The Valley Of Contentment

Categories: THE SEVEN VALLEYS OF BAHA'U'LLAH
Sources: Ebook Of The Seven Valleys And The Four Valleys

In this Valley he feeleth the winds of divine contentment blowing from the

plane of the spirit. He burneth away the veils of want, and with inward

and outward eye, perceiveth within and without all things the day of: God

will compensate each one out of His abundance.(53) From sorrow he turneth

to bliss, from anguish to joy. His grief and mourning yield to delight and

rapture.



Although to outward view, the wayfarers in this Valley may dwell upon the

dust, yet inwardly they are throned in the heights of mystic meaning; they

eat of the endless bounties of inner significances, and drink of the

delicate wines of the spirit.



The tongue faileth in describing these three Valleys, and speech falleth

short. The pen steppeth not into this region, the ink leaveth only a blot.

In these planes, the nightingale of the heart hath other songs and

secrets, which make the heart to stir and the soul to clamor, but this

mystery of inner meaning may be whispered only from heart to heart,

confided only from breast to breast.



Only heart to heart can speak the bliss of mystic knowers;

No messenger can tell it and no missive bear it.(54)



I am silent from weakness on many a matter,

For my words could not reckon them and my speech would fall short.(55)



O friend, till thou enter the garden of such mysteries, thou shalt never

set lip to the undying wine of this Valley. And shouldst thou taste of it,

thou wilt shield thine eyes from all things else, and drink of the wine of

contentment; and thou wilt loose thyself from all things else, and bind

thyself to Him, and throw thy life down in His path, and cast thy soul

away. However, there is no other in this region that thou need forget:

There was God and there was naught beside Him.(56) For on this plane the

traveler witnesseth the beauty of the Friend in everything. Even in fire,

he seeth the face of the Beloved. He beholdeth in illusion the secret of

reality, and readeth from the attributes the riddle of the Essence. For he

hath burnt away the veils with his sighing, and unwrapped the shroudings

with a single glance; with piercing sight he gazeth on the new creation;

with lucid heart he graspeth subtle verities. This is sufficiently

attested by: And we have made thy sight sharp in this day.(57)



After journeying through the planes of pure contentment, the traveler

cometh to