Sunday 31 July 2016

Everything I do is by choice

Remove the expression have from your vocabulary and your thinking, because it is going to release a lot of self-imposed pressure.You can create tremendous stress by saying ''I have to get up''. ''I have to do this''. ''I have to, I have to''.
Instead begin by saying , ''I choose to''. It puts a whole different perspective on your life. Everything you do is by choice. It may not seem so, but it is.

Louise L.Hay

Monday 25 July 2016

Nature of God

 In my previous article, that can be found here, I argued about the existence of God. In this one though, I wish to argue about His nature and how He actually is. In order for the reader to be able to follow this article I advise him to read first my article about the existence of souls, that can be found here, in order to make himself familiar with the notions of Ideas, that exceeds the common perceptions about the world. If not, due to the fact that we humans develop a physical intuition in order to explain the environment around us in classical terms since the moment we are born, the reader will inhibit himself in the process of comprehending the following. That will happen by subjecting himself inside the closed box of classical thinking, which must be abandoned in order for a person to be able to think further and ultimately grasp the truth.
 To start with, we must define what God is. He is defined as the supreme being; and also we accept that He is the creator of everything, including obviously the universe. Secondly, we have to take as granted that everything obeys to the rules of logic, meaning if we deduce something via logic then it must be by requirement true. So, for starters let us examine something that many believe about His nature and His attributes, that He has a physical body made out of matter. If that was the case then He would be unable to create the world; which by definition excludes Him from being God. The reason simply being that He had to exist before the creation of everything, in order to create everything. And it is impossible for something physical to exist before the creation of the Big Bang or the creation of matter itself. In addition, if He had a materialistic body then He would be bound by the spacetime continuum, meaning the limitations presented in space (have to travel) and time (not knowing the future and the past). As a result He would be unable to look after all of his creation everywhere and simultaneously and He would be able to be caught ''by surprise''. Plus, since the basic principle of matter is that it is variable, then God would change, therefore He would not be eternal and He would be subject to an unavoidable death. So, it stems from logic that we have to accept that God must not have a material body since then He would not be supreme neither He could be the architect of everything. Rather He must consist of something different, which for now let us give it the name ether. Furthermore, diving inside the boundary of quantum mechanics we must imagine ether as something that is not affected by time or space, rather it exist ''beyond'' them. In order to do that I encourage you to think again about the notion of Ideas that also exist ''outside'' this world and see the following video that can be found here. This explains about the tenth dimension that theoretical physicists are arguing about and can be used to ''visualize'' the omnipotent and omnipresent attributes of ether.
 Now, due to our previous acknowledgement we can deduce that ether must be invariable, in the sense that because it exist ''beyond'' time it does not change. Rather, it exists simultaneously both in the past and in the future, while it remains immutable to the corrosion of time. Decay and disintegration are characteristics of matter, that are not applicable in this case because ether is not material. Also it is not bound by the realm of space, meaning it is omnipresent. Note that according to physics time and space are interdependent. As a result, again, we realize that ether is immutable because change comes in matter either by time or by interaction with another material; both of these cases are irrelevant with ether. I encourage you to think about an idea, for example justice. The idea itself does not age or change, neither it is bound in a certain location. Same wise is the behaviour of ether. That allows God to reign as the supreme being, not being limited like all the entities who have a physical body.
 In addition, logic forces us to think that matter must be able to affect ether as much as a physical object can affect an idea. Materials are bound by spacetime, while ether is not and therefore they cannot affect it. Moreover, logic forces us to think that if God could bleed and die then he would not be God. But since, according to my previous article God must exist, then we are forced to accept that matter cannot affect ether. Again, I encourage you to think of an idea. How possible it is to kill and idea? Does it make sense to bomb justice or to shoot kindness? Furthermore, since God created the Big Bang, as previously stated He must have existed ''before'' it and therefore He must not have been affected by it. The entirety of energy and matter were suppressed in a singularity (including the limits of space and time). But on the other hand, God in order to create the world he must have been able to affect it. In order to design the Big Bang and interact with his creations we must be forced to accept that ether can affect matter, even though matter cannot affect it! Our physical intuition might try to prohibit us from accepting that indisputable conclusion, because in our everyday world interactions go both ways (remember Newton's third law: When one body exerts a force on a second body, the second body simultaneously exerts a force equal in magnitude and opposite in direction on the first body.). But one can realize that does always happen, for example matter does not affect ideas, but as seen in my previous article about the soul, ideas can affect matter. For example the extraordinary power of the human mind, where positive thinking can actually affect positively our future. Again, I encourage you to read Jean Pierre Mallet's double time theory that can be found here, or to think about the stunning effects of placebo! Even further, in large scale the Newtonian law of interaction holds well, but in the microscopic world of quantum mechanics things can be more complicated. Finally, think about the origin of our consciousness. As seen in my previous article about the existence of the human soul, matter meaning our physical death does not affect our soul, but our soul-consciousness can give rise to the electromagnetic pulses that travel through our nerves while alive. This is an example of something non physical (soul that generates our consciousness) affecting something physical (pulses through nerves), while the interaction the other way around is prohibited (death does not kill our soul)! Closing this argument, on a philosophical base, we must think how could something fleeting affect something permanent? The two ways interaction that our physical intuition might try to hold on, happens only between material objects and in this case ether is not material.
 A final postulate we must accept is that in order for God to be able to design the universe and to be the first amongst the first, ether must be able to bare intelligence. According to my previous article about the soul, consciousness and therefore intelligence do not stem from our brain but rather from our spirit and the brain is only the medium which allows our spirit to ''interact'' in this world. Therefore, the spirit is able to bare intelligence by itself, with no need of the brain and according to ancient philosophers, for example Plato (see Phaedrus) when it is not ''distracted'' by the physical body it is able to think freely and much better in every way! Like wise, ether must be intelligent and therefore alive. In my previous article where I argued about the existence of God I defined life as consciousness and death as its absent. In that sense God being the ultimate intelligence is alive and furthermore He is life Himself. Finally we can conclude that ether is life, for it is consciousness, while matter being unable to bear intelligence by itself is dead.
 As a result we end up with four undeniable postulates about the nature of God. First that God does not have a material body, rather He is constituted of something else, which for the moment I arbitrarily call ether. Second that ether exists ''beyond'' spacetime and therefore it is unchangeable and eternal. Third that matter cannot affect ether, even though ether can affect matter. And last but not least, ether can be intelligent, without the need of any physical brain to manifest consciousness. Now, it is conspicuous to deduce that if a being cannot be killed, hurt, or affected negatively in any way it will not feel fear, anxiety and a whole range of adverse feelings. And this is exactly what an ethereal being would be like! In addition an misfortune, would most certainly not happen to God, who is the supreme being. For example, our physical bodies can by hurt and they can feel pain, while an entity made out of ether would feel none of it. Therefore, non physical ethereal entities would feel no negative emotions, because nothing could be the cause of them! And above all, God would have no need to feel anything negative, like jealousy since He is the first amongst the firsts, or hate since He can't be hurt, or disappointment since He is omnipresent or even having unfulfilled wishes since He is omnipotent! But as someone that read my article about the soul, knows that ideas and emotions come in pairs. This means that the more happy someone is the less unhappy he is or the more good he feels the less bad he feels. That simple. But of course this goes also the other way around, meaning that if someone has no negative feelings inside him, then by definition he must be filled with positive ones! And finally we can conclude that God must feel only positive emotions, which by necessity means that He is good, just, kind, fair and above all loving!
 To extend my arguments one should realize that negative emotions lead to other negative emotions. For example despair leads to anger towards others, and anger leads to hate and so on. Emotions run in cycles, since one can be the cause of another. Of course, a negative feeling can not be the cause of a positive feeling. Therefore, if an initial negative emotion is fundamentally lucking, then other negative feelings would be unable to be produced in order to succeed it. But in the ethereal world, a whole range of negative emotions are missing! Furthermore, diving into the world of physics once again, God that exists beyond the limits of space and time, is omnipresent. To better understand that, I encourage you to remember the previous video about the ten dimensions. Ignoring the tenth dimension, which directly associates with the multiverse that is of no interest here, we will talk about a being in the sixth dimension. Then this being would be able not only to see the present, which is one frame in the forth dimension (what humans comprehend), but also the past and the future. Moreover, it would be able to see the world explicitly, with each detail of space and time evident. The analogy is that we, living in the forth dimension, only perceive three dimensions (height, width and length), but we are able to see every detail at once only in two dimensions. Of course two dimensional object do not exist in reality, as much as three dimensional objects do, but a painting or the screen of your computer can be a very good approximation in order to help visualize this idea. So God, would be able not only to be omnipresent, but also to know everything that has happened and every possible universe that can happen, while He could see what is happening in the forth dimension (or the fifth, and even higher if we suppose that He exist in the tenth dimension) the way we can see what is happening in a piece of paper. Then logic forces us to deduce that He must ''know everything'' or better said, nothing can be hidden from Him. As a result He must be wise, not only in the sense that He knows everything, but also because He is intelligent enough to create everything. Therefore,
we must assume that He knows what is best, what is bad and what is good (since also as said in my previous article about God, He must have created these notions themselves) etc. Now, that wisdom has been proven as one of His attributes, we must wonder what a wise being would choose to be: good or evil. The answer is obvious. God is love and kindness.
 In addition, a being that has such attributes and abilities, that can incarnate His will at any moment and knows all, must be said to have the maximum degree of freedom. But being free can only lead to positive emotions and these begin a cycle of other positive feelings. Moreover, since He is omnipotent and understands that in order to be happy one should feel himself with positive emotions, why would He chose to do otherwise and be unhappy? I mean feeling despair, depressions or even sad feels bad right? People, sometimes ''choose'' indirectly with their actions to feel like that, but God being all wise, as we accepted before, must be able to elect directly and undistracted what He wishes to feel. Therefore, obviously since He would choose to be happy, He must be filled with positive emotions like love, kindness, mercy and compassion. Furthermore, unlike humans that can be disturbed, hurt etc. God, being by its nature all powerful, should not be able to be disrupted from His positive status. Of course, one might say that He must feel uneasy by the dreadfulness of humans, because as stated before He must be compassionate about us. True, but the positive emotions of kindness and love that God feels all the time as previously stated, are not affected by the environment or the universe in His case, but stems only from His will. To better understand that, one should read my articles about why happiness depends only on our emotions that we can choose to feel and not from our environment, even though the vast majority of the time this is not the case,  that can be found in order here and here.  Of course, a good parent does not get angry at his six years old child when it makes a mischief. Using the same analogy, we must assume that the all knowing and all wise God must not get angry when humans are making non wise decisions, for example the use of violence. Rather, understanding what each person has gone through in his life and the reason that led him to such a stupid action, He must be merciful and compassionate. Finally, since in my previous article I provided substantial proofs about the immortal existence of the human soul, we must wonder, what is our life in this world in comparison with eternity?
 With that knowledge in mind, that God is kind, fair, just and loving we must decide to live our life in accordance with His will and to follow His way of being benign. For His way is the right way and He wishes nothing more than happiness, love and peace for humans. A being that does not have negative emotions inside it, like hate, anger, jealousy or rancour will never be violent and will never hurt another being. Therefore, we should follow the example of God and try to be good and just towards our fellow people and always keep in mind that He knows everything, all our struggles and all the good we have done and the help that we have provided others with. Of course, one might wonder if God is loving why does He allow all these dreadful things to happen? This is a question I will provide an answer in my next article, as well as what is ether, but for now we must keep in mind that God loves each and every one of us and let that knowledge fill us with light and hope for the future, but most importantly with love for all mankind!

Monday 4 July 2016

Apothegm

''Happiness will not be found in wealth, but in the tranquility of soul.''

Aristotle

Sunday 3 July 2016

God

 In this article I must ask again of my readers to have their mind open to new possibilities and ideas and not to allow what they already know inhibit them from learning something new. That is the case because once more in this article, I will speak about things that are totally counter intuitive and exceed our physical sense. Therefore, they are hard to comprehend and follow. As a result, if the reader wishes to understand the logic in this article, he must be patient and willing to think outside of the closed box that explains physical reality in classical terms. With that I mean, that since the day we are born we develop a physical intuition about the world around us, which sadly is wrong, due to the fact that reality is much more complicated and it requires way more elaborate theories to be explained, that are totally counter intuitive and cannot be visualized (eg. Quantum Mechanics). When one will perform that, then he will enable himself to understand this article and its purpose, which is no else that to prove the existence of God.
 In my previous article where I argued about the presence of soul, I provided evidence about the existence of ideas. As a result, in order for someone to be able to follow this article, since ideas and soul are fundamental notions that will be extensively used here, he must read first this article, which can be found here. So, I will proceed assuming that the reader is familiar with the notion of ideas.
 First of all, one should define what God is. God is the greatest entity of all. Of course, as shown in my previous article, human have souls that are eternal and so we must assume that God has to also be a soul, the ''biggest'' soul in fact. Furthermore, as one can easily observe that ideas comes in opposite pairs. For example, hot and gold, just and unjust, good and bad. Nature is divided in two, because ideas by their nature, always have an opposite. The same goes for situations due to the fact that something either exists or it doesn't. In order to make myself clear, a situation exists, for example sleep, or it does not, meaning there is ''no sleep'' or to be awake. Therefore, ideas are binaries. Of course that does not hold true for objects, eg. you cannot have the opposite of a piece of wood. But, one may wonder, if that holds true for everything in nature?  The answer is yes because if one can think of an idea then by definition he will be able to think the opposite of that idea. Therefore, both opposites of an idea must exist (either physical or ideal) or the idea itself would collapse, for example you cannot have hot without cold. But as we saw in the previous article, ideas are real. They might not have a physical form, but they exist and can also affect the material world. Now, one should think about the idea of life. Life, let it be defined as the existence of consciousness and death as its absence. One can easily conclude then that the universe is dead, since it does not have any consciousness. Planets, suns and space are not alive neither they can think. But, as we stated previously ideas and situation comes in pairs, therefore since the whole physical universe is dead, then there must be, by definition, something that is alive and conscious! As stated in the previous article, about the existence of soul, consciousness does not actually originate from the brain, but rather from the spirit, while the brain is just the medium that allows consciousness and ideas to ''freely interact'' with the physical world. Since, obviously there is no grand physical entity at the size of the universe, then logic forces us to accept that there is a master being with a non material, spiritual form and is also the exact opposite of the physical world, meaning alive and conscious. That entity can be called God.
 Even further, Anselm of Canterbury defined God as "that than which nothing greater can be conceived". He then proceed into developing the ontological argument. It states that God exist as an idea in the human mind. But, if something exists then it must be ''greater'' than something that does not exist. Thus, by definition, if God exists as an idea in the mind but does not necessarily exist in reality, then we can imagine something that is greater than God. But, it is impossible to think of anything that is greater than God. As a result, God must exist in reality! Furthermore, one may back up this argument by saying that ideas are real. As a result, the idea of absolute ''greatness'' must also be real, even though perfection is absent in the physical world. But, again if something exists then it must be better than something that does not exist. As a result something must exist, that is the absolute ''great''. That ''something'' is called by definition God. Also, that implies again that God does not have a physical form, rather he is spirit and soul.
 Moreover, one must think about what produces ideas. Obviously, ideas are being formed by our consciousness, or better said, by our spirit and are ''materialized'' in this world via the brain. One should note that consciousness, like ideas, is not material or physical, rather it has a ''spiritual nature''. As a result, the human mind can think and create it's own ideas. For example, this article or how to solve a particular problem. Producing ideas is part of our everyday life, it is what our thinking conscious does. But producing new ideas is something mush harder to achieve than thinking about something trivial like where you should eat next. With that, I mean that one can easily utilize an already known idea, made by someone else, for example to think if an action is just or not, or to understand a scientific principle. But, constructing new ideas, eg. a theorem to explain how nature works or how to design a certain product, can be quite different from using something already known. Therefore, humans have to struggle to produce a worthwhile idea, either if it is in art (like a painting) or in science (like research). And of course there are limits to what the human mind can produce, independent of intelligence. For example as stated before, one cannot produce an idea that does not have an ''opposite pair'', due to the fact something will exist or it will not exist. Or additionally no one can thing of something that does not exist and also does not not exist. Like the old joke goes ''try to imagine a new colour''. But then, it comes to mind that justice, good, numbers etc. are also nothing more than ideas. Fundamental ideas, but ideas none the less. As a result, it is mandatory to assume that, by their nature, they had to be created also! But when and how these ideas came to be? Could humanity have created these ideas? Because these ideas are so essential that the universe itself would not work without them. Would the universe exist if they weren't already available the ideas of space, time, mathematics, or even balance? Did the first person who though if something was good or bad, discovered the idea of good or is it something deeper, that existed before even time started to tick? The answer is obvious. As a result we must assume that an entity greater than humans thought of these ideas. And in addition, since some of this ideas are fundamental for the very creation of the universe, they must have been constructed before the Big Bang. This entity is well known and it goes by the name God.
 Even further, in my article about the nature of reality, that can be found here, I state that reality is unique and we cannot have more than one thing to exist at the same time. Therefore, God must be unique in the sense that Zeus, Odin and Allah cannot all be true. As a result, all religions and spiritual organizations, since they are claiming to be bringing God's will towards humans, must say the same thing, since God, like reality, is unique. Obviously they don't, but God is an infinite being, unlimited and perfect, in the sense that he is all good, all loving, just etc. So how can humans, who are limited, finite, and not perfect, understand God and also His word? How could they preserve through various generations His word unchanged? We haven't. In another article, that can be found here, I explain how the church corrupted the preachings of Christ throughout the centuries, and why what the church teaches now is very far away from what Jesus said. That did not happen only to Christians, but also to almost every other major religion. Therefore, if one studies every religion and serious spiritual organization and manages to see beyond this human factor of corruption that varies due to the difference between eras, cultures and civilizations, he will discover they are all saying the same things, that I refer to in other articles. He will discover the same truths behind the teachings of Christ, Buddha, Plato and Gandhi! And these preachings, that are by their nature about love, kindness and forgiveness, can validate the existence of God, since it is impossible for the various eras and continents to share the same beliefs throughout history!
 In addition, the oldest argument in the book, is the one about the creation of the universe. But beyond that, what about the creation of the human souls? Since it is non possible for us to create ourselves, then we must assume that someone else did this for us. Logic forces us to think that a greater soul must have been the reason behind all of that. Note that unlike matter, ideas do not require a raw material or a feedstock to be created and so we must assume that so does the human spirit. Therefore, the whole primordial creation of spiritual beings and ideas must be traced back to one starting point. That starting point is named God.
 Finally, many arguments that are based on logic have been created in support of the existence of God. A list of them can be found here. But I think the most vital argument of all, stems from Socrates's theory of reminiscence. As one would know be reading my article about the human soul Socrates states that if for example someone sees an orange, what he might remember is that moment when he was eating an orange with his significant other. This is called recollection,which is to remember something by thinking of something entirely different, that has no obvious connection with it. For example, to remember of your significant other, because you though of the orange you were eating. Of course, in order to recollect something, it is obvious that you must already know it, and furthermore, it does not matter if the thing that caused that recollection is similar or completely different from it. Then Socrates asked how one learned the idea of equality? Since no two physical objects can be equal. A piece of wood or a rock cannot be equal to another piece of wood or a rock. They can be similar, but not equal.Two ideas can be equal, like two numbers, but physical objects can only be similar, always falling short of the idea of the perfect equality.  Differences between them will be always be found, even if one has to search to a microscopical level. Same thing goes for justice, beauty, good, and other ideas. Even though we do not see them, because they are not physical, we know about them, by seeing something else, similar to it or different. Therefore, what we are doing is recollection! But, as stated, in order for someone to be able to recollect something he must already know it! As a result, people can not actually learn these ideas, for example what is good, equal and beautiful, but they recollect them, necessarily from a time before their birth, since apparently it is impossible to learn them inside this world! Using this logic Socrates proved the existence of the human soul. But, now I may ask, how do we know about the idea of God? Obviously we don't see any omnipotent and omnipresent beings in nature, or to be honest, we don't see anything that even remotely resembles God. Therefore, in order for us to have the idea of God, we must have recollect it from a moment before our birth in this world! That means that God must not only be real, but we must also have ''seen'' Him, in order for us to be able to recollect Him! And there is at least one moment at which we must, by definition, have ''gazed'' upon Him, the moment of our creation.
  Closing this article, one should try to find happiness and hope in his life, due to the knowledge that God exist. I believe that everyone can find peace and consolation in the knowledge that there is someone who watches over him, even though sometimes it doesn't feel like it. That is the purpose of this webpage after all, to bring hope and happiness to people. But also, to lead them towards a lifestyle of love, kindness, spirituality and forgiveness; characteristics that bring humans closer to God. Because how else could we hope to reach the divine, if not by trying to become divine ourselves, through enlightenment and love? And now that we know that there is light in the end of this dark tunnel we call life, we must strife for it. All we have to do is to walk towards it, with steps of kindness and to never stop walking. God is real, just a few steps ahead, for those who go in the right direction, the direction of good.

Friday 10 June 2016

Thursday 9 June 2016

Soul

   In this article, I will politely ask my readers to have their minds open to new possibilities and ideas, and to not let what they already know inhibit them from learning something new. That is because I will try to explore some new ideas and philosophies that are counter intuitive and hard to understand, but will eventually lead to the knowledge about the purpose of humanity in this world and fill your lives with hope.
  From the moment we are born in this world, we develop a physical intuition about how the environment behaves and how matter interacts. But in this article, we need to leave this intuition behind us and step into a new realm, the world of ideas. That is because ideas are not physical, nor do they have a material form, and so they do not behave like everything else that we see, touch or feel in this world. Of course, the first argument or thought one might have is the fact that since they have no physical existence, are ideas even real? Since they are a product of our thoughts and do not possess a material form, do they really exist? The answer is yes. First, think about science. Math does not exist, in the sense that one will never encounter the number -2.3 in nature. But math does lead us in real results. For example, as it comes to the imaginary numbers (where the imaginary number ''i'' is equal to the square root of minus 1) even though they are not real, they can be used to compute real results and beyond that, they have physical applications in geometry. Mathematician J. Hadamard stated, ''The shortest path between two truths in the real domain passes through the complex domain.'' So even though they do not physically exist, they exist as ideas that can be used in order to produce physical results. A great example of this is the sum of all integers numbers, which is equal to -1/12. In order for someone to understand that, he should watch the appropriate video here, and if he has no mathematical background, he should watch it after the 16:03 minute mark. An infinite sum is not something that can physically happen; if I started to add numbers from the beginning of the universe until its end, even then, I would not be close to infinity. But their result, instead of being infinite as someone would expect, converges to -1/12, a negative number. That is a result that a classical mind, that isexplaining the world using classical physics, cannot accept and understand. But, classical physics falls short when it comes to comprehending reality and this is the point where quantum mechanics step in. And as a physics student, I can tell you that this is a completely valid quantum mechanical result, that even though it does not agree with our physical intuition and logic, it has been validated as true. It is called the Casimir effect and more information about it can be found here. The experiment is simple. Scientists placed two uncharged conductive plates next to each other in a vacuum. In the absence of an electric field, someone would expect the energy between them to equal zero. However quantum mechanics tells us that there can be no zero energy as in the vacuum particles spontaneously are ''created and destroyed'' (Heisenberg uncertainty principle and more information about it can be found here). So when the scientists did the math, in order to try to predict the result they would get, they ended up with the sum of all integer numbers for one dimension and in cube for three dimensions. Of course, the classical result would suggest this sum to be infinite, which would mean infinite energy between the two plates, which is obviously wrong. But when they performed the experiment, they measured the energy in one dimension to be -1/12 and in three dimensions the corresponding result! From ideas that have no physical representation, we ended up with applicable real results! That must mean that ideas are actually real and not just fictional.
 Furthermore, one can do extraordinary things with the power of his mind. For example, he can heal himself via the use of what is widely known as placebo effect or can cause damage to his health via long term anxiety. Placebo effect is the phenomenon where a patient can experience positive, or more rarely, negative effects in his health by believing that he is under medical treatment, even though in reality he is not, such as being given sugar pills instead of the actual medication. Such is the power of mind that Doctors Walach Harald of the European University of Frankfurt, Germany and Kirsch Irving of the University of Hull, United Kingdom stated in the abstract of their book ''Herbal treatments and antidepressant medication'' that, ''Depression is one of the most widespread psychological disorders. According to statistics reported by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, approximately 8% of adults and adolescents reported being depressed during any 2-week period between 2006 and 2008. The most common treatment for depression is antidepressant medication. From 2005 to 2008, about 1 in 10 Americans aged 12 and over took antidepressants, an increase of 400% over estimates made a decade earlier. During this same period, a controversy developed regarding the efficacy of these treatments. Although a strong positive response to anti depressive medication is undeniable, clinical trials indicate that most of this response is duplicated by inert placebos. This finding has led some authors to question whether antidepressants are much more than active placebos.'' Another amazing story that demonstrates the power of our ideas is the one by Henry Beecher, who while treating soldiers during World War II, ran out of morphine. As a result, he decided to tell his patients that he was still giving them morphine, while in reality he was infusing them with a saline solution. Surprisingly, 40% of the soldiers said that the given medicine had eased their pain. Moreover, the psychologist Guy Sapirstein determined after 39 studies on the effectiveness of antidepressant medicines that 50% of the therapeutic benefits were derived from the placebo effect, while only 27% was caused due to the given drugs! Three years later, with the help of the psychologist Irving Kirsch, he conducted 19 double-blind studies regarding depression, and he concluded that the benefits of the placebo were causing 75% of the total benefits! Even a whole book would not be enough in order to site all the amazing benefits form placebos, so I will leave the reader with the question: how could thoughts possibly have such a big effect if they are not real? Doctor Jean-Pierre Garnier Malet claims (double time theory and the relative video can be found here) that thoughts can not only affect ourselves, but also our environment, where positive thoughts can prevent problems while negative thoughts can create them. Pythagoras and other ancient philosophers used to claim the same thing. Why do all self-improvement books say to believe in yourself? Because ideas and thoughts are real and by believing you can do something, you can actually do it.
 Of course, we humans produce thoughts. So let's define our character, emotions and memories with the word ''soul'', and our intellect, meaning our ability to think with the word ''spirit'', like Pythagoras did. Here comes the big question. Are our thoughts and ideas a product of our brain alone and so when we die, our spirit and soul (thoughts) cease to exist as well? Or does intellect, a product of our spirit that is manifested in this world via the brain, live on after our death and so, like every religion and spiritual organization claims, we continue to exist? Are our souls and spirits immortal, or is it just a fancy word I used to define our emotions and intellect? To get a defining answer, one should read Phaedrus by Plato, where Socrates proves via logical arguments that our soul (because, unlike me Socrates defined as our soul both our emotion and our intellect) is immortal. I will try to superficially convey his arguments here. In the beginning Socrates, as a teaser, argues that ''opposite'' things happen from ''opposite'', meaning that when one of them is being reduced, the other one is being increased. For example the more beautiful someone is, the less ugly he is, the more good he is, the less evil he is. Also, one thing or ''state'' is being derived from its opposite, like being awake, or being cold. You go from sleep to awake and then back to sleep again, or from hot to cold and back to hot again. But death is obviously being derived from life. So, according to our previous train of thought, life must also being derived from death. Here a true philosopher would ask, ''What is life''? Life is defined as our existence, while death as the non-existence. If something can think, it has intellect, so it ''exists'', and so it is alive. Descartes said, '' as long as I can think, I know that I exist.'' Therefore, life, having here the meaning of intellect, must have existed before we were born, and must continue to exist after our death so that is may come back to life again. For more proof recall my article about reincarnation, which you may read here. So of course, in order for our intellect to exist before our body was created, it must result in the existence of what I have defined as spirit. These thoughts might appear weird and counter intuitive because we are not dealing with physical objects here, but with ideas. You cannot have the opposite of a piece of wood, but you can have the opposite of justice to be injustice, because justice is an idea and it does not behave like matter, but it also extremely real. Obviously, this ''proof'' from Socrates about the existence of our soul after our death is based on a generalization, and it is questionable. That is the reason I called it a teaser before. Thankfully Socrates did not stop his arguments here.
 Additionally, Socrates developed his theory of reminiscence, which logically leads into the immortality of soul. More specifically, if for example someone sees an apple, what he might remember is that moment when he was eating an apple with his significant other. This is called recollection, meaning to remember something from something else, that has no obvious connection with it except in your mind. Of course, in order to recollect something, it is obvious that you must already know it, and furthermore, it does not matter if the thing that caused the recollection of another thing is similar or completely different from it. But then Socrates asked how one learned the idea of equality? Since no physical objects can be equal. A piece of wood or a rock cannot be equal to another wood or rock. They can be similar, but not equal. Two ideas can be equal, like two numbers, but physical objects can only be similar, always falling short of the idea of the perfect equality. Same think goes for justice, beauty, good, and other ideas. Even though we do not see them, because they are not physical, we know about them, by seeing something else, similar to it or different. Therefore, what we are doing is recollection! But, as stated, in order to recollect something we must already know it! As a result, we do not really learn these ideas, like what is nice and beautiful, but we recollect them, from a time before we were born, since apparently we cannot do that inside this world! Therefore, our soul and spirit must have existed before we were born in order for us to have these ideas inside us. So our thoughts and emotions are not produced by the brain, but rather our soul and spirit, and are manifested in this world via the brain. In addition, people have unjustified phobias. For example, someone can be claustrophobic even though he has never had any bad experiences with them. That means that his soul, his character, already had this idea inputted into his mind. How is that possible though if he had never experienced anything like it before? Could it be that he had a bad experience in a previous life that could result in such a phobia? Doctor Ian Stevenson devoted his life to finding evidence that memories and physical injuries can be transferred from one life to another by examining more than 3000 children over 40 years. His researcher became internationally recognized and more information about it can be found here.
 Finally, Socrates developed another theory where he claims that not only ideas exist, but they are also,as the word denotes, ideal. For example, there is such a thing as the ideal beauty, and in order for something to be beautiful, it must ''participate'' in the idea of beauty. Even though this idea initially might appear counter intuitive, it makes sense because if one stops thinking in term of matter, he will see that beauty, harmony and other such ideas, are unique. Take as an example the temperature. We cannot have something becoming a different cold than another, neither can it reach a different absolute zero temperature. Similarly, if there were two ideas that described the ideal beauty, then these ideas would be the same and therefore it would be illogical to speak of them as being separate. It is easier to visualize with numbers. We can have one pie in one table and one pie in another table and the two pies would be different no matter what, even if we have to search for these differences at the microscopic level. But, as it comes to ideas, the number one will always be the same number one, and therefore, we cannot talk about two number ones, because it is illogical. Consequently, there can be only one idea of beauty etc., and the more something ''participates'' inside that idea, the more beautiful it is. Of course, the more beautiful something is, the less ugly it is, the more good something is, the less evil it is. These ideas Socrates called opposite and unlike physical objects, ideas always have an opposite. Additionally, he stated that something cannot cause opposite results. For example, an action, an object, or generally anything cannot cause different results at the same time, meaning nothing can influence an object in a way so that it can make it both hot and cold at the same time. It is illogical for X to coexist with its opposite Y together such as something cannot be good and bad together. That is because the more we have of one, the less we have of another. Lets say there are three people, A, B, and C, each one taller than the other. Socrates assumes that B is taller than C, but shorter than A, because of their height. According to our previous developed logic, something can not cause both opposites (the idea of short and tall) at the same time. Therefore, B is not taller than C and shorter than A because of their height, but due to how much they participate in the idea of size! It is not their physical height that makes one taller than the other, but how much their height participates in the idea of size! This is a new and strange way of thinking that is challenging to understand, but it goes accordingly with logic and reason, and so it must be followed. Socrates then stated that some things must participate by their nature in one idea and if they ''leave'' this idea, they stop existing. For example, Socrates says that ice must be part of the idea of cold, for if it is not cold, then it is water. Additionally, if someone is a saint then he must participate in the idea of good, and if he is no longer good, then he ceases to be a saint. If a number is even, then it can never stop participating in the idea of even and become odd. Basically, if a thing by its nature participates in one idea, then it cannot participate in its opposite. Therefore, things that, by their nature, participates in opposite ideas do not ''belong'' and ''go'' together, like numbers, which are divided in odd and even and these two categories cannot be mixed up. Therefore opposite ideas not only exclude each other, but also exclude the things that participate inside them! Socrates gave a practical example of this. Ice participates in the idea of cold, and fire participates in the idea of hot. Therefore, they exclude each other because if we throw ice in the fire, the fire will be extinguished and ice will turn to water. Finally, Socrates asked one of his students to tell him something that participates in each idea. For example, he asked what thing raises temperature? It is what participates in the idea of ''hot'', e.g. fire. Then he said, what produces sickness? The answer is obviously what participates in the opposite of the idea of health, for example fever. Afterwards, he asked what thing makes a number odd. Apparently it is what participates in the idea of odd numbers, for example the number one. But finally he said, what brings life? A great question indeed. According to our previous logic, it is the thing that participates in the idea of life, which is none other than our soul! Because life is existence and thought or consciousnesses is what makes us exists. Rocks do not have consciousness, nor can they think, thus they are dead, meaning a rock as a person, an entity a being, does not exist. Once again, Descartes said as long as I think, I exist. As long as you can think, you exist as an individual, as an entity, and as a person. But, if after you die, everything ends and your thoughts, ideas, and character die with your brain then you do not exist anymore. Simple as that. But you do not need to worry about that because the opposite idea of life is death. And as we just saw, our soul participates in the idea of life and so it cannot participate the idea of death! As a result, our soul is immortal and can never die!
 Even further, in my article about the nature of reality, that can be found here, I state that reality is unique and we cannot have more than one thing to exist at the same time. Therefore, God must be unique in the sense that Zeus, Odin and Allah cannot all be true. As a result, all religions and spiritual organizations, since they are claiming to be bringing God's will towards humans, must say the same thing, since God, like reality, is unique. Obviously they don't, but God is an infinite being, unlimited and perfect, in the sense that he is all good, all loving, just etc. So how can humans, who are limited, finite, and not perfect, understand God and also His word? How could they preserve through various generations His word unchanged? We haven't. In another article, that can be found here, I explain how the church corrupted the preachings of Christ throughout the centuries, and why what the church teaches now is very far away from what Jesus said. That did not happen only to Christians, but also to almost every other major religion. Therefore, if one studies every religion and serious spiritual organization and manages to see beyond this human factor of corruption that varies due to the difference between eras, cultures and civilizations, he will discover they are all saying the same things. He will discover the same truths behind the teachings of Christ, Buddha, Plato and Gandhi! But, the most well-known and obvious thing is that every religion talked about the existence of the soul and life after death.
 I prompt you to think something beautiful for example a nice painting. The painting, as we stated before, participates in the idea of beauty. But if the painting is destroyed does the ideal beauty also die with it? No. That is the reason ideas are immortal. They are not affected by matter. How many times I stab or torn apart the painting, I will not affect the idea of beauty, because, simply enough, it is not physical. Even if all beauty in Earth ceased to exist, the ideal beauty would be unaffected. As a result, ideas cannot be affected by matter. I cannot hurt justice, neither can I kill the number one. Note that as we saw before though, ideas can affect matter (e.g. placebo effect). Therefore, something material cannot produce ideas since it cannot even affect them. So, it is not our brain that produces our thoughts, but rather our spirit. But beyond that, since matter does not affect ideas, then our physical death should not affect at all our intellect, our character, and our thoughts! That is the reason I defined in the beginning our intellect as our spirit and our character as our soul because they are immortal and continue to exist after our death! And even further, if our soul (character and emotions) and our spirit (intellect) dies with our body, how could something mortal give birth to something immortal, like ideas? Finally, the spacetime continuum that encloses our universe affects only material things, even if they have no mass (e.g. photons of light). But, as I have stated before, ideas are not physical. Therefore, they exist beyond the limits of time and space. And so, stepping inside the boundary of quantum mechanics once again, something that exists beyond time does not age, change, or fade away. Matter changes by its nature, but ideas and therefore also souls are not physical. Therefore their nature does not dictate them to change and eventually die.
 As a result, we must accept the existence of our immortal soul, not because we want to believe in it, but because logic forces us to believe in it. This way, we can reevaluate our priorities in life and chose the right path for us. Our life is short, minimal in comparison with our soul, which is forever, and so instead of giving into lesser desires like anger and hate, we must do our best to love the people around us and help them, so that we may take care of our soul this way. We must abolish our previous ways of thinking and devote our life in the search for good, kindness, and enlightenment so that we may live forever with the good actions we have done and not the bad. Finally, before we take up any action, we should pause to think if our action will to benefit our soul or our purse. Our soul is eternal and we are going to live with it forever, so it is simply not worth it to corrupt our immortal soul in order to fulfill some fleeting desire we have. Everything in this life falls short to immortality, and so we must tend to the everlasting part of us, not our ephemeral life in this world, by being kind, helpful, and a positive influence in this cosmos.


                                                                                                                  Andreas Sarchosis

Monday 6 June 2016

Apothegm

When you are speaking, you just repeat what you already know.

But when you are listening, you may learn something new.

-Dalai Lama

Saturday 4 June 2016

Parables

In this article I wish to examine the meaning of a few of Christ's parables. Even if you don't believe in his divine nature, the fact remains that he was a great historical figure given that he created one of the largest religions and so the wisdom of his words cannot be ignored. Therefore, one should try to understand the meaning of his teachings.
  He said in Matthew 7:6 "Do not give dogs what is holy; do not throw your pearls before swine. If you do, they may trample them under their feet, and then turn and tear you to pieces." The meaning of this is to not give the ''divine'' knowledge to people who can't appreciate it or are not ready for it. That is because the ''dogs will tear you to pieces'', that is, these people that will try to hurt you and become aggressive. A prime example of that are fanatics, who will become mad due to the fact that they can only accept their faith as true and everything else makes them angry, because they cannot justify what they believe via logic. Also, the ''pigs that may trample it under their feet'' stands for the humans that are very attracted to materialism and fulfillment of their carnal desires and therefore will not be able to appreciate the spiritual truth. But what exactly is this ''divine'' knowledge? This, according to Jesus, is the knowledge of how one can live his life in a way that will allow him, after he dies, to enter the ''kingdom of God''. The way one can do this is very simple. It requires nothing more than loving your neighbours as you love yourself, forgive your enemies and generally be kind and fair towards other people. Why is this knowledge then hidden in parabolas, especially when Christ openly talks about it, in other parts of the New Testament? As a result, there must be another part of this ''divine'' knowledge that we don't know and it is also not suitable for everyone. But again, Christ talks openly only about love and forgiveness etc. He does not say anything else. That is because by doing these actions and staying in the path of God, one will inevitably seek this further knowledge. If one fills his soul with love and kindness then by his nature he will seek this further ''hidden'' wisdom. This explains what Christ says exactly after, in 7:7-12, ''Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened. Which of you, if your son asks for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake? If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask Him! So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets'.' This parabola means that if you wish to walk the path towards God and kindness, then God being kindness and love Himself, will help you reach Him. So, if you look for this hidden knowledge, God feeling compassion for all humans, will make sure that you will find it, in one way or the other. As a result, Christ says that one has to struggle and fight in order to stay to the path of kindness and find this ''hidden'' knowledge that leads to salvation, because if he do not search for it, he will not receive it. And even further, if for example someone has a friend that is willing to give it to him, but the person does not seek for it, then the friend must remain silent and should not push further. But one might wonder who are the people who are searching for this truth? They are the people who have a bright soul, filled with kindness and light. That is because these ''hidden'' teachings are after all teaching based on good, love and hope and only the people who have light inside them would be interested in learning them. That is why Christ openly talked only about love, kindness and forgiveness. Because if one complies to all this preachings, then inside his soul there must be only light and therefore that will lead him into the difficult search for the truth that God will ultimately provide him with.
 So supposing that since you are still reading my article you are actually looking for this knowledge, I will explain superficially one final parabola. Christ said in Matthew 25:1-13 ''At that time the kingdom of heaven will be like ten virgins who took their lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom. Five of them were foolish and five were wise. The foolish ones took their lamps but did not take any oil with them. The wise ones, however, took oil in jars along with their lamps. The bridegroom was a long time in coming, and they all became drowsy and fell asleep. At midnight the cry rang out: ‘Here’s the bridegroom! Come out to meet him! Then all the virgins woke up and trimmed their lamps. The foolish ones said to the wise, ‘Give us some of your oil; our lamps are going out.' 'No,’ they replied, ‘there may not be enough for both us and you. Instead, go to those who sell oil and buy some for yourselves.' But while they were on their way to buy the oil, the bridegroom arrived. The virgins who were ready went in with him to the wedding banquet. And the door was shut. Later the others also came. ‘Lord, Lord,’ they said, ‘open the door for us!' But he replied, ‘Truly I tell you, I don’t know you. Therefore keep watch, because you do not know the day or the hour.''' In this parabola the 10 virgin brides represent the pure human souls while the groom stands for the human spirit. The wedding between them symbolized the sovereignty of the spirit over the soul, meaning the mind taking control of our negatives emotions and focusing on the positive ones. That is, our spirit is our intellect that must control our soul that is our emotions, and therefore elevate our character and inhibit us from giving into to anger, hate and other negative emotions, that lead us to poor choices like violence. That is the purpose of the human life on earth: to transcend, by becoming better persons, and as a result, being kind, fair and good. The number ten stands for this ''system'' of elevation. The lamps represent the spiritual knowledge that leads to salvation and the good deeds one must do in order to be saved and ''enter heaven''. Then, sleeping at night represents the incarnation in this world, where one should struggle to preserve the purity of his soul by not committing any evil actions. So when the groom returned, the ones that were good and fair joined him, meaning elevated and went into the wedding banquet, that stands for ''Heaven''. Finally, the foolish ones that where not in place when the groom arrived where not accepted into the banquet, and the Lord did not recognize them as His followers.
 Summarizing, if one seeks to be kind, fair and good, he will elevate himself and ''fill his soul with light''. Then, driven by his kind nature he will seek this further divine apocryphal knowledge that will lead into his salvation, and God, as promised, will eventually help him find it. Then, a person may truly transcend and become a ''lamp'' for all other people, in order to help them find the path out of the darkness into the light.

                                                                                                           Andreas Sarchosis

Tuesday 31 May 2016

Apothegm

Before you gift someone a piece of your wisdom, make sure first, that he has a place to store it.

Confucius

Monday 30 May 2016

Wisdom and Bravery

 The quality of our life is a product of our choices. The environment we live in, the people we associate with and our happiness depends on our decisions. A different person in our place might be more happy or more successful than us; or he might had given up or never achieved half the things we did, due to choosing another path. But, what would help us take the best decisions possible and enjoy the maximum benefits from life? What can ensue that we choose correctly and right? A certain kind of knowledge, that is called wisdom.
 Wisdom was defined by Socrates, as the knowledge or the ability to distinguish between good and bad. But how can one separate how much good and bad something is? The answer can be found in the word of Christ, that even if you don't believe in his divine nature, the fact remains that he was a great historic figure that created one of the biggest religions and so the wisdom of his words cannot be ignored. He says on Matthew 7:15 that ''they come to you in sheep's clothing, but inward they are ravenous wolves. By their fruit you will recognize them. Are grapes gathered from thornbushes, or figs from thistles?'' and on Luke 6:44 '' No good tree bears bad fruit, nor does a bad tree bear good fruit. For each tree is known by its own fruit. Indeed, people do not gather figs from thornbushes, or grapes from brambles''. The meaning of these words is that one can recognize how good something is, by its results and not by what it appears to be. A lot of things or people, even though they appear to be good, they are not in reality, for they may end up hurting you or do bad things.
 But what is the most important thing, one should make sure nothing bad happens to it? If one has read my previous article at (https://theoryofhope.blogspot.ca/2016/04/the-purpose-of-life-is-to-try-to-better_26.html) he will realize that this is his soul. That is because his soul is immortal and also, it is what the person truly is! Of course from logic stems the question, how can someone hurts his soul or take care of it? Christ gives again the answer to it in Mark 7:15-16 ''Nothing outside a person can defile them by going into them. Rather, it is what comes of a person that defiles them''. The meaning of this, is that nothing on our environment (outside of us) can truly harm us (by going inside us), for they cannot affect our soul, but they only affect our property or our body and these matters not in comparison with our soul! Also the only thing that can ''defile'' the person, meaning his soul, is himself, by what comes out of him or simply said, his actions. Here, you should note that you are not just a body, but an immortal soul and your body is just a ''possession'' you have. And so you are safe, for nothing, but you, can hurt yourself, meaning your soul which is what really matters. That is the reason, Socrates states in Plato's' book Gorgias, said that it is better to be wronged, than to wrong someone else. Therefore, that explains why it is important to be wise! So that you may abstain from making any bad deeds or decisions and in the process hurt your soul and furthermore act accordingly, so that you may elevate your soul, through good and fair actions. Of course, the benefits one enjoys from being wise extend beyond this philosophical argument into real life. There, by being able to separate what is good and bad, not only you can live a just life, but also you can improve your environment, you can help your fellow humans and live happier. Plus wisdom, will result in the better management of the goods you already possess. For example, what would be the value of money in our lives, if we were to spend it all on drugs and destroy our health? Would meeting our soulmate make us happy, if we were unable to have a stable relationship? The answer is obvious. So what we require in life in not just goods, but also the knowledge of how to properly manage them! If one thinks that i am exaggerating, he only has to look at the divorce rate.
 But then, a true philosopher would ask ''what is truly good and bad?''. Well, as stated previously one may distinguish good from bad, by their ''fruit'', or simply explained their results. If an action is based on love and you believe that it will benefit your soul and help someone else, then you should do it. But, if deep down you know, that you only wish to make such an action because you want to satisfy your desires, or it is in no one's benefit and most of all, that it will not elevate your soul, then simply do not do it. So, before one should take any action, he should pause to wonder, is his action going to benefit his soul, for his soul is the most important of all. Obviously, what elevates one's soul, are the actions that stems from emotions like love and compassion or deeds that are based on kindness and are intended to help others. On the other hand, one can hurt his soul by giving into his lustful desires and negative emotions and of course by hurting another person. A great advise it to never take any decisions when you are angry or in a bad emotional state.
 Then, one justifiably can ask, how do i become wise, how do i learn to separate good from bad? Well, this article do provide some clues, as do my other articles, but i strongly recommend to the one who wishes to pursue further, to read about Plato's philosophy, especially his book Republic. In addition, he should follow Christs teaching about unconditional love, even for his enemies and the ones who hurt him and read the preachings of Buddha. But i believe, no matter how difficult a decision may be or how impossible it seems to separate good from wrong, if his actions are based on kindness, then he will not falter.
 Sadly, usually the wrong decision in life is also the easy one, while the path of justice is hard. That is the reason why Socrates defined as the brave man, the one who follows what is right, no matter how difficult the road may be. So, if one wishes to rise and make a difference, then he has to stand for what is right no matter the cost. Because, by walking the right path, even though it might lead him to unpleasant situations, it will certainly elevate his soul and make him a better character. As Christ said on Matthew 7:14 ''For wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the way that leads to life, and only a few find it''.

                                                                                Andreas Sarchosis

Tuesday 24 May 2016

Apothegm

''A man is but the product of his thoughts. What he thinks, he becomes.''

Mohandas Gandhi

Monday 23 May 2016

Positive way of thinking and happiness

 ''Your happiness depends on the quality of your thoughts''
-Marcus Aurelius

Reality is subjective. The way the world is, for us at least, is the way we perceive it. The world around us does not really matter as much, as how we understand and see it. There are people that have less goods than us, for example money or even people with less love in their lives. There are also people that have more wealth and more love in their lives than us. But, there are happier and unhappier people, in both categories! That is due to the fact that they perceive reality in a different way, even though reality is the same. As a result the only thing that defines our happiness is us and it is not our environment that has to change in order for us to be happy, but ourselves!
 Every action we take, every decision we make, small or big, is based on our character, for our character is what defines our choices. A different person in our place, might not had succeeded as much as we have or he may had given up long ago. But he may also had achieved more than us, or he might had reached happiness. That is because of the different choices he would make, due to his different character. And so by bettering ourselves we may improve our decision process, and therefore change our environment in a positive way! Therefore, one should not wait for a significant change in his environment in order to reach happiness, e.g. get a promotion in his work, but instead he should focus on bettering himself and therefore change the way he perceives the world, so that he may be happy with what he already has. Plus, people wish from their nature to have increasingly more goods that they already have and that is why they never feel fulfilled. If someone's mentality compels him to acquire more and more goods in order to be happy, he will never achieved happiness because for example his promotion at work will not be enough for him. In my article at ( https://theoryofhope.blogspot.ca/2016/04/firstof-all-in-order-to-make-my-case-we.html ) i make my case that the only way to be happy is to improve yourself. 
 Of course, one might argue that if someone has all the goods he could possibly wish for, for example wealth or a beautiful family, how could he be unhappy? Also, if one has nothing, how could he be happy? Plotinus, a great ancient Greek philosopher stated that ''A soul can not see beauty, if she is not beautiful by herself ''. Socrates said, that if something has good inside it, then it must be by its nature, beautiful in some degree. Meaning a good deed, a kiss, a forgiveness or a benign idea hides beauty inside it, for those who can see it. This results from the fact that the real beauty in this life does not hide inside a big house, a burger, a car or between the legs of a hot woman but it lies inside a large family, a poem or a song, and inside the hug of the woman you love. Because happiness, joy and bliss are emotions and not physical objects, and so they are produced by other emotions. And the feelings that are resulting in happiness, are not the joy you feel when you eat a pizza or you lie with a new partner but rather the love you feel for your significant other or the peacefulness that art can fill you with. But, in order to be able to appreciate these emotions, one must also have a good soul. That is because similar things attract similar. If one has only light in his soul then it is light that he seeks. But if one has only negative emotions, like hate, then he does not seek kindness but he seeks to hurt others. The ''more light'' one has in his soul, the more he is attracted to kindness and good and so the more he can reach happiness, because he is searching for it into the right ''places''! For example, if one has love inside him, then he is looking to find love, and so he seeks his soulmate and not a different partner for sex every night, and that results in him finding happiness. On the other hand, if one's psychological world is being ravaged by resentment, then he does not seek to see other people smiling, but instead he wishes to hurt them and so he can never reach happiness, for he is searching for it in the wrong things! Of course, humans have both good and bad inside them and so the better characters they are, the more they can reach happiness because the more they are attracted to the things that lead to happiness, live kindness and spiritual goods! As a result, if someone is not a good soul, then not only does he not look for it in the ''right'' things, but even if he finds it then he is unable to recognize it! Socrates was a firm believer that people who are not just and kind can not find happiness and he unfurls this idea into a number of his book, e.g. Gorgias or the Republic.
 Then from logic stems the following question of how can someone improve himself. There are of course a lot of ways one can do that, for example by deciding to forgive the ones who hurt him, instead of taking retribution or by having as a role model a person like Socrates, that will lead him into a just and fair life. Also he may achieve that by acquiring wisdom via reading philosophy or by constantly helping the people around him. Most of all, he has to take control of his negative emotions (hate, anger, jealousy etc.) and eradicate them, while focusing at his positive ones. But in this article i will focus only on the benefits one may acquire from the positive way of thinking. The way one thinks affects the way he feels because the only thing that affects our emotions are ultimately our thoughts. One initially might say that it is also our environment, but after some thought he would understand that our environment affect the way we think and our thoughts are what affects our feelings. For example if one tries to smile and to talk with words that have a positive meaning, even though he does not feel like doing it, that will result in a positive effect on his emotions. This is a way that one may ''trick'' his mind into thinking that it is happy. Even though he initially might not want to do that, in time he will get used to it and then he will do spontaneously without trying and that will help him ''persuade'' his body that he is happy and ultimately his emotions too. Also, one by doing positive thoughts he can ''trick'' his soul into happiness. For example, a few days ago my mother had a job interview. In the beginning she had a way of thinking, like ''if i don't like that job i can always find another one'' or ''if they don't pay well i can always leave, no pressure''. Even though she thought that this was a positive way of thinking, it caused her anxiety. That is due to the fact that her mentality was actually negative. What she should have been thinking from the start should be more like, ''this job is going to be great and so there is no reason for me to get stressed'' and ''of course they are going to pay me well, why am i even worrying?''. When she changed her way of thinking, then the anxiety faded away and also the job proved to be as good as she thought it would be. The power of the mind is incredible. Negative way of thinking can cause anxiety and even health issues, while it is proven that patients that have a good mentality heal faster (placebo effect). Great incite gives Louise L Hay's book ''Heart Thoughts'', that recently came to my hands when my mother decided to read it, and even though i disagree with some parts of her philosophy it is really good and helpful. Additionally, one should try to accept and love himself as he is now, and so, then he may picture and focus hard on what he wishes to become and embrace it, so that he may be it. Also, he should speak positive to himself and ''tell'' him what he wants to become. He should say ''I am taking responsibility. I am aware that there is something i can do to change. I deserve to change and I believe I am worth it.'' because if he does not believe that he is worth to improve and become better, then he will not change. It is our divine purpose to improve ourselves, to take control over our negative emotions and desires and so walk the path to God. Furthermore, he should get in touch with his emotions, so that he may control them. For example, if he feels angry he should release his anger, by physical exercise e.g. running or playing tennis. Finally he has to understand that God loves all humans, including him and since God is good He wishes to help him. So let Him help you and show you the right path in life. Never forsaken the fact that your thoughts is what defines your character and your character defines your soul and there is nothing more important than taking care of your soul.
 Summarizing, our happiness depends only on ourselves. We can change our emotions and thoughts and so improve ourselves and ultimately achieve happiness. For example, if one has no good inside him, in the sense that he is filled with negative feelings, then he is unable to appreciate true beauty and therefore he may never know joy, serenity and bliss. Finally, it is really easy to manipulate yourself into believing that he feels good, by acting positive (e.g. smile even if you don't wish to do it) and primary by thinking positive and that will eventually result into actually making you feel good and happy!

                                                                                         Andreas Sarchosis

Thursday 19 May 2016

Apothegm

Reincarnation

 It is important that when someone reads and learns something new, he has his mind open to unfamiliar possibilities and that he is also not bound from what he already knows. He should consider everything and examine them via the use of logic. This article, although it illustrates an idea that is foreign and distant, especially for my Christian readers, should be taken under serious consideration. One should always make himself available to new information because even though they could be wrong, they could also potentially be right, and if they are correct, then he has learned something he did not know before. Even further, one should at least consider a mentality that if not the majority, a great percentage of the populace accept, in their religions.
 First of all, a fair number of big religions like Buddhism or Hinduism accept reincarnation. For a more complete list of the official position of different religions you may visit the following web address at http://reincarnationafterdeath.com/what-religions-believe-in-reincarnation/. In Bhagavad Gita (Hinduism), Krishna dedicates the majority of the book teaching about elevating your character through your various reincarnations in this world. As I have stated in previous articles (specifically at https://theoryofhope.blogspot.ca/2016/05/realityis-unique-and-so-there-is-only.html) God ''exists'' in all religions and the only reason they are different from one another is due to humans because we are incapable of preserving the word of ''perfection'' (meaning that God's word is all about love and kindness and therefore human through the ages twisted that in order to get their way) and also due to the cultural and geopolitical differences of the eras. The sacred texts of the Hinduism religion, like Bhagavad Gita, illustrate this point since they only write about love and kindness, while mostly emphasizing on the salvation of one's soul and his liberation from the cycle of continuous reincarnations on this world, and therefore, his advancement on the next. Buddha's base of philosophy is also the elevation of one's character and his enlightenment that will also lead him to the salvation of his soul and therefore unbound him from the chains of reincarnation in this world of pain. Of course for my readers that already believe in this idea, due to accepting a religion that advocates this theory or not,  this article is redundant, but for example Christians and Western people that are not familiar with this notion, let's see what the Western culture had to say about it.
 The bases from which Western philosophy stems from are ancient Greek. Socrates in Plato's book Phaidon, discuses this idea. He supports via logical arguments (the theory of reminiscence) that souls existed before we were born and will continue to exist after we die, for they are eternal. Also, still using logical thoughts and arguments, he proves to his students that what we truly are is not our body but our soul that reincarnates in this world with different bodies over various eras! Sadly, I cannot explain Socrates's reasoning here because it would exceed by far the capacity of this article, but I strongly recommend you to read Phaidon for yourselves and pay close attention to his teachings. Moreover, all religious or spiritual organization in ancient Greece accepted reincarnation as a reality, For example the Orphics believed that our soul is perfect because it was made in the image of God, but all these imperfection (anger, hate, pain etc.) that we experience in life are due to our body, that is made out of matter and because of that they used to call the human body the tomb of the soul. Pythagoreans, the followers of Pythagoras, also believed in reincarnation and saw it as an necessity for the elevation of the human soul. The great Roman philosopher Cicero said on ''Treatise on Glory'' that, ''The counsels of the Divine Mind had some glimpse of truth when they said that men are born in order to suffer the penalty for some sins committed in a former life''.
 Sadly, the Quran remains silent towards the matter of reincarnation, but Sufism a spiritual section of Islam, accepts it as a reality.
 Moreover, according to my previous articles, the purpose of humans is to elevate themselves by bettering their characters and so, find their way back to God. But is that possible to be done in only one life? Most people do not improve their character during their lives, nor do they seek to find wisdom or enlightenment. So my whole philosophy should crumble upon that, for almost no one succeeds in his purpose in live. Plus, it is almost impossible for the majority of people to elevate themselves to near perfection, meaning in a state where they can abolish their negative emotions and embrace only the positive, and love all people without exception, in just one life. How much can one better himself in just a few years? What about the people who die young?Therefore, there must be more than one life that people live on this world so that we may elevate themselves through multiple lives, in order to reach perfection.
 In addition, in my previous article about Christ and the church, I state that church, being a man made organization has twisted the preachings of Jesus to some degree ( you may find the link here https://theoryofhope.blogspot.ca/2016/05/christ-and-church.html ) and that happened primarily during the first centuries after Christ during the contraction of the Church as we know it today, at the ecumenical counsels. Before them, though, the majority of Christians believed in reincarnation! More specifically, the order of Gnostics, one of the biggest sections of Christianity during the early centuries after Christ that later was branded as a harmful cult and their texts as apocryphal gospels due to our loving church, and whose beliefs certainly approached reality much more than the churches, rigorously accepted it as a valid truth. Their most notable example was Ouroboros, a snake eating its own tail, which represents reincarnation. Of course, there is a plethora of other teachings about reincarnation, which are not symbolic, and therefore, are much more clearer about it. Likewise, Saint Austine of Hippo was a firm believer of reincarnation that asked a very important question in his Confessions ''Say, Lord... did my infancy succeed another age of mine that died before it? Was it that which I spent within my mother's womb?... and what before that life again, O God... was I anywhere or in any body?''. The fact remains that before the church abolished a big portion of knowledge about the divine as heretic, reincarnation was an idea that the majority of Christians accepted!
 But what did Christ say about it? Sadly, in all 4 Gospels he remained silent about it, except in a few allegorical stories that He arguably might have referred to it through symbolism. But that is to be expected because the texts where Jesus spoke about it was deemed heretic and they are categorized as apocryphal gospels! One may find references of the texts that invoked the secret teachings of Christianity (mostly the Gnostics), at the following address http://reluctant-messenger.com/Lost-Doctrines-Christianity003.htm . As you may read, there are a lot of references that does not fit very well with the views of church, that is, we only live once. One should keep in mind, that the Christian who lived in the first centuries after Christ, before the church twisted the teachings of Jesus, believed that His preachings, although mostly allegorical, contained the theory of reincarnation and the knowledge that the soul is to be born many times in this world, with different bodies. Some of the most notable texts (that were a part of the Gnostic teachings of course) where Christ referred to reincarnation through symbolism are the ''hymn of the Perl'' (apocryphal gospel of Thomas) and the Shepherd of Hermas''. But I will deal with the allegorical meaning of some of them in another article.
 Finally, as I have previously stated, God ''appears'' in all religions and the differences between them are caused due to a human factor, so if all of them (their untwisted ''divine inspired'' teachings at least) claim the same thing, then that must be true, or at the very least should be taken under very serious consideration, no matter how unfamiliar or foreign it seems. Plus, the theory of reincarnation goes hand in hand with the idea of how our world works and how justice is served, for God must be just: Karma, or as ancient Greeks used to call it Heimarmene.

                                                                                        Andreas Sarchosis

Apothegm


The theory of hope

''What we call Christianity today, also existed as a religion amongst the ancient people and it existed since the beginning of the human race. When Christ came they started calling it Christian religion; the true religion, that existed from far before.''
Saint Augustine, RETRACTATICNES, I 113 (P.L.32)

 After one reads my article about God (https://theoryofhope.blogspot.ca/2016/05/realityis-unique-and-so-there-is-only.html) he will understand that people, being imperfect, distorted the word of God because it is perfect (in the sense that it is all about love, kindness etc.) and that goes for all religions and spiritual organizations. Also, according to my philosophy, the most important thing a man can do in his life is to elevate his soul and better his character (https://theoryofhope.blogspot.ca/2016/04/the-purpose-of-life-is-to-try-to-better_26.html), and that will result in him having a much better life and ultimately achieving happiness. But, around all civilizations and eras, the wise man that really represent their religion and philosophy (e.g. Socrates), the spiritual institutions ( e.g. Gnosticism) and even the ''divine inspired'' parts of the holy texts of the various religions, contains allegorical stories in order to protect the ''uninitiated and the outsides'' from their knowledge. In this article, i will comment on three stories and their meaning and in the process, I will reveal the purpose of man in this world and the theory of hope.
 The first symbolic story comes from Socrates and one may find written by his apprentice Plato, in the book Phaedrus where it is also explained by him. There is a rider on a chariot, where there are bound two horses next to each other. The left horse is ugly, of bad breed and undisciplined while the right horse, is very beautiful, of noble breed and disciplined. Of course, the 2 horses being opposite to each other, by their nature, wished to go in different directions. The rider represents our spirit, that is nothing else than our intellect, or simply explained, our ability to think. Socrates, called it 'Λογιστικόν', which translates to 'the one that computes (thinks)'. The two horses, represent the two parts that our soul is divided into, the ''higher'' part, from which stems all the positive emotions like love or friendship and the ''lower' part, from which comes the negative emotions like hate or malevolence. The left horse, which represents the lower part and it is named "Επιθυμιτικόν'' that translates to ''the one that desires'', since our lustful desires, like resentment are due to our negative emotions. The right horse, represents the higher part of our souls, that is called ''Θυμοειδες'', which roughly translates to ''the one with the emotions''. Socrates considers in his myth the spirit as a part of the soul that ultimately has three parts, but these are just definitions and are of no consequence. Of course, the two horses, being opposite to each other by their nature, wished to go to different directions. The purpose of the rider (intellect) is to control the undisciplined horse that wants to follow the path of evil and set it to the same path as the other horse, that tends to go towards the path of good. This means that the person has to control and eradicate his negative emotions and focus into the positive ones, by improving his character and therefore elevating his soul, so that he may take the path of enlightenment and knowledge. So, according to Socrates, what one should struggle in life is to better himself and follow the path of knowledge.
 Now, one should wonder where this road of self-improvement and wisdom will lead him and what benefits, besides taking care of his immortal soul, he will enjoy. The answer was given in one of Christ's allegories, specifically the parabola of the lost son. On Luke 15:11-32 Jesus says 11 : “There was a man who had two sons. 12 The younger one said to his father, ‘Father, give me my share of the estate.’ So he divided his property between them. 13 “Not long after that, the younger son got together all he had, set off for a distant country and there squandered his wealth in wild living.14 After he had spent everything, there was a severe famine in that whole country, and he began to be in need. 15 So he went and hired himself out to a citizen of that country, who sent him to his fields to feed pigs. 16 He longed to fill his stomach with the pods that the pigs were eating, but no one gave him anything. 17 “When he came to his senses, he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired servants have food to spare, and here I am starving to death! 18 I will set out and go back to my father and say to him: Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. 19 I am no longer worthy to be called your son; make me like one of your hired servants.’ 20 So he got up and went to his father. But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion for him; he ran to his son, threw his arms around him and kissed him. 21 “The son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son.’ 22 “But the father said to his servants, ‘Quick! Bring the best robe and put it on him. Put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. 23 Bring the fattened calf and kill it. Let’s have a feast and celebrate. 24 For this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’ So they began to celebrate. 25 “Meanwhile, the older son was in the field. When he came near the house, he heard music and dancing. 26 So he called one of the servants and asked him what was going on. 27 ‘Your brother has come,’ he replied, ‘and your father has killed the fattened calf because he has him back safe and sound.’ 28 “The older brother became angry and refused to go in. So his father went out and pleaded with him. 29 But he answered his father, ‘Look! All these years I’ve been slaving for you and never disobeyed your orders. Yet you never gave me even a young goat so I could celebrate with my friends. 30 But when this son of yours who has squandered your property with prostitutes comes home, you kill the fattened calf for him!’ 31 “‘My son,’ the father said, ‘you are always with me, and everything I have is yours. 32 But we had to celebrate and be glad, because this brother of yours was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’”  The explanation of this allegory is: The Father represents God and the lost son represents the human, who leaves from his true home-heaven to journey into another city- be born in this world of matter. There he spends all of his wealth-spiritual goods that he was provided in his soul, to wild living, which means he got seduced by his lustful desires and the materialistic goods of this world (e.g. money) and forgot his true self and home. But then, the path he choose of giving into materialism and into the fulfillment of his desires only led him into famine and poverty, where that represents unhappiness, sin, degradation of his soul and spiritual poverty. Then, in order to survive, he has to feed pigs and also eat their food, which symbolizes that in order to continue on this pitiful path of unhappiness and darkness, he had to submit himself more into sin and the lies that this world offers, and pollute him self by eating pig food-committing evil actions. So when ''he came to his senses'', meaning when he remembered his heavenly home and started to fight for his soul, awaken from his lethargy and took the path of light, he started heading towards his Father and his home. But his Father saw him coming from afar and He felt sorry for him and He greeted him, hugged him and kissed him. That represents that God is merciful and if one wished to return to Him, He will help him find the right path and guide him all the way. Then, the son admitted that he sinned against Him and against heaven and he was unworthy of being His son, but the Father gave him the best robe, put a ring in his hand and sandals on his feet and celebrated with the most fat calf! One can easily speculate on what these gifts mean, but it will not be explained in this article. Then, He said He was so happy because His son was lost and found, he was dead and now he is alive and when the brother was enraged with His Father's decision to celebrate, He repeated the same words as an answer: Lost means that humans are adrift in this world of matter, inside their sins, their lustful desires, allured by them from God and blinded by the lies the create for themselves, but found represents their elevation, their path back home to heaven, the control of the mind over the emotions of the soul. It also represents stepping out of the lies that this world holds (lost in the lies), into the truth and enlightenment. Dead represents the spiritual death one forces his soul to go through by committing sins, injustices and giving into his urges and how the soul dies by becoming evil, meaning being consumed and enslaved so much by its desires, that he loses his free will and ability to think beyond the boundary of ''how to fulfill them''. On the other hand, alive symbolizes the eternal life Christ is promising throughout the four gospels, but it is not eternal life on this world of pain, but spiritual eternal life in heaven, for God is life and our soul and spirit are immortals! As one can see, the benefits that he may obtain by taking control of his two horses are tremendous.
 Finally, one should study the 2 plays by Sophocles Oedipus Tyrant and Oedipus at Colono. Their summary can be found on Wikipedia on https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oedipus and at
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oedipus_at_Colonus. The symbolic value of this story is very important and in this article, I will only do a brief summary of it, without going too much into detail, because that would require a whole book, which far exceeds the limits of this article. If the reader wishes to analyze this subject in depth the only book I can recommend is ''ΟΙΠΟΔΑΣ: Το πανανθρώπινο σύμβολο΄΄ by ''Ε.Β. Κουτσοθόδωρος'' which is sadly only available in Greek. Oedipus (=swollen foot) symbolizes man. It has the same meaning as the lost son of Christ's parabola, while his father Laius symbolizes God and spirit and his mother Jocasta symbolizes matter and this world. The oracle foresaw that Oedipus would kill his father and marry his mother, meaning recede himself from the divine and give into his lustful desires and sins that are derived from materialism, forget the real world of light and embrace the world of lies, pain and darkness. In the beginning, Oedipus was living in Corinth, with his fake father and mother, which represent that state of fake bliss, that all people have to go through until they grow up. That has a double meaning, it can represent the early childish years, when one is unable to choose for himself and also the first reincarnations of humans, before they are spiritually mature enough, in order to be able to choose between good or evil. Then, Oedipus by growing up, leaves this state (learns that Polybus might not be his real father) and heads towards Thebes, which has a similar allegory as his mother. It stands for this world and all its materialistic and emotional beguile, that tilts the man from the path of justice towards the road of lust. There, in the road towards darkness, his father-God tries to prevent him from going any further (in a crossroad of three paths, where the number three represents the elevation and the return to heaven), but they fight and he kills him, due to ignorance, which means that he blinds himself to the divine and he dissociates from truth and light. He allows the lies that stems of this world to darken the truth and gives into sin and evil. After that, Oedipus will meet the famous Sphinx, which represents the purpose of humanity, which is to return back to their heavenly home, and even though he will solve her riddle, the actual meaning of the riddle will not be understood by him. So Oedipus he will become king of Thebes and marry his mother, which represents the final and determinant submission to sin and darkness. That will result in a plague in the city, or better said a plague in his soul. Remember, Socrates said that what is sickness to the body is injustice to the soul. Then, after reaching the bottom (the prodigal son eating pig food and Oedipus having four children with his mother and a plague), he will come to his senses and start searching for the truth. An oracle will inform him that in order to stop the disease of his soul he must find the King's killer and bring him to justice. So Oedipus will begin his long journey to find the truth (the journey to return home), meaning the spiritual truth about God and his origin from heaven, which will deprave him from his sins and free him from the bonds of matter. Then he will discover the truth (with God's guidance in the form of the Oracle Tiresias), his mother will kill herself (he will destroy his evil nature, his negative emotions=take control of his horses), and he will blind himself to this world. But with these actions, he will open the third eye and gaze into the true world of spirit and enlightenment. Then, in the second play of Sophocles, Oedipus at Colono, with his daughter Antigone as a guide, Oedipus seeks refugee in Athens, the city of Athena the Goddess of wisdom and knowledge,who represents the spiritual knowledge about God, that only now Oedipus was able to see and understand. In Athens, he gains support from the king Theseus, who represents God's help towards the humans who seek Him. Then he resists both Creon's and his son Polynikes' persuasion to return back to Thebes, which means that he manages to resist the temptation of matter and the seduction of the lies they offer. Having conquered his desires he may proceed to bath himself with libations, which stand for his final atonement for the sins he committed in the past. So, pure and good, he may proceed into next world beside his father into heaven and eternal life, which is symbolically stated by his disappearance not death. Note, Oedipus chooses to be buried in Athens and not Thebes.
 All in all, these parabolic stories are a great summary of my theory of Hope for they explain the reality we live in. There is a God and He is love, kindness and light, and therefore, not only did He not leave us, His children, without hope, but He gave us the ultimate purpose and gift, to elevate ourselves to gods and join Him in the world of light and in eternal spiritual life! So no matter how hard your life may be, always remember that there is a purpose for you and another life awaits you, where there is no pain, just peace and kindness. Let this knowledge fill your heart with love and hope. Let yourself give into the positive emotions, forgive the ones who hurt you in the past and show love to all the people around you. Most of all, no matter how difficult a time you are going through, always remember that there is hope!

                                                                                       Andreas Sarchosis