Think Well, Speak Well, Act Well

If one phrase captures Zoroastrian ethics it is this: humata, hukhta, hvarshta, good thoughts, good words, good deeds. The formula insists that righteousness is a matter of the entire active person. It is not enough to believe rightly or to perform the correct rites; mind, speech and conduct must all be brought into line with asha, the truth and order of Ahura Mazda's world. The maxim gains its force from the Zoroastrian picture of the cosmos as a genuine battlefield between good and evil.

In that setting no thought, word or deed is neutral: each is a small choice of sides that reinforces either asha or the Lie. The righteous person, the ashavan, is one whose thinking, speaking and doing together take the part of the good creation. Recited in daily prayer, the threefold maxim is the practical heart of a religion long admired for making ethics, rather than metaphysics or ritual, its centre of gravity.