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Giannis Delimitsos Books

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“The majority of philosophies and of various spiritual movements teach that the highest achievement is to know thyself. Of course, there is nothing bad about the attempt to know ourselves better; a noble endeavor… But, if this is the prevailing dogma, then I must admit that I am a dissident. After all, you’ll never find your true self no matter how hard you try, no matter how close you’ll come to that. For me, the greatest of achievements is to be a good human, a gentle soul. And it is not as easy as it seems. Goodness, joyfulness, compassion are what we need in this world; no more unworkable knowledge without wisdom, no more holy grails!”

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Author:Giannis Delimitsos
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“job (noun): the work that we do to secure the means of survival and – in some cases – a spring of satisfaction and delight; more often, a useful tool that we have in our possession in order to distract ourselves from potential alarming thoughts and to release us from the boredom of inactivity. Furthermore, a source that finances our leisure time so that this can effectively continue the important task of distraction.”

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Author:Giannis Delimitsos
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“Science and Metaphysics show us part of what “is”. Logic and Epistemology help us interpret this part and understand how much of it we can really know. And finally, Ethics teaches us how to embrace this knowledge and how to cherry-pick only those things that will give us endurance and contentment in the long run, avoiding those that may keep our hearts buried in the ground; how to live well and decently and how to help the society function properly.”

PhilosophyScienceKnowledgeEthicsLogicMetaphysicsLive WellEpistemologyOntologyMoral Philosophy
Author:Giannis Delimitsos
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“Many ask: “Why are we so insincere, why are we so hypocrites?”. Well, it is because this is how human nature works. If there was a time and a place where human beings were 100% of the time honest, who always said what they had in mind and who didn’t care to cover their shortcomings by displaying a better persona than the “real” one, it is long since gone, wiped out from the relentless force of natural selection.”

Human NatureHypocriteNatural SelectionInsincerity
Book:A PHILOSOPHICAL KALEIDOSCOPE: Thoughts, Contemplations, Aphorisms
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“We say that a human being is a person and a distinctive, fixed self with a name and a life. He has an identity. But what is this self really made of, except from the basic elements such as hydrogen, carbon, oxygen, phosphorus etc. and their subatomic particles? If a person is a specific, static, unchanged entity and existence, then what if an accident or a disease completely alters his body features? What if fear or madness changes his thoughts and perceptions? If dementia takes away his memories, or if drugs alter his emotions? And what if life circumstances, good or bad luck, modify his motives, his plans and his desires? Is it still the person we say he is? Or is selfhood a ghost, a useful fiction of the brain? An ever-shifting kaleidoscope of thoughts, feelings and perceptions? Flashes of hopes and desires? A bundle of alternating opinions and ideologies, of conflicting instincts and urges? If we take away all these from him, what would be left behind? If every drop of the ocean evaporates, is not the whole ocean gone? The immutable selfhood is a very old illusion and the last of illusions we ‘re going to abandon; if we ever will…”

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Book:A PHILOSOPHICAL KALEIDOSCOPE: Thoughts, Contemplations, Aphorisms
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“Don’t let words come out of your mouth before their essential meaning first enters your brain. And don’t let these words and their meaning reach your brain before they pass through your heart. Every understanding and every expression should always receive blessings from a loving heart.”

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Book:NOVEL PHILOSOPHY: New ideas about Ethics, Epistemology, Science and the sweet Life
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“The wise man can never be offended. If the comment mirrors a truth, or an aspect thereof, there can be no offense whatsoever. To the contrary, such thing will be welcomed with delight! And even if a discourteous person attacks the wise man with lies and profane language, either because of malice or because of ignorance, there is absolutely no reason for the wise man to be disturbed. Understanding and compassion for this unfortunate fellowman will be his most probable response.”

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Author:Giannis Delimitsos
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“The equivalent of humans searching for their “real selves” is small cats chasing their tails. For it seems to me that there is no “real self”. We humans are ever-shifting, dynamic entities and not unchangeable, rigid selves. And even if there were a kind of centrum within us that we could call an “inner self”, we would never reach down to it, because of our natural biases about what we are and what our place in the world is. When we look in the mirror, we don’t see what we are, but we see what we want to be. Yet, as elusive as the search for self is, so clear is what we have to do on earth: to love and take care of each other. Life is too short and too miraculous to waste it on something other than love and joy!The equivalent of humans searching for their “real selves” is small cats chasing their tails. For I believe that there is no “real self”. We humans are ever-shifting, dynamic entities and not unchangeable, rigid selves. And even if there were a kind of centrum within us that we could call an “inner self”, we would never reach down to it, because of our natural biases about what we are and what our place in the world is. When we look in the mirror, we don’t see what we are, but we see what we want to be. Yet, as elusive as the search for self is, so clear is what we have to do on earth: to love and take care of each other. Life is too short and too miraculous to waste it on something other than love and joy!”

LoveSelfIdentitySelf AwarenessMeaning Of LifePurpose Of LifeBiasesReal SelfCare For Others
Author:Giannis Delimitsos
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“I say “I am free”, but what I really mean is “I feel free”; I say “I am unfortunate”, but what I really mean is “I feel unfortunate”; I say “I am powerful”, but what I really mean is “I feel powerful”; I say “the World” , but what I really mean is “my world within the World”. What “I am” will always be a mystery to me.”

WorldSelfMysteryPerceptionEpistemologyOntology
Book:A PHILOSOPHICAL KALEIDOSCOPE: Thoughts, Contemplations, Aphorisms
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“Activity and creativity are, by and large, good for man’s soul. But remember that you don’t have to do something every single day, to be busy every single second. Not even meditation or the like. Sometimes your inner self just wants to sit, to breathe, to enjoy; to beautifully exist. Because by beautifully existing, you have already done more than enough!”

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Author:Giannis Delimitsos
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“Death may be seen as a generous gift that is offered to us as a reward for our willingness to endure life and to play the game until the end. And if it’s true that after death there is only death, non-existence, that would be the holiest of all the blessings!”

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Book:A PHILOSOPHICAL KALEIDOSCOPE: Thoughts, Contemplations, Aphorisms
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