The descent of the Holy Spirit upon the Apostles [of Christ]
means that that glorious and divine grace cast its light and splendour upon
their realities. For otherwise egress and regress, descent and inherence are
characteristics of bodies and not of spirits—that is, egress and inherence
pertain only to sensible realities, not to intelligible subtleties; and
intelligible realities, such as reason, love, knowledge, imagination, and
thought, do not enter, exit, or inhere, but rather denote relationships.
For example, knowledge, which is a form acquired by the
mind, is an intelligible thing, and to speak of entering into the mind or
exiting from it is absurd. Rather, it is a relationship of acquisition, even as
images are reflected in a mirror.
- 'Abdu'l-Baha (Table talks in Akka, authenticated by
‘Abdu’l-Baha; ‘Some Answered Questions’ – 2014 revised translation by the
Baha’i World Centre)
