Every day for many years, a man sat beneath a tree in the palace courtyard and contemplated the meaning of life.
He sat through heat and cold, through wind and rain.
Every evening, when the sun began to set, he would rise, walk across the courtyard, and enter the temple.
This became his life.
Thinking by day. Walking to the temple at dusk.
After many years, he reached a single conclusion:
Nothing can be known for certain.
One evening, as he crossed the courtyard as he always had, a temple guard stopped him.
“Where are you going?” the guard asked.
The man bowed slightly and replied,
“I don’t know.”
The guard frowned.
“I see you walk to the temple every evening. Why won’t you speak honestly? You are going to the temple.”
The man smiled gently.
“I don’t know.”
The guard grew angry. He grabbed the man and threw him into the dungeon.
As the heavy door closed, the man looked at the guard and said calmly,
“You see? One never knows.”
