…the life of man is wholly subject to danger and
impermanency. A person cannot put his assurance even in one moment's
continuity. Notwithstanding this, the nations of the world, deceived by the
mirage of superstition, imagine themselves secure in the heavenly way. Alas!
Alas! Former communities in bygone ages entertained the same perishing
thoughts; but by one of those periodical fluctuations they were all hidden
under the ground, and afflicted with deprivation and loss, except those souls
who had become pure evanescence and had arisen with a great self-abnegation in
the path of God. Such souls shine forth as brilliant stars from the horizon of
the Ancient Glory, and the results which emanated from their lives in
succeeding ages and cycles are the proofs of this statement.
- ‘Abdu’l-Baha (From a Tablet, Star of the West, vol. 4, no. 1, March 21, 1913)
