Gleanings — Paragraph 327

Source (Arabic)

صرف و مفقود بحت است و اگر الی ما لا نهایه بعقول اوّلیّه و آخریّه در این لطیفهٴ ربّانیّه و تجلّی عزّ صمدانیّه تفکّر نمائی البتّه از عرفان او کما هو حقّه خود را عاجز و قاصر مشاهده نمائی و چون عجز و قصور خود را از بلوغ بعرفان آیهٴ موجودهٔ در خود مشاهده نمودی البتّه عجز خود و عجز ممکنات را از عرفان ذات احدیّه و شمس عزّ قدمیّه بعین سر و سرّ ملاحظه نمائی و اعتراف بر عجز در این مقام از روی بصیرت منتها مقام عرفان عبد است و منتها بلوغ عباد...

Translation

Wert thou to ponder in thine heart, from now until the end that hath no end, and with all the concentrated intelligence and understanding which the greatest minds have attained in the past or will attain in the future, this divinely ordained and subtle Reality, this sign of the revelation of the All-Abiding, All-Glorious God, thou wilt fail to comprehend its mystery or to appraise its virtue. Having recognized thy powerlessness to attain to an adequate understanding of that Reality which abideth within thee, thou wilt readily admit the futility of such efforts as may be attempted by thee, or by any of the created things, to fathom the mystery of the Living God, the Daystar of unfading glory, the Ancient of everlasting days. This confession of helplessness which mature contemplation must eventually impel every mind to make is in itself the acme of human understanding, and marketh the culmination of man’s development.