Radiant acquiescence—that was the quality with which we all suddenly seemed inspired as ‘Abdu’l-Bahá bade us good-bye.
It was a remarkable experience, hearing one who had passed along the prison path for forty years declare “There is no prison but the prison self;” and it drove conviction to one’s mind as this white-robed messenger from the East pointed the way out,—not by the path called “Renunciation,” but “Unattachment;” Radiant Acquiescence—the Shining Pathway out of the “greater prison of self” as ‘Abdu’l-Bahá so beautifully terms those bars that keep us from our fulfillment.
Isabel Fraser.
A Loving Farewell Greeting.
After leaving London and during his two months stay in Paris, ‘Abdu’l-Bahá frequently sent back messages to his English friends, some of whom journeyed over to take advantage of the conferences there. On the eve of his departure for Alexandria, he gave the following admonitory farewell to the people of England and France.
“Work,” he said unceasingly, “for the day of Universal Peace. Strive always that you may be united. Kindness and love in the path of service must be your means.
“I bid a loving farewell to the people of France and England. I am very much pleased with them. I counsel them that they may day by day strengthen the bond of love and amity to this end,—that they may become the sympathetic embodiment of one nation.—That they may extend themselves to a Universal Brotherhood to guard and protect the interests and rights of all the nations of the East,—that they may unfurl the Divine Banner of justice,—that they may treat each nation as a family composed of the individual children of God and may know that before the sight of God the rights of all are equal. For all of us are the children of one Father. God is at peace with all his children; why should they engage in strife and warfare among themselves? God is showering down kindness; why should the inhabitants of this world exchange unkindness and cruelty?”
“I will pray for you that you may be illumined with the Light of the Eternal.”