Sat 12/14 @ 6:00 pm – 8:00 pm EST
We invited artists and creators of all kinds to use their artistic expression—whether in painting, photography, sculpture, poetry, music, performance and other forms—to explore these questions and spark meaningful conversations:
- How have you experienced the changes that the Earth is going through?
- What does it mean to be “organic with the world” and the world is organic with us?
- How can we awaken to the truth of our underlying unity with all of life?
- Why is the oneness of humanity the core ingredient to achieving a just and sustainable planet?
- How do you envision a future where we live in harmony with each other and the living Earth?
Join us on Saturday, December 14th at 6:00 PM to see their response.
“One of the most pressing problems of humanity in the current century is how a growing, rapidly developing, and not yet united global population can, in a just manner, live in harmony with the planet and its finite resources.”
—The Universal House of Justice, 29 November 2017
Our world of over eight billion people must share this one earth with each other and all other living species. Yet, humanity is caught in illusions of competition, contention, and independence from each other and the earth.
These illusions have reached the point where their consequences are disrupting our climate, our societies, and ourselves, disproportionately affecting vulnerable populations. Meeting the challenges of global climate change is not possible without universal cooperation, empathy, justice, and recognition of our interdependence. This requires a recognition of the essential oneness of humanity and our connection to all life on this planet.
“The well-being of mankind, its peace and security, are unattainable unless and until its unity is firmly established.”
—Gleanings from the Writings of Bahá’u’lláh, p. 286
Artists and creators of all kinds have a special role to awaken people, to envision these truths and inspire a deeper contemplation and empathy that can result in transformative action. Artistic expression can help us expand our appreciation for the wonder and majesty of the natural world and our place in it.
“The natural world, in all its wonder and majesty, offers profound insight into the essence of interdependence. From the biosphere as a whole to the smallest microorganism, it demonstrates how dependent any one life-form is on numerous others—and how imbalances in one system reverberate across an interconnected whole.”
—Bahá’í International Community, One Planet, One Habitation, §1
“We cannot segregate the human heart from the environment outside us and say that once one of these is reformed everything will be improved. Man is organic with the world. His inner life molds the environment and is itself also deeply affected by it. The one acts upon the other and every abiding change in the life of man is the result of these mutual reactions.”
—Letter written on behalf of Shoghi Effendi, 17 February 1933, Compilation on Social and Economic Development, p. 4
“The welfare of any segment of humanity is inextricably bound up with the welfare of the whole. Humanity’s collective life suffers when any one group thinks of its own well-being in isolation from that of its neighbors or pursues economic gain without regard for how the natural environment, which provides sustenance for all, is affected.”
—Universal House of Justice, 1 March 2017 – To the Bahá’ís of the World
