Laugh! Laugh!

Two ladies had an interview with ‘Abdu’l-Bahá in New York City. Ella Quant wrote about that occasion: “He told Margaret He prayed for her parents (who had passed into the life beyond some months before). Her eyes filled with tears and overflowed; mine then did likewise. The interpreter, perhaps at a loss, shook his head at us and said in an admonishing tone that we should never cry in His presence. It made Him sad.

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As I looked up, I saw that ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s sadness was for us—not for Himself—for with hands outstretched to calm and protect us, like a mother bird hovering over her young in the nest, He exclaimed in English, ‘Laugh! Laugh!’ I shall never forget that voice, vibrant and powerful beyond any words of mine to express.

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In that voice I have come to see the power of heaven to rout all negative forces of existence, and in arising to obey that command to find the eternal joy of life.”

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The Master could call for laughter even at a time such as that—this need not seem strange when one realizes that He saw death as ‘a messenger of joy’.

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