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be transformed so that all things refer to the names and attributes of God. This goal is precisely the concern of many gates of the Persian Bayán, and is a central principle in all the Báb’s later writings. In gate 4 of the fifth unity, the Báb addresses the question of names and naming. He states that He wants to spiritualize the realm of language to such an extent that all words become the names and attributes of God: For the divine Cycle advanceth in stages, until such Revelation when all things will be called by the names of God, such that no name will be assigned to anything unless it resembleth one of the names of God, glori fied and exalted is He, like H . alím (Forbearing), which is a food but resembleth a name of God, lauded and magnified be He. . . . For in the Day of the Revelation of the Sun of Truth, should people attain the utmost limit of perfection, they shall not call anything except by a name that is like one of the names of God, glorified and exalted be He. And if such a level of perfection be not attained, it will assuredly happen in the subsequent Revelation. This will occur gradually and in stages, until all heaven, earth, and that which lieth between them, will be filled with the names of God. . . . Well is it with the people of that age who call nothing but by a name of God. That age is worthy to be praised as the beginning of the worlds of paradise!77 The significance of the Báb’s approach to language cannot be overestimated . The Báb intends that all beings should reflect their inner truth, the revelation of God enshrined within them; thus He transforms even the names of the things, so that thereby the world will become filled with the names of God. If the truth of all beings is the revelation of God within them, and if this is the sanctuary of the heart, then this spiritual linguistics links the inner reality of things directly with their appearance and their names. The harmony of inner and outer is realized in this construction of paradise in the phenomenal world. One could even say that this is a return to the mythical original language that was taught by God to Adam. In both cases, the names of things disclose the truth of things, which is nothing other than the names and attributes of God. Once again, it is a question of symbolism, not a literalistic magic. The actual essence of the things in themselves of course is inaccessible to 334 gate of the heart human knowledge. The significance of the phenomenal names of things lies in the fact that names are the symbolic representations used by human beings in language. Thus it is through the existence of these new names of things within human consciousness that the spiritual transformation is effected. In gate 9 of the fifth unity, the Báb declares that any name of any thing must be seen as the embodiment of various names of God. In other words, each letter of a name should be seen as the abbreviation of one of the names of God. According to the Báb, people are allowed to conceive of ordinary things in this way because this is the age in which all things are to achieve their perfection and realize their true nature. Thus, to be identified by a name of God is the paradise of each thing. In this way, one sees nothing in reality except God: The substance of this gate is that inasmuch as nothing possesseth reality except through the grace of God, glorified and exalted be He, and that a day is destined for each thing to attain unto its utmost perfection, when all its potentialities shall be manifestly realized, and it is only then that it is worthy to be called by a name of God, within its own limit, and not the limit of that which is above it; and inasmuch as God hath commanded the people of the Bayán to elevate all things to their uttermost limit of perfection, He hath granted them permission to call everything, through the letters of their names, by the names of God, lauded and magnified is He, that none may see in anything aught save the Countenance of...

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