Gut & Veracity

Gut feelings
Our intuitive guides
Become most dangerous
When we refuse to examine their veracity.
04.30.11

Argument & Eloquence

The sheer force of a dominant personality
Can make an implausible argument seem plausible
With the seductive eloquence of its oratorical speech.
But put the same argument into writing
And it will lose its enthralling charm
Much like the words of a song
Without their music.
04.29.11

Audiences & Pretense

The only speakers who don’t pretend
When they stand before their audiences
Are soothsayers who neither seek approval nor applause.
04.28.11

Greatness & History

History ultimately laughs
At everything and everyone
Whose ‘greatness’ does not help
All of humankind without discrimination.
04.27.11

Science & Art

Emotion
Snuffs out science
And inflames art.
04.26.11

Ignorance & Consequences

Ignorance is deadly;
Perceptions, opinions, choices, decisions, and actions
Are so distorted by ignorance to make them seem rational
In spite of contrary evidence and disastrous consequences.
04.25.11

Loud & Crowd

Every crowd
Has someone loud
Who is never heard.
04.24.11

Need & Pretense

We are most obsequious
When in need.
04.23.11

Attributes & Effeteness

Freedom, wealth, and security
Are the three coveted attributes
That ultimately defeat societies
By rendering them Effete.
04.22.11

Speed & Quality

The faster is a society
The more it emphasizes quantity
And the less it recognizes quality.
04.21.11

Freedom & Dictatorships

When a people have been corrupted by too much freedom
It takes firm internal dictatorships to enforce reforms.
04.20.11

Bizarre & Devout

The most bizarre beliefs
Attract the most devout believers.
04.19.11

Mind & Truth

No one can help
What occupies one’s mind
Nor can anyone change what one truly is.
04.18.11

Governments & Laws

A bad government can ruin a good people
Just as a bad law can encourage the wrongdoers
And discourage the noble and the good elements in society.
04.17.11

Beliefs & Conditions

For a belief to spread and prosper
It must meet four conditions:
First, it must infuse life with meaning
Second, it must not be refutable by evidence
Third, it must temper and glorify the hardships of living
Fourth, it must promise hope beyond this life and unto eternity.
04.16.11

The Ten Secular Commandments

1. Learn to tolerate mediocrity
2. Give equal respect to the elite and simple
3. Learn to think for yourself
4. Find your own guilt in your hate
5. Learn to live with injustice
6. Accept age and decay
7. Have compassion for all, especially those you dislike
8. Spend all your money by the time you die
9. Look for God in your own heart
10. Let ethics define your morals.
04.15.11

Insanity & Sanity

Insanity is universal
We all have been insane
With anger, hunger, love, hate, passion, youth, power
And only realized it after we had returned to sanity;
No one is sane at all times
And no one is insane at all times
The most rational among us have insane moments
And the most insane among us has some lucid moments;
Mental instability is one of the defining features of humanity.
04.14.11

Freedom & Abuse

The destiny of freedom
Is to commit slow suicide
Through cumulative abuse.
04.13.11

Socialism & Capitalism

Socialism deflates with time and then implodes;
Capitalism inflates with time and then explodes.
04.12.11

Confusion & Reality

Let’s not confuse
Faith with insight
Success with worth
Morality with ethics
Popularity with truth
Fame with substance
Beauty with goodness
Leadership with wisdom
Expertise with knowledge
Power with farsightedness
Education with enlightenment
Religion with spirituality
And what we appear to be
With what we really are.
04.10.11

Jails & Skies

No matter where we think we live
Or what addresses we give
All of us, at all times,
Live within our minds
Which can be jails or skies.
04.09.11

Generalization & Imagination

To generalize
Is to advertise
One’s restricted vision
And limited imagination.
04.08.11

Dreams & Spirit

Selling dreams
Has always been
The most lucrative enterprise
In humanity’s socio-spiritual history.
04.07.11

Withholding & Lying

Withholding the truth is the darker side of lying
Yet all our institutions, secular and religious
Withhold truths from their peoples
Without ever blushing.
04.06.11

Answers & Myths

We demand answers
To be able face uncertainty
But in our yearning for certainty
We ignore truth and favor myths
Because they appease us with explanations.
04.05.11

Adults & Children

Adults are grownup children
If one enables their irrational pouts
They’ll learn to use them more
But if one ignores them
They’ll use them less.
04.04.11

Age & Interest

As we age
Unless we maintain some creative output
We become less and less interesting
To more and more people.
04.03.11

Education & Enlightenment

An education
That does not lead to enlightenment
Levels its peaks on the restful platitudes of inculcation
The dwelling place of most teachers, schools, & universities;
The truly enlightened
Are those self-educated few
The ones who pursued the truth
At the expense of great personal endeavor
And wide spread societal indignation and humiliation.
04.02.11

Corrupt & Wise

Corruption
Is far more characteristic
Of human nature than wisdom
Consequently, our species’ name
Should be reformed, for truth’s sake
From that of wise man, Homo sapiens
To that of corrupt man, Homo corruptus
04.01.11