The purpose of God in creating man hath been, and will ever
be, to enable him to know his Creator and to attain His Presence. To this most
excellent aim, this supreme objective, all the heavenly Books and the
divinely-revealed and weighty Scriptures unequivocally bear witness. Whoso hath
recognized the Day Spring of Divine guidance and entered His holy court hath
drawn nigh unto God and attained His Presence, a Presence which is the real
Paradise, and of which the loftiest mansions of heaven are but a symbol. Such a
man hath attained the knowledge of the station of Him Who is “at the distance
of two bows,” Who standeth beyond the Sadratu’l-Muntahá. Whoso hath failed to
recognize Him will have condemned himself to the misery of remoteness, a
remoteness which is naught but utter nothingness and the essence of the
nethermost fire. Such will be his fate, though to outward seeming he may occupy
the earth’s loftiest seats and be established upon its most exalted throne.
....
- Baha’u’llah (‘Gleanings from the Writings of Baha’u’llah’)
