In the physical realm of creation, all things are eaters and
eaten: the plant drinketh in the mineral, the animal doth crop and swallow down
the plant, man doth feed upon the animal, and the mineral devoureth the body of
man. Physical bodies are transferred past one barrier after another, from one
life to another, and all things are subject to transformation and change, save
only the essence of existence itself—since it is constant and immutable, and
upon it is founded the life of every species and kind, of every contingent
reality throughout the whole of creation.
Whensoever thou dost examine, through a microscope, the
water man drinketh, the air he doth breathe, thou wilt see that with every
breath of air, man taketh in an abundance of animal life, and with every
draught of water, he also swalloweth down a great variety of animals. How could
it ever be possible to put a stop to this process? For all creatures are eaters
and eaten, and the very fabric of life is reared upon this fact. Were it not
so, the ties that interlace all created things within the universe would be
unravelled.
- ‘Abdu’l-Baha (‘Selections from the Writings of ‘Abdu’l-Baha’)
