The phenomenal world is entirely subject to the rule and
control of natural law. These myriad suns, satellites and heavenly bodies
throughout endless space are all captives of nature. They cannot transgress in
a single point or particular the fixed laws which govern the physical universe.
The sun in its immensity, the ocean in its vastness are incapable of violating
these universal laws. All phenomenal beings—the plants in their kingdom, even
the animals with their intelligence—are nature’s subjects and captives. All
live within the bounds of natural law, and nature is the ruler of all except
man. Man is not the captive of nature, for although according to natural law he
is a being of the earth, yet he guides ships over the ocean, flies through the
air in airplanes, descends in submarines; therefore, he has overcome natural
law and made it subservient to his wishes.
- ‘Abdu’l-Baha (From a talk, 15 April, 1912, New York; ‘The Promulgation
of Universal Peace: Talks Delivered by 'Abdu'l-Bahá during His Visit to the
United States and Canada in 1912’)
