Page 62 - Big Idea

The Big Idea – Act 3

I tell you nothing matters,
Not because I seek unhappiness;
Not because I can’t handle disappointment;
Not because mortality is a desirable state;
Not because ethical judgements cannot be made:

I live in the same condition as everyone else;
I must eat, drink, sleep, and be sociable;
I’ve done things I wish I hadn’t—and some I’m glad I did;
Perhaps to others my life looks just like yours!

But somewhere in my brain,
A place where I find nothing,
You perceive a need—
And that simple misperception
(For it can be no other)
Is what separates us now.

RIVAL 2: (whispers loudly) What is all this talking, boss? Let me go
beat some sense into these eggheads.

RIVAL 1: Just keep still until I need you, damn it!

INTELLECTUAL: Whether I perceive a need or not is immaterial;
the fact is you are here, and something external caused you to make
the effort. A lot of hard work must be done before The Big Idea
becomes reality, and I do not think you would engage upon the task
without some expectation of its success.

DEFEATIST: I deny harboring any such expectation.

INTELLECTUAL: But it doesn’t matter what you subjectively
experience. Consciousness is not a precondition of belief. A dog
believes the bone he buries will be where he buried it when he
returns for it several days later. His behavior exhibits an irrational
faith in future events, and that is what we call belief.

DEFEATIST: So, you take refuge in psychological equivocations!
But your arguments can be turned against you: once you deny the
necessity of consciousness for belief, you have come almost to my
own position. Without the duality of mind and body, how can you

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