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 "THE EMPTY BUBBLE: METRICAL ETHICS" [EXCERPT]

                                                                  

…LOGICALLY FOLLOWS BECAUSE ETHICAL PRINCIPLES ARE GENERATED BY

FACTORS CONTINGENT UPON LOCALITY AND CHRONALITY. THEREFORE

SPATIAL AND TEMPORAL DISCONTINUITIES PRECLUDE FORMULATING

A UNIVERSAL MORAL CODE. ALL ATTEMPTS TO DO SO MUST BE FUTILE.

EVEN A RATIONAL OBSERVER CANNOT JUDGE THE ACTIONS OF PERSONS

REMOTE IN SPACETIME. VALID MORAL JUDGMENTS MAY BE MADE ABOUT

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

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

THAT 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. THE DEAD, WHO WILL THEMSELVES SOON BE JUDGED,

HAVE AN UNAVOIDABLE CONFLICT OF INTERESTS. SHE CONCLUDES THAT VALID

MORAL JUDGMENTS ARE POSSIBLE ONLY IN SITUATIONS IN WHICH BOTH THE...

                                                                  

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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.

                                                                  

                                   A 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 CONTEMPLATES THE OBJECT OF HIS

        FAILED QUEST, THAT PRIZE SOUGHT BY SO MANY FOR SO LONG.

              DOES THE STONE PROVE MAN MAY SOMEDAY TRANSMUTE HIMSELF? OR

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

              MUST ENLIGHTENMENT EVER AND ALWAYS REMAIN BEYOND OUR GRASP?

                                                                                                    

                                                                IN THE MORNING AN ACTUAL STONE CRUSHES HIS

                                                                    SEEKER'S SKULL AND THE CONTEMPLATION STOPS.