Baha'i faith and mysticism

[sandandfoam]

We can never have direct knowledge of God, but we do have indirect knowledge through His Manifestations, we also reflect God. I believe we can experience God, when we look inside what is it that we see?

 

[lunamoth]

The flower is quite different from the roots, stem and leaves, and dies quickly if cut off.

 

[arthra]

For me the mysticism described in our Writings especially the Hidden Words and the Seven Valleys and the Four Valleys is a good representation of mysticism and the Baha'i faith:

I am wondering why the tie of love was so abruptly severed, and the firm covenant of friendship broken. Did ever, God forbid, My devotion lessen, or My deep affection fail, that thou hast thus forgot Me and blotted Me from thy thoughts?
What fault of Mine hath made thee cease thy favors?

Is it that We are lowly and thou of high degree? [1]

[1 Sa'di, Muslihu'd-Din of Shiraz (ca. 1184-1291), famed author of the Gulistan and other poetical works.] 48

Or is that a single arrow hath driven thee from the battle? [1]

Have they not told thee that faithfulness is a duty on those who follow the mystic way, that it is the true guide to His Holy Presence? "But as for those who say, 'Our Lord is God,' and who go straight to Him, the angels shall descend to them...." [2]

[1 Persian proverb describing a man who gives up easily. As used here one connotation is that the Shaykh might have considered his station as a mystic leader compromised by the fact of his being taught the new truth by Bahá'u'lláh.]
[2 Qur'án 41:30.]

Likewise He saith, "Go straight on then as thou hast been commanded." [1] Wherefore, this course is incumbent on those who dwell in the presence of God.

[1 Qur'án 11:114; 42:14.]

I do as bidden, and I bring the message,
Whether it give thee counsel or offense. [1]

[1 Sa'di.]


(Baha'u'llah, The Four Valleys)

 

[Cosmos]

Baha'i Mysticism is something newly emerging like a newborn babe in the light of the world of being. It is something intensely interpersonal and very difficult for the Baha'i Community at large to incorporate into study circles. Indeed, the Hidden Words of Baha'u'llah as Baha'i meditations present us with pathways into the meditative faculty and The Four Valleys and The Seven Valleys constitutes probably the 'official' work of mysticism by our Prophet-Founder. However, when we look into the Kitab-i-Iqan, pg. 68, we find a system of thought correlating with the Kabbalic Science of Self-realization which is in fact universal to all cultures and religions. Note my concept of Kabbala--originating from the Prophet Abraham--is to express that universalism in the "divine science" or "divine philosophy" the Master Abdu'l-Baha also teaches us.

 

[Tanuki]

There is, a now, unenrolled Baha'i named Allison Marshal who talks very deeply of Baha'i Mysticism. She has a website Who is Bahaullah that goes into the subject of the Baha'i faith and it's mystic undertones.

After all, Baha'u'llah spent most of his adult life with Sufis, so not to believe the Baha'i faith has been heavily influenced by mysticism and is a mystic faith is, in my opinion, to take away something great from it (the faith)

 

[Cosmos]

Baha'u'llah did not spend most of His adult life with Sufi masters. He did, however, spend two years in the wilderness of Kurdistan amongst the Sufis, and it was not they who influenced Him, but the other way around. The Sufis referred to Baha'u'llah as one of the "Men of the Unseen" (Rijal Al'Ghaib) due to His inexhaustible wisdom!

"Who is Baha'u'llah" is not exactly the true esoterism revealed in the Baha'i Faith that I was talking about.