Writings and other projects of a former Christian who traded the glare of certainty for the glimmer of an honest search for truth.

Desire to think well. noble-minded.org (personal website of Edward A. Morris) Think to desire well.

Dedicated to the idea that the unexamined thought is not worth thinking.

“It is not enough to have a good mind; the main thing is to use it well.” - René Descartes

“We all do no end of feeling, and we mistake it for thinking.” - Mark Twain

Philosophical Essays and Arguments

• Critiques of Christianity:
  • Why I Rejected the Christian Faith  (a critique of the argument for the resurrection of Jesus)
  • The Strange and Cruel Gospel of Christian Fundamentalism  (a plea to fundamentalists for a more thoughtful interpretation of the “gospel” of Jesus)
  • Fear and Trembling Revisited  (a parable of lost faith)
• Discussions of Philosophically Theistic (but Not Specifically Christian) Ideas and Arguments:
  • The Argument from Contingency  (an agnostic analysis of the rational case for God)
  • Goldbach’s Conjecture and the Uselessness of the Modal Ontological Argument  (on the confusion between modal and epistemic possibility)
  • The Problem of Personal Identity for the Hope of an Afterlife  (a critique of the rational coherence of wishing for life after death)
  • The Anthropic Oddity of Our Youth  (an admittedly perplexing relative of the fine-tuning argument)
• Thoughts on Thinking and Belief:
  • The Peril of Positive Feedback in Our Beliefs  (a consideration of why we are so naturally gullible)
  • Gödel, Pascal, and the Rationality of Unprovable Beliefs  (on the possibility for rational epistemological foundations)
• Random Other Topics:
  • Determinism and Free Will  (a systematic categorization of concepts and theories)
  • Evolution and the Second Law of Thermodynamics  (how we know they are not in conflict despite the deniers)

Poetry and Light Verse

(Light verse meaning rhyming poetry intended to be whimsical or witty. Also known as humorous verse or comic verse.)

• Contemplative Poems About Nature and Life:
  • The Mountains Are Calling  *personal favorite*
  • The Haunted Colossus  *personal favorite*
  • One Flew West  *personal favorite*
  • A Painful Parting  *personal favorite*
  • Destiny’s Railroad  *personal favorite*
  • The Entropy of Dreams  *personal favorite*
  • The Grown-up Man I Feared
  • Journey of a Thousand Miles
  • Which Is the Bliss of Solitude
  • The Gardens of Babylon
  • The Other Question?
  • The Shape of My Art
  • A Sonnet to Sadness
  • Galileo’s Legacy
  • Pink Polka Dots
  • Dormant Seeds
  • A Somber Vow
  • True to Life
  • Smile
• Playful Story Poems and Parodies:
  • One Night in a Haunted Manner  *personal favorite*
  • Fear of the Wild  *personal favorite*
  • Casey on Second  *personal favorite*
  • The Dove  *personal favorite*
  • That’s Psychosis
  • Dawn of a New Age
  • Our Spicy First Date
  • Ice Cream
  • Starting with Paradox in a Poet’s Nightmare
• Somewhat Nerdy Poems About Topics in Logic, Philosophy, and Science:
  • Ode to the Failure of Modern Philosophy to Defeat Skepticism  *personal favorite*
  • The Triumph of Schrödinger’s Cat
  • The Pythagorean Trump
  • Einstein’s Bent Lines
  • MWI-hi-hi
  • Plato’s Cave
  • Scurry Curry
  • Turing Tested
  • Strangled by a Gödel
  • Magritte’s Treachery
  • Ockham’s Safety Razor
  • Kant Always Be Truthful
  • Cogito Ergo Something
  • A Zombie’s Confusion?
  • The Mystery of Time
  • The God-complex Particle
  • The Absurdity of Free Will
  • Complex Number Psychology
  • Epistemology in a Pickled Pepper Shell
• Mostly Satirical Poems About Thinking and Belief:
  • Fossilitis Ignoratious  *personal favorite*
  • It Ain’t Necessarily So  *personal favorite*
  • Garden Party for Atheists  *personal favorite*
  • They Cheer for Jesus
  • A Dismal Diagnosis
  • Warm Fuzzy Logic
  • The Swill to Believe
  • Breaking the Spell
  • Related Concepts
  • Placebo Gazebo
  • Pascal’s Wager
  • The Hairy Tick
  • The DK Effect
  • Pesky Loose Ends
  • Evolution Still in Progress
  • The Solace of the Insufferable
  • At the Risk of Condescension...
  • The Serpent of Pseudo-Paradise
• Poems and Parodies with a Somewhat Sarcastic Political Edge:
  • Maniac President’s Song  *personal favorite*
  • Rejoinder to a Blowhard
  • Carter’s Metric
  • Sycophanatics
  • Party Spirit
  • The American Way
  • The Most Polarizing Filter of All
  • If Archie Bunker Were Still Alive
  • A Presidential Explanation  (mild crudeness warning)
• Totally Silly Short Rhymes and Limericks About Random Other Topics:
  • An American in Paris
  • The Birdwatcher’s Lament
  • The Problem with Kidnappers
  • The Half-Truth About Facebook
  • The Time Traveler’s Dilemma
  • Why Tomorrow Never Comes
  • The Buffeting of the Buffet
  • Playful Playground Perp
  • Hickory Sch’mickory
  • A Fishy Comparison
  • Reindeer Borealis
  • Achoo-oo-eww
  • Cucumber Pie
  • Jockerwabby
  • Sour Grapeness
  • Spelling Trouble
  • Rhymes with Use
  • A Kiss for Poets
  • Poetry That Isn’t
  • Purple Platitudes
  • Tribute to Doggerel
  • To Say It Succinctly
  • Lifelong Existence
  • Blake’s Mistake
  • Poet on a Date
  • Limmer Ickish
  • Alpha Version
  • Polar Poker
  • Hindsight
  • Pundit
  • Bad Poet
  • Poetic Justice
  • Animal Instinct
  • Driving Me Mad  (mild crudeness warning)
  • Puff the Poker Princess  (mild crudeness warning)
  • A Sure Lock on the Case  (mild crudeness warning)
  • Cut Down to Size  (mild crudeness warning)
  • Of Curse...  (mild crudeness warning)

Political Commentary

(Relatively concise opinion pieces or rants, inspired by various current events in U.S. politics.)

• 2020:
  • Why Mere Color-Blindness Isn’t Enough
• 2019:
  • Trump’s Bribery and the Moral and/or Intellectual Bankruptcy of His Defenders
  • Trump’s Bribery and the Moral and/or Intellectual Bankruptcy of His Defenders, Part 2
• 2012:
  • Taxation in the Spirit of the U. S. Constitution

Personal Information and Miscellaneous

• About Me  (Ed Morris, the author of this website)
  • Favorite Quotations  (well-known thoughts that I like and find particularly fitting for the theme of this web site)
  • Wisdom Sayings  (similarly “wise” thoughts by me—yes, I know it sounds a little pretentious)

• Some mathematical fun: Does the Bible Use an Erroneous Value for Pi?

• Photography - through 2008
• Photography - 2009
• Photography - 2010
• Photography - 2011
• Photography - 2012
• Photography - 2013
• Photography - 2014
• Photography - 2015
• Photography - 2016
• Photography - 2017
• Photography - 2018
• Photography - 2019, Colorado Scenic
• Photography - 2019, Colorado Bird and Wildlife
• Photography - 2019, Other (Outside of Colorado)
• Photography - 2020, Colorado Scenic
• Photography - 2020, Colorado Bird and Wildlife
• Photography - 2021, Colorado Scenic
• Photography - 2021, Colorado Bird and Wildlife
• Photography - 2021, Other (Outside of Colorado)
• Photography - 2022, Colorado Scenic
• Photography - 2022, Colorado Bird and Wildlife
• Photography - 2022, Other (Outside of Colorado)

Strategy Games—Free to Play Online

(Invented and programmed by me. Also available at my software-only website, www.edmorris.org.)

• Four on the Floor  (A “shifty” variation on the classic Connect Four game.)
• Loopy  (Just say “No!” to Tic-tac-toe. This game is lots more challenging and lots more . . . loopy.)

This page copyright © 2001-2022 Edward A. Morris.  Created May 3, 2001.  Last updated February 3, 2023.