When a man has found the joy of life in one place, he
returns to that same spot to find more joy. When a man has found gold in a
mine, he returns again to that mine to dig for more gold. This shows the
internal force and natural instinct which God has given to man, and the power
of vital energy which is born in him.
The West has always received spiritual enlightenment from
the East. The Song of the Kingdom is first heard in the East, but in the West
the greater volume of sound bursts upon the listening ears. The Lord Christ
arose as a bright Star in the Eastern sky, but the light of His Teaching shone
more perfectly in the West, where His influence has taken root more firmly and
His Cause has spread to a greater degree than in the land of His birth. The
sound of the Song of Christ has echoed over all the lands of the Western World
and entered the hearts of its people. The people of the West are firm, and the
foundations on which they build are of rock; they are steadfast, and do not
easily forget.
(‘Abdu’l-Baha, from a talk, Paris, October 23, 1911, ‘Paris
Talks’)
