Rules, master or servant?

Following rules, laws and regulations are inherently beneficial for the individual and its society. The problem is when we forget that the institutional rules were created by us to serve our interests not created to be our masters. Let me give you an illustration about society in general. Imagine that we are in an unknown wilderness area. We are given a map and a compass and instructed on how to use them. We use the map and compass (the rules) to navigate through the wilds and avoid such pitfalls like cliffs, quicksand and other possible dangers. Once we know the wilderness, we don't need the map or the compass anymore, we travel from point A to point B bypassing the obstacles and staying safe. The rules can then be said to be in the proper use of our judgment.

Unfortunately, we, in our society, prefer to rely upon the maps and compasses. We do not dare do anything without consulting the map or the compass. We are no longer humans, but slaves to the map and compass. We write books on how to interpret the maps better, how to read the compass better..... and we end up walking in circles. When you walk down some road, do you calculate each of your steps? Do you concentrate upon which foot to move next to move forward? Or do you just walk, without thinking about it? So why do we pass foolish amounts of time on reading the map to get from point A to point B if we already know how to get there without the map?

To add insult to injury, some of us rely on specific guidebooks to tell us how many paces to walk in which direction, when to change directions and on and on. This I can understand for a new traveller, who may have lost his human guide and has a damaged map or broken compass. But our society seems to be insisting that we can not do anything worthwhile in society unless we show everyone that we have our guidebook and that we are following its instructions without question. (This is when someone like me asks how we can justify a specific pace if we all have different strides and the guidebook assumes that the reader has the same pace as the author).... (to which the answer is given to stop asking foolish questions and to follow instructions). If you ask anyone if they know how to get from point A to point B, they repeat the instructions found in the guidebook (even if they've been there before, I guess their memories are all used up for remembering instructions, they no longer know how to get there, only how to follow the instructions).... And society thinks you are smart if you have learned how to use a map and compass.

If our society is indeed encouraging us to be enslaved by the rules as I described above, how can we ever hope to have any rational democratic discussion? How can we assume we are living in a democratic society? "Well instruction book A says we live in a democracy", says the unthinking slave. Take away the guidebook, take away the compass and map and you have in front of you a lost individual with no sense of direction, much like a child. Can this child give anyone directions? Would you follow this child's direction?

We need to recognize our worth as humans, in areas where we should be confident, we enslave ourselves and shake in our boots in fear (like the foolish submission to the rules). At the same time, in areas where we should be humble and know our proper place in the universe, we act as if we can control the universe (but that part is another discussion). This deliberate act to force the rules and instructions upon us, is based upon the assumption that we are all children in the bodies of adults. Are we? Are we really? I would rather have society punish someone like a child when the adult has shown that he can not follow the rules than have society force an adult to follow rules like a child because it assumes that the adult can not do anything properly without this enforcement.