Follow the light

Akumana and Vahumana fight a lot in my daily life experiences. In Persian mythology, Akumana is a Deev which represents bad and evil thoughts and Vahumana (Bahman) is an Ahura representing good and positive thoughts.

I tend to believe that Vahumana is usually the winner but Akumana tries hard. My thoughts about the classes that I teach isn’t void of the battle between these two, especially whenever I feel that the majority in the class is with ignorant and un-motivated students. I either want to be teaching in a class with all my heart or rather not bet there, its hard for me to just put up a show. The whispers of Akumana have been mostly in the theme of despair, “this class is going nowhere… no one is learning anything… you can’t be changing anyone… its all a waste of time… nothing can be done in this system and the foundation of the education system is all corrupt…” and then there is Vahumana on the other side saying “ be patient…every little step counts… even if you can have a positive influence on one student, that is still great… this whole thing really has meanings and it will get better as time comes… be patient”.

There was a huge battle very recently between the two and Akumana was dominating for a whole week, while Azidahak was watching from the distance, before I decided about the new course and right when I was about to cancel all the classes for the upcoming semester, while I was sitting in our office alone on a beautiful sunny spring day, there came Vahumana, the strongest Vahumana I’d seen for years, gave me his sword followed by a few words in my ear and there I was, slashing the dark Akumana with the sword and prepared for the new experience, with a blue necklace of hope and a white robe of patience and the shining sword of optimism.

We go Vahumana, we go one more time, I’m no your side …

The concept drawing on the top represents Akumana and the one on the bottom is an illustration of Vahumana as they appear in the game of Soshiant.