“The Role of Light and Its Historical Continuity in Iranian Thought”

The Khosravani sages were thinkers who expressed their understanding of a truth they had discovered through the word “light” and through interpretations of that word. To express philosophical thought by likening truth to light is a common thread among the sages of illumination.

To become one with the eternal light and join that unity is the final valley and annihilation through which mysticism as a whole can be interpreted as a movement toward union with oneness. In Mazdayasnian thought, Ahura Mazda is the light of the world, the Light of Lights, the radiant radiance, and the human being is an embodied manifestation of that light. The echo of this idea can be heard continuously throughout the history of our thought: “beyond all illusions and images—light of light of light of light of light of light.” In Yasna, Ha 30, we again encounter a statement attributed to Zarathustra with this meaning: “May Mazda help us, through the power of ‘heart’ and ‘thought,’ to discover the source of wisdom.”

In this tradition, which forms a foundation of Iranian mystical thought, the human movement is a movement toward this light through the powers of heart and thought that exist within the human being, because the person is an embodied form of that eternal light. Good thought, which joins good word and good deed, exists within the human being; trusting this force, the person rises and begins the cosmic struggle to pass through darkness and unite with light.

In this video, Dr Areta discusses the role and place of light in the philosophy of the Zoroastrian tradition and among Iranian mystics and philosophers.

Link to the video on the YouTube channel “Steps in Light”:

https://youtu.be/JqbMBaueMBo

Post by: Samira Ghobadi