The Priorities of Zarathushtra in The Gathas

Dear Ardeshir

I believe that Zarathushtra's central point is that we should think clearly and critically for ourselves and then IDENTIFY with our thinking, speaking and acting. Everything else is dependent on how we handle this ethical imperative. Zoroastrian culture ever since Zarathushtra has always had this at its very center.
Especially as Zarathushtra gave priority to his IDEAS which he wanted to share with us. He never actually intended to write any sacred book of any kind. We, or rather Western scholars, compiled The Gathas and chose to attrubute these texts to Zarathushtra in the 19th century.
This doesn't mean we can't quote The Gathas - of course we can - but we do so much more the way the followers of a philosopher quotes the philosophical texts and put them into context rather than the way Abrahamic fanatics quote their holy books.
To me, there is no higher or lower awareness and I can't see any support for such a concept in The Gathas too. There is just awareness and its opposite, ignorance. I much prefer to be aware rather than be ignorant, of course. Clarity and creativity of mind, what could be more Minoo than that?

Ushta
Alexander

2010/1/9 ardeshir farhmand

Dear Alexander,

while i agree with u in principal, i need to ascertain an important point that is being overlooked here. first comparing zarathushtra and his poetry, to jesus and the gospels is erroneous.

gospels are all about jesus's life. gathas have LITTLE if anything to do with zarathushtra' s life. they ALL are about his VISIONS and an are an Odyssey of understanding and higher awareness. and how would u know his visions without understanding/FEELING his profound poetry???????

so quoting gathic songs does NOT amount to "quote queen-ness." like any powerful literature, his words/songs if understood with emotional intelligence enables one to live and see his visions. and by seeing his visions/intuitive wisdom, our individual journey into the realm of MINOO or Spirit in Hegelian sense, just begins.

so i find parviz's repetitive arguments erroneous, and in reckless disregard of the fundamental difference between 2 extremely different literary works.

ardeshir



On Fri, Jan 8, 2010 at 4:57 PM, Alexander Bard wrote:

Dear Parviz

When you write:
"What is Mazdayasna saying to humanity as a school of thought that is worth while for humanity to hear? Can we please talk about this rather than "Zarathushtra says this in his Gahan, Zarathushtra says that in his Gahan". Hiding behind Zarathushtra is like any Jesus Freak hiding behind Jesus and repeating "Jesus says this, Jesus says that" for ever. It kills the free spirit in the listener, it kills free thinking."

Do you know what? Zarathushtra would totally agree with you!!! He was interested in Mazdayasni being free and critical thinkers, he even considered free and critical thought as sacred. That is the key message of The Gathas. He was not interested in creating an army of "quote queens".

Having said this, the sooner we can get Dina to return to Ushta, the better.

Ushta
Alexander

2010/1/8 Parviz Varjavand


Dearest Dina,

I wish you would join us again on the Ushta site. I know that I cause you pain with my writings, but we have a new person, Mr. Ardeshir Farahmand, amongst us who writes very well and whose research around Gahan texts is most impressive. You would enjoy reading him, so please come back for that.

I am a devil's advocate. When some persons glorify Jesus as the Prince of Peace, I have to pint to all the holes in their arguments. We at least know how many persons had to be burned alive for the cult of our Prince of Peace to get a foothold as a religion. Same may be true about Zarathushtra. The records of how his cult established itself and that of the priesthood before him destroyed has been erased by the sands of time. What remains is what favors him. This vision can not be trusted. What comes out of the praises coming from persons like you or Mr. Farahmand about Zarathushtra can be dismissed by the same token that the words of those who have nothing to say about Jesus or Moses or Baha but praise can be dismissed. We should drop (I think we should drop) praise of any fictitious character and concentrate on what any school of thought does or should teach us.

What is Mazdayasna saying to humanity as a school of thought that is worth while for humanity to hear? Can we please talk about this rather than "Zarathushtra says this in his Gahan, Zarathushtra says that in his Gahan". Hiding behind Zarathushtra is like any Jesus Freak hiding behind Jesus and repeating "Jesus says this, Jesus says that" for ever. It kills the free spirit in the listener, it kills free thinking.

Still in love with You, Jafarey, Khojeste, Shwartz, Alex, Dino, Ardeshir, Bagli, and all other good thinkers we have in our small but rich community.
Parviz Varjavand