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‘Zoroastrianism shaped one of the ancient world’s largest empires—the mighty Persian Empire. It was the state religion of three major Persian dynasties.
Cyrus the Great, founder of the Achaemenid Persian Empire, was a devout Zoroastrian. By most accounts, Cyrus was a tolerant ruler who allowed his non-Iranian subjects to practice their own religions. He ruled by the Zoroastrian law of asha (truth and righteousness) but didn’t impose Zoroastrianism on the people of Persia’s conquered territories.
The beliefs of Zoroastrianism were spread across Asia via the Silk Road, a network of trading routes that spread from China to the Middle East and into Europe.
Some scholars say that tenets of Zoroastrianism helped to shape the major Abrahamic religions—including Judaism, Christianity and Islam—through the influence of the Persian Empire.
Cradle of god: Spirituality in the Land of the Noble
Zoroastrian concepts, including the idea of a single god, heaven, hell and a day of judgment, may have been first introduced to the Jewish community of Babylonia, where people from the Kingdom of Judea had been living in captivity for decades…’
Photo: The Prophet Zoroaster
‘Talk of ‘us’ and ‘them’ has long dominated Iran-related politics in the West. At the same time, Christianity has frequently been used to define the identity and values of the US and Europe, as well as to contrast those values with those of a Middle Eastern ‘other’. Yet, a brief glance at an ancient religion – still being practised today – suggests that what many take for granted as wholesome Western ideals, beliefs and culture may in fact have Iranian roots.’ More on this a bit later.
First, I wish to share something personal and very dear to me with you.
Think Good, Speak Good, Do Good
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Doing Good is a simple and universal vision. A vision to which each and every one of us can connect and contribute to its realisation. A vision based on the belief that by doing good deeds, positive thinking and affirmative choice of words, feelings and actions, we can enhance goodness in the world.
How true these beautiful and timeless words are. I learnt them well in my formative years, growing up in Tehran. We lived in Tehran Pars (Parsi Tehran), a mainly Zoroasterian founded and developed neighborhood inside the greater area of Tehran and located in the north east area of the city.
I attended Zoroasterian school- just a few meters away from the Rostam Bagh Fire Temple- and every morning we started our day by attending the morning assembly and reciting loudly: Think Good, Speak Good, Do Good.
This has served me well in my life. I cannot be grateful and thankful enough for those early years, growing up in Tehran Pars
A brief introduction to the beginnings of Tehran Pars
Rostam Bagh Fire Temple, Tehran Pars, Tehran. Photo: Ajam Media Collective
‘Arbab Rustam Guiv (1888-1980 CE) was a native of Yazd. His father Shahpur Guiv had a business in Yazd selling local hand made cloth. Arbab Guiv moved to Tehran to join his brother and made his fortune in trading, manufacturing and land. He converted a 150 to 200 acre parcel of fallow land at the foot of the Damavand mountain, some hundred kilometres north of Tehran, into fertile land where he cultivated fruits, vegetables and grain. He called his oasis Rustamabad. He added to his land holdings by purchasing another tract of land ten kilometres from Rustamabad.
During a 1953 trip to India, Arbab Guiv was very impressed with the housing colonies built for low and middle income Zoroastrians by wealthy benefactors. He was particularly impressed by Khosrow Bagh in Colaba, Bombay (Mumbai) and used it as a model for constructing a housing colony for Iranian Zoroastrians in Tehran. With this in mind, he purchased at a reduced cost fifteen acres of a new development by the Tafti and Aresh families in the north-east of Tehran, called Tehran Pars. On the land he purchased, Arbab Guiv a housing colony of 80 duplexes (160 units) called Rustam Bagh (or Rostam Baug). The units were then made available for low and middle income Zoroastrians. The colony included gardens, a community hall, library, school, sports ground and fire temple.’- Read more
Now, reverting to the main theme of this Blog: Zoroastrianism the ancient religion of Persia that has shaped the world
‘It is generally believed by scholars that the ancient Iranian prophet Zarathustra (known in Persian as Zartosht and Greek as Zoroaster) lived sometime between 1500 and 1000 BC. Prior to Zarathustra, the ancient Persians worshipped the deities of the old Irano-Aryan religion, a counterpart to the Indo-Aryan religion that would come to be known as Hinduism. Zarathustra, however, condemned this practice, and preached that God alone – Ahura Mazda, the Lord of Wisdom – should be worshipped. In doing so, he not only contributed to the great divide between the Iranian and Indian Aryans, but arguably introduced to mankind its first monotheistic faith.
Photo:iraniantours.com
The idea of a single god was not the only essentially Zoroastrian tenet to find its way into other major faiths, most notably the ‘big three’: Judaism, Christianity and Islam. The concepts of Heaven and Hell, Judgment Day and the final revelation of the world, and angels and demons all originated in the teachings of Zarathustra, as well as the later canon of Zoroastrian literature they inspired. Even the idea of Satan is a fundamentally Zoroastrian one; in fact, the entire faith of Zoroastrianism is predicated on the struggle between God and the forces of goodness and light (represented by the Holy Spirit, Spenta Manyu) and Ahriman, who presides over the forces of darkness and evil. While man has to choose to which side he belongs, the religion teaches that ultimately, God will prevail, and even those condemned to hellfire will enjoy the blessings of Paradise (an Old Persian word).
How did Zoroastrian ideas find their way into the Abrahamic faiths and elsewhere? According to scholars, many of these concepts were introduced to the Jews of Babylon upon being liberated by the Persian emperor Cyrus the Great. They trickled into mainstream Jewish thought, and figures like Beelzebub emerged. And after Persia’s conquests of Greek lands during the heyday of the Achaemenid Empire, Greek philosophy took a different course. The Greeks had previously believed humans had little agency, and that their fates were at the mercy of their many gods, who often acted according to whim and fancy. After their acquaintance with Iranian religion and philosophy, however, they began to feel more as if they were the masters of their destinies, and that their decisions were in their own hands.
Though it was once the state religion of Iran and widely practised in other regions inhabited by Persian peoples (eg Afghanistan, Tajikistan and much of Central Asia), Zoroastrianism is today a minority religion in Iran, and boasts few adherents worldwide. The religion’s cultural legacy, however, is another matter. Many Zoroastrian traditions continue to underpin and distinguish Iranian culture, and outside the country, it has also had a noted impact, particularly in Western Europe.
Zoroastrian rhapsody
Centuries before Dante’s Divine Comedy, the Book of Arda Viraf described in vivid detail a journey to Heaven and Hell. Could Dante have possibly heard about the cosmic Zoroastrian traveller’s report, which assumed its final form around the 10th Century AD? The similarity of the two works is uncanny, but one can only offer hypotheses.
Elsewhere, however, the Zoroastrian ‘connection’ is less murky. The Iranian prophet appears holding a sparkling globe in Raphael’s 16th Century School of Athens. Likewise, the Clavis Artis, a late 17th/early 18th-Century German work on alchemy was dedicated to Zarathustra, and featured numerous Christian-themed depictions of him. Zoroaster “came to be regarded [in Christian Europe] as a master of magic, a philosopher and an astrologer, especially after the Renaissance," says Ursula Sims-Williams of the School of Oriental and African Studies at the University of London.
Today, mention of the name Zadig immediately brings to mind the French fashion label Zadig & Voltaire. While the clothes may not be Zoroastrian, the story behind the name certainly is. Written in the mid-18th Century by none other than Voltaire, Zadig tells the tale of its eponymous Persian Zoroastrian hero, who, after a series of trials and tribulations, ultimately weds a Babylonian princess. Although flippant at times and not rooted in history, Voltaire’s philosophical tale sprouted from a genuine interest in Iran also shared by other leaders of the Enlightenment. So enamoured with Iranian culture was Voltaire that he was known in his circles as ‘Sa’di’. In the same spirit, Goethe’s West-East Divan, dedicated to the Persian poet Hafez, featured a Zoroastrian-themed chapter, while Thomas Moore lamented the fate of Iran’s Zoroastrians in Lalla Rookh.
It wasn’t only in Western art and literature that Zoroastrianism made its mark; indeed, the ancient faith also made a number of musical appearances on the European stage.
In addition to the priestly character Sarastro, the libretto of Mozart’s The Magic Flute is laden with Zoroastrian themes, such as light versus darkness, trials by fire and water, and the pursuit of wisdom and goodness above all else. And the late Farrokh Bulsara – aka Freddie Mercury – was intensely proud of his Persian Zoroastrian heritage. “I’ll always walk around like a Persian popinjay,” he once remarked in an interview, “and no one’s gonna stop me, honey!” Likewise, his sister Kashmira Cooke in a 2014 interview reflected on the role of Zoroastrianism in the family. “We as a family were very proud of being Zoroastrian,” she said. “I think what [Freddie’s] Zoroastrian faith gave him was to work hard, to persevere, and to follow your dreams.”
Ice and fire
When it comes to music, though, perhaps no single example best reflects the influence of Zoroastrianism’s legacy than Richard Strauss’ Thus Spoke Zarathustra, which famously provided the booming backbone to much of Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey. The score owes its inspiration to Nietzsche’s magnum opus of the same name, which follows a prophet named Zarathustra, although many of the ideas Nietzsche proposes are, in fact, anti-Zoroastrian. The German philosopher rejects the dichotomy of good and evil so characteristic of Zoroastrianism – and, as an avowed atheist, he had no use for monotheism at all.
Zoroastrianism may have been the first monotheistic religion, and its emphasis on dualities, such as heaven and hell,
appear in Judaism, Christianity and Islam (Credit: Alamy) via the BBC
Freddie Mercury and Zadig & Voltaire aside, there are other overt examples of Zoroastrianism’s impact on contemporary popular culture in the West. Ahura Mazda served as the namesake for the Mazda car company, as well as the inspiration for the legend of Azor Ahai – a demigod who triumphs over darkness – in George RR Martin’s Game of Thrones, as many of its fans discovered last year. As well, one could well argue that the cosmic battle between the Light and Dark sides of the Force in Star Wars has, quite ostensibly, Zoroastrianism written all over it.
For all its contributions to Western thought, religion and culture, relatively little is known about the world’s first monotheistic faith and its Iranian founder. In the mainstream, and to many US and European politicians, Iran is assumed to be the polar opposite of everything the free world stands for and champions. Iran’s many other legacies and influences aside, the all but forgotten religion of Zoroastrianism just might provide the key to understanding how similar ‘we’ are to ‘them’.
*The above piece by Joobin Bekhrad was first published by the BBC-Culture on 6 April 2017.
Related reading:
Modern Iran: The Most Misunderstood Country
Cradle of god: Spirituality in the Land of the Noble
Revisiting the Persian cosmopolis: The World Order and the Dialogue of Civilisations
The Struggle for Human Rights on the Human Rights Day
Revisiting the Persian cosmopolis: The World Order and the Dialogue of Civilisations
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Philosophy As a Way of Life
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“Vain is the word of that philosopher which does not heal any suffering of man."- Epicurus
Philosophy, as it is practiced today, is abstract, theoretical, and detached from life, just one academic subject among others. In the Greco-Roman world, it was something quite different, argues the French philosopher Pierre Hadot. Philosophy was a way of life. Not merely a subject of study, philosophy was considered an art of living, a practice aimed at relieving suffering and shaping and remaking the self according to an ideal of wisdom; “Such is the lesson of ancient philosophy: an invitation to each human being to transform himself. Philosophy is a conversion, a transformation of one's way of being and living, and a quest for wisdom.” It is the practice of what Hadot calls "spiritual exercises" that brings about self-transformation and makes philosophy a way of life.
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Updated on February 2021
Valentine’s Day in the time of COVID: Let Love, Kindness and Gratitude be Your Everlasting Gifts
Photo:CGTN
Love and the Art of Loving
Whether you have read the novel Love in the Time of Cholera before or not, the drastic twists and turns of the relationship depicted seemed unique, that is, until now.
Today, with our own pandemic and the ‘Love in the Time of COVID’ it seems that, once again, love might not exactly be in the air on this special day this time around.
But, love in the time of coronavirus has been evident and evidenced every day, showing us what true love is.
Valentine’s Day- The Day of Love in all its forms – Family, Friends, Neighbours, Mother Nature and Poetry,..., as well as Romance, All Symbols of Hope and Healing
‘It's times like these you learn to live again
It's times like these you give and give again
It's times like these you learn to love again
It's times like these time and time again.’- Dave Grohl
‘We are all a living tapestry...Living threads...Being Sewn together…’
Love is the Tapestry that we are Weaving for Better Days at this Valentine’s Day
'Weaving the Tapestry of Love'- Photo:Pinterest
We all want to make sense of this journey we call life, of who we are and why we are, why we love and why we are loved.
Thus, when better than today, Valentine's Day, to reflect on these questions by Weaving the Tapestry of Love, and discover how to work love out that can last a lifetime of compassionate companionship
Finding Meaning in Life through a Loving and Meaningful Relationships With All that Matters
1909 Valentine's card. Photo:wikipedia.org
As it has been observed, something has become skewed in the way we think about love, which we feel keenly on Valentine's Day. It is not the sentimentality, though it can be sugar-sweet. It is not the commercialisation, though it is annoying when roses double in price overnight. It is more to do with the hopes and longings we have for love displayed on that day. On Valentine's Day there is a sense that ‘love’ has become inflated, misdirected, fancifully flawless. Thus, to my mind, a different story is called for.
Therefore, then, let us see what the sages and philosophers have reminded us of what true love is and moreover, what the main source of life, light and love, namely, the Sun can teach us about love also.
Socrates and True Love
‘Plato's Symposium, one of the Greek philosopher's best-known works and an influential
text about the nature of love.’- Photo: BBC
'Plato’s Symposium takes place in a dining room in a back street of Athens, a place where conversation is a factory for beautiful ideas, ideas of beauty, beautiful things. Even the silences sparkle.
At this dinner party, set more than 2,400 years ago, Love is the night’s theme. The Symposium can still be read as one of the greatest stories of love in Western literature. Socrates is among the guests. The only subject in the world that Socrates believes himself to be the unsurpassed master of is love. ‘I cannot remember a time when I was not in love with someone.’ Socrates loves his fellow men with an overpowering eroticism, and because he believes he can look into their eyes and understand a little about himself as he does so, we are taught that it is through our relationship with the world around us that we can become whole. Socrates sees the massive power of love. We too are just beginning to unpick the complex, psychophysical parcel that love is. Socrates makes our relationships with one another his life’s work.
Socratic love is enormously powerful, it turns the world upside down. What the philosopher knows is that we love love-stories, and our love is often a love-story played out. But nowhere does he mock. Socrates’ love is literal: the point of life is to love it. He is erotic. He states that if Eros passes you by in life, you are a nonentity. All those aspects of love he approves of, as good-life glue for society, since ‘festivals, sacrifices, dances’ are motivated by Eros.
And, more than that, love is a guide – a passion for what is good and a horror for what is degrading. And the genuinely heart-warming revelation of Socrates in the Symposium is that dedication to love is not a selfish pursuit. The point of love is not gratification, but symbiosis.
And love, desire, ambition, hope, concord, enthusiasm, drive whatever you want to call it – if tended, if not allowed to burn itself out, plays a long game. His love is not flash-in-the-pan passionate. In Socrates’ eyes, it is honesty and a pursuit of knowledge rather than ignorance that leads to loveliness in life. For him, love has a purpose. It is the life-force, the desire to do, to be, to think. It is the thing that makes us feel great about our world, and therefore makes us be great in it. Socrates describes these ‘good’ dynamos as ta erotika – the things of love.'- Bettany Hughes who is the author of 'The Hemlock Cup: Socrates, Athens and the Search for the Good Life' (2011).
What does the Sun have to say about LOVE?
The life-giving Sun, the ever-lasting love and the true meaning of Valentine’s Day
Thinking about what this day really means, what its true significance may be, I was touched and moved by a recent sharing of Genesis Farm from the revised edition of Brian Swimme’s Hidden Heart of the Cosmos, which, I believe, beautifully, highlights what I was thinking about. Here is an excerpt:
“The Sun, each second, transforms four million tons of itself into light. Each second, a huge chunk of the Sun vanishes into radiant energy that soars away in all directions…In the case of the Sun, we have a new understanding of the cosmological meaning of sacrifice. The Sun is, with each second, giving itself over to become energy that we, with every meal, partake of. We so rarely reflect on this basic truth from biology, and yet its spiritual significance is supreme.
In the cosmology of the twenty-first century, the Sun’s lavish bestowal of energy can be regarded as the spectacular manifestation of an underlying impulse pervading the universe. In the star, this impulse reveals itself in the ongoing giving away of energy. In the human heart, it is felt as the urge to devote one’s life to the well-being of the larger community…The task of transformation must be the way we start each day as we remind ourselves of the revelation that is the Sun.”
The life-giving Sun with its ever-giving love, whilst expecting nothing in return, and our beautiful, delicate atmosphere are precious gifts we receive with every breath, every day. How we transform and ‘give away’ this energy is a fundamental question for each and every one of us, and many are now realizing that its highest form of expression is what love in its true sense is all about.
We set aside a day we call Valentine’s Day to celebrate love. Yet, we all know that one day a year for remembering love is not enough. Swimme urges us to devote one’s life to the well-being of the larger community. To my mind, the larger community is all living beings –not just people and other animals, but rivers and trees, trees and plants, soil, ecosystems, the entire living Earth. If we truly cherish the Earth we will learn to transform the radiance of creation within the crucible of our hearts into the healing energy of love.
In short, to me, this day should be the day for us all, to come together, in loving and saving the entire Web of Life: The Time is now to Tune into Peace, Love and Wisdom with a Spiritual Revolution, Realising the True Meaning of Love and what Love is all about.
Related reading:
The Hidden Heart of the Cosmos: Humanity and the New Story
Why Love, Trust, Respect and Gratitude Trumps Economics
The future that awaits the human venture: A Story from a Wise and Loving Teacher
In this troubled world let the beauty of nature and simple life be our greatest teachers
The Meaning of Life: tuesdays with Morrie
Three Must-Read Books on LOVE
1- RUMI: THE ART OF LOVING (2012)
Cambridge University professor Reynold Nicholson once remarked that the 13th-century Persian poet Rumi is the “greatest mystical poet of any age.” In Rumi’s vision, love is the very matrix of existence; love is what moves life. His poetry expresses the deepest and the most inclusive layers of love, and thus connects us to an immense source of joy, compassion, creativity, and mystery.
This book is a new anthology and an original translation of Rumi’s poetry. It is divided into three parts. Part I contains two essays, one on Rumi’s life (“A Messenger from the Sun: A Sketch of Rumi’s Life”) and the other on his thought (“The Path of Love in the Ocean of Life: The Poet’s Voice & Vision”), which help the reader better situate Rumi’s poetry.
Part II presents 144+1 quatrains (Rubaiyat) of Rumi categorized into 12 thematic chapters:
On the Pain and Joy of Longing;
The Search;
Who Am I?;
The Beloved’s Face;
Die to Yourself;
The Art of Living;
Night Secrets;
Water of Life;
Fire of Love;
Unity and Union;
Peaceful Mind; and
Rumi on His Life, Poetry and Death.
These poems have been selected and translated from the authentic Persian editions of Rumi’s Divan-e Shams (some quatrains found in many Rumi anthologies are based on an unreliable edition; such poems have been avoided in this volume). For readers interested in the cadence and rhythm of the poems in the original language the Persian reading (in English script) is also given under each translated poem.
Part III is a selection of twelve wisdom stories from Rumi’s own life (taken from a 14th-century biographical work on Rumi).
A glossary of symbolic terms in Rumi’s poetry, and references to the original sources of the translated poems are also given at the end of the book.
This anthology brings fresh insight into the work and mind of a master poet who mapped the path of spiritual quest and union, and painted in words the art of loving.
Buy the book: Rumi: The Art of Loving
2- Philosopher Erich Fromm on the Art of Loving (First published: 1956)
‘This book … wants to show that love is not a sentiment which can be easily indulged in by anyone, regardless of the level of maturity reached by him. It wants to convince the reader that all his attempts for love are bound to fail, unless he tries most actively to develop his total personality, so as to achieve a productive orientation; that satisfaction in individual love cannot be attained without the capacity to love one’s neighbor, without true humility, courage, faith and discipline. In a culture in which these qualities are rare, the attainment of the capacity to love must remain a rare achievement…’ Read more
Buy the book: Erich Fromm: The Art of Loving (Paperback); 2006 Edition Paperback
3- Persian Love Poetry (2005)
Vesta Sarkhosh Curtis, Sheila R. Canby
‘Love is everywhere in Persian poetry and can be interpreted in various ways: as mystic love, the basis of the relationship between humans and God; as passionate or affectionate love between lovers, husbands and wives, parents and children, family and friends; even as patriotic love for Iran. The literary style and indeed the Persian language itself are floral and elaborate, but the themes differ little from our preoccupations with love and romance today.
With a brief introduction to the Persian poetic tradition and a short biographical note about each of the major poets, this anthology is an ideal introduction to Persian literature and art. The book is illustrated throughout with images from the British Museum collection.’
Buy the book: Persian Love Poetry
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And now we wish to share this wonderful Valentine’s Day gift of joy and love with you
Photo: youTube
Salut d'Amour (Love's Greeting), Op. 12
‘What a love letter! Elgar wrote this delicate musical meditation for Caroline Alice Roberts, who would eventually become his wife. Its mixture of longing and fulfilment encapsulates his love.’