Assumptions
Sooner or later, whether in school or an indoctrination class, you are likely to encounter an instructor who says to the class, "Don't assume anything. Do you know why? Because when you do, you make an ass out of you and me." He turns to write on the board, "ASS-U-ME."
"Clever," so I thought.
I first saw that in boot camp. Putting the statement in the context of a class of new recruits or something similar, it is correct enough. Since that time, I have seen an ignoramus or two put their clever selves on display in an attempt to "make self right and another wrong" by a show of "superior knowledge," the knowledge obtained from one of those earlier instructors. The attempt doesn't work as contexts change--not all assumptions are bad. In fact, assumptions are quite necessary, and they make life a whole lot simpler for a thinking, survival-oriented being. It is in forgetting that one is operating on or has made an assumption when the context has shifted, that's where the difficulties lie.
I awoke yesterday morning--as I assumed I would. And I began operating this body in a sea of assumptions, automaticities, postulates, and considerations. This gave me a feeling of predictability--HAVINGNESS!
I worked my way through this HAVINGNESS to my truck. I assumed it would be where I parked it--and it was there. Getting in, I inserted the key, and gave it a crank. Assuming the engine would start I would be on my way in just a few seconds. And, I was! HAVINGNESS!
Putting my favorite CD in the player--thank you Hats--I am giving it a listen. HAVINGNESS!
All these life actions, large and small, are coincident with many assumptions. What could go wrong with that?
How fast can a being change gears, considerations, postulates, plans? Does the being change these things or does the being assert an old assumption, postulate, consideration, etc. against a context that has changed so that the old consideration no longer applies?
A while back my youngest daughter and I took off in her Honda Accord for a run at the lake. The Honda is a beautiful little machine; it runs with smoothness and precision like a fine Swiss watch. We gave no thought about whether it would take us to the lake. The car was but 2 years in use, purchased new. After our run we got into the Honda, she turned the key, and the car was completely dead. No lights, no action, no crank, nothing.
We could have asserted the assumption that there ~should be~ nothing wrong with the car, and continued to twist the key looking for the expected, assumed outcome. And, when the key did not work, we could have, as I have done in my more aberrated past, cursed the car, Honda, the Japanese, the Florida heat, life in general, etc. None of that would have started the car or got us a ride home.
We located a park ranger. He provided a jumper cable. The car started. The next day the Honda dealer said, "Bad battery, no charge for replacement." Everything back to normal. Old assumption working again: turn key, car starts. Nothing to think about in that regard.
Leave house by 8:00 a.m., make it to work on time. There's an assumption that's frequently under attack. Damn traffic.
As Hubbard wrote, "That which is not confronted and inspected tends to persist."
More to follow on service facs...
(What's new? An occasional little brilliance shining through 
