AN EXERCISE IN WISDOM .....

The world in which a man lives shapes itself mainly by the way he looks at it . No matter what our surroundings are , everyone lives in a world of his own . Metodorus a disciple of Epicurus wrote ; " The happiness we receive from ourselves is far greater than that we obtain from our surroundings and others." It is essential in our life's happiness to be what we are , cultivate our true personalities and qualities , and choose the life which is most suitable for ourselves .


An intellectual person in complete solitude has excellent entertainment in his own thoughts and fancies . Associated with a quiet and cheerful temperament , a fair health , clear , lively and penetrating intellect , looking and seeing life as it is , a good conscience backed by a moderate will , all these constitute certain privileges that no rank or wealth can give . 


Most people , traditionally and more so nowadays , are by far more intent on amassing wealth and becoming rich , rather than acquiring culture and real maturity . Though it is surely indisputable that what a person is , makes that person much more happy than what he has in material possessions , clearly one can assert that ; What a man has in himself is the main element in his or her happiness and tranquility .


Aristotle said " It is not wealth , but character that lasts" , as fortunes might dissipate and vanish , but not character and a well constituted mind or a noble nature . Some will find and achieve their serenity in a tranquil modest life , with few encounters , and elect to live their retirements in great intellect as well as solitude . Whereby the time one has for enjoying one's consciousness and individuality is the highest enjoyment of one's existence .


The dullness , boredom and intellectual limitedness of some , are the reason most people look for constant action , by incessantly going to places , only to hide the moments of self moral enjoyments with physical acts . Quoting Aristotle again"To be happy means to be self-sufficient".  The more a person is the source of his inner pleasures , the happier that person will be , it is foolish to give up the inner of our personalities to the outer , to give our serenity , independence  and intellect for the bright spots of life , rank , pomp , and wealthy titles .


A true man of inner wealth strives constantly to further develop and mature his intellect , it could be a life long endeavor , every day , every hour .And only at his later stages of life when his white hair always command reverence , while his wrinkles do not , only at older age a person could really afford and realize these higher stages .


The great French Voltaire once said " Every age of life has its own special and peculiar mental character , man will feel totally unhappy if and when his mind is not attuned with his years ."    


Not  all of us turn philosophers , but all of us are at some point affected by philosophical matters . As philosophy differs from the three monotheistic religions by promising us a way to save ourselves , to conquer fears directly , especially the fear of death and its aftermath , not through an other , a god and his stories and kingdoms , but through our own strength , our own minds and the use of our reason . To be , to live and die like a god , without gods .


My usual gratitude for your time and help spreading the word .   

DO THEY REALLY MATTER .... ????

On the front page of ABC news today , Dec. 14/15 Th. , the first piece of news was entitled   "An  American kid  dies by a gun every other day "  A title repeated and heard lately a lot , on every type of media available to us and every politician's lips .


I  couldn't prevent the immediate idea , flashing in my mind , " A Palestinian and a Syrian Kid dies by a gun every day as well ." 


One could argue for and against linking and finding similarities between the two ideas . Except that both  acts are perpetrated by fanatics , believing  their causes and ideas to  be above all others , and their beliefs beyond discussions , leading always to blind vengeance against all others . And many , many innocent kids are lost for ever .


Frankly , no matter what we believe , or wherever we stand , both issues should be addressed by all civilized societies , and an end to blind and endless deadly brutality enforced .


Of course Syrian or Palestinian lives do not matter as  much as Israeli or American lives , or so we are constantly reminded , daily , in every application of law and law enforcement . Black American kids as well as black Jewish Israeli kids , sadly , matter and fall somewhere in between .




My usual gratitude for your times and help spreading the word .       

IRONY OF ALL IRONIES .......

An interesting article , by Seymour Hersh , for the London review of books , entitled " military to military " published on Dec. 23  2015 , was e-mailed to my attention from a good friend .


It argued many known situations , policies and actualities from the past 4 to 5 years of the ongoing war in Syria , as well as Iraq and other parts of the Middle East , the interesting twist was the way they were linked to come up with a conclusion of change in the world's attitude toward the conflict .


Only a Sey. Hersh's  exclusive talent and proven forte could put it all so eloquently , as I believe he is one of the best and highest press investigators with many proven previous works .  One could accept and ultimately agree to most of his claims , as they are based on well documented conversations and commentaries , One could also concede to all his insinuations , and more so lately by observing the turn of events and declared intentions of rapprochement between the U.S and Russia , and of course the situation on the ground .


One could consent or not , like it or not ,  some might object to these scenarios because of ideological stands and or hatred and condemnation to Bashar Al Assad , his regime and entourage . But the truth of the matter is that if  Mr. Assad goes out now , and his regime and apparatus disintegrate , some very ugly scenes indeed  will surely be witnessed , worse than what we've seen until now , and an IS  of some type will be empowered  de facto .


The U.S. and its Western Allies , have no choice but to accept the new situation on the ground , consequently  play along  the Russian point of view , backed by the Chinese , Iranians and others , as they all now consider ISIS and all its affiliates and cousins , the number one and only enemy .


Only few Sunni  countries will try to pseudo align themselves with Saudi , Qatar and Turkey against the rest of the world in tolerating and fueling the Islamists to uproot the Syrian regime and its leader .  Hence , the horrific idea that comes immediately to mind ; that the whole world is shifting to legitimize Mr. Assad and his basic regime for years to come , I'd say years and years to come .


It's Ironic to say the least , isn't it ?? and no thanks to a non existent real civil opposition or leadership with real representation of the Syrian people after 5 years of civil war , death and destruction . It's clearly now , Assad versus IS and its terrorism , turning all the opposition into more or less terrorists , and making the Assad figure and regime the only choice available left to save the country and the remaining inhabitants .


One would sarcastically smile at such an outcome , after hundreds upon hundreds of thousands of people killed , injured , tortured and made to vanish and disappear , thousands left brutally to starve to death under siege , millions deported to wherever , and a greedy early look for a reconstruction money that's going to trickle through present tycoons belonging to the regime .


It's tragic when all of us outsiders who watched and lived through these sad events , who lived it and remember it from early beginnings till now , to have to agree and accept de facto politics that call for Mr. Assad to be the savior and winner , it is in fact the irony of all ironies .


My usual many appreciative thanks for your times and help spreading the word .         

NEW YEAR , NEW REVELATIONS ......

It takes generally a big , sometimes ugly and an exceptional out of normal scale for humanity , or most of it at least , to be moved or altered , and put itself on a new thinking  or rethinking path of life and philosophy . A path leading it to better life , saving itself  and keep moving forward .


A Major one challenge nowadays , is the horrific realization by most of humanity , that the notions and words of the "Good God", the loving  , the merciful , his Engels , prophets and messengers , his books and dogmas , are all gradually turning into  dead  languages , mute languages and empty messages , falling on deaf ears .


An obsolete message , addressing  strictly human affairs and ways of life , attempting to organize matters between the  "good god" , his indoctrinated followers ,  versus the "god of evil" .


Most of us human animals , are discovering and confronting the realities that ; the ways of life under simple good and evil rules , under godly good and bad  adaptations , are not necessarily suitable to humanity and the planet , and are not headed in the right directions at all .  Historically evil has ruled , and keeps reigning in our present times , as a matter of fact clearly ; evil rules the day .


One is , and should be asking nowadays , what sort of God is organizing things , everything , the way they are ?  This world of death , cruelty and brutality , apartheid  and hegemony , and an all time abusive inequality , and does it all belong to a savior ??  with few ponds of good at its base here and there , asking and ordering humanity to live through a wicked machine of destruction and hate , only to move later to sick burning tortures in hell , or better inhuman sci-fi machines and worlds of pseudo love and harmony .


Our new formed love and trust  of sciences   , our blind clinging to its progress , hopping they will solve one day our life problems on earth , and find scientific replacements to god's good and evil  is not realistic either , it will only lead us all to further dependency on artificial intelligence and further away from harmony with earthly nature .


modern times thinking and past godly infused ideas only further separated humanity from its natural habitat . some godly figures thought Armageddon for answers , some others predicted different endings , none too happy or realistic . We surely know by now that other solutions could be found to possibly save our race , as earth will be here with or without us , at our levels and actual images . As we are reaching firm conclusions that our 3000 years of Godism and religious indoctrination and close mindedness was not and is not the answer nor the way .  




My as always , many thanks for listening and help spreading and expanding the message , Happy new year everyone .