Dick,

" I did not intend that as I regard you very highly "

Ditto, and you know that. But, let me tell you what really bothers me: sometimes you do sound like a crackpot. I know you're not, but you do sound like one. I guess I just wanted to make public that I don't support you when you appear as a crackpot. I don't like when Luis "explains" why I can't "see through your farce". Perhaps you don't care what others think; I'm not that self-confident myself.

" My message is that I have thought one particular issue out very carefully and discovered a surprising alternate view "

So have I, my friend, so have I. But I'm quite convinced that what I discovered cannot be communicated. My first attempts at communicating it resulted in my being ridiculed (Luis Hamburgh played a good part in it, as Minister Exagerator). So I decided to keep it to myself and think I've been privileged to discover what others can't even begin to grasp.

" My view opens up a whole new panorama of intellectual questions which are inconceivable from the ordinary perspective; yet just as logical. Issues to be thought about which will never be seen so long as one closes one's mind to the possibilities "

Ah, the possibilities... Would you like to discuss the possibilities opened up by a trip on acid? I never took one myself but people who do say it blows you away.

Come on Dick, let's be honest. When we want to understand "what it's all about" we don't need logic, all we need is ask our wives. Everything else is just folly, as you have said many times yourself. Thought is useless, truth comes from another dimension of the mind.

Your post was thoughtful as usual, but I regret not being able to follow up as I'm on vacation. The fact that I'm writing this on a gorgeous Saturday afternoon tells how much important your words are to me.

But now I must log off, life waits for me in its full glory.

Hope to hear from you when I get back.

Always your friend,

Aurino