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

Saturday 14 May 2016

Apothegm

Role Model

 The definition of a role model is a person whose behaviour or character is mimicked and imitated by someone else, usually due to admiration or respect. But what kind of people get this amount of respect? Well, the answer is obvious: people who are better than us in one or more aspects. For example, if someone wishes to become a soccer player, or simply likes soccer a lot, then it is only natural for him to mimic the play style of a great soccer athlete. And there is nothing wrong with that. The problems start if he begins to mimic more than the person;s athletic abilities, like his behaviour because being a great athlete does not guarantee that he is also a great person. Sadly, the real problem lies even further beyond, in the fact that ,most people who are being mostly projected by the television are not fit to be role models at all because they represent an unhealthy lifestyle and make poor choices.
  More specifically, it is of great importance that the person has a role model who is worth copying from, in the sense that the traits, the behaviour, or the characteristics he is trying to imitate will result in him bettering himself and providing him with an overall positive outcome. But the role models that are currently being promoted, mostly by the US television (and generally the Western Ideals throughout the world), are far from that, since the majority of them are singers or actors who promotes a lifestyle that is based on excess sex, drugs, alcohol and generally they are giving the impression that the purpose of life is to fulfill lustful desires. This is bad for the body for the immoderate use of drugs and alcohol leads to permanent health damage. It is also bad for the soul, since the satisfaction of every desire, does not lead to happiness, but primary to the abolition of moral values, which leads to poor choices. Moreover, Hollywood movies not only promote this life style of worshipping money, that promises joy but instead leads to unhappiness (please read my relative article about it, where i explain what is the real path that leads to happiness https://theoryofhope.blogspot.ca/2016/04/firstof-all-in-order-to-make-my-case-we.html ), but they also promote that it is fine to hurt people and then justifying your actions by simply telling to your self ''they deserved it''. That is extremely wrong because by taking retribution, we take the law into our hands and secondly, doing something bad to someone, because he did something equally bad to an other person, does not justify our actions. The only thing we do, by taking such actions is to cause more violence and bring ourselves down to the level of the ones we think we are punishing. In another one of my articles ( more specifically the one at the web address of https://theoryofhope.blogspot.ca/2016/05/forgiveness-and-violence.html ) I make my case that we should forgive our enemies instead of hurting them back and the mentality of causing harm to bad people. Not only does not lead anywhere, but it provides the false sense of justification, that they are using in order to exert violence in the first place. So by punishing someone else for a bad deed he committed, of course we don't help him to reform, but also we don't stop him from committing another one, plus it brings us right to his level, so in a bigger sense, we are practically punishing ourselves for something we did not do. Sadly, the list with the negative results of the Western role models and trends goes on and on, so i will stop here only to mention, that a big percentage of the rising of criminal activities, the decline of moral values and teen pregnancy are caused due to movies (that makes criminals and vigilantes look so cool) and harmful teen role models (e.g. the singer who knows better how to shake her ass than actually singing and so she also objectify woman in the eyes of man, by pushing the mentality, primary to teenagers, that females are nothing more than meat meant for sex). And the worst part is that the people who are getting easier influenced by that, are the new generation.
  As a result, one must be very careful when he chooses a role model because usually they do not only imitate the aspect of their character they admire him for, but also extend this admiration to his whole personality and lifestyle, or simply the thing they admire the person for, is not really worth admiring (e.g. money, that somehow turned Steve Jobs into a role model after his death). For example, if you admire a singer for his singing, it does not cause any problems, but if that subconsciously also makes you to want to imitate his drugs heavy lifestyle or excessive sex, then that is a problem, because it will probably lead to drug addiction or sexual transmitted diseases. Also, we must be aware of who we are having as a role model, because if it is for example a fictional character, like one of the''superheroes'', that kills without consequence and is himself the judge, the jury and the executioner, it does not result in bettering your character, but it is probably affecting you negatively. Of course, not every role model has the same gravity, as different aspects of our lives matter differently, meaning some things are more important than others, for example it is more significant to have a role model in science, because that will motivate your advance in science, than in a sport you will never make a career out of. But then it follows from logic that there must be one aspect, one category of role models, that bears the most significance. This category, must therefore include the kind of people that one by trying to mimic,will receive and be provided with the biggest benefits. And according to my previous article, one draws the biggest benefits when he elevates his character,
( https://theoryofhope.blogspot.ca/2016/04/the-purpose-of-life-is-to-try-to-better_26.html ), because the most important thing in our lives is what we truly are and this is our souls. So, by having a role model who by his exemplary behaviour will lead him towards living a just and good life and also self improving himself and elevating his character and soul, allowing to enjoy the maximum benefits. As a result, the best role models we can have in our lives are people like Socrates, Plato, Gandhi, Buddha and Christ (even if someone does not believe in His divine nature, the fact remains that His words and preachings, changed the face of humanity and are forever engraved into history and so he must pay attention and respect to what He said), because having a singer as a role model will motivate you to sing better, but having Socrates as a standard to live by will motivate you to live a good and fair life, where you will ensure the improvement of your character and a happier life! Plus, someone usually becomes a role model for another one due to receiving a lot of respect from him and these people deserve the greatest amount of respect, because they died and suffered for their ideals and they actually managed to do some good in this world! So, if someone wishes to make a difference, to improve himself and the world around him, then he must take as a role model the ''wise persons'' I mentioned above, or others like them, because by studying their behaviour he will only learn how to be just, fair and good, how to love and forgive, but mostly how to tell apart what is right from wrong and how to help the people around him! There is nothing more important in life than to learn how to love all the people around you, even the ones who instead of loving you back are trying to hurt you and by looking at the way these people lived, someone may finally learn this very hard lesson. Just remember that when Jesus was on the cross dying, he said on Luke 22-23 ''Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing''. Is there something more admirable than this? Praying for the salvation of the ones who are torturing you and are taking your life? That is what truly people should try to imitate, this immeasurable love and not how to sing.
  Moreover, when someone admires a person so much as to make him his role model, usually, subconsciously he replicates all the traits of his character, good or bad, for example, young boys imitate the behaviour of their fathers, and they acquire both good, but also bad characteristics. That is the reason parents should be very careful how they behave in front of their children, especially in their childhood, due to the fact that no one is perfect and of course, they would not like their sons to copy their bad habits and to repeat them in the future. If we extend that reasoning, one should avoid taking people as a role model that are still alive or very close to him, for this way, he will replicate, not only the aspect of their character that he admires them for, but also their bad traits. As a result, the safest choice is to have as a role model people that are not walking amongst us, so only the things they were known for will be copied and not their poor habits. If, for example Socrates had a bad habit, no one would be in danger of subconsciously mimicking it while studying his philosophy. Even further, when we love another person we tend to idealize him and so we ignore all the negative aspects of his character and we blind ourselves to their mistakes. For example, no little child's parents are perfect, but from the view point of the child they are and so by being unable to tell right from wrong, they might  imitate a behaviour that is bad, even against the parents will, but in the mind of the child it is right. Sadly, this extends well beyond the childhood age, even to adults, but especially on teenagers, who might pick up a negative trait, thinking it is right, from people they love, for example their parents, relatives or teachers, because when people love someone, they close their eyes to any bad aspects the person might have, for they wish to believe that the person is perfect. Of course, understanding that no one is perfect and that no one close to us should preferably be a role model (or at least, if he is, we should be very careful not to copy his bad traits), does not mean that they deserve less of our love or respect or admiration. Plus, loving another person does not mean loving a hypothetical image of him that does not truly exist, except in the lover's mind, but loving the actual person, with his good and his bad and also his unlimited potential for improvement. Finally, a wise person once said that all people have positive and negative things to offer and give to us, but we should just try to take only the positive from them. Even the worse person might help you, sometime in your life, when you are in need, so be nice to everyone.
 Summarizing, people become role models due to excess admiration or love, but we should be very careful which such person we choose to imitate and for what aspect of his character, because no one is perfect and all people have positive and negative traits that one may copy. Also, the better role model one can hope for, is the person who dedicates their live for ideals like love (Christ), justice (Socrates) and salvation (Buddha), for they will lead us towards the path of knowledge, self improvement and happiness.

                                                                                               Andreas Sarchosis

Friday 13 May 2016

Apothegm

Special thanks to Alexandra (Alex-reviews) who will proofread my articles, before i post them, so that she may spare you my atrocious grammar mistakes :)

Thursday 12 May 2016

Christ and the Church

  The nature of humanity is imperfection. That is a sad truth, but truth none the less, that is based on the fact that as a race, we make mistakes, we give in into lesser feeling like anger or hate and we are unable to control ourselves from them, we exert violence on one another and unfortunately the list goes on and on. That is the essence of our imperfection. It is not due to our bodies, that will eventually fade away, or due to our appearance, but due to our characters, who even though contains positive aspects, also contains negative, that leads us to poor choices (e.g. revenge in the place of forgiveness). Like us though, nothing on this material world can be categorized as perfect. But what about God? If we assume that God exist (i recommend you to read my relative article about it, at http://theoryofhope.blogspot.ca/2016/05/the-nature-of-reality-and-godreality-is.html) then He must, by definition be perfect, or he will be no God at all. This means, that if God is not an all loving, all good, merciful, just and fair entity, which has no jealousy or hate or anger etc inside him, then He must by definition not be God, He must be an entity, that instead of praying to Him, we should rebel against Him.
  So, following logic, since God is all about love, then He must not have forsaken humanity. As a result, His ''word'' must be globally known and there is a specific name for the ones and also the organizations, that claim to be bringing God's will, towards humanity. They are named religions. But since humans are imperfect and God is perfect and therefore His ''word'' must also be perfect, in the sense that it is all about love, good etc, can humans truly understand it or follow it? The answer is no. Humans and religions, throughout history are twisting at a certain degree the word of God, in order to get their way. Meaning, for example, if God's ''word'' is all about love and peace, how would humans made wars in the name of God? If Christ, preached about being humble, then how would the Pope be leaving in a palace, and how would the church have a ridiculous amount of wealth? The same goes for all religions. People, misinterpret the ''holy texts'' of every religion, because they are perfect and humans are imperfect. In my above mentioned article, i make my case, that all religions have twisted on some degree the ''word'' of God, and since God is unique, meaning that they can be no two or more different ''Gods'' or religions right at the same time, the untwisted part of every religion or spiritual dogma, must be the same. And if someone is to study all religions and dogmas, he would discover, that by ignoring the obvious human part of their teaching, they all speak of an all loving, perfect, peaceful and fair God, and not only.
 In this article though, i wish to write only about Christianity, about the preachings of Christ and how the church throughout the centuries has corrupted them in some degree. At this point, if some of you, my readers, are rigorous church believers, consider to yourselves, that church is a man made organization, and humans make mistakes, so it just might be possible, that some of the things you have been taught about God and Christ, since you were a child, might be wrong, due to priests, simply having not understand the meaning of them. So, if you wish to discover, with the use of logic and not blind faith, if some part of God's word have been corrupted, since there must be nothing greater that learning the true intentions of God, stick with me, through my following articles. Plus, believing a lie as a truth, especially about God, is worth spending time to uncover. Of course, i will force no one to agree with me, but in case i am indeed right about the things i am going to say to the following articles, you should spend the time to read them, just in case, someone was lying to you (intentionally or not) since you were children and if you do not agree with me, feel free to debate me. I am open in every discussion, since by putting my beliefs under examination, i can always be as certain as possible that i am on the right side and by avoiding intellectual conflict, all i do, is to blind myself, to the right or wrong information i am about to receive and deprive my self from learning something new, that could potentially be true. Now, for my non Christians readers, even if you do not believe in the divine nature of Christ, you can not deny his significance as a historical figure or the wisdom of his teachings, that a whole religion was based upon.
  Christ's preachings, according to my previous statements, must have been perfect, in the sense that He talked only about love, forgiveness, mercy e.t.c and one by studying the 4 gospels, can confirm that, even though there are a lot of Christ's parabolas, meaning stories with symbolic connotation, that is hard to understand. In order for me to not get out of context, i will deal with the allegoric meaning of them, in other articles and i will focus here, on His non symbolic statements. On the other hand, church in order to do the crusades, the holy inquisition e.t.c must have corrupted and twisted these teachings, either by misinterpreting them, or by inserting non so holy or wise texts in the holy bible and embodying them into the religion or even, by simply ignoring them. So, by a quick comparison, Christ said on Luke 9:50 that ''whoever is not against you is with you'', and that we should follow Him only if we so choose, plus no where in the bible He forced anyone to follow Him. Instead, the church baptize us when we are children. OK someone might think, that does not sound so bad or terrible and it has its practical applications. Then how about, what the church did to non Christians? When Columbus discovered America, with the blessing of the church, Christians destroyed, slaughtered and enslaved  the natives in the name of God, in order to Christianize them, meaning to bring them into the path of the merciful God, by enslaving them. How many wars have been done throughout the middle ages, with the support of the church, or better said, how many wars have been done, due to the church? Is all the blood that was spilled, in the the name of God, God's doing? Of course not! God should not be blamed for the actions of man. But how exactly would the church manage to eradicate all those tribes and cities in America, Africa, Asia and do their ''holy wars'' for example the crusades, if they had not corrupted the words of Jesus, who said on Mathew 43-48 “43''You have heard that it was said, 'You shall love your neighbour and hate your enemy.' 44"But I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, 45''so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven; for He causes His sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. 46"For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? "If you greet only your brothers, what more are you doing than others? Do not even the Gentiles do the same?48"Therefore you are to be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.''? Christ also said on Mark 12:31 ''love your neighbour as you love your self, no other commandment is greater than these'', yet the church burned people alive, tortured people and don't even get me started on the atrocious crimes they did on the first centuries of its creation, to the followers of the old religions e.g. the ones who followed the ancient Greek religion. I will only mention Hypatia of Alexandria the philosopher who was publicly murdered at 415 ac for not following the religion of love and light, by having her skin peeled of her body with stones. Yeah, by now everyone should have noticed at least a minor difference between what Christ said and what Christians did, who obviously believed that they were doing God's work, by following the not so holy teachings of the church. Even further, Jesus said on Matthew 19:21 '' if you want to be perfect, go sell all your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come follow Me. ''. The Pope obviously did not get the memo in his palace and so must have the rest of the church, that has acquired tremendous amounts of money, throughout the years. I recommend you to read the book ''The Vatican Billions'' by Avro Manhattan. Moreover, the orthodox dogma says ''Πίστευε και μη ερέυνα'' which literally translates to believe and do not search, but has the meaning of believe and do not question, while Christ said at John 5:39 "You study the Scriptures diligently because you think that in them you have eternal life. These are the very Scriptures that testify about Me.'' If i continue like this, i can write a whole book, which far exceeds the capacity of this article... Gandhi one time said, ''I like your Christ, but i do not like your Christians''.
  But when did this whole turn, from love to hate, happened in the religion? The answer is that it happened throughout history, by various priests and Popes who wished to change the religion to fit their agenda (e.g. Filioque), but the primary twist happened during the first centuries after Christ, during the establishment of the church and their dogma. More specifically in the firsts ecumenical councils, which is practically a meeting of all high priests and bishops, where they decide which dogma is the right one and abolish all other dogmas and their believers as cults. You may find summarizing information about them at the following web page http://oodegr.co/english/dogma/synodoi/oik_syn1.htm or simply by googling it. In this meetings, where they decided what is the official position of the church going to be on religious matters, or simply put, what the people are going to believe in, they accepted which Christian documents are going to be considered  sacred and which not. So, they embodied in the newly formed religion of Christianity, not only the loving preachings of Jesus, but literally also an other religion, the ancient Hebrew, which is not only about love and also some less than wise texts, by Saul, or more commonly known apostle Paul. One, by reading through the old testament will know a God, that is cruel, and has nothing to do with love or justice. For example, during the great exodus, when the Pharaoh forbidden the Israelis to leave Egypt, God sends a plague in order to kill all the first born sons of the Egyptians. Furthermore, the God of forgiveness Christ talked about, decides to wipe off the map, 2 cities (Sodom and Gomorrah), turns the wife of Lot into stone, for looking at the city during its destruction and  all over the old testament, God appears as a bloody entity, who murders, kills and slaughters people and if i were write about each of the monstrosities described in that book, this article would last for ever. For a list of the victims of God in the old testament see http://www.view-pdf.com/ViewPDFFile.aspx?file=http://www.htmlpublish.com/newTestDocStorage/DocStorage/5bd9a62f24794d24bef29f9fae9db8da/OTG.pdf or for a more complete list check
http://dwindlinginunbelief.blogspot.ca/2010/04/drunk-with-blood-gods-killings-in-bible.html
while note, that if you read all of the old testament, you will discover that God's evil actions exceeds far more than killing. Moreover, science tells us, that things like creation, Noah's Cataclysm and others, did not really happened, because of the proven beyond any reasonable question, evolution. But enough with the old testament. Let us see what Jesus had to say about it. Christ, said on Mathew 43-48 “43''You have heard that it was said, 'You shall love your neighbour and hate your enemy.' 44"But I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, 45''so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven''. Apparently Christ is having a disagreement with his Father presented in the old testament who says  'You shall love your neighbour and hate your enemy.'. But, if one finds it to be no big deal, he should wonder which God did the Jews believed in and called him Father? Obviously the one described in the old testament. So, lets see what Christ said about it on John 8:41-48 41 You are doing the works of your own father.” “We are not illegitimate children,” they protested. “The only Father we have is God himself.”42 Jesus said to them, “If God were your Father, you would love me, for I have come here from God. I have not come on my own; God sent me.43 Why is my language not clear to you? Because you are unable to hear what I say. 44 You belong to your father, the devil, and you want to carry out your father’s desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies. 45 Yet because I tell the truth, you do not believe me! 46 Can any of you prove me guilty of sin? If I am telling the truth, why don’t you believe me? 47 Whoever belongs to God hears what God says. The reason you do not hear is that you do not belong to God.. Hmmm that sounds curious. It appears that the primary relation Christ had with the Jewish religion, is that he was born in Israel.
 How certain are you that what you have learned so far from the Church about religions is true? Because if you wish be a true Christian, you must follow Christ and His God, which apparently is not the same God as the one the Church speaks about. Christ's God, is the God of forgiveness, mercy, light, hope and love! So if you truly wish to obey the will of God, then listen to Mark 12:31 ''love your neighbour as you love your self, no other commandment is greater than these''. The majority of Christians i meet, have never read the bible, even though they claim to be devoted to God, because they go to the church one, maybe two or even seven times per week, but there, they only read specific passages, explicit chosen by the church, so that they may conform the religion to fit the churches official positions and doctrine. Instead, one should read the 4 gospels by himself and try to see the meaning of Christ's allegories and also, if he wished to confirm my previous statements, also read the old testament and compare it to Jesus' teachings.
 The essence of being a true Christian is not to just go to the church, or debate with people who believe in evolution, or giving a few dollars every now and then to Greenpeace, believing you did your share to humanity, but it is to love and help other people, to be modest and good and of course to apply Jesus; teachings. If one wish to make a difference, then he must follow an other path than the one the church suggest, one that it is filled with love, self-improvement and kindness, for the real problems do not lie with creationism or homosexual people, but lie ''within'' people and they have the form of negative emotions, like anger or hate, that drive people to do bad things. One also must see further and understand, that even though there is a notable difference between church and Christ, the majority of people that chose to become priests, did it for the right reasons, meaning to serve God and most of them do that every day, by helping people and teaching about love, or even in their own way and even though they represent an organization that is responsible for a lot of bad deeds, they deserve respect, for they are trying to make this world a better place, which is more than the average person can say for himself. Finally, i know that a lot of people have given up to Christianity due to the church, primary because they start reading the old testament, while a lot more, just blindly accept Christ, because they were born in a Christian family and have never bothered opening the New Testament to read. For the first group, since the teachings of the church, differ by a lot from the ones of Christ, you should give it an other try, primary because there are no better teachings than the ones of love and hope, while for the ones that are only baptized, but have never searched about the true meaning of being Christian, please read the 4 gospels.
 Summarizing, since Christ's teachings were perfect, in the sense that He only preached about love, kindness and salvation, humans being imperfect, in the sense that there is not only kindness inside us, but also hostility, twisted his words, in order to justify doing terrible things in God's name, or to manage to ignore their peaceful character, in order to exert violence on one another e.g. in order for the church to do the crusades, they preached that Arabs were the race of the devil. The primary distortion of the words of love, spoken by Jesus, happened during the first centuries after Christ, at the establishment of the Church, when at the ecumenical councils, the ''wise'' priests decided which dogma and which teachings they are going to be right or not. For example, until the first ecumenical council, the majority of the people who believed in Christ, also believed in reincarnation, a concept unknown to modern Christians. So, they inserted to the core of the religion, due to political and other reasons, a completely different doctrine, the Jewish religion, which represents a resentful violent God, different from the God of Christ, by embodying the old testament and the texts of Saul into the holy bible and also a few passages, where Christ says ''as it is written''. So, one instead of following the dogma of the Church, that although contains true preachings, that are caused due to the words of Christ, he should find out the true Christian dogma, by performing research of his own and as Jesus said "You study the Scriptures diligently because you think that in them you have eternal life. These are the very Scriptures that testify about Me.'' but above all 'love your neighbour as you love your self, no other commandment is greater than these''.

                                                                                                             Andreas Sarchosis

Apothegm

Because no one should be afraid of death itself, if he is not a total idiot and coward, but he should be afraid of injustice, because going to Hades (afterlife) with his soul full of sins, is the worse of all fates...
... death, i believe, is nothing more that 2 things, the separation of the body and the soul, between them.

Socrates at Plato's book Gorgias

Monday 9 May 2016

The nature of God and reality

Reality is unique; and so there is only one ''truth'' that explains it. We cant have 2 different explanations for the same reality, that are both equally right. Truth, meaning what correctly describes our world and reality, must be unique and the same for all people, even though people have many disparate views of it. So, following this logic, only one God or better said religion can be true. We cant have more than one religion being true at the same time, since they have so many differences, neither can we have more than one truth. So if we suppose that e.g. Christianity is real, then all other religions must be, simply put, wrong and if we assume that e.g. Hinduism is right then all others must also be wrong. It follows from logic, that since all known big religions, preach that their way is the only right way, if one of them is the real one, then all others must be wrong. Thankfully, the vast majority of people were so lucky as to be born and be taught the one and only truth as a child, so there is no reason for them to question their beliefs and bother themselves with these kind of questions. But for the ones, who think that what they were taught, might be wrong, since apparently the majority of people disagree with them and wish to think further, they must question themselves, what if everyone is right and wrong at the same time?
No, this is not quantum mechanics. As i stated before, we cant have more than one reality or truth, to be right. But what i mean, is that every dogma, doctrine and religion have both embodied truths and wrongs. This world is grey, true white or black does not appear in reality, meaning there are no real absolutes. One religion is not the absolute truth, neither everything that it has in its doctrine is right. Also, none of them is completely wrong. All big religions have some things inside their dogma, that are right, but they also have beliefs that are wrong!
In order to make my case, one must first consider that if there is truly a God and he is as every religion describes him, all powerful and all good, he must be therefore also perfect. And what is God if not the definition of perfection? If there is a being that is not perfect, meaning all powerful, all good, merciful, just and loving, then by definition is not God, and it does not deserve our faith or prayer. God by definition must be perfect and if he is not, then he must not be called God! This, although it appears to be a very simple thought, it is a logic that the majority of people fail to follow and that leads them to misconceptions about God, where they imagine (or even worse believe) a vengeful God that passes his eternity by punishing the humans who do not follow His orders and therefore, these people, are being alienated from Him. So, assuming there is God, because he is perfect, every knowledge or belief about him, must also be ''perfect'', since it describes perfection, in the sense that if it gets even close to the truth, then it must be about love, forgiveness, mercy, justice, light and generally about good and benign. Also, if God is the definition of love and good, then he must desire no other than good and love for humanity, therefore, every religion or belief about him, must also be conjugated with these things. If it is not, then it must be wrong, for if a being, values something else than good, love and justice, then from definition it is not God, even further it must be an evil entity. Therefore, every knowledge or belief or dogma about God that is true and right, must be approaching perfection, in the sense that it is being composed of teachings and preachings about perfection, which means love, forgiveness, benign etc. But sadly, no religion, doctrine or organization can claim such a thing, because of the human nature. Humans, from our nature, we are no perfect, since we have negative feelings like hate, anger, jealousy etc inside us, that leads us to wrong decisions, like violence, both physical or psychological. Therefore, if humans are far from perfect, how can they grasp perfection then? Well, the answer is simple. We can't! That is why every big religion, has both rights and wrongs inside it, both truths and lies embodied in it, where the truths stem from a ''godly'' source and they are ''perfect'', while the lies stem from humanity, which misinterpret these ''perfect'' teachings and twist them, in a more ''human'', ''imperfect'' way. For example, lets think about Christianity, probably the biggest religion. Christ, talked and taught, about love, about forgiving your enemy, about turning the other chick when someone hits you! He also said, that whoever is not against me, is with me and he said to love the people around you as you love yourself. Meanwhile, the church spilled more blood in the name of Christ, than Hitler ever did. Jesus talked about forgiving your enemy and even to pray for their good and the church executed the crusades, destroyed the Indians, constituted the Holy inquisition and so on. The list with the monstrosities performed in the name of God is way too long for me to include in one article. Does that mean though, that all these sins (to use the term the church uses) that were committed by the church, are God's doings? Of course not! The teachings of Christ has been twisted by the church, throughout the centuries. If not so, then how would the church have made all those wars? How would the priests become rich? How would the Pope have a palace, when Jesus said about modesty? These things are man's doings and not God's! And that does not extent only to Christianity, but to all other religions too. Did Allah ask Muslims to became suicide bombers? Or did Zeus made the Ancient Greeks to fight against each other? No, no, no. All these misinterpretations are due to humans, who are trying to twist the divine, in order to get their way! Moreover, in the case of Christianity, the church in the first centuries after it was formed, changed the teachings of Jesus, by embodying in its core the Hebrew religion, meaning all of the old testament and also including, some less than wise texts written by Saul or more commonly known, apostle Paul. These texts, where included in the core of the religion and were considered as holy and as God inspired, as the teachings of Jesus, even though they have nothing to do with love, forgiveness or even good. The God that is presented in the old testament, has nothing to do with the all loving God presented by Christ! They were two completely different religions combined together by humans, in order to serve political purposes or other means. Of course, i cant expand on these things further, since it is not the main purpose of this article, but you can find a lot more details and proofs about that, in my other text about it. Therefore, an important distinction between religion (a man made organization, with a human conformed dogma) and God (the all perfect being of love and good) must be made, where the church, or every ''church'' of every religion, has distorted or misinterpreted at some point, more or less, the truth about God, or failed to convey the whole true ''perfection'', that only very few minds, if any, can grasp.
But, as we said above, there must by only one truth, since reality is unique and so, supposing that the all loving God, did not forsaken His humans, all teachings and credos that are true, must be the same, no matter what religion we examine. That means, that the ''God inspired'' part of every religion, e.g. for Christianity, the teachings of Jesus, must be the same, or at least not contradict each other and all the differences in beliefs, that exist between them, must be caused by a human factor, where this could be the geopolitical and cultural differences of the eras, but also the tendency of humans, to distort the divine, due to our not so divine nature. Simply put, if one is to examine all big religions, by studying their holy texts (or at least the part of their texts that is actually holy and yes, here i am referring to the not so loving God, of the old testament) and not the preachings of their ''churches'', he will find, that deep down bottom, all these religions and all the actually wise people, that represented those religions, are saying the same stuff, since there is only one truth! If someone, is to read the teachings of Christ in the new testament, the preachings of Buddha, listen to what Gandhi said and learn the philosophy of Socrates, he would discover, like me, that they are all saying the same truth! Of course, sometimes they emphasize on different issues and they are using far different words, or ways to describe something, since they lived in a different era, obviously, but the meaning is the same. Not only they never contradict each other, but they complement each others teachings. Of course, at more than one point they speak with allegorical stories and symbolical descriptions, as Christ often did, but even that, remains the same and carries the same meaning, even though it is hard to understand. The purpose of these symbolical narratives, is often explained around the different religions and beliefs and they are made like that, in order to protect the ''uninitiated'' or the ''outsider'', from gaining their hidden knowledge, for this truth could not be handled by him. If you find that, hard to accept, i encourage you to go and discuss this article, with a church fanatic, creationist, conservative, Christian. Obviously, when i say about all religions, i think it is self explanatory, that satanism and other ''religions'' like that, do not really count and can be exempted.
Of course, this article is way too small for me to discuss all the similarities between the various religions and spiritual groups and compare them, and then derive what is really truth and what is not and of course to convince you about the nature of God. This is to happen systematically, through my other articles and my upcoming book. But i will end this article, with 2 teasers. All ''holy inspired'' texts and all truly wise man (e.g. Buddha or Plato) are all giving the same description about the nature of God and usually with the same words, some of them have been already mentioned before: perfect, all good, all caring and all loving, fair and just and last but not least, hope, salvation, life and light. Second, even though there is an article of mine, specifically examining this subject, i will suffice here to mention that the parabola of the lost son, given by Christ, has the same meaning as Odyssey, written by Homer (which is obviously much more detailed) and is about the path and the purpose of man on this world.
Summarizing, there can be only one right description or truth that can explain reality and it also must be universal. Furthermore, God must be perfect, in the sense that he is all loving and all good, or else he must by definition not be God. As a result religions and spiritual systems have both embodied wrong and right teachings, due to the inability of humans to conceive and apply the perfection of the ''divine inspired'' teachings and our imperfect nature, that tends toward violence and so it must ignore the preachings of love and mercy or justify its actions by distorting the holy texts. But, since there can be only one truth, all the right parts of the religions, that approach truth, must be the same. And so, if one is to compare the holy texts of all the religions and spiritual organizations, ignoring the ''human factor'' that have been embodied inside them, he will find that they are the same and they all describe a God that is love, light and pure kindness!

Andreas Sarchosis

Thursday 5 May 2016

Apothegm

''I consider the man who wins over his passions* to be more brave than the one who wins over his enemies. The true victory is the one that is against yourself.''

Aristotle

*passions has the meaning of the negative emotions that are a part of our character, like anger, hate or lust

Wednesday 4 May 2016

Forgiveness and violence

What is the most valuable thing you have? This although it appears as a simple question, it has a lot more depth than most humans initially imagine. The majority of people would immediately think of their houses or their cars, or even better their money as a whole, but after some thought they would most certainly answer health, or maybe love, understanding that these, are far more important than materialistic goods. But, the most valuable thing a man has, is himself or better said, his soul. That is because, unlike health, money, fame or love, soul is eternal, while everything else fades away, as we grow old and die. After someone dies, he is unable to take with him his materialistic possessions obviously and so the only thing he is left with, is himself, that is immortal. It is not hard to understand that taking care of something that last infinitely more times (since it is forever) that something else (our current lives) is by far more important. Furthermore soul it is not something that you possess, but it is what you truly are.
According to ancient Greeks, soul is our character, for they defined it as the summation of all of the emotions and memories we have acquired, while they gave spirit the definition of willpower, meaning our ability to think. If someone questions the existence of soul, then i strongly recommend that he reads my article about it and debate me there, because i will continue this text, taking as granted that we are not simply a body destined to die at some point, but are an immortal soul and spirit, with the above mention, definitions. So following logic, since soul is of the biggest importance, one must take care of it, which can be simply done by elevating his character, or more specifically taking control of his negative emotions and emphasizing in the positive ones. In my previous article ( http://theoryofhope.blogspot.ca/2016/04/the-purpose-of-life-is-to-try-to-better_26.html ) i make my case about why souls is worth caring for the most, and that the purpose of humans in this world is to better and elevate their characters and that this is the only path to a good life. I also state in an other article that the secret to happiness is to try to better our characters and therefore our souls ( http://theoryofhope.blogspot.ca/2016/04/firstof-all-in-order-to-make-my-case-we.html ). Of course, it stems from what we have stated, that one should also avoid harming his soul, which is done when he is unable to control his negative feelings, for example anger or hate and fills his inner self with them, which also leads him to poor choices, like violence, physical or psychological. It is self explanatory that one should avoid hurting other people, but what is by fur less commonly know, is that in reality, when one chooses to harm an other person, by the means of violence, which can either come in physical or psychological form, he does not actually harms the person, but he harms himself. That is because when a person exerts violence to an other, what he harms is the other persons possessions, for example his materialistic property or even his body (but as stated above, we humans are not our body, we are souls, that simply live in a body and that makes it our property, not who we really are) or his emotions, but making him sad, or to feel bad etc, while at the same time, by being unfair and consciously hurting someone else, he hurts his own soul, which is what the person really is, not something that can be categorized as his possession. This is a very important concept to understand. The damage that a person makes to someone when he hurts him, is minimal and unimportant, because what he harms, is the other man's possessions, but at the process, he severely damages himself, for he harm his soul, that is by far more important than any property. Even though, this thought processing is totally counter intuitive, that does not make it any less true and is all a product of rightly understanding the value of the things we have and what we are. Socrates in Plato's book Gorgias, gives the following analogy, what the disease is to a body, is the injustice to a soul. But, do we truly harm ourselves someone might ask, if what we do is ''justified''? Meaning, if for example, a person has wronged us, then by hurting him back, don’t we bring justness and therefore does our soul suffer no negative consequences? That is not true. First, when we judge someone guilty and decide to take retribution, we take the law in our hands, which is by itself an atrocious deed, but also we give ourselves the illusion that we have the authority to judge him, like we are above the one getting judged, but in reality all we do, is to lower ourselves to his level. This mentality is nothing more than destructive, for it is primary used throughout history, to justify the bigger monstrosities and crimes. You believe that when the Nazis went to war, they did not thought that their actions were justified? When the crusades happened, did not the Christians thought, that the Muslims were bad people, deserving of death? Or did not every soldier, or murderer, or killer in history thought, that somehow his actions were justified and the fault was of the victims? When someone wrongs an other person, no authority over him, is magically given to us and to hurt back this person, not only does not result in a fair punishment, but it results in us hurting our soul. In the real world, unlike the majority of the modern movies that promotes this mentality, meaning justifying doing terrible actions and lowering your self to the level of the people you hurt, by putting yourself under the illusion that what you do is just and fair, these actions result in more violence. Socrates, in Gorgias, supports via logical arguments that it is better for a person to get wronged and hurt, that to hurt or wrong someone else, even if his actions appear to him justified. Then, the logical question that comes first to mind is what should we do then. The answer is simple. Forgive the one who wronged you and move on!
If we wish to better ourselves and elevate our soul, then we must not give into the lesser emotions of hate or anger, but we should set them under control and focus on the positive ones, like non exceptional love, that will give us the power to forgive the people who wronged us. Buddhist teachings claim that Buddha said that ''holding on to anger is like holding a hot coal with the intent of throwing it at someone else, you are the one who gets burned''. Christ, said on Mathew 43-48 “43''You have heard that it was said, 'You shall love your neighbour and hate your enemy.' 44"But I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, 45''so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven; for He causes His sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. 46"For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? "If you greet only your brothers, what more are you doing than others? Do not even the Gentiles do the same?48"Therefore you are to be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.'' Even if someone is not Christian or Buddhist, he must acknowledged the wisdom of their words, since even if he does believe in their divine nature, the fact remains, that they were both great historical figures. I personally believe that one should specifically emphasize, in this case, in the question Jesus said, ''if you only greet your brothers, what more are you doing than others?'' If one wished to improve his character, take care of his soul and do the right thing, then he must do what the many cannot, he must do the extraordinary, in order to make a difference, by forgiving his enemy! Of course, i am not saying to leave ourselves vulnerable and open for others to take advantage of us. I am saying that the greatest success we can have in our lives, the way we can reach the divine and perfect ourselves, if to fill our soul with so may positive emotions, that we feel love towards all humans, even the ones who wronged us.
Summarizing, the path we should follow in our life, is the one of forgiveness and piece, because when a person exerts violence on an other individual, the biggest damage he does is on to himself, because what he hurts is not just the others person possessions (including his body or emotions, as a possession), but also his soul (injustice is the disease of the soul), which is by far more important. Also, when someone has to face the dilemma of getting retribution on the person who wronged him, or to forgive him and move on, he must always choose the path of forgiveness and love, because no cause or action can justify hurting an other person and so revenge, would only result in further damage to him, to his soul.

                                                                                                       Andreas Sarchosis