Posts

On Asha & Druj

Here's a post I had made on reddit a while back, where I try to delve into the philosophical dynamic of truth and lie. Here's a repost: Is there any truth or lie without interaction in the first place?  Yes- and I shall explain my view on the matter. Please note: The usage of the word truth and lie is for convenience, since they are only a speck under the umbrella of the terms Asha and Druj- and must be read as Asha and Druj.  If we take the creation story into account, Ahriman was originally unaware of Ahura Mazda's existence, as opposed to Ahura Mazda's omniscience. Here, complete conscious knowledge is the prerequisite of divine truth. Truth is creation, rather, that which exists by its own. Truth is that which wants the best for us even before the existence of an opposition. A truth can stand by its own without the existence of a lie but a lie cannot exist if not in opposition to an original "nothing" (viz. non-existence.) Now this would so...

Proposals for the Prosperity and Survival of the Zoroastrian Community in the West

Living in Canada as a member of the Zoroastrian diaspora, I have had many thoughts about the future of our community, particularly the Zoroastrian community in North America. I have thought of several suggestions that I consider key for the prosperity and survival of the Zoroastrian community in North America . Adopting uniform youth educational standards in each of the Parsi and Irani communities: Zoroastrian youth must have a good understanding of their faith, philosophy, history, and culture. All Zoroastrian centers in North America must teach Din Dabireh (Avestan alphabet) to the youth. It is crucial that Avestan is studied and recited in its original script, rather than a roman or Persian transliteration. This way correct pronunciation is attained, and most importantly, a key piece of ancient Zoroastrian identity is being preserved and passed down to the next generation. This knowledge should not just be preserved by mobeds, but by the whole community! Unfortunate...

Not Universal if not United.

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The Iranis, a group of Zoroastrians who emigrated to India a hundred years ago, were met with suspicion and hesitant acceptance by their thousand-year-old brethren, the Parsis, to whom, they were a mixed bunch of plausible converts that followed a different calendar. To the Zoroastrian posterity, the very distinction would've sounded alien, but surely they can imagine how they would've taken the initial divide of which wisps still remain? In an unsurprising eadem, sed aliter, we see the locus shift to another group- the converts and those of only maternal Zoroastrian ancestry in mixed marriages, who somehow according to tradition shouldn't belong to the good religion. I have come across many Kurds and Iranians conveying their crushed hopes of being accepted by many of us, not only in India, or online, but even Internationally. Why do we call ourselves the champions of progress when we wish to keep such exclusivity? In no way does this mean that the ethnoreli...