I want to tell you a story

a cargo ship sank one night. it caught fire and went down. and only this one sailor survived. he found a lifeboat, rigged a sail, and, being of a nautical discipline, turned his eyes to the heavens and read the stars. he set a course for his home and, exhausted, fell asleep.

clouds rolled in. and for the next twenty nights, he could no longer see the stars. he thought he was on course, but there was no way to be certain. and as the days rolled on, and the sailor wasted away, he began to have doubts.

had he set his course right? was he still going on towards his home? or was he horribly lost and doomed to a terrible death? the message of the constelations - had he imagined it because of his desperate circumstance?

or had he seen the truth once and now had to hold on to it without further reassurance?