Superstition & Reality

Our aversion
To unpleasant realities
Renders us susceptible
To pleasant superstitions
Which undermine truth.
06.01.14

Trouble & Pleasure

In youth
Our bodies house more pleasures
And our minds house more troubles;
In age
Our bodies house more troubles
And our minds house more pleasures.
05.31.14

Traditions & Reason

Handed down traditions
Generation after generation
When not challenged by reason
Can assume a divine status
And become implacable
Even when they are harmful.
05.30.14

Retaliate & Wait

Most things that upset us
Are temporary and will change
If we do not retaliate and just wait.

Victories & Losses

Most victories 
Are preceded by losses;
Those who know how to win
Have learned more from their losses
Than from their victories.
05.28.14

Happiness & Seeing

Often times
We do not know
How happy we are
Until happiness absconds;
We need not seek happiness;
Often it is too close to be visible
Until we decide to see it.
05.26.14

Politeness & Primitiveness

Politeness
The shared kindness
The respect for others
The courtesy of behavior
Is not innate in us;
We are born primitive
Then shed our primitiveness
Only when we become civilized;
Impoliteness is residual primitiveness.
05.26.14

Intransigence & Arrogance

Challenging our minds and beliefs
Because of evolving evidence,
Rejecting intransigence,
Embracing change,
Seeing truth as dynamic,
Keeping our hearts wide open
And our minds in constant search,
Renders life more understandable
And makes us mature with humility;
Intransigence, often, is ignorant arrogance.
05.24.14

Euphemisms & Harsh Words

Euphemisms
Avoid harsh words:
Preowned instead of used
X-spouse instead of divorced
Political instead of pretentious
Estranged instead of abandoned
Why not once-young instead of old?
05.24.14

Fatigue & Passions

Fatigue sets our limits
And limits our aspirations;
Given enough time and toil
We can get tired of anything;
Resisting fatigue
By rekindling passions
Is the art of rejuvenating life.
05.23.14

Denial & Confrontation

Things we deny
Before they happen:
Are old age, chronic illness
Death, loss, betrayal, injustice,
But then when they happen
We find that we are braver
Than we thought possible.
05.22.15

Joy & Suffering

Joy contains suffering;
Everything that brings joy:
Pets, children, love, success,
Triumph, health, beauty, power
Brings its problems with it
And sadness if it ends.
05.21.14

Nuclear War & Ignorance

Only ignorance can be
Deadlier than nuclear war,
Especially when it is espoused
As unshakable knowledge.
05.20.14

Understanding & God

To enjoy
The trivia of life
To be entertained
By the trifles of living
To perceive and believe
The mundane as miraculous
To regard as equally important
The important and the unimportant
And to find equally beautiful
The homely and comely
Is to understand God
With our hearts.
05.19.14 

Wasting & Loss

Most of us
Would have more
If we had wasted less;
Wasting time and money
Are the commonest reasons
For ending up with little.
05.18.14

Reading & Understanding

To read is easy
To understand is hard
To understand what the writer
Really meant is even harder
And to understand beyond
What the writer meant
Is hardest of all.
05.17.14

Earth & Person

We are always more moved
When we see one person drown
Than when we see all of earth drown;
Personal catastrophes are heart felt
Abstract catastrophes are ignored.
05.16.14

Reading & Books

In the past
Our literary passions
Were fed by reading books;
Now they’re fed by reading Facebooks.
05.16.14

Moderation & Passion

When passions rise
Moderation rises into excess
When passions decline
Moderation declines into apathy;
Walking the tight rope of moderation
With passionate youth is difficult.
05.14.14

Inebriation & Intoxication

Inebriation without intoxication
Comes to us when our intellect
Is overcome by three emotions
Enchantment, anger, or fear;
Abstinence, in such cases
Is seldom a choice.
05.13.14

Rejuvenation & Aging

Note how as we age
We all try to rejuvenate
Some of our visible parts
To keep them looking young;
This global human inclination
Reveals an awareness of aging
And a tenacity to cling to youth
Unshared by other living things.
05.12.14

Beauty & Feeling

When we’re adored
We feel more beautiful
And when we’re ignored
We feel less beautiful
And when we’re abhorred
We feel least beautiful;
For beauty has more to do
With feeling than appearance.
05.11.14

New & Old

What is now new
Will soon become old
And what was once old
When it is rediscovered
Will become new again;
All we have to do is wait.
05.10.14

Expensive & Costly

If we think education is expensive
Think how more costly ignorance is
If we think prevention is expensive
Think how more costly disease is
If we think construction is expensive
Think how more costly destruction is.
05.09.14

Mood & Goodness

It is hard to be good
When one is in a bad mood
And it is also hard to be bad
When one is in a good mood;
Insisting on a good mood
Makes us better people.
05.08.14

Success and Malevolence

Success may beget covetousness
Covetousness my beget malevolence
And malevolence may sabotage success;
Defending success against malevolence
Is just as important as succeeding.
05.07.14

Coincidence & Universe

Coincidence
She wears green shadows
Intertwined with dreams
Lurks unforeseen
In silence plots and schemes
At times she hurries matters
To profound extremes
Delights in rolling fortunes in reverse
Coincidence, she sways the universe.
05.06.14

Excellence & Seriousness

Excellence
Presupposes seriousness;
Nothing excellent can be achieved
Without serious effort.
05.05.14

Loneliness & Age

Living is harder than dying
And aging is harder than living
But, aging alone is hardest of all;
Spending frequent, quality time
With our lonely elderly
Is our solemn duty.
05.04.14

Excellence & Seriousness

Human creativity has excelled
In science, art, and faith
But, it has failed
In peace.
05.03.14

Ignoring & Not Noticing

Ignoring insults, affronts
Irritations, and aggravations
Upholds peace and averts turmoil;
Ignoring comes of maturity and wisdom
As failing to notice comes of inner strength.
0502.14