If you look at the world around you right now, as we look at the world around us, a picture of almost total despair emerges.
Look at the great civilization or cultures of this world: they have nothing to offer you as food for your soul.
The West fluctuates between nihilism and total, open evil.
China is exclusively obsessed with material things to the point oof disgust (I bet you, too, can take no more videos and pictures of bridges, skyscrapers and 'humanoids').
India dives deeper and deeper into retardation and spiritual decay, so much so that it may as well be removed entirely from the books and discounted altogether.
Japan is enslaved and pathetic beyond belief.
Sunni Islam is fully occupied and subservient; it is impossible to listen it for one second. I avoid listening to any of them so I don't lose the 1% of respect I still hold for innocent and well-meaning believers.
Catholicism is utterly meaningless and laughable. A business model wrapped in religious artifacts.
The Church of England? Give me a break.
American Christianity? A living picture of hell.
Communism is dead, and its remaining proponents are annoying, disconnected and quite insufferable.
Science cannot be believed, and is the main instrument of turning this world into a nightmarish prison.
Academia is a sad joke.
The media carries the devil's voice.
Latin America is slowly dying under capitalism and colonialism.
Russia fight in silence: no ideological framing, no moral meaning.
Being a human today entails an almost unbearable sense of abandonment.
The only place and the only culture in this current world of ours that centers morality (and therefore sanity and humanity) as part of its discourse is Twelver Shia Iran.
It is the one light - the one organized, institutional, strong light - in an otherwise near complete darkness.
I am not looking for god (my bitter experiences with Judaism made me hate the concept with a fury); I am not drawn to mysticism; repetitive religious rituals have little charm for me. But the actual light that emanates from Iran's conduct, stance, doctrine, the courage and conviction it has shown (together with its allies and Shia and otherwise Islamic anti-colonial fighters elsewhere) connect with the very foundations of who I am, and what is sacred for me.
They are the only people I feel I could be in full dignity and humanity with. And I am not entirely sure yet where this sentiment is taking me, but I am up for an adventure