Government Power Comes From the Governed

No government can stay in power without the consent of the people. History has proven over and over again that a government that does not have the support of it's people will eventually fail. Even monarchies and dictatorships fail when they do not have the support of the people they govern.

If You Don't Think You Can, Then You Can't

The belief that you can do something is a very powerful thing. Almost anything can be accomplished if you believe you can and you work hard. However doubt is even more potent; if you don't think that you can, then it is almost absolutely assured that you can't.

Failure is Always an Option

When we plan as best we can and try as hard as we can, there is still always the possibility of failure. When you don't plan, don't think, don't try, and are generally unsure, failure is the only real possibility.

"Failure is always an option" - Adam Savage

Truth is Objective... In a Way

While I find it accurate that the truth could never be told so as to be understood and not be believed,  this entails several problems. The speaker must be able to express the idea of the truth so that it is possible to be understood, and the listener must be able to understand it. Thus even if one can divine a truth, it may never be possible to communicate it to another person. And unfortunately the reciprocals and negations are not true, that which can be believed is not always truth and just because you don't believe something does not make it false. Too many people believe things just because they sound like truth or believe things to be false because they don't understand, and far too many people are good at making lies sound like truth and confounding truths to sound like lies.

“Truth can never be told so as to be understood and not be believed.” - William Blake.

"Everything possible to be believed is an image of the truth." - Orson Scott Card, Seventh Son

You are Laughable

To truly have a sense of humor you have to be able to laugh at yourself. If you can't laugh at yourself then others are laughing at you, if you can laugh at yourself then you can laugh with them. Taking yourself too seriously is a good way to suck all the happiness out of life and grow old.

"You grow up the day you have your first real laugh, at yourself." - Ethel Barrymore
"If you can't laugh at yourself, life's gonna seem a whole lot longer than you like."

"You laugh. I'm not saying I don't cry, but in between I laugh and I realize how silly it is to take anything too seriously." - Zach Braff, Garden State

There are no Magic Beans, Pills, Diets, or Schemes

Nothing will magically improve your gas mileage, make you thinner, improve your sex life, give you perfect health, or make you instantly rich. And if it does, then there is probably a side effect like an angry giant chasing you who wants to grind your bones to make his bread.

Dreams Can Predict the Future

Dreaming something is in no way precognitive... On the other hand, if you are thoughtful, careful, and diligent it is possible to turn your dreams into your future. Dreaming can become reality if we but try.

Old is an Attitude

A young mind looks at the world with curiosity and enthusiasm and is always changing and learning. The mature mind will have a lot of experience and knowledge but may still be young in attitude. The old mind is willfully stagnant, closed to change and learning new things, this can happen to a mind of any age. Many people before have said that old is a state of mind, but it is the old mind that stops listening just because they may have heard it before...

"As we grow older, we must discipline ourselves to continue expanding, broadening, learning, keeping out minds active and open." - Clint Eastwood

People are Social Creatures

Humans are by nature social animals, even the most solitary individual may enjoy being alone but will never enjoy feeling alone. Whether you are the kind of person who has a lot of casual friends or only a few close friends, feeling like you are part of a group that supports and cares about you is an important part of mental/emotional health. Cherish and nurture healthy relationships with friends, social groups, and family... But never be afraid to leave the unhealthy ones.

Exercise Your Mind

The first best tool of mankind is it's big brain. Exercise yours regularly by challenging it's assumptions, looking at things from other perspectives, daydreaming, examining your feelings, problem and puzzle solving... Be active and curious and creative and think about the world around and inside of you.

 "The unexamined life is not worth living." - Socrates

Hate is Evil

Any time your actions are inspired by hate or fear they never have beneficial results for anyone involved, and thus can be considered a true evil. If people could just learn to never let their hate and fear turn into actions, we could eliminate most of the evil in the world.

"We have just enough religion to make us hate, but not enough to make us love one another." - Jonathan Swift

"Fear leads to anger, anger leads to hate, hate leads to suffering." Star Wars Episode 1: The Phantom Menace

Get Some Sleep

All of the science backs up the fact that people operate much better when they are well rested... so make sure to get some good sleep. If you never get good sleep, it may be time to re-evaluate things and figure out what is wrong (stress, mattress, relationship, allergies, apnea) and sort it out because being well rested really is step One.

Life is Short, be Impatient

When you are young, you may think that you have plenty of time to do things in your life. As you get older, you come to realize you should be more impatient and diligent about the things you want. Also more intolerant of the roadblocks and traffic jams in life, pointless waiting is a terrible waste of life.

" Enjoy the power and beauty of your youth. Oh, never mind. You will not understand the power and beauty of your youth until they've faded." - Mary Schmich

Many Hands Make Light Work... Sometimes

Many people have in one way or another said that many people working together can accomplish exponentially more than an individual. This is very true, but what they usually fail to account for is the fact that it isn't always easy to keep people working as a group. Which is why the larger a group gets, the more likely it is to collapse under it's own weight. The coordinated, motivated group can accomplish almost anything, the factionalized, unfocused group usually accomplishes nothing.

"Many hands make light work." - John Heywood

"The whole is more than the sum of its parts." - Aristotle, Metaphysica 

People Sometimes Communicate in Strange Ways

Playground "play" is a good example of this. Was that water balloon meant to be playful or humiliating? Did John hit me because he hates me, or because he likes me? Most people struggle to express themselves and often find bizarre ways to do it, especially when it comes to emotions. Adults do it too, and it gets even stranger... So if someone's behavior is baffling you, maybe they are trying to tell you something...

Political Parties are by Definition Unethical

Political representatives are elected to represent the interests of their constituency in government. Political parties pay to get people with similar views elected to government. Although these interests may often coincide; when they do not, the party will always pressure the representative to act counter to the interests of their constituency and instead act in the self interest of the party. Thus every representative will inevitably be asked by their party to violate the ethics of the job they were elected to do.

Communication is the Key to Every Relationship

Every relationship (family, marriage, romance, friendship, business) is in some way founded on communication. Without communication we are just people standing around next to each other... That is why it always pays to work on your communication in every relationship.

There is no "Them" Only Us

I have yet to meet the person with whom I have more differences than I have things in common. If people have more in common than they have differences then how can anyone be a "them"? Also seeing someone as not the same as you, for any reason, is usually just a way of dehumanizing them as a prelude to treating them very badly.

Life is Painful so Enjoy the Little Things

For almost all of us, life is mostly hard work and pain. That doesn't mean there isn't happiness and joy to be had as well, but we should dissuade ourselves from delusions of fairytale endings and resolve to enjoy everything in our lives that brings us happiness even when life is difficult.

"Life is pain, highness. Anyone who says differently is selling something." - William Goldman, The Princess Bride.
"Rule #32, enjoy the little things." Zombieland

Love is not Conditional

Once you have truly opened your heart to another person and trusted them completely, you cannot stop loving them. You may loose touch with them, you may fight, you may hurt each other, and one day you may want to hate them or need to leave them behind you but the love you had for them will never die. This is an amazing and wonderful thing, and occasionally a painful and terrible thing.

Love is Good

When your inspiration truly comes from Love and Compassion you are always doing good, not "love of" a thing but simply Love. As Ziggy Marley sings "Love is my religion", and if I ever find a church that teaches nothing but Love and Compassion I'm sure I will join.

 "We have just enough religion to make us hate, but not enough to make us love one another." - Jonathan Swift

People are Predators

Homo sapiens are by nature at least somewhat predatory, and some individuals are very predatory. It therefore isn't very surprising that, especially in an urban environment, the prey of choice often ends up being other people.

Introduction

The simple thoughts (the ideas that can be expressed in a phrase, remembered easily, and readily understood) are often the most powerful in our day to day lives. They often serve as an easily referenced ideological compass where more complex ideas seem to fail.

There are hundreds of common examples...
Thou shall not kill. Do unto others... Look before you leap. Fools rush in...

This blog is simply random ideas that come into my head about the simple thoughts. The signposts and compasses that I notice in day to day life, and similar philosophical ramblings.