The Second Foundation - EVERYTHING

If nothing is true, we float in the abyss. We must believe in something to survive. We must have some primal assumptions upon which to build everything else. The lowest level of knowing we have is the sensory input we receive. The one thing all knowing is based on and the one thing we must be able to trust is our senses.

Thus, we are met with a choice. Do we trust our senses, or not? If we choose no, then we can go no further. We are lost in the abyss forever. This is not an acceptable choice. Therefore, we must progress to the second foundation. We choose to accept our senses.

Suddenly, we are in a world full of things! There is ground below, sky above, walls around, trees, buildings, animals, birds, machines, people.. and yourself. If we accept that our senses are correct, then all of this is real! All of this can be trusted as at least existing, so long as our senses are reliable. It must be. We are no longer in the void. We are in the world.

While pretty, why is this noteworthy enough to be a foundation? To answer this, one must examine these surroundings further. Gather input, and make assumptions based on this input. There is so much, that we cannot really find the answers we are looking for by looking at the small things. We must look at all of it at once.

What do we know then? We know that the world is. The world exists. Reality exists. If it did not, we would not be able to make this decision, now would we? We are a part of reality, afterall. We are a thread in the canvass. We may be able to see the canvas, but we are still a part of it. Just as we walk upon the earth, we are still a part of the earth. when seen from orbit, Earth is just a blue ball. We are a part of the blue ball, and will always be a part of it unless we take flight to somewhere else. Even so, we will still be a part of the Everything. We are not separate. We are a part of reality.

Reality is. Were it not, there would only be void. As this would mean the end of our own existance, this choice is not possible. We must assume that the world exists. It is all we have to go by. Even if we were locked within some sort of sensory illusion tank, that tank is real. So, there is still reality somewhere. It exists. We exist. The world exists.

It is real, we have to deal with it. We are a part of it, now and forever. Even if we die, our bodies material returns to the earth, and is still a part of creation. Perhaps our spirit continues to exist in some form. That, we don't know. What we do know, is that the world is here all around us, and is us. We are the world.

The world is. Reality is. This, we must accept as true. Thus, this is the second foundation.