Owed to Monty Python

                                                                              

                                                          The Quandary

                                                                          

“So, what do you think we should do?” Pope Aloysius VII gazed out the krystalplex window of his apartment in the New Vatican. New Rome shimmered in the distance, air cars swooping and shuttle cars threading silver webs across the ancient vista.

At his side the young nuncio cleared his throat, “It is, indeed, a perplexing question, Your Holiness. I don’t have a ready answer. But perhaps we could-”

“It seems to me . . .” From the shadows of the tapestry-hung chamber, a third voice spoke. Cardinal Jimenez stepped forward.

“We have two choices. One: Accept this . . . this entity as the Second Coming; Two: Denounce it as a demon, or . . . threaten it with the comfy chair. Three, we have three choices.” 

I came across this bit of silliness as I was rootling through my files. I'm still a Monty Python fan. See the skit that inspired this HERE.

Ding an Sich

. . . or the Thing-in-Itself.

Kant used the term in his Critique of Pure Reason and it's stuck in my head ever since that freshman survey of philosophy class with Dr. Gould back in 1960.

If I understood the meaning of the term then, however briefly, I've surely forgotten it now.

But those words are what spring to mind when I see a close up picture that focuses on the essential 'thingness' of things, be they eggplants or pepper seeds . . .

. . . or a fallen poplar leaf.

Then, of course, thinking of Kant leads me to Monty Python and the Philosophers' Song.

And it's downhill from there.