The two monisms are idealism and materialism. Their difference in orientation may obscure a large area of commonality, beyond which they will diverge again. If materialism is pushed far enough it must alight upon absurdity, not merely that no further reasons can be given but that the final boundary of the knowable will only throw the inquiry into a divergent loop. If even the inquirer is finally understood in material terms then all of its real, or ownmost, questions must be forever unanswered, because unaskable. One can only retrace the entire trajectory and hope in vain for a different outcome. Idealism also abuts on absurdity but it allows for a dissolution of this in a transformation and reorientation of the knowing itself. The nature of the inquirer is understood to descend from the ultimate nature of things, but after passing through a certain number of knots which can in principle be undone, gone through in reverse. In either case the confrontation with absurdity is to be welcomed.