Philosophers From Iran

"In fact, the Eastern civilization is mostly concerned with the inner and spiritual aspects of living while the Western civilization includes the outer and external features of life. Therefore, the connection of these two, which results in looking up to one another in order to learn and improve, complements each of them in a different way. It is necessary to point out that the Eastern and Western civilizations are just taken as examples to explain the unification of cultures. This fact extends to the Northern, Southern, or any of the current civilization of the world."

"Union of civilizations of the East and the West is a good example of the mentioned fact; this union has brought a new civilization into the world which is distinct from its original resources. It is a tangible example of distinction of the antique and appearance of the novel."

"Union of civilizations and conjugation of cultures and religions is a must which has occurred and will continue to happen in several dimensions. The quality of this union will bring about the fate of our world."

"If you don’t say ‘yes’ to the world, it will say ‘no’ to you; if you reject the world you will be rejected because you have brought it upon yourself. Linking with the world is the best way of living in it. If you could not relate to the Universe it will turn against you."

"Humankind is a lonely creature looking for connections and associations from childhood to the end of his life. This intention to join with the others can also be found in human societies. Stories, legends and most of human efforts tend to a joint and union, the same direction towards which the humankind is heading. The definition of a human being in this theory is not considered to be a good or a devil self. Man is defined as a social creature craving for establishing relationships and connections, without which he will be unable to survive. Linking up with another thing, establishing connections with God, relating to different points of view, associating with dreams and in its most general form sharing life with a spouse are all examples of this instinct in human beings. In a similar pattern, civilizations of the world are following, and will be following, the same path. This is the era of Collaboration of Civilizations, Union of Cultures, and Joining of Religions."

"The theory of Union of Civilizations can be discussed along with the theory of The Clash of Civilizations by Huntington or the idea of Dialogue Among Civilizations. This theory concerns the future of civilizations and the solutions to the cultural and religious problems of the world today, and considers this union the foundation of a universal comprehensive civilization. Due to this theory, the selfishness of the governments is destructive; on the other hand, avoiding the separation of cultures and focusing on globalization and universality are emphasized. In this proposal, the way to achieve this globalization and universality is not the clash or negotiation of different civilizations, but their unification as well as their cultural and religious interaction."

"Before starting, finish it, and before having your first step, reach your destination. Therefore, before making decision on something, try to be foresight, look at the probabilities to the possible extent and analyse them."

"Don’t do whatever you are able of, however try to do whatever you are capable of, the best you can; your boundaries are flexible try to move to upper levels."

"See, hear and perceive."

"Be one and unify."

"Be awakened. Accept the reality and eliminate delusions."

"Show your love for the Creator by loving His creatures."

"Do not violate anybody’s right."

"Figure out the priorities so you wouldn’t fall into the trap of untimely priorities."

"Live according to the one and only truth and surrender to the trend of truth."

"Try to find out the answer to, “Who am I?” and drink from the cup of union."

"Perceive the Lord within your soul."

"Return to the divine presence and make others return to it."

"Do not kill your ego and do not let your ego to kill you. Control your ego and rule over it."

"Perceive the divine presence and be freed."

"Live lovingly in the divine presence."

"The great civilizations have to join together and result in new civilizations. The current civilizations will be cast away and they finally die like the disabled aged while they pave the way for the fresh newly born replacements. Similarly, the descendants of these new civilizations will do their best to fill the gap between the internal and external heritages and rescue the long forgotten spirituality; they will bring the past into the future."

"There are a lot to learn in both Eastern and western civilizations. If we summarize the Western civilization to American civilization and take it as an example, we can better understand the vast area of knowledge that the East can pick up and learn from it. Likewise, the Westerners have to look up to the Eastern civilizations to get new and more inner or spiritual ideas in every dimension of life."

"According to Islamic tradition (sunnah), marriage has been deemed to be an essential requirement. Celibacy has been regarded as a malevolent condition fraught with evils."

"Attar has roamed through the seven cities of love while we have barely turned down the first street."

"My friends, a shower of roses from that garden As my memoir upon your heads I've rained down. Since everyone has made some kind of contribution, Set forth another revelation and passed on, So I as well like all the rest have shown The sleepers how the bird of the soul has flown."

"God is Eternal … Here in this garden of a lower Eden, Attar perfumed the soul of the humblest of men. This is the tomb of a man so eminent that the dust stirred by his feet would have served as collyrium to the eye of the firmament … and of whom the saints were disciples … In the year of the Hijra 586 he was pursued by the sword of the army which devoured everything, being martyred in the massacre which then took place … Increase, O Lord, his merit … May the glory be with Him who dies not and holds in his hands the keys to unlimited forgiveness and infinite punishment."

"Thou all Creation art, all we behold, but Thou, The soul within the body lies concealed, And Thou dost hide Thyself within the soul, O soul in soul! Myst'ry in myst'ry hid! Before all wert Thou, and are more than all!"

"All you have been, and seen, and done, and thought, Not You but I, have seen and been and wrought: I was the Sin that from Myself rebell'd: I the Remorse that tow'rd Myself compell'd..."

"Do all you can to become a bird of the Way to God; Do all you can to develop your wings and your feathers."

"He who would know the secret of both worlds, Will find the secret of them both, is Love."

"Yet what are seas and what is air? For all Is God, and but a talisman are heaven and earth To veil Divinity. For heaven and earth, Did He not permeate them, were but names; Know then, that both this visible world and that Which unseen is, alike are God Himself, Naught is, save God: and all that is, is God."

"Sin and Contrition — Retribution owed, And cancell'd — Pilgrim, Pilgrimage, and Road, Was but Myself toward Myself: and Your Arrival but Myself at my own Door..."

"All things are but masks at God's beck and call, They are symbols that instruct us that God is all."

"Don't be dead or asleep or awake. Don't be anything. What you most want, what you travel around wishing to find, lose yourself as lovers lose themselves, and you'll be that."

"Your face is neither infinite nor ephemeral. You can never see your own face, only a reflection, not the face itself."

"Joy! Joy! I triumph! Now no more I know Myself as simply me. I burn with love Unto myself, and bury me in love. The centre is within me and its wonder Lies as a circle everywhere about me. Joy! Joy! No mortal thought can fathom me."

"I shall grasp the soul's skirt with my hand and stamp on the world's head with my foot. I shall trample Matter and Space with my horse, beyond all Being I shall utter a great shout, and in that moment when I shall be alone with Him, I shall whisper secrets to all mankind. Since I have neither sign nor name I shall speak only of things unnamed and without sign."

"The Sea Will be the Sea Whatever the drop's philosophy."

"From each a mystic silence Love demands. What do all seek so earnestly? 'Tis Love. What do they whisper to each other? Love. Love is the subject of their inmost thoughts. In Love no longer "thou" and "I" exist, For Self has passed away in the Beloved."

"Come you lost Atoms to your Centre draw, And be the Eternal Mirror that you saw: Rays that have wander'd into Darkness wide Return and back into your Sun subside."

"There are approximately 100,000 clerics in Iran and over 60,000 of them are in Qom. Most of them are theology students who have been studying there for many years, between 10-25 years on average.... Every student has to study a minimum of 25 years before he can attain the status of ‘ayatollah’, however most students spend 10 years studying in the hawza."

"Ah, Love! could thou and I with Fate conspire To grasp this sorry Scheme of Things entire, Would not we shatter it to bits — and then Re-mould it nearer to the Heart's Desire!"

"Yet Ah, that Spring should vanish with the Rose!"

"And if the Wine you drink, the Lip you press End in what All begins and ends in — Yes; Think then you are To-day what Yesterday You were — To-morrow You shall not be less."

"Alas, that Spring should vanish with the Rose! That Youth's sweet-scented Manuscript should close! The Nightingale that in the Branches sang, Ah, whence, and whither flown again, who knows!"

"Indeed, indeed, Repentance oft before I swore — but was I sober when I swore? And then and then came Spring, and Rose-in-hand My thread-bare Penitence apieces tore."

"Perplext no more with Human or Divine, To-morrow's tangle to the winds resign, And lose your fingers in the tresses of The Cypress — slender Minister of Wine."

"They say the Lion and the Lizard keep The Courts where Jamshýd gloried and drank deep: And Bahrám, that great Hunter—the Wild Ass Stamps o'er his Head, and he lies fast asleep."

"Indeed the Idols I have loved so long Have done my credit in this World much wrong: Have drown'd my Glory in a shallow Cup And sold my Reputation for a Song."