STORIES
Then we sat in the two chairs by the window: knee to knee, eye to eye. At last He looked right into me. It was the first time since our eyes had met with His first beckoning gesture that this had happened. And now nothing intervened between us and He looked at me. He looked at me! It seemed as though never before had anyone really seen me. I felt a sense of gladness that I at last was at home, and that one who knew me utterly, my Father, in truth, was alone with me. As He looked such play of thought found reflection in His face, that if He had talked an hour not nearly so much could have been said. A little surprise, perhaps, followed swiftly by such sympathy, such understanding, such overwhelming love--it was as if His very being opened to receive me. With that the heart within me melted and the tears flowed. I did not weep, in any ordinary sense. There was no breaking up of feature. It was as if a long-pent stream was at last undammed. Unheeded, as I looked at Him, they flowed.
-- Howard Colby Ives, Portals To Freedom, p. 32
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'Abdu'l-Bahá's answer to one who asked Him why it was that those who came from His presence possessed a shining face. He said, with that sublime smile and humble gesture of the hands which once seen may never be forgotten, that if it were so it must be because He saw in every face the face of His Heavenly Father. Ponder this answer. Deeply search the depths of these simple words, for here may be discerned the meaning of the "Love of God" and the cause of Its transforming power. One may readily understand why the lover's face should glow with heavenly radiance. Surely one's whole being would be transformed once the Lamp of Cosmic love were ignited in the heart. But why should It cause the face of the seeker, the estranged, the sinful, upon whom the love is turned, also to become radiant? We find the answer in another of 'Abdu'l-Bahá's comprehensive, authoritative sayings: "Dost thou desire to love God? Love thy fellow men, for in them ye see the image and likeness of God."
-- Howard Colby Ives, Portals To Freedom, p. 46
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I shall never forget the glance of outraged dignity the interpreter cast upon me. It was as though he would say: "Who are you to contradict or even to question 'Abdu'l-Bahá!" But not so did 'Abdu'l-Bahá look at me. How I thank God that it was not! He looked at me a long moment before He spoke. His calm, beautiful eyes searched my soul with such love and understanding that all my momentary heat evaporated. He smiled as winningly as a lover smiles upon his beloved, and the arms of His spirit seemed to embrace me as He said softly that I should try my way and He would try His. It was as though a cool hand had been laid upon a fevered brow; as though a cup of nectar had been held to parched lips; as though a key had unlocked my hard-bolted, crusted and rusted heart. The tears started and my voice trembled, "I'm sorry," I murmured. Often since that day have I pondered on the tragic possibilities of the effect of an expression of the face. I have even thought I should like to write a book on The Glance that Saved the World, taking as a theme the way Jesus must have looked upon Peter after the three-fold denial. What could that glance have carried to the fear stricken, doubting, angry Peter? Surely not the self-righteous, dignified look in the eyes of the interpreter for Abdu'l-Bahá. As surely it must have been something in the nature of the expression of all-embracing love, forgiveness and understanding with which 'Abdu'l-Bahá calmed and soothed and assured my heart. Upon that glance which Jesus cast upon Peter as he went to the Cross probably hung the destinies of Christianity. Had it not been one of forgiveness and love Peter would not have gone out and "wept bitterly." Neither, in ail probability, would he have died a martyr to the Cause of Him whom he denied in that moment of angry fear. Is it too much to go one step further and assert that the destinies of the world hung upon that moment of time when the eyes of Peter and His Master met and he read therein not what his soul knew he deserved but what God's mercy conferred as a bounty on His part.
-- Howard Colby Ives, Portals To Freedom, p. 37
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[With 'Abdu'l-Bahá] There was never an assumption of authority, rather He was ever the personification of humility. He taught "as if offering a gift to a king." He never told me what I should do, beyond suggesting that what I was doing was right. Nor did He ever tell me what I should believe. He made Truth and Love so beautiful and royal that the heart perforce did reverence. He showed me by His voice, manner, bearing, smile, how I should be, knowing that out of the pure soil of being the good fruit of deeds and words would surely spring.
-- Howard Colby Ives, Portals To Freedom, p. 40
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I wondered why 'Abdu'l-Bahá kept silence so long. Yet was it silence? That stillness held more than words. At last He spoke. He said that the work of a Christian minister is most important. When you preach, or pray, or teach your people your heart must be filled with love for them and love for God. And you must be sincere,--very sincere. He spoke in Persian, the interpreter translating fluently and beautifully. But no one could interpret that Divine Voice. He spoke, indeed, as never mere man spake. One listened entranced and understood inwardly even before the interpreter opened his mouth. It was as though the English skimmed the surface: the voice, the eyes, the smile of 'Abdu'l-Bahá taught the heart to probe the depths. He continued, to the effect that: One can never be sincere enough until his heart is entirely severed from attachment to the things of this world. One should not preach love and have a loveless heart, nor preach purity and harbor impure thoughts. Nor preach peace and be at inward strife.
-- Howard Colby Ives, Portals To Freedom, p. 42
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He ['Abdu'l-Bahá] walked as calmly as if on a lofty plateau, far removed from the tumult and the shouting. Yet He never stood aloof. Always His interest in people and events was keen, especially in people. Souls was the term He always used. He was ever at the service of any or all who needed Him. From five o'clock in the morning frequently until long after midnight He was actively engaged in service, yet no evidence of haste or stress ever could be seen in Him. "Nothing is too much trouble when one loves," He had been heard to say, "and there is always time."
-- Howard Colby Ives, Portals To Freedom, p. 51
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There is a story told of an illiterate miner who made a long journey on foot to meet 'Abdu'l-Bahá when He was in San Francisco, which further illustrates the same spiritual phenomenon. This man, though uneducated, had great spiritual capacity. He attended a meeting at which 'Abdu'l-Bahá spoke. He seemed enthralled as the measured, bell-like tones fell from the Master's lips. When the interpreter took up the passage in English this miner started as if awakening. "Why does that man interrupt?" He whispered. Then again Abdu'l-Bahá spoke, and again the visitor was lost in attention. Again the interpreter translated as the speaker paused. At this the miner's indignation was aroused. "Why do they let that man interrupt? He should be put out." "He is the official interpreter," one sitting beside him explained. "He translates the Persian into English." "Was He speaking in Persian?" was the naive answer, "Why anyone could understand that." As for me: my heart was certainly moved far more by the chanting Voice and the flowing, musical periods, than by the interpreter's version of the wedding prayer, beautiful as it is.
-- Howard Colby Ives, Portals To Freedom, p. 99
This story illustrates: The understanding of His words and the comprehension of the utterances of the Birds of Heaven are in no wise dependent upon human learning. They depend solely upon purity of heart, chastity of soul, and freedom of spirit.
-- Bahá'u'lláh, The Kitáb-i-Íqan, p. 211
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But His smile which seemed to embrace us with an overflowing comradeship; His eyes which flashed about the room as if seeking out each individual; His gestures which combined such authority and humility; such wisdom and humor, all conveyed to me, at least, a true human brotherhood which could never be content with plenty while the least of these little ones had less than enough, and yet still less content until all had that divine plenty only to be bestowed through the breaths of the Holy Spirit, that is, by contact with the Manifestation of God.
-- Howard Colby Ives, Portals To Freedom, p. 87
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How Bernie Fishman became a Bahá’í: Bernie had a lot of objections and was skeptical as to the possibility of the Bahá’í Faith really being what it claimed to be: The fulfillment of all the prophecies of all the Religions, and Bahá’u’lláh being the Promised One of all Religions. So Bernie read and argued and debated and eventually came to an interesting understanding. He came to believe. He said, “if Bahá’u’lláh wasn’t the Promised One then He might just-as-well be, because who else could possibly have such a compelling case.”
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