I was very young when I started feeling the need to widen my horizons beyond my native culture. After studying decorative arts and psychology, I embarked on a career in communication that led me to take long trips to distant countries, in search of different modes of thinking.

In 1975, while I was traveling in Iran, I met some traditional musicians and we became friends. One of them in particular attracted my attention because he had a way of behaving which was both ethical and discreet, and differed from anything I had known until then: he was constantly trying to establish a balance, even in the most trivial situations of everyday life. I had been used to living with rush, excess and overweening egos, and his attitude of wisdom and respect for others struck me as a revelation. It was apparently possible not to lose track of your own self, as often happens when you are bursting with activity, provided you found, and kept in mind, the true meaning of your existence. He told me that his attitude had been inspired by the spiritual thought of an Iranian musician: Ostad Elahi.

This is how I discovered this philosophy and ever since, it has nurtured my vision of existence. It requires long-term work, based upon an inner relation to the divine and a sort of battle against the negativity within oneself, all the while being naturally involved in a normal and active social and family life.

Therefore, when my friend Jean-Claude Marti told me about his idea for an Internet site devoted to the major themes of Ostad Elahi’s ideas, I did not hesitate to make my own contribution to his project in the hope that the themes developed here will help those who are searching for a meaning to their existence find a path to fulfillment.