145 Priya Assal === Monica: Welcome to the Revelation Project podcast. I'm Monica Rogers, and this podcast is intended to disrupt the chance of unworthiness and to guide women to remember and reveal the truth of who we are. We say that life is a revelation project and what gets revealed gets healed. Hello everyone and welcome to another episode of the Revelation Project podcast. I'm actually recording tonight on an evening, which I never do, but this is no ordinary night. I had an opportunity to bring a dear sister and someone who has become a friend. Onto the podcast tonight to talk about something that's near and dear to her heart. And I believe near and dear to all of our hearts. So I'm gonna introduce her more in a moment, but I wanted to start out with just a few of her sentiments on Selfcare. Self-care is inevitable. Self-care is responsible. Self-care is sustainable. Self-care is power. Self-care is love. Self care is intelligence. Self care is beauty. Self-care is political. Self care is art. Self care is activism. My guest this evening is, Priya Assal. She is an artist. She is, as I mentioned, a sister practitioner in my rights of passage work that I just completed last year, and she's also become a dear friend, and I'm honored to bring her voice to the podcast at this moment in time. As protests rage across Iran at the Brutal pointlessness of Mahsa Amini's death, which has really become an inferno led by Iranian women and currently is being amplified around the world. Some believe that the shutoff of access to the internet is a sign of the growing strength and momentum of Iran's women's rights movement. And Priya is here to reveal deeper truths about what's going on, and the invitation to activate our own awareness of a bigger movement to end the regimes of oppression that suppress the feminine really all around the world. So please join me in welcoming my guest, Priya Assal. Hi, Priya. Priya: Hi Monica. Thank you so much for having me today. Monica: You know, and I love, I mean, I was really just spontaneously going back to the various places that I've learned more about you and your work, and I loved this whole introduction tonight as self-care because I, I feel like it's so relevant to this conversation, which seems odd, but I think you get my meaning around this because it's like part of our awakening to our sovereignty. It's like we get very aware of our intolerance and the more we can kind of activate and use and alchemize intolerance is like, it becomes this powerful asset, especially when we're taking a stand to create something better than what has currently been a very suppressive and difficult, You know what I said, really regime that's all around the world, but it seems especially. Oppressive in Iran, and you know, just with what's happening right now, it's such a symbol of so many other things that are happening. So I just wanna welcome you and really just invite you to start anywhere you wish. Priya: Well, thank you for beginning this conversation with the importance of self care. Because self care is, is also an act of, of resistance towards this very accepted notion of self-sacrifice for women. Monica: Mm-hmm. Priya: or no matter where we are in the world, it's ingrained in us that as women, as sisters, as daughters, as wives, as mothers, that we are in some ways destined to self sacrifice that that is the right way of living for us. And it's this. Self sacrifice in many ways that has led us to be in these positions that we're in while also being told that if we prioritize for our needs, our desires, our joy, our celebration, our health are rest, that we are selfish, that we don't care about those around us, and we're demonized for it by each other as women and also by the men in the society. And it's really beyond time that we change the conversation around that. Yes. So the feminist uprising in Iran right now is one form of self care, and it's a very. . It's a very overt way of doing it. In Iran, we are rising against a form of oppression that American women, for example, don't have to deal with. But American women struggle with other forms of oppression, and I think what we need to keep our focus on is not just the particular issue of hijab, but that we keep our eye on the bigger issue of. Oppression. Mm. And oppressive systems and oppressive cultures and oppressive mindsets all over the world because there are many kinds of oppressions for women here in the United States that may not, that that may be more hidden. Monica: Mm-hmm Priya: . in the shadows and underground, unspoken, accepted culturally, but they're extremely oppressive nonetheless. Monica: Yes. And it surprising to me actually how, how unaware I think even American women can be at the various oppressive systems that are Right. Hidden in plain sight. I always say, so as we kind of weave our conversation tonight, it might be powerful to kind of surface the, some of those as well. But, you know, I'd love for us to actually start with. going back to the hijab as you mentioned, and just give our listeners a deeper understanding of some context around the history of that and where maybe Iranian women are currently a little bit of history on the regime as it exists today, but also, you know, my understanding of kind of this resistance is been very active really for the past 20 years. Is that correct? It's just been amplified in certain ways, especially right now. Priya: So the, the Islamic Republic of Iran came into power 43 years ago when Iranians had a revolution. They, the time of the ruling of the Shaw Iranians wanted more freedoms as well. They were very much supported by, Western governments like the United States and the British, and the French in that uprising, there were supplied with arms and they were able to revolt. There were many different parties that were looking to come into power, and the Islamic Republic succeeded. Uh, many Iranians believed that they, their, that their revolution for freedom was hijacked by the Islamic Republic. And soon after the revolution, within a year or two, the hijab became mandatory. In Iran, there was the hijab wasn't part of the, it wasn't enforced in Iran prior to this regime. The Iranian hijab looks different than, you know, the Afghan hijab or the Saudi hijab. Uh, it mostly in the beginning consisted of wearing a scarf. around the hair and having our arms and our feet legs be covered as well. Monica: Mm-hmm. Priya: I remember at the time, so I was born two years prior to the revolution. I was two years old when the revolution happened, and I lived in Iran for the first eight years of my life, at which point my parents decided to leave Iran. But we came back, uh, 10 years later. In the beginning, women only could wear very dark colors, like dark blue, uh, grays, blacks, maybe browns. You couldn't wear anything comfortable, even if, I mean, I'm sorry, in anything colorful, even if you were fully covered. The morality police that you're hearing about right now has been patrolling the streets. for the past four decades, and they used to be even more ruthless than they are now. In my generation, when I was, when I returned to Iran as a, as a teenager, if you had a tiny little strand of hair out, you would get pulled over. If you had nail polish on, you would get pulled over or stopped on your tracks if you had any makeup on your face. But we've been pushing against that, and right now in Iran, 40 years later, the new generation of young women in reality have it a lot more easier than my generation ever did. There's a lot of hair sticking out. There is, you know, they can wear makeup, they can have nail polished. The, the manos or the jackets or whatever they wear on top is short. The buttons are open. Things have really loosened up in Iran in terms of the hijab. Monica: Mm-hmm. , Priya: we have to acknowledge that. However, , there is crackdowns still happening. They loosen the laws and then they tighten the laws. It's, uh, it's this game, the psychological game that they play with us, where suddenly having a dog is forbidden. So you cannot, you're at risk of having your dog be taken away from you if you're out on the streets walking your dog or taking it to a park. And then the crackdowns stop after two months. They do the same thing with the head job. They do the same thing with parties and music. It's, um, it's this, uh, psychological game that they play. So we're always on edge, Right. For when the next crackdown is going to happen. I think what happened with Mahsa Amini was, I wanna say, has to do with bigger forces than we think. I think that she, I really believe that this young woman was destined to play this role Monica: mm-hmm Priya: that she was born. To be sacrificed for an awakening, a global awakening. Because when you look at how she was dressed, she was actually dressed pretty modestly. Lot of women in Teron, It seemed like she was wearing, uh, dark, uh, clothing. She didn't have any major makeup on. Her hair wasn't dye blonde. She just happened to be at the wrong place at the wrong time with facing the wrong people. Or you could say at the right place, at the right time with the right people. Right. That's how you look at it. So I hope that that answers your question a little bit. Monica: It does, and you know, I, I think sometimes, That, you know, I just, I think of what you're saying cuz I got chills when you kind of, you know, just turned it into the, from the wrong place at the wrong time to the right place at the right time. And, you know, just really understanding sometimes that, that is just a hard truth about how change happens in the world. That someone or something becomes a catalyst, a symbol that activates and you know, it is kind of like a, a wildfire that just starts and. I often talk about, you know, kind of this idea of the tipping point and that we're, we're kind of really seeing this tipping point in all of these different systems that as there's a disintegration, you know, there, there guts to be this, while it, I would call it the intolerance tipping point, you know, that really is an ally for so many women when it comes to enough, like say, enough of this, enough of this oppression, enough of this morality, police, enough of this. Just all of it, right? Just this way that we have oppressed and denigrated and invalidated not only the feminine, but all of the ways that all people are suffering because of this overarching patriarchal. Structure that just continues to try to control and, uh, and dominate. Priya: Yes, and I think it's important also to be aware and to keep in mind that the, what is happening right now is not just a, an uprising against a regime and laws that are oppressive, but it is also a women's uprising against culture. Monica: Mm-hmm. Priya: a culture that is oppressing them. In Iran, when they were bearing Mahsa, her uncle had written a note on her grave that said, Norm, which is, which means in English, He said, Your name will become a key code, and her name has become a key code and. Another thing that, that people should know about the culture that Mahsa comes from is that Mahsa was a Kurdish young girl. And culturally, there is an insane amount of misogyny in the Kurdish culture. Kurdish women struggle deeply with within their families and within their societies. Recently, a friend of mine was telling me that if, for example, a man, a young man who has a, a young Kurdish man who has a Kurdish cousin girl, if he sees her, for example, with a boy, culturally, he has the right to kill her for that. So this is where, and, and so for this culture, , a culture that is this misogynist to have a young girl within their culture become the symbol of Iran's feminist uprising and maybe the world's feminist uprising. Mm-hmm. is a massive transformation for them. Culturally. It's alchemy. It's the card that you pulled. Alchemy is currently taking place within, within this culture and this bloodline. So what is happening is such a deep healing process way beyond what we can imagine. People, cultures, traditions, lineages are being transformed as we speak through this. Monica: Mm-hmm. Priya: pages are being turned. Monica: Priya, go back for a minute if you would, just because I want you to tell our listeners what you mean by key code. When you use that word, right, When you talk about her. Well, when Priya: you say, now you know, we are hashtag tagging Masha Amini everywhere. It's become, I think, the most, um, used hashtag ever. There's, maybe it's been, it's been Mahsa Amini has been hashtag more than probably, uh, a hundred million times. And so a key code is, you know, is when a word become begins to represent something much, much bigger than itself. Yes. When it starts to embody a, a powerful energy. Monica: Great. Yes. Priya: A transformative energy. So she no longer is this, it's no longer about, this conversation is no longer about the person ma i e but it's about what Mahsa Amini now represents, what, what she does to our brains when we hear that word, what we associate her with, which is the end of. War against women's bodies. The intolerance, our intolerance, the no more that you're talking about. The enough is enough within our psyche when it comes to oppressing and harming the feminine on this planet. Monica: Mm-hmm. Priya: which you and I know very well that the turning point, you know, the world, the, the new world that so many of us in the spiritual new age community have been talking about for so long, have been working for, for so long. You know, when we talk about, oh, the star seeds that are here, the, uh, sorry, I'm forgetting the words. Um, the star seeds, the indigo children, the, those humans who really believe that they are here to help this world transform and. Become a place that is, that can truly be a heaven on earth versus the hell that we are living in. It's going to happen with the rise of the feminine when we finally allow the feminine energy to be weaved in the fabric of our societies, of our cultures, of the way we live our lives. Every single lead, live, and lead our lives every single day. And I think that the next year or two are pivotal. I think that we're in the thick of it. We're like at the bottom of the underworld. You know, we're like, you reach the bottom. Mm-hmm. , and like we're falling, Like we're free. Falling in the underworld, into the underworld. And at some points, I believe now, or very soon, we're going to hit the bottom. and spring up, and there's Monica: that tipping point. Exactly. Right. It's just a different way to kind of position it. And you're right, you know, and what Priya is referring to is what I often talk about on the podcast, which is kind of this collective dark night of the soul or the dissent that can really be incredibly uncomfortable, messy, violent. You know, it's, it's shaking the foundations of what had been in order to kind of decide what is no longer serving and leave that behind and kind of come back to the world with what worked as well as a deep, creative mythic imagination that. Can now collectively create this new dream that we, I think, all are longing to be a part of. I think we all recognize that this is not sustainable, and it's so interesting to me, Priya, like your, your activism, like everything that you've been standing for, it's like you've been, so from my point of view, kind of playing with these as active agents in resourcing yourself for these times as it relates to not only your dedication to liberation work. But especially kind of from, you know, your homeland, you've often described as that deep, deep connection that you feel to this specific land that you come from. And I wanna give our listeners also a little bit of history because I really remember sitting with you one afternoon and hearing about your deep love for, I think you were talking about Tarran, but I would love it if you could kind of take us back. I remember you even saying, you know that at one time it was like the Paris of like Persia. And per that Persian culture was a central, central part of like a cultural hub. . Priya: Well, Iran is, you know, has such an old history. We're talking about, you know, if we wanna go back to the mite civilization, we're talking about 7,000, 8,000 years of history. Mm-hmm. , there's been a lot that has happened throughout her history. A lot of invasions have happened. Iranians were originally Tians and they were later conquered and became a Muslim country. So Iran has gone, I mean, Iran has, there's such an incredible amount of, of history when it comes to arts and literature in so many different things. And I think that what's really sad is that none of this is. Remember today when people hear the name of Iran all day can relate to is what has been happening in the past few decades because the doors of Iran have been closed. Iran has been demonized heavily by the Western media. Everybody knows, you know, when they hear the word Iran or Persia, that there is something grand in there. It's rich. Mm-hmm. with so much culture, so much beauty, so, such, such wealth. But they have to be willing to dig, to read, to research if they're curious enough to know about the history of, of Iran. Really, most people don't do a lot of research and all that they're informed about is what they hear on the, in the media and what they hear on in the media is, is is very much demonized. But I think something important that has happened and that began happening was with. The last uprising, major uprising that we had in 2011, where that we call the green movement. Mm-hmm. , where naan was also killed a young girl in the streets for protesting. And what happened is that a lot of the international community began to understand that the Iranian people are not the Islamic Republic of Iran. Mm-hmm. . Because prior to that it was all mashed in together. When you heard Iran, all you could think of was this regime. But in 2011, something changed In 2009, I'm sorry. Something changed in the psyche of people. They began to understand, Oh no, the Iranian people are not this regime. Right. I remember that up until 2009, it was embarrassing. To say that you're Iranian. I personally carried, and I know I'm not the only Iranian who carried shame around my national identity, but after 2009, it became a source of pride. And I think that today, after this uprising and after the clarity that the international community has gained about dissecting the people from the regime, that this pride can grow even stronger. Because now, from now on, we will no longer be associated with an evil regime, a backwards regime, but that will, we will be associated with courage, with resilience, with conviction, passion, and how strong and powerful our women are. Yes, I remember that as an artist living in the West, I was constantly pigeonholed in having to talk about my identity as an Iranian woman and to victimize myself as an Iranian woman because that's all that a western audience had any capacity to contain. They wanted me as an Iranian female artist to cry about my struggles. Mm-hmm. my, my struggles within my country and to express grief and sadness and, uh, victimization. So, and, and I actually stepped out of the art, art world very much for this reason, because what I wanted to talk about as an artist, wasn't along these lines. That wasn't my self-expression, but it seemed like nobody really wanted to hear about an Iranian woman who was fulfilled and happy in life, raise her voice and do what she wanted to do. Nobody really cared about that. The victimized image was the one, the, the digestible one for Western audiences. I also recognized that in the art world, there wasn't a lot of urgency for transformation, and that's when I decided to focus my efforts on education. Monica: Mm-hmm Priya: while I still consider myself an artist, I associate myself a lot more with being an educator and, but going back to what Iranian women represent, Iranian women in our culture are, are matriarchs. Yes. They have a lot of say in the families. Oftentimes they run the show. They're not docile. As you can see, they're not scared. They have a mind of their own. And the only reason why it's been suppressed is because it's taken that kind of oppression where if you open your mouth, you get shot. That's, that's what we're dealing with. Yes, but for us to go out on the streets and protest every, When you step out on the street, you protest, you know that you may not come back home. It's very different than a demonstration in the United States, Monica: Right Priya: so there's a lot more at stake, and they're willing to take that chance. Today they, they're so fed up that they're willing to die and they're dying. And I think that that really raises the bar for women everywhere. To really get that. Maybe that's what it's gonna take. Yeah. You know, maybe words are, are not going to be enough. Maybe voting is not going to be enough. Maybe colleagues, time for colleague to come out and kill. For this to stop. Yes. Because those opposing and limiting women. I don't think that they're going to budge unless they're pushed really, really hard. Monica: Yes, yes. So I have a question from one of our listeners, and Priya, what she's asking is, can Pria speak to Iran's histories and traditions? And you might have just done this, but I'll finish reading it. It was that Iran was the heart of X, as I can't pronounce the word tri. Mm-hmm. Zoroastrianism which influenced most major faiths. It was also the Paris of the Middle East in the sixties and seventies, both completely different landscapes for women. I wonder if she could speak to the former, its ancient heritage as the cultural heart of the world. We're talking about the 1960s. So I think her point is that it had a major influence. That it was known as the Paris of the Middle East, but also that its ancient heritage was the cultural heart of the world. And I think this is what you're pointing to when you say that in the western world or in America, you know, there was no understanding of the deep cultural wealth that is, that was the heritage of the Middle East and especially what was Iran at one point. Correct. Priya: Yes. Iran, as I said, has a very long, long history. We've been on top many times. We've been leading the way in so many different areas of, of, of culture. You know, Tism is, is, is so vast. It's so grand. Um, it could, you know, be said that it's just one of the first religions of the world. Monica: And for our listeners, can you describe what that even means? Priya: I, I don't wanna, I, yeah, I don't wanna say anything. I, I think what I really wanna do is to encourage, cuz there is so much content and so much information about that is Monica: to invite the listeners to go and do a little research. Priya: This is, this is what we want, you know, to, for, for, for listeners to get really curious and to be willing to learn and educate themselves. You know that now everything is at our fingertips. All you have to do is Google yes, Zoroastrianism and Iran and begin reading about, um, these books. There's some books that I can maybe recommend that you tag in your post. That can be very eyeopening to people. But when it comes to the 1960s and seventies, yes, those were the golden days of Iran. You know, Iran had a lot of money. Iran was becoming a powerful country, and that wasn't really good news for Western powers because Western governments are not, don't benefit from a strong Middle East, from a free Middle East. They want to be in control of what is happening in the Middle East. They wanna be able to draw from our resources. And so the reason why the Middle East is the way it is. Isn't an accident. It's not because we don't have culture or history. Culture and history comes from the Middle East. Monica: Mm-hmm. . Mm-hmm. . Priya: Okay. We're talking about Mesopotamia. We're talking about some of the oldest religions and cultures and arts and mathematics and sciences in the world. Monica: Yes. What we really are bumping up against, I think Priya, over and over again is the true ignorance. It's like a, an impoverishment. It's like ignorance is a poverty, Priya: but, but the ignorance is encouraged. Monica: Yes. Priya: They don't want you to know about the truth. The media doesn't want you to know about the truth. The media doesn't want you to get curious about what's really going on. And that's really where I wanna take the conversation is that, so it's been, you know, over a week that we've had the protest in Iran and thankfully the international community is now in on what's happening. Right? Everybody's hashing, Masha Amani, everybody is now talking about it, but. . Now what? Now that you know that a 22 year old girl, everybody knows the drill of the story. 22 year old girl has been killed by the morality police because she wasn't wearing her hija properly. And now women are uprising, they're backed by the men, and they're being killed on the streets. Thank you for spreading the word, but so much more now needs to be done. We have to pay attention now to the leaders, the go. You, your, your governments, your leaders, the UN, none of them are doing anything about this. President. Uh, our president came to the United Nations, to New York City just a few days ago. He was welcomed, Masha Amani , he had already been killed but the French president, was shaking hands with Raisi. They welcomed him. They could have arrested him. Mm-hmm. , But they didn't do that. , they were invited to his dinner. They were having conversations. So there is so much happening behind the curtains that were not made aware of. They're making deals. It's benefiting these political leaders. It's benefiting them to have this regime. It's not an accident that this regime has been put into power and that they're still in power. The moment, the moment, it no longer benefits the US government or the European Union to have them be in power. You can be sure that they, they will be taken down. So it serves them. And I think that Americans really need to, in their messages to, to ask why? Why are you not doing anything about this? If you are truly anti-terrorist as you claim to be? There's this whole rhetoric around the war on terror. This is the war on terror. Are you doing anything about it? No. Or was your war on ]terror? An excuse to go into Iraq, to go into Syria, to go into Afghanistan? What is the true story? We have to wake up to that what we are being fed as The truth is not the truth. Monica: That's right. Priya: there words are not matching their actions. Monica: You know, there's something also that you had said that that really stuck with me in our past conversations, and you had really talked about how those of us with opportunity of safety, education, health, and other resources must work as active agents. And we must work with a sense of urgency in our own transformation to aid the transformation of others. And it goes back to this kind of ignorance, but I'm gonna kind of go one step further and call it sometimes willful ignorance that just really, it feels so. True that the moment you just start peeling back the layers a little bit, it's all right there. You know, there's so much more to know, and yet we're just so distracted or whatever it is. That kind of keeps us from stepping into that embodied discomfort that really gets us changing the status quo, and it becomes this conversation that I think makes so many women uncomfortable until it doesn't. Right? Until it actively starts to impact their own lives. And I also wanna talk about how fractured women have been from each other and how. In a lot of ways, true sisterhood and recontextualizing sisterhood is the antidote for this. Because when we come together, when we tell and share our stories, when we hear what's happening to our sister in Iran, what's happening to our sisters in Africa, what's happening to our sisters in America, what's happening to our sisters in Lithuania? You know, all of the ways that we have and share these common stories, and yet we're so fractured from each other and so disassociated from ourselves and each other that we actually aren't deeply connected and therefore not deeply affected by the bigger picture. And what would be possible if women stood together? Priya: Yes. I mean, this is, this is how. You control people, you separate them from each other, you put them at odds against each other, you disidentify them from each other. And, and the opposite of that is unity, right? We keep talking about unity. Well, what does unity actually look like? Unity is, comes from identifying oneself with the whole American women may look at I Iranian women and, Oh, I just also wanna correct you. So the right pronunciation of the name of the country is Iran. Iran, not Iran or Iranian. It's Iran And I Iranian, Iran. Iran and I Iranian. You know, So when, for example, an American woman, you know, sees this in the news looks, you know, as like, she, she may think to herself, Well that's, that's the Iranian woman problem. That's not my problem. That's not my life. It has nothing to do with me. Monica: Mm-hmm. Priya: And as long as she thinks that and is disassociated from the struggle of that woman over there, she has no power. Monica: Mm-hmm. Priya: to change her life. But the moment she understands that the struggle is the same, except it has different facets Monica: and different faces, Priya: and different faces, it's the same beast we are struggling against. We're at, we're fighting the same beast, which is the beast of oppression. I mean, American women no longer have the right to choose what they wanna do with having a baby or not having a baby. Mm-hmm. , that's pretty oppressive. And there's other forms of oppression, like for example, just the financial oppression that Americans and this culture has. This is we're talking about a culture that works around the credit system where people think that they have ownership of all of the things that they work, sometimes three jobs for, but do they really people own houses, but do they really own their houses or are they indebted to the banks for their lives? They own cars, but do they really own their cars? They have an education, but they have to repay their debts for the rest of their lives. This system is extremely oppressive. It is killing. People, Most Americans really struggle. Most Americans are living under the poverty line, but it is disguised so well. The mask is thick here in Iran's mask isn't thick and so you, you are more in danger than we are in some ways because you have to dig so deep to see the face of the beast. Yes. Monica: I love that you're pointing to this because it's so powerful and it's so true. It's so true. Priya: You know, we have, even in Iran, I mean the same way that Americans have a very vague and general idea of what Iran is like, or what Iranian identity is like, or how people live in Iran. It's the same thing in Iran. Iranians have this idea, this glorified idea about America. They call the United States Mbka or the Western world. Everybody wants to leave Iran. Everybody wants to escape Iran to come here for, Monica: For the American dream. Priya: For the American dream, the American dream is fully alive in the minds of Iranians. Mm-hmm. , they believe that the American dream actually exists. And I see this over and over again, and I mean, a really good position to talk about this because I've continued my whole life to go back and forth and back and forth and back and forth. So I have a reality check on what life looks like over there and what it looks like over here. There's, I, I don't live in an imaginary about either, and I see so many Iranians who leave Iran with these dreams that they're going to come to Canada or the United States or somewhere in Europe and they're gonna be able to have it all. They're gonna be able to be free. They're gonna be able to live whatever dream that they have. And then they arrive as immigrants, essentially as second class citizens struggling with being othered and not fitting in, not having language, being completely displaced, and then realizing how hard it is to make ends meet, how hard they have to work. And in so many cases, they think to, to themselves, You know what, maybe I didn't have it that bad in Iran, At least I was in displaced. At least I spoke a language that everybody understood. Yeah. At least I wasn't othered, at least I actually owned the house that I lived in if I owned one. Monica: Mm-hmm. Priya: So this notion that, and I, I always tell them and I tell my students, you know, this idea that you have about this glorious land that you're gonna come to and everything is going to be easy and beautiful, it's not that simple. And it's not always that way. I mean, what is the percentage of Americans who are really living comfortable lives? , What, What percentage would you give it? Monica. Monica: Oh my God. I mean, really it's, it's so hard to say, but what I will say is that it doesn't matter to me the superficial because all of them are suffering. Yes. You know, it's like what is comfortable if you're truly just miserable and suffering and unhappy because of what some of the things that you were pointing to that, you know, like your life is spent. Like I said the other day, you know, my father who died at age 70, one of the things he said to me was, Don't make the mistake that I made and wait your whole life to live. It's like the Amer, if the American dream is killing yourself, living your whole life to work for the man, or to be enslaved to some ideal of what progress is, only to recognize how. how much you've sacrificed in order to finally get the 401k and the pension plan only to find that you're diseased and disassociated and numbed out. And, you know, it's just, it's, it's the illusion. It's the Maya, you know, that, that is really, I'm hearing is like a universal, it's like this separation from the true spirit of what is available in the here and now. When we are willing to change the story, you know, when we're willing to actually decenter ourselves and remember what is true and what is important. Priya: And, and patriarchy is, is great at making us forget that, you know, with consumerism, the idea that I need to replace. my phone every year. I gotta replace my TV every year. I gotta, you know, I gotta get the next new thing, the next thing that comes out. Capitalism. That I gotta win at the stake of smashing everybody else on my way. Individualism, how lonely people are here. Monica: Oh, the loneliness is, is the epidemic so lonely, feeling so alone. Priya: At least, at least in, in Iranian culture, we don't have that. We still, we still have some kind of tribal connection. We still lean on each other. When, in Iran, you know, your, your friends may come and ring your doorbell without having scheduled two weeks in advance, drop by for a cup of tea or coffee. I, I don't see that here. I falling, pray to that. Even when I live here and somebody calls me and wants to schedule something, it's like, well, let's see. Let's, let me go through my calendar, see if I can, you know, squeeze you in in 10 days. I gotta be mentally prepared for this. Monica: Mm-hmm Priya: there's so much distance between people and it's killing us because you know that we're not meant to li Le live alone. We find our joy and our sense of safety in, in, in tribal, in the tribe together, in community. It's only when we know that we can lean against each other, find comfort in in each other, that we feel love and connection, which then gives us joy. Nobody, nobody is joyful, joyful, alone, no matter how much money they have, no matter how well they've succeeded in their careers, how beautiful they look, or how healthy. Their diet is how grand their home is. That's not what brings joy to people. So we're looking for joy, we're looking for fulfillment in all of the wrong places. And it's, it's this wake up, waking up that has to happen. And clearly we've been seeing, you know, waking up doesn't happen like that. Monica: No, it doesn't. And it usually doesn't happen in a comfortable way that is for damn sure. Priya: What are great points you're making? It's painful. Monica: It's painful, Priya: it's uncomfortable. And so I think that, you know, now that the shadows of Iranian culture and society and politics is being dragged out into the light for the world to see, it's all the darkness. It's like the women are like pulling it out. Yes. And they're exposing it. That my prayer is that. That happens everywhere, that by that shadow being exposed, that a lot of the shadows within American culture and society and systems can also be dragged out for the world to see, so that we can wake up to what is actually going on here in this country, in this great country that we believe is the greatest country on earth. Yeah. The shadow has to be dragged out. So it's dragged out both externally, but it, we also have to drag it out of ourselves internally, personally. Individually. Monica: Yes. I love that you said that because that goes back to kind of the, the conversation we had, you know, which is was very much about. Just that, you know, is like really activating, dragging those shadows out, you know, activating us enough that we, we want to be the change that we want to see, you know, happen in the world. And I believe you're right about that. You know, I think women are, in many cases, these revealers we are dragging, maybe kicking and screaming, you know, but dragging, finding the courage and the dignity. And it's happening through powerful and important emotions like anger and outrage and intolerance. You know, And again, we've been scared to go there. We've been taught not to go there because it's unbecoming. And yet those are the emotions that get alchemized. And those are, you know, the all in service to what I know is an outcome. That wants to be revealed, which is love, which is connection, which is intimacy, which is compassion. But sometimes it takes that, it starts on the opposite end of the spectrum in order to kind of swing into a more harmonious place. And it's really encouraging. And honestly, from my perspective, to see the Iranian women dare to speak their truth and to sacrifice their lives for what they believe in. It's like it's obviously stirring a lot in a lot of people and, Priya: and you know, what makes that possible? It's that it seems like in order for us to be willing to put everything. At risk, we, we have to have nothing left to lose. Monica: Mm-hmm. Priya: as long as you have something to lose, you're safeguarding a bunch of things, you're not gonna take any risks. Monica: Mm-hmm. Priya: But when everything has been taken away from you, all of your comforts, all of your freedoms, then screw this, I have nothing to lose cuz this life isn't worth living anymore. That's the point that they've come to, to that place where they have nothing to lose. Now, will Americans ever come to that point where they have nothing to lose? I don't know. Probably not. Monica: Well, and this is where, you know, I wanna point out that the things like the material things are not, I mean, this is the illusion that we speak of. You know, this is kind of the. The opiate of the masses. In a lot of ways. It's like this false security, this false comfort. And like you said, in a lot of ways it's much more dangerous to live this way in this level of illusion. Because you know, what I heard you say is that the Iranian people, it's like at least they know what they're dealing with. It's right out in the open. Priya: Exactly. So it's gonna take a lot more digging for, for you guys to really see the head of the beast. Yeah. And a lot of, And a lot of people do, but the distraction is so high here. There is so much distraction. The society, the systems are built to steer you away from the truth by distracting you with all kinds of meaningless. As you said, false securities. Monica: Mm-hmm. . Mm-hmm. Priya: Entertainment possessions. Monica: I mean, it's really deep, deep, Priya: but I also have faith that there is a time for everything and that the time is, is, is near for, for change, for transformation, essentially, you know, that we are at the end of, of the, you know, the dark ages and that I hope that we will be in our lifetimes able to see. The lights of the new world, it's going to happen. You know, I personally would like to be able to at least put my, the, the tip of my toe in it before I die. Oh, yeah. You know, , it would be nice. Monica: Yeah. And I, you know, part of me actually thinks that we've, we've been like, this is what we've been seeing. This is what we've, this what has been activated and what we were seeing kind of growing as this kind of wildfire in women and this awakening around the feminine is very much a part of this. I think that even though everything kind of has this dark and light side that a lot of ways that social media. Access to information has actually helped this conversation and expose and reveal so much of this has been through amplifying some of these stories and being able to create conversations around them that help, you know, activate more awareness in so many. It's just that anything that is you have access to that, you know, can tip over into like the absurd and the, the distraction and, you know, I mean, God, I mean, I think is there anything out there that we won't numb ourselves out on? You know, I've given the opportunity because I think so much of what we're being invited to do at this time in our human evolution is to feel, is to like to feel everything. And I just think there's, it becomes unbearable because there's so, so much. So I think the question comes down to what is mind to do. , you know, what is mine to do? Because otherwise we just get swept away in the overwhelm. So I'd love to take that, this conversation. You know, I feel like we've kind of opened the aperture and had this really expansive conversation, and I'd love to kind of narrow the focus and just really kind of inquire with you. What would you say to our listeners about what is theirs to do, you know, and how would you invite them to figure that out for themselves as it relates to being part of the change? Joining hands with other sisters around the globe being sup, a support in sisterhood to other women, like I guess that would be a great place to just finish. Maybe our conversation is maybe something that they can explore or look at. Priya: Well, for one, I would suggest curiosity. Becoming curious about learning something about a woman who, who looks different than you. Mm-hmm. , if you're a white woman, get curious about women of color. Educate yourself because there's a long history of, of struggle in this country as well. Women of color have been, have been struggling for their freedoms, but ultimately the freedoms of everyone in this country. So to identify with more than someone who is like you, to really expand your sense of identification to at least, if not men, but at least other women all over the world, like the unifying factor being women. Maybe starting there. Monica: Mm-hmm. Priya: and then expanding from there. You know, really getting related to, as you said, to how you feel. If you wanna know if your life is on the right track, don't look at it. Don't look at whether you're, you live in a house, or you drive a nice car, or you've got that great education, or you've got your followers on social media. Don't look at these things as what defines the quality and the standard of your life. These are, these are the false, this is the falsehood, but instead, feel yourself. Monica: Mm-hmm. Priya: get into your body and ask yourself. In all honesty, I think that for transformation to happen, A lot of shadow work needs to be done and for shadow work to successfully happen. There are two things in my opinion that are key. One is absolute honesty with one self and courage because it takes courage to see what is unlovable about you. It takes courage to see what's quote unquote not beautiful about you. It takes courage to recognize your darkness, your evil, your greed, your selfishness, your ignorance. It takes courage and humility. So let's make it three. Humility to recognize courage and honesty so that you can really get real about who you are, quality wise, who you are, what makes up the your personhood, and engage how you feel. Be. Honest with yourself. If despite all of your, for example, if you're in a place of privilege that you're still miserable, it's okay to acknowledge that you're miserable despite all the efforts that you've made in life, to take all the right boxes. There's so much grief to when we think about, I've done it all. I've worked so hard, I've climbed every ladder that I was, that was put in front of me. Mm-hmm. , but I'm miserable and be okay to cry about that because I think that it's so much more powerful to live in reality, even if that reality is isn't seen as beautiful or pleasant Monica: or polished or perfect, Priya: rather than to live in the illusion, in an illusion. I mean, we're all here, right? Like we're we, we do, We are having these conversations, I'm sure your listeners are, are people who are. committed to personal development to waking up very Monica: much. Yes. So Priya: to, to be willing to just be honest about where they are really in life. So I would say that, I would say do research about Iran. You know, you asked about Zoroastrianism meditation was invented by Zartosht. He invented meditation. Meditation comes out of the heart of Iran. Mm-hmm. , do your research. I know a lot of people know about Hafez is or know about Rumi Rumi and Hafez is are too, you wise men amongst thousands that we have and women there is so much wealth hidden inside of Iran. And my prayer is that, sooner rather than later. Iran will be a country that you will be able to travel to and discover the people, the heart, and the generosity of Iranians that you will be able to draw from the wealth of resource that we have in terms of our arts, our literature, Monica: architecture. My God. I mean, it's just astounding. Priya: It's, it's really an incredible place and that come with reverence that when you, when Iran's doors open again, and that the international community is allowed back in that they return with reverence. Mm-hmm. and respect and appreciation and that we do that all over the world. I mean, we've dissected our mama Earth into all of these different parts, but it's just one, one planet. She's, she's one thing, you know, she said she, she's, she's the one united cell, you know, that is making this home for all of us and that I tread your land and your country with honor and respect and remember the natives. Be aware of your history. ]The same way that I want Americans to be aware of the history of Iran the same way I want I Iranians, to be aware of the history of this land and how the United States has come to be and to recognize that it hasn't been pretty, I know it's hard to recognize when you think about it. It's, it's horrible. This country has been built with blood. We have to acknowledge that. We, we should never forget that. Monica: Mm-hmm. Priya: ever, but we do all the time. We pretend that the glory of this country somehow was magically created. Monica: So true. I mean, and it's, it's really horrifying. Priya: So when we get real about our histories, we see that the old world is, is, is horrific. and that a new world is only going to come about when we acknowledge the truth about this one because we can't repeat this again. Transformation, new paradigm is literally something else. It can't have anything to do with this one. So this chapter, we gotta close this chapter properly. Monica: Well, and the the truth of it too is it's just unsustainable. I mean, it is just unsustainable, and so it's either we change or we perish. It's just that simple and I think we have an incredible opportunity. There's so much to be said for what's happening for us right now in all of the ways that you even pointing back to just. You know, what you talked about earlier, these revolutionaries or revolutionaries that become these key codes. That there are all of these things that are actually conspiring to have this happen that are cosmic forces at play as well. And it's just, it's all right here. I mean, it's, it's truly, to me, one of the most profoundly fertile feelings that I've, that I've ever felt in, you know, in my lifetime, just being part of whatever this is. You know? And I think we've all been naming it different things. The great turning, you know, the, you know, there's so many different prophecies about it, but it's here. The paradigm shift. Mm-hmm. . Yes. Yeah. And. Priya. I also wanna just thank you and invite you really to share with our listeners how can, how can we support you? How can we support your work? You know, maybe that becomes think sometimes when we don't know what to do, but we want to make a contribution and we want to align with someone in something that stirs our hearts and resonates in a deep way. You know that sometimes it is having money be an extension of that awakening or that what I would call the soul of money in that case where we're actually bringing our money or we're a race resources or our intellect or however we can contribute to that, which we have had an awakening around and want to care about and want to support. And I know that your work really. Is moving to so many women. So I'd love for you to share about it if you feel comfortable and want to offer a URL where people can learn more. And of course, I'll put that in the show notes as well. Priya: Thank you for that. Well, I have a nonprofit organization called Inner Journey Practices, and what we do is offer online empowerment and self hair, self care and self development education to fari speaking women worldwide. My goal is to be able to raise enough funding every year so that we can offer our programs for free to women. I don't think that women should be paying for self-awareness, self-development, self-empowerment, and self care. I think that these. Forms of education, just like any other kind of education and healthcare should be accessible to all people for free. That the new paradigm that they we're walking into makes it available for people that we don't have, that that self-care is no longer for the privileged people. Mm-hmm. , who can, who can afford to pay thousands of dollars to wake up from patriarchal oppression, to learn, to become aware, self-aware and aware about the systems that they're living in so that they have a say as to whether they wanna be part of those systems or not. These are the kinds of things that we teach our students and participants, and we teach them how to care for themselves. , how to heal through different kinds of modalities, how to meditate, how to heal with water, how to heal through yogi practices, how to have effective conflict resolution. We teach them about the importance and the power of sisterhood and women alliances. So if anybody wants to support this organization, we have a website called inner journey practices.com. You can go there, you can donate, um, via PayPal, you can donate, um, do recurring, uh, recurring donations, which is always helpful, or one time donations. That's the, that's what I've chosen to give my life to personally believe that change comes from education, because education awakens people. Mm-hmm. Monica: And we need the world to awaken. And I have committed myself to the Fari speaking female community to awaken because we're each, you're picking up one little corner of this, I don't know what you wanna call it, and fari, we would say software. You know, when you're sitting on the table and you have a a table clock, everybody's holding one little side of the table clock to lift it up. Priya: You know, we gotta pick and choose what's what we're gonna focus on. And for me, the focus is fari speaking women and their education for self-empowerment. So if anyone is, would like to support me on that track, it would make me very happy. And I think it's a very momentous time to be able to back Iranian women, fari speaking women worldwide. We're now connected. There's millions and millions and millions of. Iranians living outside of Iran because so many of us have had to leave Iran because of the living conditions, the impossible living conditions there. But it's, Iran is still our country. We have a very strong national identity and we all dream of the day where we can go back home. We just wanna be able to go back home. None of us wants to live outside of Iran. All the millions of people. We all just wanna go back home, have our country be safe enough and free enough that we can go and live together as the tribe that we used to be. And I also wanted to address one little thing that you had mentioned before, and it has to do with the symbol of the hair cutting. Mm-hmm. . . So I just wanna say that I, uh, I did a little bit of research, um, because I was also confused about it. What is the sim symbol of hair cutting? Monica: Right? And just to bring our listeners up to date, there's been a lot of posts today on social media, kind of virally being passed around, that are showing the Iranian, Iranian, Iranian, I'm so sorry, it's my Midwest coming out. Priya: No, um, that's okay. Monica: The Iranian women who are cutting their hair and yeah, there's been kind of this just a lot of, I think women who are trying to understand the symbolism of that. So, Well it Priya: seems that it's, you know, we, we actually have a term, um, for its, should we say geese body day geese is hair and body days cut off. And apparently it was a way of shaming women. So a woman who wasn't. Behaving in an inappropriate way. Mm. Whatever inappropriate was or is in the culture, would have to have her hair cut off and to be publicly shamed for being a bad woman. Mm-hmm. . And so now the women are saying, Well, I'm one of 'em. I'm also bad. What are you gonna do about that? We all just wanna be bad. So we're like, we're taking it to the next level. We're like, We don't care anymore about your, you know, your definitions of good and bad, and we're gonna cross that line. I want to be a bad woman. . Monica: Yes. It's a, it's a active rebellion. Your, Priya: your definition of it's, Yes. It's a, it's a rebellion and it's also a demonstration of grief as well. Monica: Mm-hmm. Priya: of grieving. But there's, um, yeah, there's different interesting articles that are actually being passed around in, in, in Fari that I would like to read. But this is this. A piece of information that I gathered today from a, you know, several conversations. Monica: Yeah. Thank you for clarifying. You know, it, there is, there is this way that hair has been, you know, this very, very potent symbol of feminine power. And so to have it used against you to, to shame you think of all of the women in my life who have, you know, there's even memes about women, you know, if you're feeling bad right now and, and you know, don't cut your bangs, right? Like, there's just a way that we're always kind of so, you know, have so much wrapped up in kind of this idea of hair, but there's also so much mythology around it. And of course, , the fact that, you know, there's many cultures where women have to cover their hair because it somehow is a temptation then for men. But I also want to just say too, that I also know that it's true, and you and I didn't talk about it in our conversation, but that the hijab is also something that women choose to cover as a, you know, and certainly it is her choice. I mean, we wanna really also emphasize that it is a woman's choice to be able to cover or not cover, but for her own reasons, not because she's being forced to, Priya: Yes, this is the next, this is the other facet of my body, my choice. Monica: That's right. That's right. Priya: You know, stop telling women what to do with their bodies. It's incredible. Monica: Okay. Is there anything that I haven't asked that you wish I had? Priya: No, I think I feel complete and I'm so grateful. , I'm so grateful for the opportunity to be able to share a little bit, and I hope that my share has, um, brought at least one little piece of spark somewhere in, in someone's mind. There's so much more to be said. There are so many other people who have a lot more knowledge about the history of Iran and you, contemporary Iran, his historic Iran, and I hope that you, you get to speak with them as well. And I just wanted to, share a little bit of, of, of my take on this situation, and I'm grateful for the opportunity. Monica: Well, I'm so grateful. And, you know, that's, that's just it. You know, if, if our listeners, if we sparked some curiosity, and I think so many of the discussions that we had tonight are just food for thought. And I'm so grateful because I've learned so much throughout this conversation, and I just really, you know, I adore you anyway, but I just love your vulnerability and your heart and your passion and your dignity and just the, the way that you serve and the way that you show up in the world is always just struck me. And so I just, I think you're incredible. So just thank you and. You know, for our listeners, you know, we'll be sure to put more resources in the show notes. It is late, so I'm finding myself, you know, at this stage of the evening, just noticing, right? Like my mouth words don't work my, But I'm just so glad that we got the opportunity to do this and there are many additional resources and articles that I found earlier today that'll also add to the show notes and certainly will also provide you with. Priya Assal link so that you can donate if you wish, and support her in other ways as well. So until next time, more to be revealed. We hope you enjoyed this episode. For more information, please visit us@jointherevelation.com and be sure to download our free gift, subscribe to our mailing list, or leave us a review on iTunes. We thank you for your generous listening and as always, more to be revealed.