Principles not Rules
This was a throwaway phrase on another Smartless podcast conversation with the director, Alejandro Iñáritu. (Learn more about this Mexican filmmaker here.) But as things sometimes do, it landed profoundly with me — in the extreme spareness of a three-word phrase, an entire landscape of approaches to life unfurled before me like a 50-yard roll of silk hanging from heaven. My mind started wrapping it around many life experiences and the struggles I’ve had to sort my way in awkward or discomforting situations.
Rules are the external walls to keep up in the game.
Principles are the calling of the soul to be more and more true to oneself, regardless of how the rest of the world plays it.
My kid mind wants to cheerlead “I’m only doing principles now!” but in fact, rules have their place. Without them, we would all be living in even more chaos. But as has been well-established amongst our family of free-thinkers, the creative tension of ‘knowing the rules so you can break them’ continues to come in handy. Writing is a great example. I learned to diagram sentences in middle school — though it’s rarely taught anymore.
I found this NPR clip on the fading art of diagramming:
“Burns Florey and other experts trace the origin of diagramming sentences back to 1877 and two professors at Brooklyn Polytechnic Institute. In their book, Higher Lessons in English, Alonzo Reed and Brainerd Kellogg made the case that students would learn better how to structure sentences if they could see them drawn as graphic structures. After Reed and Kellogg published their book, the practice of diagramming sentences had something of a Golden Age in American schools.”
I remember it being very difficult as a 6th and 7th grader, and yet the joy of getting it correct was there, too. I’ve maintained the belief that this ability embedded some tracks in my brain that I continue to tap into without overt attention, to this day. Looking at that sample diagram, I feel slightly overwhelmed though I am a big fan of the visual representation of things. I like the visuals. Hello, emojis! 👋😜
Many professions are having this expansion of creativity and rule-breaking but rule-breaking solely for the sake of rebellion is more messy than mindful in my experience. Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook founder, proudly once announced, “Move fast and break things” and the result is that most of humanity is now paying dearly for this reckless behavior. Having the notion of principles orients the mind and helps us embody our commitments in the practice of them. It’s far more mindful and effective than mindless rules like ‘move fast and break things.’
Context is lost when we religiously adhere to rules, and, that takes on a dumbing-down spiral. Being guided by principles also presents risks to us, but with a purpose in mind right up front. Consciousness allows us to examine the risk-reward ratio as principles guide us into new territories. A third aspect of how the mind works is intuition. The front brain provides awareness and logic. The back brain gives us impulsivity, reactivity, and often fear and/or anger. Intuition sits above those like a ray of sunshine that beams insights into us when we want them.
Valuing principles over rules, as I now do, also helps me make decisions when darkness and confusion hang over me. We are fortunate to live in a time when rule-breaking is not the life-or-death taboo it once was! This frees us to more clearly define our principles for those times when the soul calls for taking a leap against convention, risking rejection or worse.
No matter the outcome, though, principles can provide a soft cushion on which to land. Even if alone for a moment, our bones remain intact.
About the Photo Above
This is one of my abstract ICM (Intentional Camera Movement) photos. There was a time when a blurry photo meant it was not a technically correct photo. Now, photographers use all kinds of manipulations to create something different. I love the ICM work because, to me, it reveals light, colors, shapes, and movement that the human eye cannot see, but the camera lens can. I also believe it’s a spiritual form of art as the subject matter reveals these unseen vibes. This is a single image, made in-camera, with no post-processing or digital manipulation. You can think of it as a type of source energy, feeding your eyes and then wandering inside your being, bringing its beauty and color deep into you.
Prints are available for purchase. If you’re reading this in email, click reply. If you’re reading this online or in the app, you can reach me at rox at roxannedarling.com. Here’s how it looks in real life:
Thank you for reading and being here with me as we feel better together. I’m also curious: did you learn how to diagram sentences? What are your memories from then or your opinions of it now?
Thank you for reading Mindset with Roxanne Darling. This post is public and I appreciate you for sharing it. Let’s feel better together.