“The Ancient Beauty hath consented to be bound with chains that mankind may be released from its bondage ... He hath drained to its dregs the cup of sorrow, that all the peoples of the earth may attain unto abiding joy, and be filled with gladness.”
Believe It or Not
Oftentimes we read a passage from the Holy Writings which contain promises made to us by one of God’s Messengers/Prophets.
But do we really believe what has been promised to us by these Mouthpieces of God?
Take for instance the quote above, which in effect says that the Prophet hath “drained to its dregs the cup of sorrow, that all the peoples of the earth may attain unto abiding joy, and be filled with gladness.”
Now, if we believe these words, it means that if you have sorrow in your life, it is only imaginary. It is not real. It can not be real, because in reality, according to these words of the Ancient Beauty, the cup of sorrow has been emptied. Any sorrow that we perceive is but a pigment of our imagination, however real it seems and however deeply the pain may be felt.
My experience has been that people generally gloss over the Writings, thinking that “This can’t possibly be true now. The Prophet must have meant it for a time in the future when things are more perfect.”
But looking at the passage above, there is no mention that we have to wait to attain to the “abiding joy” promised or that we need to wait to be filled with the “gladness” promised. There is no problem with the translation of the text. The words were not spoken using the future tense.
So, when we declare to ourselves, “These words can not possibly be true now because I see sorrow all around me”, it means we are expressing doubt as to the validity of the Word. We have no faith or belief that they are true. When we take this approach, we are in effect throwing our faith out the window. So there goes that small grain, the size of a mustard seed, that we needed to have in order to receive the abiding joy and gladness that was promised in the Writings.
But, the contrast to this is that at other times, when we really need for the words and promises made by the Prophets to ring true in our lives, we might first meditate on the passages, and ask God to fulfill in our life the promises made in that particular passage.
For example, take a look at this Writing from the Prophet:
“…All healing comes from God.”
When we need healing, and when we need it urgently, either for ourselves or a loved one, and the doctors cannot effect a remedy, oftentimes we concentrate and focus, and then we start to believe that all healing comes from God, and we summon Him to our aid, to provide the healing that has been promised.
Through our belief in the power of the Holy Word and its truth and validity, through our prayers and/or the prayers of the holy ones, sometimes a healing is granted. And the event is called a miracle.
But really all that happened was that we believed and trusted in the Word of God and had faith that God would fulfill the promise that was made. If miracles are a result of God keeping His promises to us, then miracles happen 24 hours a day 7 days a week.
So one way to tap into these miracles is to increase your faith in the word of God. The holy writings from the Christian faith proclaim that “Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God.” So to increase our faith we must delve into the Word of God. And not just read it, but believe it!
“As ye have faith, so shall your powers and blessings be…This is the balance.”
'Abdu’l-Baha
Well, this is Lo and I gotta go…’cause I’m running for my life.
