Page 104 - The Irony Board

Into the Cosmos

Alkahest

Infinite regression,
Despair of those who seek
Universal solvents
In bottles that won’t leak,

Offers hope to others
Whose minds would lose resolve
Trapped in a container
Their thoughts could not dissolve.

Invalid metaphysics often use one-sided edges to create absolute
nonfictional boundaries. This poem and the next criticize
ontological dualism from the perspective of the principle of
boundedness. The idea that any distinction made in the continuum
of existence will break down upon closer examination is distressing
to the human need for certainty and security. The root of “analysis”
is dissolution, the destruction of walls between separate entities;
dualistic philosophies propose that analyzable substance comes to an
end at a boundary with unanalyzable substance. The latter usually
takes the form of a deity or other ideal realm; it always exhibits
impossible qualities (both in themselves and in conjunction with the
everyday world), such as immutability and omnipresence.
Since the time of Occam, logic has had free rein to act as a
solvent in leading thinkers to ever-finer distinctions in the structure
of physical reality, checked only by the illogical limits of invalid
boundaries. Superstitious scientists somehow manage to encapsulate
and contain reason within the boundaries of their faith, finding
unshakeable justification for stopping the examination at those
boundaries. Those, of course, not subject to that irrational
encumbrance are willing to go all the way with logic, ultimately
dissolving the dissolver.

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