Thoughts for Thinkers contains 310 original ideas about philosophy, relationships, religion, technology, politics - and more. Perfect for your coffee table or guest bedroom.

The format is simple, brief, and eclectic. Thoughts are arranged at random, and they beg to hitch a ride in your purse or briefcase.

In short, Thoughts for Thinkers is a page-turner that will make you smile.

Proponents of same-sex marriage contend that the inclusion of homosexuals in the definition will have little negative impact upon the heterosexual conventions of marriage and family. Some say the impact will be liberating. Others believe the consequential erosion of theistic values in the affairs of state will only make society better. This book argues that these conjectures are misleading and will in the end be proven false and damaging, should same-sex marriage be adopted. In reality, both personal and national level decisions on same-sex marriage are a test of belief and conviction.

This book takes the issue of homosexuality out of its "rights-based" context and looks at same-sex relations from a broader perspective- within the philosophical framework of what feminist Diana Alstad calls the "planetary battle" or the "morality wars" over "who has the right to decide what's right?" The thesis of this book is that acceptance of same-sex marriage will symbolize state preference for the beliefs of secularism, humanism, and free sex ethos, over traditional theistic-based, Judeo-Christian values.

Worse, the legislated merger of same-sex and opposite sex societal spaces under one definition of marriage will signify that the homosexual lifestyle is the same culturally, morally, and ecologically as the heterosexual way of life. In fact they are an anathema to each other.

This book equips and leads the reader to face his or her philosophy of life, before deciding on issues like same-sex marriage. The reader discovering a very complex, multi-faceted, and interlocking set of issues will face the question, "From where do we draw our moral wisdom?" Secularist (Pivot of Civilization) and Christian (Rivet of Life) worldviews are developed and their relative merits in facing key issues of the day are studied. The institutions of marriage and family will be cast in far-reaching perspective.

The book will detail the potentially harmful ramifications of such a huge move away from theism and also show the societal benefits of an exclusive and distinctive definition of same-sex union, in keeping with recognition of a separate and unique homosexual minority lifestyle.

This slim volume achieves the nearly impossible. Thirty years of hard work are represented in a package that manages three things; it offers a comprehensive moral theory that solves many of the ancient puzzles of moral philosophy; it does so in language that is jargon-free and understandable by any attentive reader, and finally it is a complete reference book for any number of disciplines.

Lawyers can learn that honesty is a moral virtue, amongst other things. Teachers can use it as a textbook for teenagers. The book can also be useful for the penal system. It should be very useful for introductory philosophy courses, and a number of other uses.

But most importantly, the ordinary thoughtful person will find it a guide to a sane and happy life. For example it gives a rational approach to anger management by distinguishing between rational anger and irrational anger, something most anger books fail to mention. Guilt is another moral emotion that can be treated rationally. Most people feel guilty about the WRONG wrong things! Much of what goes awry in marriages is a failure of one or both of the partners to use proper moral reasoning; understanding the moral aspects of a partnership, can reduce the intense emotionality of family quarrels.

We all make moral judgments all the time, but most of the time quite unconsciously, and often we make a moral judgment first and then twist the facts around to suit our judgment. Obviously we should examine the facts first, and then make a moral judgment, one not based on the untutored conscience, but on solid moral reasoning. There are numerous other common fallacies, many of them created by eminent philosophers, such as Immanuel Kant, John Stuart Mill, and David Hume, and we should all be aware of these fallacies. The Catechism is a set of appended questions, which help to apply the theory present in this little powerhouse of a book.

Notes from a Sidecar is a travelogue of the mind and of the geography of the Kootenay area of British Columbia and then onto Northern Washington and a part of Northern Idaho in the United States. The author travels in his Kawasaki Vulcan sidecar rig, at times with his wife, and often with his dog “lady”. Interspersed with the motorcycle riding are comments on the role of philosophy in modern life. John Dale is not a professional philosopher but has spent his adult life reading and thinking about philosophy in between a career as a physician and pilot. Influenced at an early age by Wittgenstein the trend in his thoughts has been towards the non-verbal and underlying principles that we live by.

Dale shows how we make decisions in our everyday life using unconscious and culturally derived assumptions. Wittgenstein remains largely the starting point in this book, although many precursors to his line of thought are pointed out in an attempt to move beyond the “silent” areas. The roles of doubt, uncertainty and vagueness, are examined in detail to illustrate how we do make decisions, and that in spite of these concepts, we make most of the time accurate decisions. But the importance of acknowledging the degree of uncertainty does not seem apparent. The illusion of certainty is examined as a critical concept so that we may be more at ease with less certainty. The role of language is brought in as the critical factor in the artificiality of the nature of certainty.

In the book we are taken through the influence of aesthetics and ethics and politics on each other. Certain novel ideas about differing forms of knowledge are introduced and the germinal ideas of Suzanne Langer are touched upon.

The basic premise of this book is that most, if not all, of what we have been taught to believe is true, is not true or only half true. We blindly assume that what our mothers taught us about lying, paternity, religion, incest, nudity, pornography, and other subjects was right. This book states that a closer look at what was taught will reveal that "Your Mama Was Wrong". It says that lying is not always wrong. Sometimes it can be dangerous to tell the truth. When the slaves were being hhid by the "underground railroad", people lied in order to protect them. This book points out the fact that there are males, females and people who are neither male nor female. It also says that all religions are basically hearsay because they are founded upon what someone "said" was "said". All the sacred books were written by someone - usually male, who lived hundreds or thousands of years ago.

The chapter on paternity shows how DNA testing can prove that "Your Mama Was Wrong" about who she said your father was. This chapter will prove to be very disturbing to many.

There never has been a book written that challenges so many of society's views of right and wrong, true and false, fact and fiction.

You will discover how fear of change paralyzes us and causes depression and how imbalance is affecting the planet. How seeing the world and other cultures can improve your life, and what the most important thing is that humans possess that most of us never even think about.

This book is a "wake-up call" to those rushing around from task to task without a moment to think about what the point of their lives is. Susan Buck gives common sense and often unconventional advice, pointing out what freedom means and how we can get it back into our lives. This book will open your eyes, improve your health, touch your heart and change your life forever!

This is a continuation and completion of the work begun in the seminal essay "Ethics of One". This second work contemplates our tendency to be genocidal and warmongers - legating this attitude from one generation to another. Appoint made many times through the citing of the ad hoc examples from the past and present. An approach, which highlights - as it unfolds - our extraordinary fear of women in the course of history along with everything. Demanding a change in our attitude toward woman, and anything else we do not understand. As a whole this works focuses on what Jean Ovide Bourdeau claims are artificially inculcated specie-specific physiological dysfunctions. A reality that makes it normal to attempt to be as mean to each other as possible, and which ultimately culminates in our unkind and insane tendency to cause terror and horrendous injustice. The work highlights most unequivocally, that our contemporary thinking and behavior tends to promote and adopt a philosophy in which, both, malevolence and insanity govern our behavior, with callousness and cowardice as their servants slavishly carrying out acts of horrid violence in support of self-righteous a priori assertions. It is precisely from this point of view that this work emphasizes what appears without a doubt to be our compulsive behavior for violence, in spite of the fact that it is easy and natural to be sane and kind (i.e., to be ourselves). This implies that, we have to really work hard against our natural tendency for cooperation; be the self we are meant to be; and live in bliss. That is why; we insanely and unkindly insist in remaining in the violent and monarchic patriarchal paradigm in which we now find ourselves. The unusual structure of this essay - made of shorter thoughts and yet still very much focusing on the multi generational legacy of violence - is made all the more evident through the bluntness of the ideas expressed. These emerge as more or less irreverent and random flashes of awareness, often hovering between poles of rationality and intuition. Nonetheless, they reflect a respect for the bravery required when, we insist on living sanely and in kindness in a world seemingly bent otherwise. Above all, this essay confronts the obvious intellectual syndrome of terror resulting from our attitude toward change: evident in the Ethical Disease of Self-righteousness, and demonstrated callousness and cowardice, as a way of viewing the issue at hand, and perhaps finding a way out of our lethal predicament. As a whole, it questions the reason used by so many of us ethically empowering ourselves to behave like violent narcissistic predators - as if it was most natural. These rather brief comments, laid out occasionally is complete poetic forms, are also meant to wake us out of the legacy nourishing this age of Self-righteousness mow growing like fungus all around us; as it manifestation takes shape in a whole amalgam of acts of terrorism - both at the private level within families or internationally at he planetary level. In the thoughts found here, we discover loose ends to unravel, patterns to identify, similarities to observe, historical events never to be forgotten, and so on... and whatever our opinions, each provoking thought shakes us out of our conformist attitude. Yes! The message here is simple. We must wake up, and get out of the slumber into which, we have lodges ourselves in the course of history.

Symmetrical values describe this world best, where light without darkness, up without down, and good without evil is not possible. The whole existence is based on extreme ends, where something came out of nothingness. Through evolution the very first energy had to be created to give life light, and meanings to dark emptiness. Matter is only concentrated and condensed energy, and everything is energy. Humans are the end result of this energy, where and when intelligence had to be born.

In Wonderpages we embark on a journey of exploration into the wonderous world we live in. The journey will be divided into four stages of discovery.

We will seek answers to the following questions:

I wonder: "Where are we?"
I wonder: "Where did we come from?"
I wonder: "What are we?"
I wonder: "Where are we going?"

During our first quest we will search out the best information, theories and understanding that science has to offer today in order to discover where we are in the universe. It will take us back in time almost to the beginning of the universe. And then, out into space as far as the Hubble space telescope has been able to see.

On the second voyage we will journey back in time to find where we came from and how we developed into the human organism.We will see that the way has been laced with creative growth, ferocious competition, and great uncertainty.

Our third exploration, to find what we are, will take us inside own own body - all the way into the amazing, microscopic world of the cell. We will see how cooperation ultimately created Homo sapiens - thinking man. An amazing creature who is able to ask questions - questions that involve unlimited space, infinite complexity, eons of time and a multitude of possibilities.

In conclusion, during our last stage we will look into the future. Using all of the background information we have collected and digested we will attempt to create some meaningful pattern and to predict where the process might be going. Then we will try to foresee the direction and consequences of our present course. Finally, using our creative powers, we will envision possible alternatives and decide the way we should be going to insure the survival and improvement of our generation and the future generations to come.

Introduction to Paradigms is a generic look at the things that help to clear up the crippling reality-paradigm confusion, which we all are susceptible to just in growing up. It demonstrates that:

A paradigm is a model of a portion of reality, with fewer dimensions and a manageable size, mass and energy.

Paradigms are necessary because they are the solution to the problem of having insufficient human RAM and CPU to be omniscient and deal with reality on a direct perception/knowing basis. The human solution is to create paradigms that do fit our RAM and CPU, so we can change the undesirable elements of existence into desirable ones.

Unfortunately, paradigms can be more true or less true, by accident or design, and that's where the rub is.

   Less true paradigms come about in two ways:

      Through the incompetence of well meaning paradigm designers or

      By the deliberate introduction of bias into a paradigm to give inequitable power and money to some who have not earned it. The bias is in the form of a lie in a paradigm or the miss- definition of a word. More money is made today by theft through paradigm bias than by the honest creation of wealth. It is not a victimless crime. The individual members of society as well as the society as a whole lose in wealth, a lowered pursuit of happiness and a lowered survival potential. Paradigm bias is a societal parasite and too many parasites kill the host.

Purveyors of paradigm bias are the same as confidence men. One trick they use is to convince you, that what they are telling you is reality when it is a paradigm. Reality, one tends to accept as true, while one questions what is known to be a paradigm. How do you tell the difference and what if you don't?

Example: My telling you about a tree gives you my paradigm of a tree, which can be more true or less true. On the other hand, the only way you get the reality of a tree is by seeing it for yourself; climbing it; feeling the trunk, bark and leaves; eating the fruit; chewing on a leaf, twig, bark; smelling the blossoms, cones, leaves, bark and roots; listening to the wind pass through the branches and leaves; standing under the tree when the sun is too hot or when it is raining.

Example: The 9/11 suicide pilots believed that what they had been told since early childhood was reality: That they would go to a paradise which was a much nicer place than this world and that they would live forever with seven virgins and seven wives if they died committing a mass murder as they were told. They did what they were told because they did not know the difference between paradigm and reality.

Reality is what you experience yourself. Paradigms are anything you received through a communication paradigm such as what some one told you or you read. We are all handicapped to the extent we are victims of the paradigm-reality confusion and prone to be taken advantage of through paradigm bias.

More true paradigms require a paradigm designer well acquainted with reality.

Is science the answer? Unfortunately, the scientific method applies only to explicate order phenomena that can be repeated and verified by the lowest common denominator of scientist. Science is still in denial of implicate order phenomena known for many centuries. Only a small fraction of the paradigms we need to function on a personal and societal level can be scientifically demonstrated.

Peer review is another shortcoming and abuse. The scientific method assumes that those doing the peer review are selfless, high minded scientists, experts in the same domain, who judge according to their knowledge in the pursuit of truth for the good of mankind. Actually, many peers are egocentric and lie to ensure their careers. Example: Tobacco scientists disagree with conclusive studies linking smoking to lung cancer. Who pays? If you believe them, you do.

Introduction to Paradigms sets forth a method of creating paradigms that are self optimizing in any domain as new discoveries are made. Winning synergies are produced by using several of these self optimizing paradigms in the form of a tetrahedral paradigm engine. In fact, once we get rid of the biased definitions of what we are and go where experience and reality takes us, we find that we are synergistic, composites beings with capabilities far beyond what is considered normal in today's world.

When we eliminate paradigm bias and the confusion between reality and paradigms, as well as create self optimizing paradigms that work on all levels, with synergistic paradigm engines, life takes on new possibilities. Introduction to Paradigms classifies and defines the different types of paradigm and the different roles people play in their creation, operation and maintenance. It shows how anyone can become the source of winning synergies.

This is a powerful how to book and reference.

In a sped-up world, the virtues of introspection, reflection, and contemplation are sometimes discarded. As we rush to get to the "bottom line" on the numerous topics that we confront in the news and in our daily lives we can lose sight of the big picture as we narrow our focus on the seemingly most relevant details. The result is a world awash in rash judgements, harsh, but empty sound bytes, and self-fulfilling prophecies where the answers are had before the questions are even posed.

This book is my reaction to such a world. It is an attempt to inject more thoughtfulness into the great debates of our time and of the past. However, my solution, at least in this book, is not to delineate my answers to the philosophical problems of our world but to revel in the questions themselves. To explore the many dimensions of the questions in order to gain deeper understanding of the issues in hopes of finding a middle ground between the distant poles involved in the debate. This book is in no way an end to the conflict...it is, hopefully, the beginning of a great discussion.

In the Greek Philosophical tradition sophists were masters of rhetoric who could prove or disprove any position in the midst of debate. As a result of their skills, sophists were able to produce views of the world that challenged conventional notions.

The Sophist, born out of the author's conversations and insights as a philosophy student and later as a minister, challenges notions of happiness, adversity, love, desire, and many other matters integral to the human experience. Spanning the boundaries of poetry, metaphysics and narrative, The Sophist intends to awaken and inspire the possibilities in each of us to live richer and fuller lives.