We welcomed the Consul General of Switzerland in Istanbul Mr. Julien Thoni in Mardin in 7-8 February 2022. And we gave him as comprehensive a tour as we could. We showed him the Mardin spirit.

https://www.facebook.com/683934726/posts/10160073253549727/

The wealth of the places where we live is not what we learn from that place/life. The important thing is what the meanings/values that place/life carried in our inner world will reveal in us. The important thing is the responsibilities given us by them. When we comprehend this responsibility, we will feel and see the "importance of thinking to the point of seeing some development" in order to be free from present negativities which create pessimism.

Then we will gain the ability to develop precautions/prescriptions against the negativities of thinking enough to survive.

Then we will see more clearly that the meaning/fulfilment of a person's life comes not from material things/money, but from the services they render to the whole of society (and others). Because individual interests are always hidden in the benefit of the public/whole. Just as the benefit of the stick on the grapevine is in the vine...

In this context, world-famous German philosopher Max Ferdinand Scheler (1874-1928) says: "Every nation is a water merging with the great flow of civilization. It brings something of its own; however, if it does not combine it with the great flow, it will turn to nothing. To conform to the flow of civilization means to know and absorb all of its intellectual products."

It should not be forgotten that material/economic and spiritual/cultural efforts go hand in hand. Without one, the others are incomplete.

But when we maintain these two efforts in the flow of life, when we fight to bring these efforts to fruition, when we see our blessings more clearly, we grasp the value of life even more, and we begin to live with a sense of a wider perspective. And this leads to positive changes in our lives.

Because when we better understand the value of the good things/beauties/values in our lives and appreciate them more, those good things/beauties/values will multiply. And we will gain more, both materially and spiritually.

For pictures, see the links given below.

https://www.facebook.com/683934726/posts/10160073253549727/

Malfono Yusuf Beğtaş

President of the Syriac Association of Language, Culture and Literature