The doorbell forced the boy, to leave his train of thought, which anyway always led to depressing nothingness. As he opened the door, a man stood there, smiling. "May I introduce myself? My name is Mr. Sense. I am here in order to give you some helpful answers." "I’m not religious. Please spare both of us a conversation, that wouldn’t leave any useful results. “ the boy said, ready to close the door. "I assure you, that I am a rationalist, just like you. Besides, religion is worth talking about. But I couldn’t convince you of the immense worth of it, even if I would try to. I know your questions are of a different nature." "How can you know about my questions? Who told you?" "Nobody did. I know everything." "That’s impossible! Nobody can know everything. Never heard of Socrates?" "Sure. Socrates was a great thinker. But in my opinion his view was a little too fatalistic." "You didn’t answer my first question. How can someone know everything?" "That is one of those short questions that require a quiet long answer. I can surely tell you about my story, if you insist. To give you a hint, there’s some metaphysical ability involved. You wouldn’t believe it, if I would explain it in short terms. But I know that you’ve got a serious problem I can help you with." Surprise and a microscopic glimpse of hope wandered over the boys face for a second. "You know that..." "You’re in love. Now you ask yourself, how I can know something like that. She didn’t tell me. Although it’s difficult for you, believe me. Don’t be afraid." Pause. The boy opened the door. They sat down in the living room. Silence crept along them. "I don’t know, what to do.", the boy said. "I claim that you do." "What kind of help do you expect to give me with that? Claiming to know everything, you’re answers are a little vague, aren’t they." The man laughed in a friendly way. "You know, there’s a serious problem with rationalists. They are stubborn in their view of things. And their way of gaining insight prevents them to accept the easy point of view." "You mean, I’m thinking too much?" "Yes." "Big deal. I know that." "I know." "So your idea is to keep me from thinking?" "No, not at all. Although you’ve built a lot of walls around you there are a few passages left around those logical barriers. It is similar to the reason, why you don’t believe in religion. Insight always comes from within – that is, what the word itself points to. But you can get lost in insight." "Sounds like Psychotherapists Babble to me." "You’re right. Emotions - and that’s what we’re talking about - are basic and easy. Easy things don’t fit in your scheme of how things work.There is an outside world behind those rational walls. The world, I can tell, often works on amazingly simple rules. And it´s a relieving fact, that you don´t need to know anything about these rules, ´cause you´re part of it all. A clockworks cog wheel doesn´t need to know about the laws of mechanics or time." "I guess I´m more than a piece of shaped metal spinning around all the time." "Please don´t take my example as an offense. But we´re getting closer to the point: The difference between human beings and cogs is not only complexity. People have within a scale of possibilities and limitations the freedom of choice, what they want to be a part of." Silence seemed to occupy the living room again. "So she said that she fell in love with you, right?" "Yes.", the boy looked up, obviously full of desperation, "but I don’t understand why she did that! Why me?" "Probably because she fell in love with you.", and, proceeding with a calm voice, "You like her too?" "Of course I do! She’s wonderful!" "So why don’t you tell her?" "Because I don’t know what to say, what she expects me to do!" "Let’s try a simple logical deduction: What would happen, if you wouldn’t call her or meet her? What would happen, if you just kept on sitting here and did nothing?" "Probably nothing would happen. But maybe she already changed her mind. Or maybe she found somebody else to fall in love with." "There’s a lot of maybe in it. Don’t you think?" "But what, if..." "And what, if not? There are an uncountable number of possibilities you can try to imagine, which leads us to the original advice: Don’t hide yourself within the walls of thinking. There’s always only one decision you can make in a moment. And that is the only thing everything else depends on. I can’t persuade you to believe in things you don’t want to believe in and I can’t convince you of the rightness of any decision. Nobody can but you." The boy fell silent again and Mr. Sense spoke on. "I will leave know. Whatever you decide to do, do it immediately." The man went outside and through the window the boy saw Mr. Sense passing by on a rusted bicycle. Then he looked at the phone.