Degrees of Truth

*A retelling based on **The Diary of Juliet Thompson** by Juliet Thompson. Words in quotation marks are quoted from the diary.*

1 / 22

At the end of May 1912 'Abdu'l-Bahá came back to New York from Boston. He stayed a day or so with the Kinneys and then moved to His new house at 309 West Seventy-Eighth Street. For two days He did not look at Juliet Thompson. "My heart bled and burned," she wrote. On the third day she went to the new house and wept in the arms of her friend Lua Getsinger.

2 / 22

"I cry," she said, "only because I love Him." In her diary she put a few words in parentheses after that sentence: "which I fear was not exactly true."

3 / 22

Then He sent for her. She went in with tears on her face. He was sitting on a couch, writing, and did not look up. At last He spoke, going, she says, straight to the real cause of her trouble: "I have not seen you lately, Juliet, because of the multitude of the affairs. But I have not forgotten My promise to pose for you." She was a painter, and He had promised to sit for a portrait.

4 / 22

She knelt and begged Him not to send her away from His presence. He rose, took her hand and held it a long time. Lua spoke for her. The Master smiled and said something about another love.

5 / 22

"That is gone. Gone," Juliet cried.

6 / 22

She believed it when she said it. Yet she records that whenever the Master held her hand she felt a flow of sparks from His palm to hers, and at these words the current was suddenly cut off. She asked herself afterward: "Could I have lied to my Lord, and so, by unconscious self-deception, disconnected myself from the Fountainhead of pure Truth?"

7 / 22

His answer, she wrote, was merciful, and reminded her of past sincerities. "I am pleased with you, Juliet. You are so truthful. You tell me everything." He turned, laughing, to Lua and repeated something Juliet had once said to Him: "'This is my heart. What can I do with it?'" Before the visit ended He said, "I love Juliet for her truthfulness."

8 / 22

He came back to it through the summer. On 13 June she went to His house so early that no visitors had yet arrived. He called her to a seat opposite Him and began, smiling: "Juliet is absolutely truthful. For this I love her very much. She conceals nothing from me."

9 / 22

"It would be useless, my Lord," she answered, "to try to conceal anything from You. I could hide nothing."

10 / 22

"That is true," said the Master, raising one hand. "Nothing; nothing."

11 / 22

On 10 July He kept her to lunch. While they waited downstairs, with only Valíyu'lláh Khán present, He spoke again of her truthfulness. Juliet prayed aloud that she might one day have all the virtues, so as to make Him happy in every way.

12 / 22

"But he who possesses truthfulness possesses all the virtues," said the Master.

13 / 22

Then He told them a story. A disciple of Muḥammad asked another disciple what he should do to please God, and was told: do not kill, do not steal, do not covet. "A great many 'do nots'," the Master laughed. He asked another, and was told to pray, to be generous, to be courageous. Then the disciple went to 'Alí, who answered: "One thing only: be truthful."

14 / 22

"For," the Master went on, "if you are truthful, you cannot commit murder. You would have to confess it! Neither can you steal. You would have to confess it."

15 / 22

"My Lord," Juliet said, "if ever I have told You an untruth it was because I deceived myself."

16 / 22

"There are degrees of truth," He answered, "but that word of yours which has so pleased Me was absolute, perfect, extraordinary truth."

17 / 22

She does not say which word He meant. On 17 July, walking up and down the library, He told her: "That matter between us, your truthfulness on that occasion makes Me happy whenever I think of it." She answered that everything in her heart was for Him to see. He came close and looked into her eyes. "I see your heart," He said. "I look into your face and your heart is perfectly clear to Me."

18 / 22

On 12 November He took Juliet and Valíyu'lláh Khán to walk in what she called "His garden," a narrow strip of park above the river. He sat down on a bench between them, holding her hand tightly, and asked her question after question about a certain condition among the believers in New York. She had never suspected it and knew nothing about it.

19 / 22

"But I don't know, my Lord!" she said. "If I knew, I would tell you."

20 / 22

"I know you don't know," He laughed, "and I do know. There are many things I know that you do not know. I was only testing you. I have loved you for your truthfulness, for the truth you spoke in a matter you remember. I wanted to see if your heart were in the same state of truthfulness."

21 / 22

*This is a retelling. For the fuller account, see **The Diary of Juliet Thompson** by Juliet Thompson.*

22 / 22