This session examines the fundamental question of whether Ashura should be considered a life-giving narrative or an end-seeking experience. In this dialogue, the relationship between life and martyrdom, the meaning of the Ashuraic quest for the end, and the boundary between historical truth and wishful thinking will be explored.
Other focal points of the session include the question of the kind of life that leads to Ashura and the culmination of martyrdom; a life that can find meaning both on an individual level and in the collective sphere. Furthermore, the annual experience of Iranian society's encounter with Ashura and its effects on people's lives and modes of governance will be discussed.
This session is an opportunity for those interested in philosophy, religious thought, culture, and social issues of Iran to follow, in a dialogue-oriented atmosphere, the relationship of Ashura with contemporary life and its individual and social consequences from a critical and thought-provoking perspective.
Tehran
No. 23, Naebi Alley, Vesal Shirazi Street