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Archives for September 2017

The Sin of Greed

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In the modern world, having things and wanting even more, is normal. And that’s healthy, as we use legitimate methods to increase our wealth or glory. The problem starts when what I get, either in fame or in money and material goods, is not something I actually need and probably adds problems to my life instead of solving them.

While I pretend it’s something I need, in fact this need is in my imagination and the satisfaction of this need does not contribute to my happiness but to my misery. So the question to each of us is; how much do I need in order to be happy? And the answer obviously is personal.

Self-sufficiency is the opposite of greed.

To feel comfortable with what I have does not mean I will not get more. The question is in which areas and with what methods this increase will be made. In any case, my personal happiness and my personal joy and peace must not be sacrificed on the altar of any new conquest.

The wealth in my inner world is not only a guarantee of balance and conquest of values, but also a way to manage my everyday life simpler and safer.

The Candle, the Oil Lamp and the Telescope

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The oil lamp and the candle have been for thousands of years the basic lighting fixtures of all human societies.

Today, with the use of electricity, we have changed our experiences and the light of an oil lamp or a candle seems to be not just inadequate, but utopia, thinking that one can cope with modern life using only oil lamps or candles.

And while this is self-evident, when we come to the issues of faith and the search for the living God, we all prefer to use the light provided by an oil lamp and not the light provided by an electric lamp that has the power of hundreds of candles and oil lamps.

In other words, while for our daily routine we look for ever-increasing light fixtures and no one compromises with traditional practice, when we come to searching for God, we prefer traditional means not because they meet our needs but because they do not require personal cost of time, money and responsibility.

And of course the result is proportional. We do not see beyond the distance of everyday life, while the Creator has created us to seek and explore not only the earth and the solutions of our everyday problems, but also the heavens, of today and of tomorrow and beyond the grave.