August 11
O ye sons and daughters of the Kingdom! Thankful, the birds of
the spirit seek only to fly in the high heavens and to sing out their songs
with wondrous art. But the pitiable earthworms love only to tunnel into the
ground, and what a mighty struggle they make to get themselves down into its
depths! Even so are the sons of earth. Their highest aim
is to augment their means of continuing on, in this vanishing world, this death
in life; and this despite the fact that they are bound hand and foot by a
thousand cares and sorrows, and never safe from danger, not even for the
twinkling of an eye; never at any time secure, even from sudden death.
Wherefore, after a brief span, are they utterly effaced, and no sign remaineth
to tell of them, and no word of them is ever heard again. (‘Abdu’l-Baha, ‘Selections
of the Writings of ‘Abdu’l-Baha’)
