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