We might have stayed late, maybe into the night, discussing it. We would have had pizzas delivered and we would have devoured them with gusto. Maybe some wine after. The institute did not frown on drinking on premises. The policy was to make us happy, within reason.
But all that seemed completely beside the point now. Discerning reality from fantasy was no longer an academic exercise and it was not in any way entertaining. It had now become crucial to my survival, and I saw that I had no real skills in it, nothing to guide me. Descartes had the answer, or so he thought. He doubted everything that he could possibly doubt and in the end realized there was only one thing that he could not doubt, and that was that he was doubting.
Circles within circles, but it meant a lot to him. “I think t
