Nutrition

Part 1 of 3

Dear friends,

How can one begin a discussion of one of the most central issues of health and life? I will dive in the waters despite the fact that I don’t know many things. At least I know how to swim… That is, I have studied and practiced so much with nutrition, that I have at least understood that it is a cornerstone of health. Both physical and mental health.

One of the most popular sayings of ancient Greece is ‘healthy body, healthy mind’. That is, the mind is healthy only when the body is healthy. Additionally, ancient eastern thought has taught us that body and mind are inseparable and influence one another. In other words, if you cultivate the spirit you better the body, and if you better your bodily health you strengthen your mental health.

In my humble opinion, the best way to live is to base yourself on a good philosophy, and I believe that the essence of this philosophy is the unerring Law of Cause and Effect. I hold this true for nutrition as well.

So, the Causes are what you eat, when you eat it, how you eat it and why you eat it. And the Effect is your metabolism, and hence your health.

I have to admit that during the first three decades of my life I did not engage with the essence of nutrition. I just ate, and ate, and ate…

And I don’t say that just because I became obese and ill, dependent on sugar and processed food. But mainly I say it because I ate in the wrong way, the wrong things, in wrong quantities and at the wrong times, at least according to my own health needs.

Each person’s health is unique, and you need to take responsibility for it if you wish to have strong and healthy body. So I, thankfully before reaching a point of no return, took this responsibility.

This is the key point because, as I always insist, everything starts with a realization and a determination to pave your own way. No matter if it concerns where you are going to go today, what kind of work you will do, what time you will sleep, what you will eat, EVERYTHING. Ultimately, about how you will live your life.

I have gotten to the point of understanding that if you base yourself on your environment, you become a sheep, you are lost. And how do I mean that. I am not saying everyone is alone, No. On the contrary, I hold that everything in the microcosm and macrocosm are inseparably connected and we influence and affect each other deeply. Each one of us brings something unique into the whole, and that is something you find on your own.

It is of vital importance to stand alone, on your own two feet, not swayed by environmental circumstances like a leaf in the wind. It is very important to look into matters yourself, to your ability, and take decisions that are based on real data and not predefined templates.

Here, of course, lies an even deeper issue: Am I determined to devote time and effort to this activity? Am I determined to take responsibility about my own life? Am I ready to sacrifice the comfort and oblivion of maintaining the status quo in order to live the adventure of personal discovery?

In my opinion, this deeper issue lies at the heart of any kind of personal growth and development. This is the source of this belief of mine: spiritual cultivation, that deeply affects this matter of personal determination, is that which determines everything, and that which holds the reins of positive change in the person and in society.

But let me lighten up a bit, let’s talk about me.

So long as I had not realized this personal matter, I really was at the mercy of my desires, and of the food producing companies’ marketing campaigns. I was still watching television (I do not have a television since 2008), and every change in my diet was really for the worse. Even those positive influences from those around me fell in the void.

For instance, Anna, my beloved wife, a teacher who also was an open track athlete, who talked to me about wrong food combinations and too many …cheese pies. Or my brother, also a wise man, who used to tell me ‘what are you doing you moron, are you eating to live or are you living to eat?’

Of course this is also a product of my wonderful hard-headedness. But I will write about my selfishness on another occasion [yeah right, maybe this next here paragraph, and that’s too much already).

So, nothing. Void. ‘The called subscriber has switched off his phone. Please try again later’. Inevitably, at some point most people stop calling, as it becomes tiring.

Finally, my diet was to a large extent dependent on my emotional state. I was angry, I would eat to calm down. I was sad, I would eat to cheer up. I was bored, I ate just to do something. I was happy, I would eat to celebrate. And so on. Homeopathy helped me in this area, but it was when I truly changed my mindset and reaction to emotional challenges that I began to change in this important area.

When I trained myself to face life with real courage, I faced some bitter truths, and discovered real discipline, a big change inside me happened and the tangle started to unravel.

I have seen that this is probably the biggest issue for most of us, but I will go more into it at the ‘WHY we eat’ chapter. But let’s move on to the ‘gist’. To those things I have found that have helped me the most. I will start with WHAT we eat, then move on to HOW we eat, then to WHEN we eat, and finally WHY we eat.

WHAT we eat

I divide what we eat in composition, quantity, quality, locality and relativity. Let me discuss each in a bit more detail so I can start with what I mean to share with you.

Composition

When I say composition, I mean the macronutrients and micronutrients that are contained in a meal or our nutrition in general. How much carbohydrate, protein and fat are there in the meal? These are macro nutrients. Which vitamins, minerals and trace elements are there in the meal? These are the micro nutrients.

We should all be concerned about nutrients, just not so much in detail as, for instance, a nutritionist.

I am sure many of you have seen various ‘diets’ that concern macro nutrients. Lower your carbs, up your protein, lower your fats, do this and do that, this is for the morning, this is for the evening, avoid this food, have more broccoli, don’t put too much oil, avoid red meat, and so on and so on until your mind is completely numb…

Keto, Paleo, Atkins, Vegan, Raw, are only some of those you have probably seen or even tried. Some instructions you followed, some you kept, some are probably still bothering you.

Something you will very often hear me say is this: Carefully listen to your body. When you learn to hear your body, and not someone else, you can eat and live much better.

Not all of us are the same. Even a trained nutritionist follows formats. There are many formats to go into, but only your own format suits you best.

If you will remember only one thing from this study, let it be this. Listen to your own body (and practice fasting).

For example, my body asks for more animal protein and fat in relation to carbs. My daughter is 6 and she shows a similar trend. My wife and my 6-year old son ask for more carbohydrates and they do not have an affinity to animal products. My eldest son, now 8, asks for a better balance of macro nutrients. My other son is still 20 months old and has no clear signs yet.

What I can say with certainty, is the composition of our food is directly linked to our health. Those percentages of macro (mainly) nutrients in our food determine the metabolism of this energy and, in turn, the products and debris of this metabolic process affect our vitality and our physical and mental state.

All ancient medical systems I know, like Traditional Chinese medicine, Hippocratic Medicine and Ayurveda, have highlighted food as medicine and food as reason for illness.

I consider it a great hubris to believe that modern ‘science’, with its minimal experience, knows better. I consider it very arrogant to believe that, without study and observation, ‘I know better’. Equally importantly, I consider it dead wrong to say ‘this is like that, we got it, we reached the end, we know it’. The essence of science itself is the challenging of established beliefs and the exploration and finding of increasingly deeper mechanisms of life.

Something else also worthy of observing in the study of evolutionary anthropology, is how carbohydrates, fats and proteins have changed in our diets through the ages and how this fact has affected human populations.

In this area I have found answers to some questions I had in the first steps of my nutrition exploration. And that is processed carbs. We` should be very careful in this area, because they tend to bring insulin resistance (diabetes and prediabetes) and weight increase, and not only that. In addition, they deregulate metabolism and bring with them a long list of modern ills that are based on metabolism. That is our three plights of cancer, cardiovascular disease and neurological disease.

Of course lack of physical activity, lack of sun exposure and nature exposure in general play equally important roles, but here I am addressing nutrition.

Concerning the role of protein, fat and carbohydrate in metabolism, you can find a plethora of books and articles but, in my opinion, only a few certain basic and essential things you need to remember in daily life to make better choices.

Proteins are building blocks of our constitution, as our body constantly synthesizes tissue by using amino-acids. Protein consists of amino-acids. So, all day we are building and breaking down these blocks. Our protein needs vary quite widely according to our age and activity. For instance, during childhood, pregnancy and lactation, sports and some illnesses, our needs are quite higher.

We can have them from both animals and plants. But we must keep in mind that only animal protein can provide us with the full spectrum of necessary amino acids. The only exception would be plant nutrition for humans who are involved in ascetic life, or anyway a way of life very different to the one we normally know.

Fats are majorly underestimated. They constitute a basic element of good health, as they are necessary for the synthesis of hormones, which in turn regulate almost all aspects of bodily functions. Fats determine the absorption of fat-soluble vitamins, and they are the thing that feeds us the most, as even a relatively small quantity contains lots of energy. There are many categories of fats, and the main players here are saturated, unsaturated, trans and omega.

Fats have been falsely targeted for many ills. The truth is there are fats that can wreak havoc to metabolism, like polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) and especially industrial seed oils. And this is the reason why recent (independent) research has found that those modern processed foods that are rich in this kind of fat are driving the metabolic syndrome epidemic.

Essentially, saturated fats like butter, coconut oil and olive oil increase metabolism by enhancing cellular respiration, thereby increasing longevity and energy levels. And PUFAs like seed, nut and vegetable oils decrease metabolism and bring many problems.

And something else about fats. The balance of omega 3 and omega 6 seems to determine the final outcome. If our diet includes plenty of omega 3, especially from good quality fish, and much less omega 6, we find a much better picture of health indicators that are affected by fats.

But fats make you fat! No?

No. Processed and unnatural foods are the fattening agents, especially so given a bad gut health and a sedentary indoor life, and plenty of medical and environmental poisons, which are pretty much the norm in big cities nowadays.

Carbs are the scandal. While we have been told that carbs are the main source of energy, this is not entirely true. That would be true if the main source of energy for humans throughout history were sugars alone. But plentiful sugars only entered human nutrition before a few hundred generations. Before that (just ten thousand years ago, and only in agriculturally advanced areas), the source of energy was mainly animal fat.

Carbohydrates provide sugars, that promote energy production through glucose. But not all carbs are the same. Nature provides several local sources of carbs that are healthy. The food industry provides several non-local and non-healthy carbs, and especially in unnatural and highly-processed forms. That is the scandal…!

However, there is now a confusing reality surrounding carbohydrates.

On the one hand, increased simple carb consumption raises sugar levels, which in turn promotes insulin resistance, which then brings metabolic dysregulation. It is noteworthy here to observe that, before the introduction of grains (simple carbs) as daily staples, native populations had no metabolic problems, had no caries, and didn’t face other ailments that are probably brought about by consuming excessive sugars.

And on the other hand, low carb consumption lowers metabolism as the body goes in an alternative mode, focusing on protection and restoration. If you stay in this mode for very long, you will burn fat, but all your organs will be locked in “energy saving mode”, thereby not allowing you to achieve optimal health.

So are carbs bad for us? Of course not! Carbs that are naturally complex and raw like many fruits and some vegetables are very healthy. However, according to my opinion, our body is not made to consume large quantities for a long time, because such food was not very available to our species. Food availability has not been stable, and for this reason our body needs training in its inherent metabolic flexibility (between burning carbs and fats).

Make no mistake, glucose metabolism is the main source of food energy. When everything in our body works properly, burning carbs is the main thing. However, I am deeply convinced that, like everything in life and nature (which keeps a steady pulsing energy vibration), our body needs to cycle in and out of glycose and ketone metabolism to function properly. Kids are like that. Healthy people are like that.

So, am I saying eat more carbohydrates? No. All I am saying is try to focus on the healthy ones. A chocolate bar can be perfectly healthy if the cacao is combined with healthy fats and is not loaded with lots of processed sugar. A bowl of cereal or a plate of pasta can be very unhealthy if it becomes an entire meal.

But I will not go into it any further, I just want you to get a general picture.

As a final note about carbs, I must say that real carbs are plants and fruit. But I am not very fond of plant-based food as the only source of energy. Why is that?

Plants are mostly made of cellulose, and for digesting cellulose you need more time and a longer intestinal wall. And lots of energy! This I have found is the evolutionary stage of primates, who have large bellies with very long intestines. Man has gone to the stage of consuming animals, because animals metabolize cellulose (fish metabolize plankton) from plants; which have absorbed and transformed the sun’s energy through photosynthesis; and have hence in their bodies stored so much condensed nutrition; and they offer all of that with just a few mouthfuls [sorry if you are vegan, for this picture].

[Note: we need cellulose (mostly fiber) to feed our microbiome. Anyone not consuming herbs, vegetables and fruits is destined for poor health.]

Each one of us, nevertheless, through evolution and other conditions that I will talk about later, will find he or she is in their own unique stage, that at each time of their life may dictate different consumption needs.

For these reasons, I insist, we should listen to our own body, and not others, and especially those that have something to gain from our choices. I hope you caught that.

Okay, okay, I got it… But what does it mean to listen to your body?

I’ll give you an example. You feel hungry. You eat, for instance, a cold cut and cheese sandwich, you also buy a donut and a soft drink. After some time, how does your body feel? Are you feeling the satisfaction of good nutrition, and feel strong and clear-headed? Will you feel like in a state of mild alertness and ready for any possible challenge? Or do you just crash?

Quantity

The quantity of our food is another big issue, that has been equally discussed by every group of people in society in the past few decades.

First of all, we have a paradigm that has dominated the mainstream. Caloric values. Calories, calorie counters, books, papers, entire university wards busting with people who know exactly how many calories are there in a slice of bread… Unbelievable.

On the other side, not half of those ever wonder why ever since the new food ‘pyramid’ was imposed (USA) and the food industry got abnormally gigantic, the place got full of obese and sick people. But that is a matter of quality, which I will discuss later.

Does how much we eat have to do just with calories? That is, if we eat more calories we get fat and could even die, if we eat just as much we are okay, and if we eat less we get thinner and could even die? Well, yes and no.

Why yes? Because, simply, calories are a measurement of energy, and it is only logical and natural to measure food energy so we don’t erroneously think a spoonful of butter has the same energy as a spoonful of tomato sauce.

Why no? Because if you are in nutritional ketosis, three more spoonfuls of olive oil will readily become available metabolic energy, while if you are burning glucose, they will be stored in fat cells and you will gain weight.

There are many people who change their nutrition and boldly declare they eat lots of fats (many calories) while getting thinner, just like I did, while others declare they eat lots of carbs (many calories) and getting fatter. And vice versa, of course. This is determined by the choices we make about composition that I mentioned earlier, and putting the body in a different burning mode.

Let me note something here, that constitutes a vital thing when considering gaining or losing weight. It very much depends on the inflammation caused by food. Let me say a bit more.

When we eat something that is not good for our body, various tissues cause an immune response to this invasion, so we have inflammation. Those tissues create a protective and regenerative environment (edema). So our weight increases and, in fact, it can stay increased permanently, if we suffer from chronic low-level inflammation.

In other words, if we insist on putting the wrong (for us) foods in our diet, we gain this weight, literally and metaphorically, that we carry with us and which tires and burdens us. And to take it a step further, it becomes an essential cause for many other health problems.

But let me go back to quantity so we don’t miss the point.

If you follow the dictates of TV commercials, street marketing, the hidden commercials in popular movies and all the ads you watch between videos on social media, you must start eating the moment you wake, and not stop eating [junk] until you go to sleep… It’s really a sad degradation of modern day.

As with all things, if you listen to your body, use your wisdom and some common sense, everything gets better.

And how on earth will I listen to this body, senor Martinos, when I am constantly bombarded by pictures of cheese melting on freshly baked golden-brown breads? When I walk down the street and at every other corner there is a bakery spreading unbeatable aromas of sweet bread and croissant? When I am watching something, a bit tired and probably somewhat thirsty, and suddenly there is a commercial and I see this deliciously colored cool liquid being drank by this gorgeous lady who seems to be achieving supreme delight with just a few sips?

Are you kidding me? Of course it’s hard. You are facing marketing companies that have spent billions in consumer behavior research and presentation, just to be able to lure you into buying their products.

But as I always say, the problem is not outside of us, its inside. It’s not just advertising. It’s also our fault; we just sit there and take it in because we are not alert. This is a general phenomenon and it not pertaining to food commercials only. It concerns our attitude towards incoming information and the way we process it. And it concerns how conscious we are in our choices.

It is difficult, as I have already admitted, but it really is simple. If you don’t resist the onslaught of false and misleading information served by your environment, you become a victim of the storm of profit and arrogance. How can you resist? By doing your own research about the truth, ideally in company with others who do the same. You need to seek information from varying sources, and then make conscious decisions in favor of your health, no matter how difficult they may seem. So we always come back to courage, wisdom and compassion…

Courage to make the right choices and take the right action; wisdom to know what these are; and compassion to apply them in a humane and respectful way.

Quality

Is there anyone here who considers the quality of their food being the same or better than that consumed by their grandmother and grandfather?

Maybe nothing else needs to be discussed in this section…

But it’s better to not assume anything. I have met many people who do not perceive this truth. And I feel I have to discuss the processing of food a bit, as it affects its quality.

Processing begins with the soil and the seed, or the mother and her nutrition, and ends up in cooking.

I will start with the plants.

The benefits of biodynamic and regenerative farming are widely unpopular in modern agriculture, and governmental incentives for monocultures do not help one bit. Monocultures destroy the soil as they alter its composition; it becomes less rich in minerals and salts, and more rich in chemical fertilizers, pesticides and desiccants, almost all of which are toxic.

The result is that those toxins go into the food chain, both indirectly –via animal feed- and directly –via consumption of vegetables, grains and fruits. Additionally, many of those plants undergo further processing in industrial units, in order to be able to withstand long periods of transport and shelf-time. That is especially true for those ‘travelling’ to other countries.

In the final stage, these natural products are often wrongly washed and they are consumed in a way that allows many toxins into our bodies.

Then we have animals.

Animals often are not raised in a natural environment and do not eat a natural diet. They are often grown in CAFOs (Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations) with the use of chemicals (again, toxins) in order for them to grow and gain weight quickly, to maximize profits.

And, because of this closed-type industrial meat production practices, animals do not have enough room and, just like humans, develop diseases that are treated with antibiotics and other chemical medication, in order for them to stay alive until the final “stage”.

As a result, the quality of animal products, be it meat, eggs or milk, is going way down, as they are based on low quality feed and are rich in toxins. These are not good food.

And please do not forget the same goes for fatty fish raised in fish farms (salmon, sea bass, sea bream) and suffer from the same symptoms as cattle, pigs and poultry.

I think many people have come in contact with presentations, documentaries and talks about these problems, but it is very difficult to accept that what you eat is not good, as you yourself pick it with love and care for yourself and/or family. Truly hard, indeed.

Locality

An often neglected issue in nutrition is locality. Where does the produce I consume grow? Does it matter? This also concerns the theme of relativity in the next section, but let’s focus on locality.

All life on earth and in the universe, according to my own and to Buddhist views, is closely and deeply connected, and everything is dependent upon and also affects all others. This dependent origination affects every single activity, but here I will be discussing the locality aspect.

Another aspect (that derives from dependent origination) that is taught by Buddhism and which I embrace, is the teaching of the oneness of person and environment. We are one with our environment, we affect it, and it affects us. Directly.

Just like a family has close bonds, people and the place they live, e.g. a village, a city, a country, share deep bonds. It affects what thrives there, what we mostly need when we naturally inhabit this area.

So this is very important for both our own vitality, and for living in harmony with our natural environment. When we choose local produce that thrives in this area, benefits are multiplied.

For example, in places with lots of heat and humidity, we see that what thrives is things that fight off the negative aspects of the inflammation caused by this kind of weather, like ginger or pineapple.

There are wonderful books you can study about the place you live, about what thrives there. What kinds of animals existed in your area? Which plants are native there? Which insects and flowers? Are there lakes, seas, mountains, valleys? Are there any very distinctive local characteristics?

And even if you don’t read such books, at least start shopping at the local farmer’s market, and watch closely at what grows naturally during which season… Ask your parents and the older people, what did they eat each season? If you also take a look at what each of these foods do to human health, you will deeply understand why I make this chapter look so important.

I cannot stress enough the importance of living in harmony with nature and our environment.

I should also say here that, during the past few decades, with industrial production and fertilizers, we have forced some things to grow out of place and out of season. Despite the needs to feed a population of humans on the surface, I feel this is deeply rooted in man’s hubris to wish to control nature.

In wrapping up here I would like to say that food locality affects also another aspect of nutrition; that of environmental effects. How much energy must be expended to bring, for instance, a ton of pineapple to Greece. Or mangoes. And so on.

Every ton of food that travels by airplane to your place needs several tons of fuel, and causes more pollution. I am not suggesting to go back to donkeys and eat only out of our garden, but I do not consider it wise to go to the other extreme.

Relativity

I gave earlier a few examples of what our body asks for saying we need to pay attention. Why does the body need what it needs? As a wise teacher of mine once told me: ‘because that’s what it wants’. We don’t judge, we don’t go against it, we just support it.

Food relativity has to do with what our ancestors ate. Our ancestors one million years ago and our ancestors one hundred years ago. The human species, like all forms of life, evolve in harmony with their environment.

For millions of years, man lived by hunting wild animals and gathering local fruit and roots, all native and endemic in his area of action. Because of our way of life, we used to eat few meals per week, depending on prey availability, and we spent several days without much food and with daily physical exertion.

In a recent evolutionary stage (about 12000 years ago), we started planting grains and raising animals for food, and this has naturally altered our digestion and our health. We have trained our bodies to metabolize more complex carbohydrates.

In a very recent evolutionary stage, which I am not so much inclined to name as such, about 100 years ago, we suddenly and widely increased the consumption of processed carbs and fats, the consumption of alcohol, tobacco and other stimulants, and in general the consumption of processed food.

Based on the viewpoint of slow and steady evolution of our nutrition, what do you sincerely believe our body is asking for? Our body is a wonderful, awe-inspiring organism, with unparalleled adaptation ability, but all changes take time. Do you believe your body is all that different for your grandparents, so that you can bombard it daily with processed food, polluted air, harmful radiation and so on, and be healthy? I don’t.

For this reason, when I share advice about nutrition or health, I always support slow and gradual changes, rooted in respect to individual needs and specifics. First we clean the digestive system with fasting, and then we follow slowly with what the body needs. The only exemption is life-threatening conditions, in which case the person is anyway ready to take swift and decisive action to preserve the ultimate gift.

If you observe your natural environment, all natural changes take time, and mild phenomena bring more benefit, at least initially. For example, a mild rain, even a long one, will rehydrate the soil and make it more fertile, while a heavy rain, even if it is short, will often cause serious damage.

In the same line of thought, our body cannot possibly keep up with so many changes so fast, and cannot effectively incorporate food.

I agree with evolutionary theory in many aspects, because it is based in reason and long observation. But let me set one thing straight. I understand and accept some of genetics theory, but I do not accept that genes determine everything. I believe genes are access portals to a deeper level, emitters and receivers of various energy structures (like genetic information) and act as a means, and not a source [concerning those changes that they allegedly bring].

I hold that consciousness, and not the physical body itself, determines evolution. We are primarily energy beings, and for that reason it seems to me very true what integrative nutrition holds: that physical food is our secondary nutrition. But more on that in the chapter about How we eat.

So, food relativity does not only concern our evolution on the axis of time, but also of place. Nutrition of native Siberians is very different from that of native Indians. Food in Germany was very different from that in Greece. In the same way, nutrition on Greek mountain areas was very different from that of the islands.

Where do you come from? What did the locals eat 100 or 200 generations ago? Where there olive trees or coconut trees? Sheep or cows? Surface fish or ocean fish? Corn or wheat? Rosemary and oregano, or ginger and curcuma?

If you make the effort to ponder how you are related with the food you eat, you will be astonished from the changes you will see if you go through the process of putting close relationships first in order.

Of course this entails avoiding some nutrients and toxins that have only recently entered, actually invaded, our food choices. I believe the worst kind are the industrial seed oils (margarines and other ‘vegetable oils’), processed carbs (sugar and various flours), and, to a point, processed dairy.

It is only reasonable to not feel related with a 52-ingredient burger, but still you eat it, right? I approach this subject in another chapter…

(Continued in Part 2 )

Personal Experience 2023

Courage and Gratitude

For many years I considered myself brave and daring, and maybe in a couple things it was true, but deep down I have been cowardly and superficial. And it was difficult for me to realize this, because of my arrogance.

One of the greatest challenges in life has been my work. In three decades I have changed many jobs, and I have gone into various professions. I ‘ve worked in tourism, I have waited tables, I have worked with an agronomist; I have worked in orthopedic shops, sales, management; I have operated machinery to open walls and pass cables. I have even worked as a driver and a courier…

But what I really loved to study and practice, by far, is therapy. Like everything else, I approached it superficially and, despite my best intentions, I never did what is truly required. I also did not appreciate the teachings I received, and hence I was not able to fully put them into practice.

Since 2019 I have been mainly working as a motorbike courier. I have gone through all phases: restaurants, platforms and freelance. I started this in order to be able to financially support my family. In the beginning I was only able to work on evenings, so I could support my children at home, plus my wife’s pregnancies.

Later I was able to work during daytime as well, but my income still remained low. At restaurants I was unable to work more hours, and the working stamps were almost non-existent. Then came my work for the ‘blue’ platform, where I was able to work some more hours, but still without working stamps, until I worked so much that it was viable to go freelancer.

There also is the ‘red’ platform, where most freelancers seemed content, but they initially offered very few hours with many restrictions that prevented me to complement with other courier work.

In the meanwhile, family demands exploded in volume, and I do not mean only financially. Taking good care of little children demands serious commitment and lots of time. Same is true for caring for a woman who gave birth to our fourth child in the summer of 2022.

So problems were piling up, or at least that is how I was viewing it, at least as the job thing was concerned. I felt trapped in a very dangerous, tiring and under-paid job. Plus, I could not add any more work because of the complex and unstable family schedule.

Within this situation, my work was an endless painful austerity, a big weight, a necessary evil. My behavior was very often bad, especially within the family, because of all the pressure I felt, and my outbursts brought pain and unrest to both myself and to those around me.

I was starting to feel like the blue platform had something against me, giving me the worst courier assignments, with the longest routes… my tips were minimal, and everywhere I went I saw unhappy and desperate people. That’s too much darkness… Clouds over a barren field. That is how I felt.

I did not appreciate my good fortune, and so my situation kept getting worse.

My Buddhist faith is based upon three pillars. Practice, faith and study. Despite the fact that I chanted daimoku (nam-myoho-renge-kyo, the practice) daily, I could not find any light at the end of the tunnel. I also studied the teachings of Nichiren Daishonin and those of my mentor (study), but probably not enough. And the third pillar, my faith, was also suffering.

I wondered why. What was missing? I started to seek, just like Ikeda Sensei prompts, how can I more deeply develop my character. Everything depends upon our attitude in faith. Our attitude towards facing reality. Ikeda says:

Within the restrictions that define your present existence, the only thing to do is to discipline yourself and head in the direction of growth and self-improvement. In the process of exerting yourself in such endeavors, you will without a doubt build and strengthen your character.

So, chanting at least one hour each morning, and studying with a true seeking spirit to better myself, I found a great study, not a Buddhist one, concerning courage versus boldness. It was really revealing. It contained one of the most competent Spartan admirals’ speech during the Peloponnesian Wars. That admiral was Lysander.

This article, without discussing Buddhism, reveals several Buddhist practice elements concerning courage. A virtue I not by chance never fully grasped.

In this study, the orator explains how andreia (courage) differs from thrasytis (boldness). Courage characterized more of the Spartans, and boldness more of the Athenians. The Athenians were the masters of the sea, a field where bold moves, surprise attacks and fast and decisive battles are more pertinent. The Spartans were unparalleled on land, always being ready for long marches, prepared to face the enemy even when it was not anticipated or convenient.

Boldness, explained the article, feeds on innovation and success, it lives off of them, and if they don’t come, it dies off. She is impatient, she cannot sustain delays and difficulties. She is airy and fragile. She is vulnerable.

Courage, on the other hand, is eternal. He has patience and perseverance. He has both feet grounded. Courage can withstand time and difficulties.

So I realized my error in life and faith alike. I had this “Athenian” attitude. And very little of the Spartan way of life.

When you are bold, you begin new things easily, and with your initial enthusiasm you dash forward. Then, when the first serious setbacks kick in, you lose heart and give up. You can name various injustices done to you, you project those ‘powerful’ enemies, and you invent several justifications for your decisions. You may even go as far as to blame others, those close to you, friends and neighbors, for your lack of success.

The cowardly person, on the one side, overestimates risk, postpones the essentials, reads more, practices forever to prepare. The rash person, on the other side, launches into battle without preparedness and strong will, impulsively and blindly.

Aristotle defined courage as the middle way between cowardice and rashness. The courageous avoid extremes. They follow what in Buddhism is called the Middle Way. They know that through wise and measurable effort, there is time for boldness and there is time for caution. They actively train themselves, and wait for the right time, knowing there is no perfect time.

Just as my mentor has taught me. Hard work and preparation, wisdom and prudence, correct judgement of conditions, and action based on all of the above. I was reading this study and I felt it was discussing my situation. It explained how Spartans thought it dishonorable to fight with rage, as it is but an emotional crutch for lack of ability.

In the same article, the authors referred also to egocentric behavior, an issue my stepfather used to warn me about from time to time. By the way, my step father died a few weeks ago. George, my step dad, with whom I shared many clashes, but also surely much love, talked to me about this every few years, but I never truly grasped this until my latest personal evolutionary steps.

So, boldness feeds personal ambition, it is egocentric. And courage is the fuel of honor. The bold man has not developed the strength to accept defeat or wrong choices, he is egotistic and weak. The courageous man, however, nurtures a deep wish to honor, support and protect those around him, his brothers and sisters, and does not paralyze when others need him. He knows what to do, because he is ready and he does not live only for himself and his personal ambitions.

The next chapter in this study rang bells for me, and I would very much like to quote it here:

Boldness is prideful, Courage is modest

“Athenians reject modesty and self-effacement as unworthy of man made in the image of the gods.

“Our deficiencies may be overcome by practice and self-discipline.”

The Greeks primarily thought of courage in terms of martial valor — as a battlefield virtue. But it was also the quality that kept a man ready for war during times of peace — the virtue that drove a man to give his best during training, to constantly drill, and to maintain an austere, disciplined lifestyle that produced a strong body and an iron will, along with the hardihood to face any enemy.

Thus, while the Spartans were rightly renowned for their bravery on the battlefield, their courage was perhaps even more keenly demonstrated at home. Beginning at age seven, Spartan boys entered military training that centered on inuring them to hardship. They wore only a tunic in both summer and winter, subsisted on scanty rations, and constantly drilled in the martial arts. As Plutarch observes, Spartan warriors “were the only men in the world with whom war brought a respite in the training for war.”

The Spartans understood that victory is won not in the heat of battle, but in all the small tasks and practices that lead up to it — that what is needed is not only courage for special times of crisis, but the everyday courage of discipline.

[…] As α philosopher[1] put it, courage is “the power to face a disagreeable present in the interest of desirable permanent ends.” Courage then is not only the will to keep going during big moments of threat, but also the ability to delay gratification, to put off short-term pleasures for long-term gains, to do hard and boring work in pursuit of the personal and greater good.

This kind of courage, the courage of discipline and self-mastery, requires humility.

Men who lead with audacity, rather than courage, who think they are special and entitled, who believe success comes more from inherent talent than effort, want to do fame-garnering and heroic deeds right off the bat. They feel they were born ready for glorious exploits. Grunt work is beneath them. Practice is unnecessary. They want success without sacrifice. They want to hack their way to the top.

They see the spectacle of the stage, without grasping the behind-the-scenes work it takes to put on the show. They want to experience the satisfaction of fullness, without the pangs of hunger.

They are gods, and why should a deity bother getting down in the lowly muck of mastering fundamentals? Why should a god have to take an entry-level job? Why should attaining wealth require any more than four hours a week? Why should someone as special as themselves take things step-by-step instead of jumping right upon the throne?

In the rush to crown themselves, the bold stumble over their hubris, and forget that courage in the quiet and dullness of doing our “everyday duty” is the prerequisite to ascending to the clouds.

And thus came for me the much desired moment, of true personal discipline. Just as my mentor Daisaku Ikeda described in the above quote.

Indeed, it concerns Human Revolution. With courage, when you manifest it in daily life, you can face your shortcomings and proceed to action to change them.

In my mentor’s words:

Whether or not you have courage will greatly influence your happiness. If you have courage, you can become a capable person within society. You can also overcome your weakness, and direct your life from a course of negativity and suffering to one of happiness and virtue.

And this is what I started doing after this great inner change. This big step in my human revolution, through earnest prayer and thorough action, led me to that aspect that characterized me the most as far a state of life is concerned. Anger, and the subject of ego.

Allow me once again to use Ikeda’s words:

Anger is fundamentally an arrogant state of life. People in the state of anger are attached to the illusionary assumption that they are better than others and they direct their energy toward sustaining and enhancing that image. To ensure that others think of them in similarly glowing terms, they can never reveal their true feelings. Instead they act obsequiously while their burning desire to surpass all others is their exclusive focus. With their inner feelings their outward appearance out of accord, they don’t speak from the heart. Buddhism teaches that the heart is most important. Of two people making comparable efforts, the results will differ greatly if one person is motivated by a value that transcends the self –good, beauty and the well-being of others – while the other is motivated by ego.

On another occasion I would like to try to expand on ego and arrogance, and how these can be overcome by courageously wielding the sword of faith. Truly, Buddhist practice can cut endless years of bad practices like a hot knife cuts butter…

What I can add here is that, the choice to be just and virtuous and thereby happy, is something that you do many times daily. It’s not like you have achieved it and it’s over… I surely found a way to change it, transform it, but it takes hard work and perseverance. Do I have the courage to do it? Do I have the deep determination to do it for the greater good? That is, can I daily manifest my greater self? That is the battle; and there lies my victory or defeat as a person.

The four virtues of enlightenment are courage, compassion, wisdom and life force. By continuing to chant with courage and perseverance, I realized that manifesting courage has enabled my entire enlightened nature. But why?

Sensei Ikeda, in 2002, gave me a first clue. Something he himself was taught by his own mentor:

There was a subject second Soka Gakkai President Josei Toda often spoke about as if passing on a solemn legacy to his successors. That subject was courage. He once gave this clear-cut guidance:

‘The essence of Buddhism is compassion. We, too, need to have compassion but, as ordinary mortals, it’s often quite difficult for us to do so. Courage substitutes for compassion. I am speaking of the courage to help others become happy, to improve ourselves, to do our human revolution [...] To practice Buddhism with courage translates into compassion.’

So I found myself to all-of-a-sudden have the compassion necessary to put both myself and some others to their place, to speak the truth, from the heart, just because I found the courage to do so. As my faith became more courageous, and given the Buddhist doctrine that faith substitutes for wisdom, without being so wise, I started to act more wisely. And, as a matter of course, courageous faith brought me increased vitality. Both in body and in spirit.

So this manifestation of courage did in fact energize all other three virtues, and my life started to change for the better in an accelerated pace.

I even surprised myself, with my new found honesty. I feel as if a mask has been dropped after a really long time. This deeper (compared to earlier in my life) awakening to my greater self has produced enormous waves of change.

Initially Anna, my wife, that lives with me, acknowledged it. But what I have found even more fascinating, is that many people whom I do not know so well, have noticed and applauded my behavior and the help they have received from me in their daily life. People mainly from the area of my work, with which I rarely meet in any given week, and with which I have developed a relatively deep (concerning the amount of time spent) relationship.

Although they are all men, younger or near my age, I have noticed how often they seem to discuss trivial and superficial matters, and when we are together they change and discuss matters much more close to their heart. This to me is a sign of trust and friendship. And it is the most valuable treasure!

Just as my mentor notes, and this is most fundamental:

When people’s hearts change, and they arouse great courage, their voice, expression, behavior and spirit also change, and they can transform every aspect of their lives and environment.

This change in my heart, I feel it is what Nichiren Daishonin explains at the end of his most important treatise (‘On Establishing The Correct Teaching for the Peace of the Land’), where he calls his guest to “change the tenets” he holds in his heart. That’s inner change, and what we call in Buddhism ‘human revolution’; and it is the heart of my study and experience.

This courage that wells up in my life comes from, just as my mentor taught me, strong effort to overcome my weaknesses. Through the conscious effort to, just as the great Japanese teacher Dengyo described, “discard the shallow and seek the profound”. This great teacher once said that this kind of attitude describes a person with a courageous heart.

In his study about the Daishonin’s writing titled ‘The Opening of the Eyes’, president Ikeda said:

Viewed in terms of human life, “shallow” means inertia, idleness and cowardice.

Bravely defeating such inner weakness and seeking deep conviction and profound human greatness is “the way of a person of courage.” To seek the shallow or the profound—this inner battle takes place in our hearts many times each day.

Life, too, is a struggle. We need to defeat our weaknesses and courageously stand up, based on faith, with the resolve to continue growing in our lives, to keep moving forward and to be victorious in the challenges we encounter. When we live with such depth and meaning, we can become true winners in life.

More and more I feel that, this love for the easy, comfortable and fast way that rules my surroundings, and which is shallow, leads to one wrong judgement and choice upon the other, and daily life swells with lack of freedom, pressure and illness.

And once more I want to use sensei Ikeda’s wise words, right from a now-being-translated-to-English chapter of his work ‘The New Human Revolution”, chapter 28, titled Inner Change:

Without freedom, there is no human happiness. But to attain freedom and establish happiness, each individual must exercise self-discipline and strive for self-improvement. In other words, we need the philosophy of human revolution.

Nichiren Buddhism is really filled with examples of how courage is the way to victory, the road to enlightenment and a true happiness that is unshakeable in the face of fleeting phenomena and external circumstances. In fact, in many Buddhist texts the power of enlightenment is likened to the lion king, the king of the animal kingdom that has steel courage and fears nothing. Also in these texts, the Lotus Sutra (Teaching of the Lotus) is the lion king among the Buddha’s teachings, as it is his last and ultimate teaching, that contains the ultimate truth that all beings possess the enlightened state.

In a wonderful poem for the youth, my mentor describes how challenge, that is challenging your limits and seeking challenges actively so as to be able to grow stronger and develop, is the cornerstone of progress and happiness.

It is easy to speak about human revolution, to find beautiful words and great examples. But the essence is the daily courage of discipline. In facing yourself in the mirror and ask the hard questions. Where am I going? What do I want from life? What is my gift? How can I share it with others?

Do I want to be a sheep, always following a beaten path that obviously leads to the destruction of both me and my surroundings? Or do I want to rise courageously and fight for blazing new paths having hope as a guide and perseverant effort and faith as my tools?

Enough for now.

I thinks it’s obvious that from my efforts to pump courage I have received numerous benefits. But I have left out two actual proofs, mainly concerning my work.

First, I was finally accepted to work with the red platform, and to consequently earn at least 30% more money. Although I have to work many hours per week, I can earn a substantial amount to support my family.

And second, I decided I will not stay with my previous 2021 decision to write health articles. I will actively seek to deepen my knowledge of alternative medicine and therapy, and open my own practice by roughly 2030.

Especially this second part is very serious. It demands endless hours of theoretical and practical training in new medical methods, as well as retraining and deepening my knowledge from my already acquired Chinese Medicine training.

And all of that, given minimum finances and a big family that needs support and time.

My goal is to practice integrative medicine, ideally with at least two other clinical doctors, and in fact I mean to focus on the diseases that mainly are expected to affect many people’s daily lives, namely cancer, autism, depression and dementia.

My basic method in my practice will be to encourage the sick person to gain the necessary state, not only physical but also mental, in order not to be defeated by illness. To have the courage to overcome the fear that paralyses body and mind. And to have the gratitude for this wonderful body and their good fortune to face a disease that will act as a springboard for a new life full of strength and hope.

So I will actually use the Buddhist view on health.

My mentor said about this matter:

While we should not reject medical science, the principal factor in overcoming illness is the patient and his or her “life force.” In medical terms, it is our capacity to heal ourselves. Life force is a mystic phenomenon that transcends human understanding.

And in another occasion he said:

Suffering is the fuel of wisdom, and it opens the way to happiness. Illness, for example, can help us gain insight into the meaning of life, develop a deeper appreciation of life’s value and dignity and ultimately enjoy a more fulfilling existence.

But these actual proofs did not emerge solely from courage and my practice around it. The second ingredient of deepening my faith was gratitude.

There is nothing you cannot achieve if you have gratitude. My mentor said:

There is nothing as strong or as sublime as a person whose heart is always filled with gratitude. In the realm of Buddhism, gratitude is the foundation of everything.

And in another instance, said this man who had life-to-life meetings with millions of people:

When we speak or hear the words thank you, the armor falls from our hearts and we communicate on a deep level. “Thank you” is the essence of non-violence. It contains respect for the other person, humility, and a profound affirmation of life. It has strength. A person who can sincerely say thank you has a healthy and vital spirit. Each time we say those words, our hearts sparkle and life force wells up between us.

One of the major writings by Nichiren Daishonin, the one who established the Buddhist school I follow, entitled ‘The four debts of gratitude’, begins with these words:

The old fox never forgets the hillock where he was born; the white turtle repaid the kindness he had received from Mao Pao.[3] If even lowly creatures know enough to do this, then how much more should human beings! … What can we say, then, of persons who are devoting themselves to Buddhism? Surely they should not forget the debts of gratitude they owe to their parents, their teachers, and their country.

The biggest problems I encountered at work, and not only, in the end concerned lack of gratitude. Why do I say this?

Daisaku Ikeda explains this perfectly:

The ungrateful feel that it is below them to show any kind of appreciation. They are under the delusion that showing gratitude to others diminishes their own worth. This is their major failing. It is a sense of appreciation that elevates, enriches and expands the human spirit. And it is arrogance that prevents one from seeing this.

While, as a Buddhist practitioner, I know that problems do not originate from outside of us, but within us, I found it rather difficult to see how own attitude in faith kept me from progressing. That is where those around us can help a lot. If we open our ears and listen a little bit to what they have to say, we may learn a thing or two…

When I sincerely discussed with myself, with true courage as I noted earlier, I asked: Martino, do you genuinely feel gratitude? Why this communication error with paternal figures? Why so many troubles with your bosses?

Arrogance really is a huge obstacle, but not insurmountable. If you focus on making others happy [and not only yourself], arrogance slowly transforms.

In Buddhist faith we are taught that “the heart is the most important”, and that “gratitude expands the heart [and makes one humble]” and, finally, that “a true friend is all the way to enlightenment”.

Why did I include this last one? Because, how could I ever be able to achieve all of that without my good friend and life partner, Anna? How could I do all of that without my mother, my father, Dimitris, Fukiko (my mother-in-law), my brother and my great children? Where would I be without all these true friends? And still more friends; in my local district, my neighborhood, where we meet every month and share our ups and downs? And, finally, how would I ever be able to transform my life state without the guidance by my mentor?

[Thank you Sensei]

So I summoned the courage to say ‘I’m sorry’, first to myself. So I found the courage to say ‘thank you’, first to myself. And my whole life changed. It’s not like I never said these words, but there are many ways to express those sentiments without depth or true meaning. It is our attitude that determines everything. That is, it is our heart that makes the difference.

My mentor has taught me:

“It is the heart that is important” (The Writings of Nichiren Daishonin, vol. 1, p. 1000), writes the Daishonin.

When we do something, do we approach it with a negative attitude—grumbling, “Oh, not again! I hate this!”—or a positive attitude—telling ourselves brightly, “All right, here’s a fresh opportunity to gain good fortune!”?

This seemingly small, subtle difference in attitude can make a huge difference in our lives. It can change things 180 degrees. This is what the Lotus Sutra and the doctrine of three thousand realms in a single moment of life teach us.

The heart is invisible, and Buddhism provides a comprehensive understanding of the principles governing that invisible heart. It represents the highest form of psychology, neuroscience and psychotherapy.

Appreciation and joy multiply our good fortune. Complaint and negativity erase it.

A really deep and mystic actual proof of this gratitude, besides my work, was the relationship with my step-father who, as I said earlier, died a few weeks ago.

It was a turbulent relationship, ever since puberty. We very much loved each other, but we never managed to achieve unconditional love, what we call true compassion.

These past few years we went through a period where I supported him in many ways; to receive his disability pension, as he became completely blind; I offered several alternative ways for better living from my medical knowledge; I also often visited him for company and shopping, despite the fact that was a difficult person, and it was almost certain that in the end he would end up yelling at me and calling me names.

Our relationship took a very steep dive when he started feeling bad for not seeing his grandkids, although he was the one refraining from such activity to avoid ‘catching something and dying’ as the doctors told him. Indeed, fear had shrouded his life. And he also felt alone since he had driven most people away with his behavior. Even my brother who was always more patient with him, in the end felt inclined to set stricter rules of contact.

But all of that is really superficial. What I did, besides chanting nam-myoho-renge-kyo for his happiness, was find the courage and compassion to speak up frankly. Once I almost managed to do it. I spoke from the heart. He had a very nasty reaction, but I believe he completely understood my intentions.

So, when in autumn his health severely deteriorated, I realized that, despite the fact that he won’t listen to me anymore, the sincere way in which (in my daily practice) I said I am sorry, thank you and I love you, has somehow been communicated from my life to his life. And when he died, I really felt a huge relief from his part. I will never forget this experience. And I am sure this connection is never lost. I keep thinking about him focusing on love and gratitude.

I have really tried to thoroughly explain this experience, as it is probably the most important one in my life. I feel this personal human revolution brings me closer to my true self, closer to my mission and much, much closer to the people around me.

I wholeheartedly thank you for reaching this point, it is not easy to devote so much time reading for someone else’s’ life. I hope I did not tire you.

Finally, I hope this personal experience will inspire and encourage you.

Sincerely

Martinos

---

[1] William De Witt Hyde

COVID - Pandemic, Phenomenon, Revelation

Part 4 of 4

This is the final part of this study. If you want, you can read Part 1, Part 2 and Part 3

PART 4

In closing these remarks and thoughts on the Covid phenomenon, I would like to send a letter to the fighters who have stood up to authority and declared their beliefs:

Compassion: A Letter to freedom fighters

Consider this: A father has been convinced by the authorities and the media that this ‘vaccine’ will help him protect his entire family from a deadly virus. He goes along and gets jabbed, twice. He does not feel all that well but then again, he’s been told it is a ‘safe and effective’ drug so he has to go through with this, despite the initial reactions.

He has difficulty finding work to feed the family, so he also thinks by staying boosted he can more easily find work, because so many employers state that it is a requirement. He knows this is not actually legal, but money must go to the family, so he grits his teeth and goes for boosters.

After some time, news start reaching his ears that these experimental mRNA things are NOT so safe after all, and indeed he has heard of several otherwise unexplained deaths, mostly among working age men. He sees athletes collapsing while he’s watching football. He starts digging deeper about what’s happening and finds out the hellish truth about the original Pfizer and Moderna trials that show how many trial subjects died, got myocarditis, how many mothers lost their babies, and so much more.

This man is now in hell. He feels completely lost, and his fear is now even worse than before. He saw on the evening news for so long that this new virus is the deadliest ever. Covid is the new plague, many will die. He got afraid. He ‘trusted the science’ and went on to trust his doctor and got jabbed several times.

Now he reads in non-mainstream media, and even on some of the parrot media, that there are concrete facts showing that fatality from Covid has been similar to the flu from the very beginning, and sickness and fatality from the jabs is astronomically higher. The Jab is the new plague, many will die.

‘Oh brother’, he thinks, ‘I even got my mom and my kids to take those jabs’. ‘Are they going to be safe? What have I done? If I don’t wake up tomorrow because of this heart failure they speak of, all my efforts to support my family will have been in vain. They will suffer even more.’ This line of fearful thinking goes on. He next thinks that if one of his children develop a serious complication or even die, he is responsible, how could he live with himself…

His wife now starts thinking that since these medical giants have lied and committed fraud and everything, they have most likely lied about those children schedule vaccines and boosters. She also reads some heart-breaking stories of families devastated by their kids having debilitating adverse reactions.

She starts feeling guilty for not pursuing more information before getting the little ones vaccinated, and is afraid that if she asks the doctor to not give any more of those to the children, she will be scolded by the pediatrician, probably get the kids expelled or stigmatized, and in some cases even effectively discard any future in some schools and universities that have strict medical requirements.

On the other hand, if she goes on with the vaccine schedule (that’s 72 shots in the USA) she will be gradually increasing the likelihood of them also becoming victims of serious adverse effects, including death. She is devastated. She is between the hammer and the anvil. Just like her husband, she is now more stressed and afraid than she has ever been.

Now, this hypothetical situation is the daily truth for several people in our world. But why am I explaining this? Because once again, we must not let the cure be worse than the disease.

There is a reason why I do not support such documentaries as the recent “Died Suddenly”. When this mom and dad from the above example have such an audiovisual experience, the outcome can be very different from what you might expect.

They could just as well discard the whole ‘medical freedom’ thing because it’s making them feel worse. And let us not forget cognitive dissonance. Aesop wrote the story of the fox and the grapes. Hence here in Greece we say “what the fox can’t reach, she calls it decoration”.  The moral of Aesop’s fable is that some people will disparage some things they cannot reach. They rationalize and discredit those things in order to ease their internal conflict.

As a consequence, and with the help of groupthink, many of us have at times stopped listening to the dissidents, just to make ourselves feel better with our choices. I ‘ve been there. Done it for years… This is a major subject, but not my focus here. My focus in this letter is empathy and compassion.

How can you show compassion to a person such as the mom and dad in the above example? Should you punish them for falling into a trap? Should you bombard them with more fear until they succumb? How is that different from what the authoritarian people do? Are you going to sell yourself as a ‘savior’ and take advantage of them? Is that different from a dictator’s behavior? Are you even all that sure of your take of reality? Are you infallible?

My experience and my study have led me to believe there is always an even deeper truth than the one that I have found. I have also found that arrogance can be a very distorting factor when you attempt to help others. If the mainstream narrative pulls you to one direction and the ‘freedom fighters’ pull you to another, you can break.

Daisaku Ikeda, in The New Human Revolution, writes (tentative translation):

True empathy surpasses the act of just sharing other peoples’ problems and lament with them – it goes beyond simple words of sympathy and consolation. Those who really sympathize with others act with courage and strength to find ways to help people overcome their suffering. Such persons show bravery that is rooted in deep compassion […]

I feel immense gratitude to all of you who went out of your way to admonish the rest of us of the dangers during the Covid phenomenon, and who provided solutions and treatments to the best of your ability. I consider all of you warriors of light!

However, I cannot remain silent on this matter either. Refuting the erroneous is necessary on the path of truth. But caring deeply for others is shown in the behavior of those that truly respect them. Showing respect, among other things, means protecting others from harm. If you make a video, write an article, or give a speech, showing the same respect as you would the most important person in your life, it comes out in a different way. This person could be you mother, or your child, your mentor, or Jesus Christ, or Shakyamuni Buddha.

Therefore, I kindly ask you to reconsider your approach that sometimes can be too mild, or too aggressive. There is a middle way, harder to follow, but more humane, considerate and, ultimately, more compassionate. I assure you this process will have the maximum impact. Maybe not right away, but in the long run it will.

Like Hercules of Greek mythology, we are often visited by Vice and Virtue, and are offered to choose between the short and easy road, the life of pleasure, and the long and winding road, the life of hardship and honor. Let us always choose wisely. Many times you will find there is also a middle road, one that entails the transformation of earthly desires to enlightenment. [wink]

End Notes

I wrote this study in order to help those around me to firmly grasp more tools for seeking the truth. I wrote so you can readily see that, the practice of imposing medical and other interventions in peoples’ lives is against basic freedoms and basic human rights. I want to share with you what I have seen and come to understand. As the wise 13th century Buddhist scholar Nichiren wrote in his treatise to the most powerful ruler of Japan: ‘I cannot keep silent on this matter’.

What has transpired in the past 3 years during the Covid Phenomenon, is not a singular event. It is the ugly surfacing of deep evil that is not new. It resides in the human spirit. We have been overrun by our vein ambition to control nature, to control everything. We do the same thing in medicine as we do in food production and farming, and education, and work, and in every human endeavor.

Do you think it is wise to try to control nature? Take a look at what geoengineering is, and how it is used. Take a look at what chemicals are included in your processed food, your medications, your clothes and your toys. All life is a delicate balance, and even the wisest human beings have acknowledged the fact that we cannot even perceive all these workings of the universe, much less quantify and control them.

Top minds in physics, mathematics, biology, and the like, tend to turn to philosophy and/or religion as they are able to perceive that there are subtle currents of perfect integration in all numbers, molecules, and equations. They perceive the interconnectedness of all life. However, many of us, although perfectly able to have easy access to such knowledge, we discard it. We re-post it in social media and see many ‘likes’, but as far as concrete action is concerned, we are total noobs.

I am convinced that all current events, as well as previous such events in history, are rooted in the same behaviors and actions that stem from the three poisons of greed, anger and foolishness. The greed that, for example, leads to economic crisis and the exploitation of others. The anger that, for instance, leads to violence and war. And the fundamental ignorance that each person, in fact all life, possesses limitless potential and is endowed with supreme dignity that must be respected.

And I also believe we desperately need genuine dialogue. Discarding human rights and freedom of speech by censoring and vilifying dissidents creates division. And without unity and the ability to engage in open debate about things that matter, our prognosis will remain dismal. Learning to respect and patiently listen to the person in front of you is key to a victorious future. For dialogue that is based on respect and willingness to find common ground is a prerequisite for trust, and trust is a prerequisite for peace.

If we, as individuals, let this fire of opposition continue, we actively consent to the division between ‘vaxxers and antivaxxers’, ‘mainstream and dissidents’, ‘us and them’, and so forth, in the fashion of ‘blacks and whites’, ‘Christians and Muslims’, and all those labels that are discriminatory. We are all human, we are all equal, and what matters is the individual, for this is the building block of every group, society, country.

Further, I honestly trust in youth. Not just youth of age. But even deeper, in the youth of the spirit. Keeping a fighting spirit against evil influences and overcoming your own negativity, laziness, and indifference, keeps your spirit ever passionate and ever seeking. Life-long youth lies in never letting go of your dreams. When you don’t give up, when you keep pressing forward no matter what, you can be victorious!

Youthful also means hopeful. Never let go of hope! What is there not to be hopeful for? We can achieve practically anything. If we are united in spirit, respect each other’s differences and actually use these differences to complement each other, what is there that cannot be achieved? When you have hope, which is a determination, as I explained in my previous article, and when you focus on the positive, and you have gratitude, that’s what you get: daily life filled with true joy.

Do you really believe you are at the mercy of any virus, authority, or other external factor? Is your life a lonely boat struggling in the waves? Is your health, freedom and happiness determined by someone else? If you really believe this, then that’s how you are going to live. Chained, hopeless, alone and desperate. I find it totally unworthy of a human being.

We need philosophy, we need religion, we need each other, we need an open horizon. Yes, the sky is often filled with clouds, and sometimes it rains too much, or it is too hot, or this or that. But that is the way of nature. The way of life. Full of challenges, some small and easy to overcome, and some big and seemingly insurmountable.

What do you think about those heroes that died in the hands of torturers and dictators, the ones that screamed ‘live free or die’? Were they not free? Freedom is the absolute conviction that you can shape your own destiny. Even in prison, you can be free. There are numerous stories of great individuals who created their greatest work while imprisoned, or in exile, or while seriously unhealthy. The story of [Ludwig Van] Beethoven is just one such example.

Such encouraging examples should become our focus.  I agree that we must stand up to the tyranny of those that lie to our face, collude with powerful people to exploit us and belittle us. But we should not focus on that. We should instead focus on the strength of the human spirit. We should focus on these high ideals that we aspire to, and share them with all our friends and neighbors. That way, we can build trust in our circles, and shed some of that pure inner light around us, and in turn receive others’ inner light.

Eventually, the darkness we see will be dispelled, and the bright light of humanity will be restored. Our problems will not disappear. They will not go away. We will always face challenges. As my mentor has taught me, think of them as the stars in the sky at night. When the bright light of the sun emerges, the stars do not go away. But the warmth and brightness of this sun is so strong, that you can no longer see those distant suns.

In my worldview, this is the way.

Will, then, those creepy people who want to use you for their own selfish purposes be extinct? No, they won’t. But slowly and steadily, from one person to another, these noble truths and ideals will spread, and gradually more and more people will come to appreciate life in all its awesomeness, and they will feel no need to step on others to gain something. Slowly and steadily, we will live in more harmony with our inner and outer environment, and the truly fulfilling joy of living will surpass the temporary satisfaction of fleeting desires.

As with everything that matters, it takes determination, hard work, and discipline. And it all starts with one person. It all starts with you. All you have to do is make up your mind.

When you are actively engaged in supporting others and doing your best to help them be happy and at ease, a wellspring of energy manifests in your life and you are filled with courage and creativity and, almost miraculously, your own fears and anxieties vanish. This is transformation. This is human revolution.

We break free from the shackles of our own ego and devote ourselves to the happiness of both ourselves AND others. Human revolution.

We engage in an everyday struggle to battle the devilish functions of life and overcome all obstacles with joy and confidence. Human revolution.

We transcend all differences among us, we find common ground in our shared humanity and triumph over any dispute. Human revolution.

To me, this is the way.

Thank you for your time and attention

I honestly respect you

Big warm smile

Martinos