Posted in Uncategorized on March 31, 2007 | No Comments »
Every generation laughs at the old fashions, but follows religiously the new.
- Henry David Thoreau, “Walden”, 1854
New fashions, seeming to defy the passage of time, tend to reflect old fashions of three decades ago. The reasons for this are obvious. Designers don’t have to think of anything creatively new because by the time the fad [...]
Posted in Human Nature on March 28, 2007 | No Comments »
People have a hard time letting go of their suffering. Out of a fear of the unknown, they prefer suffering that is familiar.
- Thich Nhat Hanh
Of the many peculiarities of human nature that are difficult to explain, this ranks near the top of the list.
We have people (men and women both) who are afraid to [...]
Posted in Uncategorized on March 26, 2007 | No Comments »
Insanity - a perfectly rational adjustment to an insane world.
- RD Laing, psychiatrist and author (1927-1989)
One dictionary defines insanity as a “relatively permanent disorder of the mind.” Who decides that the dysfunctional condition of one mind is “relatively permanent?”
In times past people whose behaviour strayed too far from the norms of society were either imprisoned or [...]
Posted in Uncategorized on March 25, 2007 | No Comments »
“I’d spent my whole life feeling like a freak and an outsider and that nobody understood me and suddenly I felt like it’s OK to feel different.”
- Madonna
You may have wondered how the performer who has reinventd herself several times to remain among the leaders of the music industry got to be the way she [...]
Posted in Human Nature on March 24, 2007 | No Comments »
I believe that every human has a finite number of heart-beats. I don’t intend to waste any of mine running around doing exercises.
- Neil Armstrong
There comes a time while running the rat race that some of the participants stop to realize that racing with the rats is not as physically stimulating as their bodies need. [...]
Posted in Human Nature on March 22, 2007 | No Comments »
The most certain test by which we can judge whether a country is really free is the amount of security enjoyed by minorities.
- Lord Acton (John Emerich Edward Dalberg-Acton), historian (1834-1902)
Canadians have viewed the claim by US President George W. Bush that the US is fighting the war in Iraq for “freedom” with skepticism. For [...]
Posted in Uncategorized on March 21, 2007 | No Comments »
Several excuses are always less convincing than one.
- Aldous Huxley, novelist (1894-1963)
It’s an odd characteristic of human nature that we tend to accept one excuse that someone gives for not doing something or for doing something incorrectly or late, but the more excuses that person offers the less likely we are to believe him.
Mostly likely that [...]
Posted in Human Nature on March 19, 2007 | No Comments »
Democracy is a device that ensures we shall be governed no better than we deserve.
- George Bernard Shaw
Shaw was a negative person much of the time and his sarcasm shines brightly with this quote.
What he is saying is that if voters are ignorant of the issues, if a majority of them don’t vote and if [...]
Posted in Uncategorized on March 18, 2007 | No Comments »
The more powerful and original a mind, the more it will incline towards the religion of solitude.
- Aldous Huxley, novelist (1894-1963)
I find the term “religion of solitude” a bit unsettling bcause of the multiple meanings of “religion.” I choose to interpret the phrase to mean a deep respect for time to be alone.
Do people with [...]
Posted in Uncategorized on March 17, 2007 | No Comments »
Those who can laugh without cause have either found the true meaning of happiness or have gone stark raving mad.
- Norm Papernick
A sobering thought for consideration. Mr. Papernick is not someone around whom I would spend much time laughing.
What’s the mystery about happiness? I was asked a few days ago by a radio host what [...]
