Knowledge & Understanding
Glory to God Most High, full of Grace and Mercy; He created All, including Man. To Man He gave a special place in His Creation. He honored man to be His Agent. And to that end, endued him with understanding, purified his affections, and gave him spiritual insight; so that Man should understand Nature, understand himself, and know God through His wondrous Signs, and glorify Him in Truth, reverence, and unity.
Free Will
For the fulfillment of this great trust Man was further given a Will, so that his acts should reflect God's universal Will and Law, and his mind, freely choosing, should experience the sublime joy of being in harmony with the Infinite, and with the great drama of the world around him, and with his own spiritual growth.
Distorted Views
But, created though he was in the best of molds, Man fell from Unity when His Will was warped, and he chose the crooked path of Discord. And sorrow and pain, selfishness and degradation, ignorance and hatred, despair and unbelief poisoned his life, and he saw shapes of evil in the physical, moral, and spiritual world, and in himself.
Reality & Illusion
Then did his soul rise against himself, and his self-discord made discord between kith and kin: men began to fear the strong and oppress the weak, to boast in prosperity, and curse in adversity. And to flee each other, pursuing phantoms, for the truth and reality of Unity was gone from their minds.
Brotherhood of Man
When men spread themselves over the earth, and became many nations, speaking diverse languages, and observing diverse customs and laws; the evils became multiplied, as one race or nation became alienated from another. The Brotherhood of Man was now doubly forgotten -- first, between individuals, and secondly, between nations. Arrogance, selfishness, and untruth were sown and reaped in larger fields; and Peace, Faith, Love and Justice were obscured over masses of men, as large tracts of land are starved of sunshine by clouds floating far on high.
The Struggling Soul
But God, in His infinite mercy and love, Who forgives and guides individuals and nations, and turns to good even what seems to us evil, never forsakes the struggling soul that turns to Him, nor the groups of men and women who join together to obey His Will and Law and strengthen each other in unity and truth, nor the Nations that dwell in mountain or valley, heat or cold, in regions fertile or arid, in societies that roam over land or seas, or hunt, or tend flocks, or till the soil, or seek the seas for food or oil or fat or gems, or dig out from the bowels of the earth precious stones or metals or stored-up heat and energy, or practice arts and crafts, or produce abundant wealth by machines of ingenious workmanship, or live a frugal life of contemplation: for all are creatures of One God, and share His loving care and must be brought within the pale of His eternal unity and harmony.
Glory to God Most High, full of Grace and Mercy; He created All, including Man. To Man He gave a special place in His Creation. He honored man to be His Agent. And to that end, endued him with understanding, purified his affections, and gave him spiritual insight; so that Man should understand Nature, understand himself, and know God through His wondrous Signs, and glorify Him in Truth, reverence, and unity.
Free Will
For the fulfillment of this great trust Man was further given a Will, so that his acts should reflect God's universal Will and Law, and his mind, freely choosing, should experience the sublime joy of being in harmony with the Infinite, and with the great drama of the world around him, and with his own spiritual growth.
Distorted Views
But, created though he was in the best of molds, Man fell from Unity when His Will was warped, and he chose the crooked path of Discord. And sorrow and pain, selfishness and degradation, ignorance and hatred, despair and unbelief poisoned his life, and he saw shapes of evil in the physical, moral, and spiritual world, and in himself.
Reality & Illusion
Then did his soul rise against himself, and his self-discord made discord between kith and kin: men began to fear the strong and oppress the weak, to boast in prosperity, and curse in adversity. And to flee each other, pursuing phantoms, for the truth and reality of Unity was gone from their minds.
Brotherhood of Man
When men spread themselves over the earth, and became many nations, speaking diverse languages, and observing diverse customs and laws; the evils became multiplied, as one race or nation became alienated from another. The Brotherhood of Man was now doubly forgotten -- first, between individuals, and secondly, between nations. Arrogance, selfishness, and untruth were sown and reaped in larger fields; and Peace, Faith, Love and Justice were obscured over masses of men, as large tracts of land are starved of sunshine by clouds floating far on high.
The Struggling Soul
But God, in His infinite mercy and love, Who forgives and guides individuals and nations, and turns to good even what seems to us evil, never forsakes the struggling soul that turns to Him, nor the groups of men and women who join together to obey His Will and Law and strengthen each other in unity and truth, nor the Nations that dwell in mountain or valley, heat or cold, in regions fertile or arid, in societies that roam over land or seas, or hunt, or tend flocks, or till the soil, or seek the seas for food or oil or fat or gems, or dig out from the bowels of the earth precious stones or metals or stored-up heat and energy, or practice arts and crafts, or produce abundant wealth by machines of ingenious workmanship, or live a frugal life of contemplation: for all are creatures of One God, and share His loving care and must be brought within the pale of His eternal unity and harmony.
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