From: bashir@acsu.buffalo.edu (Noushin Bashir)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.iranian
Subject: Re: Purpose of life???
Date: 13 Oct 92 17:05:14 GMT
Organization: State University of New York at Buffalo/Comp Sci

In article <1992Sep30.142207.4536@src.umd.edu> manizh@eng.umd.edu
(Reza Shahidi) writes: 
>
>              What is the purpose of life?
>


	ke-eem-o kojaa-eem
	che meego-eem-o dar che kaareem?

	paasokhee koo?

	be entezaar-e paasokhee
		asab meekasheem
	va be latmey-e pejvaakee
	kooh-vaar
	     dar ham meeshekaneem.

			- Shamloo


In the moments of despair, I have asked the same question oh so many
times. I hope you find Romain Rolland's words as delightful as I found
them once.


- O Thou, Thou! Thou art come back to me at last!
- Thou art come back to me, Thou art come back to me! O Thou, whom I
  had lost!... Why didst Thou abandon me?
- To fulfill My task, that thou didst abandon.
- What task?
- My fight.
- What need hast Thou to fight? Art Thou not master of all?
- I am not the master.
- Art Thou not All that Is?
- I am not all that is. I am Life fighting Nothingness. I am not
  Nothingness, I am the Fire which burns in the Night. I am not the
  Night. I am the eternal Light; I am not an eternal destiny soaring
  above the fight. I am free Will which struggles eternally. Struggle
  and burn with Me.
- I am conquered. I am good for nothing.
- Thou art conquered? All seems lost to thee? Others will be
  conquerors. Think not of thyself, think of My army.
- I am alone. I have none but myself. I belong to no army.
- Thou are not alone, and thou dost not belong to thyself. Thou art
  one of My voices, thou art one of My arms. Speak and strike for Me.
  But if the arm be broken, or the voice be weary, then still I hold My
  ground: I fight with other voices, other arms than thine. Though thou
  art conquered, yet art thou of the army which is never vanquished.
  Remember that and thou wilt fight even unto death.
- Lord, I have suffered much!
- Thinkest thou that I do not suffer also? For ages death has hunted
  Me and nothingness has lain in wait for Me. It is only by victory in
  the fight that I can make My way. The river of life is red with My
  blood. 
- Fighting, always fighting?
- We must always fight. God is a fighter, even He Himself. God is a
  conqueror. He is a devouring lion. Nothingness hems Him in and He
  hurls it down. And the rhythm of the fight is the supreme harmony.
  Such harmony is not for thy mortal ears. It is enough for thee to know
  that it exists. Do thy duty in peace and leave the rest to the Gods.
- I have no strength left.
- Sing for those who are strong.
- My voice is gone.
- Pray.
- My heart is foul.
- Pluck it out. Take mine.
- Lord, it is easy to forget myself, to cast away my dead soul. But
  how can I cast out the dead? how can I forget those whom I have loved?
- Abandon the dead with thy dead soul. Thou wilt find them alive with
  My living soul. 
- Thou hast left me once: wilt Thou leave me again?
- I shall leave thee again. Never doubt that. It is for thee never to
  leave Me more.
- But if the flame of my life dies down?
- Then do thou kindle others.
- And if death is in me?
- Life is otherwhere. Go, open thy gates to life. Thou insensate man,
  to shut thyself up in thy ruined house! Quit thyself. There are other
  mansions. 
- O Life, O Life! I see... I sought thee in myself, in my own empty
  shut-in soul. My soul is broken: the sweet air pours in through the
  windows of my wounds; I breathe again. I have found thee once more, 
  O Life! ...
- I have found thee again... Hold thy peace, and listen.

			Romain Rolland, Jean Christoph: Journey's End. 
Newsgroups: soc.culture.iranian