Everything before the “but” is meant to be ignored by the speaker; and everything after the “but” should be ignored by the listener.
You can begin as if nothing had ever gone wrong. White as snow.
There were three things prefigured and promised by the gifts in the cave of Bethlehem concerning the Child who received…
Bowing down in blind credulity, as is my custom before mere authority and the tradition of the elders, superstitiously swallowing…