Sunday, September 23, 2007

True Paradise

It's been said that Heaven and Hell are not places we might inhabit when we die but "states of being" we live through here on Earth.

Consider this excerpt from Reality:

"....there is no greater torture than being veiled from God, and no more severe punishment than sensual vices, dark qualities, lowness of nature, engrossment in carnal desires. When they are delivered through the light of faith from the darkness of these vices, and become illuminated with the radiance of the sun of reality, and ennobled with all the virtues, they esteem this the greatest reward, and they know it to be the true paradise."

‘Abdu’l-Bahá: Some Answered Questions, Chapter 60: "The Immortality of the Spirit", p. 224