ACT I - CHAPTER 7

METAPHYSICAL TETRAHEDRON

BARCELONA

Tuesday November 7, 2017

Sports City of the Club de Los Reyes

Barcelona ​​Spain

When Alexandre finished writing the draft of the first chapter of the book, with everything that Arturo and Ricardo had added, he destroyed the recording of the meeting and prepared to bring them the material for the next one.

He asked a furniture maker to make him an acrylic tetrahedron twice the size of a football ball. He put it on the coffee table in the living room of his apartment. Every time he looked at it, he read “existence”, “identity” and “consciousness” and the three corollaries: “primacy of existence over consciousness”, “causality” and “natural things are given and absolute”.

When he opened green envelope number 2, the question on the card was written on thick cardstock just like the previous one, in Spanish.

“How can you know it?” It was a question of epistemology, the branch of philosophy that studies how man learns. It came from the Greek “episteme” which means knowledge and “logy” which means study.

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Alexandre knew that Plato, Aristotle and Kant answered it in different and contradictory ways. He spent a long time trying to put his summary in order, but he couldn’t do it. Tired of reading Ronald’s notes and the objective epistemology book, he realized that understanding it would not be easy.

When it was late and he went to bed to sleep, his breathing became slower and slower. The sound of the wind passing through its nostrils whispered two questions in its mind. On the inhalation he thought, Where am I? and as he exhale, How do I know it?

In the following days he discovered that culture was the mental mold of children. How did they learn? They learned without critical thinking, absorbing the rational and irrational of their culture, and not differentiate them was the cause of the problems that they would suffer as adults, personally, financially and politically.

To position yourself on the football field, you have to look; to place yourself on the court of life, you have to think; to think, you need to use concepts; to know how they are formed, you need to learn epistemology, Alexandre was thinking about metaphors one day when he was studying. How wonderful to know how my words connect with my perceptions! he continued thinking. They begin with the existence of things and my sense organs! Neither of them can be missing. Clear! To kick a penalty, you need both: the ball and your eyes!

Another day while training, he discovered that concepts were only valid if they were born from sensory perceptions. He thought, After all, as children, before speaking, we all know the world by looking, don’t we? How else can we know reality if not through our sense organs? One afternoon he asked himself, Do the media and propaganda shape the brain? Who thinks with their own brain? Those kinds of questions occupied his mind in those weeks. He once read the same page of the objective epistemology book many times and, finally, he understood! What a tremendous treasure there is here! he thought, this is going to be useful for everything! He finally began to understand that the concepts with which he thought could contain percepts or fancepts, that is, perceptions of real things or fantasies.

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With the former, he was on the field and could score goals; with the seconds, he didn’t know where he stood and bounced around in life. These clowns should know this! he thought one day as he watched a debate between two political candidates. And these naive ones too!” he continued thinking when he saw the voters asking them questions. At that moment he remembered Confucius, What would you do to govern? he had once been asked, Reform the language, was his response. Confucius, you were right! but your answer was insufficient! the question is how! he thought, smiling when the sound of his palms beat the air celebrating his discovery, do you know how, my dear Confucius? I will tell you: understanding that concepts are formed mathematically. Wow! In this I love you Rand! he completed his reflection on that occasion. He felt a party growing in his mind. He would never have imagined tremendous treasure behind the scary word epistemology and he knew he was just getting started.

One day, when he was practicing with the rest of the team, he saw a stranger watching the training. In the end he approached him at the exit of the football field. He was very tall.

“They told me you were Alexandre. I’m Boris Petrov. I’m investigating Ronald’s accident,” he said, extending his giant hand to greet him.

“Do you know these men? he asked, showing him a photo of Franco Gambino accompanied by another man next to the glass pyramid of the Louvre Museum.”

“He is the owner of this club,” Alexandre answered and pointed his finger at Gambino “I don’t know the other one,” he added.

“Does the name Lenel Anston sound familiar to you?”

“No. Are you a police officer?” asked Alexandre.

“No. I investigate this on my own. Do you remember anything in particular before Ronald’s death?”

“No. But do you know where his car is?” Alexandre asked.

“I’m looking for it. Why?”

“I will ask you for maximum discretion,” Alexandre said, sensing that perhaps this was a good opportunity to avenge his friend, and he continued. “Please don’t say anything to me on the phone, they could be following me. Don’t ask me why. Write down my cell phone number. If you find Ronald’s car, call me. But if you want to give me any details, do it personally, okay?” sail Alexandre.

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“Yes, I understand,” said Boris.

“I think someone caused the accident,” Alexandre said.

“I think the same,” said Boris. I’ll call you when I know something, but don’t worry, we’ll talk about the important things personally. Here’s my card with my phone if you need to talk to me. Did something strange happen before Ronald’s death?”

“He called me the day before the accident. He said to be careful about what ‘reads the same in both directions.’ I don’t know what he was referring to.”

“Did he tell you that?”

“Yes.”

Boris took out a pencil and wrote “LENEL” on a piece of paper he took out of his pocket.

“Do you realize? It reads the same in both directions, and that’s his name,” Boris said, pointing to Lenel in the photo. “Ronald told you that, to warn you to be careful with Lenel Anston,” he added and there was silence.

“Do you think he killed him?” Alexandre asked.

“I don’t have conclusive evidence yet, but I suspect so.”

“Please tell me everything you know,” Alexandre insisted.

“Don’t worry. I’ll contact you if I know anything,” Boris added, said goodbye and walked away.

It was Tuesday and Victoria would arrive on Friday night. He had to move quickly to finish the summary of that part of the book. You were so methodical, my friend, he thought, remembering the detailed instructions Ronald had left. Looks like I’m going to have to stay up late. I don’t have enough time! he thought. He had to organize himself very well, especially after he had been called up to the French national team ahead of the World Cup in Russia.

“What are you all? You are one heart! And what do we gain if we are one heart? We are one body! And what do we gain if we are one body? We won the championship! And if we win the championship, we are immortal!” Greg shouted his pregame harangue. They had lost the last date and it was rumored that they would bring in another coach. Fans wanted him gone.

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That afternoon they won two to zero and Alexandre scored both goals. He knew that his accuracy in playing football was improving as he wrote the book, but more precisely by looking at the metaphysical tetrahedron he had placed in the center of the living room in his apartment. The sculpture had gotten into his head and, in some way, it was enriching him. He felt that his thinking was clearer, he concentrated better, his self-confidence increased, he expressed himself better, his emotions and decisions were more effective and a very powerful force, which he did not have before, was growing in his mind.

When he arrived at his apartment, Francisca opened the door and greeted him with a T-shirt, and nothing else, to provoke him. The first thing he saw was her long, beautiful legs. When he looked up, he discovered a sensual face with green eyes and a mischievous smile. They kissed passionately and didn’t stop until they reached the bedroom where they continued until dawn.

The day after that night of lust they had lunch at a luxurious restaurant in the city. Then they returned to the apartment taking a quiet walk through the streets of Barcelona.

“Are you OK?” she asked on the way, but he didn’t know what to answer. “I mean Ronald. I have the impression that you are hiding something from me. I’m not going to pressure you, but you know you can count on me,” said Victoria.

He stopped, kissed her, hugged her waist for a long time, and said softly in her ear.

“I love you.”

“I love you too,” Victoria responded and thought, What are you hiding from me, darling? She knew he was hiding something from her. But he couldn’t tell her anything about Boris, or the secret meetings with Arturo and Ricardo, or that Ronald had been murdered and that he was risking her life to finish writing the book. It hurt him to hide all that from her, but he had to protect her.

“Do you want to talk about Ronald?” she asked softly.

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“No, my darling. Thanks, I’m better, but I need some time to process it. I think unplugging once a month is a good idea. You don’t care, do you?” said Alexandre.

“I don’t care, but remember that in addition to being your lover, I am your best friend,” she said tenderly and firmly. If you’re cheating on me, I’ll leave you, she thought.

“My darling, it will only be for a while, I promise you,” Alexandre said. She’s suffering! he thought, holding back tears, and took her hand. She hugged him and rested his head on his shoulder several times and they walked in silence through the streets of Barcelona.

“Do you want me to give you a massage when we arrive?” Victoria asked.

“Yes,” Alexandre said smiling and thought, “She is strong and will resist.

After taking a nap she kept her promise and they didn’t get out of bed until the next day.

After having breakfast and dropping her off at the airport, he went straight to training. He saw the news on his cell phone screen: “UNITED STATES SENDS AIRCRAFT CARRIER AFTER NEW NORTH KOREA NUCLEAR TEST”.

The following weeks he continued studying epistemology, writing, drawing, and taking notes on large pieces of paper that he taped to a wall. He studied each text and highlighted with different colors what seemed most important to him. Finally, he finished his summary of the next part of the book. He was ready for the next philosophical meeting with Arturo and Ricardo.

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The Metaphysical Tetrahedron

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One Exceptional Mind, by Charles Kocian. Copyright 2024. All rights reserved.

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