Uncertainty about assurance, faith and certainty

I am moved to wonder on the state and condition of certainty since finding this provisional translation of Lawh-i-‘Ustad Husayn-i-Khayyát[1] (Tablet to ‘Ustad Husayn-i-Khayyát)[2] A Provisional Translation of the Tablet of the Master.   SEE HERE for the translator’s footnotes

Since the translator is the good Doctor Khazeh Fananapazir I better say (sincerely and with love) that these are nothing but miserable and dubious scribblings by this utterly unworthy servant who wanders endlessly in the desert of ‘not knowing’…………….

Enough of that here is the good Doctor’s provisional translation;

The station of assurance[3] is greater in degree than that of mere faith.[4] It is the station denoted by “that they should add faith upon faith.”[5]

Even though His holiness Abraham was in the highest station of assurance,[6] the divine perfections have no end. The grades of existence are finite but the perfections in each grade of existence are endless.

1) Thus when He [Abraham] sayeth, “that my heart may have assurance”[7] this is the station of the Knowledge of Certainty.[8] This is a certainty that will be achieved with reflection and rational proofs.

2) The Station of the Vision of Certainty[9] is the station of beholding the lights of certainty.[10]

3) The station of the Reality of Certainty[11] is the full realization of that certainty.

The similitude and example of this is this: that with reflection and rational proof, certainty about the existence of fire can be achieved, but when one seeth fire itself, that is then the station of the Vision of Certainty.

When a human being gets ignited with that same fire or when one senses fully the heat of that fire, that is the station of the Reality of Certainty. Thus when his holiness Abraham, the Friend of God, was eager to attain the infinite perfections of the All Merciful One, He, therefore, sought the increased realization of all Lordly conditions.

In particular, He sought the raising of the dead. His purpose in wishing the raising of the dead was the acquisition of eternal life, not this elemental earthly life. His intention was the appearance of all the conditions and grades of existence in His Own blessed Self so that by the breath of the Holy Spirit He might be living eternally even after His evanescence and end.

Upon thee be the Glory of God!

What can we learn from this tablet?

1 Certainty is a matter of station within which there are endless perfections

Perhaps the perfections might be related to what a philosopher might call degrees of certainty.

Baha’is of course believe that the station of the Manifestation is categorically above that of us imperfect humans but since both Manifestations and ordinary humans are made in the image of God we must function like the Manifestation – but with more or less imperfection.
2) The station of the knowledge of Certainty is  achieved with reflection and rational proofs.

3) The station of the Vision of Certainty[9] is the station of beholding the lights of certainty

How do we behold the lights of certainty?  Through what means? Might this be heart-knowing as opposed to head-knowing. The heart is infinite, the head finite.

4) The station of the Reality of Certainty[11] is the full realization of that certainty

Is it true to say that since perfections are endless full realization would be structural rather than a matter of completion?  One way to see this would be a balance of head and heart, of knowledge and vision

The following also come to mind

We should relate reflection on this tablet with Abdu’l-Baha four criteria of truth.

We might also want to connect our reflection with such Islamic commentary as Ibn-al-Arabi’s 3 ways of knowing

We might want to reflect on the Christian meaning of ‘I know that my redeemer liveth’.

We might want to reflect on the philosopher Wittgenstein’s view that ‘knowledge in the end is based on acknowledgment‘.  (You won’t get a member of the Flat-Earth Society to acknowledge that the earth is round!)

We might want also to connect with Love revealeth with unfailing and limitless power the mysteries latent in the universe.   (Abdu’l-Baha, Selections from the Writings of Abdu’l-Baha, p. 27)