Some Good Thoughts this Christmas
It's been argued that the earliest philosophy of Truth and human free will started with the Persian sage, Zarathushtra (known to the Greek as "Zoroaster"). Indeed, Cyrus the Great, the noble king who freed the Hebrews from Babylon was Zoroastrian. Considerable evidence suggests that what became the Abrahamic religions that we know today were actually adaptations of pre-existent Persian Zoroastrian theology. Moreover, an emerging viewpoint is that much of what is "good" about Indo-European Western Civilization, including Greek Philosophy, can be traced back to the simple Zoroastrian teachings of "Good thoughts, good words, good deeds."
According to Zarathustra, we each help bring evil into existence by the choices that we make. We give evil substance, make it real, and give it power, when we choose to believe in falsehood with our thoughts, words and actions.
For these reasons, I think it was not a coincidence that the story of Christ begins in the Gospel of Matthew with the 3 Wise Men (Zoroastrian Magi) prophesying the coming birth of “Christos” (Greek χρηστός chrēstós, which means benevolent, gracious, or “kind one”).
According to Zarathushtra, each human being is a potential "saoshyant" – a potential redeemer or savior of mankind. In this ancient context, Christ was such a "saoshyant" for his "good thinking" in the pursuit of Truth" ("the logos" incarnate). "Know ye the Truth and the Truth shall set ye Free."
In the Gathas, Zarathushtra asks: "…which men shall stop the cruelty (caused) by the violent deceitful persons? To which man shall come the understanding stemming from good thinking?" (Y48.11). Yes, those men shall be the saviors [saoshyanto] of the lands, namely, those who shall follow their knowledge of Thy teaching with actions in harmony with good thinking and with Truth [asha], Wise One. These indeed have been fated to be the expellers of fury." (The Gathas Y48.12).
We have to fix things ourselves with God’s help. But, this requires "logical thinking" (the Logos) and "trusting in yourself" to choose Truth over Falsehood.
We are always free to choose the Truth because we have free will. But, belief based on fear, deception, guilt, or blind consensus is never free.
MERRY CHRISTMAS!