As per usual I'm picking up the philosophy of that which I am reading. Ayn Rand this time. It's interesting, at first it seemed to be a novel relating to the beauty of a capitalist economy, most specifically the capitalist economy of the United States. But now it is introducing the failings of the system in a manner which is, surprisingly, even harsher than true reality. The leeches come out of the woodwork and strangle the honest men in a web of deceit and "favor" (blackmail) trading that slowly becomes just a matter of everyday occurance. And so the threads of society come apart at the seams as the capitalists slime there ways around each other in an attempt to get that which is impossible, something for nothing. But enough of what I've read, on to what I've thought.

Truth and fact. They seem to be related concepts, when in reality they could not be further from each other. For what is the truth? Truth must be discovered, it must be found individually. But how does one seek truth without the use of fact? Do nothing, for that is the only way to arrive at a truth. Do nothing by fact, take nothing for granted. Do not work from any established line of thought. That is how to discover truth. Fact on the other hand is that which is concrete. It is that which may be proved through example. Time and time again one must trial through the same steps to establish that a thing is ultimately a truth. But what of the steps taken? What if on the journey to discover fact there were some side path that one missed, some turning in the road? Perhaps it is a path that one is unable to take at the present, or unwilling, or perhaps just does not see? In these cases one would arrive not at fact, but at illusion that through the trial has presented itself as fact when it is really no more than a dead end in the search. Hundreds of years ago, it was a fact that the earth was flat. Closer to our own time it was a fact that the earth was formed in 4000 BC. What fact will change tommorow, or has already changed without our knowledge?

Consider if you will a maze. A maze that you are shown the door to the beginning and told to find your way through. But every way you turn you find only more dead ends, only blank walls. In this maze their is no way out. But never did you stop to think that you came in through a door. This is both an entrance and an exit. If you had but done nothing you would have already found the exit. In such a way should a person seek truth. Truth is what we chose to make the world around us. Moldable as fresh river clay, but hard as the coldest steel. With the power to break and glue nations. One may ask what is the truth, but the truth is only that which one believes.

Enough of my zen, on to someone elses.

Strong as steel, still malleable

Iron

Quote of the day-"The more laws are made, the more criminals there will be."