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WHAT
IS THE WISDOM IN THE ASCENSION?
The wisdom
in the Ascension is so elevated that human minds cannot reach it.
It is so profound that the mind cannot comprehend it, and so
subtle and fine that the intellect cannot grasp it. However, even
if we cannot know the reality of the wisdom in the Ascension or
the exact Divine purposes for it, we can nevertheless, by means of
some indications, show the existence of some of those purposes.
They are as follows.
In order to
demonstrate the light of all of His Names throughout the universe
and the concentration of the manifestations of His Names on
certain beings and thereby show His Unity or Oneness, the Creator
of this universe distinguished an eminent individual with an
Ascension in the form of a link between the furthest limit of the
realm of multiplicity and corporeality and the starting point of
the dominion of pure unity and spirituality. Addressing him on
behalf of all the creatures, He explained all the Divine purposes
to him in the name of conscious beings and made them known through
him. He also willed to observe through his sight the beauty of His
art and the perfection of His Lordship in the mirrors of His
creatures, and also to cause them to be observed by others.
Furthermore,
as is testified by His works, the Maker of the world has infinite
beauty and perfection. Both beauty and perfection are loved
because of themselves. Since this is so, the One with infinite
beauty and perfection has a boundless love for His beauty and
perfection. That boundless love manifests itself in many ways in
the works of His art. He loves His works of art because He sees
His beauty and perfection in them. The most lovable and elevated
among His works of art are animate beings. The most lovable and
elevated among animate beings are conscious beings, and by virtue
of their comprehensiveness, the most lovable among conscious
beings are to be found among human beings. The most loveable
individual among human beings is the one who has most fully
developed his potentiality and manifested the samples of the
perfections observed in all the creatures.
Thus, in
order to see at one point and in one mirror all the manifestations
of His Love pervading all of the creatures, and to display all the
varieties of His beauty, focused on one individual, the Maker of
beings chose one among human beings who is of the quality of an
illustrious, enlightened fruit of the tree of creation and whose
heart is like a seed containing the essential elements of that
tree. Then, in order to demonstrate how He loves that individual
in the name of the universe, He drew him to His presence through
an Ascension, which is like a thread linking the seed, which is
the origin, with the fruit, which is the end, and honored him with
the vision of His Essential Beauty. In order that the others could
copy him in his holiness and excellence, He favored him with His
Word and entrusted Him with His Decree.
In order to
comprehend this exalted wisdom, we shall observe it through the
telescope of two comparisons.
First
comparison: As is explained in detail in the parable of The
Eleventh Word, suppose there is a glorious king who has vast
treasuries full of many varieties of jewels. He has great skill in
strange crafts, comprehensive knowledge of innumerable curious
arts, and profound learning in numberless sciences. Since anyone
with beauty and perfection wants both to see and display his
beauty and perfection, of course that skilful king too will wish
to set up an exhibition where he will reveal before the people’s
eyes the majesty of his dominion, the glitter of his wealth, the
wonderful works of his art and the marvels of his skills. By doing
so, he also wants to observe his own beauty and perfection in two
ways: he wants both to see them with his own eyes penetrating as
far as the fine, delicate points, and also to observe them through
the sight of others.
So, the
king begins to build an imposing, magnificent, extensive palace.
He divides it into apartments and mansions in an amazing way.
Then, He adorns it with jewels of great variety from his
treasures, and decorates it with the finest, the most beautiful
works of his art. He furnishes it with the most delicate works of
his knowledge and science, and decks it out and completes it with
the miraculous works of his learning. Next, he spreads tables with
varieties of bounties and the most delicious of foods worthy for
each group and prepares a general banquet. Then, in order to show
his perfection, he invites his subjects both to eat of the foods
and to see the palace with everything in it.
Then he
appoints one among his subjects as representative and accords him
the highest rank with himself. He invites him up from the bottom
floor to tour all the mansions and floors one after or above the
other. Showing him the successive machinery and all the workshops
of his wonderful art and the storehouses for the produce coming
from below, he brings him up to his own private apartment. There,
he honors him with his presence and the vision of his blessed
person, who is the origin of all those perfections, He informs him
of the true nature of the palace and of his own perfections.
Appointing him as a guide for the rest of his subjects, he sends
him back to describe to the people the maker of the palace by
means of its contents, inscriptions, and wonders. The guide will
also inform them of the meanings of the inscriptions, what the
works of art and well-proportioned and well-arranged furniture and
decorations signify, and how they point to the perfections and
skills of the palace’s owner. Again he will teach them the
correct behavior and formalities in visiting the palace and
beholding the exhibition in it, and describe the protocol and
ceremonies that are in accordance with the pleasure and desires of
the learned and skilful king, who does not appear to them.
In exactly
the same way (God’s is the highest comparison) the Majestic
Maker, Who is the Lord of Eternity, desired to see and display His
infinite Beauty and perfections. So He made the palace of this
world in such a fashion that each creature voices His perfections
in numerous tongues and points to His Beauty with many signs.
Through all the beings in it, this universe shows how numerous
immaterial treasuries are hidden in each of His Most Beautiful
Names and how many subtleties are concealed in each of His sacred
titles. It shows this in such a way that although together with
all their laws and principles all sciences have studied this book
of the universe since the time of Adam, they have not yet been
able to discover one-hundredth of the meanings and signs which
that book contains concerning the Divine Names and perfections.
Thus, the
Wisdom of the Majestic One of Beauty, the Beautiful One of
Majesty, the Maker having perfection, Who has made that palace of
the universe like an exhibition to see and display His perfections
and transcendent Beauty, requires that He should inform someone of
the meanings of His signs contained in that palace so that they do
not remain vain and without benefit for conscious beings on the
earth. His Wisdom really requires that He should have someone to
travel through the exalted worlds, which are the sources of the
wonders in that palace and the storehouses where the results of
their lives accumulate; that He should raise him above all others,
honor him with nearness to Him in His presence and get him to tour
the worlds of the Hereafter, and entrust him with many duties such
as being a teacher to all His servants, a herald of the
sovereignty of His lordship, a conveyor of the things pleasing to
Himself, and an expander of His signs in the creation and
operation of the palace of the universe; that He should show his
pre-eminence through the decorations of the miracles which He
would enable him to work, and that He should proclaim through a
decree like the Quran that that person is a truthful personal
interpreter of the Majestic One.
We have so
far demonstrated through the telescope of this comparison a few of
the instances of wisdom in the Ascension only as examples. You may
infer others by analogy.
Second
comparison: Suppose there is a knowledgeable, skilful person. If
that person wants to write a miraculous book, on each page of
which are as many truths as would fill a hundred books, and in
each line of which are as many subtle meanings as would fill a
hundred pages, and in each word of which as many truths as would
fill a hundred words, and if all the meanings and truths of that
book point to the transcendent perfections of its
miracle-displaying writer, he most certainly would not leave such
a treasury closed and thereby make it worthless. He would surely
teach it to some others so that such a valuable book would not
remain meaningless and vain. He would teach it so that his hidden
perfections would be unveiled and his beauty (his intellectual and
spiritual excellence) would be seen; and so that he should himself
be pleased and make himself loved. To this end, he would have
someone go through that wonderful book from the first page to the
last and instruct him in all its meanings and truths so that that
person would then teach them to others.
In exactly
the same way, in order to display His perfections, Beauty and the
truths of His Names, the Eternal Inscriber has ‘written’ the
universe in such way that all creatures proclaim and express in
innumerable ways His infinite perfections, Names and Attributes.
Of course, if the meaning of a book is not known, then it would
have no value. But a book (such as the universe) each letter of
which contains thousands of meanings cannot be reduced to nothing,
nor are they allowed to do so. That being the case, the One Who
has written that book will certainly make it known and cause each
group of creatures to explain a part of it according to capacity.
He will also teach the whole of it to an individual who has the
most comprehensive view, the most universal consciousness, and the
greatest capacity. However, to teach the whole of such a book with
all its universal truths requires that, starting from the furthest
limits of the levels of multiplicity (the corporeal world) which
is the first page of the book, as far as the realm of Unity, which
is the final page, the individual should be taken on a most
elevated and universal journey. Thus, thorough this comparison, to
a degree you can look at the exalted instances of wisdom in the
Ascension.
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