In His "Words of Wisdom" Baha'u'llah admonishes us not to imitate others:
"The essence of all that We have revealed for thee is Justice, is for man to free himself from idle fancy and imitation..." (Tablets of Baha'u'llah, p. 156) Yet in another place, He urges us to "follow" the learned who possess certain virtues: "O people of God! Righteous men of learning who dedicate themselves to the guidance of others and are freed and well guarded from the promptings of a base and covetous nature are, in the sight of Him Who is the Desire of the world, stars of the heaven of true knowledge. It is essential to treat them with deference. They are indeed fountains of soft-flowing water, stars that shine resplendent, fruits of the blessed Tree, exponents of celestial power, and oceans of heavenly wisdom. Happy is he that followeth them." (Tablets of Baha'u'llah, p. 96) Likewise, the 11th Imam urged people to "pattern" themselves after the learned who possessed these virtues: "Concerning the prerequisites of the learned, He saith: 'Whoso among the learned guardeth his self, defendeth his faith, opposeth his desires, and obeyeth his Lord's command, it is incumbent upon the generality of the people to pattern themselves after him....'" (Quoted in The Summons of the Lord of Hosts, p. 26) I am wondering if in the original, the same word is translated as "follow", as "pattern after" and as "imitate"; and if the significance of criticizing "imitation" is that Baha'u'llah is urging patterning after the virtuous, and not after the base. Brent __________________________________________________ You are subscribed to Baha'i Studies as: mailto:archive@mail-archive.com Unsubscribe: send a blank email to mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe: send subscribe bahai-st in the message body to [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe: http://list.jccc.edu:8080/read/all_forums/subscribe?name=bahai-st Baha'i Studies is available through the following: Mail - mailto:bahai-st@list.jccc.edu Web - http://list.jccc.edu:8080/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/bahai-st@list.jccc.net New Public - http://www.mail-archive.com/bahai-st@list.jccc.edu
