When ‘Abdu’l-Bahá says man breaks the laws of nature, He means we shape nature to meet our own needs, as no animal does. Animals adapt themselves to better fit in with and benefit from their environment. But men both surmount and change environment. Likewise when He says nature is devoid of memory He means memory as we have it, not the strange memory of inherited habits which animals so strikingly possess.
- Shoghi Effendi (From a letter dated 7 June 1946 written on behalf of Shoghi Effendi; ‘Arohanui, Letters from Shoghi Effendi to New Zealand’)
