Reb without a Cause: the antidote to absurdity
This is a story told to me by Jerry Shaffer: A Rabbi, doing marriage counseling, listened to the wife and said, "You are right." The husband said, "Wait, listen to me," and after listening, the Rabbi said, "You are right." The Rabbi's wife, listening behind the screen, said, "Rabbi, they can't both be right!" The Rabbi replied, "You are right too." This could just as well be a Zen story. And like one of those, I think it captures the essence of human existence. It’s not just a joke! (Although it is also possible to view human existence as a joke.) It contains a profound wisdom. I for one have come to take it literally : It could very well be that they are both right . And I don’t mean this to apply only to marital disputes, or even just human relations. For me it has become a guiding idea that all assertions of any kind (including 2 + 2 = 4) are both true and false. And this is equivalent to