1. How spiritualA word with many religious connotations, often used to describe a multiplicity of phenomena that would include inner, reflective or emotional experiences, and those aspects of life that give it meaning and depth or which are profoundly moving or aesthetic. feelings – aweA feeling of wonder and amazement, worshipThe offering of praise and reverence to God via a religious service, wonder, praise, thanks, concern, joy, sadness etc reflect the person of faith's beliefs.

2. The manner in which these individual feelings are reflected in the community and the impact they have

3. The relationship between questions of value and feeling.

4. Religious experiencesReferring to those experiences seemingly and often described as deriving from God – what are they? How do they stand the test of faith? Of scienceScience is really a process, based on scientific method, hypothesis, observation, testing and prediction.?

5. The relationship between spiritual experiences, religious practices and behaviour.

For most Zoroastrians the deepest spiritual experience is to pray before the temple fire. They believe that here, they stand in the presence of Ahura MazdaEmbodiment of good (often known as God) , where the sounds and power of the AvestanAncient sacred language. prayersExtempore and set conversations with God induce a trance like state. As the prayers are believed to give spiritual protection Zoroastrians find them comforting. A fundamental Zoroastrian belief is Ahura Mazda created the world, and created it perfect (all sufferingThe universal condition of humankind, partly caused by the impermanence of all things, misery, disease and death are external assaults by the cosmic force of evil Angra MainyuThe evil one ). They naturally have a sense of awe and reverence before the wonders of nature. As they believe the world is the Good CreationGood thoughts, words and deeds. of Ahura Mazda, there is a religious obligation to enjoy it and misery that could be avoided is a sinTerm describing the separation of humanity from God caused by disobedience to God. This means that community gatherings are invariably happy (and usually noisy!) occasions. Because it is the Good Creation everyone has a religious obligation to care for it and many Zoroastrians claim they were the first environmentalists and put a religious value on the world. A number of American ParsisEarly followers of Zoroaster. are scientists who declare their work is to bring about a greater appreciation of creation.

Many educated Iranian and Parsi Zoroastrians reject much of the later priestly literature emphasising their belief in, and practice of, good thoughts, words and deeds. The ritual fire is therefore of less symbolic importance but remains spiritually uplifting. This more abstract interpretation of belief finds no difficulty with science but the more traditional Parsis nevertheless believe that science is concerned with different issues from their religious belief and so the two are not in conflict.

Websites

http://www.themystica.com/mystica/articles/z/zoroastrianism.html

http://www3.sympatico.ca/zoroastrian/

Bibliography

‘Abdu'l-Bahá, 1972. Paris Talks: Addresses given by ‘Abdu'l-Bahá in Paris, 1911-1912. London: UK Bahá'í Publishing Trust

Boyce, M., 1984. Textual Sources for the Study of Zoroastrianism. Manchester: Manchester University Press.

Boyce, M., 1997. 'Zoroastrianism'. In Hinnells, J.R. (ed.). New Penguin Handbook of Living Religions. Harmondsworth: Penguin Books.

Boyce, M., 1977. A Persian Stronghold of Zoroastrianism. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Boyce, M., 2000. Zoroastrians: their religious beliefs and practices, 2ed. London: Routledge.

Hinnells, J.R., 1985. Persian Mythology. London: Newnes Books.

Hinnells, J.R., 1996. Zoroastrians in Britain. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Hinnells, J.R., 2000. Zoroastrian and Parsi Studies: Selected works of John R. Hinnells. Aldershot: Ashgate. On Zoroastrian influence on the Bible.

Hinnells, J.R., 2001. Penguin Dictionary of Religions. London: Penguin.

Hinnells, J.R., 2005. The Zoroastrian Diaspora. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

SHAP (Shap Working Party), 1998. Festivals in World Religions. s.l.: s.n.

Zaehner, R.C., 1961. The Dawn and Twilight of Zoroastrianism. London: Weidenfeld and Nicolson. (some of the earlier chapters are now disputed)

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