ANTAGORAS OF AEGYPTUS MINOR

           

                                        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 MATHEMATICAL ETHICS: THE EMPTY BUBBLE

                     SPATIAL AND TEMPORAL DISCONTINUITIES PRECLUDE FORMULATING

                     A UNIVERSAL MORAL CODE AND ALL ATTEMPTS TO DO SO ARE FUTILE.

                     ETHICAL JUDGMENTS ARE INEVITABLY CONTINGENT UPON LOCALITY

                     AND CHRONALITY. THEY MAY ONLY BE MADE BY A RATIONAL OBSERVER

                     COGNIZANT OF AND DEFERENTIAL TO SPECIFIC SITUATIONAL FACTORS.

                     EVEN A RATIONAL OBSERVER CANNOT JUDGE SOMEONE REMOTE

                     IN SPACETIME. A JUDGMENT MAY ONLY BE MADE ABOUT ACTIONS

                     OCCURRING WITHIN THE OBSERVER'S SYNCHROSTERE WHICH IS A

                     REAL-TIME VOLUME OF ONE CUBIC METER (THIRTY-SIX CUBIC FEET).

                     THE SYNCHROSTERE MIGHT BE A SPACE SIX FEET BY TWO FEET BY

                     THREE FEET CONTAINING A COPULATING COUPLE OR TWO CORPSES.

                     BUT COPULATORS ARE WILLING, EVEN EAGER, PARTICIPANTS RATHER THAN

                     RATIONAL OBSERVERS AND THE DEAD ARE UNABLE TO OBSERVE OR JUDGE

                     ANYTHING. THEREFORE, VALID MORAL JUDGMENTS ARE NEVER 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

       THE BELIEVERS CAPTURE THE FUGITIVE FREETHINKER

       NEAR THE PORTAL OF THE TOMB OF THE PATRIARCHS.

       THEY STRIP THE REBELLIOUS ONE, BIND, BEAT, AND BLIND HIM.

       DRAG HIM NAKED AND BLEEDING THROUGH JEERING STREETS.

       IN THE ROYAL SQUARE HE IS SHACKLED, STILL DEFIANT, TO

       A SHATTERED GRANITE OBELISK BESIDE THE HOLY TEMPLE.

       THE CROWD COLLECTS BRICKBATS AND COBBLESTONES FROM

       THE RUBBLE FOUND IN PUBLIC PLACES. BUILDS BONFIRES AND

       SHARES FLASKS TO COMBAT NIGHT'S CHILL. AWAITS THE DAWN.

       THEN THE HIGH PRIEST WILL SACRIFICE A WHITE RAVEN

       ON THE STEPS OF THE TEMPLE AND THESE RIGHTEOUS ONES

       ONES WILL CULL THE MONSTROUS 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 GREAT WORK SOMEDAY PERMIT MAN TO PERFECT HIMSELF?

                OR MUST THAT GIFT FOREVER REMAIN BEYOND HIS REACH BECAUSE

                THE GREEDY GODS DESIRE ENLIGHTENMENT TO BE THEIRS ALONE?

                             IN THE MORNING AN ACTUAL STONE WILL CRUSH

                             THE SEEKER'S SKULL, ENDING HIS COGITATIONS.