Age & Periphery

Old age
Is a migration
From center to periphery.
11.30.11

Pleasures & Joys

Whereas pleasures and thrills
Are but ephemeral attributes of our bodies
Most joys are lasting attributes of our minds and souls.
11.29.11

Venting & Listening

We vent for relief
And to convince ourselves
That what we are saying is true
And to seek support from our listener
Who’s cornered & pressured to hear
Only our side of the story.
11.28.11

Written & Read

A lot has been written
But a little has been read
And far less has been understood.
11.27.11

Stubborn & Starved

Every stubborn person
Is besieged within himself
Holding on to a starved intellect.
11.26.11

Giving & Loss

Many have been impoverished by loss
But no one has been impoverished by giving.
11.25.11

Persecution & Oppression

Persecution and oppression
Those ostentatious arms of power
Which seek to enforce its rule and hegemony
Proceed oblivious of the dangerous anger they foment
Among those never-forgetting, ever-growing generations
Who, like a malignant mole, multiply and ramify in the dark.
11.24.11

Victory & Failure

Victory is treacherous
For it oft leads to complacency
Which could lead to failure;
Failure is motivating
For it oft leads to struggle
Which could lead to victory.
11.23.11

Coincidence & Prediction

Believing in coincidence
Is wiser than believing in predictions
For coincidence often provides opportunities
While predictions often provide illusions and disappointments.
11.22.11

Talk & Worth

Talk is cheap
But the right words
At the right time
Are priceless.
11.21.11

Shopping & Countries

Shopping for countries
Is the modus operandi of the future;
An unenlightened country that rules with cruel suppression
Will lose its intelligentsia to other competing countries,
Which provide freedom, justice, and opportunity.
11.20.11

Opinion & Change

A true intellectual
Like a true scientist
Is one who always searches
For evidence that runs contrary
To his own ideas and systems of belief
And who always sways his opinion
With the sway of new evidence.
11.19.11

Enlightenment & Violence

Cultivating a sense of aesthetics
A love for harmony and beauty
Enhances enlightenment and tolerance
And discourages dissonance and violence.
11.18.11

Audiences & Pretense

In the conduct of human affairs
The larger the audiences
The greater the political pretenses;
Politicians re-write history
To please the majority
At the expense of truth,
Which is never popular.
11.17.11

Minds & Disasters

A deadly mind
Featuring a deadly personality
Is far worse than any deadly disease;
Its distorted judgment invites recurrent disasters.
11.16.11

Beginnings & Ends

How ruthlessly does a bad end
Spoil a good life or a promising beginning;
Naught is well unless it ends well.
11.15.11

Herds & Individuals

A consistent features of Homo sapiens
That distinguishes them from other animal herds
Is their instinctive lack of herd mentality;
Their tendency to behave as individuals
Causes them to get along poorly
Makes them hard to govern
Incites them to splinter into feuding factions
And renders conflict more natural than peaceful coexistence.
11.14.11

Majority & Truth

Since Homo sapiens are delusional followers
Who will follow anyone’s promises
Of hope, wealth, and freedom
A large following or majority vote
Lends little legitimacy or credence
To ideologies, beliefs, or aggressions;
History is littered with happenings
Triggered by passionately espoused ideas
That ended up having disastrous consequences;
Truth is seldom popular but it ultimately prevails.
11.13.11

Primitiveness & Noise

One can measure one’s own primitiveness
By measuring the quantity of noise one generates
Plus the quantity of noise one tolerates.
11.12.11

Live & Die

There are so many ways to die
But only one way to live;
To live is to struggle.
11.11.11

Emotions & Instincts

If we could perceive emotions as involuntary instincts
They would become much easier to comprehend
And to accept as programmed affects.
11.10.11

Power & Shame

Power rules and justifies
Thereafter dies with all its lies
And then a new power does rise
To do the same and die the same;
Powers don’t learn nor can be wise
No body wins the power game
Homo sapiens are a shame.
11.09.11

Good Death & Poor Life

Trading a good death
For a poor quality life
Is miserly cowardice.
11.08.11

Dreams & Realities

Shattering dreams and hopes
Causes more profound grief
Than wrecking realities.
11.07.11

Internal & External

Just as it is far easier
To look good on the outside
Than to be good on the inside
It is also easier for a person or nation
To take care of external problems
Than to manage internal ones.
11.06.11

Success & Trap

Beware of initial success;
It’s a trap we all fall into.
11.05.11

Procrastination & Failure

Procrastination
Invites failure.
11.04.11

God & Bankruptcy

Nations, ideologies, and groups
Who invoke their Gods to justify
Committing cruelty and injustice
Should all file spiritual bankruptcy.
11.03.11

Self Destructiveness & Choices

Human nature is so self-destructively wired that
When it has options, it chooses to side with
Beliefs and delusions over reality
Appearances over substance
Pretense over truthfulness
Language over meaning
Sloth over endeavor
Quantity over quality
And beauty over intellect.
11.02.11

Class & Character

Class is defined by character
Rather than by any other attribute;
Kind, compassionate, courteous, giving
Humble, brave, moderate, and tolerant
Are the eight pillars of a humane aristocrat.
11.01.11