Strategies versus rules | Day 67 of my 2023 Journal

As anarchists, we are not much for rules. As self-directed, we don’t do rules. The structure of a rule is not flexible and can never take into account all of the perspectives, possible circumstances, and special contexts. A rule will not see the emotion, the individual, the needs, deeds, and motive - only some extract of the situation on which to base the implementation of the rule.

In that way, rules can not be fair, nor can they be humane. They are only humane if they apply only when accepted voluntarily by the involved persons, and if so, it does not meet the definition of a rule.

They do puzzle me, though, the rules. I am always interested in the motives behind the rules. Why did they emerge? Who was greedy? Did someone need protection? Is it about justice, and if so, on what premise? I always read the signs, I always think about it, and I am always interested.

Sometimes, of course, rules make sense, but more in the form of norms or social codes. How we handle being together is very important. The quiet cabin on the train or the non-smoking area of the hotel makes sense. Especially - or maybe only - because it is voluntary to stay. If you want to smoke or sing, you can just go somewhere else.

I think about rules today because what we do instead is strategies. And yesterday we thought a lot about strategies to avoid the driving around too tired and too hungry situation we had had the day before. It is a good thing to evaluate when something feels off. It is also a good thing to let the water pass under the bridge, rest for a bit, and breathe. Sometimes, the best strategy is to do nothing.

We prefer strategies because they are flexible and because they always ask for an evaluation of the situation before we can even know what strategy to apply. In the end, we don’t really mind going out of our comfort zone; it is all okay. And we realized what we needed was simply rest. So we took a day off.

Love and light

Cecilie Conrad

Thank you for reading

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