Grandeur: Brooklyn, New York
Watts 1977 “Of old it hath been revealed: “Love of one’s country is an element of the Faith of God.” The Tongue of Grandeur hath in the day of His manifestation proclaimed: “It is not his to boast who loveth his country, but it is his who loveth the world.” Through the power released by these exalted [...]
Grandeur: London
A grand church in London, singing for the distant and tiny Pacific island of Samoa, struck by tsunami last year. “O SON OF SPIRIT! Burst thy cage asunder, and even as the phoenix of love soar into the firmament of holiness. Renounce thyself and, filled with the spirit of mercy, abide in the realm of celestial [...]
Grandeur: Oklahoma City
9:03 a.m., The West Gate of Time. The Oklahoma City National Memorial is a place of beauty and serenity, built up in the space where the Alfred P. Murrah federal building once stood. It is not a place only for remembering death and destruction, but the hope and optimism that arose in the hours and days [...]
Grandeur: China
This burial mound of the ancient Kings of Xi-Xia was once the pride of its now vanished nation – a grand symbol of temporal power. It now lies ruined and stripped of its treasures – a tourist attraction. “Reflect, O people! What hath become of your bygone days, your lost centuries?”- Baha’u’llah, Gleanings from the [...]
Grandeur: South Dakota, USA
Love and Grandeur in the Badlands of South Dakota. “The grandeur of human actions is measured by the inspiration from which they spring. Happy is he who bears a god within, and who obeys it.” -Louis Pasteur
Grandeur: Vancouver, Canada
God’s architecture. “All created things have borne witness unto that which the Tongue of Thy grandeur hath testified ere their creation”. – Baha’u’llah
Grandeur: Woodside, California
Chinese Fringe tree. Springtime at Filoli in Woodside, CA. “May He raise them up unto so lofty a station that neither the attractions of the world, nor the allurements of authority, may deflect them from gazing upon the Supreme Horizon ….” Summons of the Lord of Hosts, Bahá’u’lláh, p. 135.
Grandeur: Guam
Cross-section of a discarded palm leaf stalk, a grand structure for the tiny ants exploring it. “O SON OF MAN! My majesty is My gift to thee, and My grandeur the token of My mercy unto thee. That which beseemeth Me none shall understand, nor can anyone recount. Verily, I have preserved it in My [...]
Grandeur: North Carolina
This view spans the length of a particularly special piece of architecture: the sundial at Morehead Planetarium in NC. Polaris, the goal of the sundial’s gesture, twinkles out-of-focus in the background. The ‘North Star’, situated above Earth’s celestial pole, acts as a navigational guide, though it is 430 light years/ 2.8 billion km away! (Talk about the grandeur of space!) “For in this universe [...]
Grandeur: London
Regent’s Canal, Camden. An example of the grandeur of architecture; man-made waterways. “What a great blessing it is when the torrents, streams, currents, tides, and drops are all gathered in one place! They will form a great ocean and the real harmony shall overcome and reign in such a manner that all the rules, laws, [...]
Grandeur: Chicago, USA
The architect of the Baha’i House of Worship in Chicago, Louis Bourgeois, spent years designing and building this plaster model for the chance that his design would be chosen. It is now displayed in a corridor, when rounding the corner one comes upon it, lit from within, a silent testimony to the artist’s grand vision. [...]
Grandeur: Haifa, Israel
In the silent serenity of Bahji at dusk, where the only movement and sound is that of the abiding breeze caressing the trees and brushing their leaves, I call to mind the seven Iranian Baha’i leaders entering their third year in prison and dedicate this photo to them. “Thou seest, O my Lord, how Thy [...]
Grandeur: Minnesota, USA
“Until the day break, and the shadows flee away, turn, my beloved, and be thou like a roe or a young hart upon the mountains of Bether.” ― Song of Solomon 2:17
Grandeur: Shuiguan Mountains, China
All we create that is grandiose and eternal comes to an end. That doesn’t mean it doesn’t still inspire awe. “… Live then the days of thy life, that are less than a fleeting moment, with thy mind stainless, thy heart unsullied, thy thoughts pure, and thy nature sanctified, so that, free and content, thou [...]
Beauty: Lome, Togo
“O Son of Man! Many a day hath passed over thee whilst thou hast busied thyself with thy fancies and idle imaginings. How long art thou to slumber on thy bed? Lift up thine head from slumber, for the Sun hath risen to the zenith; haply it may shine upon thee with the light of beauty.” Baha’u’llah
Beauty: San Antonio, USA
“Say: O people! Is it your wish to conceal the beauty of the Sun behind the veils of your own selfish desires…?”
Beauty: Boston, USA
We went to Crane Beach in Ipswich, MA, US, to celebrate the first day of the festival of Ridvan. I couldn’t take my eyes away from the beauty of these strange clouds. They seemed fleeting, fragile, substantial, ephemeral, soft and strong—all at the same time. Are you getting where I am going with this? “Turn [...]
Beauty: Colorado, USA
The blossoming beauty of our garden gives intense pleasure and deep satisfaction to my mind. Verdant greens, new buds, and the chatter of swallows and woodpeckers: the garden’s beauty is invested with meaning as my husband and I tend vegetable beds and our daughter enjoys playing on the grass, eating leaves. Every morning before breakfast [...]
Beauty: Calais, France
Sunrise over the port of Calais. “Love of beauty is taste, the creation of beauty is art.” Ralph Waldo Emerson.
Beauty: Manhattan, New York
Flower in one hand, phone in the other. “O Brother! Not every sea hath pearls; not every branch will flower, nor will the nightingale sing thereon. Then, ere the nightingale of the mystic paradise repair to the garden of God, and the rays of the heavenly morning return to the Sun of Truth-make thou an [...]
Beauty: Yinchuan, China
True beauty is silent and lives beyond “the murmur of syllables and sounds”. “O inmates of earth and heaven! Behold ye My beauty, and My radiance…” Baha’u’llah, Epistle to the Son of the Wolf, p. 136
Beauty: Chicago, USA
There is spiritual beauty and material beauty. Which do we think of when someone says this word? I stopped in at a salon near my house, where music was playing and the stylists were friendly (and willing to help me with my photography). “The lover’s teacher is the Loved One’s beauty, His face their lesson [...]
Beauty: Brooklyn, New York
Emerging. “I was preparing to make reply, when lo, the Tablet was suddenly ended, leaving My theme unfinished, and the pearl of Mine utterance unstrung.” Gleanings from the Writings of Baha’u’llah
