“O thou gem of the Kingdom and brilliant leaf!...”

O thou gem of the Kingdom and brilliant leaf!

Verily, I have read thy letter which showeth how thou art turning unto God, moved by the breath of God, drawn by the Spirit of God and how the mystery of existence, the image of the Lord of Hosts, was revealed unto thee. This indicates that God shall open before thee the doors of revelation and the Spirit of Truth shall confirm thee with evident signs.

Seeing this servant in thy prayers is a proof of the ideal nearness, of the spiritual unity and of the impression that was printed within thine own consciousness. At all times I do supplicate to the divine Kingdom to make thy heart a pure, clear and polished mirror, facing the most glorious Kingdom, El-Abha, that the pictures of the Supreme Concourse may be printed in it, and this is exactly what was meant in the Bible by this text: “Let us create man after our own image and likeness.”

To see repeatedly is an evidence that the vision will take place both in the spirit and body; but separation and union, parting and meeting are things which belong to the material body. The spirit is sanctified from association, departure, nearness, remoteness, connection and separation, for these are of the properties of material bodies and of the characteristics of the elementary facts; but the Spirit is everlastingly in the station of its loftiness and supremacy in a similar way to the sun which is continually stationed in its sphere orbit; its appearance and disappearance signify the clearness of the place and the fineness of the body which is facing it, and as long as the confronting surface continues to be in a well-polished condition, the lights of the sun will then appear in it; but when it becometh rough and impure, the lights disappear.

Consequently, it hath been proven that nearness and remoteness signify smoothness, clearness and fineness; or rust, impurity and roughness, respectively.

And if God wisheth, through the clearness of the heart, we will be continually in the assembly of alliance and friendship, resting permanently in the spiritual and heavenly realm, adoring and worshipping God, meeting and uniting by the holy fragrances, drawn by the magnet of the love of God and thanking Him for this great bounty and evident victory.

As to our meeting materially (i.e., face to face), I ask God that He may ordain this for us in the way He deemeth best.

Then know, O thou virtuous soul, that as soon as thou becometh separated from aught else save God and dost cut thyself from the worldly things, thy heart will shine with the lights of divinity and with the effulgence of the Sun of Truth from the horizon of the Realm of Might, and then thou wilt be filled by the spirit of power from God and become capable of doing that which thou desirest. This is the confirmed truth.

As to the desire shown by thee towards serving holy and spiritual souls, it is indeed of the best desires and of the most noble qualities. Blessed is he who is strengthened and confirmed by such a desire during all his life, in the hope of attaining eternal life.

As to thee, O thou being who art attracted to God, announce the glad-tidings of the Kingdom of God through the breaths of the Holy Spirit; for He will confirm thee in a similar manner to the confirmation He bestowed upon the holy souls in the past decades and former ages.

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