The Ecologism of Zarathushtra (was: The Worldview of a Mazdayasni)

Dear Parviz

It is the other way round: The ecological disasters make it MORE IMPORTANT THAN EVER to separate asha from druj. Because it is the only way to solve the problems involved. Asha is another word for SUSTAINABILITY, druj for DESTRUCTION THROUGH SHORTSIGHTEDNESS. Zarathushtra was the first ecologist. Listen to him.

Ushta
Alexander

2011/8/26 Parviz Varjavand

What we SEE and what we WISH to see.

I love my native Iran and some forty years ago I was in the Environmental Protection agency here working hard to protect the land. Now I travel often to the shores of the Caspian Sea and I can see day after day how this beautiful sea is dying. I do not want to go into details and bring tears to your eyes, but the size of the calamity is very large. Who is guilty of these crimes happening against nature? No one is and everyone is at the same time.

If global warming and the many other ecological disasters are killing our whole planet, is our situation one of Asha or Droj? Who were the Ashavands and who were the Drojvands who have brought us into this nightmare this far? I would venture that every Ashavand was a Drojvand at the same time, from the man who invented the wheel to the man who tamed the horse to the man who sent us into space. So the separation of Asha from Droj cannot be determined by how nicely everything FITS into one another, it takes religious commitments LARGER than the commitments of any other religion to be an Ashavand and a Mazdayasni. Can man actually do this? Civilization proves to me that man can’t; we are asking the termite to stop eating wood. Mithra cannot stop bleeding to death our mother the Cow.

Sorry for not being "constructive" here and the image of a bitter old man fits.

Mehr Afzoon,
Parviz Varjavand


--- On Thu, 8/25/11, Special Kain wrote:

From: Special Kain
Subject: Re: [Ushta] The Worldview of a Mazdayasni (was: The Concept of Truth)
To: "Ushta@yahoogroups.com"
Date: Thursday, August 25, 2011, 4:52 PM


Dear Parviz
It has nothing to do with political opportunism, conformity or lawyers. Asha simply is that which fits with what it real (as in 'the laws of nature are real'). Druj is that which isn't real or which deceives us. Asha therefore has a lot to do with intellectual integrity. It is one's willingness to speak the truth at play here.

Ushta,
Dino

Von: Alexander Bard
An: Ushta@yahoogroups.com
Gesendet: 23:52 Donnerstag, 25.August 2011
Betreff: Re: [Ushta] The Worldview of a Mazdayasni (was: The Concept of Truth)


Who said it was simple to separate asha from druj? Nobody did.
Parviz, I don't know what you think you can achieve by portraying yourself as some wise old man while treating everybody else like naive idiots? Dino and Hampus are anything but naive. So stop accusing them of naivety, please!
The number of lawyers has nothing to do with what is asha and what is druj. Nothing at all. There's no connection. The fact that something is asha or is druj doesn't determine which is chosen. Unless you're a sincere Mazdayasni, of course, but which few people are and we are merely WORKING towards becoming.
You should support that ambition instead of throwing your bitterness around here. It would be more, shall we say, constructive. OK?
Ushta
Alexander

2011/8/25 Parviz Varjavand

Dear Dino and Hampus,

If separating Asha from Droj was as simple as you make it sound, then we would not have need for so many lawyers, would we?
Any good lawyer jokes?
Man in a cemetery sees this grave marked, "here lies a lawyer and an honest man", and he wonders to himself "How did they fit two corpses in one grave!/"

Purviz


--- On Thu, 8/25/11, Special Kain wrote:

From: Special Kain
Subject: Re: [Ushta] The Worldview of a Mazdayasni (was: The Concept of Truth)
To: "Ushta@yahoogroups.com"
Date: Thursday, August 25, 2011, 2:12 AM

I agree, dear Hampus.
Asha has nothing to do with opportunism and intellectual sluggishness. We are requested to live in accordance with "that which is true / which truly fits" (asha) and not with "that which deceives" (druj). People deserve to know the truth and that which works in the long run, and they also deserve to be free to base their choices on the actual facts and long-term thinking. Anything will prove to be destructive. Zarathushtra's doctrine of asha is all about the empowerment of people through education and civilization as its result. Even though the truth can be downright nasty at times.

Ushta,
Dino