Zarathustra: The Man Who Created
the Concept of Happiness
Everybody knows the famous Thus Spake Zarathustra of Nietzsche but few know that behind this name is hiding one of the most astonishing figures of the whole history of religions and philosophies.
Zarathustra (or Zoroaster) is the great forgotten name in history. Inventor of monotheism 3700 years ago, his writings gave birth to the religion and existential philosophy of successive Persian empires that reigned over a large part of the world for 1200 years until the advent of Islam.
We had to wait until the nineteenth century to see finally deciphered the original writings of Zarathustra, the Gathas, from an Aryan language forgotten for over 2000 years. The message of these hymns of great poetry is proving surprisingly modern. Apostle of Righteousness and the Good thought, the first two attributes of this single God that he called Ahura Mazda, Zarathustra wants to lead men and women towards a happy life, denouncing the corruption of the political and religious elites, the false gods and the bloody sacrifices.
The greatest Greek philosophers such as Pythagoras and Plato claim to him, while Judaism, Christianity, Buddhism and Humanism have drawn from the same source the fundamental concepts of their religions and philosophy.
Date and time : 27 November 2013, 6.30 pm. Place: Permanent Representation of Sweden, square de Meeûs 30, 1000Brussels. Participation fee: 5€ for members and 8€ for non-members, wine included. Registrations must be made toaktivitet@svenskaklubben.be before 23 November 2013.
The Speaker 
Khosro Khazai is the director of the European Centre for Zoroastrian Studies.
Doctor in history of civilizations, archaeology and linguistics, he is the author of nine books and more than 200 articles on the Zoroastrian Existential Philosophy. His writings and translation of “the Gathas, the Sublime Book of Zarathustra” were published first in Persian, then in English and French.
No comments:
Post a Comment