Bruce Bain

As a thinker, I'm a generalist. I am a Christian, and a graduate of the school of hard knocks. Books have held an appeal for me since high school.
When one looks at the vast realm of knowledge, an intense feeling of discouragement can settle in. Sometimes we do not know where to turn or what to do; but if it is any comfort to you, consider that there is nothing new that people going before have not already done or felt. The story of their struggle is sometimes found in books. Look for the basic presuppostitions of every field of human knowledge, your task of learning is much simplified. It is not EVERYTHING that you should try to learn; but rather the FEW ASSUMPTIONS that are there at the beginning, at the point or origin.
If the curious searcher would only realize that the ancient Greeks established a basic duality, PHYSICS & METAPHYSICS, and would hold true to that system of classification, much that is confusing, is made clear.
Today, this system, a dichotomy, still exists, though we may see it more often expressed as the realms of Reason & Faith.
I strongly believe, that if one desires a genuine education regarding philosophy or clarity regarding moral values, it is important to study books written before computers, before TV & even before radio. Such books are free of the taint of popular fallacies. Even a good fiction, like Owen Wister's "Virginian," or Tolkien's "Hobbit" can teach much.

The difficulty we face going into the 21st Century (2000-2099) is that people are blurring the boundaries between SCIENCE & RELIGION, which creates a tremendous amount of confusion and chaos. The clear distinctions the Greeks established with fields of Physics & Metaphysics, has now become a hodge-podge of mixed presuppositions, and mixed primary assumptions.

Scientists are quoted as Magicians, at best, or worse, as theological authorities.

Conversely, metaphysical writers are claiming, by way of the Quantum, miraculous justification for every kind of silly rationalization, claiming PROOFS are now conveniently available, via the Aladdin's Lamp of the Quantum.

I've studied about every fanatical ideological movement operant in the past 100 years, from the IDENTITY movements, rife with fallacies, to neurologists denying that MIND exists.

Not only do religious people err badly in claiming the Holy Bible (or any religious text) is a scientific document, there are advocates of scientific method who are scarcely a razor's edge away from affirming the validity of fascism, stamping out all speculative thought and feeling in their zealousness to enforce a kind of Scientific Inquisition, destructive to all American religious freedoms, by way of advocating the philosophical & scientific fallacy of Metaphysical Materialism.