…man through the possession of this ideal endowment of
scientific investigation is the most noble product of creation, the governor of
nature. He takes the sword from nature’s hand and uses it upon nature’s head.
According to natural law night is a period of darkness and obscurity, but man
by utilizing the power of electricity, by wielding this electric sword
overcomes the darkness and dispels the gloom. Man is superior to nature and
makes nature do his bidding. Man is a sensitive being; nature is without sensation.
Man has memory and reason; nature lacks them. Man is nobler than nature. There
are powers within him of which nature is devoid. It may be claimed that these
powers are from nature itself and that man is a part of nature. In answer to
this statement we will say that if nature is the whole and man is a part of
that whole, how could it be possible for a part to possess qualities and
virtues which are absent in the whole? Undoubtedly the part must be endowed
with the same qualities and properties as the whole. For example, the hair is a
part of the human anatomy. It cannot contain elements which are not found in
other parts of the body, for in all cases the component elements of the body
are the same. Therefore, it is manifest and evident that man, although in body
a part of nature, nevertheless in spirit possesses a power transcending nature;
for if he were simply a part of nature and limited to material laws, he could
possess only the things which nature embodies. God has conferred upon and added
to man a distinctive power—the faculty of intellectual investigation into the
secrets of creation, the acquisition of higher knowledge—the greatest virtue of
which is scientific enlightenment.
- ‘Abdu’l-Baha (From a talk at Columbia University, New
York, 19 April 1912; ‘The Promulgation of Universal Peace: Talks Delivered by
'Abdu'l-Bahá during His Visit to the United States and Canada in 1912’)
