SUNDAY, 1 AUGUST 2004
Me: “You are reciting words you’ve been taught in order to confirm your identity – the way in which you are part of the Bigger Picture, and to give expression to your experience of this reality. Your expression of your particular experience of reality is neither creative nor original. Why should I listen to you?”
Mormon missionary: “Because what I have to say may save your life.”
Me: “You don’t know that. You choose to believe that for reasons I have already mentioned. But you don’t know if any of it will work out. You choose to believe that it will.”
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Am I wrong?
I will say this, if the ACTUAL, ABSOLUTE TRUTH is ever revealed to someone in a desert or a cave or in some wilderness and the person starts preaching, I’ll fire off a similar argument … since I’ll be assuming the person has simply heard the words he or she is now “reciting” to the public from someone else.
And then I have to acknowledge, if I want to be reasonable, the possibility that the ACTUAL, ABSOLUTE TRUTH has indeed already been revealed, and that I, as we speak, am launching arguments like the above on the preacher-missionary of this Sacred Truth.
But then, say the ACTUAL TRUTH has already been revealed, would anyone really be able to ignore it? Would it be obscure? Would mere mortals like yours truly be able to formulate arguments left and right, and spin them off at the MESSENGER OF TRUTH like I’m busy arguing with my older sister? I don’t think so. (And if I could do that, what kind of truth would it be?)
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