ANTAGORAS OF AEGYPTUS MINOR

                                                 Sage of The Land Between The Rivers

                                        THE CREDULITY OF SAINT THOMAS       

                                  Though he saw with the eye of a skeptical camel        

                                Voiced his doubts clearly and without any yammer         

                                  Thrust with a hand that could well heft a hammer         

                                      Saint Thomas recovered his lost faith anyway.         

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             From SUSAN HUNTINGTON GILBERT's

       MATHEMATICAL ETHICS: THE EMPTY BUBBLE

…IS CONTINGENT UPON LOCALITY AND CHRONALITY. THIS REQUIRES

A RATIONAL OBSERVER COGNIZANT OF LOCAL SITUATIONAL FACTORS.

SPATIAL AND TEMPORAL DISCONTINUITIES PRECLUDE FORMULATING

A UNIVERSAL MORAL CODE. ATTEMPTS TO CREATE ONE ARE FUTILE.

BUT EVEN A RATIONAL OBSERVER CANNOT JUDGE ACTIONS OF PERSONS

REMOTE IN SPACETIME. VALID JUDGMENTS CAN BE MADE ONLY ABOUT

ACTIONS OCCURRING WITHIN THE OBSERVER'S SYNCHROSPHERE — A

VOLUME OF ONE CUBIC METER/THIRTY-SIX CUBIC FEET IN REAL TIME.

E.G., A SYNCHROSPHERE MIGHT BE A SPACE SIX FEET BY TWO FEET BY

THREE FEET CONTAINING ONE COPULATING COUPLE OR TWO CORPSES.

COPULATORS ARE WILLING, EVEN EAGER, PARTICIPANTS RATHER THAN

RATIONAL OBSERVERS. THE DEAD ARE UNABLE TO OBSERVE OR JUDGE

ANYTHING. THEREFORE, VALID MORAL JUDGMENTS ARE NOT POSSIBLE

EXCEPT UNDER UNUSUAL CONDITIONS SUCH AS THOSE OBTAINING IN...

                                                                  

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                             MALUM OPUS: THE PHILOSOPHER'S STONE

                                        AND HOW DIETH THE WISE MAN?  AS THE FOOL.

                                               ECCLESIASTES 2:16

       A BAND OF BELIEVERS FINDS THE SEEKER NEAR THE TOMB OF THE PATRIARCHS.

       THEY STRIP HIM, BIND HIM, BEAT HIM, AND BLIND HIM. DRAG HIM NAKED

       THROUGH JEERING STREETS TO THE MAIN SQUARE WHERE HE IS SHACKLED,

       STILL DEFIANT, TO A BROKEN GRANITE OBELISK IN THE TEMPLE'S COURTYARD.

       THE BELIEVERS COLLECT BRICKS OR JAGGED COBBLESTONES FROM THE

       RUBBLE COMMON TO PUBLIC PLACES. THEY BUILD BONFIRES, PASS JUGS

       OF BRANDY TO WARD OFF NIGHT'S CHILL, AND AWAIT THE NEW DAWN.

       THEN THE HIGH PRIEST WILL SACRIFICE A WHITE RAVEN

       ON THE STEPS OF THE TEMPLE AND THESE RIGHTEOUS

       ONES WILL CULL THE MAVERICK FROM THEIR HERD.

       ALL NIGHT THE PRISONER PONDERS THE OBJECT OF HIS FAILED

       QUEST, THE TREASURE SOUGHT BY SO MANY. AND FOR SO LONG.

                WILL THE STONE SOMEDAY ALLOW MAN TO PERFECT HIMSELF?

                MUST THAT FOREVER REMAIN BEYOND OUR GRASP BECAUSE THE

                GREEDY GODS DECREE THE ELIXIR OF LIFE TO BE THEIRS ALONE?

                                         IN THE MORNING AN ACTUAL STONE WILL CRUSH

                                        THE SEEKER'S SKULL AND END HIS IDLE PONDERING.

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