he
promoter of truth, the founder of science and knowledge, it is full of
goodwill for learned men; it is the civilizer of mankind, the discoverer
of the secrets of nature, and the enlightener of the horizons of the
world. Consequently, how can it be said to oppose knowledge? God forbid!
Nay, for God, knowledge is the most glorious gift of man and the most
noble of human perfections. To oppose knowledge is ignorant, and he who
detests knowledge and science is not a man, but rather an animal without
intelligence. For knowledge is light, life, felicity, perfection, beauty
and the means of approaching the Threshold of Unity. It is the honor and
glory of the world of humanity, and the greatest bounty of God. Knowledge
is identical with guidance, and ignorance is real error.

Happy are those who spend their days in gaining knowledge, in discovering
the secrets of nature, and in penetrating the subtleties of pure truth!
Woe to those who are contented with ignorance, whose hearts are gladdened
by thoughtless imitation, who have fallen into the lowest depths of
ignorance and foolishness, and who have wasted their lives!

35: PREDESTINATION

Question.--If God has knowledge of an action which will be performed by
someone, and it has been written on the Tablet of Fate, is it possible to
resist it?

Answer.--The foreknowledge of a thing is not the cause of its realization;
for the essential knowledge of God surrounds, in the same way, the
realities of things, before as well as after their existence, and it does
not become the cause of their existence. It is a perfection of God. But
that which was prophesied by the inspiration of God through the tongues of
the Prophets, concerning the appearance of the Promised One of the Bible,
was not the cause of the manifestation of Christ.

The hidden secrets of the future were revealed to the Prophets, and They
thus became acquainted with the future events which They announced. This
knowledge and these prophecies were not the cause of the occurrences. For
example, tonight everyone knows that after seven hours the sun will rise,
but this general foreknowledge does not cause the rising and appearance of
the sun.

Therefore, the knowledge of God in the realm of contingency does not
produce the forms of the things. On the contrary, it is purified from the
past, present and future. It is identical with the reality of the things;
it is not the cause of their occurrence.

In the same