nd secular, and of the arts.
Whensoever they gather in their meetings let their conversation be
confined to learned subjects and to information on the knowledge of the
day.

If they do thus, they will flood the world with the Manifest Light, and
change this dusty earth into gardens of the Realm of Glory.

(From a Tablet--translated from the Arabic) [27]

"28: O thou true friend! Read, in the school of God, the lessons of
the..."

O thou true friend! Read, in the school of God, the lessons of the spirit,
and learn from love's Teacher the innermost truths. Seek out the secrets
of Heaven, and tell of the overflowing grace and favour of God.

Although to acquire the sciences and arts is the greatest glory of
mankind, this is so only on condition that man's river floweth into the
mighty Sea, and draweth from God's ancient source His inspiration. When
this cometh to pass, then every teacher is as a shoreless ocean, every
pupil a prodigal fountain of knowledge. If, then, the pursuit of knowledge
leadeth to the beauty of Him Who is the object of all knowledge, how
excellent that goal; but if not, a mere drop will perhaps shut a man off
from flooding grace, for with learning cometh arrogance and pride, and it
bringeth on error and indifference to God.

The sciences of today are bridges to reality; if then they lead not to
reality, naught remains but fruitless illusion. By the one true God! If
learning be not a means of access to Him, the Most Manifest, it is nothing
but evident loss.

It is incumbent upon thee to acquire the various branches of knowledge,
and to turn thy face toward the beauty of the Manifest Beauty, that thou
mayest be a sign of saving guidance amongst the peoples of the world, and
a focal centre of understanding in this sphere from which the wise and
their wisdom are shut out, except for whoso setteth foot in the Kingdom of
Lights and becometh informed of the veiled and hidden mystery, the
well-guarded secret.

("Selections from the Writings of 'Abdu'l-Baha" [rev. ed.], (Haifa: Baha'i
World Centre, 1982), Sec. 72, p. 110) [28]

"29: Man is in the highest degree of materiality, and at the beginning
of..."

Man is in the highest degree of materiality, and at the beginning of
spirituality--that is to say, he is the end of imperfection and the
beginning of perfection. He is at the last degree of darkness, and at the
beginning of light; that is why it has been said that the condition of