Beauty (Jamal) 2013

Haifa, Israel

“His beauty excelleth every other embodiment of beauty, and His grandeur immensely exceedeth every other manifestation of grandeur. Every light paleth before the radiance of His light, and every other exponent of mercy falleth short before the tokens of His mercy…”
-The Báb
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Zanzibar

“O SON OF EARTH! Wouldst thou have Me, seek none other than Me; and wouldst thou gaze upon My beauty, close thine eyes to the world and all that is therein; for My will and the will of another than Me, even as fire and water, cannot dwell together in one heart.”
-Bahá’u’lláh
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Sydney, Australia

“Let thy breeze refresh them in order that they may be trained, grow and develop, and appear in the utmost beauty.”
-Abdul-Baha
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Vancouver, Canada

“O Son Of Man! Veiled in My immemorial being and in the ancient eternity of My essence, I knew My love for thee; therefore I created thee, have engraved on thee Mine image and revealed to thee My beauty.” -Baha’u’llah
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Adelaide, Australia

The Hibiscus flower links two periods of service in my life, the first in Fiji and the second in Israel. Each of these countries is special to me. Seeing this flower again ties both of those places with home.

“Know thou of a truth that the seeker must, at the beginning of his quest for God, enter the Garden of Search. In this journey it behoveth the wayfarer to detach himself from all save God and to close his eyes to all that is in the heavens and on the earth. There must not linger in his heart either the hate or the love of any soul, to the extent that they would hinder him from attaining the habitation of the celestial Beauty.”
—Bahá’u’lláh, Gems of Divine Mysteries
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Los Angeles, USA

On a recent visit to Angeles Crest Forest with the two brightest orbs of my existence

“After the recognition of the oneness of the Lord, exalted be He, the most important of all duties is to have due regard for the rights of one’s parents. This matter hath been mentioned in all the Books of God…”
-Bahá’u’lláh
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Puli, Taiwan

Edible mushrooms push up from dirt at a covered farm in Puli, Taiwan. Mushrooms and other fungi flourish partly on decaying carbon-based life forms. They’d be so delicious sauteed with garlic or chopped into a sauce served with steak. My mouth is watering!

“O FRIENDS! Abandon not the everlasting beauty for a beauty that must die, and set not your affections on this mortal world of dust.”
-Bahá’u’lláh
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Wilmette, USA

Happy Ridvan!

“Praise be to God, within the sheltering grace of the Blessed Beauty, here in the lands of the West a breeze hath blown from over the rose-gardens of His bestowals, and the hearts of many people have been drawn as by a magnet to the Abhá Realm.”
-Abdul-Baha

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Victoria, USA

Simplicity

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London, England

“If I happen to see thee before me face to face, I shall tell you of my pangs in minute details;

To see thy face, like unto Zephyr I passed from house to house, door to door, street to street, lane to lane;

The circuit of thy tiny mouth and thy cheeks with down of ambergris (are luxuriant) with buds, roses, tulips and fragrance,

On account of thy separation, my heart’s blood flows forth from my eyes (like) many a Tigris, many a sea, many a brooklet, many a stream,

The dejected heart hath knit thy love on the web of life thread by thread, ­fibre by fibre, warp by warp, woof by woof;

Tahirih entered her heart and found nothing save thee (searching) page by page, fold by fold, screen by screen, layer by layer.”

a Poem by Táhirih, (Qurratu l-`Ayn)