The Open Door/Text

THE

| OPEN | DOOR [Page 1]

Coryricutr 1947 By rue Narionat Spirrruat AssEMBLY OF THE

Bau is or THE Unrrep Srares aND CANADA x BAHA’] PUBLISHING COMMITTEE 110 LINDEN AVENUE WILMETTE, ILLINOIS

Printed in U.S.A. [Page 2]THE OPEN DOOR

Death — like birth—is an open door to new and greater life

a things in life change, sometimes slowly and sometimes quickly. We do not notice the gradual changes, but the sudden change comes like a great shock. We are frequently stunned or filled with grief. Death comes suddenly, but like birth, death is an open door to a new and greater life.

The eternal truth of immortality is taught anew by the Bahai Faith. ‘Abdu’]-Baha wrote to a parent, stricken at the passing of a son: “But as he has been freed

from this sorrow-stricken shelter and has turned his face toward... the Kingdom’... . therein lies the consolation of our hearts.”

“The inscrutable divine wisdom underlies such heart-rending occurrences. It is as if a kind gardener transfers a fresh and tender shrub from a narrow place to a vast region. This transference is not the cause of the withering, the waning or the destruction of that shrub, nay rather it makes it grow and thrive, acquire freshness and delicacy and attain verdure and fruition. This hidden secret is well-known to the gardener, while those souls who are unaware of this bounty suppose that the gardener in his anger and wrath has uprooted the shrub. But to those who are aware, this concealed fact is manifest and [Page 3]this predestined decree considered a favor. Do not feel grieved and disconsolate therefore...” |

yr “Consider, moreover, how the fruit, ere it is formed, lieth potentially within the tree. Were the tree | to be cut to pieces, no sign nor any part of the fruit, how- \

ever small, could be detected. When it appeareth, however, it manifesteth itself, as thou hast observed, in its wondrous beauty and glorious perfection. Certain fruits, indeed, attain their fullest development only after being severed from the tree.”

LD

“To consider that after the death of the body, the spirit perishes, is like imagining that a bird in a cage will be destroyed if the cage is broken, though the bird has nothing to fear from the destruction of the cage. Our body is like the cage and the spirit is like the bird... . If the cage becomes broken, the bird will continue and exist; its feelings will be even more powerful, its perception greater and its happiness increased.”

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“Tt is evident that the spirit is different from the body, and that the bird is different from the cage, and that the power and penetration of the spirit is stronger without | the intermediary of the body. Now if the instrument is abandoned, the possessor of the instrument continues to act. For example, if the pen is abandoned or broken, the writer remains living and present; if a house is ruined, the owner is alive and existing. This is one of the logical evidences of the immortality of the soul.” [Page 4]“Know thou that the soul of man is exalted above, and is independent of all infirmities of body or mind. That a sick person showeth signs of weakness is due to the hindrances that interpose themselves between his soul and

his body, for the soul itself remaineth unaffected by any

bodily ailments. Consider the light of the lamp. Though / an external object may interfere with its radiance, the

light itself continueth to shine with undiminished power. In like manner, every malady afflicting the body of man is an impediment that preventeth the soul from manifesting its inherent might and power. When it leaveth the body, however, it will evince such ascendency, and reveal such influence as no force on earth can equal. Every pure, every refined and sanctified soul will be endowed with tremendous power, and shall rejoice with exceeding gladness.” yor

“Know thou of a truth that the soul after its separation from the body, will continue to progress until it attaineth the presence of God, in a state and condition

- which neither the revolution of ages nor the changes and chances of this world can alter. It will endure as long as the Kingdom of God, His sovereignty, His dominion and power will endure. It will manifest the signs of God and

| His attributes, and will reveal His loving kindness and

E bounty.”

4 * 7

“Why shouldst thou be sad and heartbroken?

This separation is temporal; this remoteness and sorrow

is counted only by days. Thou shalt find him in the

Kingdom of God and thou wilt attain to the everlasting

union. Physical companionship is ephemeral, but heaven . 3 [Page 5]ly association is eternal. Whenever thou rememberest the eternal and never ending union thou wilt be comforted.” f =f" =F

“© Son of the Supreme!

I have made death a messenger of joy to thee. Wherefore dost thou grieve? I have made the light to shea on thee its splendor. Why dost thou veil thyself therefrom?”

Vien hee:

“Q Son of Spirit!

The spirit of holiness beareth unto thee the joyful tidings of reunion; wherefore dost thou grieve? The spirit of power confirmeth thee in His Cause; why dost thou veil thyself? The light of His countenance doth lead thee; how canst thou go astray?”

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“Death prottereth unto every confident believer the cup that is life indeed. It bestoweth joy, and is the bearer of gladness. It conferreth the gift of everlasting ite?

{- fF FF

“As to the question whether the souls will recognize each other in the spiritual world: This fact is certain; for the Kingdom is the world of vision where all the concealed realities will become disclosed. How much more the well-known souls will become manifest. The mysteries of which man is heedless in this earthly world, those he will discover in the heavenly world, and there will he be informed of the secret of truth; how much more will he recognize or discover persons with whom he hath been associated. Undoubtedly, the holy souls who find a pure [Page 6]eye and are favored with insight will, in the kingdom of lights, be acquainted with all mysteries, and will seek the bounty of witnessing the reality of every great soul. Even they will manifestly behold the Beauty of God in that

world.” 4,77

“With them (the Prophets and His chosen ones) that soul will freely converse, and will recount unto them that which it has been made to endure in the path of God, the Lord of all the worlds. If any man be told that which hath been ordained for such a soul in the worlds of God .. . his whole being will instantly blaze out in his great longing to attain that most exalted, that sanctified and ”

resplendent station. .. . Tf YF

“Death, therefore, is applicable to a change or transference from one degree to another. . .. There never is for man, annihilation. Man is everlasting, ever living. And if we think of death it is only an imaginary term implying change. . . . Man only through ignorance is

afraid of death.” 4 7

“A love that one may have entertained for anyone will not be forgotten in the world of the Kingdom, nor wilt thou forget there the life that thou hadst in the

material world.” q 7 y

Death, the tender messenger of joy, opens the door to eternal life in all the worlds of God.

(These quotations are taken from the writings of Bah@ wlléh and ‘Abdw!|-Bahé.) �