The Sacred Number 1

IN THE NAME OF HIM WHO IS THE SUPREME RULER OVER ALL THAT HATH BEEN AND ALL THAT IS TO BE

k1. The first duty prescribed by God for His servants is the recognition of Him Who is the Dayspring of His Revelation and the Fountain of His laws, Who representeth the Godhead in both the Kingdom of His Cause and the world of creation. Whoso achieveth this duty hath attained unto all good; and whoso is deprived thereof hath gone astray, though he be the author of every righteous deed. It behoveth every one who reacheth this most sublime station, this summit of transcendent glory, to observe every ordinance of Him Who is the Desire of the world. These twin duties are inseparable. Neither is acceptable without the other. Thus hath it been decreed by Him Who is the Source of Divine inspiration.

 

VI.5 The twin duties of recognition of the Manifestation and observance of His Laws, and their inseparability

 

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Dear Readers: 

 

Don't you feel as I do that this line "this summit of transcendent glory" is a beautiful way to start off our meditation of the world's first and highest island peak?

 

Now before moving one to our memorization work, I must make some Biblical connections as the story of a dear friend presses upon my heart as I read these words.  A dear Baha'i brother told me that he was once talking with a woman about the Baha'i faith who had asked to receive a visit to learn more, but when he visited her, she said to him, "I'm not interested in hearing more about the Baha'i faith anymore because I've learned it's a works based religion and not a faith based one."

Prophet Samuel and Apostle James, please help us out here.  Without further ado, let's hear what these two pillars of righteous civilization have to say in the Bible:

1 Samuel 15:22-23 (NIV)

(22) ...Samuel replied:

“Does the Lord delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices

as much as in obeying the voice of the Lord?

To obey is better than sacrifice,

and to heed is better than the fat of rams.

(23) For rebellion is like the sin of divination,

and arrogance like the evil of idolatry.

Because you have rejected the word of the Lord,

he has rejected you...

And this is not just an "OLD TESTAMENT" principle for the Jews but one for Christians as well, for it is written in the book of James as follows:

James 2:18-26 (KJV)

(18) Yea, a man may say, Thou hast faith, and I have works: shew me thy faith without thy works, and I will shew thee my faith by my works.  

(19) Thou believest that there is one God; thou doest well: the devils also believe, and tremble. 

(20) But wilt thou know, O vain man, that faith without works is dead? 

(21) Was not Abraham our father justified by works, when he had offered Isaac his son upon the altar? 

(22) Seest thou how faith wrought with his works, and by works was faith made perfect?  

(23) And the scripture was fulfilled which saith, Abraham believed God, and it was imputed unto him for righteousness: and he was called the Friend of God.  

(24) Ye see then how that by works a man is justified, and not by faith only.  

(25) Likewise also was not Rahab the harlot justified by works, when she had received the messengers, and had sent them out another way? 

(26) For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also. 

Here is a great Christian song that makes a great point about this (Screen Door by Rich Mullins):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EcvBsNcIzu4

So, that is the theological point for the intellect, but there is a heart appeal to the Christians as well that we ought to embrace the imperative that faith be accompanied by works, or that we both BELIEVE and OBEY as Baha'u'llah writes in the first verse of Kitab-i-aqdas.  And this is the heart appeal, the appeal of David.  We can ask those who want to have faith without works, don't you want to see the goodness of the Lord in the land of living as David, "that man after God's own heart," wanted to see it?  Don't you really want to see His will be done and His kingdom come, on earth as it is in heaven as Jesus taught us to also pray?  

To the heart of Christians I appeal, read David's Psalms 27 and then Baha'u'llah's Fire Tablet.  Then ask your heart, how can you not want to do good works if you really believe in and love your Creator God?

The Bible says by two or three witnesses we will know the true testimony.  Samuel, James and David testify to me that the first verse of Kitab-i-aqdas is TRUTH.  That said, let us revel in the mystery of it being the first verse.

What does it mean that it is the first?  What other firsts are so fundamental.  I would like to explore three other firsts.  The Word of the Spirit is like the Wind, the Elements in Nature are born of the Fire of Stars, Time flows like a river of Water, and Mountain Peaks are the greatest upward thrusts of earth--thus we weave together a kind of Fire, Air, Water, and Earth in these associations.

FIRE TO SPIRIT: HYDROGEN

Nothing is more fundamentally the number 1 in all of nature other than the element hydrogen.  Hydrogen is the fuel of the brightest starts.  This line, "the recognition of Him Who is the Dayspring of His Revelation," speaks of the dawn when we experience the coming of the light of burning hydrogen from our sun.  It resonates as a natural association.

WATER TO SPIRIT: BE 1

"The Baha'i calendar started on March 21, 1844. That first year was denoted 1 BE (Baha'i Era). 1844 was the year that the Bab first announced his revelation and the year that Baha'u'llah joined the Babi movement." (http://altreligion.about.com/od/holidaysfestivalsevents/p/bahai_calendar.htm"

In year 1 of the Baha'i Era, the Bab declared his station and Baha'u'llah recognized the Bab.  Thus, verse one is also a meaningful reflection of this year of Baha'i history in so much as it speaks of Baha'u'llah in the sentence of this verse that states: "Whoso achieveth this duty [of recognizing the Bab in that year] hath attained unto all good."

LAND TO SPIRIT:  PUNCAK JAYA

I struggled over whether I should use mount Everest or Puncak Jaya as our first peak.  As I explained in my last post, there is a special parable of unity in the nature of island, hence I preferred to use only island peaks for memory loci upon which to associate the sacred verses of Kitab-i-aqdas.  However, when I say the word summit in the first verse it was almost too good to be true for this exploration of mysteries.  Maybe, I asked myself, the path might be better explored in mysterious connections starting with the world's highest summit at Everest.  But then I studied the name of the highest island peak more carefully, and this is what I found on Wikipedia: "Puncak means peak or mountain and Jaya means 'victory', 'victorious' or 'glorious'."  So it means the Glorious Peak.  And in the first verse of Kitab-i-aqdas, this is what we read:

"...this summit of transcendent glory..."

Praise be to God is all I can say.  This first first gives me the chills in how well it associates to hydrogen, Baha'i history, and the highest island peak all through the sacred number 1 present in all four of these phenomena.

Here is a picture of Puncak Jaya from Alfindra Primaldhi on Wikicommons:

Here also is an area map from Sémhur on Wikicommons also:

This mountain is the highest in New Guinea apparently, and this is the altitude information for the whole island from the Swiss UN website I mentioned in the last post: 

5030 m New Guinea (Indonesia/Papua New Guinea) 785753.0 sq.km. 

Wikipedia's numbers are a little different and it says the following:

At 4,884 metres (16,024 ft) above sea level, Puncak Jaya is the highest mountain in Indonesia, the highest on the island of New Guinea (which comprises the Indonesian West Papua region plus Papua New Guinea), the highest of Oceania (Australian continent), and the 5th highest mountain in political Southeast Asia. It is also the highest point between the Himalayas and the Andes, and the highest island peak in the world. Some sources claim Mount Wilhelm, 4,509 m (14,793 ft), as the highest mountain peak in Oceania, on account of Indonesia being part of Asia (Southeast Asia).

Check back at the bottom of this post later for a full memorization tool of every word in this verse both in Arabic and in English when I get around to it.  I imagine I will use more of New Guinea around this mountain in some meaningful manner to create sub-loci to lock in on every word of the verse.  For now though I want to get broad brush stroke understanding of the whole text.

Sky Thoth