I was thinking...

There is an ancient saying from the Mediterranean area, with which you're already familiar: "Know thyself." Identity. Who knows? If there's ever a reason for anything, it's to find a sense of identity. Think about culture, race, religion, family, friends, etc. You'll find all of these things give us a little clue about who we are as individuals. It's not an easy journey to discover one's self, though. Conor Oberst put eloquently what it is to get lost in the search: So I have been hanging out down by the trains depot.  No, I don't ride. I just sit and watch the people there.  And they remind me of wind-up cars in motion. The way they spin and turn and jockey for positions. And I want to scream out that it all is nonsense. All your lives one track, can't you see it's pointless? But then, my knees give under me.  My head feels weak and suddenly  it's clear to see that it's not them but me,  who has...

Why are there translations on the internet of what people say to what they actually mean? I'll tell you why: there are actual living humans who manipulate everyone in their lives.  These same people are so terrified of the truth that speaking outright truth hasn't ever  crossed their minds. From the birth of a thought, they carefully swaddle it with lavish avoidance before presenting it to the world. Who knows why? Chances are these people have been conditioned by their immediate community to do so because outright honesty is often considered a faux pas in "civilized" society, its citizens quickly having learned to circumnavigate the truth. The greatest irony of this tactic is that it was adopted to spare others' feelings. At one point or another, these people decided that complete honesty wasn't polite, so they came up with methods to skirt around every issue until all communication seemed to be totally polite, but is actuall...

Grammar nazis are just trying to make sense of the English language. Heaven knows it's nearly impossible to fully understand, so they're fighting a difficult battle with poor grammar. The emblem of the Grammar Nazi That being said, here's a simple way to drive them to insanity: tell them, "I know," and smile--in that order--when they correct you. The proper use of a simile is to use like  or as  to compare two or more things. For example, "An apple is like nature's toothbrush," is the proper use of a simile. However, there are those of us who use like  as some sort of conjunction. For example, "She was, like, totally into the same guy as her cousin," is not the proper use of a simile. So, when a grammar nazi corrects you and says, " Like  should only be said when you're comparing things, not just because you feel like saying it all the time," you should say, "I know," and smile. One of the ...

The thing that makes me nervous about dogs is that they are blindly loyal. It’s unsettling for me to see a creature so dedicated to one person or a small group of people when we all know that most people aren’t very trustworthy. Even if one person, alone, was untrustworthy, that would be enough to validate my point. Cats, in their precious nature, are jerks. And that works for me. There’s an understanding between cats and their owners: both of them, when on the same wavelength, have an attitude of, “Deal with it.” Right? Cats knock crap off of tables and such, and cats’ owners force-snuggle with them. It’s a mutual, unspoken communication between owner and animal. And the term “owner” is too accurate for owners of dogs. Dogs submit their will and their lives to these “owners” through sheer, blind loyalty. Cats don’t acknowledge the concept, though. Cats understand the word “owner” about as much as they understand the word “no.” It’s this same way with people, for me. Th...

Who or what is God to you? He/she/it can literally be anything, as long as you recognize a higher power inherent within her/him/it, right? Right. As long as you believe something, it is true. There's no viable proof needed, because any proof or disproof would be negated by personal belief. It's been this case since the inception of higher thought. With this in mind, it becomes apparent that the issue with God is that the definition of God keeps changing. And, one person, or group, telling everyone else what, or who, God is goes directly against the idea of God. If God is everywhere and in everything--if God is omniscient, omnipresent and omnipotent--then defining what God  isn't  should be far easier than describing who or what God  is . Therefore, it is improper to affirmatively define God, absolutely. If you believe God is endless, then putting limits on the idea of God is futile, almost hypocritical, maybe even sacrilegious. God can literall...