Monthly Reflection: Kalimat (Words) – On Art as Worship

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Last Baha’i month encompassed NAIDOC, a week-long celebration of First Nations culture and the achievements of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. We were thrilled beyond measure to share with you a short film by Louie Fordham titled Aunty Nay about art as worship.

Two years ago, we also shared a video celebrating NAIDOC week about the power of art and connection. We met up with Uncle Chris Tobin, a long-time friend of the Baha’is and a prominent artist working with Dharug motifs and materials.

(Other NAIDOC-related videos, such as our Cuppa with Elizabeth Hindson, our conversations with Bilyana Blomeley, and Marjorie Reid, as well as Dr Penny Taylor’s talk about reconciliation, can be found on our dedicated YouTube playlist.)

As we approached the anniversary of the Martyrdom of the Bab, we also shared a video about perfection and beauty–not only in terms of art, but in terms of elevating everything around us. The text of the video is based on an article from The Baha’i World on the mission of the Bab, and it included these words:

The Bab exhorted His followers to display the highest degree of purity and refinement, both outwardly and inwardly, so that they would be worthy of receiving Him Whom God shall make manifest when He appeared. The promotion of excellence is a salient and recurring theme in His Writings. In the Persian Bayan, He defines the most perfect state of each thing as its paradise and writes: “He hath ordained for each thing that they who possess power over it should raise it to its highest station of perfection, so that it may not be deprived of its own Paradise.”

Although the Bab was condemned to a life of exile and imprisonment, yet, in the midst of His sufferings, His life was characterized by the highest degree to refinement and virtue and by Hi Love of beauty, which is evident in His exquisite handwriting.

In its Ridvan 2023 message, the Universal House of Justice mentions drawing effectively on the power of the arts among a list of processes that seek to enhance community life. I am struck by how the art form of film manages to both be worship and a means of disseminating knowledge of what communities are learning. Take, for example, this visually stunning look at Vanuatu:

Aunty Nay’s medium is weaving, and it reminded me of an article by Ariana about the community-building power of basketmaking, as well as our interview with the architects of the Papua New Guinea House of Worship, Henry Lape and Saeed Granfar, about the Temple’s woven design. Abdu’l-Baha, Himself, was a weaver.

[A] friend asked, “In the Tablets it is stated that we must be severed and detached. In another place it is stated that we must learn a trade or profession. Do not these two statements contradict each other?” Abdu’l-Baha replied, “In the Cause of Baha’u’llah, it is incumbent upon every soul to acquire a trade and an occupation. For example, I know how to weave or make a mat, and you know some other trade. This, in itself is an act of worship, provided that it is conducted on the basis of utmost honesty and faithfulness.”¹

Wishing you an art-filled month of Kalimat!

1. Star of the West, Vol. 19 #7, p. 219​ [↩]

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Sonjel Vreeland

In her innermost heart, Sonjel is a stay-at-home parent and a bookworm with a maxed out library card but professionally she is a museologist with a background in English Literature. She currently lives on Prince Edward Island, an isle in the shape of a smile on the eastern Canadian coast. Sonjel is a writer who loves to listen to jazz when she's driving at night.