After leaving the hospital in Puerto Rico I was hospitalized in my hometown for some
time. It was there that I met two wonderful persons: Dominique (Nikki) & Darrius.
As Nikki, Darrius and I grew closer, I began to get the feeling that Darrius (he said I
could call him either Darrius as in ‘dare-ee-us’ or Darrius as in ‘dar-ee-us’) was
somehow connected to my story. Dominique obviously fit into my story because her
name was the name of the island where I was supposed to meet Dennis about
building a cell phone system there. From just this feeling about Darrius, I decided
to look up the origin of his name. His name was the name of a great Persian
Archaemenid Empire King - King Darius. To me, this fit right in with my story. So I
researched further and found that King Darius was a believer in Zarathrustra and
had made Zoroastrianism the religion of his Empire.
I researched on Zarathrusta (before there was a thing called the Internet I had to
use a library). Zarathrustra, also known as the Greek name Zoroastor, I found, had
an encounter with an entity that enlightened him to a new way of thinking. The
existing thought of his time was that there are many gods but the entity convinced
him that there were just two struggling entities – Ahura Mazda, Avestan for
Illuminating Wisdom or Illuminating Light and Angra Mainyu, Avestan for Destructive
Spirit (also know as Ahriman). Zarathrustra’s entity presented him with a
description of ‘his creation’, which consisted of two opposing forces, ‘the truth’ and
‘the lie’ (aša (truth and order) and druj (lie – falsehood, chaos and disorder)). It
took more than 7 years (this number varies) for Zarathrustra to gain his first
converts (his wife & family) to his simpler way of life. The religion of his time (exact
dating of his life is a widely debate issue) consisted in the belief of a multitude of
gods. His illumination came to him in a vision in which Ahura Mazda explained to
him the dualistic system and how it would progress to a monotheistic system in time.
I couldn’t believe how from just a desire to know the meaning of Darrius’s name I
could stumble upon a past occurrence, which completely related to my encounter
with the entity in Puerto Rico and the vision presented to me.
After recovering in Seattle, I then returned to San Diego where I started to write my
book – this book. I started from just a quick outline of my experience in which I
wrote down all I could remember and recreate from phone records. I went to the
library back at UC San Diego and found out as much as I could about Puerto Rico
and it’s history.
It took some time for me to gather myself after this experience but eventually I
returned to work. I even returned to Puerto Rico within a year of my first visit and I
have continued to return to Puerto Rico for years since then and continue to this
very day. In fact, I love Puerto Rico so much I haven’t even made my way to any
other island out in the Caribbean yet (remember, I was originally heading to
Jamaica and I still haven’t made it to that beautiful island yet).
Things are changing (aren’t they always) and I am sure that soon enough I will be
visiting other islands in the Caribbean and around the world though.
time. It was there that I met two wonderful persons: Dominique (Nikki) & Darrius.
As Nikki, Darrius and I grew closer, I began to get the feeling that Darrius (he said I
could call him either Darrius as in ‘dare-ee-us’ or Darrius as in ‘dar-ee-us’) was
somehow connected to my story. Dominique obviously fit into my story because her
name was the name of the island where I was supposed to meet Dennis about
building a cell phone system there. From just this feeling about Darrius, I decided
to look up the origin of his name. His name was the name of a great Persian
Archaemenid Empire King - King Darius. To me, this fit right in with my story. So I
researched further and found that King Darius was a believer in Zarathrustra and
had made Zoroastrianism the religion of his Empire.
I researched on Zarathrusta (before there was a thing called the Internet I had to
use a library). Zarathrustra, also known as the Greek name Zoroastor, I found, had
an encounter with an entity that enlightened him to a new way of thinking. The
existing thought of his time was that there are many gods but the entity convinced
him that there were just two struggling entities – Ahura Mazda, Avestan for
Illuminating Wisdom or Illuminating Light and Angra Mainyu, Avestan for Destructive
Spirit (also know as Ahriman). Zarathrustra’s entity presented him with a
description of ‘his creation’, which consisted of two opposing forces, ‘the truth’ and
‘the lie’ (aša (truth and order) and druj (lie – falsehood, chaos and disorder)). It
took more than 7 years (this number varies) for Zarathrustra to gain his first
converts (his wife & family) to his simpler way of life. The religion of his time (exact
dating of his life is a widely debate issue) consisted in the belief of a multitude of
gods. His illumination came to him in a vision in which Ahura Mazda explained to
him the dualistic system and how it would progress to a monotheistic system in time.
I couldn’t believe how from just a desire to know the meaning of Darrius’s name I
could stumble upon a past occurrence, which completely related to my encounter
with the entity in Puerto Rico and the vision presented to me.
After recovering in Seattle, I then returned to San Diego where I started to write my
book – this book. I started from just a quick outline of my experience in which I
wrote down all I could remember and recreate from phone records. I went to the
library back at UC San Diego and found out as much as I could about Puerto Rico
and it’s history.
It took some time for me to gather myself after this experience but eventually I
returned to work. I even returned to Puerto Rico within a year of my first visit and I
have continued to return to Puerto Rico for years since then and continue to this
very day. In fact, I love Puerto Rico so much I haven’t even made my way to any
other island out in the Caribbean yet (remember, I was originally heading to
Jamaica and I still haven’t made it to that beautiful island yet).
Things are changing (aren’t they always) and I am sure that soon enough I will be
visiting other islands in the Caribbean and around the world though.
| Section 4.2 How I Met Zarathrustra |
World Turned Upside Down