The Exception That Proves The Rule

First up, I'm on a podcast about the making of my new film, "Gumdrop", a short horror. Now...

"Exceptio probat regulam in casibus non exceptis." That is: The Exception That Proves The Rule.

I've seen this misused so many times, it's embarrassing. Typically I hear it used to rationalize and justify a thing that is patently incorrect.

SOMETIMES it is used to show that something nearly always one thing can actually be another, typically the opposite, under present constraints or conditions. That is to say, they agree with you that what they are saying is usually wrong, but in this case, as they see it, with how things are, they are correct in their assumptions about it.

How that typically is used however is as a logical fallacy to justify their foolish contentions, because so many get lost in the phrasing.

Or as rational wiki puts it:
"You are most likely to encounter this phrase when somebody is speaking in generalisations or stereotypes and somebody else points out an example that clearly contradicts their comments. Retorting with the platitude that this is just the "exception that proves the rule" is an easy way of handwaving away this inconsistency."

But that all require a sense of understanding where one has a greater sense of reality and extenuating issues we seldom see when applied today, especially as regards politics.

Trump is the exception that proves the rule, that all conservatives are stupid."

I'm not even going to bother disassembling that one. But we do see this frequently among those not as educated or aware as they wish to project they are. Frequently we see this in conservative's arguments in support of ridiculous doctrines, policies, or politicians (see above).

"The exception that proves the rule."

As the grammarist.com puts it:
"A proverb often quoted, but many find confusing. A proverb is a short, common saying or phrase that particularly gives advice or shares a universal truth. We will examine the true meaning of the phrase the exception that proves the rule, its ancient origin, and some examples of its use in sentences.

"...often used to justify something that seems to contradict a rule. However, the term the exception that proves the rule actually means this exception, under these parameters, proves that the rule works in all other circumstances. In this case, the word proves is used in a semi-scientific sense to mean test."

For instance,

If a sign at a bakery states “Doughnuts available Sunday morning”, this is the exception that proves the rule that doughnuts are not available at the bakery at any other time.

This is not how most people seem to use it.

The term, "the exception that proves the rule", is derived from a Latin phrase first used by Cicero, "exceptio probat regulam in casibus non exceptis", which means the exception confirms the rule in cases not excepted.

This is typically beyond the mentality of most who attempt to use this phrase.

Is THAT the exception that proves the rule?

Beware, Be Aware of Perception, or Lack Thereof

I was just trying to explain something to a professional associate regarding who I am, how I am, and how I think. As an individual, I am really very easy going. That's a story unto itself. But I love humor, and I can come off as a bit goofy, or a screw up even. But I am not.

That demeanor of mine has confused people... all throughout my life. I've been taken as a fool, or ignorant, or a slacker even, until one starts talking to me in detail and finds I shoot past them into issues unseen, unknown, or unacknowledged by my interrogator, or at times, my tormentor. It is interesting that when I used to fight in martial arts tournaments, I won fights with that same..."talent"? Don't judge the book by its cover? After years in IT work, at some fairly high levels, some of that has been sloughed off.

I spent the first part of my life, fully intending to go into espionage. I heard early on that those who stand out, tall, big, loud, do not make for good spies. They stand out. And a spy doesn't want, especially literally, to stand above a crowd. It's too easy to get shot that way. Or uncovered when... undercover. I learned to blend in, I could disappear into a crowd. And I was 6'2". I learned how to be seen as someone not to be concerned about.

But that began in grade school to avoid bullies, and groups of guys wanted to pound me into the ground. Because I was loud. Because I did stand up for myself. And because I was a big toddler, who got used to terrorizing bigger, older kids. Until one day I was smaller than the other kids and they realized they could fight back en masse. I didn't get bigger again until 10th grade when I lost a few pounds, shot up a few inches and then had to regain my footing.

It didn't help that in grade school I had been in five different schools, in two different states before sixth grade.

I started learning about killing people in fifth grade. I spent junior high school years learning military thinking and skills. I learned weapons, firearms. Hand to hand combat. I practiced sharpening my mind (for what it's worth). Sadly, I also found emotional issues difficult in my life and sought out because of my family life, my personal self, and the counter culture (which wasn't counter to me, it was my culture) in the 60s and 70s and even 80s. 

I entered the Air Force and worked around very serious equipment and people. The most serious in the world in working around nuclear weapons. Though we also had a good time. Work hard, play hard. 

After I got out of the service I went through various life events, got a couple of college degrees, one a university degree in psychology majoring in perception and phenomenology in the Awareness and Reasoning division from Western Washington University. I worked over seven years at the University of Washington, and at two major Medical Centers associated with the UW, one the regional trauma center 

My point being, I've had a serious high-level attention to detail lifestyle for much of the first part of my life. I've built a mindset that is based on life or death, unlike (and thank "God" for that) most Americans. I don't view things as armchair quarterbacking, but will if I will die if I get it wrong. That being said, sure, everyone is wrong sooner or later. But not usually on major issues. 

That is my basis for how I think today.

Yes, I've gotten lazier, older, somewhat sloppy in my old age. But that level of accuracy is still, as I've discovered repeatedly of late, above and beyond that of most Americans... on their best days. Yes, that is sad. No, that is not bragging. That is stating something I originally found surprising, and find on an ongoing basis, very sad, and at times, pathetic.

We don't take the time today, we don't delve deep enough into things today. We don't have the time, the attention span, the desire, the dedication, the awareness even. We are seriously lacking in many important considerations and our decisions are suffering for it. Our country is suffering for it. Humanity is suffering for it.

We need to seek the facts, not our desires. We need to seek reality, not our personal or tribal fantasies. We have to see into and beyond the issues into the bigger, and sometimes, the smaller picture. We need to see the forest for the tress and the trees for the forest.

We in a word, need to be, or become, "Enlightened" in the Buddha Dharma sense. In the Buddhist sense of reality.

When you bite into an apple, you need to feel, to "see" where it came from, who picked it, what their life is about, how they suffer in seeing that deliciousness into your mouth. How those trees exist. How they thrive or do not. How these trees support our air, our world, our physical and our aesthetic.

How those apples are picked, cleaned or not, sorted, bought, sold, transported and sold to us.

How we metabolize those apples and secrete them back into the world.

Doing that with all things, whenever and wherever possible, will bring us, some of us kicking and screaming, back into reality.

If ever we were there in the first place.

And the world and all of us, will suffer far less for it. 

Just, don't be this guy:

Understanding Life

I find with so many things that they can be misunderstood, misconstrued and misinterpreted.

This however, is not one of them....

Moving along...I have grown through my life wanting things. I've been told, that is bad. A bad thing to do. And yet, no matter what I try to do, I still seem to do them.

I grew up in Catholicism and found it lacking. Sorely, lacking. I tried many other forms of religion, philosophy (which really, was the start off all this and a brother to psychology which my degree is in), and sociology (a much larger version of psychology).

I settled upon, Buddhism. Very possibly, not a Buddhism you would know or think of. Or maybe possibly so.

I'm not a ritualist, though I understand its usefulness. In any form of theism or philosophy, there is fat. It needs to be trimmed. In writing we have a theory, when you finish your final draft, cut 10% more.

So it is with other forms and disciplines.

I always wanted to be someone who works on computers. I did that. I always wanted to be a Webmaster. I did that. I wanted to be a technical writer. I did that. I wanted to be a writer and author. I've done that.

I wanted to own my own car. My own house, trees, acreage, my own... other things. I've done all that. As a child I wanted to own a mansion, to have servants who waited on me, to own a swimming pool, much acreage, a motorcycle (did that repeatedly), a boat, a plane (I learned to fly and skydive for that matter but my wife wouldn't let me get a plane for some reason, well, we're divorced now).

Then, I realized something.

All my life people said that was all bad. I have seen many stories of people who were materialistic, who became rich, and then were miserable. Donald Trump once said about that, that he knows many rich people and they all seem to be quite happy. Perhaps it's a tail only told by the poor?

Or I've known people who only wanted to sleep around, or to be considered the best in a field, or...whathaveyou.

But then, I realized it.

Speaking only for myself of course, I realized something about all of that. It wasn't that I wanted those things... forever. It wasn't (possibly) that others wanted those things... forever. It was that they wanted to break out of their pigeonhole, into the next level, to experience it, to tire of it, then to move on to another better challenge. Most of them perhaps, simply didn't realize that.

It is those who achieved those things and then sat and did nothing, who were the miserable ones.

I also think these are one of the primary reasons for many to seek out things like religion, philosophy, a guru, extreme sports even, or a therapist.

When really all they need to do is to consider what I'm saying here and follow through.

Of those who realized that and strove to achieve more, what was their choice in continuing on their quest for the next better thing? Did that then in the end make them miserable, too? After all, some people will just always be displeased, always. Avoid those types. On the other hand, it's good to want to achieve more and better, if handled properly. We should always after all, strive to improve, but recognize your achievements and appreciate your efforts for therein lay some of the pleasure.

Or, did they chose the right thing as the next step in the path?

Sometimes the next greater thing, after you hit a certain point, isn't the next obvious step up, but a step away from it. Sometimes, the next step is an oblique to your path, or a reversal.

We just have to realize that in our lives that what we sometimes think is the next step up, only goes so high. One needs to realize when it's time to shift direction. It is those who never see that and then continue on in the same direction always and forever, who suffer.

Those others who see the shifting tides, who can fathom the finest paths to freedom, are the ones who never experience the gloom of satiation and so go on to continue with lives fulfilled with freedom and experience.

That, can be you too.