Unified theory of skepticism

Welcome to this week’s Reno News & Review.

I’ve got this friend who says when she grows up, she wants to be a wise old woman.

I’ve come to the conclusion that just wanting to be the kind of person who says stuff like that is an indicator of nascent wisdom.

So let me paraphrase: When I get old, I hope I’m wise.

And I realize that I’m starting to get a glimmer of what may be wisdom. It may be just a new facet of arrogance, but … well … let me know in about another quarter century.

Anyway, this thing I’m hoping is wisdom is kind of a unified theory of how to approach life, and once I come up with a snappy way to say it, I’m going to start my own school of philosophy. Here are some near misses:

1) There are no hard and fast rules. (I was forced to exclude this one because it, itself, would be a hard and fast rule.)

2) People are unique all the way down to a molecular level.

3) Everything I know is bullshit.

4) Conventional wisdom is bullshit (except for the parts that aren’t).

5) The desire to tell people what to do disqualifies those people from being good at telling people what to do.

6) Biofeedback is the most useful medical advice.

7) Exercise makes everything better.

8) Question authority. (Getting there.)

9) Question everything.

At any rate, I’m thinking along these lines because whenever I begin to examine virtually any topic (for example, I’m studying diabetes these days), I discover that I can find diametrically opposed, credentialed thinking. For example, I remember when the chicken egg was considered a cardiac killer. Now I see where the egg is considered nature’s perfect food. So what if there isn’t only one truth, but the universe is truly infinite and everything’s true? Except for the things that aren’t?

So what?