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And the People Wept …
Events moved quickly following the issue of the order for Bahá’u’lláh’s exile from Adrianople and perpetual imprisonment in Akka. Bahá’u’lláh and his followers lived together in a house in Adrianople. One morning they awoke to find that their home had been surrounded by soldiers of the Sultan. Guards were posted and Bahá’u’lláh and his followers were told to prepare for exile. Bahá’u’lláh’s fame was already considerable. As the news spread, consuls of foreign governments in the city wrote with offers of assistance, for which Bahá’u’lláh expressed thanks but which he declined. The Governor of Adrianople, who was an admirer of Bahá’u’lláh, had written objecting to the government’s mistreatment of Bahá’u’lláh…
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Poisonous Envy
The spiritual world which continually surrounds us, but of which we are only dimly aware, has its own natural laws, so to speak. Among these are laws governing the ways in which the human soul interacts with that world. For some souls, close proximity with the spiritual world draws out the best in them, for a few it draws out the worst. Abdu’l Baha alluded to these patterns in talks he gave over dinner to visiting western pilgrims. In short, that human beings may choose to rise to angelic heights or plunge to demonic behaviours. Consider, likewise, the differences that exist among the members of the human race. Christ was in…
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An Outline of Bahá’u’lláh’s Life
The bare facts of anyone’s life don’t do it justice. Yet they help us put the many complex pieces of the puzzle together and foster understanding. In this series we have dived straight in: exploring concepts, events and writings. Here we will step back and think about the outlines of Bahá’u’lláh’s life. There are two tools that I would like to use for this purpose. One is to refer you to the beautiful pictorial display of Bahá’u’lláh’s life maintained by the Baha’i International Community at bahaullah.org. There you will find a brief chronology, images associated with Bahá’u’lláh’s life and a narrative of key events. The second tool I will use is to adopt ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s…
