Journal

Mehregan: The Festival of Freedom and the Unity of Iran

A reflection on the ancient Iranian festival of Mehregan — the autumn festival of Mithra — as a celebration of the values of justice, covenant, and the unity of the Iranian world.

8 min read

A Historical Look at the Three Iranian Magi at the Birth of Christ

A historical and cultural examination of the tradition of the three Magi — the wise men from the East — and what their presence in the nativity narrative reveals about the deep connections between Iranian and early Christian thought.

17 min read

Philosophy, Imagination, and Poetic Language

A reflection on the relationship between philosophical thinking and poetic language — arguing that the deepest philosophical insights require the resources of imagination and metaphor that only poetry can provide.

7 min read

Black Mirror and the Hell of Likes in the Virtual World

A depth-psychological analysis of social media's like economy — drawing on the television series Black Mirror — as a system that exploits fundamental human needs for recognition and belonging while producing narcissistic pathology.

15 min read

Better to Be a Satisfied Pig Than a Dissatisfied Human

A philosophical engagement with John Stuart Mill's famous reversal of the Epicurean calculus — and what it means to choose the higher pleasures of the examined life over the lower pleasures of comfortable ignorance.

2 min

Thinking Psychoanalytically

An introduction to the psychoanalytic mode of thinking — what it means to approach oneself and the world through the lens of depth psychology, attending to the unconscious dimensions of experience.

3 min read

The Meaning of Life

A philosophical exploration of the question of life's meaning — not as an abstract metaphysical puzzle but as a practical and existential challenge that each person must confront in their own way.

3 min read

Personal ReflectionsPersonal

Alchemy and Individuation (1): Anima in Chains

The first in a series on Jung's interpretation of alchemy as a symbolic language for the process of psychological individuation — focusing on the figure of the Anima and its imprisonment in unconscious matter.

6 min read

Freed from Defilement in the Light of Bahram

A personal and philosophical reflection on the Iranian concept of purification and spiritual liberation, drawing on the ancient symbolism of Bahram — the divine warrior of light — and the Zoroastrian vision of the soul's journey.

1 min read

The Harms of Literalism in the Interpretation of Myth

A critique of the literalist approach to myth — the reading of mythological narratives as literal historical or scientific accounts — and an argument for the symbolic, depth-psychological interpretation of mythic imagery.

7 min

The Luminous Human: From Mazdayasnan Thought to Iranian Mysticism

An exploration of the concept of the luminous human being as it evolved from ancient Zoroastrian cosmology through the mystical traditions of Iran.

1 min read

Tocqueville's Prospective Critique of Liberal Democracy

A reading of Alexis de Tocqueville's warnings about the long-term dangers of liberal democracy — soft despotism, the tyranny of the majority, and the erosion of genuine freedom.

12 min read

The Influence of Zoroaster and the Magi on Plato and the Academy

An investigation into the historical and philosophical connections between the Iranian Magi tradition and the thought of Plato, exploring how Persian wisdom may have shaped Greek philosophy.

14 min read

The Greco-Persian Wars: Rereading a Historical Distortion

A critical reexamination of the dominant Western narrative of the Greco-Persian Wars, questioning the framing of these conflicts as a clash between freedom and despotism.

27 min read

Boundless Time in the Vision of Iranian Wisdom

A meditation on the Iranian philosophical concept of Zurvan — boundless, infinite time — and its significance for understanding the Iranian worldview and its relationship to eternity.

7 min

Sir Thomas More: The Last Man of Faith

A portrait of Thomas More as a figure who embodied the tension between conscience and political power, and whose martyrdom marked the end of an era in which faith could still challenge the state.

7 min read

Archaism or Resurrection? A Look at the Myth of Osiris and Horus

A depth-psychological reading of the Egyptian myth of Osiris and Horus as an archetypal narrative of death, dismemberment, and resurrection — and its relevance to the perennial human question of renewal and transformation.

16 min read