Istijlál, 15 Sharaf (Honor), 178 B.E.

Seen

Birches and Buses …

Paper birch “hieroglyphs” …

Done

Email correspondence about initiatives associated with “Global Rebirth.”

Noted

Astral Prospecting on Instagram and Astral Prospecting on Facebook

Marc Bosserman on Instagram Marc Bosserman on Facebook, and Marc Bosserman Music and Musings on YouTube

Tab’s Galaxy on YouTube

Quoted

Among the spiritual prerequisites placed upon the soul, who would advance toward his Creator, prayer holds a high position. One Christian scholar observes that, “Religious persons and students of religion agree in testifying that prayer is the centre of religion, the soul of all piety.” 1 Bahá’u’lláh, Prophet-Founder of the Bahá’í Faith, sums up God’s exhortation in these words: “O Son of Light! Forget all save Me and commune with My spirit. This is the essence of My command, therefore turn unto it.” 2 Shoghi Effendi, the Guardian of the Bahá’í Faith, in a letter written on his behalf, affirms that “prayer is absolutely indispensable” to “inner spiritual development.” And that this development “is the very foundation and purpose of the religion of God.” 3

As prayer is a mysterious reality, vastly potent, and variously perceived, it is impossible for a work of this nature to be definitive or comprehensive. Rather, the author attempts to lead us, through her own experience and insight, along the challenging path of prayer. She draws our attention to the guiding words of the Messengers of God, her life itself an example of their renewing power. Though her own, much appreciated, understanding of prayer is of welcome value, she wisely employs the Revelations of the Manifestations of God to open to our minds and hearts endless vistas of the soul’s potentialities. Such gems of divine insight are scattered throughout the author’s own exposition and constitute the major portion of the latter two-thirds of the book. 4

  1. Friedrich Heiler, Prayer: A Study in the History and Psychology of Religion, p. 362. [return]
  2. Bahá’u’lláh, The Hidden Words, no. 16, Arabic. [return]
  3. Letter on behalf of Shoghi Effendi to an individual, 8 December 1935, cited in Spiritual Foundations, pp. 14-15. [return]
  4. Moffett, Ruth J. Du’a, on Wings of Prayer. Edited by Keven Brown, Prism Edition, Naturegraph Publishers, 1984, ix-x. [return]