Page 44 - The Little Man in the Tower

The Little Man in the Tower

systematically explained that what we
know about matter is actually a set of
perceptions in our minds. The
materialist thinker Samuel Johnson,
who lived at the same time, kicked a
stone and shouted out that by doing so,
he had "refuted" Berkeley. However,
Johnson’s primitive reaction and the
similar assertions made by other, later
materialists—merely show how far
they are from grasping the truth of the
matter. Neither kicking stones nor
punching walls constitutes any proof of
that they interact directly with the
originals of stones and walls.
Everything we do and feel at that Kicking of a stone does not prove
that one is dealing with the original
moment is a set of perceptions inside stone that exists outside. The
stone one has experience of is
our brains. Someone who kicks the
merely a perception in the brain.
stone or punches a wall is in fact We can experience the same
perception when dreaming.
kicking or punching the perception of
the stone or the wall inside his brain.
Indeed, they can kick a stone just as realistically in a dream, but everyone
will certainly agree that the stone is no more than a perception in the brain.

Materialists’ resistance on this issue is generally based on their failure to
understand it. They’ve forced themselves into a dogmatic belief in matter’s
absolute existence and strongly avoid ever questioning it. Here, we are
pondering and revealing a truth they are unwilling to consider: that if they
accept they have direct contact with the original matter, then they also must
regard themselves as "the little man at the top of the tower."

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