Mercy! Mercy! That Dang Nabed PERCY!

Episode 11: Discussing Assumptions

As the King found himself drawn deeper into the discussion he became more and more interested.

“So the real evidence that a person is dead, is not that the breathing has stopped, or the heart has quit beating or the pulse no longer pulses but rather that the spirit has departed the body.”

“Yes, these other three can stop and then start again... but when the spirit flees so does life and the body enters a permanent state of lifelessness, called death.”

“So this is our first piece of real evidence that a spirit exists--- because we see it in the contrast of when it’s present and when it’s gone.”

“Like I said, death is strong evidence that a spirit once was, because of how the body appears when it’s no longer there.”

“What other evidence is there that shows the presence of a spirit?”

“Most will tell you that they can see the spirit, aglow in the eyes of a child.”

“And when is this evidenced?”

“It is observable almost any time you care to look closely, but particularly when a child sees a thing of wonder.”

“A thing of wonder?”

“Like a shooting star, or something similar, that elicites awe. At such times the spirit that dwells therein becomes animated and is particularly easy to discern.”

“Do spirits have a gender?”

“Most certainly. At conception the sex of a child is determined by the gender of the spirit that enters the womb.“

“So if the spirit is a male the child will be born a boy and if the spirit is female the child will be born a girl.”

“This, I believe to be true.”

“But this is an assumption rather than a fact?”

“Since nobody has ever been into the world of the spirit then all we can say of it is conjecture and hence must be classified as an assumption.”

“Review for me what an “Assumption” is so I’m sure I have the definition clearly in my mind.”

“Assumptions are things we believe to be true but can’t prove for certain. Things we must consider as true in order to proceed with the solving of a problem.”

“So an assumption must not only be believed to be true but also bear on the problem to be solved?”

“Exactly, and there are several types of assumptions.”

“And what might those be?”

“First there are those with an element of futurity. If we believe something will be true in the future, regardless of how certain we are that it will come to pass, it must always be considered an assumption.”

“Give me an example.”

“If I say the dawn will come two weeks hence, this is an assumption. It is so because "two weeks hence" has yet to arrive. What if the moon were to crash into the earth next week and blast the planet to smithereens?… then, there would be no earth left for the dawn to rise over.”

“I see what you’re saying and I agree that facts that have yet to happen, because they lie in the future, must be considered assumptions.”

“Then there are facts that are yet to be discovered. Say you are right about a woman’s moon being full fifteen days after her taint begins. Unless it can be proven by a trial then it must be considered an assumption. You might believe it's truth beyond a reasonable doubt, but until it passes all shadow, it must be considered an assumption.”

“I see. Unless a truth can be proven by trial and confirmed by repetition it must be considered an assumption.”

“And then there are facts that are already established, but are being secreted away, so that everyone does not have access to the truth. In the absence of these facts the uninformed must make assumptions about what they think is true but could actually be false. For example, suppose you have developed a new bow and arrow that is twice as effective as its predecessor. You would want to conceal this from your enemies so they would not know the power of your new weapon until it surprises them on the field of battle.“

“Yes, a fact that is concealed---that is known to you but unknown to your enemies, that causes your foes to assume a truth that is deliberately obscured.”

“Finally there are facts that are available to all but require some effort to gather. Often we make assumptions about things we don’t take time to seek out or are too lazy to uncover. So there you have it regarding assumptions. They are what you believe to be a FACT, that bears on the problem, that can have an element of futurity, be suspected but unproven, be concealed from the knowledge of others, or simply that lie unexplored because of the effort it takes to find them.”