‘Abdu’l-Baha’s interpretation of a believer’s dream

The dream:

"A young girl became evident to me as belonging with the family, but I could not make out who she was. She spoke of a horse that my son had had long ago, but I did not understand what she meant. After a time it became known that she was my daughter, and I felt grieved to think that I had not been conscious of her presence in all the past years. She seemed not hurt, but surprised that we did not under- stand her. Just as I was waking, I realized that she was our little baby who had passed away over twenty-one years ago, when nine months old." (end of dream.)

Mrs.--- added: "She was my idol, and because I loved her so much, I tried hard to put her out of my thought, and the dream made me feel that we should not do this.”

‘Abdu’l-Baha interpreted it thus:

"That child is your trust within the charge of God. She was a child when she went, but you shall find her full grown in the Kingdom of God. You shall find her mature. You shall not find her there as a child. You shall find her perfect and mature.

"As to the horse once belonging to your son, of which she spoke: Horse in the dream means a wish. It shows that your daughter has fulfilled her wish and her desire, and that shows the loftiness of her station. The wish is one in which your son shared, but she attained to it. It is my hope, God willing, that, he, too, will attain to it."

1947: Hand of the Cause of God Amelia Collins - “The high rank you now occupy and which no Bahá'í since the Master's passing has ever held in his own lifetime…”

With a heart overflowing with profound gratitude I am now writing you these few lines to reaffirm the sentiments, expressed lately on several occasions and in a number of telegrams, of heartfelt and unqualified admiration for your magnificent services, rendered in circumstances so exceptional and difficult as to make them doubly meritorious in the sight of God. You have acquitted yourself of the task I felt prompted to impose upon you in a manner that deserves the praise of the Concourse on High. The high rank you now occupy and which no Bahá'í since the Master's passing has ever held in his own lifetime has been conferred solely in recognition of the manifold services you have already rendered, and is, by no means, intended to be a stimulus or encouragement in the path of service. Indeed the character of this latest and highly significant service you have rendered places you in the category of the Chosen Nine who, unlike the other Hands of the Cause, are to be associated directly and intimately with the cares and responsibilities of the Guardian of the Faith. I feel truly proud of you, am drawn closer to you, and admire more deeply than ever before the spirit that animates you. May the Beloved reward you, both in this world and the next, for your truly exemplary achievements.

- Shoghi Effendi (Appended to a letter dated 14 January 1947 written on his behalf to Mrs. Collins;  ‘The Bahá'í World", vol. XIII’)

“knowledge and sciences [that] will be brought into light” if a person enters “the universal university of the Kingdom”

Thou hast written that thou art a student in the progressive spiritual school. Happy is thy condition! If the various progressive schools join themselves to the universal university of the Kingdom, such knowledge and sciences will be brought into light that

• man will see that the potentialities of the “Open Tablet” of existence are infinite;
• will realize that all the created things are as letters and words;
• will be instructed in the lessons of the degrees of significances;
• will perceive the signs of oneness in the primordial atoms of the earth;
• will hear the voice of the Lord of the Kingdom;
• will behold the confirmations of the Holy Spirit and
• will find such ecstasy and joy that, being unable to contain himself in the vast area of existence, he will prepare himself for the journey toward the Kingdom and
• will hasten to the immensity of the Realm of Might.

As soon as a bird if fledged, it cannot keep itself on the ground; nay, rather it soareth up toward the Supreme Apex—except the birds whose feet are tied, whose wings are clipped and feathers broken and who are soiled with water and clay. 

- ‘Abdu’l-Baha (‘Tablets of ‘Abdu’l-Baha, vol. 3)

To “nurture communities that can manifest the fundamental principles of peace and the requirements of amity and oneness”

Praise be to God that the followers of the Greatest Name throughout the world are familiar with this task and have exerted the utmost effort at all times, in all places, and to the degree possible to discharge this critical responsibility and to learn, in collaboration with like-minded and sympathetic people, how to nurture communities that can manifest the fundamental principles of peace and the requirements of amity and oneness.

• Such communities keenly endeavour to give practical expression to the principle of the equality of women and men;
• they are committed to the centrality of justice and fairness;
• they strive to create harmony and unity, combined with diversity;
• they make consultation the axis for individual and collective decision-making, the remover of conflict, and the builder of agreement;
• they promote economic solidarity and mutual support among people;
• they teach children and junior youth freedom from both prejudice and rancour, and regard the youth as being at the vanguard of the advancement and transformation of society;
• they view spiritual and moral principles as the foundation of the exaltation of humanity and of every kind of progress.

And in this way, they spread a culture of peace and reconciliation.

- The Universal House of Justice (From Naw-Rúz 181[2024] message to the followers of the Greatest Name and the helpers of the Ancient Beauty in the sacred land of Iran; online Baha’i Reference Library of the Baha’i World Center)