Atoms

Certain elements have gathered and combine in chemical affinity. The tree, the man, the fish are due to this attraction and cohesion which have brought the elements together. A composition or composite being has resulted. The outcome of certain atomic grouping, for instance, is a mirror, table or clock because a cohesive power has magnetized and bound these atoms together. When that attracting power is withdrawn, dissolution and disintegration follow; no mirror, table or clock remain -- no trace, no existence. Therefore, commingling of the atoms brings forth a reality, while dispersion or dissemination of them is equivalent to nonexistence.

‘Abdu’l-Bahá, The Promulgation of Universal Peace, p. 207

For example, these individual atoms are brought together in a composition, and through this composition a given organism -- such as a man, an animal or a plant -- is created. When this composition is decomposed, that created organism is brought to an end, but the component atoms are not annihilated; they continue to exist because they are single, individual and not composed. Therefore, it may be said that these individual atoms are eternal.

‘Abdu’l-Bahá, The Promulgation of Universal Peace, p. 306

In the world or kingdom of the minerals certain materials or elemental substances exist. When through the law of creation they enter into composition, a being or organism comes into existence . . . When certain elements are composed, an animal comes into being . . . Again, certain atoms are bound together by chemical affinity; a composition called a flower appears. .

‘Abdu’l-Bahá, The Promulgation of Universal Peace, p. 306

This composition of atoms which constitutes the body or mortal element of any created being, is temporary. When the power of attraction which holds these atoms together is withdrawn, the body as such ceases to exist.

Martha Root, Misc Bahá’í, Appreciations of the Bahá’í Faith, p. 11