There are many ways to transfer to our fellow humans the things that occur in our minds, whether these are things we think, or things we feel… or, most likely, some combination of both. These occurrences may only appear to emanate from within ourselves and language may take many forms, but these discussions are beyond …
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An ex-Muslim who refers to himself as The Apostate Prophet offers interesting insights into Islam. He notes in his description: Alif Lam Meem, no one knows what these letters mean. The Quran has numerous “openers”, letter combination that interpreters of the Quran argued about for over 1000 years. But why is there such an inconclusive …
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“All the world’s a stage” is the phrase that begins a monologue from William Shakespeare’s As You Like It, spoken by the melancholy Jaques in Act II Scene VII Line 138. The speech compares the world to a stage and life to a play. It catalogues the seven stages of a man’s life, sometimes referred …
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When I first started thinking about this site I assumed it would be mostly anonymous. Not so that people could hide behind some facade (people including myself), but so that we might speak freely without fear of repercussions by some real-life whack-job. Using pseudonyms has been done throughout the ages. That being said, I have …
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Black Pigeon offers a unique and intelligent global perspective. In this video he notes that the worst insult that can be given in China is to call someone a Baizuo, meaning literally “white left.” It is meant to end the conversation, basically calling the designee unhinged and incapable of being reasoned with — like the …
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“People are always saying, ‘What would Jesus do?’ They don’t wanna know so they can do it — they just wanna know so they can tell other people to do it!” — George Carlin Amen
I was going through an old personal blog I had started back in 2010 and came across this page. I thought this had been marvelously written and I clicked the link to discover again who had done so. It was done by a man named Michael Rivero who I used to follow but had forgotten …
Continue reading ‘Dubya’s View of the Constitution’ »
This is one of my favorite quotes, yet I hesitated to post it to my spacebook wall for many years. I post it here as I finally posted it there a couple months ago, and will follow up with more thoughts below… I fear this will be misunderstood by most, even the ones who at …
Continue reading ‘Patriotism is the Religion of Hell’ »
A liberal-leaning friend chastised me recently for something I said on spacebook. I joked in passing (in the comments of one of my own posts) that I had had a friend in the early 1990’s who had made a real nuisance of himself, calling every night and talking at length about how bad his life …
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“But oh! the blessing it is to have a friend to whom one can speak fearlessly on any subject; with whom one’s deepest as well as one’s most foolish thoughts come out simply and safely. Oh, the comfort — the inexpressible comfort of feeling safe with a person — having neither to weigh thoughts nor …
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RULES, by the Observation of which a Man of Wit and Learning may nonetheless make himself a disagreeable Companion. Your Business is to shine, therefore you must by all means prevent the shining of others, for their Brightness may make yours the less distinguished. To this End: If possible engross the whole Discourse; and when other Matter fails, talk much …
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If— If you can keep your head when all about you Are losing theirs and blaming it on you, If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you, But make allowance for their doubting too; If you can wait and not be tired by waiting, Or being lied about, don’t deal in lies, Or …
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Satyagraha is a Sanskrit word that was coined by Mahatma Gandhi. It translates loosely as “insistence on truth,” “loyalty to truth,” or simply “Truth-force.” (satya “truth”; agraha “insistence” or “holding firmly to”). The theory of satyagraha is timeless, and sees means and ends as inseparable. The means used to obtain an end are wrapped up …
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In 1929, at the age of thirty, the Belgian artist Rene Magritte painted “The Treachery of Images.” The painting showed a pipe, written underneath with the paradoxical inscription This is not a pipe (written in French of course). When it was pointed out to him that what he had created was in fact a pipe, Magritte replied “OK, …
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