Light After Death, by Alan Bryson (c)

References in the Bahá'í Writings to the Realm of Light were sufficiently documented in the preceding chapters, yet such references were by no means exhausted.  This appendix should allay any remaining doubts concerning the Bahá'í concept of the spiritual world.  More than a mere allusion taken out of context, the Realm of Light is an integral aspect of the Bahá'í teachings which is vividly and repeatedly described.

'Abdu'l-Bahá's recollections of the lives of numerous early Bahá'ís were collected and published in a book entitled, "MEMORIALS OF THE FAITHFUL".  He tenderly recounted how the lives of these early believers were so galvanized by the Bahá'í teachings that they sacrificed home, health, material comforts and often their lives in order to share their vision with their fellowmen.  In the following excerpts 'Abdu'l-Bahá's intention was not to speak of life after death, rather he simply described the spiritual state of departed friends.  Nonetheless, his depiction of the realm of light is inarguably clear.
 

 May God welcome him into the Paradise of reunion, and shelter him forever in the realm of the righteous, submerged in an ocean of lights.  p. 5
 

 ...his soul gave up this life and fled to the eternal one; passed into the Heaven of abiding reunion and was immersed beneath an ocean of light.  Upon him be most great mercy, plenteous bounty, and every blessing, as the ages and cycles roll on.  p. 23
 

 He escaped from the prison of this world, and pitched his tent in a wide and spacious land.  May God ever keep him close and bless him in that mystic realm with perpetual reunion and the beatific vision; may he be wrapped in tiers of light.  p. 38
 

 May they be immersed in tiers of light, close beside their Lord, the Mighty, the All-Powerful.  p. 41
 

 Today, under the shadowing mercy of God, he dwells in the bright Heavens.  He communes with the birds of holiness, and in the assemblage of splendors he is immersed in light.  p. 47
 

 And at a time when they were offering thanks with all their heart, they hurried away from this world and entered the other; they escaped from this cage and were released into the garden of immortality.  Upon them be the mercy of God, and may He be well pleased with them.  Unto them be salutations and praise.  May God bring them into the Realm that abides forever, to delight in the reunion with Him; to bask in the Kingdom of Splendors.   p. 63-64
 

 With his heart on fire, his eyes raining tears, he struggled weakly to move about; so his days went by, and always, he longed to make his exit from this rubbish heap, the world.  At last he broke away from the torment of his loss, and hurried on to the Realm of God, and came to the assemblage of Divine splendor in the Kingdom of Lights.  p. 66
 

 What a holy being he was, how great a man! He could not bear the separation very long, but died, and hastened onward to the world of lights, to the assemblage where the beauty of God is unveiled.  p. 75
 

 ... at the end he stripped off the garment of flesh and with his unclothed spirit took flight to the realm of the All-Merciful.  He was transported out of this dark life into the shining air, and was plunged in a sea of lights.  p. 79
 

 He walked the ways of love; he was known to all for steadfast loyalty and pure intent.  May God fill up reunion's cup for him in a fair country, make him to enter the everlasting Kingdom, and console his eyes with beholding the lights of that mysterious Realm.  p. 84
 

 ... he gambled away his life in his yearning after the Light of the World.  May God give him to drink of a brimming cup in the everlasting gardens; in the Supreme Assemblage, may God shed upon his face rays of light.  p. 86
 

 Finally, when I was absent, he left this darksome, narrow world and hastened away to the land of lights.  There, in the haven of God's boundless mercy, he found infinite rewards.  p. 101
 

 And then, severed from all save God, irresistibly drawn by the gentle gales of the Lord, he rose out of this dark world to the land of light.   p. 116
 

 Later, in Sidon, he fell ill.  Unable to make the journey to 'Akká , in perfect acquiescence and contentment he ascended to the Abhá  Kingdom (Kingdom of Paradise), and was plunged in the ocean of lights.  p. 118
 

 Praise be to God, at the last, close by the Shrine of the B b, he hastened away in light to the Abhá  realm...  p. 129
 

 And thus it came about that he offered up his life for his tender Companion, and hastened away, out of this dark world to the country of light.  p. 131
 

 May God lift him up to the highest Heaven, to the fellowship of glory.  May God bring him into the land of lights, the mysterious Kingdom, the assemblage of the splendors of the mighty, all powerful Lord.  p. 134
 

 He turned his back on this heap of dust, the world, and hurried away to the country of light.  He broke out of this cage of contingent being and soared into the endless, placeless Realm.  p. 138
 

 But his body had become enfeebled from the earlier hardships, and all the suffering, and his faculties had deteriorated; so that ultimately he fell ill, beyond hope of remedy; and hot far from Bahá 'u'lláh, and shadowed by His protection, he hastened away from this least of worlds to the high heavens, from this dark place to the land of lights.  p. 143
 

 At last, serene and happy, rejoicing in the tidings of the Kingdom, he soared away to that mysterious land.  There he was loosed from every sorrow, and in the gathering-place of splendors  he was immersed in light.  p. 153
 

 She rose up into the shadowing mercy of God and was plunged in an ocean of light.  p. 175
 

 She hastened away from this dust gulf of perdition to an unsullied country; packed her gear and journeyed to the land of lights.  p. 185

In one of His more mystical writings, Bahá'u'lláh penned, "The Tablet of the Holy Mariner".  The Mariner has seen behind the mystic veil to the spiritual realm and his ark is the covenant of God.  The "angelic spirits" are invited to enter and sail on the "Seas of Light".
 

O Holy Mariner!

Bid thine ark of eternity appear before the Celestial Concourse,

Launch it upon the ancient sea, in His Name, the Most Wondrous,

And let the angelic spirits enter, in the Name of God, the Most High,

Unmoor it, then, that it may sail upon the ocean of glory,

Haply the dwellers therein may attain the retreats of nearness in the everlasting realm.

Having reached the sacred strand, the shore of the crimson seas,

Bid them issue forth and attain this ethereal invisible station,

A station wherein the Lord hath in the Flame of His Beauty appeared with the deathless tree;

Wherein the embodiments of His Cause cleansed themselves of self and passion;

Around which the Glory of Moses doth circle with the everlasting hosts;

Wherein the Hand of God was drawn forth from His bosom of Grandeur;

Wherein the ark of the Cause remaineth motionless even though to its dwellers be declared all divine attributes,

O Mariner! Teach them that are within the ark that which we have taught thee behind the mystic veil,

Perchance they may not tarry in the sacred snow-white spot,

But may soar upon the wings of the spirit unto that station which the Lord hath exalted above all mention in the worlds below,

May wing through space even as the favoured birds in the realm of eternal reunion;

May know the mysteries hidden in the Seas of Light.