Secret History #18: Thus Spoke Zarathustra

So, we've done the Greeks, and we've done the Israelites, and today we discuss the Persians. And today I introduce to you the most influential person who has ever lived, and his name is Zoroastrian. And Zoroastrian will create the world's first great religion, world religion, called Zoroastrianism, and this will lead to the rise of the world's first great empire, called the Persian Achaemenid Empire. So to understand Zoroastria, let's go back and understand how we humans have traditionally understood the world. So intuitively, we've understood that the world is one of consciousness. The universe is conscious, and it's constantly vibrating. These vibrations are infinite. And the lower... Okay. The lower that the vibrations go, the slower they are, and therefore, they give rise to matter, okay? And that gives rise to humans. So we both inhabit the material universe, but our minds inhabit the spiritual universe. And as a result, when we vibrate as well, our consciousness returns to the universe.

Okay? So we're in constant dialogue with the universe. Now, this is hard to understand, so we've used metaphors or stories to explain this system. All right? So let's go over how we've explained the system using metaphors. So this is God. Okay? The God is called the Monad, or the One, or Nus, but there are different names for this God. And this God is perfect. The problem is... The problem with perfection is that you lack imagination. You lack creativity. And that's why, when God emanates, he created us, okay? Humans. Why? Because we are material. We have bodies. And therefore, we are imperfect. What this means is that when we hit a wall, we feel pain. We can fall down. We can die. We can suffer. We can make mistakes. But at the same time, it is through constantly making mistakes, disobedience, fallibility, that we are able to be creative, okay?

And as a result, both God and we are in the process of becoming, okay? We are becoming into perfection. We are becoming into eternity and infinity. And so we are co -creators with God. Okay? Now, there are certain characteristics about the system that you have to remember, okay? First of all, in the system, we need to have free will. Because only by having complete freedom can we be truly creative. The more that is controlling us, then there can't be any creativity. It's all intentional. It's all planned, okay? So free will is very important. Another very important idea is the individual. Okay? So what, so how the system works is what matters is what happens inside of us, okay? Because only us individually can give rise to creativity. And so it is our interactions with the monad that's important, okay? Another way of saying this is that, use a metaphor, okay? The metaphor is a candle. A candle. Sorry, this is a bad drawing.

Okay? Candle. This is a candle. And we are all mirrors surrounding this candle. And we are all, the candle is reflected in us. Okay? So the monad is in us, and we are all part of the monad together. So what happens is what happens to us individually. Okay? Another very important part of this is its eternity. Okay? Reincarnation. Reincarnation. So the idea here is that when you die, you just don't disappear. Your consciousness returns to the spirit world. Why? Because maybe in this world, you made a lot of mistakes. And because you made a lot of mistakes, you can't really appreciate all the pain you've caused. So when you return to the spirit world, then it's a time for you to reflect and understand your significance on this world. Okay? And so the idea is that if you've done a lot of good in this world. If you've been virtuous, you ascend to a higher plane.

And if you did a lot of bad things, then you stay in the lower realm. Okay? And this is the idea of heaven and hell. Why? Because if you did a lot of good, first of all, you can appreciate all that you've done. You can be closer to the monad. Okay? If you've done a lot of bad, then you will see for yourself all the hurt you've caused in the world. Okay? And you'll be further down from the monad. So this is how intuitively we've understood the universe to work. Okay? When we're born, we're born almost with an intuitive understanding of this. Okay? The problem is that as our populations continue to grow and grow, eventually we have war. Okay? And war gives rise to patriarchy and property. Why? Because how do you incentivize people to grow? To go fight? Well, you promise them this wife will be yours.

Okay? You'll be the master of the household and whatever you win, whether it's gold or whatever, it will be yours forever. Okay? And so these three things, war, patriarchy, and property are all interlinked together. Okay? And this, you can argue, gives rise to the idea of capital. Remember, when we last discussed the Bronze Age, the Bronze Age was the height of capital. Okay? And therefore, it was the height of war, slavery, corruption, okay, violence, evil in this world. And in this time, there will emerge prophets, the port prophets, who come and tell us that what we're doing is wrong. And we must remember who we came from originally. Okay? We must remember that we are part of the monad and that we're here to celebrate life, not to destroy life. To be creative. Not to be destructive. Not to be destructive. To love, not to make war. Okay? And so during the Bronze Age emerges a man named Zarathustra.

And he is a port prophet, just like Homer and the Yahwehs, and he's dealing with a situation. Okay? We've entered a system where war, patriarchy, and property are prevalent, and we can't imagine a world without these things. Okay? So now he has to create a new system. He has to present for his poetry new ideas that help us return to the monad. Okay? And so he creates the beginnings of a new world religion called Zoroastrianism. Okay? So let's go over the basic ideas. So remember that this is a polytheistic world where you fight for your god. And the gods don't really care about what's good and what's evil. All they care about is themselves. So you celebrate them. You make sacrifices to them. If you give them enough money, you bribe them well enough, then you win wars. Okay? So that's a system that we call polytheism. So what Azoramastra does

is that he reimagines the system and creates a new hierarchy where Ahuraamastra is the top god. Okay? And you can call him the monad as well. And for Azorathustra, Ahuraamastra is the lord of wisdom. Okay? It literally translates into lord of wisdom. And he's represented by the idea of fire. Okay? So what is Zoroastrianism in Chinese? It's bai huo jiao, right? Bai huo jiao, okay? The religion of white fire. It's a religion of wisdom. And what then he also says is that the war of heaven and hell is within us. Okay? And there are two forces that tear at us, that divide us. The first is the force of Asha, and the second is the force of Drush. Okay? These ideas are hard to translate, but Asha just means truth, and Drush means the lie. Okay? So the Greeks really admired the Persians. And what they said about the Persians is the Persians are good at three things.

They're good at horse riding, they're good at archery, and they're good at telling the truth. The Persians find it abhorrent, hateful, to lie. So they're always telling the truth. Okay? But that's a very simplistic understanding of the system. Telling the truth is not what Asha is, right? What Asha really is, is a system of virtue. By being virtuous, by doing good in the world, you become closer to our master. You become his representative on earth. So to better understand this idea. Alright? I'm going to introduce to you another concept called the Catechol Imperative. So Immanuel Kant. So we don't know when Zarathustra lived, but he lived about 3,000 years ago. Immanuel Kant is the 18th century, so he's closer to our time. And he introduces a concept called the Catechol Imperative. For him, the Catechol Imperative is the highest moral authority. Moral law. The highest moral good. What we all should strive to.

And what I will show you is that it's very similar to the concept of Asha. So there are three principles of the Catechol Imperative. The first, the most important, is the law of universality. And what this idea states is that, what is good? Well, to know what is good, imagine this. Imagine that whatever you do, whatever you say, everyone in the world will immediately do as well. Okay? So if you get angry, everyone gets angry at the same time. If you are violent, everyone's violent at the same time. Okay? If you curse God, everyone curses God. Do you want to live in a world like that? Obviously not. Okay? So that is what the Catechol Imperative is. Act and do and think as though everything you do will be reflected throughout the universe. And you are the universe itself. Okay? Now, this idea has been misunderstood as the Golden Law, right?

Or, do unto others as others would do unto you. But actually, no, it's a much higher concept. The higher concept is that, imagine that you are God yourself. Okay? And everything you do will be reflected throughout the universe. Then how would you behave? Well, you would behave the highest virtue. Okay? Because you want to make the world a better place. Because if you do bad things, people are going to do bad things to you. Okay? So that's the first idea. It's a very important idea. Second idea is free will. So whatever you do cannot be coerced. Okay? Whatever you do must be out of your own desire, your own will, your own volition, your own choice. Otherwise, it's wrong. Okay? So I cannot make you do good. You only want to do good by yourself. If you want to do evil, you should do evil because it's your choice. Okay? Even though it leads to a worse world, it's important to maintain the principle of free will and free choice.

Okay? Now last is the idea of humans as the end. Now you have heard, maybe heard the phrase, the means to an end, right? So maybe I'm a king and I need to build a better world. So I need to start wars, conquer the world. So I need to sacrifice a billion human beings in order to create a perfect world. Right? That may sound good in theory, but what Kant and Zoroastrian would say is that's wrong because humans are the end unto themselves. Every life, every human life is as valuable as all human life together. Okay? You cannot sacrifice one person for the sake of the others. That is fundamentally wrong. Do never do that. That can only lead you into hell. Okay? So these three things together gives us a concept of Asha. You can see immediately how complicated it is, but at the same time you can also understand how revolutionary it is.

Okay? Because now Asha presents to us three new concepts that will revolutionize human history. They are the individual. What matters is what matters inside of you. Okay? Everyone's doing bad. That's their problem. Don't worry about them. Just do what is good to you. Okay? What is good for you. The second is free choice. Don't ever feel as though you're being forced to do something. Do something because you will so. Okay? And the last is truth. Why do you do this? Because the Monad will know. Okay? Because our master will know. Because you will know. Okay? So what your family says. What your community says. What your nation says. It does not matter. Only what you feel in your heart matters. Okay? And this introduces a new concept in human history called Monotheism. And guess what guys? Zoroastrianism will give birth to three new religions.

Okay? Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. Okay? And this together is two to three point billion people on earth. And that's why I say Zoroastria is the most important religion. Because it will create the structure for Monotheism. Okay? These three concepts that will give rise to three world religions. All right? Okay. So something else I want you to understand is that Zoroastria had a major impact on the Greeks. Especially Greek philosophy. In fact, the Greeks didn't consider him just a poet. They considered him the first scientist. The first astronomer. The first philosopher. The first magician. Okay? The Greeks had tremendous reverence for him. And Plato will take a lot of his ideas and create a very powerful metaphor that helps us understand Aster better. Okay? He calls it the Allegory of the Cave. So imagine this. Imagine that we are in a cave. Okay? We're all prisoners inside a cave. We are chained to the ground.

Okay? So we can't ever get up. We can't even move our necks. We only steer at the wall in front of us. Now behind us is a fire. And this fire is projecting shadows onto the wall. Okay? And we give names to these shadows. And this is what we call reality. Okay? But it's a shadow reality. It's all fake. It's all false. It's all what we imagine it to be. One day, for whatever reason, one of us, the chains disappear. And so we stumble upwards out of the cave. Okay? And now we're suddenly in the light. Right? We see the sun. The sun, of course, is Asha. Truth. Okay? Or Ahura Masta. And we're blinded because our eyes are used to seeing the dark. Right? We can't see. We feel nothing but pain for a long, long time. But over time, we start to see more clearly. And we see the world is beautiful.

Okay? We see the birds flying in the sky. We see the trees around us. We see the animals. And we're like, this is beautiful. Okay? I found heaven. I found the truth. I found Asha. I found Ahura Masta. This is what life is really about. Okay? But after some time, you're like, but this is not enough. Okay? I have found the truth. But the truth is not complete because I know there are my friends. My friends. My family that are stuck inside the cave. Therefore, for me to fully achieve Asha, I must go down and tell them the truth. Tell them there is an Asha and we can all break free of our chains, escape into the light, and see the truth for ourselves. And then we will be truly happy and free and wise. Okay? That's what Asha is. Asha is not just breaking free of your chains and seeing the truth for yourself, but it's a responsibility to go and spread this virtue to everyone around you.

If you see injustice, speak out. Okay? Another way of saying this is, let's use a metaphor. A choir. Okay? Singing choir. How does a choir work? Well, Ahura Masta, the Monad, he's singing a song. We have to sing along with him. Okay? Ah! Okay? If we do that, the world is harmonized. The world is perfect. The world is beautiful. But if most of us are out of tune, then we need to get into tune, right? Okay? So that's what Asha is. Asha is not just self -individualization, self -truth. It is helping others see the truth for themselves. Okay? So if you yourself see the truth, you now have a responsibility to teach this truth to others. But the problem is, of course, if you go down and tell everyone, hey man, this world we're living in, it's a shadow world. It's a prison.

We need to break our chains and escape into the real world. Everyone's like, you're crazy, man. Right? Get out of here, man. You're crazy. And they're like, no, no, no, no. We have to go. And they're like, okay, well, describe this world to us. And you're like, um, it's hard. It's kind of hard to describe. Well, you're crazy then. Okay? All right. So that's Plato's Alley Go to the Cave. All right. And this gives you a better understanding of the idea of Asha. Okay? So if you move towards the truth, you're moving towards Asha. But if you're moving away from Asha, you're moving towards the Jewish. Okay? All right. So that's a basic premise of Zoroastrianism. This is the idea that Zarathustra brought to the world and will forever change the world. Okay? We'll go into the specific history next week. But first, what I want to do this week is just go into his ideas.

Okay? All right. So Zarathustra, we don't know when he lived. Okay? But we estimate anywhere between the year 2000 BCE to about 1000 BCE. That's the Bronze Age. All right? I suspect he lived towards the end of the Bronze Age. Why? Because when the Bronze Age is coming into form, people are in love with capitalism. People want to get rich. Right? But after the system matures, there's slavery, there's debt, there's corruption. There's misery. There's suffering. And so people want to hear another voice. Zarathustra himself was a priest. He was disgusted by the corruption of priests. Because, remember, being a priest means being a teacher, leading people into the light, leading people into Asha. But once the Bronze Age becomes more mature, then priests are corrupt. They want a lot of money for helping you achieve immortality. They sort of spread false teachings. They become very corrupt. And so Zarathustra becomes disgusted, and he wanders around spreading his new message of Asha.

Okay? Now, what's important to understand is that we don't know where Zarathustra worked specifically, but we suspect northern Iran. Okay? Why is this important? Because during the Bronze Age, the main centers of wealth were the Middle Ages. The Middle Ages were Mesopotamia, Egypt, the Levant. So this is more like a colony where there's a lot of mining going on. Okay? So what's going on here is basically the most human suffering in the world. Okay? So imagine maybe Congo, where they're using child slaves to dig for rare earths. Okay? It's a margin empire where war is a very common thing. Violence is a very common thing. People are being kidnapped and forced to work in the mines in order to get tin for the Bronze Age economy. Okay? All right. So as you can see, Zarathustra is around here. Okay? Either northeast Iran or northwest Iran. Okay?

And as I mentioned, the global economy is around here. Okay? This is where most of the wealth is. These people are poor, they're enslaved, and they're extremely violent. Okay? So Zarathustra comes, and he's a poor prophet. Okay? He's a priest, and he sings songs to help people better understand the world around them. He's trying to remind them of who they are really. Okay? They really are parts of God. All right? So he says, listen with your own ears, with a bright mind. Choose truth from false creed, each person for his own self before the final judgment comes. Okay? So the idea of the individual. What matters is yourself. What you do. What your family does. What your clan does. What your tribe does. Does not matter. What you do. Because when you die, you will face Ahura Masta, the final judgment. Okay? Not your family, but you yourself. And so what you must do is choose Asha, the truth.

Okay? What is the truth? Being virtuous. Because you yourself are virtue. Okay? So he wrote in a language called Avastin. And it's a beautiful language. And if you are a Zoroastrian priest, you can memorize all this. Okay? But I am not. And I don't want to butcher the language. Okay? But it's poetry. It's beautiful. Right? So Asha is the best of all that is good. And Asha is happiness. Happiness belongs to the one who follows the righteous path for the sake of the best righteousness. So how do you know you're doing Asha? Because you are happy. Okay? Do you understand? So the metaphor is, imagine that you live in a world of fat people who don't exercise. And all they do is watch TV. Right? But you decide to go and work out and become more thin. How do you know you're on the right path? Because you feel happy about yourself.

Okay? But the problem, of course, is that you lose all your friends. You lose all your family. Okay? That's why people don't do this. Not because they don't know the truth. It's because they fear the truth. All right. So this is some translated poetry called the Gathas that we know that George Luther wrote. Okay? Or he didn't write it. They were all illiterate at this point. But he sang it. Okay? Now the two primal spirits who reveal themselves in vision as twins are the better and the bad in thought and word and action. And between these two, the wise ones choose, all right, the foolish one, not so. Okay? So we in our nature always divide into two halves. Okay? The good and the bad. The Asher and the Jewish. And to be truly virtuous, it has to be good thoughts, good words, and good actions. Okay? You have to be unified as a person.

You can't speak the truth but then do bad things. Okay? You have to think good thoughts, speak good thoughts, and do good works. And that's what Zoroastrianism. Okay? And when these twin spirits came together in the beginning, they created life and not life. And that at the last worst existence shall be to the followers of the lie, but the best existence to him that follows right. Of these two twine spirits, he that follow the lie choose doing the worst things, the holiest spirit choose right. He that clothes him with the massy heavens as a garment. So likewise, they that are fain to please our master by dutiful actions. Between these twin, the Davahs, okay, those that lead you to the Jews also chose not a right. For infatuation came upon them as they took counsel together so that they chose the worst thought. Then they rushed together to violence that they might enfeeble the world of man.

So we're living in a world run by Davahs, by demons who choose violence to control us. Okay? And what do you do? And to him came dominion and good mind and right and piety gave continued life to their bodies and indestructibility so that by their retributions through metal he may gain the prize over the others. Even in a world of evil, you can choose and you must choose to be good. All right? If people are lying, you tell the truth. Because what matters is your individual action, not what others are doing. So when there come of their punishment for their sins, then, O master, at thy command shall good thought establish the dominion and the consummation for those who deliver the lie, O Ahara, into the hands of right. Okay? So God will know what good you did, what evil you did. Okay? When you die, it will be the final judgment.

You will have to face God. So we may be those that make this world advance, O master, and ye, O the Aharas, come hither without saving submission into your company in Asherah, in order that our thought may gather together while reason is still shaky. Okay? So even though the world has turned evil, even though the people, the elite are evil, you can still do good. And God will know you do good, and God will reward you for doing good. Okay? So again, this is the beginning of monotheism. And as you can see, this idea will echo in Christianity and Islam as well. Then truly on the world of lies shall come the destruction of the light. But they who get themselves good name shall be partakers in the promised reward, in the fair abode of good thought, of master and of right. O if, O ye mortals! Ye mark those commandments. Which master hath ordained

of happiness and pain, the long punishment for the follower of the Druj, and blessings for the followers of the right. Then hereafter shall it be well. Okay? So you should do what is virtuous, not only because God will reward you for doing so, but because you will feel eternal happiness in doing so. When though, O master, in the beginning did create the individual and the individuality through thy spirit and powers of understanding, when though did make life clothe with the body. When actions and teachings whereby one may exercise one's convictions at once free. Okay? So you see, individual, free will. These are the core concepts here. Okay? Never say you've been coerced. You always have the choice. You always have the choice to resist. Then lives up his voice the false speaker or the true speaker, he that knows or he that knows, not each according to his own heart and mind, passing from one to another.

Almighty confers with the spirit in whom there is wavering. Okay. Clear it is to the man of understanding. As one who has realized it was thought. He upholds Asher together with good dominion by his word and deed. He will be, O master, the most helpful helper to thee. Okay? So when we choose to follow Asher, we are doing God's work. When we, in our hearts, choose Asher, we, at that moment, change the world for the better.

Okay?

All right. So this sounds a bit complicated, a bit abstract. And honestly, he was speaking to people at that time. Okay? So what does he really, really mean? And how can we understand what he's really saying? Well, the argument I want to make with you today is that all poor prophets are the same. They're all divinely inspired. They're all speaking a certain truth. So by understanding other poor prophets of that region, of that culture, we gain insight into the true thinking of Zarathustra. Okay? So this is Rumi, who is considered the greatest Persian poet who has ever lived. He lived in the 13th century, which is about 2,000 years, 3,000 years after Zarathustra. In many ways, if you actually read his poetry, he is the reincarnation of Zarathustra. Okay? So we're going to read a bit of his poetry. And then once you read his poetry, it will give you insight into the cosmology of Zoroastrianism.

I see so deeply with myself. I so see deeply with myself. Not needing my eyes, I can see everything clearly. Why would I want to bother my eyes again? Now that I see the world through his eyes. His eyes. Okay? Through the eyes of Asher. Through the eyes of the Monad. Through Ahura Masta. Okay? That's how you should be seeing. Okay? In other words, you should be seeing the world through your imagination. You can imagine a better world. If you imagine a better world, you can create a better world. So don't be fooled by the material world around us. It's all fake. It's all an illusion. Not Christian or Jew or Muslim. Not Hindu, Buddhist, Sufi, or Zen. Not any religion or cultural system. I'm not from the East or the West. Not out of the ocean or up from the ground. Not natural or ethereal. Not composed of elements at all.

I don't exist. I'm not an entity in this world or in the next. Do not descend from Adam and Eve or any origin story. My place is placeless. A trace of the traceless. Neither body or soul. I belong to the beloved. Have seen the two worlds as one. And that one called and know. First, last, outer, inner. Only that breath breathing human being. Okay? Does that make sense to you? We're all part of God. That's our true nature. There's a divine spark in us. Don't be fooled by the material world. And don't be fooled by labels. Christians, Buddhists, Jews. There's no difference. We're all the children of God. We're all the same. So don't be fooled by labels. There's a joke. The joke is this. God and Satan are fighting over humanity. And God says to Satan, Ha! Humans have discovered religion. Therefore I have won. And then Satan says, Yeah, but then I'll just organize it.

Okay? So the idea is that religion is great. Okay? I'm a big supporter of religion. But organized religion is problematic. Because organized religion serves the interests of the priests who control the religion. Okay? And that's why there are differences in these religions. In Buddhism, in Judaism, in Islam, in Christianity. Because the people in charge need to differentiate the religion in order to exploit you. Okay? In order to justify their existence. But at the end of the day, we're all connected to the divine. And all that matters is our connection. Okay? So all these differences is something that is artificially created to fool us. All right. All day I think about it. Then at night I say it. Where did I come from? And what am I supposed to be doing? Okay? I have no idea. My soul is from elsewhere. I'm sure of that. And I intend to end up there. Okay?

I don't remember. I can't remember. I don't know where I came from. But I know that I must have come from somewhere. Okay? This jokingness began in some other realm. Some other tavern. When I get back around to that place, I'll be completely sober. Meanwhile, I'm like a bird from another continent sitting in its aviary. The day is coming when I fly off. But who is it now in my ear who hears my voice? Who says words within my mouth? Who looks out with my eyes? What is the soul? I cannot stop asking. If I could taste one sip for an answer, I could break out of this prison for drunks. I didn't come here on my own accord. I can't leave that world. By the way, whoever brought me here will have to take me home. Okay? This is beautiful. And it's also a rewriting of Plato's Allegory of the Cave. Right?

This is a prison for drunks. Here we're all drunk. We're all blind from our true reality. This is a prison. When we return to the Monad, to our master, then we'll see the truth for ourselves. Okay? So here's another poor prophet, Friedrich Nietzsche. Okay? Friedrich Nietzsche is one of the three great German philosophers of the past 500 years. Immanuel Kant, Friedrich Hegel, and Friedrich Nietzsche. And Friedrich Nietzsche wrote this book, Zoroastria. And he wrote it in a very interesting way. He likes to take these long walks. He can walk for like hours and hours in the mountains. And then now and then he feels as though he's being seized. Okay? A force has seized him and compels him to speak. And he believes this person is Zoroastria. Okay? So he wrote a book. And it's just a recollection of all the moments. When he was seized by Zoroastria and forced to speak his words. All right? And when

you actually read what Nietzsche writes, you will see that it's actually pretty similar to what Zoroastria himself promoted during his time. Of course, Nietzsche is promoting it in a more modern contemporary lens. Okay? So if Zoroastria were to come back, he would basically be Nietzsche. Okay? So in many ways, Nietzsche and Rumi are reincarnations of Zoroastria. They're all trying to speak a divine truth to humanity. So this is the prologue, the first page of Thus Beg Zoroastria. Okay? And what you will notice, okay, look for this. What you will notice is that this is exactly like The Alligator of the Cave. Okay? All right. When Zoroastria was 30 years old, he left his home in the lake of his home and went into the mountains. There, he enjoyed his spirit and his spirit. He was in solitude, and for ten years did not wear of it. But at last his heart changed, and rising one morning of the rosy dawn, he went before the sun and thus on to it.

Though great star, what would thy happiness be if thou hadst not those for whom thou shyest? For ten years hast thou climbed hither unto my cave, though would have weather of thy light and of the journey, had it not been for me, mine eagle, and my serpent. But we awaited thee every morning, took from thee thine overflow, and blessed thee for it. Lo, I am weary of my wisdom, like the bee that hath gathered too much honey. I need hands outstretched to take it. I would fain bestow and distribute until the wise have once more become joyous in the folly, and the poor happy in their riches. Therefore must I descend into the deep, as thou dost in the evening, when thou go behind the sea, and give light also to the netherworld, thou exuberant star. Like thee must I go down, as men say, to whom I shall descend.

Okay? So, Zoroastria has hid himself in the cave. And inside the cave, there is nothing. In the cave, in solitude, he has discovered Asha. He has discovered the secrets of the universe, and he has discovered that this is not enough. I must now go shine the light on everyone. Otherwise, I can never achieve Asha fully. Okay? So, it's exactly like the allegory of the cave, where the prisoner, he escapes into the light, and he's happy until he realizes that you can't be happy alone. You have to share this happiness with everyone else. Okay? So, it's exactly like the allegory of the cave. All right, let's continue. Zoroastria, may I ask you, tolicio, the master Seifer, how do you interpret that? I think you get the lead of the whole engineering here, regarding those lives, not just lijner to life, but I will ask it again.

So, here's what's happening, Zoroastria. Yeah. Let's say that's your story. Let's go step by step. the sweet milk of her udder, and nothing evil grow in thee any longer, unless it be the evil that grow out of the conflict of thy virtues. My brother, if thou be fortunate, then wilt thou have one virtue and no more, thus goest thou easier over the bridge. Illustrious is to have many virtues, but a hard lot, and many a one have gone into the wilderness and killed himself, because he was aware of being in the battle and battlefield of virtues." Okay. The question then is, if our master is wisdom, why do we live in a world of hate, of evil, of sin? And the answer is, because virtue must come from vice. Good can only come from evil. To live in good forever is to live in ignorance. We are born in the Druush so that we may discover Asha.

From our struggles, we will discover what truly God is. And that's a gift that God has given us. To live in a time of evil so that we ourselves may create good for humanity. That's the central message of this. Without vice, there can be no virtue. And to have one virtue itself is not enough. You must be constantly in a battle to create more and more virtue. Okay? So, if you are a man of sin. You are a man of sin. Or a woman of evil. Be thankful because now is your opportunity to be a star, a sun, that through transformation of oneself can brighten the world. Okay? And when you do that, you transform the world. And after you do that, your next battle is to go and transform someone else. Or to look deeper and discover the evil in you. Okay? So, don't worry about the world itself. Just worry about you yourself.

Because within yourself is a universe of evil. That can be transformed into a universe of good. So, one really important thing I have to say is that this is not Buddhism. Okay? The structure and the framework are very similar. But what Zoroastrianism fundamentally says is that compassion is not enough. Okay? You have to act. Because justice is about action. If you see injustice, you must speak out. You can't be like, oh, I'm indifferent. You can't be like, oh, I'm indifferent. Because I'm compassionate. Okay? That's not enough. You have to act out. And that's why people who believe in this religion were so creative. Okay? Because they believe in action. Being indifferent is simply being complicit in the system. All right? All right. You tell me, life is hard to bear. But for what purpose shall you have your pride in the morning and your resignation in the evening? Life is hard to bear.

But it doesn't affect to be so delicate. We are all of us fine sumter asses and she asses. Okay? What we have in common with a rosebud which trembles because a drop of dew has formed upon it. It is true that we love life, not because we want to live, but because we want to love. Love is Asha, right? We always want to achieve Asha. There is always some madness in love, but there is always also some method in madness. And to me also, who appreciate life, the butterflies and soap bubbles and whatever is like them amongst us seem most to enjoy happiness. To see those things, we have to be happy. To see those light, foolish, pretty, lively little sprites flit about that move Zoroastrian to tears and song. I should only believe in a God that would know how to dance. And when I saw my devil, I found him serious, thorough, profound, solemn.

He was a spirit of gravity. For him, all things fail. Okay. So what Nietzsche hates is organized religion. Because organized religion, it is very serious, very somber. It basically wants to enslave us, right? It's like, don't do anything bad. Don't drink. Don't smoke. Don't have sex. Or you'll burn in hell. Okay. That's very serious. And what Zoroastrian and what Nietzsche is saying is that that's not what Asha is, man. Asha is to recognize that the world is beautiful. That our master is all merciful, all forgiving, all love, all compassion, and you must delight in the world because that's why he created us. Okay. So the only way to survive this world of evil is to recognize that beauty is everywhere around us. And that is our responsibility to discover this beauty and celebrate this beauty. Okay. Dance. Sing. Make love. Laugh. Smile. That's what life is about. Okay. If a priest is telling you, hey, meditate for your life, because only through that will you avoid sin.

He's a devil, man. Okay. Because he's denying you your free will. He's denying you your capacity to love, to seek Asha yourself. Okay. But one day will the solitude weary thee. One day will thy pride yield and thy courage quail. Thou will one day cry, I'm alone. One day will thou see no longer thy loftiness and see too closely thy lowliness. The solemnity itself will frighten thee as a phantom. Thou will one day cry, all is false. So life is a constant struggle, okay, between hope and tragedy. There are some days when you will be very hopeful, but then some days when you'll be very depressed. That's just the process of life. And that's the process of wisdom. Okay. To seek wisdom, you always have to constantly destroy yourself. You have to destroy the world around you. And it's a never ending process of pain and suffering and tragedy, but it will gradually lead you to enlightenment.

What's really important is to act. Okay. To seek self -destruction. So another way of saying this is always assume that whatever you know, no matter how true or untruthful, it's probably wrong and to go and negate yourself. Okay. It also means leaving your family, leaving your comfort zone. All right. A heretic will thou be to thyself. Okay. A heretic is someone who doubts yourself, right? Saying everything I've known is wrong. Okay. So another way of saying this, and I know it's hard to understand is you come to my class for a semester and everything I teach you, you're like, wow, this makes a lot of sense. Okay. And every day you're excited. You learn a lot. But at the end of semester, what you want to say is, everything I've learned this semester is wrong. So I'm going to learn for myself.

I'm going to get, I'm going to negate everything I've learned and believe everything I've learned is deceitful so that I can rebuild my own knowledge. And through that process, will you actually achieve enlightenment? Okay. The truth is, oh, it has to be to you. There can be no truth for everyone. The truth has to be for you and you must fight for it every day. Okay. You must be to burn thyself in thy own flame. Okay. You must destroy yourself. How could though become new if they'll have not first become ashes. Do you understand? To live is to die. If you really want to understand, you must first destroy everything that you think you not understand in order to build a new understanding. Though lonesome one, though go the way of the creating one, a God will though create for thyself out of the seven devils. Though lonesome one, though goes the way of the loving one.

God will though create for thyself out of the seven devils. though loves thyself and on account despise though thyself as only the loving one despise to create desire the loving one become because he despise what know he of love who have not been obliged to despise just what he loved okay this is really hard cause to understand but like you know in the buddhist tradition it's like avoid anger no no no embrace your anger embrace your hate because hate and love go together anger and calm go together okay so by going to one extreme you can now embrace the other extreme and your life is a kind of struggle between these two different extremes when you negate yourself when you move into nothingness you can only move into ignorance and slavery okay does that make sense you are born of two natures you must let these two fight natures fight okay

when Zoroastrian had spoken these words he pointed out that hate and love are not the same thing as hate and love are not the same thing as pause like one who had not said his last word and long did he balance the staff undoubtedly in his hand at least he spoke thus and his voice had changed I now go alone my disciples ye also now go away and alone so will I have it verily I advise you depart from me and guard yourselves against Zoroastrian and better still be ashamed of him perhaps he have deceived you the man of knowledge must be able not only to love his enemies but also hate his friends okay you want true knowledge you can learn from me but at the end we must leave each other and you must say he is now my enemy I must now destroy him if I really want to be myself I

need to destroy my teachers in order to discover my true self okay and as you can imagine most people don't want to do this most people just want to cling to their mother when I cling to the teacher but you can never achieve true asha if you do this okay ye love your virtue as a mother loved her mother as a mother loved her son as a mother loved her child but when did one hear of a mother want to be paid for her love it is your dearest self your virtue the ring's thirst is in you to reach itself again struggle every ring and turn itself and like the star that go out so is every work of your virtue ever is is its light on its way and traveling and when will it cease to be on its way thus is the light of your virtue still on its way even when its

work is done be forgotten and dead still its ray of light live and travel okay so we die our bodies that decompose what's still left is our virtue okay that's who we are our virtue all that good we've done in the world all the knowledge all the enlightenment all the emotions that we've generated okay that will be eternal and so we must embrace this nature and become virtue itself okay being human is to be first and foremost virtuous to seek asha for this is the truth I've departed from the house of the scholars and this door I have opened to you I have come to you and I have I also slammed behind me too long did my soul sit hungry at their table not like them have I got the knack of investigating as a knack of nut cracking freedom do I love in the air over first soil rather would I sleep on

ox skins than on their honors and dignities I am too hot and scorched with thine own thought often is it ready to take away my breath then have I go then I then I have I to go into the open air and away from all dusty rooms but they sit cool in the cool shade they want everything they want everything they want everything they want everything they want to be merely spectators and they avoid sitting where the sun burn on the steps like those who stand in the street and gape at the passage by thus do they also wait and gape at the thoughts which others have thought okay so this is a radical idea but it's very true you go to university not to learn how to think but to fall into ignorance okay why because the professors there the priests there they have departed from reality and they've chosen to live a life

of comfort of ease of pleasure and as a result they can't know anything true knowledge is can only be found in the everyday in the mundane with ordinary people that's where God is okay universities are constructed to be away from God they are temples for the comfort of priests so if you want true knowledge go out into the world and talk to ordinary people suffer so that's it okay so now you can understand the beauty and power of Zoroaster and and i i really do believe this i really believe that Nietzsche was challenging Zoroaster but he was challenging in a way for the common mind okay because the thing about Asha is that it's always changing all right the Asha that was true three thousand years ago is that the Asha that's true for us today all right and what's really important to understand is that Asha is constantly becoming so you have to constantly

work towards it there's no there's no end point to Asha all right and Asha is going to be different for everyone but if everyone's moving towards Asha and the world becomes a more virtuous a better place and a more just place okay so um any questions guys all right so um last class i gave a lecture on the bible and i made a mistake in my lecture so um in my this my discussion about the story of the patriarchs um between the love story of Rachel and Jacob i said that uh Jacob had to work seven years for Rachel after his marriage to uh Leah but as uh this subscriber um Cole tells me actually that's how the bible says the bible says that um Laban the father gave Rachel to Jacob right away but then he had to work seven years to pay off that debt okay so uh thank you to Cole for

correcting the error in fact i probably made a lot of small errors um in my uh talk last class and i obviously made make a lot of mistakes every class okay so i apologize for that but the thing about this class is really important for us to remember is that this is a class not about answers it's about questions okay so what makes this class interesting and special is that we're always asking the hard questions what does it mean to be human where do we come from why are we here where are we going okay we're always asking these questions because these are questions that actually matter for us okay that's the first thing second thing is that i'm constantly in the process of becoming i'm constantly um trying to discover the answers and so for me this is a journey so for example um Zoroastrianism is a revelation to me before i didn't know

about Zoroastrianism and i made a lot of mistakes so for example i said that Christianity was the first monotheistic religion last um semester and now i recognize that's wrong it's actually Zoroastrianism okay so i'm constantly in the process of discovery of becoming um and what's really important is that we continue to speculate we continue to explore together all right and so if you don't like what i said, say this class or you don't like my opinion just wait a year or two and i'll probably change my opinion okay because that that's what true knowledge is about if you really want to pursue knowledge you must be willing to as Nichi Asura Thro select says you constantly need to destroy yourself to burn yourself in ashes so that you may build yourself anew okay and that's what the process of real education should be about okay so in this class i'm not here to give you a easy answers i'm not here to give you facts that you must memorize.

I mean I don't want to give you a whole lesson on these subjects that go upside down. I'm here to monthly check on the answers and problems. here to ask you questions that help you better understand yourself and better understand the world around you to help this class is about conversation dialogue and debate okay all right so any questions guys yeah so as to say the

ashes different for for different individuals um so I was thinking about an example is um so Hitler as a racist he he he not only saw but he also making some like a lot a lot a lot of people to hate Jews and let's assume that he think Jews are evil in his heart and trying to destroy them so if he think that this is real truth

justice does this still count for ash okay look um look I it's a very sensitive topic you know Hitler in the Holocaust I don't spend too much time on okay but if you truly understand Asha if you truly understand it's your through star what do we say is that our master is complete forgiveness compassion and love okay so whatever we do on this in this world will be forgiven in the end I I know I I understand this is hard for a lot of people to accept I know that we grew up knowing that there must be evilness world because of the Holocaust and there must be Satan and all that but um if you really want to discover Asha you have to let go of these ideas and understand that in the end all will be forgiven okay I'm sure That there are people you hate in this world and you think that they're

they must burn in hell because all the evil date even They've done in this world but if we want to appreciate Asha if we really want To discover the truth okay we need to let go this hatred we need to let go of this judgment okay um I mean I mean the very point of Asha is that this words that you said they're don't worry about other people just worry about yourself don't compare yourself to other people compare yourself to yourself okay and and so how do you know you're moving towards asha because you can feel it all right the problem is what keeps us from asha are two things our ego and our fear we want to be liked by everyone our ego okay and our fear of rejection people of saying something that offends other people being politically correct okay like i know that in my class i offend a lot of people

and i get shut out all the time on youtube and i know that okay but if i want to achieve asha i need to take this risk okay because at the end of the day what matters is my own individual pursuit of the truth what others think of me does not matter okay so the problem our society is we're brainwashed into thinking that the opinions of others matter okay what what would you teach says about you matters because the teacher recommendation will decide whether or not you get into good university how much money you make matters because that will give you status in society okay and what zero through star what nichi what roommate what play they're all saying is this it doesn't matter man what matters if you want true happiness if you want true enlightenment if you want uh asha you have to embark on a personal journey that requires solitude that requires

rejecting everything that you know in the past so you can rebuild yourself once you make that once you make that decision asha will come to you naturally okay but first and foremost what you need to do is let go of these prejudices let go of these ideas that have been put into you okay i know yes i i know i will get shut out i i i don't get cursed online for saying you know hitler will be forgiven but hillary will be forgiven because everyone will be forgiven okay everyone will be forgiven okay there is no there is no hell i'm sorry i'm sorry to say this okay i'm sorry to say but there is no hell hell is what we create in our hearts okay everyone will be forgiven all right but thank you for the question

any more questions okay uh my question would be um i know that asha for everyone will have different but like will it change in a different period like when i was being as a child or when i grow up with

change um okay so like i i'm not a zoroastrian priest and i don't insult the religion okay because what they will tell you is that um at the end of the day asha is virtue and god is virtue okay so so when you do asha you're moving towards god which is perfection okay but um i think that what nietzsche would say and maybe he's our third star but i think misha would definitely say this is that god is creativity okay so god so what you really want to do is when you move towards asha is to constantly reinvent yourself to discover new ideas about yourself and this is a never -ending process okay there's no finale finale to it and there's no there's no finale to it that means that each of us uh will live our own individual lives that's different from from others okay and and so what this means is that asha

will become different for each of us but what's important is and ruby would say this everyone would say this is follow your heart okay ignore what others think dissipate your fears okay kill your fears and just believe in yourself for their heart and asha will come naturally to you okay and when that happens also god will come naturally to you you'll discover new truths uh new powers new understandings that will bring you greater happiness in life okay does that make sense okay great any more questions guys

all right yeah so does that mean we'll never be like like uh not physically but like with asha but like we're always trying to get closer with them yeah okay

yeah so again there's no end point okay there's no destination here okay it's becoming okay it's a possible constant process of becoming and it's not possible to seek asha in one lifetime right that's why we are reincarnated because we come back and we do it over again and we move closer towards asha each time but there can never be an end point okay because let's just say you reach that end point guess what everyone else hasn't so you have a duty now to help other people okay does that make sense so if you move closer to asha you also want to move others closer to asha so it's a constant it's a constant struggle but that's what gives meaning and purpose to the universe the fact that we're all striving to be better okay virtue truth asha these are all we strive for okay there can be no perfection there can just be only a

process of becoming right does that make sense okay so look i mean i know people want simple answers i know that oh there'll be there'll be a final judgment we're gonna go to heaven and we'll live every happy happily ever after okay that's not what that's not what the truth is the truth is that right the universe is a constant process of becoming of struggle of pain of tragedy but from that we can build hope and virtue and good okay all right so thank you so what i've done is i've gone over into the three major civilizations okay the greeks uh the israelites and the persians that that have come after Frühling or Br gewalt okay what i'm gonna do next week is i'm gonna put i'm I'm going to show you how these three civilizations interact with each other, okay? We're going to go into the history of these civilizations, okay? All right, so I'll see you guys next week.