Archives for January 2017

“Fold” means turning something around itself, reducing its magnitude with whatever this implies in terms of its appearance and its content. The opposite is the concept of unfolding, that is, opening something, restoring its original size with whatever this implies in terms of its appearance of its content. Usually the folding refers to flat paper surfaces, older parchments or even to surfaces of other materials (fabrics, etc.).

In any case unfold means to reveal something gradually until I reach the desired approach of it. In this sense we unravel the secrets of nature through the observation with microscopes or the secrets of the universe through the observation with telescopes.

In the same way we unfold, explore, reveal, discover, establish the truths in our everyday life, and without this process of revelation through the opening and the approach of things, there is almost no progress, not only in science but also in the daily function of our lives. The unfolding, the revelation and the personal discovery of the truth of the living God is the basic principle of the operation of living faith.

These two concepts are the basic pillars of our everyday life. Truth and justice are fixed factors and basic prerequisites for everything we are going to do; in every step, every thought and organizing of our lives.

Truth and not lies, right and not wrong constitute both in our individual and social maps the latitude and longitude on which all our activities take place. The truth, meaning the thing that does not go into oblivion and cannot be concealed, is our main tool with which we clarify our visible but also conceivable issues. On the other hand, justice, i.e. the proper allocation of profits and losses, directs every reasoning and act that we want to do.

These two concepts are described and analyzed in the Holy Letters and, as we endeavor in them, we draw positive and negative examples for writing our own personal history.

An upgrading (anavathmos) is called the staircase in ancient Greek (I go up instead of going down). Each stair brings you a step higher, which means, you see better and understand better. So upgrading means promoting to something better, bringing something better.

This process also applies to the issues of living faith. As for the issues of daily life, upgrading is a necessary element – in our work, in our relationships, etc. – so in matters of faith, upgrading, growth is a necessary element and without it our faith gradually diminishes, loses its executive power, remains as a name but without effect.

Because the challenges in our everyday lives increase as we age – the challenges in childhood and in mature age are different – and if our faith does not adapt to the new requirements every time, if it does not adjust or upgrade according to our needs are then it becomes outdated, ineffective, marginalized, abandoned, and at the end it becomes a burden that we want to get rid of and delete from our “identity” at all costs.

Because not only does it not help us, not only does it not express us but it brings us additional obligations to the already heavy burden of our everyday life.

Removing or reducing means that I lose something I have. All of it or part of it, in any case what I had until now, I lose it. And this is a negative development, an unpleasant and bad development that no one wants to happen in their life.

And we can all recognize when the coarse things become less, when a part of them is lost. But when it comes to thin and sensitive things, then even their recognition is difficult and requires attention and observation to make them understandable. Indeed, as long as the effects of removal do not affect me, they do not affect my everyday life, my reflexes are in hypnosis, leaving the subject to be dealt with later and later, until it is too late in the end.

Because when the damage is at the foundation and at the roots, the negative action is not visible, but when it becomes visible it is too late, the foundations are destroyed, the root has rotted and the restoration is either too difficult or impossible.

The topic I chose for today’s meeting is not a puny word. For “great”, no matter what is the meaning of this word is different than “major”.

The “major” contains the element of comparison, judgment, and appreciation. It is my next station. It is my next achievement in my profession, in my personal life. It is the goal to which I direct all my productive forces. It is the driving force that makes me go a step further, take more substantial decisions, strive more, get better, achieve today what I did not succeed in doing yesterday.

Major is not the best, but the greatest. The good – better, includes an emotional judgment that contains the personal element. Unlike the great, the major, the largest only contains numerical distinction, which diminishes the possibility of misinterpretation due to emotional parameters. So the good – better is great, but great – major is safer, it is resistant to criticism and this is what Christ applied when judging his colleagues.

He measured the talents they had acquired with their own effort and their own capital and not how good people they were.