…formation is of three kinds and of three kinds only:
accidental, necessary and voluntary. The coming together of the various
constituent elements of beings cannot be accidental, for unto every effect
there must be a cause. It cannot be compulsory, for then the formation must be
an inherent property of the constituent parts and the inherent property of a
thing can in no wise be dissociated from it, such as light that is the revealer
of things, heat that causeth the expansion of elements and the solar rays which
are the essential property of the sun. Thus under such circumstances the
decomposition of any formation is impossible, for the inherent properties of a
thing cannot be separated from it. The third formation remaineth and that is
the voluntary one, that is, an unseen force described as the Ancient Power,
causeth these elements to come together, every formation giving rise to a
distinct being.
(‘Abdu’l-Baha, ’Tablet to August Forel’)
