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