Walls and compasses

Rules have a multiplicity of purposes. But at core they’re there to protect. To protect you. And to protect others from you.

But the fundamental fallibility of the rule itself is often forgotten.

The rule can be broken. It doesn’t have any object worth. It’s a construct supported by your tacit complicity.

This is evident when order breaks down, often in the most banal of ways. Quickly. And without fanfare. Showing that rules ultimately are thinner than the air.

The value then again is not in the rule but in the internal alignment with it. The rule is therefore ultimately dispensable.

All will not turn to anarchy without rules. The wall is less important than the compass. And it’s the compass that provides the direction, for the wall can be vaulted. Or bowled over.

Perhaps, it is wiser therefore to follow the compass than the wall.