I just engaged in an interesting email discussion with a younger cousin who has been largely shielded from ontological reality by a man who seems to think (in the words of Bill Maher) that the Flintstones is a documentary. My cousin was under the distorted impression that Christianity was somehow "one of the oldest religions on earth". I quickly regurgitated the relative ages of various world philosophies along with the great antiquity of eastern philosophies, but I came to a conclusion that's new to me but that I thought might be fun to share with you.

I think the oldest philosophy on earth is the one shared by the people who just don't know what the hell is going on. We're constantly befuddled and confused by everything. The world still confounds us. I have enough trouble figuring out my monthly budget let alone weighing all the evidence for the Big Questions. I keep my mind open, I remain in a position of doubt, I am suspicious of any conviction or conclusion I come to because I'm far too well aware of my own infinite capacity for ignorance in the face of unknowns. But I play with ideas. I research things. I consider the possibility (though not probability or even potentiality) that lasagna can fly (in the words of Dr. Wilson -- I should add this is Dr. Bob Wilson, not the hot Dr. Wilson who is House's secret love monkey). That keeps me happy and my mind working (and a busy brain is one not decaying into an aging one). Though the default "central" (government/social) mode should always be doubt (despite what Pastor Huckabee was spewing today) because we simply can't be certain of anything else, I think there's room to wonder in our own individual minds.

So let's hear it for those of us who just don't know/don't care. We're the ones who keep the fundamentalists honest. lol That said, what it comes down to is I'm clearly just not smart enough to come to any final conclusions about the world. Everything still makes me wonder. But that keeps me and my inner moron from straying too far and thereby looking like an even bigger ass than I already do sometimes.

Democratic debate tonight was tryptophan TV. Thought Edwards did well. H/W final segment tomorrow or the next day. Adiós hasta mañana.