faith debased

A religion that lacks proof of its god can’t begin to be ethical.

not supposed to be here

Humans who engage in handwringing are those who don’t understand what a freak of nature we are anyway.

place and purpose

Installation art: Artfully arranged material preparing for its future haphazard staging in a landfill.

would diderot approve

When a thick dictionary was sitting on the shelf, or a full set of an encyclopedia displayed, one could imagine containing that whole universe. In a Google world, or surfing to a Wikipedia entry, are we not giving up on a greater vision, however unrealistic, one of our containing all knowledge?

higher order opinion

Philosophers just have opinions about bigger things than the weather or property tax rates.

clearly never

There is no blank slate. Think of a bird hitting a glass pane.

negative bazillion

The funny man in the suit asked: 'What is the opportunity cost of taking a year off after college and bumming around Europe?'

to fill one's lungs

Smokers who slip out of office doors several times a day get more fresh air and access to the landscape than their non-smoking co-workers.

voice over

The right-wing radio host had a talent for talking over cogent thought.

thinking complex

To complicate in order to contemplate.

falling apart faster

In the U.S. we accelerate our ruins.

unnecessary nation state

Another province that aspires to be a piss-ant state.

behind a door or in the dark

The engine of sex is its secrecy.

cannon shot

The kind of person who if shot out of a cannon would come walking back into view with his pants legs tattered and smoldering but otherwise unscathed.

i'm back

That’s enough about me, but have you met my alter ego?

insufficient belief

The fanatic believer proves the vacancy of his/her religion by being unable to leave the rest of us alone.

frozen treat

He tried to trademark the name ‘Melting Glacier Slushy’.

expansive expense

Military spending is never ending.

crawling forward

A mother released her infant to crawl across the battlefield.

blindly noble

One can only be noble when no one is looking.

freud field day

Your father was so distant you called him “Farther.”

sticks together

Glut is the glue of the consumerist society.

distance runners

The Boston Marathon terrorists made what was always a great race into a secular crusade.

sandwich board

Is it fashion or wearable advertising?

self knowledge

You began to suspect that the self was just a thought experiment.

food dilemma

To clean one’s plate so as not to waste food; or to leave a few morsels as testament to our excess.

word origin

A word’s ontology is its meaning.

dialed in

Not a dialectic but a dial that can be turned/tuned to many viewpoints. There is almost no viewpoint that can’t be turned one-hundred and eighty degrees and argued with equal vigor and result from its opposite side. But it’s probably truer to say, though certain binary concepts and themes are often convenient, that every argument is but a point on a dial where the needle can be turned to register its value.

dispersive mind

I know quite a little about many things.

relative value

At expiration, the supermarket marks down by half the inexpensive bread, but the nicer loaves only by a third.

new word order

The little koan that could (change the world).

logos logged off

With nothing to show since the Bible, we can we assume God is afflicted with writer’s block.

extinction threat

It shouldn’t be a surprise that stupid people fear the theory of evolution.

ugly under glass

A butterfly is just a specimen under glass. A butterfly is only beautiful in flight or, however briefly, alighted upon a leaf or flower.

face forward

Don’t turn your head—there is nothing behind you that is not dead.

student teacher

There has never been a good teacher who doesn’t still consider him/herself a student.

context of luck

Circumstance is the stage upon which chance plays its part. You can’t throw a seven holding one die.

act and perspective

When a giant goes to kill a fly he uses a chair or floorlamp for a flyswatter—some furniture is bound to get broken.

in retrospect

Many of the paintings now thought of as masterpieces were the B-movies of their day.

first of last things

The first thing we must realize is that our ability to die is a privilege and not a curse.