In the class discussions, readings, and writing exercises I have seen a pattern, a pattern which I have revisited and repeated numerous times in my own experience. That pattern being one of personal chaos from which, through ongoing discovery and acceptance, I emerge armed with an encyclopedic set of presuppositions that impose an order on the anarchy that abounds within and without and creates a raft by which I may escape the maelstrom. However, this very same set of presuppositions act as blinders on my cognition, only allowing in that which conforms with my limited views which I admit to being limited only with great difficulty for that conflicts with my perception of myself. I trudge on with my toolkit of presuppositions until I encounter a roadblock, either natural or man made, almost always the latter with the man being myself, at which point I reach into my toolkit and pull out the presuppostion(s) necessary to effect a way around or over or under or through. Sometimes I have to pull out damn near every single tool I have before the job is done. And when the roadblock I encounter is reasonably traversed, I put my presupposition(s) away and congratulate myself on my perserverance, adaptability, and precocious ingenuity. And on I trudge hammering away at the impediments I encounter, emboldened and reassured in the righteousness and unassailabilty of my presuppostions, for have they not conquered all I have engaged in the vast expanse of time I call my life. And then comes that blessing disguised as a curse. When I encounter some obstacle on my path which will not succumb to my toolkit. Oh at first I refuse to believe that such a thing exists as I redouble my efforts at eradication only to find myself weakened and the obstacle vitalized by my very efforts and their lack of effect. I scream, I curse, I rage against the machine but despite all my rage I am still just a rat in a cage. A self made cage of presupposition. And as I lay there, bloodied and bowed, a good samaritan with a different toolkit offers me a way out. But the presupposition upon which I may make my escape is not one in which I have any faith. In fact, in the past, I have heard others exhorting the value of said presupposition only to respond with the stock in trade of the self sufficient, that being contempt prior to investigation which is proof against all arguments and which cannot fail to keep a man in everlasting ignorance.