Embrace new ideas

"The hill tho’ high I covet to ascend/ The difficulty will not me offend/ For I perceive the way to Life lies here:/ Come, pluck up, Heart, let’s neither faint nor fear; /Better tho’ difficult the right way to go,/ Than wrong, tho’ easy, where the end is woe.” — John Bunyan, Pilgrim’s Progress

The desire for greater good is indeed lawful and does not contradict any dogma or religion. We should review our traditional beliefs that may be anachronistic in our time. Whether we realize it or not, we have outgrown the old and are ready for something that serves our needs better. We need not throw the old stuff away, but we must sift through it and carefully choose what we want to carry in our community in our space and time. Let’s take the opportunity to embrace new ideas that will enrich and dignify our existence. By combining the best of the old and new, we can create an entity which truly serves our needs. What new stuff one may ask?

Hambandagi (21 Yatha Ahu Vairyos, 12 Ashem Vohus) is one of the good ideas that has lately been put into regular practice; religious education and prayer meetings that highlight proper articulation and meanings of our Avestan texts; jashans, gahanbars, community gatherings at atash behrams, adarians for navjotes, weddings, navar and maratab ceremonies and, for a nominal fee, community repasts to promote camaraderie and networking.

There is a major movement in our community toward a more transcendent expression of worship. It affects not only our religion, but also our cultural identity, a subtle blending of the east and west, of the old and new.

Adopting a theme from Hafiz:

Our Maker is/ One.

Each of us is/ Uniquely, individually,/ One.

And yet we are/ A part of/ One.

Together we’ll be/ Indivisibly/ One.

Tandarosti and Khuda hafiz !

PARVEZ S. DASTOOR

Farmington, Missouri, USA

Parsi2@sbcglobal.net