Zoroastrianism:

An Amazingly Ancient,
Yet Advanced Philosophy/Religion
by Justin Haubrich

http://www.Zarathushtra.org

Thousands of years ago, in a land far away, there lived a righteous man. This man spoke of
one God, and of many moral truths which he hoped would guide mankind in a better direction; his
name was Jesus Christ. Thousands of years prior to that, however, there lived another righteous man.
He spoke of one God, and of many moral truths which he hoped would guide mankind towards a
better future; his name was Zarathushtra Spitaman.
It was the Late Bronze Age, and mankind was just beginning to step out of its barbaric and
nomadic wanderings to settle down into civilizations. In fact, the wheel and chariot had just recently
been invented. It was a world of survival of the fittest, where "might is right". But it was time for
change; ever since the discovery of fire, man is no longer just a mere animal, says Zarathushtra in the
Gathas, his only surviving Hymns that made it through the turmoil, and sometimes darker side of
history.
Thus, heralding a new age of "Right is Might", rather than "Might is Right", Zarathushtra
brought forth a new religion and philosophy that would forever change and influence the destiny of
mankind for the better.
In the Gathas, Zarathushtra establishes a very simple ethical creed that all Zoroastrians are
required to follow, which is to live a life based upon and committed to Good Thoughts, Good Words,
and Good Deeds. He teaches us, for the first time in history, that there is only one God (Monotheism),
whom he calls Ahura Mazda, the wise, intelligent, and loving architect of the physical universe. When
translated from Old Avestan, inter-mediating through Sanskrit and into English, Ahura Mazda literally
means Supreme Wisdom. Thus, Zarathushtra calls his newly founded vision and philosophy
“Mazdayasna", which when translated from Old Avestan, through Sanskrit, and into English, literally
means "to praise wisdom". Oddly enough, the very word Philosophy, coming from the Greek words
philia, which means friendship (or love), and sophia, which means wisdom, bear very similar
resemblance to the meaning of Zarathushtra's Mazdayasna.
Zarathushtra taught that all living creatures (including plants) have a soul; however there are
two different types of souls which oppose each other. There is Spenta Mainyu; the brilliant, positive,
constructive and beneficent soul that seeks out and manifests wisdom for the sake of helping others.
Then there is Angra Mainyu; the depressed, negative, violent, and destructive soul that wishes to
remain ignorant and harm others by doing so. According to Zarathushtra, since the beginning of time
and before, God has always been on the side of Spenta Mainyu, and in the end of times, the forces of
Spenta Mainyu will triumph over Angra Mainyu. Zarathushtra teaches us that each soul has the free
will to choose between the forces of Spenta (Progressive Righteousness) and the forces of Angra
(Regressive Wrongfulness). But with free will and free choice comes responsibility and accountability,
therefore each soul is responsible for every thought, word, and action in this life and in the after-life.
According to Zarathushtra, salvation of the human soul depends on its collection of thoughts, words,
and deeds. The human soul will receive in the afterlife what it has given out during this life, in other
words, you will reap what you sow, or as Zarathushtra in Yasna 43.1 of the Gathas states; “ Happiness
comes to those who bring happiness to others. Radiant happiness and inner peace is granted to those
who choose righteousness for the sake of righteousness.”
Unlike the Abrahamic concept of heaven and hell, the Zoroastrian heaven and hell are states of
mental and spiritual existences, rather than actual places. Since all souls come from God, even the
wicked will one day be cleansed and forgiven for their sins, reuniting with God forever.
Based on the hymns of Zarathushtra, a person's quest for spiritual growth, enlightenment, and
realization is an individual quest which can be reached through reason, wisdom, serenity, meditation,
observation of nature, and an open mind.
In the West, followers of Zarathushtra are known as Zoroastrians. Zarathushtra's influence on
the Western world stretches back to the times of Plato and Socrates, when the expanding
Achaemenid Empire of the Iranians first began to make contact with the Greeks. However, in the 6th
Century AD, disaster struck when the Arab forces destroyed the latter Sassanid Empire of the
Iranians. With the destruction of the Sassanid Empire, the Arabs were able to force their newly formed
imperialistic creed on the Persians. Millions of Zoroastrians were converted by the sword, and those
who did not submit to the bloodthirsty cult were killed or enslaved. For the next 1400 years and still to
this day, faced with violence and discrimination, the Zoroastrian numbers began to shrink dramatically;
impoverished by heavy taxes and forced to live as a second-class citizen in the very land of their
ancestors, now numbering less than 300,000 world-wide.
Being pushed into oblivion, misery, and near-extinction caused the Zoroastrians to soon be
forgotten by the Western world. It wasn't until the Age of Enlightenment that the West rediscovered
Zarathushtra in the Gathas. The Enlightenment philosophers Kant and Diderot mentioned him as a
moral model, and writers such as Voltaire promoted research into Zoroastrianism in the belief that it
was a form of Rational Deism, preferable to Christianity. He even wrote a play called "Zoroastre". In
his playwright, Voltaire notes: "Here was a philosopher from "pagan" antiquity who was monotheistic
and moral without any help from the Christian Church!"
 Zarathushtra's profound influence on all of mankind has been unanimously accepted by
historians. Mary Boyce, a renowned expert on Zoroastrianism quotes:
"Zoroastrianism is the oldest of the revealed world-religions, and it has probably had
more influence on mankind, directly and indirectly, than any other single faith." - Mary Boyce,
Zoroastrians: Their Religious Beliefs and Practices (London: Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1979, p. 1)
Throughout history, Zoroastrianism has had contact and influence upon all of the world's major
religions; from the forgotten Mithraism and Manicheanism, to Buddhism, Judaism, Christianity, Baha'i,
and even its own antithesis; Islam. In fact, It was Cyrus the Great, Zoroastrian Emperor and founder of
the Achaemenid Empire, who conquered Babylon and freed the Jews from Babylonian Captivity,
abolishing slavery and declaring the world's first Human Rights charter, guaranteeing freedom of
religion and the equality of men and women to all corners and nations of the diversely populated
Persian Empire. This was a influential moment in the religious history of mankind, for the Jews kept
warm feelings for their Zoroastrian conquerors thereafter, making them more receptive to Zoroastrian
beliefs and practices. In fact, the only Gentile (Non-Jew) hailed as a Messiah in the Old Testament
was the Zoroastrian King Cyrus the Great, according to Isaiah 45:
“This is what the Lord says to his Anointed, To Cyrus, whose right hand I take hold of to
subdue nations before him, and to strip kings of their armor, to open doors before him, so that gates
will not be shut”

Echoes of the Zoroastrian quest for understanding the nature of existence have even been
explored by the most advanced realms of human thoughts, namely that of Albert Einstein, whose
personal thoughts and conclusions on the nature and cause of this existence deeply mirror that of the
Zoroastrian precepts about God. It is said that Einstein, who based his understanding of existence not
on religious scriptures, but rather on his own insight and good mind, came to reject the concept “of a
personal God who intercedes in the daily workings of the world.” Furthermore, it is said that Einstein
held “a profound faith in, and reverence for the harmony and beauty of what he called the mind of God
as it was expressed in the creation of the universe and its laws. He deeply believed that God's wisdom
and intelligence was reflected in the harmony of nature's laws and the beauty of all that exists.”
Just one of the many Gathic Verses deeply mirroring Einstein's profound realizations on
existence; Yasna 11, from Song 4 of the Gathas: “O Wise One, at the beginning, You,
through Your mind, fashioned for us the living world, conceptions and intellects, put life in
the physical frame, and gave deeds and words, so that one makes his/her choice through
free will.”
Zoroastrian philosophy teaches us that observation of nature, as well as the workings of the
universe will allow us to glimpse into the working of God's mind, and by doing so we can begin to
understand the universal laws from which creation emerged, evolved, and is lovingly sustained and
promoted.
"Try and penetrate with our limited means the secrets of nature and you will find that, behind all
the discernible laws and connections, there remains something subtle, intangible and inexplicable.
Veneration for this force beyond anything that we can comprehend is my religion. To that extent I am,
in fact, religious." -Albert Einstein

by Justin Haubrich
February 6th, 2010