Open Summation, II

Open Year Summation

Part II, The Bab


By John Taylor, 10 August, 2004



Ruhiyyih Khanum was outspoken in her dislike of the common expression,
"He signed his card," meaning that someone converted to the Baha'i
Faith. She often pointed out that the Guardian used dozens of synonyms
for the conversion experience but never this one. For one thing, there
is no particular necessity ever to sign a declaration card, either from
a spiritual or an administrative perspective. Signing my card for me was
a momentous experience, the result of a long argument that I lost
miserably, and I recall that my hand shook as I performed the act. But I
recognize that this is not a rite of passage that everybody must
undergo, if only because that would be opening the Faith up to ritual.

Yesterday I discovered while going over the Bab's use of the word "open"
that, if we relied upon His Writings alone this would probably be our
usual expression for conversion: "He opened his heart to the Faith."
Take this passage, for example, from the Kitab-i-Asma,


"Consider how at the time of the appearance of every Revelation, those
who open their hearts to the Author of that Revelation recognize the
Truth, while the hearts of those who fail to apprehend the Truth are
straitened by reason of their shutting themselves out from Him. However,
openness of heart is bestowed by God upon both parties alike. God
desireth not to straiten the heart of anyone, be it even an ant, how
much less the heart of a superior creature, except when he suffereth
himself to be wrapt in veils, for God is the Creator of all things."
(The Bab, Selections, 132)


As far as I can see, part of what the Bab is after here is correcting a
false impression from a literal reading the Qu'ran, which in several
places states that God "narrowed" the heart of Pharaoh -- Abdu'l-Baha
goes into detail on this misunderstood expression in "Some Answered
Questions." If God chained the heart unmediated by free will we would
not be responsible for any good or ill deeds. Hence what the Bab says,
that God makes all hearts open but we by sinning shut ourselves down. In
any case, the Bab clearly favors this expression and uses it in the next
paragraph in the conversion sense that Baha'is involved in teaching the
Faith find so useful. He says,


"... if thou dost open the heart of a person for His sake, better will
it be for thee than every virtuous deed; since deeds are secondary to
faith in Him and certitude in His reality." (Ib. 133)


There would be several advantages to saying that someone opened his
heart to the Faith rather than that he just "signed his card." For one
thing it seems to be the case -- spiritually if not literally -- that a
heart really is open or narrow insofar as it accepts the Manifestation
for one's age. Many hearts had to be narrowed and desensitized from love
and human feeling in order for outward events of mass carnage to take
place, for example the apocalyptic Great War. But the trail from
narrowed hearts to bloodshed in the trenches is easily discernable for
the spiritual eye.

Another advantage is that the expression has an opposite, you can close
your heart off from the Faith -- the other expression leaves no way to
"unsign your card" when goodwill and faith start to sour. Plus, it
implies a serious condition that is very hard to reverse. We may be able
to shut or open our eyes with no harmful effect, but a heart closure is
extremely serious and harmful, just as is a spiritual heart condition. A
cardiac infarction, what we call a "heart attack," is really a massive
failure where the vascular system cannot deliver blood to the heart;
deprived of nourishment, the muscle starves and shuts down. If the
failure continues even a short time massive tissue damage results and
the organism expires.

The material is the reflection of the spiritual. It is no coincidence
that cardio-vascular disease is the most common cause of premature death
in our time. But the Bab's assures us that God has no desire for this,
that He would not "straiten the heart of an ant" if it were up to Him.

In the following passage the Bab, addressing Baha'u'llah, seems to use
openness in the sense of accessibility or ease of entry into the Cause.


"O Qurratu'l-'Ayn! Stretch not Thy hands wide open in the Cause,
inasmuch as the people would find themselves in a state of stupor by
reason of the Mystery, and I swear by the true, Almighty God that there
is yet for Thee another turn after this Dispensation." (The Bab,
Selections, 53)


This seems to be the same Qu'ranic expression, stretching open one's
hands in a wide embrace, that we saw yesterday in the passage of the
Qu'ran advocating measured, moderate progress that was cited by the
Master in "Secret of Divine Civilization." The Bab is counseling
Baha'u'llah *not* to be too open, in view of the Mystery. Is the
"Mystery" that the Bab mentions here the high station of Baha'u'llah? Is
it the same "Secret" to be found in "Secret of Divine Civilization?" I
am not certain. It is certain, though, that spiritually the event of
revelation is exactly like the flinging open of the "gates of Paradise."


"They performed their acts of devotion for the sake of God, hoping that
He might enable them to join the righteous in Paradise. However, when
the gates of Paradise were flung open to their faces, they declined to
enter. They suffered themselves to enter into the fire, though they had
been seeking refuge therefrom in God." (The Báb, Selections, 143)


In other words, when the gates opened they were not quite pure enough.
They wanted paradise for their own good, not that of God and His
creation. When God opened up, they narrowed themselves down. Ironic,
isn't it? In spite of their selfish desire to avoid the fires of hell,
they narrowed their hearts and walked straight through its infernal
gates. This is why purity is so important. Pure deeds are like positive
health measures are to the body; if you don't make positive lifestyle
changes like eating heart-healthy foods, you put yourself in danger of a
heart condition. In another place the Bab repeats this image of His
opening up in the world of spirit the gates to heaven.


"Verily, on the First Day We flung open the gates of Paradise unto all
the peoples of the world, and exclaimed: 'O all ye created things!
Strive to gain admittance into Paradise, since ye have, during all your
lives, held fast unto virtuous deeds in order to attain unto it.' Surely
all men yearn to enter therein, but alas, they are unable to do so by
reason of that which their hands have wrought. Shouldst thou, however,
gain a true understanding of God in thine heart of hearts, ere He hath
manifested Himself, thou wouldst be able to recognize Him, visible and
resplendent, when He unveileth Himself before the eyes of all men." (The
Bab, Selections, 144, Kitab-i-Asma, XVII, 11)


As He says, if we "gain a true understanding of God in our hearts," then
we will open up the heart when we meet the Manifestation. But the
understanding has to be firmed up beforehand, in private moments of
meditation. The principle of search precedes the action principle of
oneness of humanity.

A major consequence of true understanding of God's oneness is a
willingness to give up what is ours for what is God's. This applies to
money and worldly goods, but also to the products of thought, what Plato
called our "mind children." This is why the principle of consultation
makes it a sacrament voluntarily to give up possession of one's ideas to
the group. We see this attitude of sharing in the open software
movement, where programmers offer the products of their labor for free
to the world. In view of that, consider the following assertion of the
Bab that the oneness of God is the only real possession.


"I seek no earthly goods from thee, be it as much as a mustard seed.
Indeed, to possess anything of this world or of the next would, in My
estimation, be tantamount to open blasphemy. For it ill beseemeth the
believer in the unity of God to turn his gaze to aught else, much less
to hold it in his possession. I know of a certainty that since I have
God, the Ever-Living, the Adored One, I am the possessor of all things,
visible and invisible..." (The Bab, Selections, 15)


The Bab seems to me to imply here that the reverse of spiritual openness
is open blasphemy, an affront, blatant or inferred, to the integrity of
God. Let us close with two prayers of the Bab that we will avoid the
wrong kind and attain to the good sort of openness.



"Bestow on me, O my Lord, Thy gracious bounty and benevolent gifts and
grant me that which beseemeth the sublimity of Thy glory. Aid me, O my
Lord, to achieve a singular victory. Open Thou the door of unfailing
success before me and grant that the things Thou hast promised may be
close at hand. Thou art in truth potent over all things." (The Bab,
Selections, 208)


"Grant that I may reap the benefit of my life in this world and in the
next. Open to my face the portals of Thy grace and graciously confer
upon me Thy tender mercy and bestowals." (The Bab, Selections, 213)



John Taylor
helpmatejet@yahoo.com
 
Blog: http://badiblog.blogspot.com/
 
Badi Web Site: TBA