TOUCH FIRE BEFORE IT GOES OUT
Zoroastrianism: The ancient religion that shaped more than you think
The Fire Temple of Yazd, located in Yazd Province, Iran — an iconic Zoroastrian sacred site known for its continuously burning fire. Captured in warm daylight by Mahbod Akhzami and shared via Unsplash, the photo highlights the temple's serene architecture and cultural significance.
Forget the noise. Before the cross, before the crescent, before Nietzsche, Star Wars or the Enlightenment – there was a man, a flame, and a choice: good or evil.
Zoroastrianism isn’t some myth, buried under dust and empire. It’s real. Still alive. Still burning. Quietly. But let’s be honest – it’s fading. Fewer than 125,000 people worldwide still follow it. And yet, it shaped the very core of how the so-called "West" thinks. If you believe in heaven, hell, judgment day, angels, demons, free will – congrats, you’ve already absorbed its code.
So who started the spark?
Zarathustra. Or Zoroaster. Prophet. Poet. Radical. Nobody knows exactly when or where he lived – some say around 1500 BCE, in what’s now Iran, Afghanistan, maybe even Tajikistan. But what matters is what he said: worship one god, Ahura Mazda, the Lord of Wisdom. Do good. Think good. Speak good. Be the opposition to chaos. Asha vs. Druj. Light vs. darkness. You choose.
Sound familiar? It should. Judaism, Christianity, Islam, all echo this script.
Fire doesn’t lie.
Zoroastrian temples, called Fire Temples, hold a sacred flame that never dies. Some have been burning for over a thousand years – uninterrupted. In Yazd, Iran, there's one that’s been lit since the 5th century. The flame isn't just symbolic; it’s sacred. Divine.
Death? It’s treated with just as much care. In places like Karachi and Mumbai, some Zoroastrians still use Towers of Silence – circular, open-air structures where the dead are placed to decompose under the sun. Why? Because earth, fire and water are holy. You don’t defile the elements. The body returns to nature. Fully. Respectfully.
Shrinking, but not gone.
Once the dominant religion of the Persian Empire, Zoroastrianism was cracked open by Arab conquests in the 7th century. Many fled to India – today’s Parsis – and rebuilt. Mumbai became a stronghold. But even there, numbers are dropping. No active conversion. No easy inclusion of mixed marriages. Strict rules, old laws. Hard to grow when you draw that many lines.
But it’s not all nostalgia. In North America, Australia, the UK – something’s stirring. Young Zoroastrians are rethinking what it means to carry the flame. Some want to rewrite the rules. Others want to reconnect with their roots. Initiatives like Return to Roots send young believers to India to learn history – not from textbooks, but from temples and people. Identity is becoming a conversation, not a closed circle.
A cultural blueprint
You’ve seen Zoroastrian fingerprints in places you didn’t expect.
Freddie Mercury? Zoroastrian.
Voltaire? Obsessed.
Nietzsche? He named his magnum opus after Zarathustra.
George R.R. Martin’s Azor Ahai? Straight outta Zoroaster.
Even Star Wars owes a few flames to this fire: Light vs. Dark. Choice. Redemption.
Iran may be politically framed as “the other” in Western media, but ironically, its spiritual DNA helped build Western thought. Enlightenment thinkers like Goethe and Thomas Moore were fascinated by Zoroastrianism. Even Dante’s Divine Comedy might’ve drawn from Arda Viraf, a Zoroastrian text that maps a journey through heaven and hell – centuries earlier.
What now?
Zoroastrianism isn't marketing itself. No mass movement. No big influencers. But it doesn’t need to be loud to matter. It’s a religion of quiet fire – self-discipline, responsibility, clarity.
It tells us: there’s no devil whispering in your ear. No original sin to pay for. Just you, and your choices. The good you do – or don’t. The fight isn’t cosmic. It’s daily.
In a world chasing chaos, that message cuts clean.
Maybe that’s the lesson.
Preserve the flame. Don’t waste it screaming.
Use it to see clearer. Act better. Speak meaningfully.
Touch fire. Touch grass. But most of all – think for yourself.
Zoroastrianism isn’t a relic.
It’s a whisper with impact.
A legacy still burning.
For further informations check these articles out:
https://www.bbc.com/culture/article/20170406-this-obscure-religion-shaped-the-west
https://www.nationalgeographic.com/culture/article/zoroastrianism-ancient-religion-followers
https://www.nationalgeographic.com/culture/article/zoroastrianism-fascinating-facts-fire-ahura-mazda
