One can’t be a skeptic forever, nor even a diehard agnostic—at least not without something to remain indifferent to or reject. What is not realized is that for anyone who takes such a course they become somewhat like the ancient Ouroboros depicted as a snake biting its own tail which, as a symbol, has various meanings.
The naked truth is that a skeptic or an agnostic still has a hold of their tail. They are still an Ouroboros. They have just chosen to be indifferent (epoche) to biting their tail, holding on to it while laughing at others, in the meantime, who are obsessed with the belief that they can reach the head and with it the absolute by consuming their tail.
But there is more to this. At least for me, I see the Ouroboros as symbolizing the skeptic’s need to convince oneself and others of the impossibility of truth (but it is only truth as something posited and determinate in the way of a subtle mental image). No matter in whatever way the Ouroboros seizes its tail (i.e., the mental image), it cannot reach its head, i.e., the truth. It merely turns in a vicious circle—a circle of samsara. For the skeptic and the agnostic, the only solution is thus to declare this Ouroboros phenomenon as empty and meaningless and leave it at that.
However, it would seem that the better solution is for the Ouroboros to let go of its tail. But this could very well mean the disappearance of the Ouroboros, itself, including the head. To a large extent this is what actually happens when we are successful with a koan or have had some kind of intuitive breakthrough. We let go of the tail of the Ouroboros for a second or two, and discover the real absolute that lies beyond the Ouroboros world.
This leads me to say that when we let go of our tails—if only for a second—we become mystics. After this, we have no need for skepticism or agnosticism and, to be sure, no need for dogma. These things were part of the Ouroboros: the endlessly turning samsaric worm.
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