Foreword ======== Exported from Holy-Writings.com on 2026-06-18 1 clipping 1. Source: Bahá'í Library Online (bahai-library.com), curated by Jonah Winters. Used by permission of the curator. Original citation: Charles Wolcott, Foreword, Los Angeles: Kalimat Press, 1989, bahai-library.com. ────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── THE CREATIVE CIRCLE Art, Literature, and Music in Baha'i Perspective Edited by Michael Fitzgerald Kalimat Press Los Angeles • First Edition Copyright © 1989 by Kalimat Press All Rights Reserved Manufactured in the United States of America "Can Baha" Art Become Distinctive?" Copyright © 1989 by Ludwig Tuman All rights reserved "Poetry and Self-Transformation" Copyright © 1988 by Association for Baba" Studies All rights reserved CONTENTS •• • Preface by Michael Fitzgerald ....... . ........... . V1l1 • Foreword by Charles Wolcott . ..... , , , , , , , • ••••... Xl Poetry and Sell-Transformation by Roger White .................. ........ ..... . 1 T he Creative Act and the Spirit by Bonnie Wilder . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 17 But . .. My Mother Was a Singer by Maya Kaathryn Bohnhoff . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39 The Dilemma of the Artist: A Perspective on the Development of Baha'i Aesthetics by Anne Gordun Atkinson .. . ... .. ........ •••••.. 51 Can Baha'f Art Become Distinctive? by Ludwig Tuman . . .... . ....... ... .• . ••• . • .. . . 97 The Artist As Citizen by Thomas Lysaght . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 121 Restating the Idealist Theory of Art by Geoffrey Nash . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . .. 159 v vi Contents Poetry and the Arts in Rebuilding Society by Duane L. Hemllann . .. . . ...... . .. .. . ....•... 175 Ladder of the Soul an interview with Lasse Thoresen • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • 193 Looking Forward in the Visual Arts by Fritz A. Mann . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 213 Biographical Notes .. ....... ... .. . .... .•...•.. . 241 "Painting is a way of being." - Jackson Pollock "It is as difficult to write simply as it is to be good ." - w. Somerset Maugham ") will hear in Heaven." - Beethoven's last words Preface "The artist creates the uncreated conscience of the race. " - James Joyce " What bestowal could be greater than tltis, that one's art should be as the act of worshiping the Lord?" -'Abdul-Baha RT IS THE LAST vestige of the mysterious in an age that rejects religion . The twentieth century is widely known for its themes of alienation and a profound despair over the state of human affairs. Religion has abused its office. Responding, existentialists put forward a serious, but incom- plete, philosophy which sought to address the situation of modern man, impotent in the face of titanic destruction. Humanists by and large have reserved themselves to intellec- tuallabor, disdaining the world's spiritual traditions. There is thus a gaping void in human values. The Baha'i F aith has emerged as an artist's impetus and as an instrument for the renewal of society. Baha'u'llah (1817-1892), its Founder, anticipated the need for the inclu- sion of religion in a thinking person's modern repertoire of ideas. His expansive teachings on the oneness of mankind and the oneness of religions lead to a Whitmanesque embrace of diverse and conflicting cultures . Thus, the artist informed .. . VIIl • Preface IX by a Baha'i sensibility will be able to build on a wide variety of cultural raw materials that another artist might not accept. Pericles said that "where there is no vision the people perish." The planetary vision of a Baha'i artist will lead him or her to relish the gifts that an exploding world culture offers. Without the need to be restricted by a parochial view, the artist with access to the Baha'i Writings can glean a rich pool of ethical and aesthetic inspiration. Poetry is often termed a "contact" with the natural world, as by Whitman; or "contact" with the locality, as by William Carlos Williams. When the "locality" is the whole planet, the frontiers of the imagination are expanded beyond provincial- isms of every sort. Thus, prejudice can be overcome and the threat of war due to misunderstanding will be forestalled. Still, artistic integrity for the Baha'i must be foremost. Without preaching, without didacticism, the Baha'f artist can form the themes of his faith into an individual vision that is authentic. In seeing art as both a service and as a means of healing, the development of young and mature talent must become a major priority in an evolving world culture. If James Joyce is right, and "the artist creates the uncreated conscience of the race," then here is a major responsibility. The Baha'i will be eager to practice art in a web of merg- ing world visions, be detelmined to maintain the highest ethi- cal standards, be assured that the effort to be consistent in public and private life will provide new sources. The pros- pects of authentic visionary work for a BaM'f, in contrast to the documentation of an age at odds with itself, stirs the real longings of artists for honest, serious work. In hal mony with the best that the contemporary world offers, expressing the unique value of diverse cultures, and committed to the highest standards of artistic and personal integrity, the Baha'f artist can create a new world. Michael Fitzgerald Winchester, Virginia CHARLES WOLCOTT musician and member of the Universal House of Justice, c. 1982. . Foreword T CAME IN A CLUTTER of mail one morning- an invitation I to contribute an essay on music for inclusion in a book on the arts. The opening sentence was intriguing: "As a piano player and a Baha'" you must certainly, or one would think, have experienced the dynamics of artistic endeavor in the context of the pull toward community ." My instincts cau- tioned me to forget it, but as in a movie flashback, my thoughts went scurrying pell-mell through time and space to what can best be described as another life, a professional life spanning some forty years-encompassing, yes , being a "piano player" early on, but widening in scope to include be- ing a leader of dance bands, a music arranger, a composer, a conductor of studio orchestras, and eventually the General Music Director of not one but two major motion picture stu- dios . (Not at the same time of course!) Though my professional piano playing days are long gone, and little time is available for composing, opportunities to listen to music are abundant. From that viewpoint, accep- tance of the invitation became a definite possibility. So I did just that. And you, dear reader, must judge whether the exercise was worth the doing. What is music? According to that time-honored tome, the Oxford English Dictionary, music is defined as: • XI xii Charles Wolcott That one of the fine arts which is concerned with the com· bination of sounds, with a view to beauty of form and the expression of thought or feeling. Listening to some of the noise that pours out incessantly from television screens or radio makes me wonder whether the creators of such incoherent mish·mash were ever conscious of the dictionary's precise definition. Where did music get its name? In Greece there is an an· cient mount, Parnassus, and legend has it that the mount was (and maybe stilI is!) the home of the nine sister goddesses, daughters of Zeus, who collectively bore the name of the Muses. IndividualIy, each related to an expression of artis· tic endeavor. For example, Terpsichore was the goddess associated with dance. But since music is inexorably inter· twined with all art forms, it seems logical to accept it as the offspring of the collective name of the "Muses." Before concentrating on music as an art form , we may benefit from a few thoughts expressed by some serious thinkers about art as a whole. Albert Schweitzer, in addition to his medical skills, possessed a truly professional facility for playing the pipe organ. That immortal contrapuntist, Johann Sebastian Bach, observed that art can be categorized accord· ing to the material the artists use to express the world around them: The artist "is not only a painter, or only a poet, or only a musician, but all in one . ... The distinction consists only in that one idea is dominant and artists choose the language that suits them best. '" It is said that Goethe fancied himself a painter and Schiller reckoned himself a musician, though 1;>oth are known as poets. Then there is the remarkable comment purportedly made by an eminent though highly controversial nineteenth-century French poet: "A toy is a child 's first introduction to art." While accepting the possibility that a child's interest in some form of art might, or even should, be stimulated in this way, ••• Foreword XIII it seems • to me that the little one who becomes a great artist has been blessed by the Almighty with a special gift. And so, this brings us to a thought-provoking question: How is music related to religion? Given that records pertaining to the ori- gins of the handful of ancient, divinely revealed religions with adherents in today's world go back less than a few thousand years, we must rely on findings of archeologists and other scholars who are diligently trying to uncover more informa- tion about our forebears. It is more or less commonly accepted that in ancient times mankind's basic relationship to the gods was one of appease- ment, that is, seeking protection from the elements-drought, flood, thunderstor illS, earthquakes-by raising one's voice in praise of the gods. We may assume that in the beginning it was an individual effort: one voice plaintively chanting a sup- plication. Later, a communal petition came into being, many voices joined in the chanting, and primitive instruments were added. Probably the first of these were skins stretched over wooden frames, some to be struck by sticks and others with strings to be plucked. Migrations of Chinese and Hindus added their contribu- tions of traditions handed down orally through the genera- tions. It is thought that the ancient Greek traditions probably came from Asia Minor importing the novel idea of one God- Zeus. And after the advent of Abraham, in time there came the psalmist, David, who contributed some one hundred fifty Psalms, texts dedicated to one God, which live today through being sung in synagogues and churches. Originally, the psalms were accompanied by the psaltery, a dulcimer-like stringed instrument which the player plucked. Allow me a momentary digression for the benefit of today's youthful generation of Baha'is-many of whom are musicians who can, at a moment's notice, produce an instrument case and from it whip out a guitar, ready to accompany themselves in song or to encourage the eager group surrounding them xiv Charles Wolcott to participate in a sing-along. This is in the tradition of the troubadors, twelith-century lyric poets who traveled through- out southern Europe, accompanying themselves on stringed instruments. Often they were the purveyors of news picked up as they went back and forth through eastern Spain, southern France and northern Italy. Today's troubadors, Sa- h:fi youth on projects throughout the world, share songs they have picked up along the way, as well as their own tunes. Returning to the subject of music related to religion, the most famous hymn of the Greek Church, Akathistos, thought to be from the fifth century A.D. is still sung today in the Feast of Annunciation service. Then came the surge of great music suffused with religious emotion-the cantatas of Bach and oratorios of Handel (un- doubtedly inspired by Luther's impassioned Protestantism), and the masses and requiems of Mozart, Berlioz, Brahms, Dvorak, and a host of other well-known eighteenth- and nineteenth-century composers. The western world is familiar with these compositions sung by huge church choirs, the texts of which are rooted in Christianity. In his great work on Bach, Dr. Schweitzer pays this trib- ute to the man: "Music is an act of worship with Bach. His artistic activity and his personality are both based on his piety." In another passage: "All great art, even secular, is in itself religious in his eyes; for him the tones do not perish, but ascend to God like praise too deep for utterance." 2 Schweit- zer quotes from the rules and principles of accompaniment that Bach prescribed to his pupils: "Like all music, the figured bass should have no other end and aim than the glory of God and the recreation of the soul; where this is not kept in mind there is no true music, but only an infernal clamor and ranting." HOlm-one could almost imagine Bach had a forewarning of the music of the last half of the twentieth century_ At this juncture, it would be pertinent to ask what Baha'u'- Hall, Founder of the Baha'i Faith, had to say about the work Foreword xv of artists, craftsmen and scientists. The following brief ex- cerpts will serve to show the high regard in which He held this pursuit. The third Tajallf (Effulgence) is conceming arts, crafts and sciences. Knowledge is as wings to man 's life, ami a ladder for his ascent. Its acquisition is incumbent upon everyone. And: The ft/th Tardz (Omament) concemeth the protection and preservatimi of the statiOlts of God's servants. . . . In this Day the sun of craftsmanship shineth above the horizon of the oc- cident and the river of arts is flowing out of tile sea of that • regIOn . .. Finally: It hath been revealed and is now repeated that the true worth of artists and craftsmen should be appreciated, for they ad- vance the affairs of mankind. T hough Baha'u'llah is addressing all humankind, and we are aware that all work done with care is akin to worship, we must distinguish between the exceptional and the pedestrian when assessing the work of those who place the results of their creative endeavors before us. The burden falls on fa l- lible human beings-all of us. In my view, with regard to music, people can be classified as those who create, those who perfor 10 , and those who listen. Those who listen consti- tute by far the greater proportion of humankind. They may never compose or perforlll on an instrument, though they may attain the joy of raising their voices in song. And it is to them my plea to read and digest the above words of wisdom from Bah