TAKIS ALEXIOU - NOTES ON HEALING PHILOSOPHY by CENTRE OF ARTS 4 SEASONS

TAKIS ALEXIOU

NOTES ON

HEALING

PHILOSOPHY

ILLUSION VS REALITY

Four Seasons Publications 1

The Book “Notes on Healing Philosophy” of Dr. Takis Alexiou was published, as an e-book, on January 2022. Production Managing, Art Direction and Front Cover: Takis Alexiou. Editing: Kiki Bardani. English Editing: Konstantina Mavromichali. Layout: Litsa Maranti. Distribution: Giouli Tsangaraki. COPYRIGHT: Four Seasons Publications, Τel: 0030-6944128460, Fax: 0030-210-6011904, e-mail: profalex@otenet.gr 2

DR. TAKIS ALEXIOU

NOTES ON HEALING PHILOSOPHY 1. ILLUSION VS REALITY

Four SEASONS PUBLICATIONS · ATHENS 2022 3

I’m not what happened to me, I’m what I choose to become. Carl Jung Do not be afraid of diseases and death. Be afraid of fear. Epictetus The intuitive mind is a sacred gift and the rational mind is a faithful servant. We have created a society that honours the servant and has forgotten the gift. Albert Einestein There is no man on earth, even the most scary, who cannot become a hero through Love. Plato I know it’s tempting to stay and meet those blond women. I know it’s even more sensible to spend the night here with them, but I want to be Home. Rumi In these dark rooms where I live out / empty days, I circle back and forth / trying to find the windows. / It will be a great relief when a window opens. Konstantinos P. Kavafis

Combining the above quotes, I conclude that we can “choose what to become”, stop being “afraid” and “faithful servants”, accepting the sacred “gift” which is “Love”... In other words, to leave behind the temptation of “blond women”, wishing to “be Home” and “open a window”, so that Light may enter... 4

DEDICATED To everyone who decides to tidy up their Emotional Home...

It’s not very often as a reader to find some piece of writing so enlightening as well as awakening. Takis’ thoughts and words speak deep into your psyche and drift you on a journey where you delve deeper into human philosophy and psychology. Personal notes that induce us to reconnect with ourselves by making us acknowledge, admit and embrace the childhood traumas that -to a greater or lesser extend- we all bear in our existence. Takis -through his notes- tries to awaken and to alert us about our self-destructive attitude and to encourage us towards a Life full of Love, of Truth, of We -rather than “i”. Konstantina Mavromichali 5

HE LAST 250 YEARS, through the three, so-called, Industrial Revolutions, Markets showed us their ugliest face, destroying a whole Planet, which needs -according to environmentalists- at least 200.000 years to recover. Markets also destroyed, without any hesitation, our emotional home almost completely. To succeed in this “task” the only thing needed was to keep us hypnotized, as we already were, twisting the meaning of the words we use in our everyday communication using for their purposes an egocentric money- oriented education without any humanistic principles and values. In other words to keep us “donkeys overloaded with books” but without any essential Knowledge, means canaille in a state of hallucination instead of educating primarily our hearts. Markets, knowing the unstable mental state of the great majority of earth population, were never interested in introducing Emotional Education & Therapy, developing, instead a gigantic sex industry and a psychiatry of repression Embryo and Child mistreatment through parents and teachers, even sexual abuse, was and still is a forbidden to talk about issue. But why in Reality? I think because mentally healthy people are not welcome by the barbaric economy of Markets, in other words people with a tidy emotional home will never ever accept the reptile behavior of markets. Knowing that, markets are now trying, in addition and ahead of the 4th industrial revolution to seduce us with UFO, space ships, anthropoid robots etc, announcing without any shame that, after occupying the Moon, they will soon start to exploit the Planet Mars. May the ancient God of war protect his home from Markets’ insanity! Dr. Takis Alexiou, Athens, January 2022 6

IMPLE WORDS, simple people, I’m one of them. Because only in Simplicity and Silence can we find the Greatness of Life. The easiest way to cover one’s own stupidity is to underline, in every opportunity, the stupidity of others. 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 dispel fear. It’s the unique experience of being really Free. Myth is the Power that gives form to the invisible. It’s what transforms 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. Perfection 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.

WAS ASKED: 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, such as Italy, France and England in Europe, USA, Japan, etc. The second reason is the necessity 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, German people happier than French, Italian or Greek people?” According to several sociological studies the answer is categorically, No! Just as unrelated is (wo)man’s outward appearance with politeness, the same as unrelated is happiness with technology. Technological Revolution is necessary to conquer the world. 8

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. 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 embellishment. Subconscious mind never lies. It always speaks the naked Truth.

HE SWIRL OF HAPPINESS appears, only after a long and honest effort. When the time unexpectedly comes to collect the magical Traveler’s Kiss -a kiss that will never be forgotten or repeated- this happiness appears. To the best of my knowledge, it happens only once in a lifetime. Lucky are the ones that have received it. People, who honor Truth, never tell lies, even in their dreams. A (wo)man who honors Truth does not need any kind of alcohol or drugs in order to feel relaxed, content and happy. His/her traumatic past does not bother 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 have shown us that we live in a Participative Universe. It’s time, I think, we humans, lived accordingly.

CCORDINGLY for a human society means to live in a Participative Democracy which will correspond to the real needs of all and not just to the profit of the very 9

few. No one doubts anymore the barbarity of today’s markets societies. One of the many examples of occupation and exploitation was that of Egypt from 1882 to 1952 by the British “Democratic” society of that time. This 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 have already mentioned, New Physics have shown us that we live in a Participative Universe. It’s time we humans, finally, started living accordingly, I repeat, in a Participative Democratic Society. “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 mainly on the fact that we overlook having been as children, abused and on our way of Life being more and more egocentric and antagonistic, making more and more Money turning out to be more and more “Powerful”.

EING ABUSED and mistreated as children, drives us to various forms of extreme Selfish behaviors, especially Fear-Anger, leaving no space for Life. FearAnger 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. “Do not be afraid of diseases and death. Be afraid of fear” Epictetus The reality of becoming older is not a matter of accepting death or not or even analyzing it with words, discussing it with others. It is a matter of feeling and realizing it through one’s 10

own body and mind, through senses and emotions. And as I said before: To become older can be a joyful time. It depends on how selfish we are. Selfish people are afraid and become angry with everything and of course with becoming older, as well as about death. Life, unlike 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 Sky. Life is “We”, is not just “i”. This way of perception is scientifically, through Neurobiology, proven in our days but is only achievable as long as we have decided to confront our abused childhood and become less and less egocentric and more and more healthy.

AN A BOOK change our lives? No book, even the most important one, can change our Lives. Why? Because from a book we only understand what can be confirmed by our, already 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 two or more isolated selves we need, first of all, to exclude isolation and start communicate Essentially. What do Ι mean by “Essentially”? If two or more persons wish to communicate Essentially, they should firstly develop an Essential Relation with themselves, with the words of Martin Buber build up an essential relation “I-Myself”, what I would call Self-knowledge. Referring to Leo Buscaglia, who wrote several books about 12

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, even on the face, like a maniac. This is not a mother or a father but a smiling-singing monster. Any kind of child 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.

EO 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 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, to name but a few, are the best of the world. Children depend on their parents, especially their mothers and the bond between them is crucial for the first 4-5 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 state that 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 individuals on earth. From this point on -through the confrontation with Reality- confusion, anxiety, bipolarity and other mental disorders knock on their doors, sometimes heavily. The illusionary world of grown up individuals who have been as children abused, is not a fantastic world at all. It is a very dark world because they, later on, abuse other people, animals even plants around them in unthinkable ways. It is a tragic situation that can only be treated in a mental clinic. I’m writing 13

all that, because child 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 cannot do otherwise!

HE ILLUSIONARY WORLD is a world full of lies and self-deceptions. And what we should know is that as much as we deceive ourselves that 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 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 fellow(wo)men. When the abused children grow up, they abuse and mistreat in various ways people around them, for two reasons, out of Fear, and for taking Revenge on everyone and everything. They are constantly tense, afraid and angry without any reason whatsoever. Their delusional state of mind makes it impossible to take even a very simple decision, meaning to become exposed, firstly to their doctors and later on to their companions and friends, leaving behind once and for all egocentric blindness and memory. Ready to jump? Only after jumping into the Truth, are we ready to restore, step by step, our emotional world.

HE ESSENTIAL RELATION “I-Myself”, what I call Self-Knowledge, is of great importance, as long as it targets Truth. Otherwise -and if it continues to be centered in lies and self-deception- our situation will become worse and worse and worse. According to Albert Einstein: “The intuitive mind is a sacred 14

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 can we create with unfaithful servants? The answer to this apparent question is very unpleasant and sometimes even painful, if we consider the fact that the great majority of people behave irrationally. They live in a divided world full of revenge feelings and thoughts against every form of Life, even against their therapists and benefactors.

HERE IS NO WAY OUT as long as we do not discover the reason of being afraid and tense. 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- but never by writing a letter or a book. I remember a letter of Franz Kafka and a book of Nikos Kazantzakis to their fathers... Human 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 than the most developed one. What is more, it 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 never-ending lies with which we continue to cheat ourselves, as well as people around us. 16

RISTOTLE VERSUS HIPPODAMUS, who was an ancient Greek architect, urban planner, physician 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”, means “We” that includes every “i”. There are also Good News in periods of crisis. One of them, probably the most important one, 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, means following Aristotle and not Hippodamus. We, each one of us, could become through our minds and brains real Leaders, Discoverers, 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 ourselves in good condition. We are not bounded on yesterday and the changes of our behavior depend solely on us. The only precondition is to start honoring Truth!

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 brain and aren’t used by it. In case that they are very busy, tired or stressed, according to Neurobiology, they should not blame their brain 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, putting the right questions, and coming to a 17

constructive Dialogue with our fellow(wo)men. “How will we change Greece and Europe?” Trying to answer this question, I think that we should consider the following questions-answers. Is it a question, which will be answered a) by today’s parents, teachers and academics? 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 the worse). Or c) by our Young Generation? My answer is categorically No, as long as it continues to follow, in its vast majority, the old-known pattern of Individualism. I was asked to write down my thoughts about the national elections in Greece. 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 emotional life in order can think properly and thus govern efficiently, fully agreeing with the words of Zülfü Livaneli “It’s better that the scientists, instead of doing their experiments with animals, to do them with politicians and journalists.” PS. Through Body Language and especially through Face Expressions, it’s easy to distinguish a liar and hypocrite, from a sincere person who honors Truth.

O THE QUESTION, if I could be more precise, the answer is Yes, and what I mean is that political parties that define themselves as centre-right or centre-left are fake. They just try to find some ignorant voters. The so-called right or left parties, which embrace right or left extremists, are 18

dangerous. Voters do not 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. In our days the question is who will do his best in supporting the real needs of all of us and not just the profit of the very few. The answer is evident, I think.

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 fellow(wo)men. This is also a conscious action. To the question: “What I mean, by 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” cannot exactly define the opposite of someone or something in our Minds. For example, the opposite of “good” can be perceived more easily in our Minds by “bad” and not by “not good”. Therefore, if I was to reformulate Shakespeare’s question, I would write down: “To be, or to have, that is the question”. Before learning to set 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 20

persons? How to create healthier societies?” The jurgon used by many, even philosophers, therapists and scientists, as far as I know, is because they are much afraid to be understood. What in their confused and troubled brain, is a sign of lack of knowledge. Simplifying things, means to put things in their truthful frame. For example, following Perceptive Psychology I’ll never ask myself “What is wrong with me?”, but “What can I do, to feel better?”

F WE ARE INTERESTED in the possessions of others, this could not be called Friendship. Friendship is a conscious choice and, as such, is an essential relation with one or more persons who decide to rise up from “i” (individualistic desires) to “WE” (common needs). Friendship is a quantum leap towards (wo)man’s Evolution. It seems that language too was a quantum leap which developed our brain, but at the same time brought a lot of confusion in our communication. This is something we refuse to accept. For example, we are used to giving orders to our children, saying don’t do this or that, and we find it very difficult to indicate, gently what they should do. What I mean is for parents to seek an affirmative, instead of a negative form of communication. It’s always a very exciting exercise to try to write a letter or a comment without no, none, not, nothing etc. We cannot blame a lunatic who believes he is Napoleon! Can we? We cannot accuse a criminal parent who abuses his/her children, as long as he/she believes that he has the right to do so! Can we? We cannot 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 21

been provoked by them! Can we? We cannot feel disgust for an extremely 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 the whole of Europe!

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 are not, really, concerned about their Health. As young individuals, they fear of not being accepted in their social environment, and as aged people they try to escape from age-death, ignoring that this fear brings them even closer to it. Nutritionists and surgeons are making, in 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 wrong choices, for young and old people, are always the result of an unstable emotional mind, revealing a brain malfunction, which, first of all, has to be accepted and then treated. 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 formulating our goals positively. For example, I would not apply the sentence: “I wish to leave behind my traumatic past that has been formulated by others, containing a lot of fear, anger, lies and deceit”, but I would rather make use of the sentence: “I wish to live in the present time, the reality of which can be created by myself, along with Peace of Mind, Emotional Stability, Love and Friendship.” 22

e often hear people saying that we should “wake up” or “face reality” and that “there is light at 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 Egocentric Blindness and Memory. We may cheat ourselves, we may, even betray others, but we can never distort Truth. Why should we be interested and care about others? To be interested and care about others, actually, means to be interested 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.

SSENTIAL RELATIONS with oneself and others is the precondition for a meaningful and Truthful Life. Selfish people cannot do that because they feel secure, only, in their illusionary world in which there is no place for nobody 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 having seen the results of their criminal actions for many years. In their desperate effort to behave like “friends”, they drive their children to cigarettes, alcohol, drugs and the worst kind of companions, from their very young years. To the question: “What can we do?”, my answer is that we can do 24

nothing, but parents can, after so many years, change, opening themselves to the ones they trust, even if it’s only one person. People, most of the time, are afraid to abandon their world once and for all, as if they had to leave 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 other words the question, according to my perception, is: “Why are we still afraid to abandon our disastrous behavior, which brings misery upon ourselves, our children, our relatives, and our pupils?” To the question: “Why do I write comments about (wo)man’s possible Evolution?”, my simple answer is: For many years I have hoped that people around me will feel the need to change. This was part of my illusionary world which of course fell 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 preparatory steps to start such a Journey?”, in my view, the only thing we need is to stop blaming others (people, weather, circumstances, the system etc)!

F 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. Inside everyone resides a hidden artist, who waits to be awakened, having in mind that creativity does not accept any kind of command. I would also say that Art is an issue of our inner and not outer world! Plato, classified people into easy and difficult ones. Easy people 25

are people who rejoice, when something good happens to them, and they don’t become angry when something bad comes up. Difficult people are people who live constantly in their traumatic past, unable to enjoy anything, and ready to “explode” with by every “opportunity”, even without reason. They get pleasure only from people to whom they feel superior. It seems that we all agree, on Plato’s words that beyond easy people there are also difficult ones. But it’s a completely different question: “How, why and by whom did they become 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. It means they do exactly the same that has been done to them and never feel the need to change. A vicious circle without beginning or end. As we know, according to the great philosopher Arthur Schopenhauer, in order to be happy, beyond Gaiety, we should exercise our bodies, have peace of mind, and finally, in relation to external needs, we should be only after what Epicures described as Natural and Necessary.

HE OTHER DAY, a so-called friend, took his motorcycle and left alone two women in a farm, because a heavy storm was coming. The only thing he thought about was to save his own skin. For him, the other two persons, didn’t matter at all. For years now he had suffered, feeling completely unhappy, expressing repeatedly the “wish” to change, and recently to paint. I’m talking about a former baker who, in a luminous moment, starts to paint. We may all be gifted with such creative moments, which are granted 26

to us from our higher Self (Mind), in order to discover the beauty that resides inside us. As far as I can understand, only if we acknowledge the needs of the Other, are we 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 matters. 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 becomes river. And if a river falls into an ocean, it becomes 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. It’s only up to us! I know, the Journey from “i” to “We” is endless. Time is money? I remembered an old story from the East, of a wise man, who, when asked by a neighbor, if he wishes to accompany him, so as to “kill” their time, he answered: “No, my friend, because it will kill me too”...

E ARE WHAT WE ARE, but we can change and be travelers, who really know where to go. As far as I know, there are three kind of travelers. The ones, who know where to go, the ones that suffer following the wrong path, and finally the ones that they feel “content”, although they are going in the wrong direction. To the question: “How can we be sure that we really know where to go?”, the only guarantee we have, is to always check that we do not “kill” our Life’s time, which is sacred, remaining on the Path from “i” to “We”. 28

There is another way to check, if we really know where to go or not, by avoiding what some known philosophers, even humanists and pacifists wrongly suggest. For example the Nobel Prize winner Dario Fo, who emphasizes that: “We should declare our outrage to this system.” Why should we avoid outrage? Because outrage means anger, means violence, means abuse and mistreat. Finally, it means fight and war. To fight against someone or something is a violent reaction, and what we need today, more than ever, are Peaceful Actions. It’s a “killing” of time to react against a system or a person. What we need is to Act, creating, step by step, better relations with ourselves, with our fellow (wo)men and finally a better system. In the beginning we are bewildered about several behaviors and situations. Then, if we don’t stop bothering our brain, resentment and outrage starts. And if we don’t stop violence in the form of anger and fury, then quarrel, fight and war gradually appear. Conflict (outrage) feeds and maintains what we wish to be released from. It does not fade away at all! 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, meaning lack of empathy, and this is the point where barbarity begins.

NOTHER POINT from which I’ll differentiate myself, 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 taking completely the wrong path. Quarrel is fight between two or more Egos. One’s primitive instincts and negative emotions, must always dominate and be imposed on others, instead of 29

coming to a constructive dialogue, which is the duty of real Friends and Life Companions. Many “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 and they will not 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, obvious even to a child. What I’m trying to say is that we should develop our own critical mind, examining carefully what the so-called “sages”, write or say. To the personal question, if I’m afraid of dying, my answer is that I’ll know, only, when the time comes. But till then, what I also know, beyond any doubt, is that egocentrism, individualism, selfishness, indifference and so on, result from being abused and mistreated as children and that, inevitably, all these lead to fear and panic. Therefore healing ourselves from our traumatic past, is the key to achieve peace of mind and stop being afraid, even when death comes.

EXT QUESTION: “How to heal ourselves from our traumatic past?” It’s obvious that nothing at all will be granted to us. We, everyday people, have the possibility to live today the Life we wish to share tomorrow (Ghandi) with our children, relatives, friends, fellow(wo)men, before it’s too late. The Environmentalists, categorically, declare that, we’ll need, I underline, at least 200.000 years to restore our Planet Earth from the damage, we humans, brought on! No one can forbid us to become Real Friends, but we are afraid to trust one another. No one can forbid us to become 30

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 and 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, were added. I’m writing all that to explain, why the path I chose is international, uniting and, above all, simple and existential.

HE AUTHENTIC old story-tellers never lied. The same happened with the genuine archaeologists, 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. “I know it’s tempting to stay and meet those blond women. I know it’s even more sensible to spend the night here with them, but I want to be Home.” Rumi As I see Art, it’s more of a process of learning and healing, rather than earning money and growing to be arrogant. In the beginning, the surface is white and clear, as in a child’s mind. Later on, 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. 32

During my years in Germany and Switzerland, I was, from the beginning, aware of computers in relation to Architecture and City Planning, but I refused to be part of the so-called “social networks”. Just in 2009 we created our e-community AthensArt. It was not easy for me, and still is not, 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”, to name but a few, using a perplexed language, and refusing, completely, to see the Reality. But I also met some good people, with whom we started a friendly and constructive dialogue.

O THE QUESTION what I mean by illusionary world, I could answer with another question: “Is it possible the love and affection we miss in our real lives to share it, electronically, in a social network?” We learn through mistakes, which we should not repeat! To the question why I refer, so often, to abused and mistreated children, my answer is because they are exposed and helpless, unable to defend themselves. And “why are grandparents often better parents to their grandchildren than to their own?” Speaking from my experience, it’s because, in the meantime, grandparents became wiser. Therefore, I think that we should learn again to live together, as big families, practicing Essential Relations among us, learning not only through our own mistakes but through the mistakes of others too. Mistakes are wrong, sometimes even catastrophic, choices. To correct our mistakes means simply not to repeat them. To the question: “Which is 33

the position of Friends in a big Family?”, my answer is given by Neuroscience, according to which, DNA can change, thus, biological bonds are of less importance than the psychologicalemotional-spiritual ones.

UR BODY is 70-80% water! But instead of striving to live and behave accordingly, as it is the nature of Water, we try to survive in this world as if we were the hardest granite. And when the moment comes to be transformed from water into a cloud and then into water again as rain, I mean to die physically, we are terrified and can’t let go. Hence, in my view, the main question is not to comfort someone, who is dying, but as long as we are alive, to learn how to live properly. Otherwise, there is no other way to die, bodily, in peace! It is a fact that Birth is the opposite of Death and not of Life. And our spirit (mind) never dies, it continues to exist in 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 is not because of our blood, or the gifts with which we are trying, sometimes, to “buy” them off, but because of our feelings and thoughts: the Spirit that we share with them. We never discuss death. We exorcize it, as if it was an epidemic, trying to find a piece of wood to “knock on”. We do not even talk about Life. Our socalled conversations are mostly related to money, power and amusement, which have 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 come then, in this country, with so many “top intellectuals”, simple people to suffer so much? 34

To the question: “How does a revolution look like in our days?”, 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 leading-minds have washed peoples’ brains, so as to justify, any kind of abnormality of the so-called “holy monsters”. In my simple view, most of them, as writers, theatre and cinema directors, composers, painters etc, should be called abnormal-terrifying monsters and not holly, at all, as they are the ones who have harmed the most the entire world.

PREFER THE QUESTION “What I mean by abnormality?”, to be posed positively: “What I mean by normality?” Conscious (wo)men, not necessarily “great”, 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, stop being afraid and find the courage to set free, as Socrates would say! And I think that it is 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 support 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 we know, in a right question there 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.” 36

Joseph 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 always remember 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 neighbors, better societies!

S A MAN OF SCIENCE, and although I’m not a Buddhist, I could not agree more with the words of Dalai Lama, 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 also realize 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, on an international level?”, and here is my simple answer: To authorize the Holiness of the 14th Dalai Lama, as well as of Pope Francis along with the support of all Nobel Peace Prize Winners, and all Peace Makers of the World, in order to come up with a realistic plan on how to establish Peace on Earth, before it’s too late. Beyond the international level, I mentioned above, there is a national and an individual level in relation to Peace. Therefore, we could start establishing independent Ministries of Peace, and if we really wish to be realistic, we should primarily start by finding Peace within ourselves. There is absolutely nothing we cannot achieve if our Hearts really want it. 37

It is really frustrating, nowadays, to talk about Peace, knowing that, thousands of Peace organizations, institutions, public services, committees, etc -which exist for so many years- spend so much energy and money, just for doing, I emphasize, practically nothing. For our information and beyond the so-called United Nations Peace 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 & Security, even the UN Committee on the Peaceful uses of Outer Space, etc, etc, etc. It’s also really frustrating to know that all these operating costs, as well as all operating war costs, are paid, through our taxes, by us.

RYING TOANSWER the question about Peace, I realized once more, that for over 2500 years Aristophanes’ Peace has remained unfulfilled. We continue, of course, to feel moved by the beautiful song “Imagine” by John Lennon, but nothing more. Movements, demonstrations, celebrations even the various actions of United Nations, in relation to Peace, brought essentially nothing! Unfortunately we still represent societies of violence and not of Peace. Therefore, the only way we could do something, is simply to take all necessary legal measures, in order to achieve the Right to chose to pay or not the relevant military taxes to the State. I would very gladly, as most of us I think, prefer paying taxes to support the expenses of a Ministry of Peace. I would like to write down a 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 38

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.” I do not claim to be a spiritual man. In any case, Spirituality does not make us blind. On 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 had shown the maturity and wisdom of Mahatma Gandhi and Nelson Mandella, they would have relieved us from all this insecurity, pain and suffering that results from all this barbarity.

OCIALIZING REFERS to essential Human Relations and Humour is neither black nor in order to humiliate others. To the question, if there is good or bad weather, I remembered the wise words of our great Alexandrian Poet K.P.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 with our inner self and the others. The real Sun-God resides within People’s Hearts. Should we have expectations? From whom and why? Should we depend on someone or something? Can words, even poetry in its highest form, replace life experiences? Is it possible to overcome fear (anger too) by reading books? I underline that, because only frightened people have expectations from others. And fear can never be healed with drugs, but only with Truth. It’s fashion, nowadays, to offer generously “sweet-words”, which cost nothing and talk about unconditional Love. I know, 40

there is no such thing, because Love is a very serious condition, a Life’s commitment between two or more people. Love is not a function of our instinctive or emotional brain. Love does not 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, it is the only remedy, bitter sometimes, with which all kind of wounds can be healed!

O BUY OFF SOMEONE, simply, means to bring him/ her on your side, believing that in this way you could be free of guilt and remorse. But this is not true at all. The results of such “buying off - relations” produce “happy slaves” and never have a Happy End, because slaves are always angry and, at a certain point, they revolt. We may also buy off people with “sweet words”, which beyond our hypocrisy, presumably, cost nothing. In reality, every act of hypocrisy and every single word that does not honor Truth, costs a lot, even subconsciously, to our emotional health and to our being as a whole. 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 thus unbelievable. In other words, small lies are perceived more easily as such. We have been “properly” educated on lies, using them day and night. To the question: “What does it mean to honor Truth?” my answer could be: to live without small lies and be 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 in the necessity of violence and war. This is a very, very big lie! 41

T IS A FACT that we may have different skin colors, speak different languages, believe in different religions, coming from different, so-called, social classes, be of different genre, and we may have many more differences and preferences. But we are all, and everything else on this Earth, made by the same stardust, as it is primarily the case with the whole Universe. Consequently there is no real difference between Earth and Sky, between Matter and Spirit. We have all heard about the new CERN experiments and the so-called “God Particle”. And in Life the paths we may take are only two: The path of lies, which inevitably brings violence and wars and the path of Truth, which is accompanied by Love 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 feel happy, while at the same time remaining obedient slaves. I know that this “project”, for some years now, is real and I’m wondering,who will these sick-minded rulers of the world, blame for this: Nature, God or People? A good Friend of mine, correctly thinks that not only politicians are responsible for destroying the whole planet Earth. Who else? Today I read an announcement of a theatrical performance which strongly considers that we need just a little “tak”, an unspecified sound, in order to change our lives for the better. This is one more big lie. Without any exaggeration, not even the politicians who use every single day big lies, have ever said that they are interested, like the contributors of the above performance and many others, in saving our souls. 42

OME PEOPLE do speak about three eyes, knowing also the exact position of the third one. My effort is to get an idea about the real world even with one 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 do 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 path or the other, 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 have all heard the story that people instead of looking at the moon, most of them, are staring at the finger which shows the moon. This means that in order to start perceiving the world, we firstly have to learn to look at, and recognize, the moon itself, and later on to 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 abandon completely the illusionary world, being aware of the simple Truth that what matters is here and now. Honoring Truth, means to act according to Truth’s principles and values, according to Truth’s Ethics and not to (re)act in favour 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 what has been said up to now, is because in the illusionary-traumatic world, there is no Love at all. And where there is no Love, there is no Life!

S A 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 44

as we know, only through experience, we can become wise 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 cannot help us to develop essential relations with ourselves, our fellowmen and our societies, remaining imprisoned in our traumatic world. Most 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 even before the first white hair bristles appear, and many more. Why is that so? I think because “living” in their illusionary world they feel the urgent need to be accepted by others, according to every year’s imposed fashion, ready to do almost everything. But 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 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.

O 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 under any circumstances. It means to become (wo)men of duty and not of profit. It also means to care about the real needs of others. Men and women, who have these qualities are capable of starting to create small communities, as a good Friend mentioned 45

sometime ago, which gradually will change our societies too! According to Paul Erdös, a well-known Hungarian mathematician, the meaning of Life is to be found in proving our assumptions. In the last decades, the economy of markets has proven that it works completely against the needs of people. In other words, it is not an assumption anymore that it supports the catastrophic profits of the very few. What I’m trying to say is that it is in our hands now to prove, through our choices, 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 man on earth, even the most scary, who cannot became a hero through Love”, always having in mind that Love cannot be experienced without silence.

O THE QUESTION: “What does it mean to love oneself?”, we know that there are a lot of misinterpretations. In any case, “to love oneself”, 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. The illusionary-traumatic world belongs to our egocentric blindness and memory and has absolutely nothing to do with our Higher Self! As long as we measure 46

others in accordance with our expectations, resentment, indignation and even rage will follow. 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. Meaning that not only humans but all mammals, especially monkeys, elephants, dolphins and capuchins have developed empathy not only among their own species, but towards other species too. Remarkable is the example of a chimpanzee who tries to help a wounded bird! To the question: “Which is the relation between Love and buying off someone?”, the immediate answer is: “Absolutely 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, empathy and Love, is completely missing, in their relation. And some day the whole “theatre” will have a very bad ending.

HE QUESTION NOW, probably the most important one, 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 do we now, as adults, accept this situation?” And if there was no Love from the parents’ side, mother, 48

father or both, why don’t we now, as adults, make the start? I mean, why, don’t we offer them the sympathy, empathy and Love we missed? It’s beyond any doubt that they have missed it too, as children! Our choices are only ours, regardless of the choices of others. The choice to Love someone, even without expecting any response, needs, I think, some kind of preparation. And first and above all, it means, to stop being bought off from others. This is how we start honoring Truth. As far as I am concerned, there is no other way, if we really wish to love and being loved. The additional question that I was asked: “What should we 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 hatred instead of sympathy, empathy and Love .

N THESE DARK ROOMS where I live out empty days, I circle back and forth, trying to find the windows. It will be a great relief when a window opens... K.P. Kavafis Let us open the windows of our hearts, so as the Light may enter! Dreams, as far as I know, are the most real part of our lives and cannot be generalized. The meaning, always, depends on the situation of each one of us. “A huge man, with a great stone in his hand, is hunting someone who, feeling his legs very heavy, is unable to run and save his life”. If this was your dream, which one, do you think, could be the interpretation? Until we, consciously, separate the painful traumatic past from the present time, so that our emotional healing process may start, not only fear but anger too, in all its forms, will continue to appear in our dreams and our Lives. 49

READ IN THE BOOK “Oscar et la dame Rose” of EricEmmanuel Schmitt: “Only God has the right to wake me up”. Taking into consideration that these words were written by a man of over 100 years old, I think that we, who are more or less young, should at least accept the responsibilities of our choices and decisions and stop blaming others for our anger and misery. Determined, for example, as entheists or atheists, we are ready to fight one another, instead of listening to each other, in good faith. We build new walls, rather than knocking down the existing ones, ignoring that the miracle of Life is everywhere. Absurdity reigns, and we consider it our right. Until when?

HE WELL KNOWN psychologist, writer and journalist Daniel Goleman, in his recent book “A force for good”, wants us to believe that we live in a much better world than the one that mass media (especially TV) presents every single day. My question is: “If it is so, then why does the number of suicides, refugees, poor, homeless, jobless, alcoholics and people taking drugs, increase rapidly, even in countries where this phenomena were almost unknown?” Unfortunately, Goleman goes one step further, underlining that mass media concentrate on the worse of what’s happening around us, because these are issues which need to be corrected. I don’t see myself as someone extremely awakened. But this is too much, because Markets don’t expect from us to correct their “mistakes”, but to tolerate them, as unavoidable “reality”. First of all, it’s a fact that today’s barbaric markets’ economy is still well-organized, finding supporters not only among journalists and writers but also among scientists, even artists. A second thought is that, through all these supporters, Markets 50

try continuously to keep us asleep. That is why we need, urgently, “Rooster -Men” and “Rooster-Women”, all over the world, to wake us up!

ROOSTER-PERSON MANAGES, by any circumstances, to live in the present time, avoiding to be guided by his/her traumatic past. It’s not an easy task, but through self reference, patience, persistence and repetition it is achievable! Rebecca Henderson from Harvard believes that capitalism can be rediscovered. It is as if we would put a very old man in a “beauty” centre and get him out, after a while, as a young person. Personally, I haven’t read a biggest nonsense. According to my view, Markets can change, “step by step”, peacefully, only through our way of Life. Ian Morris, a historian of Stanford University, claims that 10.000 years ago, we had more violently dead people than today. Of course in his calculations Morris doesn’t count the millions of violently dead people, resulting from car, train, plane and other crashes, as well as the victims among the poor, homeless, jobless, refugees etc.

READ THE BOOK of Eric-Emmanuel Schmitt “Mister Ibrahim and the flowers of Koran” and I will never forget the following two sentences: “What is dead, bring it back to Life: your Heart. And what is absent, make it happen: the World of Tomorrow”! Compassion, as far as I know, has nothing to do with becoming one with the darkness around us. We may have understanding for those who live in darkness, but we’ll never give up clarifying our position, seeking always the Light. 52

It makes no sense at all to support the idea of a healthy or positive antagonism! A better society can be only guided with compassion and collaboration, and not with rivalry and competitiveness.

S LONG AS we continue to react, resist etc, against a barbaric system, spending all our energy on fighting the old, there will be no real change. I think it’s time to start acting, sharing today, among us, peacefully the new, I mean the Life we wish to have tomorrow. In this spirit, the words of Thomas Jefferson: “When injustice becomes law, resistance becomes duty”, are completely wrong. To see Life positively is not just a subjective choice. It’s rather a way of perception, related to facts. “What lousy weather” said someone. “It’s a beautiful rainy day, said the other.”

EW DAYS AGO, on my 81st Birthday, I received the book “Surrounded by idiots” of Thomas Erikson published in 2014, according to which, we all, without any exception, are idiots of different color and behavior. Despite any qualifications, the Red ones can become maniacs and difficult causing problems to others, the Yellow ones can be despotic not allowing anyone to participate in a discussion, the Green ones can become enormously boring, ambiguous and difficult in communication, and finally the Blue ones can become easily suspicious and inquisitive. What I found amazing is that the writer, a distinguished salesman, according to his own evaluation, belongs to the mixed category Red/Blue, meaning Mauve, being simultaneously a genie-idiot: Albert Einstein (blue), whose other half is a saint-idiot: Mother Teresa (red)... It’s really astonishing, how the barbaric economy of 53

Markets finds ways to keep us, with a confused language and various tricks, “happy slaves” of our own childhood’s traumatic past. I never forget the words of a “successful” American businessman, who arrogantly said, sometime ago that “I can sale water even to a drowned”.

LTHOUGH “I DO NOT SEEK to understand in order to believe, but I believe in order to understand” St. Anslem of Canterbury, I’m really wondering how such a categorization of four colors, elements and types of behavior, can be accepted, as long as we know that: a) there are no two same persons on the entire planet Earth, b) there is, beyond the elements of water, fire, earth and air, the aether too, which explain the nature and complexity of all matter in terms of simpler substances, c) according to Chinese medicine, beyond the four mentioned types of behavior, there are two more elements, wood and metal, something that also corresponds to the six primary and secondary colors. Furthermore, why accept the dilemma between heredity and environment, that does not exist as such anymore, when we know that neurocircuits can change and new ones can be created??? Plato, as Epictetus classifies people’s behavior in only two categories (Plato: the Easy and the Difficult / Epictetus: the Friends and the People of heap). Having as example the people gathered in a Stadium, Pythagoras divided people in three types: Merchants, Athletes and Spectators, and finally Heraclitus in four, adding to the three types of Pythagoras one more: the Spectators of Spectators, meaning the Observers. The Observer in us starts to exist as soon as our sympathy, empathy and Love go beyond our automatic emotional response, having access to the causes which provoke the emotional state of the 54

other and the ability to offer targeted assistance, according to one’s needs. In other words, egocentric people who continue to remain in their traumatic past, without the ability to feel and love the other, cannot build up an “observer”. I personally prefer the categorization of people according to Epictetus, I repeat, into Friends of Wisdom and people of the heap. TO BE CONTINUED...

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 General and Perceptual Psychology and in 1968 his pioneering doctoral dissertation, connecting Architectural Design with Psychology. He has worked as an Architect and City Planner in various projects, in Greece, Germany, Switzerland, USA, Kuwait, Zambia and Iran. He is a member of Architectural, Technical and Town Planning Associations and has participated in various seminars, symposia and confe-rences. He has given many lectures in Germany, Switzerland, Austria and Greece. He was visiting Professor in the University of Offenbach/M., Germany and for several years he was Professor at The American University of Athens and the Open University of Ag. Paraskevi, Attica-Greece. As an artist, he has held many private and group exhibitions around the World. He has been President of the Panhellenic Historical & Philosophical Society and Chairman of the Centre of Arts 4 Seasons organizing International Symposiums and Conferences about Human Rights. In the field of music he has published numerous compositions. He was awarded with the “International Cavafy prize” and declared as “Great Benefactor” for his philanthropic activities from the Greek Community in Egypt. He was granted various prizes and his name is mentioned in various Greek and International Encyclopedias. He has published numerous articles and books of architectural, educational and social content. 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. He has organized many group and philanthropic exhibitions in Greece and abroad, promoting “Friendship through Art can change the World”. Up today, he attends various seminars at the National & Kapodistrian University of Athens in the fields of Philosophy and Psychology & Psychotherapy. 57