Summary of Findings

This is how I'm going to distill my observations of the prayer in to simple points that readers can take away with them.


In the course of preparing this book I have observed two distinct themes emerge most frequently in the prayer’s petitions. They are not the sum total of ideas contained in the prayer. But they are the dominant threads that weave together the many textures of this rich work. Though these two themes play out on parallel tracks from the prayer’s beginning to its end, it will be shown that they share a common concern with the manifestation of God’s dominion in creation.

First, the prayer’s performer shows a persistant desire that God reveal and carry out his will without restraint by or compromise with the performer’s own hopes and expectations. In this way, obedience to the will of God is not made conditional upon any fulfillment of prior requirements. Instead, it is granted regardless of a person’s expectations of what God would or would not will. This presupposes that there is no law higher than that of God. For this reason, God is above all law, especially His since He is the one who decides the bounds of its authority. This principle is enshrined in the oft repeated saying of Baha’u’llah that God doeth whatsoever He willeth, and ordaineth whatsoever He pleaseth.

Secondly, the performer’s spirituality is oriented around manifesting the divine attributes. Otherwise known as the names of God, these are expressions that help illustrate His relationship with creation. Some examples are the Guide, the Self-Sufficient, the Wise, the Compassionate, the Raiser of the Dead. To manifest these attributes is to reflect God’s goodness, and to present before creation what was otherwise latent and concealed within each person. Pivotal to this vision of spirituality is the idea that God as God transcends creation. Thus, any action that He takes in the world must be under cover of one of his creatures. For this reason He brings forth what Baha’u’llah calls the Manifestations of God, particular human beings, empowered to manifest the divine attributes in a unique way. Each one of the Manifestations is called to a specific mission to found and reform religion so humanity can worship before God and live in harmony with one another. In the same way that Manifestations are commissioned by God, so ordinary humans are commissioned by the Manifestations. They are the manifestations of the Manifestations, and thus also participate in the revelation to creation of the divine attributes. In this way, Baha’u’llah describes a hierarchical model of the cosmos in which lower figures are called by higher figures to carry out particular missions. Furthermore, the purpose of this arrangement is to manifest in creation the dominion of a transcendent God. For the prayer’s performer to manifest the divine attributes is to participate in this cosmic struggle.