Readers' Forum
Idea of goodness
The concepts of good thoughts, good words and good deeds are fine. But what does ‘good’ mean? Thinkers have grappled with this question for millennia without much success.
The idea of goodness is so inextricably intertwined with that of godliness that in the mind of believers they become fully interchangeable identities, resulting, consciously or otherwise, in their falling victim to a confusion Socrates had long ago cleared by asking: "Is a thought, word, or deed good because God commands it, or does God command it because it is good?”
Without resort to divine revelation, holy writ, or the expositions of religious charlatans, and armed with no more than common sense, reason and honest reflection as to what our thoughts, words and deeds ought to be, let us examine what is good (even if only by rejecting what is not) in some of the more egregious Zoroastrian shibboleths.
No one doubts the sun’s central role in sustaining life on the planet, but the Zoroastrian fetishizing over it on the kebla is embarrassing. Just an ordinary star in a universe full of billions, it will turn into a red giant as it ages, inexorably expanding and devouring the earth a few billion years from now. How will scholars, priests and self-appointed leaders of the community wheedle their way out of the implications of being consumed by their (if only symbolic) object of worship? Yet, feeding of the sun’s facsimiles in fire temples with wood and sandalwood, denuding forests even while the planet is "in the midst of its sixth mass extinction of plants and animals… since the loss of the dinosaurs 65 million years ago” goes unquestioned.
Or, let’s look at the risible idea of Zoroastrian purity. Its racist implications manifest in abhorrent ideas more suited to Nazi Germany than Parsi colonies in Bombay. How else to explain the continuing resistance to religious conversion and intermarriage in the 21st century? Since they seem to be so hung up on it, all purveyors of the purity myths should undergo DNA testing to ascertain the origins of their own genealogical arcs.
Women are not permitted to be ordained as priests. Again, it’s all about purity. I used to be told their menses make them impure.
All of the above examples are not good. We may never know for sure what good is, but thinking, speaking, and acting against what is not, would be good.
ZEND LAKDAVALA
Las Vegas, USA
zocrateszend@yahoo.com
The idea of goodness is so inextricably intertwined with that of godliness that in the mind of believers they become fully interchangeable identities, resulting, consciously or otherwise, in their falling victim to a confusion Socrates had long ago cleared by asking: "Is a thought, word, or deed good because God commands it, or does God command it because it is good?”
Without resort to divine revelation, holy writ, or the expositions of religious charlatans, and armed with no more than common sense, reason and honest reflection as to what our thoughts, words and deeds ought to be, let us examine what is good (even if only by rejecting what is not) in some of the more egregious Zoroastrian shibboleths.
No one doubts the sun’s central role in sustaining life on the planet, but the Zoroastrian fetishizing over it on the kebla is embarrassing. Just an ordinary star in a universe full of billions, it will turn into a red giant as it ages, inexorably expanding and devouring the earth a few billion years from now. How will scholars, priests and self-appointed leaders of the community wheedle their way out of the implications of being consumed by their (if only symbolic) object of worship? Yet, feeding of the sun’s facsimiles in fire temples with wood and sandalwood, denuding forests even while the planet is "in the midst of its sixth mass extinction of plants and animals… since the loss of the dinosaurs 65 million years ago” goes unquestioned.
Or, let’s look at the risible idea of Zoroastrian purity. Its racist implications manifest in abhorrent ideas more suited to Nazi Germany than Parsi colonies in Bombay. How else to explain the continuing resistance to religious conversion and intermarriage in the 21st century? Since they seem to be so hung up on it, all purveyors of the purity myths should undergo DNA testing to ascertain the origins of their own genealogical arcs.
Women are not permitted to be ordained as priests. Again, it’s all about purity. I used to be told their menses make them impure.
All of the above examples are not good. We may never know for sure what good is, but thinking, speaking, and acting against what is not, would be good.
ZEND LAKDAVALA
Las Vegas, USA
zocrateszend@yahoo.com
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