Getting Started

Before my grandmother passed away, she said to me, “You’re a philosopher, aren’t you?”

I responded that, yes, I was.  This was something that we never really talked about, although we talked about everything.  We didn’t use labels.  I was never “a…” anything, I was just me, and she was just her, and we were friends.  But, towards the end of her life, certain things became important to her.

“Have you found truth?” she asked me.

“Yes, Grandma, I have found exactly two things that are true.  First, that there is a God.”

“Oh, that’s good,” she said to me, “what else have you found?”

“That God has a wacky sense of humor,” I told her.  At this, my dear grandmother smacked me upside the head.  “But at least you know there is a God,” she said.  “Well,” I responded, “that first part I’m not too sure about.”  And, once again, I got smacked.

The fact is that I have found truth.  A lot of it.  And, what I know of truth is that it is obvious.  When you tell people the truth, they don’t have to believe anything, they can just know it.  Like 2+2=4.  Once you say it, maybe explain what the words mean, people know it’s true.

Now, I like belief.  I think it’s good.  And, I think there are real benefits to pure belief.  But, it’s not truth.

Just to start, here’s truth for you: You have a moment of birth and a moment of death, and in between, what you have is time.  And, what you do with that time is what defines your life.  If you want to spend your time watching television and playing pinball, that’s great, but every moment you give to pinball and television is a moment you’re not doing something else, maybe something more important.  Now, again, I like television, and I like pinball, but they’re not something I do by default, as much as I like them, because there are ways I’d rather spend my time.

Now, that’s true.  Here’s the first definition on this site: time is the only currency with an inherent value.  That’s why, when you do something bad, it’s what the government takes away from you: time.  Oh, sure, money has value, you can buy stuff with it, and that stuff has value, but it’s transient.  Money comes and money goes.  Time flows one direction, and when it’s gone, it’s gone.  There.  Truth. 

Over the days and weeks to come, I will share some of the truth that I have found with you, and I hope that you will find it valuable in your life; because faith is great.  But knowledge is greater.

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