When Friedrich Nietzsche, a German philosopher of the 1800’s, wrote the novel Thus Spoke Zarathustra as an attempt to turn our concepts of God and morality on their heads, he selected his protagonist, a man called Zarathustra, because:

Zarathustra was the first to consider the fight of good and evil the very wheel in the machinery of things…Zarathustra created this most calamitous error, morality; consequently, he must also be the first to recognize it.

A lofty task for a man who also announced to the world that “God is dead.” But if Nietzsche was going to end the battle of morality and effectively bury mankind’s worship of the God who established himself as the creator of this system, Nietzsche picked a good target. Indeed, many historians and theologians credit the prophet Zarathushtra (using the traditional spelling now) as the “founder” of our modern concept of monotheism.

But who was this Zarathushtra, and what did he really say?

Most historians set Zarathushtra’s birth at the dawn of the Iranian bronze age at around 1400 BC. But if you asked Aristotle, he’d tell you “6,000 years before the death of Plato.” Tomatoes, tomahtoes, right? The point is that Zarathushtra is old school, in fact for monotheism, he’s part of the first school.

As with many prophets and holy men, a great deal of legend surrounds the birth of Zarathushtra. At the time of his birth, he is said to have laughed instead of cried. While these legends add color to the life of this great man, more often than not they are tools which add dimension to the life and teachings of the man and the religion founded upon his name.

Zarathushtra was born into a family of priests, and was therefore raised to propagate and officiate the religion of his people. However–as with most of our prophets–something didn’t quite mesh for Zarathushtra. So he set out on his own to find answers. For ten years he wandered through the Iranian countryside, searching for answers about life and the inequalities around him.

This spiritual journey sounds familiar, doesn’t it? What did the prophet of your faith do before his enlightenment? Where did they meditate? What problems racked their brains–their souls, and how many years did they toil before receiving their answer?

How many of us go on our own quest–to varying degrees–around the time we enter the threshold of adulthood? We’ll visit that later, but keep these questions in mind as they help better connect us with the subject and the people we explore here.

So, Zarathushtra is tired of the status quo, the daily grind, and pulls his own On the Road. He wants to find Oz, he wants to hear the voice on the mountain, and after 10 long years of searching, that’s exactly what he gets…and some.

In his thirtieth year of life, Zarathushtra is visited by Vohu Manah, the “Good Mind,” one of six personified attributes of the supreme deity, Ahura Mazda. Zarathushtra was then taken to the court of Ahura Mazda and His Bounteous Immortals, or Amesha Spentas. Their presence was so bright, so intense that Zarathushtra “did not see his own shadow on account of their brilliant lights.”

The question and answer session between Zarathushtra and Ahura Mazda was set down in a series of poetic verses called the Gathas. At only about 6,000 words, the Gathas form the core and skeleton of the Zarathushti faith and is said to be the words of Zarathushtra himself.

With this amazing experience, Zarathushtra was compelled to teach his countrymen about the truths he gleaned from Ahura Mazda. But the truth is hard to swallow. Twelve years passed and no one accepted his message. Destiny intervened when Zarathushtra won an audience with King Vishtaspa following a miraculous cure of the king’s favorite horse. With the king’s acceptance and blessing of Zarathushtra’s teachings, the Faith spread like holy fire throughout the land and became the official faith of the Iranian empires for generations to come.

Give it up for Zarathushtra!

This is just a brief overview of the man who essentially fathered our modern concept of monotheistic religion. Zarathushtra is described as a happy man, driven to do good and eternally optimistic. The religion he taught calls us to live life to the fullest and to actively engage in the struggle between good and evil, right and wrong, with the weapon of goodness itself. Indeed, he enjoins us to join Ahura Mazda and work toward frashokereti, the “making wonderful,” a state where good prevails and evil no longer exists. The only path by which frashokereti can be reached is through the path of Asha (the divine justice, order, holiness, perfection, etc) which is Humata, Hukhta, and Huvareshta, meaning Good Thoughts, Good Words, Good Actions.

We will explore the concept of Asha as it pertains to Good Thoughts, Good Words, and Good Actions next time we meet. Until then, thanks for reading and come back soon.