Zoroaster — "When the spirit/mind or sensuous force wishes not to rise and ascend, as it is t…"
When the spirit/mind or sensuous force wishes not to rise and ascend, as it is true and original to its nature, evil and gloom ensue.
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More from Zoroaster
"May the good spirit overcome the evil spirit."
"May your journey be filled with light, and may you never run out of snacks."
"Whosoever, O Mazda, does not serve thee with the word, him I shall deliver into the hand of the wicked; for him shall be woe, and long punishment."
"The reward of the righteous is the radiant existence, the punishment of the wicked is the long darkness."
"May the evil-doer perish, and may the good be rewarded according to their deeds."
About Zoroaster (c. 1500-1000 BCE (debated))
Iranian prophet who founded Zoroastrianism, the first major religion of cosmic dualism between good (Ahura Mazda) and evil (Angra Mainyu). Closely associated with The Buddha (near-contemporary Eastern moral-cosmological revolutionary). For an intellectual contrast, see Friedrich Nietzsche, German philosopher of 'beyond good and evil' — Nietzsche appropriated Zarathustra's name for Thus Spoke Zarathustra (1883) precisely to invert the original's moral cosmology — the historical Zoroaster founded the good-versus-evil framework Nietzsche's character announces the end of.
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Understanding this quote
What it means
When your inner drive toward growth, clarity, or higher purpose stalls and refuses to climb upward, darkness and harm fill the vacuum. The mind is naturally wired to seek truth and improvement; whenever it settles for stagnation or gives in to laziness, corruption and suffering follow. Evil isn't an outside force attacking you, it's what rushes in the moment you stop reaching higher.
Relevance to Zoroaster
Zoroaster taught a universe split between Ahura Mazda (light, truth, active goodness) and Angra Mainyu (darkness, lies, stagnation), with humans freely choosing sides through thought, word, and deed. This quote mirrors his core ethic: goodness requires constant upward effort. As a prophet who reformed Iranian polytheism into an ethical dualism, he framed complacency itself as spiritual defeat, not merely a neutral state.
The era
Zoroaster lived in Bronze Age Iran, likely 1500–1000 BCE, amid tribal cattle-raiding cultures and ritualistic polytheism heavy with animal sacrifice and soma intoxication. He preached during social upheaval, challenging a warrior priesthood by emphasizing personal moral choice over ceremony. His teachings later shaped the Achaemenid Empire and influenced Judaism, Christianity, and Islam's ideas about heaven, hell, judgment, and the cosmic struggle between good and evil.
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