Daily Lessons Received at ‘Akká, January 1908/Symbolic Picture
| Daily Lessons Received at ‘Akká, January 1908 Symbolic Picture |
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SYMBOLIC PICTURE
[edit]As we slowly descended Mt. Carmel our eyes beheld a symbolic picture of wondrous beauty.
Before us spread the Bay of ‘Akká. The sun had just disappeared (to our left), and it was still daylight, the glowing colors of the sky and landscape remaining.
To our right stretched the cream-colored beach; and, beyond, the dark green line of shrubs and trees followed its curve.
Still further on was the range of blue mountains, snowcapped.
The full moon of orange color had already risen above these mountains, and its golden beams reached across the bright blue Bay.
Directly opposite lay ‘Akká, the Beautiful, its forlorn, ancient buildings transfigured in that wonderful light to marble palaces, carved and jeweled—a “White City” rising from the Bay, its domes and minarets pointed with rubies.
The following Words of Bahá’u’lláh interpret the symbol:
“O people of the earth! When the Sun of My Bounty sets and the Firmament of My Form is hidden, be not troubled. Arise for the helping of My Work and the advancement of My Word throughout the world. Verily, We are with you under all conditions and will help you with the Truth.”18
“Say, O people!
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“Let not trouble take possession of you when the kingdom of My Epiphany becomes concealed and the waves of the Ocean of My Utterance are hushed.
“Verily, there is in My Epiphany a reason and in My Occultation another reason which none knoweth save God, the Incomparable, the All-Knowing.19 And we shall see you from the most Glorious Horizon and will help whosoever riseth up for the helping of Our Work with hosts from the Supreme Concourse and a cohort of the Cherubim.”20
At the time of the disappearance of the “Form” of the “Sun” (Bahá’u’lláh), the “Moon” of this Dispensation (‘Abdu’l-Bahá) had already arisen, and the Beams of this “Orb of peace and reconciliation” have encircled the globe.
As the light of the material sun remains long after it has set, so, in this Day, the Light of the Sun of God’s Manifestation remains, and the “Moon” of this Manifestation, being so high in the spiritual heaven, above the earthly states and conditions, will continue to reflect in greatest splendor the Light of the Heavenly Sun.
On the nineteenth of January we left the Holy Land, our spiritual Home, to enter the world again. Our hearts were full to overflowing with the gracious gifts which had been bestowed—not only upon us, but upon all the friends to whom we were bearing ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s loving messages.
As we sailed away, gazing at ‘Akká, it presented a different appearance from its material reality. Instead
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of a crumbling, gray stone building, the prison, as it projected into the blue Sea, looked like an exquisite white marble “casket.”
From the worldly standpoint, it is truly a prison. From the heavenly standpoint, it is truly a “Casket” containing
