Dear Ali,

You wrote "What the Iranian young generation wants more is to find its own roots. They are glued to the Iranian TVs and radios broadcasting from LA via Satellite listening to Iranian historians such as Bahram Moshiri and Naser Engheta who talk about the Iranian history, the Arab invasion and the Iranian language. What boring subjects!"

Au contraire amie!  This desire to fill in the many gaps created under Islam shows great promise for the youth of Iran.  Granted that they should not focus so heavily on their history as to forget which epoch they live in, as the Islamists have.  But there is a saying that goes; "Those who forget their history are doomed to repeat it."  Iran's youth are displaying a thirst for true knowledge, as opposed to the diet of pabulum that their imams dish out.  The result of such knowledge may mean that there will be Iranian archeologists and anthropologists (the study of civilizations) in the future that will fill in the many gaps in the historical record for that part of the world.

Think of the significance!  Quantum leaps in technologies in early civilizations were driven out of a necessity to address adversity.  Granaries for instance provided a means for a city to feed itself when grain was not harvested. Iran's proximity to the fertile crescent very likely could have been the source for the technological advances that enabled the rise of the Babylonians, as well as earlier and per chance undiscovered, civilizations within Iran itself ... it is after all directly in between two of the earliest known river civilizations.  And I seriously doubt that Iran was, at that time, a mere expanse of emptiness.  We already know that when man emerged from Africa 100,000+ years ago, he spread outward to Australia.  That means that he went through and settled in Iran.  The Bible speaks of Noah's flood.  I am of the opinion that the flood DID occur.  But the source of the flood was from ice dams breaking apart after the last ice age.  We currently have archeological evidence of this occurring in North America when an ice dam broke in Idaho's Bitterroot Mountains releasing a mass of water greater than all of the Great Lakes into Washington state and gouging out the Columbia River gorge.  There is a wealth of knowledge then and, of pride then that can be gleaned from turning over the soil in Iran.

I have lived for a number of years outside of the United States.  I learned that the essence of what makes a people unique, as well as how they think, is embodied in the use of their language.  During that time I lived in Europe.  I mastered French and Italian, and I had to effectively think in French or Italian, and not simply translate.  There is indeed a loss when one translates.  You might have guessed by now that one of my many avocations is anthropology.  My studies of the Greek passed down their appreciation for Persian poets.  Their appreciation of Persian poetry is not for mere wordplay, but rather an appreciation on how to view the world through another person's eyes.  Each language has its own strengths and weaknesses.  The Germanic languages, for which English is one, offer the world precision and specificity.  Latin languages offer, for a lack of a better term, a soul or an ability to touch upon the heartstrings of an individual thereby arousing action or feeling.  I am not able to comment on the Iranian language as I am not familiar with it, however judging from the view of the ancient Greeks, it should be viewed as a most welcome step.

It could be that the reason that Iran's youth study the Arab invasion is to gird themselves in order to free themselves from the tyranny of Islam.  By studying the weaknesses of one's opponent, one can develop strategies.  By internalizing the rage that comes from atrocities committed against Iran, one develops the fortitude to overcome future atrocities.  However, both come as a "double edged sword."

The hope of the future resides in the youth.  Each of the prior is a building block.  Our wisdom determines how that building block is to be used.  So our responsibility is to determine how that building block is used.  You are correct to surmise that there is still a missing building block.  It is not a weaning from Islam that needs to be accomplished, but rather a replacement.  Every since Og (fictional first name for a caveman) came up with the idea that there just had to be something more than the finality of death, human beings have been spiritual beings.  So there has to be a spiritual replacement.  That is why there has been such a resurgency of orthodoxy in Russia.  As an engineer, I have had to from time to time incorporate concepts into a design that the client was against simply because earlier implementators did not fully understand the concept.  Therefore I learned ways to implement using different verbiage.  Islam in Iran can be replaced.  But it must be replaced tenet by tenet.

Hatred and anger first of all must be purged!  Hatred destroys from inside.  Consider; what does the hated care if they are hated?  They don't care!  But the hatred within one warps one's outlook in all things, and eventually destroys through poor health and bad decisions.  Even Sun Wu recognized this truth.  Anger is a manifestation of hatred.  This is why I asked you to amend that sentence, because I purged these emotions from myself more than twenty years ago.  Much of what I see in Islam stems from jealousy, just beginning from "what is yours is mine."  Jealousy again is a manifestation of hatred.  Purging hatred is liberating.  It frees the mind to work more effectively and improves the health.  Once again it would appear that we have a "tall order."  How to replace one of the leading tenets of Islam (hatred)?  I remain

Sincerely yours,
Terrence Robertson
and Dorood