Choices

From  The Haunted Mesa by Louis L’Amour, ©1987:

Slipping into his coat, Mike Raglan knew he was arguing with himself to no purpose, for he was going back. He was not even sure if he was making a free choice. It might be that all his years of becoming what he was were dictating the issue.

How much choice did a man have, after all? Are we not all conditioned to certain expressions of life? Do we have a choice, whether we run or fight? He slipped a notepad into his pocket and went out to the car.

I think we've all been there.

"This is stupid.  This does not advance my goals, and is likely to end in heartbreak.  I guess I should bring a jacket."

Amusing

"Of one thing only can we be sure:  What is today accepted as truth will tomorrow prove to be only amusing."  ~Louis L’Amour, The Haunted Mesa ©1987

Long Proved Absurd

"Men have never readily accepted new ideas.  Our schools and general thinking are cluttered with beliefs long proved absurd by contemporary knowledge.  Man has demonstrated over and over again that the last thing he wants are new ideas, even when they are desperately needed.  Ideas are welcomed as long as they do not contradict theories on which scholarly reputations have been erected."  ~Louis L’Amour, The Haunted Mesa ©1987

Preconceived Notions

A friend recommended this book to me quite a while ago, but I put off reading it because I’m a snob.

I saw the author was Louis L’Amour and I thought “Dime-store cowboy novelist.”  I saw the title The Haunted Mesa and thought “Ooh!  Just like The Hardy Boys!”

And being a snob almost cost me something wonderful

It’s an imaginative, well written book centered around how we unconsciously shape new ideas to fit our preconceived notions, and what a mistake that can be.

It’s worth your time.

Other Ways

"Ours is a world that has developed along materialistic, mechanistic lines, but might there not be other ways?  Might there not be dozens of other ways, unknown and unguessed because of the one we found that worked?"  ~Louis L'Amour, The Haunted Mesa ©1987