Keeping the Elephants Away

[SoUtSkeptic]

A man was sitting on a curb waving his arms. A passerby stopped and asked what he was doing? He replied that he was “waving” to keep the elephants away. The passerby replied, I can’t see any elephants! The man sitting on the curb responded, that’s because I’m keeping the elephants away! (NPR 01/22/2003)

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One of the things we look for to identify circular reasoning is we presuppose or assume as the premise the conclusion.

Does “Keeping the Elephants Away” remind you of any aspects of Mormonism?


SoUtSkeptic



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“In times of change, learners inherit the earth, while the learned find themselves beautifully equipped to deal with a world that no longer exists.”

Eric Hoffer

[elder_nomo]

One of the things we look for to identify circular reasoning is we presuppose or assume as the premise the conclusion.

Does “Keeping the Elephants Away” remind you of any aspects of Mormonism?

When I was praying to ask if the church was true, and trying to figure out if the "good feeling" I had was actually the holy ghost or something else, I was told that if the feeling brought me closer to the church, it was the holy ghost; if it took me away from the church, it was something else.
[and I went along with that :duh ]

[free thinker]

Martha Beck has written about this in her book. When she left the church her father Hugh Nibley commented, using the old refrain that people could leave the church but not leave it alone. She mentioned to him that Fredrick Douglas could not leave slavery alone, and Eli Weisel could not leave the holocaust alone. By Hugh Nibley's reasoning, both slavery, and Nazism must be true.

If you stay in the church it is because it is true. If you leave it, it is because it is true. The old double bind!!

Circular thought personified!! :Crazy:

Free Thinker