The Seven Valleys-A Road to Absolute Detachment

Bahá'u'lláh wrote an incredible and mystical response to a Sufi regarding the progression of the soul on its journey. The work came to be known as the Seven Valleys. In order these Valleys are Search (whose "stead" is patience), Love (whose "stead" is Pain), Knowledge, Unity, Contentment, Wonderment, and True Poverty and Absolute Nothingness. The first three are physical-limited. At each stage of the journey, the wayfarer brings himself closer to God by detaching something of his being. As it is, we begin first by giving up our physical desires, our spiritual desires, ourselves and then finally our freewill. It is a beautiful idea, I think. We have been given a freewill only to give it up to God.

In the long obligatory prayer we read, "Behold me standing ready to do Thy will and Thy desire, and wishing naught else except Thy good pleasure. I implore Thee by the Ocean of Thy mercy and the Day-Star of Thy grace to do with Thy servant as Thou willest and pleasest. By Thy might which is far above all mention and praise! Whatsoever is revealed by Thee is the desire of my heart and the beloved of my soul. O God, my God! Look not upon my hopes and my doings, nay rather look upon Thy will that hath encompassed the heavens and the earth. By Thy Most Great Name, O Thou Lord of all nations! I have desired only what Thou didst desire, and love only what Thou dost love."

This prayer is the one proof of detachment and humility we have towards God. Reading through it, the only possible way to say it with sincerity is to go through the Seven Valleys and detach ourselves of everything in heaven and on earth (except God of course).

Food for thought before we begin. In the Kitab-i-Iqan, first paragraph (this is perhaps one of my favorite statements of all time, thus you will find me quoting it everywhere), it writes, "No man shall attain the shores of the ocean of true understanding except he be detached from all that is in heaven and on earth."

This true understanding comes also from detaching ourselves from everything. We can look at this in two ways. True understanding can be the Will of God, looking at this from the perspective of the Seven Valleys. However, it could also be referencing the investigation of truth in a more broad aspect-where we detach ourselves of all bias and search for what makes the most sense in the world (to our heart, soul and mind) and accept that as true.

Next time, we will begin with the Valley of Search.
http://reference.bahai.org/en/t/b/SVFV/svfv-1.html