The Tablet of All Food:
The Hierarchy of the Spiritual Worlds and the Metaphoric Nature of Physical Reality

by Jean-Marc Lepain

Abstract: This paper analyses some of the terminology that Bahaullah uses in one of his earliest tablets, the Tablet of All Food (Lawh-i Kullu't-Ta'ám), which is addressed to a Babi, Haji Mírzá Kamálud-Dín Naráqí, who visited Bahá'u'lláh in Baghdad. In particular the hierarchy of the spiritual worlds is examined under the headings of the four terms that Bahá'u'lláh uses to describe this hierarchy: Háhút, Láhút, Jabarút and Malakút. This paper is based on the first chapter of the book Archéologie du Royaume de Dieu: Ontologie des mondes divins dans les écrits de Baha’u’llah (Paris: La Librairie Baha’ie, 1990).