Thought Bites Second and Third Editions

By Dennis van Westerborg

A vivid collection of philosophic reflections and humorous observations on life.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Lulu.com
• Release date: Dec 12, 2019
• ISBN: 9781794804081

Book preview

Thought Bites Second and Third Editions

Thought Bites Second and Third Editions

/ Dennis van Westerborg

ISBN 978-1-79480-408-1

1.Aphorisms and apothegms.

2. Epigrams Art & Text copyright © 2019 Dennis van Westerborg

All rights reserved

Thought Bites

Second EditionDennis van Westerborg

Whimprint Books 6

Foreword

This edition has been carried forward from Haiku Vignettes & Thought Bites, 2014, with new material inserted where appropriate.

Honor the aphorist for refraining to write more than he has to say.

- Dennis van Westerborg

Money is the only religion practiced

religiously as well as the only language

universally understood. The color of

money trumps the color of skin just as it

blunts the ardor of religious devotion.

When money talks no one is hard of hearing.

***

Sanitizing the collection plate: church offerings

are now received rather than taken.

***

Nominal religions are cults of exclusivity jealously

resenting interlopers impersonating God.

***

Organized religion has too much baggage

for those who like travelling light.

***

It’s worth noting that though Spinoza was said to

be God-intoxicated, yet he was of no church.

***

The Christ they found in a manger once upon a time has long since

died a crib death at the hands of the church. Official religion has lost

its way, spirituality tries to find it. The Invisible church is like no

other: God knows who belongs.

***

Just as science has tampered with the food we eat,

so theology has genetically modified God to make

him more palatable. He sends true religion,

the Devil sends theology.

***

Looking back, I can’t be sure who answered my

prayers. God or his competition.

***

From the Zoroastrians of fifth-century B.C.,

Christianity borrowed the concepts of hell

and the devil. Perhaps the time has come

to return them.

***

If you say of a book that it is God’s word, I need to see

an autographed copy. If you accept the divine inspiration

of everything biblical, you can’t then stop short

of the burning of witches.

***

Gospels are the crutches of those who can’t think for

themselves. Adopting ready-made beliefs saves

thinking, as eating fast-food saves cooking, as

saying saves doing.

***

Sectarian belief can’t take the place of genuine

religious faith. Coming to Jesus is not the same as

finding God.

***

In earthquakes and floods the gods show themselves

bare, without the makeup they wear in church.

***

Atheists and religionists are both shallow thinkers.

Depth of thought makes no display.

***

Intelligent design is only as questionable as the

intelligence of those questioning it. Physicists are the

new mystics who believe in more than meets the eye,

while biologists believe in less.

***

Mysticism is wonderment: standing in awe of it all

makes you a mystic - and wonderer.

***

The gods, who after all made us for sport, lose

interest in us as soon as we cease struggling:

we lose our entertainment value and are swiftly

replaced by fresh insects.

***

A life without struggle is the essential first step for

getting on the fast-track to losing your memory.

***

Success gets boring because after you’ve arrived

there’s nowhere to go.

***

Adversity: a good time in life for stock-taking, station identification,

and getting to know yourself better.

SHELF LIFE

Man is a book in a lending library:

when it gets tattered it is

withdrawn from circulation.

<------*------>

Searching for the meaning of life is strictly a