We have already stated that science or the attribute of
scientific penetration is supernatural and that all other blessings of God are
within the boundary of nature. What is the proof of this? All created things
except man are captives of nature. The stars and suns swinging through infinite
space, all earthly forms of life and existence—whether mineral, vegetable or
animal—come under the dominion and control of natural law. Man through
scientific knowledge and power rules nature and utilizes her laws to do his bidding.
According to natural limitations he is a creature of earth, restricted to life
upon its surface, but through scientific utilization of material laws he soars
in the sky, sails upon the ocean and dives beneath it. The products of his
invention and discovery, so familiar to us in daily life, were once mysteries
of nature. For instance, man has brought electricity out of the plane of the
invisible into the plane of the visible, harnessed and imprisoned that
mysterious natural agent and made it the servant of his needs and wishes.
Similar instances are many, but we will not prolong this.
- ‘Abdu’l-Baha (From a
talk, 23 April 1912, Washington D.C.; ‘The Promulgation of Universal Peace:
Talks Delivered by ‘Abdu’l-Bahá during His Visit to the United States and
Canada in 1912’)
