History & Mind

The passion to speak one’s mind
And to publish one’s thoughts
Is a universal human trait
Which had lain dormant
Throughout all history
Till it was awakened
By the internet.
07.31.13

Hubris & Decline

Liars and cheaters suffer from hubris; 
They assume that they are smarter than others
And when they discover that they are not
They continue doing what they shouldn’t do
While their life continues to decline.
07.30.13

Dishonesty & Laws

When in any complex society
In spite of all laws and regulations
Cheaters outnumber the non-cheaters
And the dishonest outnumber the honest
The only way society can avoid decline
Is by creating incentives for honesty
And disincentives for dishonesty;
Laws, alone, are never enough.
07.29.13

Predators & Species

Every species has its own predators; 
The predators of Homo sapiens
Are the Homo sapiens.
07.28.13

Talking & Problems

Listening to someone vent 
Is just like draining an abscess;
The pressure inside one’s intellect
Is relieved by talking about problems.
Antiphon of Rhamnos, (BC 480-411)
First stumbled across the fact that
By talking about their problems
People sometimes get better.
07.27.13

Friends & Perfection

If we insist on perfect friends 
We will end up with none.
07.26.13

Physiognomy & Region

The idea of race is counter scientific
Because we have all originated
From the same womb;
Physiognomies slowly evolve over time
Through living in different regions of planet earth
And not because ethnic or genetic purity.
07.25.13

Trusting & Time

Trusting our minds is dangerous 
For minds are fickle;
Trusting our hearts is dangerous
For hearts are vulnerable;
Trusting our senses is dangerous
For senses are misleading;
Trusting time is safe
For all truths surface in time.
07.24.13

Time Off & Living

Taking time to live is a superstition; 
We all live every moment, and while living
We take time off from whatever burdens us.
07.23.13

Animals & Humans

Being kind to animals
Should entail being kind to humans;
However, many of us who are kind to animals
Are cruel to humans, perhaps because it is easier
To conjure pity for helpless animals
Than for hapless humans.
07.22.13

Quality & Junk

It is equally hard to recognize junk
Presented as quality
As it is to recognize quality
Presented as junk.
07.21.13

Tumbling & Coin

When we’re assailed by the bad
We tend to forget the good
And when surprised by the good
We tend to forget the bad;
Living is a tumbling coin
And we only notice the side
Which, at the time, falls facing up.
07.20.13

Learning & Teachers

We learn
Because we are eager to learn
And not because we are taught by teachers;
Everything and everyone we come in contact with
Teaches us valuable life lessons, if we are eager students.
07.19.13

Predicting & Future

Predicting the future from the present
Presumes knowledge we cannot possibly have
Disregards confounding surprises, which always happen
And grants us seemingly reasonable justifications
For our blatantly unreasonable actions.
07.18.13

Meekness & Grass

Let’s all learn meekness from the grass; 
One can mow it, burn it, pluck it, or plow it
And it never resists, complains, or cries,
But it does keep on coming back
(Long after we have all faded away)
With a green smile on its whispering lips.
07.17.13

Starting & Stopping

Knowing when to start 
Is so often less important
Than knowing when to stop;
For in the active act of stopping
There is yet another decisive action
Another strategy and another new start.
07.16.13

Conqure & Defeat

Those who do not realize
When they have been conquered
Are saddled with a far greater defeat.
07.15.13

Attraction & Character

Human attraction
Is character dependent;
The elegant, kind, cheerful, artistic
Those who move with grace to music or life
And those who are affable and compassionate
Always strike us as more beautiful than all others.
07.14.13

Moods & Jails

Negative moods are jails
To which we are sentenced
And serve time before we are freed.
07.13.13

Adult & Child

To shut our adult eyes
And open our childhood’s eyes
Is our quickest means to excited joy.
07.12.13

Cheerfulness & Love

Maintaining cheerfulness in spite of everything
Is the greatest challenge that we face;
To always be cheerful
Is to always find the positive
Is to always be in love with all of life.
07.11.13

Fuel & Joy

Desire is the fuel of our bodies
Imagination, the fuel of our intellects
And love, the fuel of our souls;
Without these three intangible fuels
The world would have neither art nor joy.
07.10.13

Perception & Expectation

We mainly see what we’re looking for
Even when it’s not there;
And seldom see what we’re not looking for
Even when it is there;
Perception is less reality dependent
And more expectation dependent.
07.09.13

Words & Images

Images need words
To have a full impact
Whereas words do not
Because their true images
Are evoked in the readers’ minds.
07.08.13

Biology & Intellect

As animals
We are similar biologically
But infinitely different intellectually
Because our biology is genetically programmed
Whereas our intellect is circumstantially programmed.
07.07.13

Mental & Exercises

Mental exercises for mental health
Are necessary for mental fitness;
Taming our burdensome thoughts
Through evidence-based inquiry
Dissociates them from our feelings
And disarms them, liberating us.
07.06.13

Taming & Nature

Dictatorships evolved to tame human nature;
Democracies, as a reaction against dictatorships;
And both have ended up tamed by human nature.
07.05.13

Joy & Waiting

Waiting for life’s tensions to subside
Before one settles down to enjoy it
Is postponing joy ad infinitum;
Joy does not come willingly
It is either seized
Or forever lost.
07.04.13

Love & Hate

It is much easier to hate than to love;
Humanity always chooses the easier ways;
That’s why hate still prospers and love still suffers.
07.03.13

Emotion & Seriousness

It is not only what happens
But also how we feel about it
That define a matter’s seriousness;
If we don’t know or don’t care, it matters not
But if we know and care, it matters a lot
And when we stop caring, it stops mattering;
Emotions define seriousness.
07.02.13