Hardware & Software

People differ
Not because of their minds
But because of what’s in their minds;
While people’s hardware is relatively similar
Resulting in what is regarded as human nature
People’s software is infinitely diverse and impressionable
Programmed by genes, nurture, time, place, and coincidence.
08.31.11

Kingdom & Size

The smaller the kingdom
The happier the king and his people;
There’s an ideal size beyond which
All things diminish.
08.30.11

Democracy & Dictatorship

Democracy is a rebound reaction to dictatorship
And, like a rebound marriage after a divorce,
It discovers its deadly faults with time.
08.29.11

Peace & Anguish

Five things shatter inner peace
Worry, hurry, anger, loss, and fear;
And all five are consequences
Of disproportionate attention
Paid to our physical beings
And blatant inattention
Paid to our spirits.
08.28.11

Amour & Attraction

Amorous relationships
Are more attraction dependent
Than love dependent;
Liking tightens the love bond
And disliking shatters it.
08.27.11

Time & Waste

No matter where you are
And regardless of what you’re doing
Some one will waste your time
Or you will end up wasting it.
08.26.11

Mind & Freedom

Mental freedom is assessed on two scales:
The resistance with which one adopts a new truth
And the readiness which one sheds an old belief.
08.25.11

Making Love & Having Sex

Having sex
Is like grabbing a bite
From a fast food drive-in
And gulping it quickly without relish;
Making love
Is dining on a white table cloth
With hors d’oeuvres and champagne
In an ambiance laced with Mozart at sunset.
08.24.11

Pleasures & Sharing

A pleasure shared
Is a pleasure doubled.
08.23.11

Mind & Speech

When we need to speak our minds
We’ll talk to any one who would listen;
Our minds are like blown up balloons
One puncture and they readily deflate.
08.22.11

Love & Death

The reason we love life
Is because we are life
And the reason we shun death
Is because it takes all that we love away.
08.21.11

Capitalism & Excess

Capitalism
Thrives on excess
And languishes in austerity.
08.20.11

Mind & Pullution

If one grants access into one’s mind
Of unfiltered ideas and notions
One’s mind becomes polluted
With unexamined thoughts.
08.19.11

Nature & Cycles

Our minds are made of cyclic intertwining circuits;
Like nature, we cycle in and out of seasons
In and out of love, passions, pleasures
Careers, routines, aspirations, wealth
Relationships, ideas, beliefs, moods, biases
Birth, life, illness, death, resurrection, and infinity.
08.18.11

Love & Opportunity

In life we follow love and opportunity
Wherever they go, we go.
08.17.11

Loyalties & Ideas

Loyalties are
Physical, emotional, or abstract;
We are either loyal to business or family or friends
Or to abstract ideologies such as nation, religion, belief, or love.
08.16.11

Beauty & Health

How quickly
When one falls ill
Health becomes beauty.
08.15.11

MInd & Kingdom

As long as I can keep my mind
I can fashion my own, private kingdom
And rule it as a benevolent monarch.
08.14.11

Thin & Thick

Beauty becomes blurred
Behind the veil of years;
It is most visible in youth
When the skin is thick
And the veil is thin,
And least visible in age
When the skin is thin
And the veil is thick.
08.13.11

Silence & Speach

Even when there’s nothing to say
Or even when nothing needs to be said
People still speak because silence is awkward
While speaking without saying anything is comforting.
08.12.11

Sex & Health

The sick are not sexy
And the sexy are not sick;
For sex appeal is contingent upon health
As is procreation and survival of all species.
08.11.11

Sovereign & Size

A greater sovereign
Has less joy than a lesser sovereign
Who has less joy than the tiniest sovereign,
The one who is head of his own family or small business.
08.10.11

Public & Human Nature

Whoever deals with the public
Ends up with a low opinion
Of human nature.
08.09.11

Truths & Offense

Many of life’s universal truths
Offend humanity with their nudity
And without proper vestments
Are barred from society.
08.08.11

Insults & Slavery

To allow one’s self to become insulted
Is to allow one’s soul to become conquered
Is to allow others to invade one’s mind
Is to surrender one’s independence
Is to submit one’s free intellect
To sudden mental slavery.
08.07.11

Works & Impact

We are our works;
Nothing else lasts
Or has lasting impact.
08.06.11

Convince & Overpower

Whoever convinces me
Overpowers me
If that takes all my doubts away.
08.05.11

Knowns & Unknowns

Everything we think we know
Is in many ways, temporary
To be supplanted later on
By what we do not yet know.
08.04.11

Identity & Place

We are what we believe we are—
If our genes sprout in Christian America
We believe we are Christian Americans
And if they sprout in Muslim Arabia
We believe we are Muslim Arabs.
On the other hand
Our dear cats and dogs
Do not derive their identities
From wherever their genes sprout;
They believe they are just cats and dogs
Regardless of where they happen to grow up
And they do get along with each other
Shamefully better than we do.
08.03.11

Emotionalism & Credibility

Emotionalism
Cancels credibility.
08.02.11

Certainty & Opium

If one’s mind is so certain about an idea
That it allows not a measure of doubt
Then one’s mind has been narcotized
By the sweet opium of certainty.
08.01.11