{"id":562,"date":"2011-03-09T11:47:07","date_gmt":"2011-03-09T11:47:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/projectconversion.com\/?p=562"},"modified":"2012-01-04T12:06:31","modified_gmt":"2012-01-04T12:06:31","slug":"arts-and-culture-week-the-farohar","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/projectconversion\/2011\/03\/arts-and-culture-week-the-farohar.html","title":{"rendered":"Arts and Culture Week: The Farohar"},"content":{"rendered":"

To kick off our Zarathushti\u00a0Arts and Culture Week, I thought I’d start off\u00a0with the most recognizable symbol of the religion: the Farohar.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Also known as a fravahar<\/em> or fravashi<\/em>, this Zarathushti\u00a0symbol adorns many fire temples, homes, and worn as jewelry by the faithful. This winged man first appeared during the Achaemenian\u00a0period of Persian history and was associated\u00a0with kings and nobility. The symbol gradually faded from view in later years, but resurfaced in the twentieth century as many Parsis in Indian tried to reconnect with their Persian ancestry.<\/p>\n

Like most religious symbols, the fravashi\u00a0carries many\u00a0different meanings. The original intention of the Achaemenians isn’t clear, however later scholarship identifies the winged figure as the farr<\/em>, a divine light granted to good kings and prophets. Many foreign\u00a0to the Zarathushti\u00a0faith mistakenly view the fravashi\u00a0as a symbol of Ahura Mazda himself, lest they forget that Ahura Mazda is imagined as an abstract, a “pure light”, only known to mankind through his attributes called Amesha\u00a0Spentas<\/em>.<\/p>\n

In modern times (and some interpretations of old), the fravashi\u00a0is associated\u00a0with the “divine spark” of God himself which exists in all of creation. Because Zarathushtis believe in time as linear and progressive as Creation and mankind marching toward a state of perfection (frashokereti<\/em>), the\u00a0fravashi <\/em>becomes a sort of spiritual guide who assists its human counterpart in reaching this purified state. Some call this a guardian angel,\u00a0the Holy Spirit, or from a Hindu perspective (these two faiths\u00a0have a common ancestor), the eternal soul called the atman<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Each part of the fravashi\u00a0itself also bears meaning. The human figure can\u00a0represent man himself or wisdom. His right hand is pointed\u00a0up toward the one God. The other hand holds a ring that represents truth. Each of the three layers of the fravashi’s\u00a0wings stand for the path of Asha, being Good Thoughts, Words, and Deeds. The tail shows us the balance between good and evil. Keep in mind that this is only one interpretation for the various symbols. If you aren’t afraid to get your hands a little dirty, you can dig up much more.<\/p>\n

So, what does all of this mean to you? If you wanted, you could have found this information anywhere, but I’m living life according to these faiths, so there needs to be\u00a0some practical application. No matter what your spiritual disposition, what we need to understand is that symbols are used\u00a0to represent abstract ideas. My month with Sanatana\u00a0Dharma (Hinduism) taught me a great deal about symbology and that creating a visual of what we cannot understand in the abstract isn’t something to be feared, but when used properly, a tool that connects us with the divine.<\/p>\n

And the parallels are everywhere…if you’ll only take the time to look. What about the dove in Christianity? To many, it represents the Holy Spirit from its appearance during the baptism of Jesus.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Winged figures called angels (from the Greek, angelos,<\/em> meaning “messenger”)\u00a0are also central to the Abrahamic faiths and regarded as helpers to God and man–a bridge to the divine. Sounds familiar. These representations exist in many, if not all, faiths.<\/p>\n

For me, at their core, these symbols represent the outstretched hand of man’s heart, mind, and soul for the divine. We long to touch the essence of\u00a0God–to know and fellowship with the Creator. But because we perceive\u00a0him as impossibly large and\u00a0inconceivably\u00a0complex, we perceive\u00a0these seemingly infinitesimal\u00a0specks of God’s divine presence\u00a0at the center of Being itself. This gives us a clue, a hope, a guide, a glimpse at what it is to be\u00a0one and to pursue that goal of union with God. No matter what your philosophy or religion, in some shape or fashion, whether\u00a0in this lifetime or the next, isn’t that\u00a0the common goal that unites us all? From the Zarathushti\u00a0perspective, we as a species are\u00a0called to\u00a0accomplish this mission together. In fact, the only way to reach this state of “making wonderful” is\u00a0via partnership with God and fellow man.<\/p>\n

I encourage you today to look beyond the static symbols of your religion and immerse yourself in\u00a0their meanings. What is it calling you\u00a0to do? Go beyond the ritual. How is it calling you to live? Like any\u00a0spark or ember, it cannot ignite into a\u00a0flame unless breathed upon, fed and nurtured into a great flame (another universal symbol especially potent to Zarathushtis) that burns our ignorance and causes\u00a0passion to rise for God and man.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

To kick off our Zarathushti\u00a0Arts and Culture Week, I thought I’d start off\u00a0with the most recognizable symbol of the religion: the Farohar. Also known as a fravahar or fravashi, this Zarathushti\u00a0symbol adorns many fire temples, homes, and worn as jewelry by the faithful. This winged man first appeared during the Achaemenian\u00a0period of Persian history and…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":437,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[16,25,100,110,233],"class_list":["post-562","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-zarathushti","tag-andrew-bowen","tag-arts-and-culture","tag-farohar","tag-fravashi","tag-project-conversion"],"yoast_head":"\nArts and Culture Week: The Farohar - Project Conversion<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/projectconversion\/2011\/03\/arts-and-culture-week-the-farohar.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Arts and Culture Week: The Farohar - Project Conversion\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"To kick off our Zarathushti\u00a0Arts and Culture Week, I thought I’d start off\u00a0with the most recognizable symbol of the religion: the Farohar. 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Also known as a fravahar or fravashi, this Zarathushti\u00a0symbol adorns many fire temples, homes, and worn as jewelry by the faithful. 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