Life is a journey, for each journey you need a map, and you can always re-route the direction of your life. You have a voice.  You are shaping history. You are the agent of your destiny. Birds do not fly; they ride the wind.  Fish do not swim; they are carried by water.  Let’s be carried through life not by the political machine but by the belief that you are in the city of God.  Division and fear?  No.  Let us choose unity and interconnection.   

Groups from fundamentalists to the KKK consider utopian dreams for themselves.  One can see utopian dreams flourish using social experimentation, violence, and brainwashing. Media bombards all of us with constant propaganda and advertisement.  Can we not all fall prey to all the noise?  It is so easy and organic to love servitude rather than recognize tyranny for what it is.  For every message that comes our way, we must always ask why.  I have a motto: always love people over ideas.  

History has many examples of those looking for utopian dreams.  Robert Oppenheimer created the atomic bomb with the hope of preventing of a greater evil.  Prime Minister Chamberlain said “peace in our time” but the result was the dystopic nightmare of the Battle of Britain or the Blitz.  The fatal flaw arose not from without but from within. What we do today matters for generations to come.  I believe that the “Buck Stops with YOU” rather than with them.  The source of all our mistakes is fear, and the only way for social and economic justice to reign is to embrace and tolerate our differences. 

It amazes me how religion can be the source of unity or schism.  Per Occam’s Razor, we can assume every religion believes in one single thing, the most Holy One. From Jerusalem, Mecca, Varanasi, City of Tikal, or Stonehenge, all I see is One.  Why not believe in our responsibility for a universal achievement for humanity? We can reach to the epiphany called Perennial Philosophy. When we examine our spiritual fingerprints and through neuro-theology evaluation, we see that we all experience the same religious experience no matter what we believe.  God’s gene is within all of us, and our true temple is our body created in the image of the Almighty. The righteous path is the path to unite all people despite superficial differences. 

We can achieve remarkable things, as it was in the beginning, is now and ever shall be. Let us make a symphony out of the cacophony of events going around us and then we all can enjoy the music even though there are different instruments (Zoroaster, Jew, Christian, Muslim, Bahia, Hindu, Buddha, Sikhism, and etc.).  Together they play the symphony of God.  Let us all end human suffering by the way we treat each other irrespective of what we believe. To get something you never had, you need to do something you never did.  Do that thing which you never did. You all are Chosen to do the right thing and Perennial Philosophy is the new renaissance of the 21st Century.  

Author(s)

  • Behyar Zoghi, MD, PhD, FACP is a Persian-American Transplant Physician, triple Board Certified in Internal Medicine, Hematology and Medical Oncology. He practices with the Adult Blood and Marrow Stem Cell Transplant program at Texas Transplant Institute and Methodist Hospital, a member of the Sarah Cannon Blood Cancer Network. Dr. Zoghi received both MD and PhD from Texas A&M College of Medicine. He subsequently completed his internship and residency at UT Southwestern Medical Center/Parkland Hospital System in Dallas, and completed his hematology/medical oncology fellowship at the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio. Also during his fellowship, Dr. Zoghi conducted very important research focused on microRNA as a new treatment for chemotherapy-resistant breast cancer. He was awarded a patent for this novel therapy in breast cancer, which led to him receiving the Texas Society of Clinical Oncology Award. His interests include the most recent developments in cancer therapy including immunotherapy, targeted therapy, and CAR-T cell therapy. His holistic approach in cancer therapy was the subject of a cover page article in MD News magazine. In conjunction with his clinical duties, continual medical education has also been an important passion of Dr. Zoghi. As a Chairman of Graduate Medical Education at Methodist Healthcare System, he has been involved in the quality of education and work environment for fellows and residents in all programs. Dr. Zoghi is also an assistant professor of Medicine at the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio. Dr. Zoghi has won numerous awards such as Texas Super Doctor (2019, 2020, 2021), Early Career Physician Leader of the Year Award by American College of Physician, Texas Chapter (2019); Arrival Award: Beacon of Light (2019), and one of Top 20 Impact Makers Honorees (2020) just to name a few. He has received the distinguished honor of being named Fellow of American College of Physicians