If you can't say anything nice...

"If you can't say anything nice, don't say anything at all."

Now there's a good piece of old-fashioned wisdom that seems relevant for for our virtue of the month: silence. I wonder about the origins of this quote and suspect they were initially tied to something in some Holy Writings, though I can't seem to find the original source.

In the Bahái Faith, similar advice is given to refrain from backbiting (speaking ill of someone behind his/her back).
In The Hidden Words, Bahá'u'lláh writes,
"O Son of Man!
Breate not the sins of others so long as thou art thyself a sinner. Shouldst thou transgress this command, accursed wouldst thou be, and to this I bear witness."

Bahá'u'lláh has called his followers to “regard backbiting as grievous error, and keep … aloof from its dominion, inasmuch as backbiting quencheth the light of the heart, and extinguisheth the life of the soul.”

His son, Abdu'l-Bahá, stressed the spiritual impact of backbiting, saying:

“O beloved of the Lord! If any soul speak ill of an absent one, the only result will clearly be this: he will dampen the zeal of the friends and tend to make them indifferent. For backbiting is divisive, it is the leading cause among the friends of a disposition to withdraw. If any individual should speak ill of one who is absent, it is incumbent on his hearers, in a spiritual and friendly manner, to stop him, and say in effect: would this detraction serve any useful purpose? . . . On the contrary, it would make the dust to settle so thickly on the heart that the ears would hear no more, and the eyes would no longer behold the light of truth.”

Much better is it to praise the qualities of others: “If, however, a person setteth about speaking well of another, opening his lips to praise another, he will touch an answering chord in his hearers and they will be stirred up by the breathings of God.” -Abdu'l-Bahá

But if we can't do that, better to say nothing at all.

Trusting in God

After months of not reading the Hidden Words, I was particularly struck this morning by the power of these words of Bahá'u'lláh:

"O Son of Spirit!
There is no peace for thee save by renouncing thyself and turning unto Me; for it behooveth thee to glory in My name, not in thine own; to put thy trust in Me and not in thyself, since I desire to be loved alone and above all that is."

Even if my heart doesn't yet fully trust, what if this were true? On the long plane flight back from Europe on Monday I thought to myself, what if I try to start by living my life by this pretense and then see if it seems true? But, how does one begin when one still doubts?

And then I found some solace in another Hidden Word:
"O Children of the Divine and Invisible Essence!
Ye shall be hindered from loving Me and souls shall be perturbed as they make mention of Me. For minds cannot grasp Me nor hearts contain Me."

Hearken to the Delightsome Words of His Mystic Holiness

There are always times when we may feel more or less inclined towards prayer, times when we are more or less open to the words God has revealed to us through His Manifestations. Sometimes the shadow of darkness in our lives makes it harder for us to reach for prayer; tests and trials can also have the potential to deepen our faith. For all of us, in all times, I pray that we increasingly find ways to come back to His Word and to discover greater certitude through it. For all of us, I pray the following, which was revealed to us by Bahá'u'lláh in The Hidden Words.

O MY BROTHER!
Hearken to the delightsome words of My honeyed tongue, and quaff the stream of mystic holiness from My sugar-shedding lips. Sow the seeds of My divine wisdom in the pure soil of thy heart, and water them with the water of certitude, that the hyacinths of My knowledge and wisdom may spring up fresh and green in the sacred city of thy heart.

We Are the Resplendent Daystars...

I'd love to get a discussion going about the following Hidden Word:

O MY FRIEND! Thou art the daystar of the heavens of My holiness, let not the defilement of the world eclipse thy splendor. Rend asunder the veil of heedlessness, that from behind the clouds thou mayest emerge resplendent and array all things with the apparel of life.
-Baha'u'llah (The Hidden Words, from the Persian)

Points for reflection:
1) What is Baha'u'llah telling us here about our station as humans?
2) What does it mean to be a "daystar of the heavens of My holiness"? Merriam-Webster define "daystar" as a morning star, or the sun. We're obviously not the Sun (a.k.a. God) itself, so what does it mean for us to be the daystar of that heavenly Sun?
3) I am so moved by this line of not letting the defilement of the world eclipse our splendor! Indeed, how splendid each one of us is, should we but choose to release that light. This is something I often think about - the extent to which I allow myself to fully show my inner self, the brightness of my Being, and truly live from that deeper spiritual core. Does this struggle make sense to anyone else?
4) In what ways do we wear the veil of heedlessness and how do we live from a more conscious and considerate manner of Being? If we do this, we are promised that we have the capacity to emerge "resplendent".
5) How are we to understand "the apparel of life"?

Love and Choice

O SON OF BEING!
Love Me, that I may love thee. If thou lovest Me not, My love can in no wise reach thee. Know this, O servant.
Bahá'u'lláh, The Hidden Words, from the Arabic

Last night at our Ruhi Book 3 study circle M gave a very useful metaphor that can be applied to this quote. Imagine that God's love is like rain, pouring down on all things. If we were to put up an umbrella, the rain would still be pouring down all around us, but the umbrella (like our fears and veils, which become barriers) would block us from directly receiving that love. But the love is always there should we but choose it.... which reminds me of part of a morning prayer I love:

"Thou disappointest no one who hath sought Thee, nor dost Thou keep back from Thee anyone who hath desired Thee." Bahá'u'lláh

One step closer today

So many thoughts percolating in my brain from our chats last night at Bosch, many of which I’m likely to blog about soon… and to start the day in such a joyful way, my heart is overflowing. Every day is a new day for faith. Every day is a new opportunity to grow closer to God.

O SON OF LOVE!
Thou art but one step away from the glorious heights above and from the celestial tree of love. Take thou one pace and with the next advance into the immortal realm and enter the pavilion of eternity. Give ear then to that which hath been revealed by the pen of glory.
-Bahá'u'lláh (from The Hidden Words)