Prof. Dr. Takis Alexiou - Man's Journey from "i" to "WE" by CENTRE OF ARTS 4 SEASONS

Prof. Dr. Takis Alexiou

MAN’S JOURNEY From “i” to “WE”

4 SEASONS PUBLICATIONS

Dedicated to my Fellowmen the Refugees...

The Book MAN’S JOURNEY - From “i”to “WE” of Prof. Dr. Takis Alexiou was published, as an e-book, on March 2016. Production Managing and Art Direction: Takis Alexiou. Front Cover: Takis Alexiou. Editing: Eva Hatzaki. Layout: Litsa Maranti. COPYRIGHT: 4 Seasons Publications, Τel:0030-6944128460, Fax: 0030-210-6011904, e-mail: profalex@otenet.gr

PROF. DR. TAKIS ALEXIOU

MAN’S JOURNEY From “i” to “WE”

4 SEASONS PUBLICATIONS - ATHENS 2016

I know it's tempting to stay and meet those blonde women. I know it's even more sensible to spend the night here with them, but I want to be HOME…

Rumi

ollowing the enlightenment process of a recent yogi instructions book, translated into more than 70 languages, in 3 weeks our inner light will start to shine, in 3 months our higher spiritual abilities will be recognized by others and in 3 years our saint’s circle of light will permanently appear, over our heads… This e-book has of course absolutely nothing in common with such philosophy and constitutes just a base of discussion among Friends, who wish to develop essential relations with themselves, their fellowmen and their societies… Takis Alexiou, March 2016 5

E LEARN TO DRIVE a bicycle, not by reading or writing books… The same happens with Democracy and our Lives of course… We don’t need “charismatic” prime ministers but mature, responsible and active citizens with Ethos, honoring Truth… We are not willing to change today’s liberal-conservative caste with a “leftish” one… The new social system -Participative Democracy- that will be born in the next years, and grow up in the next decades, can’t have anything at all in common with the past... What do you mean by a “leftish” caste? I think that it’s time to use a completely new vocabulary, whenever we wish to define a political force… Beyond that, and according to my perception, a “leftish” caste is an anachronistic party or movement, which tries to restore the already dead political establishment of the former Soviet Union, or any other authoritarian system, based either on getting power through violence or throughout books written by the so called political scientists… Why not throughout political scientists? Because there is no such science!... And because, we have, firstly, to restore our abused childhood within us (Alice Miller), otherwise there will be never a better society… What do you mean, by the abused child within us? It’s not a secret anymore that the great majority of children, all over the world, even in the most so called civilized countries, have been, in the one or the other way, abused (physically, emotionally, sexually)… Therefore, in a Participative Democracy, beyond general human rights, we must guarantee all children’s rights, especially those, which are related to their parents, and later on to their teachers… Means we have to find ways to protect efficiently the helpless children against any kind of violence, maltreatment, assault and battery, from any side… 6

Between barbarity and humanism there can be no dialogue. Let us be honest, for once. Between war and peace there is no common ground, there is only violence and fight, and more violence and more fight… We, parents and teachers, first of all, have to open our eyes and face Truth, about our own childhood, stopping the chain of “evil”, for the coming generation… The duty of a progressive government is: 1) to educate parents and teachers to stop, by law, any kind of child mistreatment, 2) to take care of children and pupils respectfully, and 3) to do whatever is necessary a) to overcome the years of crisis peacefully, and b) to lay down the foundation of a better society, covering the real needs of all and not the interests of the few… Abused children, most of the times, have violent behaviors and follow extreme political ideologies… Communism, as it has been implemented, misrepresenting Marx himself, has no future at all… With today’s leftish movements, all over the world, when they will come to power, probably, it will be possible, to stop to a certain degree, the barbarity of markets’ capitalism, nothing more… Leftish ideologies, up to now, aren’t ready to lay dawn the foundations of a new better society… This will be the task, within the next 10 crucial years, of individuals and groups, which have or will achieve “Free Will”, means have truly faced, constructively, their abused childhood and become free from their traumatic past… A healthy new society, needs of course healthy new individuals… Do we know, when an antisocial behavior starts? For some decades now, we know that Freud’s “drive” theory, is completely wrong. We know also that the beginning of a violent antisocial and destructive behavior lies in the first years of childhood, when a real emotional bond, between mother and child, is missing. Furthermore we know that emotional “amnesia” leads 7

to stagnation of thought. In this frame, the creation of a better society is finally impossible!!! What is to say about Michel Odent’s hormone of Love? Child abuse, develops various survival strategies (lies, hypocrisy, cheat, deception, envy, hatred, anger,…) which magnify individualism-egotism, preventing the secretion of the hormone of Love… On the contrary Truth, with all its properties, drives our organism to produce this major hormone with all its healing powers… I’m wondering, if the purity of a Child’s Soul, can be emerged, even through fear, anger and violence, what kind of life, we could share, if the Child’s Soul is filled with Peace, Calmness and Joy… I can imagine the beauty that could come out of it… And I think, also, that this is the first, parents’ and teachers’ duty: not only to stop punishing our Children, but by honoring Truth, and through their affection and understanding, to heal Them…

EES CAN, with their tiny instinctive mind, communicate and cooperate in extraordinary ways!!! Why (wo)men are unable to do so, with their huge instinctive, emotional and rational mind??? And even, when, sometimes, bees steal from each other, they do that for survival reasons only, and not for becoming richer, and richer and more richer… We, humans, have to learn a lot from these small, without emotions and reason, insects, equipped just with a very tiny, as I already mentioned, instinctive mind… The question is not how I look, but how I see… And if I, really, want to see myself and my surroundings, it’s, only, possible, through my subconscious mind, means emotionally, without censorship-logokrisia: without any judgment of reason… This is the only way to see beyond black and white, and grow up… 8

Random Art supports this procedure, which, finally, is a course of evolutionary action… Where is the difference between someone, who looks like a human, and someone, who is a real human? According to my knowledge a humanoid looks only after him/herself… A real human thinks, firstly, about the Other!!! A Democratic society is a Society of the Other… Why is that so? Thinking about the Other that can be a person, a cat, a bird or a bee, we live in the present time, and by doing so, we avoid our traumatic past, we avoid Fear and Anger… In other words we behave as mature adults and not as panicked children… Which is the difference, between anthropoids-humans and collective subjects-selfish individuals? There is no difference at all… Humans act always as collective subjects, and anthropoids react always as selfish individuals... The power of a Myth is enormous and this kind of power, which gives form to everything, is what we need now urgently… The power of a Myth seems to be equivalent to the power of the mass-less “God particle”, which has been discovered recently, giving mass, means giving form, to all other particles of the Universe… Our new invisible Myth is the one which will lead us to discover and implement Real Democracy, in the years to come… The most easy way to cover one’s own stupidity, is to underline, by every opportunity, the stupidity of others. What has all that to do with children abuse and mistreatment? Many times, regrettably, I have the impression that a great number of Children are treated, as I already said, in their homes and later on in their schools, as “enemies”… If we follow the official statistics of various NGOs, even of UNESCO, the above 10

information will be confirmed… The reason of saying that is because these mistreated children, beyond any doubt, will be tomorrow’s the most inhuman army men and politicians... To the question What is wisdom? My simple answer is that Wisdom is the Myth, the Journey of meeting one’s True self… It’s the drop that falls into the ocean… It’s the small “i” that becomes a Great “ WE”… It’s Love and Friendship that fades fear away… It’s the unique experience of being Really Free… What is a Myth? In this context, the Myth is the Power that gives Form to the invisible… It’s what transforms a wish, a hope, a Dream to Reality… It’s what allows the GOoD inside us to reign, speak and act… It’s the magic of eARTh that makes Life extraordinary…

ERFECTION MEANS the end of the Journey, the end of every Evolution and Progress… Perfection is not granted to Religions, not even to Sciences, which, both are only interpretations of Truth, and not the Truth itself… Which is the relation between technology and quality of Life? In other words: Does technology make our lives better and happier? Are, for example, the Germans happier than the French, the Italians or Greeks? Do you doubt the perfection of Germany’s technology? Yes. I doubt it, for two reasons!!! First of all because, there are many other countries with high technological standards, as Italy, French and England in Europe, USA etc… The second reason is about the necessity, before saying anything, to answer the questions: Which is the relation between technology and quality of Life? In other words: Does technology make our lives better and happier? Are, for example, the Germans happier than the French, the Italians or Greeks? According to 11

several sociological studies, the answer is, categorically, No!!! Some thoughts about Perfection and living standards… Does a perfect car make a perfect man? Does a high speed train transforms (wo)men into better people? Le Corbusier, a very well known architect and city planner of the last century, believed that the cities of speed were the cities of success… For many years now, we know that many “machine” cities and houses he built have been abandoned by its inhabitants and demolished by the authorities… By the way, he was an admirer of Mussolini and a close collaborator of the Nazi regime in France, during the Second World War… As much as (wo)man’s stature has a relation with politeness, that much relation has happiness with technology… Technological revolution is necessary to conquer the world… Human Evolution is necessary to conquer our Lives… We do not need every week or so a new mobile phone or a smart tablet… What we need more than ever is Self-Knowledge, True Friendship and essential Participation, in healing ourselves and creating better Societies…

N OUR DAYS, many do speak about the so called Conflict of Civilizations… Others about the Conflict of Religions… And others about the Conflict of Ignorance, or the Conflict of Prejudices… What I think, in simple words, is that we live in a period in which Cruelty triumphs, means in which (wo) man’s Individualism and Selfishness reigns!!! With words, numbers, forms or colors, we cannot define Reality. We can only, partially, try to describe it, most of the time unsuccessfully... Random Art, through our subconscious mind, offers us the opportunity to start comprehend Reality as a whole... Reality is always naked; illusions are always full of 12

finery... Subconscious mind never lies... It speaks always the naked Truth... The Swirl of Happiness appears, only after a long and honest effort…when the time comes to collect, unexpectedly, the magical Traveler’s Kiss, a kiss that will never be forgotten or repeated… According to my knowledge, it happens only once a Life time… Lucky the ones that have received it… People, who honor Truth, never tell lies, even in their dreams... A (wo)man, who honors Truth, doesn’t need any kind of alcohol or drugs in order to feel relax, content and happy… His/her traumatic past doesn’t bothers him/her anymore, and his/her Heart whirls constantly in the rhythm of the whole Universe, in the rhythm of the powerful “WE”, and not of the miserable “i”… New Physics has shown us that we live in a Participative Universe… It’s time, I think, that we humans, finally, have to start to live accordingly… “Accordingly”, for a human society means Participative Democracy, which will correspond to the real needs of the great majority -I would say of all- and not, just, to the profit interests of the very few… No one doubts, anymore, about the barbarity of today’s capitalistic markets societies… One of many examples of occupation and exploitation was Egypt from 1882 to 1952, by the British “Democratic” society of that time… This barbaric attitude continues to our days, by some, so called, powerful countries, with the support of their military machinery or without it, through catastrophic loans… This is not the way the Universe works… As I already mentioned, below, New Physics has shown us that we live in a Participative Universe… It’s time, I think, that we humans, finally, start to live accordingly in a Participative Democratic Society… 14

“Free Floating” is a banking term that has been adopted in Psychotherapy as “Free Floating Anxiety”, a contemporary mental disease from which a great number of individuals are suffering… The reason lies, I think, mainly, a) on overlooking being, as children, abused and, later b) on the way of Life, being more and more egocentric and antagonistic, making more and more money, turn out to be more and more “powerful”… Child abuse and mistreatment drive us to various forms of extreme Selfish behaviors, especially Fear-Anger, leaving no space for Life… Fear-Anger makes Life unbearable, driving it to misery and death… The Antidote of Fear-Anger is Love and Friendship… People, who learn to share and love, each other, become fearless, able to live a full Life… To become older, for them, is a joyful time, and not a time of emotional torment and agony… The reality of becoming older is not a matter of accepting it or not, I mean, analyzing it, with words, discussing it with others, etc… But of feeling and realizing it through once own body and mind, through once own senses and emotions… And as I said before: To become older can be a joyful time, and not a time of emotional torment and agony… It depends on how selfish we are… Selfish people are afraid and become angry about everything, and of course about becoming older, as well as about death… Life, as most of people think, is not a time limited phenomenon… The opposite of Death is Birth and not Life… Life is never-ending!!! Life is not just a single drop, it’s a vast Ocean… Life is not just a small piece of sand, it’s a whole Desert… Life is not just a shining star, it’s the entire endless Smiling Universe… Life is “WE”, is not just “i”… This way of perception is scientifically, through Neurobiology, proven, 15

in our days, but is only achievable, I think, as long as we have decided to confront our abused childhood and become more and more healthy and, in the same time, less and less Selfish…

AN A BOOK change our lives? No book, even the most important, can change our Lives… Why? Because, from a book, as far as I know, we only understand what can already be confirmed by our, existing, Understanding… Nothing more, nothing less… In other words, Truth cannot be revealed through books… Books can only reveal, what already exists within us, as experiential value… In order to create a UNION between 2 or more isolated selves, we need, first of all, to exclude isolation, and start communicate essentially… What do you mean by “essentially”? If two or more persons wish to communicate essentially, should firstly develop an Essential Relation with themselves, with the words of Martin Buber , to build up an essential relation “ I-Myself”, what I would call to build up self knowledge… A short letter to the late Leo Buscaglia (1924-1998), who wrote several books about Love… I don’t need a mother or a father, who smiles and sings on the one hand, and on the other she/he threatens and hits me, from time to time, even on the face, like a maniac… This is not a mother or a father, but a smiling-singing monster… Any kind of child’s Abuse and Mistreatment has absolutely nothing to do with Love, and it will never be forgiven… At the most it will be understood, but not consented… Leo Buscaglia, in matters of Communication and Love, as Freud with his theories about Psychoanalysis, and Newton in the Field of Physics, has been, scientifically, proven that they 16

were wrong… This is a very simple Truth that we must accept and go on… Very often, all of us have heard that… My family, my mother, my father, etc are the best of the world… Children are depending on their parents, especially their mothers, and the bond between them is crucial for the first 3-4 years… Abused children continue to worship their parents, misinterpreting their sufferings, as if they were necessary, for their own wellbeing…So they start to live in an illusionary world, which has absolutely nothing to do with Reality and Truth… After a short time they “create” an illusionary world about themselves too, believing that they are the most beautiful, the most kind, the most clever, etc individuals on earth…From this point on, and through confrontation with Reality, confusion, anxiety, bipolarity and other mental diseases knock on their doors, sometimes heavily… The illusionary world of grown up individuals, which have been, as children, abused, is not a fantastic world at all… It is a very dark world, because they, continuously, abuse other people, animals even plants, around them, in unthinkable ways… As far as I know, it is a tragic situation that can been only stopped in a clinic for mental diseases, under the supervision of specialists… I’m writing all that, because Children abuse, and any kind of mistreatment, by parents and teachers, must stop, by law, as I have, repeatedly, said, before it’s too late… A real Democratic Society can’t do otherwise!!! The illusionary world is a world full of lies and selfdeceptions… And what we should know, is that as much as we deceit ourselves, thus much we destroy irreversibly our brains, our bodies, as well as our way of thinking and feeling… Lies and (self)deceptions, by destroying our confidence, drive us 18

miles apart instead of bringing us, essentially, together… Therefore let us, open ourselves completely, honoring Truth for our own welfare and the welfare of our fellowmen… When the abused children grow up, abuse and mistreat, in different ways, people around them, for two “reasons”: 1) out of fear, and 2) for taking revenge, on everyone and everything… They are constantly tensed, afraid and angry without any reason… Their delusionary state of mind makes it impossible to take even a very simple decision. Means to become exposed, firstly, to their doctors and later on to their companions and friends, leaving behind, once for all, lies and self-deceptions… Ready to jump? Only after jumping into the Truth, we are ready to restore, step by step, our emotional world... The essential relation “I-Myself”, what I would call self knowledge, is of great importance, as long as it is targeting on Truth…Otherwise, and if it continues to be centered in lies and self-deception, our situation will become worse and worse and worse… As far as I know, there is a way out only if we start honoring Truth, expose our sufferings as Children, as well as our illusionary world, to the last detail, and open our Hearts…

CCORDING TO ALBERT EINSTEIN: “The intuitive mind is a sacred gift and the rational mind is a faithful servant. We have created a society that honors the servant and has forgotten the gift.”… What kind of societies do we create with unfaithful servants??? The answer to the apparent question is very unpleasant, sometimes, even painful, if we consider the fact that the great majority of people behave, irrationally, as unfaithful servants… They live in a divided and illusionary world, full of lies and 19

(self)deceptions, as well as full of fear-anger, revenge feelings, and thoughts against every form of Life, even against their therapists and benefactors… Is there is a way out? As long as we are afraid we’ll become liars. deceivers, revengers and many more, and there is no way out… According to my knowledge, we must discover the reason of being afraid (from whom, from what, who and what makes us feel uncomfortable), if we wish to recover and find peace… Forgiveness can’t release us from the past, but it covers it up… Child abuse, as any other form of abuse, can be understood and expressed - attributed to those, who caused it, even by writing a letter, but never with revenge mood… I remembered, among others, the letter of Franz Kafka to his father…

UMAN RELATIONS, as we know, are very complex, but unfortunately, we learn absolutely nothing about them in primary and secondary schools, and, I must say, very little in Colleges and Universities… Many people, incorrectly, argue that we are born and die alone… The need for the Other is not a sign of immaturity, and the fact that we need and depend on each other is not some kind of weakness… The only question is on which basis: Respecting or fighting, Loving or hating each other… We are more than our brain, even the most developed one… What is more, in our brain, is our mind, which can use our brain and not be used by it… So if we really wish to become better persons, this is our Mind’s task… Of course, under the condition that we really mean it, and it’s not one of the neverending lies with which, we continue to cheat ourselves, as well as our fellowmen… 20

RISTOTLE (384-322BC) versus Hippodamus (498408BC), who was an ancient Greek architect, urban planner, physicianand and mathematician, considered to be the “father” of urban planning… Means experiential values versus commercialized ones, means social interests versus individual rewards, means “WE” versus “i”… There are, also, good news in periods of crisis… One of them, probably the most important, is that the number of individuals with free will increases rapidly… On the other hand positive psychology teaches us that through Free Will, we are in a position to control our instinctive brain, avoiding primitive impulses, and negative emotions, such as fear, anger and aggressiveness… In other words, we can stay away from lies, (self)deceits, revenge acts etc… We, each one of us, are, through our minds and brains, LeadersDiscoverers-Teachers and Users of our Lives… This simple Truth gives us the opportunity, in every single moment, to give different orders, to find new ways, to achieve additional knowledge and keep in good condition ourselves… We are not bounded on yesterday, and changes in our behavior depend solely on us. The only precondition is to stop being liars, (self) deceivers, revengers etc… I wish to inform, my aged Friends that they should not worry about their memory, as long as their mind is in charge, as long as they use their brains, and aren’t used by them… In case that they are very busy, tired, or stressed, according to Neurobiology, they should not blame their brains, if they forget something… This can happen to anyone, who finds him(her) self in such a negative situation… Furthermore there are ways to keep our brain intact, as long as we are really interested in learning to listen, to put the right questions, and to come to a constructive Dialogue with our fellow(wo)men… 22

OW WE WILL CHANGE Greece and Europe??? Trying to answer this question, I think that we should consider the following alternatives… Is it a question, which will be answered a) by today’s parents, teachers and academicians? My answer is certainly NO! b) by a revised educational system? My answer is again NO! (There have been so many educational reforms, in favor of today’s economy, changing the social situation, always, to worse). Or c) by our Young Generation? My answer is categorically YES!!! Because young people, who haven’t yet created their families, they are our only hope, under the precondition that they will develop essential relations with themselves and their partners… I was asked to write down my thoughts, about the coming national elections in Greece, on Sunday the 20th September… First of all I would like to underline that I do not belong to any political party… The way I approach elections, and will offer my vote, depends on which politicians, according to my knowledge, are emotionally balanced!!! The reason is, because, generally speaking, only these people, who have an orderly emotional life, can think properly and thus govern efficiently…Through Body Language, and especially through Face Expressions, it’s easy to distinguish a liar and hypocrite, from a sincere person, who honors Truth… To the question, if I could be more precise, the answer is YES… And what I mean is that political parties that define themselves as centric-right or centric-left are fake… They just try to find some ignorant voters… So called right or left parties, which embrace right or left extremists, are dangerous … Voters don’t feel comfortable with such formations, and one day they will fall apart … Parties that represent any kind of extremism, right or left, will never be voted by the great majority of people… 23

Our days, the question is , who will do his best in supporting the real needs of all of us and not just the profit interests of the very few… The answer is evident, I think… After 40 years of being governed by two political parties, which, finally, drove Greece to complete disaster, I think that it’s time to stop being blind followers and become active citizens, to stop look just only after our own interests and ask ourselves about our duty towards our Country and Europe… As I already said, I don’t belong to any party, and my vote is a matter of Conscience… What is “right” and what is “left” in politics??? What brings us closer??? Such absent-minded definitions, or a relation based on Sincerity, Honesty, Love, Friendship among us, and duty towards our People and Country??? To the question: Which is the connection between Consciousness and voting, I can give the following answer: Consciousness, allow us to make useful Choices… Useful choices permit us to leave behind lies, (self)deceptions, revenge acts etc, and proceed on the way of Reality and Truth… This is what we call (wo)man’s Evolution… Through Consciousness-ChoicesEvolution, we may become better Persons, cultivate better relations and, finally, create better Societies…

E ALL ARE, every single day, bombarded, by meaningless discussions and useless questions... What I consciously do, in such cases, is to run away, as far and fast as I can… From time to time, I’m part of interesting-valuable conversations… In such, seldom, moments, I always try to listen carefully, and simplify, in my mind, what I hear, in order to understand my fellowmen. This is also a conscious act… To the question: What I mean, by 24

simplifying in my mind what I hear, the answer could be given by Shakespeare’s well known words from Hamlet: “To be, or not to be: that is the question.”, underlining that this is not a clear question!!! Because a simple “not” can’t exactly define the opposite of someone or something in our Minds… For example, the opposite of “good” can be easier perceived in our Minds by “bad” and not by “not good”… So, if I was to reformulate Shakespeare’s question, I would write down: “To be, or to have: that is the question.”… Before learning to put the right questions, according to Pythagoras, we must learn to listen… Otherwise, we’ll probably put the wrong questions, the answers of which, could drive us to harmful choices, and ruin our Lives… Furthermore, by simplifying things, we start answering the question: How to become conscious persons… How to develop us into better persons… How to create healthier societies… The difficult language used by many, even philosophers and scientists, as far as I know, is because they are much afraid, to be understood. That will be interpreted as a sign of lack of knowledge… Simplifying things, means to put things in their truthful frame… For example, following Positive Psychology, I’ll never ask myself: What is wrong with me, but: What can I do, to feel better… If we are interested in the positions and material goods of others, this could not be called Friendship… Friendship is a conscious choice, and as a such, is an essential relation with one or more persons, who decide to rise up from “i” (individualistic desires) to “WE” (social needs)… Friendship is a quantum leap towards (wo)man’s evolution… It seems that language too was a quantum leap, which developed our brains, but on the same time, brought a lot of 26

confusion in our communication… This is something, we refuse to accept… For example, we are used, to give orders to our children, saying: don’t do this or that, and we find it very difficult to indicate, gently, what they should do… I mean to seek an affirmative, instead of a negative, form… It’s always a very exciting exercise to try to write a letter, or a comment without NO-NONE-NOT-NOTHING etc… We can’t blame a lunatic, believing to be Napoleon! Can we? We can’t accuse a criminal parent, who abuses his children, as long as he believes that he has the right to do so! Can we? We can’t indict a teacher, who mistreats his/her pupils, every single day, verbally-emotionally, sometimes even physically-sexually, as long as he/she thinks that he/she has been provoked by them! Can we? We can’t feel disgust for an extreme egocentric person, who has no interest at all for those, who are in great need! Can we? My personal estimation, for all these cases, is that these individuals are psychopaths, and are in great need of immediate therapy… That is why the Rights of Children and Pupils, as well as of those, who are in great need, must be protected by Law, in Greece too!!!

ANY PEOPLE, as we know, are on diet, and their only desire is to lose some kilos or pounds, in order to become more and more attractive… They aren’t, really, concerned about their Health…As young individuals, they fear to be not accepted in their social environment, and as aged people, they try to escape from death, ignoring that this fear brings them closer to it… Nutritionists and surgeons are making, our days, good money without saying the simplest Truth to their patients, which is to give priority to their emotional state, before doing anything else… In matters of nutrition too, 27

wrong choices, for young and old, are always the result of an instable emotional mind, means of a wrong brain functioning, which, firstly, has to be discovered and corrected… To the question: How can we change ourselves? My simple answer is, first of all, by stop using, in our language, any form of negation (direct or indirect), and formulate our goals positively… For example, I would not apply the sentence: “To leave behind my traumatic past that has been formulated by others, containing a lot of fear, anger, lies and deceits.” But I would, rather, make use of the sentence: “To live in the present time, the Reality of which, can be created by myself, together with Peace of Mind, Emotional Stability, Love and Friendship.”… We often hear people saying that we should “wake up”, or “face reality” and that “there is light in the end of the tunnel”… What they, obviously, mean is that we should stop making the same harmful choices in our lives and see things as they really are, leaving behind (self)deception… We may cheat ourselves, we may, even, betray others, but we can never deform Truth… Why should we be interested in, and care about others? To be interested in, and care about others, actually, means to be interested in, and care about ourselves… Why is that so? For the simple reason that, being concerned about others, we, (un) consciously decide to leave behind our traumatic past, and excessive selfishness… It’s a very useful and unique choice, which allow us to live in the present time, the only time that can be shaped by ourselves… In other words, to create our own Reality, means to feel, probably, for the first time, responsible for our emotions, thoughts and deeds… Essential relations with oneself and others, is the precondition for a meaningful and Truthful Life… Selfish people can’t do 28

that, because they feel secure, only, in their illusory world, in which there is no place for anybody else, beyond their catastrophic EGO!!! This sort of people are emotionally almost dead, and can hear nothing outside of their own disastrous voices… In case they are parents, they ruin their own children, without the slightest hesitation, again and again, even after many years, having experienced the results of their criminal actions… Thinking, to behave like “friends”, drive their children to cigarettes, alcohol, drugs and the worst kind of companionships, from their very young years… To the question: What can we do? My answer is that we can do nothing, but they can change, opening themselves to the ones they trust… People, most of the time, are afraid to abandon their world once for all, as if we were speaking about leaving behind the materialistic world, in order to follow some spiritual one… That’s why I’m asking: Which “world”??? Why do we use the term “world” instead of: “our own behavior”??? In simple words the question, according to my perception, is: Why are we still afraid to abandon our catastrophic behavior, which brings disaster upon ourselves, our children, our relatives, and our pupils??? To the question: Why I write comments about (wo)man’s possible evolution, my simple answer is: For many years I hoped that people around me, will feel the need to change… This was part of my illusionary world, which of course felt apart. Later on I believed that if people wished to change, they should firstly deal with their traumatic past... Now I know that only very few people are ready to start this uncomfortable, for their disastrous “world”, but very promising, for their wellbeing, Journey…To the question: Which are the necessary 30

preparation’s steps to start such a Journey, in my view, the only thing we need, is to stop blaming others (people, weather, other circumstances, system etc)!!!

S THE ARTIST, who creates his paintings, or the paintings create the artist??? Most of us will, probably, answer that the artist is the creator… But if our nervous-system generates images in order to define our Reality, means the way, with which, we perceive the world, is it possible that these images-paintings are waiting to be merged through artist’s sensibility, hands, (feet, mouth) etc??? If balance and harmony is inside us, Balance and Harmony will come out… If balance and harmony is lost, Art can be of great help, not only for those who studied Arts… In everyone is a hidden artist, who waits to be awaken, having in mind that creativity does not accept any kind of commands… Trying to answer the question, I would say that ART is an issue of our inner and not outer world!!! As far as I know, there are not 2 people, in the entire world, with the same DNA, means there are not 2 people who perceive Art in the same way, even twins, with exactly the same education… In other words, Aesthetics is a very subjective issue... If the words of Picasso are correct: “Every child is an Artist…”, then in everyone of us is a hidden artist, who waits to be awaken… Why is that important? Because Art can help us a lot to become emotionally healthy, having in mind that our biology is defined by our behavior and not the opposite… So please, feel free and start painting… It will bring, plenty, of joy in your Life… And joy, which is the most important aspect of happiness, is what we need at most!!! 31

LATO DIFFERENTIATE PEOPLE in easy and difficult ones… Easy People, are People, who enjoy, when something good happens to them, and don’t become angry, when something bad turns out… Difficult people are people, who live constantly in their traumatic past, unable to enjoy anything, and ready to explode, by every opportunity, without reason… They get pleasure, only, from people, with which they feel superior… Following the path from “i” to “WE”, helps us, a lot, to become Easy and Loving People… It seems that we all agree, on Plato’s words that beyond easy people, there are difficult ones… It’s a completely different question: How, Why and by Whom they became difficult, means by whom they have been abused and mistreated, feeling aggrieved, hurt and angry… In this case, and according to official statistics, “difficult” people, in their great majority, never accept the simple fact that they also abuse and mistreat others, their children, relatives and friends… Means they do exactly the same that has been done to them, and never feel the need to change... A vicious circle without end… Arthur Schopenhauer, as we know, excludes Stoics and Machiavellians, from being happy, because for both, for different reasons, gaiety (joyfulness) is completely missing… According to the great philosopher, beyond Gaiety, for being happy, we should exercise our bodies, have peace of mind, and finally, in relation to external goods, we should be only after what Epicurus described as natural and needy…

HE OTHER DAY, a so called friend, took his motorcycle and left alone two women in a farm, because a storm was coming. The only thing, he thought about was to save his skin and his priorities… For him, the other 2 persons, 32

didn’t count at all… For years now he suffered, feeling completely unhappy, expressing, repeatedly, the “wish” to change, and recently, to paint… We all may be gifted with such creative moments, which are granted to us, in order to discover, the beauty that resides inside us… According to my understanding, if we acknowledge the needs of the other, we are ready to start the Journey from “i” to “WE”, the Journey from misery to Happiness… According to New Physics, even the gentle flight of a small butterfly counts The pioneer quantum physicist Erwin Schrödinger declared that in reality, there is only one mind, in the entire universe we all are one!!! In other words, if a drop falls into a river, it’s a river and if a river falls into an Ocean, it’s an Ocean It’s not a drop anymore The same happens with our Mind If our Mind wishes to be united with the entire planet Earth, no one can stop it. And if we really care about the whole Universe, our individual Mind will, beyond planetary, become Universal too. It’s up to US!!! I know, the Journey, from “i” to “WE”, is endless We are what we are, but we can change and be more, as travelers, who really know where to go… According to my knowledge, and beyond the travelers, I just mentioned, there are 3 more kinds of people… The ones, who think to know where to go, the ones that suffer, following the wrong path, and finally the ones that, although they are going in the wrong direction, they feel “content”… To the question: How can we be sure that we really know where to go, the only guarantee, we have, is to check always that we do not “kill” our Life’s Time, and that we remain on the Path from “i” to “WE”… On the beginning we are Bewildering, about several behaviors34

situations, then, if we don’t stop bothering our brain, resentment and outrage starts, and if we, again, don’t stop, violence, in form of, anger, fury, quarrel, fight and war gradually appear… Conflict (outrage) feeds and maintains that, from what we wish to be released... It doesn’t fade it, at all, away!!! Bewilderment, Resentment and Outrage are clear signs that we are still prisoners of our traumatic past, and have taken the wrong path… Another Sign is Indifference, which is lack of concern, means lack of empathy, and this is the point where barbarity begins… Another point with which I’ll differentiate myself from others, is the idea that real friends as well as loving husbands and wives, from time to time, quarrel… According to my perception this is another sign of having taken, completely, the wrong path… Quarrel is fight between 2 or more EGOs… One’s primitive instincts, and negative emotions, must always dominate and be imposed to others, instead of coming to an equal and constructive dialogue, which is the duty of real friends and life companions…

ANY GREAT PERSONALITIES, around the world, declare, among many other incomprehensible things, that they don’t fear death, but they feel sorry, when the time comes, not to be alive anymore… And that only amusement, courage and irony could make, even the idea of the end, bearable… Otherwise, They emphasize, death remains a source of despair, agony and violence… The contradiction in the above words and thoughts is, I think, even to a child obvious… What I’m trying to say is that we, simple people, should develop our own critical mind, examining carefully what the so called sages, write or say… 35

To the personal question, if I’m afraid of dying, my simple answer is that I’ll know, only, when the time comes… But till then, what I know , beyond any doubt, is that egocentrism, individualism, selfishness, indifference etc, are resulting from being, as children, abused and mistreated, and that, unavoidably lead to fear (as well as anger)… therefore healing ourselves, from our traumatic past, is the key to achieve peace of mind and stop being afraid… Next question: How to heal ourselves from our traumatic past? As far as I know nothing at all will be granted to us… We, everyday people, have the possibility to live today the Life we wish to share tomorrow with our Children, Relatives, Friends, Fellow(wo)men, before it’s too late… Back to the question: How to heal ourselves… As far as I now, there are several ways, one of them is through Art, probably the most efficient… Which way I choose? The Way, I choose to follow, is the one of real Friendship through Art, which can, beyond any doubt, change the World Peacefully… No one can forbid us to become Real Friends, but we are afraid to trust the other… No one can forbid us to become Real artists, but we are afraid to trust ourselves… healing is a process of being, step by step, fearless, and by doing so, anger disappears too!!! In my extended Family there were beyond Greeks, Cypriots, Italians, Minor Asians, Armenians, Russians, Egyptians and Lebanese, Believers and non Believers, Christians, Moslems, Martyrs of Jehovah, Agnostics and Atheists… Later on, Germans, Colombians, Americans and Greeks, again, with their peculiarities, were added… I’m writing all that to explain, why the path I chose is International, Uniting, and above all simple and practical... 36

HE AUTHENTIC OLD STORIES Tellers never lied… The same happened with the genuine archeologists, who have been inspired by myths and discovered lost ancient cities… If we, artists, honor Truth, we’ll also tell stories, in our creations, helping ourselves and people around us, to avoid “temptations” (catastrophic choices), finding our way back home… As I see Art, it’s more a process of learning and healing, rather than earning money and become arrogant… In the beginning the surface is white and clear, as in a Child’s Mind… Later the Surface starts to be filled with shapes and colors, becoming unclear and often confused, as with adults… As soon as, we feel the necessity, to correct, one by one, the wrong choices that have been made, the Surface starts again, not only to become clear, but also to tell a story… It’s a miraculous process, which can open the door to our Powerful Subconscious Mind, our Astral and Universal Substance…

URING MY YEARS IN GERMANY and Switzerland, I was, from the beginning, aware about computers in relation to Architecture and City Planning, but I refused to be part of the so called “social networks”… Just on the year 2009 we created our e-Community AthensArt, and recently, I decide to be present in FB… It was not easy for me, and still isn’t, to communicate with people without a face, without their real names, with twisted data, with arrogant and impolite so called “friends”, with a lot of fear, without any trust, and above all with hypocrites, who insist to live in their illusionary world, which they call “alternative”, “humanistic” etc, using a perplexed language, and refusing, completely, to see the Reality around us… But I met, also, some good people, 38

with whom we started a friendly and constructive Dialogue… To the question: What I mean by “Illusionary World”, I could answer by another question: Is it possible the love and affection we miss in our Real Lives to share it, electronically, in a social network??? An additional way, to answer this question, is to use my yesterday’s observation, during a promenade in the streets of my town, when I suddenly saw a cat running to me… It was one of these, many free cats, we feed from time to time, with my wife… In the beginning I was very “proud”, about me, feeling very important, attracting even animals… But few seconds later, when I saw a huge dog, with his master, ready to run after the poor cat, I smiled and I thought that I, as everyone else, had 2 choices, either to remain proud in my illusionary world, feeding my Ego with lies, or to see clearly the facts and accept Reality… We are, every single day, confronted with such choices, and it’s, only, up to us to decide, in which world we wish to live... We learn through mistakes, which we should not repeat!!! To the question: Why do I refer, so often, to abused and mistreated Children, my simple answer is because they are exposed and helpless, unable to defend themselves… And: Why Grandparents are often better Parents to their Grandchildren than to their own, speaking from my experience, it’s because, in the mean time, Grandparents may became wiser… Therefore I think that we should learn again to live together, as big families, practicing essential relations among us... According to my knowledge, we should learn, not only through our own mistakes, but through the mistakes of others too… Mistakes are, wrong, sometimes, catastrophic, choices… To correct our mistakes, means, simply not to repeat them… For example, MY criteria, of my first marriage, were completely 39

wrong, and it took me sometime to recognize, accept and correct them… To the question: Which is the position of Friends in a big family, my simple answer is given by Neuroscience, according to which, DNA can change, therefore biological bonds are of less importance than the psychological-emotional-spiritual ones… Our Body is 70-80% water!!! But instead of striving to live and behave accordingly, as it’s the nature of Water, we try to survive in this world, as if we were the hardest Granit… And when the moment comes to be transformed from Water to a cloud and then to Water again as rain, I mean to die physically, we are terrified and can’t let it go… Therefore, in my view, the question is not to comfort someone, who is dying, but, as long as we are alive, to learn how to live, properly… Otherwise, I think that there is no other way to die, bodily, in Peace!!! According to my knowledge, birth is the opposite of death and not of Life… And our Spirit (Mind) never dies, it continues to exist on others’ Lives, by transforming their Brain Circuits, either for good or bad, and consequently it belongs to eternal life… It is up to us to choose the direction… If our Children or Grandchildren have something in common with us, it’s not because of our blood, or the gifts, with which we are trying, sometimes, to buy them of, but because of our Feelings and Thoughts: The Spirit that we share with them… We never discuss about Death… We exorcize it, as if it is an Epidemic, trying to find a piece of wood to knock on… We never discuss either for Life… Our so called conversations are almost related to Money, Power and Amusement, which has a very dark Face: The Face-Head of being someone important, a (wo)man of “Art” or “Culture”…I have met some of them, and made the acquaintance of their Real Face… How it comes 40

then, in this country, which “counts” so many “intellectuals”, we simple people, the great majority of Greece’s population, to suffer so much??? To the question, how looks like a “revolution” in our days, and according to my perception, the only Revolution, which could be of great support, in changing our Social System, is the revolution of challenging, from top to bottom, the existing values, in relation to Art and Culture, which have lead us to the cliffs… The main issue here is that the leader-minds have “washed peoples’ brains”, so to justify, any kind of abnormality of the so called Top Intellectuals (in Greek “holy monsters”), as if they were Pharaohs… In my simple view, most of them, as writers, theater and cinema directors, composers, painters etc, were to be called Abnormal Monsters and not Holly, at all, and are the ones, who have harmed at most this Country… I prefer to answer the question: “What I mean by abnormality”, positively, namely: What I mean by normality… Conscious (wo)men, not necessarily “Great”, do never exploit and misuse, in any way, others in order to satisfy their own interests-desires… Conscious (wo)men, not necessarily “Great”, support people, in every possible way, through their Life and Work, to stand on their own feet, to stop being afraid, and find the Courage to set Free!!! And I think that it’s not our duty to react by pointing the finger at them, but to Act, making clear which Principles and Values, in relation to Art and Culture, could create a better society… Okay, we should not point the finger at the “Great Pharaohs” of yesterday, but what about the today’s, hundreds “little pharaohs”, who in their illusionary world, behave, as if they were the greatest (all-knowing, all-wise, all-seeing) admired by their flatterers and “courtiers”, the so called “followers”??? As 42

far as I know, in a right question, is always the right answer… Therefore, I’ll answer, only, with an ancient wise proverb: “Flattery looks like Friendship, just like a wolf looks like a harmless dog.”...

OSEPH GOEBBELS, the well known Propaganda Nazi Minister of Hitler’s Germany, among many others, believed that: “A lie repeated a thousand times, becomes a truth.”… The obvious question is what kind of Truth??? I remember, always, the words of Plato: “We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.”… Therefore, if we turn Goebbels’s quote upside-down, as it has been put by Plato, and instead of using Lies, finally, we honor Truth, repeating it a thousand times, we’ll exchange our bad habits with good ones, becoming better persons, better families, better societies!!! As a man of science, and although I’m not a Buddhist, I couldn’t more agree with the words of Dalai Lama (Nobel Peace Prize, 1989), who made very clear that: “If science proves some beliefs of Buddhism wrong, then Buddhism will have to change.”… I’m writing that down, because, as everyone else, I realize too that, up to now, the entire “Humanity”, has chosen the way of lies and violence, instead of truth and peace... I strongly wish to answer the question: How to stop bleeding, in an international level, and here is my simple answer: To authorize his holiness the 14th Dalai Lama with the support of all Nobel Peace Prize Winners, and all Peace Makers of the World, to come up with a realistic plan on how to establish Peace on Earth, before is too late… Beyond the international level, I was referring in my previous comment, there is a national and an individual level in relation 43

to Peace… Therefore we could try to establish a National Peace Committee, in every Country, and if we really wish to be realistic, we should start by finding Peace with ourselves… In National level, every progressive Country should establish an independent Ministry of Peace, related closely to the Ministry of Culture and Art, as well as with the Ministry of Education and Science… There is, absolutely, nothing we cannot achieve, if our Hearts really want it... It’s really frustrated, nowadays, to speak about Peace, knowing that, thousands of Peace organizations, institutions, public services, committees, etc -which exist for so many yearsspend so much energy and money, just for doing, practically, nothing… For our information, and beyond the so called United Nations’ peace keeping army forces, there is the celebration of peace day, the international network of museums for peace, the peace education, the UN messenger cities, the UN executive committee on peace and security, even the UN committee on the peaceful uses of outer space, etc, etc, etc,… It’s also really frustrated to know that all these operating costs, as well as all operating war costs, are paid, through our taxes, by us, the 99% of Earth’s population, who do not wish war but Peace... Trying to answer the question, I realized, once more, that: For over 2500 years Aristofanes Peace remains unfulfilled… We continue, of course, to feel moved by the beautiful song “Imagine” of John Lennon, but nothing more… Movements, demonstrations, celebrations, etc, even the various actions of United Nations, in relation to Peace, brought, essentially, nothing!!! We still represent, unfortunately, societies of Violence and not of Peace… Therefore the only way I see, is, simply, to undertake all necessary legal measures, in order to achieve the right, and have the choice to pay or not the 44

relevant military taxes to the State… I would very gladly, as most of us, I think, pay taxes to support the expenses of a Ministry of Peace, related to the Ministries of Education, Sciences, Culture and Arts… I would like to write down few words, from the well-known writer Kenize Mourad, who was born and grew up in France, about the catastrophic violence of racism: “…What will happen with all those little children, who have been convinced that they are lower beings, because of the color of their skin, their culture and religion? They have no other choice but to become, slaves, monkeys, criminals or terrorists.”... Another very informative book about the way colonialists, not only exploited but also tortured people, in their own countries, naming them rebels, is “The Question” of the French journalist Henri Alleg (1921-2013)… Originally published in 1958, “The Question”, prefaced by Jean-Paul Sartre -awarded the 1964 Nobel Prize in Literature but refused it- is the Book that opened the torture debate in France, during Algeria’s war of Independence, and was the first book since the eighteenth century to be banned by the French government for political reasons… During his imprisonment, Alleg was questioned under torture, with unbelievable brutality and sadism… I do not claim to be a spiritual man… In any case spirituality doesn’t make us blind… In the contrary, it should guide us towards Light… I think it’s time to close this chapter about colonialism and “rebels”, being convinced that if our politicians have showed the maturity and wisdom of Gandhi (1869-1948) and Mandella (1918-2013), they would have relieved us from all this insecurity, pain and suffer, resulting from all these barbaric attacks… 46

E LOSE, I think, our valuable time by remaining hypocrites… Life offers us, every single day hundreds of occasions-opportunities to deal with the Real Causes, which make our present lives miserable… But we prefer to remain slaves of our traumatic past, unable to face and honor Truth… So, we close ourselves, hermetically, in our illusionary world, naming hypocrisy, socializing, and irony, humor… But Socializing refers to essential Human Relations, and Humor is neither black nor for humiliating others… To the question, if there is good or bad weather, I remembered the wise words of our great Alexandrian Poet Kavafis, who said that in our communication (written or spoken) we should not use adjectives but only nouns… And if an adjective is, absolutely, necessary, then it should be the suitable one… Why??? I think, because adjectives express subjective opinions and Nouns real facts… And because only Real Facts can lead us to an essential Dialogue and Communication… The Real sun resides within People’s Hearts… Should we have expectations??? From Whom and Why??? Should we be depending on Someone or Something??? Can words, even poetry in its highest form, replace life’s experiences??? Is it possible to overcome fear (anger too) by reading books??? It’s known that, beyond psychiatric Drugs, Fear (and Sex) is thought to be the best tranquilizer… I underline that, because, according to my knowledge, only feared people have expectations from others… And because Fear can never be healed by tranquilizers, but only by Truth, which is synonymous to Love… It’s something like fashion, nowadays, to offer generously “sweet-words”, and talk about unconditional love, which costs nothing… As far as I know, there is NO such a thing, because 47

Love is a very serious condition, a Life’s commitment between 2 or more people… Love is not a function of our instinctive or emotional brain… Love doesn’t depend on weather conditions, or on how rich or poor we are… Love is solely related to (wo)man’s psychological evolution, and as such is the only remedy, bitter sometimes, with which all kind of wounds can be healed!!!

HERE IS another strong tranquilizer: To buy off someone, mostly, with various “gifts”, in form of money, service, favor, reward, providing satisfaction, requiting, etc… At home, children are bought off, with expensive gifts, at school with higher grades, at work with better positions and special trips abroad, etc, etc, etc,… To buy off someone, simply, means to bring him/her on your side, believing that in this way, you could be free of guilts and remorces… But, according to my knowledge, this is not true at all… The results of such “buying off - relations” produce “slaves” and have never a Happy End, because, at a certain point, slaves always, revolt… We may also buy off people with “sweet words”, which, beyond our hypocrisy, presumably, cost nothing… In reality every act of hypocrisy, every single word that does not honors Truth, unconsciously, costs a lot to our emotional world, and through it to our Beings as a whole… The choices are always ours… And only we are responsible for our choices… There is a strange theory, which supports the idea that a big lie can’t be perceived as such, by the public, because its distance to Truth is enormous, making it, I mean the lie, unbelievable… In other words, small lies are easier perceived as such… We have been “properly” educated on small lies, using them day 48

and night… To the question: What does it mean to honor Truth, my answer could be: to live without small lies, and being able to perceive the big ones, whenever they are implemented, usually, by our sick minded politicians, and their collaborators, all over the world… An example: We have been manipulated to believe on the necessity of Violence and War… This is a very big lie!!! It’s a fact that we may have different skin colors, speak different languages, believe on different religions, coming from different, so called, social classes, be of different genre, and we may have many more differences and preferences… But we all, and everything else on this earth, are made by the same star-dust, as it’s the case with the Whole Universe… Consequently there is no real difference between Earth and Sky, between Matter and Spirit… We all have heard about the New CERN experiments and the so called “God Particle”… And the Life’s Paths we may take, all of us, are only two: The Path of Lies, which brings unavoidably, Violence and Wars, and the path of Truth, which is accompanied by Love, Friendship and Peace… There is another strange theory, in which politicians, hand in hand with “scientists”, public relations executives, mass media, especially TV, publishers and journalists, work very hard together in order to achieve something unbelievable: To make us, people, to love and feel happy, remaining obedient slaves… I know that this “project”, since some years, is real and I’m wondering, if these sick minded rulers of the world, will accomplish their target, who will be to blame, Nature, God or each one of us... I would like to add a comment of a good Friend of mine, who correctly thinks that not only politicians are responsible for 50

destroying the whole planet Earth…Who else??? Today I read an announcement of a theatre performance which, strongly, considers that, we just need a little “tak”, an unspecified sound, in order to change our lives for good… From what I know, through Science, this is the most Big Lie… Without any exaggeration, I would say that, at least the politicians, who use, every single day, Big Lies, never have said that they are interested, like the contributors of the above performance, and many others more, in saving our Souls…

QUESTION THAT HAS BEEN POSED to me several times is: Why I draw the portraits… The answer is that I do that whenever I wish to know someone better… From time to time I portray myself too, for the same reason, in order to see where I stand… Some people do speak about three (3) eyes, knowing the exact position, of the third one, too… My effort is to get, at the moment, an idea about the real world even with one (1) eye… Up to now, through Art, my imagination says, sometimes quietly, sometimes loudly, that it is a wonderful place, and that I should not miss it!!! My Life’s Journey just started… To the question, what I see up to now, the answer is that to the degree that we continue to live in our illusionary world, being, in the one or other way, bought off, we are unable to honor Truth, and our lives will continue to be miserable!!! To the question how to perceive the world, I could say the following… We all heard the story, saying, in few words, that people instead of looking at the moon, most of them, are staring at the finger, which shows the Moon… That means that in order to start perceiving the world, we have, firstly, to learn to look at, and recognize, the Moon itself, and, later on, to 51

perceive moon as the Sun of the Night… Of course there are, in due time, much more to see, as long as we are determined to, completely, abandon the illusionary world, being aware of the simple Truth, that now we are in the after and not in the Past … Few days ago, I wrote about an announcement of a theatre performance that, strongly, considered that, we just need a little “tak”, an unspecified sound in order to change our lives for good… Yesterday evening some Friends were present in another theatre performance titled: “Guess who will die tonight.”… This time, the executives of the event, thought, completely otherwise, terrifying the spectators with so much noise, without any reason at all, that some of them felt to suffer a heart attack, some left the spectacle, with the hair stretched, and some others swore never to visit a theatre again… This is how, the people of theatre educate Greeks today… Honoring Truth, means to act, according to Truth’s Principles and Values, according to Truth’s ethics, and not to (re)act in favor of, or against the illusionary-traumatic world of others… To the question: Why is it so bad, after all, to remain in this bewildered world, the only thing, I have to add, beyond of what has been said up to now, is: Because in the illusionarytraumatic world, there is no Love at all… And where there is no Love, there is no Life!!! As a very wise man used to say: the letters R, O, S, E don’t make a ROSE (Rumi)… I would add that even the whole word “rose” can’t give us the slightest idea of what a real rose is!!! Words can never replace human experience, and as we know, only through Experience, we can learn and change… The same happens with all words, and of course with the word Truth… Some believe that Truth is to be found behind the stage, some in front of it… In both cases, those are empty words, which 52

can’t help us to develop essential relations, with ourselves, with our fellowmen and our societies, keeping us imprisoned in our illusionary-traumatic world…

AMILIES EXPECT HOLIDAYS, such as Christmas, New year etc, to come together, but still mothers/fathers can’t communicate with their children... Husbands/ wives can’t communicate with their other halfs... Young men/ young women can’t communicate with their companions etc, etc, etc... Why is that so? Simply, because others are always mistaken!!! This is another part of the illusionary-traumatic world in which we constantly live, ignoring the simple fact that the only thing we can do is to correct our behaviour, and change ourselves, and nobody’s else!!! In Psychology we call this Self-Reference... As we know, Christmas is related to Truth… And Easter to Love… This is the reason that, at least once a year, during Christmas, we decide to speak the Truth, and on Easter to Love and even Forgive… Why we think in this way, I don’t really know… But in any case, it’s a good start… And if we decide to add every coming year two more days, honoring Truth and Love, in 182 years, means round the year 2200, we will be truthful and loving persons not only once a year, but the whole year through… This is my Wish for 2016…

OST OF MEN AND WOMEN are not satisfied with their bodies, their weight, their height, the shape of their nose, the color of their eyes, their breast, their age, their hair color, changing it, before even the first white hair bristles appear, and many more… Why is that so??? I think, because, “living” in their illusionary-traumatic world, they feel 54

the urgent need to be accepted by others, according to every year’s fashion, imposed by the so called markets, ready to do almost everything… And what they, completely, ignore is that by behaving in this non authentic way, they lose every possible essential communication, and the only thing that can happen to them is to be exploited, by others, and finally rejected… Part of our illusionary-traumatic world is to be liked by others… Our live depends, unfortunately, on how many “Likes” we score in a day, a week, a month… Why is that so??? Probably, because our self esteem is so low that without the appreciation of others, we feel lost… My wish for 2016 is to stop depending on others’ “Likes”, and stand, gradually, on our own feet… Otherwise, I think that we’ll never be able to taste, what Truth, Love and Happiness is all about… To have a vision about a Country, means to have primarily a vision about Ourselves, and this vision, unfortunately is completely missing… To have a vision about ourselves means to learn honoring Truth (and of course not the “holly” monsters), under any circumstances… Means to become (wo) men of duty and not of profit… Means to care about the Real Needs of Others… (Wo)men who have these qualities are capable to start creating small vestas (μικρές εστίες), as a good Friend mentioned sometime ago, which gradually will change our societies too!!! According to an old tradition, which I follow for many years now, he/she who celebrates his/her birthday has to give a present to his/her Friends… Another probably strange thing, that I follow, is that I celebrate my birthday twice a year… One official, when I was brought into this world and one counting the 9 months of pregnancy… 55

CCORDING TO PAUL ERDÖS, a well known Hungarian mathematician, the meaning of Life is to be found in proving our assumptions… The last decade the economy of markets has proven that it works completely against the needs of people… In other words it’s not an assumption anymore that it supports the catastrophic interests-profits of the very few… What I’m trying to say is that it’s in our hands, now, to prove, through our choices and way of Life that the assumption of a World of Truth, Peace, Love, Friendship and Happiness is correct !!! Remaining in the world of Mathematics, and beyond the ugly numbers of Markets Economy, there are the beautiful numbers of People’s Happiness… In the same way, and beyond the catastrophic Sounds related to the Pollution of today’s noisy Societies, there is silence too, which drives us away from the illusionary - earsplitting world, through purification, and an essential relation with ourselves, bringing us closer to Beauty and Love… Following Plato’s wise words: “There is no (wo) man on Earth, even the most scary, who can’t become a hero through Love.”… Having always in mind that Love can’t be experienced without Silence… To the question: What does it mean to Love one’s self, I know that there are a lot of misinterpretations… In any case, “to love one’s self”, doesn’t mean to love one’s wrong assumptions, choices, decisions, conclusions, fears, anger and misdeeds… In order to be able to love ourselves, we should first learn to honor Truth, having understanding for our own, and others’ illusionary-traumatic behaviors, and communicate with everyone positively…As long as we measure others, in accordance, with our expectations, resentment and indignation, even rage will follow… 56

For a very long time, even scientists tried to persuade us that we humans are nothing more but aggressive instincts, justifying, in this way, the barbaric plans of Markets Economy, beyond Anger and Rage, for Violence and War… Gradually, the last decades, top Scientists, mainly zoologists, ethologists and psychologists, have proven the exact opposite… Means that not only Humans but all mammals, especially monkeys, elephants, dolphins and capuchins have developed empathy (ενσυναίσθηση) not only among their own specie, but towards other species too… Remarkable is the example of a chimpanzee, who tries to help a wounded bird!!!

O THE QUESTION: Which is the relation between Love and Buying off someone, the immediate answer is none!!! Mothers and Fathers, who do not behave as Real Parents to their Children, feel the need to fill the gap with various presents… Later on, this kind of parents continue to buy off, according to their abilities, their grown up children with more expensive gifts, such as cameras, cars, apartments, paying the bills etc… But what, both sides, completely, ignore is that through such a connection, sympathy (συμπόνια), empathy (ενσυναίσθηση) and Love (Αγάπη), is completely missing, in their relation… And some day the whole “theatre” will have a very bad end… The question now, probably the most important, I think, is the following: From the moment on, we recognize that there was no Love, from the side of our, buying off, indifferent or mistreating, parents, during our childhood, why we now, as adults, accept this situation??? And if there was no Love, from parents’ side, mother, father or both, why we now, as adults, don’t make the start??? I mean, why, we don’t offer them the 58

sympathy, empathy and Love we missed??? It’s beyond any doubt that they have missed it too, as Children!!! And one day, we will receive it for sure… A loving day to all… Our choices are only ours, independently from the choices of others… The choice to Love someone, even without expecting any response, needs some kind of preparation, I think… And first of all, and above all, means, finally, to stop being bought off from others… This is how we start honoring Truth… As far as I know, there is no other way, if we really wish, to love and being loved… The additional question that I was asked: What to do with the buying off gifts we have already received, according to my knowledge, we have, politely, to give them back!!! Otherwise we’ll remain liars, hypocrites, and exploiters of others, continuing to fill our heads with hate instead of Sympathy, Empathy and Love …

WAS WONDERING, why butterflies, in the east, symbolize eternity, although they have a very short life on earth… The answer was: Beauty, given to me by reading an allegorical story of Robert Fisher and Beth Kelly, titled “The Owl, who didn’t give a Hoot”… As we know, Beauty is Eternal, and can be only experienced by those, who are in LOVE… And that is why liars, hypocrites, cheaters, scammers, selfish persons, who continue to be bought off, are unable to experience Love, Beauty and Eternity… We can’t Love someone by force… But we can have understanding for his/her Emotional state, keeping in mind that he/she has been mistreated, as a Child, too… What we also can do, as far as my knowledge goes, is to deal with him/ her always in a positive manner… This is how I perceive the words of Κ.P. Kavafis, in his poem “Thermopylae”: “…always 59

speaking the Truth, but without hating those, who lie.”... We all, more or less act as “schizophrenics”, because, most of us, have no idea about the existence of our inner doctor, who really take care of us, every single moment, offering free his services, as well as, the necessary medication… Biologists call it “immune system” and Psychologists “observer”… Unfortunately the relation with our Inner Doctor, most of the times, is not only absent, but hostile too!!! Therefore I think that our first step is to be acquainted with his/her Existence and Abilities, and then consciously stop confusing-fighting him/her with our fearful and wrong choices in relation to our health… Having as example, the people gathered in a Stadium, Heraclitus (535-475BC) spoke about 4 categories… a) the merchants, b) the athletes, c) the spectators and d) the spectators of spectators, means the “observers”… The Observer in us starts to exist as soon as our Sympathy, Empathy and Love goes beyond our Automatic Emotional Response, having a) access to the causes, which provoke the emotional state of the other and b) the ability to offer a targeted assistance, according to his/her needs… In other words, egocentric people, who continue to remain in their traumatic past, without the ability to feel and love the other, can’t build up an “Observer”!!! To the question: How to build up a community, my simple answer is that, generally speaking, there are 2 ways, a) through the Idea, based on Egocentrism and hostility towards the outsiders, and b) through the Idea, based on Friendship among the members of the Community… The first idea is what our Money Societies drive us to do, and the second is what we should start to do, without anymore delay, if we really wish to share a Life of Peace among all of us, in East and West!!! “Egocentrism” is synonymous to hypocrisy and lie… 60

“Observer” is synonymous to Sincerity and Truth… And if Sincerity, according to Minceus (372-289BC) and many other Philosophers, drive us to Heaven, then without any doubt, Hypocrisy drive us, always, to hell… The choice is ours… Most unfortunately, our money societies, in order to promote their war plans, still don’t want sensitive, sincere and responsible people, but rather aggressive, immature and obedient… The price we have paid, all these years, is beyond description, and it’s time to bring to an end!!! To the question: But how??? My simple answer is by developing and nourishing an Observer within us…

N THE BEGINNING, beyond our miserable EGO, we fenced various animals in cages and we created zoological gardens… Nowadays, we let, bought off, politicians, to Fence our countries, in the name of being protected from others, creating, this time, anthropological gardens to be visited only by those, who have a lot of money to pay for the entrance-ticket, and we call that European Culture!!! Soon we’ll fence, too, the entire earth against the extraterrestrials… Unfortunately, our choice still is to create a community based on fear, egocentrism and hostility towards the outsiders… I prefer the fact, that there is enough space for all of us under the sun… Unfortunately, even today, our Educational System follows “The way to Hell through Fear and Obedience”, instead of supporting “The way to Heaven through Sincerity”, as, among many others, the Chinese Philosopher Mencius (372-289BC) clearly recommended… After that, we are wondering about bullying at schools, without taking into consideration, the emotional violence, sometimes even the physical, which is used from “teachers” to Pupils and Students, transforming schools, 62

already, into “anthropological gardens”, without green… The distinction between smart and stupid people is inappropriate and irritating… According to my perception, the only distinction we could make, is between people, who can, really, Love and those, who are unable to do so… Among the reasons, which make Art important, is the Fact that Art develops the whole brain, transforms people, through Beauty, able to Love, and build human Communities... To the question: Okay, with the distinction, between smart and stupid people, you characterized as inappropriate and irritating… But what about our enemies??? I think that the time, when many of us believed “better dead than red”, has come to an end… According to my perception, beyond our ghosts, there are no Enemies, but people unable to share Love and Friendship… Therefore what we need are special schools, starting with nurseries, where Love and Friendship will be taught!!! We have a lot of examples how to start... Nowadays, many of us are obliged, from time to time, to take some anti-stress, antidepressant pills… But, as we know, pills can’t solve the problem, and bring into light the real causes, which are to be found in our Childhood… What can we do beyond pills? I think that what we can do, is to recognize that whatever happens today is just the pretext (not the real causes), which drive us back to our traumatic past… Psychologists call that “post traumatic anxiety crisis”, which has, absolutely, nothing to do with our today’s reality…

EALITY, AS I HAVE BEEN TAUGHT, is not in need of any interpretations, and doesn’t depend on nationality, religion, genre or social class… It’s beyond language, and is the same, for all people around the world, for all living creatures, even for what artists, wrongly, call “dead 63

nature”… Words, even the best chosen ones, can never replace Reality… Dialogue, as we know, needs beyond Sincerity and Politeness, the ability: to listen, to put the right questions, and to reconsider the established Principles and Values, of every Society, in every part of Life… Otherwise it’s not a Dialogue but a fight, a post-traumatic act of violence… How do you feel with the quote of the well known poet Tasos Livaditis: “We truly live only during the night, in our dream. And in the daybreak ‘good morning’ you say, ‘good morning’ is said to you. And the slaughter continues.” ??? As we all know, it’s not only Livaditis… What about Ritsos with his book: “Perhaps it is too so”??? What about the following quote of Tsarouchis: “Freedom is to do what is considered evil and unethical, and people must accept it.”… Now, in relation to Livaditis’s previous words, I prefer the song of my Friend, and fellow countryman, Manos Loizos: “A good morning is this, say it, even if it may fall down.”... I prefer also the words of Menelaos Lountemis: “I love means I love... What the other does is his business.”… Do we have the right to put important questions??? Do we have the right, based on politeness, facts and reason, to answer them??? Do we have the right to honor truth??? Who, beyond our own ghosts, prevent us to be, really, free??? “Good” guys, “Bad” guys, “Good” ghosts, “Bad” ghosts… Many times, we, all, fall from the clouds, as we say, when we realize that a “guy”, we thought, to be almost a saint, he/she, finally, is exactly the opposite, a “devil”… What we, in all these cases, ignore, is the fact that the good impressions, we may give, to others, is also part of our traumatic past… We give for example, the Impression of being polite, but in fact this is another mask from the hundreds, we have, unconsciously, adopted in 64

order to fool ourselves, and our Fellowmen… But the worst kind of barmiest is to be found, in the sphere of “spirituality”, I mean to believe, beyond any doubt, that the way we choose to heal ourselves, is the far better and only one… I met, many, such “Guys” - “Ghosts” all over the world… What happens, when we only “chat” and not “discuss”, even from time to time, seriously??? Is that a sign of freedom, a sign of being the masters of ourselves??? What happens, when we make our decisions, about the one or the other item, without discussing them first, with our fellowmen, with the people we share our lives, and supposedly Love??? Is that a sign of Freedom, a sign of being the masters of ourselves??? What kind of people are we, beyond egoists, when we refuse to listen and put the right questions??? To discuss firstly and then to decide??? We have not yet realized the difference between listening and obeying??? And that egocentric people, are people foul of ghosts, “good” and “bad” ones, blaming, always, others for their misery???

S ART AN EXPRESSION of artist’s moods??? Is Art an expression of his/her, each time’s, emotional state??? Is Art an expression of our ghosts??? Is Art a way of being famous, successful, and earning a lot of money??? Is Art what we find in rich people’s Houses, in Galleries and Museums??? Is Art what the Markets want us to believe so??? If Art is a way to heal ourselves through beauty, in a wider sense, then the answer to all questions mentioned above is, categorically, no!!! Praise one another is not a sign of Honesty and Love… It’s exactly the opposite… It’s a sign of self seeking and buying off one another… I think it’s time to stop this attitude, if we really 66

wish to change ourselves and our societies… The only thing we require, for a better world, is to stop being confused, lost and afraid… We don’t need “heroes”, “exceptional (wo)men” and “great artists”… We had more than enough of them, and nothing good happened… According to my perception, what we really need, is to raise emotionally balanced children!!! To the question “And how we do that”, to heal and educate, ourselves and our children, through Love , simply, I would answer, by seeking Truth, having in mind the words of Maulana Rumi (13th century): “The closer I get, the more I see how far I am.”… From practical point of view, essential dialogue is needed, based on the ability to listen and put the right questions… This is a preliminary frame of reference, which will be, step by step, completed and agreed upon, by all of us, who wish to participate in this project-group… Words are like Music notes, it depends on how we use them… It’s a fact that we should be very careful and patient with the words and their meaning… For example, using the word “confused”, we usually have something negative in mind… But remembering Don Quixote’s quote: “Hooray God, who makes me feel confused.”, it’s only a chaotic situation just before an act of creation… Another example, we may find in the word “insane”… On the one hand, we can interpret it in accordance with the aphorism: “Let the insane in his insanity, and bring him not round.”… On the other hand, we can relate it with the saying: “From children and insane, we learn the Truth.”… The same, as with the words, happens with our behaviors too… For example, we characterize a certain Behavior as explosive in a positive sense, means vivid, but in reality we have to deal with a not at all enjoyable, compulsive 67

attitude… Another example is whenever we describe a certain person as quite and balanced, the moment that we are facing an hypocritical and traumatic attitude etc, etc, etc… Where do these findings lead??? I think, just to the conclusion that we should be patient and positive, building, step by step, a frame of reference, a kind of contract, among us, creating, as a good friend, sometime ago, wrote, Small Parties/μικρές εστίες, I would add, of a cultural nature… Sometime ago, in one of my comments, I was referring to the urgent need of creating a N.G.O. consisted of public servants and private individuals, who were not proud at all with the old tradition of bribery and corruption… I do mention that, once more, because this gangrene, still, covers the entire Life in Greece, and more specifically the sector of public health and the environmental protection, primarily, the protection of rivers and forests… In our Centre, we created, among others, such a working group, long time ago, and everyone, who wishes to participate, is most welcome… What does it, really, mean “We will win”??? Who is “We”??? As long as some people will win, some others will lose, and the troubles start… There is no more Peace and Dialogue, but violence and hate… The point, according to my perception, is not that the Left should win and the Right should lose, or the opposite… The only point, I see, is that, beyond Right and Left, finally, Truth, Sincerity, Responsibility, Maturity, Love and Friendship should win, otherwise a second Waterloo, for a better World, will accompany us, who knows for how many years… In the Greek Language (in Psychology too) we don’t mix Love with Eros and we don’t mix them both with Sexuality… There is a clear distinction, between them, which corresponds to our Logical, Emotional and Instinctive Mind… By mimicking 68

various writers, including Shakespeare, we confuse these different concepts, so much…Speaking about Love, and beyond discovering St. Valentine, we use words like: Pain, Passion, Desire, Success, Wealth, Madness, Jealousy, Flames, sometimes from Hell, sometimes from Paradise, and we compare Love with an Unsolved Knot, so to say a Gordian Bond, a Monster with green eyes, and many more… In other words, we call Love various behaviors, which, urgently, need psychotherapy…

E, ALL, ARE INTERCONNECTED!!! Means that my confusion becomes yours, and your emotional evolution becomes, in a way, mine too!!! In other words, if the number of the Emotional well developed People is above a certain percentage, approx. 1/1000, and having Greece in mind, with a total population of approx. 10.000.000 souls, then just 10.000 + 1 emotionally, really, balanced people are needed, in order to change this Country… In this case Greece will become the start point of a new, more human, Era!!! My dearest Friends, closing the 1st Part of these comments, which I shared with you, I would like to ask: Why some of us don’t use a real portrait photo, in their profile pages, or if they use one it’s a more or less distorted, most of the times, “old” one, showing them, as we say, “young and beautiful”???… Who do we try to deceive??? The others, ourselves or both??? My remark to these questions is that I have met very beautiful aged people, with no need at all, to appear younger… Their only secret was that they were Honest and Fearless, in harmony with themselves, having put their crowns, as Lord Byron would have said, in their Hearts and not in their Heads… 70

Takis Alexiou was born in Alexandria, Egypt on January 5th, 1942. He studied Architecture in Germany (Diploma in Architecture and Planning, Technische Universität, Dresden, 1964). In 1967 he completed his postgraduate Studies in Perceptual Psychology and in 1968 his Ph.D. in Engineering. He has worked, as an Architect-Planner, in various projects, for Greece, Germany, Switzerland, USA, Kuwait, Zambia and Iran. He is member of Architectural, Technical and Town Planning Associations of Germany, Switzerland, England and Greece and has participated in various seminars, symposia and conferences in Greece and abroad. He has given many lectures at European Universities, in Germany, Switzerland, Austria and Greece and was visiting Professor in the University Offenbach/M., Germany. He gave lectures and established workshops about Dialogue, Democracy, Architectural Design and Arts at the Open University of Ag. Paraskevi and he was for several years Professor at The American University of Athens. He has held many private and group exhibitions in Dresden, Basil, Paris, Venice, London, New York, Tokyo, Istanbul, Nicosia, Alexandria, Athens, Rhodes, and many others. He has been Chairman of the Centre of Arts 4 Seasons and President of the Panhellenic Historical and Philosophical Society, organizing International Symposiums and Conferences about Human Rights. He composed a music tetralogy in four parts: “Under Ones’ Breath”, “The Song of the Birds”, “Voices without a Face” and “Red Wind”. He is awarded with the “International Cavafy prize” and declared as “Great Benefactor” for his philanthropic activities for the Greek Community in Egypt. He was granted first Diploma at the International Art Addiction, Stockholm/Sweden. ABI /USA included him among the 5000 personalities in the World and awarded him with the International Peace Price 2010 for practicing Peace in thought, action and example locally and globally. Finally IBC of Cambridge (UK) awarded him as one of the 2000 intellectuals of the 20th century and Who is Who Zug/Switzerland included him in his editions. His name is mentioned in various Greek and Internationals Encyclopedias. He has published numerous articles and books of architectural, educational and social content. Among them: The Psychology of Architecture in the example of the Art Museum, (1968), The Third Cavafis (1982), Iaponia – Japan – Japon (1984), Abdi Ipekçi (1986), Live Teaching Book 1-6 (1989-1993), For a United Movement and Politics in Greece (1993), Japan: The Country of Zen (1995), Nazism and Religion on the Threshold of the 21st century (1995), For the Woman with 12 Designs by Takis Alexiou (1995), 40 Years Later – Nikos Kazantzakis (1997), Farewell Darkness – Drawings and Writings (2002), Beyond the Tyranny of Contemporary Architecture (2004), Time of Fear has passed (2004), Ypatia, the Way to the Freedom (2006), Prisoner of Conscience (2006), The Aesthetics of Love (2008), Back to the Senses (2008), The Circle of Harmony (2008) and The Power of Friendship (2012), which has been, up to now, translated in 12 languages. In 2009, as Chairman of CA4S-AthensArt, he created and manages till now the www. athensart-2010.ning.com Site. In 2010 he organized the AthensArt International Arts Festival in Technopolis/Athens, with the participation of over 300 artists from 5 continents and 72 countries of the World. Till then he has organized many group and philanthropic exhibitions in Greece and abroad, giving the opportunity in every artist and art lover, without any discrimination, to participate, promoting “The Positive Side of Life” and his strong belief that “Friendship through Art can change the World”, peacefully. 72

I know it's tempting to stay and meet those blonde women. I know it's even more sensible to spend the night here with them, but I want to be HOME…

Rumi