p14 My Desolate,

Abominable Morning

By John Taylor; 2008 Apr 24, 15 Jalal, 165 BE

 

This morning I woke with a phrase in my head: "the abomination that maketh desolate." Cool, thought I, this is just like when the Master had a nap and awoke with the word "distinction," (Imtiyaz) on his lips, and then right after gave His famous talk about the kind of distinction that Baha'is should strive for -- that is, spiritual distinction. (for more, see last year’s essay on Imtiyaz, at, http://badiblog.blogspot.com/2007/06/imtiyaz.html) Could I write something along those lines this morning about the phrase "abomination that maketh desolate"? I may not attain His immortal incisiveness and eloquence but at least, thank God, I have leisure to follow my dream guidance.

 

Let us give it a shot on this lovely, abominable and desolate morning.

 

I may not have the intuitive knowledge of the Great Exemplar, but I do have Google. You type in "define:" followed by a word, and you get definitions from various authoritative sources. So, for abomination I got, "a person who is loathsome or disgusting, abhorrence, hate coupled with disgust; an action that is vicious, vile or arouses contempt, hatred or abhorrence." I dug a little deeper and found that the Biblical phrase translates Ta'ab or To'ba, which are not quite as strong, at least for a secular society,

 

"The term in English signifies that which is exceptionally loathsome, hateful, wicked, or vile. In Biblical terms to'ba does not carry the same sense of exceptionalism as the English term. It simply signifies that which is forbidden or unclean according to the religion. Linguistically it is therefore close in meaning to the Polynesian term taboo or tapu, signifying that which is forbidden, should be left alone and not touched, or (for some items) brings death by the act of touching. (Wikipedia, "Abomination")

 

 The phrase "abomination that maketh desolate" comes from Jesus, who pointed to this phrase in the Book of Daniel as a sign pointing to the time of His return. "And they shall place the abomination that maketh desolate." (Daniel 11:31) Bill Sears talks about this a lot in his most famous book, Thief in the Night. For example, in the following he offers as a bonus a lovely little definition that covers the essence of both terms, both abomination and the ritual uncleanness of to'ba.

 

"Thus Daniel prophesied that two thousand three hundred days (2300) would pass before the sanctuary would be cleansed. Following this time, all things would be made pure again. Before this time, the people would have fallen into a state of 'abomination' without love for God or man; then the Messiah would appear and restore their Faith and the purity of their belief. This was the general conclusion." (William Sears, Thief in the Night, p. 19)

 

So, an abomination that maketh desolate is ultimately a failure to love God and our fellow man. Other, more spectacular abominations derive from that. So maybe the phrase came into my head because of the passage from the Book of Matthew, 31-46, that we studied as part of our children's class just before retiring last night. In this combined parable and prophesy of the final judgment, a king asserts in no uncertain terms that if you do good or evil to the "humblest of my brothers," you have done it to him. And this king is lavish to those on the right and very harsh to the ones on the left, the sheep and the goats. Silvie defended left hands and goats, and I had to say that God has nothing against goats, it is just that they do not herd like sheep, they take off in their own direction, just like those who reject God. Goats and left hands do not know any better; bad people do.

 

Tomaso asked what doing good to the king's humblest brother means, and in my explanation I almost broke down as I told how a philosophy that selfishness is good created international policy that has lead over the past three decades to the homelessness and destitution of over a billion poor, banished to a truly abominable life of victimization in slums and favelas around the world. The astonishment and abomination for me is that when I was an atheist, before I was a Baha'i, I believed that too. I in fact read a book by my heroine at the time, Ayn Rand, called "The Virtue of Selfishness." The kids could not believe that such a book could have been written. They thought I was joking, but I assured them that it was so. By the way, if you want to see her philosophy articulated in popular form, go to YouTube with the keywords "Gordon Gecko speech on capitalism" and watch both speeches from the film, Wall Street. Contrast this idea that greed is a good thing, a product of the sifting forces of evolution that benefits humanity, with Baha'u'llah's image,

 

"Say: O people! The darkness of greed and envy becloudeth the radiance of the soul even as the clouds obstruct the light of the sun. Should anyone hearken unto this utterance with a discerning ear, he will unfurl the wings of detachment and soar effortlessly in the atmosphere of true understanding." (Baha'u'llah, Tabernacle of Unity)

 

Maybe my spirit was feeling guilty, mulling over my early complicity in an evil belief, or maybe waking up with "abomination of desolation" on my lips was just God's way of wishing me "Happy Ridvan." For Abdu'l-Baha interprets the following prophesy of Daniel,

 

"And from the time that the daily sacrifice shall be taken away, and the abomination that maketh desolation be set up, there shall be a thousand two hundred and ninety days. Blessed is he that waiteth, and cometh to the thousand three hundred and five and thirty days." (11-12)

 

He interprets this period of the "abomination of desolation" as ending in April of 1863, that is, the Festival of Ridvan.

 

"Baha'u'llah, in the year 1290 from the proclamation of the mission of Muhammad, caused His manifestation to be known." (SAQ 44)

 

If so, Happy Ridvan to you, inspiring angels! If so, this saying captures the spirit of the Most Great Festival. Now we celebrate the beginning of the end of a millennia long abomination that maketh desolate, that is, an end to regarding other people as ritually unclean, the inauguration of the principle of the oneness of humankind. And at last an end to the horrors of greed and violence. At last a time when we can look forward to the beginning of a new, winsome time of peace and happiness. May He protect his poor from the greed of those whose minds are sunk in imitation of the desolation of ages past.

 

"For in those days there will be oppression, such as there has not been the like from the beginning of the creation which God created until now, and never will be. Unless the Lord had shortened the days, no flesh would have been saved; but for the elect's sake, whom he chose, he shortened the days." (Mark 13:19-20, WEB)