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Introduction to Agathism Agathon is the Greek word for 'the Good'. Agathism is the conscious pursuit of the Good. Agathists believe there is such as things as 'the Good' and that we should make an effort to connect with it, to achieve it, to make it manifest in the world in which we live. Agathists believe that only the Good itself is unarguably and perfectly Good and everything else is for us to judge as to how good it is. The Agathoi are 'the good ones' who are manifestations of the Good. Modern Agathists give twelve Agathoi in particular a pride of place. Agathists trace the origins of their tradition to the religious philosopher Zoroaster who lived about 3000 years ago in the territory of the Iranians. He composed a text known as the Songs of Zoroaster which expressed his understanding of the workings of Good and Evil. This text has been passed down to us and forms the foundation text of Agathism. In addition Agathists recognise two further philosophers whose work has proved the most useful to those seeking to understand the nature of the Good. These two are Plato and Aristotle. Zoroaster, Plato and Aristotle together are called the Trimagi or three wise ones and Agathists are encouraged to mentally grapple with their work as an aid to developing their own understanding of the Good. Their work has value to help us, but we do not consider that everything they say comes out of perfect wisdom. The Trimagi are human 'thought-provokers' , not divine angels, and we still must do our own work to make our sense of reality. To pursue the Good we must understand the nature of reality. We need to know the different elements that constitute the world and how they interact. Runes are such 'secret' elements which we can name. There is no definitive list of runes that all Agathists use, but it is a task of Agathists to develop their runic knowledge. The Agathist path includes efforts to change ourselves and to change the world beyond us for the better. There are lots of potential ways that we might do this and Agathists strive to find the most useful paths for them to follow from whatever source it comes. Special Days Agathists celebrate March 26th as Zoroaster's birthday and sometimes October 29th as King Cyrus Day - a time to consider the Good Rule over the world. Ad bonum tendimus! December 2022 CE / 4022 HE |