As previously mentioned in an earlier post, Julio Savi is my favorite Baha'i scholar (with Anne Boyles' Baha'i World essays in close second. Trust me). Savi's latest work, Towards the Summit of Reality: An Introduction to the Study of Baha'u'llah's Seven Valleys and Four Valleys, is an insightful gem. 'Abdu'l-Baha described the Seven Valleys as "a guide for human conduct." (Promulgation, 244) Savi offers a scholarly guide (or perhaps a more adept term would be a study guide) to assist a reader's understanding of Quranic references, historic Persian mystical poets, and Sufism. Since I am nowhere near completing his latest work, I will include a few favorite sections, passages, quotes, etc.
"A number of scholars describe the Sufis of this age as following two main trends. One trend, represented by al-Junayd in Iraq, especially Baghdad and Basra, emphasized the state of 'sobriety' (sahw) evoked in the human heart by the contemplation of the tremendous majesty (jalal) of God. The other, presented by Bayazid in Khorasan in north-eastern Iran, stressed the state of 'intoxication' (sukr) induced in the human heart by the contemplation of the fascinating beauty (jamal) of God."
The tremendous majesty and fascinating beauty of God....oh my. To think this all started on page 4!
"It is very significant that the loss of faith is equated in Quranic language not with the corruption of the will but with the improper functioning of intelligence." (p. 43)
Imagine sharing that concept in a graduate seminar course? Now imagine the very few minutes it would take to be utterly told off?
". . . a primal event which does not belong to history, but to metahistory, when human souls enjoyed a mysterious existence in God before time was created. In that station before time, God put the question, 'Am I not your Lord?', and received from the souls the immediate and joyful answer: "Yes, we testify'. In that moment humankind undersigned, so to speak, an eternal Covenant with its Lord. . . the Qur'an says that man accepted, in his metahistory, an engagement to which he is now expected to be faithful in his history. Spiritual yearning is born from his remembrance of that engagement." p. 54 [Savi goes on to explain, at a much later point, how Baha'u'llah describes this encounter in Hidden Words, Persian no. 19]
1 comment:
You wrote: "It is very significant that the loss of faith is equated in Quranic language not with the corruption of the will but with the improper functioning of intelligence." (p. 43)
Imagine sharing that concept in a graduate seminar course? Now imagine the very few minutes it would take to be utterly told off?
I don't know what you're studying or where, but I'm sure you wouldn't have to worry about being ostracized if you broached the above for discussion in a religion or philosophy seminar. I'm speaking from experience.
Post a Comment