But do thou restrain thy thought from this way of inquiry, nor let habit by its much experience force thee to cast upon this way a wandering eye or sounding ear or tongue; but 35 judge by argument the much disputed proof uttered by me. There is only one way left that can be spoken of.[[434]]... R. P. 113.
The Way of Truth
Look steadfastly[steadfastly] with thy mind at things though afar as if they were at hand. Thou canst not cut off what is from holding fast to what is, neither scattering itself abroad in order nor coming together. R. P. 118 a.
(3)
It is all one to me where I begin; for I shall come back again there.
Come now, I will tell thee—and do thou hearken to my saying and carry it away—the only two ways of search that can be thought of. The first, namely, that It is, and that it is impossible for it not to be, is the way of belief, for truth is its companion. The other, namely, that It is not, and that 5 it must needs not be,—that, I tell thee, is a path that none can learn of at all. For thou canst not know what is not—that is impossible—nor utter it; for it is the same thing that can be thought and that can be.[[435]] R. P. 114.
It needs must be that what can be thought and spoken of is; for it is possible for it to be, and it is not possible for what is nothing to be.[[436]] This is what I bid thee ponder. I hold thee back from this first way of inquiry, and from this other also, upon which mortals knowing naught wander 5 two-faced; for helplessness guides the wandering thought in their breasts, so that they are borne along stupefied like men deaf and blind. Undiscerning crowds, in whose eyes it is, and is not, the same and not the same,[[437]] and all things travel in opposite directions![[438]] R. P. 115.