Authority

Spiritual Reality Before “BE”

In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God 1

The first message conveyed by spiritual reality was the command “BE” 2

I testify … that Thou art God, that there is no God but Thee, and that He Who hath been manifested is the Hidden Mystery, the Treasured Symbol, through Whom the letters B and E (Be) have been joined and knit together. 3 4

The Creator, as the ultimate voice of authority and by virtue of this “first message” commands physical reality into existence through an initial singularity — a perfect unity — from which all matter and energy in the known universe emerges and expands into an endless expression of forms and relationships that honor their common heritage.

The force of this command compels participation by everything in the high drama of continuous, purposeful change over an indefinite stretch of time. Below is a depiction of …

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No matter how far-flung, differentiated, diverse, or distant waves and particles may be from one another as the universe expands, their singular origin generates an inexhaustible attractive force — a celestial love — that keeps everything in the physical world interconnected.

The interconnectedness among waves and particles throughout the universe makes them agents in a massively complex adaptive system. Any changes in form, function and relationship as thoughts or actions made by one agent impact all others.

The Creator endows each and every person — a human agent — with 1) a soul that will enjoy eternal life after the physical form dies; 2) the capacity to know that one exists in both physical and spiritual realities, simultaneously, and acknowledge cause and effect amid such complexity; and 3) the choice to take responsibility for what one thinks, says, and does as one navigates through physical reality and accept accountability for what happens as a result — a divine justice — in preparation for the purely spiritual reality to come.

These choices are not easy to make as the physical reality of survival day to day take precedent. But we are not left unattended. By the Creator’s authority, Manifestations appear at foreordained points in time to provide mankind with guidance for that age through a phenomenon called …

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The authority bestowed by the Creator upon The Báb and Bahá’u’lláh as “Twin Manifestations” 7 heralded the start of a new cycle, era and age for humankind, initiated the …

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… and the renewal of a living Covenant between the Creator and mankind that assures a steady, undiluted flow of guidance which gives rise to the …

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… and …

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… as …

  1. JOHN 1:1 KJV “In the Beginning Was the Word, and the Word Was with God, and the Word Was God.” https://www.kingjamesbibleonline.org/John-1-1/. Accessed 3 June 2021. ↩
  2. GENESIS 1:1-3 KJV “In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters. And God said, Let there be light: and there was light.” https://www.kingjamesbibleonline.org/Genesis-1/. Accessed 2 July 2021. ↩
  3. Baháʾuʾlláh. The Kitáb-i-Aqdas: The Most Holy Book. Haifa: Baháʾi World Centre, 1992. https://www.bahai.org/library/authoritative-texts/bahaullah/kitab-i-aqdas/8#461985480. ↩
  4. Shoghi Effendi, in letters written on his behalf, has explained the significance of the “letters B and E.” They constitute the word “Be,” which, he states, “means the creative Power of God Who through His command causes all things to come into being” and “the power of the Manifestation of God, His great spiritual creative force.”
    Baháʾuʾlláh. The Kitáb-i-Aqdas: The Most Holy Book. Haifa: Baháʾi World Centre, 1992. https://www.bahai.org/library/authoritative-texts/bahaullah/kitab-i-aqdas/16#781314131. ↩
  5. Urban, Tim. “Putting Time In Perspective – UPDATED.” Wait But Why, 22 Aug. 2013,
    https://waitbutwhy.com/2013/08/putting-time-in-perspective.html. ↩
  6. Baháʼuʼlláh. Gleanings from the Writings of Baháʼuʼlláh. Translated by Shoghi Effendi. Rev Ed. Wilmette, Ill: Baháʼí Publishing Trust, 1952, 74-75.https://www.bahai.org/library/authoritative-texts/bahaullah/gleanings-writings-bahaullah/3#142119246. ↩
  7. ʻAbduʾl-Bahá. Some Answered Questions. Translated by Laura Clifford Barney. Wilmette, Ill: Baháʾí Publishing Trust, 1981, 39. https://www.bahai.org/library/authoritative-texts/abdul-baha/some-answered-questions/4#456297678. ↩
  8. Universal House of Justice. “The One Year Plan 2021-2022: Messages of the Universal House of Justice.” Palabra Publications, April 2021, 27.https://bahaiwritings.files.wordpress.com/2021/04/the-1-year-plan-final-w-cover.pdf. ↩
  9. Effendi, Shoghi. The World Order of Baháʾ’uʾ’lláh: Selected Letters. 1st pocket-sized ed. Wilmette, Ill: Bahaʾi Publishing Trust, 1991. https://www.bahai.org/library/authoritative-texts/shoghi-effendi/world-order-bahaullah/1#369510938 ↩
  10. Effendi, Shoghi. Citadel of Faith: Messages to America, 1947-1957. Wilmette, Ill: Bahá’í Publishing Trust, 1997. https://www.bahai.org/library/authoritative-texts/shoghi-effendi/citadel-faith/4#866333274 ↩