The Tree Must Have Roots

Inquire after the health of Miss .........., send her my greeting and say: “Many ideas rise up in the human mind; some of them concern truth and some untruth. Among such ideas those which owe their source to the Light of Truth will be realized in the outward world; while others of a different origin vanish, come and go like waves on the sea of imagination and find no realization in the world of existence.

“Similarly, numerous, various meetings and assemblages have been organized during the past ages and bygone centuries. All these produced no result except those assemblages which rendered unmixed service to the Light of Truth; from such assemblages alone great results were realized in the world of existence.

“For instance, consider how many a thousand assemblages—religious, political and literary—have been organized in India, Persia, Turkestan, Chinese countries and, in a word, in every part of Asia. All these gave no result except that assemblage of the disciples of Christ on the mount fifty days after Christ’s ascension. All that hath since been effected along the line of diffusing the holy fragrances of Christ, uplifting the Word of God, spreading the Gospel, training souls and guiding the people, hath been wholly from the result of the effects produced by that assemblage of the disciples. Those effects are continual even in the present time.

“Consequently, if one looks for praiseworthy results and wishes to produce eternal effects, let him make exceeding effort, in order that Green Acre may become an assemblage for the Word of God and a gathering place for the spiritual ones of the heavenly world.

“The moldered, two-thousand-years-old superstitions of the heedless, ignorant peoples, whether of Asia or Europe, should not be spread in that revered gathering place; for, if such be the case, let it be known for certain that that assemblage will yield no result and will, before long, be forgotten and consigned to oblivion, similar to other meetings of bygone times.

“I beg of God that that esteemed maid-servant of God shall be the cause of spreading the Cause of God, so that the Light of Truth may shine and the world be illumined.

“When you reflect attentively, you will find that the Word is what we have hereby said and that all else save this is pure imagination, is of no stability and is evanescent.

“The tree must have roots in order to yield fruit. The trees of the forest of Asia have yielded no fruit for thousands of years, except the blessed Trees of the Divine Manifestations, for each one of these Trees hath so developed and flourished that it hath trained and nourished the whole earth with fruits and yields.”

Source: 'Abdu'l-Bahá, Tablets of 'Abdu'l-Bahá Abbas (1909). Public domain text from Project Gutenberg eBook #19312.

'Abdu'l-Bahá. (1909). *Tablets of 'Abdu'l-Bahá Abbas*. https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/19312/pg19312-images.html