Daily Lessons Received at ‘Akká, January 1908/Automatic Writing
| Daily Lessons Received at ‘Akká, January 1908 Automatic Writing |
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AUTOMATIC WRITING
[edit]Question: What is the power used in automatic writing?
Answer: This power is neither heavenly nor spiritual; neither is it an influence from disembodied spirits. It is of the human spirit—magnetism within the self of the one doing the writing.
When the thoughts have taken possession of the mind and are not consciously directed, one becomes subject to their promptings and, unconsciously, or automatically, takes a pencil and writes them down. The oftener this is done, the stronger becomes the magnetic prompting.
For instance, one may learn a lesson or poem by heart, and he repeats and repeats it so often that the thoughts take possession of him, and he will repeat it unconsciously even in his sleep. This is magnetism belonging to the human spirit.
Or he may walk many times upon a certain road, and he takes his walk so often he is able to take it unconsciously or automatically.
This power is his own magnetism.
A mother rocks and rocks her babe to sleep in a cradle, but the thought of the child’s sleep may so take possession of her mind that sometimes she is able to put him to sleep without the aid of the cradle. This effect is produced by the mother’s magnetism.
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In regard to the automatic writing, if one will pray very earnestly, and pray sufficiently, the mind will turn against the automatic writing, and one will be freed from the effects of that power.
Pray, and pray, and not be misled by the seeming beauty of the writings.
One of us had a birthday, and ‘Abdu’l-Bahá congratulated her upon being in that Sacred Spot for such an anniversary. He was asked to guess the age, and He smilingly guessed several years under the right number. She said, although He was very kind, she was bound to acknowledge a few years more, at which He quickly rejoined, “I wish to make you as young as possible so that you will have so many more years in which to live and spread this Truth.” She said that since becoming a Bahá’í, nine years ago, she had been growing younger every day. He smiled and assented, “That is so, and, in reality, you are only nine years old.”
Then He told the following story: A great king, walking in his garden one day, noticed a man, about ninety years old, planting some trees. The king asked what he was doing and the old man answered that he was planting date trees. “How long before they will bear fruit?” asked the king. “Twenty years.” “But you will not live to enjoy the fruit; why then should you plant these trees?” The old man answered, “The last generation planted trees that bore fruit for my benefit; so it is now my duty to plant for the benefit of the next generation.”
The king was pleased at this answer so gave the man
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a piece of money. The gardener fell on his knees and thanked him. The king asked, “Why do you kneel before me?” “Because, your majesty, not only have I had the pleasure, or gift, of planting these trees, but they have already borne fruit, since you give me this money.” This so pleased the king he gave the man another piece of money.
Again the old gardener knelt, saying, “Again I kneel to thank your majesty. Most trees will bear fruit only once, while these trees of mine have already borne two crops—since you give me two pieces of money.”
The king smiled and asked, “How old are you?” The man answered, “I am twelve years old.” “How can that be? You are surely a very old man.” The gardener answered, “In the days of the king your predecessor, the people were in a most unhappy state of constant warfare and trouble, so I cannot include that as a part of my life. But since your majesty came to rule, the people are happy, contented, and at peace. Therefore, as it is but twelve years since your gracious reign began, I am only twelve years old.” This pleased the king so very much that, perforce, he gave the old man another piece of money, saying, “I shall have to leave you now, for your words please me so greatly that if I listen to you longer I shall become a pauper!”
One day we spoke of an active worker in this Cause, and ‘Abdu’l-Bahá said, “In this Cause, he who is active and who makes an effort will always meet with success. In worldly matters how often we see a man work hard for a lifetime and never achieve success.
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But the worker in the cause of God is like a gardener. The more attention he gives his garden, the more fruit will reward his efforts, or, like the traveler who has a great goal before him, no matter how hard the road, if he only keep on walking and is not turned aside by discouragements, he is sure, eventually, to reach his goal.”
Question: Will the stations of the believers continue to be different hereafter?
‘Abdu’l-Bahá answered, “Yes, it will be necessarily so, for the Kingdom requires it.
“The King appoints one to be his prime minister, another to be his greatest general, another a soldier, and so on from the highest to the lowest. If all were generals or all were soldiers, there would be no kingdom.
“God created the mineral, the vegetable, the animal, and man. Had He created only man there would be no world.”