Child & Truth

The child in us
Our atavistic taproot
The pearl within our oyster
Is the kernel of truth within our soul
Which repeatedly tells us who we really are.
01.31.12

Power & Abuse

As power invites abuse
Likewise, abuse invites power.
01.30.12

Anger & Good

Anger
Blinds us to the good
In whatever we’re angry at.
01.29.12

Fulfillment & Denial

Desires are ephemeral, when snuffed by fulfillment
And exaggerated, when kindled by denial.
01.28.11

Wise & Sure

The wise worry whenever they feel sure
Because most things they have felt sure about
Turn out not to be as true as they once had thought.
01.27.12

Envy & Joy

Of all the fortunates on earth
The most enviable are those who
In spite of life’s storms and droughts
Remain ever joyful.
01.26.12

Programming & Ontogenesis

What we become has more to do
With what programmed our brains
When they were impressionable
Than with our ontogenesis.
01.25.12

Learning & Studying

Few are those who learn
Without having to
And fewer, who study
Without needing to.
01.24.12

Revolution & Chaos

Revolutions
Initially, bring chaos and blood shed
Though eventually might bring about order.
01.23.12

Opinion & Gut

The proclivity to formulate an opinion
Based on gut feelings or insufficient evidence
Is a universal and most detrimental human attribute.
01.22.12

Nature & Nations

There has never been a nation on earth
That has not been defeated
By human nature.
01.21.12

Beauty & Truth

We are beauty hunters, gatherers, and worshipers
Because we confuse beauty with good, ugliness with bad
And pay dear money for a picture, which shows us beautiful
Even though our real image has long lost its appeal.
01.20.12

Egos & Defenses

How we regard ourselves
Has less to do with how others regard us
And more to do with our innate ego defenses
Which, regardless of external facts
Insist on seeing the self
In a positive light.
01.19.11

Subjective & Objective

There are three perceptions of ‘Better’:
Those who feel better when they’re better
Those who don’t feel better when they’re better
And those who even feel worse when they’re better;
The balance between the subjective and objective
Ultimately determines that which is perceived.
01.18.12

Understanding & Compassion

There is no true understanding
Without compassion.
01.17.12

Life & Exile

Those who say no to life
Send their souls
Into Exile.
01.16.12

Sophistication & Joy

The ultimate sophistication
Is joy.
01.15.12

Physical & Intellectual

Physical pleasures
And Physical desires
Slowly diminish with age
While those of the intellect
Continue to prosper and grow.
01.14.12

Wine & Company

Bad wine
Consumed in good company
Tastes good
And good wine
Consumed in bad company
Tastes bad.
01.13.11

Important & Fools

Some fools might think that they are important
But all who think they are important are fools.
01.12.12

Knowable & Unknowable

We expend more energy
Trying to explain the unknowable
Than trying to comprehend the knowable.
01.11.12

Indoctrination & Conflict

Of all our planet’s lethal pollutants
Atavistic pollution of the young minds
Of intellectually defenseless children
Foments most future conflicts.
01.10.12

Language & Bricks

Our language
Our highest achievement, perhaps
Is made of building bricks, which we call words;
Some of us stack their bricks into unintelligible piles
Some build castles with high, unscalable walls
Some design homes with beautiful gardens
And a few build magnificent cathedrals.
01.09.12

Anger & Power

The magnificent high of anger
Intoxicates us with the illusion
Of empowerment and resolve
Which causes us to cling to it
Oblivious of its dangers and harms.
01.08.12

Stimulation & Passion

Stimulation and Passion
Are the parents of creativity and productivity;
Without them, joyless platitudes and slothful inertia.
01.07.12

Dictatorship & Details

Freedom is an illusion
For even a free society
Is composed of dictatorships
Such as the insurance companies
The giant corporations, the lobbies
The IRS, the Military, and life’s details.
The only dictatorship within our control
Is that of details, which robs us of simplicity;
The more details we will allow into our lives
The more details we will have to attend to
And the less time we will have to be free.
01.06.12

Youth & Death

Not even disease or death
Can rob an old man
Of his youth.
01.05.11

Feelings & Circumstance

Everything human
Thoughts, actions, behaviors
Appearances, beliefs, expressions
Can be inflicted, influenced, or modified
By the relentlessly fierce forces of circumstance;
Our personal feelings, however, represent who we truly are
And though we are unable to willfully change our feelings
Our feelings—reasonable or not—do, indeed, change us.
01.14.11

Deat & Bribery

One cannot bribe a dying man with treasure
But one can, with hope.
01.03.11