“Then will… the holy and everlasting Spirit confer such new life upon the seeker that he will find himself endowed with a new eye, a new ear, a new heart, and a new mind.”
Realizing the Kingdom – A dawning of the mind
To experience the Kingdom of God is not an event at a future time or in another place. It is here, now. However, it requires some mental purification.
On Mind-Training:
“Empty thyself of all learning that thou mayest partake of my knowledge…..” (HW , 11P)
The importance of the mind is stressed over and over again in the Baha’i Writings. Yet it is a perplexing issue to confront the idea of emptying one’s self of all learning in order to partake of the Knowledge of God.
How would one go about this exceedingly important task?
” The True Seeker… must, before all else, cleanse and purify his heart, which is the seat of the revelation of the inner mysteries of God, from the obscuring dust of all acquired knowledge, and the allusions of the embodiments of satanic fancy.” (KIQ)
Again we see in the above, the idea of cleansing the heart of the “obscuring dust of all acquired knowledge” — this time accompanied by the “allusions of the embodiments of satanic fancy.”
“…all the variations which the wayfarer in the stages of his journey beholdeth in the realms of being, proceed from his own vision.”( Baha’u’llah, Seven Valleys, p18)
This passage suggests that our experience of “reality” can change according to our state of mind. To REAL-ize the Kingdom may be more a process of removing what is no tin accord with the Kingdom than attempting to add to what is already perfect.
“….the mind is the power of the human spirit. Spirit is the lamp; mind is the light which shines from the lamp.” (SAQ 208-9)
If the mind shines like rays from the lamp of the spirit, then perhaps it is reasonable to conclude that it is the mind that “creates” both our experience of reality and influences the fabric of manifest form (the world) itself. This idea implies the importance of the content of the mind. If it be clouded with illusion (all acquired learning-or everything that has been taught by “the world”), then it cannot influence according to its innate potential.
“In like manner, when thou strippest the wrappings of illusion from off thine heart, the lights of oneness will be made manifest.” (Baha’u’llah, Seven Valleys, p. 24)
“Our mind is pure and simple. When emptied of thought, it enters the pure and simple light of God, and finds nothing but the light.” (Symeon the new theologian (949-1022)
There is an active participation involved in “stripping the illusions from off the heart”. Learning to artfully forgive entails learning to recognize when any grievance enters the mind. Stopping right there and asking for help. The One True God is the Alternative.
“Tear asunder, in My Name, the veils that have grievously blinded your vision, and through the power born of your belief in the unity of God, scatter the idols of vain imitation. Enter, then the holy paradise of the good-pleasure of the All-Merciful. Sanctify your souls from whatsoever is not of God, and taste ye the sweetness of rest within the pale of His vast and mighty Revelation…” (Gleanings from the Writings of Baha’u’llah, p 144)
Rest ye in God and be ye Blessed,
~Oraea