Robin Brown, Lord of the Rings and Linkin Park

I don’t think Descartes inhabits Robin Brown’s mind so much as he maintains a permanent place of residence there.  Case in point:  Robin and a friend of his named “Gimli”(I know not whether this man was named Gimli or whether Robin became friends with him afterward, but for the sake of ease, we’ll call him Gimli) couldn’t start an outboard motor—the one that would ultimately ferry him and his other friend, Legolas, across the Great River Anduin to rescue Pippin and Merry from the Urak-hai.  Anyway.  As Robin witnessed Gimli repeatedly yank the pull cord, insisting the glory and honor of his third cousin, Dain Il Ironfoot, who gave it to him, would rouse the great mechanical beast, all Robin could think of was the fuel pump, the fuel pump, the motherfucking fuel pump, and that if Gimli would just check the…   

VROOM, VROOM.  And then the motor started.   

“What a Cartisan conundrum!” you say.  Right you are, sir and/or madam.

...I’m not completely sure this point was addressed in class, so here it is:  the fact the motor started reinforced Robin and Gimli's worldviews simultaneously.  Robin, in all his left-brained omnipotence, was absolutely convinced of the motor's incompetence due to a mechanical fault (and that it ultimately begin working because fuel reached it), whereas Gimli's conviction was that he just wasn't honoring the memory of his third cousin enough (and when he did, well...there you go).  A final note of interest before I wax philosophic:  Robin was willing to acknowledge the legitimacy of said, non-Cartisan viewpoint in class while also providing an example of his mind refuting it.

Is there a giant Book of Answers lying around that puts a Dwarf's way of knowing over a man's?  Is there even a way to definitively prove one was right and the other, wrong?  The answer is a resounding (and to the scientifically-minded, disappointing) no.  My personal assertion is best spake by Grammy Award-winning super troupe Linkin Park, who proclaimed “in the end, it doesn’t even matter.”  We should accept the fact every belief system is valid, go out, and enjoy our day.  And as for knowing whether it was the honor of Gimli son of Gloin's third cousin Dain Il Ironfoot or a resilient fuel pump that saved the day, I guess we'll just have to wait 'til that giant outboard motor sales floor in the sky…

If you believe in God, that is.