Who are we the Persians?

[Guest guest]

Who are we the Persians?

By Roya Monajem, Tehran

 

"The cult or religion of Mehr was then replaced by Zoroastrianism

with this unique characteristic that it is the only religion of the

world that speaks of 'joy' as one of the best creations of

God: "Thanks God (Ahuramazda) who created the Sky, the Earth, the

Man, the Joy…"

 

This site, Payvand meaning 'connection and bond' is a site

broadcasting everything about Persia. So naturally or expectedly,

many of its visitors will be Persians. The rest are journalists or

people interested in this land and/or people.

 

 

 

So let's go over this question of "Who we Persians are?" Please help

me whenever you feel any "superiority complex", "prejudice", "vanity"

anywhere, and in regard to my "ignorance" which has no limit or end,

remind me if you are sure that what I write here is not found in any

history books, or other reliable works and documents. I beseech you

to do that because as you know it has been quite difficult for us in

this country to have easy access to the outside sources and

major 'cultural' centers of the world since – when would you like us

to take our reference point? Let's say at least since the 'center of

culture' was transferred away from this land after when? Islam (1400

years ago)? But even in Post-Islamic Persia we were still one of the

major 'cradles' of civilization, particularly during the Safavid era

in 17th century when Persia woke up from some 10-11 centuries of

slumber, and with Shah Abbas's unremitting efforts the Persian Empire

with its gorgeous capital Esfahan (Isfahan) became a voice in the

affairs of the world. But many of us who blame everything on Arab

invasion of Persia can not like this dynasty and Shah Abbas, because

it was under his reign that Shiism became the official religion of

Persia. Some of us can 'forgive' him because he was a great king.

After all for 10-11 centuries we had fought to win our complete

independence from the Rule of Caliphates sitting in Baghdad and

elsewhere every now and then. So much blood was shed for what Shah

Abbas finally re-established: Not only an independent empire, but an

independent state.

 

 

 

But why? Why did Shah Abbas, and his major consultants all among

greatest learned figures of this land - that is Mir-Emad (clergy

philosopher), Mirfendresky (clergy philosopher), Sheikh Bahaee

(mystic, alchemist), Reza Abbasi (artist), Mohammad Reza Esfahani

(architect), Mullah Sadra (mystic philosopher), to enumerate only the

best well-known of them - made such a decision? Surly, such great men

could not be prejudiced about their religion or 'sect.' Mullah Sadra

was even under the great threat of being executed by 'religious

ecclesiastic' because of his belief on the origin of creation of the

universe. He had already felt the coldness and sharpness

of 'religious sword' over his throat. And Shah Abbas was so busy with

wars and efficient running of the country that he does not appear to

be a 'religious fanatic.' So what made them think that this is the

best step to take at that time? That is to announce after 11

centuries Shiism as the official religion of the country. At the time

many Persians were already Shiite, but there were still a great

number of Zoroastrians, Armenians, Jews, Assyrians and of course

Sunnis among the Persian population. Could it be that this was the

only way that they could achieve their independence from Arab

Caliphates? Were all those above great figures ignorant of what

happened in Middle Ages Europe only some 3-4 centuries before their

time when Christianity was in full power there and some 5 million

people were executed because of their 'believes'? Couldn't they

foresee the future consequences of this decision or should we take

the unfavorable consequences continued to this day as the price we

had to pay for regaining our independence from the Arab Caliphates at

that time and under those circumstances? Alas that this independence

did not last long and was soon lost to European and later American

colonialists and neo-colonists as we fell back to sleep together with

our kings.

 

 

 

Then came the revolution supported almost by the majority with the

main slogan of independence and freedom, followed by a seemingly

meaningless war with Baghdad, i.e. the former seat of Religious

Caliphs. Ironical, is it not? The overall result of the revolution

was the replacement of a dictatorial monarchy with a totalitarian

religious republic.

 

 

 

How much more blood has to be shed for the attainment of simple human

rights of national and personal 'independence' and 'freedom'? Will

this blue planet of ours ever see a time when every one of its

inhabitants would reach the conclusion that the world view of 'my

believes are better than your believes' will not get us anywhere new

both in our personal and national spheres of existence? When there is

a potential 'Hitler' and 'Stalin' sitting in all of us, how can we

expect our rulers to be other than the present men of power

throughout the world?

 

 

 

Let's stop being carried away and go back to our main

discussion. "Who are we Persians?"

 

 

 

We are from the ancient land of Persia, where one of most ancient

organized cult-religions of the world, Mithraism or as Persians say

the Cult of Mehr (Love) arose. And as everything in the world has its

high and low days, once pushed back by the new

religion "Zoroastrianism," Mithraism was preserved in parts in Free

Masonry, Christianity and Persian Shiism. The cult or religion of

Mehr was then replaced by Zoroastrianism with this unique

characteristic that it is the only religion of the world that speaks

of 'joy' as one of the best creations of God: "Thanks God

(Ahuramazda) who created the Sky, the Earth, the Man, the Joy…"

 

 

 

Here is where my pride may come into play. To be one of the - no

matter how petty, yet direct - descendents of the people who were the

first nation to discover that the most unifying force in the world

can be nothing, but Mehr (Love) and regarded Joy in the life of

humans a creation as great as the creation of the universe.

 

 

 

To me this is the only hope remaining for us Persians, as members of

a third-world country so far "behind" advanced centers of modern

civilization of the world which when looked at impartially are taking

humanity to nowhere 'new.' It is enough to have a look at the history

of any major ancient land to be sure that so far no 'centers of

civilizations' brought about a life worthy of 'human beings.' And if

human beings can not live 'joyfully' without the feeling

of 'religiousness,' then does anybody know any 'religion'

more 'human' than the religion of Mehr, Love? Isn't this the only

force that can help us to overcome the destructive, murderous

egoistic world outlook of 'my philosophy and views are superior to

yours'? Isn't it the only force that can make life worth living both

from individual and national point of view? Wasn't this the

motivating force for Nelson Mandela to behave so uniquely after the

fall of South American racist government?

 

 

 

Nelson Mandela proved to the world that it is possible to overcome

the automatic non-human behavior of 'the response to hatred should be

hatred.' Such a great hope he brought for us in this sense.

 

 

 

Apparently, love and hate – the latter arising from fear – are the

same energy or the two sides of the same coin. Thus with a little bit

of awareness and logical concentration which is the most important

feature distinguishing us from animals we can transform hatred to

love. The force created thus can become a transforming force which we

all have experienced in our personal life when in-love. We are very

different when we are in such a state of being, aren't we? It is as

though all of sudden the world becomes a warm sunny promising place

to be. Then if a significant number of us throughout the world

succeed to maintain this awareness and transform our negative

feelings to their counterparts, then perhaps we would be able to

create a different world.

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