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 without any yammer         

                Thrust a hand that could well heft a hammer         

                 St Thomas recovered his lost faith, anyway         

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A REVIEW OF S. GILBERT'S METRICAL ETHICS: THE EMPTY BUBBLE [EXCERPT]

                                                                  

…LOGICALLY FOLLOWS SINCE ETHICAL PRINCIPLES ARE GENERATED BY

FACTORS CONTINGENT UPON LOCALITY AND CHRONALITY. THEREFORE

SPATIAL AND TEMPORAL DISCONTINUITIES PRECLUDE FORMULATING

ANY UNIVERSAL MORAL CODE. ALL ATTEMPTS TO DO SO ARE FUTILE.

EVEN A RATIONAL OBSERVER CANNOT JUDGE THE ACTIONS OF PERSONS

REMOTE IN SPACETIME. VALID JUDGMENTS MAY BE MADE ONLY ABOUT

ACTIONS OCCURRING WITHIN AN OBSERVER'S SYNCHROSPHERE (I.E., A

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

THE SYNCHROSPHERE MIGHT BE A SPACE MEASURING SIX FEET BY TWO

FEET BY THREE FEET CONTAINING A COPULATING COUPLE, OR A CORPSE.

GILBERT CATEGORIZES COPULATORS AS EAGER PARTICIPANTS RATHER THAN

RATIONAL OBSERVERS. AND THE DEAD, WHO WILL THEMSELVES SOON BE JUDGED,

HAVE AN UNAVOIDABLE CONFLICT OF INTERESTS. THUS SHE CONCLUDES THAT VALID

MORAL JUDGMENTS ARE POSSIBLE ONLY IN CERTAIN VERY UNUSUAL SITUATIONS SUCH AS...

                                                                  

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MALUM OPUS, OR THE PHILOSOPHERS' STONE

      AND HOW DIETH THE WISE MAN?  AS THE FOOL.

          ECCLESIASTES 2:16

       A BAND OF BELIEVERS SEIZES 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 COURTYARD.

       EVERYONE SEARCHES OUT A SUITABLE BRICK OR A JAGGED COBBLE IN THE

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

       OF BRANDY TO WARD OFF THE NIGHT CHILL, AND WAIT FOR THE DAWN.

                                   THEN THE HIGH PRIESTESS 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 PRIZE SOUGHT BY SO MANY FOR SO LONG.

                          DOES THE STONE MEAN THAT MAN MAY SOMEDAY TRANSMUTE HIMSELF?

                        OR HAVE THE GREEDY GODS DECREED THIS TREASURE TO BE THEIRS ALONE?

                              WILL TRUE ENLIGHTENMENT FOREVER REMAIN BEYOND OUR GRASP?

                                                                                                    

                                                              IN THE MORNING AN ACTUAL STONE WILL CRUSH

                                                             THE SEEKER'S SKULL AND END HIS IDLE PONDERING.