The Lesson of the Master

It is important to have all the prior forms in order before proceeding to the next step. In this way, our efforts are assured a firm foundation which they would not otherwise possess. Many a noble venture has failed from inattention to this precept. A house with all the windows and doors locked but one is not a secure house.

Ah, you say, but what about indeterminism? A locus of proper and complete prior forms may well admit more than one consequent. And if this is the case, what is our next step? The answer is simple: It is what you choose it to be. A hungry man may have his appetite assuaged either by roast beef or mutton.

But wait a moment. Perhaps we have tripped upon a fallacy. Surely by their very nature a truly complete set of prior forms admits but one consequent, you say. My friend, the fallacy is yours. An image may in its passage through a lens be focused at one point, but it emerges on the other side with all the rich variegation of the original, and we may choose on which aspect of it we wish to concentrate.