Presumption

We often underestimate the power of our fear and overestimate the strength of our faith.

Cowardice

It is better to die at once than to consent to live in fear.

For, as Montaigne observed, what are we to do with a man who is too afraid to live and too afraid to die?

Worth

Most of us prove our worth by doing. We are then like the man who, when asked whether he was happy or not, replied that he was too busy to know.

The Hand of Fate

When listening to the self-righteous condemn those who have made a mistake in our society, it is important to remember that we are listening to the luckiest people in the world. The universal law of cause and effect has dealt lightly with them.

Fate, however, may still deal them a losing hand. By a surprising twist of events, they may someday find themselves in need of human sympathy and compassion while being crushed under the weight of a draconian legal system that knows no mercy.

Perhaps, when faced with the crimes of humanity, it is wiser to recite with humility, "There, but for the luck of fate, go I."

Human Capital

I do not claim to be an expert on child development, but there is considerable evidence that a child's mental disposition is set by the age of five.

Professor James Heckman has pointed out that society's most precious resource is its people and that economic development starts at birth. His research convinced him that intelligence and social skills are developed at an early age and that both are essential for success. An early investment in child development--in the nurturing, learning experiences, and physical health of children from the ages of zero to five--produces the greatest returns in human capital.

It should be obvious that sitting a child in front of a television is not a substitute for parental interaction and exploration. Television will stunt a child's early development. The result will be that society and the individual will have to expend greater energy later in life to undo the damage done.

The Grand Canyon

No photo could ever convey the grandeur and majesty of the Grand Canyon.

But it was the concept of "deep time" that inspired within me a feeling of sacred awe. The exposed rock is a visual record of the history of the earth. The colorful sedimentary layers span vast geologic eras.

The spectacular works of nature and the vastness of the cosmos serve as a reminder that the difficulties and challenges we face are passing phenomena.

We are condemned to death at birth, and life is a bus ride to the place of execution. All of our struggling and vying is about seats on the bus, and the ride is over before we know it.--Eric Hoffer

Fig Leaf

The ego is the fig leaf of the mind with which it covers its existential nakedness.

Nightmare

At night, the imagination settles like an incubus on the subconscious and projects crude absurdities and grotesque phantasms onto the screen of the mind.

Tricked into believing that this inane show is reality, reason adds its spinning commentary and evokes a physical and emotional response so that the sleeper soon awakens in a cold sweat from the suffocating nightmare.

It may be that our haunted sleep continues after we awaken--that the nightmare transitions to a daydream. While we are awake, the senses enforce a "reality first" policy and therefore reign in the imagination from its nocturnal wandering.

We may be sleepwalking never fully aware of the reality of the present moment.

Unjust

It is criminal that our system sends children to prison for life.

If the Kingdom of Heaven is ever to be established on earth, then this unjust practice must end or few there are who will ever find true happiness.