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Now then, I will instruct you; hear what I say:
Two paths are open to investigation.
The first says: being is and non-being is not.
It is the path of certainty, because it follows the truth.
The other says: being is not, therefore non-being is.
This misdirected path, I tell you, cannot lead to a sound conviction
For, if this statement were true, it would not be possible for you to conceive of non-being, nor to
name it.
Speaking and thinking necessarily arise from being, because being is.
And non-being is not. I invite you to reflect deeply on this point,
And to move away, in your search, from that other path
As from the one traveled by those ignorant mortals
Who are the men of two minds: the uncertainty which resides in their hearts
Misleads their wavering reason. They are swept along,
Deaf and blind, benighted, the masses without discernment
Who pretend that being and non-being are simultaneously identical
And different, they for whom, for any statement, the opposite is equally true.
No power will ever bring non-being into existence.
So direct your thinking away from this path of exploration.
May habit, so often resumed, not force you to return to it,
With eyes blinded, ears filled with noise
And mouth with words, and may your intelligence alone resolve this contentious issue.
Only one path remains for us to pursue: