The mystery of our personality and the spiritual awakening of our character is one of the most profound themes in the teachings of the Revelation of Baha’u’llah. The foundation for entry into this citadel is upheld by the pillars of the first four Holy Books of Baha’u’llah: The Book of Certitude (Kitab-i-Iqan), The Hidden Words (Kalimat-i-Maknunih) and The Seven Valleys (Haft-Vadi) and The Four Valleys (Chihar-Vadi). These four Holy Books stand out as the first four supports in the Outer Sanctuary of this knowledge of experiencing God directly and personally for our very own selves–that is real justice–not through the eyes of another:
O SON OF SPIRIT! My first counsel is this: Possess a pure, kindly and radiant heart, that thine may be a sovereignty ancient, imperishable and everlasting.
O SON OF SPIRIT! The best beloved of all things in My sight is Justice; turn not away therefrom if thou desirest Me, and neglect it not that I may confide in thee. By its aid thou shalt see with thine own eyes and not through the eyes of others, and shalt know of thine own knowledge and not through the knowledge of thy neighbor. Ponder this in thy heart; how it behooveth thee to be. Verily justice is My gift to thee and the sign of My loving-kindness. Set it then before thine eyes. (Baha’u’llah, HW # 1, 2)
The experienced reality of “a unity that transcends the unity” is the prerequisite condition for ultimate approach into Divine Presence. Baha’u’llah states: “In this Valley, the wayfarer leaveth behind him the stages of the ‘Oneness of Being and Perception’ (wahdat-i wajud va shuhud) and reacheth a Oneness that is Sanctified above these two stations. Ecstasy alone can encompass this theme, not utterance nor argument; and whosoever hath dwelt at this stage of the journey, or caught a breath from this garden land, knoweth whereof We speak” (Baha’u’llah, 7th Valley).
Here Baha’u’llah Sanctifies a Oneness (unity) that is above the two stations of either the Oneness or Unity of Being (wahdat-i wujud) and the Oneness of Unity of Consciousness, Perception, Manifestation, Appearances or Witnessing (wahdat-i shuhud). These two experiential phenomena were hotly debated amongst the Hebrew and Islamic mystics of their respective days. This generated quite a bit of metaphysical speculation as well as divers systems of approach engendered to induce these types of experiential dimensions. The Christian mystics were not freed from this experimentation either and delved deep into the unfathomable roots of true Christian Cabala, divine alchemy, and the gnostic well-springs of the Western Esoteric Traditions. While Baha’u’llah speaks this language and is absolutely fluent in the qabalistic, spiritual, mystical, and sufistic experiences of the people of His day–His first four Holy Books transcend the human ascent that falls short of the glory of God and instead reveals something entirely NEW. For this reason the content of these first four books has been misconstrued by the majority of the scholars and has only been appreciated by the initiates of the Kingdom who have remained firm in the Covenant of God in the real and true reality of their day to day lives. In the Book of Certitude He states that veils of light (knowledge) have kept them out of this station. This is because they attempt to interpret Him in the meager light of their own limited interpretations of the former traditions–as opposed to opening up to the experience of something NEW in reality, and then allowing for His words to be our shared language for what the knowers know and the speakers cannot tell.
These first four books, ‘Abdu’l-Baha states are meant to be lived and not merely read or heard:
Through the power of faith, obey ye the teachings of God, and let all your ACTIONS conform to His laws. Read ye The Hidden Words, ponder the inner meanings thereof, ACT in accord therewith.
The Hidden Words is a treasury of divine mysteries. When thou ponderest its contents, the doors of the mysteries will open.
It behoveth us one and all to recite day and night both the Persian and Arabic Hidden Words, to pray fervently and supplicate tearfully that we may be enabled to conduct ourselves in accordance with these divine counsels. These Holy Words have not been revealed to be heard but to be practiced. (‘Abdu’l-Baha, Tablets, Persian)
The ultimate goal is a sense of knowing without any doubt. This is an existential knowing of the Divine Reality from personal immediate experience in day to day life. This Certainty of knowing is closer to the real meaning of Iqan. It is also sometimes translated as ‘assurances.’ Thus it reveals the falsity of the acts of the people who have rejected the identity of the promised ones of their day in the previous dispensations. It guides us to walk “the path of positive knowledge” (Iqan, p. 215) and yet refutes what is vain and false. It opens with the falsifiability of religion (thus it is scientific along the lines of, and far preceding, Popper) and exposes the wicked acts of those who in the previous dispensations were shut out as by a veil in order to awaken us to the current clime.
The function of The Hidden Words and The Seven Valleys is a matter of self-purification and deeds, and acts to be put into practice in our lives in real time in order to prepare us for entry into the Presence of the Divine. This entry into the Divine Presence is symbolized by four grades or degrees; and each of these four grades or degrees is symbolized by a different goal or end point of satisfaction of the Divine desire and the unreserved acceptance of the Divine decree. The end goal reflects the ultimate corner or core value of the individual. “Four” is used merely as an outer symbol of balance, equilibrium, and the four inner chambers of the heart. The ultimate point is the experiential awakening of the inner life-world of the spirit and soul of the person into the direct and immediate contacts with the Divine. These are Baha’u’llah’s Four pre-eminent works upon the reality of true spiritual psychology–that is the purification, growth and readiment of the soul (psyche) in relationship to the (logos) the Word of God and the Divine Operating Principles animating the dynamism of itself in union with the cosmic reality.
Now it should be kept in mind that these first Four Holy Books precede His own Proclamation in the garden of Ridvan in April of 1863. We can date the Iqan (1862 revealed in two days); The Hidden Words in January of 1858 and others added later as needed; The 7 Valleys circa 1856 and The 4 Valleys circa 1857. As such these Four Holy Books are depicted in the prophesied stone work of the Outer Sanctuary in the Great Pyramid; and technically reflect revealed texts in the Dispensation of the Bab (ostensibly) though Baha’u’llah was already fully cognizant of His own Mission since His awakening in the Siyah Chal (the Black Pit) in 1852.
Thus Baha’u’llah helped to establish three main Baha’i centers in his lifetime that were destroyed or hijacked: the first one during the ministry of the Bab in (a) Persia (1844-1852); a second (b) in the “name” of the Bab in Iraq (1852-1863); and the third (c) in His “own new Name” from Akka and on Mt. Carmel in the Holy Land. These events are reflected today in the mirror of al-mustaghath (Baha’u’allah, Gleanings XXX) and parallel the events in Montana during the ministry of Dr. Leland Jensen when the IBC/UHJ was incorporated in 1993; the events in Colorado from 2001 to 2012; and the events that are unfolding in current times.
The height of the Ante-Chamber in the Great Pyramid is 149 inches and represents the 149 years parallel of events between the ministry of Baha’u’llah in 1852 through 1863 with events still unfolding today. There is exactly 149 years from Sept. 21, 1852 when Baha’u’llah was awakened in the Black Pit and Sept. 21, 2001 AD when God brought forth his servant the BRANCH” (Zech. 3:9 KJV). The exact height at the spot of the raised red granite block on the floor of the Ante-Chamber of the Great Pyramid where the red granite floor begins in front of the Boss is 149 pyramid inches. Add these 149 years and we get the 2001 date to the very day. David Davidson also gets the date Sept. 21, 2001 AD (the Autumnal equinox) in the mid-point of the Granite Leaf and the terminal date of the 6000 years cycle of Adam–6000 pyramid inches on, what he calls, “the Chronograph of the Great Pyramid’s passageway system.” The Boss represents both the Primal Point of the Bab and the primal point of Unity (successor in the Covenant) in the Cause of God–the Zeru-BAB-el: living descendant of King David by which we are able to recognize the true UHJ from fakes, frauds, and imitations. The UHJ is symbolized by the chocolate granite Ark in the King’s Chamber that is the Ark of the Covenant from which Joshua the High Priest (Dr. Leland Jensen) takes out the seven sealed scroll and breaks the seven seals (see Rev. 5:1). No one other than the High Priest is allowed into the Holy of Holies. Thus God depicts these future events in the Outer Sanctuary dating as I have explained.
Before we can have the world election of the UHJ it must pass through the 4 Stage Constitution of Shoghi Effendi (January 9th, 1951). Thus taking into account the 6000 years ceiling dating of the Ante-Chamber–and the 6000 years/inch terminal date of the Granite Leaf in the Ante-Chamber–the four fold pattern of the Outer Sanctuary also represents the clean-up act of the world and personal affairs that must take place between the years 2001 AD and the growth and development of the faith and the deepening and maturation of its people and the people of the world (in all 12 principles including the Covenant) through Four Stages of purification and growth–for others this will be in the form of “four winds” of destruction.
Thus these Four Books in the different contexts when understood correctly are meant to be experienced by the believers in harmony with the lineage of the throne-line of King David that is a fellow believer of equal status in the faith with them.
He Who is Thy Branch (aghsan) and all Thy company, O my Lord, have broken this day their fast, after having observed it within the precincts of Thy court, and in their eagerness to please Thee. Do Thou ordain for Him, and for them, and for all such as have entered Thy presence in those days all the good Thou didst destine in Thy Book. Supply them, then, with that which will profit them, in both this life and in the life beyond. Thou, in truth, art the All-Knowing, the All-Wise. (Baha’u’llah, Naw Ruz Prayer)
The teachings in these Four Books are meant to transform both perception and being (shuhud va wujud) that is bring the individual and our culture and society to a Oneness that transcends the normal bounds and horizons of the existential (wujud) and phenomenological (shuhud) reality and conceptions.
Here Baha’u’llah speaks of: “a Oneness that is Sanctified above these two stations.”
This is all preparatory for our own entrance into “the deep things of God” (1 Cor. 2:10) and the real Presence of Divine communion: the deep things of the inner most recesses of the heart. This takes place both here in this life and as well in the afterlife as we prepare ourselves for our meeting with God, before the real throne on high, so to speak.
O Thou bird of the Garden of God!
Why art Thou sad and sorrowful, disappointed and grieved! Praise be to God! The eternal bounty is in succession, the Divine Glory is apparent and manifest, the display of Providence and light of guidance is glistening and shining from the Kingdom of ABHA and the appearance of the Greatest Sun is clear and evident. If Thou art outwardly far, then Thou art near in spirit, and if Thou art absent in body, Thou art present in heart and spirit.
Arise and wash thy body, wear a pure gown, and directing Thyself to the Kingdom of God, supplicate and pray to Him. Sleep in a clean, well prepared and ventilated place, and ask for appearance (or display) in the World of Vision. Thou wilt have visions which will cause the doors of doubts to be closed, which will give you new joy, wonderful dilation, brilliant glory. Thou wilt comprehend realities and meanings.
Verily, the bounty of the Kingdom is unlimited and the favors of the Lord of Majesty are like unto the rains of springtime. (‘Abdu’l-Baha, Tablets)
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