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| Well Tempered Clavier I, No. 1 (1722) |
J.S. Bach (1685-1750) |
| Opus 26, No. 1 (1839) |
Frederic Chopin (1810-1849) |
| Opus 11, No. 1 (1895) |
Alexander Scriabin (1871-1915) |
| Opus 34, No. 1 (1943) |
Dmitri Shostakovich (1906-1975) |
These four preludes, each successively inspired from the other, reflects the same musical essence but in different musical styles and from different historical periods and regional cultures.
The successive establishment of world religions has been the primary civilizing force of society. Irrespective of their place or time of origin, their Founders have repeated the same ethic: That we should treat others as we ourselves would wish to be treated. This aspect of their essential unity reflects a universal moral attitude and the basis for the establishment of peace.
The Universal House of Justice, The Promise of World Peace (Haifa: Bahá’í Word Center) 1985, p. 6. (paraphrase)
32 Variations on a Theme – C Minor |
Beethoven |
The eight-measure theme provides the basis for the following 32 variations. Each variation is outwardly different, yet follows the same chordal progression. In like manner each member of the human family is infinitely varied, yet, anthropology, physiology, psychology recognize only one human species.
Acceptance of the oneness of mankind is the first fundamental prerequisite for reorganization and administration of the world as one country, the home of humankind. Recognition of this truth requires abandonment of prejudice—prejudice of every kind—race, class, color, creed, nation, sex, degree of material civilization, everything which enables people to consider themselves superior to others. Universal acceptance of this spiritual principle is essential to any successful attempt to establish world peace. It should therefore be universally proclaimed, taught in schools, and constantly asserted in every nation as preparation for the organic change in the structure of society which it implies.
In the Bahá’í view, recognition of the oneness of mankind “calls for no less than the reconstruction and the demilitarization of the whole civilized world—a world organically unified in all the essential aspects of its life, its political machinery, its spiritual aspiration, its trade and finance, its script and language, and yet infinite in the diversity of the national characteristics of its federated units.”
The Promise of World Peace, pp. 13-14.
Etudes No. 5 in Gb Major (Black Key) |
Chopin |
In this etude the right hand plays only black keys save for one. It is through Chopin’s skillful use of black and white keys in the left hand that a pleasing harmony is created.
The emancipation of women, the achievement of full equality between the sexes, is one of the most important, though less acknowledged prerequisites of peace. The denial of such equality perpetrates an injustice against one half of the world’s population and promotes in men harmful attitudes and habits that are carried from the family to the workplace, to political life, and ultimately to international relations. There are no grounds, moral, practical, or biological, upon which such denial can be justified. Only as women are welcomed into full partnership in all fields of human endeavor will the moral and psychological climate be created in which international peace can emerge.
The Promise of World Peace, pp. 11-12.
I Got Rhythm |
George Gershwin |
Gershwin, who was white and Jewish, lived for a time with black families in South Carolina to learn about their culture and music. He did this when racism was open and prevalent in the U.S. His exemplary life and his music have been a significant contribution to the elimination of racial prejudice.
Racism, one of the most baneful and persistent evils, is a major barrier to peace. Its practice perpetrates too outrageous a violation of the dignity of human beings to be countenanced under any pretext. Racism regards the enfoldment of the boundless potentialities of its victims, corrupts the perpetrators, and blights human progress. Recognition of the oneness of mankind, implemented by appropriate legal measures, must be universally upheld if this problem is to be overcome.
The Promise of World Peace, p. 10.
Liszt was a mystic who was fascinated throughout his life and career with the notion of personal transformation and change. Liebestraum or Dream of Love embodies the basic dream of all humanity.
The endowments which distinguish the human race from all other forms of life are summed up in what is known as the human spirit; the mind is its essential quality. These endowments have enabled humanity to build civilizations and to prosper materially. But such accomplishments alone have never satisfied the human spirit, whose mysterious nature inclines it towards transcendence, a reaching towards an invisible realm, towards the ultimate reality, that unknowable essence of essences called God.
That the dogmas of materialism, whether it be capitalism or socialism have, in the light of experience, failed to satisfy the needs of mankind to find the solutions of the agonizing problems of the planet…For, in essence, peace stems from an inner state supported by a spiritual or moral attitude, and it is chiefly in evoking this attitude that the possibility of enduring solutions can be found…If the Bahá’í experience can contribute in whatever measure to reinforcing hope in the unity of the human race, we are happy to offer it as a model for study.
The Promise of World Peace, pp. 4, 8, 13 , 20.
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