The
Preservation of Our Culture
An address by Farah
Pahlavi Empress of Iran
delivered at the Annual Dinner of The Asia Society,
New York - January 12, 1978
I
t is a great pleasure for me to be with you of the Asia Society this evening on the occasion of your annual dinner and the 21st anniversary of the founding of Asia Society. The reputation and prestige of Asia House stems from its significant work in building closer ties between the United States and Asia, and making better known our vast area of the world.
The Asia Society plays most laudable role in creating bridges between the people of the United States and Asia at a time when the dialogue between civilizations and cultures has become an imperative. We now live in a world in which discourse and dialogue are necessary pre-requisites for survival and where the sympathetic understanding of others has become a necessity for the continued existence of every human society. We will each emerge the richer from a dialogue between cultures which are ready to draw on their own deep traditions. in fact, dialogue is possible only when each culture remains true to its own genius, when each civilization remains rooted in Its own principles.
The future of the world can be guaranteed only when the civilizations of the world can live in harmony like so many melodies of a fugue. Mutual understanding of each other can help us all to span the awful abyss of conflict and forge the bonds of a more lasting peace. If, however, every qualitative difference is destroyed in a so-called world civilization based on quantitative anonymity, then the world itself will be reduced to a
level which cannot but fall below what each civilization has provided for mankind over the ages.
Nations can no longer survive as isolated islands on the planet earth. Even as we seek answers to the particular challenges that confront our individual countries, we share many concerns in common. Even as we must each select our own path to the solution of over-riding problems, we walk a common road. We can no longer remain untouched by what occurs in other countries. As we strive to enrich the spiritual and material life of our own peoples, we cannot remain indifferent to the plight of men and women elsewhere.
As far as Asia is concerned, however, intense contact with the modern West poses a special challenge because of the particular character of the various civilizations and cultures of Asia. This contact calls into play the profoundest resources of each culture and requires the deepest self-examination and self-knowledge. It also calls for a special effort to preserve the quality of life in the face of a quantitative conception of human existence which knows no borders and which seeks to encompass the whole world like a hurricane that overwhelms and destroys everything mercilessly. It challenges the genius of our best minds and poses a supreme test even for you, as it does for us.
In seeking social transformation and material improvement, we of course have a longer road to travel. We need to change, but not to lose our identity in the process. For us in Asia, the immediate challenge appears to be greater if only because of the powerful dominance over the last century or two of Western ideas, technology, science end values.
We in Iran, as in most other Asian societies, are faced with the tension between our own traditional values and the demands of Western science and technology and all that it brings along in its wake, including nihilism and despair on the one hand and paradoxically enough blind faith in senseless growth on the other. We are also faced with the environmental problem, with pressure upon our urban life, and similar world-wide concerns. We even face the possibility of an energy crisis in the not-too-distant future even if we are endowed with exceptional energy resources today.
We wish to adapt modern technology without repeating the errors and pitfalls into which so many industrialized societies have fallen, We wish to learn from the experience of the west without emulating it blindly. We wish to gain more. knowledge of the world, of the physical universe, without losing knowledge of ourselves, We wish to master modern science without forgetting the verses of our national poet Hafez:"The very sun is a spark that has flashed out into the sky out from the hidden fire within my breast.
l stood on the edge of things, as on a circle inscribed, but time's resolutions have borne me into the still center."lf on the level Of knowledge our aim is to preserve the consciousness of our deepest self while gaining a greater knowledge of the external world, on the practical level our goal in Iran has been to give a new sense to development as embracing the whole human being and not only his material and animal part. As His Imperial Majesty the Shahanshah has asserted so often, our aim is to have a development which encompasses the qualitative aspects of life as well as that which is measurable and quantitative, a development which takes into consideration human felicity as well as the products of factories end mills.
The transformations which Iranian society has undergone during the past half century can best be understood against the background of Iran's strong cultural tradition.
It is, therefore, necessary to say a few words about Iranian culture and its underlying values which remain alive end effective today as they have over the ages. Iran is one of the few countries in the world which has preserved a continuous and distinct historical identity over some thirty centuries. It remains wed in its historical consciousness to the first world political order established by Cyrus the Great. Its present-day language, called Persian, is a direct descendant of Pahlavi and Avestan and related to the oldest of Indo-European languages. Ancient Persia, after witnessing centuries of glory during which its territories stretched from Sind to the Mediterranean and even as far as Egypt, also experienced the downfall of the Achaemenians through the conquest of Alexander and the rejuvenation of her national cultural life once again by the Parthians and the Sassanians. For centuries it also faced the formidable Roman Empire in the West, both pagan Rome and the Byzantine Empire.
A new chapter began in the long history of Iran when Islam became the dominant spiritual force throughout the country. Iran soon became a major focus of the new Islamic civilization although within a short period it gained political independence from the caliphate and developed its own distinct Islamic culture. This included the Persian language which for nearly a thousand years was the lingua franca of much of Asia, being read and spoken From the walls of China to the Bosphoros. The Islamic history of Iran was also witness to many ups and downs including the devastating Mongol invasion in the thirteenth century and the European colonial invasions of modern times. But over and over again, Iran rose from its own ashes to gain e new lease on life, the final episode in this cyclic revival being the resuscitation of Iran’s national life during the past three decades.
During these long centuries in which the monarchy has played the central role in unifying the country, providing for it continuity as well as leadership, and being the major force in the cultivation of the arts and sciences, Persia has been deeply sensitive to the cultural currents of East and West, and has also produced a many-faceted and distinct culture whose presence is felt to this day far beyond the confines of Iran itself. In ancient times Persia was the scene of one of the world's most exalted religions, namely Zoroastrianism, whose emphasis upon the ethical life and the purely spiritual character of the Divinity had a deep impact even upon certain aspects of Judeo-Christian theology. Persia also produced a remarkable administrative system, numerous agricultural discoveries, the first known postal system to cover n wide area, and an architecture and art whose traces are to be seen as far away as Japan. It was during the Achaemcnian period that the Persians developed a navy which traversed the whole region of the Indian Ocean and influenced the techniques of navigation in many areas over succeed in centuries. Also during the reign of the Sassanians, our first university was established at Jondi-shapur, an institution which was the major link in the field of medicine between the Graeco-Alexandrian and medieval.
During the Islamic period, although Iran continued to be creative in the fields of administration and statecraft, it was primarily in the intellectual and artistic fields that she channeled most of her creative energy. For nearly seven centuries Persian scientists were foremost on an international scale. This tradition produced such mathematicians, astronomers and physicians as Khwarazmi, who has given his name to algorism, Razi, Biruni, Avicenna and Khayyam. This was also the golden age of that philosophy which over the ages produced one of the richest intellectual traditions of the East, one which is still alive in our land. The thought of the great Islamic philosophers of Iran such as Avicenna, Suhrawardi and Mulla Sadra continued to be a source of inspiration in Iran as well as in many other countries. The Islamic period has been also the age of great poets and mystics, of men like Attar, Rumi, Hafez and Jami whose, songs continue to enlighten the hearts and souls of men and women near and far.
The outside world, and more specifically the West, knows something of Iranian culture in the field of art and literature. Persian carpets and miniatures adorn many museums in America and Europe, and Persian Sufi poetry has influenced Western literature since the time of Blake and Goethe. But few people know that it was the Persians who transformed the Sanskrit numerals into the form known as Arabic numerals in the West, that they were the first to have developed the astronomical observatory as a scientific institution and to have built the underground water system which transformed the agricultural life of lands as far as North Africa.
Beneath the multiple manifestations of our culture, ranging from architecture to poetry, there have been certain, permanent values and principles which remain as pertinent for us today as they did in ages gone by. These values include the affirmation of the reality of the spiritual aspect of man's being combined with the emphasis upon the importance of providing for the material needs of humanity.
Our thinkers over the ages have echoed the famous dictum of St. Augustine that man can remain human only in seeking to go beyond what is human. They have defined man as a creature who is born to transcend himself and to find his happiness by reaching beyond the confines of his own being.
The values of our culture also include an emphasis upon the ethical implications of all human actions and the importance of preserving human dignity. Although man has physical needs which must be catered to according to justice, he cannot be reduced to a merely physical being. Likewise, the love of beauty as "the radiance of Truth." underlies all authentic aspects of Iranian culture.
Certainly these values are not uniquely ours. All cultures worthy of the name must also be based on justice, truth and respect for life. But it is the particular blend of such values, and especially the aim to create harmony between man's spiritual and material needs and equilibrium between utility and beauty, which gives our culture its distinctive features. Other cultures have certainly spoken of and emphasized human dignity and we Iranians do not wish in any way to claim them as a monopoly of our own culture. Yet we are proud to state that over the centuries we have never lost sight of the total nature of man and we have lived within our borders in peace and harmony with followers of faiths other than that of the majority of our people.It is precisely this rich heritage and this living culture with its roots sunk deeply into the soil of history that makes the encounter with modernism in its many facets such a great challenge to us. Our culture never petrified or solidified or became an obstacle to the tranformation and growth which life itself implies. As our great mystical poet Rumi said:
"Every instantstant the world is being renewed, and we are unaware of its perpetual change.
Life is ever pouring in afresh, though in the body it has the semblance of continuity."To revive our national culture as the foundation of the revival of our national life, we have devoted attention first and foremost to education which has expanded enormously in recent years. During the last decade the number of our schools has increased from 7,000 to 44,000 and our student population from 2,700,000 to nearly eight million. As for higher education, the number of our university students today has risen from 75,000 to 164,000, while our students abroad have increased from 800 in the early fifties to 58,000 today.
There has likewise been a major expansion in the field of research with the establishment of many research institutions in our universities and ministries. We have already begun to do pioneering work in at least some branches of the pure sciences and we hope to develop our own technology based on our national and local needs, In the more specifically cultural fields, several major museums have been founded in Tehran as well as in the provinces and an attempt has been made to incorporate traditional Iranian architecture in new urban developments and in reviving the crafts. In the intellectual field such organizations as the Iran Cultural Foundation, the Institute for the Intellectual Development of Children and Young Adults end the Imperial Iranian Academy of Philosophy have made available once again to the general public many of our literary, intellectual and spiritual treasures, while such institutions as the Society for the Preservation of the National Heritage and the Society for the Preservation of Archaeological Monuments have helped to preserve and restore our architectural monuments and artistic heritage.
The Center for Dialogue between Civilizations is seeking to increase cultural rotations between us and other civilizations of the world in both East and West, We have also instituted such major festivals as those of Tus, Isfahan and Shiraz and the Festival of Culture held in Tehran and the various provinces simultaneously. These festivals all seek to revive the traditional performing arts and folklore such as music, reading of epic poetry and religious theatre as well as to present important currents of art in East end West to contemporary Iranians. Finally, I have recently established a foundation which, although concerned with diverse fields, concentrates most of its activity upon the cultural domain.
These and many other cultural activities in Iran are combined with an extensive program in social welfare which forms the substance of the Revolution of the Shah and the People. The philosophy of this Revolution is based on the ideal of justice, respect for human dignity and the maximum participation of the people in the economic, political and social affairs of the country, values which are derived from our own religious and cultural traditions. The principles of our Revolution include land reform which has given the ownership of agricultural land to those who cultivate it; the sharing by the workers in the profits of industrial units in which they play such a crucial role; the provision for extensive health services: giving equal social and political rights to women and the provision for free education and educational facilities at all levels and from whatever income bracket they might be.
The Revolution has relied a great deal upon its youth in various welfare programs such as the "Literacy Carps," "Health Corps" and the "Development
Corps" which consist of young people who pass their military service in caring for the education, health and welfare of people in the countryside. The implementation of these programs have been combined with an attempt to decentralize the administration, give greater authority to officials in the provinces and to enable decisions to be made on the local level with the particular condition of each locality in mind, Considering the historical experience of Iran and the nature of planning in the modern state, this process of decentralization poses many challenges to all the authorities involved in decision-making, But despite obstacles, the country has been moving steadily in this direction.
When talking about social changes, it is necessary to mention specifically the profound transformations which have occurred in the role of women during recent years. In our traditional culture, women were always respected spiritually and morally to the extent that Rumi has said:
"Woman is the ray of God: She is not the earthly beloved.
She is creative: you might say she is not created."But until recently her function was confined to the home. Today, however, besides possessing full political, economic and social rights, women share many economic, social and political responsibilities. We now have numerous women doctors, teachers, judges. and even engineers and many women have gained political prominence. The social transformation of my country cannot be understood without consideration of the change which the role of women in our society has undergone.
We are aware of the enormous problems involved and like you we are forced sometimes to learn through trial and error. Our cultural relations, if strengthened and fostered on both sides, can without doubt help to direct us all toward that path wherein lies the only possible happy future for mankind.
Our cultural relations with the United Slates are of fairly recent origin, but they have become so extensive over the years, that today they constitute an important element in our cultural life. Already during the 19th century, Persian Sufi poets and philosophers such as Sa'di and Ghazzali had had e deep impact on the New England transcendentalists, especially Emerson, while Persian miniatures and carpets fascinated many artists in various parts of your land. During this century and especially after the Second World War, Iranian studies have grown in many American universities and important works of Persian thought have begun to attract a larger public. Likewise, several exhibitions of Persian art have made this aspect of our culture much more widely known to the American people.In Iran itself, a hazy notion of America as the land beyond the oceans, held earlier during this century, gave way, during the Second World War, to a keen awareness of the United States and her culture. During the past three decades, as a result of the translation of a great deal of American literature into Persian, the showing of American films, the performance of the music of this land, and exhibitions of American art as well as the training of many Iranians in the U.S. the people of Iran have, to a great extent, become familiar with American culture. Such men as Hemingway and Steinbeck are now almost as famous as leading Persian literally figures. There has also grown over the years in Iran an awareness of the means whereby the arts add sciences are fostered in America and of the human values upon which the vision of America has always been based as well as the role of America in the modern world in fostering freedom and opposing colonialization. Iranians are also fully aware of the remarkable economic development achieved in your country, We know that we must accomplish what was achieved over several centuries in Europe and America, in a short period of no more than a few decades.
In conclusion, let me return to my own culture and more generally to that of Asia. Asia is not only one land on the planet earth among others, rather, it represents an idea and in fact ideal. In recent times, many ideologies from various lands near and far have swept over it, but the principles of its major cultures have remained firmly rooted in the eternal soil of truth. Its cultures, therefore, continue to bear a message of great significance and actuality for men and women of our age wherever they might be. The preservation of the cultures of Asia and the familiarizing of the people of other lands with the Asian world is, therefore, a task of crucial importance for the whole of humanity in our times.
For us Iranians, like other Asians, it is important to realize that in this tension between our traditional values and modern technology and its implications which, if unbridled and uncontrolled within a socio-economic system fostered on consumerism, will devour man and reduce him to servitude, the revival of our national culture remains the one certain foundation upon which we can base ourselves. The preservation of our cultural climate is fundamental for our healthy development and its loss fatal to our society. It is only our culture which for us can turn nihilism into certitude and despair into joy.
To prevent this tension between our traditional values and modern technology from becoming totally destructive, we must turn once again to the vision of man in his wholeness. Asia in all its multiple faces has always been the land of vision. Its great religious traditions, whether it be Hindu, Taoist. Buddhist, Zoroastrian or Islamic, have placed particular emphasis upon the importance of vision in human life. Even the saying of the Hebrew prophet who declared,"where there is no vision, the people perish,"
are words of one among the many seers of this largest of continents. Here in America these words have found their echo in the saying
of one of your own greatest sons, Martin Luther King, who said:"I refuse to accept the idea that the illness of man's present nature makes him morally incapable of reaching up for the oughtness that forever confronts him."
This new and at the same time eternal vision of man as a totality and also as a being destined to reach beyond himself implies the need to turn for a moment from the external world, which may appear to crush us through its sheer quantitative magnitude, to within ourselves, to the subject which knows and feels and acts. It also means to penetrate into our innermost being and by knowing ourselves better to come to know our neighbor end the world at large in a new light and with a new sense of love and charity. It means to become fully aware of the human condition throughout the world. This condition concerns us - all of us. As John Donne has said:
"Any man's death diminishes me, because I am involved in mankind."
I can do no better than to conclude with the words of perhaps the best known of all Persian poets in the West, namely, Omar Khayyam:
"In love eternal He created me
And first He taught the love of charity.
Then from my heart He filed a key that might
Unlock the treasures of Reality."I wish the Asia Society success and new achievements in making Asia better known to America and in expanding its horizons and activities. And I express my fervent hope that this new year will bring to you and to all peoples peace, harmony and prosperity. May we, each in our way, carry the message of love and brotherhood to mankind.