From
Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia:
“Seven-league
boots are an element in European folklore. The boots allow the
wearer to take great strides—seven leagues each step—resulting in great speed.
The boots are often presented by a magical character to the protagonist to aid
in the completion of a significant task. (A league is three miles, so seven
leagues is 21 miles or just under 35 kilometres.)”
He wishes you all every success in
the discharge of your arduous duties, and is praying for a marked quickening in
the pace of the Five Year Plan.
(From a letter written on behalf of Shoghi Effendi, 30 October,
1951, Messages to Canada, p. 24)
Recent announcements of developments in the Baha’i world, (Ridvan, 2012), such as the initiation of projects for seven more Mashriqu’l-Adhkars worldwide, and the increase of the number of Regional Baha’i Councils in the United States to ten, lead one to consider the pace at which individual, community, and institutional growth and development can and will continue to accelerate.
[Emphasis added in the quotes below.]
Our fervent desire, bolstered by witnessing your
consecrated efforts during the past year, is that you will intensify your sure-footed application of the knowledge you are
acquiring through experience. Now is not the time to hold back; too many remain
unaware of the new dawn. Who but you can convey the divine message?
(The Universal House of Justice, Ridvan 2012, “To the Baha’is
of the World,” paragraph four.)
At every moment he offereth a hundred lives in the path of the Loved One, at every step he throweth a thousand heads at the feet of the Beloved.
(Baha'u'llah, The Seven Valleys, p. 7)
These statements are made in the sphere of that which is
relative, because of the limitations of men. Otherwise, those personages who in a single step have passed over the
world of the relative and the limited, and dwelt on the fair plane of the
Absolute, and pitched their tent in the worlds of authority and command—have burned away these
relativities with a single spark, and blotted out these words with a drop of
dew. And they swim in the sea of the spirit, and soar in the holy air of light. Then what life have words, on such a
plane, that "first" and "last" or other than these be seen
or mentioned! In this realm, the first is the last itself, and the last is but
the first.
(Baha'u'llah, The Seven Valleys, p. 27-28)
These journeys have no visible ending in the world of time,
but the severed wayfarer—if invisible confirmation descend upon him and the Guardian
of the Cause assist him—may cross these seven stages in seven steps, nay
rather in seven breaths, nay rather in a single breath, if God will and
desire it. And this is of "His grace on such of His servants as He
pleaseth."
(Baha'u'llah, The Seven Valleys, p. 40)
O SON OF LOVE!
Thou art but one
step away from the glorious heights above and from the celestial tree of
love. Take thou one pace and with
the next advance into the immortal realm and enter the pavilion of eternity.
Give ear then to that which hath been revealed by the pen of glory.
(Baha'u'llah, The Persian Hidden Words, No.6)
(Baha'u'llah, The Persian Hidden Words, No.6)
O SON OF GLORY!
Be swift in the path of holiness, and enter the heaven of communion with Me.
Cleanse thy heart with the burnish of the spirit, and hasten to the court of the Most High.
(Baha'u'llah, The Persian Hidden Words, No.7)
Know, moreover, that should one who hath attained unto
these stations and embarked upon these journeys fall prey to pride and
vainglory, he would at that very moment come
to naught and return to the first step without realizing it.
(Baha'u'llah, Gems of Divine Mysteries, p. 74)
O my brother! Take thou the step of the spirit, so that, swift as the twinkling of an eye, thou
mayest flash through the wilds of remoteness and bereavement, attain the
Ridvan of everlasting reunion, and in one breath commune with the heavenly
Spirits. For with human feet thou canst
never hope to traverse these immeasurable distances, nor attain thy goal.
Peace be upon him whom the light of truth guideth unto all truth, and who, in
the name of God, standeth in the path of His Cause, upon the shore of true
understanding.
(Baha'u'llah, The Kitab-i-Iqan, p. 43)
For instance, consider the substance of copper. Were it to
be protected in its own mine from becoming solidified, it would, within the
space of seventy years, attain to the state of gold. There are some, however,
who maintain that copper itself is gold, which by becoming solidified is in a
diseased condition, and hath not therefore reached its own state.
Be that as it may, the real elixir will, in one instant,
cause the substance of copper to attain the state of gold, and will traverse the seventy-year stages in a
single moment. Could this gold be called copper? Could it be claimed that
it hath not attained the state of gold, whilst the touch-stone is at hand to
assay it and distinguish it from copper?
Likewise, these souls, through the potency of the Divine
Elixir, traverse, in the twinkling of an
eye, the world of dust and advance into the realm of holiness; and with one step cover the earth of limitations and reach the domain of the
Placeless. It behooveth thee to exert thine utmost to attain unto this Elixir
which, in one fleeting breath,
causeth the west of ignorance to reach the east of knowledge, illuminates the
darkness of night with the resplendence of the morn, guideth the wanderer in
the wilderness of doubt to the well-spring of the Divine Presence and Fount of
certitude, and conferreth upon mortal souls the honour of acceptance into the
Ridvan of immortality. Now, could this gold be thought to be copper, these
people could likewise be thought to be the same as before they were endowed
with faith.
(Baha'u'llah, The Kitab-i-Iqan, p. 157)
The foot and the step, for example, are connected to the
ear and the eye; the eye must look ahead
before the step is taken.
(Abdu'l-Baha, Selections from the Writings of Abdu'l-Baha, p. 48)
(Abdu'l-Baha, Selections from the Writings of Abdu'l-Baha, p. 48)
The Cause in England seems, in spite of financial
handicaps, to be going forward in Seven League boots. He (the Guardian)
is truly proud of the British believers, and this is more than he could say in
the past, when the work for years seemed to be stagnating! Those days are now
passed forever, he feels sure.
(From a letter written on behalf of Shoghi Effendi, 17
October 1948, The Unfolding Destiny of
the British Baha'i Community, p. 452)
The Faith of God does not advance
at one uniform pace.
Sometimes it is like the advance of the sea when the tide is rising. Meeting a
sandbank the water seems to be held back, but, with a new wave, it surges
forward, flooding past the barrier which checked it for a little while. If the
friends will but persist in their efforts, the cumulative effect of years of
work will suddenly appear.
(The
Universal House of Justice to a National Spiritual Assembly, 27 July 1980,) (“Promoting
Entry by Troops,” p. 11)
…There is a proverb among the Arabs that whoever
wears King Solomon's ring, when he turns it everything in the twinkling of
an eye will be changed. Some of the Arab workers used to say Shoghi Effendi
had found King Solomon's ring!
It is hard to understand why most people do things so slowly when Shoghi Effendi did them so fast. Just to twitter faithfully that he was "guided by God" does not seem to me a sufficient explanation. I believe great people see things in great dimensions…
It is hard to understand why most people do things so slowly when Shoghi Effendi did them so fast. Just to twitter faithfully that he was "guided by God" does not seem to me a sufficient explanation. I believe great people see things in great dimensions…
(Ruhiyyih Khanum, The Priceless Pearl, p. 87)
