Existentialist Couch Potato

When you look into an abyss, the abyss also looks into you. ~ Friedrich Nietzsche

It's not the pace of life that concerns me. It's the sudden stop at the end. ~ Miller.

After dropping the kids back at Monkey-Central last night, I curled up on my thinking chair with some Chinese tacos and flipped through the offerings of my local Time-Warner cable monopoly. I stopped flipping around when I heard the familiar sounds of Richard Strauss's Also sprach Zarathustra ("Thus Spoke Zarathustra" in English), which has become inextricably associated with 2001: A Space Odyssey. Actually, it was the sequel (2010: The Year We Make Contact) that was on last night, but I've only seen it a couple of dozen times or so, so I let it run on.

I've always loved this piece of music (I even own a copy), it often makes me think of Friedrich Nietzsche - that favorite philosopher of overwrought teenagers - as it is also the title of one of his middle-period works, Thus Spake Zarathustra, A Book for All and None (1883 - 1885), which became Nietzsche's best-known book and the one he considered the most important. It famously declares that "God is dead", elaborates on Nietzsche's conception of the will to power, and serves as an introduction to his doctrine of eternal return.

The book is sort of a free-wheeling narrative featuring the character of Zarathustra (referring to the traditional prophet of Zoroastrianism) who knocks around making speeches, making a nuisance of himself and generally being misunderstood. It comprises a philosophical work of fiction whose style often lightheartedly imitates that of the New Testament and of the Platonic dialogues, and uses natural phenomena as rhetorical and explanatory devices. It is ambiguous and paradoxical which has helped popularize it amongst the reading public, but has frustrated academic attempts at analysis (as Nietzsche may have intended).

Zoroastrianism is the religion and philosophy based on the teachings ascribed to the prophet Zoroaster (circa 6000 BCE) of what is present day Iran. Mazdaism is the religion that acknowledges the divine authority of Ahura Mazda, proclaimed by Zoroaster to be the one uncreated Creator of all (God). Some scholars have suggested that Zoroastrianism was where the first prophet of a monotheistic faith arose, claiming Zoroastrianism as being the oldest of the revealed credal religions, predating Judea-Christian monotheism by as much as 2000 years, and which has probably influenced mankind (directly or indirectly), more than any other faith. Consider the fact that Zoroastrians were referred to as “Magi” by the time of Christ. Once the dominant religion of much of Greater Iran, as of 2007 Zoroastrianism has dwindled to small numbers; some sources suggest that it is practiced by fewer than 200,000 worldwide, with its largest centers in India and Iran. The basic principles of Zoroastrianism are pretty benign - you just have to get past all the funky foreign sounding proper nouns. These beliefs are:

1. There is one universal and transcendental God, Ahura Mazda, the one
uncreated Creator, to whom all worship is ultimately directed.

2. Ahura Mazda's creation - evident as asha, truth and order - is the antithesis of chaos, evident as druj, falsehood and disorder. The resulting conflict involves the entire universe, including humanity, which has an active role to play in the conflict (see #3 below).

3. Active participation in life through good thoughts, good words and good
deeds is necessary to ensure happiness and to keep the chaos at bay. This active
participation is a central element in Zoroaster's concept of free will, and Zoroastrianism rejects all forms of monasticism.

4. Ahura Mazda will ultimately prevail, at which point the universe will undergo a cosmic renovation and time will end (Zoroastrian eschatology). In the final renovation, all of creation - even the souls of the dead that were initially banished to "darkness" - will be (re)united in God.

5. In Zoroastrian tradition, the malevolent is represented by Angra Mainyu, the "Destructive Principle", while the benevolent is represented through Ahura Mazda's Spenta Mainyu, the instrument or "Bounteous Principle" of the act of creation. It is through Spenta Mainyu that Ahura Mazda is eminent in humankind, and through which the Creator interacts with the world. According to Zoroastrian cosmology, in articulating the Ahuna Vairya formula, Ahura Mazda made his ultimate triumph evident to Angra Mainyu.

6. As expressions and aspects of Creation, Ahura Mazda emanated seven "sparks", the Amesha Spentas, "Bounteous Immortals" that are each the hypostasis and representative of one aspect of that Creation. These Amesha Spenta are in turn assisted by a league of lesser principles, the Yazatas, each "Worthy of Worship" and each again a hypostasis of a moral or physical aspect of Creation (basically a bunch of angels to help with more mundane matters, such as finding a good parking spot, etc.

Doesn't sound too far-fetched, does it now?