Logic

It's one thing to say, "There are no rules," But look at all the rules I'm following to make that statement. I assume the reader understands grammar, punctuation, vocabulary and thought.

This last thing, thought, the innate human ability (conscious thinking), is what writing translates into a tangible form.

For example, a popular statement for at least the last 50 years of the post-modern era is: "There are no absolutes." I marvel at the audacity of that statement and the relief it has brought to millions. However, one must note that in their determined effort to grasp the elusiveness of absolutes, they have found it necessary to make the statement absolutely. In other words, 'there are no absolutes' is an absolute statement.

The truth is that there are absolutes and there are gray areas. They coexist. In order to work in one (the grays), one must know the boundaries of the others (absolutes).

How do I know there are absolutes? You're either alive or you are dead. How do I know there are gray areas? Sometimes you're asleep, or in a coma, or on your way out on a death bed, or in your mother's womb not yet born, or recovering from a near death experience.

Writers have to work with both absolutes and the gray areas human beings constantly encounter. They need the facts and the style and ongoing life that those facts are worked out in.

One last thing, it is popular to communicate these days by breaking the rules. It is important to understand that in order to write, one must understand the rules before they can break them in the form of effective written communication.

The next few blogs will give a cursory look and understanding of the logic we humans use.

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             e e cummings