the destroyer, comes to seperate the visible forms of your being, you will continue to live in the truth, and you will partake of the life everlasting, for truth is immortal.
Baha'u'llah: 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.
Baha'u'llah: The door of the knowledge of the Ancient of Days being thus closed in the face of all beings, the Source of infinite grace,...hath caused those luminous Gems of Holiness to appear out of the realm of the spirit, in the noble form of the human temple, and be made manifest unto all men, that they may impart unto the world the mysteries of the unchangeable Being
Being in the presence of Baha'u'llah
Excerpts from Hooper Dunbars talk https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YaaxrRDUtd4 When Baha'u'llah revealed the Word of God people fainted.
His face would be as bright as the sun and his voice was like thunder.
A lady had a vision pf the next wprld where beings pf light would say that every now and then Baha'u'llah would appear like thge sun pon the horizen to immerse us in His light
Verbal Overview:
Does an essential part of us continue after the physical body has gone. Is John Lennon still with us? Beethoven, Gandhi, Mandella, Jesus, Baha'u'llah...and if so just what is it that continues and where does it go? Can we actually demonstrate and prove the principle of life after death?
If and when we arrive in our new existence, what will we look like and who will we be with?
On this exciting weekend we will attempt to unravel some of the mysteries contained in Quantum Mechanics and other Scientific evidences of the afterlife. We will look at Near Death Experiences, dreams and visions, and we will try to gain an understanding of the Afterlife as it is depicted in Sacred Scripture.
Let us attempt to answer some of the timeless questions concerning our immortal selves, and above all lets look at what we as individuals need to do to prepare ourselves for a meaningful existence in this eternal realm of the spirit.
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