Virtues | Knowledge

Human Reality

Source: Secret of Divine Civilization by Abdu’l-Bahá

‘Abdu’l-Baha about the reality of humanity, stating: 

[God] has chosen the reality of man and has honored it with intellect and wisdom, the two most luminous lights in either world. …If we look objectively upon the world of being, it will become apparent that from age to age, the temple of existence has continually been embellished with a fresh grace, and distinguished with an ever-varying splendor, deriving from wisdom and the power of thought. […]

Raise up your suppliant hands to the heaven of the one God, and humble yourselves and be lowly before Him, and thank Him for this supreme endowment, and implore Him to succor us until, in this present age, godlike impulses may radiate from the conscience of mankind, and this divinely kindled fire which has been entrusted to the human heart may never die away.

Consider carefully: all these highly varied phenomena, these concepts, this knowledge, these technical procedures and philosophical systems, these sciences, arts, industries and inventions–all are emanations of the human mind… And the honor and distinction of the individual consist in this, that he among all the world’s multitudes should become a source of social good… an individual, looking within himself, should find that by the confirming grace of God he has become the cause of peace and well-being, of happiness and advantage to his fellow men.