Gleanings — Paragraph 161
Source (Arabic)
وإنّها لو تطلع بغتةً في وسط السّمآء یضرّ حرارتها الأشیآء کذلک فانظر في شمس المعاني لتکون من المطّلعین فإنّها لو تستشرق في أوّل فجر الظّهور بأنوار الّتي قدّر الله لها لیحترق أرض العرفان من قلوب العباد لأنّهم لن یقدرنّ أن یحملنّها أو یستعکسنّ منها بل یضطربنّ منها ویکوننّ من المعدومین
Translation
Were it, all of a sudden, to manifest the energies latent within it, it would, no doubt, cause injury to all created things.… In like manner, if the Sun of Truth were suddenly to reveal, at the earliest stages of its manifestation, the full measure of the potencies which the providence of the Almighty hath bestowed upon it, the earth of human understanding would waste away and be consumed; for men’s hearts would neither sustain the intensity of its revelation, nor be able to mirror forth the radiance of its light. Dismayed and overpowered, they would cease to exist.