Zoroastrian Virtues

Zoroastrianism is the ancient religion of Persian people. ın their belief, the religion was revealed to humans by the prophet Zoroaster and they believe in one creator called Ahura Mazda, with its exact opposite evil spirit, Angra Mainyu. It is prophesied that the evil spirit will lose one day and the earth will reach to its perfect state as it originally was. Similar to many religions, Zoroastrianism has its own virtues and ethics. Some of them are common sense, and the others are totally unique to the religion.

Core values

Although the belief has a really complex structure of ethics, we can summarize them with three words: Humata, "Good thoughts, Hukhta "Good words" and Hvarshta "Good deeds." To embody their virtues, Zoroastrians also relate their divinities with certain virtues. For example, the creator Ahura Mazda symbolizes the virtue wisdom. To live a good life, Zoroastrians value practicing charity, spreading happiness and be generous. They have taken the importance of charity to a higher level than most religions of the time, since it is not only for a pragmatic solution to the social depravity, but also the highest act of righteousness. To support life, order and the harmony of cosmos is really important to Zoroastrians and charity is one of the most important ways to do so.

Friendship and love

Living in a society with strong bonds, concepts of friendship and brotherhood are also in the center of their beliefs and society. The divine being Meher is the symbol of friendship, love and justice. On top of that, Zoroastrianism also tells people who can be a good friend, and who cannot. For example, one should not be a friend of a person who is disrespectful to their parents, shirks their duties and it even advises people to not befriend a debtor. Like we said before, Zoroastrianism has some unique aspects when it comes to ethics.

Importance of labour and hard-work

As a religion of one of the oldest civilizations in the world, Zoroastrianism valued labor and hard-working a lot. To proper use of hand and feet to do good deeds and to till and cultivate is advocated in their primary religious source Avesta. There is a demon called Bushāsp, who symbolizes laziness and sloth. It tries to make people stay away from being industrious.

Conclusion

As we can see, most religions have common grounds when it comes to basic ethics. It is easy to find a connection between their culture, lifestyle and social construct and the religious beliefs, ethics and virtues. It also heavily applies to Zoroastrianism. Best example would be the glorification of farming and being industrious, as these are the things that made Persian civilization one of the most glorious.