According to Baha’u’llah, one of the Names of God is “Fashioner”. In that we are created in the likeness and image of the Creator, everything we experience in the physical world is a reflection of that creative power. How much more so with humans who can mirror forth the attributes of the Creator through our own creativity. Fashioning or creating, is an expression of our spiritual nature with which we were endowed.
In the Baha’i Writings, each of us is seen to be unique with a specific set of gifts to bring to the world. Created as “gems of inestimable value” longing for the power of the Divine to reveal our “true and inmost selves”, we are naturally drawn to what is true and beautiful. This can be what people unknowingly refer to when they say they “resonate” with something that they read, hear, or see. This experience of resonance is a glimpse of the spiritual nature with which we are infused and which attracts us to create through the arts.
‘Abdu’l-Bahá writes:
[I]n 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.
Extract from a Tablet of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá
If we allow art to move us spiritually, it serves mystical, moral and social purposes. Art attracts the soul to the Creator and connects us with deeper emotions. Yet the arts are also tools that have been used for harmful purposes, harnessing the emotions to harm.
Whatever is in the heart of man, melody moves and awakens. If a heart full of good feelings and a pure voice are joined together, a great effect is produced. For instance: if there be love in the heart, through melody, it will increase until its intensity can scarcely be borne; but if bad thoughts are in the heart, such as hatred, it will increase and multiply. For instance: the music used in war awakens the desire for bloodshed. The meaning is that melody causes whatever feeling is in the heart to increase.
‘Abdu’l-Bahá, Music, pp. 79-81
From this quote, we see that art is certainly a Divine gift – but with strings of responsibility attached. We can use our creative gifts of self-expression to imaginatively build unimaginable horrors and destruction, or we can use them to intensify perception, love and beauty around us. Out of gratitude for the gift of creativity, we are enjoined to responsibly use the arts to bring souls closer to their Maker.
‘Abdu’l-Bahá explains that art itself comes from Divine inspiration intended to draw out what is most significant within. He writes,
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, The Chosen Highway, p. 167
When combined with the inspiration of the Divine, art inspires wonder, awe and devotion. Participating in art as either an observer or creator, calls forth possibilities existing far beyond what we could have imagined, and we feel moved to create in response. As such the arts call us to our spiritual nature and to respond to that nature by creating what offers solace and brings joy.
But the arts are not only for individual spiritual development, they are also mirrors of society, showing us who we are by what we value. As such, the arts are a means to understanding our collective identity and define it. As a mirror of society, art can be used to reinforce what already is, or as a way to transcend and through imagination build a new social reality. Everything we experience in the man-made world is an expression of how we see reality. As our vision of reality expands, so too do our artistic manifestations of that reality.
But that is not all art does to connect us with the Divine. Art can heal. There are many examples of war torn populations experiencing healing through art and producing works of art that compel us to work towards justice and equity. Art therapy has proven results for many illness, for example with improving memory and reasoning in older people and helping with the treatments of dementia and in reducing symptoms of cardiac patients[i].
Art can connect us to higher and lower emotions, to higher social good or lower social decline, to healing, empathy and joy. Art is a tool intended to connect us to our Divine nature and to reflect on our actions in the world through the lens of attraction to beauty. But we can use it to do the opposite and to achieve mean spirited goals. The choice, as always is ours.
On Sunday, September 17th at 7 pm, Ania Telfer, an Edmonton Baha’i artist, will share some of the Baha’i teachings about art as a way to connect with the Divine, share her own intuitive, spiritual art making process, and take us through a creative exercise to experience the process ourselves.
If you are curious about how art and spirituality can work together, register on Eventbrite for, “Art as Worship – Where Creativity Meets Divinity, a fireside style talk and experience you will find inspiring and enjoyable!
[i] Pope, Kimberly. How art can heal. https://kimberlypoppe.com/blog/how-art-can-heal#:~:text=Art%20therapy%20has%20also%20been,even%20help%20expand%20one’s%20vocabulary.