Maia & Ilana, Virginia USA
The test of existence is motion... There are different degrees of motion. There is a motion of transit, that is from place to place… the motion of inherent growth, like that of man from the condition of childhood to the estate of manhood… The third is the motion of condition - the sick man passes from the stage of sickness to the state of health. The fourth motion is that of the spirit… The fifth is the motion of the intellect whereby the ignorant become wise… The sixth motion is that of the eternal essence… Just as being in motion is the test of life, so being stationary is the test of death and when a moving object stops it retrogrades. To stop means to fall. When a tree stops giving fruit it decays.
(Abdu'l-Baha, Divine Philosophy, p. 124)
