Sunday, October 24, 2021

The Two Doors Riddle

In the movie The Labyrinth, Jennifer Connelly's character, Sarah, encounters two doors while attempting to rescue her little brother from the clutches of Jareth, a crystal-ball-juggling Goblin King. One leads to the castle, the other to certain death. She may ask only one question to only one guard in order to help her decipher which door is the correct one. Sounds simple enough, but there is a catch: one guard always tells the truth, and one always tells lies.

To solve the puzzle, you must ask one guard (it does not matter which one) which door the other guard would say leads out. Both guards will indicate the same door, which will be the door that does not lead out. Let's call the doors A (the safe door) and B (the unsafe door).

Scenario one:
The guard you ask is the one who lies. – If the guard you asked is the one who lies, then he will lead you astray by telling you (falsely) that the other guard (the truthful guard) will point you towards door B. This makes door A the safe bet.

Scenario two:
The guard you asked is the one who tells the truth. – If the guard you ask is the one who tells the truth, he will tell you (honestly) that the other guard (the lying guard) will point you towards door B. This makes door A the safe bet.

In both cases, the outcome is the same. To stay alive, you must walk through the opposite door you have been told.

The point of my sharing this is to point out the current temperature of the Western world right now. I'll give you three examples. (1.) All news media outlets call each other "Fake News." Certain ones are telling the truth while others are lying. (2.) Concerning this COVID hysteria, certain doctors, scientists and experts are telling the truth while other doctors, scientists and experts are lying. (3.) Various people are calling other people racists, fascists, anti-science, etc., etc., etc. Certain ones are telling the truth while others are lying, projecting what is actually true of themselves upon their opponents.

The situation with the above three examples is the same as facing the two doors. You may not be able to ask a single question in order to determine which is which, but with a little intelligence, wisdom, and discernment, you should be able to figure it out. If you cannot, then you might want to consider that you are probably one of the stupid people that Dietrich Bonhoeffer refers to (see previous post). If you want to believe lies in order to make yourself feel comfortable in life, then best of luck to you.