Draw from the well
We can start calling ourselves Africans, or Eskimos, or Vikings.
It is not going to change anything
August 24, 2004
iranian.com
I am writing this in response to two recent articles
on Iranian.com, 'Basically
Central Asian', and 'I'm...
Central Asian',
both advocating
that the Iranian people should identify and group themselves with
the Central Asian nations in place of the prevailing Middle Eastern
affiliation we currently subscribe to.
The I-Ching
Oracle is an ancient Chinese book that is regularly
consulted by millions worldwide in the same manner as the Iranians
consult the Divan of Hafez. That is, for advice, or to ask questions,
etc. The I-Ching is made up of 64 diagrams (hexagrams, to be precise)
that relate to all possible life situations.
The seeker concentrates on his or her question or dilemma and
tosses a number of sticks or coins. Based on the way the objects
land, one or more hexagrams are selected and their captions are
read to gain further insight into the situation. The captions are
quite intuitive and one needs to be able to read between the lines
or else have someone more familiar with the oracle interpret the
captions for them.
One particular hexagram comes to my mind seeming apropos as a
response to my right honorable friends advocating that we start
being Central Asians from now on. The hexagram number 48 is called "The
Well". Its caption reads:
The Well. The town may be changed, but the well cannot be changed.
It neither decreases nor increases. They come and go and draw from
the well **..
We can start calling ourselves Africans, or Eskimos, or Vikings.
It is not going to change anything, I assure you. As an AA member
told another, "It doesn't matter how much spiritual awareness
you have gained, or how you have improved your life, or how many
days you've been sober. To me, you are still a fucking drunk!"
 Our problems as a people are deep-rooted and numerous. It will
require intensive, collective soul searching to uncover our shortcomings
and make attempts to overcome them. Assigning ourselves new and
superficial identities is clearly not a prudent way to approach
this issue.
Behold what Mustafa Kamal Pasha, otherwise known as Atta Turk,
did with Turkey, trying to make it a part of Europe. To this day,
when you see the 'Guest Workers' in Germany doing all the labor-intensive
work, you can clearly discern that, in the eye of the German, the
Turk is not a European.
The millennia-old Iranian personality is not something that you
can pigeonhole or ascribe a new identity to. We are a unique product
of our own turbulent history, and as hard as it may be to accept
for some of us, we have taken more from the Mesopotamian cultures
than any other culture around us.
Central Asia has been overrun by the Turks since 5th century
AD. Before that it was the nomadic Samartians and Scythians who
roamed the steppe. The Bukhara and Samakand that Hafez mentions
in his poetry are under total Turkish rule in the 13th century.
A scattered Iranian population still existed in the present day
Uzbekistan and Tajikistan regions, but they were by far a small
minority among a growing Turkic population.
 Our claims to Transoxiania
effectively ended with Alexander's conquest of the area at the
end of the Achaemenids period.The Pan-Turkist Movement is dreaming
of a Greater Turkistan, extending from present day Turkey across
Azerbaijan and the Central Asian Steppe to and including the
Xinjiang Region in Western China. Iran and Iranians have no place
in this
grand scheme and we best stay out.
.................... Say
goodbye to spam! *
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