Bahá’í Views of Art and Spirituality

by Kathleen Norris Park

Photo by Paul Morgan on Flickr

Baha’is believe that Baha’u’llah is the latest Messenger or Manifestation of God in His unfolding revelation to mankind. Baha’u’llah’s writings have been gathered into more than 100 volumes. You may learn more at www.Bahai.org or the Norman Bahá’í Center.

Arts, crafts, and sciences are given much importance in the writings of Baha’u’llah: “Knowledge is as wings to man’s life, and a ladder for his ascent. Its acquisition is incumbent upon everyone. The knowledge of such sciences, however, should be acquired as can profit the peoples of the earth, and not those which begin with words and end with words.” (This is not to be taken as an indictment of literature, poetry, or other forms of art whose medium is words.) “Great indeed is the claim of scientists and craftsmen on the peoples of the world. . . . In truth, knowledge is a veritable treasure for man, and source of gory, of bounty, of joy, of exaltation, of cheer and gladness unto him.”

“Baha’u’llah” is a title meaning Glory of God. He designated his eldest son, Ábdú l-Bahá (a title meaning “Servant of Bahá”; servant of the glory), as the interpreter of His words. Bahá’ís consider Ábdú l-Bahá’s writings equally authoritative as Baha’u’llah’s. Ábdú l-Bahá writes this about the social utility of art: “when the studying of art is with the intention of obeying the command of God, this study will certainly be done easily and great progress will soon be made therein; and when others discover this fragrance of spirituality in the action itself, this same will cause their awakening. Likewise, managing art with propriety will become the means of sociability and affinity; and sociability and affinity themselves tend to guide others to the Truth.”

“Singing and music,” says Ábdú l-Bahá, “are the spiritual food of the hearts and souls. . . . . music is highly approved and is considered to be the cause of the exaltation of sad and desponding hearts.” In another place Ábdú l-Bahá writes, “In this new century the attainment of science, arts, and belles lettres, whether divine or worldly, material or spiritual, is a matter which is acceptable before God and a duty which is incumbent upon us to accomplish.”

So there is no art for art’s sake. That’s no denigration of art, because there is no activity of man that exists for its own sake. Art is one of the ways of apprehending reality, of attaining understanding, of which Baha’u’llah has written that “the Almighty hath conferred upon man . . . . the gift of understanding. His purpose in conferring such a gift is none other except to enable His creature to know and recognize the one true God—exalted be His glory. This gift giveth man the power to discern the truth in all things, leadeth him to that which is right, and helpeth him to discover the secrets of creation.”

Ábdú l-Bahá wrote “I hope that you will use your understanding to promote the unity and tranquility of mankind, to give enlightenment and civilization to the people, to produce love in all around you, and to bring about the Universal Peace.”

Why I became a Bahá’í

Why I became a Bahá’í

By Kathleen Norris Park

Photo by vad_levin on Flickr

Originally published in the Norman Transcript August 20, 2009

As an Arkansas teenager in the ’50s, I joined a church, loved the youth group activities and showed up, as my uncle said, “every time they opened the doors.”

But soon I started asking questions. The preacher quoted Christ: “Love thy neighbor as thyself.” But what I saw all too plainly was what he meant — what all the people in our little white church meant: Make sure your neighbor isn’t black.

The black people just down the street, clearly neighbors, were not welcome in our little white church. And clearly, we did not love them.

I had more questions. Was I to believe that all those souls who lived before the advent of Christ, or who never had a chance to hear about Him, let alone accept or even consider His teachings, were damned to eternal hell? That didn’t seem like the edict of the loving God the church folks were telling me about.

Soon I came to understand that my questions were unwelcome. I dropped out of church. I called myself a “creek bank Christian.” I could feel closer to God somewhere out in His beautiful creation, nowhere near a church.

After many years of spiritual drifting, composing my own conclusions, guesses and beliefs, I saw an article in Life Magazine about the Bah?’? Faith. Reading the captions under the photos, I said, “That’s what I think, too.” But it would be another three years before I came upon Bah?’?s and fireside meetings where I could learn about the Faith.

The first and most striking concept I heard was one I’d guessed when I was 14: “God sends His messengers to mankind in a progression. They aren’t in competition with each other; it’s men who create all the ruinous divisions and enmity in the name of religion. Not God.”

His messengers, or manifestations, have, each and all, declared their missions as fulfilling the one before and foretelling the one to follow. Each manifestation brings two kinds of messages. One is a social or temporal kind such as dietary and social laws meant for the people and time of its era. Christ was killed partly because He abrogated some of those outworn social laws. And each manifestation brings a spiritual message, which builds upon the spiritual teachings of the past.

For example, Moses brought law. The Ten Commandments remain as valid as ever. But there was more. Christ later added love and personal salvation to the spiritual teaching. Mohammed instilled a sense of nationhood, resulting in huge strides of human accomplishment in many fields. He expanded our sense of responsibility to each other. Whether we can see it very often or not, humankind does progress. And the spiritual message of each Manifestation addresses us at successive points in our ever-maturing spiritual capacity.

My frustration and sorrow came from what I began to see simply as the mess human beings have made of each Manifestation’s message. What a relief it was to learn that God has kept His ancient promise never to leave us without a teacher. In the 1800s, God sent His latest messenger, Bah?’u'll?h, whose message is meant for mankind coming into maturity. His world-embracing teachings center on justice. “The best beloved of all things in my sight is justice,” He wrote. Of course, there’s more. See www.bahai.org. Ask your questions, too.

Ruth Loeffler Talk

Please join us this Friday evening for potluck dinner and a public meeting. Dr. Ruth Loeffler is our guest speaker.

Ruth Loeffler, Ph.D. and long-time English teacher at Norman High, will speak about fostering creativity. Even though she retired in 2006, she has remained an ardent proponent of the student anthology called Soupstone that she and her home room students started 35 years ago. Guidelines allowed any kind of creative writing, art, photography, This year the contest was named the “Ruth Loeffler Writing Contest” to honor her.

Loeffler will speak about encouraging creativity and creative thinking, not only in the young, but in all of us. Her primary belief holds that creative writing strengthens logical thinking. And that creating metaphors is a very advanced form of logic. When young people can think of a concrete image that has two or more meanings, they have grown in their abstract thinking. It’s true for older people, too. All of us are being forced these days to think logically and metaphorically to find our values.

Potluck dinner starts at 6:30pm. Norman Bahá’í Center is located at 526 Iowa Street.