Compare versions: The Light, Not the Lamp

The same event, told by different sources. The canonical version below is what we publish; the alternate accounts are preserved for scholarly comparison and for noticing where retellings differ.

Canonical version

The Light, Not the Lamp

Secondary RetellingVarious · bahaistories.com archive

The Master’s life was centred on God, not on Himself. To do God’s will, to be His servant, were His concerns.

He disliked photographs of Himself, permitting them only to satisfy His friends. “But to have a picture of oneself,” He said, “is to emphasize the personality, which is merely the lamp, and is quite unimportant. The light burning within the lamp has the only real significance.”

Source: Vignettes from the Life of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá (Annamarie Honnold), no. 10, “Photographs of self—the light is important, not the lamp”, p. 13.

Collected from bahaistories.com (Subject: humility).

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Alternate account · 92% similar

The Master’s life was centered on God, not on Himself

Various · bahaistories.com archive

The Master’s life was centered on God, not on Himself. To do God’s will, to be His servant, were his concerns. He disliked photographs of Himself, permitting them only to satisfy His friends. ‘But to have a picture of oneself,’ He said, ‘is to emphasize the personality, which is merely the lamp, and is quite unimportant. The light burning within the lamp has the only real significance.’

Source: Honnold, Annamarie, Vignettes from the Life of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá

Collected from bahaistories.com (Subject: selfless).

Read the original

Why are alternate accounts kept? Different retellings of the same event often vary in emphasis, detail, and tone. Scholars and devotional readers can notice these differences and trace the trustworthiness of each retelling.