Pulling Onions Again 2025

 

Pulling Onions
By Mike Garofalo

Pulling Onions Again - Religion

 

Pulling Onions

By Michael P. Garofalo
Over 1,055 Sayings, One Liners, Adages, Quips, Observations
Obviously, I'm a more philosophical rather than a religions person.  

Life after death is armchair speculation; life before death requires intelligent engagement, practical actions, and the cultivation of virtues. 

To put a bigger hat on an idea─Capitalize its Key Words.

Talk of God's Commandments and Church Doctrines often gets in the way of charity, compassion, fairness, and reason.

Some former widespread "truths" are now abandoned, discarded, or irrelevant, just historical oddities. 

Non-believers can become virtuous, and devout believers can become evil; and vice-versa.  

One Book is better than none; but, more books introduce one to other facts, ideas, information, and wisdom. 

Doing well, acting well, may increase individual happiness or it may not; duties often drive us to sacrifice our contentment.  

Absolutes squirm beneath realities.  9
It is better to cultivate spiritual fruits than religious nuts.  523
I believe in "God"; I just spell It "Fiction."  756   
When the Divine knocks, don't send a prophet to the door.  48
Dogmatists are less useful than dogs.  711
Gardens are more useful than churches.  787 
The City of God does not meet any of our current building codes.  890 
God and I get along quite well, he ignores me all the time and I ignore him.  845
Perfection can be the opponent of betterment.  788
We did not come from dust, nor shall we return to dust, nor are we dust in the wind.  23
There is not much to say about the "Unknown."  3  

R. Buckminster-Fuller once suggested that "God is a verb, not a noun."  Which verb?  Pretending?  Storytelling?  Fantasizing?  Believing?  833
In general, be more specific.  79 
If the first man was created in the image of God, then it is obvious that God is mediocre and prone to evil.  786
Nothing grows in Hell.  134
The fear of the Lord is a corner stone of indoctrination and the beginning of the end of wisdom.  850 
After understanding thousands of the details, a common variety god is really quite superfluous.  725 

The root illusion is a belief in that which does not change.  451 
Roundness is the Holy Shape.  629
God may be very smart, but he is a poor communicator.  779
There is absolutely a place for Absolutes and Ideals in our rational/logical way of choosing to think about our experiences.  982
We already live in the Garden of Eden, but we now have to work to keep it growing.  136
God may have created the first garden, but, typical of Him, He got bored with trying to keep it up and make it better.  149
Say a prayer for a good harvest; but don't forget to weed and water.  288
The Bible is morally inconsistent and often morally reprehensible.  842
I never found God in my garden, but goddesses and gods and faeries dance everywhere.  492
Yes, God and Allah are both still dead, yet plenty is still not permitted and virtues and ideals still persist.  330   
Before you swear at the overgrown ivy, beware of Dionysus.  602 

The Garden of Eden is a badly painted backdrop to a lousy stage play.  860 
Even a god cannot listen to a billion prayers a day.  412
Beware of the man who speaks of God only as a father or a son.  573 
The real "miracle" is cause and effect.  584
Christians and Moslems love to lie about their own righteousness, and rant about the immorality of the non-believers in their fantasies.  986

The "eternal truths" are sometimes clearly false.  430
Have you noticed that people praying close their eyes?  People, please open your eyes and think instead.  444
If God existed it would be necessary to have a Goddess because God is just to lazy and incompetent.  471
If God gave us technology, why did he wait so long to give us a box of matches or solar power panels.  454 

What?   Another damn Garden of Eden analogy!  476
The seed idea for "God" is springtime.  596 
A God who is understood is really misunderstood ... actually no God at all.  598 
Variety, Creativity and Fertility are the Songs of the Great Goddess.  509
Hell is a silent dark world where nothing grows.  512  
Even Allah cannot alter the past; but our knowledge of the past changes each year.  549   
Is the the God of scriptures the Absolute?  Absolutely not!  996
Stop looking for the Green Man and He will appear.  601 

The gardener is a priestess, the garden her temple and followers, gardening her liturgy.  603 
Religion is intimate with awe, anxiety, fear, danger, and death.  608 
Avoid dogmatists, they often end up treating you like a dog.   623 
What good is All Powerful and All Wise "God" or "Allah" who can supposedly count every hair on your head, but can't find
a house for a homeless family, stop terrorists, get rid of the alcoholic thief next door, or save your citrus trees from frostbite?   681

Mother Nature is always pregnant.  702
It is best to shut one's mouth in face of the sacred.  719   
Create your own garden, the god's certainly won't.  736 
That something is eternal is unverifiable; it is one premise.  746  
If there is a "Divine Lawgiver," then He/She/It seems a rather poor judge and inconsistent.  978
Ordinary reality is good enough for most sensible people; a "higher" calling is answered by few.  759 
Don't kid yourself: seeing is not necessarily believing.  761 
To many the sun is a god and the earth is a goddess; and, our imaginations are boundless.  762 

To save some time, don't let them get a foot in the door.  795 
I may not be able to precisely define religious nonsense, but I know it when I hear it.  791 
I think, therefore I am a living person; dead bodies don't display thinking, just stinking.  826 
Disrespect and contempt for the body is a common trump card for spiritualists; but, our game of life does not use trump cards.  829 
Is the the God of scriptures the Absolute?  Absolutely not!  996 
A sure path to the perversion of truth is to make it a belief.  841 
The Bible is morally inconsistent and often morally reprehensible.  842
God is not dead─ he never existed in the first place.  887 

"Just believe" is the weakest argument for adopting an opinion.  888 
Seeing the "Big Picture" is just viewing a pleasant painting created by your imagination.  846
I have faith that science will help explain our world; but, I don't "believe in" or worship science.  908
Some questions just dissolve─when our spell is broken.  921 
Spinoza's God was Nature─by definition.  937 
Rather than seeking an answer we sometimes need to stop asking the question.  938 

I am not a marionette in the Hands of Deus (or Zeus, Yahweh, Allah, God, Shiva, Coyote, Great Father, etc.)  940 
Beliefs tend to channel the mind, wonder opens it up.  953 
If you are seeking certainty, the search will likely be tiresome and futile.  955 

Prime Your Mind with Guiding Rhymes

Prime Your Mind with Guiding Rhymes: 

Find some beauty, it’s your duty.
Try your best to avoid excess.
Handle tools with respectful rules. 
Get your ass moving or you’ll be losing.
Take the halo off your heroes. 
Consider others as your brothers.
Your purpose in life should guide you right.
Walk your talk.
Be at ease often, please.
A smile walks woes away for miles.
Stand tall and embrace all.
Just sit and you won’t be fit.    
Smoker’s breath―coughing death. 
Booze your body, bamboozle your mind.
Goodness has a portion of badness.
The seasons give us many reasons.
Insight is often hindsight.
Just one word can unravel what we heard.
We cannot resist believing fictions exist.
We relish and repeat, we link with what we like.
Rigidity is stupidity.
Jumping to conclusions―pleasing your illusions.
Resist translating the implicit into the explicit. 
Slow down before you hit the ground.
Hate locks Love’s Gate. 
Norms are not Eternal Forms.
Ambiguity decreases perspicuity. 
Unbelieving is a source of relieving or grieving. 
Right brain, left brain: tracks below our Living Trains.
You can’t hide from the Big Surprise. 
Rather than cut and dried, favor the whole alive. 
For growth, balance either/or with and/both.
Get work done and have some fun.
Find our common ground―look down.
Alienation begs for imaginative mediation. 
Make history in some new way each day. 
-  Michael P. Garofalo, Pulling Onions

Pulling Onions   Over 1,041 Quips and Sayings by Mike Garofalo

Pulling Onions Again

Stupidity and shallowness are increasingly popular. 
When Death grins at you, grin back; when death beckons you, run away.
Thankfully, we can imagine nearly everything─ which helps prevent boredom. 
A garden is a Romantic's parádeisos.
It's over when it ends.
Act on your knowledge first, your common sense second, and your best guess third.
Wear a variety of masks; acting is essential to coping.
A garden is a feeling.
Acknowledging that you might die today has stopped few from trying to stay alive to 80.
Dreams are our imagination at play while we sleep. 
You can train yourself to eliminate bad habits and useless thoughts; for example, stop attending any more church services starting today.
Seventy percent of "good luck" is following reasonable plans and working diligently; the rest is often beneficial circumstances outside of your control.No garden lasts for long - neither will you. 
Shade, in the summer, is as precious as a glass of water.  Fear may keep some stupid people in line, but virtue for virtue's sake attracts the allegiance and support of most intelligent people. 
The most important Master to seek and follow is Self-Mastery.  
There is no 'i' in "team," but there is an 'm' in me, my, and mine.  
Sometimes it is best to walk away and never walk back. 
Exercise is a way of making the unconscious body very conscious. 
A wise gardener knows when to stop. 
Gardens are demanding pets. 
Unclench your fist to give a hand. 
The little choices day after day are the biggest issue. 
Gardening is but one battle against Chaos. 
When life gives you onions, you ain't making lemonade. 
Many friendships are sustained by a mutual hatred of another person or group.
What you see depends on when you look. 
Beauty is the Mistress, the gardener her slave. 
One's "true self" is changing and elusive. 
A little of this and a little of that, and some exceptions - these are the facts. 
Does a plum tree with no fruit have Buddha Nature?  Whack! 
-  Mike Garofalo


Pulling Onions by Mike Garofalo
Over 866 random quips, one-liners, sayings, and "insights" from an old gardener.

"An Onion Garden,"  a concrete poem by Mike Garofalo

Pulling Onions Again

The most important Master to follow is Self-Mastery.
Freedom opens a few doors and closes many more.
A callused palm and dirty fingernails precede a green thumb.
Don't sell the present short on the promises of "when." 
Most tire from hatefulness; cheerfulness is abiding.
As you move your hands so you move your mind.
Stubborn facts are loosened up with novelty.
A sure path to the perversion of truth is to make it into beliefs or dogmas. 
Wishes are like seeds, few ever develop into something.  
My mind is a sea I cannot see into; I merely skim along its surface.
Absolutes squirm beneath realities. 
The fear of the Lord is a cornerstone of indoctrination and the beginning of the end of wisdom.
The act, the deed, the doing are the primary considerations.  Stupidity and shallowness are increasingly popular. 
Wherever I go, something new becomes me.
Two essential tools for a lifetime of sexual pleasures are: vivid erotic fantasies and skillful masturbation. 
There is not much to say about "The Unknown." 
To garden is to open your heart to the sky. 
Be careful not to stand up for that which will cause your downfall.    
Borderline cases are were events really become interesting. 
Gardens are demanding pets.
There is no 'i' in "team;" but there is an 'm' in my, me, and mine.   
God and I get along fine, he ignores me all the time and I ignore him.  
Nonsense can sometimes improve our sense and senses. 
When all the chores are done, the avid gardener will invent some new ones. 
Prohibitions focus our aim on better choices and actions. 
Stupidity and shallowness are increasingly popular. 
Objectivity is a product of our agreements, and an important feature of my imagination. 
Hearing the cat purr when we pet them gently matters far more to us than whether the cat's fur is black, white, or orange. 
If you think you are damned if you do or damned if you don't, your not thinking creatively enough. 
The ten thousand things are more enchanting than the Silent One. 
To lift the mind, move the body.  

Pulling Onions: The Quips and Sayings of an Old Gardener.  Over 852 sayings.  By Mike Garofalo