The virtues of humanity are many, but science is the most noble
of them all. The distinction which man enjoys above and beyond the station of
the animal is due to this paramount virtue. It is a bestowal of God; it is not
material; it is divine. Science is an effulgence of the Sun of Reality, the
power of investigating and discovering the verities of the universe, the means
by which man finds a pathway to God. All the powers and attributes of man are
human and hereditary in origin—outcomes of nature’s processes—except the
intellect, which is supernatural. Through intellectual and intelligent inquiry
science is the discoverer of all things. It unites present and past, reveals
the history of bygone nations and events, and confers upon man today the
essence of all human knowledge and attainment throughout the ages. By intellectual
processes and logical deductions of reason this superpower in man can penetrate
the mysteries of the future and anticipate its happenings.
-‘Abdu’l-Baha (From
a talk, 23 April 1912, Washington D.C.; ‘The Promulgation of Universal Peace:
Talks Delivered by ‘Abdu’l-Bahá during His Visit to the United States and
Canada in 1912’)
