The value of contradictions... (games to play at work)

"Every rule has an exception."

This is the nearest thing to a universal rule. It applies to all rules, and avoids contradiction because it is an exception to itself. Note that it is not self-identical (it is not an Ouroboros), it is an exception to itself, it is different from itself.

If we accept this, the rest is easier.

I am having fun at work at the moment having worked out how to annul every act of power that the bosses try to impose.

It is probably not the right application of a tool that is spoken about throughout philosophy and religion! but it is educational and fun.

The bosses are forever introducing new Universal Rules at work. The secret to diffusing this is realising that every rule has two sides: the side where it applies and the side where it doesn't apply. And if they have enumerating the boundary conditions of every rule it becomes infinitely complex and you may as well not use the rule at all and just use common sense (which is a term being used more often at work ;-)

Humans chose rules which suit the side that they are on, since they naturally want the rules to please themselves. The desire to be on our own side makes us blind to the other side. Obviously people on the other side of Universal rules suffer, often unknown to the rule makers (see the endless contradictions and suffering caused by internal law and economic/political policy - especially the situations in Iraq and Afghanistan (see the wiki histories) which go around and around century after century)

The key of course is to take the rule and obey it but how we like which means expand the rules we don't like to include the other side, which then break them.

Most recent example the meeting at work on Monday. The boss has decided arbitrarily that we are not allowed mobile phones in the labs (despite having no problems for 8 years). The reason he cited when asked was that they might disrupt our work.

Now rather than contest this side of the argument, I expanded that rule about disruption (which I like) and used it to get out of answering any phones at all :-) So now he has to answer all the phones in the company and that sparked a conflict between him and the other boss. Simple transference of Rule and Contradiction back over the fence to where it came from.

The latest rule that will be used to equal effect is one about wearing "lab coats" in the "lab" (a next to pointless rule) but one that can't always apply .... or can it ;-)

The only way out of these situation is to reveal the inequalities and biases that are inherent in the system in the first place (by basically making exceptions for certain people and situations). While the papers love revealing this - finding any hypocracy they can - I'm not actually against hypocracy. Truth is truth, even if people don't follow it themselves. However there seems to be a reluctance in even the worst egoist in admitting that they better than other people.

I think this must follow the same logic. A rule "I am better than other people" automatically creates a fence and puts other people over it. But, in doing this the egoist is having to accept a rule and a side of the fense themselves! It might be nice side of the fence, but it is not an Ouroboros. They are trapped upon their own side and this defeats the whole point of "being better than other people".

The human mind wants freedom and it can approximate this through ignorance (in which case use expansion of rules beyond their intended locus to reveal the ignorance) or through wisdom which guides itself.

The previous post of a link, not read yet, does really seem to be a hope in resolving these observations about life.