James Moore Poet Narrative

Notes About The Poem

Path of Least Resistance

(“Outside Looking In Merit Badge”, 2011, original oil)

In a dream
The repeated pattern of my own conditioning
Like a Groundhog’s Day set on reset
Reveals to me the futility of the human condition
Habitually doing the same things
While expecting different results;
As Einstein said, THE definition of insanity.
Yet again and again we also wake
With at least the hope of sanity,
The freshness of not being habitually driven
Until we once again start to do
And the conditioning of all these lifetimes
Kicks in again, as we
Without thought, without effort
Take the easy path of least resistance.

(11/24/25)

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CayCay Godwin November 24, 2025 at 4:33 PM This is a poem worth reading. From word one it sets out to build up to the ending line that punches the human reader and takes him/her down. Glad I clicked on this. James Moore November 24, 2025 at 4:40 PM Awww, thanks so much for your kind remark CayCay, for clicking on this and for letting me take you down! Lol.