Stir-Fry Cooks Come From All Woks of Life

I love philosophy, but every time I read a philosophy book, I am torn apart with frustration.  My own inclination is to a simple scientific naturalism in which knowledge is not absolute, can be amended, and "truth" is always approximate, supported by sufficient evidence/facts and reason.  Not absolute.  Not flawless.  Not unchangeable.  Knowledge is possible, as long as we understand knowledge itself to be conditional and subject to amendment, depending on further discoveries and evidence.

Metaphysical knowledge is an oxymoron.  Some statements are without meaning and, therefore, are a waste of time and effort.  So I think.  I am a skeptical materialist, a critical thinker, a non-believer.  One good friend, who held diametrically opposite views, considered that I represented everything that is currently wrong with America and the West: secular, a naturalist-based philosophy, rejecting metaphysics (and, with it, a catholic deity and its theology).  Wow!  I guess I had better start taking myself more seriously!  I had no idea I was such a menace to decent folks everywhere ...

In the end, I find myself laughing in sympathy with Woody Allen, whose comical take on all things helps lighten the tone:

"How can I believe in God when just last week I got my tongue caught in the roller of an electric typewriter?"

"I was thrown out of college for cheating on the metaphysics exam; I looked into the soul of the boy sitting next to me."

"If only God would give me some clear sign! Like making a large deposit in my name in a Swiss bank."