# The Spiritual Role of Art

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> Source: Bahá'í Library Online (bahai-library.com), curated by Jonah Winters. Used by permission of the curator. Original citation: Ludwig Tuman, The Spiritual Role of Art, bahai-library.com.
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> 
> Published in the Journal of Bahá’í Studies Vol. 4, number 4 (1991)
> © Association for Bahá’í Studies 1991
> 
> The Spiritual Role of Art
> Ludwig Tuman
> * This article is a modified version of one of twelve chapters in a book by the same author. The book, entitled Mirror of the
> Divine: Art in the Bahá’í World Community, is to be published by George Ronald.
> 
> Abstract
> A study of passages from the Bahá’í writings indicates that art can render services of a mystical, moral, and social
> nature. Such services taken together constitute the spiritual role of art, whose highest purpose is to ennoble the
> individual soul and the collective life of humanity. When playing such a role, art draws its inspiration from the
> vision of life unfolded in divine Revelation, harmonizes with the fundamental teachings of the world’s major
> religions, and seeks to reinforce their original objective, which is to foster spiritual growth and social harmony. In
> realizing a spiritual role, art employs beauty, whose purpose both in the world of creation and in the realm of human
> creativity is to attract the soul toward its Creator and to draw it into a spiral or spiritual growth. Art also employs
> emotion, which can reinforce the various facets of the service art renders.
> 
> Résumé
> L’examen d’extraits d’écrits bahá’ís nous révèle que l’art peut remplir des fonctions de nature mystique, morale ou
> sociale. Considérées dans leur ensemble, ces diverses fonctions constituent le rôle spirituel de l’art, dont l’objectif le
> plus éléve est d’ennoblir l’âme humaine et la vie collective de l’humanité. En remplissant ce rôle spirituel, l’art tire
> son inspiration de la vision de la vie que nous permet de découvrir la Révélation divine; il s’harmonise avec les
> enseignements fondamentaux des grandes religions du, monde et cherche à renforcer leur objectif initial, qui est de
> favoriser la croissance spirituelle et l’harmonie sociale. Pour accomplir ce rôle, l’art appel à la beauté, celle-ci ayant
> pour but—dans le monde de la création tout comme dans le domaine de la créativité humaine—d’attirer l’âme vers
> son Créateur et de l’entraîner dans une spirale de croissance spirituelle. L’art fait également appel aux émotions,
> celles-ci pouvant servir à renforcer les diverses facettes du rôle que l’art peut jouer.
> 
> Resumen
> Un estudio de pasajes de los escritos bahá’ís demuesrra que el arte puede proporcionar servicios de índole místico,
> moral, y social. Tomados en conjunto, tales servicios constituyen el rol espiritual del arte, cuyo propósito más
> elevado es el de ennoblecer al alma individual y la vida colectiva de la humanidad. Al desempeñar tal papel, el arte
> cobra inspiración de aquella visión de la vida puesta en claro por la Revelación divina armoniza con las enseñanzas
> fundamentales de las religiones principales del mundo, y busca reforzar su propósito original, el de promover el
> crecimiento espiritual y la armonía social. Al efectuar un rol espiritual, el arte se vale de la belleza, cuyo propósito,
> tanto en el mundo de la creación como en el reino de la creatividad humana es el de atraer el alma hacia su Creador,
> encaminándola hacia un espiral de desarrollo espiritual. El arte tambien emplea la emoción, la cual puede reforzar
> las varias facetas del servicio que el arte provee.
> 
> T   he Bahá’í writings make numerous references to the arts, and from these references we can attempt to glean a
> conception of the nature and ideal role of art. In this discussion, the term “art” will be used broadly to refer to
> practices such as painting, poetry, dance, and music, as well as to the design arts such as architecture, industrial
> design, and fashion design. In addition, art is considered to encompass crafts such as pottery, stained-glass setting,
> and rug-weaving. The following passages from the Writings refer to all kinds of art and indeed apply to all skills and
> sciences as well. Regarding the nature of the arts and sciences, ‘Abdu’l-Bahá wrote:
> 
> What bounty greater than this that science should be considered as an act of worship and art as service to
> the Kingdom of God. (Selections 145)
> In this great dispensation, art (or a profession) is identical with an act of worship and this is a clear
> text of the Blessed Perfection. (Bahá’í World Faith 377)
> In one of his talks, ‘Abdu’l-Bahá stated:
> 
> ...In the Bahá’í Cause arts, sciences and all crafts are (counted as) worship.... Briefly, all effort and exertion
> put forth by man from the fullness of his heart is worship, if it is prompted by the highest motives and the
> will to do service to humanity. (Paris Talks 176–77)
> 
> That the arts and sciences must be of benefit to humankind was emphasized by Bahá’u’lláh in the Tablet of Maqsúd:
> 
> Of all the arts and sciences, set the children to studying those which will result in advantage to man, will
> ensure his progress and elevate his rank. (Tablets 168)
> 
> To learn the arts and sciences is “the greatest glory of mankind,” but, as ‘Abdu’l-Bahá explained, only when a
> certain condition is met:
> 
> Although to acquire the sciences and arts is the greatest glory of mankind, this is so only on condition that
> man’s river flow into the mighty sea, and draw from God’s ancient source His inspiration ....
> …By the one true God! If learning be not a means of access to Him, the Most Manifest, it is nothing but
> evident loss. (Selections 110)
> 
> The arts and sciences depend upon the pervasive grace of the Manifestation of God, so much so that they owe their
> very existence and life to the Manifestation. To this effect, Bahá’u’lláh wrote:
> 
> The Sun of Truth is the Word of God upon which dependeth the education of those who are endowed with
> the power of understanding and of utterance. It is the true spirit and the heavenly water, through whose aid
> and gracious providence all things have been and will be quickened. Its appearance in every mirror is
> conditioned by the colour of that mirror. For instance, when its light is cast upon the mirrors of the hearts of
> the wise, it bringeth forth wisdom. In like manner when it manifesteth itself in the mirrors of the hearts of
> craftsmen, it unfoldeth new and unique arts. (Bahá’u’lláh, previously untranslated tablet, courtesy of Bahá’í
> World Centre)
> 
> To the same effect, ‘Abdu’l-Bahá is quoted in Star of the West as having said:
> 
> The Divine Teachers have the innate Light; They have knowledge and understanding of all things in the
> universe, the rest of the world receives its light from Them, and Through Them the arts and sciences are
> revived in each age. (22.3: 87)
> 
> On another occasion, ‘Abdu’l-Bahá indicated that the radiance of the arts is but a reflection of Bahá’u’lláh’s divine
> and all-encompassing knowledge: “Again among His signs is the dawning sun of His knowledge, and the rising
> moon of His arts and skills ...” (Selections 15).
> When in London, ‘Abdu’l-Bahá was reported to have said the following regarding the influence of the Holy
> Spirit and the highest purpose of art:
> 
> All Art is a gift of the Holy Spirit. When this light shines through the mind of a musician, it manifests itself
> in beautiful harmonies. Again, shining through the mind of a poet, it is seen in fine poetry and poetic prose.
> When the Light of the Sun of Truth inspires the mind of a painter, he produces marvellous pictures. These
> gifts are fulfilling their highest purpose, when showing forth the praise of God. (Quoted in Blomfield,
> Chosen Highway 167)
> 
> The principle that art is a form of worship is applied to a specific art form in the following passage from ‘Abdu’l-
> Bahá:
> 
> I rejoice to hear that thou takest pains with thine art, for in this wonderful new age, art is worship. The more
> thou strivest to perfect it, the closer wilt. thou come to God. What bestowal could be greater than this, that
> one’s art should be even as the act of worshipping the Lord? That is to say, when thy fingers grasp the paint
> brush, it is as if thou wert at prayer in the Temple. (“Extracts” 2)
> The idea that the arts have to do with the worship and glorification of God is also reflected in a letter written on
> behalf of the Universal House of Justice:
> 
> ... Our Sacred Writings confirm it [music] as one of the great arts by which mankind can express its
> worship of God and joy in His creation .... It is from their [Bahá’í artists’] desire to glorify God through
> their creative activities that new arts and sciences will gradually develop to enrich a new culture.
> (Unpublished letter, dated 22 February 1980)
> 
> Running throughout the above passages like golden threads are three themes regarding the nature and
> purpose of the arts and sciences. We might summarize them as follows: All arts and sciences are for the worship and
> glorification of God; the arts and sciences should be a means of access to God; and arts and sciences should be of
> service to humankind. In reality, these are but different ways of saying the same thing. For in the Bahá’í teachings,
> the worship of God, the gaining of divine knowledge, and pure-hearted service to humanity are inseparably woven
> together in the golden brocade of spiritual growth. We saw in a quotation above how ‘Abdu’l-Bahá equated worship
> with service. In the following passages, moreover, Bahá’u’lláh reveals that the knowledge of God and access to God
> depend upon one’s deeds, upon one’s observance of the divine teachings. Since the teachings are concerned with
> humankind’s spiritual and social well-being, to observe the teachings is to render service:
> 
> The first Tajallí [Effulgence] which hath dawned from the Day-Star of Truth is the knowledge of God-
> exalted be His glory. And the knowledge of the King of everlasting days can in no wise be attained save by
> recognizing Him Who is the Bearer of the Most Great Name [Bahá’u’lláh].... Attainment unto the Divine
> Presence can be realized solely by attaining His presence.... True belief in God and recognition of Him
> cannot be complete save by acceptance of that which He hath revealed and by observance of whatsoever
> hath been decreed by Him and set down in the Book by the Pen of Glory. (Tablets 50)
> 
> For man’s knowledge of God cannot develop fully and adequately save by observing whatsoever hath been
> ordained by Him and is set forth in His heavenly Book. (Tablets 268)
> 
> By emphasizing deeds, Bahá’u’lláh obliges the individual to make effort, to develop personal potential, to grow
> spiritually toward the fulfillment of the purpose for which each was created-to know and to worship God.1 In this
> light, all the foregoing appears to resolve itself into one principle: the common, the most general and fundamental
> aim of the arts and sciences, indeed of all human endeavors, however material or mundane they may seem, is to
> foster spiritual growth.
> 
> Art as a Means of Ennoblement
> Beyond this general principle, however, questions arise. How is God worshipped and glorified through the arts?
> How are the arts a means of access to God and a service to humankind? How can the arts foster spiritual growth?
> In the Bahá’í teachings, the arts are associated with certain spiritual and educational roles that have
> mystical, moral, and social facets. In one of his talks ‘Abdu’l-Bahá was recorded as saying, “Music is an important
> means to the education and development of humanity....” He immediately added:
> 
> ...but the only true way is through the Teachings of Gael. Musk is like this glass.... and the Teachings of
> God, the utterances of God, are like the water. When the glass or chalice is absolutely pure and clear, and
> the water is perfectly fresh and limpid, then it will confer Life.... (Bahá’í Writings 8)
> 
> A conversation ‘Abdu’l-Bahá held with an actor, while in London, was described by a believer as follows:
> 
> An actor mentioned the drama, and its influence. “The; drama is of the utmost importance.” said ‘Abdu’l-
> Bahá. “It has been a great educational power in the past; it will be so again.” He described how as a young
> boy he witnessed the Mystery Play of ‘Alí’s Betrayal and Passion, and how it affected him so deeply that
> he wept and could not sleep for many nights. (‘Abdu’l-Bahá in London 93)
> 
> The far-reaching implications of this statement seem worthy of consideration. For the drama is not a single art form
> but usually a combination of two or more. Traditionally it can, and in many parts of the world does involve poetry or
> dramatic prose, dance, music, and several auxiliary arts. Part of the “educational power” of such arts lies in their
> ability to probe the significance and preserve the memory of important historical events, to reinforce the divine
> teachings and exhortations, to demonstrate the consequences of obedience or disobedience to spiritual law, and to
> reveal the human soul in action—the process of spiritual growth. In short, such arts share with other arts the ability
> to impart an understanding of spiritual reality, and this is one way they meet ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s requirement that the
> arts and sciences be “a means of access to Him, the Most Manifest.” In so doing, they render a service on a mystical
> plane; that is to say, they help strengthen the relation between humanity and its heavenly king.
> A further example of the service the arts can render on the physical plane is given in the following passage,
> in which ‘Abdu’l-Bahá refers to music as a means of helping to draw the souls toward the radiant Source of divine
> love:
> 
> Thank thou God that thou art instructed in music and melody, singing with pleasant voice the
> glorification and praise of the Eternal, the Living. I pray to God that thou mayest employ this talent in
> prayer and supplication, in order that the souls may become quickened, the hearts may become attracted
> and all may become inflamed with the fire of the love of God! (Tablets of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá 512; Bahá’í
> Writings 3)
> 
> However, on a moral plane, where the relation between artist and public is involved, another kind of service
> comes to light. As expressed by the Universal House of Justice:
> 
> ...music, art, and literature ... are to represent and inspire the noblest sentiments and highest aspirations and
> should be a source of comfort and tranquillity for troubled souls.... (Bahá’í World 18:358)
> 
> Moreover, viewed in its educational role as an edifying and uplifting power, art finds its moral responsibilities
> implied in ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s outline of the cardinal principles underlying Bahá’í education “from the cradle up to the
> age of manhood.” One of the principles, he said, is
> 
> service to the cause of morality, raising the moral tone of the students, inspiring them with the sublimest
> ideals of ethical refinement, teaching them altruism, inculcating in their lives the beauty of holiness and the
> excellency of virtue and animating them with the excellences and perfections of the religion of God.
> (Quoted in Star of the West 9.9: 98)
> 
> Since the Bahá’í Faith aims to provide spiritual and moral education to the whole of humanity, the above passage
> will be seen to apply not only to students but also to people of whatever age or occupation, and bears relevance not
> only to academic curricula but also to the educational aspect of art.
> At yet another level—the social plane, involving human relations—the arts have a vital service to render:
> that of helping to unite humankind. On this theme, Bahá’u’lláh wrote:
> 
> The source of crafts, sciences and arts is the power of reflection. Make ye every effort that out of this ideal
> mine there may gleam forth such pearls of wisdom and utterance as will promote the well-being and
> harmony of all the kindreds of the earth. (Tablets 72)
> 
> This power of reflection, the source of the arts, is one of the faculties the Creator has bestowed upon human beings.
> ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, too, said such powers should be employed for the attainment of human unity:
> 
> The truth is that God has endowed man with virtues, powers and ideal faculties.... We must thank God for
> these bestowals, for these powers He has given us, for this crown He has placed upon our heads.
> How shall we utilize these gifts and expend these bounties? By directing our efforts toward the
> unification of the human race. We must use these powers in establishing the oneness of the world of
> humanity.... (Foundations 62)
> 
> Turning again to the educative influence of the arts, we find that social harmony and world unity are also included in
> the above-cited outline of educational aims given by ‘Abdu’l-Bahá. Education must seek
> 
> the elimination of the causes of ignorance and social evils…. [and] service to the oneness of the world of
> humanity; so that each student may consciously realize that he is a brother to all mankind, irrespective of
> religion or race. (Star of the West 9.9: 98)
> The arts are especially well suited to promote unity, the central theme of the Bahá’í Revelation. First, when
> addressed to the spiritual life of humanity, the arts can highlight that which is universal. Second, their influence can
> be far-reaching: a single work of art may touch the lives of thousands, even millions of people, and in some cases
> may continue to do so for centuries. And third, as time goes on, the cumulative effect of the work of thousands of
> Bahá’í artists can be expected to contribute substantially to the emergence of a world environment, a world climate
> of thought and feeling with which all peoples feel themselves identified.
> The Bahá’í teachings appear to indicate, in sum, that the principal aims and highest aspirations of the arts
> are as follows:
> • On a mystical plane, to impart spiritual knowledge, attract the souls to the beauty of the All-Glorious, and
> brighten the flame of God’s love;
> • On a moral plane, to “represent and inspire the noblest sentiments and highest aspirations,” foster a desire
> for moral excellence and obedience to the divine teachings, and “be a source of comfort and tranquillity for
> troubled souls”;
> • On a social plane, to promote social well-being, harmony, world unity, and universal brotherhood.
> These aims apply to the arts that are called “the fine arts.” They also appear to characterize the spiritual side of
> the service rendered by the design arts and the crafts. In other words, they apply as much to urban design as to
> poetry, as much to rug-weaving as to music. It is in realizing such aims that the arts glorify and become a means of
> access to God, render a service to humanity, and foster spiritual growth.
> It would be an error to consider that the mystical aims are spiritual while the moral and social ones are not.
> All three aims are spiritual in nature and are integral parts of what we could call the spiritual role of art. For in the
> Bahá’í teachings, as we have seen, worship, morality, and social relations are inseparable parts of a way of life.
> Indeed, it is through a divinely ordained, world-embracing administrative and social order that the Bahá’í Faith
> channels and incarnates the bounties of a life-giving Spirit, thereby regenerating the spiritual life of the millions of
> individuals who constitute the body of its world community (Shoghi Effendi, World Order 9, 18; God Passes By
> 324).
> Due to their ability to render services of a mystical, moral, and social nature, the arts constitute an effective
> means of conveying spiritual teachings to the public. For in realizing such services, the arts are, directly or
> indirectly, making divine precepts known throughout society, diffusing the spirit of oneness and helping to deepen
> the understanding, the love, unity, and faith of humankind. The great potential of the arts in this domain was
> described in a letter written on behalf of Shoghi Effendi:
> 
> The day will come when the Cause will spread like wildfire when its spirit and teachings will be presented
> on the stage or in art and literature as a whole. Art can better awaken such noble sentiments than cold
> rationalizing, especially among the mass of the people.
> We have to wait only a few years to see how the spirit breathed by Bahá’u’lláh will find
> expression in the work of the artists. What you and some other Bahá’ís are attempting are only faint rays
> that precede the effulgent light of a glorious morn. (From a letter dated 10 October 1932, to an individual
> believer. Quoted in Lights of Guidance 98, with corrections provided by the Universal House of Justice in a
> letter to the author, dated 5 December 1990)
> 
> Let us attempt to summarize. Art can impart a knowledge of things divine; it can also stir yearning for the
> Kingdom, strengthen faith in God, help instill fear of God’s justice and hope for his mercy, and fan the flame of the
> love of his beauty; and it can, thereby, affect the will to act, to obey God’s commandments, and to live in harmony
> with God’s teachings, which are the essence of morality and the source of spiritual growth. In so doing, art assists
> humankind to attain the very purpose of its existence: to know and to worship God. Toward this end, moreover, art
> can promote the formation of praiseworthy character; can disseminate the divine teachings; can strengthen, through
> its unifying influence, the bonds of harmony and human fellowship; and can reinforce throughout the world the
> sense of common identity shared by members of the Bahá’í community.
> All such services can be implied, in a word, by saying that art has to do with ennoblement: its highest
> purpose is to ennoble the individual soul and the collective life of humanity.
> 
> Art and Religion
> The reader familiar with the Bahá’í teachings will note that the ideal aims of art outlined above are in fact among the
> principal objectives of the Bahá’í Faith itself and that these aims harmonize with the spiritual values upheld by the
> teachings of the world’s major religions. What is the explanation of this unity of purpose? It is that art, when
> quickened by the spirit and teachings of religion, reflects (on an infinitely lower level) the generative process set into
> motion by the Word of God and attempts in its humble way to reinforce the spiritual and social handiwork of the
> Almighty. This is the principle implied in ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s statement that “music is an important means to the
> education and development of humanity, but the only true way is through the Teachings of God” (Bahá’í Writings
> 8). This is also the reason why the arts, throughout the history of civilization, and particularly during its spiritual
> high tides, have been intimately associated with religion.
> Here, though, one needs to distinguish between religion and religious community. In speaking of religion
> as a whole, our focus is not upon the institutions, dogmas, superstitions, rites, or customs associated with particular
> historical communities. Our focus is rather upon the body of spiritual and moral teachings that constitute the essence
> and common foundation of religion, as revealed by the Messengers of God. In the words of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá:
> 
> Religion ... is not a series of beliefs, a set of customs; religion is the teachings of the Lord God,
> teachings which constitute the very life of humankind, which urge high thoughts upon the mind, refine the
> character, and lay the groundwork for man’s everlasting honour. (Selections 52–53)
> 
> It is true that art, throughout history, has been placed in the service of the dogmas, superstitions, and
> customs of particular communities. But parallel with this, art has been employed to reinforce the fundamental
> spiritual aims of religion as defined by ‘Abdu’l-Bahá.
> It is also true that some religious authorities, at some points in history, have imposed their views and their
> will on artists and obliged them to serve the interests of religious institutions. But that alone would not explain the
> worldwide and long-enduring intimacy between religion and art. The intimacy, rather, is a spontaneous outcome of
> the awe or the love artists have borne toward the Creator (however diverse the forms in which they have conceived
> of that Creator), recognizing in religion a reservoir of God’s grace to humankind, acknowledging that in the spiritual
> and moral teachings of religion are found the fountain and the bedrock of their civilization, and desiring to promote,
> by embodying such teachings in their works of art, the highest interests of their fellows.
> Since the sixteenth century, the arts in the West have steadily drifted away from a religious viewpoint—a
> process that in the twentieth century has spread to most parts of the world. Humanity, having turned away from God,
> has fallen into a spiritual and moral decline and now descending to its utter depths. The Universal House of Justice
> indicated that the arts have not escaped the effects of the general chaos this spiritual decline has unleashed:
> 
> Every discerning eye clearly sees that the early stages of this chaos have daily manifestations
> affecting the structure of human society; its destructive forces are uprooting time-honoured institutions....
> The same destructive forces are also deranging the political, economic, scientific, literary, and moral
> equilibrium of the world and are destroying the fairest fruits of the present civilization.... Even music, art,
> and literature, which are to represent and inspire the noblest sentiments and highest aspirations and should
> be a source of comfort and tranquillity for troubled souls, have strayed from the straight path and are now
> the mirrors of the soiled hearts of this confused, unprincipled, and disordered age. (From a circular letter,
> dated 10 February 1980, published in Bahá’í World 18: 358)
> 
> For the Universal House of Justice to have made such a strongly worded generalization, the decline blighting
> present-day society must have affected the spiritual and moral content of art to a high degree. If what constitutes
> religion, according to ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, are divine teachings “which urge high thoughts upon the mind, refine the
> character, and lay the groundwork for man’s everlasting honour,” then art such as that described above would have
> to be considered either irreligious or non-religious. Nonetheless, even in the twentieth century, a significant number
> of works of art can be found that reflect the higher inclinations of the human spirit, inclinations “towards
> transcendence, a reaching towards an invisible realm, towards the ultimate reality, that unknowable essence of
> essences called God” (Universal House of Justice, “To the Peoples” 5). The current state of affairs, then, does not
> disprove that the bond between art and religion is natural, vital, and timeless; rather, it simply indicates that present-
> day civilization has descended spiritually to a low-water mark and that the nonreligious attitude currently reflected
> in the greater part of art constitutes one of the transient exceptions to a rule that has prevailed throughout thousands
> of years of world history. The matter is confirmed by the history of the arts in the various regions of the world.2
> With respect to existing primitive societies and to prehistoric peoples, in whose cases a history of art is
> impossible to construct, anthropology adds its confirmation that, on the evidence available, art and religious belief
> have universally gone hand in hand. In sum: the traditional arts of Oceania, of sub-Saharan Africa, of the pre-
> Columbian Americas, of Islamic domains, of Christendom, of ancient Greece and Rome, of the ancient Near East,
> and of the peoples of South Asia, Central Asia, Southeast Asia, and tl1e Far East, one and all give eloquent
> testimony to the abiding service art has rendered to the spiritual and moral aims of religion. In its highest role, art is
> a handmaiden of divine truth.
> What observations could be made regarding the relation between religion and art, in the case of the Bahá’í
> Faith? First, the important distinction between religion and religious community should again be drawn.3 In its
> relation with the Bahá’í Faith, the Bahá’í world community has a favorable position. The writings of Bahá’u’lláh
> and those of the authorized interpreters of his Word provide for an institutional order that guides the affairs of the
> Bahá’í community. The Writings stipulate the few, simple rites that are observed; preclude the formation of rigid,
> divisive dogmas; and shield the community against schism by means of an explicit and inviolable Covenant. While
> such measures are indispensable and greatly aid the community in approaching the spiritual ideals upheld by the
> Bahá’í teachings, it should nonetheless be remembered that the religion and its followers are different entities. One
> needs to distinguish, then, between the Bahá’í Faith and the Bahá’í community. The artist’s relation with the divine
> teachings of the Bahá’í Faith is one matter; the artist’s relation to the Bahá’í community is another.
> Another important aspect of religion, as conceived of in the Bahá’í teachings, is that it envelops the whole
> of human life. For many, this is a difficult notion to accept. The world has grown accustomed, in the twentieth
> century, to seeing a wide gulf between religion and other human concerns. Indeed, many have come to regard this
> breach as the normal state of affairs. Yet to separate religion from the art of living has proven fatal, for the gap
> between the two has been filled by that materialistic view of life which Bahá’u’lláh regarded as “the chief factor in
> precipitating the dire ordeals and world-shaking crises” that afflict all peoples (Shoghi Effendi, Citadel 125).
> The Bahá’í Faith restores the vital bond between religion and daily living. ‘Abdu’l-Bahá emphasized that
> deeds are the only sure proof of faith:
> 
> For in this holy Dispensation, the crowning glory of bygone age, and cycles, true Faith is no mere
> acknowledgment of the Unity of God, but rather the living of a life that will manifest all the perfections and
> virtues implied in such belief ... (Bahá’í Yearbook 1:12)
> 
> Further still, in the following passages revealed by Bahá’u’lláh and ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, we find that every aspect of life
> comes under the sheltering shade of the divine teachings and that every detail of civilization derives from the
> creative potential latent in such teachings:
> 
> Weigh not the Book of God with such standards and sciences as are current amongst you, for the Book
> itself is the unerring balance established amongst men. In this most perfect balance whatsoever the peoples
> and kindreds of the earth possess must be weighed, while the measure of its weight should be tested
> according to its own standard, did ye but know it. (Bahá’u’lláh, Gleanings 198)
> 
> ... even the minutest details of civilized life derive from the grace of the Prophets of God. What thing of
> value to mankind has ever come into being which was not first set forth either directly or by implication in
> the Holy Scriptures? (‘Abdu’l-Bahá, Secret 96)
> 
> From a Bahá’í perspective, then, religion subsumes all of human life. And as art is a part of life, religion
> also subsumes art. This is further confirmed by Bahá’u’lláh’s teaching that the arts and sciences themselves are but
> reflections of the knowledge of the Manifestation of God, and in each age are revived and stimulated by the
> leavening spirit the Manifestation releases into the world:
> 
> Every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God is endowed with such potency as can instill
> new life into every human frame.... Through the mere revelation of the word “Fashioner,” issuing forth
> from His lips and proclaiming His attribute to mankind, such power is released as can generate, through
> successive ages, all the manifold arts which the hands of man can produce. (Bahá’u’lláh, Gleanings 141–
> 42)
> 
> In referring to Jesus Christ, Bahá’u’lláh gave an example of the quickening influence that the Manifestation of God
> exercises over all aspects of civilization, including the arts:
> 
> The deepest wisdom which the sages have uttered, the profoundest learning which any mind hath unfolded,
> the arts which the ablest hands have produced, the influence exerted by the most potent of rulers, are but
> manifestations of the quickening power released by His transcendent, His all-pervasive, and resplendent
> Spirit. (Gleanings 85–86)
> Given such unequivocal teachings, to continue to regard art and religion as two separate powers, to continue to hold
> that art should be independent of religion, would be to perpetuate the fatal cleavage between religion and life that
> has undermined the basis of present-day civilization.4
> But at this point a clarification should be made. If one says that it is in the nature of art to serve the
> spiritual, fundamental aims of religion, this does not imply that the content and style of the artist’s work need be
> determined in cases by the desires of religious institutions or by the devotional tastes of religious community. (Here
> we see one reason why it is important to distinguish between religion and community.) Nor does it imply that one
> conceives of art as being constrained within the nine walls of the Bahá’í Temple. It implies, rather that one
> recognizes life itself as a temple without walls, the sky as a limitless dome that speaks of the Creator’s sovereignty,
> and religion (in its renewed, purified form: the Revelation of Bahá’u’lláh) as the sun that rides the dome’s center,
> shedding light and life on all things.
> Viewed from such a perspective, the domain of art would legitimately include everything under the sun,
> from the first cry of a newborn child to last breath of a departing soul. To make this statement is not only to affirm
> the right of artists to treat the entire range of human experience in their work: it is also to recall the holiness of life. It
> is to affirm that all aspects of life—both light and darkness, joy and suffering, triumph and setback—are contained
> within the framework of a divinely ordained purpose and are designed by Creator to be conducive to spiritual
> growth.5
> 
> Beauty Reflected in the Creation and in Art
> It is beyond the scope of this article to attempt even a brief survey of the points of agreement and divergence
> between established, specific theories of beauty and the outlook derived here from Bahá’í teachings. In one case,
> however, we need to examine what is not so much a theory as it is a general tendency found in much of current
> Western thinking on beauty—a tendency that compels attention in a discussion where we are concerned with
> fundamental concepts.
> In the West, there are several theories of beauty reflecting the idea that beauty is an end in itself, that it has
> no purpose outside the giving of some form of pleasure. The kind of pleasure emphasized may be sensual (as in
> hedonistic theory). The pleasure may be derived from the intellectual appreciation of design and pattern (as in
> naturalistic theory). It may arise from the recognition of artistic patterns corresponding to instinctive mental patterns
> (as in Gestalt theory); from an intuitive appreciation of qualitative vividness (as in contextualistic theory); from an
> appreciation of the work of art as an integrated organic whole (as in organistic theory); and from the recognition and
> appreciation of ideal forms (as in formistic theory). It may also involve satisfaction which the artist derives from the
> expression of emotion and the public from emotional arousal (as in expressionism). Each theory stresses a different
> facet of the experience of beauty, but what they have in common is the basic notion that beauty’s essential
> characteristic is to give sensual, intellectual, or emotional pleasure without higher purpose. In the nineteenth and
> twentieth centuries, philosophers and theorists have gone to considerable lengths to elaborate upon this concept.6
> What is the origin of this widespread, modern view of beauty? In the late Middle Ages, philosophers of
> Christian Europe certainly did not look upon beauty as a source of pleasure without purpose, but rather as the
> attractive power of spiritual perfection (Coomaraswamy, Christian and Oriental Philosophy 112). Is it a coincidence
> that modern theories viewing beauty as an end in itself emerged and were developed in the centuries following the
> Renaissance, when Europe drifted away from the shores of a religious world outlook into the seas of secularism and
> materialism?
> Surely few would deny that beauty gives pleasure and that such pleasure may be of a sensual, emotional,
> intellectual, or even spiritual nature. In this regard, the findings of the various modern theories of beauty are most
> valuable for their analysis and insights into some of the ways in which beauty is experienced. Such studies, however,
> do not appear to go far enough. They deal intensively with the “how” of beauty, but scarcely with the “why.” They
> focus on the ways that the experience of beauty engages the senses and the mind but offer little explanation as to
> what purpose this subtle and delicate process may serve except to give pleasure. The point here is to suggest that
> pleasure is not the end of beauty; it is only a natural part of the experience that beauty offers.7
> The Great Architect designed the creation such that all creatures take pleasure in that which is natural to
> their lives. The dog enjoys romping about. The infant delights in play. The body, when tired after a day’s work, is
> refreshed by a night of rest. In each of these instances, there is not only pleasure but also divine wisdom in the
> service of a higher purpose. For exercise is indispensable to the dog’s health. Through play, the child develops both
> body and mind. And sleep affords not only a pleasant restoration but also, to the Bahá’í, a preparation, for further
> service. In this connection, ‘Abdu’l-Bahá wrote:
> ... man must become evanescent in God. Must forget his own selfish conditions that he may thus arise to the
> station of sacrifice. It should be to such a degree that if he sleep, it should not be for pleasure, but to rest the
> body in order to do better, to speak better, to explain more beautifully, to serve the servants of God and to
> prove the truths. (Bahá’í World Faith 384)
> 
> We note that ‘Abdu’l-Bahá did not deny the pleasure involved in sleeping but held that such is not its ultimate
> purpose.
> This principle of pleasure channeled into the service of a divine purpose would seem to apply not only to
> humanity’s physical life but also to its higher, spiritual life:
> 
> It is natural for the heart and spirit to take pleasure and enjoyment in all things that show forth symmetry,
> harmony, and perfection. For instance: a beautiful house, a well designed garden, a symmetrical line, a
> graceful motion, a well written book, pleasing garments—in fact, all things that have in themselves grace or
> beauty are pleasing to the heart and spirit....
> What is music? It is a combination of harmonious sounds. What is poetry? It is a symmetrical
> collection of words. Therefore, they are pleasing through harmony and rhythm
> .... All these have in themselves an organization, and are constructed on natural law. Therefore, they
> correspond to the order of existence like something which would fit into a mold.... When it is so, this
> affects the nerves, and they affect the heart and spirit. (‘Abdu’l-Bahá, Bahá’í Writings 8–9)
> 
> These words of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, which refer to all the principal mediums (visual, spatial, gestural, verbal, and
> auditory) in which art is constituted, show that beauty does indeed give pleasure, in this case to “the heart and
> spirit.” But what higher end might such pleasure serve within the scheme of divine creation, within the framework
> of God’s purpose for humanity? If it were to serve no such higher end, then the enjoyment of beauty in the arts
> would be little more than a frivolous pastime, hardly worthy of the noble distinction accorded to all arts and sciences
> in the Writings.
> In a religious worldview, all things are found to have a reason for being. The fundamental purpose all
> created things have in common is to enable humankind to know and to love God:
> 
> Having created the world and all that liveth and moveth therein, [God] ... chose to confer upon
> man the unique distinction and capacity to know Him and to love Him—a capacity that must needs be
> regarded as the generating impulse and the primary purpose underlying the whole of creation....
> (Bahá’u’lláh, Gleanings 65)
> 
> Within the framework of this broad purpose, every created thing, from the humblest atom to the greatest
> spiritual law, has a specific role to play and an assigned purpose to fulfil. Bahá’u’lláh affirmed this ancient teaching
> in the following way:
> 
> ... when the light of My Name, the All-Pervading, hath shed its radiance upon the universe, each and every
> created thing hath, according to a fixed decree, been endowed with the capacity to exercise a particular
> influence, and been made to possess a distinct virtue. (Gleanings 189)
> 
> And addressing the world of humankind, Bahá’u’lláh wrote:
> 
> Out of the wastes of nothingness, with the clay of My command I made thee to appear and have
> ordained for thy training every atom in existence and the essence of all created things.... And My purpose in
> all this was that thou mightest attain My everlasting dominion and become worthy of My invisible
> bestowals, (Hidden Words 32)
> 
> Even the towering principle of justice—which Bahá’u’lláh called the “best beloved of all things in My sight”
> (Hidden Words 3) which he made to be the axis of the Bahá’í World Order, and whose name he gave to the supreme
> governing body of the Bahá’í world community—is but a means to a higher end. “The purpose or justice,”
> Bahá’u’lláh disclosed, “is the appearance of unity among men” (Tablets 67). And unity itself, the central theme of‘
> the Bahá’í Revelation, stands revealed in another passage as a means to a still further end “... unity and concord ... in
> turn are conducive to the maintenance of order in the world and to the regeneration of nations” (Tablets 36) .. In
> view of this consistent pattern, can we doubt that beauty, too, must have some role to play?
> The Bahá’í writings make many references to beauty but space permits here to consider briefly only a few
> passages from the divine pen of Bahá’u’lláh. In the first, there seems to be a distinction between the Beauty that is of
> God and the beauty found in the creation. The Beauty of God is inherently glorious primary, original; whereas that
> of creation is subordinate, secondary, reflected:
> 
> I beseech Thee, O my God, by Thy Beauty that shineth forth above the horizon of eternity, a Beauty before
> which as soon as it revealeth itself the of beauty boweth down in worship, magnifying it in ringing tones, to
> grant that I may die to all that I possess and live to whatsoever belongeth unto Thee. (Bahá’í Prayers 241)8
> 
> But since the Creator is “sanctified above all attributes and holy above all names” (Bahá’í Prayers 12), it is utterly
> impossible for humanity to perceive the beauty of God’s essence:
> 
> Too high art Thou exalted for the eye of any creature to behold Thy beauty, or for the understanding of any
> heart to scale the heights of Thine immeasurable knowledge. (Bahá’u’lláh, Prayers and Meditations 88)
> 
> The most humanity can hope to perceive of a beauty that pertains to God is the beauty revealed in the attributes and
> perfections of God’s divine Messengers, the founders of the world’s great religions. Regarding the relation between
> such Messengers and the Supreme Creator, Bahá’u’lláh wrote:
> 
> Every one of them is a mirror of God, reflecting naught else but His Self, His Beauty, His Might and Glory,
> if ye will understand. All else besides them are to be regarded as mirrors capable of reflecting the glory of
> these Manifestations Who are themselves the Primary Mirrors of the Divine Being.... (Gleanings 74)
> 
> These sanctified Mirrors, these Day Springs of ancient glory, are, one and all, the Exponents on earth of
> Him Who is the central Orb of the universe.... The beauty of their countenance is but a reflection of His
> image, and their revelation a sign of His deathless glory.... By the revelation of these Gems of Divine virtue
> all the names and attributes of God... are made manifest. (Gleanings 47–48)
> 
> In this connection we note that Bahá’u’lláh is often referred to in the Bahá’í sacred writings by the titles “the
> Blessed Beauty” and “the Ancient Beauty.”
> Divine beauty stands revealed, perfect and consummate, in the Manifestations of God; but, on the level of
> the creation, it is reflected by each created thing in a limited way, “each according to its capacity and rank.”
> 
> ... the revelations of Thy matchless Beauty have at all times been imprinted upon the realities of all beings,
> visible and invisible. (Bahá’u’lláh, Gleanings 63)
> 
> From the exalted source, and out of the essence of His favor and bounty He hath entrusted every
> created thing with a sign of His knowledge, so that none of His creatures may be deprived of its share in
> expressing, each according to its capacity and rank, this knowledge. This sign is the mirror of His beauty in
> the world of creation. The greater the effort exerted for the refinement of this sublime and noble mirror, the
> more faithfully will it be made to reflect the glory of the names and attributes of God, and reveal the
> wonders of His signs and knowledge. (Bahá’u’lláh, Gleanings 262)
> 
> Upon the inmost reality of each and every created thing He hath shed the light of one of His names, and
> made it a recipient of the glory of one of His attributes. Upon the reality of man, however, He hath focused
> the radiance of all of His names and attributes, and made it a mirror of His own Self. Alone of all created
> things man hath been singled out for so great a favor, so enduring a bounty. (Bahá’u’lláh, Gleanings 65)
> 
> It is important to observe that in the above passages Bahá’u’lláh equates divine beauty with “the glory of the names
> and attributes of God.”
> Though one can know absolutely nothing of God’s essence, one can, however, appreciate God’s Beauty as
> revealed in the Messengers or Manifestations. This capacity is mentioned in the following passage, whose context is
> a warning that those who turn away from Bahá’u’lláh and his Revelation will be held responsible before God:
> ...every man hath been, and will continue to be, able of himself to appreciate the Beauty of God, the
> Glorified. Had he not been endowed with such a capacity, how could he be called to account for his failure?
> (Bahá’u’lláh, Gleanings 143)
> 
> By the same token, when one contemplates the beauty reflected in the creation, and in the human heart itself, one
> finds that it leads to the same divine Source:
> 
> Every created thing in the whole universe is but a door leading into His knowledge, a sign of His
> sovereignty, a revelation of His names, a symbol of His majesty, a token of His power, a means of
> admittance into His straight Path .... (Bahá’u’lláh, Gleanings 160)
> 
> The Creator’s purpose in endowing humanity with the capacity to appreciate beauty is to enable the human
> soul to recognize and feel attracted to God and to the Manifestation. This capacity is alluded to in a passage from a
> prayer revealed by ‘Abdu’l-Bahá:
> 
> O Lord, make me hear Thy call, and open before my face the doors of Thy heaven, so that I may see the
> light of Thy glory and become attracted to Thy beauty. (Bahá’í Prayers 62)
> 
> Deprived of such a capacity, humanity, though surrounded by the evidences of God’s presence, the signs of God’s
> dominion, and the revelation of God’s attributes, would be unable to respond to them, would remain insensible to
> their drawing power, and would feel no attraction to them. In such a condition, we would have no desire to make
> divine attributes our own and to reflect them in our way of life: no desire either to know God or to grow spiritually.
> We would lie wrapped in a paralyzing ignorance, and all our distinctive powers would remain dormant and
> undeveloped. How much difference would there be, in such a case, between human and animal?9
> Beauty may be regarded as an attracting quality that radiates from the Manifestation of God, is reflected in
> all of God’s handiwork and is felt in the human heart as a stirring and awakening of love. Beauty, then, plays an
> essential role in aiding humanity to fulfil the very purpose of its existence: to know and to love God. In the words of
> ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, “Real love is impossible unless one turn his face towards God and be attracted to His Beauty”
> (Bahá’í World Faith 364).
> Humanity’s love of God, in turn, generates a powerful desire to obey the Creator’s will. What would a
> person not do for someone he or she loves? To obey God for the love of his beauty requires greater spiritual maturity
> than does an obedience motivated solely by fear of God or by hope for divine reward (The Báb, Selections 77–78).
> Yet Bahá’u’lláh, in the Kitáb-i-Aqdas, calls on humankind to aspire to such maturity:
> 
> The Tongue of My power hath, from the heaven of My omnipotent glory, addressed to My creation these
> words: “Observe My commandments, for the love of My beauty.” (Synopsis 12)
> 
> To be sure, the Long Obligatory Prayer itself (one of the three prayers destined by Bahá’u’lláh to be regularly
> recited throughout the Bahá’í world for at least a thousand years) opens by supplicating God to enable the believer
> to perceive the Creator’s beauty:
> 
> I beseech Thee by them Who are the Day Springs of Thine invisible Essence, the Most Exalted, the All-
> Glorious, to make of my prayer a fire that will burn away the veils which have shut me out from Thy
> beauty, and a light that will lead me unto the ocean of Thy Presence. (Bahá’í Prayers 7–8)
> 
> Towards the end of the prayer, we find that the perception of divine beauty is linked with obedience to God’s will:
> 
> I entreat Thee ... to ordain that I may gaze on Thy beauty and observe whatsoever is in Thy Book. (Bahá’í
> Prayers 13–14)
> 
> The result is an ascending spiral of cause and effect: beauty calls forth love; love motivates observance of the divine
> teachings; observance leads to greater knowledge and understanding, and stimulates spiritual growth; while growth,
> in turn, increases the capacity to respond to beauty and to love God. The final objective of this ascending spiral is to
> enable the human soul so to attune itself to the will of God that it may, in the words of Bahá’u’lláh, “be to all
> eternity the revelation of My everlasting being” (Hidden Words 19).
> One common and current notion of beauty is to regard it as a kind of exalted prettiness. Beauty as we have
> conceived of it here is not incompatible with loveliness, but it is, however, of a different order. In the Bahá’í
> writings, beauty is associated not merely with sensual and intellectual pleasure but with divinely revealed truth, with
> the spiritual principles and teachings that constitute truth insofar as we can know it, and ultimately with the
> attributes of God. “...the pure heart,” wrote ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, “becometh the mirror of the beauty of truth” (Bahá’í
> World Faith 333). Thus viewed, beauty is not an end in itself but a means to an end. Its purpose in the world of
> creation is to draw the human soul into a spiral of spiritual growth, carried upward on the wings of love toward the
> kingdom of the most great Beauty. Its purpose in the realm of human creativity is the same. Art attracts the soul,
> through beauty, to a work in which the knowledge of things divine is imparted, by which attitudes to life are
> spiritualized, morality is strengthened, and service is rendered to the cause of spiritual growth. Acting as an agent of
> spiritual attraction, beauty thus plays all essential role in the process whereby art seeks to help ennoble the human
> soul.
> This is not to suggest, however, that the subject matter of Bahá’í-engendered art need always be serene,
> harmonious, delicate, or blissful. It is also legitimate for art to portray the workings of the lower side of human
> nature, provided the latter is viewed in proper relation to the higher, spiritual side. On the subject of human nature,
> ‘Abdu’l-Bahá taught:
> 
> In man there are two natures; his spiritual or higher nature and his material or lower nature. In one
> he approaches God, in the other he lives for the world alone, Signs of both these natures are to be found in
> men. In his material aspect he expresses untruth, cruelty and injustice; all these are the outcome of his
> lower nature. The attributes of his Divine nature are shown forth in love, mercy, kindness, truth, and
> justice, one and all being expressions of his higher nature. Every good habit, every noble quality belongs to
> man’s spiritual nature, whereas all his imperfections and sinful actions are born of his material nature. If a
> man’s Divine nature dominates his human nature, we have a saint. (Paris Talks 60)
> 
> Man has two aspects: the physical, which is subject to nature, and the merciful or divine, which is
> connected with God. If the physical or natural disposition in him should overcome the heavenly and
> merciful, he is, then, the most degraded of animal beings; and if the divine and spiritual should triumph
> over the human and natural, he is, verily, an angel. The Prophets come into the world to guide and educate
> humanity so that the animal nature of man may disappear and the divinity of his powers become awakened.
> (Promulgation 41)
> 
> If an artist portrays aspects of humankind’s lower nature—such as antagonism, hatred, and selfish struggle—in such
> a way as to demonstrate the truth of what Bahá’u’lláh taught on such subjects, is this not a service as valuable as that
> rendered by an artist whose works are permeated with undisturbed peace? What is important is not only the subject
> matter but also the way the artist treats it; not only the cognitive and emotional content manifest in a work of art but
> also, and especially, the effect such content is intended to have on the knowledge and the feelings of the participant.
> In another passage from the pen of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, we find reason to feel that art—especially the narrative
> arts such as literature, theater, and dance—in fulfilling an edifying role, can legitimately treat aspects of humanity’s
> lower, animal nature:
> 
> ...things are often known by their opposites. Were it not for darkness, light could not be sensed. Were it not
> for death, life could not be known. If ignorance did not exist, knowledge would not be a reality. It is
> necessary that each should exist in order that the other should have reality. Night and day must be in order
> that each may be distinguished. (Promulgation 82)
> 
> However, for art merely to display the workings of humanity’s lower nature is not enough: if art is to be edifying,
> the portrayal needs to be placed within a spiritual context, within the framework of God’s purpose in creating
> humankind. For it is only against such a framework that darkness can be perceived as the lack of light, evil as the
> absence of good. Only against such a framework can viewers, listeners, or readers of a work of art measure their
> own potential and be stimulated to grow spiritually. In other words, if artists refer in their work to the darker as well
> as the brighter side of human nature, they should try to do so in such a way as to engender within the participants’
> souls an experience that will aid them to journey on “the road which leads to divine knowledge and attainment.” In
> the words of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá:
> Man must walk in many paths and be subjected to various processes in his evolution upward. Physically he
> is not born in full stature but passes through consecutive stages of fetus, infant, childhood, youth, maturity
> and old age.... Unless you have passed through the state of infancy, how would you know this was an infant
> beside you? If there were no wrong, how would you recognize the right? If it were not for sin, how would
> you appreciate virtue? If evil deeds were unknown, how could you commend good actions? If sickness did
> not exist, how would you understand health? Evil is nonexistent; it is the absence of good. Sickness is the
> loss of health; poverty, the lack of riches.... Without knowledge there is ignorance; therefore, ignorance is
> simply the lack of knowledge. Death is the absence of life. Therefore, on the one hand, we have existence;
> on the other, nonexistence, negation or absence of existence.
> Briefly, the journey of the soul is necessary. The pathway of life is the road which leads to divine
> knowledge and attainment. Without training and guidance the soul could never progress beyond the
> conditions of its lower nature, which is ignorant and defective. (Promulgation 295–96)
> 
> The principle of making things known by their opposites has been applied in Western theater from ancient
> times, notably in the Greek concept of tragic drama. Consider, for example, a story about a person who was given a
> unique opportunity to establish justice but who exploited the chance instead for personal gain and in the end lost
> everything. In this story, injustice, worldly desire. and selfishness may figure prominently. If such negative qualities
> are presented in the light of Bahá’í teachings, however, they will be recognized as but the shadows cast by the
> positive qualities of justice, spiritual enkindlement, and altruism, and, if well conceived, the work may inspire in the
> reader or spectator a desire to attain these qualities and to shun their opposites. It is thus possible for art to be
> edifying even when its subject matter is apparently base, to be beautiful even when its subject matter is superficially
> unappealing; for beauty, as we have seen, is associated with divine truth and spiritual attributes.10
> An important conclusion can be drawn from the foregoing discussion: One of the primary responsibilities
> of Bahá’í artists is to take care that the beliefs, values, attitudes, and emotions manifested in their art, on the one
> hand, and those that are intended to be stimulated and reinforced in the participant, on the other, vibrate in harmony
> with the teachings of the Bahá’í Faith. This is the best artists can do to make it likely that the experience their art
> engenders in the soul of the participant will have an ennobling effect.
> 
> Emotion in Art
> Our consideration of the subject of beauty enables us now to turn to the closely related theme of emotion in art. One
> of the most popular and widespread views on this subject is that the purpose of art is to express the emotions of the
> artist or to stimulate those of the public. There is no doubt that certain feelings of artists may in fact become
> manifest in their work and that the emotions of the public are affected. Emotion, like beauty, is surely an important
> element in the experience of art. All the principal theories of art take emotion into account. But if we were to view
> art mainly as an opportunity to give expression to the artist’s feelings, or if we were to value it primarily for the
> emotional stimulus it provides the public, would we not be giving disproportionate prominence to one element in the
> experience of art to the detriment of the others? Would we not, moreover, be losing sight of the highest aim of art,
> which is spiritual ennoblement?
> To hold that the ultimate purpose of art is to provide emotional expression or stimulation is similar to
> holding that the value of beauty lies only in the pleasure it gives: in both cases means are mistaken for ends. We
> have seen that, according to the Bahá’í teachings, all created things serve some purpose and are a means to some
> further end, that of beauty being to attract the human soul toward its Creator and thereby to facilitate spiritual
> growth. We have seen, too, that beauty can accomplish such ends not only in the creation as a whole but in art as
> well. Might we not conclude that emotion, likewise, should be viewed from the perspective of its role in human life,
> and within the framework of the highest objectives of art?
> In daily living, emotion serves to energize the mind and to activate the will. Similarly, the emotions that art
> seeks to elicit, if appropriately managed and channeled by the artist, can aid the artist to fulfil art’s mystical aspect
> by stirring up a joyous attraction toward the kingdom of God. Such emotions can assist the artist to realize the moral
> aspect of the role of art by arousing in the public hope for God’s bounty and fear of disobedience to divine law, and
> by imparting feelings of comfort and tranquillity to troubled souls. They can, furthermore, help the artist to render a
> social service by stimulating love toward humanity and sentiments of brotherhood and world unity.12
> Emotion plays a key role in the realization of all the spiritual objectives of art, whether of a mystical, moral,
> or social nature. An example of its importance in the first case is found in the following passage from the writings of
> ‘Abdu’l-Bahá:
> Therefore.... set to music the verses and the divine words so that they may be sung with soul-stirring
> melody in the Assemblies and gatherings, and that the hearts of the listeners may become tumultuous and
> rise towards the Kingdom of Abhá in supplication and prayer. (Bahá’í World Faith 378)
> 
> A further example of the effect of emotion, this time on a moral plane, is afforded by Shakespeare’s tragedies,
> whose underlying spiritual laws concerning human motivation and conduct could never be so effectively highlighted
> and driven home without that eloquent terror and consternation to which the violation of such truths inevitably leads.
> And for an illustration of the effectiveness of emotion on the social plane, we have only to observe that the linking
> of appropriate verse with music can inspire such sentiments of national identity and cohesion that one of the earliest
> acts of a newly formed State is to commission the writing of a national anthem.
> In brief, emotion in art is not an end but a means. By carefully designing a work of art with the intention of
> inducing an experience in which the participant’s emotions are selectively aroused and oriented, the artist can help
> ensure that the spiritual content of his or her work is effectively communicated, vividly felt, long remembered, and
> therefore the more likely to help broaden the vision, deepen the understanding, spiritualize the sentiments, and affect
> the thought and even the conduct of those who wish to receive it. Art can thereby assist the fundamentally joyous
> Bahá’í attitude to life, and with it the whole range of human emotions, to sail and find safe anchor in the harbor of
> God’s remembrance.
> 
> Notes
> 1. In the Short Obligatory Prayer, revealed by Bahá’u’lláh, the believer recites: “I bear witness, O my God,
> that Thou hast created me to know Thee and to worship Thee” (Bahá’í Prayers 4).
> 
> 2. In some cases, during a certain period of a given civilization, the State may appear to have been a more
> important patron of the arts than was religion. But even when the artist worked for a king, a court, or some other
> temporal institution, it should be remembered that throughout the world, prior to the emergence of modem
> civilization, the worldview in which artists were immersed, in which they lived, and to which they gave expression
> in their works, was usually a religious one. The concept that art is a manifestation of cosmology is explored in
> Ludwig Tuman, “Toward Critical Foundations” 17–21.
> 
> 3. The Universal House of Justice draws this distinction between religion and religious community: “...true
> religion, far from being the product solely of human striving after truth, is the fruit of the creative Word of God
> which, with divine power, transforms human thought and action. A Bahá’í, through this faith in, this ‘conscious
> knowledge’ of, the reality of divine Revelation, can distinguish, for instance, between Christianity, which is the
> divine message given by Jesus of Nazareth, and the development of Christendom, which is the history of what men
> did with that message in subsequent centuries; a distinction which has become blurred if not entirely obscured in
> current Christian theology. A Bahá’í scholar conscious of His distinction will not make the mistake of regarding the
> sayings and beliefs of certain Bahá’ís at any one time as being the Bahá’í Faith. The Bahá’í Faith is the Revelation
> of Bahá’u’lláh: His Own Words as interpreted by ‘Abdu’l-Bahá and the Guardian” (‘“Challenge and Promise” 195).
> 
> 4. Shoghi Effendi wrote that science and religion are “the two most potent forces in human life” and that, in
> the world society anticipated in the Bahá’í writings, they “will be reconciled, will coöperate, and will harmoniously
> develop” (World Order 204). It might well be asked, therefore: if one can speak of science and religion as distinct
> forces, why not speak of art and religion in the same way? It should be noted that Shoghi Effendi did not state that
> science is independent of religion, nor did he state that the two are, in some ways, equally potent. The present writer
> feels the reconciling of religion and science as spoken of in the above passage, could be understood as a reconciling
> of two basic human powers—those of faith and of reason. When faith is not blind but is supported by reason, the
> result is a religion that Shoghi Effendi described as “scientific in its method” (World Order [1938 ed.] xi). Similarly,
> when reason is informed and illumined by faith, by the revealed Word of God, then science will be practiced with
> wisdom and will become imbued with divine and merciful qualities. In this case, then, we are viewing religion and
> science in the dimension of their human practice. But to acknowledge that science and religion can be reconciled
> and cooperate, is not necessarily to place them on the same plane. If we view religion not in its human dimension,
> but rather as an expression of God’s will through divine Revelation, then we find religion to be preeminent. The
> encompassing nature of the divine foundation of religion is affirmed in the following statement made on behalf of
> the Universal House of Justice: “... it should never be overlooked that the Revelation of the Manifestation of God is
> the standard for knowledge, and scientific statements and theories, no matter how close they may come to the eternal
> principles proclaimed by God’s Messenger, are in their very nature ephemeral and limited” (from a letter dated 21
> July 1968 to a National Spiritual Assembly). Here, again, we are led to conclude that religion envelops all of human
> life. And as the arts and the sciences are parts of human life, religion also subsumes the arts and sciences.
> 
> 5. The painter Mark Tobey stated that Shoghi Effendi told him in a conversation that Bahá’í artists are free
> to produce as they wish. Care should be taken, however, not to make too much of this report: first, because it is a
> pilgrim note; and second, because it does not specify the nature and extent of the freedom in involved. It would be
> unwarranted to assume, on the basis of this verbal account, that the Bahá’í Faith regards art as being independent of
> religion (the latter understood as a body of divine teachings). The most that can be safely concluded is that artists, if
> they wish, can in certain ways be independent of the religious community. When Bahá’í artists operate as individual
> economic units, the style and content of their work need not respond to the prevailing taste of the religious
> community or of the Faith’s institutions. Historically, religious institutions often required artistic style to remain
> within narrow limits. In the Bahá’í community, artists are free to operate independently; even when they produce
> specifically for the use of the community or its institutions, there will be no official style to which their work will
> have to conform. Even so, it should be noted that Bahá’í artists remain responsible for the spiritual and moral
> implications of their work, their ultimate background of reference being the Bahá’í teachings. Moreover, the absence
> of an official Bahá’í art does not preclude the spontaneous development of an important body of works explicitly
> dedicated to religious themes. Who can say whether portraits of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, rendered with the same feelings of
> reverence and tender love that animated the painters of the madonna and child in previous centuries, may not
> become a favored subject of painting in the future?
> 
> 6. For an overview of occidental theories, see Monroe C. Beardsley, Aesthetics from Classical Greece and
> Aesthetics: Problems in the Philosophy of Criticism.
> 
> 7. Some theories observe that beauty has educational value because it hones sense discrimination, or
> psychological value because it provides a release for pent-up emotion or social value in that its employment in art
> can reinforce cultural identity. Such theories, however, stop short of recognizing that beauty affects not only human
> beings’ sensory, mental, and social life but also affects, above all, the human soul. The very word aesthe implies a
> viewing of art more as a sensory and mental experience than as a spiritual one. The term therefore appears
> inappropriate for use in a discussion where the essential nature, purpose, and effect of beauty are held to be spiritual.
> Coined in the eighteenth century by the thinker Alexander Baumgarten, it takes as its root the Greek aesthes which
> in Hellenic usage meant simply sense perception or physical sensation. Its opposite is the medical term anaesthetic,
> referring to the inability to feel such physical sensation. See the article s.v. “aesthetics” in The New Encyclopaedia
> Britannica; Macropaedia 150. See also Coomaraswamy, Christian and Oriental Philosophy 16, 46, 64.
> 
> 8. It is possible that the word beauty, when capitalized in Shoghi Effendi translations of the Bahá’í
> writings. refers in some cases to a Manifestation of God, such as Jesus, Muhammad, or Bahá’u’lláh. For the
> purposes of our discussion, though, it is the same whether the passage refers to divine beauty in the abstract as
> Manifestation of God, just as it is the same whether we speak of the sun’s rays in general or as reflected in a flawless
> mirror. For what concerns us, here is not the individuality of the mirror, but the light.
> 
> 9. In mystic theory, one finds an approach to art and beauty resembling that taken in this article. The mystic
> approach predominates in a large part of traditional Oriental theory and practice, notably in India and China. But
> even here: it should be noted that some mystic theory regards beauty primarily as a stimulus conducive to a state or
> ecstatic union with God or with the universe, whereas the accent in this essay is on beauty as a means to the
> knowledge of divine attributes and as a stimulus in the daily process of spiritual growth. For an overview of art
> philosophy in the Orient, see Thomas Munro, Oriental Aesthetics.
> 
> 10. Note the parallels here with Keats, and with Oriental and medieval Christian thinking on the relation
> between beauty and truth. See Coomaraswamy, Christian and Oriental Philosophy 107–9.
> 
> 11. See Emotion: A Comprehensive Phenomenology. See also Tuman, “Toward Critical Foundations” 30–
> 33 for parallels between the role of emotion in cognition generally and in the cognition of art specifically.
> 12. We must distinguish between the emotions manifested by the work of art itself and those stirred within
> the person who experiences the work of art. They are often not the same. Grief expressed by actors on a stage may
> inspire in the spectator not grief but pity. In a novel, the fright expressed by a plotter whose scheming backfired may
> inspire in the reader not fear but satisfaction. (See Nelson Goodman, Languages of Art 249–50.) Our focus here is
> on the emotions stirred by art within the participant.
> 
> Works Cited
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> 1969.
> ———. The Promulgation of Universal Peace. Comp. Howard MacNutt. 2d ed. Wilmette: Bahá’í Publishing Trust,
> 1982.
> ———. The Secret of Divine Civilization. Trans. M. Gail with Ali-Kuli Khan. 3d ed. Wilmette: Bahá’í Publishing
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> ———. Selections from the Writings of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá. Comp. Research Dept. Bahá’í World Centre. Trans. Marzieh
> Gail et al. Haifa: Bahá’í World Centre, 1975.
> ———. Tablets of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá. Comp. Albert R. Windust. 3d ed. Chicago: Bahá’í Publishing Society, 1916.
> 
> ‘Abdu’l-Bahá in London: Addresses and Notes of Conversations. London: Bahá’í Publishing Trust, 1982.
> 
> Báb, The. Selections from the Writings of the Báb. Comp. Research Department. Trans. H. Taherzadeh et al. Haifa:
> Bahá’í World Centre, 1976.
> 
> Bahá’í Prayers. 3d ed. Wilmette: Bahá’í Publishing Trust, 1985.
> 
> Bahá’í World, The. Vol. 17 (1974-1978). Haifa: Bahá’í World Centre, 1981.
> 
> Bahá’í World, The. Vol. 18 (1979-1983). Haifa: Bahá’í World Centre, 1986.
> 
> Bahá’í Writings on Music. Comp. Research Department of the Universal House of Justice. Oakham: Bahá’í
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> 
> Bahá’í Yearbook, The. Vol. 1 (1925–1926). New York: Bahá’í Publishing Committee, 1926. [1980 reprint].
> 
> Bahá’u’lláh. Gleanings from the Writings of Bahá’u’lláh. Trans. Shoghi Effendi. 2d ed. Wilmette: Bahá’í Publishing
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> ———. Prayers and Meditations by Bahá’u’lláh. Trans. Shoghi Effendi. 2d ed. Wilmette: Bahá’í Publishing Trust,
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> ———. Synopsis and Codification of the Laws and Ordinances of the Kitab-i-Aqdas. Haifa: Bahá’í World Centre,
> 1973.
> ———. Tableis of Bahá’u’lláh. Comp. Research Department. Trans. H. Taherzadeh et al. 2d ed. Haifa: Bahá’í
> World Centre, 1978.
> ———. The Hidden Words of Bahá’u’lláh. Wilmette: Bahá’í Publishing Trust, 1939.
> 
> Bahá’u’lláh and ‘Abdu’l-Bahá. Bahá’í World Faith. Rev. ed. Wilmette: Bahá’í Publishing Trust, 1956.
> 
> Beardsley, Monroe C. Aesthetics: Problems in the Philosophy of Criticism. 2d ed. Indianapolis: Hackett Publishing
> Co., 1981.
> ———. Aesthetics from Classical Greece to the Present. New York: Macmillan, 1966.
> 
> Blomfield, Lady. The Chosen Highway. 2d ed. London: Bahá’í Publishing Trust, 1940.
> 
> Coomaraswamy, Ananda K. Christian and Oriental Philosophy of Art. New York: Dover Publications, 1956.
> Emotion: A Comprehensive Phenomenology of Theories and Their Meanings for Therapy. Ed. James Hillman.
> London: Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1960.
> 
> “Extracts from the Writings and from the letters of the Guardian and the Universal House of Justice on the Arts and
> Architecture.” Unpublished compilation prepared by the Research Department of the Universal House of
> Justice.
> 
> Goodman, Nelson. Languages of Art: An Approach to a Theory of Symbols. Indianapolis: Hackett Publishing Co.,
> 1976.
> 
> Lights of Guidance. Comp. Helen Hornby. 2d ed. New Delhi: Bahá’í Publishing Trust, 1988.
> 
> New Encyclopaedia Britannica, The. 1977.
> 
> Shoghi Effendi. Citadel of Faith: Messages to America, 1947–1957. Wilmette: Bahá’í Publishing Trust, 1965.
> ———. God Passes By. Rev. ed. Wilmette: Bahá’í Publishing Trust, 1974.
> ———. The World Order of Bahá’u’lláh. 2d ed. Wilmette: Bahá’í Publishing Trust, 1974.
> 
> Star of the West: The Bahá’í Magazine. Vol. 9. Oxford: George Ronald, 1978.
> Star of the West: The Bahá’í Magazine. Vol. 12. Oxford: George Ronald, 1978.
> 
> Tuman, Ludwig. “Toward Critical Foundations for a World Culture of the Arts.” World Order 9.4 (Summer 1975):
> 8–35.
> 
> Universal House of Justice. “The Challenge and Promise of Bahá’í Scholarship.” In The Bahá’í World. Vol. 17
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> ———. “To the Peoples of the World.” Bahá’í Studies 14. Ottawa: Association for Bahá’í Studies, 1986.
>
> — *The Spiritual Role of Art (Used by permission of the curator)*