Bahá'í cosmology

Bahá'í cosmology is the understanding of reality in the Bahá'í Faith, and for which reality is divided into three divisions. The first part of reality is God who is preexistent and who the rest of creation is contingent on.cite encyclopedia |last= Smith |first= Peter |encyclopedia= A concise encyclopedia of the Bahá'í Faith |title= metaphysics: God and the world |year= 2000 |publisher=Oneworld Publications |location= Oxford |id= ISBN 1-85168-184-1 |pages= p. 245-246] The second part of reality is God's logos which is the realm of God's commands and grace; this realm of reality pervades all created things. The Manifestations of God, messengers from God, are appearances of the logos in the physical world. The third part of reality is creation, which includes the physical world. Creation is not seen to be confined to the material universe, and individual material objects, such as the Earth, are seen to come into being at particular moment and then subsequently break down into their constituent parts.cite encyclopedia |last= Smith |first= Peter |encyclopedia= A concise encyclopedia of the Bahá'í Faith |title= creation |year= 2000 |publisher=Oneworld Publications |location= Oxford |id= ISBN 1-85168-184-1 |pages= p. 116] Thus the current universe is seen as a result of a long-lasting process (cosmological time scales), evolving to its current state. [cite web | title = Originality of Species | date = 1998-03-08 | accessdate = 2008-04-13 | first = Eberhard | last = von Kitzing | url = http://bahai-library.com/unpubl.articles/originality/species.html] In Bahá'í belief, the whole universe is a sign of God and is dependent on him; humanity was created to know God and to serve his purpose. [ Bahá’í World Centre, One Common Faith p30-31 [http://reference.bahai.org/en/t/bic/OCF/ocf-8.html.iso8859-1?#gr2] ]

Bahá'u'lláh, the founder of the Bahá'í Faith, also wrote of many worlds of God. In the Súriy-i-Vafa, Bahá'u'lláh writes: "Know thou of a truth that the worlds of God are countless in their number, and infinite in their range. None can reckon or comprehend them except God, the All-Knowing, the All-Wise." [cite book |author = Bahá'u'lláh |authorlink = Bahá'u'lláh |origyear = 1873-92 |year = 1994 |title = Tablets of Bahá'u'lláh Revealed After the Kitáb-i-Aqdas |publisher = Bahá'í Publishing Trust |location = Wilmette, Illinois, USA |id = ISBN 0877431744
url = http://reference.bahai.org/en/t/b/TB/tb-13.html.iso8859-1#gr20 | pages = p. 187] He distinguished five realms of existence which include (1) "Hahut" — the realm of the unknowable essence of God (2) "Lahut" — the realm of divine consciousness; (3) "Jabarut" — the real of God acting within creation through revelation; (4) "Malakut" — the angelic realm and (5) "Nasut" — the physical world which is subdivided into the animal, vegetable and mineral kingdoms. God is manifested in all five levels, the Manifestations of God in all by the first level, and humans exist between the angelic and physical realms and can choose which to live in.

Bahá'u'lláh also explained that while humans should seek knowledge, no human could understand the nature of God's creation or God himself. He stated that while God had given humans a rational mind, humans are unable to comprehend the inner reality as they are limited by creation.cite encyclopedia |last= Smith |first= Peter |encyclopedia= A concise encyclopedia of the Bahá'í Faith |title= metaphysics: The limits of human understanding |year= 2000 |publisher=Oneworld Publications |location= Oxford |id= ISBN 1-85168-184-1 |pages= p. 245]

ee also

* Bahá'í Faith and science

Notes

References

* [http://bahai-library.com/file.php5?file=mccarron_symbolic_cosmology_sufism&language=All Symbolic Cosmology in the Sufi and Baha'i traditions]
* [http://www.bahai-library.com/articles/allfood.masumian.html The Realms of Divine Existence]
* [http://bahai-library.com/file.php5?file=bahaullah_lawh_kull_taam&language=All Tablet of All Food by Bahá'u'lláh]
* [http://www.bahai-library.com/unpubl.articles/neoplatonism.framework.html Neo-Platonism: Framework for a Baha'i Ontology]