Racism has been part of our society since the beginning of human history. Whichever kingdom conquered another it created a sense of superiority to the rulers against the people that they ruled. 

In ancient times there was no such thing as the type of racism that we know today. E.g. slavery was diverse…slaves had different types of skin colour. They were either born slaves, or sold as slaves, or they were just prisoners of war. 

Ancient Greece:

One of the first forms of discrimination that we see in history is in ancient Greece, As the Greeks colonized the coasts of the Mediterranean sea where they met local populations (Scythians, Celts, Iberians, etc). The ancient Greeks use to call the non Greeks as barbarians because they didn’t speak the greek language.

Racism in ancient Rome:

The Romans considered themselves as the successors of the ancient Greek civilization. As they expanded to dominate the ancient world, they enforced a strategic expansion by propagating the idea that they were the civilized and the enemy were the uncivilized barbarians. When christianity became the official religion of the empire, the roman propaganda continued by changing the terms. The Christian Romans were the faithful and the non Christians were the infidels. 

India:

I have met a lot of Indians that tend to have a sense that “whiter is better”. The indians were conquered many times by empires who were of whiter skin who became their rulers (Greeks, Scythians, Mongols, British etc), today many people of India now believe that whoever is of lighter skin is also of higher status. Racism in India was built based on conquests.

Racism in the Americas: 

As the european kingdoms (Spain, Portugal) started exploring the world to find new lands and establish colonies they frowned upon the natives of Central and South America considering them as inferiors. Thus creating three casts in which the Europeans were on the top of society, then it was the people of mixed race and down below were the natives. 

USA government treated harshly the natives in Northern America with a belief in white supremacy and superiority causing their cultural genocide and also committing bloody massacres and atrocities since 1776. 

Canada established residential schools for the native children to “civilize them” simply by separating them from their families and putting them in horrific conditions, malnutrition, abuse and complete disregard of their own identity.   

Colonial Imperialism in Africa:

France and England were at the forefront of the imperialism in Africa and established black slavery. Black Africans were oppressed, abused and killed. To support their imperial campaigns they established a political agenda that the african people are infidels and needed to be christianized and also that they were considered primitive and needed to become civilized.

Darwin and Imperialism:

Charles Darwin wrote the theory of evolution, that human beings evolved from the ape, this theory changed a lot in science. But the agenda of the European Imperialism remained the same. They adopted the theory for their motives. Going from “the civilized and faithful christians against the uncivilized infidels”, the europeans defined themselves as the the evolved species and the people of (America, Africa, Australia, New Zealand, India, etc) as the primitives that were closer to the ape.

Racism today:

Today, racism is all over the world. In one form or the other. E.g. In Africa lot of black africans look down on themselves due to their skin colour, they were taught by the rest of the world to use racism even between themselves (if a black african is of lighter skin they compare themselves to the one next to them who is of darker skin, they frown upon him/her). There are even african people who try to find white skinned husbands and wives in order to give their offsprings a better chance of life. Their skin colour still gives them limitations all around the world and many of them have to work a lot harder most of the times than other white caucasian people in order to get an education, a professional or social status.  

Breaking the myth:

Racism is a myth, it has been outdated since the beginning of time. We are the ones that created this illusion mainly for cultural, political and economical reasons, there is no such thing as four races, there is only the human race! There is no such thing as racial supremacy and superiority. All cultures have contributed to the world civilization. So in order to get along with each other, we need to discover ourselves of who we are ethnically, culturally and personally to gain humility and elevation.

Breaking down skin colour:

Today, racial discrimination is worldwide. But here is the thing…! 

Some people are simply darker because their skin has adapted to the sun (e.g. Africans, Indians). Humans adapt to the environment, the food, the weather, in order to survive. Humans throughout time constantly migrated for survival and for a better way of life and their features and skin colour changed because of the new environments they have entered as we went from one place to the other. This is why the northern Hemisphere people are light skinned due to the lack of sun.

The only place where there is no racism at all is Antarctica!

I don’t know what opinion do the penguins have about this, you ll have to ask them lol. 

Yours in Prayer

John Kakalas

The post Racism and its origins (Breaking down the Myth) Part 1 appeared first on John Kakalas.

As a modern society we still have gaps and contradictions that separate us from the truth.

A huge issue that has been forming human societies for thousands of years till today is the battle between Science and religion.

Since the dawn of time, kingdoms, empires and small societies placed religion on the top of their social hierarchy as a guide of maintaining their social structure, prosperity, safety and dominance in their regions.

Religion back then was not of how see religions today…it was rather a combination of social and natural sciences, technology, philosophy, history presented through myths and symbolisms and spiritual laws of the universe. This is evident in many great civilizations such as Bronze age Greece and later on, Assyria, Babylonia, Persia, Egypt, Sumerians, etc.

but around the 6th century BC something changed….In ancient Greece, the age of philosophy started and the birth of the natural sciences began to blossom.

Pre-Socratic Philosophers such as Thales, Anaximander, Anaximenes, and others began to search the answer of how the universe was born.

Later on from 470 BC – 399 BC Socrates will place his mark on the evolution of philosophy and turn it inwards through self awareness (know thyself) which would give birth to the social sciences. Plato who was one of his students, and later on Aristotle who was the student of Plato would set the foundations of todays western world.

As human wisdom philosophized  its way through the centuries the Greeks from being focused on religion they began to explain the natural phenomena strictly from a scientific perspective….they overlogicated the divine. There was a split between science and religion and which drifted them apart as centuries went by.

After the death of Alexander the Great which marked the beginning of the hellenistic era, sciences thrived and the conditions were ripe for the industrial revolution which was hindered severely by the Roman conquest and then later on sciences were subdued by a large extend by Christianity as the western world was entering the Medieval times.

I am not against Christianity, I am a christian myself with a close relationship with the Lord, but this article is to see the big picture of what God is trying to teach us so that we can evolve in His Cosmic Plan.

Bare with me on this, it will turn out very good!

The focus on the medieval times was mainly theology and not so much on the sciences and philosophy although in the Eastern Roman Empire these two co – existed. The ERE was a greek christian medieval kingdom that emphasized a lot on education. Yes there were some conflicts here and there but everyone accepted the fact that sciences lead to the book of God.

After the fall of Constantinople in 1453 AD, slowly we begin to enter the Renaissance and then the Enlightenment Era. The sciences begin to emerge again from its ashes after 1000 years, philosophy was back in the game, and the status Quo of the Catholic Church being questioned due to strong signs of corruption led to the extreme contradiction against any religious doctrine. The paths between science and religion drifted apart more and more.

Now though as we go from the age of scientific discovery, we enter the age of scientific mastery and we learn to master the natural elements for our own purposes.

But there is something else unique happening…!

As sciences are progressing, scientists now discover that throughout the universe and nature there is a connection between religion and science. Common patterns are being found in many ways as humanity evolves.

Examples:

-Holy water: Scientific research has shown through the microscope that the atoms and molecules of the holy water glow! The blessings being made by the priests transfer divine energy into the water.

-Psychology on Manipulative people:

– Matthew 18:1-5

And he said: “Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.”

This scripture teaches us also about Psychology:

Psychologists have found that manipulative people were raised to be sneaky because their parents were too strict. Noone truly loved them, therefore they didn’t learn to love themselves and others and they feel empty looking for trivial things (money, power, sex, etc) hoping that they will find some sort of fulfilment in their lives.

Thats why the bible teaches us to love and pray for our enemies! Cause if we truly understand their position and why they act evil against us, then we feel for them, we see their position and the whole picture and we forgive much more easily and pray with more love and fervor for them. I am not suggesting that we should go close to them cause these people can hurt us in one way or the other. But we should definitely pray to the Lord to bring them close to Him. In this way we become much more aware of whats going on around us and helps us to become more loving and discerning in the situations that are in

When you are raised in a loving family who is close to God, you learn to love yourself therefore you learn to love others! But a lot of people in this world do not have the same privilege as other people do….! Their lives are hindered and held captive by wrong self beliefs, lack of emotional support, negativity, abuse, wrong environments, lack of basic needs, and this leads to other things of lack of self belief and low self confidence, and then this leads to escapism such as alcohol, sex, drugs, crime etc.

Science can help us connect with God and we can improve our lives, heal spiritually and psychologically and be delivered, and be blessed in this life and in the next.

I can go on on many other examples but I want to get to the point fast in this article.

Many scriptures in the bible can help us connect with our daily lives and also with the sciences of what they are today.

The ancient greeks had a proverb:    “Science without virtue is cunningness!”

And virtue comes from God!

Sciences are of God too! The only thing we have to remember that they are limited! No matter if we solve all the problems of the world! No matter if we heal all diseases and health problems of people they will always be limited in front of the unlimited vastness of God!

God gave the sciences to us through Ancient Greece and they became a huge part of the western world. Its a tool for us in this world just like money is and other things, they are not gods to replace Him. They tools so we can use them for the good of others!

A friend of mine once asked me:

-I have depression! Should I go to church or go to a psychoanalyst?

-I said: Do both! Fight it with all weapons! Just make sure your psychoanalyst is a good and caring person and more so if they believe in God!

Its the Godly virtue we carry and nurture that will define of how we use our knowledge and skills. If we are away from God then we will be selfish and trivial. But with the divine virtues we will only but care about the people around us and feel their pain and help for the common good.

Christianity in our times is about to come into full play ! And its a combination of two major rivalling cultures

The jewish culture and the greek culture.

The Jews spoke of God and the Greeks spoke of the things of God (science and philosophy)!

I truly believe that the future of Christianity lies in the full unification between religion and science/philosophy, only this time it will be much more broad and complete compared to the ancient religious wisdom which had everything combined in an initial form that existed before the age of philosophy , new truths shall be revealed by the Lord as the centuries goes by that will eliminate all contradictions. And mankind will realize a broader picture of God and the Universe and will finally understand its glorious role in His Divine Plan.

I ll just close this article with a quote by Albert Einstein :

Keeping you in prayer

John Kakalas

© John Kakalas

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“Love thy neighbour”:

Loving thy neighbour is the second most important thing required after loving God.

But make no mistake, Jesus tells us in the Bible to do both of those things in our lives. If we focus only on God and not love those around us, then we only love ourselves. We completely eliminate others when we focus too much on the bible, this happens because we tend to follow the scriptures to the letter and we start to compare that with the people’s deeds around us and then we slowly isolate ourselves from everyone. This can turn quite dangerous cause it hurts human relationships and can even lead to religious extremism.

I assure you thats not what the Lord wants. He wants a relationship with us and love others as well.

Let me refer you though back to “loving thy neighbour”.

What’s the best way to love others?

Giving value to others, recognize the people around us as human beings, be polite, smile at them, be kind to them, not judging them, show them mercy, pray for them, bless them, love them, listen to their concerns, and give advise when we clearly can understand their problem. The best way to approach that is to put our selves in someone’s shoes in order to understand their concerns, their pain, their sorrow, or whatever is in their heart or mind.

Off course we have to be weary of others that are not a positive influence in our lives, therefore we need to “be wise as serpents and innocent as doves” as the Bible says, meaning be perceptive and see through people but don’t turn any evil against them cause thats the Lord’s job, He says: “vengeance is mine, I will repay”. We can only pray to the Lord to give us discernment but we must not react against anything evil done to us, I assure you that when we ask the Lord to resolve the problem He will act! The best thing we can do as people to help these lost souls who are in the wrong, is to pray for them to come into repentance but also pray to God to fight our battles against the evil spirits that are making others do evil on us.

So we keep our distance (with a smile and kindness) from people that don’t do us any good but we still need to try to understand where they come from and keep them in our prayers so that the Lord can guide them and help them. Now whether these people are friends, flatmates, relatives or family, it depends on what the situation is and you need to seek advise from experts or people you really trust on what to do.

God though listens to our prayers, He fights our battles and solves our problems! And trust me He will do a much better job that you and I could ever do…The only thing He longs for us is to talk to Him, and He never says no when we ask Him to come into our lives, to forgive us, help us, or make others to come to repentance! His will is to recreate the Universe and make it better! Holier! And closer to Him.

I would also like to share with you a little secret, that the author/pastor John C. Maxwell said in one of his lectures:

“Giving value to others is the number one characteristic of leadership!”

From the moment you start to develop your christian values and your self knowledge, you are becoming a leader in your circle or people.

Alexander the Great knew who he was and his destiny, he knew all the names of his soldiers, he gave them the spoils of each battle and left nothing for him, he lead his army by standing in front of them riding a big and tall horse named Bucephalus in order to be seen by his troops standing at the back. He lead his soldiers from Greece all the way to India by being a great example! And his legacy lives on till this very day! Wherever he set foot the locals still remember him as a kind and true leader.

Another historical example is the Byzantium (Eastern Roman Empire).

If you check the movie registry Imbd, there are 72 medieval movies registered. They all show about the dark ages in Medieval Europe. Not a single movie in this number mentions the Eastern Roman Empire. No, I am not talking about any conspiracy theories or agendas. The answer is pretty clear: There were no dark ages in the ERE. Byzantium was the most educated and spiritual kingdom in Europe. The emperor Theodosius the 2nd gave the order to all the linguists and literature writers to gather all the ancient greek writings (philosophy, Homeric epics, social and natural sciences, history, etc) that were preserved in the monasteries throughout the empire. He founded the first university in Europe called the “The Imperial University of Constantinople”. This university lasted from 425 AD till the fall of Constantinople in the year of 1453 AD. All people in governmental positions were required to finish their education there so that they know how to run the empire. So there was a combination of greek education and deep religion coexisting in the empire. There were some conflicts here and there but everyone accepted that the sciences lead to the book of God.

Education was valued by every byzantine, every citizen of the empire idealized of going to school, kids would start learning reading and writing ancient greek at the age of 6 by studying if they could afford it the Homeric Epics. People who remained uneducated regardless of their social standing were frowned upon.

Greek education and Christianity are the founding basis of the western world and we gradually have removed them from our society over the last few decades. The older generations (our grandparents) used to learn about the ancient Greeks in high school, they would go to church and participate in the word of God, they built a solid education which made them strong and responsible citizens. In the medieval times the christian monks all over Europe studied the Ancient Greeks relentlessly and maintained the wisdom that helped us reach new heights today. The reason of our decline its simply because of these values are now slowly deleted from being our prime guides in life and society.

Now we also need to mention that the western world has made historical mistakes (oppressing the Native Americans, black slavery, world wars, ethnic cleansing, imperial colonialism, human exploitation, etc). And again all these mistakes will only be rectified by personal and national self knowledge (passion for curiosity, history books without any form of agendas, philosophy in a more simplified english, mathematics as a philosophy of life, learning ancient greek) in order to learn from our mistakes as individuals and as countries and we must not let ourselves ever forget our mistakes or else we will keep repeating them.

So in order to change our western society, we need to make a decision in our lives and change our selves through self searching (greek education) and giving value to others humbly (christianity). Self ignorance and Ego has really made our life decadent and meaningless.

But don’t expect any authority to change things for you, if they wanted to they would have changed many things a long time ago. We need to be that change, we need to be leaders within of ourselves and by putting God as the authority in our lives. Once we change our selves, our inner world will start changing our outer reality, negative things, situations and people who are holding us back will start changing or even be removed. Don’t fret or worry by your detachment, embrace it, mourn over it, and let it go, but stay focused on the Lord cause He is seeing you and He is starting to elevate you and train you for better things.

Keeping you in Prayer!

John Kakalas

© John Kakalas

The post The Decadence and Rebirth of the Western Civilization (Part 2) appeared first on John Kakalas.

The Roman Empire is the perfect example of how it subdued the known ancient world and eventually collapsed after a 1500 year reign.

What we see in today’s western society is something similar, the cycle is almost complete but it will give  rise to something new, a spiritual rebirth is happening right now. I talk to many people from many countries of the western world and many times they seem very concerned of how much things have changed and that in the near future there will be a complete collapse of the western world.

I understand every person’s concern on this but I will say this: People have their own plans but the Lord has His own. Any form of agendas of any sort shall not prevail!

Our world is in the midst of a spiritual battle, the battle of within! We need to reestablish the two most important pillars that built our core values in us as people and the western world.

These two pillars are:

1. “Know thyself” (Greek Education)
2. “Love thy neighbour” (Jesus Christ)

“Know thyself”:

The ancient Greeks always emphasized on a person’s education, this mindset literally changed all the ancient world in 1000 years and set the foundations of today’s society. Socrates, Plato and Aristotle emphasized that knowing yourself (by asking discreet questions about our selves) is the beginning of all wisdom in the world. But we have to understand that the ancient Greeks had a different form of education than our own today. They didn’t have tests or exams, or any kind of stress that would prohibit their intellectual growth. So what motivated them to learn?

Passion for curiosity!

Off course I need to say that the ancient Greeks were not a perfect society (they also did mistakes like every other human society), but then again was there ever a correct one in human history?

But what the ancient Greeks taught us is to ask questions, and to not accept arguments from authorities unquestionably, off course if we start asking questions we will see that there are many wrongs in our world.

So what should we do?

Should we start going out and protesting in the streets for various issues? (e.g. high crime rate, political and religious corruption, police brutality, etc). Going against the system is like going against the stream of a big river. When we are young and strong, our blood boils and we want to change the world, and thats completely understandable, but once we get older we start getting tired and wonder what is the point of all this? Will our efforts ever pay off? And soon after, we give up and compromise with the status quo…and the system has won as we drift away by the river stream, tired, old and defeated. I am not saying we should not try and make the world a better place. We definitely should! But there is a better strategy…and that is changing the system from within by changing ourselves within and through prayer, adapt in the real world and make a difference without compromising our ethical values. This way, we go with the flow of the river but slowly and steadily we change its route to the way of the Truth.

We have to understand that the outer reality reflects of how we think, our beliefs, our thinking, our emotions, so once we start changing within by getting to know ourselves as for who we are, our life will start changing in an almost metaphysical way. This starts happening once we face ourselves in the mirror and see our faults, our gifts and talents. I am not saying we shouldn’t praise ourselves or not build our confidence, but when we look ourselves in the mirror we should see the whole picture, when we get to know ourselves of who we really are, we ‘ll start accepting our selves, and when we accept our selves then we start to humbly love ourselves, and when we start loving ourselves, then we start loving the people around us, we ll start associating with them. We ‘ll start feeling their pain, their concerns, their problems, their joy and as human beings we will mourn with them, and we will celebrate with them.

Self knowledge is a never ending journey, and every time you discover something new about yourself its cathartic, it gives you peace…no more insecurities, no more uncertainty, no more of what others think of you, you are sure of your self, you know who you are and you are in touch with your feelings and what you want, yes, there will be challenges and thats part of life, but you ll know who you are and nothing or anyone can shake you out of it.

A very important part of knowing yourself is finding your self purpose!

Your self purpose or life purpose is your soul’s purpose, its the reason why God brought you into this world to do!

When you find a heartfelt goal its the one thing that makes you not sleep at night, you long for the next day to come to do what you love, and everyday doing it is a bliss!

Everyone has their mission in life! A heartfelt mission! Some of us are made to be cooks, bus drivers, farmers, teachers, musicians, ministers, businesspeople, etc. If you feel satisfied or somewhat content with your job or what you do, be prepared to come at some point in your life where you wont take it anymore due to stress, anxiety, mediocre results at your work and lack of fulfillment, and you’ll wonder….”Where am I going? What am I doing with my life?” Am I really happy?

Many of us think that the solution to fill this emptiness comes from the outside…we assume that happiness will just happen out of the blue, it will just creep out of the horizon, our true destiny will simply bump into us around the corner.

We say to our selves “I feel sad and depressed…I ll just have a drink, or eat a chocolate bar, or go and have a one night stand, or just find any kind of substitute that will make me quench my emptiness, something that will make me forget my stressful and boring life that aimlessly keeps going through circles”.

We are talking about serious existential problems here guys…! Do you really deserve that?

Self knowledge helps you realize of who you truly are! Its the key to claim your life and be a master of it.

Self Mastery is Life Mastery! In the route of your life you will meet naysayers, people who will try to take advantage of you or even put obstacles against you, because they see you as competition or even a threat.

Your enemies/competitors haven achieved mediocre results in their field (in which you excel due to your divine destiny) so they see you as a serious threat plus the fact that they are bitter and they say this to themselves: “if I cant achieve any success in my life then no one else should! Let everything burn in hell!”

But picture this:

The american eagle…look at his face…he is fearless…because he knows who he is…the true king of the birds.

The crow is the only bird that will climb on the eagle’s back and will bite his neck…but he doesn’t get frustrated, he doesn’t react, he starts flying even higher above the clouds and due to the lack of oxygen the crow passes out and falls into the void.

So when you journey through your self discovery, do not react to any evil thing turned against you by your enemies, naysayers, or competitors. Just ignore them, show kindness and stay focused on your dreams. The Lord is proud of you cause you are doing exactly what He made you for and He has already given you the victory! Just don’t give up!

To be continued….

© John Kakalas

The post The Decadence and Rebirth of The Western Civilization (Part 1) appeared first on John Kakalas.

Music is in everything and everything is music,

We all love music. Imagine a world without it. Our society would not be able to survive a single month without any music in it.

It soothes the soul, it gives us peace and adds meaning to our lives, everything we do is enhanced by music (movies, a romantic dinner, sitting around the camp fire, elevators, trips).

Archeologists and scientists try to find the origins of it, they concluded that music preexisted mankind.

Religion:

Furthermore when we worship God through music, makes our planet sound like a cosmic bell in the universe.

The Bible says: John 1:1 – “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God“.

The word of God is vibrational frequencies that emit from matter and everything else that consists of the God’s creation. The word of God is everywhere in all forms of energy waves travelling from their sources (colours, objects, animals, people, planets, stars, etc) and coming to our senses.

Ancient Greece:

Pythagoras the greek philosopher gave major emphasis on the spiritual and healing properties of music, he was so spiritually developed that he could hear the sound of the planets of our solar system, he also created the pythagorean scale (A♭–E♭–B♭–F–C–G–D–A–E–B–F♯–C♯–G♯) based on the sound of the planets.

Music in space:

Sound though doesn’t travel through space.

Modern scientists use radio-telescopes to observe the planets in our solar system and other distant planets and stars, they detect the magnetic waves that are emitted by a planet and translate it into sound!

Every planet has its own sound frequency:

• Mercury = C#
• Venus = A
• Earth = C#
• Mars = D
• Jupiter = F#
• Saturn = D
• Uranus = G#
• Neptune = G#
• Pluto = C #

Music in Mankind:

Humans felt this connection as they evolved in time and tried to imitate sounds of nature (weather, animals, plants, rocks) and started producing their own sounds and even melodies. Neanderthals made musical instruments such as flutes 50000 years ago.

Our environment affects our psychology and how we perceive life, and we express our selves through music, many types of music and instruments have been created to simulate our surrounding area.

For example:

Yodelling Music:

Yodelling thrived in Texas-USA, Switzerland, Austria and Germany. All these countries have large areas where they raise cattle, and the cattle have cowbells on them, and yodelling resembles just that.

Techno Music:

  Techno was born in Detroit, USA. Detroit is an automotive city and the car factories have a repetitive form of sounds and beats. Techno simply replicates that sound repetition.

Personally, I believe that if we focus deep within us when we play music, we can replicate anything around us, not just natural sounds, but also the sun, the wind, the city, the running of a horse, the colours, the storm, and everything else the we sense around us.

My personal example:

There was one time, I wrote a rock song inspired by a chicken. Yeah, go ahead and laugh! I am serious! I was sitting on my balcony and at that time my mom had some chickens in the back yard. So, you know when a chicken lays an egg it starts being very vocal right? Well thats exactly what that chicken did, it laid an egg and started clucking and squawking. But this particular chicken had a beat! And I thought to myself…Man…this chicken has rhythm! So I wrote the notes and tempo on my guitar and made a rock song based on it !

So in conclusion sound is everywhere, it is the word of God expressed in so many different forms and especially as music. All we have to do is to turn our selves within, grab our instrument and focus…!

Likewise, as a musician myself I learned something equally important:

Music not only influences our emotions but it also reflects them, we connect with a song that we listen, its melody, its lyrics, its solo, the emotion, the composition and performance, the bias of the composer and of the performer is infused in the music they play and it comes to us and ignites our feelings, we hear the song and we think: “Man….! That song speaks to me…I had a similar experience that this song talks about”.

Consequently, the musician/composer/songwriter connects with the song based on his or her true bias, this transmits to the recording, the live concert, the jam session, etc.

Music In a few words:

The way we feel and focus as we perform the music, that same feeling travels to the listener and makes him feel the exact same way!

So, for all musicians out there performing, recording, teaching or creating….

Be in the moment when you play your music! Don’t start thinking about random things.

Therefore, when we play music we sing for God…whether we know Him or not, but as long as we enjoy playing, He is there watching us and listening to us with a smile!

Yours in prayer

John Kakalas

© John Kakalas

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in I didn’t know my self purpose or be fully aware of God throughout my life.

When I was seventeen, becoming a musician was my dream.

Playing guitar, writing songs and getting involved with artistic activities was a bliss.

Soon after graduating high school, my family and relatives gently pushed me towards a tourism career.

The lack of guidance and the lack of support from anyone led me to compromise and I started feeling lost and unhappy.

I was a young and a peaceful kid that didn’t want to upset anyone so I avoided conflicts.

Every time I tried to react, I would get more in trouble. So I tried to be as much as diplomatic as I could and I never confronted anyone about anything.

When I moved to Canada right after my graduation I tried to enrol to the music faculty for guitar at the University of Western Ontario.

Due to lack of basic music knowledge and half finished classical guitar studies I didn’t have any solid foundations to get in.

I should have gone to a local music school first to get the credentials needed first.

My family though didn’t know how to support me on this. And they decided that the tourism career seemed like the easier choice for me to have a more secure salary.

As I felt trapped and miserable…the environment where I lived also was negative and honestly soon I stopped loving life.

I felt lost…my parents where on the other side of the world and they thought that everything was fine. The lack of self purpose and the mental abuse led me to start working hard to make others happy but myself.

I tried to find answers but I still could not find myself or who I was….so I started reading esoteric philosophy and mysticism. The mystical path led me to experiences that I would never advise anyone to follow.

After an early tourism career full of stress and anxiety, my relationships with women was also not good. I mean really…how can you have a happy relationship with someone when you are not happy with your self.

Gradually I felt more confused and unhappy I didn’t know where I was going.

All of this led me to depression from the stress and daily struggle to go towards the wrong direction. I even attempted to commit suicide due to spiritual confusion and psychological pressure.

My relatives saved me from the whole devastation and took me to doctors, my mom travelled to Canada to see me.

I still felt lost, I didn’t know what to do, I even felt that my relationship with God was in turmoil, as if He wasn’t happy with me or that He didn’t appreciate me.

Because of that I didn’t have anything to do with churches or religion for years.

I recovered after a year and I started working in the hotel industry again. It built me up psychologically in the first year but soon I felt that I wasn’t evolving as a person. On the other hand I started having a deep thirst for music again, every time I played guitar I felt amazing.

Due to lack of knowledge to write a complete song though…as the years went by I decided to take classical guitar lessons. I started performing guitar for hotel guests, and one year I decided to take online music career consulting courses. I learned alot as I met other musicians who were far more experienced than I was.

One day my tourism career ended abruptly due to a serious burnout and I tried to make the shift from tourism to music. My dad called me to see how i was and I told him about my decision. Needless to say that he freaked out!

I told him that if I reached 35 years old and I wasn’t not happy with my life, I would leave my family and they would never see me again, and I hung up on him!

He called me back in a calm manner and told me that we should talk when we meet.

So I started pursuing a music career…!

I met great challenges on my trip to Europe to find a good location that I can make money to to finance my music studies.

Finally I started going for the classical guitar degree back in Greece, awhile after doors started opening up, my guitar teacher was well known for her teaching and things started finally happening!

The second time I moved to Canada, things were becoming even more uncertain in my home country due to the deepening of the financial crisis.

Slowly I started building my music career (website, making connections in the local music industry, making recordings, applying to the Provincial Music Teachers Association although my relatives still had doubts about my music career I was happy and later on they started seeing the fruits of my labour.

Now I am at the point of my life where my self purpose has been realized…

I ‘ve never been more confident, strong, happy, loving towards others and my self.

I feel like I am in touch with who I really am, I manifest my heartfelt desires and dreams with much more ease.

Self purpose….(whatever it may be) is the purpose of your soul, the reason why you are on this earth! Thats why God made you! So that you can fulfill your destiny in life.

Some are made to be doctors, others to be teachers, others to be bus drivers, or farmers, or whatever you feel in your heart to be, whatever you feel compelled to do in your life, whatever drives you, whatever you feel excited to do every morning you wake up.

It doesn’t matter if you don’t have enough skills, education, experience for it, you can be completely mediocre at it but if you deeply love it you will search for information and approach the right people that will guide you. And why is that? Because God is leading you to it! God will give you opportunities, information and the right people that will build you up and make you of who you are destined to be!

When you chase your heartfelt dream God is proud of you! He looks at you from high above and He says, thats my boy! Thats what I made him for! Thats my girl! She is doing exactly of what I made her to be in life!

A lot of people you meet will disagree with you and thats because they still think we live in the industrial age. In the industrial age people who had machines (Ford e.g.) made lots of money!

And people who worked for these people worked from 9am to 5pm had a steady and secure salary, and since in those times money had alot more intrinsic value than today.

With one single job they could afford to buy a house, a car, raise 2-3 kids, educate them and still have money saved up in their bank account.

Those times though are now over. due to the increasing inflation in the economy, a young person 20-30 has to work 3-4 jobs to make the same amount of income, but for how long though can he/she can keep up working all these jobs? 1 year? 2 years max?

Many times I find it difficult to explain this to the older generations, many times they agree with me but in reality they stay the same.

We live in crucial times that only your self purpose will help you to not only survive but also thrive!

Next question is: What if your passion doesn’t bring you money??

Remember that Money doesn’t bring you happiness! Happiness brings you money! Happiness comes from love and self purpose

On the next post I will explain to you how to make more money with your self purpose and work on your finances.

Yours in prayer,

John Kakalas

© John Kakalas

The post Our Self Purpose and God (My testimony) appeared first on John Kakalas.

Is Money the root of all evil??

  Is money the root of all evil?? We connect everything with money… (social status, glory, fame, prestige, recognition, popularity, admiration, bills expenses, the perfect life… etc), we assume that money is the most essential thing in our lives.

We get starstruck by it! We think that this is all there is in life….that money will give us success, people’s attention and praise.

How far are we from the truth though!?

Money is not the root of all evil. It becomes evil when when money becomes as a self purpose. Money is only a tool that can do many good things.

• Raise a family
• Buy a house
• Pay for your education
• Give to the poor
• Open up a business you love which will also give jobs and help the local economy
• Donate to charitable organizations around the world
• Be financially free and spend more time with our loved ones or do the things we really love
• Pray and spend more time with God

So many good things you can do and in so many ways to make a difference…

Money is not our God. It is given to us by God Himself. It is a mere positive side effect when we enrich ourselves spiritually!

Luke 12:31
But rather seek ye the kingdom of God; and all these things shall be added unto you.

Money and Prosperity Gospel:

I do not support Prosperity Gospel.

Prosperity Gospel limits itself only on the good stuff in the Bible that are lovey-dovey to people’s ears. And that takes you away from God’s true plan.

The word of God is not convenience, if it were so, then we might as well go to the supermarket and buy groceries.

Leave bad things behind:

When we get close to God’s word, our environment starts changing. As we build our spiritual wealth it will eventually reflect our outer reality. There is a connection between our thoughts, feelings, beliefs with the outer reality.

Negative things, wrong people, toxic relationships, bad habits, poverty leave our lives. It hurts to leave some things that we were attached to behind us, but in the future you will look back and you will realize that your separation from these bad situations was a blessing in disguise.

God sheds the bad things from your life in order to bring better things, new doors, bigger opportunities and better people blessed by God will start coming into your life such as better and honest people, more meaningful relationships, deeper wisdom about life and your self.

God and Financial Wealth:

Be financially smart but don’t stress about money, don’t get frustrated when you missed your financial goals, or when you loose money, or pay too many bills.

Let go of your losses, don’t focus on lack, the more you focus on the word of God the more financial blessings you will get.

Do not use the word of God in vain to your personal advantage only but use it to create a win win situation by understanding the other person’s needs and wants as well.

Getting a financial education and also becoming spiritually rich is wise but don’t get attached to money, don’t get frustrated when your money is tight and don’t let your ego rise up when you gain money. Its not a priority but merely a positive side effect. So maintain your self discipline which only takes programming and training your mindset.

Focus on high values such as the Word of God (knowing God, know thyself, studying the scriptures, praying, etc) and love our fellow people (love thy neighbour). These two values are the most important in order for God to bless all the other aspects of your life.

When focusing too much on money, we loose sight of all that is important around us, God, relationships, family, friends, all high values go down the drain. And soon enough we loose both: our values and then our money, we enter a spiritual crisis which will soon lead into a financial crisis.

Have an abundance mindset but be detached from money cause you wont be taking it with you when you die! Money is not for us but its about doing all the good things in society (helping others, creating a positive impact in the world). 

How to get spiritual wealth:

We need to be close to Him, all we need to do is to develop our spiritual wealth through

1. Self searching
2. Repentance
3. Confession
4. Praying
5. Fasting
6. Being humble
7. Not judging others but pray for them to come into repentance,
8. When someone wrongs us, we can distance ourselves from them but still bless them, pray for them, show them mercy.
9. Studying the Bible
10. Giving value to others
11. Do acts of kindness

All these things will help us gain divine wisdom and inner wealth thus reflecting our outer wealth including our financial wealth.

Focus on the things that matter and they will open the flow of the abundance of God!

Yours in prayer!

John Kakalas

© John Kakalas

The post Money and God! Is Money the Root of all Evil?? (Understanding Financial and Spiritual Wealth) appeared first on John Kakalas.

Depression happens due to a lot of stress, lack of TLC for our selves, not eating well, not sleeping well, too much work and an overwhelming number of daily chores and lack of free time.

For some people depression just happens to us that don’t have an overburdened life style, its a mental illness that it sometimes doesn’t make exceptions…

Official statistics show that 50% of the earth’s population is suffering from depression but unofficial statistics show that the numbers are much higher and climbing.

Usually depression starts like this:

At first you feel as though you are on top of the world as you up and running your daily tasks managing to get everything done…then  you start having small uncontrollable thoughts but these are not your own thoughts, its not like you sit somewhere thinking…”hhhmmm I wonder how many eggs I have in the fridge…?…or “what should I eat today?”…or “I wonder how is so and so doing?”.

These are thoughts that start to make you question your self, they have the capacity to reduce your personal energy, and you can feel that as your feelings start to get numbed, you feel a tightness in your chest which causes your mind to get cloudy and not being able to think clearly but in the beginning you are trying to hide it cause many people don’t understand what mental illness is and they relate depression with negative thinking or just being sad, so they resent it immediately simply by turning their back on you, or telling you to snap out of it. Depression is not being sad or being obsessively negative, first if all its a mental illness, its not a personal choice, these thoughts torment you no matter how much you fight them. These thoughts will try in the end and take your life if you don’t ask for help cause they are somehow synchronized with everything that you see and do  in your daily life. You don’t know if you are going to live in the next day cause these thoughts will try and convince you that you need to leave this world because you are hurting your family, your relatives and your loved ones. That is the final blow in the process of depression. These thoughts are not true!

On one hand the church says that committing suicide is a sin, and its belief is acceptable because noone has the right to take someone’s life or even their own. But what about the people who have depression and do not want to die but the mental illness convinces them to take their life by telling them that the people they care about will be much better off without them?

People with depression need help and understanding, many times they are fighting their battles alone and most of the times they are not showing it, they hide their problem behind a big smile and by being the life of the party to remove all suspicion from others and therefore removing any possible stigma of being called “crazy”. The world resents mental illness and sees it as a taboo but times have changed….its the norm around us. Before we finger point someone with mental illness we need to remember that the other three fingers are pointing at us! God’s finger is pointing at us when we judge others without trying to understand their situation and that means that the reverse countdown has started where we are going to be in a similar or other difficult situation in the future.

Let me share with you a personal story:

I was at an exclusive music festival for professional musicians in Belgium in 2010, over there I got to know two other musicians, one of them was from Holland his name was Peter (not his real name) and the other one was David (also not his real name) he was from Belgium , we hanged out alot and we jammed together a few times. We had a blast! We stayed in touch after the festival. About a year later David posts on his Facebook wall that he got in a mental institution. As soon as I saw that I contacted Peter to see if he knew anything more about what happened to David. He immediately said to me: “I dont know man…that guy is crazy…I want nothing to do with him!” I replied: “Dude! you cant just say that we dont know what he has been through…!” He repeatedly replied: “I don’t care man….I dont hang out with crazy people.” Little is to say that two years later Peter ended up with depression and he had to make major changes in his life to alleviate his mental problem.

So we should always try and understand people’s mental issues, and even if we are not able to put our selves in their shoes we should never fingerpoint at them or criticism them, if their mental illness somehow affects us in a toxic way we need to find ways to handle it or keep a certain distance but still keep these people in our prayers and help out if needed.

Here are some ways to treat your depression and overcome it:

1. Seek professional help (visit a psychiatrist or download apps such as TalkLife, Moodfit, etc)
2. Find self help groups in your area where you can discuss your issues with people who have had the same problem as you.
3. Go with the flow…these thoughts will run out soon and stopping coming in your head eventually
4. Do things that you enjoy (fitness, socializing, a long walk, call your loved ones, learn to play music, take time off work etc)
5. Start working towards your self purpose: Follow your hearts desire even if you think you are average in it, try also to solve problems with your true calling. When you start helping solve people’s problems with your passion or at least work towards doing that, you ll start feeling better and better as time goes by.
6.    This is the most important, its very therapeutic and it doesn’t cost money at all! : Do acts of kindness where ever you go, help others, give value to others in any way you can think of. You don’t need to spend money on this, just smile when you can, say a kind honest word to someone, give a hug, say hello, understand someone’s needs by putting your self in their shoes, pray for someone in a difficult situation or in need, give positive and constructive feedback. People will remember you for your kindness and they ‘ll start giving back, but the spiritual and emotional wealth that you will gain out of this will be immense, you will start feeling gradually better, your endorphins, and also dopamine, norepinephrine, and serotonin will start kicking in and you will feel rich inside. But make no mistake, don’t help others at your expense! Remember that you need to show TLC to your self first. If you are not sure if someone wants your best interest seek help from someone you trust (friend, relative), or don’t take the chance if you are not sure.
7. Last and most important seek God and participate in church activities, spend time with the Lord in order to alleviate the stress and allow His grace to heal you! Give your worries to Him and He will listen, watch what He does for you when you truly give yourself to Him! The best way to do this is to find a priest that understands your problem and isnt going to drag you away from the psychotherapist and your healing process. Sciences are of God too!

I speak from a personal experience by sharing all this information with you and I hope that this will help you overcome your challenges, feel free to comment or email me if this article has helped you.

Keeping you in prayer

John Kakalas

@John Kakalas

The post How to treat and overcome depression appeared first on John Kakalas.