S l I n k s t e r
I s s u e 1 . 1
CONTENT >> LIFE |
Home beats creative politik erotik threads life global village film artscene out |
ABout SLInksTer < philosophy> <contact> <submit> <contributors> |
CULTURE <people, places, near and far> |
||||||||||||
[ THE FIRE TEMPLE ] Royce
Carlson There
is evidence of Zoroastrian influence on Christianity and in the Germanic
religions. Zoroastrians had the concept of heaven and hell, the predicted coming
of a savior born of a virgin, the end-time purge of the world with fire
followed by the resurrection of the dead, and a final battle between good and
evil with good winning. The
evil principle is called Ahriman. Legend has it that, when Ahura Mazda
created light, Ahriman became jealous. Because of that, whenever Ahura Mazda
created something, Ahriman put a little bit of evil into it. The two forces
are sometimes represented as serpents. Ahura Mazda is a white snake and
Ahriman a black one. Between them is the world, over which they battle for
control. The prophecies state that that eventually Ahriman will be destroyed. The
game of chess is based on the fight between Ahura Mazda and Ahriman. Ahura
Mazda is the white king and Ahriman is the black king. The chessmen represent
the elements of life. The sixty-four alternating black and white squares
represent the floor of the House of the Mysteries. The correspondences
between the chessmen and the elements of life are as follows:
The
pieces on the king’s side are positively polarized and the queen’s side is negatively
polarized. The nature of the chessmen is revealed by the way they can move.
For example, the king cannot be captured but loses the battle when so
surrounded it cannot escape. Ahura
Mazda is a good god. He is a friend to all and is not to be feared. Evil is
the result of Ahriman, which is the evil element within us. By maintaining
good thoughts and good deeds, one helps fight evil. Traditional Zoroastrians
are adamant about not inter-marrying outside their religion. There is some
conflict between groups on this and other issues. Since there are no defined
denominations of Zoroastrians, the conflicts are difficult to describe. There
are over 100,000 practicing Zoroastrians and they are mostly in India. There
are some groups in the West also. Their temples are called Fire Temples. Fire
is very important. For most it is a symbol of Ahura Mazda but some
Zoroastrians actually worship fire itself. The universe was created by fire,
is maintained by fire, and will be consumed by fire. The Earth was born out
of cosmic fire and at the end will be consumed by cosmic fire. Fire purifies
everything. Thus spake Zarathushtra. zenzibar.com |
||||||||||||
*
archives > view past culture |
||||||||||||
* email>
the author |
||||||||||||
* disclaimer
> The editors and creators @ slinkster would like to remind you
that views expressed in the slinkster space do not necessarily reflect those
portrayed by the slinkster ethos- although- then again……they just might. If you have a problem with what you have
read, we suggest e-mailing the author.
Failing that, drop us a line and we can try and explain ourselves
better |
ABout SLInksTer < philosophy> <contact> <submit> <contributors> |