MORE LATE-NIGHT APHORISMS
by William Thomas
NOT CONVINCING
If you have to convince yourself
that something is true, good or just...
It probably isn’t.
JUST CHECKING
“Hello!” the master shouted into the adept’s ear.
“Anybody home?”
Belief System
THE BIGGEST ILLUSION
This
&
Not This
MICE
I don't like setting traps to break the necks and abort the lives of living
beings whose ancestors have been around so much longer than mine.
"Kindly exit my premises so you don’t get hurt,” I tell the mice.
“And don't even think about sex.”
MAN OF FAITH
He was a man of faith
There is nothing more dangerous
SORRY ABOUT THAT
We're sorry we killed your children
Your spouse
Your future
Your hope
We just want to be your friends
JUST RELAX
We live with constant noise and distraction,
Relax with violent imagery,
And wonder why we cannot find
Peace and serenity
THE GOLDEN RULE
Those with the gold make the rules.
(Told to me by a former FX Foreign Currency trader,
after he quit his profession in shame and disgust.)
THE 1 COMMANDMENT
BE NICE
FISSION FOLKS
I've noticed that nuclear families
often result in fission
B.S.
1,500 years Before Screens,
T'ao Ch'ien suggested cultivating idleness.
Not crossing a busy street looking at a screen,
But sitting still looking out our eyes.
Be careful, he said.
All our busy-ness is wrecking the place.
Eying his fields and thatched hut,
T'ao Ch'ien also said, who needs anything more?
(He actually wrote:
“Wanting nothing beyond enough.”)
Also…
“Why all this reverent longing for ancient times?”
Damp weeds reminded him “never to resist.”
Smart dude!
Which is what you’d expect from someone
named after the Tao.
Me, I prefer my Zen on a big flatscreen,
While sipping coffee and eating Fig Newtons.
BEST ADVICE
Shut up
Take only what you need
Put something back
COOK’S CREW
We are ripping out our space colony's intricate life-support web as surely
as Captain Cook's seamen in Tahiti pried the iron spikes from the hull of
their ship to trade for the favors of the comely vahines ashore.
At least they got laid.
SPACE COLONY ETIQUETTE
The first stupidest thing anyone can do onboard a space colony circling a minor G2 star on the fringes of this M5 Galaxy is to forget they have to breathe oxygen every minute and drink at least 2 liters of pure water every 24 hours.
The second stupidest thing anyone can do onboard this habitat in space is to think that radionuclides, mutagenic chemicals, old cellphones, spilled oil and discarded plastics can be thrown “away”.
Onboard Earth, where everything recirculates,
What goes around comes around,
Usually with interest.
VERMEER & GRETA
Squirming in her voluptuous proximity, Vermeer stands close beside lovely Greta. They are peering under a black drape at a pear balanced on a contrasting purple cloth.
Retaining their vivid tones, both objects appear improbably suspended upside down in the ground-glass of his newly acquired camera obscura…
Greta: "Is it real?"
Vermeer: "It's an image made of light."
Greta: “Don’t be an oaf.”
WHAT ARE WE DOING HERE?
We are here to get the lessons
We arrange for ourselves