Wisdom and understanding are the twin pillars that elevate mankind above the station of other earthly creatures.
“God’s greatest gift to man is that of intellect or understanding,” we glean from the Baha’i Holy Writings. “Understanding is the power by which mankind acquires knowledge of the several kingdoms of creation and various stages of existence, as well as of much which is invisible. Possessing this gift he is in himself the sum of earlier creations…All creation preceding man is bound by the stern law of nature. Man alone has freedom, and by his understanding or intellect, has been able to gain control of and adapt some of these Natural Laws to his own needs.”
This power was given to man that it might be used for the advancement of civilization, for the good of humanity, to increase love and concord and peace. But man prefers to use this gift to destroy instead of build, for injustice and oppression, for hatred, discord and devastation of his fellow creatures who Christ has commanded that he should love as himself.”
“Wisdom is the principal thing,” we find in Proverbs 4:7; “therefore get wisdom: with all thy getting, get understanding.” For through understanding comes the perfection of other virtues as courtesy, kindness, patience, humility, loyalty, steadfastness, etc.
Much emphasis is placed in the Baha’i Holy Writings upon moderation in all things-–not to be confused with mediocracy, but instead developing all virtues to fullest capacity and allowing them to moderate themselves.
It’s been several years since I had the unique privilege of visiting the Baha’i World Center on Mt. Carmel in Haifa, Israel during this beautiful fall season. As the jumbo jet, which originated from Frankford, Germany on the final stage of the flight, landed in Tel Aviv, the flight map on the back of each seat displayed the airport location with one arrow pointing left to Jerusalem and Gaza (both warring territories) and another pointing right to Haifa (and Peace!)
With my extremely limited knowledge of the full significance and scope of the Baha’i Revelation and its embryonic model Administrative Order, little did I know what was in store for me as global governance took on distinctively new meaning when viewed through the eyes and cradle of justice and Love. It was reassuring to see the steady streams of people from every part of the globe drawn to “the magnet of Love”-– the unspeakable beauty and tranquility of the gardens and terraces that ascend and descend Mt. Carmel with only the sound of birds clearly heard.
I recalled a slogan once coined by a special Roanoke lady, Mrs. Florine Thornhill, “You don’t have to move to live in a better place;” and I knew then, you don’t have to die to live in (or help create) a better place.
The Baha’i Revelation clearly reminds us, we must distinguish ourselves in the service of God–for loving (not destroying) humanity, for unity and accord, for love and justice and in all the virtues of the human world. Upon acquiring such spiritual distinction “one can enter paradise while upon this earth, be in paradise when leaving this world; his mind and heart will be in paradise and he will be encircled by paradise!”
Like Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., I, too have been to the mountain top–of Mt. Carmel, the incubator of World Peace! (Investigate! – 1-800-22-UNITE)
