Being total : considering the end of human person in Zoroastrian perception

Abstract

The human being is dual, consisting of body and soul, and therefore the end includes it as psycho-somatic being, as total being. The final goal of religious life in Zoroastrianism, like, for example, in all philosophical systems from ancient Greece to major world religions, is salvation both for the soul and the body. The cosmic act of ethics based on the messages given by the revealed Zoroastrian texts, is centred on the human being and its relationship with the divinity. We find in its unity, as encountered and understood in the world religions, the basis of an anthropological foundation, which is of special importance in the dialectics of interreligious dialogue. In this article, this feature is shown within the context of the personal Endzeit, a context basically founded on the idea of immortality and ascension. Another objective of the present material was to point out the very aspect of ascension as an onto-gnoseological fact, insisting on the synchronic and phenomenological similarities between the transformative spiritual experiences in Zoroastrianism and Shamanism. After all, every religio-philosophical experience/system has an ascensional motivation.