' I venture to hope that
this 'expounding' may not, in the future, extend to philosophic,
philological, scientific, and exegetical details. Just as Jesus made
mistakes about Moses and David, so may Baha-'ullah and Abdul Baha fall
into error on secular problems, among which it is obvious to include
Biblical and K??uranic exegesis.
It appears to me that the essence of Bahaism is not dogma, but the
unification of peoples and religions in a certain high-minded and far
from unpractical mysticism. I think that Abdul Baha is just as much
devoted to mystic and yet practical religion as his father. In one of
the reports of his talks or monologues he is introduced as saying:
'A moth loves the light though his wings are burnt. Though his wings
are singed, he throws himself against the flame. He does not love the
light because it has conferred some benefits upon him. Therefore he
hovers round the light, though he sacrifice his wings. This is the
highest degree of love. Without this abandonment, this ecstasy, love
is imperfect. The Lover of God loves Him for Himself, not for his own
sake.'--From 'Abbas Effendi,' by E. S. Stevens, _Fortnightly
Review_, June 1911, p. 1067.
This is, surely, the essence of mysticism. As a characteristic of the
Church of 'the Abha' it goes back, as we have seen, to the Ba?„b. As a
characteristic of the Brotherhood of the 'New Dispensation' it is
plainly set forth by Keshab Chandra Sen.
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