From Ishmael by Daniel Quinn: PAGE 16
"There is something that’s troubling me—and troubling me deeply.’
His friend asked what it was. ‘It’s this,’ Kurt said. ‘I can’t shake the crazy feeling that there is some small thing that we’re being lied to about.’
“And that’s how the paper ended.”Ishmael nodded thoughtfully. “And what did your teacher think of that?”
“He wanted to know if I had the same crazy feeling as Kurt. When I said I did, he wanted to know what I thought we were being lied to about. I said, ‘How could I know? I’m no better off than Kurt.’
Of course, he didn’t think I was being serious. He assumed it was just an exercise in epistemology.”
“And do you still wonder if you’ve been lied to?”
“Yes, but not as desperately as I did then.”
“True.”
“Then that is what we must hope for.”
“Not as desperately? Why is that?”
“Because I’ve found out that, as a practical matter, it doesn’t make any difference. Whether we’re being lied to or not, we still have to get up and go to work and pay the bills and all the rest.”
“Unless, of course, you all began to suspect you were being lied to—and all found out what the lie was.”
“What do you mean?”
“If you alone found out what the lie was, then you’re probably right—it would make no great difference. But if you all found out what the lie was, it might conceivably make a very great difference indeed.”
“True.”
“Then that is what we must hope for.”
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