boldly into the face of the unknown because they have no beliefs to hold
them back. If it is the choice of others to dismiss miraculous evidence they
are privileged to regularly be party to, because it doesn‘t suit what they
think they know, that‘s the path they have chosen. Does this help you
understand how the lingering conviction that you are sincere is false?"
"I… actually no. A while ago, you said your job was to convince me
to leave my idea of self out of my thinking, right?"
"Correct," she said, squinting at my grammar.
"Wouldn‘t convincing me of anything inherently be second hand?"
"I‘m not talking about words. I‘m talking about leading you to
experiences that preclude the idea of self. Then you will know."
"So what‘s the big deal about that?"
"Leading you to events that you can logically comprehend without
the interference of reason is a huge deal, because you‘ll inherently add any
logical conclusion to your inventory of reasoning, before assessing the
means of transcending reason to have arrived at the conclusion." She
pursed her lips at my obvious confusion. "If reason had not interfered with
your out-of-body flight, you would not have been frightened. You may
well have made a logical secondary request and gone flying out the
window, but you couldn‘t help yourself because reason is still your
touchstone to reality."
"If I‘m getting this right, everything reasoned is going to be a second
hand conviction?"
"Until it‘s not. Logically, everything you interpret through your self-
image is going to be second hand."
"Even if it‘s correct?"
"According to whom?"
"Hmm… according to a Stalker," I said wisely.
"A Stalker would only appear to be agreeing with reason… we‘ll deal
with how this works later. Dealing with your doubts; you also need to
know that I raised some points in specific ways, to discover where you
stood. These points are not necessarily my opinion." She checked over her
shoulder, turned around, and started the car.
"Such as?" I said.
"You think I‘ve slammed Americans for being warlike."
"You did, and they are," I said reflexively.
"I did no such thing."
Bonnie slowly backed out of her driveway—there were still some
stragglers nearby—then she straightened the wheel and shifted the car into
forward gear.
