The argument about the fish

Zhuangzi and Huizi were walking along a river. Zhuangzi said: look at the minnows coming out and swimming around. That's what fish enjoy.

Huizi, who argued for a living, said: you're not a fish. How do you know what fish enjoy?

Zhuangzi said: you're not me. How do you know I don't know?

Huizi kept going. He couldn't know, so it couldn't be known, so the statement was impossible. And so on, around the river, until Zhuangzi said: let's go back to the beginning. You asked how I know. You already knew I knew, and you're asking me how.

Most people read this as two philosophers being unbearable. I read it as a scene about being questioned at your happiest.

Say you come back from a walk and tell someone it was lovely, and they ask how you know it was lovely, and what your evidence is, and whether you might be romanticizing. It can take two minutes to ruin an afternoon that way.

Adamant certainty about your own ease is worth having. Some things don't need to be defended to be true.

MOJOWAY keeps a record of what lifted you, in your own words, so that later you don't have to win an argument to trust it. That file is what turns a good day into knowledge.