Asha is the path of righteousness, the straight path, the path that is true. Druj is the path of falsehood, the crooked path, the path that is false.
Choose the path of asha, for it leads to happiness and joy. Avoid the path of druj, for it leads to suffering and pain.
This is a quote attributed to Zoroaster. He was the founder of the ancient religion Zoroastrianism.
Zoroaster taught that life was a battle between truth and falsehood. He called truth “asha”. And his term for falsehood was “druj”.
To Zoroaster, the purpose of life was to seek asha and defend it against druj. I’d say that’s a good philosophy.
I only know this because I was researching the origins of the Russian oil trade this week. That’s something I’m writing about in our April newsletter for The Phoenician League.
In 1876 a wealthy Russian industrialist discovered acres upon acres of untapped oil fields in and around the ancient city of Baku. It’s located right on the Caspian Sea in the modern country of Azerbaijan – just south of the Russian border.
It turns out that Baku was once a major outpost of Zoroastrianism. Marco Polo wrote about it in his famous 13th century book The Travels of Marco Polo.
And it’s likely this Russian industrialist traveled to Baku specifically because of what he read in the book. Marco Polo reported seeing oil gushing out of the ground in the ancient city. The Zoroastrian temples harnessed it to fuel pillars of fire.
We’ve been talking about community and American mutualism all this week… and I felt like this old idea from Zoroaster fit right in with our discussion.
From my perspective, the belief that there is objective truth in this world is fundamental to the progress of western civilization. If we think about the modern comforts we enjoy today, they are all thanks to the work our ancestors did.
For most of human history, the world was a cold, dark, and often hostile place. But our ancestors constantly strove to discover the secrets of the Universe. And as they did so, they used this knowledge to make human life easier.
Fire… steam power… electricity… modern methods of energy production… advanced power tools – each of these developments came as a result of people seeking truth. Often under very difficult conditions.
So I wanted to leave you with a thought this week…
In many ways, our lives are a continuation of those who came before us. Many of us were instilled with the mindset that it’s up to each successive generation to take what they receive and build upon it.
But we don’t do this by electing the right politicians and passing the right legislation – no matter how many interest groups want to convince us of such.
Instead, we advance human civilization by building up ourselves first… and then by building up our community. Those are the things that we can control.
To that end, I wanted to introduce you to a non-profit that we recently formed. We call it the Foundation for Human Civilization.
Our mission is to help enable vibrant, self-sustaining local communities.
And our first project is to drill a centralized well in rural Uganda. It will service the remote villages of Mwera and Bugolo-Kireku.
These two villages are home to about 2,000 people across 220 households. Children make up more than half of the population.
Yet, the villages have no running water.
Residents must collect rainwater and/or travel to a natural spring to fill up their jugs. The closest spring is up to three miles away from residents in these two villages.
By drilling a centralized well, we’ll reduce the need for residents to travel to the spring each day. This will free up their time to engage in more productive activities… which in turn will help the villages become more prosperous.
If you would like to learn more about our little project and how you can support it, I invite you to visit the Foundation’s site right here:
Foundation for Human Civilization: Uganda Water Project
-Joe Withrow