“As children tremble and fear everything in the blind darkness, so we in the light sometimes fear what is no more to be feared than the things children in the dark hold in terror”.
Lucretius, On the nature of things (ca. 60 BC)
Famous psychologist Richard Franklin (cited Sagan, 1997, p. 171) while following a group therapy approach, narrated a very interesting fictitious conversation which is as below.
Suppose I seriously make an assertion to you, “A fire-breathing dragon lives in my garage”.
“Show me”, you say. I lead you to my garage. You look inside and see a ladder, empty paint cans, an old tricycle but no dragon.
“Where is the dragon?” you ask.
“Oh, that horrible creature is right here”. I reply, waving vaguely and horror in my eyes, “I forgot to mention that it’s an invisible dragon and its fire is also invisible”.
You propose spreading flour on the floor of the garage to capture the dragon’s footprints.
“Good idea”, I say, “but this dragon floats in the air.”
“Then we can use an infrared sensor to detect the invisible fire”. You proposed.
“Good idea, but the invisible fire is also heatless.” I replied.
“Then why not spray-paint the dragon and make it visible”? You ask.
“Good idea, except this creature is an ghostly dragon and the paint would not stick”. I again replied back.
“Well, in that case, let me enter the garage and see if it bites me and if I feel the pain, I will know that something is there”. You decided.
“Good idea, but I forgot to tell you, its bite is also painless and even if it eats you, you will not realize that you are eaten and obviously you will look same as before.” Another ready explanation comes from me.
Utterly confused!!!
The above conversation has no end because it can be extended forever. No matter how scientifically and logically you try to approach, always I have a ‘special’ explanation of why it would not work. But by no means I will come out of the idea that the dragon does exist. If you cannot detect, it is your fault, but at any cost the dragon exists.
Where, What is the truth? What has happened to truth? Who controls what truth?
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