Human Nature and Human Destiny

Dualism, the most significant feature of Zoroastrian teachings, lies at the heart of the religion’s perspective on human nature and human destiny. As is detailed in this section, the meaning of life rests in an ethical choice: whether to comply with Zarathushtra’s revelations and live in accordance with asha, cosmic order, or to deviate from this and succumb to the evil ways of druj, the Lie.

Dualism in Human Life: Ethical Choice

Zoroastrianism teaches that human beings are free to choose to live in harmony with asha. This way of living involves making Ahura Mazda, the transcendent God, immanent in one’s own being, a blessing made possible through Spenta Mainyu, the Holy Spirit of Ahura Mazda, whose worldly creation is humankind.

Zoroastrian teachings regarding human nature and destiny can be simplified by considering a few parallels involving the basic dualism of good and evil. Asha is opposed to druj. Spenta Mainyu and Angra Mainyu are, respectively, spirits of good and evil because of the choice they made. This choice is the prototype of the ethical choice confronting every individual.

Judgment of the Soul

The ethical choices made in life determine the fate of the soul in the afterlife. The outcome of these ethical choices is knowable by the individual’s thoughts, words, and deeds. The goodness of these three must outweigh the evil if the individual is to be saved and to live for eternity in heaven. The alternative is eternal torment in hell.

Zoroastrian teachings on the judgment of the soul involve two aspects that are especially notable: the Daena and the Chinvat Bridge.

The Daena is a feminine being who embodies the individual’s ethical quality and who appears to the soul after death. If the individual has lived in harmony with asha, then the Daena appears as a beautiful young woman. To the soul of an evil individual, however, the Daena appears as an ugly old hag.

The Chinvat Bridge needs to be crossed by the soul in order to reach the afterlife. For the good individual, the Chinvat Bridge is wide and easy to cross. But for the evil, it is razor-thin, causing the soul to plummet down into hell.

The Final Triumph

The ultimate purpose of individual striving for righteousness transcends the salvation of the individual soul. The combined efforts of all individuals’ strivings will eventually overcome evil, bringing about the purification of the world and the final triumph.

At some point (the date is uncertain), new teachings arose that involved elaboration on this doctrine of the final triumph. These teachings asserted that a messianic savior figure, named Saoshyant, a son of Zarathushtra (whose semen is said to have been miraculously preserved in a lake), will appear to usher in the events that will transform the wicked world into the glorious and eternal kingdom of Ahura Mazda. The cosmic struggle will culminate in a battle between the yazatas, allied with righteous human beings, and the daevas, allied with evildoers, in which the good will emerge victorious. Then the dead will be resurrected, and all souls will be judged, the evil being burned in molten metal. The righteous will be saved, to live forever in the presence of Ahura Mazda.

Self-Assessment 10.1

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