> So, what do YOU think you know about this,
> that or the other?

Gordon,

What seems like a long, long time ago, I sat down on a settee next to a fireplace. I was alone. As I sat there, in my mind's eye I quietly pictured out in front of me, one by one, each of the following:

Everything I learned from newspapers and magazines.

Everything I learned from radio, TV and movies.

Everything I learned from my parents.

Everything I learned from friends and relatives.

Everything I learned from my religion.

Everything I learned from my education.

After I assembled the first of these mental packets of outside influence, I placed it behind me. I then assembled the next one and placed IT behind me, and so on.

Then, when I could come up with no more data to view and no other outside sources of influence to put behind me, I decided “OK, now *I’m* going to look FOR MYSELF!” As I began to peer into the void now stretching out in front of me, a question spontaneously arose:

“What do *I* know, FOR SURE?"

The answer came quick and easy.

After having looked FOR MYSELF for the first time without any outside influence, I discovered that there was indeed ONE THING, and ONE THING ONLY that *I* knew FOR SURE. And that was ...

That I knew *NOTHING* for sure!

While some might find this answer disquieting, for me it was a comforting revelation. Prior to this I had BELIEVED that I knew many things without REALLY knowing anything. There was now one thing, discovered on my own, that I ACTUALLY knew --- that I knew NOTHING for sure! And I didn’t just BELIEVE it. I *KNEW* it with complete and total, unshakable certainty!

I had made my very first advance!

And that, Gordon, was the beginning of a most fascinating journey.

---- Hugh