Caves, II

Cave of Covenant, II

By John Taylor; 2007 July 26

We have been discussing caves and their implications for faith and philosophy. The cave is where we all dwell mystically when we pray, meditate or go on pilgrimage, or whenever we are directed to a spiritual mission. For this reason, the cave turns up as a metaphor throughout literature, but from our point of view it is most telling that Abdu'l-Baha used the expression "cave of the covenant,"

"O ye co-workers who are supported by armies from the realm of the All-Glorious! Blessed are ye, for ye have come together in the sheltering shade of the Word of God, and have found a refuge in the cave of His Covenant ... " (Abdu'l-Baha, Selections, #42, p. 85)

Caves, then, are a metaphor for the most distinctive feature of this Revelation. Every idea and institution in the Order of Baha'u'llah is somehow grounded in the firm, unambiguous written contract that Baha'u'llah set up with His followers in His Kitab-i-Ahd. This covenant cave is an impregnable place of refuge in an age of change, anxiety and confusion.

On a broader scale, that of the entire human race throughout history, God has maintained what we term the Greater Covenant, His perennial promise never to leave humanity without guidance. This too is a sheltering cave. Without the light of guidance of the Greater covenant, humanity would have long ago been lost. Like the return of the summer sun, the Manifestation of God, like a sun of enlightenment, returns in every age. Baha'u'llah explains how the greater contract works,

"For were it not for those effulgent Lights that shine above the horizon of His Essence, the people would know not their left hand from their right, how much less could they scale the heights of the inner realities or probe the depths of their subtleties!" (Javahiru'l-Asrar, 14)

One cave in particular figures repeatedly in history, and, as I hope to establish, in philosophy. This cave, the ultimate cave of the covenant, is located on the slopes of Mount Carmel. It is now known as the Cave of Elijah.

Since ancient times Carmel has been the proverbial locale where divine truth is revealed, sheltered and tested. The Bible in one of its most important stories tells how on Carmel the One vanquished the many. The prophet Elijah took shelter in this cave just before his final conflict, his crucial intervention in history. In this cave on Carmel, not for the first or last time, a prophet was exiled by wily power brokers for stirring up disorder, creating disunity in a stable situation, their stability. He sat alone in that small cave on the slopes of Carmel -- it is about the size of the average living room -- his life in imminent peril from the powers that were. Nearby, he was soon to confront an idolatrous enemy, alone, one against eight hundred and fifty opposing priests.

This cave is still there for us to visit. It is a place for pilgrimage and reflection, the site where we can settle for a moment of contemplation before entering into life's testing, sorting, proving, sifting and dire conflict.

"And though they hide themselves in the top of Carmel, I will search and take them out thence; and though they be hid from My sight in the bottom of the sea, thence will I command the serpent, and he shall bite them." (Amos 9:3)

Elijah witnessed the serpent bite on Carmel with his own eyes, first inwardly, then in the machinations of history. Carmel leads down to the sea; the sea is the symbol of religious knowledge, an ocean of huge breath and weight. The serpent biting those hiding at the bottom of the sea refers to those who become deeply ensconced in the particulars of religious systems and hierarchies. They are always jealous of their privileged position, and are willing to crush all pretenders.

Elijah was it, the last living of Israel's prophets. Arrayed against him were popular, learned, established priests of Baal and the Asherah. Here is the Biblical account of Elijah,

"He came there to a cave, and lodged there; and, behold, the word of Yahweh came to him, and he said to him, What are you doing here, Elijah? He said, I have been very jealous for Yahweh, the God of hosts; for the children of Israel have forsaken your covenant, thrown down your altars, and slain your prophets with the sword: and I, even I only, am left; and they seek my life, to take it away." (I Kings 19:9-10, WEB)

Dozens of Israelite prophets had been murdered, leaving only Elijah, who had been forced into retreat. God was well aware of that. But note what God asks. He asks it of Elijah twice, "What are you doing here?" God is not concerned about whether he is perfect, good or saved, his only concern is what he is doing. This is a God of action. The Bible tells how Elijah then had a tremendous mystical experience, the one that gave the world the expression "a still small voice," not to mention "God Passes By," the name of Shoghi Effendi's history of the first Baha'i century.

"He said, Go forth, and stand on the mountain before Yahweh. Behold, Yahweh passed by, and a great and strong wind tore the mountains, and broke in pieces the rocks before Yahweh; but Yahweh was not in the wind: and after the wind an earthquake; but Yahweh was not in the earthquake: and after the earthquake a fire; but Yahweh was not in the fire: and after the fire a still small voice. It was so, when Elijah heard it, that he wrapped his face in his mantle, and went out, and stood in the entrance of the cave. Behold, there came a voice to him, and said, What are you doing here, Elijah?" (I Kings, 19:11-13, WEB)

Still wrapped in a veil, Elijah, after seeing this wondrous revelation, hears the still small voice ask him one thing: what are you doing here? Again, deeds, not thoughts or words.

But note, when God passed by there were four events. There was a rock destroying wind, an earthquake, and fire (and God, we are told, is not in any one of these) and finally there remained only a "still small voice." It is not denied that God may not subsist in that. The still small voice, in other words, is guidance in action.

These familiar four steps of causation are also in the opening lines of the Tablet of Ahmad. The Nightingale of Paradise first informs the sincere how near God is, then, second, calls the monotheist to that presence, third, explicates the content of His message to the detached, and, fourth and finally, guides the lovers to a seat of holiness and "resplendent Beauty." God passes, the sincere catch whiff of his breeze, and the earth shakes with His call, a fire burns away impurity and attachment, and finally a small still voice, the whisper of a lover in your ear, telling you what to do and say.

So here, in the cave and just outside it, is the holiest spot on earth, the place where God passes by, and where the Administrative Order has been erected in surroundings of the utmost beauty. Here Elijah learned the first and last lesson of mystic knowledge: that it is first to know, then to act. Act and you will be guided and protected. The protective cave of the covenant is not static like a physical cave, we carry it with us as long as we are firm.