If you try to live life without any rules or principles, you will tend to fall into an unpleasant repeating pattern, or a rut. If you live your life based on rules and principles, your orderly behavior forms a predictable pattern that is easily exploited by others, allowing them to effectively enslave you. If you vow not to follow the rules, that itself is a rule and a tendency that is easily exploited by others. Life is complex and paradoxical and does not lend itself to the easy answers you might wish for. Yet often, the best answers are the easy answers. There is no substitute for paying attention.