Work and Teaching

Working hard
To solve a problem
Makes us good teachers;
But, good teaching can never impart
The knowledge gained by having worked hard
To solve a problem.
12.23.2015

Suppression & Explosion

Suppression starts anaerobic fires
Which smolder and spread underground;
When these subtle fires gather enough heat
All of a sudden, they explode with wild flames;
Dictators do not learn this historic lesson.
12.22.2015

Powers & Family

We need not be impressed with size or greatness
Or power or wealth or popularity or violence;
Individual families live longer than empires
And, in the long run, do more good
For the societies they live in;
Family love, given enough time
Has always been able to vanquish
The all mighty and great powers of earth.
12.21.2015

Educated and Primitive

It is harder to enlighten
An educated, biased person
Than a primitive, biased person;
Education’s fanfare, hubris, and style
Can prove more resistant to enlightenment
And can do much more harm than primitivism.
12.20.2015

Leaders & Pleasers

Leaders
Can not be pleasers;
What is best for the country
May not be the best for its individuals.
12.19.2015

Sayings & Truth

Examined carefully
Most sayings contain untruths
Which is why they are popular.
12.18.2015

Age & Love

As we age
When we look at those we love
We feel young
And when we look at ourselves
We feel old;
Spending our latter years
Gazing at those we love
Preserves our souls’ youthfulness.
12.17.2015

Hope & Reality

Sometimes
We are blinded by too much hope
And sometimes, by the lack of it;
Knowing when and how much to hope
Keeps us firmly tethered to reality.
12.16.2015

Truth & Readiness

It is unwise to tell truths
To those unready to hear them
And equally unwise not to tell truths
To those who are ready to hear them;
Sowing truth is like sowing grain
It only grows in ready soil.
12.15.2015

Struggel & Peace

When times are hard
We grow stronger
And when they are easy
We grow weaker;
Struggle sharpens us
And peace dulls our edge.
12.14.2015

Fractures & Spirit

We are only broken
When our spirits are broken;
Most fractures can be mended
But the fractures of spirit
Can only be mended
With love and faith.
12.13.2015

Best & Others

If our best is not good enough for others
Let it be good enough for us;
Others can only best us
By doing their best.
12.12.2015

Christmas & Love

Another Christmas comes to cheer
Let us love long as we're here.
12.11.2015

Memories & Self

We cling to our memories
To find out who we are
To know ourselves
To be connected;
Without our memories
We turn into aging plants.
12.10.2015

World & Kindness

As the world shrinks and its population grows
There will be more need for world citizens
More need for selfless love and sacrifice
For cooperation and conservation
For collective enlightenment
And for kindness to our planet.
12.09.2015

Pleasure & Money

The greatest pleasures in life
Are ones that money cannot buy;
Think of glorious nature
And things we can create:
Children, art, conversation,
Friendships, goodwill, smiles,
Laughter, gardens, and love…
12.08.2015

Love & LIve

To love and let love
Is a better way to live
Than to live and let live.
12.07.2015

Goodwill & Others

When people know
That we think well of them
They behave better when around us
And also when not around us
Because goodwill
Is contagious.
12.06.2015

Loneliness & Vulnerability

To make an effort
To stay connected to friends
Is to remain balanced and whole
Thus avoiding the damaging effects
And the vulnerability engendered by loneliness.
12.05.2015

Ignorance & Enlightenment

Corruption and violence rise
When enlightenment declines;
Ignorance is the greatest enemy
Of advanced, civilized, free societies;
If we fail in our mission for enlightenment
We will continue to be invaded by ignorance.
12.04.2015

Minds & Freedom

Whatever or whoever
Has our minds
Has us;
To surrender our minds
To anyone or anything
Enslaves us;
To remain free
We need to maintain
Total control of our minds.
12.03.2015

Patience & Surprises

Impatience
Is unpreparedness;
If we ready our minds
That an issue will take time
We would become more patient;
If we expect an issue to take less time
We would become impatient if it took longer;
Mental preparation neutralizes surprises.
12.02.2015

Fast & Slow

When we hurry
We do not notice
The charms of life;
Given that life is short
If we were to slow down
We would end up living
So many more lives.
12.01.2015

Love & Anger

Anger causes discontrol
Discontrol causes violence
Violence causes distruction;
Love causes discontrol
Discontrol expresses passions
Passions stimulate creativity;
Better in love than angry
Better impassioned than violent
Better creative than destructive.
11.30.2015

Others & Me

Just like we look
At the fortunes of others
And say, it could have been me;
We should also look
At the misfortunes of others
And say, it could have been me.
11.29.2015

Trust & Numbers

It is unwise to trust groups
Because untrustworthy elements
Increase with the size of the group;
Trusting individuals is far safer
Especially when a love bond
Cements loyalties.
11.28.2015

Competition & Creativity

When we can no longer compete in:
Culture, art, science, beauty, or athletics
We compete in power, violence, and cruelty;
Life is always a survival competition
That tests our creativity.
11.27.2015

Grace & Thanks

To thank is easy
To feel thankful, is hard;
To take nothing for granted
To live in pervasive awe
To feel every moment
To revere all things
To sense grace
To always marvel
Is to be worthy of life.
11.26.2015

Loving & Owning

When loving is owning
It is human;
When loving is liberating
It is divine.
11.25.2015

Creativity & Secrity

Unlike artistic creativity
Which thrives on security,
Most other creative endeavors
Thrive on insecurity and need;
In art, we create with passion
In science, with competition.
11.24.2015

Duration & Life

Nothing spoils
A moment, a time, a life
As much as worrying about
Whether it’s going to last
And for how long.
11.23.2015

Life & Joy

Those who celebrate everyday
As an unexpected grant
As a surprise gift
As a miracle
Live in joy.
11.22.2-15

Hubris & Consequences

Hubris poisons the soul
But those who suffer from it
Do not know that they are poisoned
Nor do they know that what happens to them
Is because of it.
11.21.2015

Contentment & Humility

To be content with less
Is to have greater happiness;
Contentment comes from humility
And discontentment, from hubris.
11.20.2015

Projections & Attitudes

We always worry
About what we can foresee
But not about what we cannot foresee;
Since the unexpected more than the expected
Rules our lives and determines our destinies
Perhaps we should work on our attitudes
Rather than on our projections.
11.19.2015

Passion & Age

Passions define us
And as passions wane
So does meaningful life;
Nurturing our passions
Prolongs youthfulness
And delays aging.
11.18.2015

Enemies and Self

We would be wiser and better off
If we were more afraid of our selves
Of our thoughts, impulses, and opinions
Than of our enemies or of life’s unknowns;
We can avoid or run away from our enemies
But we can never run away from our selves.
11.17.2015

Evidence & Bias

If we spend our lives
Procuring evidence for our opinions
We will become more biased with time;
If we spend our lives
Procuring evidence against our opinions
We will become less biased with time;
And if we change our opinions
When evidence changes direction
We will become brave, free thinkers.
11.16.2015

Good & Evil

History has taught us
When evil attacks good
In time, good always wins
And when good attacks evil
In time it converts it to good;
It is the nature of evil
Not to learn from history
And to be self destructive.
11.15.2015

Primitiveness & Civilization

Societies
In their evolution
Move from war to peace
From violence to compassion
From destruction to construction
From animalism to humanism
From dirtiness to cleanliness
From madness to sanity
From disease to health
From ugliness to art and beauty
From darkness to enlightenment
And from primitiveness to civilization.
11.14.2015

Destruction & Obstruction

Destruction
Always seems enormous
But, for every act of destruction
There are millions of construction;
Regardless of violence
There’s always more peace on earth.
11.13.2015

Life & Money

People who spend money or life
Come in four types:
Poor people with money
Spend life on money,
Poor people without money
Spend life on poverty,
Rich people with money
Spend money on ownership,
And rich people without money
Spend money on life.
11.12.2015

Failure & Success

From failure, if we are worthy
We learn success
And from success, if not worthy
We learn failure;
Our best teachers
Are not our victories
But rather, our defeats.
11.11.2015

Better & Life

When we allow ourselves to think
That we are better than everyone else
Life will show us how wrong we have been.
11.10.15

Primitive & Knowledge

To remain primitive
Is to believe only what we think we know
And reject everything that we do not know.
11.09.2015

Gain & Loss

The longer we live, the more we gain
And the longer we live, the more we lose;
Since loss always comes after gain
Shouldn’t we celebrate the gain
Before we lose it?
11.08.2015

Learning & Ignorance

To learn well
Is to learn from our enemies
To learn from those who think differently
And to learn from those who disagree with us;
To remain mired in ignorance
Is to only believe those who agree with us
And to generalize from our own experiences and ideas.
11.07.2015

Rewards & Consequences

The rewards of enlightenment
Are constructive
The consequences of ignorance
Are destructive.
11.06.2015

Truth & Courage

To pursue the truth takes sincere effort
To face the truth takes great courage
To act on the truth takes unwavering honesty
To accept the truth takes the challenging of beliefs.
11.05.2015

Seen & Unseen

What we hear or see is tiny
What we do not hear nor see is infinite
Yet, we base our conclusions and actions
Mainly upon what we see and hear;
We are unable to comprehend
How immature our conclusions are
And how distorted are our actions.
11.04.2015

Truth & Preparedness

If you tell an unfavorable truth
To one with a prepared mind
He will act upon it;
If you tell it to an unprepared mind
He will ignore it.
11.03.2015

Love & Age

After we peak
The older we get
The more marginalized we become
Until we fall off the edge of humanity;
But age, the greatest tamer of humankind,
Cannot tame those who continue to love.
11.02.2015

Nature & Humans

Human nature
Is not influenced by history;
We remain the same creatures
Regardless of time and place.
11.01.2015

Knowables & Unknowables

Understanding
That unknowables
Are not within our grasp
Helps us deal with realities;
Believing that unknowables are real
Undermines our effectiveness
And distorts our lives.
10.31.2015

Love & Suffering

When we enter the holy covenant of love
We are vouchsafed ineffable joy
Which, if we live long enough
Will terminate by suffering
The ineffable pain of loss;
The four pillars that hold
The  holy temple of love
Are Joy and suffering,
Commitment and sacrifice.
10.30.2015

Honorable & Dishonorable

Those whom we deem dishonorable
Do still possess some honorable traits;
It is up to us to excavate these noble traits
Buried behind the obvious, deep in their souls.
10.29.2015

Living & Well

To avoid troubles is to lose
       
To be alive is to be involved
       
To confront troubles is to win
       
To do one’s best is to live well
To submit to melancholy is to surrender
To submit to anger is to relinquish control
To insist on joy is to find the good in every bad.
10.28.2015

Emotion & Others

Good emotions
Help others when expressed
Whereas bad emotions hurt others;
Expressing emotions is not only about us
But about others who are within range.
10.27.2015

Coincidence & Tragedies

Instead of blaming God
For our senseless tragedies
Let’s blame coincidence instead:
Coincidence,
She wears green shadows intertwined with dreams
Lurks unforeseen, in silence plots and schemes
At times, she hurries matters to profound extremes
Delights in rolling fortunes in reverse
Coincidence,
She sways the universe.
10.26.2015

Details & Distortions

When we don’t examine
The larger picture
Before examining the details
We will fail to notice distortions
Produced by our squint.
10.25.2015

Good & Expectations

We are good to others
Without expectations
Because we are good
And hold ourselves
To higher standards.
10.24.2015

Positive & Negative

Spending our time
On the positive side of life
Or on the negative side
Is our choice;
Insisting on joy
Is our prerogative
And costs much less effort
Than insisting on anger and hate.
10.23.2015

Worst & Best

Sometimes
Our thoughts
Think the worst
Sometimes, the best;
But worst and best
Are seldom right
And we can’t think in between.
10.22.2015

Fear & LIfe

Those who are afraid of death
Will not know how to die;
Fear distances us from peace
And distorts our love of life.
10.21.2015

Upset & Views

When someone is upset
Listen carefully to see his point
Show him that you understand it
And don’t share your own view
Until he has calmed down
And is ready to see it.
10.20.2015

Love & Surprise

If you surprise
Someone you do not know
With a show of kind love
That someone, unaware
Will turn and do the same
Which increases love on earth.
10.19.2015

Equalized & Life

We are thrice equalized in life
Once, when we are born
Once, when we die
And everyday, when we sleep.
10.18.2015

Love & Hate

It is better to love the wrong person
Than to hate the right person;
Love can be right and wrong
Both at the same time
But hate is always wrong.
10.17.2015

Freedom & Trust

Freedom is a lovely maiden
If entrusted to the honorable
She will be adored and respected;
If entrusted to the ignoramuses
She will be raped.
10.16.2015

Regression & Rebellion

Going back to the old
Means we do not like the new;
Regression is a tacit rebellion
Against a harsh present.
10.15.2015

Expectations & Success

When we accept
Less than we deserve
We only have to wait a while
To be rewarded with more;
Tempered expectations
Are hidden avenues to success.
10.14.15

Individuals & Groups

Individuals are smarter than groups;
It is difficult to find smart groups
Easy to find smart individuals
And heart rending to see
Groups dragging individuals down
In stead of individuals pulling groups up.
10.13.2015

Time & Busyness

To best appreciate time
And utilize it most efficiently
We must have less and less of it;
Idleness causes time wasting
And busyness, time saving.
10.12.2015

Love & Ethics

When love feels strong but wrong
As love can often be
We need to pray
Not to be swept away;
When love and conscience collide
It is better to endure the pain of ethics
Than the shame of unethical love.
10.11.2015

Vigilence & Carelessness

The river of life
Flows between the banks
Of vigilance and carelessness;
Depending on our experiences
We spend our time vacillating
From one bank to the other
Because it’s harder to sail
Exactly in the middle.
10.10.2015

Secrets & Safe

Holding a secret
Is like holding one’s breath;
Sooner or later, one will have to exhale.
It is illusional to believe
That once shared
Secrets are ever safe.
10.09.2015

Heard & Seen

911
Can mean nine-one-one
Or nine-eleven;
Languages are two dimensional
The uttered and the written
And meanings vacillate
Between the heard and seen.
10.08.2015

Success & Failure

Before we believe success
We should wait a while
And before we believe failure
We should wait a while;
Time often reverses fortunes
Turning success into failure
And failure into success.
10.07.2015

Ignorance & Hazard

When in conflict
The enlightened debate
And learn from one another,
The unenlightened argue
And cling to their opinions,
The primitive fight
And kill one another;
Ignorance is hazardous.
10.06.2015

Travel & Mind

We can travel with our minds
Travel with the our bodies
Or travel with both;
When traveling with our bodies
Circumstances arrange our travels,
But when traveling with our minds
We rearrange all circumstances;
Glorious are the vistas of imagination.
10.05.2015

Opinions & Errors

Holding our opinions
To take time to reconsider
Reduces faux pas and regrets;
Extemporaneous speech
Is fraught with errors.
10.04.2015

Love & Learning

With study, effort, and observation
We learn most, but not all essentials;
Love, we learn when we are well loved
Kindness, when loved and well treated
Ethics, when loved and well mentored
Generosity, when loved and well fed
Confidence, when loved and trusted;
When love does not provide the base
Our characters turn out distorted.
10.03.2015

Pleasure & Passion

Pleasures that endure
Are passion dependent;
Pleasures without passion
End abruptly upon satiation
Leaving us in somber anticlimax.
10.02.2015

Habits & Addictions

Habit addictions
Euphemized as habits
Have conquered the world;
In the beginning was alcohol
Then came tobacco, then obesity
Then the non-touch screens
And now the touch-screens
And each of them has changed
The history and behavior of humanity.
10.01.2015

Times & Colors

Good times end or stop
And bad times end or stop
But no one can erase the shades
With which good times and bad times
Color our lives and our views of the world.
09.30.2015

Joy & Moments

The most important thing
Anyone can teach children
Is to enjoy all the moments
That life offers;
Learning to enjoy the good
In spite of the bad
Improves our lives
And our defenses.
09.29.2015

Care & Share

To care
Is to share.
09.28.2015

Between & Life

Between possible and impossible
Lie our dreams
Between probable and improbable
Lie our lives
Between hope and faith
Lie our loves.
09.27.2015

Hands & Fate

When I cannot reach my feet
Nor alone walk down the street
When my cataracts bring night
To a world that once was bright
When my ears no longer hear
And each day adds one more fear
When the years accumulate
And my friends succumb to fate
All I need to rise and shine
Is your hand entwined in mine.
09.26.2015

LIfe & Is

Thrills are ephemeral
Suffering, prolonged
Pleasures, fleeting
Pain, enduring
Joy, sublime
Memories, indelible
Happiness, aspiration
Love, meaning
And work, living.
09.25.2015

Breath & Love

When underwater
You held my hand
I found my breath;
When above water
You let go of me
I suffocated.
09.24.2015

Laughter & Abuse

To subdue your abuser
Laugh as he abuses you
And your loud laughter
Will forever echo
In his soul.
09.23.2015

Kindness & Violence

For every act of violence
There are millions of kindness
And for every act of ugliness
There are millions of beauty;
Violence proclaims attention via hubris
Whereas kindness is tacit and humble;
The world is made of millions of individuals
Who are kind and beautiful, but is soiled
By just a few who are violent and ugly;
Violence and ugliness are the defaults of despair.
09.22.2015

Language & People

Languages form formidable boarders;
To understand a people
And to be understood by them
One must speak the people’s language;
To peer into the soul of a person
Or into the culture of his people
Can best done through language.
09.21.2015

World & Everything

I stole a glance to where you stood
And all at once I understood
Of all the world and everything
You are by far the loveliest thing.
09.20.2015

Force & Laughter

To laugh when we should frown
To smile when we should cry
To hug when we should fight
To love when we should hate
Is to force intelligence on stupidity
Gentleness on aggression
Kindness on force
And beauty on ugliness.
09.19.2015

Life & Security

Waiting for security
May mean waiting forever;
Wherever we may be
Security remains an illusion;
Life is an infinite series of insecurities.
09.18.2015

Same & Difference

To say:
There is no difference
Is to mean:
I cannot see the difference;
Since, in this world, no two are alike
The problem always lies in our perception.
09.17.2015

Friendship & Love

Friendships and loves are soul gardens;
They wither if not frequently tended
And stiffen when over tended.
09.16.2015

Good & Passion

Good teachers
Infuse their students
With the passion to learn;
Good mothers
Infuse their children
With the passion to love;
Good fathers
Infuse their children
With the passion to be honorable;
And good wives
Infuse their husbands
With the passion to live.
09.15.2015

Nature & Human

Human nature
Contains all the good
And all the bad in the world;
To improve the state of the world
We must work on improving human nature
Otherwise, all the conceived solutions
Will not prove good enough.
09.14.2015

Peace & Animalism

To achieve inner peace
We must tame our animalism
But guard against slaughtering it
Lest we become boring robots.
09.13.2015

Passions & Life

Good passions lead to love
Bad passions lead to hate
And the loss of passions
Leads to inertia and death.
09.12.2015

Ignorance & Enlightenment

Since enlightenment requires
Dedicated, continuous effort
Whereas ignorance is smug
And requires no effort
There will always be
More ignorance and
Less enlightenment
In the world.
09.11.2015

Best & Refreshed

Fatigue, hunger, and sleep deprivation
Diminish our ability to think, work,
Create, be polite, and enjoy life;
To continue to do our best
We must stay refreshed
And replenished.
09.10.2015

Loyalists & Power

In politics, finance,
And national affairs,
The more the power
The more the loyalists
And when power leaves
The loyalists follow it.
09.09.2015

Fear & Love

Fears are of seven types:
Fear of harm or pain
Fear of the unknown
Fear of loneliness
Fear of illness
Fear of loss
Fear of shame or infirmity
But the worst fear of all
Is the fear of lovelessness
Of living without love
And of dying without love.
09.08.2015

Biases & Generalizations

Since biases are generalizations
And generalizations are biases
And since generalizations
Are mostly wrong
We must be careful
Whenever we generalize
Lest we find out in due time
That we have often been wrong.
09.07.2015

Living & Noticing

Being content to live, unaware of life
Is the most difficult part of living;
Noticing all the infinite miracles
Of life’s infinite daily details
Makes living much easier
And far more joyful.
09.06.2015

Resistance & Change

An important reason for unending human conflict
Is a staunch resistance to changing our opinions
In spite of strong evidence against our beliefs;
Blind, intransigent loyalty to personal beliefs
Is a characteristic and detrimental trait
Which causes us all to suffer.
09.05.2015

Animals & Us

We all know
The different ways
We think of animals
But do we dare know
What the animals
Think of us?
09.04.2015

Death & Waste

Spending a lot of time
Thinking about death
Is a great waste
Of precious life.
09.03.2015

Indomitable & Attitude

Indomitable are those who
Instead of resisting the unchangeable
Conquer misfortune with their blithe attitudes.
09.02.2015

Love & Soul

Love is our immortal soul;
It ever moves the world
Long after we die;
If love ever dies
Life on earth will end.
09.01.2015

Love & Loss

Love turns into despair
When betrayed by sudden loss.
08.31.2015

Truth & Others

To have the fortitude
To assert one’s self
Against falsehood
Is true independence;
One cannot uphold truth
And be true to one’s self
If one remains concerned
About the opinions of others.
08.30.2015

Age & Preference

Age prefers:
Companionship over popularity
Tranquility over excitement
Moderation over excess
Wisdom over passion
Quietude over noise
Peace over violence
Love over sexuality
Health over beauty
Order over chaos
Safety over danger
Faith over skepticism
And friendship over kinship.
08.29.2015

Nothing & Everything

When nothing seems to matter
Means everything matters;
Even after we die
Everything still matters.
08.28.2015

Differences & Survival

There are as many life views
And as many ways to live
As there are people;
Accepting differences
Encouraging differences
And learning form differences
Are necessary for human survival.
08.27.2015

Good & Bad

Being good
Promotes and invites goodness
But is not protective from the bad;
Being bad
Promotes and invites badness
And is not protective from the bad;
But those who are good
Are at peace with themselves
And with others who are like them
And those who are bad
Are in turmoil with themselves
And afraid of those who are like them.
08.26.2015

Enlightenment & Elevation

As complexity is to simplicity
Or a man is to a gentleman
Or a woman is to a lady
Or lust is to love
Or success is to joy
Or power is to virtue
Or falsehood is to truth
Or the wind is to the breeze
The more enlightened of passions
Are also the ones that most elevate us.
08.25.2015

Words & Meaning

Words do have meanings
When they stand alone
As in a dictionary
But they can only have impact
When interpreted within context;
Only context and word order
Lend power and meaning
To the words we use.
08.24.2015

Saying & Silence

Sometimes, saying naught
Says it all
And sometimes, saying all
Says naught.
08.23.2015

Importance & Works

To become important is impossible,
But to produce important work is;
We need not confuse important works
With important people.
08.22.2015

Excellence & Destruction

Passions come first
Then accomplishments follow;
Naught of excellence comes without passion
But so much of the world’s destruction
Comes from sinister passions.
08.21.2015

Mindsets & Moments

We are our mindsets
And what we are changes
As our mindsets change
From one moment to another;
Also, what we hold as important
Changes from one moment to another;
We are but the children of our moments.
08.20.2015

Regenerate & Degenarate

To reinvent one’s self
As one gains years
Is to regenerate
Instead of degenerate
With age.
08.19.2015

God & Days

The idea of God is inevitable and
The presence of God is inescapable;
Try pass a day without reaching out to God
With oh God, or dear God, or thank God
Or for God’s sake, or Jesus Christ…
08.18.2015

Friendship & Care

Friendship is a garden of love
That needs water and care;
Unwatered and uncared for
It decays into fallow land
Overcome by weeds.
08.17.2015

Certainty & Mind

Once we make up our minds
We block all other alternatives;
Closing our minds to other ideas
Is the price we pay for certainty.
08.16.2015

Expectations & Surprises

To live expectantly
To expect every new day
To usher in good or bad surprises
Is to live excitedly, fearless of reality;
To expect everyday
To be a good and normal day
Is to live unprepared for life’s frequent shocks.
08.15.2015

Age & Favorites

In youth
We tend to value money
In adulthood
We tend to value power
In age
We tend to value health
In old age
We tend to value poetry.
08.14.2015

Life & Speed

To hurry through life
Is to miss a lot of life.
08.13.2015

Like & Dislike

To like someone does not mean one is good;
It just means we like something in us
Which that person represents.
And to dislike someone does not mean one is bad;
It just means we dislike something in us
Which that person represents.
Confusing like and dislike with good and bad
Can have ugly consequences.
08.12.2015

Pretending & Conflict

If we could refrain from pretending
That we can foresee the unforeseeable
That we can know the unknowable
And that we can judge without bias
Then we would have more justice
And less conflict in the world.
08.11.2015

Intelligence & Ignorance

Intelligence does not preclude ignorance
And ignorance does not preclude intelligence;
Humanity is well endowed with intelligence
But its unethical and violent behaviors
Denote widespread ignorance.
08.10.2015

Change & Constitution

To change what people are
Is most difficult;
To accept what people are
Is less difficult;
To judge what people are
Is the easy way out.
08.09.2015

Liberty & Life

Biology limits us
Art liberates us
Society shackles us
Imagination releases us
Our bodies imprison us
Our minds deceive us
Our biases diminish us
Our hates impoverish us
Our loves enrich us
Our lives judge us
Our deaths ennoble us.
08.08.2015

Reverence & Death

Waiting until someone dies
Before one shows reverence
Loosens the inter-human bond
Of love, respect, and friendship.
08.07.2015

Division & Strength

Resisting division and subdivision
And favoring fusion and cohesion
Is the way to unity and strength.
08.06.2015

Work & Efficiency

The more work we have
The more efficient we become
And the less work we have
The less efficient we become.
08.05.2015

Words & Touch

Sometimes a touch
Says a thousand words;
Sometimes a word
Can touch thousands;
But, silence and distance
Can undo almost anything
That words and touch achieve.
08.04.2015

Love & Money

When families fight about property
They exchange love for money
And end up poorer in spirit.
08.03.2015

Nature & Humanity

Love of nature should mean that
We protect and do no harm to nature
Which should also include all human beings.
08.02.2015

Audiences & Truth

If we are to succeed in pleasing audiences
We must pretend to be what we are not
Refrain from saying what needs to be said
And say only what audiences want to hear.
08.01.2015

Fear & Decisions

Hidden fear
Caused by ignorance
Is at the heart of most bad decisions.
07.31.2015

Wanting & Wanting

Some of us want to, but cannot know
Some, don’t want to, and cannot know
Some, don’t want to, but can know
Some, want to and do know, and
Some are unaware because they don’t care;
To care and to keep one’s mind wide open
Is the only way to view all of life from all angles.
07.30.2015

Waiting & Life

Life does not wait;
Waiting for good times is wasting joy
Waiting for occasions is wasting time
And waiting for reasons to be festive
Is a waste of celebration.
07.29.2015

Awe & Nature

Not being in awe
At everything one sees
Is a great loss to one’s soul.

Perfection & Details

Seeking perfection entails
A strict attention to details.
07.27.2015

Love & Self

We love what we are
And justify what we are
Because love of self is primal
Whereas judgement is learned;
Although conscience is our monitor
And remorse is our redeemer
When our denial takes over
Everything can be justified.
07.26.2015

Love & Bias

The antidote of love is bias;
Where ever bias is strong
Love is weak
And where ever love is strong
Bias is weak.
07.25.2015

Love & Distance

Some loves are dampened by distance;
Some loves are sharpened by distance;
And some loves grow indomitable roots
That weather deluge, drought, storm
And deepen equally with adversity
As they do with prosperity.
07.24.2015

Lust & Love

When lust dies
It lingers in the eyes;
When love dies
It lingers in the soul.
07.23.2015

Work & Retirement

Working hard
Until the end of life
Serves individuals and societies;
Retiring into comfort
Serves mainly individuals.
07.22.2015

People & Self

People watching is self watching;
We secretly see what we like
And what we dislike
About our idealized selves.
07.21.2015

Efficiency & Passions

Efficiency is necessary for excellence
As passions are necessary for efficiency;
To cultivate and nurture good passions
Is to strive for noble excellence.
07.20.2015

Lust & Friendship

Love, loyalty, and lust are the three pillars
That support youthful relationships;
As age advances, lust recedes
And is replaced by a deeper friendship.
07.19.2015

Freedom & Cost

The heavy costs of freedom
To societies that uphold it
Rise as societies age
Not because of inflation
But because of rising abuse.
07.18.2015

Attitude & Happiness

If we insist on cheerfulness
If we nurture a sense of humor
If we see the world through love
We will need little else to be happy.
07.17.2915

Belief & Destiny

It is what we believe
And whom we believe
That decides what we become
At each stage of our lives;
Belief is destiny.
07.16.2015

Time & Bureaucracy

If life is time and time is life…
(For without life there can be no time
And without time there can be no life)
Then the greatest waster of time and life
Throughout the entire history of humanity
Has been and will always be, bureaucracy.
07.15.2015

Age & Cynicism

Youth is cynical with little reflection
Age is reflective with little cynicism.
07.14.2015

Justice & Nature

Justice is a human ideal, which is not part of nature;
It can be the modus operandi among individuals
But, among corporations and nations
It is supplanted by interests.
07.13.2015

Memory & Speed

Memory travels
Faster than the speed of light
Transcending years in less than an instant;
Or, sometimes, it travels slower than molasses
Never arriving to where it wants to go.
07.12.2015

Wisdom & Knowledge

Information, we learn
Knowledge, we earn
But wisdom descends
Only upon the chosen.
07.11.2015

Words & Worth

The cheapest words
Are those copied and pasted
Those said to please others
Those said to offend others
And those said to insult others;
The dearest words
Are those spoken with love
Those spoken with pain
Those spoken with sincerity
And those that remain unspoken.
07.10.2015

Seriousness & Death

We need to tale life and living seriously
And we need to take dying seriously
But, we need not waste our time
Taking death seriously because
It is not a part of life.
07.09.2015

Knowledge & Opinion

The more we know
The more we change our minds;
The less we know
The more intransigent we grow.
07.08.2015

Learning & Speed

True learning is slow learning;
Quick learning only happens when
We suddenly learn from our mistakes.
07.07.2015

Time & Best

To have too much to do
Means to do nothing well;
Only when we have the time
Can we do our best.
07.06.2015

Simplicity & Complixity

To accept what we are
And be the best we can be
Is nature’s simplicity;
To reject what we are
And try to be what we’re not
Is human’s complexity.
07.04.2015

Celebrating & Soul

Celebrating
Without an occasion
Emanates from our grateful souls
Excited at having a good personal feeling;
Celebrating
When there is an occasion
Emanates from our collective soul
Excited at sharing good communal feelings;
To lead a festive life, both celebrations are necessary.
07.03.2015

Traditions & Essence

Traditions have a seductive allure;
We love many things because of their traditions
And we think less and less of the essence
And more and more of the traditions
The older their times.
07.02.2015

Information & Us

If we inform others about ourselves
The information will not be retained;
If people inform others about us
Some information may be retained;
But if people ask others about us
The information they receive
Will be retained.
07.01.2015

Difference & Between

The difference between reading and learning
Between judgement and understanding
Between thinking and realizing
Between hearing and listening
Between feeling and sensing
Between space and distance
Between looking and seeing
And between hope and faith
Is the difference between
Information and knowledge
And between opinions and wisdom.
06.30.2015

Trust & Heart

To continue to trust
In spite of those few
Who are not trust worthy
Is to live with a big heart
Instead of a frightened one.
06.29.2015

Anger & Power

Only those who feel angry and powerless
Can justify discharging their powers
Regardless of the human cost.
06.28.2015

Society & Censorship

If we withhold
What we should say
Or what we aught to do
Because of what ‘they might say’
We are submitting to social censorship.
05.27.2015

Excellence & Criticism

Excellence
Can not be achieved
With passion and effort alone;
It requires both, severe self-criticism
And open mindedness to criticism by others.
06.26.2015

Together & Apart

When two find one another
And it’s a perfect fit
So not to stray or smother
They still must work at it
For should they choose to wander
Each might land in a pit.
06.25.2015

Theories & Truths

It takes a long time
For theories to be proven true;
And while only few theories
Are ever proven true
Most of them continue
To delude the many people
Who continue to believe in them
Long after they have been disproved.
06.24.2015

Politeness & Character

To remain polite
In spite of life’s aggravations
Defines our character;
To remain calm,
Defines our capacity for peace;
To remain cheerful,
Defines our magnanimity;
And to remain sympathetic,
Defines our capacity for understanding.
06.23.2015

Compliments & Soul

Compliments are dangerous;
If we truly believe them
We migrate away from our souls
And if we do not, we remain anchored;
To believe that one is exceptional
Is to believe that the rest of us are not
Which is a grave misrepresentation;
Self inflation starves our humility
Which in turn starves our humanity.
06.22.2015

Love & Return

To love without return can be a pleasure
We all love heroes who do not know us;
To be loved without return is a burden
Because it breaks the hearts of those
Who feel closely attached to us;
We seldom choose whom or what to love
Love chooses and we obey.
06.21.2015

Love & Age

Love is not the force
Which grows old with time;
We are the ones who tire and age.
06.20.2015

Age & Passions

To age yet keep our passions young
Is to nurture and sustain passions
Against time’s mighty currents
That we may live youthfully
While aging gracefully.
06.19.2015

Truth & Us

We are most blind
When we believe
Ours is the only truth;
And most sighted
When we are willing
To believe other truths.
06.18.2015

Anger & Love

We are most harmful
To our fellow humans
When we’re full of anger
And we are most helpful
When we’re full of love.
06.18.2015

Knowledge & Superstition

Whenever knowledge stops
Superstition starts.
06.17.2015

Love & Death

When a love is lost
Or a loved one is lost
Or a loved thing is lost
Love refuses to die
And reattaches itself
To yet another love object;
The divine force of love within us
Can never die because it is a part of God.
06.16.2015

Thoughts & Minds

Our thoughts often mislead us;
When we take time to reconsider
We often end up changing our minds.
06.15.2016

Love & Truth

Love is always believable
Even when it is not;
When we hear: ‘I love you’
We want to believe it
Even when it is not true;
We are all ever hungry for love
And ever gullible to it.
06.14.2015

Youth & Intellect

Youth is instinctive and age is reflective;
Life is a journey from instinct to intellect.
06.13.2015

Art & Beauty

Art is proof
That life is not enough;
The passion to create beauty
Lurks in us all.
06.12.2015

Cheerfulness & Beauty

The beauty of cheerfulness
Is more alluring and enduring
Than the beauty of form;
We all avoid gloomy persons
Even if they are beautiful
And seek cheerful personae
Even if they are homely.
06.11.2015

Famous & Representative

Few are famous in life
But not in death;
Few are famous in death
But not in life;
Most are not famous
Neither in life nor in death
But are, nevertheless
The true representatives
Of all of humanity.
06.10.2016

Saints & Heroes

To find hope in the well of despair
To carve a good life out of a bad state
To find joy in the timorous dungeons of fate
To find love in the tenebrous alleys of misery
To forge meaning out of the meaningless
And to age with great expectations
Is not the province of saints
But of courageous hearts.
06.09.2015

We & Cling

To postpone excellence, we cling to complacency
To postpone friendship, we cling to reticence
To postpone commitment, we cling to fear
To postpone life, we cling to addictions
To postpone joy, we cling to distress
To postpone ethics, we cling to urges
To postpone love, we cling to selfishness
And
To postpone biases, we cling to open-mindedness
To postpone aggression, we cling to kindness
To postpone judgement, we cling to humility
To postpone apathy, we cling to empathy
To postpone opinions, we cling to study
To postpone death, we cling to reason
To postpone defeat, we cling to hope
To postpone age, we cling to fitness.
06.08.2015

Physique & Cover

Feminine physique, when tastefully covered
Conjures fascination and fires up imagination;
But, when it is revealed beyond intimations
It loses much of its allure and mystique.
06.07.2015

Life & God

Retreating into our minds
Reclining inside our imaginations
Viewing the same thing from all angles
Deciphering humanity one individual at a time
Delighting at the panoramic spectrum of life
Realizing that the universal, unifying force
Which defines life is naught but love
Will help us find and understand
The spirit of God within us.
06.06.2015

Time & Health

Two things, which we do not own
But which we must protect and guard
Otherwise they will be taken away from us
Our time and our health;
If we do not guard our time, it will be wasted
And if do not protect our health, we will lose it.
06.05.2015

Entertainment & Screens

When we become sitting gluttons
Of screen entertainments
We will in time forget
How to entertain ourselves.
06.05.2015

Unconscious & Remorse

Blame shifting through denying facts
Is an unconscious mental stratagem;
Our minds would believe anything
If it can lessen pain and remorse.
06.03.2015

Ordinary & Aspiration

To aspire
To become ordinary
Takes wisdom and courage;
One must reject praise, awards
Honors, status, fame, temptations
But cling to ethics, excellence
Exercise, family, simplicity
And love.
06.02.2015

Change & Life

All conflicts
Disappear with time;
Everything modern
Becomes outdated with time;
Everything old
Becomes interesting with time;
Change, the only measure of time
Can only be perceived by life.
06.01.2015

Favors & Insults

It is easier
To forget favors
Than to forget insults;
Life would be better served
If we would forget insults
And remember favors.
05.31.2015

Repetition & Monotony

When nature repeats and recycles itself
It does it without monotony;
When we repeat and recycle ourselves
We become monotonous.
05.30.2015

Inhumane & Ideology

Espousing an inhumane ideology
And thinking it worthy of devotion
Is responsible for historic tragedies.
05.29.2015

Goals & Life

To live the longest life
Is the goal of most of us;
To live the good life
Is the goal of some of us;
To live the best life
When the best is also the shortest
Is the goal of our heroes.
05.28.2015

Cleansing & Soul

To cleanse our bodies
We need soap;
To cleanse our minds
We need compassion;
To cleanse our spirits
We need art;
To cleanse our hearts
We need love;
To cleanse our souls
We need nature
For that is where God lives.
05.27.2015

Love & Bitterness

Without food
We become hungry;
Without drink
We become thirsty;
Without love
We become bitter.
05.26.2015

Passion & Excellence

To work with passion
Makes us excellent workers;
To work without passion
Makes us ordinary workers;
And not to work
Makes us lazy.
05.25.2015

Urges & Control

It is far easier
For our urges to control us
Than for us to control our urges;
Whenever possible
We should avoid the cues
That could trigger our urges.
05.24.2005

Forgetting & Forgiving

Forgetting
Is the purest kind
Of forgiving.
05.23.2015

Preoccupation & Death

Being preoccupied with death
Diminishes life
And being preoccupied with life
Diminishes death.
05.22.2015

Reading & Time

Reading can be a waste of time
If it neither entertains nor instructs.
05.21.2015

Remembering & Forgetting

Forgetting
Is as important
As remembering
Especially when we
Remember the good
And forget the bad.
05.20.2015

Love & Friendship

Love is sustained by friendship;
When friendship dies, love withers.
05.19.2015

Excess & Insufficiency

Bureaucracy is like food
Too little of it weakens us
The right amount, keeps us healthy
And too much, fills us with disease;
Achieving the golden mean
Is much more difficult
Than are excess or insufficiency.
05.18.2015

Primitiveness & Danger

The most dangerous human
Is the one who is primitive
But thinks he’s enlightened.
05.17.2015

Truth & Harm

To speak our truths
When they lead to good
Is good
But, to speak our truths
When truths lead to harm
Is bad;
Our truths, when damaging
Are unethical and cruel.
05.16.2015

Fun & Crulety

To make cruel fun of others
Is to make fun of their Maker.
05.15.2015

Argument & Understanding

Because arguments
Seldom change minds
To argue is to fail to see
The opposing point of view;
We would learn so much more
If we try to understand, instead.
05.14.2015

Ethical & Legal

To do the unethical
Because it is legal
Erodes our values
And diminishes us.
05.13.2015

Love & Dimentions

Love is the fourth dimension of life
After food, water, and shelter;
Without it, a meaningful life
Would not be possible.
05.12.2015

Modern & Time

Every one
Alive or dead
Was modern once.
05.11.2015

Ownership & Power

Ownership is our grandest illusion
We tend to confuse ownership with power
None of us really ever owns anything
Instead, we merely have power
Over what we think we own
Until the day comes
When we are rendered powerless.
05.10.2015

Details & Vistas

Allowing ourselves to become mired
In the mundane details of our lives
Blinds us to the grand vistas
Of the life around us.
05.09.2015

Age & Beauty

To uncover the beauty of age
We need to look behind the years
And re-visualize the youth from which
Old age has sprouted.
05.09.2015

MIstakes & Teachers

We learn the most
When we catch our mistakes
And take the time to correct them;
If we let our mistakes escape, untended
We will lose our very best teachers.
05.07.2015

Silence & Worship

Because the rarest element
On planet earth
Is silence;
We associate silence
With holiness and worship
And noise, with the mundane.
05.06.2015

Generalazations & Good

We must resist generalizations
Even though they come to us naturally;
There is always more good than bad
More construction than destruction
More peace than war and conflict
More simplicity than complexity
More virtue than corruption
And more love than hate
On our little planet.
05.05.2015

Time & Life

To have time to live
One must take time away
From what seems more significant
And apply it to what seems less significant.
05.04.2015

Love & Anger

All loves
Emanate from self love
All hates, from unconsolable self pain
And all angers, from uncontrollable feelings.
05.03.2015

Ethics & Morality

Ethics favors right over wrong
Regardless of numbers or justification;
Morality justifies its precepts
Based on the feelings of its majority.
05.02.2015

Peace & Passions

Without passions
Peace can become
Dangerously boring.
05.01.2015

Construction & Destruction

The primitive
Compete in destruction,
The enlightened, in construction.
04.30.2015

Death & Children

Regardless of age
When we lie down to die
We die as children.
04.29.2015

Others & Us

Our need to feel responsible
For everyone else’s thoughts
Especially, thoughts  about us
Harms our mental health;
To always do our best and
Disregard what others think
Is how we can attain peace.
04.28.2015

Failure & Struggle

True failure comes
Of not doing our best
And true success comes
When we do our best;
The end result
Is not as important
As our struggle.
04.27.2015

Faith & The Unknown

To have faith in the unknown
Is to have trust in tomorrow
And hope in the future;
The unknown is full of treasures
And all we need to do is wait
For treasures to manifest.
04.26.2915

Prime Movers & History

The seven prime movers of human history
Love, hunger, fear, passion, belief
intelligence, and fatigue
Determine our actions and reactions;
Of these, love is light, fatigue is acceptance
And the other five explain our graces and our evils.
04.25.2015

Age & Appearance

The only defense against old age
Is to maintain a youthful mind;
To only modify our appearance
Makes us look presumptuous .
04.24.2015

Inner Thoughts & Body Fat

Our inner thoughts
Are our true identities;
They wear us like our body fat
And are most difficult to shed
Without regular exercise
And constant dieting.
04.23.2015

Beauty & Ugliness

If we do not do our best
To discover the beauty in everything
We will discover the ugliness instead
And will have to live with it.
04.22.2015

Fanaticism & Primitivism

Harmful fanaticism
Is unenlightened primitivism
Untouched by the teachings of history.
04.21.2015

Communications & Truth

In human communications
What remains unsaid
Is more truthful
Than what is said.
04.20.2015.

Help & Undeserving

Our sincere help
Which may not better
That undeserving person
May have a proud influence
On his family and friends.
04.18.2015

Help & Humanity

Helping those
Whom we know not
Or those whom we like not
Is a better test of our humanity
Than helping those whom
We know and like.
04.17.2015

Guilt & Charity

Feeling gratitude
About having a good life
Leads to charity;
Feeling bad
About having a good life
Leads to guilt and fear.
04.16.2015

Love & Enough

Love is not enough;
It is the beauty of souls
Which, for a meaningful life
Needs ideals, passions, energy
Art, work, society, and kind beliefs
Which promote global goodness.
04.15.2015

Wires & Opportunities

For every person
Wired right and granted opportunity
There is one other, wired wrong
Or denied opportunity;
We are but the byproducts
Of our codes and circumstances.
04.14.2015

Learning & Speed

To learn deeply
Is to proceed slowly;
To proceed quickly
Is to learn less
And err more.
04.13.2015

Creation & Seeds

We are all creators
Who can create life
By planting a seed;
What awe to possess
The power of creation
In our mighty, little hands.
04.12.2015

Loneliness & Love

We best appreciate rest
When we are tired
Food, when hungry
Water, when thirsty
Safety, when threatened
Health, when ill
Youth, when old
Love, when lonely
And God, when we are dying .
04.11.2015

Memory & Company

Those who live in our memory
Whether living or dead
Abstract or real
Intimate or distant
With us or far away
Related or unrelated
Are our true company.
04.09.2015

Thinking & Feeling

Just like we should not believe
Every thing we hear and see
Also, we should not believe
Everything we think and feel.
04.08.2015

Alone & Company

To want to be alone
Is to crave one’s own company
And the inimitable entertainment
Of one’s very own mind.
04.07.2015

Applause & Substance

Most applause
Fades into oblivion
Without leaving a mark;
Seeking applause often entails
Relinquishing substance
in favor of appearance.
04.06.2015

Aging & Acceptance

To embrace
Each stage of life
And accept its verdicts
Without ever demurring
Is to drink life to the lees  
Without glancing back.
04.05.2015

Noticing & Joy

Not to notice insults or slights
But to notice noble behavior,
Not to notice opinions,
But to notice facts
Not to notice anger,
But to notice meekness
Not to notice noise,
But to notice quietude
Not to notice violence,
But to notice kindness
Not to notice extravagance,
But to notice simplicity
Not to notice differences,
But to notice similarities
Not to notice speeches,
But to notice whispers
Not to notice power,
But to notice goodness
Not to notice ugliness,
But to notice beauty
Not to notice hate,
But to notice love
Is to reach peace and joy
By having the right attitude.
04.04.2015

Suffering & Involvement

To suffer with those who suffer
Especially, those we don’t know
Defines our human involvement.
04.03.2015

Nature & Teaching

With eternity,
It teaches us worship
With inscrutable mysteries,
It teaches us wonder
And with daily miracles,
It teaches us God.
04.02.2015

Nature & Teaching

With bounty,
It teaches us generosity
With order,
It teaches us discipline
With grandeur,
It teaches us awe
04.01.2015

Nature & Teaching

With beauty,
Nature teaches us love;
With power,
It teaches us respect;
With infinity,
It teaches us humility.
03.31.2015

Judgement & Understanding

To judge is not to understand;
To understand is to explain behavior;
To explain behavior, precludes judgement
But need not exonerate the wrongdoing.
03.30.2915

Love & Lifetime

To love a year is to live a year;
The sum of loveless years
Adds up to nothing.
03.29.2015

Reinvention & Self

To move up through the stages of life
One must reinvent one’s self continuously;
Insistence on remaining the same
With the same mind set
Same powers
And same world view
Stifles intellectual and spiritual growth.
03.28.2015

Worth & Loss

We appreciate what we had
More than what we have;
We notice loss more
Than we notice bounty;
We learn the worth what we have
When under the threat of losing it.
03.27.2015

Vulnerability & Need

Vulnerability comes of need;
We are rendered most vulnerable
When we need what we don’t have.
03.26.2015

Violence & Humanity

Violence and cruelty
Can become contagious
Grow to epidemic proportions
And dehumanize populations.
03.25.2015

Happiness & Power

There is less happiness
In being famous or powerful
More happiness in being ordinary
And most happiness in rejecting
Fame or power in favor of the
Contentment of the simple
And ordinary life.
03.24.2015

Dogs & Humanity

We love dogs because
They don’t have opinions
They need us like children
They love us unconditionally
They forgive us our trespasses
More than we forgive others
They do not hold grudges
And they never grow up;
Dogs think of us people
Better than we think of ourselves
And much better than we think of others.
03.23.2015

Love & Family

We use love to salute;
“I love you,” we shout
“I love you too,”
They shout back
But we forget to tell
Those we deeply love
Especially our family
“I love you.”
03.22.2015

Winning & Love

Can’t win a dying man’s heart with money
Can’t win a sated man’s stomach with food
Can’t win a prisoner’s mind with honey
Can’t win a desert man with fire wood
Can’t win with what one is not in need of
But you can win most every one with love.
03.20.15

Mindset & Conflict

To remain mired in a certain mindset
And refuse to change one’s mind
Fuels most human conflicts.
03.19.2015

Duty & Virtue

To help when asked
Is a duty;
To help when unasked
Is a virtue.
03.18.2015

Love & Joy

To love cheerfully and fill our moments
With contented joy would, by default,
Become our calling if we were to find out
That our time will soon be up.
03.18.05

Minds & Identity

We live in our minds
No matter where we are
Or with whom we live.
We are our minds
And when our minds leave
We become empty shells
Capable of suffering
But not of joy.
03.16.2015

Isolation & Love

Isolation leads to decay
Because it insulates us from love;
We are social creatures
Because we need to exchange love.
03.15.2015

Fear & Relief

Even when our fears are allayed
And we no longer have anything to fear
We continue to fear.
03.14.2015

Mistakes & Learning

We have to learn and relearn
Over and over, from our own mistakes
Before we can reach that level of wisdom
Which protects us from repeating
The very same mistakes
Which we are inclined to make.
03.13.2015

Love & Enemies

Since one cannot truly love one’s enemies
The closest one can get to loving them
Is to make an effort to understand
Why they are the way they are;
Understanding is the antidote
Of anger and hate.
03.12.2015

Poverty & Corruption

Ignorance, poverty, and hunger
Are the incubators of corruption
Because they invite lawlessness
And render righteousness absurd.
03.11.15

Fame & Importance

Some of us are famous
Some of us are important
And some are famous and important
But most of us are neither famous nor important;
Yet it is us who are the living measure
Of fame and importance.
As Protagoras said in the 5th century B.C.E
“Man is the measure of all things.”
03.10.2015

Beauty & Goodness

To find some new beauty or goodness
Especially in our aging loved ones
Is our most noble calling
If we live to love.
03.09.2015

Love & Humanity

The only solution
For the human dilemma
Of violence, deceit, terrorism
And universal corruption at all levels
Is for us all to learn to love one another;
One can do no wrong when one loves humanity.
03.08.2015

Time & Luggage

Time is a traveling suitcase
Whether we pack it light or pack it tight
It always travels at the same speed
And at the end, we always arrive
Without any luggage.
03.07.2014

Unaware & Good

The good we do, unaware
Can impact people’s lives
More than the good we do
When aware;
Being good comes of loving
Without rhyme or reason.
03.06.2015

Character & Destiny

We all possess
The seeds of life;
Where we plant them
How we nurture them
When we harvest them
And how we employ them
Explains why our character
Determines our destiny.
03.05.2015

Joy & Harm

Enjoying what we do
Is blessed if it helps others
And accursed if it harms others.
03.04.2015

Folly & Foolishness

Folly and foolishness are like spices;
Too much renders food inedible
Too little renders it bland
But the correct amount
Renders it delectable.
03.03.2015.

Enlightenment & Humanity

Violence
Is an integral part
Of our human nature;
Controlling it requires enlightenment
But enlightening humanity, so far
In spite of 200,000 years
Has not been possible.
03.02.2015

Certainty & Change

Since the only certainty
On earth and in the universe
Is constant change
Why do we seriously take
What we think we know today
When all we really know
Is that it will change
Tomorrow?
03.01.15

Compliance & Excellence

When compliance becomes
The measure of our excellence
Heroes disappear, quality declines
Efficiency, brevity, and intelligence wither
Creativity is stifled, and bureaucracy blossoms.
02.28.2015

Seeing & Hearing

We believe what is written
More than what is heard
Because we are constituted
To believe what we see
More than what we hear;
Once things are written
They become indelible.
02.27.2015

Life & Living

To feel alive
Every living moment
Is to honor life with love;
To be oblivious of moments
Is to spend life waiting for death.
02.26.2015

Country & Self

Countries decay
When their inhabitants
Begin to benefit themselves
At the expense of their countries.
02.25.2015

Truth & Popularity

When an audience hears what it wants to hear
Especially when it is not true
It applauds;
When it hears what it doesn't want to hear
Especially when it is true
It boos;
Authentication by applause or by popularity
Is detrimental to truth.
02.23.15

Intelligence & Simplicity

Brilliant minds simplify
Ordinary minds complicate;
We can measure the intelligence
Of our systems by measuring the ratio
Of their simplicity to their complexity.
02.22.15

Humanity & Home

When we do not belong to humanity
We live as global strangers;
When we espouse humanity
Planet earth becomes home.
02.21.15

Gratitude & Grief

If one gives us gifts and then departs
That would not cause us grief
But rather, gratitude;
If one dies, having given us gifts
Through living a generous life
Why don’t we feel gratitude
In stead of grief?
0220.15

Temporary & Feelings

If we could remind ourselves
That every thing good is temporary
We would cherish all good things more;
And if we could remind ourselves
That every thing bad is temporary
We would harbor less worry and fear.
02.19.15

Important & Enjoyable

There are important things that are not enjoyable
And enjoyable things that are not important
And things that are neither enjoyable nor important;
Lucky are those who can do only what’s enjoyable.
02.18.15

Understanding & Tragedies

Instead of expending our efforts
Trying to understand tragedies
Which are out of our control
We would be better served
To accept such tragedies
As random, unintelligible
Acts of nature.
02.17.15

Ideas & Interactions

Most of our good ideas
Come from our interactions
With other people or things;
And isolated mind
Cannot evolve
Good ideas.
02.16.15

Youth & Quality

As we age
We cling to youth
Which is preposterous;
Instead
In all aspects of living
We should cling to quality
Since that’s within our reach.
02.15.15

Work & Life

Making time for life
Is a duty as solemn
As making time for work;
But, whereas others
Can perform our work
Only we can live our lives.
02.14.15

Identity & Self

To ourselves
We are whom we think we are;
To others
We are whom they think we are.
02.13.15

Majority & Country

In politics
What appeals
To the majority
Is easier to enact
Than what is best
For the country.
02.12.15

Language & Actions

Good language
Can sanction
Bad actions.
02.11.15

Irrationality & Harm

The tragedy of the human mind
Lies in the simple fact that
When we are irrational
We believe that we are rational
And no amount of evidence
Will convince us of the contrary;
Hence the harm that people can do
While believing that they are right
Explains most of human conflicts.
02.10.15

Passion & Meaning

It is our passions
That render life meaningful;
Without passions, life becomes
A boring voyage.
02.09.15

Life & Resurrection

Life is never a preparation for death
It is a rebellion against it because
Life always springs out of death;
Death, on the other hand
Is the eternal preparation for life
Because every life is but a resurrection
From the inanimate.
02.08.15

Life & Speed

Living slowly helps us savor
Life’s precious moments;
And living fast
Kidnaps those precious moments
Never to be returned.
02.07.15

Nature & Living Things

Nothing living
Notices everything
But nature always does.
02.06.15

Brutality & Enlightenment

Brutality
Is the power
Of un-enlightenment;
The more enlightened
The more kind we are
And the more ignorant
The more cruel we get.
02.05.15

Stories & Time

Stories told of yesteryears
      
Come to us through little ears
      
Hold us captive in their spheres;
       
When the years will disappear
        
Only stories keep them near
      
For our little ears to hear.
02.04.15

Alcohol & Weight

Alcohol consumption
Can cause weight gain
In seven sundry ways:
-The calories in alcohol
-The cravings for more alcohol
-The carbohydrates in the drinks
-The increased appetites ensuing
-The prolonged sitting around food
-The lethargy and inactivity that follow
-The fatigue and cravings of hangovers.
02.03.15

Trust & Crooks

If we weren’t so trusting
There wouldn’t be so many crooks.
02.02.15

Attitude & Outcome

The means to temper tragedy
And morph defeat into victory
Is with a winning attitude;
The means to amplify tragedy
And morph victory into defeat
Is with a losing attitude.
02.01.15

Payment & Quality

To pay well
For what’s done well
Preserves quality;
To pay poorly
For what is done well
Destroys quality.
01.30.15  

Poverty & Conscience

When cornered by poverty:
Poverty of body and intellect
Poverty of skills and options
Poverty of support and love
Poverty of art and beauty
We justify the unethical life
And turn to violence and crime
With a clear conscience.
01.30.15

Living & Worth

Some live to live
Some live to love
Some live to serve
Some live to create
Some live for power
Some live for wealth
Some live for beauty
Some live for worship
Some live for pleasure
Some live for knowledge
Some live for success
Some live to conquer
Some live to plunder
And they all believe
They are pursuing
A worthy cause.
01.29.15

Titles & Language

Titles
Figments of our language
Unshared by the inhuman world
Are uniforms that identify us
But not when we are alone
Or when we return home
Or when we share love
Or when we go to bed.
01.28.15

Desires & Motives

Our desires drive our motives
And when they change
Our motives change;
At every living moment
We are motivated by our desires.
01.27.15

Faith & Hope

Seeing a loved one suffer and decline

Teaches us to put faith and hope

Ahead of scientific realities;

By their very nature

Faith and hope

Are indefeatable.

01.26.15

Love & Freedom

Love of others

Tethers us;

Love of self

Releases us.   
01.25.15

Loneliness & Decisions

Loneliness
Renders us vulnerable;
Most of our pathetic decisions
Are provoked by craving company.
01.24.15

Learn & Primitive

We learn cheerfulness, insouciance
Contentment, simplicity, and joie do vivre
From those who are more primitive
Than we think we are.
01.23.14

Blame & Destiny

If we blame our parents
For how bad we have turned out
And for all the bad that has befallen us
Then they, in turn, can blame their parents
The chain of blame would continue ad infinitum;
If we would, instead, dare blame ourselves
We could change our destiny.
01.22.15

Conversation & Relationships

The art of conversation
Memorable and binding
Takes time to cultivate;
In our fast-paced world
Making time to converse
Rather than text or e-mail
Is best food for relationships.
01.21.15

Words & Music

Human ears value music more than words;
Good music can carry the poor words of a song
But poor music cannot carry a song’s good words.
A speech, if read, can only impact through substance
But if heard, the music of eloquence can impact
Regardless of substance.
01.20.15

Spider Song

Spider, spider, in the tree
Lurking where no one can see
Eat the insects ere they flee
Ere they dive to dine on me
Spider, spider, spin and fend
Thank you for being my friend.
01.19.15

Noise & Pollution

Noise pollution
Increases nervousness
Reduces tranquility and creativity
And is the archenemy of peace and beauty.
01.18.15

Far & Near

We travel far to find what’s best
When what is best is near
We hark and eavesdrop for the truth
When truth is close to ear
We roam and wander round and round
Running away from fear
And when no better life is found
We find our heaven here.
01.17.15

Wise & Generalize

Not all that’s green is beautiful
Nor all that’s brown is old
Not all that’s bright is wonderful
Nor all that’s ice is cold;
One does not generalize
If one is wise.
01.16.15

Play & Prayer

We need to relearn from our childhoods
That play may be as essential
As fervent prayer.
01.15.15

Violence & Enlightenment

Violence and enlightenment
Dwell on opposite poles
Of human nature;
The enlightened abhor violence
And the violent abhor enlightenment.
01.14.15

Trouble & Cheerfulness

If we continue to wait
Until all is well with our world
We would never cheer up our spirits;
Cheerfulness in spite of ambient trouble
Should be the indomitable ideology
Of enlightened minds.
01.13.15

Humility & Learning

If we could view
Every individual
As a teacher of life
We would learn more
Through pure humility.
01.12.13

Control & Fate

If only we could gain control
Of our bodies and minds
We would humor fate
And render life
Un-daunting.
01.11.15

Conflict & Violence

Non-conflict leads to peace
Nonviolent conflict leads to progress
Violent conflict leads to destruction.
01.10.15

Acceptance & Surrender

It is wise to accept
That evil lurks everywhere;
It’s sinful defeat to surrender to it.
Life’s worth is the triple sum
Of the joy one creates
The suffering one elevates
And the evil, which one eliminates.
01.09.15

Simplicity & Joy

If we could teach our hearts
To enjoy the simple things around
We would not have to venture far
In search of happiness.
01.08.15

Nature & Tomorrow

Of love and joy and sorrow
Nature will have its way
We cannot know tomorrow
We only know today.
01.07.15

Response & Knowledge

Our responses
Denote our knowledge;
The deeper our knowledge
The more profound our responses,
And the more superficial our knowledge
The shallower and less wise are our responses.
01.06.15

Thoughts & Thinking

To actively think about things
Suppresses our intrusive thoughts
Which, otherwise, assail and bother us;
The crazy brain winds are never calm
Not even during sleep.
01.05.15

Beyond & Discovery

If we look beyond
The sad, the bad, and the ugly
We find the happy, good, and beautiful.
01.04.15

Cry & Sing

Each morning
We open our eyes
We should toast life
And every surprise
The day will bring;
To cry is to give up
A chance to sing?
01.03.15

LIfe & Surprises

Good news are seductive
Bad news, repulsive
No news, boring;
But, to expect almost anything
Without getting too excited
Nor too aggravated
Is to live well in spite of
Life’s unpredictable surprises.
01.02.15