The tree and the grass

In the countryside a tree and a grass were having a conversation
The grass asked the tree:
"Who do you think is the strongest?"
The tree replied immediately:
"Its me of course.I am the strongest.Look at you you are so short and look so vulnerable.I am tall, I have thick branches,I have leaves and I scare my enemies.I can also live for a thousand years and no one dares to disrespect me."
The grass replied:
"You definitely look strong but appearances can often be misleading.I think that a small grass like me can be stronger that a huge tree."
The tree was furious:
"What are you talking about you must be insane."
The grass explained:
"You look strong and I look fragile but I'm stronger than you tree.When the wind blows you shiver,your leaves fall,your branches may fall and you get hurt because of the wounds that the wind inflicts on you.I may look small and vulnerable but the wind can not hurt me,it can only shake me a bit but I still stand strong.The wind can blow a tall tree like you but it can never blow a small grass.The enemies can locate you when you are like that and hurt you but mine can barely see me because I am so short."
"I told you tree, appearances can be misleading and the strongest can be the one that you expect the least!"

(art by ploop)

The country that we deserve...

Greece and in particularly Athens faces a variety of socio-economical problems. There is a growing number of unemployment amongst people that are educated in their most productive age. Many from those that work are forced to have more than one occupation in order to survive. The income of people is very low compared to the work they produce and the market where we observe the prices augmenting. The educational system is static and outdated and offers knowledge that is many times sterilized and unimportant. There is a lack of an ecological consciousness amongst its habitants and the threat of growing pollution is eminent. There is a lack of a comfortable and efficient national transportation and there is a chaos on the roads as the numbers of cars increase daily.

The above for me are real issues that interfere with our quality of life. Instead of addressing those issues and take our lives into control we wait for a government to be kind enough to address these issues instead of taking a few simple steps ourselves. We recently remembered the glory of 1821 and acted like barbarians in the match against Turkey. We recently became offended with the history book that claims that the secret school did not existed even though this is true. Even if it never existed I heard arguments that were saying that in the history book it should write that it existed because this is our tradition. We recently claimed that the movie 300 was propaganda of America that was written against Iran, a comic that was actually written many years before.

These are the problems of a nation that is brainwashed and the only thing that they try to preserve is their national pride. Our future and quality of life is what is important and as long as we don’t get that we get the country and life that we deserve.

(Art by krecha)

The passenger and life...

Paul at that day was sitting next to me in my room.He is my Malaysian friend and he is a person that was always by my side. We always would discuss the most intimate and profound things. In my eyes he was wise;an open minded person that read a lot of books and could discuss about everything.I like to engage into endless conversations as well so apart from being friends we would discuss philosophy,existential issues, zen and daily life. Anything really that could be hidden in the hostel of our minds.

That day I was feeling miserable and I expressed to him worries about the future and unresolved issues of my past.I was talking so fast that my breath shortened and I felt vertigo just before I break down in tears.I remember that he was the only person that when I cried let me cry.I think that because my friends are so used to seeing me smiling all the time they feel strange if I would cry and they don't let me.He did not stop me that day but he let me be. We both know that feelings unexpressed can lead people into forming obsessions.

He told me that my problem was that in my thinking I dwell a lot on the past. This is a common mistake that we make and we forget to live one day as it comes . He said to me that I should think about a train and observe the passengers. There are some people that sit on a seat that looks at the opposite direction from which they are traveling. These are the people that are thinking so much of their past that they forget the present. They do not enjoy the trip rather are constantly looking back behind their heads. Other people are seated at the same direction that they are traveling. They have turned their back on the past and have forgotten the lessons that their past taught them. They only make plans for the future and they forget to live today. They make plans that may not be accomplished and they don’t carry the wisdom of the past.

For him it is important to find a seat or have a position were you would look both ways. You would then carry the wisdom of the past as you look a bit behind but still manage to enjoy the traveling as you live the present. When you live today you can look ahead and make some short term plans and see which way you are going, which direction you are taking.You would look at the direction you are going but you would not dwell too much on it as you enjoy the travel.

If I would colour the way that I see life this would be shades of orange. Even though optimism characterizes me I have my sad moments and when I do I try to think of Paul and what he told me that night.I try to live the present and enjoy one day as it comes.And I never ever take things for granted.

(Sunshine asked me to write a story with the words:orange,vertigo,obsession,hostel and train that would require a fictitious story but instead I wrote an article and a true personal story,thank you)

(photography by gilad and phooey69)

Films that matter...

As my life moments are often accompanied by a soundtrack likewise they are accompanied by films that stimulate our emotions,thoughts,imagination and open a window to the expression of different viewpoints.Gb winzip and Fuzzy burlesque asked me to introduce 7 films that I love something that is very difficult for me to do because there are so many films that I cherish .However, I am happy that they give me the opportunity to introduce some films to you that are meaningful and maybe you have not watched them.Films are forms of art and can change someones life if they pay close attention.

1.Requiem for a Dream

This film was directed By Darren Aronofsky in 2002. Based on a novel by Hubert Selby Jr. we watch the story of different people that are involved in different types of addictions.

2.The lost Highway

Film noir by David Lynch in 1997."
A graphic investigation into parallel identity crises.
A world where time is dangerously out of control.”

3.Virgin Suicides

Explores the emotional underpinnings of a family starting to come apart at the seams in 1970 that Sofia Coppola directed in 2002.

4.The eternal sunshine of a spotless mind

Directed by Michel Gondry in 2004. A man who is informed that his ex-girlfriend has had her memories of their relationship erased from her brain. He struggles in his own mind to save the memories of Clementine from being deleted.

5.Dead man

The story of a young man's journey, both physically and spiritually, into very unfamiliar terrain.Directed by Jim Jarmusch in 1995

6.Donnie Darko

Time travel and existential questions on the
manipulation of ones fate.Directed by Kelly,R in 2001

7.What to do in case of fire

A brilliant German film that about former Berlin anarchists who have to get together for one last time when a bomb they built in 1987 suddenly goes off and they meet after many years.Directed by Schnitzler at 2002

These are some films that I love and are worth seen.I have not mention my favourite directors like Tarantino,Rodriguez and Tim Burton because in the future I am most likely to dedicate a whole post for them.
(if they want stormrider,gorgi,apotheosis,dawkinson can share some of the films that they love)
(art by ploop)

On being an angel...

"Woodman's pictures are not de-constructive, but constructive. She added layers of reflection and mimicry within the photograph to confound the transparent recording of the real. The images become psychological portraits of the identity of the body, rather than identifying physical portraits that reveal the psyche."

Hixon

Francesca Woodman has created only the small number of 500 photographs and she is considered to be one of the most influential photographers of our times. She was born in Denver in 1958 and studied at Rhode Island School of Design .Her first exhibition was in Britain and incorporated photos that she took when she was only 13 years old.

She developed an interest on the female body and on the three dimensional world and how people relate to space. She takes photos of herself and her body becomes a tool that enables her to explore the world. Her body is the self, the object and the subject. She is depicting her body becoming the wall, part of the floor or sealed behind a glass and blend with the objects that surround her. She explores human boundaries and specifically explores existence and disappearance, life and death. Her portraits were sensual, violent and certainly haunting. She is exploring passionately her gender and sexuality. In her photos she did not deconstruct reality rather incorporated different levels of reality. She is creating images were you can sense a dialog between herself and her body. She is using symbols and explores the transitory experience of space.

Her photographs are self portraits that definitely communicate her inner feelings through image dialogs. She is often nude in her portraits and alone. When she is not nude she is wearing vintage clothing something that she loved wearing. The setting of her photos is usually a large empty room, a cold dark place that has old furniture. She is a beautiful and gifted young woman that received brilliant critics concerning her work and started a prospering career at a young age.

However, at the age of 22 she threw herself out of the window from her flat in New York just after publishing her first book. She published only one work that was called “Some Disordered Interior Geometries”. Critics started discussing the suicidal signs that were depicted on her photos because her portraits had incorporated a psychological view of her existence. At the same time though, her photos were playful, experimental and sensual. What made Woodman an influential artist was not the way of her death rather than her life’s work. She became influential for her experimental and innovative perspective. She is an artist and a woman worth discovering.

Art:F.Woodman
for slideshow link

For Allan...

The music of Mogwai is sensitive,emotional,deep and mostly acoustic.They provoke me an interplay of emotions like happiness,calmness ,sadness,solitude,nostalgia and it all depends on the state of mind that I am at the time and on the memories that might be connected with their songs.Mostly they provoke me positive emotions but a particular song and this is Cody reminds me of Allan.He lives in Glasgow and he was the reason that I first listened and loved this band.Our ways parted but every time I listen to this beautiful song I feel lucky that he was a part of my life and can only hope that he is happy and well.

You can switch off the lights and listen to this song,this is a post that breaks the boundaries of speech and wants to enter your ears and senses.




Old songs, stay till the end.
Sad songs, remind me of friends.
And the way it is, I could leave it all
And I ask myself, would you care at all...

(See the link to listen more of Mogwai)

(art by ploop)

First tears then hope…

A wise man should consider that health is the greatest of human blessings and learn how by his own thoughts to derive benefits from his illness.
Hippocrates

I came back home and I found my brother crying. I honestly could not remember when it was the last time that I saw him cry. I try not to panic and I immediately hold him and let him cry. When he stopped and was able to talk he told me. He had just come back from the hospital where he found out that one of his friends that is only 25 year old was diagnosed with a type of cancer. She told him two days ago that she will have some tests because she had a severe cough. Then the pathologist after seeing the results he told her to go immediately to the hospital. There they started taking specimens and yesterday the doctor told her that she will lose her hair because of chemotherapy.

I am really upset because she is a person that not only is young but also because she really had a hard time in her life. Her parents divorced and she had hard time with her mum. Then she suffered from difficulties in her personal life and lately things started to change. She almost finished her studies, formed new relationships and she was happier than ever when she found out that she has yet another struggle.

She is a girl that does not deserve that, of course no one deserves it, but it pains me to think that she always faced difficulties. And it’s like that with some people that all the difficult situations happen to them and it’s so unfair. I can’t imagine the psychological and physical pain that she will undergo and I can only hope that it’s not a violent tumor. From what I realized she discovered it early so there is a good prognosis concerning treatment. I am sure that she will recover and my brother has now realized that so everyone is very optimistic.

However, I feel bad that she is in this situation and I feel guilty for even complaining about the smallest thing. I feel bad that something like that happens to be reminded that our health is the worst thing that we can lose. Illness does not discriminate but somehow we always feel that it can never happen to us. Unless it strikes close to home....

(art by patariku)

For who are we writing for?

When I first started this blog I just wanted a space were I could write some ideas and post some photos that I created.As a person I have a creative drive and a need to write and communicate my thoughts and feelings through writing,art or with any other medium.I was really happy when I started having comments by some people that seemed to be open-minded and then their comments started to matter a lot.I liked the fact that the blog could be an arena of discussion about a topic something that I realized that was not always accomplished but still the blog for me apart from expression became an important medium of communication.

Lately I have lost the motivation to write because I have noticed in many instances blogs becoming bitter at times,self-centered, angry and disrespectful.In many instances I felt that the blog is becoming for some a medium were they can meet people,form relationships and a space were they can create a persona that is different from who they really are.

This blog is really about me and this is why a lot of my friends read it even if they don't comment.I could even post my photograph I have nothing to hide.The only reason that I don't do it is because I don't want someone that is not in my life now to be able to follow my life like an ex boyfriend.Because this is my diary of thoughts and emotions.I have never met someone from the net and I have never met someone that comments or reads my blog.There is nothing wrong with meeting people from the net or finding the love of your life (even though I have objections with that) but in some instances I have realized that some of the people that write blogs have this as a primary or only goal and then the blog becomes nothing more than a chat room.

In many instances, I get discouraged when things get misinterpreted and go way out of proportion and when I realize that a person comments but has not really read my article and this is something that should not affect me at all but sometimes it does.I was wondering if you have ever felt discouraged too by some of the things that you read in the blog community or by some of the comments that people write in your blogs.I think ultimately it depends on the answer to the question: for who are we writing for.
For who are you writing?

(art by hoon)

Crossroads...

We meet people and share moments from our lives.This meeting often resembles people walking in a crossroad.Many people that walk in different directions and each one has a different path.Some of them take the same road as we do and follow us throughout the years.Others follow us for a while and then turn in the opposite direction.Others never even notice us and continue walking in their own path.All of them that have walked even for a while with us are affecting us one way or another.They enrich our experience as they bring their own experiences and meanings.For even the ones that have left us I wonder sometimes whether there was a reason that we met them in the first place.I wonder if we were suppose to meet them and if not why it was them and not someone else.

I want to walk in a crossroad that is full of people and stand in the middle and observe all the different people and all the different options of what road one should take.

(art by atmosphere)

5 trivial things about me....

H synas o melomenos και η dawkinson μου ζήτησαν να συμμετέχω σε μια blogo-πυραμύδα οπου θα πρέπει να αναφέρω 5 πράγματα για μένα που ίσως να μην ξέρετε και να προτεινω άλλους 5 φίλους μου bloggers. Το παίρνω σαν αφορμή για να γράψω ασήμαντα πράγματα που δεν θα έγραφα σε κάποιο άρθρο για μένα αν και ντρέπομαι μιας και τα πιο σοβαρά τα μοιράζομαι μέσα απο άρθρα.Είναι και μια ευκαιρία για να γράψω κάτι λιγότερο σοβαρό και σημαντικο.Συγνώμη αν περιμένατε μεγάλες αποκαλύψεις αυτές έρχονται μόνο με αφορμές και ερεθίσματα που με κάνουν να μην σταματώ να γράφω.Αρχίζω λοιπον...

1.Εχω τρέλα με τον Ασιατικο κινηματογράφο (Κινέζικο, Γιαπωνέζικο),το όνειρο μου είναι να πάω στο Τόκυο,λατρεύω τα anime,τα manga κομικς αλλά και την μόδα και τα Γιαπωνέζικα χτενίσματα. Μου αρέσει που οι άνθρωποι είναι χαρούμενοι και δεν μεγαλώνουν ποτέ αλλά τραγουδούν καραόκε και παίζουν video games μεχρι να πεθάνουν.Νομίζω οτι το κομπλιμέντο που εκτίμησα περισσότερο είναι όταν κάποιος μου είπε οτι λόγο χτενίσματος μοιάζω με manga.Eιμαι τρελή λοιπον...
2. Μου αρέσει πολύ η μόδα και να προσέχω τον εαυτό μου (θέλω να πιστεύω οτι προσέχω και τους άλλους το ίδιο).Μου αρέσει η εμφανισή μου και το σώμα μου αλλά οχι η φυσική μου κατάσταση μιας και δεν έχω καθολου αντοχή(παρόλο που δεν καπνίζω).Γι αυτο άρχισα πρίν μια εβδομάδα να πηγαίνω γυμναστήριο αν και το βαριέμαι.Δεν ειμαι και γοργόνα στην κολύμβηση είμαι πιο αργή και απο χελώνα και νομίζω οτι θα πρεπε να βάλω κερκίδες για να με δείτε.
3. Το ένα μου πόδι πατάει στην Ελλάδα και το άλλο στην Αγγλία.Δεν έχω συνηθίσει ακόμη ότι επέστρεψα και ένα χρόνο αφοτου γύριζα ετοιμαζόμουν να ξαναφύγω και να μείνω μόνιμα Σκωτία μετά απο εναν δύσκολο χωρισμό ανεμιγμένο με δυσκολία προσαρμογής στην χώρα μου.Τελικά δεν τόλμησα να ξαναρχίσω μόνη μου απο την αρχή.Παραλίγο να γίνω και μόνιμος κάτοικος Χανίων...
4.Είμαι μια κινητή μουσική εγκυκλοπαίδεια μου λένε φίλοι μου για πλάκα μιας και ξέρω πολλά για συγκροτήματα (ειδικα metal,punk,brit-pop,indie,trip-hop).Εχω πολλούς δίσκους και cd και έχω γράψει δυο μουσικά fanzine.Μου αρέσουν οι άνθρωποι που συνοδεύουν την ζωή τους με ένα soundtrack όποιο και να είναι αυτο.
5.Λατρεύω το καυτερό φαγητό και μου αρέσει να μαγειρεύω και να πηγαίνω σε εστιατόρια.Αγαπημένη μου κουζίνα είναι η Ινδική και Μεξικάνικη και γενικά όσο πιο καυτό τοσο πιο καλό θα μπορούσε να είναι το μότο μου.

θέλω να προτείνω τους:
stormrider
anastasia
apotheosis
optimus
wildflower
(this is an article about a blog-pyramid that invite Greek bloggers to write 5 things about themselves and this is the reason that I wrote it in Greek.Then you have to ask another 5 bloggers to write something if they want to.Its a nice break though from all the serious articles that I wrote but it is also a bit embarrassing...)

Because you avoid me...

When we met we liked each other from the start. I met you in the class and immediately we connected. We started talking like we knew each other for years and had lots of fun in the classroom. We spend time in the dark room developing photos while talking about our lives, interests, music and aspirations. Every time we talked we were amazed that we had so many things in common and I think that it’s been years since I met such an open-minded person like you. The more time we spend with each other (even though we only met in the class or in the trips that we went as a group) the more I realized that you could become someone important in my life you could become a best friend.

Then suddenly after two months you started calling me more often and told me that you wanted to meet me outside the lesson as you didn’t see why photography was the only reason that we met.You text me on my mobile saying that you want to know me better and that when you see me time becomes meaningful. Then I realized and feared that your feelings were not just friendly. Then I decided to go out with you after the class to the local cafeteria before it becomes too late. There you told me that I am beautiful and that you liked me from the start and I froze. I told you that I don’t feel the same way and that I can never fall in love with someone I consider a friend. It never happened to me in the past and it never will. I realized then that in this moment our relationship ended. It ended because our expectations did not meet. We came so close so quickly and all vanished in an instant.

Few days ago we met at the exhibition and you sat next to me because there was an empty seat. You sat for 10 minutes and then you left as it was a bit awkward. I am sad because it is rare to find someone in your life that you connect so much and you told me that you are amazed by it. I am sad because now every time we will meet it will be awkward and all I want to do is to sit next to you and have these passionate endless conversations and share moments with you. Because you avoid me I am sad. How I wish you never liked me!

(art by libelle)

My guitar is sleeping…

When I was 14 I bought an electric guitar. I went to a music school for a year and then I started playing on my own. I used to try to play with my guitar the music that I was listening to as my personal experiences were always followed by a soundtrack. It is difficult to learn how to play guitar by yourself and a year later I was lucky that I met a friend that loved playing guitar. We met from an advertisement as he was selling some cd’s that he had twice and we became close friends. He showed me how to play the most obscure rock bands and he made me really love my guitar.

Just before I leave Greece in order to study, I bought a black big guitar case in order to be able to move my guitar across countries. It was always difficult travelling with my guitar and all these suitcases but there were always nice people that would help me in the airport. I continued to play even though having an electric guitar an amp and plugs in a small student room was uncomfortable. Then a year later, my friend Howard bought me an acoustic guitar for my birthday. That was really unexpected as the present arrived anonymously (because he knew I could not accept it) and I discovered a year later that it came from my friend.

Then in my small room I had two guitars. I played in a project with some other friends and it was the first and last experience that I had from a recording studio. What I realized was that I could not play alone anymore as music needs to be shared with others. It was so beautiful writing songs and music in a collaboration with people that cared not so much for the instrument ability but for the messages conveyed through the lyrics.

In my last year in England I lived opposite a park. There I met a singer and guitarist from a local band that almost every day was sitting in the park playing his acoustic guitar. He invited me to play with him and we would meet every weekend if the weather was good to play. I learned more from him than I learned all my life. He used to download songs that I had never heard and he taught me how to play and sing close to my voice.

Since then I have stopped playing guitar. For me the important thing was never to be good at playing guitar or knowing techniques. The important thing was to share with someone the music, writing lyrics and sing not for a purpose but for expression. It makes me sad that I don’t feel like playing guitar now but I think the reason is that I started seeing this instrument as something that it involves other people. And the people that I loved to play with are no longer in my life as some live far away, others have moved on and for this reason my guitar is sleeping in my closet. Maybe it will wake up again in the future…

(art by jaysu)

Conflict diamonds...

After watching a film that was related to the civil struggles in Sierra Leone I remembered a brilliant documentary that I watched last year. Sierra Leone has suffered 10 years of civil struggles between the government and the RUF (Revolutionary United Front).The blood or conflict diamonds are the diamonds that “are mined in a war zone and sold clandestinely, in order to finance an insurgent or invading army's war efforts.”The finance of wars through diamond mining not only occurred in Sierra Leone but in Angola and the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

In Sierra Leone the government started to make a huge profit out of illegal diamond mining and trading in their country. In 1991 the RUF attempted assaults on the government in order to get control of the mining business. They attacked villages were they captured people that made them work in the mines like slaves. Many children were abducted from their families and trained to be RUF soldiers. Anyone that opposed to the RUF practices was killed or amputated.

The UN in 1999 recognized that diamonds are funding the civil war. In 2003 the Kimberley Process Certification Scheme (KPCS) was created. Every government in Africa would issue a certificate that would accompany any rough diamond when they export it that certifies that the diamonds are conflict free.

The civil wars in Sierra Leone ended in 2002. More than 40,000 ex-combatants were demobilized and a war crimes court indicted a dozen of those deemed most responsible for the war and its atrocities. In Angola the war has ended and in Congo the political situation is fragile. Liberia is under a diamond embargo by the UN but it is expected to be lifted during this year. The only major source of conflict diamonds at present is in the rebel-held areas of northern Côte d’Ivoire. In a 2004 survey conducted by Amnesty international concerning diamonds they found that only 11% of retail stores in the United States had a policy regarding conflict diamonds. Therefore, conflict diamonds are still sold.

I think that what happened in Africa with the diamond trade demonstrates that in profit people, governments and organizations can look the other way and ignore the suffering as people die while diamonds are forever…

Links: amnesty, film

The exploitation of suffering...

In Greece we are a nation I think that panic easily over health issues and often exaggerate. In psychological studies Greek s often demonstrate high levels of health anxiety and general worries over their health. There are also people that live through TV and they adopt as an established truth what they generally listen through this little box.

What occurred lately was a parade of doctors and people who have been cured from cancer on TV shows. They were suggesting that drinking the juice that the leaves of an olive tree produce could combat potentially cancer. The doctors were unsure as this assumption is not scientifically tested however they were on the shows along with ex-cancer patients and this for a simple person translates as a possibility for a cure!

When you bring people on a show that claim that they have been cured they are going to direct their hopes on this new cure and ignore that this is just an assumption of some TV doctors and is not something that is embraced by the medical community. Television has a great influence on people and can lead to the manipulation of the masses quite easily. People started drinking this juice and some were admitted to hospital with intestinal pains. There were also people who sold leaves and prepared this recipe for people and not without a price.

I was talking to an older friend about this incident and he told me that when he was young there was a similar incidence of mass hysteria. Someone from Kamatero was claiming that he had access to water that could cure cancer. In the end of course he was imprisoned for fraud but on the court many people appeared that believed that they were cured from cancer and supported him wholehearted.

There are people who suffer from serious and chronic illness like cancer and desperately seek for cure. Encouraging people to drink daily the juice of olive leaves is giving false hope to the patients. Maybe the leaves are beneficial but there has not been any research that proves that. Maybe the leaves are beneficial but can they be beneficial alone? The cure of the disease relies on interplay of different factors. It depends on the biology of the individual, on the psychological state, on his/her quality of life and the medical treatment that this person receives. Therefore, my impression is that there can‘t be an only cure. There can only be a ground for a further manipulation and degradation of the sufferers. People who want to benefit are aware that when a person suffers is ready to believe in absolutely anything.

Stormrider has written a beautiful article on his opinion over the olives leaves incident and particularly on the responsibility of the doctors link)

(image by wrenda)

The invation of privacy and the internet

Lately there was a lot of debate in Greece concerning the installation of surveillance cameras in Greece. Many newspapers have expressed the view that the installation of cameras will enable the authorities to be able to invade our personal lives and harm civil liberties. One of this newspapers is Free Press (Ελευθεροτυπία).At the same day that I was reading the pompous headlines of the newspaper against surveillance cameras I was reading inside an article that was referred to the department that combat internet crime an article in favor with the title “www internet salvation for 4 children”.

It was arguing that 4 children were saved from having committed suicide by the internet police department as the police notified their parents and told them that their children are thinking of committing suicide. In one instance a person that was playing an online game (line age or wow) was saying in the chat room that he was thinking of ending his life. Another girl was saying this to her friends via e-mail and another was saying this through his blog.

It’s bizarre for a newspaper that is against surveillance cameras to be for internet censorship even if this is supposed to be for an allegedly good reason. The fact that the teenagers were saying to friends that they were thinking of committing suicide is surely something that requires attention but this is not the role of the internet crime police. Moreover, it poses questions on the liberty of expression via internet.

The question is that if the department of internet crime can invade our personal privacy even for the threat of suicide this means that it can repeat it in other instances. It also indicates that what happens in a chat room, what you may say in an e-mail or in your blog might lead the police to knock on your door. But people believe that if this serves a good reason then it is correct. However, who defines what is a good reason for invading our privacy and what are the implications for freedom of speech via the internet? This is of particular interest to people that communicate their views inside blogs and provokes further thoughts on censorship, liberty and the penalization of free speech.

(art by krecha)

When work defines who we are…

"One of the symptoms of an approaching nervous breakdown is the belief that one's work is terribly important"

Bertrand Russell

One of my beliefs is that we should not live only to work and that employment should not define our personality. Even though I love my profession I was never a person that was characterized by her profession. To be honest I find most people that have studied psychology boring and pretense. Furthermore, I am not antagonistic so I want to relate with people that are open-mined and have various interests. Even though it is nice sharing ideas with people from your profession I prefer talking with people that do different things and interchange ideas. Besides I never met a psychologist that likes comics or goes to rock and indie concerts but I met people that do something else and are interested in what I do and this is far more interesting.

Even though I read a lot and I like to share what I know I leave work at work. I talk about my work when I am asked or someone shows a genuine interest but I would never start a conversation. Rather I usually talk about my hobbies, my dreams, things that happen in daily life,politics, manga, films and music. I like it when someone is interested in what I do but what I do is a part of me and not my whole self. My whole self has so many things that want to share and so many things that want to learn. I can never get enough of learning and this is why I did not have time to read your blogs this week and I missed that. I try to keep a balance between work and hobbies. For me my hobbies are my personal time and space where I can do things for myself and are vital as without them I would feel a slave to work.

My point is that its important when people love their work because I love my work too. However, it troubles me when people only talk about their work and all their relationships come from work. It troubles me when people do not have time to even read a book because they are absorbed with their work. Our profession can not characterize as and define our whole existence no matter how much we love what we do. Otherwise we will become slaves to work, we will become work.

(art by annie julie)

Everyone wants to be found...

Everyone wants to be found and everyone deserves to be found. When we become as lucky as to find them; after sometime we are not happy and we want to change aspects of who they are. It’s not fair to want to change someone. We should accept people for who they are and if we don’t we should let them move on as we end up hurting them. However, knowingly we sometimes indulge into this urge to say to a person we love that we aren’t happy when they are in a certain way. What is it with people? Maybe our life is an endless struggle to find something and when we find it we deconstruct the myth that we have created and try to bring about changes. We fight to change the person that we have found, the person that once was perfect for us. I am not sure what wanting to change someone means. Does it mean that we don’t love them anymore? Does it mean that our needs and wants have changed? Or does it mean that we are species that struggle endlessly to find something ideal or new? I haven’t got a clue! However I can’t help feeling that it’s so unfair not to let someone be the person that they want to be.

(art by krecha)

Misleading Hope...

"With or without religion, you would have good people doing good things and evil people doing evil things. But for good people to do evil things, that takes religion".

Steven Weinberg

There is a new profitable enterprise that can ensure financial success to the investors. You can invent a new religion, this is what seems to happen in modern societies lately as for some reason there is always people that will trust that you know the road to salvation.

It amazes me that in this decade people are ready to believe self-claimed prophets that claim that know how people can achieve the salvation of their soul. I never cared for the salvation of my soul especially from people that I think that are more corrupt than the general population. However there are people that believe because those preaching are directed to fragile people that have lost hope .Their preaching exploits individuals that need to escape modern alienation and want to become self-actualised individuals.

This is what new religions like Scientology do. Scientology religion was developed by American author Ron Hubbard and there are now more than 4,200 Scientology groups around the globe. They believe that salvation of the soul is achieved through the practices and techniques of Scientology and the ultimate goal is to become a thetan. A thetan is a spirit that can control matter, energy, time, thought and ultimately life. The way to achieve that is through a process that is called auditing. Auditing is achieved by the use of a specially designed meter (E-Meter) which helps locate areas of spiritual distress by measuring the mental state of the person being audited.

It really amazes me that there are people that believe in a religion that is using a meter that supposedly helps people uncover their distress. People know where their distress lies, it is located inside their daily life that is worsening by the day. It is located in the poverty that is spreading, it is tangled with feelings of loneliness and despair and it is in the daily obstacles of life. Hope can not be located within an enterprise that claims that knows how people can find salvation. Besides people need help in this life, let us worry about after life after we actually die!

(art by krecha)

The Αcceptance of Time

"Everything flows and nothing abides; everything gives way and nothing stays fixed. You cannot step twice into the same river, for other waters and yet others, go flowing on. Time is a child, moving counters in a game; the royal power is a child's."

Heracletus

Time is a concept that we are all aware of and each one of us experiences the passage of time differently. We can not perceive time rather we are experiencing it through the sequence of events that occur in our lives. There is a time of past that we are still aware when we are in the present. We carry past time in our present when we remember things that occurred through our memories and recollections. Then there is the present time where the events are actually happening. As the events follow one another then primary events become immediately our past. Then there is a future time that is not yet lived that we know that it will be coming or rather we hope that it will be coming.

Time is really an abstract concept that is so much embedded in our daily lives and has become an important part of our existence. It was important for ancient civilizations like the Sumerian that introduced our current measure of time. For some theorists the existence of time was a necessity for the civilization that wanted to regulate human behaviour. Time is important in all aspects of society and really only children can experience the notion of what it feels to be free of time.

We can not perceive time but we accept it as a fundamental part of living and we all have a different sense of the duration of time. There is a time that the present is agonizing long and there is a time that it flies. I feel that time is really embedded in our lives in such a sense that it is actually verifying our existence.

(inspired by 10 minutes older,art by antihero)

Holidays can deceive...

The holidays have left me feeling a bit exhausted and ill. This Christmas holidays I planned to do many things for myself. I wanted to go out and take photographs for my photography assignments.I wanted to revise my Spanish, I wanted to finish my research and I wanted to read my book. Instead, I was all the time out with people, spend a lot of time finding presents and lately I stayed in bed feeling ill; having no motivation to do anything. I am not complaining I enjoyed the time that I spend with my friends but I feel that sometimes holidays deceive us. We are entangled in many shoulds, musts and obligations and in the end we feel empty.We act like superman as we try to manage everything by ourselves.Our holidays are not only about others but also about spending sometime with ourselves and doing things that we enjoy.The less our obligations the happier our holidays.

(art by radar love)