In the name of the Supreme Power, Allah
The third session of the 85th round of Congress 60”s educational workshops—dedicated to both travelers and companions—began at 10:00 a.m. on Wednesday, June 11, 2025, with Mr. Hossein Dezhakam as the master and the guardian of the ceremony, and Companion Iran as the secretary. The agenda of the session was “The book: Crossing the Zone of minus 60 Degrees.”
In the name of Allah, the Most Compassionate, the Most Merciful.
With strength drawn from the Supreme Power, Allah, we begin this session.
Hello friends, I am Hossein, a traveler and the guardian of this session.
I kindly ask that we observe fourteen seconds of silence to seek refuge in the Almighty for our liberation from our most powerful enemy—our own ignorance and unawareness.
Thank you, friends.
I now request the secretary to read the summary of the previous session and announce today”s agenda.
Hello friends, I am Hossein, a traveler.
I hope all of you are doing well. I’m also doing well, thanks to God, I just have a slight cold, which isn”t anything serious. Today is Wednesday, the twenty-first of Khordad 1404 (June 11, 2025) and it”s 10:06 a.m. We”re currently at the Academy building of Congress 60 in Tehran.
I will read to you the Didebans” (Watchmen”s) meeting report, which was held on Monday, the day before yesterday.
The second Didebans” meeting of the year 1404 was held on Monday, Khordad 19th (May 8th, 2025), at 2:00 p.m. in the Simorgh Building, with Mr. Hossein Dezhakam as the guardian and Ali Khodami as the secretary.
The topics approved in this meeting after discussion and consultation are as follows:
• From now on, the Eleventh Law [based on this law of Congress 60, in every meeting, Congress 60 members voluntarily put some money in a basket and this money will be spent for Congress 60”s routine expenses] will no longer be implemented in the Irrigation Legions, and all expenses of the Irrigation Legions will be covered by the Financial Department of Congress 60.
Because when a tree is planted anywhere, it must also be watered afterward. For example, I remember once in the Takhti land, a group of government officials came and planted some trees — and then left. A month later, all the trees had dried up. They think tree planting is just about putting a tree in the ground and moving on. No! Planting a tree is like raising a child — even harder than that. You have to care for the tree. At the very least, trees must be watered for four to five years until their roots grow deep into the ground and they no longer need regular watering. Therefore, we are obligated to water the trees we plant. To do this without taking up too much of the members’ time, we’ve decided that on the days when legions have their sessions — for example, on Mondays when the Academy branch holds meetings — five legions will go for irrigation instead of holding their regular sessions. When they go there, the Eleventh Law will not be applied, and if there are any expenses, they will be covered by Congress 60 itself.
• The next issue: in the Tuesday sessions held in provincial towns and the Wednesday sessions in Tehran, the time for making a contribution (each member gives their feedback and share their experiences on the agenda) is not given by the session’s master.
During public sessions followed by private ones, there are always some participants who are seasoned speakers. Their hands are constantly raised to speak, to the point that it can sometimes become tiresome — one might think, “It’s always the same person talking! For this reason, we’ve allocated (contribution time) for certain individuals who are usually too shy or hesitant to speak. This matter is critically important. We’ve all been there — the first time you try to speak in a session, your breath catches, your heart races, when you’re about to speak in front of two or three hundred people. I was the same way. We all go through it, and that’s exactly why we need to support these shy individuals and help them find their voice.
So, for example, on Tuesdays in the provincial towns, the master of the session doesn’t give contribution time to people. In fact, one person speaks at a time and then hands over the turn to another person. That speaker chooses the next one themselves. They should not pass it to someone next to them — for example, to the person sitting beside them — but must stand up and hand the microphone to a different group. The microphone should be handed to someone who, first, is not a newcomer, and second, never speaks up. Once the microphone is given to them, they must speak. If they don’t wish to speak, they must at least say something like, “Hello friends, I’m Hossein, a traveler. I’m not able to speak.” They must say at least this much. Even if they stumble through it, that’s perfectly fine. Afterward, they can pass the microphone to the next person. We need to implement this. The point is that people must definitely do this and help them, not just pass the microphone to the senior members. For example, a person may hold the microphone, speaks, and then says, “As a sign of respect for my guide, I’ll let my guide speak.” No! You should give the microphone to someone who never make a contribution so everyone can get going. Each participant should choose the next participant, and the microphone should be given to those who are not participating. This is also clear.
• Participants in sessions and educational workshops should avoid using pronoun “we” and speak from their own perspective.
In Congress 60 guidelines, it is stated that individuals must speak only from their own perspective. They don’t say things like "we addicts used to do this," or "we do that," or "you should do this." For example, no one says, "As a first-travel pupil, I did this, so you should do the same in your first travel." No one gives advice. No one says, "We do this" or "We do that." Everyone must say "I"—that is, they must speak solely on their own behalf.
Under no circumstances do we respond to each other’s contribution. In Congress 60, no one has the right to reply to another person’s contribution. For example, if someone says, "Yogurt is black," no one should say, "No, yogurt isn’t black—there are a thousand reasons that it’s white.” No! It’s none of your business. He says yogurt is black; you can say yogurt is white. Another may say it’s red. Someone else may say it’s yellow. Each person speaks their own attitude, it’s up to the group to understand [which statement is true]. Therefore, during contribution time, we absolutely do not respond to one another (we don’t debate or correct one another). If someone tries to respond to another person’s contribution, the session’s master must immediately remind them: “Please, don’t respond.” This is an important principle. Everyone must speak only from their own perspective—never from a position of authority, never to either praise us or criticize us; absolutely not, under any circumstances. They are only to share their own personal experiences.
• From now on, all guides of the newcomers are required to wear the white uniform in all sessions and educational workshops.
The guides of newcomers must wear the full white uniform—including white pants, white shoes, and a white shirt—on the day they are on duty, not every day. This applies to both male and female guides. When they are neat and well-dressed in this way, it naturally attracts newcomers and make them more receptive. If you go to a hospital and see that each doctor is wearing a different colored outfit, it becomes unclear who is who—it creates confusion. They (the guides of newcomers) must stand out, and that’s why having a uniform is essential.
• From now on, all Didebans (Watchmen) are required to attend Congress 60 Dideban’s meetings wearing the official uniform (including white pants, white shoes, and a white shirt) and the Didehbani shawl [Dideban’s shawl is white].
This requirement also applies to internal Didehbani meetings. This rule is already being implemented in the Assistants” meetings, all of them attend their meetings in uniform—both the female travelers and the female companions. The Didebans must follow the same standard too.
• With the approval of the Didebans’ Congress, six new branches will be established during the first half of the current year after completing all designated procedures and necessary evaluations. Final approval will be announced by the Base and the Guardian of Congress 60 (Mr. Hossein Dezhakam).
Six more branches will begin operations this year and be added to the branches of Congress 60. Funding has been allocated, sites are ready, and everything is prepared. We just need to assess how many guides are available in the target regions. The six new branches will be announced soon.
• Another issue: Two new Didebans have been introduced following a general vote. Accordingly, two current Didebans will step down. With the approval of the Didebans” Congress in the first half of the year, Mr. Javad Fallah from Mashhad and Mr. Abdollah Maleki from Tehran have been selected as the new Didebans.
Please give them a round of applause. Thank you, merci!
For example, these individuals have now been selected as Didebans, but they themselves already do not know they have been selected as Dideban. I haven’t chosen them, the selection is made by the council of Didebans. Many names are brought up in the council; the Didebans discuss and evaluate as much as they can, based on what they see and understand and eventually a Didehban is selected. But the person being chosen is never aware of it in advance; it’s never predetermined who will be chosen. It has a special voting process, and it may be discussed for months before someone is chosen. Therefore, in your own elections—when choosing a guardian, secretary, treasurer, agent, or assistant—always try to base your decisions on individuals who are truly qualified for the role. Now, there may be others who are even more qualified than these two new Didebans, but we haven”t seen or recognized them yet. In any case, that is ultimately in God’s hands.
• Next issue: With the approval of the Didebans’ Congress, Mr. Hesam Razi from Mashhad was appointed as the assistant of Didehban, Mr. Mehdi Sanchouli (the Portal Didehban)
The Didebans present at the meeting were: Mr. Amin Dezhakam, Ms. Kamandar, Ali Ashkezari, Babak, Mehdi, Ali Majdian, Reza, Mehdi Sedighi, Mohammad Sadegh, Alireza, Asghar, Ahmad, Majid, and Ali.
Respectfully,
Secretary of the Didebans’ Meeting (Mr. Ali Khoddami)
Thanks, merci.
Hello friends, I’m Hossein, a traveler. Today’s agenda is “The book: Crossing the Zone of minus 60 Degrees.”
When I started writing “The book: Crossing the Zone of minus 60 Degrees”, I was on the journey (addiction cure journey). Maybe about a month after the very first day of my journey, I started taking daily notes. Whatever happened, I would immediately write it down. Later, I would organize everything neatly in a notebook. Once the journey was over, I reviewed all my notes and began planning and writing. Since I had never written a book before, I asked a few people for advice. I asked, "How should I write it?" They said, "If you want to write about addiction, you should cover the history of addiction – What is addiction? When did it begin? What’s the timeline of addiction?" and other things people typically write. They suggested I categorize things, classify them. But I said, "No, these don’t work for me.
What’s the use of the “history of addiction”? What a drug user truly needs is to know the core of addiction—not its history. That doesn’t help them. But every time there’s a program or discussion, they immediately go into the history: “it was like this, then like that, the Opium Wars happened, then heroin came, then methadone was introduced”. Half the time is spent on these things.
That’s why I chose to write my book differently. I tried to tell the truth—as it is. I didn’t want to exaggerate or downplay anything. I didn’t want to say whether something was good or bad. That wasn’t my intention at all and eventually, the book was completed. It was ready. Well, there were also many challenges in getting it published, but I don’t want to get into that right now. With God’s help, I was able to get the book published, and now I think the book “Crossing the Zone of minus 60 Degrees” has reached its 71st printing. With each print run, we publish about 10,000 copies. We no longer do small print runs of 1000 or 2000 copies. All our print runs are 10,000 copies. If we were to print in batches of 2,000, the number of print run would go up. That’s usually what booksellers do—they keep the print quantity low so the edition number increases faster. For example, they print just 1,000 copies at a time. If I followed that approach, what should be one print run would suddenly count as ten, like the 250th edition, the 180th edition, and so on. But, no! It’s just one (print run of 10,000 copies each time) that doesn’t take up our time. So each print run consists of 10,000 copies, and we usually have about two to three print runs per year. Of course, the same goes for the book “Love, 14 Valleys for Recovery”; its print numbers are equally high. The content presented in the book “Crossing the Zone of minus 60 Degrees”, in fact, has clarified the ambiguous nature of addiction — what addiction truly is. Even today, if we ask, “What is addiction?” (We find that people still don’t really know). There are many addiction specialists all around the world. I always speak globally — not just regionally. For example, we might say, “Well, maybe our country does not know, but the Americans know everything.” But that is not the case, in fact, our country actually understands addiction better than even the United States. We even had a discussion with some Americans, and one of them remarked to one of our members, “We, Americans used to believe that most of the world’s knowledge belonged to us. Of course, I’m speaking about America again, but honestly — I’m not speaking from an anti-American perspective, like “Death to America”. Sometimes we do speak from that viewpoint, and that’s a different matter entirely. But right now, I’m speaking from a neutral and sincere standpoint. They said, “We Americans tend to think that all knowledge and science belongs to us — that we know it all. We don’t usually imagine that someone from Iran, for example, could have knowledge that surpasses ours. Truly, Congress 60 is far ahead of its time in the field of addiction – boldly and unmistakably, I say it’s 50 years ahead of the rest of the world, 50 years!!!
We’ve been working for nearly 27 years. We’ve been working for 27 years, we’ve achieved 90,000 successful recoveries (cured from addiction), all through the book “Crossing the Zone of minus 60 Degrees”. You won’t find even one like these 90,000 (recoveries) anywhere else in the world, (they’re) beyond cured, they are completely balanced or perfected.
There are many people (around the world) who have quit drugs (but not many who are truly cured). I’ve said it many times, and I’ll keep saying it—you must also affirm this phrase: Our definition of “true cure for addiction” means that when a heroin addict is cured via Congress 60’s method, they should be able to work in a heroin production laboratory without experiencing cravings or relapse. Or when an opium addict (who has been cured) spends the night in an opium warehouse, they should feel no temptation whatsoever – not even a passing thought about opium. Only under these conditions can the case be closed. Right now, the most important and largest NGO (in the world) based in the USA that treats addiction — which was truly very good about 70 years ago, back then there was no real solution for (curing) addiction.
Of course, until the emergence of Congress 60, there was no effective cure for addiction — their treatment method is exactly like leaving a bone inside a wound. You have to reopen the wound daily, clean it, apply medicine, dress it, and close it up again. For 30 years (for example), a bone left in the wound! That’s why if you ask them, they’ll say: “Yes, I’m forever an addict. I was born an addict and I’ll die an addict. I have to drag myself to certain meetings every single day. If I don’t, I’m done for.” And why is this? Because there’s still a bone left in the wound. It’s the same situation in America (the USA) too. But, Congress 60 comes in, carefully takes the bone out of the wound with forceps, sets it aside and then dresses the wound. After that a Congress 60 guide says, “Alright — it will take six months to a year for it to fully heal. After that, you’ll be able to go into water, swim in a pool, go anywhere you want and that’s the end of it. This book clearly defines the problem of addiction. If you were to ask the most renowned addiction specialists - those who treat addiction or work in the field, who’ve written dozens or hundreds of books about addiction - “What exactly is addiction? What is the true nature of addiction?” I doubt they could give you, or any of us, a logical answer about what addiction actually is. If they truly understood what addiction is, then (they would believe) addiction would have a definitive cure. Today, they insist that addiction can’t be cured. Why is that? Because it remains unknown. Why is there no cure? Because it is (considered) enigmatic. Why is there no cure? Because it is (considered) incurable. Why is there no cure? Because it is (considered) progressive. (Addiction is considered as) Something that is enigmatic, incurable, and progressive — that’s essentially the American view, that’s what’s taught at their universities too, and that’s the common perspective everywhere. But the book “Crossing the Zone of minus 60 Degrees”, has clearly defined the method of cure for us and provided us the pathway (for recovery) too.
If you look at the images in the book “Crossing the Zone of minus 60 Degrees”, they beautifully show you the path to addiction cure. The first scene begins with the image of a cliff, where a car is moving on a slippery road in freezing temperatures of minus 60 degrees. The car is beat up, the road is icy and slippery —at the very beginning, the car is beat up; however, by the end of its journey, it turns into something like a skater. It’s like skaters gliding along, moving at the same speed as a skier racing down hills and mountains. That’s the path it illustrates. Besides that, the book clearly presents the stages of tapering off medication (opium tincture) according to the program. The images are also very clear to all of us. They illustrate the different stages of our journey (of addiction cure) as well as the inner states we experience. Some of the images relate to the road, and some relate to the body – showing things like a rotten tree and so on. These also reveal certain paths of our journey. Then it shows our internal battle—the war of our thoughts, the struggle of our ideas. Our mind has become opium-like (drug-dependent), what’s it like? It also presents these to us. Then there are the musical pieces (associated with the images) which some have already been completed, and I hope that Amin will eventually complete the remaining tracks and bring them to fruition. Of course, all the music tracks have already been composed—they just need to be performed. The team is currently working on arranging the performances. To bring this to life, a symphony orchestra is required, and they are in the process of assembling and preparing it to complete the project. That, however, is another matter entirely. The book has also been translated into English and it’s already being used. It’s also currently being translated into Arabic by some of the members from Ahvaz. Some parts of it have also been translated into French. God willing, it will reach everyone. In fact, the book “Crossing the Zone of minus 60 Degrees” pinpoints all the blind spots of addiction, anyone who can read it, will understand that. Moreover, it consists of two sections: one part deals with earthly matters—tangible issues that are understandable and acceptable—and includes the path, the journey, along with photos and images.
There are certain sections, in which the Masters speak. In those sections, where the Masters speak, the discussion moves into spiritual matters (second part), that I advise first-travel pupils not to read the Masters’ sections at all — just read the parts about drugs (and addiction cure). When you try to read the Masters’ parts where Sardar, Ra’ad, or Silver [the Masters] speak in the book, you’ll understand a little bit of it, but most of it you won’t — you just won’t get it. The truth is, as you progress further, you’ll gradually comprehend it, the more you study the book “Crossing the Zone of minus 60 Degrees”, the more you’ll understand it. We can’t claim, “I’ve read the book “Crossing the Zone of minus 60 Degrees” and understood all of it”—because even I myself [as its author] haven’t fully comprehended all of its content (jokingly). You see, that’s why some people read the book “Crossing the Zone of minus 60 Degrees” now and don’t understand it at all, but (for example) five years later they’ll realize what a certain part means.
Anyway, this (book) serves as a keepsake of this matter. I haven’t made any changes to it at all. I mean, since the first revised edition was published, even if there was a typo or any mistakes, I left it as it was. The content remains exactly the same as in the first printing. Even if there was a wrong date, I did not allow it to be corrected. I said, “Let it stay wrong as it is”. That’s because the book “Crossing the Zone of minus 60 Degrees” is one that can almost be said to predict the future too. It outlines all the future plans and what will happen. If you look at the first volume of the book “Crossing the Zone of minus 60 Degrees” – the copy you already have – you’ll see some points there, it tells us what we need to do and where we need to get to. On the cover of the book “Crossing the Zone of minus 60 Degrees”, there is an image where you can see the sea, trees and such, alongside the desert, and you can also see the name of Allah at the top. It says that in nature, no such place exists, where a desert with extreme heat like the Lut Desert could contain water, lakes, trees, and birds right in the middle. There is no such thing (in our natural world). Or in the Arabian Desert, which is all just sand and dunes, imagine if suddenly there were a spot — for example, a pool of water, flowing springs, nightingales, trees, and plants. Such a thing simply doesn’t exist in nature. However, in human beings, it is different. Inside a person, there can be both desert and wasteland, but also green and flourishing places. Because of human nature’s uniqueness, both ruin and prosperity can exist inside him. It is a metaphor for him, and the more God’s light shines upon a person, the more that desert turns into a fertile and vibrant land.
I think this is enough for now. You can continue discussing this topic in your contributions. Thank you all very much for paying attention to my words.
In the second part of his speech, Mr. Dezhakam added a point on weight loss:
The plan we have for losing weight is like a magic show – it’s almost like a wizard’s trick! It’s a very simple thing, like a new discovery — where a person reaches a balanced weight without having to cut down on food, avoid certain foods, or do a lot of exercise or not exercise at all. The most remarkable part is that someone (who is overweight) can follow this exact program and lose up to 70 kilograms — we have records of this — while at the same time, someone who is underweight can follow the same program and actually gain weight. Isn’t that like magic? In fact, this is not magic, it’s a science. What kind of science? The science of the body’s innate intelligence where the body itself knows what to do. This applies to disease healing, and equally to addiction recovery: the body recognizing its own role in the process.
I was at an academic gathering with some professors from the University of Medical Sciences. During our discussion, I asked them, “Do you know how long it would take to count from one to one billion?” Then I told them: “33 or 34 years”. It would take approximately 34 years to count from one to one billion. While one billion may seem like a straightforward number, the human body contains 37 trillion — or even about 40 trillion — cells. So, what do all of these cells do? A single cell is like a galaxy or a city—it has its mitochondria (power plants), multiple layered structures, cytoplasm, and countless other components. A single cell is itself made up of billions upon billions of components. We have about 36 trillion cells—and each cell contains billions of parts, all working together and making decisions about what to do. The same is true in addiction, the same is true in disease. The cells are the decision-makers. The real specialists are them (our cells), we just need to provide them the right conditions (to function effectively). Now, putting aside orthopedics and surgery, we need to find the right medication — meaning the appropriate substances, given at the right time and in the right dosage. The same applies to the body. The body is an incredibly intelligent system. Do you want to lose weight by beating yourself up? Don’t eat this, don’t eat that, don’t eat this, don’t eat that — and then no matter what you do, you don’t lose weight again. There are thousands of methods – weight loss through protein consumption, weight loss through eating grass, weight loss through eating beetroot, for example (jokingly)... just imagine how many of these approaches there are, “Eat only bread, eat only protein, eat only fruit, eat only chicken, eat only meat” — oh, oh, oh. Additionally, there are numerous weight loss methods involving exercise: lifting weights, running, sitting, standing, and so forth. When we understand the body’s innate intelligence, it’s like having an address. Suppose you want to find a house in Tehran — for example, Haj Agha Abolhasani’s house. Without an address, you wander around this neighborhood and that neighborhood. But once you have the address — like Takht Jamshid Street, such-and-such alley, number so-and-so — you just go straight there. Now, this program we’re talking about for losing weight and weight reduction (is also effective for weight gain), today I’ve met a guide whose three pupils have gained weight (using the same program). I would like to invite them to come and talk so you can see that there is a project you need to learn and the only one you should implement. The guides of Jones’s Legions (Healthy Nutrition Legion) must implement only this program. The guides of Jones’s Legions should avoid making their own improvisations — for example, they shouldn’t suggest eating milk and dates at night (as dinner), or milk and walnuts at night, or beetroot in the morning, or alfalfa at lunchtime (jokingly), I apologize (for the humor). So they shouldn’t suggest these things that are not part of the program. They should only follow the existing project exactly as it is, because the body needs to make the decisions (itself), we do not decide whether weight is lost or not. (Maybe) We don’t believe, if we have faith (in the project), we simply follow this program. You should eat eggs for breakfast, have a salad before meals, cut back on junk food, and go for a 20- to 30-minute walk each day. You don’t need to walk for three hours, or four hours, or even an hour and a half — just a maximum of 30 minutes is enough. Undoubtedly, you’ll lose weight (by following these things). But (it’s not true) if you say, “No, I won’t drink soda now, I won’t eat this chocolate,” or you go to a party and declare, “No, I won’t eat Danish pastries!” –No! Just eat it! Or you go on a trip and say, “No, I won’t eat Kalleh Pacheh (an Iranian high-calorie dish), I’m on a diet” - no, eat it too! Just eat a measured amount (in moderation). Eventually, you’ll adapt.
Throughout the week, you will talk about the book “Crossing the Zone of minus 60 Degrees”, and if you are reading it and come across something you don’t understand, simply move on — there is no need to focus on it. You might be reading the book now, but only find your answer fifty pages later. Or you might continue reading and come across the answer in one of the CDs where I speak. It’s also possible that you won’t receive the answer to a particular question until ten years from now. In any case, do not put yourself under any pressure (don” force yourself to understand everything immediately). Sometimes, when you feel extremely frustrated, you can even draw a divination from the book — just as former members did in the past [close your eyes, consider what you want to know about in your mind, then open the book, read the opening page and you will realize what to do]. If you ever felt like ending it all (jokingly), you could open the book to see if it would tell you a good way to do it (jokingly). God forbid! Hopefully you have a pleasant day, and you can continue discussing the book “Crossing the Zone of minus 60 Degrees” during the week.
Written by companion Elham, Sheikhbahaei branch of congress 60, Isfahan, Iran
Translated by companion Sepideh, Legion 22, Sheikhbahaei branch of congress 60, Isfahan, Iran
