Hi, Richard, At 06:53 PM 11/4/2004, you wrote: >>I wonder then, as the Baha'i Era opened with a Book known as Qayyum-i-Asma and that >>Asma is one of the Names of God, then that man has the implied authority to name >>anew creation which would include the inner world of himself, hence the explosion of >>philosophical re-examination of old ideas (Kant's analysis of the teleological >>argument for example) and the recognition of new understandings or insights and >>naming or otherwise identifying them.<<
Well, the Word of God (kalimat-ullaah), IMO, refers to the manifestation of God (divine perfections) in the Prophet and to what the Prophet teaches. "The perfections of Christ are called the Word because all the beings are in the condition of letters, and one letter has not a complete meaning, while the perfections of Christ have the power of the word because a complete meaning can be inferred from a word. As the Reality of Christ was the manifestation of the divine perfections, therefore, it was like the word. Why? because He is the sum of perfect meanings. This is why He is called the Word." -- `Abdu'l-Baha, Some Answered Questions, pp.206-207 "Whatever They [the Prophets] say is the word of God, and whatever They perform is an upright action." -- `Abdu'l-Baha, Some Answered Questions, p.173 To my understanding, a Prophet's perfections ***are*** His **names** and attributes which are communicated to us through divine Revelation. In that way, the two definitions of "word" are connected. >>A less than cursory reading of the literature regarding the above terms suggests >>that the tasks they present and the results expected, will produce, nay, require a >>meditation that can lead to knowledge of one's own self and perhaps even the freedom >>existentialists have insisted will be the result of such inner activity.<< I think that, from an ethical perspective, the supremacy of will advocated by Crowley, Nietzche, Husserl, and others needs to be grounded in an understanding of the divine Will (the Covenant). Mark A. Foster * http://markfoster.net "Sacred cows make the best hamburger" -- Mark Twain and Abbie Hoffman __________________________________________________ You are subscribed to Baha'i Studies as: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] To unsubscribe, send a blank email to mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] To subscribe, use subscribe bahai-st in the message body to [EMAIL PROTECTED] Baha'i Studies is available through the following: Mail - mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Web - http://list.jccc.edu/read/?forum=bahai-st News - news://list.jccc.edu/bahai-st Public - http://www.escribe.com/religion/bahaist Old Public - http://www.mail-archive.com/[EMAIL PROTECTED] New Public - http://www.mail-archive.com/[EMAIL PROTECTED]
