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.
(From a letter written on behalf of Shoghi Effendi - 10 October 1932,
cited in ‘Bahá'í News’, no. 73, May 1933) The Compilation of
Compilations, vol. I, Arts and Crafts)
