21st Chapter
A man with ideal virtue is one who follows Tao and Tao alone.
Tao has an effect in the physical realm but is unclear.
It is unclear, but with insight one can look beyond physical form and effects, to see its spiritual attributes.
Tao’s power to influence things is unclear but its effect can be seen in the physical realm.

Tao is so real, it feels like one can trust it in spirit.
Throughout the ages, from what has been told, its Name never goes away.
How do I know all of this?
From observing spiritual attributes, and the effects which Tao has made manifest in creation (visible and invisible).

Implications from the Holy Books

Blinded are your eyes! Perceived ye not the greatness of the power of God and of His sovereignty? Beheld ye not His majesty and glory? ……Hearken unto My speech, and tarry not though it be for less than a moment. Thus biddeth you He Who is the Beauty of the All-Merciful, that haply ye may detach yourselves from the things ye possess, and ascend to the heights from which ye can discover the whole creation sheltered beneath the shadow of His Revelation.

Beware that ye divest not yourselves of the raiment of Divine guidance. Drink ye your fill from the Cup which the Youths of Heaven have raised above your heads. Thus biddeth you He Who hath more mercy upon you than your own selves, He Who asketh not any recompense or thanks from you. His reward is from Him Who hath, through the power of truth, sent Him down unto you, and singled Him out and proclaimed Him as His own Testimony unto the whole of creation. He it is Who hath empowered Him to manifest all His signs. Repeat the gaze, that ye may perceive the things whereunto the Tongue of the Ancient of Days hath summoned you, that haply ye may be of them that have apprehended the truth. Heard it ye ever reported by your fathers of old, or by the generations that preceded them, even unto the first Adam, that any one coming in the clouds of revelation, being invested with manifest and transcendent sovereignty, having on his right hand the Kingdom of God and on his left all the power and glory of His everlasting dominion, any one preceded by the hosts of God, the Almighty, the All-Compelling, the Most Powerful, and uttering continually verses whose import the minds of the most learned and wisest of men are powerless to fathom, should yet be the bearer of a message that is not of God? Be discerning, then, and speak ye the truth, the very truth, if ye claim to be honest and high-minded. —Bahá’u’lláh,  Gleanings From the Writings of Bahá’u’lláh 121

Go Back to the List of Chapters