All civilizations in history go through cycles, they are born, reach their peak and then eventually decline.
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:
- “Know thyself” (Greek Education)
- “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
