Since all men have issued forth from the shadow of the signs
of His Divinity and Lordship, they always tend to take a path, lofty and high.
And because they are bereft of a discerning eye to recognize their Beloved,
they fall short of their duty to manifest meekness and humility towards Him.
Nevertheless, from the beginning of their lives till the end thereof, in
conformity with the laws established in the previous religion, they worship
God, piously adore Him, bow themselves before His divine Reality and show
submissiveness toward His exalted Essence. At the hour of His manifestation,
however, they all turn their gaze toward their own selves and are thus shut out
from Him, inasmuch as they fancifully regard Him as one like unto themselves.
Far from the glory of God is such a comparison. Indeed that august Being
resembleth the physical sun, His verses are like its rays, and all believers,
should they truly believe in Him, are as mirrors wherein the sun is reflected.
Their light is thus a mere reflection.
(The Báb, excerpt from the Persian
Bayán, ‘Selections from the Writings of the Báb)
