Α Reasonable Doubt

If we could close our eyes for a moment and look with the eyes of the soul at what is happening around us, both near and far in space and time, we might be able to perceive a different reality from the one that actually exists.

It is then when we begin to wonder why everything around us generate fear and often terror. A feeling of fear that is so intense that affects us in every possible way and spreads all over our planet, whereas -as contradictory as it may sound- is additionally reinforced by us people.

This enormous negative energy and its act against us proves to be the most effective weapon of all time, because its impact concerns not only a part of the population, but the entire human race.  We are all subject to fear, since it now acts like a kind of virus that has reached pandemic proportions and no one escapes unscathed from.

And here lies the question: what can fear entrain?

 Complete paralysis, zero resistance, and us being spectators of our lives. We forget what joy means, we forget to laugh, we forget to think, we forget what to be a human feels like or how to live in the moment; we forget how to be positive and effective; we forget how to be creative. We become shadows of ourselves and everything we own, as a genuine product of fear, is worthless and often harmful not only towards others but first and foremost towards ourselves.

We are afraid of losing our job, our home, our money, our comforts, our car, our expensive clothes. I can’t help but wonder though; is there anything we can lose other than the material world that surrounds us?

The answer is clearly ‘’no, we can’t.’’  Our human value is something that only we ourselves can sell out; no one can take it away from us. Only we can sacrifice our worthiness over the ownership of material objects.

Can anyone eliminate the love we feel for any of our people or the love people may feel for us?

What is it, after all, that scares us so much and takes us out of action, out of battle, out of life?

Probably our highly emotional nature, which, here, in the south makes us more vulnerable to this psychological warfare. Stelios Ramphos, in his lecture on 'Time for sounding', referred to this Greek deficit of logic over emotion, as one of the causes of the crises of the Greek people, in addition to our disruptive tactics and family rules, which in my opinion are imposed on us by fear.

Aren’t rallying in parties, groups, families and subordinating the general interest to the strictly individual the greatest proof that fear prevails? It makes us narrow-minded and incapable of realizing that what is good of our neighbor is also good for us and the only substantial way out is a society which extends beyond borders, a society that goes beyond the boundaries that keep ideas in silos and divides people from each other.

 The crises we go through challenge us to set ourselves free from our fears, to step out of the comfort zone of our individualism, and to create social cohesion by implementing peaceful processes through new and mature forms of people who love and respect people regardless of their wealth, education, social status, religion, race, language, and ideology. It's all about working towards laying the foundations for a better future for everyone and not just for the few, guided by the inherent desire of giving both to humanity and ourselves.

It’s time to face our fears directly, to strip down life to its essence, and finally see the truth! No one can take away from us our identity and the principles that each one of us stands for in life.

When we realize that we truly have nothing to lose and act freely by liberating ourselves of all ropes and fetters, just like the author Nikos Kazantzakis taught us " I hope for nothing, I fear nothing, I am free", then we will be able to witness miracles.   

''Look your fear in the eye, if you can, and then the fear will get scared and go away.''

We ourselves will create small and daily miracles through our new perspective that needs to be put into action now. We cannot hope for any kind of "saviors", and by shifting our responsibilities to others and blaming the political system we nurtured or the opportunists who do nothing but take advantage of our society’s weak spots, will lead us nowhere.

This kind of "Savior" proved to be inadequate in relation to the magnitude of the existing needs and there is nothing we can do now other than to realize that it is our duty to bridge the gap and to become the small but multiple SAVIOURS of ourselves first and foremost and through the joint action of us and the society. 

 This will happen through our differentiated attitude towards small and everyday things which up until now we treated with tolerance as to not to feel bad, not to waste our precious time but also not to destroy our peace and tranquility. This is what we did, and this is what we taught our children to do, ending up wondering why the young generation is indifferent.

 The secret is to get ACTIVE and, within the limits of our existing capabilities, sacrifice the moment, our calmness, and our image for something that is bigger than us. When we are active and decide to step out of our individualism, a huge human domino is triggered by interacting with each other; a drugged society finally opens its eyes and realizes the enormous power it holds and the enormous responsibility it carries for everything that takes places both within and outside of it.

The challenge lies in whether we will decide to transform into an overall ACTIVE society or not.                                                              

And as Nikos Kazantzakis wrote:  ''Love responsibility. Say: It is my duty, and mine alone, to save the earth. If it is not saved, then I alone am to blame.”