((My comments in double parentheses - Homer))
 
                       THE WIND BETWEEN THE EARS
 
                                ACT - 89
                             14 August 1995
 
                 Copyright (C) 1995 Homer Wilson Smith
       Redistribution rights granted for non commercial purposes.
 
 
     You can not start a philosophy with the axiom
 
     That all axioms are necessarily false,
 
     That all statements of truth are false,
 
     That it is true there are no truths,
 
     That all generalizations are false,
 
     That there are no absolutes,
 
     That it is provable that nothing is provable,
 
     That perfect certainty is perfectly and certainly impossible.
 
     That you doubt that you doubt.
 
     That you don't know if you don't know.
 
     That the logic of "is" and "is not" *IS* illogical,
 
     That is is isn't and isn't is is,
 
     That isn't is not isn't, and is is not is,
 
     That the word 'is' *IS* meaningless and conveys nothing,
 
     That the word 'is' *IS* the same thing as "is not",
 
     That something can both be and not be at the same time, or doesn't
have to be or not be if it doesn't want to,
 
     That ALL truths DEFINITELY lie on a gradient scale of truth value,
including this one,
 
     or
 
     That ALL beliefs are arbitrarily chosen to suit one's mood,
including this one."
 
     You can always know such a person, they will read the above and say
"Yeah your are right!"
 
     When you finally corner someone on these matters they will first
try to evade you by saying "Homer you are just trying to trap me in your
silly word games and illogic."
 
     When you press them further on it they will finally say "Homer you
are quite right, my position is wholly untenable, but I choose to live
by it anyhow."
 
     This is the last ditch effort of a service facsimile to be right
inspite of certain evidence to the contrary.  They chose to believe as
an arbitrary act of whim and caprice and no longer because of the truth
value of what they believe.
 
     These are minds that do not work.
 
     They look without seeing, or without incorporating what they see
into what they believe.
 
     The only "truths" these minds can wrap their wits around are self
denying "truths".
 
     These sum up to "I don't know if I am", or worse "I know I am not."
 
     These are people who do not know FOR SURE if anything exists
including themselves, they doubt that they doubt, they wonder if they
wonder, they question if they question.
 
     They say "Maybe I don't exist, how would I know?"
 
     You could suggest that a nothing could not wonder if it were a
nothing or a something, but your efforts would be futile.
 
     Someone at this level is no longer interested in knowing the truth,
they are interested only in 'being right'.
 
     No matter how high these people are, no matter how many certs they
have on the wall, they are quite dead in the head, their needle floats
only because it is waving in the wind that passes between their ears.
 
     Homer