Golden Rule.

Gunnie Reagan, the core of the ancient wisdom behind the Mettis Medicine Society, is at last posting teachings from their manuals on Face Book, presumable for the evaluation of a broader public. It’s a move I heartily endorse. As this ‘Warrior’s Golden Rule’ suggests, it will be met with love, ridicule or indifference but at least will be tested for worth against the wider wisdoms of the world. For example I can imagine any drug dealer worth his salt heartily agreeing he’s the living embodiment of Gunnie’s Warrior’s Rule, that, “I do whatever I want to do and take full responsibility for my actions. I do this because this is who I am.” If you’re going to write a warrior rule at least write one that won’t make Tony Blair feel proud about himself! I believe I know what Gunnie’s got in mind but given the average person’s capacity for self-deception his rule could mean all things to all men, and given his implicit assumption, that as warriors “no matter how impeccable our behaviour, no matter how clear our intent we will experience one or all the following responses from others,” could, if one wasn’t scrupulously self critical, provide one’s ego with a field day. It could simply provide a wonderful opportunity to justify feel good about whatever you feel like doing, and as ‘I’m an impeccable and clear of intent warrior’ you must be a prat for trying to arrest me. This isn’t a good thing. The problem with pithy sayings with diagrams is that everyone will interpret them in the way that will give them most comfort. This will cause you to be revered and greatly appreciated for your generosity and wisdom, but the comfort you bestow can easily be the harmful antithesis of wisdom. And even assuming Gunnie’s impeccability and clarity of intent he could have done a better job of the wording. It really is open to misinterpretation. His rule has five ‘I’s and not one of them refers to my responsibility to others. So long as I am who I am, I do what I want and I’m responsible for it, then you can go fuck yourself. It neatly avoids the tricky discipline of being in context. It reminds me of a Tom Lehrer lyric, “I just make them go up, who cares where they come down. That’s not my department say Werner Von Braun.”