Consider The Pettiness Of Men's Minds They

Sources: Gleanings From The Writings Of Baha'u'llah

Consider the pettiness of men's minds. They ask for that which injureth

them, and cast away the thing that profiteth them. They are, indeed, of

those that are far astray. We find some men desiring liberty, and priding

themselves therein. Such men are in the depths of ignorance.



Liberty must, in the end, lead to sedition, whose flames none can quench.

Thus warneth you He Who is the Reckoner, the All-Knowing. Know ye th t the

embodiment of liberty and its symbol is the animal. That which beseemeth

man is submission unto such restraints as will protect him from his own

ignorance, and guard him against the harm of the mischief-maker. Liberty

causeth man to overstep the bounds of propriety, and to infringe on the

dignity of his station. It debaseth him to the level of extreme depravity

and wickedness.



Regard men as a flock of sheep that need a shepherd for their protection.

This, verily, is the truth, the certain truth. We approve of liberty in

certain circumstances, and refuse to sanction it in others. We, verily,

are the All-Knowing.



Say: True liberty consisteth in man's submission unto My commandments,

little as ye know it. Were men to observe that which We have sent down

unto them from the Heaven of Revelation, they would, of a certainty,

attain unto perfect liberty. Happy is the man that hath apprehended the

Purpose of God in whatever He hath revealed from the Heaven of His Will,

that pervadeth all created things. Say: The liberty that profiteth you is

to be found nowhere except in complete servitude unto God, the Eternal

Truth. Whoso hath tasted of its sweetness will refuse to barter it for all

the dominion of earth and heaven.