
In the first stage of life the mind is frivolous and easily distracted, it misses progress by failing in consecutiveness and persistence. This is the condition of children and barbarians, in which instinct has learned nothing from experience.
George Santayana in The Life of Reason (1905)

Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Just Dropped In
To see what condition my condition was in)
(mickey newbury)
(yeah, yeah, oh-yeah, what condition my condition was in)
I woke up this mornin with the sundown shinin in
I found my mind in a brown paper bag within
I tripped on a cloud and fell-a eight miles high
I tore my mind on a jagged sky
I just dropped in to see what condition my condition was in
(yeah, yeah, oh-yeah, what condition my condition was in)
I pushed my soul in a deep dark hole and then I followed it in
I watched myself crawlin out as I was a-crawlin in
I got up so tight I couldnt unwind
I saw so much I broke my mind
I just dropped in to see what condition my condition was in
(yeah, yeah, oh-yeah, what condition my condition was in)
Someone painted april fool in big black letters on a dead end sign
I had my foot on the gas as I left the road and blew out my mind
Eight miles outta memphis and I got no spare
Eight miles straight up downtown somewhere
I just dropped in to see what condition my condition was in
I said I just dropped in to see what condition my condition was in
Yeah yeah oh-yeah
song performed by by Kenny Rogers

Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Frontiers
Oh yeah
Progress flys, into our lives
Got to find time, find time
Talk digit talk
Youre doin find
Machines never mind
They never mind
Out on the border
Of a changing skyline
We put hope in front of fear
And all the heroes
Have gone east of eden
We all need new frontiers
Ooh its a 3d rise
All tech-na-ca-jive
Talk a video dive
War is for fools
Crisis is cool
Barbarians play
(chorus)
New, new, frontiers
Barbarians play away, away, away...play
song performed by by Journey

Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Amazingly, we take for granted that instinct for survival, fear of death, must separate us from the happiness of pure and uninterpreted experience, in which body, mind, and nature are the same. And this debasement of our vision, the retreat from wonder, the backing away like lobsters into safe crannies, the desperate instinct that our life passes unlived, is reflected in proliferation without joy, corrosive money rot, the gross befouling of the earth and air and water from which we came.
quote by Peter Matthiessen

Submitted by Veronica Serbanoiu
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Blessed Persistence
i changed my mind
and looked no better
hard of hart blind blind to his higher art
my frustration
my anger in disguise i slip under
i slip under quiet
he spots me anyhow
chalk up my name
you burn my bridges for me
to a dry and clackin stalk
i swallow stone
they do not recognize inside with them
the locust has no king
just noise and hard language
they talk me over but i fade slower
on fever
blessed persistence right under my skin
blessed persistence
blessed persistence right under my skin
you burn my bridges for me
to a dry and clackin stalk
blessed persistence
nothing comes to mind
nothing comes to mind
nothing comes to mind
nothing comes to mind
hey chalk up my name
right under your skin
to a dry and clackin stalk
nothing comes
nothing comes to mind
nothing comes
nothing comes to mind
nothing comes to mind
song performed by by 16 Horsepower

Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Condition Critical
Oh the tension's mounting
The pressure starts to show
All the men in haunting
Please don't let me go
(Don't go)
Try to free my body
(Don't go)
Try to strap me down
(Don't go)
These'll never break me
(Don't go)
Free wheel to look at me
Condition critical
I'm feeling physical
Condition critical
Now I'm really cynical
The bells they are ringing
Or is it in my head
My nerves numb understanding
I'm falling out of bed
(Don't go)
So call it paranoia
(Don't go)
I don't see it that way
(Let's go)
You say I adore ya
(Hell no)
We're gonna rock they way
Condition critical
I'm feeling physical
Condition critical
Now I'm really cynical
Ooh ooh
Whips and chains
Don't feel no pain
What's so wrong
I think I'm going out of my head
Over heels
I can't feel
No pain, only pleasure
Get me out
Take me home
Can't you see my condition
Woo-woo-woo
Condition
Condition
Condition critical, critical
Condition
Condition
Condition critical
Condition critical
I'm feeling physical
Condition critical
Now I'm really cynical
Condition critical
I'm feeling physical
Condition critical
Now I'm really cynical (Cynical)
Condition
Condition
Condition critical, critical
Condition
Condition
Condition critical, critical
Condition
Condition
Condition critical, critical
Condition
Condition
Condition critical, critical
Condition
Condition-aca
song performed by by Quiet Riot

Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Provocation
People in the road
I just want to spark the anger
To see how stupid you are
Easily be manipulated
People in the world
I just want to send the danger
To see how afraid you are
Easily be terrorized
People in the cloth
I just want to scratch the fire
To see how well you are
Easily be controlled
People in the slot
I just want to point the liar
To see how shock you are
Easily be distracted
And you will dance in my hand
And I will be laughing behind
poem by Maria Sudibyo

Submitted by Poetry Lover
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All our progress is an unfolding, like a vegetable bud. You have first an instinct, then an opinion, then a knowledge as the plant has root, bud, and fruit. Trust the instinct to the end, though you can render no reason.
quote by Ralph Waldo Emerson

Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Succeeding is not really a life experience that does that much good. Failing is a much more sobering and enlightening experience.
quote by Michael Eisner

Submitted by Lucian Velea
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It Is A Feeling Embedded In One's Mind
The memory of losing a child,
Never leaves.
It is a feeling embedded in one's mind,
To remain as if a hole unplugged...
Can not be fixed.
There is a feeling of guilt that revisits,
From time to time.
And those who have never had that experience,
Are blessed not to know it.
Although those who do know,
What that experience is like...
Can sympathize with those who say,
'You have no idea,
How these children of mine can get on my last nerve.
Ten minutes!
If I only had ten minutes to myself.
Without them constantly on my mind I'd be happy.'
~You are right.
I have not been blessed to have that experience.
However,
Once they arrive...
Your life is no longer yours.
They will be on your mind until your life is over.~
'Oh yeah?
How would you know? '
~It's a feeling I get.~
poem by Lawrence S. Pertillar

Submitted by Poetry Lover
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Mind Dimension
The mental breath condition
perceives of comprehensive
memory device,
The galaxy of mental thoughts
moving to essential stage of mind,
working in a different category
of experience in one way to another
memory flow from within the
mind listed in the brain to view
every degree of event,
thoughts inside mind, sight seeing;
Illusion, intention, opinion,
to the way personal knowledge.
Copyright (c) Jocelyn Dunbar
17th of August 2006
poem by Jocelyn Dunbar

Submitted by Poetry Lover
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The highest spirituality indeed moves in a free and wide air far above that lower stage of seeking which is governed by religious form and dogma; it does not easily bear their limitations and, even when it admits, it transcends them; it lives in an experience which to the formal religious mind is unintelligible.
quote by Sri Aurobindo

Submitted by Veronica Serbanoiu
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I sometimes got distracted easily and allowed my mind to wander when I needed to be focused. It's quite subtle, really, and just being aware of it helps.
quote by Payne Stewart

Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Waiting for the Barbarians
What are we waiting for, assembled in the forum?
The barbarians are due here today.
Why isn't anything happening in the senate?
Why do the senators sit there without legislating?
Because the barbarians are coming today.
What laws can the senators make now?
Once the barbarians are here, they'll do the legislating.
Why did our emperor get up so early,
and why is he sitting at the city's main gate
on his throne, in state, wearing the crown?
Because the barbarians are coming today
and the emperor is waiting to receive their leader.
He has even prepared a scroll to give him,
replete with titles, with imposing names.
Why have our two consuls and praetors come out today
wearing their embroidered, their scarlet togas?
Why have they put on bracelets with so many amethysts,
and rings sparkling with magnificent emeralds?
Why are they carrying elegant canes
beautifully worked in silver and gold?
Because the barbarians are coming today
and things like that dazzle the barbarians.
Why don't our distinguished orators come forward as usual
to make their speeches, say what they have to say?
Because the barbarians are coming today
and they're bored by rhetoric and public speaking.
Why this sudden restlessness, this confusion?
(How serious people's faces have become.)
Why are the streets and squares emptying so rapidly,
everyone going home so lost in thought?
Because night has fallen and the barbarians have not come.
And some who have just returned from the border say
there are no barbarians any longer.
And now, what's going to happen to us without barbarians?
They were, those people, a kind of solution.
poem by Constantine P. Cavafy

Submitted by Poetry Lover
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First Year University Expereinces
I learned why it is not wise to skip class often
I learned that skipping homework in university is not the same as skipping homework in high school
I learned what it feels like to be awake for over 2 days
I learned how to smoke pot from a bong
I learned how to compose an essay the day before it's due
I learned that the Freshman 15 is no joke
I learned how to do laundry
I learned to pretend to be happy
I learned to multitask
I learned to be more sociable
I learned why my parents and teachers warned me about the difficulty of university
I learned that failing is expensive
I learned small things, like freshly washed bed sheets, make me happy
I learned to lie
I learned how expensive alcohol is
I learned what it feels like to be a failure
I type this rant while skipping my business ethics class as I further delay the composition of my psychology term paper
poem by Michelle Cow

Submitted by Poetry Lover
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I started off on stage because it was the only work I could get. I haven't been back for 11 years. I think any stage experience is good experience, as far as being an actor is concerned.
Surrender To Lord
Legend says' don't hurt any one'
Even by gesture or words alone
But also not to look with vicious eye
Such attempts may be called futile try
Person may come to know what is in your mind
What excuses you are trying to find?
He may not make it known in public
But may know the aim with instinct
So many people avoid ill fate
They get some hint before it is too late
They are forced to act despite unwillingness
They may pursue it as if faced by mad chase
God has always remained merciful
Some kind of tragedy may take place and prove harmful
Yet there is some good result behind incidence
People may exclaim 'look you have escaped by grace'
Each and every step has His blessings
You get everything in time and nothing misses
If not today, you may certainly get it with double benefit
Only condition is that you got to be right person for it
'We err and tender the apology in prayer'
Take solace in asking reprieve by going near
At least resort to by remembrance of few holy words
With eyes almost close and sincere surrender to lord
poem by Hasmukh Amathalal

Submitted by Poetry Lover
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I Never Thought Of It That Way
I disagree!
I think I happen to be among the few,
Who believes they have succeeded tremendously.
Look around.
Observe.
What do you see?
'I see a waste of human energy! '
Go on...
And?
'I see a breakdown of dignity and self respect.'
And?
'I see a mess!
That's not progress.'
Who's talking about 'progress'?
I'm talking about what they've succeeded to do!
And it had to have been what they wanted...
Or this condition would not exist.
Hey...?
Maybe from their point of view,
We are witnessing THEIR 'progress'.
I never thought of it that way!
Maybe that's why they reject our version of unity!
poem by Lawrence S. Pertillar

Submitted by Poetry Lover
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A Brief Short Story: Eve's Historical Mind
All what I inherited is to be a good hunter, eve learned to stay back with the elders and the children in the safe zone. I do not know much about her feelings while she is waiting. I am a hunter, I learned to control my feelings and sharp my mind while crossing the hunting zone.
I want eve to be a hunter too, and to experience the roughness of hunting, all the mystery of wilderness, and what is beyond the unknown.
poem by Atef Ayadi

Submitted by Poetry Lover
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Mankind Free Spirit.
Mankind come with a free spirit.
Presented to us in a kit.
We have the choice between life and malediction,
It is up to us to accept the condition.
Certainly if our choice is curse or called malediction,
We never run out of the worst things as a reaction.
We will have plenty of fear and misery,
Our life will be always a slavery.
However, if we choose LIFE and keep our mind on that,
Easily handling everything like a seasoned diplomat.
Our life will be humble, easy going and light,
Only wisdom come with each lesson and life will be bright.
But, you have to keep your mind constantly full pledged,
Then you will go through life in true happiness whole hearted.
Faith in goodness or we can call it positive,
If you learn that, you will never be obstructive.
poem by LaSoaphia QuXazs

Submitted by Poetry Lover
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Clearer To See Through
With the windows of the world...
And the people living within it,
Becoming clearer to see through.
Although some will still choose to believe...
They hide behind masks and disguises,
As if they can stop and block out one's vision!
No one graduates through life,
Without learning something...
About the process.
It's like the watching,
Of elementary school children...
Absorbing 'elementary' skills.
Once those skills are learned,
The mind begins to connect...
To an openness with a wish to progress.
Those things seen today,
Were not as obvious yesterday.
And when new lessons are learned...
The old ones just don't fade away.
They stay with a probing done!
And no one living under the Sun,
When light begins to shine on everyone...
Can keep what they believe is kept discreet.
Although they may perceive themselves,
As hiding secrets.
Or that truth,
Is a matter of one's interpretation of it.
And anyone who has ever been exposed to truth,
Knows there is only one...
Truth,
That becomes revealed.
poem by Lawrence S. Pertillar

Submitted by Poetry Lover
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