Roadmap to Silver Linings

life is lived in clouds... with silver linings...

the roadmap therein, lies in...

The Art of The Question

I:

Seeker: But - answers are the truth - !

G: How - ?

Seeker: What do you mean - how - ?

G: How - are answers the truth - ?

Seeker: They just are - I don't know how - !

G: What if - an answer is wrong - Is it still the truth - ?

Seeker: Well - {pause} - No -

G: If a wrong answer - is not the truth - How do you know if an answer before you - is a wrong one - or - the truth - ?

Seeker: That's easy - You just know -

G: So - the truth is something you just know - like obscenity - you know when you see it - ?

Seeker: Yes - !

G: Then - it is possible - for us to disagree and noncohere - vis a vis the truth - because what I just know - may differ from what you just know -

G: - therefore - the truth is relative - ?


II:

Seeker: I know the answer to your question -

G: As to - how you know whether an answer before you - is a wrong one - or the truth - ?

Seeker: Yes -

Seeker: When an other answer - is the same - or different - from an aforementioned answer - a new answer - is how I know - whether an aforementioned answer - is a wrong one - or the truth -

G: As in science - replication - if you will - ?

Seeker: Exactly - !

G: What if - a new answer - in replicating the aforementioned answer - replicates a wrong answer - ?

G: - bearing in mind that replication defines success and failure - by replication itself - not by whether or not the answer replicated - is a wrong one - or - the truth -

Seeker: But - what about when replication proves that an aforementioned answer is wrong - or the truth - ?

G: Does replication prove - whether an answer is wrong - or the truth - ? Or does replication prove - replicability and replication - ?

G: - verily - a wrong replicated - over and over and over - is no less wrong - for being replicable and replicated - while the truth unreplicated - over and over and over - is no less the truth - for being unreplicable and unreplicated -


III:

Seeker: What about proofs - ?

G: As in mathematical or logical - proofs - ?

Seeker: Yes - ! When a proof - proves an answer before you - is a wrong one - or the truth - is not a proof - how you know - that an answer - is wrong - or the truth - ? Hah - !

G: Alas - all proofs - are based on assumptions -

Seeker: What - ?

G: All proofs - whether or not explicitly articulated or not - are based on assumptions - often of a priori and implicit varieties -

Seeker: Wait - You lost me - What does that mean - ?

G: Proofs are houses built on sand -

Seeker: {dumbfounded pause}

G: Though that sand is believed to be concrete - vis a vis beliefs etched in stone - that sand is still - none the less - sand -

Seeker: But - what if a proof proves - that that sand - is the truth - ? that - assumptions - including a priori and implicit assumptions - are the truth - ?

G: Such proofs - are still - based on assumptions - which are fundamentally beliefs -

G: - moreover - across time immemorial - all proofs prove their own assumptions to be true - and - all proofs prove the reverse -

G: - such is the nature of proofs subject to the shifting sands of belief -


IV:

Seeker: Answers are not the truth - because - more answers are more answers - not proofs as to whether answers before you - are wrong ones - or the truth -

G: Correct -

Seeker: So - what is the truth - ? The question - ?

G: Yes -

Seeker: But - what if a question before you - is a wrong one - ? How do you know if a question before you - is a wrong one - or the truth - ?

G: Is your question - a wrong one - or the truth - ?

Seeker: I don't know -

G: If your question - produces an answer - that is wrong - Is it an answer - that is wrong - Or your question - ?

Seeker: Oh - that's easy - My question - !

G: If your question - produces an answer - that is the truth - Is it an answer - that is the truth - Or your question - ?

Seeker: Oh - that's easy - An answer - !

G: Then - is a better question - not whether or not a question is wrong or the truth - nor whether or not an answer is wrong or the truth - but -

G: - what is the truth - ?

Seeker: So - the question is not the truth - ?

G: The question is the truth -

Seeker: So - the question as to - how you know if a question before you is a wrong one or the truth - is not the truth - ?

G: Correct -

Seeker: Because - whether or not a question is a wrong one or the truth - is not the truth -

Seeker: - questioning is the truth - questions are the truth -

G: Yes -

G: - answers are a dead end - questions are an open road -

G: - and - of all questions - ever and always - only one - is the road home -

G: - what is the truth -

See also The Pen, The Sword, and The Might of Pillars (tvfs) and A Moment of Silence for the Power of The Pen (tvfs)

Epilogue:

I:

Seeker: So - the road home is the roadmap -

G: Yes -

Seeker: But - silver linings - ?

G: If answers are a dead end - and answers are the truth - then the truth is a fixed dead end - What a terrible truth - that would be - if that were true - ! 

G: On the other hand - if questions are an open road - and questions are the truth - then the truth is not what is known - but what beckons beyond the horizon - What possibilities - What discoveries - await ahead - !

G: Meanwhile - what failed knowns - our feet have already tread in weary tire - that can be abandoned with certainty - as oppressive gloams and vicious storms - of untruths - !

G: Are not these truths - silver linings - ?

Seeker: Oh -

Seeker: Wow -

G: Is it not possible - that the truth - is far more wondrous - far less treacherous - far beyond fathom - Further more - is it not possible - that the truth imprisons us not in dreary miser - that rather the suppression of truth - shackles us within prisons of mind blindness -

G: - is it not possible - that every epoch - across time immemorial - is poisoned by liars who elevate narcissism and avarice, hubris and tyranny - suppress the truth, idolize sycophantism, subjugate all - vis a vis power corrupt -

G: - while truthers serve all - vis a vis aequum et mutuus - vivo et liber - semper et perpetuum -

II:

Seeker: But - what about The Pen - and the moment of silence for the power of The Pen - ?

G: What about The Pen and the moment of silence for the power of The Pen - ?

Seeker: Isn't - a moment of silence - mourning the dead - ? Is the power of The Pen - dead - ? Is The Pen - dead - ?

G: What is a moment - ? What is silence - ? What is death - ? What is power - ? Is not The Pen - limitless and nameless - ? Is not The Pen - immortal - ?

Seeker: But - I don't understand - What does 'a moment of silence for the power of The Pen' - mean - then - exactly - ?

G: Perhaps - the better question - that answers your question - is -

G: - what is the truth -

~ Fin ~