‘Abdu’l-Baha said: "There will always be some. Only a
special number will have this attainment. As Christ said, 'Many are called, but
few are chosen.' It will always be so. The transformation depends upon divine
bounty. The mineral progresses in its own world. But from the mineral to the
vegetable it progresses only by divine bounty. Also transformation from the
vegetable to the animal is God's plan. Of itself the transformation cannot take
place. In the realm of men transformation is possible only through another
person.”
- 'Abdu'l-Baha (Words of ‘Abdu’l-Baha, recorded by Ann Kunz, Haifa, 1921; Star of the
West, vol. 13, no. 6, September 1922)