Protoruna (Heptaruna) (Jan 2022)

Seven fundamental concepts

ZURVAN - a period of time, the container of existence, the substrate . (Zurvan Akarana = Boundless Time = Universal Zurvan)

ANGHA - Existence, Being, Reality.

AGATHIA - Goodness (a quality of Angha)
Usually taken to imply the presence of Ushta (Joy), Eudemonia (Good spirit) or Thalia (flourishing) or the conditions for these to occur, or actions taken to create the conditions

LOGUS - the logic of existence, the way things work, the way things need to be done to produce good results

ARTA - the ordering of existence so that the parts are related to each other in a well-fitting manner for a beneficial result

ASHURA - the being that produces Arta or Agathia

MAZDA - the wise mind directing the Ashura

Persian-Greek equivalents

Zurvan (Akarana) = Aion (Apeiron) , Angha = Ousia, Arta = Kosmos, Ashura = Kosmocrat (?), Mazda = Sophia (or perhaps Metis)

Protoruna in more detail

Anghus is Being, Existence, Reality. Anghus is what exists. Anghus is reality. Anghus exists quite separate from our ideas about what exists. Anghus is characterised by multiplicity and complexity as a myriad sources of activity interact with each other and the fossilized structures of the past. As well as this universal Anghus we can also talk about a personal anghus - our personal existence and experience. This may not reflect the world accurately but the experience in itself is a real thing and thus is also a part of the universal Anghus.

Zurvan is the Foundation of Time and Activity which underlies all things. Zurvan is a period of time. Zurvan is the substrate of life, the sea in which we swim. Zurvan provides the material for our bodies and our souls and time for us to play our part in the unfolding of existence. We distinguish between Boundless Zurvan (Zurvan Akarana) which is the the unending Universal Time, and Bounded Zurvan which is the limited time available for a being to grow, live and come to its end. Such periods in our common social life we know as Ages, but each individual has their personal zurvan, their particular lifespan on earth.

Tyche is the manager of the activity that happens in Zurvan. She makes the final decision as to how Anghus unfolds over time. She is the weaver of our reality. Her decisions can be good or bad for us, but she doesn't decide alone. We can influence her by our actions. When we know of Tyche (also Tyke) we understand that the world doesn't really obey our commands. All we can do is make our attempts , our appeals to the Tyke, and depending on what others may do and other factors, hope for the best outcome.

Vaius is the "Blower" - the cause of all activity. Vaius sets everything in motion and continually shapes the progress of the world.Vaius is the source of activity that lives and acts within the space and time of Zurvan.

Agathon - The Good - is pure goodness whether as an abstract idea, an active presence or a passive experience. Agathon is not easily understood in its totality, but we each know it exists from our inbuilt sense that some experiences we have in life are good and some are bad. Agatha is the Ideal Good which we reach up towards like reaching towards the sun. Agatha has an opposite - Kakon the Bad.

Agathia - Goodness - is a quality of existence. We judge our experiences and activities as good or bad. We strive after what is good, and strive to make things good. This is built into us and ultimately is not just a personal whim but is founded on the underlying nature of things.

Logus is the law of Anghus. It is the logic behind the progression of existence through time. It is the way of doing things to produce good results. Knowledge of Logus is crucial for our success. It is not easy for an individual to learn much of the Logus direct from personal experience within a lifetime. Thus we rely much on the transmission of Logus knowledge from the accumulated experience of others who have come before us.

Arta is the Righteous Order or Righteous Progression of the world - a process where the actions of each fit harmoniously with the actions of others and the pre-existing nature of things. It is the ordered world which is congenial to life. Where there is Arta a hungry person will find food, the restless person will find a challenge, the lonely a soulmate, the injured will find healing, the children a parent, the adventurer a world to adventure in and those in difficulty will find the knowledge and tools and the help they need to overcome their situation.

Ashura is the active righteous power that produces the Good Order of Arta. The Ashura has knowledge, energy and strength to shape existence, bringing the different elements together in happy combination to produce a larger harmonious whole. It is important for us to support the Ashura and indeed our religion is all about helping us to do so.

Mazda is the Perfect Mind that fully understand the nature of Anghus, of existence, and of the Logus, the laws of existence. Mazda knows how to create new things, new beings, a newly organised existence, out of what was previously disorganised and chaotic.

According to orthodox teaching Ashura and Mazda work together as an inseparable couple with Mazda being the wise guide of the Ashura. Thus they are often treated as a single entity Ashura-Mazda or Aramazda for short.

From Oct 2021

ASHA (or ARTA) is order, rightness, truth, beauty. It is the desirable state of the activity of Zurvan - where its different parts come together in a harmonious way. Asha is contrasted by DREG which is deviation, disorder, falsehood, wrongfulness, clashing, chaos.

ASHURA is the Righteous Lord, the Lord of Asha, the Amorton who creates and sustains the well-ordered creation.

(DREGGOR is the opponent of Ashura. Dreggor is the devil who interferes in the good-workings off the world, thowing it off course and causing disharmony, disease, chaos and unhappiness.)

MAZDA is the wisdom-power. Mazda is the perfect mind at work. Mazda senses the state of the world and devises the best way forward to the Good state of things and the Best Existence.

In Zoroastrian teaching (and generally by Neomazdeans) Ashura and Mazda are considered an inseparable couple working seemlessly together to create Asha.

Mazda is the power of the ideal mind. It works through the living world (the GAETA) (or ANGHA - the real existence), which itself is submerged in Zurvan. For Neomazdeans there is no meaningful mind outside of time and space. Hence we believe that Zurvan comes first, and Mazda is a child of Zurvan.
From Oct 2017

Zurvan

Zurvan is the Lord of Time, He is ultimately responsible for everything that happens in time, everything that is process, everything that is alive, everything that really exists.

It is Zurvan who created what moderns call the space-time continuum - the substrate of existence - the realm of matter and mind in motion. And it is Zurvan who is continuously recreating the world - moment by moment - according to what came before and the choices of the world-mind.

Zurvan is known in the Anglophone West as Father Time. However Zurvan is not like a human father , for he has no concern for the individual life. Zurvan is like the Emperor driven by Real Politik. He seeks to balance the various political forces at work in his realm, without any independent moral purpose of his own.

In the Gospel of Zarathustra though we hear the Good News about Zurvan. Zurvan may be extremely cruel at times, but he is not an arbitrary despot. Rather he dispenses strictly according to the law of existence - and this is a law that we humans have the potential to understand and use to our advantage, and to the advantage of the whole world-soul.

From 2016

Zurvan

Zurvan is the ultimate foundation of our world of Space and Time.

Zurvan is the ultimate creator and sustainer of the world we live in. However Zurvan allows the life of the world a freedom to act and to take the consequences of their actions whether good or bad without interfering.

Zurvan is usually regarded as morally neutral as Zurvan enables both the joys and pleasures of life and its pain and distress.
Asha

Asha (also Artia,Artista or Artavista) is Rightness , Truth or Righteousness - the state of good relation between things.

Asha is conformity to the natural law (Artus) - the law of right connection which determines what relations are good and what are bad, and which comes out of the nature of things in themselves and is not something arbitrary.

Asha is Truth, the good relationship between Mind and Reality, so that Mind mirrors Reality.

Asha is Righteousness, the good relationship of our actions to the needs of the world.

Asha is Good Order, the general good relationship of multiple elements of the world so that they work together harmoniously to produce a reality which is a good reality for life.

Mazda

Mazda is Wisdom.

Mazda is the power in the world which seeks to shape the world in ways that produce good results. It is the power which creates something new out of smaller elements, the power which transforms one thing into another thing.

Mazda depends on the law of Asha, for every act of creation must accord with the law of right-connection. However Mazda is more than simple knowledge of the law, but encompasses the knowledge of techniques which can create.


Humanah

Humanah is Good Mind. It is the character of mind that wishes for what is Good and is by its nature the springboard of good action.

The concept of Humanah implies both an inclination to do what is right, and also the knowledge and mental ability to discern what is the right course of action in any situation.

MITRAVIAN RUNA - Asha and Dreg

ASHA means Rightness, Truth, Righteousness or Good Order. Where one thing relates to another thing in the most productive way we have a state of ASHA which we can also call ARTISTA ('best joined').

Sometimes ASHA is obvious to us as a happening which is the immediate cause of happiness - perhaps receiving a gift that has long been wished for, or a cheerful social gathering where everybody is getting on with everybody else.

Other times ASHA may be less visible - these are all the things that need to 'go right' in the background for a good life to be achieved. Perhaps for our happy social gathering it was necessary for the hosts to obtain food and drink - which depended on them being able to find a shopkeeper happy to provide it which depended ultimately on everything 'going right' when the food was grown and prepared.

DREG means Deviation, Lie, Wrongfulness, Bad Order. Where the connections between things or people deviate from what would be the best then we have DREG which is thus an absence or falling away from ASHA.

Now whether we get ASHA or DREG is not a random thing but is a result of particular causes. In our attempt to grasp these causes we use the word ASHURA to represent all the causes of ASHA and DREGGOR to represent all the causes of DREG.

ASHURA and DREGGOR are two processes, activities, movements or in a way 'beings'. As we believe that most of the causes of everything begin in the Mind, so also are ASHURA and DREGGOR largely (or perhaps entirely depending on definitions) creatures of Mind.

The ASHURA is associated with SPENTAMAN which is the mental spirit which is life-valuing and seeks to produce the the conditions for life to flourish. The DREGGOR or 'the Devil' is associated with ANGRAMAN - the mental spirit which tends to be hostile to life.

However in Mitravism we recognise that the issue of Good and Evil and the nature of ASHURA and DREGGOR is a complex matter which we can't fully explain here.

Marcus Zartianus
October 4016 ME