Belif & Evidence

It takes little evidence
For most of us to believe
What we’re inclined to believe
But it takes a great deal of evidence
For us to suspend our time-honored beliefs.
08.01.12

Loving & Unloving

Loving
Is far easier
Than unloving.
07.31.12

Destruction & Creation

Between the will to create
And the will to destroy
Life vacillates.
07.30.12

Predators & Fears

Just as animal species
Harbor fears of their predators;
Humans harbor fears of other humans.
07.29.12

Permanence & Transience

Believing in permanence is romantic
Believing in transience is realistic
But both faiths are necessary
To clad life for all seasons.
07.28.12

Generalizations & Time

We spend lifetimes
Elaborating generalizations
Which time ruthlessly disavows.
07.27.12

Weak & Otherwise

The weak complain
The strong maintain
And politicians explain.
07.26.12

Wind & Unknown

When the wind blows
Opposite to your destination
Overcome your unidirectional inclinations
Join the unknown and sail at large with the wind;
It’s never too late to find a better world.
07.25.12

Stories & Telling

New stories are old
And have often been told;
The only thing new is the telling.
07.24.12

Reason & Capacity

Inflicting reason
Upon one who does not
Have the capacity for reason
Engenders embittered indignation.
07.23.12

Age & Surprise

The older we grow the more we will encounter
Things we have never encountered before;
The living cannot avoid the surprises
Which lay hidden underneath time.
07.22.12

Deception & Self

Of all the deceptions, which plague humanity
Unconscious self-deception is the commonest
And also the most pernicious.
07.21.12

Opinion & Change

Rendering opinions is dangerous;
If one studies the issues deeper
One arrives at different opinions.
07.20.12

Cleaning & Freedom

To experience the Cartesian brain cleansing
Wash your brain clean of all opinions and beliefs
Then re-espouse only the ones that still make sense
And you will feel, for the first time ever, intellectually free.
07.1912

Agree & Disagree

Congregating with those who agree with us
And repudiating those who disagree with us
Deepens biases, stifles learning, kills tolerance
Censors knowledge, and disables wisdom.
07.18.12

Bureaucratic & Intellectual

The difference between
Bureaucratic and intellectual mindsets
Lies in the willingness to individualize rather than generalize
And in the courage to make allowances for exceptions
Rather than repudiate them.
07.17.12

Breeding & Belief

The realization that
Had we been born differently
Or had we been raised differently
We would have acquired different sets
Of ideologies, opinions, and beliefs
Should temper our fanaticism.
07.16.12

Demography & Merit

Democracies
Cannot become meritocracies
As long as they remain charismocracies.
07.15.12

Need & Life

How unfortunate to reach
In psychosocial development
A stage where we come to believe
That we no longer need anyone
To help us live fulfilling lives.
07.14.12

Contaminate & Inseminate

Throughout nature
It is far easier for the bad to contaminate the good
Than it is for the good to inseminate the bad.
07.13.12

Victories & Defeats

Quick victories
Are often preludes
To future defeats.
07.12.12

Talking & Thinking

Talking is passion;
Listening, compassion.
07.11.12

Surprise & Mind

With surprise
We catastrophize;
And because foresight is blind
We render caustic what could have been mild.
07.10.12

Life & War

Wherever there is life
There is war.
07.09.12

Actions & Reactions

We are naught but reactions
To those who preceded us.
07.08.12

Lobbies & Ends

Lobbies
Further their own ends
At the expense of all others
Including their mother countries.
07.07.12

Morals & Ethics

Societies
Which confound morals with ethics
Eliminate their best leaders 
With a clear conscience. 
07.06.12

Nature & Veins

Absorbing
Nature’s beauty
Into our blue veins
Is a bouquet of joy
For all seasons.
07.05.12

Complex & Simple

How frequently
We succeed in the complex
To fail in the simple.
07.04.12

Need & Oblivion

The more we need someone
The more oblivious we become
Of that someone’s personal needs.
07.03.12

Age & Passion

As age loses passions
It becomes harder to fall in love
Or to nurture visions of forbidden pleasures.
07.02.12

Crowds & Reason

Because the rational are few
One should not expect
Crowds and masses
To be rational.
7/01.12