Cleaning / Organizing in my office today, and came across a spiral binder of poetry written when I was a young man… they are all hand written, so I am going to post some of them here to preserve them and to provide for feedback…
There Are Absolutely No Absolutes!
“There are no absolutes,” you say,
But are you absolutely sure?
For once you say that there are none,
There’s one, where none there were!
And when you press to convince,
That there really should be none,
The very fact that you say “should”
Brings out another one.
Then you’re quick to point out,
That my logic is not right,
But if logic’s based on nothing, then
On what do you stand to fight?
And what about the times I hear
You say you were not treated fair,
On what grounds do you call them wrong,
With no standard to compare?
If you say I’m wrong, I’m right!
And you lose, once you say you win!
For once you set up one as right,
Your argument caves in.
So if there are no absolutes,
And always a counter view,
Then I must add of your argument,
That also must be true.
Karl Bastian, 1988
This was written for a high school philosophy class. I got an “F” because I was supposed to defend the teaching that there are no absolutes. My teacher was absolutely sure there weren’t any. My fellow students started to ask me what I believed was absolutely true, and I got to share the Truth. I am absolutely sure there are absolutes! Aren’t you?
