Reality, Soul and
the Worlds of God
III. The Reality of the Soul – Understanding Your True Self
B. The Soul’s Why or Raison d’Être
1. The Origin of the Soul
[from the Writings of Bahá’u’lláh:]
382.O Son of Man!
Veiled in My immemorial being and in the ancient eternity of My essence, I knew My love for thee; therefore I created thee, have engraved on thee Mine image and revealed to thee My beauty.
(Bahá’u’lláh: The Hidden Words, Arabic #3)
383.Out of the essence of knowledge I gave thee being….Out of the clay of love I molded thee….
(Bahá’u’lláh: The Hidden Words, Arabic #13)
384.O Son of the Wondrous Vision!
I have breathed within thee a breath of My own Spirit, that thou mayest be My lover.
(Bahá’u’lláh: The Hidden Words, Arabic #19)
[from the talks of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá:]
385. When it is said in the Bible that God breathed His spirit into man, this spirit is that which, like the discourse, emanates from the Real Speaker, taking effect in the reality of man.
(‘Abdu’l-Bahá: Some Answered Questions, Chapter 54: “On the Proceeding of the Human Spirit from God”, p. 206)
2. The Eternal Purpose of God for Man
[from the Writings of Bahá’u’lláh:]
386.I bear witness, O my God, that Thou hast created me to know Thee and to worship Thee.
(Bahá’u’lláh: Prayers and Meditations, Selection CLXXXI, p. 314)
387.Having created the world and all that liveth and moveth therein, He, through the direct operation of His unconstrained and sovereign Will, chose to confer upon man the unique distinction and capacity to know Him and to love Him—a capacity that must needs be regarded as the generating impulse and the primary purpose underlying the whole of creation….
(Bahá’u’lláh: Gleanings from the Writings of Bahá’u’lláh, Selection XXVII, p. 65)