I was a Hidden Treasure.....

[arthra]

The following is submitted as a meditation:

There is a well-known Islamic tradition concerning God and
His creation:

I was a Hidden Treasure. I wished to be made known,
and thus I called creation into being in order that I might
be known.

References and allusions to this tradition are found
throughout the Bahá'í Writings. For example, in one of His
prayers, Bahá'u'lláh reveals:

Lauded be Thy name, O Lord my God! I testify that
Thou wast a hidden Treasure wrapped within Thine
immemorial Being and an impenetrable Mystery enshrined in
Thine own Essence. Wishing to reveal Thyself, Thou didst call
into being the Greater and the Lesser Worlds, and didst choose
Man above all Thy creatures, and didst make Him a sign of
both of these worlds, O Thou Who art our Lord, the Most
Compassionate!
Thou didst raise Him up to occupy Thy throne before all
the people of Thy creation. Thou didst enable Him to unravel
Thy mysteries, and to shine with the lights of Thine inspiration
and Thy Revelation, and to manifest Thy names and
Thine attributes. Through Him Thou didst adorn the preamble
of the book of Thy creation, O Thou Who art the Ruler of the
universe Thou hast fashioned! (Prayers and Meditations by
Bahá'u'lláh, XXXVIII)

Likewise, in the Hidden Words, He states:

O Son of Man! I loved thy creation, hence I created thee.
Wherefore, do thou love Me, that I may name thy name and fill
thy soul with the spirit of life.
From the Kitab-i-Aqdas p. 174

 

[Ahanu]

"O thou wayfarer upon the path of the Beloved, know thou that the fundamental purpose of this Holy Tradition is to mention the stages of the appearance and concealment of the Absolute within the thrones of Reality which are the Dawning-Places of the Grandeur of Its Essence [huwiyyat]. For example, before the kindling and manifestation of the fire of Primal Unity by itself and for itself, the totality of the manifestations are within the Invisible Essence. This is the station of the "Hidden Treasure". And when that blessed tree is lighted by itself and for itself and that Divinely-kindled fire is alight by its essence [dhát] for its essence, this becomes the station of "and I desired to be known." And when there has shone forth, with all the limitless Divine Names and Attributes, from the Dawning Place of Creation [ibda'] upon and for the sake of Possible Being, that is the station of the appearance of a wondrous creation and a new handiwork which is the station of "and so I created the Creation." And when holy souls have burned away the veils of all worlds and the trappings of all degrees and have hastened to the station of witness and attainment and have achieved knowledge of the Place of Manifestation and come to the most great sign of God within the core of their being, at that instant, they bear witness to the cause of the creation of all Contingent Being, the knowledge of God."
-Abdu'l-Baha

 

[wil]

Hidden from whom?

Nothing existed...how is anything hidden?

See this.is what gets me....why?

So famine could exist? Create people to die or smite them?

Had any of us not been born....would we care?

Create a universe and planets and gravity and rainbows and animals and the penultimate creation people who will eventually extinct all the animals pollute all the world.and war for eternity...and oh...demand they worship me?

What kind of ego is that? And how many commandments does this G!d not follow?

 

[Ahanu]

Hidden from whom?

You. Me. Humanty.

Nothing existed...how is anything hidden?

I'm assuming you mean there was a time that creation did not exist. Creation is eternal. At least in Baha'i thought:

"Know that a lord without vassals cannot be imagined; a sovereign without subjects cannot exist; a teacher without pupils cannot be designated; a creator without a creation is impossible; a provider without those provided for is inconceivable—since all the divine names and attributes call for the existence of created things. If we were to imagine a time when created things did not exist, it would be tantamount to denying the divinity of God."
(Some Answered Questions)
www.bahai.org/r/555798348

See this.is what gets me....why?

So famine could exist? Create people to die or smite them?

So we can acquire knowledge and eradicate imperfections such as famine. Creation is bound to be lesser than the Creator. Imperfections are unavoidable. Here is a chart showing a decrease in the number of famine victims since the 1860s:

Death is not final in my worldview. As for smiting others, homicide rates, when viewed on a global scale over many centuries, is in decline.

Had any of us not been born....would we care?

I don't understand your question here or why it is relevant.

Create a universe and planets and gravity and rainbows and animals and the penultimate creation people who will eventually extinct all the animals pollute all the world.and war for eternity...and oh...demand they worship me?

Despite the immense cruelty to animals that is still ongoing, there is a strong movement for the humane treatment of animals. We have yet to reach our full potential.

What kind of ego is that? And how many commandments does this G!d not follow?

Not sure what you're referring to as ego here. Some elaboration is needed for me to understand your perspective.

 

[Thinking required]

What kind of ego is that? And how many commandments does this G!d not follow?

Somebody seems angry with God!

 

[Leveller]

and thus I called creation into being in order that I might
be known.

Creation is eternal. At least in Baha'i thought:

Is this not a contradiction?

 

[wil]

Somebody seems angry with God!

Lol....angry with what I don't believe exists?

Funny assumptions you make.

 

[wil]

Is this not a contradiction?

It's a factory....the only begotten is continually begotten....the big bang keeps banging...

 

[TheLightWithin]

It's a factory....the only begotten is continually begotten....the big bang keeps banging...

Interesting...

 

[Ahanu]

It's a factory....the only begotten is continually begotten....the big bang keeps banging...

Or maybe we live in a black hole that is in itself within a much larger universe. Who knows? Turtles all the way down?

 

[wil]

Right the big bang is only big to us....could be no more than a static shock from a balloon at a birthday party.

 

[Tony Bristow-Stagg]

Is this not a contradiction?

It's a factory....the only begotten is continually begotten....the big bang keeps banging...

I see it is indeed cyclic.

Every Messenger brings a new heaven and a new earth. I see it is about our relative consciousness. With this topic I see we are talking about our spiritual awareness.

Example is that the Message of Baha'u'llah is a new creation, it is a new heaven and a new earth. Yet this is still hidden to us on many levels.

I also ponder that this consciousness is not ours alone. We have been informed that there are many more worlds where other creatures exist but their consciousness is relevant to the condition of that world. I would suggest many are far more advanced in that conciousness than the human race.

I am thinking our goal is to become a united human race, to mould our consciousness towards a higher purpose. It will be an interesting future. It is downright dangerous for humanity to meet other beings with the disunity and hate we currently have. We are a world of animals at the moment, one day we may reach our spiritual potential.

Regards Tony