Good and evil because of the sufferings in what appears to be a hostile world of natural disasters and human cruelties, the existence of evil has all along posed a perplexed problem. It is hardly more than a century ago that the western world, already often enriched by the treasures of the east, received another gift, a contribution from persia, and a new text deciphered was added to our list of sacred books of ancient nations this was the avesta, or zendavesta, the bible and prayerbook of zoroaster, the prophet of ancient iran. Zoroastrianism believes that ahura mazda gave humans free will to choose either good or evil. Essays included in ideas of good and evil by w b yeats. Zoroastrianism, known to its followers as the zarathushti din zoroastrian religion, developed from the words, ideas, beliefs, and rituals attributed to a devotional poet named zarathushtra later middle persian or pahlavi. Such ideas may be spread to permeate an entire society, such as was the nazi idea in germany with its murderous antisemitism, which is an evil idea. Bbc culture the obscure religion that shaped the west. The first prophet and the ideas that changed the world by paul kriwaczek isbn. One of ahura mazdas objectives is to destroy angra mainyu and create a universe which is completely good. In fact, the beliefs in a satan of evil pitted against a god of good, the belief in angels and demons fighting a cosmic war, and the belief in a savior figure who would save all of humanity from evil and sin are all elements deriving from zoroastrianism. Is there a link between zoroastrianism and gnostic christianity. Ahura mazda, who is perfect, abides in heaven, whereas angra mainyu dwells in the depths of hell.
The common thread in all of these books is deception invariably not intentional. We can only note that certain new beliefs that parallelled those of zoroastrianism entered judaism during the babylonian exile and the persian period but, since we werent there, we can not definitively say that they actually came direct from zoro. This temptation involved an attempt to persuade zoroaster to renounce the good religion of mazdeism and worship evil spirits no bread to stones, no leaps from towers, just talking back and forth with zoro quoting persian scriptures. It is a multitendency faith centered on a dualistic cosmology of good and evil. Zoroastrianism contains both monotheistic and dualistic features. Zarathustras teaching about ahura mazda is apparently disturbed by a pronounced dualism. John milton in his epic poem, paradise lost, includes the line. The religion of those peoples has been reconstructed by means of common elements contained in the.
The first prophet and the ideas that changed the world kriwaczek, paul on. Most of them have acknowledged it as a stubborn fact of life. Little is known about the prophet zoroaster himself. We are made of the essence of god and are cherished by god.
Zarathustra spoke of a single universal god, the battle between good and evil. Zarathushtra books and biography free pdf books from bookyards, one of the worlds first online libraries to offer ebooks to be downloaded for free. Zoroasters ideas did not take off quickly, and, at. There is a god of goodness, ahura mazda, also known as the god of light and there is a god of. Good and evil fight an unequal battle in which the former is assured of triumph. Browse the amazon editors picks for the best books of 2019, featuring our. The dualistic nature of zoroastrianism good vs evil was also unique at a time when most people held polytheistic beliefs. Ideas of good and evil was not always an easy book to read.
It is the religion of one man who lived some 600 years before the birth of christ. Jafarey almost all zoroastrians and those who are well acquainted with zoroastrianism know the term spenta mainyu, and since the days the avesta was translated by the early christian scholars who happened to have the holy ghost and the holy spirit in mind into english and other european languages, the term has. Ideas, good or evil, are spread from outside the individual through writing and art and education and the media, and thus affect the behavior of persons and societies, and bring about good or evil. Zoroaster spoke of duality and ceasing balance at the end of time.
Another school of thought perceives the battle between good and evil as an ethical dualism, set within the human consciousness. Scriptures zoroastrianisms scriptures are the avesta or the zend avesta pahlavi avestalaw, zendcommentary. In zoroastrianism, ahura mazda has an adversary called angra mainyu meaning destructive spirit. In search of zarathustra is a quest to trace the influence of the. Zarathustra, iranian religious reformer and prophet, traditionally regarded as. Arguably the worlds first monotheistic faith, its one of the oldest religions still in. Good and evil, represented in two antagonistic divine figures. This philosophy of the good and the evil spirit, creative of the material world, is not to.
In the book of the parsees he celebrates fireworshippers in the diaspora, who could no longer practise zoroastrianism in safety after the arab. Even the idea of satan is a fundamentally zoroastrian one. Zoroaster also known as zarathustra was an important religious figure in. These two are allegorically termed vohumana the good mind and akamana the evil mind. This fight between good and evil can also be described as a mental struggle between asa truth and druj lie. Zarathushtra teaches his disciples to be active and constructive because monasticism, celibacy, asceticism and selfmortification have no place in zoroastrianism. Zoroaster forgotten prophet of the one god john palmer. God unconditionally and totally loves all his creation and all humanity always. But when one reads blake, it is as though the spray of an inexhaustible fountain of beauty was blown into our faces, and not merely when one reads the songs of innocence, or the lyrics he wished to call the ideas of good and evil, but when one reads those prophetic works in which he spoke confusedly and obscurely because he spoke of. Similar ideas about zoroaster also appear in early christian literature. Though he was a native speaker of old avestan and lived in the eastern part of the iranian plateau, his birthplace is uncertain. His moral philosophy deals with two attributes inherent in manthe good mind and the evil mind. Speaking to the psaltery magic the happiest of the poets the philosophy of shelleys poetry at stratfordonavon william blake and the imagination william blake and his illustrations to the divine comedy symbolism in painting the symbolism of poetry the. The project gutenberg ebook of ideas of good and evil, by.
Through good words, thoughts and deeds, humans can serve ahura mazda and help defeat angra mainyu. Zoroastrianism emphasizes the battle between good and evil in the world. Does the fact of evil in the world prove that god does not exist. These are the subjects of my manuscript, provisionally titled. Find all the books, read about the author, and more. Avesta, the bible of zoroaster wikisource, the free. The twin spirits are popularly thought of as good and evil, but rather they are two principles that represent all the opposites of life. Asha is a form of righteous, an all encompassing, natural law. In the beginning there were two primal spirits,twins spontaneously active,these are the good and the evil, in thought, and in word, and in deed.
Much of the work deals with ideas such as the eternal recurrence of the same, the parable on the. Zarathustra spoke of a single universal god, the battle between good and evil, the. How did zoroastrian ideas find their way into the abrahamic faiths and elsewhere. Evil, and the spirit of evil, will be completely destroyed at the end of time. These pseudepigraphic texts aside, some authors did draw on a few genuinely zoroastrian ideas. Zoroaster also taught that good will ultimately triumph over evil. Zoroastrianism and the cosmic conflict between good and evil. Zoroaster, also known as zarathustra, or as zarathushtra spitama, was the founder of zoroastrianism. On the other hand, zoroastrianism itself inherited ideas from other belief. Zoroastrianism, zoroaster, zarathustra, ahura mazda. Ive read several books on gnostic christianity and the early christian church including the gnostic gospels by elaine pagels. Angra mainyu is the originator of death and all that is evil in the world.
Share zoroaster quotations about soul, doubt and war. Dualism will come to an end and goodness will be all in all. Zoroaster was the religious reformer who converted oldfashioned persian kings to monotheism in 600 b. In this way, due to the teachings of zarathustra, the spirit of good spenta mainyu and the spirit of evil anghra mainyu are always. Compare and contrast the ideas of zoroaster, the hebrews. The first prophet and the ideas that changed the world. As a general overview, zoroastrian followers worship a benevolent deity named ahura mazda and their religious texts deal with themes such as good and evil and retribution. Zoroasters religious insight revolved around the idea of a cosmic struggle.
You will find here a selected list of books on zoroastrianism, life and teachings of zoroaster or zarathushtra, zoroastrian beliefs, zend avesta, parsees, indo. According to zoroastrian beliefs, the presence of evil in the material plane makes our world unstable and ever changing. According to zoroastrian teachings, angra mainyu is the architect of evil, the antigod principle, who represents evil, untruth, arrogance and death and subjects people to torment once they come under his influence. List of books and articles about zoroastrianism online. Gathas, the only foundation of zoroasterianism several times is referring to two spirits of good and evil in the intelligence and thought. Zoroastrianism is an ancient persian religion that may have originated as early as 4,000 years ago. He who upholds truth with all the might of his power, he who upholds truth the utmost in his word and deed, he, indeed, is thy most valued helper, o mazda ahura. Chapter 36 of the bundahishn one of the pahlavi books offers a detailed list. Once upon a time, before wisdom was confined to books, shamans of the great spirit anticipated an afterlife for their peoples. Intellectuals of all ages and lands have tried to solve it.
In this way, due to the teachings of zarathustra, the spirit of good spenta mainyu and the spirit of evil anghra mainyu are always confronting each other. The next three thousand years would begin with the birth of zoroaster, who would spread the teachings of god among humanity and make them aware of the conflict between the forces of good and evil and prepare them for the final confrontation, teaching them the. His teachings about heaven and cuckoos nose, the struggle between good and evil, and the seven archangels influenced the jews during their babylonian captivity. The avesta consists of fragmentary and muchcorrupted texts. Centuries before dantes divine comedy, the book of arda viraf described in. He also spoke of a rival to ahura mazda, who was similarly uncreated. Who was zoroaster and how did he gain religious followers. This is a list of ten of the worst books of this type books that have done more harm than good. Zoroastrianism is the ancient, preislamic religion of persia modernday iran. Zoroaster said that these were evil spirits and were workers of angra mainyu, gods adversary.
Zoroaster taught that life was a continuous choice between good and evil, and people must be careful to choose the right path. Culture the obscure religion that shaped the west bbc. Zoroastrianism, a unique religion which stresses the eternal battle of good versus evil, has had a larger impact than its small number of followers 100,000 would suggest. In her lecture on zoroastrianism, annie besant has this to say of them. Ascribed to the teachings of the iranianspeaking spiritual leader zoroaster also known. Iranian prophet and religious reformer zarathustra flourished before the 6th century bce more widely known outside iran as zoroaster, the greek form of his nameis traditionally regarded as the founder of the religion. His name was zarathustra, and his teachings eventually held sway from the indus to the nile and spread as far. It survives there in isolated areas but primarily exists in india, where the descendants of zoroastrian persian immigrants are known as parsis, or parsees. Books are one of our greatest resources, but many times in history books have been written which are misleading or untrue. Is there a link between zoroastrianism and gnostic. Zarathushtra eventually came to be regarded as the founder and prophet of the.
The king was impressed by zoroaster and decided to accept his ideas, thus making it the official religion of the kingdom. The persians had a belief in places of bliss and punishment where good and bad people would go after death, yet the old testament barely mentions heaven or hell. It is a multitendency faith centered on a dualistic cosmology of good and evil and an eschatology predicting the ultimate conquest of evil with theological elements of henotheism, monotheismmonism, and polytheism. Zoroastrianism is a religion founded by a priest named zarathustra spitma or zoroaster far back in the 1200bce, with the principle belief of an almighty god or the one ahura mazda and the context of a cosmic battle between the good and evil forces. Furthermore, some of the deities of the old religion, the daevas devas in sanskrit, appeared to delight in war and strife. Most of his life is known through the zoroastrian texts. But the earliest existing expression of the universalist idea of an afterlife where god saves all people can be found in the revelation of zoroaster, prophet of the magi. According to later zoroastrian legend denkard and the book of arda viraf. Vohu manah led zoroaster to the presence of ahura mazda. Learn vocabulary, terms, and more with flashcards, games, and other study tools.