KOAN CALL
Figure 1: Imagine all the little Gregs waving to one another.

For this article, I needs must use a word I have made up: myriadverse.
Let’s pretend that those physicists are correct who claim — whether based upon superstring theory or the quantum “pants of time” theory or any other foundation — that multiple cosmoses exist in some sort of multiverse. Additionally, Bahá’ís are told in their Scriptures in many places (e.g. 118) that God has brought into being — via the Instrumentality of the Primal (1st) Will — infinite spiritual worlds as well. Let’s label these spiritual realms the aniverse, for “ani” comes from the root for breath, and is a prefix for a variety of words having to do with life and spirit.
But. Is that all? While many would believe that the multiverse and the aniverse jointly would pretty much have to enclose creation, I, personally, fear to assert a limitation on the expanse of Unlimited God’s creation. `Abdu’l-Bahá, indeed, warns us away from such prejudices:
The fact that philosophers and sages have posited limits and restrictions for such matters is to be explained by the limitations of people’s minds and perceptions and the blindness of the followers of allusions, whose natures and intellects have been rendered dull and inanimate by the interposition of many veils. — `Abdu’l-Bahá, “Tablet of the Universe”, provisional translation, originally published in Makátib-i ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, Volume 1, pages 13–32, 1997
So I, not wishing to appear dull and inanimate any more than I typically do, use an all-embracing word for all those other realities I cannot yet know about, but also dare not leave out: the álterosverse (from the Proto-Indo-European “álteros”, meaning “the other 1”).
The myriadverse, then, contains the entirety of the spiritual realms (or aniverse); as well as the entirety of the physical realms (or multiverse); and any other “verses” (the álterosverse) which may exist.
Myriad = multi ∪ ani ∪ álteros.
These verses compose the Cadence of Coherence. (From The Dao of the Wow)
So, all of the above is just to make it possible for me to use — only twicet — the word myriadverse, and for you, dear reader, subsequently to understand the immensity of the vision contained in just 1 Hidden Word.
GOO GOO God’s Pan
I was meditating on the 2nd Hidden Word — the justice one:
O SON OF SPIRIT! The best beloved of all things in My sight is Justice; turn not away therefrom if thou desirest Me, and neglect it not that I may confide in thee. By its aid thou shalt see with thine own eyes and not through the eyes of others, and shalt know of thine own knowledge and not through the knowledge of thy neighbor. Ponder this in thy heart; how it behooveth thee to be. Verily justice is My gift to thee and the sign of My loving-kindness. Set it then before thine eyes. — Bahá’u’lláh, The Hidden Words of Bahá’u’lláh, US Bahá’í Publishing Trust 1985 reprint, pp. 3–4
Of all the things He sees, Bahá’u’lláh loves justice the most. Of all the things He sees, Bahá’u’lláh loves justice the most. Of all the things He sees, Bahá’u’lláh loves justice the most. Of all the things He sees…
Is Bahá’u’lláh referring to:
> what His earthly eyes see as He walks the banks of the Tigris River, the venue for the revelation of The Hidden Words? Or,
> all the possible things one could see on this planet? Or,
> all the things the “eyes” of the Primal Will behold in all the myriadverse which the Unlimited Primal Will created? Or,
> all the Infinite Names and Attributes of the Primal Will, Which God “sees” as God beholds this Primal Will, God’s Single Creation?
No matter how one interprets it, this concept is staggering. Make no mistake: the all-encompassing vision of the Manifestation of God is a maelstrom of unending creation and re-creation which no earth-bound mind or vision could ever encompass. We would be but tiny pieces of chaff whirled thru the tornado of God’s illimitable omniscience and omnipotence [the GOO that holds Pan (all) together].
I do not know about you, dear reader, but those last 2 paragraphs make me think — and think again — on the Bahá’í Ringstone Symbol. How lightly we say the words when we explain Its meaning. My soul writhes as I realize how foolish I have been. Within those few b’s and h’s the Primal Will is maintaining and expanding the myriadverse.
Lensing
Bahá’u’lláh educates us in the above quotation that by the aid of justice, we shall see with our own eyes. But people see via light, and not via justice. So clearly Bahá’u’lláh is referring to our inner perception and comprehension. The spiritual metaphor of light is Truth or Revelation. Our spirit “sees” by the Light of God’s Truth.
However, in the physical realm light must pass thru something in order to be useful. In the frozen blackness of space, electromagnetism abounds. Yet space has neither heat nor light, because there is no atmosphere. There is nothing to make the radiance useful. Light does not even doff its cap as it fleets by.
Figure 2: ♪ Passing thru, passing thru, sometimes happy sometimes blue… Tell the people that you saw me passing thru. ♫ <Leonard Cohen>

The Great Wheel
Correspondingly, Revelation — or knowledge of any kind — must pass thru the laser of justice if we are to be knowers of true reality. As Bahá’u’lláh posits no limits to justice as a requirement for understanding, His declaration includes scientific investigation. There’s a rub. In his article The Known and Unknown: Physics and the Revelation of Baha’u’llah. Vahid Houston Ranjbar muses on the importance of meditation in scientific investigation. He states “…there are enough instances in the history of science where the process of discovery has occurred in a mystical or a revelatory manner that we shouldn’t dismiss this out of hand.” If I am reading this Hidden Word aright, we now must conclude other spiritual practices — such as seemingly unrelated justice — have profound implications for scientists. For Bahá’u’lláh also specifies that it is because of justice He can confide in us. Meditation is 1 way for this confidence to actualize.
But what is justice? To which of its several meanings does Bahá’u’lláh refer? If we assume He means fairness or equitableness, then what standard is used to determine fairness? Ultimately, all English definitions of justice reduce to being that state or action which is warranted because it is morally correct. A feeling, belief, action, or sentence is just if — and only if — it is ethically correct.
If political effort is not imbued with justice for all, then it is ultimately a waste of effort, and has fallen short of the Glory of God. So is this true for all endeavors of all peoples. Clearly, any court system, for example, built upon precedent cannot be just. This ridiculous idea is based upon the equally ridiculous idea that parents should treat all their children the same. Since each child is different, with different needs, that system breaks down immediately.
Ethical correctness, or morality, is determined by what is right or wrong. In the eyes of Bahá’u’lláh there exists 1 and only 1 standard of right and wrong: His.
To know of our own knowledge, then, is to use Bahá’u’lláh’s standard of nobility (exalted character achieved thru right behavior) to comprehend what is justly due to all. All is comprehensive. All includes the planet, the people (including the individual achieving the understanding), the body, the mind, the spirit, the society, the Cause of God and the Manifestation Himself.
Figure 3: Hopscotch

In Their Writings, the Central Figures of the Bahá’í Faith connect many things to such certitude. For instance, in the Tablet of Ahmad, Bahá’u’lláh abjures Ahmad
Be thou as a flame of fire to My enemies and a river of life eternal to My loved ones, and be not of those who doubt.
Doubt is the opposite of surety. So we see that to be the flame and the river requires justice.
Similarly, when `Abdu’l-Bahá tells us on p. 383 of Bahá’í World Faith that
By faith is meant, first, conscious knowledge…
He admonishes us 1st to perceive correctly so that we believe correctly. As noted, such perception requires justice.
Thirdly, by resisting all efforts on the part of the well-meaning to rename the Bahá’í Faith (first, conscious knowledge) something else, The Guardian, the far-sighted Shoghi Effendi, hammered home the principle that believers are to investigate and to know for themselves. The very name by which believers in Bahá’u’lláh are known depends upon the lens of justice.
`Abdu’l-Bahá further demonstrates the importance of justice by elevating justice — seeing thru the lens of morality — of all the principles of Bahá’u’lláh, to top rank.
The first principle of Bahá’u’lláh is independent investigation of truth, that is, all the nations of the world have to investigate after truth independently and turn their eyes from the moribund blind imitations of the past ages entirely. Truth is one when it is independently investigated, it does not accept division. Therefore the independent investigation of truth will lead to the oneness of the world of humanity. — Japan Will Turn Ablaze! p. 35
In this teaching, the Master highlights a side effect of justice — oneness. If we perceive clearly, we will not have disunity. We cannot dispute, because we all see the same reality, the same needs, the same priorities, and the same importance of the needs of the whole relative to our own needs. But this perception only comes alive if we care about what we perceive. Consider this quote from Bahá’u’lláh:
Beware lest the desires of the flesh and of a corrupt inclination provoke divisions among you. Be ye as the fingers of one hand, the members of one body. — Proclamation of Bahá’u’lláh, p. 118.
In this Passage, Bahá’u’lláh links unity both
1. with the self-discipline of cleaving to our spiritual, rather than our material natures; and
2. to the avoidance of dishonesty for the sake of personal gain (corruption).
These exhortations may also be summed up in Bahá’u’lláh’s call to righteousness. To achieve unity, Bahá’ís must be righteous. That is, not merely to achieve some personal salvation, but to build the Kingdom of God on earth, Bahá’ís must be righteous. As a group, that righteousness is best displayed, I believe, via implementation of Bahá’u’lláh’s Covenant.
We have come full circle.
Pushmi-Pullyu
Figure 4: The noise made by unified Bahá’ís is called consultation.

Bahá’u’lláh has at long last resolved that age-old kōan: What is the call of 1 hand clapping? It is the resonance from the jubilee of true consultation.
