Elduril

Message 3

2006-08-01T19:26:00.000+03:00

I was greatly surprised when I've heard what happened in Qana. I do not support anybody because if I do, I will enter into that stupid condition which was created under stupid circumstances by stupid people and I will become a stupid person myself. Tragic, tragic, tragic. And the other countries do not help at all but still look only for their own good especially the US. They make negotiations and negotiations, councils and councils that last many many hours and the funniest of all? They consider them SERIOUS, of GREATLY IMPORTANCE, my goodness!!! The results??? Hypocrisy, implacability, hate, loss of precious time... and all these? Because they try to earn something from this situation, from the souls that leave their bodies before their time, from the 54 victims and among them 30 children that were lost in Qana and from the dozens that today live but tomorrow their eyes shall be motionless. If all these "leaders-pigs" REALLY wanted the slaughtering to stop, it could end within a few hours but all they do is acting in a big stage, telling lies to their audience, the World but also to themselves, my God! It is not like I am watching something serious taking place but something RIDICULOUS. It is like we have to do with cavemen and not with logical people. We should not be called humans but beasts!!

Message 2

2006-07-19T11:47:00.000+03:00

Finally I've finished writing the book and I have sent it to a good friend who has also written several best-sellers. He will read it and then he will give it to the publishers. I do hope everything goes well.

I have been also informed and I am watching in saddness what is happening in the Middle East. I support neither of the two sides: because the one begun the attacks and the other answered them back.

The other day I saw the picture of a dead child in the newspaper and I concluded two things: 1) Even if we cannot realize it, we are sadists and masochists. We strive for pain as people are interested so much in the newspapers while knowing of what they will see and in addition, the reporters tend to give more basis and find subjects with death, poverty and pain as they know how much Man loves reading about them. 2) A Third World War is going to take place soon. It begun with countries such as the US, Israel, Iran, Syria, North Korea and it will soon spread like a cancer to the rest of the world. Maybe I sound too pesimistic - I am not. I still hope what I am saying is rubbish and not something which is reality. What can we do though? Two things make Man head for his extinction: his tendency for power (or his arrogantic attitude) and his tendency for causing and love seeing pain (meaning wars, not carrying for people suffering etc).

Albert Einstein had said: "I know not with what weapons the World War III will be fought, but World War IV will be fought with sticks and stones."

I did not write that book because I felt inspiration. I am not born to be a writer. I just forced myself to write it for 2 reasons: Try to make people see by reading the book how life can be wonderful and secondly, I wanted to have popularity and respect so as to be able to write articles concerning such matters and send them to newspapers or even - when I'm ready - give speeches and take further action. I can't just stay in front of the TV watching and doing nothing about it.

I don't know how this has happened but people who play leading roles in earth are literally pigs. All they do is care for themselves, they are blind and cannot see the consequences of their actions and last but not least, they are afraid of the other leaders. A leader in my opinion should be someone who has suffered more than the other people: he will have far more experience to face such problems because he will know them by first hand, he will also be able to understand people who are suffering because he has been in their place - that means he will not be selfish.

The most tragic of all? Normal people do not take action even if they are opposed to what is happening. They are either afraid but in the western "civilized"... countries they are absorbed by their daily life. They may watch the news and feel like taking action but in the next 10 minutes they will have forgotten about it and they will be thinking other things like: When I am going to pay the bills? Am I going to take that raise? How will I get higher grades at school?

We are imprissoned by our own selves. We think we are free people but I bet the tribes who live in Amazon, are more free than we are. You see we want to take action about the war for instance. In the next 10 mins though that thought will have got out of our minds as I said above. Prisoners, is the only word I can use to describe us.

---------
You are hereby notified that any dissemination, distribution or copying of this text in any way, without the written permission of the author, is strictly prohibited as it is under the protection of Greek and International copyright laws.

Message

2006-05-19T00:03:00.000+03:00

I will probably not write again at this blog for the time as I will dedicate myself to finishing my novel.

I have made a promise to me. I have promised not to become an ordinary person imprissoned in his routine and not enjoying his life. For me such person is a city worker, a tax collector, a doctor, a teacher, a lawyer, a carpenter, an actor etc. Jobs that people and mostly students dream to get.

I often hear people saying to teenagers, "Whether you like it or not, you will have to study hard to get a good job." Later on, those students who will become adults will hear: "You will have to work hard to get that promotion," and after that they will hear: "In order to become a manager, you will have to work double hours." Meaningless requirements concealed though under the mask of promise and well-being. What is more, we get angry, tired, hate other people, argue, hurt others (emotionally and physically) and so many other things that would take me hours to include here. I will not say anything else about it, just get the conclusion yourselves. I will just say that our life is unique and because of that, we have to enjoy it as best as we can before it ends, otherwise it does not worth living, does it? What is the meaning of it when we try to do something that we do not enjoy?

Because I do not wish to become such an "everyday-person" but a free one, I will fight for it and I am already in the battle by writing my story. P. Coelho was very right when he wrote that when we really want something, the whole Universe conspires for it. I daily see it with my own eyes. Without asking, I am offered help not only by people but from things too. For instance a friend offered me to promote my book if it was good, without having asked him, my uncle offered to give it to a person that he knows in order to edit it, some American friends offered to edit it themselves! But as I said, not only people try to help. Even the moon helps me by giving me inspiration, even the wind encourage me by making me see what would happen if I ever finished this novel. Everything around me conspires for realizing my dreams as it happens to everyone who has the courage to leave his previous life and follow his destiny.

Of course my dreams are not just to leave the way of life that unfortunately most of us have. I have other dreams, and all those dreams lead to my Dream, with capital 'D'. In order to get to it, I will have to realize other smaller dreams, such as finishing my novel, because otherwise it would be like trying to cross a river without a bridge. But I do not feel worried about it about succeeding to realizing it or not as "everything is possible" and I see what I am doing as a treasure hunt indeed and I have to say that I am enjoying my 'adventure'!

Everybody has dreams that would wish to realize as I do. Our dreams is the path of life that God has created for us, and this path leads to a perfect way of living. It is up to you if you want to realize your dreams and if you really want, then know that you will.

---------
You are hereby notified that any dissemination, distribution or copying of this text in any way, without the written permission of the author, is strictly prohibited as it is under the protection of Greek and International copyright laws.

Of Life

2006-03-27T16:42:00.000+03:00

This is a part of an email that I have tried to send to a very special person, not blinded as the rest:

[...]

But what does the word 'life' mean at last? What is its meaning? Why were we born? Why do we breathe? Why do we love? Many great philosophers from ancient Greece till the end of the days were, are and will be trying to find the answer to the above questions, the only key that can unlock that huge door that has never, but never been opened and nobody, except God knows what lies behind it.

Life, whatever its meaning is, really is a miracle. Just by thinking that I am alive, that I am breathing I feel like you would feel after you had realized your dreams. While I think and compare myself, as well as the fact that I was born, with the emptiness and greatness of space I really feel so grateful for being given the chance to see, smell, taste, hear and touch the so precious gift called life. Now let us have a realistic view of how people use that gift. The answer is as simpler as it could be: Every single person spends his whole life and does what is up to his hands for success. For some success could mean money and fame, for some others having a nice family with worthy descendants, for some to find spiritual peace and harmony, for some to find some food and manage to live as long as they can, for some to travel and explore… There are so many ways that success can be defined that it would take me hundreds of pages to include them all here. The point is that EVERYBODY, from the poorest man on earth to the richest, from the youngest to the oldest, from the saddest to the happiest, want success. But why do we all do that? Why do we all do like crazy for success and we are so obsessed about it while we do know that our lives are actually meaningless? That we are smaller than tiny dots? That our lives are nothing, not even the one fiftieth of a second compared to the endless life of the universe? We all do instinctively what is humanly possible to succeed but we do not know the reason we are doing that. Bill Gates does not know why he has made world's leading software company along with fifty billion dollars. Brad Pitt does not know why he has become such a successful actor with millions of admirers. Ronaldinho does not know why he has become so good in football and tries to be the best. A poor man from Africa does not know why he tries to find some food and continue on living. Nobody knows why we are doing the things we are trying to do.

I really do see life as a total of games. As we know the target of the player of a game is to become a winner. So the same is with life. There are so many different games that each of us plays. For example the game is different for those that success means having money and fame than those that success means having a perfect family. No matter in what kinds of games we are playing, we are all trying to win. During our lifetime though, we can participate in many of those games but we never stop being into one, we NEVER stop playing while we are alive. See this example: Once, there was a poor man that he hardly managed to find something to eat in order to live. He was begging all the time in the square of the village in order to get some food. This man after seeing that he could not do that anymore, he stood up and wandered around the village, knocking every door he was finding and to those who opened to him, he was asking them for work and as an exchange, he only needed food. After knocking many doors, he met a carpenter who was looking at last for someone that was willing to clean his shop daily of the sawdust which was created after a piece of furniture had been made. The poor man agreed and begun working. The life went on as they had agreed. The poor man was working all day and when the sun was set, he was dining with the carpenter. He worked with him over five years, doing the same thing again and again. He did not feel happy about that but he did not feel sad as he did before too. During that period, the poor man proposed the carpenter to get some of the furniture out because they were really awesome but only a few knew that there, in that storehouse, was workshop with a very good carpenter making the finest furniture. The carpenter in the beginning hesitated because he thought that the furniture could be damaged by the people who were passing by but in the end he agreed. After a month from the time they did that, the customers of the shop were ten times more than they used to be and now, except dining with the carpenter, the boy started receiving a good salary. After another five years the man invested his money to building a small inn in the outskirts of the village and he lived for many years happy, marrying a nice and good woman and having three adorable kids. The years passed and the village was being transformed into a city and after some time, it ended up being the country's busiest center. The inn of our hero, was developed in a very luxurious hotel, the only located downtown. The man now had reached his seventies but he was very rich and happy. He had seen life from many points of view and he had felt it from many different sides. In the end, he said, "I am complete", and closed his eyes.

The conclusion that is absorbed by this story is that life can be seen, smelled, tasted, heard and touched from many sides. So, as many sides as you have explored, as many games you took part in, the more "complete" you are as you know life well and you have really LIVED it. That man played the game of beggar and the task of it was to find something to eat in order to live the following day. He also played the game of the cleaner where the task was to daily clean the place and get his dinner. He also participated in the game of the inn owner and then in the hotel owner where, in both cases, he was becoming richer and richer and his tasks were to continue being rich and satisfy his customers. That man, won in all the games he took part in and that is why he was changing them every so often. But the question why we do what is humanly possible to succeed and we participate in those games has not been answered yet. I believe that the answer is simpler than it could be: Have fun, enjoy. That is how our inherent obsession for success is explained. Everybody of us does what is possible to succeed because that is like a law, written deeply to our subconscious and its meaning is nothing but simply have a nice time and enjoy our wonderful life.

But the question why we do what is humanly possible to succeed and we participate in those games has not been answered yet. I believe that the answer is simpler than it could be: Have fun, enjoy. That is how our inherent obsession for success is explained. Everybody of us does what is possible to succeed because that is like a law, written deeply to our subconscious and its meaning is nothing but simply have a nice time and enjoy our wonderful life. For instance the hunter. His task is to get his game. When he does, he will feel happy, why? Not because he is holding his game but because of all the challenges he faced to find it. The hunter enjoyed rather the proccess of getting the game than the fact of having it.

Unfortunately, nowadays, our modern society has made the vast majority of us so much blind that we simply cannot realize what the meaning of that "law of success" is. As a result, what we do, is just participate just in one game for our whole life. We do obey the law of success but we cannot realize that the purpose of it is to have fun. That is why most people really feel imprisoned, they get bored of their lives and cannot stop feeling miserable. Our way of life has made our minds like unconquerable castles that nothing that does not go with the flow of the society is accepted. Unfortunately, the vast majority of people, like me too, are in this prison called daily routine. My parents, teachers and other related people, are putting pressure on me in order to get good marks, as it happens with every schoolchild. I see how people's jobs are and know their nature and most jobs sound the same to me. Whether you are a city worker or a lawyer or a doctor or a teacher, I find it the same as these people are in the same cell, imprisoned in the same routine that goes like that: Wake up early in the morning tired, go to work till late in the evening. Then, get back home tired, see the family a bit and then go to bed exhausted. I do not know about you but for me this is a prison. Let me give you an example of my daily life. I wake up at seven in the morning exhausted from the previous day. I go for a boring day at school with people judging me every time I do something. Then I get back home at two o'clock more exhausted than I was. I study and have private lessons. When I am free from school and everything, it is about eight in the night. I have a quick shower to relax and then I am coming to my computer and continue on writing my book, hoping that I will be able to pass a message and that it will help me escape that prison, that will also change my life.

I honestly, do not like my way of life and I cannot continue living like that because I am spending my best years without enjoying them! For instance, I got a bad mark on an exam of ancient Greek and my teacher told it to my parents and they got angry with me. How silly. They try to teach me something that I will never use it in my life, (Ancient Greek) but the most important, I do not like it, I do not enjoy ancient Greek and to make matters worse, my parents will always feel annoyed if I do not good in that lesson which is considered to be the most important in school. The funniest thing though is that everybody except me, see that stress of every student normal. Great Einstein had said: Two things are infinite, universe and human stupidity and I am not sure about the former. He was right.

I have mentioned above about people who keep and telling me to find a good job. That really drives me mad. I think: "No! There is no way that I will get the jobs you get! There is no way that you are going to put me too inside that prison! I would rather be a poor shepherd wandering around, being in the nature and the most important being free from routine than being a lawyer, a professor or God knows what else". That shepherd, in my opinion, has more chances to succeed than a person who was finished school with the best marks and is also a graduate of world's best university. Why? Because the poor shepherd is always free to change what he is doing. He is free to sell his sheep and build a tavern, even travel to the Pyramids (as it is said in "The Alchemist") That shepherd is free to go wherever his heart desires. Nobody bounds him, unlike us.

People who are in that prison of routine, should try and change their lives if they really find it hard to escape from it. They should try at least to realize that the higher purpose is to enjoy what we do, to enjoy every second of life, to enjoy every inhale that we breathe even if that is mixed with the fumes of an enormous city. If you are one of the imprisoned, just say to yourself that you are enjoying what you are doing. Say good morning to everybody you meet while going to work. Smile to every person you see. They may think "what a fool", but believe me, these are the fools. Their eyes are the ones who are shut; their minds are the ones that nothing new can get inside them! People try to learn about universe and how to achieve anything by technology but they have not yet leant the most important: how to live. Feel Life as best as you can. Feel it from as many sides as you can. Try to be a winner in every game that you take part in but never forget the purpose of each of them: Have fun. Enjoy because even if your soul is immortal, you, as you know yourself, your friends, your world, will only live for once and then everything you knew will get lost. Enjoy them now. So, as I have said above, that is why I am writing this book because if it will get published, my life will change. I cannot live any longer like that. If I had to chose of dying and getting an everyday-job, I would choose to die. Death is for cowards and the ones who have lost the battle though.

People who are in that prison of routine, should try and change their lives if they really find it hard to escape from it. They should try at least to realize that the higher purpose is to enjoy what we do, to enjoy every second of life, to enjoy every inhale that we breathe even if that is mixed with the fumes of an enormous city.

If you are one of the imprisoned, just say to yourself that you are enjoying what you are doing. Say good morning to everybody you meet while going to work. Smile to every person you see. They may think "what a fool", but believe me, these are the fools. Their eyes are the ones who are shut; their minds are the ones that nothing new can get inside them! People try to learn about universe and how to achieve anything by technology but they have not yet leant the most important: how to live.

Feel Life as best as you can from now on. Feel it from as many sides as you can. Try to be a winner in every game that you take part in but never forget the purpose of each of them: Have fun. Enjoy because even if your soul is immortal, you, as you know yourself, your friends, your world, will only live for once and then everything you knew will get lost. Enjoy them now.

[...]

---------
You are hereby notified that any dissemination, distribution or copying of this text in any way, without the written permission of the author, is strictly prohibited as it is under the protection of Greek and International copyright laws.

The meaning of love

2006-03-19T13:17:00.000+02:00

It was a cold day in September. The sky was full of grey, heavy clouds and it seemed that it would blow up. After midday it couldn’t resist and tons of incessant heavy rain started hitting relentlessly the earth. When I got back from school I went into my room to study for the exam of the following day.

As I was doing some exercises, I looked out of the window for a little while. It was still raining but what really caught my attention, were two birds sitting on the edge of it, protecting themselves from the anger of Mother Nature. Periodically, the bigger bird was leaving the edge and after some minutes it was coming back holding a small worm in its peak for the smaller bird. It was giving it to it and then leaving again and coming back holding another worm. That actually happened quite a lot of times. After that, they both stayed there waiting for the rain to calm down and when it finally stopped they left.

That day was very special to me as I finally understood what love truly means. That fact inspired me a lot and my mind generated some rubbish during it and under the magic moment of creativity:

Love is like a bird
In the beginning it is weak
Trying to stand on its feet
And as the time goes by
It learns how to fly
It becomes stronger and stronger
Not being dependent any longer
It is free and beautiful
Like love…

---------
You are hereby notified that any dissemination, distribution or copying of this text in any way, without the written permission of the author, is strictly prohibited as it is under the protection of Greek and International copyright laws.

Poetry

2006-02-16T19:51:00.000+02:00

(Several times I think that death is the only way out from this horrible world. But even if it seems the only way out, I have never thought of taking my own life as it is a gift from God to the human species and have no right to deny it)

The golden ship

Farewell my golden ship
In the night’s soft arms
Smoothly slipping in the sea.
I wish I was standing on your prow
And admire the peace and quiet all around me.
Oh if only I was there
I’d drop my sorrow inside the abyss of the sea
And I’d feel happy I was with you.
We could travel to foreign lands
And never, oh never, come back!
--
Ego

I don’t want to be as tall as the ivy,
On other objects climbing.
I’d rather be a reed, a small tree,
But as I’d get greater,
I would like to have it done by me.

I don’t want to be shining as the glass,
Which seems to be white due to the sun.
I want to give light from my own flame,
Even if I am a useless oil lamp but never ashamed.
I’d rather be away and alone,
In an unknown, secret and dark part of our world.

A bit of light but coming from me,
Would be enough to see overseas.
If you cannot be the avenue,
Be the path.
If you cannot be the sun,
Be the star.
You neither win nor lose from greatness,
Be the best in what you are.
--
My friend

My friend is me
I am my friend
We’re a soul with no end
A soul divided in two bodies
Fill each other where there’s a need
And be ready to sacrifice ourselves for each.
--
Part of a poem that I do not wish to publish the whole of it due to various reasons:

Unlock at last the feeling of love
from the deeps of your heart
set it free and let it fly
let it show you what is right
--
It took you away

I still haven’t cried
I haven’t thought that you could die
The war took you away
And now all I can do is pray
I walked the place where we fought
Where you left your last thought
I felt so sad
I thought that I’d go mad
How could you go away
Leave me back, walk alone my way

I heard the flowers crying too
The whole nature was there for you
Farewell my friend
Farewell till we meet again…
--
Like I was never alone

I still couldn’t cry
Over the destruction
I hadn’t even looked at the dead
I hadn’t realized that my friends were missing.
How did they lose the air that I breathe
And how the music of the flowers
Can’t be heard from them anymore
The horses have not whinnied yet
The ones that will take me back to them
To talk to them
To cry with them
And then, to raise them up
And everybody will stand like one person
Like I was never alone
Like nothing ever happened
Like the battle hadn’t passed over our heads.
--
An old song

The zephyr whispers in my ears
A song forgotten over the years
It is about dragons and heroes
Fighters who rested under willows

It talked about knights of light
Who did their best to excel in life
They were lonely on their horses
Serving love’s almighty forces

They were all extremely brave
Never feared of the word grave
They were fighting till the end
Till the victory or death

Time flowed
Our minds forgot
We do not remember anymore
What these people were fighting for

Man has now become so blind
Like unconquerable castle is his mind.
He is imprisoning his own self,
We are destroying ourselves…
--
An angel on earth

I’ve been sitting all alone
Under a tree in the park
And I saw you walking
With another man
I saw your face
It was so bright
Like I was looking an angel
Directly into the eyes
You looked at me
I smiled to you
You smiled too and then got away.

I want to see you for one more time
Please turn back
‘Cause I need you so much
But I know that
I will never have you
But thank you God
Oh thank you so much
For having an angel among us.
--
The following is not written by me. They are the lyrics of a song by Freddie Mercury "There must be more to life than this", one of my best songs and the reason I publish it is because I think it says a lot:

There must be more to life than this
How do we cope in a world without love
Mending all those broken hearts
And tending to those crying faces
There must be more to life than living
There must be more than meets the eye
Why should it be just a case of black or white
There must be more to life than this
Why is this world so full of hate
People dying everywhere
And we destroy what we create
People fighting for their human rights
But we just go on saying c'est la vie
So this is life
There must be more to life than killing
A better way for us to survive
What good is life, in the end we all must die
There must be more to life than this
There must be more to life than this
There must be more to life than this
I live and hope for a world filled with love
Then we can all just live in peace
There must be more to life, much more to life
There must be more to life, more to life than this
---------
You are hereby notified that any dissemination, distribution or copying of this text in any way, without the written permission of the author, is strictly prohibited as it is under the protection of Greek and International copyright laws.

A point of view about world's greatest problems

2006-02-12T23:36:00.000+02:00

Have you ever closed your eyes while sitting somewhere peacefully and thought that the same moment while outside it is very cold or hot and you are relaxing, in many parts of our so strange and “inexistent” for most people, country called “World”, at least 1/3 of its people are suffering? Even now, the moment that you are reading these words, close your eyes and try to see and feel that at least 10 kids are under sexual abuse, some other are being hit and punished by their “master” because they didn’t get much money out of begging today, some others are working under the hot sun, in a construction site, also more than 2,000 people younger than 18 are going to die in the next few hours; and guess, what else is happening right now. Things are so crazy and inhuman that even the heart of the “toughest” could not stand it and would bend.

We live in a world that day-to-day, year-to-year is becoming worse and worse, helpless and helpless, hopeless and hopeless, full of pain, like a soldier who has been hit and is dying slowly, helpless and hopeless too while he is in severe pain and only a miracle can save him. Let me give you an example of what people are really like. Let’s take the Vatican. That small religious country spends thousands of dollars for the Pope everyday. If we were able to bring a person who had lived in the ancient Roman Empire, he would say that the Pope is like an emperor. He has whatever he desires and he has one billion of people who adore him all around the world. I don't remember having read in the Bible that Jesus was wealthy or that he had any servants. The Bible says that he lived in poverty, he was dressed simply and he had no servants of course. Well if Jesus who is above all of us, was poor and a simple man, why should the Pope or other religious leaders be like emperors? Do you know how much money does the Vatican have under its possession? This money could be given to the people who really need it and not only to the “special” ones. That was what Jesus taught us, to give what is possible to people who need it more than we do. Although I am a Christian, many other people would say that I should feel embarrassed for saying such things. On the other hand, I do not blame my religion, but the ones who claim to be its “leaders”. I do believe that our religions just need guides, simpler than the simple, and not leaders, richer than the rich…

Vatican was the most important example to make you see that we simply care only about ourselves. If the Vatican, which consists of the most religious people in the world, who are supposed to do what Jesus taught and they don’t, then why should normal people like us follow His example? I really think it is very silly when those “religious leaders” tell us to do things that they simply do not even touch! Only a small minority of people -and unfortunately it is getting smaller and smaller- offer something really special called "help" and feel something that most people would need a dictionary to understand, which is called "care about others".

Our world is on an enormous fire and it will keep spreading and destroying us if we do not do something to put it out. It cannot be put out by water though, but by something that most of us have really locked inside our hearts and is called love. I think the time to unlock that precious feeling has come, and when it is released, we should destroy the key so love shall not be locked again if we want to be called “humans” and not “monsters”.Unfortunately, it’s not only among us the problem that exists. The second, greater problem is our environment, our home.Albert Einstein was asked once to say what the environment is and he answered “Anything else, except me”. If he lived 100 years after he said that, it is sure that he would give a different answer in which he would include himself into the environment. As we all know, nowadays, humans are the ones who mostly affect the environment, something that did not seem to be happening at all 100 years ago, the time that Einstein lived.

The things are as horrible as the relations between us… In this case, maybe worse… deadly worse… Lets see some pretty useful information that I guess most of us already know:First of all, the population of earth duplicates every forty years. If the population of earth is approximately seven billions now, the next forty years it will be fourteen billions and after a hundred and twenty years from now… fifty six billions! Just think of it! Can you imagine all the social problems that are going to be created? Let me give you a taste of them… Overcrowded cities, many illnesses would be created, social problems, wars, food and water shortages and of course poverty! As I mentioned above, even now many people and especially kids are treated worse than animals. Well if now, 10 kids for example are under sexual abuse, in the future, that number will increase dramatically.

Secondly, another huge problem we face is the greenhouse effect. To begin with, everybody knows of the great loss and need for water daily. We have all heard about African and other Third World countries that have a major problem with water. Nevertheless, only a few know that over the last few years, the use of water has been increased ten times! The need for water is a result of the hole in ozone layer, which means increase of the temperature, global warming, as we all know and have been taught at school. In the twentieth century, industry has produced more energy, than has been produced by human the last one thousand years! The result of that is that many dangerous gases have been released in our atmosphere. In fact, the last thirty years have been the hottest since 1500AD! Over the last thirty years, man, has destroyed as much ozone as it was created by nature during the last one billion years! Guess about the next one hundred years…

Things are getting more and more difficult. We are destroying our own home as we are doing with our family. If we do not do something now, NOW, not the next fifty years but start right now, we will probably be able to offer humanity some more years of existence and make our descendants hate us less than they will if we do not do something. But I am afraid that they are also going to do the same thing. No matter the education we kids receive and the ones after us will, if the older, now you, tomorrow us, don’t do something, our children will not do either, thinking that their children will be more careful and the story goes on… When humans realize what they have caused to their surroundings, it will be too late. If we do not do something fast we will become extinct and it is as sure as day is followed by night. We should stop looking only at how to make profit and be successful but also how to harmonize with our home and our family.

I have made a weird theory about human beings. It is widely accepted that everything living creature EXCEPT us, does not make any changes to the world at all and they completely harmonize with it, there is a balance. We, humans, do something that is completely different. We have made huge changes to our environment… Changes completely unnatural. Maybe that sounds silly but it does because we are silly! We can’t realize what we do. For instance, genetics, human-made lakes, removing oil from the earth, destroying the ozone… even a house is unnatural! So I do believe that there could be a certain anomaly in our creation that Nature could not predict and that is why we are so intelligent beings than the others and we make so terrifying changes. On the other hand, Nature could have predict that humans will be intelligent and that can be realized by our “gift” for caring for today, for our profit, our happiness and not care about the coincidences that may follow in the future. That “gift” I believe will cause the human beings to extinct.

All of these, I guess, will make everybody think of how silly we are and it will also make us see the fire that our world is on, when we are just going to look outside of the window, but that “divine” moment will last for only a little time. Then… poof. It will get forgotten but it is accepted. We all have many things to do: school, job, family, pay the bills, study etc. As result, saving the world would of course be the last thing on our minds. Unfortunately time is life, as I say instead of the famous saying “Time is money”. Everybody finds it easy to talk but more difficult to make true their words. Only with much willpower, our task can be achieved. Humans are such amazingly strong beings that if they wanted they could change the world in a very short period. Alas I said, “If they wanted”. Most of us think we want to but the problem is that we just think we want to but do not! An example for that is the famous phrase that I am sure all of us have said at least once: “Wish I was rich”… Well, most of us do not become wealthy as everybody knows, and one of the main reasons is because we do not really want that, which means we do not do something about it! We just think we want! We have not told ourselves that “I want, I will try and I am going to become rich”. We just say “Oh, wish I was rich” when we like see a limo but after some minutes we will have forgotten about it! All of us want… but we simply do not do something!

Say “Yes I care”. Say it right now loudly. That will work as a code to unlock a part of your confidence and will also make you realize that you do want and not that just you think you do! Everybody can make it, we just need to co-operate and not think, “It is not worth it. I’d rather throw the wrapper down and not walk 200 feet and throw it to the bin, everybody would do that too”. We have to remove those stereotypes and move on! Starting tomorrow, the time you are going to wake up start a new life! Be a human and not a monster; smile, care and love and everything else will come along!

---------
You are hereby notified that any dissemination, distribution or copying of this text in any way, without the written permission of the author, is strictly prohibited as it is under the protection of Greek and International copyright laws.

An article written in my last 60 minutes before I got 15

2006-02-11T17:44:00.000+02:00

Eleven o’clock. An hour before it will be exactly fifteen years since the day I was born. I looked at myself through the mirror earlier and I thought “Fifteen years of life, fifteen years of experience, of learning, of discovering, of experimenting but… nothing yet. I have not done anything special these years. I am just another unimportant boy among the hundreds of thousands others who have their birthday the same day as me.”

Nature, has given me a special gift for my birthday. Snow in my town. I looked out of the window gazing at the white snowflakes falling harmonically and gently touching the ground. It is actually snowing out now quite a lot. My lamp has burnt down. I am alone in my room, sitting at my desk and typing at my computer this text. I stand up periodically and have a look out of my window towards the lamppost where I can clearly see the snow falling down into the night. Probably tomorrow schools will remain closed, but what may I write now? How may I fill the rest of my “article” before the time goes twelve?

Age of course! Getting old! That is my subject! So, I do not know about you, people around my age, but I see getting older as something that I really hate it. You may see it as a chance of getting your independence but I honestly do not see it like that. I hear many adults say that when they were at my age, wished to be older but now that they are, they see how silly they were. They told me I cannot realize that, but oh yeah, I really can. I wish so much I could be like Peter Pan. I could stay as I am. This is the best part of my life, the best part of a person’s as every one admits.

I feel silly now. I have stuck and I am talking to Microsoft Word 2003, instead of talking to a good friend. But, who cares? I doubt that any of my friends will remember about me and my birthday so, what is left? Share my ideas with my computer and people that I do not know.
Many thoughts are coming as an answer to my mind now. Actually, I am writing what comes out of my mind. But what should I say? It is already half past eleven and I have written so far nothing good. There are thirty minutes before my electronic clock’s alarm sets off giving me my first “Happy Birthday Steve”.

I am looking at my clock. I really wish it stopped. It took me ten minutes after eleven-thirty to reach this point. So twenty minutes till twelve. I feel afraid now. A strange equation is about to happen. A year will be added shortly on my “collection”. Fifteen minutes till that time. I do not know whether I am writing to slow or if the time goes fast. Probably the last is happening. My last fifteen minutes where I am “officially” still fourteen, are going to be soon erased. It seems that I started writing that text like a minute ago but, oh God, it’s been almost fifty minutes ago. Time is going too fast. Like a plastic bottle of water with many holes on its bottom. The water is pouring out and all you have to stop it is you. You are in the middle of nowhere and you really need that water. Alas, it is impossible to stop it from pouring out. You will close a hole with your finger but it will still be pouring out by the others, time is like that. You cannot stop it even if you need it.

Eight minutes till the moment that I do not wish to come. At least I would feel better during that painful process if I would be with some friends, I do not mean friends but Friends or at least, knowing that there are some other people who love me except my relatives. That would make me feel a lot better. That would be my best gift. Well, I still have many friends, but as I said before, friends, not Friends. I do not feel ready to share my secrets and thoughts with them. I could not say I truly trust them. I do not like them. It is so hard to have to choose for friends among these people. It is like living in a prison with people that you do not like but these are the only ones “available” for the time. I do not know…

I am just a teenager now, making silly thoughts I guess, but for me, they do have a great meaning. I do not know what any possible readers of this passage are going to think of me, but if you have read so far, thank you for your patience to hear what somebody like me has to say.
And the clock showed twelve o’clock. I felt gooseflesh as the clock alarm set off. I am not fourteen anymore. I am fifteen. A new year that I will have to carry. “What is he talking about? He is just fifteen!!!” That is what you may say, but as I said, I already know how precious my age at this stage is while knowing what I will have to go through later on… Happy Birthday Steve.

---------
You are hereby notified that any dissemination, distribution or copying of this text in any way, without the written permission of the author, is strictly prohibited as it is under the protection of Greek and International copyright laws.

Science, Religion and Man

2006-02-11T17:43:00.000+02:00

It was the day after Christmas when I had a look at the local newspaper and read about some facts that are going to take place during 2006. It is interesting so have a look here:

10,000,000 people will die because of hunger, including 4.5 million children
16,000 square kilometres of ice from the poles will melt
25,000 square kilometres of forest will be destroyed only in the Amazon
35 nations will be at war
Over 1 million people will commit suicide while 10 millions will try doing so but will fail to do it
30 billions tons of gases dangerous for our environment will be released in the atmosphere
For the first time, over 50% of the population on earth will be living in cities
Over one million will die from malaria, something that is very rare in developed countries
1 out of 5 people will be living on less than a dollar per day
3,000 children will be dying every hour due to various illnesses
50,000 species of animals and plants will be extinct…

Unfortunately, these are not the only problems that humanity faces. We do know that except these, there are also dozens of things to worry about like the overgrowth of our population, global warming, child porn, poverty etc, but I guess currently we are all mostly concerned about that bird flu and the H5N1 virus.

A few people know that a scientist called Mittal, will probably have a vaccine against H5N1 ready by October 2006, which means the period of virus infections will have already begun and it is very possible that H5N1 will be able to transmit itself among humans. Scientists predict that 360,000,000 will die; 1 in 20 people on earth... Many scientists including Ira Longini, biostatics professor, say that it is sure that humanity will face a great pandemic, the greatest ever, in about a few months. Even though that currently the H5N1 virus is not contagious among humans but from birds to humans, Ira Longini says that if a person has even a little fever and gets H5N1, the DNA of H5N1 will become "one" with the other virus and will create a new version of the virus’s DNA so, H5N1, will be easily transmitted among people. ”It is sure that something like that will happen in a few months”, she says. In just 5 months, we could have millions of dead... It may start in this apparent way: A little girl from a village in Thailand starts coughing. Despite her mother’s attempts to make her temperature get back to normal, the girl dies within a week. A lot of the people who had been to her funeral start coughing too, including a businessman. In spite of the fact that he does not feel okay, he decides not to cancel his trip to Bangkok, which is on the following day. Six months later the situation is worse than it could be: H5N1 virus has been spread across all continents with hundreds of millions of dead.
Even if such scenarios sound too spooky, the fact that they are acceptable by the scientific community makes them sound like a nightmare.

Wherever you go, whatever you do, all you hear is “Wars, pandemics, pollution, poverty…”
I really do not like all these. It is not only the bird flu but all the other problems that our world is facing too. We are rapidly walking towards disaster, towards our extinction. Everybody would say that there is no return but I would never say that. I do believe that there is a way back and in order to find it, we should look for the cause of our troubles.

My firm belief is that all that stems from the fact that man has really got away from God. Science has taken over God. Medicine, telecommunications, genetics, space travel… These are the miracles today and these are the miracles we will be talking to our children about. “Old” God is forgotten. We’ll never tell our kids to believe in what we had heard from our fathers; about a burning bush that could talk, about a man walking on the water, about a man that was born without a father. Science has won but that has cost to every single person on the earth.
Science may treat illnesses and make our lives easier but it has led us to a world with no mystery. Sunset has been translated to wavelengths; our space has been translated to mathematical equations. Even our value, as humans, has been reduced; science has proven that earth is an unimportant dot in universe, a cosmic failure. Technology promises to connect us with reality but in fact, it separate us. Every one of us, me, you and all people can electronically connect with the rest of the word but we still feel lonely.

Science tries to find out why some babies cannot be born, tries to reconstruct our DNA. It chops the world of God to smaller pieces, looking for the meaning of each; the only thing it finds is more questions. Science feeds itself like a virus and works faster and faster. Humanity needed thousands of years to get from the wheel to the car but only a few decades to get from the car to space. The situation is not under control anymore. And believe me; we're all desperate even if we do not know that. We are people imprisoned, tortured, mentally dispersed by science and we are unable to accept the fact that there is a meaning in life without science. I do not say that I am against science, but we have really overdone it and we are in a modern car with brakes which have broken down, heading towards disaster with mathematical accuracy. Who is the God that is called science? Who is the God that gives His children power but does not advise them on how to use that power? Science does not even know and does not teach us what is good and bad. It just teaches us how to create a nuclear explosion but it does not say whether that is right or wrong. Science helps us create guns all the time while people close to God beg world leaders to stop it.

Science does prompt us to contact people on cellular phones and computers but it does not teach us at all that we should not forget to have personal contact with other people as it is in our nature. Science says that it needs evidence to accept that there is a God. Why doesn't it look through its telescopes in space and then dare say that there is no God? Can't you see God in science? How is it possible to ignore Him? How is it possible to ignore His advice to prevent our destruction? Science says that even a small change in the weight of an atom could cost our birth. Isn't that a miracle? Is it so easy to believe that we picked a card out of a billion and we won? Albert Einstein had said: "As far as the laws of mathematics refer to reality, they are not certain; and as far as they are certain, they do not refer to reality", "Imagination is more important than knowledge...", "The most beautiful thing we can experience is the mysterious. It is the source of all true art and science”, "The important thing is not to stop questioning". He must have known something! Are God and religion some ancient dinosaurs or does the world really need them in order to prevent our loss? We always face something evil. Even if that is called Satan, corruption, anomie, it is a dark power which is getting stronger day to day. We should not ignore it but fight it! That power, despite being strong, is not unbeatable. Goodness shall win.

I do not think by any means, though, that we should abandon science. Ancient Greeks used to say “Pan metron ariston” which means “All things in moderation and moderation in all things”, in other words, “Proportion is perfect”; nothing should be used uncontrollably. We need both God and science. It is just that science has really got away from God and made people forget Him. God is our tutor and science is our weapon is what I tend to believe. We can use that weapon for our protection along with the proper guidelines of our tutor but without His advice, we will use it against us, as we have already done. God is of the same importance as science. We need them both!

Unfortunately, it is kind of late to realize that. We are already heading to extinction and we cannot understand that properly, as it is the inability we have as human beings to look into the future and see the results of our future actions, now. Second by second we are getting closer to it. Stop! Stop! Stop having wars at last! Stop that waste of people! Somebody with “clear” logic, and I am afraid that ours is “dirty” indeed, If they heard that we were still exterminating ourselves, they would think we were cavemen. If they heard we were destroying our home, which is our environment, they would be disgusted. If they heard that instead of co-operating so as to find new solutions to our problems, living harmonically and blissfully under the eyes of God, we are still in a level where we are fighting and looking for ways in which we can make more profit for ourselves; just like small kids compete who is going to take the best plastic soldier in order to play on their plastic castles! Believe me, even those kids, who are still pure souls, are more rational than we are. Wake up you fools, we are getting lost! We are destroying ourselves! It is time we opened our eyes, got back to our father cum tutor and listened to what He had to say! You can call that father God, Buddha, Allah or whatever, but believe and then the results will be amazing. Even science, which is ignorant of God, is forced to accept that through belief people are magically transformed from monsters to Humans. Wake up and believe! Believe!

---------
You are hereby notified that any dissemination, distribution or copying of this text in any way, without the written permission of the author, is strictly prohibited as it is under the protection of Greek and International copyright laws.

Self-belief

2006-02-11T17:41:00.000+02:00

Nowadays people barely look different from each other. We walk in a busy street, in a big city. What do we see? People, usually dressed in black, walking in a fast pace, be in a hurry, be angry, worried and of course you can’t even see a small smile on their faces. On the other hand, there is a small minority of some other who are unconventional. They are born to have that will to be different from others and be special. They always change their way of dressing, they use to change hairstyles, they are very outspoken and they use to smile; in other words, they overpass the daily stereotypes. These are the people who really LIVE their lives and have what is called “positive thinking”.

Everybody of us can be special if they really want and believe in it. I am sure that all of us have said the phrase “Wish I was rich” over 10 times in our lives. But even if we say it, most of us remain where we were. Why? Because saying and wishing it does not mean we will and it does not mean will. For instance if someone says “Wish I could drink some water” and he will not go and drink water… he will not! He has to look for it, go for it. When we say, “Wish I was rich”, we simply say it and after a while we forget about it. So how can we be rich if we do not do something about it?To become rich and successful you basically need 3 things: knowledge, hard work, and self-belief. The first 2 can be properly understood and everyone can achieve them. The last one, self-belief, is the most difficult.

Self-belief is a gift that can be given to us and we are not born with it. Self-belief can be achieved by positive thinking. Being positive means a positive approach to good ideas from every source and every age in history. Forget about fashion, switch off the cynics. Say "Yes" aloud. Say it right now. Instead of focusing first on what you're saying "Yes" to, just go ahead and affirm it. Your instincts will start hunting round in your mind, looking for the thing you most want to say "Yes" about. Let yourself feel good about it. Your PSI energies now have permission to home in on the areas, which intuitively feel right. Positive thinking is a whole toolbox of powerful mind techniques and the most useful tool of all is visualisation. Everyone can visualise - most call it daydreaming. If you direct your daydreams, encouraging pleasurable images, you are programming your subconscious to expect those good things. And if you're expecting something, you go looking for it.

Negative thinking is a psychic shortcut to disaster. Suppose you're worried about the cash flow in your small business - there are some late payers on the books, perhaps. If you sit and worry, your mind will begin to generate negative imagery. Without meaning to make matters worse, you are programming your mind to expect a bleak future. Positive visualisation can turn this situation around very quickly. You learn to focus on solutions. You imagine great cash flow, you visualise yourself writing that cheque to the taxman and laughing, because you know you can afford it! Very quickly, you feel better. You have more energy and you're ready to start looking for the answers. You feel positive and your self-belief instantly grows because you know that you can!

There are several techniques where you can "unlock" your positive thinking and activate your self-belief. One of them is by words. Words are very powerful because they can affect our mind very much. They can make us love, hate, smile, cry, feel shy… They can also unlock our gifts. For example when you say: "I CAN MAKE IT" loudly, you feel energy boiling within your body and you feel ready to fight whatever stands in your way in order to achieve your target. Now I want you to read loudly the following phrases and if it is possible copy them somewhere and repeat them everyday. I promise you they are going to help!
-I am a winner.
-I deserve to get what I want.
-I will wake up tomorrow feeling great.
-No turning back!-That was then
- this is now.
-I have the Mindpower.
-Yes, I can! Yes, I WILL!
-I am doing this for me! I love myself! I deserve success.
-I feel focused.
-I am an achiever. I get things done.
-Do it now.-I can and I will.
-I know what I want.
-Look on and hold on.
-Think positive - think yes.
-Never take no for an answer.
-Quitters never win, winners never quit.
-Excuses are for losers.
-Everything is possible.
-Step by step, stay steady, on the target.
-I will complete, I will finish, I will see it through. I will make it.
-I've come this far - I won't let anything or anyone stop me now.
-Cynicism is for cowards. I am brave.
-I deserve the best. I will demand the best. I will settle for nothing less.
-This is my life, and I will live up to it.
-If I fail, I will always forgive myself and always believe I can succeed again.
-I will not hide behind excuses.
-I will do my best and be proud of it.
-I have made up my mind no one can unmake it.
-When I achieve my target, I will allow myself to rejoice.

So? How do you feel now? I am sure that after you spoke these words and believed them you will feel capable of doing things that you had never imagine and things that you had "quitted" from, because they seemed too difficult, like... Seeing your boss and asking him for a day-off! But now you can! Lets say you have to do that. Say to yourself "Yes I WILL!" and go. When you go there look at him directly into his eyes because that means you are being honest with him, you are not afraid to talk to him, your are strong and confident. You should also know some! thing. Your boss, director or whomever, is not a person that is more important than you. Look at him bravely because you are equal! If he has more money, experience or fame than you, it does NOT mean that he is more important than you! Talk to him about your requirement for your day-off while looking at him in the eyes and thinking "Approve it! Approve it!" Believe in it and you WILL! Try that to any person you want, whether he is a director or someone more successful than you... Look at them into their eyes directly, speak clearly, be polite, do not allow to get offended or embarrassed by them and DO NOT LOWER your head if they do but fight back! If they do not respect you, then why should you respect them? But you should never lose your temper but try to make them be offended by a “polite” way.

Everybody of us can easily become successful. An actor, a singer, a model, a businessman... The reason why so few people ma! nage to do it is the way of thinking. Most people on earth have that way of thinking. A routine like: Wake up, go to work, get back and see my family a bit, sleep. Then the same and the same again. The result for that is that they do not even think that one day they could be in the place of Brad Pitt or Bill Gates. It can't even come into their minds. You see, the minds of such people have small borders. They do not accept anything that can ever drive them out of their routine or they find it weird. People with great boarders in their minds are the ones who really become successful. If you are not, BE one of them or if you are, proceed more and become greater! You CAN! Go for it! Start a new life from tomorrow! A life full of positive thinking and self-belief!

(Note: Two paragraphs from the passage have been written by the world famous phychic and friend, Uri Geller - www.urigeller.com)

---------
You are hereby notified that any dissemination, distribution or copying of this text in any way, without the written permission of the author, is strictly prohibited as it is under the protection of Greek and International copyright laws.