The Silences of God: A Meditation
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The Silences                                    Resuman
El impacto de la Palabra de Dios ha
of God:                                         dominado la historia de la religión
y nuestra definición de la madurez
A Meditation                                    en evolución de la humanidad. Sin
embargo, en una edad en que el poder
de las palabras ha sido sistemáticamente
BAHIYYIH NAKHJAVANI                             erosionado y la ortodoxia del lenguaje ha
sido cuestionada, podría ser que nuestra
consciencia acerca del silencio de Dios sea
Abstract                                        esencial en moldear nuestras selecciones
The impact of the Word of God has dom-          individuales y al definir nuestras historias
inated the history of religion and our defi-    colectivas. Este ensayo explora algunas
nition of the evolving maturation of hu-        de las maneras en que el silencio Divino
mankind. But in an age in which the power       es inferido en los escritos de Bahá'u'lláh
of words has been systematically eroded         y ofrece una meditación sobre cómo el
and the orthodoxy of language has been          mismo juega un rol vital en ayudarnos a
questioned, it may be that our awareness        entender Sus palabras.
of God's silence is essential in shaping our
individual choices and defining our collec-     "The silence of the unsaid," according
tive histories. This essay explores some of     to John Berger, "is always working
the ways that Divine silence is inferred in     surreptitiously with another silence,
the Writings of Bahá'u'lláh and offers a        which is that of the unsayable. What
meditation on how it plays a vital role in
is unsaid one time," he continues, "can
helping us understand His words.
be said on another occasion. But the
unsayable can never be said—unless
Resumé
L'influence du Verbe de Dieu a dominé           maybe in a prayer."1 The Argentinian
l'histoire de la religion et notre définition   writer Borges, who was blind, believed
de l'évolution de l'humanité vers sa            that to have a word for "silence" at all
maturité. Mais, à une époque où le pouvoir      was an aesthetic event, if not actual-
des mots subit une érosion systématique         ly a prayer. And if speech was to be
et où l'orthodoxie du langage est remise        "right" according to the poet W. B.
en question, notre conscience du silence        Yeats, it might only be "after long si-
de Dieu pourrait bien jouer un rôle             lence." That may be why Hamlet died
déterminant dans l'orientation de nos           with the words, "The rest is silence"
choix personnels et de notre expérience         on his lips, after four and a half hours
collective. Dans le présent essai, l'auteur
of talk, in spite of which critics of the
explore certaines allusions au silence
play have been chattering about what
divin que nous trouvons dans les écrits de
he meant for the past five centuries.
Bahá'u'lláh et il propose une réflexion sur
la façon dont ce silence joue un rôle vital       1 Preface to Timothy O'Grady, I Could
dans notre compréhension de Sa Parole.          Read the Sky.
50                The Journal of Bahá'í Studies 24.3/4 2014

And in keeping with the words of po-        the assumptions of our predecessors
ets and other tragic heroes, my broth-      regarding these huge vacuities. And in
er once told me that he wondered            the end, as Eliot says, "And what there
when God might one day send us a            is to conquer / . . . has already been
Manifestation of His Silence—"Just          discovered / Once or twice, what there
for a change," he added, "because we        is to conquer has already been discov-
never seem to listen to His words."         ered / Once or twice, or several times,
But I am going to ignore all this good      by men whom one cannot hope / To
advice. Despite Bahá'u'lláh's warning       emulate" ("East Coker," v., ll. 11-14).2
that "[t]he essence of true safety is to    We have invariably misunderstood.
observe silence [and] look at the end          But perhaps all our theologies, like
of things" (Tablets 156), I shall take      our ancient astrologies, have been con-
the risk of speaking about the impact       structed on fictitious constellations.
of God's silences on us and of writing      Perhaps our attempts to understand
about how His words can, and perhaps        the wheeling mysteries of God have
must, ultimately render us mute.            been built, like the Ptolemaic universe,
God's silences have always               in ignorance of these subtle black
pre-empted our words. Poets have            holes in our understanding, which can
tried to fill them. Philosophers have       only be filled gradually, and over time.
sought to question them. Theologians        The study of religion has traditional-
of all cloths have attempted to define      ly been based on meditations of Holy
their dazzling darknesses. The history      Scripture. But perhaps a meditation on
of religion itself, like the science of     the silences between these holy words
cosmology, is as thick as the spangled      will bring us closer to the fundamental
night sky with the silences between         unity underlying our faiths. All reli-
the stars. Sometimes these gaps have        gions are equally concerned with the
been seen as challenges to our aware-       interpretation of Divine silence. They
ness, creative challenges that enable us    all direct our attention to its infallible
to aspire to seek that wholeness we call    mysteries and claim to hold the key to
"truth." At other times, they have been     its understanding.
interpreted as contradictions in the           They all caution us, too, about its
world and in ourselves, incongruities       impact, about its import on our lives. It
that can never be resolved and that         is recorded, in The Book of Revelation
remind us of the endlessness of hu-         that, after the seventh seal was broken,
mility. We have all failed, by and large,   God withdrew into His silence for the
to gauge these breathless immensities.      length of half an hour. It must have
We have either repeated each other's        been the most unbearable half hour
errors in different languages or have       in all creation. A single moment more
disagreed with them using different         and the universe would have imploded.
metaphors, or we have simply echoed           2   Quartet no. 2 of the Four Quartets.
The Silences of God                              51

Certainly it was sufficient to render       are invalidated, our suppositions swept
the angels mad. But there is much to        aside, our institutions and ideologies
be learned from that brief half hour.       all undermined by the impact of
It is a reminder that, contrary to          what He has told us. His utterances,
received opinion, God is not actually       moreover, are not only brief but long
all that voluble. He does not, generally    term in their effects—so vast that they
speaking, waste words. His messages         stretch beyond the grasp of human
are brief; His silences much longer         minds; so dense and packed with
than His passages among us. In fact,        meaning, so gnomic and enigmatic in
His reticence is as significant as His      their import that it takes millennia
Revelation—both contain secret              to unpick the knots, break open the
wisdoms, mysteries that require our         seals, and understand them. He comes
deepest meditation.                         among us intermittently, traces His
Indeed, if we compare the book           Will briefly on our human shores, and
of Revelation with the book of              leaves us measuring His tracks in the
Creation, there appears at first glance     sands for centuries.
to be considerably more surplus in             "In My presence amongst you,"
the latter. Whether due to human            writes Bahá'u'lláh, "there is a wisdom,
obtuseness or some graver mystery,          and in My absence there is yet another,
God's words tend to double up, like         inscrutable to all but God, the Incom-
puns or reversible clothing, and seem       parable, the All-Knowing" (Kitáb-i-
to serve more than one purpose at a         Aqdas ¶53, 39). A sigh from the An-
time. They reach beyond evolutionary        cient of Days can cause each atom to
utilitarianism, like wonder, like beauty,   acquire its own unique and separate
or, as Nabokov noted, like a butterfly's    character. A breath from His lips can
wings. Perhaps this is another meaning      set the fires of hell ablaze and open
of divine economy: the exquisite            paradise before men's eyes. Meaning is
capacity of God's silences to resonate      blasted into a thousand pieces by one
with the alternative meanings of His        syllable from Him, and words, stripped
words.                                      naked by the stroke of His Pen, are
When He does speak, His                  sent scuttling into the world, like
intervention in human affairs is not        monks shorn of their old habits. We
only creative but destructive, too.         live and die as He breathes through
We are revived by the breeze of His         our collective histories. For He is the
presence: we are restored, resurrected,     Cleaver, the Ravager, the Inflictor of
rendered vivid to our selves whenever       Trials. He is the supreme Love and the
He passes by. But our lives are             Slayer of lovers, all in one.
simultaneously reduced to rubble by
the resonance of His comings, the
echo left by His goings: our theories
52                 The Journal of Bahá'í Studies 24.3/4 2014

THE DEATH OF WORDS                     'Tis all in pieces, all coherence
gone,
End-of-the-world vocabulary strikes            All just supply, and all relation...."
an ominously repetitive note in the            ("The Anatomy of the World,"
human ear. We are fatally familiar             ll.205-14)3
with it. We have heard it all before. But
although we like to believe that each           At the start of the twentieth
of these turning points in history is        century, Yeats, too, described a collapse
hyperbolically unique and each end           of significance as well as of society; he
absolute, no resurrection is entire, no      brooded over the demise not only of
rebirth final. We seem to be afflicted, as   Ireland, but of all civilization:
a species, by an inclination toward the
supremacy fallacy, that fatal propensity       Things fall apart; the centre
to imagine ourselves chosen to be the
cannot hold;
first or doomed to be the last, to assume
Mere anarchy is loosed upon the
we are unique and believe ourselves to
world,
be the only. But beginnings and ends
The blood-dimmed tide is loosed,
have always involved re-interpretation.
and everywhere
Turning points in human history have
The ceremony of innocence is
invariably coincided with inquiries
into language and a questioning of               drowned ....
words. Clichés have to die in order for        ("The Second Coming." ll.3-6)4
poems to be reborn.
And we do not even need God to               And one of the characteristic
tell us this, because poets have done        nightmares of our own times is to find
so over and over again. John Donne           ourselves standing on ground zero of
not only bore witness to the end of an       language itself. Not only have culture
epoch in the seventeenth century, but        and tradition given way over the course
to the breaking of a poetic tradition,       of two world wars and their rumbling
the shattering of meter, the revolution      consequences, but the very foundation
of rhyme:                                    of words has been eroded. Writers in
the Western literary tradition have
And new philosophy calls all in            been pondering this collapse for the
doubt,                                    past two centuries. We cannot talk
The element of fire is quite put
out,                                         3 Norton Anthology of English Literature
The sun is lost, and th'earth, and         (New York: W. W. Norton, 2006), Vol. B,
no man's wit                              pp. 1293-94.
Can well direct him where to look             4 Norton Anthology of English Literature
for it.                                   (New York: W. W. Norton, 2006), Vol. F,
….                                         p. 2036.
The Silences of God                                 53

without being conscious that we are         its surcease inevitable success, our
cloning the same clichés, echoing           immediate response to the silences
the same dead phrases. We cannot            of God is to feel the heartbeats of
open our mouths without reiterating         terror, the sweat of panic and remorse.
the same trivialities. We stand in the      Instead of being suffused with awe, we
rubble of buildings undermined by           associate these moments with fear and
our own echoes, entertaining ourselves      guilt, with the earth-shaking tread
in a vacuum of meaning, "playing," as       of Jove, with the thunderbolts of a
Auden put it,                               forever-wrathful Jehovah.
And so it is that instead of listen-
… among the ruined languages              ing to these silences, we rush in and
So small beside their large               make fools of ourselves by talking.
confusing words,                      We stuff the absence that intervenes
So still before the greater silences,     between His brief passages among
Of dreadful things you did….              us with a veritable cacophony of our
("Anthem for St. Cecilia's Day,"          own. We interpret, analyze, comment,
III, ll.11-14)5                           and define. We theorize and theologize
the infinite meanings of His Words in
We have been raised to dread             the resonating gaps between them. We
such "greater silences." According          respond to each moment of God's in-
to the traditional Judeo-Christian          finitely plangent silences with centu-
and Islamic relationship to God, the        ries of verbal superfluity and fill the
disintegration of language, witnessed       chance to meditate upon them with
in the story of the collapsing Tower        our chatter.
of Babel, is synonymous with                   All nature abhors a vacuum. It is
punishment for pride; the death of          small wonder, then, that human nature
words is associated with dark and           will do anything to fill a perceived
chaotic times before the utterance of       spiritual void. Our kind, as Eliot
the angel Gabriel brought meaning           avers, "cannot bear very much reality"
to the world. Since we associate the        ("Burnt Norton, I, l.34).6 But reality, as
Word of God with our beginnings,            Bahá'u'lláh suggests in His Writings,
we naturally assume His silence could       beckons us into it through the very
mean our ends. And since our ends are       power of silence. We may be missing
rarely consummations "devoutly to           the point by not listening.
be wished" but rather a consequence
that does not always promise with                      GOLD AND SILVER
5 Set to music by Benjamin Britten,
Op. 27. privately printed 1941, published
One of the distinctions of this Dis-
one year later as a musical score, New
pensation may be that Bahá'u'lláh has
York: Boosey and Hawkes, 1942.                6 The first of the "Four Quartets."
54                The Journal of Bahá'í Studies 24.3/4 2014

invited us to think about the golden si-   the Sovereign, the Mighty, the All-
lences of God as well as the unsullied     Praised" (¶ 115, 61), He is summoning
silver of His Words. He has drawn          us to enter into that primary silence.
our attention to their reciprocity. Per-   Once the listening soul steps into that
haps there are as many lessons to be       sacred space, attunes itself to the re-
learned from the former as there is        membrance of God, and implores His
guidance implicit in the latter. It may    forgiveness, we become receptive to
even be that we can only understand        understanding the Word of God, but
the fundamentals of His Covenant in        only if we give it our undivided at-
the relationship between the two.          tention. And if we are to attend to all
No one can speak and listen simul-      the meanings implicit in the Word of
taneously. Words require silence to        God, the purest silence is required.
be heard. Even the least significant           But it is hard to hear the Voice of
speech, uttered at the most primary        the Ancient of Days in the middle of
level of communication, depends on         the cacophony of daily life. We are
the assumption that someone is lis-        surrounded by noise: the vapid chatter
tening. And this is a fundamental law,     of political campaigns, the rumble of
an absolute prerequisite for commu-        collapsing ideals, the grunts of lust
nication, which we ignore to our cost,     and howls of greed on every side.
and it is one of the crucial lessons we    If we catch His accents behind the
learn from silence in this Dispensa-       uproar, we are lucky. Shoghi Effendi
tion. 'Abdu'l-Bahá confirms this prin-     vividly describes this challenge using
ciple in Paris Talks when He observes,     the metaphor of light and darkness:
"Bahá'u'lláh says there is a sign [from    "Amidst the shadows which are
God] in every phenomenon: the sign         increasingly gathering about us,"
of the intellect is contemplation and      he writes, "we can faintly discern
the sign of contemplation is silence,      the glimmerings of Bahá'u'lláh's
because it is impossible for a man to      unearthly sovereignty appearing
do two things at one time—he cannot        fitfully on the horizon of history"
both speak and meditate" (174).            (World Order 168).
Silence is therefore essential for         And the counterpoint between what
understanding. When Bahá'u'lláh            we see and what we hear, between the
writes in the Kitáb-i-Aqdas, "Blessed      shrillness of our age and God's silenc-
is he who, at the hour of dawn, cen-       es, is depicted by the Guardian in an-
tring his thoughts on God, occupied        other remarkable sentence. Here, were
with His remembrance, and suppli-          it not for the basso ostinato of God's
cating His forgiveness, directeth his      Will that keeps the syntax steady, the
steps to the Mashriqu'l-Adhkár and,        hiss and spit of our own noise would
entering therein, seateth himself in       literally wind around our throats and
silence to listen to the verses of God,    strangle us:
The Silences of God                                55

Mysteriously, slowly, and re-             we listen. Democracy resides in our
sistlessly God accomplishes His           right to think, to ponder the silences.
design, though the sight that                Bahá'u'lláh has liberated us to an
meets our eyes in this day be the         equality of hearing in this Revelation;
spectacle of a world hopelessly           He has invited us into a democracy of
entangled in its own meshes, ut-          listening, of meditating on His words.
terly careless of the Voice which,        Each one of us has this God-given
for a century, has been calling it        right, this freedom. In fact, He has
to God, and miserably subservi-           granted it as an obligation, a necessity
ent to the siren voices which are         for our spiritual independence. While
attempting to lure it into the vast       abrogating individual authority and
abyss. (Promised Day 116)                 placing power in His divinely con-
ceived institutions, He has freed us to
We would never have reached the last        ponder His meanings, to plunge into
of these subsidiary clauses had we not      the ocean of His Revelation without
kept hold of the main sentence that         carrying the burden of influence on
quietly reminds us that God does and        others, without being weighed down
always will accomplish His design.          by individual power. He has literally
Silence, in such circumstances as we     released us to be lovers rather than
live, is synonymous with spiritual life.    priests. The true pearl diver in this
Small wonder, therefore, that in this       age cannot barter what he has found in
Dispensation Bahá'u'lláh has annulled       the marketplace of power because the
the role of the chattering theologian,      proof of his treasure lies in the fact
invalidated the authority of the priest.    that he has drowned.
Our response to God's silence cannot
be passive, but neither can it be foisted               EARS TO HEAR
on others. The principle of autocracy
in the Bahá'í Faith lies in the authen-     But we are not, by nature, inclined to
ticated texts of this religion, in the      drown. We cling to the dry land of
absolute authority of the words writ-       received ideas, the sand and pebbles
ten by its Founder and His appointed        of inherited notions. We turn our
Interpreters. No individual can usurp       backs on the ocean and become adept
that autocracy; no one has to right to      at cultivating spiritual deafness,
impose his or her personal interpreta-      especially when it is too much of a
tions of those words over others'. But      challenge to hear the uncomfortable
the principle of democracy also exists,     truth. As a result, there is another kind
not only in how we vote, nor just in        of silence buried between the words
how we consult, or are governed by          of God, which is caused not only by
elected institutions rather than ap-        our inability but by our unwillingness
pointed individuals, but also in the way    to listen.
56                 The Journal of Bahá'í Studies 24.3/4 2014

There are times, Bahá'u'lláh ex-          a proof of truth as the words when
plains, when God chooses to be silent        they are uttered. He reminds us of the
because of "the impediments that have        wisdom of this withholding silence by
hindered Thy people from recognizing         highlighting the relationship of words
Thy truth" (Gleanings 28). He with-          to time as well as to circumstance:
holds His Words when He knows we             "Not everything that a man knoweth
are not listening to them; He speaks         can be disclosed, nor can everything
only if we are ready to hear, for "words     that he can disclose be regarded as
are revealed according to the capacity       timely, nor can every timely utterance
of the people." And, as He tells us,         be considered as suited to the capacity
with beguiling candour, "as there were       of those who hear it" (Gleanings 176).
few ears to hear, for some time the Pen      Once we understand this wisdom, our
has been silent in its own chamber, and      hearts might be more willing to absorb
to such a degree that silence has had        the import of His Words. But until we
precedence over utterance" (Bahá'í           do so, we are effectively deaf. And our
Scriptures 133).                             deafness delays the inevitable.
In the Hidden Words, Bahá'u'lláh             "How manifold are the truths," He
goes even further and establishes this       tells us, "which must remain unuttered
reciprocity between the ear and the          until the appointed time is come!"
tongue as a spiritual principle. The         (Gleanings 176). And even when the
method of the Manifestations, in oth-        right time comes, how often do truths
er words, is one which we should emu-        remain unuttered because we are still
late: "The wise are they that speak not      not listening?
unless they obtain a hearing, even as
the cup-bearer, who proffereth not his               SUFFERING IN SILENCE
cup till he findeth a seeker, and the lov-
er who crieth not out from the depths        Once we do begin to listen, however,
of his heart until he gazeth upon the        we hear new layers in all that God does
beauty of his beloved" (Hidden Words,        not say. His silence, we discover to our
Persian n.36). Such words not only           shame, can be filled with sadness, with
disappointment on our account, which
caution us to weigh what we say but
is that terrible alternative to His good
invite us to meditate on the reasons for
pleasure.
and causes of silence.                          "O Bond Slave of the World!"
God's silences cannot, by their very      writes Bahá'u'lláh in the Hidden Words,
nature, be fathomed, but the withhold-       "Many a dawn hath the breeze of My
ing ones caused by our unreadiness to        loving-kindness wafted over thee and
listen, our inability to hear, are worth     found thee upon the bed of heedless-
pondering. To be responsive to the           ness fast asleep. Bewailing then thy
receptivity of the listener, Bahá'u'lláh     plight it returned whence it came"
seems to suggest, can be as eloquent         (Persian n.30).
The Silences of God                               57

The sorrow of the Best Beloved and       gone as far as assuming that God's si-
the Friend is more dreadful, perhaps,       lence, like the darkness of outer space,
than the wrath of the Father. Divine        is synonymous with a vacuum. If and
displeasure is more difficult for us to     when we finally realize how plangent
bear than any punishment, because it        it is with sorrow on our behalf, how
resonates with the silence of God's         quiet with patient forgiveness, we
forbearance, it echoes with His long        may be even more ashamed than if we
suffering:                                  had been hauled up by the heels and
whipped until we cried for mercy. As
At many a dawn have I turned              our understanding of this new Dis-
from the realms of the Placeless          pensation of Bahá'u'lláh evolves, we
unto thine abode, and found thee          begin to become unnervingly aware of
on the bed of ease busied with            a very dangerous, very mature kind of
others than Myself. Thereupon,            silence that lies between His Words.
even as the flash of the spirit, I
returned to the realms of celes-          NO ANSWER CAME THE STERN REPLY
tial glory and breathed it not in
My retreats above unto the hosts          A corollary to the silence of God's
of holiness. (Bahá'u'lláh, Hidden         sorrow is the silence of His response.
Words, Persian n.28)                      It is against that gong that we hear our
follies reverberating a hundredfold; it
It is that "breathed it not" which       is in that quiet echo that we register
really confounds us. It is that delicacy    the hollowness of our own sounds.
of His keeping silent on our account,       God's way of answering our urgent
of His "desiring not" our shame. He         questions with silence is the most
would not advertise our faithlessness       painful kind of all.
nor have our stupidity trumpeted be-            We are all familiar with that omi-
fore the angels. "And whenever the          nous silence that counters our insis-
manifestation of My holiness sought         tent prayers, our anxious beseechings.
His own abode," He reminds us, "a           We are well acquainted with those
stranger found He there, and, home-         waves of silence that lap against the
less, hastened unto the sanctuary of        dry shores of our shrill demands. We
the Beloved. Notwithstanding I have         expect a response that suits our crite-
concealed thy secret and desired not        ria of logic, our perception of reality,
thy shame" (Bahá'u'lláh, Hidden Words,      our immediate needs, and are outraged
Persian n.27).                              by its absence. We hurl our indignant
This sin-covering silence of God         requests against the concave sky-blue
has emboldened us, and made us bra-         shell of His ear and become frustrated
zen. It has permitted us to persist in      at the mocking echoes that redound
our follies to such a degree that we have   upon us. What we perceive to be the
58                 The Journal of Bahá'í Studies 24.3/4 2014

implacable silence of God's response         which is in truth praiseworthy"
has provoked us to cynicism as well as       (Selections 48). Why such a silence is
to despair.                                  "praiseworthy" is best explained by
Indeed, most of twentieth-century         'Abdu'l-Bahá, Who, with an ineffable
literature has been an exploration the       lightness of touch, reminds us of our
pointlessness of asking questions, in        total dependence on that Will when
inadequacy as well as compulsion in          He affirms that "He doeth as He doeth,
our use of words. The characters of          and what recourse have we?" In the last
Vladimir and Estragon talk incessant-        analysis all our fury and frustration is
ly as they wait for the reply of Godot,      a waste of breath because "He carrieth
which never fully satisfies even when it     out His Will, He ordaineth what He
comes7; the Marabar caves in Forster's       pleaseth" (Selections 51).
A Passage to India render all words             The seeming non-response of God
equally meaningless, even as their           to our appeals is therefore sometimes a
echoes can be interpreted in a myriad        clear answer, had we the ears to hear it
different ways; Joyce has taken inco-        and the hearts to understand. As 'Ab-
herence to such heights of creativity        du'l-Bahá continues to assert, "Then
in Finnegans Wake that language has          better for thee to bow down thy head
become a mockery of itself in the ab-        in submission, and put thy trust in the
sence of any other meaningful game           All-Merciful Lord" (Selections 51). For
to play. The vacancy underlying words        if we listened to the resonance beneath
has become a way for contemporary            this kind of silence we might realize
artists to bear witness to our stoicism,     that the demands we have been mak-
and also to our folly as human beings.       ing, the requirements we have set, the
It sums up the existential as well as        logic by which means we seek to mea-
aesthetic dilemma of contemporary            sure God's response can only reap dis-
existence. But interestingly enough,         appointment at best, or bring us harm
in the Bahá'í Writings we not only ex-       at worse. They echo with the folly of
plore the futility of asking questions       our demands. His silences, in this case,
but find confirming answers implicit         are a mercy to our own selves. They
in this silence.                             are the equivalent of pure compassion.
According to the Báb, these silences
are themselves ordained by God and,                  AT A LOSS FOR WORDS
as such, are an expression of His Will.
He states, "O Ye servants of God!            Ironically enough, the knowledge of
Verily, be not grieved if a thing ye         such silences can, in the last analysis,
asked of Him remaineth unanswered,           strike us dumb. When the ear of the
inasmuch as He hath been commanded           spirit inclines in their direction and we
by God to observe silence, a silence         begin to hear all that is in these silenc-
es of God, another wind stirs in the
7 See Samuel Beckett, Waiting for Godot.
The Silences of God                               59

soul, another note strikes the bone. "It   contain are muted, we find our defi-
behooveth you to remain silent before      nitions dissolving, our languages dis-
His Throne," observes the Báb, "for in-    integrating. All words tend toward
deed of all the things which have been     self-destruction, but God destroys
created between heaven and earth           words absolutely in order to recreate
nothing on that Day will be deemed         them. His silence, too, absorbs all oth-
more fitting than the observance of        er sounds into itself and turns them
silence" (Selections 164).                 into music: "Be ye not sad nor dejected
For the silences as well as the words   on account of the disturbance and up-
of God have a curious impact on the        roar of the people of desire and pas-
uproar in our heads. They can leave        sion," writes 'Abdu'l-Bahá. "Ere long
us at a loss for words. They can ren-      the symphony of the Kingdom shall
der us mute. When we listen to them,       silence all the other noises" (Tablets,
we hear something beyond the actual        vo1. 1, 223).
sounds and syllables. When we stop            Similarly, Bahá'u'lláh urges the true
our ears to our own noises, some un-       seeker to free himself from all acquired
spoken understanding is communicat-        meanings, to purge his heart of all idle
ed to us that rises out of our darkness    fancies and false assumptions. He urges
like a murmuring remembrance. As           us to strip away the shadow of words
Bahá'u'lláh states in the Kitáb-i-Íqán,    that cloud our understanding of their
spirit, for when "the mention of God
When the stream of utterance             hath become an empty name" and "His
reached this stage, We beheld,           holy Word a dead letter" (Kitáb-i-Íqán
and lo! the sweet savours of God         29), it is necessary to breathe a new
were being wafted from the day-          creativity into it through the arteries
spring of Revelation. . . . It made      of language.
all things new, and brought un-             When the connotations of words
numbered and inestimable gifts           thicken with use and abuse, we react to
from the unknowable Friend. The          their "shadows" merely and lose sight
robe of human praise can never           of their "spirits" altogether, as the Báb
hope to match Its noble stature,         infers:
and Its shining figure the mantle
of utterance can never fit. With-          The reason for this command is
out word It unfoldeth the inner            that haply, in the Day of the Reve-
mysteries, and without speech It           lation of that supreme Truth, the
revealeth the secrets of the divine        feet of the people shall not falter
sayings. (59)                              upon the bridge, and that they
shall not pronounce judgment
Once our human noises are mo-              against the Fashioner of their ex-
mentarily hushed, once the voices we         istence, adducing against Him the
60                The Journal of Bahá'í Studies 24.3/4 2014

very shadow of His verse in their                   THE TOUCHSTONE
heart, and rendering naught, and
at once, all their inmost realities      "Ponder this in thine heart" (Gleanings
and deeds, without even perceiv-         46, 76; and Kitáb-i-Íqán 125, 149,
ing it. (Persian Bayán 6:8; qtd. in      167), writes Bahá'u'lláh repeatedly,
Saiedi, Gate of the Heart 37)            and "meditate" on the Word of God.
The act of pondering, of meditating,
And therefore must each new revela-        has traditionally been depicted as a
tion cast aside the definitions of the     thoughtful one, an inward-turning one.
old, like outworn robes. We must strip     It has implied a certain conjunction of
ourselves to seek for truth, not only      body and mind that indicates poise,
humbled and in silence, but quite na-      that implies a quiet control and a
ked: "O brother," Bahá'u'lláh writes in    steadiness of concentration which
the Kitáb-i-Íqán,                          is both physical and spiritual. In this
state of inward and outward listening
behold how the inner mysteries           we reach for the touchstone of
of "rebirth," of "return," and of        understanding. Sometimes, by grace,
"resurrection" have each, through        we attain it. And the thrill is eternal.
these all-sufficing, these unan-             The well-known icon of the West-
swerable, and conclusive utteranc-       ern meditative tradition, that of a man
es, been unveiled and unravelled         contemplating a death's head, contains
before thine eyes. God grant that        its own inherent thrill. The mirroring
through His gracious and invisi-         of skulls, the eyeing of the hollow
ble assistance, thou mayest divest       eyed has always hinted at the possible
thy body and soul of the old gar-        reversal of the roles. If Rodin's stat-
ment, and array thyself with the         ue The Thinker and Mona Lisa's smile
new and imperishable attire. (158)       still hold their power over us, it is pre-
sumably because of this. When the
In the final analysis, this "new" na-   observer becomes aware of being ob-
kedness is the only attire that is rel-    served, a shudder passes through him.
atively imperishable on this side of       A perturbation seizes his mind. He is
the grave. Like silence, such a divest-    filled with dread that perhaps he is the
ment of old garments is actually what      one who is actually being read. That
renders us immortal. We may have           awareness is a step in the direction of
imagined that writing words would          true understanding.
eternalize us, but ironically enough, it       Religion, like art, points toward that
is unadorned by words that we might        heightened self-awareness. By telling
live forever.                              us to "ponder" and to "meditate" on the
Word of God, Bahá'u'lláh is giving us
the key to a new and hidden language.
The Silences of God                               61

For it seems that when God splits              standard, this is the Touchstone
the stone tablets of His silence, His          of God, wherewith He proveth
Word actually gives utterance to us.           His servants. (Kitáb-i-Íqán 254)
It reverses our position as speakers, as
wordmongers, and forces upon us the             In a letter8 to the Universal House
uneasy recognition that we ourselves         of Justice, the Research Department
have been breathed forth, that we are        at the Bahá'í World Center notes, "[R]
the ones being interpreted, even as          ecent scholars . . . assert that, within
we speak. "Yea," Bahá'u'lláh confirms,       the Qur'án itself, the form of humour
in the Kitáb-i-Íqán, "such things as         most prevalent is irony." This irony
throw consternation into the hearts          it defines as "the perception of a clash
of all men come to pass only that each       between appearance and reality, be-
soul may be tested by the touchstone         tween the ideal and what actually is."
of God, that the true may be known           Only when we respond to this divine
and distinguished from the false" (52).      irony—only when we are conscious
Whenever multiple meanings are at         of what is concealed and what is re-
work, language permits and delights          vealed—do we begin to grasp the
in irony. And whenever words contain         fundamental purpose of the Word of
irony, they retain elasticity, they resist   God. As long as we cannot hear the
literalism and obfuscation. When lan-        silences between His words and the
guage invites us to play games with          ironies in both, we will not recognize
perspective and scale, with appearance       their echoes in ourselves. As long as
and reality, it keeps our minds and          we cannot see these multiple layers
spirits alive, it jolts us out of our old    and simultaneous scales of signifi-
habits. And the myriad silences con-         cance, we will be deprived of their
tained between the words of God are          creative power. This Word and Its
perhaps the most creative use of irony       silent shadow, sifts and fashions and
in the world, for they force us to ques-     shapes us—It is the divine assayer of
tion all our assumptions, all our habits.    our souls.
Bahá'u'lláh affirms that,                    Indeed, in order to prove this very
truth to us, the Manifestations of
the Birds of Heaven and Doves              the Word of God submit themselves
of Eternity speak a twofold lan-           to the most grievous ordeals and al-
guage. One language, the outward           low themselves to be harrowed by
language, is devoid of allusions,          the greatest tests of all. "It is Thou,
is unconcealed and unveiled. . . .         O my God, Who hast called me into
The other language is veiled and           being through the power of Thy
concealed, so that whatever lieth          might, and hast endued me with Thy
hidden in the heart . . . may be             8 Memorandum titled "The 'Humorist'"
made manifest. This is the divine          12 Jan. 1997.
62                 The Journal of Bahá'í Studies 24.3/4 2014

grace to manifest Thy Cause," attests       face, and Gabriel overshadowed me,
Bahá'u'lláh in one of His prayers.          and the Spirit of Glory stirred within
"Wherefore I have been subjected to         my bosom, bidding me arise and break
such adversities that my tongue hath        my silence" (Gleanings 103). Although
been hindered from extolling Thee           He calls on God "with a stammering
and from magnifying Thy glory"              tongue" and with an "afflicted pen"
(Prayers and Meditations 208).              (Prayers and Meditations 8), were He to
What must it mean for these ex-          keep silent, He says, every hair on His
traordinary Beings Who know better          head would vibrate with its music, each
than anyone the impossibility of com-       bone of His body would flute with its
prehending God's Word, to have to be        song, His very blood would sing: "Glo-
the Ones Who utter it?                      rified art Thou, O Lord my God! My
tongue, both the tongue of my body
The domain of His decree is too           and the tongue of my heart, my limbs
vast for the tongue of mortals            and members, every pulsating vein
to describe, or for the bird of the       within me, every hair of my head, all
human mind to traverse; and the           proclaim that Thou art God, and that
dispensations of His providence           there is none other God beside Thee"
are too mysterious for the mind           (Prayers and Meditations 112).
of man to comprehend. His cre-                Those Who are the Embodiments
ation no end hath overtaken, and          of His Names and Attributes not only
it . . . will continue to the "End that   endure the paradoxes implicit in God's
knoweth no end." Ponder this ut-          mysterious Will, but contain them.
terance in thine heart, and reflect       The mysterious mingling of Their di-
how it is applicable unto all these       vine and human nature symbolizes the
holy Souls. (Kitáb-i-Íqán 167)            ultimate irony of God. What could
be more perturbing than this duality?
When Bahá'u'lláh writes of the           When people "discover suddenly," as
Word of God summoning Him to                Bahá'u'lláh says in the Kitáb-i-Íqán,
speech, the darkness from which It ris-     "that a Man, Who hath been living
es not only perturbs His rational mind      in their midst, Who, with respect to
but seizes upon Him, like an involun-       every human limitation, hath been
tary Will. "Had it been in my power,"       their equal, had risen to abolish every
He writes, "I would have, under no cir-     established principle imposed by their
cumstances, consented to distinguish        Faith—they would of a certainty be
myself amongst men." But when He            veiled and hindered from acknowledg-
chooses to hold His peace, "lo, the         ing His truth" (74).
voice of the Holy Ghost, standing on            No wonder the Manifestations of
my right hand, aroused me, and the          God in every age pose the ultimate
Supreme Spirit appeared before my           test for the human race: "Verily, God
The Silences of God                               63

caused not this turmoil but to test and     We therefore . . . made Our verses
prove His servants" (Kitáb-i-Íqán 51).      testimonies for all to witness. . . .
We are perturbed by the nature of           However, in this Dispensation, the
these living symbols and metaphors.         one True God—Glorified be His
We can barely understand heaven and         Name—hath purposed that most
earth, but "whatever lieth between          of the believers who are wholly
them," namely the Manifestations            devoted to Him should speak in
themselves, remains the ultimate            the language of divine verses.
enigma. These divine Embodiments            Therefore, we have ordained that
speak only in veiled language about         a proof other than the revelation
their dual nature. In the last analysis     of divine verses be produced to
the Word of God offers no rational          vindicate the truth of the next
Manifestation."     (Vol. IV, 93;
explanation to Their mystery, and
provisional trans.)
we are left to respond in the silences,
"inasmuch as the divine Purpose hath
Clearly the significance of words
decreed that the true should be known
has been so democratized in this age
from the false, and the sun from the      that new proofs must be found to com-
shadow, He hath, therefore, in every      municate the Primal Will to human-
season sent down upon mankind the         kind. I do not know whether this is an
showers of tests from His realm of        indication that we will one day probe
glory" (Kitáb-i-Íqán 53).                 the silences of God in prose rather
And so, the final purpose of           than verse, or whether my brother was
God's silences is to test us. It is       prophetic, after all, in suggesting that
the touchstone whose ambiguities          in some future dispensation, a female
destroy and undermine our facile          Manifestation of God might appear,
interpretations. It is a double-edged     simply smile, and say nothing at all.
sword that has been tempered, like        But certainly we shall be tested by
steel, in the fires of paradox. And       whatever is "other than the revelation
the fact that these divine paradoxes,     of divine verses."
in turn, test our understanding may          And with that thought, I will
be implicit in Bahá'u'lláh words, in      for my own safety's sake, "observe
the Ma'idiy-i-Asmani, in which He         silence," "look at the end of things,"
anticipates a different "proof " in the   and "renounce the world" (Bahá'u'lláh,
next Dispensation than what we have       Tablets 156).
been led to expect from those of the
past. "As My previous Manifestation
decreed that the proof of My
Dispensation should be the revelation
of divine verses," He states,
64               The Journal of Bahá'í Studies 24.3/4 2014

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-- The Silences of God: A Meditation (Used by permission of the curator)