Aphorism of the Week

The impossible just takes a little longer. -- via Larry Brown

Dedicated to the Stanford creators of CLARITY technology for immunostaining and imaging the whole neurocircuitry of intact fixed brains by making them transparent through acrylamide gel immobilization.

Parable of the Week

The Orchid, The Dandelion
Growing in a mountain rainforest were an Orchid and a Dandelion.
Both brilliant yellow, the Orchid meandered along a hedge, while the Dandelion bloomed from emerald grass.
But wounds torn in the land by the hand of Man caused a cold, dry wind to blow over the rainforest.
The Orchid dwindled and died, its dappled beauty lost to all sight.
But the Dandelion had dug a foot-root deep into the soil's groundwater, and sprouted puffballs to waft its seeds, each hanging from a tiny umbrella, toward the four corners of the Earth.
So it is that orchids are seen only in hothouses, protected from the elements -- while dandelions sprout in your yard.
Thus, tenacity, hardiness and flexibility make success likelier.

April 13, 2013, excerpt from The Parables of Reason (Chapter 1, "Reality's Acceptance"), Copyright © 2007-2013 by Frank H. Burton, Ph.D., Founder and Executive Director, The Circle of Reason. All rights reserved.

Aphorism of the Week

Study both sides of the coin -- feel both edges of the sword.

Dedicated in supplication to the U.S. Congress to use their votes to represent the People, who seek universal background checks for gun sales, and not to merely salve their political careers with yet another impasse permitting the irrational and the ill to mass-murder on no more than a whim.

Parable of the Week

The Effort, The Work
Fallow, rebelliously denuded, the cornfield lounged underfoot.
As the farmer and her daughter steered the plow behind their mare, the blade clanged on a large, granite stone buried in the earth, heaved up by last winter's frost.
"Oh, dear!" said the farmer. "Daughter, I'm taking a milk break for a while. You're still fresh. Why don't you dig up and roll that stone over to the side of the field?"
The daughter, scraping away dirt from the stone with her foot, cringed and frowned. "It's huge! How am I supposed to move it?"
The farmer woman reached over to lightly pinch her girl's biceps. "With these, darling."
And off she rode the mare back to the farmhouse, for a tall, cold glass of milk, as her child glared at her sweat-stained back with exasperation.
Later that morning, the farmer returned to check on her daughter. As she approached the plow, she saw her child laid out flat on her back, hat perched over face, with pools of sweat long since spread through her shirt and shorts -- and the stone, sitting in the same spot as when she left.
"Why isn't the stone moved?" the farmer asked.
Her daughter looked out from beneath her hat, and said with quiet disdain, "Because it was too damn heavy, mother!"
She stood up on her spindly legs, now streaked with dirt.
"I worked as hard as I could on that rock! You can't blame me!"
But her mother smiled gently, and, caressing the disheveled strands of hair from her beloved child's face, told her one of the greatest, and most unpleasant, truths of life.
"Daughter, great effort or no, it wasn't work -- here the stone still sits."
Thus, it isn't work unless the stone moves.

April 6, 2013, excerpt from The Parables of Reason (Chapter 2, "Assumption's Denial"), Copyright © 2007-2013 by Frank H. Burton, Ph.D., Founder and Executive Director, The Circle of Reason. All rights reserved.

Aphorism of the Week

One deserves success not in the harvest, but in the tilling. -- via Judge Learned Hand

Dedicated to the teaching of non-violence, charity and love by Jesus of Nazareth.

Parable of the Week

The Red Ground, The Black Ground
Red clay entombed the land.
Upon this red ground only the thinnest weeds grew, and the land was as a desert.
There, animals scratched out meager homes.
Those who walked this red ground were hard and fearful -- for only the hard and fearful survived.
But black, soft humus blanketed a neighboring land.
Upon this black ground all seeds that fell grew into majestic trees.
There, all the animals built warm, pungent homes.
Those who walked this black ground were gentle and confident -- for all there long flourished.
Thus, observe the ground upon which you stand.

March 31, 2013, excerpt from The Parables of Reason (Chapter 1, "Reality's Acceptance"), Copyright © 2007-2013 by Frank H. Burton, Ph.D., Founder and Executive Director, The Circle of Reason. All rights reserved.