From Letters Written on Behalf of Shoghi Effendi
Shoghi Effendi wishes me to acknowledge the receipt of your letter dated October 27th 1931, together with the accompanying music of “The Lonely Stranger” sent through.... He sincerely hopes that as the Cause grows and talented persons come under its banner, they will begin to produce in art the divine spirit that animates their soul. Every religion has brought with it some form of art—let us see what wonders this Cause is going to bring along. Such a glorious spirit should also give vent to a glorious art. The Temple with all its beauty is only the first ray of an early dawn; even more wondrous things are to be achieved in the future.
He wishes to start a new section in “The Bahá’í World” devoted wholly to poems written by Bahá’ís. Though it may be a humble beginning it is a start for great future achievements. Shoghi Effendi wishes thereby to encourage those who are talented to give expression to the wonderful spirit that animates them. We need poets and writers for the Cause and this is undoubtedly one good way to urge them on. Some of the poems are written by very youthful persons yet they ring so true and give expression to such thoughts that one should halt and admire. In Persia the Cause has given birth to poets that even non-Bahá’ís consider as great. We hope before long we will have similar persons arise in the West.
It is certain that with the spread of the spirit of Bahá’u’lláh a new era will dawn in art and literature. Whereas before the form was perfect but the spirit was lacking, now there will be a glorious spirit embodied in a form immeasurably improved by the quickened genius of the world.
Shoghi Effendi wishes me to acknowledge the receipt of your letter dated May 18th 1932. He is very glad to know that you have liked “The Dawn-Breakers”, for his greatest reward is to see that this work, which has cost him much labour and anxiety, is helping the friends to understand better and more fully the spirit that animates the Movement and the exemplary life of the heroic souls that ushered it into the world.
The Guardian sincerely hopes that by reading this book the friends will be stirred to greater activity and a higher measure of sacrifice, that they will obtain a deeper realization of this Cause whose spread and ultimate victory is entrusted to their care. As some who have read the book have remarked, no one can become familiar with those lives and not be inspired to follow in their way.
It is surely true that the spirit of those heroic souls will stir many artists to produce their best. It is such lives that in the past inspired poets and moved the brush of the painters.
Shoghi Effendi was very much interested to learn of the success of the “Pageant of the Nations” you produced. He sincerely hopes that all those who attended it were inspired by the same spirit that animated you while arranging it.
It is through such presentations that we can arouse the interest of the greatest number of people in the spirit of the Cause. 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. We cannot yet value the part the Cause is destined to play in the life of society. We have to give it time. The material this spirit has to mould is too crude and unworthy, but it will at last give way and the Cause of Bahá’u’lláh will reveal itself in its full splendour.
The Guardian values the hymns that you are so beautifully composing. They certainly contain the realities of the Faith, and will indeed help you to give the Message to the young ones. It is the music which assists us to affect the human spirit; it is an important means which helps us to communicate with the soul. The Guardian hopes that through this assistance you will give the Message to the people, and will attract their hearts.
What Bahá’u’lláh meant primarily with “sciences that begin and end in words” are those theological treatises and commentaries that encumber the human mind rather than help it to attain the truth. The students would devote their life to their study but still attain no where. Bahá’u’lláh surely never meant to include story-writing under such a category; and shorthand and typewriting are both most useful talents, very necessary in our present social and economic life.
What you could do, and should do, is to use your stories to become a source of inspiration and guidance for those who read them. With such a means at your disposal you can spread the spirit and teachings of the Cause; you can show the evils that exist in society, as well as the way they can be remedied. If you possess a real talent in writing you should consider it as given by God and exert your efforts to use it for the betterment of society.
Your poem dedicated to Nabíl deeply touched me.... I would also welcome any other poems from your gifted pen on any phase or episode recounted in Nabíl’s immortal narrative. You are rendering the Cause unique and notable services. Be happy and persevere in your high endeavours.
(6 August 1933, in the handwriting of Shoghi Effendi, appended to a letter written on his behalf to an individual) [33]
In regard to the main question you have raised in connection with the singing of hymns at Bahá’í meetings: He wishes me to assure you that he sees no objection to it whatsoever. The element of music is, no doubt, an important feature of all Bahá’í gatherings. The Master Himself has emphasized its importance. But the friends should in this, as well as in all other things, not pass beyond the limits of moderation, and should take great care to maintain the strict spiritual character of all their gatherings. Music should lead to spirituality, and provided it creates such an atmosphere there can be no objection against it.
A distinction of vital importance should, however, be clearly established between the singing of hymns composed by the believers and the chanting of the Holy Utterances.
As to your question concerning the advisability of dramatizing Bahá’í historic episodes: the Guardian would certainly approve, and even encourage that the friends should engage in such literary pursuits which, no doubt, can be of immense teaching value. What he wishes the believers to avoid is to dramatize the personages of the Báb, Bahá’u’lláh and ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, that is to say to treat them as dramatic figures, as characters appearing on the stage. This, as already pointed out, he feels would be quite disrespectful. The mere fact that they appear on the scene constitutes an act of discourtesy which can in no way be reconciled with their highly exalted station. Their message, or actual words, should be preferably reported and conveyed by their disciples appearing on the stage.
The Guardian was also pleased to know of your deep interest in music, and of your desire to serve the Faith along this line. Although now is only the very beginning of Bahá’í art, yet the friends who feel they are gifted in such matters should endeavour to develop and cultivate their gifts and through their works to reflect, however inadequately, the Divine Spirit which Bahá’u’lláh has breathed into the world.
...you raise the question of what will be the source of inspiration to Bahá’í musicians and composers: the music of the past or the Word? We cannot possibly foresee, standing as we do on the threshold of Bahá’í culture, what forms and characteristics the arts of the future, inspired by this Mighty New Revelation, will have. All we can be sure of is that they will be wonderful; as every Faith has given rise to a culture which flowered in different forms, so too our beloved Faith may be expected to do the same thing. It is premature to try and grasp what they will be at present.
Music, as one of the arts, is a natural cultural development, and the Guardian does not feel that there should be any cultivation of “Bahá’í Music” any more than we are trying to develop a Bahá’í school of painting or writing. The believers are free to paint, write and compose as their talents guide them. If music is written, incorporating the sacred writings, the friends are free to make use of it, but it should never be considered a requirement at Bahá’í meetings to have such music. The further away the friends keep from any set forms, the better, for they must realize that the Cause is absolutely universal, and what might seem a beautiful addition to their mode of celebrating a Feast, etc., would perhaps fall on the ears of people of another country as unpleasant sounds—and vice versa. As long as they have music for its own sake it is all right, but they should not consider it Bahá’í music.
...he wishes to call your Assembly’s attention to a very important matter, and that is the Greatest Name. To the western eye, untrained in the art—the most highly developed art of the East—of calligraphy, nearly every Greatest Name, if it embodies the salient points, is the Greatest Name. But to an Oriental it may appear a monstrosity.... The exact proportions are what must be maintained. The Greatest Name must not be stretched out—or up—to fill an oblong space or a circle.
It was a Canadian, of French extraction, who through his vision and skill, was instrumental in conceiving the design, and delineating the features, of the first Mashriqu’l-Adhkár of the west, marking the first attempt, however rudimentary, to express the beauty which Bahá’í art will, in its plenitude, unfold to the eyes of the world.
(1 March 1951, from a postscript by Shoghi Effendi appended to a letter written on his behalf to a National Spiritual Assembly) [40]
Music is one of the arts, and the Prophets of God do not teach the arts; but the tremendous cultural impetus which religion gives to society gradually produces new and wonderful forms of art. We see this in the different styles of architecture and painting associated with the Christian, Muhammadan, Buddhist and other civilizations. Music, too, has grown up as an expression of the people.
We believe that, in the future, when the Bahá’í spirit has permeated the world and profoundly changed society, music will be affected by it; but there is no such thing as Bahá’í music. All it says in the teachings about music is that it can influence the heart and soul of man very deeply, and have an extremely uplifting effect.
As regards the matters you raised in your letter: In the teachings there is nothing against dancing, but the friends should remember that the standard of Bahá’u’lláh is modesty and chastity. The atmosphere of modern dance halls, where so much smoking and drinking and promiscuity goes on, is very bad, but decent dances are not harmful in themselves. There is certainly no harm in classical dancing or learning dancing in school. There is also no harm in taking part in dramas. Likewise in cinema acting. The harmful thing, nowadays, is not the art itself but the unfortunate corruption which often surrounds these arts. As Bahá’ís we need avoid none of the arts, but acts and the atmosphere that sometimes go with these professions we should avoid.